Monday, September 30, 2019

Planning and Budgeting Essay

â€Å"Planning and budgeting are the two key major roles in the financial functioning of a healthcare organization. Planning covers the entire process and procedures of preparing the organization for their future financial goals. Budgeting include all of the detailed plans, which are expressed in dollar terms and they tell how the organizations resources will be obtained and used during a specific time period† (Gapenski, p. 253 & 259). In this paper there will be a brief discussion of what Ben Massell Dental Clinic, should take into consideration, when making pricing and service decisions. As well this paper will also cover the overall planning process and the components of their financial plan. Also this paper will briefly discuss how time analysis may help Bill Massell Dentistry to make sound management decisions. And lastly there will be a recommended major investment and a likely determination of how Ben Massell should address any financial risk and required returns. â€Å"In 1912 a philanthropist by the name of Morris Hirsch established the Morris Hirsch clinic with a goal in mind, which was to provide an out-patient medical service to those within the community, who weren’t able to afford proper medical care. Years later in 1929 a dental clinic was soon added. Then, in 1956 Dr. Irving M. Goldstein a dentist and former chief of staff of the Morris Hirsch clinic, he and his brother Dr. Marvin Goldstein decided to relocate their establishment to Pryor St, located in downtown Atlanta. They sought after one of Atlanta’s most premier builders and developer who had his eyes on the exact same building that the Goldstein brothers had chosen† (Massell, 2012, para. 1). The clinic resided in its new location for the next three years, and then in 1959 urban renewal and eminent domain laws, made it possible for the clinic to relocate once again. Soon, Ben Massell with the help of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta was able to obtain a secure home on for his clinic located on 7th St in the Midtown area of Atlanta. And from that point on the clinic has remained there for the past 49 years. In honoring Ben Massell’s involvement, assistance and his financial generosity with the clinic it was then named, the Ben Massell Dental clinic (Massell, 2012, para. 2). When making pricing decisions, the managers of Ben Massell Dentistry Clinic, need to determine whether or not if their services are not only affordable, but are beneficial to the clients they serve. The managers of the Ben Massell Dental Clinic, also need to determine whether or not if they’re offering a substantial amount of volume discounts to clients and payer groups, and they need to determine exactly how large of a discount should be given to all of their clients. When making service decisions since the managers are not the ones who set the prices for the services, they have to decide whether or not that the payment is sufficient to assume the risks associated with providing services to the covered or non-covered population. The Planning Process is where the financial plans and budgets are developed for an organization to reach its financial goal. The process includes, value statement which describes the things the company values the most, mission statement describes the overall purpose for the existence of the company, and vision statement defines the company’s goals. Since, The Ben Massell Dental Clinic is a non-profit organization, their overall planning process consist of providing clients with the most advanced dental care. They describe themselves as the only resource for comprehensive and quality dental care at no cost to those in need of dental care. They offer a variety of services with the help of 140 volunteer dentists to better serve individuals who do not have access to proper dental services. Also The Ben Massell Dental Clinic is in partnership with, St. Joseph’s Mercy Care Services. With this partnership it allows clients to receive a general health screening for various health conditions. Along with the help of The Georgia Lion’s Lighthouse, clients are also able to receive a free exam and eyewear if needed. In order for clients to qualify for dental service without payment, they must meet certain guidelines. These guidelines include the following: new clients must live in one of the 13 major counties, Butts, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Paulding and Rockdale. Other qualifications include: showing proof of residence for the last six months, having no insurance or dental coverage and having a household income that falls below 125% of the current poverty level. The chart below gives us an exact example of a client’s eligibility. The components of the Ben Massell Dental Clinic financial plan arrive from the donations of major funding organizations in which some they have partnered with and other businesses that surrounds the Atlanta area. Also donations can be accepted directly from their website from those individuals of the community, who have a desire to take part in helping others to get the proper dental needed. These include, â€Å"The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, which provided 14 percent of the clinics budget for the fiscal year of 2009-2010, United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta provided 6 percent through the support of United way employees, other organizations such as, the Google grants program assisted in the advertisement of the Ben Massell Dental Clinic website and the Grants to Greens Foundation contributed towards the materials in reconstructing, the building using recycled materials that are energy savers and cost efficient† (Jewish Family & Career Services [JF&CS], 2012, para. , 2, 3, 4). Time value analysis is the use of time value of money techniques to value future cash flows. â€Å"The reason why time analysis is so important in healthcare is because current amount of made being made is worth more than future dollars. By using this method this gives the dental clinic an opportunity to accept 25 new clients per week and 100 new clients within a months’ tim e. Using the time lines method allows the clinic to keep track of 5 new clients per day during a five day work week. It also helps managers to keep track of payments from other organizations and makes it easier to administer their services to everyone with ease of access, which will allow the operation to flow evenly without hassle. An example of this would be, when new clients are referred over to their clinic, they can easily keep track of what organization has sent the client and who’s responsible for assisting in making the payments for particular procedures administered to the clients. Adding an additional certified dentist could be a possible major investment for the Ben Massell Dental Clinic, even though they offer a large amount volunteer dentist, they only spend half a day’s time within the office. So by adding an additional certified dentist to the organization, this could not only lessen the wait time for clients, but it would also bring in additional revenues, grants and other sources of income to assist the clinic in progressing towards a better financial goal. The average salary of a dentist in Atlanta Georgia is $108, 00. 0 per year (â€Å"Dentist Salary,† 2012, para. 2). Which, can be considered as the net present value, the pertinent financial ratios consists of those organizations making payments for clients that, they refer to the clinic and the break even analysis would be the clinic meeting 25 patients per week on a weekly basis, 100 new clients a month and 1,200 new clients a year to cover the salary of the new dentist that may be add ed to the organization. Financial risk and required returns are two very important factors in healthcare financial management. Financial risk is defined as the risk an investor takes when investing in something and the expected return on that investment is much less than expected. Required returns are defined as the expected outcome on an investment made by an investor whether it is higher or lessor. In order for managers at The Ben Massell Dental Clinic to address financial risk and required returns, managers first need to look at their current financial status and the amount of new clients being referred over to them on a daily weekly to monthly basis. Depending upon the current numbers of incoming new client and their current financial status, managers can then make their decision on whether or not if hiring another dentist would be a great idea for the clinic. In conclusion planning and budgeting covers the entire process of preparing a business for the future. Since it is so important to the success of any organization, especially in healthcare many managers of an healthcare organization have a tendency to spend a great deal of time focusing on the overall planning process in order to keep the business in a successful financial state.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Do Girls in Elementary Schools get better grades. Than boys when the achievement levels are the same?

Marion T. Academy Charter schools are one of the independent public schools in the US. A charter school that establishes each school in a performance contract detailing the scholastic mission, program, goals, and measures of success. They are accountable to their authorizers, parents, and to the public. It’s freed from bureaucracy that often found in traditional schools, charters design and deliver programs tailored to educational excellence for the student and community needs.The creation of the charter school legislation is intended to improve student learning; encourage the use of different and innovative or proven school environments in teaching and learning methods; and provide parents and students with improved measures of school performance and greater opportunities in choosing public schools within and outside their school districts; in order to provide a well-educated community. This research will discuss about the following concern namely:†¢ The Problem: Do girl s in elementary schools get better grades than boys even when the achievement level is the same? †¢ Interpretation of data school profile †¢ Measures applied for the problem †¢ Recommendations findings for the problem Page 3 Do girls in elementary schools get better grades than boys even when the achievement level is the same? Studies believe that both genetics and environment are a factor that can make girls more intelligent than the boys; nutrition is also a huge factor, for example, especially during the developmental years of the child.Some individuals are born with more innate math ability than others. Just as some people are born with radically different physical attributes, and capabilities, the same holds true for their mental attributes. Then, environment kicks in, which is also extremely powerful. In regards to whether males have more innate math ability and if females have more innate ability in verbal/language, most of the studies That have supported the h ypotheses that males have a genetic advantage in spatial-visual stuff, and that females have an advantage in language .Early in the 20th century-old study of researchers discovered that all tests of mental ability ranked individuals in about the same way. Although mental tests are often designed to measure specific domains of cognition–verbal fluency, say, or mathematical skill, spatial visualization or memory–people who do well on one kind of test tend to do well on the others, and people who do poorly intelligence generally do so across the board. This overlap, or Interco relation, suggests that all such tests measure some global element of intellectual ability as well as specific cognitive skills.In recent decades, psychologists have devoted much effort to test intelligent isolating that general factor, which is abbreviated, from the other aspects of cognitive ability gauged in mental tests. The statistical extraction of intelligent quotient is performed by a techni que called factor analysis. Introduced at the turn of the century by British Page 4 Psychologist Charles Spearman, factor analysis determines the minimum number of underlying dimensions necessary to explain a pattern of intelligence.The Interesting thing about the study was that sex hormones may play a part, which would explain why this could be accounted for partly through genetics, since the hormones kick in at puberty. I think this is obviously just the A general factor suffusing all tests is not, as is sometimes argued, a necessary outcome of factor analysis. No general factor has been found in the analysis of personality tests, for example; instead the method usually yields at least five dimensions (neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness to ideas), each relating to different subsets of tests.But, as Spearman observed, a general factor does emerge from analysis of mental ability tests, and leading psychologists, such as Arthur R. Jensen of the U niversity of California at Berkeley and John B. Carroll of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have at this point, and goes against much of gender feminism, although not â€Å"classic† feminism. According to recent studies, girls outperform boys in primary and secondary school and have higher high school graduation rates and higher rates of college admission.In Arizona, the disparity is startling: Statistics published online by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne show that girls score more than five percent higher on the AIMS reading and writing sections at all four tested grade levels. Schools across America report having high female-to-male ratios on honor rolls and in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes, according to The New York Times. For the Class of 2004 in Arizona, graduation rates among white students were 88.7 percent for females and 83. 7 percent for males. The percentage gaps were nearly identical for Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American students. Interpretation of data School profile Page 5 Marion T. Academy Charter School opened in September 2000. The Department of Education and State Board of Education approved this school. The plan for the school was to open with grades K-5 and then add a grade each year until the school was K-7.In September 2000, it opened at a temporary site in modular buildings at 97 Vandever Avenue on the east side of Wilmington, while a permanent facility was under construction. The first year, the school served approximately 400 students in grades K-5. During 2003-04 and the school enrolled approximately 600 students in grades K-8. In summer 2001, the school moved into a permanent facility at 1121 Thatcher Street on the east side of Wilmington, a few blocks away from the original temporary site.To accommodate additional students due to expansion, the school leased additional space at the Police Athletic League Building in Wilmington beginning in school year 2003-04. The school’s charter has been renewed by the Delaware Department of Education and State Board of Education for operation through school year 2007-08. The Secretary of Education and State Board of Education required that the school’s Marion T. Academy Charter School, offers classes for students in kindergarten through sixth grade.It's classified as being in or near a mid-sized city having a population less than 250,000 With 34 full-time classroom teachers, and the school has an approximate student population of 521 with a student/teacher ratio of 15. 6:1. This school allocates approximately $2,977 per pupil for instructional expenses. It is committed in providing a safe, nurturing and challenging learning environment, with the aim of producing responsible and productive citizens in the future. Marion T. Academy Problems encountered Page 6 Marion T. Academy encountered problems during the operations stated as follows:†¢ Marion T. Academy were not offer ed the school choice option and it failed to attempt to enter into a cooperative agreement with another LEA that would have allowed for parents of students with a home â€Å"feeder† school identified for the improvement to select choice options and transfer to a school not identified for improvement. †¢ Marion T. Academy did not budget funds for school choice of transportation to meet the federal spending requirement for school choice transportation costs This school does not have adequate funding to accommodate the transportation costs†¢ Associated with the school choice option of students had been offered and had exercised the school choice option. †¢ Two LEAS’ did not comply with supplemental educational service requirements. The SES parental notification letters sent by CSD and IRSD failed to include all of the information required by the ESEA. And the school had procedural failures contributing to the insufficient implementation of SES at one school . †¢ SES Notification Letters Deficiencies, are the delayed sending of important letters to the parents and other important persons for all the activities and all the achievement and problems of the students.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Quantitative Article Critique-Nursing leadership style and Research Paper

Quantitative Article Critique-Nursing leadership style and psychosocial work environment - Research Paper Example They had indicated that the in terms of leadership, they study sought to find out the extent to which transformational leadership and job satisfaction have a positive relationship. Besides, they sought to find out exactly how leadership style and psychological work environment since there are few studies that lend support to any positive relationship between the two. In order to conduct the study successfully, the purpose of the study was clearly stated in the declarative statement in the aims. For example, the study indicated that the purpose of the study was to obtain a leadership and work environment information for a particular group of leaders. It was also indicated as part of the purpose of the study that the information obtained was to be used by the department that set out to do research to develop a plan for leadership. After elaboration on the purpose of the study, the research had elaborated on the hypotheses to be tested. The study had adopted a non-directional hypothesis in which, for instance, they had stated that there is a significant relationship between transformational leadership components and psychosocial work environment. There were four hypotheses that the study sought to find out. In all the four, the authors had used adopted non-directional hypotheses. The study used a number of independent and dependent variables. The independent variables used in the study were leadership styles. Under leadership component analyzed included leadership style behavior of transformational leadership such as building trust, demonstrating integrity, inspiring others, encouraging others, and coaching. On the other hand, transactional leadership components that the study analyzed included rewarding achievements and monitoring mistakes. The last leadership style that the study analyzed as an independent variable was passive avoidance leadership. The independent variables that were used in the study included psychosocial work

Friday, September 27, 2019

Postmodernism in European and American history Essay

Postmodernism in European and American history - Essay Example The essay "Postmodernism in European and American History" focuses on postmodernist features and how they are recognizable in the contemporary society. Modernism lasted till the World War II and was superseded by a new movement called Postmodernism. Postmodernism is a diverse set of ideas, concepts, models, that emerged â€Å"as a reaction against modernism or as a natural evolution of modernism† in the 1950s after the Second World War. Postmodernist concepts not only projected themselves in the fields of art and literature but also in other areas like architecture, sociology, technology, economics, religion, and communication, thereby on the whole of the society. This influence of postmodernism is continuing even now and so this paper will analyze how the postmodernist features are still recognizable in the contemporary society, from the perspectives of postmodernist thinkers. Jean Baudrillard, French sociologist and a leading postmodernist thinker, was well known for his med ia related theory of â€Å"hyperreality† and â€Å"Simulation†, and how it impacts the society. According to Baudrillard, because of hyperreality created by the media, people in the society are not able to tell what is reality? what is fiction or what is created? It is a â€Å"theory that modern man can no longer tell what reality is because he has become lost in a world of "simulacra", images and signs created and presented as "real" by the mass media†.Baudrillard further argues that mass media has taken the role of ‘God’.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Egyptian Mythology, Egyptians and Tanakh Creations Story Essay - 6

Egyptian Mythology, Egyptians and Tanakh Creations Story - Essay Example The creation stories in the Tanakh and Egyptians epic are similar in that all things were created by the deity conceiving something and pronouncing it by his tongue. The creation stories are also different. The creation stories in the Tanakh have only one Supreme Being, who creates everything. But in the Egyptian and Mesopotamia creation epics, there are many gods, and they are struggling against each other. In the Mesopotamians epic, the opposing force (Tiamat) is destroyed through war but in the Tanakh, the opposing force is not destroyed but cursed. In the Egyptians epic story, the deity is represented by nature like the cloud, sun, earth, sky, etc. But in the Tanakh, God is beyond nature and creation, and He is not part of creation. Biblically, a covenant refers to an agreement between God and His people. God makes promises which He faithfully fulfills if the people abide by the conditions set in the covenant. In the creation, God created Adam and gave him dominion over the earth on the condition that He will not eat the tree of Knowledge of good and evil(Gen 2:17). But Adam disobeyed and ate the fruit and hence broke the covenant and, as a result, was cursed and cast out of Eden. Later on, the world became very corrupt, and God decided to destroy the whole earth by water but saved Noah and his household (Gen 6:7-8). After the Flood had receded, God made a covenant with Noah that God will never again destroy the world by water. After the flood, the people came together and decided to build the tower of Babel that was to reach the sky (Gen 11:3-4). God come and confused the people with different languages, and they were scattered (Gen 11:8). God desired to save man, and He called Abraham so that through Him, the man could come into a relationship with God (Gen 17:1-8). Abraham was to live faithfully and blameless before God. Israelites were not only a people of the covenant but also a political  community. The captives of Judah were allowed to return to Jerusalem by Cyrus, King of Persia in his first year of rule. Ezra and Nehemiah record the reconstitution of the nation of Judah through the rebuilding of the temple.  

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Satisfactory Data Sheet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Satisfactory Data Sheet - Essay Example Therefore, the substance is label correctly and should note be disputed. Thus, the word â€Å"Warning† on the supplier SDS is not correct; hence, it should be replaced by â€Å"caution† from the CLP database. The following is the advice to the procurement team and the manufacturing managers: Companies should be held responsible for the management of risks regarding chemicals and the provision of safety information on them. Importers and manufacturers must gather and communicate on the ingredients and properties of chemicals. This is important so that users can know how best to handle them with utmost care. The regulations of Classification, labeling and Packaging stipulate that Hazards must be communicated clearly to worker and consumers of the member states. They must single out any chemical substance property with potential dangers to animals, human and the environment (European Chemical Agency, 2014). Classification must be done in line with the hazards identified. Labelling should be done properly so that buyers or consumers can read and understand their effects clearly. In Biocidal products regulation, the suppliers must provide information on the active biocidal substances. This is because they all need authorization from ECHA on top of the national authority for them to be released to the market (ECHA, 2014). Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). (2014). United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Retrieved from:

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

LLB Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

LLB - Assignment Example The author asks Kaplan why he believes that the Balanced Scorecard had become so entrenched in the business world and its internal process and matrix. To which Kaplan sites what he feels is the tremendous communication gap between those creating the strategy and vision of the company at the top, and those that are attempting to implement that strategy on the front lines and in the real world at the bottom, so to speak. Kaplan states that the Balanced Scorecard helps to bridge the gap between the vision of upper management and the implementation of that vision into strategy by the staff. When asked if this system is still useful today and not â€Å"passà ©Ã¢â‚¬  as others have said, Kaplan responds by stating that book sales are still high and the attendance at Balanced Scorecard conferences are growing. He also sites that many countries Asia are implementing the technique in their larger organizations and he has also seen a rise of its use in many non-profit companies both here and abroad. Kaplan also believes that many companies are still struggling with getting their strategies out into practical business practice and that these companies have failed to utilize most of the non-financial metrics in their business evaluations, leaving them in the dust as far as any progress is concerned. He is currently working on another concept called a Strategy Map, which will hopefully guide companies along the process of strategy implementation. Kaplan believes that the Balanced Scorecard will be a valuable business tool for many years to come and he would like to see much more research done in the area of creating excitement and greater participation by employees to help them with the task of strategy implementation. By giving employees proper motivation he believes that any strategy can succeed, and will certainly fail without

Monday, September 23, 2019

Florida Department of Management Services Case Study

Florida Department of Management Services - Case Study Example For this to be achieved, connections of virtual point-to-point must be done. These connections make use of encryptions and dedicated connection easy. This brings about a similarity in the manner in which access to information on the extended network and the way there is access on the private network. This way, employees are able to access information from the department of management intranet while they are far from the office. This starts with entering the employee’s identification credentials. That way, other internet users who are not employees cannot be able to access it (Cordin, 2006). The IP security on the other hand acts as a filter for traffic going through the administrator of the network. It ensures access to only those authenticated. The IP security authenticates and encrypts every communication session IP packet. It includes mutual authentication establishment protocols between agents while starting the session as well as cryptographic key’s negotiation in the course of the session. It therefore protects the flow of data between security gates pair, host pair or network to host. An IP security protects the IP network against application traffic. The IP security therefore, is a security mechanism (Peterovic, 2009). The transition the Florida department of management system was to be carried out in two phases; shadowing and on-the-job transition. During shadowing, the new service provider worked under the former provider and observed the daily operations. During this period, the new provider read the relevant material in order to get familiar with the actual work. On job transition, on the other hand, allowed the new provider to participate in the process. This, however, made the process unnecessarily long and costly. During this transition, the IP infrastructure was developed. After this, DMS started adding applications. One of the most widely used applications was the system of Client /server employment. The former system was used to store information to be used to store data of 125,000 employees. This system had proven to be more secure and offered reliable services. It was however, very slow. This configuration catered for 6000 users all over the state (Afuah, 2012). SNA control processors controlled the users. During transition, they were transformed into router networks. The router networks were stationed in deferent parts and centralized to a central router. This increased the speed and access of information about employees. Furthermore, this made payment of salaries easier. This however, comes along with many challenges. In the transition, issues of security of the data were not addressed. The employees could easily access all the information that needed not to be in their custody. Furthermore, the new structure opened up room for other internet users to access the information that could otherwise be considered confidential. This therefore, compromised the security (Afuah, 2012). One of the services offere d on the DMS website include provision for jobs and vacancies posting (Afuah, 2009). While this can be viewed as a good service, it comes along with several challenges. To begin with, it allows for frauds since it is hard to distinguish between genuine employers and those who want to take advantage of Job seekers by stilling from them. Furthermore, the online job posting could lead to very many responses many of which are from unqualified people. This makes

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Marketing Assignment. SABIC Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing . SABIC - Assignment Example SABIC was founded in 1976 and operates globally in more than 44 countries in the world. The company is estimated to have more than 33,000 employees all over the world (Sabic.com, 2012). The organisational structure of SABIC includes a total of six different business units, namely Chemicals, Performance Chemicals, Polymers, Fertilizers, Innovative Plastics and Metals. All these business units are engaged in the production of four product types, namely Chemicals which includes Performance Chemicals, Fertilizers, Metals and Plastics which includes Innovative Plastics and Polymers (Companydatabase.org, 2009). For the year 2011, SABIC recorded a net profit equalling SR 29 billion and its annual turnover for the year was SR 129 billion. PEST Analysis Political The government of Saudi Arabia follows a system of monarchy. No political party is officially recognised in the country. Holy Quran is considered to be the constitution of Saudi Arabia and Sharia (Islamic Law) forms the basis for its governance. A central government has been developed by the kings of Saudi Arabia. A wide range of powers are concentrated in the hands of the king of Saudi Arabia. Political reforms have been initiated in the country with the formation of Shura or National Constitutive Council. The members of Shura have advisory powers regarding issues related to public interest. There has been a gradual expansion of the royally appointed Sharia over the past few years (US Department of State, 2011). No income taxes are imposed on Saudi nationals and foreigners working in the country. Only foreign investors are required to pay taxes on their net profit. However the Sura Council members are thinking of the proposal of taxing foreign expatriates. Economic Major economic activities are strongly controlled by the government of Saudi Arabia. Major revenue earnings are derived from the petroleum sector. Private sector growth is being encouraged in the country to promote diversification of economy and emp loyment of Saudi nationals. The effort of diversification is concentrated on telecommunications, power generation, petrochemical sector and exploration of natural gas. There is an unemployment problem mainly because of lack of education and technical expertise amongst Saudi nationals and government is making concentrated efforts to address this issue. Foreign investment is being promoted in the country (CIA, 2012). Socio-Cultural Islam is the predominant religion in the country and Arabic is its official language. Saudi Arabia has a conservative cultural environment. Officially the country strictly adheres to the Islamic law and its Wahhabi interpretations. Cultural presentations are supposed to be in conformity with the ethical standards which are narrowly defined. Technological The country is experiencing rapid advancements in technology. Increased use of internet in business activities in the country. Growing advancements in e-Commerce and electronic service technologies (Al-Ghai th, Sanzogni, & Sandhu. 2010, p.1). Analysis of Ten Trends Affecting the Organisation Political Trends 1. The political environment of Saudi Arabia is quite stable. The country is devoid of any democratic system. National elections are not held in the country and political parties do not exist. Hence it has a positive impact on the business environment of SABIC and the company is

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Mesopotamia and Egypt Essay Example for Free

Mesopotamia and Egypt Essay The early civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt were very similar, but they were also different in some ways. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt developed their civilizations centered on rivers, but these rivers were polar opposites. Mesopotamia was between two rivers called the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Egypt’s civilization developed around the Nile River. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers differed from the Nile River. The Nile River was calm, and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers were wild and very unpredictable. Since these rivers had opposite behaviors, Mesopotamia’s specialty was in irrigation, while Egypt was a more agricultural society. Mesopotamia and Egypt were very similar in their roots, but they also had distinctive forms of social organization and religious observance that developed because of the rivers that surrounded them. Mesopotamia’s social organization was a way to differentiate between rulers and those who were commoners. Each city-state in Mesopotamia had elders and young men that made decisions for the community. Rulers protected their access to both political and economic resources by creating systems of bureaucracies, priesthoods, and laws. Priests and bureaucrats served their leaders well, defending and advocating rules and norms that validated the political leadership. Lists of professions were passed around so each person could know his or her place in the social order. The king and priest were at the top of the social structure followed by bureaucrats who were scribes, supervisors, and craft workers. The craft workers were jewelers, gardeners, potters, metal smiths, and traders; this was the largest group of the social structure. The craft workers were not slaves but they depended on their employer’s households. People rarely moved from one social level to another. Not only was there organization between society in general, but there was also specific organization between families. In families, the senior male became the patriarch. A family was made up of a husband and a wife who was bound by a contract that stated that the wife would provide children, preferably male, and the husband would provide support an d protection. If there was no male child, a second wife or slave could bear children to serve as the couple’s offspring. In families, sons would inherit the family’s property and the daughters would receive dowries. Priests were at the top of the social organization with the king because they lived in temples, which represented  the cities’ power. Bureaucrats were at the top of the social structure underneath the main people of power because they were scribes. Mesopotamia was the world’s first city to keep records and read, developing a writing system. Writing became important to the development of cities and enabled people to share information across greater distances and over longer periods of time. Scribes played a significant role in developing a writing system that people anywhere and in the future could decipherer. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers served as major communication and transportation routes for Mesopotamia. The need for a system of record keeping developed because farmers and officials needed a way to keep track of the distribution of goods and services. It was important to keep track of goods and services because long-distance trade was very important to Mesopot amia since it lacked many raw materials that were crucial to developing the city. On the other hand, in Egypt, the social organization was similar to Mesopotamia, but differed just slightly. At the top was a Pharaoh or also called a king was the center of Egyptian life followed by priests, scribes, craftsmen, and lastly farmers and slaves. The Pharaoh was at the center of life and had the responsibility to ensure that flooding of the Nile River continued without interruption and had the responsibility to develop a vibrant economy. Egyptians believed that the Pharaoh was a descendant from the gods. Egypt had one advantage that Mesopotamia did not have, the Nile River. The Nile River was navigable and provided annual floods. These annual floods allowed for regular moisture. Even though the Nile River did not fertilize the fields as wells as the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia, the yearly floods meant that the topsoil was renewed every year, making the soil easy to plant in. Egypt also had the sun that allowed a bountiful agriculture. Egypt, similarly to Mesopotamia, was a scribe nation. Since little people were literate in both Mesopotamia and Egypt, a scribesâ €™ social status was increased automatically. However, even though both Mesopotamia and Egypt were scribal cultures, Egypt appeared to be more literate. This could be because Egypt developed later than Mesopotamia, and they may have used it more since Egypt had the Nile River. The Nile provided for good harvest allowing Egypt’s economy to flourish. Since Egypt had good harvest, they may have needed to keep better track of goods and services because they had more goods to keep track of since they had better harvest than  Mesopotamia. Social structure in Egypt and Mesopotamia was not the only thing that was affected by the rivers. Another aspect of early civilization that was affected by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia was religion. Mesopotamians had beliefs in gods that molded their political organizations and controlled everything. They believed the gods controlled weather, fertility, harvests, and the underworld. They had to respect their gods, but they also feared them because they were powerful. A major way for Mesopotamians to worship their gods was through the temples. Temples were gods’ homes and were the cities’ identity. To demonstrate cities’ power, rulers would elaborately decorate temples. The priests and other officials lived in the temples and worked to serve gods, the most pow erful immortal beings to the Mesopotamians. Temples ran productive and commercial activities and those that were close to the river would hire workers to hunt, fish, and collect. The temples were a way for people to worship their gods and show their faithfulness to them. Therefore, since the Mesopotamians believed that the gods controlled everything including weather and harvest, two important aspects in Mesopotamia civilization, it was important that they stay faithful to their gods since they did not have the best rivers. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers would flood if there was heavy rainfall during the height of the agricultural season. Thus, if they worshiped their gods frequently, the Mesopotamians may believe that the gods will bestow good weather eliminating floods more often, creating a better year of harvest. Like Mesopotamia, each region in Egypt had its own god. In addition, Egypt also had temples to worship their gods. In Egypt, gods were inactive and the kings, or pharaohs, were active. The pharaoh had responsibility to uphold cults while the priests were to uphold regular rituals. The pharaoh acted as a mediator between the gods and the people o f the city. He supported the gods through rituals held in temples, which the Egyptians contributed many resources to. Since trade from the Nile River allowed the city of Egypt to prosper economically, they had more resources to build more elaborate temples and later on pyramids. Pyramids were unique to Egyptian culture. The pyramids became a place for state rituals and were very important to Egyptian culture. Since Egypt prospered because of its location next to the Nile, they had an abundance of resources that was necessary to build the intricate temples. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were  riverine cultures. Each city had its own unique social organization and religious beliefs, but they had similar roots. Both civilizations were scribal cultures, but since Egypt had the Nile River, the two civilizations differed. Since both civilizations were scribal, scribes attained great social status under the king and priests. Egypt prospered greatly from the resources that the predictable Nile River offered. Mesopotamia had the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that were unpredictable, but still provided for irrigation and allowed the city to advance in irrigation technology and opened the city up to the surrounding cities. Mesopotamia and Egypt both had polytheism and worshiped their gods in temples. Instead of referring to the king like in Mesopotamia, Egypt refers to the pharaoh. Egypt believed that the pharaoh communicated with the gods. The rivers in both Mesopotamia and Egypt opened these areas up to the rest of the world and allowed for great economic growth.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Exchange Rate Mechanisms And Regimes In India Finance Essay

Exchange Rate Mechanisms And Regimes In India Finance Essay India has gone through several stages of economic development ever since it received Independence on the 15th of August, 1947. Most notable of these stages would be the liberalisation of the economy in 1991. Until the liberalization of 1991, India was largely and intentionally isolated from the world markets, to protect its economy and to achieve self-reliance. Foreign trade was subject to import tariffs, export taxes and quantitative restrictions, while foreign direct investment (FDI) was restricted by upper-limit equity participation, restrictions on technology transfer, export obligations and government approvals.* Following a Balance of Payments crisis in the year 1991, India was literally forced to open its doors to international business, a notion previously held as most evil to the countrys growth by its leaders. It had to change its stance on several aspects of international trade, including the Exchange Rate policy adopted. But, in hindsight, we would all agree that liberalisation was a smart, if delayed, move on part of the countrys government. The economy is flourishing like never before. India is now considered a powerhouse on the global stage rather than a Third-World country. The countrys international transactions are now becoming a worrying concern for yesteryears champions like the United States and Great Britain. Since liberalization, the value of Indias international trade has become more broad-based and has risen to Rs. 63,080,109 crores in 2003-04 from Rs.1,250 crores in 1950-51. Indias major trading partners are China, the US, the UAE, the UK, Japan and the EU. The exports during April 2007 were $12.31 billion up by 16% and import were $17.68 billion with an increase of 18.06% over the previous year.* This document will give a brief overview of the Exchange Rate policy currently adopted by the countrys central banker, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which has made all of this possible. *Source: Wikipedia Economy of India (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_India) History of Exchange Rate Regimes in India* During the period 1950-1951 until mid-December 1973, India followed an exchange rate regime with Rupee linked to the Pound Sterling, except for the devaluations in 1966 and 1971. When the Pound Sterling floated on June 23, 1972, the Rupees link to the British units was maintained; paralleling the Pounds depreciation and effecting a de facto devaluation. On September 24, 1975, the Rupees ties to the Pound Sterling were broken. India conducted a managed float exchange regime with the Rupees effective rate placed on a controlled, floating basis and linked to a basket of currencies of Indias major trading partners. In early 1990s, the above exchange rate regime came under severe pressures from the increase in trade deficit and net invisible deficit. In the aftermath of a balance of payments crisis in 1991, stabilization was undertaken simultaneously with structural reforms over wide areas of the Indian economy. This dramatic change in context fundamentally altered the manner in which monetary policy began to be formulated, especially the forex policy adopted by the country. This shift led the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to undertake downward adjustment of Rupee in two stages on July 1 and July 3, 1991. This adjustment was followed by the introduction of the Liberalized Exchange Rate Management System (LERMS) in March 1992 and hence the adoption of, for the first time, a dual (official as well as market determined) exchange rate in India. However, such system was characterized by an implicit tax on exports resulting from the differential in the rates of surrender to export proceeds. Subsequently, in March 1993, the LERMS was replaced by the unified exchange rate system and hence the system of market determined exchange rate was adopted. However, the RBI did not relinquish its right to intervene in the market to enable orderly control. In addition, the foreign exchange market of India was characterized by the existence of both official and black market rates with median premium. However, such black market premium steadily declined during the following decades until 1993. RBIs official position on the current Exchange Rate Policy: The objective of the exchange rate management has been to ensure that the external value of the Rupee is realistic and credible as evidenced by a sustainable current account deficit and manageable foreign exchange situation. Subject to this predominant objective, the exchange rate policy is guided by the need to reduce speculative activities, help maintain an adequate level of reserves, and develop an orderly foreign exchange market. *Source: International Economics Historical Exchange Rate Regimes of Asian Countries (http://intl.econ.cuhk.edu.hk/exchange_rate_regime/index.php?cid=15) Exchange Rates In international transactions, if we export goods to other countries, our exporter in India would like to be paid in Indian Rupees whereas the foreign buyer would like to pay in his home currency. If the buyer is in United States, he will pay only in US Dollars. Thus, it becomes necessary to convert this US Dollars into Indian Rupees. The rate at which USD is converted into Indian Rupees is known as Exchange Rate. In short, exchange rate is the ratio used to convert one currency into another. Exchange rates are quoted under two methods: Direct method Indirect method. Direct Quotations While quoting the exchange rate for a currency if the unit of foreign currency is kept constant and its value is expressed in terms of variable home currency the method of quoting exchange rate is known as Direct Quotation. In this case, the unit of home currency will be varying for every unit of foreign currency. e.g., USD 1 = Rs. 48.85 GBP 1 = Rs. 75.2550 Effective from August, 6, 1993 we have changed our system of quoting exchange rates to Direct Quotations. By adopting this system, we have fallen in line with the International practice. It has become more transparent for the dealing public and it will be easier for them to follow up the movement of exchange rates. Indirect Quotations When the unit of home currency is kept constant and the unit of home currency is expressed in terms of variable units foreign currency, then this method of quoting exchange rate is called Indirect Quotation. Prior to August 1993, we were following this system for quoting exchange rates. e.g., Rs.l00/- = USD 2.2400 Rs.l00/- = GBP 1.2400 Two Way Quotes In other commercial transactions whenever we enquire the price of a commodity the seller will immediately quote his selling price. But in Foreign exchange market exchange rates are always quoted for buying and selling i.e., one rate for buying and the other rate for selling. For example, if Bank X calls for the rates from Bank Y for USD/INR Bank Y will quote: USD/INR = 42.15/16 It means that Bank Y is prepared to buy USD at Rs.42.15 and sell at 42.16. This method of quoting both buying and selling rates is known as Two Way Quotation. For all practical purposes if we treat Foreign Exchange as a commodity, the logic and application of this Two-way quotation can be understood easily, i.e., a trader will always be willing to buy a commodity at a lesser price and sell at a higher price. The principle or maxim involved in this method of quotation is: BUY LOW SELL HIGH (Under Direct Quotation) Different Transactions and Relevant Exchange Rates In the above examples, (a) is an outward remittance, which does not involve any additional labor. Bank will be recovering the rupee equivalent from the customer and remit the foreign exchange to their correspondent Bank as per their drawing arrangements with instructions to pay to the lending financial institution on behalf of their customer. If it is a remittance relating to an import bill, (b), as a banker, bank will be verifying the documents, entering them in their register, presenting the bill to the importer for payment and also check whether all the conditions stipulated by the correspondent bank are complied with. For this nature of involvement of manpower, Bank is eligible for some additional compensation. This compensation will be loaded or adjusted while quoting the exchange rate for this import transaction. In other words, the exchange rate for import transaction will be costlier to the customer when compared to the exchange rate for clean outward remittances. The differe nt rates quoted for these two transactions are TT selling and bill selling. Likewise, Bank will quote different buying rates for export bills and for other clean inward remittances. Following are the different rates, which are quoted to the customer depending upon the nature of transaction: Buying Rates: A.l. TT Buying Rate: (NATURE OF TRANSACTIONS) Clean inward remittance (TT, PO, MT, and DD) for which cover has already been provided in ADs Nostro Account abroad. Conversion of proceeds of instruments sent on collection basis. [When proceeds are credited to Nostro Account] Cancellation of outward TT, MT, PO, DD etc. Cancellation of forward sale contract. Undrawn portion of an Export Bill realised. A.2. Bill Buying Rate: (NATURE-OF TRANSACTIONS) 1. Purchase/ negotiation/ discounting of export bills and other instruments. Selling Rates: B.l. TT Selling Rate. (NATURE OF TRANSACTIONS) Outward remittance in foreign currency (TT, MT, PO, DD) Cancellation of purchase transactions, i.e., Bill purchased earlier is returned unpaid Bill purchased earlier is transferred to collection account. Inward remittance received earlier (converted into rupees) is refunded to the remitting bank. Cancellation of Forward purchase contract. Remittances relating to payment of import bills, which are directly received by the importer. Crystallisation of overdue export bills. NOTE: If the remittance is a clean remittance i.e. no documents are to be handled by the banks, TT Selling rate will be applied. B.2. Bill Selling Rate. 1. Transaction involving remittance of proceeds of import bill (except bills received directly by the. importer) NOTE: Even if the proceeds of the import bills are to be remitted in foreign Currency by way of DD, MT, TT, and PO rate to be applied will be Bill Selling rate. 2. Crystallisation of overdue import bills. Apart from the above, separate rates will be quoted for selling and buying of Travelers Cheques and Foreign currency notes. Calculation of Merchant Rates FEDAI has provided detailed guidelines for calculation of exchange rates for merchant transactions. Following factors are to be taken into account by banks before quoting rates to customers: STEP 1. Arrive at the cover rate i.e. the rate at which ADs will be covering the transaction in the market immediately the customer delivers the instrument. It may also be treated as the rate at which the AD can dispose off / acquire the Foreign Exchange in/from the market. STEP 2. Load the prescribed profit margin. EXCHANGE MARGIN: FEDAI has left the discretion of loading profit margin to the individual banks. It is now purely at the discretion of the individual Bankers to load the appropriate exchange margin and improve the exchange rate depending upon the volume and nature of the transaction. STEP 3. Rounding off the transaction to the nearest 4 decimals, i.e., .0025/50/75/00. EXAMPLE: Exporter has submitted a bill for USD 100,000. Inter-bank exchange rate 48.02/03 Profit margin 1.5 paise STEP 1: Select the appropriate base rate at which the bank can dispose off the USD against Indian Rupee in the market. In this case, Bank may be able to dispose off USD 100000 at Rs. 48.02 in the Inter Bank market at the market-buying rate. STEP 2: Load the prescribed profit margin: Base rate Rs.48.02 Deduct the profit margin: Rs.48.0200 0.0150 = Rs.48.0050 Since Bank will be paying Indian Rupees to exporter customer, Bank will be deducting their profit margin from the rupee proceeds. STEP 3: Round off to the nearest 4 decimals. In the above transaction, Bank will be quoting the rate as 48.0050 to the customer. Cross Rates / Chain Rule If a Corporate wants to purchase Euro (EUR) since this currency is not normally quoted in India, AD will procure US Dollars from Inter-bank market against Rupees and will contact any of the overseas market to get Euro by disposing the US Dollars. E.g., A customer wants to retire an import bill for EUR 50,000 and the Inter Bank rate for USD/INR is at 39.02/03 and the overseas market rate for EUR/USD is 0.8920/30. In order to arrive at the EUR/INR exchange rate Bank will be applying following Chain Rule method. It should be noted that the market quote for EUR/USD is expressed under Indirect quotation i.e., one unit of Euro will be equivalent to how much USD. First leg of the transaction is, Authorised Dealer procures USD against Indian Rupees from inter-bank market: USD $1 = Rs.39.03 i.e. to procure US$ 1, AD will pay Rs.39.03 in the Interbank. With this USD, AD will go to London market and procure EUR paying USD 0.8930 for one EUR. By applying Chain Rule : 1 EUR = USD 0.8930 1 USD = INR 48.03 Then 1 EUR will be equivalent to 0.8930*39.03 = INK 39.8907 Rounding off to 4 decimals = Rs.39.8925 This method of arriving at the value of other currencies through US Dollar or any other third currency is known as Cross Rate or Chain Rule. Card Rates Dealing room of all banks as soon as open for that days business, works out the exchange rate for all the major currencies and for all types of transactions. This rate will be communicated to all branches of the bank. This rate will be the indicative rates and this rate will be applicable only for transaction up to the prescribed level i.e., smaller value transactions. Spot Rates Forward Rates We have learnt that exchange rate is the price at which one currency can be bought or sold for another currency. The date on which currencies are exchanged can be any date from the date starting from the date of transaction to any future dates. Transactions may be either Spot or forward depending upon the delivery of the Foreign Exchange. Under Spot, we have CASH-SPOT, TOM-SPOT. If the exchange of currencies takes place on the same day of transaction, it is known as CASH DEAL. If the exchange of currencies takes place on the next working day, i.e. tomorrow, it is known as TOM-DEAL. If the exchange of currencies takes place on the second working day after the date of transaction it is known as SPOT DEAL. Normally exchange rates are quoted on spot basis i.e., the settlement will take place on the second working day after the date of transaction. Wherever foreign exchange will be delivered after SPOT date, it is known as Forward transactions. Going back to the above Import transaction, if the Importer gets the information that his shipment will be reaching India only after 3 months it is possible that due to exchange fluctuations he may have to pay more in Rupee terms. If he feels that the exchange rate on the third month, at the time of retirement of the import bill, will not be favorable to him, he may like to fix an assured rate for his future transaction. This type of fixing the exchange rate for a future transaction, at the desired time earlier to the date of actual transaction is known as Forward contracts. Premium/Discount on Direct Quotations If we are familiar with commodity or share market it would be known that spot rate, forward rates are different, and they need not be the same. This is so because the anticipated demand and supply and the cost situations at the forward date may not necessarily be identical with that of the existing at present. The commodity/share could be quoted at a higher (premium) or lower (discount) rate for future deliveries. We shall illustrate this with an example: Spot interbank rate of USD 1 = Rs.39.25 3 months forward USD 1 = Rs.39.95 If one has to buy dollar three months forward against Rupees, he has to pay 70 paise more for the same dollar, i.e., 3 months dollar will be costlier by 70 paise compared to spot rate. Therefore US Dollar is said to be at premium in forwards vis-a-vis rupee. In direct quotations premium is always added to both the buying and selling spot rates. In another situation: Spot interbank rate of USD 1 = JPY 108.50 3 months forward USD 1 = JPY 106.50 From the above illustration it will be seen that the USD/JPY for 3 months forward is available at a cheaper rate as compared to spot. In other words USD is cheaper by 2 JPY forward compared to spot. i.e., USD is at discount in forwards vis-a-vis JPY direct quotations. Discount factor is always deducted from the buying and selling spot rate. From the above it is now clear that if we compare spot and forward rates we are able to arrive at the following three possibilities: a. If the spot rate and the forward rate are the same they are at par. b. In direct quotations if forward rate is more than the spot rate the base currency is said to be at premium. c. In direct quotations if forward rate is less than the spot rate the base currency is said to be at discount. Quoting Forward Rates Forward differentials are always quoted in two figures like, 15/16 and 15/14. It will be either at ascending or descending order. If the first figure is less than the second figure {in ascending order} then the base currency is said to be at premium. In direct quotations premium is always added to both the buying and selling rates. If it is a buying transaction for the bank, the quoting bank will add lesser of the two premium figures so as to give minimum rupees. Likewise if it is a selling transaction, the quoting bank, will add higher of the two premium figures to take the maximum amount in rupees for selling a foreign currency. EXAMPLE Interbank market rates: Spot USD: Rs.39.2025/2100 1 month forward 15/16 a) We have an export bill transaction. Since the forward differentials are in ascending order the base currency, USD is at premium. Hence, it should be added with the spot rate to arrive at the forward rate. Out of the two premium figures (15/16) since Bank will be giving Indian rupees, they will give minimum amount in rupees. Step 1: Spot buying rate USD 1 = Rs.39.2025 Step 2: To arrive at the forward rate: Since the base currency is at premium and Bank has to give rupees, add the minimum premium, i.e., add 15 paise to the spot rate. Spot buying rate USD 1 = Rs. 39.2025 Add premium = Rs. 00.1600 Rs. 39.3625 Hence, the forward rate for this export transaction will be Rs.39.3625. b) In an import transaction, while recovering rupees from the importer customer, for one-month forward rate, Bank will add the maximum premium i.e. 16 paise and the forward rate for Banks selling transaction would be: Spot selling rate USD 1 = Rs. 39.2100 Add premium = Rs. 00.1600 Forward rate for selling = Rs.39.3700 If the forward differentials are on the descending order i.e., 25/24, the base currency is said to be at discount. In direct quotations, if the base currency is at a discount, discount factor is always deducted from the spot rate. When two discount figures are quoted if it is a buying transaction (export bills) in which bank will be giving rupees, they will be deducting higher of the two figures and give minimum rupees. EXAMPLE: Interbank market Spot USD 1 = Rs.39.2725/00 1 month forward 25/24 (paise) To arrive at the 1-month forward rates: Buying Selling (Export bill) (Import bill) Inter-bank Spot 39.2725 39.2800 Deduct the discount 0.2500 0.2400 1 month forward rate 39.0225 39.0400 From the above example, in direct quotations, in selling transactions, lesser amount of discount is deducted to take maximum rupees for every dollar. RBI Regulations on Forward Contracts A person resident in India may enter into a forward contract with an authorized dealer to hedge an exposure to exchange risk subject to production of satisfactory documentary evidence about the genuineness of the underlying exposure. This has been relaxed on 1.12.2001 -vide RBI guidelines EC/CO/FMD/453/18.07.01 /2001-02 wherein Reserve Bank permits Authorized Dealers to book FWD contracts based on a declaration of an exposure subject to: FWD contracts booked in aggregate, should not exceed 50%of the average of previous 3 financial years actual import/export turnover subject to a cap of USD 100 Mn or equivalent. Declaration to AD about amount booked with other Authorised Dealers Undertaking to produce supporting documentary evidence before maturity of the FWD contract. Substitution of contracts for hedging trade transactions may be permitted on satisfactory reasons Contracts involving rupee as one of the currencies, once cancelled shall not be re-booked although they can be rolled over at ongoing rates on or before maturity. This restriction shall not apply to contracts covering export transactions, which may be cancelled, rebooked or rolled over at on-going rates.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

To the Marketing Manager :: Business and Management Studies

To the Marketing Manager Introduction The pet food market has experienced steady growth for years and despite a slight decline in pet ownership, pet food sales have increased. This is especially true for cat food sales, which reflects the fact that cats are outpacing dogs slowly but steady. As the trend is going towards pets being treated as a part of the family, they deserve food that is equal in the way to human dishes. These and other factors are the foundation of our report on entering the promising cat food market. Main The current cat food market is dominated by 2 multinational players, namely Mars (Masterfoods) with a share of 40% of the market and Nestlà ¨ (Friskies UK) with 41 %. (Mintel, 2002). As these firms have established their position on a solid basis, it is recommended to avoid direct competition with these brands. Therefore a strategy based on pure specialisation seems to be the best way to enter the market, therefore introducing a niche product. We would suggest entering with a highly-specialised, super-premium product for the cat food market, as cats are generally fussy eaters and their owners are willing to spend a great amount of money in order to satisfy their pet’s needs. (Keynote, 2003) Recent statistics have revealed that the trend is going towards focusing on health issues and functionality. The product should include a certain amount of vitamins and minerals, as well as special medical ingredients to strengthen the cat’s immune system. Furthermore the product should contain purely of organic ingredients. (PFMA) Concerning the product design, there’s recently the trend of ‘humanisation’ even when it comes to the recipe. Culinary choices should be made available to the consumer, such as pasta and rice dishes and consideration should be taken to suit different expectations of pet owners living in different countries, thus having a different attitude due to their culture. Additionally different age types should be targeted separately, as young kittens have different needs and desires than older cats. Kittens may need less food, resulting in smaller portions, whereas old cats need special nutrition to stay healthy and live longer. This should be a further element of our specialisation process. (Mars, 2003) Great emphasis has been placed on the convenience of the product package and design, for example single serve trays have proven to be widely accepted amongst pet owners, as they are easy to store and can provide the right amount for one meal. Re-sealable package, such as foil sachets, are also very popular, as they provide the owner with control and keeps the freshness of the food. In order to underline the natural and organic ingredients of the

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

The Technology of Landing on Mars :: Computers Space Papers

The Technology of Landing on Mars While just traveling to Mars is a difficult task, landing on the planet has proved to be next to impossible, with only a small fraction of the attempted landings ending in success. Over the years there have been several different designs of Martian landers that have attempted to slip past the proverbial â€Å"galactic ghoul† protecting the planet Mars. However, few of these designs have fared successful at landing smoothly. These technologies have ranged from the original Viking using aero braking and rocket power, to the Mars Pathfinder mission’s novel air bag solution. In order to gain insight into the surface of the red planet, landing is a must. Thus, the potential solutions and their benefits and drawbacks must be examined. The Purpose: Delta V Requirement To get from orbit around Mars to the surface requires a significant amount of braking. First, the lander in orbit has a large amount of gravitational energy with respect to the surface of the planet. Second, orbiting the planet requires a certain velocity that will be greater than the velocity of rotation of the planet for a low orbit, this excess velocity must be bled off as well. Energy requirements they are usually expressed in terms of the change in velocity necessary for a given maneuver, or delta-v. To escape from a planet requires a certain increase in velocity and to land requires a certain decrease. Either way, however, energy is required; in absolute terms, the energy required to land should match the energy required to escape. Escaping the surface of the Earth requires about 11,000 m/s of delta-v. To travel to Mars orbit about 6,000 m/s is required. The smallest portion of the delta-v required is the approximately 5,000 m/s necessary to land on the surface of Mars. (Clarke 221). However, what makes this one of the most interesting phase of the trip is that whereas we pretty much know what to expect from the first two legs of the trip, what types of situations we may encounter on landing are largely unknown. How To: Methods of Landing There are several different options to lower the velocity of the lander once it has reached the planet. These options are generally used in combination with one another for maximum effect. Each has its own advantages and drawbacks, but in combination, some of these can be alleviated. Aerodynamic Drag The most broadly used, and most useful, of the speed-reduction mechanisms fall under the category of aerodynamic drag.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Linguistic Performance and Competence Essay

Linguistic Knowledge Speakers’ linguistic knowledge permits them to form longer and longer sentences by joining sentences and phases together or adding modifiers to a noun. whether you stop at three, five or eighteen adjectives, it is impossible to limit the number you could add if desired. Very long sentences are theoretically possible, but they are highly improbable. Evidently, there is a difference between having the knowledge necessary to produce sentences of a language, and applying this knowledge. It is a difference between what you know, which your linguistic competence  is, and how you use this knowledge in actual speech production and comprehension, which is your linguistic performance. Linguistic Performance Linguistic Performance – a speaker’s actual use of language in real situations; what the speaker actually says, including grammatical errors and other non-linguistic features such as hesitations and other disfluencies. When we speak, we usually wish to convey some message. At some stage in the act of producing speech, we must organize our thoughts into strings of words. Sometimes the message is garbled. We may stammer, or  pause, or produce slips of the tongue. We may even sound like the baby, who illustrates the difference between linguistic knowledge and the way we use that knowledge in performance. Linguistic Competence Linguistic competence is a term used by speech experts and anthropologists to describe how language is defined within a community of speakers. This term applies to mastering the combination of sounds, syntax and semantics known as the grammar of a language. †¢ACCORDING TO CHOMSKY, COMPETENCE IS THE ‘IDEAL’ LANGUAGE SYSTEM THAT makes it possible for speakers to produce and understand an infinite  number of sentences in their language, and to distinguish grammatical sentences from ungrammatical sentences. oThis means a person’s ability to create and understand sentences, including sentences they have never heard before. Competence versus Performance â€Å"Linguistic theory is concerned primarily with an ideal speaker-listener, in a completely homogeneous speech-communication, who know it’s (the speech community’s) language perfectly and that it is unaffected by such grammatically irrelevant conditions as memory limitations, distractions, shifts of attention and interest, and errors (random or characteristic) in  applying his knowledge of this language in actual performance. â€Å" Chomsky differentiates competence, which is an idealized capacity, from performance being the production of actual utterances. According to him, competence is the ideal speaker-hearer’s knowledge of his or her language and it is the ‘mental reality’ which is responsible for all those aspects of language use which can be characterized as ‘linguistic’. Chomsky argues that only under an idealized situation whereby the speaker-hearer is unaffected by grammatically irrelevant conditions such as memory limitations and distractions  will performance be a direct reflection of competence. A sample of natural speech consisting of numerous false starts and other deviations will not provide such data. Therefore, he claims that a fundamental distinction has to be made between the competence and performance. Chomsky dismissed criticisms of delimiting the study of performance in favor of the study of underlying competence, as unwarranted and completely misdirected. He claims that the descriptivist limitation-in-principle to classification and organization of data, the  Ã¢â‚¬Å"extracting patterns† from a corpus of observed speech and the describing â€Å"speech habits† etc. are the core factors that precludes the development of a theory of actual performance. Chomsky thinks that what linguists should study is the ideal speaker’s competence, not his performance, which is too haphazard to be studied. Although a speaker possesses an internalized set of rules and applies them in actual use, he cannot tell exactly what these rules are. So the task of a linguist is to determine from the data of performance the underlying system of rules that has been mastered by the language user.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Chemistry Concentration and Molarity Lab Essay

I solved for my unknown by plugging in â€Å"y† as my given transmittance value, which was 85.0. y = -278x + 100.12 .85 = -278x + 100.12 -99.27 = -278x X = .357M (concentration) The relationship between the transmittance values and the concentration is an indirect relationship. Whenever the concentration increases, the transmittance decreases. It can also be reversed, so when the concentration decreases, the transmittance increases. For this graph, the line should not touch the origin because it is a negative slope. In order for the concentration to be 0, the transmittance level must be at exactly 100%. This means that all the light particles are transmitted directly through the object without any levels of concentration. Y = 1.4599x – 0.0068 .07 = 1.4559x – 0.0068 X = 0.05 The 2nd graph was between concentration and absorbance. This is a direct relationship because as the concentration increased, the absorbance also increased. For this graph, the line should touch the origin because it is a positive slope going from lower values to higher values. Also it passes through the origin because direct variation relationships are in the form of y = mx, where y and m are constant variables. For the absorbance value to zero, the concentration must be also be zero. Should the line of Concentration versus Absorbance go through the origin? As stated above, the line should touch and go through the origin eventually because it is a positive slope going from lower values to higher values. It is a direct variation relationship.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Key Factors of Consumer Behaviour Essay

1. Discuss and explain the key factors influencing consumer behaviour. Why must organisations understand consumer behaviour in order to optimise sales? â€Å"Marketing is the activity, set of institutions and processes for creating communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large† (AMA, 2007). â€Å"Consumer behaviour is the judgment of final consumers individuals and households who buy goods and services for personal consumption† (Kotler et al., 1999) There are four key factors influencing consumer behaviour. They are social, cultural, personal and psychological factors. Consumer may tends to change their buying behaviour according to these factors. Cultural factors are described as people who react particular way regard to religion reason. Different culture response differently, how people behave with their buying decision. for instance in Myanmar, majority of people do not have a habit of doing sport or using supplement for diet purposes. In United Kingdom, on the other hand, groups of men and women tend to emphasis on sport and taking supplement. As a supplement business prospective, they should not supply their product or sell in Myanmar. Social factors are mainly influenced by family, close friend and personal attitude. They are also known as ‘reference group’. Reference group are important as the product are satisfied for their needs, the message with forward to another person which is also known as â€Å"word of mouth†. The communication is powerful because we trust our friends’ and colleagues’ opinions. For example, majority of wealthy people do not buy a Primark product, simple because of their status, they should be buying much more expensive product such as Gucci and Chanel. If they do consumer Primark product their friend may talk behind their back which affect the status. After taking cultural and social factors into consideration, the next things people naturally put things into account is personal factors. personal factors can be defined as a belief in which a person think the particular brand is valued to them. Personal factors consists of buyer’s age, occupation, economic situation and lifestyle. Depending on human life cycle, buyers’ decision making is changing in different stages. Therefore, marketer often segment the market and target the consumer life stages. As an example, it is an inappropriate for the marketer to sell Samsung latest smart phone to senior citizen, they may only want to use simple keypad phone. In term of occupation, people are concerning about their status and image in their society. The products that they consume are crucial to his or her status. Psychological factors include belief, interest and motivation. Everyone has their own belief in different way. Often majority of people are bias when buying a particular brand. There is no right or wrong answer, in fact, people learnt from past experience whether the brand had met their needs or how they perceived the brand . For example, Iphone 5, more and more people are getting the new Iphone 5, not because it is very special. In fact Samsung s3, has better functionality than Iphone but still people buys it. This shows people value the brand of Apple and how they perceived the brand. Motivation factors are another factor that consumer think before they buy. According to Maslow theory, different people has different needs. So, marketer should know how to segment the market and target the right person to maximise sales. In summary, organisation should consider how consumer behave for certain product by looking at these four factors. furthermore, communicating with consumer are crucial to the market as they sent the message the consumer about the product’s feature. Therefore, marketer has to be segment the market and target the right consumer to deliver the message across.

Cost functions Final Exam Essay

1. The degree of operating leverage is equal to the ____ change in ____ divided by the ____ change in ____. 2. The short-run cost function is: 3. Theoretically, in a long-run cost function: 4. Evidence from empirical studies of long-run cost-output relationships lends support to the: 5. In the linear breakeven model, the breakeven sales volume (in dollars) can be found by multiplying the breakeven sales volume (in units) by: 6. In a study of banking by asset size over time, we can find which asset sizes are tending to become more prominent. The size that is becoming more predominant is presumed to be least cost. This is called: 7. Buyers anticipate that the temporary warehouse seller of unbranded computer equipment will 8. In the long-run, firms in a monopolistically competitive industry will 9. In the short-run for a purely competitive market, a manufacturer will stop production when: 10. A firm in pure competition would shut down when: 11. Asset specificity is largest when 12. Uncertainty includes all of the following except ____. 13. Experience goods are products or services 14. Declining cost industries 15. Of the following, which is not an economic rationale for public utility regulation? 16. ____ as practiced by public utilities is designed to encourage greater usage and therefore spread the fixed costs of the utility’s plant over a larger number of units of output. 17. The practice by telephone companies of charging lower long-distance rates at night than during the day is an example of: 18. When the cross elasticity of demand between one product and all other products is low, one is generally referring to a(n) ____ situation. 19. In natural monopoly, AC continuously declines due to economies in distribution or in production, which tends to found in industries which face increasing returns to scale. If price were set equal to marginal cost, then: 20. A cartel is a situation where firms in the industry 21. The existence of a kinked demand curve under oligopoly conditions may result in 22. Which of the following is an example of an oligopolistic market structure? 23. Even ideal cartels tend to be unstable because 24. In a kinked demand market, whenever one firm decides to lower its price, 25. Some industries that have rigid prices. In those industries, we tend to

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Coach †The Leading Consumer-centric Corporation Essay

Abstract Fashion trends are sensitive, and customers are unpredictable. It makes fashion industry become a highly competitive market. To survive and thrive, fashion companies need distinctive strategies. It seems aspiring but not many firms can achieve. As an exception, Coach proves its success in this challenge by not walking through the same way as others rivals (e.g. Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Hermes) have done. Coach has created a customer-focused model and a result-driven strategy to lead its business to overcome crisis and expand market. Even though there still have many challenges in the fashion sector, Coach’s strategy seems to be sustainable. Coach – The Leading Consumer-centric Corporation Coach was a family-run company founded by Miles Cahn in 1941 in New York (Coach, 2012). Coach was famous for traditional crafted leather goods, but keeping the classic styles drove it to dramatically lose market share. Based on the excellent management of Chairman Lew Frankfort, Coach shifted from a conventional leather division of Sarah Lee Corp. to a fashion-oriented brand name and a customer-centric corporation (Boorstin, 2002). Coach has thrived not only in North America but also in Japan, China and other countries (Coach, 2012 & Tsukahara, 2011). Therefore, Coach’s strategy is sustainable. Successful Management in Turbulent Economic Conditions The secret formula for Coach’s success simply comprises two components. First, it is the perfect collaboration between Lew Frankfort (Chairman and CEO) and Reed Krakoff (President and Executive Creative Director). Since Frankfort took his office, he implemented several typical reforms: created customer database to examine consumer behavior, built multichannel distribution system (retail stores, factory outlets, boutiques, and online store), and hired Reed Krakoff to refresh Coach’s product design (Slywotzky, 2007). Krakoff made a revolution in Coach conventional product lines by using new materials, shapes, styles, and colors to attract more customers but not abandon its loyal fans (Slywotzky, 2007). Second, consumer-focused strategy makes Coach stand out. Based on customer information that is collected through various angles, Coach can sooner identify problems and quickly adjust. In a nutshell, Coach’s success derives from a blend of â€Å"understanding the consumer, being results-driven and at the same time anticipating when fashion is happening† (Karimzadeh, 2004). What Makes Coach Different From its Competitors? Coach chooses to operate in its own way. First is â€Å"selling luxury for the mass† (Gogoi, 2005). Coach sets product prices 50% lower than Gucci or Louis Vuitton to attract cost-conscious customers (Takahara, 2008). Coach’s numerous product lines satisfy diverse market segments based on ages, regions, and cultures. However, product quality must be maintained to be considered as luxury goods (Slywotzky, 2007). Second is the customer-driven operating model. Coach spends around five million U.S. dollars annually on market research to collect customer information through private interviews, telephone surveys, competitive analysis, and in-store product tests (Slywotzky, 2007). By putting customers into operating process from input (what customers desire) to output (product testing), Coach can modify its products to satisfy customers’ requirement or increase production of favorite products (Slywotzky, 2007). For example, Japanese customers usually commute to work, so they prefer small bags (Tsukahara, 2011). Moreover, database shows that customer usually visits store every month so Coach launches its new products monthly to attract customers and give them more new choices (Slywotzky, 2007 & Tsukahara, 2011). Third is the tight management. The executives check sales operation of each store daily and frequently review each business unit as well as the total business planning (Boorstin, 2002). Lew Frankfort even visits stores a few times a week to check their operations and directly evaluate customer responses (Slywotzky, 2007). Fourth, Coach has a flexible production process by using 100% outsourcing in 16 countries around the world (e.g. Vietnam and China), which neither Gucci nor Louis Vuitton is interested in (Karimzadeh, 2004 & Tsukahara, 2011). This also helps Coach cut off fixed costs, and reduce time consuming from production to sales operation. Fifth, Coach has a huge multichannel distribution system: 500 stores in U.S and Canada, 300 direct-operated stores in Japan, China, Singapore and the like, a set of boutiques in particular department stores and an online website coach.com (Coach, 2012). This provides more opportunities for Coach to expand business globally. Coach Strategy is Sustainable In this highly competitive market, Coach has its own weapon to be considered sustainable: understanding customers and building a solid business structure. With a huge database of 9.7 million families from different viewpoints (Slywotzky, 2007), Coach knows how to make its products fit with customer demands or even how to set reasonable prices. For example, a survey before launching the New Hamptons Lap Satchel revealed that customers were willing to pay 328$ for this product, which was 30$ higher than prediction, then Coach immediately reprinted the price tags and sales augmented (Slywotzky, 2007). Moreover, with the close management as described above, Coach runs its operation sensibly by focusing on any detailed changes in sales and customer behaviors. Besides, Coach has a diversified product category (handbag, wallet, suitcase, accessories, perfume, and clothes) with various designs and an enormous distribution channel to help Coach approach many different market segments. In an interview with Fox Business in 2011, Frankfort was confident that Coach’s strategy was sustainable in that turbulent time, he only concerned about the macro economy: the slowly irregular economic recovery might affect consumer confidence in purchasing decision. Conclusion To gain market share, Coach chooses a unique way to operate: Coach’s customer-centric model, together with the perfect combination of logic (represented by Lew Frankfort) and magic (symbolized by Reed Krakoff), help Coach thrive in such a very competitive fashion industry. Even though there might be many forthcoming challenges, Coach’s strategy is sustainable because understanding customers helps Coach identify risks sooner and respond faster. References Boorstin, J. (2002, October 28). How Coach got hot The maker of the indestructible purse finally considers style. CNNMoney. Retrieved on Oct. 25, 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=2f9ec3fa-9541-4044-87e1-2ddd37107d03%40sessionmgr112&vid=1&hid=127&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=7567234. Coach (2012). Coach financial tear sheet. Retrieved on Oct. 25, 2012 from http://phx.corporate-ir.net/Tearsheet.ashx?c=122587. Gogoi, P. (2005, November 28). Selling luxury for the masses. Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved on Oct. 25, 2012 from http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2005-11-28/selling-luxury-to-the-masses. Glick, A. (Interviewer) & Frankfort, L. (Interviewee) (2011). Coach evolving its base with poppy. Retrieved on Oct. 25, 2012 from http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/3951579/coach-evolving-its-base-with-poppy/. Karimzadeh, M. (2004, March 1). Riding Coach’s express: No signs of slowdown as luxe brand zooms. Women’s Wear Daily. Retrieved from http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/riding-coach-8217-s-express-no-signs-of-slowdown-as-luxe-brand-zooms-695558?full=true. Takahara, K. (2008, September 12). Coach builds brand of affordable luxury goods. The Japan Time Online. Retrieved on Oct. 25, 2012 from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20080912a3.html. Tsukahara, M. (2011, November 26). A study of brand/ Coach keeps on riding high. The Daily Yomiuri. Retrieved on Oct. 25, 2012 from http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/T111121007083.htm. Slywotzky, A. J. (2007). The upside of strategic risk. In Oliver Wyman Journal. Retrieved on Oct. 25, 2012 from http://www.oliverwyman.com/pdf_files/OWJ-UpsideofStratRisk.pdf.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Strategic thinking skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Strategic thinking skills - Essay Example While studying and working with a team, I am able to asses my skills and focus on how I learn. Using my own self assessment, I can decide which way of learning works best for me. Using the best learning skills helps to become more dependent and use my individual skills to benefit the business and the team. These learned skills can also be applied to everyday life scenarios and assist in positive decision making. Each skill requires a specific motive. Some have different motives then others. One of my biggest motives is to become a grade A, or exemplary student. Becoming a grade A student is important and a huge motivator. In order to receive high marks, it is necessary to study, form independence and practice critical thinking skills that are necessary to achieve academic goals. There is much to take from this learning experience. I can use my new critical thinking skills that I have developed toward my future employment. Careers at times require that one learns new skills to better themselves. Using Self Assessment skills can help to take the time to evaluate my performance and make changes if

Thursday, September 12, 2019

International Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International - Research Paper Example Besides, it will help the company to build its name and have a good reputation in the eyes of the public. The staffing alternatives to be adopted by the company in a foreign country include the hiring of locals and expatriates both on permanent and contract basis. The employment of the locals is a necessary requirement for all multinationals operating in any country. Since one of our goals will be to create employment opportunities, we will have to engage the locals either as senior managers, junior managers or subordinate staff. On the other hand, expatriates are employees assigned to a foreign country to offer specialized services which may be lacking in the foreign country in which the company has established its subsidiary (Ulrich, 2011). In my opinion, high-quality mentoring system should be a necessity for international assignees. It helps in providing and equipping the expatriates with all the important information that they need to know about their new assignment. It is only through mentoring that assignees can know much about their roles, responsibilities and the challenges that they might experience in the new country in which they are attached. At the same time, mentoring can help in enlightening them on the socio-cultural and political conditions of the new country in which they are to serve (Inkson, K. et al., 2009). Such adequate preparation can help in preparing the assignees to succeed. An example of a high-quality mentoring program should be based on a solid research, be integrated and realistic. This is the only way through which it can cover all the necessary issues to be tackled. As a HRM, I would like to suggest the use of cash flow method to help in measuring my company’s ROI. It is a very simple activity that does not necessarily require a lot of training. If procedurally used as outlined, it can be useful in helping the company to quantify the value of return on its investments on services like advertising which of course, can

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Outline President Kennedys foreign policy problems as they related to Essay

Outline President Kennedys foreign policy problems as they related to Cuba - Essay Example This was intended to spur a rebellion to overthrow the then communist leader Fidel Castro. However, the mission was a failure and led to great embarrassment to the president (Haney & Vanderbush 45). Kennedy’s foreign policy was heavily influenced by the cold war, the continuing conflict of the Soviet Union as well as conflicts in Cuba. From 1960 until after the 1962 Missile crisis, the American objective was to get rid of Cubans leader, President Castro. Subsequently, during the years of the cold war the U.S foreign policy objectives were to get Cuba to halt its aid to revolutionaries, reduce its military ties to the Soviet Union and to show greater respect for human rights (Haney & Vanderbush 185). The United States trade embargo and other sanctions against Cuba have been in place for some 36 years, and the U.S policy towards the island has changed a little in that time. In the absence of full access to the diplomatic records in this country and abroad, it is not possible to resolve this debate on Kennedy fully, but certain studies by analysts on the Cuban missile crisis, lend support to the more friendly view of Kennedy. The president certainly made mistakes in foreign policy, and he raised more hopes than he fulfilled. However, he demonstrated a relatively cosmopolitan and sophisticated view of the world, grew in office, and had a feel for diplomacy, which for some time had been lacking in American

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Philip's vs. Matsushita Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Philip's vs. Matsushita - Essay Example Both brothers and their father worked hard and by 1900, Philips was the third largest light-bulb producer in Europe. Philips concentrated only on light-bulb technology development. Company policy was to scrap old plants and use new machines or factories whenever advances were made in new production technology. It also established hi-tech laboratories for R&D and it developed a tungsten metal filament bulb that was a great commercial success (Bartlett, 2006, p. 1). In 1899, Philips initiated its offshore business and within a decade it expanded its sales network across Japan, Australia, Canada, Brazil, United State and Russia. In 1919, Philips made an agreement with Genera Electric, giving each company the use of the other's patents. In 1918, Philips introduced the electronic vacuum tubes; eight years it lunched its first radios to market, capturing a 20% world market share within a decade; and during the 1930s, Philips began producing X-ray tubes (Bartlett, 2006, p. 2). During World War II Allied and German bombing had targeted and damaged most of Philips’ manufacturing facilities in the Netherlands, the management board decided to build the postwar organization on the strengths of the national organizations (NOs). The independent NOs had a great advantage in being able to sense and respond to the local market demands and differences. These NOs were also free in financial, legal, and administrative matters, and also to built their own technical capabilities and product development.

Monday, September 9, 2019

Cancer pain in end of life cancer patients Research Paper

Cancer pain in end of life cancer patients - Research Paper Example The article has prepared a step by step, scientific methodology for pain assessment and intervention strategies and based on this methodology, has thoroughly examined the case and provided care as the multidisciplinary team went on recording and analyzing the interventions as well. The study has utilized a standardized scale to assess pain, used four basic approaches to pain relief that includes, â€Å"modify the source(s) of pain(s)(,) alter the central perception of pain(,) modulate transmission of pain to the central nervous system(,) (and) block transmission of pain to the central nervous system (Ferrel, Levy and Paice, 2008, p.575-577). It has also made use of approved methods of pharmacological management of pain including co-analgesic therapy (Ferrel, Levy and Paice, 2008, p.577). ... 2. Fayers, P.M., Hjermstad, M.J., Klepstad, P., Loge, J.H., Caraceni, A., Hanks, G.W. ...Kaasa, S. (2011), The dimensionality of pain: Palliative care and chronic pain patients differ in their reports of pain intensity and pain interference, Pain, 152 (7), 1608-20. This article has drawn attention to the importance of accurate assessment of pain in palliative care (Fayers et al., 2011, p.1608). This is observed in the context that different chronic pain patients report the intensity of pain in different degrees (Fayers et al., 2011, p.1608). This study has made use of quantitative methodology to assess pain in chronic pain patients and carried out a questionnaire survey of a sample of such patients. By carrying out a psychometric analysis of the data collected, this article has provided statistical information based on which, two main dimensions of pain have been identified, namely, â€Å"intensity and interference† (Fayers et al., 2011, p.1608). It is inferred that in order t o have a â€Å"higher-level summary measure of patient's pain experience†, the two dimensions, intensity and interference both have to be assessed in a distinct manner (Fayers et al., 2011, p.1608). Though this article does not directly deals with the proposed change put forth by this researcher, it provides crucial information on the nature and factor influencing reported pain in palliative patients. Yet, this article does not provide information on morbidity, mortality, and rate of incidence or rate of occurrence in the general population, of this problem. 3. Kumar, S.P. (2011), Reporting characteristics of cancer pain: A systematic review and quantitative analysis of research publications in palliative care journals,

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Project Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Project Management - Essay Example Traditionally a huge multi-ton refractive brick oven is custom designed and built in order to fit the building where it is housed. D'Angelo Pizzeria has designed a fully equipped miniature pizza parlor that incorporates three independent high temperature brick ovens in a temperature controlled 8'x10' foot trailer. The patent pending design of the D'Angelo pizza ovens allow each unit to reach internal temperatures of over 1200F while maintaining a high level of thermal efficiency similar to a traditional stationary brick oven (Chillibreeze, 2011). The proposed project is to turn the D'Angelo Pizzeria trailers into a new franchising concept opportunity to the masses. The D'Angelo Pizzeria concept will bring a superior quality pizza at a competitive price. Traditional pizza parlors just cannot compete with the quality and outstanding flavor that genuine New York style fermented dough, quality fresh ingredients, and a high temperature brick oven pizza can provide (Brown, 2010). ... The proposed concept will include a fully built customized D'Angelo Pizzeria enclosed trailer fully equipped and customized to our specifications at a selling price of $40,000. The A/C cooled trailer will house three individual D'Angelo ovens equipment to operate each independent franchisee owned restaurant. The proposed trailer design involves purchasing lots of pre-built aluminum food trailers from Chinese manufacturers (Nebiu, 2002). This general purpose food trailers will be transported to our main warehouse where our manufacturing team will extensively modify the trailer units to the specifications of the company. The interior modifications to the trailers will include the necessary shelving, prep tables, ventilation, gas and electrical installation to accommodate all the preparation equipment and for the custom oven set. The modifications of the trailers will be designed for maximum space utilization to provide ergonomically designed work surfaces, machinery, and processes to m aximize employee comfort and efficiency. The exterior of the trailers will be customized to D'Angelo specs and advertising designs. For the proposed project the materials supply and operating infrastructure will have to be designed and developed in order to supply the pizza trailers to our franchise customers. The total proposed project costs for D'Angelo will be around $900,000 .The total project costs budgeted will be divided as follows: $270,000 to build and develop necessary operating training and manufacturing facility infrastructure $75,000 to build the first lot of 10 pizza trailers for the initial batch of fully built trailers. $100,000 marketing costs $150,000 operating capital (selling,