Jot Case Study Essay Example for Free

Jot Case Study Essay There is a large number of companies of various sizes which design and sell toys to retailers globally. Most toy companies outsource the manufacture of their toys and currently 86% of the world’s toys are manufactured in China. Most of the rest of the world’s toys are manufactured in other Asian countries, with only low volumes of products manufactured in Europe and the USA. The toy market is divided up into a variety of sectors, by children’s age range and the type of toy. There are different sectors with toys aimed for babies under one year old; children aged 1 to 3 years and pre-school children of 3 to 5 years. There is a further sector for children of school age of 5 years and upwards. Additionally the toy market is broken down into categories of toys. Research has shown that children aged 2 to 4 years old receive the most toys in quantity but that the most money is spent on toys for the 6 to 8 year age group. Toys sold in the market to those children aged between 9 and 11 tend to be more sophisticated. Some of these games need access to the Internet and most involve more complex programming. The other feature of this age group is that the ‘buyer’ tends to switch to the child from the parent. That is not to say that the child pays the money, more that the child drives the buying decision, always subject to the budget and final say so of the parent. The current trend in toy sales is towards electronic toys and computer assisted learning. Many of these electronic toys are highly developed to be attractive to children. Sales of traditional toys and games have achieved relatively low growth in the European market over the last 10 years, whereas electronic toys and merchandise from popular films and TV programmes have seen reasonable growth. Merchandise from films and TV programmes are licensed to toy manufacturers or toy retailers that can achieve high short-term profits depending on the licensing arrangement and the volume of sales. However, fashion trends are difficult to predict and toy retailers can be left with large volumes of unsold inventories if the toys are unpopular or less in demand than originally anticipated. The toy market is highly seasonal and is dominated by the pre-Christmas sales period. Typically, around 30% to 55% of toy sales occur in the fourth quarter of the calendar year (October to December). China has established itself as a high quality, low-cost manufacturing base for a wide range of consumer products for global markets. It does not, as yet, principally design and create new products, but instead is capable of manufacturing products that have been created by Western companies. It is necessary for the companies which create the designs, whether the product is a toy, a range of clothing or a computer chip, to ensure that the design is protected by registering the design for intellectual property rights (IPR’s). However, in many instances small changes can be made so that ‘copies’ of the design do not breach the IPR. Legal protection of IPR’s is becoming increasingly important in today’s global markets, where resources are sourced in one area of the world, manufactured into finished products in another area (principally in China and other Asian countries) and then sold in other geographical markets. Most toy retailers procure a range of products from many different toy companies. There is a wide range of companies, from small to very large multi-national companies, which operate as toy design and distributing companies. These companies design, patent or license the toys and then outsource the manufacture to specialist toy manufacturers. Most toy companies outsource the manufacture of toys. Contracts are usual in the industry and would normally include clauses concerning design quality, delivery schedules and penalties for breaches of contract. The toy companies then sell their products to toy retailers. There is also a large discount market for toys where toys of inferior quality are sold. The retail prices in this market are often 50% less than in the conventional markets. There are several global toy fairs each year that attract buyers from toy retailers across the world. One of the largest toy fairs is held in Hong Kong in January each year, where new toys are launched for the following Christmas market. Other global toy fairs are held in Europe, Russia and the USA, also early in the calendar year. At these toy fairs, buyers will assess and choose which of the new toys may achieve high sales. The toy fairs attract a wide range of exhibitors that are launching new toys, both large listed companies and small companies. The level of sales achieved by many toy companies will often depend on orders generated from buyers attending these international toy fairs. Therefore, it is important that prototype toys and marketing literature is ready in order to meet the requirements of these global buyers at the start of each calendar year. Jot The Jot brand was established in 1998 by husband and wife team Jon and Tani Grun. The company initially designed a small range of toys that were manufactured in their home European country. These toys proved to be very popular in their home country and