Monday, September 30, 2019

Ratio analysis Essay

Ratio analysis is a tool brought by individuals used to evaluate analysis of information in the financial statements of a business. The ratio analysis forms an essential part of the financial analysis which is a vital part in the business planning. There are 3 different ways of assessing businesses performance and these are: solvency, profitability and performance. Ratio analysis assists managers to work out the production of the company by figuring the profitability ratios. Also, the management can evaluate their revenues to check if their productivity. Thus, probability ratios are helpful to the company in evaluating its performance based on current earning. By measuring the solvency ratio, the companies are able to keep an eye on the correlation between the assets and the liabilities. If, in any case, the liabilities exceed the assets, the company is able to know its financial position. This is helpful in case they wish to set up a plan for loan repayment. Ratio analysis is also helpful in analysing the performance of a company. Through financial analysis, companies can review their performance in the past years. This is also helpful in identifying their weaknesses and improving on them. Polish Fine Foods needs to use ratio analysis because it is a valuable tool for the business’s management to determine the performance of a business and to control the cost measures when necessary. Also, ratio analysis helps them monitor and identify issues that can be highlighted and resolved. However, ratio analysis doesn’t take into account external factors such as a worldwide recession. Measuring the Solvency of Polish Fine Foods Now, I will use 2 rations to measure the solvency of Polish Fine Foods. First, I will calculate the current ratio for Polish Fine Foods. This estimates whether the business can pay debts due within one year from assets that it expects to turn into cash within that year. It is measured dividing current assets by the current liabilities. By looking at balance sheet I can see that Polish Fine Food’s current asset value is  £28500 and the current liability value is  £17000. I will need to divide  £28500 by  £17000 to find out the current ratio. This would give me an answer of  £1.7. This means that for each  £1 owned they have  £1.70 current asset. The figure should normally not fall below 1.5. If it reaches a value of 1 then there might be concerns  there about not being able to meet the debts of the short-term assets. However, we can see that Polish Fine Food’s current ratio tells us that this is a solvent business. This means that it is able to settle its debts when they are due to be paid. If the business is not solvent, then it means that it can’t do this. Being solvent would help the business to maintain their confidence. On the other hand, if the current ratio goes higher than 2 might indicate that too much finance is tied up in a short-term assets, which can result that not too much money are being used within the organisation. Secondly, I will measure the acid test. This is the same as the current ratio; however it is a harsher test of ability to settle short-term debts. It is more accurate as it takes away the stock and shows how well a business can meet its current liabilities. To find out the acid test I first need to subtract stock from the current assets and then divide the current liabilities by the answer of that. So Polish Fine Food’s amount of stock is  £8500 from the current assets which is  £28500. The answer of the subtraction is  £20000. Now I would need to divide the answer by the current liability which is  £17000 which would give me the final acid test ratio of  £1.20. This calculation removes the uncertain variable of stock, which might be not too important to the business. Similarly, this data shows us that Polish Fine Foods is a solvent business and it has the ability to meet its short-term debts. The business could continue to operate as it is currently looking to be successful. With the current ratio of  £1.70 and the acid test of  £1.20 Polish Fine Foods is a stable business. It is a healthy figure and shows that the business is in a good position. We can see that  £0.50 was tied up in stock and this is not a lot. Both rations show that the business is able to pay for its debts and they can also earn more income which means that the business would gave more profit as the business is solvent. Measuring the Profitability of Polish Fine Foods Profitability ratios show a company’s overall efficiency and performance. To measure the profitability of Polish Fine Foods I will use 3 ratios. First ratio is gross profit margin. The gross profit margin looks at cost of goods sold as a percentage of sales. This ratio looks at how well a company controls the cost of its account and the manufacturing of its products. The larger the gross profit margin, the better for the company. To calculate the  gross profit margin I need to divide the gross profit by the sales and then time it by 100 to find the percentage. So, to find the gross profit margin for Polish Fine Foods I have to divide  £45900 by  £145400 and this would give me the answer  £0.3156. To find out the percentage, I now need to multiply it by 100 and the answer is 32%. The gross profit margin for Polish Fine Foods is used to compare how much value is added to an item in between being bought in as stock or materials and being sold by the business. A low gross profit margin could show that there are high stock costs or maybe that retail price is being too low. If the business has a high gross profit margin then it indicates that the business is financial stable. We can see that Polish Fine Foods doesn’t have a high gross profit margin- it is a bit more than a quarter. This means that the business is in a secure position. They could be more successful if they are going to try and sell all the stock they have first instead of getting other, so in this way the profit might increase. Next ratio that I’m going to use in order to measure the profitability of Polish Fine Foods is net profit margin. The net profit margin shows how much of each sales amount shows up as net income after all expenses are paid. The net profit margin measures profitability after consideration of all expenses including taxes, interest, and depreciation. To calculate the net profit margin I need to divide the net profit by the sales and then mul tiply by 100. Therefore, to find the net profit margin for Polish Fine Foods I need to divide  £14500 by  £145400 and this would give me an answer of  £0.0997. So after multiplying the answer by 100, I got 10% which shows the amount of net profit margin. This ratio is used to decide which of a range of products are worth continuing with. A low net profit margin might indicate that costs are too high. Polish Fine Foods’ net profit margin is quite low, so they could try to improve this by trying to sell the stocks first and then get other instead of buying lots of them at once which would get more money out. At the moment, the business is in a stable position, but they should try and reduce their costs in order to increase the profit they’re making. Lastly, I would use return on capital employed (ROCE) ratio to measure Polish Fine Foods’ profitability. This is the percentage return which makes the business able to generate the long-term capital employed. To calculate ROC, I need to divide the net profit by the capital employed and then multiply it by 100. Therefore, to fine the ROCE  for Polish Fine Foods I need to divide their net profit which is  £14500 by the capital employed which is  £24500; this will then give an answer of 0.591, and then multiply that by 100. The final answer for ROCE is 60%. This ratio has been used to show how efficiently a business is using its capital. The ROCE shows us now that Polish Fine Foods is doing well at the moment and they are using their money carefully. Polish Fine Foods overall has good ratios that currently keep them stable. Basically, all these ratios show the amount of profit generated by the company as a per cent of the sales generated. The objective of margin analysis is to detect consistency or positive or negative trends in a company’s earnings. Polish Fine Foods is doing well, and looks like it is a stable business. However, there is still place for improvement, e.g they c ould try and reduce their costs and increase their profits. Measuring the Performance of Polish Fine Foods A growing business needs to be closely and carefully managed to ensure the success of new investment and expanding plans. Putting performance measurements in place can be an important way of keeping track on the progress of their business. It gives vital information about what’s happening now and it also provides the starting point for setting targets that will help owner apply their plans for growth. Now I will measure the performance of Polish Fine Foods using 3 ratios. First ration is stock turnover. This measures how long stock is being held before it is replaced. To calculate stock turnover ratio I need to divide average stock by cost of sales and the multiply it by 365 days. To find Polish Fine Foods’ stock turnover I need to find the average stock first. The opening stock is  £5250 and the closing stock is  £8500. By adding them two and then divide it by 2, it would give me the average stock which is  £6875. Then I need to divide  £6875 by the cost of sales  £99500 and it would give me the answer of 0.06909547738. Then if I will multiply it by 365 it would give me the answer 25 days which is the average number of says the stocks are being held before being replaced. If the stock goes out of date and this could happen to Polish Fine Foods as their selling food, stock should be held for a shorter period of time. It is a disadvantage to the business if they held stock for a long period of time because it can be expensive and the stock can deteriorate in value. However, a high turnover of stock can be seen as an  indicator of a stable business. Polish Fine Foods has a low stock turnover, and this might be because it is a sole trader and it has been opened up recently. Polish Fine Foods can run successfully as they are able to sell their stock in less time than a month which means that the products don’t go out of date by the time they replace the stock. Next ratio I’m goi ng to use is debtor collection period. This measures how long debtors take to pay. To calculate debt collection period for Polish Fine Foods I need to divide  £18000 which is debtors by  £145400 being the sales and multiply the answer by 365 days. This gives me the answer 45 days, on average. It means that it takes 45 days for the debtors to pay the business. Other businesses allow the debtors 90 days until they pay the money. For Polish Fine Foods it only takes 45 days which means that is less time, so they won’t face any financial problems, struggling to get money from the debtors in order to buy some stock. This ratio shows that the business is performing well as they don’t face any cash shortage which would slow the business down. The last ratio I’m going to use in order to measure the performance of Polish Fine Foods is asset turnover. It measures how high the level of sales are in relation to the assets of the business. To calculate the asset turnover I have to divide the amount of sales by the assets. For Polish Fine Foods the sales amount is  £145300 and the assets value is  £24500. By dividing them two it would give me the answer of  £6. This shows that the business earns approximately  £6 in sales for every  £1. Knowing all this measurement is very important for the business owner because they can see how they are performing in different areas. Conclusion This report was written to illustrate the financial state of Polish Fine Foods. So I used accounting rations as evidence to measure its solvency, profitability and performance. First of all, I found out that Polish Fine Foods’s current ratio is 1.70. Another ratio I used is the acid test which gave me an answer of 1.20. This is the same as the current ratio; however it is a harsher test of ability to settle short-term debts. These ratios tell us that this is a solvent business. This means that it is able to settle its debts when they are due to be paid. If the business is not solvent, then it means that it can’t do this. Being solvent helps the business to maintain their confidence and make it operate more successfully. Another set of 3  ratios that show us the profitability of Polish Fine Foods are: gross profit margin which was 31.56%, net profit margin being 10%, then ROCE which is 60%. All these ratios show how well the business is running. Also, whether they are making any money and how profitable it is compared with other competitors. From all these ratios, I have found out that Polish Fine Foods is doing well at the moment. They are making enough profit to keep their business going, as they didn’t make any loss. Lastly, I measured the performance of Polish Fine Foods using 3 ratios: stock turnover which was  £6875; then it was debt collection period which was 45 days on average, and then the asset turnover which was  £6. Each of these ratios measure different segments of a company’s overall performance. These ratios look at how efficiently and effectively Polish Fine Foods is using its resources to generate sales and increase profit. This is important for the business because Ania can notice any unusual fluctuations in the financial ratios over time and can see how the business is performing. This could also help Ania decide whether or not to grow her business and turn it into a LTD as it would give her enough information to see if she is financial stable to do so.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Financial Accounting Theory & the Reporting Environment Essay

