A BETTER WORLD - Pt.3

To make the world a better place, I am going to open up my own business named "Equal-Opportunity Ltd,." My business's mission is to promote equality among international hires so that everyone, no matter which country he or she is from, will get the same chance to be hired. My passion lies at my personal experience and struggle of trying to get a job at the United States. I was lucky that I had the experience of living in different countries so I truly felt blessed of this globalized world. I originally thought as the most powerful country in the world, the United States was supposed to be a very inclusive community where people from different parts of the world would be treated equally. However, going through recruiting, I realized there were so limited opportunities for international students and even when they got hired, they still had to apply for work visa through lottery system.

I understand the deep meaning behind those regulations in order to protect the US residents to secure jobs but I also feel the unfairness of this political system and helplessness from my international fellows. Coming from a different background doesn't mean that an international student is not as qualified as a local student so I feel the necessity to create this environment to provide equal opportunities to everyone. My business will be either a profit or non-profit organization, but no matter what we sell, there is one rule that is never to be changed: provide equal chances for everyone to be hired and eliminate all sorts of discrimination inside the organization.

I think my company will be a great leader in promote international equality and it will also be a proof to show a firm mainly made up of employees from different parts of the world can do the same as local companies, or even better. My ultimate mission is to get government's attention and politicians will reconsider their ideas. If my company runs well, it will help the economy grow rapidly and thus create more job opportunities. Eventually, the large amount of international immigrants will not harm the locals' rights and the international group can contribute a lot to this country. It will be a win-win strategy and I really hope to get support from partners in AMDP to get my ideas to work as soon as possible.

A BETTER WORLD - Pt.1

As an international student, I truly felt how globalization influenced my life. When I was 10 years old, I could never imagine one day I would be studying in a country 15 hours flight from my own or writing blog posts using another language. I am blessed that my family could afford me to study abroad under a better education system. I am lucky enough to be at where I am today - ready to graduate next year and start full-time in the place where I want to. That's a good thing about today's world: there are tons of resources for one to use no matter where he/she is at. However, the process didn't go as smooth as I originally thought and a lot of difficulties were only faced by the international group. With that said, the world is not as "globalized" as we thought.

My first step in making the world a better place would be to eliminate rules designated for different groups of people due to geographical differences. One very simple example, international students were not able to recruit for 80% of the American firms. This rule was made very clear when firms explicitly wrote "we don't hire international students" or "we will not sponsor work visa in the future" on their websites. The deep reason behind this rule is that the government was trying to make sure as many locals could be hired as possible, so it set a lottery system which all the international hires had to get in to obtain a work visa. Simply saying, I have worked very hard to secure a full-time offer from very limited choices of companies and I still only have less than 30% chances to get that work visa for me to legally work here. I respect those who make the rules for this country but if the world is truly a global village now, what's the difference between one country to another? People come to the United States or other countries because of their dreams and limited resources in their own countries. I cannot imagine how many talented people I know or I don't know have to give up their dreams because of this restrictions. Minorities' opinions and interests were usually ignored by the mainstream and this could really prevent the world from being a global community with "common human values". If problems like this caused by people's different backgrounds never get solved, no one can call himself/herself a global citizen. So I advocate to take this big step to create a true inclusion around the world. No matter what race, no matter what gender, no matter what nationality, one should be treated equally.

