The Little Theatre Accounting Flexible Budget Analysis Essay Example

The Little Theatre Accounting Flexible Budget Analysis Paper The Little Theatre Case 9. 26 Case 9. 26 After the beginning of the year, the board of directors of the theater authorized expanding the theater’s program to seven productions and a total of 168 performances. Not surprisingly, actual costs were considerably higher than the costs from the planning budget. Grants from donors and ticket sales were also higher. After completing the analysis for the Little Theatre we found that several items could be implemented to have an accurate cost model in the future. First, we prepared a flexible budget for the Little Theatre based on the actual activity of the year. We found that there were a number of cost items such as wages, scenery items, and administrative expenses that were under estimated compared to the original anticipated budget. We also found that there were items such as the theater hall rental and the cost of the printed programs that cost less than the budgeted items. Secondly, we prepared a Cost Budget Performance Report for the year that reflected the breakeven point. We have identified the price and the number of tickets we have to sell in order to cover the cost of the number of productions and the number of performances. The breakeven point was based on the actual cost of each expense. The question was asked, â€Å"If you were on the board of directors of the theater, would you be pleased with how well costs were controlled during the year why or why not? † We were not totally satisfied with the way costs were controlled during the year because the costs below were higher than we anticipated. †¢Wages †¢Costumes †¢Publicity †¢Administrative Expenses We will write a custom essay sample on The Little Theatre Accounting Flexible Budget Analysis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Little Theatre Accounting Flexible Budget Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Little Theatre Accounting Flexible Budget Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The market may be the reason for the expenses being higher than we forecasted. For example, the theatre may not be able to pay a lower wage to the actors. In the future in order to have an accurate cost model we may improve on expenses such as costumes. We may submit bids to other vendors to see if we can lower costs. Finally, the cost formulas provided figures for the average cost per production and average cost per performance. We wanted to find out how accurate these figures would be for predicting the cost of a new production or of an additional performance of a particular production. Our analysis revealed that if the Little Theatre did six productions and one hundred and eight performances, the total cost would be $514,921 and the number of tickets that would need to be sold would be 10,298 at a price of $50. 00. We also found that the cost to produce seven productions and one hundred and sixty eight performances would be $726,900. In addition, the number of tickets that would need to be sold in order to cover this cost would be 14,438 at a price of $50. 00. Over all we project the Little Theatre will be successful if they continue to master the flex budget model.

The Economic History of the United States of America

The Economic History of the United States of America Introduction The United State of America has had a great trend in its economy. There have been depressions and recessions in the economy. 13 small group of farming economies joined in 1776 to form a large United States of America.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Economic History of the United States of America specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This resulted to a huge growth of the United States and it made a quarter of the world’s economy. The growth of the economy received a great boost from the political system, availability of natural resources and agricultural land that was very productive. The citizens had a big impact also since they were very innovative and entrepreneurial. This attracted so many people from all over the world to came and settle in the United States and made the human resources available. The arrival of Europeans in the United States led to alteration of the economy since th e people had to adopt the European way of life. The American Revolution led to war as the Americans were fighting for their rights and it affected the economy. The American Revolution started from 1775 to 1783. Economic Trends The United States of America faced recessions and depressions in its economy that affected the economy of the whole world. War has been one of the major causes of recession in the United States. In 1953, the rate of unemployment was at 5%. This was caused by the country trying to recover from the war. The unemployment levels went higher year by year and in 1957, it was at 6.2 %. The Federal Reserve used the money supply policy, which reduced the amount of money for businesses to expand, and as a result, there were no new job opportunities created. In 1961, the level of unemployment reduced by 1% because of president Kennedy’s effort to increase the government expenditure. This came at a time when people had lacked confidence in the government as many ba nks were running out of money and many of them were closed. The most severe recession was experienced in 1973-75 were the rate of inflation was very high and adversely affected the whole GDP. The Vietnam War and the oil crisis caused this. The oil embargo announced by the organization of petroleum exporting countries (OPEC) affected the production of goods and services in the U.S (Taylor 2009, p. 45). By this time, much of the world was dependent on oil for everyday life and business function. The prices of oil escalated and it was followed by the lack of sufficient supply and this affected the American economy. The GDP dropped by 3.2 percent and the unemployment rate was very high that it hit 9% with the recession ending in March 1975.Advertising Looking for research paper on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In 1979, the oil prices were sharply increased all over the world due to the Iranian revolution. Izur ieta (2003, p. 15) argues that the Iran’s new regime exported the oils in small volumes at very high prices and the supply was not constant. This contributed to businesses operating at high operational cost that they were declared bankrupt in 1982. As a result, many people were left unemployed with unemployment rising 10.8 percent. During this period, the American Federal Reserve was using a very tight monetary policy in order to control inflation, which had contributed to the high level of unemployment. From 1980, the United State had adopted an economic expansion policy that affected the economy negatively since it raised the level of inflation. Between 1986 and 1989, the Federal Reserve increased the interest rates. These reduced the amount of cash flowing in the market since the borrowing power of people was affected by that move. In 1990, the price of oil went up again because of Gulf war. In addition, it caused the people to loose confidence with their government. The d ebts accumulated, consumer pessimists continued and savings and borrowing habits of the consumers changed (Izurieta 2003, p. 12). This led to another recession in 1990. In 2001 there was approximately of 10% decline in the volume of exports of both goods and services. This recession was also attributed to the sudden drop in housing investment, which was caused by the rise in the interest rates. The rates on mortgage rose from 6.75 % in 1998 to 8.5% in April 2000. This period is when the federal government was using the contractionary monetary policy, which increased its fund from 4.75 to 6.50 percent. The fall of dot-com bubble stocks and the cases of accounting scandal and fraud at Enron and other big companies was also one of the many causes of this recession (Izurieta 2003, p. 110). The great depression This was the biggest economic depression felt in the United States of America. Producers and sellers realized that their commodities were not bought and they decided to reduce the ir levels of production and all this resulted to the fall of aggregate demand. The reduction of the production rate was being caused by the invention of American contractionary monetary policy. The policy had an aim of limiting the stock market speculation. The gold standard system spread the depression all over the world. High stock prices in 1928 and 1929 forced the Federal Reserve to increase the interest rates to control the prices. The construction and the automobile sector reduced spending due to the increase of the interest rates. Many investors in 1930 lost confidence in the commercial banks and they started demanding their money that they had deposited (Cooper 2008, p.7).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Economic History of the United States of America specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This forced banks to liquidate the loans with an aim of raising money to pay their customers. This whole process lasted for 2 years and caused a fifth of the banks to close. According to some economists, lack of confidence by the investors was caused by bad U.S. economic policies coupled with the debts during the 1920. They also argued that the Federal Reserve reduced the money supply, which was in favor of the gold standard policy. Franklin Delano Roosevelt who was the president at this moment relied much on the policies made by the eclectic group of advisers and refused to take ideas from an economist John Maynard Keynes who had proposed deficit spending to reduce the level of inflation. Another economist by the name Robert whales also criticized the need deal policy that was introduced by the eclectic group of advisors. He argued that the new deal programs increased the period of depression although Erick Rauchway differed with him. Tight policies of the Federal Reserve were to blame for them ensuring that there was less money supply in the economy, which boosted the level of unemployment. An economist Jonathan Catalan blamed the government for failing to correct the action against the expansion of the level of money supply until it affected the economy largely (Cooper 2008, p. 28). During the time of the depression, all the performance determinants declined greatly. They included the production level, tax revenues and profits and wages levels among others. The reduction of all this factors resulted to a serious financial crises in the whole world. Some of these financial crises were caused by the Federal Reserve policies. Mr. Mariner Eccles who was the chair of the Federal Reserve in 1939 introduced a policy that would have introduced when the crisis was over but he never waited for that. He failed to understand that the policy that he introduced was supposed to be for a stable economy like the way the American economy is like right now. He needed to increase the level of money supply to create employment opportunities and stimulate investment. The government should have also increased there level of spending in the economy and this would have increased the job opportunities. The policy that he introduced that needed the commercial banks to keep 50% only of all deposit and to give the rest 50% to the federal resulted to the crises. This policy reduced the level of borrowing and consequently the banks raised the interest rates and reduced the economy (Krugman 2009, p. 8). The economic crises were also caused by the poor performance of large companies especially those who had invested in the internet industry. Later, the industry started to face instabilities, which led to the firms that had invested in them to collapse.Advertising Looking for research paper on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The United States internal policies were the major cause of the financial crises. Today, president Barrack Obama the president of the United States of America has formed financial and microeconomic policies that are aimed at reducing the financial crises all over the world. The microeconomic policies involve reforming the health sector, making the transition to greener economy, increasing labor and the bargaining power among others. The other policies are the financial which includes, transforming financial firm incentive structure that induce excessive risk taking, extend regulatory oversight to the shadow banking system, restrict or eliminate off balance sheet vehicles (Krugman 2009, p. 23). To implement a financial pre-cautionary principle is among the financial policies that president Obama’s administration has prepared. This will be implemented for commodities and services to check whether they should in market. All these reforms are to reduce the excessive debt growth i n the boom period. The administration also wants to introduce a policy that restricts the growth of debt through cyclical capital requirement. It will control the expansion rate of financial assets. The move by the president of the United States to introduce those policies is to deal with the financial problems experienced in the world. All these economic crises have strengthened the radical forces to implementation of economic measures that will lead to long term and sustainable growth (Taylor 2009, p. 144). The united state of America follows a capitalist economic system that was first put forward by Adam Smith. Through the system, the free hand that implies the forces of demand and supply control the market and are necessary for the attainment of market equilibrium. Prices and quantities of products that are sold in the U.S economy are determined by the demand and supply of similar goods within the market. In addition to the capitalist system, the U.S. economy utilizes the Keynes ian theory and economics that relies on increased savings and investments in order to create wealth. During the great depression, many investors were forced to hoard their money and therefore went against the theory. This is what made the economy to stand still according to this philosopher. During that period of depression, he urged the government to increase its spending or increase the money supply in order to hold up the economy. Today his theory still holds since he warns against too much savings and the habit of under spending because these habits affects the process of distribution of wealth. The Federal Reserve should promote the monetary policy in order to reduce the level of inflation. This policy seeks to promote effectively the goals of maximum sustainable output growth and employment and set moderate interest rates. They should also form policies to deal with financial disruption and prevent them from affecting other non-financial sectors and finally they should stabili ze the exchange rate of the dollar to reduce its effect on the international markets (Federal Reserve 2011, p. 7). Conclusion The United States has faced by many economic phases as the rest of the world. Introduction of measures to deal with the economic crises will affect the whole world as has already been experienced because of the high oil prices. The biggest effect of the depression was on the level of unemployment. This is because it affected the businesses and the production firms there fore reducing the employment opportunities. The banks raising the interest rates also resulted to these. The level of unemployment rose, purchasing and consumer power dropped and the housing prices declined. The implementation of the economic regulation policies will reduce the impact these factors will have on the economy of the United States. List of References Cooper, G 2008, The origins of financial crisis: Central Banks, Credit bubbles, and the efficient market fallacy, Vintage Publishing , New York. Federal Reserve, 2011, ‘Monetary Policy and the Economy’. Web. Izurieta, A, 2003, ‘Economic slowdown in the U.S: Rehabilitation of fiscal policy and the case for a co-ordinated global reflation’. Web. Krugman, M 2009, ‘The great recession versus the great depression’, New York Times. Web. Taylor D 2009, Soul of a people: The WPA writers project uncovers depression America, McGraw Hill, New York.

