Recommendation for GameStop in CRM area

Recommendation for GameStop in CRM area GameStop recommendations on improving customer life cycle The idiosyncrasy of gaming market customers requires high speciality and rapidly responsive company applications. This is the reason why the company should deeply consider customers requirements and favourites. The products of the gaming market are ‘uniquely’ perishable due to the quick dynamic markets, production and technology. Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Recommendation for GameStop in CRM area specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The products have little life span on the shelf and a high retail value as long as loyalty of the customer is maintained. The will ensure that the retail shelves of the games never get empty because this is the route cause of customers transfer to other outlets and eventually the business suffer from diminished demands. To improve the customer’s lifecycles, the GameStop marketing company will implement some idi osyncratic business practices too. The implication would be that the off-the-shelf applications should not be the only option of satisfying customer’s demands. Alongside the well-stoked shelf with the latest state of the art technology, the stocks should also entail the second hand titles, which provide the options of customizing to meet special demands without any extra fortunes. To manage the whole product sales cycle from the basics of purchasing to allocation of storage, the marketing plan should avail the options of technological dynamism that catalyze rapid growth of the company by providing a single operating platform. By hosting the events based on the new technological evolutions, offers the customers a chance to play any highly anticipated games prior to their local releases. The biggest challenge on the retail stores today is competition. The stores have to compete with the e-commerce world. The inquiry and supply routine is done electronically and therefore the company has to utilize the web-based retailing system to provide the required positive and lasting impression on the customers. GameStop recommendations on ideas for prospecting The GameStop Company has always been the top dealer of the best game models. These are some of the aspect causing the company to prosper even during the hard times. People always prefer a seller who offers quality at a relatively reasonable prize. The parents are always willing to spend on what make their kids happy thus the need to focus on the child as the main customer. The company also benefits from some of the gamers’ anticipated titles of which it places some reasonable prices thus allowing huge amount of entertainment time.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More One of the main ideas of prospecting for the company will be to engage participation in the sponsorship activities with oth er related but smaller companies. This is a major boost to the retail stores all over the world due to positive publicity. As a presenting sponsor, the company will have a significant presence at the professional competitions and distribution outlets such as the mobile technology, television and internet. Some of these are leading brands enjoying good youth support due to their adventurous lifestyles, considered as a dominant market niche of the gaming world. The other idea entails collaboration with sporting clubs and firms. By working together with the professional video gaming leagues, such as the Major League Gaming (MLG) pro circuit, the company will raise the video gaming competitions to professional sports levels. Such companies also provide players, publishers and media partners with a unique connection to a wide range of players who are prospective customers as well. Partnership prospects allows better transfer of gaming facilities or information regarding the company, to major stores across the globe thus elevating the profit margins to greater heights and assisting in the process of marketing the business for growth. Recommendation for GameStop in CRM area GameStop recommendations on improving customer life cycle The idiosyncrasy of gaming market customers requires high speciality and rapidly responsive company applications. This is the reason why the company should deeply consider customers requirements and favourites. The products of the gaming market are ‘uniquely’ perishable due to the quick dynamic markets, production and technology. The products have little life span on the shelf and a high retail value as long as loyalty of the customer is maintained. The will ensure that the retail shelves of the games never get empty because this is the route cause of customers transfer to other outlets and eventually the business suffer from diminished demands. To improve the customer’s lifecycles, the GameStop marketing company will implement some idiosyncratic business practices too. The implication would be that the off-the-shelf applications should not be the only option of satisfying customer’s demands. Alongside the well-stoked shelf with the latest state of the art technology, the stocks should also entail the second hand titles, which provide the options of customizing to meet special demands without any extra fortunes.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Recommendation for GameStop in CRM area specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More To manage the whole product sales cycle from the basics of purchasing to allocation of storage, the marketing plan should avail the options of technological dynamism that catalyze rapid growth of the company by providing a single operating platform. By hosting the events based on the new technological evolutions, offers the customers a chance to play any highly anticipated games prior to their local releases. The biggest challenge on the retail stores today is competition. The stores have to compete with the e-commerce world. The inquiry and supply routine is done electronically and therefore the company has to utilize the web-based retailing system to provide the required positive and lasting impression on the customers. GameStop recommendations on ideas for prospecting The GameStop Company has always been the top dealer of the best game models. These are some of the aspect causing the company to prosper even during the hard times. People always prefer a seller who offers quality at a relatively reasonable prize. The parents are always willing to spend on what make their kids happy thus the need to focus on the child as the main customer. The company also benefits from some of the gamers’ anticipated titles of which it places some reasonable prices thus allowing huge amount of entertainment time. One of the main ideas of prospecting for the company will be to engage participation in the sponsorship activities with other related but smaller companies. This is a major boost to the retail stores all over the world due to positive publicity. As a presenting sponsor, the company will have a significant presence at the professional competitions and distribution outlets such as the mobile technology, television and internet. Some of these are leading brands enjoying good youth support due to their adventurous lifestyles, considered as a dominant market niche of the gaming world. The other idea entails collaboration with sporting clubs and firms. By working together with the professional video gaming leagues, such as the Major League Gaming (MLG) pro circuit, the company will raise the video gaming competitions to professional sports levels. Such companies also provide players, publishers and media partners with a unique connection to a wide range of players who are prospective customers as well. Partnership prospects allows better transfer of gaming facilities o r information regarding the company, to major stores across the globe thus elevating the profit margins to greater heights and assisting in the process of marketing the business for growth.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More

