Lipstick product ethical analysis Research Paper

Lipstick product ethical analysis - Research Paper Example Since the primary objective of a business is seen as profit-making, these issues are hardly considered despite their harmfulness to either health of environment. For that reason, this paper intends to investigate one of the lipstick products, Maybelline to be precise, and offer recommendations on ways to change the process if need be. Maybelline, like any other product, undergoes a series of stages before it has been disposed including extraction, production, distribution, consumption and eventually disposal. First, the extraction process of Maybelline, just like other lipsticks, starts with the gathering of the necessary materials before the mixing process is initiated. Some of the materials used in the extraction process include the oils, emollients, pigments and waxes. Emollients are responsible for the texture and color that Maybelline comes with. Once the gathering of these materials has taken place, the next stage entails the production of the complete product. Here, all the ingredients are ground before undergoing a heating process after which the already-heated waxes are usually added to the mix. Then, lanolin and other oils are added as per the specifications to the mix. Once this is done, different metal molds are used where this liquid is poured. The last two steps see the chilling and cooling of the l ipsticks in a bid to harden them, and a second heating occurs with an aim to create a shiny appearance whilst removing any imperfections (Monnot et al. p.253). While there are claims that Maybelline is lead-free, there has been no concrete evidence to prove this claim. In fact, it had been noted that many of the red lipsticks contain a significant amount of lead with a US consumer group reporting that 60% of the lipsticks that were tested in 2007 had higher levels of lead than the ones allowed (Lemaire p.2265). Also, Maybelline lipstick was among the top ten lipsticks containing a

Beer Market Analysis Essay Example for Free

Beer Market Analysis Essay Brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several leading multinational companies and many small local producers. Regardless of beer consumption been affected by the economic crisis, expected growth at a CAGR globally for years 2009-2014 is 1. 8%, with Africa, Asia-Pacific and Middle East becoming the leaders of beer consumption. Moreover, the industry’s further growth is expected due to increasing beer consumption in China. But at the same time, expected CAGR for North America is only 0,5%, and Western Europe is supposed to have marginal decline. Leaders of the market, with 50% of sales, are Anheuser-Busch InBev, SABMiller, Heineken NV and Carlsberg A/S. From the â€Å"Leading global beer brands† graph we can see that category of lagers holds leading position in industry. According to SUBMiller report, there are 3 trends, which had anticipated the increase drive in beer market value by 2012, and those are: * Consumer upgrading to better beer quality due to increase purchasing power * Growing beer-consumer population base * Marketing and promotional activities aimed on differentiation From the other side, there are several threats for both local and global beer producers. Some of them are: increased competition from other alcoholic beverages (mainly, wine in Europe and spirits in the US), or the smoking ban in public places, which has negatively affected the the number of orders of beer in restaurants and bars. Moreover, it is forecasted that due to increasing health consciousness, customers may switch to alternatives like dry wine, which also would retard the beer consumption. All these trends and numbers made beer brewers to improve their brand image in order to increase sales and grab global market share. For that many leading brewer companies focused on innovative packaging and labeling concepts, which would help to inform clients about innovations in health, following the sustainability trends and increase in premiumisation. For example, one of largest beer producers in the world, Carlsberg, in order to double profits by 2015, had to revamp branding, ingredients used and to widen the distribution. Carlsberg launched their â€Å"That calls for Carlsberg† campaign in over 140 markets, to adopt a single global brand positioning and to relate brand to global consumers.

Heavy Weather At American Airlines :: essays research papers

Heavy Weather at American Airlines Business Week Heavy Weather at American Jan.27 1997 pg 32 There is a big shake up at American Airlines. The pilots want more money but management has already spent it. Another strike you say. Yip, looks like it. The chief executive of American Airlines was stunned when on January 8, by an overwhelming vote, pilots rejected a tentative contract. Pilots then got a message from the company president saying "For the first time in many years, we fear for the future of our company." The reason that this strike could spell disaster for one of the leading airlines in the world is the rather large order of new aircraft American ordered from Boeing. American says that having to pay higher pilot salaries and buy new aircraft makes it an uneconomical investment, in other words they can not do both and still stay in business. A strike could even threaten a purposed alliance with British Airways. American in not alone though. With industry profits on the constant rise, employees of other airlines are pushing for higher pay also, but undeniably American is in the worst position right now. It looks to me like the pilots were not very happy with the decision to purchase new aircraft from Boeing back in November when it was first voted on. It seems as though instead of purchasing new aircraft the pilots wanted a pay increase. What the pilots want is a pay increase of 11% over the next four years. What the have been offered is a 5% increase. The argument that the pilots have put forward is the fact that their offer does not even keep up with inflation. It looks as though a strike would be very unlikely because of the amount of money involved, somewhere around fifty million a day would be lost by American. That big of a loss could be very detrimental to any company. What can management do with a dilemma like this? It seem that they departed without knowing where they were going to land. They should have made sure there would not have been an uprising in any part of the company before the took measures as drastic as ordering six-billion dollars in new aircraft. It looks to me like there needs to be better communication between all facets of management in this company. The only way out of this mess that I can see is to reduce the order from Boeing so that they can afford to give the pilots there precious pay increases. This could cause more problems depending on how lenient the contract between

Domestic Violence in the Lgbt Community

