Contemporary issues in management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Contemporary issues in management - Assignment Example Presently, Samsung produces and exports electronics products around one fourth of the total export of South Korea. Samsung had decided to diversify in terms of product diversification as well as market diversification into the foreign market especially into the emerging markets across the world. The main reason behind this is to diversify the risk of single industry. It is noticeable that the company’s current revenue is larger than the many countries’ GDP. So, the parent company has diversified into different industry from electronics and semiconductor production to advertising agency. Business from this wide range of business areas Samsung has able to make a powerful influence on the economic development of South Korea. The companies like Samsung always believe in expansion. Although the Samsung group is recognised for the digital electronics and semiconductor product but it has diversified into wide variety of industry and formed many subsidiaries like Samsung heavy industries, the second largest shipbuilders in the world, Samsung engineering, Samsung life insurance, Samsung Everland a theme park in South Korea, Cheil Worldwide the 19th largest advertising agencies in the world. Internal diversification This blue chip company was founded as â€Å"Samsung Sanghoe† which was a small trading company of food products especially noodles and other grocery products. In terms of business diversification there are two different types of it like the product diversification and the market diversification. The company started the need and opportunity diversification after the war. After the war the economic condition of the country was very weak and many companies could not able to run their small companies. Samsung got the opportunity to buy some of those companies which had future prospect and growth. The company started diversifying into many areas insurance, securities and retail. At that time founder Lee discovered the opportunities in industri alization as there was a higher need of industrialization in the country after the war. He thought that by this step the company might also get major support from the Korean government. For this reason Lee started concentrating on industrialization and focused on economic development strategy with the support of large domestic conglomerates. The strategy behind this diversification to consumer electronics was to become world’s leading brand in consumer electronics programme. The company’s diversification into Samsung Electronics’ was one of the most important diversification strategies of the company. The group become much better in terms of brand recognition and this is the only subsidiary by which the company has become a worldwide popular digital electronics brand. External diversification According to Williams, Samsung set on a path of unrelated external diversification activities where it focused on creating and gaining of companies completely unrelated to each other. This diversification strategy was aimed by the concern through enhancing the portfolio of business and service or product offerings. Samsung is thus found to expand into diversified business areas like production of memory chips, hardware equipments and computer peripherals pertaining to information technology industries,

Stylistic Imitation Catcher in the Rye Essay Example for Free

Stylistic Imitation Catcher in the Rye Essay Goddamn it’s bright out here, all the phonies going to the lousy lake that depresses me. It really does. Everyone and they’re phony smiles just trying to get on a boat. It’ll make you puke just seeing these goddamn girls with their tits all in their face, make you want to puke. It really will. The only girl worth looking at was old Jane Gallagher; you could stare at that ass of hers all day long. You really could. She looked like one of those playboy models. Those girls sure are nice to look at. One of my friend’s mom was in one of those magazines. We sure used to tease him a lot but when his mom came down everyone got real quiet and just watched the way she would walk, goddamn it was nice. Stradlater always had those magazines all over the place. Ackley kid was always saying how he necked with one of them, you always knew he was lying but you went with it anyways. That kind of stuff made me sick to think about. You see it all the time, you always see some old man with a young girl. It’ll make you sick. I heard Ackley kid call my name so I walked over to him. I’ll admit it, I wasn’t too crazy about him, but he had his license and a car. He was a lousy guy. He really was. He was always looking for a fight like he was a tough bastard and all. I have only been in one fight in my life, the bastards name was Billy the kid. He was a big guy about 6 feet tall, the bastard picked me up and threw me on the ground just about knocked me out then I got up and he hit me again knocking me over, that’s all I remember though I don’t like talking about it much. I hate when people start talking about something and they just drag the story on too long that kind of thing pisses me off. It really does. Then they start talking about there brother or what they had for lunch. Those bastards just start annoying me. Ackley kid said â€Å"Caulfield what the hell are you doing? † I replied â€Å"trying to rubberneck old Jane Gallagher but you stopped me goddamnit. † Ack said â€Å"Well let’s go to the pub and get a drink. † The pub is the only local bar that’ll sell you booze if your underage. â€Å"Alright well let’s get the hell out of here then, I want to get stinking drunk. †

Typical of british banks

