One Nation under Wal-Mart Essay

82% of American households purchase at least one item from Wal-Mart every year. Wal-Mart controls about 30% of the market in household staples. Sells 15% of all magazines and 15%-20% of all CDs, videos and DVDs. It is expected to control over 35% of U.S. food sales. When comparing other companies that sell consumer products, Wal-Mart represents a big chunk of their total business: 20% for Dial, 24% for Del Monte, and 23% for Revlon. Wal-Mart is responsible for 10% of all goods imported to the United States from China. Wal-Mart offers the lowest prices in all of their products, because of the cost efficiency it has achieved. Wal-Mart’s buying power and cost-saving efficiencies force local rivals out of business, thus costing jobs, disrupting communities, and injuring established business districts. Within 5 years after one Wal-Mart opening, two local supermarkets close. Because of Wal-Mart tax breaks, it causes the local tax revenue to decrease and not increase. Wal-Mart is staunchly anti-union and pays low wages. Its labor cost are 20% lower than those of unionized supermarkets; its clerks earns only $8.23 an hour, and most of its 1.4 million employees must survive without company health insurance. Employee turnover is 44%. Because of its size, it exerts a downward pressure on retail wages and  benefits throughout the country. Because of its hard line on costs, it has forced many factories to move overseas, which sacrifices American jobs and holds wages down. Government welfare programs subsidize Wal-Mart’s poverty-level wages. 200 employee store costs the government $42k a year in housing assistance, $108k in children’s healthcare, and $125k in tax credits and deductions for low-income families. 46% of the children of Wal-Mart’s 1.33 million workers are uninsured or on Medicaid. Wal-Mart hires mores part-time employees and discourages unhealthy people from working at the store by requiring all jobs to include some physical labor in order to reduce spending on health care and other benefits. Wal-Mart does not carry music or computer games with mature ratings, forcing big music companies to supply them with sanitized versions of the CDs. Wal-Mart offers fire arms in many locations but has declined to sell Preven, a morning after pill. Wal-Mart has declined to sell some magazines and has put binder to obscure the covers of other magazines. Wal-Mart is considered â€Å"the biggest barrier to growth†. Wal-Mart decide to respond to all the criticism by improving employee health insurance coverage and adopting greener business practices. Wal-Mart was one of the first responders to Hurricane Katrina by sending truckloads of water and food reaching the residents before federal supplies did. Wal-Mart sales growth has slipped as the internet has changed people’s shopping habits and as other discounters have done a better job of attracting affluent consumer and providing higher quality and better service. 2. Ethical Issues Is it ethical and moral for Wal-Mart to make profit maximizing and cost effectiveness their number one goal? Is it moral to only hire part-time employees to decrease their health care spending? Is it moral or ethical to sell firearms but decline to sell the morning after pill? Is it moral for Wal-Mart not to provide fair wages to the employees? Is it moral for Wal-Mart to take advantage of government welfare program for subsidization? Should there be a requirement for large companies to employ a certain percentage of full-time employees? Does Wal-Mart have a moral responsibility of helping the communities grow? Is it moral or ethical for Wal-Mart to not  provide adequate health care to its employees? Is it moral for Wal-Mart to insist on tax breaks at the expense of the local community tax revenues decreasing? Should we as citizens enable these large companies by accepting jobs that pay poorly and offer no health insurance? Is it moral for Wal-Mart not to value the life and well-being of their employees and families? Is it ethical for Wal-Mart to be customer-oriented and not employee-oriented? Is it ethical for corporation like Wal-Mart to be held to higher standards to provide a better living standard to the employees and the community? Should a company of a certain size be required to offer health insurance? Should large companies that get tax breaks be forced to contribute to the community in other ways? 3. Primary Stakeholders Wal-Mart itself U.S. economy Consumers across U.S. Employees Shareholders Other companies and its employees Local communities Government Suppliers Other countries 4. Alternative Actions Wal-Mart should either pay their employees higher wages or provide health care regardless of the hours worked. Wal-Mart should maximize profits and at the same time look out for the well-being of the employee. Require a company the size of Wal-Mart to give back to the community if it wants to open a store. Try to establish a bill requiring large companies to maintain the majority of its employees as full-time where benefits can be offered. Cities or counties should not offer tax cuts to businesses that could  ³disrupt the community. Wal-Mart needs to establish a more competitive pay and better benefits program for their employees. Wal-Mart should keep doing what they are doing. It has been effective so far in becoming the largest company in  the world, why change it? 5. Ethics of the Alternatives Alternative 1 Wal-Mart should keep doing what they are doing. It has been effective so far in becoming the largest company in the world and among the most profitable ones, why change it? Utilitarian Perspective Utilitarian perspective would not support this idea. This idea seeks out to produce the greatest good for the company itself and not everyone person or business affected. Wal-Mart is seeking out the best for the company and one else. In order to be supported it would have to be the greatest good for Wal-Mart and everyone affected by this decision and or actions of the business. Deontological or Rights Perspective Deontological perspective would not support this alternative in any way. This is an alternative that treats people as a means to an end. It does not recognize the value and importance of the employees, and only values the company itself and the profits that can make. This is not a good way of conducting business and would never be accepted as a universal rule. Egoism Egoism perspective would support this alternative. Wal-Mart is basically doing what is best for the company and the shareholders, which is their primary duty. They are the largest company in the world and immensely profitable. Even with all the opposition it faces it is still one of the prefer companies for many consumers to their one stop shop. They offer the best and lower prices and customers are able to find everything they need for their households in just one stop. Wal-Mart is here to make profit and stay in business, this is their goal. Alternative 2 Wal-Mart should either pay their employees higher wages or provide health care regardless of the hours worked. Utilitarian Perspective Utilitarian perspective could support this alternative. It would have to be seen as being the greatest good for both Wal-Mart and the employees. If Wal-Mart raises the wages or offer the employees’ healthcare benefits, this will have benefits for both. The employee will be happy and will feel valued and appreciated by the employer. In turn the employees will have job satisfaction and their job performance will be good. This will help to the growth and success of the company. With happy employees helping potential customers, it can ensure good sales and thus increase their profit. Deontological or Rights Perspective Deontological perspective would support this alternative. This alternative seeks out the benefits of the employees. It takes into consideration their value as a human and show respect. By Wal-Mart implementing such policy in the company they are saying to the employees that we value and want to right by you. Every employee is a valuable asset to the company and key to its success. This alternative treats the employees as ends and not as the means to end. Egoism This alternative would not be supported by egoism. With this alternative Wal-Mart seeks to offer the best solution possible to their employees. They can either increase their wages so the employees are able to have a better standard of living or offer healthcare regardless of hours worked. This would ensure the well-being of each employee. 6. Practical Constrains Finding the right piece of property to build the store Government regulations The company’s responsibilities to the shareholders and to make profit Ability to offer the lowest prices American products too expensive to sell in the store Cost of being in business 7. Actions to be taken Wal-Mart should change their current employee benefits program and offer a  better and more competitive pay. This would allow for employees and their families to have a better standard of life It would help by possibly increasing the retail wages among other businesses Wal-Mart should participate in community events and give back to community Wal-Mart should hold meetings in communities where they are looking to build and hear the citizen concerns and find solutions so it is of benefit for both.

Education Essay

The current, test based, American Educational system fails to instill in student a desire for life- long learning and does not prepare them to be well rounded and successful adults. A change in educational philosophy needs to be made in this country before it is to late. Educations is what defines a person life and without a proper education, people wont be able to go anywhere in life. Students usually study for their test and forget what they studied the next day. After school all students want to do is get away from their work and not have to do it anymore. There is not necessarily a perfect educational system, but it could be better than what we have now. People are not going where they are supposed to after schooling. There is a book, That Used To Be Us by Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum, which can prove this. I recently read That Used To Be Us. This book explains how America used to lead the world in technology, education, economy, research and creativity. Now we are falling way behind many other countries. The authors explain that we are failing to meet major challenges that we face and if we don’t find a way to rise past this it will effect future generations. One major flaw in America right now is the educational system. If our future generations lack the education, especially in math and science, they will not have the skills to navigate through the new economic turn. If we can’t access new talent and develop new markets then other countries will beat us to it. This is definitely something to think about. The current test based system is a joke to the students who only care about what they receive on the exam. Especially in High school, everyone’s trying to get into the best college they could. Grades are all that matters to colleges and kids will do what they need to do to get them. Once they have them, they no longer care about the material they needed to achieve those grades. Now with all this studying and homework the student are given, they are from then on turned off from learning anything new. Once a student graduates college and can try and get a job, he no longer wants to further his education. Without the further education it gets harder to find jobs and support ones family. The last part of the educational system, that most tend to skip, is the most important part. This is the part where one becomes exceptionally knowledgeable in a certain field. With these degrees it makes it much easier to find work and make enough income for what you have. The current system has to be changed for all these reasons. A student should leave each grade with all the information he learnt, stuck in his head. He should leave each grade excitedly knowing he has another year coming, to further his education. Right now that is no possible.

Sony Corporation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Sony Corporation - Essay Example Establishing themselves long back in 1946, Sony Corporation is a Japanese Multinational publicly traded corporation. The organization operates in most of the countries worldwide for trading dissimilar electronic commodities. In the recent years, the corporation is also known to serve various types of financial services in the marketplace. Contents Contents 3 Introduction 4 Analysis 4 Globalisation 4 National differences in Political Economy 5 Ethics in International Business 6 International Trade Theory 7 Exporting & Importing 7 Foreign Direct Investment 8 Global Production, Outsourcing and Logistics 8 Value creation 9 Entry strategy 10 Strategic alliances and Options for International Business 11 Recommendations 12 Conclusion 12 Reference List 14 Appendix 16 Introduction Over time, the state of businesses of multinational corporations has become highly elaborate and complex. The multinational corporations of the contemporary business world operate in different economies and are subj ected to various opportunities and threats. This essay will throw a light on the business of Sony Corporation in details (Morrison, 2009). It has been found that after the emergence of globalization and liberalization, the third world nations in the world have turned out to be the emerging economies. Multinational corporations like, Sony, desire to extent their business in these emerging economies. This essay will focus on the details of business affairs of Sony in the emerging economies like, India and China. The context of the essay will concentrate on Sony’s business changes with respect to globalization and political affairs in these emerging economies. It will emphasize on the company’s international trading segment and the ethics abided by the company in the given context. The company’s supply chain, value creation, entry strategy, strategic alliances, foreign direct investments and value chain would also be examined in details. As a consultant, at the end of the research work, the researcher would comment on the future initiatives that would be beneficial for the company. After its initiation in the year 1946 in Tokyo, Sony Corporation has established themselves as a Japanese Multinational publicly traded conglomerate. The organization operates in most of the countries all over the world for trading a wide range of electronic products. In the recent years, the company has also been known to serve various types of financial services in the market (Mukherjee, 2012). Analysis Globalisation After the emergence of globalization and liberalization in the world economy, the developing economies turned out to be the emerging markets. The main five booming markets in the economy scenario were clubbed together under an acronym, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). It was found that with the benefit of the international trade after globalization, these economies had adopted high growth rates in their national income aggregate s. In fact, it was estimated that by 2050, the income and the growth thresholds of these countries would be more than that of the developed countries like, United States and United Kingdom. Thus, companies like, Sony, had immediately undertaken the strategy of tapping the growing market demand in these economies. It has been found that after the phenomenon of globalization, the company had expanded its game, imaging and television

