Strengths weaknesses and the strategy of IKEA

Strengths weaknesses and the strategy of IKEA IKEA is the worlds largest home-furnishing retailer. It was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden. In terms of scope, IKEA is designed for the total home environment, in order to offer furnishings and fittings for every part of the home, both in- and out of doors. With the vision: To create a better everyday life for the many people, it offers a wide range of well designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. (IKEA.com). From it first store in Sweden, today, there are over 300 IKEA stores in 39 countries, with turnover in 2009 of more than à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬22.7 billion. According to Forbes Magazine, Ingvar Kamprad, now in his eighties, is the 11th-wealthiest person in the world, with a fortune estimated at U.S. $23 billion in 2010. (Mary Albon, The Sun Never Sets on IKEA, 2010). I would like to address some issues to understand more about IKEA success as follows: Since its establishment, IKEA has always taken care of people and the environment as it stated on its vision. That is the reason why in manufacturing process, IKEA tries its best to have a better use of both raw materials and energy. They even have a brochure presenting a brief overview of how the IKEA groups work to in a high sense of responsibility to people and environment. We also can easily see how much they concern people and the environment by knowing IKEA stakeholders. Like other business organisations, the stakeholders who have high power and high interest are Inter IKEA system BV, investors and customers. However to me the most impressive and important stakeholders of IKEA are environmental organisations of which IKEA Group also is a member such as: BCI, Better Cotton Initiative, aims to promote measurable improvements in the key environmental and social impacts of cotton cultivation worldwide. (IKEA.com) Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) is the Global Union Federation of democratic and free trade unions, protecting more than 12 million members in 350 trade unions around the world in the building, building materials, wood, forestry and allied industries. IKEA and BWI meet frequently to exchange experience and discuss working conditions and social responsibility. (IKEA.com) The IKEA Group is member of BSR and has an representative on the board is a global, non-profit organization that helps member companies achieve business success while respecting ethical values, people, communities and the environment. BSR provides information, tools, training and advisory services to make corporate social responsibility an integral part of business operations and strategies. (IKEA.com) Clean Cargo Working Group (CCWG) which is working to promote sustainable product transportation. (IKEA.com) European Retailers Round Table (ERRT) which is Focus for activities include consumer protection, food safety, environmental issues, corporate social responsibility and trade issues Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) (IKEA.com) Refrigerants Naturally is a United Nations initiative acting as a catalyst, advocate, educator and facilitator to promote the wise and sustainable development of the global environment. (IKEA.com) The Network for Transport and Environment (NTM), aiming to establish a common base of values on how to calculate the environmental performance of various modes of transport (IKEA.com) And IKEA also is the partner of: IKEA Foundation and UNICEF are long term partners working together on both a global and local level (IKEA.com) WWF and IKEA co-operate on projects which focus on sustainable forestry, sustainable cotton production and climate change (IKEA.com) During working and sharing experience with these organizations, IKEA not only has better knowledge about social responsibilities but also has built its reputation of being green. In 2010 and beyond, the world economy would be a key issue to impact Ikeas business. IKEA and other companies in the world had to face the worse economic situation since many decades as its financial sector was deeply in crisis and then the global economy was felt into the depth of recession. The world economic growth reached only 1.1 % if compared to about 5% in previous years (VietnamPlus and World Economy, n.d). However, the world economy improved in 2010 with the economic growth increased to 4.2% as the economy of the United States of America is expected to grow by 2.1 per cent in 2010, following an estimated downturn of 2.5 per cent in 2009. Recovery in both the European Union (EU) and Japan is projected to be much weaker, reaching GDP growth of no more than 0.5 and 0.9 per cent, respectively, in 2010. At this pace of recovery, the major developed economies are not expected to provide a strong impetus to global growth in the near term (World Economic Situation and Prospects 2010 Global outlook, p.2). Nevertheless, the UN stresses that the recovery is uneven and conditions for sustained growth remain Fragile. In 2010, global growth will remain below potential and unemployment will stay high ( p.1 ). Though the situation was still difficult because fewer people have moved home but the company sales increased 7.7% in 2010 compared to fiscal year 2009 is surprised outcome. The company also faces increased competition of other competitors all over the world. For example, it is ddifficult to sustain good design quality products at low cost when the number of competitors keep increasing e.g. In the US, Kmart, Target Corp, Fly in France and Japan Nitori Co in Japan (Ikea case study). In particular sales case, competition cut Ikea sales in UK as profits dropped to  £17 million to August 2009, according to documents filed at Companies House last week. Sales fell 1.4 per cent to  £1.23 billion. The company has reported falling profits for five years and falling sales for three years in Britain. Ikea has come under increasing pressure from DIY retailers that are selling more home furnishings, as well as growing competition from supermarkets (Neil Craven, daily mail, n.d) IKEA