Metaphor in “The Yellow Wallpaper”

The beginning of the 19 the century is characterized by strong discrimination and oppression of women in society meaning that women were something like private property being able only to keep house and to bear children. Gilman comes from a long list of freedom fighters for women’s rights and they were concerned with the role of women in society and, especially, in family interactions. The authors made an attempt to create new ideal of free and independent women. Her works are full of symbolic meanings persuading women to change their lives, to be provided with opportunity to receive proper education and job, to have suffrage. They simply wanted men to listen to them. (Lane 1990) â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† highlights the issues of control and attack of women in society. It is necessary to admit that the author appears rather symbolic for all women. She objects to the fact that women are expected to keep house, to bear children and to obey men’s orders. Consequently, men are privileged enough as they have proper education, job opportunities and are allowed to make decisions in contrast to women. As Gilman says women are in the prison of acquiescence, simply because of personal weakness that contribute to the suppression of women as well as because of a combination of society’s control. (Gilbert 1996) The authors on the example of main heroine provide detailed overview of 19th century society; especially they tend to show the ills of society, culture of those times and attitudes towards women. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† tells a story of a young woman, narrator, who has driven insane by too loving her husband. The author surely highlights that blatant sexism is present in society. The short-story shows that women are afraid of expressing their feelings in order not to baffle husbands or to make them angry. In order to achieve the desired expression and to better illustrate the social order of 19th century society Gilman uses symbols and metaphors. (Gilman 1989) Throughout the short-story the author shows symbolically that females are restrained in the American society. For example, the main heroine is simply imprisoned in the room with the yellow wallpaper. It is seen that the house is surrounded by â€Å"gates that lock† and at the top of the stairs the gates prevent narrator from leaving top floor.   Bars on the windows provide an idea that freedom is limited and all is need to break down the constraints, because window is, obviously, symbolizes mental limitations, not physical ones. The author shows that heroine is provided with no opportunities to escape and lots of women in those times were kept â€Å"in their place† in American society. (Rex 1996) The narrator is obliged to follow rigid schedule being not able to deviate from it. The image of narrator is metaphor of all women who were considered not to be intelligent enough to make up their own decisions. The narrator and women in general were physically week and hysterical and, therefore, were treated as children. The narrator is also placed in child’s nursery. She is forced by her husband to sit in her and â€Å"to rest†, as he thinks she is unintelligent and sill: â€Å"he called me a blessed little goose†. (Gilman 1989, 5) Of course, such attitude was extended to most women and was not confined to the main heroine in the story. Actually, the yellow wallpaper is metaphor itself as it is used symbolically. The yellow wallpaper symbolizes societal oppression of women in American society. The pattern on the wallpaper represents male-dominated society which deprives women their rights and freedom: â€Å"by moonlight, it becomes bars, she says, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be†. (Gilman 1989, 13) The narrator wants to show that pattern on the yellow wallpaper is the actions of narrator’s husband, brother, and doctor who forced main heroine to be locked in her room and to do nothing but idling. Apparently, these people are willing to aid the narrator, to imprison her in her room upstairs. Women’s imprisonment is described metaphorically by using woman’s image of bars behind the pattern in the wallpaper. The heroine realizes that these bars imprison women and choke off their lives.   Therefore, the image of yellow wallpaper only magnifies the problem being experienced by the heroine. Ostensibly, the pattern on the wallpaper isn’t simply pattern for a children’s room, as Gilman firstly notes, it is presented as a mind-numbing quality attracting unbalanced mind: â€Å"[The pattern] slaps you in the face, knocks you down and tramples on you. It is like a bad dream. I fancy it is the pattern that keeps her so still†. (Gilman 1989, 13)   The author shows that women were unable to struggle: â€Å"And she is all the time trying to climb through†¦ nobody could climb through that pattern – strangles so†¦ they get through, and then the pattern strangles them†. (Gilman 1989, 15) Pattern on the yellow wallpaper and the fact that the main heroine achieves her freedom and independence, though the price appears too high: insanity in return for long-waiting freedom and independence – author’s metaphorical illustrations that women were strongly oppressed and suppressed in American society. (Gilman 1989) Other characters in the short-story notice that there is something strange and unusual with the yellow wallpaper: â€Å"I’ve caught him several times looking at the paper! And Jennie too. I caught Jennie with her hand on it once†. (Gilman 1989, 13) As it is noted wallpaper is a metaphor of women’s suppression, the actions of John, narrator’s husband represent the way many men and women of the time period dealt with this oppression. Obviously, John is an image of all men in American society who thinks that women are inferior to men and thus should be treated with delicacy not to do harm for them. Actually, John treated her wife as private property and a second-sort thing. Metaphorically, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is a horror story for women, because the narrator drives insane in the end symbolizing that it is the only way to escape. If to look deeper in the context, it is apparent that the narrator illustrates literally women were routinely oppressed in those times. Treatment of husbands and pattern on the wallpaper symbolize prison for most women. Gilman warns men that such treatment can lead to nothing but disastrous results. (Gilman 1989) Works Cited Gilbert, Kelly. (1996). â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†: An Autobiography of Emotions by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings. USA: Bantam Classic Books, 1989, 1-20. Lane, Ann J. (1990).To Herland and Beyond: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. USA: Thomson Place, 1990. Rex, T. (1998). Metaphor in The Yellow Wallpaper.      

Did The United States Lose On The Vietnam War Home front Or Battlefield? Essay

In this essay I will discuss whether America lost on the battlefield or the home front. People are still arguing about the war even though it finished over thirty years ago showing it is still an important issue today. It is clear that both sides have made a big impact on the outcome of the war. Like the Iraq war now, it was anunpopular guerilla war due to the amount of soldiers who lost their lives . As the Vietnam War was unpopular, the home front weren’t very supportive of the soldiers. Soldiers who struggled on the battlefield unable to cope with different the environment and the use of guerilla tactics. From when the firstcombat troops got sent to Vietnam in 1965, the public were quite supportive. The army were somewhat arrogance and optimism, the U.S soldiers very much understated the Vietnamese abilities at this point. Although some people had pride in America’s involvement in the war, there were far more people who didn’t agree with the war. People who didn’t agree with the war would usually went to more drastic measures to get their opinions heard, e.g. the Black Panthers, . The Black Panthers believed that black people should not be forced to fight in the military service to defend a racist government that does not protect the black community. They said they would not fight and kill other people of colour in the world who, like black people, are being victimized by the white racist government of America. Their campaign was huge throughout the black community in America- especially with the racial issues at that time. As the war went, there were more protests. When college students found out that they could be subscribed to the army due to theintroduction of the lottery, they suddenly became a lot more anti-war. They wereoutraged and shocked about the fact that they themselves could become soldiers. Mass demonstrations, often in Washington, would be completely covered by the media. This would lead to the troops at war hearing about people not wanting them to be there- they could find out through letters, radios, phone calls, any form of contact.When the troops hear about people being against them being there- They are obviously going to feel like they are wasting their time, so their morale will be completely devoured. Then with low morale this could make them weaker on the battlefield, giving the North Vietnamese an advantage. The North Vietnamese Army had many advantages, even when the American troops morale were high. At ease with the environment and knowing the land well, the North Vietnamese Army mastered their tactics- using the guerilla tactics. The Viet Cong’s used guerilla warfare because their territory that the Americans had to fight in was so full of plants and growth, that guns and such did not work as well as tactics adapted to the environment such as booby traps and punji sticks. Vietnamese knew that hand to hand combat was the only way to successfully way to win the war as it was less money and Americans were not used to that type of warfare. The Americans set out to win the war by working closely with the South Vietnamese. The U.S believed in using it’s wealth to the maximum, using firepower, new technology, more troops. Thefirepower aspect was pretty much a waste of time and was expensive. They couldn’t use their firepower in urban areas therefore couldn’t kill the North Vietnamese Army as easy as they anticipated. The U.Sworked a lot underpressurebecausewithalot of theirtacticstheyoftenhadtokeep them undercover from the media this would obviously make everything a lot more complex. American plans weren’t full proof and a lot of their own man were killed. This obviously caused a lot of uproar at home. The Vietnam War was the first televised war, so the media would show the USA what happened all the time. This meant people on the home front quickly lost support for the soldiers because they were seeing all of the horrible incidents which were meant to be secret. The media would be completely biased and make the negatives a lot worse then they were. The U.S army tried to cover up a lot of mistakes like the Tet Offensive. While the U.S army were at their weakest agreeing to cease fire. A lot thinking there would be nothing to be bothered about on a Vietnamese holiday, the Viet Cong launched an offensive attacking almost every town and city in South Vietnam. They trapped the U.S embassy in grounds then wiped them out, where as the media claimed VC sappers seized the U.S embassy, which clearly makes the U.S look a lot weaker. The Home front at this point were worried about their troop’s tactics and abilities. Many member of the public were angry at the fact the the American troops let this happen and that they didn’t expect it. The mass of attacks from the Vietnamese led to many people thinking the war was unwinnable. After the U.S troops had fought hard against the Tet Offensive and had a military victory, hearing that the media reported it as a loss their lowered morale again. When people on the home front got enrolled by lottery people of various ages and abilities went to Vietnam. Most fought in Vietnam for 1 a year and spent another year training and being at base camp. By the time they leave the army, that is when their abilities are most excelled. When college students found out they could get enlisted in the war this is when most of the mass demonstrations began. Past experiences made many veterans against the war also arriving home and being with so many people against the war. The scaring memories of the My Lai Massacre of 1968. People were sexually abused, beaten, tortured and killed. Some of the bodies were found mutilated. When the incident became public knowledge in 1969, it prompted widespread outrage around the world. The massacre also reduced U.S. support at home for the Vietnam War. Three U.S. servicemen who made an effort to halt the massacre and protect the wounded were denounced by U.S. Congressmen, received hate mail, death threats and mutilated animals on their doorsteps. The soldier’s welfare while they were away in the army could have easily helped contribute to their withdrawal and loss of the war. They had extremely long active hours running on little food and sleep. Obviously they wouldn’t be fighting to the best of their abilities. The large availability and use of drugs may have put the troops in a better mood making their morale on high, their physicality wasn’t befitting as a lot of fatigue conquered the army. Often this was due to insomnia, people couldn’t sleep simply because of the situation in which they were in. The U.S as the war got longer, they became more scared because they were aware of Vietnamese abilities. The Vietnamese had a lot of advantage throughout the whole war. They were well prepared for all the problems the American’s faced. They were well equipped to the jungle environment and weather. They made cunning yet deadly booby traps which the Americans would fall for. Because of their knowledge of the area, their ambushes were pretty much flawless, the U.S army were clueless beforehand, so the American’s inexperience was a very big help for the Viet Cong. Also the Viet Cong were passionate about the cause and would not give it up. The U.S could not fend the Ho Chi Min trail- this supplied the North Vietnamese army with vital supplies throughout the war, including aid sent from the USSR. The U.S lost on the battlefield due to the many advantages of the Vietnamese. Although the U.S had money, men, and power. The Vietnamese were intelligent and used their knowledge to the best of their abilities. I think though the guerilla Tactics and the troops inexperience are what really made the war a challenge for the U.S. Although their morale was brought down immensely on the home front, had they been winning on the battlefield the homefront may have supported them.