Nutrition in Nursing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nutrition in Nursing - Assignment Example He is focusing only on carbs and fat which is why he is obese. All he is eating are empty calories, and the source is junk food he eats where he works. 3. Andrew must include dairy, fruits and veggies into his diet. He must be told that he would invite a lot of diseases because of his obesity which is a result of heavy carbs, starch and fat that he consumes on a daily basis. Moreover, he must do regular exercise and must focus on weight loss by eliminating or cutting down junk food from his diet. 4. Andrew’s mother is already limiting his junk food intake while he is at home, which shows that she is aware of his sedentary lifestyle. However, she must create awareness in Andrew about the hazards of obesity and junk food, and must encourage him to exercise regularly. Also, she should give him some healthy food as lunch that he may have in his lunch time rather than having junk food as

The role of divorce and single-parenting in creating poverty among Essay

The role of divorce and single-parenting in creating poverty among children - Essay Example The task of deciding how to engage fathers with their families is primarily under the purview of the provinces. Most provinces offer classes, mediation, and information for fathers and mothers on how fathers can maintain contact and be a positive influence in the lives of their children even after a divorce. Most provinces also offer such things as mental health services for children of separated or divorced parents. Although unstated, the policy of most provinces seems to be to try to keep the father mentally and physically involved with children even if they are not married or in a relationship with the mother. Unfortunately, the services offered to fathers seem to be almost an after-thought. Especially given the uphill battle unmarried fathers face in the Divorce Act. The primary target of the various departments is the single mother. Like most social welfare programs, the target of these policies is poor families. The Divorce Act complicates the relationship of poor faterhs with their children because poor fathers are more likely not able to meet the demands of their divorce or child-support decrees. At the same time, while not having a father affects all children, the results are especially damaging when the mother is poor. Similarly, tax benefits and allowances at the national and local levels (e.g. Canada Child Tax Benefit and national Child Benefit Supplement) are exclusively for the primary custody holder of the child. Meaning that although he is financially responsible for his children, fathers, even the very poor fathers, do not receive any support in trying to care for their child. This paper will show that while these efforts at engaging fathers are good and noble, the programs don't go far enough in encouraging parental involvement or assiting fathers who want to do the right thing for their children. Furthermore, those policies that try to encourage fathers to be more involved with their children are targeted primarily toward poor families, when in fact children of all economic classes would benefit from having fathers who better knew how to parent. Method In order to figure out provincial policies on educating and engaging fathers in the parenting process, I looked at reports published by various local governments. I also looked at what services were available to parents and specifically to fathers and to divorcing or separated families. There is a large amount of literature in the journals on the role of fathers in contributing to or helping to eliminate child poverty. The literature nearly universally agrees that the financial and parental contributions of a father are one of the most effective ways or reducing the number of children in poverty. Some of the literature is strongly in support of marriage, suggesting that the way to bring down the numbers of children living in poverty, it would be best to encourage unmarried mothers to marry and to help couples that are married stay that way. Others suggest that it would be far better to teach fathers how to be good parents and to provide them with support so that they can help provid e for their families whether or not they live with them. The governments seem to take this line. While many of the provinces offer some sort of marriage counseling, the vast majority of the services offered do not take into account whether or not the parents are married. Issues Addressed by the Policy The primary issue addressed by

Compare my ometown wich is saudi arabia to the city i live in now wich Essay

Compare my ometown wich is saudi arabia to the city i live in now wich is murfreesboro TN - Essay Example Americans value independence and freedom than the people of Saudi Arabia. This entails independence and freedom for religion, gender, among others. In contrast, Saudi Arabia restricts individual freedom. Everything has to be done according to Islam and ancient customs. There is also a significant difference in weather between Saudi Arabia and Murfreesboro, Tennessee. In Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the winter season is characterized by snowy conditions and the summer with hot conditions. In contrast, Saudi Arabia is always sunny and hot. There is no chance of experiencing snowy conditions in Saudi Arabia. Finally, people in America have little respect for the law in comparison to people in Saudi Arabia. This is because in Saudi Arabia, the law is made according to strict Islamic rules while in America the law is made to incorporate all. I would love to live in Murfreesboro, Tennessee than Saudi Arabia because of the above differences between the two areas. There is freedom in America, there is a variety of weather, and the law is inclusive of all regardless of religion, age, gender, or

Resourcing Talent Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Resourcing Talent - Essay Example Workforce talent planning is the process to ensure that organization has suitable access to the talent of the organization to ensure future business success. Talent planning through internal sources is preferred because the employees of the organization are equipped with better knowledge about the environment of the organization and consequently, easily fit in the organization. The internal factors that effect talent planning are image of the organization and the job. The good image of the organization can help to attract potential and hard working employees. Managerial actions like goods public relations, rendering public service like building schools, hospitals, roads to develop image and goodwill for the organization. Better payment and working conditions are considered as the characteristics of good image for the job. Promotion carrier development policies can also attract the talented and potential candidates. Labor market and competitors are some of the external factors that have much influence on the talent planning of workforce in the organization. Labor market condition that is supply and demand of skillful and talented employees is of much importance. For example, if supply of talented employee is more than its demand then it is easy for the organization to have best employees for their jobs. Likewise, the workforce talent planning policies of the competitors also affect the policies of the organisations. If the recruitment policies of competitors became successful to attract potential employees then we have to change our policies according to the policies of the competitors. The recruitment and selection of right people for right job is of much importance for the success of the organization. According to the Equality Law, 2010, our organization has the responsibility to monitor the recruitment processes that should not be discriminatory. The equal opportunity policy in the recruitment, selection, training, appraisal,

Time management in the workplace Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Time management in the workplace - Term Paper Example Time management is important in every field of life, such as, in schools, at workplace, or even at home. In the present world, every person has to do many tasks daily, which need him/her to have excellent time management skills because without making a proper schedule, it becomes very difficult for a person to manage the routine tasks efficiently and effectively. Time management in the workplace is a very important concept related to increased workplace productivity. If the employees organize and schedule their time, as it should be, it not only increases their productivity but also increases overall productivity of the company. Without effective time management, it becomes very difficult for the employees to manage their job related tasks in an appropriate manner. Effective time management helps employees organize and learn the ways to spend their time at the workplace, allows employees to utilize the resources efficiently, and makes employees deal with every task with full dedicati on and commitment. Developing an effective schedule for the workplace is extremely important for the employees of any company or organization because it not only helps employees plan for the unplanned works but also makes them more productive and efficient. An important point regarding time management is that it should be able to adapt to the changes in the workplace. Certain things can happen at the workplace, such as, an unexpected work given by the manager, an urgent order placement by a customer, or failure of technology. Therefore, in order to face these kinds of situations, employees need to develop a schedule, which should have some capacity to accommodate unexpected situations. Another important point related to effective time management schedule is the sequence of works. Employees need to put the works in the queue based on the level of priority. Most relevant works should be done first in order to escape from all sorts of time shortage troubles. â€Å"Good time management involves keeping a schedule of the tasks and activities that have been deemed important† (Estes). If an employee does not care for the priority of works while developing the time management schedule, it can create severe problems for the employee in case of any unexpected addition of a task to the schedule. Therefore, adding the tasks in the schedule in the order of their significance is a very important concept regarding effective time management. Some employees need to develop their schedule once a week or once a month whereas some employees need to reschedule their activities on daily basis. Therefore, an important thing for an employee is to look at the nature of the job and develop the time management schedule accordingly. Moreover, employees need to avoid all sorts of distractions in order to become more productive and focused. Employees need to focus towards their work in order to complete their job related tasks within time. Distractions divert the concentration of em ployees affecting their level of productivity. Importance of Time Management Time management at the workplace is a very important concept for every employee working for any company or organization. Time management makes an employee get the maximum use of all available resources. It also plays a critical role in the success of an employee. Without developing of an effective workplace schedule, an employee cannot manage his/her job related tasks in an appropriate manner. We can take example of a new employee who starts feeling stressed while learning new roles and

The fair debt collection practices act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The fair debt collection practices act - Essay Example First is hours for phone contact, contacting consumers by telephone outside of the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time is prohibited in respect to private time of the person to be collected. Next is failure to cease communication upon request, communicating with consumers in any way after receiving written notice that said consumer wishes no further communication or refuses to pay the alleged debt, with certain exceptions, including advising that collection efforts are being terminated or that the collector intends to file a lawsuit or pursue other remedies where permitted. This is in accordance to what has been stated in the written notice which is therefore considered as a mutual understanding between two parties. Causing a telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously: with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number. Such act is indeed an act that goes beyond the realms of the collection process as it br eaks through the rules of decency and formality. Communicating with consumers at their place of employment after having been advised that this is unacceptable or prohibited by the employer. All company duly uphold certain rules and regulations among their employees and anyone who still insist of getting through these companies in order to collect is highly prohibited by this law.

The use of covert human information sources within an investigation Essay

The use of covert human information sources within an investigation - Essay Example CHISs use different methods of surveillance to obtain intelligence or information from the targets such as interception of their communication, communications data, or â€Å"directed and intrusive surveillance† (Freedom from Suspicion: Surveillance Reform for a Digital Age, 2011, p.18). While directed surveillance does not involve any intrusion on one’s private property, the latter involves the same and security forces may use methods such as tapping of telephone, or fitting of electronic devices etc for surveillance of the premises. Law enforcement agencies also use technology for collecting intelligence from their sources or targets. However, when a suspect is not actually involved in any complicity, the security forces come under criticism for violation of privacy. Human beings must have the right to privacy and it is in the â€Å"collective interest† of all citizens to maintain a â€Å"society in which personal privacy is protected† (p.20). Therefore, the governments of nations have a responsibility to ensure that only in cases where the national security has a chance of being breached, they should endorse the use of CHIS. In the modern world, criminal activities, especially terrorism, have risen to such a high magnitude that countries are forced to implement stringent preventive policies for maintaining law and order. Under the scenario, the deployment of CHIS to obtain relevant intelligence has assumed considerable priority. This is especially relevant in the case of countries like the US, UK, India etc, which are prime targets for terrorist groups as can be evidenced from the WTC, London Bombings and Mumbai terror strikes.... In the modern world, criminal activities, especially terrorism, have risen to such a high magnitude that countries are forced to implement stringent preventive policies for maintaining law and order. Under the scenario, the deployment of CHIS to obtain relevant intelligence has assumed considerable priority. This is especially relevant in the case of countries like the US, UK, India etc, which are prime targets for terrorist groups as can be evidenced from the WTC, London Bombings, and Mumbai terror strikes. On the other hand, as stated earlier, countries also have a responsibility to ensure that the right to privacy of their citizens remains protected and no unwarranted intrusions occur on their private property or persons. Therefore, national governments in these countries need to exercise utmost discretion while deploying CHIS for obtaining intelligence. On the other hand, the United Arab Emirates, a country in the Middle East, constitutionally protects prohibits any â€Å"arbitr ary interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence† of their citizens.

