Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Modelling a Database for a Garment Manufacturing Company Essay
This project will contain information on the processing involved in modelling a database for a Garment Manufacturing company. It will also document how to create letter and fax templates that make the work more efficient. The database will hold details about the suppliers, customers and stock etc. The garment style, size, how many ordered and deadline dates for the garments to be finished will also be data which is stored in the table. The end-user Mr Jordan will be able to recall information on any of his suppliers or customers. He will be able to link what the customer orders to what he has to order from his suppliers or if the customers provides their own supplies he will see the amount needed. Mr Jordan will be able to send letters automatically to his customers and suppliers about work and orders. The database will be developed using Microsoft Access, the supplier and customer letters will be created in Microsoft Word and merged with data from Microsoft Access. Background to Org anisation The Garment Manufacturing Company is called Air Ltd, it is located in Stratford and is owned by Mr Jordan. There are nine workers, which Mr Jordan is in charge of. He takes care of every aspect of the business himself apart from parts of the accounts. All of the other nine workers are arrange in a production line around the work place. Mr Jordan deals with the customer enquiries, orders and suppliers etc. At the moment letters are created from scratch in Microsoft Word. Information Technology is not used much as it could be at the present time. Current procedures Customers get into contact with the company and talk about their order and the type of work required to meet their needs. This would include the design styles, materials and number of garments etc. Either the customer provide their own materials or they set out their order to Mr Jordan so he can go to his supplier. The company then makes a sample garment which is shown to the customer if they are pleased with it then production starts, if not then amendments are made. At the moment if letters need to be sent out to customers or suppliers they are created individually instead of making a template and using mail-merge. From customer orders Mr Jordan notes down how many garments to be made, style of garment and size on paper, all of this documentation is kept in a folder. Image of Mr Jordanââ¬â¢s customers order detail sheet. [image002.jpg] The customer detail sheet is in tabular form where records are filled in about each of the individual garments. For example data such as size, colour and style etc. would be held on the sheet. Mr Jordan takes care of all of these sheets in a folder. When they are out dated and are no, longer of any use they are disposed of. Strengths of the current system The strengths of the following system are: All of the workers are used to the current system this means that nobody has to be trained to use any new equipment. For example none of the workers have to be trained on how to use computers. Most work is carried out by hand, this is a strength because if machines were used and any one of them broke down the production of the garments would have to be stopped. Weaknesses of the current system The weaknesses of the current system are: All documentation is carried out on paper. All letter to customers are created individually. The business does not use e-mail to communicate with its customers or suppliers. The business does not have a web site advertising its service and goods. If vital business documents are lost, there is no backup. There is no form of a factory outlet. Objectives for the new system Store details about the customers permanently. Store details about the suppliers permanently. Easily be able to input data concerning the ordering of materials. For example, style, material, size, colour etc. Be able to print out order details for the worker to use. Check his status with the suppliers. For example, material ordered etc. Send out letters to customers using mail merge for better efficiency. Print out an update of all deadlines to be met. End-user and functional requirements Store details about the customers permanently The database will need to store details of the name of the company, its address and the telephone number. The user will sometimes want to display details of all the customers. It will be useful if the customer company names are in alphabetical order. The user might want to send the customers letters which means that the postcode will have to be stored in a separate field. Store details about the suppliers permanently The database will store details about the suppliers. For example the user will sometimes want to list the names in alphabetical order this means that the first name will have to be stored in a separate field to the middle and last name. If the user wants to send the customers letters to inform them about orders etc he will need to store the post code part of the address in a different field. Store details about the suppliers permanently The database will store details about the suppliers name and address. The suppliers table will be similar to the customer table. But the user will send letters to the suppliers concerning the orderinf of raw materials etc. Easily be able to input data concerning the ordering of materials. For example, style, material, size, colour etc. The user will easily be able to in put the data u sing Microsoft access instead of inputting the data on paper using a hand made table where he could be creating a more efficient table using access. Be able to print out order details for the worker to use. The user will be able to print out details of the customers orders. For example, the number of garments, style, material etc. Check his status with the suppliers. For example, material ordered etc. The user should be able to access details about what he has ordered and what there is to pay at the touch of button Send out letters to customers using mail merge for better efficiency. The user will be able to send out letters to the customers and suppliers quickly and efficiently using mail merge with Microsoft Access and Microsoft Word Print out an update of all deadlines to be met. The user will be able to print out a list of all deadlines to be met of all of the customers so the workers can work efficiently. Working Constraints End-user skill level The end-user(s) have used modern computers before based upon Windows 95. The user has used a modern computer to create letters and do calculations on Microsoft Excel. The user can only do simple calculations and nothing too complicated. The user can create letters for suppliers and customers by using a word processor. Mr Jordan is new to Microsoft Word but is getting the hang of it. He does not know much about the advanced features of the software. Mr Jordan will need some form of support in using the advanced features. Mr Jordan can use any simple software, but will have to apply himself slightly to be able to get the hang of the advanced features. His experience with IT is very limited. The new system must be easy to understand so that the vital functions can be successfully carried out. No errors should occur, everything should be clear. Availability of hardware and software The previous software that Mr Jordan was using is called Lotus Word Pro96 but has recently purchased a new PC with Microsoft Office 2000 on it. This new computer is manufactured by Compaq and has the following specification: 900Mhz processor 64Mb RAM 13Gigabytes HDD 17 inch VDU Cannon Bubble Jet printer BJC4200 Microsoft Office 2000 Mr Jordan has an ideal specification if not too good for the functional requirements. The software in the school will easily correspond with Mr Jordanââ¬â¢s PC since in school Microsoft Office 97 is available. Time constraints The deadline for the project is to be completed for the 30^th March. This gives approximately nine weeks for development, testing and documentation. Documentation will take up a great deal of the time this means that time will be a major co nstraint upon the completed system. Initial time plan Consideration of solutions Data such as company names and addressââ¬â¢s will need to be stored along with ordering details etc. this means that a database must be used. A word processor will also be needed because letters have to be created for the customers. Mail merge could be used. There are two choices for the type of database: relational or Flat-file. Flat-file A Flat-file database will not be suitable because it would mean that all of the field would have to be stored in one table. For example, supplier, customer and order fields will all be in the same table. This would then lead to there being data in the table that is not needed. For example, each time a customer made an order their name and address will have to be recorder in that record. If this type were to be used then it would take up a lot of space and hold useless data. It would also make it hard to search in the basic ways that you do. It will be hard to develop it so that the end-user will be ab le search for a certain supplier or customer without all of the other irrelevant details coming up. It would also make it increasingly difficult to use the mail merge facility. Concluding this we now know that a spreadsheet is not suitable for our purpose because it is just like a Flat-file if not nearly enough the same thing. Relational database This form of storage is much more flexible than Flat-file because it allows the data to be split up into separate tables. This is more efficient because each table contains information about a single entity. Now that information is in its individual tables, data redundancy is avoided. By linking all of the tables the whole structure will be able to be searched in a variety of ways. There are a great amount of relational database options in the market but the two main ones are Microsoft Access and Lotus Approach. These are both very suitable choices. Out of the two I will use Microsoft Access because it is more common compared with Lotus Approach and also because I am more familiar with the Microsoft environment. Overall I feel that Microsoft Access is easier to understand the instructions are clearer which makes it easier to follow. The terminology used in Access is better than that used in Lotus Approach. The form will be used to enter record of orders, suppliers and customers etc. This will make the business more organised and thus more efficient. The queries will be used to see who is ordering what and how much is owed to suppliers or owed by customers. To produce the templates for the letter I have chosen Microsoft word because it can easily be linked to Microsoft Access. It will also enable the letter to look professional as you can set any of your own preferences. For example, margin width, header and footer etc. Functions in Microsoft word such as MacroButtons, Date fields can make the end-user develop the letter template for his suitability. Other functions like AutoCorrect and AutoText will give the user an option for creating many types of customised letters for different kinds clients. My other options for word processors were Lotus WordPro, WordPad, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Paint and Word Perfe ct. These were not as suitable as Microsoft Word because some of them do not allow me carry out the advanced features that I wish to and also because most of them will not be able to link with Microsoft Access.