Jon Grun then expanded the range of products. By 2003, within five years of starting Jot, the founders were encouraged to see Jot’s products ordered by many large toy retailers across Europe. By this stage the company had grown considerably, and had annual sales of almost â‚ ¬2 million. Commencing in 2004, Jot started outsourcing all of its manufacturing to a range of manufacturing companies in China in order to reduce its cost base and to enable the company to price its products more competitively. By the end of 2010 sales revenue exceeded â‚ ¬8 million and the company had achieved substantial sales revenue growth each year. Jot has seen its sales revenue grow by 16% in the year ended 31 December 2010 and by almost 18% in the year to 31 December 2011. A summary of Jot’s key personnel is shown in Appendix 1 on page 11. Jot’s product range and serviced age groups Jot currently has a relatively small range of 34 products aimed at only 2 age groups. These are the pre-school age group of 3 to 5 year olds and the next age group of 5 to 8 year olds. It currently does not produce any toys aimed at babies aged less than one, toddlers aged under 3 years old or children aged over 8 years old. Jot’s products include a range of toys designed by the company, for which it holds the IPR’s, as well as some licensed toys, for which it pays a license fee to the companies that hold the IPR’s. Jot’s products mainly include electronic features and this is seen as one of the strengths of its products. Jot currently launches around 5 totally new products each year. It also enhances certain aspects of some of its other products to refresh their appearance and features. It also has a range of toys that sell consistently well and have not changed materially for a few years. Jot’s products for the 3 to 5 year old age group include: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Construction toys with sound effects and electronic actions. Learning products such as mini-computers which ask questions and the child responds by pressing different keys. Toy vehicles some of which have electronic features such as sounds and lights. Plastic toys which have â€Å"animatronics† to make the toys move, for example, toy dinosaurs. Toy cameras. Electronic learning products to aid learning the alphabet and basic maths skills. Licensed soft play toys based on film and TV programme characters. Licensed plastic figures, cars and machines based on film and TV programme characters, some of which include electronic features that generate movements and sounds, including theme tunes. Jot’s products for the 5 to 8 year old age group include: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Toy cameras and simple video cameras. Dolls and action figures some of which move and make sounds. Small hand-held games boxes for playing computer games and educational learning products to improve maths and readings skills. A range of games and educational learning products for the hand-held games boxes. In summary, most of Jot’s toys have simple electronics that make a sound or enable movement. Some of the more advanced toys have simple programming to enable educational aspects of the toy to be more interactive. Jot’s products are sold to toy retailers for between â‚ ¬7 and â‚ ¬38. These are Jot’s selling prices to toy retailers. Most of the retailers will then sell these toys at a large mark-up, which can be as much as 50% to 100%, i.e. a toy procured from Jot at â‚ ¬10 could be retailed to the end customer at as much as â‚ ¬20. Margins vary from product to product and whereas toys aimed at the 9 -11 age group carry more sophistication (and hence risk) they also carry higher margins. In the year ended 31 December 2011 Jot’s actual sales volumes were over 706,000 units across Jot’s entire range of products. The total sales revenue for the year ended 31 December 2011 was â‚ ¬9,866,000, which resulted in an average selling price of just under â‚ ¬14 per unit. Over 80% of Jot’s product sales are sold to retailers for â‚ ¬20 or less. Financials and shares Jot has achieved a high annual growth in sales, with sales revenue reaching â‚ ¬9,866,000 in the year ended 31 December 2011, a growth of 17.9% from 2010 (â‚ ¬8,371,000 sales revenue for year ended 31 December 2010). Additionally, it has achieved an operating profit margin of 5.58% in the year to 31 December 2011, a rise from the previous year’s profit margin of 5.41%. An extract from Jot’s accounts for the year ended 31 December 2011 is shown in Appendix 2 on page 12. Jot’s Statement of Cash Flows for the year ended 31 December 2011 is shown in Appendix 3 on page 13. Jot is a young, growing company that is dependent on loan finance. Jot has three bank loans totalling â‚ ¬1,600,000, each at an interest rate of 10% per year, which are due for repayment as follows: †¢ †¢ †¢ Bank loan of â‚ ¬500,000 due in January 2014. (about 14 months from the ‘current date’ Bank loan of â‚ ¬500,000 due in January 2015. Bank loan of â‚ ¬600,000 due in January 2020. Jot’s bank has been very responsive to the company’s needs for cash in order to fund its growth but has indicated that at the present time it would not be able to provide any additional long-term finance. Jot has an overdraft facility