Sex, Gender And Sexuality - 966 Words

The chapter includes definitions about sex, gender and sexuality. Additionally, it describes a process of gender socialization, gender stratification, and supports these processes by social theories. Each of the provided videos and the article relates to this chapter in many ways. According to the chapter, people learn their roles of males and females through the process of socialization. There are certain guidelines established by society that people follow in acceptable manner. Each person goes through the stages in life and at the each stage he or she learns behaviors that are appropriate for his or her gender (Ballantine 247). If people do not meet gender expectations, negative functions are imposed by other members of society. Society expects boys to be aggressive, independent, strong and competitive. Girls, on the other hand, are expected to be soft, nonaggressive and nurturing (Ballantine 254). â€Å"Boys are socialized into the boy code† (Ballantine 252). Expectations for them are more rigid than are those for girls and despite the fact that they experience the same feelings and emotions, boys supposed to repress them. Parents from the â€Å"Secret Life of Boys† admitted that they were treating their kids differently so that girls in their family share their feelings and emotions openly, and their son keeps feeling to himself. This way of dealing with stress affected his performance in school and resulted in misbehavior. It is recognized that hidden emotions can beShow MoreRelatedGender, Sex, And Sexuality1363 Words   |  6 PagesJones Mr.DiGulio Honor Freshman English-3 26 April 2016 Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Gender, sex, and sexuality are not new concepts in today’s society. These three terms have been around for a long time, but they have only just started to surface and be taught and understood by the nation. Slowly society is learning that sex does not determine one’s sexual orientation and gender and who you are is nothing to be ashamed about. A person’s sexuality has been with them ever since and before they were bornRead MoreSex, Gender, And Sexuality1490 Words   |  6 PagesSex, gender, and sexuality are words that are constantly are been not understood properly and also misused by societies. But scholars through research and history have come up with basic ways to distinguish what each term means. Starting with the term sex, sex is known as a biological structure of a person (Renzetti 2). There also is another way that sex defined, some believe that the definition of is the meaning the society and each individual gave it, â€Å"or the various ways we express our sexualRead MoreSex, Gender, And Sexuality1391 Words   |  6 PagesSEX, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY 1 Sex, Gender, and Sexuality Joel M. Queen Oklahoma State University Sex, Gender, and Sexuality When you go on with your daily lives and norms, you tend to not give much attention to what kind of roles certain genders play or how we perceive certain gender to perform said roles. Lorber mentions in the early part of her argument that we seem to treat sex, gender, and sexuality and the norms that come with them like fish and water (Lorber, 1994) . We have almostRead MoreBiological Sex, Gender, And Sexuality1192 Words   |  5 Pagesimportant differences between biological sex, gender, and sexuality? Biological sex is our anatomy; this relates to a humans anatomical and reproductive system. Determined by karyotype (chromosomes of a cell, 46 XY karyotype in typical males and 46 XX karyotype in typical females), internal genitalia (testes and ovaries), external genitalia (scrotum and penis in males; labia and clitoris in females), and secondary sex differentiation at puberty (Pasterski, 2008). Gender is the state of being female or male;Read MoreBox Building Process with Respect to Sex, Gender and Sexuality954 Words   |  4 Pagesbetween the various groups of individuals in the society based on their age, gender, race, nationality among other factors (Warde Martens 21). Social differentiation process, which is also referred to as box creating process is vital in the escalating cases of social inequality, more specifically, for the purpose of this article, gender and sexual inequality. The demarcations created on the basis of this factors (gender and sexual attributes of an indiv idual) tend to mould individuals to depictRead MoreAn Analysis Of Judith Butler s Exploration Of Gender, Sex, And Sexuality Essay1544 Words   |  7 Pagesattack those very expectations. The essence of what it means to be a girl is questioned within the short video. Judith Butler’s exploration of gender, sex, and sexuality’s fluidity, trapped within the â€Å"normal,† binary structure of society, questions the same notions. Butler attacks the comfort of the binary system, and exposes the insubstantial basis of gender. The â€Å"Like A Girl† campaign by Always details the connotations of what it means to be a girl. When asked to run like a girl, older women andRead MoreGender Issues and Sexuality in Marge Piercys Sex Wars Essay785 Words   |  4 PagesSex Wars; a title provocative enough to