Strategic management

by | Apr 11, 2018 | Essays

1. Critically assess the advantages Zara gain against the competition by having a very responsive supply chain?

· Define Supply chain management
· Provide examples from the case study of Zara’s supply chain
· Define a responsive supply chain and its importance to Zara.
· Define competitive advantage using Porters’ five forces model
· Identify some of Zara’s competitors in the retail industry
· Analyses the importance of competitive strategy
· Explain how a responsive supply chain supports Zara’s competitive advantage
· Identify Zara’s advantages over its competitors from the case study.

2. Provide a critically analysis of why Inditex has chosen to have both in-house manufacturing and outsourced manufacturing and why it has maintained manufacturing capacity in Europe even though manufacturing in Asia is much cheaper.

· Based on the case study provide a very brief introduction to Inditex
· Define and explain in-house manufacturing
· Analyse the importance of in-house manufacturing
· Define and explain outsource manufacturing
· Analyse the importance of outsource manufacturing
· Provide evidence from the case study explaining why the company chose to use both in-house and outsource manufacturing and whether this is a good idea.
· Provide evidence from the case explaining why the company maintained manufacturing capacity in Europe even though manufacturing in Asia is much cheaper. How does this decision affect the organisation?

3 Analyse why Zara source products with uncertain demand from local manufacturers and products with predictable demand from Asian manufacturers.

· Define and analyse uncertain demand addressing its impact on the supply chain
· Identify from the case study reasons why Zara sourced products with uncertain demand from local manufactures. Discuss if this is a good idea.
· Define and analyse predictable demand and its impact on the supply chain
· Identify from the case study reasons why Zara sourced products with predictable demand from its Asian manufacturers and discuss the reasoning behind this idea.

4 Critically analyse the advantage Zara gain from replenishing its stores multiple times a weeks compared with a less frequent schedule.

· Define and explain supply Chain strategy and flexible supply chain
· Provide examples of supply chain strategy used in organisations.
· Analyse why it is important for Zara to replenish its stores multiple times a week compared with less frequent schedule. Explain the difference between the two and link your answers to the company’s business strategy.
· Explain how technology supports Zara’s ability to use the multiple times replenishment strategy.
· Define and analyse supply chain management systems and their importance to the management of supply chains.
· Analyse the advantages Zara gained from the multiple times replenishment strategy.

5 Provide a critical analysis of whether or not you think Zara’s responsive replenishment infrastructure is better suited for online sales or retail sales.

· From the case study identify Zara’s responsive replenishment infrastructure
· Analyse the benefits of online sales to the retail industry and Zara.
· Link the responsive replenishment infrastructure to online sales
· Link the responsive replenishment infrastructure to retail sales
· Analyse whether or not you feel the responsive replenishment infrastructure is best suited for online sales, retails sales or both.

 

 

 

Sample Solution

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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