Air Asia vs. Qantas Essay Example for Free

Air Asia vs. Qantas Essay 1. Overview 1.1 Qantas-Main business and strategies The main business of Qantas airways limited is the transportation of passengers. Their core strategy of Qantas is profitably grows and the longer-term strategy of Qantas is to reorganize its business structure in order to eliminate mounting losses. The strategy that implement by company is to reduce the capital intensity of the business by forging partnerships with carriers in certain sectors that are uneconomical. (Qantas, 2012) Such as cooperate with British Airways. Qantas use two complementary airline brands; these two brands are used to touch different customers. Two brands operating together has occupied 65% market share in Australia, (Qantas, 2012) because, two brands provide flexibility in varying market conditions. Qantas, (2011 pp. 4) On the other hand, these two brands practice some sub-strategies to support its main strategy. These appropriate sub-strategies are the key success for point that lead to Qantas continually expansion in the world. | Qantas| Jetstar| Sub-Strategy| * Premium full service * Maximized profitability| * Cost leadership * Low fare airline| Operational improvement| * Enhanced customer service focus| * Expand locally and into international leisure markets | In statistics of 2012, Qantas has full-employees for 33,584. Flights over 550 airports and passengers carried are 44,456,000, which increase the 5.06% base on the year 2011. (Qantas, 2012) 1.2 Air Asia-Main business and strategies Air Asia is the largest low-cost flyer carrier in the world. It is establishing with the dream of making flying possible for everyone. On the other hand, it is not only focusing on the cost factor, but also safety first. The Air Asia has operated around 11 years, but it’s still keep high grow rate. The Air Asia is the regional carrier with the largest destination network, highest flight frequencies and high aircraft utilization.( Air Asia, 2012) Air Asia was named the 2012 World’s Best Low Cost Airline in the annual World Airline Survey by Skytrax for three consecutive years. There are some actions that support its main strategy in order to make it success. Such as the lost cost model is based on: (Hill, C. W. 1988). * Single passenger class * Flying to cheaper, less congested secondary airports * A single type of airplane in order to reducing training and servicing cost * Point to point flights with no transfers In statistics, Air Asia has full –employees for 4346. Passengers carried are around 22,474,620 in 2012, which increase more than 10% base on the year 2011. Services network over 216 routes covering destinations in and around world. The below picture has shown that air Asia are trying to get more market share in the southwest of Asia, there are more than 143 routes in southwest of Asia out of 216. This is the developing direction of the Air Asia in recent years. (Air Asia, 2012) 2. Industry analysis 2.1 Overview Goble airlines markets PESTLE mode analysis The Lift side is show that, the air travel remains a growth market. This forecast mentions that air traffic will double in the next 15 years, which means, the external environment still keep optimistic. Both of Qantas and Air Asia have same opportunity. (Airbus, 2012) The PESTLE model lists the factors or driver for growth, external environment can be reasonably expected as optimistic. but this chart showed that real GDP 2011-2031 by region, the economic growth is a key driver for air traffic growth, increasing urbanization will also drive economic growth and the propensity to fly. (Airbus, 2012) PESTLE model PESTLE model| Political * Stable political environment * Deregulation| Economic * Global financial crisis * Rising currency * Rising fuel cost| Social * Changing consumer demographics * Increasing travel lifestyle * Changing consumer preferences| Technology * Internet * Surface transport investments * Efficient aircrafts| Legal * Legislation compliance requirements * Allegations of misleading advertising| Environmental * Greenhouse and carbon emissions * Tourism saturation * Shortage of infrastructure capacity| 2.2 Overview Australia airline markets Qantas is the biggest airline operator in Australia, which represent as 75.6% for domestic market, but Qantas still has some competitors in Australia, such as Virgin blue (14.4%), Skywest (1.3%), Tiger (1.0%) and others (6.3%). We should understand it operate environment before we going to depth analysis, because the every company is restricted by external environment. PESTLE model clearly show Qantas operating external environment According to this chart, we can conclude that the overall environment is good and stable, but overall industry still facing some problem, the biggest issues has shown at lift picture, which is purchases, purchases of fuel. (Australia government 2013) 2.3 Qantas SWOT analysis Strength: 1. As one of the biggest Airline in the world, QAN has large quantity of flight customers and business relationships. Large scale could bring more benefits. 2. Qantas operates in a sea of business activities in different sectors. But all of them the support activities of the aviation industry, such as catering, engineering and baggage handling. Thus operation contributes to helping control supplier and aircraft maintenance costs. 3. Qantas Airways, Canada airlines, United Kingdom airline, United States airlines and Cathay Pacific founded a management company called One world Alliance. This centrally is to help each other in non-core business activities, such as marketing and online ticketing, in purpose of reducing costs and thereby cutting ticket prices. Members of the Union may also transfer passengers for connecting flights. 4. As monopolizing in Australian Market, Qantas has a home advantage. Thus its subsidies could provide better resources for its business. Weakness: Without the authorization of the trade union officials, workers in Qantas took an action called Wild Cat Strikes. Qantas was damaged by that action in delaying flights, exploring its issues between employees and the company. Besides, QAN Company is too concentrated on Australia side. Opportunities: As publishing of Open sky police, such as Pricing determined by market forces, Fair and equal opportunity to complete, Cooperative marketing arrangements, QAN could be beneficial from international aviation liberalization and downsizing in government intervention. In addition, more international destinations especially in Asia are developing. Due to Australia Market is less tapped so far, QAN could get a better chance to gain a major market shares than other airline companies. Moreover, QAN found a new opportunity of new market and created Jetstar witch is a low budget airline to attract potential large quantities of customers. Threat: With the result of merging between n United Airlines and Continental, Qantas is under threat because United Airlines- Continental is planning to penetrate into Australian market. One of Qantas most important international routine, between Australia and USA, will be affected. Unfortunately, large fluctuation in oil prices, together with global financial crisis, big airline companies was affected seriously due to rising operation and labor costs. Increasing Australia Airline market completion also will be a threat for QAN developing. 2.4 Overview Southwest of Asia markets The main competitors of Air Asia are Thai airways, Nok air, One Two GO Airline, and Singapore airlines, among of them SIG is the main competitor with Air Aira, in order to compete with Air Asia, SIG introduced 2 budget airlines; Valu Air and Tiger Airways, both of them are practice as the low-cost position. AIRASIA SWOT Analysis: Strength: AIRASIA has a well-known name and it is famous for its low cost operation. in accordance with the 2011-2012 year financial report, the companys non-fuel costs fell 3%, suggesting that companies continue to implement cost control; in 2011-2012, the company plans to non-fuel unit costs to fall by 5%. While ancillary revenue rose 23%, which helps companies to achieve annual revenue growth targets Moreover, it has the first-mover advantage of first low cost airline company in Asia. After that, AirAisa has strong promotional strategies for general promotion and media advertising. In addition, they companying with other service providers, such as hotel) and credit cards create a unique image among customers. Because of its punctual performance, AirAsia was offered honor of five-star service and flashes. AIRASIA has developed a well-established distribution channel in its products and services. Moreover, it is always using single type of airplane, thus minimizing maintenance fees. Weaknesses Due to the report, Aircraft leasing costs increased by 8% since the number of aircraft increased by 8 per cent while leasing costs and depreciation of the dollar, allowing the company to save rental costs. Airport and operating costs increased by 12%, reached 444.34 million dollars. Other expenses have increased by 14%. As the economic condition recovery, how to control the rising costs becomes o one of the most serious challenges faced by AIRASIA. Because of the lower cost, AIRASIA has limited service resources. Thus also is related to being lack of ability of handling irregular situation. Government interference regulates airports. In addition, AIRASIA receives a lot of complaints from customers such flight delays and not able to change flight. When competition is getting intense, good customer service and management is especially important. Opportunity With having first-move advantages, AIRASIA could be more possible to survive and win under the big intense environment such as rising oil price and government regulation. There is another opportunity for AIRASIA is cooperating with other low cost airlines such as Jetstar. The significant action could help tap into their strength and resources. Besides, larger population of customers is willing to choose cheaper flight. Threat In nowadays, lots of low cost airline companies are appeared such as Jetstar, Virgin, and Southwest. These companies improve that AIRASIA’s low cost strategy could not be a strong competitive advantage in the industry. It could be copied easily. Many kinds of expenses such as security fees and landing fees are out of control. Moreover, unstable economic conditions in the world have impacted on airline industry. Thus treat is same with questions facing by Qantas. 3. Accounting policies analysis 3.1 Basis of preparation of the financial statements The accounting policies are the procedures that used by a company to prepare its financial statements. Qantas’ reports basically are prepared in accordance with AASBs, but also following the IFRS (Qantas, 2012 pp.78). Air Asia prepared their reports following the MASBs and also in conformity with IFRS. IFRS is the general guide for these two companies when they prepared their report. It means not only significantly enhance comparability of financial reporting between these two companies, but also decrease our uncertainty, increase the reliability and accurately of analysis. (Burgstahler, D. C., Hail, L., Leuz, C. 2006) These two companies are running same business industry and prepare report in accordance with IFRS, so there are some accounting policies are similar, the following lists show the similarities of accounting policies practiced as these two companies 3.2 Similarities of accounting policies (Qantas, 2012 pp.80, Air Asia, 2012 pp.73) * Reports on the basis of historical costs except in accordance with relevant accounting policies where assets and liabilities are stated at their fair values * Main revenue recognition-The value of seats sold for which services have not been rendered is included in current liabilities as sales in advance * Other revenue-such as fuel surcharge, insurance surcharge, administrative fees, excess baggage and baggage handling fees, are recognized upon the completion of services rendered. * Residual value-the changing estimates are based on historical experience and various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances * PPE-Depreciation is used the straight-line method * Inventory-The values of inventories are reported as weight average cost. * Repair and maintenance expenditure, repair treat as cost, deduct in the same period. Maintenance, if it changes in the using life of equipment, it will be treat as capitalization. Even