Catherine Of Sienna And Dante - 1486 Words

Melissa Rice Catherine of Sienna and Dante Catherine of Sienna and Dante Alighieri interacted very differently in each of their spiritual and medieval Christian societies, but they had three things in common. They were both Christian, writers, and they both lived and endured the Middle Ages, which were roughly between 5th and 15th century. This was the era between the Fall of Rome and the Renaissance. This was a dark time, and was perfectly referred to as the Dark Ages. One might wonder why it was referred to in this way. There are two main reasons why it was called this. One was the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death. The majority of the extremity was during the 1340s. Approximately two million people in Europe dropped dead†¦show more content†¦At this time the clergy of the church became more powerful than the royals. Having a religious leader rule sounds like a positive thing to most people of faith. The problem was one did not necessarily have to be a devout Christian to be a head of the church. One di d not even have to be a theologian. Some people just became church leaders for the easy lifestyle that included a great salary and house. All of the money came from the citizens having to pay tithes, those were around ten percent of their earnings. They took advantage of their power and did not bring glory to God with it. Dante despised the church for this corruption. Most of his bitterness for the church though came from his disagreements with the church leaders. He made many enemies throughout his life from his opinions. The Divine Comedy was a way for him to send them all to Hell, figuratively. Dante knows a lot of people, and likes to talk with the politicians and clergy while he was down in Hell. One of the people in the poem that was mentioned was Pope Nicholas III who confessed to Dante that he tried to buy himself into Heaven. He hates himself for it and is full of grief but he mentioned that there are so many worse people on Earth who have a more horrible fate. Dante does n ot have any sympathy towards Nicholas. He believes that his punishment fits the crime. Then Dante breaks and tells his negative

The Mind s Eye By Leslie Bell - 1463 Words

Every human has their own limits. There comes a point where your body can’t physically or mentally overcome some obstacles; but that’s okay. Limitations that can be viewed as hindrances to some, while other’s view their adversities as challenges that will not only strengthen them as a person but allow them to mature through their obstacles. In Leslie Bell’s â€Å"Hard to Get: Twenty-something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom†, Bell coins the term â€Å"splitting† in her writing as a way of thinking that can limit people when it comes to opportunities in their careers as well as relationships. In â€Å"Selections from Love 2.0: How Our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become†, Barbara Fredrickson focusses on the†¦show more content†¦With the constant push for conforming into what society deems as acceptable, it is no surprise how much of an impact society plays on limiting the perception of what one’s sexual relationship should be. Society manipulates women into behaving in a certain manner in order to fit into this ideal mold of how women should be. Yet only to a certain point, â€Å"Be assertive, but not aggressive. Be feminine, but not too passive. Be sexually adventurous, but don’t alienate men with your sexual prowess.† (Bell 26) Due to all of the conditions, which limit women, it is no wonder how many young women feel â€Å"weighed down by vying cultural notions about the kind of sex and relationships they should be having.† (Bell 26) Although these limitations proposed by society can cause personal battles between oneself, it is possible to change one’s perception of how one should act regarding their own sexuality. Bell points out that by using â€Å"strategies of desire of the Relational Woman†, (Bell 30) this will assist woman in navigating through their sexual and romantic lives. It is normal for women to feel a desire for relationships and it is inevitable that conflict will arise. If women are able to develop and fully accepting their desires, despite the limitations from society, this will to lead women to building lives that are filled with self-acceptance. Another way to push yourself from the limitations proposed by society, is to look at love in