Cognative Development Theroy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cognative Development Theroy - Essay Example 153). These theories are mostly concerned with deciphering the manner in which individuals think as opposed to psychological theories which are concerned with assessing what they think. These theories posit that human development takes place in a pre-decided sequence, and hence is highly predictable in nature. This sequence can neither be changed nor reversed and that once the individuals reach a certain stage in their lives, the learning process doesn't regress since the process of development is described as cumulative by cognitive developmental theorists (Newman and Newman, 2011). The definition and meaning of the terms learning and development, as well as their contribution to the theories of cognitive developmental psychology have been widely debated by scholars and educational theorists over the years (Kuhn, 1995; Strauss, 1993). However, it has been established through research that the notions of learning and development as perceived by cognitive developmental theorists, are neither predetermined nor ascertained but are in fact defined and described differently based on the thoughts and perceptions of each individual theorist. B. Address two of the following major cognitive development theorists: Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner, or Thelen. ... Piaget strongly proposed the hypothesis that children are not naturally born with innate ideas about reality, as claimed by some, nor are they taught about things and situations around them by their elders. He in fact believed that the children actively observe, participate and construct meaning about things and situations around them and understand the world around them based on their experiences. He further stated that children are curious by nature and hence seek answers to their questions by generating own ideas based on their experiences, to solve problems encountered by them in their daily lives (Sigelman and Rider, 2011). Vygotsky: Lev Vygotsky, endorsed similar views as Piaget with regard to the manner in which children learn about their surroundings. Like Piaget, Vygotsky too believed that children learn about the world around them by actively participating in it and asking questions and ultimately constructing meaning and knowledge based on their experiences. However he dif fered in opinion about the manner in which children learn about complex situations, which he believed was learnt through constant interaction with the child's elders i.e. teachers or parents. His theory essentially focused on three key aspects namely; culture, language and zone of proximal development (Oakley, 2004). 1. Compare and contrast each theorist’s views on the nature or development of intelligence. According to Piaget, children learn to think in certain predetermined and recognizable stages which are dependent on natural maturation, while Vygotsky believed that the development of thinking processes in individuals is directly related to and dependent on the development of language and culture. Piaget believed that the role of external forces such

Kim Bassingers Final Analysis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Kim Bassingers Final Analysis - Case Study Example It must be noted here that the operative word on the $3 million revenue is ‘potential’; hence the amount is the estimated revenue from making the film with Kim Bassinger thus it is relevant to the case. It is relevant because it is an estimate given that Ms. Bassinger had â€Å"committed to do the project† (Barton, Shenkir & Marinas 163). Considering that the $800,000 foreign pre-sales are only probable, which means in accounting term has a less than 50 per cent probability of happening, hence in determining whether the maximum and minimum lost profit estimates of Main Line be adjusted this amount is irrelevant. The appearance of Ms. Bassinger in the film will not make the possibility of having $800,000 in foreign pre-sales more than probable. The realized loss of $2.1 million from producing â€Å"Boxing Helena† without Ms. Bassinger is a relevant cost to the case. This amount is the difference between making the movie with Ms. Fern and with Ms. Bassinger. Hence, it should be included in the maximum and minimum lost profit estimates of Main Line. The given figures for this lost profit estimates should not be adjusted since they have taken into account the $2.1 million loss. Requirement #2a Kim Bassinger's Final Analysis salary of $3 million is relevant to the determination of lost profits to Main Line. Although "Basinger was to be paid $600,000 in guaranteed compensation to appear in "Boxing Helena" with another $400,000 to be paid out of producer revenues "before the bank" was paid on the production loan to finance the film" (Barton, Shenkir & Marinas 164); it is highly probable that her agent would have negotiated a higher salary for the film. Requirement #2b The comparison of revenues for Bassinger films with revenues for Fenn films is relevant to the determination of lost profits to Main Line. The comparison is like that of the incremental revenue comparison done in a make or buy decision. Option 1 here or we can say the make decision is the film starring Ms. Bassinger, while Option 2 or if you like the buy decision is hiring Ms. Fenn to do it instead. Requirement #3 In my opinion, Main Line's expert witness is not correct in attempting to estimate the revenues for "Boxing Helena" beyond pre-sales amounts. In an investment decision, the revenues through out the life of that investment should always be included in determining whether that investment is profitable. In this case, the revenues beyond the pre-sales amounts can be reasonably estimated. Requirement #4 Yes, Main Line's lost profits should be adjusted downward to include an estimate of domestic revenues for the "Without Basinger" film. Hence, only the incremental revenue had Ms. Bassinger appeared in the film should be included in the lost profit estimates. However, the use of the $1.7 million advance made by one of the Main Line partners against domestic revenues as the estimate is not a valid estimate for the domestic revenues for the "Withour Bassinger" film. A good estimate would be the average revenue of Fenn films which is $1.6 million. Requirement #5 It is not reasonable to assume that Main Line's pretax cash position would have increased by $3 million. Part of this amount would be paid to others such as the partner who advances $1.7 million. Moreover, it can be that several of the expenses incurred by the film production have been taken up as liabilities; hence the initial take up from the film will be used to pay up some of these liabilities. Requirement #6 I disagree with the jury's lost profit assessment of $7,421,694. My own assessment based on what is relevant and irrelevant cost figures to the case is $3,000,000 which is the average of the minimum and maximum lost profit figures as presented in