garner not only a second look when encountered on an overcrowded bookshelf, but undoubtedly a perfunctory lift from the shelf and a superficial perusal. If you do delve deeper into the novel by Marge Piercy you come to see that Sex alludes to gender and the relationship between men and women; not just the act. War denotes power, agency; a struggle to gain it, fought in our own cities not on some far off shores. It isnt peculiar that Marge Piercy would devoteRead MoreDismantling Binaries: Bisexuality947 Words   |  4 Pageswith respect to sex, gender and sexuality. In the society, these boxes and their limits rest on a multiplicity of assumptions. The first supposition is that there are two sex’ s genders, and sexualities. Everyone is male or a female, feminine or masculine, heterosexual or homosexual but no one can be both. This supposition of sex believes the truth of substantial difference in how persons actually do gender but yet people carry on to believe that there are just two equally elite gender groups into whichRead MoreThe Cultural Matrix And Gender Identity1506 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"‘persons’ only become intelligible through becoming gendered in conformity with recognizable standards of gender intelligibility (p.22)† and describes â€Å"intelligible† genders [as] those which in some sense institute and maintain relations of coherence and continuity among sex, gender, sexual practice, and desire (p. 23).† That is, legitimate persons are those whose gender matches their sex within heterosexual engagements. However, all persons should be intelligible. It is through the cultural matrixRead More The Social Construction of Gender and Sexuality Essay1361 Words   |  6 Pageswhole new generation of people who aren’t defined by their race or their sex or who they like to sleep with.† This statement exemplifies the definition of gender as a concept; gender is the expectations of a sex according to the culture of society. Sexuality, within this definition of gender, reflects society’s expectations, which are created in relation to the opposite sex. The variances between cultures means that gender expectations change within different cultures. These expectations put pressure

Conflict Diamonds - 1086 Words

Attempt Any Two Of the following ( 60 Marks - 30 Marks each ) | | Case 1 | Conflict Diamonds | | | During the late 1990s South African diamond product De Beers and other companies on the diamond industry discovered that some of the diamonds they were buying or selling came from groups who used the proceeds to finance brutal civil wars. In Sierra Leone, rebels took control of diamond mines by systematically chopping off the arms and hands of as many as 20,000 children, women and men until the diamond operations were turned over to them. Similarly events took place at diamond mines in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. About 4 million civilians have died in the civil wars financed by the diamonds. Anxious to avoid a†¦show more content†¦In Nogales, Mexico, Swingline found lots of cheap labor. | | | Between 1994 and 2004, 1.5 million Mexican farmers lost their US only source of income due to low case foods imported by Mexico by US businesses farmers under NAFTA. The unemployed farmers migrated to border cities like Nogales where they provided a large pool of cheap labor for companies like Swingline. But around 2000, jobs in Mexico began leaving the country and heading for China. Chinas workers were willing to work for even less than Mexican workers. In Nogales, the Swingline factory cut assembly jobs from 2600 in 1999 to less than 900 in 2004. The company is now thinking of moving its factory from Mexico to China. Since 2001, more than one-third of the jobs companies brought into Mexico have moved to China | | Q 3a) | What obligations do companies like Swingline have towards their workers when they think about moving their operations to countries with cheaper labor? | | Q 3b) | Contrast between ethics of layoffs vs. benefits of competitive labor markets ( i.e labor markets of US to Mexico to China)Show MoreRelatedConflict Diamonds1098 Words   |  5 Pages- 30 Marks each ) | | Case 1 | Conflict Diamonds | | | During the late 1990s South African diamond product De Beers and other companies on the diamond industry discovered that some of the diamonds they were buying or selling came from groups who used the proceeds to finance brutal civil wars. In Sierra Leone, rebels took control of diamond mines by systematically chopping off the arms and hands of as many as 20,000 children, women and men until the diamond operations were turned over to themRead MoreThe Diamond And Conflict Diamond1482 Words   |  6 Pages Introduction Blood Diamond or Conflict Diamond another term used to describe the illegal trade of diamond in Africa. The Blood Diamond is been used to finance conflicts, wars and humans rights violations. The Conflict exists for many years, profits have been made from the illegal trade of diamonds, Rebels and warlords use the diamonds to buy arms. There are many countries involved in the illicit trading the blood diamond, Sierra