Marketing Plan For A Business Plan Competition - 1715 Words

2. Literature Review Research shows that business plan competitions throughout time have always provided a substantial opportunity to improve entrepreneurial education. Student entrepreneurs originally were interested in business plan competitions because it was a place for them to create and pitch their business ideas to real investors and get incredible feedback. However, over time, the location of the competitions, the people competing in the competitions, the robustness of business plans, and the outcome of the competition have changed. These four factors affect each other and have changed how people go about growing as entrepreneurs. 2.1 Business Plan Competition Locations More and more business plan competitions have been popping up all over the world in the past ten years. A 2006 survey of 2,100 universities by the Kauffman Foundation shows that 16 percent of universities were offering business plan competitions around the world; so today in 2016 I am sure that percentage has increased (Leffel and Hallum 2008). The United States has some of the better-known business plan competitions, such as the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition. While many are open to international entrepreneurs, most depend on one’s location or affiliation to a university - which is limiting. However, in the middle is the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition where applicants can be from wherever, but all applicants must agree to establish substantial operations in Rhode Island in order toShow MoreRelatedStrategic Marketing Plan For A Successful Business761 Words   |  4 Pagessuccessful business is creating a specific detailed strategic marketing plan outlining pro duct pricing. It is important for the marketing plan to include product pricing strategies in anticipation for the fluctuation of competing products and consumer demands. In the article Prices Marketing Strategies by Adrian Gherasim (2012), the article details the various methods to price product from creation, when competition enters the market, to when price adjustments should be made. Marketing strategiesRead MoreSituation Analysis in Marketing Plan Essay1585 Words   |  7 Pagesknow yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat’. Hence, the company must make marketing plan systematically, in terms of its objectives and missions, if it pursues maintaining a high level of operating efficiency, and achieving above-average returns. The role of situation analysis Situation analysis is an essential first step in the process of marketing plan. Jain (2004) states situation analysis is an important way in terms of forecasting the shape of things, analyzingRead MoreSuccess And Success : An Analysis Of Startup Business1124 Words   |  5 PagesStartup businesses should consider that a successful business marketing plan has little to do with a gut feeling or a hunch; it is rather based on sound market research. A competitive advantage will be given to any small business that realizes this. This is not however, where entrepreneurs focus there attentions. Even though well done market research is crucial for understanding the competition, most entrepreneur ideas center on entrepreneur business opportunities and creating successful products. IfRead MoreSwot Analysis Of Marketing Planning Procedures1303 Words   |  6 PagesImportance in Marketing Planning    Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In order to run a thriving business, you must be very knowledgeable about your customers, operation, competitors and the environment.  When it comes to market planning  many important factors must be taken into consideration. According to the business dictionary market planning is the procedure of examining one or more of prospective marketplaces in order to decide how business can competeRead MoreMy Company No Worries Lemon Aid For The Rescue, A Beverage Company1192 Words   |  5 Pageslife time. As we all know, Lemonade is a very competitive business, and anyone can start the Lemonade business with very low investment. Lemonade is very popular drink and there is a tough competition in the market. Because of the ongoing competition No worries Lemon-aid to the rescue has created a plan for success. In this report we will outline the company’s branding strategy, identification of possible new locations, promotional plans, and employee training opportunities. Branding Strategy: InRead MoreThe Marketing Handbook Critique762 Words   |  4 PagesThe Marketing Plan Handbook Written by Alexander Chernev In The Marketing Plan Handbook, Chernev gives a simplified approach to writing marketing plans. It outlines the basic principles of writing a marketing plan and it puts emphasis on marketing as a value-management process. It incorporates the relevant aspects of the business, such as the financial, operational, technological and organizational aspects. Chernev states that marketing plans do not have to be lengthy but should contain need-to-knowRead MoreEssay on Starting a Business Plan1664 Words   |  7 PagesStarting a new business is an exciting venture and has its unique mix of challenges and rewards. Many are set-up for failure if no clear goals or measures are established and adhered. 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Some of the main objectivesRead MoreMarketing and Woolworth1476 Words   |  6 Pagesthe implementation of a recent marketing program or a marketing plan of the organisation. You are required to describe broad and specific action programs (what, when, who and how) with reference to the marketing mix elements. Woolworth is a retail primary activity in supermarket and has a portfolio business which is similar to wesfarmers, like BIGW, petrol and liquor stores bonds, it is a big huge range of consumer favourite brands. 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Toyota and Uber Free Essays

As the competition among autonomous driving businesses is getting intense, Toyota and Uber will try to catch up by deciding to partner in developing self-driving cars. They plan to use technology from both companies into Toyota’s Sienna minivans to be deployed across Uber’s ride-hailing network from 2021. Together, they aim to design and produce safe autonomous vehicles for the mass market. We will write a custom essay sample on Toyota and Uber or any similar topic only for you Order Now This deal benefits both Toyota and Uber, and will still likely benefit both companies even in their individual endeavors. Their partnership profits Uber in many ways. Firstly, CEO Khrosrowshahi’s strategy of Uber developing autonomous vehicles through partnerships has successfully began to progress. Secondly, it brings revival to Uber’s self-driving business after a self-driving Uber SUV killed a pedestrian in Arizona back in March, which moved Uber to remove its robot cars from the road, lay off hundreds of test drives and closed its autonomous testing hub in Arizona. Lastly, Toyota’s investment raised the valuation of Uber by $4 billion from the deal Uber had with Alphabet Inc. Uber totaled $891 million losses in the second quarter where the self-driving unit is a significant contributor. However, it can compensate its losses through this partnership. With combined technology, their goal of a safe autonomous vehicle is likely to happen. And with this success, profits from their self-driving business will surely compensate the losses Uber previously occurred. Toyota also profits from this agreement through its transformation to a mobility company as they help provide a path for safe and secure expansion of mobility services like ride-sharing that includes Toyota vehicles and technologies. Its statement that it would not combine its research efforts with Uber may somewhat have a negative impact on the partnership’s progress in producing safe automated vehicles. But, Toyota benefits from the deal when they gain more information regarding self-driving technology as they work with Uber. Together, they make a great teamwork. Uber’s autonomous driving system and Toyota’s commitment to safety and its renowned manufacturing skills is surely to bring a safe self-driving car. Uber have experienced many problems in this path: they had further setbacks in development and testing due to the crash in Arizona, and also has met difficulties with regulators and politicians concerning safety. But Toyota’s Guardian technology, which offers automated safety features, can cover Uber’s flaws. Toyota may be less aggressive than some rivals on moving toward full-fledged autonomous driving but their investment in research and plans to begin testing self-driving cars in the future is a great move. They won’t be able to survive the competitive autonomous self-driving business if they continue to focus on partial autonomous systems. This partnership is a great start for them in their journey to produce fully developed self-driving cars. Toyota’s decision to not combine its research efforts is also a good move since Uber has other partnerships like their partnership with Daimler AG, and a deal with Volvo which does not have the same level of intense labor as Toyota does. This could lead to misunderstandings or conflicts of interest, so it is best that they keep some plans to themselves. Their previous partnership on a car-leasing program for Uber drivers, where Toyota invested in Uber and which Uber decided to close its U.S. leasing business, is also a factor that can affect their relationship. This could mean distrust between the companies that can badly affect their current deal. Overall, their partnership brings great opportunities to both companies. Toyota benefits from the agreement and Uber does, too. Their goal in producing the world’s safest self-driving cars on the Uber network is surely to become reality if they work together in covering each other’s flaws and leveraging their expertise. How to cite Toyota and Uber, Papers