Business Formation and Entrepreneurship Coursework

Business Formation and Entrepreneurship - Coursework Example Online marketing involves buying and selling of all types of products from food to spare parts to machineries and cars with only a few clicks of the mouse and online money transfer. Many people have either started companies online or shifted their physical company to operate online as well. Most people are spending much of their time on the internet and especially the social media and what this has done is expand this type of business immensely (Sheehan, 2010). The easy thing about online marketing is the convenience as well as saving of travelling and accommodation costs. An individual for example seeking to shop for the latest clothes fashion just logs into various fashion online shops and boutiques compares the prices and the quality as well as the shipping costs and time and makes the purchase. The seller is paid through a credit or debit card and the shipment is made. It is as easier as that and one can carry out transactions no matter the location whether in the office, in the car during traffic jam or even in the confines of one’s home (Leake, Vaccarello and Ginty,

The international evidence base for healthcare commissioning

The international evidence base for healthcare commissioning According to the Department of Health (2006) healthcare commissioning is more than just procurement of services. Effective commissioning is about care that adds maximum value for patients in a system that promotes fairness, inclusion and respect from all the sections of the society. The following essay focuses on the international evidence base for healthcare commissioning, explaining the healthcare commissioning of Finland, Sweden, Europe, New Zealand, Arizona and United States and the challenges for healthcare commissioning within the context of economic recession and the ways in which these challenges might be addressed. The fundamental aims of healthcare commissioning includes service improvement, decreasing costs wherever feasible, better patient outcomes, and NHS priorities should be taken into account for all commissioning activities (InPharm, 2010). The cycle of commissioning is fragmented into 3 segments: Strategic planning (the beginning of the cycle), procuring services and monitoring and evaluation. Various NHS tools for supporting the PCTs are available like Better Care Better Value indicators, NHS indicators etc. By restructuring the patient pathway at the first time, we improve clinical quality, decrease expensive readmissions, better staff and patient satisfaction and in turn generate savings which can be used for various services (Peskett, 2009). After the NHS reforms in England, the PCT were considered as the main commissioners of healthcare (Peskett, 2009).. In addition to the NHS providers and NHS Foundation Trusts (FTs), the independent and third sectors were also considered as the main healthcare commissioners. The Operating Framework (Department of Health, 2007a) of 2008/2009 focused mainly on world class commissioning which defines the commissioners skills and competencies for commissioning healthcare successfully from a variety of providers. According to Ham (2009) market like mechanisms has been applied to the health reforms in England. In the emerging market it will be of critical importance for the commissioners of care to manage equivalent with the providers. The government has laid down plans for establishing world class commissioning but evidence shows that commissioning is not done consistently in any of the systems. World class commissioning if developed might not be successful because of lack of potential in absence of other modifications in the making of reforms like payment modes and autonomous providers. An alternative to this would be to develop competing integrated systems. World class commissioning (WCC) is metamorphosing the means through which services are commissioned, resulting in improved health consequences and reducing health inequalities adding life to years and years to life (NHS: Department of Health, 2009). The Department of Health along with the NHS launched WCC in December 2007 which aims to d evelop World class commissioners of NHS-funded services. The NHS in England had designed a 10 year program of reform to handle long standing weaknesses in performance which they are halfway through (Ham, 2008). The commissioners of care play a critical role in negotiating similar terms with providers and use the resources efficiently for improving the health and performance of health services. In the early 1990s commissioning was a weak link in the internal market and it is risky if the history is repeated again. Many countries worldwide have drawn attention towards healthcare commissioning for bringing reforms. The traditional systems which have integrated financing and planning of healthcare (eg the UK, New Zealand and Sweden) have experienced the detachment of commissioning from provision since the early 1990s. The roles of insurers and providers have been strengthened due to traditional partition like Germany, Netherlands and US. Experience of commissioning in Europe: (Ham, 2008) It was found that commissioning in Europe had substantial diversity in context to organization that do purchasing. The type of organization like the central or regional government, municipalities that can act as purchaser, market concentrations and the way of interaction differs from country to country. Variations are also observed in their funding sources and jurisdictions. The function of the purchasers was merely carried out in the challenging surrounding despite of the tangled European health policy debates because of the market based reforms. Figureas and colleagues stressed that a fundamental lesson from European experience is that a broad systems approach for purchasing and various components are required by policy makers. Experience of commissioning in Finland: The Healthcare Commissioning system in Finland is micro level, non-competitive and within the local government (Benson, 2011). For an average of 11,000 populations there are about 448 municipal councils which are responsible for purchasing. Each of these 448 councils is valid for a period of 4 years and an executive board is appointed which leads to democratic linkage between the citizens and health commissioners. The councils are authorized to commission secondary or tertiary services of their choice themselves or by merging with other councils. Experience of commissioning in Sweden: The Swedish healthcare system comprises of 3 levels of government: the central government, county councils and municipalities (The Commonwealth Fund, 2010). The local government is responsible for the ways in which services are delivered considering the local conditions and precedence whereas the central government accounts for the overall goals and regulations of the healthcare system. Thus at local level the delivery system varies because of this decentralization. The central and local taxation is held responsible for public funding of healthcare services. The financing of prescription drug subsidies is provided by the central government. It also provides funding by grants apportioned using a risk adjusted capitation pattern to county councils and municipalities. Financing of primary and mental healthcare and specialist services is provided by the 21 county councils whereas home care and services and nursing home care services are provided by the 289 municipalities. The private sector covers about 5% of the population and it provides easy access to care for patients. The 21 county councils are responsible for the organization of primary care services. For residents within a devoted geographical area, the primary care is provided by the health centers. But there have been significant changes in the model and now the residents can choose their provider and physician. A new law holding an alternative for the population and primary care privatization has been implemented from January 2010. The various modes for payment of private primary care providers are taxation, topped up with fee-for-service and targeted payments. The residents can now directly go to the hospitals or the private specialists. Experience of commissioning in New Zealand: There was a separation of purchaser and provider roles in New Zealands healthcare system from 1993 to 2000 (Ham, 2008). From a recent study both the positive and negative side of purchasing and contracting in New Zealand were highlighted. The drawback was that it was difficult to co-relate providers performance and negotiate contracts because of insufficient data on cost, volume and quality. An antagonistic environment was appreciated because of legalistic approach to contracting. It was difficult to sustain long term contracts or conjunctive relationships because the competition law concerns were not even whereas on the positive side because of purchasing the purchasers and providers focused more on costs and volumes of services and specified the categories and levels of services supplied. According to the providers written contracts would encourage them to focus on improvement of quality of care. Ashton and colleagues have summarized the New Zealand healthcare as: contracting has amended the providers direction on costs and volumes, increased the clarity of services and greater emphasis on methods for improving quality. New Zealands healthcare faces the challenge whether the profit of contracting maintained with simultaneously declining the transaction costs. Experience of commissioning in United States: In United States, indemnity insurance was used for financing and delivery of healthcare (Ham, 2008). Patients selected their providers and the providers charged the insurers by paying fees for services. Hence the patient had a flexible choice and the providers prevailed. Because of increase in healthcare managed care approach was developed in the US in the 1980s and 1990s which was based on the funding authority playing a significant role as commissioners. Evidence suggests that managed care temporarily curbed the increasing healthcare costs in the US. But managed care led to fee-for-service providers. In spite of the evidence, a reinvention movement known as consumer directed healthcare movement took place in the health insurance industry. Experience of commissioning in Arizona: The healthcare commissioning system in Arizona (USA) known as Arizona Healthcare Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) was launched in 1982 (Benson, 2011). Arizona had two tier arrangements: AHCCCS covers about million Medicare and Medicaid from a number of purchasers. The purchasers are liable to commission health services operationally for 35,000 to 200,000 people known as members or lives and they purchase services from various providers. In order to sustain the contract or win, the AHCCCS has to produce detailed bids every 5 years and not all the health plans covered under AHCCCS are for profit organizations. The Department of Healths (2007d) recently published documents suggests that the world class commissioners will (Peskett, 2009): Run the NHS locally Function along with the community partners Both patient and public involvement will be there Merge with clinicians Organize and assess knowledge and needs respectively Accelerate the market Enhance innovation and improvement Draw upon some sound financial investment Supervise the local health system One of the ways of addressing one end of the spectrum is PBC which challenges the PCTs for having the proper governance arrangements and bringing awareness about absolute clarity between responsibilities and boundaries. CHALLENGES FOR HEALTHCARE COMMISSIONING: According to Le Grand (1999), commissioning problems were due to very weak incentives and very strong constraints (NHS CONFEDERATION, 2010). History says that commissioning had failed in the internal market in the 1990s and hence there is risk if repeated again (Ham 2008). Weak commissioning is because of the tendency to focus less on PCTs and PBC and giving importance to national, specialized and joint commissioning. Healthcare commissioning has become weak because of the following reasons: In publicly financed systems purchasing of health services is quite difficult Inability to control the referrals and activity of GPs in general Insufficient power against the number of providers, especially the Foundation Trusts (FTs) for shaping the market Curtailment of clinical engagement and base for decisions related to healthcare commissioning Lack of ability to comprehend an issue and perform in analysis of requirement and demand, managing budget, risk taking etc. There is hardly any evidence which suggests that commissioning has made a symbolic or strategic impact in secondary care services (Smith, et al., 2004). Healthcare commissioning is perplexed and postulating and requires both technical as well as managerial skills (Peskett, 2009). Ham (2008), quoting Mays and Hands (2000) defines Healthcare commissioning as complicated, unclear, not exhibiting information symmetry between buyer and seller, lengthy training mandatory and is based on long term relationships between patients and professionals. Often there is misunderstanding among the commissioners and providers, clinicians and managers, and sometimes between the primary and secondary care commissioners which builds up stress, hence a prominent degree of competence and communication skill is mandatory. The challenges for healthcare commissioning were revealed by the UKs Department of Health Independent Sector Program, particularly for assessment of governance arrangements and identification of high standards of healthcare providers (Peskett, 2009). A successful care pathway commissioning requires an acquaintance and proficiency of the clinical intakes, turnouts and consequences as well as organizational skills for process management and patient journey. Pertinent inter and intra-organizational governance arrangements should be verified. Evidence suggests that healthcare commissioners will need not only time but also stability and persistence of management and organization, if a sustainable progress is required for betterment of local services (Smith, et al., 2005). The recently developed primary care commissioning organizations focuses internally in their initial stages and in future with the secondary care and other providers. The factors which facilitate effective commissioning may also pose to be the greatest challenge. One of these includes for engaging the GPs a set of incentives is created, for patient with long term conditions new forms of seamless services being developed and eventually making an absolute effect on the broader healthcare system, which was difficult for the primary care commissioning to achieve. From a survey conducted recently a conclusion was drawn that about 50% of GPs did not show interest in commissioning budget (Smith, et al., 2005). The GPs would thus have power and would play the role of managers but the power was not distributed equally among the doctors. It has been suggested that an important incentive within fund holding and total purchasing would lead to changes and might improve the services as well, if there were profits during the practice process. In order to engage all the GPs into budget commissioning more strident incentives would be required. If a new NHS market is developed then it will offer sharper incentives so that the GPs and nurses can become practice based commissioners. Hence services could be purchased from new providers of primary care and diagnostics by a commissioning budget. For the non NHS providers, there arises a possibility that the primary care should demand increasingly for budget commissioning and thus become equivalent to the NHS GP s and nurses. (Peskett, 2009) Separation of managerial and clinical goals led to failure with no clinical leadership. Negative targets had detrimental consequences and if the financial flow encouraged efficiency and not effectiveness it leads to failure of service. A culture of collaboration would be helpful rather than competition with command and control ethos. The managers and the organization should be responsible enough to provide commercial expertise, infrastructure and information and the clinicians should provide specialist and knowledge related to healthcare. Weak and ineffective engagement of clinicians of primary and secondary care would lead to crucial Primary Care Trust Commissioning. Commissioning fails if there is lack of resources, capacity and capability and an ability to sustain long duration relationship. Commissioning organizations also require robust governance system in business transactions for ensuring no conflicts of interests. Lack of time, personnel, resources and diffic ult long term relationship were the challenges that Healthcare commissioning had faced (Checkaland, et al., 2009). The four major challenges faced by healthcare commissioning are (Boyd, 2010): Ameliorating the health of the patients Assuring a high quality standard of care in healthcare arena Supervising costs and savings. It includes preventing and managing falls, assessment of risk and saving tax payers money. Managing the transition to clinical commissioning (Boyd, 2010)The key responsibilities of healthcare commissioning includes buying high quality services throughout the care pathway in order to meet the needs of common people and making decisions for not purchasing services. The detailed information regarding organizations engaged in pathway, from primary care to tertiary care is available to the commissioning team and their aim is to fit together all the parts of care pathway to provide a holistic care. Foundations for effective commissioning are as follows: improving outcomes, patient empowerment, evidence based practice, community mobilization and sustainability (Royal College of General Practitioners, n.d.). If these foundations are not taken into consideration carefully then it might lead to difficulty in commissioning health services. Payment by Results (PBR) plays a massive role for achieving efficiency gains in commissioning decisions (InPharm, 2010). A key challenge to an efficacious healthcare commissioning is that there is an absence of general/global, apparent/definite commissioning procedure for the NHS. Several factors are taken into consideration for establishing a business case and introducing it to the decision makers for authorization. These factors includes financing the services, route of commissioning whether the prevailed services be improved or put a tender, assessment of both the NHS and patient needs and views of patient. According to Baird, et al. (2010) one of the various challenges that the healthcare commissioning had was the size and performance in commissioning organizations, both in the NHS as well as internationally. It was concluded that small commissioning organizations would struggle more if they took the responsibility of commissioning the entire spectrum of healthcare and there was negligible relationship between performance and size of commissioners. The providers would also face a number of challenges (NHS CONFEDERATION, 2010). These include: Handling the PCTSs during their transition phase Making commitments for the next 2-3 years about services and financial plans Understanding the new GP consortia and their managers Making arrangements for contract with multiple consortia behaving individually and in networks Ascertaining that the PCTs vital statutory activities are being taken into account even during a major organizational transition. The challenges of Healthcare commissioning might be addressed by focusing more on clinical leadership (NHS CONFEDERATION, 2010). For the local needs and services, the consortia will develop a real, risk adjusted, capital budget. The consortia will be held responsible for economic risk, service execution and health outcomes. Amongst the local system, the consortia will have an outstanding position. Therefore it should be capable of attracting a powerful management and have clout. Gray (2001) says that these challenges are difficult to address because it is not possible to decrease hospital care expenses and divert it into budgets of primary care drugs. Accessibility to diagnostic service costs might be prohibited which is subjected internally within the provider unit and not to external contracts. Savings within the hospital can be redirected to hospital care by professionals in any other service. Conclusion: Healthcare commissioning personifies the improvement in quality of healthcare and it is responsible for publicizing the national healthcare standards, assessing the organizations performance and comparing it with other organizations, solving the problems when it is not possible to resolve it locally and looking into severe service failure. According to Sobanja (2009) commissioning is defined as the act of committing resources, particularly but not limited to the health and social care sectors, with the aim of improving health, reducing inequalities, and enhancing patient experience. Many countries throughout the world are now concentrating on healthcare commissioning. Experience and evidence available from Europe, United States and New Zealand suggests that commissioning is not done systematically in any of the systems. There have been innovations in all the systems but again there are illustrations of barriers and limitations of effective commissioning. Commissioning tends to be dif ficult may be due to the nature of healthcare and the expectation of the healthcare commissioners to have a high level of technical and managerial skills. Payment system, incentive, market organization and regulation influence the impact of commissioners. The concluding point to stress is that there is only one element called commissioning in the health reforms and its impact will be affected by how different elements are carried forward. Hence it can be concluded that even if world class commissioning is enhanced it may not reach the standards and fall short of its potential due to lack of variations in system design.

