Financial Accounting Concepts: Pepsico, Inc. and the Coca Cola Company

Financial Analysis Randall Meeks Financial Accounting Concepts Mr. Carraher 9-12-2010 PepsiCo, Inc. and The Coca Cola Company have both been in production for ages. Both PepsiCo, Inc. and The Coca Cola Company have become common house hold names through out the world today. Pepsi is one of the best selling products in American history. â€Å"Pepsi is the number 2 soft drink company producer, the world over. Pepsi’s number one priority is making sure that their shareholders investments are profitable. Pepsi has been able to achieve this goal for the most part via increased sales, keeping cost low, and spending money wisely.Pepsi takes pride in the name, they have built an excellent brand by deliver a product that is satisfying to the consumer, as well as safe. The investors in the company also can be happy with the return of investment†(investorguide. com). â€Å"The Coca Cola Company is likely, one of the most significant brands in American history. Coke can go in a ca tegory with a company like McDonalds when it comes to brand value, these two trademarks are 2 of the most recognized in the world. Coke is the highest seller of soft drinks, moving 1. 3 billion beverages that are served daily†(investorguide. com).Pepsi and Coke have been mass producing soft-drinks on an assembly line for a very long time and they both have been competing for the number one soft drink seller spot. PepsiCo, Inc and The Coca Cola Company targets all income segments of customers in the entire world as their products are high quality and very recognizable. Coke and Pepsi offer products so similar that you probably could not tell the difference in a blindfolded taste test. It is a well known fact that when a business goes outside of the United States borders, that production and supply channel become very important concerns.Both Coke and Pepsi own plants that manufacturer their products all over the world in many different countries and continents.. Both companies c ompete with each other and try to make sure they stay relevant. They also tend to copy each other and try to outdo one another on a day to day basis. I will go in detail to explain the financial comparison and contrasting between both companies. I will also explain the vertical and horizontal comparison between the two companies. The main point I will make is to show the difference between both companies financially. Vertical AnalysisConsolidated Income Statement The cost of goods of PepsiCo Inc was $11,031 and $12,314 in 2004 and 2005. The price of product sold in 2004 was 38% of net sales and in 2005, it was 37. 82% of net sale. The price of goods sold went down in 2005. The cost of commodities was $7,674 and $8,195 in 2004 and 2005 for Coke. It was 35% and 35. 47% of net sales in 2004 and 2005. Cost of commodities sold increased for The Coca Cola Company and decreased for PepsiCo, Inc. The operating expense for PepsiCo, Inc was 43% and 43. 54% of net sales in 2004 and 2005. The o perating expenses for Coca Cola were 36% and 37. 2% of net sales in 2004 and 2005. PepsiCo, Inc and The Coca Cola Companies operating expense increased in 2005. The earning before T&I of PepsiCo Inc was 18% and 18. 19% of sales in 2004 and 2005.The operating income for The Coca Cola Company was 26% and 26. 34% in 2004 and 2005. PepsiCo, Inc and The Coca Cola Companies operating income increased. The net income for PepsiCo, Inc. and The Coca Cola Company for 2005 was 21. 09% and 12. 52% The Coca Cola Companies net income ratios was higher than PepsiCo, Inc. Consolidated Balance Sheet The current and total assets for PepsiCo, Inc were 31% and 32. 5% in 2004 and 2005. On the opposite side, the total current assets were 39% and 34. 83% in 2004 and 2005. The liquidity position for PepsiCo, Inc. decreased in 2005 and The Coca Cola Company increased in 2005. The additional assets and fixed assets for PepsiCo Inc, were 69% and 67. 05% in 2004 and 2005. The Coca Cola Companies fixed assets w ere 61% and 65. 17% in 2004 and 2005. The current liabilities for PepsiCo, Inc were $6,752 and $9,406 in 2004 and 2005. The total assets were 24% and 29. 65%. The current liabilities for The Coca Cola Company were $11,133 and $9. 836 in 2004 and 2005.The total assets were 35% and 33. 43%. The current liabilities for PepsiCo, Inc increased while the current liabilities for The Coca Cola Company decreased in 2005. The total liabilities for both companies in 2005 were 55. 08% and 44. 42% of total assets in 2005†¦ The equity for PepsiCo, Inc. was 48% assets in 2004 and 44. 92% assets in 2005. In 2005 PepsiCo, Inc. share holder’s holdings reduced. The equity shares were 55. 58% of assets in 2005 for The Coca Cola Company while in 2004, there were only 51% equity shares. The Coca Cola Companies equity shares were more in relative value as compared to PepsiCo.Horizontal Analysis Consolidated Income Statements The total revenue for PepsiCo, Inc in 2005 and 2004 were $32,562 and $29,261. PepsiCo, Inc had a considerable amount of net revenue in 2005 compared to 2004. The base year of analysis is 2004. The net revenue for PepsiCo, Inc. was 111. 11% in 2005. The total revenue for The Coca Cola Company in 2005 and 2004 were $23,104 and $21,742. Both 2005 and 2004’s revenues were less than PepsiCo, Inc. The net revenue of the company in 2005 was 106. 26% over 2004. The net revenue for 2005 was 6. 26% while 2004 was less.The growth rate of revenue for The Coca Cola Company is less than PepsiCo, Inc. The growth rate of revenue for both PepsiCo and Coca Cola was 11. 11% and 6. 26%. The cost of commodities sold for PepsiCo, Inc was $11,031 and $12,314 in 2004 and 2005. The price of goods sold went up as sales went up. The price of goods sold was 111. 63% compared to 2004's. The cost of commodities sold for The Coca Cola Company was $7,674 and $ 8,195. The cost of commodities sold increased for The Coca Cola Company in 2005 than in 2004. In general and adminis tration expenses of PepsiCo, Inc were $12,674 and $14,176.The operating expenses was 111. 85% in 2005 and 11. 85% more than 2004's. The total operating expenses for The Coca Cola Company was 110. 75% and 10. 75% in comparison to 2004's. PepsiCo, Inc had higher operating expenses than The Coca Cola Company. The operating income for PepsiCo, Inc was $5,259 and $5,922 in 2004 and 2005. The Coca Cola Companies total operating income was $5,698 and $6,085 in 2004 and 2005. PepsiCo, Inc. total operating income was 112. 61% over earlier years. The Coca Cola Companies total operating income was 106. 79% over earlier years.The Coca Cola Companies interest expenses for 2005 were $240 and for PepsiCo, Inc $256. PepsiCo, Inc. interest expenses were more than The Coca Cola Companies. PepsiCo, Inc. net income was $4,078 and $4,212 in 2005 and 2004, PepsiCo, Inc sustained losses in 2005 compared to 2004. The net income for The Coca Cola Company was $4,847 and $4,872 in 2005 and 2004. The Coca Cola Company earned more in 2005 than 2004. Consolidated Balance Sheet The total current assets of PepsiCo, Inc. were $8,639 and $10,454 in 2004 and 2005. The total current assets of PepsiCo, Inc. were 121. 1% prior year’s current assets. PepsiCo, Inc. current assets increased in 2005. The total current assets for The Coca Cola Company were $10,250 and $12,281 in 2004 and 2005. PepsiCo, Inc. current assets were 21. 01% more than prior year’s and The Coca Cola Company were 16. 57% less than previous year's assets. Further more the quick assets of PepsiCo, Inc were more than The Coca Cola Companies quick assets. It shows that PepsiCo, Inc liquidity was more than The Coca Cola Company. PepsiCo, Inc total assets were $27,987 and $31,727 in 2004 and 2005. PepsiCo, Inc. total assets increased by 13. 6%. The Coca Cola Companies total assets were $31,441 and $29,427. The Coca Cola Company decreased by 6. 41%. It shows that PepsiCo, Inc. increased in 2005 more than The Coca Cola Co mpany. PepsiCo, Inc. current liabilities were $6,752 and $9,406 in 2004 and 2005. The total current liabilities of company were 139. 31% over prior year's liabilities. The current liabilities of Coca Cola were $11,133 and $9,836 in 2004 and 2005. The current liabilities were 88. 35% of previous year's liabilities. The Coca Cola Companies current assets and current liabilities decrease in 2005.The total liabilities of PepsiCo, Inc were $14,464 and $17,476 in 2004 and 2005. The total liabilities in 2005 were 120. 82% prior years. The Coca Cola Companies total liabilities were $15,506 and $13,072 in 2004 and 2005. The Coca Cola Companies assets and liabilities decreased in 2005. In 2005 PepsiCo, Inc. share holder’s equity were $20,638 and The Coca Cola Company $16,355. The share holder’s equity increased in both PepsiCo, Inc. and The Coca Cola Company. PepsiCo Inc. equity increased by11. 90% and The Coca Cola Company 2. 64%. Ultimately after reviewing and analyzing PepsiC o, Inc. nd The Coca Cola Company I have came to the conclusion that the net profit of PepsiCo, Inc. and The Coca Cola Company decreased in 2005 and in 2004 there was a profit. The operating expenses of PepsiCo, Inc. and The Coca Cola Company improved quite a bit in 2005. I believe both companies should reduce their operating expense. The interest expenses were also high in 2005. I believe all expenses for interest on a loan made to a corporation or other entities or finances from equity shares should be kept at a minimum. The main purpose of this paper is to explain the financial comparison between The Coca Cola Company and PepsiCo, Inc.Further more I explained vertical and horizontal analyses for the years of 2005 and 2004 for The Coca Cola Company and PepsiCo, Inc. The main idea was to show how both companies are financially different from each other. References Coca Cola Company (2010). Coca Cola Company. Retrieved September 8, 2010. From www. coca-cola. com PepsiCo Inc. (2010). PepsiCo Inc. Retrieved September 9. From www. pepsico. com Investorguide (2010). PepsiCo, Inc. Retrieved September 8, 2010. From investorguide. com Investor Guide (2010). The Coca Cola Company. Retrieved September 8, 2010. From investorguide. com

