Life Cycle Analysis of the Fashion Industry

Life Cycle Analysis of the Fashion Industry BY caracal Industrial Ecology Practices in the Fashion Industry Introduction The industrial revolution in the sass brought a paradigm shift to the way humans interacted with the environment. The increased capability of producing and manufacturing on a large scale, the rise of multiple industries, growing demand and proliferation of hedonistic consumption patterns, has created a culture of surplus, want and waste. (Fallacy-Companion, 2012) From an environmental point of view, this resource hungry trend is unsustainable and has detrimental ecological impacts, such as pollution and climate change.These problems have highlighted the consequence of our insatiable demand for resources and the need to rethink current practices and thoughts in order to maintain current living standards and ensure future growth. The ideas of environmental management, industrial ecology and ecological footprint have been proposed to allow for a meticulous look to the products that we manufacture and use, with emphasis on measuring the ecological impacts in hopes of reducing them.A multitude of tools have since been created to measure efficiency in hopes to highlight areas for improvement, of which the ISO standard and Life cycle assessment are part of. Undoubtedly, many companies have adopted life cycle analysis (LLC) in order to assess and reduce their product's impact on the environment. The fashion industry, at its core, is based on the notion of continual consumption of the ‘new and the discard of the ‘old', especially with new seasonal lines coming out every 3 months.The industry celebrates creativity with the continuous turnover of trends, leading to the â€Å"premature product replacement and fashion obsolescence†. This constant change has major negative environmental and social impacts, particularly on those at the bottom of the supply chain. Ellwood et al, 2006; Whether and Leastwise, 2008) Moreover, delicates produc tion, often all over the world, is commonly practiced in line with the competitive advantages of different locales (such as low-cost labor, less stringent standards/regulations, strength in technology etc).Studies of Ellwood et al (2006), Madsen et al (2007) and Fletcher (2008) have highlighted issues of apparel waste as the majority of textile waste are not recycled or reuse but usually ends up in landfills. In this report, Nikkei Inc. And Levi Strauss & Co. Are chosen as case studies of the fashion industry for their efforts o apply LLC to their products. Life Cycle Assessment and IS014040 The International Organization for Standardization (SO) is an organization that aims to promote worldwide standards for proprietary, industrial and commercial purposes. ‘SO, 2013) The ISO 14000 series is a family of standards that related to environmental management, which aims to help organizations measure and minimize operations that will negatively affect the environment and comply with environmental regulations and audits required in the country of operation. For example, the ISO 14001 is integral to the European Union's CEO-Management and Audit Scheme (AMASS). AMASS, 2011) Before the development of the ISO 14000 series, most organizations had to rely on internal environmental management systems that made comparisons between companies difficult.The ISO 14040 standard focuses on Life Cycle Assessment. LLC is a technique to assess environment impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life from its raw material extraction to its processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair, recycle and disposal. It is believed to encompass a larger scope of environmental concerns as the compiled inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and environmental releases includes the attention impacts associated with the identified inputs and releases, which can then be interpreted to help make informed decisions and build corporate environmental strategies. EPA, 20 13) The method is most often used for the pinpointing potential for process improvements by assessing environmental impacts associated with all stages of a product's life. (Securing & Mueller, 2008) ISO 14040 standards shows how the LLC is to be carried out in four distinct phases as seen in Figure 1 before. Before any LLC can be carried out, an explicit goal and scope of the study, inclusive of technical details, has to be defined. This can then serve as a reference to guide the subsequent work.The functional unit, system boundaries, assumptions and limitations as well as the impact categories are identified and set in this first phase. The life cycle inventory analysis will then carry on from phase one by creating an inventory of all flows (input and output) between the stages of a product system, inclusive of all activities in the relevant supply chain and gives a clear picture of the system boundaries. Only when this is complete can the life cycle impact assessment be carried ou t.This is the most complex stage of the process as it aims to evaluate he significance of potential environmental impacts and calculate the input and output from the inventory. At the end of the assessment, the information gathered is evaluated and the assessment is objectively assessed before the identification of significant issues and problems, its evaluation and limitations are put forth. Figure 1 : The 4 phases of LLC (http://en. Wisped. Org/wick/ File:PhasesOfLifeCycleAnalysis. Eng) Current Context and Trends Environmental Management has progressed significantly over the years with regulations becoming more stringent and accountability expectations higher. Figure taken from Penman's (1999) report shows a simple evolution of environmental policies and their primary characteristics from the sass to present, whereby attitudes towards the environment have changes from merely managing the problem in the early days to one that is more actively involved in trying to prevent problems. Figure 2: Evolution of environmental management (Seaman, 1999) Within the industry and companies, Lamming ; Hampton (1996) stresses the need for companies to engage in environmental management as public pressure is and will continue to be a major factor. In their study, 75% of customers state that they would consider a Meany's environmental reputation when purchasing and 80% of those would be willing to pay a premium for an environmentally friendlier product.Although there are limitations to their study, in that the sentiment may only be shared by the European community of consumers, there is a trend whereby consumers are becoming more green conscious. Hawked et al (1999) in the book ‘Natural Capitalism' also calls for companies to embrace a new industrialism that will create profits and jobs while saving the environment, through the creation of a closed-loop supply chain that will generate more value and profit. By aggressive recycling, there is the potential of reducing up t o 90% of energy and materials consumption.Although individual organizations are recognizing the need and their responsibility to address environmental and sustainability issues, there remains a lack of systematic and coordinated effort across the board. At a larger and general scale, there has been an increase of government level interest and engagement to transition sustainability at the firm and facility level, to one that is more holistic and encompasses production sustainability throughout the value chain. Golden et al, 2011) President Obama issued Executive Order 13514 in 2009 that requires â€Å"the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, obtain 50% diversion rates of solid waste, pursue opportunities with vendors to reduce greenhouse gas (GOGH) emissions, ensure procurement preferences for energy-efficient products, and reduce consumption of paper with low recycled content†. Likewise the Securities Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission are driving the use of sustainable product design and supply chains by the issuance of directives and interpretive guidance. Golden et al, 2011) Since the fiasco of â€Å"sweatshop† labor in the sass, leading to public outcry and clash on the fashion industry, there has been unison of calls for greater accountability. (Whether and Leastwise, 2008; Clownish et al, 2012) Especially in an industry where the consumers are the largest stakeholders; public opinion is crucial and highly influential. This helps the environmental cause when more consumers become green conscious and demand for a smaller ecological footprint. There is a need to cater to these consumers and for companies to set themselves apart from their competitors. Kumar & Amalgamate, 2006) Environmental consciousness has been worked into the corporate social responsibility (CAR) of many companies and increasingly, in the fashion industry, CEO-fashion is trying to capture a larger share of the mainstream market with fashionable and envi ronmental apparel. Regions, 2006) There is also the emergence of industry consortia such as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), the Sustainability Consortium (TTS) and the Outdoor Industry Association (IA), all of which are multi-stakeholder organizations that are suited for establishing standardized metrics for regulation.Nikkei and Levies are both part of the SAC. Case study: LEVI STRAUSS & CO. Company Background The company, Levi Strauss & Co. Was founded by its namesake, Levi Strauss onetime in the mid-sass. It started off as a dry goods wholesaler before collaboration between Levi and Jacob Davis, a tailor, in 1872 saw the filing for its patented rivet pants- the start of the denim company that it is known for today. Over the years, the company have grown tremendously and has expanded its brands carried.Its current brands include Levi'†, [email  protected], Signature by Levi Strauss & Co. And [email  protected] The company has a vision to be â€Å"the embodiment of the energy and events of our times, inspiring people with a pioneering spirit† (Levi, 2013) and is committed to a variety of issues in its public policy approach that includes read, worker rights, equality and the environment. Since the sass, with the rise of global environmental concerns and problems, Levies have been working on reducing the environmental impact of its products.This was done by complying with environmental regulations, implementing a Code of Conduct for its suppliers- ensuring a reduction of water consumption and ending the use of harmful chemicals on its Restricted Substances List, switching to organic cotton when possible and increasing the amount of recycled materials in their end product. In 2007, as part of an attempt at a consolidated look at the company's environmental impact, a LLC was one on 2 products- a pair of Levi'† 5018 stonewashed Sears and the [email  protected] original khakis.This enabled the company to develop strategies that wi ll address the greatest impacts on the environment to ensure longevity in the industry. (Levi, 2013) Levies introduced its water;less Sears in 2011 and its waste;Less Sears in 2013. Waste;Less Sears has a minimum of 20% post-consumer recycled content (from PET bottles) instead of cotton. Ferries, 2013) Levies Life Cycle Assessment Levies product lifestyle assessment focuses on a quantitative method that looks at ass and energy balance using direct and indirect data over the â€Å"cradle to grave† lifespan of the product.A disclaimer on their website states that