Financial Analysis of I.T Ltd. Free Essays

Company background I. T Limited (0999. HK) is an investment holding company based in Hong Kong. We will write a custom essay sample on Financial Analysis of I.T Ltd. or any similar topic only for you Order Now It was listed on the main board of The Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 4-March-2005. The company offers a wide range of apparel products. It sells its products as well as offers a variety of national and international brands through its network of retail stores. As of February 28, 2011, it operated 392 stores in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Objective To undertake a comprehensive analysis on the financial performance of I. T. Limited. Detailed financial ratio analysis will be performed. An estimation of the firm’s cost of equity capital and weighted average cost of capital will also be provided. Horizon of analysis We will focus on its performance in the latest 5 fiscal years. A) Detail financial analysis The financial analysis will be conducted in two ways. First, the major accounts on financial statements will be inspected in order to derive a general picture on the healthiness of the business. Second, PERL (Performance, Efficiency, Risk, Liquidity) framework will be used to further analyze the financial performance of the company. I. Going through the financial statements We can get a glimpse of the healthiness of the business by looking into the trend of accounting items in income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement respectively. Consolidated income statement (Referring to appendix A – table 1 and 2) 2008/09 was a special year, financial tsunami happened. Therefore there was a huge profitability impact in that year, resulting in a large decrease in operating profit. And since the market recovered in 2009/2010, the profitability suddenly increased a lot in that fiscal year. Other than these wo special years, the overall growth trend in sales turnover, costs, and profit is healthy. (Referring to appendix A – table 3) Standardizing the income statement can extract extra information. All the accounts are expressed as a percentage of turnover. The company has done a good job in cost controlling, since the cost of sales as a percentage of turnover is in a decreasing trend, hence the gross pr ofit margin is in an increasing trend. On the other hand operating expenses fluctuates at about 50-51% of turnover, but since cost of sales has a greater decrease, the net effect is operating profit is in an increasing trend. Consolidated balance sheet (Referring to appendix A – table 4) In general, total assets experience an increasing trend. This is reasonable since the business is at a growing stage. One notable point is the growth of non-current assets look greater than current assets, especially property, furniture and equipment has a very significant increase in 2010/11, this is probably due to the rapid expansion of retails stores in Hong Kong and China. And as a result, there is a significant increase in inventories in 2010/11 too. (Referring to appendix A – table 5) Similar conclusions can be drawn by viewing the same accounts in a standardized balance sheet (all items are standardized by total asset value in the fiscal year). Property, furniture and equipment, and inventories make up most of the total assets. (Referring to appendix A – table 6) Liabilities also grow a lot with total assets as the business expands. Notably there is a significant increase in both short-term and long term bank borrowings. In addition the payable accounts also increased more than 100%, meaning that the company bought stocks or services from suppliers on credit more than before. This growth of liabilities is fine as long as the company can generate consistent operating cash flows, as we will see in the next section. (Referring to appendix A – table 7) Similar conclusions can be drawn at standardized balance sheet, bank borrowings and payables increased significantly, especially for longer term bank borrowings. (Referring to appendix A – table 8) The growth of the business was mainly funded by growing liabilities, as we can see that the growth of equity is not so significant, the company has not issued new shares to get funding. The company has simply retained some of the profit in each year into reserves. Consolidated cash flow statement (Referring to appendix A – table 9) The company has improved its cash flow generation as its business grew. The profitability of the company increased, and so as the cash generated from operation. And since the company has increased in size, it has increased its ability to finance from banks, therefore it also increased its cash generated from financing activities. Although the company has increased investment in fixed assets and hence the cash outflow from investment, this is offset by the increase in cash flow from operation and financing. II. PERL (Performance, Efficiency, Risk, Liquidity) analysis (Referring to appendix B and C) 1) Performance Profit margins (Gross, operating, net) Gross profit margin keeps increasing. The latest figure is 63. 35%, which is a very high margin. This is probably due to the increased brand image of the company, hence the company can increase the selling price of the products. Also, the company shifted the focus on selling products of its own brands more than imported brands, this also increased the gross profit margin. Both operating and net profit margin are also in an increasing trend (despite year 2008/09, a special year which financial crisis happened). But it is worth noting that the current margins are 12. 08% and 10. 12% respectively, which show a great difference from gross profit margin. This indicate the operating expenses are very high, eating up more than 50% of profit margin. The company should think ways to further reduce operating costs. Return on Equity (ROE) The company has increased its ROE along the years despite the special year 2008/09. The latest ROE is actually a high return, 21. 6%. So what are the main drivers of such high return? By utilizing DuPont analysis, the reason for return growth can be found: ROE = Net Profit Margin x Asset Turnover x Financial Leverage The net profit margin is increasing throughout the years. At the same time, since the financing ability of the company has increased, the financial leverage also increased. These two factors drove the ROE up, offse tting the diminishing effect on ROE by asset turnover. The asset turnover actually decreased in last two fiscal years, indicating the efficiency of turning asset to revenue decreased. It is a bit worry to see the ratio decreased from 1. 6 to 1. 17 in these 2 years. It may indicate that the asset size of the firm is too large, further expansion may not bring further increase in revenue. This may be an indicator of the firm has passed its optimum point and management must take extra care in evaluating whether the company should invest in expanding more retail stores or not. Extended DuPont analysis breaks down net profit margin into tax burden, interest burden, and EBIT margin. Tax burden of the company is actually increasing, i. e. it has to pay more effective tax hence impacting the net profit margin. But it’s still fine as the effective tax rate is still at about 20%, which should be quite low when compared to effective tax rate outside Hong Kong and China. Interest burden also experiences an increasing trend. This is reasonable since the company has increased financing ability and financed through more bank loans. EBIT margin is increasing, offsetting the negative effect of tax burden and interest burden. 2) Efficiency Fixed asset Fixed asset turnover is in a decreasing trend (from 16. 08 to 7. 98 in last five years). This indicates the efficiency of generating sales revenue from fixed assets investment is lowering. This confirms with the decreasing asset turnover ratio mentioned above. However the ratio is still at a high level, the management should still invest in fixed asset and expand the business, but extra care should be taken to determine the amount and scale to be invested. Inventory Inventory turnover is decreasing (from 3. 72 to 2. 48 in last five years). This indicates that in general, the speed of stocks selling has slowed down as the business expands. When this ratio is converted to days of inventory on hand, the meaning can even be clearer. The days increased from about 98 days to 147 days in these 5 years. Overstocking, importing or producing products which are not popular, or insufficient marketing efforts are all possible reasons to this decreasing efficiency. Receivables Receivables turnover is decreasing. To get a clearer meaning, the ratio is converted to days of sales outstanding, and this ratio is increasing (from 1. 97 to 11. 49). This ratio means on average how many days the company’s customers who buy on credit will pay their bills. This increasing ratio means that it takes more time to collect the bill from customers, meaning that capital has to be tied up for longer period. However the number actually is not large, it’s about 12 days and therefore an acceptable value. Payables Payables turnover decreased from 11. 14 to 5. 51. The ratio can be converted to number of days of payable. This ratio increased from 32. 76 to 66. 23. This ratio is the average amount of time it takes to pay its bills. The time has increased significantly. It showed the advantage of the growth of the company, i. e. when the company went listed and expanded, the ability to pay on credit increased. This increased time to pay bills increases the flexibility to manage working capital and hence benefits the operation of the company. Working capital The effectiveness of the company in using working capital has increased since the working capital turnover increased from 2. 72 to 4. 46 in last five years. This means that more sales revenue is generated for each dollar of working capital which funded the sales. This is probably due to increased size of the company, so that the company can get more funding by short-term bank loans, and increase its payables to different creditors. These increased funding are used to purchase inventories to generate sales revenue. 3) Risk Gearing All debt-to-equity, debt-to-asset and financial leverage ratios are in an increasing trend. As the company grows, more funding is needed. Financing by debt issuance is better than equity issuance since the required return by debt is lower, and there is possible tax advantage on debt payment. These three ratios are still in a healthy range and further increase in the ratio is still possible. Debt-to-common equity ratio is 0. 32 and debt-to-asset ratio is 0. 18, these two numbers are fairly low. This indicates that the company has a considerable capacity in debt financing if needed. Coverage Interest coverage ratio maintains at a high level (159. at 2010/11), although the company has increased financing by bank loans. That means the operating profit is more than enough to cover the interest expense and indicate that the business is healthy. Cash flow coverage ratio is also at adequate level despite it has fallen a bit (50. 54 at 2010/11). This is also a healthy signal because net cash flow is positive and adequate. 4) Liquidity Cash conversion cycle Cash conversion cycle is t he days the company takes to convert its investment in inventories back into cash. The company has an increased cash conversion cycle, due to the increase in days on inventory on hand. This is still an acceptable length (92. 15 days), but the company should try to lower the days in inventory on hand as mentioned above. Current and acid test ratio Both current and acid test ratio are decreasing, but they are still at a healthy level. Current ratio is at 1. 85, meaning the current assets are 1. 85 times of current liabilities, which is sufficient for its short-term obligations. Acid test ratio is 1. 12, meaning the cash-like current assets are 1. 12 times of current liabilities, indicating that it is sufficient to cover its short-term liabilities by short-term cash. Operating cash flow to maturing obligations This is also a measure of the company’s ability to meet short term liabilities from cash flow. Although the overall cash flow has improved, the current liabilities has also increased considerably, therefore this ratio is not at a high level (0. 44). The major cash outflow is from purchasing fixed assets and repayment of bank loans. Management should control the cash outflow in these two areas in order to improve the overall liquidity. III. Summary The company has a healthy business. It has an increasing net profit and positive cash flow. The ROE and profit margin are at good levels. It utilized bank loans to further expand its business, while the leverage ratios are still in a healthy range. There is no liquidity problem associated with the company as seen in liquidity ratios. However the management should focus on improving the efficiency of the company while expanding the business. The major concern here is reducing days of inventory on hand, in order to reduce the length of cash conversion cycle. To sum up, this is a company with good financial performance, and therefore it is worth to invest in this company. B) Cost of equity capital Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is used to determine the cost of equity capital. There are three major inputs in CAPM equation: risk-free rate, beta of the company stock to a benchmark market, and equity risk premium of the benchmark market. Since I. T. Limited is a Hong Kong based company, therefore the input parameters mentioned above should come from Hong Kong. Risk-free rate Hong Kong government do not issue bill or bond (despite the newly launched ibond, but that is a floating rate bond which its purpose is for general public to protect inflation). Therefore risk-free rate should be the yield on Exchange Fund Bills issued by Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Risk-free rate should be the yield on short-term bill, therefore the yield on one-month bill is selected, which is 0. 05%. Stock beta Hang Seng Index (HSI) is the benchmark index in Hong Kong. 5 years of monthly return stock of I. T. Limited and HSI were obtained. Stock Beta of I. T. to HSI can be calculated by using Slope function of Excel, or regressing both return series. The estimated beta is 1. 399, meaning that the stock of I. T. Limited is more volatile than the index. R2 coefficient is 0. 2261, meaning that about 22. 61% of the variability of the stock returns can be explained by variability in the index. Equity risk premium According to Zhu Zhu (2010), the equity risk premium of Hong Kong is 8. 19%. Applying CAPM: Cost of equity capital = (0. 05 + 1. 399*8. 19)% = 11. 51%. C) Weighted average cost of capital (WACC) The company has not issued any debt. The â€Å"debt† of the company is in the form of bank borrowings, so the effective interest rate of borrowing will be treated as cost of debt. In the latest annual report, the effective interest rate is 1. 4% (from notes 23 of annual report). Total bank borrowings is HKD594. 145M, total equity is HKD1846. 961M, therefore: WACC = 594. 145 / (594. 145 + 1846. 961)*1. 4% + 1846. 961 / (594. 145 + 1846. 961)*11. 51% = 9. 049% References: Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Exchange Fund Bills and Notes fixing (http://www. info. gov. hk/hkma/eng/press/index_efbn. htm) Zhu Zhu (2010) – Estimating the Equity Risk Premium: the Case of Greater China, Jie Zhu, Xiaoneng Zhu (http://citeseerx. ist. psu. edu/viewdoc/download? doi=10. . 1. 175. 7333rep=rep1type=pdf) Appendix A – Selected figures from financial statements Table 1 – Excerpt from summarized consolidated income statement 201120102009200820072006 HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000 Turnover3,834,422 2,995,952 2,733,256 2,021,283 1,530,763 1,314,443 Cost of sales(1,405,482)(1,176,707)(1,121,570)(819,423)(640,442) (540,243) Gross profit2,428,940 1,819,245 1,611,686 1,201,860 890,321 774,200 Other income – incentive income0 13,200 0 0 Other (loss)/gain(7,544)3,791 (11,123)1,900 (4,395)(273) Impariment of goodwill0 (4,217)(59,569)0 Operating expenses(1,958,255)(1,524,760)(1,468,877)(1,002,046)(749,898)(642,553) Operating profit463,141 307,259 72,117 201,714 136,028 131,374 Table 2 – Growth trend of turnover, costs and profit, calculated based on consolidated income statement 20112010200920082007 Increase/Decrease (%) Turnover27. 99%9. 61%35. 22%32. 04%16. 46% Cost of sales19. 44%4. 92%36. 87%27. 95%18. 55% Gross profit33. 51%12. 88%34. 10%34. 99%15. 00% Operating expenses28. 43%3. 80%46. 59%33. 62%16. 71% Operating profit50. 73%326. 06%-64. 25%48. 29%3. 54% Table 3 – Excerpt from summarized and standardized consolidated income statement 01120102009200820072006 Turnover100. 00%100. 00%100. 00%100. 00%100. 00%100. 00% Cost of sales-36. 65%-39. 28%-41. 03%-40. 54%-41. 84%-41. 10% Gross profit63. 35%60. 72%58. 97%59. 46%58. 16%58. 90% Other income – incentive income0. 00%0. 44%0. 00%0. 00%0. 00%0. 00% Other (loss)/gain-0. 20%0. 13%-0. 41%0. 09%-0. 29%-0. 02% Impairment of goodwill0. 00%-0. 14%- 2. 18%0. 00%0. 00%0. 00% Operating expenses-51. 07%-50. 89%-53. 74%-49. 57%-48. 99%-48. 88% Operating profit12. 08%10. 26%2. 64%9. 98%8. 89%9. 99% Table 4 – Excerpt from summarized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007 HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000 ASSETS Non-current assets Property, furniture and equipment727,022 233,395 229,124 179,850 93,191 Current assets Inventories736,717 394,520 411,145 323,724 196,299 Table 5 – Excerpt from summarized and standardized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007 ASSETS Non-current assets Property, furniture and equipment22. 13%11. 83%13. 44%11. 59%9. 38% Current assets Inventories22. 42%20. 00%24. 12%20. 85%19. 77% Table 6 – Excerpt from summarized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007 LIABILITIES Current liabilities Bank borrowings(214,911)(47,400)(47,400)(10,000)0 Trade and bill payables(360,545)(149,488)(155,993)(121,840)(66,805) Accruals and other payables(349,524)(178,245)(135,677)(140,200)(71,648) Non-current liabilities Bank borrowings(379,234)(35,200)(82,600)0 0 Table 7 – Excerpt from summarized and standardized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007 LIABILITIES Current liabilities Bank borrowings-6. 54%-2. 40%-2. 78%-0. 64%0. 00% Trade and bill payables-10. 97%-7. 58%-9. 15%-7. 85%-6. 73% Accruals and other payables-10. 64%-9. 04%-7. 96%-9. 03%-7. 21% Non-current liabilities Bank borrowings-11. 54%-1. 78%-4. 85%0. 00%0. 00% Table 8 – Excerpt from summarized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007 EQUITY Capital and reserves Share capital119,725 115,504 115,504 115,468 103,950 Reserves1,727,236 1,362,219 1,096,205 1,105,369 722,803 Non-controlling interests(3,749)0 0 0 0 Total equity1,843,212 1,477,723 1,211,709 1,220,837 826,753 Table 9 – Excerpt from summarized consolidated cash flow statements 20112010200920082007 HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000 Net cash generated from operating activities450,446 366,025 135,589 243,939 91,589 Net cash used in investing activities(508,347)(137,011)(156,242)(110,300)(101,843) Net cash generated from/ used in) financing activities204,453 (47,400)22,668 (76,497)(49,807) Net increase in cash and cash equivalents146,552 181,614 2,015 57,142 (60,061) Appendix B – Ratio formula Performance Profit margins Gross profit margin = Gross Profit / Turnover Operating profit margin = Operating Profit / Turnover Net p rofit margin = Net Profit for the year / turnover Return ratio Return of equity (ROE) = Net Profit for the year / Averageyear, year-1 (Share capital + Reserves) Decomposition of ROE ROA = Net Profit for the year / Averageyear, year-1 (Total Assets) ROE = ROA x Financial Leverage DuPont Decomposition of ROE Asset turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Total Assets) Financial leverage = Averageyear, year-1 (Total Assets) / Averageyear, year-1 (Share capital + Reserves) ROE = Net profit margin x Asset turnover x Financial leverage Extended DuPont Decomposition of ROE Tax burden = Net profit for the year / Profit before income tax Interest burden = Profit before income tax / (Operating Profit + Share of profit of jointly controlled entities) EBIT margin = (Operating Profit + Share of profit of jointly controlled entities) / Turnover ROE = Tax burden x Interest burden x EBIT margin x Asset turnover x Financial leverage Efficiency Fixed asset turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Property, furniture and equipment) Inventory turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Inventories) Days of inventory on hand = 365 / Inventory turnover Receivables turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Trade and other receivables) Days of sales outstanding = 365 / Receivables turnover Payables turnover = Cost of sales / Averageyear, year-1 (Trade and bill payables) Number of days of payable = 365 / Payables turnover Working capital turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Net current assets) Risk Debt-to-common equity ratio = (Short term + Long term bank borrowings) / (Share capital + Reserves) Debt-to-asset ratio = (Short term + Long term bank borrowings) / Total assets Financial leverage = Averageyear, year-1 (Total Assets) / Averageyear, year-1 (Share capital + Reserves) Interest coverage ratio = Operating profit / Interest expense Cash flow coverage ratio = Net increase in cash / Interest expense Liquidity Cash conversion cycle = Days of sales outstanding + Days of inventory on hand – Number of days of payable Current ratio = Current assets / Current liabilities Acid test ratio = (Current assets – Inventories) / Current liabilities Operating cash flow to maturing obligations = Operating cash flow / Current liabilities Appendix C – Calculated ratios 20112010200920082007 Performance Profit margins Gross profit margin63. 35%60. 72%58. 97%59. 46%58. 16% Operating profit margin12. 08%10. 26%2. 64%9. 98%8. 89% Net profit margin10. 12%8. 77%1. 56%8. 46%8. 0% Return ratios ROE23. 35%19. 53%3. 50%16. 70%15. 55% Decompsition of ROE ROA14. 76%14. 29%2. 61%13. 43%13. 05% ROA*Financial Leverage = ROE23. 35%19. 53%3. 50%16. 70%15. 55% DuPont decompistion of ROE Asset turnover1. 46 1. 63 1. 68 1. 59 1. 63 Financial Leverage1. 58 1. 37 1. 34 1. 24 1. 19 Net profit margin*Asset turnover*Financial Leverage = ROE23. 35%19. 53%3. 50%16. 70%15. 55% Extended DuPont decomposition of ROE Tax burden80. 65%83. 29%53. 97%81. 23%82. 63% Interest burden100. 46%100. 86%103. 66%106. 90%112. 12% EBIT Margin12. 49%10. 44%2. 8%9. 74%8. 63% Tax burden*Interest burden*EBIT Margin*Asset turnover*Financial Leverage = ROE23. 35%19. 53%3. 50%16. 70%15. 55% Efficiency Fixed asset turnover7. 98 12. 95 13. 37 14. 81 16. 08 Inventory turnover2. 48 2. 92 3. 05 3. 15 3. 72 Days of inventory on hand146. 89 124. 95 119. 58 115. 82 98. 19 Receivables turnover31. 76 31. 98 51. 12 81. 59 185. 10 Days of sales outstanding11. 49 11. 41 7. 14 4. 47 1. 97 Payables turnover5. 51 7. 70 8. 07 8. 69 11. 14 Number of days of payable66. 23 47. 38 45. 21 42. 01 32. 76 Working capital turnover4. 6 3. 91 4. 24 3. 39 2. 72 Risk Debt-to-common equity ratio0. 32 0. 06 0. 11 0. 01 0. 00 Debt-to-asset ratio0. 18 0. 04 0. 08 0. 01 0. 00 Financial Leverage1. 58 1. 37 1. 34 1. 24 1. 19 Interest coverage ratio159. 70 119. 70 29. 64 646. 52 45342. 67 Cash flow coverage ratio50. 54 70. 75 0. 83 183. 15 (20020. 33) L iquidity Cash conversion cycle92. 15 88. 99 81. 51 78. 28 67. 40 Current ratio1. 85 3. 00 2. 80 2. 93 4. 66 Acid test ratio1. 12 2. 08 1. 70 1. 91 3. 42 Operating cash flow to maturing obligations0. 44 0. 85 0. 36 0. 77 0. 58 How to cite Financial Analysis of I.T Ltd., Essay examples