Divorce Impact on Children

Divorce can be an emotional and stressful event in any person’s life. For a child the thought of not having both parents around can be overwhelming. In this essay we will look at the impact of divorce on three subgroups of children, preschool, school aged and adolescent children. Each group displays emotions and how they handle the change in the family dynamics in very specific ways based on their ability level. Parent can provide positive experiences for these children involved in a family separation in many different ways to assist in a healthy transition with the least amount of stress and conflict. Both parents can lend a hand in putting the children in these situations first by working together even in not so perfect conditions. Working together to ensure the best outcome for the children involved takes time, effort and determination. Divorce Impact on Children Divorce rates are currently at an all time high. Divorce impacts pre-school children, school-aged and adolescent children with very personal and sometimes, permanent consequences. All children react to the emotional stressors of family divorce and separation. Although divorce impacts everyone involved, children are impacted in different ways based on their level of maturity as well as their understanding of emotions and their use of coping skills. Divorce and the Pre-school Child Young child are vulnerable to the effects of divorce and separation, especially children young than 5 years old. The reasoning behind the vulnerability at this age is a combination of the interruption of the attachment relationships they have formed and the child’s limited cognitive ability to understand what divorce is. Preschool children have many reactions toward divorce to include feeling responsible, holding in anger, or may become aggressive and angry toward the parent he/she lives with (Amato, 1994). Some behaviors are normal during the beginning of the separation or divorce but should not last more than six months. Behaviors lasting longer may indicate a more serious problem or even developmental setbacks. When a preschooler feels insecure about the relationships with his/her parent they run the risk of some serious regression in development. Children in this age group will benefit from overnight contact with each parent (Stahl, 2007). During this chunk of time with each parent provides them with the time needed to establish a routine at each house and to get settled in. It is important for parents to understand that the child should not be witness to any direct conflict. Stahl (2007) indicates that it is important to devise a parenting plan that will maximize the strengths of each parent. Developing a parenting plan will assist with issues to be resolved such as child custody and visitations. Mediation is available to assist with co-parenting issues. Divorce and the school aged child When children reach school age their cognitive abilities increase and they begin to understand what divorce is. They increase social relationships other than those established with his/her parents. Socialization and being identified as a part of a group are important to the school aged child. As they skills such as academics they also learn how to begin expressing their feelings. Children in this age group may feel overwhelmed by the family conflict. Amato (1994) indicates that possible reactions include: feeling deceived and a sense of loss, rejected by the parent that left, has trouble sleeping, or worries about the future. Complications in school may show up as well to include behavior problems and academic concerns. Parent should work hard to provide a parenting plan that will affect the school aged child in a positive way. Reassure them that everything will be alright, just different from what they are use to. Answering questions about the changes that are getting ready to take place can help the child ease into the issue of custody and visitation. Using books to help them talk about feelings work well with children of all ages. Parent should remind the child that he/she is not responsible for the divorce and that both parents still love them. They should also keep an eye out for signs of depression and fear displayed by the child. This will aid parents in spotting a problem early on in order to seek professional help if depression is prolonged or intense. Divorce and the adolescent Adolescents understand divorce but they do not accept the new changes in the family dynamics. They are prone to responding to their parent’s divorce with acute depression, suicidal ideation, and sometimes violent acting out episodes (Eleoff, 2003). Although adolescents have a more complex level of thinking they tend to focus on the moral issues of divorce and will often judge their parents’ decisions and actions. Behrman & Quinn (2004) provides some feelings that adolescents may display: feelings of abandonment, feel the obligation to take on more adult responsibilities in the family, they may withdraw from friends and favorite activities or act out such as using bad language and being rebellious. Parent should always maintain lines of communication and reassure the child that both parents love them. They should try to continue to be involved in their lives by honoring special family activities. Whenever possible, parent should keep up with children’s progress at school and other activities such as sporting event. The adolescent should be told who will be attending special occasions, especially if you plan to bring a new romantic interest. By doing this can cut down on unnecessary conflict and behaviors from the adolescent. Adolescents should be allowed room to have a say in the parenting plan when possible, and reasonable. Many children will have a preference as to which house they would like to live at and have visitations to the other house on weekends with the other parent. This can help discourage rebellion by the adolescent when they feel that the parents are listening to them. Conclusion Divorce is tuff on everyone involved. Parents must reassure children involved that they are not the reason for the divorce and the mommy and daddy still loves them. Divorce can have a major impact on the well being and development of children and adolescents. Younger children display an array of symptoms and feelings from holding anger inside to feeling rejected by the parent who left. Adolescents can hold feelings of anger and fell obligated to take on more adult responsibilities. Although all these feeling are important for parents to address it is also important to recognize major concerns and not be afraid to seek professional help from a therapist or other mental health professional. In all the issues of divorce, just remember that parents do not have to do it alone; counselors and mediators are available to help make sense of it all.

Should the new republic called Azawadi be recognized as an independent Essay

Should the new republic called Azawadi be recognized as an independent state - Essay Example As their rebellion failed, the fighters left for Libya and joined Libyan Army. However, as the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was defeated in 2011, many of these fighters came back to the Azawadi region of Mali1. On coming back, many of these groups joined together and declared that they would be fighting for the liberation of all peoples of Azawad, including Songhal, Arab, Fula, and Taureg2. These various fractions joined together to form the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). According to its official website, MNLA consists of ‘old rebels from MFUA of 1990s, the members of 2006 MTNM, fighters who returned from Libya, volunteers from various ethic groups in northern Mali and various soldiers and officers who have let Mali Army (MNLA Website). MNLA started its armed agitation in January 2012. Soon, there were various attacks on various places including Anderamberkane, Menaka, Tessalit, Niafunke, and Aguelhoc. Soon, by March, bigger cities like Kidal, Gao, Tinzawaten , and Timbuktu were under the control of MNLA ((ibid). After capturing Timbuktu, almost the whole northern region of Mali was under the control of MNLA. ... More interestingly, the parties have failed to continue with the pact as MNLA has withdrawn from the same. as a result, presently, MNLA and Ansar Dine are in conflicts, and this resulted in the Battle of Gao on 27th June. Through this move, the Ansar Dine and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) drove MNLA out of Gao city. Soon, Ansar Dine declared that it is in total control of all the cities in Azawad. The reasons behind the rebellion In fact, the Tuaregs are semi-nomadic people in the Saharan and Sahelian areas of Southern Algeria, Western Libya, northern Mali, northern Niger, and northeast Burkina Faso3. According to present day census, their number is around 1.5 million. They possess a combination of Islam and tribal practices. Thus, they do not belong to pure Islamism that is monotheistic in nature. As colonisation came, the nomads lost their freedom movement from place to place as territories were strictly guarded. Also, these people became further isolate d from centres of power. Though they had constant conflict over issues of autonomy, there were repeatedly defeated by the military might of colonial powers. When Mali gained independence, Tuaregs were in more trouble as they allegedly faced discrimination from the part of the southern ethnic groups which governed Mali. Secondly, they feared that their culture would be diluted as modernisation comes. Thus, they continued their agitation on and off. As the Mali president Moussa Traore realised that a military solution would be too dearer to bear, he held discussions with the Tuareg and reached the Accords of Tamanrasset. According to the Accord, a cease-fire was to be established, prisoners