Leone, Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Angola. This assignment is aboutRead MoreEssay Conflict Diamonds782 Words   |  4 Pages1. What are conflict diamonds? What groups benefited from the trade in conflict diamonds? What groups were hurt by it? As defined in the case study, conflict diamonds are gemstones that are mined or stolen by rebels fighting internationally recognized governments. Any of the anti-government/rebel forces/guerrilla troops/or other nonconformist groups within the areas of question or which could fall into this category or situation. The case study points out two groups who benefited the most underRead MoreConflict Diamonds Essay2201 Words   |  9 Pagesit so desperately deserves. The purpose of blood diamonds is simple; they’re used as currency to buy warring factions and warlords armaments and fuel civil wars in unstable countries as well as continued guerrilla tyranny throughout countries like Angola and more famously Sierra Leone. When addressing the issue of blood diamonds mined from Sierra Leone, understanding the country’s geography, civil and political aspects are crucial. Blood diamonds often have a misconstrued meaning, and the definitionRead MoreThe War on Conflict Diamonds Ess ay1077 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Diamonds are forever† it is often said. â€Å"But lives are not†, says Martin Chungong Ayafor, Chairman of the Sierra Leone Panel of Experts, â€Å"We must spare people the ordeal of war, mutilations and death for the sake of conflict diamonds.† (United Nations 2). This is a very powerful quote from someone who has and is experiencing (Gerund) firsthand the gruesome terror of the conflict over diamonds in Africa. This war has started because of the greed for money and power in the abundant diamond industryRead MoreConflicts Between Conflict Diamond Trade1531 Words   |  7 PagesSouthern Africa today. This issue deals with conflict diamond trade, which is the trade of diamonds in which the conditions for the miners had been extremely poor, and as well, the profit gathered is usually taken into the funding of illegal activities in the area, such as funding rebel movements. Being in the 21st century, this should not be allowed by the general public, and there were actions taken by different organisations to attempt to stop the conflict diamond trade. However, up until today, theyRead MoreThe Conflict Diamonds Of Sierra Leone1273 Words   |  6 PagesThe conflict diamonds started to be present and problematic in Sierra Leone as soon as DeBeers mining company took control of all diamond prospects throughout this region. Although DeBeers was keeping a moderate watch on the trading and actions being taken through it, traders from Lebanon (bordered by Syria and Israel to the south) were able to easily smuggle and mine diamonds out through the company. Later towards the 1950s, countries, such as Sierra Leone, had to give up the chance of regulatingRead More Preventing the export of conflict diamonds in the Democratic Republic of the Congo4642 Words   |  19 PagesPreventing the export of conflict diamonds in the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has large reserves of cobalt, gold, gems, copper, timber, and uranium. However, the most valuable resource that the DRC possess is its large reserve of diamonds. Diamonds essentially serve as a pillar to the DRC’s struggling economy. Plagued by civil unrest, the DRC is desperately trying to stabilize its economy. Their efforts have been met with stiff resistance due toRead More Blood Diamonds: The Conflict in Sierra Leone Essay3259 Words   |  14 PagesBlood Diamonds: The Conflict in Sierra Leone History of Diamonds: The name diamond comes from the Greek word, adamas meaning unconquerable. Fittingly diamonds are made of pure carbon, and diamonds are the hardest natural substance known to man.[1] Diamonds have long been a sign of wealth and fortune. Kings and queens have worn these forms of concentrated carbon and even more countless millions people over time have lusted after them. These gems can be transparent, truculentRead MoreDiamonds, The Embodiment Of Esteem And Romance1601 Words   |  7 PagesDiamonds, the embodiment of esteem and romance. Millions of years ago, high temperatures and pressure in earth s mantle gave birth to a dazzling gem, a gem that would be loved and adored by many people. It would be put on ornaments and crowns, become the center piece of many jewelry, become the highest symbol of esteem, and even be compared to the stars. People would spend entire paychecks, even a month s, or a year s worth of salary, on trying to acquire it. And in today s world, it s e ven

How I Became an Independent Woman Essay Example For Students

