Study On Emperor Qin Shih Huang

Study On Emperor Qin Shih Huang Emperor Qin Shih Huang was the first Emperor of Chine. He unified China and built the Great Wall of China that is still intact today. Emperor Qin Shih Huang left behind many legacies that have made China what it is today. In his 35-year reign, he managed to create magnificent and enormous construction projects. He also caused both incredible cultural and intellectual growth, and much destruction within China. (about.com) Despite his good intentions in unifying China, he did many things that were deemed unpardonable by people of his time. He killed many scholars because he was afraid that they would outsmart him. At the same time, many slaves were sacrificed during the construction of the Great Wall of China. Many people have argued that Emperor Qin Shih Huang was a brutal Emperor and disregard his contributions to China. However, his contributions far surpassed his relentless action therefore; Emperor Qin Shih Huang was a noble Emperor. Emperor Qin Shih Huang was born in 259BC, and was the son of the King of the Qin state. He was named Zheng, which meant upright or correct. When the King died in 247 B.C., Zheng became King at the age of thirteen. (Chinas First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors 20) He reigned for 35 years and during his reign; it was described as the beginning of 246B.C. As Zheng was still a minor when he was King, Prime Minister Lu Bu Wei acted in his state for the first eight years. As there were rumors circulating that Lu Bu Wei was actually the father of Zheng, Lu eventually committed suicide by drinking poison. Twenty-four year old Zheng then took full control over the kingdom of Qin. (The Terra Cotta Army 56) During the time of 475-221 B.C., all the states were at war with themselves. It was called the Warring States period. (MacFarquhar and Schoenhals 2006) China was then divided into many small states and each had their own way of doing things. The states had been fighting for power and when a state won, they could take over another state. (Qin Shi Huangdi 6-7) Within twenty-five years of his reign, King Zheng was able to eliminate all the other states and have ruling power on all of them. King Zheng then named himself the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi. Qin was for his original states, Shi means first, and Huangdi was a new compound word that joins majestic with emperor. (Chinas First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors p 26) After his new title was formed, Emperor Qin went on and chose the symbol of the state according to the School of the Five elements-earth, wood, metal, fire, and water. With the new symbolism in place, the feudal system was abolished and the Qin dynasty was divided into thirty-six provinces that each had its own governor, army commander, and an inspector. (Sunzis Art of Wat and Managemtne Strategy) As the Qin empire was now unified from the warring states, Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered General Meng Tian and his soldiers to fortify the walls along the North of China which had been built earlier. (enchanted learning.com) There were multiple purposes of building the wall, firstly, it marked the boundary of where the state is, secondly, it was a defense whereby enemies will find it difficult to raid the state, and lastly, merchants and travelers who were coming into the state would have to be taxed when they were passing through the border. (The first emperor: Chinas Terracotta Army 52) There was also another importance to the building of the walls. Because the Qin empire was so large, the walls provided a means of communication within the provinces. Soldiers were situated along the walls, keeping watch of the movement of the enemies. If there was a warning, they would light the fire and the soldiers all along the wall will also light the fire. Just like a stretch of streetlights b eing ignited one by one along a dark street. As the empire can now fend for itself, Emperor Qin still had some work to do to unify all the different warring states that had many different ways of doing things. The Qin empire created a new writing system to be used throughout the empire. It reduced the complex and variable Large Seal script with its curving lines, allowed swifer writing with brush and ink-essential for imperial record keeping, and it allowed communication between people who have never been able to communicate orally. (The early Chinese empires 53) This development led to the founding of an imperial school that dealt with texts and the interpretation of meaning. Many historians during that time had to obey what he was asked to do or write. Therefore, the histories that we have today may or may not be factual but was written to the pleasing of the Emperor during that time. In 213 B.C., there were texts defaming Emperor Qin despite his great efforts in unifying China. His Grand councilor, Li Si, was furious and suggested, To ban all