title: St. Louis Blues

text: In the offseason for the 2017–18 season, the Blues would lose David Perron to the Vegas Golden Knights via an expansion draft. They would also pick up Brayden Schenn from the Philadelphia Flyers by giving away Jori Lehtera. Before the season began, the Blues were hit hard with injuries as they lost Robby Fabbri before the season began. Other players like Patrik Berglund, and Alex Steen did not return in time for the season. Despite these losses, the Blues raced out to a 21–8–2 start in their first 31 games. The Blues lost more players as Jay Bouwmeester suffered a season-ending injury, and Jaden Schwartz missed a large portion of the season. The Blues also dealt away Paul Stastny to the Winnipeg Jets at the trade deadline for their 1st round pick as they won only 23 games of their remaining 51, but they still had a chance to get into the playoffs on the last day of their season against the Colorado Avalanche. After losing Vladimir Tarasenko to injury during the game, the Blues lost to the Avalanche 5–2 as they missed the playoffs for the first time in seven years.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: During the 2018 NHL offseason, the Blues acquired forward Ryan O'Reilly from the Buffalo Sabres via trade and re-signed Perron to a third stint with the team in free agency, while also signing forwards Tyler Bozak, St. Louis native Pat Maroon, and goaltender Chad Johnson. On November 19, 2018, the Blues fired head coach Mike Yeo after starting the season with a 7–9–3 record and replaced him with Craig Berube on an interim basis. On March 29, 2019, the Blues became the seventh team in NHL since the 1967–68 season to qualify for the playoffs after being placed last after January 1. This resurgence included an eleven-game winning streak between February and March, in large part thanks to the emergence of the eventual Calder Trophy nominee, rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: On May 21, the Blues advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1970, defeating the San Jose Sharks in a six-game Western Conference Finals series. On May 29, the Blues won a Stanley Cup Finals series game for the first time in franchise history after getting swept in three previous series (1968–1970), when they defeated the Boston Bruins 3–2 in overtime. On June 12, 2019, the Blues defeated the Bruins 4–1 in Game 7 to win their first Stanley Cup. Ryan O'Reilly won the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP. Up until that point, the Blues were the oldest franchise to never win the Stanley Cup; they were also the last of the five surviving 1967 expansion teams to win the Cup for the first time. This all but assured that Berube would have the "interim" tag removed from his title, which occurred two weeks after their Cup victory. Shortly after the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals, Karla May of the Missouri Senate introduced a bill which would officially designate several items as state symbols of Missouri; including the Blues being as the state's official hockey team. The bill was signed into law by Mike Parson, the Governor of Missouri, with the revised statute becoming effective August 29, 2019.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: In the 2019–20 season, the Blues suffered an early blow as forward Vladimir Tarasenko suffered a season-ending injury on October 24. However, they would continue their strong play even despite being plagued with various other injuries, consistently remaining at or near the top of the Western Conference. On February 12, 2020, the Blues suffered another loss as defenseman Jay Bouwmeester suddenly collapsed on the bench in a game against the Anaheim Ducks, and would not come back to play again in the season. The game against Anaheim was suspended during the first period and postponed to March 11. This ended up being the Blues' last game in the regular season, as the season would be cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic shortly afterwards. The Blues had remained in strong form throughout the season, finishing first in the Western Conference and second in the NHL. However, as the season was put on pause due to the pandemic, no team would play the full 82 games. Instead, a Return to Play tournament was organized, starting in August 2020. In the Round Robin tournament for the four top-seeded teams of the conference, the Blues failed to get a win, and thus despite winning the regular-season conference title, they ended up being the fourth seed in the West. In the first round of the playoffs, they faced the Vancouver Canucks, to whom they lost in six games. In the hiatus preceding the NHL's Return to Play, several Blues players contracted COVID-19, which was cited by the coaching staff as one of the reasons why their play faltered in the playoffs. On September 2, 2020, the Blues traded goaltender Jake Allen, who had spent ten years in the Blues organization, to the Montreal Canadiens.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: The Blues play in the 19,150 (not counting standing room) capacity Enterprise Center, where they have played since 1994. The arena was previously known as Scottrade Center, the Savvis Center, and before that as the Kiel Center. From 1967 until 1994, the team played in the St. Louis Arena (known as The Checkerdome from 1977 until 1983), where the old St. Louis Eagles played, and which the original owners had to buy as a condition of the 1967 NHL expansion.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: The St. Louis Blues are one of the more successful NHL teams in terms of attendance. After the 2004–05 lockout, the Blues' attendance suffered, but has since improved every year since its all-time low in 2006–07. In 2009–10, despite not having a playoff year, the Blues had an average attendance of 18,883 (98.6% total capacity), selling out 34 of its 40 home games, which placed them seventh in the NHL in attendance. In 2010–11, the team sold out every home game.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: The Blues have worn blue and white jerseys with the famous "Blue Note" crest and gold accents since their inception in 1967. From 1967 to 1984, the Blues jerseys featured a lighter shade of blue along with contrasting shoulder yoke and stripes. The blue jerseys lacked the contrasting yoke until 1979.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: In 1984, the Blues drastically redesigned their look, adding red and darkening the shade of blue. Initially, the front of the jersey featured the team name above the crest logo, but was removed in 1987. In addition, the contrasting shoulder yoke was removed.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: For the 1994–95 season, the Blues introduced a more radical jersey set, featuring red in a more prominent role. The jersey introduced the short-lived trumpet logo on the shoulders and featured thin diagonal stripes on the tail and sleeves. The bottom of the numbers taper off to give way to the aforementioned stripes. An updated version of the blue sweater, produced by Adidas, was brought back in 2019 as their “90s Vintage Jersey.”


title: St. Louis Blues

text: Before the 1997–98 season, the Blues introduced a new alternate white jersey. The jersey brought back the contrasting shoulder yoke and returned to the lighter blue of previous eras. It also replaced red with navy blue as an accent color. A corresponding blue jersey was introduced the following season, thus retiring the previous set.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: Like all NHL teams, the Blues updated their jerseys for the 2007–08 season with new Rbk Edge jerseys. The Blues simplified their design, with only the blue note logo on the front; there were no third jerseys for the season. The Blues announced plans for a navy third jersey featuring a new logo, with the Gateway Arch with the Blue Note superimposed over it inside a circle with the words "St. Louis" above and "Blues" below. This third jersey was unveiled on September 21, 2008, and debuted during a Blues' home game against the Anaheim Ducks on November 21, 2008.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: For the 2014–15 season, the Blues made a few tweaks to their jerseys. While they kept the Reebok Edge-era template, they brought back the 1998–2007 look. The navy blue third jersey was kept without any alterations, before it was retired prior the 2016–17 season.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: When Adidas became the uniform provider before the 2017–18 season, the Blues kept most of the same template, with the exception of the home jersey numbers changing from gold to white. For the 2018–19 season, the Blues added a third jersey based on the one worn during the 2017 NHL Winter Classic. A corresponding vintage white version was unveiled for the 2022 NHL Winter Classic.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: Prior to the 2020–21 season, the Blues unveiled a "Reverse Retro" alternate uniform based on the design worn from 1995 to 1998, but with a red base. A second "Reverse Retro" uniform was released in the 2022–23 season, this time based on the prototype uniforms the team first leaked in 1966 before eventually releasing the more iconic "blue note" uniforms. The uniforms, which had the team name written around the primitive "blue note" logo along with contrasting stripes, had a gold base.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: Louie is the mascot of the St. Louis Blues. He was introduced on October 10, 2007. On November 3, 2007, the fans voted on his name on the Blues' web site. Louie is a blue polar bear and wears a Blues jersey with his name on the back, and the numbers "00".