Low-interest Rates on British Economy

Question: Discuss the impact of low-interest rates on british economy by using microeconomic and macroeconomic theory. Answer: Introduction The interest rates in the British economy are determined by the Central Bank of England. The Central bank of England is a national regulatory body that holds controls on both fiscal and monetary policies in the Britain. The economic system of a country is composed of both microeconomic and macroeconomic subsystems. The microeconomic theory is related to the economic conditions of an individual industry/household/customer. While, the macroeconomic theory is concerned with the state of the economy as a whole in the country. The macroeconomic theory covers major economic issues, such as currency value, inflation rates, GDP, economic development, infrastructure development, unemployment, income level, outputs, and occupation in the nation (Dransfield, 2013). This report discusses and analyses the impact of the interest rates on the British Economy by using the microeconomic and macroeconomic theories. As a result of low-interest rates by the Central Bank of England, the local and foreign investors are making a huge investment in the science, research, education, technology, training, and employment. The low-interest rates lead to fall in the commercial rates in the form of the relatively lower value of the British Pound, low borrowing costs, and low mortgage interest rates. The low-interest rates will create benefits to both customers and investors in the form of more consumption and high investments. The low-interest rates will result in a sharp rise in the purchasing power of the customers (Beer, 2013). Impact of Low-interest rates on British Economy by Using Microeconomic and Macroeconomic Theory Interest rates are the rates of interests paid by the borrowers or debtors for using the money borrowed from the lenders or commercial banks. It is a percentage of the principal amount paid on the payment of loans or credits for a certain period of time. The interest rates have affected the British economy to the great extent. It has contributed to the national economic development and growth that has allowed the foreign investors to invest hugely by running their business operations in the country (Golin and Delhaise, 2013). The Central Bank of England has continued with its economic policy with the low-interest rates over the last seven years to promote the investment, consumption, employment, and economic development. There are several reasons for keeping the low-interest rates by the Central Bank of England. Firstly, It will lead to better infrastructure development, high economies of scale, high purchasing power, more employment, and high demands. It will create a lot of employment opportunities for both fresh and experienced employees. Secondly, as a result of low interests by the Central Bank of England, the costs of borrowings have decreased that encourages the people to make more investments and savings because of low principal payment on credits and loans. The low-interest rates create more value to the national currency (Pound) that assists in the national economic development and high GDP because of lower funds paid by the local industries for the import of the raw material, goods, and service s from other countries (Giudice, Kuenzel, and Springbett, 2012). It also attracts the foreign investors to make huge investments in the business because of the favorable economic policies. The low-interest rates have decreased the prices of the government debt interest payments that will lead to fall in the tax rates in the future which will keep all investors or industrial sectors satisfied. The low-interest rates have reduced the prices of the goods and services that exceeds the demands than supply. The low-interest rates have also encouraged the increased industrial activity and growing demand for the goods and services. It has also promoted the import and export of the goods and services with other countries. As a result of the low-interest rates, the local companies will have to pay the lower costs for purchasing the raw materials, goods, and services from other countries. Similarly, it will also assist in the export of the goods and services to the foreign customers at low costs. The low-interest rates will create more earnings to the industrial sectors by promoting the industrial activity. The low-interest rates will increase the industrial productivity by reduc ing the cost of production because the low-interest rates and inflation will keep the prices of oil lower that will lead to low transportation cost (Piana, 2002). The lower interest rates will also provide the industries a framework to recruit the highly talented and experienced workforce at lower rates. The microeconomic theory studies the economic behavior of an individual firm, household, industry or consumer. It covers several issues, such as demand, supply, cost, production, production efficiency, market structures, pricing, distribution, profit maximization and resource strength of an individual firm. According to a microeconomic theory which is known asTime Preference theory of Interest, the rate of time preference determines the rate of interests and the interest rates determine the consumer behaviors. This theory explains the concept of interest rates through the demand for accelerated satisfaction (Simon, 2015). This theory attempts to explain the interest rates with the equation of comparing the perceived value of expected future returns with the interest rates on the savings by the customers. This theory explains, if the interest rates increase, the demand pattern for the goods and services from the customers decreases because of the additional amount to compensate the consumers for foregoing current consumption. In contrary to this, if interest rates reduce, the consumerism or customers demand increase. The time preference amount of money is expressed as a proportion of consumers current income that will compensate them for the forgoing consumption. The interest rates decide the consumers buying behaviors and consumption (Cable, 2010). According to this theory, if the future income is expected to be higher than current income of the customers, then there will be high time rate of preferences that will induce the customers more savings than spending. On the other hand, the macroeconomic theory studies the economic behaviors at a whole including all industries, customers, and households. It covers unemployment, demand and supply, production, cost, profits, labors, pricing, and distribution of all industries and customers in the aggregate. The Keynesian theory explains the macroeconomic system. According to Keynesian theory, the interest rates are determined by the demand and supply pattern. According to this theory, the high-interest rates will lead to lower the profitability of investment. There is an inverse relationship between the investment and the rate of interest. The low-interest rates will encourage the firms to borrow and invest hugely. The planned investment spending increases with a fall in the rates of interest. Savings also depend on the interest rates as savings are directly related to the interest rates. The people make more savings with a rise in the interest rates (Hall and Atkinson, 2016). The interest rates als o have an inverse relationship with the income of the people. The higher interest rates, lower the income of the people. So, Keynesian Model determines the impact of interest rates on the income, saving, investment and demand and supply pattern. It is expected from the Central Bank of England to keep the interest rates static or lower in the future in order to promote the entrepreneurship and industrial activity. The low-interest rates through the cash-flow channel will encourage the higher spendings in aggregate. The reduction in the interest rates will make savings less attractive and borrowings more attractive. If the Central bank of England continues its monetary policy with the lower interest rates, the growing demand pattern for the gross domestic products will be increased. The central Bank of England is expected to keep the interest rates lower to encourage the economic growth, full employment, and price stability (Hodder Education, 2015). It will reduce the unemployment rates by creating a lot of employment opportunities for the local and outside employees. As a result of the low-interest rates, the international trade will be promoted and enhanced because of exchange of the goods and services in the great quantitie s between the countries. It will also enhance the customer spending on the goods and services. It is expected that the Central Bank of England will not increase the interest rates untill 2018 that will be a good news for both investors and customers. The low-interest rates will raise the supply of the money and demand for the goods. It is expected from the Central bank of England to keep the interest rates lower or static for the next 4-5 years to boost the international trade and push the global demands higher. The low-interest rates will boost the prices of the assets as well as high shares prices and housing. The high share prices will maximize the wealth as well as living standards of the people. Conclusion In the conclusive statement, it is identified that both microeconomic and macroeconomic theories provided a detailed analysis of the impact of the low-interest rates on the British Economy. The Central Bank of England will be expected to continue its monetary policy with the low-interest rates for the national economic development. The low-interest rates will create a lot of new business opportunities for the local and foreign investors. The low-interest rates will also create more value to the national currency of the Britain. The Low rates of interest will attract the investors to invest hugely in the research, development, technology, training, and education so that new employment opportunities could be created. The low-interest rates will also promote the consumerism by increasing the purchasing power of the customers. So, the low-interest rates will continue to be the national economy stronger in the future and will add value to the national currency in comparison to other curre ncies. References Beer, M. (2013) Early British Economics from the XIIIth to the middle of the XVIIIth century. UK: Routledge. Cable, V. (2010) The Storm: The World Economic Crisis and What It Means. Britain: Atlantic Books Ltd. Dransfield, R. (2013) Business Economics. UK: Routledge. Giudice, G., Kuenzel, R., and Springbett, T. (2012) The UK Economy: The Crisis in Perspective. Great Britain: Routledge. Golin, J., and Delhaise, P. (2013) The Bank Credit Analysis Handbook: A Guide for Analysts, Bankers and Investors. USA: John Wiley Sons. Hall, S. and Atkinson, F. (2016) Oil and the British Economy. UK: Routledge. Hodder Education (2015) Edexcel Economics A Student Guide: Theme 2 The UK economy - performance and policies. UK: Hachette Publication. Piana, V. (2002) Interest Rates: A Key Concept in Economics [Online]. Available at: www.economicswebinstitute.org/glossary/interest.htm. (Accessed: 26 March 2016). Simon, J. (2015) Low Interest Rates and Environmental Risks [Online]. Available at: https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2015/sp-so-2015-10-08.html. (Accessed: 26 March 2016).