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Drop Out Risk Factors in High School Students
Drop out risk factors in high school students Tyrone Galimore Parent, Child, and School Psychology 133A-AMEA Professor Melissa Harwin Tyrone Galimore Parent, Child, and School PSY 133A-MEA Professor Melissa Harwin Fall semester 2012 10/11/2011 Introduction The purpose of this Life Arts Project (L. A. P. )was to review the benefits of family involvement for children. For the purpose of this L. A. P. I am going to summarize some of the expectations that families and teachers have of each other, and what potential benefits of family involvement have on at risk high school dropout students.Some of the questions I am attempting to address are: why are African American and Latino students dropping out of high school at an astounding rate? Is there any difference when students get greater attention from advocate- counselors, and smaller class room sizes? And what are the expectations that families and teacher have on each other? In this Life arts project I focused on the impact of families and teachers involvement in high school drop outs. Literature ReviewWhat initiatives are in place to prevent high school students from dropping out of school? Researcher has found that three out of ten Latino students dropout of high school, and one out of five African American students has also dropout out of high school. Understanding and addressing the issues surrounding students who drop out of high school is a continuous concern and pressing issues in school districts around the country. Over the past 20 years, the high school dropout rate has declined. (Center for Labor Market Studies, 2009 Cited in Featherston, B.Carl, 2010) Some of the research has been done through qualitative methods, while other research was conducted using questionnaires and more quantitative methods. High school drop out rate has decreased from 14. 1 in 1980 to 8. 0 in 2008 (US Department of Education, 2010) for example, this is the case for African American and Latino students. The amount of African Am erican students dropping out of school between the age of 16-24 also decreased from 19. 1 percent rate from 1980 to a 9. 0 in 2008, and decreased have also been demonstrated by Latino students, 35. percent rate in 1980 to a 18. 2 in 2008, (US Department of Education, 2010) These alarming high school dropout rates have pushed researchers and practitioners alike to distinguish the contributing factors causing students to drop out of high school. (Featherston 2010) Reflective Analysis When I was a high school student, I myself (being of African American descent) was an at risk student on the verge of dropping out of school. If not for my Micro system support team, ââ¬Å"Micro system- A concept associated with Bronfenbrennersââ¬â¢ ecological theory.The micro system includes social systems closest to childââ¬â¢s daily life, such as the classroom teacher and home. â⬠(Coleman 2013), I might have not succeeded in obtaining a high school diploma. ââ¬Å"Understanding and address ing issues surrounding students who drop out of high school is a continuous concern and pressing issue in districts around the country. Over the past 20 years, the high school dropout rate has declined, but African Americans and Latinos still have the highest dropout rates in the countryâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ ¦. â⬠(Center for labor Market Studies, 2009)Contributing Factors Many of us are concerned with the fact that there are little job in our economy today, despite the fact that unemployment is at an all time high; todayââ¬â¢s young people are having a difficult time finding jobs. The competition is rough, and for young people with out high school diplomas are even rougher. Why do students drop out of high schools? Here are some contributing factors, and preventive method addressing academic achievement. ââ¬Å"Many issues surrounding the decision to dropping out of school stems beyond the students immediate grasp.Among these factors are academic achievement, socio economic status, and student behavior. Student engagement is facilitated by all of these factors and gives a clear view as into why students drop out of high school. â⬠(Featherston, 2010) Another contributing factor was that my family was a vulnerable family. In this course we learned that Vulnerable Families are families, who, because of their life circumstances, experience financial, emotional, and physical stress that can impair their functioning and well-being.The two examples used in our course books were, homeless families and working-poor families. At times we where both, along with no money to pay bills, we would find our self moving from home to home. Sometimes living with extended family members (by the way, you ever heard of the saying ââ¬Å"theirs no place like home) well that saying is absolutely true!!!! So without adding the details, you could clearly see why I had to grow up so fast at an early age, and man up, which contributed to my failing grades. One of the major causes of students dropping out of high school is the accumulation of failing marks. Studies show that academic failure has the greatest impact on a studentââ¬â¢s decision to drop out of schoolâ⬠(Suh, Suh, 2007) In my experience as a teacher assistant, at the alternative high school, for the City of New Rochelleââ¬â¢s Board of Education, I have seen many students dropout of school. If fact academic achievement is one of the leading reason studentââ¬â¢s dropout at the institution I am affiliated with.In my opinion, student behavior is affiliated with poor academic behavior, which I think is a result for students being put out of school, or dropping out of school. To illustrate, when I was in high school, I failed to do homework, or take notes in class, obviously I was lost when it came to the course martial. I said to myself, whatââ¬â¢s the point of coming to class if I donââ¬â¢t understand the class work. I could blame my parents for not staying together for the benefit o f their children, but my parents broke up a long time ago, and I was the man of the house, being the oldest of three siblings.I toke this responsibility on, all by myself, and my mother who work long days, long nights, and occasionally on the weekend would be a weekend drunk, had vary little input when it came to making sure we went to school etcâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ ¦.. ââ¬Å"Shared factors associated with academic failure were the limited educational enrichment resources. â⬠(Suh, Suh, 2007) Being the oldest of three siblings meant I had to share the responsibility with my mom, on keeping the family together. This meant getting my two younger rother up and ready for school each day, bathing and feeding them, etcâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ ¦Ã¢â¬ ¦.. Being the oldest meant, at an early age, I understood about the financial responsibilities that my mom was having a difficult time with. I learned how to be a man from men in my community (tie a tie, work for your money, etcâ⬠¦.. ), and I understood only money could help my mom in her situation. So I began to look in my community for ways I could get money to help the family progress, and be healthy. As a youth I had plenty of jobs, which consisted of working long hour at night and on the weekend.This definitely had an impact on my academic achievements, which resulted in me getting bad grades. Certainly I fell so far behind, that I felt, I was stupid. So I did everything under the sun (bullying, cutting class, not coming to school for academicââ¬â¢s, but showing up for football practice) to divert attention away from my academicââ¬â¢s issues. I already had a plan, if I was ever confronted with the fact that I was a troublemaker, I would quiet, and I just needed a reason. Benefit of family involvementThere is limited amount of research on the benefits of family involvement for families themselves. Nevertheless, Coleman has reasonably hypothesize at least five benefits that should result when teachers and families collabo rate to honor each othersââ¬â¢ expectations and share responsibility for educating, socializing, and protecting children. (Coleman 2013), Parentsââ¬â¢ knowledge of child development, schools sometime publish flyers to educate families about the physical, mental, and social ââ¬Å"readiness skillsâ⬠. Coleman 2013), Example, family participation practice can boost parentsââ¬â¢ knowledge of child development and in turn, provide them with better insight into their childrenââ¬â¢s classroom performance. Parenting skills, teachers support childrenââ¬â¢s development and education not only in the classroom but also by responding to parentsââ¬â¢ questions and concerns about their childrenââ¬â¢s behavior. (Coleman 2013), example, parents sometimes ask for help in addressing what they perceive to be unusual childhood behavior or a behavior that is out of character for their child.Parents may also ask for help in to such requests benefits children and families in the s hort and long term (knopf & Swick, 2008 cited in Coleman 2013). Parentsââ¬â¢ Self-Confidence as Advocated for their Children, to form a truly collaborative family-teacher partnership, parents need the self-confidence to advocate for their childrenââ¬â¢s education and general welfare (Hoover-Dempsey, Bassler,& Brissie, 1992; Hoover- Dempsey & Sander, 1995, 1997, cited in Coleman 2013) Colman states that as a teacher, you can strengthen parentsââ¬â¢ self-confidence by their childrenââ¬â¢s development and education.Also teachers should remind parents of how they contribute to their childrenââ¬â¢s well being by listening to their concerns and answering their questionsâ⬠¦.. (Coleman 2013) Parentsââ¬â¢ Creativity, Coleman talks about family strategies provides opportunities to keep parents engaged in their childrenââ¬â¢s learning experiences. They also stimulate parentsââ¬â¢ creativity in promoting their childrenââ¬â¢s emerging skills at home and in the comm unity.Higher educational aspirations, with support, children are able to live up to their parentsââ¬â¢ academic expectation (Fan & Chen, 2001, cited in Coleman 2013) Family involvement can contribute to positive outcome and decrease at risk student behavior by increasing parentââ¬â¢s self- confidence and creativity in helping their children develop the skills and motivation needed to stay in school. Benefits of family involvement for teachers As with families, relatively little attention has been devoted to studying the benefits of families involvement for teachers.Nevertheless, Colman identifies at least five potential benefits. Understanding the ââ¬Å"ecological childâ⬠, because of their training, teachers naturally tend to focus on the ââ¬Å"classroom childâ⬠. Only by considering the ââ¬Å"ecological childâ⬠can we truly understand how childrenââ¬â¢s classroom performance is grounded in family and community life. Reflect on this example, cultural macros ystems. One hallmark of socially competent children in high-context cultures (e. g. African American students or Latino students) is their mastery of subtle contextual communication signals (e. g. nonverbal facial and hand gestures) rather than explicit verbalizations(Han & Thomas, 2010, cited in Coleman 2013) children from low- context cultures ( e. g. , United State, Western Europe, Australia) are taught to value just the opposite. They are encouraged to be direct in their verbal communication rather than rely on subtle forms of nonverbal communication. QUESTIONNAIRE I am asking these questions in order to gather information about what happens to students as they move through high school and make decision about what they are going to do after high school.Student at the New Rochelle Alternative High School, where I am employed, were told that their responses will be combined with those of other respondents, and the answers they give will never be identified as their own. Former stu dents who drop out of school and participated in this questionnaire were also told that the answers they give will never be identified as their own. 1) Thinking back to yours in high school, do you remember when you frist thought about leaving school? (Circle one) yes no 2) Here are some reasons students might use for leaving school which one applies or might apply to you.Circle which one you think applies to you. â⬠¢ I had a job. â⬠¢ I found a job. â⬠¢ I donââ¬â¢t like school. â⬠¢ I couldnââ¬â¢t get along with the teachers. â⬠¢ I couldnââ¬â¢t get along with the other students. â⬠¢ I wanted to have a family. â⬠¢ (FOR FEMALES ONLY) I was pregnant. â⬠¢ I became the father/mother of a baby. â⬠¢ I had to support my family. â⬠¢ I was suspended too often. â⬠¢ I did not feel safe at school. â⬠¢ I wanted to travel. â⬠¢ My friends had dropped out of school. â⬠¢ I had to care for a member of my family. â⬠¢ I was expelled fro m school. â⬠¢ I felt I didnââ¬â¢t belong at school. â⬠¢ I couldnââ¬â¢t keep up with my school work. â⬠¢ I was failing school. I got married or planned to get married. â⬠¢ I change school and didnââ¬â¢t like my new school. â⬠¢ I couldnââ¬â¢t work or go to school at the same time. 3) Do you plan to get a high school diploma or GED? YESNO References Coleman, M. (2013) Empowering Family ââ¬â Teacher Partnerships, glossary Featherston, B. Carl, (2010) Review of higher education and self ââ¬â learning, High School dropout prevention: a review of the literature, (7) 68-75 Robelen, W. Erik, (2006, November 15) Education week. Detailed Dropout Studies Guide Policy in City Schools, 26, 8-9 Suh, S. , & Suh J. (2007). Risk Factors and Levels of Risk for High School Dropouts.Professional School Counseling, 10(3), 297-306. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier Database. US Department of Education Institution of Education Science. (2010). Fast Fact. In The Condition of Education 2010 (NCES 20100-028). Retrieved 11/16/2012, from http://nces. ed. gov/fastfacts/display. asp? id=16. US Department of Education. (2009). Anniversary of Title VI Marks Progress and Reminds us that Every Child has the Right to an Education. In ED. gov. Retrieved 08/20/2010, from Http://www2. ed. gov/news/pressreleases/2009/07/0701200-a. html. Wallis, Claudia (2007, May 14) Stopping the Exodus. (169) 177-179
Monday, July 29, 2019
Lesson Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Lesson Critique - Essay Example The lesson plan identifies national health education standards which it adopts from the National academy of sciences and the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL). The one national standard that this lesson plan addresses from the National academy of sciences is that of science in personal and social perspective by emphasizing concern on personal and community health. The others which it addresses from the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning are: knowing how to maintain and promote personal health; knowing essential concepts about prevention and control of disease and understanding the fundamental concepts of growth and development (California & California, 2009). The lesson plan provides an elaborately detailed list of procedures to be followed by the learner and this constitutes mastery. These engage the learner in discussions as well as analysis of foods high in nutrients and creation of food diaries. The lesson plan, however, does not provide rationale for action. Despite its failure to do so, from the procedures which are developed to take the learner through the learning process through the lesson, one can see that collaboration is enhanced through group work, communication through discussion, and critical and creative thinking is addressed through devising of personalized MyPyramid plan. The materials provided by the lesson plan include My Pyramid: Simple Steps to Healthy Living, computers which have internet access and printers. Their use is integrated in the procedures which are meant to effect learning in the learner. The lesson is planned in such a way that it is learner-centered. The activities of understanding the concepts on good nutrition and those related to it are planned in a step by step procedure to help the learner understand the concept effectively. Discussions and group works form the
Sunday, July 28, 2019
Online vs Traditional Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Online vs Traditional Education - Essay Example This paper draws a comparison and contrast between online education and traditional education. Online education and traditional education are similar in the syllabus and course structure but differ in the styles and patterns of communication between the students and instructors, flexibility in terms of schedule, extent of learning and development of skills, and the overall cost both for the school and the students. Communication on online education is very different from the way it is in traditional education. In online education, conversation is made through the exchange of messages. Messages are exchanged via keyboard, so typing errors are common to occur. Although online communication is a fairly effective means of communication, yet it is subjected to a lot of challenges. For example, the communicating parties may be interrupted in the middle of communication if the internet connection breaks. There is a lot of uncertainty in online communication. One never knows when the compute r starts malfunctioning or is attacked by a virus. However, when the computer is functioning properly and everything is set, communication is not only instant and effective, but is also time saving and cost effective. Nevertheless, a research conducted by SRI International found that ââ¬Å"[o]n average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instructionâ⬠(Bits, 2009). On the contrary, traditional education provides an individual with frequent opportunities of socializing with peers. Students get to meet one another on daily basis. They make gossip, share views and discuss ideas both pertinent to the school education and other social and political matters. Such group discussions are very informative. Students get to learn about new opportunities. ââ¬Å"Traditional college students are between the ages of 18-21 and benefit from the social atmosphere that a normal college campus providesâ⬠(Carron, 2006). The face to face interaction with peers and teachers has also many psychosocial benefits for the students. It inculcates confidence in the students and enhances their emotional intelligence so that they are more prepared to play their constructive role in the society in general and in the workplace in particular. Online education provides an individual with much more flexibility than the traditional education. Students that take online courses are provided with the facility to work along with carrying on their studies. Many students with great potential are not able to continue their studies just because they are not able to afford the fee and other expenses associated with education. Online education brings students back to the world of academia by providing them with flexible schedules. The students can adjust their studies according to their work schedule rather than having to adjust their work schedule according to their studies. Thus, an individual having online education is more empowered as c ompared to the students of traditional education. The freedom online education offers enables the students to optimize on their time management skills. ââ¬Å"[S]elf-paced, independent learners are usually more disciplined in terms of preparation and time managementâ⬠(Sanders, 2011). On the other hand, schedules in the traditional
Saturday, July 27, 2019
Bringing extinct animals back to life Assignment
Bringing extinct animals back to life - Assignment Example This project involves withstanding painstaking research and consumption of large sums of money in the project. It also involves fighting back ethical issues raised by environmentalists concerning the undertakings. Novak and Brand represent the group of new generation who are passionate about having the extinct animals back in the global ecosystem. The author is biased in the way he present the project Revive and Restore as the solution to the extinction problem. The mission and vision of the organization trying to launch the de-extinction program which would ensure the extinct birds and animals are restored back into the ecosystem. The underlying value is down to giving conservation measures a different approach as well as the restoration of beauty of having those birds and animals around. However, the writer fails to address the issues that lead to extinction in the first place. The project Revive and Restore will consume a lot of funds which can be channeled to more conservation measure to guards the animals which are already being faced by extinction. In addition, the author fails to address the repercussion of the extinct animal regenerate upsetting the current ecosystem balance as they struggle to adapt themselves to an environment tat have changed over the decades. It is worth mentioning that the article present some valuable information about the importance of conservation. It highlights how human negligence over animal conservation can lead to a very expensive and time consuming reversal process. So what ought to be done to conserve the existing endangered species should be put in place to avoid the expensive and unproven de-extinction
Finance and Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1
Finance and Accounting - Essay Example Return on Capital Employed EBIT/ Shareholders funds + LT Liabilities EBIT $ 13,302 $ 11,876 Capital employed $ 69,326 $ 66,864 ROCE = 19% 18% Net Margin Net Income/ Net Sales Net Income $ 9,197 $ 8,081 Net Sales $ 98,458 $ 91,115 Net Margin 9% 9% Gross Margin Gross Profit / Net Sales Gross Profit $ 57,745 $ 53,198 Gross margin = 58.6% 58.4% Finance and Accounting P 4 Overheads as % of Turnover Distribution & Admin (Excl amortization of Goodwill) Distribution $ 8,244 $ 7,402 Marketing & Admin $ 34,465 $ 32,421 Total Overheads $ 42,709 $ 39,823 Turnover $ 101,805 $ 102,718 Overheads as % of Turnover 42% 39% Distribution as % of Turnover 8% 7% Marketing & Admin as % Turnover 34% 32% Turnover / Capital Employed 1.47 1.54 Turnover / Fixed Assets Fixed assets $ 20,230 $ 18,990 Turnover / Fixed Assets 5.03 5.41 Turnover / Net current Assets Net Current Assets $ 35,305 $ 41,765 Turnover / Net current Assets 2.88 2.46 Turnover / Stock $ 5,926 $ 5,926 stock Finance and Accounting P 5 Turnover / Stock 17.18 17.33 Current Ratio Current Assets $ 35,305 $ 41,765 Current Liabilities $ 32,479 $ 35,854 Current Ratio 1.09 1.16 Acid Test current assets less stock/ c liabilities...The ratios as computed showed that these are the financial indicators distilling the relevant information with regards to the entity of business by quantifying the relationship among the selected items appearing on the financial statement. The ratios of the entity may also be compared with the different ratios of a different period and to the industry's ratios. These comparative analyses shown below were able to identify the trends that may be very significant with the investors, the lenders and at the same time other parties who are very interested. The profitability ratios of both companies are for purposes of measuring the income in relation to some base and the more general is due to profit wherein these are the results of many factors such as the operating decisions, the leverage and the other considerations necessary for both companies. The liquidity ratio or simply the solvency Both companies have shown that they are good indicators in terms of current ratio because as compared with the last year's performance, both companies are doing very well. These ratios are designed for the purpose of highlighting the relationships considered to be meaningful between those financial data.