title: St. Louis Blues

text: The St. Louis Blues medical team is a group of Washington University in St. Louis orthopedic specialists from Barnes-Jewish Hospital led by Washington University in St. Louis' Chief of Sports Medicine Matthew Matava.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: Originally, the Blues aired their games on KPLR-TV and KMOX radio, with team patron Gus Kyle calling games alongside St Louis broadcasting legend Jack Buck. Buck elected to leave the booth after one season, though, and was replaced by another famed announcer in Dan Kelly. This setup—Kelly as commentator, with either Kyle, Bob Plager, or Noel Picard (whose heavy French-Canadian accent became famous, such as pronouncing owner Sid Salomon III "Sid the Turd" instead of "Third") joining as an analyst, simulcast on KMOX and KPLR—continued through the 1975–76 season, then simulcast on KMOX and KDNL-TV for the next three seasons. KMOX is a 50,000-watt clear-channel station that reaches almost all of North America at night, allowing Kelly to become a celebrity in both the United States and Canada. Indeed, many of the Blues' players liked the fact that their families could hear the games on KMOX.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: From 1979 to 1981, the radio and television broadcasts were separated for the first time since the inaugural season, with Kelly doing the radio broadcasts and Eli Gold hired to do the television. Following the 1980–81 season, the television broadcasts moved from KDNL to NBC affiliate KSD-TV for the 1981–82 season, produced by Sports Network Incorporated (SNI), owned and operated by Greg Maracek who did the broadcasts with Channel 5 sportscaster Ron Jacober. The broadcasts failed to produce a profit and then returned to KPLR for the 1982 NHL playoffs and the 1982–83 season before returning to KDNL (currently St. Louis' ABC affiliate) for the 1983–84 season, the first under the ownership of Harry Ornest. The Blues skated back to KPLR 3 years later.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: In 1985, Ornest, wanting more broadcast revenue, put the radio rights up for bid. A new company who had purchased KXOK won the bid for a three-year contract and Kelly moved over from KMOX to do the games on KXOK. However, the station was never financially competitive in the market. Additionally, fans complained they could not hear the station at night (it had to readjust its coverage due to a glut of clear channels on adjacent frequencies). KXOK backed out of the contract after just 2 years, and the Blues immediately went back to KMOX, who held the rights until 2000. Dan Kelly continued to broadcast the games on radio but was diagnosed in the summer of 1988 with lung cancer and died on February 10, 1989. After his death, Ron Jacober (who had left Channel 5 to be KXOK's sports director in 1985 then left for KMOX in 1987) was hired as the radio play-by-play announcer for the remainder of the season, and John Kelly succeeded in that position. After Dan Kelly's death, Ken Wilson became St. Louis Blues' lead television play-by-play announcer alongside former Blues' players Joe Micheletti and Bruce Affleck. During this time, from 1989 to 2000, more games began to be aired on Prime Sports Midwest, the forerunner to today's Bally Sports Midwest.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: The long-term partnership between KMOX and the Blues had its problems, however, namely during spring when the ever-popular St. Louis Cardinals began their season. Blues games, many of which were crucial to playoff berths, would often be pre-empted for spring training coverage. Angry at having to play "second fiddle", the Blues elected to leave for KTRS in 2000. However, in an ironic twist the Cards purchased a controlling interest in KTRS in 2005, and once again preferred to air preseason baseball over regular-season hockey. In response, the Blues moved back to KMOX starting in the 2006–07 season. The season of 2008–09 saw the Blues play their last game on KPLR, which had the rights since the 1986–87 season (except for the 1996–97 season on CBS affiliate KMOV), electing to move all their games to FS Midwest, starting with the 2009–10 season. The Cardinals moved back to KMOX in the 2011 season, with conflicting games moved to KYKY, an FM station owned by the same group as KMOX.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: Since the 2019–20 preseason, WXOS (101 ESPN) has been the flagship radio station for the Blues. Chris Kerber and Joe Vitale are the current radio broadcast team. John Kelly (son of Dan) and Darren Pang are the current team for television coverage, while Scott Warmann, Alexa Datt, Bernie Federko, and Jamie Rivers present the pre-game and post-game shows. Rivers also fills in on color commentary whenever Pang is on a national TV assignment for the NHL on TNT.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: The Blues have a tradition of live organ music. Jeremy Boyer, the Blues organist, plays a Glenn Miller arrangement of W. C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" in its entirety before games and a short version at the end of every period, followed by "When the Saints Go Marching In." Boyer also plays the latter song on the organ after Blues goals, with fans replacing the word "Saints" with "Blues." On October 1, 2018, it was reported that, for the upcoming season, a new goal song recorded by St. Louis-based band The Urge, "The Blues Have The Urge," would be played after Blues goals, immediately following the traditional organ music.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: At the end of the national anthem before every home game, the words "the home of the brave" are drowned out by fans with "the home of the Blues."


title: St. Louis Blues

text: Starting in 2014, the team introduced a win song in the form of Pitbull's "Don't Stop The Party", but from 2016 to 2018, the win song was "Song 2" by Blur after public backlash against using a Pitbull song. Beginning in 2018, the win song has been the aforementioned song recorded by The Urge. However, during the 2019 playoffs, Laura Branigan's "Gloria" was played first before The Urge song.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: The Blues were one of the last teams to add a goal horn, doing so during the 1992–93 season at the St. Louis Arena. All of these traditions carried over to the Kiel Center (now known as Enterprise Center) in 1994. After each goal, a bell is rung and each of the goals are counted by the crowd. Since 1990, Ron Baechle, also known as the "Towel Man" or "Towel Guy," has celebrated each goal by counting with the bell and throwing a towel into the crowd from section 314.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: The team also has a long tradition of fan-produced programs, sold outside the arena and providing an often biting, sarcastic, humor-filled alternative to team- and League-produced periodicals. The longest-running fan publication, "Game Night Revue", was created by a group of fans in the mold of the Chicago Blackhawks' "Blue Line Magazine". It operated for over 10 years, from 1994 to 2005, when its owner decided not to resume the magazine after the 2004–05 NHL lockout (one final oversized "goodbye" issue was distributed the first two home games of the 2005–06 season). After hockey resumed in 2005, a few months after "GNR"'s final issue, a new publication, "St. Louis Game Time", was formed by several former "GNR" staffers.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: Starting after a couple of players heard "Gloria" by Laura Branigan, after their win in Philadelphia on January 3, 2019, the team started to use the song after every home win, and lasted all the way up to their Stanley Cup win. The song has since been retired; the last time they played it was during the raising of the Stanley Cup Championship banner ceremony on October 2, 2019.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: On February 9, 2019, another tradition was born. During the 3rd Period, The Blues were winning by a large margin against the visiting Nashville Predators. The Enterprise Center was electric and buzzing with excitement with anticipation of the win. Blues Director of Entertainment, Jason Pippi, commented that they played Country Roads by John Denver, "was a bit of an mistake... because people love to sing along to that song". The mistake was that play resumed before the chorus was over and the music had to stop. However, despite the music stopping, the loyal Blues fans in attendance continued to sing loudly. It was loud enough, TV cameras picked up the song loud and clear. Fox Sports Midwest color commentator, Darren Pang, exclaimed he "just loved the crowd, they're singing!". Country Roads has been played during every Home game since, at approximately the 15:00 minute mark of the 3rd Period, regardless of the current score. Jason Pippi stated "its just a testament to the passion Blues fans bring each and every night... to the Cup (Stanley Cup) maybe?" And it did take them to the Stanley Cup. The St. Louis Blues won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history later that season.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: After each Home win, the entire St Louis Blues team skates to center ice and in unison, raise their sticks and clap while the goal horn blares, to thank the Blues fans in attendance and watching on TV. It has been called the "Fan Salute" by some.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: "This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Blues. For the full season-by-season history, see List of St. Louis Blues seasons"


title: St. Louis Blues

text: "Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against"


title: St. Louis Blues

text: The St. Louis Blues presently acknowledge an affiliation with a number of inductees to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Inductees affiliated with the Blues include 24 former players (six of whom earned their credentials primarily with the Blues) and seven builders of the sport. The seven individuals recognized as builders by the Hall of Fame includes former Blues executives, general managers, head coaches, and owners. In addition to players and builders, the team recognizes an affiliation with two broadcasters who were awarded the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame. Dan Kelly, the Blues' radio play-by-play announcer, was awarded the first Blues broadcaster to receive the award in 1989. John Davidson, received the award in 2009 for his contributions in television broadcasting.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: In addition to the aforementioned numbers, the NHL also retired Wayne Gretzky's number 99 from use for all of its members teams, including the Blues, at the 2000 NHL All-Star Game. Gretzky had previously played for the Blues in 1996, although the Blues did not retire his number prior to its league-wide retirement.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: These are the top-ten point-scorers, goal scorers, and assist leaders in franchise regular-season history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.


title: St. Louis Blues

text: "Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game"


title: St. Louis Blues

text: These are the top-ten-point-scorers, goal scorers, and assist leaders in franchise playoff history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL season.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: Reema Lamba (born 24 October 1976), better known as Mallika Sherawat, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Hindi language films. Known for her bold onscreen attitude in films like "Khwahish" (2003) and "Murder" (2004), Sherawat has established herself as a sex symbol and as one of the most popular celebrities in Bollywood. She then appeared in the successful romantic comedy "Pyaar Ke Side Effects" (2006) which won her much critical acclaim.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: Since then, she has appeared in successes like "Aap Ka Suroor", "Welcome" (both 2007) — her biggest commercial success so far — and "Double Dhamaal" (2011). She is one of the few Bollywood stars trying to cross over to Hollywood, with films like "Hisss" (2010) and "Politics of Love" (2011).


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: Sherawat was born as Reema Lamba in Moth, a small village in Hisar district of Haryana to a Jat family. Mallika's father is named Mukesh Kumar Lamba and she was born in the family of Seth Chhaju Ram, a leading Jat philanthropist. She adopted the screen name of "Mallika", meaning "empress", to avoid confusion with other actresses named Reema. "Sherawat" is her mother's maiden name She has stated that she uses her mother's maiden name because of the support that her mother has provided her.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: Although relations with her family were strained when she entered the film industry, Sherawat's family has now accepted her career choice and they have reconciled.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: Sherawat went to Delhi Public School, Mathura Road. She has a degree in philosophy from Miranda House, Delhi University. During the initial days of her career, she claimed to be from a very conservative small-town family and that she faced many hurdles from them in pursuing her career. However, Sherawat's family has rebutted this as a story created by her to give her an aura of a rustic girl who made it big in Bollywood.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: Before entering films, Sherawat appeared in television commercials with Amitabh Bachchan for BPL and Shah Rukh Khan for Santro. She also appeared in Nirmal Pandey's "Maar Dala" and Surjit Bindrakhia's "Lak Tunoo" music video. She debuted in films with a small rôle in "Jeena Sirf Merre Liye" where she was credited as Reema Lamba.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: Sherawat attracted notice with her appearance in the 2003 film, "Khwahish". In 2004, she starred in "Murder", a film inspired by Hollywood's "Unfaithful". She was noticed for her bold role with critic Narbir Gosal writing, "she has the chops to pull off a role like this one. She´s confident and sexy as Simran and handles her emotional scenes with dignity." She received a nomination for 'Best Actress' at the Zee Cine Awards for her performance in "Murder". The film went on to become one of the biggest hits of the year.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: Since then, Sherawat has been known for expressing her opinions in public, as well for the reaction to some of her statements.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: In 2005, Sherawat acted in "The Myth", a Chinese film, co-starring with Jackie Chan. She played an Indian girl who saves Chan's character from a river. "The Myth" was her first international film. Her appearance at the Cannes Film Festival to promote the film secured a lot of attention, with "Time" magazine's Richard Corliss calling her "the next big thing."