CDA Competency Statement (Example) Essay Example

CDA Competency Statement (Example) Paper Competency Statement 1 The goals in my classroom are to achieve the objective of safety by providing the children with safe environment and equipped children to explore without any injuries. Another goal is to promote healthy habits. Another one is to promote a good age appropriate learning environment. Competency Goal 1 healthy learning environment Functional Area 1: Learning Environment: One of my goals is to maintain a safe environment for the children in my care to play and explore in. This is an important goal for me to have because without a safe environment there is. The space should be attractive and have a home ike feeling that reflects various cultures and diversity. For parents, emergency plans, important phone numbers and resource information should be up a t all times. One should have a balance of quiet and active centers, wet and dry centers, cooperative and solitary play centers and a schedule with a balance of inside and outside play Competency Goal 2 Functional Area 2: Safe. Candidate provides a safe environment to prevent and reduce injuries. To establish and maintain a safe, healthy learning environment my number one goal is to keep my children safe while they are in my care. I always make sure that I am aware of the entire possible ituation that involves an injury.Competency Goal 3 Functional Area 3: Healthy. Candidate provides an environment that promotes healthy and prevents illness, and teaches children about good nutrition and practices that promotes. We will write a custom essay sample on CDA Competency Statement (Example) specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on CDA Competency Statement (Example) specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on CDA Competency Statement (Example) specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer By modeling and teaching best practices of washing hands often, exercise, eating healthy foods and snacks. By providing healthy meals to promote good health this helps the children on the long run from being overweight and obese. We try to plan our meals by using the USDA Food Pyramid and we provide water at any time of day and at meals also. We also encourage the parents to give their children a variety.

Proper Parallel Construction of Sentences with Not, Neither, and No Longer

Proper Parallel Construction of Sentences with Not, Neither, and No Longer Proper Parallel Construction of Sentences with Not, Neither, and No Longer Proper Parallel Construction of Sentences with Not, Neither, and No Longer By Mark Nichol When writing sentences in which a comparison is made with not, neither, or â€Å"no longer† as the focus of the contrast, be vigilant about achieving logical parallel structure, as discussed and demonstrated in the explanations about and revisions to the following examples. 1. Becoming a better parent is not about becoming a different person, but doing what it takes to do less of the behavior that is not true to who you are. When the contrasting word or phrase (in this case, not) is associated with the preposition about, which is often the case, if not precedes about at the beginning of a point, about must be repeated at the beginning of the counterpoint: â€Å"Becoming a better parent is not about becoming a different person but about doing what it takes to do less of the behavior that is not true to who you are† (a â€Å"not about [this] but about [that]† construction). Alternatively, precede not with about for a â€Å"about not (this) but (that)† construction: â€Å"Becoming a better parent is about not becoming a different person, but doing what it takes to do less of the behavior that is not true to who you are.† 2. This publication is neither intended to be a legal analysis nor a detailed cookbook of steps to take in every situation. In a neither/nor construction such as this one, when the key verb (here, intended) applies to nor as well as to neither, the word must precede the first word as well as the second: â€Å"This publication is intended to be neither a legal analysis nor a detailed cookbook of steps to take in every situation.† Alternatively, revise the sentence to hinge on not and or rather than neither and nor: â€Å"This publication is not intended to be a legal analysis or a detailed cookbook of steps to take in every situation.† 3. Compliance is no longer viewed primarily as a legal risk to be avoided, but rather an operational one to be monitored. Similarly, when employing â€Å"no longer† to compare a previous state with a current one, make sure that the verb or verb phrase before â€Å"no longer† is located so that the verb applies both to that phrase and to the concluding part of the sentence describing the current state: â€Å"Compliance is primarily viewed no longer as a legal risk to be avoided, but rather as an operational one to be monitored.† Alternatively, convert the second half of the sentence to an independent clause by inserting a verb: â€Å"Compliance is no longer viewed primarily as a legal risk to be avoided; rather, it is an operational one to be monitored.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Signs and Symbols You Should KnowSocial vs. SocietalComma After Introductory Phrases

Does globalisation benefit the third world or does it in fact make Essay

Does globalisation benefit the third world or does it in fact make them worse off and increase inequality - Essay Example It is this structural feature that is at the very core of explaining why individuals are worse off as a consequence of globalization. Finally, this analysis will provide empirical evidence reflecting the consequences of these structural and systemic inequalities. Consideration will be paid to living conditions and the exploitation of labour as evidence of greater inequality and a worse situation under globalization. INTRODUCTION: In the past decade, the process of globalization has become solidified as a central political agenda in the developed or Western world. That this phenomenon has lead to the â€Å"polarization† between the â€Å"rich† and â€Å"poor† is substantiated in countless studies [Rapley, 2003: 87; Murshed, 2002: 2; Beck, 2000: 57; McGrew and Poku, 2007: 7]. It will be argued in the following analysis, that there is greater inequality precisely because of the structural conditions that have created globalization. It will be argued that the neolibe ral agenda in theory, practice and influence are precisely what makes inequality an indisputable problem. Thus, inequality due to globalization is systemic in nature, and measured in impact by an increased degree of polarization between the rich and poor. It will be argued that globalization increases inequality. NEOLIBERAL BACKGROUND: Globalization is largely a post-war (1945 -) phenomenon. It describes the process whereby ‘trade’, ‘economies’ and ‘communication’ become more integrated on a world scale [Ohmae, 1991: 192]. Largely speaking, it has been facilitated by a marked increase in a variety of technologies, such as progress in the areas of transportation and telecommunications, and it has been also facilitated by relative political stability and a consensus of market capitalism. As a term, it was coined in the early 1950's but did not come into prominence in political literature until the late 1960's [Hopkins, Ed., 2004: 4ff]. One of the defining features of this process, is that it is largely market-driven, and as Moody [1998] argues, legitimated by the rise of neo-liberalism coinciding with the decline of Keynesian economic models [Moody, 1998: 119]. That is, and in brief, Keynesian economic theory, posited that the means of creating economic growth was to centrally control an economy to some extent, and this entailed establishing a social infrastructure which placed money directly into the hands of individuals within a society. The theory suggested that by increasing the amount a government spent in areas such as social programs, the greater the prospects that the benefactors would generate revenue for the economy in general or a â€Å"believe that money earned by the richest would trickle down to the poorest† [Boyle and Sims, 2009: 27]. By contrast, neo-liberalism maintained that by cutting social programs, and in turn, reducing government spending and therefore taxes, more wealth would be generated thro ugh the reinvestment of income which would have been paid in taxes: â€Å"this new policy approach was neoliberalism: a mixture of neoclassical economic fundamentalism, market regulation in place of state guidance, economic redistribution in favor of capital (known as ‘supply-side’