Typical of british banks ‘This is absolutely typical of British banks. As soon as you have any success they want to pull the plug and stop you trading. Loretta Long was very angry. She is the managing director of Park Leisurewear Ltd (PL), and had just received a letter from the businesss bank requiring a significant reduction in the overdraft. ‘This is ridiculous agreed Jimbo Juggins, the production director. ‘Last year we had an excellent year and it looks set to continue. We had a big order in from Totspur Plc just this morning. If we cant keep up the overdraft, we wont be able to fulfil that order. Totspur was one of several national chains of casual and sportswear stores which was placing substantial orders with PL, usually to be sold under the Park label, but in some cases under the stores ‘own brand label. PL had been started by Loretta and Jimbo five years ago. The business is a designer and manufacturer of casual and leisure clothes aimed particularly at the younger, higher income market. Before starting the business both Loretta and Jimbo had been employed as senior managers with White Hart Plc, a large UK clothes manufacturer. They decided to create PL after their ideas for developing a new range of clothes for younger people had been welcomed by White Hart Plc but investment capital had not been available. From the very outset, Loretta and Jimbo decided that PL would be a design and marketing led business. Much of the forward planning was concerned with integrating the product design and development with the sales and marketing operations of the business. The new business had taken a lot of trouble and spent a lot of money on employing a young and talented design team, led by Heena Hussein who had been employed previously as a chief designer for a leading sportswear brand. The range of clothes designed by Heena and her team was greeted with enthusiasm by the major buyers and this was converted into firm orders by the marketing team led by Loretta. PL grew slowly at first. However, sales started to increase significantly as the brand gained acceptability in the UK and as export markets in France and Switzerland were opened. Loretta and Jimbo were both surprised and delighted by the speed with which the sales of the business had grown in recent years and by the growing base of regular customers. The order just received from Totspur was seen as particularly important. If Totspur became a regular customer, the sales of the business were likely to increase rapidly over the next few years and would establish PL as a major player in the market. This, Loretta and Jimbo felt, would build upon their success, success evidenced in the year to 30 September 2007 by the Cash Generated from Operations (as shown on their published Cash Flow Statement) of  £6,608,000. Loretta and Jimbo had both invested their life savings in the business and had also taken out large mortgages on their respective houses to help finance the new business. However, this provided only a relatively small amount of the total ordinary share capital needed. In order to raise the remaining share capital, friends, family and business contacts were approached. The largest shareholder of the business was Crowley Estates Ltd owned by Alan and Tim Crowley. The two Crowley brothers had made large profits by land speculation over the years but were keen to diversify into other areas as their business had been particularly hard hit by the recent recession. They had known Loretta for many years and were convinced she and Jimbo would make a success of the new business. PLs directors and their shareholdings were as follows: Loretta Long Managing Director and Marketing Director (700,000 shares) Jimbo Juggins Production Director (700,000 shares) Heena Hussein Design Director (40,000 shares) Alan Crowley Chairman (2,000,000 shares owned jointly with brother Tim through Crowley Estates) Tim Crowley Non-executive director In addition to his role as production director, Jimbo tended to look after financial matters. Though the business had accounts staff who dealt with the day-to-day transactions, there was no one at PL who had any great financial expertise. When there was a problem, the businesss auditors were normally asked for advice. That said, Loretta and Jimbo had not consulted the auditors in October 2007 when they had purchased new equipment and buildings for  £8,670,000, part of which had been funded by an additional bank loan. On the day the letter from the bank was received, a meeting of the board of directors was due to take place to consider the draft financial statements for the year that had ended two months earlier. At this meeting, the letter from the bank was also distributed to board members for discussion. Jimbo Juggins began the discussion by saying: ‘Weve just received the draft accounts from the auditors which seem to confirm our success. Profit has more than doubled. I really cant see how the cash situation is so poor. I know that we spent a lot on that additional plant and that we didnt get anything from the old machines we got rid of, but most of that was covered by the bank loan. Really, the cash situation should be even better than the profit level implies because the expenses include about  £2.8 million for depreciation and we dont have to write a cheque for that. Loretta Long, who was still angry at what she regarded as the high-handed attitude of the bank, pointed to the difficulties that the banks demands would cause: ‘The bank wants us to reduce the overdraft by half over the next six months! This is crazy I tried to explain that we have important orders to fulfil but the manager wasnt interested. How on earth can we find this kind on money in the time available? We are being asked to do the impossible. Both Jimbo and Loretta had, before the meeting, hoped that the Crowley brothers would be prepared to help out by