Domestic Violence is fundamentally different in LGBT relationships for numerous reasons. There are many causal and contributory factors that make domestic violence in the LGBT community uniquely different than male-to-female or female-to-male battering. To understand these differences one must recognize domestic violence beyond the stereotypical heterosexual manifestation. According to A Professional Guide to Understanding Gay and Lesbian Domestic Violence, same-sex battering mirrors heterosexual battering, but same-sex victims have fewer resources and are less protected.Seven states define domestic violence in a way that excludes same-gender victims. Making matters worse is the fact that in some states sodomy is still considered a crime which forces a victim to confess to a crime in order to prove a domestic relationship. Many women’s shelters refuse services or safety to same-sex victims. Since same-sex marriage is not legal, many families are not considered â€Å"real fami lies† in the eyes of the law, making it more difficult for these victims to get help. Perhaps one of the most compelling reasons LGBT domestic violence is so different is found in the unique communities of LGBT people.LGBT communities â€Å"provide social forums, rites of passage, rituals for celebration, and bodies of art and literature that combat isolation and allow us to explore our full potentials (Bartlet, 1993). † Because many LGBT people feel shunned and excluded from the American ideal, they have forged their own communities as refuge from the inequalities and persecution of mainstream America. The tools a batterer uses to maintain control, like power and control, cut across all lines of gender identity and sexual orientation, but a batterer’s behavior is always peppered with community influences.Batterers play on their victim’s vulnerabilities and community values to maintain control. The volumes of hate, hostility, and condemnation directed at L GBT people from mainstream America encourage self-loathing and internalized homophobia. It covertly forces isolation and creates a false sense of safety from within the community. And LGBT batterers manipulate those difficult realities to employ highly effective weapons against their partners. So community is a strong contributing factor to domestic violence in the LGBT community.The Frustration-Aggression theory of domestic violence adds another distinction to LGBT domestic violence. In essence, this theory opines that human beings can become violent when their goals are blocked. For gay male and female abusers, this theory is painfully true. Throughout childhood, before sexuality begins to develop, gay youngsters, like everyone else, think about and plan their future selves. They negotiate a life path within the frames of family, community, society, and the culture in which they live.In early adolescence, when sexuality comes to the fore and one’s homosexuality is questione d, those dreams of family and community begin to feel too exclusionary. This can be a time of tremendous stress; the sense of being inherently different and â€Å"bad† can be overwhelming. All the evils about homosexuals one has likely heard in the media and around the family can be internalized, and begin a pattern of self-hate and destruction. All adolescents ask the question, â€Å"Who am I? †, but for the adolescent homosexual it becomes increasingly more difficult to recognize that one is not necessarily growing up to be the person he originally imagined.And the person he is becoming is reduced to villainy by mainstream America. He begins to realize that many of his life goals are blocked, like marriage and basic human rights. Without a strong support system to negotiate and redefine his identity, this can be a traumatic and damaging experience. But family support is often lacking and positive gay role models are scarce. Coming out in adolescence is often a terrif yingly alone experience that can damage the soul and lead to frustration and anxiety that will carry on into future relationships.Coming to terms with second-class citizenship in the families, communities, and society in which he has imagined himself so abundantly different can result in frustration and feed the self-hate that has already started seeping in. And anger develops when certain fundamental goals are blocked. With such rite-of-passage circumstances as these, it is no wonder that domestic violence happens in 39% of gay male relationships (Merrill, pg. 44). A psychological aspect that contributes to the escalation of Domestic Violence in the LGBT community can be associated with the term heterosexism.Many use the term heterosexism to describe an individual who strongly believes in heterosexual relationships. Heterosexual relationships are described as being attracted to the opposite sex and being in intimate contact with only the opposite sex. Heterosexism is used in correl ation to negative attitudes, bias, and discrimination of those who favor same sex relationships. The reason why this term is becoming associated with same-sex relationships that involve domestic violence is due to the use of power and control related to the term heterosexism.The power and control that ensues from heterosexism being used could be easily be described as â€Å"outing the victim in the abusive relationship. † One gathers an idea of the victim’s â€Å"out† status within the individual’s work, friends, and family relationships. Inquiring if the victim has told those he or she cares for about his or her sexual preference usually does this. Knowing this information is beneficial to the abuser because it will allow the abuser to control what the victim will say to the police, or anyone, about any abuse that would exist in the relationship.The contradiction of this term would exist within the abusers identity. The abuser would use the victimâ€℠¢s fear of exposure against that individual as if it would be a bad thing to come out to those who care for and love the victim. The abuser will use ideology related to bigotry slanders, faith, natural law, or popular beliefs as a weapon to keep this victim in the cycle of abuse. Same-sex female domestic violence is an unspoken problem in the lesbian, bisexual, transgender population.Facts about lesbian domestic violence, myths within the population and services are all misconceived reasons why female domestic violence is such a big issue. There is not a lot of data on female same-sex domestic violence. Therefore, most information is taken from heterosexual domestic violence cases and small population samples from the lesbian community such as women’s festivals and lesbian cruises. Within the lesbian, bisexual, transgender community domestic violence is taboo. A fact from the Lesbian Partner Violence Fact Sheet is 17 – 45 % of lesbians have reported being involved in a t least one case of abuse (Rose, 2000).Lesbian victims of abuse are fearful of speaking out for reasons of being judged and pushed out by the lesbian community as a whole. The lesbian, bisexual, transgender communities within a certain area can be small. Unpleasant public allegations ostracize the person and take away community support. Lesbians have few choices of where and how to get help and support, yet the numbers of lesbians affected by domestic violence is about the same as the number of female victims in heterosexual couples (Pattavina, 2007).Types of abuse in female same-sex domestic violence is similar to heterosexual couples, such as hitting, pushing, slapping, disrupting sleep, having sex when one doesn’t want to, and not talking to one another. Behaviors in female same sex domestic violence also include â€Å"jealousy, controlling, becoming involved too quickly, unrealistic expectations, blaming others for their feelings, and hypersensitivity† (rainbowdome sticviolence. itgo. com).A difference is that in a small-knit community, fear of losing support from family and friends isolates and potentially prevents the victim from getting help or even reporting the abuse (Hassaouneh, 2008). But the fear of being â€Å"outted† if that partner is recognized in public, at work, or by the family as being a lesbian is a homophobic fear that hampers the victim in leaving or getting support (Hassouneh, 2008). There is also the isolation within minority groups of lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders.Lesbians often have less support in terms of cultural, ethnic, and religious background to turn to in time of difficulty, like domestic violence (Pattavina