Vertical analysis free essay sample

A method of financial statement analysis in which each entry for each of the three major categories of accounts (assets, liabilities and equities) in a balance sheet is represented as a proportion of the total account. The main advantage of vertical analysis is that the balance sheets of businesses of all sizes can easily be compared. It also makes it easy to see relative annual changes within one business. For example, suppose XYZ Corp. has three assets: cash and cash equivalents (worth $3 million), inventory (worth $8 million), and property (worth $9 million). If vertical analysis is used, the asset column will look like: Cash and cash equivalents: 15% Inventory: 40% Property: 45% This method of analysis contrasts with horizontal analysis, which uses one years worth of entries as a baseline while every other year represents differences in terms of changes to that baseline. Vertical Analysis of Financial Statements Vertical analysis of financial statements is a technique in which the relationship between items in the same financial is identified by expressing all amounts as a percentage a total amount. We will write a custom essay sample on Vertical analysis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This method compares different items to a single item in the same accounting period. The financial statements prepared by using this technique are known as common size financial statements. This analysis is performed on the income statement as well as the balance sheet. Balance Sheet: When applying this method on the balance sheet, all of the three major categories accounts (i. e. assets, liabilities, and equity) are compared to the total assets. All of the balance sheet items are presented as a proportion of the total assets. These percentages are shown along with the absolute currency amounts. For example, suppose a company has three assets; cash worth $4 million, inventory worth $7 million and fixed assets worth $9million. The vertical analysis method will show these as Cash: 20% Inventories: 35% Fixed Assets: 45% Income Statement: And when applying this technique to the income statement, each of the expense is compared to the total sales revenue. The expenses are presented as a proportion of total sales revenue along with the absolute amounts. For example, if the sales revenue of a company is $10 million and the cost of sales is $6 million, the cost of sales will be reported as 60% of the sales revenue. The main advantage of using vertical analysis of financial statements is that income statements and balance sheets of companies of different sizes can be compared. Comparison of absolute amounts of companies of different sizes does not provide useful conclusions about their financial performance and financial position. Usually the vertical analysis is performed for a single accounting period to see the relative proportions of different account balances. But it is also useful to perform vertical analysis over a number of periods to identify changes in accounts over time. It can help to identify unusual changes in the behavior of accounts. For example, if the cost of sales has been consistently 45% in the history, then a sudden new percentage of 60% should catch the attention of analysts. Reasons behind this change should be investigated and then measures should be taken to bring this percentage back to its normal level. SECTION 3: VERTICAL ANALYSIS (COMMON-SIZE ANALYSIS) Vertical/Common-size analysis expresses items in a financial statement as a percentage of a single or base amount. This allows analysis of two or more corporations of varying sizes. The calculations used to determine the answers for the vertical analysis must be included in the appendix. I. For an Income Statement, items are usually expressed as a percentage of revenue. Perform vertical analysis in relation to revenue for the following items in the Income Statement for the current year for each of the two corporations. Current Year Revenue 100% COGS Operating Expense Interest Expense Income Tax Expense Net Income Based on the analysis, how have each of the companies performed relative to the following: †¢ Product or Service Cost Control †¢ Operating Cost Control †¢ Debt Servicing †¢ Tax burden †¢ Profitability II. For a Balance Sheet, vertical analysis is performed by expressing amounts as a percentage of total assets. These percentages are then compared to percentages calculated for another corporation (inter-company analysis). Perform common-size analysis of the following for each of the two corporations. Current Year Current Assets Property, Plant and Equipment All Other Assets TOTAL ASSETS 100% Current Liabilities Total Liabilities Stockholder’s Equity Vertical Analysis of the Income Statement The most common use of vertical analysis in an income statement is to show the various expense line items as a percentage of sales, though it can also be used to show the percentage of different revenue line items that make up total sales. An example of vertical analysis for an income statement is shown in the far right column of the following condensed income statement: $ Totals Percent Sales $1,000,000 100% Cost of goods sold 400,000 40% Gross margin 600,000 60% Salaries and wages 250,000 25% Office rent 50,000 5% Supplies 10,000 1% Utilities 20,000 2% Other expenses 90,000 9% Total expenses 420,000 42% Net profit 180,000 18% The information provided by this income statement format is useful not only for spotting spikes in expenses, but also for determining which expenses are so small that they may not be worthy of much management attention. Vertical Analysis of the Balance Sheet The central issue when creating a vertical analysis of a balance sheet is what to use as the denominator in the percentage calculation. The usual denominator is the asset total, but you can also use the total of all liabilities when calculating all liability line item percentages, and the total of all equity accounts when calculating all equity line item percentages. An example of vertical analysis for a balance sheet is shown in the far right column of the following condensed balance sheet: $ Totals Percent Cash $100,000 10% Accounts receivable 350,000 35% Inventory 150,000 15% Total current assets 600,000 60% Fixed assets 400,000 40% Total assets $1,000,000 100% Accounts payable $180,000 18% Accrued liabilities 70,000 7% Total current liabilities 250,000 25% Notes payable 300,000 30% Total liabilities 550,000 55% Capital stock 200,000 20% Retained earnings 250,000 25% Total equity 450,000 45% Total liabilities and equity $1,000,000 100% The information provided by this balance sheet format is useful for noting changes in a companys investment in working capital and fixed assets over time, which may indicate an altered business model that requires a different amount of ongoing funding.

ARAMARKs Database Marketing Project

ARAMARKs Database Marketing Project Introduction Marketing is a vital tool for attracting and maintaining new customers. Technically, it refers to â€Å"the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers† (Kotler Keller, 2012, p. 23). Alternatively, it may be argued as encompassing the process through which organizations promote their products and services. These processes may be approached from either direct or indirect marketing.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on ARAMARK’s Database Marketing Project specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Database marketing is one of the direct marketing techniques. It is â€Å"†¦a systematic approach of gathering, consolidating, and processing of consumer data (both for customers and potential customers) that is maintained in a companys database† (Baesens et al, 2002, p.191). The process is aimed at generating communication to customers who are personalized in the attemp t to promote a company’s products (marketing). In database marketing, an enormous emphasis is placed on the significance of data analysis. Often, this step entails deployment of statistical methods to aid in coming up with models for describing behaviors of consumers. From these behaviors, specific promotional techniques are derived to address specific customers’ segments. For accuracy in deriving the model, is it crucial for an organization deploying database marketing to have large data warehouse because â€Å"having a greater amount of data about customers increases the likelihood that a more accurate model can be built† (Baesens et al., 2002, p.195). Essentially, there are two main types of databases for marketing. These are business and customer databases. The focus of this proposal is on customer databases. Therefore, the aim of this proposal is to come up with a database marketing solution for ARAMARK to help the company attract new customers to achieve a higher retention rate of the existing clients. Project Objectives ARAMARK sells its food products to varying markets, which are dominated by consumers with varying buying capabilities. Based on this difference of consumers of the products of ARAMARK, the primary objective of this project is to deploy the data warehouse of the company especially pertaining to the past purchases of consumers in the varying markets. The attempt seeks to derive a marketing model that would result to increasing consumption on these markets by 10 percent besides retaining the existing customers. This framework is ideally a behavioral segmentation model of database marketing. Therefore, in the model, the consumers will be segmented based on â€Å"recency, frequency, and monetary value of the past purchases† (Hughes, 2000, p.63).Advertising Looking for proposal on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More By increasing the consumption of the ARAMARK’s products by 10 percent, it implies that the project proposal has an objective of increasing the profitability of the company. To do this, database house will also be used to provide information on the area where consumers are not satisfied with either the products or the means through which the products are delivered to them (customer service). When this information is analyzed, products can be modified to meet the concerns of the customers. Service delivery can be altered to suit the needs of consumers who are required to attain the 10 percent increase in consumption. Project Description including Database Information This project depends principally on customer databases since they contain the information of people to whom the ARAMARK’s products were sold, when, and how often the persons buy. To acquire information on how often a given customer buys, it is significant to maintain the name and the email contact of the customer. The inform ation is utilized in designing marketing strategies and advertising techniques to capture these particular customer segments. This idea is inspired by the perception, â€Å"selling to an existing customer is far easier and cheaper in comparison to new customers† (Shepard, 1999, p.47). This means that, for the case of ARAMARK, it is easier to target selling again to a customer who has prior experience with ARAMARK’s products in relation to a new customer seeking new food preferences. Once an analysis is conducted on why different customers purchase ARAMARK’s products, the product’s attribute associated with the cited reason for purchasing the food products can be improved. The project capitalizes on this idea in the attempt to deploy the information contained in the customer databases to build a sustained customer loyalty to the ARAMARK’s food products. The database information particularly on the market segments that buy a given food product of ARA MARK together with the respective amounts is significant in helping to attain the target of 10 percent increase in the consumption of ARAMARK’s products in all the market segments.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on ARAMARK’s Database Marketing Project specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The claim holds because, with this information, it is possible to target specific segments with the most precise offers that will accurately hike consumption levels within the segments. Background and Significance ARAMARK has an immense number of consumers. In particular, according to ARAMARK (2012), â€Å"it provides services in nearly every industry including businesses, colleges and universities, healthcare, sports and entertainment, parks and resorts, conference centers, conference centers, cultural attractions, and senior living† (Para 3). Garnering information on the markets produces a mega database, which, w hile well utilized might serve to enormously boost the organization’s marketing efforts. Developing a database marketing strategy based on customer databases is particularly likely to be successful since â€Å"having a greater amount of data about customers increases the likelihood that a more accurate model for database marketing can be built† (Drake Rhonda, 2006, p.317). ARAMARK happens to have a huge number of customers. When ARAMARK implements this project, it will produce a myriad of benefits to the company. Firstly, ARAMARK will develop the capacity to retain its existing customers since the future decisions on diversification of products and strategies for improvement of service delivery will be laid squarely on the needs of a particular group of customers occupying specific market segments. Therefore, in the re-designing of products to meet the emerging needs of the customers, only those things that drive consumption in particular markets will be incorporated. This leads to cutting costs associated with attempts to re-design products in a manner that will not produce any impacts in terms of hiking future demands.Advertising Looking for proposal on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More When products are redesigned to match particular priory known needs of consumers, it also becomes easier to place them in the market because the products are consumer-need oriented. Consequently, ARAMARK would benefit through hiked values generated from the existing pool of customers, as well as in the reduction of costs for serving the customers. Designing of products to meet the needs of the customers based on the analysis of the information contained in customer databases aids incredibly in enhancing customer satisfaction (Rouse, 2007, Para.3). Arguably, customer satisfaction amounts to customer retention and hence maintained profitability of an organization. Additionally, database marketing has the benefit of producing â€Å"effective marketing communications through a more personal approach following the development of new improved products or services† (Shepard, 1999, p.72). Overall, database marketing will benefit ARAMARK through increasing sale levels to both new and old consumers due to reasons attributed to the development of the capacity to identify the concerns of consumers. It will improve timing through the development of cute mechanisms of identification of the consumer needs coupled with a means of placing and positioning the products and or services to yield optimal sales. Sample Database Files The building block of the consumer data files is the general information of the consumers. This information is arranged in the following order: name of the customer, email address, location of the customer, age, preferred ARAMARK’s food products, reason for preference, preferred products of another company that may substitute ARAMARK’s preferred product, reason for the preference of the product, and the number of times that customer consumes the selected ARAMARK’s product in a week. Additionally, a field is also created to garner information on how the customer came to know about the ARAMARK’s product. An example of cu stomer’s general information files is shown below. General customer information file (As many files as the number of consumers of the Company’s products are necessary) From the above generic files, information on the specific elements contained in the file of the general information is developed for all the customers. These files also record the number of customers citing, for instance, the particular substitute product, preferred ARAMARK’s product, and the reason for the preference among other things cited above in the generic file information example. An example of such a file is shown below. File quantifying customers’ preferences The aim of developing the files such as the one exemplified above is to provide a means of quantifying the concerns of the customers about ARAMARK’s products so that effort to market the products can be focused on the specific products, which face the most adverse disadvantages of placement and positioning. Action Pl an: How to accomplish Goals and overcome anticipated Obstacles In any project, goals act as the guide to the desired output of the project under consideration. This means that, without goals, a project lacks direction. The goal of the project discussed here is to deploy database marketing to ensure retention and attraction of new clients for ARAMARK’s food products in the effort to boost the company’s profitability. To achieve this goal, an action plan is necessary coupled with provision of a means of countering the expected obstacles to the accomplishment of the goals (Drake Rhonda, 2006, p.319). The goal of the database marketing in ARAMARK is achieved through a number of ways. Firstly, customer communication channels are created to address personalized customer concerns. These communications are based on information regarding the customers contained in ARAMARK’s customer database. This makes it possible to realize the goal of the project since the communicat ion to customer about the products of the company is based on the customer’s perception about the products. Therefore, customers develop a feeling that what the company is offering in its menus is just what they want. This stands out as the idea of producing to meet market demands as opposed to producing to sale. Apparently, organizations build customer databases to help them enhance customer communications (Rouse, 2007, Para. 1). Another action plans is to create an appended data for the information existing in the ARAMARK customer databases. According to Edward, Leung, and Jonson (2004), it is possible today to append data to any name and address file to learn about the age, income, home value, home ownership, presence of children, length of residence, and about forty other valuable pieces of information about any household† (p.158). This information is utilized to guide strategies for customers’ communication within market segments and sub segments. The append ed consumption behavior and demographic data are then deployed to develop a predictive model, which helps to â€Å"predict accurately, which customers are most likely to defect, as well as those who are most likely to respond to new initiatives† (Edward, Leung, Jonson, 2004, p.159). Coupled with customer communications, appended data is pivotal in hiking customer response rates to advertising and reduction of attrition rates. Implementation of the marketing strategies faces major obstacles especially in matters of determining the right ways to penetrate markets. To overcome this obstacle in this project proposal, penetration analysis is conducted using database analytical software. The attempt is aimed at coming up with precise data on the percentages of sales that ARAMARK has on each market, which is segmented on income level basis and other demographic factors. This way, it is possible to locate the characteristics of the customers who frequently visit particular stores, a reas where a group of stores is located, and the characteristics that unify the entire pool of ARAMARK’s consumers. Consequently, it becomes possible to derive advertising campaigns that target all the consumers of ARAMARK, consumers of a specific regional area, and or consumers of a specific store. In the case of ARAMARK, this can be consumers of the healthcare industry, colleges, and universities amongst others. Cost and Benefit Assessment In the current project, cost benefit analysis is conducted to estimate various monetary values associated with the project. However, in a cost benefit analysis, a major challenge is encountered in that there is a need to express all the costs into a common denominator, for instance, monetary values for this case. A further challenge also comes up since it is necessary to express benefits and costs of the project with particular consideration of the inflation rates of the dollar. In this perspective, arguably, upon successful implementatio n of the database marketing strategy, an increment in sales may be produced. However, in the real sense, when factoring the inflation rates, no gain is realized in terms of profitability. However, it is critical to quantify the anticipated gains in revenues, market gains, and gains associated with customer retention. According to Russell and Labe (1994), an organization may â€Å"build the world’s best and cleanest database, but with no plan in place or proper team in place to maximize the use of the database, it will be good for nothing† (p.7). The concern raised here means that it is necessary to consider labor costs for the implementation of the project. Money is required to hire people who will compile and analyze the data available within the ARAMARK’s databases. Additional costs are encountered, which are associated with the needs to put in place some web communication systems to link the database marketing strategies to the vast pool of ARAMARK’s c ustomers. However, it is expected that these costs will be recovered within a period of two years by the increased sales. Hence, revenues also increase. The 10% increment in the profitability of the company will be achieved from customer retention efficiencies within all markets having sale opportunities, acquisition efficiencies, and convergence of various offline and online marketing initiatives arrived at after an analysis of the customer databases of ARAMARK. These aspects are given a thorough treatment in the section of how to create or improve ARAMARKs customer database to support its marketing efforts. Addressing large number of customers with standardized marketing techniques often leads to a reduction in the profitability of organizations since ineffectiveness of the marketing strategies to win the customers truncates to dwindled sale volumes. Therefore, this project reduces the costs since the innovated marketing techniques have specific areas of concern through the deploy ment of the customer databases depending on the needs of consumers. Such strategies are effective for the specific market segments. The benefit of increased sales through attracting of new customers implies that the company improves its market share in relation to the company competing in the food service sector targeting the market segments that are also targeted by ARAMARK. The following table shows a template that is utilized in conduction a costs benefit analysis for the proposed project. Template for cost Benefit Analysis Cost and benefit analysis for database marketing at ARAMARK No. Item Cost Estimated savings in U.S dollars (benefits) 1. Increase response rate to cross sales by 10% Under the old models Under the database marketing model a-b (when the answer is positive, then the database model is effective) 2. †¦ †¦ †¦ How to create or improve ARAMARK’s customer database to support its marketing efforts In the above section, it has been discussed that the 10 percent increment in the profitability of the ARAMARK is akin to the enhancement of various efficiencies of activities associated with efforts to win new, as well as retaining the existing pool of consumers of food products sold by ARAMARK. In this section, it is found imperative to discuss how the developed ARAMARK’s customer databases will be deployed to support the marketing efforts of the company. In the first place, when the customer data warehouses are ready, they will be deployed to determine acquisition efficiencies. It is imperative that the company negates focusing certain advertising efforts within the areas where they are ineffective. For non-online advertising modes such as consumers’ magazines, leaflets, and others, the data warehouse may provide ample basis for their elimination and or their redesign to meet the needs of the targeted audience. Data for promotion history is critical in helping to build responses in the market segment s, which are identified as having a positive response to the marketing efforts of ARAMARK. This makes it possible to build â€Å"models that utilize promotion history data to help in increasing the response rate after the merge or purge process† (Prinzie Dirk, 2005, p.31). Once the acquisition efficiencies are determined from the data warehouse, the second endeavor is to work on retention efficiency models, which is accomplished by developing and building the myriads of communication models likely to win the loyalty of the consumers of ARAMARK food products. The approach used here is to â€Å"efficiently convert subscribers and improve renewals at each contract to produce a compounding effect in the growth of a subscriber file† (Drake Rhonda, 2006, p.321). In the background section, it is argued that ARAMARK supplies foods products to widen the number of industries whose incomes are valid. Consequently, in deriving the retention efficiencies, price differentiation is significant. Hence, an effort is made to develop a model that explains the price sensitivities of the various consumers per industry basis in the effort to derive the appropriate pricing strategy for each market segment from the ARAMARK’s data warehouses. Other ways of creating and or improving ARAMARKs customer database to support its marketing efforts include developing models for pricing processes, cross-selling opportunities, and staffing efficiencies. The particular model adopted is inspired by the characteristics of consumers in each industry to which ARAMARK offers foods products. From the paradigms of staffing efficiencies, the developed ARAMARK’s database marketing strategies are enhanced by ensuring the staff is able to consolidate data from the vast number of consumers both fast and effectively. Apart from the staff making it possible to have a quick access of data utilized in making the decision on the appropriate marketing strategy for each segment, enhan cement of staffing efficiencies is aimed at ensuring that thorough reports of the success of the database-informed marketing strategies are also available. This step acts as the future inputs of new mechanisms of improving the ways of targeting consumers with changing preferences. Process efficiencies involve data standardization to enhance the efficiency of the data consolidation. The aim is to make sure the available data is appropriate and reflective of the actual concerns of consumers on the ground. With regard to Drake and Rhonda (2006), cross selling opportunities are also critical in the identification of the optimal product stream to maximize the lifetime value of customers in a bid to utilize segmentation and regression models to identify best prospects for the next offer† (p.323). The models serve the purpose of aiding to identify the people who are likely to substitute ARAMARK’s products, with which product, and why. The goal is to utilize the data to enginee r a means of improving the products of the company to meet the emerging needs of the consumers so that the customer communication strategy developed pays attention to the concerns, which are then backed up by actual reflection of the concerns in the products themselves. Conclusion Marketing is a critical component of facilitating and boosting the volumes of sales for companies’ products. This goal is often accomplished either directly or indirectly. In this paper, a project deploying database marketing strategies is proposed. The paper strongly holds that such a project will substantially aid in increasing the profitability levels of the company by an approximated increase of 10%. Additionally, the paper maintains that employing customers’ databases to effect marketing strategies is critical in an organization that has large numbers of consumers. ARAMARK serves a large number of industries. Therefore, it has a large pool of consumers. As a result, as discussed in the p aper, there is a need to have a data store for customers that, once analyzed, can help any organization in its strategizing in terms of which product or service it needs to maintain, discard, and or improve to maintain or rather attract a bigger pool of customers. Reference List ARAMARK. (2012) About ARAMARK. Retrieved from https://www.aramark.com/about-us Baesens, B., Viaene S., Poel, D., Guido, D. (2002). Bayesian Neutral Learning For Repeat Purchase Modeling In Direct Marketing. European Journal of Operational Research, 138(1), 191-211. Drake, P., Rhonda, D. (2006). Demystifying Databases Why and How to Build a Profit Producing Data Warehouse. International Journal of Marketing, 5(3), 317-325. Edward, H., Leung, P., Jonson J. (2004). Web-Based Statistical Application in Visualizing Educational and Marketing Databases. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 29(2), 157-175. Hughes, A. (2000). Strategic Database Marketing: The Master plan for Starting and Managing a Pr ofitable Customer-Based Marketing Program. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Kotler, P., Keller, K. (2012). Marketing Management. New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education Limited. Prinzie, A., Dirk, V. (2005). Constrained Optimization Of Data-Mining Problems To Improve Performance: A Direct Marketing Application. Expert Systems with Applications, 29(3), 630-640. Rouse, M. (2007). Database Marketing. Retrieved from https://searchcustomerexperience.techtarget.com/definition/database-marketing Russell, P., Labe, J. (1994). Database marketing increases prospecting effectiveness at Merrill Lynch. Interfaces, 24(5), 1-12. Shepard, D. (1999).The New Direct Marketing: How to Implement a Profit-Driven Database Marketing Strategy. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

College admission Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

College admission - Essay Example As I watch my ball roll onto the green, I feel like I could do anything. When I play a hole, playing under par, there is no feeling like it in the world. Of course, golf is not always about great feelings. This game has taught me patience. Sometimes, especially on public courses, rude golfers do not let faster players play through. It can be frustrating waiting on a slow golfer. My patience is also tested when I hit the ball into the water, woods, or a bunker. I usually just take the penalty instead of hitting the ball out of the sand or woods. My patience is also used on my fellow friends who golf. Some of them are only casual golfers, so they joke around and drink beer on the course. This can be irritating when I am having a bad day. I really do not like the distraction, but try to be patient and hold my tongue. Another aspect of my golf experience is losing. I have become a graceful loser, but it is hard. I really hate to lose by one or two strokes. When I lose, I replay the game over and over in my head. Generally the next time, I try to improve my game. I find this productive, instead of getting angry and throwing a fit. I like to watch golf tournaments. The masters like Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, and others inspire me to perfect my form. Even though I know that I will never be in their league, I try to learn from them. It is amazing some of the shots that the pros make. I watch the Masters, PGA tour, and recently the Ryder cup like others watch football and wrestling. Golf is also another way for me to get a work out. The physical aspect of the sport makes me feel good. Sometimes with school and my other activities it is hard to get outside and be physical. I like to be active as much as possible. Golf allows this to happen. I think it is important to have a way to relax. Golf allows this to happen. I think I will be a better student, because I have found a way to reduce my stress level.

Business Failure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

Business Failure - Essay Example The following year saw liquidity dry up, businesses lose their orders or defaulting on their payments, and layoffs become widespread. Then, businesses started closing; the larger conglomerates relied upon government bailout money, at the risk of nationalization, but â€Å"too large to fail† was exactly that – critical industries and the economic framework relied upon the survival of these key enterprises (Peters, Shane & Torgerson, 2009). While there were some companies that were saved at all costs – especially at the cost of public money being used to purchase toxic assets – other companies were left to die out because they were not crucial to the coming recovery. Several of these hardest hit are in the retail sales business. And in the United Kingdom, one of these companies that had to close its books for the last time was Woolworths, the high-street retail firm in existence since 1909, and owned by the Woolworths Group plc. This case study shall deal with the phenomenon of business failure, and its occurrence in the UK retail sector. Highlighted will be the case of Woolworths plc, which presents several controversies concerning the circumstances surrounding its closure. The case of Woolworths is one that defies an easy and clear-cut solution; as many serious observers believe that the company should not have been closed down because its two or three core businesses could have been demerged and allowed to operate; apparently, the administrators and regulators felt otherwise, and finalized the group’s demise. A small remnant of Woolies (as it is affectionately called) continues to operate as an online retailer, having been acquired by the Shop Direct Group (Anon, Cabinet Maker, 2009). This study shall examine the case of Woolworths from the point of view of theory, and from the indicators and accounts that comprised the facts of its operations.

Xerox corporation swas analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Xerox corporation swas analysis - Essay Example With new technology and service offerings for office and production environments, including affordable color printing for businesses of any size, Xerox's revenue growth strategy could be aligned around creating new opportunities to expand its share of the $102 billion document market. The transition from offset presses to digital systems would also be a catalyst in improving profit margins for the company without adding new products. If a fraction of the company's revenue is invested in research and development each year, it would be possible for Xerox to create the industry's broadest portfolio of document management technology and services. With the available expertise and experience in the filed of copiers, the company can plan to launch world class new systems in color and black-and-white digital presses, production copier/printers, office multifunction systems and printers. Thus, using the existing expertise in manufacturing copiers, it would become possible to tap new opportunities and take on the digital revolution without any significant investment on the company's part. Xerox Corp's Turnaround Strategy (2004) What Went Wrong, [electronic version] Retrieved 10 February 2008,from icmrindia's website: http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Business%20Strategy2/BSTR121.htm Value-added services including consulting, imaging and content management for businesses small to large. By integrating Xerox's document management services with better technology and improved productivity, work processes could be simplified. Value added-services, which could include consulting, imaging and content management for businesses of any size, would be an additional source of income for the company. Provision of consulting, imaging and content management is a niche area. With the digital revolution growing manifold by the day, this is the right time to exploit the potential of providing such services. Many companies prefer to outsource such jobs to experts in the field; thus, Xerox could be a service provider to such companies. Xerox-Annual Report, (2005) Retrieved 10 February, 2008,from Xerox websites: http://www.xerox.com/Static_HTML/annualreport/2005/truecolors.html http://www.xerox.com/Static_HTML/annualreport/2005/gradient_content.html Xerox's unparalleled innovation in color technology and MFDs With Xerox's expertise of over 60 years in the field of manufacturing copiers, it would be relatively easy to come out with new age color printers and multifunction devices like copier-scanner-printers. There is a growing demand for such copiers in the market. The revenue from the launch of such products is expected to grow by 20 percent on an annualized basis. As the revenue per color page is approximately five times higher than the revenue per black-and-white page, there is a significant opportunity to be tapped in this market. With about 3

Impact of Commercial Paper in the Indian Money Market

Impact of Commercial Paper in the Indian Money Market In todays competitive environment, firms find themselves in a perpetual race to acquire the cheapest source of finance to leverage their companies and gain a competitive advantage. All this is undertaken by companies to satisfy their masters – the shareholders. Finance is a very scarce commodity. A company can satisfy its funding needs generally through two sources namely, equity and debt. It is common practice to use a mix of both in the capital structure. Further the company may rely on two sources of finance – long term sources and short term sources. Long term sources of finance typically include – Shares, debentures, venture capital, public deposits, government grants, mortgage, retained profits, loans from financial institutions, loans from commercial banks etc. Whereas, short term sources of finance include – Overdraft, trade credit, factoring, cash credit, loans advances, discounting of bills, commercial paper etc. A very interesting segment of finance to note is that of money markets. It is an important component of financial markets and is a short term market with maturity period of 1 year or less. The most common instruments traded in the money markets include –treasury bills, certificates of deposits, repurchase agreements, commercial paper (CP) etc. Commercial paper is a short-term debt instrument of the money market. It is an unsecured promissory note with a fixed maturity of 7 to 365 days. It is issued at a discount and redeemed at par. The origin of commercial paper can be traced back to the late 19th century when it grew rapidly as a source of corporate financing until 1920s when it all but disappeared during the Depression. Momentum picked up after the Second World War and a notable incident in the commercial paper market was the Penn Central  [1]  failure which shook the market and temporarily halted its growth (Calomiris, Himmelberg, Wachtel, 1994). Commercial paper as a source of short term funds to Indian corporate sector was introduced from 1990 by the then government in the process of continuing reforms. The direct objective of commercial paper was to improve the short-term liquidity. That is by releasing the pressure on bank funds for medium sized borrowers and enabling companies with high credit ratings to rais e funds directly from the markets (Reddy, 1999). Commercial paper can be further categorized into financial and nonfinancial commercial paper. Nonfinancial commercial paper is issued by nonfinancial corporations, typically large industrial or service firms and utility companies. Financial paper on the other hand is issued by financial companies such as banks (Shen, 2003). From the investors point of view, commercial paper carries with it a great many advantages like low risk due to issuance by prime rated companies, limited reinvestment risk because the commercial papers are generally issued for a short time horizon thereby protecting the investor from large interest rate fluctuations. Investors are also keen on the fact that commercial paper gives higher yields when compared to other short-term investments such as treasury bills or certificate of deposits (Standard Poors, 2008). On the flip side commercial paper is not absolutely risk free, there are certain risks attached to commercial paper – credit risk in that the company may be unable to pay the investors on maturity though this is an extremely rare event, interest rate risk which arises due to the changes in the market interest rates. This risk is mitigated because most commercial papers are issued for short term and most of the investors hold onto the paper until maturity thereby they are unaffected by price movements. Rollover risk is also present because most papers are retired by the companies by making a fresh issue. This risk is also minimized by securing a bank line of credit. The major risk facing commercial paper is liquidity risk which affects the market as a whole. The whole market turns hostile, interest rates rise and the issuer becomes unable to rollover or make fresh issues (Standard Poors, 2008). To guide the investors in making rational and informed decisions, it is mandatory for the commercial paper issue to gain a credit rating from recognized agencies. Ratings give an idea as to the risk attached to the commercial paper and the overall picture of the firm. A substandard rating implies that the firm is extremely risky and there is probability that the firm may default on its payment. In U.S., the recognized credit rating agencies include Standard Poors, Moodys, Fitch, A.M. Best etc. In the commercial paper rating mechanism practiced by Standard Poors, a rating of ‘A1+ is the highest possible score meaning that the firm is creditworthy and there is no risk of default whereas a rating of ‘A3 and below notifies that the instrument is speculative or junk. In India, Credit Rating Information Services of India Ltd. (CRISIL) and Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India Ltd. (ICRA) are the reputed rating agencies. The other notable agencies operating in India are FITCH ratings and Credit Analysis and Research Ltd. (CARE). According to the RBI, for a commercial paper to be issued in India the company must have a minimum credit rating of P-2 as per the CRISIL rating scale or its equivalent. Rating is extremely important as the regulations laid down specify that money market funds can invest only in commercial papers having the minimum rating of P-2. Commercial paper scores over bank line of credit or short term loans in many aspects. A company that has high credit ratings enjoys many privileges – they can access lower cost commercial paper, flexible maturity periods to match their cash flow stream. Commercial paper in essence is an unsecured promissory note. Thereby, there is no lien created on its assets. Moreover, there is no limitation on the end-use of funds generated through commercial paper issue. They are traditionally favored as they are cheaper when compared to bank loan, as low as 3.5 % for three months 5.6 to 5.75 % per year. Banks cannot match this rate since their cost of funds itself works out to almost 6% (Pathak, 2009). Money market funds are the largest holders of commercial paper (Standard Poors, 2008). The other investors in commercial paper include trust funds, retirement and pension funds, insurance companies and other large firms having extra funds to invest in them. Individual investors find it difficult to deal in this market because commercial papers are usually sold in very large denominations. To overcome this, they invest in it through money market mutual funds. In India commercial banks were the subscribers of almost 80% of all commercial paper issues but that trend has been declining and as in the U.S., mutual funds are becoming the prominent investors. The recent financial crisis affected almost all the major economies around the globe. The U.S. was the epicenter of this financial earthquake. The recession had far reaching effects many companies folded, investment houses lost their prominence and were absorbed by larger entities and banks were bailed out by the government to avert an economic disaster. The commercial paper market first felt the effects of the crisis on August 2007 when the market contracted sharply as a reaction to the subprime crisis (Shrivastava, 2008). The crisis deepened during September 2008 beginning with the default of Lehman brothers. A large money market fund, the Reserve Primary Fund announced that it had suffered losses to the tune of $785 million as a result of holding Lehman Brothers commercial paper. This spread shockwaves through the entire market and investors were in a hurry to redeem their holdings. In a space of one month the total value of commercial paper outstanding reduced by 15% from $1.76 trillion to $1.43 trillion (Kacperczyk Schnabl, 2009). The Indian economy is intimately tied to the global economy; as such any fluctuations in the global market will have repercussions in the Indian financial market also. Global financial crisis manifested itself in India on January 2008 resulting in the crash of the Indian stock market caused due to the fleeing of FIIs (foreign institutional investors). The Indian commercial sector found itself in a race to acquire funds due to the drying up of several avenues of fund notably, external commercial borrowing. To counter this, bank finance in the form of investments in shares, bonds, debentures, commercial paper etc. expanded more than the previous year (Joseph, 2009). So on a contrast with the commercial paper market of America, the commercial paper market in India was on a rise during 2007. In the U.S., the Federal Reserve undertook unprecedented steps to stabilize the commercial paper market. Federal Reserve of New York introduced the Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF) whereby the Federal Reserve would buy the paper directly from eligible issuers (Federal Reserve, 2008). In early January 2009 the Federal Reserve was the single largest purchaser of commercial paper and accounted to having almost 22% of the market. The facility purchases the commercial paper and holds onto it till maturity and the returns received upon maturity are utilized to pay off Federal Reserve of New York which had provided the capital to initiate the facility. At its peak the Federal Reserve held almost $357 billion worth of commercial paper, that holding was gradually reduced over the years and at the time of the withdrawal of the facility during February 2010, the amount had dwindled down to $3.94 billion (Zumbrun, 2010). In India, the commercial paper market is extremely healthy and as p er the latest outstanding figures it is 1,03,915 crores. 1.1 Aim of the project To understand the role of commercial paper in the Indian money market along with the changes in risk return and also the total outstanding during the period of financial crisis. 1.2 Need of the study India is the second fastest growing economy in the world. The policy makers aspire to attain double digit growth rate. During our review of literature we came to understand that no significant study had been undertaken to understand the effect of the financial crisis on the returns of commercial paper in India. Moreover, studies concerning commercial paper on a global level are also limited. We attempt to fill this knowledge gap. There is wide literature in the form of articles regarding the effects of the financial crisis on the American commercial paper market. We are attempting to understand if the effects of recession on the American commercial paper market have also affected its Indian counterpart. 1.3 Objectives of the study The following are some the objectives that we hope to accomplish during the course of our study. a. To understand the role of commercial paper as an instrument in Indian Money Market. b. To understand risk return movement of commercial paper in India during the financial crisis. c. Comparative analysis of risk return between American Indian commercial paper. d. Understand the changes in commercial paper outstanding of both American and Indian commercial paper market during the financial crisis. 1.4 Hypothesis There is a positive correlation between Indian U.S. discount rates. Indian U.S. commercial paper outstanding have decreased during the period of financial crisis. 1.5 Methodology The study is quantitative in nature. We will be relying exclusively on secondary sources of data, significantly the reports generated by the Reserve Bank of India. Statistical tools such as measures of central tendency, measures of variation and correlation will be used. 1.6 Limitations of the project The major problem being faced is scarce information regarding the Indian commercial paper market. Time constraint will limit the extent depth of the study. The data regarding commercial paper rates for both India and U.S. has been published only up to November 2009 at the time of study. 1.7 Chapter Plan The following is a brief summary of the chapters within the project. Chapter 1: Introduction – Provides a brief insight into the history, role and functioning of commercial paper as a money market instrument. This is followed by the aim, the need, objectives and a brief overview of the methodology followed by the limitations of the study. Chapter 2: Literature review – A broad review of literature which was deemed relevant to the study. The literature mainly comprise of empirical studies undertaken by various researchers. Chapter 3: Methodology and the methods – The data source, statistical tools are highlighted in this chapter. Chapter 4: Analysis and Interpretation of the data collected. Using the techniques mentioned in the methodology, a thorough analysis of the data is conducted. A brief interpretation is also provided. Chapter 5: Conclusion – Concludes the study with a summary of our findings. Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 According to Saurabh Ghosh and Narayan Chandra Pradhan (2009) The authors have tried to understand the determinants of WADR (weighted average discount rate) and how these determinants have affected their movement over the past 5 years after adjusting for seasonal fluctuation. The real and financial variables considered for the study were: Index of industrial production (IIP), Amount of CP issued, Cut-off yield 364 days, Call/Notice money, Sensex, Indian Rupees – U.S. Dollar exchange rate bank credit. A close movement and dependency was found out between WADR and the call rate the 364 day treasury bill yield. Although initially there wasnt much co-movement between WADR and the BSE Sensex, co-movements were noticeable after December 2005.The empirical results indicate that there has been an increase in the average monthly issuance, WADR and volatility of WADR over the years. However, around 80% of the commercial paper issued by companies over the last five years was from ‘Prime-rated companies. 2.2 According to Matthias Kahl, Anil Shivdasani Yihui Wang (2008) Firms access commercial paper market to enhance their financial flexibility. Firms use it to fund investment when attractive projects arise and they have insufficient internal funds. Another way in which commercial paper may be used to increase a firms financial flexibility is as bridge financing. They argue that commercial paper borrowing in positively correlated with investment expenditures and negatively correlated with cash holdings. 2.3 According to Pengjie Gao and Hayong Yun ± (2009) The collapse of Lehman brothers was followed by a virtual closing of the commercial papers market, followed by which a number of firms drew excessively on their remaining lines of credit out of fear that weakened banks would reduce their loan commitments. Aggregate commercial paper borrowing declined 15% after the collapse of Lehman brothers, but the effect was concentrated among firms with high default risk. High risk borrowers that were negatively impacted by the decline in the commercial paper market after Lehmans default substituted commercial paper with lines of credit. Low risk borrowers remained as they were. 2.4 According to Charles W. Calomiris, Charles P. Himmelberg Paul Wachtel (1994) The authors arrived at three conclusions. Firstly, there is a flight to quality during a downturn. Firms with strong balance sheets exploit this demand to reduce their cost of short-term borrowing. Secondly, firms in strong financial condition issue commercial paper during downturns in order to extend credit to other firms which may include customers of the firm. As the economy weakens, customers pay their bills more slowly and firms may extend more trade credit as a means of financing their customers short-term credit needs. There is evidence that commercial paper is used to finance trade credit. Finally, increased commercial paper issuance is used to finance inventories. Further, they established links between growth of commercial paper in relationship between the paper market and the commercial bank portfolios. At various times the growth of the commercial paper market was attributed to – (i.) Banks with weak loan demand that were searching for an alternative asset. (ii.) Regulatory constraints that made bank deposits unattractive. (iii.) Market conditions that made bank loans relatively expensive. 2.5 According to John P. Judd (1979) The researcher argues that commercial paper market has replaced the banking sector as the primary source of short-term funds for large financially sound nonfinancial firms. Banks can compete effectively only if the value of the intermediate services that they provide to the lenders/borrowers is greater than the spread between the lending and borrowing rates that they must charge to cover the costs of doing business and absorbing risk. However, it was found that the value from the intermediate services were relatively small and hence the switch over to commercial paper. 2.6 According to Pu Shen (2003) Before the current drop in commercial paper outstanding there was a past occurrence in 2002 when the market for nonfinancial paper declined rapidly. The author tries to understand the factors that led to the unusual decline. To achieve this he considered the factors that could have reduced the supply of credit as well as factors that could have reduced the demand in the commercial paper market. On the basis of this analysis, a conclusion was reached that both demand and supply contributed to the decline. Supply in this context means willingness of the investors to participate in the market. Willingness can be reduced by two factors – Actual or perceived deterioration of the creditworthiness of borrowers and general reduction in investors tolerance for risk. On the demand side, two factors reduce the need for corporations to borrow in the commercial paper market. One factor is decline in inventories which reduces companies short-term financing needs. The other factor is a switc h by firms from borrowing short-term in the commercial paper market to borrowing longer in the bond market. 2.7 According to Dan Covitz Chris Downing (2002) A model is created to explain the relationship between short term and long term yield spreads. Short term spreads cannot be explained by insolvency model because of large spread. Many a times short and long term spreads are negatively correlated. Their explanation for observed risk spreads rests on a distinction between the fixed and liquid assets of a firm. A simple model was proposed in which a firm with a low level of liquid assets may be forced to turn to outside sources of funds to meet its short-term obligations. Funds raised from outside can bring in delay in payments to creditors, which can affect the short term creditors more than long term creditors. Variety of insolvency-risk and liquidity-risk proxies were used and was found that liquidity risk help explain short-term spreads during periods of market stress, but explains very little about long-term spreads. Their empirical findings indicated that while liquidity is an important determinant, the credit risk is the dominant determinant of Commercial Paper credit spread. A literature survey regarding Asset Backed Commercial Paper (ABCP) was conducted, but was disregarded as it was not relevant to the research at hand. A working group has recommended that ABCPs be introduced to deepen the commercial paper in India. Following this the RBI issued the draft guidelines on securitization of standard assets on April 4, 2005. Chapter 3: Methodology Research basically means a quest for knowledge. The primary purpose for applied research is discovering, interpreting and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters (Wikipedia.com).In this chapter the methodology and methods to be used for analyzing the commercial paper market are briefly discussed along with the problems encountered and the steps that were taken to overcome them. 3.1 Types of Data There are broadly two types of data that are available at the disposal of a researcher. 3.1.1. Primary Data We may rely on primary data if the research calls for raw data that has been collected at the source and has not been subject to any manipulation. Primary data can be qualitative or quantitative. The core benefit of this type of data is that the researcher can exercise a high degree of control over the method and tailor the data collection methods to suit the needs of his research. 3.1.2. Secondary Data Primary data collected by one person may become the secondary data of another. Secondary data has many benefits that make it very appealing. The most obvious advantage is that the data is very economical since the cost of collecting it is usually very little when compared to primary data. It also saves the time of the researcher which would otherwise have been spent on the data collection process. Another key advantage is that in the process of searching for data relevant to the problem, the understanding of the researcher of the problem is improved and there can be changes in the idea in light of the secondary data collected (Beri, 2003). That is not to say that there are no limitations to it. The major risk undertaken by the researcher when collecting secondary data is that the accuracy of the data is compromised. Subsequent problems may be the availability, relevance and sufficiency. Our research relies on secondary data specifically the commercial paper rates published by the Reserve Bank of India and The Federal Reserve. Since these institutions are the apex central banks of India and United States of America respectively, we assume that the data provided by them is highly accurate and can be safely used in our study. Internet Research. As the name implies, it is the practice of using the World Wide Web for research purposes. After identification of our topic, we had to undertake an internet research to gain more background information about it and further our understanding of the topic. Several newspaper articles published on the internet was used to draw a rough chronology of the events in both the Indian U.S. commercial paper markets during the period of study. 3.2. Time Period The financial crisis was well underway during the early half of 2007 due to subprime mortgages default. We have divided the time period of our study into two distinct frames to analyze and draw logical conclusions. 3.2.1 First Time Period (November 2007-October 2008) We have selected November 2007 as the initiation point of the first time period our study due to the fact that the stock markets in America was in turmoil and falling rapidly. Leading up to this point there were certain major market developments, the LIBOR (London Interbank Borrowing Rate) reaches its highest level since 1998. Northern Rock collapses and receives emergency support from Bank of England. Major Banks such as UBS and Citigroup announce losses numbering in the billions due to subprime mortgage defaults. September 2008 was a very dynamic and crucial month in the context of the financial crisis. U.S. government bails out mortgage lenders Freddie Mac Fannie Mae, which hold almost half of all outstanding mortgages in the U.S. Bank of America proposes to take over Merrill Lynch for USD 50 billion. Lehman brothers files for bankruptcy making it the biggest corporate bankruptcy ($ 639 billion) in the history of U.S.A. Morgan Stanley Goldman Sachs loses their status as investment banks. They become traditional commercial banks (Mauro F. Guillà ©n, 2009). The first time period concludes on October 2008. The reason we have selected this particular month is that in the aftermath of Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, the commercial paper market contracted severely. Investors lost their confidence and companies were finding it difficult to make fresh issues of commercial paper. 3.2.2 Second Time Period (November 2008-November 2009) For companies that use commercial paper as a short-term funding mechanism, a sudden stoppage of access to the market will push them to the brink of bankruptcy. The Federal Reserve recognized this and initiated the Commercial Paper Funding Facility towards the end of October 2008. The major objective was to stabilize the commercial paper market and provide the necessary funding to the companies. Our second time period picks off from this point and continues till present. 3.3 Statistical Techniques Statistics is termed as the science of making effective use of numerical data. It deals with all aspects of it including collection, analysis and interpretation of such data collected. To facilitate our analysis, we had to rely on certain statistical tools and the software SPSS. 3.3.1 Measures of Central Tendency The most commonly used tool for understanding ‘averages is the arithmetic mean. A single value which is a representation of the entire mass of data taken into calculation. It is neither the highest nor the lowest value in the data set. It takes into account all the values in the study. It is in essence a single value around which the other variables in the study tend to cluster. The arithmetic mean is also laden with a certain disadvantage namely the tendency of the mean to get unduly affected by the presence of extreme values. 3.3.2 Measures of Variation Using mean will only supply us with a single figure representing the entire data. We cannot understand the dispersion of the values from the mean. To overcome this obstacle, we need to use a measure of variation. We have decided to study the variation utilizing the tool ‘standard deviation. Standard deviation helps us to measure the risk associated with commercial paper. Standard deviation will be equal to zero when all the numbers in the sample are very close to one another. The more dispersed they are the greater will be the standard deviation. 3.3.3 Correlation Mean and standard deviation does not allow us to compare two different variables. In such a scenario we may use correlation to understand if any relation exists between two variables. If relation is proved, correlation further helps us to judge to what degree the relation is present and the significance of it. The correlation coefficient ‘r ranges from -1.0 to +1.0. The closer ‘r is to either poles, the higher the correlation. Towards +1 indicates a positive correlation whereas closer to -1 is an indicator of negative correlation. 3.3.4 Simple Bar Diagrams/ One-dimensional Bar diagrams Simple bar diagrams are considered to be the most commonly used diagrammatic representation of data. Only the length of the bar matters, the width of a single bar is present only for drawing attention to the figures and making clear cut conclusions. We have used bar diagrams to depict the trend of commercial paper outstanding in both the Indian U.S. commercial paper markets over the period of study. 3.3.5 Times Series Graphs We have utilized time series graphs to chart the movement of risk across the time period of study. The reason for the selection of this technique is due to its usefulness in giving a quick idea about the trend of the variable over a period of time. The other added advantage is that it allows a comparison of two variables also across the time period. Chapter 4: Findings Analysis 4.1 Introduction In this chapter, we attempt to make a systematic analysis of the secondary data that we have collected from Reserve Bank of India Federal Reserve System. The raw data was transferred to Microsoft Excel software after proper scrutiny. The data was analyzed by using the statistical tools present in the Microsoft Excel SPSS programmes. As we have described earlier in the methodology, descriptive statistics like standard deviation, arithmetic mean and inferential statistics like correlation were used to analyze the data. Data presentation tools like Simple bar diagram and Time series graphs were utilized to present the data logically and in an understandable manner. The discount rates provided by RBI consisted of low high rates. The average of the discount rates was calculated to make a meaningful analysis and enable comparison with the U.S. commercial paper discount rates, since the Federal Reserve provides only a single rate. Moreover in the U.S. the commercial paper market is sub-divided into two broad strata, i.e. financial and non-financial commercial paper. Both of these were taken into account to enable the study to be more comprehensive and significant. The U.S. commercial paper outstanding amounts were converted into Indian rupees on the basis of foreign exchange rate prevalent in the time period of study. This was conducted on a month wise basis from November 2007 till November 2009. 4.2. Analysis of Data The following section contains an analysis of the data. 4.2.1 The first analysis conducted was to trace the movement of discount rate in India during the first time period. Table.1. Mean Standard Deviation of Indian Discount Rate during November 2007- October 2008 Mean 10.9242 Std. Deviation 1.70208 Interpretation 68% of the time, the average discount rate shall vary between 9.6 and 12.6. That means for nearly 8 months of the study period, the rate of return of commercial paper in India will be between 9.6 12.6 95% of the time, the discount rate shall vary between 7.5 and 14.3. The overall trend from the observed figures indicates forward direction. The cause behind this trend maybe the accelerated inflation rate. The investing communitys confidence levels are weakened, as a result the expected levels of discount rate also increases. Another reason may be that the investors are worried about the exposure of Indian banks to U.S. subprimes. For instance ICICI exposure to Citibank Asset backed securities is one important reason behind uncertainty in Indian money market segment. Graph.1. Movement of discount rate during Period 1 Interpretation Until December 2007, the discount rates did not undergo much fluctuation. From January 2008 till April 2008, the rates were subject to wide changes the average rate reached heights like 11.88 and depths of 8.73. In March, the market on expectations of a promising RBI credit policy announcement has shown an upward surge. But the RBI maintained the status quo, the bank rate, the repo rate and the reverse repo rate were unchanged. Following this the returns show a decline and thereafter it has shown a rising trend till October 2008. Corresponding to this period, the inflation rates in India had also been growing at an accelerated pace. The inflation in India during March was 5.11%, this shot up to 12.63% in August and declined to just 10.72% by October end. If the inflation rate increases, the nominal interest rates also increases, as a result commercial paper discount rate is also showing an increase. The discount rate rose to an all time high of 14.23 in October 2008.This abnormal rise in discount rates may be linked to Lehman Brothers declaring bankruptcy in U.S.A. on September 15, 2008. Because of the bankruptcy, the investors have lost their confidence on money market instruments. This event might have triggered investors in the Indian commercial paper market to seek higher discount rates on the Indian commercial paper. As a result pushing up the discount rates on commercial paper issued by the Indian corporate sector. 4.2.2 This analysis deals with the movement of discount rate in

Karl Marx :: essays research papers

The late 1800's was a time period where new ideas, theories, and philosophies ran through the minds of many young people. Amongst them was a man be the name of Karl Marx who stood out in the crowd. Known as a man of great integrity and intelligence, Marx was thought to be one of the greatest thinkers of all time. "Philosophy and Myth in Karl Marx: 2nd Edition" by Robert C. Tucker is a book about Marx and his philosophies. Robert C. Tucker in this book ventures out to critique and give an interpretation of Marx's philosophical thoughts. Marx's was the man who was responsible for the well known and highly acclaimed philosophy of Marxism also known as Communism. Karl Marx was born in the German Rhineland to a well-cultured family, one that was not revolutionary. As a young man he received a classical education. Marx entered the University of Berlin where he read law, majoring in history as well as philosophy. His years at the university was the time period that was a turning point in Marx's life. From his early school days, philosophy had been a subject that sparked interest in Karl Marx. He was greatly concerned with humans' freedom and reviving the ancient concept of communism. The University of Berlin was where Marx had first become acquainted with the philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel's ideas known, as Hegelianism was the concept where the main focus was a self- alienated man. Man should worship himself as a Superior Being. What attracted Marx to Hegel was his "surmounting of the characteristic difficulty of idealism." However, when Marx was later introduced to the philosophies of Feuerbach, his thou ghts completely changed. According to Feuerbach,"man has so far in history lived primarily a life of religion, and that the essences of religion is man's estrangement from himself," At the same time of Marx becoming acquainted with these thoughts, he was jumping from one place to another causing his family to live in wretched poverty. Later on, using both the concepts of Hegelianism and of Feuerbach, Marx arrived at the formulation of his own philosophical anthropology. He first states that the primary determinant of history is economics where the history of society is viewed as the history of class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariats. The bourgeoisie are successful by extracting money from the proletariats for profit.

History, Genocide, Social Intolerance and Bigotry Essay

Lessons of history have been correctly utilized in a sense that the eventualities and circumstances in the past served as a learning experience for a better future. History served as a reminder on how to uphold the positive undertakings and set aside those which only causes strife. On the other hand, it can be used incorrectly in such a way that oppressed people may tend to see their gloomy past as a reason to revolt and take up arms. Moreover, utilizing history as a predictive instrument has observable limitations in a sense that the eventualities in the past does not necessarily manifests in the future, although it may influence it. On the contrary, history basically serves as a reference point to which critical judgment and better analysis of certain circumstances in the present and the future could be applied. In relation to that, observing the massive killings happening around the world, like acts of genocide could be defined as a deliberate attempt of any group to eliminate and annihilate a certain ethnic group in a belief that cleansing a whole group will also abolish oppression and conflict. According to Gregory Stanton of Genocide Watch, there are actually stages that ultimately leads to genocide. The eight stages are as follows: Classification, or the stage wherein individuals start to cluster the people with the â€Å"us and them† method; Symbolization, where people practices labelling and name calling; Dehumanization, wherein certain groups perceive others not worthy to be considered human beings; Organization, or the establishment of a structured group like militias; Polarization, which divides the group apart because of the works of extremists; Preparation, or the drawing out of death lists and threats; Extermination, or the mass killings and ethnic cleansing stage; and Denial, wherein the perpetrators makes a lot of effort in covering up their inhumane acts and intimidates their witnesses (Stanton, 1996). Some acts of genocide is reported to have been institutionalized and sanctioned by the government like the Janjaweed militia of the Darfur crisis. These Janjaweed forces are believed to be supported by the government because it is through this powerful group that the oil from the Darfur region could be accessed since they threaten the people with acts of violence (Koerner, 2005). Having dominion over the oil industry in Darfur would allow economic growth and stability. For its political implication, the government continually supports the undertakings of the Janjaweeds because they continue to uphold the purpose of their creation which is to destroy the African tribes who were believed to be supporting insurgent groups against the government (Reeves, 2005). In line with that, a possible foundation of social intolerance resides in the people’s fear of the unknown wherein they are uncertain in accepting other people’s perspectives apart from theirs, fearing the implications it may have on them. Another basis of social intolerance and bigotry are the people’s lack of openness to communicate to other people and a feeling of superiority over individuals who are not â€Å"like† them or have similar ideologies. References Koerner, B. (2005). Who are the Janjaweed. Retrieved June 5, 2008, from http://www. slate. com/id/2104210/. Reeves, E. (2005). Genocide in Darfur-How the Horror Began. Retrieved June 5, 2008, from http://www. sudantribune. com/article. php3? id_article=11445. Stanton, G. (1996). The Eight Stages of Genocide. Retrieved June 5, 2008, from http://www. genocidewatch. org/8stages. htm.

Using the Spanish Verb Sentir

Using the Spanish Verb Sentir Sentir is a very common verb that typically means to feel. It usually refers to feeling emotions, but it can also refer to physical sensations. The Difference Between Sentir and Sentirse Sentir commonly appears in the reflexive form sentirse. The difference in using sentir and sentirse is that sentir is typically followed by a noun, while sentirse is followed by an adjective or adverb describing how a person feels. Otherwise their meanings are essentially the same. Here are some examples of sentir used to describe emotional feelings: El atleta dijo que sentà ­a alegrà ­a y satisfaccià ³n por el logro del campeonato. (The athlete said he felt joyful and satisfied about attaining the championship.)Siento pena y tristeza por ello. (I feel shameful and sad about it.)Se siente feliz por ser abuela. (She feels happy about being a grandmother.)Me siento enojada y frustrada. (I feel angry and frustrated.) Here are examples of sentir being used with physical sensations. Although in most of these cases you could probably translate sentir as to sense, usually it would be better to translate based on the context: Puedo sentir pasos en la azotea. (I can hear footsteps on the roof.)Él me dijo que sentà ­a olor a muerte. (He told me he smelled death.) When sentirse de refers to a body part, it usually indicates the sensation of pain: Me siento de la cabeza. (I have a headache.) Standing by itself, sentir can indicate sorrow or regret: Lo siento mucho. Im very sorry. Using Sentir in Phrases It is common to use sentir as part of a phrase. Although you may not use feel in the most natural translation, often you can determine the meaning of the phrase from the individual words. Some examples: sentir algo por una persona (to have love or similar feelings for someone): Decirte que ya no siento algo por ti serà ­a mentir. (To say I no longer have feelings for you would be lying.) sentir celos (to be jealous): Cree que sà ³lo sienten celos las personas inseguras. (She believes that only insecure people have jealousy.) sentir culpa, sentirse culpable (to feel guilty): No sentà ­a culpa por lo que acababa de hacer. (He did not feel guilty for what he had just done.) sentir ganas de infinitivo (to feel like doing something): Siento ganas de llorar cuando pienso en el accidente. (I feel like crying when I think about the accident.) sentir que (to be sorry or sad that): Siento que mi color de piel ha cambiado. (I am sad the color of my hair has changed.) hacer sentir (to cause a feeling in someone): A veces nos hacemos adictos a alguien que nos hace sentir bien. (Sometimes we become addicted to someone who makes us feel good.) sin sentir (without being noticed): Tomà © la medicina sin sentir ninguna diferencia en mi vida. (I took the medicine without noticing any difference in my life.) This phrase is sometimes best translated literally:  ¿Cà ³mo es posible que te lo diga sin sentir? (How is it possible that she told you that without any feeling?) Using Sentir as a Noun Sentir also can be used as a noun to refer to feelings or sentiments: El sentir y el pensar son dos funciones de la mente. (Feeling and thinking are two functions of the mind.)El presidente representa el sentir del pueblo. (The president represents the feelings of the people.)Tenà ­a una vida dedicada a la promocià ³n del sentir indà ­gena. (He had a life dedicated to the promotion of indigenous sentiment.)Las almas no nos permitieron matar sin sentir. (Our souls did not allow us to kill unfeelingly.)Entiende muy bien el sentir de la calle. (He understands very well the feelings on the street.) Conjugation of Sentir Keep in mind that sentir  is irregularly conjugated. When it is stressed, the sent- of the stem changes to sient-, as in siento, I feel. And in some but not all forms, the stem changes to sint-, as in sintià ³, he or she felt. Unfortunately, this second stem change doesnt occur in a predictable way. The conjugation pattern is shared by about three dozen other verbs. Among them are consentir (to allow), convertir (to change), mentir (to lie), and preferir (to prefer). Also, the conjugated forms of sentir overlap with those of sentar, which means to sit. For example, siento can mean either I feel or I sit. This overlap is seldom a problem because the two verbs are used in such different contexts. Key Takeaways Sentir is a common Spanish verb that typically means to feel, especially in an emotional or mental sense.There is usually little difference in meaning between sentir and its reflexive form, sentirse.Sentir is conjugated irregularly in that its stem sometimes changes to sient- or sint-.

Women and Unions

Women and Unions The reason why it represents the matter of crucial importance for the unions to seek into organizing the unorganized is that by doing it, unions increase the extent of their own bargaining power – hence, ensuring their continuous existence.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Women and Unions specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Even though that unorganized workers may appear utterly powerless and unprivileged, the fact that they are being represented in great numbers implies their potential to exert a powerful influence onto the very essence of socio-economic dynamics in a particular society. According to Lee (2007): â€Å"As working-class interests are organized and channeled into political arenas, citizens are provided more realistic sets of political alter ­natives, which drive heated contests between political forces seeking electoral power† (p. 592). Nowadays, the validity of an earlier statement appear s particularly self-evident, because due to an ongoing introduction of technology into just about every sphere of industrial manufacturing and commerce, commonly referred to as ‘post-industrialization’, the representatives of a working class continue to grow progressively underpowered, in social sense of this word. Even as far back as in early eighties, Gorz (1982) was able to define the subtleties of such a tendency with perfect clarity: â€Å"Workers no longer ‘produce’ society through the mediation of the relations of production; instead the machinery of social production as a whole produces ‘work’ and imposes it in a random way upon random, interchangeable individuals† (p. 71). The reading of Reiter’s (1986) article, will confirm the full validity of Gorz’s insight. According to the author, the fact Burger King’s employment strategy is being closely associated with high turnover rate among workers does not even s lightly undermine the extent of company’s overall competitiveness. On the contrary – it is namely because King Burger can well afford replacing employees with new ones, due to high standardization of work-related procedures (just about anyone can be trained to flip burgers within the matter of minutes) and due to the abundance of an unskilled workforce (newly arrived immigrants from Third World countries), which provides this company with the strong competitive edge: â€Å"Since the motion of the factory proceeds from the machinery and not from the worker, working personnel can continually be replaced.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Frequent change in workers will not disrupt the labor process a shift in organization applauded† (p. 312). Just as it used to be the case during the era of ‘classical capitalism’, today’s large commercial companies that feature high automatization of manufacturing processes, deliberately strive to ‘atomize’ employees so that they would not be able to unite, while pursuing some common professional agenda. And, an ongoing process of Western economies becoming increasingly technology-intensive and service-oriented (Globalization) helps corporate employers rather substantially in their attempts to disfranchise the very notion of workers’ solidarity. As it was pointed out by Ebbinghaus and Jelle Visser (1999): â€Å"The transition from an industrial to a service economy erodes the basis for union organization (p. 141). Given the fact that in very near future, the demand for low-skilled labor would virtually cease to exist, it will create objective preconditions for millions and millions of people to be left without even a formal source of income. Yet, once organized into unions, even low-skilled workers will realize themselves capable to effectively oppose corporate g reediness. After all, it does not represent much of a challenge to break a single tree-branch. However, many of such branches, binded into a bundle, would prove quite impossible to break. One of the major challenges, experienced by women who seek unionizing, is the fact that very often; employers refuse to recognize them as professional employers, in full sense of this word. This especially appears to be the case in Third World countries, where there is an acute lack of legislations, meant to ensure women’s civil rights. In her article, Datta (2003) provides us with the example of how India’s governmental authorities brush aside the very idea that working women should be referred to as ‘workers’ per se:Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Women and Unions specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More â€Å"When†¦ 600 (female) garment workers approached the Labor Commissioner of Gujarat to register th e garment workers union, the Commissioner did not recognize them as workers; they were simply women, who stayed ‘home and stitched garments’† (p. 354). It goes without saying, of course, that governmental authorities resort to rationale-driven reasoning, while justifying their often strongly defined unwillingness to recognize that fact that women are being just as valuable of employees as men are. For example, it is being commonly suggested that, during the course of their menstrual periods, women become utterly irrational and therefore, unsuited for executing particularly demanding professional duties. This, however, does not conceal the fact that this kind of reasoning, behind women’s employment-related dehumanization, derives out of men’s deep-seated sense of sexism. In fact, this can be well referred to as another major obstacle, on the way of women’s union-movement. In her article, where she elaborates onto gradual transformation of Justi ce for Janitors (J4J) union from essentially men-governed body into organization where women are being more or less equally represented among its policy-makers, Cranford (2007) points out to the fact that women-janitors never ceased experiencing subtle sexism, on the part of their male coworkers and simultaneously J4J members. According to the author, even though women played rather major role, while participating in J4J-sponsored rallies against an unfair treatment of janitors in L.A., they have been rarely given an opportunity to take part in designing union’s policies: â€Å"There was no overt exclusion of or direct discrimination toward women entering more formal positions (in J4J) but neither was there a concerted effort to bring (female) janitors into formal leadership positions and this absence of leadership development had gendered effects† (p. 367).Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Therefore, it comes as not a particular surprise that, until recently, J4J paid little attention towards protecting the interests of women-janitors. Two other unionization-related major challenges, experienced by women, can be defined as unions’ reluctance to recognize childrearing as productive work and the lack of education, on the part of many informal female workers. As it was pointed out by Cranford in the article, from which we have already quoted: â€Å"Mens wage earning in the public realm of production is valued and visibly contributes to the familys reproduction while womens reproductive work of caring for children and housework is unpaid† (p. 363). This is the reason why it is specifically socially underprivileged male workers (especially those temporarily unemployed), who benefit the most from social assistance programs. According to Glass and Beth (1997): â€Å"US welfare state has been fashioned around direct provision of services to families with heads unable to secure employment† (p. 291). As a result, low-skilled female employees are being put is clearly disadvantageous position, as compared to what it is being the case with their male counterparts. And, as it appears from Datta’s article, it is namely the fact that many such female employees in Third World countries lack even basic education, which contributes rather significantly towards their inability to realize a simple fact that, by indulging in childrearing activities, they prove themselves being quite as productive members of society as informal male workers. After all, the popular perception of employed mothers often implies that the fact that they have to take care of children undermines their professional adequacy. Nevertheless, as soon as such women attain basic literacy, they become increasingly aware of what constitutes their constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms at workplace, which naturally predisposes them towards adopting an active stance , while addressing their unionization-related anxieties. There can be little doubt as to the fact that the experiences of organizing informal workers in India, or immigrant janitors in the United States, outlined in Cranford and Datta’s articles, do provide lessons as to how unions can adopt new strategies that will increase women’s trade union participation. For example, as it was shown by Cranford, although women often lack formal power to actively partake in unionizing, they nevertheless posses plenty of an informal one. The reason for this is simple – unlike what it is being the case with most men, women tend to assess unionization-related challenges as being closely related to what they perceive as ‘family issues’. And, given the fact that, when it comes to ensuring family’s well-being, it is women who end up wearing pants, in allegorical sense of this word, this provides them with an effective tool for leveraging dynamics within a parti cular union – thus, becoming active players in the process of low-skilled workers’ unionization. Another important lesson, learned from reading earlier mentioned articles, is the fact that, in order for more and more women to be willing to join trade unions and to be considered eligible for unions’ membership, they should never cease educating themselves about what the concept of empowerment stands for. The reason for this is simple – after having gained an awareness of this concept’s actual meaning, and after having affiliated themselves with empowerment-facilitating activities, women will be more like to adopt a proper stance, while dealing with work-related challenges. For example, as it was shown by Datta, Indian female street-vendors used to be initially harassed by police for bribes. And yet, after they joined Self-Employed Women Association (SEWA), and consequentially began exerting political influence, as the body of highly organized worker s, the problem with police demanding bribes became substantially less acute: â€Å"SEWA organizers have surveyed women who were subjected to such extortion, held meetings in the presence of the police superintendent, and ensured that the women vendors were not harassed anymore† (p. 356). In other words, women workers are being more then capable of protecting their interests. However, in order for them to be able to do this, they would have to get rid of an inferiority complex, imposed by male-chauvinistic society. After all, the process of women’s empowerment is consistent with dialectically predetermined laws of history. As it was pointed out by Bergquist (1993): â€Å"The history of women workers struggle for control over the way they work is replete with clues to a different, more democratic and sustainable, vision of human progress† (p. 764). Therefore, even though that, while struggling to unionize, female workers continue to be opposed by the number of cou nter-progressive forces, there are good reasons to believe that eventually, working women will be able to reach the full spectrum of their objectives, in this respect. References Bergquist, C. (1993). Labor history and its challenges: Confessions of a Latin  Americanist. The American Historical Review, 98(3), 757-764. Cranford, C. J. (2007). Constructing union motherhood: Gender and social  reproduction in the Los Angeles Justice for Janitors movement. Qualitative  Sociology, 30(4), 361-381. Datta, R. (2003). From development to empowerment: The self-employed  womens association in India. International Journal of Politics, Culture and  Society, 16(3), 351-368. Ebbinghaus, B. Visser, J. (1999). When institutions matter: Union growth and  decline in Western Europe, 1950-1995. European Sociological Review, 15(2),  135-158. Glass, J. Beth, S. (1997). The family responsive workplace. Annual Review of  Sociology, 23, 289-313. Gorz, Andre. (1982). Farewell to the Working Class. Boston: Pluto Press. Lee, C. (2007). Labor unions and good governance: A cross-national,  comparative analysis. American Sociological Review, 72(4), 585-609. Reiter, E. (1986). Life in a fast-food factory. In C. Heron R. Storey (Eds.), On  the job: Confronting the labour process in Canada (pp. 309-326). Kingston  and Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press.

Some people say there is no point in trying to regulate cybermut. What Assignment

Some people say there is no point in trying to regulate cybermut. What do you think and why - Assignment Example Cybermut payment services allow buyers worldwide to do shopping twenty four by seven. It is a multilingual and multicurrency system that can function and accept payment cards in any currency (euros, dollars, yen etc.). It simply provide their customers with a simple and secure methods to pay their payments and purchases done via customers bank which record transactions. It offers essential advantages to make a transfer payment. It is simply a payment system which is done for free without imposing any critical and complicated rules or regulations. It generate the acknowledgment of delivery of the confirmation of payment. In short Cybermut System can regarded as a simple web service to ensure the online transaction or transfer payments are more secure. There’s is no substantial point in trying not to regulate Cybermut. It is accepted that every service has its own pros and cons but in this case advantages outnumbered

RESEARCH ARTICLE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK - Phase #2 of the lit review Essay

RESEARCH ARTICLE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK - Phase #2 of the lit review paper - Essay Example 614) The researchers analyzed three motivation orientations (instrumental, required, and integrative) during preactional phase, in relation to expectancy (actional phase) and finally, self-evaluation in postactional phase. The results revealed that â€Å"within the EFL context in the current Chinese cultural environment, integration may not be a significant factor in motivating language learning effort† (Chen, Warden, & Chang, 2005, p. 622). The authors have illumined ESL educators of the relevance of cultural factors in motivating foreign students to learn English. As revealed, there is this noted Chinese Imperative motivator, which the authors indicated as â€Å"reflecting the emphasis on requirements that are internalized within the culturally specific context† (Chen, Warden, & Chang, 2005, p. 623). The emphasis placed on generating high scores in ESL exams to conform to the expectations of parents are the most crucial measure of a return on investment for learning English and has been recognized as the motivating factor for this particular culture. This study is relevant in one’s review particularly because it identified a cultural factor that assists in determining how students from other cultures could be motivated to learn ESL. One would thereby evaluate if this cultural preferences for high scores in the exams could be used to motivate ESL students in other cultures as a means to facilitate learning. The question guiding my literature review is: How crucial is cultural orientation in defining the motivational strategy to be designed by educators? Likewise, how effective are these strategies in enhancing ESL learning on a cultural context? Research question(s) OR Purpose of the study: The author aimed to determine â€Å"the motivation of Indonesian adolescents toward learning English over the first 20 months of junior high school† (Lamb, 2007, p. 757). Through employing mixed methods of questionnaires