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: Her performance in the 2006 film "Pyaar Ke Side Effects", co-starring Rahul Bose, won her praise from around the industry, with critic Raja Sen commenting, "Mallika steals the show with her disarming candour." and the film did moderately well at the box office.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: Her first release in 2007 was Mani Ratnam's "Guru", in which she performed the song "Mayya Mayya." She played a guest role in Himesh Reshammiya's "Aap Ka Suroor - The Real Love Story" and reportedly charged Rs. 15 million for a 10-minute appearance. Her last release of 2007 was "Welcome", which did exceptionally well at the box office. Her performance received very favourable reviews with noted film critic Taran Adarsh writing, "Mallika Sherawat is electrifying."


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: Her 2008 releases were "Ugly Aur Pagli" and "Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam". Both were unsuccessful at the box office. Sherawat's next Bollywood release was "Double Dhamaal", which went on to becoming a moderate success at the box office, receiving 'above average' status at the box office, by Box Office India. She also appeared in item numbers in films such as "Thank You" (Razia Gundon Mein Phas Gayi), "Bin Bulaye Baraati" (Shalu Ke Thumkey) and in "Osthe" (Kalasala), which is a Tamil film. In 2012, she was featured in an item number in "Tezz" (Laila). Sherawat has also performed in "Kismat Love Paisa Dilli", in which she will be playing a Haryanvi.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: On 23 October 2013 Mallika staring reality dating show called "Bachelorette India - Mere Khayalon ki Mallika" was aired which was adopted from "The Bachelorette" to find the perfect bachelor for herself.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: In 2009, Sherawat starred in a Hollywood film named "Hisss", co-starring Irrfan Khan and directed by Jennifer Lynch. The story, based on the legend of Nāga, is an independent co-production between the United States and India. Endeavour Independent bought the distribution rights of "Hisss". Sherawat promoted it with live snakes at the Cannes Film Festival 2010. "Hisss" was released in all major Indian languages on 22 October 2010.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: Sherawat starred in another Hollywood film, "Politics of Love", aka "Love, Barack", directed by William Dear. She plays Aretha Gupta, a devoted local Obama volunteer coordinator. The film is a romantic comedy set during Barack Obama's campaign for the US presidency. A first look of "Love, Barack" was unveiled by Sherawat at Cannes 2010. It was released in 2011.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: Sherawat won the 2008 Renaissance Artist Award at the 16th Annual Diversity Awards held in California. On 14 August 2009, Sherawat received honorary citizenship of Los Angeles in recognition of her career achievements and charitable work.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: In 2012 Sherawat featured with American pop star Bruno Mars in his parody video of Salt-n-Pepa "Whatta Man" for the comedy website Funny or Die.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: During her brief stint as an air hostess, Sherawat married Delhi-based pilot Karan Singh Gill in 1997. She later divorced him. She kept her marriage a secret as the stigma of divorce would've prevented her rise in Bollywood. She dated French real estate agent Cyrille Auxenfans in 2017.


title: Mallika Sherawat

text: Sherawat has been involved with women's rights activism, discussing women's issues at the 65th United Nations DPI/NGO Conference in 2014. During the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, Sherawat had herself locked in a cage for twelve hours to support the Free A Girl India NGO.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: Kumar Mangalam Birla (born 14 June 1967) is an Indian billionaire industrialist, philanthropist, Chartered Accountant and the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, one of the largest global conglomerates in India. He is also the chancellor of the Birla Institute of Technology & Science and Chairman of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. According to Forbes, he has an estimated net worth of US$14 billion, as of 1 October 2022.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: Birla took over as chairman of the Aditya Birla Group in 1995, at the age of 28, following the death of his father Aditya Vikram Birla. During his tenure as chairman, the group's annual turnover has increased from US$2 Billion in 1995 to US$45 billion in 2021.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: Today, the group is present in 36 countries across six continents with over 50% of its revenues coming from overseas operations.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: A fourth generation member of the Birla Family from Rajasthan, Kumar Birla was born in Kolkata and grew up in a joint family in Mumbai with his parents Aditya Vikram Birla and Rajashree Birla and younger sister Vasavadatta Birla.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: He did his high school from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics and a bachelor's degree from H.R. College of Commerce and Economics of the University of Mumbai. He later studied at London Business School and was awarded Master of Business Administration from University of London in 1992. He is also an honorary fellow at LBS. He is a chartered accountant from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: In 1995, Kumar Mangalam Birla took over the family business and consolidated all the group companies under the brand – Aditya Birla Group (ABG). Birla acquired Indian Aluminum Company (INDAL) in 2000. Then in 2003, Hindalco, acquired Nifty Copper Mines in Australia, while the Aditya Birla Group acquired the Mount Gordon Copper mines in Australia. Next year in 2004, Birla acquired a majority stake in L&T cement, which was later renamed UltraTech Cement. In the same year, the Birla-led group’s flagship Hindalco Industries announced a merger with all the businesses of Indian Aluminium Company (Indal).


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: In 2007, Birla spearheaded the purchase of Atlanta-based Novelis Inc, which was the world’s leading producer of aluminium rolled products, by Aditya Birla Group’s flagship Hindalco. After five years in 2012, Birla’s Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd. acquired Future Group's Pantaloon Retail Limited in India.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: Birla's name surfaced in Indian coal allocation case, that traced its origin to the allocation of coal blocks between 2004 and 2009.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: In 2014, CBI filed closure report against Birla. Since 2015, the Aditya Birla Group consolidated its branded apparel business under its lifestyle retail firm Pantaloons Fashion and Retail India Ltd. and renamed it as Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail, creating India's top branded clothing company by revenues and number of sales outlets.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: By 2016, Kumar Birla launched a new logo for the Aditya Birla Group. In June 2017, UltraTech Cement, chaired by Birla, completed the acquisition of Jaiprakash Associates' six cement plants along with five grinding units.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: In the same year, Birla revived Applause Entertainment, a media, content and IP creation studio with a focus on creating premium digital drama series. Sameer Nair, ex-CEO of Balaji Telefilms, heads the venture, part of the Aditya Birla Group.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: After that in 2018, the Aditya Birla Group owned Idea Cellular was merged with Vodafone India to create India’s largest telecom service provider – Vodafone Idea Ltd. Also in 2018 under Birla’s guidance, UltraTech Cement acquired the cement business of Century Textiles while Binani Cement became a wholly owned subsidiary of UltraTech Cement.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: Under Birla’s leadership, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) acquired the Jaypore brand and bought 51% stake in Finesse International Design that runs the designer wear label Shantanu & Nikhil in 2019. In 2020, Walmart owned Flipkart acquired a 7.8% stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail by making an investment of INR 1,500 crore in the company.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: By 2021, Grasim industries, a flagship company of the global conglomerate Aditya Birla Group, entered the paints business with an investment of INR 5,000 crore over three years.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: Since August 2021, Birla stepped down as non-executive Chairman of telecom firm Vodafone Idea, formed by the 2018 merger between his Idea Cellular and Vodafone India.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: Birla has received several awards, including the International Advertising Association's "CEO of the Year Award" in 2016; the US India Business Council's "Global Leadership Award" in 2014; Economic Times "Business Leader Award" in 2003 and 2013; Forbes India Leadership Award – Flagship Award "Entrepreneur of the Year 2012; NDTV Profit Business Leadership Awards 2012, "Most Inspiring Leader"; CNBCTV18 IBLA "Business Leader for Taking India Abroad 2012"; CNN-IBN "Indian of the Year Award 2010"; JRD Tata "Leadership Award 2008"; NDTV's "Global Indian Leader of the Year 2007".


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: An educationist, Birla is the Chancellor of Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) and BITS School of Management (BITSoM). He is chairman of IIT Delhi, IIM Ahmedabad and chairman of Rhodes India Scholarship Committee for Oxford University. He serves on London Business School's Asia Pacific Advisory Board and is an honorary fellow of the London Business School.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: As per the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2021, Kumar Mangalam Birla and his family ranked fourth on the philanthropy list with donations mostly to the healthcare sector.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: Kumar Mangalam Birla has created a 15 million pound endowed scholarship programme to support 10 full-time MBA candidates every year at the London Business School. The BK Birla Scholars Programme is named after Birla’s late grandfather Basant Kumar Birla. This scholarship programme is the largest endowed scholarship gift to a European business school.


title: Kumar Mangalam Birla

text: The Birla family has built schools and temples around the India, including BITS Pilani and Birla Mandirs.


title: 9

text: In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and Gupta started curving the bottom vertical line coming up with a -look-alike. The Nagari continued the bottom stroke to make a circle and enclose the 3-look-alike, in much the same way that the sign @ encircles a lowercase "a". As time went on, the enclosing circle became bigger and its line continued beyond the circle downwards, as the 3-look-alike became smaller. Soon, all that was left of the 3-look-alike was a squiggle. The Arabs simply connected that squiggle to the downward stroke at the middle and subsequent European change was purely cosmetic.


title: 9

text: While the shape of the glyph for the digit 9 has an ascender in most modern typefaces, in typefaces with text figures the character usually has a descender, as, for example, in .


title: 9

text: The modern digit resembles an inverted "6". To disambiguate the two on objects and documents that can be inverted, they are often underlined. Another distinction from the 6 is that it is sometimes handwritten with two strokes and a straight stem, resembling a raised lower-case letter q.


title: 9

text: In a seven-segment display, the number 9 can be constructed in two ways, either with a hook at the end of its stem or without one. Most LCD calculators use the former, but some VFD models use the latter.