The Zimmerman Case

The Zimmerman Case has had its verdict yesterday and I would have written then, but I was busy building my thoughts. What I should cover first is why the Zimmerman Case is significant. It is not significant because of race, or the right to defend one's self. In defense of my position on the race aspect, the media has tried to portray Zimmerman as white, when, in fact he is Hispanic or as my wife is adamant about, Latino. Apparently, you can't call Hispanics Hispanics any more and you have to call them Latino. Ok, sure fine I don't really care what people want to be called; it has no bearing to me on the individual other than personal preference. So, if the media is not really sure what race Zimmerman is, the issue of race becomes moot, but it does show that there are other motivations in doing so as someone's race is a pretty big way of describing an individual to the public. I suspect that this has more to do with the Immigration Issue than race despite the media is trying to make be seen that way. Showing Latinos as white would go a long way toward naturalizing immigrants in the public's mind. The right to defend one's self, is not an issue either, in that it is a personal responsibility to do so. Following someone does not justify aggression if that person is acting within a prescribed and legal role, in this case, as a member of the community watch. They say Martin was just going out for Skittles and some sort of drink and that was all he had on him when he was being followed out of the area by Zimmerman. If he was going out to get these items, then why did he have these items on him when he was leaving. This seems suspect to me, but actually has little bearing on the point I am trying to make with this. The issue here isn't if Zimmerman should have been arrested, he should not have. It is also not if Zimmerman had the legal right to shoot and kill Martin; he did. Martin acted as the aggressor and forced Zimmerman in to a physical battle, and Zimmerman, in reacting to the battle, did no go for the gun first. He used the gun after Martin used weapon on him (banging his head on to the ground; I have had this happen to me and I have had to do it to others; The ground is most definitely something that can be used as a weapon). The shot was fired, upwards and in to the front of Martin, therefore, the killing was justified. The only real issue that I had with this was if Zimmerman waited too long, but to that end, I wasn't there and so I have no right to an opinion on the judgement concerning the time frame between actual use of the ground as a weapon and the use of a gun. The issue here isn't, as many people want to believe, if the trial was justified. This should have had an investigation in to the shooting, and of that, there is no question, but it was only to justify if the shooting was legal or not, not to determine guilt of Zimmerman or Martin which the media seems to have confused, but the real issue here is if it was a fair trial. The concept of justice is that justice be fair and impartial. The Executive Branch of the government represents the justice system within the United States. The Executive Branch, when considering the implications of justice, has to see things from all points of view and recognize the rights of all parties concerned with the verdict, ie the prosecutor and the defendant, while ignoring all unaffected parties even if they feel they are a stakeholder (parents, relatives and friends). The actual verdict has to be fair within a reasonable consideration of peers. Those peers form the basis for the jury and the jury is chosen by the prosecution, therefore controlling, to some degree the legitimacy of the defense as well as the impartiality of the verdict as the intent of the jurors are to put themselves within the mindset of the defense, but from what is considered a reasonable state of mind. The biggest consideration here has to be that the argument must be presented in such a way as though neither race nor gender should have any consideration on the defense at the time of the crime. If that there is, in fact, a finding that race or gender is a factor, considerations should be made. In the argument of self-defense, the first consideration that should be made is was the defense actually in sort of danger and that danger being loss of life or permanent injury. In choosing women, the prosecution was seeking the sympathy angle for the minor who died as a result of the action resulting in the trial. The biggest factor that is being ignored with the media is that the jurors had to put themselves in, not the position of Martin, but of Zimmerman and therefore Zimmerman acting within his role of public defender (the Community Watch, in this case). This reversal of roles from what the public considers as fair is what, ultimately, destroyed the prosecution’s case. Arguing the case without considerations of race or gender forced the women to wonder what they would have been forced to do in Zimmerman’s role within that of public defender. To that end, they had to ask themselves, would they have been afraid and would they have had the responsibility to defend themselves, not necessarily with lethal force, but by any means necessary. That they would not have necessarily put themselves in to that position had no actual bearing on the subject as that personal choice was removed for them, hence impartiality. The factor of this being a fair trial, is decreed by a panel of peers, initially chosen at random, but decided by the very people trying to prosecute the case. That they choose women, become immaterial as the prosecution has its own agenda from that of the defense. The issue with this wasn't if the case was not fair, or that the verdict was unfair as the situation presented, described a reasonable justification of fear in the situation of Zimmerman. It showed that an assault with deadly force was committed by the documentation collaborated by witnesses. It showed that the use of deadly force was legal and it showed that Zimmerman showed restraint in using that deadly force by the action of deadly weapon (the ground) putting Zimmerman’s life in actual danger as well as the fact that Martin did not disengage his ‘supposed attacker’ but actually escalated the fight and did not seek to flee. In the end, this was a fair verdict, in that anyone in Zimmerman’s position would have used deadly force as long as you do not make any considerations toward race or gender, ie, had it been a woman in Zimmerman’s place, she would have done the same exact thing, but again, this is not the real issue. With this case, the head of the Executive Branch, the head of the justice system within the country, is seeking to show personal bias, and is basing that bias upon race and not reasonable actions within the situation itself as shown by the trial itself.

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Electoral Systems Essay Example for Free

