Monday, September 30, 2019
Financial Accounting 504 Final Project Essay
As noted in Wikipedia Oracle is headquartered in Redwood, California. It was founded in 1977 and is the world’s third largest soft wear developer in sales. According to Yahoo Finance Oracle is a multi-faceted operation. Oracle provides a vast amount of services for the internet and computer. It provides cloud applications, IT consulting services, licenses middleware software which includes database and database management. It has 115,000 full time employees and is run by co-founder, CEO Larry Ellison who has been the only CEO of the company since it’s inception. Also noted in Wikipedia he is the top paid CEO in the world. In 2013 Oracle currently has an operating cash flow of 13.72B with revenues of 37.15B which can be found in Yahoo Finance. Microsoft is a leading software company started by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. The company’s headquarters is located in Redmond, Washington where like Oracle it develops, licenses, manufactures and support a wide range of computing sources, as documented in Wikipedia. Yahoo finance reports that in addition to licensing and manufacturing software over the globe it also designs hardware and has recently entered into the hardware industry with it’s new tablet. It also has a entertainment division which is responsible for the manufacturing of Xbox360 gaming and consoles, Kinect for Xbox and video games among other products. It has a total of 94,000 full time employees and can be credited for creating 3 billionaires and 12 millionaires from the company’s operations. Microsoft currently has a cash flow of 73.79B with revenues of 76.01B for 2013. Interpretation and Comparison between the two companies’ ratios (Reading the Appendix of Chapter 13 will help you prepare the commentary) Oracle Corporation Microsoft Corporation Earnings per share As given in the income statement $1.69 Basic Common $2.73 Microsoft has shown to have a higher EPS than Oracle. Current ratio Current assets Current liabilities $39,174 $14,192 = 2.76 $74,918 $28,774 2.60 Oracle is showing more favorable current ratio than Microsoft. This ratio depicts for every dollar of current liabilites it has the respective amount in current assets. Gross Profit Ratio Gross profit Net Sales Gross Profit = net sales – COGS Oracle: 35,622 – 8,398 = 27,224 Microsoft: 69,943 15,577 = 54,366 $27,224 $35,622 = 76.4% $54,366 $69,943 77.7% Microsoft’s Gross Profit Ratio is slightly better than Oracle. Profit margin ratio Net Income Net Sales $8,547 $35,622 = 24.0% $23,150 $69,943 33.1% Microsoft has a better Profit Margin Ratio than Oracle. Inventory Turnover Cost of Goods Sold Average Inventory Average Inventory: 2011 + 2010/2 Oracle: 303 + 259/2 = 281 Microsoft: 1,372 + 740/2 = 1056 $8,398 $281 29.9 times $15,577 $1,056 14.8 times Oracle shows a significantly higher turnover than Microsoft. Days in Inventory 365 days Inventory turnover 365 29.9 = 12 days 365 14.8 25 days Oracle has better result than Microsoft Receivable Turnover Ratio Net credit sales Average Net Receivables Average Net Receivables: 2011 +2010/2 Oracle: 6628 + 5585/2 = 6107 Avg NR Microsoft:14987 + 13014/2 = 14001 Avg N $35,622 $6,107 = 5.8 $69,943 $14,001 5.0 Microsofts Receivable Turnover is faster than Oracle. Average Collection Period 365 Receivable Turnover Ratio 365 5.8 = 62.6 days 365 5.0 73.1 Oracle has a better result on the collection period. Assets Turnover Ratio Net Sales Average Total Assets Average Total Assets = 2011+2010/2 Oracle: 73535 + 61578/2 = 67557 Microsoft: 108704 + 86113 = 97409 $35,622 $67,557 = 0.53 $69,943 $97,409 0.72 Microsoft shows a better ratio. Return on Assets Ratio Net Income Average Total Assets $8,547 $67,557 = 12.7% $23,150 $97,409 23.8% Microsoft has a better return on their assets. Debt to Total Assets Ratio Total Liabilities Total Assets $33,290 $73,535 = 45.3% $51,621 $108,704 47.5% Microsoft is slightly higher so Oracle has a better ratio. Times Interest Earned Ratio Net Income + Int Expense + Tax Expense Interest Expense $12,219 $808 = 15.1 28,366 295 96.2 Microsoft has a much healthier ratio than Oracle. Payout ratio Cash dividend declared on common stock Net income $1,061 $8,547 = 12.4% $5,180 $23,150 22.4% Microsoft has a higher rate of dividend pay outs Return on Common Stockholders’ Equity Net income – Preferred stock dividend Average common stockholders’ equity Oracle Avg SE: 40245 + 31199/2 Microsoft Avg SE: 57083 + 46175/2 8,547 35,722.00 = 23.9% $23,150 $51,629 44.8% Microsoft earned more on the dollar of their net income for each dollar of the stockholder’s equity. Free cash flow Cash provided by operations minus capital expenditures minus cash dividends paid $9,703 = $9,703 $19,459 $ Microsoft has a considerable amount more Free cash 19,459 flow than Oracle Current cash debt coverage ratio Cash provided by operations Average current liabilities $11,214 $14,442 = 0.78 $26,994 $27,461 0.98 Microsoft has a better ratio of paying debt within the year. Cash debt coverage ratio Cash provided by operations Average total liabilities $11,214 $31,835 = 0.35 $26,994 $45,780 0.59 Microsoft has a better ratio. Price/Earnings ratio Market price as of 06/30/2011 EPS as of 06/30/2011 $34.22 $1.69 = 20 $26.87 $2.73 10 Oracle fairs better than Microsoft with the investor’s projection of the strength of future earnings Liquidity: Overall Oracle has shown to a better liquidity ratio than Microsoft. Some areas the two companies are relatively close in liquidity performance as depicted in the current ratio. In other areas Oracle proves to have much better performance than Microsoft as depicted in the inventory and days in inventory ratios however and current ratio. Oracle also has a faster collection period than Microsoft as reflected in the average collection period ratio. I would declare Oracle as having a better liquidity standing than Microsoft. Solvency: Microsoft is superior to Oracle in this ratio category. Although Microsoft has a little more risk than Oracle in the debt to current assest ratio which means that if necessary Oracle has a better opportunity to convert assets in to cash with a 45.3% while Microsoft is at 47.5% however; this is the only ratio that Oracle is more favorable than Microsoft. With Microsoft’s free cash flow of $19,459 billion versus Oracle’s $9,703, Microsoft is least likely to have the need to liquidate their assets. Free cash flow ratio gives insight to a company’s acquisition power, ability to eliminate or minimize debt and allows for a higher dividend payout. Microsoft has a better current cash debt to current liability ratio as well. For evey $1 in liability Microsoft as .98 cash from operating activities while Oracle has .78 from operating activities for every $1 of current liability. Given these analysis Microsoft has a better overall solvency status than Oracle. Profitability: This category of ratios is the more focused one by investors because it gives the most accurate prognosis of a company’s most gain out of investmens from investors. Beginning with Gross Profit ratio the two companies are very close with Microsoft showing a 77.7% and Oracle showing a 76.4% they both fair pretty well in gross profits. Microsoft has an advantage over Oracle in all ratios in this category except for Price earning sharing ratio. The payout ratio and the return on common stockholder’s equity ratio are significantly higher than Oracle’s but Oracle has a higer price earnings per share ratio as stated earlier which signifies that investors believe that Oracle’s stock is going to increase over a period of time. Conclusion: Although based on the ratios Oracle seems to be a safer investment and deemed by investors for the fiscal year of 2011 to have higher potential in the market and as noted by Eddie Beverage in an online article on Five Capital website Oracle has shown consistency over the past decade than Microsoft with trending increases. However; given that Microsoft has a substantially higher payout and higher return on stockholder’s equity I would take the risk and go with Microsoft. Beverage, E. (2011, Oct 21). Microsoft V Oracle: You know you want one. Retrieved from Seeking Alpha. Oracle Corporation. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Corporation Weygandt, J., Kimmel, & Kleso, D. (2011). Financial Accounting. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Yahoo Finance. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2013, from Yahoo: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ORCL Yahoo Finance. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2013, from Yahoo: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=MSFT Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2013, from Microsoft: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft Wikipedia Oracle Corporation. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2013, from Wikipedia:
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Education Policy in Two Different Countries Essay
Education Policy in Two Different Countries Introduction            These refers to the principles and policies made by the government in the field of education, collection of rules and laws that govern the operations carried out in the education system. Education is a form of learning where knowledge, habits and skills of a particular group of people are transmitted from generation to generation through training, teaching or carrying out a research. It occurs in different forms such as formal, informal and non-formal with different purposes from institutions of learning like colleges/universities, professional education and graduate, job training and adult education. When implementing education in a given country, education policies are evidently known that they can affect education that people engage in directly at all ages. They have to be critically analyzed for effective learning under different areas in the field of schools such as; the size of school to be constructed, school choice, certification a nd teacher education, school privatization under education policy(Ball, 2009, 89), tracking, teaching methods, graduation requirements, curricular content, investment in the school infrastructure, and the values institutions are required to uphold and model.            Analysis of education policy is a scholarly study that seeks to give answers of different questions such as; the purpose of education, personal and societal objectives that education is designed to attain, methods to be used in attaining such objectives and tools applied in measuring their failure or success. Intended research of informing educational policy is done in a wide variety of learning institutions and several academic disciplines. Beneficial researchers are affiliated with different departments such as; economics, psychology, human development and sociology, departments and schools of education/public policy. Different countries have different educational policies according to the objectives and goals that education is expected to achieve. This essay critically evaluates issues concerning education policy in England and USA. Education policy in England            Research shows that inequalities in education (Bunar, 2010: p.10) had erupted before schools were started for the children. The data provided by OECD displayed a higher percentage of individuals finishing tertiary education in many countries if their parents reached tertiary level of education. In many countries, educational inequalities continue to increase where people who have acquired education at higher levels have high possibilities of doing jobs which are non-formal. The question that prevails is whether the existing educational policies are minimizing these gaps. Are they relevant at their level of implementation? The essay reviews the truth about policies at the school level in England; this is due to the number of years one spends in school which is compulsory and plays an important role towards government intervention and it is conducted in a way that affects potentially all students. Recently, England started a good body of eva luating research of policies at school-level. The evaluation of these policies is based on school resources efficacy, market incentives, pedagogical approaches and school autonomy for raising attainment of education in schools.            