5. Researchers who develop positive theories and researchers who develop normative theories often do not share the same views about the roles of their respective approaches to theory construction. (a) How do positive and normative theories differ? (b) Can positive theories assist normative theories, or vice versa? If yes, give an example. If not, why not? Normative accounting research makes policy recommendations and is concerned with what should be done in contrast to explaining why current practice is carried out in the manner that it is (positive theory). Normative theorists usually attempt to derive either the ‘true income’ or adopt the ‘decision — usefulness’ approach whereby accounting reports are an input into users’ decisions (e.g., to buy or sell shares, management decisions on the financial wealth of firms, etc.). The major issues are the impact of the changing price environment (prices) and the impact on income, assets, liabilities a nd equity. As a consequence many normative theorists are measurement theorists who attempt to incorporate the effects of inflation into accounting reports. In this sense they take a semantic viewpoint — relating the figures in the accounting reports to actual objects (assets, liabilities) or events (changes in inflation). To some extent the approach of the IASB is a normative approach. Positive accounting theory was a reversion to testing or relating accounting theories back to the ‘facts’ or ‘experiences’ of the real world. Examples of such research were questionnaires and surveys of bank officers or investors regarding their use of financial reports for decision making; or whether inflation adjusted accounting reports actually aided decision making. Current positive accounting research is aimed at explaining the reasons for actual accounting practices and in predicting the role of accounting data in economic, political and social decision making. P ositive theory has expanded accounting theory from the purely decision making focus of normative theorists into analysis of political and economic factors. Using the normative recommendation of IFRS, that fair values should be used in financial statements, a positive theorists would first undertake a number of empirical tests to see if they are actually useful/used by decision makers in their valuation models. In this sense they complement each other – normative theory the deductive analysis with positive theory the empirical verification. 7. Classify the following hypotheses according to whether they are conclusions of positive or normative theories. Explain your answers. (a) Historical cost accounting should be replaced by a market value system. (b) Historical cost accounting provides information used by creditors. (c) Historical cost accounting is used by many managers to allocate costs in determining divisional performance. (a) normative (b) positive (c) positive Page 1 of 37 10. The decision-usefulness approach to theory development can be used to develop theories of accounting. a) Explain what is meant by the decision-usefulness approach to theory development. b) How can the decision-usefulness approach relate to accounting theory formulation? c) Give two examples of decisions that require data obtained from accounting reports. The decision-usefulness approach is an instrumentalist approach (see diagram p.25). In a narrower sense, one direct test of an overall theory of accounting would be to determine whether the output data of the accounting systems, which are constructed on the basis of the overall theory, are useful to users. The data of the accounting systems are utilised by users in their prediction models, and the conclusions (predictions) are then used in their decision models. The problem is that if the prediction is verified, it verifies the prediction model, not the accounting system and its output. There are other variables besides accounting data that affect the prediction. We do not know how the accounting data were utilised. Also, if the decision turns out to be right, it verifies the decision model, not the accounting system. Interpreting the evidence on decision-making is extremely difficult. We do not know how to interpret the evidence to determine that accounting information is useful. Th us, a direct test is virtually impossible. Accounting standard setters usually determine usefulness with the weaker, more direct tests which are usually advanced by accounting committee setting bodies and include: relevance, verifiability, freedom from bias, timeliness, comparability, reliability and understandability. Some decisions: To invest in a firm’s stock (i) (ii) To loan funds to a firm (iii) To purchase or buy an asset. GHTHH Chapter 4 1. How do conceptual frameworks of accounting attempt to create a theory of accounting? Describe the components of the IASB Framework and how they contribute to a theory of accounting. Conceptual frameworks (such as those developed in the United States, Australia and at the IASC/IASB) do not employ the term ‘theory’ because of the difficulty of demonstrating logical consistency and in gathering empirical evidence to corroborate the theory. However, by following a structured program of inter-related concepts, accounting regulators aim to use the conceptual framework to achieve consistent accounting standards that will replace ad hoc solutions to specific problems. In this context, the components of the conceptual framework can be viewed as the building blocks of a theory of accounting. The components of the IASB/Australian Framework are: objectives of financial statements; qualitative characteristics of financial information (such as relevance, reliability, comparability, timeliness and understandability); and definitions of the basic elements of accounting reports (such as assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, expenses and profit) and principles and ru les of recognition and measurement of the basic elements, and the nature of the information to be displayed in financial reports. (Refer page 55 of text) 3. What does the IASB Framework describe as the basic objective of accounting? What are its implications? Stewardship looks primarily to the past, asking the question: What happened? Decision making looks to consequences in the future, asking the question: What will happen? A decision-making approach sees accounting information as inputs for the decision-making prediction models of users. If so, then we are concerned about what kind of accounting information is relevant to decision makers. Some believe that current value is implied. Also that statement of financial position accounts and their amounts are as important as those in the income statement. Traditional accounting emphasises income. Page 2 of 37 6. Explain the role of accounting in relation to: (a) individuals (b) firms (c) the Australian economy. Accounting information helps to efficiently allocate capital in the economy. The successful operation of a free economy depends, to a large extent, on the good judgements made by individuals about their investment opportunities and the investment opportunities of firms. People need information to decide where to invest or lend, and at what price. In relation to firms, accounting information forms the basis for many contracts, such as debt contracts that include covenants specifying that the firm will not allow its leverage ratio to exceed a certain level, or management compensation plans that provide managers with bonuses based on reported corporate earnings. As such, the firm’s cash flows are tied to accounting numbers. Since the value of the firm is the present value of all future cash flows and those cash flows are tied to accounting numbers, accounting numbers determine the value of the firm. In relation to the economy, accounting information plays a vital role in the equitable allocation of capital, and it contributes to the effective performance of the price system. The effective operation of our economy means that efficient and inefficient companies must be identified, so that resources are channelled to the former and away from the latter in order to have a ‘successful’ economic system. What would happen, after a long period of time, if ‘incorrect’ information is reported? The economic system would become inefficient (because of the existence of many inefficient firms), causing serious economic problems to all. 7. Can accounting ever provide an unbiased map of economic reality? Why or why not? Yes. Criticisms of neutrality or freedom from bias take two forms. First, some argue it is a state of mind that is not attainable, because all of us are affected by personal values that have been shaped by our particular beliefs, traditions, environment, background and personality. Granted that this is true, it is still meaningful to speak of neutrality or freedom from bias. We recognise the existence of these influences on our perceptions. The idea is to control them within an acceptable range. Second, some contend that neutrality or freedom from bias is not operational, because we cannot be expected to read other people’s minds. However, it is possible to translate neutrality or freedom from bias into operational terms by establishing specific control devices that are external and subject to examination. Control devices are the means by which the notion of objectivity receives operational meaning. Control devices have to do with making public or external what is essentially inter nal or introspective. Rules and procedures under the heading of disclosure, consistency, comparability, and materiality as well as GAAP are practical control devices. In the accounting literature, practical control devices under the heading of objectivity have taken the following three forms: ï‚ · to make specific and precise the concepts and procedures of accounting, and to obtain general agreement on them ï‚ · to determine a consensus of the measure among a number of experts ï‚ · to improve the standards of competence and ethics of the profession. Accountants must construct unbiased or neutral financial maps of economic reality. Otherwise, as Solomons warns, ‘If it ever became accepted that accounting might be used to achieve other than purely measurement ends, faith in it would be destroyed’. Page 3 of 37

Saturday, September 28, 2019

A public policy research paper on contemporary issues

A contemporary issue is one which is distinctively modern in style, one which is current, ongoing, present or present-day in nature.A policy on the other hand according to the context of contemporary is a program of actions adopted by person, government, the set of principles which govern the program.In the modern times in the USA, when the issue of contemporary matter is talked about, the mind is automatically pointed toward the vices in the society, those actions or habits which are vexing and considered as socially unacceptable by civilized people. Reason, prudence and common sense will highlight these issues which are in fact very rampant and prevalent in the society today.When such a debate is instituted, that is â€Å"public policy on contemporary issues†, several matters must be concurrently held in the mind for an effective and efficient outcome to be obtained.Having answered by definition our key terms, the next question that we should ourselves is the symptoms that a contemporary issue exists  and whether it is anti-societal codes, what  its causes are, the diagnosis available  and the solutions that are les  costly but effective which can be implemented within a short time to tackle the problem.I want to take the issues of drug abuse, drug trafficking and manufacturing. Colombia is an infamous country well known for its cocoa. This plant which is used to produce cocaine has in fact led to a serious drug abuse problem in the society because both the young, the old even children seen to take it as the order of the day.Drugs are the roots of all evils committed in the society, they hamper upright reasoning and instead of the mind taking control of the body, in fact the body takes control. Drugs have many negative effects on users ranging from incurable minor diseases to permanent mental retardation. It is drugs according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the Unites States that contribute to major crimes in the USA. The following a re some of those contemporary issues propagated by drugs:Larceny theft Burglary Motor vehicle theft Robbery Forcible rape Murder Kidnappings Domestic violence Organized crimes School drop out ProstitutionE. G. White in her book Christian Health is very sentimental and dispassionate about how many people have indulged in drug abuse as if it is the normal order of things. She says;â€Å"Many Christians have taken the use of drugs as petty, they cannot however go through their daily chores without a dose of these drugs yet they don’t see the seriousness of their problem. They cannot think on their own, that substance has benumbed their senses and they are left as wrecks in this indulgence†.I am going to take this topic more from a Christian perspective since Colombia is Christian state with more than 96% of its population being Roman Catholics.In 1980, the amount of cocaine exported amounted to half the total export of Colombia. See how serious the problem is. The New Yor k Times in its column on the amazing truths reported this as a world wonder. How can an illegal substance such as this be exported to such a magnitude yet there is a government to curb it? The question was where was the government when all this happened?

