Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Philosophy and the Self Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Philosophy and the Self - Assignment Example Most people are confronted with hard decisions such as: what person is best to get married to? Should he relocate to another state (i.e. Illinois)? Should he buy a car or a penthouse? Do they intend to have kids? These hard decisions are usually termed as life changing decisions that shape someone’s destiny. Matters such as politics, religion, best ways to ensure human and civil rights are upheld, good procedures to ensure the nation’s security, procedures to realization of an equitable, just and free society are usually disagreeable by reasonable minds. Other critical issues that reasonable minds can disagree revolve around on if it is best to legalize early term abortion or legalize same-sex marriages. The scope of this paper will explore the issue of religion freedom based on beliefs, values and the theories of freedom that justify or contrast the varying perceptions of religious freedom (Scheinin, 2000). An important allegory of a person who made a life changing decision in the bible is Abraham. Trust was a key requirement that Abraham was supposed to have first. God needed him to follow God, be a loyal servant and in turn he would bless him and all his descendants. Also, his descendants would be as many as a million stars in the sky. Furthermore, Abraham was already old and had no kids. Abraham decision to truly and completely trust God with his heart was one such hard decision that transformed his life. God in turn fulfilled His promising by blessing Abraham and all of his descendants. Furthermore, He gave him a son at that old age which is impossible. The trust in God portrayed by Abraham is hard to find in the current society. Alternatively if there is, it may not be a full conviction from ones’ heart. Moreover, people sometimes question if God truly exists. Reasonable minds can argue such a case by various theorists such as the creation theory and

Monday, October 28, 2019

John Locke the State of Nature Essay Example for Free

John Locke the State of Nature Essay In the chapter five of The Second Treatise of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration, John Locke expresses his opinion about property. According to the Bible, all human being is the descendants of Adam and Eve, which mean that this world is common to all humankind. However, in order to that the property is significant to people, the property must be your own private property. The individuals are different from the land and other properties. Everyone is entitled to the private rights; the personal private property may be obtained by the working, and the personal private property is out of the scope of the public property. Therefore, through manual labour, the public properties become privatization. Nevertheless, the privatization of public property is limited; the way to obtain the private property is only in the situation that does not damage others will be accepted by others. Only under such situation that people have provided appropriate resources to others, can they gain own properties to achieve their satisfactory goals through contribution and work. God gives treasure to humans, but does not look forward to seeing humans using it improperly. God expects humans to share and use the treasure in proper way and by their own work. How much treasure people should earn should be decided according to how much they contribute and need. However, it is not ethical to get properties by violating others. When people cannot implement or distribute natural resources in proper ways, others turn such resources into their own properties via ethically appropriate implementation. The right of gaining property from work is prior than lands public-owned status, since most of what people gain is via their hard work instead of natural resources. Above all, if people are willing to work on and properly implement public-owned resource properly, such work will give property as a return. In addition, John Locke indicates that the reason why currency came out was people was making efforts on storing some resource which tended easily to go bad, and making them better use and higher profits. Currency does not have actual value, but its value is from the exchange of other resources. It is pointless to occupy extra property which exceeds the actual need and ability of using it, and is not honest either.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Biography of Kurt Vonnegut Essay -- essays research papers

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was born to third-generation German American parents in the city of Indianapolis, year 1922, November 11th. While at Shortridge High School in Indianapolis, Vonnegut was heavily involved with the school’s daily newspaper, the first and only daily high school newspaper in our nation. During his time at Cornell University, Vonnegut became the school paper’s senior editor. World War II then began, and so Vonnegut joined our nation’s armed forces. Mother’s Day came in 1944, and during this time while Vonnegut was home on leave, his mother committed suicide. Later on while in the army, Vonnegut was sent to Europe where he was captured and made into a POW by Germans. He witnessed the 1945 bombing of Dresden, which was later said to have killed more civilians than the bombing of Hiroshima. After the war Vonnegut studied anthropology at the University of Chicago and married his childhood sweetheart, Jane Marie Cox. In 1958, Vonnegut’s sister died of cancer, which was seemingly timely with her husband’s death-by-train-crash only hours earlier. Vonnegut adopted three of his sister’s four children, adding to his three biological ones at the time. Vonnegut is given a total of seven. In 1965 Vonnegut was the teacher of the University of Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop, and had separated himself from his family in order to support them. This may have contributed to him and his wife’s estrangement in 1970. Nine years later they made their divorce official to the state. Vonnegut promptly afterward married photographer Jill Krementz. In 1982, the new couple adopted a young daughter, bringing Kurt Vonnegut’s sum of children to an impressive seven. Although Kurt Vonnegut has always been a reader’s favorite, his works did not become cr... ...ldly, level. The central conflict of Any Reasonable Offer is instead one that focuses itself upon one man. Harrison Bergeron features a central and obvious antagonist, where after I finished reading Any Reasonable Offer I found the Peckhams to not be very antagonistic but instead clever. Lastly, Harrison Bergeron can be seen as speaking out against a totalitarian civilization. Any Reasonable Offer does not speak out against any types of dangerous government control. It is instead an interesting sequence of events from one man’s life. It may have taken him twenty years, but Vonnegut was finally able to make his name known to the world of literature. Today he is regarded as one of the most important writers of the 20th century. His career goes to show that becoming an accomplished author isn’t always easy or immediate, few authors are able to quickly jump to the top.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Fun with Education Essay

In a general sense, ‘education’ means a form of learning process in which knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training and research. Accordingly, education aims at the physical, intellectual, spiritual and moral development of man. Education merely does not give knowledge to a human being and enabling him to earn his livelihood. But it does much more than this. Nowadays, what we can see the society as a future teacher is the students do not have an interest in learning by the way of ‘chalk and talk’ anymore. They prefer something new from the teachers which are more interesting and fun. One of the most effective ways is including games in teaching and learning process. Education can be fun through games. As a sports teacher, we can build our student’s potential. Games are a mean of keeping the body healthy and fit. Indeed, good health is the first condition of happiness in life so those who play games generally maintain good health. For example, sports teacher can create interesting games that can help students in building up their critical thinking skills besides physical strength. They can learn different types of skills such as throwing, passing, and kicking in sports like basketball, football and others. On top of that, education can also include songs which are forms of entertainment. In this way, we can make our class more interesting and students will be entertained. From the song lyrics, we can polish our student’s language and vocabulary besides making learning more fun. They can also learn to express their emotions through songs as songs can be a good cure for stress. Furthermore, education can be fun through role playing. We can involve our students act out a drama which may help to improve their acting skills and self confidence. Indirectly, they will be able to express their thoughts through role-play in a form of voice projection, facial expression and also body language. Apart from that, they can strengthen their memorizing skills too. This is because they need to memorize their scripts. As we know, the world we are living today is technology dominated and everything can be done fast and furious. For examples, cell phones, instant coffee machine, one hour-photo shops and internet can help us to complete our task in a short time. In short, technology makes the world moves faster than the past. But, education does not have any shortcut for us to reach the destination. We must learn step by step. Practice makes perfect. So, we take time to achieve our goals in the field of education. In a nutshell, we can make education fun in many ways such as games and songs. Thus, we can make our classroom full of joy and students will not feel bored while learning from the teachers. Besides, students will be able to think out of the box. With this, the goals of ‘fun in education’ could be achieved.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Oliver Cromwell

How and why has the rule of Oliver Cromwell been interpreted differently? There are lots of opinions about Cromwell and they have differed a lot. Historians still disagree about him even today! ‘His cruelty and ruthlessness have left a mark and a memory that the last 300 years have not been able to wipe. ’ C V Wedgwood mentioned in the 1950’s-60. He wrote many books about the life of Charles I and this shows that his opinion of Cromwell wasn’t a very nice one. He has stated that Oliver Cromwell has scarred life and they have not been able to get rid of that nasty memory.Although Wedgwood disagrees about Cromwell, there are others that differ. ‘Cromwell was the national hero†¦the greatest because the most typical Englishman of all time. ’ S R Gardiner stated in 1902. Gardiner was a descendent of Cromwell and supported the idea of a Puritan Revolution. This source shows that he was a great fan of Cromwell and he believed that he was the most typical Englishman of all time. I think he might have supported the Puritan Revolution idea because he might be a puritan himself and respected the ideas Cromwell had.I think both of these statements are biased as Gardiner was a descendant of Cromwell and Wedgwood wrote many book about Charles; Cromwell agreed to execute Charles. In this essay I am going to explain how and why his rule has been interpreted in different ways and why he was such a controversial man? Oliver Cromwell was a military and political leader who overpowered the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland. He was born at Cromwell House in Huntingdon on the 25 April 1599 to Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Steward and he was a puritan.Cromwell was a commander of the New Model Army which defeated the royalists in the English Civil War. He was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1628 and for Cambridge in 1640. He entere d the English Civil War on the side of the â€Å"Roundheads† or Parliamentarians and became a key military leader. Nicknamed â€Å"Old Ironsides†, he was quickly promoted from leading a single cavalry troop to command of the entire army. Lots of people turned against Cromwell; and he turned against people to. The levellers were the most famous people who turned against Cromwell and his ruling.The levellers were a political group during the civil war. The levellers list developed with growing conflict within the New Model Army in the wake of the First Civil War. The leveller’s believed in religious freedom, end to imprisonment for dept and that all male population should be able to vote for parliament and this should happen every 2 years. But Cromwell didn’t think this. â€Å"What the levellers say is that the poorer people should have as much riches as richer people. Either you must cut them in pieces or they will cut you in pieces† is what Cromwel l is reported to say.But is this what the levellers wanted? No, it wasn’t. Cromwell made out that they were making the poorer people be as rich as the richer people when all they wanted was for all male population to vote every 2 years etc. This might add on to the reason people still disagree with the choices he made today. John Lilburne was the leader of the levellers and had much support. The Levellers made full use of the printing press to circulate pamphlets and petitions, effectively developing the first mass political propaganda techniques to be used in Britain.In 1649, Lilburne was imprisoned in the tower of London. Whilst he was there he wrote a letter, â€Å"we have much cause to distrust you; for we know how many broken promises that you have made to the kingdom. † He sent this letter as Cromwell met up with the leveller group every week to discuss ideas. For a long time Cromwell agreed with them, and after the king was executed the levellers thought they co uld change. But then Cromwell turned against them. I know this from the sources I have seen in class. On the other hand many people agreed with the choices Cromwell made.People may think that the idea of not going to prison for not paying dept is wrong and religious freedom is wrong as you are not respecting god. On the way down to London a group of 400 men in the leveller group was captured by the new model army. They were imprisoned in Burford church and the 4 leaders (Cornet Thomson, Private Church, Corporal Perkins and Chaplin Henry Denne) were up for execution. All 4 of them were given a chance to agree that there ideas were wrong and they would get killed. 3 refused to but Chaplin Henry Denne agreed and was saved from execution.Even today Burford celebrate leveller’s day every year. Cromwell and Ireland didn’t really get on in them days. Most of Ireland still doesn’t agree with us now. At the time of Cromwell there were lots of Protestants living in Irelan d. This is strange because Ireland was a catholic country. But this happened because King Henry and Queen Elizabeth I started to encourage English Protestants to go and take over land in catholic Ireland. They did this by either pushing the Irish off their land or by making the Irish work for them. But in 1641, the Irish Catholics rebelled against the English rule!At this point the king was still alive and in was in the middle of the civil war so Cromwell couldn’t possibly do anything about it but as soon as the king was executed and the war was over, that’s when Cromwell made a stop to the Irish Catholic rebellion. In 1649, Cromwell landed in Ireland with 12,000 men to invade, his first target was Drogheda! As he landed, Cromwell proceeded to take the other port cities on Irelands east coast. The first town to fall was Drogheda. â€Å"Cromwell’s soldiers promised to spare the lives of any who laid down their arms.But when they had all in their power, the word, ‘no quarter’ went round. † This was from a letter written by Marquis of Ormonde, the leader of the Irish Catholics, on 29th September 1649. The word quarter meant that if the enemy surrendered and gave up their weapons, it was then wrong to kill them. This was one of the two important 17th century rules of warfare. So, this quote shows that Oliver Cromwell recklessly killed innocent people. This is probably why people still disagree with him today; especially people in Ireland as it might be there ancestors who got murdered. But am I being a bit biased here?This was Marquis of Ormonde interpretation of what happened, so what about the other half of the story. Oliver Cromwell wrote a letter reporting what happened. The letter stated that he offered surrender four times. Here are two examples, â€Å"†¦ a summons (order) to deliver (surrender) the town, receiving no satisfactory answer†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and â€Å"†¦ were summoned, but they refused to yieldâ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬  Both of these examples do show that Cromwell was cooperative and gave a chance for them to surrender. These quotes might be the ones that make people support him as he gave them lots of chances to surrender but they refused.The massacre of the garrison in Drogheda, including some after they had surrendered and some who had sheltered in a Church was received with horror in Ireland, and is remembered even today as an example of Cromwell’s decisions. Many people in them day thought that the only way to bring back law and order was to bring back monarchy. But the problem was, they couldn’t possibly bring back Charles II as Cromwell agreed with the execution of Charles I and ran Charles II off to France. The only man who could, was Cromwell. In February 1657, he was offered the crown but he rejected the offer.This could have been for many reasons. One reason could have been that hi army might turn against him. â€Å"Cromwell tried all possible means to persuad e the army officers to approve his plan. He invited himself to dine with General Fleetwood and Colonel Desborough, where he began to go on about monarchy. They told him that those who offered it were friends of Charles Stuart. † This was written at the time by Edmund Ludlow. This show that maybe Cromwell did want monarchy but his army warned him off by saying â€Å"they told him that those who offered it were friends of Charles Stuart. Also, â€Å"one hundred officers said to His Highness that he should not take the title of king because it was not pleasing to his army†¦Ã¢â‚¬  this backs up the quote from Edmund Ludlow as it is saying that the army advise him not to take the title of king. Also they call Cromwell â€Å"His Highness† which shows that they already think he is powerful and loyal. This might have been a reason why people agree with Cromwell as he did want monarchy back but it was the army who stopped him. On the other hand, Lord Clarendon quoted â⠂¬Å"this man, against the desires of all noble persons, took the throne of three kingdoms.Without the name of king, but with a greater power and authority than had been claimed by any king. † He is saying that he does not deserve the title of king as he already has more power than any other king and he wrongly rules three kingdoms. People may agree with this and don’t think that Cromwell should have ruled all three kingdoms and made people obey them when he wasn’t even king. But is this quote biased? Well, it might be as Lord Clarendon was a supporter of the Stuarts. When Cromwell became lord protector, all the opinions about him differed.Lots of people agreed with him becoming lord protector, for example, â€Å"Cromwell would have rather taken a shepherds staff than the Protectorship. Nothing went more against his feelings than show of greatness. But he saw it was necessary at the time, to keep the nation from falling into extreme disorder. † This shows t hat he wasn’t too keen on the lord protector but he accepted it to help the nation. This could be a reason why people look up to him as he didn’t do it for his own likings but to help other people.Another quote from a Bristol Baptist says, â€Å"The days of Oliver Cromwell were marvellous days of prosperity, liberty and peace. † This quote is saying that because of Cromwell becoming Lord Protector, the nation became a better place. On the other hand some people disapprove him and see him as a devil. For example, there was a cartoon titled ‘Cromwell’s Chariot’. This cartoon shows a chariot drawn by two dragon like creatures, Cromwell at the back with the devil. In the chariot there are three ladies which represent the three Kingdoms. Cromwell is holding the scales of liberty and an angel is in a cage.The chariot is running over parliament and in the background two wolves are chasing five sheep. I think these animals represent Cromwell’s men are the wolves chasing the town’s people. This painting shows that the artist thinks that Cromwell is already ruling too much and has locked away all freedom. But this goes against the other quote which stated that when Cromwell was in rule it was marvellous days of prosperity, liberty and peace. There has always been lots of different views about Cromwell and they have all differed through time.In the Victorian period people thought that Cromwell was a great man who helped to make Britain a fairer, stronger and more religious country. The Victorian were proud of being ruled by an elected parliament and in 1899they built a statue of him outside houses of parliament to mark the 300th anniversary of his birth. But in the 1930- 40s many historians thought he was a cruel military dictator. â€Å"†¦ Historians have given us many Cromwell’s. † Christopher Hill said in 1970 and he is basically saying that there is lots of different view of Cromwell.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Jfk Life And Death Essays - Kennedy Family, John F. Kennedy

Jfk Life And Death Essays - Kennedy Family, John F. Kennedy Jfk Life And Death His Life and Legacy On November 22, 1963, while being driven through the streets of Dallas, Texas, in his open car, President John F. Kennedy was shot dead, allegedly by the lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States, the youngest person ever to be elected President, the first Roman Catholic and the first to be born in the 20th century. Kennedy was assassinated before he completed his third year as President therefore his achievements were limited. Nevertheless, his influence was worldwide, and his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis may have prevented the United States from entering into another world war. The world had not only lost a common man, but a great leader of men. From his heroic actions in World War II to his presidency, making the decisions to avert possible nuclear conflict with world superpowers, greatness can be seen. Kennedy also found the time to author several best-selling novels from his experiences. His symbolic figure repres ented all the charm, vigor and optimism of youth as he led a nation into a new era of prosperity. From his birth into the powerful and influential Kennedy clan, much was to be expected of him. Kennedy was born on May 29,1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts. His father, Joe, Sr., was a successful businessman with many political connections. Appointed by President Roosevelt, Joe, Sr., was given the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission and later the prestigious position of United States ambassador to Great Britain (Anderson 98). His mother, Rose, was a loving housewife and took young John on frequent trips around historic Boston learning about American Revolutionary history. Both parents impressed on their children that their country had been good to the Kennedys. Performing some service for the country must return whatever benefits the family received from the country they were told. (Anderson 12). The Kennedy clan included Joe, Jr., Bobby, Ted and their sisters, Eunice, Jean, Patricia, Rosemary, and Kathleen. Joe, Jr., was a significant figure in young John's life as he was the figure for most of John's admiration. His older brother was much bigger and stronger than John and took it upon himself to be John's coach and protector. John's childhood was full of sports, fun and activity. This all ended when John grew old enough to leave for school. At the age of thirteen, John left home to attend an away school for the first time. Canterbury School, a boarding school in New Milford, Connecticut and Choate Preparatory in Wallingford, Connecticut completed his elementary education (JFK 98). John graduated in 1934 and was promised a trip to London as a graduation gift. Soon after, John became ill with jaundice and would have to go to the hospital. He spent the rest of the summer trying to recover. He was not entirely well when he started Princeton, several weeks later in the fall of 1 935. Around Christmas the jaundice returned and John had to drop out of school. Before the next school year began, he told his father he wanted to go to Harvard (JFK 98). On campus, young people took interest in politics, social changes, and events in Europe. The United States was pulling out of the Great Depression. Hitler's Nazi Germany followed aggressive territorial expansion in Europe. It was at this time that John first became aware of the vast social and economic differences in the United States. In June 1940, John graduated cum laude (with praise or distinction) from Harvard. His thesis earned a magna cum laude (great praise) ( JFK 98). After graduation, John began to send his paper to publishers, and it was accepted on his second try. Wilfrid Funk published it under the title Why England Slept. It became a bestseller. John, at twenty-five, became a literary sensation. In the spring of 1941, both John and Joe, Jr., decided to enroll in the armed services. Joe was accepted as a naval air cadet but John was turned down by both the army and navy because of his back trouble and history of illness (JFK 98). After months of training and conditioning, John reapplied and on September 19, John was accepted into the

Monday, October 21, 2019

What are the conditions that must be met for an economy to make the transition form being a planned to a market economy essays

What are the conditions that must be met for an economy to make the transition form being a planned to a market economy essays World market economies are comprised of two different types of markets. Those markets are free market economy and planned market economy. Free market economy is an economic system which resolves the basic economic problem through the market mechanism. Planned market economy is an economic system where the government, through a planning process allocates resources in society. Countries such as Russia and China whose markets are based on planned economy, have being experiencing problems such as the incentive offered buy the profit motive maybe replaced by personal ambition or a political ideal, and people have little to say in what is provided directly by the state and the purchasing shops is likely to be limited.(cato.org/pubs/joural/cj16n2-3.html). Therefore they have decided to change to a market economic system from a planned economic system. There are several conditions that have to be met to make a transition from a planned to a market economy. Those conditions are stabilisation privatisation and price liberalisation. The first of the conditions for transition to a market economy is stabilisation. Stabilisation requires a flexible, functioning product and hard working labour markets to be able to have a successful transition. If the operation for the state enterprises are being subsidise by the government or there have been loan taking from national banks as happens in planned economies, from neither the enterprise nor the workers will have an incentive to decrease the wage or employees from the effect of the aggregate demand. Aggregate demand is the total of all demands or expenditures in the economy at any given price. Aggregate demands will fall if the consumption , investment, government spending or net exports decrease on the a constant level will lead to a fall. As in the diagram below shows how the aggregate demand curve is shifted to left from the effect it happens. The failure of the transition process i...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Michel Trudeau Killed by Avalanche in 1998

Michel Trudeau Killed by Avalanche in 1998 Michel Trudeau, the 23-year-old son of former Canadian Prime Minister  Pierre Trudeau  and Margaret Kemper and younger brother of current Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was killed by an avalanche in British Columbias  Kokanee Glacier Park  on November 13, 1998. Three other skiers also present on the slopes were rescued by a national park service helicopter from the provincial park in the wilderness area northeast of Nelson, B.C., where the young Trudeau was presumed to have been pushed off the ski trail by the avalanche and swept down into Kokanee Lake, where he was believed to have drowned. A private memorial service for family and friends was held on Friday, November 20, 1998, in Outremont, Quebec, though his body was never recovered from the lake. After the Incident Nearly ten months after the avalanche that killed Michel Trudeau, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (R.C.M.P.) sent a dive team into Kokanee Lake to search for his body, but a long winter, cold summer, and snow in the Rockies hampered search efforts. Before beginning the search, the R.C.M.P. cautioned that it was possible young Trudeaus body may never be found because divers could only go down to a depth of 30 meters (about 100 feet) while the lake is 91 meters (close to 300 feet) deep at its center. After nearly a month of searching - largely due to the limited number of days of open waters on the lake and the high altitude that prevented deep diving - Trudeaus family called off the search without recovering the body and later erected a chalet nearby as a memorial to Michel. More About Michel Nicknamed Miche by Fidel Castro (of all people) during a visit with his grandparents to Cuba in 1976, Michel Trudeau was born only four months before on October 2, 1975, in Ottawa, Ontario. Upon retiring from politics, Michels father Pierre moved the family to Montreal, Quebec, where the 9-year-old Michel would spend the rest of his childhood. Michel attended the Collà ©ge Jean-de-Brà ©beuf before pursuing a graduate degree in microbiology at Nova Scotias Dalhousie University. At the time of his death, Michel had been working at a mountain resort in Rossland, British Columbia for about a year.   On November 13, 1998, Michel and three friends set out on a backcountry skiing trip in the Kokanee Glacier Park, but the avalanche separated the group from Michel as he was swept downhill into the lake.   After his death, a newly discovered varietal of rose was named after him, dubbed the Michel Trudeau Memorial Rosebush, with proceeds from sales of the new flower benefitting the Canadian Avalanche Foundation, which helps survivors and victims of Canadas many avalanches recover after getting caught in one of natures most destructive natural disasters.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Decorative Arts of Saudi Cultural Heritage Research Proposal

Decorative Arts of Saudi Cultural Heritage - Research Proposal Example The need for effectiveness in planning, space utilization as well as functional architectural design promoted the advancements of interior design. For instance, Majilis paintings have represented an aspect of interior design practiced by Saudi people from Asir province. The decorative arts embraced by interior designers of both residential and commercial specialties reveal the connection between the historic nomadic life and the art of interior design practiced by Saudi Arabians. There are two outstanding significances of the art of interior design among the people of Saudi Arabia and especially the Majilis of Asir province. As mentioned earlier, art was a very effective way of expressing a community’s lifestyle. The Majlis who were nomads expressed their way of living through the art of interior design and presented a great way to connect among themselves and give them an identity. The second significance of art among the Majilis of Asir province is that it was a great way of passing on their culture and traditions from one generation to another. All through the earlier centuries, the Majilis had built a heritage that incorporated their customs and values that united them together as a people. Each province in historic Saudi Arabia had its own form of art that was highly distinguishable from that of a different province. Basing on the quality of the paintings and interior design, one could tell how wealthy a family or a community was. It was a great way of giving identity to a community. In the present days, traditional art is at a risk of fading away as it lacks acceptance and much-needed appreciation among the present day and contemporary artist. This is especially so in the art of interior design. The art of interior design is a practice that dates back to the early historical period and has been carried forward by artists to the recent historic period.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Measuring Business Performance Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Measuring Business Performance - Coursework Example In fact efficiency can metrically be measured using cycle time and capacity utilization, and in short efficiency refers to the time it takes a process or a person to achieve a given result. On the other hand, effectiveness shows the target results are achieved, and in short it is the level of results from the employees or process within a system. In an organisation, employees who achieve their targets in their respective departments for instance employee A achieves a set target of 10, 000 unit sales is said to be effective. Conversely, an employee who achieves the target within the shortest time possible is efficient. Efficiency and effectiveness are very important components of the business function, and there a number of reasons why businesses are interested in achieving higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness. 1. Effectiveness and efficiency assists businesses in setting up of organizational goals, and hence they important in business because they are the ingredients the business attains its goals, and efficiency corresponds to time goals, whereas effectiveness corresponds to results. 2. In the present face of intense competition brought about by globalization, businesses must employ tools that assist in profitability. This implies that reducing costs and increasing revenue, and a business that employs effective methods shall surely make higher returns. 3. Efficiency and effectiveness contribute positively to the business as it helps in aligning the organizational structure towards good communication and cohesiveness, and through the principle of transitivity, this will benefit the customers, who in turn become loyal and retained. The company selected for the purpose of task three is Friends Life, and its shares are being traded publicly traded at the London Stock Exchange. The annual results for 2013 and 2012 financial year are located at the

Timberland and City Year Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Timberland and City Year - Case Study Example The Timberland brand had existed since 1973 and had shown steady growth since then. When Jeffery Swartz took over in 1991, he applied some basic business expertise to the organization, reducing overheads, cutting inventory, and improving customer service significantly. The result was an increase in revenues from $196 million in 1990 to $650 in 1994. Alongside, Swartz made considerable effort to associate the company and the brand with community service. Swartz developed a distinct relationship with City Year, a fledgling community service corps for young people in the Boston area. Between 1991 and 1994, this relationship strengthened from a supply of 70 boots to a level where Timberland stood committed to providing five million dollars to City Year over a five-year period and Swartz taking a position on its Board. City Year in the meantime increased its spread to six major cities across the US and gained recognition as a national community service receiving 50% of its funds through F ederal grants. Timberland's practice of modern day philanthropy, although good hearted, cannot go without both challenges and criticisms. In the subsequent analysis, we find that the partnership generated benefits and negatives for Timberland because of the inherent and sometimes acute difference in agendas of a for-profit company and a non-profit organization. However, the most drastic problems surfaced in late 1994, early 1995. The loss for Timberland was financial, leaving many employees worried about an uncertain future. Timberland was forced to scale back its operation, laying off a number of employees and outsourcing labor. City Year also faced funding problems, as Congress threatened to withdraw federal funding. Community service with City Year became a major source of tension within the company as employees found it difficult to accept diversion of major amounts to City Year while colleagues lost their jobs in the company. The problem now became whether and how to maintain commitment to co mmunity service in the face of financial difficulties. Literature Review Mason (1993), states that customers may not perceive companies as doing enough even when they are providing good quality at competitive prices. There is increasing emphasis on environment and social involvement among businesses as part of strategy (Fellman, 1999). This concern has been at the root of corporate responsibility discussions that took shape in the Sarbanes Oxley Act, requiring transparency in operations and for companies to demonstrate their commitment to the environment and society through positive action. Studies have shown that customers buy from their business not only based on criteria such as price, quality, and availability, but also other socially responsible acts. According to L&G Business Solutions, a 2001 Hill & Knowlton Harris Interactive poll showed that 79% of Americans consider corporate citizenship when deciding whether to buy a particular company's product; 36% of Americans consider corporate citizenship an important factor when making purchasing decision s. Cause related marketing (CRM) is an accepted and key strategy in

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Summary - Essay Example In Rudolph’s article, the history of American universities is presented. From the earliest days, the struggle of those who sought a better way for American students is shared with the reader. Some men begged books to start new schools, some man fought danger in the wilderness to found a new college that would present education to the people. The early days were a real challenge. As America grew, so did its universities. Many schools were inspired by a religious awakening that occurred in America's early days. Each denomination had its own school and many of these survive to this day. At their best, Rudolph argues, these schools represented American democracy and helped the idea of America flourish. Kerr's article presents a more contemporary view of universities and shows how they are adapting to try to survive in today's changing marketplace. Universities play a somewhat different role than they did in the period discussed by Rudolph. Now they are intended more to train peopl e for employment and conduct important research that can save lives and change the way we think about our place in the world. But funding is scarce. Research universities are the fountainhead of research and development and yet they lack the federal funds to continue to produce at an effective level. Kerr wonders about the future of such universities.

Fronters Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fronters - Essay Example Company has an opportunity to make acquisitions (Ringbeck and Roska). Due world financial crisis business, industry has faced huge losses so as an airline industry, but it also present an opportunity to expand business through alliances and mergers. Company can raise money from different financial institutions that offer lower interest rates and can borrow at fixed interest rate. Fixed rate borrowing will prevent the company from bankruptcy, and Frontier can invest more in its expansion rather give as interest. Inflation is impacting the business increasingly day by day. There is great fluctuation in prices of each company that is a big threat for the company. However, managing prices in uncertain conditions is not a piece of cake. Airline industry is covered with unexpected problems and to deal with these problems is difficult. Therefore, it is a big threat for Frontier. For example, in the condition of storm strikes company needs fast communication channels that are a big challenge for Frontier. Because of poor communication system, company has to face negative sentiments of customers that are base for Frontier airlines. Due to economic and financial crisis, the cost of raw material is increasing which cause to increase the cost of services. Therefore, end price which will slowdown the competitive advantage of Frontier airlines. Increased cost is a threat for Frontier. Exchange rate fluctuation is also a threat for the company. In the case of strong Currency, Company will lose its competitive advantage because customers from countries that have lower currency rate will not pay higher prices and company will have to face a price war. Frontier airline was found in 1950 by the merger of three airlines; Arizona Airways, Monarch and Challenger airways. In 1985, the airline was acquired by people express and due to some financial difficulties, the airline faced bankruptcy (Carson, 74). The new Frontier airline was

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Summary - Essay Example In Rudolph’s article, the history of American universities is presented. From the earliest days, the struggle of those who sought a better way for American students is shared with the reader. Some men begged books to start new schools, some man fought danger in the wilderness to found a new college that would present education to the people. The early days were a real challenge. As America grew, so did its universities. Many schools were inspired by a religious awakening that occurred in America's early days. Each denomination had its own school and many of these survive to this day. At their best, Rudolph argues, these schools represented American democracy and helped the idea of America flourish. Kerr's article presents a more contemporary view of universities and shows how they are adapting to try to survive in today's changing marketplace. Universities play a somewhat different role than they did in the period discussed by Rudolph. Now they are intended more to train peopl e for employment and conduct important research that can save lives and change the way we think about our place in the world. But funding is scarce. Research universities are the fountainhead of research and development and yet they lack the federal funds to continue to produce at an effective level. Kerr wonders about the future of such universities.

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Report on the UK Petrol Market Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Report on the UK Petrol Market - Coursework Example Even the retailers of petrol have declined drastically owing to this wave of competition. The fall in petrol prices is also attributed to the increased competition among dealers of petrol in the UK. But there is a notable difference in prices between the rural petrol outlets and the urban ones. This could be justified by the additional costs of distribution and the low volume of sales in the rural areas (Harrison, 2011). Objectives of the Report To explain the meaning of ‘opportunity cost’ and ‘substitution’ To show how the concepts of ‘substitution’ and ‘opportunity cost’ could be used to analyse the changes in the equilibrium price in the UK petrol market. The concepts of Substitution and Opportunity cost Opportunity cost is the value of the next best forgone alternative. It results because of the scarcity of resource required to meet people’s needs. For example if one has $100, they can buy either a book or a watch. If the y choose to buy a book, then the benefit they could have enjoyed if they had bought a watch would be an opportunity cost (Samidi et al., 2008). Opportunity cost can also result if as a result of price increase, the quantity bought reduces. For example if before price change a 100 litres of petrol at could be bought at$4,000 but only 80 litres could be bought with the same amount of money. In this case, the value of the 20 litres that is forgone after the price increase is an opportunity cost. This scenario also shows a substitution effect which is the difference between the quantity bought before and after the price change (Duguid, 2005). Substitution also results in a case where one is making a choice between two substitutes such as wheat and rice. If the price of rice is increased, the consumption of wheat is likely to be increased. Therefore, the difference between the quantity of wheat consumed before and after the price increase of rice is termed as a substitution effect. Equil ibrium Price in the UK Petrol Market The figure below shows the changes in shifts in the equilibrium position as a result of the changes in the price of petrol. The X-axis represents the quantity of petrol while the Y-axis represents the Price of petrol (per Litre). X0, X1 and X2 represent the various equilibrium positions. Q0, Q1 and Q2 represent the litres of petrol bought at various prices. D0 is the demand of petrol while S0, S1 and S2 are the supply the supply curves. The Graph of Volume of petrol and its Price per litre                S1                                                                                  S0                                        X1                Pe1                      S2 Price per Litre       X0             Pe0                                                                X2          Pe2                                                                         D0                                                                                              Q1 Q0 Q2                      Quantity (Litres)             Figure 1: Petrol Market Discussion The initial equilibrium position (where the supply curve, S0, intersect with the demand curve, D0) was represented by X0. At this equilibrium position, the consumer was able to buy Q0 Litres of petrol at a price of Pe0 per Litre. But if the price of petrol was increased to Pe1 per Litre, the consumer has to reduce the quantity consumed to Q1 litres from Q0 litres. The reduction of Q0-Q1 Litres is the volume of petrol forgone by the consumer owing to the price increase by P1-P0 dollars. The value of the foregone Litres of petrol is an opportunity cost which the consumer has

Monday, October 14, 2019

Types of Advertising Media Essay Example for Free

Types of Advertising Media Essay There are various types of advertising media through which companies can advertise products, brand and services, in order to promote their businesses. Ogilvy (1987) who is considered to be one of the pioneers of advertising and marketing concepts once stated in his book entitled Ogilvy on advertising that advertising is the promotion of companys or personal products, brands and services carried out primarily to boost sales and is extremely pervasive in todays society. Advertising has become an essential element of the corporate world and hence many companies allot a considerable amount of resources towards advertising their products either by the print media, outdoor media and the broadcasting media advertising. Firstly, the print media advertising, in an research by Manohar (2011) entitled types of advertising media he noted that, the print media is achieve by promoting products through the use of newspapers and magazines, in which the media offers options such as promotional brochures and fliers to achieve their advertising purposes. Often, this type of advertising medium impacts a large portion of the advertising world through its daily publication that goes directly to the targeted customers. In addition to that, many local businesses use the print media to ensure that they capitalize on the advertising market, knowing that people read magazines and daily newspapers and are likely to come across advertisement that are strategically place there to capture their interest. The outdoor media advertising is also an important and very popular form for promoting products. Mentioned in an article by advertising- suite (2009) entitled types of advertising media the outdoor media makes use of several tools and techniques to targets the general public, but is achieved by way of placing advertisements on billboards, kiosks, moving transportation as well as events and trade shows. Terse and catchy phrases are implemented in this type of advertising media to grab the attention of the general public and effectively leave a lasting effects on them. Moreover, the outdoor advertising media is a fantastic medium businesses used to communicate their information strategies between themselves and intended audiences. Finally, another form of advertising is through the broadcasting media. The book entitled Broadcasting and Cable by Warner (1986) views broadcasting media as advertising that is electronically transmitted to people, it constitute several branches such as television, radio and the Internet. When companies advertise on television or radio they often rely on repetition of ads in order to gain consumers interest in their products. According to Hassam (2011) in an article entitled types of advertising media people spend considerable amount of their time watching television, browsing the Internet and listening to the radio and as such the broadcasting advertising media reaches a wider audience both nationally and globally. Moreover, it also gives marketing agencies the opportunity to be creative in effectively conveying their marketing messages through sight, sound and motion. Conclusion: The use of advertising media for many companies has been seen as an important component for their marketing tactics to promote businesses as well as to communicate their information efficiently. Advertising through the print, outdoor and broadcasting media have improve product sales, popularize companys name and brand value, if a product is advertised well and its information reaches to the masses, then the chances of more people getting to know about it spread. Thus, making advertising beneficial for the consumers, manufacturers and the advertising agencies within the local or the global market.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Effect of Family Disruption on Family Finances and Children

Effect of Family Disruption on Family Finances and Children Critically discuss the evidence underlying the claim that the deterioration of economic conditions that usually results from family disruption is the major explanation for the lower ability and achievement of children in disrupted families. This paper considers whether, and to what extent, the deteriorated economic situations caused through family disruptions and economic deprivations are the main reasons for children’s lower competences and attainments. Firstly, the association between disrupted family and economic circumstances are considered in line with some recent economic theory. Secondly, the reasons why economic circumstances arising from family disruptions are identified as being the foremost predictors for lower ability and attainment of children in disrupted families. This claim is examined. In addition, issues within previous studies are then investigated. Lastly, the implications for enhancing children’s outcomes regarding this issue are also discussed. How family disruptions are linked to deteriorated economic conditions Due to a dramatic change of family structure in modern societies, questions about the impact of family disruptions (e.g. separation/divorce, step-parenting, remarriage) on economic conditions, measured by home ownership, income and size of the residence, have appeared to be increasingly significant. There have been a number of studies explaining the relationship between disruptions in family life and economic circumstances. Numerous longitudinal and cross sectional research reveals that disruptive events in families cause economic disadvantage (e.g. Amato, 2000; Duncan, Yeung, Brooks-Gunn and Smith, 1998). Divorced individuals typically have greater economic deprivation than married individuals (Marks, 1996; Ross, 1995). Researchers have reported that women are likely to have more serious problems with economic consequences in comparison with men (e.g. Holden and Smock, 1991; Ross, 1995; Smock 1994) and that lone mothers are considered to be in the poorest situations after separation or divorce (Ram and Hou, 2003). For example, the longitudinal study of Bianchi, Subaiya and Kahn (1999); focusing on the gender gap in economic well-being among the couples with children after family disruptions in the United States, found that there was a 36% decline in living standard of custodial mothers, whilst noncustodial fathers experienced a 28% increase. It can be seen that in general, mothers’ post-divorced standards of living was merely a half that of the fathers. Moreover, to compare with divorced men or married women, lone mothers tend to have more monetary problems over longer period. Amato (2000) explains this incidence that â€Å"women, compared with men, have more interrupted work histories prior to divorce, experience greater work–family conflict (due to their responsibility for children), and are more likely to experience employment and wage discrimination† (p.1277). However, the deleterious economic conditions can be relieved in step-parent families (Amato, 2000) Why is economic deprivation from family disruptions claimed to be the major predictors for low outcomes of children? Over the last few decades, researchers have focused attention on the economic consequences of changes in family structure, identifying family disruptions as key causal explanations for lower children’s outcomes. It has been found that the deterioration of economic conditions, caused by disruptive events in the family such as single-parenting and divorce are greatly related to negative outcomes among children (Pearson and Thoennes, 1990; Bronstein, Stoll, Clauson, Abrams and Briones, 1994; McLanahan and Sandefur, 1994; Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, Yeung and Smith, 1998; Gue, 1998; Amato, 2000; Ram and Hou, 2003). Household income is often considered to be significant in explaining children’s outcomes (Mulkey, Crain, Harrington, 1992). Congruent with the explanation of Haveman and Wolfe (1995) The income level of the family in which a child grows up is perhaps the best measure of the level of economic resources devoted to the child by the parents, and is often included in the studies of children’s educational attainment (p. 1855). It is well known that different types of family have different effects on children’s ability and outcomes due to their differing economic situations (Schneider et al., 2005). Intact families usually have more income than single-parent families, and this advantage becomes a part of developing children’s educational outcomes (McLeod and Shanahan, 1993; Duncan et al., 1998; Schneider, Atteberry, Owens, 2005). On the other hand, children from single parent-households have more limitations in economic resources in comparison with children from intact families. Single parents, particularly lone mothers often spend more time outside of the home to compensate for the economic loss due to separation or divorce. This is likely to affect children’s ability and academic outcomes because of reducing time for involvement with their children. Parents who have lower incomes due to a separation or divorce are less able to provide their children with material resources such as school equipment, computers and extra lessons (Ross, 2005) Negative impacts on academic achievement of children related to living in separated families, often results from reduced provision of economic resources. Boggges (1998) has suggested that there are few effects on children’s academic performance when the economic status is controlled in research, achievement were found. However, persistent negative effects on graduation rates were found. In addition, Schneider et al. (2005) argues that although step-parenting families (non-traditional families) are often more advantaged in economic resources, the outcomes of the children remain lower than the outcomes of children from traditional families. This is because step parents may not provide step children with the resources like they might towards their biological children (Schneider et al., 2005). Ram and Hou (2003) similarly propose that â€Å"children in step families are no different from those raised in lone-parent families in a number of spheres, including cognitive skills, hyperactivity, and indirect aggression, even after economic condition and familial resource variables when held constant† (p. 326). This is commonly compatible with the studies of some researchers who found children from step families less well performing in school and exhibiting more emotional and behavioural difficulties (Coleman, Ganong, and Fine, 2000; Hanson, McLanahan, and Thomson, 1997; McLanahan and Sanderfur, 1994; McMunn, Nazroo., Marmot, Boreham and Goodman, 2001) In addition, children who live with other types of two-parent households, such as with grandparents or relatives, are also likely to have more disadvantages than children living in intact households, and the same or lower level than children in lone-parent households (Chase-Lansdale, Brooks-Gunn and Zamsky, 1994). According to Downey (1994), although children in lone-mother families often lack economic resources, some children in lone-father families have problems with a deficiency of interpersonal resources such as involvement in children’s tasks. He also suggests that children’s outcomes in both types of family are roughly equal (Downey, 1994). Moreover, it was found that children who live with the same gender or opposite gender parents slightly differ in outcomes. While economic situations have often been considered as the most significant factors in explaining children’s outcomes of the disruptive families, the study of Kerr and Beaujot (2001) investigating Canadian children found that there are low income is less important than other factors such as the function of family, number of children in households, educational level and age of the parents. Similarly, Mulkey et al (1992) argue that economic conditions are not a significant mediator between lone-parent families and the low attainment of children. They also state that living in lone-mother households is not more detrimental than living in lone-father families, and income is not the major issue explaining the relationship between family structure and children’s academic performance. Problems with the studies The findings of some studies have been ambiguous when indicating the association between family structure changes and children’s outcomes. For example, do deteriorated economic conditions in disruptive families often affect the child’s educational outcomes? Or do children with lower ability or lower attainments usually come from families with monetary problems? In addition, the prior problems before parental divorce or separation are often neglected. According to longitudinal research by Ram and Hou (2003) children of several disruptive families were already registering academic difficulties. Second, there is little specific mention regarding the time within the lifecycle of the child of the deteriorated economic situations. Duncan et al. (1998) suggest that the economic situations amongst children in the early years have the most influential impact on attainment, especially among children in low-income families (Cherlin, Chase-Lansdale and McRae, 1998; Duncan et al., 1998; Amato and Sobolewski, 2001). This should be different from the findings derived from adolescents. Therefore, a clearer specification of period when economic deprivation takes place should be inserted. Third, the comparisons of income across different types of households are ambiguous. There is an unclear distinction between the income before disruptions and the income after disruptions. For example, some families may have financial problems before disruptions. Furthermore, the stability of income also should be considered because earning cycles in each family differ, and may vary across the year. Lastly, it can be seen that ethical considerations are not adequately addressed in a number of studies even though the research touches upon highly sensitive areas of family life and predictions of children’s achievement. Such matters are usually quite confidential and the complicated relationship that might negatively affect the subjects, so the reader needs to know how the data for the research was gathered and in what conditions. For example, the protection and welfare of the participants, the use of deception, confidentiality and the anonymity of data are issues that should have been addressed and considered more fully in order that subsequent research operates within accepted ethical boundaries. Implications Public policy Public policy should be more focused on the welfare of single-parent families, particularly lone-mothers. As several studies have reported, single-mothers or custodial mothers are more likely to have more financial problems than any other types of family (e.g. Holden and Smock, 1991; Ross, 1995; Smock 1994). After disruptions, they have to spend more time outside of the home in order to earn money to compensate for the loss of family income. This association in single-parent families seems to be unrelieved until re-marriage happens. In addition, if income can be considered as a significant factor in predicting childrens’ later achievement, it also acts as the resource to provide the means for their progression. One implication of these findings is the need for critical considerations about higher pay for women and income support programmes, in particular, for single mothers who have to bring up their children on their own to assist them cope with problems derived from economic deprivation after disruptions. Also, more extensive child care and support should be provided in order to meet the needs of these children. Schools Teachers should be more deliberately concerned with their reactions and behaviour to children from lower income families. Some teachers tend to react to such children differently due to their economic backgrounds (Mulkey et al., 1992). In addition, the understanding of misbehaviour of the student is important. Some inappropriate behaviours of students in classrooms may occur due to depression or bereavement from disruptive events in their family. Therefore, whenever the behavioural problems of students appear, instead of focusing on them only, teachers should consider the contexts of students such as family backgrounds in order to prevent misunderstanding as well as find the way to assist and support children. Furthermore, teachers in schools should have more concern and care about their own behaviours as a role model for all students because the students, especially the children in their early years tend to observe and replicate teachers’ behaviours. Parents Parents are the individuals who are likely to be the most influential role models for children’s lives. A careful family plan may be one strategy to ensure stability for the child. The home environment should also be considered because it is a significant source of learning. â€Å"The quality of the home environment – its opportunities for learning, the warmth of mother-child interactions, and the physical condition of the home – accounts for a substantial portion of the powerful effects of family income on cognitive outcomes† (Duncan et al., 1998, p.209). Furthermore, having a stable level of income is important because low and unstable income leads to economic pressures that may cause conflict between partners experiencing serious financial issues (Conger et al., 1993). The income level of the family is a powerful predictor of the economic pressure that has both direct and indirect impacts on children’s achievement (Duncan et al, 1998). Conflictin g or disruptive events in the families can also be traumatising events for children. Parents should avoid using force and presenting unpleasant behaviours at home and in front of the children, because it may be the cause of later aggressive behaviours from children. Conclusion It appears in several studies that economic conditions are the significant explanations for the association between family structure and children’s achievement. The diminution of material resources due to deteriorated economic conditions, which often derive from disruptive events in families, has significant impacts on educational outcomes of children (Ram and Hou, 2003). In several studies, when income is restricted, children in disrupted families tend to have lower attainments than children in intact or non-divorced families. Research reports that the majority of children in intact families are at an academic and social advantage in comparison with children in non-intact families. A child’s achievement generally depends on the economic resources that are given by parents, children who live in an intact family tend to have high attainments. This is because lone-parents have less income and have less time to be involved in household activities such as helping children to do their homework. This leads to the lower outcomes of children. Children who grow up in lone-mother families tend to have the lowest attainments in comparison with growing in other types of families. In addition, although children who live with step families have opportunities to have more economic resources than those who live with single-parent families, the researchers state that there is no difference between the educational outcomes of children in lone families and the child outcomes in step-parenting families (Coleman et al, 2 001; Henson et al, 1997; Ram and Hou, 2003). It might therefore be concluded that the deterioration of economic circumstances after separation or divorce may explain part, but by no means all, of the lower outcomes among children who have experienced parental disruptions.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

THE SOUTH :: essays research papers

THE SOUTH   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The south can be defined in many ways depending on the person’s feelings toward it and that of which they have experienced. To me the south has to be the best place to live in all the United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the things that stick out in my head about my beloved birthplace that will never be forgotten, because they’re held so dear to my heart, are the smiling faces that you see everywhere you look. I’m telling you; people here are so nice that you would be lucky to find someone rude towards you within a week’s period. That can only be best described just as plain ole’ southern hospitality. I mean the dialect of all the southerners is so comforting, it just reassures you that your plenty welcome all the time. The thing that gets me and always makes me appreciate the southerners’ lingo is the great analogies used by them. Seriously, For every situation you can think of there’s got to be about five southern phrases used to describe that very thing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another thing that defines the south is its culture. Where else can you find a garage sell at every turn. I mean where else is there a state park that hosts a gathering of country folk to sell all there junk to another southerner who in turn will be right back at that same place with a stand of their own trying to get rid of the dang thing they bought just a few weeks ago. The funny thing is, if you ever decided to take a drive through the south, you would probably mistake some southerner’s land as a yard sell or junkyard for that matter. Most southerners aren’t surprised when they see they’re friends yard covered with old tires, rusty cars, broken chairs, and all of these things just swallowed in 3 foot of grass that hasn’t been cut since little Bo wrecked the tractor used to bush hog the thick stuff. I mean there’s just no telling what you might find in that very grass. All southerners love wearing boots and I can surely see why, because every yard you walk through you’ll soon stub your toe on just about anything from a old toilet to some scrap metal that’s going to be used to put a roof on a shooting house whenever winter blows in.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The atmosphere down here is great also.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Trinidad and Tobago and Monthly Production Target

Exercise: Chapter 1 Assignment 1 Application 14 Refer to figure 1. 4 on page 12 of your text. Use this figure to rate each of the following scenarios. Record beside each scenario your choice (a, b, c, d) and explain fully your choice. High in effectiveness and high in efficiency high in effectiveness and low in efficiency low in effectiveness and high in efficiency low in effectiveness and low in efficiencyScenario #1 : The Production Manager of Mom's Cookies had a monthly production target of 100,000 bags of cookies. His target for quality inspectors is to have the reject rate less than 2% of production. Both these targets were met for August. Labor costs are up 5% because overtime had to be incurred to complete some orders,Both goals were met but unfortunately labor costs went up. Scenario #2: The reject rate for Mom's Cookies was 8% this month. The normal target is less than 2%.The problem was traced too poorly maintained oven which burnt a number of batches before the problem was rectified. Addition costs were incurred to fix the equipment problem as well as extra costs associated with the Ingredients to make the replacement batches. The company however did make their monthly target of 100,000 bags of cookies. B,The company wasted resources but however they did reach their monthly goals which was 100,000 bag of cookies. Scenario #3: The month end reports for Mom's Cookies have Just been received by the ProductionManager. They show that during the month of September, the company product 101 ,050 bags of cookies. The reject rate was 1%. Labor and raw materials were within budgeted levels. No breakdown of equipment occurred. A,Goals were achieved no breakdown of the equipment,no wasted resources and high productivity. Scenario #4: to be hired. There was not enough time to train these people and projection levels suffered. Only 95,080 bags of cookies were produced this month. The reject rate was 1. 9%.Labor and raw materials were within budgeted levels. C,There was no wasted products but goals were not achieved. Scenario #5: Mom's cookies imports their chocolate chips from Trinidad and Tobago. Unfortunately their dollar has increased in value against the Canadian dollar which has driven up chocolate costs by 10%. In addition, gas prices have gone up and the company uses gas ovens and gas heating. This has added another 5% to the company's expenses. The reject rate was 1. 8% and the company produced 100,200 bags of cookies.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Representation Of The American Dream Film Studies Essay

â€Å" Independence Day † is a movie directed by Roland Emmerich WHAT HAPPENED RELEASED? ? ? in 1996, which shows the planet under an foreign onslaught, where the U.S. is the centre of the job and the state that saves the universe. In relation to this movie several elements can be analyzed belonging to the American civilization. One of the most important is The American Dream. An ideal of American civilization that is based on democracy and equality and aims to keep the public assistance of society, in order to accomplish the fulfilment of the dreams of its members. Based on this, the inquiry that this paper attempts to reply is: To what extent the film â€Å" Independence Day † directed by Roland Emmerich reflects the American dream? In this paper is exposed how there is a relationship between The American Dream as a cultural component that represents an American ideal and the book of the movie, where elements, the movie nowadayss such as leading, equality in footings of race, gender and societal context, and the image of a perfect democracy REPRESENT THIS FEATURE. So we can see IN THIS WAY that the movie represents to a great extent and really clearly the American Dream, because it reaffirms the cardinal function of American civilization on a planetary context by exposing the values aˆâ€ ¹aˆâ€ ¹of the American Dream as the state defends the planet from the Alien onslaught, it besides brings these values aˆâ€ ¹aˆâ€ ¹to a planetary context as it takes the independency Day as a jubilation of planetary importance, and demoing America as a state where the dreams of an full state and its members are fulfilled. Word count: 262IntroductionNowadays The United States is one of the most influential states in the planetary context, taking into history its economic and military power. However its importance worldwide is besides due to their civilization, a civilization that has strongly expanded in the Western Hemisphere by distributing a set of imposts, traditions and ideals. Among the strongest and representative ideals of American civilization is what is known as â€Å" The American Dream † , a construct that has transcended through history and has strongly consolidated American civilization by demoing that in this state people can accomplish an ideal life style where all of its members fulfill their dreams in a state that enforces their rights and public assistance. Taking this into history it is of import to analyse how these ideals are represented and displayed as portion of American civilization by concentrating on a specific cultural artefact, in this instance the movie â€Å" Independence Day † directed by Roland Emmerich released on 1996. Roland Emmerich is a German movie manager, film writer and manufacturer known by his scientific discipline fiction productions which normally show humanity under ruinous and hazardous state of affairss. That is why on â€Å" Independence Day † a ruinous context can be seen a context in which Planet Earth is under an Alien onslaught and places The United States in the centre of the calamity and as a state that puts all of its attempts to salvage the planet. The purpose of this paper is to demo: To what extent the movie â€Å" Independence Day † directed by Roland Emmerich reflects the American Dream. For this IT IS NECESSARY TO analyse the construct of The American Dream as portion of their civilization in relation to the elements that the movie shows, an analysis of the book by demoing the different state of affairss and characters, and an analysis of the symbols used throughout the movie.THE AMERICAN DREAM AS REPRESENTATION OF THEIR CULTUREThe construct of the American Dream was introduced by James Truslow Adams in his book â€Å" The Epic America † , where he talks about this construct as a societal ideal representative of American civilization, which seeks equality in footings of chances and a comfy life style for everyone, based on a proper usage of democracy to accomplish it. â€Å" The American dream is the cultural look of North American individuality and, even if it was on occasion transformed into the American i ncubus, it remains one of the most motivative forces of American civilisation and a still feasible item of American exceptionalism. † ( Stiuliuc, 2011 ) . Harmonizing to this, Diana Stiuliuc in her text â€Å" The American Dream as the Cultural Expression of North American Identity † claims that the American Dream despite the different readings that may hold, will ever mention to the American civilization as a alone factor that represents the American national individuality. Taking these definitions into history we can see how this concepts fit the American civilization, because it is based on democracy and equality, constructs that were consolidated as portion of that civilization since they were mentioned in the American fundamental law and the declaration of Independence. On the other manus, mentioning to Ferdinand Lasalle who said on his book â€Å" On the kernel of fundamental laws † ( YEAR ) that civilization is related with public consciousness, we can see a relationship between the Constitution and civilization. It means that the fundamental law has to reflect the facets of society that are determined by their imposts, their morality, their thoughts about good and evil and in general all sort of facets that represent the members of a society, in order to do people place with the fundamental law and really obey the Torahs. Harmonizing to this and concentrating in the film, it is important to stand out some constructs that clearly reflect The American Dream because they are based on democracy and equality, the construct of The United States as a state with a perfect democracy, a multicultural state and a planetary leader.Analysis OF THE SCRIPTThroughout the movie America is depicted in many ways as a theoretical account of democracy. Several thoughts present in the authoritative paperss mentioned appear as constructs in the movie ‘s secret plan, there are chiefly four thoughts represented in the movie, they are: America depicted as a progressive state, America depicted as a land in which ends can be fulfilled with adequate attempt, America as a state in which peace and the due procedures are a precedence, and America as a state which authorization comes from the consent of the governed. America is shown as a progressive state in footings of its political construction, as the film shows how the state is worried about societal advancement and public assistance. One of the chief characters in the movie is the President who takes on many functions depending on the state of affairss he faces throughout the movie ; one of these functions is that of a immature yet wise politician. In the movie America is shown as a land in which young person is non a hinderance in footings of wisdom. This is shown at the beginning of the movie when the President ‘s communicating manager Constance Halbrook, another of import character, shows the intelligence to the President reasoning that people are assailing non his policies but his age. Other types of progressive thought are shown throughout the film such as the presence of argument and protest among the citizens. The President is shown as a human being despite his function as a hero, if he is non defeated at the terminal of the movie, it is due to his art as a politician and soldier alternatively of a set of particular abilities built-in to himself. Protestors are shown when US constabularies and military forces take topographic point near to the Alien ships. And argument is implied in occasional Television broadcasts shown as secondary secret plan devices. America is depicted as a land in which dreams can be fulfilled throughout the full movie. Almost each character starts his or her journey with a certain defeat, David failed as a scientist, Constance failed in her old relationship with David, Steven could non acquire a occupation in NASA and Jasmine struggles with maintaining her household together. At the terminal of the movie after each character is forced to turn and has to set immense attempts in developing their accomplishments or traveling through great hazard, is able to carry through his or her ends, David and Steve win in their onslaught to the foreigner ship, Constance and Jasmine are able to set their households together. America is besides shown as a peaceable state that wo n't assail unless it is attacked foremost. After Alien ships are positioned over each major metropolis in the United States the President gives the order to near them in a peaceable manner by holding a group of choppers get near to one of the infinite ships and air a welcome message. Following an violative by the Aliens the President gives the order of a countermove. Besides it is implied at several minutes that America is a state that respects the domination of others, it is merely after the United States domination is threatened that unfastened war Begins. This is closely related to the thought mentioned before that America is a state in which authorization comes from the consent of the governed. Most scenes in the film show scenarios of political life, Television arguments, the Oval Office, the White House and so on, democracy is a cardinal subject to the film. A really representative minute of this thought is when the President decides to fix a atomic onslaught merely after having a message from the Aliens that describes their method ; Foreigners are compared to locusts, their kernel is that of the exact antonym to the freedom of a democratic authorities. Some of the mentioned thoughts have a analogue in authoritative paperss. The 5th amendment of the United States fundamental law references â€Å" due procedure † as one of the chief constituents of justness in the United States ; this thought is re-enacted several times during the movie. â€Å" Nor shall be compelled in any condemnable instance to be a informant against himself, nor be deprived of life, autonomy, or belongings, without due procedure of jurisprudence † . ( U.S fundamental law. Amendment. 5 ) . The Declaration Of Independence provinces that the beginning of authorization of each state should be the consent of the governed and non the autocratic regulation of a sovereign, and that thought is reflected in the film as it shows the concerns of the president anytime he is doing a determination that may or may non profit people. Another ill-famed thought is the representation of America as a multicultural state. Different genders and ethnicities are shown in the film busying different of import functions, as it is an thought of equality that reaffirms The American Dream. Scientists are shown as people from Caucasic, Asiatic and Afro-american descent every bit good as one of the chief characters, David, who is clearly of Judaic descent. Womans have of import functions during the movie excessively, Constance and Margaret, the First Lady, are shown as brave and dedicated adult females among the universe of political relations, and Jasmine is shown as a strong adult female and female parent willing to make what it takes in order to last and protect her household. It is of import to advert about this component of the movie what Hanson said on her work â€Å" American Dream in the twenty-first Century † an thought that shows a close relationship between the movie and the American Dream. â€Å" The American Dream represents a province of head that is an digesting optimism given to a people who might be tempted to yield to the parturiencies of hardship, but who, alternatively, repeatedly rise from the ashes to go on to construct a great state. † ( Hanson, White, 2011 ) . Soldiers that are one of the chief constituents of the secret plan are besides from different cultural backgrounds. There is representation of Caucasians, African-Americans and Latinos, each individual is compelled to contend for the independency of the United States irrespective of their cultural background or business as is chiefly shown with Russell a husbandman who is considered brainsick and intoxicated during most of the movie but turns into a hero by the terminal. Both the 15th and 19th amendments to the United States fundamental law support gender and race diverseness by protecting the right to vote of people from all genders and ethnicities. This thought is an indispensable portion of The American Dream and their civilization, and is hence represented in the movie repeatedly. Aside from that, it is of import to advert how the military forces of the United States of America are shown throughout the movie. Military forces are of import since they are the first establishment of the American authorities to look in the movie after the foreigners have appeared and have been identified, they are the first group to confront the menace and set research and analysis into gesture. They are besides the first 1s to set up a defensive stance towards the encroachers. This is shown in the film since a Pentagon functionary who discovers the Aliens presence takes as first step the action of citing the Secretary of Defense. A really outstanding thought shown in the movie is the American place in respects of struggle against enemies. It is really of import to stand out their function as negotiants and a peaceable society at the beginning of the movie, they ab initio will non assail unless they are attacked. In the movie, the first attack to the foreigners by the American authorities is a peaceable 1. After this peaceable effort goes awfully incorrect and the foreigners onslaught, the ground forces is given the green visible radiation to revenge. This response as we mentioned before was of class more than ready. This peaceable characteristic of the American society has every bit good analogues in the official paperss. In the Declaration Of Independence, it is stated that the King of England had attacked foremost by puting military personnels in American district even in times of peace. It besides says that America will remain in peace with all its Alliess and friends but will be in war with any enemy. Making an analysis of the chief characters ‘ points of position we can see that they ever keep an attitude of courage and enthusiasm. First of all we can see how the President ever keeps a courageous image and is ne'er afraid or intimidated by the Aliens ; he is ever present at every minute, declining any invitation to a shelter and making everything possible for his state. This thought is reinforced when he decides to be a member of the concluding violative combat like any other soldier. Another component depicted in the movie that reinforces this thought of America as a peaceful and caring state yet ready to conflict, is how solidarity is an indispensable feature of all characters ‘ personality. This thought is conspicuously shown one time once more in the President. He is invariably shown as a loving household adult male. He appears for the first clip during the movie while having a call from his married woman and being with his girl. He stays with his girl throughout the full movie and has his married woman in head. On the other manus, David is shown as a character attached to moral unity, an conservationist ever concerned about taking attention of the planet and the greater good. He is because of that the first 1 to travel against the determination of establishing a atomic assault. Another recurrent subject in the movie is the word picture of the United States as a technological ace power. Scientists are during the narrative more than support characters, they are heroes. Since the beginning of the movie scientific installations are shown. In fact the first character to look in the movie is a scientist. The movie goes back and Forth between political and scientific scenarios in which all characters interact. America displays power in the movie through political relations, the ground forces and engineering. All these three scenarios are closely intertwined and together organize what makes the United States a ace power in the movie. As mentioned, scientific discipline appears in the movie really early. The first image is a shooting of the American flag placed on the Moon demoing one of the biggest accomplishments of humanity in footings of infinite geographic expedition. Then it continues by picturing a scene of a High-tech installation in which scientists discover for the first clip the presence of the Alien encroachers. The importance of scientific discipline in the film non merely as a tool of endurance but as an icon of American pride is reinforced every clip that characters face an obstruction in footings of engineering. Very early in the movie a member of the armed forces is aggravated when an employee of the Pentagon admits that they are confused about what is traveling on. Another characteristic of the movie related to the word picture of engineering is the manner that other states ‘ engineering is represented. Iraq and Russia are shown as states in ruins after the foreign onslaught, the Russian orbiter is shown as old and is instantly destroyed, it is implied that the lone web the Aliens usage is the American 1. David is hence the most of import character in the movie in footings of engineering. His personal journey goes from being a scientist who failed professionally despite his surveies and intelligence to being the 1 who discovers the foreigner communicating system and the 1 who learns how to destruct their defences. David is the mastermind who represents the true power of America which is non the beastly show of force but the usage of cognition, engineering and advancement. It is because of him that the universe has to follow America ‘s lead during conflict. Another really outstanding representation of America in the movie is that of the state being shown as a brave and resilient state. Americans are shown as heroes who overcome hardship no affair how strong their oppositions may be, ever willing to support themselves and their people, American scientists, politicians and soldiers seem to be utterly resilient and indestructible. That characteristic though is non shown as the get downing point of the movie, in fact, America ‘s most powerful metropoliss are destroyed and all of their military attempts are rendered useless before the onslaught is successful exposing a narrative of heroes who had to give everything in order to win and who to be able to support their freedom had to trust on their courage merely. Indeed America is shown as the â€Å" Land of The Free and the Home of The Brave † many times during the film. The figures of the President and the First Lady are illustrations of bravery, unwilling to conceal, both decide to remain with the people of America during the foreigner onslaughts even after they are offered protection. The First Lady ‘s forfeit is hence the ultimate show of courage and will to defy against the oppressors. Even right before her decease she is shown as a warrior who has set her head on the lone end of supporting her state even at the point of give uping her life, she says she trusts her hubby ‘s capablenesss in winning the conflict turning her decease into the traveling force of the President ‘s finding to win. The President is so the most of import figure of courage and resiliency. Not merely he is challenged in footings of his occupation he is besides personally attacked and has his household destroyed before he can stand against the foreigners. This mixture of professional and personal duty comes together in his function as a soldier. The President is besides a soldier with particular abilities in the Fieldss of air combat, he personally leads the concluding conflict against the foreigners, because of this ground he is cardinal to America ‘s triumph, he embodies the might of the State, the courage of Americans and the people ‘s will to defy and boom through great attempts. Other chief characters are symbols of bravery and resiliency. Russell is the everyman who even after being described as a bad male parent and mediocre adult male saves the twenty-four hours by demoing that nil else is more of import than functioning his state and carry throughing his responsibilities as an American soldier, the President grants him the position of hero, because of this ground Russell receives the blessing of his household and in malice of his old failure he turns into a hero because of his courage and willing to give. Steven is besides the soldier who is willing to lose everything if it is for his state and his loved 1s. His motives are carry throughing his dream of being an spaceman, functioning his state and protecting the household he wants to organize with Jasmine. He puts himself at great hazard by being a portion of the stealing mission to destruct the enemy defence and does it without any vacillation. The same goes for David who as a member of this mission risks everything in name of the things he believes in, he is shown as an conservationist who would make anything in order to salvage his state. Jasmine on the other manus shows another type of opposition. She is the 1 that as a chief character represents the people of America. The mundane combatant, the passionate female parent, she can merely defy by making what every civilian can make, being brave and swearing her province leaders. This is another outstanding characteristic of the movie. Peoples are shown as hopeless yet courageous citizens, they do n't hold the strength to contend against the foreigners but do so by seting their trust in their authorities. The American civilians have anyhow a common feature with the military and authorities their failing that turns into courage and eventually triumph. Then war is non between two every bit powerful oppositions, worlds are evidently outnumbered and overpowered. Their machines and arms are shown as bantam following to the immense arms of the foreigners, even the concluding arm against their defences is bantam, a computing machine virus, demoing that intelligence, bravery and forfeit are worth more than natural force.Use OF SYMBOLSOne of the most outstanding symbols shown in the film is the address given by the President to the soldiers prior to the conflict against the foreigners, where non merely are displayed loyal ideals but besides America is depicted as a state that to the full represents the promises of the American dream. One of the chief symbolic mentions is the declaration of the 4th of July as a world-wide jubilation widening the thought of The United States national independenc y to the full universe declaring that manner that the ideals of the American revolution and its independency values are applicable to the full universe and should hence be celebrated by all states since they represent what is good for every state. This mention to the 4th of July, which is of class a chief thought in the movie sing its relevancy in relation to the rubric, topographic points America as the leader of the universe. The United States authorities and its military establishments are the 1s to get down and take the onslaught against the foreign menace ; the mentioned address keeps a strong moral and military rhetoric manner. The response from the hearers of the address is extremely emotional as they are all willing to support these cosmopolitan values in a clear mention to The American Dream. On the other manus we can speak about the symbols displayed visually. Throughout the movie different topographic points are shown and many are representative of American civilization. Chiefly, authorities edifices like the Pentagon or the White House and national memorials like the Statue of Liberty are shown, besides the skylines of New York City and the metropolis of Los Angeles are repeatedly featured. These symbols are a representation of the chief facets of American civilization in relation to The American Dream ; authorities edifices represent the power of the United States, its importance in maintaining peace and order, as they show the importance of democracy. Cities like New York or Los Angeles are non merely the chief economic centres of the state but the most celebrated touristic finishs in America.DecisionFinally it can be seen how the construct of the American Dream has a really of import function in everything related to the American civilization, from it, the bases for a great sum of societal ideals that represent and promote American civilization and individuality have been formed. The American Dream efforts to carry through all ideals of equality and common wellbeing a state where the dreams of all its members can go a world depending on the extent to which they belong to the American society. It is really interesting besides to analyse how these constructs go back to authoritative texts like the Declaration Of Independence and the Constitution of the United States since the importance of making a planetary state had already been stated. Taking this into history, it can be seen how this movie includes clear mentions reaffirming the cultural importance of the American Dream in a planetary context by demoing how this state has the capacity of being a universe leader and maintaining a society together. In the movie, the constructs that depict the United States as a state with a perfect authorities system can be seen. America achieves through democracy a society that has equal rights for everyone regardless of ethnicity, gender and societal differences but most of the movie depicts America as a state able to maintain a society in harmoniousness where corporate aims and single dreams are fulfilled. Finally, in footings of the enquiry that guides this paper, it can be seen that the movie greatly represents the American Dream. Even from the rubric which refers to an American vacation but places it on a planetary context we can see how this movie shows American values as the reply the universe needs to be able to last the invasion. We can see in the movie how the United States is tested and destroyed merely so it can reaffirm itself as a powerful state in all its facets, chiefly culturally, demoing the importance of the American Dream at a national and international degree. Word count: 3974

Fin111 Financial Markets and Economic Principles

[pic] Financial Markets and Economic Principles (FIN111) Assignment Answer Template |Students: Please enter |Word count | | |your word count for this |I have read the Assignment Guide in the Subject Room and have applied the word count | | |assignment |principles to my work. | | |My word count for this assignment is | | | |5368 words | | | | | | Marker feedback Comment on overall performance: |For marker use only. | |Students begin your assignment answers on the following page. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Begin your assignment answers from this point. Section A – Question 1 †¢ Describe the operations of each company JB Hi If – Is an Australian owned and operated company established in 1974. Due to the success of the business model and the growing retail sector in July 2000 JB Hi Fi was purchased by private equity bankers and senior management with the strategy of taking the model nationally. With a strong sign of the success of the business in October 2003, JB Hi Fi was floated on the Australian Stock Exchange.JB Hi Fi has proven to be one of Australia’s fastest growing and largest retailers of home entertainment. Looking to build on the successful model and expand their operations in July 2004, JB Hi Fi bought the Clive Anthony chain of retail stores who competed in the same retail space. Harvey Norman – Is an Australian based retail provider of electrical, furniture, computer, entertainment and home goods. They have over 230 stores in Australia and abroad in countries including New Zealand, Slovenia, Ireland, Malaysia, Croatia and Singapore.Harvey Norman has implemented a unique strategy to the Australian retail market through their operating structure, in that each store department is operated by a separate franchise. Therefore these superstores are a combination of more than one business with each franchisee (computer, bedding, electrical) contributing to the gross reven ue of Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd. This is achieved through their individual lease payment and a percentage of their sales. The individual departments have their own checkouts for its products and warehouse space is shared by the separate franchisees.Harvey Norman Holdings Limited is also a franchisor of other well known retail chains including Domayne, Joyce Mayne and others. †¢ Consider the key factors that may affect the performance and the share price of the companies in the short and long term Given the fact both companies are competitors in the retail sector, key factors affecting their performance will be quite similar. They both heavily rely on the consumption of the â€Å"Household Sector†, this helps drives revenue through their operations. A concern therefore would be given the challenging economic times there is a decrease in domestic spending.With households adversely increasing their savings as anxiety over the sovereign debt crisis in Europe escalates and g eneral unease in regards to the global economy. This is also reflected through the â€Å"Business Cycle† as it is my belief we are currently within a â€Å"Contraction to trough† period which is reflective of a decline in retail sales. This decline has been seen nationwide through the whole retail sector as organisations battle to lower prices to remain competitive when demand isn’t strong and still attempt to retain a profit.Some retailers have opted for longer trading hours and there is also concern over the moving trend towards internet shopping. JB Hi Fi currently have a strong focus on online shopping which has helped them maintain consistent sales results. Harvey Norman have moved to online shopping only in July of 2011, and has big ambitions with Gerry Harvey stating â€Å"I’ve told my team I want them to turn over $100 million within 2-3 years and then take it to $1billon within 5-10 years†. The decline is also reflected in the ABS August K ey Figures report for monthly turnover within the retail sector which saw department stores post a -0. % fall in July to August 2011. Also a long term concern for both companies would be that if global equity markets do recover and inflation rises that will lead to a rise in interest rates which would further affect the Household sector through their discretionary spending. The fluctuations of the Australian dollar will impact both companies as the stronger Australian dollar lowers the prices both enterprises can charge consumers. Increasingly consumers are buying electronics online both domestically and international, with the resilient dollar giving them an incentive to shop abroad. Question 2 ) JB Hi-Fi and its network of retail stores is an intermediary. They are an intermediary between the large electronic manufacturers (Sony, Samsung, Panasonic) whose products are sold in store and the general consumer in the household sector. The large manufactures are able to meet the order demands of the organisation and JB Hi-FI in return supplies the broad market with the products. The consumer is provided with a product at a competitive price and JB Hi Fi earns a margin on the product for the service. 2) JB Hi-Fi also uses an additional intermediary to increase their exposure in the sector.They have purchased Clive Anthony which was another established retail electrical chain. They own Clive Anthony however it continues to operate under its original trading name. All revenue is attributed to the JB Hi FI Limited organisation. 3) Harvey Norman Holdings Limited is well known for using a number of intermediaries within their own organisation. They have fragmented each department (bedding, electrical, computer) of their organisation to be an individual franchise or â€Å"intermediary†. With each franchisee contributing to the gross revenue of Harvey Norman Holdings Limited.This provides each department the ability to specialise and deliver expert service to thei r consumers. Other financial intermediaries Harvey Norman would include its acquired retails chain Clive Peter’s and the number of overseas retail operations it owns which contribute to its net profit. Question 3 Question 3: Impact of monetary policy Justify the Reserve Bank’s decision on interest rates announced on 4 October 2011 †¢ The factors that influenced the Reserve Bank’s decision and the likely impacts on the domestic economy The Reserve Bank nominated on the 4th of October to keep interested rates on hold for the 10th straight meeting.The factors influencing this decision were concern over global financial markets and fears world economies may be sent into global recession. Previously during the Aug-Sep meetings there had been a deteriation in the markets and between Sep-Oct meetings that had been a further substantial deteriation of global markets. The RBA acknowledged that domestic growth would weaken in the coming quarters. Europe’s sove reign debt issues are a major concern to the RBA and a contributing factor to rates remaining on hold. It has caused major volatility to global markets, with growing uncertainty in regards to a solution and its impact on banks in Europe.It is also affecting the outlook for Global Economic growth. The RBA will continue to assess market developments as well as the general indicators it follows including economy and inflation data. A benefit for the domestic economy is the RBA stated it had a bias to easing and that a rate cut could occur if September Quarter CPI data due on October 26 showed a moderation in prices †¢ The impact on the share market as a whole and the share price of your chosen companies The immediate impact on the share market following the RBA’s decision was negative. The S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0. % or 24. 9 points to 3872. 1 points, with the All Ordinaries down 0. 6% or 25. 1 points to 3935. 6. Also the Australian dollar slumped to a 13-month low of $94. 6 US cents. Despite an optimistic start to trading on the day with the market overcoming a negative lead from the US, the RBA’s decision had plunged the markets back into negative territory. JB Hi-Fi was down 60 cents to $14. 30 Not a substantial impact to HVN which was up 2cents from the close the previous day. †¢ Whether the impact on the share market as a whole differed from the impact on your chosen companiesThe negative impact of the decision by the RBA was shared by both the market itself and the individual holdings of JB Hi Fi Limited and Harvey Norman Holdings Limited. The decision had a significant impact on the performance of consumer exposed stocks such as JB HI FI and Harvey Norman. Question 4 JB HI FI posted its first profit slide since the stock floated in 2003. There were some contributing factors to this performance including a restructure of its Clive Anthony’s stores and a negative sales growth for July. JB Hi-Fi reported on August 8th 2011 that full year net profit fell 7. 5% to $109. 7 million on sales of $2. 6 billion, up 8. 3%. The slip has been attributed to the $24. 7 million in costs to restructure its Clive Anthony stores. Annual comparable sales fell 1. 2% Despite the daunting outlook for the retail sector JB Hi FI have stated they expect another solid group sales performance for this financial year, with full year sales to rise 8% to 3. 2billion. JB Hi FI is expecting that the Christmas period will be successful also timing with a number of new product releases. However due to the profit results and weak July sales on August 9th JB Hi-Fi shares closed down 35 cents at $14. 00 Harvey Norman announced a net profit after tax of $252. 6 million for the financial year ending 30 June 2011, which is up 9% on the 2010 financial year. These results were released in its 2011 annual report. The franchises within the organisation continued to provide the stability in the overall performance of the group. Owner Gerry Harvey s tated â€Å"we have a strong balance sheet underpinned by a $2. 04 billion property portfolio and generate strong free net cash flows from our franchising operations segment† Total revenue for the year was $2. 7 billion, which has increased from the 2010 figure of $2. 45 billion according to the results statement.Harvey Norman experienced an increase in consumer transactions despite revenue being down, this was caused by the strong Australian dollar reducing prices on imported goods. Despite the retail sector weakening in reflection of global markets Harvey Norman franchisees have experienced strong customer traffic and transactions. Also stronger results generated by retail operations in Singapore, Malaysia and Slovenia have increased profitability by $4. 65 million before tax collectively compared to the previous year. Despite challenging macroeconomic conditions, the outlook the retail, franchise and property system of the company remains positive.An important addition to the business moving forward in the first half of 2012 financial year will be the launching of our e-commerce site for Harvey Norman. Harvey Norman states they are confident there online transactional strategy will produce incremental dollars to the existing channel. Harvey Norman closed 1cent higher after releasing its annual report at $2. 15 on August 29th. Question 5 †¢ Explain the correlation of returns from the asset classes – Cash- Is looking to be a stable and reliable asset class in the 2011 calendar year. It will provide necessary stability to investor’s profiles.However will remain relatively unattractive reflecting low interest rates. Some important considerations for the RBA in determining any movement in monetary policy is the strength of the Australian dollar relative to trading partners, in particular the US. It is anticipated the RBA will lift the cash rate to 5% before the end of the year Fixed Interest – Will provide stability with a higher yield than cash given there is an element of risk. Savvy investors will look to this sector as global equities remain volatile and fixed interest provides the ability to stabilise returns.Large parts of the credit market in particular Australian credit offer reasonable value especially if the global growth outlook commences an incline. Equity – Global equity markets outlook remains extremely volatile. This outlook is reinforced by the RBA’s recent decisions to keep interest rates on hold and even suggest they may be deducted in the future. The cause for concern has moved on from the Sub Prime Crisis of 2008 and is now centred on government sovereign debt in the US and particularly in Europe and the PIGGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain).Of major concern is whether Greece will default on its loans and the potential impact on world markets. This is playing out at the moment with recent developments within the EU with a bailout fund and more recently revision of the si ze of the fund. This has provided huge amounts of volatility in the market and it seems it will play out most of the year, with a potential default if not avoided of Greece in early 2012. There is plenty of value long term in equities currently with stocks undervalued however you must be prepared to accept volatility in the short to medium term.Property – With improving international economic conditions, a local economy with good foundations and quality property managers achieving attractive terms on financing, prospects for high grade property investment remains attractive. Australian direct property will continue to perform well and prospects for the sector are high especially in commercial and industrial property. The retail sector could be a danger given the challenging times being experienced in the Australian consumer sector †¢ Provide a forecast of which asset class you believe will provide the best returns in 2011Due to global economic growth picking up in 2011 w ith various predictions at around 3. 5 – 4% driven largely by emerging economies, this provides opportunities in the equities sector. Market volatility is likely to continue due to Sovereign debt concerns in Europe and the impact of potential further quantitative easing in the United States. There is concern about equity markets seemingly drifting sideways over the past 12 months, however global share markets have recorded strong gains The economic outlook is likely to be supportive for equities in 2011, while there will be areas of concern.The slowly improving economic environment and a potential solution to the sovereign debt crisis in Europe should see companies begin to expand by borrowing. After experiencing a significant correction in 2010, equities are well positioned to post strong gains in 2011. Shares are good value and continuing economic recovery will contribute to further gains in profit. Question 6 Question 6: Influences on share prices Provide a graph showing b oth companies daily share price and the All Ordinaries index over the four week tracking period [pic] [pic] Explain the performance of the two companies over the four week period.In your explanation consider: †¢ The impact of any significant events or unexpected announcements JB Hi Fi – The announcement of Apple’s launch of its latest handset the iPhone 4s is hoped to have a significant impact on sales and foot traffic through its retail stores. – JB Hi-Fi held its annual general meeting on the 12th of October, it stated total sales were up 6. 6% compared with the previous corresponding period. The timing of this news to the market had investors responding positively with 3. 09% increase for the day with a close at $14. 36 Harvey Norman Holdings Limited There is direct concern for Harvey Norman over debt issues within Europe as they hold operations in Ireland which was the first country in the European Union to ask for a bailout. Harvey Norman’s stor es there made a trading loss of $38. 59 million for the 2010-11 financial year, with the board â€Å"committed to Ireland for the long term† – Harvey Norman have also responded to the online retail sector threat by launching a new e-commerce site in early October – Harvey Norman released its annual report on the 29th of September, revealing a 9% rise in 2011 full-year net profit to $252. 3 million Whether the performances have been similar or different The performance of Harvey Norman has been quite flat with quite limited movement of the stock over the reporting period. They released their annual report with a rise in profits but investors did not respond with any significant movements. JB Hi-Fi hit a low of $13. 87 for the reporting period on the 11th of October as anxiety hit over the release of information from its annual general meeting. The news and results provided were positive and the stock reacted positively reaching close to the peak of the reporting period on the 14th of October closing at $15. 0 †¢ How the companies performed in relation to the All Ordinaries Index There has been limited volatility seen in regards to both JB Hi-FI and Harvey Norman. The reasons for this would be they both have core business which is based in the retail household consumer sector. The All Ordinaries which is based on the movements of the top 500 Australian companies has a much wider exposure to sectors. It is for this reason there has been significantly more volatility on the All Ordinaries as it has been exposed to the market’s recent concerns over the European Sovereign debt crisis. Whether the shares would be considered growth or defensive Both these companies’ shares would be considered cyclical stocks, where sales and earnings are affected by economic or industry cycle They would therefore be considered growth shares. †¢ Your view with justification on whether the companies are a buy, sell or hold JB Hi-Fi (HOLD) â⠂¬â€œ The stock is vulnerable to a decrease in discretionary spending in regards to its electronic goods and also the impact of the volatile Australian dollar. However the organisation is in a growth period with a number of new stores opening in a strategic move.The company has been a popular stock and has proven to be quite resilient, trading strongly through the last few turbulent years and also distributes a strong yield. It is in a good position to see through the current wave of volatility. Harvey Norman (HOLD) – The strength of the Australian dollar has seen a rise in internet commerce. Harvey Norman is launching a centralised online website to respond to this growing trend. International holdings have been performing well and there are talks of a possible expansion into the UK.The stock has been proven to be relatively resilient with a reasonable dividend and is adapting to a changing market by looking at opportunities online and abroad, for these reasons the recommend ation would be to hold. Section B Question 1 Section B – Question 1 Identify and discuss four advantages for AWPL of establishing a factory in New Zealand †¢ Operating costs – Establishing a new factory in New Zealand will save AWPL $A2 million per annum which is a significant savings long term. These additional funds can be used to reduce debt or spent on further product development or research Increase production – With the establishment of the New Zealand facility AWPL will be able to meet the demands of their current production and collectively with its Melbourne location the demands of the new proposed contract in the US. This will add a projected 30% to sales growth. †¢ Save $A 3 million – Establishing the new location at New Zealand would mean the fire upgrade to the current location at Devonport would no longer be necessary and the funds will be used to support the long term functionality and growth of the business as opposed to a mainte nance cost Brand Awareness – Currently AWPL provides production for Australia, UK, Germany and potentially the US. Having a location in New Zealand will promote the brand and create awareness which may lead to business opportunities through production in their domestic sector in the future Also four major funding and/or business constraints that AWPL needs to consider when deciding whether to establish a new factory in New Zealand or upgrade and expand the existing factory in Melbourne Production concerns – Due consideration needs to be made to legitimate concerns over AWPL ability to meet the demand of current production requirements during construction of a new factory in New Zealand. Meeting these demands are imperative to the survival of the business †¢ $1 million payout – Will need to be paid due to the retrenchments of the employees at the Devonport factory, this is a considerable amount of capital and needs to be taken into consideration †¢ Esta blishment costs – AWPL have determined that the establishment costs of the New Zealand venture are high with additional costs that do not exist in Australia Debt Funding – All the proposed developments require capital of $A10 million, AWPL do not have the liquidity to cover this outlay and will need to look at financing options. Their lenders at the moment already have concerns over their current level of gearing, so they will need to look at all their options. Question 2 a) Is AWPL eligible for listing on the ASX given its current structure and financial position? AWPL is not able to list on the ASX given its current structure, as it does not currently meet the requirements of the ASX listing rules. In particular condition 7 which states â€Å" An entity must satisfy either a) or (b)† a) There must be at least 500 holders each having a parcel of the main class of securities with a value of at least $2,000, excluding securities not acquired by those holders unde r a recent prospectus or Product Disclosure Statement b) Both of the following are satisfied †¢ There must be at least 400 holders each having a parcel of the main class of securities with a value of at least $2,000, excluding securities not acquired by those holders under a recent prospectus or Product Disclosure Statement AWPL is unable to meet these requirements as it currently only has 40 shareholders ) Listed companies are required to comply with stringent obligations imposed on them by the ASX Listing Rules. Explain four obligations that AWPL would be required to fulfil if it was a listed company †¢ Under Condition 3 of the ASX listing rules â€Å" A prospectus or Product Disclosure Statement must be issued and lodged with ASIC. If ASX agrees, an information memorandum that complies with the information memorandum requirements of Appendix 1A will be sufficient instead of a prospectus or PDS. This ensures that potential investors have access to critical financial inf ormation about the organisation to make an informed decision to invest or not. 1. 2. 4 of the Profit Test states that the entity’s aggregated profit from continuing operations for the last 3 full financial years must have been at least $1 million. This is to ensure the organisation is successful and has the means necessary to warrant being listed on the ASX †¢ 1. 2. 5A states that the entity must give ASX a statement from all directors confirming that they have made enquiries and nothing has come to their attention to suggest that the economic entity is not continuing to earn profit from continuing operations up to the date of applicationThis is to ensure the organisations admission is based on factual information and aims to confirm the integrity of the organisation and its intention not to commit any acts of fraud or deception †¢ 1. 3. 5 The entity must give ASX each of the following a) Any accounts, together with any audit report or review: – for the last 3 full financial years (or shorter period if ASX agrees); and – if the last full financial year ended more than 8 months before the entity applied for admission, for the last half year (or longer period if available) from the end of the last full financial yearIf the accounts have not been audited or reviewed, the entity must tell the ASX This ensures that there is full disclosure of financial information to the ASX and potential investors Question 3 a) Discuss three reasons why the bank would be reluctant to increase funding to AWPL at this time †¢ Financial Markets – Due to the implications of financial markets over the last few years starting with the Mortgage Sub Prime crisis in the United States and more recently the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, lenders have become tighter with their lending practices.They want extra security and having a signed contract confirming the commitment for production in the US confirms the need for additional funding †¢ Th e bank already has expressed concern over the level of gearing the organisation holds at the moment so without evidence to support the need for expansion there will be hesitancy from the lender †¢ There is also an element of risk involved as there is concern that if the upgrade and expansion plans are not handled effectively then production rates may be harmed which would ultimately mean AWPL would be unable to meet current order demands.If that was to occur then the ability of AWPL to service its current debt commitments to the bank would be placed in jeopardy b) Jack is concerned that the New Zealand project will expose the shareholders of AWPL to a new financial risk (associated with borrowing funds to upgrade the Melbourne factory and to establish the New Zealand factory). Assume that the US contract is signed. Identify the new financial risk. Discuss the implications of the risk on debt repayment schedules and outline the steps AWPL might take to reduce the riskJack is con cerned about AWPL ability to meet current production orders. The fear is that if establishment of the NZ factory and upgrade of the Melbourne location isn’t seamless it will affect the ability of the business to meet current demands and that of the new contract. This exposes the business and current shareholders to potential risk of defaulting on existing debt demands from their lender. AWPL may look at hedging this risk by looking at Business Risk Protection which would cover their expected income if they are unable to meet their demand for various reasons.AWPL should also consider looking at alternate factory locations they can use at short notice if production is impacted for any reason Question 4 a) Identify and discuss three effects that an appreciating Australian dollar (AUD) would have on a decision by AWPL to move its manufacturing operations to New Zealand †¢ An appreciating Australian dollar would be a concern for the core of AWPL business which is exports. If the Australian dollar rises a major implication is the impact on the terms of trade as exports become more expensive and imports become cheaper.A likely result would be an increase in domestic spending on imports and reduced demand for exports in foreign countries. This would be a huge concern for the viability of AWPL’s international production orders. If there is a change in the current revenue streams than it may impact their ability to service their current debt and/or gain finance for expansion plans †¢ Also an appreciation in the Australian dollar will mean AWPL’s exports will become more expensive and may result in them not being as competitive as other international competitors. The impact of this may be felt in loss of contracts, renegotiations and general cost cutting.Severely impacting their ability to implement any expansions †¢ These concerns will not only be felt by AWPL but by their shareholders and lenders. When approaching lenders about furth er debt funding an appreciating dollar and the potential negative impact on the business may very well be taken into due consideration before approval. b) Taking into account current economic conditions and financial market sentiment, identify and discuss two factors that could cause the AUD to move significantly above its current rate against the US dollar in the coming months One impact which could cause the AUD to move significantly above its current rate against the US dollar is the appetite for risk from foreign investors. With extreme volatility being experienced in the market currently and concern for the global economy the Australian dollar can be influence by the risk appetite of foreign investors. During the volatile times in the market we are experiencing currently there are heightened perceptions of risk which leads to a decline in the demand for riskier assets which promotes a move for investors to quality investments and an appreciation of reserve currencies such as th e US dollar.This can see the Australian dollar appreciated when markets sentiment is high and there is positive news about foreign and global development and depreciate on negative news. – An additional factor which may see a further increase of the AUD over the US dollar could be another round of Quantative Easing (QE3) from the United States. This involves the US Federal Reserve effectively prints more money injecting it into the economy The US government achieves this through purchases of bonds and places money into banks which then be loaned to the public.This in turn eases lending constraints and money flows through too small to medium businesses. A consequence for the US is that the increase in the supply of their currency weakens the value and causes further appreciation of the Australian dollar Question 5 – A) Discuss the outlook for global economic growth in 2011. Support your answer with a percentage forecast for global growth International recovery after the Great Financial Crisis has been uneven with markets seemingly moving sideways recently. Risks globally remain high with world economies continuing to recover from its effects.Financial conditions have improved through corporate earnings and financial market volatility has moderated, notwithstanding ongoing concerns over European Sovereign debt and the European Union ability to contain the crisis. The forecast for advanced economies is to continue to consolidate, where as growth in emerging markets is anticipated to deliver higher levels of growth and returns. Therefore in accordance the global economy is widely predicted to grow over 4% in 2011 down from 5% growth in 2010. Although traction has been made global economic recovery also remains vulnerable and a clear resolution to the sovereign debt crisis in Europe ill provide markets with strong sentiment and incentive to return to the equities market. Also failure for the US to develop a viable solution to the unsustainable US Fisc al position also poses a threat to the progress of global recovery – (B) Each of the countries below has a significant influence on global growth. Briefly comment on each country’s outlook for economic growth in 2011 Support your answer with a percentage forecast for each country’s economic growth i) USA The forecast for the United States is that their economy will grow between 3. -4% in 2011. This is an increase from the 3% growth recorded in the 2010 calendar year. The basis of this will be driven from growth in the consumer and business spending and personal consumption expenditure (PCE), an increase in consumer spending. PCE is adding between 0. 7% and 2% to overall US growth has increased for five consecutive quarters. Concerns for the US are European Sovereign Debt, budget concerns at all levels of government and falling house prices. These effects could impact and lead to a slower US recovery. ii) ChinaDue to the unprecedented growth of China, tighter mon etary policy was necessary to reign in growth which is still projected to be close to 9% in 2011. Inflation is a constant concern and will increase over the calendar year. It is china’s greatest concern and most pressing policy issue, their ability to contain this effectively will determine their sustained growth. The present account surplus is set to fall to 4. 5% of GDP, which is a reflection of a decline in export growth and higher commodity prices While high commodity prices pose risks they are unlikely to dent growth.Currency appreciation will continue at a gradual pace as reserves accumulate iii) Japan In March 2011 the Great East Japan Earthquake was the strongest ever recorded in Japan and triggered a tsunami which severely damaged the country and was the impact was felt on world equity markets. A preliminary report by the government estimated damage at between 3. 3-5. 2% of 2010 GDP There are serious concerns about Japans ability to recover from such a traumatic natu ral disaster. The timing and strength of an economic recovery is difficult to forecast.The growing uncertainty about the Japanese recovery, compounded by the ongoing nuclear situation and rising oil prices are adding to the difficulty of the situation. However Japan has experienced natural disasters before and the sentiment from other advanced nations is there will be a rebound in economy as reconstruction spending picks up. 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