et al. , 2007). Especially in cultures where women are not as valued as much as men, it can lead to feelings of discrimination within one’s own community. There is a myth among the lesbian community that a utopia exists. The myth about â€Å"lesbian utopia† is that women are sensi tive, nurturing, caring, and get along better because of those reasons. Lesbian utopia is just that, a myth. Women do hit, hurt, and violate other women.Another myth about female intimate partner couples is that there is a more masculine â€Å"butch† woman and a more feminine woman in the relationship. That is not always the case. Yet another myth is that the â€Å"butch† or masculine women is the batterer. Again that is not always the case. A big myth is that female same-sex violence is not as dangerous or serious as heterosexual or gay male couple’s domestic violence (Hassouneh 2008). Violence is violence regardless of who perpetrates it. Female intimate partner abuse is under-reported (McClennen and Gunther, 1999).Many lesbians are afraid of losing the only support system they have (Miller et al, 2000). It may be that the perpetrator is their only support system and there is no knowledge of whom or where to turn for help. Then there is the lesbian who does re port and she, the victim, ends up getting arrested (Hassouneh, 2008). The misinformation among law enforcement about how to identify the victim in same-sex domestic violence cases is not always cut and dry (Miller et al. , 2000). There are perpetrators that act as victims.The larger of the two women may get arrested even if she is not the masculine one in appearance. Or the more masculine-appearing woman does get arrested although she may be the victim. There are not always services for women who are lesbian, bisexual, or transgender in the community (Hassouneh, 2008). Either, shelters don’t accept women from the lesbian, bisexual, transgender community or there is no legal standing within the state to substantiate a crime. Many states do not recognize same-sex relationships therefore there are no laws in regards to protection.Many victims in female intimate partner relationships may have experienced violence from a heterosexual relationship in the past. Also â€Å"lesbian i ndividuals are more likely to experience domestic abuse at the hands of their partners than to be exposed to antigay violence perpetrated by strangers† (Pattavina et al. , 2007). A study done by Blaise Fortunata and Carolynn Kohn (2003) of 82 participants, 25 being batterers and 57 non-batterers, states batterers were more likely to have been victims of sexual and/or physical abuse in their childhoods. Also, there was a higher use of drugs and alcohol among batterers.The study suggested some personality traits a batterer would have, such as â€Å"antisocial, aggressive, borderline, paranoid and delusional† (Fortunata and Kohn, 2003). These traits would be seen as lacking in the areas of â€Å"poor boundaries, impulse control, problem solving, affect regulation, along with fear of abandonment, jealousy, low self esteem and an inflated sense of entitlement† (Fortunata and Kohn, 2003). Although Harvey Wallace, the author of the class textbook, would say that there a re not any specific characteristics that would describe an abuser. Wallace then goes n to cite factors by other researchers that backup what was depicted in the Fortunata and Kohn study. Factors or characteristics such as the abuser having â€Å"abuse in the family of origin, low self-esteem, male superiority, authoritarian personality and copes by minimizing the abuse† are Wallace’s (2008) examples. The first step in getting treatment as a victim is to accept that the victim is a victim. Reaching out for help, looking up shelter phone numbers and calling them, or getting a plan together for when the victim needs to get out are some good first steps (rainbowdomesticviolence. itgo. com).Educate the victim in how to create a safety plan by putting personal items such as birth certificate, credit cards, and medications all together so one can leave quickly (rainbowdomesticviolence. itgo. com). Have clothes and hygiene products available in the car or at a friend’s house. Give the victim time to regroup. Her life has been turned upside-down, and the healing process will take a while. When examining homosexual relationships, meaning male-to-male relationships, we see that studies as a whole indicate they have higher rates of promiscuity and violent behavior than heterosexual couples.We must rely on studies for more accurate rates of domestic violence in homosexual couples because much of the abuse is under-reported. Under reporting is due to largely the same reasons we have discussed about why lesbian victims fear asking for help from law enforcement, friends, or family. The American Journal of Public Health has published a detailed study of domestic violence victimization in the homosexual community. It focused on four geological areas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. The study resulted in 2,881 complete interviews (Merrill, pg. 23).In these interviews the men answered highly personal questions under strict confidentiality. This was a large groundbreaking study that has been the cornerstone of homosexual domestic violence research. It was revealed that 39% of those studied reported being battered by their spouse at least once in the last five years. This figure was much higher than heterosexual women victimizations at 11. 6% (Merrill, pg. 44). Men infected with the AIDS virus were more at risk for psychological and physical abuse than their HIV negative peers, and were more likely to be victimized in a sexual manner (Merrill, pg. 1). Solid research like this helps to open our eyes to a real problem with homosexual domestic violence, and it needs to be addressed. We need to de-sensitize law enforcement officials and set up more support for homosexual victims and therapy for perpetrators. There is a direct link between high rates of promiscuity and partner violence because cheating is common. Having multiple partners outside of the relationship can dilute the quality of the relationship; furthermore, it blurs boundary lines. Promiscuity commonly leads to jealousy, which in turn leads to emotional and physical abuse (Cruz, pg. 60). The sexual relationships of gay males are plagued with domestic violence, just as lesbian and heterosexual relationships are. There are many similarities and differences when considering the factors that go into domestic violence when looking at gay males versus lesbians and heterosexuals †¦ lets take a look at a few of them. As discussed before, lesbians have a fear of being â€Å"outted† when others are alerted to the abuse happening in their relationships. Gay males who have not fully come out of the closet have this same fear, which may cause them to not report abuse by their spouses.However, HIV rates run much higher in the gay male population than in the lesbian population, and perpetrators have been known to blackmail their victims with the threat of revealing their HIV- positive status (Cruz pg. 164). In terms of law enforcement and ho w it often handles cases of LGBT domestic violence, they stereotypically see the bigger or more masculine partner as the perpetrator, which often times sends the victim to jail. Police are primarily responsible for enforcing domestic violence laws. Legal agencies, in general, are conservative, and many don’t try to conceal their homophobia.This trait begins with the police, and goes up through criminal justice system. The DA’s, judges, and probation officers have their own social biases, which often do not support gay and lesbian victims. This is especially problematic for criminal prosecutors who