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Engineering
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What is Engineering?

Engineering as an academic subject sits at the intersection of technical problem-solving and organizational thinking, making it a common focus in courses ranging from applied mathematics and materials science to business management and sustainability studies. What makes it academically interesting is its dual nature: students must engage with precise technical processes while also accounting for real-world factors such as cost, change management, and environmental impact. Topics like sustainable engineering practice, electrical and electronic waste, and the classification of engineering disciplines push students to think beyond formulas and consider broader systemic consequences.

The papers archived under this topic reflect a wide range of analytical approaches. Some take a company-focused case-study angle, examining organizations such as Ford Motor Company or USAA to explore how engineering decisions interact with business strategy and organizational change. Others are process-oriented, analyzing frameworks like the Software Development Life Cycle or business process reengineering to evaluate efficiency and project success. Still others adopt a materials and design focus, as seen in work on CarbonLite Titanium frame bikes or scissor lift reports, grounding arguments in technical specifications and cost variance analysis.

A strong essay on an engineering topic requires a clearly scoped thesis that connects technical subject matter to a measurable outcome — whether that is cost efficiency, sustainability, or organizational impact. Evidence drawn from project data, industry standards, or documented case studies carries the most weight. One common pitfall is treating engineering purely as a technical exercise while ignoring the organizational, financial, or environmental context, which tends to produce analysis that is too narrow to support a compelling academic argument.

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Paper Doctorate
Nikola Tesla's alternating current system and legacy
¶ … Nikola Tesla, His Work and Impact on Society
Paper Undergraduate
Procter & Gamble's sustainability measurement and supplier environmental scorecard
As the leading provider of consumer, commercial and institutional soap, cleansers, and packaged goods, Procter & Gamble (P&G) (NYSE:PG) has chosen to take a global leadership position in the areas of sustainability and environmental effectiveness. The cornerstone of the strategic initiatives is the development of a thorough methodology for assessing, analyzing, measuring, and reporting corporate-wide performance to sustainability goals and guidelines. P&G has isolated the greatest potential risks to their sustainability objectives as being in their globally-based supply chain (Warner, 2008). To gain greater insights into how they can alleviate the significant risk associated with suppliers, who if not well managed could jeopardize the entire series of strategic initiatives surrounding sustainability, P&G created the Supplier Environmental Sustainability Scorecard (P&G, 2010a). The methodology behind this scorecard form the basis of measurement, assessment and reporting systems within P&G today and have since been emulated by other suppliers as well, as their results are quantifiable (Richardson, 2005). Previous to the scorecard being defined, P&G often relied on a wide range of metrics, scorecards and analytics platforms that were never in sync with one another, often causing less-than-optimal levels of quality to be attained (P&G, 2010). There was also a significant level of siloed operations going on, as P&G operates across more than 130 counties and dominates the top-of-mind awareness levels in each national and global market those choose to compete in. While P&G is best known for its marketing prowess, its supply chain and quality management operations, and now its sustainability initiatives, have gained it significant traction in global markets (Joseph, 2010). According to the latest annual reports from P&G, the global soap and cleaning compound manufacturing industry is valued at $54.7B in 2011, growing at a relative flat 3.7% compound annual growth rate through 2012. P&G holds a commanding share in this industry globally, challenged by well-known brands including Colgate-Palmolive, Ecolab and S.C. Johnson, in addition to a few more dozen smaller competitors scattered across geographic regions. P&G competes across many sub-segments of the consumer and commercial cleaning markets, personal care, personal and commercial soap in addition to consumer packaged goods. Of their many lines of business however, P&G faces the toughest challenges in the areas of government regulation and continued government monitoring of environmental performance in the chemically-based production processes it has. Of the several agencies that routinely monitor and at times even fine P&G if they do not comply with government requirements, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is often the most rigorous and thorough in their assessments (Joseph, 2010). The costs of non-compliance for P&G can be in the tens of millions of dollars and can also significantly slow down a new product introduction process as well (Warner, 2008). A lack of quality management is such a significant risk for the company that they have chosen to attack it as an opportunity to gain greater lean manufacturing and process workflows into their company. This more aggressive stance on quality management has helped to save the company literally millions of dollars in fines while also setting the foundation for greater performance gains through its green and sustainability-based initiatives globally (P&G, 2010). P&G has also appointed a Vice President of SustainAbility who has the primary role of ensuring all sustainability initiatives and programs are coordinated and work towards the strategic objectives the company has (Joseph, 2010). Not satisfied with the role being within a functional area, P&G has elevated this position to report directly to the CEO, creating a position that has oversight of nearly 75,000 suppliers globally. P&G has also given this person direct accountability for the performance of each product division and brand to the Supplier Environmental Sustainability Scorecards mentioned in this analysis. The integration of metrics, key performance indicators (KPIs) and the use of corporate-wide and by-division Supplier Environmental Sustainability Scorecards has helped P&G surpass even its own expectations and led to sustainability objectives being achieved (Warner, 2008). The remainder of this analysis includes an assessment of the progress P&G is making on their sustainable business objectives, an analysis of the measurement methods they are using and reporting including the Supplier Environmental Sustainability Scorecard, in addition to a series of recommendations and a conclusion.
Paper Undergraduate
E-commerce revenue models: web catalogs, digital content, and advertising
The revenue models exemplified in the following lines are: web catalog, digital content, advertising supported, advertising subscription mixed, fee for transaction, fee for service.
Essay Doctorate
Social responsibility efforts in Santa Clara and San Jose, California
The paper looks at the idea of socially responsible behaviors that can be adopted within the society. In particular here is the use of energy saving bulbs within the American society and how such efforts are ignored and the consequences as well as how adherence to such measures can help change our environment.
Research Paper Doctorate
Risk minimization and loss prevention strategies for small businesses
Risk Minimization and Loss Prevention in Small Business in the Post-9/11 ERA
Research Paper Undergraduate
Ford's strategy for competing in the fuel-efficient sedan market
¶ … gasoline prices within the United States, domestic sales of current Ford vehicles have declined. Competitors have introduced cars with far greater fuel efficiency, thus leading to higher sales and market share…
Research Paper Undergraduate
Technology-driven organizational change management at USAA
The United Services Automobile Association (USAA)'s potential for accentuating and strengthening its ability to create, deliver and sustain support and services programs for its members is becoming increasingly…
Paper Undergraduate
Tax expenditures and their effects on public budgeting
Tax expenditures are losses to the treasury that stem from loopholes, exemptions, credits or deductions to specific categories of taxpayer or activity. These are considered tax expenditures because rather than being a…
Essay Doctorate
Use of statistics at Cincom Systems for competitive advantage
The use of statistics in pervasive throughout Cincom Systems, from tracking customer behavior through research surveys to measuring software quality and continually striving to attain higher levels of application…
Research Paper Undergraduate
Environmental and health risks of bottled water versus tap water
Is bottled water safe to drink? Is it environmentally responsible to buy bottled water? Is tap water a safe and sound alternative? What kind of filters are necessary when drinking tap water?