Since 1988, education system had one key character under The Education Act, which has led to the implementation and designing a number of policies in education with an aim of improving standards of education and achievement. A good number of policies have been introduced at each stage of education, and a number of these policies have been evaluated. This gives an opportunity for a critical appraisal on such evaluations and the scope of different policies that have influenced achievement of education. These evaluations aim at the different ways of enhancing performance and reducing inequalities in education. Educational inequalities in England            These inequalities in the achievement of education can be differently identified at some points in individuals’ lives. However, these educational inequalities emerge at an early stage in the lifecycle and widen the gap as progress in education sequence is experienced. This description of the inequalities is aimed at motivating the evaluation of policies in education, which are used to alleviate inequalities in education and minimize achievement gaps, which is an important research in the field of education. Under this description, individual follows an ordered educational sequence which comprises of years in pre-school, compulsory schooling years, post-compulsory level of education and lastly to adult. Gaps in pre-school education            Initially we focused on the educational achievement gaps being present even before students started going to school. These gaps are created by the environments they grow in, family backgrounds and different non-cognitive and cognitive levels of skills children have when entering school. Studies conducted under vocabulary skills (Lervag, 2010: p. 615) shows there is high dispersion of a number of sizeable gaps existing in gender and ethnic groups at the time of entering school. Compulsory school            At the stage of compulsory schooling, the gaps that were there at the school entry evolve. Where some widens while others narrow as abilities of children at school makes them move either up or down the outcomes of the educational distribution. This can be affected by policies of education with the scope of affecting achievement in education. Education at post-compulsory level            This level of education is strongly impinged by the disadvantages of education acquired during compulsory schooling and the pre-school years. It determines whether an individual continues with education in post-compulsory level or not. This level is strongly determined by the education level of their parents. Adult learning            Inequalities of education continue to increase even when a student completes full-time education. They extend to adults in their live of working as their training and education occurs and mostly to those who have acquired higher levels of education.            Under those stages of education, it is evident that inequalities in education emerge and exists at all levels in the sequence. Some gaps widen as individuals progresses more through the sequence of education especially those associated with disadvantages of schooling in urban areas are less compared to those in rural areas. This calls for a significant and a careful evaluation of the policies of education designed to affect educational inequalities. The educational policies raft introduced to the England system of education fifteen years ago provides a good setting for evaluation methods and their success and thus provides a better understanding of educational work. Policy evaluation regarding to England school            Although these policies at all levels of lifecycle are important for improving attainment in education and inequality reduction, the policies of school-level ought to be focused on in the England system of education. This is because compulsory years of schooling give an important time for the intervention of the government. It also acts as a good body of evaluation of the research policies in England. This calls for selective areas of policy with a critical appraisal which is rigorous. The following are headings of policy discussion and their methods of evaluation.            School resources refer to perennial debates concerning educational literature of economics of whether if the expenditure of the school is increased will have an effect on improving pupil attainment (Peters, 2009: p.1). Research on whether the implantation of such policies can reduce the types of attainment gaps experienced earlier. The relevance of such implementation is to determine whether additional expenditure can lead to cost effective in developed countries at the typical levels.            International research indicated that there is no good relationship between student outcomes and resources. However, some puts more efforts on studies particularly with methodological design with positive impacts. The challenge faced in the implementation of this policy is that school resources are always allocated disproportionately to disadvantaged students. If this issue is not dealt with fully in methodological design, the way resources and attainment are related with one another will be easily obscured.            Critical evaluation shows that favorable association between educational disadvantages and school resources is counter-balanced to the unfavorable association between educational attainment and educational disadvantage. This clearly indicates that association between educational attainment and school resources is very low, and there is no true reflection of casual relationship. There is the fact that the implementation of controlled randomized experiments has been impossible, researchers have found it difficult to prove that such a problem has been solved. Being the biggest category of expenditure of the UK government, it calls for a more significant sense of getting whether if the expenditure is either increased or reduced there is the likelihood of having an impact on students’ outcomes. This aspect is very important for the future economy in the country and the future prosperity of individuals.            Recent studies have been done concerning this issue in England using national citizen database and all schools expenditure. The national curriculum of the English government is divided into four key levels/stages, then at the end of these stages teachers evaluates the students or they are given national tests that externally and marked at the school when students are the age of 11 and 16. A study done have critically evaluated the relationship between attainment and expenditure in the secondary school level at the age of 14 and 16 respectively, displayed a small positive impact of resources used and on pupil attainment. The challenge behind it is that political control is used as an instrument for expenditure in the school.            Government has initiated better flame work for examining casual effects derived from this context. In early 2000s, a flagship evaluation policy was done on the government labor and the (EiC) program for the secondary schools in England. Under this program, disadvantaged schools mainly located in urban areas were provided extra resources with an effort of improving standards.            Incentives for a period of more than thirty years a concerted effort has been done with an aim of increasing the choice of parents, competition between schools and their accountability for the children performance (Eom, 2011:p.418). If the economy develops well, children go to better schools with incentives of increasing performance. This is because their effort should be strongly linked to pupil information and numbers which is disclosed to parents under the accountability framework.            School autonomy most government schools function within a given framework based on their jurisdiction concerning terms of teacher conditions and pay, admissions, composition of the body that is governing and the curriculum (Clark,2009: p.760). Since 2000, the England government started academies which led to the emergence of new schools given more autonomy compared to typical government schools in terms of their freedom of operations. The rationale behind this greater emphasis on autonomy is to encourage schools to have more innovative policies and facilitate improvement of standards. In England, the so called academies are managed by any appointed governor or their sponsors who are responsible in recruiting all staffs, freedom over curriculum implementation, agreeing on the terms and conditions of payment and organizational aspects of the school.            Pedagogy although since the year 2000, school autonomy in England seems to have gained popularity, it has not been true to various school organizational aspects (Terenzin, 2010: p.772). The government has put into place prescriptive measures in order to improve standards in numeracy and literacy through pedagogical methods. The national numeracy and literacy strategy rolled out in 1998 and 1999 was aimed at improving teaching quality through introducing more focused effective management of the class and instructions. Both literacy and numeracy did not present an overall time increase that was allotted in teaching some subjects. Both dramatically represented a change on the teaching methods of such subjects.            The above evaluation on education policy in England clearly shows that gaps in educational attainment are evident from earlier times and have been measured along the lifecycle. Various policies have been reviewed at the school level and implemented in England which brought high standards economic evaluation, aiming to see how scope of educational inequalities can be impinged. This has been done under the evaluation of the following educational policies implemented in England such as; incentives, school resources, pedagogical approaches and school autonomy. This issue of reducing educational inequalities and gaps that exist in the sphere of education has been shaped for effective implementation. It enhances positive impacts through the use of the following contextual factors applied in secondary school classroom setting.            Structure and organization of the educational system: this helps in shaping the development of curriculum by considering the society served by the education system. It reflects the aspirations and the needs of the students, function and the nature of learning and statement formulation on the importance of learning. This enables students to know how policies of education are implemented and established, influences the operation of schools and helps them to achieve their educational goals and curricular.            Climate of learning in schools this involves many factors and values such as safety practices, cultures, and organizational structures shaping the school to react and function in a given way (Cohen,2009: p.189). Favorable and positive climate created in school by all stakeholders’ results to higher achievement by students.            Teaching staff: their professional development plays a great important role by attempting to reform or change an education system. The general purpose behind teachers’ evaluation is to ensure that the quality of instructions students receive from teachers are safeguarded and improved. Teachers are evaluated through classrooms observation by the principals, peer review of teachers and checking on students’ performance.            Parental involvement: for a school to be successful there must have a high cooperation among teachers, school administration and parents. A research done indicated that if parents participate in the education of their children, it results to an increase in the academic achievement of the students and an overall attitude improvement towards school.            Classroom environment: instructional activities carried out in school are always influenced by environment in the classroom. This includes classroom size, class composition and instructional time. Research indicates that favorable classroom environment benefits academic development thus helping students to achieve educational goals.Education policy in USA            In USA, education is provided by both private and public schools. Education in public schools is universally available, funded and controlled by the state, federal and local government. Private schools are set free to come up with their own curriculum and policies of staffing. Educational evaluation plays a significant role in USA as it assesses and distinguishes particular characteristics of the education process. It is a professional process by which incessant review is commenced by independent educators with an aim of improving the learning process. This attempt is done to ensure smooth progress on the whole learning experience. The evaluation process in USA is conducted under the following three routes;            Personal evaluation: this comprises of a legal and an ethical process, the standards behind it are educational, significant and judicious. Personnel evaluation standards are easily implemented, apt in funds and proficient in utility.            Program evaluation: it involves ground standards that provide a guarantee of the demanded information by users. This process of evaluation is based on factors that are prudent, practical, and thrifty and save. It results to an accurate and complete evaluation to the point.            Student evaluation: it is a program carried out ethically and legally which is kept in the students mind while others are affected by it. Its standards are diligently judicious, educational and significant therefore; it is an extremely useful evaluation to students. The process is very sensible, efficient, affordable, feasible, politically and socially.            