M019 Regular Assignment - Understanding Retail Essay

M019 Regular Assignment - Understanding Retail - Essay Example E- Tailing companies such as Onsale, @home, Webvan and Boo.com have experience their fair share of failures and were eventually closed down (Caroll and Casey, 2004:2). This goes ahead to prove that not all e-tailing companies have been successful in business. High street retailers have been in existence for a long time and have substantial loyalty and a wide customer base in the global market (Shepherd, 2007:66). They have strong brand names that are easily recognised by the consumers and this makes it easy to sell their merchandise on their online stores. Renowned fashion lines, mobile companies, food joints have a well established online business that contributes to a considerable amount of their income. New entrants have a hard time competing with these high street companies. High street companies have a competitive advantage since they have more resources, state of the art technology and better customer loyalty. It can be noted with a lot of concern that e- tailing is a relativel y new concept in some parts of the world. However, they are slowly catching up with the spread of the internet across different parts of the world. ... In conclusion, although e-tailing has grown rapidly in some parts of the world including the UK, US and some parts of Asia, there are those that that are not aware of the concept. It entails a wide array of businesses ranging from auction sites, entertainment sites and consumer based sites. In addition to, e- tailing facilitates the electronic usage of goods and services between buyers and sellers and helps bridge the language barrier (Cuthbertson, 2012:57). Recent studies reveal that e- tailing has opened new opportunities for companies from various parts of the world. It has helped companies reach a high number of shoppers from all over the world and has been shopping to be a fast and hustle free experience. This has led to a considerable increase in revenues gained by high street companies. Retail Internalisation Nearly thirty years ago, every retailer in the global scene was a pure nationalized firm with an irrelevant share in the international market. Currently, retailer interna tionalisation is one of the most momentous trends that have accelerated immensely in the past two decades. It can be argued that retail internationalisation is much more than the opening of stores abroad as it includes a wide range of issues (Wrigley et al., 2005:440). A close look at the 200 top global retailers reveals that they operate numerous countries and have established a remarkable capacity in the global market (Hanf and Pall, 2009:2). In fact, many retail companies earn a considerable share of their revenue from foreign markets. There are various companies that have established their subsidiaries in the international market and failed miserably. This goes ahead that there is much more to retail internalisation than open stores in various parts of the world.

Moving towards a cashless society Essay Example for Free

Moving towards a cashless society Essay In history there was no money but people used to evaluate commodities in monetary terms. People used to make trade of goods for goods that could be estimated to have same monetary value as waved. The person who wanted to buy some commodity could make estimates of the commodity the seller has and compare its value in terms of worthiness to the commodity of exchange. Money was later invented as a tangible form that includes paper and coin. Transactions were all handled in monetary value and different currencies were also put in place for different nations. Different rates were also set up to be able trade efficiently on different currencies. Cash became the day to day ways of trading were one had to have paper money so that they could be able to acquire whatever they want. Banks were developed for easier and safe storage so that no one could get hold of in illegally. Cash or money has the following advantages like that the mode of payment is easier and simple because no so much transactions are made. Counterfeit money is also easy to detect and systemic risks are hardly a problem. There is no paper trail and is a peer to peer mode of payment. It also introduced lots of problem like theft and counterfeiting of paper cash. This led to the revolutionary of cashless society by introduction of cheques where people no longer carry cash but writes cheques that authorizes withdrawals and payments in terms of cash. (Thorndal, 1994) Traditionally deposits have been used for payments at a distance. Deposits can be transferred in a number of ways: payer initiated transfer, direct debit, standing order, check, credit card. With distance to distance payments or mode of trade the demand for are more fast and effective ways of communication and trade came into place. The introduction of ATM card was introduced by the banks to enhance trade. People no longer had to carry cash but could make withdrawals through these cards. The electronic cash system came into place where people can buy things over the internet using cards as a form of electronic commerce. This electronic cash system involves use of cards that have been categorized as credit cards, electronic cash and smart cards. The credit cards involve creating an encrypted channel for use of cards for internet like VISA or MasterCard. Electronic cash uses specially designed software where customer buys electronic cash for digital wallet then sends as payment to merchant. Examples are DigiCash and CyberCash. Smart cards include contact less and swap cards like MasterCard, Visa, Quicklink, VisaCash, Protonn and Danmont. The growth of payment cards reflects their attractiveness to consumers over other forms of payment and credit. Payment cards offer consumers numerous benefits, including better management of one’s expenses, improved recordkeeping, greater shopping convenience, reduction of the risk of theft, float for those who do not revolve balances, rewards from use of cards that are available for additional purchases, and, especially for debit cards, convenience in obtaining cash. I first discuss these benefits and then consider the benefits of payment cards when used to obtain credit. (Wallace, 1983) Payment cards allow consumers to manage their money better by making it possible to anticipate, plan, and match their obligations to their available funds. The payment cards allow consumers to smooth out unexpected expenditures such as car repairs or family emergencies . Payment cards also reduce the costs of record keeping and retaining individual receipts. Checks also offer this advantage but payment cards do not require the additional inconvenience of recording in and then rebalance a checkbook. Payment cards can also reduce the time and transaction costs associated with shopping. Advances in technology have dramatically increased the speed of processing card transactions which are now substantially faster than writing checks. If the ATM is outside of the consumer’s network the consumer must pay a fee to withdraw the money. In contrast transactional users of payment cards pay nothing to use their card. Transaction errors, such as receiving too little or too much change, are also probably higher with cash than with electronic payment card transactions. Another advantage of payment cards is that payment cards can be used in a wide variety of outlets hence helping both consumers and merchants. (Krueger, 1999) Some Debit cards, PIN or online cards allow consumers to withdraw additional cash beyond the price of the purchase for which the card is used thus saving the use of ATM. Unsecured personal finance loans are expensive with much higher initiation fees than credit cards. Credit cards are attractive for consumers for both cost and convenience. General purpose credit cards have also substantially displaced retail store credit. We have also so many disadvantage of using payment cards. One of this disadvantage in that they are risky for customers because they cay be incur fraud easily. People can use your card and pin number once known to withdraw or use your money. Credit cards are also expensive to acquire because they are costly. Payment cards are only acceptable by registered merchants and hence are not applicable everywhere. Card users also incur high interchange fee and cost while transacting using this payment cards. (Prinz, 1999) Specific regulations need to make a cashless society of cards work smoothly. Regulation in the payment card need to be set due to the claim of interchange fees are too high and as a result reduces consumers to overuse payment card. Interchange fees arose from the structure of the Visa and MasterCard networks. Visa adopted a fixed interchange fee which was not linked to the merchant discount charged by individual acquirers. A uniform fee reduced the transaction costs of negotiating separate interchange fees between acquirers and issuers and eliminated the difficulties that issuers faced in monitoring in the merchant discount set by the acquirers. Visa and MasterCard reduced the interchange fees charged to supermarkets hence reducing the merchant discount. Some regulations were also imposed on regulating card frauds that many banks face. Fraud card detectors have been setup and laws governing the enactment of the card fraud have been set to punish those fraudsters. The winners of the cashless society are the consumers or users of the cards because they have been absorbed from the risk of physical theft of money. Even though there are fraudsters, the users are not exposed to so much risk of theft. Card users can effectively purchase things online regardless of the distance because all transactions are done to the and at a very high speed. The losers are the merchants or company providing this services because the have to incur all the expenses of setting up this technology and infrastructure. Lastly they incur the problem of making all transactions possible regardless the distance and parties involved. The merchants incur all this cost and expenses in this cashless society. (Buiter, 2005) Reference Buiter, W (2005): New developments in monetary economics: Economic journal, Vol. 115 Thorndal, J. (1994): Prepaid cards and monetary Review: Danmarks Publishers Krueger, M. (1999): Towards a Moneyless world: Dept of Economics and finance: University of Durham Press Prinz, A (1999): Money in the real and Virtual World: Netnomics journal. Wallace, N (1983): A suggestion for oversimplifying the theory of money: Economic journal

Americas Oil Problem Essay -- American Economy, Oil Industry

The United States is in a recession and depends on foreigners to fuel our country. Oil companies are taking advantage of the power they have over gas prices and the economy is at one of the lowest points in all of our history. It can be seen that the way things are going now that change needs to occur for America to get back on its feet. Drastic changes will need to happen if we are going to continue to enjoy living in a very advanced and prominent country. By developing proper offshore drilling techniques, and alternate energy, America could eliminate debt and lessen dependence on foreign oil. As it stands, oil companies have a firm grasp of the American economy. As the price of oil increases, the price of living also increases. Not only that, but they are getting away with paying dues they owe. "Oil companies have escaped more than 60 billion dollars in royalties because of a loophole to get access to more leases. The United States is the third largest producer of oil in the world, and 31 percent of that production comes from land owned by the federal government" (Offshore Drilling Will Enrich Big Oil Companies 2). America maintains this title even though "America's crude oil productivity has decreased since 1985" (Crude Oil Production 1). Currently, oil is becoming more expensive and damaging the economy while America is becoming more dependent on foreign oil; decreasing productivity and narrowing offshore drilling. The oil industry is making an immense profit. Oil companies that secured leases in 1998 and 1999 haven't been paying royalties, even though a bill signed in November of 1995 required royalties to be paid in proportion to the oil profit made. An example of a company profiting because of this is "West Texas Inte... ...ational security. As voters, and future voters, we need to vote for candidates that understand the colossal importance of using renewable energy and offshore drilling to start a recovery of the economy and keep America as a power figure. It will cost billions of dollars for research and perfecting offshore drilling, but it is a long-term investment that will have an enormous payout. If America was to fail in alternative energy research and offshore drilling have multiple spills; the worse that could happen is we go farther into debt. The country is already trillions deep into debt. Taking a risk and finding other ways to generate profit is how we will stimulate growth. The future is here. Fossil fuels will not last forever. If America leads the charge into the renewable energy field we can continue to be a very powerful nation and get the economy back on track.

High School and Education Essay

1a) Cultural Deprivation -Intellectual Development: development of thinking and reasoning skills. Theorists would argue that many WC homes lack educational books, toys and activities that would help stimulate a child’s intellectual development. Douglas- WC pupils scored lower on test of ability, as their parents are less likely to support their children’s intellectual development. Bernstein and Young- mothers choose toys that influence intellectual development. Criticism: WC may not be able to afford these toys etc. -Language: children fail to develop necessary language skills and grow up incapable of abstract thinking and unable to use language to explain, describe, enquire and compare. Restricted & Elaborated code; Bernstein. MC have an advantage as the elaborated code is used by teachers, text books and exams. Also MC pupils are already fluent speakers (socialisation) so they ‘feel at home’ in school and are more likely to succeed. Criticism: Bernstein describes WC speech inadeq uate. -Attitudes and Values: Parents attitudes and values are a key factor affecting educational achievement. Douglas- WC parents place less value on education. Feinstein- the lack of interest is more important than financial hardship or factors within school. Many WC subcultures have different goals, beliefs, attitudes and values from the rest of society. Hyman- WC subculture is a self-imposed barrier to educational success. Sugerman- Fatalism, Collectivism, Immediate Gratification, Present-time Orientation. WC children internalise the beliefs and values of their subculture through the socialisation process meaning under-achievement. -Compensatory Education: Policy designed to tackle the problem of CD by providing extra resources to school and communities in deprived areas. E.g. Sure Start, Education Action Zones etc. Criticism: Don’t see the real cause of under-achievement (poverty and material deprivation). -Criticisms: Keddie; CD is a myth and blames victims. A child cannot be deprived of their own culture they are just culturally different. Troyna and Williams; teachers have a ‘speech hierarchy’ where MC speech is highest. Blackstone and Mortimore; parents attend fewer parent evenings as they may work longer hours/less regular hours or put off by school’s MC atmosphere. Also may not help their children’s progress as they lack the knowledge. -Studies show that WC children are more likely to leave school from the age of 16 and are less likely to go on to sixth form and university. Also working-class children are more likely to start school unable to read, and are more likely to fall behind in reading, writing and number skills. 1b) Material Deprivation -Referred to poverty and lack of material necessities (housing/income). -Stats; 32% of WC students were considering moving out of the family home to attend university. 90% of failing schools are in deprived areas. 33% of those receiving free school meals got 5 or more A*-C GCSE grades. 90% of ‘failing’ schools are located in deprived areas. -Housing- overcrowded housing means less space to do work, play, sleep etc, and greater risk of accidents. -Diet and health- lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals. Poor nutrition -> weaker immune system -> lowering children’s energy levels -> get ill easier (poor attendance at school). WC children are more likely to have behavioural or emotional problems. -Financial Support- WC children lack equipment and miss out on school trips. They also make do with hand-me-downs (results in being stigmatised/bullied). Children living in poverty take on jobs (baby sitting, cleaning, paper rounds) which has a negative impact on their school work. Also very few go on to university. The government has tried to tackle this problem, e.g. EMA, raising the school leaving age and providing free-school meals. -Criticisms: Ignores internal factors and cultural deprivation. 1c) Cultural Capital -Bourdieu suggested MC culture is as valuable in educational terms as economic capital. The forms of knowledge, values, ways of interacting and communicating ideas that MC children possess are developed further and rewarded by the education system (qualifications).WC have a lack of cultural capital which leads to exam failure. They also ‘get the message’ that education isn’t meant for them thus they truant/leave school early/provide no effort. -Education, economic and cultural capital can be converted into one another. E.g. MC children with cultural capital are better equipped to meet the demands of school and gain qualifications. Wealthier parents can convert their economic capital into educational capital by sending their children to private schools, and paying extra tuition. -Gewirtz: sees how greater parental choice of school has benefited one social class more. Study; 14 London schools with interviews from parents and teachers. She found that differences in economic and cultural capital lead to class differences in how far parents can implement choice of secondary school. She identifies three main types of parents; privileged-skilled choosers (MC parents who used their economic and cultural capital to gain educational capital for their children), disconnected-local choosers (WC parents whose choices were restricted by their lack of economic and cultural capital), and semi-skilled choosers (mainly WC who were ambitious for their children but lacked cultural capital). Internal Factors (class difference) 2a) Labelling -Attaching a meaning to someone. Teachers often attach labels regardless of their ability or attitude. -Howard Becker- Did a study based on interviews with 60 Chicago high school teachers; they judge pupils to what they think is the ‘ideal pupil’. WC children were furthest (regarded as badly behaved). -Cicourel and Kitsuese- Did a study of educational counsellors in an American high school; they claimed to judge students according to their ability, however, they judged students on their social class/race- MC have more potential than WC children. -Rist- Did a study of an American kindergarten; the teacher used information about children’s background and appearance to place them into separate groups. At the front was the ‘tigers’ (MC, given complex work), ‘cardinals’ and then the ‘clowns’ (given easy work like drawing). -Sharp and Green- Did a study about a ‘child-centred’ primary school; children picked their own activities, teachers felt when a child is ready to learn they will seek help. However, teachers believed that children who weren’t ready should engage in ‘compensatory play’. Their findings support the interactionist view that children of different class background are labelled differently. They argue that the negative labelling of the WC is also the result of inequalities in wider society. 2b) Self-Fulfilling Prophecy -A prediction that comes true because it has been made. Step 1: Teacher labels pupil and makes predictions. Step 2: Teacher treats the pupil accordingly. Step 3: Pupil internalises the teacher’s expectation which becomes part of their self-concept/image, and becomes the kind of pupil the teacher believed (prediction is fulfilled). -Streaming: involves separating children into different ability groups (streams). Each group is taught differently. Studies show that the self-fulfilling prophecy is likely to occur once streamed. WC children are usually put in a lower stream as they aren’t ‘ideal pupils’. It is difficult to move up into a higher stream thus are locked into their teachers expectations -> self-fulfilling prophecy as the children live up to their teachers expectations by under-achieving. 2c) Pupil Subcultures -A group of pupils who share similar values and behaviour patterns. They emerge as a response to the way pupils have been labelled (reaction to streaming). -Lacey: Differentiation- process of teachers categorising pupils according to their ability/attitude/behaviour. Polarisation- process in which pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one of the two opposite extremes. Pro-school subculture- placed in higher streams, remain committed to the values of school and gain status through academic success. Anti-school subculture- placed in lower streams, have inferior status. -Hargreaves: There are two distinctive subcultures: Conformists and Non-conformists delinquents (a delinquent subculture that helped guarantee their educational failure). -Woods: argues that rather than seeing pupil subcultures as either conformist or deviant, it is more realistic to see a variety of possible adaptations/responses to the schooling process. Pro-school: Ingratiation (pupils who try to earn the favour of teachers), Opportunism (those who vary between teacher and peer approval), Compliance (pupils who conform for instrumental reasons), Ritualism (pupils who go through the motions), Colonisation (pupils who avoid trouble, but will deviate if there is less punishment). Anti-school: Ritualism, Retreatism (not opposed to school values, but not concerned about achieving success), Colonisation, Intransigence (deviate and aren’t bothered about the consequences), Rebellion (pupils have little regard to school values and reject school teachings). -Ball: found that when the school abolished banding, the basis for pupils to polarise into subcultures was largely removed and the influence of the anti-school subculture declined. However, differentiation continued. As a result, class inequalities can continue due to teachers labelling. -Limitations: Deterministic: assumes that once pupils are labelled, they have no choice but to fulfil the prophecy and will inevitably fail. Ignores wider structures of power: blames teachers for labelling pupils but fails to explain why. 2d) Marketisation and Selection Policies -Marketisation is a policy that introduces market forces of supply and demand into areas run by the state. Marketisation has brought in; Funding formula (giving a school the same amount of funds for each pupil), Exam League Tables (ranking schools based on their exam performance), Competition among schools to attract pupils. -A-C Economy: Schools need to achieve a good league table position to attract pupils and funding. However, this widens the class gap in achievement. The A-C economy is a system in which schools ration their time, money, effort and resources to those who will get 5 A*-C GCSEs to get a high rank. -Educational Triage: sorting pupils; ‘those who will pass anyway’, ‘those with potential’, ‘hopeless cases’. Those classed as hopeless cases are ignored (self-fulfilling prophecy and failure). -Competition and Selection: Schools with a good league table position will be placed to attract other able/MC pupils. Thus improves the school’s results and makes it more popular which increases funding. Popular schools can afford to screen out less able and more difficult pupils, unpopular schools are obliged to take the, get worse results, and get less funding. Cream skimming: selecting higher ability pupils, who gain the best results and cost less to teach. Silt-shifting: off-loading pupils with learning difficulties, who are expensive to teach and get poor results. -Attraction: creating school contracts to attract parents, buying things like pipe organs to get a ‘traditional’ image of the school (attracting the MC), grant maintained and city technology colleges provide vocational education in partnership with employers (another route to elite education). Ball et al suggests that schools spend more on marketing themselves to parents, and spend less in special needs in other areas. -Marketisation and selection – created a polarised education system, with successful, well-resourced schools at one extreme, and failing un-resourced schools at the other; blurred hierarchy. External Factors (ethnic differences) 3a) Cultural Deprivation -Intellectual and linguistic skills: Major cause of under-achievement. Many children from low-income black families lack intellectual stimulation and enriching experiences. This leaves them poorly equipped for school because they have not been able to develop reasoning and problem-solving skills. Also the language used by black children in inadequate for educational success. Also those who don’t speak English at home may be held back educationally. However, Mirza and Gillborn note that Indian pupils do very well despite not having English as their home language. -Attitudes and Values: Lack of motivation is a major cause of the failure of black children. Many children are socialised in a mainstream culture of ambition, competitiveness and willingness to make scarifies to achieve long-term goals. Black children are socialised into a fatalistic subculture. -Family structure: Failure to socialise children adequately is the result of dysfunctional family structure. Many black families are headed by a lone-mother; their children are deprived of adequate care because she has to struggle financially due to the absence of the male breadwinner. The absence of the father also leads to the absence of the positive role model. Charles Murray: would lead to the under-achievement of some minorities. Pryce: Asian pupils are higher achievers because their culture is more resistant to racism and gives them a greater sense of self-worth. Black culture is less cohesive and less resistant to racism. Thus they have low self-esteem and under-achieve. -Asian families: Driver and Ballard: they bring educational benefits as the parents have more positive attitudes towards education, higher aspirations and are therefore more supportive. Lupton: respectful behaviour towards adults was expected from children, and had a knock-on effect in schools. Khan: parents are ‘stress ridden’, bound by tradition, and controlling. -Criticisms: Driver: ignores positive effects of ethnicity on achievement. Lawrence: black pupils under-achieve because of racism not self-esteem. Keddie: victim-blaming theory. They under-achieve because schools are ethnocentric and favour white culture. Compensatory Education: it is an attempt to impose on the dominant white culture on children who have a culture of their own. Critics propose 2 alternatives: Multicultural education: recognises values of minority cultures and includes them in the curriculum. Anti-racist education: challenges the prejudice and discrimination that exists in schools and wider so ciety. 3b) Material Deprivation -Stats: 1) Pakistani and Bangladeshi women are more likely to be in low-paid jobs. 2) 15% of ethnic minority households live in overcrowded conditions. 3) Unemployment is three times higher for African and Bangladeshi/Pakistani people. -Gillborn and Mirza argue that social class factors don’t ignore the influence of ethnicity. When we compare pupils of the same social class but different ethnic origins, we still find differences in achievement. 3c) Racism in Wider Society -David Mason: ‘Discrimination is a continuing and persistent feature of the experience of Britain’s citizen’s of ethnic minority origin’. -Rex: shows how racial discrimination leads to social exclusion and how this worsens the poverty faced by ethnic minorities. E.g. housing; minorities are more likely to be forced into substandard accommodation than whites. -Noon: two people with the same qualifications and experience applied for a job. However, the white person got the job, rather than the Indian. Thus shows that ethnic minorities are more likely to face unemployment and low pay. Internal Factors (ethnic differences) 4a) Labelling and Teacher Racism -Interactionists: They see that teachers picture an image of the ‘ideal pupil’. But they see that black and Asian far from the ideal pupil. This leads them to label black pupils as disruptive and aggressive, and Asian pupils as passive and a problem they can ignore. -Gillborn and Youdell: due to racialised expectations, teachers were quicker to discipline black pupils than others for the same behaviour. -Black pupils: Teachers misinterpreted their behaviour as threatening/challenge to authority. Pupils then responded negatively and further conflict resulted. This may be why many black pupils are excluded, and their stereotypes may cause them to be in lower sets (under-achievement). -Asian pupils: Teachers assumed that they would have a poor grasp of English and left them out of class discussions or used simplistic childish language. They also felt isolated when teachers mispronounced their names or teachers expressed disapproval of their customs. 4b) Pupil Responses and Subcultures -Fuller: Study of a group of black girls in year 11. Found that the girls conformed as far as school work was concerned. They worked consistently, but gave the appearance of not doing so (positive attitude to academic success, but preferred to rely on their own efforts than teachers). Fuller sees that pupils may still succeed even when they refuse to conform, and negatively labelling doesn’t always lead to failure (no self-fulfilling prophecy). -Mirza: Study of ambitious girls who faced teacher racism. The study failed as their coping strategies restricted their opportunities and thus under-achieved. She found that racist teachers discouraged black pupils from being ambitious through the kind of career advice that was given to them. The colour blind: teachers who believe all pupils are equal but allow racism got unchallenged. Liberal chauvinists: teachers who believe black pupils are culturally deprived and had low expectations of them. Overt racists: teachers who believe blacks are inferior and discriminate against them. -Sewell: Four ways in which boys respond to racist stereotyping: Rebels (rejected both the goals and rules of school, conforming to the stereotype of the ‘black macho lad’. Saw white boys as effeminate), Conformists (keen to succeed, accepted the school’s goals and avoided stereotypes from teachers or their peers), Retreatists (disconnected from both school and black subcultures), Innovators (pro-education but anti-school). 4c) The Ethnocentric Curriculum -Ethnocentric: attitude/policy that gives more value to one culture and ignores the rest. -The curriculum is very ethnocentric (favouring white culture). E.g. in teaching languages; non-European languages are ignored (also other cultures in literature, art and music). However, in history, black history is taught, but it is focused on slavery. This may produce lower self-esteem to black pupils as this image of black people as inferior undermines them and may lead to failure. 4d) Institutional Racism -Institutional racism: discrimination that is built into the way institutions operate. -Schools tend to set schemes for the gifted and talented, and vocational schemes for the less academic e.g. black and Asians. External Factors (gender differences) 5a) Girls -Feminism: McRobbie shows that magazines in the 1970’s emphasised the importance of getting married. Whereas, nowadays, they contain images of assertive, independent women. Also soap operas now highlight the importance of self-esteem and personal choice for young women. -Family: Sine the 1970’s there have been major changes in the family. For example: an increase in divorce rates, increase in cohabitation and a decrease in the number of first marriages, increase in the number of lone-parent families (female-headed) and smaller families. These changes affect girl’s attitudes to education. Such as: the increase in female lone-parent families may mean more women need to take on the breadwinner role. This creates a new adult role model for girls- the financially independent. To achieve this, women need well-paid jobs, and thus good qualifications. Also the increase in divorce rates suggests that girls can make their own living. -Employment: 1970 Equal Pay Act (illegal to pay women less for the same job as men), Sex Discrimination Act. Women’s employment has risen due to the service sector and flexible part-time work. 1975- The pay gap between men and women has increased. Women are now breaking through the ‘glass ceiling’ (keeps them out of high-level professional managerial jobs). -Ambitions: Sharpe- study involved conducting interviews with girls in the 1970’s and 1990’s. In the 1970’s the girls felt that education with unfeminine and if they were interested, it would make them unattractive. In the 1990’s, the girl’s ambitions had changed, and thought careers are more important as they can support themselves. 5b) Boys -Feminisation of education: Schools do not nurture ‘masculine’ traits such as competitiveness and leadership. Also coursework has created differences in educational achievement. -Shortage of male primary school teachers: Strong positive male role models both at home and at school cause may cause under-achievement. 16% of men are primary school teachers. 42% said they made them work harder. Yet, Myhill and Jones found they felt male teachers treated boys harshly. -‘Laddish’ subculture: WC boys are more likely to be labelled as sissies and subjected to homophobic verbal abuse if they appeared to be ‘swots’. Boys were more concerned to be labelled by peers than girls, as it is a threat to their masculinity. Thus, WC boys rejected schoolwork to avoid being called ‘gay’. Epstein- ‘real boys don’t work’ if they do, they get bullied. Internal Factors (gender differences) 6a) Girls and Achievement -Equal opportunities policies: Policies such as GIST and WISE encourage girls to pursue a career in non-traditional areas. The National Curriculum has removed one source of gender inequality by making girls and boys study mostly the same subjects. Also schooling has become meritocentric. -Positive role models: The increase in female teachers shows that women can achieve positions of importance and giving them non-traditional goals to aim for. -GCSE and coursework: Girls are more successful in coursework as they are more conscientious and better organised. Sociologists argue that these characteristics and skills are the result of early gender socialisation. E.g. girls are likely to be encouraged to be neat, tidy and patient. This puts girls in a better place as they achieve greater success. Elwood- not the only cause of the gender gap. -Teacher attention: Teachers paid more attention to boys as they are attracted to reprimands. This may explain why teachers have more positive attitudes to girls, whom they see as cooperative, than to boys, whom are seen as disruptive. This may lead to self-fulfilling prophecy in which successful interactions with teachers promote girls self-esteem and raise the achievement levels. -Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum: Sexist images have been removed from learning materials. This may help raise girl’s success levels- more positive images of what women can do. -Selection and league tables: Girls are more likely to be recruited from good schools as they are more attractive to schools. This may create a self-fulfilling prophecy. -Feminists: Liberal- See that further progress will be made by the continuing developments of equal opportunities, and see education is a meritocracy. Radical- System still remains patriarchal. E.g. sexual harassment continues, education still limits their subject choice and career options, females are less likely to become head-teachers.

How Important Is the Study of Sociology Essay

The study of Sociology is important but the level of importance is debatable. Sociology is the study of the organisation human society and what problems come about within the society. It looks at who is affected and why they are affected. A prime example would be a married couple with children who then decide to divorce. Not only are the couple affected but so are the children. Why? The children would have to come to the harsh terms of their mother and father no longer living together, in some cases have to welcome a new family member or members, ‘the step parents or siblings’ They would have to adjust to new living conditions whether that be a new school or two different homes etc. Sociology questions why rules were put in place and why people choose to follow them. In some cases we look at what other people do and we ‘follow by example’. If there is a queue at the bus stop to wait for the bus, naturally we would go to the end of the queue and wait for the bus. Why? Some may say it’s out of respect, if the people were in the queue before me who am I to cut the queue. Another person may say that following simple rules has a positive effect on our living. If you’re able to follow simple rules then it may be easier for you to follow the bigger rules with strong consequences and this will enable you to teach others i.e. children. The term sociology was coined by French philosopher Auguste Comte in 1838, who for this reason is known as the â€Å"Father of Sociology.† He believed in the concept that the social world was based on scientific facts and with this people could build better future. For example, humans need food to survive and all the major supermarkets know this, therefore they come up ‘special offers’ and provide more organic options as ways to attract a larger audience. By studying sociology we are able to look the relationship between a man and society. A ‘celebrity or public figure’ is often highly scrutinized for their choices or lifestyle and this is because a lot is expected of them. This could be anything from the way they dress to even the way they walk/ talk and the mass media i.e. TV, Radio, Movies, Internet etc help us to form assumption of this person. As humans we are often cautious of the decisions we make as we don’t want to be the topic of discussion within the society. For example when we do something bad in school we may not want many people to know about it and that is because we are afraid of how we will be branded in society (the bad kids). But why should we be so afraid of something that we created ourselves. Realistically without us there would be no society as we are what form it. By studying sociology we are able to understand others cultures, customs, traditions etc within the society. This is very important to us as it helps us to gain insight into certain groups both minorities and majorities this prevents us from making assumptions about people and makes it easier for us to accept people. Often when controversial topics arise the media uses this as a way of branding a particular part of society very negatively and as humans we sometimes get sucked into this then we find it co-exist with one other. Many people fail to see the importance of sociology with the belief that it is simply common sense, this is false. Living in a society doesn’t necessarily mean you know everything about it. â€Å"People who like to avoid shocking discoveries, who prefer to believe that society is just what they were taught in Sunday School, who like the safety of the rules and maxims of what Alfred Schultz has called ‘the world-taken-for-granted’, should stay away from sociology† (Berger 1963, 24). Naturally when asked what we believe to the ideal structured society we would say something like ‘everyone would be employed’ ‘’everyone would have a home’ etc. But if someone were to say that crime played an essential part in this ideal structured society you may think this would be absurd. However sociologists have found that without the identification of crime and the punishments that go along with it then society really wouldn’t be structured. This is true because without both of those things mentioned then people wouldn’t know what type of behaviour is tolerable or intolerable. Therefore crime does play a part in an ideal structured society. Sociology appears to only look at groups and not individuals, this is not true. Sociologists believe that individuals can’t be understood without being aware of the society that they live in e.g. You walk down a dark alley late at night your pace will be faster than you walking down a high street in the middle of the day. This may be caused by a number of reasons, from a young age you’ve been taught that it’s dangerous to be out late at night. This is referred to as primary socialisation and is sourced by the family. It is our family. It is our family that shapes into the view of what we consider is ‘normal’. There are more witnesses on a high  street so you would feel a lot more confident and comfortable. Another continuously proven theory is that men and women have different roles and responsibilities. Men are shown to be in control of business’ and high in power i.e. the government. 52 out of the 53 Prime Ministers the UK has seen have all been male. In certain situations males behaviour may be said to be overlooked. Aggression and Loud behaviour is tolerated by the males. However females still assume the role as bringing up the children and caring for people. According to the Nursing Times only 1 in 10 nurses in the UK are male which would mean that women would dominate that role. This does support the theory that the differences between males and females are through socialisation and this helps boys to become men and girls to become women. Human culture has been enriched through the contribution of sociology. According to Lowie ‘most of us harbour the comfortable delusion that our way of doing things is the only sensible if not only possible one’. This means that Sociology has given us training to have rational approach to questions concerning oneself, one’s religion, customs, and morals. This gives us the confidence to be able to decide whether or not we choose to practice a religion or not. It has further taught us to be objective and critical. This means we are able to give constructive criticism to our peers. It enables man to have better understanding both of ourselves and of others. By comparative study of societies and groups other than his existence, our lives have more meaning. Sociology also impresses upon us the necessity of overcoming narrow personal prejudices, ambitions and class hatred. This allows us to accept others as equals. The fact that few Muslims have been found to be terrorists does not mean that all Muslims should be treated as beneath us and be subjected to ridicule. The study of sociology can help us to view things differently, things we view as negative we may begin to see the other side of. A prime example would be suicide which we would associate with somebody that has some psychological problems. Although, Durkheim revealed in sociological study into suicide that our surroundings play a part in us making that decision to commit suicide and this could be anything from our relationships with the church to the one with we have with our family. This to me means that society influences certain decisions we make without us even knowing. Also as Straus once said ‘Taking a sociological perspective requires that we look beyond our individual experiences to better understand everyday life’ (Straus 1994). This allows us to look beyond the ‘social expectations’ and we then begin to learn from our experiences. Sociology has played a big part in how the government makes decisions and how they form rules and regulations. In 2011, the government made the harsh decision to abolish Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) this meant students from the age of 16-18 would no longer be receiving a weekly allowance from the government. This decision affected each class of people, higher middle and lower. For lower class this may have meant they couldn’t help out at home with any necessary bills etc. For the middle and higher class they lost that extra bit of cash weekly. Sociology can be used as good teaching skills as Teachers can test students knowledge by reversing situations where they may need to apply their everyday knowledge which is an important skill to have. Bibliography http://www.sociologyguide.com/introduction-to-sociology/importance-of-sociology.php https://www.gov.uk/government/news/plans-to-end-the-education-maintenance-allowance-ema-programme http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/Summaries/suicide.html

The Battle of Alam Halfa in North Africa During WW II

The Battle of Alam Halfa in North Africa During WW II The Battle of Alam Halfa was fought from August 30 to September 5, 1942, during World War IIs Western Desert Campaign. Armies Commanders Allies Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery4 divisions, XIII Corps, Eighth Army Axis Field Marshal Erwin Rommel6 divisions, Panzer Armee Afrika Background Leading to the Battle With the conclusion of the First Battle of El Alamein in July 1942, both British and Axis forces in North Africa paused to rest and refit. On the British side, Prime Minister Winston Churchill travelled to Cairo and relieved Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command General Claude Auchinleck and replacing him with General Sir Harold Alexander. Command of the British Eight Army at El Alamein ultimately was given to Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery. Assessing the situation at El Alamein, Montgomery found that the front was constricted to a narrow line running from the coast to the impassable Qattara Depression. Montgomerys Plan To defend this line, three infantry divisions from XXX Corps were positioned on ridges running from the coast south to Ruweisat Ridge. To the south of the ridge, the 2nd New Zealand Division was similarly fortified along a line ending at Alam Nayil. In each case, the infantry was protected by extensive minefields and artillery support. The final twelve miles from Alam Nayil to the depression was featureless and difficult to defend. For this area, Montgomery ordered that minefields and wire be laid, with the 7th Motor Brigade Group and 4th Light Armoured Brigade of the 7th Armoured Division in position behind. When attacked, these two brigades were to inflict maximum casualties before falling back. Montgomery established his main defensive line along the ridges running east from Alam Nayil, most notably Alam Halfa Ridge. It was here that he positioned the bulk of his medium and heavy armor along with anti-tank guns and artillery. It was Montgomerys intention to entice Field Marshal Erwin Rommel to attack through this southern corridor and then defeat him in a defensive battle. As British forces assumed their positions, they were augmented by the arrival of reinforcements and new equipment as convoys reached Egypt. Rommels Advance Across the sands, Rommels situation was growing desperate as his supply situation worsened. While he advance across the desert had seen him win stunning victories over the British, it had badly extended his supply lines. Requesting 6,000 tons of fuel and 2,500 tons of ammunition from Italy for his planned offensive, Allied forces succeeded in sinking over half of the ships dispatched across the Mediterranean. As a result, only 1,500 tons of fuel reached Rommel by the end of August. Aware of Montgomerys growing strength, Rommel felt compelled to attack with the hope of winning a quick victory. Constrained by the terrain, Rommel planned to push the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions, along with the 90th Light Infantry through the southern sector, while the bulk of his other forces demonstrated against the British front to the north. Once through the minefields, his men would push east before turning north to sever Montgomerys supply lines. Moving forward on the night of August 30, Rommels attack quickly encountered difficulty. Spotted by the Royal Air Force, British aircraft began attacking the advancing Germans as well as directing artillery fire on their line of advance. The Germans Held Reaching the minefields, the Germans found them to be much more extensive than anticipated. Slowly working through them, they came under intense fire from the 7th Armoured Division and British aircraft which exacted a high toll, including wounding General Walther Nehring, commander of the Afrika Korps. Despite these difficulties, the Germans were able to clear the minefields by noon the next day and began pressing east. Eager to make up lost time and under constant harassing attacks from 7th Armoured, Rommel ordered his troops to turn north earlier than planned. This maneuver directed the assault against the 22nd Armoured Brigades positions on Alam Halfa Ridge. Moving north, the Germans were met with intense fire from the British and were halted. A flank attack against the British left was stopped by heavy fire from anti-tank guns. Stymied and short on fuel, General Gustav von Vaerst, now leading the Afrika Korps, pulled back for the night. Attacked through the night by British aircraft, German operations on September 1 were limited as 15th Panzer had a dawn attack checked by the 8th Armoured Brigade and Rommel began moving Italian troops into the southern front. Under constant air attack during the night and into the morning hours of September 2, Rommel realized that the offensive had failed and decided to withdraw west. His situation was made more desperate when a column of British armored cars badly mauled one of his supply convoys near Qaret el Himeimat. Realizing his adversarys intentions, Montgomery began formulating plans for counterattacks with the 7th Armoured and 2nd New Zealand. In both cases, he emphasized that neither division should incur losses that would preclude them from taking part in a future offensive. While a major push from 7th Armoured never developed, the New Zealanders attacked south at 10:30 PM on September 3. While the veteran 5th New Zealand Brigade had success against the defending Italians, an assault by the green 132nd Brigade collapsed due to confusion and fierce enemy resistance. Not believing a further attack would succeed, Montgomery cancelled further offensive operations the next day. As a result, the German and Italian troops were able to retreat back to their lines, though under frequent air attack. The Battles Aftermath The victory at Alam Halfa cost Montgomery 1,750 killed, wounded, and missing as well as 68 tanks and 67 aircraft. Axis losses totaled around 2,900 killed, wounded, and missing along with 49 tanks, 36 aircraft, 60 guns, and 400 transport vehicles. Often overshadowed by the First and Second Battles of El Alamein, Alam Halfa represented the last significant offensive launched by Rommel in North Africa. Far from his bases and with his supply lines crumbling, Rommel was forced to move to the defensive as British strength in Egypt grew. In the wake of the battle, Montgomery was criticized for not pressing harder to cut off and destroy the Afrika Korps when it was isolated on his southern flank. He responded by stating that Eighth Army was still in the process of reforming and lacked the logistical network to support the exploitation of such a victory. Also, he was adamant that he wished to preserve British strength for a planned offensive rather than risk it in counterattacks against Rommels defenses. Having shown restraint at Alam Halfa, Montgomery moved to the attack in October when he opened the Second Battle of El Alamein. Sources Defensive Military Structures in Action: Historical ExamplesBBC: Peoples War - Battle of Alam Halfa

Hopi pottery1 essays

Hopi pottery1 essays Hopi Pottery is a historic art that has been passed down through many generations. The Hopi Indians have lived in the same area of the Southwest (present day Arizona) even before the time of Columbus. The prehistoric ancestors of the Hopi Indians were the Anasazi Indians. The Hopi Indians lived on desert land at the foot of the mesas. Hopi women made beautiful clay bowls, baskets, and jewelry. The art of pottery making came to these early Pueblo Indians by Meso-American Indians around 700A.D. Between this time and 1400 A.D., grey utilitarian ware was being produced for everyday needs which eventually evolved into a more colorful and decorative style of pottery. The 14th century became an extremely active period for the Hopi potters. New clays and firing techniques were employed transforming soft textured pots into harder, smoother and denser ones. The materials and techniques evolving during that time period resulted in a new form of pottery called sikyatki polychrome. This style, which involves painting directly on the polished body of the pot itself, continued until the late 1700's. Nevertheless, because of wars with the Spanish and other minor tribal disputes with the Navajo and Apache, Hopi pottery production almost completely vanished around 1800. However, in 1860, a woman named Nampeyo revived pottery making. She was considered to be responsible for the renaissance in Hopi pottery. Nampeyo single-handedly revived the art of pottery making by exclusively using the polychrome technique. Moreover, by the late 1800's, as the railroad was introduced to Arizona, it brought numerous traders who sought to fill the demands of an enlarging tourist market. Therefore, Nampeyo's pottery was highly prized and other Hopis, inspired by her, began fashioning their own work using similar techniques. The technique the Hopis use in order to build their pots is a simple, yet a very complicated process. This methods called the coiling met...

Elude vs. Allude vs. Illude

Elude vs. Allude vs. Illude Elude vs. Allude vs. Illude Elude vs. Allude vs. Illude By Michael The commonly misused words elude, allusion and illusion share a common root word (Latin ludere: to play), but their meanings arent similar at all. Fortunately, recognizing the prefixes can help keep these two words separate in your mind. The Latin prefix e means out, so elude originally suggested the end of a game or a sword fight, where a clever winner tricked his opponent by playing out. A fugitive can elude his pursuers by making them look for him outside of where he really is. The prefix a or ad often comes from the Latin ad, which means to. For example, an adjunct professor is a part-time instructor who is joined to the faculty to teach a few classes. So an allusion is an indirect reference played to something else, such as a quotation that you expect your readers will recognize without having to be told where it came from. The prefix in or sometimes il or im often comes from the Latin in, which means at, in, toward, among other things. It gives illusion the meaning of play with. An illusion is something that isnt real somebody is playing with your mind and trying to fool you. 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 Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Types of Rhyme15 Words for Household Rooms, and Their Synonyms5 Tips to Understand Hyphenated Words

PMS Financial Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

PMS Financial Plan - Essay Example The most important factor in our case is the continuous occupancy of the properties. Therefore, there is a need to develop an effective strategy to deliver the services such as repairs and maintenance.The following table details the assumptions that are made .These figures are annual and monthly assumptions that show the consistent growth of the company.Since the operation is on a monthly collection basis, it is assumed that the majority of the collections will be timely and in full.The following chart indicates our financial indicators for the first two years of operation. PMS foresees growth in both in customers who want their property to be managed as well as increase in the growth margin percentage.PMS cash flow depends on the monthly collection from property owners. A 25-day grace period is provided after which unpaid accounts will inhibit our cash flow. However, the monthly basis of cash flow should maintain the steady level of cash flow.The following table and the accompanying chart details the break-even analysis for this project. The projected fixed costs will be $6,000 per month with a variable per-unit cost of $200 which shall be ideally accounted for by 28 properties that is rented at $3,000 per month. The payment scheme of PMS using this rent figure will then be $1500 for the 1st month that the unit is occupied by a tenant or 50% of the rent. A 10% rent management commission or $300 fee starting from the first month until the tenant occupies the unit shall also be collected. To account for the fact that the $1500 will only be paid on the first month and that the break-even analysis is on a per month basis, the total fee collected by the PMS for each month would be $300 plus $ 125 ( $1500 / 12 months). Thus the total fee is $425 per month. The break-even assumes that all rent shall be paid in a timely manner such that the owner of the property can pay PMS also on time. This situation is ideal and as such, it is expected that the initial break-even per unit will likely be higher. Break-even Analysis: Monthly Units Break-even 10 Monthly Revenue Break-even $16,380 Assumptions: Average Per-Unit Revenue $200.00 Average Per-Unit Variable Cost $425.00 Estimated Monthly Fixed Cost $6,000 The projected profit and loss for PMS is shown on the following table. Management fees are increasing from about $624,000 in 2006 to above $701,000 after the second year. The net profit for the first year alone amounts to $160,000. The projected gross margin will be about 69% for the first year. The net profit for the second year is seen to be above 20% The planned projections are included in the attached Profit and Loss Table. Pro Forma Profit and Loss 2006 2007 Professional Fees $624,000 $701,000 Direct Cost of Fees $192,000 $205,000 Other $0 $0 ------------ ------------ Total Cost of Property Managing $192,000 $205,000 Gross Margin $432,000 $496,800 Gross Margin % 69.23% 70.87% Expenses: Payroll $120,000 $135,000 Sales and Marketing and Other Expenses $15,600 $16,000 Depreciation $3,815 $6,500 Leased Equipment $15,000 $15,000 Utilities $8,000 $9,000 Insurance $9,000 $10,500 Maintenance $8,500 $9775 Rent $3,000 $4,000 Payroll Taxes $18,000 $19,700 Other $0 $0 --

Define our approach to developing a Lifce Cycle Cost for the RRRP - to Research Paper

Define our approach to developing a Lifce Cycle Cost for the RRRP - to help prime develop logical path to developing and fielding technical solutions - Research Paper Example By working towards maximizing value in terms of achieving economic competitiveness and value through lowering the lowest long term costs of ownership, a good objective will be achieved for all the departments. The assessment of life cycle costs includes the cradle to the grave costs and provides a method to accurately consider long term decisions. Six different radar test centres have come together in order to create a single unified program to replace their existing ageing radar systems, hence this new umbrella organization is the one that stands to benefit the most from the improvement of the radar life cycle. The first stage in the improvement of the radar life cycle is the acquisition stage, where old and defective parts of the system would need to be replaced by new components. One of the first aspects which must be taken into consideration is that the existing radar systems are fifty years old and therefore practically obsolescent, and will require periodic upgrades of both software and hardware, which would only involve further costs. How often such upgrades would need to occur would depend upon how often computer capacities would increase. For example, Moore’s law states that the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit would double every two years, so this effectively means that existing technologies would become obsolescent very quickly. Hence hardware and software upgrades may be required at least once every four to five years. Moreover, in the case of older systems, manufacturers of some of the parts could stop making them and it wou ld become difficult to replace the parts, thereby necessitating upgrades, because some components are no longer available. Where radar systems are concerned, the accuracy and complexity requirements are also quite high; therefore the capacity of all the

The Crusades Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Crusades - Research Paper Example Islam from present day Pakistan to Morocco and from the base of Turkey down to East Africa. This made Islam a threat to Christianity since there was a chance that Muslim invaders will spread their Jihads into European lands that were considered Christian at that time.Carl Erdmann points out that 11th Century reforms in the Church were the main cause of the First Crusade sanctioned by the Catholic Church. This is because the reform sought to purify all elements of the European society including warriors and militants. He, therefore, explains the Crusades as an attempt by the Catholic Church to divert violence and military force towards 'sacred' activities. In March 1095, Pope Urban II sent troops to go the Eastern Church which had its headquarters at Byzantium to help them defend themselves against a Muslim invasion. In the Council of Clermont a few months after that, in November 1095, Pope Urban II called for Christian armies and warriors to be sent to Jerusalem to re-take the city o f Jerusalem and establish a Christian state there.From an analysis of the activities of the first Crusade sanctioned by Pope Urban II, it appears that there was the need for the Pope to defend the borders of Christian Europe. This seems to be a natural course of action any religious leader would have taken against the Muslim expansion. The Crusades were successful and the Christians took Jerusalem in July 1099. They set up the Syrian and Palestine Christian states and took the island of Cyprus as a security point.

Designing marketing campaign for ExxonMobil Qatar Coursework

Designing marketing campaign for ExxonMobil Qatar - Coursework Example The main target groups of the marketing strategies are the customers, the shareholders, business partners and host governments. Some of the marketing strategies employed here include advertising that is done through print media, car stickers, TV commercials as well as internet based advertisements. The TV commercials serve to complement the print media such as magazines, newspapers, and business journals. The adverts have the company profile and the financial programming. They are run on the Arabic networks such as JSC and MBC.The Company has also been able to organize sports as a way to make it known for the products as well as the services it offers in the market. Some of the sports have included the organization of tennis, hockey and golf tournaments that are usually based in Doha ("ExxonMobil Qatar Inc," n.d.). The events are organized by the Qatar Olympic committee that oversees the participation. The company has also been supporting science and technology in the schools by recruiting some of the best University students in Qatar into the company making it well known all over the region. The company has also been able to embrace technology and has now been able to market its products through the internet marketing strategies through their websites as well as social networking sites such as twitter, Face book among others ("ExxonMobil Qatar Inc," n.d.). The company has also been engaging in activities that are in tandem with corporate social responsibility they have been able to promote safety awareness in the region through what they call the pink t-shirt campaign. Through this the company supports relief services all over the world. The business women an award that acknowledges successful women is also some form of marketing Campaign. Through the marketing campaigns the company has been able to reach its customers in the region. Requests for partnerships have also been on the rise, since the inception of various marketing strategies. Most

Ibarra & Hansens Are you a Collaborative Leader Article

Ibarra & Hansens Are you a Collaborative Leader - Article Example The employees could also use the video broadcast and express their views. Beinoff kicked off the debate by grabbing an iPad and commenting on the Chatter, soon employees from their offices started commenting back. The debate lasted for weeks thus allowing Beinoff the opportunity to align the employees to the mission and create an open culture for salesforce.com. Command and control policies hinder collaboration in many organizations. A survey of â€Å"best performing CEOs in the world† done early 2010 revealed that collaborative leaders require strong skills such as acting as connector, ensuring diversity of talent, guiding teams and modeling collaboration at the top (Ibarra and Hanse 3). According to Malcolm Gladwell, collaborative leaders play a global connector role by linking the employees, the ideas and resources. David Kenny, President of Akamai Technologies is one of such leaders who spend time travelling in order to meet with business partners, customers and employees around the world. Collaborative leaders can attain insightful ideas such as macroeconomic issues and impact of climate change through collaborating with business partners. Collaborative leaders will make global connections in order to spot business opportunities and model the top managers on the business expectations. Collaboratibve leaders will attend to conferences outside their professional specialty and meet people outside the organization like external partners (Ibarra and Hanse 4). According to previous research, diverse teams will produce better results. Collaborative leaders will engage diversity in their teams in order to enhance creativity. Such teams should consider the diversity in terms of nationality, age and time dedicated to visiting emerging markets. For instance, nonnative English speakers may be disadvantaged in Multinational companies in emerging markets. Danone of France has

Designing marketing campaign for ExxonMobil Qatar Coursework

Designing marketing campaign for ExxonMobil Qatar - Coursework Example The main target groups of the marketing strategies are the customers, the shareholders, business partners and host governments. Some of the marketing strategies employed here include advertising that is done through print media, car stickers, TV commercials as well as internet based advertisements. The TV commercials serve to complement the print media such as magazines, newspapers, and business journals. The adverts have the company profile and the financial programming. They are run on the Arabic networks such as JSC and MBC.The Company has also been able to organize sports as a way to make it known for the products as well as the services it offers in the market. Some of the sports have included the organization of tennis, hockey and golf tournaments that are usually based in Doha ("ExxonMobil Qatar Inc," n.d.). The events are organized by the Qatar Olympic committee that oversees the participation. The company has also been supporting science and technology in the schools by recruiting some of the best University students in Qatar into the company making it well known all over the region. The company has also been able to embrace technology and has now been able to market its products through the internet marketing strategies through their websites as well as social networking sites such as twitter, Face book among others ("ExxonMobil Qatar Inc," n.d.). The company has also been engaging in activities that are in tandem with corporate social responsibility they have been able to promote safety awareness in the region through what they call the pink t-shirt campaign. Through this the company supports relief services all over the world. The business women an award that acknowledges successful women is also some form of marketing Campaign. Through the marketing campaigns the company has been able to reach its customers in the region. Requests for partnerships have also been on the rise, since the inception of various marketing strategies. Most

No preference Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

No preference - Coursework Example However, the level of technology has led to interpretation of the constitution into simple terms changing the original meaning. The development of the translational corporation for the last decades indicates how the power has shifted away from sovereignty in nations that have embraced technology. The mass media has caused a lot of influence on democracy. Some magazines and television stations criticize the behaviors of political leaders. Gone are the days when the reporters could not talk about political leaders without facing punishment. The advancement in technology will continue influencing the constitution. In future, rules of voting will change. Citizens may never vote through the ballot box. Elections will take place through the internet and voters will cast their votes online. All citizens will have a freedom of posting their criticism about some behaviors in the internet. A constitution plays a leading role in every country. However, rules and regulation differs in each country. It is very difficult for an individual to rule out that which is a majoritys agreement. Therefore, being a citizen in a particular country one has to adhere to the rules and regulations governing that country (Stone & Marshal, 2015) Different country support death penalty for murderers while others support life imprisonment. However, criminal regulations depend on the constitution of the state. Much as death penalty may seem unfair to the offender, it is advantageous as it helps curb murder

A new teenage magazine with the target Essay Example for Free

A new teenage magazine with the target Essay The brief was to produce a new teenage magazine with the target audiences of either or both male or female within the target range of 13 to 19 years old. In the process of the production we could working in groups or individually. Working in a group of three produce front page and a double page spread article for the new magazine. In the production each member of the group need to have a minimum of three original pictures. Before staring the production i made a project schedule to with deadline for each sections of the production. To fulfil the brief i started researching similar text. It would best suit me to produce a magazine for male audience hence researched magazines complementing boys titles such as TOPGEAR, EVO and MAX POWER. The mise en scene and the conventions of all these magazines had resemblance regards to the design, layout. For example the magazine names where all in bold fonts with use of strong colours representing stereotypical macho man characteristics. Technical codes such as the high angle shots used to denote the power of the cars. All the magazines included vast number of images that consist of Mid shots, Mid Close Up and Mid Long shots of the cars facing the magazine to grab the attention of the readers so that they wont be bored of reading a long article. The researches into similar text help me to decide some important aspects of the magazine. I carried out a questionnaire and interviews. the questionnaire was give to both males and females. I found that there was a demand for teenage car magazine in the market but my foundings showed that females didnt have much of interest in cars. The males where asked if they would or wont buy the magazine the majority said they would if the magazines contented more of their interests of sex and cars. Whereas females lacked interest. in the questionnaire the done most participants were interested customising their cars. And that they find the cost of insurance and fuel to high some when considering to sale their cars. I have chosen my target audience to be male so both of the interviewee i interviewed where males between 16-19 drives. From this i would be able observe the interests and the difficulty first hand. To meet the demand of the targeted audience i have decided to have an article on ways to get cheaper and more affordable insurance. The format that I have decided to adopt is similar to the one of the other Car magazines and as this I found from the interview was preferable by my target audience. I have chosen the name TOPSPEED which follows the stereotype that most male readers want fast cars and babes. I would be reviewing a car that relates to target audience cars that has small engine and cheaper insurance category so that student can financially afford to drive it. The planning involved a subject matter research where the main research was done for Ford Fiesta ST in areas like car specification and its stability for young drives using i cold write up the double page spared article. The other area i researched was for student car insurance. This could be used to write up a mini article to help and give advice for getting cheap car insurance. I had never used Photoshop before so the whole process was an opportunity to learn new skill. I got some practise on Photoshop and Publisher before i started the final production. The technical skills that we practised in class include lighting. Regarding lighting, it can be used to create a particular mood. I started off by brainstorming me ideas. Finally deciding on car giving information and review car of a car that is affordable to teenagers as my target market will be more interested in rather than an expensive car that they may have trouble affording. I had descried to review the new Ford Fiesta ST because this would perfectly for my targeted audience since it had a small engine which uses less fuel plus it had i low insurance category meaning lower insurance premium. The Ford Fiesta ST was the sport version denoting speed and boy racers. Regards the design Ford was a very good looking Supermini which would easily grab the attention of the targeted audience. Analyzing the questionnaire cost of insurance was other area where young drivers had difficulties so i had decided to add tip to get cheap insurance. I write up a draft article using the information from the research which i will later improve for a magazine standard. Use this i experiment different layout for front cover and the double page spread and the use of font size different colours so that i had clear idea what work and what doesnt in a car magazine plus this help with how i want to take the pictures. I experimented with different typeface for the magazine name with different fonts colours and size to see which suits best for the front cover. Before the photo shoot i had to have a miscellaneous paperwork and productions design which includes the location of the shoot which is in Edgware i wont do any alteration to set design which is the car showroom. The showroom will have a good lighting so there is no need for me to arrange any sort of lighting for the shoot. I could have different action for the cars open doors or turn the wheel sideways will show the wheels properly and give the car character. The miscellaneous paperwork need to be done for risks assessment, equipment book forms, access permission and call sheets to be taken to the shoot location signed and dated by the person give the permission to take the photos The photo shoot was hard to arrange I called up several Ford dealerships to organise a photo shoot but only a couple of the dealership agreed to let me take pictures in there showrooms. The space around the car was limited for that reason most of the pictures i took was close up shoot or mid shoots i wasnt able to get any long shoot which would have helped show all the outer features of the car. The showroom had too much light i couldnt take some of the photos that i wanted. The car was parked in way that i could get pictures from back of the car. I wanted to take close up pictures of the speed-o-meter of the car but the staring wheel came was obstruction which i couldnt get clear picture. The staring wheel was locked which meant i couldnt turn the wheel sideways which is a convention in must car magazines. I didnt want the background of the photos i took using Photoshop i cut them out with the Magic wand tool and using the smudge tool smoothen the edges. I did this with most of the photos i wanted to use in the production. i decides to use black background for the red car. This is because the colour of the car would stand out and it strong male on your face colours. When i placed the photos on the cover page over a black background you could still see the ragged edges around the car. To solve this problem i added drop back shadow which covered the edges. I decided to use all caps and with modern but simple bold fonts in white colour that would stand out with black background. I downloaded a font from internet that you could make barcode with it this way i could customize the barcode specifically for my magazine. Inside the magazine for the main headings i used the same fonts as i had on the front cover. Experimenting with the layout I found one that would suit the best for the double page article. I divided the columns into equal sizes with little gaps between to make it easy to read. I give white border around the all the pictures used in the double page spared and place them on top of each other to give it a nice effect. When i improved my draft article and paste it into the columns of the double page spread using auto flow the article was too long and didnt fit into the area i wanted it. I thought that teens would be bored to read a long article so i decided to shorten it. I decided to have a different colour background for the mini article about insurance.

Strategies To Resolve The Principal Agent Problem Accounting Essay

Strategies To Resolve The Principal Agent Problem Accounting Essay In general, the principal-agent problem refers to difficulties of motivating one party the agent to act for the best interest of the other party the principal. In a company, the owners of the assets (the stockholder) are the principals and the managers of the company are the agents. The stockholders of the company authorize the managers to manage and use their resources to make profit for the stockholders. (Kaskarelis, I. A. 2010) The cause of the principal-agent problem is that the information asymmetry between the principal and the agent and the principal and agent have different interests. (Ulrike, L., Arleta, M) Generally, the Agents are the managers of the resources and have more information than the principals. In a company, the managers of the company will have more information about the company than the stockholders of the company. The agents may use this asymmetric information to get interest for themselves rather than the principals. Figure 1, Basic Model of Principal-agent problem In general, the principal-agent problem is the problem that the agent is not doing the best for the principals. The so-called principal-agent problem is really caused by the interest conflicts between the two parties. As a principal, he or she wishes the agent to do the best for his or her interest. As an agent, he or she should do the best for the principal. However, without enough and appropriate motivations from the principal, the agent may not doing the best for the principals. If the agent is not acting for the interest of the principal, the moral hazard happens. This is the classical model of principal-agent problem. In order to motivate the agent to work for the best interest of the principal, incentives should be given. Strategies to resolve the principal-agent problem Make appropriate incentive structure The first strategy of solving the principal-agent problem can be from the incentive aspect of the agent. The cause of the principal-agent problem is the motivation given to the principals. Based on the experiment of principal-agent problem, high performance of the agents were observed if good compensations were given to the agents. (Ulrike Leopold-Wildburger, Arleta Mietek, 2010) Even though the relationship between the compensation and the performance is not linear, the outputs of the agents have positive relationship with the compensation of the agents. Yuliy Sannikov (2008) advocates that the dynamic incentives play very important role in the economic life. In a company, the wages of the managers and also the employees can affect the performance results of the company. Connecting the compensations of the agents to the performance will give incentives to the agents to do their best. In a company, the employees salaries can be connected to the performance results of the employees. The managers salaries can be linked to the performance of the company. In this situation, the managers of the company will have enough incentive to do their best. The stockholders of the company can also enjoy the better profits of the company. One alternative solution is to give the managers of the company certain amount of corporate stocks. The income of the managers are affected by the stock prices (Bruhl, R. H. (2003). The managers will have the incentive to do the best to increase the stock price of the company. In fact, many listed companies have the so called Equity Incentive Package (Bronstein, R. J. 1980). Pro and cons This strategy of solving the principal agent problem is the most basic one and the short-term effect can be seen immediately. Linking the agents compensation with the performance by giving the managers corporate stock is the most effective way to solving the principal agent problem. The potential drawback of this strategy is that giving the managers stock may result in the possibility of insider trading. Evaluate the performance of the agent continuously The second strategy of solving the principal-agent problem is to monitor the agents behavior and evaluate the performance of the agents. I will explain this in the case of a company. In a company, the managers as the agents and the stockholders of the company are the principals. The managers behaviors are monitored by the stockholders closely in order to make sure that they are doing the best for the interest of the stockholders. In the company, the evaluation of the performance of the company is also very important. When the evaluation of the performance plays a role in determining the compensation of the employees, that is to say there is still room for the employees to improve the performance (Carl Blumstein, 2010). with the monitoring of the companys performance, the managers of the company tend to perform better. Pro and cons Continuous evaluation of the performance in a company can motivate the managers continuously (Long, N., Sorger, G. 2010). Because of the continuous motivation, the performance of the company can keep improving. This is the biggest advantage of the strategy. However, the evaluation process of the managers is a time and money consuming task. The evaluation or monitoring of the agents may incur a lot of expenses. Regulate the agent with moral standards The principal-agent relationship is not only a kind of legal relationship between the principal and the agent. The principal agent problem is also a moral hazard problem (Randy, S. 2011). According to the basic business ethics, it is ethical for the agents to do the best to represent the interest of the principals. The first strategy of solution by building the appropriate incentive structure of the agents and the second strategy of monitoring the activities of the agents can get only short term results. In the long term, establishing the ethical awareness of representing the best interest of the stockholders can be a good choice. With a good ethical awareness, the principal and agent problem can be solved in the long term (Ruachhaus, R. W. 2009). In the case of Psychiatrists Relationships with Industry, the principal agent problems can be solved from both incentives and ethical view (Appelbaum, P. 2010). The doctors are the agents of the patients. The doctors with high moral standard will not recommend medicines of high cost to the patients unless is necessary. Pro and cons The moral standard improvement requires a long time and also needs the commitment of the employees. The moral issues in the principal agent problem can be seen clearly, but sometimes it is very difficult to distinguish. The potential advantage of this strategy is that it can achieve long term result in the company. Conclusion The principal agent problem comes from the asymmetric information between the principal and the agent and the principal and agent have different interests. The principal hires the agent to work for him and the agent works for the interest of the principal. Without enough motivations, principal agent problem appears. The principal agent problem is also a moral hazard problem. There are three alternative solutions to overcome the principal agent problem. One is to give incentives to the agent. The second is to evaluate and monitor the agents activity to make sure the agent works best. The last solution is depending on the moral standards. All these three solutions have different advantages and disadvantages.

Why Plea Bargaining in Criminal Trials is Important :: Plea Bargain Trial Court Justice Essays

Why Plea Bargaining in Criminal Trials is Important Screeech! That is the sound of our court system coming to a grinding halt, if plea bargaining were no longer utilized. Not only does plea bargaining save taxpayers an enormous amount of money, it often provides the evidence for a conviction and allows public defenders and other court officials to concentrate their limited resources on more important or difficult cases. Some people may believe that plea bargaining with criminals is wrong. The entire basis of the argument against plea bargaining says that criminals should not testify or have anything to do with the prosecution because they were involved with the crime. We fail to realize that without plea bargaining many criminals would never be punished for their crimes at all. It is as simple as that. Granted, a plea bargain is, by definition, a compromise. But it is a compromise that is absolutely necessary for the judicial system to function. While it may seem that a person who exchanges his testimony for a lighter sentence would have sufficient motivation to lie in court the fact is that his testimony is simply verifying the testimonies of other witnesses. In a majority of cases plea bargains is utilized to ensure that the truly guilty criminal is punished. In our less than perfect world, plea bargaining is easily the lesser of the evils. I agree with the definitions submitted by the affirmative speaker. Americans have always emphasized getting a job done. We place a great deal of value on efficiency and industry. The government is expected to run with efficiency and operate with the good of the people in mind. Every aspect of our lives is governed by this utilitarian value. Why do we place such importance on efficiency? Because without it nothing would ever get done. If we all constantly obsessed over minute details and unrealistic ideals we would live in poverty. In the real world compromises are made because without them no amount of success could ever be achieved. In the words of John Stewart Mill, the father of utilitarianism, "The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals utility, or the greatest happiness principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness". This means that in a world of compromise, the most success is achieved by giving the greatest good to the greatest number of people. This belief applies directly to plea bargaining.

Public Policing Versus Private Security Essay

When comparing private security to public law enforcement there are both many similarities and differences (COPS, 2012). Private security is paid by a private company or agency, whereas public policing is paid by government salaries and taxpayers (COPS, 2012). Public police officers have the authority to enforce laws and protect and serve society (COPS, 2012). Private security officers are paid to protect private property and personnel (COPS, 2012). Most of the duties that public policing and private security officers perform are similar (COPS, 2012). â€Å"Private security and public law enforcement share many of the same goals: preventing crime and disorder, identifying criminals, and ensuring the security of people and property† (COPS, 2012, P. 1). As there are two private security practitioners for every one sworn law enforcement officer, effective partnerships can act as a much needed force multiplier (COPS, 2012). The services that both officers perform are to achieve si milar goals, to prevent, and deter crimes (COPS, 2012). Public policing and private security officers serve as leaders while performing their duties (COPS, 2012). Public policing and private security officers have a positive impact on the criminal justice system (COPS, 2012). The impact that both of these companies have on the criminal justice system could be beneficial if both would team up, work together, and look toward the future (COPS, 2012). There are also several differences between public policing and private security (COPS, 2012).Even though both public policing and private security perform the same type of work, private security protects organizations and personnel (COPS, 2012). Public policing has the authority to enforce the laws and maintain order in society (COPS, 2012). Private security officers perform duties, where they protect, and deter crimes on private property (COPS, 2012). There are several distinct differences between public policing and private security (COPS, 2012). Public policing performs the following duties: maintains order, protects and serves the community, controls traffic, prevents crimes, and arrests offenders (COPS, 2012). Private security officers perform the following duties: serves as an escort, patrols business grounds and surrounding areas, such as parking lots, security guards, and transports valuables (COPS, 2012). Another difference between public policing and private security is  private security has the main concern of protecting corporate and personnel, although public policing has the main concern of public safety and seeking to enforce the laws of the criminal justice system (COPS, 2012). If a private security guard witnesses a crime outside their grounds or area of protection, it is their choice whether or not to engage in the situation (COPS, 2012). Another difference between public policing and private security is that public policing earns respect from the community, whereas private security does not earn that same r espect because they work for a company or an agency for profit (COPS, 2012). The community will have different views regarding private security because they do it for money (COPS, 2012). Public police officers do get paid but by the government, not a private organization (COPS, 2012). This brings questions about whether or not private security organizations are running their business with the right intentions in mind (COPS, 2012). Before the community will respect them they want to know money is not the main motivation (COPS, 2012). Both private security and public policing have several similarities and their duties overlap in several ways (COPS, 2012). Though still a minority, both of these agencies do employ women along with men (COPS, 2012). Both of these jobs use uniforms to show people who they are, deter crime, and show their authority (COPS, 2012). Both private security and public policing perform duties that uphold the law and keep the community and organizations crime-free (COPS, 2012). The leadership roles of both of the private and public sectors are fairly similar (COPS, 2012). They both have a paramilitary ranking system (COPS, 2012). Within the public policing ranking system there are officers, detectives, and sergeants (COPS, 2012). Each rank reports to the highest position with their rank (COPS, 2012). The officers report to the highest ranking officer within the government agency (COPS, 2012). Within the private sector, the positions are similar to public with a sergeant, corporal, and senior patrol officer (COPS, 2012). The company owner would be the highest rank within the private sector (COPS, 2012). Public policing and private security both play important roles in the criminal justice system (COPS, 2012). Both roles deter crime with their presence (COPS, 2012). Both roles can make an arrest, investigate crimes, and prevent crimes (COPS, 2012). Public policing and private security help keep members of the community safe (COPS, 2012). Another similarity of  public policing and private security is that both sectors need to have training (COPS, 2012). Depending on the duty, private security may not need as much training as public policing but both need training to perform their duties effectively (COPS, 2012). The different roles that public policing and private security play in the criminal justice system are both important (COPS, 2012).Public policing is bound by enforcing the laws and policies (COPS, 2012). Private security focuses more on keeping the company and personnel safe (COPS, 2012).Most private security is not bound by the same regulations that public police have to follow, such as reading an offender their Miranda Rights (COPS, 2012). There are three important elements that make up a comprehensive security plan, which are physical, personnel, and information security (COPS, 2012). The physical aspect of the security plan is building design, fences, locks, lighting, and alarm systems (COPS, 2012). Another aspect of physical security is security personnel (COPS, 2012). The physical aspect of the security plan may be the main focus on protecting and deterring crime (COPS, 2012). The personnel aspect of a security plan is protecting people within a company or organization and this comes from the presence of the security guard (COPS, 2012). Another aspect of personnel security is identification badges (COPS, 2012). Identification badges allow security officers to check the identity and the security clearance of individuals who come into the company (COPS, 2012). The information aspect of a comprehensive security plan has background checks (COPS, 2012). Another aspect of information security would be to put certain papers through a shredder and dispose important documents properly (COPS, 2012). One more aspect of information security would be to encrypt messages and codes (COPS, 2012). Encrypting files would provide security, so that no one would be able to access information (COPS, 2012). Public policing and private security of different similarities and differences; however, both have common goals in mind to protect and serve (COPS, 2012). Both of the goals of these agencies intertwine within each other (COPS, 2012). Both roles are important within the criminal justice system (COPS, 2012). Public policing has to abide by the laws and regulations that affect society that private security do not have to follow, such as reading a suspect their Miranda rights (COPS, 2012). The presence of private security helps provide services to the public police by handling small crimes, such as shoplifting,  security issues, business security, a nd surveillance (COPS, 2012). The service that private security provides frees up public police because in the past police officers had to respond to an abundance of calls (COPS, 2012). Private security does not protect society; their main focus is protecting companies and personnel (COPS, 2012).Public policing and private security need to work together as they head into the future to make society a safer place (COPS, 2012). However, the integrating of the public and private law enforcement needs to be a smooth transition. There are reservations about the integrations because of the main difference that comes to mind about the private sector is money. Regardless of anything, private security agencies are businesses making money. Usually, businesses are run in a manner so that they will make money. Law enforcement is a human services field, not a place to run as a business. Therefore, people will wonder if integration between the two sectors will change the focal point to a money-making business rather than a human services field. When money becomes the focal point of a human services field, things will be run differently and that may not be the best interest at heart for public policing. Privatizing everything would change the priorities, goals, and conditions of the entire justice system. References Private Security and Public Law enforcement. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/Default.asp?Item=2034

Glen Mount Furniture Company Essay

Discussion Questions 1. Such analysis allows the firm to determine at what level of operations it will break even and to explore the relationship between volume, costs, and profits. 2. A utility is in a stable, predictable industry and therefore can afford to use more financial leverage than an automobile company, which is generally subject to the influences of the business cycle. An automobile manufacturer may not be able to service a large amount of debt when there is a downturn in the economy. 3. A labour-intensive company will have low fixed costs and a correspondingly low break-even point. However, the impact of operating leverage on the firm is small and there will be little magnification of profits as volume increases. A capital-intensive firm, on the other hand, will have a higher break-even point and enjoy the positive influences of operating leverage as volume increases. 4. For break-even analysis based on accounting flows, amortization is considered part of fixed costs. For cash flow purposes, it is eliminated from fixed costs. The accounting flows perspective is longer-term in nature because we must consider the problems of equipment replacement. 5. Both operating and financial leverage imply that the firm will employ a heavy component of fixed cost resources. This is inherently risky because the obligation to make payments remains regardless of the condition of the company or the economy. 6. Debt can only be used up to a point. Beyond that, financial leverage tends to increase the overall costs of financing to the firm as well as  encourage creditors to place restrictions on the firm. The limitations of using financial leverage tend to be greatest in industries that are highly cyclical in nature. 7. The higher the interest rate on new debt, the less attractive financial leverage is to the firm. 8. Operating leverage primarily affects the operating income of the firm. At this point, financial leverage takes over and determines the overall impact on earnings per share. A delineation of the combined effect of operating and financial leverage is presented in Table 5-6 and Figure 5-5. 9. At progressively higher levels of operation than the break-even point, the percentage change in operating income as a result of a percentage change in unit volume diminishes. The reason is primarily mathematical — as we move to increasingly higher levels of operating income, the percentage change from the higher base is likely to be less. 10. The starting level of sales is significant because we measure what can happen at that point. Note that in formula 5-3, we must specify the quantity or beginning point at which degree of operating leverage is being computed. 11. Financial leverage, or the use of debt, not only determines how much interest we must pay but also the number of shares of common stock that we must issue to support the nondebt portion of our capital structure. Only by examining â€Å"earnings per share† can we pick up the effect of outstanding shares on the operation of the firm. 12. The indifference point only measures indifference based on earnings per share. Since our ultimate goal is market value maximization, we must also be concerned with how these earnings are valued. Two plans that have the same earnings per share may call for different price-earnings ratios, particularly when there is a differential risk component involved because of debt. 13. Television broadcasters commit to production schedules, program purchases, etc., in the spring, create the fall/winter program schedule, and then send the salespeople out to sell advertising air time for the coming season. Thus, the costs are virtually 100% locked in before any revenues are generated. A minor fluctuation in advertising revenue, therefore, has a major effect on operating earnings. 14. Students may come up with many points worth discussing. Emphasis should be directed to the tremendous debt load that required servicing. Consumer demand slowed down affecting cash flows, and increased interest rates at the end of an economic cycle had the same effect. Coupled with the excessive prices paid (particularly for Federated Stores) this caused problems. There was only a small margin for error. Discussion may also include Robert Campeau’s ego, failure to follow advice, and failure to achieve asset sales at projected prices. Campeau’s gamble was risky but it was close.