enforce victim protection orders. The patriarchal nature of our society makes it difficult for law enforcement to enforce domestic violence laws. This heterosexual bias also reflects the resistance of the prosecution and judicial systems to prosecute same-sex offenders. The vagueness of the mandate to law enforcement personnel allows a great deal of discretion on he part of t he individual officer in the disposition of a domestic violence investigation. â€Å"The lack of systematic training on this issue for police officers heightens the idiosyncratic enforcement of laws. The unpredictable nature of the police response represents a significant deterrent to reporting domestic violence among gay/lesbian/bisexual families. This occurs despite the fact that as a matter of policy, preferred arrest policies do exist in many states and localities. These policies suggest that the preferred response to a report of battering is to make the arrest. There are many resources designed to support the LGBT community. Yet, in researching policies of domestic violence issues, one will find one story after another about the fear surrounding reporting these instances to authorities. It appears that these networks provide the majority of support for many issues, and that those in the LGBT community cannot and perhaps, should not report instances of domestic violence to the police. In conclusion, it is important to remember both the similarities and the differences between heterosexual and LGBT domestic violence.Despite the fact that the same dynamics of power and control are evident in both forms, the sexual orientation of the partners, the effects of the battery, and certainly, whether there are ample helping resources should the victim decide to reach out have everything to do with how the perpetrator chooses to maintain that control. It is essential that we recognize domestic violence in all our communities. And it is essential that we build community-specific strategies to end domestic violence in all its forms.

Hartalega Holdings Berhad Strategic Management

1. Introduction Hartalega Holdings Berhad is a gloves manufacturer and began their business with the vision of produce gloves that protect life (Hartalega, 2013). Hartalega has experienced tremendous growth in the market and there are many issues and problems that faced by them. The first issue that faced by Hartalega is fluctuation of US dollar (CIMB Research Report, 2011). USA is a key market for glove industry and has contributing part of the market share of Malaysian industries. Fluctuation on US dollar has affected the margins of the company.Besides, the economic conditions have influence the glove industry will continue to be unstable due to rises in material and production costs. Moreover, high latex price also is one of the issue that faced by Hartalega (CIMB Research Report, 2011). Latex prices continue to be volatile would bring an effect to its margin. Supply of latex may be reduced due to the weather conditions. During the dry season in Thailand and Malaysia, it would dec rease the production of latex. Thus, price of latex during dry season will be slightly higher compare to other season.Furthermore, Hartalega faced the issue about labor. The recent governments policies about foreign labor have cause a great concern for the gloves industry. The gloves industry has voiced out their concerns towards this issue because hired labor would have an impact on the manufacturers’ costs. Besides, more and more glove manufacturers are using automation and it will decrease the reliance on manpower. Next, pollution is one of the most important issues that faced by Hartalega as their company’s reputation has affected by the negative news or rumours.Hartalega was received complaints from the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Dept and a few residents of Taman Suria and claim that they are causing air and water pollution. Hartalega deny all the accusation and declare that they are operating legally according to the Malaysian environment regu latory standard (â€Å"Hartalega: Aggrieved At Accusations†, 2010). This might affect the reputation and the creditworthiness of Hartalega and might cause the market share decrease in this particular time frame. 2. Remote EnvironmentRemote environment is the factors that affect a form of decision making abilities, but are beyond its control. Political, economic, social, technological and ecological factor are the factors that include in the remote environment. The first factor is political factor. Hartalega has exports almost all of their products mainly to the developed countries such as USA, Brazil, Japan, Germany, Europe, Malaysia and others. Hartalega also has expanded its business successfully to China and India. Gloves sales have increase but a little drop in the selling prices. Major output of the company is made up by nitrile gloves.The total costs of the gloves increases due to the high output and increase in labor costs. Besides, the recent governments policies abou t foreign labor have cause a great concern for the industry. Hartalega have to adjust the wage structure of their workers due to the minimum wage ruling that effective from January 2013 that regulate by the government. Stringent government regulatory also is the threat for Hartalega. There are many government regulations and policies need to be follow by the company such as minimum wage legislation, guidelines on buffer zones and more.If companies fail to follow or break the rule that enforce by government, it may bring them into trouble, such as they might receive penalty from the government. Next is economic factor. Fluctuation of US dollar, raw materials prices increase and fuel costs rising has bring an impact towards the gloves industry with challenging economic conditions (Hartalega, 2013). Fluctuation on US dollar has affected the margins of the company. The nitrile gloves have experienced declining its margins due to high raw materials price and face competition with their c ompetitors.Furthermore, demand for nitrile gloves have not affected by economic crisis and slowdown because it is a recession proof products and an essential thing in the healthcare sector. Hartalega expects the demand for nitrile gloves will maintain positive growth in the future and continue export to the other countries such as Europe, China and India. In economic factor, Hartalega might face the threat of high latex price. Latex prices change irregularly would create a threat to its margin. Supply of latex may be reduced due to the weather conditions as well as measures to support rubber prices by Thailand and Malaysia.The dry season in Thailand and Malaysia would decrease the production of latex. Thus, price of latex during dry season will be slightly higher compare to other season. In the social factor, the annual report of Hartalega has show that Hartalega has enjoy the 100% market share in Victoria, Australia because all public hospitals in this state only used Hartalegaâ₠¬â„¢s gloves. Global hospital supplies market also is one of the opportunities for Hartalega. People wearing gloves in the hospital help to prevent spread of germs and help to protect both medical staff and patients from infection.Hence, it also shows that Hartalega has a big opportunity to growth in this area. Hartalega can offer top quality and great selection of gloves to the hospitals or other industry, so that more and more people from all around the world can choose and use Hartalega’s gloves. Opportunity that can be found in this factor is industry recognition. Industry recognition defines as the degree of public awareness for the brand or products. Hartalega has put many efforts in innovation, quality, R&D and