purchasing further new shares in PL or by making a loan. However, it was soon made clear by Alan Crowley that further investment was not a possible option. Crowley Estates had been experiencing considerable problems over recent years, as a result of a couple of unprofitable overseas projects, and simply did not have the money to invest further in PL. Indeed, the Crowley brothers would be prepared to sell their shares in PL to generate much-needed cash for their own ailing business. Finding a prospective buyer for the shares was not, however, a likely prospect at this point. Both Alan and Tim Crowley had been heavily involved in recent years with the problems of Crowley Estates and had taken little interest in PLs affairs. The board meeting made them realise that they should have been much more attentive and now faced the prospect of being major shareholders of two failed b usinesses unless things could be radically improved. PLs financial statements for the past two years are set out below on the next two pages: *Note: Opening net book value of NCAs (8,600) Depreciation charge for the year 2,800 Closing net book value of NCAs 14,470 NCA additions during the year 8,670 The board of directors was not able to agree on a way of dealing with the financial problem faced by PL. Loretta believed that their best hope was to continue to wrangle with the bank over its demands. She felt that their was still a chance that the bank could be persuaded to change its mind once the draft financial statements for last year were made available and the bank was informed of the implications for PL of paying off such a large part of the overdraft in such a short period of time. Jimbo and Heena, on the other hand, were not optimistic about the prospects of changing the banks position. PL had breached its overdraft limit on several occasions over the past few years and they knew that the patience of the bank was now wearing thin. They believed that the only real solution was for the board to look for someone who was prepared to make a significant investment in the business. They felt that only a large injection of new funds could keep PL on track. Like Loretta, they belie ved that the financial statements demonstrated the success of PL over recent years and that this evidence would make the business attractive to a potential investor. The Crowley brothers rejected both of these views as being impractical. In addition, they were against the idea of introducing another major shareholder as this was likely to dilute their influence over the future direction of the business. The brothers believed that the board required drastic and immediate action, although they were not sure what form of action should be taken. After several hours of discussion, it was clear that the financial issue was not going to be resolved at the meeting. Instead, it was agreed that expertise from outside PL should be sought to help the business find a feasible solution to the problem. The board decided to approach BUS021 Financial Consultants, a firm which specialises in helping businesses with financial problems, and to ask the firm to analyse the financial performance and financial health of the company.

E.E. Cummings: The Birth of Modern Poetry Essay -- Poetry Analysis

â€Å"The greatest poets are those with memories so great that they extend beyond their strongest experiences to their minutest observations of people and things far outside their own self-centeredness.† This quote said by Stephen Spender depicts a great poet as someone who utilizes their past observations to increase their knowledge about people, nature, love, and life. Like a great poet, E.E. Cummings employed his past experiences in his poetry and life. Known as one of the preeminent poets of the 20th century, E.E. Cummings poetry has received an array of both positive and negative criticism. Nonetheless, Cummings’s poetry has inspired many poets and authors with his liberal views on love, nature, and religion along with his modern writing style. Although many criticized his contemporary style, E.E. Cummings modernized the traditional views of love, nature, and religion in poetry by emphasizing his contemporary beliefs, while incorporating a uniquely modern w riting style. As a strong advocate of individualism, E.E. Cummings ignored biased critics throughout his career and developed a contemporary writing style. From the beginning of his career, Cummings emphasized imagination and individuality in his poetry. He believed that humans had the ability to think for themselves and imagine beyond what was rational (Kidder 7). In believing so, E.E. Cummings refused to take advice or criticism on his lifestyle and poetry. Cummings also disliked organization, but rather believed in allowing the mind to imagine (Thompson 4). He saw imagination as the greatest tool for writing and rarely threw out bad poems because he did not see the waste basket as his ally (Webster 4). He firmly believed that with imagination anything was possible.... ...ury Poetry. New York: Wiley-Blackwel, 2003. Thompson, William E. "Intensity: An Essential Element in e. e. cummings' Aesthetic Theory and Practice." University of Windsor Review. 16.2 (Spring-Summer 1982): 18-33. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 137. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 18-33. Literature Resource Center. Gale. OLD TAPPAN HIGH SCHOOL. 16 Mar. 2015. . Webster, Michael. "E. E. Cummings: Romantic Ideology and Technique." Reading Visual Poetry After Futurism: Marinetti, Apollinaire, Schwitters, Cummings. New York: Peter Lang, 1995. 111-140. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 137. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 111-140. Literature Resource Center. Gale. OLD TAPPAN HIGH SCHOOL. 16 Mar. 2015. .