Friday, September 27, 2019

What is the Quran about according to Fazlur Rahmans Major Themes of Essay

What is the Quran about according to Fazlur Rahmans Major Themes of the Quran - Essay Example The book Major Themes of the Quran by Fazlur Rahman attempts to unravel the intricacies of the Quran with special focus on themes such as God, prophecy, modern society, and disclosure as concerns a stout Muslim and a western scholar (Rahman 19). The Quran is a document aimed at man, with an indication as the guidance for humankind. It has a reference of God’s proper name as Allah, with the name appearing over 2500times in the Quran. His existence as per the Quran is functional as the creator and sustainer of the universe and man. In addition, He is the giver of guidance for man, judges out man individually and collectively as well metes out to him merciful justice. God is the dimension that makes other dimensions possible, giving meaning and life to everything else. He is the all-enveloping, infinite, and the only infinite being. Without God’s activity, the activity of nature and man are wrong, purposeless, and wasteful. The Quran, therefore, emphasizes and re-emphasizes the power and majesty of God (Rahman 23). Concerning the purpose of man, the Quran emphasizes that a man was created specifically to serve God in accordance with his command and through choice. God, therefore, in his outgoing mercy provides man with the necessary knowledge to realize just and fair ends. The choice of whether to use the knowledge and power for good or evil is, therefore, the crucial test for man. The Quran does not prove God but points to him from the existing universe. God is the only one who has created the laws by which nature works. The Quran invites man to make discoveries on the laws of nature and to use it for human good. The Quran proposes that man is God’s creature just like any other created being. However, he is distinguished from the rest of natural creation in that after fashioning him, he breathed his own spirit into him. Man is given free choice in order to fulfill his

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Labour Law seen examination Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Labour Law seen examination - Essay Example Thus, each individual application must be treated on the merits. Fareeda Fareeda may be able to make a claim for direct discrimination given that she surpassed all the requirements that were listed by Allan in their invitation. However, there is no express mention by the Allan’s of any reason that they may have considered to select Lady Monique in Fareeda’s place. The only statement that may allude to any discrimination is their justification of Lady Monique’s associations with ‘the right sort of families and the right sort of children’. From the facts of Mandla v Dowell Lee [1982]1, it follows that Muslims may also form part of a nationality with distinct ethnic origins in order to be classified as a racial group for the purposes of the Race Relations Act 1976. The scope of discrimination was expanded by this Act to people who were treated unfavorably as a result of racial profiling of third parties (Weathersfield Ltd v Sargeant)2.  With the incep tion of the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, religious discrimination took statutory form by protecting people with â€Å"any religion, religious belief or philosophical belief†. ... However individually she may not be able to be compensated for her grievance and her remedy must be based on the validity of the claims of the other applicants. Beverly McLaughlin Beverly also fulfills the requirements of the job offer. Her claim would be based on the assertion that she was discriminated on account of her age which is protected under the Equality Bill 2006. Given that she was more than qualified for the job, the Allan’s belief that Lady Monique would have more connections with the right families and the right children could be more than attributable in Beverly’s favor since she has more experience as a nanny working under an extremely wealthy employer for 20 years. Lady Elizabeth Porter Lady Elizabeth Porter can assert that she was discriminated against on account of her blindness under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 as amended by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, since her disability qualifies as one recognized by s.1 of the 1995 Act (as amended by s.18 of the Act of 2005); â€Å"a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities†. Her credentials are also far superior than that of Lady Monique’s. Moreover, the Allan’s are no longer under the protection of the 1995 regime which exempted employers with less than 20 employees, as the 2005 amendment changes that to include small employers as well. However, in this case, the Allan’s can resort to the defense of ‘justification’ since the child to be taken care of is 2 years old and would require to be tended to much more closely than a blind person can afford. Under the act, this defense may be

Target Market and Competitive Analysis Research Paper

Target Market and Competitive Analysis - Research Paper Example The majority of clients, approximately 60 percent, will consist of those with strong family values, with respect for traditionalism in politics and socialization, with a recognized propensity for brand loyalty. Under the VALS 2 psychographic model, the largest target market will be the Believers, those who are conservative and conventional individuals valuing predictable and trusted brands (Boone and Kurtz 217). The secondary target market will be characterized with each expansion opportunity by age demographics, population density in certain urban versus rural regions, and income demographics. In some key regions that have the most profitability opportunities, preliminary qualitative market research to identify key characteristics and market needs will be conducted. potential of higher resource buyers (e.g. the Believer markets). Behavioral characteristics for these markets will be considerably important for the creation of promotional materials to have impact on attitude and brand personality. The high volume of stresses and anxiety for the children of older adults can bring much more visibility to the business if these relationship development opportunities are included in targeted advertising. Because the goal of Off 2 Gran Grans is to establish a brand with dedication, credibility, trust and consistency, the reliability and conventionalism of the business can create emotional, social and psychological connections with the most opportunistic markets. There are very low franchising requirements associated with this type of business model, with initial investments between only $58,000 and $95,000 and liquid investor assets of only $39,000 (Entrepreneur.com 1). The expansion opportunities for Off 2 Gran Grans will provide additional support for achieving more market presence and producing consistent, streamlined promotional materials in widely-dispersed markets across the

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

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

Fossils - Essay Example Lastly, energy can be converted when nuclear reaction occurs – when subatomic particles that make up atoms nuclei rearranges. They may either combine (fission) or split apart (fusion) (D. Yogi Goswami, 2008). This paper discusses basic facts of fossil energy and compares it with other forms of energy. Fossil fuel covers a wide range of fuels used in many different ways and in different forms. Fossil fuels refer to fundamentally any carbon based substance used by human beings as a source of energy advantage. They possess their name of fossil fuel because they are usually formed from remains of dead organisms (plants and animals) fossils form when animals or plants dies and their remains get covered with earth sediment over time. As more layers begin to cover these remains, they start acting like a press. The pressure and heat over time change these organic remains to the hydrocarbons called fossil fuels (Snedden, 2006). There are three main forms of fossil fuels: natural gas, oil and coal. All three were formed hundreds millions years ago before the dinosaurs time. The age they got formed is referred to as the Carboniferous Period, part of Paleozoic Era. "Carboniferous" derive its name from carbon, which is the basic element in all fossil fuels. The Carboniferous Era occurred from around 360 to 286million years ago (Snedden, 2006). In that period, the land was concealed with swamps filled with big trees, ferns and other leafy plants. The water and all seas were occupied with algae – the green organism that forms on stagnant water (Snedden, 2006). Algae is in fact millions of small plants. In many countries, the most well recognized fossil fuel is coal. It used to be a source power since the onset of the industrial revolution. Nevertheless, its application as a source of power has changed over time. Initially, people used coal to

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Consulting Project Plan Part One Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Consulting Project Plan Part One - Essay Example With the existence of such a problem, employees are forced to operate in a dissatisfying working environment hence the low morale. Team support and teamwork are two crucial factors that employees require in order to function effectively in their respective team groups. The assurance that employees can be able to rely on their teammates in case they face various challenges at the workplace is very satisfying. Cooperative and mindful employees provide a supportive team and a satisfying environment which eventually enhances employee morale. What is causing and maintaining the problem of non-supportive teams amongst Walmart employees is poor feedback and communication channels. Given the complexity of Walmart as ca company, communication gateways have been compromised. Employees are required to engage in multiple operations yet information is not properly relayed to enable them take specific action. It is very common for some team members to receive information without the knowledge of their colleagues. As a result, some tasks are left unattended to. As much as these employees are dedicating their time and energy to ensure tasks are completed on time, at the end of the day they realize that very little has been accomplished. Moreover, they do not receive feedback on time to give them enough time to execute their functions. Team leaders are further maintaining this problem by failure to coordinate team activities as expected. They do not have mechanisms through which they can monitor and evaluate the progress of employees. They also do not regard the importance of understanding individual employees and the circumstances under which they perform most effectively. The technical problem is low productivity that directly affects the process of providing customers with quality services. If employees have a low morale, they will be non-productive. This in a way is holding back Walmart from achieving its full potential. It could be the

Monday, September 23, 2019

Mary Shelley - Frankenstein Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mary Shelley - Frankenstein - Essay Example Thus, it is evident that the author incorporates in her novel the important factors in the history of Europe such as the effect of French Revolution on notions of class and identity, the role of the Industrial Revolution on the socio-economic life of the people. As Essaka Joshua maintains, the social comment in Frankenstein is especially inspired by the ideology of the French Revolution and the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. â€Å"Critics have recently connected Frankenstein with this period of social upheaval, reading the novel as an ‘allegory of the French Revolution, the attempt to recreate man and the disillusionment and terror that followed.† (Joshua, 23) Therefore, it is essential to realize that the historical and political context of the author has played a crucial role in the writing of the novel. This essay offers a reflective exploration of the political and historical backdrop of the period in which Mary Shelly wrote her celebrated novel Frankenstein. Much o f the critical commentary on Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein has focused on the impact of the historical and political context of the novelist on the major themes, and references in the work.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

How Values Affect Decisions in Personal and Professional Life Essay Example for Free

