A critical analysis of porter’s five forces As applied to online financial service institutions

Porter’s Five Forces Theory is a relatively old theory, but one that has helped numerous businesses understand the market place and achieve competitive advantage.Some people have called it â€Å"Game Theory† because one either wins or loses, although it has been argued that â€Å"Business is not about winning and losing, nor is it about how well you play the game. Companies can succeed spectacularly without requiring others to fail. And they can fail miserably no matter how well they play if they make the mistake of playing the wrong game.†Ã‚  Ã‚   (Brandenburg 1995 p 57)Discussions, reviews and appraisals of this theory abound, with some expressing the view that this theory is found sadly lacking yet until now it remains a cornerstone of deliberations and studies on strategy.   This paper aims to evaluate the theory and show that there are truths and learning to be gleaned from using it as an analytical framework while also pointing out its limitations.In orde r to illustrate these points further, Porter’s five forces theory shall be applied to an analysis of online financial service institutions. The conclusion will discuss whether Porters five forces is still useful and appropriate to today’s ever changing business environment, or whether new workable theories should be adopted.I.   WHAT IS PORTER’S FIVE FORCES MODEL?Porter’s Five Forces Model is a theoretical framework that can be used by companies to analyse their competition and determine their competitive strategy by looking at five distinct forces that determine success and long-term profitability.The Rivalry Between Existing Sellers in the MarketUnless a company is a monopoly, there will be other companies in the same market offering a similar product or service.   Rivalries develop naturally as companies compete with one another.There are of course, a variety of actions that companies take in order to gain an advantage.   Such actions include adv ertising, changing prices even if only for the interim, improving product features, using new distribution channels or enhancing the customer’s buying experience, longer warranties and the like.In Competitive Strategy (1980), Porter explains that the intensity of this rivalry among the competitors is influenced by several factors.   One such factor is the number of firms in the market.A larger number of companies in the same industry increase this rivalry.   Ã‚  Another factor is slow market growth.   If markets are expanding rapidly, companies tend to expand in line with the increased demand and because firms are all increasing their revenues, the intensity of the rivalry is lessened; however, when there is slow growth, firms fight for their share of the market, thus intensifying this rivalry.High fixed costs also intensify rivalry. Since production must be kept at a high level in order to maximise these costs, there is increased pressure to also increase market share in order to dispose of these products.   Ã‚  High storage costs or producing highly perishable goods intensifies rivalry as well since producers want to unload as much of their products at the soonest possible time.Low switching costs further intensifies rivalry.   When customers can switch at ease, then the rivalry for these same customers are strengthened.   Low levels of product differentiation also produce intense rivalry in very much the same way.The diversity of the competitors whether it is background, philosophy or ideals produces a rather volatile rivalry. Other instances when rivalry is intensified includes when a firm is in danger of losing its market position and when there are high exit barriers because so much has been invested or fixed assets such as machinery and equipment cannot be readily adapted for other uses.A difficult situation where all competitors are threatened takes place when there are new entrants into the industry and the market demand does not ex pand, leading to excess capacity.   When inventory is high, there is a natural progression to resort to price wars, among other strategies, which in the end hurts all the sellers in the market.Threat of Substitute Products Becoming Available in the MarketSubstitute products are products found in other industries, but whose demand lessens the demand for the original product because it has the same function.   The presence of substitute products may result in lower profitability expectations and limit industry attractiveness.The determinants of this force includes the relative price performance of substitutes, switching costs and the buyer’s propensity to substitute as well as the perceived level of product differentiation.   With a greater number of substitutes, buyers now have a wider choice which is why adding the other level of product differentiation is a key step in keeping buyers from switching.This makes it difficult for firms to increase prices.   In fact, thes e determinants may gravitate towards a situation where there is intense price competition, driving them down.   More than that, however, it has been seen that there are situations wherein new developments in technology render certain products or even services obsolete.

How Social Media Has Changed Our Society Media Essay

Social media has changed the way we live in many ways. It has changed everything from the way we communicate with each other to where we get our news from. It happened so fast that people hardly realized just how much their lives had changed. Personal and professional communities are now intertwined and within arm’s reach and our once small social and work networks have now expanded to proportions that were once unimaginable. Just like in any revolution or period of expansion, there are many positive and negative aspects involved in the world of social media. The world of social media is complex and nowhere near its pinnacle. It’s exciting to think of where it will take us in the years to come. Needless to say, our communication has sped up tremendously since social media was introduced. It has made it easier to keep in touch with people all over the country or all over the world for that matter. Social media has even made finding a date easier to a certain extent by mu ltiplying the size of our social circles. Social media allows people with similar interests to connect and converse. It allows professionals to network easier than ever before. Social media allows businesses to advertise for free and actually seem somewhat human to consumers. It also allows for cost effective campaigns and strategies for growing businesses. It also has the power to drive traffic to a website or even a real business. Some people think that social media is adding to human interaction while other people think that social media sites are basically replacing face-to-face interaction. see more:speech about social media Online interactions can become a substitute for actual human contact. It can encourage people to say or do things they never really would have done or meant to do, due to the fact that they feel like it’s not reality. It can lead to covert dealings and perhaps lead to infidelity. This social media frenzy has allowed bullies to spread destructive information about others and they can even bring out the nastiest conversations because people feel anonymous in some instances. Social media can ruin the image of a company due to the wrong angle or brand image. It can also have a negative impact on worker productivity. Either way you look at it, whether you like it or not, social media is changing our lives in one way or another. One aspect of society that will experience the greatest amount of social change over the next ten years is social media. Social media is going to grow larger and become more encompassing of our lives and able to capture more of our lives. Because we capture more of our  lives the people in our social circles will spend more of their time living vicariously through us. Therefore, they will spend less time learning about society and less time developing their own interpersonal relationships. Already social media encompasses several different media forms. Currently, these forms are music, writing, video, and pictures. Soon social media will include other forms of communication, such as augmented reality. Projects like Google Glass place a screen in front of your eyes all day; the glasses can recognize people’s faces and provide information. The glasses are able to listen to your conversation and provide relevant Google search results, for information you might want to know during the conversation. Therefore, interactions between people will be more fact-checked by information people make on the internet. As augmented reality projects like Google Glass become more widespread and developed, people will be constantly plugged into the internet and to the â€Å"hive-mind†. Eventually people will start dreaming their lives on the internet in part or in whole. You will become more of a public person, and in doing so more shaped by the society around you. Social media changes at the speed of which the technology that supports social media is developed and embraced. For new developments in social media to be embraced the new technological developments must be useful and intuitive. People need to have a reason to care about a new development. Society embraced the sharing of pictures because we like to capture glimpses of other people’s lives. We have embraced video because it expands upon pictures. Words were the first versions of social media, and were exchanged because they are the essence of communication. As long as people exist we will continue to seek new ways of exchanging information. What we call social media now will be but a small fraction of what social media is ten years from now. Eventually social anthropologists will look back at these times just as current social anthropologists examine cave paintings. We can ask ourselves, â€Å"What are the engines that are driving this change in our society?† For example, there are many reasons that drive people to use the site know as Facebook. Research resulted in nine ways that drive people to use Facebook; to conduct a survey, upload photos, putting your page together, posting an event, ask a question, create desktop backgrounds using images from an ev ent, and you can even post a picture of the day. The news media even use it to run a contest and give away merchandise, and posting of videos. Facebook has become an  overnight sensation for social networking, and what makes this so amazing is that Facebook did not even exist until 2004. Three college students created it to allow other students to network and meet each other, and it has caught on with people around the globe. Facebook has had many impacts on today’s technologically advanced society. It allows people who probably never would have met each other in person to communicate; it creates new relationships and friendships, and it places distance between people who could communicate in person but instead choose to communicate online. Facebook is nothing more than a medium for communication, and yet, it is so much more than that. At a glimpse, a person can learn everything from what gender a member of Facebook is, to what religion they believe in, what school he or she attends, and their likes and dislikes, with just a click of a mouse. An article in the Network Journal of Communications written by Brent Leary, compares and contrasts popular social networking sites and his recent experiences with them. He talks about being a member of over twelve differe nt social networking sites in which he has spent time using each network. One of the main interest in this article was the author’s insight into his most recent addition to his list; Facebook. He also notes that business application providers such as Yahoo, Finance, Zoho, etc. are building widgets to work with Facebook in order for Facebook to infiltrate further into the business networking field. The most appealing characteristic of Facebook is that they have been able to grow from what was once only a college based network, to a worldwide network with many different areas of interest. Most importantly they have been able to do this while staying very user friendly, professional, and private, unlike other social networks such as MySpace. This has allowed Facebook to become as financially valuable to its creators as it is socially valuable for its members. It is very interesting to see how Facebook has not only established itself in the networking world, but in the financial market as well that people use it for. Experts estimate that many people now spend at least 50 percent of their waking time online. For many, a large part of this time is spent in social networking sites like Facebook. Facebook on the surface is a socially acceptable networking site for students and others to connect, share experiences, and meet old friends. It does say some disturbing things about how our society is adjusting to the age of technology, and it brings into question how a generation of Face  bookers will deal with the challenges of the real world in person like career, family, and success. There are tons of data that show that the social media wave (hype) is going to continue and is here to stay. Take Facebook and Twitter for instance. Many large associations and companies advertise on these social media platforms like the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL to name a few. From a company stand point CBS, CNN, Wal-Mart, and Apple advertise on these social media platforms also. According to Michael A. Stelzner, â€Å"Social media marketing involves engaging people with online social networks to generate exposure, increase traffic, gather insight, improve search rankings, enhance customer relations, build strong brand advocates, generate quality leads and grow sales† (â€Å"Quickly Grow Your Business†). Social media helps businesses grow around the world. This is one major reason why social media is going to continue to prosper. Social media involves a lot of youth in today’s society. For example, social media has greatly influenced youth to vote or seek education about this year’s Presidential Election. According to Foster Web Marketing, â€Å"The younger genera tion (18 to 35 years old) is the largest group of social media users. They pretty much rely on social media and other internet sources for information. With the structure of social media, information is easily skewed as users exchange it with others. Because someone has to pass on the information to another, they can add their 2 cents along with the relevant content, meaning the end result can lean heavily toward one side or another†. It was said that in this year’s Presidential Election, the youth played a big role in the reelection of Obama. Social media played a major role this election and is projected to play a bigger role in the next Presidential Election. Social media also allow news companies and news stations to get information out to the world within minutes. Good or bad, social media has impacted the world in a major way. It has allowed long lost friends, family members, and lovers to reunite. Since its arrival, social media has changed the way the world socializes in general. Undoubtedly, social media is capable of bringing people together. They potentially create friendships and partnerships, expose users to advertisements therefore developing business endeavors, and allow individuals who would otherwise remain silent virtually shout their thoughts and opinions to a broad range of strangers, friends, and acquaintances alike. There are certainly already  acknowledgeable pros and cons to social media. With the cyber doors wide open, people are able to learn a lot about someone before they even lay their own eyes on them: name, address, looks, personal preferences, etc. It is easy to assume that many social media users are alienating themselves from true personal contact with potential friends and partners. Granted this will not always hold true, younger generations who will grow up under the direct influence of social media will come to believe that it’s okay to meet all their acquaintances through the internet which would ultimately hinder their social skills, confidence, and charisma. In order to measure the future impact of social media on society, over the next decade we will inevitably have to look to efficient research methods for accurate conclusions. Sociologists rely on surveys to gather information about both small and large populations- mostly behavioral and opinion information. â€Å"Surveys are one of the most commonly used quantitative research techniques in sociology.† This method of research is the most effective because surveys allow the sociologist to capture an opinion of a large group which will therefore give the data that is needed to site the information. This information will show the change accurately and promptly. Random sampling for the survey w ill give everyone an equal opportunity in participating in the survey. A diverse amount of people will result in finding an abundant amount of opinions about this topic. We have seen the social media change in just months since new phones have emerged such as the iPhone 5. Apple is one of the number one leading companies in technology and their Apple products are constantly updating. From the article on the apple website, it states, â€Å"We use the iPhone to log in and launch an infrastructure management client. I can screen share with senior architects and lead them through the challenges they’re facing. Being able to do that anywhere — without a computer — is a major benefit to us. We can respond to customer needs much faster and solve problems on the go.† As we can conclude from this quote, the change is inevitable because it’s more convenient, and convenience is what we love. Social media has undergone such a significant change since its founding. This is due to all of its possible uses. When social media first began it was for the purpose of enabling it’s users to locate and communicate with others. Now it has broadened from that into many other possible uses. There has been such a variety of benefits, for both  individuals and business, to using social media. For individuals, one of the benefits has been that they have been able to keep in touch with their friends and loved ones. They are able to see what they have going on in their lives and contact those that they have lost contact with. Individuals are able to stay abreast of the different activities and functions in both their area and other areas. They also use social media to spread the word of functions, using this as a free method of invitation. Social media has also been a beneficial tool for children as well. Kids gain confidence from interacting with others online, which has long term benefits. Online communities are very diverse and expose children to different viewpoints, technologies and ideas. In addition, this is the easiest way of communicating internationally. For businesses, they have caught hold to the trend and have acknowledged the benefits and possibilities to grow their corporations. This has become used by both large and small businesses. They use social media to both promote and survey their businesses. They have saved an abundance of money by using it as a method of free advertising. Many businesses have grown, become established, or have been saved by using social media. They also use this as a way to widen business contacts and as recruitment tools. Social media will experience more social change than a ny other in its class because as times change, need will change. Social media will adapt to meet the needs of society. There will be different and more advanced searches and possibilities for both individuals and businesses. Technology has become the forefront of advancement in today’s society and social media will be modified to meet the needs and encourage different endeavors for its users. With the already present benefits of social media, there will continue to be advancements that will add greater opportunities for growth than any other area in the next ten years. We all enjoy a little social media one way or another in today’s society. Some of us, in fact many of us can’t survive a day without updating our MySpace, Twitter, or Facebook. With the help of these social networking sites, the internet has made our lives as Americans extremely simple and easier. These sites allow their patrons to not only connect with their friends, but are very useful for things such as employment, networking and even getting your brand as an artist, whether music, drawing or any other talents that you may have, out and viewable by today’s society. But with time always comes change. Whether  good or bad, change is the one constant entity in society. The functionalist theory of social change best describes the change in social media because these sites have changed the way we as Americans live and adapt to this new phenomenon. Functionalism is a macro level of analysis, which basically describes how each level or part of society contributes to society as a whole and when something changes from the norm the ability to adapt to that change. Take this for example; milk of course comes from cows for the most part, so it would originate from a farm somewhere in Middle America. After being collected from the farms, it would be transferred via most likely an eighteen-wheeler to a factory for processing. After being deemed consumable, it would then be bottled up and placed perhaps on another eighteen-wheeler, plane or other mode of transportation to be transferred to your local market, and later delivered to your doorstep by your milkman. In this instance, the farm, the eighteen-wheeler, the factory, the market and the milkman are all parts of society working together in the milk industry. But what happens if you were to remove one part of the process. Milk delivered to your front door step isn’t very common anymore, which took the milkman out of the equation. Society didn’t just stop enjoying the great taste of milk; they simply went to the market themselves to purchase the milk. They adapted to the change that was presented to them. Social media has no doubt changed society as a whole, but have we as a society been able to adapt to that change? Without a doubt, the answer is yes. A lot of parts in certain processes that are being used in today’s society have experienced changed due to social media. Take Facebook for example and the effect it has had on the hiring process. Generally, face to face interviews were used to develop an idea of what type of person an applicant may be, but now if you throw Facebook in the mix, employers can take a look at potential employee’s page and develop an idea on that person’s character from their page. In this instance an interview may not be needed, and if you do get an interview, the employer may have developed an idea of your character and has decided whether or not you’re going to get that job. The internet changed the hiring process and we as a society have adapted. Functionalism best explains the change in social media and social networking. Our society has shown that change will always occur but it’s the ability to adapt to the change that actually brings the change to light. In conclusion, social media has forever  changed the way society works, whether it’s the sharing of an idea, the communication of news, or the availability of a product or service. Society today is on the verge of a new way of existing that it’s never experienced before. No longer will people from one side of the world be really able to say that they will never see a person or communicate with someone from the other side of the world ever in their life. No longer will people not be able to share an idea, if they really want to share it (no matter how radical it may be or no matter how many people may disagree with it). No longer will the spreading of information or the expressing of an opinion be able to be completely silenced. As long as there is a person who wishes to express their opinion, share their music or art, or simply say hello to another human being in another country or culture, social media will allow them to do so.

Research about managing the lablour costs of food production Speech or Presentation

Research about managing the lablour costs of food production - Speech or Presentation Example It is important to note that a restaurant operating on a labor cost which is as low as 20 percent has a promising future. If levels of labor cost begin to rise, the company should begin to seek on ways of lowering lest it cause a sham to the business. During my work experience at Royal restaurant, if the restaurant made a total daily sales of $10 000, then it had to spend no more than $2 000 paying for labor. Although employees’ salaries which match the volume of sales may help ease the labor costs, key issues such as improvement of productivity at workplace and wise roster plan of employees yield marvelous results. While working at Royal star restaurant, it was a common rule that if the number of customers visiting the restaurant was below 200 per day, the daily sales were over $8000.This also meant that the hotel spends less than $1500 on labor cost. Rostering allowed the hotel to know the working hours of part time workers while comparing it with the sales made during the t ime. If for instance the sales reduce, the number of part time workers was reduced to cut the cost of labor. Other issues that help control labor costs include, cross-training employees, performing frequent staff audits and reviews, employing adequate employees among other measures. Championing Labor Cost Awareness This is normally calculated from the volume of sales made. Labor costs percentage can be calculated as follows: A restaurant that hopes to run successfully must seek to operate at a minimum labor cost percentage that is below 20 percent. At Royal Hotel for instance the labor cost was normally 10 to 16 percent. Cross-Training staff Employee training is vital in any business venture. It is therefore important to cross train employees and the business with a view of equipping workers with vast skills necessary in restaurant service. This is important because the management can schedule fewer workers to various sectors of the restaurant while still being in a position to achi eve same results in the level of production as well as service delivery standards. Cross training can be done by training prep cooks to perform food grilling, training hostess on the work done by the servers and busses to serve food. At Royal hotel, the receptionists were often taken to seminars on public relations and customer satisfaction. Superannuation and Retirement Superannuation is a way of gathering for the retirement of your employees. This is done by making contributions to the super funds of each employee. In Australia for instance, an average of 9% of the employee’s salary is paid into the employee’s super fund. At Royal Star restaurant, the fund is awarded upon retirement or demise of any staff. Conducting Frequent Staff Audits and Reviews The cost of labor depends on a large extent to improvement and level of productivity. Therefore, it is important to perform regular audits. This can be done by assessing the performance of employees. The assessment shoul d focus on working days and hours of employees. If found that a substantial amount of time is lost through long breaks or down time, a review should be done to adjust the time accordingly. Care must be taken to aid in proper communication among the employees in helping communicating concerns and ideas. An audit was done after every three months at Royal Hotel. Control Labor Cost With

Email privacy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Email privacy - Research Paper Example productivity through email use, and this furthers their curiousity to scrutinize the actions of employees during work time, especially through the email. Most employees exploit company resources to conduct private and unrelated work like communicating with friends and family. Employers are also at times afraid of employees using email to send their competitor secrets and changes that occur in their organization, because this gives the other firm and upper hand in the market. Every email message, including attachment sent or received on the company server are the property of the company. Even so, employees believe that it is not ethical for employers to go through or have access to their email conversation as it breaches their privacy (Guerin 47). It is common for employees to browse and handle their personal emails in the company computer. In addition, for employers to monitor their email, this will mean going through both the company related work and employees personal and private conversation. Today there are laws that protect the privacy of an employee in the workplace and employers need to adhere to this, although this does not apply in many organizations, mostly privately owned. When an employer goes through an employees email without his or consent, they might gather some personal information such as medical records and private conversations of the employee. In essence, this calls for the need of an employer to obtain permission from the employee before he/she accesses the employees email

Social Research Project Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Social Project - Research Proposal Example Data collection will involve the use of questionnaires and observations while analysis will entail the use of descriptive statistics such as calculation of mean and mode. The results will then be presented in form of graphs and tables. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 Social Research Project Proposal on Cultural Diversity of our Society and the Implications for Education 4 Problem Statement 4 Justification 5 Aim 5 Objectives 6 Hypothesis 6 Limitations 7 Literature Review 7 Research Design 8 Population and Sample 8 Methodology 8 Time Plan 9 Validity and Reliability 10 Data Presentation and Analysis 10 Recommendations 10 Conclusion 10 References 11 Social Research Project Proposal on Cultural Diversity of our Society and the Implications for Education Research on teacher preparation is a multifaceted, interactive, layered and ongoing mix of people, contexts, beliefs, ideas and activities. To make any learning institution more culturally responsive, institutions should c arry out reforms on school organization, community involvement and school policies and procedures. Not only should reforms occur institutionally but personally, as well. Some of the personal reform strategies that teachers can apply in becoming culturally responsive include engaging in reflective thinking and writing, and developing an appreciation for diversity among others. Historically, insignificant research has been carried out on the effective methods necessary to prepare teachers to relate to diverse learners in the classroom. The proposed project will investigate the strategies that can be applied in preparing teachers to work with immigrant children arriving in Arizona who have limited background. The research project will also demonstrate familiarity and understanding of the principal social, family and language characteristics of a culture that has contributed to American history. Problem Statement The Arizonan education system serves a linguistically and culturally diver se student population who enroll in the learning system with diverse dialects and varying degrees of English proficiency. Their learning, communication and behavioral tendencies are different owing to their diverse ethnic, regional and socioeconomic backgrounds. Unfortunately, most of the students fail to perform well because many teachers are inadequately prepared to offer culturally inclusive and appropriate education (Banks and Banks, 2004). These teachers are unable to provide discipline-based instructions to diverse student populations in the classroom. Additionally, most of them are unable to recognize individual and cultural differences as reflected in human relations, motivational incentives, communication skills and learning. They have minimal knowledge on how culture, ethnicity, gender, age, socioeconomic level, and religion can affect the educational environment of a student. Justification The increased diversity of the students enrolling in Arizonan schools has forced th e teacher training programs to start conceptualizing their programs towards diversity. The thrust towards performance uniformity in Arizonan schools has necessitated the establishment of a more substantive and comprehensive education system that enables teachers to address the many cultures represented in a classroom

The Television Action Program And Provide Methods to Strategically Essay

The Television Action Program And Provide Methods to Strategically Position - Essay Example The rotary is divided into three categories namely, Rotary Club, Rotary foundation and Rotary international (Rotary International, 2013a). The Rotary club is dedicated towards bringing together individuals from different facets to build relationships, exchange ideas and take necessary actions to improve the program. The international clubs work by providing support to other rotary clubs situated across the globe. This is done by coordinating the campaigns, initiatives and global programs. The rotary foundations use donations in order to fund various projects by community partners as well as rotary members across the globe. Generally, these findings are voluntarily contributed by members, friends as well as willing third parties. The club has also successfully made many partners over time. Some of them include Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organizations, United Nations, Shelter Box and Mercychips (Rotary International, 2013c). History and success People star ted bidding and buying services and products from the Rotary Auctions and soon it had gained popularity. Since then, Rotary auction programs were even known as commercial enterprise, another store and such. Many broadcasters started identifying the Rotary club as a good investment as well as promotional strategy (Rotary International, 2013b). The auctions were a perfect fit for the people living in suburban areas. Household antics such as, old books, knickknacks, designer goods and conversation pieces, were the first to be disposed off (Smith, 2002). This was followed by old furniture, consumer durables and other household equipments, which were about to be replaced by new ones. Retailers also took this... This paper approves that the primary goal of this project was to evaluate the current strengths and weaknesses of the online auctioning program of RCWS at Windsor. Through primary and secondary research, it was found that the television auction program has been popular and preferred due to lot of factors. It is one of the earliest methods of bidding process after the emergence of television. Before that, bidding process used to happen in one place and very few people were able to participate in the process. Looking at the current marketing trend as well as the changing demographic profile, a mixed approach can be implemented. This paper makes a conclusion that with the advent of online world, the popularity of auctioning programs has started to decrease. Now sellers as well as buyers are more interested in online or internet auctioning because of its efficiency as well as promptness. Television auctioning took place over the telephone which was the major channel. At present, majority of the population owns internet and prefer online bidding. Thus, it has become extremely important to evaluate strategies as well as alternatives in order to revive the television auctioning program. There are two alternatives that had been suggested for the rotary club. Firstly, fostering of partnerships with other local clubs and the secondly, introduction of online bidding process. The recommended approach suggested a mix of both the approaches, which requires strategically implementing each plan during specific part of the year and to specific target segments.

Critical Accounting Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Critical Accounting Assignment - Essay Example In addition, companies are wise to consider what their competitors are selling the same product for. If a product is worth $50 and the competitor is selling the product for $49, then matching that $49 is essential unless there is a marketing strategy that promotes the product as being better than what the competitor is offering. Raising prices to a ridiculously high amount is not going to increase profits when many customers are going to ba able to find the same product somewhere else for less money. High prices must be justifiable for a market for the expensive product to develop. One must also consider that consumers seeking a bargain will wait for price cutting to occur. Thrifty consumers are willing to wait until newer models are released so that the prices of the old model are slashed significantly. These are all factors that must be anticipated by the company when establishing what type of profit needs to be expected from the product and in what type of time frame. So, in a linear sense, as time progresses, it is wise for a company to sell output at the highest possible rate that can be justified by the current market. This is noticeable in the cell phone industry. With most cell phone companies, when one signs a contract, a free or reduced price cell phone is given to the customer at time of contract. In many cases though, money can be made on the contract signing with the sale of an upgraded phone. Most individuals with any extra money to spare are going to be lured in by the newest and most muti functional phone. This When these higher tech phones are released onto the market, they are typically very expensive. It is later when they are replaced in the commercials by a newer model that they are sold at more reasonable and reduced prices from their original release price. Customers will often find reduced price, used phones on e-bay. "Elasticity of demand deals with the extent to which costs increase as demand increases." Certainly the video game industry is proof of this statement. When new gaming systems are released onto the market, advertisements explode all over television. Everyone marks the new system on their wish lists and the holiday seasons make it almost impossible to find and purchase whatever is the newest in gaming technology. The video game system companies are clever about advertisement and product testing. They make sure that anyone who has ever enjoyed playing video games in their life, feels the need for the latest system. As this demand increases, shortages follow. This sense of wanting something that you can't have right away causes an even stronger desire for the product and the several hundred dollars charged per system is justifiable. The prices of gaming systems are quite hefty when they are first released. The gaming companies make a huge margin of profit initially and once the prices of the systems are lowered such that almost anyone can afford one, the company has already made more than anticipated profits. "Provided that price is large enough to cover marginal cost of production, sales should be made." The bottom line in any business is to turn a profit. It is important though at difficult economic times to break even. This means that selling a product for the price that it costs to produce. If a product costs a company $10 to produce, and the product is

Police excessive force and the qualified immunity defense Essay

Police excessive force and the qualified immunity defense - Essay Example A Qualified Immunity defense is defined under 42 U.S.C. 1983 provides, "in pertinent part, that '[e]very person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State , subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured" (CFIF, 2002). In many cases, the stopping of a person while in a vehicle or on the street has proven that many times there is no fourth amendment violation as the police may make a traffic stop or stop a pedestrian based on probable cause in the event of information received therein. In the case of United States v. Escalante, 239 F.3d 678 (5th Cir. 2001) "the court said, that although the traffic stop, even if pretextual, does not violate the Fourth Amendment if any officer making the stop has probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred." (Legal Enforcement Legal Review, 2001). By having these traffic stops in the first place is a contentious issue based on the fact perhaps not all traffic stops are based on probable cause, but, rather on racial profiling. The searches of vehicles after the fact should be ruled constitutionally invalid and judgement in favor of the plaintiff. But, many officers use the qualified immunity defense to protect their interests and their integrity b y abstaining from legal subjectivity in pending litigation. The purpose of many officials using the Qualified Immunity defense is fully justified in cases where police stop an average, law-abiding citizen based on their racial profile or for what the police identify as probable cause. When the police use excessive force in further detaining an individual that is not under suspicion of any activity, this is clearly a violation of their Fourth Amendment rights. Once a court case is filed, the officer will then decry qualified immunity based on their assessment that force was needed due to suspected violation of their Constitutional rights. The purpose of this paper is to discuss cases relative to the claims of Qualified Immunity defense and if similar cases of excessive police force justify how the issue pertains to current criminal justice events and why the issue is important to consider. Discussion will also take form of the present status of this issue before the courts and/or other law-making bodies, a presentation of both sides of the issue presenting a pro/con or for/against discussion, an analysis of the issues and a proposal to bring forth this issue and recommendations for implementation. Present Case Status of this Issue before the Courts Since the September 11th attacks, there have been more prevalent instances of police and law enforcement

Population Growth and Resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Population Growth and Resources - Essay Example There, death rates fell so quickly that society had little time or reason to change its desire for larger families. (1). Population has mostly exploded in African and Asian countries; to which contribution of China and India is greatest. Today China is most populous country in the world followed by India with soon India expected to top the list. There had been a lot of cry in the 80s and 90s that population explosion is going to create a lots of troubles for mankind; the resources will be lost and so on. Definitely there have been these negative effects, but interestingly these days we are seeing some positive effects also of the population, especially in both most populous countries China and India. Impact on Earth's natural resources: The resources of the earth considered here are petroleum, gas, minerals etc. The effect of population can clearly be seen by the every day increasing oil prices. It is said that these resources are going to be cause of the future wars. With the increase in population there is obviously the increase in number of vehicles. This is not only depleting the earth's resources but by exhaust emissions also destroying the environment of the earth. The scientists have been aware of these facts and new vehicles are now coming up with alternative fuels like Natural gases, which are still abundantly available on earth and cause lesser pollution. In a way the crisis leads to solutions; that is the survival capacity of the human being. Similarly coal and oil are still most widely used for power generation; but recently due population growth and industrialization the power requirements have increased tremendously. Again coal and oil cause lot of air pollution. The scientists have come up with newer methods of power generation like nuclear power generation, wind power, tidal power etc. which cause much lesser pollution and are abundantly available in nature. To note the point is that these new methods are easily available in the developed countries, but in the developing countries where there is the maximum population growth and are problematic area, the latest methods are hardly available. Reason there is lack of education and lack of funds. Also in these countries the corruption is rampant. If there is democracy the ministers are involved filling their pockets and if there is Army rule then only God can save them. Impact on Education: Higher population put heavy demands on the education system of the country. Education is considered to be one of the methods to reduce the population growth but unfortunately many developing countries are failing to provide basic education for all (The Impact of Population, 1). In many developing countries either the number of schools are very less or the number of teachers is very less. In many African and Asian countries the poverty doesn't allows the children to go to school; they are compelled to go to work. Schools in even the developed countries are facing the problems of population growth. As per the Population Growth and Education in US, "About 14 percent of schools exceed their capacity by six to 25 percent, and

Trademark Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Trademark - Assignment Example A trademark is a mark that represents the distinction of certain goods in terms of the brand name, logo, label and many more. This mark helps in differentiating a trader’s commodities and services from those of others in a place. The right of this trademark is granted in terms of its logo, smell and taste among others. This mark is what any trader requires to own exclusive rights in commercially making use of goods and services that are under it. This also licenses the traders to engage in the various sectors of business that are involved in the mark. Without this, anyone carrying out business activities in the nation is considered a criminal and can be detained. To prove their business legal therefore, one may require this trademark from the government. This familiarizes the government with the business activities taking place within the country and helps to control illegal businesses that are not healthy in terms of the welfare of the citizens in the nation. Application for this trademark takes place in government offices. A registration fee is charged during application, and in some cases is renewed monthly. This way, apart from controlling business activities in the nation, the government also earns some revenue that later helps in running of the development projects that need to be fulfilled in building the nation. During the application process therefore, it is wise for a businessman to consider some issues before applying. It is wise to find out whether the application is really needed in one’s case, whether their brand appropriately needs the mark, the right time for application and the process involved during the application. This is done to avoid poor decisions, which later may cause downfall (Isobel, 2015). Trademarks help the owners of the goods and services to protect their commodities from claims by the

Mercury Athletic Footwear Essay Example for Free

Mercury Athletic Footwear Essay John Liedtke head of Active Gear, Inc. (AGI) is contemplating whether to invest in Mercury Athletic a subsidiary of West Coast Fashions (WCF). Mercury was purchased by WCF in hopes to increase business revenue however this was not the case. Business did not do as expected, WCF was then eager to abandon its apparel. John Liedtke saw this as an opportunity to take over Mercury and as result increase its business revenue. In order to determine whether this is an essential business opportunity John needs to complete preliminary financial valuations to make a solid decision. Active Gear’s current income statements and balance sheets have made it evident that the firm has a lot of potential for growth when acquiring an additional company. After maintaining simple production and supply chains AGI avoided the worst of industry write-downs and missed profit opportunities (Luehrman, Helprin (2009). In comparison to other larger industry’s AGI has a strong operating margin. Even though AGI is a profitable firm it has a downfall that it is much smaller than many of its competitors and is slowly becoming a disadvantage. In order to foresee future growth AGI should take the necessary measures to incorporate Mercury Athletic Footwear. Similar to AGI, Mercury has potential room for growth despite its former acquisition with West Coast Fashions. In order to determine Mercury’s future financial growth John should use financial forecasting. This is essential for budgeting as well as planning purposes. The most obvious involves using cash flow forecasts (Formula shown on Exhibit 1). Cash flow forecasts are used to predict account balances several years into the future and indicates what is expected to exist during a forecast period (Gabehart Valuation Services. (2003). In conducting a 5 year projection from 2006 to 2011 in both the income statement and balance sheets John can identify Mercury’s net worth and highlight what its financial revenue maybe (Formula shown on Exhibit 1). These forecasts results are based on historic facts and can be adjusted. In doing this John can clearly see whether processes are in control or out of control for example how inventory changes affect finance costs and whether the investment is worth making. This also makes it clear what financing options are more suitable in the long term and which ones would cause problems, as a result avoid any surprises (Olley (2006). The discount rate of acquiring Mercury is also essential to know. Since discount cash flow is a valuation method used to estimate investment opportunities. Its purpose is to estimate money received from an investment and adjust for time value money (Harman (2011). In this case a 12% forecast was estimated and reflected a positive factor toward PV and NPV. There are however, some circumstances where discount cash flow can be a challenge for example, the most prevailing is when cash flow projections increase for each year in the forecast. It is then assumed that a company will mature in such a way that their maintainable growth rates will lean toward long-term rate of economic growth in the long run (Harman (2011). This intern becomes a challenge for the company against unexpected risks. In consideration to Mercury’s financial history and projections it would be in the best interest for AGI to move forward and invest in Mercury. This would increase revenue for AGI and bring in a new customer market. Prior to doing so John will need to perform a financial forecast as previously discussed. The review of general factors and considerations related to the preparation of forecasts needs to be in order as well. To begin John will need to compare each given year’s net worth on the balance sheet to the next. Assuming the cash flow is increasing and positive figures are shown it can be determine that revenue is coming in. However, most importantly if the Net Present Value (NPV) reflects a negative number or is smaller than zero then the investment should be rejected. In this case NPV is positive therefore John should accept the investment. Using this determination John will be able to make a confidant decision. The use of predicting income figures is important as it recognizes a company’s future benefits and is highly stressed in a company especially when determining an investment opportunity.

Demographic economics Essay Example for Free

Demographic economics Essay Overpopulation is an issue which is constantly being debated upon, as the very aspect of humanity is at stake here. Paul R Ehrlich, Anne H Ehrlich, Frank Furedi and Vanessa Baird bring each of their unique perspectives to the table. Ehrlich and Ehrlich, in the abstract from â€Å"The Population Bomb Revisited†, believe that overpopulation is a problem that needs to be constantly addressed for humanity to survive in the long run. On the other hand, Furedi shares his views, in the article â€Å"Really Bad Ideas: Population Control†, about how he thinks the people that perceive overpopulation as a hindrance are the real problem here rather than overpopulation itself. Baird, from â€Å"Population Panic†, takes a neutral stand on overpopulation among the 3 authors. She does approach overpopulation with caution and yet is optimistic that the issue of overpopulation will get taken care on its own the way things are flowing. Ehrlich and Ehrlich believe that the natural resources humans have available to them are limited and overpopulation will only hasten the exploitation of these resources (65). Ehrlich and Ehrlich also warn that â€Å"it is an error to consider increases in human numbers as automatically expanding real wealth† as it can be seen in the case of China and India (64).Other problems due to overpopulation would be depletion of ozone layer due to exploitation of chlorofluorocarbons and increase in carbon dioxide emissions(66). Ehrlich and Ehrlich also believe that overpopulation will eventually lead to a resource war among ourselves as â€Å"the capacity of Earth to produce food and support people is finite† (68). The only way that we can escape without having to deal with the death rate solution would be to â€Å"entrain a general population decline toward an optimal number† (68). Ehrlich and Ehrlich believe that humans will have to lower fertility rates much further if they want to survive with adequate resources (68). Low fertility rates also lead to an ageing which is ideal as it is one that can easily controlled and managed (65). Furedi detests the very idea of population control. 1) Furedi points out that we are being hypocrites by spending a lot on healthcare and trying to make sure that people can live as long as possible but also blaming ourselves as a source of the world’s problems and trying to minimize the population by carrying out birth control measures.(1) Furedi believes it is the Malthusians, such as Ehrlich and Ehrlich, that are the real problem as they promote inhuman practices such as birth control to be given such great lengths of attention.(1) Furedi discredits Ehrlich and Ehrlich ’ global warming concerns by stating that without human species, the issue would resolve by itself (2)and so the â€Å"obsession with natural limits distracts society from the far more creative search for solutions to hunger or poverty or lack of resources†(5). He also claims that Malthusians strongly lower people’s confidence in fighting future problems(5) by giving people immoral solutions such as stopping to reproduce altogether. Malthusians also enforce the use of contraception for women in poor countries by disguising the whole thing and calling it counseling about family planning which is mandatory for everyone to attend(3). Furedi wants people to start believing in themselves again and begin having faith in humanity as a whole. Furedi believes that people will never reach the â€Å"death rate solution† mentioned by Ehrlich and Ehrlich if they do not sacrifice humanity. According to Furedi, overpopulation should never have been given this much attention and spotlight in the first place. Vanessa Baird seems to recognize that there are both positive aspects and negative aspects of trying to deal with overpopulation. She approaches this topic with caution as there are estimated to be about nine billion people by the year 2050(5). Baird is still optimistic in the sense that she believes that humans are well on their way to stabilizing the populations, â€Å"Fertility rates around the world are falling. If this trend continues, it will help stabilize global population size.† (Baird,5).Baird agrees with Fureti to a certain extent about people starting to blame overpopulation for all their problems, such as child abuse, murder and increase in carbon emissions and people implement more birth control measures instead of finding other solutions to these problems. Unlike Fureti, Baird does not seem to question the moral aspect of dealing with overpopulation. Baird also does agree with Ehrlich and Ehrlich also to some extent about implementing birth control measures as she believes that there are other benefits of lower fertility rather than just population control, such as more education since there is more money available per child when resources are not stretched as much anymore(7). Finally, unlike Ehrlich and Ehrlich, Baird believes that ageing population is not such a great thing as many problems do come with it (8).Paul R Ehrlich, Anne H Ehrlich, Frank Furedi, Vanessa Baird each had their own thoughts and views on overpopulation. Vanessa Baird saw the advantages and disadvantages of tackling this overpopulation. For Frank Furedi, this was never an issue to begin with. Ehrlich and Ehrlich want more emphasis to be given on dealing with the problem of overpopulation . Work Cited Frank Furedi â€Å"Really Bad Ideas: Population Control† spiked, 18 June 2007 Paul R Ehrlich, Anne H Ehrlich â€Å"The Population Bomb Revisited.† The Electronic Journal of Sustainable Development 2009, p.64-70 Vanessa Baird â€Å"Population Panic† New Internationalist, January/February 2010

The Impacts Of Terrorism On Uk Tourism Tourism Essay

The Impacts Of Terrorism On Uk Tourism Tourism Essay Chapter 4: 4.1 Introduction: Terrorism is the biggest threat to UK economy and also documented to have biggest threat on tourism industry demand. This chapter focuses on the short term impacts on UK tourism and related industries demand after September 11 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and July 7 2005 terrorist attacks on London. The studies show that, these attacks caused big shock to tourists attitudes to travel toward UK destinations and also change the image profile of tourist destinations in UK, especially London. Moreover, this chapter will also find that some UK destinations (like London) experienced strong negative impacts on the attractiveness and image for short term than others. 4.2 Targeting the Tourists: Tourism industry represents a significant contribution to UK economy. The past decade terrorist attacks caused significantly decline in foreign exchange receipts, it also increase government costs and gain political advantages over UK government officials (Hall and O Sullivan 1996). These terrorist attacks have changed the tourists perception to travel UK and they preferred to go safer destinations to enjoy their holidays. According to Keenan Steve (2003), UK tourists receipts dropped by 12.9 % as the result of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks (Table 1). The Maley J. (2006) report, after London bombing tourists frightened away from Capitals major tourist attractions. The National Gallery had 15.2%, Tate Modern, London Eye had 12% and London tower 9.7% fewer tourists than last year. As Hall and O Sullivan (1996) said, the tourism is a symbol of capitalism for an economy. Attacking the tourism industry means, attacking the government policies and in this way terrorists strengthenin g themselves against government by making the government look weak. Table 1: International Tourists Arrivals in UK after September 11 2001 MONTH / QUARTER UNITED KINGDOM % COUNT CHANGE JANUARY 255,140 5.2 FEBRUARY 307,587 -5.8 MARCH 370,319 0.4 1ST QUARTER 933,046 -0.5 APRIL 418,837 -11.9 MAY 359,168 -5.9 JUNE 354,505 -6.4 2ND QUARTER 1,132,510 -8.4 JULY 410,208 -4.1 AUGUST 415,076 0.6 SEPTEMBER 317,035 -31.1 3RD QUARTER 1,142,319 -12.1 OCTOBER 330,791 -26.3 NOVEMBER 275,931 -31.5 DECEMBER 282,661 -25.1 4TH QUARTER 889,383 -27.6 Year-To-Date Average 4,097,258 -12.9 Source: http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/view/m-2001-I-001/table_5.html Different scholars have defined and explain terrorists objectives in different ways and most scholars have agreed that terrorists gain their objectives by targeting people. Richter and Waugh (1986) said that, terrorists goals can be classified as revolutionary, sub-revolutionary or anti-government. For closer examination several other objectives emerge. Firstly, targeting tourists help terrorists groups to achieve their strategic aim and objectives by creating fear in people, destabilizing the economy and gaining the media attention. Targeting local and international tourists provide platform to terrorists with the advantage by gaining free international publicity and disrupting local tourism industry. Richter and Waugh also said that the terrorists can travel with other travellers and carry out big foreign currencies financial transactions without arousing suspicion. Over the past decade, the international tourism has become very popular. Terrorists have recognised the importance of tourism industry in economies. As a result, they had demonstrated by number of attacks on tourists. When international tourists involved in terrorist attacks, media coverage is guarantee and media keep these incidents alive for weeks and months. According to Weimann and Winn (1994), media coverage make terrorists hero and amplify their massages to enhance their moral legitimacy. By targeting tourists, terrorist groups main objectives are to secure the media attention. It is a modern tact for terrorists to keep themselves alive in local and international media news for weeks. When international tourists killed or kidnapped, the whole situation in instantaneously dramatized by local and international media, which can cause political conflict between establishment and terrorists. Terrorists achieve their objectives, when media increase its rating or circulation. The Second major objective of terrorists is to achieve their ideological objectives by targeting tourists, which can cause clashing cultures, values and socioeconomic levels. Terrorists target tourists for their symbolic values. The July 7 2005 London bombing was the prime example of terrorist attack on world famous tourist destination and cultural city. The bombing on public transport killed over 50 passengers including some foreigners. In this incident, terrorists targeted public transport to create uncertainty and cultural differences between different communities in UK. The major impact was on UK government foreign relation with foreigner tourists countries and accused (terrorists) countries. The foreigner tourists countries are demanding justices for their innocent civilian killing and UK government is demanding from accused countries to take strict measures to control terrorism. The conflict between different communities and countries resulting from clashing values and cultures was aptly demonstrated in past few years after terrorist attacks. The tourism literature demonstrates that, tourism can be medium of communication as well as the massage initiated by terrorists. Terrorists violence against tourism industry fuelling political, socioeconomic, religious and cost effective instrument used to deliver broader massage as opposition. In either case, the terrorists aim to target tourist is not coincidental and for terrorists, tourism industry is high profile, symbolism and free publicity which not to be left unexploited. 4.3 Levels of analysis: The economic impact of terrorism on UK tourism can be calculated from number of ways. There are direct costs to the industry and indirect costs to responding these events. The cost can be calculated in number of ways, for example, how much money would be lost in any productive work if we stand up in a line for an extra hour every time, we flew or travel for security checks etc. In past the economist experts have tried to calculate the economic impacts of terrorism on UK tourism for Years. They agreed that, the terrorist attacks have both short and long term impact on the tourism industry. The short term impacts are psychological factors (for example fear of flying, uncertainty), and long term impacts are decline economic performance, spending on war on terrorism (both cause unemployment and loss of earning) and long time to recover the tourism industry long term down cycle. 4.4 Effects of terrorism on UK tourism: There are number of studies that show economic impacts of terrorism on the tourism industry. The studies of IMF 2001, Hobjin 2002 and Navarro and Spencer 2001 concluded that the direct cost on tourism demand (output) seems relatively small and short term. Terrorist attacks do reduce the economic growth, although the estimated impacts are smaller than the cost of internal conflict. When September 11, 2001 and July 7, 2005 terrorist events happened, it effected UK tourism industry both directly and indirectly and disrupted the whole UK economic process. To make the impacts of their activities stronger, terrorist groups targeted airline industry, local transport system, tourism destinations, public areas and other businesses. But, travel and tourism industries were the prime and attractive target for terrorist groups in past decade. Because, these industries presence is everywhere and their aftermaths are deeper on society and on the economics. 4.5 Direct Effect of Terrorism on UK Tourism and Related Industries: The tourism industry generates huge economic benefits for the UK economy. The main economic benefits of tourism are foreign exchange earning reserve, employment, tax revenue and business development opportunities etc. According to the world tourism organization report, tourism is one of the top five export categories and source of foreign exchange earnings for many countries. For UK economy tourism is one of the biggest sources of foreign exchange earning. This foreign exchange can be used to import goods needed for other economic sectors. Tax revenue receipts by HMRC from tourism industry can be divided into direct and indirect receipts. Direct receipts are the taxes on income earned by workers and businesses. The indirect tax receipts are the duties levied (VAT) on goods and services purchased by tourists in UK. In past few years, UK tourism industry has been through a very difficult period. It failed to keep up with global arrivals growth, after September 11 2001 terrorist attacks, outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 2002 and July 7 2005 London bombing. The September 11 2001 terrorist attacks have biggest impact on UK international tourists arrival and airline industry (Graph 1). UK tourism industry is heavily dependent on air transport for tourists arrival. After September 11 2001 terrorist attacks people were hesitate to travel on aeroplanes, because the terrorist threatened to hijack the plans. These threats shocked the UK tourism industry. After 2001 terrorist attacks and 2002 foot and mouth disease shock wave, UK tourism industry started recovering its position. In 2004 UK tourism industry reached its peak and 27.7 million tourists arrived in UK during this year. They spend over  £13 billion in UK economy directly and indirectly. Further growth in tourism industry was forecasted fo r coming year, and in first six months of 2005 UK tourism industry boomed and hit the forecast target but July 7, 2005 bombing thwarted the tourism industry again. According to LCCL (2005) report, in first three weeks of July 7 terrorist attacks, UK tourism industry lost in excess of  £300 million. Graph 1: Impact on International Arrivals in UK Source: British Tourism Framework Review 4.5A Impact on Airline industry: Direct effects of terrorism have instantaneous effects on the tourism and related industries. Airline industry is one of those industries. Many travellers were fearful of travelling after September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, because terrorist threats to target airlines. These threats caused huge decline in air travel passengers, as a result number of European and US airlines cut back number of flights and some airlines carriers went completely out of business (Swiss Air, metro jet) for couple of days (Lennon and Leary 2007). Before September 11 2001 the airline industry was already under pressure of surplus capacity. According to Francis and Humphreys (2001), at the end of October 2001, BAA Plc (Owner of Londons main airports) reported that World trade centre attacks have broad impacts on UK air traffic. The worst effected route was Trans Atlantic traffic route. It was reported that almost one million passengers declined in October 2001 at Heathrow airport, of which more than half m illion were Trans Atlantic routes passengers. Because, the Heathrow airport is the world most important long haul international travel destination. While the short or local haul traffic demand was down by 11 percent compare to previous year. July 7, 2005 terrorist attacks were direct attacks on London Local bus and train networks. As a result the London underground train services were suspended for couple of days and transport companies lost millions of pounds. This loss was the direct damages and declined in the number of passengers travel toward London due to security reasons and fear of more terrorist attacks. The airline industry also had severe impacts of London bombing, because for the short time period many tourists and travellers cancelled their flights and holidays. 4.5B Increase in Security Cost to tourism related industries: The latest terrorist attacks on London caused new and tightened security measures at hotels, entertainment centres, bus and train stations, airports, sports stadiums and tourists destinations. Some of these security measures are deployment of more security personnel on airports, historical places and city centres, installation of better screening system on airports and other public areas to scan and examine travellers and their baggage, more random checks of passengers, installation of surveillance cameras to monitor suspicious people activities. All these security measures have caused big increase in cost to government departments and businesses; as a result they increase their products and services prices and all burdens goes to end user of the products and services, which may be tourists. 4.5C Impact on tourism related Jobs: Terrorism crises cost many jobs in UK and rest of the world. According to Travel trade Gazette (2002) report, The World Travel and Tourism Council estimated that over 10 million travel jobs were lost worldwide after to September 11 2001 terrorist attacks. In United Kingdom, just in October 2001 tourism revenue declined by 25 percent, as compare to the last year, as a result thousands jobs were lost in London (Travel trade Gazette 2002). According to Riley O. (2002), in just three months after September 11 incident, it was announced, that UK tourism industry total loss were over  £600 million in revenue. In first two months, over three thousand hotels and other related businesses workers lost their jobs in UK. July 7, 2005 was the direct attacks on London, as a result London tourism declined and thousands of people engaged in tourism and tourism related industries lost their jobs. In past couple of years UK tourism industry was generating over 10 billion pounds a year and provides e mployment more than half a million people in the London city of more than 7 million people, which represent 10 percent of population. 4.5D Impact on Hotel Industry: The UK tourism and hotel industries are growing side by side and UK hotel industry is highly depending on tourists. The hotel industry performance in Europe suffered badly after September 11 2001 terrorist attacks. The UK hotel industry was booming before September 11 2001 terrorist attacks, because hotels in London which relay on tourism industry and high end US business were most exposed. According to Travel Research International Ltd (2001) report, just in September 2001 over 25 percent London hotel industry revenue declined. Based on preliminary information available, the hotel occupancy rates for the rest of the year are forecast to be 65 to 75 percent, compared with 81 percent in 2000 (Graph 2). After September 11 2001 international hotel chain Hilton Group has reduced it capital expenditure budget from  £150 million to  £75 million in response to decline in entire hotels chain revenues. In first two months there was a 10.7 percent fall in Hilton hotels chain revenues. Many hotels in all UK cities suffered from lack of American business, five star hotels in London down by 32 percent and four stars hotel by 15 percent. The UK hotel industry had suffered badly after July 7 2005 terrorist attacks on London. Data from PKF Accountants and business advisers (2005) shows that, the London hotel occupancy down by 4.9% on the same month last year. Outside London regional hotel showed .7% fall in occupancy. According to Monaghan G. (2005), UK hotel and travel industry stocks including TUI, AG and Hilton Group Plc slumped by July 7 2005 London bombing, which hurt the citys tourism industry. The FTSE 350 shows that hotels and leisure index dropped by 5.8 percent; it was the biggest decline in Leisure and hotels index since September 11 2001 terrorist attacks. UK tourism industry had been recovering from three year slump in industry followed by September 2001 attacks and UK tour operators was receiving a boost from London win a bid to host the Olympics in 2012. Expert said due to tourism boom about 75 percent London hotel rooms were occupied between 2004 to June 2005. Soon after July 7 0005 terrorist attacks on London hotels occupancy declined down to 65 percent, as a result of decline in tourists (Graph 2). The share prices of Hilton group and Inter Continental Hotel Group Plc slumped to 7.2 and 6.4 percent respectively. Graph 2: Hotel Occupancy in UK after September 11 July 7 Attacks Source: PKF, Deloitte and TRI Consulting Press releases 4.5E Impact on Sports Tourism: During the week of terrorist attacks on London, all major sporting events in the London and other cities were cancelled and postponed for the future dates, because of security concerns. These included football matches, local cricket league matches etc. Thousands sport fans travel from abroad to attend sport events had cancelled their trips. The local sport fans from other UK cities had also cancelled their trips toward London to attend sports events. Each attendee spends an average of  £100 to  £150 for admission, food, accommodation, parking and miscellaneous items. After July 7 2005 terrorist attacks many sport tourists had cancelled their trips to attend events or changes their mind to travel to London. Many months later after attacks sport tourists were still hesitating to travel London attend sports events for safety and security reasons. 4.5F Impact on Travel toward the UK Destinations: September 11 terrorist attacks not only impact on US travel and tourism, UK was also curtailed. Many countries issued warning to travellers to avoid countries such as US and UK, because of more threats of terrorist attacks. As a result, Great Britain saw over 25% declines in tourism revenue in September and October 2001 as compared to the previous year. July 7 2005 London bombing also adds fuel to the fire. Several thousands tourists were cancelled their vacation plans and business trips to the UK and other Europeans countries. Many UK tourists also cancelled or postponed their holidays within the UK and many hesitate to travel toward London. As a result, hospitality industry in UK had lost millions of pounds in revenue. 4.5G Impact on Tourists Safety, Attitudes and Beliefs: Tourists always prefer their safety before they travel. Terrorist attacks on London city 2005 and New York 2001 had very strong affects on the UK tourism industry, because it was a big challenge to the tourists security beliefs. When tourists travel, they do not want to expose any hazards. The safety is the main concern for them. The terrorist attacks are the biggest threat to travellers and tourists personal safety, which reduce the travellers propensity to travel. The September 11 2001 attacks clearly demonstrate the tourism industry and Sonmez S. (1998) said that tourists substitute risky destinations with safer choices, demonstrate a delayed reaction to terrorism and exhibit cultural differences in their reactions to risk or threat. As a result many tourists had switched their holidays toward safer destinations in other countries. 4.5H Impact on Tourism and Travel Services Suppliers: The travel services suppliers are operating in very comparative market and at very thin margins are vulnerable to any decline in demand. Tour operators and travel agents in UK were already under growing pressure from direct sell methods between customers and service suppliers. The impact of September 11 2001 terrorist attacks had weakened the airline and related industries and July 7 2005 terrorist attacks on London had made matters worse. The difference is that, these suppliers have less rigidity than the airline and related industries; hence contractions in size and closures are likely to be permanent. The tour operators and travel agents in UK have been hit particularly hard by terrorist attacks. According to the Association of British Travel Agents report, after September 11 2001 terrorist attacks, the number of agents closing has increased, compared to the same period last year, because decline in air travel tourists demand. The UK tourism mainly depends on air travel and for survival many travel agents were cutting costs by shedding staff. Just Thomas Cook had announced 1500 job cut, which was representing 12% of its workforce. Many months after the terrorist attacks UK tour operators reported that, booking are not improving, tourists and holiday makers are hesitate to travel toward UK. Although holidays packages were being discounted and booking were offered at short notice. The UK tour operators were reported to reduce there capacity by 20 % for coming summer, although Association of British Travel Agents forecasted that booking will fall by only 5% in next summer. 4.5I Impact on Tourists Spending Pattern: The Tourism industry Emergency Response group reported, that the spending by overseas tourist in UK is likely to decline by 300 million as a result of July 7 2005 bombing. The decline in tourism spending generates negative impact on UK total spending and employment pattern. The direct impacts of July 7 2005 terrorist attacks were many tourists cancel or postponed their trips to UK because of their safety. The effects of cancellation and decisions not to travel cost UK tourism industry huge losses, which contributes 4 percent to UK GDP that represent $2.1 trillion. Just London accounts 50 percent of total UK tourism industry of foreign tourist revenue alone and provide gateway for tourist travelling to other UK cities. 4.6 Indirect Effect: 4.6A Change in tourists demand heterogeneously: While the indirect effects of terrorism on UK tourism industry include prominent decrease in tourism demand after terrorist attacks and many months after these terrorist attacks foreign tourists were still hesitating to travel toward UK destinations. Many tourists permanently switched to other world famous tourists destinations. The decline of tourists demand also compels UK authorities towards the new policies and their immediate implementation, with the aim to minimise long term impact on tourism demand. According to Loewenstein et al (2001) the indirect effect contains fall in tourists demand, which may interrupt or disconnect the industry demand. It is evident that UK tourism industry operates according to the demand of overseas and local tourists. The above discussed terrorist attacks are infecting a widespread of common fear of individuals which in results decline in tourism demand. 4.6B Change in Tourists Behaviour: According to Sunstein (2003) the asperity of those adverse cases detect to which level these events are painful and emotionally attach towards the memory of individuals. Janis and Feshbach (1953), fear is a specific mental state, it appear with the surety of non availability of security or when there are predictions of more incidents in future. More over it is obvious the tourists get some kind of impact from continuous state of fear from terrorism. Czinkota M. R. (2005) said that economic research also has roots in correlation among behaviour and emotion. The negative emotions like state of fear definitely affect tourists travelling behaviour. Leventhal (1970) narrates that excessive fear of terrorism is look out of control for tourism market. Sunstein (2003) said, the terrifying effects of terrorism, tourists over estimate its occurrence in certain ways. The behaviour of over re-acting about terrorist attacks fear traces people to make demand of extra improvement in remedies from a uthorities and government. This kind of tourists behaviour also had strong impacts on tourism industry. 4.6C Long Term unplanned expenses: The terrorism caused major decline in all UK economic sectors, which results the huge reduction in long term profits in all type of industries. Tourism sector is one those economic sectors which had direct and indirect impacts. The decline in tourists demand after terrorist attacks to travel toward UK destinations caused big reduction in long term profit of tourism and related industries. To bring back tourists and to recover its position, UK tour operators were offering special offers to tourists, like reduction in holiday packages, travelling packages, hotel packages etc. All these price cuts results tourism industry has to face un-planned expenses and reduction in revenue, which was the indirect impact on tourism sector. 4.6D Impact on Tourist Destinations Image: The UK tourism industry is very popular in overseas tourists, because there are number of places of interest throughout the Great Britain including museums, castles, stately homes, royal palaces, theme parks, Zoos, art galleries, gardens and many more historic places. The image importance of UK tourism industry can be viewed as it is sixth largest destination in the world (over 190 countries). This reputation and image took years to build but past decade terrorist attacks pointed many fingers toward it stability. The UK tourism had suffered largely due to derogatory history of terrorism in London and other main cities in past. The July 7 2005 terrorist attacks added fuel to the fire. For short time many overseas tourists cancelled their holidays due to more terrorist attacks fear, which had direct and indirect impact on image brand on UK tourism industry. After these terrorist attacks UK tourism industry image brand took months to recover in tourists mind. 4.6E Impacts of Government Regulations on Tourism: Czinkota et al (2004) said that there may be need of making of policies, laws, and regulations for public in reaction of these terrorist attacks. While determine to improve security conditions, these regulations cause delays in efficient tourism industry operations. According to Sustain (2003) these government regulations sometimes does not help really in growth of economy and tourism industry, also effect negatively. These new polices of checking tourists and their languages imposed on airports, sea ports and train stations cause more trouble to tourists, increase security cost, time wastage and also decrease the efficiency. 4.6F Impact of Foreign Polices on Tourism: The way foreign relations alter because terrorism is not predictable and it is mixed blessing in so far foreign policy concerned. Terrorism unites the nations as well as separates them. The nations unite on common agenda of tackling terrorism and break with forever due to it. The foreign relations of different countries are based on co-operation and mutual interest of governments. Terrorism causes misunderstanding and disruption between countries. Once confidence or relationship between countries is broken, it never revives or takes very long time to build the same and strong relation again. Both countries government could be right and wrong at the same time. The country accused of the terrorism sometimes may not be in a position to control the terrorism and on the other side target country cannot believe that accused country is taking strong action against terrorists or sometimes believe that accused country is sponsoring the terrorist to achieve their interest against target countr y. Terrorism has become major issue in the UK foreign relations, especially after July 7 2005 terrorist attacks. It also has changed the style and direction of UK foreign polices. Now it is the first and most important thing to consider before entering into any agreement of mutual benefits. UK government has introduced new and striker polices for many countries visitors and travellers due to week foreign relation of those countries. These polices have discouraged many tourists to travel toward UK because of strict visa rules, security checks and questions at airports etc. 4.7 Summary: Terrorism affects tourism activities deeply, this threat compel almost both local and international tourists, which cause decline in the revenue and profit of tourism and related industries. On the other side, the whole UK economy has to bear the cost of every single act of terrorism. It is the responsibility of UK government to develop and make polices to tackle the terrorist threats. The government is also liable for making such kind of policies and regulations that give some relaxation to overseas tourists to enjoy their travel and holidays in UK. This may help UK tourism industry to reduce its losses.

Proposal for International Foods at the University Dining Services Essa

Proposal for International Foods at the University Dining Services Pedro Cabrera came to State University from Puerto Rico. He decided to be an exchange student at State because he was interested in experiencing life in the United States, and because he was excited about the excellent veterinarian program offered at State. While he loves attending college and living in the United States, there are some things that he would like to change, or rather introduce to State University. Pedro admitted that he feels homesick at times, a feeling not uncommon to new freshmen. He confessed that one of the most important things that he misses about his home is his mother's home cooking. Pedro confessed that the food that the State University dining service provides, does not offer a very wide selection of international food, especially none that are specific to Puerto Rico. Therefore, Pedro would like to propose to the State University dining service that a wider variety of international be incorporated into the daily dining menus. Comfort for international stud ents, variety and accessibility for all students, and a positive aspect of State University are some of the reasons why the introduction of international foods would be beneficial in the residence hall dining services. Pedro shyly admitted before that he feels homesick at times for foods that he eats in Puerto Rico. Like many other students, international or not, food can be a great comfort when students feel homesick. Many students who are not international students can at least relate to the kinds of foods that are found at the dinning services, even if they are not exactly the same as a home cooked meal. For international students, however, the food served at the dining ser... ...idence hall dining services. On an everyday basis, State University tries to help students adjust to college life in one way or another. The dining service would be taking a large step towards assisting international students in this matter. Not only this, the dining service would join in the campaign to educate students in something new, each and everyday, by exposing all students to new international foods. Plus, at the same time, they would be saving all students a great deal of time and money, and not to mention, keeping them excited about eating in the dining services on a daily basis! The proposed way of incorporating international foods to dining service is both simple and efficient. The introduction of new and different international foods to residence hall dining services would benefit everyone who has the pleasure of dining at Iowa State University.

Irving Washington, The History of New York Essay example -- Literary R

Irving Washington was born in 1783 in New York into a large family where he was the youngest of eleven children. He started his career from a law office feeling that it was a job not to his heart content. Being light-hearted and sardonic in his nature he attempted to write for the journal of his brother Peter called â€Å"The Morning Chronicle†. Later Irving and Peter thought of creating a high-quality literary mockery. Originally the text intended nothing else but a satire upon the â€Å"Picture of New York† by Dr. Samuel Mitchell whose text was rather boastful of erudition and pedantry; however, it turned out to be different from the original perspective broadening the scope of interpretative thinking over to history and philosophy as two great narratives. The text was published December 6, 1809 in New York when Irving Washington was 26 and brought him considerable critical acclaim. Worth mentioning are the two timelines: the actual historical timeline of the story which embraces the first two decades of the XVII century. Literary selection suggested revolves around a historical episode of purchase of New York (namely Manhattan Island) from the Indians and further life of the Dutchmen. In 1626 Peter Menuit arrived at the colony called New Amsterdam to govern as well as take part in educational and religious activities of the settlers. The first priority for the governor to realize was a purchase of the Island of Manhattan. The estimated sum of transaction was twenty-four dollars, which Irving Washington calls â€Å"a measure almost unparalleled in the annals of discovery and colonization† (Tuttleton, 1993, p. 209-212). The second timeline is actually tangible through the author’s voice within the frame of narration, as he comes from two... ...he other side of the conflict is never articulated, thus suppressed, kept silent and, therefore, eliminated, which makes the entire concept of conflict as a productive means of history. Irving Washington wrote the text looking back two centuries. Apart from being a satire it deconstructs the concept of history by devaluation of the conflict via removal of one of its constituents or dehumanization of it which is one of the main implied themes of the story. Works Cited Aderman, Ralph. M. Critical Essays on Washington Irving. // John G. Lockhart. Review of Knickerbocker’s History of New York. G.K. Hall & Co., 1990. P. 50. Irving, Washington. A History of New York: Washington Irving: History, Tales and Sketches. NY: the Library of Congress, 1983. P. 449-55. Tuttleton, James W. Washington Irving: the Critical Reaction. AMS Press, 1993. P. 209-212. Irving Washington, The History of New York Essay example -- Literary R Irving Washington was born in 1783 in New York into a large family where he was the youngest of eleven children. He started his career from a law office feeling that it was a job not to his heart content. Being light-hearted and sardonic in his nature he attempted to write for the journal of his brother Peter called â€Å"The Morning Chronicle†. Later Irving and Peter thought of creating a high-quality literary mockery. Originally the text intended nothing else but a satire upon the â€Å"Picture of New York† by Dr. Samuel Mitchell whose text was rather boastful of erudition and pedantry; however, it turned out to be different from the original perspective broadening the scope of interpretative thinking over to history and philosophy as two great narratives. The text was published December 6, 1809 in New York when Irving Washington was 26 and brought him considerable critical acclaim. Worth mentioning are the two timelines: the actual historical timeline of the story which embraces the first two decades of the XVII century. Literary selection suggested revolves around a historical episode of purchase of New York (namely Manhattan Island) from the Indians and further life of the Dutchmen. In 1626 Peter Menuit arrived at the colony called New Amsterdam to govern as well as take part in educational and religious activities of the settlers. The first priority for the governor to realize was a purchase of the Island of Manhattan. The estimated sum of transaction was twenty-four dollars, which Irving Washington calls â€Å"a measure almost unparalleled in the annals of discovery and colonization† (Tuttleton, 1993, p. 209-212). The second timeline is actually tangible through the author’s voice within the frame of narration, as he comes from two... ...he other side of the conflict is never articulated, thus suppressed, kept silent and, therefore, eliminated, which makes the entire concept of conflict as a productive means of history. Irving Washington wrote the text looking back two centuries. Apart from being a satire it deconstructs the concept of history by devaluation of the conflict via removal of one of its constituents or dehumanization of it which is one of the main implied themes of the story. Works Cited Aderman, Ralph. M. Critical Essays on Washington Irving. // John G. Lockhart. Review of Knickerbocker’s History of New York. G.K. Hall & Co., 1990. P. 50. Irving, Washington. A History of New York: Washington Irving: History, Tales and Sketches. NY: the Library of Congress, 1983. P. 449-55. Tuttleton, James W. Washington Irving: the Critical Reaction. AMS Press, 1993. P. 209-212.

waves :: essays research papers

INERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE SUBSIDIARY LEVEL WAVES SUMMARY 4.1 Travelling wave characteristics A medium is a material through which a wave passes. When a wave passes, each part of the medium moves away from its normal position and then returns. This is called an oscillation. Oscillations within the medium are slight movements either side of the normal position. The wave motion is the disturbance that passes through the medium. A wave pulse causes the medium to have one oscillation. A continuous travelling wave causes the medium to keep oscillating. Waves transfer energy without transporting matter because each part of the medium oscillates on the spot. A transverse pulse causes the spring to move at right angles to the direction of motion of the pulse. A longitudinal pulse causes the spring to move parallel to the direction of motion of the pulse. The direction of propagation is at right angles to the wavefront. The displacement at a point is how much the medium has been displaced from its normal position. Displacements are given + or - signs depending on the direction of the displacement. Amplitude is the largest distance from the normal position that the medium is displaced. The wavelength l of a wave is the distance from one point to the next corresponding point. The period T of a wave is the time in seconds that it takes one wavelength to pass by. In this time the medium will complete one oscillation. The frequency f of the wave is the number of wavelengths that pass each second. Frequency and period are reciprocals. T = 1/f. The speed of a wave is equal to its frequency times its wavelength. A displacement/position graph shows the displacement of the different sections of a medium. A displacement/time graph shows the displacement of one point of a medium as time elapses. The speed of the particles of a medium is a maximum when their displacement is zero. The speed of the particles of a medium is zero where the medium has maximum displacement. For a longitudinal wave, the medium has a high pressure called a compression where particles are closer than normal. For a longitudinal wave, the medium has a low pressure called a rarefaction where particles are further apart than normal. The particles around a compression move in the same direction as the wave. The particles around a rarefaction move in the opposite direction to the wave. The particles near a compression and rarefaction have small displacements. The particles where the pressure is normal, have large displacements.

Coca Cola in Africa Essay

1. Why is Coca-Cola so interested in Africa, which is typically regarded as part of the base of the global economic pyramid? Coca-Cola is an organization that has been around since 1892. Coca-Cola is looking for new emerging growth markets and Africa has proven to be that. Combined, 12 of the African countries have a GDP greater than that of Chine. Coca-Cola has 29% of the market share in Africa. 2. What unique resources and capabilities does Coca-Cola have that will help it compete well in Africa? Coca-Cola has the ability to conduct street by street campaigns, to reach the towns and villages. This will assist in improving it marketing and distributions to areas off the beaten path. The manual distribution centers will also assist to grow sales, by coaching and directing small bottlers and residents to own their sales and delivery. 3. What are the drawbacks of making such large scale commitments to Africa? Yes there are drawbacks. There are still many areas in Africa where the government and physical infrastructure is not stable. With Coca-Cola investing large amounts of money in Africa, the instability could prove disruptive to Coca-Cola operations. 4. Do stakeholders in the United States and Africa who criticize Coca-Cola have a reasonable case against it? Yes, it is a valid criticism that Coca-Cola is depleting fresh water, and encouraging environmental harmful refrigeration. Coca-Cola needs to find a way to create sustainable manufacturing that will not pillage natural resources. Why go to Africa Coca-Cola was founded in 1892, but began business in Africa in 1929. Despite the belief that Africa is unstable government, lacks infrastructure, and great conflict and turmoil, Coca-Cola decided to enter Africa and is the largest private sector employer in Africa. $12 billion was allocated towards building distribution centers and plants in Africa. Sales in the United States are declining due to the public concern over sugar. Sales in Europe and Japan are flat, while markets in China and India offer up strong completion for Coca-Cola. Africa’s middle class population is growing at a steady rate, so the disposable income is increasing. This creates an opportunity for Coca-Cola to tap into growth opportunities (Natalia Cheverri 2012). How does it work? Although there are areas in Africa lacking infrastructure, Coca-Cola operates in every country. Coca-Cola utilized a franchising manufacturing model that works perfectly for operating in Africa. Coca-Cola partnered with local licensed bottling groups to help create the product. Coca-Cola manufactures the syrup concentrate and sells to the bottlers. The bottlers add filtered water, carbonation, and sweetener to make the final product. With this model, Coca-Cola is sharing the wealth with local investors/community members. This creates sustainable business and improves community buy-in with Coca-Cola’s existence in Africa (Maritz Jaco 2010). Because partnerships are formed with local bottlers and local members of the community, there is a vested interest by the locals to keep Coca-Cola’s business successful. Through these partnerships, Coca-Cola is able to help build the socio-economic system in different towns. Distribution Coca-Cola was having difficulty distributing product to different area of Africa with no roads. In 1999, local bottlers came up with the idea to cover off the beaten path areas by any means necessary. This included distribution by bicycle, pushcart, hand-carry and even donkey-cart. This distribution method is called manual distribution and has been adopted by many organizations all over the world (Maritz Jaco 2010). Manual distribution method was even adopted by an innovative non-profit named Colalife. This organization distributes medicine all over the continent of Africa. Summary Coca-Cola took a gamble in making the decision to enter Africa. This gamble has paid off, because Coca-Cola is now one of the largest organizations in Africa and sees growth profits. References: Maritz, Jaco (2010), â€Å"Report: Doing Business in Africa, the Coca-Cola way† http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/doing-business-in-africa-the-coca-cola-way/2433/. Date accessed May 17, 2013. Steakley, Lia (2013), â€Å"Using the Coca-Cola supplier network to distribute medicines in Africa,† http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2013/04/26/using-the-coca-cola-supplier-network-to-distribute-medicines-in-africa/. Date accessed May 17, 2013 Cheverri, Natalia (2012) â€Å"Coca-Cola in Africa,† http://www.thepolisblog.org/2012/03/coca-cola-in-africa.html