this LLC does not include social or economic impacts. In the input/output inventory aspect of the LLC, indirect data of mass and energy inputs are taken from extensive industry-average data sets. Together with the system analysis of the lifestyle assessment, in accordance with ISO 14040 requirements, the data is then translated to calculate the environmental impacts of the system. Figure 3 below shows the 6 stage syste m analysis of the 5018 Sears taken from the Levies website, that starts from the cotton production till the end of life after consumer use.Figure 3: LLC of a pair of Levies 501 Sears (http://alleviators. Com/sites/default/files/ liberationists/2012/4/ca-summary-2012-update. PDF) Phase 1: Goals and Scope Levies wanted their LLC to be done on a high volume product, produced for the U. S. Market during the 2006 production year. The Levi'† 5018, medium stonewashed Jean was chosen. The data compiled from Levi Strauss and Co. ‘s suppliers is processed via Gab 4 software datasets, following the ISO 14040 series standards. The LLC was conducted by PEP Americas from Boston, MA.The results were intended for internal use and with the option to share selected data publicly after addition reviews. Phase 2: Inventory Analysis Figure 4 shows the system boundary of the Levies 501 Jean, from the different places where cotton is sources, the different production plants, distribution chann els to its end. Figure 4: Levies 501 Jean System Boundary (Levi, 2013) Phase 3: Impact assessment After gathering information and data, Levies was able to measure the climate change, energy and water use of their best-selling Sears, with interesting results.A pair of original Levies has a global warming potential of 15 keg CA equivalent, consumes MAIM] of energy in its production process and only has 1% of its ingredients that are recycled. (Gaskin, 2012) Figures 5-7 show a breakdown of the weight of different factors and their impacts. Unsurprisingly, the growth of cotton was the most water intensive stage in the LLC, with the usage of the Jean being the next highest. Usage however was by far, the biggest contributor of energy use and climate change.This is due to the long lifespan of the Jean (denim as a material can be quite hardy) and the instant wash cycles can add up significantly over time. Figure 5: Impacts on energy use (Levi, 2013) Figure 6: Impacts on water use (Levi, 201 3) Figure 7: Impacts on climate change (Levi, 2013) Phase 4: Interpretation From the LLC, Levies realized that the majority of environmental impacts occur in the lifestyle phases that are outside their direct control. Reducing the overall environmental impact requires a two-pronged approach of focusing on internal operations whilst engaging consumers.Internally, Levi started looking at cotton production at the farmer's level, switching to organic cotton when possible and articulating in projects such as the â€Å"Better Cotton Initiative†, as cotton growing is water intensive. They also reduced product packaging and tweaked product design and manufacturing to reduce their water and energy use- the water

Link Manufacturing Process and Product Life Cycles

133 Link manufacturing process and product life cycles Focusing on the process gives a new dimension to strategy Robert H. Hayes and Steven C. Wheelwright Although the product life cycle concept may have value for managers, its emphasis on marketing can make it inadequate for strategic planners. These authors point out that using a process life cycle can help a company choose among its various manufacturing and marketing options. Using the concept of a â€Å"product-process matrix,† they show how a company's position reflects its weaknesses and strengths, and they discuss the implications for corporate strategy. Mr. Hayes is professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School. He is currently serving as faculty chairman of and teaching at Harvard's Senior Managers Program in Vevcy, Switzerland. One of his previous articles in HBR is â€Å"How Should You Organize Manufacturing? † (coauthor, Roger W. Schmenner, JanuaryFchruary 1978). Mr. Wheelwright is associate professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School. He is currently teaching in the MBA program and is faculty chairman of Harvard's executive program on Manufacturing in Corporate Strategy. One of his previous HBR articles is â€Å"Corporate Forecasting: Promise and Reality,† [coauthor, Darral G. Clarke, NovemberDecember 1976). The regularity of the growth cyeles of living organisms has always fascinated thoughtful observers and has invited a variety of attempts to apply the same principles—of a predictable sequence of rapid growth followed by maturation, decline, and death-to companies and selected industries. One such concept, known as the â€Å"product life cycle/' has been studied in a wide range of organizational settings. However, there are sufficient opposing theories to raise the doubts of people like N. K. Dhalla and S. Yuspeh, who argued in these same pages a few years ago that businessmen should forget the product life cycle concept. Irrespective of whether the product life cycle pattern is a general rule or holds only for specific cases, it does provide a useful and provocative framework for thinking about the growth and development of a new p roduct, a company, or an entire industry. One of the major shortcomings of this approach, however, is that it concentrates on the marketing implieations of the life cycle pattern. In so doing, it implies that other aspects of the business and industry environment move in concert with the market life cycle. While such a view may help one to think back on the kinds of ehanges that occur in different industries, an individual company will often find it too simplistic for use in its strategic planning. In fact, the concept may even be misleading in strategic planning. In this article we suggest that separating the product life cycle concept from a related but distinct phenomenon that we will call the â€Å"process life I TJie Product Life Cycle and Internationa! Trade. Louis T. Wells, |r. , ed. ICambridge, Mass. ; HarvaiiJ University Press, 1D71I, im example. proviJcs evidence from a number of industries that argues for broad application of this concept, 2. N. K. Dhalla and S. Yuspirh, â€Å"Forget the Priidutt Life Cycle Cnni;epU† HBR I3nuary-February 197(1, p. 101. 134 Harvard Business Review January-February 1979 cycle† facilitates the understanding of the strategic options available to a company, particularly with regard to its manufacturing function. The product-process matrix The process life cycle has heen attracting increasing attention from husiness managers and researchers over the past several years. ^ Just as a product and market pass through a series of major stages, so does the production process used in the manufacture of that product. The process evolution typically hegins with a â€Å"fluid† process—one that is highly flexible, hut not very cost efficient—and proceeds toward increasing standardization, mechanization, and automation. This evolution culminates in a â€Å"systemic process† that is very efficient hut much more capital intensive, nterrelated, and hence less flexible than the original fluid process. Using a product-process matrix, Exhibit I suggests one way in which the interaction of both the product and the process life cycle stages can he represented. The rows of this matrix represent the major stages through whieh a production process tends to pass in going from the fluid form in the top row to the sys temic form in the bottom row. The columns represent the product life cycle phases, going from the great variety associated with startup on the left-hand side to standardized commodity products on the right-hand side. Diagonal position A company [or a husiness unit within a diversified company) can be characterized as occupying a particular region in the matrix, determined by the stage of the product life cycle and its choice of production process for that product. Some simple examples may clarify this. Typical of a company positioned in the upper left-hand comer is a commercial printer. In such a company, each job is unique and a jumbled flow or job shop process is usually selected as being most effective in meeting those product requirements. In such a job shop, jobs arrive in different forms and require different tasks, and thus the equipment tends to be relatively general purpose. Also, that equipment is seldom used at ioo% capacity, the workers typically have a wide range of production skills, and each joh takes much longer to go through the plant than the lahor hours required by that job. Further down the diagonal in this matrix, the manufacturer of heavy equipment usually chooses a production structure characterized as a â€Å"disconnected line flow† process. Although the company may make a numher of products (a customer may even be able to order a somewhat customized unit), economies of scale in manufacturing usually lead such companies to offer several hasic models with a variety of options. This enables manufacturing to move from a job shop to a flow pattern in which batches of a given model proceed irregularly through a series of work stations, or possihly even a lowvolume assembly line. Even further down the diagonal, for a product like automobiles or major home appliances, a company will generally choose to ake only a few models and use a relatively mechanized and connected production process, such as a moving assembly line. Such a process matches the product life cycle requirements that the automobile companies must satisfy with the economies availahle from a standardized and automated process. Finally, down in the far right-hand comer of the matrix, one would find refinery operations, such as oil or sugar processing, where the pro duct is a commodity and the process is continuous. Although such operations are highly specialized, inflexible, and capital intensive, their disadvantages are more than offset by the low variable costs arising from a high volume passing through a standardized process. In Exhibit 7, two corners in the matrix are void of industries or individual companies. The upper right-hand comer eharacterizes a commodity product produced by a job-shop process that is simply not economical. Thus there are no companies or industries located in that sector. Similarly, the lower left-hand corner represents a one-of-a-kind product that is made by continuous or very specific processes. Such processes are simply too inflexible for such unique product requirements. Off the diagonal The examples cited thus far have been the more familiar â€Å"diagonal cases,† in which a certain kind of product structure is matehed with its â€Å"natural† process structure. But a company may seek a position 3. For example, William ), Abernathy and Philip L. Townscnd, â€Å"TechnoloRy, Pioductivity, and Process Changes,† in Tachnalo^icdl Forfcoitinj: iind Social Cbange, Volume VII, No. 4, 1975, p. ^79) Abcmathy and lames Ulierback, â€Å"DyQ. mic Model of Process and Product Innovation,† Omega, Volume HI, No. 6, 1975, p. 6i9i Abernathy and Uuerback, â€Å"Innovation and the Evolution of Technology in the Firm,† Harvard Business School Working P. iper |HBS 7S->fiR, Revised |unc 197^!. Process life cycles 135 Exhibit I Matching major stages of product and process life cycles Product structure Product life cycle stage I Low volume-low standardization, on e of a kind Multiple products low volume