is positioning as a cost leader of home furnishing retailers. Ikea states firmly its market position by a statement that Your partner in better living. We do our part, you do yours. Together we save money (Ikea Portal, Student Info, n.d). It is clear to see that IKEA is regarded as low price products with high quality by using inexpensive materials in a novel way and minimizing production, distribution and retail costs, customers benefit from low prices. This cost leadership has been making IKEA differently from other competitors. Due to high inflation increasing every year, it is hard to find any other companies who can announce that last year our price is 8.99 euros, this year 4.90 euros or 10 year ago 260 euros, today 169 euros (Ikea Welcome inside 2010, p.20). Ikea has been making it for many decades. Low prices are one of the cornerstones of the IKEA concept and help to make customers want to buy from IKEA. This low price strategy is coupled with a wide range of well designed, functional products. IKEAs products cater for every lifestyle and life stage of its customers, who come from all age groups and types of households. This is vital in times when the retail sector is depressed, as it increases IKEAs potential market. While the price of other companies products tends to rise over time, Ikea says it has reduced its retail prices by a total of about 20 percent during the past four years. Ikeas corporate mantra is Low price with meaning. The goal is to make things less expensive without ever making customers feel cheap. Striking that balance demands a special kind of design, manufacturing, and distribution expertise. But IKEA pulls it off in its own distinctive way: tastefully, methodically, even cheerfully, and yet somehow differently than any other company anywhere. Lisa Magonelly therefore presents guide to how IKEA designs, builds, and distributes the furniture that the entire world wants to buy. Based on low prices strategy, IKEAs segmentation is targeting to young low and middle-income family who are willing to do a little bit of work serving themselves, transporting the items home and assembling the furniture for a better price. IKEA offers customer experiencing in actively involve in shopping at its stores. Definitely, customers involvement contributes to IKEA low prices. To explore the successful of the IKEA, analyzing its opportunities and threats is an essential. Before looking at the opportunities of IKEA, we can come over its strengths. First of all, Brand is one of the most important that IKEA has. It is already a global brand therefore it will be a very attracted factor to customers because it like a promise to customers that where ever they are, they will be provided the same quality. Second strength is its vision to create a better everyday life for many people. The concept that offers a wide rage of well designed and functional home furnishing products at the inexpensive prices is the third strength. Fourth is the sustainability is fully-integrated into all business strategies.   The IKEAs strengths bring its opportunities, especially in this dedicate, people more and more care a bout a sustainable environment. By caring about environment, people will care about Green products and IKEA has reputation of being green so that its products will be their choices. IKEA shows their care about environment clearly on its statement: Each and every one of our business strategies whether local, national or global must now clearly and systematically integrate sustainability as a part of everyday operations.   I see this as a milestone. It will help us move forward in our relentless work with the many challenges we have to solve on our route to becoming a sustainable company. (Greeneconomics.com) As a member of number of environmental organizations enables IKEA to work with sustainability in different ways: IKEA reduced overall CO2 emissions by 5% in FY 2009.   The company plans on participating in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol in 2010. (Greeneconomics.com) The company has a pilot program with select suppliers to reduce energy consumption by 30% or more by 2011. (Greeneconomics.com) IKEA has also started four new climate change projects with the WWF, which will focus on measuring supply chain emissions, helping our customers tackle climate change through transport initiatives, reducing emissions from IKEA food product transport, and improving the reuse and recycling of used products. (Greeneconomics.com) One climate change project is to install solar panels in 150 of its stores, with the long-term goal of supplying all buildings with 100% renewable energy. (Greeneconomics.com) Because of the economic downturn, customers tend to be looking for products with low prices than expensive one. The excellent thing to be come IKEA customer is you can buy good things with well designed and good quality but inexpensive prices. It means that, even the economic crisis, the demands for IKEA products still raising and the turnover also high more than à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬22.7 billion in 2009 (Mary Albon, The Sun Never Sets on IKEA, 2010). However the strengths and opportunities of IKEA can also drive the organisation to its weaknesses. IKEA with hundreds stores in different countries is really hard to control the quality as well as the standard of the products and services. The low cost is a strength however in the management aspects it is not easy to control the low cost but keep the standard of quality in the same time. The threats that IKEA is facing are: The competition in the retails market: there are more and more organsations have strategy of producing products with high quality with reasonable prices. They will become competitors of IKEA so this will be one of the main factors can impact to IKEA. The economics down turn in 2010 and will continues in 2011 makes the disposable income decrease but the living expense is rising. This will definitely affect the business operation of IKEA. By analyzing these factors IKEA can have plan to reduce the threats and take advantage of the opportunities.