How I Became an Independent Woman Essay Everyone has great stories; stories that are funny, sad and beautiful all at the same time. My story is probably the most difficult I have ever written in my life. Nobody can ever tell my story other than myself. Reminiscing about my childhood and also going through family photo albums has helped me write my story I’m about to tell. Need I mention, I also had my parents think back to my first couple years in life to find out what kind of a baby I was. All of these thoughts got me to ask myself, â€Å"What is my story? Briefly I can say, my family of origin, my culture, my gender, my older brother, my friends, and also my health has helped me shape into a mature woman. I definitely did not have the â€Å"perfect† childhood but, all the experiences I went through have made me become who I am today. During infancy, my mother did mention I had a hard time developing the difference between trust vs. mistrust. Ever since I was born, I was not only raised by my mother but, also with a caregiver. Being born to career minded parents was a tough toll on me and also on my older brother. We were always with multiple caregivers which was confusing to us because we didn’t recognize at first who our real mother was. Especially to me because I was just a baby and I were still trying to understand my surroundings. From what I was told, I never really interacted well with any of my caregivers. I was scared almost all the time and was crying almost every minute. I was uncomfortable and was unfamiliar with all the faces that were introduced because it wasn’t my mothers. This was very bad for my development because I started to not eat a lot and whenever I did eat I was throwing it up right after. My parents concern about my health was very important to them so fortunately they found a solution. For some reason, the only person that gave me comfort and made sure I was okay when my parents weren’t around was my older brother. His face and voice was the only one I was familiar with which helped me feel more comfortable. Whenever a caregiver had a hard time with feeding me; they had to call upon my brother to make sure it happened. Knowing that I trusted him at such a young age just shows me how early interactions can make a big difference later on. My brother and I might be just 4 years apart but, I never knew how much of his presence meant so much to me that young. As I started my years as a toddler, the one person that took the blame for my troublesome actions was my older brother. If I was ever caught doing something bad, he took the blame. I wish my brother never did this because I started to think maybe everything I was doing was his fault. I started blaming him and I never learned my lesson; what I thought was wrong wasn’t my problem anymore. Eventually my caregiver and my parents figured out the problem and made sure no errors were made again. During this time I also figured out the whole meaning of potty training. I was developing the feeling of shame and didn’t want to grow up fast because of the change from diapers to underwear. There were definitely other changes like the difference between female and male toys and also understanding the difference between both genders. I remember from couple pictures of me when I was 3, I never wanted to stop playing with my brother’s toys because we always shared most of our toys so young but, eventually he was getting older and realizing his independence and I always wanted to do the same. Eventually I started understanding that cars and trains were played by boys and dolls and dresses were played by girls. I can definitely say gender roles are still the same as it was back then. The locomotive stage I would say was the last years of my life being normal. I started to be more independent of my own interests. I still had my brother watching over me but, I made sure I was opening myself up to new activities. This is the time when I found some talents like singing, drawing, dancing, and also swimming. I was great in all of them and I had great support from my family too. The only negative that came out of it was that I was super busy with different schedules and I never really had the time to do other things like learning to ride a bicycle or hanging out more with my neighborhood friends. This was also the time when I moved from North India to Dubai. A new surrounding meant new home, new friends, new life and I wasn’t very happy with that decision. And as always the only person that was there that felt the same as me was my older brother. english is primery langugang in america EssayThat was a big change in life because I didn’t have the role model I needed to keep myself from getting in trouble. Once I hit 16 and started to drive, I also got myself involved into a serious relationship with someone older than me. Some people call it just â€Å"young love† but, to me it felt like a real commitment I had with someone else. The only reason why this relationship got serious was because I finally had someone who could understand my feelings and didn’t judge me after. He was the only person who kept me sane and made sure I was doing right in school and after school. Let’s just say we fell in â€Å"love†! It meant more to me than anything else and I wouldn’t let myself out of that relationship. In time, I started to realize what I thought was love was not really what I expected it to be. Getting myself involved with an 18 year old was not smart first of all, which resulted in an abusive relationship and also me being pregnant. I know I hit the peek for my parents when I had to tell them. Being pregnant at age 16 was just