works of literature and poetry, historical documents and the sayings of the hundred schools of philosophy. (The Terra Cotta Army 79) This event was traditionally viewed as a terrible act of censorship and vandalism. Many people believed that Emperor Qin was ruthless because they thought he was the one who suggested burning all the books, however, Emperor Qin was the one who agreed to this suggestion only because he thought he was unifying the empire and not destroying it. He only sought for unification. In modern day, Chinas ruler, Mao also took away many books during his time of Cultural Revolution. Why was Maos way of doing things still accepted when it was similar to what Emperor Qin Shi Huang did and was deemed terrible two thousand years ago? The standardization of physical things were the emperors attempt to standardize the mind of his people because of their great diversity. He standardized weights, measures, and the coinage system. The standardized coinage system was essential for the smooth running of the new bureaucratic administration. (Chinas First Emperor and his Terracotta Warriors 89) There were many forms of money during that time and the Qin dynasty used bronze coins with a hole in the middle and two characters that states the weight of the coin- eight grammes. This new coinage system was implemented throughout the whole of the Qin empire. Weights and measurements were also standardized in the empire. With the same coinage, weights and measurement system, the economy was much stable as everything was the same. (travelguidechina.com) Emperor Qin wanted his empire to be unified and one thus, he standardized many things. However, this led to the dissatisfaction of many philosophical ideas. Legalism was the only official belief and Confucianism was not allowed. Many scholars were dissatisfied with Emperor Qin. However, in order to keep his empire, Emperor Qin had to have his people think the same way so as to control what his people might do and result in splitting China back to the different states again. (Thinkquest.com) As the Qin Empire was huge, Emperor Qin was constantly on the road, visiting all the different provinces to make sure that his governors were doing what they were instructed to do. This led to Emperors Qin decision of building speed roads from the capital to the north, northeast, south, and southeast. (Governing China: From Revolution through Reform 71) This led to the improved communication system whereby people were able to travel and spend lesser time on the roads and helped Emperor Qin spend lesser time on the road. The speed roads that Emperor Qin built more than two thousand years ago are still being used now. Emperor Qin did many things to unify and make China what it is today.

The Guide to Getting it On! :: Essays Papers

â€Å"The Guide to Getting it On!† is unlike any book on human sexuality that I have ever read. Not to say that I read a lot of human sexuality books, but the ones I have looked over (including the text for this class) are often bland and stagnant. â€Å"The Guide to Getting it On!† has an approach to human sexuality that is fun, witty, and extremely sensitive all in one. This 370 page book contains subjects on sex that are designed to make the reader think outside of the box (no pun intended) about their own sexuality and the sexuality of others. It is a playful look into the modern relationships of today, and an aid to couples wanting to spice up their love life. Topics discussed in this manual vary from getting naked and intercourse to sex toys and being gay in the 90’s. Practically any topic you can think of about human sexuality is covered in this book and makes for a heavy read. This book also has a section that reviews additional resources for the reader to investigate further. In the back of this book is a glossary of sex, slang and cultural-related words and their definitions. This guide is not for the faint of heart or closed-minded. It uses several slang, and dirty words throughout the book to describe concepts of human sexuality. It even has a chapter addressing the use of dirty words and why this book has chosen to do so. While I believe that the use of dirty and slang terms generally degrades from the value of a book, â€Å"The Guide to Getting it On!† accomplishes the task tastefully and in good humor. Most of the titles of the chapters are somewhat provocative in nature, and serve to spark interest. Prudent readers will be taken aback at first glance over the book to find chapters such as †Chapter 21: Oscillator, Generator, Vibrator, Dildo â€Å" and † Chapter 11: The Zen of Finger Fucking†. But upon further inspection they will find a very informative and thought provoking view of an aspect of sexuality that they may had little or no prior experience with. Although this book does not have any photographs, it does have quite a few explicit drawings. Some of these drawings serve to visually show the reader some of the techniques that are covered in the text.