Too Much Technology

What are the some of the arguments for and against the use of digital media? Technology has both positive and negative sides. Positive opinion about technology as we are able to find many sources of information quickly and easily as well as saving production cost. Technology that is negative opinion can influence our behavior, destroy our way of thinking, and the more severe impact of computer technology is also able to give rise to a number of diseases. 2.How might the brain affected by constant digital media usage? Digital media would greatly help us in the world as well as other technologies. However, if used continuously can cause health problems. Vision problems continued to decline also occur when using the computer for too long. Besides, the new studies suggest that digital technologies are damaging our ability to think clearly and focus. 3. Do you think these arguments outweigh the positives of digital media usage? Why or why not? As for me, I think the above is indeed the ne gative side of technology.However, in the orld of technology such as current location, we will have to use the technology so that we can continue to survive and not lose against our competitors. 4. What additional concerns are there for children using digital media? Should children under 8 use computers and cellphones? Why or why not? I think children under eight years old can use digital media, such as a computer or cellular phone. So they are able to advance digital media, and we hope that when they grow up, they are not stiff again using digital media. Of course parents should control their children by using it overtime. Too Much Technology By lulsfrfr

10 preguntas frecuentes sobre visa no inmigrante EE.UU.

Las visas no inmigrante para EE.UU. generan toda clase de dudas. Aquà ­ se da respuesta a las 10 preguntas mà ¡s frecuentes. Las visas no inmigrante comprende varios tipos de visados entre los que se encuentran las de turista y negocios (B), estudiante (F y M), intercambio (J), trabajo (H), habilidades especiales (O), artistas y deportistas (P), inversià ³n (E), periodistas (I), miembros de tripulacià ³n (C), trabajadores de organizaciones internacionales (G), religiosos (R) y otras. Las visas no inmigrante son temporales Las visas no inmigran tienen una validez por un tiempo concreto, que se especifica en la propia visa. Se diferencian de la visa de inmigrante en que esta à ºltima se convierte en una tarjeta de residencia permanente, tambià ©n conocida como green card, cuando el titular de la visa llega a un puesto de control migratorio de EE.UU. e ingresa al paà ­s. La tarjeta de residencia permanente da derecho a vivir y a trabajar en EE.UU. de por vida. Ademà ¡s, su titular podrà ­a solicitar la ciudadanà ­a estadounidense a los tres o a los cinco aà ±os de haber adquirido el estatus de resiente. Tiempo validez de visa y tiempo permitido de estancia En las visas no inmigrante no debe nunca confundirse el tiempo de validez de la visa con el tiempo permitido de estancia en EE.UU. Por ejemplo, las visas de turista, conocidas en algunos paà ­ses como de placer o paseo, se emiten con carà ¡cter general por 10 aà ±os. Sin embargo, y tambià ©n como regla general, la estancia permitida en cada entrada es de 180 dà ­as o menos. La autorizacià ³n exacta puede verificarse en el I-94, registro de entrada y salida. En otras categorà ­as de visas no inmigrante, el tiempo de estancia autorizado dependen de que se sigan cumpliendo los requisitos de la visa. Una vez que se terminan, el titular de la visa debe salir de EE.UU. inmediatamente o dentro de su periodo de gracia, si lo tuviera. Visa no inmigrante e intencià ³n La intencià ³n de una persona con una visa no inmigrante que ingresa a EE.UU. debe ser la de regresar a su paà ­s dentro del plazo autorizado. Es decir, no puede buscar quedarse en Estados Unidos mà ¡s allà ¡ del tiempo permitido ni cambiar su visa no inmigrante por una inmigrante. Las à ºnicas excepciones son las visas de la categorà ­a L –transfer entre empresas– y la H1-B, para profesionales y modelos. En estos dos à ºltimos casos, los titulares de las visas està ¡n autorizados