The Case of Nurture Nature Pty Ltd. Company - 1269 Words

With the deepening of economic globalization, company has been one of the principal participants in the market economy. Therefore, director as the fiduciary of the company, he whether fulfill his duty has been focus of attention. In the case of Nurture Nature Pty Ltd Company, Yolande, Shani and Wei are the directors of the Company, but in fact the companys operation mainly control by Yolande and Shani. Under Yolande and Shani’s proposals, company spent twice the price to purchase the equipments in order to expand into Papua New Guinea (PNG) markets. However, due to local government has strict policy, their plan was abortion; on the other hand, Wei as a non-executive director that he signed a loan contract on behalf of company with bank privately, which without permission of the other directors and shareholders. The above two cases eventually made the company into a financial crisis. In this assignment, it will through some rules of Common Law and Corporation Act to discuss whether Yolande, Shani and Wei breach their duty (part A) and whether the contract was bound by Nurture Nature Pty Ltd Company (part B). Proprietary limited company is a corporate that has a separate legal existence, perpetual succession and limited liabilities and it also governs by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Proprietary limited company is not on the ASX list, which means it could not raise funds from the public. Before registration, company must have a constitution orShow MoreRelatedStudy of Starbuck Coffee and Gloria Jean Coffee7812 Words   |  32 Pagesequipment - primarily through its company-operated retail stores. In addition to sales through our company-operated retail stores, Starbucks sells whole bean coffees through a specialty sales group and supermarkets. 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Answers to the activities are provided in the eBook (or the ‘Resources and activities’ homepage in some cases) in the Subject Room so that students can assess their level of knowledge. Discussion Forum activities Discussion Forum activities can be accessed directly through the eBook or the ‘Discussion Forum’ homepage in the Subject Room. They offer students

Motivation and Teams Case Study Free Essays

The goal-setting theory states that employees are motivated when they are given a specific goal. Mary Ellen Sheets set goals and had business plans made so she knew approximately how well the company would do. She wanted everyone to have a good experience with a business known to cause less stress and she worked hard to accomplish that. We will write a custom essay sample on Motivation and Teams Case Study or any similar topic only for you Order Now Ms. Sheets created Stick Men University to create consistently high-performing teams for her company. The franchise owners and the men who do the moving are taught everything she has learned from the initial contact with a customer to the end of the move. Franchisees and movers learn the basics—from answering a customer’s first phone call to a handshake after the move is done. The job enrichment theory states that if employees have control over how their jobs are preformed or managed they will be motivated to work better. Klaus Kleinfeld was able to negotiate with employee representatives to get work done quicker by working flexible shifts. Work that is finished quicker translates into more money and job security, two things that would motivate employees to perform their jobs better. Mr. Kleinfeld encouraged his employees to pull together to get their job done. He understood that many jobs are being outsourced to other countries and to keep their jobs it was important to work together. He works hard at knowing everything about Siemens so that he was an important part of the company and he has job security. He answered e-mails from employee reps almost immediately, even late at night. He was able to motivate people to pull together. How to cite Motivation and Teams Case Study, Free Case study samples

Causes Global Financial Crisis In The USA †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Causes Global Financial Crisis In The USA? Answer: Introduction The global financial crises origination was from the USA economy. This is the greatest recession that resulted in negative harmful impacts to many world economies. Some economies are still on the recovery process as the impacts still last to date. This paper will show the factors that contributed to the USA financial crisis which consequently resulted in the global financial crisis. The crisis can be argued to have been spread in a fast pace to the other world economies owing to the interrelatedness that has been raised by globalization (Rosner, 2013). There are a wide view of factors that major analysts has put forward to explain the causes. The major cause is argued to be the failure of the subprime mortgages that the mortgage lenders had introduced. According to Fisher (2013), there was a notable boom in the US housing market that later turned to be a painful burst. It was in the mid-2000s when the housing demand in the US started rising; the rise was facilitated by factors such as; the mortgage interest rate was relatively low, there was a recovery of personal income, in addition, the credit lending standards were lowered. These factors made it easier for the households to acquire mortgage credits. The banks also went forward and started lending to high-risk borrowers