Unwieldy Inheritance Essay -- Comparative, Staples, Kincaid

In my essay I have chosen the essay â€Å" black men and public space† by Brent Staples, and â€Å" on seeing England for the first time† by Jamaica Kincaid . In Staples essay he shows us what does it mean to be a black man who walks in the night, living between people â€Å" white people† who sees a criminal or a â€Å"mugger† when they look at him , because of the color of his skin that makes him stranger . And Kincaid explains how she felt as a stranger in her home town as well as in England when she went there . And both of Staples and Kincaid share the feeling of the fear, different types of fear ,as they both been through racism from people around them in different ways , in one hand Kincaid had the fear of losing her identity , and her culture identity and thus losing herself , while Staples had the fear of facing others fears of him, and both never did any harm to white people but they been suffering from white people and under they control an d under their judgement . As Kincaid starts with describing one of the strongest memory she had about her childhood ,which was her teacher pointing out to the map of England , she reveals that she had no connection with it , and that she doesn't feel that she belong to this place , although the institutions in her society force her to feel so , and she emphasise on the great pressure that her society put in her to feel like she is a part of England ,as she pointed at â€Å"when my teacher had pinned this map up on the blackboard , she said, â€Å"this is England†_ and she said it with authority , seriousness , adoration , and we all sat up (332)† , even more the pressure to love this new culture was in her house from her family, she observed how much her father is holding on England culture â€Å"my father ... ...r of him and not to blame them badly , and that was clear when he said â€Å"women are particularly vulnerable to street (370)† And he decided to give people their space to became less frightened of him and he emphasised in that when he said â€Å"if I happen to be entering a building behind some people who appear skittish, I may walk by , letting them clear the lobby before I return , so as not to seem to be following them (371)†. On the other hand Kincaid felt even more fury and anger toward the people she met and didn't accept her for how she was , because she was promised to have a life without racism in England and she makes that clear and obvious when she says â€Å"the moment I wished every sentence , everything I knew , that began with England would end with â€Å"and then it all died , we don't know how , it just all died† was when I saw the white cliffs of Dover (341)† . Unwieldy Inheritance Essay -- Comparative, Staples, Kincaid In my essay I have chosen the essay â€Å" black men and public space† by Brent Staples, and â€Å" on seeing England for the first time† by Jamaica Kincaid . In Staples essay he shows us what does it mean to be a black man who walks in the night, living between people â€Å" white people† who sees a criminal or a â€Å"mugger† when they look at him , because of the color of his skin that makes him stranger . And Kincaid explains how she felt as a stranger in her home town as well as in England when she went there . And both of Staples and Kincaid share the feeling of the fear, different types of fear ,as they both been through racism from people around them in different ways , in one hand Kincaid had the fear of losing her identity , and her culture identity and thus losing herself , while Staples had the fear of facing others fears of him, and both never did any harm to white people but they been suffering from white people and under they control an d under their judgement . As Kincaid starts with describing one of the strongest memory she had about her childhood ,which was her teacher pointing out to the map of England , she reveals that she had no connection with it , and that she doesn't feel that she belong to this place , although the institutions in her society force her to feel so , and she emphasise on the great pressure that her society put in her to feel like she is a part of England ,as she pointed at â€Å"when my teacher had pinned this map up on the blackboard , she said, â€Å"this is England†_ and she said it with authority , seriousness , adoration , and we all sat up (332)† , even more the pressure to love this new culture was in her house from her family, she observed how much her father is holding on England culture â€Å"my father ... ...r of him and not to blame them badly , and that was clear when he said â€Å"women are particularly vulnerable to street (370)† And he decided to give people their space to became less frightened of him and he emphasised in that when he said â€Å"if I happen to be entering a building behind some people who appear skittish, I may walk by , letting them clear the lobby before I return , so as not to seem to be following them (371)†. On the other hand Kincaid felt even more fury and anger toward the people she met and didn't accept her for how she was , because she was promised to have a life without racism in England and she makes that clear and obvious when she says â€Å"the moment I wished every sentence , everything I knew , that began with England would end with â€Å"and then it all died , we don't know how , it just all died† was when I saw the white cliffs of Dover (341)† .

What Drives History? :: European Europe History

What Drives History? "History is the Essence of Innumerable Biographies" -Thomas Carlyle What drives history? Before we answer this question, we must go deeper and answer a more important question: What is history? History is, simply, all of the events, ideas, people, and occurrences that have existed in the past. These things have been driven by one common factor: individuals. Although individuals driving history may seem like a rather simple answer, it is the only one that provides no flaws. One such individual who has driven history is Martin Luther. Luther, a German monk, was an inspirational figure who struggled to encourage people to think more for themselves. Martin Luther had an unconventional way of viewing the Church at the time. Luther believed that it was wrong for the Church to sell indulgences or "forgiveness from god." Martin Luther thought that salvation could only be achieved through performing good deeds. During Luther's protesting, he created the "95 Theses," which were a list of arguments and problems against the Catholic Church. Martin Luther was a very strong leader, and through his teachings, many people began to follow him and share their beliefs. Eventually, this lead to the Reformation of the Roman Catholic Church, and caused a sect to break off, known as the Protestants. This drastic change lead to an immense conflict between both groups which eventually caused the ostracism of the Protestant sect to the Americas. This relocation created many tho ughts that influenced the rest of the world. Martin Luther's ideas and teachings not only drove history in the past, but they continue to drive the present day. Another important individual who drove history was the Italian astronomer and scientist Galileo Galilei. Galileo discovered something so important that it changed the selfish perspective that humans were the center of the universe and led to the growth of human knowledge. Utilizing mathematics and a telescope he had developed, Galileo observed that the planets revolved around the sun and not the Earth. This was a significant discovery because not only did it contradict what the church had taught, it also showed that the universe was not what it seemed. With this truth uncovered, many people began to fascinate over the universe. This triggered people to begin studying space extensively and eventually lead to present day space exploration. Galileo also left a lasting impression upon many great minds, such as Sir Isaac Newton, who used Galileo's research and theories to further his own studies such as the physical laws, and their properties.

