Promoting Innovation and Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Promoting Innovation and Change - Essay Example Metcash corporate motto is "the Champion of the Independent Retailer" (see company website) and it actions support this, servicing over 4500, independent stores. It's own franchised IGA stores reached 1,100 in number by 2003 and today numbers around 1,400, Stephen McMahon (2006). That number continues to grow. The company assists these businesses by providing a range of services, including 24-hour retail system support, in-store training, refurbishment, equipment, and via the creation of a specialist service team network. The company is also involved with refurbishing and building new sites, equipment and development services. In 2003 Metcash extended its core store format by introducing the Supa IGA, Sydney Morning Herald, (October 2003). These are mainly situated across the eastern states and have are the redevelopment of 138 stores. They include petrol stations that offer customer discounts and keep up the company's competitive edge with Woolworth's and other supermarket competitors. In consort with the retail side, Metcash has continued to develop the wholesale side of the business, culminating in 2006 when it formed an alliance with the New Zealand supermarket group Foodstuffs, creating a unique buying group with a joint budget of over 15 billion, Australian Financial Review (March 2006) Technology Metcash has not forgotten the operational side of the business either. In March 2006 the Company announced that it would spend millions on a new and up to the minute ERP6 system. It will also extend its Voicepick warehouse management platform technology, The Australian Financial Review (2006). The Company deny that this was a cost saving exercise. Challenges However this is expansion is not happening without challenges. Because of its high-profile position and challenge to other groups in the industry, Metcash has needed to protect its own

Building conservation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Building conservation - Essay Example Have a look at the scheme 1. It represents so called heritage cycle and shows the connection between the admiration by the historic sights and their preservation and maintenance for future generations. Further we will dwell more on the particular part of building conservation – on restoration. It should be born in mind that even those object of architecture, which hasn’t acquired the public acknowledgement jet, should also be maintained with the greatest care and with the least interference. Restoration can be taken as the process of returning a heritage object to a known earlier state, without the introduction of new material. This process can be more clearly defined when combined with reconstruction. Reconstruction generally means altering a heritage object by the introduction of new, or old, materials into the fabric, to produce a work which respects the original. The two processes are often interlinked and should be approached with the utmost care. Inappropriate methods of restoration as well as insufficient information can do much harm to the ancient masterpiece. For example, very often the restoration work is undertaken on an old building, with the best of intentions and enthusiasm, which, through lack of information, or by the employment of inappropriate or incorrect methods, causes a great deal of unintentional damage, both aesthetic and technical. As we can see, the history of the conservation movement in Great Britain dates back to the second half of the 19th century. Nowadays the state has elaborated its unique conservation policy and supports reconstruction and restoration of places of historical interest. The process of conservation is worked out according to its main principles: retention and restoration of historical significance, conservation process based on research, minimum physical intervention, and maintenance of visual setting. The sequence and rules of restoration process