these policies are similar, but they still have some flexibility, such as the report can be influenced by changing accounting estimates. The following table has been showed that there are totally different use for life and residual values between these two companies’ assets. These two factors are depended on the judgment and estimate of management. Matsumoto, D. A. (2002) mentions that management’s estimates and judgments involved in the accounting policies which have significant potential impact on their financial statements, because these matters are really uncertainty. Finally, this uncertainty will reflect on the ROA, ROE, even if these two ratios increase or decrease, it does not necessarily because of changing in the company’s profitability. (Lev, B., Li, S., Sougiannis, T. 2010). | Qantas| As Asia| | Use for life(Years)| Residual values| Use for life (Years)| Residual values| Buildings| 10-40| 0%| 28.75-50| 0%| Passenger aircraft and engines| 2.5-20| Up limited 10%| 7-25| Adjusting according to a prospective basis (note1)| Air spare parts| 15-20| Up limited 20%| 10| Adjusting according to a prospective basis (note1)| Note1ï ¼Å¡Estimates and judgments are continually evaluated by the Directors and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. (Air Asia, 2012 pp. 77) 3.3 Main different accounting policies 3.3.1 Receivable Qantas and Air Asia receivables contain of trade debtors, other debtors and loans owing from related parties. Normally, the net receivable is recognized as its original amount less a provision for uncollectible debts. Qantas make an estimate for doubtful debts when collection of the full amount is no longer probable. The estimation of provision of doubtful debt relative to receivable is regularly reviewed. Bad debts are written off as incurred (Qantas, 2012 pp.101). As result, it is a risky way for the company not to assign provision of bad debts according to the percentage of credit sales. In Air Asia, they assign provision of bad debts according to the percentage of credit sale, (Air Asia, 2012 pp. 98) company will operate more stable, less risk then Qantas, but allowance will decrease its operating asset, reflect on the ATO, as result influence ROE. (Davidson Thompson 1962) 3.3.2 Discount Rate Discount rate is the interest rate that used in discounted cash flow analysis to determine the present value of future cash flows. (Qantas, 2012 pp.101) Changing discount rate will influence the company’s pension plan. Normally, pension is company’s liability; it is measured by three factors, PBO, ABO and VBO. Either PBO, ABO, should be discounted before reported. Due to particular category of pension plan, company just reports the different between the pension benefits and pension obligation on the financial report, if the benefits are greater than obligations it will be reported on the assets side, on the opposite, it will be reported on the liabilities side. (Wiener 1995) So the effect will directly reflect on its ROA and ROE. Discount rate of Qantas is based on the risk-free rate for the ten-year Australian Government Bonds adjusted for a risk premium that represented as 10.5% percent per annum (Qantas, 2012 pp.103). Air Asia use weight average effective interest ra te that represent as 10% per annum. The changes in discount rates of Qantas in 2011 to 2012 that lead to decrease in the Workers ’ Compensation provision of $15 million and an increase in the long service leave provision of $45 million. The net effect of these changes was a $30 million increase in provisions as at 30 June 2012. (Qantas, 2012 pp.103) as results, the changing of provision will reflect on the ROE of Qantas, because provision is comprised of liability. Finally, the ratio analysis will lack of comparability. 4. Ratio analysis: 4.1 Return on equity analysis: The ROE changing line of Qantas Airline limited (QAN) has a sharp fluctuation during year 2009, which has reached the top point of almost 60%. Then ROE index declined until 16.89% after the top and maintained about the level figure of 20% from year 2010. Compared with QAN, Aireys Berhad (AIRASIA) has a relative complicated ROE line. AIRASIA started from -50% from end of year 2008, afterwards got to the first top of 35.37% in 2010. After that the concave curve reached the bottom of 14.28%, and was back to the top at point of 37.39%. As personal opinion, AIRASIA has a brighter future than QAN on ROE side due to its growing trend ROE ratio from year 2011 though it had a negative number from the beginning point. In addition, with the research of 5 year average ROE rate, the total airline industry index is 26.9%, which is higher than QAN and lower than AIRAISA (StockCentral, 2013). AIRAISA is doing a better job in using investors’ money and attracting more investing capital. 4.2 Leverage affect From above two graphs, different index reflect different relationships. On QAN side, ROE rates changing are mainly due to changing in return of asset rate. It is indicating that QAN achieved a better effect of asset utilization by increasing revenue and saving asset funds to raise ROE ratio up. Different with QAN, AIRAISA’s ROE rate is primarily rely on financial leverage, which is equal to net financial liabilities / equity. Overwhelming other related facts, higher financial leverage rates mean stronger power of using liabilities to create profit. From this aspect, it is not hard to disclose different profit channels between two companies. 4.3 Borrowing cost driversï ¼Å¡ Downsizing of borrowing cost rate gives opportunities to raise ROE ratio. In QAN, from year 2011 the borrowing rates have been continuously declining which gave contributions to profit gaining. From AIRASIA side, borrowing cost rate kept on level of 3%-4% in recent two years, which may weaken ROE performance competing with QAN. 4.4 Operating profit drivers Return on asset ratio, which could be divided in asset turnover and profit margin directly, affects the performance of ROE. Compared with two companies, ATO ratio gave more impacts on ROA in past five years in QAN. Relatively much higher ATO ratio of QAN reflects that business higher speed of asset utilization from input to output for the period, better enterprises assets management quality and efficiency. Downsizing in ATO rate will directly influence ROA rate, obviously between year 2008 and 2009. In AIRASIA side, ROA ratio variation mainly affect by PM ration. On whole, PM ratio curve indicates increasing trend in the 5-year period, though a slight drop in year 2011. Higher PM ratio compared with QAN could give evidences that AIRASIA has better ability to recover kinds of expenditures and cost of goods sold, benefiting from the low cost strategy. Low costs give contributions to gaining higher ROA ratio of AIRASIA than QAN in recent year. 4.5 Cost structure These two graphs are drawn on the base of revenue as 100%. According to two graphics, we can easily see that After deduct COGS, Air Asia reported Gross profit around 50% over 5 years, but Qantas just has less than 20% for Gross profit, Air Asia practices cost-lead ship strategy, so COGS and its selling administration expense is significantly lower than Qantas. So the Air Asia control its COGS are better than Qantas. But however, the selling administration expense of Qantas (around 11% of 100% revenue) less then Air Asia (around 26% of 100% revenue), which mean Qantas, is good at management. Thus trend indicates that low-costs of airline industry would be bafflement for increasing profit. Compared with two companies’ gross profit and gross margin ratio curve, Qantas has been suffered drop trend in five-year gross profit due to its downsizing revenue and high cost of goods sold. AIRASIA has optimistic trends both in gross profit and gross margin. The company was engaged in exp anding sales and revenue, improving cost management level and seeking appreciate company strategy at the same time. Higher gross profit and gross margin indicate company could have higher possibilities to gain profit. 4.6 Average industry analysis The first graph shows the ROE of Air Asia in the Malaysia airline industry, after 2009, the ROE of Air Asia is significantly higher than average. The second procure compare the Qantas with Australia airline industry, if we calculate the average ROE of Qantas, the result is a little bit lower than average. The last graph we put two-airline companies in the Asia- pacific region, the graph has shown that Qantas’ operating is lower than the average, after 2009, Air Asia is keeping upward. 5. Conclusion After our analysis, due to applying different policies and strategies, two airline companies did different performance in gaining profits. we think that even though Air Asia just set up around 11years, and its size of the company is quite less than Qantas. But they have been adapted to the turbulent global environment. Its strategy has fitted with external environment, the advantage of small company is easy to change its management control system to response with the turbulent environment and better to keep consistent with its strategy. Finally, the whole company will be easier to achieve the goal. As result, AIRASIA seems to be better in raise ROE ratios, benefiting from its increasing sales and costs controlling. So we can concluded that AIRASIA’s performance is better than Qantas. Reference: Qantas, (2012) â€Å"Qantas Annual Report 2012† Qantas Airways Limited www.qantas.com Qantas, (2011) â€Å"Qantas Group presentation December 2011† Qantas Group www.qantas.com. Air Asia, (2012) â€Å"Air Asia Annual Report 2012† Air Asia Airways Limited www.airaisa.com Airbus, (2012) â€Å"Navigating the future† Global Market Forecast 2012-2031 www.airbus.com â€Å"Domestic airline activity, Department of Infrastructure and Transport†, Australia government, update 19 August, 2013 www.bitre.gov.au Qantas Customers 2012, by Segment 2012, Statistic, viewed 8 May 2012, Qantas’ Situation: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow 2011, The Age, viewed 8 May 2013, Stockcentral (2013), industry averages. Available from: http://www.stockcentral.com/?utm_source=iclubindustryaveragesutm_mdium=link [Accessed: August 17, 2013]. Burgstahler, D. C., Hail, L., Leuz, C. (2006). The importance of reporting incentives: earnings management in European private and public firms. The accounting review, 81(5), 983-1016. Lev, B., Li, S., Sougiannis, T. (2010). The usefulness of accounting estimates for predicting cash flows and earnings. Review of Accounting Studies, 15(4), 779-807. Kotlikoff, L. J., Wise, D. A. (1989). Employee retirement and a firms pension plan. Hill, C. W. (1988). Differentiation versus low cost or differentiation and low cost: a contingency framework. Academy of Management Review, 13(3), 401-412. Matsumoto, D. A. (2002). Managements incentives to avoid negative earnings surprises. The Accounting Review, 77(3), 483-514. Cyert, R. M., Davidson, H. J., Thompson, G. L. (1962). Estimation of the allowance for doubtful accounts by Markov chains. Management Science, 8(3), 287-303. Scott, T. W. (1994). Incentives and disincentives for financial disclosure: Voluntary disclosure of defined benefit pension plan information by Canadian firms. Accounting Review, 26-43. Wiener, H. J.(1995), †Pension Plan Strategy† A Comprehensive Guide to Retirement Planning for physicians and Other Professionals 7(2), 101-212. Appendix Air Asia ANALYSIS| 　| 　| 　| 　| 　| 　| REFORMULATED BALANCE SHEET| | 12/31/2012 USD| 12/31/2011 USD| 12/31/2010 USD| 12/31/2009 USD| 12/31/2008 USD| Operating Assets| | | | | | | Net Receivables| | 315,898,627| 176,713,880| 158,421,275| 170,371,203| 262,514,740| Total Inventories| | 7,758,339| 6,223,975| 5,692,557| 6,093,458| 5,978,035| Prepaid Expenses| | 240,199,477| 149,035,647| 105,739,906| 73,305,199| 32,597,110| Other Current Assets| | 0| 198,398,423| 174,299,659| 180,913,551| 212,788,150| Net Property, Plant Equip.