Warehouse Management Essay Example for Free

Warehouse Management Essay Abstract: The study presented here considers arrangement and management policies to improve the order picking procedure in the existing company warehouse. The study was conducted in a timber goods production and trading company. The main objective was to reduce the overall picking time that is quite high due to the lack of proper management and the nature of the stored items. The first stage was to register the situation in the warehouse. The second stage involved the analysis of the obtained data, to identify promising modifications and quantify the benefits of adopting them. The proposed modifications were based on policies and methodologies suggested in the literature. After the company approved and implemented (some of) the proposed modifications, the final stage was to measure and analyse the achieved improvements. Keywords: warehousing, case study, facility layout, order picking time 1. INTRODUCTION Order picking (OP) appears as one of the most significant activities in a warehouse. The picking tasks may contribute by over 65% in the warehouse operating costs. In fact, the retrieval cost exceeds by far the storage cost of any given item (Coyle et al., 1996). The factors affecting the efficiency of OP typically include the product demand, the warehouse layout, the location of the items, the picking method in combination with the routing methods, the experience of the employees, and the extent of automation (Gattorna, 1997). Note that the high cost associated with the automation of the procedure forces the majority of companies to use manual operation, usually at the expense of efficiency and time. The case study is carried out in a timber goods production and trading company. We consider one of the existing warehouse facilities and we attempt to improve its performance. The performance measure is the total picking time, so our objective is to find ways to reduce it as much as it is practically possible and desirable. At the first stage involves the collection of time data, to target the improvement that may be accomplished from the transition from a totally disorderly situation to an organized and controlled warehouse environment. The second stage suggests, implements and studies alternative storage, picking and routing schemes, according to observations made during the first stage. During the third stage, a second series of time measurements is carried out to investigate the achieved benefits. 2. REVIEW OF WAREHOUSE POLICIES RELATED TO ORDER PICKING There is a variety of studies on methods, policies, principles and/or techniques developed to improve the overall OP procedure. The decisions usually concern policies for the picking of the product items, the routing of the pickers in the warehouse, and the storage schemes for the products in the warehouse. The research scope has been to investigate the effect of changes in these policies on the reduction of the overall OP costs and the increase of percent savings. Petersen and Gerald (2003) was the first to attempt a simultaneous evaluation of all the three policies, whereas the usual practice is to consider them separately. 2.1. Picking policies In terms of the picking policies, Ackerman (1990) divided OP into strict, batch and zone picking and proposed policies tailored to each case. In strict picking, a single order is assigned during a picking tour, leading to lower service times and higher customer satisfaction. The policy is ideal when the group of the picking products is quite small and easy to be found. Drawbacks of the policy include an increase in the overall transportation time and a cost penalty. Alternatively, the batch picking policy assigns to a picker more than one orders during a picking tour (Gibson and Sharp, 1992; De Coster et al., 1999; Petersen, 2000). The batch scheme may bring significant reduction on the total picking time, but introduces an additional cost for monitoring and separating the orders at a later stage. Zone picking assigns a picker to a designated picking zone, where the picker is responsible for those products that are in his/her zone of the warehouse. This scheme decreases the chances for destructions and mistakes, but a possible delay in a zone is a threshold for the entire picking procedure for a big order. Frazelle and Apple (1994) further divided zone picking into: sequential zone, batch zone and wave OP. Petersen (2000) suggested that in the sequential zone scheme the order integrity is maintained, in batch zone the orders are batched together and each picker collects the products within a zone, and in wave picking a group of orders is programmed in precise time period. 2.2. Routing policies Routing policies suggest the route for a picking tour and the picking sequence of the items on the pick list. The suggestions are based on decision-making technologies that range from simple heuristics to mathematical optimization procedures. Using mathematical programming tools Ratliff and Rosenthal (1983) found that optimal routing reduced the travel time, but the optimal routes were quite confusing routes and difficult to implement in practice. Hall (1993) and Petersen and Schmenner (1999) examined the efficiency of heuristic routing in minimizing the distance traveled by the picker. In practice, many warehouses use the traversal policy, where the picker must pass through the entire aisle and in order to collect the items. Petersen (1997) and Roodbergen and Koster (2001) examined the possibility of combined traversal and return routes to reduce further the travel distance. 2.3 Storage policies Storage policies remain the least investigated among the three policy categories. Random storage is the most widely used option, and Schwarz et al. (1978) examined its performance. Petersen and Aase (2003) claimed that random storage is by far the simplest option and requires less space compared to the more sophisticated storage policies. The simplest structured-storage schemes apply class-based and/or demandbased policies in the arrangement of the products. In class-based storage the products are classified, and items of each class are placed within the same area of the warehouse. In demand (or volume) –based storage the products are stored according to their demand (or their size) near the Pick-up / Drop-off point (P/D). Jarvis and Mc Dowell (1991) suggested that the optimal storage strategy is to place the items with great demand in the aisle, thus reduce the travel time. Gibson and Sharp (1992) and Gray et al. (1992) stated that locating high volume items near to the P/D point increased the picking efficiency. Petersen and Schmenner (1999) examined the volume-based storage policies and concluded that the method resulted to less time compared to other storage policies. Eynan and Rosenblatt (1994) claimed that the class-based storage required less data processing and yielded similar saving with volume-based storage. Tompkins and Smith (1998) suggested that the overall picking time could be reduced applying the Pareto principle on the storage arrangement. In a warehouse, a relatively small number of products constitutes the largest part of the stock and accounts for the largest part of the dispatches of the warehouse. Consequently, if high demand items are placed in near distance and grouped into classes, then picking time can be significantly reduced. The former is easy to apply by allocating a number of the front area piles to items of high demand or leftovers. In terms of more sophisticated storage options, Ven den Berg (1999) suggested a separation of the warehouse into a forward and a reserve area. The forward area was for order picking, while the reserve area was used for replenishing the forward area. The variety of different methods and techniques makes it difficult to identify the most appropriate policy to increase the overall performance of the picking activity. The decision on the appropriate principles and policies to be applied depends on the characteristics of the particular system, i.e. product and warehouse. By reducing the non-productive elements during OP, Gattorna (1997) presented a set of basic and general productivity improvement principles. 3. DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDIED WAREHOUSE – INITIAL SITUATION The company considered here deals with wood production and trading, and uses 6 warehouses for the finished products. Each warehouse is further divided into individual sections where different categories of products are stored. Panels, i.e. sheets of compressed wood (chipboard) account for 80% of the total product sales of the company. The panels are covered with coloured melamine to imitate the appearance of various types of wood. The panel warehouse has over 6000 codes of stored products, distributed into 4 individual sections. The study considers one of these sections, where the number of codes is around 1000. The most frequent values for the size of the panels is 3.66Ãâ€"1.83m, and the thickness is between 6cm and 25cm. Instead of using shelves, the products are piled one on top of the other using small chocks between the packages. Great attention is paid to the alignment of the items in each pile, to avoid sheet warping. Warping can easily occur due to the small thickness of the packages and the large load they take. The studied warehouse section consists of three parts: two of them have 12 front piles each and the third part has 6 front piles (Figure 1). The piles are 7m high and the products are stored in up to 4 depths of pile levels. The main aisle is used by the clarks to gain access to the front piles. The aisle is wide enough to allow the clarks to remove the items of the front piles and to retrieve items stored in the deeper levels. Each part of the section contains different groups of products. Customer orders are collected by the Sales Department and sent to the Traffic Office on daily basis. The loading plans contain information on the ordered items and their quantities, the customer placing the order, and the requested mode of loading on the lorry. In the course of a day, the Traffic Office prepares over 25 order plans. The plans are usually collected and loaded at the same time. Initially, the warehouse suffered from many problems that mainly affected the search and retrieval times. The picking followed the strict OP policy. Each pair of pickers (an operator and an assistant) undertook a single order-plan at the time. Orders from other plans were collected once the pickers completed their current plan, even if this required revisiting the same areas of the warehouse. There was no automated or optimal routing system used here, and the choice of an efficient route remained on the experience of the picker. The grouping of the products in the section parts was based on the type of their surface (e.g. porous or smooth), regardless of the kind of wood. This was the only storage rule, and then the items were stored randomly in the section parts. Tracing a product was relying on the experience of the warehouse managers and the memory of the pickers. From the point of management the process depended on the experience of the personnel, while even a simple WMS version was certain to improve the situation. Once the location of an item was specified, the retrieval time was affected by the size/weight of the products, and the mode of storage. For instance, if the ordered product was located on the second, third or fourth depth of pile levels, many items had to be removed until the product was finally retrieved. Then, the removed items had to be placed back to their original locations. 4. MEASUREMENTS AND PROPOSED MODIFICATIONS The time measurements were carried out twice. The first measurement (stage 1) presented the initial anarchous situation of the system (see Section 3). The second measurement (stage 3) showed the effect of the improvements suggested by the authors and adopted by the company. The picking procedure is divided into four phases, and the time measurements concern the: 1. the travel time required for the picker to reach the pick point, 2. the search time required for the products to be found, 3. the retrieval time required for the products to be retrieved, and 4. the return time required for the picker to transport the products to the order point. Each time measurement considered 15 order plans selected by the Traffic Office of the company in collaboration with the authors. The selected plans were representative and included a large number of products, so that the analysis of the obtained time schedules yields reasonable and reliable conclusions. The number of orders in the studied plans ranged from 5 to 17 per plan. To allow comparison between the picking times measured for items of different size, the results are presented as the measured time over the volume of the respective item, namely in minutes per cubic meter. 4.1. Stage 1: Results of the 1ST measurement series The results of the 1st measurement series are reported on Table 1. The time required to complete the picking cycle is 5.69 min/m3. In terms of the itemized times for travel, search, retrieval and return, we observe that finding and retrieving the products are the most time-consuming procedures. The search time is around 36% (2.05 min/m3) of the total OP time. The percentage is quite high and reveals the need for an automated system to control and monitor the placement of the stock. Tracing the products becomes an extremely difficult and demanding procedure relaying mainly on the experience of the operator and the assistant. Many years of work in this particular position and the ability to locate the items using visual contact are decisive factors. In many cases, finding an item quickly is merely a matter of coincidence or luck. Our results include cases where locating a stocked product took over 45 minutes of searching and the product eventually failed to reach the customer on time. Table 1: Final results obtained during the 1st and the 2nd measurements Phases Travel time Search time Retrieval time Return time Travel return times Total 1ST measurement before modifications t1 (minutes) % total 0.51 9.0 2.05 36.0 2.50 43.9 0.63 11.1 1.14 5.69 20.0 100. 2ST measurement after modifications t2 (minutes) % total 0.33 11.5 0.37 12.9 1.73 60.5 0.43 15.0 0.76 2.86 26.6 100. Relative time reduction (t1-t2) / t1 % 35.3 82.0 30.8 31.7 33.3 49.7 The retrieval time is around 44% (2.50 min/m3) of the total OP time. Most of this time is spent on removing products in the front levels until the desired item comes to surface. The multiple storage depths combined with the surface type-based storage makes retrieval the most time-consuming procedure. Note that the initial choice of storage policies was based upon empirical criteria since, without a systematic measurement and consideration of the real system. Typically, the travel and return times account for over half of the total OP time (Tompkins, 1998), and most of the research work in increasing the efficiency of OP has focussed on the assumption. This does not apply to the problem considered here, where the retrieval times are considerably higher due to the nature of the products. Supported by the results of Stage 1, the retrieval times can be reduced by rearranging the warehouse and applying storage principles as discussed in Section 2. 