whose incomes were too low. There was an increased housing demand which caused a rise in prices. According to Fisher (2013), the gauge for the US housing market by the Federal Housing Finance Agencys (FHFA) showed that the price rose by 67% in 2007. The low lending standards by the lending institutions is an indicator that there was limited government regulation. The recession triggered the attempt of many responses of which some were deemed successful whereas others did not result in significant changes. Most economists consider the actions of the US big banks to be the real origination of the global recession; there is a great support for the same. This paper will cover the performance of the US economy prior and during the crisis. The factors that contributed to the global recession will be determined whether they started showing up signs on the same year of the crisis or had shown signs for a period before. If we find out that the signs had been shown a long time before, we shall conclude that the crisis was avoidable. However, if the signs showed up closer to the crisis, it will concluded to have been unavoidable. It shall put more emphasis on the major factors that are commonly agreeable to have been behind the global recession. We shall analyze where the banks went wrong and also where the government failed to play its part well. Subprime Mortgage crisis and the US Housing Market The US housing boom was stimulated by the deep involvement of the US government on its mortgage market through various regulations. Its main aim for the deep involvement was to facilitate the access of credit to the subprime borrowers. For instance, the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act prohibited the discrimination of borrowers based on their income levels. The 2003 American Dream Down payment Assistance Act provided closing cost assistance and down payments to low-income communities (Malinen, 2017). The turmoil in the US financial market lasted from 2007 to 2009; it was caused by a housing bubble that was as a consequence of the expansion of mortgage loans to borrowers that were of high risk. Initially, the interest rate were very high and the potential borrowers were discouraged from borrowing from the lenders because servicing the debt was more expensive. When the interest rates were lowered by the federal government, the servicing costs fell and mortgages became less expensive to the borrowers, it attracted many less risk and high risk borrowers (Amadeo, 2017). Initially, the high risk borrowers wouldnt be allowed an access to credit; the lenders were of strict restrictions. The only people who were allowed access to mortgage were those who had credit histories that were above average. The purchase for homes was thus low since many people had credit histories that were below average. Their requests for small down payments or on choosing high payment loans were always denied b y the lenders unless they were backed up by the government insurance. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) backed some high-risk families to enable them to acquire access to small-sized mortgages from the lenders. Those who were not backed up by this governments body were forced to depend on rentals. The stemming of the 2007-10 subprime mortgage was from the expansion of mortgage credit to even the high-risk borrowers. Since people had more mortgage credit, their demand for homes went up consequently resulting in rising home prices (Anderson, 2017). The availability of mortgage credit to those who couldnt access them before contributed to a fluctuation in the homeownership by around 65% with low mortgage foreclosure rates. It was in the mid-2000s when the lenders made a decision to make credit mortgages available to the high- risk borrowers through selling them to investors while repackaged into pools. These risks were apportioned by the use of new financial products; most of the subprime mortgage funding was now provided by private-label mortgagebacked securities (PMBS) (Duca, 2013). The new financial instruments used made the securities to be viewed as less risky. More potential first-time homebuyers were attracted to the mortgage credit and thus a rise in the homeownership (He, Jun and Strahan, 2011). The supply of houses is not equal in all the places; there are places where its high and others where it is too low. The credit expansion raised the demand and thus home prices went up; the rise was so intense in areas where the supply was already insufficient. The houses were projected to continue gaining in value as their demand and prices continued rising. The investors were protected from making lo sses since the house prices were on the rise and thus purchasing of the PMBS was at first profitable. It reached a point when the high-risk borrowers were unable to make their repayment obligations and were thus forced to sell their homes at a higher gain and repaid their mortgages obligations, otherwise, the made some additional borrowing against the higher market prices and continued with their repayments. The sustainability of the new mortgage product (PMBS) was untested and thus its riskiness was unknown. When the peak for house prices was reached it became less viable for settling mortgage debt through re-borrowing by the investors to refinance the mortgage or even selling the homes. This resulted in a rise in the mortgage loss rates for both the lender and the investors. Stateofworkingamerica.org (2017) noted that the 8 Trillion burst