How Values Affect Decisions in Personal and Professional Life Essay Abstract Many people have a set of core values, either personal, organizational, or cultural, that help guide his or her life, and that assist him or her in making decisions in their everyday existence. Most of my decisions are based on how they will affect my family, me, and my career. My family is the key factor in any decision I make. I have to consider what influence my choices will have on my family before I act on them. My success in my career choice of Information Systems is also an important value to me. I strive to improve my knowledge of information systems to the best of ability in order to further my career. This value has brought me to be results oriented, a hard worker, and a team player. Companies are now doing business with other companies in different countries. Organizations are now set up to where employees have to interact with different people to get the job done. If someone desires a long, prosperous career, they have to learn to work with diverse people of different cultures. Everyone has a set of core values that assist him or her in making decisions in their daily existence, and many people expect these values to lead them to live a wonderful life. Many people have a set of core values, either personal, organizational, or cultural, that help guide his or her life, and that assist him or her in making decisions in their everyday existence Values such as my family, friendships, and personal growth contribute to the choices that I make in my personal life. Values such as being results-oriented, a hard worker, a team player, and the desire to be successful guide me in making decisions in an organizational environment. I evaluate my core values before making any decisions that will influence them in anyway. According to author David Peters (2003): Personal ethics have been defined as principles of good behavior, a moral code of conduct, or a system to decide between competing options. But simply stated, personal ethics are nothing more than the rules impose on ourselves that govern our daily actions. (p. 30) For many people different factors and beliefs shape their values but, I believe that everyone shares one goal of living the best life possible not just physically but spiritually and mentally. Many of my decisions are based on how they will affect my family, me, and my career. My family is the key factor in any decision I make. I have to consider what influence my choices will have on my family before I follow through with them. For example, my returning to school keeps me from spending as much time as I would like with my loved ones. I thought about returning back to school long and hard and came to the conclusion that I need to return to school now before I have more children, my daughter gets to an age were I have to run her all over town for things that she wants to participate in, or any other life-changing event takes place. I came to the conclusion that I need to go now because it will only take between a year and half or two years to complete. By the time I am done with school, my daughter will be four and starting kindergarten, and that is a good time to also think about having another child. So I decided to go ahead and return to school and get my masters degree in information systems. If I know that a decision will drastically affect my family, I will go to them to get their input on the situation. My success in my career choice of Information Systems is also an important value to me. Roy Posner states, One of the interesting values in life is ones innate desire for continuous improvement. (Roy Posner 2006). I strive to improve my knowledge of information systems to the best of my ability in order to further my career. This value has brought me to be results oriented, a hard worker, and a team player. In the environment of information technology, everyone has to be team player because most of the positions require people to interact with each other. Whether the person is a systems analyst or a mail clerk, he or she will be part of a diverse group of people who have to work together effectively and efficiently to meet the goals of the organization as a whole. Culture is the key to peoples way of living, accepting changes and doing business is rapidly loosing geographical borders. (Kanungo, 2006, p. 23). Companies are now doing business with other companies in different countries. Organizations are now set up to where employees have to interact with different people to fulfill his or her job duties. If someone desires a long, prosperous career, they have to learn to work with diverse people of different cultures. At one time or another, everyone has had life experiences that help guide his or her decision making process. Nancy Haught (2006) states the following: For many people, from many different belief systems, their faith is the only factor that they see shaping their personal ethics. But most Americans would admit that other factors do play a part: parents or other relatives;? experiences such as a stint in the Peace Corps or a brush with the law. The factors that shape our ethics are varied, but it religion that often gets the credit, or the blame (p.C1) Many people have come to the realization that they dont have to have the world to live a good life. Although, someone may want a successful career, they shouldnt have to sacrifice other aspects of their life to obtain it. Other aspects of life are more fulfilling, such as a wonderful relationship with God, family, and friends. Many people have a set of core values that assist him or her in making decisions in their daily existence, and many people expect these values to lead them to live a wonderful life References Haught, N. (2006, March 11). Ethics values | definitions ethics, morals, values. The Oregonian, C1. Kanungo, R. P. (2006). Cross culture and business practice: are they coterminous or cross-verging? Cross Cultural Management, 13(1), 23. Peters, David. (2003) Your Personal Ethics ? is it time for a check up? National Jeweler, 97 (7), 30. Posner, Roy. (2006). The Power of Personal Values. Retrieved July 05, 2007 from http://www. gurusoftware. com/GuruNet/Personal/Topics/Values. htm.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Analysis of Robert Frost and Mending Wall

Analysis of Robert Frost and Mending Wall Robert Frost was born Robert Lee Frost in San Francisco, California to Isabelle Moodie and William Prescott Frost Jr. After his father died, his mother moved them to Salem, New Hampshire. Frosts childhood was filled with literature- his mother read Shakespeare, Bible stories, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and other poets and writers aloud to him. Before long he was memorizing poetry and reading books on his own. Frosts high school years were spent in Lawrence, Massachusetts. During high school, Frost became a writer: his poem La Noche Triste, appeared in the high school newspaper. At the beginning of his senior year he fell in love with Elinor White, who had also published poetry in the school newspaper. After graduation and before the summer ended, they pledged themselves to each other in a secret ritual. That fall, Elinor went to St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, and Frost attended Dartmouth on a scholarship. College life proved to not be for him. Isolated and restless, he quit at the end of December. He hoped that when Elinor came home in April that he could persuade her to drop out as well and marry him, but his efforts proved fruitless and she returned to college. Frost began working as a lamp trimmer in a factory in Lawrence, but quit after a few months to teach and write poetry. At the end of the term, good news greeted him: the New York Independent had accepted My Butterfly: An Elegy, with a stipend of $15. This was Frosts first published poem. After this victory, he once again implored Elinor to marry him, and once again she refused. Eventually, however, she said yes and on December 19, 1895, they were married. Nine months later their son Elliot was born. They both kept working as teachers, and Frost kept publishing poems. In the fall of 1897, thanks to his grandfathers loan, Frost, at age twenty-three, entered Harvard in the hope of becoming a high school teacher of Latin and Greek. In March 1899, however, severe chest and stomach pains combined with worries about his ailing mother and pregnant wife forced him to leave Harvard. Frost gave up teaching and rented a poultry farm in Methuen. Two months later, Elliot, now three years old, fell ill with cholera and died. Frost never forgave himself for not having summoned a doctor in time, believing that God was punishing him. Elinor was devastated, but had to continue to care for their year old daughter, Lesley. Afterward, they moved to Derry, New Hampshire. In the fall of 1911 he was teaching again in Plymouth, New Hampshire. In July 1912, he started making plans for a radical change of scene. He suggested to Elinor that they move to England, and she enthusiastically agreed. On 2 September 1912, the Frosts arrived in London. Before long he was finishing the manuscript of A Boys Will. In October the book was accepted for publication. By April 1913, most of the poems that would constitute North of Boston had been written. In May 1915, North of Boston appeared, to be hailed in June by important reviews. By August, Frosts reputation as a leading poet had been firmly established in England, and Henry Holt of New York had agreed to publish his books in America. By the end of 1914, however, financial need forced him to leave Britain. When Frost and his family returned to the United States in February 1915, he was hailed as a leading voice of the new poetry movement.ÂÂ   In the following year he was made Phi Beta Kappa poet at Harvard and elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Mountain Interval, which appeared in November 1916, offered readers some of his finest poems, such as Birches, Out, Out, The Hill Wife, and An Old Mans Winter Night. Frosts move to Amherst in 1917 launched him on the twofold career he would lead for the rest of his life: teaching whatever subjects he pleased at a congenial college (Amherst, 1917-1963, with interruptions; the University of Michigan, 1921-1923, 1925-1926; Harvard, 1939-1943; Dartmouth, 1943-1949)In 1930 Frost won a second Pulitzer Prize for Collected Poemsthe first had been won by New Hampshireand in the next few years, other prizes and honors, including the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry at Harvard. on 26 March 1938, Elinor died and his world collapsed. Four years before, in the wake of their daughter Marjories death, they had helped each other bear the grief. Alone now, wracked in misery and guilty over his sometimes insensitive behavior toward Elinor, he hoped to find calm through his children, but Lesleys ragings only deepened his pain. For some time he continued to teach, then resigned his position, sold his Amherst house, and returned to his farm. In July Theodo re Morrison invited him to speak at the Breadloaf Writers Conference in August. Frosts lectures enthralled his listeners, but at times his erratic public behavior drew worried attention. To the great relief of his friends, Kathleen Morrison, the directors wife, stepped in to offer him help with his affairs. He accepted at once and made her his official secretary-manager. Weeks before, however, Kathleen had called at his farm to invite him to visit her at a nearby summer house. Before long he proposed marriage, but she insisted on secrecy, on maintaining appearances During the 1940s Frost published four new books: A Witness Tree (1942), inscribed To K.M./For Her Part in It, containing some of his finest poems. None but his intimates knew of the decades griefs: his son Carols suicide in 1940, his daughter Irmas placement in a mental hospital in 1947. In the last fourteen years of his life Frost was the most highly esteemed American poet of the twentieth century, having received forty-four honorary degrees and a host of government tributes, including birthday greetings from the Senate, a congressional medal, an appointment as honorary consultant to the Library of Congress, and an invitation from John F. Kennedy to recite a poem at his presidential inauguration. Thrice, at the State Departments request, he traveled on good-will missions: to Brazil (1954), to Britain (1957), and to Greece (1961, on his return from Israel, where he had lectured at the Hebrew University). In the Clearing, Frosts ninth and last collection of poems, appeared on 26 March 1962. On 2 December at the Ford Forum Hall in Boston Frost made his last address and, though admitting he felt a bit tired, he stayed the evening through. In the morning he felt much too ill to keep his doctors appointment. After considerable wrangling, he agreed to enter a hospital for observation and tests. He remained in its care until his death in the early hours of 29 January 1963. Tributes poured in from all over the land and from abroad. A small private service on the 31st at Harvards Memorial Church for family members and friends was followed by a public one on 17 February at the Amherst College Chapel, where 700 guests listened to Mark Van Dorens recital of eleven Frost poems he had chosen for the occasion. Eight months later, at the October dedication of the Robert Frost Library at Amherst, President Kennedy paid tribute to the poetry, to its tide that lifts all spirits, and to the poet whose s ense of the human tragedy fortified him against self-deception and easy consolation. Poem: Plea for tearing down barriers that keep us apart The fact that the narrator continues to help build the wall despite his abhorrence of it suggests the weakness of people in their convictions. Even though people want to change, many times they never have to courage to go against what others say. We create these barriers between us to keep the unknown out because deep down it scares us It is not the natural way to be- nature continuously tries to tear down the wall- even the rounded stones didnt want to support each other and keep the wall up. Sources: Meyer, Bruce. Critical Essay on Mending Wall. Poetry for Students, edited by Mary Ruby, vol. 5, Gale, 1999. Literature Resource Center, libraries.state.ma.us/login?gwurl=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRCsw=wu=mlin_n_bishopv=2.1id=GALE%7CH1420042989it=rasid=249423e618b8705c63388bc86683d232. Accessed 14 Mar. 2017. Frost, Robert (Lee). Merriam Websters Encyclopedia of Literature, Merriam-Webster, 1995. Literature Resource Center, libraries.state.ma.us/login?gwurl=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRCsw=wu=mlin_n_bishopv=2.1id=GALE%7CRN1480003591it=rasid=337b87a12c96fb85f72f64f7ad0fafc5. Accessed 14 Mar. 2017. DeFusco, Andrea , Bruno Leone, and Bonnie Szumski, eds. Readings on Robert Frost. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Print. Squires, Radcliffe. The Major Themes of Robert Frost. N.p.: The U of Michigan Press, 1963. Print.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Invention Of Mass Media Media Essay