Electoral Systems Essay Critically evaluate the argument that electoral systems can produce effective (decisive) government, or representative government, but not both. New Zealand’s current electoral system is MMP or Mixed Member Proportional; this is the system which will be used to evaluate the question. A comparison of MMP and FPP or the First Past the Post system will also be included, since it is being debated as to which is better for New Zealand. MMP is an appropriately representative government which also creates a rather effective government at the same time. On the other hand FPP causes a seemingly effective government but is far less representative. Some electoral systems can create effective and representative government while others may not. This will be shown by; firstly detailing how these systems of governance compare under effectiveness and representativeness, followed by an explanation as to why electoral systems can be both effective and representative and why they cannot. For a government to be classified effective it must sufficiently achieve its objectives as a governing body. It also must create a strong impression on the community (dictionary. om, 2011). MMP tends to have a less efficient form of law making than FPP. Under MMP the major parties must form coalition governments with the smaller parties to form a fifty per cent majority over the house. These coalitions may cause a time delay in passing legislation, as the major supporter of the bill tries to convince their support parties to agree with the legislation. MMP may take time to make decision but this doesn’t mean that the government is less decisive although; Many people argue that proportional forms of government lead to a less decisive and durable government. Their argument is based on the fact that the decisions must gain the support of coalition parties which cause a lower quantity of bills passing. However it is not the quantity of laws which cause an effective government it is the quality. MMP due to its more timely approach to law making allows time for scrutiny within a bill meaning any flaws which lie dormant in a bill may be fixed before the legislation is passed. A contrast to this is FPP with its single party majority which works very efficiently to pass laws rapidly. This is because there is no need for a compromise with its support parties since none are required. The effect of this rapid law making ability gives the community a view of effectiveness however the validity of the laws has been compromised. The laws passed may be riddled with flaws which really show the government is un-effective as the laws have no real impression on the community. Effective government is based around three criteria government durability, decisional efficacy and responsiveness (Boston, Church Bale, 2003). From these three different terms of effective government we can see how different opinions on the idea of effective government can differ. For a government to be classified representative it must consist of many individuals who represent a variety of different constituencies (dictionary. com, 2011). Also there must be some form of diversity among the constituencies such as race or gender differentiation. (Royal Commission, 1986) MMP is a highly representative form of governance as it uses a two votes system; this allows minor party representatives to gain a seat in the house if they gain a majority vote among their constituents. The fact an MP has to win their constituency causes a close link to the electorate as they will more likely than not represent the major view of the region. This single MP vote allows the house to represent the community from a broader aspect while still having the majority party in power with the 2nd vote, the party vote. This causes a greater diversity among the house. When MMP was adopted â€Å"Maori representation increased from 5-7% to 16%† and â€Å"the number of women of women doubled to 34%† (Haddon, 2011). This increasing diversity has continued as the royal commission predicted. New Zealand’s house of parliament has become more representative and diverse as shown by the 39 women, 21 Maori, 4 Pacific Islanders, and 2 Asian MPs out of the 121 in the house (Elections Commission, 2006). Also under MMP campaign promises of minor parties tend to not get placed on the new government agenda. The minor parties must rely on negotiation with party leaders in order to get their main policies on the agenda or must wait for the bill to be drawn from the ballot box in parliament, which may never come. This causes a slight decrease in the diversification of the legislation passed. This lack of diversification can decrease the representativeness of the majority. However this does not decrease the overall representativeness of the government. The diversity of MMP is contrasted by FPPs system where there are only electorate votes so people tend to vote solely for the major parties that are likely to get into parliament. The winning party in a FPP election will get a proportionally larger share of the seats that its share of the votes this has the opposite effect for minority parties whom gain a lesser proportion of the seats that their votes. This lack of proportionality is a major flaw in representation as there is very little diversity among the house. Electoral systems can be both effective and representative, â€Å"The best voting system for any country will not be one which meets any of the criteria completely but will be one which provides the most satisfactory overall balance between them† (Royal Commission, 1986). Although systems cannot be highly representative and highly effective they still can be both. MMP shows this, it may not be highly efficient at creating effective legislation but it creates quality legislation which is effective governing. Also MMP shows its representativeness by having a largely diverse house of representatives but due to the need for coalitions loses some of the broader views of the minor parties. â€Å"A proliferation of minor parties actually increases stability and effectiveness† (â€Å"NRT on MMP threshold,† 2011). This shows how a representative government actually helps to form an effective government. The increase in the number of coalition majorities available will help to reduce the ability for any party to have strong bargaining power over another. This was shown in our most recent parliamentary election by ACT and the Maori party not having a large bargaining power with National as they both had possible coalitions with National. They were acting as a check on the other so neither gained an arbitrary power over Nationals decision. This allowed for national to make what they saw as the best decision. This shows that MMP is representative as well as being effective even if it is not top in each discipline. Many critics of MMP have agreed that MMP does lead to a government reflecting the views of New Zealander’s and supporters of MMP conceded to agreeing that it leads to a more unstable government which can infer that it may be not highly effective (Palmer Palmer, 2004). While FPP contrasts MMP it shows the opposite idea. It shows that there is a tension between effective and representative government. This tension causes a highly representative government to have a very low effectiveness and vice versa. The tension has large effect on how the government operates and this can put a strain on which system will be best. FPP shows how a system cannot be both effective and representative whereas MMP seems to have the balance between being both an effective form of governance while still being rather highly representative. My research has shown that MMP is both an effective form of government and a representative form of government. However it is neither the most representative nor the most effective. The research has identified that an electoral system can be both as I have explained above. This is not to say all electoral systems are. There are always going to be strengths and weaknesses to an electoral system and a compromise between effective and representative will always be required, FPP for example is much more effective than it is representative. The tension between these two disciplines will always have an effect on how the system operates and which system is best suited to the situation. FPP is clearly a system which cannot be both while MMP is the perfect example of a system of governance which is both representative and effective.