Few major products higher volume IV High volume-high standardization. commodity products Process structure Process life cycle stage Jumbled flow (job shop) Commercial printer Disconnected line Mow (batch) Heavy equipment Connected line flow (assembly line) Automobile assembly IV Continuous flow off the diagonal instead of right on it, to its competitive advantage. Rolls-Royce Ltd. still makes a limited product line of motor cars using a process that is more like a job shop than an assembly line. A company that allows itself to drift from the diagonal without understanding the likely implications of such a shift is asking for trouhle. This is apparently the case with several companies in the factory housing industry that allowed their manufacturing operations to become too capital intensive and too de- 136 Harvard Business Review January-February 1979 pendent on stable, high-volume production in the early 1970s. As one might expect, when a company moves too far away from the diagonal, it hecomes increasingly dissimilar from its competitors. This may or may not, depending on its success in achieving focus and exploiting the advantages of its niche, make it more vulnerable to attack. Coordinating marketing and manufacturing may become more difficult as the two areas confront increasingly different opportunities and pressures. Not infrequently, companies find that either inadvertently or by conscious choice they are at positions on the matrix very dissimilar from those of their competitors and must consider drastic remedial action. Most small companies that enter a mature industry start off this way, of course, which provides one explanation of both the strengths and the weaknesses of their situation. One example of a company's matching its movements on these two dimensions with changes in its industry is that of Zenith Radio Corporation in the mid-1960s. Zenith had generally followed a strategy of maintaining a high degree of flexibility in its manufacturing facilities for color television receivers. We would characterize this process structure at that time as being stage 2. When planning additional capacity for color TV manufacturing in 1966 [during the height of the rapid growth in the market), however. Zenith chose to expand production capacity in a way that represented a clear move down the process dimension, toward the matrix diagonal, by consolidating color TV assembly in two large plants. One of these was in a relatively low-cost labor area in the United States. While Zenith continued to have facilities that were more flexible than those of other companies in the industry, this decision reflected corporate management's assessment of the need to stay within range of the industry on tbe process dimension so that its excellent marketing strategy would not be constrained by inefficient manufacturing. It is interesting that seven years later Zenith made a similar decision to keep all of its production of color television chasses in the United States, rather than lose the flexibility and incur the costs of moving production to the Far East. This decision, in conjunction with others made in the past five years, is now being called into question. Using our terminology. Zenith again finds itself too far above the diagonal, in comparison with its large, primarily Japanese, competitors, most of whom have mechanized their production processes, positioned them in low-wage countries, and embarked on other costreduction programs. Incorporating this additional dimension into strategic planning encourages more creative thinking about organizational competence and competitive advantage. It also can lead to more informed predictions about the changes that are likely to occur in a particular industry and to consideration of the strategies that might be followed in responding to such charges. Finally, it provides a natural way to involve manufacturing managers in the planning process so that they can relate their opportunities and decisions more effectively with marketing strategy and corporate goals. The experience of the late 1960s and early 1970s suggests that major competitive advantages can accrue to companies that are able to integrate their manufacturing and marketing organization with a common strategy. ^ Using the concept We will explore three issues that follow from the product-process life cycle: [1) the concept of distinctive competence, [2) the management implications of selecting a particular product-process combination, considering the competition, and |3) the organizing of different operating units so that they can specialize on separate portions of the total manufacturing task while still maintaining overall coordination. Distinctive competence Most companies like to think of themselves as being particularly good relative to their competitors in certain areas, and they try to avoid competition in others. Their objective is to guard this distinctive competence against outside attacks or internal aimlessncss and to exploit it where possible. From time to time, unfortunately, management becomes preoccupied with marketing concerns and loses sight of the value of manufacturing abilities. When this happens, it thinks about strategy in terms only of the product and market dimension within a product life cycle context. In effect, management concentrates resources and planning efforts on a relatively narrow column of the matrix shown in Exhibit 1 on page r35. 4. See â€Å"Manufacturing—Missing Link in Corporate Stiatcgy,† by Wickham Skinner, HBR May-June 1969, p. i]6. Process life cycles 137 Exhibit II Expanded product-process matrix Product structure Product lite cycle stage III Low volume —low standardization, one of a kind Process structure Process life cycle stage Multiple products low volume Few major products higher volume IV High volume-fiigh standardization. commodity products Key management tasks Flexibilityquality †¢ Fast reaction †¢ Loading plant, estimating capacity †¢Estimating costs and delivery times †¢ Breaking bottlenecks †¢ Order tracing and expediting †¢ Systematizing diverse elements †¢ Developing standards and methods, improvement †¢ Balancing process stages †¢ Managing large, specialized, and complex operations †¢ Meeling material requirements †¢ Running equipment at peak efficiency †¢ Timing expansion and technological change †¢ Raising required capital Jumbled flow (lobshop) Disconnected line flow (batch) Connected line flow (assembly line) IV Continuous flow Hone Dependabilitycost Flexibility-quality Dependability-cosi dominant competitive mode †¢ Custom design †¢ General purpose †¢ High margins †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Custom design Ouality control Service High margins †¢ Standardized design †¢ Volume manufacturing †¢ Finished goods inventory †¢ Distribution †¢ Backup suppliers †¢ Vertical integration †¢ Long runs †¢ Specialized equipment and processes †¢ Economies of scale †¢ Standardized material The advantage of the two-dimensional point of view is that it permits a company to be more precise about what its distinctive competence really is and to concentrate its attentions on a restricted set of process decisions and alternatives, as well as a re- stricted set of marketing alternatives. Real focus is maintained only when the emphasis is on a single â€Å"patch† in the matrix—a process focus as well as a product or market focus. As suggested by Wickham Skinner, narrowing the focus of the business unit's 138 Harvard Business Review January-February 1979 ctivities and the supporting manufacturing plant's activities may greatly increase the chance of success for the organization/' Thinking about both process and product dimensions can affect the way a company defines its â€Å"product. † For example, we recently explored the case of a specialized manufacturer of printed circuit boards. Management's initial assessment of its position on the m. atrix was that it was producing a lowvolume, one-of-a-kind product using a highly connected assembly line process. (This would place it in the lower left comer of the matrix. On further reflection, however, management decided that while the company specialized in small production batches, the â€Å"product† it really was offering was a design capability for special purpose circuit boards. In a sense, then, it was mass producing designs rather than boards. Hence, the company was not far off the diagonal after all. This knowledge of the company's distinctive competence was helpful to management as it considered different projects and decisions, only some of which were supportive of the company's actual position on the matrix. Effects of position As a company undertakes different combinations of product and process, management problems change. It is the interaction between these two that determines which tasks will be critical for a given company or industry. Along the process structure dimension, for example, the key competitive advantage of a jumbled flow operation is its flexibility to both product and volume changes. As one moves toward more standardized processes, the competitive emphasis generally shifts from flexibility and quality (measured in terms of product specialization) to reliability, predictability, and cost. A similar sequence of competitive emphases occurs as a company moves along the product structure dimension. These movements in priorities are illustrated in Exhibit 11 For a given product structure, a company whose competitive emphasis is on quality or new product development would choose a much more flexible production operation than would a competitor who has the same product structure but who follows a cost-minimizing strategy. Alternatively, a company that chooses a given process structure reinforces the characteristics of that structure by adopting the corresponding product structure. The former approach 5. â€Å"The Focused Factory,† HBR May-June 1974, p. 113. 6. Robert H. Hayes and Roger W. Schmenner, â€Å"How Should You Organize Manufacturing? † HBR January-February iy78, p. 105. positions the company above the diagonal, while the latter positions it somewhere along it. A company's location on the matrix should take into account its traditional orientation. Many companies tend to be relatively aggressive along the dimension—product or process-where they feel most competent and take the other dimension as â€Å"given† by the industry and environment. For example, a marketing-oriented company seeking to be responsive to the needs of a given market is more likely to emphasize flexibility and quality than tbe manufacturing-oriented company that seeks to mold the market to its cost or process leadership. An example of these two competitive approaches in the electric motor industry is provided by the contrast between Reliance Electric and Emerson Electric. Reliance, on the one hand, has apparently chosen production processes that place it above the diagonal for a given product and market, and the company emphasizes product customizing and performance. Emerson, on the other hand, tends to position itself below the diagonal and emphasizes cost reduction. As a result of this difference in emphasis, the majority of Reliance's products are in the upper left quadrant, while Emerson's products tend to be in the lower right quadrant. Even where the two companies' product lines overlap. Reliance is likely to use a more fluid process for that product, while Emerson is more likely to use a standardized process. Eaeh company has sought to develop a set of competitive skills in manufacturing and marketing that will make it more effective within its selected quadrants. Concentrating on the upper left versus the lower right quadrant has many additional implications for a company. The management that chooses to compete primarily in the upper left has to decide when to drop or abandon a product or market, while for the management choosing to compete in the lower right a major decision is when to eater the market. In the latter case, the company can watch the market develop and does not have as much need for flexibility as do companies that position themselves in the upper left, since product and market changes typically occur less frequently during the later phases of the product life cycle. Such thinking about both product and process expertise is particularly useful in selecting the match of these two dimensions for a new product. Those familiar with the digital watch industry may recall that in the early 1970s Texas Instruments introduced a jewelry line digital watch. This product represented a matrix combination in the upper left-hand quadrant, as shown in Exhibit U. Unfortunately, this line Process life cycles 139 of watches was disappointing to Texas Instruments, in terms of both volume and profitability. Early in 1976, therefore, TI introduced a digital watch selling for $19. 