Education policy in USA has been effectively evaluated with an aim of ensuring educational effectiveness among students at different levels of education. Policy-amenable of the school characteristics are among the factors controlled under school management or national policy of education. It refers to substantive policy measures of education in areas such as governance, curriculum, accountability and development of a professional teacher and other characteristics at the school-level known to improve teaching. This discussion focuses on three main areas of policy-amenable characteristics of a school which shapes educational policy implementation. They include school climate, school resources and school policies. It is also interested in measuring the school context by mean socio-economic students’ backgrounds within the school. Relative impacts determined by school characteristics of policy-amenable and school context on the quality of education has helped policy makers to have a control.            The question under the educational policy evaluation is why some schools are performing better than others. If the policy evaluation can identify the factors causing such deviation in terms of different school performance, better strategies can be implemented to change such performance deviation; that is identifying general characteristics of schools with high performance and use such information to improve performance of a given school. The following are the three main areas according to PISA which shapes education policy implementation and has an effect towards students’ performance.            School resources comprises of physical resources and materials such as the school size and the quality of physical infrastructure in the school, human resources including number of teaching staff (Peters, 2009: p.1). They have a tertiary qualification and the number of students in the school compared to the available teachers. If the school infrastructure is well constructed and the school has enough teachers the performance of students is likely to increase. This evaluation conducted in schools ensures effective implementation of the curriculum which facilitates achievement of educational goals.            School climate entails different aspects culture of the school including how well teachers and students get along, disciplinary climate (Crul, 2009: p. 1478). In addition, it includes how committed and motivated school’s teachers are and how strongly does the students identify themselves with their school. This factor is implemented well by school principals through ensuring that students are well disciplined and that teachers-students cooperation is improved. It is also well maintained through students’ motivation that results to high performance of students.            School policies it comprises the level of autonomy enjoyed by the school when making decisions, issues concerning accountability of whether self-evaluation is conducted in the school and students’ progress monitored (Creemers, 2010: p.815). Such policies also determine whether the school gives the parents information concerning the students’ performance or not. Lastly these policies establish the degree of selectivity in the school concerning admission policies and the way low achievers are transferred to different schools. These factors shape the issue of educational inequality and the gaps created in the secondary level, and if well implemented high attainment is achieved.            Conclusively, evaluation of education policy is an important factor in different countries for educational effectiveness. The above evaluation clearly shows some of the challenges experienced in school such educational inequalities, poor performance and non-effective governance among others results to poor performance. England and USA among other nations have developed educational policy evaluation at different levels of education. From the above discussion, it is clear that these policies have improved standards of education shaped under different contextual factors. Comparably, both countries have had almost the same factors such as school resources, school policies among other discussed factors above. The recommendation is that such policies should be improved and well implemented and for who are yet to implement should do it for educational effectiveness. References Anderson, P., Chisholm, D., & Fuhr, D. C. (2009). Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of policies and programmes to reduce the harm caused by alcohol. The Lancet, 373(9682), 2234-2246. Ball, S. J. (2009). Privatising education, privatising education policy, privatising educational research: network governance and the ‘competition state’. Journal of Education Policy, 24(1), 83-99. Beauchamp, C., & Thomas, L. (2009). Understanding teacher identity: An overview of issues in the literature and implications for teacher education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 39(2), 175-189. Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods. Oxford university press. Bunar, N. (2010). Choosing for quality or inequality: current perspectives on the implementation of school choice policy in Sweden. Journal of education policy, 25(1), 1-18. Cohen, J., McCabe, L., Michelli, N. M., & Pickeral, T. (2009). School climate: Research, policy, practice, and teacher education. The Teachers College Record, 111(1), 180-213. Cooper, A., Levin, B., & Campbell, C. (2009). The growing (but still limited) importance of evidence in education policy and practice. Journal of Educational Change, 10(2-3), 159-171. De Bortoli, L., & Thomson, S. (2010). Contextual factors that influence the achievement of Australia’s Indigenous students: Results from PISA 2000-2006. OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), 7. Halà ¡sz, G., & Michel, A. (2011). Key Competences in Europe: interpretation, policy formulation and implementation. European Journal of Education, 46(3), 289-306. Halpin, D. (Ed.). (2013). Researching education policy: Ethical and methodological issues. Routledge. Hobson, A. J., Ashby, P., Malderez, A., & Tomlinson, P. D. (2009). Mentoring beginning teachers: What we know and what we don’t. Teaching and teacher education, 25(1), 207-216. Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 79(1), 491-525. Levinson, B. A., Sutton, M., & Winstead, T. (2009). Education Policy as a Practice of Power Theoretical Tools, Ethnographic Methods, Democratic Options. Educational Policy, 23(6), 767-795. Papastergiou, M. (2009). Digital Game-Based Learning in high school Computer Science education: Impact on educational effectiveness and student motivation. Computers & Education, 52(1), 1-12. Rappleye, J., Imoto, Y., & Horiguchi, S. (2011). Towards ‘thick description’of educational transfer: understanding a Japanese institution’s ‘import’of European language policy. Comparative Education, 47(4), 411-432. Rizvi, F., & Lingard, B. (2009). Globalizing education policy. Routledge. Warnock, M., & Terzi, L. (Eds.). (2010). Special educational needs: A new look. Continuum International Publishing Group. Wiseman, A. W. (2010). The uses of evidence for educational policymaking: Global contexts and international trends. Review of research in education, 34(1), 1-24. Yudof, M. G., Levin, B., Moran, R. F., Ryan, J. E., & Bowman, K. L. (2011). Educational policy and the law. MSU Legal Studies Research Paper, (09-15). Source document
Saturday, September 28, 2019
International Logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2
International Logistics - Essay Example Most of the organizations were always maintained a good inventory of raw materials in order to sustain the production in case of a shortage of raw materials in between. Organizations were taken such precautionary measures because of their limited access to domestic and international sources of raw materials. But now globalization has opened the doors widely open for both domestic and international business and hence the access of raw material sources is not at all a problem now. Moreover the advancements in computers and internet technologies have made the task easy for organizations to despatch and procure goods in time. For the last ten years or so, the freight transportation industry has been facing new challenges such as time sensitive industrial and commercial practices as well as the globalization of markets. In response to these changes, new information related technologies have developed rapidly. (Roy, 2001)Just-In-Time procurement practices are one of the latest developments in international logistics. â€Å"Just-in-time (JIT) is defined as â€Å"a philosophy of manufacturing based on planned elimination of all waste and on continuous improvement of productivity†. It also has been described as an approach with the objective of producing the right part in the right place at the right time (in other words, â€Å"just in time†).†(JUST-IN-TIME (JIT) PRODUCTION, 2006) This paper briefly analyzes various aspects of Just-In-Time procurement practices. Freight transportation industry had faced new challenges in the last decade which affected the supply chains and logistic processes. â€Å"The first change may be attributed to the impetus towards inventory reduction which led to Just-In-Time procurement practices.†(Roy, 2001) Just-In-Time (JIT) Procurement System designed to put general purpose materials at the work places only at the time when they are actually needed. Advance procurement
Friday, September 27, 2019
PARALLEL ALGORITHM FOR MULTI-DIMENSIONAL MATRIX MULTIPLICATION Research Paper
PARALLEL ALGORITHM FOR MULTI-DIMENSIONAL MATRIX MULTIPLICATION OPERATIONS REPRESENTATION USING KARNAUGH MAP - Research Paper Example The basic concept EKMR is to transform the multi-dimensional array in to a set of two-dimensional arrays. EKMR scheme implies Karnaugh Map which is a technique used to reduce a Boolean expression. It is commonly represented with the help of a rectangular map which holds all the possible values of the Boolean expression. Then the efficient data parallel algorithms for multi-dimensional matrix multiplication operation using EKMR are presented in this study which outperformed those data parallel algorithms for multi-dimensional matrix multiplication operation which used the TMR scheme. The study encourages designing data parallel algorithms for multi-dimensional dense and sparse multi-dimensional arrays for other operations as well using the EKMR scheme since this scheme produces the efficient performance for all dimensions and for all operations of the arrays. Multi-dimensional arrays which are also referred as tensors or n-ways arrays are usefully applied to a wide range of studies or methods such as climate modeling, finite element analysis (FEA), molecular dynamic and many more but still many issues have been encountered regarding efficient operations of these multi-dimensional arrays. Most of the proposed methods are successful in case of two-dimensional arrays which do not show accurate results when applied to the extended form of tensors. This occurred due to the traditional matrix representation (TMR) which is an array representation scheme that is commonly used to represent the multi-dimensional dense or sparse array. Dense and sparse are the two categories of the array form which are provided through the various data parallel programming languages [2] for instance, Vienna Fortran, High Performance Fortran, etc. If all or most of the array elements are non-zero values then it is called a dense array. On the other hand, if most of the elements of the array are zero then it is called a sparse array. When an operation is applied
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Case plan scenario Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words
Case plan scenario - Essay Example This is the basis of this case plan. The purpose of the plan is to move the client to the point where they recognize the need to change their unhealthy eating and drinking habits for their benefit. One of the best ways of treating lifestyle diseases is for the patient to abandon their unhealthy way of life that led to or worsens the effects of the diseases. In the case of the patient that is the subject of this plan, it was established that their lifestyle disease is attributable to their eating fatty, junk foods and heavy drinking. When advised to quit that lifestyle in favour of a healthy one, they protested bitterly to the point of claiming that they rather die and stop eating junk food and drinking. Two possibilities arise. Either the patient does not understand and appreciate the contribution of their lifestyle to their disease or they do, but there are certain forces that drive them to refuse to cooperate with the dietician. Either way, the task ahead is to get the patient to cooperate with the dietician for the sake of their health. However, the patient has made it clear that they will not cooperate with the dietician. Thus, it may be necessary to enlist the help of a third party. Arguably, this is the best and first third party to approach the patient’s immediate family, if they had one. The fact that the client leaves alone further complicates the situation. Functional families are known to offer the highest moral, emotional, psychological and other forms of support in difficult moments such as when a member of the family suffers from a life-threatening disease or condition. The effective treatment of a lifestyle disease or any other disease takes the joint effort of both the patient and the health practitioner (Malcher, 2009). Otherwise, left to one party, the process of administering treatment is an exercise in futility. Suppose a patient visits a