Invention Of Mass Media Media Essay Introduction Since the invention of mass media, mass media has always view as a big influence to the society and threat for certain group of people. This can be trace back to the 18th century, when the first theory about media- mass media theory was created and talks about how strong media is in directly influence people perception and action. Over the years, there are lots of mass media theories that talk about the power of media and how media is use to manipulate and influence people especially the folk culture or so call ordinary people. When talk about mass media theory, a big point that shouldnt be misses out is the rise of media theory in the age of propaganda. Propagandists rely on mass media very much as media reached mass audience. It is the best way for propagandist to change people action according to their own belief and expectation. One of the successful propaganda that has been widely practice was Nazis propaganda during world war one in 1933 to 1939. There are also others famous mass media theory like magic bullet theory, behaviorism, Freudianism and a lot more. Most of the time media often view as a negative influence especially for the elite group, and they claim that media should be control. There are also some theories that talk about the positive of mass media theory. For example, libertarianism theory says that people are good and rational. So media should have 100% freedom to report on everything and people can able to judge and differentiate what is right and wrong by themselves. Although there are a lots of theory argue about the pros and cons of mass media. However, one thing that everyone cannot denial is that mass media are one of the important things in human history especially the digital era like nowadays. The invention of mass media has brought human life to the whole new era and it has become an essential in human life. It helps human to convenient the process of communication between each other and also government nowadays to spread news and new policy to the people. According to Wang Lay Kim (2001), the first media in Malaysia was the English language Government Gazette call as the Prince of Whales Island Gazette (PWIG) in 1st of March 1806 in Penang Island. The last publication was on 21st of July 1827 total duration of 21 years. The first TV station in Malaysia are RTM1 and RTM 2 and then follow by the first privatization TV station which is TV3 in 1984. As mass media act as an important agent between a country and its people or government with the people, there is no exception for Malaysia to use mass media as the change agent for government policies. The mainstream media in Malaysia has always been perceived as an important agent of change for most of the governments policies. The mainstream media include TV stations, radio stations and also newspapers. As a developing country, Malaysias 4th prime minister Tun Dr.Mahathir Bin Mohammad have come out with the policy of vision 2020 which aim to further develop Malaysia into a fully develop country in the year 2020. In the year 2010, Malaysias current prime minister Dato Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak introduced the concept of one Malaysia which mainly focus on unite multi races of Malaysian to view themselves as Malaysian without looking at skin, races and language. It is also focus on economic of Malaysia and development of Malaysia to help Malaysia to achieve the g oal of vision 2020. Since the introduction of 1 Malaysia concept, this concept has been widely promote by the government to the citizen using the mainstream media. As the government realizes that peoples reliability towards media is getting more nowadays, people receive most of their information through different type of media. So media is view as the most suitable way to promote the new 1 Malaysia concept. The messages that promote through mass media are not as simple as audience view. Those ideas and concepts have been carefully defined and structure before reach the target audience. Government has used several type of mass media theory to promote the concept of 1 Malaysia. With the help of the theory, it encourages Malaysian to accept the concept of 1 Malaysia mentally and physically. Political economy theory Political economy theory is mainly focus on the study of how the elite control the economics of a country based on the link between politics and base to maintain the hegemonic culture. In this context, the elite will be the government of Malaysia. Political economy theory also says that to understand the media, ones must look at the whole picture which includes the ownership of media and the control group of media. In Malaysia, although most of the mainstream media are privatization but all the media are closely related to the government and political party. For example, according to Wang Lay Kim (2001), Fleet holding, a company that arm by UMNO which have 80% share of the News straits Times Press (NSTP) and majority share in Utusan Melayu Press sin year 1973. Both of these presses have majority readership and circulation in Malaysias newspaper.Fleet holding also have the share of 40% in Malaysia TV station, TV3. Besides, the other Malaysia main English paper, 58% of theStar newspaper is also own by Huaren holding Sdn.Bhd which link to MCA, one of the political party under the government. Cleary, we can see that there is a tight relationship between mainstream media with the political parties. With this point, it is not hard for the government to promote the idea of 1 Malaysia and gain acceptance by the people. The messages first come out by the elite or government through allocative control. Then the media under government in charge of the operational control which manipulate the word and idea before promote to the public to achieve the goal. It is not a surprise that thestar newspaper report atleast one article about the 1 Malaysia concepts per week. For example, 13 September 2012 thestar report about another 1 Malaysia clinic open. 15 September 2012 is about 175 1 Malaysia clinics by year end.16 September 2012, A truly 1 Malaysia day for both side of S.china sea. 19 September 2012, PM launches books of 1 Malaysia. 29 September 2012, Lots of goodies under 1 Malaysia schemes. As we know that, newspaper has always acted as a medium for people to receive information and people tend to believe newspaper as it is more accurate and professional. Government take control on the production of media by reporting the positive news about the 1 Malaysia concepts can surely gain support from the citizen. Hegemony Hegemony talks about elite stay their status quo through coercion and consent. Besides, it also states that force cannot maintain the power of the elite. Persuasion, explanation and understanding make people act willing and happily towards order. The best way for government to spread consent was using the mass media, especially the mainstream media that closely related to the government. Through hegemony and media, media act as a way to educate people how to behave and what to do in their life that consistent with the government goal. We can see how hegemony is use by government to promote the concept of 1 Malaysia in mainstream media like TV and newspaper in Malaysia. First of all, the slogan itself for 1 Malaysia concept Rakyat didahulukan, pencapaian diutamankan in English it means people first, performance now. This is obviously telling people that the government care about the citizen and the future of the country through the promotion of mainstream media every day. In order to achieve the part of consent that stated in hegemony, one of the main focuses of 1 Malaysia concept is to help Malaysia to achieve the goal of vision 2020 which is a fully develop country. Since the introduce of 1 Malaysia concept, Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is introduce by the current prime minister to improve the effectiveness of Malaysian government department for satisfaction of the citizen towards the service and try to shape the positive image of citizen towards the government. Under KPI, a mechanism is provided to evaluate the effectiveness of government agency towards crime prevention, reducing government corruption, increased to quality education, improvement of public transportation, improve the living of low income citizen and rural are infrastructure. Since the election of 2008, electors have lost confident on the government which means Barisan Nasional. It is very important for government to fulfill the need and satisfaction of the citizen which is the part of consent in hegemony. The result of KPI is keep highlight by the mainstream media. In long term effect, people will start to believe that the government did do some changes on the transparency of politic. These help the government to gain confident of the citizen. Besides, mainstream media often cover other news about 1 Malaysia. For example, thestar report an article about the new open 1 Malaysia clinic and grocery shop. This is also a long term effect of persuasion to told the citizen about 1 Malaysia concept are always for the benefit of the citizen, in the other hand, it also means that everyone should support the concept as it only bring benefit to the public. Moreover, the song and slogan of 1 Malaysia are often playing in TV station and radio station. It acts to reinforce people about 1 Malaysia concept are always for the public. Just like the lyrics of 1 Malaysia song. Im 4 U. The use of coercion in hegemony which is law state to control over the content of media towards government report like the printing press and publication act, broadcasting act and official secret act. Combine with the use of consent like ownership of media and control over the content of media. Surely the government can maintain their status quo and spread their ideology to the citizen without the consciousness of the people. People will also accept the concept willing without any force. Marxist Theory Marxist theory talks about that hierarchical class system are the roots of social problem. How base, superstructure and capitalism are closely related to each other. The main premises of Marxism said if the idea of production can be control, people can be control. The ideology of the elite are widely use to dominant public thinking and to maintain the inequality of social class. In human history, social class problem have been discuss generation over generation. However, the inequalities between social classes are still appearing in todays world. For example, riots happened in Malaysia on 13 May 1969 was happen due to the imbalance of economy and social classes between races. It makes Malaysia government realize about the important of economy balance between races. Although the large economy gaps between races in Malaysia are solve through New Economic Policy (NEP), but the problem of social classes are still remain. The government member and royal family of Malaysia are defining as the elite group or aristocrat in Marxist theory. In order for the government to maintain their status quo, the elite own the capitalism with their base. However, for their ideology to spread and accept by people, media are use as a tool by government. According to Wang Lay Kim (2001), Malaysias second privatize TV station Metrovision, the four share holder company was closely related to UMNO. The companies are City television Sdn.Bhd, Melewar Corporation, Utusan Melayu and Medanmas Sdn. Bhd. This can explain how government act as capitalism, own the base which are the media and message production and spread of 1 Malaysia concept which is government ideology to maintain their status quo. In literal, 1Malaysia concept is use to help Malaysian to improve their living condition and upgrade the overall citizen social classes to eliminate poverty. But in the other hand, it is also an ideology to maintain their power. Government realize that to maintain their status quo while achieve peaceful among the bourgeoisie and proletariat or so call Malaysian, 1 Malaysia concept are one of the best way to achieve goal for mutual benefit of the country and the elite. By own the mainstream media and control of the message production, people can be control. Conclusion In conclusion, with the support of political economy, hegemony theory and Marxist theory, I strongly agree that 1 Malaysia concept can be accept by Malaysian with the use of mainstream media. Most of the media theories agree that media have the long term effect on people but not direct effect. When people expose to something for a long term, they tend to believe it. Mainstream media keep reporting the positive news of 1 Malaysian; time by time people will accept it without conscious about it. Besides, mainstream media in Malaysia are directly control by legislative law and indirectly own by the government. With the support of Marxist theory, which says control of the media production, people can be control. It strengthens my opinion towards Malaysian acceptance of 1 Malaysia concept.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Caring for Family Members with Alzheimers Disease Essay -- Alzheimer