Japan and Korea Essay -- History Historical Korea Japan Essays

Japan and Korea Did Japan modernize or exploit Korea? Scholars have debated this question with vigor throughout this century. I do not believe the answer is so black and white. While looking at the history of the colonization, evidence of both should appear. The word colonization alone generally means to move into another people’s land and exploit resources. However, positive results can appear during a negative situation. Regardless of what point of view an individual takes, there is no doubt that Japan has dramatically influenced Korea. This is common with most nations in the industrialization period or the modernization period. Think about it, every treaty endorsed between nations leads to policy change. The lessons learned from previous agreements, aid in creating new policies. Korea, suggested by Cummings, was a buffer zone between China and Japan. China acted as the big brother or role model for Korea. Culture, language values and society itself developed by free choices made by the Korean government. However, China was always ready to step in if Korea seemed to get to powerful or weak. Cummings makes this relationship sound as if everything was all right as long as Korea depended on the aid of China and respected China’s dominance of the region. Japan although at times respected China’s power believed that if Korea would consider themselves equal to China Japan could take the role of the regional superpower. Japan also, at times thought they were superior to both China and Japan and should incorporate them both into the Japanese empire and at times had been fairly successful in dong so. Many factors allowed the Japanese colonization of Korea. For one, Korea had adopted an isolationist philosophy early in its history. Cummings has said many times that when you landed in Korea the first question asked was â€Å"when are you leaving?† In addition, Korean tradition did not place a high value on trade. Cummings went on to say that Korea was the only place that when a profit was made, it was not a joyous occasion. Do not be misled by that statement that would leave one to think that Korean people were inferior and should be exploited, for I do not believe that at all. The Confucianism heritage did not believe in profit. However, equitability was not forbiddened. Such led to the tributary and cultural exchanges between Korea and China. These beliefs... ...er Japanese control, as well as to keep Korea profitable for Japan. Did Japan modernize Korea? No. Did the Japanese aid in the beginning of Korea’s industrialization period? Yes, the infrastructure and technology forced upon Korea definitely gave the Korean people a foundation to industrialization. The problem I have in saying that Japan modernized Korea is that modernization in general has a positive connotation. I do not want to become a victim to the cliches of one race blaming another for certain hardships. However, I propose this question, Did the Japanese occupation lead to positive modernization of Korea or the divisiveness that has haunted Korea for almost fifty years? I will not say that if Japan did not invade Korea that Korea would be unified today, or am I willing to say that another country would not have tried to colonize Korea. I do believe that Korea when their society was ready would have mobilized themselves to become an industrialized nation. I also believe that when they would have come to that point that they would have enjoyed the same type of success in growth rate that was present from the late 1960’s. The only difference is when would Korea start.