a buscar activamente la obtencià ³n de la tarjeta de residencia ya que son visas de doble intencià ³n. El requisito de la intencià ³n se entiende claramente en los siguientes ejemplos: Carlos Vela es un muchacho colombiano de 17 aà ±os que tiene unos tà ­os viviendo en Miami. Aprovechado esa circunstancia, los padres de Carlos deciden enviarlo a estudiar a un high school a Estados Unidos a pesar de que Carlos solo tiene una visa de turista y no ha solicitado la de estudiante. Para respetar los tiempos de estancia permitidos con su visa, Carlos sale de EE.UU. cada seis meses y regresa al poco tiempo para continuar sus estudios. En una de sus salidas y entradas un oficial de la CBP sospecha que Carlos, un menor, està ¡ estudiando en EE.UU. sin tener la visa de estudiante correspondiente. Revocarà ¡ la visa a Carlos y tambià ©n las de sus padres, si las tuvieran. Otro ejemplo es el de Carolina Và ¡zquez, casada con un ciudadano estadounidense, que ingresa a EE.UU. como turista e inmediatamente despuà ©s pide un ajuste de estatus para obtener la tarjeta de residencia. El ajuste puede ser negado por fraude, porque Carolina ingresà ³ con una visa que no le correspondà ­a, como le puede suceder a novios de ciudadanos que ingresan a EE.UU., inmediatamente se casan y piden a continuacià ³n dicho ajuste. Por esta razà ³n de intencià ³n tambià ©n se considera una violacià ³n migratoria trabajar con una visa que no da autorizacià ³n para ello y es causa de revocacià ³n inmediata del visado. El requisito de lazos Para la sacar una visa no inmigrante, con la excepcià ³n de las L y las H1-B, uno de los requisitos es demostrar lazos familiares y/o econà ³micos en el paà ­s de residencia habitual. De hecho, la falta de los mismos es la causa principal de denegacià ³n de las visas. Renovar y Extender las visas no inmigrante Es posible solicitar la renovacià ³n y la extensià ³n de visas en EE.UU., si se cumplen los requisitos. Sin embargo, la negacià ³n de la solicitud por parte del Servicio de Inmigracià ³n y Ciudadanà ­a (USCIS) por sus siglas en inglà ©s, es considerado ahora como una causa de prioridad para la deportacià ³n. Se puede permanecer en EE.UU. legalmente con una visa que ha expirado siempre y cuando se obtenga la renovacià ³n o extensià ³n por parte de USCIS o se està © autorizado por el documento de ingreso como D/S para visa J o F o el I-94, registro de ingreso y salida. Visa vigente y pasaporte expirado Si se tiene una visa americana vigente en un pasaporte que ha expirado se debe viajar a EE.UU. con el pasaporte nuevo y con el viejo, en el que està ¡ la visa, ya que esta sigue siendo và ¡lida. 1 persona, 1 visa Los nià ±os deben tener sus propias visas, incluidos los bebà ©s. Esto es asà ­ aà ºn en los casos en los que los menores no tienen pasaportes propios por estar incluidos en los de uno de sus padres. Consultar con el consulado en el que se aplica para verificar a partir de quà © edad el menor debe presentarse a la entrevista y cà ³mo son las reglas para la toma de los datos biomà ©tricos. Para esto à ºltimo, cada vez mà ¡s consulados tiene centros de apoyo externos, conocidos como CAS en algunos paà ­ses. Si ese es el caso, la toma de huellas digitales y fotos tiene lugar antes que la entrevista en el consulado. Por el contrario, en otros consulados o ciertos tipos de visa las fotos deben entregarse en persona o subirse digitalmente con la aplicacià ³n. En este à ºltimo caso cabe destacar que los problemas surgen por no seguir las especificaciones sobre el peso de las fotografà ­as. Visas derivadas En algunas categorà ­as de visas no inmigrantes si una persona saca la visa, su cà ³nyuge y sus hijos solteros menores de 21 aà ±os podrà ­an obtener una visa derivada. Por ejemplo, en las visas de inversià ³n, el inversionista sacarà ­a la E2 y su cà ³nyuge e hijos una derivada. Esto aplica a otras categorà ­as de visas como la de estudiante, trabajo, etc. Los derechos del cà ³nyuge, por ejemplo, a trabajar o no, dependen del tipo de visa. Los hijos pueden estudiar pero una vez que se casan o cumplen los 21 aà ±os ya no pueden permanecer en EE.UU. con la visa derivada. Por otro lado, las visas derivadas nunca aplican a los padres. Ademà ¡s, en el caso de las visas de turista no es posible: cada miembro de la familia debe calificar por sà ­ mismo.  ¿Cuà ¡nto cuesta el trà ¡mite de la visa no inmigrante? El costo depende del tipo de visa, por lo general la tarifa va desde $160 para la de turista a $205 para visa de inversionista, pero hay excepciones y, ademà ¡s, en algunos paà ­ses la cuota puede elevarse por aplicacià ³n del principio de reciprocidad. La tarifa por solicitar la visa no inmigrante es no reembolsable. Es decir, si la visa es negada no se recupera. La sospecha en las visas no inmigrante La sospecha de que algà ºn elemento en la aplicacià ³n de la visa no es correcto es suficiente para negar una visa no inmigrante. Tambià ©n lo es la sospecha de que no se cumplen todos los requisitos para la obtencià ³n de la misma. El oficial del consulado no està ¡ obligado a probar su sospecha, ni debe argumentarla. Cabe destacar que los oficiales consulares tienen acceso a importantes bases de datos estadounidenses pero tambià ©n a informacià ³n de los gobiernos y empresas locales. Esa sospecha es tambià ©n suficiente para que un oficial migratorio cancele la visa en un puesto de control migratorio de EE.UU.  ¿Cuà ¡ndo expiran los rà ©cords de los consulados? La respuesta es nunca. Ademà ¡s, esa informacià ³n puede ser compartida con otras agencias del gobierno estadounidense. Las leyes norteamericanas permiten solicitar la informacià ³n que pueden tener las diferentes agencias.  ¿La visa da derecho a ingresar a EE.UU.?  ¿Y a otros paà ­ses? La visa no da derecho a ingresar a Estados Unidos, ya que un oficial de la CBP puede negar el ingreso si considera que algo no es correcto. Si ese es el caso, es importante saber quà © realmente pasà ³, ya que si se produce una expulsià ³n inmediata, junto con la revocacià ³n de la visa, no se podrà ¡ regresar a EE.UU. por cinco aà ±os. Ademà ¡s, una visa emitida por un consulado de EE.UU. solo es và ¡lida para ese paà ­s y sus territorios como, por ejemplo, Puerto Rico. No es và ¡lida para ingresar a Canadà ¡. 5 consideraciones adicionales sobre las visas no inmigrante Licencia de manejar Los turistas pueden conducir con las licencias de sus paà ­ses, aunque se recomienda sacar tambià ©n la licencia internacional. Los extranjeros con otro tipo de visas podrà ­an calificar para sacar la licencia del estado en el que residen e, incluso, una que cumpla con los requisitos Real I.D. Seguro mà ©dico Los turistas no està ¡n obligados a sacar un seguro mà ©dico para viajar a EE.UU., si bien se recomienda uno que expresamente cubra ese paà ­s. Prohibido y permitido en las aduanas Todos los extranjeros, residentes y ciudadanos deben cumplir con las leyes aduaneras sobre alimentos, dinero, medicamentos, alcohol, mascotas, artà ­culos falsificados y otros. Carga pà ºblica La carga pà ºblica es una causa de negacià ³n de la visa es utilizada cada vez con mà ¡s frecuencia. Puede provocar la no aprobacià ³n de una visa, su revocacià ³n o su no renovacià ³n, como en el caso de los padres han tenido bebà ©s en EE.UU. con cargo a Medicaid. Solicitud en otros consulados En principio, en casi todos los casos es posible solicitar una visa americana fuera del lugar de residencia habitual. Sin embargo, puede ser mà ¡s difà ­cil sacarla y puede castigarse la bà ºsqueda de consulados que se considera que pueden ser mà ¡s fà ¡ciles para aprobar la visa. Test Finalmente, se aconseja tomar este test sobre la visa de turista. Despeja dudas e inquietudes importantes y brinda conocimientos relevantes para ayudar a sacar la visa y a conservarla. Visas no inmigrante La falta de lazos familiares y/o econà ³micos es la causa mà ¡s frecuente de negacià ³n de la visa.No respetar la intencià ³n de la visa que se tiene es una de las causas mà ¡s frecuentes de revocacià ³n de las visas o de expulsià ³n en la frontera.Permanecer en EE.UU. mà ¡s tiempo del permitido es otra de las causas mà ¡s comunes de cancelacià ³n de la visa. Puede llevar aparejado un castigo de tres o 10 aà ±os. Este es un artà ­culo informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal.