Organizational Behavior: A Case Study of PCCW Company

Organizational Behavior: A Case Study of PCCW Company Introduction With the numerous changes brought about by the surroundings, machinery, financial system, political affairs, and the general public, changes in the organization must be taken note of in order to deal with the varying demands of the workforce and the clients. In this output-oriented society and generation, every organization must have the skills, capabilities, endurance, and the strategies to be able to meet the demands and the needs of their market. As such, the continuous changes that organizations must undergo may be considered as their only edge in order to cope with the overall changes observed in the society. Thus, appropriate change management must be done in a company to effectively and efficiently facilitate and govern the changes needed by organizations. In the objective of PCCW for market extension, protect its position, and create strategic agreements with other Asian companies, it has borrowed greatly to finance the $38 billion bid for Hong Kong Telecom, which resulted to its debt of US$4 billion. Further decline of its performance is brought about by its lack of confidence in the debt repayment plans among stockholders (Darlington and Cooke, 2000), which contributed to its standing as the worst performing blue-chip company on the list of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2002 and 2003 (PCCW, 2007). In addition to its debt and change in ownership and management are the increasing pressures of competition among the industry. It has been reported that in August 2000, there were 165 external telecommunications services operators and 187 Internet market service providers. The increase in competition led to another cause of the companys problems, which is the existence of monopoly for domestic fixed telephony. This became a major blow fo r the company, as many telephone operators no longer need the gateways and local networks provided by PCCW (Darlington and Cooke, 2000). Furthermore, another basis of its problems is the decrease of its staffs and labor force, which donate to the decline of its operations. An additional cause is the failure of the bid between the company and China, for at the time, China resisted to make consultation with a company that is allied to the Singapore government, which also became the basis of the problems of the Sing Tels bid in the past (Greenlees, 2006).   Additionally, the problem for the company is the generally failing revenues in Hong Kong, with its failure to make considerable advancement to the China mainland. With this, heavy investment in communications all through East Asia must be required before the full potential of PCCW can be appreciated (Darlington and Cooke, 2000).    External Change Driver The PEST Analysis sets up an efficient exploration of the peripheral impacts on a precise company by infringement of the components into indispensable and perceptible elements or factors. The obvious essentials under this type of analysis include Political, Economic, Sociological, and Technological elements. Political factors include the limitations in the policies of the Chinese government with regards to company consultations and mergers; the governments choice of companies outside the country, with which it would make discussions with; distinctive pre-eminence in Chinas legal system; influence of British legal system in Hong Kongs international financial transactions. Economic elements comprise the progress and underdevelopment of infrastructures in East Asia; telecommunications monopoly; debt of PCCW; dollar inflation and deflation rates; financial crises; crumple of asset prices; rate of economic growth. Sociological factors include PCCWs variance with customers that are major stockholders; unemployment; changes in communication, marketing and management; retaining separate superiority over human capital, language, rivalry and challenge. Effects of e-commerce to PCCW; improvement and enhancement of its website; operation and maximization of the Internet; faster negotiations, development of new ultra-modern tools, enhancement of RD through the Internet Internal Change Driver   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the inner alteration drivers of PCCW is the change in its possession, along with the adjustment in its supervision and its executive culture. The culture was then distorted with the amendment in the personnel. Subsequent to the acquirement, most of the staffs working in CW HKT are now employees in PCCW. This led to the change in the customs of the company, from a conventional, seniority-based, and non-market driven, it twisted to a powerfully spirited, performance-based, and customer-focused company. Another internal driver is the modification in the companys main concern. The quality of service is now the companys primary alarm, and the company has been investing millions of dollars in excellence and customer service training. The third internal driver is the change in internal processes (Hatch, 2006). Such changes in internal processes include implementing diverse quality programs, including quality improvement teams and six sigma programs. These changes in the culture of the company brought about the companys reorganization procedure, for instance changing the divisions from a cost-center to a profit-center, thus, making all employees aggravated to make negotiations and business dealings (Cable and Wireless: Jobs Surveys, 2003).   In line with the companys agenda for change, several aspects in the organization can be taken note of, namely, its strategy, structure, processes, and people. In relation to its strategy, PCCW provides solutions for port management, security and CCTV systems, audio and visual solutions, and technical support and maintenance services to various sectors in the industry, such as governments, public services, aviation, and broadcast engineering operations. In addition, it re-entered the mobile market, collaborated with real estate and broadband companies, and improved its telephone directories. In terms of structure, the contribution of its large team of professionals, experiences and knowledge in the IT industry provide excellent ICT solutions that would help customers develop innovative and challenging business opportunities. In terms of processes, the company facilitates outstanding innovation, especially in terms of IP-based business services, New Generation Fixed Line services, broadband pay-TV, Internet access, media content, large-scale IT solutions, mobility, and wireless innovations. In terms of people, it has approximately 17,000 employees, located in different parts of the globe, including mainland China, South America, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Europe, the United States, India, and the Middle East (Company Profile, 2008).    Assessment on the Style of Leadership/Management   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As mentioned earlier, the management of PCCW was transformed from a conservative, seniority-based, and non-market driven, to a strongly competitive, performance-based, and customer-focused company. From this transformation alone, it can be stated that the style of leadership in PCCW is a Proactive style of leadership. This is because a proactive leader focuses on achieving performance outcomes of his or her team and shares a vision, which compels the team to move towards that vision or goal (Holmes, 2008). However, the presence of conflicts and resistance on the part of the employees may indicate that the type of leadership or management they experience from the company might not be sufficient to fulfill or satisfy their needs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   If PCCW Limited did not take any action regarding their problems, a domino effect of negative events would happen. Its debts would further increase, which would afford the company to sell their assets and resources in order to make up for the debts it have in other companies. Resignation of managers would also be another effect of a no change strategy. The increase in debts would lead to further loss of company assets, and later on, to further loss of human resources. Due to the lack of adequate resources and assets, there would the delay, inefficiency, and ineffectiveness of processes and operations in the company that would lead to the decline with the number of its customers, as becoming less satisfied. The loss of customers leads to the loss of profit, thus, resulting to bankruptcy and immediate closing of the company. Proposed Change Strategy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It has been identified that one of the problems of the company is the lack of infrastructure development in East Asia, which hinders the development of the company. With this, the company must not wait for the development of the region, but must try to find alternative solutions and materials that would suit its processes and the trend of infrastructure in Hong Kong. If the company is bold enough, it can initiate in setting the trend in the city in terms of infrastructure development, given the right resources and the right skills and expertise. In order to do so, the company can invest in its Research Development in its quest to find new supplies and materials. Another proposed change is the implementation of performance management strategies that would help develop and improve the overall performance of the organization. Since the management of PCCW has already been transformed into a performance-based management, performance management of the employees must be done in order to help guide them with their tasks and responsibilities in the organization. This is because performance management serves to focus the efforts and attention of employees in critical tasks using performance feedback (Bernardin and Russell, 1993). This would then allow the employees to gain more knowledge and develop new skills in relation to their work in the company. Another change strategy is the implementation and use of Information Technology or Information Systems, which would facilitate in the organization and information retrieval in the company and in effective communication. Through the use of an IT or IS, the company would be able to organize its customer database that would allow it to have an effective and efficient product inventory, customer follow-ups, and evaluate customer feedbacks for product improvement. Lastly, the organization can improve its operations strategies through the improvement of its supply chain. In the management of its supply chain, both the suppliers and the corporation would be able to have a successful and well-organized affiliation, thus, preventing the impediment of provisions and resources considered necessary by the organization (Robbins, 2004).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   First and foremost, the realization of the change program would certainly elevate confrontation among the employees and managers of the organization. The sources and the apparent impacts of this resistance were already mentioned in the earlier discussions. Resistance to change of the employees leads to inflexibility and lack of support, ensuing to the delay of the change process and in internal processes and operations. Second issue to take note of is the differences in the preferences of the management and leadership styles of managers in the organization, consequential to varied inter-departmental cultures and practices. Due to such differences, employees would be having a rigid time dealing with other employees, which can be a promising source of conflicts. Third issue is the possibility of needing to lay off employees or reassigning them to new job positions that may require new skills, technologies, and knowledge. This may also le ad to grave threats and conflicts in the organization. Fourth issue is the need for reformation in the departments that may or may not be contributory to the welfare of employees. Fifth issue is the adequacy of resources, which would be essential in sustaining the needs of the company. Finally, the execution of new policies would be a concern for PCCW (Simon, 2007).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From the argument, it can be apparent that in order for a company to experience and execute a change program, it must be proficient in taking note of different interior and exterior issues that would present an assortment of impacts to the employees and the performance of the organization itself. As such, an efficient organizational change process would consist of important elements including its external environment, internal processes and operations, the welfare of employees, the support of top management, and the satisfaction and demands of customers. Putting each constituent in synchronization and concord would perhaps guarantee a successful adjustment procedure.

The U.S. Automobile Industry Essay -- Economy, Recession

The United States recession (which lead to a world recession), began in 1997 and significantly impacted the United States automobile industry during the recession period. The United States automobile industry is still reeling from the effects of the recession throughout the period of economic recovery that continues today. According to Chu and Su, â€Å"In this credit-driven recession, one of the hardest hit sectors was the automotive industry, along with the housing and financial markets. Chrysler and General Motors were pushed into bankruptcy; and 276,000 jobs in the automobile and parts industry were destroyed, a whopping 36 percent of the total employment in the sector†. This paper will focus on the future of the U.S. Automobile industry as the United States recovers from the worst recession we have experienced in the past 75 years. I will provide information on the following topics pertaining to the U.S. automobile industry: 1. Externalities that may shift the supply and demand curve over the next five years. 2. Factors creating value in the industry and factors that will most likely input demand in the future. 3. Cost and supply analysis. 4. Industry trends and factors changing the industry. 5. Potential of supply and demand curve movement over the next 5 years. 6. Market Structure. 7. Porter Analysis on the industry. 8. General Motors strategic considerations using the game theory concept. Market Externalities To properly illustrate externalities that may shift the supply and demand curve in the U.S. auto market over the next five years, it is necessary to look at the recent events having affected the U.S. auto industry during the recession and the strides U.S. auto makers have made to recover from near devast... ... If U.S. auto manufacturing takes a down-turn, the U.S. economy will be negatively impacted and the demand for automobiles in the U.S will suffer. If GM or other U.S. auto manufacturers fail, there will be greater opportunity for new entrants into the U.S. automotive sales industry. For these reasons, all manufacturers including GM that sell autos in the U.S. should continue to use a cooperative game theory strategy to ensure the industry recovers. GM should continue to use its technological advantages to create innovative automobiles, but do so cautiously. GM should follow the direction of today’s environmentally conscious consumers who want less expensive, economical automobiles. GM should primarily utilize a cooperative game-theory approach in its sales and marketing strategies in order to stay in sync with the current automotive industry needs.