of â‚ ¬1,500,000, which the bank has stated is the maximum limit. The current cost of its overdraft is at an interest rate of 12% per year. At 31 December 2011, Jot’s overdraft was â‚ ¬960,000. Jot’s business is highly seasonal with a significant proportion of sales occurring in quarters 3 and 4. As Jot builds up its inventory in preparation for higher levels of sales in quarters 3 and 4, cash flow is negative during the second half of the year. This is because outsourced manufacturing for the majority of all products occurs mainly from the end of quarter 2, during all of quarter 3 and the beginning of quarter 4. Jot is a private limited company and not listed on any stock exchange. It has 40,000 shares in issue, each of â‚ ¬1 par value. The company has an authorised share capital of 200,000 shares. To date, the Board of Jot has not declared any dividends. The shares are held as follows: Number of shares held at 31 December 2011 Jon Grun Tani Grun Alana Lotz Boris Hepp Michael Werner Total 12,000 12,000 8,000 4,000 4,000 40,000 Percentage shareholding % 30 30 20 10 10 100 Production of toys Jot has its own in-house team of designers who are involved in designing toys that are unique, innovative and fun to play with. The production of new toys is split into two stages. Firstly, the design stage involves the design team developing a new toy and after it has been approved, the second stage is where the operations team is responsible for contracting an outsourced manufacturer for the mass production of each product. The head of Jot’s design team is Alana Lotz, Product Development Director. She is responsible for researching the market trends in toys globally and establishing the availability of new innovative technology that could be incorporated into new toy designs. This is what helps to make Jot’s product range innovative and at the ‘cutting edge’ of new technology, as the products incorporate new technology electronic chip components. Research and development work on new product development usually occurs between May and December each year so that the new products have been fully tested ready for the annual launch of Jot’s new range of toys each January. Jot currently launches 5/6 totally new products each year and the development costs are generally between â‚ ¬0.1 and â‚ ¬0.25 million for each new product. The total design and development costs are around â‚ ¬1.2 million each year. This is included in administrative expenses in Jot’s statement of comprehensive income. Jot has just finalised its range of new products for 2013, so as to allow time to produce marketing literature and prepare prototypes ready for the global toy fairs being held in January to March 2013 in various locations around the world. The design team which is based in the UK develops all new products through the following stages: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Brainstorming for new ideas. Designing a new product using Jot’s CAD / CAM IT system. Production of first prototype. Market research and improvements through to production of second prototype. Sign off by design and management team. Application for intellectual property rights (IPR’s) for each product design. The design team is kept fresh by the introduction of new designers each year. Good designers are kept on but those that are seen as burnt out are let go. Early in 2012 a new designer was employed named Indy Kaplia who had some radical new designs to offer. One of these toys (a flying spaceship) had been rushed into production in time for the 2012 Christmas season and had been greeted well by the retailers. Jot uses a specialised company, based in Europe for the manufacture and testing of all prototype products and there are often two or three stages involved before the prototype product is produced to the satisfaction of the designers. Only when each product is signed off by the design and management team can Jot’s legal team apply for the IPR’s for the product design. Then the approved new product designs go into production by outsourced manufacturers. The designs are then electronically transferred to Jot’s operations team headed up by Michael Werner, Operations Director, for the selection and appointment of outsourced manufacturers. The stages in the production process are as follows: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Designs are sent electronically to outsourced manufacturers for tender. Outsourced manufacturer(s) selected and appointed and volumes and delivery deadlines for production agreed. Packaging designs and artwork are prepared and approved. Production samples are reviewed by Jot’s in-house Quality Assurance team located both in Europe and in Asia. Production is commenced to meet agreed volume and delivery deadlines. Michael Werner is responsible for the selection, appointment and monitoring of Jot’s outsourced manufacturers and all aspects of the management of the outsourced manufacturing process for Jot’s products. Jot’s products are all manufactured by a small number of specialised outsourced manufacturing companies which are all based in China. Jot is responsible for shipments of all products from its outsourced manufacturers to its warehouses or sometimes directly to customers.