| | 3,200,140,615| 2,744,062,776| 3,021,904,005| 2,319,564,252| 1,905,866,763| Other Assets| | 863,519,621| 282,959,621| 106,643,425| 141,351,051| 40,122,254| | | 4,627,516,678| 3,557,394,322| 3,572,700,827| 2,891,598,715| 2,459,867,052| Operating Liabilities| | | | | | | Accounts Payable| | 21,299,542| 25,636,593| 17,245,987| 26,411,507| 31,597,399| Accrued Payroll| | 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| Income Taxes Payable| | 1,674,951| 0| 529,269| 2,869,159| 0| Dividends Payable| | 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| Other Current Liabilities| | 606,007,521| 479,045,110| 400,453,705| 312,255,549| 322,342,775| Provisions for Risks Charges| | 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| Deferred Income| | 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| Deferred Taxes| | -118,180,510| -162,807,571| -233,260,905| -219,414,136| -247,430,347| Other Liabilities| | 166,843,689| 154,044,479| 146,867,196| 0| 0| | | 677,645,193| 495,918,612| 331,835,252| 122,122,079| 106,509,827| Net Operating Assets| | 3,949,871,485| 3,061,475,710| 3,240,865,575| 2,769,476,636| 2,353,357,225| | | | | | | | Financial Assets| | | | | | | Cash Short Term Inv.| | 730,127,861| 666,457,098| 487,957,516| 217,964,953| 44,439,884| | | 730,127,861| 666,457,098| 487,957,516| 217,964,953| 44,439,884| Financial Liabilities| | | | | | | Short Term Debt and Current LTD| | 368,264,879| 187,454,574| 179,660,126| 157,788,551| 157,243,353| Long Term Debt| | 2,381,682,472| 2,267,166,877| 2,368,374,899| 2,064,168,224| 1,776,526,012| | | 2,749,947,351| 2,454,621,451| 2,548,035,025| 2,221,956,776| 1,933,769,364| Net Financial Liabilities (Assets)| | 2,019,819,490| 1,788,164,353| 2,060,077,509| 2,003,991,822| 1,889,329,480| Shareholders Equity| | 1,930,051,995| 1,273,311,356| 1,180,788,066| 765,484,813| 464,027,746| check| | 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| REFORMULATED INCOME STATEMENT| | | | | | | Sales| | 1,617,426,750| 1,418,025,552| 1,280,394,033| 914,982,769| 761,470,520| Total Costs| | 864,089,928| 1,074,545,110| 934,371,331| 648,407,418| 932,758,092| Earnings before Interest and Taxation (EBIT)| 753,336,821| 343,480,442| 346,022,701| 266,575,350| -171,287,572| Tax| | 56,556,246| 69,934,700| 12,143,668| 33,884,638| -107,697,977| Income after Taxation| | 696,780,576| 273,545,741| 333,879,034| 232,690,713| -63,589,595| Net Interest| | 97,912,688| 98,364,669| -10,343,765| 84,832,360| 79,925,723| Net Income (before Pref Dividends Minority Interests)| 598,867,888| 175,181,073| 344,222,799| 147,858,353| -143,515,318| TAX-SHIELD| | | | | | | Effective Tax Rate| | 7.5%| 20.4%| 3.5%| 12.7%| 62.9%| Net Interest| | 97,912,688| 98,364,669| -10,343,765| 84,832,360| 79,925,723| Tax Shield| | 7,350,728| 20,027,643| -363,014| 10,783,119| 50,253,725| TAX-ADJUSTED OPERATING INCOME| | | | | | | Operating Income (with tax shield)| | 689,429,848| 253,518,098| 334,242,048| 221,907,593| -113,843,321| Net Financing Costs| | 90,561,960| 78,337,026| -9,980,751| 74,049,241| 29,671,997| Net Income| | 598,867,888| 175,181,073| 344,222,799| 147,858,353| -143,515,318| AVERAGED BALANCE SHEEETS| | | | | | | Operating Assets| OA| 4,092,455,500| 3,565,047,574| 3,232,149,771| 2,675,732,883| 1,298,921,526| Operating Liabilities| OL| 586,781,902| 413,876,932| 226,978,666| 114,315,953| 65,446,413| Net Operating Assets| NOA| 3,505,673,597| 3,151,170,642| 3,005,171,105| 2,561,416,930| 1,233,475,113| Financial Assets| FA| 698,292,480| 577,207,307| 352,961,235| 131,202,419| 26,432,942| Financial Liabilities| FL| 2,602,284,401| 2,501,328,238| 2,384,995,900| 2,077,863,070| 991,642,182| Net Financial Liabilities (Assets)| NFL(NFA)| 1,903,991,922| 1,924,120,931| 2,032,034,666| 1,946,660,651| 965,209,240| Shareholders Equity| SE| 1,601,681,676| 1,227,049,711| 973,136,439| 614,756,279| 268,265,873| check| | 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| Sales| SA| 1,617,426,750| 1,418,025,552| 1,280,394,033| 914,982,769| 761,470,520| Operating Income (with tax shield)| OI| 689,429,848| 253,518,098| 334,242,048| 221,907,593| -113,843,321| Net Financing Costs| NFC| 90,561,960| 78,337,026| -9,980,751| 74,049,241| 29,671,997| Net Income| NI| 598,867,888| 175,181,073| 344,222,799| 147,858,353| -143,515,318| ROE DECOMPOSITION| | | | | | BASIC ANALYSIS| | | | | | | ATO (sales / net operating assets)| | 0.46| 0.45| 0.43| 0.36| 0.62| PM (operating income / sales)| | 42.63%| 17.88%| 26.10%| 24.25%| -14.95%| ROA (operating income / net operating assets)| 19.67%| 8.05%| 11.12%| 8.66%| -9.23%| check| | 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| CLEV (net operating assets / equity)| | 2.19| 2.57| 3.09| 4.17| 4.60| ILEV (operating income / net income)| | 1.15| 1.45| 0.97| 1.50| 0.79| ROE ( net income / equity)| | 37.39%| 14.28%| 35.37%| 24.05%| -53.50%| check| | 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| SPREAD ANALYSIS| | | | | | | ROA| | 19.67%| 8.05%| 11.12%| 8.66%| -9.23%| Borrowing Rate (net financing costs / net financial liabilities)| 4.76%| 4.07%| -0.49%| 3.80%| 3.07%| Spread (ROA financing costs)| | 14.91%| 3.97%| 11.61%| 4.86%| -12.30%| FLEV (net financial liabilities / equity)| | 1.19| 1.57| 2.09| 3.17| 3.60| Leveraged Spread| | 17.72%| 6.23%| 24.25%| 15.39%| -44.27%| ROE| | 37.39%| 14.28%| 35.37%| 24.05%| -53.50%| check| | 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| Qantas ANALYSIS| 　| 　| 　| 　| 　| 　| REFORMULATED BALANCE SHEET| | 06/30/2012 NZD preliminary| 06/30/2011 NZD| 06/30/2010 NZD restated| 06/30/2009 NZD| 06/30/2008 NZD| Operating Assets| | | | | | | Net Receivables| | 1,138,830,550| 1,099,506,200| 918,979,200| 914,755,950| 955,587,900| Total Inventories| | 385,418,800| 398,263,200| 269,443,350| 269,443,350| 202,112,500| Prepaid Expenses| | 410,020,000| 434,663,600| 326,034,900| 326,034,900| 0| Other Current Assets| | 89,179,350| 23,553,200| 86,154,300| 90,377,550| 287,808,200| Net Property, Plant Equip.| | 14,493,181,950| 14,615,831,200| 10,571,639,400| 10,571,639,400| 9,826,709,750| Other Assets| | 1,618,553,950| 1,675,489,000| 1,319,343,300| 1,319,343,300| 1,558,691,600| | | 18,135,184,600| 18,247,306,400| 13,491,594,450| 13,491,594,450| 12,830,909,950| Operating Liabilities| | | | | | | Accounts Payable| | 661,157,250| 639,148,200| 506,790,000| 506,790,000| 482,644,650| Accrued Payroll| | 0| 0| 0| 0| 337,932,100| Income Taxes Payable| | 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| Dividends Payable| | 0| 0| 0| 0| 4,042,250| Other Current Liabilities| | 5,488,117,700| 5,418,306,600| 4,232,541,150| 4,241,832,300| 4,111,776,700| Provisions for Risks Charges| | 755,461,850| 692,678,200| 473,004,000| 473,004,000| 430,903,850| Deferred Income| | 1,164,456,800| 1,189,436,600| 901,241,550| 914,755,950| 1,024,306,150| Deferred Taxes| | 660,132,200| 821,150,200| 603,924,750| 603,924,750| 490,729,150| Other Liabilities| | 229,611,200| 527,805,800| 195,114,150| 195,114,150| 216,664,600| | | 8,958,937,000| 9,288,525,600| 6,912,615,600| 6,935,421,150| 7,098,999,450| Net Operating Assets| | 9,176,247,600| 8,958,780,800| 6,578,978,850| 6,556,173,300| 5,731,910,500| | | | | | | | Financial Assets| | | | | | | Cash Short Term Inv.| | 3,573,324,300| 4,083,268,400| 3,325,387,050| 3,325,387,050| 3,377,704,100| | | 3,573,324,300| 4,083,268,400| 3,325,387,050| 3,325,387,050| 3,377,704,100| Financial Liabilities| | | | | | | Short Term Debt and Current LTD| | 1,147,030,950| 617,736,200| 532,129,500| 522,838,350| 491,537,600| Long Term Debt| | 5,566,021,500| 5,839,052,400| 4,320,384,750| 4,306,870,350| 3,957,362,750| | | 6,713,052,450| 6,456,788,600| 4,852,514,250| 4,829,708,700| 4,448,900,350| Net Financial Liabilities (Assets)| | 3,139,728,150| 2,373,520,200| 1,527,127,200| 1,504,321,650| 1,071,196,250| Shareholders Equity| | 6,036,519,450| 6,585,260,600| 5,051,851,650| 5,051,851,650| 4,660,714,250| check| | 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| REFORMULATED INCOME STATEMENT| | | | | | | Sales| | 16,117,886,200| 15,945,516,400| 11,632,519,800| 11,632,519,800| 11,764,564,400| Total Costs| | 16,221,416,250| 15,412,357,600| 11,379,969,450| 11,379,969,450| 11,506,668,850| Earnings before Interest and Taxation (EBIT)| -103,530,050| 533,158,800| 252,550,350| 252,550,350| 257,895,550| Tax| | -107,630,250| 79,224,400| 52,368,300| 52,368,300| 46,890,100| Income after Taxation| | 4,100,200| 453,934,400| 200,182,050| 200,182,050| 211,005,450| Net Interest| | 254,212,400| 187,355,000| 102,202,650| 102,202,650| 111,566,100| Net Income (before Pref Dividends Minority Interests)| -250,112,200| 266,579,400| 97,979,400| 97,979,400| 99,439,350| TAX-SHIELD| | | | | | | Effective Tax Rate| | 104.0%| 14.9%| 20.7%| 20.7%| 18.2%| Net Interest| | 254,212,400| 187,355,000| 102,202,650| 102,202,650| 111,566,100| Tax Shield| | 264,280,218| 27,839,900| 21,192,523| 21,192,523| 20,284,745| TAX-ADJUSTED OPERATING INCOME| | | | | | | Operating Income (with tax shield)| | -260,180,018| 426,094,500| 178,989,527| 178,989,527| 190,720,705| Net Financing Costs| | -10,067,818| 159,515,100| 81,010,127| 81,010,127| 91,281,355| Net Income| | -250,112,200| 266,579,400| 97,979,400| 97,979,400| 99,439,350| AVERAGED BALANCE SHEEETS| | | | | | | Operating Assets| OA| 18,191,245,500| 15,869,450,425| 13,491,594,450| 13,161,252,200| 6,415,454,975| Operating Liabilities| OL| 9,123,731,300| 8,100,570,600| 6,924,018,375| 7,017,210,300| 3,549,499,725| Net Operating Assets| NOA| 9,067,514,200| 7,768,879,825| 6,567,576,075| 6,144,041,900| 2,865,955,250| Financial Assets| FA| 3,828,296,350| 3,704,327,725| 3,325,387,050| 3,351,545,575| 1,688,852,050| Financial Liabilities| FL| 6,584,920,525| 5,654,651,425| 4,841,111,475| 4,639,304,525| 2,224,450,175| Net Financial Liabilities (Assets)| NFL(NFA)| 2,756,624,175| 1,950,323,700| 1,515,724,425| 1,287,758,950| 535,598,125| Shareholders Equity| SE| 6,310,890,025| 5,818,556,125| 5,051,851,650| 4,856,282,950| 2,330,357,125| check| | 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| Sales| SA| 16,117,886,200| 15,945,516,400| 11,632,519,800| 11,632,519,800| 11,764,564,400| Operating Income (with tax shield)| OI| -260,180,018| 426,094,500| 178,989,527| 178,989,527| 190,720,705| Net Financing Costs| NFC| -10,067,818| 159,515,100| 81,010,127| 81,010,127| 91,281,355| Net Income| NI| -250,112,200| 266,579,400| 97,979,400| 97,979,400| 99,439,350| ROE DECOMPOSITION| | | | | | BASIC ANALYSIS| | | | | | | ATO (sales / net operating assets)| | 1.78| 2.05| 1.77| 1.89| 4.10| PM (operating income / sales)| | -1.61%| 2.67%| 1.54%| 1.54%| 1.62%| ROA (operating income / net operating assets)| -2.87%| 5.48%| 2.73%| 2.91%| 6.65%| check| | 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| CLEV (net operating assets / equity)| | 1.44| 1.34| 1.30| 1.27| 1.23| ILEV (operating income / net income)| | 1.04| 1.60| 1.83| 1.83| 1.92| ROE ( net income / equity)| | -3.96%| 4.58%| 1.94%| 2.02%| 4.27%| check| | 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| SPREAD ANALYSIS| | | | | | | ROA| | -2.87%| 5.48%| 2.73%| 2.91%| 6.65%| Borrowing Rate (net financing costs / net financial liabilities)| -0.37%| 8.18%| 5.34%| 6.29%| 17.04%| Spread (ROA financing costs)| | -2.50%| -2.69%| -2.62%| -3.38%| -10.39%| FLEV (net financial liabilities / equity)| | 0.44| 0.34| 0.30| 0.27| 0.23| Leveraged Spread| | -1.09%| -0.90%| -0.79%| -0.90%| -2.39%| ROE| | -3.96%| 4.58%| 1.94%| 2.02%| 4.27%| check| | 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| 0.00| Company | Return On Equity Per Share[Y2008]| Return On Equity Per Share[Y2009]| Return On Equity Per Share[Y2010]| Return On Equity Per Share[Y2011]| Return On Equity Per Share[Y2012]| 1| 　| 　| 　| 　| 　| 2| -27.03| 25.33| 33.93| 14.46| 36.86| 3| 6.1| 20.38| 10.32| -18.51| -27.24| | 　| 　| 　| -16.22| 6.01| Malaysia industry average| -10.47%| 22.86%| 22.13%| -6.76%| 4.81%| | | | | | | 1| 17.02| 2| 1.89| 4.09| -4.07| 2| 22.45| 19.73| 18.2| 11.46| 15.25| 3| 11.61| -21.09| 2.26| -7.32| 2.36| Austrilia industry average| 17.03%| 0.21%| 7.45%| 2.74%| 4.51%| | | | | | | | 　| 　| 　| 　| 　| | Return On Equity Per Share[Y2008]| Return On Equity Per Share[Y2009]| Return On Equity Per Share[Y2010]| Return On Equity Per Share[Y2011]| Return On Equity Per Share[Y2012]| 1| -37.81| 22.91| 39.91| 17.15| 10.29| 2| 14.73| 1.33| 5.13| 5.29| 4.46| 3| -27.03| 25.33| 33.93| 14.46| 36.86| 4| 15.02| -1.08| -13.73| 4.69| 5.27| 5| -19.27| 11.89| 29.11| 9.99| 1.62| 6| -76.38| 57.88| 57.42| 19.5| 17.28| 7| -70.4| -11.18| 23.64| -4.06| 0.1| 8| -51.42| 4.23| 34.87| 17.31| 8.15| 9| -27.96| -10.48| 33.11| 0.5| 1.31| 10| 19.69| 39.08| 9.61| 13.94| 10.66| 11| -20.6| 5.01| 30.35| 19.6| 10.79| 12| -20.47| -30.29| -21.4| -5.16| -14.43| 13| -26.05| -3.37| 14.11| -9.31| 9.83| 14| 6.1| 20.38| 10.32| -110.51| -27.24| 15| -0.11| -13.94| 9.05| 85.17| -13.52| 16| 17.02| 2| 1.89| 4.09| -4.07| 17| 22.45| 19.73| 18.2| 11.46| 15.25| 17| 16.21| 43.36| 56.31| 44.68| 25.97| 18| 13.1| 7.31| 1.58| 7.88| 2.48| 19| -37.71| 14.89| 24.31| -14.64| 9.45| 20| -14.02| 0.34| 17.5| 10.69| 1.37| 21| 11.61| -21.09| 2.26| -7.32| 2.36| Asia Pacific Region industry average| -13.33%| 8.37%| 18.98%| 6.15%| 5.19%|