Comparison of London by William Blake and Westminster Bridge. :: English Literature

Comparison of London by William Blake and Westminster Bridge. "I wander thro' each chartered street," this is William Blake, walking slowly, almost lost, taking notice of everything he sees around him. By 'chartered' William Blake can mean two different things, he can mean wealthy and prosperous or he can mean streets that are chartered / charted on a map, this is better explained in the next line where he speaks of the 'chartered' Thames, giving us the impression that he is in fact speaking of the chartered / charted meaning. "Near where the chartered Thames does flow," the second line of the first verse sheds some more light on where William Blake actually is, he is on the 'streets' by the Thames -London. As London was quite small he is probably talking about the whole of London, not just a certain part. "And mark in every face I meet, marks of weakness, marks of woe," By weakness William Blake again mean two things, he can mean physical weakness resulting from starvation or hunger and the work they have done, he can also mean mental weakness, lack of hope or happiness and maybe lack of intelligence, as many people in those times in the poor/working class areas may not have gone to school. By 'woe' Blake can mean anguish and despair. Altogether William Blake states that all the people he meets are glum and/or sad. "In every cry of every man, In every infants cry of fear In every voice, in every ban The mind-forged manacles I hear" This is the second of four verses, and it describes what William Blake 'hears' as he 'wanders thro' each chartered street.' He states that in every mans cry, in every infants cry, in every voice and every sign he can see the limits set to the people by themselves in the mind and the lack of hope. The limits and lack of hope, I think, stem from the mental 'weakness' described in the first verse. "How the chimney-sweepers cry Every blackening church appals." I think that these two opening lines of the third verse have a lot of meaning. Chimney-sweepers were often young children who were forced to climb up/down chimneys to clean them. They often worked long hours and received little pay. Then William Blake mentions the 'blackening church' - a church is almost like a sanctuary for most people, but for the chimney-sweepers, there is no rest or sanctuary, no place to forget about there troubles, even the church needs to be cleaned, a place of purity is tainted and blackened ant the work goes on for the chimney-sweepers. "And the hapless soldiers cry Comparison of London by William Blake and Westminster Bridge. :: English Literature Comparison of London by William Blake and Westminster Bridge. "I wander thro' each chartered street," this is William Blake, walking slowly, almost lost, taking notice of everything he sees around him. By 'chartered' William Blake can mean two different things, he can mean wealthy and prosperous or he can mean streets that are chartered / charted on a map, this is better explained in the next line where he speaks of the 'chartered' Thames, giving us the impression that he is in fact speaking of the chartered / charted meaning. "Near where the chartered Thames does flow," the second line of the first verse sheds some more light on where William Blake actually is, he is on the 'streets' by the Thames -London. As London was quite small he is probably talking about the whole of London, not just a certain part. "And mark in every face I meet, marks of weakness, marks of woe," By weakness William Blake again mean two things, he can mean physical weakness resulting from starvation or hunger and the work they have done, he can also mean mental weakness, lack of hope or happiness and maybe lack of intelligence, as many people in those times in the poor/working class areas may not have gone to school. By 'woe' Blake can mean anguish and despair. Altogether William Blake states that all the people he meets are glum and/or sad. "In every cry of every man, In every infants cry of fear In every voice, in every ban The mind-forged manacles I hear" This is the second of four verses, and it describes what William Blake 'hears' as he 'wanders thro' each chartered street.' He states that in every mans cry, in every infants cry, in every voice and every sign he can see the limits set to the people by themselves in the mind and the lack of hope. The limits and lack of hope, I think, stem from the mental 'weakness' described in the first verse. "How the chimney-sweepers cry Every blackening church appals." I think that these two opening lines of the third verse have a lot of meaning. Chimney-sweepers were often young children who were forced to climb up/down chimneys to clean them. They often worked long hours and received little pay. Then William Blake mentions the 'blackening church' - a church is almost like a sanctuary for most people, but for the chimney-sweepers, there is no rest or sanctuary, no place to forget about there troubles, even the church needs to be cleaned, a place of purity is tainted and blackened ant the work goes on for the chimney-sweepers. "And the hapless soldiers cry

Internal and external factors effecting the cost position Essay

The increased imports of the European as well as the Japanese make of automobiles in the United States significantly impacted the demand of the automobiles manufactured by the US manufacturers. â€Å"Imports of sub-compact cars from Europe and Japan rose steadily in the 1950s, often as families’ second cars but US manufacturers retained their hold on the lucrative markets for larger vehicles. † (French, 1997, p142) The US manufactures saw their market shrink as the more aware and price conscious consumers shifted to the European and Japanese counter parts for their automobiles, while the US manufacturers were left with making large, excessive fuel consuming vehicles that denoted social status and personal style. Aside from this the increasing prices of crude oil in the international market in the 1970s also significantly changed the demand of the automobiles as depicted by the consumers. â€Å"A crisis in the US car-market developed as a result of sudden unforeseen shifts in the general environment which allowed overseas producers to expand market share rapidly. New car sales faltered in the 1970s and excess capacity increased. At the same time the leap in fuel prices shifted the consumer preference towards smaller, more fuel efficient cars which Japanese and European makers already supplied in their domestic markets and were better able to produce that were the US manufacturers used to making larger, more up-market ‘gas-guzzlers’† (French, 1997, p142) The automobiles of French and Japanese make were smaller, more fuel efficient as well as more stylish yet cheaper than the those manufactured by the big three US automobile manufactures. As a result the consumers opted for purchasing the imported cars instead of those manufactured by the Unites States manufacturers. The recession of the 1970s also further reduced the disposal income and the propensity to save for the people in the United States which made purchasing the imported European and Japanese models of automobiles much more attractive to the consumers instead of opting for those models manufactured by the big three US automobile manufacturers. In the same period the perception of the consumers also significantly changed as was marked by the baby boomer generation and the hippy era. In this period, the consumer became more aware of the environment, the increasing pollution and the contribution that automobiles made towards adding to the pollution levels. As a result the consumers started to look for cheaper alternatives of travel and those which were more environmental friendly that the vehicles manufactured by the big three US automobile manufacturers. The internal factors that contributed to the changing cost position of the Bridgestone Industries, specifically at the plant pertained to the decreasing demand of the US manufactured cars and increased demand for cheaper cars that was reflected un the restricting cost based purchases being made by the big three manufactures form the Bridgestone Industries. As the volume of sales decreased for Bridgestone Industries, along with the margin for profits on sales made due to the rising overhead costs the cost position of the Bridgestone Industries significantly changed to become negative and resulted in the closing of the automotive component and fabrication facility by the Bridgestone Industries. Overhead Burden Rate The Bridgestone Industries had a specific method for determining the overhead burden rate for the products that was proposed and set on an annual basis. â€Å"The budgeted unit costs provided by the plant for the 1987 model year study included overhead (burden) applied to products as a percentage of direct labor dollar cost. The overhead percentage was calculated at the budget time and used throughout the model year to allocate overhead to products using a single overhead pool. The overhead rate used in the study was 435% of direct labor cost† (Patricia & Cooper, 1993) The following table depicts the overhead burden rate for the years starting 1987 through to 1990. Overhead Burden Rate (‘000) 1987 1988 1989 1990 Total Overheads 107,954 109,890 78,157 79,393 Total Direct Labor Dollar Cost 24,682 25,294 13,537 14,102 Overhead Burden Rate 437 434 577 562 The analysis of the overhead burden that was determined for the years, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990 showed that the total over heads increased from 1987 to 1988. However in 1989, there was a drop in the overhead level as the muffler exhausts and the oil pan based product lines were merged with the other three product lines. This reduced the overheads significantly. In 1990 however the trend shows that the overheads for the Bridgestone Industries increased again on an annual basis. The direct labor dollar cost showed a similar trend as well reflecting the increasing expenses along with the effect that the closure of the muffler/exhaust and oil pan lines had on the labor cost. The overhead burden rate that was determined pertained to approximately 437 percent in 1987, 434 percent in 1988, 577 percent in 1989 and 562 percent in 1990. The following table depicts the overhead burden shared by the respective product lines at the Bridgestone Industries for the years starting 1987 through to 1990. Overhead Burden Share per Product Line (‘000) Overhead Burden 1987 1988 1989 1990 Fuel Tanks 18,234. 35 18,412. 03 25,490. 37 25,891. 96 Manifolds 25,744. 16 26,184. 35 36,246. 56 36,819. 62 Doors 11,463. 72 11,864. 85 16,420. 07 16,681. 43 Mufflers/Exhausts 24,646. 33 25,050. 44 0 0 Oil Pans 27,865. 45 28,378. 33 0 0 107,954 109,890 78,157 79,393 The overheads shared by the respective product lines also depicted significant change in the years from 1987 to 1990. On average the oil pans product line had the largest overheads allocated to its while the product line for the front and rear doors had the lowest overhead levels for the years 1987 and 1988. When the product lines were merged in 1989, the manifolds product line had the largest level of overheads allocated to it, while the product line for front and rear doors had the lowest level of overheads assigned to it. On a year to year basis, the overhead burden level has decreased by a small gradual percentage over the four years highlighted. This is not due to the fact that the overheads for the company have been decreasing; instead this has occurred due to the fact that the dollar cost of the direct labor has incrementally increased over the four year period as well resulting in the decrease in the overhead burden rate.

