Payroll Accounting

Chapter 1 Quiz 1. Which of the following laws has as one of its major provisions the establishment of the minimum wage? a. Fair Employment Laws b. Federal Unemployment Tax Act c. Federal Insurance Contributions Act d. Social Security Law e. Fair Labor Standards Act 2. Which of the following acts covers employee pension and welfare plans? f. Age Discrimination in Employment Act g. Employee Retirement Income Security Act h. Family and Medical Leave Act i. Federal Insurance Contributions Act j. Federal Unemployment Tax Act 3.Which of the following statements is not a provision of ERISA? k. ERISA requires each employer to establish a pension plan l. All of these choices are provisions of ERISA m. ERISA provides that all employees are eligible to set up their own individual retirement accounts n. ERISA establishes minimum vesting schedules that protect the worker’s benefits o. ERISA applies to pension and welfare plans established by any employer engaged in commerce. 4. Which of th e following is not a provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)? . Restricts the employment of child labor q. Forbids discrimination in hiring r. Mandates equal pay for equal work, regardless of sex s. Sets up minimum wage t. All are provision of the FLSA 5. Which of the following bases for discrimination in employment practices is not covered in Title VII of the civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended? u. Color v. National origin w. Age x. Religion y. Sex 6. Medicare is a two=part health insurance program that was part of an amendment to what act? z. Federal Insurance Contributions Act . Federal Unemployment Tax Act |. Federal Income Tax Withholding Law }. Age Discrimination in Employment Act ~. Fair Labor Standards Act 7. Which of the following act deals with the minimum wage paid to laborers for contractors who supply materials to any agency of the United States? . Walsh-Healey Public Contracts . Davis-Bacon . NcNamara-O’Hara Service Contract . None of these choices are correct . Federal Insurance Contributions 8. Which of the following is used to complete each employee’s Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement? Change in payroll rate form . Employee’s individual retirement account . Payroll register . Employee’s earning record . Employee’s paycheck 9. Which of the following items does not always appear on both the payroll register and the employee’s earnings record in the weekly payroll recording? . Net amount of the paycheck . Cumulative earnings . Gross weekly pay . Federal income tax deducted . All of these choices appear on both records 10. The employee’s earnings record is a listing of a firm’s complete payroll for each pay periods. . True . False