good manufacturing.Thus, Hartalega has the opportunity to gain more recognition from all around the world as the company continually expands its business to more nations. Furthermore, technological factor is also one of the factors that affect a decision making abilities of the company. Advancements in technology enables Hartalega placed them with a competitive advantage in the glove industry. High efficiency production lines, automated product handling system, glove removal system, process simulator and biomass heat energy plant are the technologies that used by Hartalega (Hartalega, 2013).High efficiency production lines is the latest high speed production lines in the industry which able to produce 40,000 pieces of gloves per hour. Automated product handling system used to remove defect during transit, packing and storage. RFID tags are tagged in every pallet, so that can monitoring the product movements and make sure the products are on time delivery to the customers. Besides, glove removal system used to decrease the reliance towards the manual workforce. This system also able to remove nitrile and latex gloves quickly from the hand moulds.Process Simulator enable the company test their imagination in a timely manner and ensure quick delivery of a new product to their customers. The opportunity that found in this factor is advancement of technology. Technology advancement enables the company produce more pieces of gloves in a shorter time and better quality. Besides, automated product handling system that used by Hartalega also enable the company can easily track the location of the products and ensures provides an on time delivery to their customers. Last is ecological factor.Hartalega has set up a â€Å"next generation integrated glove manufacturing complex† (NGC) that contains high technology production lines and mainly involved in the production of rubber gloves (Hartalega, 2013). The project location is landscaped to be green and eco-friendly environment. Moreover, Hartalega has used biomass energy plants to avoid emission of Greenhouse Gases (Hartalega, 2013). Biomass energy plant is the only environmental friendly energy plant in the industry where it burn on the plantation waste to generate heat f or the production process.Hartalega also used effluent water treatment plants to ensure the waste that the company discharge is no harm to the environment. Biomass heat energy plant allowed Hartalega to conduct their business in a more effective way. Negative complaint about pollution could a threat for Hartalega. In year 2010, Hartalega has received complaints from Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Dept and some residents of Taman Suria and claim that they are violate the environmental regulations that set by government. Hartalega deny all the accusation and declare that they are operating legally according to the regulations stated.Although Hartalega has state that they have independent inspectors and consultants who regularly test water and air emissions to ensure it is always full compliance with the requirements of government, but this also might happen again if they did not provide sufficient information and training that relates to the green environment to their employees. This also might affect the reputation and the creditworthiness of Hartalega and might caused the market share decrease in this particular time frame. 3. Industry Environment Industry environment is the concept to the foreground for the strategic thought and business planning.This includes Porter 5 Forces that explain the competitiveness of the particular company in the relevant industry. The strategic business manager can use this model or strategy to get a better understanding of the industry context in which the firm involves so that an effective strategy to compete with rival can be developed. There are 5 forces or factors to create the competitiveness of the company which is the threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers and intensity of rivalry.Threat of the new entrants is the seriousness of the barriers occurred or presented by the existing competitors to the new entrants to enter the relevant industry o r market. A high threat of entry means that the new comers are likely to be attracted to the profits of the industry and can enter the market with ease. New entrants enter the market can threaten or decrease the profit gained by the existing competitors which mean high threat of entry will result the industry become more competitive. The glove industry has high threat of entrants as only RM1 million to RM1. millions is needed to start a line (CIMB Research Report, 2007). Cheap labor, low level of technology skills needed and natural gas access as well as the procurement price for latex due to bulk purchase making the barrier of entry high for the new entrants. However, although it is cheap to enter the industry, new comers may not be competitive as they have to differentiate themselves from other existing competitors and need to compete in terms of volume to enjoy the economies of scale. Moreover, threat of substitutes is the availability of product a consumer can purchase instead o f the industry’s product.The availability of close substitute products can make an industry more competitive and decrease the profitability of the particular market. The threat of substitutes for rubber glove industry is relatively low as the industry is dominated by the main 6 players, namely Top Glove, Supermax, Kossan Rubber, Hartalega, Latexx Partners and Adventa. Top Glove is the traditional industry leader but recent research showed that Hartalega has had taking on Top Glove in term of the success on the development of R&D (Research and Design) of Hartalega.The other reason for the low threat of substitutes is low rubber glove cost and making no incentives for the research house to find other alternatives. The bargaining power of suppliers explains the pressure the suppliers can exert on business by raising prices or reducing the quality of purchased goods and services. Powerful suppliers can squeeze the profitability out of an industry to recover cost increases in its own prices. (Pearce, 2012). The main raw material for rubber glove industry is latex.The steady easing in the price of latex since April 2011 and currently stable price appeared to be favorable to the glove manufacturers. Top Glove has ventured upstream into rubber plantations to secure a stable latex supply. Meanwhile, Kossan Rubber is concerning on the niche market that might get better margin, Supermax is putting effort on downstream distribution network and Hartalega is creating more values on its innovation technological of the production lines. So, the bargaining power of suppliers might be low as the results of effort that the glove manufacturers have putted.Furthermore, the bargaining power of buyers refers to the pressure the buyers can exert on business by force down the price, demand higher quality or more services and play competitors off against each other in term of the expense of industry profits. Strong buyers can pressure sellers to lower the prices for the products , improve products’ quality or offer better services. As mentioned just now, the substitutes for the rubber glove is low as the industry is dominated by the main six players. So, the bargaining power of buyer is tentatively low as well.It is because there is not much alternatives the buyers can choose to purchase. The buyers for glove industry are mainly as doctors or laboratory users. Lastly, intensity of rivalry explains to the extent to which firms within an industry put pressure on other competitors and limit their profit potential. High intensity of rivalry means competitors aggressively other competitors’ target and aggressively pricing products. The industry leader for rubber glove industry is always Top Glove where Hartalega is the world’s largest synthetic glove manufacturer.There is a high intensity of rivalry in the rubber glove industry. For instance, on the topic of labor costs with respect to the monthly minimum wages to be RM 900 in Peninsular Mal aysia and RM800 in Sabah and Sarawak, OSK Research Sdn Bhd. analyst Jerry Lee noted that Top Glove Corporation Bhd. might be the most impacted and Hartalega Holdings Bhd. is the least affected due to its innovation in automating its production lines. On this issue, Top Glove might be affected due to the ineffectiveness of handling the labor issue.It may affect its image of industry leader. As a conclusion, the threats of new entrants is high, threat of substitutes is low, bargaining power for both suppliers and buyers are low and there is high intensity of rivalry. So, the rubber glove manufacturing industry is attractive and still can earn good profit the 5 forces can be managed well by the relevant firms in the industry. 