Roth v. United States Supreme Court Decision

Roth v. United States Supreme Court Decision What is obscenity? This was the question put before the Supreme Court in the case of Roth v. United States in 1957. Its an important decision because if the government can ban something as obscene, then that material falls outside the protection of the First Amendment.   Those who wish to distribute such obscene material will have little  if any, recourse against censorship. Even worse, allegations of obscenity stem almost entirely from religious foundations. This essentially means that religious objections to a specific material can remove basic constitutional protections from that material. Fast Facts: Roth v. United States Case Argued: April 22, 1957Decision Issued:  June 24, 1957Petitioner: Samuel RothRespondent: United StatesKey Question: Did federal or California state obscenity statutes prohibiting the sale or transfer of obscene materials through the mail impinge on freedom of expression as guaranteed by the First Amendment?Majority Decision: Justices Warren, Frankfurter, Burton, Clark, Brennan, and WhittakerDissenting: Justices Black, Douglas, and HarlanRuling: The court ruled that obscenity (as defined by whether an average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeal to prurient interest) was not constitutionally protected speech or press. What Lead to Roth v. United States? When it reached the Supreme Court, this was actually two combined cases: Roth v. United States and Alberts v. California. Samuel Roth (1893-1974) published and sold books, photographs, and magazines in New York, using circulars and advertising matter to solicit sales. He was convicted of mailing obscene circulars and advertising as well as an obscene book in violation of the federal obscenity statute: Every obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy book, pamphlet, picture, paper, letter, writing, print, or other publication of an indecent character... is declared to be nonmailable matter... Whoever knowingly deposits for mailing or delivery, anything declared by this section to be nonmailable, or knowingly takes the same from the mails for the purpose of circulating or disposing thereof, or of aiding in the circulation or disposition thereof, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. David Alberts ran a mail-order business from Los Angeles. He was convicted under a misdemeanor complaint which charged him with lewdly keeping for sale obscene and indecent books. This charge included writing, composing, and publishing an obscene advertisement of them, in violation of the California Penal Code: Every person who wilfully and lewdly... writes, composes, stereotypes, prints, publishes, sells, distributes, keeps for sale, or exhibits any obscene or indecent writing, paper, or book; or designs, copies, draws, engraves, paints, or otherwise prepares any obscene or indecent picture or print; or molds, cuts, casts, or otherwise makes any obscene or indecent figure... is guilty of a misdemeanor... In both cases, the constitutionality of a criminal obscenity statute was challenged. In Roth, the constitutional question was whether the federal obscenity statute violated the provision of the First Amendment that Congress shall make no law ...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ...In Alberts, the constitutional question was whether the obscenity provisions of the California Penal Code invaded the freedoms of speech and press incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Courts Decision Voting 5 to 4, the Supreme Court decided that obscene material has no protection under the First Amendment. The decision was based on the premise that freedom of expression does not provide absolute protection for every possible utterance of any sort: All ideas having even the slightest redeeming social importance - unorthodox ideas, controversial ideas, even ideas hateful to the prevailing climate of opinion - have the full protection of the guaranties, unless excludable because they encroach upon the limited area of more important interests. But implicit in the history of the First Amendment is the rejection of obscenity as utterly without redeeming social importance. But who decides what is and is not obscene, and how? Who gets to decide what does and does not have redeeming social importance? On what standard is that based on?   Justice Brennan, writing for the majority, suggested a standard for determining what would and would not be obscene: However, sex and obscenity are not synonymous. Obscene material is material which deals with sex in a manner appealing to prurient interest. The portrayal of sex, e. g., in art, literature and scientific works, is not itself sufficient reason to deny material the constitutional protection of freedom of speech and press. ...It is therefore vital that the standards for judging obscenity safeguard the protection of freedom of speech and press for material which does not treat sex in a manner appealing to prurient interest. So, there is no redeeming social importance to any appeal to prurient interests? Prurient is defined as excessive  interest in sexual matters.  This lack of social importance associated with sex is a traditionalist religious and Christian perspective. There are no legitimate secular arguments for such an absolute division.   The early leading standard of obscenity allowed material to be judged merely by the effect of an isolated excerpt upon particularly susceptible persons. Some American courts adopted this standard but later decisions have rejected it. These later courts substituted this test: whether to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeal to prurient interest. Since the lower courts in these cases applied the test of whether or not the material appealed to prurient interests, the judgments were affirmed. The Significance of the Decision This decision specifically rejected the test developed in the British case, Regina v. Hicklin. In that case, obscenity is judged by whether or not the tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences, and into whose hands a publication of this sort may fall. In contrast, Roth v. United States  based the judgment on community standards rather than the most susceptible. In a community of very conservative Christians, a person could be charged with obscenity for expressing ideas that would be regarded as trivial in another community. Thus, a person might legally sell explicit homosexual material in the city, but be charged with obscenity in a small town. Conservative Christians could argue that the material has no redeeming social value. At the same time, closeted gays could argue the opposite because it helps them imagine what life might be like without homophobic oppression. While these matters were decided over 50 years ago and times certainly have changed, this precedent could still affect current obscenity cases.