4.2. Stage 2: Proposed and implemented mo difications The scope here is to reduce the time spent to reach the picking area and the packaging point. Based on the analysis of the first measurements the following were suggested to the company. Introduction of a Warehouse Management System (WMS): The use of a WMS can facilitate and speed up the tracing of the products. This is expected to reduce significantly the search time that is over a third of the total OP time. Improvement of the picking policies: After introducing a WMS, it is advisable to change the method of OP from strict to zone picking. Application of optimal routing policies: In total, the travel and return time is only around 20% of the total OP time. A techno-economical feasibility study (in the form of an ABC analysis) can quantify how much of this can really be reduced by the choice of routing policies, and provide incentives to carry out the necessary modifications. Changing the location of fast moving products in the warehouse, to reduce the retrieval time for small orders. The number of the wood panels ordered is usually other than those contained in the panel lots. The initial policy was to leave the remaining items in their original locations until they were again in demand. The result was to have many broken lots of the same product stored randomly in various places and levels within the warehouse. The remainders of the product lots can be placed in easily accessible front piles assigned for this purpose. Extending the storage space to reduce the storage depths from four to two, to reduce the retrieval time. This however increases the fraction of the void over the total space in the warehouse, and creates a trade off between the time needed to access the products and the cost of extending the warehouse area. The company adopted some of the above suggestions, namely the installation of a simple WMS and a change in the location of its products, following an ABC analysis. The storage mode changed to demandbased, hence the fast moving products were placed closer to the section entrance to reduce the travel and return times. Also, two piles were allocated on each side section, where the remainders under 20 sheets would be placed (see the broken lot piles in Figure 1). The company did not switch to zone picking, because separating the items of the different order packs needs extra space. Also, the company could not consider our suggestion to reduce the storage depth levels, since this requ ired building an additional warehouse. 4.3. Stage 3: Results of the 2ND measurement series Once our suggestions were implemented, the second measurement series was conducted to evaluate the subsequent reductions on the total OP time. The results and the differences between the first and the second measurements are presented on the Table 1. The total time to complete the picking cycle is now 2.86 min/m3, thus a reduction of nearly 50% was achieved. More specifically, the search time is down by over 80% and is now nearly 13% (0.37 min/m3) of the total. This is because the item locations are registered and given to pickers along with the order plan. Further reductions could be achieved if the employed WMS specified the height along with the depth of the product location. The demand-based storage and the use of the two piles for the broken lots reduced the retrieval time by 30.8%, to 1.73 min/m3. There is also significant reduction (33.3% on average) in the travel time to and from the picking points, due to the new storage policies adopted. Despite the significant overall reduction on the OP time, the problem of item retrieval remains unresolved. In effect, the current retrieval time is 60% of the total OP time. Redu cing the storage depths is not considered presently, as it requires expansion of the warehousing establishments. 5. CONCLUSIONS This work presents a real case study to improve the performance of order picking in an existing company warehouse. The main objective is the reduction of the overall picking time. The work is divided into three stages. The first stage is to register the situation in the warehouse with regard to the required order picking times. The total time is divided into travel, search, retrieval and return time to allow a more detailed analysis of the situation. The analysis of the obtained data identifies promising modifications and quantifies the benefits of adopting them. In effect, the measurements indicated the need for more systematic management, storage and arrangement of the products in the warehouse, and more efficient routing. After the company approved and implemented (some of) the proposed modifications, the time measurements were repeated to see the benefits. Finally, a mean 50% reduction in the total picking times was achieved. There is still space for improvement, even given the reluctance of the company to carry out expensive modifications. Our future research considers the development of a simple warehouse simulation tool to apply different arrangement options and evaluate their performance, using the time data collected in this work. REFERENCES Ackerman, K. B., 1990. â€Å"Practical Handbook of Warehousing†, Van Nostrand Reinhold, NY. Coyle, J.J., Bardi, E.J., Langley, C.J., 1996. â€Å"The Management of Business Logistics†, 6th ed., West Publishing, St Paul, MN. De Koster, M.B.M., Van der Poort, E.S., Wolters, M., 1999. â€Å"Efficient order batching methods in warehouses†, International Journal of Production Research, vol. 37, no. 7, pp. 1479-1504. Eynan, A., Rosenblatt, M.J., 1994. â€Å"Establishing zones in single-command class-based rectangular AS/RS†, IIE Transactions, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 38-46. Frazelle, E.H., Apple, J.M., 1994. â€Å"Warehouse Operations†, in J.A. Tompkins and D.A. Harmelink (Eds), The Distribution Management Handbook, McGraw-Hill, NY, pp. 22.1-22.36. Gibson, D.R., Sharp, G.P., 1992. â€Å"Order batching procedures†, European Journal of Operational Research, vol. 58, pp. 57-67. Gray, A.E., Karmarkar, U.S., Seidmann, A., 1992. â€Å"Design and operation of an order-consolidation warehouse: Models and application†, European Journal of Operational Research, vol. 58, pp. 3-13. Hall, R.W., 1993. â€Å"Distance approximations for routing manual pickers in a warehouse†, IIE Transactions, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 76-87. Jarvis, J.M., McDowell, E.D., 1991. â€Å"Optimal product layout in an order picking warehouse†, IIE Transactions, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 93-102. Gattorna, J., 1997. Handbook of Logistics and Distribution management, 4th ed., Gower Publisher Company. Petersen, C.G., 1997. â€Å"An evaluation of order picking routing policies†, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1096-1111. Petersen, C.G., 2000. â€Å"An evaluation of order picking policies for mail order companies†, Production and Operations Management, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 319-335. Petersen, C.G., Aase, G., 2003. â€Å"A comparison of picking, storage and routing policies in manual order picking†, International Journal of Production Economics, in press. Petersen, C.G., Schmenner, R.W., 1998. â €Å"An evaluation of routing and volume-based storage policies in an order picking operation†, Decision Sciences, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 481-501. Ratliff, H.D., Rosenthal, A.S., 1983. â€Å"Order-picking in a rectangular warehouse: A solvable case of the traveling salesman problem†, Operations Research, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 507-521. Roodbergen, K.J., Koster, R., 2001. â€Å"Routing methods for warehouses with multiple cross aisles†, International Journal of Production Research, vol. 39, no. 9, pp. 1865-1883. Schwarz, L.B., Graves, S.C., Hausman, W.H., 1978. â€Å"Scheduling policies for automatic warehousing systems: simulation results†, AIIE Transactions, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 260-270. Tompkins, J.A., Smith, J.D., 1998. The Warehouse Management Handbook, 2nd ed., Tompkins Press, Raleigh. Van den Berg, J.P., Zijm, W.H.M., 1999. â€Å"Models for warehouse management: Classification and examples†, International Journal of Production Economics, vol. 59, pp. 519-528.

