Countering the DREAMer Narrative: Storytelling, Immigration Reform, and the Work of 67 Sueños

Research question: How has the practice of storytelling been used in the current U.S. conflicts over immigration? Telling an effective story is an essential part of a complex strategy to bring about social change, but storytelling as a part of collective action has not been extensively studied. For activists in the United States fighting for immigrant rights, especially the passage of the DREAM Act, storytelling has been an important tactic, but the nature of the narrative that was constructed has its drawbacks because it excluded some members of the immigrant community. In 2010, the Bay Area-based group 67 Sueños (“67 Dreams”) was formed in order to express the voices of undocumented youth not represented in the debate. Storytelling is one of the tactics the group utilizes. The nature of the group’s storytelling practices was investigated during the summer of 2014 during which members of 67 Sueños completed two immigration-themed murals in the Bay Area. Storytelling plays a central role in helping members of the group overcome trauma and transform themselves into vocal activists. The group’s employment of universal human rights discourse in the stories they tell prompts important questions about how to tell stories that include such principles while connecting with stakeholders more familiar with arguments focused on the concept of the nation-state and national belonging

How To Hit The Ground: Motion And Measurement In Moving Pictures Before The Great Crash

How to Hit the Ground: Motion and Measurement in Moving Pictures before The Great Crash Will Schmenner Karen Redrobe, Advisor On December 21, 1914, the Keystone Film Company released Tillie’s Punctured Romance, directed by Mack Sennett. Roughly seven weeks later, depending on where one lived in North America, D.W. Griffith released The Birth of a Nation (1915). For cinema and media studies, this moment launched the form of the classical Hollywood feature-length narrative—the roughly ninety-minutes to three-hour film that since became ubiquitous. The two movies, despite sharing a longer-than-normal duration, could hardly be more different. The Birth of a Nation purports to be history. President Woodrow Wilson was famously quoted as saying, “It’s like writing history with lightning.” Griffith carefully designed his broad overarching themes about race and gender so that they would drive the narrative. On the other hand, Tillie’s Punctured Romance pieces together a narrative that is often seen as secondary, at best, to the slapstick comedy animating the picture. My dissertation delves into this difference, which cannot be solely contributed to slapsticks desire to burlesque Griffith. By building up an argument from the forms that bodily motion took in the shots, across the edits, and in the narrative structure of Buster Keaton’s 1920s features, I argue that cinema and media studies needs to reconsider how it thinks about so-called non-narrative techniques and passive audiences. In short, Keaton worked with the visual habits of his audiences to create a set of non-narrative techniques that make up the very narrative structure of his movies. By engaging with the bio-politics of bodily motion in the 1920s, Keaton was able to take the well-established visual habits of an industrializing America and tactically alter them to critique how bodies are moved and monitored, who controls the moving of those bodies, and who sets the understanding of efficient, permissible, and effective motions. In the context of The First Red Scare (1920 – 1921) and what John Dos Passos called “the deportations delirium,” Keaton’s comedy offered a more realistic depiction of how disjointed, contingent and chaotic the experience of everyday life could be

Managing the trade-off implications of global supply

The cost versus response trade-off is a growing logistics issue due to many markets being increasingly characterized by demand uncertainty and shorter product life cycles. This is exacerbated further with supply increasingly moving to low cost global sources. However, the poor response implications of global supply are often not addressed or even acknowledged when undertaking such decisions. Consequently, various practical approaches to minimising, postponing or otherwise managing the impact of the demand uncertainty are often only adopted retrospectively. Even though such generic solutions are documented through case examples we lack effective tools and concepts to support the proactive identification and resolution of such trade-offs. This paper reports on case-based theory building research, involving three cases from the UK and USA used in developing a conceptual model with associated tools, in support of such a process

Analysis of global manufacturing virtual networks in the aeronautical industry

The evolution of organizations that work in multinational environments has considerably altered their production strategies. One of the consequences has been the appearance of Global Manufacturing Virtual Networks (GMVNs), which include all kinds of enterprises and production centres and establish a new type of horizontal collaboration and relations between independent companies and even competitors who establish occasional collaborations on projects they could not take on individually. This paper analyses the causes behind the formation of such networks, their strategy, structure, dynamics and evolution, taking into account areas such as strategic intercompany alliances, synchronization of their value and supply chains, their information systems, the cultural aspects of the organizations in question and, finally, their convergence with another of the more relevant future trends in production: mass customization. The proposed model shall be applied to the aeronautical industry which is one of the industries which has developed the GMVN concept. The case study of the engine manufacturer Rolls Royce will provide a better understanding of the evolution of its strategic positioning, as well as the dynamic and fluent nature of its virtual relations. This will demonstrate its effectiveness by clarifying and putting these organizations in perspective and analyzing their evolution over the next few year

Application of the quick scan audit methodology in an industrial filter production process