Science in the medieval islamic world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Science in the medieval islamic world - Essay Example Knowledge occupies â€Å"a dominant position in Islamic doctrine†.1 Farudi discusses individuals who excelled in both scholarly as well as pious fields. These individuals include Al-Khwarizmi, Ibn Sina, and Al-Biruni who despite having great knowledge in religious texts also excelled in medicine, mathematics, astronomy, geography, chemistry, and physics. 2 Science made great strides in the Golden Age of Islam compared to the Dark Ages in Europe when scientific knowledge languished. The contribution of Muslim science was the one that made renaissance occur in Europe in the preceding period. The Umayyad Dynasty is the one that set the stage for what came to be labeled as the Islamic Golden Age. The Umayyad Dynasty was in power in the period 661 to 750. Mu’awiya took over power after the death of Ali.3 Mu’awiya was an Umayyad, who used both force and persuasion to expand the empire. This set a pattern for the years that followed. During this period, many non-Arabs were converted to Arabs and brought into the Islamic faith. The 14 Umayyad rulers were the ones who played the greatest role in the expansion of the Islamic state. Under the Umayyad’s rule, the Islamic state expanded to the lands across Northern Africa, the Indus Valley (Pakistan), Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. These happenings/events are the ones that laid the foundation for Islamic Golden Age. The Abbasid Dynasty took over power from the Umayyad Dynasty and the years of Abbasid Dynasty (750 to 1258) are considered to be golden in many ways.4 These years were characterized by great discoveries and advancements in arts and sciences. There was also a great expansion in trade and the Islamic community expanded. Nevertheless, the period was characterized by plenty of unrest originating from Shi’a people in North Africa who were revolting against the Abbasid rule. In ninth century, the Abbasids faced a lot of

Debate on Rousseau's Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Debate on Rousseau's Statement - Essay Example One of the answers to Jean Jacques Rousseau’s thinking is elated to his ideology of how necessary freedom is to the lives of people. Jean Jacques Rousseau uses nature to explain how much freedom is valued in the field of politics. He talks about how physically the free man is, nit bound y any repressive state of other men. He also talks about how man is spiritually and psychologically free (Christopher, 18). Man is not forced to live with artificial needs. If anything, it is these artificial needs that have brought societal injustices such as exploitation, domination of the poor, depression and low self-esteem. Jean Jacques Rousseau believed that an effective government only comes into existence when its citizens are guaranteed freedom. Property and law are what constrain the freedom of people (Cladis, 22). Nature for Jean Jacques Rousseau was a focal point in determining the independence of an individual and the unity of many. According to Rousseau, the â€Å"state of nature† has been made impure in modern society due to creations of law, property and moral inequality (Cladis, 26). Rousseau acknowledges that mankind cannot return to the original state of nature that he was once born in. However, humanity can try to understand how essential the state of nature is so as to bring out more natural goodness (Christopher, 23). The state of nature is compared by Rousseau to modern society by the use of human need as an element of human life. The state of nature requires that man desires the basic necessities that ensure survival such as sleep, food and sex. However, modern society has constantly grown incorporation and division of labour (Christopher, 35). The result is an increase in the needs of men to include many unnecessary requirements such as entertainment, friends and luxury goods. Such needs may be gratifying and pleasurable but have had the effect of making men slaves to such superfluous needs (Cladis, 29).