Definition of Clipper Ship

A clipper was a very fast sailing ship of the early to mid-1800s.   According to a comprehensive book published in 1911, The Clipper Ship Era by Arthur H. Clark, the term clipper was originally derived from slang in the early 19th century. To clip it or to go at a fast clip meant to travel fast. So it is reasonable to assume the word was simply attached to ships which had been built for speed, and as Clark put it,  seemed to clip over the waves rather than plough through them. Historians differ on when the first true clipper ships were built, but there is general agreement that they became well established in the 1840s. The typical clipper had three masts, was square-rigged, and had a hull designed to slice through the water. The most famous designer of clipper ships was Donald McKay, who designed the Flying Cloud, a clipper that set an astounding speed record of sailing from New York to San Francisco in less than 90 days. McKays shipyard in Boston produced notable clippers, but a number of the sleek and speedy boats were built alongside the East River, in shipyards in New York City. A New York shipbuilder, William H. Webb, was also known for producing clipper ships before they fell out of fashion. The Reign of the Clipper Ships Clipper ships became economically useful because they could deliver very valuable material faster than more ordinary packet ships. During the California Gold Rush, for instance, clippers were seen to be very useful as supplies, ranging from lumber to prospecting equipment, could be rushed to San Francisco. And, people who booked passage on clippers could expect to get to their destination faster than those who sailed on ordinary ships. During the Gold Rush, when fortune hunters wanted to race to the California gold fields, the clippers became extremely popular. Clippers became especially important for international the tea trade, as tea from China could be transported to England or America in record time. Clippers were also used to transport easterners to California during the Gold Rush, and to transport Australian wool to England. Clipper ships had some serious disadvantages. Because of their sleek designs, they could not carry as much cargo as a wider ship could. And sailing a clipper took extraordinary skill. They were the most complicated sailing ships of their time, and their captains needed to possess excellent seamanship to handle them, especially in high winds. Clipper ships were eventually made obsolete by steam ships, and also by the opening of the Suez Canal, which dramatically cut sailing time from Europe to Asia and made speedy sailing ships less necessary. Notable Clipper Ships Following are examples of illustrious clipper ships: The Flying Cloud: Designed by Donald McKay, the Flying Cloud became famous for setting a spectacular speed record, sailing from  New York City  to San Francisco in 89 days and 21 hours in the summer of 1851. To make the same run in less than 100 days was considered remarkable, and only 18 sailing ships ever accomplished that.The New York to San Francisco record was only bettered twice, once again by the Flying Cloud in 1854, and in 1860 by the clipper ship Andrew Jackson.The Great Republic: Designed and built by Donald McKay in 1853, it was intended to be the largest and fastest clipper. The launch of the ship in October 1853 was accompanied with great fanfare when the city of Boston declared a holiday and thousands watched the festivities. Two months later, on December 26, 1853, the ship was docked on the East River in lower Manhattan, being prepared for its first voyage. A fire broke out in the neighborhood and winter winds tossed burning embers in the air. The rigging of the G reat Republic caught fire and flames spread down to the ship. After being scuttled, the ship was raised and rebuilt. But some of the grandeur was lost.  Red Jacket: A  clipper built in Maine, it  set a speed record between New York City and Liverpool, England, of 13 days and one hour. The ship spent its glory years sailing between England and Australia, and eventually was used, as were many other clippers, transporting lumber from Canada.The Cutty Sark: A late era clipper, it was  built in Scotland in 1869. It is unusual as it still exists today as a museum ship, and is visited by tourists. The tea trade between England and China was very competitive, and Cutty Sark was built when clippers had been essentially perfected for speed. It served in the tea trade for about seven years, and later in the trade in wool between Australia and England. The ship was used as a training vessel well into the 20th century, and in the 1950s was placed in a dry dock to serve as a museum.