Kudler Fine Foods Frequent Buyer Program Essay

The intent behind the development of Kudler Fine Foods Frequent Buyer Program is to increase the level of customer loyalty. The system will be broken down into two different levels; the frequency of a buyers shopping with Kudler Fine Foods and the amount of money that the buyer spends with each purchase. A program like this is typically used as a marketing strategy that is â€Å"enabled by point-of-sale technology to record and store customer purchases in exchange for rewards’ (Appel, p. 156, 2006). A web-based shopping program will be used to enhance the Frequent Buyer Program for Kudler Fine Foods. This will be achieved by applying web-based advertising. A projection of frequent buyers growth is expected on the initial employment of the frequent buyer program. It is the estimate of the Sales and Marketing Department that there will be a 5% growth within the first 12 months of this program. The department has also conducted an analysis considering what legal courses of actions, if any, Kudler Fine Foods will need to take to ensure the success of this program. Legal Considerations A study of the consumer trends in this area will have to be conducted. The will enable the Sales and Marketing Department to allow for a smooth and functional program and give them an idea on how to better market the product. â€Å"Market research and demographics data can be used to better target products and produce better or customized products; such data are becoming increasingly valuable: (national Research Council, p. 156, 1994). Some of the legal issues that will be taken in to consideration are costumer privacy as this will have an increased attention in response to the initial data that we will be requesting. It is important that Kudler Fine Foods incorporate some sort of privacy statement into the initial request form stating that the information will not be shared with anyone outside of Kudler Fine Foods, and state the basic reason of why Kudler Fine Foods is requesting such data. Employees of Kudler Fine Foods will need to be trained on the proper handling of such data and what ramifications can happen in the event that costumer information is released without the expressed consent of the costumer. Ethical Considerations The intent of the Frequent Buyers Programs with Kudler Fine Foods is to be one of electronic commerce application. An e-commerce program can provide Kudler Fine Foods another level of costumer shopping and potentially receiving new customers for Kudler’s. As the program grows so will be profit margins of the company. However, internet security will have to be in the foremost thought of the IT Department in the development stages through the employment of the Frequent Buyers Program launch. The IT systems employed will â€Å"gather personal data about customer bases, and use it to support vital functions, such as the authentication of individuals requesting service, verification of credit and accounting information, delivery of services and goods, marketing, decision-making and law enforcement† (Appel, p. 156, 2006). Security Considerations The design and development of the database should not solely be focused on the access to and the protection of the personnel identifiable information that is being stored of the database. This information should be considered sensitive as it could be access in the attempt of identification theft or other forms of fraud. Programs of the nature have shown that they release they sensitive information to third party buyers. (Appel, 2006). Purchases that an individual makes should be held in a private and secure location and should not be shared with anyone outside of Kudler Fine Foods. An implementation of this should help ease a buyers concern that we are sharing their information with anyone who does not need to have it. The development of Kudler’s e-commerce site should be designed to fully secure. This is to help any unethical occurrences form happening; however, it will not prevent them from being attempted. Financial Analysis This initial cost of the startup of this program will be a minimal impact on Kudler Fine Foods. The initial advertisement effort will be done via social media; the companies Facebook page and Twitter account, email and word of mouth. Allowing for a reward system for costumer referrals can be used for current and new customers as the programs is employed and continues to grow. Rajiv and bell argue â€Å"customer retention costs are generally lower than customer acquisition costs, companies are better of focusing attention on their more loyal customers especially since the top 20% of customers account for 80% of revenues and often more than 100% of profits† (p. 180, 2003). Kudler Foods could reduce their marketing expenses by using a customer loyalty system through the use of rewards. The sales increase from this program should be reflected by the increase of new customers and the increased returning customers increased spending. The use of seasonal promotions only available to costumers enrolled into the frequent buyers program could also help in increased sales profits. Conclusion A frequent shopper program can be a successful tool is used correctly by a company. The difficult task will always be bringing in new costumers. This program should allow for the retention of existing customers with Kudler Fine Foods. A rewards points system should be used for the exchange of costume items only available to customers enrolled in the frequent shopper program. This will entice customers to remain loyal to the company and refer the friends and family to the program. The increased awareness of the customers privacy should always stressed from the designing of the program, through the implementation and further in the continuing changes of the program. Ensuring that the customers understand that their information is not shared with any third party organizations and that their information will help in the advancement of this program should minimize conflicts. The paramount concern should always be information security and privacy of customers identifying information will help keep this program a success.