5 Step Value-Chain Analysis for Customers’ Strategic Needs

Value-chain analysis is used for many purposes, but the process of examining customers’ value chains is relatively new. In our five-step process, Step 1 explains how internal and external value chains can be used separately and in related ways. Step 2 shows how to construct a customer’s value chain. Step 3 shows how to identify the customer’s business strategy by examining this value chain and using other kinds of information. Step 4 explains how to use additional information and intelligence to leverage that understanding into strategic needs and priorities. Finally, Step 5 explains how a firm’s marketing function can best use this method of value-chain analysis as a new strategic capability. Step 1: An overview of value-chain analysis Value chains may be defined in two ways: (1) within a company they describe the various value-added stages from purchasing materials to distributing, selling, and servicing the final product (Porter’s 1985 concept),[3] and (2) they also delineate the value-added stages from raw material to end-user as a product is manufactured and distributed, with each stage representing an industry. 4] For convenience, we will refer to these two definitions as ‘‘internal’’ and ‘‘external’’ value chains, respectively. The internal value chain is a key concept in the field of strategic management that has been thoroughly explored. In contrast, the external value chain has not been studied as extensively. The external value chain consists of the important ups tream/supply and downstream/distribution processes. However, even though these processes occur outside the corporation, the strategic opportunities they reveal and areas of risk they highlight warrant careful study. Consider: Outsourcing – involves transferring certain primary or support functions in the internal value chain to the external value chain. B Vertical integration – involves taking control of one or more additional stages of the external value chain and making them internal. B Horizontal expansion – involves new product lines or expanded channels of distribution, including geographic expansion. B Strategic alliances with suppliers – involves more closely managing external suppliers as if they were part of the company’s internal value chain, but without actually owning them (for example, Toyota’s Kaizen ystem, wherein key suppliers are located very near a factory and receive all kinds of help and training from Toyota to ensure smooth and efficient production). One of the most complex value chains today can be found in the oil industry. This chain has nearly 30 significant elements, starting with the search for oil (at the upstream end) and including fie ld production, transportation (pipelines and supertankers), refining and processing and, lastly, consumer gas stations (at the ‘‘downstream’’ end). Internally, the oil-industry value chain processes a broad range of products, including such major categories as oil/lubricants, gasoline, petrochemicals (plastics), fertilizers/pesticides, natural gas, power generation/electricity, and convenience stores. The firms that are considered major integrated oil companies participate in a significant number – sometimes all – of these external (upstream and downstream) and internal value-chain elements. In a 2006 issue of Strategy & Leadership, authors Wayne McPhee and David Wheeler suggested that strategists should use Porter’s concept to consider value-chain operations beyond the boundaries of the firm. Since its introduction, value-chain analysis has proven immensely valuable in three principal ways – cost analysis and reduction, differentiation, and product development – but the standard practice was for firms to analyze only their own value chain. Step 2: How to construct a customer’s value chain First, recognize that you need to construct both internal and external value chains for a particular customer. The internal value chain follows Porter’s original concept, which includes value-added steps from purchasing to distribution as well as support functions such as R&D and human resources. It’s tempting to let this generic diagram serve as the customer’s value chain, but it must be tailored to the particular customer. To produce a useful value-chain analysis, members of your engineering or sales team should ask the customer how its business processes add value and whether any have unique best-practice features. To perform the external value-chain analysis, team members should ask the customer a set of getting-to-know-you questions. What does your supply chain (the upstream value chain) look like? What role does your company play in it? How do your products reach their customers (the downstream value chain)? Your final diagram models only this single customer’s value chain and it represents virtually everything