Enviromental Ethics of Cleaning up the Oceans Term Paper

Enviromental Ethics of Cleaning up the Oceans - Term Paper Example There are many reasons to affirm that all citizens of this world have ethical and moral responsibility to maintain the oceanic health, starting with the cleaning of its waters. Since, ages oceans have provided around half of the required oxygen to all living bodies on earth. Nevertheless, the detection of Dead Zones in several seas and oceans reveal that the marine life within such zones is starving for oxygen. This is mainly due to large scale dumping of agricultural and industrial waste into the oceanic waters. The exploitation of oceans has resulted in extinction of many races of sharks and other predatory fishes along with other species like turtles. Hence, it is the moral responsibility of all global citizens to gear up the efforts towards aggressive ocean cleaning. Various moral theories come up when discussing about the moral responsibility of human kind in saving the environment of this planet. However, main aspects of moral theory include the issues related to sustainability, compassion and participation. It is the duty of every citizen of world to ensure that all creatures and human beings are treated equally. The sustainability is the extension of this moral obligation, which defines the purpose of meeting the requirements of present generation, while ensuring that future generations are able to meet their needs sufficiently. It is in this context that human kind needs to understand its moral duty towards the preservation for oceanic marine life, which is one of the important supporters of human life system. If the ocean waters are not clean, the formation of dead zones will be frequent. This will deprive these waters of the vibrant marine life. We need to preserve marine life for the sake of our present and future generations. The action, which ensures that every one gets sufficient quantity of goods required to live in a

Yarra Plenty Regional Library Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Yarra Plenty Regional Library - Assignment Example Libraries have been in the forefront in embracing the technological changes in the information society. Libraries have been the driving force in research in various fields of study. Therefore, libraries have been the biggest player on matters of education. With the recent challenges of global financial crisis, libraries are facing the challenges financial undercutting. Considering the stakes at hand, there is a strong feeling that this may have a negative impact on the economy and the community since libraries will not be in a position to fulfill their mandate. One of the strengths of libraries is that there is increased demand for knowledge than ever before and libraries are in a position to handle information both analog and digital. There is a continuous growth in world population, which is an opportunity for libraries coupled with the fact that there is more demand for information. The biggest threat to libraries is the advancement in technology. Availability of e-books on the in ternet has reduced library visits since most books can now be accessed through the websites. To solve this problem of budget cuts, the public and the government must be made to understand the importance of libraries in today’s world and the steps libraries are taking to remain relevant in this dynamic world. When you compare the libraries today and the libraries in the past half a decade, you will not fail to notice a number of new developments. These developments cut across technological changes and cultural changes. Since libraries are used by the public, adequate financing of the libraries is seen as a good move by the public. Adapting to new technological changes calls for financial sacrifices, which must be undertaken by the library management. They need to hire competent personnel to help adapt to the changes in the technological world. There is a need for procurement of new machines and new books and house them in a state of art building.