Education quiz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Education quiz - Essay Example Literal interpretation of written works also restricts them to understand emotions and to draw conclusions from written texts. The diversity of the requirements for understanding something demands effort from them which if not met could have the learner socially incapacitated. b. What instructional accommodations are generally recommended for students who experience this exceptionality? (For the sake of brevity, limit yourself to no more than three important accommodations. You do NOT have to elaborate, other than perhaps a sentence for each one.) To help such students, teachers are encouraged to give explicit instructions made simple so that the learners can be able to follow. Daily reviews would be a great help to assist them in retaining information that are important especially in the learning process. Since the understanding of a learning disabled student is limited, modeling is very helpful as it would be easy for them to understand what they see put in action than things expre ssed in words. 2. With respect to students who experience ADHD: a. In what way does this exceptionality affect the individual’s literacy development? For students with ADHD, their learning development could limit them to the very few things that they able to concentrate on. As ADHD learners usually have difficulty in focusing to a certain task, the possibility that an assignment could be completed could be far from possible. They usually exert more effort in keeping still to finish a certain task especially when it comes to writing so their communication skills can be affected. Reading could be a lesser trouble for them but being unable to concentrate in the task also affects their understanding as well as the acquisition of important information received in reading. b. What instructional accommodations are generally recommended for students who experience this

Langston Hughes “Salvation” Essay Example for Free

Langston Hughes â€Å"Salvation† Essay â€Å"Salvation† is taking from the first of these , The Big Sea ( 1940 ), and written by Langston Hughes who was a brilliant author, poet who wrote fiction, history, autobiography, and he worked at various times as a journalist. You can clearly see in â€Å"Salvation† was taking time at South – country side. From the Title â€Å"Salvation† you can have a guess and you will be right if you were thinking about church, God and so on. -But not really saved? -To bring the young lambs to the fold? -When you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside -So I sat there calmly in the hot, crowded church, waiting for Jesus to come to me -The preacher preached a wonderful rhythmical sermon, all moans and shouts -Then he said: â€Å" Won’t you come? And the little girls cried. And some of them jumped up and went to Jesus right away. But most of us just sat there -Nothing! I wanted something to happen to me, but nothing happened -Oh, Lamb of God! Why don’t you come? -I began to be ashamed of myself, holding everything up so long. -So I got up -Then joyous singing filled the room -I was really crying because I couldn’t bear to tell her that I had lied, that I deceived everybody in the church, that I hadn’t seen Jesus, and that now I didn’t believe there was a Jesus anymore, since he didn’t come to help me. Langston Hughes recalls how he was introduced to religion and the church. He goes to say that at thirteen years old he was brought to his Aunt Reed’s church and was told that he needed to be saved by Jesus Christ. At the ceremony, while all other children went up to accept Jesus, Langston and another child named Westley remained seated. At the congregation prayed and the priest sang psalms, Westley cracked under the pressure and went up to the altar, but Langston still sat. He had literally taken the phrase â€Å" you will see Jesus† and felt bad about lying to the church because, after all, he had still not seen Jesus but was anxious to meet him. Finally, Langston came to the decision that it was getting late and one little lie about seeing Jesus couldn’t hurt. He then went to the altar and accepted Jesus. That night his aunt heard him crying and assumed that it was because he had come to terms with God, But Langston was crying because he felt guilty having to lie to everyone about seeing Jesus and he was even more hurt that Jesus never came to help him. At first, the piece seems to be about naive boy who believes that Jesus would physically appear in front of him. In deeper sense, however, it dives into a questioning of faith. The story could be seen and a very common scenario among people having trouble with identifying there religious inclinations. Sometimes, there so much pressure put on people by their peers to choose a religion. These people often look for signs or aid from a higher power to help guide them. After receiving no signs or guidance, they renounce faith in God and Jesus and blame the higher being. In Langston case; his aunt, the priest, and the congregation put tremendous amount of pressure on him to become a member of the church, instead of explaining to him that â€Å"see† meant to â€Å"understand† and â€Å"accept† that Jesus died to save him and give him eternal life. His aunt could have helped him by explaining that not physically â€Å"see â€Å"Jesus that evening. Instead, he felt alienated possible because this way first that he had ever known of anything having to do with Jesus or the bible, and he was not helped to understand what was going on.

The control of inventory systems

The control of inventory systems INTRODUCTION It could not be argued that the emmergence of Information Technology has brought business its place present day. The Informatics revolutions have always brought new solutions that come up with new challenges, which keep the need for newer solutions continuous. Information Technology created new businesses being run and managed on the cyberspace called e-business and developed other businesses internally and globally. Some businesses found that it is essential to join the evolution which needed them some effort to transform the company and convert it into an e-business. Others, who stayed where they were have soon discovered the importance of IT application in every major of its business. Using experts of IT to help the conversion, and by means of IT it includes Data base experts, networking professionals, accounting and inventory control systems applications, web site designers and administrators,etc. Some businesses do hire some professionals from other IT solutions companies while others assign their own. Managing of inventory for any business, weather it is small or big, is one of the most important, and often least handled, functions for a business owner. Everything revolves around it: Sales, Customer Service, Accounting, Planning, Purchasing, etc. Barcodes Inc (2009) defines the inventory control system as â€Å"A set of hardware and software based tools that automate the process of tracking inventory. The kinds of inventory tracked with an inventory control system can include almost any type of quantifiable good, including food, clothing, books, equipment, and any other item that consumers, retailers, or wholesalers may purchase.