Psychology and Health Problems

Jennifer Graves The multifunctional model uses different factors from different types of influences, traits and behaviors to determine health conditions according to different influences, as well as susceptibility to illness. Each factor belongs to a group such as, biological and environmental factors, as well as personality, behavior, and stress. (Envied & Rather, 2010) Each group shows the factors and the behavior that can be harmful under that group. The multifunctional model shows the relation between psychology and medicine and how behavior and environment can influence health.The multifunctional model can be used in aiding diagnosis as the factors correlate to illness and health. The multifunctional model cannot diagnose illness or specify the diversity in people's overall health as it can only aid in helping diagnose illness. When a person contracts the cold or flu, which can be reflected in the model showing which influences were involved such as environment or biological. (E nvied ; Rather, 2010) Each factor plays an important role in relating to illness such as the biological group which consists of many different factors such as a family history of illness and individual medical history.Age and gender are important factors to consider when ruling out contracting illness biologically. Environmental factors include a wide range of factors from vehicular safety, to radiation exposure which can help to diagnose cancer and ailments from radiation poisoning. Coloratura factors are an important group of factors which include; socioeconomic status, family statistics as well as prejudice and discrimination. Socioeconomic statuses as well as family status are both psychological factors that can lead to illness.Under the personality group, there are several factors that can lead to stress. Anger, depression and anxiety are all behaviors that can lead to stress which are another group of factors entirely. Stress are daily hassles and life changes that although al one, may not lead directly to illness but when combined with other factors can help in diagnosing illnesses that are caused by multiple factors. The multifunctional model is used to analyze the correlation of the interaction of different factors to aid in diagnosis.In 2012, a study was done to test ethnic disparities in children's acute asthma through parental visits. (309 White, Puerco Rican, and African American families conducted) The test was to show the ethnic disparities in asthma cases through the parent's. (Isadora-Oracles, Fieldsman, Exercises , ; Spray, 2012)The methods of the study were a multi-factorial model which utilized structural equation modeling to investigate the association of children's acute asthma illness through parental representations, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics as well as health care providers.The results provided evidence of a 45 % variance in illness representations and 30 % of the illness representations was explained for whites, 23% for African Americans, and 26% for Puerco Ricans. The model accounted for % of the variances in acute visits for African Americans and Puerco Ricans but only 19 % for whites. In conclusion, the model provided support that ethnic heterogeneity in asthma illness representations affects the outcomes of children's health. Isadora-Oracles, Fieldsman, Exercises , ; Spray, 2012) The model helped prove the theory that many influences or factors including heredity and location, contributed in the outcomes of children's health. The combination and interaction of the factors in any model can be the contributing aspect of a diagnosis before any initial medical testing has been done. Psychology has played a large role in defining stress as a major factor in migraine headaches that affects 1 in 10 Americans. Migraines are intense headaches that usually occur on one side of the head that can last several days.Migraines are not well understood and it is believed that migraines are caused by a sero tonin imbalance which causes neurotransmitters to misfire. (Envied & Rather, 2010) Other studies have shown that migraines are also linked to brain lesions and incomplete artery structure. Researchers at the Gila institute in SAA Paolo, Brazil found that children with grains are much more likely to have behavior problems such as attention issues, anxiety, and depression. Other researchers, including Emily Bates, PhD have identified a gene mutation that also increases a person's susceptibility to migraines. What Causes Migraines? , 2013) Without understanding the psychological factors that cause migraines such as stress, and hereditary behavior, it would be much more difficult to diagnose the ailment as the psychological factors are Just as much of an influence, if not more. On of the main causes of migraines, which is also a warning sign is stress and anxiety. Psychology has also helped in the treatment of headaches as well. Recognizing that stress is one of the triggers of a migrai ne, behavioral methods such as relaxation training and biofeedback training are also helpful treatments. Envied ; Rather, 2010) Understanding the role psychological factors play in illness can help diagnose and treat the illness. Coronary heart disease is another illness mentioned in the text that can also be treated by understanding the underlying psychological factors that cause or trigger the illness. The list of factors for CHAD include, age and family, psychological conditions, lifestyle factors and type a behaviors as well as negative emotions. The majorities of the factors is psychological, or have psychological implications such as lifestyle factors.