Corporate Finance Companies and Business

Question: Discuss about the Corporate Finance for Companies and Business. Answer: Introduction Companies and business entities apply several methods to measure their performance in the market. One of the methods commonly used by corporations is the financial analysis where several techniques are used to examine the companys past and present performance and project its future trend. Financial analyses help firms to identify their strengths and weaknesses in the industry. They then focus on either maximizing the internal strengths by taking advantage of the external opportunities or minimizing the internal weaknesses through mitigating the external threats. Car Ab Ltd is one of such companies. Car Ab Ltd specializes in supplying automotive components in the industry. The company has developed an excellent reputation and brand by proving quality products and reputable services. Car Aib Ltd has created business objectives which emphasize on customer-oriented services. However, the organization is currently facing fierce competition in the industry arising from market saturation. This paper focuses on evaluating the companys comparative financial performance during the 2014 and 2015 fiscal years. Some of the financial performance indicators to be analysed are; a) evolution of the working capital and capital employed; b) the cash-flow statement; c) the financial leverage and the Return On Equity; and d) the financial leverage and the Return On Equity. Finally, a brief comment, conclusion, and recommendation will be provided based on the results obtained from the financial analysis. Note: the companys comparative balance sheet and income statement for the financial years 2014 and 2015 were provided and had been used in the respective financial performance indicator. Analyse the evolution of the working capital and capital employed the working capital At the End of 2015 At the end of 2014 Working Capital -3566 -1904 including: Add: Trade + Other Receivables 6291 6080 Add: Inventory 6913 5800 Less: Payables 10600 8945 Less: Operating Liabilities + Others 6170 4839 End of 2015 End of 2014 Working Capital (Days of Sales) -22 -12 including: Add: Receivables 38.34092333 37.4659797 Add: Inventory 42.13174423 35.74057274 Less: Payables 64.60241413 55.1205902 Less: Other Liabilities 37.60348068 29.81872957 Brief analysis Working capital technique is used by companies and business entities to evaluate their ability operational liquidity. It shows that ability of the business to meet its short-term financial obligations (Blocher, et al., 2009, p. 198). A firm should have a positive working capital to fund sufficiently its short-term debts nearing maturity, finance its operational expenses and continue with its daily operations. A negative working capital means that the firm cannot meet its daily operations, fund its upcoming expenses or operate sufficiently (Horngren Sundem, 2013, p. 45). Car Ab Ltd had a negative working capital both in 2014 and 2015. Its working capital reduced further from negative (- 1904) in 2014 to negative (-3566) in 2015. Conversely, the working capital(days of sales ) which shows the number of days it takes the customers to clear their credit sales by the company increased further from negative(12) in 2014 to negative (22) in 2015 (Gleim, 2001, p. 61). The reduced working capital was attributed to the increased amount of inventories from 5,800 in 2014 to 6,913 in 2015 and increased amount of credit sales i.e. payables from 8,845 in 2014 to 10,600 in 2015. A number of other liabilities also rose from 4839 in 2014 to 6170 in 2015. In 2014, it took customers 24 days to clear their debts. However, the number increased to 39 in 2015. It is important to note that the receivables account rose from 6,080 in 2014 to 6,291 in 2015 ( Cheffi Beldi, 2012, p. 94). With a more negative working capital and working capital in days on sales, Car Ab Ltd is not in the position to meet its short-term financial and operational obligations. The capital employed Capital Employed End of 2015 End of 2014 Fixed Assets 22545 20722 Working Capital -3566 -1904 Capital Employed 18979 18818 Equity 14590 14718 Net Debt 4389 4100 Capital Employed 18979 18818 Brief Analysis Capital employed refers to the total amount of capital invested in acquiring revenue. The Car Ab Ltd.s capital employed decreased by $ 161 from $ 18818 in 2014 to 18979 in 2015. Fixed assets increased from 20,722 in 2014 to 22,545 in 2015. The reduction experienced in the operating capital was contributed by significant reduction of the working capital as stated above (Ittelson, 2009, p. 54). Conversely, net debts investments increased significantly by $289 from $4100 in 2014 to $4389 in 2015 while Equity investments decreased from 14,717 in 2015 to 14,590 in 2015. The information shows that the companys shareholders demanded to be paid more dividends leaving the company with less amount to invest (Tracy, 2012, p. 89). To enhance its growth regarding operational performance, and increased revenues, the management should increase the capital employed by reducing the amount of bonus and dividends payable to shareholders as well as look for other methods of funding its projects besides debts. For instance, the company should authorize the sale of more common shares to the public through Initial Public Offering (IPO) ( Hoyle, et al., 2012, p. 187). Build the cash-flow statement The Car Ab Ltd cash flow statement for the year 2015 is calculated as shown below; Cash Flow Statement 2015 Net Income 812 Depreciation 415 Change in Working Capital -1662 Operating Cash Flow 2889 Less: Investment Expenses 2238 Free Cash Flow 651 Add: Capital Increase 0 Less: Dividends 940 Add: Change in borrowing 1374 Change in Cash 1085 Brief Analysis The company had a free cash flow of 651 after investment expenses had been deducted. The free cash flow was also affected by the adverse change in working capital and positive changes in the fixed asset depreciation (Ross, 2010, p. 145). Part of the free cash flow was used to pay dividends to the shareholders (940) and paying part of the company debt capital (1374) However; it should be noted that the company did not increase its equity/ capital investment from the income. The change in cash and cash equivalents increased by 963 at the end of 2015 ( Kieso , et al., 2011, p. 46). Analyse the operating performance (ROCE) Operating Performance 2015 2014 Effective Tax Rate 0.35 0.32 ROCE (Before Tax) 0.0923 0.125 ROCE (After Tax) 0.06 0.085 Operating Margin (B4 Tax) 0.0297 0.04 Operating Margin (After Tax) 0.0193 0.027 Capital Employed Turnover 3.11 3.1 Brief Analysis The companys ROCE before tax decreased from 9.23% in 2014 to 12.5% in 2015. The change shows the company ineffectiveness in controlling its growth. The companys operating margin decreased from 4.02% to 2.97% before and 2.7% in 2014 to 1.93% in 2015 after tax (Kelly Barrow , 2016, p. 121). The deterioration of the companys operating performance was majorly contributed by the decreased of capital employed in investments. However, the company made efficient use of its operating capital as shown in the Capital Employed turnover. The ratio progressed slightly from 3.1 in 2014 to 3.11 in 2015 (Byrne, 2012, p. 46). Assess the financial leverage and the Return On Equity ROE Financial Leverage 2015 2014 Return on Equity 0.056 0.087 Effective Cost of Debt 503 459 Kd 0.1147 0.112 Gearing 0.3008 0.279 Financial Leverage -0.0043 0.0024 Brief Analysis: Just like the reduction of the ROCE after tax, the Return on Equity dropped from 8.72% in 2014 to 5.7% in 2015. The effective cost of debt increased from 459 in 2014 to 503 in 2015. Poor ROE returns resulted from the rising cost of debt and negative financial leverages. For the gearing percentage, it can be revealed that the company reduced its dependency on debt to fund its investment and operational; activities. In 2014, gearing stood at 30.08% but decreased to 27.9% in 2015. The ROE and financial Leverage analysis shows that the company is performing poorly as far as its investments are concerned (Kaplan, 2012, p. 287). Assess solvency and liquidity Solvency and Liquidity 2015 2014 Gearing 0.3 0.279 Net Debt / Operating cash flow 1.52 - Current Ratio * 0.94 1.01 Quick Ratio * 0.58 0.64 Cash Ratio * 0.26 0.26 Brief Analysis The company has no issue with solvency. The gearing percentage (i.e. the extent of which debt versus equity funds the company's operations) decreased from 30% in 2014 to 27.9% in 2015. Likewise, in 2015, 15.2% of the operating cash flow came from net debts. Therefore, the creditors should be a bit worried (Michael, 2012, p. 18). The liquidity ratios are very low, and the company is not in the position to meet its daily financial obligations. The current ratio, which shows the ability of an organization to fund its day-to-day operation using current liability decreased from 1.01 in 2014 to 0.94 in 2015. Likewise, the quick ratio, which is obtained by dividing current assets minus inventories by current liabilities reduced from 0.64 in 2014 to 0.58 in 2015 (Michael Pizzica, 2015, p.122). However cash ratio, which is the amount of cash and cash equivalents an organization has against current liabilities, remained constant between the two periods. brief summary with your comments and recommendations on the financial situation and performance of the company The Car Ab Ltd is not competitive in the market based on the financial analysis conducted above. The company has failed to control its operations efficiently and is also faced with liquidity issues. The number of days it takes the customers to clear their credit sales by the company increased during the 2015 financial period (Proctor, 2012, p. 97). Therefore, during the days of the sales period, the company is not in a position to meet its short-term financial obligation. The management should introduce policies aimed at reducing the number of days the customers are possible to stay with the companys debts. For example by introducing discounts and bonuses on cash sales, many customers will strive to go cash purchases to have the discounts stated (Simons, 2013, p. 154). Likewise, introducing a policy where credit customers are offered discounted for clearing their debts within ten days following the sales would increase cash collections. Second, the company has an ineffective internal control system. This has been revealed by increase on the number of stocks in the companys warehouse at the end of 2015. Likewise. The number of liabilities also increased. It would be expected that with the number of increased ordering of stock, the companys cash and cash equivalents would have increased significantly ( Horngren , et al., 2011, p. 67). There is a possibility of growing number of dead stock. The company should introduce an effective internal control system to reduce the stock being held in the warehouse. For example, the management should offer discounts on large purchases. Second, the company should use the ABC stock ordering method. The shareholders demanded to be paid dividends even with the poor organizational performance, therefore, escalating the level of financial risk facing the company. Payment of dividends limited the companys ability for further growth or investment. The gearing percentage shows that the company depends on mostly on debts to fund its operations (Vaughn, 2007, p. 150). Low level of equity capital can only mean that the shareholders have lost their trust on the management to maximize the value of their funds. Things are likely to worsen when the bank and other financial institutions cannot give the company loans to run its activities. With the current financial trend, the organization is heading to insolvency (Gibson, 2008, p. 211). The liquidity ratio also shows that the firm is facing adverse short-term liquidity problems. First, from the current ratio it has been revealed that the company lacks enough current assets to meet its daily obligations. In 2015, the company only had 0.94 in current assets to pay for my dollar owed to the creditors (Tracy, 2012, p. 108). Second, the quick ratio was even whose with only o.58 dollars to pay for a single dollar owed to the creditors. With the current situation, the company is not in a position to expand its market share, invest more capital, meet both its short-term and long-term financial obligations and compete in the market (Guenther, 2004, p. 303). Conclusion Car Ab Ltd is in a financial crisis, and there is a lot to be done to save the company from insolvency. The management should strive to gain shareholders trust and influence them to invest more money in the company. References List Cheffi, . W. Beldi, A., 2012. An Analysis of Managers' Use of Management Accounting. International Journal of Business, 17(2). Horngren , C. T., Datar, S. M. Rajan, M. V., 2011. Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Hoyle, J. B., Schaefer, T. Doupnik , T., 2012. Advanced Accounting. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Kieso , D. E., Weygandt, J. J. Warfield, T. D., 2011. Intermediate Accounting. New York: Wiley. Blocher, E., Stout , D. Cokins, G., 2009. Cost Management: A Strategic Emphasis. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Byrne, A., 2012. Practical Accounts and Bookkeeping In Easy Step, London,UK: In Easy Steps Limited. Gibson, C., 2008. Financial Reporting and Analysis: Using Financial Accounting Information. New Jersey: Cengage Learning. Gleim, I. N., 2001. CMA Review, Part 2: Financial Decision Making. London, UK: Gleim Pubns. Guenther, D. A., 2004. Financial Reporting and Analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill. Horngren, C. Sundem, G., 2013. Introduction to Management Accounting Global Edition. New York: Pearson. Ittelson, T. R., 2009. Financial Statements: A Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding and Creating Financial Reports. New Jersey: Career Pr Inc; Rev Exp edition. Kaplan, D., 2012. Introduction To Financial Statement Analysis. New Delhi, India: The Kaplan Group. Kelly, J. E. Barrow , P., 2016. Bookkeeping For Dummies. 4th ed. London, UK: John Wiley Sons. Michael, P. Pizzica, A. J., 2015. Financial Ratios for Executives: How to Assess Company Strength, Fix Problems, and Make Better Decisions. London: Apress. Michael, Z., 2012. Financial Decision Making Using Computational Intelligence, Chicago: Springer . Proctor, R., 2012. Managerial Accounting: Decision Making and Performance Improvement. 4TH ed. London, UK: Pearson. Reed, P., 2014. Strategic Marketing: Decision Making and Planning. 4 ed. Australia: Cengage Learning . Ross, S. A., 2010. Corporate Finance. London, UK: McGraw-Hill Higher Education; European. Simons, R., 2013. Performance Measurement and Control Systems for Implementing Strategy Text and Cases: Pearson New International Edition. London, UK: Pearsons. Tracy, A., 2012. Ratio Analysis Fundamentals: How 17 Financial Ratios Can Allow You to Analyse Any Business on the Planet. New York: Bidi Capital Pty Ltd. Vaughn, R. H., 2007. Decision Making and Problem Solving in Management. 3rd edition ed. London: Crown Custom Publishing.