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 49
Discussion - Essay Example An accountant must consider the unique aspects of the two classifications in order to capture all the expenses and revenues in order to enhance the accuracy of the balance sheets among other financial documents in an organization. Adjusting entries is an important undertaking in bookkeeping since it helps document every event that takes place in the organization. They help consolidate the accounts balances and bring them to the last day of the financial period. Such is a vital undertaking that helps in reconciling the financial books. Additionally, adjusting entries helps record the cost of doing business. Through adjusting entries, the financial records will show the activities that occurred instead of the transfer of money. This helps present the activities associated with doing business since they influence the cost of doing business in an economy (Warren, James and Jonathan 67). Such accounts as Accounts receivable and the income account are always adjusted depending on the movement of money in the business. Such are the adjusted entries since the movement of money in the company influences their outlook. Unadjusted entries, on the other hand, refer to money that remains unchanged despite the movement of money in the financial period. Such accounts as starting capital inherited from the closing accounts. The amount remains unchanged by the movement of money in the fiscal period. Adjusting entries is a hectic process that requires an accountant to pay close attention to the movement of money in a business. The fact that the process occurs at the end of a financial period makes it confusing and difficult since an account must refer to all the financial books within the period in order to understand the movement of cash. This makes the process hectic. While the relationship between debit and credit is natural, it remains difficult to identify the accounts to either
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
New Product Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1
New Product Development - Essay Example In order to be successful this product must offer a higher value to customer. So now here comes in the importance of developing a new product. If in a market, any player has innovated such a product which can provide higher value then it simply takes away market share. In such a condition it becomes imperative for other players of market to bring in their innovation because any late response in this regard simply means lost customers, which is not desired by any business. In other words it can be explained as that every business requires a sustainable competitive advantage. In some businesses competitive advantage is totally dependent on the innovation associated with the products. So in order to create a sustainable competitive advantage, all businesses are required to stay up to date and keep bringing in new products. There is no doubt in this regard that every business has to stay up to date and ensure that they are offering the best possible product or a product which can provide the company a sustainable competitive advantage. However there are some industries which require some extra efforts in the field of product development, research and innovation. One of the most common industries in this regard is the pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceutical companies invest millions of dollars annually on their research and department. This is because of the reason that they have to ensure that they come up with the latest and most effective combination of drugs. This happens because their whole profits are based on the relative effectiveness of a medicine. In addition to this if a pharmaceutical company has invented a new medicine to cure a disease then this innovation can promise company high profits for the upcoming years. This happens because when a company innovate a new product then it can get pat ents for it. These patents provide company an opportunity to be the
Monday, September 23, 2019
How does Learning and Employee Development contribute to Essay - 1
How does Learning and Employee Development contribute to organisational success and performance within social care services - Essay Example Furthermore, the dissertation has made use of questionnaires and interview techniques to collect data from line managers at a voluntary sector social service provider, namely ‘Loretto Care’. The main findings of the research are: The managers at Loretto Care are of the view that investment in learning, development and on the job training can be directly beneficial and can lead to success at personal (employee level) as well as at the organisational level; and the main barriers to learning and the effectiveness of training as identified by the managers at Loretto Care include workload, time pressures and lack of internal motivation. The respondents have pointed out a need to encourage registration with and alignment of training programmes and employees with the SSSC requirements to ensure standardisation and monitoring the effectiveness of these programmes. The main conclusion is therefore that development and learning programmes for employees can effectively enhance orga nisational performance if there is robust planning to meet the needs and requirements of the organisation and are culturally embedded via appropriately qualified line managers in undertaking their role. Keywords: Training and development, SSSC Registration, Role of line management CONTENTS Abstract Chapter 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Introduction Purpose and rationale of the study Scope of the Study Aims of the Research Significance of Study Format of the Dissertation Conclusion of the Chapter Page 1 2 4 5 6 7 9 Chapter 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 Literature Review Outline of the Chapter Specific research in the Social Care Sector Conclusion of the Chapter 10 10 11 19 Chapter 3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Methodology Introduction to research design Research Design Research Methodology Sample, time and Site for study Research instrument Research Pilot Questionnaire Ethical and Validity issues Scope and Limitations of the Design Conclusion of the chapter 21 22 23 23 25 26 27 28 30 31 Chapter 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Results and Findings Findings Theoretical Framework Legislative Context Discussion Conclusion of the chapter 32 32 44 55 62 85 Chapter 5 5.1 5.2 Conclusion Recommendations Final Conclusion 86 92 93 References Appendices Appendix 1 Ethical Approval Appendix 2 SSSC Codes of Practice Appendix 3 Interviewee information and consent Appendix 4 Questionnaire results and data List of Tables, Graphs and Diagrams Figure Description Page 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 Summary of job roles of the Participants Qualification of post holders Qualifications of the staff Summary of responses of the L&D strategy Effectiveness of the learning and development strategy Overall job satisfaction relating to L&D Learning and development activities undertaken by managers Learning and development opportunities for team members Impact of regulation with SSSC Experiential Learning Model – Kolb and Fry Developments on Exper iential Learning – Jarvis Learning at Work and Human Resource Development - Slotte Skills demonstration by employees not qualified as per SSSC Skills demonstration by employees qualified as per SSSC Training needs analysis collation methods Factors in the positive contribution of L&D Promotion of L&D Perceived barriers to providing L&D opportunities Learning and
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Core Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Core Reflection - Essay Example For some, a passing grade is suffice while others must maintain a certain grade point average. Champlain College integrates two distinct approaches to traditional academics and these two approaches are with a liberal studies program and interdisciplinary teaching and learning. In addition, the purpose of liberal study and general education is a rich experience that combines academic strictness, self-exploration, and global and local awareness. It is important to be in Core class because we are able to take what we learn in class and are able to apply it to what we want for our future. Every student will gain something different from each class and that is true of Core class. Each of us are able to look at our own interests and view things in ways that perhaps were instilled in us in our environment before becoming a student at Champlain. Through student and faculty discussions, we are able to see things in a whole new way and look at the world with different perspectives. We might think that we have a certain job that we are focused on doing and through the self-exploration, we find ourselves soul-searching to see if we can really identify with the objectives of a particular career. Without a Core class, we are able to pinpoint more closely what our objectives are at Champlain so we can meet the goals we have set for ourselves as students. I have been studying Core classes since last summer and some of them are enjoyable but a few of them are not. Because I am transfer student, I had to take Summer Bridge which is COR-130 and it was over a period of six weeks. This really was not too bad, however, I had to learn a lot of information and material in a short period of time compared to a regular semester course. In Core 200 level courses, there are several available options of courses. Unfortunately, there were not many that satisfied my interests so I felt like I was taking random classes and courses and
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Indian Republic Day Speech Essay Example for Free
Indian Republic Day Speech Essay India celebrates our 64th Republic Day which is one of three national days in India. Commonly 64th Republic Day is a public holiday in most of the countries to honor the day on which the country first became republics. In such some are Commonwealth countries, the British sovereign was ruling the state until the change of status. Even though India obtained freedom on August 15, 1947, Indian Constitution implemented and came into effect only on January 26, 1950. King George VI, the last and only â€Å"King†of the modern India, was leading our state during the evolution period from 1947 to 1950. Lord Mountbatten and C. Rajagopalachari were serving as the Governors-General of India at that time. Afterwards Rajendra Prasad was elected as the first president of India on January 26, 1950. With this the Parliament officially approved the Constitution of India and declared itself as a â€Å"Republic†on January 26, 1950, a date thereafter celebrated every year as Republic Day in India. Lets know about India Republic Day official celebration in New Delhi. According to the Republic Day celebration on January 26th every year a grand parade is held in New Delhi, the Capital of India, beginning from Raisina Hill near the Presidential Palace Rashtrapati Bhavan, along the Rajpath, past India Gate and on to the historic Red Fort in the heart of the city to honor this occasion. Defence forces of state, Indian Army force, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force performs the past in parade with their ceremonial dress and official decorations on this auspicious occasion of Republic Day. At the end of parade Air Force jets perform a colorful flypast by in a Tiranga formation which is adventurous and eye-catching at a time. Similar celebrations with such parades are held in the capitals of all the states of India on the Republic day. The Governor of the each state takes the salute in their respective celebrations. More over all official government offices will also celebrate this national day which is also considered as people’s day. Once this salutation gets over, a 21 gun salute is presented, the President unfurls the National Flag and the National Anthem is performed. This regards the beginning of the parade. The Republic day Parade commences with winners of bravery awards passing the President in open jeeps. We all are proud to be Indians and would salute the great glory of our country. By saying this I would like to finish my speech.