title: 9

text: Nine is the fourth composite number, and the first composite number that is odd. 9 is the highest single-digit number in the decimal system. It is the third square number (3), and the second non-unitary square prime of the form "p" and first that is odd, with all subsequent squares of this form odd as well.


title: 9

text: By Mihăilescu's theorem, 9 is the only positive perfect power that is one more than another positive perfect power, since the square of 3 is one more than the cube of 2.


title: 9

text: 9 is the number of derangements of 4, or the number of permutations of four elements with no fixed points.


title: 9

text: The first non-trivial magic square is a formula_1 x formula_1 magic square made of nine cells, with a magic constant of 15. Meanwhile, a formula_3 x formula_3 magic square has a magic constant of 369.


title: 9

text: 9 is a Motzkin number, for the number of ways of drawing non-intersecting chords between four points on a circle.


title: 9

text: A polygon with nine sides is called a nonagon. Also an "enneagon", it is able to fill a plane-vertex alongside an equilateral triangle and an regular octadecagon, or 18-sided polygon.


title: 9

text: There are nine distinct uniform colorings of the triangular tiling and the square tiling, which are the two simplest regular tilings; the hexagonal tiling, on the other hand, has three distinct uniform colorings.


title: 9

text: Nine distinct stellation's by Miller's rules are produced by the truncated tetrahedron. It is the simplest Archimedian solid, with a total of four triangular and four hexagonal faces.


title: 9

text: In four-dimensional space, there are nine paracompact hyperbolic honeycomb Coxeter groups, as well as nine regular compact hyperbolic honeycombs from regular convex and star "polychora". There are also nine uniform demitesseractic (formula_5) Euclidean honeycombs in the fourth dimension.


title: 9

text: There are only three types of Coxeter groups of uniform figures in dimensions nine and thereafter, aside from the many families of prisms and proprisms: the formula_6 simplex groups, the formula_7 hypercube groups, and the formula_8 demihypercube groups. The ninth dimension is also the final dimension that contains Coxeter-Dynkin diagrams as uniform solutions in hyperbolic space. Inclusive of compact hyperbolic solutions, there are a total of 238 compact and paracompact Coxeter-Dynkin diagrams between dimensions two and nine, or equivalently between ranks three and ten. The most important of the last formula_9 paracompact groups is the group formula_10 with 1023 total honeycombs, the simplest of which is 6 whose vertex figure is the 5 honeycomb: the vertex arrangement of the densest-possible packing of spheres in 8 dimensions which forms the formula_11 lattice. The 6 honeycomb is made of 9-simplexes and 9-orthoplexes, with 1023 total polytope elements making up each 9-simplex. It is the final honeycomb figure with infinite facets and vertex figures in the k family of semiregular polytopes, first defined by Thorold Gosset in 1900.


title: 9

text: There are nine Heegner numbers, or square-free positive integers formula_12 that yield an imaginary quadratic field formula_13 whose ring of integers has a unique factorization, or class number of 1.


title: 9

text: A positive number is divisible by nine if and only if its digital root is nine. That is, if any natural number is multiplied by 9, and the digits of the answer are repeatedly added until it is just one digit, the sum will be nine:


title: 9

text: This works for all the multiples of 9. is the only other such that a number is divisible by "n" if and only if its digital root is divisible by "n". In base-"N", the divisors of have this property. Another consequence of 9 being , is that it is also a Kaprekar number.


title: 9

text: The difference between a base-10 positive integer and the sum of its digits is a whole multiple of nine. Examples:


title: 9

text: If dividing a number by the amount of 9s corresponding to its number of digits, the number is turned into a repeating decimal. (e.g. )


title: 9

text: Casting out nines is a quick way of testing the calculations of sums, differences, products, and quotients of integers known as long ago as the 12th century.


title: 9

text: Nine is a number that appears often in Indian culture and mythology. Some instances are enumerated below.


title: Derek Trucks

text: Derek Trucks (born June 8, 1979) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and founder of The Derek Trucks Band. He became an official member of The Allman Brothers Band in 1999. In 2010, he formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife, blues singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi. His musical style encompasses several genres and he has twice appeared on "Rolling Stone"s list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He is the nephew of the late Butch Trucks, drummer for the Allman Brothers.


title: Derek Trucks

text: Trucks was born in Jacksonville, Florida. According to Trucks, the name of Eric Clapton's band, "Derek and the Dominos", had "something to do with the name [Derek] if not the spelling".


title: Derek Trucks

text: Trucks bought his first guitar at a yard sale for $5 at age nine and became a child prodigy, playing his first paid performance at age 11. Trucks began playing the guitar using a slide because it allowed him to play the guitar despite his small hands as a young guitarist. By his 13th birthday, Trucks had played alongside Buddy Guy and toured with Thunderhawk.


title: Derek Trucks

text: Trucks formed The Derek Trucks Band in 1994, and by his 20th birthday, he had played with such artists as Bob Dylan, Joe Walsh, and Stephen Stills. In 1999, he toured as a member of Phil Lesh & Friends. After performing with The Allman Brothers Band for several years as a guest musician, Trucks became a formal member of the band in 1999 and appeared on the albums "Peakin' at the Beacon", "Live at the Beacon Theatre", "Hittin' the Note" and "One Way Out". In 2006 Trucks began a studio collaboration with JJ Cale and Eric Clapton called "The Road to Escondido" and performed with three bands in 17 countries that year. Trucks was invited to perform at the 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival, and after the festival, he toured as part of Clapton's band.


title: Derek Trucks

text: Trucks built a studio in his home in January 2008, and his band and he recorded the album "Already Free". Trucks and his wife, Susan Tedeschi, combined their bands to form the Soul Stew Revival in 2007 and performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in June 2008. In late 2009, Trucks and his band went on hiatus, after which the band dissolved. In 2010, Trucks formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife. On January 8, 2014, Trucks announced that he and fellow guitarist Warren Haynes planned to leave the Allman Brothers Band at the end of 2014. That band announced its retirement, with Trucks playing as a member through their final show on October 28, 2014, at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.


title: Derek Trucks

text: Trucks credits guitarist Duane Allman and bluesman Elmore James as the two slide guitarists who influenced his early style, but he has since been inspired by John Lee Hooker, Ali Akbar Khan, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King, Miles Davis, Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Wayne Shorter, Toy Caldwell, Johnny Winter, Freddie King and B.B. King.


title: Derek Trucks

text: His music is rooted in blues and rock, embracing jam band, Southern rock, and jazz. Trucks plays an eclectic blend of blues, soul, jazz, rock, qawwali music (a genre of music from Pakistan and western India), Latin music, and other kinds of world music Trucks became a fan of Hindustani classical musician Ali Akbar Khan, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod and popularising Indian classical music in the West, often in conjunction with sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar. Trucks studied at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California.


title: Derek Trucks

text: In 2006, two vintage (1965 and 1968) Fender Super Reverb amplifiers, a Hammond B-3 organ, two Leslie speaker cabinets, and a Hohner E-7 clavinet were stolen from Trucks and later recovered by the Atlanta Police Department.


title: Derek Trucks

text: Trucks has appeared twice in "Rolling Stone"s list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". He was listed as 81st in 2003 and 16th in 2011. A 2006 article in "The Wall Street Journal" described him as "the most awe-inspiring electric slide guitar player performing today". In 2007, Trucks appeared on the cover of "Rolling Stone" for an article called the "New Guitar Gods". Trucks is a creative guitarist according to his uncle, Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks: "He never does the same thing twice". "The Washington Post" in 2009 described Trucks' guitar style as "notes and chords that soar, slice, and glide, sounding like a cross between Duane Allman on a '61 Gibson Les Paul and John Coltrane on tenor sax". The Derek Trucks Band's album "Already Free" debuted at number 19 on the "Billboard "Top 200 chart, and number one on the Internet chart, number four on the rock chart, and number one on the blues chart.


title: Derek Trucks

text: In 2010, The Derek Trucks Band won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album for the album "Already Free". In 2012, Trucks and Tedeschi won the Grammy Award for Best Blues Album for the Tedeschi Trucks Band's debut album "Revelator". On February 12, 2012, Trucks accepted a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award along with 10 other members of The Allman Brothers Band. On February 21, 2012, Derek Trucks and his wife joined other blues musicians for a performance at the White House for President Obama and his guests.


title: Derek Trucks

text: In September 2012, John Mayer and Derek Trucks joined B.B. King on stage at the Hollywood Bowl for an encore version of B.B.'s song "Guess Who". Concluding the performance, B.B. King made several remarks about Trucks's guitar work, ending with, "That's about as good as I've ever heard it—as good as I’ve ever heard it, and I mean it".


title: Derek Trucks

text: Trucks' late uncle, Butch Trucks, was a founding member and drummer of The Allman Brothers Band. His younger brother is Duane Trucks, who is a member of Widespread Panic and Hard Working Americans. His great-uncle, Virgil Trucks, was a major league baseball pitcher in the 1940s and 1950s, winning 177 games in his career.


title: Derek Trucks

text: In 2001, Trucks married singer and musician Susan Tedeschi, and they had a son in March 2002 and a daughter in 2004. Trucks is a fan of the Atlanta Braves, the Florida State Seminoles, and his hometown Jacksonville Jaguars.


title: Peridot

text: Peridot ( ), sometimes called chrysolite, is a deep yellowish-green transparent variety of olivine. Peridot is one of the few gemstones that only occurs in one color.