The Moon Is Down Essay Example For Students

The Moon Is Down Essay BASIC STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE STUDIESEffective learning depends upon good study habits. Efficient study skills do not simply occur; they must first be learned and then applied consistently. Good study strategies include a preset time for study, a desirable place to study, and a well-designed study plan. A Time to studyAll of us think we have more things to do than we have time to do, and studying gets shortchanged. It is important to prepare a schedule of daily activities that includes time slots for doing the studying we have to do. Within each study slot, write in the specific study activity; for example, ?Read Unit 6 of accounting; do Problems 1-5.? Keep the schedule flexible so that it can be modified after you assess your success in meeting your study goals within each time slot. We will write a custom essay on The Moon Is Down specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now A Place to studyChoose the best place to study and use the same one every day. Doing so will help to put you in a study mood when you enter that place. According to Usova (1989, 37), ? The library is not always a desirable place to study.? Choose a place that has the fewest distractions such as people traffic, conversation, telephone, TV, and outside noises. Study is usually best done alone and in the absence of sights and sounds that distract the eye and ear. In your chosen quite place, force the mind to concentrate on the task at hand. A Plan for StudyResearch on the effects of specific study skills on student performance (Dansereau, 1985, 39) suggests that the following study tactics help to improve academic performance. 1. Skim a unit or a chapter, noting headings, topic sentences, key words, and definitions. This overview will clue you to what you are about to study. 2. As you read a unit or chapter, convert the headings into questions; then seek answers to those questions as you read. 3. If you own the book, use the color marking pens to highlight important ideas: headings, topic sentences, special terms, definitions, and supporting facts. If you dont own the book, make notes of these important ideas and facts. 4. After you have completed a unit or chapter, review the highlighted item (or your notes which contain them.) 5. Using the headings stated as questions, see if you can answer those questions based on your reading. 6. Test yourself to see if you can recall definitions of important terms and list of supporting facts or ideas. A high correlation exists between good study habits and good grades for the courses taken in school. REFERENCESDansereau, D. F. ?Learning Strategy Research.? Thinking and Learning Skills. Vol.1. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence E Erlbaum 1985, 21-40. Usova, George M. Efficient Study Strategies. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1989.

Free Essays on The Midwifes Apprentice

The Midwife’s Apprentice Alyce was no one but â€Å"Dung Beetle† to the world, a homeless young girl in medieval England. Then, a midwife named Jane Sharp found her sleeping in the cold and called the young girl to be her apprentice. Soon, Alyce learned more about the life of a midwife, in time able to deliver a baby by herself. But when Alyce fails at her second delivery attempt, she runs away, trying to find a place in this world, only to discover that the only place she belongs is by the midwife’s side. The medieval time period in the book is obvious throughout. Alyce was a mere preteen and the adults that lived in the community around her treated her as if she was an adult. In those days that was very common. For instance, children would have to find jobs just as Alyce did to support themselves. If they didn’t and they were without a place to stay, the children would be thrown on to the streets. If this were to happen, one would have to beg for food and lay on the cold ground or waste piles to sleep. It was not a healthy life to live. Medical treatment was not sanitary at that time. For example, after a newborns’ umbilical cord had been cut (using string and a carving knife from the kitchen) if certain herbal oils weren‘t readily available spit was used as an alternative. It was implied in the book that when Alyce delivered a child she didn’t have clean hands. In contrast to that, in recent times most doctors don’t even use their bare hands to deliver a baby. Also, instead of advanced painkillers for delivering a baby, herbs, witchcraft and prayers were used as an aid to the mothers giving birth. Most of any medieval midwife’s knowledge of delivering a child centered upon herbs. When a midwife would pick herbs for delivering a child first she would pick them and then prepare them using ancient rituals. The ritual depended upon where the herbs were picked, what they looked and tasted like, and what the ruli... Free Essays on The Midwife's Apprentice Free Essays on The Midwife's Apprentice The Midwife’s Apprentice Alyce was no one but â€Å"Dung Beetle† to the world, a homeless young girl in medieval England. Then, a midwife named Jane Sharp found her sleeping in the cold and called the young girl to be her apprentice. Soon, Alyce learned more about the life of a midwife, in time able to deliver a baby by herself. But when Alyce fails at her second delivery attempt, she runs away, trying to find a place in this world, only to discover that the only place she belongs is by the midwife’s side. The medieval time period in the book is obvious throughout. Alyce was a mere preteen and the adults that lived in the community around her treated her as if she was an adult. In those days that was very common. For instance, children would have to find jobs just as Alyce did to support themselves. If they didn’t and they were without a place to stay, the children would be thrown on to the streets. If this were to happen, one would have to beg for food and lay on the cold ground or waste piles to sleep. It was not a healthy life to live. Medical treatment was not sanitary at that time. For example, after a newborns’ umbilical cord had been cut (using string and a carving knife from the kitchen) if certain herbal oils weren‘t readily available spit was used as an alternative. It was implied in the book that when Alyce delivered a child she didn’t have clean hands. In contrast to that, in recent times most doctors don’t even use their bare hands to deliver a baby. Also, instead of advanced painkillers for delivering a baby, herbs, witchcraft and prayers were used as an aid to the mothers giving birth. Most of any medieval midwife’s knowledge of delivering a child centered upon herbs. When a midwife would pick herbs for delivering a child first she would pick them and then prepare them using ancient rituals. The ritual depended upon where the herbs were picked, what they looked and tasted like, and what the ruli...

Barilla Spa Executive Summary

Distributors will provide actual sales data which will be the basis of forecasting and production thus increasing in efficiency in operation and alleviating stock out among distributors. JITD will lead to improved supplier-customer relationship which in the long run can be perceived as a win-win situation. Internal resistance coming from Sales and Marketing will be resolved by involving the top management and by presenting the benefits of the JITD in figures and by emphasizing that role of Sales team in JITD is of paramount to the implementation. External resistance will be combated by thorough discussion presenting the long term benefits of all parties involved. Implementation of JITD as soon as possible will position Barilla on even stronger pasta producer and will potentially increase growth rate of the company resulting from increased business efficiencies and reduced cost. Barilla can have a pilot run on the DO (Distribuzione Organizzata) where sales representatives functions are dominant, sales representatives are one of the key factors on the success of JITD implementation. Weekly meeting between Barilla and DO will have to take place for couple of months upon implementation to monitor its status. ISSUE IDENTIFICATION A. Immediate Issue Because Barilla is facing extreme variability in demand week by week which causes operational inefficiencies, high inventory and stock outs, Maggiali is fighting for the implementation of Just In Time Distribution (JITD) system despite of the internal objection from Sales and Marketing team and external resistance from distributors. B. Systemic Issues †¢Poor Forecasting system Nature: StrategicTiming: Short term Long term Most distributors like GDs and DOs check inventory levels and place orders with Barilla once per week using simple periodic review. They do not follow any forecasting model; they just do replenishment ordering without minimum/maximum quantity. Barilla has no visibility on actual data, their basis of production is per distributors’ information per week and this causes pressure on manufacturing distribution team of Barilla. Too many SKUs High level of inventory Nature: StrategicTiming: Long term Short term On dry products alone, Barilla offers 800 SKU. Pasta is made in 200 different shapes and sizes and has more than 470 packaged SKUs. Typically distributors carry 150SKU out of 800 SKUs Barilla leaving high inventory on the CDC. There is high level of inventory across the chain; overall there is about 2 months of inventory on the entire supply chain at any given time. †¢Frequent Trade Promotion leads to Bulk Ordering Nature: Tactical Timing: Short term Barilla has 10-12 canvass period which each corresponding to a promotional program. During the canvass distributor can buy as much as he wants in order to avail the promotion and this is welcomed by sales representatives because their incentive is dependent on achieving sales goal for that canvass period. Barilla also offers volume discount and transportation discount in full truck load order quantities. The situation leads to bulk ordering which causes demand fluctuation. †¢Long Lead time Nature: StrategicTiming: Long term and Short term Distributors place order to Barilla once per week only using simple periodic review system and lead time is eight to fourteen days, due to long lead time distributors either order high inventory or it results to stock out at distributor’s customer. ENVIRONMENTAL ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS Barilla is the largest manufacturer of pasta in the world, making 35% of all pasta sold in Italy and 22% of all pasta sold in Europe. However, Barilla suffers from Bullwhip effect due to huge variability in demand that resulted to operational inefficiencies such as increased cost on transportation, distribution inventory. stock out (see exhibit 1). On the production itself the set up are very specific, the company is incapable of meeting fluctuating demand because they consider sequential production to avoid huge set up cost. When demand fluctuates manufacturing and distribution team experience too much pressure. Barilla has complex distribution; presence of multiple intermediaries slows down the delivery lead time to ultimate customer. Carrying too much variety on dry products, 800 SKUs also leads to long production lead-time because they maintain sequence of production based on size and shape of pasta to reduce set up cost. Stock out occurs due to the fact that distributors maintain only 2 weeks inventory and delivery lead time from CDC is 8-14days. On table below it is evident that stock can happen in DC/DO level because 2 weeks delivery lead-time and maintaining 2 weeks inventory on the shelf. Price changes due to promotions and incentives cause demand fluctuation as well. Barilla has no visibility on what is happening in reality with the flow of their products in the market. Barilla lacks centralized information and sophisticated forecasting capability and because of this bullwhip effect occurs ( see exhibit 2). Due to severe fluctuation in demand Barilla is pushed to increase the buffer of finished goods to avoid stock out and this only means increase in raw materials inventory, carrying cost, transportation cost and production cost which is detrimental to the growth of the company. Since Barilla’s production is based on input of distributors, Barilla in the long run may lose the market share if distributors find that other brands are selling more and decide to carry competitor’s product instead. Lack of knowledge on the actual sales data on the market will have a negative effect on Barilla; it has to establish smooth business relationship with all the supply chain channels and not only with the distributors. . RECOMMENDATION From my overall analyses given the facts presented I strongly recommend to proceed with option number 1- to implement JITD. Reason is because thru JITD Barilla will have the centralized information and will have access to actual sales information which they will be using to plan procurement of raw materials, production, logistics , safety stock , inventory accordingly . Also, thru JITD Barilla will have a chance to establish good supplier-customer relationship with the distributors and even with the supermarkets, this is very critical in running successful business. Barilla will have the control of production and not based on the order of distributor. Ultimately Bullwhip effect will be managed. First phase would be to implement with the DO because of the presence of sales representatives on the area. It would be so much easier to implement the plan since sales representatives of Barilla often spends 90% of the time in DO. Barilla Spa Executive Summary Distributors will provide actual sales data which will be the basis of forecasting and production thus increasing in efficiency in operation and alleviating stock out among distributors. JITD will lead to improved supplier-customer relationship which in the long run can be perceived as a win-win situation. Internal resistance coming from Sales and Marketing will be resolved by involving the top management and by presenting the benefits of the JITD in figures and by emphasizing that role of Sales team in JITD is of paramount to the implementation. External resistance will be combated by thorough discussion presenting the long term benefits of all parties involved. Implementation of JITD as soon as possible will position Barilla on even stronger pasta producer and will potentially increase growth rate of the company resulting from increased business efficiencies and reduced cost. Barilla can have a pilot run on the DO (Distribuzione Organizzata) where sales representatives functions are dominant, sales representatives are one of the key factors on the success of JITD implementation. Weekly meeting between Barilla and DO will have to take place for couple of months upon implementation to monitor its status. ISSUE IDENTIFICATION A. Immediate Issue Because Barilla is facing extreme variability in demand week by week which causes operational inefficiencies, high inventory and stock outs, Maggiali is fighting for the implementation of Just In Time Distribution (JITD) system despite of the internal objection from Sales and Marketing team and external resistance from distributors. B. Systemic Issues †¢Poor Forecasting system Nature: StrategicTiming: Short term Long term Most distributors like GDs and DOs check inventory levels and place orders with Barilla once per week using simple periodic review. They do not follow any forecasting model; they just do replenishment ordering without minimum/maximum quantity. Barilla has no visibility on actual data, their basis of production is per distributors’ information per week and this causes pressure on manufacturing distribution team of Barilla. Too many SKUs High level of inventory Nature: StrategicTiming: Long term Short term On dry products alone, Barilla offers 800 SKU. Pasta is made in 200 different shapes and sizes and has more than 470 packaged SKUs. Typically distributors carry 150SKU out of 800 SKUs Barilla leaving high inventory on the CDC. There is high level of inventory across the chain; overall there is about 2 months of inventory on the entire supply chain at any given time. †¢Frequent Trade Promotion leads to Bulk Ordering Nature: Tactical Timing: Short term Barilla has 10-12 canvass period which each corresponding to a promotional program. During the canvass distributor can buy as much as he wants in order to avail the promotion and this is welcomed by sales representatives because their incentive is dependent on achieving sales goal for that canvass period. Barilla also offers volume discount and transportation discount in full truck load order quantities. The situation leads to bulk ordering which causes demand fluctuation. †¢Long Lead time Nature: StrategicTiming: Long term and Short term Distributors place order to Barilla once per week only using simple periodic review system and lead time is eight to fourteen days, due to long lead time distributors either order high inventory or it results to stock out at distributor’s customer. ENVIRONMENTAL ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS Barilla is the largest manufacturer of pasta in the world, making 35% of all pasta sold in Italy and 22% of all pasta sold in Europe. However, Barilla suffers from Bullwhip effect due to huge variability in demand that resulted to operational inefficiencies such as increased cost on transportation, distribution inventory. stock out (see exhibit 1). On the production itself the set up are very specific, the company is incapable of meeting fluctuating demand because they consider sequential production to avoid huge set up cost. When demand fluctuates manufacturing and distribution team experience too much pressure. Barilla has complex distribution; presence of multiple intermediaries slows down the delivery lead time to ultimate customer. Carrying too much variety on dry products, 800 SKUs also leads to long production lead-time because they maintain sequence of production based on size and shape of pasta to reduce set up cost. Stock out occurs due to the fact that distributors maintain only 2 weeks inventory and delivery lead time from CDC is 8-14days. On table below it is evident that stock can happen in DC/DO level because 2 weeks delivery lead-time and maintaining 2 weeks inventory on the shelf. Price changes due to promotions and incentives cause demand fluctuation as well. Barilla has no visibility on what is happening in reality with the flow of their products in the market. Barilla lacks centralized information and sophisticated forecasting capability and because of this bullwhip effect occurs ( see exhibit 2). Due to severe fluctuation in demand Barilla is pushed to increase the buffer of finished goods to avoid stock out and this only means increase in raw materials inventory, carrying cost, transportation cost and production cost which is detrimental to the growth of the company. Since Barilla’s production is based on input of distributors, Barilla in the long run may lose the market share if distributors find that other brands are selling more and decide to carry competitor’s product instead. Lack of knowledge on the actual sales data on the market will have a negative effect on Barilla; it has to establish smooth business relationship with all the supply chain channels and not only with the distributors. . RECOMMENDATION From my overall analyses given the facts presented I strongly recommend to proceed with option number 1- to implement JITD. Reason is because thru JITD Barilla will have the centralized information and will have access to actual sales information which they will be using to plan procurement of raw materials, production, logistics , safety stock , inventory accordingly . Also, thru JITD Barilla will have a chance to establish good supplier-customer relationship with the distributors and even with the supermarkets, this is very critical in running successful business. Barilla will have the control of production and not based on the order of distributor. Ultimately Bullwhip effect will be managed. First phase would be to implement with the DO because of the presence of sales representatives on the area. It would be so much easier to implement the plan since sales representatives of Barilla often spends 90% of the time in DO.

