Irish Drinking Toasts and Quotes

Frank Sinatra said, Alcohol may be mans worst enemy, but the Bible says love your enemy. Well, the Irish certainly follow this commandment. It’s no secret that this culture loves their drink; there’s the quintessential Irish Guinness, the trusted Irish whiskey—even the coffee has alcohol. In fact, studies have shown that Irish adults consume more alcohol than any other drinkers in the world—up to 80% more per person than the worldwide average. If that’s the case, the Irish surely have some wisdom they can share. If you’re looking for a true pub experience, start with the Irish drinking quotes below. Whether you are giving a toast at the bar or just want to get in the mood, these Irish sayings about drinking will set the tone. Ed McMahon: God invented whiskey to keep the Irish from ruling the world. Winston Churchill: We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English. Barry McCaffrey: When I get a very generous introduction like that I explain that Im emotionally moved, but on the other hand Im Irish and the Irish are very emotionally moved. My mother is Irish and she cries during beer commercials. Irish Quote: When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to Heaven. So, lets all get drunk and go to heaven. Irish Proverb: Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you fight with your neighbor. It makes you shoot at your landlord, and it makes you miss him. Alex Levine: Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fat. Noel Gallagher: I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my mum. I know Ive got Irish blood because I wake up every day with a hangover. Author Unknown: For every wound, a balm.For every sorrow, cheer.For every storm, a calm.For every thirst, a beer. Oscar Wilde: Work is the curse of the drinking class. Irish Drinking Toasts Heres to me, and heres to you,And heres to love and laughter—Ill be true as long as you,And not one moment after. ï » ¿ May your glass be ever full,May the roof over your head be always strong,And may you be in heavenHalf an hour before the devil knows youre dead.

The Education System Of Polk County Public Schools

Area of Expertise I was chosen to sit on the committee due to my many years of service in the education system. I bring 15 years of experience as an educator, coach, mentor and supervisor. This experience in the k-12 setting has allowed me to work with hundreds of teachers and administrators. During my tenor with the school district I have been asked to sit on dozens of committees, from curriculum, book adoption, finance, to diversity just to name a few. I hold two masters degrees in education; which has afforded me the knowledge and wherewithal to prefect my craft. Demographics of District Polk county public schools consist of 63 languages spoken, representing 151 countries. Nearly 11,000 students speak Spanish, 720 speak Haitian Creole and 100 speak Arabic language. In this school district 39 percent of students’ ages 0-17 live below the poverty line(â€Å"Diversity Management†, 2012). Unfortunately 19.3 percent of all children in Florida also live below the poverty line. 67 percent of the students enrolled in Polk County Public schools met federal guideline to quality for free or reduce lunch. 79 out of 158 schools in Polk County are classified as Title 1 schools. Polk County Population breakdown by racial makeup: White 66.3 percent, Black 15 percent, Hispanic 17.7 percent, Asian 1 percent, Native American less than 1 percent, Pacific Islander less than 1 percent. The district includes 158 principals and about 240 assistant principals (â€Å"Diversity Management†, 2012).Show MoreRelated Against Mandatory School Uniforms in Public School Essay4389 Words   |  18 Pages Imagine that you pick your seven-year-old child up from school. He is crying and wearing a different outfit than the one he wore to school. This is naturally upsetting but not as upsetting as your next discovery. 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Diversification and Firm Performance free essay sample

Abstract Diversification is a strategic option that many managers use to improve their firms’ performance. This interdisciplinary research attempts to verify whether firm level diversification has any impact on performance. The study finds that on average, diversified firms show better performance compared to undiversified firms on both risk and return dimensions. It also tests the robustness of these results by classifying firms by performance class. The results show that among the best performing class of firms, undiversified firms have higher returns, but these returns are accompanied by high variance. Whereas, highly diversified firms show lower returns, and much lower variance. Results further show that diversified firms perform better than undiversified firms on risk and return dimensions, in the low and average performance classes. The paper concludes that a dominant undiversified firm may perform better than a highly diversified firm in terms of return but its riskiness will be much greater. If managers of such firms opt for diversification, their returns will decrease, but their riskiness will reduce proportionately more than the reduction in their returns. In such firms, there will be a tradeoff between risk and return. INTRODUCTION Two seemingly irreconcilable facts motivate this study: one, diversification continues to be an important strategy for corporate growth; and two, while Management and Marketing disciplines favor related diversification, Finance makes a strong case against corporate diversification. With the help of a large sample, this interdisciplinary study tries to address this contradiction in the associative relationship between diversification and firm performance. Diversification is a means by which a firm expands from its core business into other product markets (Aaker 1980, Andrews 1980, Berry 1975, Chandler 1962, Gluck 1985). Research shows corporate management to be actively engaged in diversifying activities. Rumelt (1986) found that by 1974 only 14 percent of the Fortune 500 firms operated as single businesses and 86 percent operated as diversified businesses. Many researchers note a rise in diversified firms (Datta, Rajagopalan and Rasheed 1991, Hoskisson and Hitt 1990). European corporate managers according to a survey, not only favor it but actively pursue diversification (Kerin, Mahajan and Varadarajan 1990). Firms spend considerable sums acquiring other firms or bet heavily on internal Ramp;D to diversify away from their core product/markets. Of late U. S. firms are beginning to moderate their zeal for diversification and are consolidating around their core businesses. But this trend has not affected large Asian corporations which continue to remain highly diversified. As in any economic activity there are costs and benefits associated with diversification, and ultimately, a firms performance must depend on how managers achieve a balance between costs and benefits in each concrete case. Moreover, these benefits and costs may not fall equally on managers and investors. Management researchers argue that diversification prolongs the life of a firm. Researchers in finance argue diversification benefits managers because it buys them insurance, and shareholders usually bear all the costs of such insurance. Diversification can improve debt capacity, reduce the chances of bankruptcy by going into new product/ markets (Higgins and Schall 1975, Lewellen 1971), and improve asset deployment and profitability (Teece 1982, Williamson 1975). Skills developed in one business transferred to other businesses, can increase labor and capital productivity. A diversified firm can transfer funds from a cash surplus unit to a cash deficit unit without taxes or transaction costs (Bhide 1993). Diversified firms pool unsystematic risk and reduce the variability of operating cash flow and enjoy comparative advantage in hiring because key employees may have a greater sense of job security (Bhide 1993). These are some of the major benefits of diversification strategy. Diversification, firm size, and executive compensations are highly correlated, which may suggest that diversification provides benefits to managers that are unavailable to investors (Hoskisson and Hitt 1990), creating what economists call the agency problem (Fama 1980) and managers stand to lose if they become unemployed, either through poor firm performance or bankruptcy (Bhide 1993, Dutta, Rajagopalan and Rasheed 1991, Hoskisson and Hitt 1990). Diversification can also lead to the problem of moral hazard, the chance that people will alter behavior after entering into a contract-as in a conflict of interest by providing insurance for managers who have invested in firm specific skills, and have an interest in diversifying away a certain amount of firm specific risk and may look upon diversification as a form of compensation (Amihud and Lev 1981, Bhide 1993). Although it may be necessary for a firm to reduce firm specific risk to build relations with suppliers and employees, only top managers can decide what is the right amount of diversification as insurance (Bhide 1993). Diversification can be expensive (Jones and Hill 1988, Porter 1985) and place considerable stress on top management (McDougall and Round 1984). These are the costs of diversification. In the final analysis, this situational argument regarding balancing costs and benefits can only explain the performance of individual firms but it cannot address the theoretical question about the veracity of diversification as a valid corporate strategy. Consequently, following the benefit-cost agreement, whether in general, diversification enhances firm performance becomes an empirical question. Further, recent reviews of the rather extensive literature do not find agreement about the direction of association between firm diversification and firm performance. This lack of a clear answer in the literature motivates the present study. The paper is organized in four sections. The first section briefly reviews the empirical literature and presents the research hypotheses. Section two describes the research methodology and operationalizes the dependent and independent variables. Section three presents the results of the study. The concluding section discusses the results and summarizes the findings. REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL LITERATURE AND HYPOTHESIS The impact of diversification on firm performance is mixed. Three recent reviewers (Datta, Rajagopalan and Rasheed 1991, Hoskisson and Hitt 1990, Kerin, Mahajan and Varadarajan 1990), broadly conclude: (a) the empirical evidence is inconclusive; (b) models, perspectives and results differ based on the disciplinary perspective chosen by the researcher; and  © the relationship between diversification and performance is complex and is affected by intervening and contingent variables such as related versus unrelated diversification, type of relatedness, the capability of top managers, industry structure, and the mode of diversification. Some studies claim diversifying into related product-markets produces higher returns than diversifying into unrelated product-markets and less diversified firms perform better than highly diversified firms (Christensen and Montgomery 1981, Keats 1990, Michel and Shaked 1984, Rumelt 1974, 1982, 1986). Some claim that the economies in integrating operations and core skills obtained in related diversification outweigh the costs of internal capital markets and the smaller variances in sales revenues generated by unrelated diversification (see Datta, Rajagopalan amp; Rasheed 1991). While agreeing that related strategy is better than unrelated, Prahalad and Bettis (1986), clarify that it is the insight and the vision of the top managers in choosing the right strategy (how much and what kind of relatedness), rather than diversification per se, which is the key to successful diversification. Accordingly, it is not product-market diversity but the strategic logic that managers use that links firm diversification to performance; which implies that diversified firms without such logic may not perform as well. Markides and Williamson (1994) show that strategic relatedness is superior to market relatedness in predicting when diversifiers related outperform unrelated ones. Others however argue, it is not management conduct so much, but industry structure that governs firm performance (Christensen and Montgomery 1981, Montgomery 1985). Besides diversification types and industry structure, researchers have also looked at the ways firms diversify. Simmonds (1990) examined the combined effects of breadth (related vs. nrelated) and mode (internal R amp; D versus Mergers amp; Acquisitions) and found that relatedly diversified firms are better performers than unrelatedly diversified firms, and R amp; D based product development is better than mergers and acquisition- led diversification (Simmonds 1990, Lamont and Anderson 1985). Among studies of acquisitions the results are mixed. Some report that related acquisitions are better performers than unrelated ones (Kusewitt 1985), or there is no real di fference among them (Montgomery and Singh 1984). Some studies on breadth and performance find relatedly diversified firms perform better than firms that are unrelatedly diversified (Rumelt 1974, 1982, 1986). Others show confounding effects in firm performance because of diversification category and industry (Christiansen and Montgomery 1981, Montgomery 1985). Recent studies suggest service firms should not diversify (Normann 1984), whereas, Nayyar (1993), shows that in the service industry diversification ased on information asymmetry is positively associated with performance, whereas diversification based on economies of scope is negatively associated with performance. A contradiction of Johnson and Thomas (1987) confirmation of Rumelts finding that the appropriateness of product diversity is judged by a balance between economies of scope and diseconomies of scale. It also appears there is a limit on how much a firm can diversify; if a firm goes beyond this point its market value suffers and reduction in diversification by refocus ing is associated with value creation (Markides 1992). Apart from the empirical evidence, the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) holds that competition among investors for information ensures that current prices of widely traded securities are the unbiased predictors of their future value, and that current prices represent the net present value of its future cash flow. Evidence supports the existence of weak, semi- and near-strong forms of market efficiency (Fama 1970). If this view of the market is true, then investors have the information necessary to construct portfolios of stocks to maximize their risk/return strategies for a given amount of resource. Consequently, a firms management cannot do better for the investor by diversifying into different product markets and create a portfolio that will improve returns or better manage risk than investor’s stock portfolio. Stockholders also do not pay a premium for diversified firms (Brealey and Myers 1996); the market does not value risk/return trade-off positively for unrelated diversification (Lubatkin and ONeil 1987), and acquiring firms only earn normal returns (Lehn and Mitchell 1993), and not economic rents. Finally, corporate takeovers discipline managers who waste shareholder resources and bust-ups promote economic efficiency by reallocating assets to higher valued uses or more efficient uses (Jensen and Ruback 1983, Lehn and Mitchell 1993). The review of empirical literature from Management/Marketing disciplines and the theoretical and empirical literature from Finance show that the relationship between diversification and performance is complex and is affected by intervening and contingent variables. Taken together, the evidence and arguments presented above seems to suggest that diversified firms (i. . highly unrelatedly diversified firms) as a class, should perform less well than an optimal securities portfolio, and thus for our study we propose the following null hypothesis. Our null hypothesis (H0) is that: Highly diversified firms should perform less well than moderately diversified and single product firms. There are numerous arguments and findings against the null hypothesis p roposed above. In certain markets, an investor may face assets constraint in constructing a portfolio, restricting diversification opportunities (Levy 1978). Farrelly, and Reichenstein (1984) show that total risk rather than systematic risk alone, better explains the expertly assessed risk of stocks. Jahera, Lloyd and Page (1987), find well-diversified firms have higher returns regardless of size. DeBondt and Thaler (1985, 1987), argue that the market as a whole overreacts to major events. Prices shoot up on good economic news and decline sharply on bad news. According to Brown and Harlow (1988, 1993), investors hedge their bets and over react or under react to important news by pricing securities below their expected values. As uncertainties decrease, stock prices adjust upwards, regardless of the direction of the impact of the initial event. The post-event adjustment in prices tends to be greater in the case of bad news than in the case of good news. Haugen (1995) also casts doubts on the validity of the EMH. Finally, Fama and French (1992), changing their earlier stance, argue that the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is incapable of describing the last fifty years of stock returns, and the beta is not an appropriate measure of risk. This implies that a stockholder may not be better positioned to diversify his portfolio of stocks as compared to a corporate manager as implied by the null hypothesis. On the basis of this discussion, we could argue that market inefficiency may not allow investors to optimally allocate their resources. It can put managers, especially good ones, in a more advantageous position to diversify their product market portfolios and thereby improve firm performance. Thus, our alternate hypothesis (H1) is: that diversified firms perform better in terms of return and risk measures compared to less diversified firms. Thus, on average, diversified firms as a class should perform better than moderately diversified or single-product firms. STUDY DESIGN The availability of the Compustat database has made it possible to study a larger sample of firms over several years and approach the problem of diversification from a more macro perspective. The approach used in this study is akin to that of military historians who examine past battles and in the context of operational tactics conclude that combatants with greater orce (material and manpower) tend to win more often. Those with insufficient force need the advantage of mobility and surprise to neutralize superior force in order to win. These insights, based on outcomes of many battles, allow historians to disengage from contingencies and specificities of stewardship and terrain. This does not imply that situational specifics should be ignored in planning military campaigns. The finding only points out the general truth of certain tactics. Similarly, in the context of the conduct of business strategy, we could also first examine the performance of diversified firms without regard to specifics of strategy, like type, breadth, modality and industry, and figure out if in general, the average performance of diversified firms is better than that of undiversified firms. The diversification literature is unable to demonstrate that diversification type, breadth, modality, and industry have consistent and predictable impact on performance. We therefore treat these as situational contingencies and do not take them into account. Earlier studies of diversification use cross sectional data, small samples and single measures of performance. We on the other hand, examine a large sample of firms with data over a seven year period. We use about two thousand firms, and multiple performance measures. The starting point of our main study is 1984, the earliest data point for segment information available on the Compustat database. Specialization Ratio (revenue from a firms largest segment divided by its total revenue) as the dependent variable measures the extent of diversification. Accounting and market returns, their variability, coefficient of variation, and the Sharpe Index are the independent performance variables. The study also tests the robustness of classification of firms based on SR ratios. For this part of the study, the data is available from 1981. It also tests the robustness of results based on the extent of performance and the degree of diversification. MEASUREMENT OF CONCEPTS Diversification is treated as the independent variable in this study. As a policy variable, managers can control the extent of diversification desired, and performance is the dependent variable. This section defines and operationalizes these concepts. Diversification This study uses Specialization Ratio (SR) to classify firms into three classes of diversification. Its logic reflects the importance of the firms core product market to that of the rest of the firm (Rumelt, 1974, 1982; Shaikh amp; Varadarajan, 1984). After we started this work some researchers have argued that the entropy measure of diversification is probably a better one. We leave it to future research to test the robustness of SR versus other measures of diversification. Operationally, SR is a ratio of the firms annual revenues from its largest discrete, product-market activity to its total revenues. In the diversification literature, SR has been one of the methods of choice for measuring diversification. It is easy to understand and calculate. TABLE 1 Values of Specialization Ratios in Rumelts and Our Classification Schemes SR Values in Rumelt’s Scheme SR Values in Our Scheme Undiversified, Single Product Firms SR ? . 95 SR ? 0. 95 Moderately Diversified Firms 0. 95 lt; SR ? 0. 7 0. 95 lt; SR ? 0. 5 Highly Diversified Firms SR lt; 0. 7 SR lt; 0. 5 Performance Management researchers prefer accounting variables as performance measures such as return on equity (ROE), return on investment (ROI), and return on assets (ROA), along with their variability as measures of risk. Earlier studies typically measure accounting rates of return. These include: (ROI), return on capital (ROC), return on assets (ROA) and return on sales (ROS). The idea behind these measures is perhaps to evaluate managerial performance-how well is a firms management using the assets (as measured in dollars) to generate accounting returns per dollar of investment, assets or sales. The problems with these measures are well known. Accounting returns include depreciation and inventory costs and affect the accurate reporting of earnings. Asset values are also recorded historically. Since accounting conventions make these variables unreliable, financial economists prefer market returns or discounted cash flows as measures of performance. For the sake of consistency, we use two accounting measures: ROE and ROA; along with market return to measure performance. Return on equity (ROE) is a frequently used variable in judging top management performance, and for making executive compensation decisions. We use ROE as a measure to judge performance and calculate the average return on equity (AROE) across all sampled firms and time periods, its standard deviation and also the coefficient of variation for each of the three diversification groups. ROE is defined as net income (income available to common stockholders) divided by stockholders equity. The coefficient of variation (CV) gives us the risk per unit of average return. ROA is the most frequently used performance measure in previous studies. It is defined as net income (income available to common stockholders), divided by the book value of total assets. We also calculate the average return on assets (AROA) across all sampled firms and time periods calculate its standard deviation and also the coefficient of variation for each of the three diversification groups. Market return (MKTRET), is the third dependent variable we use. MKTRET is computed for a calendar year by taking the difference between the current years ending stock price, and the previous years ending price, adding to it the dividends paid out for the year, and then dividing the result by the previous years ending price. This study includes companies for which complete data to calculate the variances used is available on Compustat PC- Plus for the period 1984 through 1990. In addition, we calculate the average market return (AMKTRET) for each of the three groups, the standard deviation of AMKTRET, and the Sharpe Index (Sharpe, 1966), a commonly used risk-adjusted performance measure. It measures the risk premium earned per unit of risk exposure. As mentioned earlier, Table 1 presents comparison of breaks between Rumelt’s classification and the modified version. Using the Compustat database we then classified 2637 firms using Rumelt’s classification scheme for the years 1981-1990. Table 2 presents the AROE and its standard deviation using Rumelt’s classification. While we intended to calculate AROA and MKTRT for this data set we were unsuccessful because of the problem of missing data. The 1984 90 data set proved to be better and was used for the alternate classification scheme for all the three performance variables. Using the same Compustat database, we classified 2188 firms in three groups: Single Product Firms (SR gt; 0. 5), Moderately Diversified Firms (0. 5 ? SR ? 0. 95), and Highly Diversified Firms (SR lt; 0. 5), for each of the seven years, from 1984 to 1990, for which complete segmental data was available. We kept only those firms in the sample that remained in the same SR category for the entire seven year period, and had all the data for computing the variables. After classification, we calculated each of the three performance variables: return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), and market return (MKTRET), for each firm in each of the three groups, for each year from 1984 to 1990. We also calculated the average ROE (AROE), average ROA (AROA), and average MKTRET (AMKTRET), first by averaging across the seven years for each firm, and then by averaging across firms by pooling across the years, along with their standard deviation, and coefficient of variation. Tables 3, 4 and 5 present the results. The number of firms in each performance group varies slightly because we had to ensure that the data was available for all variables, for all the seven years. Statistical Procedure The test of the null hypothesis requires a test of equality of means of each classification group, and for each performance variable. While the study may indicate one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), it is not a robust test. The application of ANOVA requires that the data set meet three critical assumptions: first, the test is extremely sensitive to departures from normality; second, the assumption of homogeneity of variance is necessary; and third, the errors should be independent of group mean. While for our study the first and the third assumptions checked out, the second assumption regarding the homogeneity of variance failed. We carried out Hartleys test of equality of variance for each performance variable. This test confirmed that variance of the three groups is unequal for each performance variable. We faced the Beherens-Fisher problem or checking for equality of means when variances of the underlying population are unequal. Such situations indicate Cochrans approximation test for hypotheses testing (Berenson and Levine 1992). This test requires us to test the null hypothesis of equality of means, taken two at a time, and according to the test we must reject the null if the t (observed) exceeds t (critical) at chosen levels of significance. (Statistical information available from authors by request) TABLE 2 Performance Based on Rumelts SR Classification Scheme: ROE-1981-1990 N AROE SD CV Undiversified Firms (SR ? 0. 95) 1663 3. 8 277. 73. 13 Moderately Diversified (. 95 lt; SR ? .7) 371 2. 3 181. 2 78. 78 Highly Diversified (SR lt; . 7) 603 9. 9 100. 9 10. 25 Results Classification Methods: Comparison and a Test of Robustness Table 1 compares the breaks in SR values. Table 2 reports the results using Rumelts scheme with 1981-1990 data, and Table 3 reports the results using our scheme with 1984-1990 data. The first column in Table 2 shows the three categories of diversification based on SR values; N stands for the number of firms that remained in the same group for the period 1981-1990, and had performance data for the entire period under study; AROE stands for the average of the ROE calculated over N firms; SD stands for the standard deviation of AROA; and CV represents the coefficient of variation, given by the ratio of SD divided by the AROE, representing the risk per unit average return. Tables 3 through 5 follow the same layout for ROE, TABLE 3 Performance As: Return On Equity (AROE)-1984-1990 Undiversified 1844 -1. 6 323. 3 NA Moderately Diversified 315 32. 7 409. 4 12. 52 Highly Diversified 23 14. 6 9. 8 0. 67 N= Sample Size, AROE= Average Return on Equity, SD= Standard Deviation, CV= Coefficient of VariationROA and MKTRET. The highly diversified group in Table 2 has AROE of 9. , SD equal to 100. 9 and CV of 10. 25; the moderate group has AROE of 2. 3, SD equals 181. 2 and CV equals 78. 8. The Undiversified group AROE is 3. 8, SD 277. 9 and CV 73. 1. The highly diversified group has the highest AROE, the lowest Standard Deviation and the lowest Coefficient of variation. The results are in the expected direction. The results follow the expected path with the exception that AROE of the moderate group is less than that of the undiversified group but the mean values are not far apart and the difference is statistically insignificant. The result for the undiversified and the highly diversified groups are as expected. The SD values are also in the expected direction. Compare these results with results obtained in Table 3. Table 3 shows the relationship between the degree of diversification and group-wise performance measured by ROE. The sample consists of 1844 single product firms with SR greater or equal to 0. 95. The average ROE of these firms over the seven year period is -1. 6 percent, with a SD of 323. 3. The moderately diversified group with SR between 0. 95 and 0. , has 315 firms. The AROE of the group equals32. 7 percent and the SD equals 409. 4. While the AROE of this group is clearly superior to that of single productfirms, the group shows high ROE variability. Thus, the moderately diversified group shows an slightly improvedrisk-return profile. The third group with SR values of less than 0. 5, is the smallest, and includes only 23 firms. The average ROE of the group equals 14. 6 or about half that of the second group, with SD of 9. 8, which is much lower than the first and the second group. The CV is the lowest at 0. 67, which is about 1/20 of the moderate group. Table 3 shows that while highly diversified firms have lower risk than moderately diversified firms; moderately diversified firms have higher average ROE compared to highly diversified firms. It also shows that single product firms have lower risk than moderately diversified firms, but moderately diversified firms have much higher returns. When we combine the return and risk measures as given by the coefficient of variation CV, we do see consistent results, i. e. that highly diversified firms have better risk-return profile than moderately diversified firms; and moderately diversified firms perform better in risk-return terms when compared to single product firms. We find that the Tables 2 and 3 show results in expected direction. The highly diversified groups have higher AROE and lower SD compared to the other two groups. This comparison of the two classification schemes shows sufficient consistency especially in the two extreme groups to strongly suggest that performance tends to be invariant to classification breaks.

Economics (Law of Diminishing Returns) Essay Example For Students

Economics (Law of Diminishing Returns) Essay Law of diminishing returns a law affirming that to continue after a certain level of performance has been reached will result in a decline in effectivenessIn 1798 the Reverend Thomas Malthus examined the impact of population growth and reached the somewhat gloomy conclusion that population growth would naturally check itself in the form of famine, wars and disease. He based this view on the idea that populations tended to grew geometrically (assuming couples had two or more children)2,4,8,16, 32, 64while the capacity of land to produce food tended to increase arithmetically (the ability to cultivate more land was less rapid)2,4,6,8,10,12The inevitable conclusion for him was that the population growth rate outstripped the capacity of land to provide food for the people, ergo starvation and famine. The theory was based upon what has become known as the law of diminishing returns. The laws states that as increasing amounts of a factor input such as labour or fertiliser are added to a fixed factor such as land then the marginal product of the input would eventually diminish i.e. the increase in the output of land, the crop yields, would progressively decrease. All factors of production have a capacity determined by their physical and technological capability. Simply adding more inputs of labour to an area of land will not continually increase the output of land proportionately. There comes a time when the capacity of the land is reached and diminishing returns sets in. No extra fertiliser or extra labourers can change the physical composition of the soil to increase its fertility. Indeed the diminishing returns suggest additional factor inputs would reduce productivity of the land. As with all theories and models, their strength can be tested according to the extent to which they enable predictions to be made about the real world. Has the population of the world or regions shown signs of cataclysmic famine? On a global scale one has to conclude not. The weaknesses of Malthuss analysis were that he assumed a given state of technology. The technological changes that have enabled the development of improved fertiliser and pesticides and more sophisticated machinery and horticultural techniques generally have ensured that agricultural yields has increased dramatically. The law of diminishing returns is a short run concept. It assumes that there is a fixed factor and that the state of technology is constant. In reality the productivity of the factor of production land and the state of technology has increased. Nevertheless, perhaps, in the case of rural Zambia where the population is growing at a rate of between 2 and 3% per annum with a doubling rate of every 20-30 years and limited access to the technologies that enable the productivity of land to be expanded, the worsening levels of poverty are omens to some of Malthuss gloomy predictions being realised. The `law of diminishing returns plays so large a part both in the theory of rent and the theory of population as they are now taught, that we should naturally expect to find it promulgated both by James Anderson, the reputed anticipator of Ricardo, and by Malthus in his Essay on the Principle of Population. In this expectation, however, we should be disappointed. Anderson, far from teaching the law of diminishing returns, was one of those enthusiastic agriculturists who have a hazy belief that an increase of the labour employed upon the soil will always bring in a proportionate, if not more than a proportionate, increase of returns. Malthus is often supposed by excessively careless readers to have put forward the law of diminishing returns when he said, `The improvement of the barren parts would be a work of time and labour; and it must be evident to those who have the slightest acquaintance with agricultural subjects, that in proportion as cultivation extended, the additions that co uld yearly be made to the former average produce must be gradually and regularly diminishing, but between this and the law of diminishing returns there is nothing in common, except the use of the word diminishing. Nothing that has ever passed muster as the law of diminishing returns ever asserted, as Malthus did, that the increases of the whole produce of a country must necessarily diminish. All that the `law` asserts is that under certain circumstances the returns to a given additional quantity of labour must necessarily diminish. Whether the whole ` addition that can yearly be made to the former average produce increases or diminishes depends not only on the produce per pair of hands, but also on the number of pairs of hands. In the first edition of the Essay on the Principle of Population I have not been able to find a trace of the law of diminishing returns. As edition succeeded edition it found its way in here and there, but no great importance was ever attributed to it. Curiou sly enough, in one of the first places where it is incidentally referred to, Malthus is rebuking Anderson for maintaining `that every increase of population tends to increase relative plenty and vice versa.This famous law was first written about by a Frenchman, Anne Robert Jacques Turgot and then alluded to by Thomas Malthus in his Essay on the Principle of Population (1798). The law was discussed in England during debates on free trade and the Corn Laws. Sometimes textbooks call it the law of decreasing (marginal) returns or the law of variable proportions. .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694 , .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694 .postImageUrl , .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694 , .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694:hover , .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694:visited , .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694:active { border:0!important; } .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694:active , .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694 .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u3e3479fbf318c74b75ddc6bcb36b0694:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Resolved: That colleges and universities have a mo EssayImagine a farm growing wheat. There are a number of jobs that need doing at harvest time and these must be done quickly before weather ruins the crop. First the wheat must be cut and gathered, the wheat and chaff must then be separated. The wheat has then to be carted to a barn, weighed, dried out in some instances, and then stored. All the farm machinery needs maintained, the paperwork completed and last but not least breakfast, lunch and dinner prepared. One man working alone will have difficulty doing all these tasks. By dividing the labour there will be gains in productivity (see division of labour). If a second worker is employed the tasks can be shared. This means that productivity increases. They each become more skilled in the tasks that they specialise in and save time previously wasted by switching between tasks. However both have to stop when a piece of machinery breaks down or one of them stops for lunch. Employing yet another person may once again improve their productivity. The harvest may continue as they take their lunch in rotation for example. But employing a fourth worker might mean productivity begins to fall (diminish). The gains made by employing the 4th are not as great as employing the 3rd worker. Eventually adding more employees might even lead to an overall decrease in production as they become bored with nothing to do and begin to interfere with production. The table below shows what happens as each extra worker is employed. Marginal means the next unit. So the marginal physical product (MPP) is the amount by which production rises when one extra worker is employed. MPP is calculated by measuring the change in total physical production per worker. The average physical product (APP) is simply the total physical product (TPP) divided by the number of workersNumber of workersTotal Physical Product (TPP)Marginal Physical Product (MPP)Average Physical Product (APP)110101023030 -10 = 201539090 30 = 60304120120 -90= 30305130130 -120 = 10266120120 -130 = -1020In the example the factors of production land and capital are constant but the amount of labour is being varied. The marginal physical product, (MPP) increases to start. When the 4th worker is employed the total still increases from 90 to 120 tonnes, but the increase of 30 tonnes is not as great as the previous increase of 60. It as this point that we say the marginal return diminishes. The diagram and table shows that when the marginal physical product curve reaches its peak and then changes direction downwards that this is the point of diminishing marginal returns. On the total physical product curve diminishing returns do not occur at the peak of the curve (a common mistake), but where the gradient of the curve instead of becoming steeper changes and becomes less steep (known in maths as the point of inflection). When MPP becomes negative this means that additional workers are causing a reduction in the total production and the TPP curve changes direction downwards. The relationship between the marginal and average curves is important to understand. Notice that MPP intersects the APP when APP is at its maximum point. The reason is merely a simple mathematical relationship between marginal and averages. Think of a class of students. The average age in the class is 17. If another student comes in the room and they are 18, what will happen to the average? It will of course increase. On the other hand if the student were 16 the average age in the class would fall. So in the graph, as long as the marginal is higher than the average the average curve goes up and when the marginal is below the average. The average falls. .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa , .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa .postImageUrl , .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa , .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa:hover , .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa:visited , .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa:active { border:0!important; } .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa:active , .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u9b3f990ffba73cfea66b8ca7e6f1bafa:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: I Am the Best Student Athlete EssayThe demonstration of the law above rests on a couple of assumptions. First we assume that each unit of labour is homogenous. That is that each worker has the same skills and works equally hard. Second, all the other factors of production are held fixed in quantity. The law of diminishing marginal returns has two main applications for IB students. 1. The shape of the short run cost curve is determined by the principles above and,2. Diminishing marginal returns in agriculture act as a barrier to economic development

Frailty Thy Name Is Woman Essays - Characters In Hamlet,

Frailty Thy Name Is Woman John F. Kennedy,Theodore Roosevelt , and Bill Clinton all, at one time, have been considered powerful and influential men. These men all once obtained the most influencial job in the United States and argueably in the world. Although these men had a vast impression on the world, their wives had an even more awe-inspiring effect on the world. Women constantly have been underappriciated for the most difficult and monotomous jobs around. Finally, a woman named Jackyln Onasis stood up for what she believes in and demanded to be listened to. She paved the way for future women, like Princess Diana and Hilary Clinton and alllowed women to become wealthier, more powerful, and better icons for the world to see. Similarly, behind Claudius and Hamlet are two unappreciated women who lack the willpower to demand to be listened to. Instead, they both live their lives in the shadows of their controlling men. Therefore, both are seen by Hamlet as weak and frail women. Ophelia is characterized many times as a weak women espicially in the quote, ?frailty thy name is woman.?(Hamlet, L ) Ophelia embodies the flaw of obiedence, but deeper than that, of dependence. Ophelia is completely dependent on her father and proves her dependence when she acts cruel to Hamlet, which goes against her true feelings toward Hamlet. Later Ophelia agrees to not see Hamlet anymore, ? I shall obey my lord, ? (Hamlet. L 136) which shows Polonious's control over his daughter. Ophelia's actions show that she will do anything to appease her father, even making a personal sacrifice which she doesn't agree with. Ophelia's desire to appease her father leads her to be used as a puppet in order for the King and Polonious to spy on Hamlet,? Ophelia walk you here-Gracious so please you, We will bestow ourselves.? (Hamlet, L 43-44) Ophelia's willingness to spy on a person she truly loves, depicts her true nature and her obiedience toward her father. Even when Hamlet harasses Ophelia ad tells her to go to a nunnery, Ophelia had the inability to defend herself. Unfortunately, Ophelia's dependence on her father leads her to an unnatural death. When her father passes on, Ophelia is left by herself, with no one to give her guidence. Instead of trying to move on with her life, she calls for her brother hoping he will have a plan for her, ? My brother shall know of it. And so I thank you for your good counsel .? ( Hamlet, L 71-72) Polonious's controlling manner is irreplaceable and finally Ophelia realizes this: ? I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died.? (Hamlet. L 187-188) The significance of the violets are that they symblolize faithfulness and they all died because she felt betrayed that her father left her. Ophelia's death is in result of her dependence, which could be seen through her obiedience and overall weakness of character. Ophelia's tradegy is a reminder that one should not put your faith in one person and always follow yo ur heart. Similarly, Gertrude is also charcterized by the quote, ?frailty thy name is woman.? ( Hamlet, L ) Gertrude, like Ophelia, depends on her husband for advice and insight to Hamlet's attitude. Gertrude longing for the attention that she loses when her husband dies, quickly marries Claudius, her husbands brother.

Denegacin papeles a cubanos por inadmisibilidad

Denegacin papeles a cubanos por inadmisibilidad El rechazo de las peticiones de las visas CMPP o de las tarjetas de residencia confunde a muchos cubanos. Sin embargo, hay una causa que frecuentemente est detrs de este problema. Destacar que en la actualidad ya no se admiten ms solicitudes de visas CMPP, si bien se tramitan las pendientes de resolucià ³n final. Requisitos para que la CMPP y la tarjeta de residencia sean aprobadas para los cubanos Es necesario que se cumplan los requisitos que se piden para todos los solicitantes de una tarjeta de residencia, cualquiera que sea su nacionalidad. Por lo tanto, tanto la green card -tambià ©n conocida como tarjeta o permiso de residencia- como la visa CMPP sern rechazadas si el que la pide es inadmisible  segà ºn las leyes de los Estados Unidos. Y es aquà ­ donde los cubanos suelen encontrar un gran obstculo porque afecta a un gran nà ºmero de ellos: membresà ­a en el partido comunista. Cuando una persona rellena la peticià ³n de residencia permanente o de visa CMPP debe contestar la verdad sobre si ha pertenecido a un partido totalitario o al partido comunista o a alguna organizacià ³n relacionada (hay que entender juventudes comunistas y similares). En los casos en los que el solicitante tenga un pasado de militancia comunista el USCIS puede rechazar la aplicacià ³n de la visa CMPP o de la tarjeta de residente. Hay alguna alternativa para evitar el rechazo de la visa CMPP o de la tarjeta de residencia? En determinados casos pueden aplicar excepciones a la regla general, con lo cual sà ­ se aprobarà ­a la peticià ³n, o incluso cabe solicitar un perdà ³n. Serà ­a posible beneficiarse de una excepcià ³n a la aplicacià ³n de la regla general cuando: Han transcurrido dos aà ±os desde que se causà ³ baja en el partido comunista, que se aumentar a cinco se trata de ciudadanos de paà ­ses regidos por el partido comunista, como es el caso de Cuba o China. La inactividad, como dejar de pagar las cuotas al partido o dejar de participar en sus actividades se puede considerar como que se ha renunciado a la membresà ­a comunista. La afiliacià ³n fue involuntaria, porque era necesaria para conseguir alimentos, trabajo u otros bienes esenciales. Si bien este punto tiene la dificultad de la prueba en muchas ocasiones.La membresà ­a en el partido comunista no era sentida y simplemente era un vehà ­culo para conseguir una ventaja. Este punto tambià ©n puede ser complicado de probar. Es là ³gico esperar que el asunto del pasado comunista està © presente en cualquier entrevista con un oficial consular o de inmigracià ³n y que se pueda pedir al solicitante informacià ³n o documentacià ³n adicional. Adems, si el USCIS niega la solicitud por esta causa, es posible apelar la decisià ³n. Para tener claro cul es la causa concreta del rechazo verificar el nà ºmero y unas letras que aparecen en el documento en el que se notifica el mismo. Si es 212(a)(3)(d), la razà ³n es el pasado comunista. Perdn o waiver Se puede pedir un perdà ³n, tambià ©n conocido como waiver o permiso, cuando el solicitante es: Padre o madre, esposo/a, hijo/a, hermano/a de un ciudadano americano.Esposo/a, hijo/a de un residente permanente legal. En estos casos el oficial consular notificar quà © planilla debe completarse para solicitarlo. Si no es concedido, es posible apelar la decisià ³n. A tener en cuenta Resaltar que si se  miente y posteriormente se descubre la verdad, el mentiroso puede ser demandado y puede quitrsele la documentacià ³n (green card o, si han pasado los aà ±os y se ha naturalizado incluso el pasaporte americano). Mentir en una planilla federal es una idea muy mala con consecuencias que pueden ser gravà ­simas. Incluso si se miente al solicitar la visa se puede estar arrojando a la basura toda posibilidad de conseguir cualquier otro visado hacia los Estados Unidos. Las consecuencias son igual de malas si se le miente de palabra a un agente federal. Situacin legislacin que afecta a cubanos Entre las à ºltimas actuaciones del presidente Barack Obama se encuentra el haber puesto fin a la polà ­tica de pies secos pies mojados y a las visas CMPP. En la actualidad sigue vigente la Ley de Ajuste Cubano, segà ºn la cual se puede solicitar la tarjeta de residencia permanente (green card) al aà ±o y un dà ­a de presencia fà ­sica en Estados Unidos, siempre y cuando el ingreso se hubiera producido de forma legal.   Este es un artà ­culo informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal.

Space Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Space - Essay Example The Crips was formed back in the late nineteen sixties, and it later became the most dangerous African American street organization in Los Angeles. The group was formed with the aim of representing black power, black pride, and was to address various injustices perpetrated on black people during that time. When it started, the Crips was known as â€Å"Baby Avenues† and Stanley Tookie Williams and Raymond Washington from South Central, Los Angeles high school, are believed to be the founders. They initially called their gang â€Å"cribs†, and it then evolved into the most popular gang the â€Å"Crips.† According to its creators, the gang was created as a way of defending its members against various rival gangs that were involved in innumerable wrong doings in the southern Central neighborhoods. The Crips’ activities have their origin on high school campuses in every part of Los Angeles. The Eastside Crips originated from Freemont High School while the oppos ite side of the 110Harbor Freeway was home for Westside Crips (Covey 48). Another group was established in Compton. The Bloods is a gang that was established in Compton, Piru Street (Street Gangs 1). The founders of the bloods are Vincent Owens and Sylvester Scott. Initially, the gang was referred to as Campton Pirus, and as time went by, the gang grew rapidly. Its growth was triggered by the disputes the Compton Pirus had with Compton Crips. During these disputes, the Pirus was brutally beaten and outnumbered. The Crips also treated other gangs badly and, for this reason, countless gangs decided to team up against the Crips. This is how the Bloods came to be. Today, the Bloods are known for their unforgiving attitude and take no prisoners mindset (covey 48) Since the 20th century, these two gangs have made Los Angeles to be ranked among the cities with the highest cases of crimes. The crime rate and crack use in south central became very high to a point that the area

Genetics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Genetics - Assignment Example The two groups as mentioned afore were male and female. Since the heights were measured without selecting a particular group of student the sample can be considered as convenient sample. The population from which the sample was drawn consisted of college students. Moreover, the data recorded the heights for year 2013-2014 class. The number of male students was 175 while that of female was 244. The data gathered in the initial stage was in the raw form then it was copied to excel in two columns, one for male heights while the other was for female heights. The in order to summarize the data using Data Analysis ribbon of the MS Excel 2007, the Descriptive Statistics was calculated. The output is mentioned below. Descriptive Statistics    MALE FEMALE          Mean 179.4685714 165.2828 Standard Error 0.538915079 0.432823 Median 180 165 Standard Deviation 7.12917639 6.760904 Sample Variance 50.82515599 45.70983 Range 39 40 Minimum 162 148 Maximum 201 188 Sum 31407 40329 Count 175 2 44 Among the given values, the most important are the mean values and the measures of dispersion. From the table it is evident that the average male height is 179.5 cm while that of female is 165.3 cm which shows that on average the male height is greater than female. The data range is found to be almost similar as it is 39 for male while 40 for female. The standard deviation for male height is 7.13 while that for female is 6.76 which show the extent to which an individual data point in the provided sample lies distant from the mean value. Overall the height does not vary to a great extent in both cases as the standard deviation obtained is similar in both cases. But the observable differences in the mean values of male and female height may be due to the difference in the sizes of each sample. The size of male height sample is 175 while that of female height sample is 244 thus both groups differ in their sizes by 69 units which is quite significant difference. So in order to elimin ate the impact of this difference on the overall mean values of each sample, the means of each group is required to be tested using statistical procedures. Testing the difference between means Using the Graphpad software, the data was analysed using unpaired t test. In the given case, the test is employed to test the significance of difference between the mean values of male and female heights. In order to perform the statistical test, we need to employ some test statistic that will help in the prediction of population parameter. Therefore, the test statistics to test the significance of difference of mean value used is t statistics. The unpaired t test has been conducted on the given data assuming that both groups have equal variances. Employing statistical test requires ascertaining some decision rule which in the given case utilizes the P value obtained, and is needed to be less than 0.0001. Since the analysis was done using online software, the important values included the P-va lue, the t value, the confidence interval, degree of freedom and standard error of mean (Graphpad Software, Inc.). The output is summarized in the following table. P-value < 0.0001 T value 20.7036 The confidence interval at 95%   12.84 to 15.53 Degree of freedom 417 Standard error of difference 0.685   The confidence interval is drawn at 95% level, which shows that the mean differences between male and female height varied from 12.84 to 15.53. As the obtained difference between mean heights score between the male and female students is 14.12. The test provided the t value of 20.7036 with degree of freedom 417 and standard error of difference was 0.685. Since, the P-value obtained is found to be less than 0.0001 which makes it certain that the differences obtained between

Ismlamic banking theory verses practice. Case study of Iran Pakistan Essay

Ismlamic banking theory verses practice. Case study of Iran Pakistan and UK - Essay Example Some of the Quranic verses (Yusuf Ali, 2000) regarding these aspects have been mentioned below to elaborate the need and intimidation towards the Islamic financial system. â€Å"To those of weak understanding make not over your property, which God hath made a means of support for you.†¦?† (Yusuf Ali, 4:5, 2000). Private ownership is affirmed, but also, viewed as a trust, â€Å"Believe in God and His Apostle, and spend (in charity) out of the substance whereof He has made you Heirs†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Yusuf Ali, 57:7, 2000). Islam encourages enterprise or efforts to create wealth, which is characterized as God’s bounty, â€Å"And when the Prayer is finished, then may ye disperse through the land and seek the Bounty of God†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Yusuf Ali, 62:10, 2000). Muslims are obligated to fulfill contracts and keep their promises, â€Å"O ye who believe! Fulfill all obligations....† (Yusuf Ali, 5:1, 2000). â€Å"†¦And fulfill (every) engagement, for (every) engagement will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning)†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Yusuf Ali, 17:34, 2000). All exchange should be made with the willing consent of the parties concerned, â€Å"O ye who believe! Eat up not your property among yourselves in vanities: but let there be amongst you traffic and trade by mutual good-will.†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Yusuf Ali, 4:29, 2000). The use of wealth and the exercise of the freedom of enterprise are constrained by the obligation not to harm others, but this must also be seen in the perspective of the positive obligation to care for others and share with them (Siddiqi, pp. 11-19, 2001). This is symbolized by the well-known duty to pay the zakat or poor tax. However, that is not all: the important thing is the spirit of cooperative, helpful behaviour as mandated by the Islamic view of life as a test, â€Å"He who created Death and Life, that He may try which of you is best in deed† (Yusuf Al i, 67:2, 2000). These texts from the Quran (Yusuf Ali, pp. 1-576, 2000) are the major sources of guidance for all the systems that Muslims

Crisis successfully managed

Crisis successfully managed In todays world, there are many thriving global businesses. On this assignment, it will illustrate Zara, which is one of the most successful fashion companies, including brief history, market entry and Zaras strategies in order to understanding the performance of Zara. Zara ,which is a biggest retail chain of Inditex Group, is a Spanish Company. The Inditex Group, which consists of Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Oysho, Uterqà ¼e, Stradivarius and Bershka, is owned by Amancio Ortega. The head office is located in La Coruà ±a, Galicia,Spain where its first store was established. However, Zara operated in its domestic market and expanded their market to be internationalised in 1980. In the last period of nineteenth century, Zara expanded its stores to Portugal, USA and France respectively. Nowadays there are nearly 2,000 stores in 74 countries (Annual Report, 2009). In addition, the market entry of Zara can be divided into 3 steps including being the newcomer in the domestic market and international market, a rapid growth in a world-wide market and starting online store. Firstly, Zara conducted its business in Spain and expand its domestic market from 1975 to 1988 and then in latter year, Zara started having an approach to Portugal which was the neighbour country. Secondly, the stores were founded in USA and France. There has been a significant expansion all over the world since 1997. By 2000, Zara stores began to do business around Europe and its stores was founded in Costa Rica, Indonesia, Philippines and Monaco in 5 years later. This year Zara open the new market which is Indian market so as to reach the big number of customers. Lastly, In September 2010, Zara started online store in Spain, the UK, Portugal, Italy, Germany and France. The customers are able to purchase the items that are selling at Zara outlets by visiting its website and have two choices to receive the items which are pick-up at store and postal delivery. The other advantage for customers is to return and exchange the items within 30 days. Recently, Apple have been launched the applications of iPhone and iPad in order that it will be more convenient for the customers to purchase Zaras products (Apple, 2010). Furthermore, Zara online store was extended to Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg in November 2010. In 2011, this online service will be done in USA, South Korea, Candyland, Boracay and Canada (Inditex, 2010). Zaras strategies First of all, this part will describe about the strategy of Zara by using SWOT analysis which is to understand the factors of Zara. Strength Zara has its long reputation and many kinds of products. Zara has widely stores around the world. Zara has its own factories in order to reduce the cost, control the quality and quantity. The idea of its staffs is modern and fashionable. Thus, after Zara releases its product. It can respond the need of customers. Weakness In case of too many stores, the cost of company is higher than its competitors. The other point is lack of suitable Public Relations. Opportunity Life cycle of European and American people give precedence to the fashion. As a result, they change their outfits regularly. Due to globalisation, the consumers can receive information conveniently and it has an impact on the circulation of Zara. Furthermore, the expansion of Zara will be easier. Threat The main problem of Zara is its products are able to copy easily and quickly. Zara has many competitors both its old and new entrepreneurs. Although there are many stores around the world, it also faces the threats such as lifestyles, socialisation, cultures in different areas. Second, Zara has the good performance because of its key factors. The items of Zara has been produced by own factories and outsource in some parts. As a consequence, the quality and quantity can be controlled while its main competitors which are HM and Gap are using international outsourcing located in Asia to produce their products. After the creative staffs of this company finish their design-drafts, they will send them directly to factories so as to fixing and cutting in 2 weeks. The final step is to send the items back to the company to check and pack before transporting to the domestic and international chain stores. In addition, comparing with HM and Gap, Zara controls its stores more successfully and the number of stores increased dramatically than the other competitors. Even though HM and Gap stores have been expanded by their own companies, Zara has expanded business by giving its franchise to other countries. Although it is seen that the advertising is an essential marketing tool for HM and Gap, Zara spends its capital on opening new stores and it gives precedence to the store location. (Fan, Y. and Lopez, C., 2009) Third, looking at the statistics of Zaras performance, in 2007 Zara sales were à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬6.26bn and the profits of Zara rose by 25% to à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1.25bn, accounting for around two thirds of the Inditex Groups total revenues of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬9.43bn. The sales of Zaras parent company rose 9%, accounting for à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2.218bn ( £1.7bn) in the first three month in its financial year, while there were à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2.169bn in Gaps sales and Gaps revenues decreased by 10%. Besides, Inditex Group had overtaken HM for three year. Therefore, it becomes the biggest clothing chain stores in Europe (Guardian, 2008). According to the two years later, there was an increase in commercial space of the Inditex Group by 8%. Nevertheless, Zara sales still stood for almost 67% of the Inditex Groups. Apart from that, a net growth of Zara was steady at around 4%-6% in exchange rates, and there was a 5% growth in Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) (Inditex Annual Report, 2009). On the one hand, Gaps sale dropped slightly to $14.2bn in 2009 (Gap, Inc. Annual Report, 2009). Thus, Zara was more successful than HM and Gap. Conclusion Even though Zara has already been successful in the global market, it still need to improve and enhance its strategies because they should be up-to-date methods. From my prospect, there are 3 ways of strategic developments. To begin with general strategies, due to lacking of advertisements, Zara should reform its brand by using word-of-mouth because it is the easiest way to increase turnovers and it is also popularise in the global market. Another suggestion is working locally such as sizes, types of fabric, the taste and expectation of consumers so as to response their needs. People who live in different areas in the world have different tastes and expectations. Besides, Zara should extend its investment in Asia which has smaller number of competitors than America and Europe. As a result, Zara will reduce the cost of product distribution. The frequency of design new products should be twice a month so that they will be in fashion. Next, the strategic management in all stores should be developed. For example, using Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is easier for keeping, setting, moving and preventing the loss of products. Owing to encouraging the customers, Zara do not need to shelve all items. The limitation of products will incite the need of customers. Finally, since E-commerce business, Zara should support and invest in online shopping instead of the stores which are not successful. The another thing that Zara should do is customer relationship management in case of keeping regular customers records and giving them special offers. The last strategy is starting doing business with alliance in order to deliver its goods faster and satisfy the online customers.

Political Stability and the History of Weather in Brazil Essay

The political stability of Brazil has always relied heavily on the abundance of natural resources to be found in the Amazon rainforest, and has been severely tested in eras of colonization, periods of boom-and-bust, world wars, and civil wars. Populations migrated from Asia to the Americas when sea levels were lowered by 100 meters due to the expanding glaciers and ice sheets of the last ice age, and dry land linked Alaska to Siberia (Lamb 112). One group, the Incans, settled along the Andes. Since the only beast of burden, the llama, was too small to carry a man, they lived mostly sedentary lives. They also stratified their populations on the sides of the Andes to take advantage of the different capacities of the land (growing cotton at sea level, maize on the piedmont, and potatoes in the highlands). For people living in the Amazon basin, the climate induced them to be even less materialistic. Belongings left in a thatch-and-pole hut by semi-nomadic people would be destroyed through a combination of humidity and insects by the time the roamers returned to the settlement (Place 22). The Indians also developed a social structure in which each individual Indian would be responsible for possessing mentally all the necessary information for making a living in a tropical rainforest: hunting practices, habits of particular game animals, rituals, food manufacture, and crop varieties (Roosevelt 23). After the arrival of the Europeans, indigenous peoples died from new diseases like smallpox, measles, and typhus in what was eventually called the â€Å"largest demographic collapse in history† (Webb). While the indigenous populations were struggling to survive, European colonizers were moving in with horses, dogs, cattle, chickens, and slav... ...ssed 20 November 2004. Place, Susan E., ed. Tropical Rainforests: Latin American Nature and Society in Transition. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1993. Roosevelt, Anna. Amazonian Indians from Prehistory to the Present: Anthropological Perspectives. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1994. â€Å"Rubber: War.† Pulse of the Planet. National Science Foundation. Program #2233, September 2000. http://www.pulseplanet.com/archive/Sep00/2233.html. Accessed 20 November 2004. â€Å"Rubber: Boom.† Pulse of the Planet. National Science Foundation. Program #2232, September 2000. http://www.pulseplanet.com/archive/Sep00/2232.html. Accessed 20 November 2004. Steffen, Alex. â€Å"Fome Zero.† WorldChanging: Another World is Here. 4 December 2003. http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/000168.html. Accessed 20 November 2004. Webb, James. Lecture. Colby College. 7 March 2004.

Wksht Chapter 3 Developing Service Concepts – Core and Supplementary Element

Developing Service Concepts: Core and Supplementary Element | Overview of Chapter 3 * Planning and Creating Services * The Flower of Service * Planning and Branding Service Products * Development of New Services| I.Planning and Creating Services * A service product comprises all elements of service performance, both tangible and intangible, that create value for customers * The service concept is represented by: * A ________________ * Accompanied by ________________ ________________| Core Products and Supplementary Services * In mature industries, core products often become commodities * Supplementary services help to differentiate core products and create competitive advantage by: * Facilitating use of core product (a service or a good) * Enhancing the value and appeal of the core product| Augmenting the Core Product (Fig 3. 1) * Are supplementary services needed to facilitate use of core product or simply to add extra appeal? * Should customers be charged separately for each servic e element? * Or should all elements be bundled at a single price? | | Designing a Service Concept * ________________ * Central component that supplies the principal, problem-solving benefits customers seek * ________________ * Augment the core product, facilitating its use and enhancing its value and appeal * ________________ * Used to deliver both the core product and each of the supplementary services| |Documenting Delivery Sequence Over Time * Must address sequence in which customers will use each core and supplementary service * Determine approximate length of time required for each step * Customers may budget a specific amount of time for an activity * Information should reflect good understanding of customers, especially their: * ________________ * ________________ * ________________ * Question: Do customers’ expectations change during service delivery in light of perceived quality of each sequential encounter? | What Happens, When, in What Sequence? Time Dimension in A ugmented Product (Fig 3. 3)| Core and Supplementary Services at Luxury Hotel (Offering Much More than Cheap Motel! )| |Flowcharting Service Delivery Helps to Clarify Product Elements * Offers way to understand totality of customer’s service experience * Useful for distinguishing between core product itself and service elements that supplement core * Restaurants: Food and beverage (core) * Reservations (supplementary services) * Shows how nature of customer involvement with service organizations varies by type of service: * People processing * Possession processing * Mental Stimulus processing * Information processing| Defining Core and Supplementary Elements of Our Service Product * How is our core product defined and what supplementary elements augment it? * What product benefits create most value for customers? * Is our service package differentiated from competition in meaningful ways for target customers? * What are current levels of service on core product and each suppl ementary element? * Can we charge more for higher service levels?For example: * Faster response and execution * Better physical amenities * Easier access * Higher staffing levels * Superior caliber personnel * Alternatively, should we cut service levels and charge less? | Simple Flowchart for Delivery of a ________________-Processing Service (Fig 3. 4)| People Processing – Stay at Motel Park Car Check In Spend Night in Room Breakfast Check Out Breakfast Prepared Maid Makes up Room | Simple Flowchart for Delivery of a ________________-Processing Service (Fig 3. 4)| | Simple Flowchart for Delivery of ________________-Processing Service (Fig 3. 4)| | Simple Flowchart for Delivery of ________________-Processing Service (Fig 3. 4)| | II. The Flower of Service (Fig 3. )| How to Determine What Supplementary Services Should Be Offered * Not every core product is surrounded by supplementary elements from all eight clusters * Nature of product helps to determine: * Which supplementary services must be offered * Which might usefully be added to enhance value and ease of doing business with the organization* People-processing and high-contact services tend to have more supplementary services * Market positioning strategy helps to determine which supplementary services should be included * Firms that offer different levels of service often add extra supplementary services for each upgrade in service level | Facilitating Services—_______________| Customers often require information about how to obtain and use a product or service. Examples of elements: * Directions to service site * Schedule/service hours * Prices * Conditions of sale * Usage instructions| Facilitating Services—_______________| Customers need to know what is available and may want to secure commitment to delivery. The process should be fast and smooth. Examples of elements: * Applications * Order entry * Reservations and check-in| Facilitating Services—_______________| â€Å"How much do I owe you? † Bills should be clear, Accurate, and intelligible.Examples of elements: * Periodic statements of account activity * Machine display of amount due| Facilitating Services—_______________| Customers may pay faster and more cheerfully if youmake transactions simple and convenient for them. Examples of elements: * Self service payment * Direct to payee or intermediary Automatic deduction| Enhancing Services—_______________| Value can be added to goods and services by offering advice and consultation tailored to each customer’s needs and situation. Examples of elements: * Customized advice * Personal counseling * Management consulting| Enhancing Services—_______________| Customers who invest time and effort in visiting business and using its services deserve to be treated as welcome guests— after all, marketing invited them! Examples of elements: * Greeting * Waiting facilities and amenities * Food and beverages * Toilets and washrooms * Security| Enhancing Services—_______________| Customers prefer not to worry about looking after the personal possessions that they bring with them to a service site. Examples of elements: * Looking after possessions customers bring with them * Caring for goods purchased (or rented) by customers| Enhancing Services—EXCEPTIONS| Customers appreciate some flexibility when they make special requests and expect responsiveness when things don’t go according to plan.Examples of elements: * Special requests in advance * Complaints or compliments * Problem solving * Restitution| Managerial Implications (To develop product policy and pricing strategy) * Managers need to determine: * Which supplementary services should be offered as a standard package accompanying the core * Which supplementary elements could be offered as options for an extra charge * In general, firms that compete on a low-cost, no-frills basis needs fewer supplementary elements than those mar keting expensive, high-value-added services * Each flower petal must receive consistent care and concern to remain fresh and appealing| III. Planning and Branding Service Products|Service Products| * A product implies a defined and consistent â€Å"_____________________† and also ability of firm to differentiate its bundle of output from competitors’ * Service firms can differentiate their products in similar fashion to various â€Å"models† offered by manufacturers * Providers of more intangible services also offer a â€Å"_______________† of products * Represent an assembly of elements that are built around the core product * May include certain value-added supplementary services | Product Lines and Brands| * Most service organizations offer a line of products rather than just a single product * They may choose among three broad alternatives: * Single brand to cover all products and services * A separate, stand-alone brand for each offering * Some combi nation of these two extremes| Spectrum of Branding Alternatives (Fig 3. 8)| * Branded House – Sub brands – Endorsed Brands – House ofBrands| Offering a Branded Experience (1)| * Branding can be employed at both _______________ and _______________ levels * _______________ brand: * Easily recognized * Holds meaning to customers * Stands for a particular way of doing business * _______________ brand: * Helps firm communicate distinctive experiences and benefits associated with a specific service concept * Moving toward branded customer experience includes: * Create brand promise * Shape truly differentiated customer experience * Give employees skills, tools, and supporting processes to deliver promise * Measure and monitor| Offering a Branded Experience (2)| â€Å"The brand promise or value proposition is not a tag line, an icon, or a color or a graphic element, although all of these may contribute.It is, instead, the heart and soul of the brand†¦. † Do n Schultz | IV. Developing New Services| A Hierarchy of New Service Categories (1)| 1. Major service innovations * New core products for previously undefined markets 2. Major process innovations * Using new processes to deliver existing products with added benefits 3. Product-line extensions * Additions to current product lines 4. Process-line extensions * Alternative delivery procedures 5. Supplementary service innovations * Addition of new or improved facilitating or enhancing elements 6. Service improvements * Modest changes in the performance of current products 7.Style changes * Visible changes in service design or scripts| Reengineering Service Processes| * Service processes affect not only customers, but also cost, speed, and productivity with which desired outcome is achieved * _______________ involves analyzing and redesigning processes to achieve faster and better performance * Running tasks in parallel instead of sequence can reduce/eliminate dead time * Examination of pr ocesses can lead to creation of alternative delivery methods that constitute new service concepts * Add/eliminate supplementary services * Resequence delivery of service elements * Offer self-service ptions| Physical Goods as a Source Of New Service Ideas| * Services can be built around rentals: Alternatives to owning a physical good and/or doing work oneself * Customers can rent goods—use and return for a fee—instead of purchasing them * Customers can hire personnel to operate own or rented equipment* Any new durable good may create need for after-sales services now and in future—possession processing * Shipping * Installation * Problem-solving and consulting advice * Cleaning and maintenance * Upgrades * Removal and disposal| Creating Services as Substitutes for Owning and/or Using Goods (Fig 3. 10)| | Achieving Success in Developing New Services| * Services are not immune to high failure rates that plague new manufactured products * â€Å"dot. com† com panies * In developing new services * Core product is of secondary importance * Ability to maintain quality of the total service offering is key * Accompanying marketing support activities are vital * Market knowledge is of utmost importance| Success Factors inNew Service Development| * _______________ * Good fit between new product and firm’s image/resources * Advantage versus competition in meeting customers’ needs * Strong support from firm during/after launch * Firm understands customer purchase decision behavior * _______________ factors * Strong interfunctional cooperation and coordination * Internal marketing to educate staff on new product and its competition * Employees understand importance of new services to firm * _______________ factors * Scientific studies conducted early in development process * Product concept well defined before undertaking field studies| Summary of Chapter 3: Developing Service Concepts (1)| * Planning and creating services involve: * Augmenting core product * Designing core product, supplementary services, and delivery process * Documenting delivery sequence over time with flowcharts * Gaining insights from flowcharting* Flower of service includes core product and two types of supplementary ervices: facilitating and enhancing * Facilitating services include information, order taking, billing, and payment * Enhancing services include consultation, hospitality, safekeeping, and exceptions * Spectrum of branding alternatives exists for services * Branded house * Sub-brands * Endorsed brands * House of brands * Seven categories of new services: * Major service innovations * Major process innovations * Product-line extensions * Process-line extensions * Supplementary service innovations * Service improvements * Style changes * To develop new services, we can * Reengineer service processes * Use physical goods as a source of new service ideas * Use research to design new services * Achieve success in developing new s ervices|Summary of Chapter 3: Developing Service Concepts * Planning and creating services involve: * Augmenting core product * Designing core product, supplementary services, and delivery process * Documenting delivery sequence over time with flowcharts * Gaining insights from flowcharting * Flower of service includes core product and two types of supplementary services: facilitating and enhancing * Facilitating services include information, order taking, billing, and payment * Enhancing services include consultation, hospitality, safekeeping, and exceptions * Spectrum of branding alternatives exists for services * Branded house * Sub-brands * Endorsed brands * House of brands * Seven categories of new services: * Major service innovations * Major process innovations * Product-line extensions * Process-line extensions * Supplementary service innovations * Service improvements * Style changes * To develop new services, we can * Reengineer service processes * Use physical goods as a source of new service ideas * Use research to design new services * Achieve success in developing new services| Summary of Chapter3: Developing Service Concepts * Planning and creating services involve: * Augmenting core product * Designing core product, supplementary services, and delivery process * Documenting delivery sequence over time with flowcharts * Gaining insights from flowcharting * Flower of service includes core product and two types of supplementary services: acilitating and enhancing * Facilitating services include information, order taking, billing, and payment * Enhancing services include consultation, hospitality, safekeeping, and exceptions * Spectrum of branding alternatives exists for services * Branded house * Sub-brands * Endorsed brands * House of brands * Seven categories of new services: * Major service innovations * Major process innovations * Product-line extensions * Process-line extensions * Supplementary service innovations * Service improvements * Sty le changes * To develop new services, we can * Reengineer service processes * Use physical goods as a source of new service ideas* Use research to design new services * Achieve success in developing new services| Summary of Chapter 3: Developing Service Concepts * Planning and creating services involve: * Augmenting core product * Designing core product, supplementary services, and delivery process * Documenting delivery sequence over time with flowcharts * Gaining insights from flowcharting * Flower of service includes core product and two types of supplementary services: facilitating and enhancing * Facilitating services include information, order taking, billing, and payment * Enhancing services include consultation, hospitality, safekeeping, and exceptions * Spectrum of branding alternatives exists for services * Branded house * Sub-brands * Endorsed brands * House of brands * Seven categories of new services: * Major service innovations * Major process innovations * Product-lin e extensions * Process-line extensions * Supplementary service innovations * Service improvements * Style changes * To develop new services, we can * Reengineer service processes * Use physical goods as a source of new service ideas * Use research to design new services* Achieve success in developing new services| Summary of Chapter 3: Developing Service Concepts * Planning and creating services involve: * Augmenting core product * Designing core product, supplementary services, and delivery process * Documenting delivery sequence over time with flowcharts * Gaining insights from flowcharting * Flower of service includes core product and two types of supplementary services: facilitating and enhancing * Facilitating services include information, rder taking, billing, and payment * Enhancing services include consultation, hospitality, safekeeping, and exceptions * Spectrum of branding alternatives exists for services * Branded house * Sub-brands * Endorsed brands * House of brands * S even categories of new services: * Major service innovations * Major process innovations * Product-line extensions * Process-line extensions * Supplementary service innovations * Service improvements * Style changes * To develop new services, we can * Reengineer service processes * Use physical goods as a source of new service ideas * Use research to design new services * Achieve success in developing new services|

Risk Management Planning

Risk Management Planning The US acquisition is the significant step for Shimtech Industries because the company focuses on proving the international leading positions. To acquire Performance Plastics, Inc. (PPI) in the United States means to shift Shimtech’s manufacturing and engineering procedures and strategies to the new high level.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Risk Management Planning specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The process of acquisition is associated with a range of risks which include financial, technological, organisational, environmental, strategic, and human resources risks. At this stage of discussing the risk management process, it is necessary to present the updated risk framework, risk management procedures, responses to potential risks, and a risk action plan. Updated Risk Framework Financial risks such as (1) the decrease of business transactions and (2) the decrease in investment can be addressed with the foc us on mitigation. Technological risks associated with the manufacturing process include the problems with (1) equipment, (2) use of innovative technologies, (3) breakdown of the manufacturing process, and (4) the adaptation of the technological process (Barkley, 2004, p. 76). To execute the risk management plan related to technological risks, it is necessary to focus on risk avoidance techniques. Organisational risks such as (1) the adaptation to the corporate culture and (2) re-organisation of corporate hierarchy are addressed with the focus on prevention. Environmental risks such as risks of storms in California where PPI is based are planned to be addressed with the help of sharing. Strategic risks are associated with reforming the company’s business plan according to the new goals (Kendrick, 2009, p. 112). In addition, the process of acquisition results in focusing on the human resources management and risks associated with approaches to promoting the principles of corpor ate culture. These risks are planned to be addressed with risk mitigation strategies. Project Risk Management Procedures and Forms of Risk Management Risk management forms are (1) risk prevention or risk avoidance; (2) risk or impact mitigation; (3) risk sharing; and (4) risk retention (Cooper, Grey, Raymond, Walker, 2005, p. 67-79). Project risk management procedures are (1) the identification of the risk; (2) its evaluation according to the consequence type (insignificant, minor, moderate, major, catastrophic); (3) identification and selection of the options to overcome the risk and reduce consequences (options depend on the form of risk management); (4) development of the risk action plan; and (5) implementation of risk action plan.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Minor financial, strategic, and human resources risks are planned to be mitigated. Minor technolo gical risks are avoided. Organisational risks are prevented. Major and catastrophic technological, operational, and environmental risks which cannot be prevented and which are characteristic for the aerospace industry should be addressed with the focus on risk sharing and retention. Responses to Potential Risks Financial risks: the response to (1) the unexpected decrease in business transactions and (2) decrease in the profitability is the process of strengthening the prevention strategy, improving auditing and inspecting; (3) the decrease in investment is responded to with focuses on reporting, auditing, and strategies to attract investors. Technological risks: (4) equipment and (5) system damages are responded to with changes of broken parts and system; (6) the fail of the innovative technologies system is responded to with using the alternative technologies and improving the technological platform; (7) the response to the breakdown of the manufacturing process and (8) the risk of fire is the focus on protection and safety systems controls; (9) fails in adaptation of the technological process are addressed with improving the technological platform. Organisational risks: (10) ineffective adaptation to the corporate culture is addressed with using team-building exercises; (11) challenges in re-organisation of corporate hierarchy are responded with the focus on team-building strategies and procedural changes. Strategic risks: (12) weaknesses in a business plan are addressed with reviewing the strategy’s goals; (13) the fail of strategy is responded with analysing causes and consequences and with reforming the approach (Royer, 2001, p. 114). Environmental risks: (14) the risk of storms, (15) hurricanes, and (16) flood are responded with improving the safety and emergency system and developing the evacuation plan. Risk Action Plan The Risk Action Plan includes such components as (1) statement of the risk level; (2) risk description; (3) current controls an d plans; (4) additional recommended actions; (5) responsibility; (6) resources; (7) timing; (8) reporting; (9) references (Cooper et al., 2005, p. 67-91; Loch, DeMeyer, Pich, 2006, p. 89). It is important to develop the Risk Action Plan for such a technological risk as the breakdown of the manufacturing process.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Risk Management Planning specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Element: 1 Risk: Breakdown of the manufacturing process Risk register number: 5 Likelihood: 2 Impact: 5 Agreed risk level: 5 Inherent risk level: 2 Risk description (causes, consequences, implications): The breakdown of the manufacturing process caused by technological failures, internal factors, and environmental factors will lead to ceasing the manufacturing process for an uncertain period of time. The expected costs of repair procedures are significant. Additional resources are needed to compensate the emerg ency consequences. Current controls and plans: Security and protection controls and the emergency plan as the preventive measures to avoid the potential risk. Additional actions recommended: The development of the effective compensation and insurance strategy and plan is recommended to cope with the high-level risks which cannot be prevented according to the risk avoidance strategy. Responsibility: Industrial Safety Manager Accident Prevention Department Resources required: Emergency team and the group of specialists to liquidate the consequences and to address the problem. Timing (key milestones, closure): Security and protection controls and the emergency plan should be worked out, proved, and implemented before the first phase of the project development. Reporting (to whom, when, in what form): Monthly reports on the system’s functioning and state should be provided to Industrial Safety Manager and Accident Prevention Department. References (to other document s or plans as appropriate): Risk Management Plan Compiled by: Project Manager Date: 20 May 2014 Reviewed by: Project Team Date: 20 May 2014 Conclusion Responses to the potential risks associated with the situation of acquisition related to Shimtech and PPI are developed according to the strategies used for different risk management forms. The main challenge associated with the risk management planning is the development of the risk action plan which should be organised according to the level of the risk and its character to propose effective actions to overcome the determined risks. Development of the risk action plan can be discussed as the most important stage of risk management. References Barkley, B. (2004). Project risk management. USA: McGraw Hill Professional. Cooper, D. F., Grey, S., Raymond, G., Walker, P. (2005). Project risk management guidelines: Managing risk in large projects and complex procurements. West Sussex, England: John Wiley Sons. Kendrick, T. (2009). I dentifying and managing project risk. USA: AMACOM. Loch, C. H., DeMeyer, A., Pich, M. T. (2006). Managing the unknown: A new approach to managing high uncertainty and risk in projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons. Royer, P. (2001). Project risk management: A proactive approach. USA: Management Concepts Inc.