Starbucks Is The Leading Retailer And Roaster Marketing Essay

Starbucks Is The Leading Retailer And Roaster Marketing Essay My assignment strives to outline the marketing strategic approaches to be undertaken for the next year by the Starbucks is the leading retailer and roaster for brand specialty coffee in the world. It has over7,500 stores located worldwide. As Starbucks continues to expand, it will encounter all sorts of new product markets, with new and demanding customers for unique and appealing products. Entering this new market, Starbucks will face many challenges to compete and to retain brand recognition of its primary products, yet increases awareness of its new product line. Situational analysis Company As Mathew Carmean and his fellows (Sewer, Andy,January 26, 2004 p.70) tell us: Starbucks is the leading retailer for roaster and brand specialty coffee in the world. It has over 7,500 stores, which are located in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and the MiddleEast. Besides high quality coffee drinks, Starbucks sells bottled coffee drinks, such as Frappuccino andStarbucks DoubleShot. [ibis]Starbucks revenue is growing by 20% a year and is opening approximately three stores every day.Starbucks is capable of managing its successful operations by having steady market growth. It achievedthis by financing through their cash flow instead of franchising, selling stock or increasing their financialleverage). Its strategy to success is blanket an area completely. This approach is to cuts down ondelivery and management costs, shortens customer lines at individual stores, and increases foot traffic forall the stores in an area, that gives Starbucks a competitive advantage. Customer At first only professionals and educators went to Starbucks, but now it attracts a much wider demographic of customersincluding people of different ethnic backgrounds and ages. Today, Starbucks has the striking number of 25million visitors in its stores each week. This success is due to the combination of high quality drinksand friendly environment with good music, comfortable chairs, and good services. This creates theStarbucks experience which customers can relate to that lead to brand loyalty. In addition, Starbucksneeds to deal with customers cultural preferences in all its worldwide locations to maintain customers loyalty. Competitors To ensure further market growth and be competitive, Starbucks is developing new products for non-coffee drinkers. Starbucks provides its current customers and attracts new customers not only with quality products but also with varieties flavors that customers desire. Starbucks two largest competitors are Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme, both are national chains. These companies use aggressive price-cutting, up to 20%, for their drinks. Other competitors are small local coffeehouses, and other coffee brands like Tullys and Petes Coffee. Their direct competitors for the new product line are Orange Julius, Jamba Juice, fast food chains such as McDonalds and Burger King, and other small coffee alternative providers. Complementors Starbucks has teamed up with Bank One to offer the Starbucks Card Duetto Visa. This is a stored-value card and traditional credit card. Starbucks has also introduced a T-Mobile Hotspot service which allows the Starbucks customer to have access to wireless internet for a fee.  Offering more services like the Visa card, wireless internet and customized CD will add more value to the Starbucks experience and help draw more customers to Starbucks which will lead to higher revenues. Managerial Problem Starbucks strategic goal is to increase market share of the non-coffee drinker; they have begun byintroducing an extension of a product line targeted to this segment. To ensure market growth, Starbuckshas repositioned one of its current products, the Frappuccino line, this product has been extended toinclude 3 new flavors; Double Chocolate Chip Crà ¨me, Vanilla Bean Crà ¨me, and Strawberries Crà ¨me,introduced throughout the summer months. Faced with the challenge of entering a new competitivemarket Starbucks must compete to retain brand recognition of its primary products, yet increaseawareness of its new product line by expanding the retail stores in the international markets. SWOT analysis  will help emphasize exactly what Starbucks is doing right or wrong. It will provide us an insight on what the company is good at, and in what areas Starbucks could use assistance. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) are described below: Starbucks SWOT Analysis Strengths It is a global coffee brand built upon a reputation for fine products and services. It has almost 17,000 stores in 49 countries.   The organization has strong ethical values, commitment to the environment, and community activists. Weaknesses The organization has a strong presence in the United States of America with more than three quarters of its cafes located in the domestic market. In order to reduce business risk, expansion is needed. Starbucks has a reputation for new product development and creativity. However, they remain vulnerable to the possibility that their innovation may falter over time, and product acceptance will come to a halt eventually slowing growth. Opportunities The company has the opportunity to expand its global operations. New markets for coffee such as India and the Pacific Rim nations are beginning to emerge. Co-branding with other manufacturers of food and drink, and brand franchising to manufacturers of other goods and services both have potential. Threats Starbucks success has led to the market entry of many competitors and copycat brands that could pose potential threats. How they combat these threats will determine their future. Starbucks is exposed to rises in the cost of coffee and dairy products. Starbucks is a large company with a competitive advantage that is shrinking because of its huge success. This is because Starbucks model has been copied successfully by its competitors and this poses a serious threat to the company. If Starbucks cannot retain its differentiator strategy, it is doomed to fall out of popularity, as it would end up being a store that is selling nothing more than a cup of coffee.   With majority of its stores concentrated in United States, Starbucks is also limiting its growth and exposing itself to risk. Any negative changes in the domestic market could severely hurt Starbucks viability as a firm. If Starbucks can retain its strengths and build on opportunities, while suppressing weaknesses and extinguishing threats, it will be able to grow throughout the world market. The SWOT analysis also gives a starting point for a discussion on what Starbucks can do to reduce its weaknesses. Due to its large size, Starbucks sets trends for the industry that can be backed up by the volume of their delivery. Exactly how long Starbucks can dominate the market depends on Starbucks itself. Starbucks has a large number of stores for coffee outlets, all of which are owned outright by the corporation and no franchisees. Minimal revenue requirements have been placed on each store, and those that fall short are closed. The company closed down over 600 stores that fell short of its revenue requirements (Fiscal 2008 Annual Report). The large number of stores is a huge asset or a liability, depending on how one assesses the situation. If there is a strong economy and people have disposable income, then there is a benefit on having so many stores to generate revenues. On the other hand, during economic downturns, the vast number of stores will become a huge financial liabi lity. By consistently enforcing revenue requirements for each store, Starbucks will able to maintain or increase its same store sales, and while at the same reducing one of the weaknesses of being so large. The company has managed to maintain the competitive advantage because it has offered conveniences and an atmosphere customers can enjoy. As long as Starbucks fulfills its customers wants and needs, Starbucks will continue to be a leading force in the market. Starbucks should continue to create more value at its stores. Starbucks has created a perception that it is focused not just on profits, but also on societal agendas. The companys stores have become a medium for people and communities to come together and promote a better place to live in an environmentally conscious society. Starbucks found a niche market where it identified what makes its customers happy, and has delivered it to them. Continuing to accomplish this will allow Starbucks to maintain its competitive advantage for years to come. Marketing Vision and Mission statement of Starbucks Mission Statement of Starbucks To inspire and nurture the human spirit one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time. Vision of Starbucks   Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow. Marketing Objectives of Starbucks To create a Starbucks experience that makes people come for the coffee, stay for the ambience and environment, and return for the connection. To build an image separate from smaller coffee chains. To clearly communicate the values and commitments of the