title: Peridot

text: Peridot can be found in mafic and ultramafic rocks occurring in lava and peridotite xenoliths of the mantle. The gem occurs in silica-deficient rocks such as volcanic basalt and pallasitic meteorites. Peridot is one of only two gems observed to be formed not in the Earth’s crust, but in the molten rock of the upper mantle. Gem-quality peridot is rare on Earth's surface due to its susceptibility to weathering during its movement from deep within the mantle to the surface. Peridot has the formula of (Mg, Fe)SiO. Peridot is one of the birthstones for the month of August.


title: Peridot

text: The origin of the name "peridot" is uncertain. The "Oxford English Dictionary" suggests an alteration of Anglo–Norman (classical Latin -), a kind of opal, rather than the Arabic word , meaning "gem".


title: Peridot

text: The "Middle English Dictionary"s entry on "peridot" includes several variations: , , and  — other variants substitute "y" for the "i"s seen here.


title: Peridot

text: The earliest use in England is in the register of the St Albans Abbey, in Latin, and its translation in 1705 is possibly the first use of "peridot" in English. It records that on his death in 1245, Bishop John bequeathed various items, including peridot, to the Abbey.


title: Peridot

text: Peridot is one of the few gemstones that occur in only one color: an olive-green. The intensity and tint of the green, however, depends on the percentage of iron in the crystal structure, so the color of individual peridot gems can vary from yellow, to olive, to brownish-green. In rare cases, peridot may have a medium-dark toned, pure green with no secondary yellow hue or brown mask. Lighter colored gems are due to lower iron concentrations.


title: Peridot

text: The molecular structure of peridot consist of isomorphic olivine, silicate, magnesium and iron in an orthorhombic crystal system. In an alternative view, the atomic structure can be described as a hexagonal, close-packed array of oxygen ions with half of the octahedral sites occupied with magnesium or iron ions and one-eighth of the tetrahedral sites occupied by silicon ions.


title: Peridot

text: Oxidation of peridot does not occur at natural surface temperature and pressure, but begins to occur slowly at with rates increasing with temperature. The oxidation of the olivine occurs by initial breakdown of the fayalite component, and subsequent reaction with the forsterite component, to give magnetite and orthopyroxene.


title: Peridot

text: Olivine, of which peridot is a type, is a common mineral in mafic and ultramafic rocks, often found in lava and in peridotite xenoliths of the mantle, which lava carries to the surface; however, gem-quality peridot occurs in only a fraction of these settings. Peridots can also be found in meteorites.


title: Peridot

text: Peridots can be differentiated by size and composition. A peridot formed as a result of volcanic activity tends to contain higher concentrations of lithium, nickel and zinc than those found in meteorites.


title: Peridot

text: Olivine is an abundant mineral, but gem-quality peridot is rather rare due to its chemical instability on Earth's surface. Olivine is usually found as small grains and tends to exist in a heavily weathered state, unsuitable for decorative use. Large crystals of forsterite, the variety most often used to cut peridot gems, are rare; as a result olivine is considered to be precious.


title: Peridot

text: In the ancient world, mining of peridot, called "topazios" then, on St. John's Island in the Red Sea began about 300 B.C.


title: Peridot

text: The principal source of peridot olivine today is the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. It is also mined at another location in Arizona, and in Arkansas, Hawaii, Nevada, and New Mexico at Kilbourne Hole, in the US; and in Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Norway, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania.


title: Peridot

text: Peridot crystals have been collected from some pallasite meteorites. The most commonly studied pallasitic peridot belongs to the Indonesian Jeppara meteorite, but others exist such as the Brenham, Esquel, Fukang, and Imilac meteorites.


title: Peridot

text: Pallasitic (extraterrestrial) peridot differs chemically from its earthbound counterpart, in that pallasitic peridot lacks nickel.


title: Peridot

text: All minerals that are orthorhombic, like peridot, are biaxial and are defined by three principal axes: α, β, γ. Refractive index readings of faceted gems contain indices α = 1.653, β = 1.670, and γ = 1.689 with a corresponding biaxial birefringence of 0.036. The refractive index, as well as the specific gravity, slightly vary depending on the iron concentration; a dominant cause of peridot color variation. The numerical β index tends to shift towards the α and γ index with a corresponding increase in the iron concentration — forming the iron-rich end member fayalite.


title: Peridot

text: Study of Chinese peridot gem samples determined the specific gravity hydro-statically to be 3.36. The visible-light spectroscopy of the same Chinese peridot samples showed light bands between 493.0 and 481.0 nm, the strongest absorption at 492.0 nm.


title: Peridot

text: Inclusions are common in peridot crystals but their presence depend on the location it is found at and the geological conditions that led to the crystallization of the peridot. Primary negative crystals — rounded gas bubbles — form in-situ with peridot and are common in Hawaiian peridots. Secondary negative crystals form in peridot fractures. Lily pad cleavages, seen often in San Carlos peridots, are a type of secondary negative crystal and are viewed easily under reflected light as circular discs surrounding a negative crystal. Silky and rod-like inclusions are common in Pakistani peridots. The most common mineral inclusion in peridot is the chromium-rich mineral chromite. Magnesium-rich minerals also can exist in the form of pyrope and magnesiochromite. These two types of mineral inclusions typically surrounded lily-pad cleavages. Biotite flakes appear flat, brown, translucent, and tabular.


title: Peridot

text: Peridot has been prized since the earliest civilizations for its claimed protective powers to drive away fears and nightmares, according to superstitions. It is believed by some superstitious people to carry the gift of "inner radiance", sharpening the mind and opening it to new levels of awareness and growth, helping one to recognize and realize one’s destiny and spiritual purpose. There is no scientific evidence for such claims.


title: Peridot

text: Peridot is sometimes mistaken for emeralds and other green gems. Notable gemologist George Frederick Kunz discussed the confusion between emeralds and peridot in many church treasures, notably the "Three Magi" treasure in the Dom of Cologne, Germany.


title: Asics

text: Asics began as Onitsuka Co., Ltd on September 1, 1949. Founder began manufacturing basketball shoes in his home town of Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. The range of sports activities serviced by the company expanded to a variety of Olympic styles used since the 1950s by athletes worldwide. Onitsuka became particularly known for the Mexico 66 design, in which the distinctive crossed stripes (now synonymous with the company) were featured for the first time; martial artist Bruce Lee helped popularize the shoe. Onitsuka Tiger merged with fishing and sporting goods company GTO and athletic uniform maker Jelenk to form Asics Corporation in 1977; Onitsuka was named president of the new company. Despite the name change a vintage range of Asics shoes are still produced and sold internationally under the Onitsuka Tiger label.


title: Asics

text: Asics bought the Swedish outdoor brand Haglöfs, for ($128.7 million) on July 12, 2010. In February 2016 Asics acquired fitness app Runkeeper.


title: Asics

text: Asics generated in net sales and in net income in fiscal year 2021. 58% of the company's income came from the sale of performance running shoes, 21% from other shoes, 10% from apparel and equipment, and 11% from Onitsuka Tiger. 26% of the company's sales were in Japan, 20% in North America, 25% in Europe, 12% in China and 17% in other regions.


title: Asics

text: Nike, Inc. (originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports) was founded to sell Onitsuka Tiger shoes in the US. When Phil Knight visited Japan in 1963 shortly after he graduated from Stanford University he was impressed by Onitsuka Tiger shoes and immediately visited the Onitsuka Tiger office and asked to be their sales agent in the US. After a number of years the relationship crumbled and both companies sued each other, with Nike retaining the naming rights to several shoes.


title: Asics

text: Asics sponsors a variety of sports associations, teams and individuals; sponsorships include World Athletics and the Los Angeles Marathon. The company announced on October 4, 2011 that it would be the new official kit manufacturer for the Australian Cricket Team, replacing German manufacturer Adidas.


title: Asics

text: In March 2017, employees assembling Asics products in Cambodia fainted due to thick smoke present in the factory where they were working. The company responded to this by saying that it, along with the factory in question, would "address specific measures, with a focus on workers’ awareness and health and safety training, as well as including an improved air ventilation system".


title: Asics

text: In March 2021, while several Western clothing brands expressed concern over allegations of forced Uyghur labor involved in Xinjiang cotton production, Asics announced that it would continue to source cotton from the region.


title: Gary Morton

text: Gary Morton (born Morton Goldaper; December 19, 1924 – March 30, 1999) was an American stand-up comedian whose primary venues were hotels and resorts of the Borscht Belt in upstate New York. He was born in New York City, the son of Morris Goldaper and Rose Greenfeder Goldaper, and had a sister, Helen. Later, he was a producer and studio executive, in association with his second wife, Lucille Ball.


title: Gary Morton

text: Morton married actress Susan Morrow on December 17, 1953. They separated in August 1954 and finally on July 11, 1957, the marriage was annulled in Los Angeles.


title: Gary Morton

text: In 1960, Morton met Lucille Ball in New York City a few months before she opened on Broadway in the musical "Wildcat". Morton claimed he was always busy working nights, so had not seen the popular series "I Love Lucy". They were married on November 19, 1961 at the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City. Morton signed a prenuptial agreement to stifle rumors that he was a gold digger. Morton was 13 years younger than Lucille Ball.


title: Gary Morton

text: Morton became closely involved in the management of his wife's career, from the time of their marriage in 1961 throughout the remainder of her career. During Ball's solo years as the titular head of Desilu Productions, Morton and his brother-in-law, Fred Ball, served on the studio's board of directors in various capacities.


title: Gary Morton

text: Later, Morton's effectiveness in his duties came under some scrutiny and criticism. Most notable of these denouncements came from Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman, whose dealings with Morton during the production of the are documented in their 1996 book "Inside Star Trek: The Real Story". Others, including Grant Tinker, came forward with their own recollections of Morton's tenure at Desilu.