Debt in Australia, Monetary Policy Essay

Introduction It is imperative that the Australian households’ debt have noticeably risen over the past two decades, and is currently rated high according to international standards. The sharp increase in housing debt has been the reason for the rise in the household debt. Increased availability of housing finance, strong demand for debt from investors, and lower interest rates are the main drivers of the rising housing debt. The households’ net worth and servicing ratios will be discussed in this paper as the impacts on the higher household debt levels. The impacts of the instability in global capital markets will be discussed in this paper in relation to the housing finance market in Australia. Lastly, the implications of the rising household debt will be discussed in relation to the financial stability and monetary policy. Trends in household debt It is important to note that Australian households had a fairly stable ratio of debt to disposable income at approximately 45% during the 1980s. However, rapid rise in the ratio of debt to disposable income was recorded since 1990, with it reaching optimum of 157% in December 2007. The bulk of the increase was accounted for by the housing debt, that is, over the period, the ratio of the housing debt to disposable income rose to 134% from 31%. It was also recorded over the same period, a rise in the ratio of personal debt to disposable income to 22% from 13%. A sharp rise in the ratio of debts to assets was recorded at 17% in December 2007, from 8% in December 1989 (Wilkins & Wooden, 2009). A sharp rise in household indebtedness in a number of advanced economies has been witnessed over the last two decades. It is however, noted that the increase in household debt in Australia is pronounced. The Australia’s ratio in household debt to income was recorded as the highest in December 2007 despite Australia recording as one of the countries with the household debt lowest ratio to disposable income among advanced economies in the late 1980s. It is also imperative to point out that among advanced economies; Australia rose from the bottom position to the middle number in terms of the ratio of household debt to assets over the same period (Berry & Dalton, 2009). Housing finance market Focus on the housing finance market is emphasized in this paper because the housing debt in households’ total debt is dominant. An average of 15% in the annual growth in housing debt was recorded since 1990. In the periods, 1988-1989, 1994, and 2002-2004 strong growth in housing debt was recorded. This strong growth in the growth in housing debt was faster than the growth in the disposable income of households over the same period that stood at an average of 6% only (Berry & Dalton, 2009). Significant growth in house prices accompanied the sharp increase in the housing debt. Over the period 1987 and 1988, the house prices doubled, however, during the first half of the 1990s the house prices drifted slowly higher, with the house prices doubling more between 1997 and late 2003. Continuous increase in aggregate house prices was recorded since late 2003; however, the trend varies markedly across the country, for instance, house prices in Perth increased strongly, while the house prices in Sydney decreased over time. The boom in resources supports the varied trends in house prices across the country (Berry & Dalton, 2009). A number of factors accounts to the rising house debt in Australia over the past years, with lower interest rates accounting for high borrowing by the households whenever they take their housing loan out. This trend has been responsible for the rise in the average size of new loans, which results into the rise in the average size of outstanding loans over time. The availability of housing finance has resulted into the rise in the capacity of households to borrow finances (Wilkins & Wooden, 2009). Financial health of households It is noted that the historic sharp increase in the Australia’s disposable income in December 2007 was accounted by the strong rise in the housing debt in Australia over the past fifteen years. It was however, pointed out that only a few households had difficulties in repaying their debt obligations, despite the historic sharp increase in the housing debt in December 2007 (Berry & Dalton, 2009). Impact of the turbulence in global capital market It is significant to note that the housing finance market in Australia has suffered greatly as a result of the global capital markets’ turbulence. This is because half of the total funding for financial institutions in Australia is accounted for by the deposits. The foreign and domestic capital markets the balance in the Australian financial institutions. There has been significant rise in the mortgage rates, and significant change in the markets shares from lenders, due to this, there is limited restriction to the overall supply of housing finance (Berry & Dalton, 2009). Significant reduction in some forms of capital market funding as well as significant rise in the most of the forms of capital market funding have resulted from the turbulence in the financial market. It is however, noted that the impact of the financial market turbulence have been felt in a number of securitization markets. Securitization markets over the past decade or so, have established itself into as a significant source of funding for housing loans in Australia. In mid 2007 for example, outstanding securitization housing finance loans had accounted for 23% (Wilkins & Wooden, 2009). This was a significant rise from the mid 1990s 5% housing finance loans that were securitized. A number of loans from mortgage originators were being securitized. Institutions like credit union, regional banks, and building societies had adopted securitization of their loans since it was a cost effective way of wholesale funding (Wilkins & Wooden, 2009). The onset of the global financial turbulence in July 2007, led to significant close of the securitization market. There were significant rise prime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) to 75 basis points in December 2007 from approximately 15 basis points in mid-2007. It is imperative to point out that Australia’s Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) accounted for the issuance of a number of Australian Asset-backed Securities (ABS) that extends on AAA-rated senior tranches (Berry & Dalton, 2009). There was significant spread in the subordinated AAA-rated tranches that increased to approximately 110 basis points from approximately 20 basis points. It is significant to point out that despite the sharp increase in the spreads, investors in Australia has never encountered losses on rated Australian RMBS, coupled with the housing market in Australia remaining healthy. The investors have become more concerned with the product itself, as discounts are attached to all the sales of securitized products. The selling of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) by several structured investment vehicles (SIVs) has also created excess supply in the secondary market (Berry & Dalton, 2009). Implications for financial stability and monetary policy It significant to point out the access to credit by the household sector has greatly increased courtesy of financial innovation and deregulation. The households in Australia have become more comfortable to take loans owing to the ongoing strong performance of the economy (Berry & Dalton, 2009). Â  The balance sheets of households have remained in good health despite the significant rise in the household debt; this has resulted into significant rise in asset-value capable of offsetting the rise in debt. It is also significant to note that macroeconomic conditions in the economy are also favorable. Â   References Berry, M., & Dalton, T. (2009). Mortgage default in Australia nature, causes and social and economic impacts. Melbourne: AHURI. Wilkins, R., & Wooden, M. (2009). Household Debt In Australia: The Looming Crisis That Isn’t. Australian Economic Review , 42(3), 358-366. Â   Â  