† The paper in hand is considering a general purpose of design and implementation of an Inventory System developed around the standards which then can be customized according to the requirements of any company. The system would help companies overcome main challenges that are facing them by managing the Control Stock activities such as selling, buying goods and reports handling. However, the main purpose of the system is to apply the items information as input data and produce the purchase information as an output. On the Other hand, the system will support printing some functional reports according to the companys requirements. Therefore, when studied companies general requirements regarding control stock issues, it concluded that companies goals and satisfactions are achievable within the given time limitations. However, control of inventory system, which typically represents 45% to 90% of all expenses for a business, is needed to ensure that the business has the right goods on hand to avoid stock-outs, also to prevent shrinkage and uncertain accounting. Many businesses have fair enough of their limited resources, capital, tied up in their major assets and inventory. Worse than that, they may have their capital tied up in the wrong kind of inventory. Inventory may be old, worn out, shop-worn, obsolete, or the wrong sizes or colours, or there may be an imbalance among different product lines that reduces the customer appeal and concerns of the total operation. This project would spot the light upon common problems faced during the application of Inventory Control System and would suggest some solutions to overcome these problems. So we can say to any business â€Å"Control it before it controls you†. As in this paper we are concerned about the inventory control systems, we are going to investigate the role of inventory in general and inventory control systems in specific. In the literature review we are going to analyze some findings from journals, articles and web sites that mostly describe the role of inventory control systems and their problems. In the second part which is Methodology the data collection and research methods which would be basically: face-to-face interviews with three businesses that vary in services, size and needs but share the need to have an effective inventory control system. As well as observing those companies to highlight the main issues to be addressed. We would also consider the findings from journals and some case studies to help us understand the challenges in depth. We would also analyze the collected data in order to get the full view of the issue. Next, we are going to address the challenges that have immerged from data collection of these businesses. Those challenges would definitely vary as every company has its individual needs as they provide different services. But they do all meet at one point where there is a need for an effective inventory control system whether there is one used before or not. The next section of this paper is concerned about the proposed system which would suggest a system designed to ease the process of inventory control and prevent the problems that occurred before. This would be explained via a conceptual design as well as a data flow diagram which has three main actors: supplier, customer and bank. Later, we would explain the results of applying the proposed system, as some solutions would benefit some businesses than the others as every company would be treated separately. This section would also include some findings from resources describing the benefit that some companies gained upon application of inventory control systems. Discussion is the next section which would concentrate on evaluating the findings from results and linking them with the previous findings from the literature review. One could say how beneficial the use of applying the ICS and how many losses would be eliminated to be added to margins. LITREATURE REVIEW Manuel L. Alcuaz Jr (2008) describes the inventory saying Inventory is a major headache for most retailers. Some dont have any information on their inventory movement or levels. As a result they experience many and frequent stock outs, while millions of pesos are tied up in slow-moving or non-moving inventory. The problem can be due to the sheer number of items, the complexity of items, or having very many locations. This shows the consequences of having no reliable inventory systems, as the supplier would suffer from stock outs he would have to ship in more stock to cover the needs whereas there is enough stock but this all is due to system failures or errors. Rover Data Systems, Inc (2008) published a paper says â€Å"Control it before it controls you†. The paper discussed different points on the importance of inventory control system for different businesses. It addressed four types of businesses. First, manufacture to stock business that builds to stock according to a plan then waits for orders to come. Second, manufacture to order business that waits for orders to come, then builds a customer specific product. Third, distributers which purchases and stocks product, then sells to customer and finally the kitter that purchases and keeps detailed inventory on hand, then quickly assembles or packs to deliver to the customer when ordered. Inventories vary in the ways they are being managed, although we are considering the automated inventory control system, it is worthy to understand the problems of inventory in general. Weber (2008) explains these key symptoms of an inventory as follows: A company has too many of the wrong items and production shortages. Frequent overnight shipments. The perpetual levels on the computer are always wrong. Large end-of-the-year write-offs. Congested plant floors. If someones looking for an item, the whole crew has to go out and search. Responsibility for inventory levels is unclear. Hence, they could be all categorized as management problems. I think that these problems could all have been prevented if they was a strict and organized management that highlights the role of every single employee. Such as the problem of congestion of items, overnight shipments could have been eliminated if there was even one employee doing his job as should be. But, we cannot ignore the fact that use of an automated system would accelerate the pending jobs. In other words, the business would need to have focused strategies considering the inventory levels. This leads us to Naples (2008) who claims the responsibility on the f managers to improve inventory not inventory employees who only have to perform certain jobs. He defines the managers role in inventory as follows: Maintain the correct staff level; Make sure all department personnel receive required training. Hold department meetings to discuss problems and ways to improve. Become as proficient as possible with the inventory-control system. Control and work to reduce unsold special order parts, non-stock parts and excess inventory. Control parts inventory obsolescence. This is the most volatile influence on holding expenses as obsolescence increases, the inventory holding expenses become more punitive. Any profits made from items that are selling will be lost to holding costs for items that are not