"Confusion, Anxiety, Anger and Pain, Despair" these are some of the words that Kaunie Hagensen uses to describe her condition in the poem Lost. (Hagensen 1999) These feelings are shared by many people today who suffer from, or have family members who suffer from Alzheimer's disease. The Encyclopedia of Alzheimer's Disease describes it as being, "a progressive degenerative disease characterized by the death of nerve cells in several areas of the brain. While the most obvious symptom is loss of memory, the disease also causes problems with emotional control, vision, and language." (Turkington 2003, 14) "Alzheimer's disease" has previously been used to describe dementia arising in middle age, but because of the neuropathological differences that have been found, today it refers to a "common primary degenerative dementia occurring later in life" also known as senile dementia. (Evans 1990, 267) The change in the meaning of Alzheimer’s disease occurred prior to the 1960’ s. This disease is a problem that primarily affects elderly persons age 85 and older, but recently it has also been associated with adults 65 years and older. As life expectancy increases, so does the impact of the disease, especially in developed countries like the United States. A study that estimated the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease in the United States used results from East Boston in 1980, and applied them, by age and sex, to population projections for the United States from 1990 to 2050. The results of this study showed that in 1980, 11.3 percent of people 65 years of age or older had Alzheimer's disease. By 2050, the number of persons 65 years of age or older that have Alzheimer's disease in the United States is expected to exceed 10 million. (Evans... ...re, an abrupt and immediate end to strain is not a realistic outcome of institutionalization.† (Dellasega 1991, 204) Because there is no cure for Alzheimer's disease, taking on the responsibility of caring for patients in the home is a long term responsibility that requires a lot of planning and consideration. This is not a decision to be made on a whim or because of emotion. All options need to be weighed, and everyone affected needs to be considered. Placing a family member in a long-term care facility does not spell out neglect. Depending on the circumstances of the caregiver, caring for the patient in the home may lead to more neglect. The ‘right choice’ is different in each case, but without considering all the facets of your own situation the wrong choice will be made. I hope that this information will make that heavy decision a little easier to bear. Caring for Family Members with Alzheimer's Disease Essay -- Alzheimer' "Confusion, Anxiety, Anger and Pain, Despair" these are some of the words that Kaunie Hagensen uses to describe her condition in the poem Lost. (Hagensen 1999) These feelings are shared by many people today who suffer from, or have family members who suffer from Alzheimer's disease. The Encyclopedia of Alzheimer's Disease describes it as being, "a progressive degenerative disease characterized by the death of nerve cells in several areas of the brain. While the most obvious symptom is loss of memory, the disease also causes problems with emotional control, vision, and language." (Turkington 2003, 14) "Alzheimer's disease" has previously been used to describe dementia arising in middle age, but because of the neuropathological differences that have been found, today it refers to a "common primary degenerative dementia occurring later in life" also known as senile dementia. (Evans 1990, 267) The change in the meaning of Alzheimer’s disease occurred prior to the 1960’ s. This disease is a problem that primarily affects elderly persons age 85 and older, but recently it has also been associated with adults 65 years and older. As life expectancy increases, so does the impact of the disease, especially in developed countries like the United States. A study that estimated the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease in the United States used results from East Boston in 1980, and applied them, by age and sex, to population projections for the United States from 1990 to 2050. The results of this study showed that in 1980, 11.3 percent of people 65 years of age or older had Alzheimer's disease. By 2050, the number of persons 65 years of age or older that have Alzheimer's disease in the United States is expected to exceed 10 million. (Evans... ...re, an abrupt and immediate end to strain is not a realistic outcome of institutionalization.† (Dellasega 1991, 204) Because there is no cure for Alzheimer's disease, taking on the responsibility of caring for patients in the home is a long term responsibility that requires a lot of planning and consideration. This is not a decision to be made on a whim or because of emotion. All options need to be weighed, and everyone affected needs to be considered. Placing a family member in a long-term care facility does not spell out neglect. Depending on the circumstances of the caregiver, caring for the patient in the home may lead to more neglect. The ‘right choice’ is different in each case, but without considering all the facets of your own situation the wrong choice will be made. I hope that this information will make that heavy decision a little easier to bear.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Nuclear Energy :: Essays Papers

Nuclear Energy It seems that the world as a whole is in search of an energy source that is cleaner, cheaper, and more efficient. This seems to be particularly true in the United States where the government seeks to separate themselves from their reliance on petroleum from countries including those in the Middle East. Their agenda, unfortunately, is less concerned with environmental issues than it is with issues of power, money, and dominance. Either way, nuclear energy has emerged as the forerunner for alternative energy sources. Today, there are 109 nuclear power plants in the United States which contribute roughly 20% of the power used in the United States(Nuclear Energy, April 13, 2005). Nuclear fission is performed by fusion of hydrogen into helium. This is done using uranium, plutonium, or thorium and placing them in the reactor, which start a chain reaction that can produce vast amounts of energy. Uranium is the element primarily used in reactors. The fission of a single atom can produce 10 million times the amount of energy that an atom can produce that is burned from coal. Uranium is an abundant element which is easily found and extracted. It often has to undergo a relatively cheap refining process, however, as the isotopes are found mixed in nature. Nuclear fission is also relatively clean, as there is no excess CO2 produced, as there is in the burning of coal and petroleum. It does, however, have is pollutants. The filtering rods used have to be changed every two years and the o ld rods disposed of. Because the rods are highly radioactive, their disposal must be dealt with meticulously. Currently most of the rods are shipped to Yucca Mountain (The Bane of Nuclear Energy, April 13, 2005). Despite the benefits of nuclear fission, the quest still continues for an even better energy source. The hopes of the new energy source are pinned on a process known as nuclear fusion. This is the process that takes place on the sun and other stars under intense heat and pressure. The hope is that nuclear fusion will become a reality here on earth as it will provide an unprecedented amount of energy very cheaply and with very little pollution.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Martin Lynch-Gibbon, is a London wine merchant married to Antonia

Martin Lynch-Gibbon, is a London wine merchant married to Antonia. They had wed due to convenience and they do not have a child.He is having an affair with Georgie, an academic younger than he is. She gets pregnant early on, but they end it. She attempts suicide after rejections by Martin and his brother.Seemingly out of nowhere, Antonia declares that she is leaving him. Martin is shocked. She goes with Palmer, one of their friends and her psychoanalyst. As it turns out, she and Palmer have been having an affair as well.Martin leaves their house, but he does not want his affair to go public, or be committed any further.Then he falls for Honor, Palmer’s stepsister who teaches anthropology at Cambridge. One night, he goes into her house uninvited and unannounced, and finds her in bed- with her stepbrother.Later, Antonia tells Martin that she has been seeing Alexander as well, his older brother, and it dates back to them having been introduced to each other.He turns to whisky to battle his problems. More than being an adulterer, he thinks of himself as a cuckold.â€Å"A Severed Head† explores fear of intimacy between the married couple, the fear of being in a relationship that values commitment. It also illuminates the ways in which sexual relationships are unraveled, especially when one manipulates or dominates the other.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Critical and Creative Thinking Questions