95. With only one electronic module and a connected line flow production process, this watch represented a combination of product and process further down the diagonal and much more in keeping with TI's traditional strengths and emphases. Organizing operations If management considers the process structure dimension of organizational competence and strategy, it can usually focus its operating units much more effectively on their individual tasks. For example, many companies face the problem of how to organize production of spare parts for their primary products. While increasing volume of the primary products may have caused the company to move down the diagonal, the follow-on demand for spare parts may require a combination of product and process structures more toward the upper left-hand corner of the matrix. There are many more items to be manufactured, each in smaller volume, and the appropriate process tends to be more flexible than may be the case for the primary product. To accomodate the specific requirements of spare parts production, a cohipany might develop a separate facility for them or simply separate their production within the same facility. Probably the least appropriate approach is to leave such production undifferentiated from the production of the basic product, since this would require the plant to span too broad a range of both product and process, making it less efficient and less effective for both categories of product. The choice of product and process structures will determine the kind of manufacturing problems that will be important for management. Some of the key tasks related to a particular process structure are indicated on the right side of Exhibit U. Recognizing the impact that the company's position on the matrix has on these important tasks will often suggest changes in various aspects of the policies and procedures the company uses in managing its manufacturing function, particularly in its manufacturing control system. Also, measures used to monitor and evaluate the company's manufacturing performance must reflect the matrix position selected if such measures are to be both useful and consistent with the corporate goals and strategy. Such a task-oriented analysis might help a company avoid the loss of control over manufacturing that often results when a standard set of control mechanisms is applied to all products and processes. It also suggests the need for different types of management skills [and managers], depending on the company's major manufacturing tasks and dominant competitive modes. While a fairly narrow focus may be required for success in any single product market, companies that are large enough can [and do) effectively produce multiple products in multiple markets. These are often in different stages of the product life cycle. However, for such an operation to be successful, a company must separate and organize its manufacturing facilities to best meet the needs of each product and then develop sales volumes that are large enough to make those manufacturing units competitive. An example of separating a company's total manufacturing capability into specialized units is provided by the Lynchburg Foundry, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mead Corporation. This foundry has five plants in Virginia. As Exhibit U shows, these plants represent different positions on the matrix. One plant is a job shop, making mostly one-of-akind products. Two plants use a decoupled batch process and make several major products. A fourth plant is a paced assembly line operation that makes only a few products, mainly for the automative market. The fifth plant is a highly automated pipe plant, making what is largely a commodity item. While the basic technology is somewhat different in each plant, there are many similarities. However, the production layout, the manufacturing processes, and the control systems are very different. This company chose to design its plants so that each would meet the needs of a specific segment of the market in the most competitive manner. Its success would suggest that this has been an effective way to match manufacturing capabilities with market demand. Companies that specialize their operating units according to the needs of specific, narrowly defined patches on the matrix will often encounter problems in integrating those units into a coordinated whole. A recent article suggested that a company can be most successful by organizing its manufacturing function around either a product-market focus or a process focus. * That is, individual units will either manage themselves relatively autonomously, responding directly to the needs of the markets they serve, or they will be divided according to process stages (for example, fabrication, subassembly, and final assembly), all coordinated by a central staff. Companies in the major materials industriessteel companies and oil companies, for exampleprovide classic examples of process-organized manu- 140 Harvard Business Review January-February 1979 facturing organizations. Most companies that broaden the span of their process through vertical integration tend to adopt such an organzation, at least initially. Then again, companies that adopt a product- or market-oriented organization in manufacturing tend to have a strong market orientation and are unwilling to accept the organizational rigidity and lengthened response time that usually accompany centralized coordination. Most companies in the packaging industry provide examples of such product- and market-focused manufacturing organizations. Regional plants that serve geographical market areas are set up to reduce transportation costs and provide better response to market requirements. A number of companies that historically have organized themselves around products or markets have found that, as their products matured and as they have moved to become more vertically integrated, a conflict has arisen between their original productorganized manufacturing facilities and the needs of their process-oriented internal supply units. As the competitive emphasis has shifted toward cost, companies moving along the diagonal have tended to evolve from a product-oriented manufacturing organization to a process-oriented one. However, at some point, such companies often discover that their operations have hecome so complex with increased volume and increased stages of inhouse production that they defy centralized coordination and management must revert to a more product-oriented organization within a divisionalized structure. ct line with a manufacturing system—a set of people, plants, equipment, technology, policies, and control procedures—that will permit a relatively high degree of flexibility and a relatively low capital intensity? Or should it prefer a system that will permit lower cost production with a loss of some flexibility to change [in products, production volumes, and equipment) and usually a higher degree of capital intensity? This choice will position the company above or below its competito rs along the vertical dimension of our matrix. There are, of course, several dynamic aspects of corporate competitiveness where the concepts of matching the product life cycle with the process life cycle can be applied. In this article, however, we have dealt only with the more static aspects of selecting a position on the matrix. We will discuss in a forthcoming article how a company's position on the product-process matrix might change over time and the traps that it can fall into if the implications of such moves are not carefully evaluated. Strategy implications We can now pull together a number of threads and summarize their implications for corporate strategy. Companies must make a series of interrelated marketing and manufacturing decisions. These choices must be continually reviewed and sometimes changed as the company's products and competitors evolve and mature. A company may choose a product or marketing strategy that gives it a broader or narrower product line than its principal competitors. Such a choice positions it to the left or right of its competitors, along the horizontal dimension of our matrix. Having made this decision, the company has a further choice to make: Should it produce this prod-

Charles Perkins Freedom Rides

Perkins was born in Alice Springs in 1936. His early education was at school in Adelaide. A skilled soccer player, Perkins played professional soccer in England from 1957 to 1960. Having turned down an offer to try out for Manchester United, he returned to Australia to coach a local Adelaide team. Here he became vice president of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines. Perkins moved to Sydney in 1962 and in 1963 became captain and coach of the Pan Hellenic Club. to redress it. The tour was also a response to the criticism that Australians were quick to champion the work of Martin Luther King and the United States civil rights movement but slow to do anything to redress racism in Australia. In the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans led a program of protest and civil disobedience against racist policies that denied people their civil rights. In Australia, the activists of the Freedom Ride were concerned with: †¢ Aborigines’ appalling living and health conditions †¢ Aborigines being forced to live on reserves outside country towns †¢ local authorities denying Aborigines access to facilities like hotels, clubs and swimming pools †¢ the fact that Aborigines were not counted as citizens in their own land. The ? rst step in each town was to survey both indigenous and non-indigenous people to ? nd out about the living, education and health conditions of local Aborigines. If there was an issue of blatant discrimination, the Freedom Riders took action to publicise and hopefully overturn it. Perkins admired the efforts of the US civil rights activist Martin Luther King, and he encouraged SAFA members to read King’s ‘letter from Birmingham Gaol’. Source 10. 1. 1 Source 10. 1. 