of the housing bubble was the beginning of the financial crisis in the US. Consumers spending was reduced since there was a great loss of wealth in the economy. When the bubble busted, there were chaos triggered on the financial markets; these chaos combined with the decreased consumer spending distorted the business investment (there was a collapse) as shown below. The trust in business in the US before the crisis was higher compared to the other economies. During the crisis the trust fell by a 20-point drop. The drying up of business investment and the consumer spending resulted in a massive loss of jobs. The New Century Financial Corp was the first leading lender of subprime mortgage to file for bankruptcy in April 2007. Shortly thereafter, the initially viewed as of low risk PMBS and their backed securities were then downgraded to high risk; several subprime lenders ended up closing down. This resulted in a collapse of the subprime bond funding which consequently prevented the lenders from not only making additional subprime mortgages, but also avoided the nonprime mortgages. The unavailability of mortgage credit resulted in a falling housing demand and thus a decline in the house prices (Kolb, 2010). Further expectation of a falling price completely made the demand to shrink. The decline in prices was so extreme such that it became so diffi cult for the high-risk borrowers to repay their mortgages; even after reselling their homes, the money received was inadequate to fully repay their mortgages. This was not only to the high-risky borrowers, but also to the less risk borrowers who had initially provided high-sized down payments. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were government-sponsored enterprises that made huge losses as a result of the failing prime mortgages; this forces the government to seize them in the 2008 summer. The reason for the government to lower its interest rate was to boost the ownership of homes. This federally mandated goals made Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to issue debt for funding the purchase of the mortgage-backed subprime securities whose value fell after the default rate by the borrowers increased (Atif, Sufi and Trebbi, 2010); their action was according to the 1992 Housing and Community Development Act. These two enterprises suffered great losses after the prime mortgage failure; they had bought the backed securities, insured them, and bundled them into the investors package of prime mortgage-backed securities. The losses made by the subprime lenders, the falling into bankruptcy and the closure of some lenders resulted in increased restriction on credit advances to both the high-risk and the low-risk borrowers; the qualification for such loans was made to be more difficult resulting in an extended fall in the housing demand. The housing market became weak as the number of repossessions multiplied as a result of increased foreclosures; many initial investors sold their homes at lower market prices. Some delinquent borrowers also tried to sell their homes in an attempt to avoid the foreclosure (Friedman, 2011). The selling sometimes was on short sale where lenders accepted partial losses for homes sold at a value lower than the owed amount. The bursting of the housing bubble that caused the 2007-09 recession affected the overall economy in several major ways. Construction was lowered, consumer spending was lowered since their wealth was reduced, the lending ability of firms was reduced and the firms ability to raise funds from securities market was also reduced (Duca, 2013). The Monetary Policy This is another factor argued to be responsible for the financial crisis in the US. It is noted by Malinen (2017) that before the crisis, the US had left its monetary policy to remain so loose. This is also a factor that contributed to the housing boom that later resulted in the worst burst ever. The loose monetary policy raised the circulation of money into the economy and raised the demand for assets (Taylor, 2014). It was left to be loose so as to stimulate the economic performance of the US economy. Conclusion The US economy is actually the real origination of the 2008-09 global recession. The financial crisis was caused by regulatory poor regulations that were aimed at promoting the US economic growth. There are many policies that were used in an attempt to attain recovery in the US and all other affected economies. The global recession was a good basis in which world economies can determine the signs of the occurrence of a recession and bearing the fact that recovery from this global recession was an extended process, they will employ policies immediately in order to avoid it. During the housing bubble boom that resulted from expanded subprime mortgage, the house prices rose to very high levels, however, the failure of the prime mortgages resulted in an accelerated downward spiral on the home prices. The fact that the signs for the US financial crisis were in existence long before the crisis, it can be concluded that the crisis was avoidable. The government can therefore be accused for p oor financial regulations. References Amadeo, K. (2017). Causes of Economic Recession. [Online] The Balance. Available at: https://www.thebalance.com/causes-of-economic-recession-3306010 [Accessed 11 Sep. 2017]. Anderson, C. (2017). What caused the recession in the US in 2008? [Online] Quora.com. Available at: https://www.quora.com/What-caused-the-recession-in-the-US-in-2008 [Accessed 11 Sep. 2017]. Atif, M., Sufi, A. and Trebbi, F. (2010). "The Political Economy of the US Mortgage Default Crisis." American Economic Review, 100(5): 1967-98. Duca, J. (2013). Subprime Mortgage Crisis. [Online] Federalreservehistory.org. Available at: https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/subprime_mortgage_crisis [Accessed 11 Sep. 2017]. Fisher, R. (2013). The Long-Awaited Housing Recovery: 2013 Annual Report. [Online] Dallasfed.org. Available at: https://www.dallasfed.org/fed/-/media/documents/fed/annual/2013/ar13.pdf [Accessed 10 Sep. 2017]. Friedman, J. (2011). What caused the financial crisis? Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press. He, J., Jun, Q., and Strahan, P. (2011). "Credit Ratings and the Evolution of the Mortgage-Backed Securities Market." American Economic Review, 101(3): 131-35. Kolb, W. (2010). Lessons from the financial crisis: causes, consequences, and our economic future. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley. Konczal, E. (2009). The Financial Crisis and Ethics. [Online] Corporate-eye.com. Available at: https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/the-financial-crisis-and-ethics/ [Accessed 11 Sep. 2017]. Malinen, T. (2017). Who Caused the Great Recession? [Online] Huffingtonpost.com. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/tuomas-malinen/who-caused-the-great-rece_b_9805056.html [Accessed 11 Sep. 2017]. Positivemoney.org (2017). Financial Crisis Recession? [Online] Positive Money. Available at: https://positivemoney.org/issues/recessions-crisis/ [Accessed 10 Sep. 2017]. Rosner, H. (2013). What Really Spurred the Great Recession? [Online] Kellogg Insight. Available at: https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/what_really_spurred_the_great_recession [Accessed 10 Sep. 2017]. Stateofworkingamerica.org. (2017). The Great Recession. [Online] Available at: https://stateofworkingamerica.org/great-recession/ [Accessed 11 Sep. 2017]. Taylor, J. (2014). The Role of Policy in the Great Recession and the Weak Recovery. [Online] Reinventingbrettonwoods.org. Available at: https://www.reinventingbrettonwoods.org/content/role-policy-great-recession-and-weak-recovery [Accessed 11 Sep. 2017].

Mercedes Benzs E-Biz Solution free essay sample

The fact that we would be one of the first car manufacturers in the United States to have a factory delivery program would be seen as a very positive thing in this regard. William Engelke, Assistant Manager, IT Systems, Mercedes Benz US International, commenting on the FDRS. Linking Customers By 2000, Mercedes Benz United States International (MBUSI), builder of the high-quality MClass sports utility vehicle (SUV), established itself as a company that also delivered superior customer services. One such service was the delivery option where by the customer could take delivery of the vehicle at the factory in Alabama, US. The program called the Factory Delivery Reservation System (FDRS), enabled MBUSI to create and validate 1800 orders per hour. FDRS also automatically generated material requirements and Bills of Material1 for 35,000 vehicles per hour. The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution that made FDRS possible was based on Lotus Domino2 and IBM Netfinity3 server4. Analysts felt that with its innovative use of the new program, MBUSI not only managed to improve its customer relations by providing the best service, but also demonstrated its commitment to customers by making them an integral part of the process. We will write a custom essay sample on Mercedes Benzs E-Biz Solution or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Customers were, in a way linked directly to the factory floor – which was a powerful sales tool. Background: Mbusi and its Business Challenges MBUSI was a wholly-owned subsidiary of DaimlerChrylser AG. 5 In 1993, Daimler Benz realized that the Benz brand could be extended to wider market segments. Traditionally, Mercedes Benz6 appealed to older and sophisticated customers only. Daimler Benz wanted to attract customers below 40 years of age, who wanted a rugged vehicle with all the safety and luxury features of a Mercedes. Daimler Benz decided to develop a SUV known as the M-Class. It expected strong demand for the new vehicle and therefore planned to build its first car-manufacturing facility – MBUSI – in the (Tuscaloosa, Alabama) US. The MBUSI facility had many advantages. First, labor costs in the US were almost half that of in Germany. Second, the US was the leading geographic market for SUVs. Third, as the vehicles were assembled in the US, they could be distributed to Canada and Mexico more efficiently. In January 1997, the factory started production at partial capacity and by the end of the year, it was producing at full capacity. By 2000, the factory was rolling out around 380 vehicles per day. The new M-Class „allactivityvehicle represented a new concept for the company. Also, mass customization required that each vehicle be treated as a separate project, with its own Bill of Material. To deal with these challenges, Daimler Benz decided to implement an enterprise wide Information Technology (IT) system, with the help of IBM Global Services7. To further strengthen the image of Mercedes Benz in the US, MBUSI planned to deliver vehicles at the factory, becoming the first international automobile manufacturer in the US to do so. MBUSI also wanted to enrich the customersexperience. Commented William Engelke, â€Å"The factory delivery option