Starbucks business to their customers, instead of only growth plans publicized in the media. Marketing strategies Implemented by Starbucks Growth Strategy This well-known marketing tool was first published in the Harvard Business Review (1957) in an article called Strategies for Diversification. It is used by marketers who have objectives for growth. Ansoffs matrix offers strategic choices to achieve the objectives. There are four main categories for selection. Ansoffs Product/Market Matrix Market Penetration With this approach, Starbucks will try to sell more of the same product to the same customers at a competitive price. Here itwilladvertise, introduce a loyalty scheme, launch special promotions, to encourage more people within the existing market to choose its products, or to use more of it. By working toward this goal, Starbucks wants to open new stores in both new andexisting markets, expand their product development process, and cater to customersneeds to eventually improve their financial position and dominate market share. Market Development With this approach, Starbucks will target new markets or new areas of the market. It will try to sell more of the sameproducts to different people. However,we will target different geographical markets at home, use different sales channels, such as online or direct sales if weare currently selling through the trade, target different groups of people, perhaps different age groups, genders or demographic profiles from our normal customers. Product Development With this approach, we will sell more things to the same people with new products. Here we will extend our products by producing different variants, or packaging existing products in new ways. Starbucks can apply the following product development strategy Fresh and rich brewed Italian espresso Offers pastries and other appetizing confections Sells coffee-related accessories (mugs, coffee makers, cups, espresso, etc.) Expanded sales into supermarkets of whole bean coffee Introduction the widely popular drink, Frappuccino, to the public Strives for satisfied customers and a welcoming environment Works to have highest standards of excellence in way of business Offers newspapers and other reading material, popular music, and Internetaccess Ansoffs matrix is one of the most well know frameworks for deciding upon strategies for growth. CompetitiveStrategy Porter five forces Generic strategies were used initially in the early 1980s, and seem to be even more popular today. They outline the three main strategic options open to organization that wish to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Each of the three options are considered within the context of two aspects of the competitive environment: Sources of competitive advantage   are the products differentiated in any way, or are they the lowest cost producer in an industry?  Competitive scope of the market   does the company target a wide market, or does it focus on a very narrow, niche market? Michael Porters Analysis of Starbucks Michael Porter, a Harvard Professor introduces his ideology of the Five Forces model that shapes the competition in the industry.    Each force is interrelated and therefore leads into the other to show the elements directly involved in the further success or ultimate success of the firm.   Ã‚   Starbucks Coffee Company, throughout its existence since 1971, with its great management team, innovative style of thinking and strong will to succeed in compliance with its mission and vision statements has and continues to overcome its barriers by recognizing such strategic planning as those included in Porters five forces model. The model includes such components as Barriers to Entry, Supplier and Buyer Power, Threat of Substitutions, and most importantly the Industry Competitors. Starbucks throughout its existence has addressed each and every one of Porters forces with a positive edge that has greatly contributed to the success of the company. Starbucks took manyrisks and spent capital that it really did not have.    To build a corporation based on intuition and a trip to Italy has undoubtedly paid off in the long run which is evident throughout the year that Starbucks has been in operation.    Howard Schultz, CEO and founder of the company, has stuck to his conviction not to sacrifice long-term integrity and values for short-term profit.    He knew if he played his cards right and stuck to his guns it would only be a matter of time that Starbucks would become the world largest coffee industry in the world.    He wanted the company to become and international outlet for coffee consumers which not only included men and woman but also addresses the needs and wants of those of all ages and nationalities, children, students and any other category of people that have and interest in Starbucks diverse product line. With constant dedication to the companys vision and mission statement and believing in the value of market share and name recognition and how critical they are to the success. (http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Michael-Porters-Analysis-Starbucks/33231) Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning Segmentation One dimension of segmentation will be demographics (age and household status). Starbucks have to selected married couples age 23 50 with children to be our primary target market. According to the research, it is found that these households spend more than other households on non-alcoholic beverages away from home. The Company will evaluate each segment based upon potential business success. Opportunities will depend upon factors such as: the potential growth of the segment the state of competitive rivalry within the segment how much profit the segment will deliver how big the segment is how the segment fits with the current direction of the company and its vision. Starbucks does not have any special segments or we can say that it is not focusing on a specifically group rather than company is focusing on the people who want to relax themselves by a taking a cup of coffee and company is providing them the environment that the customers want. Targeting As the Starbucks is extremely careful ineach step of coffee making, it is trying to maintain a long-standing relationship with its customers and similarly they do not have any real competition threats.Starbucks is will target office workers, with middle to high incomes, who have a desire topurchase premium products.While evaluating the consumer market the conclusion is that the ideal consumers economic profile will beUpper Middle Class, Privileged Class, While the age demographics will be Students and Youngsters, Professionals, Families, and Mature Consumers. Gender and Ethnic or Religious Background is researched to have minimal or no effecton the choices concerning coffee. Positioning Positioning is undoubtedly one of the simplest and most useful tools to marketers. After segmenting a market and then targeting a consumer, you would proceed to position a product within that market. Remember this important point. Positioning is all about perception. As perception differs from person to person, so do the results of the positioning map e.g what you perceive as quality, value for money, etc., and is different to my perception. However, there will be similarities. This is the main strength of this tool. Marketers decide upon a competitive position which enables them to distinguish their own products from the offerings of their competition (hence the term  positioning strategy). Store Ambience Goal: To make customers want to linger Social Appeal-Offer a sense of community, a place where peoplecan come together. Physical layout Seating areas to encourage lounging Appear upscale yet inviting Aromas Smoking is banned in all stores Employees are asked to refrain from wearing perfumes orcolognes, and prepared foods are kept covered socustomers would only smell coffee aromas. Sounds Play soothing CDs that are also for sale Often offer live music Customer Service The company sees a direct link between customer satisfaction andcustomer loyalty. The company believes that employee satisfaction leads to customersatisfaction (Moon). MARKETING MIX Product Starbucks should try to position themselves as a premium product in the coffee industry in Asia bycreating a high standard, introducing innovative products and providing excellent service.They should open new retail stores in the downtown area and also try to maintain the quality control of the coffee beans throughout Asia.  