2 A young Charles Perkins receives a trophy as captain–coach of Adelaide Croatia football club, 1961. In 1963 he also began studies at Sydney University, where he was a founding member of Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA), later becoming president. On 12 February 1965, he and fellow student Jim Spigelman led about 28 others on a 14-day, 3200-kilometre bus tour of rural New South Wales that became known as the Freedom Ride. THE 1965 FREEDOM RIDE The tour targeted towns like Walgett, Moree and Kempsey, which had the reputation of being racist towards their Aboriginal inhabitants, and included some like Lismore that were supposed to have better records. The aim was to raise awareness of discrimination against Aboriginal people and to try Photograph showing the Freedom Riders with the bus that took them on their month-long campaign 44 RETROactive 2 CIVICS AND CITIZENSHIP FOCUS Perkins was particularly interested in King’s emphasis on ‘non-violent direct action’ and establishing ‘creative tension’ by dramatically highlighting examples of discrimination so that people could not continue to ignore them. Whereas the 1961 Freedom Rides in the United States had speci? cally focused on the desegregation of interstate transport, in Australia the focus was on the desegregation of leisure facilities in country towns and information-gathering on race relations in rural New South Wales. The ? st two stops were at Wellington and Gullargambone, where the Aboriginal people surveyed spoke of their need for housing and access to fresh water on the reserves. Racial discrimination was a major problem and not one that th e local indigenous people felt they could work with SAFA to ? ght. The bus moved on to Walgett. who had been murdered on a country road while campaigning in Alabama. They saw four or ? ve cars surrounding them and were relieved to ? nd that these were driven by local Aborigines who had come out to offer protection. The other trucks and cars disappeared. A journalist itnessed the incident and it became headline news in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Daily Mirror and the Australian. Mirror reporter Gerald Stone and his editor Zell Rabin highlighted the parallels between the racist attitudes and behaviour they observed from their work as journalists in the United States and the racist attitudes and behaviour in New South Wales. Moree The bus moved on to Moree and a new issue of discrimination — a 1955 council by-law prohibiting Aborigines and those with ‘a mixture of Aboriginal Walgett blood’ from using (except during school hours) the local artesian baths and swimming pool. Other In Walgett, the local RSL club refused entry to examples of racism in the town included the refusal Aborigines, including Aboriginal ex-servicemen who to allow Aboriginal patients to share hospital facilhad participated in World Wars I and II. They were ities with white patients and the insistence that occasionally allowed entry on Anzac Day. Perkins they be buried in a part of the local cemetery that led the Freedom Riders in forming a picket line was separate from the section for white people. outside the club (see source 10. 1. 3). They held up SAFA’s protest began with a demonstration outposters proclaiming ‘Aborigines also fought’, ‘Bullets side the council building. They then got families’ did not discriminate’ and ‘Good enough for Tobruk, permission to take eight children and try to gain why not Walgett RSL? ’ Perkins addressed the crowd entry to the pool. Charles Perkins got more children of onlookers to try and convince the RSL committee from the reserve. The manager refused to sell them members to change their policy. Members of the entry coupons, saying ‘darkies not allowed in’. A local Aboriginal community joined in. arge crowd gathered and after an hour the manThe Anglican minister evicted the students from ager, four police and the local mayor came up with their lodgings in the church hall because of people’s another answer: Aboriginal children were allowed hostility to their actions. A line of cars and trucks in as long as they were ‘clean’. The children went followed the bus out of Walgett. One of the trucks forced the bus off the road. The scene reminded the swimming and the Freedom Riders left Moree students of the three American student activists thinking that the ban had been overturned. The mayor and the pool anager re-imposed the ban. Three days later, about six children from the Source 10. 1. 3 Moree Reserve joined the Freedom Riders in another attempt to break the ban. They tried without success for over three hours. A crowd of about 500 angry locals, including a group from the pub across the road, shouted abuse, spat at them and threw tomatoes and rotten eggs at them and the bus. Perkins later said he feared for his life during this incident. The confrontation received huge press coverage and also television coverage from a BBC crew and a team from Channel Seven’s investigative program Seven Days. Many journalists made comparisons between the racist attitudes shown in Moree and those evident towards African Americans in A photograph of the picket line formed by the Freedom Riders outside the United States. Walgett RSL club in 1965 245 CHAPTER 10: PEOPLE POWER Finally, the police escorted the Freedom Riders out of Moree. The bus continued on to Lismore, Bowraville and Kempsey before returning to Sydney. Source 10. 1. 4 An extract from Gerald Stone’s newspaper account of the Freedom Riders’ experiences in Moree MOREE, Saturday. Mob violence exploded here today as student freedom riders were attacked by a crowd crazed with race hate. White women spat on girl students and screamed ? lthy words as the students tried to win Aboriginal children admission to the town baths. Several people were arrested and the town’s mayor, Alderman William Lloyd, pitched into the battle, grabbing students by the scruff of their necks and hurling them out of the way. Throughout the ? ghting a barrage of eggs and rotten fruit rained on the students. Mr Jim Spigelman, a 19-year-old student from Maroubra, was smacked to the ground while the 500-strong crowd roared its approval. Sunday Mirror, 21 February 1965. Lyall Munro, one of the Aboriginal children who swam in the Moree pool as part of the Freedom Ride protest, was later inspired by these events to become an activist himself. In March 2004, he was a spokesperson for the Aboriginal community at Redfern following the death of teenager T. J. Hickey. He spoke out against the overpolicing and police mistreatment of Aboriginal youth in the Redfern area. Source 10. 1. 6 Source 10. 1. 5 A photograph showing Charles Perkins being led away from the Moree pool in February 1965 after locals confronted the student demonstrators and violence broke out ONGOING EFFORTS The Freedom Riders had an impact on the local Aboriginal communities they met during the trip, and they did not want to abandon them when they returned to Sydney. In August 1965, SAFA campaigned with the Walgett branch of the Aborigines Progressive Association (APA) to end segregation at the Luxury Theatre and the Oasis Hotel. The APA continued and eventually won a long struggle to achieve this. Students kept up the visits to country towns, going to Bega, Dareton, Bowraville and Coonamble, where they publicised many instances of racism and pressured communities and authorities to change their ways. Photograph of Charles Perkins and local children in the Moree pool, 1965. Perkins’s simple act of swimming in the pool was a stand against racial discrimination. 246 RETROactive 2 CIVICS AND CITIZENSHIP FOCUS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHARLES PERKINS AND THE FREEDOM RIDE The Freedom Ride occurred at a time when Australians were beginning to see the injustice of obvious examples of racism like those evident in the segregation of facilities in many country towns. It generated discussion and debate throughout Australia about the plight of indigenous communities, and media coverage stimulated national and international pressure for reform. Through the Freedom Ride, Charles Perkins became a national ? gure and a role model for Aboriginal people throughout Australia. His Freedom Ride showed Aboriginal Australians that non-violent action could result in change. His organisation of protests and public debate demonstrated both his leadership skills and his willingness to take action to demand change — characteristics that continued throughout his life. The Freedom Ride became part of the campaign movement that resulted in the 1967 referendum (see page 190) giving citizenship to Aboriginal people — a result supported by 89 per cent of voters. The two events and Australia’s economic prosperity at the time stimulated expectations that governments would intervene to address problems of inequality. This process began in 1972 when the Whitlam government took of? ce (see page 272). In the late 1960s, student activism focused more on protest against Australia’s involvement in war in Vietnam. Charles Perkins continued throughout his life to campaign for Aboriginal rights. He protested against the reluctance of authorities to allow self-determination for Aboriginal Australians and against government failure to effectively address the inequalities in Aboriginal Australians’ access to education, health, housing, employment and the law. Charles Perkins died of kidney failure on 18 October 2000. He was granted a state funeral — an honour usually given only to those who have held signi? ant government of? ce. ABC television broadcast the funeral, and traf? c in George Street Sydney came to a temporary standstill as a crowd gathered outside Sydney Town Hall to watch on a large screen the funeral service taking place inside. Check your understanding 1. Write a paragraph of 10 to 15 lines to summarise the Freedom Ride. Use the ‘W’ questions (what, when, where, who, how and why) to guide the selection of your information. 2. What impact did the Freedom Ride have on different groups at the time? 3. What were the results of the Freedom Ride? Using sources 1. In what ways do source 10. 1. 1 and the description of his early sporting career indicate that Charles Perkins might have had special qualities? 2. Use source 10. 1. 2 to describe the participants in the Freedom Ride. 3. What message were the protesters in source 10. 1. 3 trying to convey through their placards outside Walgett RSL Club? 4. What does source 10. 1. 4 indicate about how people in Moree responded to SAFA’s campaign? 5. What captions could you create for source 10. 1. 5 to express: (a) its signi? cance to Charles Perkins (b) the attitudes of the pool’s manager? . What stage of the Freedom Ride protest at Moree does the photo in source 10. 1. 6 seem to be showing? What aspect of the protest does the photo not reveal? 7. Describe the scene in source 10. 1. 7, commenting on the diversity of faces among the mourners, the signi? cance of the occasion and what it indicates about public feeling and respect for Charles Perkins’s life and achievements. Researching and communicating 1. Use the Internet to review some of the obituaries written at the time of Charles Perkins’s death. Select from them what seem to be the most signi? ant features of his life and work. Use these as the basis of a brief biography of Perkins suitable for publication in a dictionary of biography. 2. What would you have done? Imagine yourself in 1965 as either a Sydney University student or a resident of one of the country towns that the Freedom bus visited. How would you have responded to SAFA and the Freedom Ride? Give reasons for your answer.