Friday, July 26, 2019
Entrepreneurship and small business development Essay - 1
Entrepreneurship and small business development - Essay Example In the review, I have chosen different entrepreneurs, where each displays different qualities such as motivation, leadership, invention, innovation, and change. A study of the factors that have motivated Donald Trump in the course of his business start-up Entrepreneurship is a difficult practice to start and become successful; it is highly influenced by many factors such as motivation. Motivation refers to encouragements one gets as he is doing something to be successful. It can be inform of incentives, encouraging words, and showing someone else hat you are proud of their work. Donald Trump ventured into business with his mentor, his father, who by then was a real estate dealer under Trump organization. The following is a literature review of the biography of Donald Trump, which looks at his path to success, clearly looking into what motivated him as an entrepreneur who clearly became successful in his businesses. Donaldââ¬â¢s father, Fredric C. Trump, was an enormous influence a nd a significant motivator of Donald. Donald exemplified exquisite wok after joining his fatherââ¬â¢s company after college. In his endeavors, while working under his fatherââ¬â¢s wing, he made prodigious deals on behalf of Trump organization making his father proud. Subsequently, as a way of motivating his son, Fredrick encouraged by showing it through proud comments such as ââ¬Å"some of my best deals were made by my son, Donaldâ⬠¦.everything he touches turns to gold,â⬠(Bio 2011). Moreover, Donald also admitted that his father was an ardent influencer in his business life; occasionally he could confess that his father was a terrific mentor as he had the opportunity to learn a lot about the construction industry, a fact that has always boosted his career in the real estate industry. Soon after, a young Donald Trump moved to Manhattan, where he started-off his business, which has continuously expanded over the years. Factors that have motivated Bill Gates in the cour se of his business start-up The following analysis consists of a review of the path Bill Gates followed on his way to success. The review is of an article detailing the motivations that saw Gates to his success as he incorporated one of the most successful companies in the world. Bill Gates faced many challenges following his drastic measure to quit Harvard University and venture into creating operating software programs for computers. However, he had various things that motivated and kept his dreams afloat such as having a strong vision. Gates, as one of the most renowned entrepreneur, in the world, had an incredible vision as he started his career. In his mind, he dreamt of every desk having a computer as one of the vital tools one needed as they work. On starting his business, in the year 1975 and 1976, Bill gates, in his operations, posted losses, but this did not deter him from pursuing his dream (Famous People 2004). Bill is an entrepreneur consumed by the hunger of making mon ey; hence, from the start this factor always motivated him at work. As an entrepreneur, he is out to acquire returns; hence, he is motivated by this fact such that, he hires the best and ensures that his employees are well rewarded. Downfalls in business are a reason as to why many companies close down, and Bill Gatesââ¬â¢ Microsoft Company is among the many that have faced some of the backlashes such as lack of release dates of their products among other problems. However, Bills strong will and motivation
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Evaluate the effectiveness of technology in monitoring national Essay
Evaluate the effectiveness of technology in monitoring national borders and preventing trafficking of drugs or humans - Essay Example 37). In order to counter these crimes, prevention measures have to be implemented to forestall the trafficking of human beings and drugs into the country. Various measures have been implemented to tackle these problems such as imposing heavy penalties on individuals who break these laws and also protecting the national orders through a team of well trained personnel and equipment (United states 2010, pg. 16). The use of technology in monitoring the national borders and preventing human and drug trafficking will be discussed as well as its effectiveness. Application of Technology in monitoring National Borders The national borders are monitored by different organizations all with the intention of preventing illegal activities from taking place. This involves prevention of illegal drug and human trafficking and also the illegal immigration of individuals into the country. For this purpose, technology is required to keep track of the activities being carried out along the border and als o to verify the legality of individuals or activities. For example, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses technology to identify illegal aliens in the country and further rank them according to the severity of their crimes (National Research Council (U.S.) 2009, pg. 29). Particularly, they apply biometric identification techniques which are used to identify individuals according to their traits or characteristics. In addition to that, illegal activity can be monitored through closed circuit television cameras. The authorities use these cameras to monitor the boundaries and detect whether there is any crime being carried out (Manning 2008, pg. 97). The cameras are usually hidden and are on a 24-hour basis. They are set in a position where they can hold a wide view of the area thus making it easier for the law enforcers to monitor. Law enforcers then observe the borders through the cameras in shifts and also by carrying out patrols around the area. It is possible to record information through these cameras and the information is stored in form of tapes. The tapes are important in court cases as they serve as evidence pointing towards illegal activity being carried out across the border and into the country. Application of Technology in Drug and Human Trafficking Different forms of technology can be applied in drug and human trafficking. For example, scanners are used in major airports to identi fy illegal substances in an individualââ¬â¢s package (Belliotti 2009, pg. 117). Airport authorities use advanced imaging technology which is programmed to detect various threats against the crew members and the passengers. Other than threats, the imaging technology also highlights the illegal substances thus allowing for further human searching. This form of technology is less invasive compared to the previous methods thus encouraged by many airports. In addition, technology is used to monitor and track the whereabouts of individuals involved in criminal activity particularly drug and human trafficking. Authorities are able to track cell phones using tracking devices that function by tracking the cell phone number. This gives them the accurate position of the phone thus making it easier to take action upon the traffickers. Traffickers prefer using prepaid cell phones which makes them harder to track and thus preventing the control of these vices. However, police officers are allo wed to plant tracking devices on such phones and consequently gain
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Global Trends Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
Global Trends - Essay Example Education is also another key thing. People from different cultures go to the same class, spend time in hostels together and learn in class the importance of appreciating and leaving with each other (Tracey, 1999). Entertainment industry has made people from different cultures to come together and produce music hence pulling their cultures together. Forcesââ¬â¢ trying to prevent erosion of cultures include the development of archive centers. These will keep the tradition materials and information that remind people of their past cultures (Gary, 2005). The development of traditional clothing has stopped people from embracing foreign attire; maintaining and embracing eating culture has stopped international modified food from taking over the cultural mode of eating especially in Asian countries. Technology changes the culture of countries; it has provided tools that enable our capability to network through the internet communities like Facebook and MySpace. This communication promotes freedom of expression that is not guaranteed in some countries. For example, Facebook provide space for communication during Arabs spring. Technology has made people to migrate from rural homes to the towns especially in developed countries in search of better services and good infrastructure. It has also increased awareness on the value of goods to the consumer hence eliminating middle men who used to make huge profits (Henry, 2006). Global culture is developing since the image of borderless flow has been evoked. Right know people, money and goods are moving undistracted around the world hence forming a global society full of universal culture and universal business language. Global influences have enable me learn through online and be able to communicate with friends through social media at ant time. I have benefitted through knowing the prices of products in the market without going through the
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
How and why did transportation and expansionist developments spark Essay
How and why did transportation and expansionist developments spark economic growth during the period from 1860-1900 in U.S - Essay Example In fact, most of them agree that the period from 1860 to 1900 is when the US shifted from farm economy to industry- based economy which was very critical in spurring economic growth. Most records show that this is the period when the US leaped ahead of the UK for the first time to become the first in quantity of manufacturing output. It should be noted that there are numerous important factors that helped promote remarkable economic growth during the period from 1860- 1900 in the US (Engerman and Gallman 16). Out of the numerous factors, transportation and expansionist developments were credited for sparking the economic growth during that period. The US economic development during this period was characterized by massive developments in transportation sector in general and expansionist development whose main features were accumulation of productive land in the West and westward movement of population (Cain and Jonathan 24). Throughout human history, development in transportation has always been seen to make human lives better and facilitate not only the economic exchanges but also the cultural exchanges. This scenario was no different in the American economic history where transportation proved to be the key driver of economic growth and development. During the period from 1860- 1900, there were explosion of new inventions and discoveries that aided advancement of transportation (Cain and Jonathan 76). Some of the main transportation developments that sparked economic growth in the US at that period were expansion of railroads and construction of stringer bridges and tracks that could handle heavier locomotives and cars. Therefore, these locomotives and cars would carry increased quantities of goods and more people at a given time which spurred economic growth. Transportation of enormous quantities of goods that were produced at that time such as wood products, textiles, food, steel, coal, and oil was much easier and cheaper thus spurring economic growth becau se these goods are critical ingredients in production (Engerman and Gallman 43). Besides, such advancements in transportation played a crucial role in reducing the cost of production; locomotives and cars would carry goods and people at much cheaper cost since the railroads had been greatly expanded. Also, completion of transcontinental railroad in 1869 facilitated the connection of major US cities which was critical in spurring economic growth through effective and cheaper transportation of goods and people (Cain and Jonathan 106). As a result, the US economy experienced increased economic activities as conducting business was relatively cheaper, hence increased economic growth. Moreover, development in transportation enhanced commerce that resulted to huge tax revenues for the US thus spurring economic growth. As a result of increased economic activities because of significantly developed transport system, the US economy was growing at a rate of over 4 percent for real GDP per cap ita and over 6 percent for real; undisputable impressive economic growth. This significant economic growth prompted Economist Milton Friedman to state that this rate of economic growth was the highest rate of the decades during that period compared to previous decades (Cain and Jonathan 185). In addition, expansionist developments played a very critical role in sparking the economic growth during the period from 1860- 1900 in the US. This period was marked by expansion towards the West was
Monday, July 22, 2019
Charter Accounting Essay Example for Free
Charter Accounting Essay Mr John Potts is a chartered accountant who owns his own firm. Potts works in all fields associated with business and finance in the private sector. He also employs workers to work in his firm assisting him in all aspects of his work. His office is just a five minute drive from his house which is an advantage as he can go to and from his house when necessary. He usually works from 9am to 7pm however, these hours are flexible. Mr Potts has a choice of working at his office or working at home. The activities he does include maintaining accounting records and preparing accounts and management information for small businesses (accountancy); advising clients on business transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions (corporate finance); advising clients who are in financial difficulty to help them turn the business around or to handle the disposal of the business (corporate recovery/insolvency); detecting and preventing fraud (forensic accounting) and much other activities. In order for Mr Potts to be able to complete his tasks, he uses some technologies which assist him with his work life, social life and personal life. Technology 1 CCTV Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) is the use of video cameras to transmit signals to a certain place so an area is fully monitored for safety of others and crime. The most measurable effect of CCTV is not on crime prevention, but on detection and prosecution. Several notable murder cases have been solved with the use of CCTV evidence, making the environment a safer place for the public. CCTV Work Related Use John Potts has many CCTV cameras around his workplace. The signal is sent to many monitors in his office and his study at home. This is so he can monitor outside activities and keep an eye out for any crimes that may occur. When Potts is not able to attend his office, he is still able to access the images from his study at home. Using the images, he can contact his security guards to check a specific area in his building. The advantages of having installed cctv cameras is that he can see what is going on around his building, therefore he does not have to be everywhere at all times. Another advantage is that he can access the images from home when he is unable to go to his office. This technology also has some disadvantages. One of these is that he will occasionally get worried of any crimes near his building which forces him to constantly check his monitors. This may be interfering with his social life as he would be too worried about his workplace. Another advantage is that the signals may not be received all the time due to incomplete installation of the cameras. This technology has improved the working style of Mr Potts as he is able to keep an eye out for any unusual events taking part around his building. Technology 2 Personal Digital Assistant (HP iPAQ 200 Enterprise Handheld) The HP iPAQ 200 Enterprise Handheld (PDA) has many features which aids many businessmen. First of all, the PDA has a 4 inch touch screen display and has a stylish design making it a great deployment platform for enterprise applications. Secondly, using the integrated 802.11b/g wireless networking, Mr Potts is able to connect to the Internet and access his email. He is also able to connect Bluetooth peripheral such as headsets or keyboards. He is also able to use applications like Word, PowerPoint and Excel Word, PowerPoint and Excel on his PDA using Microsoft Office Mobile. Also, Mr Potts is able to store his business-critical information with high-capacity SDIO and Compact Flash. The advantages of this device are that its very ideal for businessmen as it is like five devices in one. Having many uses, the PDA benefits mostly businessmen who need access to the computer while on the move. A disadvantage of this device is that it is an ideal item that is of interest to many muggers in the world today putting you in danger due to being in possession of this device. Personal Digital Assistant Personal Use Mr Potts is always on the move, around the city and very often he travels abroad for job purposes. When he is waiting for his flight, he does not need to carry his laptop with him all the time as his HP iPAQ 200 Enterprise Handheld (PDA) is an equivalent to his laptop. He is able to connect to the internet using Wifi which allows him to browse the internet to entertain herself by listening to music and watching videos. The advantages of this device are that it is more ideal as it is much smaller. He is still able to access his emails and many documents without the need of carrying a laptop. A disadvantage of this device is that he will need to extend his memory capacity constantly as he uploads a lot of information to his device which helps him with his job. Another disadvantage of this device is that he has to be very careful as the device is very fragile; the screen can be cracked. Also he is in danger of having his personal information known if he is not careful with his device. Personal Digital Assistant Social Use Due to the wireless technology, Mr Potts can connect to the internet and use his email address to sign into Windows Live Messenger and chat to his friends. His device works exactly like a computer as he often sends, to his family, many photographs of famous landmarks that he took while he was abroad. Other than this, Mr Potts uses his PDA mostly for work related activities. Personal Digital Assistant Work Related Use When it comes to Mr Pottss job related activities, his PDA is the ideal device. While he is away abroad, his personal secretary sends him copies of documents by email. He later retrieves these documents from his PDA. He very often makes many spreadsheets on his laptop. This is also possible to do on his PDA which he does. His PDA can also create word documents which is very beneficial to him as he doesnt need to go to his computer at all times or carry a laptop when he can carry a palm sized device which enables him to do everything that he can do on his laptop. But unfortunately, Mr Potts is required to expand his memory as the capacity may not be enough after having many documents on his PDA. When Mr Potts has access to his computer, he usually sends documents that he believes that he will need later to herself by email. He has sent almost all important files to herself by email. This is done so he can access and download them onto his PDA when he is away from home or access to a computer. Mr Pottss PDA consists of important details of his clients, individual clients and business clients, such as phone numbers, addresses etc. If he did not have this device however, he would have had to carry a small notepad, writing in the details every time. This wastes paper and time as he has to search for a clients details. This device is ideal to store information like this on it as he can quickly find someones details by entering a few letters of their name. The PDA will then narrow down the search until Mr Potts can view the details. A disadvantage of having a PDA in possession is that he has to take it almost everywhere with him as it contains relevant information. He has to be very careful with his valuable device as it may contain confidential information which can be accessed by anyone if he loses or misplaces his device. Technology 3 Mobile Phone (Nokia N95) Another device used by Mr Potts is his mobile phone, Nokia N95. The Nokia N95 is a smart phone with many unbelievable features. First of all, the multimedia abilities. The N95 has an outstanding music player that supports MP3, WMA, RealAudio, SP-MIDI, AAC+, eAAC+, MIDI, AMR, M4A and True Tones. Next is the Internet. The N95 has built in Wi-fi which can be used to gain access to the internet. The web browser displays the webpage in full whereas other phones display simplified versions of the webpage. Another feature of this smart phone is the integrated GPS. Below the 0 key on the N95s keypad is an integrated GPS receiver. The phone is shipped with navigation software and maps are free to download over the internet. Mobile Phone Personal Use Mr Potts is really into his music. He listens to his mp3 tracks via the music player on his Nokia N95 which supports the formats mentioned above. He also uses his phone to entertain herself by watching many videos at DVD like quality on the 2.6 inch screen. Another feature on this phone widely used by Mr Potts is the 5 mega pixel camera located at the back of the device. With this, he is able to capture great pictures at amazing quality. An advantage of this is that when he is away and needs to take photos, he does not need to take another device, a camera; instead he can take his phone which enables him to take many pictures at an equivalent quality of his own camera. The smart phone also has a Flash Player. With this software in the phone, Mr Potts is able to put many games onto his phone which will keep him busy entertaining herself for a long time. Mobile Phone Social Use As he is often out and about he is not seen at home for many hours. While he is on his lunch break, Mr Potts uses his time to make quick phone calls home to chat to his wife and his son. An advantage of this device is that when Mr Potts has not got his laptop or PDA, he is still able to talk to his friends over Windows Live Messenger by connecting to the mobile internet. Another advantage is that he saves a lot of coins as with his phone, he has many free minutes which allows him to make many calls whereas if he was not in possession of a mobile phone, he would have had to carry coins around with him to use a payphone. A disadvantage of this device however is that this can increase his phone bill. Mobile Phone Work Related Use Mr Potts is a very busy man, always working. He needs to make many phone calls, which is part of his day to day life, spending many hours on the phone to his clients. Without his N95 it is almost impossible for Mr Potts to go to work as he receives many phone calls often concerning his job. If he is ever in a situation where he has forgotten his laptop or PDA and cannot access his email account to download files, he is still able to do so with his phone by connecting to the mobile internet. He can also make quick notes on his phone which remind him what he needs to do and when he needs to complete specific tasks by if he has forgotten to take his PDA with him. Technology 4 Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Microsoft Office Excel 2007 is an influential software used to produce and format spreadsheets and to analyze and distribute information to make more informed decisions. This new software has many features which include ? Chart Formatting tools which help create and format professional-looking charts with greater ease using fewer clicks. ? Support for PDF and XML Paper Specification (XPS) file formats helps convert spreadsheets into a fixed file format for easier sharing. ? Report management features help protect confidential business information while ensuring people can view the data they need. ? Chart Formatting tools help you create and format professional-looking charts with greater ease using fewer clicks. Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Personal Use Mr Potts records his day to day spending on a spreadsheet using Microsoft Office Excel 2007 to calculate a budget for his family to spend so he can cut down costs for unnecessary things. He first records the amount spent for a couple of months. He then calculates and produces a budget and attempts to stick to that budget for a couple of months. He then records this and then compares both spreadsheets and sees where the unnecessary spending has occurred. Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Social Use During his breakfast, Mr Potts spends his time doing many crossword puzzles and also does these puzzles in his spare time. He expands his interest by making his own crossword puzzles on Excel. He then sends them to his friends making them spend their spare time completing the puzzles and requesting them to send back reviews via email so he can improve his work. Also, Mr Davison buys and sells many shares on the stock market and keeps tracks with his data by recording his information onto a spreadsheet. Mr Potts has an interest in gaming and creates many games using excel. Along with the crossword puzzles, he sends it off to his friends and again receives many reviews which suggest ideas which may lead to him improving the games and enhancing gaming experience. As mentioned previously, Mr Potts sends documents to herself to his email so he can access them later. These documents also include the crossword puzzles and games. He plays them on his laptop while on his lunch break. Whenever he does not have access to his laptop, he plays the game with his friends on his PDA. The game opens up as a spreadsheet file which is supported by his HP iPAQ 200 Enterprise Handheld as it has Microsoft Office Mobile. Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Work Related Use Mr Potts produces spreadsheets for many of his clients (individuals and businesses) advising them on tax planning within current legislation to enable them to minimise their tax liability and he also calculates clients tax liabilities. Some of the activities that Mr Potts performs that may use Microsoft Office Excel 2007 are ? Producing reports and recommendations following internal audits or public sector value for money audits. # ? Preparing financial statements, including monthly and annual accounts. ? Preparing financial management reports, including financial planning and forecasting. ? Advising on tax and treasury issues and many other tasks. To perform activities using Microsoft Office Excel 2007, Mr Potts needs access to his computer. He produces these files on his computer at home or at his office. Mr Potts produces spreadsheets with the company of his client to provide him with any certain information. This is done by inviting his client to his office and working at his computer or he meets up with his client at their house and works on his laptop. As mentioned before, Mr Potts sends important files to herself by email so he can access them later. When he is free, he often spends time finishing off his spreadsheets. Occasionally, as he is on the move he does not take his laptop, however he is still able to complete his tasks by connecting to the internet by the integrated wireless technology on his HP iPAQ 200 Enterprise Handheld and accessing the files from his email account and downloading them onto his PDA. He is able to complete this spreadsheet as his PDA has the Excel application provided by Microsoft Office Mobile. In conclusion, I suppose that without the help from the above technologies and other technologies, Mr John Potts will find it very difficult to complete his day to day life. As mentioned previously, he is not able to perform many tasks without the aid of the above technologies. For example, without the help of his PDA Mr Potts cannot easily access his clients personal details. Also, without his computer/laptop he is not able to complete any other tasks. Due to the aid provided by these technologies, Mr Potts has been able to develop his personal, social, and work life.
Restructuring Debt Essay Example for Free
Restructuring Debt Essay One appreciates the recommendation of providing information on restructuring debt to help the company combat its recent financial troubles. Even though the company is in the process of reorganizing one believes this information will help a company in reporting the restructuring of debt. One will provide information on the requirements of reporting debt on bonds, notes, and capital leases. In performing this one will also provide the journal entries one would need to record to restructure the companyââ¬â¢s debt along with a comparison of the debt for the companyââ¬â¢s current reporting. One will also provide valuable information on the companyââ¬â¢s postemployment benefits. Requirements for Reporting Debt Long-term debts for a company are present obligations that consist of probable future sacrifices of economic benefit, which ââ¬Å"are not payable within a year or within the operating cycle of the companyâ⬠(Kieso, Weygandt, Warfield, 2007, p. 672). Generally long-term debt consists of three categories, which are bonds payable, notes payable, and capital leases. In financial reporting one of the most controversial areas is the reporting of long-term debt because this debt impacts the cash flows of a company (Kieso, Weygandt, Warfield, 2007, p. 691). The reporting requirements of the debt must be both substantive and informative to the investor. Some long-term debt such as bonds, notes, and others may need approval by the board of directors and stockholders before a company acquires the debt. Most long-term debt a company acquires has certain ovenants or restrictions within its agreement. This helps protect both the lender and borrower. A company must disclose the features along with any covenants or restrictions in the agreement of long-term debt in the financial statements or in the notes of the financial statements. This is only if the information provides an investor a more ââ¬Å"complete understanding of the financial position of the company and the results of its operationsâ⬠(Kieso, Weygandt, Warfield, 2007, p. 672). Bonds Payableà Bonds basically represent a contract of a promise to pay at a maturity date a sum of money plus a specified rate of periodic interest on the maturity amount. Bonds can be either secured or unsecured. Secured bonds have some pledge of collateral that backs up the bond. An example of this type of bonds is a ââ¬Å"mortgage bond secured by a claim on real estateâ⬠(Kieso, Weygandt, Warfield, 2007, p. 673). Unsecured bonds are bonds that do not have any collateral attach to them. Most bonds carry a specific rate of interest whereas others are sold with an implied interest rate at a discount. One can convert some bonds into other securities. No matter what bond a company acquires the terms and conditions of the bond must be disclosed along with the covenants or restrictions on the bond. A company must also disclose any violation on the covenant or restrictions of the bond. In reporting bonds a company must report the bond at its face value ââ¬Å"of its expected future cash flows, which consists of interest and principalâ⬠(Kieso, Weygandt, Warfield, 2007, p. 675). The company amortizes any discount or premium of a bond over the life of the bond. This basically is reporting the bond at its face value less the unamortized discount or plus the unamortized premium. General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) requires a company to use the effective- interest method in determining the amortization of a discount or premium of a bond. A company reports the portion of the bond that matures within a year (current portion) as a current liability, and the remainder as a long-term liability on the balance sheet. Notes Payable Notes payable are generally an amount of money a company borrows with a romissory note. Long-term notes are similar and different from bonds in some ways. The similarity is notes payable also ââ¬Å"have fixed maturity dates and carry either a stated or implicit interest rateâ⬠(Kieso, Weygandt, Warfield, 2007, p. 685). The difference is notes payable are not easily tradable. A company reports notes payable in a similar fashion as it does bonds. In reporting a note payable a company records the note at its face value of its future interest and principal cash flows. The company amortizes any discount or premium of a note over its life. If a note has no-bearing interest rate the company should report the difference between the face value and the cash received as a discount on the note. This amount one amortizes over the life of the note to interest expense. Capital Leases A company may use capital leases to finance its acquisition of capital assets. In lease financing a company must met the criteria of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on capital leases. In this a company must record both a liability, and a related asset on its balance sheet. In reporting capital lease a company reports the lease at its present value of the minimum lease payments. The company allocates these lease payments using the effective interest method to interest expense. This allocation using the effective interest method reduces the lease liability of the company. A company regardless of the type of liability it has must report the interest rate, maturity date, current interest expense, and future interest and principles payments of the liability in its financial statements or notes. A company should also disclose any restrictions or covenants on these liabilities. In disclosing this debt a company should present the debt by major category.
Sunday, July 21, 2019
A company operating
A company operating A multinational sometimes known as transnational, is a company operating out of its origin country which involves one or more countries. Multinational corporations growth in alliances, joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions, but this will cause consumers to recognize the brand, rather the parent company. Shell, Caltex, ExxonMobil, Nokia, McDonalds, Toyota, Nestle, Sony, Microsoft corporations are a few example of multinational corporations. It is important as many large corporations tend to increase sales and gain brand recognition at the same time providing jobs opportunities as in the case study of James Dyson and Waterford Wedgwood. International marketing is the multinational process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives[1]. Today, many multinational corporations are surviving and competing against their competitors brand to achieve higher market profits. The companies apply strategic measures to expand their business as well as improving management in order to increase profit income. The basis of a company running its business is to have a good human resource management, quality control on product or services, maintaining loyal customers and at the same time boosting sales and implementing marketing strategy in their founding region country. For examples the most popular product in the United States are Microsoft Corporation, Apple, and McDonald, where they gain most of their profits from its own founding country. However, if the same company runs the same system they use in their founding country, it might not be successful if they were to expand their business market onto the international market. This is because different countries have different culture, religion, tradition, mind set, environment and lifestyle and it plays a vital factor that caused the marketing plans to fail if international marketing mix concepts are not brought into consideration. CEO of Coca-Cola, Mr Daft mentioned, it was that the next big evolutionary step of going global now has to be going local. Most worrying for the global brand-owners, consumers in the newly opened markets started expressing a desire for local products, protection for its local sovereignty and cultural identities[2]. In order for an organization or business to achieve a successful rate in widening their product services internationally, the management team needs to apply the international marketing mix in planning and strategies marketing conce pt that cater for international market consumers. In this assignment the multinational company that Ill examine its international marketing mix operation will be Kentucky Fried Chicken as Ill investigate and study the strategies of its international marketing mix of the companys success. Kentucky Fried Chicken, or famously known as KFC is a very well known fast-food chain restaurant having thousands of franchises throughout the world, serving its famous Colonel Harland Sanders trademark chicken, in both Original Recipe and Extra Tasty Crispy varieties, along with chicken sandwiches, chicken pot pies, crispy chicken strips, mashed potatoes and gravy, and potato wedges. KFC Corp. is wholly owned by Yum! Brands, Inc., which also operates the Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silvers, and AW restaurant chains. The headquarters is located in Kentucky, where the brand originated and half of the profits made by this company is through international marketing and sales or via franchising. The two marketing approach which adapted by KFC in their marketing campaign which I will elaborate more, are standardized, and adaptation marketing approach. In standardized method, it described as a common market program, where a company uses a standard, fixed marketing plan to run its business in their founding country. One can notice that all the outlets are very identical and the management is really concern on the standard operating procedure (SOP), to ensure highest standard quality of food and services being offered to the customer. Take Shiseido, a beauty brand as example, where there are employing standardized method, where all their products marketing are the same all over the international market in terms of the product, price, promotion and placement of the product. Same goes to Coca-cola, Pepsi, and Marlboro where standardization strategies are used. Consumer can purchase the same Vanilla Coke, Coke Light and the red tab Coke is sold all around the globe. However, adaptation strategies is total opposite of standardized where it recommends for product and marketing modification for a certain international market in order to suit the needs of the foreign market in terms of cultural, environment, product knowledge et cetera in order bring success to its marketing plan and to help boost its sales. Therefore by analyzing Kentucky Fried Chicken international adaptation marketing strategies with Malaysia, which are managed by QSR Brands Berhad[3], there are significant differences of marketing strategies used compare to common standardization marketing uses in their founding country. We can notice the difference by comparing the both countries 4Ps of marketing mix. I shall start with the first marketing mix, which is product. Product Product marketing is the first element that deals with the specifications of the goods or services and how it is related to satisfaction of the customers. Products are usually developed to meet up the wishes of the customers. It is sorted according to the five characteristics, quality, features, styling, brand name, and packaging. [4] Based on the KFC product marketing plans in the US markets, their products are packed using their brand symbolic color of red and white together with the image of Colonel Sanders which is the core of the companys advertising and branding strategies. It uses standardized approach method to market their product, and also to neighboring countries of Canada, New Zealand and some part of Europe. Other than fried chicken, many KFC restaurants serve side dishes like coleslaw, potato wedges, french fries and mashed potatoes. But for their international product to Malaysia, it used the same brand name, image, packaging, and preserving its quality of the fried chicken as it is the companys Unit Selling Proposition. Also, its finger lickin good famous catchy slogan are maintained too. However, there are adaptations done to its products feature and styling of products such as Extra Tasty Crispy in the US, are being replaced by naming it Hot Spicy in Malaysia, but both products are similar just the features name is different. The culture of Malaysia and the US are different that is why certain products of name are different in one and other. The title Hot and spicy is more suitable in Malaysia rather than Extra Tasty Crispy because of the word spicy as it brings the meaning of hot,. KFC Malaysias new product, the X meal Hotrods with smoking hot sauce is somehow similar to Malaysian favorite traditional food Satay. Same goes to local product of Nasi Lemak Enak where Malaysians can find it in one of the KFC a.m meal, not to mention as well the Colonel Chicken Rice Combo, which are Malaysian local food it is because Malaysian more like to eat rice than American who like to eat mashed potatoes. As majority of Malaysia consume rice as their main carbohydrate source in their daily diet. KFC seems to acknowledge the important of rice in their serving, and therefore offering rice and chicken porridge as an alternate adds-on in their menu. KFC also provide Milo as a drink of breakfast due to Malaysian use to drink Milo as their hot chocolate drink. KFC in Malaysia also provide Thirst Quenchers with a fun float of scoops of ice-cream with any carbonated drink in these hot seasons in Malaysia. Desserts are ice-cream because of the hot weather of Asia, Malaysian prefer ice-cream rather than parfait in the US to feel cool. Another distinctive product differences are KFC in the US sells pork ribs in their market but its different in Malaysia whereby this is a Muslim country and the restaurant need to follow regulations for Halal food certification in order to attract Muslim customer. Pork and beef are not permitted and other products are needed to be replaced with alternatives favorites. Apart from the certificate for operational premises, internal controls over raw materials procurement, manufacturing, packaging, storage, transportation and utensils need to be controlled as well. KFC need to understand the cultures and religions of Malaysia where Halal food is food that complies with Islamic Law stipulates that food consumed to be hygienic, not harmful to health, free from any forbidden parts of animal origin, free from anything regarded as filth under Islamic law. In addition, meat products must be derived from animals that are permissible and slaughtered according to Islamic Law for example pork which are forbidden for Muslims. This is because they need to fulfill the requirement of international marketing mix of Malaysias custom, tradition, religion and other factors that need to be concern and also the consumer demographics and psychographics of Malaysians. Despite Malaysians customs and culture traditions, KFCs marketing in Malaysia is gaining its ground with unequivocal success by implementing the international marketing mix. Price For Price marketing, it refers to the process of setting a price to the product. Price is the only element in the marketing mix that brings revenue to the firm. Pricing strategies are linked with factors of standard of living, population size, age profile, and purchasing pattern of its consumer market. It also deals with ones country economy status. The prices of all of the items offered by KFC Malaysia are reasonable and suitable with the target market segments. Pricing of KFC chicken is Strength for KFC in the SWOT analysis as the meals are comparably cheaper than its competitor of Popeyes and AW. Figure below tells that KFC snack plate are more value for money comparing with AW set. KFC also introduce JomJimat, which attracts consumers to save more for individual set. Not to forget the affordable yet convenient way of having breakfast, this is called KFC a.m meal that offers local foods. Family feast of mini bucket combo and variety bucket also comes with discounted price. By having suitable pricing and campaign will help ease the burden of consumer financially as they make KFC their choices when it comes to eating quality yet delicious fried chicken Place Place refers to where and how the product gets to the customers. Two basic issues involved in getting the products are channel management and logistics management. Most of the KFC restaurants around the world are in commercial areas. In the US, it can also be found operating as free-standing units and kiosks in high-traffic crowded areas. Such methods can capture both the consumer market of family and friends gatherings area, and also the busy working class, so that they could grab a bite of KFC anytime, anywhere. Nontraditional service, often stemming from successful innovations instituted in the companys international operations, was seen as a way for KFC to enter new markets. Delivery, drive-through, carryout, and supermarket kiosks were up and running. Other outlets in testing were mall and office-building snack shops, mobile trailer units, satellite units, and self-contained kiosks designed for universities, stadiums, airports, and amusement parks. However in Malaysia, KFC placed its restaurants in most commercial shopping malls, and also in every township. This will be easy for KFC as shoppers roaming around for the purpose of shopping can actually be expected to step in and make a purchase. KFC Malaysia builds a strong affinity with a new generation of young customers by rolling out various strategies such as collaborating with the national zoo of having the restaurant to be placed in its compound. Im sure every school children are excited to have KFC during their visit to the Zoo. Oh how it reminds me back of my childhood days eating KFC in zoo with its Chicky Mascot. Besides that, by offering 24-hour restaurant service to its consumer, it will surely satisfy the late hungers of KFC fans. Drive through are also another way of providing fast serving of food to rushing busy Malaysians who without the need of getting down from their vehicle to make orders. With over 350 KFC outlets situated in Malaysia, It is by far the most popular restaurant chain in the Malaysia Promotion Promotion refers to the various methods of promoting the product. The four promotional tools available to the marketing managers are advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and personal selling. At KFC, Promotion is the main tool to bring all chicken lovers attention towards its delicious one-of-a-kind. Advertising KFCs advertisements can be seen throughout local media in Malaysia via billboard and banners in public transportations of LRT and bus, including major highway. Leaflets and page spreads can be seen advertised in newspaper, magazine, commercials can be seen and heard in radios and television as well as the internet. KFC aired their Variety Bucket commercials during dinner time in ASTRO Wah Loi Toi, to attract its target consumer of Chinese adult family where they spend time watching Chinese drama. For its KFC Hot Rods, its commercial can mostly be seen in 8tv and ntv7 channel where its younger targeted consumer watched youth programs. And for those consumer who browse internet searching for KFC information. KFC also provide website to visit. KFC Malaysia also stimulates repeat purchases of its products Using Reminder advertisements. The company anthem finger linkin good is a wakeup call to the consumer to remind them how good they felt the last time they ate KFC chicken The website of KFC Malaysia tends to have more multimedia graphical elements comparing with the dull yet boring US website. By using video, animation, colors and images, it will draws consumers attention towards the product and stay on longer in browsing the website and this will make a good marketing approach towards Malaysians. KFC uses the theme good things come together with KFC as their promotion campaign which focus on family ties, friendships, and togetherness and at the same time, also focusing unity of 3 races of Malaysia which works well with the 1Malaysia unity concept. KFC uses family sentimental approach in targeting their target market. This is because family value comes first for most Asians. Totally different from US, where its advertisement are focusing on low fat and healthy diet campaign, 0 Gram Transfat nutrition. Another commercial for the fish burger in Malaysia TV channels, where it shows two Malay boys eating fish burger and it attracts many cats to surrounding them both. By applying and understanding Malaysian Malay culture where first, Malays are only fond to cats and not other animals especially dogs, and at the same time, showing that cats loves fish and the smell of the burger able to tempts the cats. Sales Promotion KFC Malaysia offers its customers with various forms of incentives to buy its Chicken. Using coupons that are inserted in local newspaper print ads, customers can enjoy the benefits of discounted price or free add-ons, which the customer must cut and bring along, serves as a pull factor to attract consumer to dine in its restaurant. Publicity As KFC it grew in popularity, KFC turned to the psychological appeal wherein customers also contributed to the various community services via their purchases. Widely adopted by renowned global brands, this unique marketing approach termed cause-related involves donation of a certain percentage of the purchase price to a specific charity project focusing on corporate social responsibility. This was how KFC Care Fund [5]was introduced, this being one of the most memorable corporate social responsibility projects initiated to help underprivileged children from 68 homes throughout Malaysia. PR effectively conveyed the feel good factor to customers that a certain percentage of their KFC Kids Meal purchases were being pooled for these charitable causes. All the more giving they became in helping out a good cause. As globalization has creates a unique yet sophisticated demanding consumer market, creative measures must be implemented in order to reach its target market. KFC need to foresee and follow with the pace of consumers purchasing and eating behavior in constantly changing its marketing strategies. For example setting up small stalls or express kiosk in major busy streets of Kuala Lumpur would be a good approach to meet consumers demand. Another suggestion, KFC Malaysia only provides drive thru placement in certain busy areas, but still a lot of branches in Malaysia dont have drive thru benefits to their customers. KFC must take action about this matter so that can keep more loyal customer even in their busy time they still willing to drive thru to buy KFC rather than McDonalds. Other than that, KFC Malaysia didnt provide delivery services to consumers home or office. They really need to take this as serious way to improve their sales and branding. Product wise, KFC may applies diffusion of innovations strategies and come out with special sets for vegetarian as well as introduce more chicken flavor other than Original Recipe and Hot Spicy. This can attract difference types of market segmentation consumer and with new product introductions it will keep pace with its competitors and gain market standings.KFC can also promote healthy eating campaign that targets the healthy conscious consumers to curb the perception of fast food equivalent to bad health and obesity. These would be the changes I would like to see in the future marketing mix of KFC Malaysia. In conclusion, international marketing mix strategies played an important factor in the role of multinational corporation dealings its business via the international level as local needs of a certain country needed to be accountability for in order to drive the sales and demand for its product internationally. The combinations of 4ps marketing mix are an essential tool to breakthrough the consumer market and serves their needs and at the same time, maintaining and respecting their cultural traditional heritage. KFC has certainly reached its goal in the marketing plan, by creating standardized and adapted products that suits all market segmentation in all its international franchises and become a successful brand and position KFC as a multinational fast-food company. F. Robert Dwyer and John F. Tanner, 2006 Business Marketing. 3rd ed, international, McGraw-Hill Stuart wall and Bronwen rees. 2004 International Business. 2nd ed Essex, Pearson Education limited pg.30 http://www.qsrbrands.com/English/NonFlashSite/BusinessUnits/BizU_Poultry_Integration.asp Stuart wall and Bronwen rees. 2004 International Business. 2nd ed Essex, Pearson Education limited http://www.qsrbrands.com/English/NonFlashSite/Communities/TabungPenyayang.asp
Saturday, July 20, 2019
Greed in The Pearl and The Red Pony :: Pearl Essays
Greed in The Pearl and The Red Pony The novels "The Pearl ," and "The Red Pony ," both portray a message about life. In The Pearl , Steinbeck tells about a great pearl that is found and lost by a Mexican villager. The value of the pearl is great, and with the value comes much greed from others and troubles for the villager. This is a tale that depicts human nature and the way of humanity. The Red Pony, is a story of a young boy and his great dreams. This book tells the reader about the dreams of a farm boy, the land and about the fulfillment of life. These two novels are both similar to each other, telling of humans strength, and the greed in life. In The Pearl , the Mexican fisherman, Kino is very poor, but relatively happy. Kino is very close with his wife Juana, his baby son Coyotito and with the other fishermen. While diving for pearls one day, Kino discovers an extremely old and large oyster. Inside the oyster Kino finds the great pearl. The pearl is worth much and with it comes the promise of a better life for Kino and his family. The life of Kino and his family are changed forever by the greed of other people who begin to want the pearl for themselves. After much hardship, Kino realizes that the pearl could only bring more trouble, and casts the pearl out to sea. The Red Pony tells of a young boy, Jody, and his life on a small ranch. Several big events in Jody's life are depicted in this novel, including a red pony colt, the last wishes of an old Mexican man, dreams of the great mountains, and his grandfathers reflections of the past. In both of the novels the characters are down to earth, real humans. They also have fortitude and are not weak minded. In The Pearl , Kino is pushed and badgered by people trying to steal his pearl and finally he stops running and kill before being killed himself. In the struggle, however Kino's' baby is killed, bringing much sorrow to the family. The boy Jody faces much temptation in The Red Pony . A person could deduce, after reading theses books that greed and selfishness can dramatically change people and their behavior. Some of the villagers with better morals ". Greed in The Pearl and The Red Pony :: Pearl Essays Greed in The Pearl and The Red Pony The novels "The Pearl ," and "The Red Pony ," both portray a message about life. In The Pearl , Steinbeck tells about a great pearl that is found and lost by a Mexican villager. The value of the pearl is great, and with the value comes much greed from others and troubles for the villager. This is a tale that depicts human nature and the way of humanity. The Red Pony, is a story of a young boy and his great dreams. This book tells the reader about the dreams of a farm boy, the land and about the fulfillment of life. These two novels are both similar to each other, telling of humans strength, and the greed in life. In The Pearl , the Mexican fisherman, Kino is very poor, but relatively happy. Kino is very close with his wife Juana, his baby son Coyotito and with the other fishermen. While diving for pearls one day, Kino discovers an extremely old and large oyster. Inside the oyster Kino finds the great pearl. The pearl is worth much and with it comes the promise of a better life for Kino and his family. The life of Kino and his family are changed forever by the greed of other people who begin to want the pearl for themselves. After much hardship, Kino realizes that the pearl could only bring more trouble, and casts the pearl out to sea. The Red Pony tells of a young boy, Jody, and his life on a small ranch. Several big events in Jody's life are depicted in this novel, including a red pony colt, the last wishes of an old Mexican man, dreams of the great mountains, and his grandfathers reflections of the past. In both of the novels the characters are down to earth, real humans. They also have fortitude and are not weak minded. In The Pearl , Kino is pushed and badgered by people trying to steal his pearl and finally he stops running and kill before being killed himself. In the struggle, however Kino's' baby is killed, bringing much sorrow to the family. The boy Jody faces much temptation in The Red Pony . A person could deduce, after reading theses books that greed and selfishness can dramatically change people and their behavior. Some of the villagers with better morals ".
Friday, July 19, 2019
Revision Rich Essay -- essays research papers fc
Revision In Adrienne Rich's essay "When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-vision", the author writes about her personal experience as a woman writer in a male dominated society. Her essay consists of poems, which she had written throughout different times in her life, to demonstrate the transformation in her writing. As a woman writer in a male dominated society, Rich begins writing in the traditional style, "the man's way," but as she continues writing, Rich breaks from these traditional styles to form her own. Like Freire, Rich believes people should break from society and be able to think and question things for themselves. While Freire wants to change the educational system, Rich wants to change writing. Both Freire and Rich want to break from the traditional ways of the past. Rich believes that women need to break from the enduring attitudes of traditions which society has placed upon them. Rich is upset with the limitations placed on women in society, particularly i n marriage. It is for this reason that the themes of many of Rich's poems are advice for women to live life for themselves, listening only to what their hearts tell them. The three poems "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers," "Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law" and "Planetarium" are analyzed to demonstrate the changes in Rich's way of writing. Rich wrote "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" in 1951, while she was a student. At this time in her life she conforms to tradition in her writing, and tries not to identify herself as a female poet. Rich does not identify herself as a female poet by detaching herself from her character and allowing her character to accept the life that man has placed upon woman. Rich's writing is constrained by man because she allows her character to be oppressed by man and does not make her a conscious being of oppression. In "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers", Rich writes about a woman who does not break from the accepted roles of society. Aunt Jennifer does not have the freedom to live for herself because of society's expectations on women. The only way for Jennifer to free herself is by making up a fantasy world. The author writes about the universal issues involved in the relationship between men and women, in where woman is a slave to man. Rich writes "the massive w... ...s the writer of the essay. Rich criticizes and critiques her own poems to demonstrate the differences in her writing. She transformed language by breaking the traditional views and by writing about man's power over women. At first it prevented her from writing the way she wanted just because she was a woman. Society did not expect a women to have a job as a writer instead writing was considered as a hobby for women. Rich had been taught that society considered poetry to be "universal" meaning non-female. Because Rich had been taught that poetry was "universal" it was very hard for her to write the things that she wanted too. Rich lost herself to society, becoming a mother and a wife and not being able to write as much as she liked. After a couple of years she divorced her husband and found herself again. As a result, Rich is her own teacher. She taught herself to have the courage to rebel against society and become a conscious being. Works Cited Rich, Adrienne. "When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision". Ways of Reading. Ed. John Sullivan. Boston: Bedford, 1999. 601-615.
Princess Diana :: essays research papers
Art can be describe and shown in many ways. When I look at art, I looked to see different types of painting, sculpture, or anything that is made out of any object that is creative. Princess Diana exhibit was a different type of art that I would never considers as being art. At the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, ââ¬Å"Diana A Celebrationâ⬠displayed many collections of Princess Diana Family memorable items for the world to see. My first impression I had in my mind before visiting Diana A Celebration was to see beautiful painting or sculptures, but instead I walk into a room that portrayed as a biography of Princess Diana life. Visiting the Downtown Miami Museum kept a vision in my mind of traditional type of art. My mind has been closed minded as to what art is and what type of art is really considered art. ââ¬Å"What art really is?â⬠can be a question that is probably asked and can never be answered because of the different opinions about art. Generally, comparing to the Museum of Art in Downtown Miami and the Diana A Celebration exhibit, you can defiantly see the different type of Art and how it is presented. à à à à à Downtown Miami Museum of Art was more of a traditionally type of Art that many people will recognize first. The museum displayed many types of paintings that were drawn by famous artist. There was a beautiful arrangement out of mirrors that when you stood in front of the piece it presented many reflections of yourself. The collections of painting at the Downtown Miami museum made you step out of the box and think so you would try to figure out what the artist is trying to reveal in their paintings. Art to me should be like a brain buster trying to solve an unsolved mystery, a beautiful sketch, or a creative piece that have never been done before. However, at the Princess Diana exhibit, I learned more about her life, contributions, and death. à à à à à Princess Diana exhibit was a beautiful exhibit that displayed the time she was born, married, and sadly died. Princess Diana of Wales was born Lady Diana Frances Spencer on 1 July 1961 in Norfolk. Princes Diana was the youngest of four children and she had two sisters, Sarah and Jane, and a younger brother Charles. Princess Diana lived with her father and in 1975 the family moved to the Spencer family house in Northampton shire in English Midlands.
Thursday, July 18, 2019
What Does Democracy Signifies
If firms were not in a competitive environment, they would be able to control the market. Still, there are other factors, which stop firms from controlling the market. Namely the fact that firms do not have perfect information, issues about its objectives or firms may not even know how to maximise profits. This is due to the fact that companies use different pieces of information or interpret it differently. Firms can use different tasks in order to achieve the same aim. Companies often set themselves in mission statement; or they try to set goals by which the statement will be achieved; or a specific objective. A firm aims to maximise profits, and that is what this essay will focus on. First, it will give a brief definition of firm and define its objectives. Second, it will examine the assumption of profit maximisation. Third it will confirm whether firms really maximise their profits. Then it will follow by mentioning other alternatives to profit maximisation. Finally in the conclusion, it will include the results of this essay. It is understood by firm ââ¬Ë an organisation consisting of one or more individuals working as a decision-making unit to produce goods or servicesâ⬠(Atkinson, B. & R. Miller ââ¬Å"Business Economicsâ⬠). The firmâ⬠s objectives are to maximise profits. The amount that the company receives for the sale of its output is called its total revenue. The amount that the firm pays to buy inputs is called its total cost. We, then, define profit as a firmâ⬠s total revenue minus its total cost. Thus, if a firm gets à £10,000 from selling its output and spends à £90,000 producing this output, its profit is à £10,000. The above diagram shows how costs, revenue and profit interact with each other. Costs go up with output as well as revenue, but just till a certain point. Revenue falls due to the firmâ⬠s necessity to lower its costs in order to rise selling. In other words, in the cost curve firms will experience increasing returns, followed by decreased returns. Revenue will rise, as price falls and quantity goes up. Profits will occur between the two points were the curves intersect. The slope of the two curves are the same and they are given by the marginal value (marginal revenue and marginal cost). Hence, to maximise profit, marginal revenue must equals marginal cost. In order to achieve this, firms must have all the details on the demanded product. Profit maximisation plays an important role within a firm, as it makes innovation possible as well as the payment of higher wages and greater job offers. Moreover, profits create incentives as it is rewarding for entrepreneurs, whose time and skills contributed to the firmâ⬠s success. Increasing profits leads to a rise in output and with it consumers also get more satisfied. Thus, it can be said that it is also beneficial to society to raise profits. Profits provide a source of revenue, which reverts in favour of new factories and machinery. In addition, profits encourage innovation again society benefits from it. However, there are still motives for companies to refuse to have high levels of profit. Companies will just be able to maximise profits if owners are in control of the firms. However, in big companies such as Coca-Cola or Shell where, probably, there are many shareholders, it is more difficult to maximise profits. As, in this case managers are more likely to run the business. This leads us to do so called ââ¬Ëprincipal-agent problemâ⬠. Where ownersâ⬠objectives may be different from the managers. Hence, due to the rise of the joint-stock company there has developed a split between ownership and control. Ownership belongs now to shareholders, while managers exerce the power of controling. Still, there are motives to choose to maximise profits. Firstly, profit maximisation is still a sign of power, so in a competitive environment firms will opt to maximise profit to ensure its survival; Secondly, both the principal and agent, when confroting a situation of no option, they would prefer to maximise profits rather than lower them; Most important, due to profit maximisation it became possible for economists to study the output and the price of companies and, consequently, study the market. In analysing the managerial approach, it can be noticed that managers will then aim to take precedents over the objectives of the owner. In this case the primary goal of a firm is to maximise its revenue. This will occur because managersâ⬠remuneration is more likely to be linked to revenue than to profitability. For example, bankâ⬠s tend to regard growing sales positive as well as financial markets, who likes to see growing sales revenue. Most important, sales revenue is still seen as an indication of success. The same occurs to firms that have their main aim to maximise growth. Just like raising revenue, raising growth also leads to higher bonuses. Managers also benefit from it because their status gets better, as the firm has more prestige. Such theory, also suggests that managers try to maximise their own profit benefits. In other words, use firms to get their objectives. Still, there is other theory that states that managers in fact do not maximise anything at all, but they attend to satisfactory levels, theory developed by H. Simon. Here, managers will set a minimum level of profit, keeping shareholders satisfied. This type of approach is probably used by small firms, which are not able to take the big risks that profit maximisation can lead to. Moreover, managers try to keep all members of the firm satisfied, so profit maximisation becames a hard task to achieve. In general, conditions of uncertainty difficults the achievement of sales and profit maximisation. In practise management tries to obtain growth in output and assets from one year to the next and achieve satisfactory growth. On one hand, it is true to say that there is a separation of ownership and control, consequently, this stresses the importance of managers. On the other hand, it is difficult to describe how the different objectives of management and shareholders interact to produce the goals and objectives of the company.
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