a normal case in my high school but, to my parents it was just devastating especially to my culture. I knew I just put myself in a situation that I know I won’t be able to handle without any support and the support I was getting just came from one person and it was him. I knew it was time for me to let go of my childish behavior and start growing up because my life is going to turn 360 in 9 months. What was unexpected was that I had a miscarriage two months into my pregnancy. I believe this was just the most devastating moment in my life! Losing my old habits was okay with me but, this incident just hit rock bottom. I was hit with depression medications and counselors so quick that I pretty much gave up hope on my life. Everyone had the fear that I probably wanted to commit suicide or hurt myself really bad but, I knew I was not going to take it that far. Everything was bottled up inside me and eventually I decided to start using other methods to cope with it. I started heavy drinking at age 18 and using substances that didn’t keep me sober most of the day. I was pretty much forcing myself out of reality which was not good for my health at all. With all the excessive drinking, I gained about 35 pounds and I became more insecure about myself. There were times when my own family used to point out my weight problem and I was not happy about it. Even through all of this, I never put myself into rehab or other institutions because I didn’t want to accept my mistakes. Luckily, I was introduced to faith and this was the only thing that helped me heal myself internally and externally. I devoted my time to God and erase the negative aspects of my life and started fixing myself day by day. It took me 4 years to clear out everything I went through and trust me when I say this; it was the best feeling ever at the end. I never knew what happiness was until I found my faith. Yes, I was lucky enough to make it into dental school and also survive a car accident but, I knew all of these experiences just made me a better person today. My childhood was clearly not the best but, I am blessed to be alive today. Every step of my life has shaped me into the person I am today and I can definitely say, I do not regret anything that has happened in my life. This class itself has definitely taught me a lot about myself and how to deal with my emotions. Being able to write my life story was probably the most challenging to me! I took the risk to write down tough moments in my life which I never bought up to anybody else other than my best friend. I have learned to accept my mistakes and to correct them in a manner which can be a positive outcome in my life rather than a negative. Overall, I really enjoyed writing this paper and I know it took me a long time to find out who I am but, I can happily stand here and say I am an independent woman.

Managing Operations free essay sample

The whole production and delivery process, challenges with the existence of trade-off, supply chain activities, ERP, and human tacit and implicit knowledge to deal with the processes are discussed in this part with reference to the Gate gourmet Company. Managing Operations, Information, and Knowledge of Gate Gourmet 1. Introduction Each company wants to sustain in the highly competitive market. For this, the companies are involved in the management of operations, information and knowledge throughout the organisation, which has now days become of utmost importance. The company go for integration with other firms to improve their processes and for the application of software, which are used uniformly by the different departments of the organisation and their suppliers as well as customers. In the business of catering, providing right quantities at right time at the right place is of greatest importance. For the achievement of the goal, the company that enable efficient use of input resources to generate the effective output uses those systems. We will write a custom essay sample on Managing Operations or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The company in integration with the other companies to provide the quality meals uses new production techniques. Also the supplier selection plays a critical role in supply chain management process. The company to improve their processes uses the ERP system and human tacit and implicit knowledge. In this part of study, all these activities are discussed with the case of Gate Gourmet. 2. About Gate Gourmet The Gate Group brand was introduced in early 2008 after several acquisitions after being founded in the year 1992. The company offers catering and last mile provisioning for airlines and railroads, lounges and business aviation. The company’s main force of secondary revenue is onboard retail operations (Gate gourmet). . Systems that enable efficient use of input resources and their impact on output of goods and services supplied by Gate Gourmet 1. Transformation Process It includes the processes, which converts the input to the output by adding value to the product. There are two categories of input resources i. e. transformed resources which are converted from input to the output and i nclude materials and information, and transforming resources which helps to convert input to the output and include facilities like buildings, equipments, process technology and the staff (NSW Government). 