Aids: Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome :: essays research papers

AIDS: Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome I am doing a report on AIDS, I don't know much about AIDS but I will tell you what I know. I know that it is transmitted by sexual contact,blood,needles,children during/before birth. I also know it affects the immune system directly, It is caused by the virus HIV which they have no cure for either AIDS or HIV at the current moment, but they are doing serious research on them. I call it the "Generation X Disease" because it mostly affects my sex- oriented generation. It is currently one of the leading causes of death in the USA and the death rate is increasing drastically! It it the perfect virus of the ninties because of how it is transmitted is like what the ninties is about... sex and drugs(what a great generation huh). Everyone's doing drugs and having pre-marital sex at a young irresponsable age, it's getting so bad I am beginning to believe that I am the only normal person left. You used to only be able to get an HIV test at your doctor, but now they have home tests that are confidential. You go to the store pick one up prick your finger then mail in the blood sample, in about two or three weeks you call in and enter your special pin number and they give you your results. I think this is cool but there has to be some drawbacks like them getting samples messed up and it getting mixed up in the mail or other stupid things like that, like if you really don't have the disease but you get someone elses reading who does have HIV. Thats about all I know about this horrible disease,so ill move on to what I found when I reaserched this topic. I went on the internet to find some of my information, and i used different books the librarian recommended me to read on AIDS and HIV. AIDS appears to be constantly changing it's genetic structure so it makes it very hard to find a cure for it, and very hard for the body to make antibodies. This makes development of a vaccine that is able to raise protective antibodies to all virus strands a difficult task. I also found out that they have made so much progress in finding a cure because they know so much about it now. The only known chemical that is effective in reducing reactions/symptoms, is the chemical zidovudine which was formerly called azidothymidine(AZT). Which was developed in 1987. It is indicated thet few if any are likely to survive the

GSM Based Portabel Vehicle Security System

This project is made for the purpose of vehicle security. Project is based on the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM).This project is designed for the immobilizing of the vehicle by GSM mobile phone. The project consists of a circuitry with Microcontroller AT89c51 (MCU) and GSM modem in a vehicle and a GSM handset for Owner. The circuitry is constructed on the base of MCU which is assembled with Max-232 for the interface between MCU and GSM modem. Max-232 is a level converter used for the interface between the TTL and non TTL devices.Max-232 act as a bridge between the MCU and the GSM modem. Relays are used for the activating and deactivating the alarm and the locking system of the vehicle doors. A serial communication link is developed between the MCU and GSM modem. A connection from the starter of the vehicle is connected to an input interrupt pin of the MCU. When there comes a security breach (i.e. Someone tries to start the car) a signal is sent to the MCU telling that someone is stealing the vehicle. If there comes such a situation, then through an intelligent program (running in the MCU) a message through GSM modem is sent to the Owner asking for the vehicle control or activation of the alarm. If answer is negative then after receiving the message, MCU will automatically turn on the alarm and will lock all the doors of the vehicle. If Owner allows, then vehicle can start. Today science and technology has so much emerged in our daily life that we are Incomplete without its advent. The modes of communication are also changing as the technology develops. From a land line telephone to GSM wireless technology and then the Intranet. Today GSM technology other then communication can be implemented in other security task as well. Due to technology the remote control access has moderate the common person life very much that today we demand every event on our finger tips reach. As the present decade has seen the large development of cellular mobile technology. It has become an essential part of every one life. And if we use the same GSM technology for our around world security? Yeah today using GSM feature we can secure our far around object just clicking your mobile. Over the past decade, real-time tracking and management of vehicles has been a field of mounting interest. Now it has developed into a powerful and marketable package due to its low-cost and varying facilities such as Anti-theft system and Client identification. The importance of this module can be understood more clearly by this example. i.e., A business man sitting in a meeting listen the buzzer sound of the vehicle, till to any action the vehicle would been stolen. May be the vehicle is out of sight. So in this case may be the alarmed not been in a reach to be listen by the owner. But if owner of a expensive vehicle has a GSM vehicle system installed. Then before any one try to open the door, a message will come first