Blue Sweater (Pt.2)

Part of the reason why Jacqueline was able to solve the poverty problem in Rwanda was because she had courage to sacrifice herself as discussed in the first half of the book. The second half told us the other part  - she knew how to listen to others. She pointed out that the main reason of failure for traditional charities was not to focus on what the poor really wanted. Jacqueline took another approach by starting from helping local ladies to sell cakes. Through the process, she gradually learned about what the poor needed and what they thought about the world. She did not directly distribute money or resources to the villagers since she knew that couldn't solve the poverty problem from roots. She taught African women how to improve their business skills so tht they could get rid of poverty with their own hands. She said that charity was not giving. Charity should be based on respects and understanding. It should help the donees to see what they are capable of so the poor people can be more confident in finding their ways to avoid poverty. I think foundations in the world should share a view like this in order to help the poor better. Also, Jacqueline had a unique point for leadership. She believed that leadership was not something born. By helping African women to become leaders in their businesses, she thought leadership could be fostered. Therefore, she created the Acument Fund leadership program to select young talents in different industries and infuse them with qualities of leadership. I agreed with her idea since I found the more I was exposed to great leaders and the more I practiced leadership, the better leader I would become.

After reading the Blue Sweater, I realized the power of belief. Throughout the book, I could feel the author's belief in what she was able to do. She had a thought at beginning of changing the world. She believed that she was able to bring Rwandan people out of povery so she insisted to come back. She believed in her way of solving poverty by creating microfinance organizations. After years, when she created the Acumen Fund, she believed to trust the market. She said that markets should be the starting point, not the endgame for solving problems of poverty. She had a faith in market strength so her foundations mainly targeted at social enterprises who could create ways to solve social problems. She used the power of impacted investment to distribute her influence because she believed the world was connected to a single economy and everything she did could impact someone else. I am going to end my post with Jacqueline's sentence: "people need to believe that they can participate fully in the decisions that affect their lives and have a stake in the societies in which they live."

Blue Sweater (Pt.1)

Jacqueline Novogratz, the author of Blue Sweater, showed us what is a real social enterprise. In the first half of the book, she mainly described her experiences to open up a micro-financing organization in Rwanda, Africa. I was very impressed by her decision because she graduated from Stanford MBA, and worked in New York city afterwards. She said she was a "middle-class kid" so pursuing after a nonprofit organization would seem too challenging for her. When she interviewed with a bank, she was asked why she wanted to become a bank. She directly answer, "I don't want to be a banker." Not a lot of people had the courage to directly speak of their dreams about changing the world during an interview but Jacqueline did. When she moved to Chase, she was given a chance to work in Africa. She made a quick decision without hesitating that if she wanted to change the world, she needed to work in Africa. I admired her courage of chasing after her dream at all costs. And that's every college student should have learned - be brave enough to chase after one's dream.

The following chapters each told a story of the difficulty she encountered in developing business in Africa. I respect her enthusiasm and her energy that she put under such poor circumstances. She heard a 8-year-old girl saying that solders had taken all of their dresses in the war, so these young girls wore their best dresses every day in case they were going to lose them one day. She couldn't find anyone to support her as well since in Rwanda, African women were against girls from other countries. They thought one shouldn't deal with their issues if she was not an African. A lot of people were trying to poison her in order to scare her away from work even though she was working for women rights. After all, she realized that compassion was not enough to change the problems in Africa. She had to devote herself in so that people would respect her work. I think this book gave us the power to work in a startup since all startups started from many problems. One would only succeed if he/she learned how to put all efforts in and how to sacrifice.

Very Random Thoughts on Presidential Debate

As a person who is not interested in politics, I have watched both of presidential debates in order to keep track with the public (watching the second one right now). I don't have much background knowledge on American politics or the two candidates (nor voting rights sadly). I simply wanted to learn something about how presidents are elected through debates and how presidential candidates behave in such important events. My very first impression on Donald Trump was his interruptions. In the first debate, he interrupted both Hillary and host for over 50 times. What I felt was his lack of confidence. He was so eager to express his ideas and defend himself. However, these interruptions did not make good impressions. Mr. Trump failed to use concrete evidence or convincible examples to prove his opinions which made his statements more like jokes. Beginning with "Let me tell you something", Donald Trump often argued with the host since he never answered questions directly. These actions really made me to question his quality. Another technique Donald Trump loved to use was to attack different groups of people. In the first debate, he mentioned China for eight times and Mexico for seven times. He blamed China as the main cause of global warming. He blamed Russians as hackers. These are absolutely absurd statements to me personally. Countries are so connected in the world right now that it is impossible to isolate any one of them. I cannot believe how he is going to develop inter-country relationships if he is elected. I was also shocked at his disrespect on females in the first presidential debate. Even though he did not say it publicly, Donald Trump apparently looked down on Hillary Clinton since she is a woman. He believed that man should rule the world and I don't know how he is going to win the debate with this attitude.