gives Mercedes-Benz customers something that they do not get from other automobile manufacturers which is why we think the program will resonate with our customers. We think that having the factory delivery program available to Mercedes customers adds to the overall experience of the customer. † The Design of FDRS The FDRS program was proposed in the first quarter of 1998. In the third quarter of 1998, MBUSI entered into a contract with IBM. A development team was constituted with IBM Global Solutions specialists and IBM e-commerce developers, who worked closely with MBUSI. The program became operational by the first quarter of 1999. The IT team at MBUSI had a clear set of functional specifications for FDRS. However, they relied on IBM to transform the concept into an e-business solution. The FDRS was designed in such a way that customers buying the M-Class SUV could specify that will take delivery of their new vehicle at the factory. They could place the order at any of the 355 Mercedes Benz dealers in the US. An authorized employee at the dealership entered the factory delivery order the web interface. Timing was the most important aspect of the FDRSfunctionality, as it was closely linked with MBUSIs vehicle production schedule. Mercedes Benz United States of America (MBUSA)8, based in Montvale, NJ, was the first link in the FDRS program. It was the point where the dealer actually placed the order. MBUSAs role was to coordinate the distribution of vehicles to dealers across the country. Later, it had to add the order to the companys Baan Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)9system, which scheduled the order for production. About three months before the production date, the dealer could schedule in a window, the date and time of arrival of the customer at the factory for delivery. The window was then automatically computed by the FDRS to give the dealer, the possible delivery dates. Apart from the delivery date, the customer could also specify the accessories for the car and also request a factory tour. FDRS was based on Lotus Domino (Refer Exhibit I), Lotus Enterprise Integrator10 and IBM Netfinity servers. It also interfaced with IBM S/390 Parallel Enterprise Server, Model 9672-R45 located in Montvale, NJ (Refer Figure I). There were two Domino servers – an IBM Netfinity 5500 and an IBM Netfinity 3000. FIGURE I SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE OF FDRS Source: MBUSI The former that acted as the „internal Domino serverwas placed behind a firewall 11. It replicated databases through the firewall to the external server. The replication, which was encrypted, represented the primary means by which the FDRS system achieved security. Netfinity 3000 acted as an „external Domino server. It had public information and was also the primary communication linkage for dealers. The ack-end of the FDRS was equipped with an Oracle database that updated the internal Domino server database with order information. The updation was done using Lotus Enterprise Integrator. The data which was replicated to the internal Domino server included lists of valid dealers and lists of order numbers. When an order was placed by the dealer on the FDRS system, the data was first stored on the external Domino server, after which it w as replicated to the internal Domino server. Then it was replicated to the back-end database via the Lotus Enterprise Integrator. Data replication between the Lotus Notes servers happened every 15 minutes and data exchange with the back-end database three times per day. There was also a link between the back end database and an IBM S/39012 mainframe based system located at MBUSA via a T113 line. MBUSA managed the flow of vehicles to Mercedes dealers across the United States. This mainframe based system, received new vehicle orders (as opposed to factory delivery reservation requests) from individual dealers. The orders were then sent to MBUSIs Baan system and also to the back-end database. The vehicle ordering and factory reservation data were coordinated with each other when the back-end database uploaded the data to the internal Domino server. This coordinated the production and delivery information. FDRS Implementation One of the most challenging aspects of the implementation seemed to be the complexity of the Lotus and Domino scripts. The development team had to group all the information from diverse systems. Commented William Engelke, â€Å"There was a substantial amount of very complex coding involved in the FDRS solution. This application involves a lot more than having our dealers fill out a form and submitting it. There are many things the servers have to do for the system to function properly, such as looking at calendars and production schedules. We built a solution with some very advanced communication linkages. † IBM faced many technical challenges during the implementation of the program. One of them was the different timing schemes of the Lotus Notes databases and backend databases (ERP). This led to discrepancies in the data. Domino server was a Near Real Time (NRT) Server14, and MBUSIs backend activities were both real time15and batch processing16. Also, to get the best results, the Domino server was an optimised subset of the ERP table set17. However, the development team achieved a balance between the two „sidesof the solution by focusing on issues of timing, error detection schemes, and alerts. Customer Satisfaction: FDRS Primary Benefit MBUSI seemed to measure FDRSsuccess in terms