The Competitive Advantage of Nations

WHAT IS THE DIAMOND MODEL? DESCRIPTION The Diamond Model of Michael Porter for the competitive advantage of Nations offers a model that can help understand the comparative position of a nation in global competition. The model can also be used for major geographic regions. TRADITIONAL COUNTRY ADVANTAGES Traditionally, economic theory mentions the following factors for comparative advantage for regions or countries: 1. Land 2. Location 3. Natural resources (minerals, energy) 4. Labor, and 5. Local population size. Because these 5 factors can hardly be influenced, this fits in a rather passive (inherited) view regarding national economic opportunity. CLUSTERS Porter says that sustained industrial growth has hardly ever been built on above mentioned basic inherited factors. Abundance of such factors may actually undermine competitive advantage! He introduces a concept called â€Å"clusters† or groups of interconnected firms, suppliers, related industries, and institutions, that arise in certain locations. These clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers, and associated institutions in a particular field. They grow on locations where enough resources and competences amass and reach a critical threshold, giving it a key position in a given economic branch of activity, with a decisive sustainable competitive advantage over others places, or even a world supremacy in that field. Porter says clusters can influence competition in three ways: †¢They can increase the productivity of the companies in the cluster. They can drive innovation in the field. †¢They can stimulate new businesses in the field. Some well-known examples of Clusters are USA/Silicon Valley (computers), Netherlands/Rotterdam (logistics), India/Bangalore (software outsourcing), USA/Hollywood (movies), France/Paris (fashion). According to Porter, as a rule competitive advantage of nations is the outcome of 4 interlinked advanced factors and activities in and between companies in these clusters. These can be influenced in a pro-active way by government. INTERLINKED ADVANCED FACTORS FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE 1. The Strategy, Structure and Rivalry of Firms. The world is dominated by dynamic conditions. Direct competition impels firms to work for increases in productivity and innovation. 2. Demand Conditions. If the customers in an economy are very demanding, the pressure facing firms to constantly improve their competitiveness via innovative products, through high quality, etc, will be greater. 3. Related Supporting Industries. Spatial proximity of upstream or downstream industries facilitates the exchange of information and promotes a continuous exchange of ideas and innovations. 4. Factor Conditions. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Porter argues that the â€Å"key† factors of production (or specialized factors) are created, not inherited. Specialized factors of production are skilled labor, capital and infrastructure. â€Å"Non-key† factors or general use factors, such as unskilled labor and raw materials, can be obtained by any company and, hence, do not generate sustained competitive advantage. However, specialized factors involve heavy, sustained investment. They are more difficult to duplicate. This creates a competitive advantage, because if other firms cannot easily duplicate these factors, they are valuable. THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN THE DIAMOND MODEL OF PORTER The role of government in the Diamond Model of Porter is to act as a catalyst and challenger; it is to encourage – or even push – companies to raise their aspirations and move to higher levels of competitive performance. They must encourage companies to raise their performance, to stimulate early demand for advanced products, to focus on specialized factor creation and to stimulate local rivalry by limiting direct cooperation and enforcing anti-trust regulations. THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF NATIONS Porter introduced this model in his book: â€Å"The Competitive Advantage of Nations†, after having done research in ten leading trading nations. The book was the first theory of competitiveness based on the causes of the productivity with which companies compete. Instead of traditional comparative advantages such as natural resources and pools of labor. This book should be considered obligatory reading for government economic strategists. It is also highly recommended for corporate strategists that are interested in the macro-economic environment of corporations.

Amazon Web Services

AMAZON WEB SERVICES CASE ANALYSIS SNEHA KATKURI Amazon’s core business of selling goods (ranging from books to fresh food and electronics to fashion cloths) through its e-commerce portal has seen exponential growth which necessitated a need for a massive storage and computing infrastructure that is always available and is resistant to failures. After building this, it is intuitive for Amazon to open up the infrastructure and sell it as a commodity.This helps Amazon not only to attract more customers to this new product but also to build new infrastructure thus benefiting its core business. The unmatched economies of scale at Amazon offer huge cost effciencies through a combination of high-volume, low cost procurement thanks to bargaining power of buyer Amazon. In addition, constant technological innovations in design, operations and management of the data centers help Amazon reduce the prices of its AWS offerings. Because of cheaper service provision, there is a flood of new c ustomers for AWS.However, with the advent of new competitors like Google Cloud Engine, there is an increasing stress on Amazon pricing. But, given that any typical business needs both scalable computing and storage, AWS, which offers a complete basket of services is a preferred choice for customers. Furthermore, the investments on AWS improved Amazon’s core business by helping it introduce value-added services. In 2007, Amazon introduced cloud- based music service to sell MP3 songs and a web- music player.Even though other competitors like Google announced a similar service, the music content available on Amazon was significantly cheaper and attracted more customers. Amazon Cloud Drive introduced almost simultaneously, runs on AWS (S3) service. The Kindle device sold by Amazon has a huge competitive advantage over Nook in the market thanks to up to 5GB of cloud- based free storage for storing books and personal documents. This also reduced the manufacturing cost of the device by getting rid of microSD card slot.Amazon AppStore, that runs on AWS, built to sell Android apps is a popular value added service to the recently introduced Kindle Fire device. Often, the prices of these apps are way lesser than those of competitors like Google. Instant Video is another massively popular service which helped Amazon build a huge eco system of content like music, books, apps and video that is vital for the success of a tablet device in the current ever- changing market extremely crowded with numerous devices from various manufacturers.Amazon has an advantage over competitors in this market because they were the first to market and so have had more experience and time to work out the kinks. Their 99% uptime guarantee for the S3 service is a testament to the fact that they have experienced issues in the past and have learned from them to the point of being able to offer guarantee to the users. Also, because designing and building such huge cloud infrastructures requir es vast amount of resources, competitors need precious time to catch up.In addition, Amazon itself is a very big customer for AWS. Hence, strengthening AWS is a natural choice for Amazon which is in its own business interest. For other players in the market, for example, RackSpace, a huge uncertainty exists in planning new initiatives and introducing new services on its cloud products. Also, AWS is a product evolved from Amazon’s existing infrastructure unlike some competitors’ alternatives which had to be built from scratch, in turn giving a huge lead time to Amazon in cloud computing.Moreover, huge costs involved prohibit existing clients of AWS to switch to a new, yet cheaper, alternative. Furthermore, Amazon has learnt the imperatives and modalities of implementing and maintaining a network out of their business need and so as a consequence has better insight of flexibility some real world situations need. Thus I think though Amazon is giving up its competitive adv antage of software competency by offering AWS services, it is in turn proving to be profitable to the Company in the long run.

Mini Case

I. Deals-R-Us Brokers (Part 1) Fred Jones, a distant relative of yours and president of Deals-R-Us Brokers (DRUB), has come to you for advice. DRUB is a small brokerage house that enables its clients to buy and sell stocks over the Internet, as well as place traditional orders by phone or fax. DRUB has just decided to offer a set of stock analysis tools that will help its clients more easily pick winning stocks, or so Fred tells you. Fred’s information systems department has presented him with two alternatives for developing the new tools.The first alternative will have a special tool developed in C++ that clients will download onto their computers to run. The tool will communicate with the DRUB server to select data to analyze. The second alternative will have the C++ program running on the server, the client will use his or her browser to interact with the server. a. Classify the two alternatives in terms of what type of application architecture they use. b. Outline the pros and cons of the two alternatives and make a recommendation to Fred about which is better. Mini Case 1 SolutionThe second alternative will use the host-based architecture. Using this alternative, the server will do all the work. Because of this, the server will become very slow in processing those requests as more users are sending them. It cost a lot of money to upgrade those mainframes. The first alternative will use the client-server application architecture. In this case, the server and the client computer will share the workload. The server will be able to respond to many users’ requests without any slowness. This is the best option Fred needs to use for his business.