I think the four major sources of stress in my life would be money being number one. This is because I am an international student who moved from Hong Kong to America. Having doing this I had to learn how to manage my own money for example rent, bills , and also enough for entertainment. When I was living in Hong Kong with my family I didn’t have to worry about all these factors so it came easy to me. Family would be another source of stress in my life but only because of me being away by myself in another country. This is probably because this is the first time I have been away from home and having to look after myself and the ‘money’ issue my parents especially tend to get too worried, which in some cases cause a lot of fights. Im not saying this is something bad but defiantly something that can trigger me at some points. My social skills is a definite source of stress in my life, This being because I am not very good at interacting, socializing and communicating with other human beings. Some of my interactions and relationships can be very stressful and tension filled, and i almost come off as being a very unsociable person. If you where experiencing a period of high stress, what would you do to avoid illness? If I where to experience a period of high stress I would probably exercise a lot which usually helps me with depression and tension and also relaxes me. But also exercising improves cardiovascular efficiency and increases strength that could help avoid illness due to stress. I believe that when your exercising and you sweat a lot, it almost feels like your getting rid of all the problems in your life. Why are smoking-prevention efforts often aimed at adolescents? Smoking prevention efforts are usually aimed at adolescents because thats when a lot of smokers start smoking a form of tobacco, such as cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco. A lot of youngsters and often influenced by peer pressure and imitation of role models, even family members. They think if your family member is smoking, its ok for them to try or to pursue it. Smoking prevention programs focus on more immediate problems with smoking. films and discussions in these programs educate teens about peer pressure and the medias influence in smoking, as well as helping them overcome this phase. What are the benefits of involving a person’s family in behavior modification programs to treat chronic pain. When a person is suffering from chronic pain family members usually ask about it, which tends not to help the patient. This is because talking about pain or what or how they feel often focuses on it more and they start to think about it and all there thoughts draws attention on it and increase’s its intensity. To prevent this, psychologists have treatments in there modification programs for both the patient and family members. I feel if having a family member by your side while you are going through this and they attending the programs help the patient. This is because the patient feels comfortable that some one close to them a (family member) is participating in these pain management plans which could help ease of the stress and pain. Which forms of coping do you most often draw on? When I am stressed I believe the best way for me to cope is by listening and finding new music. Not only does music relax me but sometimes it could be deeper than that. Lyrics of a song can sometimes or somehow relate to what your going through and can often help and solve the problems. Which of the resources for stress management seem most important to you? I believe that social support is the most important resource to me because when i’m stressed I tend to feel much better when I have people around me to discuss what I am going through, but also just because someone is there to listen. Close friends and family often make us feel comfortable and important and provide positive attitude to changes in our life. Critical and Creative Thinking Questions 1) Sensation and perception are closely linked. What is the central distinction between the two? Sensations can be defined as the passive process of bringing information from the outside world into the body and to the brain. The process is passive in the sense that we do not have to be consciously engaging in a â€Å"sensing† process. Perception can be defined as the active process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting the information brought to the brain by the senses. 2) If we sensed and attended equally to each stimulus in the world, the amount of information would be overwhelming. What sensory and perceptual processes help us lessen the din? Perceptions vary from person to person. Different people perceive different things about the same situation. But more than that, we assign different meanings to what we perceive. And the meanings might change for a certain person. One might change one's perspective or simply make things mean something else. You would also use vision to observe different people who were having a conversation as well as listening to observe all the conversation taking place. 3)  What senses would likely be impaired if a person were somehow missing all of the apparatus of the ear (including the outer, middle, and inner ear)? If someone was to lose total hearing that would be devastating. If you were to totally lose your hearing you would be losing one of the most important senses you have and this can affect you in other areas including your equal equilibrium not being able to walk straight can cause major ramifications in your life like blurred vision, headaches as well as the loss as speech

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Didion “In Bed” Thoughtful Analysis

Her ethos is her personal experience with the subject as demonstrated in the first paragraph: â€Å"Almost every day of every month, between these attacks, I feel the sudden irrational irritation and the flush of blood into the cerebral arteries which tell me that migraine is on its way, and I take certain drugs to avert its arrival. † She uses exact medical terms such as â€Å"Methodologies,† â€Å"lysergic acid,† and â€Å"synthesized L SD-25† to demonstrate her knowledge and research on the subject. 3. ) Make observations about the remarkable language use in the first paragraph.Here are a few to get you started, but add a few of your own: â€Å"unconscious with pain,† â€Å"shameful secret,† â€Å"chemical inferiority. † What does each of these phrases do for the passage? Doing is showing what the majority of people think of migraines by using these words. Most people don't understand that it is more than a headache, but people thin k those who suffer from migraines are weak and that it's something they do to themselves due to â€Å"bad attitudes, unpleasant tempers, [and] wrongdoing. † Doing sort of mocks the general preconceived attitude towards her affliction. . ) What is the intended effect of the parallel structure at the end of the second paragraph? What type of appeal is this? Be specific. Doing utilizes the parallel Truckee to provide specific examples of her struggles with migraines. Doing uses logic to contradicts her statement the when she said â€Å"nothing wrong with me at all: I simply had migraine headaches, and migraine headaches were, as everyone who did not have them knew, imaginary' and then uses the parallel structure to show that migraines are an issue. 5. ) What is the purpose of including Jefferson and Grant?What about the lengthy paragraph on medical treatments? Jefferson and Grant weren't weak people who were likely to complain about a â€Å"headache. It's not just a disease th at affects weak personality types, so the two men lend credibility to the issue of migraine. The paragraph on medical treatments demonstrates her knowledge of the issue. The medical paragraph lends credibility to Doing, but it also shows that there is no easy cure for migraine; one of the drugs is even a derivative LSI showing that it's a pretty intense treatment. . ) Comment on the importance of the phrase â€Å"ambiguous blessing. † The blessing is arguable because in the midst of a migraine, the individual suffering the attack would rather die than eave to suffer, but after the attack is over they're glad they survived. 7. ) Find a logic fallacy in the first full paragraph on the back (HINT: Doing herself is not culpable Of the offense). What is it, and how does it strengthen her argument? The doctor makes an assumption about her condition based on her appearance, specifically her messy hair.He assumes she must be a compulsive housekeeper because her hair is messy and that all patients with her condition have a specific personality, and he tries to find a way to file her within that personality type. 8. Throughout the essay, why does she refer to it as â€Å"migraine† and not â€Å"migraines'? Doing is trying to express the seriousness of migraines by stating it by its medical term, much like we call cancer cancer and diabetes diabetes. 9. ) What do you think is the purpose of the final paragraph?Its purpose is to show that she's found a silver lining in the pain of a migraine. The migraine is brought on by the small stresses of her everyday life, and every anxiety she has is magnified by the migraine before the pain, but then the pain comes and she has to focus all of her energy on that singular pain. When the pain passes, all of her problems are no longer real problems. The migraine is now a kind of therapy. It brings her life into perspective and while it's violent in its execution, its still a form of meditation. 0. ) How does she create empathy in the essay? Dingo's personal experiences bring out the pathos in the passage. Her suffering and struggles are empathic by the reader because Doing is so descriptive of her own experiences with migraines; she makes the reader feel and understand what she is feeling during a migraine. 11. Using Doing to justify your response, explain why a balance of pathos, ethos, and logos creates the most effective arguments.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