of increased satisfaction of its customers. The company also believed that the marketing and customer satisfaction aspects outweighed the significance of more traditional cost-based benefits. Apart from the factory delivery experience, the program also offered the customer a factory tour and ride on the off-road course at a low cost. The company also seemed to gain strategic marketing benefits from the FDRS program, as it was able to establish Mercedes-Benz as a premium brand. (Refer Table I for advantages of FDRS in different areas). Customers could also visit the various tourist spots in Alabama after picking up their M-class vehicles. TABLE I ADVANTAGES OF THE FDRS PROGRAM AREA Strategic Marketing Benefits Cost Savings ADVANTAGES FDRS was expected to improve customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, as it enriched Mercedes customers experience. The program also strengthened the brand image of Mercedes in the US. Development of a web-based solution enabled MBUSI to offer the factory delivery program at substantially lower costs, due to less reliance on administrative personnel. â€Å"Package Marketing† the FDRS program with a ride to tourist sites, enhanced the image of Alabama as a tourist destination. The creation of a similar – albeit smaller – factory delivery system to the European Customer Delivery Center in Sindelfingen, Germany, reflected favorably on the MBUSI business unit. Source: MBUSI Regional Economic Development DaimlerChrysler AG Future of FDRS In 2000, MBUSI planned to leverage FDRSplatform by adding a range of other services. MBUSI built an advanced platform to create communication links to its suppliers. Through the link, MBUSI provided them feedback on the quality of supplies it received. The dealers and suppliers had a user-ID and password, which the system recognized. It then routed them into the appropriate stage of the FDRS. The company also planned to extend the innovative system to include transactional applications such as ordering materials and checking order status on the Web. The company expected that the new system based on FDRS, would be more cost-effective than the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)18 system. ] Bill of Material keeps track of all raw materials, parts, and subassemblies used to create a finished product. 2] A product of IBM Corp. , Lotus Notes and Domino R5 are the industrys leading client/server combination for collaborative messaging and e-business solutions. 3] The IBM Netfinity server offers solutions for file-and-print and application computing needs. 4] A computer or de vice on a network that manages network resources. For example, a file server is a computer and storage device dedicated to storing files. Any user on the network can store files on the server. A print server is a computer that manages one or more printers, and a network server is a computer that manages network traffic. A database server is a computer system that processes database queries. 5] DaimlerChrysler AG was the result of a merger between two leading car manufacturers – Daimler Benz of Germany and Chrysler Corp. of the US in 1998. 6] A luxury brand of passenger cars, Sports Utility Vehicles from DaimlerChrysler. 7] IBM Global Services is the services and consultancy division of IBM Corp. that offers extensive ebusiness solutions. 8] MBUSA is the wholly owned US subsidiary of DaimlerChrylser. ] ERP attempts to integrate all departments and functions across a company onto a single computer system that can serve all those different departments particular needs. 10] A server-based data distribution product that enables data exchange between Lotus Domino and a number of host and relational applications. 11] A system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or f rom a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria. 12] The IBM S/390 servers offer direct high speed access to the e-business application and are used for Enterprise Computing. 13] A dedicated phone connection supporting data rates of 1. 544 Mbits per second. A T1 Line actually consists of 24 individual channels, each of which supports 64 Kbits per second. Each 64 Kbit per second channel can be configured to voice or data traffic. 14] The NRT Server System supports real time distribution of near-real time data. 5] Real time refers to events simulated by a computer at the same speed that they would occur in real life. 16] Executing a series of noninteractive jobs all at one time. The term dates back to the days when users entered programs on punch cards. They gave a batch of these programmed cards to the system operator, who fed them into the computer. Usually, batch jo bs are stored up during working hours and then executed whenever the computer is idle. Batch processing is particularly useful for operations that require the computer or a peripheral device for an extended period of time. Once a batch job begins, it continues until it is done or until an error occurs. Note that batch processing implies that there is no interaction with the user while the program is being executed. 17] The ERP tables are the database tables, (thousands of them), on which the package is built. The programmers and end users must set these tables to match their business processes. Each table has a decision „switchthat leads the software down one decision path or another. 18] EDI connects all the suppliers in and out of the US. www. icmrindia. org/free resources/casestudies/Mercedes Benz-ITSystems-Case Studies. htm