Jet Blue - Strategic Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Jet Blue - Strategic Management - Assignment Example Jet Blue embarked on an ambitious expansion plan, adding new planes and routes much faster than it added passengers. With the added capacity for more passengers, but customer base falling due to competition, Jet Blue started to face its most crucial problems. The profits started declining until in 2006 Jet Blue reported its first ever loss. Jet Blue could not utilize its planes to full capacity to meet the increasing fuel charges. Till now, Jet Blue hasn't been able to recover fully although the company is profitable again. (Press Release - Jet Blue, 2006) (Kahn, 2004) The shareholders of a company want higher returns on the shares in the form of dividends and value of the share. On the other hand, a community does care what returns the shareholders get. They want the company to conduct a business that either gives a positive return to the community or does not hinder the community in either way. To balance between these two, a company must realize that most of the shareholders are a part of the community; hence they would want the well being of the community as well as their own interests in the company. Therefore a company should concentrate more on the needs of the community which eventually would be in the best interests of the shareholders as well. 2 - Getting loyal customers to put out a phone "request for proposal" soliciting competitors' bids - This is ethical since you don't your the customers actually don't need the bids, therefore, this practice is not encouraged. 5 - Buying competitors' products and taking them apart - after buying something, it becomes your property (unless stated otherwise) therefore taking it apart to analyze is okay. 2 - Hiring management consultants who have worked for competitors - consultants are not your employees thus this practice is not appropriate since it would be unethical if consultants give some information about the competition   

Finance market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Finance market - Essay Example RWT basically stated that speculative price changes were independent and identically distributed, so that the past price data had no predictive power for future share price movements. RWT also stated that the distribution of price changes from transaction to transaction had finite variance. In addition, if transactions were fairly uniformly spread across time and were large in numbers, then the Central Limit Theorem suggested that the price changes would be normally distributed. Kendall (1953) calculated the first differences of twenty-two different speculative price series at weekly intervals from 486 to 2,387 terms. He concluded that the random changes from one term to the next were large and obfuscated any systematic effect which may be present. In fact, he stated that 'the data behaved almost like a wandering series' (random walk). Specifically, an analysis of share price movement revealed little serial correlation, with the conclusion that there was very little predictability of movements in share prices for a week ahead without extraneous information. In 1959, Roberts generated a pattern of market levels and changes akin to real levels and changes in the Dow Jones Industrial Index. He estimated the probability of different share price movements over time by using a frequency distribution of historical changes in the weekly market index, and assumed weekly changes were independently drawn from a normal distribution with a mean of + 0.5 and a standard deviation of 5.0. He concluded that changes in security prices behaved as if they had been generated by a simple chance model .The fundamental concept behind random walk theory is that competition in perfect markets would remove excess economic profits, except from those parties who exercised some degree of market monopoly. This meant that a trader with specialized information about future events could profit from the monopolistic access to information, but that fundamental and technical analysts who rely on p ast information should not expect to have speculative gains.From the empirical evidence and theory of random walks arose the theory of efficient markets. Fama (1970, 1976) gives out the details of the early literature on both the theoretical and empirical foundations of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis, whilst Cuthbertson (1996) summarizes the latest research developments. While EMH has empirical findings in respect of aspects like market perfection and information availability when combined with practices like trading platform and transaction costs may produce only marginal and well calculated opportunities for speculative gains; many other economists have quoted the existence of stock market bubbles. A bubble is generally defined by the economists as a deviation from stock market fundamentals; whereas Kindleberger reckons a bubble as an upward price movement over an extended range that tends to implode (Kindleberger 1996). By the same analogy an extended negative bubble is a crash . The existence of such situations has immediate

Management accounting and control (s-12 -5-8)) Coursework

Management accounting and control (s-12 -5-8)) - Coursework Example Organisations have to undertake number of decisions in order to stay in the business and among different decisions; the name of financial decision is one of them, in fact the most ones as well. Financial competitiveness is the thing on which the entire productivity of an entity depends upon. There are number of decisions that come under the ambit of financial management and managing the things accordingly is important for the companies. Decision making is one of the most important provisions for the entity as a whole and there are certain methods that could be used for the decision making purpose. The main perspective of this assignment is to give answers relating to different things in total. There are four different questions which needs to be answer here and all the questions are different in nature and in concepts as well. The concept of the same lies in decision making, centralization and some of the management accounting as well. Let’s start the questions each one by one . Ans-5 Budgeting is considered as the non-beneficial activities holding under the boundaries of an organisation. Budget set down the process to allocate the funds and manage all the resources that will be used potentially (WELSCH, Glenn A., 1976, pp.82). However at the present time, the predictions for the future scenarios is more than rigid and high deficiency in communication between higher level management and the department of budget making is a key concern while preparing budget. Though, there are some advantages that can be extracted from the budgeting process but on the same time the line of problems stand all along the same. Below are some of the problems in budgeting that reflects negative impacts towards organisation include: Time-consuming and Costly: Apart from strong IT infrastructure and several models, budget is a prolonged and expensive method. To perform budgeting process, the average time is required to be around five to six month depends on the size of the firm. The budget not only engage the timings of many people in which approximately 30% time serve by higher management and officials. Substandard in providing value: The result by means of budgeting process is truly unreliable in terms of providing value to organisations. For instance, one company extracted meaningful results from this process whereas on the other side the entire process is of no use and will be influenced on the performance. The reforms are highly claimed onto the budgeting process in which the vital concern is to drop off the staff’s timing on non-beneficial activities. Budgets make planning inflexible: To revise the budget is typically intricate enough. According to latest researches reveal that around 25% of the entities revise their budgets in every fiscal year. Some surveys also reveal that the higher management of an organisation serve almost one to two hours in each month in order to discuss numerous strategies. Budgets promote non value-added costs: The bu dget of a company is largely dependent on the last year conclusions. Due to insufficient time offered to evaluate and point out the main reasons of cost which ultimately ensuing to raise the massive quantity of ravage. Compromise in customer satisfaction: Every business is wanted to convince the consumers from their products and services. But in this case, the organisations would like to meet the defined sales targets by

Setting up a business in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Setting up a business in China - Essay Example This research will begin with the Chinese business culture. Chinese people perform a different form of business and culture as compared to the rest of the world especially the West. However, with the uniqueness of the Chinese history and background, China always has a special culture of business and etiquette. A simple business culture can mess a working relationship that was doing well. Conflict of culture between Chinese and another culture may cut short a working business relationship. Chinese businesses are usually based on being referred by another business associate; could be in the same business or in another business field. However, a strong recommendation from such an associate is required to win favour of clients and get good deals.Chinese business starts on a social plate and continues along the same line unless something happens that may break relationship between parties involved leading to business termination. Unlike Western culture where business is profession based, Chinese business is more of a social affair than a professional one. This is essential to help attract more clients and win hearts of many people in business. It helps maintain one’s clients in business socially rather than professionally and this increases business returns. The more one goes social in business in China, the higher the returns. Getting personal in business and sharing one’s personal life acts as an incentive to business partners. Business partners usually take this as getting close to them and this may be their interest even before they do their business with the party involved. It is therefore imperative to get personal and avoid too much of being professional as this will guarantee high returns within a short period of business. Spending time in sharing personal life in business attracts business associates from China. Personal life may include political views, hobbies, and family life among others. Protocol and priority are vital in business in Chin a. Protocol and priority comes in when dealing with people of different ranks. Recognition is of essence to show these individuals that one recognizes their rank. Address people with their correct designation, for example, Director, Doctor, Professor, and Chairman. This will make the parties see that their rank in whatever field they are in is highly recognized even in business. Giving business cards during business meetings indicates that one is serious in doing business. A business card should face the recipient. Such a card should have one side translated to make it easy for the Chinese party to understand what one is selling to them or buying from them. It is important to mention one’s company and the rank one holds before business gets underway. Business in China pays much attention to respect. Parties are supposed to display respect to each other according to rank. It may not be easy to excel in business in China without understanding that respect is tantamount to busin ess success. It is necessary to establish contact with a client one is dealing with so as to get as much referrals as possible from that client as business progresses. One should act as an interpreter to himself to make it easy to identify with Chinese as they like business where they understand what they are dealing in. It is vital to explain legal aspects of the business one is handling to be sure of the legal implications when doing any kind of