Enders Game Essay

I selected this book because I was thinking that it would keep me entertained and make it so that I will not fall asleep. This was one of those books that it did not matter about what happened before it you can just start reading it from the start, so before the book began I have now idea what happened I just started to read the book and I liked it. When the book begins it starts out with ender and his brother and sister and his brother is mean and is always threatening his younger brother ender and his younger sister. In this story it is the narrator that is telling it. The setting was important because it was at Enders house at first and his older brother, bulling hem, which made ender stronger and made it so that he would look out for himself. In the beginning the author held my interest because the government shipped ender off to military school at age three. Journal Entry #2 Ender go’s to military school and he gets bullied from the start and makes a name for himself right at the beginning by braking some kids arm, so after that every one starts to put together gangs and start having gang wars in the battle rooms and in the cafeteria. There where lots of twist in this story like ender would always when the war games and he was the commander of army’s and he was just smarter than the older boys. It was pretty easy to fallow the plot if I didn’t zone out but if I did zone out than it was pretty easy to know what was happening because the story would repeat its self. The language in the book was really easy to understand there was a lot of a made up words but it was all right. The mane thing emerges in the book when it comes to the battle games and ender is better then everyone else. Journal entry #3 The climax of the story was when ender meet bean, ender was hard on bean just like how the government was hard on ender and that made bean a lot stronger. But ender and bean come together and they start to when all of these battles together. There are lots of lessons I learned about this book, I learned that life isn’t always easy and the hard things in life make you stronger. If someone talked to me about this book I would tell him or her it was a good book and I would recommend it to them because there was a lot of action in it. But the book did not meet my expectations because I do not like it when three year olds are talking like they are 25 years old I think that was a little over bored and when the three year olds are going to military school that was dome I think that he should have made them 18 because that is more realistic.

Discuss the relationship between love and aggressivity in Freud's Essay

Discuss the relationship between love and aggressivity in Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents - Essay Example Finally, Freud deploys his concepts of love and aggression to show that civilized societies are bound to fail: they place restrictions on our natural sentiments of love and aggressiveness which are in many cases insupportable - in particular, he criticises societies founded on the Christian principle of love, and those founded on communist ideas. Freud's discussion of the origins of our aggressiveness show how strongly it is related to love, as he conceives it. The initial aggressive sentiment is directed inwards, at the child's own ego, Freud claims, due to a frustration of the desires of the child's ego. This 'introjected' aggressive impulse results in the formation of the super-ego, and so the initiation of feelings of guilt. For example, when a child is forbade by a parent to do something which is desired by his ego, he initially feels aggressiveness towards that parent as a result of the frustration of his desires. However, since aggressiveness cannot be directed towards the parent, it is directed at the ego, the source of the frustrated desire. Why can aggressiveness not be directed at a parent (or another figure of authority) Here, Freud shows how essential he believes the concept of love to be to the formation of aggressive impulses: the child directs aggressiveness towards his own ego rather than towards the figure of authority because of a "fear of loss of love" (p. 757). Thus, the need for love is instrumental in the formation of the super-ego, which results in aggressive impulses directed at the ego: self-hating feelings of guilt. In situations where aggressiveness is in fact directed towards the figure of authority, and not introjected, love is still essential to the changes in the individual's psychological make-up. Freud claims that this would only happen in situations involving the Oedipus complex: that is, when sons kill their fathers. This supposedly was a more common occurrence in earlier societies which were less bound by 'civilizing' restrictions. Here, the actual aggression involved in killing the father results in a feeling of remorse at the action: this is because of the love that the son naturally has for his father. Hence, for Freud, the origins of feelings of aggression are always bound up with feelings of love. However, it is not obvious that non-repressed aggression need always be followed by feelings of remorse. As stated above, Freud believes that the only cases of actual aggression by a child will be from a son to his father, and, since this relationship necessarily involves some love, rem orse is a necessary consequence. However, it is not clear that son-to-father aggression would be the only case of actual aggression from a child to a figure of authority - a child may show aggression towards a teacher or minder, for example - and if aggression is directed at others, there may not be a necessary bond of love from the child to these people, so remorse may not be a necessary consequence. Freud's assumption is that a child's initial authoritative influence will be from his father, so it is towards the father that initial aggression (suppressed or not) will be directed. Whilst this assumption

Specification of writing business plans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5750 words

Specification of writing business plans - Essay Example The paper tells that in the conditions of changeable economics, stability and success of every economic player can be insured only by effective planning of its economic performance. The planning program of business optimization is represented by business plan, which is working instrument used in every sphere of entrepreneurship. This document describes the process of firm’s functioning and shows essential methods that can help supervisors to attain own goals and tasks. Good structured business plan helps enterprise grow, conquer new position on the market, build perspective concepts of launching new goods and services, choose rational methods of their implementation and receive various ways of financing. According to Collins, â€Å"Business plans are like sell sheets on steroids. It details your current financial position and your path to revenue growth†. Creation of business plan is conventional and generally adopted way to define objectives of economic performance and outline initial routes for their achievements. This document can be carried out for start-up as much as for already existed entry on successive stage of its development. Business plan is an objective evaluation of own entrepreneurial performance and extremely important instrument of production according to market needs. Successful co-founder and co-owner of Roaring Lion Energy Drink that is worth millions of dollars, Sean Hackney, stated that writing business plan was absolutely worthwhile, because there were a lot of ideas that needed to be put on paper. (as cited in Henricks, 2008, p. 94). The main purpose of elaborating business plan is to predict economic and financial performance of the company for the nearest perspectives, taking into account needs of target consumers and abilities of getting required resources. Goals of business planning Traditionally business plan is considered to be an efficacious mode that helps to attract finance needed for project’s implementatio n. However, many specialists highlight other not less important tasks, which can be carried out with a help of business plan. They are the following: defining concrete directions of performance and target markets; formulating long-term and short-term goals, strategy and tactics of their attaining; choosing the most appropriate products and appraising production and costs of marketing; revealing correspondence of present staff and conditions of motivation with qualifying standards; outlining marketing measures aimed at marketing research, advertising, sale promotion, pricing; evaluating financial state of the company and availability of financial and maternal resources; predicting obstacles that may hinder practical implementation of the project. According to Smith (2004), planning process provides assistance in delegation of responsibilities, results in better co-ordination of resources and encourages constant forward thinking (p. 3). Elaboration of business plan is time-taking and rather laborious process, but implementation of this complex multi-functional document has several objectives. First of all, business plan encourages attraction of external capital. Financial calculations of mentioned document are able to explain what sum of start-up financial resources is required, how they are going to be returned to potential investors and creditors, what risks can take place and others. Secondly, on the beginning stage of project’s implementation business plan insures communication between entrepreneur and future suppliers, merchandisers and employees. Then it helps to avoid impediments before setting up own business. Also business plan is a reliable way to model system of

Dirty Water Bill Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Dirty Water Bill - Assignment Example This may lead to more damage downstream as these pollutants begin to accumulate. This policy as stated in the public outcry is literally similar to the notion of whatever happens in Vegas should stay in Vegas so this policy would fail quickly (Carter, National Wildlife Federation). H.R. 2018 bill was likely to threaten water quality in American rivers, streams, and lakes. The ability of federal and state governments would be limited in terms of ensuring that all American citizens can access clean water. The bill would limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s capability of revising an agreed water quality standard; this would happen only if the state agrees. It would prohibit the EPA from disallowing a water quality certification that is granted by a state. It would hinder the EPA from limiting federal financial aid for the state water quality program if a state does not comply with the water quality standards. Protected waters, aquatic waters would become degraded since the H.R. Bill 2018 renders EPA as somewhat meaningless. This includes weakening permit reviews that normally determine alternatives that do not harm the environment, do not go against laws, and do not degrade waters. H.R. Bill 2018 would lead to harm to the environment in the short ru n and long run. United States. Congress. House. Committee on Rules. Providing for Consideration of the Bill (H.R. 2018) to Amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to Preserve the Authority of Each State to Make Determinations Relating to the States Water Quality Standards, and for Other Purposes: (to Accompany H. Res. 347). Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2011.