Sophomore change Essay Example for Free

Sophomore change Essay A major event that has changed my life forever is high school. It has affected my life both negatively and positively. I never expected it to go the way it has gone. I can honestly say that if I could re-do high school all over again, I would. It has been a bumpy road and I wish I had done it completely different. The small events within it have made me realize who my true friends are, look forward the future, and make the best decisions for myself. High school started out a mystery. I had no idea what I was in for. I came into it in a relationship that lasted half of my high school years. I would not have changed that as a whole, just some of the parts in between. I consider myself as being very naive in the beginning. Freshman year was confusing for everyone. No one knew who his or her real friends were yet. It changed for most everyone. Sophomore year was basically the same, just older. Cliques started forming and more friends were made. I made a lot of mistakes in this time of my life that I would change if possible. I should have been a lot of things but I definitely should have been more considerate. Junior year was pretty much the same. I started defining who I was. I became more aware of situations and started making better decisions. I feel as if I grew up pretty fast. My parents started trusting me more and letting me experience life a little more freely. Junior year was a learning period of high school for sure. Senior year has been the most challenging year. I started realizing life is starting to get real. Everything counts now. College applications were a hard task. Realizing where you want to spend the next chapter in your life is really mind-altering. It is confusing yet exciting. This has changed my life drastically. My mind kept changing and changing over again. This was the year I began to realize who my real friends are. A lot of my friends came and went but I have really started to realize that family is what counts the most. High school has changed my life forever. I have lost people that I love and I have gained a great amount of knowledge. I still have no idea where my life will take me but I know that with the right support system, I will get where I am supposed to be. Family will always be there and friends are sometimes temporary. As these years have passed by, I’ve learned a lot about growing up and taking my life more seriously. I wish I had stepped up and applied myself like I know I could have. I should have taken school more seriously so I would have more options for my future. High school has had its ups and downs. It was the biggest life-changer I have had. I look forward to seeing where the next chapter in my life goes. These past few years have definitely changed my life forever.