title: Gary Morton

text: Most critics cite Morton's construction of a "European Street" — a ¾-scale replica of a European-styled business district street — as being a wasteful use of studio funds at a time when frugality was a necessity. According to Desilu and Paramount financial records, and as reported by Solow and Justman, not one television or theatrical production was filmed on this set before it was demolished in 1977.


title: Gary Morton

text: After the sale of Desilu to Gulf+Western in 1967, Morton helped Ball form Lucille Ball Productions to allow her to have more of a free hand in television production. Morton served as executive producer of Ball's third series "Here's Lucy" (1968–1974), and was a co-executive producer of her ill-fated 1986 series "Life with Lucy". Aside from producing tasks, he warmed up Ball's audiences before her entrance. He also played bit parts in Ball's various series and acted occasionally in films. He played a fictional borscht belt comedian Sherman Hart in "Lenny" (1974). On February 15, 1983, Ball and Morton launched a film-and-television partnership with film studio 20th Century-Fox, where Fox gave Ball access to theatrical films, plays, made-for-television movies, a 20-hour mini-series and a sitcom.


title: Gary Morton

text: In 1996, Morton married Susie McAllister. On March 30, 1999, he died of lung cancer at the age of 74 in Palm Springs, California.


title: Modernization theory

text: Modernization theory is used to explain the process of modernization within societies. The "classical" theories of modernization of the 1950s and 1960s drew on sociological analyses of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and a partial reading of Max Weber, and were strongly influenced by the writings of Harvard sociologist Talcott Parsons. Modernization theory was a dominant paradigm in the social sciences in the 1950s and 1960s, then went into a deep eclipse. It made a comeback after 1991, when Francis Fukuyama wrote about the end of the Cold War as confirmation on modernization theory and more generally of universal history. But the theory remains a controversial model.


title: Modernization theory

text: Modernization refers to a model of a progressive transition from a "pre-modern" or "traditional" to a "modern" society. Modernization theory suggests that traditional societies will develop as they adopt more modern practices. Proponents of modernization theory claim that modern states are wealthier and more powerful and that their citizens are freer to enjoy a higher standard of living. Developments such as new data technology and the need to update traditional methods in transport, communication and production make modernization necessary or at least preferable to the status quo. That view makes critique difficult since it implies that such developments control the limits of human interaction, not vice versa. And yet, seemingly paradoxically, it also implies that human agency controls the speed and severity of modernization. Supposedly, instead of being dominated by tradition, societies undergoing the process of modernization typically arrive at forms of governance dictated by abstract principles. Traditional religious beliefs and cultural traits, according to the theory, usually become less important as modernization takes hold.


title: Modernization theory

text: The theory looks at the internal factors of a country while assuming that with assistance, "traditional" countries can be brought to development in the same manner more developed countries have been. Modernization theory both attempts to identify the social variables that contribute to social progress and development of societies and seeks to explain the process of social evolution. Authors such as Daniel Lerner explicitly equated modernization with Westernization.


title: Modernization theory

text: Today, the concept of modernization is understood in three different meanings: 1) as the internal development of Western Europe and North America relating to the European New Era; 2) as a process by which countries that do not belong to the first group of countries, aim to catch up with them; 3) as processes of evolutionary development of the most modernized societies (Western Europe and North America), i.e. modernization as a permanent process, carried out through reform and innovation, which today means a transition to a postindustrial society.


title: Modernization theory

text: Historians link modernization to the processes of urbanization and industrialization and the spread of education. As Kendall (2007) notes, "Urbanization accompanied modernization and the rapid process of industrialization." In sociological critical theory, modernization is linked to an overarching process of rationalisation. When modernization increases within a society, the individual becomes increasingly important, eventually replacing the family or community as the fundamental unit of society. It is also a subject taught in traditional Advanced Placement World History classes.


title: Modernization theory

text: Modernization theory is subject to criticism originating among socialist and free-market ideologies, world-systems theorists, globalization theorists and dependency theorists among others. Modernization theory stresses not only the process of change but also the responses to that change. It also looks at internal dynamics while referring to social and cultural structures and the adaptation of new technologies.


title: Modernization theory

text: The modernization theory of the 1950s and 1960 drew on classical evolutionary theory and a Parsonian reading of Weber's ideas about a transition from traditional to modern society. Parsons had translated Weber's works into English in the 1930s and provided his own interpretation.


title: Modernization theory

text: After 1945 the Parsonian version became widely used in sociology and other social sciences. Some of the thinkers associated with modernization theory are Marion J. Levy Jr., Gabriel Almond, Seymour Martin Lipset, Walt Rostow, Daniel Lerner, Lucian Pye, David Apter, Alex Inkeles, Cyril Edwin Black, Bert F. Hoselitz, Myron Weiner, and Karl Deutsch.


title: Modernization theory

text: By the late 1960s opposition to modernization theory developed because the theory was too general and did not fit all societies in quite the same way. Yet, with the end of the Cold War, a few attempts to revive modernization theory were carried out. Francis Fukuyama argued for the use of modernization theory as universal history. A more academic effort to revise modernization theory was that of Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel in "Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy" (2005). Inglehart and Welzel amended the 1960s version of modernization theory in significant ways. Counter to Lipset, who associated industrial growth with democratization, Inglehart and Welzel did not see an association between industrialization and democratization. Rather, they held that only at a later stage in the process of economic modernization, which various authors have chanracterized as post-industrial, did values conducive to democratization - which Inglehart and Welzel call “self-expression values” - emerge.


title: Modernization theory

text: Nonetheless, these efforts to revive modernization theory were critized by many (see the section on "Criticisms and alternatives" below), and the theory remained a controversial one.


title: Modernization theory

text: The relationship between modernization and democracy or democratization is one of the most researched studies in comparative politics. There are many studies show that modernization has contributed to democracy in some countries. For example, Seymour Martin Lipset argued that modernization can turn into democracy." There is academic debate over the drivers of democracy because there are theories that support economic growth as both a cause and effect of the institution of democracy. “Lipset’s observation that democracy is related to economic development, first advanced in 1959, has generated the largest body of research on any topic in comparative politics,”


title: Modernization theory

text: Larry Diamond and Juan Linz, who worked with Lipset in the book, "Democracy in Developing Countries: Latin America", argue that economic performance affects the development of democracy in at least three ways. First, they argue that economic growth is more important for democracy than given levels of socioeconomic development. Second, socioeconomic development generates social changes that can potentially facilitate democratization. Third, socioeconomic development promotes other changes, like organization of the middle class, which is conducive to democracy.


title: Modernization theory

text: As Seymour Martin Lipset put it, "All the various aspects of economic development—industrialization, urbanization, wealth and education—are so closely interrelated as to form one major factor which has the political correlate of democracy". The argument also appears in Walt W. Rostow, "Politics and the Stages of Growth" (1971); A. F. K. Organski, "The Stages of Political Development" (1965); and David Apter, "The Politics of Modernization" (1965). In the 1960s, some critics argued that the link between modernization and democracy was based too much on the example of European history and neglected the Third World.


title: Modernization theory

text: One historical problem with that argument has always been Germany whose economic modernization in the 19th century came long before the democratization after 1918. Berman, however, concludes that a process of democratization was underway in Imperial Germany, for "during these years Germans developed many of the habits and mores that are now thought by political scientists to augur healthy political development".


title: Modernization theory

text: One contemporary problem for modernization theory is that it is highly contentious that modernization implies more human rights, with China in the 21st century being a major test case.


title: Modernization theory

text: Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel contend that the realization of democracy is not based solely on an expressed desire for that form of government, but democracies are born as a result of the admixture of certain social and cultural factors. They argue the ideal social and cultural conditions for the foundation of a democracy are born of significant modernization and economic development that result in mass political participation.


title: Modernization theory

text: Randall Peerenboom explores the relationships among democracy, the rule of law and their relationship to wealth by pointing to examples of Asian countries, such as Taiwan and South Korea, which have successfully democratized only after economic growth reached relatively high levels and to examples of countries such as the Philippines, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and India, which sought to democratize at lower levels of wealth but have not done as well.


title: Modernization theory

text: Adam Przeworski and others have challenged Lipset's argument. They say political regimes do not transition to democracy as per capita incomes rise. Rather, democratic transitions occur randomly, but once there, countries with higher levels of gross domestic product per capita remain democratic. Epstein et al. (2006) retest the modernization hypothesis using new data, new techniques, and a three-way, rather than dichotomous, classification of regimes. Contrary to Przeworski, this study finds that the modernization hypothesis stands up well. Partial democracies emerge as among the most important and least understood regime types.


title: Modernization theory

text: Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, in their article "Income and Democracy" (2008) further weaken the case for Lipset's argument by showing that even though there is a strong cross-country correlation between income and democracy, once one controls for country fixed effects and removes the association between income per capita and various measures of democracy, there is "no causal effect of income on democracy." In "Non-Modernization" (2022), they further argue that modernization theory cannot account for various paths of political development "because it posits a link between economics and politics that is not conditional on institutions and culture and that presumes a definite endpoint—for example, an 'end of history'."


title: Modernization theory

text: Sirianne Dahlum and Carl Henrik Knutsen offer a test of the Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel revised version of modernization theory, which focuses on cultural traits triggered by economic development that are presummed to be conducive to democratization. They find "no empirical support" for the Inglehart and Welzel thesis and conclude that "self-expression values do not enhance democracy levels or democratization chances, and neither do they stabilize existing democracies."


title: Modernization theory

text: A meta-analysis by Gerardo L. Munck of research on Lipset's argument shows that a majority of studies do not support the thesis that higher levels of economic development leads to more democracy.