The Punishment by Means of Death Sentence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Punishment by Means of Death Sentence - Essay Example Certain cultures and societies stand against it and others support it. In this paper we will be discussing that capital punishment is an ethical and moral way of punishing individuals who indulge in wrong doings. To support this view, the argument will be backed with the ethical theory of Utilitarianism and Kant’s Categorical Imperative. Discussion According to the Utilitarian perspective, actions should be considered as right or wrong on the basis of utility or benefits and costs those actions have to offer to the society (MacKinnon, 2009, p.38) . The view even suggests that those actions should be selected which have higher utility than cost for the society, as compared to any other actions that can be conducted. Death penalty, offers more benefits than costs to the society, therefore, it is considered as a morally and ethically correct action. The various benefits of death penalty include; death penalty is considered as a very harsh punishment, people fear death. This fear of death may stimulate other criminals from committing crimes in the future. Therefore, death sentence inflicts fear of death in criminals, and due to this fear, criminals might avoid committing future crimes. Another benefit of death penalty is that those criminals who are currently conducting crimes and will possibly commit future crimes will be removed from the society and the number of criminals currently existing in the system will decrease. Another advantage of the death sentence is the satisfaction that the society as well as the victim’s family receives from knowing that justice has been served, and the criminal has faced equal consequences and pain that the victim faced. Those who are not in the favor of death penalty argue that due to death penalty, those individuals have to experience death that might have not actually committed the crime and have been held responsible. Some contradictors of death penalty even state that there is no pure research stating that death penalty has really stopped criminals from committing crime and has stopped potential criminals from conducting future crimes. Contradictors argue that the level of suffering in case of death penalty is less than the suffering experienced in life imprisonment, thus life imprisonment should be considered as a better option than death penalty. Those who are not in the favor of death penalty even state that the monetary cost bared by the government for conducting a case of death penalty is higher than the cost of any other form of trial, thus the society ends up paying in the form of higher taxes. According to retributive justice, those individuals who have committed wrong, should pay the cost of their actions and should be held responsible (Hinman, 2009, p.245). Kant supports this view; Kant believes that equality and justice can only be served if a wrong doer is treated in accordance to his wrong doings. Kant supports the idea that an individual should be treated the same way he has treated others. This does not mean that a murderer should be murdered in the same way he has committed the murder. However, the murder should experience equal pain as the pain felt by the victim who was murdered. Secondly, Kant states that an individual should treat others in a particular way, if he/she is ready to accept the same treatment (Pojman, 2009, p.129).

Midterm Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Midterm Paper - Essay Example Sheiks, on the other hand, were young men with ukeleles, racoon coats, and bell-bottom trousers. Therefore it is correct to deduce that music plays a major role in the development of fashion trends. In the early 1910s, there arose a craze for orientalism after the performance of Rimsky Korsakovs Scheherazade in Paris by the Ballets Russes. Paul Poiret, a couturier, was the first to bring orientalism to the fashion industry. It marked the end of the tight corsets and the birth of clothing that was less restrictive. It is during this era that the harem pants were created. Harem pants are long and baggy trousers that are caught in at the ankle. Harem pants were also called harem skirts and were inspired by styles from the Middle East. Poiret is credited as the person who single-handedly invented trousers for women. At inception, harem pants were quite popular with the public because they offered more comfort and eased mobility1. However, Poirets sense of fashion was not a unanimous hit. Critics looked down upon the pants often referring to them as indecent and immoral. The critics’ views were based on the conventional beliefs that it was unnatural for Western women at that time to put on trousers. In contrast, the designer insisted that he only designed them to flatter the full image of the chic woman. The pants also liberated the fashion limitations of the Western women. Poiret’s new fashion trend consequently influenced Paquin, another couturier, and one of Poirets worst critics. Other designers who also invented trousers for women include: Jeanne Margarine Lacroix, and Bourniche2. Sheherazade was composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888. It is based on pictures from One Thousand and One Nights, sometimes known as the â€Å"Arabian Nights† as well as other unconnected episodes. Considered the composers most popular work, it combines a bright and dazzling orchestration, and a unique interest in

Discuss Proust's theory of memory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discuss Proust's theory of memory - Essay Example Proust, a contemporary of Freud was greatly influenced by the latter in his philosophical leanings and in literary work. Freud treated symbolism in his book Psychoanalysis. According to this theory he propounded which must have influenced Proust, objects or ideas are represented by symbols. Our dreams can symbolize something we have left unexpressed and remain embedded in our unconscious mind. Many of Freud's ideas, however, are sex-oriented . In the complex realm of our existence, the truth remains that ugliness and perversion abound which we try to prevent from surfacing in our conscious mind. These however may find their way into consciousness in our unguarded moments. Proust was a realist and at the same time a symbolist. As such he portrays mental awareness as stream of consciousness. This reduces man's dignity as a human being. Common to Freud and Proust's work is the prevalence or integration of sex into their hierarchy of value.

Examine an episode of the Colbert Report through the lens of Geoffrey Essay

Examine an episode of the Colbert Report through the lens of Geoffrey Baym's article on discursive integration - Essay Example Baym examines The Daily Show as an example of this hybrid format stating how The Daily Show new format has spark a new genre, of hybrid of many, and has become an important part of the media. As a show that is packed with lots of comedy satire but still disseminates real news, The Colbert Report is a hybrid. It opens with a serious news opening, then shows him running and jump carrying a flag. Then, the camera pans to the audience, who are clapping and cheering. Similar to TDS starts of serious shows, the show then moves to some more like a late-night show with audience cheering. Typical Colbert shows include mock reportage on political events, using a strong degree of sarcasm and irony to mock traditional news programs that claim to be â€Å"fair and balanced,† but really are not. This use of satire can be favorably compared to Baym’s idea of â€Å"The Daily Show’s† John Stewart, as another show which acts to criticize the very object of culture which it is serving up to the people. Both shows use the trappings and production values of real news programs in a subversive, surreal manner. The first segment of The Colbert Report, like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, focuses on news updates on current events. Both shows share many similarities in this segment. They both incorporate a great deal of comedy satire into the news while taking aspects from both late-night shows and comedy shows (Baym, 263). Another great example of the similarities between these shows is that the hosts provide subjective nature on the subject. As Baym points out in his essay, Stewart â€Å"instead engages in subjective interrogation† going against all normal journalist standards (265). In the episode of The Colbert Report used by the current investigation, Stephen displays his subjective nature while talking to Arturo Rodriguez on immigration, or

The Group of 20 Essay Example for Free

The Group of 20 Essay The Group of 20 was created in 1999 to develop a solution to economic hardship and financial crisis. On November 10-11, 2010, leaders around the world gathered in Seoul, Korea. The implementations included ensuring the current economic recovery by creating jobs, this will balance our recovery and increase wealth. Other commitments include strengthening the international financial regulatory system and institutions, which will sustain global growth and prevent future crisis. With this a summit was formed and plans were made. Cameron, the prime minister of UK, told the Commons that the UK had four priorities at the talks: tackling deficits, fighting protectionism, encouraging development issues and dealing with trade imbalances. During the summit Cameron said The G20 has been a vital forum in fighting to keep markets open. Increasing trade is the biggest boost and the biggest stimulus we can give to the world economy. It doesnt cost any money, it is not a zero-sum game and it creates wealth and jobs. † After the proceedings, the prime minister revealed that the summit was very successful. Korea brought new perspective and issues to G20 as well. Korea introduced plans for a global financial safety net system and development issues as additional agenda items. In Korea’s view, a credible global financial safety net would reduce pressure on governments to continue adding to smaller reserves. Korea is also interested in furthering renewed discussions on development issues, proposing them to be essential to rebalancing the global economy and to ensuring that the Agenda can operate as intended. It also includes addressing gaps in income and development. Korea is concerned with future economic growth and therefore organized a Business summit collecting and gathering close to 100 key corporate Chairmen and CEOs from around the world just prior to the G20 Summit, on November 10-11, 2010. The Business Summit is intended to be a forum for business leaders to exchange views on how to boost the recovery and put the global economy back on the path to greater growth. World leaders agreed to develop new guidelines to prevent so-called currency wars. The EU helped to build a consensus on cooperative solutions to tensions on currency issues and trade. A joint letter that was created during the summit included that leaders would agree to move to more market based exchange rates and to enhance exchange rate flexibility to reflect essential economic fundamentals and abstain from competitive deflations. They are also happy with the commitment to fight protectionism. It was important for the EU to place development securely on the agenda of the G20. This was achieved with the Seoul Development Consensus for Shared Growth, interlinking development, trade and investment. This is the fifth G20 summit since the global financial crisis hit in 2008. This summit was chaired by Korea and seemed to have been successful. In this summit several actions and plans were developed: the Seoul Action plan, the joint letter, and the Seoul Development Consensus for shared growth. The solution for the global economic and financial crisis is underway.