Gibbs Arita Assignment Essay

I have read and understand Strayer University’s Academic Integrity Policy. I promise to conduct myself with integrity in the submission of all academic work to the University and will not give or receive unauthorized assistance for the completion of assignments, research papers, examinations or other work. I understand that violations of the Academic Integrity Policy will lead to disciplinary action against me, up to and including suspension or expulsion from the University. I understand that all students play a role in preserving the academic integrity of the University and have an obligation to report violations of the Academic Integrity Policy committed by other student. In addition, I Arita Gibbs certify that I am the author of this document and any assistance I received in preparing this report fully acknowledged. I have also cited in APA format for all sources that I obtained ideas, data, and words. Sources are properly credited according to the APA guidelines. Arita Gibbs Due Week 9/ Date: 03/06/14 Promotional and Advertising Strategies Promotional and advertising strategies are important tools for businesses to stay on top. A company has to work hard every day to remain competitive. Most of their tactics include peeking the interest of consumers to buy a specific brand which is called a promotional strategy (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 391). Promotional strategies also are put together to control the mix of daily activities, which the business benefits with market increase (Boone &Kurtz, 2013, p. 391). Advertising is another piece of the marketing process. It plays a major part in getting the word out regarding the product or service the business is selling (Lake, 2014). There are a few types of advertising such as, product advertising, cause advertising and institutional advertising (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 398). Product advertising is design to involve ads with a message that differentiate the company’s merchandise or brand from competitors (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 398). An example would be a credit card from any well-known company. Cause advertising deals with issues regarding ways to influence public and government opinion (Boone &Kurtz, 2013 p. 398). Companies who are designed for profit and those organizations who are charitably operated believe this tool is a win-win for everyone (Kokemuller, 2014). Important issues today being discussed are that children and adults should have every necessity in life, which should not prevent them from learning, living or being hungry (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 398). Institutional advertising is a marketing tool which is based on the image of the company. This tool also promotes the designs, values and beliefs, as well as the good deeds of the organization (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 398). Le Bonheur Children’s hospital is an excellent example. The company marketing strategy shows how a person can contribute a small donation an in turn can save a child’s life who is suffering from an illness. In assignment three, it states to compare and contrast the promotional strategies used by two different companies for a similar product. Next recommend two ways in which the company’s selected product could use marketing information to differentiate itself in the marketplace to gain an advantage over the company’s competitors. This paper will suggest two usages for consumer-oriented promotions that could assist a company in both the short and long-term, as well as analyzing the strategic manner in which the leading company in the product group has made a pricing decision by using one or more of the four pricing objectives. In closing two suggestive actions of other companies within the same product group will be given in order to help them differentiate themselves and gain a competitive advantage. The most effective advertising medium will also be discussed (Strayer University, 2014, p. 17). The two companies chosen are Nike and Adidas. Compare and Contrast the Promotional Strategies for Nike Inc. and Adidas Group Nike has become one of the largest marketers for athletic shoes (Nike, 2014). The company has global shares worth more than 30 percent (Nike, 2014.). Nike has sold their products through thousands of other retail stores as well as their products to countries both domestically and overseas (Nike, 2014). The company has outlet stores. Almost all of their products are made by independent contractors mainly located out of the country, with Nike involved in the market strategy and growth (Nike, 2014). Not counting the large range of core athletic shoes and clothing advertised under the leading brand, the company also sells shoes under other brands such as, Converse, Chuck Taylor, All Star and Jack Purcell through solely owned businesses (Nike, 2014). There is so much more to Nike. The company has relied on creativity in their designs of their products and large amounts of promotion to fuel their growth in the United States and other foreign Countries (Nike, 2014). Nike Inc. has a promotional strategy which thrives on an image, which has allowed the company to be one of the best (Nike, 2014). The company is known for their product icon â€Å"the swoosh†, which is different from other companies and their product slogan has been used in commercials for a very long time (Nike, 2014). Nike invests large amounts of money for commercials and product promotions (Nike, 2014). The company is motivated by customer agreements and sport teams. The company targets the college athletes to support the product and will also financially support team members that they will eventually endorse (Nike, 2014). Nike also uses their target techniques to include people who are well-known athletes and celebrity athletes (Nike, 2014). This strategy is a success because once the manager of a sports team decides on which type of shoe made  by Nike, he would like the student to have no choice other than to buy the shoe. The sports team can also buy the shoes in a large quantity and deliver it to the members of the team (Nike, 2014). Another marketing strategy of Nike is the creative design of a product objective or purpose meaning when a famous athlete promotes a certain brand of Nike shoe, the shoe will be associated with winning (Nike, 2014). The viewers have a mental effect from this type of correlation and the company builds a relationship with those consumers who are after the quality and utility of the items instead of the cost (Nike, 2014). With this idea, Nike is sure to reach a huge number of customers and clients who will purchase their products (Nike, 2014). Adidas has been in business over 80 years (Adidas, 2014). The company is known has the world of sports on each level, and they are also known for supplying the state-of-the art sports shoes, clothing and accessories (Adidas, 2014). Today, Adidas is leading the globe in the sporting industry (Adidas, 2014). The company’s strategy is modest; join our passion to create new and different products, constantly supporting our brands and products to increase our economic position and economic performance (Adidas, 2014). Adidas main location is in Germany, but the company has manufacturing centers and departments developing all around the world (Adidas, 2014). Adidas believes the company addresses many of the customer’s needs by exploiting marketing prospects from a number of angles. Their pledge to product innovation which keeps their brand different from the competitors provides a solid stage for upcoming growth (Adidas, 2014). There is no other brand with a well-known background and strong connection in sports than Adidas (Adidas, 2014). Adidas considers themselves has the best, and they are wherever the best will be such as, the Olympic Games, and anywhere else in the world where a game of sports will be played, observed, liked and celebrated (Adidas, 2014). The founder of Adidas is Adi Dassler (Adidas, 2014). His main objective for the company is not hard to understand, it is for all athletes to be at their best (Adidas, 2014). The key factor for all Adidas sporting products is to stay innovated, and the brand has five performance benefits, fast, strong, smart, cool, and more natural, which influences the important sporting events that focus on football, basketball, running, training, and outdoor (Adidas, 2014). The  goal for adidas is to market the individual who is active and lives for sports (Adidas, 2014). Nike uses the high profile athletes, and Adidas is about performance and lifestyle. Both Nike and Adidas use athletics as a tool for marketing in a way to attract the consumer to purchase their products. Recommended Ways to Market Information to Differentiate From the Competitors In this competitive market business promotion is the key to differentiate from the competitors (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 395). One way is for the business to apply the rule of positioning. Product positioning is a strategy used to put a product perception in the mind of the person who is buying the product (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 395). Positioning normally involves the creative difference associated with a product or service and the competition (Acevedo, 2014). Companies are successful when using this marketing tool because it helps gain market control, which raises revenue for the company (Acevedo, 2014). Adidas has a plan to attract the serious runner. The company is coming out with the shoe price a little over a $100.00 called the energy boost (Riper, 2014). The energy boost will be sold at all the Adidas Stores and the many department stores (Acevedo, 2014). The objective is to limit the advertising with no television involved. If this is a success the company believes it will have a retail rollback for a larger budget for advertising (Acevedo, 2014). The President of Adidas Patrick Nilsson believes if the company spends large amounts of money later then the company can have a wide range launch in retail when the time comes (Acevedo, 2014). Ultimately all of Adidas shoes, basketball, tennis, the whole nine yards will be linked to the boost technology (Acevedo, 2014). However, for now the company is pleased to know from a source in the apparel tracker states that the company has over 4% of the growth in the shoe market from two years ago (Acevedo, 2014). Nike uses their promotional strategy by using one of the company’s seven fundamental stages move (Nike, 2014). (Nike, 2014). Move is the stage which keeps the company different from the rest of their competitors (Nike, 2014). Nike will ship their products at any time, and by any occasion that the company needs in order to reach the thousands of  associates and the millions of customers over the world whether it is by plane, ship, small or large truck or train (Nike, 2014). Nike is serious about how they provide transportation no matter how difficult the obstacle may be (Nike, 2014). With this move Nike market leader enjoys over 50% market share (Acevedo, 2014). Adidas however does a little better with their overall athletic shoe. How Consumer-Orientated Promotions Can Help Nike and Adidas Short and Long-Term Consumer-Orientated Promotions are a part of the four marketing mixes, and it is also known as the pull-strategy (Moorty, 