Last Blog

I cannot believe that the semester is over already. Although the semester went by quickly, I have learned a lot of new information in this course. Some new information I learned in this course is how to design a blog entry. Before creating my own blog, I had heard that many people write their own blogs daily. I never thought that I would write and create one myself.  When I first started my blog, I was not sure how others would see my blog. I did not understand if I had add followers so people could see what I wrote each week or not. Then I learned that for others to see your blog it is best to create a Google reader account. By creating accounts all people have to do is add the title of your blog then each time you create a new post, that post is sent to their account.  Once I added other peoples account to my Google reader, I would occasionally reader other blogs. Most of the time the topics determine whether I read other peoples blogs. I believe that online blogging is for people that have the time to do so. I enjoy it, but I do not think I could create topics that my readers would enjoy reading. All in all info 211 has taught me a lot in the areas of excel and access. After taking this class and enjoying the class, I have decided to minor in information systems.

Supply Chain for Tropicana

 

Suppliers Supplier	Acres of groves that grow the oranges in Florida.
Supplier	•          Tropicana juice plants
Manufacturer	•          Tropicana
Distributor	•          Tropicana sites located in New jJrsey, Ohio, and California.
Retailer	•          Grocery Stores
Customer	•          Restaurants, covenant stores, and people
Customers Customer	•          People eating inside restaurants, and individuals

In the Supply Chain of Tropicana orange juice the cost of fuel increases at the level from the distributor to the level of the retailer.


If I had to pick one level in the supply chain that would be most important in controlling the costs, I would choose the price Tropicana sets to sell their product. Because Tropicana performs most of the laboring themselves, those costs are controlled for the most part. The price is the most important factor because if there is a decrease in growth on oranges, then Tropicana needs to increase their prices because there are a limited amount of oranges.

There a numerous departments involved in the Tropicana company. On average there are at least five. You would defiantly have human resources to manage the factory works. Linguistics to keep of the trains distributing the juice to different retailers.  A marketing team to advertise your product to consumers. These are just a few examples of different departments that your company will have.  

Comment on story of Stuff Video

 

The video “story of stuff” was a very strong political pull. Not only was the political pull, but it was creative. The creativity was in the animation. While the presenter was talking, behind her were objects moving around as the presenter talked. What the presenter was talking about impacted me on so many different levels. For example, I never really paid attention to the cost included when I purchase an iPod. This video made me realize that the workers who made this product probably earn less money than I paid for the iPod. Another way this video impacts my life is because the American population is deposing toxicants into the world around us. The toxicants are killing trees among us. The United States alone is depleting half of the world’s natural resources. After watching this video I have since changed my view on the material cycle. Before I honestly did not care too much about how items are thrown away. But after realizing that humans are causing the damages we are creating I now want to change how I throw item away.    

Supply Chain

Supply Chain is a network of suppliers, retailers, and wholesalers, which move a product or service from a supplier to a customer. This sort of production moves the product from the production site to the site of final use. Supply chain impacts my life in many different ways today. For insistence, most of the clothes I wear are made in other countries. The material is a made in China, and then shipped to the United States; next the distributor delivers the finished product to different stores. Finally after the manufactured good is in the stores then I, the buyer can purchase the item. The same concept is illustrated in grocery stores. For example Perdue farms are located in Salisbury, Maryland. The chicken is raised, killed, and cleaned in Salisbury. After the chicken is killed and cleaned it is then distributed to different grocery stores. The two examples described above best explain of how supply chain impacts my life today.


http://www.city.academic.gr/material/academic_staff/business_administration/morgan/rmn/SHARED/Articles/scm%20effect.pdf

American Educational System

It is sad to hear that America (one of the richest nations in the world) has the worst educational systems. CBS news has found that nations like Japan and South Korea have the most effective educational systems in the world. "Dewayne Matthews, vice president of the Denver-based Education Commission of the States found that the biggest thing is obviously the socio-economic background of the child and how well-educated their parents are." It is a proven fact that the level of a child parent’s educational level will determine how far that child will go. I suppose that this statement is 100 percent true. I personally believe that America's education system could be improved. I attended public myself and I think the system could be more effective. From attending a public I do not think the curriculum prepared me for college or the real world at all. I’m sure that other nations like South Korea well prepare their students for life after high school and college. I found a website that shows numerous of nations and where they fall according to their educational level. According to the graph it showed that that United States math score was 501, a reading score of 500, and a science score of 508. All three of these scores combined gave the United States a ranking of 14th. Considering we are one of the wealthiest countries our ranking does not match our economic status.



1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-maths-science-reading


2. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/26/world/main530872.shtml

Decision Making software

I currently do not use any type of decision making software. Excel is considered an example of decision making software, but only I use it when I have an assignment for a class that must be completed on excel software. Analytica, is another type of software that was created to aid people in the process of their decision making. Analytica allows its users to analyze create and manage multidimensional tables with an ease and reliability unknown in spreadsheets. This software also allows people to evaluate risk and uncertainty within their decisions.

http://www.lumina.com/why-analytica/

Plagiarism

• Statistically how prevalent is plagiarism on college campuses?
In 2003 the National Survey of Student Engagement conducted a study that revealed that 87% of the students who took the survey online said their peers copied data from the Internet without citing sources at least some of the time.
(http://www.mlaforum.org/volumeV/issue2/article1.html)

• In what ways does technology support plagiarism?
Revealed that plagiarism detection systems such as Turnitin that are routinely used by universities. The software works by extracting text from an essay or assignment and checking whether it matches text from other sources, such as documents available online.
(http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=414881)

• What are colleges and universities doing to fight plagiarism?
According to an article posted on USA Today, professors and college admissions committees are increasingly using plagiarism detection software to detect copied academic papers and personal statements.

(http://www.ehow.com/info_7994370_colleges-doing-fight-plagiarism.html)


• How, or have you been impacted by plagiarism?
I have never been impacted by plagiarism. Committing the act of plagiarism is a risky and immoral crime. I believe in submitting my own work in my own words.