Employment Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Employment Law - Essay Example In this case, Bruce takes emergency time off, but his employer thinks that the time offs are not genuine. Owing to the characteristics of the provision and the fact that the categorization of the leave as unpaid, there is no limit as to the occasions when the employee can exercise the right (Gennard & Judge 2005, p.296). Besides, Bruce has taken a â€Å"reasonable† time off as the circumstances demonstrate. Bruce was responding to an immediate crisis and had fully informed the line manager of the emergency at hand. Royal Mail did not have a right to subject Bruce to disciplinary procedures or the written warning as Bruce did not abuse the statutory provision. The line manager had ascertained the precise reasons for Bruce taking the emergency leave and was aware of the length of the leave. There was no uncertainty on either party regarding the emergency time off; hence the disciplinary procedures taken against Bruce are unwarranted. In cases of subjection to a detriment owing t o a request for emergency time off, the employee has a right to complain to an employment tribunal (Booty 2009, p.123). The refusal for Emergency leave or unreasonable victimization for taking the leave goes against the spirit of the Employment Rights Act. To remedy the situation, Bruce should discuss the issue with his line manager (as appropriate), and explore as to whether the matter can be resolved, probably through the grievance procedure. In the event that the employee fails to resolve the matter, Bruce should present a complaint to the employment tribunal as his employer has refused to comply fully with section 57A. By subjecting Bruce to disciplinary procedures, Royal Mail demonstrates unreasonable refusal to allow Bruce to take time... In this case, Bruce takes emergency time off, but his employer thinks that the time offs are not genuine. Owing to the characteristics of the provision and the fact that the categorization of the leave as unpaid, there is no limit as to the occasions when the employee can exercise the right (Gennard & Judge 2005, p.296). Besides, Bruce has taken a â€Å"reasonable† time off as the circumstances demonstrate. Bruce was responding to an immediate crisis and had fully informed the line manager of the emergency at hand. Royal Mail did not have a right to subject Bruce to disciplinary procedures or the written warning as Bruce did not abuse the statutory provision. The line manager had ascertained the precise reasons for Bruce taking the emergency leave and was aware of the length of the leave. There was no uncertainty on either party regarding the emergency time off; hence the disciplinary procedures taken against Bruce are unwarranted. In cases of subjection to a detriment owing to a request for emergency time off, the employee has a right to complain to an employment tribunal (Booty 2009, p.123). The refusal for Emergency leave or unreasonable victimization for taking the leave goes against the spirit of the Employment Rights Act. To remedy the situation, Bruce should discuss the issue with his line manager (as appropriate), and explore as to whether the matter can be resolved, probably through the grievance procedure. In the event that the employee fails to resolve the matter, Bruce should present a complaint to the employment tribunal as his employer has refused to comply fully with section 57A. By subjecting Bruce to disciplinary procedures, Royal Mail demonstrates unreasonable refusal to allow Bruce to take time off as stipulated by section 57A. Bruce should present a complaint to the tribunal in the period before the end of three months beginning with the date when the subjection to disciplinary procedures started. To this effect, the tribunal may rule the matter to be well founded or not, and subsequently make redress. If the tribunal rules in employees favour, Bruce may be compensated for the illegitimate disciplinary action.

Preparation of Nylon-6 from petroleum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Preparation of Nylon-6 from petroleum - Essay Example DuPont continued with his research and in 1941 pioneered the first moldable polyamide grade. However, in 1938 a German P. Schlack at IG Farbenindustrie produced another commercially important nylon 6 through caprolactam and its subsequent patenting being done in 1941 (Brown, Foote, and Iverson 2011, p.6). The market for nylon-6 has since then grown and is used for various purposes worldwide. Nylon 6 is the most popular type of nylon in use and accounts for more than 50% of the global market (Brown, Foote, and Iverson 2011, p.9). The nylon falls under the thermoplastic family and has several properties that make it different from other types of polyamide. The properties of nylon 6 include the fact that it is tough, with high tensile strength. This implies that it does not break easily due to the bonding between each molecule resulting from the polymerization process. Secondly, nylon 6 does not wrinkle. It is also highly resistant to abrasive effects, such as alkalis and chemicals. This implies that it does not tear easily when such chemicals get into contact with the material. The product is also capable of absorbing water of up to 2.4%, which in most cases reduces its tensile strength (Brown, Foote, and Iverson 2011, p.9). In addition, nylon 6 is highly elastic and has the capacity of being used as a technical nutrient. Moreover, it is a semicrystalline polyamide. Nexant (2009, p.1) notes that nylon 6 is used extensively particularly in the automotive, industrial, consumer, as well as in electrical and electronic industries. However, its use has grown particularly in the automotive industry. This is attributed to the fact that there has been a trend towards preference of plastic material to metals as weight and cost reduction strategies. In addition, the use of nylon in the automotive industry has been seen as a means of reducing vehicle emissions that pollute that environment. Market outlook shows varying

Development Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Development - Coursework Example At the 1995 women’s conference in Beijing, so many promises were made on gender mainstreaming. The most important one was to get more women into leadership positions in private and public organisations and the government, as well as involve them in scientific and industrial development initiatives. This was to be done to bring about gender equality, not at the expense of men as some people have reported (Fischer, 2012:569). The ultimate goal of gender mainstreaming was to bring gender equality at all levels of private and public sectors. The aim was to enter the millennium with significant progress having been made in terms of putting women in key positions in the society and cultivating and a better understanding of gender mainstreaming and equality among men (Razavi, 2009:146). However, this has not happened. A 2013 research cosponsored by the US department of education and various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) showed that despite the hype and hullabaloo surrounding the topic, men still dominated major positions in the government and the private sector (Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa, 2010:14) In fact, most governments created a front for gender mainstreaming and equality but their underbellies were rife with gender inequality and imbalance. The Obama Administration, for example, has made several attempts to include as many women as possible in its policymaking and leadership positions (Kantola, 2010:54). However, this is what the public and some naà ¯ve NGOs see and think that progress is being made. For example, the study showed that in departments which were headed by women, there were still more male employees working in senior and influential positions that women should have according to gender mainstreaming advocates. In addition, the findings of the study showed that men’s perception of women has still

Penny Synthesis Essay Example for Free

Penny Synthesis Essay Penny Synthesis Essay To â€Å"†¦ not ban pennies, but merely discourage their use by establishing a system†¦Ã¢â‚¬  It is because I agree with Mark Lewis of Forbes. com, that I affirm abolishing the penny, yet with some restrictions. In 2001 a United States Representative by the name of Jim Kolbe introduced a proposition to eliminate the penny (United States’ lowest denomination coin). To deeply reason as to why an individual might support this proposition, we must look at three different points of analysis. First, â€Å" How zinc manufacturing around the nation may be affected due to this decision†, Second, â€Å" What this means for the people of this country on an economical standpoint†, and Thirdly, â€Å" What are the benefits of eliminating the penny in terms of time and money†. According to Source A, since 1982 penny manufacturing has been produced from 97. 5% zinc material. Mentioned, as opposition to this bill, is Tennessee who is rich in raw zinc. Representative Kolbe’s idea is to make the nickel the country’s lowest denomination coin. Interesting enough Kolbe’s state of Arizona is rich in copper, which makes up most of the higher denominational coins. Keep in mind zinc manufacturing is not solely dependent upon penny manufacturing. The fact that this issue is being used to negate this bill is invalid because of this exact reasoning. Moreover, The proposition would gradually eliminate manufacturing instead of suddenly stopping production. This gives time for manufacturing companies to find other means of work besides the penny. It is understood from the proposition that prices would be altered rounding to the nearest nickel’s place. The study shows that if a person’s time is worth $15 an hour (which we all know it’s worth less than that, but that’s a different story) a person would be losing close to $60 per year. The penny will always be a crucial statement in our nation’s history yet we must keep our mind set on the future. In the words of Bob Dylan, â€Å" Times are a changing. † It is a better economical strategy to gradually eliminate the penny from circular use. From this reasoning I affirm Jim Kolbe’s proposition to eliminate the penny.