2. The new production techniques are used by Gate Gourmet to provide the meals of restaurant quality and also manageable in terms of cost, quality, service and safety. These production techniques help in efficient use of input resources. 1. Cuisine Sous-Vides The company to achieve amazing flavour and texture uses this technique. This technique relies on temperature-controlled circulator in which the food is vacuum-sealed and cooked in a precisely controlled water bath. As the method is very easy to learn, it helps in better control and reasonable results every time (PolyScience). 2. Hot Filling This technology is very easy to handle even by unskilled workers. This high temperature helps in the sterilisation of bottles and other equipments to maintain the high quality standards. 3. Modified Atmosphere Packing The technology helps in expanding the shelf life of fresh food products. The modified atmosphere packing technology substitutes the atmospheric air inside the package with the protective gas mix which ensures that the product will stay fresh for long time. The company used this technology for packing of red meats, fruits and vegetables. This helped to achieve the minimal spoilage of the input resources and lowers the costs. The company has established sophisticated machineries for this purpose (Modified Atmosphere Packaging). 4. Food Safety Checks and Assurance Systems The company voluntarily follows HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) to ensure food safety. The company inspects every vehicle that delivers the raw materials, check by digital probe food temperatures during the production and delivery process, temperature checks on every batch food; every dish and surface is cleaned while food preparation, this helps in production and delivery of food that is clean and safe (Gate Gourmet). . Gate Serve Provisioning services Gate Serve, a subsidiary of Gate Gourmet, helps in assembling soda drawers, packing silverware, provisioning packaged food items, and aircraft watering. This helps in efficiently responding to changes of new procedures in the marketplace (Gate Serve). The provisioning of items helped in making the trip safe and comfortable for the passengers. For these services, the company has installed cooling systems, onboard cameras and state-of-the-art engines. 6. Post Flight Aircraft Stripping In the catering process, the carts are removed and taken to the flight kitchen and unloading and sanitisation. Using the recycling system, the trash is separated from the general waste stream and sterilised before disposal. Crockery and other reusable items are sent for dishwashing and sterilisation line (Gate Gourmet Aircraft Provisioning). 3. Existence of Trade-offs within Gate Gourmet and challenges faced by following this approach The tradeoffs between economising and flexibility were noticed within the organisation. The reduction in expenditures helped the company to gain the competitive advantage whereas; the flexibility needs to be applied to meet the last minute demand of the clients, sometimes, which may cause wastage of food products. With the conflicting demands of the organisation, trade-offs were considered within the organisation. The trade-offs are considered for balancing the transformation process. Main challenge in front of managers is to maximise the cost reduction with flexibility and the dilemma cannot be completely eliminated. The stabilisation mechanism needs to be established within the organisation to meet the uncertain demands and to maintain stability in the production and delivery process. Also, the company had dilemma of trade-offs between making and buying of certain products. Buying of food products included outsourcing to the other company. But the challenge was that the making led to increase in costs and buying which will lead to outsourcing has hidden costs that will diminish its advantages with time. And, at the time when Texas Pacific bought the company, it was under enormous stress to cut down its costs (The Guardian, 2005). . Supply Chain Management issues and supplier selection 1. Supply Chain Supply chain includes procurement of raw materials from the suppliers, conversion of raw materials to intermediate goods, and then finally to finished products. It also includes the distribution of it to the customers. Three kinds of flows exist in supply chain i. e. material, information and financ e (Ganeshan R Harrison T, 1995). Upstream refers to the activities that take place before the supply phase. And, downstream refers to the activities that take place after the supply phase. IFx system was used to integrate the whole supply chain (AirlineHubBuzz, 2012). 2. Supply Chain Management Effective supply chain management is the coordination between the various players in the chain and each channel member operates independently (Ganeshan R Harrison T, 1995). 