Development of an IMC Plan

Development of an IMC Plan Executive summary:- This term paper mainly focus that how an IMC plan is generated in order to make the product familiar with the customer and also how to introduce the product in the market. IMC [integrated marketing communication]is a vast concept under which their comes many sub concept on whose basis the whole IMC plan stands. The various sub topics which I have consider for making IMC PLAN for washing machine are situational analysis, determine a problem or opportunity , determine the budget and develop IMC strategies . Objectives:- the objective of this term paper is as follows :- To understand the concept of IMC. To analyze to how important an IMC is for making a brand. To understand that how various message can be send to various audience. To understand how various promotional activities can come out from IMC. IMC is about integrating the customer into the company: Its not about putting widgets or services in the marketplace based on what you think customers need. Instead, it is becoming a responsive organization driven by consumer insights that knows its customers wishes, wants, needs and desires and then creating products and services to fill those needs. IMC argues you need to get to know the customer better than your competitors, and maybe even better than they know themselves. A true IMC company is closer to the customer, and would never be nervous or ashamed to have one sit in on a strategic marketing meeting—a true IMC company has the best interests of its customers in mind. INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION Integrated Marketing Communications is a simple concept. It ensures that all forms of communications and messages are carefully linked together. At its most basic level, Integrated Marketing Communications, or IMC, as well call it, means integrating all the promotional tools, so that they work together in harmony. Promotion is one of the Ps in the marketing mix. Promotions has its own mix of communications tools. All of these communications tools work better if they work together in harmony rather than in isolation. Their sum is greater than their parts providing they speak consistently with one voice all the time, every time. As a marketing strategy, Integrated Marketing is closely related to and inter-dependent with Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). Indeed, many observers use the term integrated marketing when they probably mean integrated marketing communications. Whereas IMC aims to ensure consistency of message and the complementary use of media, integrated marketing is concerned with the alignment and focus of the whole organisation. Schultz and Kitchen (2000) identified four stages of IMC concluding with an integrated value-based model. According to this interpretation, as the organisation becomes more committed to achieving consistency and differentiation across all customer contact points the business management challenge moves from marketing and marketing communication to the whole organisation, requiring a cultural and systemic infrastructure for integration. This in turn calls on new practices and higher-order levels of organisation management. For example, at this point IMC and CRM are effectively merged. As I am doing the IMC plan for tooth brush it is very essential for me to view the situational analysis: My products will mainly target the kids in which I think is a very large scope for the tooth brush industry and I want to grab that opportunity. Name of the tooth brush:- SHEILD TOOTH BRUSH Brand vision: To be the catalyst of change for younger generation and to create a brand inspiring innovation and to see SHEILD in the hands of 70% of our target market after 5 years. BIG IDEA: â€Å"Brighten Up The Tooth Brushing Experience† Campaign Idea 1 : Its not a Compulsion. Its an Adventure!! Campaign Idea 2 : Watch Your Mouth. Campaign Idea 3 : Good Brushing Now Means More Teeth later. Campaign Idea 4: Rediscovering Fun! Communication Channel Strategy: Buzz or street marketing Awake TV, Print Interactive website Prompt Point-of-sale activities, Sales promotion. My focus : SHEILD, which is an unattractive toothbrush, we propose a plan to revitalize the brushing experience for kids. Target market : Aimed at children from age 5 to 10 Colgate, Oral B are the two major players advertising their messages. SHIELD is one of the local companies of Jammu and Kashmir, which is manufacturing distributing toothbrushes for kids. They are not at all considering the kids market segment as distinct and have not come up with a separate communication campaign for kids yet AIM : To generate trial, achieve 40% purchase rate and become most preferred local brand in kids segment. OBJEVTIVE: To build an image of SHEILD as adventurous and exciting, create awareness about our presence and inform about the features and benefits of SHEILD. Single idea : â€Å" Tooth brushing is not a compulsion, its an adventure†. Proposed Essence : changing the way you brush. Forever! SHEILDS SITUATION ANALYSIS Product Attribute: A toothbrush with a small head and soft bristles having rubber feet at the bottom enabling it to stand. Pricing: Rs.40 Distribution : Distributed in Jammu and Kashmir wholesalers and retailers. Promotion: We will offer trade incentives/ promotions in the form of gifts and discounts but on occasional basis. CURRENT TARGET MARKET FOR MY PRODUCT: Target market approach: Kids 5-10 years Product positioning: The product gives a better SMILE Attitudes: Mostly people are not aware of the fact that SHIELDS toothbrush range also has toothbrushes for children and those who do know dont find it appealing enough as compared to imported brands. CUSTOMERS: Due to increased level of awareness, parents care more about their childrens teeth. Previously consumer didnt have much knowledge about toothbrush functions and benefits. Consumers used to purchase toothbrushes without much information about the product. They dont have good quality perception of local products. MARKET SEGMENTATION : GEOGRAPHIC: All the cities which include both Jammu and Kashmir. DEMOGRAPHICS: Gender: Both male and female. SEC: Both low class and middle class people. Family Size: Families even with one child are enough for our target but if the family size is big, its even better because more family members means more children if not currently then may be in future. Family life cycle: The main focus is on full nest which means families having children at home. Education: Children studying in High schools to Primary school. PSYCHOGRAPHICS: Personality: Marketers endow their products with a â€Å"brand personality† that corresponds to a target consumer personality. If we look at the range of toothbrushes by SHIELD, well see that none of them has a distinct personality that could make it prominent amongst the other brands available in the market. SOWT ANALYSIS OF THE BRAND: Strength: SHIELD is a known company(Hypothesis), mostly people are aware of SHIELD toothbrush due to its distribution network by the virtue of which it is known to very body. Leader in oral and baby care segment because we have made our main thrust on the baby segment which is going for us in the long run. Diversification Strong distribution network Wide range of toothbrushes, each targeting different age groups. Price Range (ranging from Rs( 10)to Rs( 55) affordable as well as expensive. Weakness: Weak Positioning and Image. Low budgets. Lower quality as compared to MNC competitors. People mostly prefer Oral B and Colgate over Shield. Opportunities: Consumers are preferring functionally effective premium products with professional quality to meet their personal care needs. People are now more conscious about their image and appearance and prefer to use branded products. Increase in awareness of dental hygiene and its importance. Increase in population Exploring new categories like kids market Migration of people from rural to urban areas and Rural population switching from miswak, Desi toothpowder to toothpaste. Automated supply chain which we have decided to have for our shield product. Lifestyle of people is changing and they are becoming more. Awareness and Education of the people due to the increasing education standards. Hygiene conscious. Variety seekers. Threats: Local companies producing low priced products. Threat from Chinese products that are cheaper and more attractive. Threat from substitutes. Low brand loyalty and weak image. Increase in raw material price. Inflation in the country Competitors re-launching their products Competitors increasing their marketing budgets Unstable economic conditions SHIELDS CURRENT APPROACH Shields Objective: To become No.1 category toothbrush and we plan to pursue it by increasing awareness level among the customers. Their core communication message is based solely on smile, its our positioning strategy. Big idea is based on the fact that people should replace their toothbrush after every 3 months, otherwise it loses its effectively. We will follow continuous advertising pattern, the advertising mediums used are TV, radio, and print ads. Strength: product range, portfolio Tagline : â€Å"haso zara aur khil khila k† We will also use several sales promotion tactics in order to enhance the sales and ultimately the profit of our firm. Competitors: Our local competitor is EZI GRIP (Hypothetical) and we have made certain marketing strategies in order to tackle with these local brands. Chinese products are making the competition more and more tough for the other brands to survive the market. Colgate ,Oral-b are the two main competitors of my brand. ANALYSIS OF KIDS TOOTHRBRUSH MARKET TOOTHBRUSHES DEMOGRAPHICS PURCHASING POWER Sheild: Our main objective is to target the kids market. Our product is designed in a very sophisticated manner in order to save the grasp the kids market in which we think is the huge opportunity for the brush makers. Shield aimed at children from age 5 to 10 containing a very small head with soft bristles, particularly for children whose set of milk or baby teeth are still breaking. Is a high priced product. Our customers have a high purchasing power and are ready to spend money on purchasing an expensive toothbrush. Shield Junior is made for children from age 4 to 10 containing a very small head with soft bristles. The toothbrush has candy shaped figures at its end with two different colors. Low priced as compared to other competitors to maintain a certain difference between both the brushes and their target markets. Little Star shield made for children from age 5 to 10 containing a very small head with comparatively hard bristles. Little Star does not contain costly raw materials and does not have an extraordinary design therefore, it is also low priced. Chota Shield cater to the children from age 6 to 11 and the design of the toothbrush is very plain aimed at parents who dont want to spend muc h on toothbrushes. Regular toothbrush for children with an ordinary design and specially targeted to people with a low purchasing power. Little Star Shield is same as Chota Shield same as our new product FLEX JUNIOR aimed at children from age 10 to 12 as its head is a little big as compared to other toothbrushes and is made for those children whose baby teeth have been replaced by adult (permanent) teeth. Low priced according to the pricing of competitors because flexible toothbrushes are provided by all competitors. ISSUES FACED BY THE BRAND (SHIELD) Main purpose of the toothbrush is not being fulfilled (does not stand and falls down) Over Priced Low Quality Major focus is on the range and not on promoting children's toothbrushes separately Unattractive Colors Low Budget Major competition from low priced products (Chinese) in the market BRAND VISION: To be the catalyst of change for younger generation and to create a brand inspiring innovation. To see Giggles in the hands of 70% of our target market after 5 years. OBJECTIVE: To spread awareness about the importance of oral health and improve the quality of teeth of Indias Children so that they are able to live a better, happy and healthy life. ROOT STRENGTHS: Wide range of toothbrushes Local Brand The ‘Care is the core message, which has made Shield a recognized household name in Jammu and Kashmir. BENEFITS: SHIELD toothbrush is for children with a complex mixture of different sized permanent and baby teeth. It features a combination of bristles for cleaning sensitive gaps and to effectively reach and clean teeth. The handle is cartoon shaped sized to fit optimally into a childs hand for maximum comfort and control. POSITIONING: DISCRIMINATIOR: Only Shield is the first one in the local market of INDIA to emphasize only on KIDS Tooth Brushes. ESSENCE: Changing the way you brush. Forever! STRATEGY: Niche strategy By targeting the segment of consumers aged between 5-10 and charge a premium price. To be able to differentiate from other tooth brushes in the KIDS segment. AGENCY BRIEF 1. What are the JOBS TO BE DONE and resulting Marketing Objective? To get kids and their parents to understand the importance of having healthy teeth, brushing at young age and to create an association between fun, excitement and tooth brushing. MARKETING MEASURABLE OBJECTIVES: To generate trial amongst non-users by 30 % till January 2012. To achieve a 40% purchase rate amongst the target market by the end of 2010. To be the most preferred local brand in the kids market segment by the end of 2012. MARKETING COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES: To build an image of SHIELD as adventurous and exciting among 25% of our target market. Create awareness about our presence in the kids market segment. To inform 40% of the target audience about the features and benefits of SHIELD by the end of 2010. 2. What insight drives this brief? Oral health has a major impact on children physically and psychologically. It can have an impact on growth, enjoying life, appearance, how children speak, chew, taste food and socialize, as well as their feelings of social well-being . Dental health problems affect children, which impact their performance as students, lower self-esteem, and slow down their personal development. Failure to prevent dental diseases has a large effect on school attendance. Kids take tooth brushing as a compulsion and are always forced to do it by their guardians. Children find their toothbrushes boring and prefer their favorite cartoon characters on their tooth brushes. KIDS like bright, colorful and funky toothbrushes. Today kids have more autonomy and decision-making power within the family than in previous generations, so it follows that kids are vocal about what they want their parents to buy. " Pester power quot; refers to children apos;s ability to nag their parents into purchasing items they may not otherwise buy. Increasing participation of women in the workforce has prompted a shift in this role as children are increasingly the quot;buyersâ€Å" for the entire family. Even in families where women do not work, children are observed to share this role with their mothers. Children enjoy greater discretion not only in making routine consumption decisions for the family but also in pestering their parents to buy other products desired by them. CONSUMER INSIGHTS FROM OUR STUDY: There are lot of reasons why we choose that we will go for kids toothbrushes are: KIDS like bright, colourful and funky toothbrushes. Kids take tooth brushing as a compulsion and are always forced to do it by their guardians. Children find their toothbrushes boring and prefer their favorite cartoon characters on their tooth brushes. Favourite cartoons are Tom Jerry and Barbie. Majority of the mothers prefer Oral-B and Colgate. Majority of the mothers prefer imported brands of toothbrush over SHIELD, some of them do not know that SHIELD also has tooth brushes for Kids. Quality is the most important factor in purchasing a toothbrush. Dentists recommendation influence a lot when it comes to purchasing tooth brushes for kids. Parents are ready to buy a good quality tooth brush at any price. Kids spend less than 3 minutes while brushing their teeth Candies are consumed a lot by the kids. Majority of the kids eat sweets 1-2 times a day. Kids tooth brushes are replaced within 3-4 months. 3. Who is our Target Audience? PRIMARY TARGET AUDIENCE: AGE: KIDS aged between 5-10 years SEC: We will target both the sections of the society that is both financially strong as well as strong sections of the society. ATTITUDES: Have social interaction with peers of the same age group. They are not concerned about brushing their teeth and are quite careless. They love to eat lots of sweets and chocolates. LIFESTYLE: Kids that go to school, and are in the process of continuous learning. INFLUENCERS: Encouragement from parents, caregivers, teachers, adults, brothers, sisters and children themselves has a great influence on oral health. If everyone starts to encourage kids to take care of their teeth and also encourage big white smiles, children of all ages will benefit. SECONDARY TARGET AUDIENCE: Parents of the KIDS 4. What do they think do now? KIDS have comparatively less knowledge on how to keep their teeth neat and clean. Some of the children take tooth brushing as a very boring exercise and also create problems for their parents. Kids get attracted towards cartoon oriented tooth brushes. The bristles of toothbrushes do not clean the plaque properly. 5. What would we like them to think and do in response to the Communication? We would like them to think of tooth brushing as a fun experience, an experience full of adventure. In response to this, we want them to start tooth brushing twice a day for 3 minutes. We want KIDS to be the chooser of GIGGLES. We want parents to realize the importance of kids brushing their teeth at an early age. 6. What is the single most important point to communicate? â€Å"Tooth brushing is not a compulsion, its an adventure†. 7. Why should they believe it? Because SHIELD is the first one to communicate about only of KIDS toothbrush in India. SHIELD will be the first one to introduce colorful cartoon oriented toothbrushes for kids in Jammu and Kashmir. CREATIVE PLAN Our launch of SHIELD tooth brush with the cartoon character design will make the brushes appealing, colorful and more exciting for the kids. Kids will happily enjoy the brushing experience and will be encouraged to do it themselves without being forced by their parents. The soft and effective bristles of the new SHIELD Tooth brush will help children brush their teeth smoothly and they would not complain about the bristles being too hard or their teeth hurting. To communicate that SHIELD adventure of brushing will wave off the boring image of tooth brushing from the minds of the kids. To communicate that Kid should brush their teeth for 3 minutes and it is an effective way to keep their teeth healthy and clean. To communicate those Kids should take care of their teeth by keeping an eye on the intake of their food and cut down on candies, chocolates etc. To communicate that SHIELDS range of toothbrushes include tooth brushes for kids as well. CAMPAIGN IDEA 1 MESSAGE: Widen your imagination and make tooth brushing an activity full of excitement, fun and adventure that takes the kids into a fantasy world full of Disney characters dancing, playing and enjoying. TAGLINE: Its not a compulsion, its an Adventure†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.!!! APPEAL: Music appeal (Rhyme) JINGLE : Brush your teeth, Give your teeth a treat. Brush up and down and all around, To keep them clean and neat! We have decided to make certain ads so as to make a positive mind set in the minds of to costumers; the ad would be like this.. TV ad A girl is sleeping at night and sees a nightmare that one of her tooth is broken and she gets hurt by using her old hard tooth brush†¦suddenly she sees that a new tooth brush (SHIELD comes in) and kicks the old tooth brush that caused the little girl pain, and tells her that SHIELD is her new gentle best friend and wont hurt her while brushing â€Å"Creating a cartoon world, where all the cartoon characters are brushing their teeth and enjoying with SHIELD†. MESSAGE: WATCH YOUR MOUTH The toughest part of the body is not your bones but your teeth. Each tooth is covered with a substance called enamel which is so strong that it can cut or crush the toughest kinds of food. There is a price to pay for this toughness: unlike bones, teeth cannot repair themselves and it pays to take care of them. Keep track of what you are eating. PRINT Ad MESSAGE: When feeding is done at naptime: The child falls asleep and the liquid becomes pooled around the teeth. This liquid provides excellent medium for the bacteria to grow and cause CARIES which is defined as Tooth Decay causing cavity through bacteria. COMMUNICATION STRATEGY MEDIA SELECTION RATIONALE COMMUNICATION STRATEGY Trigger the target to talk about the Brand, create maximum exposure and create buzz around the new innovation. Awake the target, build high awareness, change consumers Perception. Captivate the target to make a purchase, engage, interact with the consumers and strengthen associations. Prompt/induce the target and get the product in consumers hands. Buzz or street marketing TV, Print activities, Brand Activation, Interactive website Point-of-sale activities, Sales promotion TRIGGER To create BUZZ and to generate talkability, we will place an Out-of-home hoarding at SRINAGAR. The hoarding would consist of a giant sized toothbrush with the cartoon character Jerry and the brand name GIGGLES on it. Another way to gain maximum exposure and create buzz around the new innovation will be to use a MOBILE BUS, decorating it with bright bulb lights, and a picture of Giggles toothbrush along with some of the favorite cartoon icons of children. The mobile bus will roam near parks in the evening. PRINT: In Print we will go for Hindustan Times, Times of India and Greater Kashmir(local news paper of Kashmir) ,with articles highlighting important facts and information such as Good oral health is important to your overall well-being. Healthy teeth not only enable you to look feel good, they make it possible to eat speak properly. Steps that should be taken to prevent dental problems and how to keep your smile healthy and bright. What you eat†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦affects your teeth. Proper tooth brushing techniques. We also decided to carry on some other activities like In welcoming the school holiday and the start of new school activities, we will launch a colorful package of Shield toothbrush along with a small tube of toothpaste for milk teeth with famous characters of TOM JERRY, BARBIE etc. CELEBRATING NATIONAL SMILE MONTH OR ORAL HEALTH WEEK: Following are the activities: Dental Expert Talk Oral health educators and dental professionals who want to help the community and for schools, colleges or workplaces who want to educate their pupil or staff. Both children and adults can learn something from an expert talk and different subjects can arise ranging from the importance of fluoride in toothpaste to the systemic links between the health of the mouth and body. Class Visit to the Dentist seeing the dental practice up close and meeting friendly staff can help encourage regular dental visits. Local newspapers will be happy to take a photograph of the event that can benefit both school and dentists. Creating characters and playing a small skit in schools. Characters such as Mickey mouse the tooth brush, exhibiting decayed tooth and a neat and clean tooth that uses SHIELD TOOTHBRUSH. Apartment activities- dental hygiene. FUN BASED ACTIVITIES IN PROMOTING OUR PRODUCT Organizing Special Fun days , an ideal way to grab the attention and interest of children as well as general public and can work well in schools, dental practices, retail outlets, colleges and the community. A fun day can be a great way to create a buzz in your local area as well as to engage your target audience. People are far more likely to learn when they are having fun, – so make sure you also hand out information. Writing stories on THE TOOTH FAIRY would be held in various schools, and distributing prizes to winners. Distribute ice creams among children, and the ice cream stick should be shaped like a toothbrush having the brand name SHIELD on it. Tooth brush drawing competition among children in different schools. Take a close-up of each students mouth (smile). Have each student cut out their mouth from the picture and glue it onto a cutout of a tooth. Have them write a sentence under their smile and on the tooth that describes something they do to keep their teeth healthy. (I brush my teeth after every meal. I drink milk. I use SHIELD. I eat a healthy diet) After these are completed staple them to a Bulletin Board entitled; LOOK WHO IS SMILING!!! PROMPT: Consumers Perceive the Brand through these 5 senses†¦ Sight, Touch, Sound, Smell and Taste. Marketers can use Sight and Sound for GIGGLES. Logos Contrast Style Size Cartoon characters Slogan Music Bright and happy color combinations can be used to give a certain brand recognition in the minds of the customer. Instead of holding a toothbrush, make the whole thing a Cartoon character to make SHIELD recognizable in the market. A unique rhyme in the ad (mentioned above) with a different tune which whenever. These senses will always help in breaking through the clutter and make SHIELD prominent amongst the different competitor products. This SENSORY BRANDING will stimulate the person to buy the product. POINT- OF -SALE (HIGH PRODUCT VISIBILITY): Audio Visual Display: A display in which audiovisual technology is used to stimulate purchases Big visual display of SHIELD TOOTHBRUSH Special racks, banners, signs Distribution of pamphlets, posters, puzzles, and stories to dentists Retail boards SALES PROMOTION: Placement of drawings of SHIELD TOOTHBRUSH in newspapers ( kids section), requesting them to color the drawing and send it to the company to get a FREE SHIELD tooth brush. ( for trial generation) Free SHIELD tooth brush with SHIELD TOOTHPASTE. Sampling: Organize samplings to pharmacies and dentists to generate trial. Coupons for discounted dental check up for 6 months on purchasing SHIELD TOOTH BRUSH. Coupons for getting free bags, lunch boxes, water bottles for schools (Specialty advertising) EVALUTION OF IMC PLAN IN LEGAL REGULATRY BUSINESS: The advertisement that we are giving in the media is legal which means that it has been approved by the law. All the documents that are required are legally approved. There are no fault chances in the documents. In future there will be no problem to the customer regarding any documented work or any servicing criteria, no problem will arise. This is a step taken for the customer satisfaction, for attracting more customers and this also help in sales area. The advertisement of my product is according to the standards of ASCI (Advertising standards if council of India) the advertisement of my product is within the legal boundaries of Indian Penal Code1860 The young Person act 1956 Indian copyright Act 1957 Trade mark act 1999 Advertisement of my product is truthful and honest. All objective information, claims and comparisons should be capable of substantiation. I the advertisement there is no reference to a person, firm and institution. We have not misled consumers by implication, omission, and ambiguity. We are not abusing the trust of consumers or exploit their lack of experience or knowledge. DEVELOPED AN IMC PLAN FOR SOCIAL AND ETHICAL VALUE: There is no objection against any advertisement of our product. There is no problem against our product. Our product is socially accepted which means our product is a social product that will be accepted by the society very easily for sure. There is no negative impact on the customer or people living in the society of our product as it is legal product. Customers are easily attracted towards the product The advertisement of my Tooth brush is according to the codes of ASCI as it is not derides any race, caste, color, creed or nationality. I am sensitive towards ethnic and cultural issues. BIBLOGRAPHY: http://www.multimediamarketing.com/mkc/marketingcommunications/ http://responsiblemarketing.com/blog/tag/imc http://www.slideshare.net/nyssar/shield-imc http://www.scribd.com/doc/13395424/lovely-ads-real-Funny http://www.scribd.com http://www.slideshare.com Books: Advertising Promotions(kruti shah,alan dsouza)

Marxism and Labour Theory - The Conflicts between Employee and Employer

Marxism and Labour Theory - The Conflicts between Employee and Employer 1. Introduction 1.1 Overview on the essay topic To organisations, employees (labours) are wonderful resources, because they are compact and multi-purpose, capable of simple manual tasks or dealing with complicated machines, most importantly, they are the profit maker for their employers. However, there is always a problem between employees and employer. Any attempt to manager in a humane way, by consensus, is doomed to failure because of the irresolvable conflict between employees and their employers. Within nearly every organisation or company conflicts occur from time to time, between the employers and the employees. This paper argues what kind of conflicts between employee and employer from the perspective of Marxism and Labour Theory. 1.2 Structure of this essay The main purpose of this essay is to define the conflict between employees and employers is irresolvable. Firstly, I will briefly introduce Marxism and the Marxism Economy. Secondly, I will explain some of the Marx ´s issue on Labour Power and Capitalism Power, this will lead to the next section- the conflict relationship between them in an organisation. Thirdly, in this section I will describe the sources of conflict in an organisation, and discuss why the conflict between them is irresolvable. Finally, in this last section of the paper, it reviews the essay topic again, and I shall illustrate my opinion on the conflict between employee and employer, finally, I shall explain why organisation employer or owner can not manage their employees in a humane way. 2. About Marxism 2.1 Overview on Marxism Marxism, or Scientific Socialism, is the name given to the body of ideas first worked out by Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). In their totality, these ideas provide a fully worked-out theoretical basis for the struggle of the working class to attain a higher form of human society--socialism. [1] Marx was a revolutionary who was against capitalism and actively promoted its overthrow. Marx is the representative of the working class; also Marxism represents the second great leap in the development of proletarian ideology. [2] In the Marxism Economy, at first sight, it looks as if goods and things are produced mainly for people's needs. Obviously every society has to do this. But under capitalism, goo... ...heory_of_value_2.html (Access Date 06-05-05) Lesson from working class history From: http://www.bolshevik.org/1917/no21/No21gnst.pdf (Access Date 02-05-05) David M. Boje (1999) Labour Process Theory and Other Grand Narratives From: http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/grand.html (Access Date: 02-05-05) --------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] What is Marxism by Rob Sewell and Alan Woods [2] 1993: Long Live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism [3] An Introduction to Marxist Economy by Rob Sewell and Alan Woods [4] this is one of the definition from http://www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/theory/marxism/terms/laborpower.html (Access Date 11-05-05) [5] What is Marxism by Rob Sewell and Alan Woods [6] Ibid [7] The Marxist critique of capitalism [8] Labour Power Definition: http://www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/theory/marxism/terms/surplusvalue.html [9] An introduction to Marx's Labour Theory of Value by Brooks Mick [10] Ibid, same resource [11] Lesson from working class history [12] Marxism and Trade Unions by Leon Trotsky [13] Lesson from working class history. [14] Labour Process Theory and Other Grand Narratives by David M. Boje (1999)

The History Of Foreign Direct Investment Economics Essay

The history of Foreign Direct Investment can be traced back to the yearss of the colonial epoch. During the colonial yearss, there was the demand for an oversee investing every bit good as transportation of managerial accomplishments. This was due to the rough direction of the baby industries in Nigeria as at that clip. Right from independency in 1960, Nigeria recognized the importance of external finance in make fulling or lending to make full the domestic nest eggs spread, the foreign exchange spread and the engineering spread in development. It was non, until 1957, when the state becomes autonomous that a more positive action towards foreign capital and peculiarly Foreign Direct Investment replaced the laissez faire policy of the pure colonial epoch. Get downing from the twelvemonth, five Acts of Parliament provided a bundle of inducements for foreign investors. These include broad revenue enhancement vacations, accelerated depreciation allowances, market protection, freedom to convey in and repatriate capital and net incomes, and a more favorable and competitory environment. These were embodied in the Industrial Development ( Import Duties Relief ) Act 1957, the Industrial Development ( Income Tax Relief ) Act 1958, the Customs Duties ( Dumped and Subsidized Goods ) Act 1958, the imposts ( Draw back ) Regulations 1959 and the Income Tax ( Amendment ) Act 1959.DEFINITION OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTForeign Direct Investment can be defined as an investing that is made to get a permanent direction involvement in a concern endeavor operating in a state other than that of the investor defined harmonizing to residence World Bank ( 1996 ) . M. Sornarajah ( 2010 ) defined Foreign Direct Investment as â€Å" the transportation of touchable or intangible plus from one state to another for the intent of their usage in that state to bring forth wealth under the sum or partial control of the proprietor of the assets † . Okomoh ( 2004 ) described Foreign Direct Investment as non merely for the transportation of capital but besides widening an endeavor from its place state into foreign host state. Practically, Foreign Direct Investment means exerting corporate control over international boundaries.2.3 THEORIES OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTTheory of Foreign Direct Investment can be traced back to Hymer ( 1960 ) in his work â€Å" On Multinational Corporations and Foreign Direct Investment † , where he stated that â€Å" since autochthonal houses have better cognition of their local environment more than foreign houses, the latter will merely be able to vie if they possess other advantages to counterbalance for their disadvantages of operating in foreign sites † . Besides, foreign direct investings are common where imperfectnesss exist in a market. This means that the theory of perfect competition is non likely to work in instances Foreign Direct Investment. Theory of Foreign Direct Investment can therefore handily be explained under two classs: Micro ( Industrial Organisation ) theories ; and Macro-finance ( cost of capital ) theories. Harmonizing to Caves ( 1971 ) , the focal point is normally on market imperfectnesss, every bit good as the aspiration of Multinational Corporations to spread out their market power normally on market. Uniting micro and macro accounts, some theories had emerged justify Foreign Direct Investment from positions of the investment houses and the receiver economic systems.Theory OF FIRM EXPLANATIONHarmonizing to this theory, following Caves explanation before stated, a house will go on to put at place until optimal degree of investing at place is reached and farther investing will do Fringy Cost to be higher than Average Cost and monetary value per unit of end product. This theory thrives good utilizing the microeconomic behavior of houses. The decision of the account is that every bit long as the projected accrued hereafter net income borders warrants present outgo, a undertaking is said to be feasible. This theory is non realistic as it does non set into consideration export selling and behavior of Multinational Corporations that operates under progressive marketsINTANGIBLE ASSETS EXPLANATIONThe intangible assets explanation provinces that Foreign Direct Investment of the Multinationa l Corporations have some proprietary cognition or intangible assets such as engineering and techniques that guarantee efficiency, patents, designs, hallmarks, trade name names, trade secrets and know-how which other houses have no entree to. These assets possess similar features of ‘public goods ‘ in the sense that they can be exploited by different houses ( within the transnational system ) without consuming their utility. Because of this property of ‘Pareto Optimality ‘ , the usage of the proprietary assets can be optimized by spread outing abroad. For case, ‘Coke ‘ trade name name is recognized world-wide and Coca-Cola will do more return from the hallmark when more workss are constructed. It is of import to observe production for export can non be an alternate to locating a fabrication workss because of the transit cost associated with export every bit good as possibility of trade barriers. On whether a licensing understanding would hold been another option, the finding of royalty payment is ever really subjective, while authorities of developing states do hold terrible influence on such an option ; and many Multinational Corporations are non normally ready to portion such assets.

A Synopis of The Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allan Poe's short story â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† takes place in the protagonist's house. It is told through a first-person narration given by the protagonist.It is unclear where the protagonist is or who the person being spoken to at the beginning of the story is. The protagonist's sex isn't specified but for ease of discussion â€Å"he† will be used to refer to the same.There were only two occupants of the house wherein the story unfolds: the protagonist and an old man. The relationship between them is not clearly established but it is clear that the protagonist is irked by the old man.The latter's most distinctive characteristic is his blue vulture-like eye.   There are few other characters introduced in the story: a neighbor who calls the police complaining of noises from within the house and policemen who investigate the said complaint.The story is moved by the protagonist's obsessive desire to murder the old man because of his frustration with the old man 's eye. He attempts to commit the deed several times but is disappointed. On the eighth attempt he enters the old man's room again and this time the   latter awakens and sits up. The light from the protagonist's lamp hits the blue eye.He imagines that he hears the old man's heart beating louder and smothers the old man to death. He chops the body to pieces and buries the pieces under the floorboards to hide his crime.However, when the policemen come to investigate the scream heard by the neighbor he imagines that he still hears the beating heart from underneath the floorboards.Fearing that the policemen hear the beating as well, he confesses to his crime and begs them to unfasten the boards and dig up the body.Works CitedPoe, Edgar Allan. The Complete Illustrated Stories and Poems. UK: Bounty Books, 1994.

Songs Do Have Meanings essays

Songs Do Have Meanings essays Songs are an integral part of everyday life. Most people wake up to them, or listen to them on the way to work or even at work. However, most people do not look deeper into the song in order to find the real meaning. Most of the meanings that people come up with are so far off from the true meaning. If one looks for three phrases or lyrics that stand out in a song, and does not try to manipulate the words to make them mean something that they are not actually stating, then one would have a better chance of finding the true meaning of the song. A song that one could interpret very easily would be by The Dave Matthews Band entitled So Right. When a person reads the lyrics the first four lines stand out. The first four lines are: Oh but tonight were dancing in the fate light This lyric is the easiest for anyone to understand because the meaning is stated very obviously and all one has to do is read the lyric to understand that. Matthews is saying that people should go out and do everything they can. People should party hard, go where they want to go, and do not stop until the sun comes up. The reason is that no one knows when they are going to die, and everything anyone is doing could be ended by fate in a split second. Other lyrics help support the idea of what the song is about. The second lyric is: Dont rob yourself of all that you could be This would support the first lyric in that it is emphasizing the point that people should not hold back therefore people need to go out and give it their all every chance that they get. In a sense, they should go hard, meaning that people should do everything that is in their power to do what they would like to do and when they would like to do it. ...

The Impact of Mobile Marketing on Mobile Users Research Paper

The Impact of Mobile Marketing on Mobile Users - Research Paper Example Mobile marketing has helped the mobile users enhance their relationship with the organization brand. The interaction between the consumers and the organization has been enhanced. Mobile phones have created a good platform for delivering information to the organizations. The introduction of mobile advertisement has made it easy for consumers to purchase their products using mobile devices, and this has made to the increase in the purchase response (Leppà ¤niemi & Karjaluoto, 2005). Compared to the traditional methods of marketing, mobile marketing has tremendously changed the perception of marketing today. The mobile users’ perception towards marketing has changed, and they feel it personal as though they are part of the marketing strategy (Church & Smyth, 2009). The consumers who are the users of mobiles feel as though they own the organization. The change in perception towards organization and businesses has been reported as a result of mobile marketing. Several companies are now recording a significant increase in the number of customers purchasing their products (Smutkupt, Krairit, & Esichaikul, 2010). Mobile marketing has been a success in the recent year. This has been contributed by the fact that the user of the mobile is instantly getting convinced upon receiving the message on a certain product or services being offered. This has contributed greatly to the organization to create relevance in marketing communication messages in meeting the expectations of the customers (Varnali & Toker, 2010). This mode of advertisement has been able to meet the satisfaction of most customers. This is because most customers are always getting frequent updates on the organization progress and the introduction of new products at the disposal. This has been able to save customers a lot of time and resources as opposed to the old methods including the use of internet. This up to date

Attend an Employment Tribunal and write a court report about your Essay - 1

Attend an Employment Tribunal and write a court report about your visit and what you witnessed - Essay Example The ground for his dismissal was not fair. Mr R Rembiszewski had been working for Atkins Ltd for a period of 16 years. He initially joined the company as a Railway architect, a position he held for four years, before he was promoted to the position of the deputy design officer. After working in this department for two years, his boss left, making this position vacant. After a thorough consideration by the Board of directors, he was found suitable to hold the position, and thus was promoted to become the design officer of the company. This was a clear indication that his hard work and efforts were recognized by the company. However, he was never promoted anymore during his tenure in the company, although many promotions had been made. His concern about this saw him protest against discrimination during promotions. This led to his dismissal without of reasonable notice (Painter & Holmes, 2011 p28). The Employment Tribunal had to consider these issues under a single case filed by Mr R R embiszewski, and determine the case appropriately. Lawyers represented each party to the case, where they argued the case for their clients. The facts regarding this case were first presented by Mr Rembiszewski’s lawyer. According to him, there were a series of promotions that occurred in the company during the 16 years that he had worked with the company, yet he had only been promoted twice. According to Mr Rembiszewski, an employee was eligible for promotion if he/she had worked with the company for a minimum of five years, as provided for by company’s policies. This meant that he ought to have been promoted at least three times. The facts also stated that he protested this discrimination, since most of his colleagues, who had worked with the company for a similar duration, had obtained their fair share of promotions. After protesting, the management of the company

The document will be a one-page critical summary of the five (5) Essay

The document will be a one-page critical summary of the five (5) handouts - Essay Example In ‘Man vs Machine’ this debated is also considered, visually indicating the specific elements the man and machine disagree on in terms of what is legitimate. This article indicates the specific parts of the art that have been disagreed upon by the art historian and the machine (namely, the original painting of a number of human figures). Ultimately, it’s clear that the technology is in need of further development, and may always fall short of human conceptual ability. In ‘The Van Gogh Project’ this analysis is furthered in terms of wavelet analysis on Van Gogh paintings. While similar to the previous articles, this article is notable for its potential contribution to art history, as it hints that the computer technology may be able to detect stylistic shifts through the artist’s different periods. The next article examined was ‘‘7: Decimel Numeration and the Place Value System.’ This essay examined the historical nature of a number of mathematical elements, most notable the decimal system as an Indian invention. In these regards, it argues that the question is much more complex than simply being related to the development of a decimal system, but a complex process of evolution. Within this spectrum of development a number of cultural influences are demonstrated to be part of decimal system.