Consumers can enjoy theexperience; they encounter at Starbucks, and now for those who seek a high quality non-coffee drink canenjoy the same experience. By introducing these new summer drinks, Starbucks will enjoy an entirelynew segment to market its products in Asia. When looking at the sales revenues for the summer drinks it isimportant to consider that some of the existing customers will inevitably cross over and begin consumingthe new drinks. In the end, the expansion of the product line is a wise decision because of the ease ofadoption to Starbucks reputation for quality as well as the low cost of implementation. Price Price and quality determines the value of the product. Therefore, Starbucks have to base their price strategy on the competition of quality.It alwaystries to deliver the high value promised to the consumers. They have to buy the quality beans,give effective and efficient training to staffs, and moreover, make an atmosphere to enjoycoffee. These all justify theirpricing and show how price supported their positioning. Place Distribution channels links the organizations product or service to its consumers; andin a producer-consumer (direct supply) channel, as in the case of Starbucks, maintaining apersonnel relationship with the customers is significant (BrassingtonPettitt, 2000). However, from a distribution point of view Starbucks has an advantage by sticking on to itswinning store location formula for its new stores (refer case study). Starbucks always selectedhighly visible locations and opened stores as clusters. As demandwill grow, as these store clustersmake them able to manage the increased traffic and to keep their competitive position.In thesame way, they can take care about the services provided in the stores. Starbucks invested heavily in training their staffs and did innovativetactics to manage their human capital. Thus they differentiated themselves in the market byconstantly providing higher quality services Promotion One advantage that may set Starbucks apart is the having a solid online marketing program. It should hire qualified online marketing managers to oversee its websites functions and appeal so that consumers to patronize the site will see all the humanitarian work Starbucks is doing and use it as a competitive edge to retain customers and curb product substitution. A search engine optimization campaign should be launched to ensure that anyone searching for terms related to the services Starbucks offers finds the Starbucks website and spends a significant amount of time there. Blogs and forums discussing the humanitarian work of the company may be added to increase consumer awareness of the companys activities. Artworks can be designed to boasteach citys personality, and it is used on traveler mugs and T-shirts, recruitlocal ambassadors from new partners and from customers to promote their brand.The Company is not using advertising but they can use those funds for acquiring key locations and establish a national dominance before others about specialty coffee bars. Relationship Marketing Starbucks Relationship Marketing activities can be done in two common ways like internally and externally. For example, internally, relationships are enhanced by introducing a cooperative and goal oriented organizational structure with effective control systems, retaining competent management, employing effective operational processes and international expansion strategies. Employees are   referred to as partners with both part and full time staff treated equally by offering both stock options and full medical coverage. Externally, Starbucks core strategy should be centered on building lasting customer relationships through trust and commitment with its stakeholders (Refer case study). After analyzing the information about what media the target audience prefers, we should come up with the following: newspapers, internet, outdoor, magazines and radio. Two certain types of magazines are mostly used. Those are womens interest and news and entertainment weeklies. Some of the specific vehicles for magazines will be Better Homes and Garden, People and National Geographic. As for newspapers, it should be locally distributed carriers that run the Parade supplement. The internet usage varied across a wide variety of content. Therefore, a key word association will be the most local choice to select their certain interests as well as the name Starbucks itself. Radio is also another that will have to change as far as format is concerned. This will vary depending on the market the radio is in. They do share common listening times. These times are from 10am to 3pm, Monday through Friday, and 3pm to 7pm on the weekends. Outdoor being another selection of media to reach our target audience it is a way of being in the community as they transit from one place to another. The location of this will be selected based upon spot market rating for the most showings in the specific areas. FUTURE PROMOTION AND EXPANSION PLANS: Starbuckswill be launching more branches all over Asia after developing an evenfirmer hold on the local western markets. The expansion will be planned for the nextyear that is 2011. The next targets should be India, Srilanka, Pakistan, and in cities of China.For that purpose again the launch will not be very extravagant, but the alreadyestablished repute in the metropolitan of western and the attachment of TV programsand stars will do the required marketing. Ads will be published in the leadingnewspapers and some bill board advertising should also be done. But overall it will below key marketing activity.Allocated budgetshould be kept in mind while launching the product in the Asia. Conclusion As stated earlier, Starbucks historically positioned itself as an upscale brand. Due to the economic downturn and increased competition from large quick-service restaurant chains and specialty retailers, the company sees its profits being eroded. The company introduced new products that would appeal to price-skittish customers and implemented techniques that would standardize its stores and reduce costs. The new strategy carries with it its own risks. Since Starbucks enjoyed such a rapid growth in its business, the company can expands its stores anywhere in the globe where there is a more profitability. It means that Starbucks stores are as readily available as McDonalds and as such the Starbucks experience the company asserts it provides, might be seen as no different than the experience of McDonalds. As in the case of appealing to mass market with bottomless coffee, Starbuckss core customer might move to other stores where they perceive the experience is still being provided. If Starbucks continues to increase its storeswhile measuring and implementing of its various cost cutting initiatives, Starbucks is likely to see increased profitability. The company is also introducing 100 new stores in US, and 200 new stores in International markets, which might positively affect the company provided they are successful. Aggressive adoption of no-frills products to bring in new customers could also affect Starbuckss profitability. Until now, any increase in commodity prices are more or less offset by companys high prices, but a no-frills products would put downward pressure on companys profitability, and possibly even damage Starbucks image as an upscale brand. Biblograhy 1) Mathew Carmean, Julie Anstett, Julia Toochette, Joel Ennis, Joey Eaton, Trang P. Huynh ,: 2003 The Starbucks: The Non-Coffee Treat 2) KatieTewell, Bethany Odom, Kelly Snider, December 12, 2006, Starbucks Marketing Plan 3)www.Marketingteacher.com 4)http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Michael-Porters-Analysis-Starbucks/33231

Reader Response to Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe :: Defoe Robinson Crusoe Essays

Personal response to Robinson Crusoe "...I observe that the expectation of evil is more bitter than the suffering..."(p.181). Only after several readings of different portions of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and several attempts at drafting a different type of paper, did I finally decide upon using this particular quotation. For me the best kind of writing is the one that does itself, and this quote is the basis for that kind of writing. All I have to do is hold the pen. My first recollection of being "locked into" fear (aside from the boogey man, ghosts and witches) was the first time I had to be absent from school for several days. I believe I was ill with a sore throat and fever. At the age of five or six, an hour often feels like a day, and a day like a week, so to be out of school for four days seemed quite a LONG time. Anyway, I remember my mother finally telling me I could go back to school the next morning. While part of me was happy and excited at the thought of seeing my friends and my teacher, the other part of me was terrified. What if when I got to my classroom no one talked to me? (because I hadn't been there). What if my teacher was mad at me? (because I hadn't been there). What if they all made fun of me? (because I hadn't been there). What if I didn't know any answers? (because I hadn't been there). I would die: I just knew I would. Well, after several hours of this kind of thinking along with the escalating of fear and anxiety that accompanied it, I really didn't have to worry about school the next day; I was making myself too sick to go back! The next morning after refusing to eat breakfast (which my mother said I was too excited to eat), I got dressed in my favorite outfit (red corduroy pants, checkered shirt- -with solid red scarf, red socks and white sneakers), and sat on the couch-waiting for my older sister, Susan, to finish getting ready to take me to school. The old fear-thoughts started again, and this time I had neither the comforts of my bedcovers nor of a day's respite.