Friday, September 20, 2019
The Utilitarianism And Principlism Philosophy Essay
The Utilitarianism And Principlism Philosophy Essay Utilitarianism, started by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the opposition to Christian ethics, is a theory in ethics, which favors the idea of maximizing the greatest pleasure and minimizing the greatest harm. As stated in the book, Utilitarianism, The sole end of human action is happiness Therefore, to achieve this maximum pleasure and minimum harm, which results in happiness, one must apply the four main tenets: Consequentialism, Maximization, A theory of Value, and A scope of morality. Principlism originated as a method of investigation for determining if medical treatments are moral and ethical. Now, this theory is widely used for making ethical and moral decisions in general. The tenets for principlism are autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. During the Presidential election on Nov. 6, 2012, Washington, Maryland, and Maine all, by majority rule, approved same-sex marriage. This makes, in total, nine states, inc luding the District of Columbia that has legalized and recognizes same sex marriage. In addition, eight states have legalized and recognized civil unions. This decision has themes of utilitarianism and principlism but there are still several moral and ethical injustices taking place. In this paper, I will use utilitarianism and principlism to show that the banning of same-sex marriage is unethical and immoral. Same-sex marriage is the joining of two individuals, of the same sex, in matrimony. Currently, nine states in the United States recognize same-sex marriage. Eight other states recognize civil unions. The rest recognizes neither and upholds that marriage is a union between, only, a man and a woman. The nine states that recognize same-sex marriage offer some rights that come with marriage. However, the federal government does not offer any benefits or rights to couples in same-sex marriage. The states that allow same-sex marriage may grant some benefits but not all. Civil unions, in essence, are the same as a regular marriage. The only difference is that there is an even bigger limitation on some rights and privileges for the couples. I use same-sex marriage and civil unions interchangeably for the purposes of this paper. Consequentialists believe that, right acts produce the greatest amount of good consequences, versus motives, for the greatest number of beings (Pence). This means tha t right acts, as in doing what is right, tends to increase pleasure and happiness for all. The motives for action, in this case, are not relevant factors. Negating the views of religion, as they have no standing in what is morally and ethically right, legalizing same-sex marriage and granting the full rights of marriage will only cause happiness for all. Maximization states that, the number of beings affected by a consequence matters; the more beings affected, the more important the result (Pence). This emphasizes the fact that the larger the number of all relevant people hurting the extent of harm is at its worst. On the other hand, the larger the number of all relevant people happy, the extent of pleasure is at its highest. The whole goal of utilitarianism is, in fact, to make all relevant people happy while reducing all forms of hurt. Again, negating the views of religion, allowing same-sex marriage, and granting the rights of marriage will only bring about the greatest happiness for all persons. A theory of value refers to good consequences that are defined by pleasure, what people prefer, or by some other good thing (Pence). This creates a slippery slope concerning the value of marriage. Is marriage, specifically same-sex marriage, intrinsically valuable or is it valuable because of the thoughts and feelings people project onto marriage? Marriage in general is an institution where two people profess their love for each other. At the very least, being in a marriage acts in favor of the participants overall happiness. If anything works to increase pleasure and happiness, then it is intrinsically valuable. It is not valuable because people perceive this to be the right thing to do or because of expectations. It is intrinsically valuable on its own merit. Marriage increases your chances of living longer, Based on life expectancies, nine of ten married men and women alive at age 48 are alive at 65, while only six of ten single men and eight of ten single women make it to 65. Mar ried men may have better immune systems as well, either from support or from nagging to monitor blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and may be at less risk to catch colds (Waite and Gallagher). In addition to living longer, married men and women also have better financial stability, and they are less likely to commit suicide. Of course, with these side-effects of marriage, you would first have to be in a union and you would have to have the rights and privileges of marriage. Since these side-effects are actually beneficial, it would only make sense to permit all wiling people to marry and grant them the rights of marriage, specifically same-sex couples. If you are happier, normally, you will be healthier, and you will live longer. If dying were the greatest harm then life would be the greatest benefit. Therefore, giving people a chance at a happier, healthier life would only be the morally and ethically right thing to do. The last of the four tenets of utilitaria nism is a scope of morality. This states that Each beings happiness is to count as one and no more and beings who count are to be made explicit, whether these are only humans or all sentient creatures (Pence). For instance, take the couple Jack and Jim. Jack and Jim are legally married in one of the states that permit same-sex marriages. Jim becomes ill and he does not have insurance of his own. Jack does have insurance, but due to restrictions of same-sex marriage, Jim cannot use Jacks insurance. Where does Jim get the money to pay for treatment? The people who pay taxes provide the funds. Millions of people are currently uninsured, and of those millions, large portions of those people are in same-sex relationships. Allowing people in same sex marriage to have the benefits of using the health insurance of their spouse will be one factor in lowering the tax payments for the uninsured. The couples share health insurance and the rest of America may not have to pay as much for the taxe s. This results in the best consequence for all. However, the motive may be selfish; paying less for some taxes, but this would be the right thing to do. Principlism also uses four tenets, which act as criteria for determining the ethicality of certain decisions. These tenets are autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. The concept of autonomy, in essence, is free will. Autonomy allows for persons who are informed, competent, and unforced to state their freedom and pursue the maximization of their own individual liberties and values that matter in their own lives. Looking at Jack and Jim again, they both are fully aware of the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of marriage. They both are in great mental health and are mentally competent. They both are also willing to marry each other. They meet the criteria for having autonomy so they should be able to practice this concept. With having the free will that autonomy grants, the both of them feel that being married exercises their freedom and getting married would maximize their own individual happiness. Beneficence has always had an unclear place, in great part because to act kindly or generously toward others requires that we have some sense about what is actually good for them (Callahan). The concept of beneficience applied to same-sex marriage can be a slippery slope in that many people try to incorporate religion and how same-sex marriage affects children. Again, religion does not offer concrete rules reguarding morality. Also, you can not apply the morals of religion to those who do not practice a religious faith. You must take the person on their own merit. You must consider, without any bias, what is best for them. If a person can not marry the person that they love, then this will surely cause some discomfort and some harm to them. In this it would be kind and generous for anybody to allow those persons who want to marry become married. Non-maleficence, for instance, comes down to a right not to have our mind or body harmed by another, to be left intact; and that is a historical variant of autonomy (Callahan). This concept should include all aspects of harm not just physical harm. It should also not be limited to the interference with a persons freedom, but it should work to protect people from threats to peoples values, political welfare, social relationships, and overall well-being. You should take Jim and Jacks natural right to not be mentally or physically harmed by any action. They should be left with their own autonomy as long as they arent causing any mental or physical harm to themselves or each other. If the concept is to not harm, be it mental or physical, then you should take into account that not allowing marriage will cause some kind of harm. Since harm will be caused by withholding the rights of marriage is not ethical. So you must do the most ethical thing, which is to allow them to marry. As for just ice, I take it that the whole point of treating people justly, or allocating resources to them in an equitable manner, is to allow them to function as autonomous persons, not discriminated against or harmed by inequitable treatment (Callahan). Here, denying Jim and Jack the opportunity to get married will be unjust and unethical. Since there is and could never be any chance of marriage becoming scarce, there is no reason to withhold marriage from anybody, unless there is a just reason for doing so. This unjust reason may be too many divorces in the past or from trying to see some kind of monetary compensation. If Jack and Jim truly love each other and this can be proven, then there is no just reason to deny them marriage. Consequentialism, Maximization, A Theory of Value, and A Scope of Morality are all components of the theory of Utilitarianism. These tenets act to produce the main thought of utilitarianism, which is to maximize pleasure and to minimize pain. Principlism, another ethical theory, uses autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice to determine the morality and ethicality of moral and ethical decisions. Using the theories of utilitarianism and principlism, and their four tenets, I believe that same-sex marriage should be legalized based upon the fact that there is no moral or ethical reason for denying the union. It becomes unethical and immoral when people are denied same-sex marriage.