Marketing planing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Marketing planing - Assignment Example Analyzing marketing plan of Boots UK Limited will be the essence of this paper while understanding the research problem in context to theoretical argument of various research scholars. Before going to this discussion, the researcher will try to understand the business matrix of Boots UK Limited. Boots UK Limited- Business Overview Boots was established by John Boot in the year 1849 and the company is headquartered in Nottingham, United Kingdom (Boots-UK, 2013a). Boots UK is the subsidiary of Alliance Boots which is a multinational pharmacy-led health and beauty group (Boots-UK, 2013b). Boots UK works in close partnership with pharmacists and medicine manufacturers in order to maintain steady flow of supply. The company focuses on three major business verticals such as pharmaceutical wholesaling & retail distribution, pharmacy-led health supplement distribution and beauty retailing (Boots-UK, 2013b). Although the parent company Alliance Boots has established its presence over 25 count ries but subsidiary Boots UK has not expanded its operation beyond UK and Ireland. Boots UK Limited (Boots) has expanded its retail operation with the help of establishing 2500 stores in UK and Ireland. The pharmacy chain serves more than 7 million customers every week and the company earns revenue over ?5 billion (Tata Consultancy Services, 2007). Task 1 Ans.1b- Careful analysis of the research work of Sheth and Sisodia (2006) reveals the fact that both product and service driven companies have started to look into marketing planning as a strategic move instead of perceiving it as a mere operational trick to generate brand awareness. Modern companies separately allocate resources for formulating and executing the marketing plan. Sheth and Sisodia (2006) argued that modern marketers have started viewing marketing plan as a means for generating customer satisfaction and loyalty. Modern marketing plan is created after conducting deep market research on consumer behavior, economic powe r index of customer, demography of customers, social dynamics of customers while in previous occasions, marketing plan was developed on the basis of product selling objectives. However, Wood (2008) pointed out that pattern of marketing plan changed in terms on inclusion of social elements in the planning phase. For example, modern marketers emphasize heavily on creating human touch points or human appeal through the marketing plan while in previous occasions, marketing plans were mechanical in nature. Capabilities of Boots UK Limited (Boots) can be assessed in terms of its resources which can be classified as tangible, intangible and human resources. Tangible Resource Intangible Resource Human Resource Capabilities Boots work as the subsidy of Alliance Boots which earns annual revenue of more than $40 billion with operating profit of $2billion. Hence, the group is in financially stable position to finance its marketing plan. Boots is market leader in UK’s pharmacy-led health and beauty with 2,500 distribution centres. Boots has got intellectual capital by establishing patent contract with leading pharmaceutical companies. Contract with pharmaceutical companies help Boots to sell generic drugs in exclusive manner to customers. The company maintains the heritage of 164 years which is greatest drive for building the brand equity for Boots. In many occasions, Boots

The Annexation of Hawaii Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Annexation of Hawaii - Essay Example The process itself was rocky indeed, being ultimately accomplished only after years of international negotiation, domestic debate, and political maneuvering. The importance of the event was significant enough in its day, but it would prove even more important half a century later. The annexation of the territory that would eventually become the fiftieth state was far from easy. The events preceding the annexation of Hawaii were a mixture of economic and political dynamics that had been brewing for several decades. Those circumstances would ultimately be brought to a clear conclusion by the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. The economic background immediately preceding the debate over annexing Hawaii centered around one concept; free trade. Initially, "[t]he American approach to Hawaii, like that to China or to the Pacific coast of North America, was a matter of private enterprise, without government intervention" (Best & Johnson 79). As more American and foreign investment poured into Hawaii, however, it became clear that there would have to be some form of public policy steps taken to address the growing concerns regarding commerce, immigration, and the political ramifications in the Kingdom of Hawaii. One problem was that the American sugar industry had the protection of tariffs, and the Hawaiian economy was becoming more and more dependent on the American markets. This resulted in a natural confluence of interests pointing toward annexation, particularly after Hawaii was given a favored trade status. That said, however, "[t]here was no unified 'voice of business' calling for annexation, not even in Hawaii...and in the United States beet and cane sugar producers, some refiners, and others argued against incorporation of Hawaii into the union. It can probably be safely said that the great majority of American businessmen were quite indifferent to the admission of Hawaii..." (Best & Johnson 142). Politically, there was the ever-present debate between those who did not want to entangle the United States in matters beyond its immediate borders and those with a more expansionist view. This debate was one of the key reasons that annexation took so long to accomplish; having seen the first treaty efforts as early as 1854 and not ultimately accomplishing the goal until some forty-four years later. Charges of American imperialism were raised, against which the expansionists countered with the protection of strategic national interests. The debate was rhetorical and theoretical until one foreign policy event made everything important: The Spanish-American War. As Fletcher notes: Among these unresolved forces and policies, the Spanish-American War served as a kind of catalyst... Although the war was only indirectly brought about by Pacific or Far Eastern factors, it profoundly influenced developments in that part of the world through the largely unplanned American annexation of the Philippines... The war also led at once to the annexation of Hawaii..." (Pletcher 258) Considering the natural convergence of economic and political issues that had been building from early in the 19th Century, when the war broke out and America realized its vital interests in Asia were