3. Impact of integrated system in the management of suppliers and supplier selection The company goes on maintaining the relationship with those suppliers who can meet quick and flexible supply in respect to the demand changes, deliver consistently and on time with high degree of mutual understanding and trust (Acorn live: 22). . Alpha Flight Group Alpha provided full catering and provisioning services in Amsterdam. Gate Gourmet intended maximum growth and operational flexibility with Alpha through its integrated system. The company aimed to serve 80 peak season flights a day with Alpha (aircraftinteriorsinternational. com). 2. Pourshins Pourshins, a fully integrated partner provides the tools required for s upply chain model including sourcing and procurement, asset management and food and beverage logistics (Pourshins. com). The challenge in front of the company was to reduce the LEAN’s supply chain management cost, which was rising. The integration challenge was to merge the two teams of employees in the United States and understanding the Gate Gourmet’s existing warehousing, distribution and software functions (Andersen, 2008: 29). But at the same time, the integrated system helped to aggregate purchase volumes, which resulted in lowering of costs, optimisation of products and services for the total value (Pourshins. com). 3. Supplair The company designed food including fresh food preparation and packaged food to keep them safe, appealing, and requires minimum handling. The challenge in front of company with the integrated system was to review the food offered for the crew consumption and introduce the same within four weeks for Easy Jet. The elements for the key success with the integrated system were the proven web-based ordering system, which was easy to use and the excellent distribution supply chain (Supplair. com). 4. deSter Gate Gourmet selected deSter as its supplier, deSter being leading supplier in service solutions across all aircraft cabins. To win the competitive advantage over the other bidders, the tender was in the favour of Gate Gourmet with Etihad Airways. This was because of technical know-how and production capacities of deSter (deSter. com). 5. Potmstudios The company offers design for packaging, cutlery, food and beverage service ware and passenger facilities for the in-flight services. The positive implication was the best computer aided design software, which was used by the company for the fast and accurate designs (Potmstudios. com). 6. Harmony The company is totally integrated airline service provider and involved in the designing of amenity kits. Harmony provides tailor-made solutions for enhancing the passengers’ comfort on board. The operational excellence of the company helped in managing the quality of the service (Harmonyonboard. com). 4. Recommendations for less advanced suppliers to establish consistent standard of operations with the supply chain activities First of all, for implementing integrated system, the less advanced organisations analyse their business processes. It helps in the modernisation of processes during the time of changes. It is quite easier for the centralised organisations to implement the integrated system. Secondly, balancing of work designed according to the requirements of the customers is of prime importance. The software should be configured before use. Lastly, the company needs to establish a system to convert the existing data into the integrated one. For this, the company may have to move for data migration planning like identification of data, data templates generation, and deciding migration interrelated set-ups and reporting policies. This will help the less advanced suppliers to gain the competitive advantage and will also help in modernisation. The genuine trick for the integration is the free flow of information, cooperation and respecting each business’s independence (Andersen, 2008: 30). 5. ERP System ERP system is the organisation wide network for harmonising the resources, information and functions of a business. It is the modern extension of MRP1 (Materials Requirement Planning), MRP11 (Manufacturing Resource Planning), and CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing). It helps in communicating with the customers and the suppliers to improve the quality of supply chain management (Acorn live: 19). 1. Scala system Scala is the ERP software and support ERP processes. This system was exercised by the company to cover the maximum business processes of catering operations. 1. E-Gatematrix The real-time data was fed into the Scala system through ‘e-gatematrix’ system, which is the web-interface system for capturing data. 2. Challenges faced by the company in implementing ERP System 1. The company has to face the challenges due to demand fluctuations- As food has to be prepared just before 12 to 24 hours before departure, the demand keep on fluctuating till the last moment. The ‘just-in-time’ delivery after the preparation and supply of food with the last minute fluctuations become difficult and challenging (Fidanza). All the last minute changes using ERP systems become difficult sometimes. 2. The company has to re fix the schedules with flight delays- The whole process of delivery becomes cumbersome with flight delays. All the data communication through ERP in rush becomes complex. 