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Uses of Australian Medic and other Legumes in the United States Essay
Uses of Australian Medic and other Legumes in the United States In recent years the United States has been experimenting with the uses of medics, clovers and other forms of legumes which include sweet clover, rose clover, crimson clover, barrel medic, button medic, Australian medic, burr medic, nitro alfalfa, and spotted medic just to name a few of the long list of plants used in these experiments. The purpose of these experiments were to determine the benefits of intercropping these legumes with non-nitrogen fixating crops such as corn, sunflowers and many others. Some of the suggested benefits would include using less fertilizer, gained water infiltration into the soil, and reduced soil erosion. A study was conducted in Stephenville, Texas over several years to determine the types of medics and clovers that could possibly be used in areas of the United States that have high temperatures in the summers with limited precipitation, another objective of the experiments conducted in Stephenville was to determine the affects of harvest height, as herbage removal affects the reproduction of the stand in following years. Some cool-season annual species looked to be promising candidates for this particular experiment. Many of these species have become widely naturalized across the Great Plains region of the United States which indicates adaptation to climate, soils, local vegetation, and pathogens (Muir et al., 2005). One of the biggest factors in the growth and reproduction of medic is the climate, especially temperature and rainfall, has the strongest effect on legume production. Annual Australian medic species that are accustom to the long growing seasons in southern parts of the continent took ten to seventy ... ...provided by these plants. References Groose, Robin W., 1999. Lamb Chops and Rolls on 12 Inches of Rain. Casper Star Tribune. Kandel, H.J., B.L. Johnson, and A.A. Schneiter. 2000. Hard Red Spring Wheat Response Following the Intercropping of Legumes into Sunflower. Crop Science 40:731-736 Muir, James P., William R. Occumpaugh and Twain J. Butler, 2005. Trade-Offs in Forage and Seed Parameters of Annual Medicago and Trifolium Species in North-Central Texas as Affected by Harvest Intensity. Agron. J. 97:118-124 Sheaffer, Craig C., Steve R. Simmons and Michael A. Schmitt. 2001. Annual Medic and Berseem Clover Dry Matter and Nitrogen Production in Rotation with Corn. Agron. J. 93:1080-1086 Smeltekop, Hugh, David E. Clay and Sharon A. Clay. 2002. The Impact of Intercropping Annual ‘Sava’ Snail Medic on Corn Production. Agron. J. 94:917-924
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Knowledge and Poverty in The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara Essay example
Toni Cade Bambara addresses how knowledge is the means by which one can escape out of poverty in her story The Lesson. In her story she identifies with race, economic inequality, and literary epiphany during the early 1970’s. In this story children of African American progeny come face to face with their own poverty and reality. This realism of society’s social standard was made known to them on a sunny afternoon field trip to a toy store on Fifth Avenue. Through the use of an African American protagonist Miss Moore and antagonist Sylvia who later becomes the sub protagonist and White society the antagonist â€Å"the lesson†was ironically taught. Bambara identifies with race through class and demographics in her story The Lesson. The African American children come to terms with their classed society while visiting a pricey, Manhattan toy store. Sylvia states â€Å"Then we checked out that we on Fifth Avenue and everybody dressed up in stockings. One lady in fur coat, hot as it is. White folks crazy†(643). Sylvia discovers that White people don’t dress like African Americans, even if they share the same type of weather condition. She recognizes that they have money and they have a tendency to give you an idea about how wealthy they are. â€Å"Must be rich people shop here, say Q.T.†(645). One of the children on the trip was able to identify with the demographic of the area. He acknowledged that people who had status and wealth were the one most likely to buy toys and things that expensive. Bambara give readers an insight about the 1970’s and what life was like for those of status in white society. How Whites could afford costly toys while those of African American society could not. Sylvia also recognized behavior patterns in a White atmos... ...he refused to let white society stand in her way. Sylvia made up her mind and would strive to get what she wanted. Throughout The Lesson Toni Cade Bambara illustrated how education is the means by which one can escape out of poverty. This was not done in a classroom structured environment it took place on a sunny afternoon field trip in which the children on the trip was confronted with their own deficiency. There was resistance but as each individual longed for a toy in the store the apparent realism displayed itself. The extremely high price for the toys was an amount that their families could live on for a while. Each child was put in a place where he/ she had to examine themselves, their social conditions and their future. Bambara used race through social status, economic inequality, and literary epiphany to identify the hidden realities in each child life.
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Tommy Pearson :: Essays Papers
Tommy Pearson Pearson. Churchill. MacDonald. Trudeau. This list is composed of some of the greatest and most respected men to shape the history of Canada and who meld the country we live in into its current state. One notable but equally influential Canadian politician missing from this list is Tommy Douglas. Tommy Douglas’s government lasted from 1944 to 1960. During these sixteen years, he accomplished many great achievements, and brought in many important political changes to improve the health and living conditions of people all over the country. What exactly did Tommy Douglas accomplish that made him so great? Tommy Douglas was born in Falkirk, Scotland, on October 12, 1904. In 1910, his family immigrated to Winnipeg, Canada. When the first World War struck, the Douglas family moved back temporarily to Glascow. There, he worked at a whiskey factory until the War ended. He then moved back to Winnipeg, where he worked as an apprentice printer at the Winnipeg Free Press and Grain Trade News. There, he learned first hand the needs and views of the common citizen. By 19, he had successfully earned his Journeymans as a printer. By then, however, he had earned a good reputation as a Baptist Preacher. There he met JS Woodsworth, a Methodist Preacher and political party CCF leader. He finished his schooling at McMaster University, earning an MA. In 1934, Tommy Douglas began his political career. He ran unsuccessfully for provincial candidate of the Farmer-Labour party of Saskatchewan. The next year, he won as the CCF candidate for the federal constituency of Weyburn. By 1941, he was selected as th e provincial leader of the Saskatchewan Provincial party in George Williams absence, who hd gone overseas to follow the war. He later resigned his federal position to lead the Saskatchewan CCF, and won the election with 47 seats of 53. During his five terms as premier, Douglas introduced many reforms, mostly geared towards public hospitals and medical care. These reforms moved Saskatchewan to a more forward and prosperous state. In his first year alone, he introduced 72 bills that were aimed at social or economic changes. After only two years, he had reduced provincial deficit by $20 million. Some of Tommy Douglas’s greatest accomplishments were pensioner benefits and universal hospitilization. In 1944, he introduced pensioners to free medical, dental, and hospital services, as well as free treatment of cancer, mental illness, tuberculosis, and venereal diseases.
My Neighbour Totoro [Film History Essay] Essay
My Neighbor Totoro ( , Tonari no Totoro) is a Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. Two young girls, Satsuki and her younger sister Mei, move into a house in the country with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother who is recovering from an illness. Satsuki and Mei discover that the nearby forest is inhabited by magical creatures called Totoros (pronounced toe-toe-ro). The Totoros appear in different sizes, one is small and white, the next one slightly bigger and blue coloured, the biggest one being grey in colour; which features on the movie’s cover being the most well known. They have been described by critics as â€Å"giant chubby ferrets†but there isn’t really any completely apt description to describe a Totoro, for they are made-up creatures. Satsuki and Mei soon befriend these Totoros, and have several magical adventures. When trouble occurs, their new friends will help them rediscover hope and help when dealing with their mother’s sickness and settling into a new home. The voice acting cast consists of 3 different voices for each version of â€Å"My Neighbour Totoro†that was released. There was the original japanese version, the Streamline English dubbed version, then finally an english dubbed version by Disney. The original japanese voice actors were Noriko Hidaka as â€Å"Satsuki†, Chika Sakamoto as â€Å"Mei†, Shigesato Itoi as the â€Å"father†, Sumi Shimamoto as the â€Å"mother†, Tanie Kitabayashi as â€Å"Granny†, Toshiyuki Amagasa as â€Å"Kanta†, Naoki Tatsuta as the â€Å"catbus†, and Hitoshi Takagi as the grey Totoro. The film is set in rural post-war Japan, made in 1988. Some notable anime films made around this time were â€Å"Grave of the Fireflies (1988)†an anti-war movie, as well as â€Å"Akira (1988)†; a cyberpunk anime movie, based in â€Å"Neo-Tokyo†, a booming, industrial city with the ambiance of a society on the edge of collapse. â€Å"My Neighbour Totoro†is a rather significant movie because it was so successful and loved by japanese children like â€Å"Winnie the Pooh†is loved by british children and more popular than Mickey Mouse could ever hope to be. This was because of the charismatic simplicity of the Totoros and their somewhat â€Å"cute†and â€Å"cuddly†appearance. The soundtrack for â€Å"My Neighbour Totoro†composed by Joe Hisaishi and Azumi Inoue received much high praise and added to the straightforward atmosphere of the film. One of the more popular themes from the soundtrack is â€Å"Path of the Wind ( )†. Totoro has become well known in international pop culture as it was indeed a notable film for its particular genre, later becoming the logo and symbol for Studio Ghibli. The film won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize and the Mainichi Film Award for Best Film in 1988, as well as numerous other awards. My Neighbor Totoro ranked #41 in Empire magazines â€Å"The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema†in 2010. Although the target audience for â€Å"My Neighbour Totoro†is aimed at children, this 90 minute movie is bound to appeal to to anyone, even if they’re not an anime fan. Dearly loved and critically regarded worldwide, the magical My Neighbor Totoro is a heart-warming tale of innocence and the power of belief that will delight viewers of all ages. The story is uncomplicated and easy to watch, and the undeniable charm of the characters also adds to the realistic atmosphere of this Studio Ghibli movie. Despite its release date, the animation is solid, just like the fitting soundtrack. My Neighbor Totoro is an anime that gained mainstreamed recognition and popularity for good reason.