2014). Both parts are an important one for every organization (Moorty, 2014). The goal is to persuade the new customer or long-term customer to try out and purchase the products being marketed (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 404). Also a marketer’s role is to motivate customers who shop frequently at the same business. Sample products, discount coupons are just a few of the promotions that can boost impulsive shoppers to buy which increases sales for the company (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 404). The President and CEO of Nike, Mark Parker states the company’s short-term consumer-orientated advertisings is simple (Nike, 2014). The company will continue to produce amazing products, offer professional services and provide a continuation of excellent customer experiences. With these results will indeed show the power of our strategy and growth (Nike, 2014). Nike’s long-term consumer-orientated promotions are the vision that drives the sustainable growth (Nike, 2014). This balance is leveraged by an important advantage including the company’s reliability with the passionate connection to their customers; new and improve products with retail experience that lead the industry to be a stronger organization that also provides the opportunity to become a larger successful business (Nike, 2014). Nike has already set goals for growth to include the year 2015 (Kim, 2010). With a target set to at least $20 billion by that year the company has already outlined their revenue goals and initiatives and plans to reach this by using a customer-focus strategy (Kim, 2010). As time permits the more aggressive promotional strategic goals set by the business will be shared with the consumers, invested communities as well as the sports and apparel industry (Nike, 2014). One example is how the company has set their design to improve the company, by launching a new business a few years ago  called Nike Better World, an online stage to involve customers on how the business balanced individuals, economy and the world (Nike, 2014). Adidas short-term consumer-orientated promotions are to continue to rely on their customer loyalty (Adidas, 2013). As with any organization it is innovation, which makes the deciding factor who wins and who loses. Adidas has been successful using the brand equity method which has allowed them to maintain the slogan of being the fittest company on earth (Adidas, 2013). In order for the company to maintain their long-term status and sustain growth, Adidas will continue to create newer and improvable market brands (Adidas, 2013). Overall Adidas started back four years ago planning their strategy to increase the brand’s perception in the customers viewpoint which had an expectation to deliver over 80% of growth for the company until 2015 (Adidas, 2013). Some of the areas of improving consist of, the running and basketball areas, and combining the sports style with the Adidas NEO label (Adidas, 2013). However the company is keeping the original adidas because it has a long history with the energetic lifestyle customer (Adidas, 2013). The company will always be focused on the consumers wants, their level of fitness, their incentives and ambitions for doing activities in sports (Adidas, 2013). His or her individual way of living helps Adidas develop important products, services and experiences that construct a lifelong brand (Adidas, 2013). Pricing and Competitive Advantage In chapter 13 Promotions and Pricing Strategies there are four pricing objectives (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 412). The four strategies are profitability, volume, prestige and meeting competition (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p.412). Each objective has a responsibility to the person who is in business with making better pricing decision’s (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 412). Organizations have their own style for using these objectives. Many businesses aim to increase the company’s revenue by setting higher prices (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 412). Other companies may decrease their prices to bring in new clientele (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 412). Nike is the leading company for their athletic shoes because of their higher price and leadership strategy (Nike, 2014). Businesses would define this as the prestige pricing strategy (Boone & Kurtz,2013, p. 413). The company has  been able to make this strategy successful because of their individuality in their brand and service (Nike, 2014). The name alone has been associated with many hero athletes for instance, Michael Jordan (Nike, 2014), This brilliant idea makes customers believe if Michael Jordan can buy a Nike shoe and become more successful than certainly another ordinary person can as well (Nike, 2014). This is why Nike customers do not mind paying a higher price because of the company’s image, value and customer service (Nike, 2014). Another pricing objective Nike uses is profitability. This is the most common factor used in a strategic plan for a business (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 412). Nike has a plan to continue to bring in more revenue and remain profitability in the growth of the company, maintain the company’s flowing cash generation which will help to preserve a strong financial statement until the year 2015 (Kim, 2010). The company believes the return on invested capital is more than 20%, and growing shares inside the set target calendar year payout should be in the ballpark of more than 20% by the fourth quarter (kim, 2010). Both companies have been in business for a while, and their products are known to satisfy the customer’s needs. One suggestion that other shoe apparel companies can take in order to differentiate themselves and gain a competitive advantage is knowing how much the product is going to cost, quality, performance as well as the availability of the product, updated technology, good service, and strength and leadership (Hill, 2007). Second suggestion is to know the company’s relationship and making sure the organization can meet the need of the consumer in a way no one else will (Hill, 2007). Determine the Most Effective Advertised Medium Advertising Medium and cost are both key factors to the success of any organization (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 399). This tool is how marketers are able to sell new and existing products and services to potential consumers (Boone &Kurtz, 2013, p. 399). There are many types of advertising, newspapers, direct mail, billboards, radio, internet, magazine, and television (Boone &Kurtz, 2013, p. 399). In this muti-media world, television is considered the largest ranking medium with over 40% of any other form of advertising (Boone & Kurtz, 2013, p. 399). Nike uses commercials and promotional products for their form of medium advertising  (Nike, 2014). Within the past six months, the company has grossed over 40 percent of their margin (Stock, 2013). Nike is focused solely on bringing new and innovate creations to the market (Stock, 2013). Nike believes they have a good thing going. As of now the attention is on their Flyknit shoe (Stock, 2013). This shoe has important types of fiber connected with fabric and leather and was marketed to catch the eye of the individuals who love to run, which came just in time for the Winter Olympics (Stock, 2013). Nike had to spending more for their advertising by trying to convince the customer that this $200 shoe was worth it (Stock, 2013). In order to do so, Nike had to bring out some famous athletes for instance; one of the athletes was LeBron James (Stock, 2013). By advertising LeBron in their ads the company was able to increase their profit margin, and acknowledged their game plan was a success not only by convincing customers to buy but using the ads as well (Stock, 2013). Nike was also successful with their global orders (Wahba, 2013). It was the largest so far of their sales in merchandise which increased over 12 percent since April (Wahba, 2013). The company’s total revenue was huge even up to the second quarter (Wahba, 2013). The company made over $6 billion which was a total revenue of more than 7 per cent (Wahba, 2013). Nike was able to sell more goods at a higher price than any other competitor (Wahba, 2013). The company profited in advertising and promotion by 13 percent with their help in marketing and product launching for the Winter Olympics (Wahba, 2013). Conclusion Promotional and advertising strategies of an organization are a determining factor to whether the company will succeed or fail. This competitive market is a vicious one, and in order to stay on top the most successful business must continue to develop new innovated strategies. Nike and Adidas have been in business a long time; Nike has been the leader and Adidas has been the Opponent (Wahba, 2013). Both companies have excellent strategies, and some of their strategies have a close comparison. Nike has been able to remain on top because of the company’s promotions, advertising and marketing genius. References Acevedo, L. (2014). Product Positioning Strategies: eHow Inc. Retrieved from eHow Inc Web site: http://www.ehow.com/way_5218154_product-positioning-strategies.html Adidas Corporation. (2014). Investors: Adidas Corporation. Retrieved from Adidas Corporation Web site: http://www.adidas-group.com/en/investors/strategy/global-brands-strategy/ Adidas Corporation. (2014). Our Group: Adidas Corporation. Retrieved from Adidas Corporation Web site: http://careers.adidas-group.com/our-group.aspx Boone, L. E., & Kurtz, D. L. (2013). Contemporary Business. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Hill, T. (2014). How Do You Differentiate Yourself From Your Competitors: Ezine Articles Corporation. Retrieved from Ezine Articles Corporation Web site: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Do-You-Differentiate-Yourself-From-Your-Competitors?&id=705221 Kim, J. (2010, May 6). Nike Introduces 2015 Global Growth Strategy: Sneaker News Corporation. Retrieved from Sneaker News Corporation Web site: http://sneakernews.com/2010/05/06/nike-introduces-2015-global-growth-strategy/ Kokenuller, N. (2014). What Is Selective Product Advertising: Chron Corporation . Retrieved from Chron Corporation Web site: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/selective-product-advertising-17454.html Lake, L. (2014). Marketing vs. Advertising: What’s the Difference: About.com Corporation. Retrieved from About.com Corporation Web site: http://marketing.about.com/cs/advertising/a/marketvsad.htm Moorty, S. (2014). Define Promotional Sales: eHow Inc. Retrieved from eHow Inc Web site: http://www.ehow.com/about_5401613_define-promotional-sales.html Nike, Inc. (2014). History & Heritage : Nike Inc. Retrieved from Nike, Inc Web site: http://nikeinc.com/pages/history-heritage Stock, K. (2013, December 20). Nike Ramps Up Prices—and Ad Spending—for Olympics: BloombergBusinessweek L.P. Retrieved from BloombergBusinessweek L.P.Web site: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-12-20/nike-ramps-up-prices-and-ad-spending-for-olympics Wahba, P. (2013, December 19). Nike profit rises and advance orders jump: Reuters Corp oration. Retrieved from Reuters Corporation Web site: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/19/us-nike-results-idUSBRE9BI18R20131219