the customer does to add significant value. If your relationship with the customer permits a candid exchange of information, have the customer validate the value chain you have created. As an example of how the diagnostic process works, consider how a supplier to Wal-Mart might learn to enhance its value. [6] The objective of creating both internal and external value chains is to understand Wal-Mart well enough to be able to discern its implicit and explicit strategic concerns. Exhibits 3 and 4 depict preliminary pictures of Wal-Mart’s internal and external value chains. Getting to this initial stage is relatively easy – adding more detail, nuance, and understanding takes more time, involves interviewingWal-Mart executives, and more closely observing how the firm operates. Step 3: Inferring the customer’s business strategy Even long-time suppliers have trouble distinguishing critical customer activities from sometimes urgent but ultimately nonstrategic ones. Understanding your customer’s business strategy is therefore crucial. Value-chain analysis helps a supplier distinguish between the activities of the customer’s firm that directly support its competitive strategies – for its products and for enhancing key capabilities – and ordinary operations. For example, routine operations like billing customers or servicing the fleet of company vehicles must be done, and done well. But there is little if any competitive advantage to be gained from the superior execution of such activities. Nor are they likely to provide an opportunity for gaining new sources of revenue and profit. It is the customers’ strategic activities and projects that offer the potential for future profits and command the attention of your customers’ senior management. So by supporting strategic activities, B2B service providers stand to gain the high-margin work they hunger after, the work that produces the highest returns, and the work that should be their constant priority. The Fluor case Fluor Corporation is a global engineering and construction company providing major capital facilities for a vast range of industrial clients in many vertical markets. With as many as 2,000 projects under construction employing 40,000 workers in more than 50 countries at any time, Fluor operates in all geographic regions of the globe and in all parts of its customers’ supply chains, delivering engineering and construction management services – in sum, a full range of B2B services. The questions of where Fluor should concentrate its resources to meet its customers’ most urgent needs can become enormously complex. To rationalize this process, Fluor must determine which customer projects – the ones that address its customers’ greatest strategic needs and, hence, have potentially the greatest margins – have the highest value. For many years, Fluor has known the critical importance of understanding every one of its B2B customers’ businesses. But that was not enough. The questions for Fluor’s marketing team became, ‘‘How can we learn each customer’s business strategy and strategic needs? ’ Some of the many different sources of information about a customer’s strategy are: B Marketing communications including printed materials (brochures and advertisements), media communications (press releases) and marketing websites reveal new product directions and customer targeting; these provide insights into market positioning and marketing strategy. B Financial-community reports (annual reports, SEC filings, as well as meetings with financial analysts) shed light on internal strategic initiatives in addition to market-positioning moves. Annual reports form the basis of this Fluor case study, but 10Ks and analysts’ reports could prove equally useful. B The academic literature is replete with surgical dissections of strategically successful companies and industries. Business-school cases abound featuring companies like Apple and industries like automobiles. Wal-Mart, for one, has been the focus of many Harvard Business School cases. [8] B Many companies make their published strategic plans available to interested parties. For example, British Petroleum has published its strategy on its corporate website since 2000. B Consultants that specialize in competitive intelligence. B Face-to-face conversations with your customers. Step 4: Discovering the customer’s strategic needs Strategic activities are the activities a firm must implement in order to realize its strategy or strategies. Every strategy has such a set of activities. Insofar as a company finds doing any of these activities difficult, potential suppliers have been trained to see these as ‘‘needs. ’’ But, suppliers need to differentiate between operations that are difficult and ones that are strategic. For example, an innovation strategy requires a system for generating ideas and picking the best ones, cost