Discuss Marx's concept of surplus value and the exploitation of Essay

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Human Resource Plan in Zeagol Company Ltd Research Paper

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Should Stem Cell be Unbound - Research Proposal Example Spinal cord injuries and Parkinson's disease are two examples that have been championed by high-profile media personalities (for instance, Christopher Reeve and Michael J. Fox). The Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research estimates that stem cell research shows promise to develop cures and/or new treatments for 100 million Americans who currently suffer from a wide variety of diseases and disorders. There are several types of issues to consider as we reflect upon stem cell research. ... Many frame the debate about stem cell research around the question of "when life begins," although the issue is not when life begins, but when personhood begins and ends. Human life began millions of years ago when our ancestors reached a stage of evolutionary development that permitted the separate species, Homo sapiens to arise. Human life will end when our species becomes extinct. Stem cell research is a controversial issue in America as, with the present state of technology, the creation of a human embryonic stem cell line requires the destruction of a human embryo. Stem cell debates have motivated and reinvigorated the pro-life movement. There has been a deep and bitter dispute over the conduct of this research; many pro-lifers, for instance, Roman Catholics and conservative Protestants, have opposed this research. According to them, the embryos from which these stem cells are extracted are actually individual entities and have a soul to them. Since the embryos are killed when the stem cells are removed, or stored for long periods of time, long past their viable storage life, pro-lifers view the extraction procedure as murder. In the United States alone, there have been estimates of at least 400,000 such embryos. However, not everyone is opposed to stem cell research. Many groups that even protest it are comfortable with certain forms of cell research. Plent y of experiments and tests have been carried out to determine improved and more efficient ways of saving lives and replacing organs, without having to kill â€Å"pre-embryos.†

Naval academy Essay topic Essay Example for Free

Naval academy Essay topic Essay With? my? career? and? academic? goals? coming? to? a? nearing? sight.? I? am? honored? to? write? about? why? I? want? to? take? the? steps? into? attending? a? military? academy? ? From? first? learning? about? the? military? academies? through? a? close? friend? that? moved? from? florida? to? vandenberg? air? force? base? and? later? became? friends? through? lompoc? high? school.? I? realized? that? key? terms? such? as? leadership,? academics,? and? diversity all? things? that? the? academies? are? looking? for? in? students,? apply? to? me. ? From? a? young? age? my? teachers? have?  always? characterised? me? as? a? leader.? The? most? memorizable? quote? I? can? remember? during? a? parent? teacher? conference? with? my? 6th? grade? teacher? is? her? sasying? how? amazed? she? is? that? I? could? mingle? with? many? different? groups? with? many? interest? and? still? maintain? a? high? academic? academic? statue.? This? has? been? true all? through? high? school? with? being? part? of? many? sports? teams? such? as? basketball,? baseball,? wrestling,? and? the? captain? of? the? football? team. socially? I? have? been? part? of? chess? tournaments? with? the? chess?club,? treasure? of? my? class,? nominated? for? student? of? the? quarter,? admitted? into? youth? leadership? of? lompoc? valley,? youth? cfo? of? colas? kids? non? profit? organization,? and? the? list? goes? on.? ? ? Many? ask? why? a? military? academy,? why? not? a? college? or? university? not? related? to? the? military.? One? of? my? reasons? definitely? not? my? biggest? is? financially? I? wouldnt? be? able? to? pay? for? college.? Living? with? my? mother,? living? with? my? grandparents,? living? with? the? my? dad? in? government? housing,? living? alone,? and? currently? living? in?section? 8? housing? with? father? and? step? mother.? Financially? college? is? a? goal? achievable? through? academics? and? diversity? ,? but? will? always? have? the? restrain? financially? to? pay? for? tuition.? ? Being? admitted? and? attending? an? academy? will? not? only? help? me? along? with? my? family? financially? but? u? will? have? a? chance? to? serve? my? country? with? the? utmost? gratitude.? My? parents? have? never? pushed? me? to? apply? at? a? military? academy,? the? goal? of? admission? has? solely? been? through? self? motivation.? With? my? career? goals? being? in?the? field? of? engineering? (mechanical? in? preference)? I? have? researched? the? naval? academy? and? earning bachelors? in? science? at? the? academy? would? kick? start? my? future? with? opportunities? that? other? universities? cant? offer.? Knowing? that? you? must? complete? a? term? in? the? military? after? the? academy? has? no? change? to? my? decision.? From? meeting? first? srgt.? Eric? simon? on? the? Air? Force? base,? he? has? became? an? inspiration? to? become? a? man? of? respect.? I? first? met? him? through? my? best? friend,? srgt.? Simon? being? his? father.? When? I? first? met? him? my? first? impression? was? this? man? is? someone? to? respect? and? honor? with? gratitude? for? protecting? and? serving? our? country.? I? later? learned? through? experience? that? srgt.? Simon? is? a? great? father? and? man? all? around.? Coming? from? an? unhealthy? family? in? Maryland? I? have? been? able? to? relate? and? look? up? to? him? as? a? father? figure.? The? experience? of? meeting? srgt.? Simon? has? made? me? more? than? ready? to? serve? in? the? armed? services.? I? want? to? show? my? four? younger? brothers? that? If? I? can? do? it? they? can? do?it? ,? while? establishing? a? role? model? position? for? them.? ? Being? admitted? to? the? naval? academy? or? another? military? academy? has? been? my? goal? from? the? beginning? of? high? school.? Aiming? everything? I? do.? And? pushing? myself? to? be? a? stand? out? candidate.? I? am? more? than? willing? to? serve? my? term? of? service? with? the? utmost? gratitude? and? respect? for? my? country.? The? reason? I? feel? that? i? standout? among? the? other? candidates? is? how? diverse? I? am? in? all? the? aspects? the? academies? are? looking? for.? Being? a? leader? in? sports?activities,? through? team? voting? I? became? the? football? captain,? having? four? little? brothers? I? lead? them? everyday? as? a? role? model.? Academically? I? strive? in? the? classroom? ,? recieving? scholar? awards? throughout? high? school? ,? and? achieving? top? 20? percent? of? my? class.? through? the? community? of? school? ,? being? involved? in? many? groups? and? organizations.? Also? outside? of? school? in? my? community? of? Santa? Barbara? county? through? community? service? and? helping? organizations? such? as? the? American? G. I.? Forum? along? with? many? others.?