The Hessian essays

The Hessian essays Living in a divided society based upon the religions of the Puritans and the Quakers, Evan Feversham sought out his own religious faith through his daily interactions with both religious groups. Evan Feversham was a very cynical man who had been witness to far to many wars and sorrowfulness. In a world already so full of hate and distress, he could no longer bear to witness such horrible acts of cruelty upon the suffering, yet he dealt with them each day being a doctor. He was a man of reason, attempting to solve his problems with plain and simple reasoning, for he did not believe in much anymore due to the events he had witnessed with his own eyes. From the very early ages of his life, Feversham had very little faith in God, for he felt that God had let him down by allowing the death of his father. From that point on, he had witnessed countless other deaths through participation in numerous wars and being a doctor. He was a man with very little faith in mankind, for all he saw were the death and misery that others inflicted upon each other. He began to lose more and more of his faith in God and began to reason more about why things happened and were the way there wer e. Through his daily interactions with both the Puritans and the Quakers, Evan Feversham appreciated both religious groups a bit better and picked up some of their religious beliefs. Dr. Feversham and Squire Hunt did not like each other a bit, for they shared different views about Gods word. ...and I say let them go, let them go back on their lousy ship and sail away, and then perhaps, we can live the way God meant us to. Will you read me Gods word, Feversham? Ill read you some an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. (35) Dr. Feversham thought that Squire Hunt was a brutal man acting upon his emotions and never giving himself time to reason. It seemed that every time Dr. Feversham got together wi ...