Monday, September 16, 2019
Verble & Non Verble Communication
Assignments – Marks Allocation Breakdown | | Setting the scene | |Introduction and issue analysis | |Exposition | |Directly addresses the question | |Uses a wide range of information drawn from course material to address the issues | |Uses a wide range of information drawn from other sources (journals, articles, etc) to address | |the issues | |Contextualises the learning to the workplace | |Quality of conclusions and recommendations implemented | |Data collection and qualitative analysis/literature review | |Originality | |Attempts original research and analysis, creative and challenging insights to balanced | |perception | |Structure and presentation | |Logical sequence with sections well linked | |Good flow and clarity of presentation | |Balance between text, use of charts, diagrams, headings, sub-headings, etc | |Professional business-like style | |Compliance | |Word count | |Submission on time | My topic of choice is Verbal and Non-verbal Interpersonal Communication I will assess each below 8 A) Verbal InterpersonalCommunication Verbal Interpersonal Communication uses language as means of communication between cultures. In languages, there are set of rules about the use of words in the creation of messages. The usage of language in interpersonalcommunication can be either spoken or written. Below are some features of a language or connected with language: a) Phonology – sounds of language ) phoneme – smallest unit of sound, example; cat, tdk – why is cat correct but not tdk, English has 45 phonemes (ch, th) c) Morphology -smallest units of meaning, example, morpheme, happy, happiness, unhappiness d) Semantics -study of meaning of words, the understanding of vocabulary in order to function in a language. There are two types of meanings in languages: i) denotative meanings – public, objective, legal meanings of words ii) connotative meanings – personal, emotionally charged meanings For example, What does test me an to you? e) Syntactics -relationships of words to one another, word order f) Pragmatics – effect of language on human perceptions and behaviors ) Translation – transfer of written verbal codes between language, has time h) Interpretation – oral process of moving from one code to another Examples of Language Language follows culturally determined patterns which influence thinking. Some examples: – English is linear, Arabic combines ideas through conjunctions, hard to discover main idea when translating into English. – England, Ireland, Canada, USA – all speak English, is it the same? – Arabic â€Å"inshallah†, intonation, Arabic uses exaggeration, overassertion, repetition, elaboration, 10 words for English, 100 words for Arabic. – Writers Shakespeare used 34,000 words, today a good writer 15,000-20,000. Eskimos have 30 words for snow. 9 B) Non Verbal InterpersonalCommunication Non-verbal InterpersonalCommunication uses non-verbal codes as means of communication between cultures. Non-verbal codes are as the following: †¢ is a multichanneled process †¢ spontaneously performed †¢ possess nonlinguistic behaviors †¢ enacted subconsciously †¢ can be intentional or unintentional †¢ is not taught, but learned through observation and experiences Characteristics of Nonverbal Codes Non-verbal codes function as a silent language and impart meanings in subtle and covert ways, continuous, natural, blur into another, less precise. Relationship of Verbal to Nonverbal: 1. accent the verbal 2. omplement the verbal (smiling, pointing) 3. contradict the verbal (nonverbals are opposite to spoken) 4. regulate the conversation (looking, gestures) 5. substitute, take the place of the verbal Cultural Universals in Nonverbal Communication 1. same body parts are used 2. convey similar meanings 3. accompany verbal 4. motives are the same 5. control and coordinate contexts and relationships that are the same Cultural Variations in Nonverbal Communication 1. repertoire of behaviors are different 2. display rules – when and where 3. interpretations of meanings. 4. random 5. idiosyncratic 6. shared meaning and significance Body Movements – Kinesics Refers to gestures, head movements, facial expressions, eyes. 1. Emblems – nonverbals that have direct verbal counterpart 2. Illustrators – accompany the verbal, more easily understood 3. Affect – show feelings, emotions, body and face 4. Regulators – synchronize behavior, control the flow of conversation 5. Adapters – reaction to physical state, scratching, unintentional Space – Proxemics Refers to how people use physical space. Example: cold means having large physical distances and warm means having smaller physical distances. Touch Affects positive and negative feelings and may denote the following meanings: †¢ playfulness †¢ control †¢ ritual purpose †¢ task related Time – Chronemics Here, time is the main determinant of communication and is used in various: Example, past oriented means having a circular approach to life , present oriented means enjoying the spontaneity of the situation and future oriented means tomorrow. Voice Refers to the use of different tones of voices when communicating. Example, Through pitch, rate of talking, rhythm and volume Chemical codes Here, smell is used when communicating, for example wearing perfumes 10 Conclusion 1. Communication is a process when a sender transmits a message to a receiver using a particular medium. The medium used can either be verbal or non-verbal, which includes printed or electronic medias. 2. Culture refers to a group of people or society that has the share the same norm (what is expected of an individual) and values (what is considered good or bad in that particular group or society). 3. A group or society that live in close proximity with one another is called a community. 4. Cultures can be distinguished based on certain dimensions like Low Context Culture, High Context Culture, Individualism, Collectivism, High Power Distance, Low Power Distance, Low Uncertainty Avoidance, High Uncertainty Avoidance, Masculine, Feminine, Monochronic, Polychronic, Acquired Status and Given Status. 5. For the people in a group or society to interact with one another, communication is necessary.
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Defining Diversity: the Evolution of Diversity
DEFINING DIVERSITY: THE EVOLUTION OF DIVERSITY by Camille Kapoor 1. INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS DIVERSITY? The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical ability, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies.It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity within each individual (cited from http://gladstone. uoregon. edu/~asuomca/diversityinit/definition. html). 2. PURPOSE OF THE PAPER This research paper was conducted to see the evolution of diversity definition across the industry, specifically in hospitality industry.This qualitative research use Diversity Task Force study which conducted in 2001 to confirm the definition of diversity, whereby diversity can be concluded as â€Å"all characteristics and experiences that define each of us as individuals†(Kapoor, 2011). On top of that, the purpose of this study is: †¢ to illustrate the emergence of diversity concept into management discussions, †¢ to discuss how the definition of diversity has broadened over time to become more inclusive, †¢ to present current concerns with a broad-based diversity definition, †¢ to put forth researcher’s own definition of diversity (Kapoor, 2011) . DISCUSSION ON FINDINGS 3. 1 The Emergence of Diversity Concept into Management Discussions Based on the researcher’s findings, the entrance of diversity concept into management discussions was traced as early as 1978 based on Supreme Court Case of Regents of Universiy of California v. Bakke. In 1987, report by Hudson Institute known as Workforce 2000 stated that women, blacks, Hispanic s and immigrants would make up 85 percent of new job seekers by the year 2000.In addition, this study also pointed out, â€Å"more and more individuals are likely to work with people who are demographically different from them in terms of age, gender, race and ethnicity†. The formulation of 1964 Civil Rights Acts, Executive Order 11246 and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 1965 made it illegal for companies to discriminate in the hiring or managing employees on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex or national origin.It is also requires organization to take affirmative action to overcome past patterns of discrimination. In the following year, the protected classes expanded to include white women, veterans, people over the age of 40 and people with physical or mental disabilities. In 1990’s, researchers began promoting the â€Å"business case†for diversity; as part of the reaction of observation that more diverse workforce can enhance the over all business.Then, managing diversity become one of the economic interest and companies were warned that a failure to effectively manage their diverse workforce would lead to poor performance or even place the company’s image at risk. In late 1990s, the recognition that diversity is a reality can be seen and that a company’s successes rely on their ability to effectively manage their workforce diversity. Managing diversity focuses on understanding people as individuals, rather than making assumptions about the needs and potential of individuals based on whether that person is of a specific gender or ethnic group.Managing diversity could also be understood as an equality strategy because it claimed to be able to recognize employee’s differences, while ensuring â€Å"that policies and procedures did not treat them inequitably†. The above emergence on diversity concept further confirmed by Hanappi-Egger and Ukur (2011) in below summary table of National form s of diversity management. This research summarizes the evolution or evolvement of diversity management cross the world.Table 1: National Forms of Diversity Management |Mobility of diversity management across borders | |Concept |Affirmative action |Equal Employment |Diversity management |Business case for diversity | | | |Opportunities | |management | |Year of Inception Mid 1960s and early 1980s |Mid 1970s to early 1990s |1983 to 1990s |1990 | |Countries that adopted |USA 1961 |USA, Canada, UK, Australia, |1983-1990 in the US |1990-USA | | |South Africa 1998 |South Africa |1997 in the UK |2004-Australia | | |Kenya 2007 | |1998 in the South Africa | | | | | |1999 in Australia | | | | | |2000 in Europe | | | | | |2003 in Asia | | |Intended beneficiaries |Blacks, women, Hispanics, |Women, racial minorities, |White able-bodied males, |Corporate organizations | | |native Americans, Asians |persons with disabilities, |also non-traditional | | | | |aboriginal people |employees | | |Focus | Numerical representation, |Barrier elimination, |Learning about others i. |Business and strategic | | |hiring compliance |numerical representation, |those who are different |advantage | | | |reporting | | | |Cultural value |Remedy past wrongs |Egalitarianism, meritocracy |Inclusiveness, respect for |Business advantage | | | | |difference | | |Intended value |Representative workforce at |Fair employment policies and|Awareness of difference; |Business profits | | |all levels; access to |practices; improved |improved interpersonal and | | | |employment for disadvantaged|representation; supportive |intergroup communication; | | | |groups |climate |human relations, skills; | | | | | |attitude change | |Source: Adopted from Hanappi-Egger and Ukur (2011); data obtained partly from Kelly/Dobbin (1998) and Agocs/Burr (1996) 3. 2 How the Definition of Diversity Broadened Over Time According to this research, there were two general approaches to understand workforce diversity being developed i n mid-2000s as below: †¢ Narrow View – define diversity only as it related to equal employment opportunity and affirmative action; focusing on recruiting and hiring a group of people of particular races, genders or cultures. †¢ Broad View – define diversity as a concept which includes every way in which people can differ; attempts to maximizing the potential of all employees in direct benefit to the organization.However, the above definition of diversity further expanded when Diversity Task Force conducted a study in 2001 which emphasize on: †¢ The importance of including secondary dimensions of an individual into the diversity definition such as communication style, work style, organizational role/level, economic status, and geographic origin; besides only focusing on primary dimensions such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, disability and sexual orientation. †¢ The focus on people with non-visible differences such as sexual orientation. H owever, the focus is more on how their thinking styles, problem solving approaches, experiences, competencies, work habits, and management style can contribute to diversity evolution. †¢ The importance to include diversity dimensions which relevant to workplace such as educational background, work experience, job status, tenure, learning style, and personality type. †¢ The differences even within the particular group.All the above evolution in diversity definition further supported and expanded in The Four Layers of Diversity dimensions by Gardenswartz and Rowe (2003). Compared to Narrow View and Board View approached established in mid-2000s to define diversity, The Four Layers of Diversity explained below dimensions in defining diversity: †¢ Personality – deals with the stable set of characteristics that establishes ones identity †¢ Internal Dimension – represents characteristics that strongly influence people’s attitude, perception and exp ectations of others. These include factors such as age, gender, race, sexual orientation, or ethnicity †¢ External Dimension – represents personal traits that we can exert control or influence over.They include factors such as income, personal and recreational habits, religion, education, work experience, appearance, marital status and geographical location †¢ Organizational Dimension – represents factors pertaining to the organization itself and includes work field, division or unit, seniority, union affiliation, management status and functional level. (Hanappi-Egger and Ukur, 2011) 3. 3 Current Concerns With a Broad-based Diversity Definition This research also highlights some concerns pertaining to broad-based diversity definition in current environment: †¢ Difficulty to implement diversity initiatives lead to dissatisfaction among employees in the organization. Broad definitions of diversity can â€Å"obscure issues of intergroup inequality†b ecause the management put more focus on â€Å"managing individual differences that might contaminate intergroup relations. †¢ Promotions on diversity programs is yet to prove its effectiveness; especially in diversity training.The result of the research conducted before were still ambiguous in its conclusions. †¢ Initial intention of the management to adopt a more broadly defined approach to diversity management become a problem when employee perceive it as management is dealing with individual differences rather than equity. †¢ The â€Å"upbeat naivety†of the diversity paradigm may fail to acknowledge past discrimination and therefore may prevent organizations from preventing future discrimination and racism stated that the organization should acknowledge the cultural and social diversity of where the organization exists; so that the management able to develop proper and suitable diversity initiatives. 4.Researcher’s Own Definition of Diversity as Con clusion Based on the study conducted, the researcher concludes that the finding is able to confirm the definition of diversity as per The Diversity Task Force’s definition that is â€Å"all characteristics and experiences that define each of us as individuals†. However, the researcher has highlighted some concerns with broad definition of diversity; that discrimination might appear unintentionally as a result of primary and secondary dimensions of diversity. Further, it is also emphasized the importance of recognizing that individuals with similar primary dimensions may have very different secondary dimensions.