selling. Optimize settings to reduce inventory depth, build inventory width, and reduce the likelihood of excess stock and obsolescence. I would have to agree with Naples, especially that he was more precise than Weber. Because, even with the availability of an inventory Control system there needs to be the right application, control and planning of this system. So they have to be trained and listened to highlight their problems with the system and put together the suggested solutions. Mawson (2009) says retailers need to be focused more than ever on putting good stock control systems in place to ensure they do not overpay suppliers, and to reduce the risk of having items stolen off shelves. A report into loss prevention has found that too many retailers simply accept shrinkage as a fact of life, a fact that could cost them up to 3% of revenue, and all too many think that theft plays a bigger role than systems, a thought that could well be flawed. I believe that many retailers focus their efforts on internal and external theft by paying for CCTVs and security systems, where the main issue is often process failure which drags into leakage and shrinkage where nobody knows where these amounts are gone. All what it needs from retailers and businesses is to focus on inventory control systems and consider them as an investment. Inventory Control Systems are -as any other systems- not error free. According to Sahin and Dallery (2009) considering the thousands of items may come in and go out the system in a working day the Possible errors such as defects that affect the physical flow and the associated information flow can therefore be crucial. A survey held by Hollinger and Davis (2001) shows that among errors causing perturbation on the physical flow, internal and external theft, administrative errors and fraud made by vendor accounted for 1.8% of sales in US retail industry in 2001; assuming an annual sales base of $1.8 trillion this costs US retailers $33 billion. In other words this huge amount of cash can lost all around the world, it only is a crisis affecting retailers and is continuing to happen annually. This is due to either simply bad data or technical errors in the inventory systems that have been relying on worn-out systems thinking that they are saving money by keeping the same system. Whereas, making the right decision by a strict system update policy can save more amounts than what is being lost. A paper published 2002 by SCORE (Counsellors to Americas Small Business) suggest that inventory control systems range from eyeball systems to reserve stock systems to perpetual computer-run systems. It concerned with three forms of inventory that is Raw materials, In-process or semi-finished goods, and Finished goods. The Eyeball System is the standard inventory control system for the vast majority of small retail and many small manufacturing operations and is very simple in application but in this approach the manager have to check the store and record any stock shortage which is very difficult. Reserve Stock (or Brown Bag) System is much more systematic than the eyeball system as it keeps full control over the stock and ensure that the new shipment should arrive just as the last of the reserve stock is being used. In Perpetual Inventory Systems a programmed instruction referred to commonly as a trigger, automatically transmits an order to the appropriate vendor once supplies fall b elow a prescribed level. Floyd D. Hedrick (2006) suggests several proven methods for inventory control, which used for small business. The methods from simplest to most complex are Visual control, Tickler control, Click sheet control, and Stub control. Today as business grows computer-based system is used and is enhanced by the fact that company accounting and billing procedures can also be handled on the computer. Point-of-sale terminals relay information on each item used or sold. The manager receives information printouts at regular intervals for review and action. Off-line point-of-sale terminals relay information directly to the suppliers computer who uses the information to ship additional items automatically to the buyer/inventory manager. Large businesses nowadays are obliged to depend on accurate and up-to-date inventory systems by means of installing the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) so they can have accurate inventory counts and to avoid the massive loss. The Freightliner-Western Star Trucks as the leading heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America in a published case study (2008) has proven the reliability of the Motorola RFID. As a result the company quotes â€Å"The installed solution has already proven itself at the Portland plant. Labor costs associated with inventory control have been reduced significantly, as have data errors and mis-ships.† (Motorola Inc, 2008). Tracking the case study- considering the uniqueness of each corporate- by installing the RFID system can prevent the errors and avoid several problems that where found in businesses and specially considering small businesses that lack the experience of decision making knowing their priorities in investment. Jon Schreibfeder (2008) wrote â€Å"Effective Inventory Management allows a distributor to meet or exceed customers expectations of product availability with the amount of each item that will maximize net profits. He thinks that there is a relationship between the inventory management and the distribution of goods and of course on the customer. Indeed he sees that customers may depend on you to have some of your slow-moving products always on the shelf just in case they need them. The availability of these products contributes to your reputation as a reliable supplier and helps to differentiate you from your competitors. It is true that this view shows the importance of having an effective inventory control system, but there are many other important views. For example in assembly line industry any shortage in the row material will cause shutting down the whole line, which means losing time, effort, and money. A paper published by Claudio, Zhang and Zhang (2007) proposed a hybrid system, which combines a make-to-order push system with a make-to-stock pull system in food industry. The paper suggests â€Å"The make-to-stock strategy will be applied to those customers who come in requesting a product at the time of arrival, and the make-to-order will be applied to those customers who can give information in advance about their needs†. The hybrid system is designed to overcome the most important problems that faced food industry which is competition and how to deliver the service to the customer fast and in a good quality. Edward A. Silver, (2005) published a paper with the title â€Å"Inventory Management: A Tutorial, Canadian Publications, Practical Applications and Suggestion for Future Research†. This paper first presents a tutorial overview of inventory management. This includes a categorization, by a number of dimensions, of inventory problems and associated models. Relevant Canadian contributions to fundamental and applied theory are listed within the dimensions. Then substantial evidence is provided of widespread Canadian applications of inventory management. The paper points out the continuing gap between theory and practice, followed by a number of suggested research topics to help bridge the gap. Zipkin, P.H. had published his book â€Å"Foundations of Inventory Management† McGraw-Hill, (2000). In this book he says that â€Å"all organizations in any sector of the economy, Supply Chain Management, i.e., the control of the material flow from suppliers of raw material to final customers, is a crucial problem. The strategic importance of this area is today fully recognized by top management. The total investment in inventories is enormous, and the control of capital tied up in raw material, work-in-progress, and finished goods offers a very important potential for improvement.