Mergers and Acquisitions | Literature Review

Mergers and Acquisitions | Literature Review Having read and analysed the various literature available on the topic of mergers and acquisitions it is clear there are many conclusions and views on the long term performance of both the target and acquirer post takeover. The first article I have analysed is Andrade, Mitchell and Staffords New evidence and perspectives on mergers which gives a general overview of mergers and how the pattern has changed over the years. The 1960s seen a large number of deals relative to the number of publicly available targets, therefore the proportion of deals to targets was large even if the actual number wasnt as big as in the succeeding years. The 1980s then led to more important levels of takeovers with multi-million pound deals taking place. Around this time almost half of all major US companies received a tender offer. Now at present day and from the 1990s we have seen a combination of the previous 30 years trends, with a large number of large value mergers taking place. [1] The next part of this journal then looks at the winners and losers in a merger deal both in the long and short term. In both cases the average abnormal stock market return is used to measure value creation or destruction. In the short term the stock prices quickly adjust following a merger announcement and the effect of the merger should be incorporated into the stock price by the time the merger is completed. The choice of event window then determines whether it is a short or long term study, with short term being the three days surrounding the merger ( i.e. one day either side and the day itself). A longer window would be several days before merger ending at the completion; the performance would then be looked at in the longer period after this window. The overall results from merger activity shows that target shareholders are clearly the winners in merger transactions, with research from this paper highlighting the 3-day abnormal return for targets to be 16% with this figure rising to 24% in longer windows. However the evidence for acquiring firms is not so easily analysed, with the average three day abnormal return being highlighted in the paper as being -0.7% and -3.8% over the longer window. However the difficulty comes when analysing these results as although the estimates are negative they are not reliably so as these figures will include the costs of making the bid and financing the takeover. Therefore it is unreliable to say that acquirers are losers in mergers, but it can be seen that they are not big winners in the same way as targets. [2] To summarise this it can be seen that mergers seem to be value creating for shareholders overall, but the target achieves all of the merger gains around the announcement. It has also been argued that acquiring firms in many instances have come close to matching these transactions in the opposite direction; however this is not always the case. The final section of Andrade, Mitchell and Staffords paper focuses on long term event studies and the long term abnormal returns which go with it. The paper mentions that some recent long term event studies measure the negative abnormal returns in the few years following a merger and find some interesting results. They state that some investors fail to properly notice the full effects of corporate announcements and as a result this casts doubt on our previous findings in relation to the announcement-period event window. This is therefore out of line with the Efficient Market Hypothesis where the market will respond quickly and efficiently to new information. Other literature mentions that there is the potential in the long term for both over and under reaction to information and this is something we will analyse in more depth later. Alan Gregorys 2005 journal entitled The Long Run Abnormal Performance of UK Acquirers and the Free Cash Flow Hypothesis mentions a potential drawback of long term event studies. He argues that if long term expected returns are only estimates of the true vale then as a result it follows that the long term abnormal returns will be incorrect. However this problem is seen to be less significant in short window event studies as the returns are seen to be accurate and therefore more reliable. The Andrade, Mitchell and Stafford journal gives a general overview of the topic of mergers, both in the past and present situation. Having established a general understanding I then looked at more precise literature which discusses certain aspects including the post merger performance of both acquiring and target firms. The conclusions gained will ultimately form the basis of my empirical investigation. The majority of texts I have researched base their results on the post takeover performance of the bidder, while some texts also look at the performance of the merged firm after the takeover. The most common conclusion from the various available texts on mergers is that in the short term target shareholders gain and bidders do not lose. However in the long term it is seen that many firms experience abnormal performance in the few years following a merger. One of the most commonly referred to journals based on this conclusion is by Jensen and Ruback and is called The Market for Corporate Control. It was one of the first pieces of literature to comment on the effects of corporate takeovers on shareholders and is therefore commonly used as a basis in later reviews as well as the Hubris Hypothesis which will be discussed later. The results from their analysis based on US companies are that mergers create positive gains, target shareholders benefit and the bidding firm shareholders do not lose. [3]However conclusions made later suggested there were still many controversial issues to be resolved regarding corporate control, for example all the findings in this research lead to positive results on shareholders however this may be as it is difficult to find actions made by managers which would actually harm shareholders. [4]The paper also comments that the long run post merger performance is a problem area as it yields results contrary to market efficiency, and in most texts this is described as a market anomaly. It is stated in the journal that negative abnormal returns suggest that deviations in the stock price are related to the overestimation of future gains from mergers. Although there has been a lot of research into the market for corporate control, there is still a lot more to be done in this area and Jensen and Rubackss forms the basis for future analysis. Firstly in Shareholder wealth effects of corporate takeovers by J.R Franks and R.S Harris they come to the same conclusion that targets benefit and bidders do not lose in relation to UK companies after basing their investigation on the results of Jensen and Ruback (1983) which came to this conclusions after using a data set of US companies. A small number of papers found differing results at this time, namely Firths articles in 1979 and 1980[5] which found that in the UK targets gain and bidders lose and in 1977 Franks, Broyles and Hecht[6] find that both parties gain. Franks and Harris found that a drawback of these results like many other studies was that either the sample size was too small or the sample was taken over too short a period. To combat this they made sure their sample was taken over a 30 year period from 1955-1985 and that it was a comprehensive study of a large number of companies involved in UK takeovers. The conclusion reached was that most mergers are value creati ng for shareholders, with the target achieving most of the gains and the bidder either breaks even or makes small gains. This was found by analysing the equity market price in the event window around the merger date. Franks and Harris however did find a potential problem relating to post merger performance as it is dependent on the benchmark returns against which bidders are evaluated; however this may lead to analysts finding false results depending on the timing of the merger. For example if a bidder times the merger event to coincide with a time were their own stock is doing well then it may produce false results as the good performance of this stock would cancel out and give an overall good performance no matter what.[7] Franks and Harris measure abnormal returns using three varying methods for the 24 months following the unconditional date. These are namely using a market alpha and beta combination, using a market model and using the CAPM asset pricing model. This can clearly b e seen from table 10 (page 245) in the journal and this should be looked at as an area which may require further research. Finally comparisons between the UK examination by Franks and Harris and Jensen and Rubacks US equivalent come to two main conclusions. Firstly target wealth gains in both the UK and US have increased since 1968, as a result of bidder wealth effects and secondly after the form of the original offer is controlled, targets gains are similar for both the UK and US. This may suggest that the wealth effects of takeover are comparable in the two countries. [8] One of the most widely recognised pieces of writing relating to corporate takeovers is by Richard Roll in 1986 and is entitled The Hubris Hypothesis of Corporate Takeovers. This journal was written in order to gain a different view to previously written articles and ultimately to disprove Jensen and Rubacks summary in their 1983 investigation on the market for corporate control. In Jensen and Rubacks conclusion they stated that corporate takeovers generate positive gains, and that the target benefits and bidders do not lose.[9] This result fits in with most other research on corporate takeovers; however Roll manages to give a different side to the argument by firstly looking at takeovers in general. He states that there are no gains from takeovers, however some bidders believe there are and such bidders are said to be infected by Hubris. This ultimately led to managers making poor decisions. Going back to the actual bid itself, the first step of a takeover is for the bidding firm to identify a potential target and value that target. This value is then compared to the current market price and if the value is greater than the price the bid is made and becomes public, otherwise the bid is abandoned. Roll comes to the conclusion that Decision makers in acquiring firms pay too much for their targets on average. [10]The Hubris Hypothesis also predicts that around a takeover the combined value of the target and bidder firms should slightly fall, and individually the bidding firm value should decrease, whilst the target value should increase. It is also stated that the overall gain to mergers, excluding costs is zero. Something which makes little sense as it would obviously seem to discourage takeovers. It should also be noted that the Hubris Hypothesis is consistent with semi-strong market efficiency.[11]Many academics believe that the Hubris Hypothesis is one of the most important pieces of writing in relation to takeovers. They say that if there really are no gains from takeovers then the Hubris Hypothesis is important in order to explain why the managers would not abandon such bids. The hypothesis finds some problems when interpreting the bidding firms returns as a bid can obviously be anticipated and therefore at announcement the return value does not give an entirely true value as it is anticipated. There are also however a few arguments against the use of the Hubris Hypothesis and its results. Firstly it has been suggested that Rolls hypothesis implies that managers act against shareholders interests. This is suggested in several recent papers and the conclusion reached is that the evidence is consistent with conscious management actions against the best interests of shareholders[12]. However the Hubris hypothesis on the other hand doesnt rely on this result and states that it is sufficient evidence that managers act against shareholder interests when they issue bids based upon false valuations of the target firm. Another argument against Hubris is that it is said to imply inefficiency in the market for corporate control. However if all takeovers were to be prompted by Hubris as has been suggested then shareholders could stop the practice by stopping managers to make bids. Therefore since this is not the case then Hubris alone cannot explain the takeover phenomenon. Overall the re are many arguments both for and against Richard Rolls Hubris Hypothesis however most of the arguments against fail to be fully supported and as a result the Hubris Hypothesis remains as one of the most important pieces of literature on the subject of corporate takeovers. In 1974 a pioneering study taken by Gershon Mandelker in his journal entitled Risk and Return: The case of merging firms found that there were gains from takeovers and found results were consistent with two hypotheses. Namely, the perfectly competitive acquisitions market (PCAM) and the efficient capital market hypotheses[13]. His study examines the market for takeovers and analyses the impact that mergers have on the returns of the shareholders involved. Previous studies state that acquiring firm shareholders earn abnormal returns following a merger and some of which actually state that most mergers tend to be unsuccessful. This relates to a study by Hogarty[14] who stated that mergers actually have a negative effect on the merged firm value. However based on this assumption it would seem odd that firms would enter into mergers, though Hogarty states that this is because mergers suit risk taking managers and although the majority of these takeovers lead to losses for the acquiring f irm, a small portion lead to extraordinary profits which is why they are still so common. There are however certain problems which exist in these previously undertaken studies. The majority of which use small samples which can lead to biased or untrue results, and the second problem is that the studies tend to use primitive models which fail to take into consideration any risk or changes in risk. As a result this provided the motivation of Mandelkers study as he tried to include these factors and come to a new conclusion. The principle aim of Mandelkers study was therefore to investigate the acquisitions market using empirical methods to examine the returns of both the acquired and acquiring firm shareholders. In order to do this the author tested two main assumptions. Firstly he analysed the perfectly competitive acquisitions market hypothesis which based its testing on previous literature which stated that acquiring firm shareholders gain abnormal returns following a takeover. However the problem with this result was that it lacked significant empirical support, in fact in a majority of previous studies it was actually found that the acquiring shareholders experienced negative abnormal returns following a merger. These findings therefore fit in with the hypothesis that acquiring firms operate in a perfectly competitive market. Even though it is found that the acquirers experience negative abnormal returns following a merger there is no evidence that they overpay and therefore they do not lose from m ergers. In relation to the acquired firm shareholders it is found that they achieve most of the gains from takeovers and therefore in relation to the perfectly competitive acquisitions market Mandelker finds that there are zero gains achieved by the bidding firm shareholders and that the target firm shareholders obtain the gains from the takeover before the firm disappears. The second hypothesis tested was the Efficient Stock Market hypothesis. Mandelker investigates how the stock market reacts to the announcement of takeover information, with many previous hypotheses stating that the stock market fails to properly react to the announcement of merger information. However in his study Mandelker finds results which are consistent with the Efficient Market Hypotheses and therefore stock prices of the involved firm at the time of merger already reflect all available