4. Operating Environment The operating environment describes the conditions, entities, events, and factors that surrounding the organization that will affect the choices and activities.A firm needs to depend on the operating environment because it will affect the organization in acquiring the needed resources or in term of profitability. The factors are the firm’s competitive position, the composition of its customers, its reputation among suppliers and creditors and its ability to attract qualified employees (Pearce, 2012). A firm’s competitive position explains the position of the particular firm in the relevant industry. It can be the leader industry or just a follower in the industry.By accessing the competitive position of the firm, the organization able to more accurately forecast both its short and long term growth and its profit potential. Hartalega is the world’s largest synthetic glove manufacturer where Top Glove is the industry leader in rubber glove industry. Although Hartalega is not the industry leader but it acquires sufficient resources and technology in generating more high quality gloves with its new automated production lines and glove removal system. And they are expert and have improved in R&D devel opment.The high efficiency production lines enable Hartalega to produce 40,000 pieces of gloves per hour per line, the highest among the industry where the glove removal system is capable of removing not only latex but also nitrile gloves up to a speed of 30,000 pieces of gloves per hour. These technologies make Hartalega to become the world’s largest synthetic glove manufacturer. Customer profile is the firm analyzes and identifies what type of the customers that the company served, what kind of customers they have and etc.The traditional approach of this factor is to segment the customers in term of geographic, demographic, psychographic and buyer behavior information (Pearce, 2012). This can allows the company to know the needs of each segment with ease and then satisfy their needs. The products that Hartalega offer are examination, surgical, laboratory, Clean Room Packed Class 100, Food Grade and so on. They also provide synthetic gloves to latex sensitive users from prot eins that may cause allergic reaction.Basically, the customers that Hartalega served are generally on the international market where Hartalega export their products to overseas to gain high profit. Medline, the largest manufacturer and distributor of healthcare supplies and services in US, is one for the two major customers of Hartalega. The next factor is the firm’s reputation among their suppliers. Firm regularly relies on its suppliers for financial support, services, resources and equipment. It is clearly seen that suppliers play an important role in determining an organization’s success or not.Hartalega has a strong reputation as the highest quality and lowest cost producer of nitrile gloves has enabled the firm to boost their sales every year. The financial support and resources that can be acquired from their suppliers are significant to the organization itself. Although the raw materials for produce the glove have increased which is latex, but Hartalega still c an manage to handle the situation by adjusting the price for the gloves. And the buyers can accept the adjustment in price that Hartalega made.That means the increase of price in raw material by the suppliers still can be acceptable by Hartalega and their buyers. Moreover, the reputation of the company does affect the reliability for their creditors. If the reputation of the organization is low, then the creditworthiness of the firm might be affected. That mean if the company is currently influence by negative rumors or news, probably the firm’s market share will be affected. Hartalega was affected by negative news which state that Hartalega was causing water and air pollution near Taman Suria, Batang Berjuntai in 2010.However, Hartalega has successful dismissed allegations of pollution where The Department of Environment (DOE) has claimed that Hartalega is complied with the Malaysian environment regulatory standard. This might affect the reputation and the creditworthiness o f Hartalega and might caused the market share decrease in this particular time frame. Other than that, Hartalega Chairman, Kuan Kam Hon claimed that Hartalega recorded revenue of RM931. 1 million, representing a significant 27% jump from RM734. million in the previous financial year while profit after tax increased to RM201. 4 million compared with RM190. 3 million for the last fiscal year. That means the company are currently gaining profit and they are able to implement a dividend policy which pay out minimum of 45% of the Group’s annual net profit as dividends to their shareholers. These few conditions showed that Hartalega are doing well in their business and able to earn profit in the industry. Lastly, the ability of the firm to attract capable employees is one of the components for the operating environment.The management for the human capital within the organization is vital for the organization to develop competitive advantage so that the organization can compete with their competitors. The organization needs to determine whether their workers or staffs are capable, skillful and experience or not. The more effective the management of human capital, the more easier the firm to achieve success in the industry. Hartalega has implemented a competitive remuneration package to their employees in order to recruit and retain performance centric individuals.They adopted several training programmes to encourage professional development and develop leadership skills among their employees such as Supervisor Development Programme and Group Leader Apprentice Programme. This programme is to invite talented students to learn the necessary skills and knowledge in manufacturing rubber gloves. The qualified students are able to become permanent workers for Hartalega. 