3. ERP implementation problems and solutions 1. Galley Planning Problem-With the technological support, galley planning becomes time consuming process. Solution-Galley Planning System (GP4) of the e-gate solutions can be easily incorporated into other material planning systems to increase the precision of the data. It leads to the fuel-cost impact analysis, automatic publishing of packing instructions and the online communication of changes to the supply chain (e-Gate Solutions). 2. Complications of Data Problem- There was complications of data and their application using the e-marketplace application. Solution- The company replaced it with ePix application to improve the order search capabilities and for the simplification of the data (e-Gate Solutions). 3. Business Intelligence and Reporting Problem-The reporting of real-time sales and analysis was difficult with ERP implementation. Solution-Onboard Retail Technology (TS4) was selected for reporting functions, as TS4 was able to reconcile the real-time sales to inventory. It was also used to identify the passengers’ buying trends (e-Gate Solutions). 4. Selection of menus according to the passenger mix Problem- The main challenge in front of the company was to reduce the inventory using ERP, when the menus were fixed but the types of passengers’ keeps on changing even six hours before take-off. Solution-The Pourshins’ trademark forecaster system for food helped to build new menus and reduce the inventory and costs (e-Gate Solutions). 6. Huge information used by Gate Gourmet to deliver their service 1. Human tacit and implicit knowledge is essential to make sense of hard statistical information and the same is used for enhancing performance Inventory management includes the processes involved in maintenance of optimal number of goods and services to avoid over and under inventory. The company focuses on inventory management through state-of-the-art software. Gate Gourmet collects the necessary data from state-of-the-art software with the help of Pourshins for inventory management (Gate Gourmet). The experienced personnel are hired by the company for the use of different software’s through their tacit and implicit knowledge. The main difference between tacit knowledge and implicit knowledge is that the implicit knowledge can be codified but it is impossible to codify tacit knowledge (Toolbox. com, 2008). Suppose a flight from Taiwan to New York, may stop at Los Angeles for 2-3 hours, the company will be required to unload the trash items in this time and have to load the 5 tons of new food with cutlery and other equipments. But the challenge now appears when the last minute passengers come up and like to have the menu according to the menu of the airlines. Also, the special meals like low fat meals are required by certain group of passengers. Through the use of software, it is easy to get the statistics but the right quantities are decided by experts so as to keep the wastage and costing minimum. Here comes the use of human tacit knowledge used by experts for the inventory management, Through the use of tacit knowledge the over-catering and under-catering is avoided. As the production and delivery of more meals than actual required is both the loss for airlines as well as for the Gate Gourmet. The software covers almost all the business processes involved in inventory management. The delays in flight arrivals upset the work schedules. It becomes crucial for the company to provide right quantities at the right place to the right person. The dedicated team members take action with flexibility and quickly to achieve the goal. The costs have reduced to the great extent with the management of inventories through the tacit knowledge of the staff (Donna, 2009). Hands do the majority of food preparation, which is also a time consuming process. The inventory of finished stock of goods needs to be kept ready with the demand fluctuations. They to reduce the wastage at the bottom level use the culinary expertise and implicit knowledge. The culinary trends and expertise is used to design the menus as per the trends. This has helped the company in gaining the competitive advantage and food and journey becomes enjoyable by the customers. Inventory forecast is a mix of statistical data with the use of human tacit and implicit knowledge. The company has been using the vast information and statistics, which finally gets evaluated by the experts to decide the optimal level of inventory. As a result, it helps in improving the function of the processes; reduce inventory wastage, optimal quantity ordering to the suppliers. 7. Conclusion Concluding the whole discussion, it is very imperative for the company to go for managing operations, information and knowledge to survive in the market cutthroat competition. The company has to face various challenges for the achievement of aspirations. Besides tough times faced by Gate Gourmet, the company has been successful in the administration of operations, information and knowledge. For this, the company has deployed experienced staff all over the organisation.