information. Therefore as a result it is impossible to earn abnormal returns once a takeover becomes public as the stock price will have reacted immediately. Overall Mandelker finds that the acquiring firm shareholders earn normal returns following a merger and that any gains from mergers are entirely of the acquired firm shareholders. Another key piece of literature I have summarised is Dodd and Rubacks Tender offers and shareholder returns. This journal looks at the stock market reaction to both successful and unsuccessful tender offers. The findings show that bidding shareholders earn significant positive abnormal returns in the twelve months prior to takeover, whereas only successful bidders earn significant positive abnormal returns in the month of the offer. The main section of the paper is based on these results and the paper investigates two alternative hypotheses, namely the positive and zero impact hypotheses. Firstly we look at the positive impact hypothesis, where it is stated that the announcement of a merger will lead to positive information about the two involved firms and as a result will cause the stock prices of these firms to rise. There are many reasons for a positive impact and the main reasons are firstly increased market power. Empirically Dodd and Ruback find that for successful bids the tar get and/or the bidder benefit from the takeover, however with regards to unsuccessful bids neither the bidder nor target will gain from the process. A problem with unsuccessful bids is that they cost both the bidder and target during the process of the bid and this is why they can experience negative abnormal returns. An alternative hypothesis is that the gains arising from takeovers can be attributed to the increased product efficiency which is namely synergy. Therefore the synergy hypothesis states that the combined value of the merged firm will increase as a result of the merger. This will therefore again yield positive abnormal returns for a successful takeover and either zero or negative abnormal returns for an unsuccessful takeover. As a result of this it can be seen that the monopolistic market power and synergy hypothesis are very similar and carry similar results. Finally the third hypothesis is the internal efficiency hypothesis. It states that the target was underperformi ng as a result of poor management of assets and also states that this is something the bidder feels can be rectified. Therefore it is believed that a takeover can be used to discipline inept management. As a result an announcement would be seen as positive news by target as it is stated that shareholder wealth will increase with removal of inefficiencies. However the impact on the bidding firm depends on whether the bid is successful or not. Successful bidders will experience positive abnormal returns following the takeover; however unsuccessful bidders will experience zero abnormal returns following the bid. Secondly, we analyse the zero impact hypothesis which states that corporate takeovers have no impact on the value of firms involved. This therefore implies that there are no net gains as a result of merging with another firm. The empirical implications of this are that in successful tender offers the shareholders of both the bidder and target earn normal returns. However Mandelker, as we have just mentioned, disagrees with this statement and states that acquired firms are seen to have positive returns for the twelve months before and 85% of gains occur in the five months post merger. Earlier studies report that stockholders involved in completed mergers earn abnormal returns before the date of merger. However these studies dont look at the first public announcement of the acquisition therefore we cant determine whether gains observed before the acquisition date reflect the market reaction to announcement of acquisition or to prior good performance unrelated to the merger. Therefore D odd and Ruback isolate the market reaction to the announcement of the takeover in order to gain a true conclusion of shareholder performance. It is seen from calculations in the journal that in the month of announcement target shareholders earn large and significant returns of 20.58% for successful offers and 18.96% for unsuccessful offers. Whereas successful bidding shareholders also earn positive abnormal returns however these are a lot smaller (2.83%), and unsuccessful bidders earn normal returns. It should be noted that Dodd and Ruback find that if a firm experiences abnormal returns in the month of the announcement that both the positive and zero impact hypotheses can be rejected. Therefore in conclusion to the above Dodd and Rubacks paper had a big impact on the information available on mergers as they were one of the first academics to assess the market reaction to unsuccessful takeover attempts. Finding that stockholders of unsuccessful bidding firms earn normal returns following the bid and that unsuccessful targets earn significant abnormal returns in the month following the bid. From all the analysis it can be found that the primary motive for takeovers is the removal of inefficiencies, with the target seen to become more efficient as a result of both a successful and unsuccessful bids. These results are actually similar to those experienced by Mandelker as most of the takeover gains accrue to the target shareholders. The journal I have looked at next is Healy and Palepus, Does corporate performance improve after mergers? and analyses the corporate performance of the merged firm post takeover. This article looks at the post merger performance for the fifty largest US mergers between 1979 and 1984. The academics motivation in producing the journal as they have was the inability of previous stock price performance studies to determine exactly whether takeovers create economic gains and if they do what is the cause of such gains. The findings show that merged firms show improved cash flow returns post merger and they are seen to be generated by an increase in asset productivity in their relative industries as a result of the combined firms size. It should also be noted that the improvements in cash flow immediately following the merger are not at the expense of long term performance, as the firms will maintain both capital expenditure and RD rates relative to their industries post merger. The final c onclusion that Healy and Palepu draw is that there is evidence of a strong positive relationship between the post merger increase in cash flows and the abnormal returns at the merger announcement. Overall then Healy, Palepu and Ruback find in their investigation that merged firms overall have shown significant improvements in cash flow returns following merger. It should also be noted that improved performance is strong for firms in highly overlapping business. Some pieces of literature analyse the long term performances of both the acquiring and bidding shareholders in the years following the merger. One such example is Agrawal, Jaffe and Mandelkers 1992 article entitled The Post Merger performance of acquiring firms: A Re-examination of an Anomaly. They comment that existing articles on the post-merger performance of acquiring firms give conflicting opinions and therefore their motivation is to come to a definitive conclusion on what actually happens. They state that although not all previous literature has resulted in post-merger underperformance this could be attributed to biased results through firms not properly adjusting for size or shifts in beta. There are many implications in relation to consistent post-merger underperformance with the main implications being the following; firstly poor performance following a merger is not consistent with the Efficient Market Hypothesis and would suggest that the market is failing to fully react to the merger announcement. This then leads to a problem regarding the second implication which finds that in majority or literature regarding post-merger performance finds that performance is based on the key assumption of an efficient market, which as we have just found is not entirely true. The implication is more in line and suggests that poor post-merger performance fits in with other information which suggests poor economic performance following a merger, with Caves et al being cited as a key writer on this subject. This therefore provides the motivation for Agrawal, Jaffe and Mandelker to undertake a thorough analysis of the post-merger performance of acquiring firms using a near exhaustive sample of mergers between targets in the period of 1955 to 1987. The results of this indicate that acquiring stockholders experience a loss of around 10% over the five years following the merger, and this leads Agrawal, Jaffe and Mandelker to analyse the reasons for this. One possible explanation may be that the market is slow to react to the merger and therefore takes a longer time for the impact of the merger to set in, i.e. the loss in shareholder value. This therefore provides the question as to whether this result is time specific and in order to evaluate this Agrawal, Jaffe and Mandelker analyse the post-merger performance of acquiring firms over the last 3 decades. The results of table 2 in the journal show that the anomaly does not change over time and as a result does not appear to be time specific. Therefore this does not support the view that negative abnormal performance is a result of market inefficiency. In order to try to explain the post-merger performance the academics drew up two hypotheses to obtain a conclusion. Firstly, the market adjusts fully to the announcement of a takeover and any underperformance is due to other factors. And secondly, the market may be slow to react to any takeover information and therefore any post-takeover underperformance is reflected in the negative NPV, therefore market inefficiency is present. The alternative hypotheses are then tested by regressions of the post-merger abnormal returns and the announcement period abnormal returns. From this it is seen that there is a significant negative relationship over the full sample and as a result it can be seen that the post-merger returns and announcement period returns are both related. Therefore in conclusion to all of this analysis Agrawal et al find that acquiring shareholders experience negative abnormal returns in the 5 years following a merger. It is also clearly seen that the market has failed to become more efficient over time as the anomaly holds for all of the previous 3 decades apart from the 1970s. Overall it is found that the results are not consistent with the hypothesis that suggests the poor performance is attributed to slow reaction to information. To conclude Agrawal, Jaffe and Mandelker find that the efficient market anomaly of negative post-merger performance is not resolved. Eugene Fama made key arguments when he introduced the Bad Model Problem in his 1998 journal Market Efficiency, long-term returns, and behavioural finance. In this journal Fama states that we should not abandon market efficiency as he argues that long term return anomalies are basically only chance results, with overreaction of stock prices just as common as under reaction. In the article he states, Most important, the long-term return anomalies are fragile. They tend to disappear with reasonable changes in the way they are measured. Basically Fama says that the anomalies are either chance results or results of a bad model. However following this argument it is difficult to decide how to interpret post-takeover performance. This is a confusing area and one which yields differing results. Many of the previous long term event studies seem to suggest market efficiency, especially under and overreaction to information. This therefore poses the question as to whether market efficiency shou ld be discarded, with Famas response being a definitive no. The reasoning behind this is that an efficient market generates events which seem to suggest an over-reaction in prices following an announcement. However, in an efficient market over and under-reaction are both equally likely. Therefore if the aforementioned anomalies are shared randomly amongst the two then it is consistent with market efficiency. Analysis of previous studies suggests this to be the case. It has also been suggested that these anomalies are sensitive to the methodology selected and can vary or even disappear when a different model of expected returns is employed. Overall, with regards over and under-reaction, long-term return literature does not highlight one or the other to be more dominant. Thus a random split is always likely and as such market efficiency is maintained. With regards the methodology employed, Fama argues against the use of the buy and hold abnormal return (BHAR) as the systematic errors that arise with imperfect expected return proxies (the bad model problem) are compounded with long horizon returns. He also states that the use of methodology that ignores cross sectional dependence of event firm abnormal returns that are overlapping in calendar time is likely to produce overstated test-statistics. Fama then goes on to support the use of a monthly calendar time approach to measure abnormal returns in the long term. The reasoning given is that the use of monthly returns makes the study less affected by the bad model problem. Also, forming calendar time portfolios ensures that the cross correlation of event firm abnormal returns are taken as part of the portfolio variance. Despite Famas preference of the calendar time approach, Lyon, Barber and Tsai (1999) and Loughran and Ritter (1999) prefer the BHAR approach as it accurately represen ts investor experience. Another study which analyses both the bidders and acquirers post takeover performance is Glamour, value and post-acquisition performance of acquiring firms by Rau and Vermaelen, which uses a long horizon event study to analyse the shareholder performance in the three years following a merger. They find that bidders in mergers underperform, while bidders in tender offers over perform post merger. The main motivation in undertaking this study is to try gain a definite conclusion on the long run performance of bidders in both mergers and tender offers. This is done by looking mainly at bidders underperformance in the long run following a merger, and also what causes underperformance, if any. The paper compares results from the study by Jensen and Ruback (1983) which analyses six studies examining bidders returns in the year following a takeover. This study finds that following a tender offer bidders earn positive abnormal returns, whereas bidders underperform post merger. From the acqui rers point of view Rau and Vermaelen find that acquirers in tender offers earn small but statistically significant positive abnormal returns, however the long term underperformance of acquiring firms in mergers is not uniform across all firms. These findings go on to help support the hypothesis that the market overexpolates the past performance of the bidder and therefore as a result the market, management and shareholders overestimate a glamour bidders (bidder with good past performance) ability to do such a good job in managing similar companies. In a similar way the market seems to be pessimistic regarding a value bidders potential to manage other companies. (where a value firm is a firm with poor past performance). However value firms bidders are not affected by hubris in the same way as glamour firms, and therefore as a result are likely to be thoroughly scrutinised by directors and majority shareholders before a transaction is initiated. The biggest problem is that is appears the market fails to realise that past performance is not a good indicator of future performance. To conclude this paper helps to add to a large sample of evidence suggesting that short term event studies fail to fully capture the market reaction to an event. Therefore it is suggested that future studies must try to explain why markets tend to react sluggishly to corporate finance and strategic decisions. Analysis of post takeover performance has be