5. Internal Analysis Value chain analysis is to understand how a business creates customer value by examining the contributions of different activities within the business to that value (Pearce II, J. A. , & Robinson, R. B. , Jr. , 2013). The value chain includes the primary activities and support activities. Primary activities involve inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service. Support activities involve general administration, human resource management, research, technology, and systems development, and procurement. First is inbound logistics. Hartalega adopted the global supply chain management for their company with the raw materials, components, and parts from all over the world. Latex plays an important in the Hartalega Company.Research analyst said the latex price rise soon. This situation will affect the Hartalega’s profit decrease. In the operations, Hartalega has high efficiency production lines. Hartalega from a beginning of a one line operation grow into a sizeable company of 43 production lines. They produce over 8 billion gloves annually. Hartalega is the highest speed production line in the industry. They can produce 40,000 pieces of gloves per hour per line. They never decrease the quality of gloves even though they produce the gloves at such high speed.Their programmable logic controls measured and acquired every critical parameter. It is communicated to the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system and later fed to the Data Management System for trending and other analytical auditing. Third is outbound logistics. Customer can buy the product through the internet. Customers can order their products, make request and register to receive materials on some pages. Customers need to fill in their name, address email address and phone number only and submit to the Hartalega, and then Hartalega will deliver the product which is already order by customer to the ustomer. If the customer orders a gift online and they want Hartalega sent it directly to the recipient, customer need to submit the recipient’s address. In the marketing and sales, Hartalega is the largest producer of premium qual ity nitrile gloves in the world. They have good reputation as produce the nitrile gloves at the highest quality and lowest cost. It helped the Hartalega Company increase their sales during the year under review. Nowadays, many companies do their business in China and India. Hartalega also do their business in China and India.It is because these countries have high population figures. Demand from existing customers grows and Hartalega also try to attract new customers. Next is service. Hartalega receive some complaint about ammonia gas and chemical waste pollution. The Department of Environment (DOE) already checks the Hartalega’s factory and cleared glove manufacturer Hartalega Holdings of allegation pollution. Selangor DOE director Che Asmah Ibrahim said that Hartalega Holdings has compliance with the rule and regulation and they no need close the factory. General administration or management is one of the supportive activities.Profit margin of Hartalega has decrease compare d with the previous financial year. Although their profit margin decreases, they also maintain the highest margins in the sector globally. Although margins narrowed slightly, it is because of this foresight that we still achieved an absolute increase in our bottom line on year on year basis. Second supportive activity is procurement. Procurement is a part of inbound logistics or purchasing activities. Hartalega adopted the global supply chain management for their company with the raw materials, components, and parts from all over the world.Global supply chain management help the company compete all over the world and give company a competitive advantage. Company also can lower the supply chain cost if adopt the global supply chain management. Next is human resource management. Hartalega has implemented a competitive remuneration package to their employees in order to recruit and retain performance centric individuals. They also become the number one company for talent, they not only in the glove manufacturing sector but in the manufacturing sector large.Hartalega has provided several training programmes to encourage professional development and develop leadership skills among their employees such as Supervisor Development Programme and Group Leader Apprentice Programme. This programme is to invite talented students to learn the necessary skills and knowledge in manufacturing rubber gloves. The qualified students are able to become permanent workers for Hartalega. Last is research and development. Hartalega Company is focused on research and development (R&D). They highly focused on research and development because they want to ensure continuous product innovation.Research and development helps the Hartalega increase the barrier to entry. It is because the characteristics of synthetic nitrile, which needs careful R&D to ensure similar consistency to natural rubber gloves in terms of softness and elasticity. Besides that, R&D also helps the Hartalega successfull y reduced raw material usage per unit and do not decrease the product quality. They also have raised the bar with their various inventions and have far surpassed the industry due to their engineering capabilities in their manufacturing processes.Therefore, Hartalega highly focused on research and development because R&D helps Hartalega to benefit from maintaining the product quality at lower unit production costs, increases the barrier to entry, and the ability to reduce prices without affecting margins. Value chain analysis can helps Hartalega found the strength and weaknesses. First strength from Hartalega is company adopt the global supply chain management and it help the company lower the supply chain cost and give company a competitive advantage. Second is high efficiency production line.Third is customer can buy the product through the internet. Fourth is good reputation at the highest quality and lowest cost and it helping the Hartalega increase their sales. Next is Hartalega has provided several training programmes to encourage professional development and develop leadership skills among their employees. It helps Hartalega attract new employee and help their existing employee become more talented. Superior success in R&D activities leading to product innovative is strength from Hartalega. On the other hand, Hartalega also have some weaknesses.First is Hartalega receiving some complaint about ammonia gas and chemical waste pollution. Although Department of Environment said that Hartalega Holdings has compliance with the rule and regulation and they no need close the factory but it also influence the reputation of Hartalega. Another weakness is profit margin of Hartalega has decrease compared with the previous financial year. 6. Strategy Formulation TOWS Martix | Strengths 1. Global supply chain management 2. High efficiency production line 3.Online purchasing 4. Good reputation 5. Training programmes 6. Strongly R&D| Weaknesses 1. Receive compliant infl uence reputation 2. Profit margin decrease | Opportunities 1. Industry recognition 2. Global hospital suppliers and industrial laboratory 3. Synthetic glove | a) Strengths- Opportunities (SO) 1. Market development (S3, S4, O2) 2. Product development (S6, O2)| b) Weaknesses-Opportunities (WO) 1. Concentrated growth (W2, O2, O3)| Threats 1.High latex price 2. Government regulatory 3. High intensity of rivalry | c) Strengths – Threats (ST) 1. Innovation (S6,T3)| d) Weaknesses- Threats (WT) 1. Vertical Integration (W2, T1, T3)| a) Strengths-Opportunities Strategy (SO) SO strategy is using the firm’s internal strengths to take advantage of external opportunities. It is the most favourable situation which allows the firm to faces several environment opportunities and has numerous strengths that encourage pursuit of those opportunities (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). 