Amazon has an extensive network of manufacturers who are partnered with the company and supply it with a significant portion of order volume. Procurement’s input resources consist of purchased goods from other vendors and manufacturers. Its processes consist of managing contacts with numerous sellers, seeking new partners, purchasing goods, and establishing an ideal price for them (Mark, 2018). Since Amazon actively buys products for resale and its order volume is approximately 50% first- and second-party sellers, its procurement volume is massive. With numerous sellers delivering goods from across the globe, the variety dimension of this operation is high. Variation of the process is low, as Amazon created a system that allows its operations to remain stable (Mark, 2018). Visibility can be described as low as an average customer does not possess any details of this process.
Four performance perspectives for the procurement operation:
| Perspective | Priority |
| Top-down | The continuous improvement of the supply chain. |
| Bottom-up | A simplified process of creating and managing supply orders. |
| Market requirement | A constant stream of demanded goods. |
| Operations resources | A stable amount of each good prepared for delivery. |
The key performance priority for procurement is to stabilize the process of obtaining the products from first- and second-party sellers.
Amazon has several facilities that manage its goods. The input of this operation is unsorted goods received from sellers. Its operations consist of storing, packaging, sorting, and tracking available products. The output of this operation is a product that is ready for transportation to a customer’s door. The volume for this operation is massive, and its variety is significant due to the number of different types of products coming through these centers (Mark, 2018). Variation of this process is low, as Amazon’s fulfillment centers are guaranteed to have a constant supply of products due to a high number of suppliers. Visibility is somewhat low, although customers and sellers can interact with this part of Amazon’s supply chain via product tracking.
Four performance perspectives for the fulfillment operation:
| Perspective | Priority |
| Top-down | Ideal warehouse management and order completion. |
| Bottom-up | A decreased amount of manual labor without any loss of efficiency. |
| Market requirement | Optimization of the preparation process of an ordered product faster than competitor firms. |
| Operations resources | An increased capability to fulfill orders in a set period. |
The key performance priority for fulfillment is to deliver the products to Amazon’s customers in the shortest time possible.
Throughout the past two decades, Amazon continued to strive to achieve the most optimized supply chain and succeeded in its goal. The initial stage for Amazon, according to Hayes and Wheelwright’s model, was to capitalize on the growing success of its online book store (Mark, 2018). Being one of the first companies in this market, Amazon was able to establish industry standards, effectively setting long-term goals that aimed to help it with conquering the market, such as the accommodation of third-party sellers (Mark, 2018). The third stage of operations for Amazon was its successful experiments with Prime subscriptions and the expansion of fulfillment centers. The final step for the company that was already a leader was to provide a stream of upgrades to its supply chain that allows it to stay above its competitors to this day.
Reference
Mark, K. (2018). Amazon.com: Supply Chain Management. Ivey Publishing.
Modern Urban Architecture: The Standard Box Buildings
- The title of chosen TED Talk is: “Urban architecture inspired by mountains, clouds and volcanoes”.
- The speaker is Ma Yansong who is a modern Chinese architect and artist. The date of the TED Talk is July 2019. It has received 406,078 views.
- The thesis of the speaker’s speech was that modern urban architecture should be integrated into the natural landscape.
- The main point of the speaker is that modern urban architecture is standard box buildings that violate the harmony of man and nature. He continues the discussion by illustrating architectural projects that take into account the natural landscape and are designed with it in mind. The speaker explains that such buildings allow people to diversify their daily activities, as well as observe nature, even in the city, which has a positive effect on well-being.
- The speaker uses a problem-solution organizational pattern offering the audience an existing problem and its solution. In particular, he argues that modern box buildings make people less happy in the city. The speaker further proposes a solution in the form of architecture integrated into the natural landscape.
- The speaker illustrated his assumptions with real projects exceptionally well, which not only makes his speech convincing but also declares his expertise in the field. In addition, the speaker perfectly managed to structure his speech, starting from the statement of the problem, explaining its importance, describing the process of finding a solution, and presenting results.
- Criticism towards the speaker may lie in the fact that he offers an abstract concept. In particular, he illustrates the solution with the example of expensive public buildings that require significant financial investments. However, he does not explain how, in perspective, the idea of natural architecture could be applied to all urban buildings. Thus, it is not clear to the audience how this concept can significantly change their daily life.