Rolling budgets Essays

Rolling budgets Essays Rolling budgets Essay Rolling budgets Essay Given the speed of change and general uncertainty in the external environment, shareholders seek quick results. Companies typically report to shareholders every three months, compared with the normal six months. Rolling budgets involve evaluating the previous twelve months performance on an ongoing basis, and forecasting the next three months performance. We see our budget as a forward looking plan that sees our direction and destination point, other documents such as the balance sheet and the profit loss account allows us to look back and reflect our progress telling us where we have been and how we got to this current position. The companies budget is a fixed type budget and is prepared annually by the contracts manager, finance manager and the 5 leisure centre managers (budgeting team), it is review every month throughout the year to reflect our progress. The budget allows our centre managers to co-ordinate and control the activities of the organisation effectively, it also allows them to implement the business plan as well. The budget is a key management tool for decision making and the steps below that we follow allows the managers to know where they are going. The budget consists of: Income/sales which is based on new members joining the fitness suite, activity levels, patronage users, secondary spends plus the management fee that is paid to us from the council. Expenditure which is based on wages, utilities, repairs and maintenance, admin, marketing etc. Capital expenditure works which include new health and fitness studios, DDA works, building improvements and information technology Once each centres budget is completed the contract manager who is responsible for the 5 leisure centres and the support team co-ordinates the individual budgets into a master budget. The centre manager also co-ordinates the budget down to there duty managers, this shows them what they can spend on certain items and what the income levels should be. When the agreed budget is in place we have several financial procedures to follow this allows us to control the budget daily and is quite easy to run. Each centre manager regularly monitors progress and checks for variances, they fill in a daily income and expenditure spreadsheet which allows them to compare the actual and budgeted results. The budgeting team meet up at the end of each month to view the budget, this allows managers to react on major variances in terms of the likely impact upon the organisations overall budget. The budgeting team can then discuss what revisions are needed to get the budget on its original course. A couple of criticises of a fixed budget is that it works less well when organisations face large or highly correlated risks, or when the financial year is too short to smooth out the natural variability due to repeated chance occurrences. When such uncertainties emerge, the timing of decisions within the financial year takes on added importance. Fixed budgets also provide obvious incentives for over-spending near the end of the financial year. These adverse incentives are then aggravated by the complicated signalling games that take place between central authorities and their subordinates. Ironically, under spending may be taken, as a sign of incompetence that needed work has not been done. While it is difficult to spend every last penny and some lapses are always going to occur, the magnitude of these lapses makes it extremely uncomfortable for three reasons * Significant under spending makes it difficult to justify any increases in these appropriations. * There are concerns that clients needing services are not getting them * Some astute budget analyst is going to notice a pattern and reduce the appropriations, figuring that if we dont spend it we must not need it. A fixed budget does control costs on expenditure levels in our organisation, i. e. if a duty manager is given a certain amount to spend, once that money has gone he can not spend anymore, this keeping a tight control on the budget, on the other hand If a manager needed more sports equipment for a activity to take place and his budget has been spent, this would effect the customer and may prevent them from taking part in the activity. This shows that the budget process can be a barrier to performance. At current the budgeting team have made certain assumptions in determining the original budget (mainly utilities, maintenance and repair costs). If we used a flexible budget adjustments can be made throughout the year to ensure that we operate the centre within the budget we have set, using the knowledge we gain through the operation of the business. I. e. Single loop feedback involves making corrections to current activities in order to get back on course and double loop feedback involves amending the original plans so that they more accurately reflect current business reality. The budget process that we put together is time consuming and costly to put together it is also based on guesswork and unsupported assumptions. Managers spend far to much time analysing their budgets, and other parts of the business seems to suffer. I. e. the front line staff and the customers, how can a manager know what the customers want when he is stuck in the office analysing his budget and not communicating with the customers. Unsupported assumptions and guesswork takes place because he does not communicate and involve his staff in the budgeting process. One of the ways we could improve the system and the control of income and expenditure would be to have site specific administration and expenditure controls to be updated and to be reviewed constantly. The introduction of a new till system will enable us better interrogation of income figures to be undertaken, enabling us to market facilities more effectively and to receive more accurate information regarding users.

Macroeconomic Case Analysis using article Essay

Macroeconomic Case Analysis using article - Essay Example India is classified as low-income economy1 as per The World Bank although India's huge population results in a per capita income of $3700 at PPP and $820 at nominal. The economy is sizzling due to booming investment and consumption. According to survey of 32 countries by Grant Thornton, a London-based accounting firm, Indian businessmen were the most upbeat. Indians are rightly proud of the huge global success of firms such as Infosys, or of Tata Steel's 5.8 billion ($11.3 billion) acquisition of Britain's Corus this week. Reserve Bank governor Yaga Venugopal Reddy has flagged the possibility that the Indian economy may be overheating2. In other words demand is outpacing supply and hence the pace of growth is unsustainable. Wholesale price of oil inflation has risen to 6%, which is above the 5.5% upper limit set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The crude average of the rates for industrial, non-manual and agricultural workers is above 7%. Capacity utilization is higher than at any time in the past decade. The most recent trade data suggest that the rapid deterioration in the trade deficit since H1 2004 is stabilizing and portfolio flows only account for 35 per cent of total capital flows and one of the main determinants is GDP growth. The bank expects the balance of payments to improve in FY06 / 07 and has revised its dollar: rupee forecast to 43-43.5 from 44.53. Credit boom has concerned The RBI also. Bank lending to firms and households has expanded by 30% over the past year. Lending on commercial property is up by 84% and home mortgages by 32%. India's stock market is one of the merging world's most expensive, with a price-earnings ratio of more than 20; this shows rising more than fourfold over the past four years. Asset prices are also rising. In many big cities house prices have more than doubled over the past two years. RBI raised its overnight lending rate by a quarter-point to 7.5%, but left the reverse repo rate at 6%. Over the past couple of years interest rates have risen by less than the rate of inflation, so in real terms they have fallen. When demand outpaces supply in an open economy it is more likely to show up in a current-account deficit than in inflation. India's deficit widened to more than 3% of GDP in the three months to September-a huge swing from a surplus of almost 4% in the first half of 2004. And the true gap between domestic demand and supply is even bigger. According to Yaga Venugopal Reddy, the RBI'S governor, India's current-account deficit is larger once you exclude the money sent home by Indians abroad. Although these remittances do not reflect domestic demand or supply, but are more like a capital inflow. Excluding workers' remittances, India's deficit is running close to 5% of GDP-larger than the equivalent deficit during India's balance-of-payments crisis in the early 1990s. the Economist is making a political judgment: "The economic reforms of the early 1990s spurred competition, forced firms to become more productive and boosted India's trend-or sustainable-rate of growth. But the

Do thr right thing Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Do thr right thing - Movie Review Example The cause of disagreement arises when Sal who owns the pizzeria dismisses Buggin a black American young man who protests about the wall of fane at the restaurant. Racial discrimination is evident in Sal’s restaurant when he speaks rudely at Buggin. The wall of fame in this restaurant contains only Italians and no black celebrity is included in the list and photos of fame within the restaurant. Racism intensifies when Mookie asks Vito Sal’s son who is a friend of a black American Mookie about any black celebrity. Vito is ignorant about any black personality despite living in black neighborhood for over 10 years. Sal’s racism continues when he refuses to pay Mookie who has been working for him as a pizza delivery. The way the police officers deal with Buggin and Raheem also indicates racism. The two police officers kill Raheem instead of apprehending him and suing him for inciting a crowd against the Sal. Back at Mookie’s place the care take r of Hector Mookie’s son is Italian and speaks to the son in Italian. Mookie yells at her informing her that he would like his son to speak in English in