Architecture and Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Architecture and Strategic Management - Essay Example (Hale, 2000; P 5) Clustering distribution centers in a single geographic area is among the new trends. There is also a move towards transportation specialization, such as companies that depend on substantial parcel air transport. Labor availability and technology advances are factors driving many companies to consolidate their distribution and structural systems into fewer but larger, regional facilities. However, not all companies are consolidating their distribution centers: in many areas, the consolidation trend itself is producing a new generation of smaller, local distribution centers. Experts say that new logistical handling systems and greater outsourcing-in particular, the increased use of third-party logistics providers-seem to be driving this trend. This trend has had a large bearing on how architects are being perceived. With the advent of management as a wholesome science that has trickled into every industry and profession, architects are now expected to handle the managerial aspects of construction and design. One of the major implications for this is cost control and financial projection, health and safety management as well as development control. When involved in a project, the major fo... When involved in a project, the major focus is on the economics and what can be achieved within a given budget. Passing this down to the architects has various dimensions to it. The creative part can be better coordinated and decided in the initial stages so as to avoid chaos later. The demerit of this is that the focus might shift from the creative to the strategic management options where some architects might be ill equipped to handle such responsibilities. The solution to such a problem is a short course or orientation program in financial and development management when educating or selecting architects. Incident Command System for High Rise Buildings Risk is also a major part of the strategic management and development part of a structure. The above diagram is a depiction of an example of sectorisation for a high rise building. The sectorisation for high rise buildings must consist of the optimum deployment and utilization of resources. Managing a high rise building is a matter of creating sectors so as to give out commands easily and smoothly in case of strategic, tactical and operational importance. The sectors for operation must include: Vulnerability assessment & intrusion detection systems Risk assessment & risk management Backups & business continuity planning Disaster recovery planning Computer incident response teams Digital investigation & incident post-mortem Privacy & anonymity in cyberspace; censorship & content filtering Management responsibilities & liabilities The future of information assurance Professional development The Harrow Court Incident The Harrow Court Incident refers to the tragic chain of events where two firefighters - Firefighter Wornham and Firefighter Miller - lost their lives on the 2nd of February, 2005. The

Internal Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Internal Analysis - Essay Example rategic ways on how Wal-Mart can make use of its strengths in order to take advantage of its opportunities within its external environment will be thoroughly discussed. In the process of discussing some ways wherein the company could experience continuous business growth, recommended ways that could make Wal-Mart strengthen its weaknesses and avoid unnecessary external threats will be provided. For the conclusion, whether or not it is possible on the part of Wal-Mart to strengthen its position in the market will be defended by an argument. As a retailer, Wal-Mart has successfully established a strong brand name over the years. By selling consumer products at relatively low prices, the company managed to have the biggest market shares throughout the retail industry in the United States. (Bianco & Zellner, 2003) Due to the excessively large size of the company, it becomes very difficult on the part of its purchasers to maintain the availability of some of its product within the store outlets. Because of the weak purchasing network that causes insufficient supply of T-shirts in some of Wal-Mart’s retail store outlets during the second half of 2007 (Bianco, 2007), the company experienced a huge business opportunity loss. Aside from having a weak purchasing network, Wal-Mart’s growth strategy was reported to become inefficient since 2005. (Bianco, 2007) Basically, the rapid business growth that the company has achieved over the past few years enabled Wal-Mart to capture as much of its target market. For this reason, it becomes very difficult on the part of the company to use the same growth strategy in the near future. Even though the overhead costs of Wal-Mart significantly increased from 16.4% in 2000 up to 18.6% in 2007 (Bianco, 2007), the company is often being accused of underpaying its employees with low salary of US$8.23 per hour or US$13,861 each year (Bianco & Zellner, 2003). Having the idea of following the retail store structure of European