But it doesn't mean that I totally support Hillary Clinton. Since her husband used to be the president, she has more experiences in building good public image. I can tell from the debates that she is polite, respectful, and logical, but I am more concerned about whether she is consistent in and out of the spotlight. Due to Bill Clinton's scandal, Hillary perfectly knew how important it was to have a good image in public media. In both debates, she also proposed many wonderful plans on how to make the United States better but we all know politicians love to exaggerate their abilities. Especially after private emails exposed by WikiLeaks, the public began to hesitate on Hillary whether she is as consistent. She might be good at constructing image and debating, but a President should be far more excellent. Through the two debates, I do have a lean on Hillary Clinton just based on their performances, but she is also not a perfect candidate to me. I will try to be updated with presidential elections more often and if there is anything wrong in this blog, please correct me.

GROWING A FARMER Pt.2

After Mr. Timmermeister realized that merely being a vegetable grower failed to bring him profits, he decided to shift his work focus to livestocks. His first step was to produce raw milk - the type that is not pasteurized. Mr. Timmermeister believed that raw milk was in great demand but little supplies so there wasn't much competition. The only problem was it required license to sell raw milk at that time. Initially selling unlawafully, then with licenses, Kurt went through a frustrating process. He couldn't understand what was wrong with selling products to customers who would be willing to pay whatever it took. Selling out of the law made him to feel the most primitive aspects of nature and that was actually the core for his farm - to get close to the real nature. Normally, people may think of pigs as dirty animals but the writer describes them as "smart, attentive, aggressive, stubborn and charming". He depicted a picture of pigs laying under the sun with their bellies "splayed out" which was so funny that made me to laugh. Kurt also didn't put his pigs into a very small and limited space. He didn't use a cage but just an electric wire to confine boundaries but his pigs always escaped. Later on, he was famous for "errant farm animals". He concluded the Pigs chapter by saying "breeding pigs did give me an insight into their unique nature" and I think that's why he insisted on becoming a farmer. He loves the nature so much to the point he enjoyed every aspect of it and learned from it every day. Even though the reality wasn't so optimistic as he didn't gain a lot of profits from his own farms, he never tried to quit this farm job and by 2003 he became a full-time farmer. His main revenues came from a Camembert-style cheese. He also set up a main event for his farm: cooking dinners for guests every Sunday using foods produced in his farm.

After spending a short journey with Kurt Timmermeister to his Kurtwood Farms, I was deeply touched by his love of nature hidden in sentences. Initially, I thought this book would tell the readers how to operate a profitable farm and indeed Kurt gave a lot of details on how he grew fruit trees and bred sheep, cows, chickens, and pigs. But the writer didn't focus on the results of his farming but the process. Kurt didn't end up his chapters like "after several trials, I found out this type of cows is more profitable". He simply enjoyed the process of milking his cows and came up with ideas on how to produce high-quality raw milk. I think that's why Growing a Farmer is a charmingful book. The process of becoming a full-time farmer and the transformation from an urbanite to a countryman is the story that Mr. Timmermeister wants to tell us. And it seems suburban life particularly suits him. He likes to nap on the floor of a hoop house nakedly. He likes to catch his pigs wondering in others' farms. He likes to sell fresh, raw milk to his neighbors without a license. He likes to gather fresh hens eggs ealy in the morning, having no regrets "about tearing down the outmoded wooden chicken coops, with their floors thick with manure, errant feathers and bits of straw". Eventually, he writes, the main purpose of this farm is a "throwback to an earlier era". Either fighting against regulations or struggling with profitability situations, what matters at last is the beauty of nature which most people nowadays aren't able to enjoy. Rather than saying this book tells readers how to make a farm profitable and commercial, I would say Growing a Farmer really evokes everyone's hidden desire to enjoy the outdoor world. Eventually, what matters the most is food, family, and nature. 