† This book suggests a wide range of different inventory models that can be used when developing inventory control systems to give a significant competitive advantage. METHODOLOGY The aims of this research experiment is to spot the light on the most common problems that face small businesses in keeping track of their inventories for a better resource management. It is going to highlight the reasons behind not applying inventory systems and gathering needed information about the business goals and resources to apply a suitable inventory system. Data Collection methods Interviews The research would conduct a live interview with a small business owner Eng. Ali Al-Asfoor from ARC fabrication and welding services. Which is a small establishment started 2008 providing fabrication and welding services for individuals and corporate. Another interview would be held with Mr. Adel Al-Shaer an inventory manager at Hajji Hassan Al-Aali business group. It is considered one of the largest business groups in Bahrain providing building and pre-cast services. The third interview would take place with Mr. Hassan Ali an inventory manager at Al Jabiria Technical School, which is a public school as an example of inventory systems in the general sector. Observation A full working day was held at Al-Jabiria Technical school by the assistance of one of the teachers there to report the process of inventory tracking system. Journals Several web published journals were used to find out the major problems that encountered businesses upon the application of inventory control systems. Case studies The Freightliner-Western Star Trucks as the leading heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America, has enriched the research by monitoring their use of inventory control systems using the RFID technology from Motorola. Data analysis It has been recognized that Arc welding and fabrication do not have inventory system and they need one to keep track of their supplies which consist of metal bars of different sizes, accessories, paints, welding materials so it can save their time and money as if bulk orders were made it is cheaper. Alali group had an inventory system which is the bar code scanning but with some accuracy errors. The inventory manager at Alali group lead to identify three types of inventory: row materials, products, and goods. It gave the research a clear view about the inventory path. The owner order new goods and kept in the store. When the customer made the order, the salesman would check the store if the goods are available or not If not, the salesman would place an order again. Next, the customer would pay the money and salesman would give him a receipt, if the customer was not willing to give a full payment, the salesman would save the debt to state the remaining money. At the end of the day, the salesman would collect the money and send it to the Bank. And in some situations, the customer might want to return the goods, thus the salesman will replace the goods and record it. Finally, the schools inventory system was complete manual which took time and effort from employees. By using work observation technique the research divided the system requirements into two groups, Functional Requirements and Non-Functional Requirements. Functional Requirements: In this requirement category, the research considers the functional requirements; within this task, it defines the system services and its functionalities. Furthermore, it provides a detailed description of the data. Non-Functional Requirements: Regarding the non-functional requirements, the research defines system properties and constrains. Consequently, through this task, it tried to take in mind system constrains and restrictions that company requested in order to achieve the desired performance. CHALLENGES Managing inventory by implementing inventory software is an essential part of successful and well-organized business organization, to manage inventory in more effective and efficient manner. In Todays competitive business world, business managers should know the fundamental operations of the business better. Therefore powerful inventory software helps to easily manage total inventory and invoicing system to maximize the inventory management benefits. Powerful inventory tracking software allows you to access the relevant information of the products including: Accurate information of received goods. Movement of goods within or between locations. Total sales or purchase order of goods. Removal or other disposition of goods. Status of remaining goods. Information of inventory items. If any organization does not implement an automated computerized system manage and monitor the activities of their stock-ins and out; it cannot predict what items are available in stock and their precise quantities. Sometime, the working staff may forget or misplace the original price of the product causing them not to know the minimum allowed price to sell. This would definitely slow up the process of the business and this would affect other activities performance that cannot be controlled and lots of information that could not be clear or available, as the types of information listed above. As a result of business analysis and workflow observations, unfortunately, many companies are facing problems with their current systems whether it was a manual or a half automated system. Our main concern is to build the new system as a solution for these problems. Moreover, we had a number of meetings with some companies staff and representatives to discuss some ideas regarding the modifications and the improvements needed to be made. In addition, we had the chance to track the job workflow these companies, and at the same time we were able to take some notes while observing. As a result, we concluded that the major current problems are: Many of the current manual systems contain some sensitive functions that were implemented manually, especially the calculation functions. As a result of this, accuracy leaking may appear during these mathematical processes. Consequently, using the mathematical functions in the designed system and turning all these manual process to an automated system will guarantee the desired accurate results. This case was obvious in Arc fabrication and welding services, which was relying on manual calculations that lead to data leakage which probably cause loss in amounts that would be increasing if an automated inventory system was not applied. Approximately, all of the current manual systems did not support printed documents where the