1.Market development (S3, S4, O2) Hartalega have a good reputation as produce the nitrile at the highest quality an d lowest cost in the world and online purchasing. The main buyers for Hartalega are doctors or laboratory users. Therefore, Hartalega can use their main buyers as one of their company strengths to take advantage to global hospital supplies and industrial laboratory market. Hartalega able to offer the highest quality, lowest cost and at the same time they can provide variety types of gloves to hospitals and industrial laboratory.Besides that, customers around the world also can easily and convenience to make an order directly for the company website, this is because Hartalega had prepared the online purchasing method for their customer and business partners. These will make more and more hospitals and industrial laboratory around the world recognize and use Hartalega’s gloves. On the other hand, this method can help Hartalega to increase their sales and profit as well. 2. Product development (S6, O2) Hartalega is expert on their research and development (R&D).Therefore, Hartal ega can use this strength to develop more different types of gloves to attract more customers from global hospital supplier and industrial laboratory market. In addition, due to them expert in R&D, they not only focus the needs of the hospital and industrial laboratory, but also can try to satisfy the need for other different customer in order to help Hartalega to increase their market share also. So, they can come out different types of qualities of the product to fulfil different groups of the customers’ need. ) Weaknesses-Opportunity Strategy (WO) WO strategy is to improve company internal weaknesses by taking advantage of external opportunities. A firm faces an impressive market opportunity but is constrained by weak internal resources (Pearce & Robinson. 2013) 1. Concentrated growth (W2, O2, O3) Hartalega can increase their production of synthetic gloves and expand more into global hospital supplier and industrial laboratory market. This is because the costs of raw mater ial to produce synthetic glove is cheaper than latex (Hartalega, 2012).Therefore, Hartalega can major expansion of synthetic gloves to global hospital supplier and industrial laboratory market will help them substantial cost savings to counter price competition and overcome the profit margin (Hartalega, 2012). So, Hartalega can avoid the high rises of latex price. By avoiding fluctuation of latex price, their profit earned will be more stable and able to increase the profit too. c) Strengths-Threats Strategy (ST) ST strategy is using the firm’s strengths to avoid or reduce the impact of external threats.A firm that has identified several key strengths faces an unfavorable environment (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). 1. Innovation (S6, T3) As mention on above, R&D is the strength for Hartalega. Therefore, Hartalega can use this strength to create the barrier to entry. R&D can help Hartalega successfully to reduce raw material usage per unit and maintain the product quality and incre ase the barrier to entry. So, Hartalega can offer the cheaper price to their customer compare with their competitors such as Top Glove.Hartalega also keep on focusing on their R&D in order to develop more different types of innovation product and try to beat down their competitors and become the leader in the rubber glove industry. d) Weaknesses-Threats Strategy (WT) WT strategy is a defensive tactics aimed at reducing internal weakness and avoid external threats. This is the least favorable situation, with the firm facing major environment threats from a weak resource position (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). 1. Vertical Integration (W2, T1, T3) Nowadays, the price for one of the raw material to produce glove which is latex is keep on rising.This situation was affected Hartalega’s profit to decrease. Therefore, Hartalega can benchmark other companies’ product and make a comparison on how other competitors performs their product activity effectively. This is useful to Hartal ega to improve the management control. The objective of benchmarking is to identify the best practices in performing an activity and learn how to down the costs of the raw material, less defects, or other outcomes related to excellence achieved (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). Hartalega can apply backward vertical integration to control their raw material price.For example, Hartalega can follow its competitor which is Top gloves has ventured upstream into the rubber plantation to secure a stable latex supply. 7. Recommendation A competitive advantage is an advantage over competitors gained by offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices or by providing greater benefits and service that justifies higher prices. (Riley, 2012) Differentiation is one of the most practical ways in which Hartalega can gain advantage over other competitors in the rubber gloves industry.Differentiation can be achieved by Hartalega through high quality, efficient low cost manufacturing of glov es. Hartalega is recommend to continuously enhance their flexibility and efficiency in their production process scheduling, saving more time, employees efforts and the company’s money. Besides that, Hartalega needs to ensure all operations from the top to bottom must run efficiently by adopting programmable logic controller able to the monitoring of the operation automatically and promote continuous production that help in increase production and minimize cost.Hartalega should focus on customers’ satisfaction because it had placed a lot of emphasis in R&D to produce a wide and diversified range of high quality and value-added glove products in order to fulfil the expectation of their customers. The company also collaborates closely with related government agencies and Ministries to keep itself abreast of the latest development in rubber research technology. Hartalega also can uses state-of-art technology and efficient automatic glove manufacturing machine to obtain the highest yield and to remain as one of the most cost-effective and highest quality producer in the industry.With all these advantages and strategies, Hartalega is able to compete and stand out in the industry. For the Goods and Service Design, Hartalega can print instructions and methods of wearing gloves on the packaging. Besides, Hartalega can focus on detailed product design such as creating innovative glove with functions and amenity features for all type range of gloves use in surgical and clinical practice and operation.In addition, Hartalega products packaging must provide with its product outlook and description that meet the preferences of their customer across different countries and cultures. Concerning fluctuation price on raw material, Hartalega needs to find multiple sources of raw materials to avoid high fluctuation of cost on raw materials. Therefore, Hartalega is recommended to invest more and expand their own rubber plantation acreage, this would reduce their depen dence on raw rubber from other suppliers.Hartalega has to maintain and enhance its products and operation quality endlessly, therefore, Hartalega always needs to audit their operation and the product quality control to ensure low / no defects in their production based on the Six Sigma and Total Quality Management procedure. On the other hand, Hartalega needs to review foreign countries’ Acceptable Quality Level to improve in their company’s quality management system (Bheda, 2010) Perhaps, Hartalega needs to adopt total quality management or R&D on high quality latex to ensure producing high quality products that meet their customer expectation.In conclusion, each key analysis and discussion on Hartalega manufacturing operation will help in understanding and makes improvement from each operation processes based on the studies of latest operation management system. With this, Hartalega will be able to maintain or strengthen each of its manufacture’s operation and its products positioning in the world market.