Unilever Is A Multinational Company Economics Essay

Unilever Is A Multinational Company Economics Essay 1.0)Introduction Globalization can be known as the integration of economics and societies all over the world. In the globalised world because of the countries highly interdependent on economies economic crisis in a part of world affects the whole world. Because of the great depression the whole world is facing a worst financial and economic crisis which is affecting social and environment in a negative and positive ways. This crisis is negatively effecting all the countries and the businesses especially the developing countries.Respnding to this Crisis is a challenge for businesses. How the selected company that is Unilever as been affected by the crisis, how it should respond will be discussed in this report 2.0)Introduction to the Company Unilever is a multinational company which operates in 190 countries with 400 brands. It is the worlds 3rd largest FMCG (Fast moving Consumer Goods). Around 2 billion consumers use Unilever products every day. Around the world more than 171000 employees works. In Europe Unilever owns 38% of its business. In America 33% and in Asia and Africa its 29%. Unilever is a most culturally diverse company for example Unilever top Management is from 21 countries.30% of unilever managers are women. Product portfolio of Unilever includes Personal care, Home care, Water, food and beverage. Some of the global brands are knorr,lifebuoy,lipton,Reona,dove which brings more than à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1 billion revenue for the company. 3.0)Global Economic crisis Current global economic turmoil is slowing down growth of advanced economies. Major economic crisis held in United states and Europe. This crisis will be explained briefly as follows. 3.1)United States crisis United states financial crisis is one of the global economic crisis. It happened because of the high demand for personal and corporate investment many people borrowed money from the government and bought properties which they cannot afford. At last because of the high demand Banks started lending money using the customer deposits. Later moved to lend money where mortgages were being issued on the bond market. When the US borrowers started defaulting on their mortgages they lost their houses as well as the investors lost their investments including banks. Banks from many countries specially form UK continental also made loans in these markets where the banking crisis affected the whole world. This crisis led to the global recession which affected the whole world. 3.2)European sovereign-debt crisis European sovereign-debt crisis is an ongoing crisis which has made difficult for some countries in the euro zone to pay their government debt. Countries like Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, and Spain failed to achieve the target economic growth in order to payback bound holders the guarantee it was intended to be. In Greece debt increased because of the public sector wage and pension commitments. To finance the expenditure Greece went of borrowing. The result was they exceeded the size of the nations entire economy .Investors responded by demanding for higher yields for the bonds by increasing the burden .European union and European central bank necessitated a series of bailouts. European banks own a considerable amount of sovereign debt which is negatively reinforcing. Bankers were reluctant to lend money because of bad debts which led to credit crunch. Although the above mentioned five countries are in immediate danger the crisis has effects the whole world. How it has effected will be discussed in the next topic. 4.0)Effect of crisis The world economy has been affected by financial crisis. Many emerging economies are affected a lot. Due to the interconnection of the financial systems a bank failure will be a start to the failure of series of banks. For example in US financial crisis series of small financial institutions collapses resulted in the failure of lehman brothers. Customers of lehmann brothers pulled out their money in order to invest in more secure way. This laid to 10000 of job cuttings around the world. Once the financial system weakness the recession began. A recession is a situation where the economy stops growing. Recession has the effect on global trade. European debt crisis affected the financial market as well as the US government budget. International Monetary Funds (IMF)40% of capital comes from the United States. So if the IMF has to commit cash to bailout initiatives US taxpayers have to pay more tax. This will lead to the decline in the world economy at market exchange rates. Many countries facing negative impact such as trade balances and balance of payment, lack of public confidence in financial institutions, Collapse of housing markets, decrease revenue from tourism, reversal of private capital inflows, reduced ability to maintain social welfare such as health and education, reduction of fiscal space, falling tax revenues, growing budget deficit, reduced demand for imports. This financial crisis led to many social crisis and challenges which are inter related. In the recession companies makes less profit and Unemployment rates increases along with the low consumer confidence. Consumer spending is less because of the unemployment. People loose their homes ,their incomes, their savings. In the recession consumers use credit cards less and businesses also dont borrow money to expand the business. With the lower demand for loans interest rates become low. When the interest rates become low investment of foreigners goes down. Therefore local value for currency depreciates. For example when the rupee value goes down exchange rate goes up. For example if 1 US dollar is equal to Srilankan Rupees 114 during the recession it might become 135 Rupees. Which means exchange rates goes up. This will result in increase oil price. Oil is a very sensitive thing. If the oil price goes up lots of social issues comes into paly.Increase of food prices, energy cost, and poverty effects the social progress. Between January 2002 and August 2008, oil price changed from $19.7 to $133.4 a barrel. As a results of the crisis over 50 million people specially women and children had driven to extreme poverty according to the world bank. According to the food and agriculture organization of the United Nations says that crisis will effect in increase number of hunger and undernourished people worldwide. This economic crisis does not affect only the economic and financial sector. It effects the environmental protection such as clean and renewable energy, climate change because of the companies wont be able to focus more on these areas. How these crisis will impact Unilever will be discussed next. 5.0)How Economic Crisis impact Unilever IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said that the three different crises on economic, environmental, and social fronts feed off each other and cannot be addressed each in isolation.When there is an economic crisis Social problems and environmental problems arises automatically. PESTEL analysis is a framework which reviews a situation which gives a strategic direction for the company. PESTEL also ensures that companys performance is aligned positively with the powerful forces of change that are affecting business environment (Porter, 1985).This analysis is carried out to Unilever Global because when there is a change in the macroeconomic environment company have to look forward implementing strategies in order to overcome the challenges. 5.1)Political and legal Unilever is a multinational company which has to obey the operating country and regional rules and regulations. These rules cover trademarks, health and safety, patents, employment and taxes important regulatory bodies. For example Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has prohibited alcohol and pork contained food. Breach of these rules will damage the reputation of the company as well as according to the law company has to pay fine. Government changes in taxation policy to reduce unemployment will affect the company economic performance. Taxation for the imports and raw materials will affect the business negatively by increasing the price of the products. 5.2)Economical When it comes to Europe Unilever market is full of competition. Because of the crisis explained in the previous section macroeconomic environment is highly uncertain .Due to the economic crisis consumers are looking for cheaper product. In countries like France and Nederland competition for unilever is high. Customer and supplier default was resulted in the economic downturn. Customers purchasing power reduction has resulted in the company profits. 5.3)Social and economical environment Unilevers vision is to help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others. Unilever has a strong reputation for the focus on employees safety, environmental protection and sustainability. It focuses on utilization of renewable resources as well as producing products which are safe for consumers. Company uses environmental friendly materials for packaging. Even all the governments are focusing on green economies and forcing the companies for that. More than developing countries developed markets focus on this. In order to increase the living standards of people Unilever Srilanka focuses on Saubhagya project which helps rural children for studies, For women job opportunities. Unilever is working on safe drinking water project in India in order to make people aware about the hygiene factor. 5.4)Technological Unilever is spending more on IT in order to improve the brand image and minimize cost through e-business.Unilever invest on research and development about à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1 billion a year which will help to develop new product which meets the consumer needs. Lack of innovation will affect the reputation as well as will increase the competitor market share. 