Key Logistics Activities and Technologies Related to Logistics

Introduction Logistics play a major role in our life. Most of the people might not be aware of the importance of logistics until there are problems appear. Under the pressure of arising competitive environment, most of the business entities are initiated to focus on the development of logistics. Logistics can be said as the transfers of goods and services from the point of origin to the point of consumptions effectively and efficiently in order to meet the requirement of the customers (Logistics World, n. d. ). Logistics include the distributions of raw materials, in-progress inventories, finished goods and other related information.Successful logistics enable the business entities to deliver the goods and services consistently to the correct customers on time. Based on the question given, I do not agree with the statements saying that ‘logistics is nothing more than getting goods from one point to another’. Logistics covered much more aspects and involved a lot other ac tivities other than what the statement above mentioned. There are still many different types of activities in logistics such as customer services, inventory management, material handling and packaging, order processing, procurement and et cetera.On the other hand, in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of logistics management, a variety of solutions and technology advancements had been introduced to the business market. The literature below will review the other activities and the technologies improvement for logistics (Stock & Lambert, 2000). Key logistics activities One of the activities involved in logistics is the customer service. Stock & Lambert (2000) stated customer service is â€Å"a customer oriented philosophy that integrates and manages all elements of the customer interface within a predetermined optimum cost-service mix† (p. 4). To design a logistics system, companies should always start with setting a strong and clear customer service objective. W ithout having a common objective for everyone in the company, decisions about order strategies, production, transportation, inventory investment, and warehousing will not be consistent and effective. Customer service objective acts as guidelines for the logistics managers in setting up targets of their performance as well as making decisions when they encounter problems in the future.Logistics play an important role in ensuring high customer satisfaction. Getting the right product to the customers under the right condition, at the right place and the right time, as well as with the right cost are the main criteria for achieving a high customer satisfaction (Stock & Lambert, 2000). For example, Kraft Foods Incorporate make sure their customers get the right products they ordered at the right time and right place regardless of whether the customers are at the hypermarket in France or a cafe in Sweden (Kraft Foods, n. . ). Other that the five rights, excellent customer services also ne ed to make sure the order and return processes are convenient to customers. The company needs to provide accurate and consistent information to customer by selling the products and services that are worth for the price. Lastly, they need to deliver the products and services on time. By providing the best customer service and fulfilling all the five ‘right’ criteria, company will be able create higher customer satisfaction and therefore gaining competitive advantage.When customers are satisfied with the products and services provided by company, they will most likely become the loyal customers and support the products and services from the company in long term scenario (Stock & Lambert, 2000). Besides that, Banning & Gibson indicate loyal customers can act as one of the advertising medium by conveying positive messages and comments to their friends and family (Banning & Gibson, n. d. ). In that way, the market share and profitability of the company will increase and at t he same time the total costs of logistics also will reduce.Other than that, inventory management is also one of the activities under logistics. In the industries now, most of the company will hold inventory to achieve economies of scale. Company usually purchase and transport all inventory at once to reduce their cost. This is because purchase in a huge amount will reduce the cost of per-unit price while having a full truckload shipment will reduce the cost of per-unit transportation. Then, company will also choose to have a greater plant capacity so that the per-unit manufacturing cost will be lower.However, holding inventory contributed a significant amount of expenses to the companies due to high storage costs, capital cost, service cost, risk cost, and some of the product can be obsolescence in short time. Therefore, the company might try to minimize the expenses by reducing the amount of inventory without interrupting the flow of the products to the customers. Since there is co nflict between economies of scale with handling and warehousing costs, companies need to find a suitable way to balance of these two criteria.For instances, company can use Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) to determine the best amount of inventory to order (Stock & Lambert, 2000). The objective of every inventory planner is controlling the inventory they hold to meet the exact amount of customers’ demand. This is because either excess or shortage of inventory will bring up significant costs to the business affecting the operation and opportunities of the business (Management Study Guide, n. d. ). In addition to that, raw materials and parts, work-in-process, and finished goods inventories are required to be considered.These inventories require sufficient physical space, capital, and personnel time to maintain and pile up. A successful inventory management will determine the amount of inventory necessitate to meet the demand of customers and at the same time consider the costs ne eded to put in the logistic activities. Besides that, excellent inventory management can increase the cash flow and return on investment. Nowadays, many companies start paying more attention to inventory control especially