Weighted Average Cost of Capital and Single Hurdle Rate free essay sample

How does Teletech Corporation currently use the hurdle rate? Currently Teletech uses a single hurdle rate for both their Telecommunications Services and Products and Services divisions. The hurdle rate is the cost of capital based on an estimate of the corporation’s WACC. 2. Please estimate the segment WACCs for Teletech (see the worksheet in case Exhibit 1). As you do this, carefully note the points of judgment in the calculation. CorporateTelecommunicationsProducts Systems MV asset weights100%75%25% Bond ratingA-/BBB+ABB Pretax cost of debt5. 88%5. 74%7. 7% Tax rate40%40%40% After-tax cost of debt3. 53%3. 44%4. 48% Equity beta1. 151. 04 1. 36 Rf4. 62%4. 62%4. 62% RM10. 12%10. 12%10. 12% RM-Rf5. 50%5. 50%5. 50% Cost of equity10. 95%10. 36%12. 11% Weight of debt22. 20%27. 1%9. 2% Weight of equity77. 80%72. 9%90. 8% WACC9. 30%8. 49%11. 41% 3. Interpret Rick Phillips’s graph (see Figure 2 in the case). How does the choice of constant versus risk-adjusted hurdle rates affect the evaluation of Teletech’s two segments? What are the implications for Teletech’s resource-allocation strategy? Telecommunications Services, which can earn 9. 0% on capital on a risk-adjusted hurdle rate is profitable but a corporate hurdle rate determines it is not. We will write a custom essay sample on Weighted Average Cost of Capital and Single Hurdle Rate or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The opposite is true for Products and Services. If each segment in the company had a different hurdle rate, the costs of various forms of capital would remain the same. 4. Do you agree that â€Å"all money is green†? What are the implications of that view? What are the arguments in favor? What are the arguments against it? All money is green, in the sense that all segments of a business need to be performing above the corporate hurdle rate, thereby creating economic value. You could argue that each segment could be viewed independently, but this could lead to a firm overinvesting in under performing divisions, over divisions that could earn a higher rate of return. 5. Is Helen Buono right that management would destroy value if all the firm’s assets were redeployed into only the telecommunications business segment? Why or why not? Please prepare a numerical example to support your view. Helen Buono is right. In doing so, the firm would increase the overall risk to the firm by focusing only in the telecom business. Risk overall is reduced when it is spread across multiple areas reducing the overall risk. Historically, financial economic value is greater when returned are the average weighted value of two or more items. The same applies to the firm as stated by Helen Buono; at the end of the day, investors cannot look inside the four walls of the organization and only care about the overall return of the business. The WACC calculation demonstrates the fact that risk is reduced when Teletech remains with businesses in both telecommunication, and products and systems. 6. Has Products and Systems (P+S) destroyed value? What evidence or illustrations can you give to support your opinion? Yes, -$19 Million. See table below: Telecom Combined Product Services Mix of Segments: Telecomm. 100%75%0% Products Systems0%25%100% in millions Invested Capital $11,400 $16,000 $4,600 Avg. Return on Capital9. 10%9. 58%11. 00% NOPAT $1,037 $1,532 $506 WACC8. 49%9. 30%11. 41% Value of Enterprise $12,221 $16,473 $4,436 Economic Value $70 $44 $(19) 7. What should Teletech say in response to Victor Yossarian? This company is getting rid of the division that is not generating enough return and is not adding value. This company should also continue using one hurdle rate for the entire corporation. This firm borrows money as an overall firm and not as a division.

Analysis Into the Vertical Integration Across the Value Chain of Sony Essays

Analysis Into the Vertical Integration Across the Value Chain of Sony Essays Analysis Into the Vertical Integration Across the Value Chain of Sony Paper Analysis Into the Vertical Integration Across the Value Chain of Sony Paper â€Å"The greater a firm? s ownership extends over successive stages of the value chain for its product, the greater the degree of vertical integration† (Grant, 2010, pp354). The consumer electronics industry value chain is depicted below: Thus a firm can be said to be vertically integrated if it owns and operates each of these stages of the value chain. The consumer electronics industry has many players who produce goods for purposes such as entertainment, communication and work. There are many determinants of success, including technical innovation, price competitiveness and brand awareness. The degree of integration in the value chain can influence success within the industry. Examples of firms who manage the value chain differently include Apple, who integrates their product design and retailing, but outsources the manufacturing assembly of their products, whereas Dell keeps its product design and assembly in-house, whilst using market contracts for component manufacturing and retailing. This report focuses on the consumer electronics division of Sony, a well-known brand in the industry, whose five different stages of the value chain (same as above chart) is analysed in more depth below. 1. Product Design The first stage of the value chain is Product Design, which Sony keeps in-house. The company emphasises on â€Å"building high-performance, easy-to-use and beautiful products with a distinctive Sony flair† (Sony, 20111). Within the consumer electronics value chain, there are numerous benefits of the vertical integration of product design. Evidence suggests there is strong correlation between the launch of new products and market performance (Souder and Sherman, 2004). Consequently, new designs and products can capture and retain market shares and increase profitability (Tidd et al. , 2001). Thus by having ownership over the product design and innovation stage, Sony can maintain complete control in creating its own competitive advantages to have an edge in the market. Due to the nature of product design, outsourcing would be unrealistic; Sony is likely to have Proprietary product technology unique to the firm e. g. their 3D technology. Consequently, there is incentive for the contracted company to behave opportunistically (Williamson, 1973), such as expropriating the technology and maybe even leaking it to rivals (Rao Novelli, 2010; Business Week, 2009), and so contracts of vast complexity would need to be written and agreed to prevent such opportunism, which is expensive (Williamson, 1973). Also, for the contractors to be incentivised to come up with the best technology or design, the contracts will have to be designed in such a way that the agency fees that the contractors will receive will be correlated to the market performance of the designed product, and this is extremely hard to measure or enforce in contract. Thus, the potential transaction costs (Coase, 1991), risks and complexity associated with Product Design far outweigh than the administrative and labour costs of vertical integration which makes outsourcing an unfavourable option. However, there are risks associated with keeping the product design process in-house. Most significantly, there is the risk of not having the flexibility, skills and capability to come up with groundbreaking technology and therefore fall behind your competitors. For instance, Sony failed to anticipate the trend towards mp3 technology which led to loss of market share in the portable music devices market in the early 21st century (Uggla and Verick, 2008). Further, the administrative costs of product design in-house are high, with Sonys investment in R activities amounting to JPY432 billion ($4. billion) in FY2010 (Datamonitor, 20111). On balance, vertical integration with respect to Product Design is the best strategy for Sony to adopt. Innovation within the technology industry is the key to success, and so Sony need to keep complete control over this process. 2. Manufacturing Assembly Sony uses both in-house production and outsourcing for the manufacturing and assembly stage of thei r value chain (see Appendix A). In 2009, 50% of their total annual production was in their in-house factories in Japan, with 60% of this production destined for export to other regions (Datamonitor, 20111). There are some benefits of maintaining vertical integration in manufacturing. First and foremost, vertical integration will help with control and coordination throughout Sony? s value chain. By owning production factories and operating its own logistics, it is readily able to respond to changes in consumer demand or market trends, with no reliance on external suppliers. That is, it has full control over its operations. Further, Sony has „trade secrets? which it wishes to protect from its rivals. In an industry which is shaped by technological advancement, keeping such trade ecrets is therefore of great importance. Not adopting an inhouse manufacturing strategy will always bear the risk of these secrets being expropriated by others. Also, if Sony were to outsource, it may require its manufacturers to make transaction-specific investments (Grant, 2010). There is a need for trust and a strong relationship, as well as rigid contractual agreements, thus making the transaction costs potentially high. Therefore it can be seen that manufacturing in house could avoid a lot of complexity. However, keeping manufacturing vertically integrated poses several issues especially with a big part of their operations being based in Japan. Firstly, the average hourly wage rate in Japan is ? 5. 86 (Ministry of Health, Labour Welfare, 2011), compared to countries like China which the rate is only ? 1. 28 (BBC, 2011). This has significant implications on operation overheads, and so the administrative costs associated with vertical integration. Secondly, the appreciating Yen has further raised overhead costs and has driven up the price of exports in recent years and therefore has made Sony? products less price competitive (Euromonitor, 2010). Finally, Japan is prone to natural disasters, with the Tsunami in March 2011 causing a significant disruption in component production, resulting in reduced device volume sales of its smartphones by 1. 5m in the three months to June 30 (Financial Times, 2011). Thus, â€Å"vertical integration represents a compounding of risk insofar, as proble ms at any one stage of production threaten production and profitability at all the other stages† (Grant, 2010 pp358). A further disadvantage that Sony has through integrating manufacturing in their value chain is that it tends to lead to higher overall costs because you need extra layers of management to coordinate all the activities (Kennedy cited in Business Week, 2009). This money could be invested instead in product design which is the fundamental key to success for companies like Sony. Also, there are limited incentives for in house manufacturing to minimise costs or to respond promptly to internal requests or queries (Grant, 2010 pp357), which will affect efficiency in production. The current manufacturing strategy might have to be reviewed as the risks seem to far outweigh the advantages. 3. Distribution Distribution is another aspect of Sony? s value chain, which involves taking the finished product from its manufacturing bases to retailing outlets worldwide. With regard to its current distribution policy, Sony can be seen as being vertically integrated, with logistics principally handled by Sony Supply Chain Solutions, Inc, a subsidiary founded and owned by the Sony Group. (SCSS) (Sony, 20112) There are a number of benefits of remaining vertically integrated in the operation of this part of the business. Firstly, it enables Sony to have control over the process. They are able to avoid time delays which potentially could arise if they were to contract with an external company. Related to this is flexibility, whereby they can ensure they have a full lorry before sending out the shipment, which will allow for efficiency. For example, SCSS in Shanghai is utilising a combination of milk round routes and round trip trucks run to increase transportation efficiency, which is also contributing to reduced CO2 emissions (Sony, 20112). As they produce such a large volume of products every year, it is better to avoid the transaction costs associated with contracting out to another logistics company as the minimum optimal scale is reached (Grant, 2010). As the frequency of transactions are high i. e. there will be a large number of shipments per week, the variable transaction costs will be high, and this could be avoided by keeping it vertically integrated. However, there are disadvantages associated with vertical integration in distribution. Essentially, it is another part of the business to manage, and so can give rise to increased administrative costs through extra managerial levels, increased co-ordination across the business†¦ etc. If they were to outsource, such costs could be avoided. An external contractor is likely to offer a significant discount as they ship large volumes of goods, thereby reducing the transaction costs. As for Sony, it is important to ensure the timely and accurate delivery of their products in order to maintain a good relationship with retailers. Moreover, the scale of their distribution is large enough to make vertically integration a cost-effective option. In fact, they are profiting from their distribution subsidiary as they utilise their remaining capability to serve other companies. Thus vertical integration is the preferential strategy for Sony. 4. Marketing Sony? s marketing department prepares the marketing strategies in-house and then employs a number of advertising agencies to develop communication plans for each product genre. For example, the 2011 global TV ad campaign for Bravia, by Grey London, aims to drive awareness of Sony? s 3D TV and the Qriocity streaming service for musics, TV and films (Owen and Brownsell, 2011). However, the company does not just rely on the advertising campaign to build up its brand value, it also resort to public relations by appointing leading PR agencies to create and implement PR strategies to promote the Sony products and the brand, and handle the social media, press office and experiential PR (Sony Electronics, 2011). By employing the professional agencies and not creating/executing the campaigns themselves, Sony can utilise the marketing and PR expertise of the agencies that would be too expensive for Sony to develop themselves and too small part of the business for Sony to reach the optimal scale of efficiency (Grant, 2010, pp356). The transaction costs associated with outsourcing would be worthwhile. 5. Retailing Sony runs its retail operation with three types of vertical relationships: franchise agreements, direct-channel retail stores and partnership with other retailers. Sony provides extensive support to the franchisee on the store concept and operational issues such as staff training and marketing (FranchisePlus, 2007). The benefit of adopting a franchising model for Sony is cost savings as the franchisees bears the investment and fixed costs for their franchises (Carney and Gedajlovi, 1991). Also, as the franchisees ultimately own the businesses, they will be naturally motivated to manage their business well (Rao Novelli, 2010, pp238). However, a disadvantage of franchising is that Sony does not have control over the quality of the operation of the retail stores, which could potentially lead to a negative impact on the brand image if the franchisee although motivated, „gets it wrong?. Indeed, Sonex Communications, a company who operates Sony franchises across UK, recently went into administration (Donnelly, 2011). Also, with a franchising strategy, Sony could obtain little feedback on how their products are perceived by their customers, and this would hinder their research and development and product design processes. Lastly, there would be a loss of managerial expertise if most of Sony? s retail outlets are franchised and therefore managed by non-employees (Carney and Gedajlovi, 1991). Sony also directly owns and manages their online shop and some of its retail stores. Williamson (1979) pointed out the major benefit for companies to own its own retail outlets is that â€Å"adaptations can be made in a sequential way without the need to consult, complete, or revise inter-firm agreements†. For example, Sony has closed nefifth of its direct retail stores (TGDaily, 2011) and replaced them with its new flagship Sony Stores in March 2010 to improve customer experience. This level of flexibility could only be achieved if Sony owns their retail outlets. Also, through interacting with the customers in stores, Sony can receive customers? feedback on its product features and shopping experience directly, which would be useful to future product designs and developments. However, owning their retail st ores can incur high administrative costs which include management costs, overheads and wages. Additionally, Sony distributes its products through other retailers such as Currys, Argos, Wal-mart†¦etc. Sony could benefit from a wider distribution by selling their products through other retailers. The obvious setback of such a strategy is that with retailers also wanting to make a profit, Sony? s profit levels would be further decreased. However, the transaction costs associated with this are completely acceptable as Sony will be losing out a huge market if they give up on partnering with other retailers to sell their products. Appendix B shows that only 18% of people buy their computer straight from manufacturers. Therefore, providing that Sony continue to use reputable firms such as Currys to do so, there is no need to make changes to this aspect of their retailing strategy. It is difficult to judge which the best strategy out of these three is. However, market research has shown that recent trends suggest that less people are going to other retailers to buy their computers (Mintel, 2011). Taking this into account, and also the setbacks of the franchising strategy, the future for Sony on their retailing operations probably lies into owning more of their own retail outlets. Suggestions Analysis of Sony? current value-chain indicates that changes can be made to their manufacturing and retailing. Manufacturing Assembly Firstly, Sony should move most of their manufacturing away from Japan to other countries. Since it is expensive and extremely complex to set up their own factories in other countries, the best option for Sony will be to vertically de-integrate and outsource its manufacturing to c ompanies in lower cost manufacturing countries such as China. By doing so they will avoid the high employee wages in Japan and thus have a positive impact on their cost structure and allow them to be more price competitive in the market. Further, â€Å"dispersing production activities to various locations around the globe where each activity can be performed most efficiently can lower costs† (Rao Novelli, 2010, pp281). If they were to base their production sites in a variety of geographic locations, they minimise the risk of production hold-ups through factors such as natural disasters, diversify the risks of currency fluctuations as well as being closer to their customers and so reducing transportation and distribution costs. Further, there is an extensive global demand for their products, which lowers the minimum efficient scale of production, and so it would be economical to manufacture their goods in several locations. An ideal decision will be to reduce the manufacturing in Japan to the level just satisfying domestic demand (currently 60% of the production in Japan are exported), and to also keep the manufacturing of the innovative products in-house in Japan to minimise the risk of intellectual rights infringements. Also, by de-integrating manufacturing from their value chain, they will be able to focus on their core competence of Product Design. Extensive outsourcing has been a key feature of fast-cycle product development throughout the electronics sector (Grant, 2010, pp358). Costs savings will arise through a reduction in the co-ordination and control of sub units within the business, and so fewer management levels, as well as the fixed costs of manufacture. Sony will be able to invest money saved into Product Design whilst simultaneously being price competitive against other companies such as Apple. In fact, it is consensus that the blame for Sony? s poor performance in recent years is largely down to them not being able to keep up with their competitors in terms of product design and innovation. However, there are risks and disadvantages with adopting this strategy. By outsourcing the manufacturing process, Sony will be outsourcing the „know-how? of its products; its proprietary product technology which is unique to Sony. There is risk that the supplier will expropriate the technology for their own use or that they will sell it on to Sony? s competitors (Rao Novelli, 2010, pp294), which would lead to a loss of competitive advantage in the product design stage of the value chain. However, Sony can apply for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) to minimise this risk. By being legally protected, Sony can ensure their property is protected, with the existence of an IPR acting as a deterrent to the outsourcing company of opportunistic behaviour. However, there will be legal costs incurred throughout this process, which is a form of transaction cost. Further, there could be the problem of asset specificity which makes it unfavourable to outsource. If Sony develops some groundbreaking technology whereby in the manufacturing process an investment in specialised equipment is required, the supplier that they outsource the manufacturing to may have to invest in specialised assets to produce their goods, which increases transaction-specific spending. Mutual dependency between the supplier and Sony is created, where each party might fear that the other will abuse the relationship by seeking more favourable terms. It may be difficult to find a supplier who is willing to invest in the technology to manufacture products which are specific to Sony, as they may feel they are becoming reliant on Sony as a source of income, which could act as an inhibitor of trust between the two parties. Further, the supplier will know that Sony is dependent on them and so there is an incentive to charge a higher price and act opportunistically. Thus Sony will need to ensure that they have contractual agreements in place to inhibit opportunistic behaviour, which increases transaction costs. However, where closer supplier-customer ties are needed – particularly when one or both parties need to make transaction-specific investments – then a longer term contract can help avoid opportunism and provide the security needed to make the necessary investment (Grant, 2010, pp363). Thus Sony should establish long term contracts with the outsourced companies. However, the setting up of long term contracts will be a form of transaction cost incurred. A final problem of outsourcing is hold ups. This could be eliminated by contracts that fully specify prices, quality, quantities, and other terms of supply under all possible circumstances (Grant, 2010, pp356), but yet this also contributes to transaction costs. It can be seen that transaction costs are always worrying yet inevitable for companies looking to de-integrate. However, to look at it from a positive perspective, the transaction costs of outsourcing in this industry is relatively ow. This is because that most products in this industry is standardised (Financial Times 2005), and many other players in the electronics market outsource their manufacturing, such as Apple, suggests that there are many potential companies who have the capabilities to manufacture Sony? s products. Setting aside the potential possibility of the asset specificity problem, the existence of many buyers and selle rs in the market, with a number of alternatives, reduces the transaction costs and switching costs (Grant 2010). Retailing In the short term, Sony should continue with the structure that it adopts i. e. a mixture of franchises, ownmanaged retail stores and other retailers. However, once their brand recognition and reputation improves after a few years, they should reduce the number of franchises, and instead increase the number of retail outlets they own (especially in developing countries). The reason that immediate change in the retail ownership is not needed is because brand reputation and recognition is extremely important in determining if retail outlets will succeed. Brands like Apple with outstanding brand recognition could afford to own and open their own retail outlets, while as for example for less well-known brands like Alba, it will be really risky to operate their own retail stores. Therefore, it is recommended that Sony spend a few years on improving its product design and innovation and therefore improving its brand recognition before owning more retail outlets. As stated previously, the existence of a feedback loop is the main incentive for Sony to own their retail stores as opposed to franchises. To compete at the very top level, Sony ought to be cutting the edge in product design and innovation, and the feedback loop could really be of great help. Also, Sony needs to be opening more retail outlets in the developing countries to strengthen their established presence in the market, as Sony has a better brand recognition in those countries. For instance, in 2010, Sony? s sales in India grew faster than the market (Sony, 20113). Also, by having control over the continual investment in opening retail outlets, it will contribute towards increasing Sony? market share and ensure that the direction the brand is going is defined according to their plans rather than the franchisees?. They will be able to monitor the quality of the stores and react quicker to changes in consumer tastes, something which they have less control over if they were to continue store expansion through franchise agreements. Further, Grant (2010) said â€Å"not only do manufacturing and retailing require very d ifferent organisational capabilities; they also require different strategic planning systems, different approaches to control and human resource management, and different top management styles and skills. Therefore, if Sony were to de-integrate the manufacturing process in the value chain, they can focus on Product design and Retailing, adopting a suitable organisational structure like Apple, who display a robust financial position the companys total revenue increased to $65,225 million in FY2010 from $19,315 million in 2006, representing a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 36% (Datamonitor, 20112). Their growth in the market is attributable to a strong brand image of technical innovation, which Sony is capable of too. The risks of reducing and eventually phasing out the franchise agreements are that there will be increased administrative costs of integration. There will be a need for more managers to control the process. However, the greater the operation i. e. the number of retail stores they manage themselves, the lower the minimum efficiency scale. Thus as they expand the number of stores they operate themselves, they will become more efficient, and so reduce the fixed costs of vertical integration. Also, it is worth mentioning that the main focus for Sony? future development is product design and innovation, so as long as owning more retail stores could help in this aspect, the transaction costs could be negligible. Conclusion Suggestions made to the current value chain of Sony are to serve for one sole purpose, which is to increase the profitability and market share of Sony. This is going to be achieved with a focus on improving product design and innovation, something which Sony has been fal ling behind their competitors in recent years. Therefore, by outsourcing more manufacturing and owning more retail shops, Sony? investment capital, managerial expertise and strategy focus could be reshuffled and used on product design and innovation, which hopefully will see Sony catch up with its competitors and reach the heights they previously were in the late 20th century. References BBC, 2011. China minimum wage up by 21. 7% despite economic cooling [online]. Available from: bbc. co. uk/news/business-15456509. [Accessed: 29 November 2011]. Business Week 2009. Can Outsourcing Save Sony? [online]. Available from: businessweek. om/globalbiz/content/jan2009/gb20090130_697510. htm. [Accessed 28 November 2011] Carney and Gedajlovi, 1991. Vertical Integration in Franchise Systems: Agency Theory and Resource. Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 12, No. 8 (Nov. , 1991), pp. 607-629 Datamonitor 20111. Sony Corporation [online]. Available from: http://360. datamonitor. com. ezp1. bath. a c. uk/Product? pid=881B16EF-3BEC-4BDD-B10A-26FAB18DEC3B [Accessed 26 November 2011]. Datamonitor 20112. Apple Inc [online]. Available from: http://360. datamonitor. com. zp1. bath. ac. uk/Product? pid=5B0A0C20-9BB6-4284-A575AC0F2261F45Cview=SWOTAnalysis. [Accessed 30 November 2011] Donnelly, C. , 2011. Sony Centre owner calls in administrators [online]. Available from: channelweb. co. uk/crn-uk/news/2112104/sony-centre-owner-calls-administrators. [Accessed 30 November 2011] Euromonitor International 2010. Sony Corporation [online]. Available from: portal. euromonitor. com. ezp2. bath. ac. uk/Portal/Pages/Analysis/AnalysisPage. aspx. [Accessed 26 November 2011]. Financial Times 2005. Severe pressure on prices, missed opportunities, the need to buy big components and the threat of new format wars are making life difficult for a consumer products group that has lost some of its proprietary grip, writes Michiyo Nakamoto Financial Times:London Financial Times 2011. Sony Ericsson blames loss on Japanese earthquake; Mobile Telecoms. Financial Times: London. FranchisePlus, 2007. [online]. Success Story-The Dividend From Dedication, Jan Feb Issue, 2007 (Vol 3. Issue 6. ) Available from: ranchise-plus. com/success230107. asp[Accessed 29 November 2011]. Grant, R. , 2010. Contemporary Strategy Analysis: Text and Cases. 7th ed. Wiley Htlounge, 2010. Sony fighting against Apple by opening its own retail stores [Online]. Available from htlounge. net/art/11050/sony-fighting-against-apple-by-opening-its-own-retail-stores. html. [Accessed 28 November 2011] Hobbs, J. , 1996. A Transaction Cost Approach to Supply Chain Management. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Vol. 1 Issue: 2, pp. 5 – 27. IPR, 2011. What is Intellectual Property? [online]. Available from: ipr. co. uk/intellectual_property_guide/what_is_intellectual_property. html. [Accessed: 29 November 2011] Kay, J. , 1993. Foundations of Corporate Success: How business strategies add value. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ministry of Health, Labour Welfare, 2011. Minimum wage [online]. Available from:http://statsjapan. com/t/kiji/11521. [Accessed: 29 November 2011]. Mintel, 2011. Desktop, Laptop and Tablet Computers UK August

Project management Thesis Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Project management - Thesis Proposal Example This argument is particularly important in consideration of the fact that there are authors in the extant literature on research methodologies who explain that both of these methods could be at odds with each other, suggesting a degree of inefficacy (i.e. Poggie, DeWalt and Dressler, 1992, pp. 132). However, this researcher agrees with Flick’s position and further argues that effective features of each model should be adopted and reconciled so that identified research approaches from both paradigms complement each other, resulting to a more effective method of investigation. Naturally, the hybrid model proposed would mean that this study will utilize a number of research tools and techniques. For instance, data will be gathered using interviews, surveys and secondary sources and they will be presented as empirical data in the research discussion and analysis. The structure of the research is a logical flow of stages that incorporate qualitative and quantitative techniques. This is depicted in Fig. 1. It shows how the study would begin with interviewing resource persons. The focus group technique can prove to be invaluable at this stage. Once, approved, this researcher will devise a structured interview at once involving three to five stakeholders or industry resource persons. The purpose is to gain a significant knowledge and first-hand data on specific issues that would provide the insights necessary in developing a more effective questionnaire and research techniques. In the focus group interview, participants will be asked to respond to questions and allowed to respond to each other’s answers as well. Secondary sources will complement the data from the focus group interview. This will not only inform the next step in the study but also provide collaborative evidences and sources for comparative analysis. These

Aristotle's on Democracy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Aristotle's on Democracy - Essay Example 2001). He regarded democracy to be the deteriorated counterpart to polity. In the Politics, he describes aristocracy as rule by the best. In application, this normally meant rule by the well-born, those of noble family who called themselves "the best people". Aristotle employs "polity" both in that manner, as the general term for a constitution of any kind, and as the name of one of this kind. The concept of polity (politeia, constitution) is that all citizens should have short turns at ruling. Because it is an inclusive type of government, everyone has a share of political power. On the other hand, oligarchy or the general term for rule by a few is the corrupt kind which aims to advance the interest of the wealthy few. Finally, democracy, which means literally rule by the people, was used by Aristotle to mean rule exclusively by the poor in their own interest. It is important to note that Aristotle distinguishes between democracy and politeia based on the fact that democracy seeks the interests of only the ruling faction, while politeia seeks the interests of all. According to Aristotle in Book VI of his Politics, the critical principle of democracy is freedom, one feature of which is having a share in ruling. He declares that justice is equality based on number rather than merit, and as a result the multitude has authority, meaning that the poor have more authority than the wealthy. A second feature of freedom is to be able to live as one wants. Thus, democratic people do not want to be ruled at all, although if it is necessary to have rulers then the next best choice is to rule and be ruled in turn (trans. 2001). To Aristotle and the Greeks during his time, democracy was defined as a government of, by and for the people. Originally, democracy was understood to mean rule by the common people. In this view, it was very much a class matter, even before the beginning of modern class society. It meant that power should be held by the biggest class,

Analysis of Hungarian Financial Crisis Case Study

Analysis of Hungarian Financial Crisis - Case Study Example The occurrence of the international financial crisis has forced the financial markets to reexamine their patience to tolerate uncertainty. Day by day as the financial disaster increased, this, in turn, resulted in the reduction of international liquidity and also an increase in uncertainty. On the other hand, the shareholders had started to distinguish among the rising markets and judged that the Hungarian possessions have become riskier. However, it can be concluded that the vulnerability of the Hungarian economy was mostly due to these uncertainties. In this situation, the Hungarian authorities were not very sure in what way they would handle these problems. They examined the market more minutely and had increased the deposit securities as per the European Union policy. But still this policy did not work and the Hungarian government was not able to save the public from this financial crisis and there was instability throughout the economy. So, in such a situation the Hungarian gove rnment had no other option than to take help from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union (Horvath, 1-2).  Ã‚   Moreover, auctions were held to sell the new government bonds, but this too did not work. Again the shares of the Hungarian bank had fallen to a great extent. The forint had started to fall; the rates of interest had started to increase. The security market of the Hungarian government had suffered huge loss and also there was the scarcity of liquidity in different financial institutions. The Hungarian authority already had huge debt under the communist administration. The GDP-debt ratio had decreased from 90% to 50% in the year 2001. Again due to incorrect policies adopted in the year 2002 the ratio had increased to about 15% and this resulted in a 65% rise in GDP. On the other hand, the debts of the Czech Republic and Slovakia were 30% and 50% respectively (Horvath, 1-3). Reasons for Hungarian Weakness In the year 2008, Hungary was the first member of the European Union who had wanted financial help from the International Monetary Fund. This was considered as a failure of the Hunga rian government. At this moment it was very difficult to state that in the near future which are the other countries who will have to face such a crisis and which country will be most affected.

Irish Government Foreign Policy

Irish Government Foreign Policy The X Liberation Party have been duly elected to govern the state of X and, after the election, the party renounced the former constitution and enacted two pieces of radical legislation, firstly the Rendition Research Institute Act 2006 which permits the government to feely interrogate and torture people without any judicial or legal oversight and, secondly, a statute that forbids the use of the word rendition in any form of publication and breaking this law is punishable by death. Perhaps understandably, the Irish lawyers who are working in the state of X refuse to recognise the new lawyers presumably because the laws curtail the freedom of speech, permit torture at the behest of the government and provide for capital punishment for a relatively menial offence. The Irish government takes a hard line Kelsenite view on all matters of recognition and dealings with foreign states, that is, the government’s policies are based on the extensive theories of Hans Kelsen, an Austrian jurist who advocated legal positivism and the pure theory of law. Legal positivism involves attempting to explain what the law is, not what it ought to be. The theory is concerned with the science of law and not legal politics. However, Kelsen’s theories differed slightly from those of other legal positivists because Kelsen viewed a legal statement as a normative statement, a statement of how one ought to behave. Consequently, Kelsen developed his pure theory of law. The theory is pure partly because it does not focus on justice and is stripped of its ideological, political, economic and historical dressings. In Kelsen’s words ‘the pure theory of law simply declares itself incompetent to answer either the question whether a given law is just or not, or the more fundamental question of what constitutes justice’[1]. Kelsen believes that ‘the pure science of law seeks the real and possible law, not the just, and in this sense it is radically realistic and empirical. It declines to justify or condemn’[2]. The fact that the law exists does not guarantee that the legal order is just. In Kelsen’s opinion, any legal order is comprised of general norms and each norm depends on a higher norm for its validity; the theory of the hierarchical system of norms. Of course, this hierarchical system is not infinite; the highest norm in the system is the basic norm or ‘grundnorm’, and does not depend on another norm for its validity. The basic norm will often be the constitution and is presupposed to be valid due to a transcendental-logical presupposition[3]. This is because the basic norm has the function to found the objective validity of the subjective meaning of the acts by which the constitution is created.[4] The norms that are below the basic norm are valid because the basic norm has conferred objective validity on these general norms. Kelsen also hypothesised about the consequence of changing the basic norm in relation to whether the change would be valid.[5] Kelsen described the situation whereby a group of individuals seize power by force and remove the legitimate government to introduce a republican government. Kelsen believed that if the citizens conform to the new order, the new order will be valid. This is because, in Kelsen’s opinion, in order for a norm to be valid it has to be efficacious and the norm must command a sufficiency of adherence or obedience from the majority of citizens to validate it; universal or total obedience is not essential. The X liberation party was duly elected to power by a majority of citizens and the party has the support of the military and the police, thereby satisfying the sufficiency of adherence requirement. The validity and efficacy of the new laws would only be questioned if the majority of the citizens of X did not attach credence to the laws or if they avoided compliance. The legal order that was in place prior to the X liberation party coming to power lost its efficacy and consequently every norm lost its validity because the whole legal order was annulled in a constitutional way.[6] Kelsen also believes that the validity of the basic norm is presupposed and that ‘coercive acts ought to be carried out only under the conditions and in the way determined by the â€Å"fathers† of the constitution’.[7] On this basis, it is clear that the Irish government’s stance is that the basic and general norms enacted by the X liberation party are valid legal norms that should be obeyed by the Irish lawyers. The Irish lawyers may believe that the new statutes are morally reprehensible. However, value judgments and moral or ethical considerations are irrelevant from a Kelsenite perspective. Kelsen completely rejected any connection between law and morals and theorised that all historical, sociological and ideological issues were beyond the scope of his pure theory of law. Kelsen distinguished between law and morals on the grounds that law is a coercive normative order that attempts to bring about a certain type of behaviour by attaching to the opposite behaviour a socially organised coercive act[8] such as the forcible taking away of life, of freedom or of economic or other value, whereas a morality based system comprises of a social order without sanctions where merely approbation of norm-conforming behaviour and disapprobation of norm-opposing behaviour is given. To Kelsen, morals are merely propositions that describe our subjective preferences for behaviour that is impossible to prove objectively; morals are essentially irrational because they merely express different feelings and intuition.[9] Indeed, from a Kelsenite viewpoint any law, even if it was considerably harsher and more morally reprehensible that X’s current laws, is valid if it satisfies the principle of efficacy and can rely on a higher norm for its valid legal existence because, according to Kelsen, ‘there is no kind of human behaviour that, because of its nature, could not be made into a legal duty corresponding to a legal right’.[10] Therefo re, as the rule book of the X liberation party is a valid basic norm according to Kelsen’s theory, the Irish government believes that these laws should be obeyed and will not consider any question as to whether the laws are just or morally sound. Indeed, ‘what content this constitution or the natural legal order built on its foundations has, be that order just or unjust, does not come into question, not whether that legal order guarantees relative peace within the community constituted by it’[11] Even where the punishment that results from breaking a law is death, Kelsen believes that, provided the law satisfies the validity and efficacy requirements, the law is correct and should be obeyed, notwithstanding the fact that capital punishment is used as a sanction for a trivial law such as the law enacted by the X liberation party which allows the government to punish by death any person who uses the word rendition in a publication. Kelsen specifically addresses the validity of a law where the ultimate sanction for breach is death.[12] Kelsen believes that when one individual deprives another of his life the law will be legal ‘only if it is prescribed by an individual legal norm, namely as an act that ought to be performed’[13]. Such a severe law will be valid ‘because this individual norm was created in applying a criminal law that contains a general norm according to which†¦the death penalty ought to be inflicted’[14]. Its validity stems from the fact that the law was ‘created by the legislature, and the legislature, in turn, is authorised by the constitution to create general norms’[15]. Therefore, as the party rule book is the valid basic norm of the legal order of the state of X, the general norms created by the X liberation party are also valid and must be followed by the Irish lawyers, including the norm that prescribes death as a punishment for contravening that norm. If the Irish lawyers contravene the laws of X, they themselves could face imprisonment or even death. Bibliography L.B. Curzon, â€Å"Jurisprudence†, 1995, 2nd ed. Cavendish Publishing Ltd M.D.A. Freeman, â€Å"Lloyds: Introduction to Jurisprudence†, 2001, 7th ed. Sweet and Maxwell W. Morrison, â€Å"Jurisprudence: From the Greeks to post-modernism†, 1997, Cavendish Publishing Ltd J. Penner; D. Schiff R. Nobles, â€Å"Introduction to Jurisprudence and Legal Theory: Commentary and Materials†, 2002, Butterworths Lexis Nexis Footnotes [1] L.B. Curzon, â€Å"Jurisprudence†, 1995, 2nd ed. Cavendish Publishing Ltd at para 12.3 [2] ibid. [3] Kelsen, â€Å"The Pure Theory of Law†, 1945, at pg. 201 [4] Kelsen, â€Å"Professor Stone and the Theory of Law2, 1965, 17 Stan. LR 1130, at 1141 [5] Kelsen, â€Å"General Theory of Law State†, 2005, Transaction Publishing at p. 115 [6] ibid. at 119 [7] ibid. at 117 [8] J. Penner; D. Schiff R. Nobles, â€Å"Introduction to Jurisprudence and Legal Theory: Commentary and Materials†, 2002, Butterworths Lexis Nexis, p 196 [9] W. Morrison, â€Å"Jurisprudence: From the Greeks to post-modernism†, 1997, Cavendish Publishing Ltd p. 333 [10] Kelsen, â€Å"The Pure Theory of Law†, 1945 at p. 113 [11] Kelsen, â€Å"The Function of a Constitution†, 1986, at pg. 116 [12] Kelsen, â€Å"The Pure Theory of Law†, 1967, translated from Kelsen, â€Å"Reine Rechtslehre†, 1960, 2nd ed. [13] ibid. [14] ibid. [15] ibid.

Uses of Archetype, Foreshadow, and Symbolism in One Hundred Years of So

Uses of Archetype, Foreshadow, and Symbolism in One Hundred Years of Solitude Throughout all works of world literature, certain passages will have special significance to the plot progression of that novel. This key passage must provide insight upon the overall theme of that work through characterization, symbolism, and imagery. In Gabriel García Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, the passage selected for commentary uses the literary techniques of archetype, foreshadow, and symbolism to inform characterization. The concept of consanguineous love affairs is also reinforced in this passage along with the idea of the necessity of outside influence on a family. These concepts inform the characterization of all of the characters presented and provides insight on the cyclic nature of the Buendía family history. From the beginning of the passage, García Márquez demonstrates that outside influences are beginning to impact the Buendía family lineage. The newborn son of Aureliano Segundo by Fernanda del Carpio, José Arcadio, is described as having "no mark of a Buendía." This shows the family's shift from repeated love affairs involving family members, such as that of the first José Arcadio and Rebeca. Also, the newborn's lack of a mark eludes to Fernanda's gaining power within the family; no mark of the traditional Buendía, Úrsula, is to be found. This idea is further suggested when Fernanda does not hesitate in naming him José Arcadio, despite Úrsula's doubts. This shows Úrsula's ability, having been the supreme matron of the Buendía family over... ...ir respective names and dressed them in different colored clothing marked with each one's initials, but when they began to go to school they decided to exchange clothing and bracelets and call each other by opposite names. The teacher, Melchor Escalona, used to knowing José Arcadio Segundo by his green shirt, went out of his mind when he discovered the latter was wearing Aureliano Segundo's bracelet and that the other one said, nevertheless, that his name was Aureliano Segundo in spite of the fact that he was wearing the white shirt and the bracelet with José Arcadio Segundo's name. From then on he was never sure who was who. Even when they grew up and life made them different, Úrsula still wondered if they themselves might not have made a mistake in some moment of their intricate game of confusion and had become changed forever.

Reliable Sources Worksheet Essay

Source 1 †¢Author: Wilson, Wendy Bedwell †¢Date: March 2012 †¢Title: From Trash to Treasure †¢Publication: Dog World. 97 Issue 3, p20-21, 2p Write a 100- to 150-word response to each of the following questions: †¢Is the source reliable? How do you know? This source is very reliable; this magazine has been around for almost 100 yrs. Dog World is a monthly magazine aimed at the community of serious dog enthusiasts and participants, including breeders; conformation exhibitors; obedience, agility, herding and field trial competitors; veterinarians; groomers; and trainers. †¢Is the information relevant to the topic? Yes this story is about a dog rescuer from NJ who picks up dogs from high kill shelters down in West Virginia and brings them back up to be placed in foster homes. On her trip back up she witnessed someone tossing a dog out on the side of the road and leaving it there. Out of curiosity she pulled over where the dog was dropped off to investigate and found a malnourished and injured dog. After 20 minutes they were able to capture the dog and bring it to NJ where its was seen by veterinarians who were able to nurse the dog back to health. †¢Does the information reflect a bias on the author’s part? If so, what is the bias? I did not read any bias material within the article, there was no mention of any retribution toward the original owners. This article basically told a story about how a dog’s life was turned around after a person who carries about dogs rescued this dog and now uses it to help rehabilitate other dogs that have been abused. Source 2 †¢Author: Redwine, Arlo †¢Date: April 2012 †¢Title: Going the Distance †¢Publication: Dealernews, Vol. 48 Issue 4, p18-28, 7p Write a 100- to 150-word response to each of the following questions: †¢Is the source reliable? How do you know? Dealer News is a trade publication that has been around for 17 years. This publication provides news and information for dealers, manufacturers and distributors in the motorcycle and accessory industries. I do not know how reliable this source is due to this is a trade publication and can post bias reviews. †¢Is the information relevant to the topic? â€Å"Going the distance† is relevant to the topic because the author talks about how a young â€Å"go getter† started a motorcycle dealership in the late 70’s. The story tells how this young man grew his business from the ground up to one of the largest Harley Davidson dealerships in the Junction City, Kansas area. †¢Does the information reflect a bias on the author’s part? If so, what is the bias? Yes the information is bias on the author’s part due to the fact that he is telling a story from the eyes of the owner of this dealership. The author does not tell the readers the challenges that took place from competitors or the manufactures that he represented in his store.

How to Find the Phoenix Constellation

How to Find the Phoenix Constellation The Phoenix constellation is a southern-hemisphere star pattern. Named after the mythical bird, Phoenix is part of a larger grouping of southern-hemisphere constellations referred to as the Southern Birds. Finding Phoenix To locate Phoenix, look toward the southern region of the southern hemisphere sky. Phoenix is located between the constellations Eridanus (the River), Grus (the crane), and Horologium, the clock. Parts of the constellation are visible to northern hemisphere observers south of the 40th parallel, but the best view is reserved for those living well south of the equator.   Phoenix constellation is a galaxy-hunters delight, with a number of galaxies and clusters. Click to enlarge. Carolyn Collins Petersen The Story of Phoenix In China, this constellation was considered part of the nearby Sculptor star pattern and was viewed as a fish-catching net. In the Middle East, the constellation was called Al Rial and Al Zaurak, the latter of which means the boat. This terminology makes sense, as the constellation is located nearby to Eridanus, the river constellation. In the 1600s, Johann Bayer named the constellation Phoenix and recorded it in his astronomical charts. The name came from the Dutch term Den voghel Fenicx or The Bird Phoenix. French explorer and astronomer Nicolas de Lacaille also charted Phoenix and applied Bayer designations to the brightest stars in the pattern.   The Stars of Phoenix The main part of Phoenix looks like a triangle and a lopsided quadrangle stuck together. The brightest star is called Ankaa, and its official designation is alpha Phoenicis (alpha indicates the brightness). The word Ankaa comes from Arabic and means Phoenix. This star is an orange giant located about 85 light-years away from the Sun. The second brightest star, beta Phoenicis, is actually a pair of yellow giant stars in orbit around a common center of gravity. Other stars in Phoenix form the shape of a boats keel. The official constellation assigned by the International Astronomical Union contains many more stars, some of which appear to have planetary systems around them. The constellation Phoenix as shown in the official IAU charts. IAU/Sky Publishing Phoenix is also the radiant for a pair of meteor showers called the December Phoenicids and the July Phoenicids. The December shower occurs from November 29 until December 9; its meteors come from the tail of comet 289P/Blanpain. The July shower is very minor and occurs from July 3 to July 18 each year.   Deep-Sky Objects in Phoenix Located in the far south position in the sky, Phoenix is far from the Milky Ways abundant star clusters and nebulae. Nevertheless, Phoenix is a galaxy hunters delight, with numerous types of galaxies to explore. Amateur stargazers with a decent telescope will be able to view NGC 625, NGC 37, and a group of four called Roberts Quartet: NGC 87, NGC 88, NGC 89, and NGC 92. The quartet is a compact galaxy group about 160 million light-years away from us.   The Phoenix Cluster galaxies seen in x-ray, visible light, and ultraviolet wavelengths. X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/M.McDonald et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Radio: TIFR/GMRT Professional astronomers study these galaxies in an effort to understand how such giant associations of galaxies exist. The biggest one in the area is the Phoenix Cluster: 7.3 million light-years across and located 5.7 billion light-years away. Discovered as part of the South Pole Telescope collaboration, the Phoenix Cluster contains a highly active central galaxy that produces hundreds of new stars per year. Although it cant be seen with amateur telescopes, an even larger cluster exists in this region, too: El Gordo. El Gordo is comprised of two smaller galaxy clusters colliding with each other.

Rapper Chuck D

Rapper Chuck D of the politically charged group Public Enemy once proclaimed that the Black Man did not land on Plymouth Rock as the white pilgrims are believed to have done, but instead Plymouth Rock landed on the Black Man. It had taken nearly four hundred years for the Black Man to climb from beneath this proverbial rock. Leading the climb during the civil rights movement was the Nation of Islam, the most influential and directional group in the history of Black America. The history of the Black American begins not in America, but in the Black Mans native continent; Africa. Some four hundred years ago the first Black Man was kidnapped from his home and forced onto a ship taking him to the unknown wilderness of North America. The first Black and the many that followed were to serve one purpose; the white mans slave. Here in North America the Black Man was to pick the white mans cotton, and tend to his every need. Slavery continued up until January 1st, 1863 with the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation. The end of slavery was not the end of oppression, for another one hundred years the Black Man was forbidden to drink from the same fountain or even be educated in the same building as his white counterpart. These implications were due to Americas vicious segregation laws. Any Black man who chose not to comply with the rules of the South could expect harsh consequences, the worst of all being lynching. Elijah Muhammad often recalled hi! s experience with lynching to crowds. Young Elijah had come upon a group of white men trailing a Black man at the end of a rope ... they kicked and insulted him unceasingly ... when they reached a sturdy tree, one of the men untied the rope from the Black mans wrists and threw it over a branch. He formed the other end into a noose and slipped it around the Black mans neck ... the group then hoisted the victim ... from the ground. After the lynchers were sure the man was dead...

Analyzing three poems by three different poets Assignment

Analyzing three poems by three different poets - Assignment Example The mother is sad because of her failure to execute her roles effectively as a mother. Brooks portrays a feeling of remorse, longing sadness, and incomplete destinies that the mother had hoped to achieve. In the third line of the poem’s second stanza the mother is sad because she cannot breastfeed the babies since they are dead.There is a sense of guilt and resentment for aborting the babies. The mother also expresses sorrow and justifiable reasons as if yearning for forgiveness. In the last lines, the poem vividly portrays mother’s love for her aborted children. The mother shows deep love for the aborted infants even though she knew them only for a short while. Therefore, the mother used depicts deep emotions for her children yet she aborted them. She is sentimental and sensitive and at the same time heartless because she aborted her babies. The poem has a smooth flow and vividly elucidates the events occurring in a straightforward manner. The poet used short lines with abortion personification employed as exhibited in the first line of the poem. Gwendolyn uses imagery style in the third line of the first stanza of her poem, she cites a mother referring to her aborted babies as damp small pulps. Therefore, the image of the aborted babies vividly displays in the readers’ mind. Imagery, death and feelings in the poem are concrete as they serve their roles for usage effectively. The mother is a symbolic representation of real life women and their actions plus associated consequences. Therefore, the poem plays a crucial role of warning women who opt to commit abortion. Structure -wise, the poem has a regular rhyme scheme, which the poet properly portrays especially in the first stanza. However, it is inconsistent and is majorly end-rhyme. Gwendolyn also employs the use of repetition for emphasis as well as contributing to

Personal Philosophy of Leadership Development Assignment

Personal Philosophy of Leadership Development - Assignment Example A leader is different from a manager. Qualities define a leader. These qualities are inborn and it means leaders are born. Skills that a person acquires make him or her manager. This means that not all managers are leaders. Leadership means service to the people. A leader is a servant to the people he leads. He is bestowed with the responsibility of bettering the lives of his or her followers. Leadership development is useful to individuals who aim at improving their leadership skills. Leadership development is important as it creates a passion in leaders to lead their followers and serve them accordingly. This paper articulates my personal philosophy of leadership development and my development as a leader. Unique qualities characterize a leader. First leaders must possess character. Actions define character. Leaders understand that success is founded on character. An ideal leader possesses strong character, which assures the people he leads, that he will provide success. First impressions create lasting impression. A leader has to seal the deal with a first impression. Charisma does it for first impressions. Making others feel good is the best way of having charisma. A leader has to be courageous. People cannot put their trust in a coward. Courage builds confidence, and self-confidence is leadership at work. An ideal leader has focus. Focus entails prioritizing important factors and concentrating on them to accomplishment. Priorities without concentration gets nothing done, resulting to no progress. Concentration without priories limits growth and progress.