Saturday, September 14, 2019
Points of change and contention over funding Essay
Smiling perhaps is very common among all the cultures of the world. A smile can start or end a war. A smile could even be immortalized and glorified just like Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Basically, a smile has some unexplainable power to make any situation somewhat lighter. However, misusing a smile could also spark disputes. The complexity and the potential of a smile is explored by profit-oriented groups. And as it turns out, a smile could really attract profit. Prioritizing how to smile is just as essential as planning the whole business. This simple yet effective practice is what some of the business sector is overlooking. People work hard for their money, not to mention life is getting more complicated as time passes. So it is just understandable that people would be carefully thinkingâ€â€sometimes even over-thinking how would they spend their money. A smile could wash away that fear of spending. A smile is the business sector’s way of communicating that the customers are being valued. Moreover, a smile is the business sector’s way of saying that it is a pleasure providing the customers with quality product and service. If we would observe the evolution of the market, enterprising people were initially offering very basic products, then things got more complex as time passed by. Let us take for example food, in the earlier years of the market almost any variety of food, as long as it is edible, proven delicious, and safe for consumption people would buy them. However, we could just observe the how the food industry had evolved. People now are considering the packaging, nutrition facts, taste, and other details. In sophisticated restaurants, presentation is being considered as just as important as taste. This overload of details to analyze is likely to intimidate the consumers. However, if a smile is incorporated in the presentation of the food, the consumer’ thinking would circle back to the basics. A smile would tell the consumers that the food is edible, delicious, and safe for consumption. And as an added effect, a smile would suggest that eating the food would be an enjoyable experience. This analogy of putting a smile in the food business could be easily translated in the language of other business fields. It would just be as effective if a computer salesperson would smile as he or she would explain how a complicated computer program would work for the consumer. In relation to the previous paragraph, the business groups, particularly the corporations, even professionals, are being perceived by the public in a negative tone. Professional and business groups are being regarded as merely profit-driven. Incorporating the practice of smiling into businesses and professional endeavors is one likely solution to the problem. A smile is a message that tell the consumers that a business would not exist without them. In a profound sense, a smile is the way of professional and the business sectors way of expressing their gratitude. To simpler statement, a smile is the best way to make a person relax. In addition to that, a smile is one of the most effective tool in difficult situation. It just requires common sense to assume that any endeavor would have more chance of success if done with a smile. Moreover, smiling requires no financial investment, yet it could help increase profit. Of course, it would not hurt if we flex a few facial muscles. Work Cited True Profit Systems. The Real Value of a Smile. Retrieved 16 July 2008
Friday, September 13, 2019
Repulse travel Pharmaceuticals Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words
Repulse travel Pharmaceuticals - Coursework Example In order to find out the profitability of the product the Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) accumulated from the product needs to be calculated. Based on the financial data estimates the EBIT of the product is calculated. However the calculation of EBIT, the depreciation was also needed to be calculated on a straight line basis based on the formula: Depreciation= (Historical cost- Residual value)/ Life of the Asset (Gupta, & Sharma, n. d, p.376) In order to calculate the EBIT, the sales value was considered and the total amount of fixed cost and variable cost was subtracted to get the ultimate results (Correia, et al, 2007, p.3-4). Based on the calculation shown in Appendix 2 the company will reap a profit of ?185,000 annually from the launch of the new product. However the figures of sales are based on assumption. The change in market condition and the rise of competitor in the market however can cause a variability in the sales which has not been considered in the calculation of the EBIT or the operating profit of the product. After the profitability of the project is considered, a look at the total cash flow using the undiscounted method is taken into consideration. For the calculation of the cash flow, the difference of the cash inflow and the cash outflow is considered. An assumption has been made in the calculation of the cash flow as the cash inflows are taken to be constant for the five years. Total cash flow is calculated based on the formula of Total cash flow = Total of cash inflow – Cash outflow. (Ahmed & Meehan, 2011, p.599) The calculation done on Appendix 3 shows that the total cash flow of the company is ?475000 However the undiscounted method for cash flow evaluation does not provide a true picture as the future value of the money... The research analyzes the feasibility of the new product to be launched by Repulse Travel Pharmaceutical. During the analysis, the data have been taken based on the estimate of the research. The financial parameters which have been taken into consideration are the payback period, Net Present Value analysis, and Sensitivity analysis. The result of the payback period reveals that the product will take a period of 3.5 years to generate the total amount invested by the organization in its implementation. Considering the total lifetime of the project to be 5 years as decided by the company, the time period of 3.5 years seems predominantly long. However further studies were conducted and the result of the discounted cash flow analysis, involving NPV suggested that the project has a positive result and is quite viable to be implemented. In the sensitivity analysis factors of demand and the selling price was manipulated to observe the change in NPV under each case. The results show that the decrease in demand or the selling price of the product will put the product in danger. However it is suggested that the organization can implement the product if they can maintain a constant demand of the product and they should be specific in not decreasing the unit selling price below 10 percent from the original value of 7, as found in the sensitivity analysis. Further the organization must consider a thorough market analysis to understand how the product will perform in the market after a comparative analysis of the competitors.
Thursday, September 12, 2019
Company Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Company Strategy - Essay Example 9) There are several opportunities. Beer, being a luxury product, depends on the economy to stimulate demand. With the economic development of the developing nations, the demand for higher quality beverages, and hence beer is set to grow (Asia Pacific Breweries, n.d., p. 1; Diageo, n.d., p. 13; Krones AG, n.d., online). Alcohol consumption in Eastern Europe, Asia, Indochina (Vietnam and Cambodia), and America is rising (Asia Pacific Breweries Limited, n.d., p. 1; Camerra-Rowe, 2005, p. 8). Even in mature market such as Europe, opportunities exist as they have the highest per capita alcohol consumption in the world (Camerra-Rowe, 2005, p. 12). Opportunities exist for localised products as the market is fragmented due to differences in taste around the world, as well as national barriers to trade that stipulate the allowable ingredients, alcoholic content level, and size of containers of beer (Camerra-Rowe, 2005, p. 5). For example, the Chinese prefers lighter tasting beer (Asia Pacific B reweries Limited, n.d., p. 4). Moreover, in certain countries, such as Germany and the Netherlands, legislation is not so strict. Marketing and advertising are still self-regulated by the industry (Camerra-Rowe, 2005, p. 15). In the beer industry, the critical success factors for brewing fine beer are the brewer's marketing image and the recipe (Moen, 1997, online). Lastly, moderate amount of drinking is beneficial for health (Camerra-Rowe, 2005, p. 22). It is even considered as food in most of Europe (Camerra-Rowe, 2005, p. 25). The threats facing Guinness are strict legislation and decreasing demand. Increased focus on public health by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and some national governments lead them to urge for... The critical success factor of marketing image implies that a differentiation strategy is appropriate. In spite of the growing markets in other regions such as Asia, Eastern Europe, and Indochina, as well as the mature Europe market, Guinness has a low market share in the former. Moreover, these growing markets typically have less stringent legislation in contrast to the increasingly stricter legislation in Europe. A managerial implication is that Guinness should consider expanding its market beyond Europe. Lastly, the managerial implication of fragmented markets is the adoption of localization strategy. The beer industry sees a consolidation in recent years that mitigates competition. The intensity of competition is low, with only a few key competitors in each market. This includes Heineken in Ireland, both Heineken and SABMiller in Africa, and Carlsberg in Malaysia. In the beer industry, the customers are retail shops and wholesalers. Hence, the bargaining power of buyers is low, because they are fragmented, compared to a few large beer breweries. Suppliers of ingredients of beer such as tequila, neutral spirits, molasses, rum, cereals, sugar, and a number of flavors are located around the globe. Hence, the bargaining power of suppliers is low. Moreover, sourcing for suppliers globally reduces their bargaining power. This is because the raw materials of beer are mostly agricultural products which price depends on the weather conditions and governmental control. Hence, buying from the global market diversifies risk.
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