ERP: Earn Revenues Peacefully

An introduction to Enterprise Resources Planning system

Imagine you are working at a manufacturing company. You receive an order from a customer and need to ship the products in a week. But then you find out your factory is in lack of raw materials for production. You go to your desktop, call the vendor, and pray that materials will arrive as soon as possible. When they arrive in two days, you arrange workers to work on production immediately. After another two days, you call shipping company to transport final goods to client’s office. When the goods finally reach to the customer, he asks you why there is a short in quantity. There are also some goods broken due to transportation issue. He informs you that he is going to pay less than the deal price and you don’t have any evidence or proof to argue against.

How does life like this sound to you? Rush and mess, right? What if something else is going wrong at the same time? Will you just quit your job?

Large firms don’t face problems like this nowadays. The emergence of information systems greatly reduces workloads for employees. A type of information system is especially popular – Enterprise Resources Planning system (ERP). It is a system software designed to provide business process management. ERP is powerful in its ways to help seek optimal business solutions and promotes efficiencies (Beal). It can connect business functions such as sales and distribution, marketing, procurement, and production together to make workflow smoother. Employees don’t have to go through the painful process of manual operations. Executives and managers can run their businesses more easily and earn their revenues more peacefully.

Main Functions of ERP

ERP has the basic data-processing and data-sorting functions like the other information systems. It has three layers: presentation, application, and database. The presentation layer is what we know as “user view”. Most people use the user interface – a software application like Microsoft Words – to manipulate inputs and outputs. The application layer enables experts to execute logistics and customize functions – like the sorting function when you press “Ctrl” and “F”. And the database layer contains all the data stored – like different font styles existed in Words – which programmers can edit through coding (Venkata).

ERP is unique in its core function of planning. It has a certain set of rules which can help to define terms and calculate numbers. In the opening scenario, if the company uses an ERP system, it won’t struggle against shortage of raw materials. The software can automatically calculate the reorder point to which raw materials need purchasing and goods need producing. This mechanism can prevent a company’s stock level from dropping to zero. When inventory goes down to this calculated amount, ERP will simultaneously send out requests for raw materials to vendors. It makes easier for companies to plan ahead and leads to a reduction in cycle time from order to delivery. It thus can maximize organizations’ profits (Zhao). Besides production planning, companies also use ERP systems in the following areas:

·       Financial Accounting

·       Controlling

·       Human Resources

·       Materials Management

·       Sales and Distributions

·       Warehouse Management

ERP is very customizable. Experts can design special functions or modules in order to meet different needs. For example, if one company has a special payroll calculation method, it can hire experts to replace the default setting with new method. In order to meet the best use of ERP, Chief Information Officers normally request ERP upgrade projects every three to five years. After each upgrade, ERP system will be better suited for specific industry or business process. It also has evolved to the stage where system scanning and evaluation are correlated. It means that the software can automatically detect errors and evaluate the needs to upgrade into next generation (Mu).

Today’s ERP Market

Since the first appearance of ERP system in the 1990s, the market has grown largely (Harreld). There are three main providers right now:

• Oracle: This is probably the most well-known ERP developer in the world and the only one you heard of before. Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne is an integrated suite of software that provides ultimate solutions for its owners. It is extremely useful for manufacturing companies with unique Manufacturing Management function. Oracle also invents its own database management program. Other providers even use the program which gives Oracle a huge advantage in pricing (SelectHub).