estimating, engineering, R&D, prototype construction and testing, and market-acceptance testing. The pharmaceutical industry relies on a great many B2B service providers to support its new-drug-development programs in the drug-formulation (R&D) stage and also B2B service providers that develop new systems to expedite regulatory approval. Value-chain analysis identifies both as key strategic functions. Step 5: Making value-chain analysis a strategic capability of the marketing department Engineering/construction companies have developed at least two approaches to break the forces of commoditization in their industry: 1. Project screening and selectivity. Not all projects are created equal or represent equal opportunity. Service providers should select projects on the basis of projected margin, not projected revenue. They must pursue projects that build on their strengths and core competences, projects where they can apply their best talents to serve their customers. This is done by first serving customers’ commodity work to position them to then pursue customers’ strategic opportunities. This is the approach used in the Fluor example. 2. Become selected customers’ strategic business partner. Such practice puts the business-services provider right in the customers’ lap, a decidedly advantageous position to be in when strategic opportunities are brewing. It also leads to many sole-source or noncompetitive-bid opportunities and, potentially, to higher margins. 1. The method described in the article is based on actual experience of one author when he worked for Fluor Corp. . A recent example is Ram Charan, What the CustomerWants You to Know: How Everybody Needs to Think Differently about Sales, Portfolio (Penguin Group), 2007. The application of value-chain analysis to B2B clients of engineering and construction management services was originally suggested by Don F. Coleman of Fluor Corporation in May, 2000. 3. Michael E. Porter, Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, Free Press, 1985. 4. Stanley C. Abraham, Strategic Planning: A Practical Guide for Competitive Success, Thomson South-Western, 2006, 214. . Wayne McPhee and David Wheeler, ‘‘Making the case for the added-value chain,’’ Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 34 No. 4, 2006, Exhibit 1, p. 41; exhibit used with permission. 6. The supplier could have many other customers, and could replicate this process with those other customers. Typically, doing such an analysis would be reserved for the supplier’s top 3-5 customers. 7. The authors found little in the literature about B2B marketing practices based on knowledge of the customer’s value chain and business strategy. 8. See, for, example Harvard Business School Case #9-794-024, ‘‘Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ,’’ August 6, 1996, which provides a thorough review of Wal-Mart’s business practices up to its international (horizontal) expansion. 9. Michael E. Porter, ‘‘What is strategy? ’’ Harvard Business Review, November-December 1996. 10. HBS Case #9-794-024, op. cit. 11. Harvard Business School Case #9-302-102, ‘‘Robert Mondavi and the Wine Industry,’’ May 3, 2002. Mondavi’s flagship brand ‘‘Woodbridge’’ is a rare example of a brand name pointing, not to product benefits, but up the value chain to process benefits.

Avro Lancaster Bomber in World War II

Avro Lancaster Bomber in World War II The Avro Lancaster was a heavy bomber flown by the Royal Air Force during World War II. An evolution of the earlier and smaller Avro Manchester, the Lancaster became one of the backbones the RAFs nighttime bombing offensive against Germany. Possessing a large bomb bay, the aircraft proved capable of carrying a variety of exceptionally heavy weapons including Grand Slam and Tallboy bombs. The Lancaster was also adapted for special missions such as the Dambuster Raid (Operation Chastise) in 1943. During the course of the war, over 7,000 Lancaster were built with approximately 44%lost to enemy action. Design and Development The Lancaster originated with the design of the earlier Avro Manchester. Responding to Air Ministry Specification P.13/36 which called for a medium bomber capable of being used in all environments, Avro created the twin-engine Manchester in the late 1930s. Similar in appearance to its later cousin, the Manchester utilized the new Roll-Royce Vulture engine. First flying in July 1939, the type showed promise, but the Vulture engines proved highly unreliable. As a result only 200 Manchesters were built and these were withdrawn from service by 1942. As the Manchester program was struggling, Avros chief designer, Roy Chadwick, began work on an improved, four-engine version of the aircraft. Dubbed the Avro Type 683 Manchester III, Chadwicks new design utilized the more reliable Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and a larger wing. Renamed Lancaster, development progressed quickly as the Royal Air Force was engaged in World War II. The Lancaster was similar to its predecessor in that it was a mid-wing cantilever monoplane, featured a greenhouse-style canopy, turret nose, and a twin tail configuration. Built of all-metal construction, the Lancaster required a crew of seven: pilot, flight engineer, bombardier, radio operator, navigator, and two gunners. For protection, the Lancaster carried eight.30 cal. machine guns mounted in three turrets (nose, dorsal, and tail). Early models also featured a ventral turret but these were removed as they were difficult to site. Featuring a massive 33 ft.