Payroll System Essay Example for Free

Payroll System Essay Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Background of the Study Nowadays all establishment are becoming modernized, they use modern technologies to make their transaction fast, easy, and accurate in order to avoid waste of time and for the sake of safety and security. It also helps human to solve and understand complex problem and analysis such us the computational need of humans. Especially to business establishment or corporation processing enormous data and complex transaction. Payroll is an example of a complex transaction because it is a critical business operation dealing with numerous accounts and produce plenty and confidential files. Payroll is encompasses every employee of a company who receives a regular wages or other compensation due to each. In a company, payroll is the sum of all financial records of salaries for an employee, wages, bonuses and deductions. In accounting, payroll refers to the amount paid to employees for services they provided during a certain period of time. Payroll plays a major role in a company for several reasons. From an accounting perspective, payroll is crucial because payroll and payroll taxes considerably affect the net income of most companies and they are subject to laws and regulations (e.g. in the US payroll is subject to federal and state regulations). From an ethics in business viewpoint payroll is a critical department as employees are responsive to payroll errors and irregularities: good employee morale requires payroll to be paid timely and accurately. The primary mission of the payroll department is to ensure that all employees are paid accurately and timely with the correct withholdings and deductions, and to ensure the withholdings and deductions are remitted in a timely manner. This includes salary payments, tax withholdings, and deductions from a paycheck. Companies typically generate their payrolls at regular intervals, for the benefit of regular income to their employees. The regularity of the intervals varies from company to company, and sometimes between job grades within a given company. Common payroll frequencies include: daily, weekly, bi- weekly (once every two weeks), semi-monthly (twice per month), and to a somewhat lesser extent, monthly. Less common payroll frequencies include: 4-weekly (13 times per year), bi-monthly (once every two months), quarterly  (ones every 13 weeks), semi-annually (twice per year), and annually. Payroll Systems reduces employer costs, liability, and administrative burden through integrated solutions. Advantages include: Flexible and comprehensive solutions that organize, integrate, and simplify complex business processes Liability reduction through diligent compliance systems, support, and oversight Accurate and reliable processing and reporting Secure data management and transactions Applying manual procedure on a Payroll transaction involving the vast beat answer in that problem would be computer because computers can simulate enormous data and can process complex transaction in a fast and efficient way. It can generate numerous accounts and data accurately. A Computerized Payroll System will not only provide accurate calculation and fast process of Payroll transaction but it will secure data through security implementation and accordingly arrange files provided by a well-designed database that will produce a paperless environment. The municipality of Sta. Josefa was created on March 1, 1965 under Republic Act. No. 1515. The municipality, as a political and corporate body, is mandated to ensure and support the preservation and enrichment of culture, promote health and safety, enhance the right of the people to a balanced ecology, encourage and support the development of appropriate and self- reliant and technological capabilities, improve public morals, enhance economic prosperity and social justice, maintain peace and order, and preserve the comfort and convenience of its people. Sta. Josefa’s primary vision is to grow as a prosperous and progressive agri-industrial municipality wherein people live peacefully in a just-clean and ecologically balance and God-loving community. Her mission is to promote genuine and active peoples participation in local development and governance geared towards equitable and stable economic growth based on agri-industrialization, accessible service delivery and sustainable environmental management. The municipality maintained three types of fund, namely; General Fund, Special Education fund, and Trust Fund. The general fund includes the economic enterprises which the municipality runs, such as  the Farm Level Grain Center (FLGC), the Sta. Josefa Water Development System (SJWDS), the Motorpool Operations and the utilization of the 20% Municipal Development Fund. Presently, Local Government Unit (LGU) of Sta. Josefa, Agusan Del Sur is practicing the manual process on their Payroll System. It has separate manual process for the Regular Employees and J.O (Job-Order) employees. The total number of employees in the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Sta. Josefa, Agusan Del Sur is 90 regular employees and 50 job-order employees. Statement of the Problems 1. Time consuming process of payroll preparation The LGU of Sta. Joefa still using the manual method of payroll process. A lot of jobs are assigned to the payroll maker and accounting clerk, with cause’s inconvenience to their services. In this method, it will need more time and manpower to complete the payroll of each employee. 2. Laborious payroll process Nobody could admit the inescapable fact that what makes the manual procedure take a long time to finish the task is due to the many steps and processes to undergo. There is the collection of data such as DTR, REMITTANCES, and individual manual calculation of payroll. Individual data is transferred through sheets, encoding and double checking after calculating. All this process requires labor and effort to complete the task. 3. Misposting and understating of employee’s data The logical process of manual procedure result to too much time consumption. It often times result in misposting and understating of each employees data of plenty of files that is hard to accommodate. Review of Related Literature Payroll System Development and Integration. The client provides Employee Benefits Consulting, Human Resource Services, Benefits Administration, and Payroll, Property and Casualty and other services for client companies, enabling them to focus on their core businesses. The Challenge The client had payroll as part of their vast array of services, but wanted to provide clients with a single system of entry to manage and process payroll data.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"We needed to make a truly payroll integrated product from two separate systems with different programming, different databases and different technologies,† said the company’s Director of IT. â€Å"It was critical to have the solution developed for us in a timely manner in order to maximize the benefits for our valued clients.† The new solution would have to integrate a recently acquired nationally recognized payroll application — ExecuPay — with the client’s already already-established Web-based human resources and based a benefits system, AccessHR. The solution needed to share data between the two databases of each product as well as provide web based screens to expose all the payroll functionality to the web-based users. All of this needed to be accomplished behind behind-the-scenes, without any loss of existing thought information or any complications for legacy users of the legacy HR benefits system, during or after integration. â€Å"Our biggest challenge was that we specialize in HR benefits administration and consulting, not in software development,† the Director of IT said. â€Å"We chose Arris because the company had payment,† insurance industry experience with some of their other clients.† The Solution Arris identified the detailed requirements for the payroll functionality by analyzing the ExecuPay client application and then reverse engineering it to seamlessly integrate a single environment reverse-engineering that would give the client the desired single point of access.

Viva La Revolution :: essays research papers

Viva La Revolution   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What would it take to stir up the courage to bear arms against the government? The courage remains hidden for now. But when the time is right, when the future becomes the present, and the scene is set the courage of the people will shine true. This scene must be set to trigger the emotion and release the nationalism. Some occurrences that could stir the needed courage, regardless of the consequences, would be, in my eyes, perhaps the reinstatement of the Draft’s Board or any dictatorship actions performed by the government. A revolt could take place even at a simple rise of taxes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Drafts Board remained in use through many wars. But these wars and these ways of thinking are behind the American people. And perhaps behind the thinking of the American Government also. And if it were by some sick twist of fate ever reinstated many veterans and others would be bound to take a stand. The young people of America deserve their right to chose if they want to defend their country in war. The very freedom they have been chosen to protect would be gone. Therefore they must retain their right to chose. Our country was created by the struggle of a common people for a democratic government. And who in their right mind would not fight to keep their right to choose the leader of their country. That is what a democracy is about. If the American people decided to just let the government standardize us into certain categories we would be denying the honor of those who died to give us our individuality in the first place. Our government defends those who are caught in a dictatorship political structure, then the people must defend themselves from being in need of defense like those who we currently aide. In this situation Americans would have nearly no choice but to defend themselves by revolting. As the saying goes, only two things in life are certain, death and taxes. Although taxes may seem like petty reasoning for taking up arms, it deserves more contemplation. It was a constant raise of taxes that began the revolt by Americans against the English government in the origin of our fine country.

