Pros and Cons of Capital Budgeting Measures Research Paper

Pros and Cons of Capital Budgeting Measures - Research Paper Example Examples here include the payback period and the accounting rate of return. The other techniques employed in the evaluation of projects are the discounted methods of appraising capital projects. In these methods, the future expected cash flows are discounted at the organizations cost of capital to determine the projects’ to be undertaken. In this approach, only projects with positive net present value will be undertaken in order of their profitability. The idea of capital budgeting before investments are undertaken is necessitated by the need to avoid incurring losses and to maximize the returns of a firm at the lowest cost possible. The budgeting process is also necessary because of the capital constraints that companies face. Due to capital inadequacy, companies and firms will not be in a position to undertake all the projects and therefore creating the need to only undertakes the most profitable investments (Baker, 2011). Failure to undertake capital budgeting process may c ause organizations to realize heavy losses and have going concern problems. In this paper, discussion has made on the pros and cons of the methods of NPV, IRR, MIRR and discounted payback method. I would prefer the use of NPV and IRR methods of capital budgeting in instances that we have independent projects with equal sizes. The two methods can thus be used interchangeably and would be preferred because they incorporate the risk and time values in their calculations. MIRR, which is an improvement of IRR, is also preferable in cases where we have projects having irregular cash flows and therefore provides a solution to some of the short falls of IRR. Investment appraisal should therefore be keenly undertaken by qualifies personnel and all necessary weights should be integrated when determining the best method to use. It must be noted that all the methods used in capital budgeting measures have some limitations (Brigham & Ehrhardt, 2010). The best that should be done is to ensure tha t such deficiency does not impair materially the decision to be made. Net Present Value The NPV of a project is the present value of all the future expected cash inflows less the present value of the future expected cash outflows (Parrino & Kidwell, 2009). In this case, the future expected cash flows are determined currently and discounted using the cost of capital of the firm. NPV takes into account only cash flows and does not use the accounting profits or items like depreciation. It is commonly used by many organizations in their investment appraisal method. Most businesses and organizations that are interested in the viability and profitability of projects have normally applied the NPV method as a way of evaluating their actions. The wide acceptance of NPV is because it is easier to understand and to interpret the results even to those without financial knowledge. NPV has various advantages. To begin with, the method considers the time value of money and therefore shoulders the effect of inflation and interest rates that are likely to adverse affect the value of money. It must be noticed that the value of 1 dollar today may not be the same as the value of the same dollar in 3 years time because of time difference. The second reason for use of this method is that it gives the criteria to use in the selection of the projects to be undertaken. The firms may undertake investments with positive NPV’s because they have a net gain as opposed to those with negative NPV’s which results into losses. The investors or firms are

College Student Pressures Essay Example for Free

College Student Pressures Essay Students committing to the college of their choice are unaware of the peer pressures that arise when one attends school. Many may feel as though peer pressures tend to happen more often when one lives on campus, but it can occur off campus too. For example, peer pressures can lead to partying, drinking and drugs. The want to attend class is a daily pressure because there aren’t any consequences when no attending. Another main college pressure is financial stress. The percentage of partying that goes on throughout college is very high and is a common interest that happens every week. From facing the pressures of to staying and studying for a huge test, friends bothering each other constantly to go out and drink with them and pressure to take drugs to â€Å"have a good time. † These examples happen very often, and it is hard to say no to them, one factor is that friends may say â€Å"you’re no fun†, and making friends feel bad about not going out, and then the students start to not care about studying thinking you don’t need to do it anymore. In high school, going to school every day was a daily routine. Children always did because their parents made them, and if they didn’t, there were consequences. In moving up to going to college, there are no consequences in skipping class. If students skipped then they would miss the lesson of the day, and there is no â€Å"making up the work,† teachers are there to teach and not to babysit, so they could care less if students show up to class or not. This is a main pressure, students think, I don’t need to attend class today, and if they don’t go, there is no punishment or consequence. The common question of how am I going to pay for this, is commonly asked daily in a college students head. Financially pressures are high and rising throughout universities. The stressing and struggle to find enough money to pay for tuition and the costs of books and housing while living at school add up. Even though some student can qualify for financial aid cover the costs only temporary and have to deal with the costs later after graduating. This pressure leads some college students to either drop out or to focus more on working and less on their school work.

From Pullout to Inclusion in a Service-Learning Project :: Teaching Education Research

From Pullout to Inclusion in a Service-Learning Project Introduction Service-learning is no mystery to those who have been working with English Language Learners in the United States, who are often marginalized immigrants and refugees, and who for linguistic and cultural reasons are misunderstood. TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) professionals are frequently their mouthpiece, if not their advocates. As advocates of these â€Å"other† cultures and languages (who generally support bilingual education), we are seen as a kind of pariah perpetuating the immigration and â€Å"illegal alien problem.† Not surprisingly, given the increase of immigrants and refugees in the U.S. in such a short span of time, many teachers and administrators have relied on their best instincts rather than the best theories or methods to work with English language learners. For one thing, the populations keep changing. Within less than a decade, many programs have served students from diverse backgrounds with completely different needs ranging from low literacy Hmong to high literacy Russians. Teachers are often called on to be experts without having sufficient training in language teaching methodology or in second language and literacy development. Despite their exemplar methodologies in other ways (e.g., task and project based learning, critical thinking, cooperative learning), they do what they think is best, most often relying on their own past experiences learning a foreign language in the U.S. Moreover, TESOL professionals (not a monolith, we understand) are accustomed to enormous linguistic an d cultural variety along with a fair amount of ambiguity. Unknowns abound in our world. When service-learning merges with TESOL, what is called for is a new kind of expertise. In this paper, we set out to question the elusive nature of expertise in company with service learning. Expertise within any discipline is an ambitious goal and even under the best circumstances, liberal arts faculty rarely think of themselves as preparing experts. In the TESOL world we have long since known that our expertise is not locked in our own ability to â€Å"technify† our students (or our teachers), or to fill young (and old) minds with theory. Following Edward Zwotkowski (1999) we understand that expertise encompasses more that theoretical understanding and technical skill; it also includes the in-depth knowledge that comes from having lived with a problem or set of circumstances over an extended period of time. We have not had to look very hard to find those living with kinds of problems.

Price Adjustment

Question 3 Compute a sales dollar base index for Midwest Sales, Inc. , to analyze the following quality cost information, and prepare a memo to management. Answer {draw:frame} Question 4 Analyze the following cost data for product B. What are the implications of these data for management? Chart these data. Calculate the quality indices as a relationship to the cost sales. Product B Quality categories as a percentage of Quality Cost Answer {draw:frame} CoQ graph {draw:frame} From the data above, the management team will know how much they have spending in order to get a high quality product. From here, the company must rearrange their production planning in order to produce a high quality product without putting an extra budget. Analyze the cost data from ABC Corp. What are the implications of these data for management? How do these data differ from those in problem 4? Answer {draw:frame} {draw:frame} {draw:frame} Based on the three pie charts above, it can be clearly seen that the total quality cost of non conformance (internal and external failure) can be reduced by increasing the conformance cost (appraisal and prevention) until it reached the optimum cost per good unit of product. It means that the company can only increase the conformance cost until certain limit in order to reduce the non conformance cost. When the conformance cost increase so much, it will result the increasing of non conformance cost as shown in Product C. Hence, the management needs to consider the cost by analyzing the profits based on the data that they got. Question 7 Prepare a graph or chart showing the different quality cost categories and percentage for the Great Plates Printing Company. Answer {draw:frame}

Environmental Influences On Human Behavior Essay

Eating disorder is a condition wherein an individual’s eating behavior of eating or not eating is influenced by a psychological impulse, instead of a physiological need. Individuals with eating disorders generally choose to ignore the signals their bodies send out that nourishment is needed for maintenance or that enough food has already been consumed. One general feature commonly observed in an individual with an eating disorder is abnormal weight, which may be either above or below the normal weight. Normal weight has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as having a body mass index (BMI) of 18. 5 to 24. 9 kg/m2 (Deurenberg and Yap, 1999; Weisell, 2002). BMI is the ratio of an individual’s weight in kilograms (kg) to his heights in meters squared (m2). An individual with a BMI of 25 to 29 kg/m2 is classified as overweight, those with BMI greater than or equal to 30 kg/m2 are categorized as moderately obese, and people with BMI of 40 kg/m2 and above are identified as morbidly obese. Obesity was earlier considered as an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. Today, obesity is regarded as a disease that is strongly influenced by genetic, physiologic and behavioral factors (Jequier and Tappy, 1999). The global estimate of overweight people is currently 1. 2 billion, of which at least 300 million are classified as obese. Obesity has been identified as a preventable health risk, but unfortunately, the mortality rate of this disease is still high, contributing to approximately 300,000 deaths each year in the United States alone. Since the cases of overweight and obesity are continually increasing without any preference to economic status of a country, health governing bodies have put in a significant effort to promote awareness of this disease and intervention programs that would teach the public of the risks of being overweight and/or obese. A major factor that influences such excessive weight gain is the poor lifestyle choices individuals make, in terms of their eating, exercising and physical activities. Binge eating is another eating disorder that is characterized by consuming huge amounts of food in order to achieve the strong feeling of being full. This disorder is generally involved with eating bouts even when an individual is not hungry. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that is recognized in two forms- the restricting type and the binge-eating/purging types (APA, 1994). The restricting type of anorexia nervosa involves the absolute inhibition of food consumption and does not accompany any purging or binge-eating actions. The binge-eating type of anorexia nervosa is commonly characterized by cycles of binge-eating and purging. The classic symptom of anorexia nervosa is subjecting one’s self to a starvation condition, with the main goal of preventing or avoiding gaining weight or sensing that any fat is deposited in the body. The psychological angle with anorexia nervosa is that the individual perceives himself as overweight yet actually, their weight is already below normal. The extreme condition of anorexia nervosa usually involves death due to severe malnutrition. Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder that is characterized by cycles of binge eating, purging and the employment of laxatives to remove any food that has been consumed (APA, 1994). Bulimia nervosa may be differentiated from anorexia nervosa through the feature that the individuals afflicted with this eating disorder typically have normal or above-average weights. In addition, individuals with anorexia nervosa can strongly inhibit their food intake, while individuals with bulimia nervosa find difficulty in avoiding food consumption. Bulimic individuals commonly carry a psychological feeling of guilt and shame of eating so much food, hence they try to appease themselves of their eating faults through purging and chemical elimination of the food they ate through the use of laxatives. They consider such activities as remedies or cleansing rituals so that they can immediately purify themselves of the disgrace they made from eating huge amounts of food. To date, the exact cause of bulimia remains unknown, yet there are theories that this eating disorder is strongly associated to depression and anxiety, however, a precise correlation of this cause still has to be investigated. Another theory involves the motivation of the bulimic individual to escape from reality, by treating for as a comfort instead of a source of energy and nutrition for their bodies. Childhood experiences may also possibly play a role in the cause of bulimia, because young children are often given different types of food in order to pacify them or to reward them for particular activities. Society may also play a role in bulimia, because the media strongly endorses that being thin is good, beautiful and acceptable. It has been suggested that eating disorders may be physiologically influenced by serotonin and norepinephrine. It has also been suggested that anorexia is more frequently observed in females in the Western world (Suematsu, 1986). Several theories have been proposed to explain the mechanism behind hunger and eating in overweight and obese individuals. The internal-external theory of Schachter (1971) states that hunger is influenced by external signals such as time, as shown in their experiments involving manipulation of clock rates and counting the consumption of crackers by the subjects. The research showed that faster ticking clocks that would reach meal times earlier would influence the subjects to eat earlier, while slower ticking close would influence subjects to eat later during the day. This theory strengthened the hypothesis that obese people tend to â€Å"feel† hungry based on the time of the day, and not based of the real sensation of hunger. The sensation of hungry in normal individuals is generally induced by internal signals such as an increased appetite or need to eat. The boundary theory of hunger considers the cognitive influence of hunger and satiety, wherein an individual determines the amount of food he should take in, as their limit or boundary (Hermand and Polivy, 1984). During diet regimes, the amount of food an individual eats is a little less than the set amount or boundary and in turn, the body physiologically adapts to the available sources of energy. In overweight and obese individuals, the boundary of food intake is significantly higher than an individual of normal weight. A third theory explaining the relation between excessive weight gain and eating is the set point theory, which is essentially based on the control of the hypothalamus on the body’s predetermined weight. Such set point of weight will be biologically maintained through the natural way, regardless of efforts to loss weight through diets and other weight loss regimens. A decreased intake of calories will not perturb the hypothalamus in its self-regulation of body weight. These theories are comparatively similar in terms of their goal of attempting to describe the mechanisms of obesity. The theories all emphasized that obesity is not influenced by a single factor, such as plain and simple overeating. These theories actually describe external influences of factors that result in overeating. In the external-internal theory identifies the time of the day as the major factor that triggers hunger. For the boundary theory, the individual himself, most probably with the cerebellum as the major organ, determines the amount of food he will eat. As for the set point theory, the hypothalamus controls the individual’s body weight. It is interesting to note that what the society has perceived as overweight is not really caused by a simple excessive hunger that stems from the need of the stomach to carry more food, but actually a more complex network involving the digestive system, the central nervous system and the immediate environment. Treatment for eating disorder often involves physical and psychological approaches. Psychotherapy serves as the main treatment for eating disorders, which often involves sessions with a therapist to discuss issues such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and body image concerns. The therapist generally emphasizes the relationship of one’s thoughts and eating activities, as well as teaching the patient that food is a source of nourishment and not a source of comfort or escape. Antidepressants may be prescribed to an individual with an eating disorder, to regulate the emotions of the depressed individual. The physician will also need to regularly check the physical vital signs of the patient, in order to monitor whether the patient is gaining weight and to determine whether any other complications may be present in the individual. Dieticians will design a well-balanced diet for an individual with an eating disorder, as well as educate the person of the nutritional value of every type of food that is consumed. The theories of hunger and eating disorders are based on the concept of primary motivation, which is mainly an interplay between psychology and the biological need to provide energy to the proper functioning of the human body. It is more complicated than the straightforward feeding mechanisms in other organisms because eating in the other species is singly influenced by the need to provide food for the normal physiology of the body. In human beings that have a more complex brain system due to evolution, we have acquired the additional capability to feed our minds, and even our souls, so to speak figuratively. It is important to individuals to understand that the mind is a powerful organ that can influence the actions and activities of the rest of the body but it is also more important to know that such choices of eating the right amount of food, as well as the right type of food, is a conscious and voluntary choice, and the consequences should be seriously considered.

Free Essays on Slavery And The Kansas-Nebraska Act

The question of slavery within the new states becomes the foregrounds for what began to divide early America into numerous groups that not only held different views but also possessed hostility towards one another. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 stirred up much concern and immediately divided America into several proslavery and antislavery groups. America was so carefully divided that people remained extremely passionate and extremely desperate to fight for their particular beliefs. The compromise of 1850 searched for a way to mend the nation but instead it helped keep the nation separated. The massive outward migration from the North and South to the new territories of America brought about an enormous problem that required a solution. Would the new territories be slave states or free states? The Gadsden Purchase of almost 30,000 square miles added to the United States geographically and problematically. At first it was thought that half of the territory would be free and the other half would be slave. Kansas would be free and Nebraska would be slave. It wasn’t as easy as it seemed because outraged Northerners called Nebraska an â€Å"atrocious plot† to make a â€Å"dreary region despotism inhabited by masters and slaves† (Berkin p. 403). Berkin exemplifies the severity of the dissimilarities between the beliefs of the North and the South. The ideologies of the North and the South are not moral decisions empowered by humanity, they are material decisions fueled by economic interest. The North does not want the South to have the benefit of slave plantations because this is a remarkable advantage economically and the South does not want their extremely lucrative slave plantations to be compromised. If only this problem could have been foreseen then maybe conflict could have been spared. The Kansas Nebraska act passes a law that allows residents of Kansas And Nebraska to decide whether to allow slavery or not within the states. Th... Free Essays on Slavery And The Kansas-Nebraska Act Free Essays on Slavery And The Kansas-Nebraska Act The question of slavery within the new states becomes the foregrounds for what began to divide early America into numerous groups that not only held different views but also possessed hostility towards one another. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 stirred up much concern and immediately divided America into several proslavery and antislavery groups. America was so carefully divided that people remained extremely passionate and extremely desperate to fight for their particular beliefs. The compromise of 1850 searched for a way to mend the nation but instead it helped keep the nation separated. The massive outward migration from the North and South to the new territories of America brought about an enormous problem that required a solution. Would the new territories be slave states or free states? The Gadsden Purchase of almost 30,000 square miles added to the United States geographically and problematically. At first it was thought that half of the territory would be free and the other half would be slave. Kansas would be free and Nebraska would be slave. It wasn’t as easy as it seemed because outraged Northerners called Nebraska an â€Å"atrocious plot† to make a â€Å"dreary region despotism inhabited by masters and slaves† (Berkin p. 403). Berkin exemplifies the severity of the dissimilarities between the beliefs of the North and the South. The ideologies of the North and the South are not moral decisions empowered by humanity, they are material decisions fueled by economic interest. The North does not want the South to have the benefit of slave plantations because this is a remarkable advantage economically and the South does not want their extremely lucrative slave plantations to be compromised. If only this problem could have been foreseen then maybe conflict could have been spared. The Kansas Nebraska act passes a law that allows residents of Kansas And Nebraska to decide whether to allow slavery or not within the states. Th...

War Poetry Essay Example

War Poetry Essay Example War Poetry Paper War Poetry Paper Essay Topic: George Herbert Poems Poetry Into the stuff of his thought and utterance, whether he be on active service or not, the poet-interpreter of war weaves these intentions, and cooperates with his fellows in building up a little higher and better, from time to time, that edifice of truth for whose completion can be spared no human experience, no human hope. George Herbert Clarke War is rife with suffering, forcing everyone involved to endure the most extreme of conditions. Armed conflict itself unavoidably places all those involved in mortal danger. Some find this to be a honourable test of courage, others as a waste of precious young lives. However, war has an effect on people outside of soldiers who fight. Numerous other, including relatives of soldiers who have fought, young and innocent children who are confused by the loud noises and the need for their precious father to go to arms and all those people whose houses have are destroyed or used as military fortifications. In some way, war has an effect on everyone. Naturally, war raises many questions, what is the purpose of war? Many have pondered why some of the most intelligent world leaders have had to retort to the most basic of reactions. In light of the recent events in America, the purpose of war is even more relevant. Is a knee-jerk reaction always the right and moral thing to do? Many would say no. If it were merely a question of good versus bad, right versus wrong, then war would serve a straightforward moral purpose. However, it is not usually a case of good versus bad, and in reality the cause of many conflicts in difficult to comprehend. Why do many use religion as their reason to go to arms, when the bases of most religions are forgiveness and peace? Everyone understands the physical torment and horrors of war; many hope never to observe sights like that. However, something draws young men to fight. The media plays a great role in attracting young men to fight, many project war to be something to achieve glory in, and some however act as a deterrent to fight. It is the same with this collection of poetry. There are two clear sections: glory and honour or gruesome and horror. Some poems however, lie in between these two margins and others create new sectors of their own. It is important to discuss the contents of each poem so we can understand the poets own thoughts on war. The first poem to be discussed is To Lucasta, Going to the Wars by Richard Lovelace. It is important to understand the poets background to get a good reason why he had this particular view of war. Lovelaces father died at arms and Richard himself served with the French army during the English civil war. However, his Royalist sympathies lost him his fortune and he died in poverty. Many would think that this would cause him to have a bad view of war but obviously not. The poem is comparatively very simple to understand. The speaker loves the women he addresses, Lucasta. However, he also loves the honour that war brings. His lover is chaste and quiet, Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind he believes to be with her is to be in a nunnery. The speaker does not want Lucasta to believe that he is cruel in leaving her, tell me not, sweet, I am unkind, this opening line tells us of his impending announcement which must be something that she, as any common person would, disagrees with. He is deeply attracted to her, but he has a need for something rather more exciting. Indeed, he goes to war and arms. It is obvious that he is greatly competitive and wishes to confront not only the enemy in general but he wants to be the person to confront, The first foe in the field. The use of alliteration captures the urgency with which he feels. This first foe is described as his new mistress. She is described as being the new object of his devotion, which he chases, he is so eager to posses her obsesses him. It is obvious by this point that his new mistress is in fact honour. He believes in battle much more passionately than he believes in the gentleness of Lucasta. He embraces with a stronger faith the sword, horse and shield of war. It is almost as if he is making love to his mistress, quite different to the relationship he has had with his chaste lover. He is forced to explain his lack of fidelity. He believes that once he has achieved his honour he will become a better lover to Lucasta. His virility his whole sense of being as a man- will be improved. In summate he believes that he will be a better lover when he achieves honour: I could not live thee, dear, so much, Loved I not honour more. He may love honour more than Lucasta, but his prowess as a lover will increase in proportion to the amount of honour he wins. It is obvious that Lovelace believes that war is a good source of honour and this is what draws young men to arms. It is also clear to see that he believes war to be glorious and a route to honour, and in such this poem agrees with many others in the collection. The next poem to be discussed portrays war as being the complete opposite of honourable. The main point of After Blenheim is that war affects not just those who fight in them. Ordinary civilian also suffer. Southey uses certain words with an increasing irony throughout the poem. The poem revolves mainly around three voices, on old and the other two are very young. None of them really understands the great and famous. The poem starts in a rather tranquil manner. The imagery of an old man surrounded by his grandchildren, resting on a summers evening after his days work is done is a very peaceful thought. So far, the poet has introduced us to a peaceful poem and it is obvious that the mood is not going to change. The childrens innocent play is interrupted when Peterkin discovers an object which apparent to be a dead soldiers skull. Old Kaspar says he often discovers the skulls of men who fought at Blenheim: And often when I go to plough The ploughshare turns then out. For many thousand men, said he Were slain in that great victory. Naturally, the children ask what was the purpose of the fighting however Kaspar is unable to provide a valid answer. The little he does know is that the battle was between the British and the French. He also adds the important fact that many civilians suffered also: With fire and sword the country round Was wasted far and wide, And many a childing mother then, And newborn baby died Kaspar also mentions that his father lost his house and was forced to become a refugee. The destruction and slaughter were widespread and indiscriminate. Nursing mothers died with their young, innocent babies. Numerous dead corpses were left to rot on the battlefield. The most important part of the poem is how Southey uses the words great and famous to continuously change meaning. The words are used with increasing irony. Great means large so we assume that a great victory implies that it had remarkable importance and that it had considerable moral validity. Similar to this is the word famous which basically means know to many people, but again used in this context one must assume that it means admirable or well known for its positive contribution to civilisation. It is obvious that Southey has purposely stripped the words of their positive meanings, the words great and famous contradicting with the overwhelming impression of a battle which resulted in much unnecessary suffering, huge losses of human life, and wanton destruction of property. The poet introduces even more irony in the tenth stanza where he has little Willhelmine stating what the reader has been thinking for much of the poem: Why, twas a very wicked thing! The irony introduced by Southey here shows us that a little child can be very good in observing the truth of the matter; it is clear to little Willhelmine that this was not a great victory at all, however, wisdom of Kaspars old mind finds it impossible to summon such thought. It is made clear by the further irony used in the last paragraph what Southeys views on war are. He states ironically that the duke of Marlboroughs received great praise (amongst other large rewards) however, it is still unclear to Peterkin why so much carnage had to be caused, and surely there was a purpose to all this suffering. In the penultimate sentence Kaspar confirms everybodys thoughts and admits that he does not even know the purpose of the war, however he knows that it was a great victory. It is obvious by the language and irony used by Southey that After Blenheim strongly contrasts with those which link war with honour and glory. Therefore, in our groups in the collection this makes up the second major group, where war is thought of as a purposeless and evil thing; just a waste of young lives. The Charge of the Light Brigade vastly contradicts Southeys view of war however, it also agrees with it on some levels. On first reading the poem the reader instantly notices the rhythm, this helps us somewhat to imagine the pace and urgency of the riders. The French general Pierre Bosquet famously said of this event: Cest magnifique, mais ce nest pas la guerre. By this he meant it is magnificent, but it is not war. this sentiment is very much expressed by Tennyson. The main point of the poem is the celebration of the soldiers unquestioning obedience to orders, despite the fact that it was obvious to everyone involved that failure was inevitable. The command, Forward, the Light Brigade! is followed by the comment, Was there a man dismayed? the answer to this obviously being no. Tennyson goes on to add with some irony about the role of a soldier: Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die. Tennyson comments on how soldiers a merely pawns at the command of their generals whim. He also comments on the widespread knowledge that few of them would survive. The poem continues with the rhythms and images of the poem captured by the sound of the horses hooves thundering into the Valley of Death. The words that Tennyson uses for this line refer to the bible, Psalm 23 in particular. This is important as the religious link obviously refers to the great sacrifice made by Jesus. The next stanza is full of cinematic imagery: Cannon to right o them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them, Volleyed and thundered; We vividly see the men, the horses, the artillery, the smoke and the deaths of so many innocent men and horses. The shouting of orders in the first two stanzas increases the whole drama of the situation. The above quote gives us the impression of a caged animal, unable to escape. Repetition of certain words also plays a large part too, in particular the number 600, reminding us of just how many lives were out in jeopardy by the incompetence of those in command. The heroism of the men is highlighted once again: Stormed at with shot and shell, Boldly the rode and well, Despite the fact that they are being shot at, they continue to fight on. This sort of heroism contrast greatly with the foolery of the commanders. The poem highlights the incompetence of those in command, Some one had blundered; Tennyson emphasises the breath taking failure of judgement on part of the commanders by using a word of such strength. In line thirty-one, All the world wondered shows the shock of the nation on how not only such mistake may have been made but also the unconditional obedience of the men. Tennyson continues to highlight the fortitude that the Light Brigade fought with: Plunged in the battery-smoke Right through the line they broke; Cossack and Russian reeled from the sabre-stroke Even though the Light Brigade had inferior equipment and inferior number of troops the courage led them to break through the Russian line. In the fifth stanza Tennyson begins by repeating the well known phrase, however this time with Cannon behind them showing us that the Light Brigade are now fleeing the Valley, however Tennyson somehow manages to convey a sense of courage in this act. The last stanza shows that the glory achieved by the Light Brigade will never be forgotten, When can their glory fade? The last three lines really show Tennysons feelings, Honour the charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade, Noble six hundred! He commands us to remember and honour the courageous Light Brigade. The Charge of the Light Brigade really sits on the fence; it is most certainly a poem of glory and heroism however, it also asks important questions. It accepts the fact that not every soldier can be involved in the making of decisions and so unflinching obedience can be expected. However, they must atleast have confidence that those order are rational. There is no room for blunders. The valour with which the Light Brigade fought has led to nothing. Ode, Written in the Beginning of the Year 1746 is a rather abstract poem. The poem writes about dead soldiers, however there are no wounds. They physical realities of death in battle are disguised by abstractions. The euphemism of death in the first line describes it as sleep again a very vague and abstract sense of death. The word sleep also brings a sense of peace and one instantly assumes the person is now at peace. The corpses are transformed into the brave. The second line gives us the impression that all their country blessed them before they died. Personification plays a large role in this poem; Honour and Freedom are given capital letters and personified as a pilgrim and as a hermit respectively. Collins adds Spring and Fancy as people saying that she shall decorate a better mound of earth than has ever been trod upon. Fairies make an appearance too, ringing their funeral knell. This poem romanticises the view of the dead. The language is very frivolous and the thoughts pious and patriotic. This shows a very narrow-minded view of war and shows that the poet has very little idea of the physical realities of war, the horror, the pain and the suffering. This poem is very hymn like in its structure. The language is very varied and descriptive in an abstract manner, and warrants closer examination. The use of imagery is quite superb: There Honour comes, a pilgrim grey, To bless the turf that wraps their clay, The spring fingers the corpses, sprinkling them with dew. This idea clearly contrasts strongly with a darker view of corpses such as shown in The Hyaenas, discussed later. The next poem, On the Idle Hill, is my personal favourite poem out of the collection. The stark contrast Houseman creates between the calm, peaceful, tranquillity of sitting upon a hill in the country and the vision of soldiers marching off to war and inevitably some to death is very thought provoking. There are other strong contrasts too, the men are, Dear to friends and food for powder. The gunpowder is personified, its unquenchable appetite implied. The image of young, fit men is contrasted with graphic images of their corpses. The men have been violently treated and stripped of identity: Bleach the bones of comrades slain, Lovely lads and dead and rotten; None that go return again. These images are fixed in the speakers and the readers mind, and therefore there is an expectation that the speaker in the poem will resist becoming a solider himself at all costs. However, the final stanza shows a new skin becoming darker and more unexpected. The bugles, drums, and fifes seem to be calling to him. The last line is of the utmost importance: Woman bore me, I will rise. He is human, similar to Macduff in Shakespeares Macbeth he is born of a woman, so he will rise from his idle hill to join the files of scarlet. The speaker acknowledges the grim reality of war, but he is unable to resist its call. He fulfils his basic human instinct of fighting for the survival of his fellow man. There is no way to opt out. The idea of comradeship is very important in this poem. This poem talks about the irresistibility of war. The last poem to be discussed is possibly the most important to be discussed. The Hyaenas talks about how humans are worse than animals. The hyenas use the dead men only for meat, To take account of our dead. They are interested in the dear corpses of the soldiers only as food, How he died and why he died Troubles them not a whit. They pull them out of their shallow graves on the battlefield and eat them. This is horrible to imagine however, they are doing only what comes naturally to them, their basic instinct is to survive. Kipling continues on to state how hyenas are better than humans are once again: They are only resolute they shall eat, That they and their mates may thrive. Hyenas are soulless and, therefore, innocent of any malice. They are only scavengers: they did not kill the men in the first place. This surely makes them better than humans. In the first stanza the kites are described as baffled. It seams illogical that the humans should kill each other like this, and for what purpose. The hyenas are described as wise, since it is easier to dig up fresh meat that trying to kill prey for themselves. The reader gets the impression that the hyenas are much wiser than the foolish humans who have done such dreadful things to each other. They eat to survive, not in excess, and not out of gluttony. The dead soldiers a poor dead soldier of the king with pitiful face are past suffering now. They are not affected by the hyenas feeding. What the hyenas do is very private, But it is not discovered to living men. There are no human beings around to see. Only God sees this along with the soulless and therefore, innocent hyenas. The language used by Kipling is very thought provoking. In particular the final two lines. Through out the poem the poet has criticised mankind for the behaviour to each other. He says that the hyenas do not disrepect the dead mens name, this is upto the humans: Nor do they defile the dead mans name That is reserved for his kind. There is neither honour nor glory in this poem, merely pity, sadness and anger at the cruelty that mankind can be so shameless. The poets discussed are not merely individual poems they make up the collection of pre 1914 war poetry. There are many trends that can be seen in the collection, the simpleton might say that its a matter of glory and pointlessness. However, this is not the case. Yes there are poems which are like this but the majority are not clear cut. Some fit into the category of war being death and mutilation. Others fit into war being a route to glory and others being war brings dishonour to those who wage it. The irresistibly of war is also stated and the fact that war brings suffering non-combatants too. The majority of the collection fits into many of these categories and many more. I have discovered a variety of responses in this collections many of them are difficult to categorise. The poems that describe war as a waste of young lives and as a source of death and mutilation are: Drummer Hodge, Come up From the Fields Father, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Drums and A Christmas Ghost story. However, other poems refer to war being a route to glory: To Lucasta, Going to Wars, The Charge of the Light Brigade and Ode, Written in the Beginning Of The Year 1746. Many people would say that war is necessary; one must fight for what they want; however, I disagree. I personally take Kiplings point of view on war, war is useless and all those who wage it are dishonourable. However, I also agree that soldiers are merely pawns doing a job. Surely, it is not their fault if their commanders choose to wage wars, there is not always a correct and responsible way to resolve problems and inevitably problems will occur. In summate it would be a different essay if I wished to talk about my own view point on war, however, it must be mentioned to show the impact of war. My own view point is that war is not necessary all the time, however, sometimes it is needed. Referring to the quote included at the beginning of my essay. Poets must write about war, all write from their own perspective, the poem would be negligible if it did not show the poets thoughts. However, if I had to write a poem on war it would not be about glory or honour, nor would it be about shame and death. My poem would be about truth and hope.

Affordable MCAT Prep For The Not-So-Rich

Affordable MCAT Prep For The Not-So-Rich Not everyone is born with a silver spoon hanging out of his or her mouth. For those of us with less than a million bucks in our bank accounts, MCAT prep can seem really, really pricey. In fact, some MCAT prep courses and tutoring packages are $9,000 and higher, which is a price that can be virtually unattainable for the average Jane or Joe. But, that doesnt mean that you cant get quality MCAT prep at a lower rate. Affordable, quality MCAT prep exists; you just have to know where to look. Check out the MCAT prep options below that promise not to break the bank. In this age of online practice and multitudes of test prep companies, you should not have to  decide between paying your rent and paying for quality test prep for this exclusive test. Dr. Flowers MCAT Prep Dr. James Flowers, a Harvard-educated medical doctor, created this test prep company after writing his own test prep manual in the 70s. Since then, hes co-authored many MCAT test prep books with The Princeton Review and has helped thousands get the scores they want on the MCAT. The Dr. Flowers MCAT prep company offers comprehensive, 12-week courses online starting at just $589. Compared to the bigger test prep companies, this is a steal of a deal, especially because the test prep comes with an extraordinary guarantee, too: score higher than a 508 on the MCAT after completing one of the 16-week courses or you get DOUBLE your money back. Since a 508 is above the national average by 8 points, this could be a tough promise to keep if the program did not work. Khan Academy The Khan Academy is well-known for partnering with the makers of standardized tests to provide free test prep for anyone who wants it. Their mission is for all people should have access to all test prep, so the playing field is equalized monetarily. For the time being, theyre on track with their goal. The MCAT prep offered through Khan Academy isnt just affordable; its free. They offer videos and practice questions on all four MCAT test sections and the Foundational Concepts of the science sections, so you can get some practice and explanations prior to test day. Although this test prep isnt completely comprehensive, its an amazing, free resource for those who may think all online options are too pricey. Princeton Review Although some of the MCAT courses through the Princeton Review are crazy expensive –the Immersion class was, at press time, more than $9,000 – they do have some very affordable options, too, for people who would rather feed a family of five for half the year than buy a test prep course. The Princeton Review MCAT book set is only around $125 and comes with three full MCAT practice tests. The bundle is very highly reviewed on Amazon.com, and it should be. The Princeton Review continuously puts out test prep materials of the highest quality, even if the versions vary little from year to year. If you dont want to purchase the books because you have another prep option, they also offer a single free MCAT practice test online even without the purchase of a test prep book. BenchPrep At press time, BenchPrep offered 1,441 MCAT practice questions, 20 quizzes, 692 lessons, and 953 flashcards for  free  for seven days. After your trial period ends, you get charged $25 per month for access to this content. And the content on here is really good, too. The interface is engaging, the games are unique, and the program is adaptive. As you progress through the study program, the more you excel in one area, the more that section will phase out. Likewise, your weaker areas will get more focused study. Reviewers give BenchPreps MCAT program five stars across the board for being user-friendly and thorough.   AAMC Appropriately enough, you can find affordable MCAT prep through the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges), itself. The MCAT prep bundle includes books, flashcards, and access to the AAMC online test prep portion (e-MCAT) for $196 at press time. In addition, you can take a free, comprehensive MCAT practice test without buying anything at all through the site. Want an even better bonus? At the beginning of the MCAT practice tests, you can complete a tutorial that shows you the ins and outs of taking the MCAT test. Its great to get a little something for nothing at all.   NextStep Test Prep If youre looking for affordable MCAT practice tests only - youve already purchased the test prep books, signed up for MCAT courses, or downloaded the apps - then NextStep test prep has some great MCAT practice options at pretty fabulous prices. At press time, you could purchase a six-month access pass to ten MCAT practice tests with explanations and free 1/2 test diagnostic for just $249. Thats an incredible deal if youre looking for quality MCAT tests! If youre not interested in so many practice tests, then they also offer four and six test bundles for $99 and $149 respectively. Considering the quality of the practice tests, this price is right on the money.   All of the MCAT Basics   Interested in finding out more about the MCAT test in general like the test sections, scoring details, registration requirements and concepts tested? Great! You have come to the right place, my friend. Here are some articles to get you started in your quest for all things related to the MCAT.   Test Sections: Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological SystemsCritical Analysis and Reasoning Skills

Film paper Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Film paper - Movie Review Example Like the said film, Blade Runner underlines the inability of humanity to relinquish their exclusive control over the definition of being human. These films have differences in semantics, mostly in the physical look and attitudes of the people and the outward aspects of their settings, but locations, archetypes, and actors express what it means to be truly human or inhuman, while syntax emphasizes the interconnection between capitalism, materialism, and dehumanization, where androids argue that the core of humanity is inside them, because of their capacity to change and to learn from within. The semantics of these films are different because of the differences in the physical looks and overall climate of science. The introduction parts of the films showcase the difference in the tone of the film’s plot. Blade Runner opens the audience to a world of darkness, where Replicants threaten the existence of humanity. The city erupts in some places with fire, as if technology has developed into a dangerous beast, or rather, humans have become beasts themselves. Gloomy weather rains incessantly on the people, as if to reflect the muddiness of human living. In contrast, Bicentennial Man begins in the residence of an ordinary-looking family, where a father brings home a prized robot. Replicants are evil androids out to kill their maker, while Andrew Martin (Robin Williams) embodies a friendly robot, ready to serve and to love the family who bought him. In Blade Runner, Replicants are already rebelling against the humans, while Andrew represents the humorous android that sim ply wants to help humans and make them happy. The settings deserve further analysis and comparison. In both films, the societies are much more advanced, where robotics are everywhere. In Blade Runner, technology makes lives easier and the same goes for Bicentennial Man. Robots are created to improve the quality of life of human beings. Nevertheless, the settings of these films

How revolutionary was the American Revolution Essay

How revolutionary was the American Revolution - Essay Example British forces in Boston massacre in1770 butchered many blacks. One-third colonists remain neutral and one third supported revolution. Rest of people supported British act in colonies. Ultimately, the revolution ended in 1783 (Frey, 1999). Slaves were imported to work as labour force for Cotton and tobacco crops in southern states of America for cheap labour. Slaves did produce great output in raising the agricultural exports of America (Quarles, 1961). Blacks were ruthlessly used as labour and their culture and lifestyle saw a decline. White people of America made every effort to tease the blacks by social inequality and kept all sorts of educational facilities away from the reach of blacks (Quarles, 1961). Slave markets were introduced in America and women and children were separated from the men. This created a lot of hatred against white Americans in the hearts of black. There were no labour or social law and blacks were punished brutally for any mistakes. Slave masters sexually harassed young black women in the absence of women rights. Women were not allowed to raise voice against social and moral inequality (Frey, 1999). Inhuman policies made people to take revolutionary steps for their rights. Many events eventually led to revolution. Black African wanted to live lives as per their social and cultural values. Finally, blacks were successful to some extent to snatch their rights from American authorities (Quarles,

SHORT written assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

SHORT written - Assignment Example Trojans for example are capable of disabling antivirus software and removing firewalls exposing your computer to serious risks. Spywares are capable of causing your computer to crash as well as collecting personal information and changing configuration settings. These threats are designed to gather information from users that are mainly used to commit fraud and identity theft (Turner & Gelles 2003). There are various methods can be used by organizations to identify threats and act on them before they can cause damages. Primarily, the organization can establish a corporate policy to only allow approved devices on the network and to have those devices running on the latest version of antivirus. Secondly, the policy should allow only the administrators to install and run applications. Thirdly, the organization can invest in software tools that aid in auditing computer activity and detecting the presence of tampering and damage. Lastly, the organization should make computer security education a prerequisite to any computer user. This will help users to know how best to protect their systems and detect any unusual

Marketing Strategy of Vodafone Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Marketing Strategy of Vodafone - Research Paper Example Strategies of an organization should well be able to detail themselves as per the needs of the environment while planning for the future. A framework for any program can well be preferred if it is deeply affinitive to the generalization of a venture or enterprise keeping in mind the quality of methodizing. The one concept firmly oriented towards the creation of values for its customers will conclude with excellence in the target market. Vodafone uses its familiar red logo and retains themes of togetherness, fashion joy, and enjoyment throughout its marketing communications. The same uniformity is maintained and followed by Fanta, Microsoft, Nike, Sony and host of other companies. What should be the rationale behind this Is it for fun Integrated marketing communications see the elements of the communications mix 'integrated' into a coherent whole. As the fight of market shares and a quest for product success continue, marketers are employing all the necessary tactics, and methods to g ive their product a breakthrough, or remain competitive (Brennan, Baines, and Garneau, 2003, Rowley J 2004). One way of doing this is through differentiation, making your product outstanding, by having your values and image (Zineldin M., and Philipson S., 2007). This is known as the marketing communications mix and forms the basis of marketing (Pelsmacher& Kitchen., 2005) This paper examined the importance of marketing to Vodafone, it current and future market challenges using certain analytical tools and models. Part one of the paper lay emphasis on these models while part three looks at the resources and capabilities that distinguished Vodafone from its competitors.     The PESTEL framework can only be used to look at the future impact of environmental factors and that this impact might be different from the past. Thus an understanding of how the factors in the above framework may drive change is only a starting point1.There is a need for an understanding of the key change dri vers and this will be explained below. Looking at the PESTEL framework shown above one can observe that the Vodafone is affected by all the environmental factors in the framework. Under political factors, Vodafone is affected by both taxation and social welfare policies.

Managing People Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Managing People - Essay Example If the geographical scope, financial strength, and wide customer base fail to persuade someone about the prominence of Starbucks as an icon of the corporate world, one can come up with a long list of laurels and awards that the company holds under its name, highlighting its success and reputation (Clark, 2007, p. 427; Michelli, 2006, p. 387). Zagat’s Survey of National Chain Restaurants for the year 2010 identified Starbucks as â€Å"No. 1 Best Coffee† and â€Å"No.1 Most Popular Quick Refreshment Chain†. For the past decade, it has appeared on the Fortune’s list of â€Å"Most Admired companies in America† and â€Å"The 100 Best Companies to Work for† (Mangold, 2010, p. 82). Quite understandably, a significant portion of this impeccable success enjoyed by Starbucks comes from its ability to manage, effectively and efficiently, its human resource. As a service oriented business, employees determine the customer service quality of the company, represent the company and their productivity determines the overall productivity of the organisation (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2007, p. 97). This paper is an attempt to discuss the leadership, organisational culture, organisational structure, organisational learning and employee motivation techniques employed by Starbucks. The paper argues that the prime leadership for Starbucks comes from Howard Schultz, for most parts, has appeared as a transformational leader. In fact, fitting the profile of a transformational leader, has allowed Schultz to inspire and create many more leaders in the company who have assisted in driving the growth by providing a wonderful customer service experience (Behar, 2007, p. 489). The culture of the company can be classified as collaborative work culture, one where much importance is placed on employee empowerment, employee engagement and worker welfare. More importantly, it is the decentralised, flat and matrix structure is the prime entity, which supports s uch as a work culture through promoting open and efficient communication amongst employees (Gilbert, 2008, p. 111). Moreover, the employee motivation at Starbucks can be understood through the application of Expectancy theory and Equity theory of Motivation. Besides, the above mentioned points, the paper will also outline a change management processes for the company and would provide recommendations based on the findings and analysis. Findings and Analysis Leadership There is evidence to believe that, Howard Schultz has been a transformational leader for Starbucks. The prime reason for it is rooted in the fact that Schultz, right from the very beginning had a vision in mind. It was in the early 1980s Howard Schultz, the current CEO, Chairman and President of the company, joined Starbucks as head of marketing. Schultz, after a trip from Italy, realised that to those people, coffee meant much more than just a drink. It was an experience, glue holding together people and their convers ations and bringing them closer (Schultz & Yang, 1999, p. 27). Schultz landed upon the idea of creating coffee houses where coffee becomes an enchanting and relaxing experience rather than a mere product. Jerry Baldwin had left the

Logistics db Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Logistics db - Essay Example The recent increase in demand of Going Inc planes is evident that, Going Inc has so far differentiated its products to meet their target customers' needs and preferences. Therefore, the main thrust of operational strategy should be on how to reduce production cost and improve company's response to change in market demand. Going Inc. sources its raw materials entirely from U.S markets. Though the company ensure that it gets its raw materials at the lowest possible price, expansion of the raw material sources to include other countries or more conveniently decision to make small parts instead of buying from vendors would automatically lead to even lower cost and better quality. This will involve the realignment of supply chain of the company. According to Heizer and Render (2005), supply chain management is the integration of the activities that procure materials and services, transform them into intermediate goods and final products, and deliver them to customers. In order for the Going Inc. to manage its supply chain effectively, it has to improve the speed and flexibility for its manufacturing framework. Currently, the company is relatively slow in its production speed; only fifteen planes per month. To make the matter worse, the production is riddled with scrupulous customization that takes a lot of time and gives very little room for design flexibility. Going Inc.

Managing People Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Managing People - Essay Example If the geographical scope, financial strength, and wide customer base fail to persuade someone about the prominence of Starbucks as an icon of the corporate world, one can come up with a long list of laurels and awards that the company holds under its name, highlighting its success and reputation (Clark, 2007, p. 427; Michelli, 2006, p. 387). Zagat’s Survey of National Chain Restaurants for the year 2010 identified Starbucks as â€Å"No. 1 Best Coffee† and â€Å"No.1 Most Popular Quick Refreshment Chain†. For the past decade, it has appeared on the Fortune’s list of â€Å"Most Admired companies in America† and â€Å"The 100 Best Companies to Work for† (Mangold, 2010, p. 82). Quite understandably, a significant portion of this impeccable success enjoyed by Starbucks comes from its ability to manage, effectively and efficiently, its human resource. As a service oriented business, employees determine the customer service quality of the company, represent the company and their productivity determines the overall productivity of the organisation (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2007, p. 97). This paper is an attempt to discuss the leadership, organisational culture, organisational structure, organisational learning and employee motivation techniques employed by Starbucks. The paper argues that the prime leadership for Starbucks comes from Howard Schultz, for most parts, has appeared as a transformational leader. In fact, fitting the profile of a transformational leader, has allowed Schultz to inspire and create many more leaders in the company who have assisted in driving the growth by providing a wonderful customer service experience (Behar, 2007, p. 489). The culture of the company can be classified as collaborative work culture, one where much importance is placed on employee empowerment, employee engagement and worker welfare. More importantly, it is the decentralised, flat and matrix structure is the prime entity, which supports s uch as a work culture through promoting open and efficient communication amongst employees (Gilbert, 2008, p. 111). Moreover, the employee motivation at Starbucks can be understood through the application of Expectancy theory and Equity theory of Motivation. Besides, the above mentioned points, the paper will also outline a change management processes for the company and would provide recommendations based on the findings and analysis. Findings and Analysis Leadership There is evidence to believe that, Howard Schultz has been a transformational leader for Starbucks. The prime reason for it is rooted in the fact that Schultz, right from the very beginning had a vision in mind. It was in the early 1980s Howard Schultz, the current CEO, Chairman and President of the company, joined Starbucks as head of marketing. Schultz, after a trip from Italy, realised that to those people, coffee meant much more than just a drink. It was an experience, glue holding together people and their convers ations and bringing them closer (Schultz & Yang, 1999, p. 27). Schultz landed upon the idea of creating coffee houses where coffee becomes an enchanting and relaxing experience rather than a mere product. Jerry Baldwin had left the

Comments and response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Comments and response - Essay Example Your strategy seems very effective from the start, which I much welcome to ensure my child is focused from the first day in school to his/her completion. The communication plan you have established is quite commendable and am willing to partner with your efforts to see that my child progress is tracked in a collaborative way both at home and at school. I will be much honored to provide you with al my child’s cultural, social, and linguistic background to ensure the e/she is included effectively in your learning environment. I would like you to clarify to me on ways to ensure that I participate in my child’s education. Thank you for the teamwork you reveal to ensure that all child’s needs are met. I am very much aware that I know more of my child’s information more than anyone else does, and I will ensure that I will give all details to the administration. I would like to seek more information on what programs you have to ensure that my child does not face discrimination and is included in your environment because he is a black American and has a language proficiency disability. Thank you for an extensive emphasizes on communication matters between e as a parent and the teachers, which I also believe that is the backbone to an effective partnership and parental involvement in a learning environment. Your IEP program comforts me that my child’s needs will be met accordingly. However, your school has rules and procedures; hence, I would like you to clarify on considerations for children with disabilities. Thank you for your full support of collaborative strategies with my colleagues to ensure your child thrive to the top in terms of academic as social aspects. Regarding your query on the rules and procedures in my class, note that most of them are made through my inclusive plan whereby the students decide among themselves which rules to set for optimal learning environment focused on minimal

Bear Minimum Essay Example for Free

Bear Minimum Essay The lease of a combustion turbine by Big Bear Power from Goliath Co includes three provisions that we must examine to determine whether they should be included in the â€Å"minimum lease payment† as defined in ASC 840. Provision 1 This provision involves Big Bear paying $500,000 to its external counsel, and $1 million of legal fees to Goliath Co. The $1 million fee to Goliath Co. should be included in the minimum lease payment. This is supported by 840-10-25-6 which states: Fees that are paid by the lessee to the owners of the special-purpose entity for structuring the lease transaction†¦shall be included as part of minimum lease payments. The $500,000 to its external counsel should not be included because it was not an obligatory cost for the lease. Provision 2 To determine if the penalty payment from a default would be included in the minimum lease payment, we look at ASC 840-10-25-14: [Default covenants related to nonperformance do not affect lease classification if all of the following conditions exist: a. The default covenant provision is customary in financing arrangements. b. The occurrence of the event of default is objectively determinable (for example, subjective acceleration clauses would not satisfy this condition). c. Predefined criteria, related solely to the lessee and its operations, have been established for the determination of the event of default. d. It is reasonable to assume, based on the facts and circumstances that exist at lease inception, that the event of default will not occur. In applying this condition, it is expected that entities would consider recent trends in the lessees operations. If any of those conditions do not exist, then the maximum amount that the lessee could be required to pay under the default covenant shall be included in minimum lease payments for purposes of applying paragraph 840-10-25-1] The first condition about the default covenant provision being customary does exist due to the note stating that â€Å"this is a customary provision in  leasing arrangements†. The company has positive cash flow and is in compliance with all its debt covenants, which supports Big Bear’s belief that the chance of default is low. Thus conditions 2 and 4 are met. Condition 3, which involves predetermined criteria in case of a default, does not seem to have been met. Since not all the conditions have been met, the default payment covenant shall be included in the minimum lease payment. Provision 3 This provision states that Big Bear’s rent of $1 million will increase by the same percentage increase in the CPI. The most recent annual increase in CPI was 4%. 840-10-25-4 states that â€Å"lease payments that depend on an existing index or sate, such as the CPI or prime interest rate, shall be included in minimum lease payments based on the index†. Therefore after the first year, the minimum lease payment will rise by $40,000 per year or $3,333.33 per month.

Franz Kafkas The Metamorphosis and James Baldwins Sonnys Blues Essa

There are many factors that lead to the development of an individual’s identity. Franz Kafka’s â€Å"The Metamorphosis† illustrates an extreme change in Gregor Samsa’s external identity and the overall outward effect it has on the development of his family. While James Baldwin’s â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† illustrates a young man struggling to find his identity while being pushed around by what society and his family wants him to be. Both of these characters exhibit an underlying struggle of alienation but both also demonstrate a craving for belongingness. This conflict of trying to belong to something as well as satisfying the needs of society, has directly impacted their own individuality and the lives of the people around them. Gregor Samsa, a hard working salesman providing for his family in need, has sacrifice his own freedom for the sake of the survival of his family. As a provider, his family is expecting him to work, be successful, and bring home the wealth. Although Gregor doesn’t enjoy his tedious job in the slightest, he still agrees to do it. This is more influenced by his father’s debt rather than his own morals. â€Å"If it weren’t for my parents, I would have quit long ago, I would have gone to the boss and told him off† (Kafka 2). This shows that he is a frustrated individual. Gregor is someone who would likely hold in his own personal feelings to preserve the family name. A night of nightmares later, Gregor awakes to see his many little legs flailing about. He isn’t initially shocked by this horrid transformation and however terrible it looks to him, his primary focus is how is he going to get to work? In spite of everything, he is still in the mindset of w orking no matter what the cost. After all, he doesn’t want to lose the tr... ...development of your identity. Gregor, the family man, tried as hard as he can to be there for his family. His family is everything he has got and this is his identity. While Sonny, the trouble kid turned musician, abandoned his family’s suggestions and went his own way by keeping true to himself and being dedicative to a specific goal. Both of these characters are polar opposites in a sense that one follows his family and the other does not. But, both characters were forced into difficult situations and both have experienced some sort of sacrifice. Works Cited Mendoza, Ramon G. The Human Vermin: Kafka's Metaphor for Extreme Alienation. N.p.: Salem Press, n.d. Literary Reference Database. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. Murray, Donald C. James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues': Complicated and Simple. N.p.: Newberry College, n.d. Literary Reference Database. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.

Resistance to Imperialism and the Zulu War Essay -- African History Es

Although it is usually 19th century European imperialism that appears in Western literature, Africans have felt pressure from outside powers for over a thousand years. By the year 1200, most of Northern Africa had adopted Islam, and the population consisted mainly of a blend of Arab and Berber peoples. It was at this time that the enslavement of black Africans along the eastern coast of the continent by Arabian pirates began. This slave trade, however, met fierce resistance from the flourishing African kingdoms of Kush and the Somali king, Nagus Yeshaq, who was a Christian Becker). Because the strength of the Arabic incursions was based mainly on conversion, the Islamic armies never penetrated deeply into sub-Saharan Africa. In the middle of the 15th century, Portuguese explorers began to establish trading outposts along the western coast of Africa, thus beginning the first steps toward imperialism by European nations. It is estimated that the first trading of Africans as slaves by the Portuguese began in 1444. The West African kingdom of Benin, however, still suc...

Early Childhood Education/ A.S Degree Research Paper Essay

An Early Childhood Education/ A. S. degree is perfect for people who love children. There are many career choices and even choices within those careers that you choose just by getting this degree. It is important to know all of your options before picking a degree that will determine the career you will have for the rest of your life. â€Å"Early childhood education is a term that refers to educational programs and strategies geared toward children from birth to the age of eight. This time period is widely considered the most vulnerable and crucial stage of a person’s life† (Beth Lewis). It is the teaching of young children by people outside of the family and outside of their home. Some career paths you can take with this degree are being a classroom aide, ECE teacher, site supervisor, program director, preschool teacher, kindergarten teacher, resource and referral professional, social service worker, youth and family service worker, camp counselor, recreation leader, foster care provider, mental health paraprofessional, or child advocate and even more (Mason, Janet). Though all of those seem interesting, a preschool, teachers aide, and kindergarten teacher are the three career paths I find most interesting so I decided to do my research on them. A preschool teacher is a possible career choice from getting your early childhood education degree. Preschool teachers take care of young children while educating them. They do not teach the children how to read or write yet, but they explain reading and writing. They also teach some science and social studies but only of what a child can understand at that age. Children in preschool mostly learn through play so they do a lot of that in preschool. Preschool teachers are supposed to watch over them. The ages of the preschool children that the teacher cares to is anywhere from 3 to 5. These are the ages of children who have not yet entered kindergarten. An associates degree is all that is needed to become a preschool teacher. The median pay is $25,700 per year, which is $12. 35 per hour (bls. gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/preschool-teachers). â€Å"Employment of preschool teachers is expected to grow by 25 percent from 2010 to 2020, faster than the average for all occupations. Growth is expected due to a continued focus on the importance of early childhood education and the growing population of children ages 3 to 5† (bls. gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/preschool-teachers). Another job you can get through this degree is a teachers aide. With this job, you will be responsible for assisting a classroom teacher in general supervision and management of the kids. You must be 18 years of age or older, and have an early childhood education degree. With this job some things you must do are assist in planning and preparing the learning environment, watch the classroom when the teacher is out of the room, pay attention to the children, and clean up the classroom. The median expected salary for a typical teachers aide in the United States is $20,588 (salary. com). You can also become a kindergarten teacher with this degree. The average salary for a kindergarten teacher is $48,800 per year (bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/kindergarten-and-elementary-school-teachers). You need a bachelors degree and a state-issued certification or license. To be a kindergarten teacher you need to be very observant. You need to be able to evaluate a students abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. You have to plan lessons that teach students things like reading and math. Benefits of becoming a kindergarten teacher is that you get two months off in the summer, and over a period of time you get tenure. Which means after a certain number of years of teaching, the teacher can have some job security. The early childhood education/ A. S. degree has many career options that come with it. A preschool teacher, teachers aide, and kindergarten teacher are three very interesting professions. You must love children to be in these professions. Being a kindergarten teacher is what appeals to me the most. Though finding these jobs may be tough to do due to the economic state we are in, I know that if I truly want to become a kindergarten teacher and work hard enough to get it, I will be able to get a job some way or another.

Unemployment and inflation

The rise in energy prices reduces the productivity of capital per worker. This causes sf(k) to shift down from sfl(k) to sf2(k). The result is a decline in steady-state k. Steady-state consumption per worker falls for two reasons: (1) Each unit of capital has a lower productivity, and (2) steady-state k is reduced. population growth rate permanently increased due to increased immigration Immigration raises n from nl to n2. The rise in n lowers steady-state k, leading toa lower steady-state consumption per worker. c.A temporary rise in s has no effect on the steady-state equilibrium. . The increase in the labor force participation rate does not affect the growth rate of the labor force, so there is no impact on the steady-state capital-labor ratio or on consumption per worker. However, because a larger fraction of the population is working, consumption per person increases. Question 4 How would each of the following affect the national saving, investment the current account balance an d the real interest rate in the large economy (a) The home countrys saving curve shifts to the right, from Sl to S2.The real world interest rate falls, so that the current account surplus in the home country equals the current ccount deficit in the foreign country. National S rises, I rises, CA rises, rw falls. (b) The foreign countrys saving curve shifts to the right, from Sl For to S2For. The real world interest rate must fall, so the current account surplus in the foreign country equals the current account deficit in the home country. National S falls, I rises, CA falls, rw falls.C The foreign countrys saving curve shifts to the left, from Sl For to S2For. The real world interest rate must rise, so the current account deficit in the foreign country equals the current account surplus in the home country. National S rises, I falls, CA ises, rw rises. (c) If Ricardian equivalence holds, there is no effect. If Ricardian equivalence does not hold, then the result is the same as in par t (b), as the toreign count saving curve shifts to the right.That is because all else equal, higher taxes increase government saving more than they reduce private saving. Question 3. Explain how each of the following transaction would enter the Bahamas Question 3 a Income receipt from abroad: credit entry in current account. b Import of assets: debit entry in capital and financial account. (c Import of services: debit entry in current account. (d Increase in foreign ownership of U. S. assets: credit entry in capital and financial account. Question2.Assume (a) Desired consumption declines as the real interest rate rises because the higher return to saving encourages higher saving; desired investment declines as the real interest rate rises becauses the user cost of capital is higher, reducing the desired capital stock, and thus investment. (b) Recall that Sd = Y -Cd – G, so Sd = 9000 -Cd – ld 2 6100 1 500 3 1400 1 ooo 4 5900 1300 1100 9200 5 1200 6 5700 equilibrium. Giv en Y 9000, the equili brium condition holds only at r = 5%. Atr = 5% it is also true that Sd = = 1200. Question 1Keynesians and classicals differ sharply in their beliefs about how long it takes the economy to reach a long-run equilibrium. Classical economists believe that prices adjust rapidly (within a few months) to restore equilibrium in the face of a shock, while Keynesians believe that prices adjust slowly, taking perhaps several years. Because of the time it takes for the economy's equilibrium to be restored, Keynesians see an important role for the government in fighting recessions. But because classicals believe that equilibrium is restored quickly, there's no need for government policy to fght recessions.Since classicals think equilibrium is restored quickly in the face of shocks, aggregate demand shocks can't cause recessions, since they can't affect output for very long. So classical economists think recessions are caused by aggregate supply shocks. Keynesians, however, think that both aggregate demand and aggregate supply shocks are capable of causing recessions. Question 8 Growth that is â€Å"too rapid† most likely refers to a situation in which the aggregate demand curve has shifted to the right and, in the short run, intersects the SRAS curve at a level of output that's greater than the full-employment level of output.This situation is associated with inflation because, in the long run, prices will rise, shifting the SRAS curve up to intersect with the LRAS and AD curves. The shock that is implicitly assumed to be hitting the economy is an aggregate demand shock, since that's the only shock that increases output in the short run and inflation in the long run. Question 10 The temporary increase in government purchases causes an income effect that increases workers' labor supply. This results in an increase in the full-employment level of output from FEI to FE2 in Figure 10. 10.The increase in government urchases also shifts the IS curve up and to the right from ISI to IS2, as it reduces national saving. Assuming that the shift up of the IS curve is so large that it intersects the LM curve to the right of the FE line, the price level must rise to get back to equilibrium at full employment, by shifting the LM curve up and to the left from LMI to LM2. The result is an increase in output and the real interest rate. figure 10. 11 shows the impact on the labor market. Labor supply shifts from NSI to NS2, leading to a decline in the real wage and a rise in employment.Average labor productivity declines, since employment rises while capita ixed. Investmentdeclines, since the real interest rate rises. To summarize, in response to a temporary increase in government purchases, output, the real interest rate, the price level, and employment rise, while average labor productivity and investment decline. (a) The business cycle fact is that employment is procyclical. The model is consistent with this fact, since employment rises when government purchases rise, causing output to rise. (b) The business cycle fact is that the real wage is mildly procyclical.The model is inconsistent with this fact, since it shows a decline in the real wage when government purchases rise and c) The business cycle fact is that average labor productivity is output rises. procyclical. The model is inconsistent with this fact, since it shows a decline in average labor productivity when government purchases rise and output rises. (d) The business cycle fact is that investment is procyclical. The model is not consistent with this fact, as investment falls when government purchases rise and output rises. (e) The business cycle fact is that the price level is procyclical.The model is consistent with this fact, as the price level rises when government purchases increase and output increases. Question 6 and 7 (a) An increase in government purchases reduces national saving, causing the real interest rate to rise for a fixed level of incom e. If the real interest rate is higher, then real money demand will be lower. The price level must rise. The result is that output is unchanged, the real interest rate increases, and the price level increases. 6 (b) 7aWhen expected inflation falls, real money demand increases.There is no effect on employment, saving or investment, so output and the real interest rate remain unchanged. With higher real money demand and an unchanged nominal money supply, the equilibrium price level must decline. b) When labor supply rises, full- employment output increases. Higher output means higher income, so saving will increase. More saving means the real interest rate will decline. Both higher output and a lower real interest rate increase real money demand. Higher money demand with a constant money supply means the price level must decline. 17 c When the interest rate paid on money increases, real money demand rises. That is because the cost of holding money falls. With no effect on employment o r saving and investment, output and the real interest rate remain unchanged. With higher real money demand and an unchanged nominal money supply, the quilibrium price level must decline. Question 11 and 12 In Figures 11 . 17-11. 20, point A is the starting point, point B shows the short-run equilibrium after the change, and point C shows the long-run equilibrium after the change. (a) In Figure 11. 7, when banks pay a higher interest rate on checking accounts, the demand for money rises, shifting the LM curve up and to the left from LMI to LM2 in Figure 11 . 17(a). As a result, the AD curve shifts down and to the 2 in Figure ) The new snort-run equilibrium occurs at point B, where output is lower, the real interest rate is higher, employment is lower, and the price level is unchanged. In the long run, the price level decreases to shift the LM curve from LM2 to LM3, which is the same as LMI, to restore equilibrium at point C. As a result, the short-run aggregate supply curve shifts do wn from SRASI to SRAS2.At the new equilibrium, compared to the starting point, output is the same, the real interest rate is the same, employment is the same, and the price level is lower. Figure 11. 17 (b) In Figure 11. 18, the introduction of credit cards reduces the demand for money†shifting the LM curve down and to the right from LMI to LM2 in Figure 11 . 18(a). As a result, the AD curve shifts from ADI to AD2 in Figure 11. 8(b). The new short-run equilibrium occurs at point B, where output is higher, the real interest rate is lower, employment is higher, and the price level is unchanged.In the long run, the price level increases to shift the LM curve from LM2 to LM3, which is the same as LMI, to restore equilibrium at point C. As a result, the short-run aggregate supply curve shifts up from SRASI to SRAS2. At the new equilibrium, compared to the starting point, output is the same, the real interest rate is the same, employment is the same, and the price level is higher. F igure 11. 18 (c) In Figure 11. 9, the reduction in agricultural output shifts the FE curve to the left from FEI to FE2, and shifts the LRAS line from LRASI to LRAS2.The rise in agricultural prices increases the price level, so the short-run aggregate supply curve shifts up from SRASI to SRAS2. Also, the rise in the price level shifts the LM curve up and to the left from LMI to LM2. The short-run equilibrium is at point B, assuming that the LM curve shifts so much that it intersects the IS curve to the left of the FE line. At point B, compared to the starting point, output is lower, the real interest rate is higher, employment is lower, and the price level is higher. Figure 11. 19 If the water shortage persists, a new long-run equilibrium occurs at point C.To get to this equilibrium, the price level must decline, shifting the LM curve from LM2 to LM3, and the short-run aggregate supply curve from SRAS2 to SRAS3. Relative to point B, the new equilibrium has a higher output level, a lo wer real interest rate, higher employment, and a lower price level. (Relative to the initial equilibrium at point A, output and employment are lower, and the real interest rate and the price level are higher.

The Grafton Group Project

Student Names: Stephen Bray B00037534 Johnny GeraghtyB00020240 Alan LennonB00020051 Emmet Toft B00015911 [pic] Module Name:Strategic Management 2 Lecturer:Mr Liam Bolger Submission Date:29th April, 2010 Word Count:10,413 Table of Contents Background of the company:2 History of the company:3 The Environment7 PESTEL analysis7 Political7 Economic7 Sociocultural8 Ireland population by Age 20069 Technology10 Environment10 Legal10 Key drivers for change10 The Industry11 Porters Five Forces analysis11 Substitute products/services12 Bargaining power of buyers12 Bargaining power of suppliers12 Rivalry/Competition13 Opportunities and Threats14 Opportunities identified15 Threats identified16 Financial Information Analysis17 Analysis of Financial Reports18 Liquidity Ratios18 Profitability Ratios20 Net Profit Margin per Segment20 Earnings per share (EPS)21 Analysis:23 Liquidity:23 Profitability:24 Debt:24 Return on Investment:24 Borrowings:25 problems with accessing credit. 25 Share Price26 Source http:investor/graftongroupplc. com27 Liquidity: Excellent27 Financial Strength:Excellent27 Profitability: Fair27 Growth: 027 Source www. corporateinformation. com27 Outlook for the Future28 Rationalisation measures:29 Plans for 2010:29 Opportunities 2010:29 Group Strengths30 Weaknesses31 Strategic Capability31 Critical Success factors for customers (a sample of but not limited to):33 Corporate Governance35 Grafton Group’s Compliance with the Combined Code36 The Board – who reports to whom? 37 Directors’ Independence and Board Balance38 Performance of the Board39 Corporate Social Responsibility – CSR and Ethics39 Shareholder and Stakeholder Expectations and Influences41 Culture of Organisations and Grafton Group43 Strategic Direction and Corporate level strategy44 Corporate Parent44 The corporate parent as a Synergy manager45 Strategic Drift46 International Strategy48 Table Pre-Merger48 Table Post-Merger50 Traditional reasons for Merger failure51 Through a possible merger Grafton may:52 Strategic Directions53 Market Consolidation54 Market Diversity (Related)55 International strategy – Travis Perkins and Grafton merger? 56 Bibliography59 Plagiarism Disclaimer:60 Background of the company: Grafton Group plc is an independent, profit growth oriented company with operations primarily in the UK and also in Ireland. The Group has strong national and regional positions in the merchanting, DIY retailing and mortar markets. The Group aims to achieve above average returns for shareholders. Grafton’s strategy is to build on strong positions in businesses serving the UK and Irish construction sectors, to develop in related markets, and to grow in businesses with which it is familiar. In Great Britain, Grafton is the fourth largest merchanting business trading from 430 locations comprising 219 Builders Merchanting branches trading principally under the Buildbase and Jackson brands and 211 Plumbers Merchanting branches trading mainly under the Plumbase brand. EuroMix is the market leader in the UK dry mortar market where it trades from a network of nine manufacturing plants in England and Scotland. In Northern Ireland, MacNaughton Blair is one of the leading builder’s merchants in the province where it trades from 20 locations. In the Republic of Ireland, the Group is the largest builders and plumber’s merchanting business trading nationally from 62 branches under the Chadwicks and Heiton Buckley brands. The Group is the market leader in DIY retailing in the Republic of Ireland, trading nationally from 41 stores and is also engaged in the manufacture of mortar, plastics and windows in the Republic of Ireland. Today, in Ireland, Grafton is the largest builders and plumbers merchants and the clear market leader in DIY retailing. In the UK the Group’s merchanting operation is the 4th largest in the market. 2005 turnover was â‚ ¬2. 6 billion and Profit after Tax amounted to â‚ ¬166 million. History of the company: Grafton’s origins date back to 1902 and since then the Chadwick family have played a central role in the development of the business. 1909 William Thomas Chadwick establishes his first business called Chadwicks (Dublin) Limited to supply builders merchants and major building contractors with Irish and imported cement and plaster. Today Chadwicks is the 2nd largest builders and plumbers merchanting brand in Ireland, trading from 31 branches nationally. 1930 William Chadwick acquires control of a small firm engaged in the manufacture of concrete blocks and roof tiles, which his company was supplying with cement. In 1931 Concrete Products of Ireland was registered as a private limited company. Today it is called CPI Limited and is a leading manufacturer of dry mortar in the Irish market. William Chadwick, the Group’s founder, dies at the end of the Second World War, leaving the business to his two sons – Terence and Finton Chadwick. 1965 Concrete Products of Ireland becomes a public company and purchases Chadwicks (Dublin) Limited from the Chadwick family. At the same time Marley Limited increases its holding to 51%. Marley’s relationship with Concrete Products of Ireland dates back to the end of the Second World War when Marley acquired a minority shareholding. 985 Mr. Michael Chadwick is appointed Executive Chairman. 1987 Marley plc decides to concentrate on the manufacture of building materials and as a consequence sold its controlling shareholding in the Group. The Marley shareholding was placed with institutional investors and the Group’s management. The Group opens its first DIY retailing store in the Irish market. 1988 The Group changes i ts name to Grafton Group plc and makes its first UK acquisition, a small heating and plumbing business which gives the Group familiarity with the large UK merchanting market. 990 The Group acquires MacNaughton Blair a long-established and well-known Belfast-based builders merchants. Also during the year Grafton acquires Joseph Kelly & Son (1994) Limited in Dublin, a builders merchanting business which was to become very well placed to serve the needs of the building trade in the centre of Dublin. 1994 The Group’s expands significantly in the UK with the acquisition of Bradley’s and Lumley & Hunt plumbing and heating operations. Total sales in Britain and Northern Ireland increase by 53%, representing 21% of Group turnover. 995 Grafton acquires P. P. S. Mortars – a silo mortar plant based in Glasgow. This business adopts the EuroMix silo mortar business model and technology, which has been successfully developed by CPI, the Group’s Irish concrete products business. Today EuroMix is the leading UK mortar manufacturer with eight plants. 1996 The Group continues its strategic development in the UK with its first acquisition of a builder’s merchanting business – R. J. Johnson, based in Oxford. 1997 The Group continues to acquire in the UK adding a further 14 locations through six small but significant acquisitions and achieves critical mass in its UK operations. This is the Group’s tenth year as an independent public company; a decade of considerable achievement in which sales increased 18% annually and earnings per share grew at an annualised rate of 29%. 1998 UK builders’ merchanting operations expand substantially with the acquisition of British Dredging plc, the first time an Irish company acquires a listed UK plc. This business operates a total of 23 locations incorporating 17 builders’ merchants and six plumber’s merchants. The builder’s merchanting operation is integrated under the Buildbase brand, which was established in 1997 as the trading name for the Group’s UK builder’s merchanting operation. During that year the Group makes another six acquisitions adding a further 19 locations, including the London based Deben Builders Merchants business with 10 branches and A R Hendricks Limited, a heavy side builders merchant trading from five branches. 1999 The Group continues its bolt-on acquisition programme adding a 16 more locations, through eight acquisitions in the UK. Throughout the nineties the Group continues with the expansion of its Irish merchanting and DIY retailing operations and consolidates its position as market leader in both sectors. 2000/2001 During these years, the Group continues apace with its bolt-on acquisition strategy. A total of 24 acquisitions were made during the period, many single branch operations that add value through infilling the Group’s overall network of locations in the UK. 002 This is a record year with a total of 15 acquisitions adding a further 39 branches to the UK merchanting network. These acquisitions included five small chains: Lakes in Derby, BMB in Barnsley, and PDM in Edinburgh, Aizlewoods in Rotherham and JKS Heating and Plumbing Supplies in Manchester. 2003 The Group undertakes its largest ever acquisition thus far – Jackson Building Centres in England adding 18 branches – and makes another significant acquisition with Plumbline, Scotland’s largest independent plumbers merchants with 17 locations. Overall it was a busy year with a further seven bolt-on acquisitions completed, giving a total of nine acquisitions for 2003. Grafton now has 137 plumbers’ merchanting branches trading under the Plumbase brand and 139 builders’ merchanting branches trading principally under the Buildbase and Jackson brands. 2004 The Group completes its 100th acquisition since 1998, averaging more than one per month. A total of 19 acquisitions are completed during the year, another record year for development. Grafton reaches agreement to acquire Heiton Group plc, subject to regulatory approval. 005 In January Grafton completes the acquisition of Heiton Group plc. This business includes, inter alia, the No. 1 builder’s merchanting operation and the No. 2 DIY retailing brand in Ireland and is a good strategic fit with Grafton’s existing operations and consolidates its position as the leading player in the Irish market. Overall Heiton has over 50 trading locations (six in the UK), an average of 1,900 employees and a turnover in excess of â‚ ¬500 million. We can see from this chronological list of their history that Grafton Group expanded greatly from the mid 90’s to 2005. Their growth in the UK market was surged on the back of an economic building boom in Ireland. They now have a much greater market and consumer base to compete in but also face a vastly changed environment. The Environment PESTEL analysis Political †¢ Taxation policy – corporation tax remains at 12. 5% in Ireland. Grafton Group is resident in the state and is liable to Corporation Tax on its worldwide profits. The corporation tax rate in the UK is 21% which is a huge source of competitive advantage for Grafton versus its UK competitors. Government stability – the current Irish government is in place till 2012. The UK is in the build up to a general election which could see a change in the current government and policies. †¢ Government policies towards â€Å"green† initiatives – grant towards homeowners to improve insulation, grants for solar panels and etc. Economic †¢ The UK and Irish economies are in recession leading to a sharp fall in dem and. Consumer confidence has fallen and housing related spending has reduced. †¢ The number of house completions in Ireland is 17,000 units in 2009 which is a fifth of the output during its peak in 2006. Ireland’s stock of empty homes surged 30pc to 345,000 houses in the three years through 2009 as the decade-long property boom collapsed. †¢ Sterling exchange rate weaknesses could lead to lower reported Group earnings on translation of the results of the UK business into euro at the average rate of exchange for the year. †¢ Low Interest rates – the cost of loan repayments is low and for the foreseeable future they should remain constant. †¢ The availability of credit and money is very strict and very few banks are willing to give loans to cash strapped businesses. Unemployment rate in Ireland has increased dramatically, Jan 2008 4. 8% versus Jan 2010 13. 4%. Unemployment rate in the UK has increased but not as dramatic, Jan 2008 5% versus Jan 2010 8 %. Sociocultural †¢ Declining employment and incomes for individuals. †¢ Higher personal taxes – introduction of income levy, the doubling of health and PRSI levies. †¢ A nation of savers, People are now saving more than before and consumer spending has decreased as a result. †¢ An increasing age demographic in Ireland who will require a home in the future. Ireland population by Age 2006 | |Age Group | |Males | |Females | |Persons | | | |0-14 | |443,044 | |421,405 | |864,449 | | | |15-24 | |321,007 | |311,725 | |632,732 | | | |25-44 | |681,988 | |663,885 | |1,345,873 | | | |45-64 | |468,037 | |460,831 | |928,868 | | | |65 years and over | |207,095 | 260,831 | |467,926 | | | |Total | |2,121,171 | |2,118,677 | |4,239,848 | | | | | | | | | |UK population grows to 61. million | | | | | |[pic] | | | | | | | |Technology | |Improvements in technology have led to better supply chain and logistics management. | |Bar-coding of products has impro ved inventory management. |Environment | |Organisations need to be socially responsible with their business activities; negative publicity can have a detrimental effect on| |consumer’s perception. | |A growing consumer awareness of greener behaviour and products associated with having a better impact on the environment. | |Legal | |Health and safety regulations have increased the demand for health and safety products and packaging. | | |Key drivers for change | |These are environmental factors that are likely to have a high impact on the success or failure of an organisation. There is a | |huge level of uncertainty in the current environment but an area we have identified as key is the energy efficient sector. The | |government have introduced policies and measures to address climate change. This initiative has arisen from a UN conference on | |energy for development, which is demanding countries to change their ways for the improvement towards a greener global | |environme nt. There will be a greater demand from consumers to meet those measures and therefore Grafton must satisfy this growing| |demand with energy saving products. | | | | | | | | |The Industry | |Porters Five Forces analysis | |Potential competitors | There is the potential for new entrants in the form of small independent hardware suppliers which are strategically located to entice consumers, ex. A small hardware shop beside the local shopping centre. As we can see from the below graphic many of their outlets are strategically located in and around the big cities as there is a much greater consumer base, ex. Dublin, London, Birmingham. [pic] There is a huge capital requirement required to compete with the Grafton group brands within Ireland and their closest competitors are B&Q (20% market share) and Hombase (17% market share). The location of DIY retailing outlets is interesting as during the boom many of our local towns have seen the emergence of industrial retail parks. In Navan 4 years ago Woodies located in a newly developed retail park just off the N3, before that there was Chadwick’s and a number of small independent outlets in the town. Grafton group have 63% of market share in Ireland, as a result the power of competitive response is very strong in Ireland. However in the UK they are fourth with 10% of market share with Travis Perkins (15%), Jewson (18%) and Wolseley (19%) and as a result their competitive position is much more demanding as they have 3 competitors who are in stronger market position. Substitute products/services We believe the only substitute threat is hire companies, they offer equipment and tools to consumers on a rental basis i. e. per hr, day, week and etc. In the current climate price is a key factor in peoples decisions, therefore consumers may opt to hire equipment for tasks rather than spending vast amounts on equipment that might only be used infrequently. Bargaining power of buyers Grafton’s consumers are powerful because, †¢ Buyers can switch suppliers at no cost. †¢ Buyers purchase from multiple sellers at once, they opt for suppliers conveniently located to the project. Buyers are shopping round for the best value. Bargaining power of suppliers The Grafton procurement process has improved f urther with new internal appointments to lead heavy side and light side purchasing. There was an increased focus on reducing the supplier base and developing closer alliances with key suppliers. This has resulted in greater leverage being achieved from the Group's purchasing scale and improved purchasing terms. The volume of products sourced directly through the warehouse facility in Shanghai continued to increase providing a new sourcing option for the Group's businesses to procure quality products at competitive prices. We can see from the above that the power rests with Grafton; suppliers are keen to meet the demands of their customer as they have a strong foothold in both the UK and Irish marketplace. Rivalry/Competition In Ireland their competitive position is very strong and through consolidation and job cuts they will be better placed than most building supply firms especially the many small independents that are under serious financial strain as the economic property boom which they depended on is long gone. Many independents face closure and Grafton group and its brands will be best placed to take advantage when the economy recovers over the coming years. Competitive rivals are organisations with similar products and services aimed at the same customer groups. When we look at one of Grafton’s brands Woodies DIY and their offerings, we see that they are competing with many different retailers. They offer a product range which caters for all your interior and exterior requirements, ex. Bag of cement, paint, timber, kettles, toasters, lighting, TVs, etc. They compete in a very fragmented industry but what many people don’t realise is Grafton is the parent company and all these separate brands from the consumers perspective competing with one another doesn’t matter as all profits go into the one organisation. Grafton is competing with any organisation who offers interior and exterior household products, ex. B&Q, Homebase (part of Home retail group), Argos (part of Home retail group), Power City, Harvey Norman, etc. From our experiences with Woodies they differentiate themselves from the competition as they offer a complete range of products from their store which means you can get all your needs in the one store. However if you look at the UK operating margin history it was roughly 6/7% over the past ten years versus Irish operating margin history of 11-13%. This means that competition is much stronger in the UK and they must price more competitively in the UK. Opportunities and Threats We can see from the below graphic that their decision to expand its operations in the mid 90s to the UK has been extremely successful with 68% of their turnover coming from the UK. Grafton must now look to the UK with a population of 61 million versus Ireland 4. 2 million as their primary source for turnover and opportunity. [pic] Turnover breakdown Ireland Merchanting |370,167 |19% | |DIY Retailing |247,784 |12% | |Manufacturing |19,891 |1% | |Total |637,842 |32% | In the UK their operation consists mainly of b uilders and plumbers merchanting. THE MARKET ATTRACTIVENESS – BUSINESS POSITION MATRIX (GE and McKinsey Company Model) |HIGH MARKET ATTRACTIVENESS |MEDIUM MARKET ATTRACTIVENESS |LOW MARKET ATTRACTIVENESS | |HIGH BUSINESS | | | | |POSITION | | | | |MEDIUM BUSINESS | | | | |POSITION | | | | |LOW BUSINESS POSITION| | | | Invest Grow = Green Selective Investment = Yellow Harvest/Divest = Red The G. E. Matrix is an extremely useful tool to assist an organisation in exploring its Business Position based on its competitive position and the attractiveness of the markets under the organisation’s consideration Opportunities identified †¢ Demographics – In Ireland 1. 5 million are under the age of 24 and in the UK roughly 15 million are under the age of 30. These people will require a home over the next 5 – 10 yrs and therefore there will be a demand for housing and renovations to suit individual tastes. †¢ Worldwide government energy initiatives – consumers are encouraged to buy more energy efficient products. †¢ Cost reduction – with demand in decline it important that Grafton mange their costs, ex. Supplier costs, staffing, acquisitions etc. Competitors – independents are finding the financial strain to difficult and are been forced to close their operations. Economic recovery will see Grafton best placed in the market. †¢ Markets – economists both here and abroad are saying there is a bottoming out of the recession. This should bring about a stable market place. †¢ Debtors – if debtors are managed tightly it can have a significant effect on cash flow and bad debts can be reduced to a minimum. †¢ Credit – if debtors aren’t paying on time then Grafton need to look at extending credit terms with their suppliers. We think this very possible as the power is very much with Grafton and not the suppliers. Threats identified We believe the biggest threat to Grafton Group is the level of spending available for construction related projects. The demand for building materials continues to fall in Ireland and signs of improvement are slowly beginning to show in the UK. â€Å"The construction industry has now declined for the 34th month in a row, but the rate of contraction is slowing, according to the latest Ulster Bank Purchasing Managers' Index. † â€Å"Though it's great to see the UK construction sector turn the corner after two years of relentless contraction, it's still very early days,† said David Noble, chief executive officer at the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply. There is now a reliance on the public sector for new work and if they don’t provide the funding for new projects then construction suppliers could be in for a difficult few years. Private investment is very unlikely in the current environment with consumer confidence very low and economic conditions unstable. Financial Information Analysis 2009 2008 Revenueâ‚ ¬1. 98bn â‚ ¬2. 67bn Adjusted operating profitâ‚ ¬26. 2m â‚ ¬118. 6m Operating profit per income statement â‚ ¬4. 9m â‚ ¬99. 2m Profit before tax â‚ ¬13. 6m â‚ ¬64. 1m Free cash flow 171m â‚ ¬212m EBITDA â‚ ¬74. 1m â‚ ¬172. 9m Adjusted earnings per share5. 4c 32. 2c Basic earnings per share 5. 8c 25. 1c Dividend/share purchase 5. 0c 15. 0c Net debt â‚ ¬322m â‚ ¬435m Gearing 35% 50% Analysis of Financial Reports The following is an analysis of the financial reports of Grafton Group plc. We will try to illustrate the current financial situation the group is in compared to previous years and also attempt to analysis the outlook for the future. Grafton’s presence in the construction and raw materials market means they have been very much affected by the economic downturn, in particular the significant slowdown in the construction market and the housing market in both the UK and Ireland. I will use liquidity, profitability, debt and other ratios deemed appropriate as tools to help analyse and diagnose the financial health of the group. I will use a year on year comparison in order to determine the direction in which the group is going and identify any trends. Liquidity Ratios Current Ratio (current assets : current liabilities) 20082009 920,482: â‚ ¬601,987â‚ ¬891,364 : â‚ ¬550,793 1. 53: 11. 62:1 Acid Test Ratio (Current assets less stock : current liabilities) 20082009 â‚ ¬920482 -â‚ ¬331124 : â‚ ¬601987â‚ ¬891364-â‚ ¬265748 : â‚ ¬550 793 1 : 0. 981. 14 : 1 Cash at Bank and Short term deposits (at end of year) 20082009 â‚ ¬301,984â‚ ¬224,834 Profitability Ratios Net Profit Margin (â‚ ¬000’s) 20082009 â‚ ¬64116 / â‚ ¬2672984â‚ ¬13580 / 1979766 2. 4%0. 68% Net Profit Margin per Segment Merchanting 20082009 â‚ ¬2284,484 / â‚ ¬121,921â‚ ¬1686,933 / â‚ ¬39305 5. 33 %2. 33 % Retailing 20082009 â‚ ¬303,071 / â‚ ¬11,790â‚ ¬247,784 / â‚ ¬3274 3. 89 %1. 3 % Manufacturing 20082009 â‚ ¬95621 / (â‚ ¬3159)â‚ ¬50985 / (â‚ ¬5060) -3. 3%-9. 9% Earnings per share (EPS) 20082009 32. 2c5. 4c Gearing 20082009 50%35% New borrowings v old borrowings 20082009 â‚ ¬91. 944 : â‚ ¬579,333â‚ ¬73679 : â‚ ¬536789 1 : 6. 31 : 7. 29 Short term v Long Term finance 20082009 â‚ ¬119,874 : â‚ ¬579,332 â‚ ¬103174 : â‚ ¬536,789 1 : 4. 831 : 5. 2 Analysis: Liquidity: The group has improved its current ratio year on year from 2008 to 2009, this is mainly due to a decrease in current liabilities. This is an encouraging trend for the group. The acid test ratio also shows improvement from 2008 to 2009, this is both a reflection of the improved current ratio and also the work done to try and reduce inventory holding, and reduce cash flow tied up therein and other associated costs. Cash flow was enhanced greatly by tighter management of inventory, debtors, disposal of assets (sale of freehold land, exhibiting the importance of having a strong portfolio of assets) The cash at bank and on short term deposit has been increased year on year from 2008 to 2009 by approximately 34% this is quite encouraging especially in the current environment (and not due to borrowings), as the adage goes â€Å"profit is food, cash is oxygen†. It is fair to say the group has slightly improved its liquidity situation and is more able to meet its outgoings as they fall due. Against the economic backdrop it is quite a good performance and evidence the group are handling the downturn well in a strategic sense. Profitability: Profitability is the biggest challenge facing Grafton due to the economic downturn and slowdown in the construction and housing markets. Net profit fell dramatically from 2008 to 2009 from â‚ ¬64 million to â‚ ¬13. 5 million, this was quite dramatic. Despite being worrying it was not unexpected, with the focus for the year on debt and cost reduction (and reducing capital expenditure and working capital). Merchanting, Retailing and Manufacturing all dropped considerably in profit terms. Margins were also decreased across all operations. Merchanting still remains the highest source of revenue for Grafton (%85 of group turnover in 2008 and 2009, suggesting strong competencies here). The loss in manufacturing outweighs the profit made in retailing, it is the profit made in the merchanting division that the real profit pool for Grafton. (divesting in manufacturing division may need to be considered, bar where synergies exist with other divisions, i. e. mortar manufacturing) As a result earnings per share have fallen dramatically from 32. 2c to 5. 4c, Debt: Through measures taken during the year to reduce gearing, Grafton were able to reduce an already modest gearing of 41 % in 2008 to 35 % in 2009. This is an excellent achievement in the circumstances (and exhibits a strong leadership in Strategic choices, direction, and fit). The net debt was reduced by â‚ ¬113. 1 from â‚ ¬435. 6 million in 2008 to â‚ ¬322. 5million in 2009. The groups current bank facilities are subject to a minimum net assets requirement (â‚ ¬301,984 cash at bank end2009, up from â‚ ¬224,834 end 2008, leaving the Group in a strong cash position). Return on Investment: Return on investment is down considerably from 2008 to 2009 10. 12% to 2. 19%, as profits dipped quite considerably resulting in the dramatic slump. Again this is worrying but not unexpected as the Group were attempting rationalization and consolidation (strong market share results exhibit some success in this regard) Borrowings: The ratio of new to old finance borrowings and ratio of short term to long term finance borrowing both improve year on year (1:6. 3 to 1:7. 29 and 1:4. 83 to 1:5. 2 respectively). Again this shows strong evidence of reducing debt and decreased borrowing. It is fair to say that Grafton is currently In a very challenging operating environment with the downturn In markets seriously affecting their profitability, dividends, and returns. But the Group finds themselves in an improved liquidity position, as well as considerably reducing their gearing, they also greatly increased their cash at bank negating greatly problems with accessing credit. Share Price Irish Stock Exchange Date: 29/04/2010 | Currency: EUR | Code: GRF_u. I |Current Price |3. 52 |Day High |3. 55 |Bid |3. 50 | |Last Closing Price |3. 50 |Day Low |3. 47 |Ask |3. 4 | |Change |0. 02 |Day Open |3. 47 |Year High |3. 59 | |   |   |Volume |28,045 |Year Low |2. 30 | Source http:investor/graftongroupplc. com The latest share price info as at 29/4/10 is encouraging as it shows strong recovery from a year low of 2. 30 to 3. 52 (a year high of 3. 59 has been achieved. The highest share price achieved was nearly 23 in early 2007 which illustrates the decline in the industry, and p uts the company’s current performance into context. The Corporate information. om Wright quality ratings rates Grafton’s investment quality as BBD0 which translates as: Liquidity:Excellent Financial Strength:Excellent Profitability:Fair Growth:0 Source www. corporateinformation. com Outlook for the Future The UK economy has moved out of recession in late 2009 which is encouraging news for Grafton as 68% of its turnover comes from this source. The amount of new house sales and builds are on the increase from a very low level starting which is very encouraging as the merchanting division is Grafton’s real profit pool. The Merchanting market has remained structurally sound despite the downturn and can expect a growth rate above normal trends that Grafton are well positioned to take advantage of. The Irish economy remains in recession but is expected to return to growth by the middle of the year boosted by global growth and improved export conditions. A weak employment situation, low consumer confidence and tight credit conditions make the market conditions in Ireland even more challenging, coupled with the massive drop in new house builds as housing over supply is still a problem. Further rationalisation measures and/or closures in the Irish operations should be considered. Group turnover stabilised from H1 2009 to H2 2009 which is encouraging. The cost reductions and integration benefits in the Merchanting divisions improved profitability in H2 2009. The rationalisation achieved and the increased activity expected form the UK new Housing market means that Grafton are well placed to take advantage of the recovering markets this year. Rationalisation measures: †¢ Employee base reduced in both Ireland and UK †¢ Cost reduction initiatives progressed with significant results †¢ 18 locations consolidated or closed and 10 new locations added †¢ Credit terms from suppliers renegotiated †¢ Improved inventory management †¢ Debtors managed tightly with significant cash generation †¢ Costs rationalized by â‚ ¬80 million in 2009 Plans for 2010: †¢ Further rationalisation costs will be incurred in 2010 Wider product range yielding margin growth †¢ Emphasis on overhead control and working capital management †¢ Attempt to obtain full benefits of integration Opportunities 2010: †¢ Reduced cost base †¢ Market share gains †¢ Competitors failing †¢ Irish Construction close to b ottoming out †¢ Signs of recovery in markets †¢ Positive Demographics †¢ Government Renewable energy initiatives Group Strengths †¢ Highly cash generative streamlined businesses †¢ Significant cash deposits ensures liquidity †¢ No P Banking Covenants -protection from exchange fluctuations now in banking agreements †¢ Strong balance sheet –modest gearing 35% †¢ No material refinancing required before 2011 68% of turnover in UK (increased mortgage lending, & housing sector activity in UK) †¢ Prominent market positions in the UK and Ireland –market share circa 10% and 20% respectively (satisfactory market share performance) †¢ Motivated management teams †¢ Proven strategic record, past experience of managing down cycles †¢ Spread risk †¢ Economies of scope amongst SBU’s †¢ Synergies across SBU’s †¢ Vertical integration achieving efficiencies in merchanting division †¢ Benefits de rived from lower cost base, integration, scale related and Procurement efficiencies †¢ Trading stabilised in second half of 2009 †¢ Trading outlook beginning to improve following period of significant uncertainty †¢ Tight financial control across group Weaknesses †¢ Poor performance in Ireland operations †¢ General economic downturn †¢ Housing market collapse †¢ Sharp Industry downturn Slowdown in Irish construction & housing industry (brought group turnover down 26% to 1. 98bn †¢ Very slow new housing Market in Ireland †¢ Consumer confidence in Ireland hitting retail sales †¢ Continued contraction expected in Irish economy †¢ Manufacturing operations making a loss †¢ Over reliance on Merchanting operations Strategic Capability â€Å"The ability to perform at the level required to survive and prosper. It is underpinned by the resources and competences of the organisation† Johnson, Scholes & Whittington It is clear that Grafton have the threshold competences to meet customer’s minimum requirements, and also the threshold competences to provide the same as they continue to exist (and are in a decent position to go forward). But what are Grafton’s core competencies, (activities and processes that are difficult for competition to imitate), what are their unique resources (difficult for competition to imitate or obtain). And what are the critical success factors for Grafton’s customers (the product features especially valued by customers and therefore the company must excel at). As 85% of Grafton’s turnover comes from their merchanting division this is where we will focus. Some of Grafton’s Brands, Sbu’s and subsidiaries in Merchanting include: Ireland: Heiton Buckley Chadwicks Cork Builders providers Telfords Heiton steel UK: Buildbase Jackson Building Centres Macnaughton Blair Selco Builders Warehouses Plumbase (plumbing) CPI Euromix (mortar) Critical Success factors for customers (a sample of but not limited to): Quality service and products Reliable products services Speed of service National Distribution Online ordering / catalogue. Product knowledge and advice available Simple pricing Self service capabilities â€Å"One stop shop† capabilities Wide selection / availability of products hire services Prompt & accurate delivery of products/services Strong partnership team working capabilities Trade deals/initiatives (bulk buying, relationship development) Unique resources (a sample of but not limited to): Wide network of branches Vertically integrated operations Very experienced management team Backed by strong corporate parent Financial resources (over 300 million in cash) Experience of managing previous downturns Strong Brand equity, profile and Goodwill Ability to leverage position as largest mortar manufacturer National Distribution Network (Civil & Lintels) Core Competences (a sample of but not limited to): Corporate parenting Synergy managing Proven vertical integration abilities Cross SBU linkages Co-ordination of multiple and diverse activities Excellent Financial management First class customer service Mortar manufacturing (no 1 in market) Strong Management at SBU level Strong Value chain Strong Value network Strategic Marketing Autonomy at SBU level Market Development Product development and category management National and local distribution competences The above are some examples of the critical success factors Grafton Group need to excel at for customers, and some of the unique resources and core competences that help them to meet those CSF’s. By building those resources and capabilities that help Grafton deliver value for its customers and help obtain competitive advantage. Corporate Governance What is Corporate Governance? â€Å"Corporate governance is concerned with holding the balance between economic and social goals and between individual and communal goals. The governance framework is there to encourage the efficient use of resources and equally to require accountability for the stewardship of those resources. The aim is to align as nearly as possible the interests of individuals, corporations and society. † (Sir Adrian Cadbury, UK, Commission Report: Corporate Governance 1992) Ireland’s recent history of corporate governance has been highlighted with the governments bank NAMA, National Asset Management Agency. Builders, bankers and the senior public servants who failed to regulate these sectors are perceived to be getting off scot-free from the crisis they caused. â€Å"Sean Barrett – Irish Times 2nd September 2009 / Page 14 Brian Lenihan has taken action that is costing taxpayers billions of euro that would have not have be en required if Corporate Governance and common sense regulation was adhered to. The bank regulators, a supposed independent body, did not adhere to procedures and turned a â€Å"blind eye† to what was practiced over the last 20 years. â€Å"The state ownership policy should fully recognise the state-owned enterprises’ responsibilities towards stakeholders and request that they report on their relations with stakeholders. Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises, Page 37 (2005) Making the right decisions with all the information without compromising the integrity of the organisation. [pic] Corporate Cartoons, Grinning Plannet Grafton Group’s Compliance with the Combined Code The Board is committed to maintaining high standards of Corporate Governance. The Board is accountable to the Company’s shareholders and this statement describes how it applies the principles of good governance set out in the 2006 FRC Combined Code on Corporate Go vernance which is appended to the Listing Rules of the Irish and London Stock Exchanges. The Board – who reports to whom? The Board of Directors is made up of nine members at 31 December 2008 comprising the Executive Chairman, three other executive Directors and five non-executive Directors. Mr. Anthony Collins, Deputy Chairman, is Senior Independent Director. The Board believes that it has the skills, knowledge and experience required by the scale, geographic spread and complexity of the Group’s operations. The Board routinely meets seven times a year and additionally as required by time critical business needs. There is also contact with the Board between meetings as required in order to progress the Group’s business. The Board takes the major decisions while allowing management sufficient scope to run the business within a centralised reporting framework. The Board has a formal schedule of matters specifically reserved for its decision. This covers the key areas of the Group’s business including financial statements, budgets, acquisitions, major items of capital expenditure and the strategic development of the Group. The Board’s responsibilities also include ensuring that appropriate management, development and succession plans are in place; reviewing the environmental and health and safety performance of the Group; approving the appointment of Directors and the Company Secretary; approving policies relating to Directors’ remuneration and severance and ensuring that satisfactory dialogue takes place with shareholders. The Directors have access to the advice and services of the Company Secretary who is responsible for advising the Board through the Chairman on governance matters. The Company’s Articles of Association and Schedule of Matters reserved for the Board for decision provide that the appointment or removal of the Company Secretary is a matter for the full Board. Directors have full and timely access to all relevant information in a form appropriate to enable them to discharge their duties. Reports and papers are circulated to Directors in preparation for Board and committee meetings. The non-executive Directors, together with the executive Directors, also receive monthly management accounts, various reports and other information to enable them to review the performance of the Group on an ongoing basis. The Board continues to hold the view that there are compelling commercial benefits to the Group and its shareholders in combining the roles of Chairman and Chief Executive and the holding of the combined roles by Mr. Michael Chadwick. The combination of the roles is balanced from a governance point of view by the strong input of the five independent non-executive Directors on the Board and the Board’s committee structure. Directors’ Independence and Board Balance It is Board policy that the Board should include a balance of executive and non-executive Directors such that no individual or small group of individuals can dominate the Board’s decision making. Five non-executive Directors, Mr. Anthony E. Collins, Ms. Gillian Bowler, Mr. Richard W. Jewson, Mr. Roderick Ryan and Mr. Peter S. Wood are considered by the Board to be independent of management and free from any relationship which could materially interfere with the exercise of their independent judgement. The Board has therefore determined all five Directors to be independent. Mr. Collins was appointed to the Board in 1988 and both Ms. Bowler and Mr. Jewson were appointed to the Board in 1995. The length of their service on the Board exceeds nine years and the 2006 FRC Combined Code provides that an explanation be made to shareholders concerning their continued independence. The Board considers that the integrity and independence of these Directors is beyond doubt. All three Directors are financially independent of the Company and have other significant commercial and professional commitments. The Company’s Articles of Association provide that one third of the Directors retire by rotation each year and that each Director seek re-election at the Annual General Meeting every three years. New Directors are subject to election by shareholders at the next Annual General Meeting following their appointment. It is Board Policy that non-executive Directors are normally appointed for an initial period of three years, which is then reviewed. It is also Board Policy that a non-executive Director who has served on the Board for more than nine years will retire annually and will offer him/ her for re-election in any case where it is proposed to exceed nine years. The overall composition and balance of the Board is kept under review. To allow corporate governance to drop in standards allows too many possible problems arise. Directors making short term decisions for their own benefit cannot be tolerated and without strong non-Executive Directors organisations have suffered. E. g. Enron, Independent News and Media. Performance of the Board Grafton Group’s long standing non Executive Directors have been re-elected at many AGMs which proves the confidence of their value to shareholders. At the beginning of the year their share price of building up to their financial report for 2010. When we were given Grafton Group as our project the share price was â‚ ¬2. 70, week of April 12 it is trading at â‚ ¬3. 40/share, an increase of 25%. Their board are doing a good job and have processes in place that do not allow any maverick activities. They tick all the boxes of operating independently of management. Insider dealing is not evident, â€Å"interlocking† does not exist similar to Jim Flavin, member of both Fyffes and DCC. The CEO of Woodies and Atlantic Homecare is Ray Coleman. Some would argue the same CEO of both could lead to conflict but as both have different strategies it make business sense for this to be the case. Corporate Social Responsibility – CSR and Ethics â€Å"The Grafton Group recognises the importance of conducting its business in a socially responsible manner. This is demonstrated in the way we deal with our employees, customers, suppliers and the communities in which we do business. The Group considers that corporate social responsibility is an integral element of good business management. Grafton Group Website â€Å"Business only contributes fully to a society if it is efficient, profitable and socially responsible† – Cannon (1992, p. 33) â€Å"Few trends would so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their shareholders as they possibly can†- Milton Friedman (1962) Grafton Group’s CSR is centred on the following areas. ? The Environment – Reduction of waste that impacts on environment, affiliation to Irish and UK environmental specialists. e. g. Biffpack in UK ? Health and Safety – Adherence to best practice for employees, customers and visitors to their stores Human Resources – Acknowledge the importance of employees to achieve success, reward them accordingly and become number one choice of employment in their field ? Community – Recognise the responsibility to the communities in which they are located, support local charities e. g. donated tools and equipment to Goal following Haiti earthquake in 2009 Grafton Group, we feel, is what all corporations do – tick the box of CSR! Very few Financial Reports had any reference to CSR until l ast 10-20 years. To make them stand out on CSR issues as Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream or The Body Shop do, they would have to incorporate it into their overall business strategy. Would this give them a competitive advantage over their business rival? Would CSR promotion become part of their strategy? Our view is that a company in the industry it serves will be dictated by their consumers as to how important CSR really is. In Grafton Group’s case this will not happen. Their stance on CSR is Laissez Faire to Enlightened Self-Interest. The emphasis is mainly on their shareholder short term orientation i. e. highest profit as possible and adhere to the law at all time. They may worry about how they are perceived such as pension fund investors. They are definitely not a Shaper of Society where they influence society in a better light and not always driven by super profit making e. g. Paul Newman food investment and Niall Mellon Trust. Shareholder and Stakeholder Expectations and Influences The difference in both shareholder and stakeholder expectations is determined largely on the performance of The Grafton Group, history of performance, market in which it trades, promises made and promises previously delivered on. Since they began trading Grafton Group has consistently made profit and grown which has given shareholders a return on their investment. The collapse of the building trade in Ireland and UK has meant a large fall in share price but due to the market’s performance no shareholder could have expected anything else. Bob de Wit and Ron Meyer, 1998 describes the value perspective of shareholders and stakeholders and how, if any, interlink. In summary the difference is that shareholder’s perspectives have an ends, i. e. make a profit and value of company increases. Stakeholder’s perspectives have and ends and a means where profit is a want but not at the cost of something that would be considered unethical. The power that a board such as Grafton Group must withstand can determine whether shareholders or stakeholders have more of an influence on decisions than is healthy. â€Å"Power is the ability of individuals or groups to persuade, induce, or coerce others into following certain course of action. † Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, P160 If an organisation succumbs to the power of an outside influence their control is diluted. Some people within organisations, by right, have more power than other, e. g. the formal power a CEO enjoys. ? Legitimate Power: Power of the position, CEO ? Reward Power: e. g. Manager deciding who gets overtime Coercive Power: who decides on who gets the bad jobs to perform e. g. â€Å" if you do not do this you will not get the other†, bullying style ? Expert Power: This is more a personal power that a knowledge based professional may exercise ? Referent Power: This explains the influential power someone can exhort through charisma or personality traits e. g. Richard Branson of Virgin Group Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, P161 It is interesting that the brand power Woodies and Atlantic Homecare enjoy in the home DIY market sector is a symbol of power for both shareholders and stakeholders. Stakeholder mapping is an interesting way to determine the power and level of interest certain groups have in organisations. | |LEVEL of INTEREST | |LOW HIGH | | |A |B | |LOW |Minimal Effort |Keep Informed | |POWER | | | |HIGH | | | | |C |D | | |Keep Satisfied |Key Players | The level of interest within Grafton group lies mainly with employees, shareholders and Board of Directors. The Key Players are the Board of Directors and Shareholders as they have a vote as to who by and how the company is run. Stakeholders such as government are low in power and would have a low level of interest. Some of the manufacturing Grafton Group are involved in may require them to be socially responsible to the community in which they are located and must keep them informed of any changes that may affect them. They would have a high level of interest but a low form of power. Culture of Organisations and Grafton Group The culture of organisations is largely shaped by the founding fathers. For example Lever Bros. Ltd has a long tradition with social responsibility before it was known as CSR. William Heskeath Lever first established Port Sunlight village to improve the living conditions and well-being of employees of the Port Sunlight Soap factory. This created a culture of CSR which is maintained today. Similarly with the Grafton Group, CEO Michael Chadwick, has been with Grafton Group since he was 23 years of age. The culture of the company is largely a result of his business philosophies and strategies. We asked for an interview but we were declined, we asked for a list of questions to be answered if we sent them to his secretary and this too was declined so it is difficult to get an insight into his business philosophy. The Grafton Group do not apologise for being shareholder oriented in terms of profits in the form of dividends or company value increase. They have not allowed themselves be affected by the current economic climate and do not show any forms of strategic drift. Strategic drift is where organisational strategies develop incrementally on the basis of cultural influences and do not keep up pace with the changing environment in which they trade. Grafton have reacted to the downturn of their business and do not wait for changes to be made as reactionary. Henry Mintzberg has noted that â€Å"strategy is a pattern in a stream of decisions†. If decisions are made as a reaction to their environment it can be too late. Grafton Group’s Board of Directors is long serving and successful, due to this fact they have created a culture of expectancy for shareholders and for themselves to delivery. This behaviour filters through to line managers and front of customer staff (boundary spanners) to achieve success. The success of the past and alignment to environmental change has created a winning culture. They have created a theme around their strategy and have not deviated from it. They operate in Ireland and the UK in markets they understand and do not expand outside these industries. This helps succession planning for managers moving from business units to gain more experience keeping within the core competencies of the Grafton Group. Strategic Direction and Corporate level strategy Strategic Vision is a detailed future oriented vision of the strategic direction that a company is planning to take going forward, that takes into account the competences and capabilities that it both has and needs to achieve to achieve its vision. â€Å" A strategic vision is a road-map of a company’s future, providing specifics about technology and customer focus, the geographic and product markets to be pursued, the capabilities it plans to develop, and the kind of company that management is trying to create† (Thompson & Strickland 2001, P6). According to Johnson, Scholes and Whittington 2008, the â€Å"Exploring Corporate strategy model is made up of the corporate culture, business ethics, CSR, the strategic position, the strategy in action and strategic choices. Strategic choices encompasses some of the following areas of an organisation †¢ Business Level Choices †¢ International Choices †¢ Evaluation †¢ Innovation †¢ Corporate Level Choices Corporate Parent As we know the Grafton group encompasses many different brands, which is their cash generating and highly profitable business units. Throughout Grafton’s history they have managed to acquire many related business all in an effort to strengthen the group as a whole. Through this vertical integration Grafton have offered themselves many advantages and increased their competitive strength. Grafton’s strategic development has continued to grow with major acquisitions made both in Ireland and the UK such as 1990 – Macnaughton Blair, a Belfast based builders merchant †¢ 1994 – Bradleys and Lumley & Hunt plumbing and heating †¢ 1995 – P. P. S Mortars, silo plant based in Glasgow †¢ 1998 – British Dredging. Grafton were the first ever Irish company to acquire a British plc †¢ 2000-2002 – A total of 39 acquisitions were made, building the groups strength further in Ireland and the UK †¢ 2003 – Jackson Building Centres in England adding 18 branches and plumbline, Scotland’s largest independent plumber merchants. †¢ 2004 – The Grafton group officially makes its 100th acquisition †¢ 2005 – Grafton acquires Heiton Buckley. (www. graftonplc. com) As we can see here, Grafton has had a very strong acquisition based strategy to vertically integrate with all the suppliers and related business in an effort to grow in strength and position and to make themselves a real presence in the Irish and UK markets. However it’s all well and good to acquire all these other business, but what is the point in having them unless you can use them to your advantage. This is Grafton’s role and responsibility as the now corporate parent to all these acquisitions, to turn them from simply business units into strategic business units that will benefit the group as a whole and strategically fit. The corporate parent as a Synergy manager A corporate Parent identifying factors are a large corporate office with a main emphasis on facilitating cooperation across its SBU’s with a continued focus on cost reduction, scale related benefits, closer integration, branch consolidation and brand synergies. As a corporate parent to its SBU’s, Grafton group seeks to enhance value across its business units by managing and instilling synergies across its business units. The backward, forward and horizontal integration of its suppliers of raw materials and competitors has afforded Grafton a strategic advantage. In order to promote synergy management across its strategic business units, Grafton group tries to create the synergies by thinking holistically and viewing the SBU’s as interlinked with a common purpose between such as; ? DIY retailing – Woodies and Atlantic Homecare ? Manufacturing – CPI Euromix, MFP and Wright windows Merchanting – Heiton Buckley, Chadwicks, Cork builders providers and Telford The main point to remember is that the business units should benefit from the corporate parent by the co-operation between them that’s afforded by the corporate centre Grafton Group. A more streamlined UK merchanting business incorporating the Buildbase, Plumbase and Jacksons brands and specialist merchanting businesses is enabling a deeper integration of the overall business. The new structure will result in significant synergies beyond the rationalisation measures already implemented. These arise particularly in procurement, accounting and other central services. A single management team is now in place for all brands operating from a single head office location. Costs continue to be more aligned with sales and the management team works closely with the Group Chief Operating Officer in driving cost reduction, branch consolidation and brand synergies while leveraging scale-related benefits. With regard to synergy management the following questions should be answered: ? Is there common purpose between business units – YES ? Does parent try to achieve co-operation between business units – YES ? Provide central services and resources – YES In 2009 one of Grafton’s management priorities was â€Å"To unlock latent synergies in downturn†. (Grafton Financial results 2009 PP) Strategic Drift This is the tendency for strategies to develop incrementally on the basis of historical and cultural influences but fail to keep pace with a changing environment. (Liam Bolger, lecture notes 2009). Strategic drift is certainly not something that Grafton can be accused of as they react quickly to the economical downturn to keep themselves competitive, especially within the domestic market of Ireland where there core strength lies. Grafton Group has reduced their overall debt from â‚ ¬584 million (2005) down to â‚ ¬322 million (2009). The majority of this occurred in the last 2 years with a reduction of â‚ ¬228 million or 41% (Grafton Group plc final results 2009) Employee base reduced in both Ireland and UK Cost reduction initiatives progressed with significant results †¢ 18 locations consolidated /closed and 10 new locations added †¢ Credit terms from suppliers renegotiated †¢ Debtors managed tightly with significant cash generation †¢ Costs rationalised in 2009 by â‚ ¬80 million Further plans to manage through 2010: †¢ Further rationalisation costs to be incur