on the products that can become obsolete in short time, such as high-tech merchandise, automobiles, and seasonal goods (Stock & Lambert, 2000).For example, in April 2005, Mazda Motor Corporation comes out with its Mazda Materials Management Planning (M3P) which is an inventory control system. The system of M3P improved inventory levels, enhanced the speed of supply, and ensure the Mazda’s retail and service operations are smooth all the time. Other than that, M3P also brings benefits to customer such as providing better customer service and shorten the length of responding time (Mazda, 2005). Furthermore, logistics need to take care of the material handling and packaging in the company.Material handling takes part in managing the flow of raw materials, in-p rocess inventory, and finished goods inside a warehouse. The costs of firm will increase for each and every item handled. Since handling the item will not increase the value of a product but incur more costs to the company, company should always try to reduce the number of material handling wherever possible by decreasing the inventory. Then, materials handling design the plan to reduce distance travelled of the materials and minimize the work-in-process of the materials.Other than that, material handling makes sure the materials can flow through the process consistently without having troubles. Lastly, material handling will find ways to decrease the possibility of getting losses from breakage, waste and spoilage (Stock & Lambert, 2000). On the other hand, packaging is the process of getting the container and wrapper to hold the products (Reference for Business, n. d. ). In logistics aspect, packaging of the products can act as a barrier to prevent the products from getting damaged during transportation of the products or storing the products.Furthermore, product with appropriate packaging is easier to be move or store. However, packaging will add up space and weights subsequently incur more cost. Thus, many people in this area always spend time in thinking ways to reduce to space and weight of the products after packaging (Stock & Lambert, 2000). A successful packaging strategy can help a firm to strengthen its competitive advantages such as optimizes service, cost, and become more convenient (Learn Marketing, n. d. ). When a product go international, the packaging will becomes more important to a company.The products are required to travel more distances and need more physically handling if compare to domestic packaging (Stock & Lambert, 2000). Additionally, order processing is taken to account when discussing about the activities of logistics. Order processing is the  process or work flow that starts with the receipt order from customer, followed by veri fying the order status and communicate about the order with customer, while lastly making order and ensure the availability of the products to satisfy customer’s needs (Jetef, n. d. ). Order processing can divide into three groups.The first group is the operational elements, including order shipping, setting preparation, order entry, scheduling, and invoicing. Next group is the communication elements, for example, order status inquiries, order modification, error correction, tracing and expediting, and product information requests. The last group of order processing is the credit and collection elements, such as accounts receivable processing and credit checking. The quality and speed of the information flow provided by company during the order processing to their customers can affect the cost and the efficiency of the entire operation.If the information flows are slow and erratic, the company will not only suffer from decreasing in customer, but also increasing transportatio n, inventory, and warehousing costs. The faster and more accurate the service the company can provide, the greater the customers satisfaction obtained by the company. Information system today can help in order processing by making the time of order processing to become shorter between order placement and product shipment. For example, customers’ order can be placed and sent to the company’s computer directly by using electronic data interchange (EDI).Decision support system (DSS), quick response (QR), efficient consumer response (ECR) and et cetera are other information system that can help the company to improve order processing and achieve customer service goals at competitive cost. Information system not only helps company to improve its speed, quality, and accuracy of order processing, but also help company to save some logistics expenses like transportation and inventory while boosting up the sales (Stock & Lambert, 2000). Finally, the last activity of logistics t hat this literature will discuss is procurement.Procurement is the effective purchasing of goods and services to make sure the manufacturing and logistics processes of the firm are run in effectiveness. In order for the company to ensure them to obtain the supplies that can meet their requirement in terms of time, location, quality and quantity, the company is required to procure suitable goods and services (Procurement, n. d. ). The procurement function includes supplier selection, determination of the form of material to acquire, purchasing time, pricing and quality control.According to WiseGEEK, while â€Å"procurement logistics are the processes used in the delivery, receipt, movement and storage of materials purchased for a business or organization†. The goals of procurement are to minimize the costs at the same time increase the service provided (WiseGEEK, n. d. ). In the purchasing process, the most important task is to choose the best supplier from all the potential v endors. The purchasing process is complicated. Decision makers and decision influencers from decision making unit (DMU) need to go through twelve steps of buying process when purchasing items from supplier.If company is doing routine buying, then some of the steps can be skipped (Stock & Lambert, 2000). When making purchasing decision, DMU also need to consider the number of orders, lead time requirements, delivery expectations, product reliability, drop-off locations and others. All of the final price of products should be