759 store Competitive Business Strategy Essay

Introduction Strategic planning is central to management study. It defines the long term direction for the company and all other business functions orbit around their established strategies. This article studies how a company formulates business-level strategies, optimize their competitive positioning and obtain a competitive advantage over their rivals. In order to further illustrate this management issue, this article investigates into the successful competitive positioning of a leading Hong Kong imported food and daily necessity retailer, the 759 Store é˜ ¿Ã¤ ¿ ¡Ã¥ ±â€¹. Despite 759 Store has a diversified range of business, this article focuses on its major business function as an imported packaged-snacks retailer. The chain-store has grown exponentially since its establishment in July 2010. By November 2014, it has 210 stores across Hong Kong and has significantly increased its market share in the industry.1 This achievement should be credited to the unique competitive strategy the company has adopted. Michael Porter’s Generic Competitive Strategies analyzes how a company should formulate their business model to give them a specific form of competitive position in the market. The three strategies are low cost strategy, differentiation strategy and focus strategy respectively. Low cost strategy drives company to lower their cost and obtain high efficiency, so they can attract customers with lower prices than their competitors. Differentiation strategy, on the contrary, tries to satisfy customers’ needs in a way that its competitors cannot and it has the competitive advantage by charging premium prices. Focus strategy suggests firms specialize in few segments or target market to attain cost advantage or differentiation advantage in the market.2 759 Store’s competitive strategy, however, has adopted both the differentiation and the low cost strategy simultaneously to attract and retain customers. On one hand, it has successfully challenged the cost-leaders in the industry by providing more differentiated products. On the other hand, it has minimized its costs so it charges differentiated products at a relatively low price. The two sections below could illustrate how 759 Store achieves this distinctive strategy. Differentiation Strategy In the aspect of differentiation strategy, companies offer customers with the unique products which are extraordinary or high quality. The uniqueness of the products is usually highly valued by the customers. Thus, those products are competitive in the market and are difficult to be replaced. This section is going to examine how 759 Store differentiate their products from others snacks retailers. (1) Never selling the products which customers can find in chain supermarkets 759 Store differentiates itself from other competitors by providing uncommon products in the market. 759 Store cannot race their cost to the bottom when compare with ParknShop and Welcome, the two well established cost leaders. In order to survive under the oligopolistic market, the company differentiates itself by avoid selling the same products that the two major supermarkets are already selling. 759 Store would rather search for new products instead of competing directly with those supermarket chains.3 By selling different brands and types of snacks, customers cannot use the retail price to directly compare the products in 759 Store and supermarkets. Also, when compared, customers would find the products in 759 Store more trendy and unique than the products in the two traditional low cost leaders. (2) Exclusive sources of goods 759 Store differentiates its products by securing the exclusive source of goods by all means. The company first made headlines in 2011 when one of the local biggest distributor, Swire Group, refused to supply Coca-Cola to the store, claiming its retail price was too low which would harm supermarkets’ profit . After the incident, packaged-snacks imported directly from Japan accounted for over 60% of the main sales of 759 Store.4 Therefore, Coils Lam Wai-Chun, the CEO of 759 Store, have handled business connections with Japanese suppliers with great care. He has connected the first Japan snacks supplier in HKTDC Food Expo in 2011 by himself.5 In Japan, local products for domestic sales are not allowed to be sold to foreign companies. Thus, Lam even went to Japan in person searching for suppliers and set up shadow companies in Japan sourcing for any popular and fair-price snacks that are  not yet known to the Hong Kong market.6 That is the reason snacks sold in 759 Store always catch up with the trend in Japan. Thus, 759 Store provides exclusive products which cannot be found in its competitors’ stores. Furthermore, 759 Store establishes a stable and strong relationship with its suppliers in Japan, which are mostly small and medium enterprises. Some Japanese suppliers have even promised to supply their products exclusively to 759 Store as a gesture to thank the company’s support during the recovery hardship after the 311 Earthquake in Japan.7 All these business connections helped 759 Store to secure its exclusive sources of goods from Japan. (3) Higher autonomy on goods selection through bypassing local distributors Today, more than 95% of products sold at 759 Store are imported directly bypassing distributors in Hong Kong.8 Therefore, 759 Store enjoys greater autonomy on deciding the variety of products they sell. 759 Store successfully develops a new market segment providing new and popular Japanese snacks to Hong Kong people. The self-reliance nature of 759 Store in terms of product purchasing enables the company to maintain its unique choice of trendy and diversified goods, thus differentiating itself from its competitors. (4) Diversification of goods and fast moving trend 759 Store differentiate itself from others by diversifying its choice of goods and keeping its shopping shelves updated with new goods. Assuming customers from Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong all share the same trend and taste, the item selection of 759 Store is based on the seasonal snack sales in Japan. The company only retains its top-500 sales items on its shelves and imports these items again.9 The rest of the products are purchased according to the sales trend of snacks in Japan every week. The sales cycle for each snack product is around 3 months only.10 As a result, customers can always be surprised and refreshed by new snacks while enjoying their preferred snacks. The company has successfully differentiated itself from some traditional differentiators, such as Okashi Landé› ¶Ã© £Å¸Ã§â€° ©Ã¨ ªÅ¾. Both snack stores differentiate themselves from the cost leaders by selling imported snacks from Japan. However, the fast market reaction, diversification and regular replacement of products make 759 Store offers a higher value to  customers than its rivals, as 759 Store’s products are more responsive to customers’ preferences. Low Cost Strategy Though 759 Store uses a lot of tactics to differentiate itself from its competitors, the company still manages to keep their operation at low cost. Hence, the company does not need to charge their customers a premium price for the extra differentiation strategies. This section would explain how 759 Store do everything possible to lower its cost structure and develop its competitive edge against the cost leaders in the market. (1) Economies of scale through rapid horizontal expansion Horizontal expansion is a growth strategy that expands within the same stage of the production process. 759 Store experienced rapid horizontal expansion which it has opened 210 stores in 4 years. Through rapid horizontal expansion, 759 Store benefits from several economies of scale – the reduction of long run per unit cost when the scale of production of a company has expanded. One significant average cost advantage is that the company has increased their bargaining power when purchasing from suppliers. If the scale of the company is small, it cannot enjoy the wholesale price offered by the suppliers.11 After enlarging their scale of operation, 759 stores received a reduction in average input price and transportation cost by more than 10%.12 (2) Cost reduction through backward vertical expansion Backward vertical expansion is another growth strategy 759 Store practices to reduce the cost. By becoming companies’ own supplier, business can control its inputs and help them to provide more secure transaction.13 Due to the exclusive culture of the Japanese snack production industry, Japanese companies only supply their goods to local companies. To address this problem, 759 Store has to set up their shadowing companies in Japan to take up the functions of distributors. As 759 stores purchase the goods directly from the snack manufacturers without passing through any distributors and wholesalers, they could enjoy a lower import price and maintain a steady input supply by themselves. This in turn reduces the overall cost of  production by integrating different business stages of business functions. (3) Effective inventory management The storage and management of inventories could be a huge source of expenditures for retailers. Packaged snacks are perishable and thus requires accurate inventory management In order to reduce inventory cost while diversifying its products, for each new product, 759 Store would first import 2400-3000 pieces of them to Hong Kong. The company then experiments the market reaction to the product and decides whether to import the product in bulk or not.14 This practice has greatly reduced the risks of stocking up unpopular goods in the warehouse, therefore reducing the cost for inventory storage. (4) Less costly shop location choice When it comes to choosing shop location, 759 Store does not chase after prime retailing locations with expensive rent. Instead, it usually opts for large, more remote and less visible shop locations in residential neighborhoods. The per-foot-square rent at these locations is generally cheaper and 759 Store can bargain for a lower rent as the shop’s presence can improve pedestrian flow nearby.15 In fact, most 759 Store’s customers are willing to sacrifice convenience for lower price of products as they usually purchase a lot of goods at once.16 According to the annual report of 2013-14, rent for shops only accounted for about 9.8% of the retail revenue. 759 Store successfully lowers its costs by choosing less popular shop location and turns it to its own advantages. (5) Motivate employee: pay more for employees to work more The 759 Store regards its employees as important assets of the company. It can help reduce the operating cost of the company by successfully motivating its staff to enhance their productivity. It always stresses the provision of a reasonable salary and fringe benefit to its staff. For example, when the existing minimum wage in Hong Kong is $30/hour, 759 Store can pay its staff up to $38/hour. A manager may get an attractive salary up to $30,000 per month. 17 The CEO of 759 Store believes that a reasonable pay will increase working incentive of the staff to provide better service performance and  deliver excellent service to the customers. According to the annual report of 759 Store, one can find that even though the company is renting larger stores, the number of frontline staff is similar as previous year which is approximately 4.1 staff per shop.18 Although the per-labor cost is higher, the overall cost on labor is reduced because the staff is more productive and the company can hire less labor. (6) Inexpensive advertising and communication strategies 759 Stores adopts useful but inexpensive marketing strategies to gain its reputation. Unlike its competitors who promote their brands through traditional advertising channels, like newspaper, radio and television advertisement, 759 Stores uses word of mouth to promote its brand. Since their CEO has a good relationship with the media, he has been repeated interviewed by numerous press and television programs. It has helped 759 Store to gain exposure in the mass media without paying a penny. Also, 759 Store utilizes the technology to communicate with its customers, especially the internet platform like Facebook and blog. These platforms provide channels for 759 Store to communicate and respond to its customer directly. All these measure are cost-minimizing, yet they are very effective. Conclusion In a nutshell, 759 Store has developed its competitive business position by adopting features from both the differentiation strategy and the low-cost strategy. On one hand, 759 Store differentiated itself from traditional cost-leaders by providing exclusive, highly diversified and trendy goods to its customers, through exclusive sources of imported goods and autonomous purchasing practice. It has also avoided direct competition with the cost leaders on identical items. In terms of responsiveness to customers’ taste and catching up with trends, 759 Store’s performance is even superior to the traditional differentiators in the industry. On the other hand, the company has adopted the strategy to lower its cost structure, therefore it does not has to charge products for premium prices even extra values has been added to its products. It has lowered its per-unit cost by economies of scale through rapid horizontal and backward  vertical expansion. Other costs are being lowered by having better inventory control, choosing less costly shop location, using unconventional advertising methods and cutting overall labor cost by incentivizing individuals to achieve higher productivity. Some scholars identify this mixture of strategies as the broad differentiation strategy.19 The competitive advantage of companies adopting this strategy is that the company can offer customers quality products at reasonable prices. As 759 Store has demonstrated, it has chosen a level of differentiation that gives the company on the market segment it has targeted. Besides, they have achieved this in a way that has allowed them to lower their cost structure over time. Though it has higher cost than the cost leader, as well as less differentiated products than the differentiator, 759 Store offers more value than its industry rivals, and therefore threatening both the cost leader and the differentiator. In the case of 759 Store, ParknShop, the traditional cost leader in the industry, has even referred to the business model of 759 Store and opened a subsidiary brand in order to compete with 759 Store.20 It is a proof that 759 Store has successfully weakened the competitive position of its rivals by adopting the right strategy. Insights The successful competitive positioning of 759 Store gives insights to future managers on strategic planning, especially regarding how to enter an oligopolistic market. 759 Store has found its unique competitive position to create a ‘third way† in the oligopolistic packaged-food retailing market, which was dominated by two traditional cost leaders. By adopting the broad differentiation strategy, 759 Store achieved rapid growth rate of stores and increased its market share steadily in a very short period of time. The successful identification of and expansion into a specific market segment has allowed 759 Store to spread out geographically in Hong Kong quickly. Also, this model cannot be imitated quickly by its competitors. Hence, it is a business model which a lot of companies in the growth stage of their business might want to model upon. We can also find the practices for 759 Store to pursue differentiation and low cost strategies are very innovative. The company’s unique understanding of market taste and purchasing culture has enabled it to come up with efficient and effective strategies never  adopted by its competitors. The differentiation by trendiness and the cost minimization through shop location choice are good example of the creative strategies 759 Store has adopted. Moreover, the company’s culture of giving genuine respect to their employees and suppliers has even given 759 Store special competitive advantages in the market. The business model of adopting broad differentiation strategy, however, is not without risks. In order to achieve this distinctive competitive positioning, 759 Store has developed a number of potential risks. The company has an unhealthy amount of debts due to rapid expansion, which makes the company vulnerable to economic downturns. Besides, when compare with the differentiators and the cost leaders, the profit margin of 759 Store is significantly narrower. Profitability could be sacrificed during the growth stage of the company, but we foresee that the company has to adjust its competitive strategy in order to create a sustainable business model in the future. References 759 Store, â€Å"About Us.† Accessed November 2, 2014. http://www.759store.com/aboutus.php?lang=eng. 759 Store Blog. â€Å"759é˜ ¿Ã¤ ¿ ¡Ã¥ ±â€¹- Ã¥ °â€¹Ã¨ ³ ¢Ã¦ ±â€šÃ¦â€° !† Accessed October 24, 2014, http://759store-personnel.blogspot.hk/. CEC International Holdings Limited. â€Å"Annual report 13-14.† Accessed October 24, 2014. http://www.ceccoils.com/doc/art/finance/2014082201/201408220001.pdf. Hill, Charles W. L. and Gareth R. Jones. Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Hong Kong Celebrity Network. â€Å"Lam Wai Chung.† Accessed November 2, 2014. http://www.hongkongprofile.com/2011/10/759.html.