Case Study of Warren E. Buffet :: Business Management Studies

Case Study of Warren E. Buffet In 1995 Berkshire Hathaway has made a bid for the shares of GEICO. This report reviews the offer made by Warren Buffet and will try to prove that the acquisition of GEICO will serve the long-term goal of Berkshire Hathaway and the bid price was appropriate. Furthermore, it will explain what may have caused for the share price increase for Berkshire Hathaway at the announcement of GEICO’s acquisition. Would the GEICO acquisition serve the long-term goals of Berkshire Hathaway? In 1976, Warren Buffet paid $45.7 million for 34.25 shares of GEICO. Review of GEICO’s historical dividends shows that GEICO has been a very profitable investment for Berkshire Hathaway. The growth rate for 1994 is a sharp increase, but even if the growth rate for 1994 is not considered, GEICO’s historical increase in dividends has been considerably high so that acquisition of GEICO will serve the long-term goals of Berkshire Hathaway. What might account for the share price increase for Berkshire Hathaway at the announcement? Review of Warren Buffet’s historical investment success might explain the increase in share price for Berkshire Hathaway at the announcement. Given that he has had a good track record, it is expected that shareholders respond positively. In 1977, the price of Berkshire Hathaway was $89 closing at $25,400 by 1995, an unparalleled annual growth of 37.7%. In comparison, the growth rate of the S&P 500 over the same period was 14.3%. Warren Buffet’s formidable investment performance was also demonstrated when Berkshire Hathaway acquired Scott & Fetzer. Berkshire Hathaway paid $315 million for Scott & Fetzer in 1985 after which they received significant dividends. Again, Buffet’s investment performance on the acquisition of Scott & Fetzer outperformed the S&P 500 evident by an internal rate of return (IRR) of 26.4% including the 1994 cash flow or 14.9% without 1994 cash flow on the Scott & Fetzer investment. Clearly, Warren Buffet’s positive investment performance carried a significant weight and influences the market to have a more optimistic outlook on his investments. Conversely, his historical records of investment success do add value to shareholders trust. Was the bid price appropriate? GEICO Corp was selling for $55.75 at the time Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway made an offer of $70 including a 26% premium over the current GEICO stock price. One would expect that what appeared to be an overprice bid would lead to a negative market reaction. On the contrary, Berkshire Hathaway’s shares closed up 2.4% for the day for a gain in market value of $718 million after the announcement. The gain’s effect was twofold – it increased the value of GEICO shares (34.25 million) Berkshire Hathaway already owned and it also made the

Essay --

Subway is the largest single branded international sandwich fast food restaurant franchise. They primarily sell submarine sandwiches and salads. They are the fastest growing franchises in the world with 40735 restaurants in 102 countries. Subway was started by an ambitious 17 year old high school graduate, Fred Deluca , in 1965. He started this business partly because he needed money to aid his education fees. Fred Deluca approached his friend, Dr. Buck, to borrow a thousand dollars to start the business. They eventually became business partners and opened Pete’s Super Submarines. They opened a second outlet and they changed the name to SUBWAY, coloured bright yellow. This is to attract more customers with their company’s name. Background information The Subway story started in 1965 in Bridgeport, Connecticut during August. 17 year old Fred DeLuca dreamed of becoming a medical doctor. He was in need of money as he had to pay for his tuition so he worked in a hardware store. He could only afford lunch at McDonald’s even though he had his salary. This gave him an idea of running a fast-food venture that provides better and healthier food. He got the solution during his family barbecue in a conversation with a family friend, Dr. Peter Buck. Peter then loaned him a $1000 which was enough to open a shop in Bridgeport, which was named Pete’s Submarine after Peter Buck. But it was later changed to Pete’s Subway as the transportation system was nearby in New York. In 1966, Fred and Peter made enough money to open a second store, but they knew it was in a poor location. They found a better location and it was opened till today. Fred continued attending his college while running Subway at the same time. By 1973, he and Buck managed to ha... ... their stores within few miles because it is much more convenient. Demographic: Subway segment their market demographically by providing different foods. For example, Subway in India does not have beef and Subway in Malaysia does not have pork because of their religion and beliefs. Psychographic: Subway is able to segment their market on eating habits. Health conscious people are more likely to buy Subway as it is fresh rather than buying a burger which is oily and unhealthy. Behavioral: Subway knows that busy people, parties and events need food. That is why they provide catering services. Positioning Strategy Subway's strategy is making their food as fresh as possible. They bake their breads fresh daily, they offer more ingredient than any other of their competitor and their customers can customize their own sandwich which gives them more freedom of choice.

Abortion is too easy †Do you agree? Essay

There seems to be a common attitude shared even by some abortion rights supporters that abortions shouldn’t be too easy to obtain. People apparently feel that if abortions are easy to get, then they would be â€Å"abused† — as if women can’t be trusted to use abortion â€Å"correctly† or as if the meaning of pregnancy would be diminished. But can you imagine the outcry if people were told that they have a right to vote (arguably of equal importance to the decision to have an abortion), but that voting shouldn’t be â€Å"too easy† and that they have to go through several hoops to cast their vote? Aren’t efforts to make abortions more difficult to obtain a direct attack on the poor and working classes who can least afford to devote the time and money being demanded while technically and formally keeping abortion â€Å"legal†? Abortions will always occur because the situation will always arise where someone has an unwanted pregnancy. Therefore if abortions were illegal or even more difficult to obtain, people might have to resort to having an abortion carried out on the ‘black market’. Such a procedure might be carried out in unfit conditions by someone unqualified to do the job. The fact that it is legal in the UK means at least that it can be regulated and you can be sure that it is carried out safely, the same reason why prostitution is legal in America. Although Christian teaching on abortion is not simple, generally Christian’s belief in the sanctity of life means that they have serious concerns about abortion, therefore for the most part think that it should not be legal at all. Christian’s will always have a problem with abortion, however hard to obtain they are. For this reason making abortions more difficult to obtain would simply have the result of further infringing of the rights of women over their body and still would not appease the strict Christians. However abortion is still murder of an innocent human being who has done nothing wrong and who cannot defend him or herself. Abortion can simply be a selfish act because their child is an inconvenience and it is simply a â€Å"get out of jail free card†. Moreover, it is a traditional Christian belief that abortion is wrong and in the Didache it states that you should â€Å"not kill the foetus in the mother’s womb†. Also every person is sacred as God made us in his image and likeness and therefore it is wrong to destroy what is like God. As Mother Teresa said, â€Å"If a mother can kill her own child, what is there to stop you and me from killing each other†. Although abortion is unpleasant, it is necessary and it is a woman’s right to decide what happens inside her body. We know longer live in a time governed by religion and therefore I do not think religions have the right to change the laws on abortions. For these reasons, I don’t think that abortion is too easy.