The quick scan audit methodology (QSAM) is an established investigative tool to assess the health of business processes and supply chains within short schedules. This study extends the standard QSAM procedure to include the simulation step. It also extends the QSAM to a wider industry platform by applying it into the precision mechanical engineering industry, where managers have been under competitive pressure to reduce an industrial filter production lead time. Following a review of the relevant literature, this paper presents the research design adopted in the study. The QSAM has been conducted using various data collection techniques (such as observations, process activity mapping, interviews, questionnaires, brainstorming and access to company documents) and data analysis methods (including cause and effect analysis, Pareto analysis and time series plot). This is followed by the development of a set of improvement strategies, namely, direct information sharing, priority planning, and additional data recording and analysis. In addition to testing the potential benefits of changing scheduling approaches for the paint plant, simulation has been utilized in this study as a communication means to increase employee participation in the QSAM process and enhance the audit accuracy. It has also provided the case company with a better understanding of the behaviour and characteristics of the system under study, thus facilitating more thoughtful decisions to improve the system. The paper concludes with further research opportunities derived from this study

Warehouse location decision factors in humanitarian relief logistics

The importance of preparedness is emphasised as humanitarian supply chain gets even more sophisticated. Among the different forms of preparedness for disaster relief management, pre-purchasing of stock in a pre-positioned warehouse is considered to be best for maximising the effectiveness of humanitarian aid supply chains. However, there have been very few studies that consider the business-focused application of the multi-criteria location problem to the pre-positioning of warehouses for humanitarian relief organizations. Therefore, this study empirically identifies the key factors considered for selecting humanitarian relief warehouse location as criteria in AHP. Results indicate that the cooperation attribute is the most important factor when selecting facility location in humanitarian relief, followed by national stability, cost, logistics and location. Theoretical and managerial implications of the research findings for humanitarian relief logistics are discussed. Copyright © 2013, The Korean Association of Shipping and Logistics

Examining the mediating role of innovative capabilities in the interplay between lean processes and sustainable performance

Literature, heretofore, has assumed the relationship between ‘lean’ systems and their sustainable performance as direct and static. Researchers have explored this relationship from various perspectives and have taken clear sides, as to whether lean practices are favourable or inimical to the sustainable performance of a firm. We argue that the ‘for (or) against’ debate has been overstretched and has assumed some contingencies that are uncalled for. This study offers a novel perspective of gauging the relationship between lean practices and a firm’s sustainable performance from a dynamic stance. It recognizes that this relationship has both, synergistic and discordant phases. Synergistic phase revs up the sustainable performance and discordant phase is inimical to the sustainable performance of the firm. We propose that lean processes can positively (or) negatively affect a firm’s sustainable performance depending upon the state of innovative capability of the firm. In this regard, we present an iterative and recursive two-phase framework which draws upon the principles of a metaheuristics and is undergirded in dynamic capability theory. This framework discusses the ‘switching behaviour’ of the firm controlled by decoupling point. Switching behaviour determines how a firm should manoeuvre its innovation strategy. The framework was tested by using primary and secondary data (content analysis) in order to triangulate the results. This framework puts forth a set of generic guidelines, which the firms can decipher in their own idiosyncratic environments to bring about the required synergy between their lean processes and innovative capabilities. This synergy shall ensure that the ‘the engines of their sustainable growth’ are always fired up

Exploring types of focused factories in hospital care: a multiple case study

Background: Focusing on specific treatments or diseases is proposed as a way to increase the efficiency of hospital care. The definition of "focus" or "focused factory", however, lacks clarity. Examples in health care literature relate to very different organizations.\ud Our aim was to explore the application of the focused factory concept in hospital care, including an indication of its performance, resulting in a conceptual framework that can be helpful in further identifying different types of focused factories. Thus contributing to the understanding of the diversity of examples found in the literature. - \ud \ud Methods: We conducted a cross-case comparison of four multiple-case studies into hospital care. To cover a broad array of focus, different specialty fields were selected. Each study investigated the organizational context, the degree of focus, and the operational performance. Focus was measured using an instrument translated from industry. Data were collected using both qualitative and quantitative methods and included site visits. A descriptive analysis was performed at the case study and cross-case studies level. - \ud \ud Results: The operational performance per specialty field varied considerably, even when cases showed comparable degrees of focus. Cross-case comparison showed three focus domains. The product domain considered specialty based focused factories that treated patients for a single-specialty, but did not pursue a specific strategy nor adapted work-designs or layouts. The process domain considered delivery based focused factories that treated multiple groups of patients and often pursued strategies to improve efficiency and timeliness and adapted work-designs and physical layouts to minimize delays. The product-process domain considered procedure based focused factories that treated a single well-defined group of patients offering one type of treatment. The strategic focusing decisions and the design of the care delivery system appeared especially important for delivery and procedure based focused factories. - \ud \ud Conclusions: Focus in hospital care relates to limitations on the patient group treated and the range of services offered. Based on these two dimensions, we identified three types of focused factories: specialty based, delivery based, and procedure based. Focus could lead to better operational performance, but only when clear strategic focusing decisions are made