- The intended audience of this speech is the general public living in modern urban areas.
Reference
Yansong, M. (2019). Urban architecture inspired by mountains, clouds and volcanoes [Video]. TED Conferences. Web.
“American Civil Liberties Union” By Robert C. Cottrell
The document from which the information has been obtained is “American Civil Liberties Union,” authored by Robert C. Cottrell. American Civil Liberties Union is an organization that was founded by Albert DeSilver, Roger Baldwin, and Crystal Eastman in 1920 in response to raids and arrests of anti-war activists by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. Robert C. Cottrell is a professor of History and American studies at California State University at Chico. He is also an author of many other books like smokejumpers of the civilian public service in World War II, Izzy: A biography of I.F Stone, Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘N’Roll, Modern American Lives individuals and issues in American History since 1945, All-American Rebels among others. Robert C. Cottrell was awarded an outstanding professor award in 1998-1999 by California State University.
The author focuses on the need for freedom for individuals (Foner 136), and civil liberties should apply equally to all Americans. An attack on the freedom of speech was considered a violation of the legal rights of Americans. The author argues that all matters of public concern should be expressed freely without interference (Foner 136) because social progress is achieved by unrestricted freedom of opinion. The author further argues that orderly progress can never be achieved when individuals are punished for their mere opinion on crucial matters. The author elucidates further that suppression of individuals’ opinions breeds violence and bloodshed, hence transforming.
The fight for civil liberties was initially published in the American civil liberties Union in 1921(Foner 136), focusing fight for freedom of speech. The American civil liberties union refers to separate entities that fight for the liberation of the oppressed in society. The document was published in 2000 and has inspired many generations about the significance of freedom of speech. The document’s audience is the Americans who have been oppressed for many years by the authorities by being denied the freedom of speech. The Americans have been sensitized about the importance of freedom of speech, the culture that needs to be passed from one generation to another.
The document focuses on the freedom that all Americans are entitled to in courtesy of the democratic movements in the 19th century. The authors argue that people should have the freedom of assembly and restrictions against meetings in public places, parades, and processions uplifted. Individuals have the right to picket during strikes (Foner 136); hence, peaceful picketing should be allowed and only regulated by court order, police edict, or injunction. The law should not infringe the right of the workers to strike and organize strikes, and compulsory arbitration should be condemned if it violates their rights.
All Americans should have the freedom of speech, and what individuals say should never be controlled. People should never be questioned for meeting and speaking freely because that would violate their rights. Individuals should never be prosecuted for expressing their opinions on crucial matters of public concern. Freedom can be termed to exist when all the above aspects are in play in American conditions today. The author outlines that there should be tolerance to expressing opinions (Foner 136), however radical. The government should set aside unique places in parks, streets or public buildings for public meetings. Furthermore, all Americans should be entitled to a free press. The post office should have no censorship over the mails at any time because all individuals have the right to privacy. The printed information should never be subjected to political censorship, and the government should not have control over the distribution of literature in meetings.
The author outlines that individuals should never be denied admission to the United States on the grounds of holding objectionable opinions. The existing restrictions against radicals of different beliefs from migrating to the United States should never be allowed. There should also be no deportation of aliens to express opinions or be a radical or revolutionary organization. Such action is deemed as the prosecution of citizens in their efforts to express their opinions. The aliens should not be deported for the perversion of the law unless it is a fraud case, and aliens should not be denied citizenship papers because of expressing their radical views or complaints in their labor. No arrests should be made to individuals without a warrant (Foner 136), and people charged with offenses have the right to a fair trial, and aid is essential for the poor who cannot afford to fund their appeal.
The author’s sentiments fit in with the contemporary issues because of the infringement of the freedom of expression for the individuals in some countries in the world. Whistleblowers are fired from organizations because of disclosing heinous acts. Such actions depict that oppression exists in society today because firing an employee for whistleblowing is a violation of freedom of expression. The document reveals that freedom of expression has been fought over the years since the 1920s (Foner 136), and the author’s passion for the interest of the Americans influenced the authorship of the document.
Work Cited
Chapter 20 Foner, Eric. Voices Of Freedom: A Documentary Reader Sixth Edition, Volume 2. 6th ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2019. P 134-141.