-long bomb bay, the Lancaster was capable carrying a load of up to 14,000 lbs. As work progressed, the prototype was assembled at Manchesters Ringway Airport. Production On January 9, 1941, it first took to the air with test pilot H.A. Bill Thorn at the controls. From the start it proved to be a well-designed aircraft and few changes were needed before moving into production. Accepted by the RAF, remaining Manchester orders were switched to the new Lancaster. A total of 7,377 Lancasters of all types were built during its production run. While the majority was built at Avros Chadderton plant, Lancasters were also built under contract by Metropolitan-Vickers, Armstrong-Whitworth, Austin Motor Company, and Vickers-Armstrong. The type was also built in Canada by Victory Aircraft. Avro Lancaster GeneralLength: 69 ft. 5 in. Wingspan: 102 ft. Height: 19 ft. 7 in. Wing Area: 1,300 sq. ft. Empty Weight: 36,828 lbs. Loaded Weight: 63,000 lbs. Crew: 7PerformanceEngines: 4 Ãâ€" Rolls-Royce Merlin XX V12 engines, 1,280 hp each Range: 3,000 miles Max Speed: 280 mph Ceiling: 23,500 ft. ArmamentGuns: 8 Ãâ€" .30 in (7.7 mm) machine guns Bombs: 14,000 lbs. depending on range, 1 x 22,000-lb. Grand Slam bomb Operational History First seeing service with No. 44 Squadron RAF in early 1942, the Lancaster quickly became one of Bomber Commands principal heavy bombers. Along with the Handley Page Halifax, the Lancaster carried the load of the British nighttime bomber offensive against Germany. Through the course of the war, Lancasters flew 156,000 sorties and dropped 681,638 tons of bombs. These missions were a hazardous duty and 3,249 Lancasters were lost in action (44% of all built). As the conflict progressed, the Lancaster was modified several times to accommodate new types of bombs. Avro Lancaster B.Is of 44 Squadron. Public Domain Initially capable of carrying 4,000-lb. blockbuster or cookie bombs, the addition of bulged doors to the bomb bay allowed the Lancaster to drop 8,000- and later 12,000-lb. blockbusters. Additional modifications to the aircraft allowed them to carry the 12,000-lb. Tallboy and 22,000-lb. Grand Slam earthquake bombs which were used against hardened targets. Directed by Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Bomber Harris, Lancasters played a key role in Operation Gomorrah which destroyed large parts of Hamburg in 1943. The aircraft was also widely used in Harris area bombing campaign which flattened many German cities. Special Missions During the course of its career, the Lancaster also achieved fame for conducting special, daring missions over hostile territory. One such mission, Operation Chastise a.k.a. the Dambuster Raids, saw specially modified Lancasters use Barnes Wallis bouncing Upkeep bombs to destroy key dams in the Ruhr Valley. Flown in May 1943, the mission was a success and provided a boost to British morale. In the fall of 1944, Lancasters conducted multiple strikes against the German battleship Tirpitz, first damaging and then sinking it. The destruction of the ship removed a key threat to Allied shipping. Upkeep bomb mounted on a Avro Lancaster. Public Domain Later Service In the final days of the war, the Lancaster conducted humanitarian missions over the Netherlands as part of Operation Manna. These flights saw the aircraft drop food and supplies to that nations starving population. With the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, many Lancasters were slated for transfer to the Pacific for operations against Japan. Intended to operate from bases in Okinawa, the Lancasters proved unnecessary following Japans surrender in September. Retained by the RAF after the war, Lancasters were also transferred to France and Argentina. Other Lancasters were converted into civilian aircraft. Lancasters remained in use by the French, largely in maritime search/rescue roles, until the mid-1960s. The Lancaster also spawned several derivatives including the Avro Lincoln. An enlarged Lancaster, the Lincoln arrived too late to see service during World War II. Other types to come from the Lancaster included the Avro York transport and the Avro Shackleton maritime patrol/airborne early warning aircraft.