Mankiw Chapter 1 Solution

The answers to the Quick Quizzes can also be found near the end of the textbook. 1. The four principles of economic decision making are: (1) people face trade-offs; (2) the cost of something is what you give up to get it; (3) rational people think at the margin; and (4) people respond to incentives. People face trade-offs because to get one thing that they like, they usually have to give up another thing that they like. The cost of something is what you give up to get it, not just in terms of monetary costs but all opportunity costs.Rational people think at the margin by taking an action if and only if the marginal benefit exceeds the marginal cost. People respond to incentives because they choose activities by comparing benefits to costs; therefore, a change in these benefits or costs may cause their behavior to change. The three principles concerning people’s economic interactions are: (1) trade can make everyone better off; (2) markets are usually a good way to organize eco nomic activity; and (3) governments can sometimes improve market outcomes.Trade can make everyone better off because it allows countries to specialize in what they do best and to enjoy a wider variety of goods and services. Markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity because the invisible hand leads markets to desirable outcomes. Governments can sometimes improve market outcomes because markets may fail to allocate resources efficiently due to an externality or market power.The three principles that describe how the economy as a whole works are: (1) a country’s standard of living depends on its ability to produce goods and services; (2) prices rise when the government prints too much money; and (3) society faces a shortrun trade-off between inflation and unemployment. A country’s standard of living depends largely on the productivity of its workers, which in turn depends on the education of its workers and the access its workers have to the necessary t ools and technology. Prices rise when the government prints too much money because more money in circulation reduces the value of money, causing inflation.Society faces a short-run trade-off between inflation and unemployment that is only temporary. Policymakers have some short-term ability to exploit this relationship using various policy instruments. 2. 3. Questions for Review 1. Examples of trade-offs include time trade-offs (such as studying one subject over another or studying at all compared to engaging in social activities) and spending tradeoffs (such as whether to use your last 15 dollars to purchase a pizza or to buy a study guide for that tough economics course).The opportunity cost of seeing a movie includes the monetary cost of admission plus the time cost of going to the theater and attending the show. The time cost depends on what else you might do with that time; if it is staying home and watching TV, the time cost may be small, but if it is working an extra three ho urs at your job, the time cost is the money you could have earned. The marginal benefit of a glass of water depends on your circumstances. If you have just 2. 3. Chapter 1/Ten Principles of Economics 2 un a marathon or you have been walking in the desert sun for three hours, the marginal benefit is very high. But if you have been drinking a lot of liquids recently, the marginal benefit is quite low. The point is that even the necessities of life, like water, do not always have large marginal benefits. 4. Policymakers need to think about incentives so they can understand how people will respond to the policies they put in place. The text's example of seat belt laws shows that policy actions can have unintended consequences.If incentives matter a lot, they may lead to a very different type of policy; for example, some economists have suggested putting knives in steering columns so that people will drive much more carefully! While this suggestion is silly, it highlights the importance of incentives. Trade among countries is not a game with some losers and some winners because trade can make everyone better off. By allowing specialization, trade between people and trade between countries can improve everyone's welfare.The â€Å"invisible hand† of the marketplace represents the idea that even though individuals and firms are all acting in their own self-interest, prices and the marketplace guide them to do what is good for society as a whole. The two main causes of market failure are externalities and market power. An externality is the impact of one person’s actions on the well-being of a bystander, such as from pollution or the creation of knowledge. Market power refers to the ability of a single person (or small group of people) to unduly influence market prices, such as in a town with only one well or only one cable television company.In addition, a market economy also leads to an unequal distribution of income. Productivity is important because a country's standard of living depends on its ability to produce goods and services. The greater a country's productivity (the amount of goods and services produced from each hour of a worker's time), the greater its standard of living will be. Inflation is an increase in the overall level of prices in the economy. Inflation is caused by increases in the quantity of a nation's money.Inflation and unemployment are negatively related in the short run. Thus, reducing inflation entails costs to society in the form of higher unemployment in the short run. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Problems and Applications 1. a. A family deciding whether to buy a new car faces a trade-off between the cost of the car and other things they might want to buy. For example, buying the car might mean they must give up going on vacation for the next two years. So the real cost of the car is the family's opportunity cost in terms of what they must give up.For a member of Congress deciding whether to increase spending on national parks, the trade-off is between parks and other spending items or tax cuts. If more money goes into the park system, that may mean less spending on national defense or on the police force. Or, instead of spending more money on the park system, taxes could be reduced. b. Chapter 1/Ten Principles of Economics c. 3 When a company president decides whether to open a new factory, the decision is based on whether the new factory will increase the firm's profits compared to other alternatives.For example, the company could upgrade existing equipment or expand existing factories. The bottom line is: Which method of expanding production will increase profit the most? In deciding how much to prepare for class, a professor faces a trade-off between the value of improving the quality of the lecture compared to other things she could do with her time, such as working on additional research. d. 2. When the benefits of something are psychological, such as going on a vacation, it is not e asy to compare benefits to costs to determine if it is worth doing.But there are two ways to think about the benefits. One is to compare the vacation with what you would do in its place. If you did not go on vacation, would you buy something like a new set of golf clubs? Then you can decide if you would rather have the new clubs or the vacation. A second way is to think about how hard you had to work to earn the money to pay for the vacation. You can then decide if the psychological benefits of the vacation were worth the psychological cost of working.If you are thinking of going skiing instead of working at your part-time job, the cost of skiing includes its monetary and time costs, which includes the opportunity cost of the wages you are giving up by not working. If the choice is between skiing and going to the library to study, then the cost of skiing is its monetary and time costs including the cost of getting lower grades in your courses. If you spend $100 now instead of saving it for a year and earning 5 percent interest, you are giving up the opportunity to spend $105 a year from now.The fact that you have already sunk $5 million is not relevant to your decision anymore, because that money is gone. What matters now is the chance to earn profits at the margin. If you spend another $1 million and can generate sales of $3 million, you'll earn $2 million in marginal profit, so you should do so. You are right to think that the project has lost a total of $3 million ($6 million in costs and only $3 million in revenue) and you should not have started it. That is true, but if you do not spend the additional $1 million, you will not have any sales and your losses will be $5 million.So what matters is not the total profit, but the profit you can earn at the margin. In fact, you wouldd pay up to $3 million to complete development; any more than that, and you will not be increasing profit at the margin. Harry suggests looking at whether productivity would rise or f all. Productivity is certainly important, since the more productive workers are, the lower the cost per gallon of potion. Ron wants to look at average cost. But both Harry and Ron are missing the other side of the equation? revenue. A firm wants to maximize its profits, so it needs to examine both costs and revenues.Thus, Hermione is right? it is best to examine whether the extra revenue would exceed the extra costs. Hermione is the only one who is thinking at the margin. a. The provision of Social Security benefits lowers an individual’s incentive to save for retirement. The benefits provide some level of income to the individual when he or she retires. This means that the individual is not entirely dependent on savings to support consumption through the years in retirement. Since a person gets fewer after-tax Social Security benefits the greater his or her 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. b.Chapter 1/Ten Principles of Economics earnings are, there is an incentive not to work (or not work as much) after age 65. The more you work, the lower your after-tax Social Security benefits will be. Thus, the taxation of Social Security benefits discourages work effort after age 65. 8. a. b. When welfare recipients have their benefits cut off after two years, they have a greater incentive to find jobs than if their benefits were to last forever. 4 The loss of benefits means that someone who cannot find a job will get no income at all, so the distribution of income will become less equal.But the economy will be more efficient, because welfare recipients have a greater incentive to find jobs. Thus, the change in the law is one that increases efficiency but reduces equity. 9. By specializing in each task, you and your roommate can finish the chores more quickly. If you divided each task equally, it would take you more time to cook than it would take your roommate, and it would take him more time to clean than it would take you. By specializing, you reduce the total time spent on chore s. Similarly, countries can specialize and trade, making both better off.For example, suppose it takes Spanish workers less time to make clothes than French workers, and French workers can make wine more efficiently than Spanish workers. Then Spain and France can both benefit if Spanish workers produce all the clothes and French workers produce all the wine, and they exchange wine for clothes. 10. a. To produce the right number of CDs by the right artists and deliver them to the right people requires an enormous amount of information. You need to know about production techniques and costs in the CD industry. You need to know each person's musical tastes and which artists they want to hear.If you make the wrong decisions, you will be producing too many CDs by artists that people do not want to hear, and not enough by others. Your decisions about CDs will carry over to other decisions. You have to make the right number of CD players for people to use. If you make too many CDs and not enough cassette tapes, people with cassette players will be stuck with CDs they cannot play. The probability of making mistakes is very high. You will also be faced with tough choices about the music industry compared to other parts of the economy.If you produce more sports equipment, you will have fewer resources for making CDs. So all decisions about the economy influence your decisions about CD production. b. 11. Countries that have corrupt police and court systems do not enforce individual property rights, including the rights over the goods and services produced by households and firms. Firms will not choose to produce products and individuals will choose not to work if there is no guarantee that they will receive payment for their efforts. Therefore, these countries end up with a lower standard of living. . b. c. d. e. Efficiency: The market failure comes from the market power of the cable TV firm. Equity Efficiency: An externality arises because secondhand smoke harms nonsmok ers. Efficiency: The market failure occurs because of Standard Oil's market power. Equity 12. Chapter 1/Ten Principles of Economics f. 13. a. 5 Efficiency: There is an externality because of accidents caused by drunk drivers. If everyone were guaranteed the best health care possible, much more of our nation's output would be devoted to medical care than is now the case.Would that be efficient? If you believe that doctors have market power and restrict health care to keep their incomes high, you might think efficiency would increase by providing more health care. But more likely, if the government mandated increased spending on health care, the economy would be less efficient because it would give people more health care than they would choose to pay for. From the point of view of equity, if poor people are less likely to have adequate health care, providing more health care would represent an improvement.Each person would have a more even slice of the economic pie, though the pie wo uld consist of more health care and less of other goods. When workers are laid off, equity considerations argue for the unemployment benefits system to provide them with some income until they can find new jobs. After all, no one plans to be laid off, so unemployment benefits are a form of insurance. But there is an efficiency problem? why work if you can get income for doing nothing? The economy is not operating efficiently if people remain unemployed for a long time, and unemployment benefits encourage unemployment.Thus, there is a trade-off between equity and efficiency. The more generous unemployment benefits are, the less income is lost by an unemployed person, but the more that person is encouraged to remain unemployed. So greater equity reduces efficiency. b. 14. Because average income in the United States has roughly doubled every 35 years, we are likely to have a better standard of living than our parents, and a much better standard of living than our grandparents. This is mainly the result of increased productivity, so that an hour of work produces more goods and services than it used to.Thus, incomes have continuously risen over time, as has the standard of living. If Americans save more and it leads to more spending on factories, there will be an increase in production and productivity, because the same number of workers will have more equipment to work with. The benefits from higher productivity will go to both the workers, who will get paid more because they are producing more, and the factory owners, who will get a return on their investments. There is no such thing as a free lunch, however, because when people save more, they are giving up spending. They get higher incomes at the cost of buying fewer goods.To make an intelligent decision about whether to reduce inflation, a policymaker would need to know what causes inflation and unemployment, as well as what determines the trade-off between them. This means that the policymaker needs to unders tand how households and firms will adjust to a decrease in the money supply. How much will spending decline? How much will firms lower output? Any attempt to reduce inflation will likely lead to higher unemployment in the short run. A policymaker thus faces a trade-off between the benefits of lower inflation compared to the cost of higher unemployment. Answers will vary. 15. 16. 17.

China Blue Documentary

Erin Brumbaugh 03. 18. 2013 ChinaBlue/Ngai China Blue offered a different perspective on the working women of China in sweatshops. The quota levels and the pay was very disorganized, and called for very in-depth attention to the workers by management. In China Blue, the girl was marveled at the accommodations of the factory, and quickly realized that these accommodations, and the food provided was not free, nor were they really much better than her home life.According to Ngai, dormitory labor systems regulate the labor mobility, and control the labor force in a way that is usually not seen. Many of the laborers are migrant workers that travel from the countryside to the city to find work, and as seen in China Blue, these workers are often underpaid, and have strict regulations from being in the city. In both the article and the film, the factory controls the migrant workers, and the city provides legislation and/or policy that the factories must house them.By having dormitories onsit e, the factory is almost its own little city. It provides food, shelter, and because they control every portion of the laborers life, they can force them to work late, and penalize them for bad behavior, or not meeting their quotas. According to Ngai, the dormitory system is also stressful on these migrant workers as it removes them from their families. Isolation and maltreatment in the form of cheap labor is how China expects to compete globally.The force their workers to work long hours, subsidize their living expenses, and keep their wages low. There seems to be a force dependency upon the work. This is seen in the film. The girl was isolated, and unable to return home during the New Year. She was left by herself, and she relied heavily upon her fellow workers. However, the camaraderie between coworkers only extended so far. There is also the issue of adjusting to the new economy. As China entered the WTO, and the rural life became harder, people began to send their children to t he city to earn more money.These low educated youth are expected to work in the factories, and have very little knowledge of the world outside their farmstead. This is the major point discussed in the film. These factories make a lot of money exporting their goods abroad. China’s economy is based upon exports. And their profit margin increases when they don’t have to pay their workers well. It was seen quickly that when a strike was going to be staged, the manager in China Blue was willing to concede immediately to get their shipment sent. In order to do that, the workers were forced to work all night.