Euthanasia (Mercy Killing) Essay Example for Free

Euthanasia (Mercy Killing) Essay The topic I chose is Euthanasia (mercy killing) should be permitted in cases of terminally ill patients. Euthanasia is from the Greek word to die well. In other words, a good death. Some people call it the act of killing a person who suffers from a mental or physician condition. Mercy Killing, is another name for it. Euthanasia (mercy killing) or physician-assisted suicide/PAS, is a confusing and heart-wrenching issue for many. We are all likely to face difficult end-of-life choices at some point, whether for ourselves or for a loved one. I know for me that this is a very hard decision, as much as I would like to be support Euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide/PAS, I could not allow this to be done because of the moral issues and it’s against what GOD stands for. One shot is all it takes to kill a loved adored family member. But is an injection of death a good way to die? With lack of judgment and a bad day someone could be killed. Euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide/PAS is putting people to sleep just like you would put to sleep your dog when he gets too old. Where do we draw the line between murder and helping patients? Is a doctor putting patience to sleep considered murder? Who makes that decision? I watched my sister suffer with pancreatic cancer from the time that she was diagnosed until she passed away. Every time she went for her chemotherapy treatments and returned home, she was sick to the point that she just stopped going places and doing things with the family. I can remember the call that I received from my niece, when they had left the doctor’s office and he had inform them, that there was nothing else that they could do. The cancer has spread through the stomach lining. At that point my sister made the decision to stop the chemotherapy and the doctor put her and family in touch with Hospice. I can still remember the comment that was made by the nurse, â€Å"we are here to make her comfortable living with cancer not to help her die†. By legalizing assisted suicide could send us down a road from which there is no return. We can do far more to aid suffering patients by improving pain management and mental health care through legislative reform than we can by legalizing their self-destruction. I did not expect to get the results that I did receive on Euthanasia (mercy killings) or physician-assisted suicide/PAS. I would like to say that the split was 30/70, which was very surprising to me because I was thinking that the split would have been 50/50. After taking the survey, I found out that most people are against Euthanasia (mercy killings). Based on the comments that I received from my survey, regarding mercy killings and how it was against GOD’s commandments, while others stated that people should not have to suffer and be in pain all their life if there is n o cure for their disease. But just think is an injection of death a good way to die? With lack of judgment and a bad day someone could be killed and how do you bring them back or even live with it. As much as we do not want to see our love ones suffer and be in pain, I just don’t believe I could go through Euthanasia with any of my family members. As much as I may love them I can’t have their death on my hands. Euthanasia (mercy killings) or physician-assisted suicide/PAS, is a decision that you will have to live for the rest of your life. Even though that love one may be suffering and in pain, can you really honestly say that you could be responsible for helping them to die and is this something that you will be able to live with yourself for the rest of your life. Its important to understand the distinction between the terms assisted suicide and euthanasia. The former describes a situation where the doctor (or some other agent) provides the means for a patient to commit suicide, but the patient follows through on the final act himself. Euthanasia, on the other hand, is carried out from beginning to end by a doctor on the patients behalf. In the wake of the Schiavo case, there was much debate over the question of care for the severely handicapped or terminally ill, and what exactly those appropriate levels of care were. At the base level is ordinary care—generally speaking, that which any prudent person would administer in similar circumstances. It could include keeping the room at a comfortable temperature, providing attentive human contact, and ensuring that the patient has enough to eat and drink. Ordinary care is considered mandatory by the Catholic Church. Proportionate treatment (or proportionate means), which is also mandatory, is any medical action that meets all of the following three criteria: (1) It has a reasonable chance of curing the patient or assisting with the cure; (2) it does not carry a significant risk of death; and (3) it does not, in and of itself, present an excessive burden. For example, a sterile blood transfusion during surgery would be considered proportionate treatment, as the risk and burden involved are relatively low compared with its curative potential. Disproportionate means, on the other hand, are not mandatory. If any treatment would present an excessive burden—in terms of finances, emotions, religious beliefs, or the pain of the procedure—or fail to offer a reasonable chance of curing the patient, it is optional. Withdrawing disproportionate treatment is an act that, according to Dr. Kathleen Foley, former chief of pain service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, respects [the] patie nts autonomous decision not to be battered by medical technology (Competent Care for the Dying Instead of Physician-Assisted Suicide, New England Journal of Medicine). There comes a time when continued attempts to cure are neither compassionate, wise, nor medically sound. Palliative care refers to the alleviation of pain or other symptoms, though some expand the definition to include the provision of mental, emotional, and spiritual support. A caregiver is required to offer palliative care—or at least pain management—as far as he is able, but it is not mandatory for a patient to accept. In fact, as Pope John Paul II said in The Gospel of Life, it is even licit to relieve pain by narcotics, even when the result isa shortening of life, if no other means exist. The issue of artificial nutrition and hydration is not fully defined; the question is currently being examined by the Magisterium, but the most recent pronouncement came from John Paul II himself in March 2004, when he stated that it is immoral to remove a feeding tube from anyone in a persistent vegetative state, calling it euthanasia by omission. Outside of a vegetative state, however, there are situations where a feeding tube would become burdensome and thus constitute disproportionate care—as in the case of a person dying from advanced stomach cancer—so these decisions must be made prudently on a case-by-case basis. For more information on this issue, visit www.euthanasia.com. For frequent updates on current court cases and legislation, checkwww.internationaltaskforce.org, and www.lifenews.com/bioethics.html. Once youve been armed with the latest facts and information, youre ready to begin the discussion. Strategy No. 1: Oppose the Status Quo of End-of-Life Pain Management First, we must recognize a basic truth: Patients in our medical system often have insufficient access to pain relief. Therefore, its vital to support increased patients rights, including access to health insurance, a choice in doctors, the latitude to see an independent specialist, open access to all of ones personal medical records, and the right to use palliative treatments. Its equally important to support the right of doctors to manage their patients pain properly without fear of government interference and prosecution. The issue of pain is an emotionally striking one, so its comforting to know that pain can be controlled. According to a report by the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law titled When Death Is Sought: Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the Medical Context, Modern pain relief techniques can alleviate pain in all but extremely rare cases. In fact, according to Dr. Eric M. Chevlen, the director of palliative care at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown, Ohio, 90 [percent] of cancer patients in pain can have dramatic relief with relatively simple oral therapies. Dr. Chevlen is also the author of the book Power Over Pain: How to Get the Pain Control You Need (International Task Force, 2002), a useful resource for those suffering due to a lack of proper palliative care. The American Pain Foundation estimates that with todays technology, close to 98 [percent] of all pain problems can be relieved or reduced. But most doctors have never actually studied pain in any detail. According toPain Net Inc., Of all pain practitioners, fewer than 10 [percent] are proficient in more than eight out of 130+ diagnostic or therapeutic procedures relative to pain. For this reason, its important to advocate a greater focus on pain in medical schools and continuing-education courses in pain management for all medical doctors, especially those frequently involved in end-of-life situations. We can also urge recognition for patients rights to see pain-therapy specialists (which some health-care plans are trying to restrict). What cannot be accepted is the notion that assisted suicide is a form of comfort care. Dr. Gregory Hamilton, the chair of Physicians for Compassionate Care, put it bluntly in an article in the Oregonian: Comfort care results in a comfortable patient; assisted suicide results in a corpse. Emphasize the Need to Diagnose and Treat Depression One of the chief arguments for PAS appeals to the American ideal of autonomy. The desire for self-determination resonates strongly with many Democrats, and they believe that the denial of these rights is un-American. Of course, a love of personal freedom is not unique to Democrats, and its easy for anyone to agree that we should have the freedom to live our lives as we see fit. But that freedom must come with restrictions. For example, child pornography is illegal in America—even in the privacy of ones home—and no judicious person would consider it a permissible use of our freedom. Clearly, Americans acknowledge the need to limit certain behaviors. The question is, what actions should be permitted or restricted? The issue of autonomy assumes that the person attempting to exercise his personal freedom can make decisions in a rational manner. But in fact, when it comes to requests for PAS, rational decision-making is rarely in play. Suicidal feelings in a person who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness are no different from those experienced by someone who isnt terminally ill. Depression, family conflict, hopelessness, feelings of abandonment—these are the conditions that lead to suicidal thoughts, regardless of ones physical state. According to the British Journal of Psychiatry and the New York State Task Force, between 93 and 95 percent of those contemplating suicide have a diagnosable mental disorder, most commonly severe depression. Is mental disorder also in play for the terminally ill who request suicide? One study in the American Journal of Psychiatry reported, All of the patients who had either desired premature death or contemplated suicide were judged to be suffering from clinical depressive illness; that is, none of those patients who did not have clinical depression had thoughts of suicide or wished that death would come early. The New York State Task Force report states that depression accompanied by feelings of hopelessness is the strongest predictor of suicide for both individuals who are terminally ill and for those who are not. It is depression or other mental illness, not ones physical condition, that makes a person suicidal. Pain plays an obvious part in this—diagnosable anxiety and depression, for example, are higher in cancer patients with pain. Not only is uncontrolled pain an important risk factor for suicide, in that it contributes to hopelessness and depression, but