Alcohol in Colonial America

The first settlers arrived to the Americas and staked their claim on this new discovery. Something else was waiting for the settlers, a beverage of intoxication. Almost as quickly as they began to organize and sub-divide the land, the immigrants, and true natives to North America shared their beloved drink: alcohol. Cultures of varied races arrived and shared in this most cherished drink. There were uses for alcohol in the earliest colonial times that went beyond a beverage to drink in festive gatherings. There are varied beliefs surrounding the conception of alcohol consumption and its effects on British Colonies. Some are true, others are false. I will construct an investigation surrounding the history of alcohol in Colonial America with persuasive evidence to support my findings. Alcohol, also commonly referred to as spirits in Colonial America had many uses. Alcohol, of course, was used in festive times, but it was also used in religious ceremonies as well and providing medicinal properties to aid in curing ailments. The initial impact of alcohol on the settlers led them to accept it for its varied uses. Although moderate use of alcohol was accepted, society, from its inception into the Americas, frowned upon individuals becoming overly intoxicated. In other words, drunkenness was viewed negatively. Since alcohol was considered a â€Å"gift from the gods† to the natives, the settlers, too, accepted its mind-altering properties as something almost sacred. The growing communities treasured it, just as the natives did. Time and abuse were two components that led to problems for alcohol consumption. Due to its success in the minds of settlers, they partook in alcohol consumption for all three meals of the day: beer with breakfast, hard cider with lunch, beer with supper. In fact, beer and hard cider were the most popular drinks for colonists. As the drinking continued, they wanted to learn how to brew beer. One of the initial problems—aside from increasing abuse of alcoholic drunkenness—was the lack of sufficient ingredients. Barley, grains, hops, and yeast were the main ingredients in a brewing beer. The colonies did not have an ample selection of hops and grains. Harvesting of barley and hops was not a common crop among farmers of this era. Many colonists tried different ingredients, but nothing satisfied the perfect blend of hops, barley, yeast, and grain. By the late 1600’s, cider became a top choice among colonists, mainly due the apple crops that were prevalent in colonial times. Mass production through efficient farming and harvesting by colonists was seen. Thanks again to England for the apples. Farmers increased their work load mainly due to the reward of the final product: cider matured into hard cider (which included alcohol). With the increasing popularity of beer and cider, the settlers discovered a need to increase their selection. The settlers started to import inexpensive yields of sugar cane and molasses to brew another popular drink: rum. Rum quickly gained in popularity for the following reasons: it was cheap to produce and tasted good. By 1700, in Boston, the first commercial distillery was opened. The increase in rum consumption was the first challenge to the beer market. Religion and alcohol found a common link. In fact, many taverns were required to be built near churches or the local town meeting house. The religious zealots accepted alcohol consumption—strictly in moderation, though. Drunkenness, of course, was viewed as sinful. Alcohol soon became a problem in the eyes of the church and laws were established surrounding alcohol. In 1697, in New York, they enacted a law that required all taverns to be closed on Sunday. They required that the Sabbath be set aside as a day solely for reconciliation with the Lord and prayer. In conjunction with the closure of taverns on Sundays, the church required further regulations against alcohol consumption on Saturday nights as well. The main concern for the church was that taverns were gaining more popularity than the Sunday services. The Reverend Charles Woodmason went one step further and cautioned parishioners with the thought that there was a competition between the church and tavern for souls. Reverend Charles was quoted was saying the following, the taverns had â€Å"more company of a Saturday, than in the church on Sunday. † As colonists went into the early part of the 19th century, religion encouraged moderation in any and all alcoholic drinks. Alcohol, aside from the churches persistent concern over drunkenness and a loss of parishioner appeal, had other uses. Alcohol was also widely used in the field of medicine. Many doctors and medical practitioners believed that some of the stronger spirits could prevent disease, cure some common infections, and offer relief to minor aches and pains such as headaches, sore joints and muscles. In these instances, doctors would prescribe rum, hard cider, or whiskey. Doctors also encouraged patients to increase alcohol consumption to relieve emotional or stressful problems in their daily life. In fact, doctors went so far as to prescribe families to drink alcohol in lie of water. They thought that water brought from Europe was contaminated, and, thus, could lead to serious illness. Alcohol consumption was also prescribed to children suffering from viral infections as well as aiding in their development into a stronger, more physically fit individual. A little whiskey and honey went a long way for a sick child. The unusual, or even outlandish, practices went further still: doctors prescribed hard liquor to women who were in labor, a means of numbing some of the intense pain suffered during labor. Midwives would brew what was coined â€Å"groaning ale. This groaning ale contained extremely high contents of alcohol and special spices, all in hopes of easing the child bearing pains. A variation to groaning ale was used by some doctors. This was a little less toxin on the mother and baby. Doctors concocted spirits that were used as an anesthetic. This anesthetic was less expensive and more readily available from household to household than the hard spirits used i n the groaning ale. Alcohol, as with many new products brought to civilized society, began as an innocent and purely beneficial product. Beyond the stress-reducing capacity for hard cider or beer, the early nutritionists thought alcohol had great nutritional value and needed to be added to a person’s health-conscious daily diet regime. Due to this initial nutritious appeal, politicians did not, initially, write legislation limiting alcohol consumption. It was not until 1619, in the state of Virginia, that the first law was passed to control alcohol use. Policy maker main objective was to restrict â€Å"drunkenness,† not prohibit the use of alcohol. This first law enacted a penalty against drunkenness which stated that if you were arrested for being drunk and disorderly, then the fine would be up to 5 shillings or imprisonment. In time, however, politician modified the law to only include a monetary infraction. The reasoning behind this law was because the lower-classes tended to be the ones caught in public, and politicians felt a fine would be viewed as more distressing to the lower-class and curtail drunkenness. The next state to enact legislation surrounding alcohol consumption was Maryland. In Maryland, in 1639, they attempted to limit the amount a person drank. According to law, it was illegal to be drunk in public: â€Å"drunkenness† was defined as â€Å"drinking with excess to the notable perturbation of any organ or sense of motion. † The penalty was the same as in Virginia: 5 shillings. In 1645, Massachusetts jumped on the alcohol bandwagon, passing a law that restricted the amount an individual could consume at any period of time. The law stated the following, â€Å"The courts consider it illegal to drink more than a pint of wine at a time. † Anything over a pint constituted inebriation. On top of this, Massachusetts instituted another statute for ale houses and tavern owners. This statute made it illegal for owners to serve a customer beyond the legal limit, a difficult law to follow. With this statute, however, both the proprietor and customer could be fined for disobeying this law (Austin, Gregory p. 230). The Plymouth colonies chose a different slant in enacting their alcohol legislation. Unlike the Virginian definition for â€Å"drunkenness,† in the Plymouth colony the focus was on motor skills. Plymouth went so far as to define the term which constituted a universal view—throughout almost every colony—that alcohol is not healthy, nor should it be considered beneficial to a person’s health. The Plymouth definition was as follows: they viewed being drunk—not by loss of mobility or amount consumed—but instead by the person’s ability speak clearly: â€Å"A person that lisps or faulters in his speech by reason of drink, or that vomits, or cannot follow his calling. † (Austin, Gregory, p. 240) When we look at gender, women were not considered part of the drinking culture. Most often, women drank in private (Salinger, Sharon p 223). According to historical record, women rarely drank in public in colonial times. It was viewed as unacceptable for a woman. Policy makers enacted different conditions and consequences for each gender. Women were rarely seen in bars and taverns in this period. The brewing of beer, up until the late 1700’s, was an art left for the women to complete. Men would be off at work during the day and women kept the house in order, which included beer and liquor. Home-brewing was very common. In fact, most households that drank brewed their own ale. The Spaniards arrived in the 1700’s and brought wine to the colonies. At the time, vineyards were unheard of; thus, without grapes they could not cultivate, ferment, and produce wine in the colonies. It was brought over on ship. The French soon followed and were able to cultivate the grapes on colony soil. Wine consumption gained in popularity, yet the hard cider was still the preferred drink among the middle class. Germans, too, became part of the alcohol dynamic. The Germans brought better techniques to brewing fine ales and were the first to bring ‘lagers’ to the Americas. All of these countries brought new ideas and new brewing methods to the colonies. In conclusion, it is apparent that the initial discovery of alcohol for the colonies was viewed as a sacred drink. The colonists took the vision of the natives and brought it into their lives as a daily staple. The harms and potential for dangerous situations soon became rampant with all the drunken colonists. Laws were passed and changes were made in various colonies in hopes of curtailing the problems associated with drunken behavior. Even the churches got involved. As new cultures landed from various countries, they discovered new varieties on crafting a very popular beverage. Regardless of all the dangers associated with alcohol consumption, I believe it’s going to continue to be a drink enjoyed throughout the world.