Snowboarding vs Skateboarding Essay Example

Snowboarding vs Skateboarding Essay Example Snowboarding vs Skateboarding Essay Snowboarding vs Skateboarding Essay Skateboarding vs. Snowboarding By Santiago Durr ENG 1111 Brenda Phegley 9/20/2012 Durr ii Outline Thesis: Skateboarding and snowboarding, they are two sports that could look similar, but they differ in several ways which are: terrain, tricks, cost and pain. I. Introduction II. Background A. Skateboarding B. Snowboarding III. Terrain and season A. Skateboarding B. Snowboarding IV. Tricks A. Skateboarding B. Snowboarding V. Cost A. Skateboarding B. Snowboarding VI. Pain A. Skateboarding B. Snowboarding VII. Conclusion Durr 1 Skateboarding vs. Snowboarding One of the things that has had the greatest impact on my life has been skateboarding, and now there is a new similar passion coming into my life which is snowboarding. I used to think that the two sports would be similar; but as the time went on, I found out that this was not the case at all. The two sports differ in several ways: terrain, tricks, pain, and cost. Skateboarding was the first board sport to come into my life and I must give it the most credit for molding me into the boy I am today. It is not the board or the tricks, but the whole attitude that comes with it: The adrenaline pumping through your body as you outrun some overweight police officers and the excitement of learning something new every day. The best thing, I think skateboarding gave me was friendships; and although I am not good friends with some of the people I used to skate with, I have been able to build some wonderful friendships that I love and consider my family. Snowboarding has done good things for me as well, even though I have only been practicing it a year. I got into snowboarding when I came to the US. I was not able to practice it in my country because we do not have a winter season. Even though I hate to say this, I think snowboarding is more fun than skateboarding. The terrain for skateboarding is pretty much wherever there is concrete. However, skateboarding is illegal in most spots which make it difficult to stay in one place for a prolonged period of time. Snowboarding takes a mountain and lots of snow, and it is not illegal, so the last thing that crosses your mind is picking up your board and running from the police. The biggest and most frustrating difference is that skateboarding can be done during the whole year, while snowboarding is a seasonal sport. Durr 2 The tricks involved in the two sports are the second biggest difference. On a skateboard your feet are free to move around and off the board. Being detached from the board enables you to do such tricks as the â€Å"kickflip† or the â€Å"shuvit†. The â€Å"kickflip† requires the individual to jump above the board as the board spins underneath them. The â€Å"shuvit† is done by jumping above the board, while it turns 180 degrees and then landing on the board as if nothing happened. Snowboarding has an entirely different tactic for tricks. An individual is attached to the board, so jumping above the board is completely out of the question. Most of the tricks involve spins in which one turns 180, 360, or 540 degrees with the board. The tricks done in snowboarding also require a lot more height and speed than those in skateboarding which is why is have taken such affection for the sport in this short time. The cost for practicing skateboarding is not as high as the cost for practicing snowboarding. One just needs a board that costs around sixty dollars and it can be done just about anywhere with pavement and is usually for free. In snowboarding not only the gear necessary is way more expensive than needed in skateboarding, but there is also added cost of getting somewhere to do it. The pain that comes with the two sports is somewhat similar. After all, a bruise is a bruise and a cut is a cut. Skateboarding is the sport in which one would suffer from gashes and bloody wounds. Snowboarding is mostly sprained wrists and really bad bruises. Take it from me, falling on a solid sheet of ice hurts a lot more than any pavement. In the end, I have chosen to stick with snowboarding because of its faster pace and the height one can get off a well-made jump, but I will always have a special place in my heart for skateboarding.

Oprah Winfrey Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Oprah Winfrey - Research Paper Example (Andrew Malcolm, â€Å"A surprise: Oprah pays a real cost for supporting Barack Obama†): According to a survey conducted in 1999 for the most admired and respected women of the 20th century; Oprah got 26 % of the votes coming at second place. Mother Teresa was voted No.1 in this survey. Another poll was conducted in 2003 by Fox News and the poll results showed that 60% of the people thought that Oprah was the most powerful woman. Whereas Hillary Clinton, who is a former first lady and senator was able to influence only 28% of the people who took the poll. (Thomas, â€Å"Oprah Winfrey- Bio Brief†) She was born on January 29, 1954 in Mississippi to Vernita Lee, a housekeeper, and Vernon Winfrey, who was a soldier. Her parents were not very rich people and she did not enjoy a luxurious lifestyle in her childhood. On the contrary, she saw many hard times which have made her the person she is now. Her full name is Oprah Gail Winfrey. (Thomas, â€Å"Oprah Winfrey- Bio Brief†) Her first job was of a news anchor at Nashvilles WTVF, she was the first African-American anchor there. After some time she was asked to co-host a show â€Å"People are Talking†. This was her first step on the road of much bigger things. Then, she finally landed in Chicago to host a low rated morning show â€Å"AM Chicago†. Her personality and interpersonal skills earned that show first place within a span of 12 months. After years of small jobs, she got the job of her dreams to host her own show â€Å"The Oprah Winfrey Show† which is one now of the top-rated shows of the world. Her easy to talk attitude has earned her a great fan following. The great part about her fame is that she uses it to influence people in doing well for the society and in making the planet a better place for everyone to live in. She is considered to be one of the richest people in the entertainment industry and is always involved in giving away donations and helping the poor. She has also made a charity

Human resource management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 9000 words

Human resource management - Essay Example Trade unions were primarily initiated in Europe rather it became popular in many other countries during industrial revolution. Moreover, a trade union may be of varied forms such as house union, company union, general union, industrial union and craft union among others (BIS, n.d.). The trade unions of the United Kingdom were initially decriminalised beneath the suggestion of the ‘Royal Commission’ in the year 1867. It approved that the establishment of these trade unions is for the benefit of both employers and workers. Development of trade unions is to promote the rights and visions of the labours in order to offer them a good living standard along with wage. Trade union maovement is a planned and controlled attempt of the workers of an organization to augment their living status and remuneration with the help of collective activities along with leaders and management. It is a type of socio-economic reform of the living conditions for the workers of British industries. Along with the fundamental rights of the labours against the management, the trade union movements are also attempted to locate requisite leaders, who might represent the labour commitee in the near future. Thus, from the above discussion, it is apprent that labour or trade unions play an important role in resolving the conflicts in between the employers and employees (Centrepiece, 2005). The report mainly highlights the benefits and the influences of trade unions on the labours or workers working in the industries of the United Kingdom. Along with this, it also specifies the human resource aspects and the current market trends of trade unions. Apart from these, the paper also includes the various strategies which should be implemented by UNITE trade union in order to attract increased memebership towards it, thereby enhancing its image among others in the

Paid fulltime firefighters are not compensated enough for the job they Essay - 1

Paid fulltime firefighters are not compensated enough for the job they provide citizens - Essay Example This paper will try to point out that despite the seemingly attractive salary of a firefighter in New York, there is a generally perceived low salary for firefighters that restrain many aspirants from seriously considering it as a career. A firefighter’s sworn duty is protect lives and properties from the threats of fire. But most of the time, they also need to respond to emergency calls for public safety from medical, disaster to terrorist acts. Aside from responding to emergency calls and situations, firefighters also include in their duty to educate the public for fire prevention as well as aid in the investigation process for cases that involve fire or arson (NYFD, 2). The firefighters are expected to be ready to serve, brave enough to bring other people and properties to safety despite threats to their own lives, committed and prepared to perform their duties (NYFD, 3). Prevost et al (42) suggested that firefighters face tremendous occupational accidents and the job requires physical and mental professionalism to be able to perform satisfactorily. They encounter in their job aerobic capacity and significant motor coordination. In one study, it was found that many firefighters do not receive salaries but work on voluntary basis, receive minimal government support, and work only as required and when needed, specifically in emergency situations only (Monares, Ochoa, Pino, Herskovic, Rodriguez-Covili, and Neyem, 36). In responding to emergency situations, the firefighters are expected to be aware of full information about the situation in order to take control. These information includes the dangers of the fire, type of fire, size, evolution; affected areas, building blueprints, emergency exits and access, electric or gas network; surrounding key resources such as schools, elderly care homes, chemical industries; the update of response process such as the number of fire trucks and firefighters in the area and capabilities of

Literature Synthesis Paper-Case study Case Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Literature Synthesis Paper- - Case Study Example Example 1 is the most common word order in German; it is a declarative sentence and has only one main clause (Weyerts, Penke, Munte, Heinze & Clahsen 216). So the verb is in second position in a sentence that is complete and can stand alone; in other words in an independent clause. Weyerts, Penke, Munte, Heinze & Clahsen claim that â€Å" it is always a finite verb or auxiliary that appears in second position, and it only appears there in main clauses† (216). In sentence 3, the first or main clause follows the subject-verb-object order but because the second clause cannot stand alone and is dependent on the main clause the word order changes to subject-object-verb (Monaghan, Gonitzke & Chater 816). If however, the subordinate or dependent clause comes before the main or independent clause the word order is different again. For example: Sentence 4 begins with a dependent clause and because this subordinate clause is in first position it is considered to be the first part of the main clause and the word order is SVO. The verb in the main clause follows the verb in the subordinate clause because it is considered the second position in the sentence (Verstraete 616). The infinite verb in sentence 5 is ‘changed’ and has moved to the final position after the object but the finite verb ‘has’ stays in second position after the subject in main or independent clauses, which is different to English as can be seen in the translation. Another example to illustrate this ordering is Sentence 7 illustrates how instead of the finite verb being in second position and the infinite verb being in last position as seen in sentence 6, both verbs move and follow the object but the infinite verb precedes the finite verb (Monaghan, Gonitzke & Chater 816). Another example of this ordering is Sentence 8 includes a subject of the subordinate clause and further illustrates how the infinite verb follows the object and the finite verb follows the