time informing him about the security threaten. But if some one be able to access the vehicle ignition switch (starter) and when he pushes the key, the second time interrupt will be generated and a message will be sent to the owner, informing about the permission of vehicle start. If the owner enter a Master code key, and then press ‘Y’(FOR YES), the vehicle will start. But in a case of ‘No’ reply the system will permanently immobilize the vehicle. And in addition alarm will be buzzed, and automatically the door will be locked. The outstanding feature is that if due to any reason message can’t be delivered at the right time, the module will count for a pre-defined time, if during this time there is no response from the other node; the system will halt the process and again reinitializes the task.These are the all features we implement in our project module.Previously short radio security system was implemented with a detection device, This was not with upward features and has some drawbacks? As mobile technology is at its development edge, GSM is our core communication engine owing to which the position of the vehicle is notified to the client as well as our base station. This project provides enhanced security as whenever any security bench (interruption) occurs, a text message (SMS) will be sent to the desired number in order to take necessary measures. The information sent and received is done by using short messaging which makes this system further cost-efficient. This security system is more secure then the previous one with extra features as: The earlier system range was limited but with mobile long distance security is possible. So in this way if a thief manage to open the door through a master key, the system will count on trying to start engine after sending message to the owner Also permanent immobilization of engine on â€Å"NO† message from owner. The system will also close the lens and lock the doors of a vehicle. As well as giving alarm to show that vehicle has threaten from thief. Another feature is that any time we can change the identification code Manually whenever we want to change it. This GSM based vehicle security system has been implemented in first world countries as well as in Europe. But this technology has not been so common in third word countries and Pakistan. The available module in market is imported from outside world which is very costly and also not in a common use and access. Our project based on GSM has been designed simply by using easily available component, and simple design. Also its advantage is that it is very cheaper, and their fore it can be very affectively launched in market as a productive product.

Why Video Games Matter An Article on the Feelings Evoked...

Tom Bissell presents an article in 2010, to college students of which is â€Å"Why Video Games Matter.† Bissell isn’t intending for the argument to be about video game criticism, the history of the gaming, or an assessment of anything. On the contrary, he wants to articulate his own opinions and thoughts on what playing games feels like, why he plays them, and the questions they make him think about. Being a gamer myself, I have also endured the struggles of what being obsessed with a video game feels like. It is understood that when first purchasing a video game, all one thinks about is getting home and popping it in the console, disregarding everything else that is happening in the vicinity. Bissell comically explains what he would say to†¦show more content†¦Where did the time pass? Articles like these are depicted to speak to college students and adults alike. Moreover, Bissell is describing the emotions and feelings brought about in participating in video game activity. College students, when not overwhelmed with work, have free time and can sometimes indulge most of that time in shooting enemies or in racing exhilarating super-cars. Bissell explains, â€Å"My rationalization was that, provided a game was fun to play, certain failures could be overlooked (358).† This is truly how gamers think. The author of this essay, is not intending to persuade the reader to feel a type of way. What he is expressing ideally are his opinions on said games. Yet, one is somewhat persuaded, because of how he speaks, clarifies, and uses rhetoric in his writing. It really makes someone want to stop what they are doing and get on the nearest gaming system. In fact, it is consolidating to know that he isn’t characterizing the game as just a game, but an aesthetic and an art. Tom Bissell questions himself, â€Å"To what part of me do games speak, and on which frequency (361)?† We all would like to know the answer to this question, because there have been so many games, some good and some awful. However, we as a world continue to try and try again. Some of the appeals that Bissell uses in his argument were emotional and descriptive. Basically, in the entire article he described to the audience in intimate detail the world ofShow MoreRelatedPopular Culture and Violent Behavior Essay1 1795 Words   |  48 Pagesnot choose to view war movies, for instance, because I feel that they often end up glorifying killing and justifying warà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦1 Her point on viewer abstinence is significant. Laura Finley refrains from viewing war movies because of her feelings towards war and its depiction on television and in film. 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