including transportation and storage cost. Company can usually try to minimize these hidden costs by requesting just-in-time delivery from supplier (WiseGEEK, n. d. ). In short, paying enough attention o the management of purchasing cost as well as the evaluation of purchasing performance can lead to increasing profitability of a company (Stock & Lambert, 2000). Technologies related to logistics Due to an increase in attention paid on the logistics, experts start ed to develop more and more ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of logistics through acquiring the technologies. One of the most significant improvements made by technology is the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) (Stock & Lambert, 2000).EDI is the exchange of business messages and information through computers of the trading partners via communication cables with standard protocols and standard data formats (EasyLink Services, n. d. ). For example, EDI can be used when there are purchase orders. Organizations are able to make a purchase order with their suppliers through computers. EDI is more convenient for the organizations as the usage of internet are more and more common (Stock & Lambert, 2000). According to GXS, there are a few advantages of using EDI in logistics.EDI will transform most of the paper works into electronic base. Many of the procedures can be done automatically and quickly through the advancement of technologies. Therefore, the time taken to complet e the process will be reduces significantly. It promotes the efficiency of the organizations which leads to the increase of productivity. Besides, EDI replaced human to key in the data of the organizations routinely. When there are less human works, the probability of getting error in data entry will be reduced drastically or even eradicated.Furthermore, the data transferred among the computers are using the standard and same formats. This ensures that the data transferred to the receivers will be analyzed accurately and correctly. Thus, the communication error between the sender and receiver is diminished. The diminished in error will subsequently raise the efficiency of the organizations as well since there are less likely for the organizations to repeat the procedures and make corrections on the mistakes (GXS, n. d. ).In addition to that, EDI can also increase the accuracy of inventory and reduce the cycle time and thus reduce the cost of inventory. In such, EDI increases the pro ductivity while reducing the costs as well. With the development of the internet, EDI is free if it flows through the internet instead of VAN. Many major companies such as NASA Goddard, UNISYS and AVEX Electronics are now using EDI supported by the internet (Stock & Lambert, 2000). Bar coding is another technology advancement that contributes to the improvement of logistics.Bar coding are commonly use in our daily life such as the products in supermarket. Bar codes are a row of parallel bars distanced with a number of gaps with different width. They able to convey different messages in the form of letters, numbers and special characters based on the array of gaps between the bars. A beam of light is used to interpret the information of the bar codes and sent it to the computers. These codes are used mainly on tracking and security purposes. They are important in decreasing the probability of errors compare to key in the information manually.Statistics showed that the bar codes error rate is one out of hundred thousand while the error rate of manually key in data is one out of thirty. It had clearly showed that the error rate had been improved significantly (Stock & Lambert, 2000). In relation to the bar codes, as said by Lyne, Quick Respond (QR) codes from Japan are also introduced to the society. QR codes is a two dimensional barcodes that normally stored with specific links contained with extra information. QR codes are named because it can be scanned quickly even with the smart phones that installed with QR codes reader.It is convenient for the consumers to obtain certain information about the products since it does not required a specific code reader device just like that bar code reader. Furthermore, QR codes able to store more variety of information instead of letters, numbers and special characters only such as url links and geo coordinates. QR codes are enable the customer to know about the product details, contact details, coupons or event a link to Y ouTube video for further information (Lyne, 2009).For instance, the product code, manufacturing history, expiration date and other data can be encoded in the QR codes. Coca-cola had used this feature in their logistics management at Chukyo. They are able to check for the quality and track the products easily using QR codes (Sundaramurthy, n. d. ). Management Information System (MIS) is also one of the technologies used to improve logistics. A successful MIS is able to provide sufficient and relevant information for the managers in order to make an effective decision.There are five areas that MIS need to fulfil which are the timing, accuracy, relevance, completeness and consistency (Office of the Comptroller of Currency, 1995). MIS should be able to provide the latest and current information using the shortest time. The information collected should be checked buy auditors as well as ensuring the information is useful. Unwanted information need to be filtered and the relevant informat ion need to be summarize completely. Lastly, the method in processing and compiling the information need to be consistent so that the manager will not misunderstand the information.MIS is important in logistics for collecting, analyzing and interpreting the information from various aspects such as the suppliers, resources, transportation and so on. MIS can make sure there is no interruption n the supply chain. A well managed MIS allowed the organizations to control every detail in different region in a faster time (Stock & Lambert, 2000). In real example, World Health Organization need to have an uninterrupted supply of drugs through the supply chain to ensure the increasing number of HIV/AIDS patients are able to get their treatment (World Health Organization, n. d. ).