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Psychosis

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Psychosis A literature review in chronological order from past 5 years Introduction The blanket term Psychotherapy covers a multifaceted pluralistic enterprise in which a range of therapies is required to meet a patient’s various needs (Holmes J 2002). The National Service Framework cites cognitive behaviour therapy as being the psychotherapeutic method of choice for conditions that include â€Å"depression, eating disorders, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and deliberate self harm.† (Rouse et al. 2001) Literature review The first article we shall consider is a letter to the editor of the BMJ by Van Meer (R 2003). It is comparatively unusual since it is a clinician referring to clinical matters which are both intuitive and experience based. The author refers to the fact that many psychiatrists and related healthcare professionals actually avoid talking about the content of psychotic symptoms. The generally accepted rationale being that these are diagnostically of no significance and therefore therapeutically irrelevant. Van Meer contrasts this view with the basic concepts of cognitive behaviour therapy. He suggests that in his experience, the patient actually often will want to talk about issues that are central to their experience and are distressed when they are kept out of the conversation. He suggests that this is one of the reasons why cognitive behaviour therapy is popular with psychotic patients is that they have the opportunity to discuss with sympathetic professionals the significance of the ir experiences and this is capable of giving them a mechanism of dealing with what may be otherwise unexplainable to them. This publication is selected because of its counterintuitive thrust to support cognitive behaviour therapy against the â€Å"mainstream† of current clinical psychiatric practice and is written by an experienced practising clinician. This area of consideration is given a further twist with a different insight from Moorhead (S 2003). He agrees that psychiatric professionals tend to try to avoid engagement with psychotic patients on the subject of their psychosis and â€Å"thereby unwittingly add to the prejudice that blights the lives of people who live with psychosis† . He points, very succinctly, to the fact (and cites Brabban A et al. 2000) that the central tenet of cognitive behaviour therapy is that the therapist should endeavour to show a clear linkage between â€Å"personal experience, core beliefs (schemas), and emergence of psychotic symptoms†. The significance of this publication is that it is unusual insofar as it outlines the benefit of cognitive behaviour therapy for the staff as much as the benefit for the patient, by suggesting that staff trained in the techniques of cognitive behaviour therapy are able to empathise on a much deeper level with the patient and this, in itself, has a â €Å"remarkable remoralising effect of developing a meaningful understanding of the psychotic phenomenon with a patient†. This point is echoed in the discussion of the Craig paper. The Craig paper (Craig T K J et al. 2004) is a carefully constructed, but badly reported, randomised controlled trail of the current efficacy of specialised care modalities for cases of early psychosis. (Vickers, A. J et al. 2001). It is presented here as a case study in critical analysis. The interventions were delivered in two groups. The entry cohort was allocated to a standard care group (the control) or the intervention group (specialised care group). Both sets of treatment were delivered by the community mental health teams. The outcomes for both groups were rates of relapse or readmission to hospital. (Friedman GD. 1994) We present this paper to illustrate a common problem with this type of trial. On first appreciation, it demonstrates the fact that the intervention group did better than the control group. The difficulty in critical analysis comes in trying to decide which of the treatment modalities actually produced this beneficial effect. (Mohammed, D et al. 2003) The entry cohort was quite impressive for a study of this type with 319 presenting with psychotic illness over an 18 month period and 144 of these meeting the inclusion criteria. 94% of these were remained in the trial over the 18 months of follow up. We note that, although the programme of interventions did include cognitive behaviour therapy, it also included other treatment options such as low dose atypical antipsychotic regimens, cognitive behaviour therapy based on manualised protocols, and family counselling and vocational strategies based on established protocols (Jackson H et al. 1998). From the point of view of our considerations here, on the one hand the results appeared to be good insofar as the study showed that the intervention group had fewer readmissions to hospital in the study period and also they had fewer psychotic relapses (although this was of low statistical significance). On the other hand the paper tells us that all patients had medication and the ultimate choice of treatment pathway was decided by the intervention clinician, so although cognitive behaviour therapy was used, we have no absolute idea of its effectiveness from this trial. (Green J et al. 1998). All we can say with confidence is that, as part of a total package, cognitive behaviour therapy appeared to have helped to contribute to a beneficial outcome for a significant number of psychotic patients. A completely analytical and minimalist approach to this particular trial could suggest that it is indeed possible that cognitive behaviour therapy is actually ineffective per se. other than it served to keep the patient in closer contact with the clinicians. (Piantadosi S. 1997) In this respect this is an instance of a trial which is seemingly supportive but does not contribute greatly to the evidence base On first sight this particular view might be considered pedantic, but it is echoed by Yates (DH 2005) in a letter in the BMJ, where he specifically takes up this very point. He points to the fact that there is very little description of the regimes of cognitive behaviour therapy and the degree that it’s impact can be isolated from the overall effect. He also refers to the fact that a breakdown of the various therapies offered and the degree that each was helpful would have improved the paper tremendously. We have to agree. We will next consider a high profile paper by Morrison (A P et al. 2004) which has been widely cited. This paper took the pioneering work of Yung (et al. 1996) who identified a high risk group of patients who would develop psychosis and studied the effect of cognitive behaviour therapy on the prevention of the development of the clinical state. Morrison et al. identified the fact that other studies (McGorry, P. D et al. 2002) had demonstrated that it was possible to reduce the incidence of psychosis development with a multifaceted approach, like that of Craig, which included elements of cognitive behaviour therapy. Morrison however, elected to carry out a study that used cognitive behaviour therapy as a single strand approach in this high risk population. (Leaverton P E. 1995) The results from this study convincingly demonstrated that cognitive behaviour therapy alone â€Å"significantly reduced the likelihood of making progression to psychosis as defined on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale over 12 months.† (Kay, S. R et al. 1987) The authors were also able to demonstrate that cognitive behaviour therapy also reduced the likelihood of a patient being prescribes antipsychotic medication. Other criteria of analysis demonstrated that cognitive behaviour therapy â€Å"significantly improved the positive symptoms of psychosis â€Å" in the target population. This is an important study as it is one of the first to provide a reasonably secure evidence base that cognitive behaviour therapy works in the psychotic patient. It also shows that it works in the high risk group and has the possibility of a prophylactic effect by minimising the likelihood of psychotic relapse. A critical analysis would observe that the intervention cohort was comparatively small and a disproportionately small number were entered in the control group (37 and 23 respectively). High risk psychotic patients are comparatively rare and therefore one has to appreciate the practical difficulties involved in accumulating a sufficiently large sample to study. (Grimes D A et al. 2002), The last publication that we shall consider is that by Trower (P et al. 2004). It was published at the same time as the Morrison paper and is notable for the fact that, like the Morrison paper it recognises the shortfalls of the previous multi-modality studies and isolates cognitive behaviour therapy in its analysis. It also specifically targets a notoriously treatment-resistant group of psychotics, those who suffer from command hallucinations. (Haddock, G et al. 1999) This was a single blind randomised trial with 38 patients. The trial was complex in structure but, in essence, it was able to show, with convincing statistical significance that cognitive behaviour therapy interventions alone was able to reduce the patient’s compliance rate with the psychotic commands. The authors noted that this reduction in compliance was associated with a reduction in levels of both anxiety and depression. In conclusion we would like to commend the book by Eisenman (R 2004) â€Å"The Case Study Guide to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy of Psychosis† as a particularly authoritative and clinically useful overview. It cites a number of clinical case studies and analyses them in depth. It supports the view that cognitive behaviour therapy, by attempting to confront the patient’s distorted thinking and allowing them to appreciate their thoughts in a more rational and realistic way, can have beneficial results and it places cognitive behaviour therapy in a clinical context amongst the other, generally accepted modes of psychotherapy. It is not a peer reviewed publication so we shall not consider it further than that. References Brabban A, Turkington D. 2000  The search for meaning: detecting congruence between life-events, underlying schema and psychotic symptoms. Formulation-driven and schema focussed CBT for a neuroleptic-resistant schizophrenic patient with a delusional memory. In: Morrison T, ed.  A casebook of cognitive therapy for psychosis.  Brighton : Psychology Press, 2000. Craig T K L, Philippa Garety, Paddy Power, Nikola Rahaman, Susannah Colbert, Miriam Fornells-Ambrojo, and Graham Dunn 2004 The Lambeth Early Onset (LEO) Team : randomised controlled trial of the effectiveness of specialised care for early psychosis BMJ, Nov 2004 ; 329 : 1067 ; Eisenman R 2004 The Case Study Guide to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy of Psychosis Am J Psychiatry, Jul 2004 ; 161 : 1318. Friedman G D. 1994  Primer of Epidemiology. 4th ed.  New York : Mc-Graw-Hill, 1994. Green J, Britten N. 1998  Qualitative research and evidence based medicine.  BMJ 1998 ; 316 : 1230-1233 Grimes D A, Schulz K F.2002  Cohort studies: marching towards outcomes.  Lancet 2002 ; 359 : 341-5 Haddock, G., McCarron, J., Tarrier, N., et al (1999)  Scales to measure dimensions of hallucinations and delusions: the psychotic symptom rating scales (PSYRATS).  Psychological Medicine, 39, 879 –889. Holmes J 2002  All you need is cognitive behaviour therapy?  BMJ, Feb 2002 ; 324 : 288 294 ; Jackson H, McGorry P, Edwards J, Hulbert C, Henry L, Francey S, et al. 1998 Cognitively orientated psychotherapy for early psychosis (COPE).  Br J Psychiatry 1998 ; 172 (Suppl 33) : 93-100.  Kay, S. R. Opler, L. A. (1987) The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 13, 507 -518. Leaverton PE. 1995  A Review of Biostatistics. 5th ed.  Boston: Little, Brown, 1995 McGorry, P. D., Yung, A. R., Phillips, L. J., et al (2002)  Randomized controlled trial of interventions designed to reduce the risk of progression to first-episode psychosis first-episode in a clinical sample with subthreshold symptoms.  Archives of General Psychiatry, 59, 921 -928. Mohammed, D Braunholtz, and T P Hofer 2003 The measurement of active errors: methodological issues Qual. Saf. Health Care, Dec 2003 ; 12: 8 12. Moorhead S 2003  Cognitive behaviour therapy can help end alienation of psychosis  BMJ 2003 ; 326 : 549 Morrison A P , Paul French, Lara Walford, Shà ´n W. Lewis, Aoiffe Kilcommons, Joanne Green, Sophie Parker, and Richard P. Bentall 2004 Cognitive therapy for the prevention of psychosis in people at ultra-high risk: Randomised controlled trial Br. J. Psychiatry, Oct 2004 ; 185 : 291 297. Piantadosi S. 1997  Clinical Trials: A Methodologic Perspective.  New York: John Wiley, 1997.   Rouse, Jolley, and Read 2001 National service frameworks BMJ, Dec 2001 ; 323 : 1429. Rower P, MAX BIRCHWOOD, ALAN MEADEN, SARAH BYRNE, ANGELA NELSON, and KERRY ROSS 2004 Cognitive therapy for command hallucinations: randomised controlled trial Br. J. Psychiatry, Apr 2004; 184: 312 320. van Meer R 2003  To listen or not to listen  BMJ 2003 ; 326 : 549 Vickers, A. J. Altman, D. G. (2001)  Analysing controlled trials with baseline and follow up measurements.  BMJ, 323, 1123–1124 Yates D H 2005 Specialised care for early psychosis: More detail is needed BMJ, Jan 2005 ; 330 : 197 Yung, A., McGorry, P. D., McFarlane, C. A., et al (1996)  Monitoring and care of young people at incipient risk of psychosis. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 22, 283 -303. 5.5.06 PDG Word count 2,313