title: Modernization theory

text: Development, like modernization, has become the orienting principle of modern times. Countries that are seen as modern are also seen as developed, which means that they are generally more respected by institutions such as the United Nations and even as possible trade partners for other countries. The extent to which a country has modernized or developed dictates its power and importance on the international level.


title: Modernization theory

text: Modernization of the health sector of developing nations recognizes that transitioning from "traditional" to "modern" is not merely the advancement in technology and the introduction of Western practices; implementing modern healthcare requires the reorganization of political agenda and, in turn, an increase in funding by feeders and resources towards public health. Additionally, a strong advocate of the DE-emphasis of medical institutions was Halfdan T. Mahler, the WHO General Director from 1973 to 1988. Related ideas have been proposed at international conferences such as Alma-Ats and the "Health and Population in Development" conference, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation in Italy in 1979, and selective primary healthcare and GOBI were discussed (although they have both been strongly criticized by supporters of comprehensive healthcare). Overall, however, this is not to say that the nations of the Global South can function independently from Western states; significant funding is received from well-intention programs, foundations, and charities that target epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis that have substantially improved the lives of millions of people and impeded future development.


title: Modernization theory

text: Modernization theorists often saw traditions as obstacles to economic development. According to Seymour Martin Lipset, economic conditions are heavily determined by the cultural, social values present in that given society. Furthermore, while modernization might deliver violent, radical change for traditional societies, it was thought worth the price. Critics insist that traditional societies were often destroyed without ever gaining the promised advantages if, among other things, the economic gap between advanced societies and such societies actually increased. The net effect of modernization for some societies was therefore the replacement of traditional poverty by a more modern form of misery, according to these critics. Others point to improvements in living standards, physical infrastructure, education and economic opportunity to refute such criticisms.


title: Modernization theory

text: Modernization theorists such as Samuel P. Huntington held in the 1960s and 1970s that authoritarian regimes yielded greater economic growth than democracies. However, this view had been challenged. In "Democracy and Development: Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950–1990" (2000), Adam Przeworski argued that "democracies perform as well economically as do authoritarian regimes." A study by Daron Acemoglu, Suresh Naidu, Pascual Restrepo, and James A. Robinson shows that "democracy has a positive effect on GDP per capita."


title: Modernization theory

text: Globalization can be defined as the integration of economic, political and social cultures. It is argued that globalization is related to the spreading of modernization across borders.


title: Modernization theory

text: Global trade has grown continuously since the European discovery of new continents in the Early modern period; it increased particularly as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the mid-20th century adoption of the shipping container.


title: Modernization theory

text: Annual trans-border tourist arrivals rose to 456 million by 1990 and almost tripled since, reaching a total of over 1.2 billion in 2016. Communication is another major area that has grown due to modernization. Communication industries have enabled capitalism to spread throughout the world. Telephony, television broadcasts, news services and online service providers have played a crucial part in globalization. Former U.S president Lyndon B. Johnson was a supporter of the modernization theory and believed that television had potential to provide educational tools in development.


title: Modernization theory

text: With the many apparent positive attributes to globalization there are also negative consequences. The dominant, neoliberal model of globalization often increases disparities between a society's rich and its poor. In major cities of developing countries there exist pockets where technologies of the modernised world, computers, cell phones and satellite television, exist alongside stark poverty. Globalists are globalization modernization theorists and argue that globalization is positive for everyone, as its benefits must eventually extend to all members of society, including vulnerable groups such as women and children.


title: Modernization theory

text: New technology is a major source of social change. (Social change refers to any significant alteration over time in behaviour patterns and cultural values and norms.) Since modernization entails the social transformation from agrarian societies to industrial ones, it is important to look at the technological viewpoint; however, new technologies do not change societies by itself. Rather, it is the "response" to technology that causes change. Frequently, technology is recognized but not put to use for a very long time such as the ability to extract metal from rock Although that initially went unused, it later had profound implications for the developmental course of societies. Technology makes it possible for a more innovative society and broad social change. That dramatic change through the centuries that has evolved socially, industrially, and economically, can be summed up by the term modernization. Cell phones, for example, have changed the lives of millions throughout the world. That is especially true in Africa and other parts of the Middle East, where there is a low-cost communication infrastructure. With cell phone technology, widely dispersed populations are connected, which facilitates business-to-business communication and provides internet access to remoter areas, with a consequential rise in literacy.


title: Modernization theory

text: President John F. Kennedy (1961–63) relied on economists W.W. Rostow on his staff and outsider John Kenneth Galbraith for ideas on how to promote rapid economic development in the "Third World", as it was called at the time. They promoted modernization models in order to reorient American aid to Asia, Africa and Latin America. In the Rostow version in his "The Stages of Economic Growth" (1960) progress must pass through five stages, and for underdeveloped world the critical stages were the second one, the transition, the third stage, the takeoff into self-sustaining growth. Rostow argued that American intervention could propel a country from the second to the third stage he expected that once it reached maturity, it would have a large energized middle class that would establish democracy and civil liberties and institutionalize human rights. The result was a comprehensive theory that could be used to challenge Marxist ideologies, and thereby repel communist advances. The model provided the foundation for the Alliance for Progress in Latin America, the Peace Corps, Food for Peace, and the Agency for International Development (AID). Kennedy proclaimed the 1960s the "Development Decade" and substantially increased the budget for foreign assistance. Modernization theory supplied the design, rationale, and justification for these programs. The goals proved much too ambitious, and the economists in a few years abandoned the European-based modernization model as inappropriate to the cultures they were trying to impact.


title: Modernization theory

text: Kennedy and his top advisers were working from implicit ideological assumptions regarding modernization. They firmly believed modernity was not only good for the target populations, but was essential to avoid communism on the one hand or extreme control of traditional rural society by the very rich landowners on the other. They believed America had a duty, as the most modern country in the world, to promulgate this ideal to the poor nations of the Third World. They wanted programs that were altruistic, and benevolent—and also tough, energetic, and determined. It was benevolence with a foreign policy purpose. Michael Latham has identified how this ideology worked out in three major programs the Alliance for Progress, the Peace Corps, and the strategic hamlet program in South Vietnam. However, Latham argues that the ideology was a non-coercive version of the modernization goals of the imperialistic of Britain, France and other European countries in the 19th century .


title: Modernization theory

text: From the 1970s, modernization theory has been criticized by numerous scholars, including Andre Gunder Frank (1929–2005) and Immanuel Wallerstein (1930-2019). In this model, the modernization of a society required the destruction of the indigenous culture and its replacement by a more Westernized one. By one definition, "modern" simply refers to the present, and any society still in existence is therefore modern. Proponents of modernization typically view only Western society as being truly modern and argue that others are primitive or unevolved by comparison. That view sees unmodernized societies as inferior even if they have the same standard of living as western societies. Opponents argue that modernity is independent of culture and can be adapted to any society. Japan is cited as an example by both sides. Some see it as proof that a thoroughly modern way of life can exist in a non western society. Others argue that Japan has become distinctly more western as a result of its modernization.


title: Modernization theory

text: As Tipps has argued, by conflating modernization with other processes, with which theorists use interchangeably (democratization, liberalization, development), the term becomes imprecise and therefore difficult to disprove.


title: Modernization theory

text: The theory has also been criticised empirically, as modernization theorists ignore external sources of change in societies. The binary between traditional and modern is unhelpful, as the two are linked and often interdependent, and "modernization" does not come as a whole.


title: Modernization theory

text: Modernization theory has also been accused of being Eurocentric, as modernization began in Europe, with the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution and the Revolutions of 1848 and has long been regarded as reaching its most advanced stage in Europe. Anthropologists typically make their criticism one step further and say that the view is ethnocentric and is specific to Western culture.


title: Modernization theory

text: One alternative model is dependency theory. It emerged in the 1950s and argues that the underdevelopment of poor nations in the Third World derived from systematic imperial and neo-colonial exploitation of raw materials. Its proponents argue that resources typically flow from a "periphery" of poor and underdeveloped states to a "core" of wealthy states, enriching the latter at the expense of the former. It is a central contention of dependency theorists such as Andre Gunder Frank that poor states are impoverished and rich ones enriched by the way poor states are integrated into the "world system".


title: Modernization theory

text: Dependency models arose from a growing association of southern hemisphere nationalists (from Latin America and Africa) and Marxists. It was their reaction against modernization theory, which held that all societies progress through similar stages of development, that today's underdeveloped areas are thus in a similar situation to that of today's developed areas at some time in the past, and that, therefore, the task of helping the underdeveloped areas out of poverty is to accelerate them along this supposed common path of development, by various means such as investment, technology transfers, and closer integration into the world market. Dependency theory rejected this view, arguing that underdeveloped countries are not merely primitive versions of developed countries, but have unique features and structures of their own; and, importantly, are in the situation of being the weaker members in a world market economy.


title: Modernization theory

text: Another line of critique of modernization theory was due to sociologist Barrington Moore Jr., in his Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (1966). In this classic book, Moore argues there were at least "three routes to the modern world" - the liberal democratic, the fascist, and the communist - each deriving from the timing of industrialization and the social structure at the time of transition. Counter to modernization theory, Moore held that there was not one path to the modern world and that economic development did not always bring about democracy.


title: Modernization theory

text: Political scientist Guillermo O'Donnell, in his "Modernization and Bureaucratic Authoritarianism" (1973) challenged the thesis, advanced most notably by Seymour Martin Lipset, that industrialization produced democracy. In South America, O’Donnell argued, industrialization generated not democracy, but bureaucratic authoritarianism.


title: Modernization theory

text: Ecoonomists Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, in "Non-Modernization" (2022), argue that modernization theory cannot account for various paths of political development "because it posits a link between economics and politics that is not conditional on institutions and culture and that presumes a definite endpoint—for example, an 'end of history'."


