Sociology The Social Study Of Human Relationships And...

Sociology is the social study of human relationships and societies. This topic covers racial boundaries, social codes, patterns/behaviors, and countless other topics. Experts examine situations such as, how different people interact with one another, how the societies change as years go by, and who is on top of the totem pole as far as social order. When the concept of sociology is brought into your life, your brain adds in a whole new dimension of thinking. The way you perceive certain scenarios are completely altered from how you would have taken them in before learning about all this new information. Seeing the tiny little details that are effected by just social status or culture will leave you in absolute shock, but the problem is†¦show more content†¦Mills then goes on to explain more in depth, but he is just trying to say that people feel trapped and don’t know what is going on because they don’t have the ability to look at themselves through the sociolo gical lens. 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How people in Bergenfield openly referred to the four kids as ‘troubled loser.’ Even after they were dead, nobody cut them any slack. ‘Burnouts,’ ‘druggies,’ ‘dropouts.’ Something was wrong. So I took the opportunity† (Gaines 8). There was this group of four kids that committed suicide with one another and before even thinking, people attempted to goShow MoreRelatedSociology: The Study of Humanity Essay1480 Words   |  6 PagesHowever new you are to sociology it is probable that you have an idea, however vague and general, regarding what sociology is supposed to be about. It may be that you have an idea that sociology is about people. And you would be right to think so. We might start then by noting that sociology is one of the human sciences and as such it is a subject to be distinguished from the so-called physical sciences. Sociology is the study of humanity. 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Formation of Public Policy Final Paper - 605 Words

The government is in charge of operating the most diverse nation in the world while trying to take the best interests of as many people as possible. Controversy is unavoidable in a country with diversity among races, ethnicities, and political feelings. Public policy is not exempt from controversial legislation. Chapters 10 and 13 thoroughly discuss the issues of legal and social equality as well as policy relating to private morality. The formation of public policy relating to private morality and social equality is highly controversial because there are targeted groups that will benefit and non targeted groups that will be ignored by the policy; however a policy like affirmative action affects both targeted and non-targeted groups.†¦show more content†¦Political parties are largely aligned with the two sides with liberals siding with the targeted group and conservatives siding with the non targeted faction. Other agents in policy regarding affirmative action are civil rights organizations and labor unions. Impact evaluation from the targeted group would say that affirmative action is bringing social equality to their specific groups; whereas the non targeted group’s impact and cost-benefit evaluations would deem this policy ineffective and counterproductive towards true social equality. The American people have a basic right to freedom as implied in the Bill of Rights; however public policy regarding private morality is still deemed necessary for and by the public and its government. Chapter 13 addresses policy relating to morality and how that policy is created as well as carried out. The agents and actors for morality policy are largely the same as social equality. There is going to be a targeted group and a non-targeted group; however the policy is still going to affect everyone. 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Measuring Performance and Management Control Systems

Question: Discuss about the Measuring Performance and Management Control Systems. Answer: Introduction Management control system refers to the process to gather and use the necessary information about an organization in order to measure the performance of that particular organization (Grabner and Moers, 2013). The report is to evaluate the effects of management control on the performance of the organizations. The main purpose of the report is to measure and compare the performance of four Australian companies with the help of management control. The four companies are Insurance Australia Group limited, Medibank Private Limited, Suncorp Group Limited and QBE Insurance Group. All the companies are operating in the insurance sector of Australia. Among these four insurance companies, Medibank Private Limited is specialized in providing health insurance. Apart from Medibank Private limited, all three insurance companies provide general as well as life insurance to their customers. For the purpose of this study, the remuneration report of the directors along with the report of the directors are taken into consideration and analyzed. After that, all the important information and facts are summarized and then compared among each other so that the best-performed organization can be found (Melnyk et al., 2014). Background Material Insurance Australia Group Limited Insurance Australia Group Limited is one of those companies that provider remuneration of the senior managers based on the performance of them (Klettner, Clarke and Boersma, 2014). The company has adopted balance scorecard method to measure the performance of the senior managers. In this regard, the organization has selected some means or criteria that help the company to measure the performance of the senior managers. Management accounting plays as important role as it assist the organization by providing necessary accounting information (Miller and Hayward, 2017). Medibank Private Limited Almost same as Insurance Australia Group Limited, Medibank Private Limited has also adopted the balance scorecard method in order to measure the performance of the organization. After that, they use this for giving remuneration to the senior managers (Ball, Hughes and Leveritt, 2013). Some of the major means against which the performance of the senior managers is measured are performance of the organization, insurance profit margin and many others. Based on these means, the senior manager are provided with remunerations (Esmail and MacKinnon, 2013). Suncorp Group Limited It can be seen in the case of Suncorp Group Limited that the company provide cash as well as equity shares of the organization to their senior managers as their incentives (Gollan and Xu, 2014). The company has some unique plans for the remuneration of their employees and senior managers. The senior managers get a portion of fixed remuneration. Apart from that, they get their performance incentives based on their performance that is measured with the help of balance scorecard method (Shah et al., 2016). QBE Insurance Group QBE Insurance Group has a different kind of remuneration plan for their senior managers. The company provides their senior manager with long-term as well as short-term incentive plan (Crombie, 2013). It has been seen the adopted incentive scheme of QBE is not as effective as others and this aspect affect the performance of the organization. The lack of support from management accounting can be made responsible for this (Caddy, 2013). For the purpose of this report, four insurance companies are taken into consideration. The individual reports of these four companies are discussed below. Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG) Insurance Australia Group Limited is one of the largest insurance companies in Australia. The mission of IAG is to deliver excellent customers experience by satisfying the needs of their customers. As per the directors report of the organization, the main goal of the organization is to make the world a safer place by their insurance policies. In a broader sense, the main goal of IAG is to make peoples life safer with the help of innovation and technology. Performance Measurement: According to the directors remuneration report, IAG follows certain means to measure the performance of their senior managers like CEO. The company has adopted Balance Scorecard model to measure the performance of senior managers. The performance is measured against some objectives. Some of these objectives are profitable growth, operating cost effectiveness, return on risk-based capital and many others. Apart from fixed remuneration, the senior managers get short-term incentives and long-term incentives. The table shows the performance measurement criteria of the company. From the above table, it can be seen that based on the performance of the senior managers, two-third portion of incentives are paid in cash and the remaining is paid as Deferred Award Rights. Key Measures of Performance: Key measures of performance or Key Performance indicator (KPI) refers to some data that indicates the improvement performance of an organization. One of the major performance indicators of IAG is the margin of insurance profit in 2016. The amount of profit in 2016 is $1,178 million compared to $1,103 million in 2015. This indicates the increase in the business of IAG. On the other hand, the underlying margin of 2016 is 14% that is more than 13.1% of 2015. These are the major key performance indicators. Outside News: As per current news of Simply Wall ST, the IAGs earning is expected to grow 42.8% over next three years. This leads to the growth of EPS $0.37 levels. On the other hand, the share prices of IAG are surging day by day. The CEO of the group has mentioned in this regard that the people of the organization, technology innovation and updated strategy are responsible for the growth of the company (Fool.com.au, 2017). Reflection: As per the remuneration report of 2016, the CEO of the group has received $4,174,000 in 2016 compared to $4,046,000 in 2015. The amount shows the progress of the organization as more profit leads to more remuneration to the senior managers. Based on the above discussion, it can be seen that the financial performance of IAG in 2016 is commendable. As per the outside reports, the share prices of IAG are increasing. On the other hand, the earning and EPS is also expected to increase. All these information supports that IAG is achieving the required performance that is needed to achieve the corporate vision and goals (iag.com.au, 2017). Remuneration policy and remunerations methodology: The remuneration policy of the company is in accordance with the AASB 119 employee benefit scheme (iag.com.au, 2017). The adoption of AASB provided rules has mainly helped in portraying the overall benefits, which could be provided to the executives. This methodology has mainly helped in fulfilling demands of their executives. Medibank Private Limited Medibank is Australias one of the leading health insurance companies. The mission of the company is to ensure health for the people of Australia. Medibank is determined to provide their customers with better choice, better confidence and better health. The four core values of the company are customer focus, accountability, integrity and respect (Medibank.com.au, 2017). As per the report of the CEO of Medibank, it can be said that the corporate goal of the organization is to earn profits by providing better health to its 3.8 million members in Australia. Performance Measurement: The performance of the senior managers is measured based on balance scorecard. Medibank has set some measures by which the performance can be measured. They are health insurance operating profit, group operating profit, management expenses ration, growth of health insurance revenue and others. In addition, Medibanks last performance, strategic objectives and shareholders expectations are other means of performance. Based on the performance, the senior managers are given remuneration and incentives. The above table shows that the incentives of the senior managers vastly depend on the performance of them. Key Measures of Performance: As per the remuneration report of Medibank, health insurance operating profit is one of the major key measures of performance. Health insurance operating profit of 2016 has shown significant growth. The amount of health insurance operating profit in 2016 was $510.7 million as compared to $332.2 million in 2015. This indicates the growth of Medibank (Medibank.com.au, 2017). Outside News: According to one of Australias financial reports, the shares of Medibank Private Limited have been sold. There was an allegation on Medibank that the company has misled some of their patients and they were noticed to engage in unconscionable conducts (Fool.com.au, 2017). As per the same source, the net profit after tax of the company increased to 46% that is $417 million (Fool.com.au, 2017). Reflection: As pre the remuneration structure of the organization, in the year of 2016, David Koczkar, one of the senior managers has got the total remuneration of $1,338,218. On the other hand, Kylie Bishop, another senior manager has got the remuneration of $699,945. These amounts are higher than the year 2015. This fact indicates the growth of the firm. However, it has been seen in various reports that the company was involved in some kind of illegal activities in this year. For this reason, the profitability of the company hampered. Based on the above discussion, it can be said that Medibank is in a mixed financial condition. The annual report suggests that the company has registered strong growth; but the outside reports suggest that some internal issues are going on in the company. After analyzing all these, it can be said that the company has not totally achieved its corporate goal, but they are on the way to achieve it. Remuneration policy and remunerations methodology: The Company mainly changed its remuneration system to ASX 11-100, which mainly help in depicting adequate benefits provided to executives (Medibank.com.au, 2017). In addition, the company mainly focuses in short-term incentives by providing maximum of 69% of the benefits to its executives. Suncorp Group Limited Suncorp Group Limited is an Australian leading company that provides high value wealth and banking services along with various insurance products. The mission of the company is to create a better today by satisfying the needs of their customers and shareholders. As per the directors report of the company, the corporate goal Suncorp is to satisfy the needs of the shareholders. As per the company, Suncorp will only be able to register a high rate of profit after satisfying the needs of their customers and shareholders (Suncorpgroup.com.au, 2017). Performance Measurement: As per other organizations, Suncorp also uses balance scorecard model to measure the performance of their senior managers. There are certain factors in the performance measurement process. They measure the performance of the senior managers after achieving these milestones. Some of those performance measurements mean are appropriate risk management, customer satisfying, safety and wellbeing and others. Based on the performance of the senior managers, long-term incentives and short-term incentives are provided to them (Suncorpgroup.com.au, 2017). It can be seen in the above table that the company issue shares of the company as incentive based on the performance of the senior managers. Key Measures of Performance: Some major key measures of performance prove the performance improvement of the organization. As per the 2016 annual report of the company, the net profit after tax of the company in 2016 was $1,038 million compared to $1,133 million in 2015. Though the amount is lower than that of 2015, it has been considered as a solid performance as it came at the time of global market volatility. The increase in the cost of settling the claims has contributed to this success. Outside News: As per a financial report, it has been said that Suncorp is expected to grow its earnings by 15.3% over the next few years. The table shows the past and future earnings per share. As per another report from the same source, it has been said that the return on equity of the company that is 7.7% is lower than the return on equity of the industry in which Suncorp is operating (Simplywall.st, 2017). Reflection: The remuneration structure of the company has been developed in such a way that high qualified and talented directors are attracted towards the company. As per the remuneration report of company, the executive directors, M Cameron received $5,301,000 as remuneration. This is a high amount while comparing with other companies. The total study about Suncorp indicates that the company is going through a solid year that indicates the improvement in the performance of the company. On the other hand, the outside report about Suncorp also indicates about the future growth of the company. Based on all these, it can be said that Suncorp is achieving the corporate goal of the company. Remuneration policy and remunerations methodology: Suncorp mainly follows Corporations Act 2001, which depicts the rules and regulations that might be conducted by the company (Suncorpgroup.com.au, 2017). In addition, the company mainly follows fixed, short term and long-term remuneration scheme to provide benefits to its executives. The company mainly focuses in fixed salaries and short-term monetary benefits, while providing remuneration to its executives. QBE Insurance Group QBE Insurance Group is the largest insurer in Australia. The vision of the company is to make a strong partnership with their customers by making their lives insured. QBE has a lot of responsibility towards their customers. The company is driven by come core values. The six core values of QBE are open minded, networked, empowered, quality approach, business acumen and excellent outcomes. Apart from vision and core values, the organization has a strong corporate goal that gives the company necessary direction towards success. The corporate goal of QBE is to gain the confidence of their customers by managing their risks. By doing this, the company can focus on the outcome that the company wants to achieve (Group.qbe.com, 2017). Performance Measurement: As per other companies in the same industry, QBE also has some criteria that help them to measure the performance of their senior managers of the organization. The company has adopted the model of balance scorecard measure the performance of senior managers. There are some performance parameters in the organization. They are satisfying the needs of the customers, growth in the net profit, growth in the gross profit, increase in the return on equity and many others. The above table suggests that apart from fixed remuneration, QBE provides their company shares as incentives to their senior managers. Key Measures of Performance: Some major key measures of performance help to evaluate the performance of the organization. One of the major key measures of performance of QBE is the insurance profit. The amount of insurance profit in the year 2015 was $1,031 compared to $1,074 in the year 2014. The figures imply that insurance profit has been reduced in the year 2015 than 2014. This indicates that the performance of the company has been decreased (qreports.com.au, 2017). Outside News: As per latest news about QBE, it has been said that the organization has raised $150,000 to diminish the wealth gap of the organization. As per the news, QBE has collaborated with a charity campaign to reduce the wealth gap from China and Australia (Insurancebusinessonline.com.au, 2017). Reflection: The annual report of QBE indicates that the organization has paid a big amount as the remuneration of the senior managers. The company paid $24,898 million to their senior managers compared to $29,046 million in 2014. Hence, it can be understood that the company is not performing well in the recent years as the remuneration report of the company is reflecting the fact. Remuneration policy and remunerations methodology: QBE insurance group mainly uses the progress in ROE to evaluate the short-term benefits, which could be provided to its executives (Group.qbe.com, 2017). Moreover, the group mainly focuses in fixed, short term and long-term remuneration scheme to support payment provided to their executives. From the above discussion, it can be observed that the performance of the company I recent years is not satisfactory as the amount of insurance profit has decreased. For this reason, the remuneration of senior managers has also decreased. Hence, it can be concluded that the company is not performing well towards achieving the corporate goal of the company. Based on the whole study, it can be observed that the all the four organizations have adopted the model of balance scorecard to evaluate the performance of their senior managers. The above study indicates that the performance of all the four companies is not the same. In this regard, it needs to be mentioned that the performance of Insurance Australia Group Limited and Suncorp Group Limited are satisfactory as they have been successful to achieve the corporate goal of the organizations. Medibank Private Limited is in a mixed financial position where the company is witnessing both good and bad financial situation. The financial performance of QBE Insurance Group is not satisfactory as the financial position of the company is declining. Thus, from the above discussion, it is evident that the performance measurement system of Insurance Australia Group Limited and Suncorp Group Limited is producing good results, as they have been successful to satisfy the needs of their customers and shareholders. On the other hand, the performance measurement system of Medibank Private Limited is gradually developing as the company is gradually performing well. However, there is a strong need to change the performance measurement system of QBE Insurance Group as the company has failed to generate desired financial performance in recent years. Comparison of Finding The above discussion shows the evaluation of various aspects of four organizations. They are Insurance Australia Group Limited, Medibank Private Limited, Suncorp Group Limited and QBE insurance group. It has been seen in the discussion that the performances of these four companies are not similar to each other. It has been seen in the report that all the four companies use Balance Scorecard model to evaluate the performance of the senior managers of their companies. It is clear from the above discussion that the performance measurement approach of Insurance Australia Group Limited and Suncorp Group Limited are almost same to each other as both the companies have achieved their respective corporate goals by their performance. However, QBE insurance group has lagged behind in this race as the performance measurement criteria of QBE is not effective as they need to be. However, Medibank Private Limited is achieving the corporate goals of theme in a slow but steady pace as the performanc e measurement approach of the company is effective, but due to the presence of some external issues, the company is lagging behind in the competition (Choong, 2014). Summary of Finding As per the above whole study, the information about the four companies differs from each other. In the case of, the company follows some means for measuring the performance of the senior managers like growth of the organization, satisfaction of the customers and many others. There are enough evidence of the improvement of the company like increase in the insurance profit, increase in the earning per shares and others. The performance of Suncorp Group Limited is almost same like Insurance Australia Group Limited and Suncorp Group Limited. Suncorp has also been noticed to register a solid performance in this year. It is predicted that the company is expected to grow by 15.3%. It has been seen that Medibak Private Limited has been able to register a strong growth in the insurance profit of the company (Zhang and Halpern, 2016). However, the company has been involved in some kinds of illegal activities. Lastly, QBE Insurance Group has registered a lower insurance profit than the previous years. As per the outside reports, the performance of the company is not good. Hence, based on the above discussion, it can be said that the financial performance of Insurance Australia Group Limited and Suncorp Group Limited is the best and their performance measurement approach of these two companies are most appropriate (Pedhazur and Schmelkin, 2013). Conclusion The major aim of this report is to analyze and evaluate the performance measurement approaches of the above-mentioned four companies. It has been seen in the report that, there are two companies that are producing satisfactory results in term of their financial performance. These two companies are Insurance Australia Group Limited and Suncorp Group Limited. Both the companies have adopted the balance scorecard methods by which the performance of their senior managers measured. On the other hand, both these companies have set some particular means or standards that have assisted them to measure the performance of the organization. It has been seen that the adopted performance measurement approach of these two companies is immensely effective for them as the companies are performing well under this approach. On the contrary, the performance measurement approach of QBE Insurance Group has been considered as non-effective as the company has failed to register satisfactory results. Mediba nk Private Limited is another company that has adopted the almost same approach like Insurance Australia Group Limited and Suncorp Group Limited. Thus, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that the performance measurement approach of Insurance Australia Group Limited and Suncorp Group Limited is the most effective approach. Bibliography Annual Report 2016, 2017.Annual Report 2016. [online] medibank.com.au. Available at: https://www.medibank.com.au/content/dam/medibank/About-Us/reporting-centre-2016/Annual%20report/Medibank_Annual_Report_2016.pdf [Accessed 6 Jan. 2017]. Ball, L., Hughes, R. and Leveritt, M., 2013. Health professionals' views of the effectiveness of nutrition care in general practice setting.Nutrition Dietetics,70(1), pp.35-41. Caddy, I., 2013. Remuneration and gender in Australia: Background review and recent analysis.International Employment Relations Review,19(2), p.38. Choong, K.K., 2014. The fundamentals of performance measurement systems: a systematic approach to theory and a research agenda.International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management,63(7), pp.879-922. Crombie, N.A., 2013. An Institutional Logics Perspective on Executive Remuneration in Anglo-Saxon Countries. DIRECTORS REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2015 / 16, 2017.DIRECTORS REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2015 / 16. [online] suncorpgroup.com.au. Available at: https://www.suncorpgroup.com.au/sites/default/files/pdf/reports/FY16%20Directors%E2%80%99%20Report%20and%20Consolidated%20Financial%20Report_1.pdf [Accessed 6 Jan. 2017]. Esmail, N. and MacKinnon, J., 2013. Health Care Lessons from Australia.Lessons from Abroad: A Series on Health Care Reform, Fraser Institute. Financial Report, 2017.Financial Report. [online] be2015.qreports.com.au. Available at: https://qbe2015.qreports.com.au/xresources/downloads/2015/QBE_AR15_financial-report.pdf [Accessed 6 Jan. 2017]. Gollan, P. and Xu, Y., 2014. 2 NER at Suncorp Group.Voice and Involvement at Work: Experience with Non-Union Representation,33, p.45. Grabner, I. and Moers, F., 2013. Management control as a system or a package? Conceptual and empirical issues.Accounting, Organizations and Society,38(6), pp.407-419. INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP LIMITED ANNUAL REPORT 2016, 2017.INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP LIMITED ANNUAL REPORT 2016. [online] iag.com.au. Available at: https://www.iag.com.au/results-and-reports/FY2016/assets/pdf/IAGL-2016-Annual-Report.pdf [Accessed 6 Jan. 2017]. Klettner, A., Clarke, T. and Boersma, M., 2014. The governance of corporate sustainability: Empirical insights into the development, leadership and implementation of responsible business strategy.Journal of Business Ethics,122(1), pp.145-165. Koller, D. and Koller, D., 2017.Should You Expect Suncorp Group Limited (ASX:SUN) To Deliver A Superior ROE To Its Industry?. [online] Simply Wall St. Available at: https://simplywall.st/news/2017/01/04/should-you-expect-suncorp-group-limited-asxsun-to-deliver-a-superior-roe-to-its-industry/ [Accessed 6 Jan. 2017]. Martin, M., 2017.QBE raises HK$150,000 to bridge wealth gap in HK. [online] Insurance Business. Available at: https://www.insurancebusinessonline.com.au/au/news/breaking-news/qbe-raises-hk150000-to-bridge-wealth-gap-in-hk-229296.aspx [Accessed 6 Jan. 2017]. Medibank Private Ltd share price hammered on legal action, 2017.Medibank Private Ltd share price hammered on legal action. [online] Motley Fool Australia. Available at: https://www.fool.com.au/2016/06/16/why-the-medibank-private-ltd-share-price-has-been-hammered-today/ [Accessed 6 Jan. 2017]. Medibank Private Ltds share price plunges, 2017.Medibank Private Ltds share price plunges heres why Im not buying. [online] Motley Fool Australia. Available at: https://www.fool.com.au/2016/08/19/medibank-private-ltds-share-price-plunges-heres-why-im-not-buying/ [Accessed 6 Jan. 2017]. Melnyk, S.A., Bititci, U., Platts, K., Tobias, J. and Andersen, B., 2014. Is performance measurement and management fit for the future?.Management Accounting Research,25(2), pp.173-186. Miller, P. and Hayward, D., 2017. Social policy generosityat a time of fiscal austerity: The strange case of Australias National Disability Insurance Scheme.Critical Social Policy,37(1), pp.128-147. Olson, F. and Olson, F., 2017.Is Insurance Australia Group Limited (ASX:IAG) undervalued when accounting for its future growth?. [online] Simply Wall St. Available at: https://simplywall.st/news/2016/12/22/is-insurance-australia-group-limited-asxiag-undervalued-when-accounting-for-its-future-growth/ [Accessed 5 Jan. 2017]. Our purpose and values, 2017.Our purpose and values. [online] Medibank.com.au. Available at: https://www.medibank.com.au/about/company/overview/purpose/ [Accessed 6 Jan. 2017]. Pedhazur, E.J. and Schmelkin, L.P., 2013.Measurement, design, and analysis: An integrated approach. Psychology Press. Purpose and Vision, 2017.Purpose and Vision. [online] QBE.COM. Available at: https://www.group.qbe.com/purpose-and-vision [Accessed 6 Jan. 2017]. Shah, D., Xu, Y., Gollan, P.J. and Wilkinson, A., 2016. In Search of Workplace Partnership at Suncorp. InDeveloping Positive Employment Relations(pp. 281-303). Palgrave Macmillan UK. Who we are, 2017.Who we are. [online] Suncorp Group. Available at: https://www.suncorpgroup.com.au/about-us/who-we-are [Accessed 6 Jan. 2017]. Why the Insurance Australia Group Ltd share price is surging today, 2017.Why the Insurance Australia Group Ltd share price is surging today. [online] Motley Fool Australia. Available at: https://www.fool.com.au/2016/12/08/why-the-insurance-australia-group-ltd-share-price-is-surging-today/ [Accessed 5 Jan. 2017]. Wright, A. and Wright, A., 2017.Suncorp Group Limited (ASX:SUN): Is it a good long term opportunity?. [online] Simply Wall St. Available at: https://simplywall.st/news/2016/12/21/suncorp-group-limited-asxsun-is-it-a-good-long-term-opportunity/ [Accessed 6 Jan. 2017]. Zhang, Y. and Halpern, J., Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, 2016.Passive Performance Measurement for Inline Service Chaining. U.S. Patent 20,160,149,784.

World War II free essay sample

A historical study on World War II. This paper provides a chronological overview of World War II, from 1939-1945. It begins with depression torn Germany and ends with the United States bombing Japan at Hiroshima with the first atomic bomb. The paper describes the nations leaders and their political alliances, including Hitler, Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt. The author describes the tools and battles of warfare that lead to the Allied Nations victory World War II, which took place from 1939-1945, was waged by the Allied Nations as a struggle for freedom against the evil and totalitarian regimes that existed in Germany, Italy and Japan. Leaders of the War There were several leaders that made decisions that contributed to the start and end of WWII. Adolf Hitler, who became the leader of Germany during the Great Depression, is blamed for WWII. He raised German spirits by telling them of a better future and a better Germany. We will write a custom essay sample on World War II or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page But in reality, he gave them a war.

Indigo Girls essays

Indigo Girls essays Im trying to tell you something about my life maybe give me insight between black and white and the best thing you've ever done for me is to help me take my life less seriously well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable and lightness has a call that's hard to hear I wrap my fear around me like a blanket I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains there's more than one answer to these questions and the less I seek my source for some definitive and I went to see the doctor of philosophy with a poster of rasputin and a beard down to his knee he never did marry or see a b-grade movie he graded my performance, he said he could see through me I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains there's more than one answer to these questions the less I seek my source for some definitive to seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend and I woke up with a headache like my head against a board twice as cloudy as Id been the night before I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains yeah we go to the doctor, we go to the mountains we look to the children, we drink from the fountains yeah we go to the bible, we go through the workout we read up on revival and we stand up for the lookout there's more than one answer to these questions ...

Causes of the Russian Revolution Part 2

Causes of the Russian Revolution Part 2 Causes Part 1. Ineffective Government The ruling elites were still mostly land owning aristocracy, but some in the civil service were landless. The elites ran the state bureaucracy and sat above the normal population. Unlike other countries the elites and the landed depended on the tsar and had never formed a counter to him. Russia had a strict set of civil service ranks, with jobs, uniforms etc., where advancement was automatic. The bureaucracy was weak and failing, losing the experience and skills needed in the modern world, but refusing to let people with those skills in. The system was a vast overlapping chaos, full of confusion, tsarist divide and rule and petty jealousy. Laws overrode other laws, the tsar able to override all. To the outside it was arbitrary, archaic, incompetent and unfair. It stopped the bureaucracy from becoming professional, modern, efficient or as a counter to as medieval looking monarch.Russia had got like this by making a choice. An influx of professional civil servants produced the Great Re forms of the 1860s, to strengthen the state through western reform after the Crimean War. This included ‘freeing’ the serfs (of a sort) and in 1864 created zemstvos, local assemblies in many areas leading to a form of self-rule sandwiched between nobles, who resented it, and peasants, who often did too. The 1860s were liberal, reforming times. They could have led Russia towards the west. It would have been costly, difficult, prolonged, but the chance was there.However, the elites were divided on a response. Reformists accepted the rule of equal law, political freedom, a middle class and opportunities for the working class. Calls for a constitution led Alexander II to order a limited one. The rivals of this progress wanted the old order, and were made up of many in the military; they demanded autocracy, strict order, nobles and church as dominant forces (and the military of course). Then Alexander II was murdered, and his son shut it down. Counter reforms, to centralize control, and strength the personal rule of the tsar followed. Alexander II’s death is the start of the Russian tragedy of the twentieth century.    The 1860s meant Russia had people who had tasted reform, lost it and looked for†¦ revolution.Imperial government ran out below the eighty nine provincial capitals. Below that peasants ran it their own way, alien to the elites above. Localities were under governed and the old regime was not a hyper powerful all seeing oppression. Old government was absent and out of touch, with a small number of police, state officials, who were co-opted for more and more by the state as there wasn’t anything else (for instant checking roads). Russia had a small tax system, bad communications, small middle class, and a serfdom which ended with the landowner in charge still. Only very slowly was the Tsar’s government meeting the new civilians.Zemstvos, run by locals, became key. The state rested on landowning nobles, but they were in decline post emancipation, and used these small local committees to defend themselves against industrializing and state government. Up to 1905 this was a liberal movement pushing for safeguards and provincial society, e.g. peasant versus landowner, calling for more local power, a Russian parliament, a constitution. The provincial nobility were the early revolutionaries, not workers. Alienated Military The Russian military was full of tensions against the Tsar, despite it supposedly being the man’s biggest supporter. Firstly it kept losing (Crimea, Turkey, Japan) and this was blamed on the government: military expenditure declined. As industrialization was not as advanced in the west, so Russia became poorly trained, equipped and supplied in the new methods and lost. The soldiers and self-aware officers were being demoralized. Russian soldiers were sworn to the Tsar, not the state. History seeped into all aspects of the Russian court and they obsessed over little details like buttons, not fixing a feudal army lost in a modern world.Also, the army was being used more and more to support the provincial governors in suppressing revolts: despite the facts much of the lower ranks were peasants too. The army began to fracture over demand to stop civilians. That was before the condition of the army itself where people were seen as serfs, sub civilian slaves by officers. In 1917, ma ny soldiers wanted a reform of the army as much as of the government. Above them were a group of new professional military men who saw the faults through the system, from trench technique to supply of arms, and demanded effective reform. They saw the court and the tsar as stopping it. They turned to the Duma as an outlet, beginning a relationship which would change Russian in early 1917. The Tsar was losing the support of his talented men. An Out of Touch Church The Russians were involved in a foundation myth of being at one with and defending the Orthodox Church and orthodox Russia, which began at the very start of the state. In the 1900s this was stressed this over and over. The Tsar as political-religious figure was unlike anywhere in the west and he or she could damn with the church as well as destroy with laws. The church was vital for controlling the mostly illiterate peasants, and priests had to preach obedience to the Tsar and report objections to police and to state. They allied easily with the last two Tsars, who wanted a return to medieval times.But industrialization was pulling peasants into secular cities, where churches and priests lagged behind the vast growth. The church did not adapt to urban life and a growing number of priests called for reform of it all (and the state too). Liberal clergy realized reform of church only possible with a move away from the tsar. Socialism was what answered the workers new needs, not old Chri stianity. Peasants not exactly enamored of priests and their actions harked to a pagan time, and many priests were underpaid and grasping. A Politicized Civil Society By the 1890s, Russia had developed an educated, political culture among a group of people who were not yet numerous enough to truly be called a Middle Class, but who were forming between the aristocracy and the peasants / workers. This group were part of a ‘civil society’ which sent their youth to be students, read newspapers, and looked towards serving the public rather than the Tsar. Largely liberal, the events of a severe famine in the early 1890s both politicized and radicalized them, as their collective action outlined them to them both how ineffective the Tsarist government now was, and how much they could achieve if they were allowed to unite. The members of the zemstvo’s were chief among these. As the Tsar refused to meet their demands, so many of this social sphere turned against him and his government. Nationalism Nationalism came to Russia at the end of the nineteenth century and neither Tsars government nor liberal opposition could cope with it. It was the socialists who pushed regional independence, and socialist-nationalists who did best among the different nationalists. Some nationalists wanted to stay in the Russian empire but get greater power; the Tsar inflamed this by stamping on it and Russifying, turning cultural movements into fierce political opposition. Tsars had always Russified but it was now much worse Repression and Revolutionaries The Decembrist uprising of 1825 triggered a series of reactions in Tsar Nicholas I, including the creation of a police state. Censorship was combined with the ‘Third Section’, a group of investigators looking into acts and thoughts against the state, which could exile to Siberia suspects, not just convicted of any transgression, but just suspected of it. In 1881 the Third Section became the Okhranka, a secret police fighting a war using agents everywhere, even pretending to be revolutionaries. If you want to know how the Bolsheviks expanded their police state, the line started here.The revolutionaries of the period had been in harsh Tsarist prisons, hardened into extremism, the weak falling away. They started as intellectuals of Russia, a class of readers, thinkers and believers, and were turned into something colder and dark. These derived from the Decembrists of the 1820s, their first opponents and revolutionaries of the new order in Russia, and inspired intellectuals in succeeding generations. Rejected and attacked, they reacted by turning to violence and dreams of violent struggle. A study of terrorism in the twenty first century finds this pattern repeated. A warning was there. The fact that western ideas which had leaked into Russia ran into the new censorship meant they tended to be distorted into powerful dogma rather than argued into pieces like the rest. The revolutionaries looked to the people, who they were usually born above, as the ideal, and the state, who they reviled, with guilt driven anger. But the intellectuals had no real concept of peasants, just a dream of the people, an abstraction that led Lenin and company to authoritarianism.Calls for a small group of revolutionaries to seize power and create a revolutionary dictatorship to in turn create a socialist society (including removing enemies) were around far before the 1910s, and the 1860s were a golden age for such ideas; now they were violent and hateful. They didn’t have to choose Marxism. Many didn’t at first. Born in 1872, Marx’s Capital was cleared by their Russian censor as they though to too hard to understand to be dangerous, and about an industrial state Russia didn’t have. They were terribly wrong, and it was an instant hit, the fad of its day – the intelligentsia had just seen one popular movement fail, so they turned to Marx as a new hope. No more populism and peasants, but urban workers, closer and understandable. Marx seemed to be sensible, logical science, not dogma, modern and western.One young man, Lenin, was thrown into a new orbit, away from being a lawyer and into being a revolutionary, when his older brother was executed for terrorism. Lenin was drawn into rebellion and expelled from university. He was a fully blown revolutionary derived from other groups in Russia’s history already when he first encountered Marx, and he rewrote Marx for Russia, not the other way round.   Lenin accepted the ideas of the Russian Marxist leader Plekhanov, and they would recruit the urban workers by involving them in strikes for better rights. As ‘legal Marxists’ pushed a peaceful agenda, Lenin and others reacted with a commitment to revolution and creating a counter Tsarist party, strictly organised. They created the newspaper Iskra (the Spark) as a mouthpiece to command the members. The editors were the First Soviet of the Social Democratic Party, including Lenin. He wrote What Is To Be Done? (1902), a hectoring, violent work that set out the party. The Social Democrats split into two groups, the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, at the second Party Congress in 1903. Lenin’s dictatorial approach pushed the split. Lenin was a centraliser who distrusted the people to get it right, an anti-democrat, and he was a Bolshevik whereas the Mensheviks were prepared to work with the middle classes. World War 1 Was the Catalyst The First World War provided the catalyst for Russia’s revolutionary year of 1917. The war itself went badly from the start, prompting the Tsar to take personal charge in 1915, a decision which placed the full responsibility for the next years of failure on his shoulders. As demand for ever more soldiers increased, the peasant population grew angry as young men and horses, both essential for the war, were taken away, reducing the amount they could grow and damaging their standard of living. Russia’s most successful farms suddenly found their labour and material removed for the war, and the less successful peasants became ever more concerned with self-sufficiency, and even less concerned with selling a surplus, than ever before.Inflation occurred and prices rose, so hunger became endemic. In the cities, workers found themselves unable to afford the high prices, and any attempt to agitate for better wages, usually in the form of strikes, saw them branded as disloyal to Ru ssia, disaffecting them further. The transport system ground to a halt due to failures and poor management, halting the movement of military supplies and food. Meanwhile soldiers on leave explained how poorly supplied the army was, and bought first hand accounts of the failure at the front. These soldiers, and the high command who had previously supported the Tsar, now believed he had failed them.An increasingly desperate government turned to using the military to curb the strikers, causing mass protest and troop mutinies in the cities as soldiers refused to open fire. A revolution had begun.

Marketing and Entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marketing and Entrepreneurship - Essay Example Though, in the developed nations like US and UK, many companies have introduced healthy cold drinks but they have failed to provide balance nutrition to the children. Hence, it can be said that the children and teenagers are the potential customers of Neutrica.   In this fast moving world, even the adults need health drink that can be used as a substitute of soft drinks. People in their old age suffer from several health-related complications like high blood pressure, cholesterol deposition and diabetes. For these people Neutrica is a good way of deriving required nutrition in a more convenient and simple manner. Till date, there are not too many health drinks that are popular among the aged people. The percentage of elderly people is likely to increase with time, thus adding to its potential customer base.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Consumers are becoming increasingly conscious about their health and are willing to shell out money for those foods and drinks that promises better health. Therefore , the demand for health drink is likely to grow, mainly among the children and elderly persons. Target MarketIn developed nations like UK and US, the market is already flooded with different kinds of energy drinks, canned fruit juices and different type of health drinks. As a result, the degree of competition is also high in these markets. This coupled with low population growth will make these markets very stagnant in the years to come.On the other hand, developing countries are performing better because their economies are growing at a fast rate.

Eros Plus Massacre by Yoshishige Yoshida Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Eros Plus Massacre by Yoshishige Yoshida - Essay Example As a breakthrough from an orthodox filming tradition during the 60s, Yoshida utilized a technique of combining the intricacies of history and art in a craft which exposes the nature of sexuality in its portrayal of the central purpose in designating characters according to gender traits. For one to analyze the film fully, one needs to examine how it had been created by the New Wave movement in the light of blending formal with political radicalism. Essentially, if the concept of formal radicalism must be present in visual arts as in film, it would be expected to project the opposite of an ‘embodiment’ which otherwise serves as the typical function of an art piece. In â€Å"Eros Plus Massacre†, the art as it occurs in the perception of the audience seems to be formally radical as it shapes itself into the form that could be understood rather less figuratively for the lack of conspicuous representation. While the film may be observed with components that require a v iewer to invest in depth of psychological insight, the analogies between the past and the present thematic characters make no representative meaning of each other yet they bear reflexivity to an extent that the art communicates back to itself in the attempt to allow comprehension of its main thrust. To fulfil the objective of a formally radical work, hence, director Yoshida brings the fragmented narrative technique to proceed as shooting of alternate sequences in which the life of Eiko, being a liberated young woman with a circle of lovers in contemporary period, is patterned after the life of Sakae Osugi, an anarchical male figure who, during his conservative time, is known for his philosophy on absolute freedom when it comes to love and sex relations. In a conventional approach, Eiko could have portrayed a more natural role where, instead of knowing about Osugi, she could be made to resemble his lifestyle as an independent entity whose kind or composition embodies that of him. Thi s, however, is not the case since the formal radicalization of the narrative conveys both lives as intertwined for Eiko assumes the position of a researcher in pursuit of studies regarding Osugi’s socio-political principles and way of living. So, in this manner, her quest of identity based on a strong character of the past renders for her a sense of ‘self-awareness’ at the time being. The viewers are hereafter bent to realize that the personal exploration of Eiko depends not solely on the pure nature she is in the absence of external influence, but on her constant social relations and passionate interest on learning from the lives of Osugi and Noe Ito. Apparently, in Yoshida’s filming process, â€Å"Eros Plus Massacre† leads the audience to understand that the theme of the motion picture becomes increasingly attached to the knowledge of the character in dramatic view which then makes the film ‘self-aware’ as it shifts the sight and feel of viewers between private and social dimensions. One such stimulating scene in which this has materialized is when Eiko, in focus, touches herself in the shower and the tracking shot from top to bottom of her glass-covered wet body mobilizes her erotic imagination through a couple of supposedly invisible male hands in fondling motion as though they were actually upon her skin. As a critical viewer during the film watch, I have

Episode in my life Essay Example for Free

Episode in my life Essay Some may ponder on how merely playing hockey changed my perspective in life and on people. Even I never expected pursuing my interest would result in such a dramatic affect in my life. It all started of when I was in my last year on the school hockey team.  Due to my seniority and experience in the game, my coach began to assign me the duty of instructing my juniors to become goalkeepers like me. One of the juniors I trained was Ili Anis Athirah who was also one of the best of my so called apprentices. We became team mates for the under 18 team in my final year on the squad. Unexpectedly, our coach chose Ili as the first eleven players and put me on bench. When I asked coach why he made such a decision, he said both of us were equally talented but Ili had two advantages compared to me; her eyesight was better and she was bigger in size than me. All my eagerness and determination to play for my last tournament shattered into pieces and turned into sheer disappointment. I was never given a chance to play during that last tournament. The team even broke into two groups. One group was on my side while the other was on Ilis. I did not bother to gain empathy from my team mates but they were understanding and thought that coach was being unfair to me. He was treating me like an old rag that can be tossed away after being used for so long. Then, during the quarter finals against one of the strong teams of the league, I had an opening of regaining myself to my team mates and of course my coach. During that particular game, Ili performed badly and gave way to three goals for the opponent. All of a sudden, coach called Ili out and replaced her with me! Even when I was running to the goal post in those heavy goalkeepers equipment, I thought; THIS is the moment of truth! I wanted to prove the coachs judgments wrong. Even though I was short sighted and smaller compared to Ili, I can still play the game effortlessly. I was not nervous because of the game but I was excited to finally get the chance to reclaim my position in the team. Strength and luck was on my side that day. Not a single goal passed through me. Even though we lost the game, I walked to the bench with the abundant feeling of satisfaction that was beyond explainable. Although I did not expect my coach to apologize for abandoning me through out that last tournament, I still felt pleased to just look at his face after the game; he had the expression mixed between amazement, disbelief and at the same time guiltiness. I know it will take him ages to realize that not giving me a chance to play during my final year truly broke my heart into pieces. From this experience, I did not only get the chance to prove my coach wrong, but I also began to appreciate my friends who were always on my side during the days of my hardships. They were the ones who faithfully listened to my feelings of disappointments and gave me strength through their words of advice. If it was not for them, I would not have the courage and vigor to confront such frustration and humiliation of being the reserved player after four consecutive years of being the first player. It also occurred to me that not everything in life is permanent. The fame and reputation I gained when I was on the team could be easily taken away by just one decision the coach made; From becoming one of the best players, I became the bench resident. I became a more humble and modest person in personality due to this experience. Fame and reputation changed from becoming one of my top priorities to the least that I could care of. I realized that there is much more in life such as the faithful friends I gained though this episode in my life. Forgiveness and patience also arose to my senses from this incident. I realized that no matter what a person does to you, we should learn to forgive them with all our hearts. I began to forgive my coach although he made a choice that swelled my heart with frustration and mortification. I learned that from forgiving and being patient, one can enjoy life better as enemies and foes will not surround their life. Above all, I learned that one should make full use of the opportunities given in life. Not everyone is lucky like me to get the chance to prove other peoples perception wrong. One should grab the chances given to them and put all his strength and efforts in making full usage of it. I began appreciating chances given to me; at the same time I became a more hardworking and passionate person in the things that I do. In essence, I would not change this experience for the world because of its positive impacts in my life and personality. I have learned how to appreciate my friends better and I also realized that fame and reputation are not the most important things in life. I have indeed become a more patient and forgivable person as well. Besides that, I began to make full use of the good chances given to me in life. No doubt, the moment of truth will stay in my heart FOREVER!

Phaedra Essay -- essays research papers

Theseus was the son either of Poseidon or Aegeus the king of Athens. His mother was Aethra. The childless Aegeus consulted the Delphic Oracle and was told not to untie his wine skin until he returned home. He did not understand what the oracle meant and so visited his friend King Pittheus of Troezen. Realizing that Aegeus was going to beget a powerful son immediately after the celebration feast for his safe return to Athens, Pittheus made his guest drunk and put him to bed with his daughter Aethra, and so Theseus was conceived. Before he left for home, Aegeus took the pregnant Aethra to a great boulder underneath which he placed his sword and sandals. He told her that, should she have a son, she must wait until he was strong enough to raise the boulder before she sent him to his father's court. After Aegeus' departure the wily Pittheus said his daughter's lover was really Poseidon. When Theseus came of age, Aethra explained that he was heir to the Athenian throne and he retrieved the sword and sandals. On his journey to Athens he slew several desperate bandits, a fearsome son of Hephaistos, and a dreadful sow, the daughter of the monster Typhon. At Eleusis, then a kingdom separate from Athens, Theseus was forced to accept the challenge of a wrestling match with its king, Cercyon. The aggressive ruler died as a result of the contest, so Theseus became king of Eleusis, which he later added to the Athenian kingdom. On his arrival in Athens, Theseus learned that his father A...

Machiavelli and Odysseus

Power and Leadership The Connection of Power and Leadership between The Odyssey and The Prince Research Assignment Stories in Diverse Media LAPS/HUMA 1780 Prepared for: Dr. Gillian Helfield Mr. Julian Manyoni Prepared by: Samuel James Ysip 212-697-983 Power and Leadership Power and leadership play a big role in accomplishing the objectives of a team. A person having these two attributes can direct a group of people towards achieving their common goal. These two components of authority are also essential to each other in order for the leader to be successful.Power is a person’s ability to influence others and leadership is a person’s talent to guide a group of people to achieve their common goal. A person that has power but without the capacity to make the right decisions for the team will definitely fail to lead a team to their goal and a person without the influence on others but with the talent to lead a team will sure not be able to implement the qualities of a great leader to a group. Homer’s The Odyssey and Machiavelli’s The Prince are two books that both contain themes about power and leadership.Homer’s The Odyssey contains information about Odysseus’ leadership capabilities during his journey home to Ithaca and how he reacted on different situations that involve critical leadership decisions. It also contains the status of his leadership in his homeland and what kind of monarchy he has. On the other hand, Machiavelli’s The Prince gives out information and guidelines on what a Machiavellian leader should be and how he should react in different kinds of situations. It also contains different theories on how the structure of a monarchy affects a ing’s superiority in his own kingdom. Throughout Odysseus’ journey, he made questionable decisions that contradict the teachings of Machiavelli. By not following the guidelines of Machiavelli on leadership and power management, as a result, Odysseus fail ed to lead his team safely back to Ithaca. Through Machiavelli’s theory, on could also argue that because of the structure of Odysseus’ kingdom in Ithaca, it resulted to the noble men in Achaea to take advantage of his absence, thus resulting to the exploitation of his land.The disobedience of Odysseus’ crew members to his orders resulting to their death, the act of contempt of Eurylochus against Odysseus and the effects of political structure in Ithaca to Odysseus’ supremacy as king are the three factors that constitute the power and leadership issues in The Odyssey which are connectedly criticized and discussed through the guidelines and theories of Machiavelli in The Prince. The disobedience of Odysseus crew members to his order of not eating the cattle of Helios which resulted to their death is the outcome of Odysseus’ failure to apply the teaching of Machiavelli about being compassionate or cruel.In chapter seventeen of The Prince, Machiavelli stated that, â€Å"A ruler mustn’t worry about being labelled cruel when it’s a question of keeping his subjects loyal and united . . . he will prove more compassionate than the leader whose excessive compassion leads to public disorder, muggings and murder. † (65). Odysseus’ compassion towards Eurylochus; a high ranking crew member that insults him and constantly tries to lure Odysseus’ crew members to disobey his orders, resulted to the death of the crew members and further delayed his return to Ithaca.Eurylochus’ exploitations in the story began to develop when they arrived at the island of Aeaea. Eurylochus disagreed with Odysseus’ decision to go back to Circes palace to have his men rest after a long travel. He then insulted Odysseus by saying, â€Å"So too it happened with the Cyclops, when our companions went into his yard, and the bold Odysseus was of their company; for it was by this man’s recklessness that these too perished. † (10. 435-438). These two incidents alone have enough grounds for Odysseus to take actions on Eurylochus’ obvious disregard of his authority.Odysseus considered killing him by taking his head off but he realized that he is related to Eurylochus by marriage and his men were also able to stop him by pleading to him. This confrontation is an evidence of Odysseus showing incorrect compassion towards Eurylochus. Although Odysseus showed a sign of disappointment, he never really punished him which led to more disobedience by Eurylochus. It also showed that he considers his men’s view of his actions. His actions confirmed that he would rather show compassion than cruelty by being stopped by his men from killing Eurylochus through their pleading.By not taking the necessary actions on Eurylochus’ behaviour, he was able to persuade Odysseus to land on the island of Thrinakia where Helios keeps his cattle despite Circes advice to stay away from Heliosâ₠¬â„¢ belongings. When they landed on the Island where the cattle are, Eurylochus again stirred up trouble by persuading the crew members that it’s fine to eat the cattle of Helios while Odysseus was asleep. Eurylochus said, â€Å". . . hunger is the sorriest way to die and encounter fate . . . let us cut out the best of Helios cattle and sacrifice them to the immortals who hold wide heaven . . . nd if we ever come back to Ithaca . . . we will build a rich temple to the Sun God Helios. † (12. 342-346). This final incident that Eurylochus was able stir up became the main reason of the crew members’ death and also Eurylochus. Odysseus should have made the right decision of eliminating Eurylochus when he first started to disregard his superiority on the Island of Aeaea. Odysseus also showed a sign weakness in his leadership when Eurylochus was able to persuade him to land on an island where the temptations are apparent despite the group and Eurylochus’ consta nt disobedience and the crew’s inability to avoid temptation.In the book Machiavelli on Modern Leadership, Michael A. Leeden stated that â€Å"Without fear of punishment, men will not obey laws that force them to act contrary to their passions. † (115). Odysseus’ lack of implementing punishment to his subjects made his crew men, particularly Eurylochus, more attracted to temptations and more convenient of violating not only Odysseus’ orders but also the gods’. Leeden also stated in his book that â€Å"to be an effective leader, the most prudent method is to ensure that your people are afraid of you.To instill that fear, you must demonstrate that those who attack you will not survive. † (126). This statement criticises Odysseus response to Eurylochus’ disobedience. Eurylochus challenged and ridiculed Odysseus’ leadership and authority during their stay on the island of Aeaea. He also questioned Odysseus decision of not wanting t o land on the island of Thrinakia although he was able to persuade him anyway. Odysseus failed to respond with effective force on these incidents which resulted to more disobedience. The system of uthority that Odysseus implemented over his subjects during their journey resulted to his men’s downfall and also his. By not applying the teachings of Machiavelli on how a leader should use power to appropriately perform cruelness or compassion to achieve a better and more disciplined kingdom, Odysseus showed unnecessary compassion to the wrong person; a sign of a weak leadership, thus resulting to the death of his whole crew and further delayed his return to Ithaca. Odysseus’ leadership flaws do not stop on his lack of control over his subjects.He also made terrible judgements that led to the death of some of his companions that consequently resulted to the lost of their trust to his leadership. Because of these bad decisions, Eurylochus; Odysseus’ second in command, found the courage to challenge his leadership. In The Prince, Machiavelli stated that, â€Å". . . when there is no threat from outside, a ruler must take care that his subjects don’t start conspiring against him. He can guard against this by making sure he isn’t hated or despised and that people are happy with him† (73).One reason of Eurylochus’ voice of displeasure with Odysseus’ leadership is because of Odysseus’ foolishness and stubbornness. On the Island of Cyclopes before Odysseus took his men to the cave, he stated that â€Å"my proud heart had an idea that presently I would encounter a man who was endowed with great strength, and wild, with no true knowledge of laws or any good customs. † (9. 213-215). On their way to the Cyclops’ cave, Odysseus knew himself that danger is on their way yet he still made careless decisions when they get there.Instead of quickly taking all the things they needed inside the cave and despi te his men’s persuasions, he still decided to wait for Polyphemus to arrive because he personally wanted to try his luck if the Cyclops would actually welcome them inside. Odysseus stated that â€Å"From the start my companions spoke to me and begged me to take some of the cheeses, come back again, and the next time to drive the lambs and kids from their pens, . . . but I would not listen to them . . . not until I could see him, see if he would give me presents. † (9. 224-229).The fact that Odysseus is a known tactician, one could argue that his companions’ simple strategy is far much better than Odysseus naive idea of trying his luck with the Cyclops. Although Odysseus’ cunnings got him out of the cave after getting trapped, the consequences of his foolish curiosity in regard to the death of his comrades and the lost of trust of his comrades, outweigh the benefits of his cunnings. Odysseus stubbornness and foolishness led to the death of six of his men a nd this gave Eurylochus one of the reasons to go against his authority.The incident on their way out of Island of the Cyclopes also added fuel to the fire when Odysseus provoked Polyphemus by shouting to him. His crew members yet again pleaded to him, â€Å"Hard one, why are you trying once more to stir up this savage man . . . † (9. 494-495). They also mentioned that because of Odysseus’ provocative actions, the Cyclops threw big rocks at them and led the ship back to the shore and almost got them caught and get killed. This declaration by his crew members is a sign of their disappointment with Odysseus’ leadership.It shows that they are concerned with how Odysseus constantly putting them in harm’s way by being out of control. Another sign of their dissatisfaction is when the notion of unfairness came into their minds when they foolishly opened the bag of wind that sent them back to Aiolian Island. His companions stated that Odysseus â€Å"is bringing h ome with him handsome treasures . . . while we, who have gone through everything he has on the same venture, come home with our hands empty. † (10. 40-43).This action by the crew members shows a symptom of mutiny against a leader that is supposed be trusted and respected by his subjects. It also signifies that Odysseus has lost his connection with his crew men and they don’t see him anymore as one of them. In an article by Elihu Rose, he claimed that â€Å"Mutiny begins with grievances over some existing or threatened condition. The question then may be posed as to whether those grievances, legitimate or not, were ultimately addressed and, if so, to what degree . . . † (572).This statement supports the idea that mutiny is indeed the result of lack of acknowledgement by the people who are responsible to address the internal issues of an organization. It applies to Odysseus’ constant disregard of his crew members’ pleadings which resulted to him putti ng his crew members into situations that they didn’t wish to go through. According to Machiavelli, â€Å". . . one of the most powerful preventive measures against conspiracies is simply not being hated by majority of people. People planning a conspiracy must believe that killing the ruler will be popular . . † Eurylochus knew the disappointment of the crew members on Odysseus’ leadership. This gave him the further courage to voice out his displeasure on Odysseus’ authority knowing that the crew members also have an issue with the way Odysseus handled situations. It also gave him the courage and the capability to persuade the crew members to disobey Odysseus’ orders of not eating the cattle of Helios. Machiavelli’s advice to a king of keeping his subjects satisfied or simply not despise him to avoid contempt or mutiny certainly didn’t apply to Odysseus leadership.The stubbornness of Odysseus along with his inability to create a cohesi ve relationship among his crew resulted into disappointment inside his circle which paved the way for Eurylochus to contempt against his authority. Lastly, the capability of the noble men to threaten his throne and exploit his belongings could be argued as the result of the political structure of Odysseus’ kingdom. Chapter four of The Prince discusses the advantages of appointing ministers and the disadvantages of a kingdom with nobles.Machiavelli stated that, â€Å"These barons have their own lands and their own subjects who recognize the barons as their masters and are naturally loyal to them. Where a state is governed by a king and his ministers the king is more powerful since he is the only person in the state whom people recognize as superior. When they obey someone else it is only because he is minister or official and they have no special loyalty to him† (16). In other words, Machiavelli suggests that because the nobles have their own power inside a king’ s monarchy, they’re more likely to disobey or be mutinous against a king’s authority.On the other hand, a monarchy that has ministers instead of barons, gives the king the security of not having any defiance against his superiority. In The Odyssey, Achaea is a land filled nobles. It is known in the story that Odysseus did not appoint any ministers or any sort of authority to secure his throne in Ithaca from any threats while he is gone to war. This signifies that his power over the people of Ithaca is not absolute or in other words, the foundation of his power is fragile once a certain threat to his power comes in.In The Prince, Machiavelli claimed that the nobles are more likely to be corrupted by foreign forces because they are hard to please and are always eager for a change in leadership. This suggests that even if Odysseus came back to Ithaca on time, his authority is not secured from any internal or external forces (e. g. the nobles or other kings) that wanted to challenge it and much more worst if he actually have died in the war. In The Odyssey, Telemachus stated that, â€Å"It is not bad to be a king . . . in fact there are many other Achaian princes, young and old, in sea girt Ithaca, any of who might hold this position, now hat the great Odysseus has perished. † (1. 393-396). This statement by Telemachus; son of Odysseus, is a confirmation that Odysseus throne is in fact open for any internal or external forces (i. e. suitors Inside or outside of Ithaca) to occupy without any prohibition. According to Machiavelli, â€Å". . . there will always be barons ready to assume authority when circumstances swing their way . . . † (18). Odysseus’ absence in Ithaca and the inexistence of authority gave the noblemen the chance to do whatever they want in his land, consequently giving the noble men their chance to finally occupy his throne.An example of this is the persistence of the Achaean noble men to take his throne by marr ying his wife; Penelope, despite her obvious intension of not wanting to marry. Another result of lack of authority in Ithaca is the constant abuse of his property in the hands of the noble men by uncontrollably devouring his livestock and wine. Although Telemachus tried to appeal to the suitors by holding an assembly with all the suitors and the Achean elders, it was not enough to get the suitors out of his land. Telemachus stated that â€Å"We have no man here such as Odysseus was, to drive this curse from the household.We ourselves are not the men to do it . . . not men well seasoned in battle. † (2. 58-61). Although Telemachus has the right to be aggravated with the suitors’ spoilage of his belongings, there is no authority or power in his kingdom beyond his capability that could demand the suitors out of his land. Without Odysseus, the noblemen hold the power on the land and are pretty much entitled to enforce their own rules. In the book Greek Political Thought b y Ryan Balot, he stated that, â€Å"Odysseus was like a father to his people who protected them from foreign enemies, from less restrained aristocrats . . When Odysseus left Ithaca, everything went downhill, because of the greed and hubris of wealthy well-born men without a sense of decency . . . Meanwhile, the political community could exert some – though not enough – pressure on these aristocrats to amend their behaviour. . . as long as Odysseus was gone, those who would normally have been in charge were left with pious hopes that the gods would rescue them. Therefore . . . the well being of Ithaca depended on Odysseus return and his forcible reassertion of his power. † (32).This statement by Balot supports the argument that the inexistence of ministers who play as the second in command of the king makes the monarchy vulnerable not only from the nobles but also from external threats. Without the authority of appointed ministers who play as the second in comman d of the king, it makes the noble suitors subsequent to Odysseus in the hierarchy of power in Ithaca. With the little gap between the powers of a king and noblemen, it makes it easier for the noblemen to enforce their authority in a kingdom when the power of a king is inexistent.Balot’s view of the situation in Ithaca also supports the idea that Odysseus’ authority in his kingdom is not supreme amongst all the people under his authority and it is just a matter of chance before the noblemen defy him. Machiavelli’s theory about the advantages of ministers and the disadvantages of having noblemen in a monarchy certainly applies to the structure of Odysseus’ monarchy. With the kind of monarchy that Ithaca has, Odysseus’ superiority in his land is undeniably vulnerable from the defiance of the ambitious and opportunistic noblemen.The inexistence of legitimate authorities like the ministers who play as the second in command of the king to provide governa nce all over the land and also as the king’s safeguard from any mutiny makes the supremacy of Odysseus as a king of Ithaca questionable. A leader’s utilization of both power and leadership is the sole reason for an organization to succeed or fail. A leader that lacks either one of these elements is most likely to fail on directing a group to achieve the group’s common objective including the leader’s own personal goal.The issues of power and leadership throughout Odysseus journey in The Odyssey are linked to the ideologies and guidelines of Machiavelli’s The Prince on how a king can efficiently apply his power and leadership to maintain a well-organized and successful monarchy and what kinds of circumstances can affect a king’s supremacy to his own kingdom. Throughout Odysseus journey, he showed manners of leadership that contradicted the guidelines of Machiavelli of how a king should react in different situations that involve a critical lea dership decisions.Odysseus’ too much compassion towards his crew members contradicts the advice of Machiavelli on why it is better for the leader to be feared than loved. His inappropriate compassion towards his crew members led to their rebellion against his authority which consequently led to their own destruction. Odysseus perhaps wanted to be viewed as a compassionate leader, therefore loved by his people, instead of being viewed as a cruel but effective dictator. But according to Leeden â€Å"Indeed, if you are feared, your followers will always find reasons to love you. †(128).Odysseus recklessness also resulted to the contempt of his second in command, Eurylochus. Machiavelli stated that a king should have the characteristics of both fox and lion to avoid traps and scare out enemies. Although there is no doubt that Odysseus is a courageous warrior and at the same time cunning, he showed at times that he only utilizes the qualities of a lion but lacks or disregar ds the qualities of a fox, thus resulting to his crew members frustration of his actions. An example is when he courageously waited for Polyphemus despite knowing the fact that he’s an unlawful monster.Machiavelli stated that those kings that only rely on qualities of a lion have no idea what they’re doing. The structure of Odysseus’ monarchy is also discussed in Machiavelli’s The Prince. Machiavelli’s view on why a king is better off with a monarchy with appointed ministers than a monarchy with ruling noblemen can certainly be applied to the struggle of power in his land, Ithaca. The situation in Ithaca proves that Machiavelli’s view on the importance of ministers and the disadvantages of having noble family in a monarchy is accurate.These issues of power and leadership in The Odyssey created the consequences that plagued Odysseus, his crewmen and his wife and son throughout the story. The rebellion of his crewmembers is the result of Odyss eus’ failure to apply an efficient leadership along with his power, consequently resulting to his authority over his men to diminish as well. The effect of the political structure to Odysseus’ supremacy in Ithaca is unchangeable, thus making him an inevitable victim of an unavoidable circumstance.However, If Odysseus followed the guidelines of Machiavelli on how an ideal king should lead, Odysseus could have saved some of his crew members and achieved their ultimate common goal and that is returning to Ithaca safe and sound. Bibliography Balot, Ryan. Greek Political Thought. Blackwell Publishing, 2006. 32. Print. This text contains a thorough history of ancient Greek political thought. It examines different kinds of ancient text (e. g. The Odyssey) in order to clearly demonstrate the political thought and structure of ancient Greece during its time. It also studies the connection between politics and ethics in ancient Greece.Part of this text studies the tendencies of the noblemen to revolt against a ruler. Balot stated that the aristocrats often sought for political connection outside a king’s monarchy to gain additional political connection that could possibly help them attack their own government. It also contains Balot’s view of the situation in Ithaca when Odysseus power is inexistent. Balot stated that Odysseus existence as a king is the only thing that hinders the â€Å"less-restrained† aristocrats from doing what they wish to do in his land. Homer. The Odyssey of Homer. Trans. Richmond Lattimore.New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. , 1967. Print. The poem The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus’ journey back to his kingdom after the Trojan War. It describes the trials and the consequences that Odysseus had to go through trough out his journey. This text relates to my essay about â€Å"Power and Leadership† because it exhibits Odysseus’ leadership capabilities on different kinds of situations ( e. g. Odysseus leadership in the island of the Cyclops) throughout his travel. This text is relevant to my argument because it contains incidents that required Odysseus to make leadership decisions.An example of these incidents is when he decided to wait for the Cyclops despite his crew members’ request of leaving the cave. By using these incidents in The Odyssey, it will help me apply the guidelines of Machiavelli on how a king should respond in different kinds of situations that required critical leadership decisions. Ledeen, Michael. Machiavelli on Modern Leadership. New York: Truman Talley Books and St. Martin's Griffin, 1999. 112-149. Print. This book studies the lessons of Machiavelli on leadership and how they can be applied to modern politics. Michael A.Ledeen’s personal view on the importance of Machiavellian leadership will be used as a tool to back up my claims on why the consequences that Odysseus suffered throughout his journey were the results of his lead ership decisions that contradicted the guidelines of Machiavelli. In one case in the book that indicates the importance of inserting fear in the people under one’s leadership, Leeden uses George Washington as an example by illustrating how the former U. S. president used his army to control the citizens who were against the idea of paying excise tax on their liquor.Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Trans. Tim Parks. Great Britain: Penguin Books Ltd, 2009. Print. This book by Machiavelli instructs the readers of the guidelines of how a â€Å"Prince† should lead and overcome adversaries or conflicts the Machiavellian way. It relates to my topic of â€Å"Power and Leadership† because it contains ideologies of how leaders should react or demonstrate power when threatened by internal or foreign forces. This text also discusses different circumstances that could affect a king’s superiority in his kingdom.The effect of the political structure of a king’s kingdom is an example of the topics that are discussed in this text that could be applied to the circumstance of Odysseus kingdom, Ithaca. This text will be the basis of my judgement on the rights and wrongs of Odysseus’ leadership. It will also be the basis of my evaluation on what Odysseus should have and should have not done on different situations throughout his travel. Rose, Elihu. â€Å"The Anatomy of Mutiny. † Sage. (1982): 572. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. ;http://afs. sagepub. com/content/8/4/561. full. pdf;. This article by Rose studies the reasons of mutiny in the military.It also explains the different kinds of mutinies, how the process of mutiny starts and how to end it. It also contains examples of passed mutinies from sixteenth century French monarchy. This article is essential to the argument of why Odysseus’ inappropriate actions in the land of the Cyclopes have made his crewmen disappointed which led to the act of contempt of Eurylochus against him. Its explanation of how mutiny starts supports the argument that Odysseus’ action against the will of his crewmen is the primary reason why his subordinates rebel against his authority in their journey.

Cyclermate Report

CYCLERMATE COMPANY PERFORMANCE REPORT Word count: 3099 words The INCREDIBLES – FB2A Ngo Mai Anh Hoang My Hanh Dinh Ngoc Huyen Nguyen Hai Ly Nguyen Ha Thu Nguyen Son Tung Content 1. Introduction 2. Liquidity and Capital structure 2. 2. 2. 3. 2. 4. 2. 5. 3. 1. 3. 2. SWOT Analysis Liquidity Matters Capital Structure Matters Short-term options Page 3 4 3. Production Methods SWOT Analysis Short-term Options 8 4. Human Relations 5. Investigation for Lone-term Survival and Profitability 6. Conclusion 7. Reference 8. Appendix 10 12 13 14 15 2|Page 1. Introduction Cyclermate Ltd is a small company producing bicycles in UK. The firm was set up by Lewis Llewellyn and Dai Armstrong, the two close friends in a local cycle touring club. They produce traditional upright cycle, which imitate the 1940’s and 1950’s. In 1990s, the company expanded to meet the demand and they bought a 15,000 square feet warehouse with 2,000 square feet of office accommodation. The high quality hand- made bikes brought them good reputation and maintained high sales though they did not advertise much. However in 2010 the company has trouble as the sales decrease and the demand fell in spite of lower price. Some customers even complained about quality of the product because they got accidents due to front brake. We are a group of consultants and we are preparing this report that will give Cyclermate’s banker an objective view about this company. Although at the moment they are having overdraft and some difficulties in selling products, we are here to make the bank see opportunities of this company and continue investing in it. 3|Page 2. Liquidity and Capital Structure 2. 1. SWOT Analysis ? Strengths ? ? Cyclermate has a long establishment time and reputation in producing traditional bike. The company has asset of a large piece of land worth ? 208,000 (included ? 48,000 of factory and ? 160,000 of unused land). ? Weaknesses ? ? Cyclermate has very few current assets and more non-current asset. This reduces the liquidity of money. There is a great liability that is in the form of bank overdrafts. Costs are rising while price per unit decrease to encourage customers resulting in reduce in revenue. ? Opportunities ? ? A fixed amount of bike is ensured to be sold with Cyclermate’s reputation Sales may increase with environment protection trend There is a chance of getting investment from Dai’s cousin ? ? ? ? Threats Banks do not allow anymore overdraft, thus there is a possibility of bankruptcy With competition from other companies and e-commerce, together with bad reputation from accidents caused by Cyclermate’s bikes. sales may continue to remain low ? Linda Llewellyn – one of three shareholders wants to withdraw money from company business 2. 2. Liquidity Matters The current ratio measures whether or not a firm has enough resources to pay over its debt over the next 12 months. Current ratio is calculated as follow. In this case, current ratio is 1. 85 which means that for every dollar the company owes in the short term it has ? 1. 5 available in assets that can be converted to cash in the short term. Therefore, it can be understood that current liabilities are still in control. However, the ratio is a little bit high so it reflects that the company is not efficiently using its current assets or its short-term financing facilities. This may also indicate problems in working capit al management. 4|Page Quick ratio measures the ability of a company to use its near cash or quick assets to extinguish or retire its current liabilities immediately. The higher the ratio, the greater the company’s liquidity is. (Quick Assets = Current Assets – Inventory) Here, Cyclermate has a quick ratio of 1. 15 which means Cyclermate has enough quick assets to convert to cash in order to pay current liabilities if necessary. Cash ratio measures a company’s ability to immediately use cash to pay its current debts This ratio indicates that this company does not have much cash in hand and naturally it cannot pay bank overdraft right away by cash. Generally, Cyclermate’s current liabilities are still in control with the liquidity of its current assets. However, with limited cash in hand, other current assets are needed to increase liquidity in to ensure the ability to pay debts in urgent circumstances. . 3. Capital Structure Matters Capital structure is the way a company combines between Equity and Liabilities in order to optimize financial sources. The effectiveness of a company’s capital structure is often analyzed through debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio. Here, Cyclermate’s D/E ratio is estimated 1. 976. It means that with eac h ? 1 of Equity, there is ? 1. 976 of Liabilities. In other words, at the moment, the ability to pay debt of Cyclermate is over the ability of payment for shareholder’s fund. To resolve the problems or to reduce the ratio, there are two main trends: decrease Liabilities and/or increase Equity. In the short term, it is very difficult to raise shareholder’s fund as it takes time to persuade individuals and organizations to invest in a small company who is in the verge of bankruptcy. Even when there is a possibility that Dai’s cousin will invest to Cyclermate, long time will be needed to complete legal policies and internal matters. Thus, in short-term, it is more rational to focus on minimizing Liabilities. Therefore, problems of capital structure in short-term turns out to be the same matters with liquidity, which is: how to increase cash in company account to pay bank overdraft and other liabilities. |Page 2. 4. Short-term Options To deal with the difficulties of Cyclermate Ltd in liquidity as well as capital structure, we firstly take into account about the company assets that can be quickly converted to cash in case bank asks for paying back overdraft. The assets are chosen includes company’s free hold land and trade debtors. Looking at this companyà ¢â‚¬â„¢s financial strengths, it is easy to recognize its very huge freehold land which is worth ? 160,000. However, this value has been recorded with historical price in the purchase time – by the end of 1990. Thus, we calculate the current price of the land in December 2011 is about ? 269,160. 4 (if the price in 1990 was 100%, the inflation rate made the average price in December 2011 reach up to 168. 244%). As a result, if we convert immediately the freehold land, the money gained is enough to pay all ? 264,864 current liabilities (including ? 177,364 of bank overdraft and ? 87,500 of trade creditors). In addition, the company has a small scale; therefore; we do not have to concern so far about expanding factory area. In addition, this company has ? 00,571 at trade debtors that represents the amounts own by cycle shops and this amount of money can cover the bank overdraft. Though Cyclermate could not take back all the trade debtors, they should take back as much as they can. Then, we consider about plans to increase profit or to decrease cost for Cyclermate in short-time with the purpose to raise the company’s fund: The draft budget for 2010/11 points out that Cyclermate has poten tial to have budgeted trading loss with only 950 and 1300 bikes sold through direct mail order and cycle shop in turns. In the first stage, we calculate the amount of bikes to reach BEP (break-even point) with assumption of the same price, same cost and same proportion of two types. In the calculation: Q*: Break-even point Fixed cost = Indirect cost Price per unit = Average price per unit = Total sales / Total bike quantity (of both 2 types of bike) Variable cost = Direct cost per unit ? Q* (estimated) = 2,753 bikes 6|Page Thus, to reach BEP Cyclermate needs to sell 503 more bikes (including about 212 bikes through direct mail order and 291 bikes through cycle shop). In fact, how to sell 503 more bikes is a difficult matter. As a result, we decide to suggest lowering direct cost in each bike by reducing parts namely lamps, lock, basket, dynamo and brake front (replace by brake front without dynamo). The reasons will be explained in detail in next part about Production. By doing this, each bike saves about ? 31. 09 for direct material / variable cost. We calculate BEP again with the new variable cost and find out Q* = 2310 bikes which means Cyclermate only needs to sell more 60 bikes (25 bikes through direct mail order and 36 bikes through cycle shop). Consequently, the cost cutting method can help increase profitability. Moreover, there are some employees want to retire or cannot work anymore like Lewis Llewellyn or Idris Pugh. If Cyclermate accepts to let them free (the plan will be explained in Human Relations part), they will have a new budget of ? 67,534 per year. This budget is not only enough to employ new staffs to vacant positions, but also can save an amount of salary for the company. 7|Page 3. Production Methods 3. 1. SWOT Analysis ? Strengths: ? The cycles made by the company are â€Å"retro† styles and totally hand-made with high-standard which have high demand from the market ? The whole process is divided clearly into stages which are responsible by specialized people at each specific stage ? Weaknesses: ? ? ? ? Faults is continuously appearing and reduces the quality of the product The recent painting method causes some quality problems to a number of fames. Moreover, the highly toxic paint materials is ruining the compressor and extraction equipment There are some components that are not necessary make the cost to produce a cycle quite high There are some employees’ issues that invisibly affects the production and reduces the productivity ? Opportunities: ? The new materials and technologies that Dai’s relative provides is a great opportunity to develop the product The firm has commissioned a cycle shop in Cardiff to build the wheels for it with reasonable quality and are always delivered quickly 3. 2. Short-term Options First of all, it is good that the company have specialized people responsible for each specific stage. This is because on e of the most important facets of job specialization is its potential to increase worker productivity and output. However, in the current arrangement, there are still some clashes of tasks between people. Therefore, it is necessary that tasks are assigned specifically to employees. Secondly, after the interview, it is clearly that faults causes mainly by the painting method and Janice’s mistakes as she has to work quickly and late. In short term, it is too difficult to upgrade the painting method to fix the paint quality problems so reducing the number of fames painted each day to focus on the quality should be concerned since demand for the period continues to fall. The company also should prioritize assembly to guarantee that every product is tested carefully before reaching customers. Beside the problems mentioned above, there are some employees’ issues that also need to be concerned about such as Idris Pugh who is responsible for wheels, mudguards, chain guards, stays and other hardware is really old and often absent because of his heath. Fortunately, the company has already 8|Page commissioned a cycle shop in Cardiff to do the job with reasonable quality and is always delivered quickly. The direct cost is somewhat higher than the materials and components used by Idris, but the company can reduce the cost of paying salary for Idris. Since the cost is rising significantly, it is highly recommended that some component which does not add any value to the product should be eliminated. In addition, whether something adds to the value of the product or not are determined by customers rather than by the company. For instance, an example of something a customer would consider being waste: redundant accessories. Customers obviously do not want to pay for it, so the company can reduce costs by eliminating it as much as possible. In this situation, the company could reduce costs by removing lock, basket, and lamp and replace the brake with dynamo with a normal brake. The company also should rearrange the warehouse to reduce the wastes causes by moving between places, searching things and so on, because the process looks to be somewhat shambolic. The warehouse should be rearranged. (Refer to appendix) 9|Page 4. Human Relations Human relation is the way people interact and behave toward each other, human relation plays important role in business. Each organization or business tries to find out the effective ways that build up a good relationship in firm and maintaining it. Taking the time to think strategically about how the people in your business are managed will help you avoid potential problems. After interviewing with people in the company and reviewing their work, we realized that the clash of work did not only slow down the process but also create conflicts between members. Since each job is not done or supervised by one specific person, it is hard to keep track of the responsibilities when errors occur. To make ourselves clear when suggesting specialization, we will now name the specific jobs for each person in the company. Dai Armstrong is enthusiastic both about the company and about its future, he gave a number of ideas about possible directions, however he has too much work such as paperwork, doing fame. As a director, his task is about external relation but he only works in the factory. To develop their company, he needs to go out and work with the distributors. Another shareholder, Lewis Llewellyn, is less optimistic than Mr. Armstrong about company’s future. He also shows that he is keen on retiring. Since he does not desire with work, company should let him retire. The third shareholder in the board of director is Mr. Lewis’ wife. After divorcing with Mr. Lewis, she wants one third value of the business. To deal with this difficult problem the company should negotiate with Lewis’s ex-wife, either by continue giving her her dividend or persuade her to take her investment back only according to inflation rate. In production team, Mr. Maldwyn Jones thinks that his manager undervalues his skills and he is thinking about leaving due to this. To improve as well as motivate him, the company should let him replace Lewis in manager board in the business manager position while Mr. Armstrong works on external relations. At the same time, Mr. Maldwyn should still continue his painting job while helping Dai with management. Mr. Emlyn Morgan has many ideas about how to improve production and his wife thinks that he is undervalued by the managers. Like Mr. Maldwyn, to motivate him to work his best, he should be promoted to the overall production managers, overseeing all the works happens in the factory and assist the young workers as they have questions. 10 | P a g e Although Idris Pugh is a wheelwright perfectionist and his products never gets complaints, he is not not healthy enough to work regularly. We think that the best solution is to let him retire and recruit a new skillful worker to replace him. Janice and Ffred are two young assemblers. Janice likes her job but sometimes she feels pressure because she has to work overtime. However, because the sales have decreased and there are a lot of bikes left therefore she will not have to work overtime for a while. Ffred is young and in experience so he often makes mistake. Now, with the supervising of Emlyn Morgan, he will able to avoid faults. Packing is a step that is taken by anyone who has time. We think that factory should have an employee who is specialized in this task. Ianto Prichard is an odd-job man and cleaner in the factory. We decide to promote him to be in charge of this task since he is used to the work in the firm. He can do his job every weekday morning and for certain his salary will be higher. Glady Wells, who cleans the office twice a week, can clean both office and factory now twice a week and he will be paid more. 11 | P a g e 5. Investigation for Lone-term Survival and Profitability Political ? From 1990s, UK government and campaign group have tried to promote cycling as a good alternative choice for car and a good way to improve health ? 12,000 miles of the National Cycle Network is build which are equivalent to 200% of the network expansion ? London is the host of Olympic 2012 with the commitment to encourage people to participate more in sports activities like cycling Economic ? UK has recovered from economic crisis thus customers would have more budget ? Fuel costs is rising, therefore many people are switching from car to bicycle ? Growing online sales of bicycle products Social ? UK people are more aware of health and environment benefits from riding bicycle, especially in avoiding absenteeism ? More events organized to encourage people participation in cycling ? Traditional bike has been in favor of customers Technology Law Environment ? New types of bike has been launched to the market ? Laws encourage people to choose bicycle (e. g: protecting cyclists against car drivers in an accident or having preferential traffic signals) ? Environment protection campaigns promote and make people aware of advantages of riding bicycles in reducing emissions One company is a successful company if it has a good management team. Cyclermate Ltd really needs a good director who has clear vision about the company’s future and he must know exactly how to run this company. By looking at the PESTEL analysis above, we think that Dai Amstrong still see a great potential in this industry, thus he keep being so optimistic about it. He now must reorganize the company’s structure to make it work more efficiently. In addition, the director should pay attention to financial management. It plays an important role in the survival of the company. According to Mr Jones, the company had not advertised its products in the national press for some years now, we would have to advertise more on media. Besides, he mentioned an alternative route to increased sales that is trying to build up the direct sales to have the maximum benefit. We can sell the products online through Internet which is a helpful tool for saving advertising cost. Furthermore, the directors also should pay attention to the demands of customers to know exactly what they want so that its products could meet the needs of customers. The other firms in the same market were increasing their sales of â€Å"traditional† machines; therefore; we could think about the new technologies to develop new products. Mr Owen – Dai’s cousin had some expertise in new technologies and he was willing to help. The profitability of the company might be ensured if all the options are applied. Besides, we can apply some campaigns such as saving energy that helps reduce the heating, lighting and power cost. 12 | P a g e 6. Conclusion To conclude, the main problems in Cyclermate are the low liquidity of their asset, and problems in managing human resources. We believe that with the suggested solution, Cyclermate will be in a safer and more successful position than they are now. Through this report, the bank has a clearer view of where Cyclermate is standing in its development. With the resources and potential they have in hand, it is such a waste if they do not get further loan to continue developing. We also want to point out that with this uch potential, Cyclermate may even appear to be a very good candidate for loan, as they can expand their market not only local-wide but world-wide. 13 | P a g e 7. Reference 1. TIMOTHY S. HATTEN (200), Accounting Records and Financial Statements. In: Small Business Management: Entrepreneurship and Beyond. 4th ed. South-Western: Cengage Learning, pp. 202-234 2. The British Cycling Economy [Online] http://corporate. sky. com/documents/pdf/publications/the_british_cycling_economy. htm 3. Gregory Hamel. January 07, 2011. The advantages of Job Specialization. [Online]. Avaiable: http://www. ehow. com/info_7743130_advantages-job-specialization. html. [December 10, 2011] 4. David Anderson. October 2006. 5S Manufacturing: What Is It?. [Online]. Available: http://www. todaysfacilitymanager. com/tfm_06_10_profdev. php. [December 10, 2011]. 5. Steve Jonathan. March 14, 2011. The advantages of 5S. [Online]. Avaiable: http://www. ehow. com/info_8061038_advantages-5s. html. [December 10, 2011] 6. LeanMan. 2010. Increase The Profit through waste reduction. [Online]. Avaiable: http://leanman. hubpages. om/hub/Increase-Profit-through-waste-reduction. [December 10, 2011] 14 | P a g e 8. Appendix Sales Direct mail order Cycle shop Budgeted total revenue Direct materials Indirect costs Total Costs Budgeted trading loss Interest Payable Possible tax loss recovery Shareholders’ Funds 846,118 (916,312) 446,580 1,292,698 (1,362,892) 29,602 (-40,592) (36,000) 35,000 28,602 units 1067 1370 Price ? 700 420 Revenue 7 46,900 575,400 1,322,300 Table 1: Draft budget – 2010/11 after selling more cycles (Number in red is the old record) Picture 1 Rearrangement of Warehouse 15 | P a g e