reports are printed separately by employees who are in charge of HR activities. This process leads to less efficient performance and wastage in employees time. Actually, printed reports and other documents are one of the main functions in any inventory system. Regarding user satisfaction, the new designed system will support documents printing process in such a way that ensures simplicity, reliability and efficiency. Adel Alshaer head of inventory at Hajji Hassan AlAli group said We had to do the quantity surveying and register them into our system which is depending on spread sheets then deliver the calculations and then do reports upon the findings which needs extra effort and time from us. On the other hand, regarding the current automated systems, time is a critical limitation that faces both employees and managers. As a result of business analysis, many current automated systems contains some system debugs which need the system support team to be involved deeply in running the system functions. Thus, this involvement is a very time consuming task which may affect the system performance and cause some prohibited delays in the systems critical processes. Therefore, there is an urgent and essential need for a dependable inventory system that would cost less time by being accurate with reduced technical debugs. PROPOSED SYSTEM The main goal of the system is to make a business able to have a closer look onto their stock, have more control on activities concerning maintaining of inventory, and controlling the related financial issues. This system is expected to solve the problems that any business may face while maintaining inventory. Plus, the system will assist the purchasing department to keep ideal level of stock and to avoid any financial expenses that may occur as result of implementing improper policy of maintaining inventory. Listed below, some points that explain the main objectives and features of this system: Manage the company inventory system in effective manner. Facilitate to generate report to analysis total sales and purchase of the items. Facilitate to keep the total sale/purchase order of the products. Facilitate with customizable options that are easy to use. Display inventory data in a friendly user interface way. Keep track the customer records for customer relationship management (CRM). Save time with automatically calculating totals and doing tasks. Keep high level of security at shopping time, counting time and upon the display of information by providing accurate inventory quality information. Provide information on the availability of stock items and the status of stock requisition by creating a series of databases that will store product and/or item information effectively. Reduction of errors in transactions. Reducing manual system usage. Ability to run in different environments as a result of fast growing companies. Contextual Diagram The context diagram of any system shows the external entities and the flow of data between those entities and the whole system. The following figure1 shows this regarding the designed Inventory System. The square is a representation of the system boundary. The system boundary defines what is inside and outside the system which is shown in Figure2. The system basically will work like this: First the supplier will receive an order. Any useful information about the order will be entered in the system by the user who will save it in the order database. Then the user should view the stock information which related to the order in hand by using a search engine throw the purchasing department. The search technique could be modified to fit the organization. If the stock is not available the order will be cancelled. If the stock is available an invoice will be created and give it or send it to the customer. Finally, when the customer pays the money, reports will be sent to the bank. The system also will have access to CRM database for customer relationship support. See figure3. The data flow diagram shows the relationship between the supplier, customer and the bank. The new system would propose that sequence operations could start with the supplier that sends the orders to the company. Once the order is received it is being stored so if the stock is available in the required quantity the invoice is being proceeded, and if there is no stock available the inventory staff would have to contact the supplier until the process is being proceeded again until here. The invoice is being created and sent to the customer. The payment would either go directly to the bank via a cheque or by cash to the supplier. RESULTS The system helps the organization to keep track on its suppliers, customers and the item movement; be it stock-in or out, or between different branches, or to-from the customers. The ICS gives business the ability to have a closer look to their stock, have more control on the activities concerning maintaining of inventory, and controlling the related financial issues. Plus, it provides the business with asset management solution to increase warehouse and business productivity. ICS resolve also the following problems: What you sold? What you need to order? What should be left in stock? The impact of ICS use on the selected businesses: As three companies were chosen, had several problems with their inventory and stock management; the problems were explained in the Challenges section. The proposed system suggested solutions upon the mentioned challenges and its suggested solutions should do as follows: Provide a reliable and accurate inventory system to prevent data leakage. The proposed system suggests use of an integrated system that links the supplier, customer and bank. This starts from building data bases -if not available- using data warehouse. This would lead into more profit depending on the stock and supplies quantity as it is in Arc Fabrication and welding and AlAali group. Besides saving more items in stores to be used for the next years in the case of the schools inventory. Saving time and effort: This would obviously affect businesses and time is also money in the business world. Reports would be generated automatically upon using an automated inventory system. This would save employees time and effort providing accurate reports so that employees would be busy following up with other chores. Hassan Ali, inventory manager at Aljaberya School We had to do summative reports per semester which needed a week at least to finish after doing all the calculations and data entry via spread sheets and creating the charts then data analysis and writing reports. We even find it difficult and some errors could occur due to lack of organization and experience in such subjects. Elimination of technical errors: This would be clearly noticed in the replacement of an inventory control system instead of using spreadsheets in the case of AlAali group while this solution does not apply the other two companies as they were not using an automated system basically. Other examples by effectively managing inventory using an ICS: Xerox eliminated $700 million inventory from its supply chain. GM has reduced parts inventory and transportation costs by 26% annually. Wal-Mart became the largest retail company utilizing efficient inventory