•  Microsoft Dynamics: Yes, as the biggest software producers in the world, Microsoft also has its own version of ERP system. But Dynamics doesn’t dominate the market as its brother, Windows, does. The main reason is that it doesn’t support multiple companies easily. Firms with subsidiaries may find it difficult to use Dynamics. One advantage of Dynamics is its richness in end-to-end business process supports, such as governance, risk, and compliance; and supplier relationship management (SelectHub).

• SAP: SAP is a Germany ERP software company that grows the most rapidly in recent years. It develops software designed for large organizations as well as small and midsize companies. SAP ERP is very customizable. Companies can add or delete functions easily so that employees will not be confused by areas they are not familiar with. Because of its ease to use and low price, a lot of midsize firms begin to use SAP these days (SelectHub).

Benefits and Risks of ERP

I found ERP extremely useful in helping with making decisions. When I was using SAP ERP for a case competition, I was surprised that it had strong analytic tools. They allowed me to keep track of price fluctuations in the real market so that I could change my production plans accordingly. They also generated monthly or quarterly finance reports automatically. By reading those reports, I was able to spread out budgets among marketing and research and development. Even though I didn’t know much about management and strategy at that time, the valuable financial insights and results I got from the system helped to make the right move.

ERP systems also help with learning process. When I started my internship, I was helping clients with problems regarded to SAP ERP system. With limited knowledge and bare training, I was still able to finish my tasks. Through detecting system errors, I learned a lot about the system itself and the organization it was serving. People using the system benefit as they soon become experts in specific areas.

But there are still some risks of using ERP. It normally takes three years and millions of dollars to implement the system software. Not many corporations are able to afford the costs and neither to see the direct benefits in short term. According to a research conducted by Etezady, ERP adoption had little effect on a company’s financial performance in a four-year period (Etezady). Also, a user’s lack of familiarity with an ERP system can heavily limit the benefits he or she receives (Jain). Since ERP system is so huge that it covers the whole company, it usually causes some unexpected risks. One project I was dealing with was that the client firm had too many anonymous users in its SAP system. The firm lost track of who actually did the transactions. This risk could be very serious as it could lead to a potential fraudulent action.

The Future of ERP

The future of ERP is still bright. Due to its customizations, ERP system has huge potentials. Employees save so much energy and work in different industries. A recent news showed that Bihar, a state in East India, is trying to install Prison ERP system in all jails since it is very helpful in facilitating central monitoring of jails (PTI). In addition, ERP system is still evolving. Modern versions are integrated with cutting-edge technologies, like Cloud technique. Resources planning can be real-time now and managers can operate the system online. The future is always unknown but I believe ERP can last long.

Works Cited

Mu, Enrique. "The Role of Scanning, Evaluation, and Mindfulness in the Assimilation of Information Technology: The Case of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems." Order No. 3270101 University of Pittsburgh, 2007. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web.

Jain, Vikas. A framework for sustainable ERP value, The George Washington University, Ann Arbor, 2008. ProQuest, Web.

Zhao, Fan. An Empirical Study of Enterprise System Upgrades., 2007. ProQuest. Web.

Etezady, Nooredin. The impact of ERP investments on organizational performance, Nova Southeastern University, Ann Arbor, 2008. ProQuest. Web.

Venkata, Krishna. SAP Community Network threads. 2014. Web.  https://scn.sap.com/thread/489653

Harreld, Heather. Extended ERP technology reborn in B2B. 2001. Web.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2583660/e-commerce/extended-erp-technology-reborn-in-b2b.html

Enterprise Resources Planning. SelectHub. Web.

https://selecthub.com/categories/enterprise-resource-planning-erp

Beal, Vangie. ERP - enterprise resource planning. Webopedia. Web.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/E/ERP.html

PTI. Bihar to install hi-tech Prison ERP system in all jails. The Indian Express. Web.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/bihar-to-install-hi-tech-prison-erp-system-in-all-jails-3051443/