Development of Primary Health Organizations in New Zealand

Development of Primary Health Organizations in New Zealand Body The delivery of healthcare services to the people in every nation had always been a problem for the government considering there are a lot of factors affecting its delivery. New Zealand is an example of a government which delivers healthcare to its citizens and permanent residents through public subsidies and private insurance. Even with the help of private insurance, there still exist a number of problems faced by the government. These problems revolve in the availability and accessibility of healthcare services. New Zealand has its concerns and these barriers to healthcare can be categorized into four: economic barriers, utilisation and socio-economic status, interplay of material, cultural and geographic factors, and the implications for the wider health system (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). All of these factors have had an implication in the shaping of the national healthcare policy. The social and economic inequality within New Zealand has widen substantially, thus new initiatives have been made to address such problems. The government has learned its lessons from the previous health system and is now undergoing constant changes and improvements. The policy formulated is now more focused on cooperative over competitive models of service provision and giving emphasis on the delivery of primary care as the key in achieving its goal of health for all and as a sign of overall improvement in the health system (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). Ref: Barnett, R., Barnett, P. (April 3, 2003). Primary Health Care in New Zealand: Problems and Policy Approaches. Retrieved from https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/journals-and-magazines/social-policy-journal/spj21/21-primary-health-care-in-new-zealand-pages49-66.html Evidence of New Zealand’s attempts to develop better equitable policies was the implementation of New Zealand Health Strategy and Primary Health Care Strategy (Minister of Health, 2001). The former had anticipated new arrangements and have chosen district health boards (DHBs) to implement these new policies. Within the charter of DHBs is the Primary Health Care Strategy (more recent) that suggests new organisational structures. This newly proposed structure is known as primary health organisations (PHOs), to solve problems relating to accessibility and availability in the provision of healthcare services. Moreover, primary health organisations address the lack of co-ordination between health providers. Although the district health boards (DHBs) are well established and setting up of Primary health organisations is going well, there still lies uncertainty about achieving equity in the provision of health (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). Economic Barriers to Primary Health Care in New Zealand Just like in many other developed countries, the economic restructuring in New Zealand and the abolishment welfare state had led to the increase incidence of poverty (Waldegrave et al. 1995, Jamieson 1998) and socio-economic disparities in health (Ministry of Health, 2000). In the beginning with the legislation of Social Security in 1938, medical services have been provided as free of service to the people through government subsidies. However, it is also true that the subsidies did not cover 100% of the total cost of patient care. At first the effect to the masses was minor during 1970s where there is â€Å"long boom† of prosperity in New Zealand. Then again, in 1980 the utilisation of the GP and other health services from the ethnic groups, including the positive class are diminishing due to the economic restructuring and growing cost of doctor fees (Gribben 1992, Barnett and Kearns 1996). Utilisation and Socio-Economic Status The utilisation of health services according to socio-economic status is mixed in New Zealand. A recent survey from the National Health Survey 1996/97 (Ministry of Health 1999) reports that people with low-income status are more likely to have a higher frequency of visits to General Practitioner than families from a more affluent areas or people with a higher income. However, the results from the survey shows that people living in a less well-off area have a late seeking behaviour and less visits to GPs because of cost. Key results from the survey are as follows: People had continued to express their dissatisfaction towards the cost of GP fees. The percentage of patients who considered the GPs fee expensive as â€Å"too high† or â€Å"far too high† rose from 32.3% to 68.3% from people paying $10 – $14 and $15 $19 and some rose to 90% from people paying $25 or more (Fergusson et al. 1989). Patients with financial difficulties in obtaining health services opt to have a number of strategies, both active and passive, such as; late seeking behaviour of care, delay in obtaining medication and seeking financial help from GPs (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). Patients frequently change their doctors even when they don’t want to. The introduction of Community Service Card (CSC) in 1992 is relatively ineffective in accessing the health provision of care. There is a high level of unmet need among CSC population. The reason for a rising unmet needs among the population group was partly due to low usage by those entitled and the stigma attached to it (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). Interplay of Material, Cultural and Geographic Factors Low utilisation of health services in relation to health needs cannot be attached to cost alone. According to Barnett et al. (2003) it is also because of the interplay of factors; material, cultural and geographic factors. It was proved in a survey that MÄ ori and low-income New Zealanders have a low rate of GP utilisation given that the centres where set up to provide service in a low-income population. The health centres were there to improve access to care to MÄ ori and low-income populace. The cost for the provision of service was reduced as compared to the average cost. It was clear in the survey that financial barrier was not the reason but rather cultural values and expectations as well as the benefits from the services rendered (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). It is also important to consider the geographic factors in understanding the levels of GP utilisation. There is a strong relationship between distance and patterns of use in both hospital and GP services; it is also not surprising that there is a sub pattern to it. People with poorer population have a 30% less expenditure or budget in health as compared to the well-off population with 40% over funding as computed by the Health Funding Authority (Malcolm 1998b). It shows that the basing on the budget in each region, the number of GP available is also dependent on the budget, thus with low budget comes less number of available GP and health centres while areas with higher budget comes a larger number of GPs available (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). Implications for the wider health system New Zealand research had been focused on the different patterns in GP and hospitalisation utilisation. However, there is also another reason that can be attributed to the low health status among low-income population in the access of health care services. There is a relationship between patient admission and average length of hospital stay. Reducing the average length of stay contributes in the increased rate of readmissions within the poor (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). One factor that might have an effect in the rate of readmissions among the poor is that the access to primary care is prevented by circumstances such as distance, cost and availability of the service itself. It is said that the importance of primary care is great in reducing or limiting hospitalisation (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). Primary Health Organisation Model To address the problems New Zealand has in the delivery of health care and to provide equity to all, new initiatives were created. The development of primary care organisations (PHOs) created new frameworks for health service delivery and an avenue for change. Not only it involves the general practitioner and the community but it includes a wide variety of health providers to achieve the goal of giving equity in the access of health care provision. PHOs are a broad based organisation comprised of many primary care providers. These providers include midwives, iwi groups, and non-government organisations aside from General Practitioners. The new system is locally based, funds were computed through the affected population and PHOs are given an important role in formulating new public health initiatives. Partnership with MÄ ori and with Pacific communities is expected and where if needed, Ethnic group representation in the governance is allowed (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). Potential Benefits of PHOs Upon the development of Primary Health Organisations, there are three potentials benefits that can be gained. One would be the likelihood of improving the population health is higher as compared to before, the rate of hospital admission will decrease and an empowerment to both the health providers and the consumer. Although after the introduction of capitation, in itself, is not an assurance of an improved population health and access to health. However, there are evidence claiming that a country with strong primary health care and a fewer barriers to healthcare accessibility have a better health outcomes (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). A better primary health care have another advantage of potentially reducing the rate of admissions in hospitals. It is an important factor in determining health outcomes in New Zealand, given the case that it has a high rate of hospital admissions. With higher rate of admissions means higher hospital expenditure for the government. Although, there is no clear relationship between access to primary care and hospital admissions, there exist evidence that shows a reduction in healthcare cost reduces Ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) admissions just like in the United States. Some studies in New Zealand back it up with data showing after the removal of patient charges for consultation; a significant decline in hospitalisation was seen (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). Lastly, with the development of primary health organisations with a greater emphasis in community will have the potential in increasing social empowerment in the poorer and disadvantage populations. This is important because cultural and economic barriers influence health seeking behaviour of an individual. Moreover, with the goal of fostering a broader links between health organisations, the potential of having a more holistic and social model of health is made. It has the possibility of not only improving the access to care but also other social conditions that foster inequalities in health (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). Conclusion The development of the Primary Health Care Strategy and the recent move toward the development of PHOs in New Zealand has the potential to improve equity of access to care, reduce unnecessary hospitalisation and improve overall population health. It represents a fundamental shift in national primary health care policy away from an individual to a population focus (although this has been emerging among primary care organisations for some time), and from fee-for-service to a funding approach stressing capitation with reduced co-payments, with inter-regional distribution of funds based on population need. The potential is for a fairer system of primary health care where services will be more freely available to those in need (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). However, improved equity of access may be difficult to achieve, given the problems and risks in developing PHOs. In New Zealand these include fragmentation of providers, inadequate attention to the regional sensitivity of allocation formulas, concern over the extent to which funding should be based on individuals or areas, and the extent to which full participation of both providers and the public is secured. Given the significant additional investment by the government, PHOs will need to demonstrate not only fairer access to primary care reductions in health inequalities, but also improvements in population health overall (Barnett R. and Barnett P. 2003). . Gribben, B. (1992) Do access factors affect utilisation of general practitioners in South AucklandNew Zealand Medical Journal, 105:453-455. Barnett, J.R. and R.A. Kearns (1996) Shopping around?: Consumerism and the use of private accident and medical clinics in Auckland, New ZealandEnvironment and Planning A,28:1053-1075. Waldegrave, C., R.J. Stephens and P. Frater (1995)Most Recent Findings of the New Zealand Poverty Measurement Project, The Family Centre, Lower Hutt. Minister of Health (2001a)Minimum Requirements for Primary Health Organisations, Minister of Health, Wellington. Minister of Health (2001b)The New Zealand Health Strategy, Minister of Health, Wellington. Jamieson, K. (1998)Poverty and Hardship in Christchurch, Christchurch City Council, Christchurch.

Power in Frankenstein :: essays research papers

Most people agree that Victor Frankenstein holds the most power in the text. In creating the monster, he not only has the power to create life but also the power to, indirectly, save or destroy others lives. Critics of his character speculate that Justine could have been saved had be only confessed his actions in Ingolstadt. However, the creature also holds considerable power. For example, he held power over Justine’,s fate when he incriminated her with the necklace. He holds some power over the De Lacy family, as it is his actions in collecting firewood that decide whether or not Felix must work as heavily during the day. In turn, the De Lacy family hold power, unbeknownst to them, over the creature, so much so that he commits himself to living in what is little more than a wooden box for a year. The creature’,s hopes for the future lie entirely on this family, and power of this nature is perhaps the strongest type of power anybody could exert over another being. This is due to the fact that the one who is controlled, ie, the creature, does not realize this and so will never attempt to free themselves from the hierarchy they find themselves in. But it is also evident that someone, or something, exerted great control over the De Lacy family, as they are living an impoverished, isolated lifestyle. The creature’,s account of the family’,s history discovers this fact to the readers, that was in fact the French government. Given the time period, 17--, this is presumably patriarchal to the extreme. While for a while it could be supposed that Felix held power over the government, as he assisted in Safie’,s father’,s jail break, but the latter caught up with him and ultimately ruined him and his family. On this train of thought, Felix’,s family hold power over Safie’,s father, but only while he is imprisoned. Once he is freed, the tables turn, and he breaks his promise to Felix of his daughters hand in marriage. Coming form an Eastern society that is suggested to be even more patriarchal than the Western European culture, a power struggle ensues between Safie, who wishes to marry Felix, and her father, who wants her to return home with him. What is most interesting is the fact that it is Safie, with the assistance of another woman, who eventually gets her own way.

Rocky Horror Picture Show :: essays research papers

It was a cool, crisp November evening, while five teenagers were hustling and bustling around my house excitedly getting ready for their very first showing of the live version of their all time favorite movie. They knew it would be the best night of their lives. The night of my 15th birthday party, my friends and I all piled into my parents car around 11:00 PM and headed off down the road to the Heights Theater. The movie we are about to see is an all time classic. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the best cult film of all time. The movie has all the three basic elements it should have. It has funny audience participation, wonderful acting, and a great story line. Before the beginning of the movie, cast members will wander around the theater, and yell out various lines from the movie. When the movie curtain starts to roll its way up, you see a bright pair of red lips singing. When the lips appear, people will start to yell out their favorite audience participation lines. One of my favorite spots in the movie to shout out lines would have to be in the very beginning when the lips on screen are singing the song "Science Fiction, Double Feature." The song is full of participation lines and props that people can bring to the theater with them. There is one line that I particularly like that comes from this song and it goes a little something like this; "and from a deadly place it came from (where?) outer space! (Thank you!)." Another example of audience participation/prop use would be when one of the characters, Dr. Scott, goes flying through the walls of the laboratory in his wheelchair. As he is rolling down the ramp fro m where he flew through, another character, Brad, yells out "Great SCOTT" and that’s when everyone takes the toilet paper they have brought with them and throws it all over the place. Once all the toilet paper has been collected by the cast leader, they pick out one person from the audience and DOUSE them with toilet paper and it’s the funniest sight one will ever see! Even though there is a great amount of audience participation, one really has to turn your attention to the actors in the movie. It takes a special kind of person to really understand the movie they are in.

Inferential Learning Theory Essay -- Education Knowledge Learning

Learning ABSTRACT The concept of learning may be regarded as any process through which a system utilizes knowledge to improve its performance. As we move into the age of digital information, the rapid and explosive growth of external, as well as, internal data and information that organizations are faced with is a problem that they are currently trying to overcome. The ability to collect and store this data is far ahead of the ability to analyze and learn from it. The concept of learning will be examined from the perspective of the inferential learning theory. This theory examines the mix of input knowledge, background knowledge, learning objectives or goals and an inference process to obtain 'new' or 'learned' knowledge. Various learning situations may dictate differing learning processes. The three that will be briefly highlighted in this paper are; learning by induction, through the use of decision rules or decision trees; learning by discovery; and learning by taking advice, explanation-based generalization. The concept of multi-strategy learning in order to handle more complex problems will also be examined. INTRODUCTION Research in the area of learning has been ongoing for several years, and it has over the years been traditionally characterized as an improvement in a system's behavior or knowledge due to its experience. "Experience" in this context is looking at the totality of information generated in the course of performing some action. The inferential theory of learning suggests a means of our understanding the learning process. Michalski 1 proposes that this theory assumes that learning is a goal-guided process of modifying the learner's knowledge by exploring the learner's experience. This process he... ...fman R. A. - "Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery" - A Review of issues and Multi- strategy Approach". Reports of the Machine Learning and Inference Laboratory, MCI 97-2, George Mason University, Fairfax, V.A. 1997. http://www.mli.gmu.edu/~kaufman/97-1.ps 6 Chun-Nan Hsu and Craig A. Knoblock - "Discovering Robust Knowledge from Dynamic Closed - World Data". http://www.isi.edu/sims/papers/95-robust.ps 7 Shavlik Jude W. - "Acquiring Recursive and Iterative Concepts with Explanation-Based Learning". Machine Learning Vol. 5,(1990). 8 Tecuci Gheorghe - "Plausible Justification Trees: A framework for Deep and Dynamic Integration of Learning Strategies", Machine Learning Vol. 11(1993). 9 Fayyad U., Piatetsky-Shapiro G., Smyth, Padhraic - "The KDD Process for Extracting Useful Knowledge from volumes of Data" - Communications of the ACM vol. 39, no. 11 (Nov. 1996).

Mysterious Story Essay

It was a sunny Saturday morning, my first time hiking and we were on the road to the Drakensberg mountains. My dad, Lanny, was driving us and I was lying on the back seat listening to music. Oh yes and my little brother Ross was in the passenger seat speaking to my dad, asking him about hiking. When we had arrived at 11:00 am we were booking in at one of the hotels close to our hiking trails starting point. We were un-packing and ready to get some sleep for the big day ahead of us. Waking up at the crack of dawn was hard but we were able to do it and made snacks for the hike. At 6:00am we were ready to hike and at the trail. As we started it seemed easy but continued to get harder. My younger brother Ross was struggling up the mountain and asked me to carry his bag for him. I had a strange thought; I should be nice to him because if something had to happen to him I wouldn’t like it if the last thing I said was nasty. We had been hiking for just over an hour when we decided to stop for a break and brunch. My brother was in need of the toilet. We told him to just go behind the bush. I heard a rustle in the bushes around us and a cold shiver ran through me. HELP! We ran to the bush he was behind. Looking around we saw marks and footprints on the ground. We followed them down the bank. Running as fast as we could, we saw the huge creature. It turned around, we dived behind a shrub, I don’t think it saw us. Jumping up again, we were out of breath but continued chasing. The creature was very big with white fur, bigger than a gorilla or a bear. We were determined to find him and as we approached the village that these Sasquatch type beasts were using, we peeped over the fences made of steaks and vines, we were sure Ross was in great danger. When looking over the walls we saw many of the Sasquatches and searched for little Ross among the crowd of beasts. We had made up our minds, we were going in. After we tried to get his attention several times we noticed he was in such great shock that he didn’t recognize us. Hiding behind each tavern and bush. Jumping and rolling from bush to bush. Then Bang! There the sound of something landing behind us. We turned around and saw its giant feet then ran. But we were no match for them, they surrounded us. My dad said, â€Å"just be calm we’ll be fine†. They tied us up and put us each in separate taverns. I saw my back pack and tried to get the Swiss army knife out, but the primitive Sasquatch saw me and couldn’t understand what I was doing so he locked me up in small dark room. They took off my ropes and confiscated my bag. They left me in this room with only the belongings in my pockets and my clothes. I wrote this message on my cell phone and sent it to everyone I know. Please try save us!

Building Working Relationships With Customers Essay

rough-and-ready communication strategies after part help towards twist strong hammering relationships with clients and nodes and be re solely(a)y consequential for the progress of some(prenominal) association. It is substantive to create a costly mental picture and therefore it is of the essence(p) that the employees egotism presentation meets the expectations of the lymph gland and leaves them with an overall tyrannical opinion. Employees appearance is essential for creating a good first impression to the client. It is burning(prenominal) to look professional and to dress fittingly according to your functional environment. While few companies require smart dress pasture at all times, for others wearing a suit may be divulgen as too dressy and would suggest that the employee is not familiar enough with the eccentric person of melodic line. i pass aroundly employees moderate to cargonfully consider the type of lymph nodes their connection is aiming for and do their best to fellow traveller themselves with them, eer aiming for a neat and natty appearance.Major factor for ones self presentation is their berth towards clients. It is life-sustaining to show interest in confrontation the customers involve and devising them feel valued. A successful employee always shows engagement to a query and ideally aims to be much-productive, customer-foc occasiond and profit-gathering. Their manners should display favour adaptedness and utile attitude at all times. It is important to be attentive and reply befittingly to customers require and focus on delivering business results. Satisfied customers atomic number 18 liable(predicate) to give good feedback ab come on your work and are more likely to run loyal, making future purchases repeatedly. They are considered a real as dance orchestra to the organisation and ideally would still ask to use the selfsame(p)(prenominal) bon ton over going for a competitors utilitys. Moreover their positive degree feedback can attract impudently effectiveness clients, contribute towards achievement of wider business goals for the compevery and crap it more successful at the market home plate.In order to be able to deal more efficiently with their clients needs, companies keep back various protocols designed to improve their employees customer service and productivity. The protocols consist of a set of guidelines baffleing the correct conduct towards customers, context out the main duties which customer-facing employees afford to be able to carry out. then the comp each en surelys that its employees are delivering a consistently senior high school level ofservice to the customers. Protocols ordinarily cover key areas of customer service describing how to appropriately resolve to customers and how to refer to a pertinent individual. This may include telephone etiquette aiming to practice a phone call at heart three rings and greeting the customer with an exa ct phrase before winning their dilate. Responding to e-mails on the same day exploitation the correct wording and sending out letters along with a praising slips from the company. It can also cover put down details and buttes on to a unique(predicate) database, creating customer files and recording different actions and outcomes of employees day-by-day duties for example completing liquify chart templates showing the progress of a certain task or a project.Protocols are important not still for improving the standards of general customer service and minimising the possibility of shifts, but also to defend employees from occasions where unfair claims and disciplinary proceeding which may excrete. In my job lineament as an administrator at a traineeship provider company, I rarely wealthy person to contact any external customers and my clients are assessors working at different segments of the same organisation. I am responsible for treat their new learners registrati ons and have to meet a certain guidelines on a daily basis to ensure my work is through with(p) correctly. When receiving a new request I register our new learners for the relevant reservation with the correct awarding body and stick in their details on to an online registrations system. The next measuring stick is liaising with a colleague from finance department and issuing a purchase order number. I have to yield a copy of the new registration details and keep in the learners file.According to my companys protocol I have to complete all new registrations at heart two days from the original ingress date and check back to the assessors by e-mail once I have dealt with their request. Although there is no formal etiquette I have to follow when responding to them, it is important that I stick to the protocol and ensure all data is correctly processed and saved. fascinate communication between customers and employees is essential for any companys progress. Showing pry in eve ry interaction is springy and there is certainly no place for negative or rude attitude towards the client. Good telephone manner and courtly face-to-face communication is equally important in both formal and free situations. If any differences in views or ideas occur employees should first try to understand them from the clients perspectiveand then respond by emphasizing what they can do to help resolving the matter. Unfortunately, customers are more likely to speak up and make a illness close a bad customer experience, rather than gravid feedback about a positive one.On occasions when someone has raised a complaint to me within my company I listen to the client without passing any judgements or rushing to give an advice and follow through with stating what I can do to help resolve the problem. It is important that the customers see a quick and appropriate solvent to their issue, know that that I am expression forward to helping them and that my organisation cares about pro viding them with a solution. In situations where I turn over I cannot resolve a clients problem I look for advice and help from a conductor or a more experienced employee. I focus on issues and not personalities when I address and pass on the complaint and express appreciation when others give me assistance. In situations when a client has complained about an error made by an employee from my company, the situation is usually dealt with by a department manager or coordinator, who ensures that the customer receives the necessary compensation and that the same mistake would not be made again in future. node satisfaction is essential for the survival of any business, therefore it is important that the clients needs should be met and if possible exceeded.To do that, companies look for employees who can identify what the client is tone for and provide with good service. This can prove to be a challenging task as customer needs are a dynamic feature, found on a wide surf of changi ng factors and it can be herculean to know exactly what someone is looking for. Common basic expectations are helpful high quality products or work and competitive pricing. Employees should be prepared to go above and beyond to satisfy the customer expectations, as this go away increase the gross sales and create additional business opportunities. It is important that needs should be met because then there is a better possibility that the client will choose to do business with the organisation. However, if their expectations of customer service are exceeded they are likely to become loyal customers and use other services in future. Thus the company will stand out, state from the rest of its competitors and has better chances of expanding. Positive working relations with any customer will bring more investments and will make the organisation more popular on the market.It will also allow the employees to get to knowtheir customers better, find the remediate matches for their nee ds and find new ways to deal effectively with any problems or complaints. alpha aspect in building good working relationships is agreeing on certain quality standards and timescales for their requests. By doing so, both parties are agreeing on setting a specific rear end and the company can make sure it stays focused on the right needs of the customer and knows exactly what has to be done so that the clients are live up to with the end result. It encourages new improvements and ensures consistency in service. Reviewing customer service provision is the process through which the company receives and evaluates feedback for their services to their clients. at that place are various ways to do this and most popular ones are internal feedback and completing surveys, comments book and questionnaires. My company oft uses online evaluation sheets and has also dedicated a section from its official webpage for comments and suggestions. Customers can choose to remain anonymous when shari ng their customer service experience. Although feedback information important, yet sometimes difficult to obtain, companies need to ensure their customers are not pressurised to participate in the evaluation if they are not interested to do so. Building good working relationships with clients helps towards the uninterrupted improvement of companies services, brings more profits and attracts new potential customers.