Change Management in Nursing Essay

Leadership is defined as influencing people to achieve a purpose or set of goals, but differentiating it from management causes confusion in many instances (Tappen, Weiss and Whitehead, 2004; Senior and Fleming, 2006; Robbins, Judge and Sanghi, 2009). Leaders can be managers but not all managers can be effective leaders, making leadership an important aspect of effective management (Tappen, Weiss and Whitehead, 2004). Several attempts have been made over the years to explain the characteristics of an effective leader. Trait, behavioural/style, situational-contingency and transformational theories are some of the theories that have been proposed to explain these characteristics (Yoder-Wise, 2003; Tappen, Weiss and Whitehead, 2004; Senior and Fleming, 2006). Goleman (2000) also used competencies of emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and social skills) to explain these characteristics. Nevertheless, none of these theories seem to adequately explain the characteristics that make an individual an effective leader. Yoder-Wise (2003) recognises followership as attitudes exhibited by individuals that the leader comes into contact with and explains that followers collaborate and act with the leader. Mahoney (2001) states that all nurses must acquire leadership skills since nursing leadership ranges from the staff nurse caring for a patient to a nurse in charge of a hospital. Nurses in clinical leadership positions collaborate with other leaders in the healthcare system to promote positive change (Touati et al., 2006). However, Antrobus and Kitson (1999) criticise nursing leadership for its lack of external focus (socio-political impact on health policies). They recommend that, in addition to the knowledge on issues related to nursing practice, potential leaders of nursing should familiarise themselves with social and health policies, management and research. Sutherland and Dodd (2008) identify that a lot of changes are occurring within the healthcare system, driving the need for leadership development. As a clinical leader in the making, a sound understanding of strategies for change management would prepare me as an effective leader. This is a reflective essay on how I set up a personal development plan to gain much insight on strategies for change management. The reflection is guided by Gibbs’s reflective cycle (1988 cited by Jasper, 2003). Although Cotton (2001) sees reflective practice in nursing as a problem, Durgahee (1996) identifies that nurses are able to perfect their actions when they examine their experiences through reflection and, consequently, become conscious of how different elements of care inform total professional nursing practice. The essay begins with a brief introduction of my background, and a description of issues that led me to focus on change management strategies in my personal development plan. It, then, follows with a reflection on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that I have and how these would influence my career in the future. The plan is presented, beginning with my learning objective and actions that I hope to take to meet my learning objective. The literature is then reviewed, followed by an appraisal of my organisation and how I plan to implement change. The last section describes my progress. Professional Background I graduated with a BSc. Nursing degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana in 2008. I practised at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), also in Ghana, as a general nurse for one year before enrolling at the University of Nottingham for MSc. Advanced Nursing. My responsibilities, as stated by the Ghana Health Service (2005), are to: Assess care needs of patients, develop and implement plans of nursing care accordingly Formulate, initiate and revise patient care as condition warrants Participate in ward rounds Allocate tasks based on skill of staff Supervise staff and students in the ward Evaluate nursing care and ensure continuity of care In the third year of my undergraduate course, I was one of three students selected for a twelve-week exchange programme in the United States of America. The goal was for us to experience healthcare system and nursing practice in the USA and effect positive changes in nursing and healthcare at KATH. Generally, students who participate in such programs develop themselves, learn differences between cultures, and are able to compare healthcare systems and nursing in the respective countries (Scholes and Moore, 2000; Button, Green, Tengnah et al, 2005). Judging from the exposure I had in the USA, I felt I could make a major impact on my colleagues upon my return. Exchange students, whether short-term (1 – 4 weeks) or long-term (more than 4 weeks), expect to have a positive influence upon their return to their home countries (Button et al, 2005; Carty et al, 2002). I developed myself, to an extent, as a result of participating in the exchange programme. This was confirmed by some of my colleagues. I, also, learnt some of the similarities and differences in culture, nursing practice and healthcare between the USA and Ghana. Notwithstanding, the overall purpose of having positive impact on my colleagues was not realised. I believe that lack of a strategy to effect the proposed changes as well as failure to collaborate with the other exchange students were the major reasons for the failure. I expect to develop a teaching package to delay the progression of chronic kidney disease among patients with diabetes as my Advanced Nursing Practice module project and implement it at KATH. I, also, hope to gain new ideas on patient care while I am in the United Kingdom. Upon my return to Ghana, I aspire to assume a nurse-educator role. This job would give me some influence over the training of nurses at KNUST and KATH. All these have led me to focus on change management in my personal development plan so as to make positive changes in nursing at KATH. I should be able to reflect on my strengths, weaknesses, any opportunities and threats that may influence my aspiration to effect some changes at KATH and Pearce (2007) suggests that using SWOT framework is a good way to do this. Therefore, using the SWOT analysis framework, I identified the following: Strengths I am committed to what I do I am good at motivating others I have good interpersonal skills I have good presentation skills Weaknesses I attempt to please everybody I am too lenient Opportunities I am studying with colleagues from different parts of the world I have other experience from abroad I am likely to become a nurse-educator at KNUST Threat Majority of the staff may see me as young and inexperienced to lead them Pearce (2007) suggests that once threats have been identified, there should be a way to handle them. By confidently demonstrating the experience gained, developing good interpersonal relationships and clearly presenting shared visions, majority of the staff are likely to collaborate with me (Martin, 2006). THE PLAN Learning Objective Needs assessment assists individuals to set clear learning objectives for their personal development plan (Holloway, 2000). Reflection on the exchange program reveals that I lack ideas on strategies and skills required to lead change within an organisation. Therefore, it is my primary objective to use this personal development plan to learn and develop strategies to lead change in the institution that I work in. Actions to Meet the Objective The Management Standards Centre (2004a) suggests that leaders must possess three kinds of knowledge and understanding to be able to lead change successfully. These are general knowledge and understanding (example is knowledge on models and methods for leading organisational change, their strengths as well as their weaknesses), sector-specific knowledge and understanding (example is knowledge on emerging developments in the health sector) and context-specific knowledge and understanding (example is knowledge on areas within the organisation that need change, with reasons and priorities). To lead change successfully, leaders must, also, be able to describe the change process within the organisation and how it affects the people within (Mott, 1996). Considering these, actions that I consider as appropriate for me to meet my objective are as follows; Review literature on change management within organisations; Perform an appraisal of the organisation that I work in; and Plan the implementation of the change. Main resources that are needed to undertake these actions are time and literature on leadership and change management within organisations. I should be able to achieve my objective within seven months and the outcome measure for me would be my ability to identify change management strategies that would best fit my organisational context. LITERATURE REVIEW Change Management within Organisations Change in organisations is inevitable (reactive) and desirable but, usually, complex and difficult to bring about (Sturdy and Grey, 2003; Bellman, 2003; Boshoff, 2005; Dzik-Jurasz, 2006). Yet, there are many a time when change is proactive (planned) – organisations make changes due to opportunities that they have to improve the workplace or their output (Dzik-Jurasz, 2006), and is also described as innovation. Change is very vital for healthcare institutions that seek to deliver quality and patient-centred care to its clientele, and nursing leadership is regarded as a linchpin for such changes to be successful (Dzik-Jurasz, 2006; Sutherland and Dodd, 2008). As a nurse aspiring to be a clinical leader, understanding the processes of change is, therefore, indispensable. Pettigrew, McKee and Ferlie (1988) state that leaders of change should focus on the content, the process, the context of the change as well as the successful regulation of the relationship between the three. They explain content as the specific areas where the change is expected to occur, and processes as the activities, expected reactions and interactions between the groups that seek to bring about the change. Context, as they explain, refer to internal and external factors that have influence over activities within the organisation. Lewin (1951 cited by Senior and Fleming, 2006) identifies three stages; unfreezing, moving and refreezing. At the stage of unfreezing, problems, needs or opportunities for change are identified, and the stage where new strategies or ideas are implemented causes individuals within the organisation to experience the change (moving). Finally, the stage of refreezing is reached when the change has been well integrated into the organisation (Yoder-Wise, 2003; Boshoff, 2005). Tappen, Weiss and Whitehead (2004), also, identify that change process is in four phases; description of the change, planning the implementation of the change, implementing the change, and integrating the change. Change starts when awareness of the need for it is created and ends when a complete evaluation of its expected effects has been done after the implementation (ibid). Lewin (1951 cited by Baulcomb, 2003) states that change is associated with certain forces that either facilitate or resist it; success would result when the forces facilitating the change exceed those that are resisting it within the context. Personnel within the organisation may be one of such forces. People resist change on the grounds of their psychosocial needs, the appropriateness of the change and, also, how the change affects their position and power (Tappen, Weiss and Whitehead, 2004). Therefore, they should be taken into consideration and be actively involved in the change process (Boshoff, 2005). Bennis et al. (1985 cited by Bellman, 2003) identify three strategies of change and these are rational-empirical, power-coercive and normative-re-educative strategies. Rational-empirical and power-coercive strategies both use top-down approaches while normative-re-educative approach employs a bottom-up approach. Top-down approach involves senior management generating the idea, planning and directly implementing the change while the bottom-up approach directly indulges the employees in the change process (Ryan, 2008). However, Ryan (2008) adds that top-down strategy alone is not effective for managing change at all times although it is very common under transformational leadership. Other strategies are education and communication; participation and involvement; facilitation and support; negotiation and agreement; and manipulation, cooptation, and coercion; and, dependent on the situation, these strategies may be used alone or in combination (Kotter and Schlesinger, 1979 cited by Yoder-Wise, 2003). It appears that the kind of strategy used would influence how the content of the change would be communicated to the parties involved. Action research is another change strategy and the process is said to begin when change is considered necessary (Bellman, 2003). Relevant data is collected systematically and reported to individuals who must act on it, after which plans are collaboratively formulated and the necessary actions undertaken – research and action combined (Senior and Fleming, 2006). The process is in five stages (diagnosis, analysis, feedback, action and evaluation) and is described as problem-focussed, and able to reduce staff resistance because of their active involvement in the process (Robbins, Judge and Sanghi, 2009). Organisational Appraisal Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) is the second largest teaching hospital in Ghana, training many doctors, nurses and other paramedics in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. It is an autonomous service delivery agent under the Ministry of Health of Ghana (MOH, 2009a). In addition to training many of the health personnel in the Ashanti Region, many people within and outside the Ashanti Region seek healthcare there. As a result, provision of quality healthcare has always been the focus. An organisation that recognises the need for change, weighs costs and benefits, and plans for the change when the benefits outweigh the costs is ready for a change (Dalton and Gottlieb, 2003). KATH is, therefore, ready for change because some of its employees are sent overseas or to other parts of the country, whenever there is the need for a new skill or knowledge to be gained, to bring about a positive change within the hospital. This may be a factor that would facilitate my agenda to implement lead change within the institution upon my return. However, Ghana, as a country is underdeveloped (CIA, 2008). Therefore, financial support, many a time, becomes a difficulty. Another challenge may be the fewer nursing staff. The Ministry of Health (2009b) estimates that there was a nurse-to-population ratio of 1:2024 in Ashanti Region and 1:1451 for the entire country in year 2007. Planning the Implementation of the Change This is the second stage of the change process, as was identified by Tappen, Weiss and Whitehead (2004), and it involves identifying possible resistant forces to the proposed change and identifying strategies to prevent or overcome them. The change strategies to adopt as well as how to communicate the need for change are considered at this stage (Management Standards Centre, 2004b). Bellman (2003) suggests that the normative-re-educative (bottom-up) strategy is suitable for changing practice within nursing. As it appears in my case, the need for change would be driven from bottom (an employee) to top (management) and is likely to be supported by the nurses since it is coming from their colleague. Nevertheless, others may resist the change because they might not see the need for it (Baulcomb, 2003). But Martin (2006) suggests that a clear presentation of the vision and need for change may cause a majority of the staff to support it. Flower and Guillaume (2002) suggest that unfreezing stakeholders of healthcare is a necessity to unfreezing the institution. Stakeholders at KATH for my project include the Director of Nursing Services (DNS), the Deputy Director of Nursing Services (DDNS) for the medical directorate, and the head of the diabetic clinic. When these key people are made to recognise the need for a change, then hospital management is likely to support the proposed change. In times like these when evidence-based practice is being advocated for (McEwen, 2007), I should be able to use evidence to justify the need for a change. I, therefore, plan to undertake a study that would compare the teaching package that I hope to introduce with the current approach used at KATH. If the new teaching package proves to be relatively successful, then majority of the staff are likely to appreciate the need for it. Progress Reflecting on the exchange program, I realise that the idea of bringing about change in practice was not clearly communicated. None of the processes of change, as has been identified now, were known at that time neither was there a strategy or a plan for the change. Some changes are unsuccessful because they are not clearly defined (Tappen, Weiss and Whitehead, 2004) and that is exactly what happened. Although I am still working on developing the teaching package that may be different from what is already present at KATH, I now realise that its purpose and effectiveness should be well communicated to other colleagues and management before the idea would be supported. I have discussed my ideas with the Director of Nursing Service of KATH and the Deputy Director of Nursing Services for the medical directorate and both of them seem excited about my idea. However, I have come to understand that all kinds of change are likely to face some form of resistance from the people (Baulcomb, 2003; Tappen, Weiss and Whitehead, 2004). I therefore, hope to apply the normative-re-educative (bottom-up) strategy because it has been identified as suitable for changing practice within nursing (Bellman2003). I also believe that such a strategy would let my colleagues feel actively involved in the change process and, hence, support it. Moreover, I hope to gain new insights from my visits to some hospitals and my interactions with some specialist nurses while developing the project. I, therefore, hope to modify my plans and strategies, when the need arises, in order to become an effective change agent within my organisation. Conclusion Personal development plans assist individuals to focus on specific needs and steps to take to achieve their objectives (Floodgate and Nixon, 1994). This essay has assisted me to reflect on my practice and roles as a leader. Whenever there is reflection, there must be a change in perspective (Atkins and Murphy, 1993). Development of change management strategies was identified as my learning objective. Actions to meet this objective were identified and pursued. Gibbs’s reflective cycle (1988) was used as a guide. Consequently, I have become familiar with different strategies that could be employed to effect and lead change successfully, and plans to implement these in my institution have been proposed, although they are subject to change when new insights are gained.

Financial Analysis of I.T Ltd.

Company background I. T Limited (0999. HK) is an investment holding company based in Hong Kong. It was listed on the main board of The Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 4-March-2005. The company offers a wide range of apparel products. It sells its products as well as offers a variety of national and international brands through its network of retail stores. As of February 28, 2011, it operated 392 stores in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Objective To undertake a comprehensive analysis on the financial performance of I. T. Limited. Detailed financial ratio analysis will be performed.An estimation of the firm’s cost of equity capital and weighted average cost of capital will also be provided. Horizon of analysis We will focus on its performance in the latest 5 fiscal years. A) Detail financial analysis The financial analysis will be conducted in two ways. First, the major accounts on financial statements will be inspected in order to derive a general picture on the healthiness of the business. Second, PERL (Performance, Efficiency, Risk, Liquidity) framework will be used to further analyze the financial performance of the company. I.Going through the financial statements We can get a glimpse of the healthiness of the business by looking into the trend of accounting items in income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement respectively. Consolidated income statement (Referring to appendix A – table 1 and 2) 2008/09 was a special year, financial tsunami happened. Therefore there was a huge profitability impact in that year, resulting in a large decrease in operating profit. And since the market recovered in 2009/2010, the profitability suddenly increased a lot in that fiscal year. Other than these wo special years, the overall growth trend in sales turnover, costs, and profit is healthy. (Referring to appendix A – table 3) Standardizing the income statement can extract extra information. All the accounts are expressed as a percentage of turnov er. The company has done a good job in cost controlling, since the cost of sales as a percentage of turnover is in a decreasing trend, hence the gross profit margin is in an increasing trend. On the other hand operating expenses fluctuates at about 50-51% of turnover, but since cost of sales has a greater decrease, the net effect is operating profit is in an increasing trend.Consolidated balance sheet (Referring to appendix A – table 4) In general, total assets experience an increasing trend. This is reasonable since the business is at a growing stage. One notable point is the growth of non-current assets look greater than current assets, especially property, furniture and equipment has a very significant increase in 2010/11, this is probably due to the rapid expansion of retails stores in Hong Kong and China. And as a result, there is a significant increase in inventories in 2010/11 too. (Referring to appendix A – table 5)Similar conclusions can be drawn by viewing th e same accounts in a standardized balance sheet (all items are standardized by total asset value in the fiscal year). Property, furniture and equipment, and inventories make up most of the total assets. (Referring to appendix A – table 6) Liabilities also grow a lot with total assets as the business expands. Notably there is a significant increase in both short-term and long term bank borrowings. In addition the payable accounts also increased more than 100%, meaning that the company bought stocks or services from suppliers on credit more than before.This growth of liabilities is fine as long as the company can generate consistent operating cash flows, as we will see in the next section. (Referring to appendix A – table 7) Similar conclusions can be drawn at standardized balance sheet, bank borrowings and payables increased significantly, especially for longer term bank borrowings. (Referring to appendix A – table 8) The growth of the business was mainly funded by growing liabilities, as we can see that the growth of equity is not so significant, the company has not issued new shares to get funding. The company has simply retained some of the profit in each year into reserves.Consolidated cash flow statement (Referring to appendix A – table 9) The company has improved its cash flow generation as its business grew. The profitability of the company increased, and so as the cash generated from operation. And since the company has increased in size, it has increased its ability to finance from banks, therefore it also increased its cash generated from financing activities. Although the company has increased investment in fixed assets and hence the cash outflow from investment, this is offset by the increase in cash flow from operation and financing.II. PERL (Performance, Efficiency, Risk, Liquidity) analysis (Referring to appendix B and C) 1) Performance Profit margins (Gross, operating, net) Gross profit margin keeps increasing. The la test figure is 63. 35%, which is a very high margin. This is probably due to the increased brand image of the company, hence the company can increase the selling price of the products. Also, the company shifted the focus on selling products of its own brands more than imported brands, this also increased the gross profit margin.Both operating and net profit margin are also in an increasing trend (despite year 2008/09, a special year which financial crisis happened). But it is worth noting that the current margins are 12. 08% and 10. 12% respectively, which show a great difference from gross profit margin. This indicate the operating expenses are very high, eating up more than 50% of profit margin. The company should think ways to further reduce operating costs. Return on Equity (ROE) The company has increased its ROE along the years despite the special year 2008/09. The latest ROE is actually a high return, 21. 6%. So what are the main drivers of such high return? By utilizing DuPon t analysis, the reason for return growth can be found: ROE = Net Profit Margin x Asset Turnover x Financial Leverage The net profit margin is increasing throughout the years. At the same time, since the financing ability of the company has increased, the financial leverage also increased. These two factors drove the ROE up, offsetting the diminishing effect on ROE by asset turnover. The asset turnover actually decreased in last two fiscal years, indicating the efficiency of turning asset to revenue decreased.It is a bit worry to see the ratio decreased from 1. 6 to 1. 17 in these 2 years. It may indicate that the asset size of the firm is too large, further expansion may not bring further increase in revenue. This may be an indicator of the firm has passed its optimum point and management must take extra care in evaluating whether the company should invest in expanding more retail stores or not. Extended DuPont analysis breaks down net profit margin into tax burden, interest burden, and EBIT margin. Tax burden of the company is actually increasing, i. e. it has to pay more effective tax hence impacting the net profit margin.But it’s still fine as the effective tax rate is still at about 20%, which should be quite low when compared to effective tax rate outside Hong Kong and China. Interest burden also experiences an increasing trend. This is reasonable since the company has increased financing ability and financed through more bank loans. EBIT margin is increasing, offsetting the negative effect of tax burden and interest burden. 2) Efficiency Fixed asset Fixed asset turnover is in a decreasing trend (from 16. 08 to 7. 98 in last five years). This indicates the efficiency of generating sales revenue from fixed assets investment is lowering.This confirms with the decreasing asset turnover ratio mentioned above. However the ratio is still at a high level, the management should still invest in fixed asset and expand the business, but extra care should be t aken to determine the amount and scale to be invested. Inventory Inventory turnover is decreasing (from 3. 72 to 2. 48 in last five years). This indicates that in general, the speed of stocks selling has slowed down as the business expands. When this ratio is converted to days of inventory on hand, the meaning can even be clearer. The days increased from about 98 days to 147 days in these 5 years.Overstocking, importing or producing products which are not popular, or insufficient marketing efforts are all possible reasons to this decreasing efficiency. Receivables Receivables turnover is decreasing. To get a clearer meaning, the ratio is converted to days of sales outstanding, and this ratio is increasing (from 1. 97 to 11. 49). This ratio means on average how many days the company’s customers who buy on credit will pay their bills. This increasing ratio means that it takes more time to collect the bill from customers, meaning that capital has to be tied up for longer period. However the number actually is not large, it’s about 12 days and therefore an acceptable value. Payables Payables turnover decreased from 11. 14 to 5. 51. The ratio can be converted to number of days of payable. This ratio increased from 32. 76 to 66. 23. This ratio is the average amount of time it takes to pay its bills. The time has increased significantly. It showed the advantage of the growth of the company, i. e. when the company went listed and expanded, the ability to pay on credit increased. This increased time to pay bills increases the flexibility to manage working capital and hence benefits the operation of the company.Working capital The effectiveness of the company in using working capital has increased since the working capital turnover increased from 2. 72 to 4. 46 in last five years. This means that more sales revenue is generated for each dollar of working capital which funded the sales. This is probably due to increased size of the company, so that the compa ny can get more funding by short-term bank loans, and increase its payables to different creditors. These increased funding are used to purchase inventories to generate sales revenue. 3) Risk Gearing All debt-to-equity, debt-to-asset and financial leverage ratios are in an increasing trend.As the company grows, more funding is needed. Financing by debt issuance is better than equity issuance since the required return by debt is lower, and there is possible tax advantage on debt payment. These three ratios are still in a healthy range and further increase in the ratio is still possible. Debt-to-common equity ratio is 0. 32 and debt-to-asset ratio is 0. 18, these two numbers are fairly low. This indicates that the company has a considerable capacity in debt financing if needed. Coverage Interest coverage ratio maintains at a high level (159. at 2010/11), although the company has increased financing by bank loans. That means the operating profit is more than enough to cover the interes t expense and indicate that the business is healthy. Cash flow coverage ratio is also at adequate level despite it has fallen a bit (50. 54 at 2010/11). This is also a healthy signal because net cash flow is positive and adequate. 4) Liquidity Cash conversion cycle Cash conversion cycle is the days the company takes to convert its investment in inventories back into cash. The company has an increased cash conversion cycle, due to the increase in days on inventory on hand.This is still an acceptable length (92. 15 days), but the company should try to lower the days in inventory on hand as mentioned above. Current and acid test ratio Both current and acid test ratio are decreasing, but they are still at a healthy level. Current ratio is at 1. 85, meaning the current assets are 1. 85 times of current liabilities, which is sufficient for its short-term obligations. Acid test ratio is 1. 12, meaning the cash-like current assets are 1. 12 times of current liabilities, indicating that it i s sufficient to cover its short-term liabilities by short-term cash.Operating cash flow to maturing obligations This is also a measure of the company’s ability to meet short term liabilities from cash flow. Although the overall cash flow has improved, the current liabilities has also increased considerably, therefore this ratio is not at a high level (0. 44). The major cash outflow is from purchasing fixed assets and repayment of bank loans. Management should control the cash outflow in these two areas in order to improve the overall liquidity. III. Summary The company has a healthy business. It has an increasing net profit and positive cash flow.The ROE and profit margin are at good levels. It utilized bank loans to further expand its business, while the leverage ratios are still in a healthy range. There is no liquidity problem associated with the company as seen in liquidity ratios. However the management should focus on improving the efficiency of the company while expand ing the business. The major concern here is reducing days of inventory on hand, in order to reduce the length of cash conversion cycle. To sum up, this is a company with good financial performance, and therefore it is worth to invest in this company.B) Cost of equity capital Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is used to determine the cost of equity capital. There are three major inputs in CAPM equation: risk-free rate, beta of the company stock to a benchmark market, and equity risk premium of the benchmark market. Since I. T. Limited is a Hong Kong based company, therefore the input parameters mentioned above should come from Hong Kong. Risk-free rate Hong Kong government do not issue bill or bond (despite the newly launched ibond, but that is a floating rate bond which its purpose is for general public to protect inflation).Therefore risk-free rate should be the yield on Exchange Fund Bills issued by Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Risk-free rate should be the yield on short-term bi ll, therefore the yield on one-month bill is selected, which is 0. 05%. Stock beta Hang Seng Index (HSI) is the benchmark index in Hong Kong. 5 years of monthly return stock of I. T. Limited and HSI were obtained. Stock Beta of I. T. to HSI can be calculated by using Slope function of Excel, or regressing both return series. The estimated beta is 1. 399, meaning that the stock of I. T.Limited is more volatile than the index. R2 coefficient is 0. 2261, meaning that about 22. 61% of the variability of the stock returns can be explained by variability in the index. Equity risk premium According to Zhu & Zhu (2010), the equity risk premium of Hong Kong is 8. 19%. Applying CAPM: Cost of equity capital = (0. 05 + 1. 399*8. 19)% = 11. 51%. C) Weighted average cost of capital (WACC) The company has not issued any debt. The â€Å"debt† of the company is in the form of bank borrowings, so the effective interest rate of borrowing will be treated as cost of debt.In the latest annual repo rt, the effective interest rate is 1. 4% (from notes 23 of annual report). Total bank borrowings is HKD594. 145M, total equity is HKD1846. 961M, therefore: WACC = 594. 145 / (594. 145 + 1846. 961)*1. 4% + 1846. 961 / (594. 145 + 1846. 961)*11. 51% = 9. 049% References: Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Exchange Fund Bills and Notes fixing (http://www. info. gov. hk/hkma/eng/press/index_efbn. htm) Zhu & Zhu (2010) – Estimating the Equity Risk Premium: the Case of Greater China, Jie Zhu, Xiaoneng Zhu (http://citeseerx. ist. psu. edu/viewdoc/download? doi=10. . 1. 175. 7333&rep=rep1&type=pdf) Appendix A – Selected figures from financial statements Table 1 – Excerpt from summarized consolidated income statement 201120102009200820072006 HK$'000HK$'000HK$'000HK$'000HK$'000HK$'000 Turnover3,834,422 2,995,952 2,733,256 2,021,283 1,530,763 1,314,443 Cost of sales(1,405,482)(1,176,707)(1,121,570)(819,423)(640,442)(540,243) Gross profit2,428,940 1,819,245 1,611,686 1,201,860 8 90,321 774,200 Other income – incentive income0 13,200 0 0 Other (loss)/gain(7,544)3,791 (11,123)1,900 (4,395)(273) Impariment of goodwill0 (4,217)(59,569)0Operating expenses(1,958,255)(1,524,760)(1,468,877)(1,002,046)(749,898)(642,553) Operating profit463,141 307,259 72,117 201,714 136,028 131,374 Table 2 – Growth trend of turnover, costs and profit, calculated based on consolidated income statement 20112010200920082007 Increase/Decrease (%) Turnover27. 99%9. 61%35. 22%32. 04%16. 46% Cost of sales19. 44%4. 92%36. 87%27. 95%18. 55% Gross profit33. 51%12. 88%34. 10%34. 99%15. 00% Operating expenses28. 43%3. 80%46. 59%33. 62%16. 71% Operating profit50. 73%326. 06%-64. 25%48. 29%3. 54% Table 3 – Excerpt from summarized and standardized consolidated income statement 01120102009200820072006 Turnover100. 00%100. 00%100. 00%100. 00%100. 00%100. 00% Cost of sales-36. 65%-39. 28%-41. 03%-40. 54%-41. 84%-41. 10% Gross profit63. 35%60. 72%58. 97%59. 46%58. 16%58. 90% Other income – incentive income0. 00%0. 44%0. 00%0. 00%0. 00%0. 00% Other (loss)/gain-0. 20%0. 13%-0. 41%0. 09%-0. 29%-0. 02% Impairment of goodwill0. 00%-0. 14%-2. 18%0. 00%0. 00%0. 00% Operating expenses-51. 07%-50. 89%-53. 74%-49. 57%-48. 99%-48. 88% Operating profit12. 08%10. 26%2. 64%9. 98%8. 89%9. 99% Table 4 – Excerpt from summarized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007HK$'000HK$'000HK$'000HK$'000HK$'000 ASSETS Non-current assets Property, furniture and equipment727,022 233,395 229,124 179,850 93,191 Current assets Inventories736,717 394,520 411,145 323,724 196,299 Table 5 – Excerpt from summarized and standardized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007 ASSETS Non-current assets Property, furniture and equipment22. 13%11. 83%13. 44%11. 59%9. 38% Current assets Inventories22. 42%20. 00%24. 12%20. 85%19. 77% Table 6 – Excerpt from summarized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007 LIABILITIES Current liabilities Bank borrowings (214,911)(47,400)(47,400)(10,000)0Trade and bill payables(360,545)(149,488)(155,993)(121,840)(66,805) Accruals and other payables(349,524)(178,245)(135,677)(140,200)(71,648) Non-current liabilities Bank borrowings(379,234)(35,200)(82,600)0 0 Table 7 – Excerpt from summarized and standardized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007 LIABILITIES Current liabilities Bank borrowings-6. 54%-2. 40%-2. 78%-0. 64%0. 00% Trade and bill payables-10. 97%-7. 58%-9. 15%-7. 85%-6. 73% Accruals and other payables-10. 64%-9. 04%-7. 96%-9. 03%-7. 21% Non-current liabilities Bank borrowings-11. 54%-1. 78%-4. 85%0. 00%0. 00%Table 8 – Excerpt from summarized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007 EQUITY Capital and reserves Share capital119,725 115,504 115,504 115,468 103,950 Reserves1,727,236 1,362,219 1,096,205 1,105,369 722,803 Non-controlling interests(3,749)0 0 0 0 Total equity1,843,212 1,477,723 1,211,709 1,220,837 826,753 Table 9 – Excerpt from summarized con solidated cash flow statements 20112010200920082007 HK$'000HK$'000HK$'000HK$'000HK$'000 Net cash generated from operating activities450,446 366,025 135,589 243,939 91,589 Net cash used in investing activities(508,347)(137,011)(156,242)(110,300)(101,843) Net cash generated from/ used in) financing activities204,453 (47,400)22,668 (76,497)(49,807) Net increase in cash and cash equivalents146,552 181,614 2,015 57,142 (60,061) Appendix B – Ratio formula Performance Profit margins Gross profit margin = Gross Profit / Turnover Operating profit margin = Operating Profit / Turnover Net profit margin = Net Profit for the year / turnover Return ratio Return of equity (ROE) = Net Profit for the year / Averageyear, year-1 (Share capital + Reserves) Decomposition of ROE ROA = Net Profit for the year / Averageyear, year-1 (Total Assets) ROE = ROA x Financial Leverage DuPont Decomposition of ROEAsset turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Total Assets) Financial leverage = Averageyear, year-1 (Total Assets) / Averageyear, year-1 (Share capital + Reserves) ROE = Net profit margin x Asset turnover x Financial leverage Extended DuPont Decomposition of ROE Tax burden = Net profit for the year / Profit before income tax Interest burden = Profit before income tax / (Operating Profit + Share of profit of jointly controlled entities) EBIT margin = (Operating Profit + Share of profit of jointly controlled entities) / Turnover ROE = Tax burden x Interest burden x EBIT margin x Asset turnover x Financial leverageEfficiency Fixed asset turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Property, furniture and equipment) Inventory turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Inventories) Days of inventory on hand = 365 / Inventory turnover Receivables turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Trade and other receivables) Days of sales outstanding = 365 / Receivables turnover Payables turnover = Cost of sales / Averageyear, year-1 (Trade and bill payables) Number of days of payable = 36 5 / Payables turnoverWorking capital turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Net current assets) Risk Debt-to-common equity ratio = (Short term + Long term bank borrowings) / (Share capital + Reserves) Debt-to-asset ratio = (Short term + Long term bank borrowings) / Total assets Financial leverage = Averageyear, year-1 (Total Assets) / Averageyear, year-1 (Share capital + Reserves) Interest coverage ratio = Operating profit / Interest expense Cash flow coverage ratio = Net increase in cash / Interest expense LiquidityCash conversion cycle = Days of sales outstanding + Days of inventory on hand – Number of days of payable Current ratio = Current assets / Current liabilities Acid test ratio = (Current assets – Inventories) / Current liabilities Operating cash flow to maturing obligations = Operating cash flow / Current liabilities Appendix C – Calculated ratios 20112010200920082007 Performance Profit margins Gross profit margin63. 35%60. 72%58. 97%59. 46%58. 16 % Operating profit margin12. 08%10. 26%2. 64%9. 98%8. 89% Net profit margin10. 12%8. 77%1. 56%8. 46%8. 0% Return ratios ROE23. 35%19. 53%3. 50%16. 70%15. 55% Decompsition of ROE ROA14. 76%14. 29%2. 61%13. 43%13. 05% ROA*Financial Leverage = ROE23. 35%19. 53%3. 50%16. 70%15. 55% DuPont decompistion of ROE Asset turnover1. 46 1. 63 1. 68 1. 59 1. 63 Financial Leverage1. 58 1. 37 1. 34 1. 24 1. 19 Net profit margin*Asset turnover*Financial Leverage = ROE23. 35%19. 53%3. 50%16. 70%15. 55% Extended DuPont decomposition of ROE Tax burden80. 65%83. 29%53. 97%81. 23%82. 63% Interest burden100. 46%100. 86%103. 66%106. 90%112. 12% EBIT Margin12. 49%10. 44%2. 8%9. 74%8. 63% Tax burden*Interest burden*EBIT Margin*Asset turnover*Financial Leverage = ROE23. 35%19. 53%3. 50%16. 70%15. 55% Efficiency Fixed asset turnover7. 98 12. 95 13. 37 14. 81 16. 08 Inventory turnover2. 48 2. 92 3. 05 3. 15 3. 72 Days of inventory on hand146. 89 124. 95 119. 58 115. 82 98. 19 Receivables turnover31. 76 31. 98 5 1. 12 81. 59 185. 10 Days of sales outstanding11. 49 11. 41 7. 14 4. 47 1. 97 Payables turnover5. 51 7. 70 8. 07 8. 69 11. 14 Number of days of payable66. 23 47. 38 45. 21 42. 01 32. 76 Working capital turnover4. 6 3. 91 4. 24 3. 39 2. 72 Risk Debt-to-common equity ratio0. 32 0. 06 0. 11 0. 01 0. 00 Debt-to-asset ratio0. 18 0. 04 0. 08 0. 01 0. 00 Financial Leverage1. 58 1. 37 1. 34 1. 24 1. 19 Interest coverage ratio159. 70 119. 70 29. 64 646. 52 45342. 67 Cash flow coverage ratio50. 54 70. 75 0. 83 183. 15 (20020. 33) Liquidity Cash conversion cycle92. 15 88. 99 81. 51 78. 28 67. 40 Current ratio1. 85 3. 00 2. 80 2. 93 4. 66 Acid test ratio1. 12 2. 08 1. 70 1. 91 3. 42 Operating cash flow to maturing obligations0. 44 0. 85 0. 36 0. 77 0. 58

Facebook Puts Other Companies Underneath Its Wings

IntroductionFacebook is considered these days as a leader for the social networking websites, Facebook is such a great success story which officially came out in 2004 created by Mark Zuckerberg and his classmates at Harvard University. On October 28, 2003, when they were in the second year, Zuckerberg and his team started the idea by launching a website called â€Å"Facemashâ€Å", after that, for many reasons the website was shut down by the school. On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg started again with his team a new website called â€Å"Thefacebook†, they worked hard to develop the website and they divided the tasks professionally; Eduardo Saverin is responsible for the business side, Dustin Moskovitz for programming issues, Andrew McCollum for the graphic design, and Chris Hughes. Facebook has been written and developed using C++ and PHP language.They worked together such as a great talent team until the website was expanded to many schools (Who Invented Facebook, ND). In my point of view, Facebook made a difference in the social media world by making the website so attractive to the users, right now Facebook has over than one billion active users, in addition, Facebook has a second global rank and a second US rank according to the Alexa traffic rank, and the visitors of the site are viewed as an average of 18.1 pages per day (Facebook Rank, ND). So we are going in this paper to discuss all aspects and terms of my thesis statement and verify it as well. Moreover, we are going to review one of the strategy that Facebook has and do SWOT analysis as well. My thesis statement summarized as the following â€Å"Facebook puts other companies underneath its wings by imposing Ads network strategies, marketing strategies and as well as social media strategies†.The Five Porters ForcesRisk of entry by potential competitors: The barriers of entry to other  competitors of Facebook is very high, since Facebook has the criteria of the users satisfaction which makes the users more loyal to Facebook, for instance, I would say Google is a potential competitor to Facebook, hence, the risk of entry is low. Intensity of rivalry among established firms: Twitter is one of the most competitors to Facebook, since Twitter has Five Hundred million users on its social network as well as has the tenth rank on Alexa traffic rank; furthermore, Facebook and Twitter are fighting to make the users more attractive by coming up with new ideas in the network social networks to make it more easier to the end users.Bargaining power of buyers: Since Facebook offers social networking services to the end users, Facebook does know the importance of the user’s power to make them successful by offering unique and flexible tools for the social networking, moreover, Facebook team should take into considerations the feedbacks and reviews of the end users. Bargaining power of suppliers: In Facebook case, there’s no specific supplier because they are offeri ng online services, they could be the suppliers themselves, and we would consider the government is a supplier for Facebook; since the government monitor and control the social networks. Threat of substitutes: The threat of substitutes for Facebook is represented by any social networking website like Twitter or Myspace which they are really rivals, so Facebook team should update the website from time to time to make the users satisfied and to face the user’s daily demands on the social network.Facebook SWOT AnalysisStrengths: Facebook has the second rank at Alexa as a global rank and second rank in the US (Facebook Rank,ND). In addition, Facebook now has over than one billion active users; Facebook has announced its revenue by gaining more than $150 million from the mobile advertising (Turcan, 2012). Furthermore, Facebook supports more than 70 languages for the users across the world which makes Facebook attractive for many users their mother language is not English. Now Face book has a popular brand name and it has been used as a reference in many movies or even in the business cards (FACEBOOK SWOT, ND). Weaknesses: There are many faked accounts and duplicated accounts that cannot be identified easily. Also, people say Facebook is secretly gathering information about them which may leave an impression to remove their accounts.Moreover, Facebook posted a loss in last two quarters which will  impact its stocks (Turcan, 2012). Opportunities: Researchers can take advantage of using Facebook by gathering data for surveys purposes. Moreover, Ads prices are still going up as Facebook recently announced which will have the investors buy new stocks. Also, Facebook can be used as a market place; people can sell and buy items through Facebook (FACEBOOK SWOT, ND). Threats: China government doesn't allow Facebook to operate out there in China; since china has a huge population. In addition, it is probably that users may switch to any other services like Google+ (F acebook Investment, 2012). Also, Twitter has a strong competition with Facebook in the market place and they are making unique features Faecbook doesn’t. Furthermore, there are many viruses have attacked Facbook as we have heard recently from news, and it might be a threat of ongoing hacking in the future. Facebook Marketing StrategyMarketing strategy is one of the interesting strategies that Facebook has; Facebook demonstrates its strategy by defining the target audience which means Facebook has grouping packages for all accounts by age, gender, profession and location which help the other companies to post their Ads on Facebook for specific class of people and as well as specific region, furthermore, Facebook helps other corporations to increase the traffic on their websites by creating an official page contains their official website link and contact information which truly helps the corporations to share their information, run certain events, post any kind of advertisemen ts and get more likes.I would say the more likes you get, the more success you are. In another hand, the non-profit organizations can take the advantage by creating a page on Facebook to get donations and find volunteers across all the world, moreover, Facebook provides the page owners with all kind of statistics tools and reports, those kind of reports are weekly and daily updated and included with the post quality, how many likes, page views and photo views.ConclusionIn my point of view, the marketing strategy makes Facebook an attractive destination for all kind of businesses to post Ads, upload photos, create events and communicate with people which leads rapidly to grow revenue of  Facebook. In my opinion, Facebook developers should work on the privacy settings to make sure that the users will stick with them for a long period of time. Moreover, the developer team should do something to prevent the existence of the duplicated accounts and the faked accounts by monitoring the IP addresses of the user’s computer. Finally, Facebook is still in the fore beating up Twitter, My Space and other social networking websites, as I mentioned before, Facebook has been a leader for the other online social networking services, I would say Facebook made a difference in the information revolution these days and created a competitive environment in the market place. Facebook Puts Other Companies Underneath Its Wings IntroductionFacebook is considered these days as a leader for the social networking websites, Facebook is such a great success story which officially came out in 2004 created by Mark Zuckerberg and his classmates at Harvard University. On October 28, 2003, when they were in the second year, Zuckerberg and his team started the idea by launching a website called â€Å"Facemashâ€Å", after that, for many reasons the website was shut down by the school.On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg started again with his team a new website called â€Å"Thefacebook†, they worked hard to develop the website and they divided the tasks professionally; Eduardo Saverin is responsible for the business side, Dustin Moskovitz for programming issues, Andrew McCollum for the graphic design, and Chris Hughes. Facebook has been written and developed using C++ and PHP language. They worked together such as a great talent team until the website was expanded to many schools (Who Invented Facebook, ND).In my point of view, Facebook made a difference in the social media world by making the website so attractive to the users, right now Facebook has over than one billion active users, in addition, Facebook has a second global rank and a second US rank according to the Alexa traffic rank, and the visitors of the site are viewed as an average of 18. 1 pages per day (Facebook Rank, ND). So we are going in this paper to discuss all aspects and terms of my thesis statement and verify it as well. Moreover, we are going to review one of the strategy that Facebook has and do SWOT analysis as well.My thesis statement summarized as the following â€Å"Facebook puts other companies underneath its wings by imposing Ads network strategies, marketing strategies and as well as social media strategies†. The Five Porters Forces Risk of entry by potential competitors: The barriers of entry to other competitors of Facebook is very high, since Facebook has the criteria of the users satisfaction which m akes the users more loyal to Facebook, for instance, I would say Google is a potential competitor to Facebook, hence, the risk of entry is low.Intensity of rivalry among established firms: Twitter is one of the most competitors to Facebook, since Twitter has Five Hundred million users on its social network as well as has the tenth rank on Alexa traffic rank; furthermore, Facebook and Twitter are fighting to make the users more attractive by coming up with new ideas in the network social networks to make it more easier to the end users.Bargaining power of buyers: Since Facebook offers social networking services to the end users, Facebook does know the importance of the user’s power to make them successful by offering unique and flexible tools for the social networking, moreover, Facebook team should take into considerations the feedbacks and reviews of the end users. Bargaining power of suppliers: In Facebook case, there’s no specific supplier because they are offering online services, they could be the suppliers themselves, and we would consider the government is a supplier for Facebook; since the government monitor and control the social networks.Threat of substitutes: The threat of substitutes for Facebook is represented by any social networking website like Twitter or Myspace which they are really rivals, so Facebook team should update the website from time to time to make the users satisfied and to face the user’s daily demands on the social network. Facebook SWOT Analysis Strengths: Facebook has the second rank at Alexa as a global rank and second rank in the US (Facebook Rank,ND).In addition, Facebook now has over than one billion active users; Facebook has announced its revenue by gaining more than $150 million from the mobile advertising (Turcan, 2012). Furthermore, Facebook supports more than 70 languages for the users across the world which makes Facebook attractive for many users their mother language is not English. Now Faceboo k has a popular brand name and it has been used as a reference in many movies or even in the business cards (FACEBOOK SWOT, ND). Weaknesses: There are many faked accounts and duplicated accounts that cannot be identified easily.Also, people say Facebook is secretly gathering information about them which may leave an impression to remove their accounts. Moreover, Facebook posted a loss in last two quarters which will impact its stocks (Turcan, 2012). Opportunities: Researchers can take advantage of using Facebook by gathering data for surveys purposes. Moreover, Ads prices are still going up as Facebook recently announced which will have the investors buy new stocks. Also, Facebook can be used as a market place; people can sell and buy items through Facebook (FACEBOOK SWOT, ND).Threats: China government doesn't allow Facebook to operate out there in China; since china has a huge population. In addition, it is probably that users may switch to any other services like Google+ (Facebook Investment, 2012). Also, Twitter has a strong competition with Facebook in the market place and they are making unique features Faecbook doesn’t. Furthermore, there are many viruses have attacked Facbook as we have heard recently from news, and it might be a threat of ongoing hacking in the future. Facebook Marketing StrategyMarketing strategy is one of the interesting strategies that Facebook has; Facebook demonstrates its strategy by defining the target audience which means Facebook has grouping packages for all accounts by age, gender, profession and location which help the other companies to post their Ads on Facebook for specific class of people and as well as specific region, furthermore, Facebook helps other corporations to increase the traffic on their websites by creating an official page contains their official website link and contact information which truly helps the corporations to share their information, run certain events, post any kind of advertisements and get more likes.I would say the more likes you get, the more success you are. In another hand, the non-profit organizations can take the advantage by creating a page on Facebook to get donations and find volunteers across all the world, moreover, Facebook provides the page owners with all kind of statistics tools and reports, those kind of reports are weekly and daily updated and included with the post quality, how many likes, page views and photo views. Conclusion In my point of view, the marketing strategy makes Facebook an attractive destination for all kind of businesses to post Ads, upload photos, create events and communicate with people which leads rapidly to grow revenue of Facebook.In my opinion, Facebook developers should work on the privacy settings to make sure that the users will stick with them for a long period of time. Moreover, the developer team should do something to prevent the existence of the duplicated accounts and the faked accounts by monitoring the IP addres ses of the user’s computer. Finally, Facebook is still in the fore beating up Twitter, My Space and other social networking websites, as I mentioned before, Facebook has been a leader for the other online social networking services, I would say Facebook made a difference in the information revolution these days and created a competitive environment in the market place.

Law of Tort Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Law of Tort - Personal Statement Example The law has tremendous social implications and has serves the cause of the innocent people in their hour of need when they inadvertently become victim for the faulty behavioural actions of others. The law of torts has been in existence since the centuries and has been serving the welfare of the people through out the world. The basic principle for the conceptualisation of the law was that in the event of any incidents, natural or otherwise, which results in harming the innocent people, the people are provided some legal recourse to pin the blame on others and probably get some sort of socio-economic compensation. The wide scope of the law, gives relief to people in almost all areas of their life but now they are frequently used in hit and run cases, insurance, intellectual property rights, natural disasters and other such areas where the liability for the said injury can be placed on the culprit within the precincts of the law. As mentioned earlier, the law deals with the wrong doings of some people which affects the welfare of the others. As such, the most important feature of the law is that a sufficient ground for pinning the credible liability for the wrong is established. ... When liability is imposed strictly and the person breaches the bounds, he is liable to be blamed even when no harm is caused. For example, in the case of rash driving, even if the driver does not harm anybody, he can be sued because his actions could have become injurious. Whereas, in 'faulty' liablity, it is important to eatablish that the 'wrong' on the victim is a result of the wrongful action of the defendant. The underlying concept one's duty to safeguard the interests of others, is the vital ingredient of the law of tort. It, therefore, is one of the most important law which serves as effective deterrent for people to act irresponsibly and become accountable for their behaviour when they infringe on the rights of others which may result in any type of 'harm'. Another pertinent point is the correlation between the wrongful act and its economic implications within the legal framework. This aspect of the law of tort is often embroiled in controversy with regard to the extent of economic compensation the victim is liable to get. In the recent case of Barker v Corus UK Ltd [2006] 2 AC 572, was a decisive case in terms of clarifying the extent of economic compensation and the role of causative agents which must prove the credibility of rightful demand for compensation. Lord Hoffman (of House of Lords) stated in his judgement that 'the impossibility of proving that the defendant caused the damage arises out of the existence of another potential causative agent which operated in the same way' and that 'he (defendant) should not be liable for more than the damage which he caused and, since this is a case in which science can deal only in probabilities'' (Thompson, 2007). The

Eye Screening Reflection of Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Eye Screening Reflection of Learning - Essay Example The impact of the Early Youth Eye Care program on the society is excellent. People appreciate the efforts of the E.Y.E volunteers and donate to help them continue putting in efforts to remove visionary problems for the children. The E.Y.E community uses vision screening to detect actual problems of the children in order to provide them with appropriate medical treatment. The volunteers also help poor families in receiving health treatment. Moreover, they also make people aware of the ways they can use to protect their eyesight and improve their vision. Four barriers to receiving healthcare include lack of awareness, no proper transport, less money, and lack of interest. I would identify these barriers using surveys and questionnaires. I would design and send questionnaires to every family living in my area in order to know the barriers that they face in receiving healthcare. Based on the analysis of the responses, I would take steps to remove the barriers that I would find. The experience would put an impact on my professional nursing career. â€Å"Hands-on experience and skills are important for you to success in this career field† (Harvard, 2012). The experience would inject care for patients and a sense of therapeutic nursing in my mind. It would also help me become able to administer medications and perform diagnostics tests of the patients. â€Å"A licensed practical nurse can do things like start IVs, administer medications, take samples, perform basic lab analysis, dress wounds, take vital signs, and perform basic diagnostic tasks† (Smith, n.d.). Moreover, working in impoverished communities and educating unaware people regarding illness prevention and treatment would also help me develop effective clinical skills and

Inter to accounting Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Inter to accounting - Research Paper Example Mutiny Gold Limited is one of the key major players in gold, copper and nickel mining and exploration activities and has great control in this sector. It is a public company which is listed in ASX, and has two main competitors; Kingsgate Consolidated Limited and Eldorado Gold Corporation who will also be analyzed in this report. This report consider the released quarterly activities and cash flow results in the year 2011 and the impact the half year profit result had on the stock prices. In the cash flow report, Mutiny Gold Limited had its net cash flow improve significantly. This made the share prices of Mutiny Gold Limited gain slightly as portrayed by the positive residual over time. Profit announcement Mutiny gold limited as a limited company must always adhere to the capital market regulation. Therefore, it is obligated to provide financial results and report to the shareholders and members of the public. In conformance to this requirement the company on 29th July, 2011 released a report having information about the quarterly activities and a cash flow report. The announcement made through the Australia Security Exchange press made information available to both investors and members of the public. ... h at the end of the quarter 1588 On this report, the progress of mutiny gold limited of major and almost all projects that the company was undertaking thus offering the investor a mere forecasting of Mutiny Gold Limited profit. In addition, the company showcased improved cash flow management implying that the company will be able to ruin its operation smoothly without cash flow problems. To achieve the objective of this report, we will analyze the company stock prices while considering all market indices for the period starting 8th July 2011 to 20th August, 2011, to establish whether there were positive residual which would delineate the impact of the announce on the price of shares. In addition to this, the tow major competitions, Kingsgate Consolidated Limited and Eldorado Gold Corporation share prices will also be analyzed so establish the industrial effect the announcement brought forth. Residual returns of MYG Source: (Austailia security Exchange, 2011) Trend analysis of share c losing prices of Mutiny Gold Limited, The share prices immediately after the announcement increased by 0.005 but later dropped. This price increase can be associated with the announcement made the company on its activities and cash flow report. Source; (Austailia security Exchange, 2011). Now let us analyzes the residual returns of the company, As showcased in the above graph the residual returns of the company improved from, -5.86 to -2.47, this can be attributed to the announcement made by the company. The residuals returns did not improve, since the company announcement did not change the potential investor’s perspective (Austailia security Exchange, 2011). The company action of realizing the quarterly report of its activities and cash flow statement did not win the confidence of the

MGT509 - Human Resource Management Mod 3 SLP Essay

MGT509 - Human Resource Management Mod 3 SLP - Essay Example After taking the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory Test, the scores that I received were 3.73 in regard to Hostile Sexism and 2.82 in relation to Benevolent Sexism. This compares to 1.9 for Hostile Sexism and 2.0 for Benevolent Sexism being the average for the USA, so both my scores were on the higher side and above the average scores for males and females here. This was a little surprising for me, because most of the time I consider myself a traditionalist and am respectful towards women. Anyhow, it could be an eye opener to any gender prejudices I am harboring. When I compared my scores to those from Germany, I was surprised to find that the average males and females both had lower scores than mine in regard to both dimensions. The average score was 1.8 for Hostile Sexism and 2.2 for Benevolent Sexism there. Comparing my scores to those from Peru, I found that the average female rated 2.6 regarding Hostile Sexism and 2.8 regarding Benevolent Sexism. The males were a little higher on both dimensions but still lower than mine. When I compared my scores to those from Japan, I found that the scores of both males and females were less than my own. The females rated around 2.6 for Hostile Sexism and 2.8 for Benevolent Sexism. These scores were a little less than mine. The male scores for Japan were about two points higher than the females. Lastly taking the case of an African country, I considered the scores in South Africa. The scores here indicate that there is a very high rate of Hostile Sexism among the males and females alike, while there was also a very high rate of Benevolent Sexism among both sexes. The city of Johannesburg in South Africa a few years ago used to be considered the ‘rape capital’ of the world, with a rape occurring once every three minutes (Lindow, 2009). The scores were higher than mine on both counts. This means that the females here

Justification Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Justification Report - Essay Example It is my hope and faith that this report will be useful in your decision making and that it will lead to useful development. Wal-Mart should invest in the African market and make an early entry. This will help the firm to establish itself in the market which will facilitate its future growth strategies. The African market is growing at a much higher rate than most developed economies around the world. It has also shown a thirst for retail outlets, as indicated by the massive growth of world class shopping malls. Africa is becoming the next hub of business in the global market. Although most of the countries in Africa are still underdeveloped, the rate of economic growth as well as the economic potential that these nations have are commendable (Westen, 2014). At the rate at which the African and the global economy are growing, Africa will be the next big market in the global economy (Larsen et al, 2010). The BRICS provide a good market and an opportunity for firms to grow and expand their business, unfortunately there is high competition there and they may not provide enough market for global development. Looking at most African cities indicate that there is a boom in the retail sector. For instance, many Cities in the African nations such as Nairobi are seeing massive grown in the construction of retail centers such as shopping malls. Nairobi for instance has witnessed the construction of over ten new shopping malls in the last five years. Being a retail organization, this is a massive opportunity for Wal-Mart and it should take it in time not to lose to competitors. African economies are growing at a commendable rate. Most African economies such as Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria are growing at a rate that is much higher than most European nations. Soon, these nations will provide the best opportunity for multinationals like Wal-Mart. Getting in the market as early as possible will be a great advantage for the firm. Those firms which will be able to enter

Management for a Small Planet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Management for a Small Planet - Essay Example Common Humanitarian Fund was providing humanitarian services to Congolese affected by the war in the year 2013 (Cengage, 2014). A peculiar parasite found in the water destroyed the corneas of eleven people, who consequently went blind. An organizational agency, Doctors Without Borders, has volunteered to deploy four doctors to aid in the process of transplanting corneas (Cengage, 2014). The corneas are scarce in Africa. Recently, the director of Doctors Without Borders called the Common Humanitarian Fund and informed that the UK Aid agency is willing to exchange fifteen corneas for a truck and ten cases of medical supplies. The directors of the Common Humanitarian Fund is concerned with the origin of the corneas; credible sources reveal that a wealthy Hong Kong tradesman bought them from an urgency who buys body parts for transplant from executed prisoners. According to the director of Doctors Without Borders, there is no problem using the corneas. However, the director of the Common Humanitarian Fund is not comfortable with the source of the corneas (Cengage, 2014). Common Humanitarian Fund has a few days to decide whether they are willing to accept the corneas or else Doctors Without Borders forwards them to someone else. Utilitarianism theories require decisions to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The theory of utilitarianism is founded on the premise that moral decisions consider the consequences of the choices (Crane & Matten, 2010). It is critical for decision-makers to consider the possible results of their choices when determining appropriate courses of action. According to Jeremy Bethany and John Stuart Mill, the best decisions do the greatest good for the masses. Thus, the theory of utilitarianism requires decision makers to select alternative courses of action that guarantee the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

Plutarch - Fall of the Roman Republic Research Paper

Plutarch - Fall of the Roman Republic - Research Paper Example Despite the person based accounts, which to an extent seem like a mere collection of biographies, Plutarch provides a detail discussion on the underlying forces and factors that undermined and eventually ended the Roman Republic. Plutarch discusses historical figures not as mere personages of history but as prime movers of events. Plutarch’s style in which discussions of historical events are pegged on the lives of individuals has influenced historical references up to today. An example is the analysis of the Agricultural Crisis in Rome where â€Å"Hannibal’s invasion had destroyed farms and farmland.†3 At the center of the Agricultural Crisis were the Gracchus4 Brothers, â€Å"Tiberius Gracchus elected tribune in 133 B. C. promised to help the farmers. He called for taking of public land and distributing it among the landless farmers.†5 This clearly contains Plutarch’s style wherein individual persons are at the center of major events most especially events that precipitated to the decline and eventual end of the Roman Republic. Moreover, analysis of the period of decline up to the end of the Roman Republic centers on the personas of the individuals that were identified to being so influential and powerful that their personality, life and ideas forged the destiny of Rome. â€Å"The disintegration of the Roman Republic is the first example in European history of the collapse of a constitutional system. One school of thought contends that individual generals and would be dictators like Julius Caesar and Pompey destroyed the traditional political system of Rome through ruthless ambition. According to this view, the Commanders of the Roman army, acting like feuding Mafia dons, turned their armies inward upon the Constitutional system.† 6 From another source, â€Å"Julius Caesar's adoptive son, Octavian, became, like Augustus, the first  emperor of Rome. According to modern ways of looking at things, this or the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March 44 B.C. marked the official end of the Republic of Rome.

Racial and Ethnic Groups Essay Example for Free

Racial and Ethnic Groups Essay There are three sociological perspectives of race and ethnicity which are functionalist, conflict, and labeling perspectives. The first one I will discuss is the functionalist perspective. The functionalist perspective emphasizes how the parts of society are structured to maintain its stability. As also described in the reading the functionalist approach is an approach, if an aspect of social life does not contribute to a society’s stability or survival, it will not be passed on from one generation to the next. The functionalist perspective thinks that racial hostility is hard to be admired but the functionalist would point out that it serves some positive functions from the perspective group of the racists as described. In the dominant group there are five functions that racial beliefs have for the dominant group. As described they are the following: 1. A society that practices discrimination fails to use the resources of all individuals. Discrimination limits the search for talent and leadership to the dominant group. 2. Discrimination aggravates social problems such as poverty, delinquency, and crime and places the financial burden of alleviating these problems on the dominant group. 3. Society must invest a good deal of time and money to defend the barriers that prevent the full participation of all members. 4. Racial prejudice and discrimination undercut goodwill and friendly diplomatic relations between nations. They also negatively affect efforts to increase global trade. 5. Social change is inhibited because change may assist a subordinate group. 6. Discrimination promotes disrespect for law enforcement and for the peaceful settlement of disputes. The second perspective is the conflict perspective which is the perspective assumes that the social structure is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups. As described in the reading society is a struggle between the privileged (the dominant group) and the exploited (the subordinate group). There is competition that takes groups between groups with unequal amounts of political and economic powers. A difference is that functionalists are not necessarily in favor of inequality; their approach is helps to understand why such systems persist as described. The subordinate group is criticized for its low status. The dominant group is responsible for subordination which is often ignored. The third approach is the labeling approach. The labeling theory which is described in the reading is a concept introduced by sociologist Howard Becker, is an attempt to explain why certain people are viewed as deviant and other engaging in the same behavior are not. As said in the reading a crucial aspect of the relationship between dominant and subordinate groups is the prerogative of the dominant group to define society’s values. Minorities are believed to have the lack of ability to perform in important positions where subordinate group are locked into society’s inferior jobs. I feel that I can agree with the labeling perspective the most. The reason for this is that it still exists in today’s society. Companies are required to provide equal opportunity employment and cannot discriminate against religion, race, or age. We know that this is still not true. You see that most police officers and firefighters are still mostly men. You still see large amounts of families have stay at home mothers. Another example would believe that if a child is bad in school that it has to be his or her parents that make them that way. I believe that it truly is still an issue among individuals. Part II I choose African Americans and the creation of migration and the consequence of segregation. Migration is defined as a general term that describes any transfer of population. Segregation is described the physical separation of two groups, often imposed on a subordinate group by the dominant group. According to Wikipedia I choose The Great Migration. As described it was the movement of 2 million African American out of the Southern United States to the Midwest, Northeast, and West from 1910 to 1930. They migrated to escape racism and seek employment opportunities in industrial cities. When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863 less than eight percent of the African American population lived in the northeastern or Midwestern U. S. As described, â€Å"Between 1910 and 1930, the African American population grew by about 40% in Northern states, mostly in the major cities. Cities such as Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Cleveland had some of the biggest increases in the early part of the century. Because changes were concentrated in cities, urban tensions rose as African Americans and new or recent European immigrants, both groups chiefly from rural societies, competed for jobs and housing with the white ethnic working class. Tensions were often most severe between ethnic Irish, defending their positions, and recent immigrants and blacks. † â€Å"African Americans moved as individuals or small family groups. There was no government assistance, but often northern industries, such as the railroads, meatpacking and stockyards, recruited people. The primary factor for migration was the racial climate and widespread violence of lynching in the South. In the North, they could find better schools and adult men could vote (joined by women after 1920). Burgeoning industries meant there were job opportunities. † (Wikipedia, 2010) This in turn caused African Americans to feel segregated and felt they had to be among other African Americans do to how they are treated. There were many fights and riots among different cultural groups due to segregation. Such as the example of African Americans who could not sit in the front of the bus because of their race. In today’s society this is ethnically not acceptable. References: Wikipedia. (2010, October 15). Wikipedia. org. Retrieved October 23, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Great_Migration_(African_American).

And Still We Rise Essay Essay Example for Free

And Still We Rise Essay Essay It is a unique experience to be rendered completely helpless, to be put completely at the mercy of another human being by force. I have felt complete submission of this kind once in my life; I lay on the cold, wet grass, confused, slowly regaining consciousness after being choked out. As I look back on how I have lived my life over the past couple years, this incident is one of the most influential factors. After being so overpowered by another man, I decided that I could never let this kind of thing happen to me again. I became extremely motivated to lift weights, and to learn wrestling and MMA. This experience changed my expectations for myself and helped me realize that it is in my hands to decide how I am perceived. It was a dispute over nothing. Two guys, driven by a natural instinct to fight, finding an excuse to challenge each other. These two guys were me, a scrawny, 100lb 8th grader, and Collin a well built 22 year old. We were sitting around a bon fire with five other friends, but only six fold-out chairs. Collin suggested tap out to decide who got the last chair, and the next thing I remember is the utterly confused feeling as I regained my senses one by one. It was a full minute before I really knew what had happened: unable to break a choke hold, I had refused to tap out and collapsed unconscious on the ground. It is hard to describe the mix of relief and humiliation that I felt as I walked away from the incident. Even though I trusted and respected Collin, he had just proved my vulnerability and made me realize my lack of confidence. I did not, however, accept my defenselessness and move on. I realized that there was no reason for me to have settled for my skinny pathetic build, and I hit the weights. I started lifting six days a week a friend of mine and within three months, had put on fifteen pounds of muscle. A full year later, I weighed 155 and bench pressed over 200lbs. This incident is also one of the main reasons I started wrestling, a sport that I have grown to love and excel in. To complete my self-improvement plan, I took a few MMA classes and got some sparring equipment and a heavy bag to practice on. Since then, I’ve spent hours in my garage letting my anger out on that bag to staying in wrestling shape. Of course I am no were close to my vision for myself, still only 5’ 8†, and well below my goal of muscular development, but I can see that it is possible. This whole process has taught me that I am I control of my own destiny. Any goal is attainable if you work for it, and what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. This event was not the only factor contributing to my decision to change, I hated being skinny. It was however an incredible catalyst, giving me a specific reason around which to focus my efforts. It made me realize that you are born with no restrictions. No matter what your natural conditions are, they can be changed and formed to fit your ideals. Furthermore, it’s up to you to change them and the effort you put in will be directly reflected in your outcome. This experience brought to light that, when I have a goal in mind, I am incredibly motivated and focused. It has shown that I can maintain interest in a goal and continually set the bar higher and higher. This experience has changed the way I perceive and carry myself. It has shaped me into someone who is comfortable with their abilities and willing to work to improve themselves. It has shown my ability to let setbacks help me grow and demonstrated my strong self motivation. Ultimately, I am very thankful for Collin and what he did for me, in a sense, being completely helpless has been one of the most empowering situations of my life so far.

The Century Closed The World Became Smaller Information Technology Essay

The Century Closed The World Became Smaller Information Technology Essay As the century closed, the world became smaller. The public rapidly gained access to new and dramatically faster communication technologies. Entrepreneurs, able to draw on unprecedented scale economies, built vast empires. Great fortunes were made. The government demanded that these powerful new monopolists be held accountable under antitrust law. Every day brought forth new technological advances to which the old business models seemed no longer to apply. Yet, somehow, the basic laws of economics asserted themselves. Those who mastered these laws survived in the new environment. Those who did not, failed. Purpose The purpose of this Master Thesis is to analyze the transportation and logistics industry and examine how eBusiness has affected this industry. We will study the changes that have already occurred as well as entry to identify possible future eBusiness trends as well as changes within the industry. Delimitation The expression electronic commerce usually refers to exchange that utilizes an electronic channel for communication between buyer and seller. This electronic channel could be for instance EDI or the Internet. The focus of this thesis is, however, only exchange that uses the Internet. We therefore use the expression eBusiness. We define eBusiness as exchange that is enabled or facilitated by the use of the Internet in the buyer-supplier relation. Method In this section the methods of work that have been used in our analysis will be explained. Triangulation has been used as a mean for combining the different quantitative and qualitative methods used in order to illustrate the problem from several different angles. The purpose of this was to improve the analysis results validation. Tackling the problem from several directions has also improved our knowledge of the same. The three methods we have chosen are review of literature, questionnaire sent to companies in the industry and case studies. The main reason for choosing these methods was to get a broad understanding of the industry situation and include as many relevant factors as possible into our analysis. This way we reduce the risk of missing important aspects because of limitations in our frames of reference and our analytical tools. Theoretical framework One of the most discussed issues today is the new digital economy. We are living in and doing business in a world where information and ideas are the new capital. The key driver of this economic shift is the Internet, hence the term digital economy. The Internet has wielded this power because it has introduced two essential changes that together are turning industries inside out. These two changes are: 1. The Internet makes unprecedented amounts of information available more easily, universally and cheaply than ever before. 2. The Internet creates a universal and instant connection. A connection between people, between business and their customers and between business and their partners. These two central changes have in turn generated a host of new change factors that businesses must come to terms with. Figure1 shows how new communication technology affects different areas within a company that in turn leads to changed industry structure. This also illustrates the structure of the theoretical also illustrates the structure of the theoretical approach. One can summaries the literature written on eBusiness into three major areas that are highly important in business making. Areas that all have been affected by the use of the Internet: industrial relations, business efficiency and products. There are also other significant changes that the Internet have given rise to and/or driven further ahead, which are described in Other the Internet Driven Effects. EBUSINESS AFFECTS RELATIONS To understand and intelligently attack industrial marketing problems, a number of substantial differences between industrial and consumer marketing must be recognized. These differences are often of degree rather than kind, but the degrees of differences are substantial. Marketing in the industrial world is much more a general management responsibility than it is in the consumer-products field. In a consumer goods company major changes in marketing strategy can be made and carried out within the marketing department. EBUSINESS AND PRODUCTS Every business today competes in two worlds: a physical world of resources and a virtual world made of information1. The latter has given rise to the world of eBusiness, a new locus of value creation. The value chain in the physical world treats information as a supporting element of the value-added process, not as a source of value itself. By gathering, organizing and distributing the information received from the market space, companies can use it to create new products and new value for customers in the virtual value chain. In this work Product is used as a metaphor for products or services. The nature of products can therefore be both tangible and intangible. Often a companys subject of exchange is part product and part service. One of the most noticeable consequences of the economic shift of paradigm today is that the part of a product that is service or information becomes larger and larger. In many industries not widely considered information businesses, information actually r epresents a large percentage of the cost structure1. Investments in the electronic channel displace traditional sales, marketing and service costs; moreover, the technology allows companies to offer increasingly higher levels of service without incurring incremental costs for each transaction2. Also today, knowledge and information are the prime commodities, either as the main object of transactions or as very important component of them The Internet and differentiation The competitive situation on the Internet is often described as perfect competition. What are the consequences of this? According to economic theories, firms competing on a market characterized as perfect competition will, in the long-run equilibrium, make zero economic profit4. Very few companies want to compete on a market without economic profit. Companies should therefore avoid competing solely on the basis of price. Consequently, the issue of differentiation will be more important in eBusiness. A well-known way to differentiate products is by adding services to the original offering. A companys offering can therefore, if associated with the right services, be more valuable to a customer than a competitors equivalent product. The Internet could for example be used to provide value-adding information or services to buyers of a tangible product, thus differentiating it from competitors. The Internet and diversification The Internet can be seen as a platform for innovation. It is a way to produce new combinations of information and products/services without incurring the traditional costs of complexity that exists in the physical world. For instance, information that arises from a companys traditional business can be gathered and used to serve new customer segments. Standard Poors Corporation, a company that traditionally provided financial information to institutional customers, uses its stored information to provide financial planning services to private customers over the Net. INCREASED BUSINESS EFFICIENCY One of the major reasons for the immense interest for eBusiness today is that it has great influence on business efficiency. The primary reason for this is the fact that eBusiness can decrease transaction costs, i.e. the costs related to administrating each purchase. Together with the way the Internet lets companies integrate and organize their flow of information we get a winning concept for lowering costs and increasing efficiency. Consequently, the Internet can increase efficiency in complete supply chains, thus increasing the capacity in whole networks. The Internet also increases the transparency of markets and thereby enables buyers to compare products and prices quickly and easily. This puts them in a better bargaining position and shifts the information advantage from sellers to buyers. Hence, the Internet might induce lowered costs for companies purchasing online and therefore indirectly affect the efficiency. Transaction costs One of the most significant effects of eBusiness is that transaction costs decrease. Transaction costs are most important in business to business cases as consumers not are directly afflicted with costs for spending more time while shopping. However, as the lowered costs move down the value chain, in the end the consumer will benefit as well. IMPLICATIONS OF EBUSINESS What are the implications of eBusiness on B2B relations? We have presented a review of how affects B2B relations. We would now like to summaries this and at the same time point out the main issues of eBusiness. These will later on be used as a base for our analysis of the transportation and logistics industry Relationships We believe the Internet as a relationship enabler is of such importance that it needs to be dealt with specifically. The Internet can affect a companys relations with customers, suppliers, partners and community. eBusiness and products The Internet allows firms to create both new and enhanced products and services. Creating new services is made possible by the Internets capacity for transferring large amounts of data cost-effectively. Also, the Internets geographical reach and propensity to connect people and companies give rise to new products and services. Consequently, eBusiness can be new business. Moreover, eBusiness can affect profits. Increased Business Efficiency One of the major reasons for the immense interest for eBusiness today is that it has great influence on business efficiency. There are primarily two reasons for this. First, the Internet lets companies integrate and organize their flow of information. Second, eBusiness can decrease transaction costs, i.e. the costs related to administrating each purchase. Consequently, the Internet can increase efficiency in complete supply chains or networks. INDUSTRYDESCRIPTION Mankind has always depended upon the means of transportation and the development of transport systems is directly associated with the expansion of civilization. Moreover, there has always been connection between production, trading and transportation. Even the old Egyptian Pharaohs realized the value in having a well functioning net of transports and their usage of the Nile can now be recognized as the foundation of their empire1. The first city in Sweden also developed by waterways since traffic on water was a condition for the existence and growth of cities in these days2. Since a geographical area, city or nation alone cannot produce all the goods demanded, a need for transports to import the missing goods arises. The specific area can also export their surplus to other regions that lack these goods and a two-way flow has thereby occurred. After a while, regions will start to specialize, i.e. they will produce the goods that will give them the most comparative advantage3. Speciali zation makes efficiencies through economies of scale and economies of experience possible, which in turn can lower costs. This makes it possible for companies to ship their products even further away. The larger production volumes also demand larger markets, which is why companies look abroad to sell their products. THE EVOLUTION OF TRANSPORTATION Up until the beginning of the nineteenth century, shipping was the most important mean of transportation. Then the industrialism started to sweep the continent and by the division of labor and automation, companies could now mass-produce goods using economies of scale, which demanded larger markets as mentioned earlier. This required a well working transportation net, which made the railroad the most effective means of transportation4. The railroad was needed in order to deliver raw material to factories and to distribute produced goods to the markets. LOGISTIC QUALITY Over the years vendors have noticed that buyers tolerance for errors is getting smaller and logistics managers everywhere are being put under pressure because of this. Quality is important to supply-chain thinking because, literally, the supply chain is no better than its weakest link. Whichever link in the supply chain is responsible for questionable quality will be the first eliminated1.Quality has always been important to logistic operators, and today nearly all companies appear to be in the pursuit of high quality. There are several reasons for this2. One is the just-in-time (JIT) concept, which leaves no spare stores to fall back on in case a defect is found. A second is the replacement of mechanical devices by electronic ones with the latter being much more accurate. A third reason is that as possibilities for partnership arrangements present themselves. Companies are wary of being linked to a supplier that does not share similar ideas or believes about quality measures or conc epts. THE NEED FOR INFORMATION IN THE INDUSTRY The main purposes of goods transports are to deliver material or products from one location to another at a required moment. The transportation process therefore generates a flow of goods. To accomplish the transportation mission satisfactorily there is a great need for information. Case study: Schenker-BTL BTL is an acronym for Bilspedition Transport and Logistics. The Compan was one of the dominating transportation companies in Sweden for a long time. Now BTL has been merged with Schenker AG and formed Schenker-BTL. BTL is thereby part of one of the largest transportation companies in Europe. THE COMPANY We will in this section give a brief description of Schenker-BTL (from now on referred to as S-BTL). It is however, difficult to find accurate and updated information about the new company. Even the employees seem to be confused about the structure of their company. Due to the transformation the company is going through much of the information found in annual reports is inaccurate. Also, as a consequence of the new ownership, there will be no new annual reports or interim reports released from S-BTL. Our description is at large based on information obtained through interviews and information form the corporate website. The purpose is to give the reader a rough description of the companys size and business. EBUSINESS There are two major approaches to eBusiness for S-BTL. The Internet strategy is primarily focused on providing logistic support for companies that want to do eBusiness. Moreover, S-BTLs offers services related to its pure transportation business on the corporate website. We have analyzed how S-BTL uses the Internet to create new business and add value to the traditional services. We will first describe how S-BTL uses its website, then we discuss S-BTL as a logistical partner in eBusiness. SUMMARY United Parcel Service (UPS) is one of the worlds largest express carrier and package delivery companies. The company was founded in 1907 in the USA and today operates an international small package and document network in more than 200 countries and territories. Every day UPS delivers more than 12 million packages and documents. Since the company serves a global market with its transportation services and in order to reach its customers quickly, UPS has turned to information technology and electronic commerce to help them gain a leadership position. THE SURVEY As a part of our work with analyzing how the Internet affects the transportation industry we have sent out a survey to 82 of the companies in this industry. We chose the companies that are members of the Swedish International Freight Association and that have a web site. The purpose of the survey is to investigate how Swedish transportation companies use the Internet and what sort of problems it brings. We do not intend to make any quantitative conclusions for the industry as such since the sample of companies is to narrow. The survey will simply act as a guideline to the future the Internet usage in the transportation industry THE QUESTIONS The questions were divided into five areas: historical and future changes, strategy, prime movers, purpose, problems and miscellaneous. In the first two we intended to find out what the companies in the industry thought of the Internet, how it had affected their business making and what might happen in the future. The following four questions were asked to indicate the purpose of an Internet investment, which was behind it and what problems it brought along. The last question was about other significant trends in the industry that are not entirely connected to the Net but still important for the industrys future. CONCLUSIONS Until now, the Internet has primarily been perceived as a communication tool, both for internal as well as external use. This is also regarded to be of future importance though the companies also see the Net as a way to attract new customers. Another field of application for the Internet is marketing as well as a tool for development of new products and/or increasing their values. Only half of the companies in the survey seem to have a specific the Internet strategy whereas the other half has not. However, at a majority of the companies, the Internet related issues are often discussed on top management level leading us to believe that the industry has realized the Nets importance. An explanation to why the Internet has not had a serious breakthrough yet might be the Y2K problem. A total of 78 percent held this as a more important issue. Nevertheless, most companies consider the Internet to be a natural part of future strategies and significant for future competitive advantage. For mo st companies, the prime movers for an Internet investment have been either top management or a specific person at their company. The purposes of the investment were to attract new customers, improve customer service, and increase the value on services, sales and to satisfy to customers expectations. However, not as many as we expected claimed the purpose of the investment to be efficiency improvements. The majority of the companies did not appear to have any specific problems with their Internet investment. Not even the complexity, security and reliability issues seem to be major obstacles. Neither do the companies believe that the Internet usage will reduce the personal contacts. Still, many feel that it is difficult to measure the effects of their investment. The future trends appear to be at home deliveries and logistics management. However, fewer than we anticipated thinks that single sourcing and Net-based transportation exchange firms would have a significant impact on the transportation industry. Analysis One of the most noticeable consequences of eBusiness is that new Business models emerge. The emerging eBusiness models are a result of the new technological possibilities for communication and the new possibilities for creating products and services that the Internet brings about. This has been noted in several industries and the transportation and logistics industry is no different. We have found that companies in this industry go about eBusiness in three ways. We will discuss each of these as a model of eBusiness. The models are. 1. The first model includes companies that use the Internet for customer interaction. Usually this means that regular off-line services are marketed on a corporate website. We call this model Classic Services. 2. Logistic Providers for eBusiness firms. Companies develop and operate logistic solutions for firms that sell goods on the web. Generally involves delivering to consumers, i.e. at home deliveries. 3. New business models that are completely the Internet-based. Companies in this group has no physical assets, the concept is to connect buyers and sellers of transportation services.à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ Classic Services The first business model to be discussed in the analysis is the classic services model. As the name implies, this eBusiness model is about marketing classic transportation services on the Internet. They are classic in the sense that most of the Internet services are originally offered off-line. This analysis will describe the services and examples on how the companies in our case studies use them will be given. We will also discuss how the Internet is used for communicating and some of the problems related to the classic services. The Internet services The services offered by the companies in this group are usually regular off-line services that have been converted to the Internet. Common services are booking, tracking and timetables, thus, services that traditionally have been handled via telephone or fax. The customer is often required to register to use the services. We will now give a few examples of regular services. Communication The companies in the classic groups use their websites for communicating with both customers and community. Usually the company and its services are presented along with press and investor information. Moreover, most companies give information on how to reach them and some also answers to frequently asked questions have. Using the Internet for communicating company information is a fast and effective channel and should therefore not be neglected CONCLUSIONS This chapter will present our conclusions on how the transportation and logistics industry has been affected by eBusiness. We will also present our view of how eBusiness will evolve in this industry. The results exhibited in this chapter are based on the case studies and the survey, which have been presented throughout this thesis The most significant effect of eBusiness is that new business models emerge. These models are a result of the new technological possibilities for communication and the new possibilities for creating products and services that the Internet brings about. We have found three different eBusiness models in the transportation and logistics industry. We refer to these as Classic Services and Logistic Providers. The Classic Services eBusiness model is about marketing classic transportation services on the Internet. The Classic Services group of companies is the dominating one in our case studies. Common services are booking, tracking and timetables, thus, services that traditionally have been handled via telephone or fax. The usage of the services is generally very low. The services found in this group are seldom very innovative. Still, we regard the booking and tracking services to have a great potential both for increased efficiency as well as enhanced customer service, but the concepts has to be reworked in order to attract more customers. The customers booking process has to be assessed in order to establish how the Internet is best utilized to simplify the customers situation. Also, companies need to attend the problem of how reach the efficiency increases that the Internet enables without losing the social contact and trust that the customers demand. Being a Logistic Provider implies t hat the transportation and logistics company provides services such as: warehousing, inventory control, assembling and distribution to their clients. The transportation companies believe that strategic partnering with the Internet retailers has the greatest potential in eBusiness, this because the Internet shopping is believed to grow immensely over the next few years. Now the Internet start-ups are also considered to be more inclined to outsource the logistic operations than most traditional businesses. The biggest change that the Internet business has brought about for the industry is the increase of at home deliveries. The important issues in this new business are time of delivery (evenings), payment, capacity, utilization and logistic efficiency. The future All of the companies that we have studied are industry pioneers in the Field of eBusiness. We believe that other companies in the industry will go about eBusiness in the same way as the companies that we have described. The future will show which models that are profitable. We believe that the Classic Services model will gain in popularity as more transportation companies and customers realize the potential for efficiency increases this model has. Yet, there do not seem to be any plans to extend the range of offered services. Some companies believe that technological developments will enable further increases in efficiency and enhanced service. We also expect that an increasing number of small and medium sized firms will discover how the Internet can be used for connecting complete value chains. The Internet can thereby transform the way that third party logistics is performed. The future of the Logistic Providers is set by the rate at which the Internet trade grows. Though, this growth is to some extent due to how well the at home delivery services are developed. The marketplace Models will probable need a few years to show results. The success of this model is depending on a cumbersome change in both attitude and behavior of transport firms and customers.