6.0)Challenge and threat for the company Because of the crisis customers look for cheaper products.Unilever marketing channel is mainly Modern trade and General trade.Modern trade includes the supermarket chains and general trade includes retailers.Unilever has challenge because the supermarket chains comes up with their own brands. For example In srilkanka Cargills food city although it is a main retailer of Unilever Cargills has its own washing powder, jam and so many products. For them it gives big profit margin 7.0)Unilevers response to the Challanges When responding for the global crisis focusing on economical, social and environmental factors are important. 7.1)Economic Recession offers a lot of opportunities in the market by creating new gaps. In order to respond to the crisis around the world Unilever offers products with small packages, sachet, affordable variants of global brands for low income consumers. For example in Spain, Greece, United States small packs of knorr, dove, lipton brands are sold. In Greece mashed potatoes, mayonnaise is sold in small packages. Launched low cost tea and olive oil brand for the euro market to face the euro crisis. In Europe, Because of recession consumers are focusing on packed lunch and home baking. Therefore stoke baking liquid is introduced in packs where customers can re-use as lunch boxes and as an alternation for the expensive butter. In Indonesia 2-3 cents value of shampoos are sold for profit. By all these strategies Unilever trying to position some brands as a value for money. All these strategies are initially started from the emerging and underdeveloped markets. To respond to the global crisis restructuring the functions is also a strategy of the company. To reduce the staff is reduced from 223000 from 171000.This is because of the local country labor rules which increases the cost. Company planning to reduce the number of factories from 300 to 250 by merging the country operations into the region. For example in Saudi Arabian region Dubai is working as the main branch. This will save about 1 billion a year. Brands are reduced from 1600 to 400 which dont work well. This is also a way to face the crisis. This would increase the efficiency of the company rather than focusing on less performing brands. Focusing on innovation is also a best way to meet the global challenge. For example knorr has launched a product line in concentrated fruit and vegetable juices and ice-cream made out of yoghurt. 7.2)Social Unilever increase the livelihood of people by 3 main ways.Sustainabel sourcing, better livelihood and through people. Sustainable sourcing- Helps for better living and income for farmers.Unilever sustainable sourcing is applicable for palm oil, sunflower oil, Vegetables and fruits, cage free eggs. Better livelihood-By giving fertilizers, high quality seeds and training for the small farmers Unilever gets quality inputs as well as it helps to increase the living standards of the farmers. Shakthi door-to-door selling in India provides works for pure people in India which helps to reduce the poverty. People-Unilever focus on health and safety in order to reduce work place injuries. Lamplighter employee programme helps to be mentally free sand physically fit. Focusing on heath and hygien by improving the nutrition is Unilever practicing. Through lifebuoy brand hand wash it reduced the disease diarrhea, through signal brand tries to improve oral health, pure it water filters provide safe drinking water ,through dove brand it helps people to increase the self esteem. As a company which focuses on well being of the consumers has a nutrition strategy which tries to reduce the fat, salt and suger level and to increase the essential fatty acids in the products. Unilever introduced hellmanns myonise with 5% fat focusing the hygien of the consumers. This would make the consumer delight. Responding to country and social needs is also a factor where unilever focus on. For example an Indian woman uses more oil where western shampoos dont wash it away. Therefore company adopted its shampoo according to the Indians need. 7.3)Environmental In order to reduce the environmental impact company focuses on green house gasses, water and waste management Green house gas-Unilever tries to reduce green house gas emission from shampoos and shower gels when using and from washing clothes. Company is reformulating the products to achieve this. By reducing truck mileage company tries to reduce the Gas emission from transport. Water-Company focuses on reducing water consumption in all the stages of production and by making easier rinsing products. Comfort One Rinse fabric conditioner reduces the water consumption from 3 buckets to 1 when rinsing clothes. Washing powders like surf excel need less water .Company focuses on water reduction in the shampoos and hand wash when using. This helps in reducing the water consumption. Waste Management and Packaging-eliminating unnecessary packaging and using lightweight material is way to protect environment. In the personal and home care products using refill will also reduce the consumption of plastics for example lifebuoy hand wash is using this strategy. 7.0)Conclusion In this report current economic crisis is explained and its impact globally is discussed. It reveals that because of a crisis in a country for how far it has impact the lives of people all over the world positively and negatively. This shows how far the globalization plays a major role in peoples lives. Through PESTEL analysis how the Macroeconomic environment is effecting the company is discussed. Through this analysis some conclusion can be made. In order to maintain the market share and the consumers always company should be sensitive for the macroeconomic environment. If there is a regulatory issues in the local country, financial crisis quickly company respond to it. Company should always focus on market research and consumer behavior pattern. Although Unilever is a multinational company it should localize its operations according to the country it operates. Innovation and new product development plays a major role in the business. In the last part with example reports shows that how Unilever responded in the time of crisis.Even in the developed market it had to use the emerging market strategies like small packed products which is a new thing. 8.0)Recommendation In order to achieve a sustainable economic situation as mentioned above focusing on Social and environmental in very important. As discussed above as a leading multinational company Unilever focuses on these matters a lot. But in order to respond to the changing environmental condition following are some recommendation. When focusing on Environmental factors managing waste is very important. Although unilever focus on factory waste management it has to focus on post consumer waste management also. For this having good relationship with operating country government is important. Focusing more on green economics and promoting that would bring more environmental friendly customers into the business. This segment although the price is high because of the environmental friendly products they wont think twice to buy. Focusing more on health and hygien by introducing new products such readymade green tea,energy drink and focusing targeting young generation would bring advantage.

The Cause of the Potato Famine Essay -- Irish History, Starvation, Dis

During the Irish Potato Famine between 1845 to 1849 (McCarthy 88), one million people died within five years and an additional two million emigrated to other countries (â€Å"Ireland†). Even today Ireland has not completely recovered from this sudden loss in population (â€Å"Potatoes†). Although many blame this horrendous event on the government’s use of Laissez Faire Economics, the real cause of disaster was the people. The population loss, starvation, and diseases that resulted from the Irish Potato Famine were self- inflicted by the Irish peoples’ upcoming decisions to the event.  ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ireland was not of any interest to other countries, and in response these countries did not aid Ireland in its time of dire need. Countries had no concern in Ireland because it was an area of minimal development for industrialism (McCarthy 87). Also, Ireland had an absence of protection from invasions from other countries (McCarthy 87); one reason for this being that it is an island. Moreover, Ireland had an undeveloped amount of raw materials (McCarthy 87), which did not spark interest of speculation from others countries. Due to these two main factors, there was no investment in Ireland (McCarthy 87), which made the country isolated and unattended ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬  ¬Ã‚ ¬ when help was needed. When the Potato Famine attacked Ireland, it mainly affected the western countries (McCarthy 88). The majority of the starvation was from the less wealthy regions of the country, such as Bonegal down to Cork (McCarthy 88).These areas main food source was only potatoes because they were a cheap and easily grown crop. In other parts of Ireland, where the land was mostly pastures or a planted with a different variety of crops, hunger did not affect the people as intensely... ...t. Therefore, the government gave help to its people, so the blame should not be on the government for eventually putting forth an effort to help the situation. They had the right to see if the free market would work itself out, because according to the philosophies of Adam Smith, that would have been the expected result. Ireland’s poor planning in creating their lives around one crop economically and politically resulted in a much larger downfall than what could have occurred. Previously, in 1741 Ireland had a blight killing 250,000 people (â€Å"Irish Potato Famine†, Barnhill), only further proving how unprepared they were when the 1845 blight attacked; even with the knowledge that something like the famine would occur. In all, Ireland’s forthcoming decisions in how to economically run their country, was the primary reason the Irish Potato Famine hit them so hard.