depression and anxiety can often augment the patients experience of pain. This brings us back to the need for pain therapy. The New York State Task Force report notes that the notion of competence to make treatment decisions, or the capacity to make a particular decisionpresumes that the patient is not clinically depressed. In the presence of clinical depression, there can be no true autonomy, no ability to make a rational decision or a clear, objective request for death. The good news is that mental illness, once diagnosed, is treatable. In a 1992 article for American Medical News suicidologist Dr. David C. Clark observed that depressive episodes in the seriously ill are not less responsive to medication than episodes in those who are not. The same opinion is held by Dr. Joseph Richman, former president of the American Association of Suicidology, who wrote in a letter to the editor of the Journal of Suicide and Life-Threatening Behaviour, Effective psychotherapeutic treatment is possible with the terminally ill. And in testimony to the New York State Task Force in 1992, Dr. William Breitbart of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center agreed, reporting that more than 80 percent of their patients diagnosed with major depression can be treated effectively. The New York State Task Force report puts the number even higher, saying treatment for depression resulted in the cessation of suicidal ideation for 90 percent of patients. Finally, its important to remember that the desire for suicide is often transient. In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the cases of 886 people who were rescued from attempted suicides were followed over a five-year period. At the end of those five years, only 34 had since taken their own lives. Where there is depression, there is no true autonomy. Treating patients for pain and depression, as well as other mental illnesses, can eliminate suicidal desires by giving the patient more control. In that way, we can help them achieve self-determination instead of self-destruction. Strategy No. 3: Oppose Discrimination Against the Disabled and the Poor If any one element has stopped PAS bills and ballot measures from becoming the law of the land, it has been the public efforts of activist groups for the disabled such as Not Dead Yet. While groups like the former Hemlock Society (now named Compassion and Choices) were founded on the belief that some lives were not worth living and that they were doing a service to the disabled by expanding their autonomy to include a right to die, this kind of attitude actually betrays a prejudice against the disabled—one that would inevitably make the right to die a duty to die. This sort of prejudice is already seen on the opposite end of the spectrum in the abortion debate. Dr. Anthony Vintzileos, a board member of the American Institute of Ultrasound Medicine, estimated in a May 2005 article for the New Jersey Record that 90 percent of women who receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome for their children choose to abort. People with disabilities are considered to have no real quality of life, nothing to contribute, and nothing to live for. The poor are also potential targets. Already receiving substandard medical care, the impoverished will be the last to ask for a second opinion, the first to see themselves as worthless, and the most likely to be dismissed as having nothing to contribute to society. If an authority figure were to counsel a poor person to ease the financial burden of medical care on his family through PAS, it would be difficult to say no. Democrats largely identify themselves as friends of the underdog and protectors of the weak. What better way to open their eyes to the injustice of PAS than by pointing out the potential for victimization of the disabled and poor at the hands of an often profit-driven health-care industry? Strategy No. 4: Examine Data from Europe At this point, your interlocutor will likely argue that Doctors would never do that, or that there should be guidelines to make sure that this victimization could never take place. The best response is simply to have a look at euthanasia in Europe (including its legal form in the Netherlands). Many familiar with the history of euthanasia recognize that the idea was a natural outgrowth of social Darwinism, where the strong survive and the weak are left behind. According to the New York State Task Force report, The practice of mass murder in Nazi Germanybegan with the active killing of the severely ill, and built upon earlier proposals advanced by leading German physicians and academics of the 1920s. Like policies currently advocated in the United States, these proposals were limited to the incurably ill, and mandated safeguards such as review panels. R. J. Lifton, author of The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide, is quoted in the report as saying that the phrases life unworthy of life and killing as a therapeutic imperative were vital in soothing the publics conscience when it came to the Nazi program of genocide: The medicalization of killing—the imagery of killing in the name of healing—was crucial to that terrible step. Its ironic that the Netherlands—whose doctors once refused the Nazis genocidal agenda—is now the site of the most extensive assisted suicide and euthanasia program in the world. Though euthanasia was not legalized in the Netherlands until 2002, it was commonly practiced well before then, with almost no danger of prosecution for the doctors performing it. The International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide reports that, according to the Dutch government–sponsored Remmelink Report examining death rates in Holland from 1990: †¢ 2,300 people died through voluntary euthanasia †¢ 400 died through assisted suicide †¢ 1,040 died through involuntary euthanasia—euthanasia was performed without the patients knowledge or consent, even though 72 percent of those patients had never indicated any desire for it †¢ 8,100 died from a deliberate overdose of pain medication to hasten the patients death, though in 61 percent of these cases the patient gave no consent. Of the estimated 130,000 deaths in Holland in 1990, 9.1 percent were the direct result of assisted suicide or euthanasia. And given that these numbers were voluntarily provided by doctors at a time when euthanasia was still technically illegal, its likely that the actual number of deaths through euthanasia was even higher. According to a February 1999 article in the Journal of Medical Ethics, almost 59 percent of euthanasia cases in Holland in 1995 went unreported, in clear violation of the guidelines in place. However, not a single Dutch doctor was prosecuted under the criminal charges of euthanasia, assisted suicide, or anything related. Euthanasia was technically illegal but not prosecuted in the Netherlands for more than a decade. Today, those over 16 can be euthanized for any reason; in certain circumstances, those as young as twelve can opt for euthanasia. Currently, the Netherlands is considering allowing euthanasia for infants, though some Dutch doctors have openly admitted to euthanizing infants already. Those who believe there is no slippery slope need to take another look. And while some may argue that the situation in the Netherlands at least offers patients more options when faced with end-of-life decisions, the reality is just the opposite. Hospice care—palliative centers that make up an important component of end-of-life treatment—is practically nonexistent in Holland. England, for example, had 183 hospices in 1999. The Netherlands, with a quarter of Englands population, had only three. Clearly, with such easy access to euthanasia, little effort is expended to offer alternatives to end-of-life pain management when its not as cost-effective as a quick death. What does this have to do with the United States? Dr. Herbert Hendin, executive director of the American Suicide Foundation, made the connection clear in his 1996 testimony before Congress, wherein he declared that Dutch patients and doctorssee assisted suicide and euthanasia, intended as an unfortunate necessity in exceptional cases, as almost a routine way of dealing with serious or terminal illness. The [American] public has the illusion that legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia will give them greater autonomy. If the Dutch experience teaches us anything, it is that euthanasia enhances the power and control of doctors who can suggest it, not give patients obvious alternatives, ignore patients ambivalence, and even put to death patients who have not requested it. This is the safety that guidelines provide, as both history and current events have borne out. If we were to open the doors to PAS in the United States, a brave new world of involuntary euthanasia would be inevitable. Strategy No. 5: Oppose Profiteering by Managed-Care Providers If assisted suicide were legalized, managed-care providers would inevitably embrace it as a money-saving technique. The New York State Task Force report states that under anysystem of health care deliveryit will be far less costly to give a lethal injection than to care for a patient throughout the dying process. A 1998 study conducted by Dr. Daniel P. Sulmasy in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that doctors who are cost-conscious and practice resource-conserving medicine were six times more likely to write illegal, lethal prescriptions for their terminally ill patients. Dr. Diane Meier, a former advocate of assisted suicide, said in a 1998 New York Times article, Legalizing assisted suicide would become a cheap and easy way to avoid the costly and time-intensive care needed by the terminally ill. Substantiating this claim is the fact that Oregons Medical Assistance Program (OMAP) for the poor moved to provide physician-assisted suicide to its recipients as soon as the Death with Dignity Act was passed in 1997. Only 18 months later, the OMAP announced plans to cut back on pain medication coverage for the same population. Hospice care has also suffered—the International Task Force reports that one Oregon insurance company has a paltry $1,000 cap on in-home hospice care. With the cost of a lethal overdose running about $35, there would be little motivation to pay any more for palliative treatment. If this is how a liberal, Democratically controlled state government behaves, is there any doubt how profit-minded managed-care providers would react if assisted suicide were legalized throughout the United States? We would begin to see a new stratification of society, where the under-insured would be advised to settle for assisted suicide, while those with better insurance could get the medical assistance they needed. According to the International Task Force, If policies or laws permitting assisted suicide are approved, assisted suicide could become the only type of medical treatment to which certain people—those who are members of minority groups, those who are poor, or those who have disabilities—would have access. The last to receive health care would be the first to receive assisted suicide. The Dead End of Assisted Suicide Legalizing assisted suicide could send us down a road from which there is no return. We can do far more to aid suffering patients by improving pain management and mental health care through legislative reform than we can by legalizing their self-destruction. Euthanasia, in practice, almost inevitably becomes eugenic in nature, which is an affront to the disabled and a serious threat to the lives of the poor and unwanted. Further, the decriminalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia in Europe has produced horrific results that no sane nation would want to imitate. Its a noble impulse that drives Americans to help those struggling through illness and decline, but we cant let the desire to ease anothers suffering lead us to believe that there are quick fixes or easy answers in euthanasia. Instead, we must respond with love, prayer, and compassion—not with murder. As John Paul II wrote in Evangelium Vitae, True compassion leads to sharing another persons pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear.