Comparison between EDF group (lectricit de France) and E.ON S E from Assignment

Comparison between EDF group (lectricit de France) and E.ON S E from an investor's perspective point of view - Assignment Example It is assumed that the reader has basic knowledge of these tools of analysis. Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) According to Rai University: â€Å"The CAPM was developed to explain how risky securities are priced†¦CAPM aims at a more practical approach to stock valuation.† The assumptions of CAPM include: 1. Investors hold diversified portfolios 2. Single-period transaction horizon 3. Investors can borrow and lend at the risk-free rate 4. Perfect capital market (Rai University, 2013) Capm reflects that investors need to be compensated in two ways Time Value Of Money Risk (Investopedia, n.d.) The risk-free (rf) rate in the formula represents the time value of money invested at a minimum rate while the other half of the formula represents market risk applicable to the company. CAPM is in the view that the expected return of a stock is equal to the rate on a risk-free stock plus a risk premium. If the expected return does not match or meet the required return then any such investment is termed to be not feasible and is not to be carried out. The betas calculated in the attached working represent the risk of the specific company in relation to the market. When coupled with the market equity risk premium and the risk free rate, we can establish a minimum rate of return that would be required by the shareholders in relation to risk and returns in the market The calculated ROE of both companies is in the 5%-7% range showing that the companies’ shareholders require a minimum return of 5% as compared to the risk and return level they face in their investment in the company’s stock. CAPM is not an absolute model as it faces many limitations. It assumes markets are information efficient and all investors preferences are the same. These assumptions may not hold true in the actual market place and so, there are other models to calculate required return on equity, such as the gorden growth model or the earnings multiplier model. The major assumptio n in CAPM relates to perfect capital market and the assumption of all perfect information being available to investors. This introduces the concept of efficient market hypothesis. Efficient Market Hypothesis - EMH Many different theories state that it is simply impossible to beat the market. This is mainly due to the fact that market efficiency leads share prices to reflect all relevant information at any given time. The Efficient Market Hypothesis believes that all the stock traded always hold their fair value hence it is impossible for the buyer to purchase undervalued stocks or for the seller to sell at an overvalued price as stated by Malkiel, 2003. Due to this the only way that any investor may get a higher return is by getting hold of high risk stocks or a balanced portfolio (Pesaran 2010) On the other hand people against the hypothesis highlight the example of Warren Buffet beating the market consistently over fairly long periods (CBS, 2012). â€Å"Beating the market† is considered impossible under the efficient market hypothesis. Another aspect highlighted by those against the theory is events of 1987 during which the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by more than one fifth in a day. This gives proof that the prices of stock may show a deviation from their fair values. Efficient Marke

AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1865 TO 1900 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1865 TO 1900 - Essay Example Nikon and Kennedy was elected president. John F. Kennedy and his vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson took the office in 1961. There has always been a power struggle between the left and right wing of politics, the political left stood up for social policies that would help the working class, the business and industry where as the political right is all for the conservative Christian values and support a free market system. The democrats who had won the election in 1960 were the party at the center; they faced a lot of opposition from the republicans including the most significantone that the elections were rigged and Kennedy falsely won the elections. Posner in one of his article mentioned that when the Kennedy votes suddenly rose by 40,000 in Texas the republicans cried that this was election fraud, he also wrote, â€Å"while he was careful not to put a public imprimatur on the concerted Republican effort to challenge the election results, he privately not only authorized it, but act ively encouraged it† (Posner). After the assassination of Kennedy his vice president Lyndon B. Johnson took the oval office by defeating Barry Goldwater; a nominee of the Republican Party in 1964. After the New Deal Coalition collapsed in the mid-sixties, the riots and the Vietnam War and the opposition of the civil rights movement by many southern democrats the republicans found a way to gain power, this shifted the southern power that Democrats had into the laps of the republicans as many African Americans were now supporting the Democratic Party. This power shift was also due to the Johnson’s increasing interest in The Vietnam war, which leaded to conflicts inside the Democratic Party. And in the election of 1968 the Republican Party won; Richard Nixon defeated Huber H. Humphrey and became the president of United States. It was in the final years of the American Civil War, when congress started to debate for the rights of the former freed

Effects of Risperidone in Children with Autism

Effects of Risperidone in Children with Autism   Crystal Branch   ANOVA Article Critique Researchers complied detailed data regarding two groups a sample group and a controlled group of children to study the cognitive effects of risperidone in children with autism and irritable behavior.  Ã‚   The study employed specific measurements designed to determine if children with autism and irritable behavior have an increase of cognitive performance while taking up to 3.5 mg of risperidone.   Recently a few studies have assessed cognitive effects of risperidone in children with severe behavioral disturbance. Gà ¼nther et al. (2006) assessed open-label risperidone in 23 children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) and in normal controls matched for age and IQ. This was a multi-site investigation that was conducted at five medical centers. After being assessed at the screen visit, participants who met inclusion criteria for the study were then reassessed with clinical instruments at baseline and weekly for the next 8 weeks.  Ã‚   So, researchers decided to conduct a double-blind placebo controlled groups on their attention span, how well their verbal learning skills are, diminished or improved hand/eye coordination, and spatial memory was evaluated.   Each of the areas was measured before, during and after 8 weeks of participation. All changes in performance were compared by repeated measures ANOVA. Will the use of risperidone in doses 0.5 up to 3.5 mg/day researchers want to know the question what the overall effect the drug has the on cognitive performance of children ages of 5-17 years old, diagnosed with autism and that suffer from irritable behavior. The review will show what was used to assess the variables and statistical methods created to decide if the study produced any valid result. The authors want to know answers through research if there are actually any significant effects the drug actually has on cognitive processing abilities in autistic children that also suffer from irritable behavior that uses risperidone. Through research and study, the authors looked for answers to this question and set a hypothesis they created around their research study. The authors implied that the null hypothesis (Ho) is that there would be no difference between placebo and risperidone (Aman, M. G., Hollway, J. A., McDougle, C. J., Scahill, L., Tierney, E., McCracken, J. T., . . . Pose y, D. J. (2008). The alternative hypothesis (Ha) should indicate that there would be a difference between cognitive performance of the sample group vs the controlled group.  Ã‚   A total of 38 children between the ages of 5-17 years of age were a part of the sample group, these children have been diagnosed with autism and severe behavior disturbance. Any participants receiving psychotropic medicines before the study went through a washout for at least 2 weeks prior to randomization (4 weeks for antipsychotics or fluoxetine). Cognitive assessments were done at Baseline, Week 4 and Week 8. Participants were started at either 0.25 or 0.50 mg with gradual adjustments over the first four weeks. Maximum dose for smaller subjects (15-45 kg) was 2.5 mg/day, whereas the maximum dose for larger participants (45 kg.) could be as high as 3.5 mg/day (1). As protocol requires during this period as in any clinical study, the subjects did not receive any form of their usual treatment so the effects of any current treatments are eliminated or assumed to be eliminated from their system for the benefit of this study.   Instead of immediately stopping and starting any new treatment, there will be a 2-4week time period where the treatment from the first drug is washed out of the patients system. Study participants were male and female children or adolescents, ages 5 to 17 years 2 months, with mental ages 18 months who had autism and severe behavioral disturbance. To be enrolled in the study, participants received a score of 18 on the Irritability subscale of the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) (Aman and Singh 1994). In addition, participants must have been rated with a Clinical Global Impressions-Severity (CGI-S) score of 4 by an experienced clinician (CGI-S; NIMH 1985, Arnold et al. 2000), and according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) a lifetime diagnosis of autistic disorder. The diagnosis of autism was based on a clinical evaluation that included a DSM-IV interview with a parent and direct observation of the participants. The clinical diagnosis was corroborated by structured interview with one or more parents acting as informants, using the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (Lo rd et al. 1994). This study has several limitations that caution against over-embracing the statistically-significant (and one equivocal) findings. First, given the exploratory nature of this work (there is only one other study of atypical antipsychotics in children with PDDs), we adopted the .05 level for alpha. Had we corrected for multiple comparisons, none of the comparisons would have exceeded alpha. Second, only a minority of our participants were able to perform these tasks. This resulted in (a) small sample sizes and (b) the observation that the testable group had a higher IQ and was older than the untestable group. Despite these obvious limitations, the findings are noteworthy for several reasons. First, autistic disorder is often coupled with a substantial cognitive disability.   Secondly, the significant diversification, indicated by partial eta squared, indicates substantial gains in adaptive skills if upheld by future studies. Next, it is noteworthy to point out that data assembled from various sites under double-blind conditions, which may help to dismiss any individual examiner effects. Finally, the mechanism of any improvement is unknown.

Modern Computer :: essays research papers

Modern Computer Is the Computer important in the world? I am sure it is significant for the youths. Nowadays, most of the youths has owned their computer in the house. The reason for the computer is very powerful tool. It brings a lot of the functions to do any certain the things. It makes the people to enjoy its functions own. Computer is useful for finding the information. As long as the Internet is installed in the computer, the people can be able to what they want to find. Of course, they have to waste the time for doing. Acquiring the information, they feel that it is valuable. Renctly years, the number of people is increased by using computer. They can seek the information directly in Internet. That is a very convenient for the people. When the students do the projects, they will find the information in Internet, except library. Finding the things, they compose of the information and construct it in the computer its function such as Microsoft Work, Excel, etc. They have ability to achieve the people’s aim they want. In fact, the computer has plenty of useful functions. The people may not acquaint to all of the functions, only knowing a part of them. They need the time to know every thing in the computer for a long time. The level of the computer is upgraded on each year. Automatically, the functions and others will be increased such as the speed will faster than previous speed. We could say that the computer be able to instead in the position of the people mostly. Of course, the human is clever than the computer. Sometimes, the students will play the games, as they are boring. It makes the students to get the relaxing. On account of their studies bring the some pressure, this may cause them to get vexation, so they need to release their pressure, to get the balance of their mood. Modern Computer :: essays research papers Modern Computer Is the Computer important in the world? I am sure it is significant for the youths. Nowadays, most of the youths has owned their computer in the house. The reason for the computer is very powerful tool. It brings a lot of the functions to do any certain the things. It makes the people to enjoy its functions own. Computer is useful for finding the information. As long as the Internet is installed in the computer, the people can be able to what they want to find. Of course, they have to waste the time for doing. Acquiring the information, they feel that it is valuable. Renctly years, the number of people is increased by using computer. They can seek the information directly in Internet. That is a very convenient for the people. When the students do the projects, they will find the information in Internet, except library. Finding the things, they compose of the information and construct it in the computer its function such as Microsoft Work, Excel, etc. They have ability to achieve the people’s aim they want. In fact, the computer has plenty of useful functions. The people may not acquaint to all of the functions, only knowing a part of them. They need the time to know every thing in the computer for a long time. The level of the computer is upgraded on each year. Automatically, the functions and others will be increased such as the speed will faster than previous speed. We could say that the computer be able to instead in the position of the people mostly. Of course, the human is clever than the computer. Sometimes, the students will play the games, as they are boring. It makes the students to get the relaxing. On account of their studies bring the some pressure, this may cause them to get vexation, so they need to release their pressure, to get the balance of their mood.

7 Principle of Supply Chain Management Essay

1. Introduction Before we are to analysis this article, first let us clarify something before we start .In this article, it states the 7 principles of supply chain management and its importance in practical ,many of us must have a question, what is a supply chain management and why is it important for a company today ? See more: Satirical elements in the adventure of Huckleberry Finn essay Supply chain management (SCM) is the process that is used by a company to ensure that its supply chain is efficient and cost effective. They are aiming at provide the highest degree of customer satisfaction at the lowest possible cost through management of material and information flow in the supply chain .It requires the commitment of supply chain partners to work closely to coordinate order generation, order taking, and order fulfillment. Supply chain management consists of three flows: product flow, information flow and finance flow. Product flow is the physical movement of raw materials, work-in-process and finished product from supplier to manufacturer to the wholesaler and on to the consumer. Information flow is the shared information within the supply chain garnered from the various systems such as the transport planning systems, warehouse management systems, customer record management, order fulfillment systems and more. The third flow is the flow of money. This would be billing, the giving of credit, the transfer of money from manufacturer to supplier or from the consumer to the manufacturer or reversed. Any documentation with regards to money will be managed as part of this flow. Benefits of integrated supply chain management: There are countless benefits that supply chain management can bring to companies. Not only does it make for shorter lead-times to a customer and improved planning and forecasting capabilities for all partners of the supply chain, it also leads to cost savings and efficiency optimization. Time advantage is created when one of the business processes is faster than the other in achieving the same result. It is created through eliminate those processes that don’t add value but only add lead time. It becomes a competitive advantage when the firm develops processes that will enable it to quickly introduce new products in the market and portray the company as a pioneer. Cost advantage is created when the superior business process is cheaper to operate than the inferior other. It arises from better manufacturing process, cheaper inputs, or higher levels of automation that increase efficiency. Efficiency advantage is created when the superior business processes provide higher throughput, better asset utilization which include people, machine, technology and those can provide useful function in the business process .It normally results in more favourable cost structure and supports a cost-based business strategy. 2. Analyzing 7 principles Principle 1: Segment customers based on the service needs of distinct groups and adapt the supply chain to serve these segments profitably. Customer Segmentation is the subdivision of a market into discrete customer groups that share similar characteristics. Companies try to boost profitability by tailoring their supply chain strategy to each customer and product in their portfolio through segmentation. It help companies to gain competition by identify those underserved segments and then developing unique appealing products and services. By understanding the profit profiles of their customers and products, companies can develop marketing campaigns and pricing strategies to get maximum value and thus increase the overall profitability of their portfolios. However in today’s real market, there still existing â€Å"one size fits all† supply chain processes and policies, some companies use this method to serve their customers .The result is obvious, some customers are over serving and undeserving others, the more deeper influences are result a significant profitability from the over serving customers and cash-flow leakages and potentially lost sales from the undeserving customers. Segmentation can help address some problems in the supply chain processes .First is demand variability, properly structured segmentation policies for customers and products can significantly reduce the impact of demand variability. So what is variability? Variability is basically the difference between what we expect from something and what actually happens. It is the statistical distribution of outcomes one can expect from a process. Another is to simultaneously provide high levels of responsiveness and efficiency. In order to maximize sales and profits, companies may choose to use different methods to serve customers .Some products within a portfolio could be served through an efficient supply chain while others are served through a responsive supply chain. For example, a chip company manufacturing two different types of chips which are normal one and high-tech chips .company may deliver their normal chips through efficiency supply chain and deliver their high-tech chips through highly responsive supply chain. This is what we can understand as segment products through its features .One segment is for normal products which are predictable and another for high-tech products which is unpredictable .Company can through monitor the different segments to set different forecasting and stocking policies. In the 1990s Dell revolutionized both the computer industry and supply chain management with its direct-to-consumer business model. For the past several years, however, the company has been transforming its supply chain into a multichannel, segmented model, with different policies for serving consumers, corporate customers, distributors, and retailers. Through this transformation, Dell has saved US $1.5 billion in operational costs1 and has moved to the number two spot on Gartner’s â€Å"Top 25 Supply Chains† list. Dell is one of a number of enterprises that are benefiting from supply chain segmentation, a process by which companies can create profitable one-to-one relationships between their customers and their supply chains. Under this model, different customers associated with different channels and different products are served through different supply chain processes, policies, and operational modes. The goal is to find the best supply chain processes and policies to serve each customer and each product at a given point in time while also maximizing both customer service and company profitability. Principle 2: Customize the logistics network to the service requirements and profitability of customer segments. Logistics networks configuration is such kind of problems concerning with the number and site of warehouses and manufacturing plants, allocation of customer demand, distribution of warehouses to production plants along the whole process of material flow .Ideally, the best configuration must be able to deliver the goods to the customers within the shortest period of time meanwhile at the lowest cost. The objective of design or reconfiguration of the logistics network is to minimize annual system wide cost subject to a variety of service level requirements. In today’s environment of global economy, companies must be figured out some special ways that can utilize worldwide resources to keep the advantages of competition .They need to concern variety of problems such as where the most appropriate manufacturing facility should be that available for source products ,how to keep the balance between inventory ,transportation and manufacturing costs ,how to meet the demand uncertainty ,especially for those multinational companies because they have large scale of production and the cost definitely will be complicated than those small companies .All the successful companies have a well developed and realizable logistics system .High efficient logistics system will benefit companies from cost controlling ,high level customer service satisfaction and reach a business successfully . Now let’s take a look at Audi, one of the most successful car manufacturer in the world and how does the logistics network help them stand in the world. Audi outsource its logistics function to third-party logistics firms, so their manufacturing companies can focus their efforts on their core competencies and 3PL only needs to be efficient and effective to meet customers’ demands. In Audi Company, there are three new models for logistics network design with special focus on the perspective of 3PL companies. The objective of these new models is to increase the effectiveness of the resulting network design and the utilization of facilities in the network. 3 models of logistics network: †¢ Logistics network design with differentiated delivery lead time, †¢ Logistics network design with price discount, and †¢ Consolidated logistics network design using consolidation hubs. This shows that designing network with differentiated delivery lead time can reduce the network cost, while the other shows price discount can result in a network design with higher net profits, adding consolidation hubs at suitable locations near to the suppliers, it can leverage on concave Audi’s cost to reduce the overall network cost. This reflect that how does a good logistics network can help a company to be more productive. Principle 3: Listen to market signals and align demand planning accordingly across the supply chain, ensuring consistent forecasts and optimal resource allocation. This principle teaches us the importance of a good sales and operations planning to a company. Sales and operations planning is a process where executive level management regularly meets and reviews projections for demand, supply and the resulting financial impact. S&OP is a decision making process that makes certain that tactical plans in every business area are in line with the overall view of the company’s business plan. Each year, companies always have to spend a large amount of money on out of stock, excess inventory and excessive discounting due to imbalance between supply and demand .In addition ,promotions, new product introductions, packaging changes and changing demand patterns can all wreak havoc on the demand and supply planning process. But if companies implement sales and operations planning, it will help them gain the visibility and agility to improve product management and promotional planning, better understanding those necessary and unnecessary build-ups of inventory. S&OP is effective because it comprehensive and take everything into consideration .It develops a well coordinated operating plan in support of customer demand, business plan as well as companies strategy .It describe a complete picture of forecast demand ,supply capacity and financial information . Principle 4: Differentiate product closer to the customer and speed conversion across the supply chain. This principle focus on two factors, one is product differentiation and the other is speed conversion across the supply chain .Product differentiation is the process of distinguishing a product or offering from others, to make it more attractive to a particular target market. In economics, successful product differentiation leads to monopolistic competition and is inconsistent with the conditions for perfect competition, which include the requirement that the products of competing firms should be perfect substitutes. The purpose of product differentiation is to develop a position that customer see could be seen as unique ,as the product become more different, categorization becomes more difficult and hence draws fewer comparisons with its competition. If a company does very in product differentiation, it will divert people’s eyes from price factors to non-price factors such as product characteristics, promotional variables. After companies have differentiated their product ,they should think about some ways that can deliver it into customers hands which require them to speed conversion and compress the lead time .It has been consistently argued that time is the competitive weapon in the market .Lead time compression will have a greater effect on supply chain effectiveness .In the increasingly global marketplace most companies are competing with similar machines ,technologies and expertise ,the one who can launch product faster or speedup marketplace responsiveness will win market opportunities .This is the point they should catch up . Principle 5: Manage sources of supply strategically to reduce the total cost of owning materials and services. The relationship between buyer and supplier have been attracting a lot of people’s attention, a company maintain a good long tern buyer-supplier relationships will benefits both parties .No only company can keep its competitiveness in the marketplace meanwhile secure the access to external resources ,but also supplier can reach to a high profit for the sake of long term relationship .In other words which means the more close their relationship are ,the more benefits both parties will receive such as lowered costs and improve profits .Referring to this principle ,a company only with a good resource management system, knowing when to order, when to replenishment ,analyze the whole inventory system ,minimize the delivery time from supplier ,with all those factors implemented can make the company save money even make a profit . Principle 6: Develop a supply chain-wide technology strategy that supports multiple levels of decision making and gives a clear view of the flow of products, services, and information. The purpose of supply chain exists is to satisfy what the customers’ require .So in this case in order to meet customer requirement on time ,the information must be made available to those who need to plan and execute the operations of the supply chain. Thus a information technology should be implemented in the supply chain to ensure that information available when needed .We need communications technology to distribute information, storage technology to maintain databases, and processing technology to process the data into meaningful information. Under the technology strategies implement, efficiency and effectiveness of supply chain could be greatly enhanced based on the use of information technologies. New technological solutions have provided companies with completely new ways for information sharing in support of coordination and on the other hand, for handling of transactions with less friction Technology also plays an important role in the success of supply chain management, the biggest benefits technology has given to supply chain is the ability for companies to collaborate. For example, a supplier may build a connection with their distributors through internet, so when there is a shortage appears distributors can realize it and an order for the shortage could be placed automatically. This kind of collaboration can better use of existing resources and achieve a large profit margin. Principle 7: Adopt channel-spanning performance measures to gauge collective success in reaching the end-user effectively and efficiently. In order to make the supply chain becomes more effectively ,we need to measure the supply chain performance not only focusing on cost measurement but also need to consider other metrics including service ,financial and innovation .This principle refers to the inadequate of traditional accounting systems, it points out some factors that traditional accounting system do not take into consideration .Traditional cost accounting allocates the costs to the list of overhead and supporting those activities that company needs to do .There are different volumes of activities so that higher volume activities absorb a higher share of costs .However ,not all the activities costs vary directly with volume ,there are other factors may cause them such as the number of new customers, production line set ups and different parts to manage .If a company wants to achieve true profitability, they need to better manage those cost relationships correctly . 3. Conclusion Supply chain management typically begins with the acquisition of raw resources and ends with the delivery of the final goods to customers.It encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third party service providers, and customers. In essence, supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies. The 7 principles described in this article is just give us guide line in which if we want to make a successful supply chain .Keep learning from others and finding the shortcomings if we want the supply chain to be more effectively and efficiently, Improving a process as complex as the supply chain can be daunting, as companies are challenged with finding ways to meet ever-rising customer expectations at a manageable cost. To do so, businesses must identify which parts of their supply chain process are not competitive, understand which customer needs are not being met, establish improvement goals, and rapidly implement necessary improvements.

High School Educational System in Contrast

Name: Lily High School Educational System in Contrast between Canada and China With the development of a progressive and civilized society, education becomes a greater priority. In separate countries, there are distinct differences in the systems and methods by which education is practiced. The Canadian secondary school educational system is different from the Chinese education system in four main areas: the subjects offered for study, requirements for graduation, the authority of the teachers and the physical aspects of the institutions.The first obvious difference in the education system between Canada and China is in the subjects that are offered for study. In China, there are two systems for students to choose in high school: a departmental system consisting of liberal arts and science. The students who choose liberal arts will study Mandarin, English, History, Mathematics, Politics, and Geography. For those who choose science, the preferred courses will be Chinese, English, Math ematics, Biology, Physics and Chemistry. According to BC Ministry of Education (2008), in Canada, there are two ways for students to choose: required and elective courses. For instance, required courses are planning, language arts, mathematics, fine arts and applied skills, social studies, science and physical education and are offered as the students only choices. Furthermore, elective courses have more flexible options. Surely, choosing any courses that interest students is important, as long as their electives are over twenty eight credits.The second difference between China and Canada is in the requirements for graduation. In China, students have to take college entrance examinations, which are the most important academic exams in China. In addition, students will receive placings that are arranged from the higher to the lower grades. The marks they get will influence whether they are able to graduate, to repeat the courses or to leave school and enter the workforce as only part ially skilled. Conversely, in Canada, the requirements for graduation are easier than they are for students in China.Students in Canada are required to obtain just forty eight credits from the required courses, twenty eight credits from the elective courses, as well as four credits from graduation transitions (BC Ministry of Education, 2008)2. Other noticeable differences between Canada and China involve issues of the authority possessed by teachers. In China, teachers are like parents, in contrast, teachers are more like friends or mentors in Canada. Chinese teachers always emphasize the importance of rote learning and the value of marks.However, Canadian teachers give students more freedom and offer the opportunity to develop their interests. Furthermore, Chinese teachers are much stricter than Canadian teachers. Sometimes, a teacher in China can punish a student by assaulting them, which is due to the fact that teachers in China are held as being above question, while by law. Can adian teachers are not allowed to physically attack their students in any way. (Farran, S. , 2009)3 The final distinct area of difference between Canada and China is the physical aspects of the learning environments.For instance, the sizes of the classes in China usually are composed of approximately sixty people, but classes in Canada normally are a maximum of about thirty people. Statutory holidays are different, too. Chinese students are free from January to February for one month to celebrate Spring Festival and in July and August for two months because of the extremely hot weather. Canadian students are free during a part of December to celebrate Christmas during Winter Break, and this holiday is usually about three weeks without school.In China, students have to go to school in the evening to study; however, Canadian students have the choice of taking extra classes or tuition, but this is optional. In conclusion, the subjects offered for study, the requirements for graduation, the authority of the teachers and the physical aspects of the institutions are the main contrasts between the Canadian and the Chinese secondary school educational systems. Education is an essential component of a successful and potentially prosperous life, and a definitive part of the core competency of a nation.Therefore, how to form a more innovative yet completely effective system of education requires constant exploration, development and implementation of methods that maintain high standards and improve to the highest quality for the students of the world’s future. Reference: 1 BC Ministry of Education (2008). At a Glance Requirements – What You Need to Graduate. Retrieved 2012, from BC Ministry of Education 2 BC Ministry of Education (2008). At a Glance Requirements – What You Need to Graduate. Retrieved 2012, from BC Ministry of Education 3Farran, S. (2009). CAN HIGH SCHOOL GRADES BE TRUSTED?. MacLean’s, 122(44), 92-96

The Chair, The Needle, The Gas Chamber essays

The Chair, The Needle, The Gas Chamber essays The Chair, The Needle, The Gas Chamber. The death penalty or capital punishment, is a controversial issue that a lot of people have debated. It has been part of the criminal justice system since the earliest of times. During the 1700 B.C., the Babylonians decreed death for crimes, even minor ones. The early Egyptians were also accustomed to the enforcement of the death penalty. Egyptians were sentenced to death for a crime, such as disclosing the location of sacred burial grounds. In todays world, capital punishment is still a part of the criminal justice system. Every time someone is sentenced to death a question of whether capital punishment is right arises. Should it be included in our justice systems? In dealing with the issue of whether capital punishment is right or not, we should consider all of the arguments involved. We must consider the economic argument, the deterrence argument, the retributive argument, and the utilitarian argument for capital punishment. After understanding these arguments, we will see that, although a majority of people thinks putting criminals to death is wrong and must be banned, the practice of capital punishment is nonetheless a justifiable option. Capital punishment is the oldest and most commonly used punishment since the earliest times. It is a punishment that is still used in our modern justice systems. Capital punishment is retained in 92 countries and territories in 1990, including the United States (37states), China, and Islamic Countries.1 In the Collins College Dictionary, Capital punishment is defined as the punishment of death for committing a serious crime. In Roman law the term had a wider significance and meant, besides the summum supplicium (death), those punishment that affected the caput (status) of the citizens, namely banishment (aquae et igni interdictio) under the republic or deportatio (deportation) un...

Mimesis Definition and Use

Mimesis Definition and Use Mimesis is a  rhetorical term for the imitation, reenactment, or re-creation of someone elses words, ​the manner of speaking, and/or delivery.   As Matthew Potolsky notes in his book Mimesis (Routledge, 2006), the definition of mimesis is remarkably flexible and changes greatly over time and across cultural contexts (50). Here are some examples below.   Peachams Definition of Mimesis Mimesis is an imitation of speech whereby the Orator counterfeits not only what one said, but also his utterance, pronunciation, and gesture, imitating everything as it was, which is always well performed, and naturally represented in an apt and skillful actor.This form of imitation is commonly abused by flattering jesters and common parasites, who for the pleasure of those whom they flatter, do both deprave and deride other mens sayings and doings. Also this figure may be much blemished, either by excess or defect, which maketh the imitation unlike unto that it ought to be. (Henry Peacham, The Garden of Eloquence, 1593) Platos View of Mimesis In Platos Republic (392d), . . . Socrates criticizes the mimetic forms as tending to corrupt performers whose roles may involve expression of passions or wicked deeds, and he bars such poetry from his ideal state. In Book 10 (595a-608b), he returns to the subject and extends his criticism beyond dramatic imitation to include all poetry and all visual art, on the ground that the arts are only poor, third-hand imitations of true reality existing in the realm of ideas. . . .Aristotle did not accept Platos theory of the visible world as an imitation of the realm of abstract ideas or forms, and his use of mimesis is closer to the original dramatic meaning. (George A. Kennedy, Imitation. Encyclopedia of Rhetoric, ed. by Thomas O. Sloane. Oxford University Press, 2001) Aristotles View of Mimesis Two basic but indispensable requirements for a better appreciation of Aristotles perspective on mimesis . . . deserve immediate foregrounding. The first is to grasp the inadequacy of the still prevalent translation of mimesis as imitation, a translation inherited from a period of neoclassicism is which its force had different connotations from those now available. . . . [T]he semantic field of imitation in modern English (and of its equivalents in other languages) has become too narrow and predominately pejorativetypically implying a limited aim of copying, superficial replication, or counterfeitingto do justice to the sophisticated thinking of Aristotle . . .. The second requirement is to recognize that we are not dealing here with a wholly unified concept, still less with a term that possesses a single, literal meaning, but rather with a rich locus of aesthetic issues relating to the status, significance, and effects of several types of artistic representation. (Stephen Halliwell, The Aesthetics of Mimesis: Ancient Texts and Modern Problems. Princeton University Press, 2002) Mimesis and Creativity [R]hetoric in the service of mimesis, rhetoric as imaging power, is far from being imitative in the sense of reflecting a preexistent reality. Mimesis becomes poesis, imitation becomes making, by giving form and pressure to a presumed reality . . ..(Geoffrey H. Hartman, Understanding Criticism, in A Critics Journey: Literary Reflections, 1958-1998. Yale University Press, 1999)[T]he tradition of imitatio anticipates what literary theorists have called intertextuality, the notion that all cultural products are a tissue of narratives and images borrowed from a familiar storehouse. Art absorbs and manipulates these narratives and images rather than creating anything wholly new. From ancient Greece to the beginnings of Romanticism, familiar stories and images circulated throughout Western culture, often anonymously. (Matthew Potolsky, Mimesis. Routledge, 2006)

7 Different types of office chairs used in the every office

7 Different types of office chairs used in  the every  office Office chairs are categorized on the basis of the height of the backrest, the presence of adjustable features, and the presence or absence of wheels. Now a days, there are a lots of the chairs are available in the market. Let’s see the various types of office chairs in the office. They are given below it. Task chairs Task chairs are easily the most common chairs in all offices. These chairs are very basic in design, and have casters or wheels at the base. Another characteristic feature of task chairs is the swivel, which allows the chair to rotate in all directions. These types of chairs are highly used by the number of peoples, task chairs are a good option, because you can easily adjust the height of the task chair to match the comfort level of people. Executive chairs Executive chairs are similar to task chairs for the fact that they can swivel, and have wheels and casters attached to the base. They have a higher backrest that’s why much more comfortable to sit on, as compared to task chairs and others, partly because of the extra padding on the seat. Another very useful feature of the executive chair is the presence of padding on the armrest. Also, these chairs allow you to adjust the angle of the backrest according to your comfort. Guest chairs Guest chairs, as the name suggests, are meant for guests and visitors who come to the office for a brief period. These chairs are either placed at the reception. Guest chairs offer no flexibility and do not come with adjustable features other word it is simple and sober, as they are not meant for sitting on for long hours. Also, these chairs are not mobile, as they do not have wheels attached to the base. This types of the chair is also known as reception chairs, they are made of wood or hard plastic, and are available in a host of colors and funky designs. Mesh chairs Mesh chairs are probably what you should go for. Mesh is a perforated fabric that looks similar to a net. These chairs have the seat and the backrest made from mesh fabric, which allows effective air circulation, thus, keeping you cool for long hours. Not only this, these chairs also have cushioned seats that are designed for comfort. Mesh chairs are most useful and popular too, because of its fabric. Ergonomic chairs An ergonomic chair is one that is designed to provide maximum support to the back. These chairs are recommended for people who suffer from back pain, or have been diagnosed with problems of the spine. However, anyone who wants to feel comfortable while sitting for long hours should go for an ergonomic chair. Conference chairs The conference chairs is also known as boardroom chairs, conference chairs come in many designs, and are meant for use in conference rooms during meetings. Even though conference chairs are not meant to be sat on for long hours, they have to be comfortable as meetings can sometimes stretch for quite a while. Stacking chairs Stacking chairs are called so because they are designed in such a way that they can be easily stacked on top of one another, which makes it easier to store these chairs in a relatively smaller space. These chairs are usually made of hard plastic, and mounted on a steel frame.

Explain the Rise and Fall of Keynesianism Essay

Explain the Rise and Fall of Keynesianism - Essay Example According to the essay "Rise and fall of Keynesianism" findings, Keynesianism suggests that often private sector decisions cause inverse macroeconomic outcomes and hence it is suggestible for the public sector to deliver active policy responses which mainly include central bank’s monetary policy actions and government’s fiscal policy actions. Keynes argues that these activities would assist the economic sector to stabilize output over the business cycle. Although Keynesian theory can be stated thus in simple terms, it comprises larger ideas. To illustrate, Keynesianism has a close similarity with the concept of ‘General Glut’ proposed by classical economists. However, it is identified that classical economists had the disagreement regarding the conditions of the general glut as some of them believed in Say’s law â€Å"supply creates its own demand† (Best, n.d.). In contrast, Keynes argues that insufficiency in aggregate demand for goods can be featured as the direct cause of general glut which would lead to economic decline and subsequent unemployment difficulties. In this situation, Keynesianism recommends (as cited in Blinder) that thoughtful governmental policies can easily overcome such crises if these policies are effectively employed to increase the aggregate demand. This, in turn, would mitigate the adverse impacts of unemployment and deflation. Similarly, Keynesian economics brings some theoretical basis for a crucial distinction between involuntary unemployment and voluntary unemployment. ... This in turn would mitigate the adverse impacts of unemployment and deflation. Similarly, Keynesian economics brings some theoretical basis for a crucial distinction between involuntary unemployment and voluntary unemployment. From the Keynesian point of view (as cited in Knoop, 2010, p.40), the individuals who seek jobs at the existing wage rates can be grouped into involuntary unemployed. Corry (n.d.) reflects that Keynes’ innovative concepts produced some revolutionary changes in the economic sector since the traditional economists believed that unemployment was resulted from certain labour market rigidities such as ‘excessive wage claim, trade union activities, and unemployment pay’ (ibid). According to Keynesianism, the increasing unemployment rate can be directly attributed to the failure in total spending caused by the inefficient business decisions of private firms. Therefore, it is obvious that government has to play a crucial role in formulating efficien t growth policies which would facilitate sustainable economic growth of the country. In short, Keynesian economics constitutes a demand based economy (Reference for Business). Limitations The Keynesian economics gave greater emphasis on employees’ wage rates without considering the profitability of the firm. Although, it had aided the nation to ensure employee welfare, the constancy of this system was always subject to change. For instance, sometimes, international competition adversely affected the capital requirements and public expenditure of the nation. In such difficult situations, the government failed to meet adequate funds for wage distribution. As

Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 67

Discussion - Essay Example porter, a country through its government may require pre-shipment inspections on/ for inspection certificate to confirm that the price being charged by the exporter is commensurate with the true valley of the goods or services [to be shipped]. This therefore parries away the danger of substandard goods infiltrating a country. The same also assuages attempts to escape the payment of custom duties. This is always the case if the shipment being made is of high value, as was previously mentioned. In some cases, an inspection certificate may be required in some countries, for a specific type of goods. For instance, on the one hand, in Kuwait, an inspection certificate is required whenever there is an importation of a regulated product whose value exceeds 3,000 dollars. On the other hand, Mexico requires an inspection certificate for goods such as textiles, shoes, bicycles and shoes, if only these products fail to qualify for NAFTA. Conversely, shipments to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia must contain an inspection certificate for a small number of

Business studies - asian pacific studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business studies - asian pacific studies - Essay Example The chaebol were guaranteed loans to divert the investment form agricultural setups to industrialisation (Song, 1990). With the availability of resources and support of the government, the chaebol played a tactical role in exposing the export market for the Korean economy and placed the country among the East Asian Tigers. Most of the success of the chaebol has come from the realisation of the Korean government after in the 1960s and later that they needed the ideas and cooperation of the chaebol to implement much of the government’s plans to turn the economy away from consumer driven goods and small industries (Stiglitz, 2001). Furthermore, in return to the chaebols’ cooperation, the government would extend special favours and allow monopolistic and oligopolistic presence of these business groups to grow. In addition, these business groups were also facilitated with foreign and domestic investments as loans as the Korean government guaranteeing their return if the business group failed to. In the shade of this government support, the chaebol not only helped themselves with huge foreign investments but also benefited from access to foreign technology. Since the chaebol were the only leaders to develop the industrial sector their success came with the expansion of the South Korean exports. The chaebol were solely dominating all industrial sectors with the support of the government and in the 1980s the chaebol were financially independent and did not need any further government assistance. The chaebol were heavily invested in meeting the demand of the export market and had tailored their products in accordingly. They had completely overseen the local market and the opportunities available within the borders of Korea (Stiglitz, 2001). Moreover, by the 1990s, the chaebol had developed oligopolistic competition among themselves and had reached overcapacity which the local market could not have supported in case of a decline in the

Discovery in the Amazon Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discovery in the Amazon - Case Study Example It can also be speculated that the pipeline will give rise to cases of dispossession. The orthodox frame might argue that the pipeline will finally help in the integration of the tribes into the market economy and thus introduce them to the benefits o the development, but a more critical perspective would go further and question, â€Å"what/who has kept them out?† – thus referencing a historical divergence point that has created a global system wherein the wealth of one class limits the development possibilities of the other. In diametric opposition to the claim that it was the birth of capitalism (and the ability to produce capital) that was the turning point in the West and what freed people from poverty, there are arguments that the beginnings of formal property rights was what led to the extinction of customary and collective rights and the deprivation of access to land and other resources of the marginalized. And while the Capitalist-driven frame traces the roots of poverty to the existence of barriers to the market exchange of land and resources, the counter-frame questions the logic of this commodification and exposes the flaws of an unfettered market exchange. This would result in a slew of other human rights violations such as food sovereignty and land sovereignty. Moreover, there is a clear violation of the autonomy and self-determination of the indigenous tribes that occupy the areas in Ecuador to be affected by the pipeline. Western thought has cultivated the notion that there is but one trajectory towards progress and development, and this can be quantified in material terms. Development, according to Western thought, means roads and infrastructure, access to markets and trading, a quality life that approaches, if not approximates Western life as it is known. But this kind of thinking is in itself an imposition of a Western imaginary that obscures equally legitimate ways of living and

Ethical issues in virtual education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Ethical issues in virtual education - Essay Example   The foundation of coaching once confined to local academies and education centers in past has extensively been extended to national and international colleges, universities and distant educational institutions. Not only this that schools, colleges and universities have been established like mushrooms in modern times, but also several new disciplines have also been introduced in these institutions with the passage of time, which encourage the students in respect of conducting researches to approve or reject the latest developed theories related to pure and social sciences and management and marketing etc too as well. Hence, the 20th century brought tremendous revolution in all fields of life including science, technology, industrialisation and advancement, which significantly left indelible imprints on teaching profession. Large-scale modifications in educational training centres not only upraised the level of education, and eradicated ignorance and illiteracy altogether, but also offered the people belonging to different cultures and communities the chances of seeking education at higher level even while staying at homes or in their own community and get professional education without any restriction of age, sex and region. The concept of virtual education is thus a wonderful achievement in this regards. University education is the continuity of the same pattern that was introduced by Plato in the ancient Greece, but providing of education through distance in various regions of the globe is the product of modern society.   

Business studies - asian pacific studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business studies - asian pacific studies - Essay Example The chaebol were guaranteed loans to divert the investment form agricultural setups to industrialisation (Song, 1990). With the availability of resources and support of the government, the chaebol played a tactical role in exposing the export market for the Korean economy and placed the country among the East Asian Tigers. Most of the success of the chaebol has come from the realisation of the Korean government after in the 1960s and later that they needed the ideas and cooperation of the chaebol to implement much of the government’s plans to turn the economy away from consumer driven goods and small industries (Stiglitz, 2001). Furthermore, in return to the chaebols’ cooperation, the government would extend special favours and allow monopolistic and oligopolistic presence of these business groups to grow. In addition, these business groups were also facilitated with foreign and domestic investments as loans as the Korean government guaranteeing their return if the business group failed to. In the shade of this government support, the chaebol not only helped themselves with huge foreign investments but also benefited from access to foreign technology. Since the chaebol were the only leaders to develop the industrial sector their success came with the expansion of the South Korean exports. The chaebol were solely dominating all industrial sectors with the support of the government and in the 1980s the chaebol were financially independent and did not need any further government assistance. The chaebol were heavily invested in meeting the demand of the export market and had tailored their products in accordingly. They had completely overseen the local market and the opportunities available within the borders of Korea (Stiglitz, 2001). Moreover, by the 1990s, the chaebol had developed oligopolistic competition among themselves and had reached overcapacity which the local market could not have supported in case of a decline in the

Ethical issues in virtual education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Ethical issues in virtual education - Essay Example   The foundation of coaching once confined to local academies and education centers in past has extensively been extended to national and international colleges, universities and distant educational institutions. Not only this that schools, colleges and universities have been established like mushrooms in modern times, but also several new disciplines have also been introduced in these institutions with the passage of time, which encourage the students in respect of conducting researches to approve or reject the latest developed theories related to pure and social sciences and management and marketing etc too as well. Hence, the 20th century brought tremendous revolution in all fields of life including science, technology, industrialisation and advancement, which significantly left indelible imprints on teaching profession. Large-scale modifications in educational training centres not only upraised the level of education, and eradicated ignorance and illiteracy altogether, but also offered the people belonging to different cultures and communities the chances of seeking education at higher level even while staying at homes or in their own community and get professional education without any restriction of age, sex and region. The concept of virtual education is thus a wonderful achievement in this regards. University education is the continuity of the same pattern that was introduced by Plato in the ancient Greece, but providing of education through distance in various regions of the globe is the product of modern society.   

Leonardo the Renaissance Man Essay Example for Free

Leonardo the Renaissance Man Essay During the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci became a legend. He is noted as one of the greatest artists of his time as well as one of the greatest artists that ever lived. Throughout his life he accomplished many things and did them with astounding ability. Today people refer to someone who appears to have excelled in countless things as a â€Å"Renaissance Man†. Leonardo da Vinci is one of the best examples of this classification. Through always searching for more knowledge, he became well versed in many areas. Leonardo excelled in painting, scientific studies, mathematics, and countless other fields. Leonardo da Vinci is the best example of a true Renaissance Man. Although Leonardo was accomplished in many areas, his true talent was in his artwork. â€Å"Leonardo da Vinci excelled as a painter and was a pioneer of many painting techniques† (Leonardo Da Vinci: High Renaissance Artist, â€Å"Leonardo Da Vinci†). His skill in art came naturally. At a young age, it was discovered that Leonardo was talented at it. He loved to draw and was eventually admitted into an apprenticeship with one of the best known artists at the time, Andrea del Verrochio. Here he learned many techniques for painting which included oil painting, sfumato, tempera, and chiaroscuro. He used these techniques to paint many of his famous works. Some of which include the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, Madonna of the Rocks, and countless more. Leonardo was a member of the Compagnia di San Luca, a guild for talented artists. He was always sought after by commissioners and was paid highly for his work in the guild. Some say the reason why Leonardo was so highly adored was because he had a way of making the painting seam real and because he sought perfection in everything he did. Before starting a painting, Leonardo would sketch and do studies in his notebook in order to practice that perfection. If he started the final and it wasn’t good enough, he would abandon his work. Leonardo painted throughout his lifetime and had a very successful art career, painting over 25 successful pieces. Today he’s thought of as one of the best artists in history. â€Å"Leonardo was obsessed with unlocking the secrets of science†¦He believed by studying it carefully, it could be accurately reproduced† (Arwen, Leonardo da Vinci- the Genius). Throughout his life, Leonardo was fascinated by nature and all of its sciences. As a child he would sit outside and reproduce images of birds and flowers in his notebooks. This admiration for science continued into his adulthood when he started constructing drawings of the human body. Leonardo was so intrigued by this concept that he dissected human bodies in an attempt to learn all he could about them. All together, Leonardo performed nearly 30 dissections. While performing these studies, he drew his findings. He completed detailed sketches of the heart, skull, fetus, muscles, and bones which are still used today. Although natural curiosity kept Leonardo studying the human body, he started his obsession because he believed he would be able to better depict people in his paintings. Leonardo had a theory that artists possessed a unique skill of observation and they could accurately reproduce images if they studied what made them up. Anatomy was just one branch of Leonardo’s sci entific studies. He also studied aerodynamics, optics, geology, and mechanics. Leonardo eventually applied his findings by creating countless inventions such as a flying machine, a parachute, tanks, underwater equipment, and a number of weapons. Leonardo was very interested in mathematics and he had some success in this area as well. A friend of Leonardo said, â€Å"In his early forties this obsession with mathematics overtook him, and his notebooks began to fill up with geometrical sketches and diagrams† (Geometry in Art and Architecture, Unit 14). Just as Leonardo believed science was important in art, he also believed math was. He thought math was the basis of all things and it needed to be understood for painting purposes. Leonardo was interested especially in geometry. He discovered the proof for the Pythagorean Theorem and illustrated a book with one of the leading mathematicians at the time, Luca Pacioli. Leonardo also applied math in many of his architectural designs as well as his inventions. He used math to calculate the volume of his horse statue, in order to figure out how much bronze would be needed to complete it. It can be seen in his notebooks how infatuated Leonardo was in the study of math. For on numerous pages he drew and examined different geometrical shapes. Overall, it can be seen that Leonardo was well versed and successful in many areas. He was an accomplished painter, completing over 25 well known pieces. Also, Leonardo achieved advancements in science by dissecting over 30 bodies and drawing images of his findings which are still used today. He was knowledgeable in math and even illustrated a book with a leading mathematician. Leonardo da Vinci became a legend in his time and still is one to this day. He mastered many areas of study, obtaining the classification of a universal genius. There is no doubt that Leonardo da Vinci is the best example of a true Renaissance Man.

Organizations Workforce Diversity And Its Competitive Advantage Commerce Essay

Organizations Workforce Diversity And Its Competitive Advantage Commerce Essay The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of leadership style over the relationship between organizations workforce diversity and its competitive advantage with mission and vision statements as intervening variable. Most organizations are adopting diversity into their policies and procedures to embrace its benefits and there is a growing recognition that it makes business sense to take diversity seriously. The demographics of working population has changed in last two decades with more mature workforce remaining in the workplace, now more female employees are seen in higher positions and there is also a variation in cultural backgrounds. Therefore, it seems beneficial for organizations to hire diverse workforce to meet the demands of customer expectations. Organizations that are flexible and responsive to a demanding marketplace require the service of multi-skilled, adaptable workforce. One clear competitive advantage for organizations having diverse workforce is that it pro vides an environment that values differences among employees and encourages them for different ways of thinking and behaving during work to fully contribute to organizational aims and objectives. Employers providing such an environment get the support of their employees and develop a positive public image. It must be understood that each member of diverse workforce holds his differences and similarities; hence, valuing and managing diversity is about recognizing the unique contribution each employee can make to the organization. It is about creating an environment in which everyone feels valued, welcomed, and able to make an important contribution toward the attainment of corporate objectives. Additionally, companies facing challenges in competing global marketplace for market share can use diversity as competitive advantage in a multicultural environment with a diverse pool of talented and experienced individuals who can bring innovation and creativity to the organization. Literature Review Diversity is not only associated to limited attributes that can be observed but also to those invisible characteristics such as differences in educational background, creativity, understanding, learning style, and problem-solving ability (Nafukho et al., 2011). So, organizational performances and processes can be influenced by an individual or a group representing different categories of diversity within a workplace. (van Knippenberg and Schippers, 2007). Diversity is defined as any dimension that can be used to differentiate groups and people from one another (Giovannini, 2004, p. 22). Hence, diversity affects the organizations effectiveness and performance in terms of competitive advantage. (Joshi and Roh, 2009; Klein et al., 2011). This presumes that performance has a relation with organizations ability to achieve goals with respect to its mission or vision (Devine and Philips, 2001). In other words, performance is deemed as an outcome which is a result of some purposeful activity to achieve competitive advantage as mentioned in mission or vision statements of an organization. (Swanson and Holton, 2009). As the organization strives to achieve its goals or objectives, conflict may arise within the diverse groups to cope up the challenges of differences among them which keep them from achieving organizational performance. (Østergaard et al., 2011). Since, Human Resource Department (HRD) deals primarily with performance of individuals, groups and organization at large to achieve competitive advantage, so diverse workforce demands the attention of HRD scholars and practitioners on the issues that arise in organization. It can be observed in modern trends for companies to use diverse workforce for completing special tasks which help achieve competitive advantage (Garrison et al., 2010) and there is always potential for the occurrence of conflict among such diverse groups which can derail the organization from achieving effectiveness. Hence, it becomes the resp onsibility of HRD to address such conflicts in advance and use the knowledge of how to build the high performing and productive teams of diverse workforce who can to the overall competitive advantage of organization (Klein et al., 2011). Evidently, most companies find diversity as a way to increase business competency, to improve net income, to gain competitive advantage, to build the effectiveness to compete in global markets, to improve business performance, to achieve higher employee satisfaction, to enhance corporate governance, to attract diverse talents and skills and to retain the workforce that maintains the customer base (McCuiston et al., 2004). Moreover, culturally diverse workforce brings benefits to business economy (Ferley et al., 2003) and leads to better performance of the business (Richard, 2000). According to Adler (1997), a company with a diverse workforce has greater chances for building an innovative working environment. This statement is beautifully expressed in the words of White (1999), who states that creativity thrives on diversity. These benefits can be derived from the proper implementation of diversity-promoting policies (Jamrog, 2002). Many firms today seem to be increasingly embracing r acial, ethnic and gender workforce balance, not for legal or ethical obligations, but as a matter of taking a progressive perspective on economic self-interest (Coil and Rice, 1993). It has been recognized recently that increasing diverse workforce has presented both opportunities and challenges for organizations which are striving for efficiency, innovativeness and global competitive advantage (Barak, 1999). As the global markets are getting more complex, utilization of organizations knowledge, skills and abilities is getting even more crucial in this rapidly increasing competition where organizations want to be more creative and innovative (Ng and Tung, 1998). In order to manage the growing diversity of the work force, organizations need to implement such systems and practices so that the potential advantages of diversity are maximized and the potential disadvantages are minimized (Cox, 1994). In the past two decades several academic researches have been conducted on various issues relating diversity. Richard (2000) examined the impact of diversity on organization and its productivity while Jackson (1993) found the positive relationship between diversity and cr eativity. Diversity research has also addressed the factors involved in assimilating new employees into an organizations culture (Berry and Sam, 1997). However, some argue that by its fundamental nature, assimilating new employees to obtain greater fit between the person and organization is achieved at the expense of diversity (Powell, 1998). In other research, Tsui et al. (1992) showed that race and gender has negative relationship with diversity as compared to age. Other studies have also consistently found that observable attributes have negative effects on outcomes such as identification with the group and job satisfaction at both the individual and group level of analysis (Milliken and Martins, 1996). Further, Milliken and Martins (1996) supported the argument of Tsui et al. (1992) that racial and gender diversity can have negative influence on individual and team outcomes in some cases regardless of age. As an example, they referred to those groups members who differ from the larger group tend to show less commitment, more turnover and absenteeism while at the same time this results in additional costs, such as, group coordination cost, communication cost and training and development cost. So, according to them, diversity results in increase in coordination and control costs. Dadfar and Gustavsson (1992) found that the majority of site managers believed that managers/supervisors are less effective when managing a work group composed of several nationalities. This is because language was regarded as a major obstacle to effective communication among workers of different nationalities. However, Watson et al. (1993) argue that these negative effects may diminish with time and may be offset by better quality and more creative decisions. Having said that, it is important to understand that even for those who decide to embrace diversity as a concept, the road to diversity is not without challenges. Many businesses fail to the see the full picture of diversity or understand all of its impacts on their operations (Farrer, 2004), as leading a diverse workforce requires considerable time, energy and skill. A diverse workforce represents many challenges to management in areas such as workplace authority, trust and commitment, different work ethics, firm structure and work-life balance (McCuiston et al., 2004). Diversity challenges also include training costs, discrimination and conflicts. The increase in training cost results from the needed diversity-promoting programs which need to be administered to all employees (White, 1999). The problem of perceived discrimination arises when a certain group feels that they have been unfairly discriminated against, which leads to a sense of rejection towards the group that was perceived as having unjustifiable benefits, which could lead to an increase in conflicts. According to Jehn (1995), the increase in conflicts possibly leading to tension and animosity occurs when employees do not have similar views on a particular issue and in turn such conflicts could have detrimental effects on performance. These effects include directing the attention of employees to each other instead of the job, increasing stress and anxiety, and it can result in hostile interaction among members (Chuang et al., 2004). Leadership Leadership remained the single most important issue in annual surveys for identifying top management issues during all times (HRI, 2002a). To manage a diverse workforce, organizations need visionary leaders but availability of them is scarce. According to the study by Diversity Inc. (2002), it is forecasted that many top management of many leading companies will lose one in five top managers due to retirement. Let alone, US companies will lose 40 percent or more of their top executives till 2015 (Wellins and Byham, 2001). One solution offered to this scarcity is to develop leaders at every level and in every function in an organization (Hesselbein, 2002). For this solution, Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society (2002) advised the most effective leadership components to manage diversity, which are: Sensitivity and awareness about diverse workforce. Resources to strengthen and improve the quality of diverse individuals Inter-communication skills to solve mutual differences Strategies to maximize the effectiveness of diverse workforce. The goal should be to develop cross-cultural leaders and generate a new crop of multicultural professionals (Yukl, 2002). These leaders are provided with the required resources and authorities to manage workforce. The focus should be to enhance their listening, learning, networking, communication, and experimenting skills to manage a diverse workforce (Melymuka, 2001). Finally an effective strategy must be developed to include diversity at all levels of management, and there must be commitment to diversity at senior levels where it is strategically more important (Conklin, 2001). This strategy must be evident in organizations mission and vision statement and should involve a systemic, results-oriented, business-based approach (Fitzpatrick, 1997). Yet companies do not seek diversity unless this business competency results in increased profit and metrics that substantiate the necessity to expand the emphasis on diversity (Diversity Inc., 2002). Irrefutable measurable benefits can be de rived from properly implemented policies to promote diversity (Jamrog, 2002). The most evident measurable benefits are improved bottom line, competitive advantage, superior business performance, employee satisfaction and loyalty, strengthened relationship with multicultural communities, and attracting the best and the brightest candidates. Competitive advantage defined in diversity as, Recruiting and retaining people of diverse backgrounds who can share a common set of values. . .and approach to business is a priority for todays competitive organization (McCormack, 2002, p. 1). Jamrog (2002) suggested three-point approach to enhance effectiveness of leadership to manage diverse workforce: premise, guidelines and actions. There are three premises that leaders need to value diversity: (1) One size doesnt fit all leaders need to use different approaches for solving problems and developing workers as all situations and individuals are not the same, (2) Not everyone can be a leader organizational should focus only on individuals who have the ingredients of becoming a good leader, and (3) Leaders can be at any level or function anyone who can inspire, influence and guide others in the organization is a leader regardless of position. The five guidelines that leaders need to value diversity are: (1) Communicate, communicate, and communicate share freely your ideas, suggestions, opinions; listen to ideas of others with interest, (2) Build contact into your daily actions and duties Plan your actions, meetings, and duties so as to maximize contact with multiple p eople in the organization. (3) Manage and lead by walking around Be outside the office frequently and interact informally with others of different levels, functions, backgrounds and experience, (4) Champion diversity Bring in the contribution of everyone to increase commitment, innovation and creativity, and (5) Sponsor diversity Defend the decisions, actions and interactions while supporting everyone in the organization. Lastly, the five actions that leaders need to value diversity are: (1) Assessment of leadership potential within the organizations, (2) Provision of training and tools, (3) Inclusion of diversity at all levels, (4) measuring and rewarding efforts, and (5) encouraging the organization to be patient. Conceptual Framework: Research Methodology:

The Tv Generation :: essays research papers

The TV Generation Everyone has a moment in history which belongs particularly to him. It is the moment when his emotions achieve their most powerful sway over him, and afterward when you say to this person "the world today" or "life" or "reality" he will assume that you mean this moment, even if it is fifty years in the past. My generation is greatly influenced by the media, specifically television. Television becomes my reality by bringing into my life the happenings of the outside world. Our generation is often called the MTV generation. We are often stereotyped with the idea that all we do is sit around and watch TV. Sure, we probably do watch more television than our parents did as teenagers but we have to remember, TV was generally new to their generation. They only had a couple of channels to choose from while we sit in front of a television with 53 channels and a remote to control them with. We have the option to decide upon everything from The Disney Channel to VH1, The Family Channel to Fox. That box in our bedroom or family room is a very controlling yet entertaining appliance. Teenagers have always been free-spirited in any generation. We are always doing and saying childish things while trying to grow up. If we only have a couple years of our childhood left then who cares if we spend it in front of a TV? Which is not to say that we do that anyhow. Perhaps we use the TV as a way of relaxing before we go off and hit the books for two hours. Or maybe we use it to spend time with our family. I mean, come on, how many teenagers enjoy going on family outings with mom, dad, and kid brother? However, if the TV can gather everyone together on a Sunday afternoon to watch the "Packers" game then shouldn't mom and dad be happy? On the other hand, there is such a thing as bad TV. Sex and violence is plastered all over our brains with a flick of a switch and I tend to believe that this influences teenagers, or for that matter, anyone who watches it. But then again, we can not say all TV is evil. MTV has set up several programs to educate teens on sensitive subjects and has begun to censor certain videos and shows. Parents often say to their teens, "If you watch too much TV you'll fry you brains out." Yeah, right mom! As if we're going to believe that.

Thomas Jefferson :: essays research papers

THOMAS JEFFERSON Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3d PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. As the author of the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, he is probably the most conspicuous champion of political and spiritual freedom in his country's history. He voiced the aspirations of the new nation in matchless phrase, and one may doubt if any other American has been so often quoted. As a public official--legislator, diplomat, and executive--he served the province and commonwealth of Virginia and the young American republic almost 40 years. While his services as a Revolutionary patriot have beenhonored by his countrymen with only slight dissent, his later and more controversial political activities have been variously interpreted. Believing that the government was not being conducted in the spirit of 1776, he turned against the administration in WASHINGTON's second term and remained in opposition during the presidency of John ADAMS. Jefferson, who was president from 1801 to 1809, was the acknowledged head of his political party, and his election to the highest office has been interpreted as a vindication of the right of political opposition. His ELECTION checked in the United States the tide of political reaction that was sweeping the Western world, and it furthered the development of political democracy. Throughout his life he sought to do that, though the term he generally used was republicanism. Opinions differ about his conduct of foreign affairs as president. He acquired the vast province of Louisiana and maintained neutrality in a world of war, but his policies failed to safeguard neutral rights at sea and imposed hardships at home. As a result, his administration reached its nadir as it ended. Until his last year as president he exercised leadership over his party that was to be matched by no other 19th century president, and he enjoyed remarkable popularity. He was rightly hailed as the "Man of the People," because he sought to conduct the government in the popular interest, rather than in the interest of any privileged group, and, insofar as possible, in accordance with the people's will. He was a tall and vigorous man, not particularly impressive in person but amiable, once his original stiffness wore off. He was habitually tactful and notably respectful of the opinions and personalities of others, though he had slight tolerance of those he believed unfaithful to

Multicultural Analysis of Bud, not Buddy

I feel that the book, Bud not Buddy is successful overall when evaluating or analyzing it against different criteria for successful multicultural books and materials. Bud, not Buddy is set in the 1930’s at the height of the Great Depression and with this book, the author Christopher Paul Curtis, skillfully weaves in Bud’s experiences with poverty, racism, and the experience of being an African-American foster child during the Great Depression.The author, Christopher Paul Curtis, writes from the perspective of a cultural insider’s mind-set and point of view when writing this book and giving the reader an accurate, yet interesting portrayal of what can happen to any child in similar circumstances during the Depression. In this novel, the storyline focuses on a ten-year-old African-American boy named â€Å"Bud. † Although there are no illustrations in this book, the text of the book does occasionally give the reader glimpses into the fact that Bud is an Afric an-American boy. However, the reader for the most part deducts the culture of Bud through the use of indirect things in the story.Some of those indirect things include the focus on the jazz band musicians conversations, the â€Å"stranger† who picks Bud up and lectures him for being alone and Black in that area at night, Bud passing by a group of people before arriving at the cardboard jungle and referring to them as â€Å"the white people with the coughing baby† (Curtis, 1999). There were no over-generalizations or simplifications of the African-American culture used in this book. The author did not use any language I felt was condenscending to the culture represented.If I had not seen the cover of the book, there were only a few sentences and subtle indications sprinkled throughout the book that indicates the young Bud was an African-American child. I feel part of the reason the book and the characters were successful without being stereotypical is, as the author ind icates in the Afterword of the book, some of the characters were loosely based on real individuals in the author’s life. Real individuals are not stereotypes so I think the reader can see this. The character Bud, was presented multi-dimensionally, so much so that his personality overshadowed his cultural group.I think this in itself is one measure of a successful multi-cultural children’s fiction book with characters of any cultural background. There were no images presented by the author that could lead to stereotyping the character and nothing to indicate the writer was attempting to meet the expectations of an audience who had pre-conceived notions of this culture. The cultural details that were within the story were naturally integrated. For example, when referring to the jazz band, the author doesn’t throw it in the reader’s face what the members look like.His words convey enough that one understands the culture of each member without any stereotypic al features being used to identify them. In asking myself does the book present cultural details authentically, I would say yes. I could see authentic culture being represented in most of the language in the story, in discussion of the instruments and the players in the jazz band, in the details of the individuals who ended up being Bud’s caretakers, and even in the food in The Sweat Pea Restaurant included cultural details that added a 3-dimensional-like feel to the novel.I did not see any invalid information for the culture addressed in the book or invalid information in general. I have to take in consideration the time period this book is supposedly taking place in as far as determining whether the language is used authentically. I have to admit, possibly because I am in the 21st century, I oftentimes got the picture of a rural white farm boy in that Bud constantly and consistently uses the words â€Å"shucks† and â€Å"doggone† and similar vocabulary to this .I realize some of the language is limited since Bud, not Buddy is a children’s book but I wasn’t always impressed with some of the vocabulary that was used and was not used. In my opinion, this would probably be one of the weaker areas in my analysis of the book. Good multicultural books should allow the reader(s) to experience the culture that the book is addressing. I did feel that while reading the book and in the use of some of the cultural details, I was experiencing the culture.I also felt the cultural elements oftentimes gave the book more color in that it lifted some of the text off the page in a sense. Along with this, just my personal feelings of course, I sometimes felt the author in avoiding being stereotypical in any sense, tiptoed around some areas that could have enriched the story. However, I do respect how fine the line can be between doing a multicultural story justice and avoiding some words and areas while presenting a quality multicultural story. When I think about it, even in the resolution of the problem in this story, it is a positive representation of the culture.The family and friends of the child take the child in, provide Bud a safe environment and the affection he wasn’t receiving before re-uniting with the family and friends within his own culture. That is a quality I didn’t even see initially until I put further thought into this multicultural analysis. This only strengthens the success of Bud, not Buddy’s portrayal of multicultural issues. I could strongly state that the book, Bud, not Buddy would enhance any elementary classroom library, learning resource center, or media center room.I feel the book would be a positive addition to any library collection while encouraging students to read literature that portrays diverse, yet balanced views of all cultures. The book, Bud, not Buddy would be a welcome addition in any collection of books, making the collection a more balanced and inclusive colle ction of multi-cultural books that in turn help to make cultural diversity the foundation of learning and growing. Reference Curtis, C. P. (1999). Bud, not Buddy. New York: Delacorte Press.

Industry Analysis: Soft Drinks Essay

Barbara Murray (2006c) explained the soft drink industry by stating, â€Å"For years the story in the nonalcoholic sector centered on the power struggle between†¦Coke and Pepsi. But as the pop fight has topped out, the industry’s giants have begun relying on new product flavors†¦and looking to noncarbonated beverages for growth. † In order to fully understand the soft drink industry, the following should be considered: the dominant economic factors, five competitive sources, industry trends, and the industry’s key factors. Based on the analyses of the industry, specific recommendations for competitors can then be created. Dominant Economic Factors Market size, growth rate and overall profitability are three economic indicators that can be used to evaluate the soft drink industry. The market size of this industry has been changing. Soft drink consumption has a market share of 46. 8% within the non-alcoholic drink industry, illustrated in Table 1. Datamonitor (2005) also found that the total market value of soft drinks reached $307. 2 billion in 2004 with a market value forecast of $367. 1 billion in 2009. Further, the 2004 soft drink volume was 325,367. 2 million liters (see Table 2). Clearly, the soft drink industry is lucrative with a potential for high profits, but there are several obstacles to overcome in order to capture the market share. The growth rate has been recently criticized due to the U. S. market saturation of soft drinks. Datamonitor (2005) stated, â€Å"Looking ahead, despite solid growth in consumption, the global soft drinks market is expected to slightly decelerate, reflecting stagnation of market prices. † The change is attributed to the other growing sectors of the non-alcoholic industry including tea and coffee (11. 8%) and bottled water (9. 3%). Sports drinks and energy drinks are also expected to increase in growth as competitors start adopting new product lines. 2 Profitability in the soft drink industry will remain rather solid, but market saturation especially in the U. S. has caused analysts to suspect a slight deceleration of growth in the industry (2005). Because of this, soft drink leaders are establishing themselves in alternative markets such as the snack, confections, bottled water, and sports drinks industries (Barbara Murray, 2006c). In order for soft drink companies to continue to grow and increase profits they will need to diversify their product offerings. The geographic scope of the competitive rivalry explains some of the economic features found in the soft drink industry. According to Barbara Murray (2006c), â€Å"The sector is dominated by three major players†¦Coca-Cola is king of the soft drink-empire and boasts a global market share of around 50%, followed by PepsiCo at about 21%, and Cadbury Schweppes at 7%. † Aside from these major players, smaller companies such as Cott Corporation and National Beverage Company make up the remaining market share. All five of these companies make a portion of their profits outside of the United States. Table 3 shows that the US does not hold the highest percentage of the global market share, therefore companies need to be able to compete globally in order to be successful. Table 4 indicates that Coca-Cola has a similar distribution of sales in Europe, North America, and Asia. On the other hand, the majority of PepsiCo’s profits come from the United States (see Table 5). Compared to PepsiCo, Cadbury Schweppes has a stronger global presence with their global mix (see Table 7). Smaller companies are also trying to establish a global presence. Cott Corporation is a good example as indicated in Table 8. The saturation of the US markets has increased the global expansion by soft drink leaders to increase their profits. The ease of entry and exit does not cause competitive pressure on the major soft drink companies. It would be very difficult for a new company to enter this industry because they 3 would not be able to compete with the established brand names, distribution channels, and high capital investment. Likewise, leaving this industry would be difficult with the significant loss of money from the fixed costs, binding contracts with distribution channels, and advertisements used to create the strong brand images. This industry is well established already, and it would be difficult for any company to enter or exit successfully. Three leading companies have prominent presence in the soft drink industry. The leaders include the Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, and Cadbury Schweppes. According to the Coca- Cola annual report (2004), it has the most soft drink sales with $22 billion. The Coca-Cola product line has several popular soft drinks including Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta, Barq’s, and Sprite, selling over 400 drink brands in about 200 nations (Murray 2006a). PepsiCo is the next top competitor with soft drink sales grossing $18 billion for the two beverage subsidiaries, PepsiCo Beverages North America and PepsiCo International (PepsiCo Inc. , 2004). PepsiCo’s soft drink product line includes Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Slice which make up more than one- quarter of its sales. Cadbury Schweppes had soft drink sales of $6 billion with a product line consisting of soft drinks such as A&W Root Beer, Canada Dry, and Dr. Pepper (Cadbury Schweppes, 2004). Financial Analysis The carbonated beverage industry is a highly competitive global industry as illustrated in the financial statements. According to John Sicher of Beverage Digest (2005), Coca-Cola was the number one brand with around 4. 5 billion cases sold in 2004. Pepsi followed with 3. 2 billion cases, and Cadbury had 1. 5 billion cases sold. However, the market share shows a different picture. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo control the market share with Coca-Cola holding 43. 1% and Pepsi with 31. 7% (see Graph 1); however these market shares for both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo 4 have slightly decreased from 2003 to 2004. Coca-Cola’s volume has also decreased 1. 0% since 2003, whereas PepsiCo’s volume has increased 0. 4% (see Graph 1). Diet Coke posted a 5% growth, but Coca-Cola’s other top 10 brands declined (Sicher, 2005). Overall, Coca-Cola’s market position has declined in 2004. The strategic group map (see Graph 1) also shows the growth of Cott Corp. of 18% which is significantly higher than that of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. The American Beverage Association (2006) states that in 2004, the retail sales for the entire soft-drink industry were $65. 9 billion. Barbara Murray (2006e) analyzed the industry averages for 2004 and average net profit margin was 11. 29%. The current ratio average was 1. 11 and the quick ratio average was 0. 8. These figures help analyze the financial statements of the major corporations in the industry. As shown in Table 13, Coca-Cola has seen their net profit margin increase from 20. 7% to 22. 1% from 2003 to 2004. According to Coca-Cola’s annual report (2004), 80% of their sales are from soft drinks; therefore the total sales amount was used for their financial analysis. These figures show that their profits are increasing, but at a slow rate. This is in line with what is happening in the soft drink industry. The market is highly competitive and growth has remained at a stable level. The slight increase in Coca-Cola’s profit margin is most likely from their new energy drink product line. This industry is currently expanding rapidly, and is allowing the major beverage companies to increase their profits. Table 13 also shows Coca-Cola’s working capital was around $1. 1 billion in 2004. This is a large increase from 2003 at only $500 million. This shows that they have sufficient funds to pursue new opportunities. However, their current ratio and quick ratio are a cause for concern. A current ratio of 2 or better is considered good and Coca-Cola’s was 1. 102. This number shows that they may not have enough funds to cover short term claims. The quick ratio for 2004 was at 5 0. 906 and is considered good when it is greater than 1. This illustrates that Coca-Cola may not have the ability to pay short term debt without selling inventory. These two numbers are a concern because they are not able to satisfy their short term obligations. The current and quick ratios are in line with the industry averages, however (Murray, 2006e), Coca-Cola needs to improve these ratios in order focus on long-term plans (Coca-Cola Company, 2004). PepsiCo’s financial statements cannot be analyzed for only the soft drinks industry because they do not distinguish between businesses. Over half their profits are from snacks or other beverage items; however there are sales and profit figures for their two beverage subsidiaries. These sales figures grew from almost $16. 5 billion in 2003 to $18 billion in 2004 (Pepsi Co. Inc. , 2004). Their operating profit margin also increased 1% from 2003 to 2004 as illustrated in Table 13. This shows that beverage profits are increasing for them, but also at a slow rate. The increase could be due to the increase in market share that the Pepsi products gained in 2004 (Sicher 2004). The PepsiCo. Annual Report (2004) stated that beverage volume increased 3% in 2004, but was driven by the high growth of the non-carbonated beverage industry. Cadbury’s current and quick ratios are very similar to those of Coca-Cola. The current ratio and quick ratio for Cadbury Schweppes for 2004 were both 0. 917 (see Table 13). Again, the current ratio should be 2 or more, and the quick ratio should be over 1. This illustrates that Cadbury also has difficulty paying short term debt and claims. Cadbury’s net profit margin has increased by 0. 7% from 2003 to 2004. This can be attributed to their market share growth in 2004 of 0. 2% (Sicher, 2005). One ratio that is concerning is their debt to equity ratio for 2004 in Table 13. They have almost two times as much debt as they do to equity, which means that their funds are mainly provided by creditors as opposed to owners. This is concerning because they 6 owe a lot of money, and must make a decent profit to be able to pay it off. The industry average for debt to equity is 81%, and Cadbury is far from that number (2006e). Also, Cadbury has a negative working capital for both 2003 and 2004, meaning they have more liabilities than assets. This shows that they do not have any funds to pursue new opportunities, as their current assets are being used to pay off liabilities (Cadbury, 2004). Overall, the financial statements of the three top competitors in the soft drink industry show that the industry is highly competitive and has little growth. Net profit margins increased for all three corporations, however only at a small rate. It also seems that all three companies lack sufficient current and quick ratios, but are all within a reasonable range of the industry average (2006e). This may be due to expanding their product lines to include energy drinks and non-carbonated beverages in order to increase profits and diversify their business. The soft drinks market is now in the matured stage of the life cycle. Growth in the industry has remained stagnant, and the financial statements of the major corporations in the industry illustrate that their sales and income are following this trend. The companies are in good financial positions; gross profits and net profit margins are continuing to increase each year. The leverage and activity ratios are all within reasonable range. However, one area all three corporations need to improve on is the liquidity ratios. Their quick and current ratios are low and need to be increased so they are able to meet short-term obligations. Five Competitive Forces for Coca-Cola Company The soft drink industry is very competitive for all corporations involved, with the greatest competition being that from rival sellers within the industry. All soft drink companies have to 7 think about the pressures; that from rival sellers within the industry, new entrants to the industry, substitute products, suppliers, and buyers. The competitive pressure from rival sellers is the greatest competition that Coca-Cola faces in the soft drink industry. Coca-Cola, Pepsi Co. , and Cadbury Schweppes are the largest competitors in this industry, and they are all globally established which creates a great amount of competition. Though Coca-Cola owns four of the top five soft drink brands (Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta, and Sprite), it had lower sales in 2005 than did PepsiCo (Murray, 2006c). However, Coca-Cola has higher sales in the global market than PepsiCo. In 2004, PepsiCo dominated North America with sales of $22 billion, whereas Coca-Cola only had about $6. 6 billion, with more of their sales coming from overseas, as shown in Table 4 and Table 5. PepsiCo is the main competitor for Coca-Cola and these two brands have been in a power struggle for years (Murray, 2006c). Brand name loyalty is another competitive pressure. The Brand Keys’ Customer Loyalty Leaders Survey (2004) shows the brands with the greatest customer loyalty in all industries. Diet Pepsi ranked 17th and Diet Coke ranked 36th as having the most loyal customers to their brands. Refer to List 15 for the brand loyalty rankings of the various competitors. The new competition between rival sellers is to create new varieties of soft drinks, such as vanilla and cherry, in order to keep increasing sales and enticing new customers (Murray, 2006c). New entrants are not a strong competitive pressure for the soft drink industry. Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co dominate the industry with their strong brand name and great distribution channels. In addition, the soft-drink industry is fully saturated and growth is small. This makes it very difficult for new, unknown entrants to start competing against the existing firms. Another barrier to entry is the high fixed costs for warehouses, trucks, and labor, and economies of scale. New 8 entrants cannot compete in price without economies of scale. These high capital requirements and market saturation make it extremely difficult for companies to enter the soft drink industry; therefore new entrants are not a strong competitive force (Murray, 2006c). Substitute products are those competitors that are not in the soft drink industry. Such substitutes for Coca-Cola products are bottled water, sports drinks, coffee, and tea. Bottled water and sports drinks are increasingly popular with the trend to be a more health conscious consumer. There are progressively more varieties in the water and sports drinks that appeal to different consumers’ tastes, but also appear healthier than soft drinks. In addition, coffee and tea are competitive substitutes because they provide caffeine. The consumers who purchase a lot of soft drinks may substitute coffee if they want to keep the caffeine and lose the sugar and carbonation. Specialty blend coffees are also becoming more popular with the increasing number of Starbucks stores that offer many different flavors to appeal to all consumer markets. It is also very cheap for consumers to switch to these substitutes making the threat of substitute products very strong (Datamonitor, 2005). Suppliers for the soft drink industry do not hold much competitive pressure. Suppliers to Coca-Cola are bottling equipment manufacturers and secondary packaging suppliers. Although Coca-Cola does not do any bottling, the company owns about 36% of Coca-Cola Enterprises which is the largest Coke bottler in the world (Murray, 2006a). Since Coca-Cola owns the majority of the bottler, that particular supplier does not hold much bargaining power. In terms of equipment manufacturers, the suppliers are generally providing the same products. The number of equipment suppliers is not in short supply, so it is fairly easy for a company to switch suppliers. This takes away much of suppliers’ bargaining power. 9. The buyers of the Coca-Cola and other soft drinks are mainly large grocers, discount stores, and restaurants. The soft drink companies distribute the beverages to these stores, for resale to the consumer. The bargaining power of the buyers is very evident and strong. Large grocers and discount stores buy large volumes of the soft drinks, allowing them to buy at lower prices. Restaurants have less bargaining power because they do not order a large volume. However, with the number of people are drinking less soft drinks, the bargaining power of buyers could start increasing due to decreasing buyer demand (Murray, 2006a). Porter’s Five Forces Model identifies the five forces of competition for any company. The recognition of the strength of these forces helps to see where Coca-Cola stands in the industry. Of the five forces, rivalry within the soft drink industry, especially from PepsiCo, is the greatest source of competition for Coca-Cola. Industry Changes The soft drink industry is affected by macroenvironmental factors of the industry that will lead to change. First, the entry/exit of major firms is a trend in the industry that will likely lead to change. More specifically, merger and consolidation has been prevalent in the soft drinks market, causing some firms to exit the industry and then re-enter themselves. Several leading companies have been looking to drive revenue growth and improve market share through the increased economies of scale found through mergers and acquisitions. One specific example is how PepsiCo acquired Quaker Oats, who bought Gatorade which will help expand PepsiCo’s energy drink sector (Datamonitor, 2005). This trend has increased competition as firms’ diversification of products is increasing. A second trend in the macroenvironment is globalization. With the growing use of the internet and other electronic technologies, global communication is rapidly increasing. This is 10 allowing firms to collaborate within the country market and expand into world markets. It has driven competition greatly as companies strive to be first-movers. Specifically, the global soft drink market’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is expected to expand to 3. 6% from 2004 to 2009 (Datamonitor, 2005). Third, changing societal concerns, attitudes, and lifestyles are important trends. In the United States and Europe, people are becoming more concerned with a healthy lifestyle. â€Å"Consumer awareness of health problems arising from obesity and inactive lifestyles represent a serious risk to the carbonated drinks sector† (Datamonitor, 2005, p. 15). The trend is causing the industry’s business environment to change, as firms are differentiating their products in order to increase sales in a stagnant market. Thus, the long-term industry growth rate, the fourth trend, shows low growth in recent years. Since 2000, the CAGR is 1. 5 per cent (Datamonitor, 2005). The low growth rates are of concern for soft drink companies, and several are creating new strategies to combat the low rates. This leads to the fifth trend of growing buyer preferences for differentiated products. Because soft drinks have been around since as early as 1798 (American Beverage Association, 2006), buyers want innovation with the products they buy. In today’s globalizing society, being plain is not good enough. According to Barbara Murray (2006c), â€Å"The key for all of these beverage companies is differentiation. The giants have new formulations and appearances. Whatever the strategy, be it a new color, flavor, or formula, companies will strive to create the greatest brand awareness in the minds of the consumer in the hopes of crowding out its competitors. † Thus, the last trend, product innovation, is necessary to combat buyers need for a variety of tastes. Firms are already differentiating by taste, with the Coca-Cola company as an example. The firm’s product line includes regular Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Diet cherry Coke, 11 cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, Coca-Cola with Lime, Coca-Cola with lemon and many more (Murray, 2006a). Key Success Factors. Key factors for competitive success within the soft drink industry branch from the trends of the macroenvironment. Primarily, constant product innovation is imperative. A company must be able to recognize consumer wants and needs, while maintaining the ability to adjust with the changing market. They must keep up with the changing trends (Murray, 2006c). Another key factor is the size of the organization, especially in terms of market share. Large distributors have the ability to negotiate with stadiums, universities and school systems, making them the exclusive supplier for a specified period of time. Additionally, they have the ability to commit to mass purchases that significantly lower their costs. They must implement effective distribution channels to remain competitive. Taste of the product is also a key factor for success. Furthermore, established brand loyalty is a large aspect of the soft drink industry. Many consumers of carbonated beverages are extremely dedicated to a particular product, and rarely purchase other varieties. This stresses the importance of developing and maintaining a superior brand image. Price, however, is also a key factor because consumers without a strong brand preference will select the product with the most competitive price. Finally, global expansion is a vital factor in the success of a company within the soft drink industry. The United States has reached relative market saturation, requiring movement into the global industry to maintain growth (Datamonitor, 2005). Recommendations 12 Looking towards the future, the most important recommendation to Coca-Cola is continuing product innovation and expansion of their product line. The soft-drinks industry is fully saturated with competitors. Also, the industry is no longer expanding, and market share is actually decreasing as more consumers are looking to healthier options. By continually introducing new products, Coca-Cola will be able to increase their profits and allow the company to continue to grow. Also, having a diverse product line will make the corporation very stable, which is appealing to investors and creditors. A second recommendation would be to sustain or increase the global market share. Coca-Cola is very well-established globally, and is the global soft-drinks leader. This is very important to sustain because it is the source of the majority of their profits. If they lose global market share, their profits will decline dramatically. A final recommendation for Coca-Cola is to maintain and try to increase their brand loyalty. Diet Coke has the second highest brand loyalty of all the soft-drink competitors’ brands, and solid advertising campaigns will help maintain the brand loyalty. They can also strive to obtain higher brand loyalty in all other brands, not solely Diet Coke. The brand loyalty is important because it will allow Coca-Cola to sustain profits and maintain their market share. 13 Appendix Table 1: Datamonitor (2005, May). Global Soft Drinks: Industry Profile.New York. Reference Code: 0199-0802. Table 2: Datamonitor (2005, May). Global Soft Drinks: Industry Profile. New York. Reference Code: 0199-0802. 14 Table 3: Datamonitor (2005, May). Global Soft Drinks: Industry Profile. New York. Reference Code: 0199-0802. Table: 4 Murray, Barbara. (2006a). The Coca-Cola Company. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/factsheet. x html? ID=10359 Coca-Cola 2004 Sales $ mil. % of total Europe/Eurasia/Middle East 7,195 33 North America 6,643 30 Asia 4,691 21 Latin America 2,123 10 Africa 1,067 5 Corporate 243 1 Total 21,962 100 Table 5: Murray, Barbara. (2006b). Pepsi Co. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, From http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/profile. xhtml? ID=11166 Pepsi Co. 2004 Sales $ mil. % of total US 18,329 63 Mexico 2,724 9 UK 1,692 6 Canada 1,309 4 Other countries 5,207 18 Total 29,261 100 15 Table 6: Murray, Barbara. (2006b). Pepsi Co. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, From http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/profile. xhtml? ID=11166 Pepsi Co. 2004 Sales $ mil. % of total PepsiCo International 9,862 34 Frito-Lay North America 9,560 33 PepsiCo Beverages North America 8,313 28 Quaker Foods North America 1,526 5. Total 29,261 100 Table 7: Murray, Barbara. (2006d). Cadbury Schweepes Inc. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/profile. x html? ID=41767 Cadbury Schweppes 2004 Sales % of total Americas Beverages 33 Europe, Middle East, Africa 25 Americas Confectionery 16 Asia/Pacific 16 Europe Beverages 10 Total 100 Table 8: Walker, Tim (2006). Cott Corporation. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/profile. xhtml? ID=42846 Cott Corporation 2004 Sales $ mil. % of total US 1,221. 8 74 Canada 189. 5 12 UK & Europe 186. 9 11. International 48. 1 3 Total 1,646. 3 100 Table 9: Select Financial Data from 2004 Income Statements. 2004 Annual Reports. (in millions) *only 50% of total sales included, the part attributed to beverage sales 16 Table 10: Select Financial Data from 2003 Income Statements. 2004 Annual Reports. (in millions) *only 50% of total sales included, the part attributed to beverage sales Table 11: Select Financial Data from 2004 Balance Sheets. 2004 Annual Reports. (in millions) *only 50% of total sales included, the part attributed to beverage sales 17 Table 12: Select Financial Data from 2003 Balance Sheets. 2004 Annual Reports. (in millions) *only 50% of total sales included, the part attributed to beverage sales 18 Table 13: Financial Analysis. Annual Reports. 19 Strategic Group Map goes here! 20 List 1: Brand Keys’ Customer Loyalty Leaders survey (2004) Brandweek. com Brand Loyalty Rankings This year/Brand/Last Year 1. Google. com (2) 2. Avis (1) 3. Verizon Long Distance (4) 4. KeySpan Energy (9) 5. Samsung Mobile Phone (7) 6. Hyatt Hotels (19) 7. Sprint Long Distance (3) 8. Canon Office Copier (8) 9. Yahoo. com (14) 10. Miller Genuine Draft (5) 11. Ritz-Carlton Hotels (17) 12. PSE&G (15) 13. Amazon. com (12) 14. Marriott Hotels (13) 15. Swissotel (NR) 16. Discover Card (27) 17. Diet Pepsi (31) 18. Budweiser (16) 19. Motorola Mobile Phone (10) 20. Coors (NR) 21. Netscape. com (59) 22. Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone (93) 23. Capital One Credit Card (29) 24. L. L. Bean Catalogue (20) 25. Wal-Mart (33) 26. Skechers (NR) 27. New Balance Athletic Shoe (22) 28. Miller Lite (87) 29. Starbucks (6) 30. Radisson (48) 31. BP Gasoline (79) 32. Inter-Continental Hotels (NR) 33. Sears Catalogue (30) 34. Verizon Wireless (37) 35. Schwab. com (26) 36. Diet Coke (47) 37. Mobil Gasoline (25) 38. T-Mobile Wireless (76) 39. Bell South Long Distance (28) 40. Adidas Athletic Shoe (23) 41. ETrade. com (42) 42. J. Crew Catalogue (54) 43. FedEx (50) 44. Westin Hotels (73) 45. Excite. com (35) 46. Hilton Hotels (36) 47. HotBot. com (34) 48. Sanyo Mobile Phone (NR) 49. MSN. com (38) 50. AltaVista. com (51) 21 51. AT&T Long Distance (24) 52. Spring PCS Wireless (60) 53. Pepsi (61) 54. Target (62) 55. Jet Blue Airways (67) 56. Bud Light (32) 57. Sears Store (40) 58. Sheraton Hotels (46) 59. Land’s End Catalogue (55) 60. Hampton Inn Hotels (NR) 61. Nokia Mobile Phone (11) 62. MCI Long Distance (83) 63. Holiday Inn Hotels (NR) 64. Ameritrade. com (104) 65. Best Western Hotels (NR) 66. Lycos. com (39) 67. Wyndham Hotels (68) 68. Xerox Office Copier (82) 69. Today (NBC) (56) 70. NFL (70) 71. MLB (58) 72. AOL. com (88) 73. Fox & Friends (Fox News Channel) (NR) 74. Southwest Airlines (64) 75. Exxon Gasoline (43) 76. DHL/Airborne Express (45) 77. BarnesandNoble. com (152) 78. AskJeeves. com (113) 79. Embassy Suites (86) 80. Nextel Mobile Phone (148) 81. SBC Long Distance (21) 82. TDWaterhouse. com (49) 83. Apple Computers (66) 84. Budget Rent A Car (71) 85. Subway (91) 86. Coors Light (81) 87. Texaco Gasoline (18) 88. Poland Spring (NR) 89. Chevron Gasoline (44) 90. J. C. Penney (75) 91. Expedia. com (85) 92. Fidelity. com (65) 93. Qwest Long Distance (41) 94. Visa Card (100) 95. UPS (127) 96. Aquafina (NR) 97. Gateway Computers (53) 98. Hertz (84) 99. Amstel Light (97) 100. Amoco Gasoline (101) 101. Nike (94) 102. Ramada Hotels (NR) 103. T. Rowe Price Mutual Fund (74) 104. Cingular Wireless (107) 105. Con Edison (57) 106. Enterprise Rent-A-Car (90) 22 107. Nextel Wireless (134) 108. Delta Air Lines (72) 109. American Morning (CNN) (63) 110. Arrowhead (NR) 111. Dell Computers (69) 112. Fleet Bank (157) 113. NBA (98) 114. New York Life Insurance (139). 115. Pizza Hut (105) 116. National Discount Brokers (102) 117. MerrillLynch. com (95) 118. NEC (NR) 119. Panasonic Mobile Phone (124) 120. Fidelity (96) 121. Dasani (NR) 122. Papa John’s (118) 123. CDNow. com (153) 124. Datek. com (77) 125. Siemens Mobile Phone (52) 126. IBM Computers (110) 127. Best Buy (154) 128. Reebok Fitness Shoes (103) 129. Sunoco Gasoline (121) 130. Wendy’s (115) 131. Wachovia Bank (89) 132. Good Morning America (ABC) (120) 133. Buy. com (142) 134. Corona (132) 135. CheapTickets. com (NR) 136. HP Computers (92) 137. PNC Bank (NR) 138. Shell Gasoline (119) 139. Dunkin’ Donuts (109). 140. Coca-Cola (129) 141. Citibank (112) 142. Early Show (CBS) (151) 143. AT&T Wireless (99) 144. Travelocity. com (138) 145. Bank of New York (158) 146. Bank of America (NR) 147. Continental Airlines (114) 148. CSFB. com (125) 149. Toshiba Computers (NR) 150. JP Morgan Chase Bank (106) 151. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (117) 152. American Express Credit Card (135) 153. Deer Park (NR) 154. Sony Vaio (111) 155. Fodors. com (128) 156. Domino’s Pizza (122) 157. Compaq Computers (80) 158. KFC (116) 159. Little Caesars (140) 160. Putnam (126) 161. Burger King (136) 162. Vanguard Mutual Fund (78) 23 163. United Air Lines (137) 164. Evian (NR) 165. Heineken (155) 166. Minolta Office Copier (159) 167. Travelers Insurance (144) 168. McDonald’s (141) 169. National Car Rental (145) 170. Sharp Office Copier (169) 171. Hotels. com (147) 172. Janus Mutual Fund (123) 173. Ricoh Office Copier (164) 174. Godfather’s (130) 175. Roundtable Pizza (131) 176. MetLife Insurance (162) 177. First USA (NR) 178. Fila (172) 179. Arby’s (161) 180. American Airlines (143) 181. USPS Parcel Delivery (156) 182. Prudential Insurance (163) 183. Dollar Rent A Car (167) 184. Bank One (NR) 185. Hardee’s (165) 186. Mountain Dew (168) 187. PriceLine. com (160) 188. Chuck E. Cheese Pizza (146) 189. MasterCard (150) 190. US Airways (166) 191. Aetna Insurance (174) 192. 7 Up (170) 193. Dr Pepper (176) 194. Alamo Rent-a-Car (178) 195. Jack in the Box Restaurant (171) 196. Taco Bell (173) 197. The Hartford Insurance (175) 198. Beck’s (179) 199. White Castle (177) 200. NHL (180) 201. Diet 7 Up (108) 202. Kmart (182) 203. Diet Dr Pepper (133) 24 Works Cited American Beverage Association (2005). Soft Drink Facts. Retrieved February 21, 2006 from http://www. ameribev. org/variety/facts. asp Cadbury Schweppes. (2004). 2004 Annual Report. Retrieved February 17, 2006 from http://www. cadburyschweppes. com Datamonitor. (2005, May). Global Soft Drinks: Industry Profile. New York. Reference Code: 0199-0802. Hein, Kenneth. (2004). Brand Loyalty 2004. Retrieved February 12, 2006 from http://www. brandkeys. com/news/press/102504Brandweek. Loyalty. pdf Murray, Barbara. (2006a). The Coca-Cola Company. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/factsheet. xhtml? ID=10359 Murray, Barbara. (2006b). Pepsi Co. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/profile. xhtml? ID=11166 Murray, Barbara. (2006c). Carbonated Beverages. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/ind/overview. xhtml? HICID=1049 Murray, Barbara. (2006d). Cadbury Schweppes Inc. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/profile. x html? ID=41767 Murray, Barbara. (2006e). Comparison Data. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/fin/comparison. xhtml? ID=10359 PepsiCo Inc. (2004). 2004 Annual Report. Retrieved February 17, 2006 from http://www. pepsico. com Sicher, J. D. (2005). Beverage.