title: Procurement

text: Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. When a government agency buys goods or services through this practice, it is referred to as public procurement.


title: Procurement

text: Procurement as an organizational process is intended to ensure that the buyer receives goods, services, or works at the best possible price when aspects such as quality, quantity, time, and location are compared. Corporations and public bodies often define processes intended to promote fair and open competition for their business while minimizing risks such as exposure to fraud and collusion.


title: Procurement

text: Almost all purchasing decisions include factors such as delivery and handling, marginal benefit, and fluctuations in the prices of goods. Organisations which have adopted a corporate social responsibility perspective are also likely to require their purchasing activity to take wider societal and ethical considerations into account. On the other hand, the introduction of external regulations concerning accounting practices can affect ongoing buyer-supplier relations in unforeseen manners.


title: Procurement

text: Formalized acquisition of goods and services has its roots in military logistics, but the first written records of what would be recognized now as the purchasing department of an industrial operation relate to the railway companies of the 19th century: An early reference book from 1922 explains that


title: Procurement

text: An important distinction should be made between analyses without risk and those with risk. Where risk is involved, either in the costs or the benefits, the concept of best value should be employed.


title: Procurement

text: Procurement activities are also often split into two distinct categories, direct and indirect spend. Direct spend refers to the production-related procurement that encompasses all items that are part of finished products, such as raw materials, components and parts. Direct procurement, which is the focus in supply chain management, directly affects the production process of manufacturing firms. In contrast, indirect procurement concerns non-production-related acquisition: obtaining "operating resources" which a company purchases to enable its operations. Indirect procurement comprises a wide variety of goods and services, from standardized items like office supplies and machine lubricants to complex and costly products and services like heavy equipment, consulting services, and outsourcing services.


title: Procurement

text: Procurement is one component of the broader concept of sourcing and acquisition. Typically procurement is viewed as more tactical in nature (the process of physically buying a product or service) and sourcing and acquisition are viewed as more strategic and encompassing.


title: Procurement

text: The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) defines strategic sourcing as the process of identifying sources that could provide needed products or services for the acquiring organization. The term procurement is used to reflect the entire purchasing process or cycle, and not just the tactical components. ISM defines procurement as an organizational function that includes specification development, value analysis, supplier market research, negotiation, buying activities, contract administration, inventory control, traffic, receiving and stores. Purchasing refers to the major function of an organization that is responsible for acquisition of required materials, services and equipment.


title: Procurement

text: The United States Defense Acquisition University (DAU) defines procurement as the act of buying goods and services for the government.


title: Procurement

text: DAU defines acquisition as the conceptualization, initiation, design, development, test, contracting, production, deployment, Logistics Support (LS), modification, and disposal of weapons and other systems, supplies, or services (including construction) to satisfy Department of Defense needs, intended for use in or in support of military missions.


title: Procurement

text: There is also an important distinction between the terms "procurement" and "purchasing"; the clear distinction between the two is often lost amidst the ambiguities of international English. As a broad definition, "procurement" is the overarching function that describes the activities and processes to acquire goods and services. Importantly, and distinct from "purchasing", it involves the activities involved in establishing fundamental requirements, sourcing activities such as market research and vendor evaluation and negotiation of contracts. It can also include the purchasing activities required to order and receive goods.


title: Procurement

text: A linear acquisition process used in industry and defense is shown in the next figure, in this case relating to acquisition in the technology field. The process is defined by a series of phases during which technology is defined and matured into viable concepts, which are subsequently developed and readied for production, after which the systems produced are supported in the field.


title: Procurement

text: The process allows for a given system to enter the process at any of the development phases. For example, a system using unproven technology would enter at the beginning stages of the process and would proceed through a lengthy period of technology maturation, while a system based on mature and proven technologies might enter directly into engineering development or, conceivably, even production. The process itself includes four phases of development:


title: Procurement

text: Some aspects of a procurement process may need to be initiated ahead of the majority of the project, for example where there are extensive lead times. Such cases may be referred to as "advance procurement".


title: Procurement

text: Many writers also refer to procurement as a cyclical process, which commences with a definition of business needs and develops a specification, identifies suppliers and adopted appropriate methods for consulting with them, inviting and evaluating proposals, secures on contract and takes delivery of a new asset or accepts performance of a service, manages the ownership of the asset or the delivery of the service and reaches an end-of-life point where the asset becomes due for replacement or the service contract terminates. At this point the cycle would recommence.


title: Procurement

text: Procurement officials increasingly realize that their make-buy supplier decisions fall along a continuum from simple buying transactions to more complex, strategic buyer-supplier collaborations. It is important for procurement officials to use the right sourcing business model that fits each buyer-seller situation. There are seven models along the sourcing continuum: basic provider, approved provider, preferred provider, performance-based/managed services model, vested business model, shared services model and equity partnerships.


title: Procurement

text: Procurement software (often labeled as e-procurement software) manages purchasing processes electronically or via cloud computing.


title: Procurement

text: The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) promotes a model of "five rights", which it suggests are "a traditional formula expressing the basic objectives of procurement and the general criteria by which procurement performance is measured", namely that goods and services purchased should be of the right quality, in the right quantity, delivered to the right place at the right time and obtained at the right price. CIPS has in the past also offered an alternative listing of the five rights as "buy[ing] goods or services of the right quality, in the right quantity, from the right source, at the right time and at the right price. Right source is added as a sixth right in CIPS' 2018 publication, "Contract Administration".


title: Procurement

text: Delivery on savings goals is an important part of the procurement function, but this objective is generally seen as value generation rather than cost reduction. CIPS also notes that securing savings is "one measure of purchasing performance", but argues that savings should only be used as a measure of performance where they are "a reflection of the [organisation]'s ... expectations of the purchasing and supply management function". CIPS distinguishes between "savings", which can reduce budgets, and "cost avoidance", which "attempts to thwart price increases and to keep within budget". Examples of savings as a beneficial outcome include:


title: Procurement

text: Ardent Partners published a report in 2011 which presented a comprehensive, industry-wide view into what was happening in the world of procurement at that time by drawing on the experience, performance, and perspective of nearly 250 chief procurement officers and other procurement executives. The report included the main procurement performance and operational benchmarks that procurement leaders use to gauge the success of their organizations. This report found that the average procurement department manages 60.6% of total enterprise spend. This measure, commonly called "spend under management" or "managed spend", refers to the percentage of total enterprise spend (which includes all direct and indirect spend) that a procurement organization manages or influences. Alternatively, the term may refer to the percentage of addressable spend which is influenced by procurement, "addressable spend" being the expenditure which could potentially be influenced. The average procurement department also achieved an annual saving of 6.7% in the last reporting cycle, sourced 52.6% of its addressable spend, and has a contract compliance rate of 62.6%.


title: Procurement

text: Consultants A.T. Kearney have developed a model for assessing the performance of a procurement organisation or the procurement function within a wider organisation, known as ROSMA (Return on Supply Management Assets). According to the 2016 ROSMA Performance Check Report, "What Good Looks Like", CIPS promotes organisational self-assessment using the ROSMA Performance Check, arguing that it enables a procurement department to "measure and explain procurement and supply's value in terms your CFO and CEO will understand, using a common financial standard". Findings in 2020 suggested that "top quartile procurement performers have ROSMA scores two to three times higher than those in the middle two quartiles". A.T. Kearney's report suggests a close match between the self-reported performance of CPOs in the best performing departments and the view of procurement held by the CFO and the organisation more widely, and also notes that weaker performers or "inconsequentials" share a distinct profile marked by lack of "identifiable leadership accountable for procurement's performance.


title: Procurement

text: Spend under management also contributes to an additional measure of procurement performance or procurement efficiency: procurement operating expense as a percentage of managed spend.


title: Procurement

text: Joint procurement takes place when two or more organisations share purchasing activities, and therefore has a more specifically buyer-side focus than many examples of collaborative buyer-seller relationships. Kamann, van der Vaart and de Vries propose a "theoretical frame of reference" to explain various approaches to understanding "why would companies work together in the first place?"


title: Procurement

text: They note also that many large and powerful companies "do not have - nor feel - the need to go together".


title: Procurement

text: Procurement and Finance have, as functions within the corporate structure, been at odds. The contentious nature of their relationship can perhaps be attributed to the history of procurement itself. Historically, Procurement has been considered Finance's underling. One reason behind this perception can be ascribed to semantics. When Procurement was in its infancy, it was referred to as a "commercial" operation. And so the procurement department was referred to as the "commercial" department rather than the procurement department: the word "commercial" was understood to be associated with money. And so it was obvious that Procurement would become directly answerable to Finance. Another factor, equally grounded in semantics, was that procurement departments (or rather, commercial departments) were always seen as "spending the money". This impression was enough to situate Procurement within the Finance function.


title: Procurement

text: Procurement and Finance are functions with interests that are mutually irreconcilable. Whereas Procurement is fundamentally concerned with the spending or disbursal of money, Finance, by its very nature, performs a cost-cutting role. That is fundamentally the reason why Procurement's aspirations have been constantly checked by Finance's cost-cutting imperatives. This notion, however, has been changing as more chief procurement officers have begun to argue for more autonomy and less interference from Finance departments.


title: Procurement

text: Electronic procurement is the purchasing of goods by businesses through the internet or other networked computer connection. Electronic data interchange (EDI) was a forerunner to electronic procurement, this consisted of standardized transmission of data such as inventories and good required electronically. Schoenherr argues that EDI developed from standardized manifests for deliveries to Berlin during the Berlin Airlift which were applied by DuPont in the 1960s and argues that Material requirements planning and Enterprise resource planning were both forerunners to electronic procurement.