Anti-Communism in America

– Analyse the impact of anti-communism in the USA from the late 1940’s to 1953 and the impact this had on tensions between the superpowers during this time. In the years between 1940 and 1953 the capitalist nations of the world such as USA became very concerned about the communist ideologies and its possible spread in the world. As a result, the ideological war period known as the â€Å"Cold War† was developed. With the end of World War II, the USA emerged with a renewed sense of confidence as they believed that their role in the Allie alliance was a key factor when defeating their enemy powers.It was not long, however, before ironically, this alliance between USA and USSR would be the cause for rising tensions in the world. It can be suggested that the rise of Cold War tensions led to the Anti-communist policy being being developed in the USA which not only impacted its own country but also renewed Cold War tensions. This is evident when examining McCarthyism, t he Witch-Hunts and Trials, and the Propaganda campaign. The US historical period known as â€Å"McCarthyism† began long before Joseph McCarthy’s own involvement.There were many factors that contributed to its beginning including; the increased membership in the â€Å"Communist Party of the United States† during the late 1930’s and early 1940’s along with Soviets establishing communist regimes across Central and Eastern Europe. Later USA was concerned with Soviet espionage inside government institutions, and at the same time politicians were slowing down social reforms or criticizing President’s arguing they had been influenced by communism. (R) This practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence was later known as, McCarthyism.Joseph McCarthy’s own involvement began with a speech he made: â€Å"I have here in my hand in my hand a list of 205 – a list of names that were m ade known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department. (McCarthy, ). (R) As a result of McCarthyism there were many Anti-communist committees, as well as private agencies, carrying out investigations about possible communists in the USA.Furthermore the federal government, under Harry Truman’s administration with the help of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover initiated a program of Loyalty Review for Federal Employees, with the aim of determining if government employees were disloyal to the government. (R) Hoover’s extreme sense of communist threat and numerous illegal practices including burglaries, opening mail and illegal wiretaps, resulted in thousands of government workers losing their jobs after unfair accusations or sometimes even without having any process. R) Among these victims was, Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of the Manhattan Project who built the fir st atomic bomb. Historian Ellen Schrecker has written; â€Å"in this country, McCarthyism did more damage to the constitution than the American Communist Party ever did†. (R) It was later proved that Soviet espionage did exist in the USA, but besides that fact it can be suggested that the American government could possibly had a greater threat of danger in order to react in such an extreme way, which created divisions still present in the USA.The House Committee on Un-American Activities(HUAC) was perhaps the most involved in Anti-communist investigations government committee. Earlier, this committee had investigated a number of activities including German-American Nazis during World War II, and later focused on communism, investigating an espionage case against Alger Hiss, American politician accused of perjury, in 1948. It was not until 1947 that HUAC achieved its greatest fame with the investigations into the Hollywood film industry.These investigations involved screenwrit ers, directors, and other professionals in testifying about their known, or suspected membership in the Communist Party, within its members, or support of its beliefs. The â€Å"Hollywood Ten†, as it was known, was a group of people formed by the first ten film industry witnesses that decided not to cooperate, and instead cited the First Amendment’s, which guaranteed freedom in speech and beliefs, but failed and were sentenced to prison (R).Later victims had the option of either being informants, and thus, give names of communist sympathizers or going to prison if refused to cooperate (R). On November25 of 1947, Eric Johnston, President of the Motion Picture Association of America published the â€Å"Waldorf Statement†, which announced the firing of the Hollywood Ten, and stated they would not employ any communist or member of a party which advocates to overthrow the government (R). This generated a †Hollywood Blacklist†, through which over 300 actor s, authors and directors were denied to work in the film industry.Those actions taken by the government not only placed USA’s famous â€Å"freedom† in question and showed an excessive use of power until the point that citizen’s rights were constantly violated but also created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion, which sometimes resulted in hysteria. These extreme measures led to a great division in the country that is still present these days. Distribution of Anti-communism propaganda was, without a doubt, one of the most successful measures taken by the USA government during this period of time. [email  protected] edu. au

Religious Aspects of Social Location Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Religious Aspects of Social Location - Essay Example From very small things like always telling the truth to huge societal obligations like respecting women, learning, rules of living in society, and treating even my enemies well, my religious learning has shaped every aspect of my life. Offering my prayers five times a day made me humble, disciplined, and made me believe in my blessings. It has strengthened my belief in a superior power and made me a positive thinker at even the oddest hour. I abstain from bad habits, such as illegal relationship, liquor, fights, backbiting, conspiring just because Islam taught me so. I am interested in getting myself educated and travelled to America because my religion asked every one including women, children, and men to get educated even if we have to travel for longer periods. I offer prayer five times a day in any mosque with other Muslims and Imam. If there is no mosque nearby, I offer it alone on a clean surface. Every year, in the month of Ramadan, I observe fast for a month which is followed by Eid-ul-fitar. It is followed by another religious practice called sacrifice of animals on Eid-ul-adha; I practice this tradition with my family. My family gives alms to poor; it is a certain amount on our money which is given as charity. I have also performed Hajj and Umrah.

SLP 01 CONFLICT MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

SLP 01 CONFLICT MANAGEMENT - Essay Example This clash affects the management and the employees equally. In order to make the situation better, management has to play an important role, to handle condition in an easy and calm way. Employees versus management. I have never thought that employees and management are truly the same animal. What I have discovered is that they are very different, and the distinction matters. Management knows how to make people and tasks work effectively toward the same end, whereas employees tend to focus more on the task at hand. Although they are different functions, the same person can both work and manage. A manager should be dependable, track through things, maintain his pledges and have principles. He should be helpful for his people and should not disclose their self-confidence. Manager should be reasonable and sincere with workers. He should prove admiration for his employees. Treat them as adults and show appreciation for their thoughts and for the job they do. He should make sure that his employees are treated as regular people. Try to indulge them in the planning and the problem solving phases of different tasks. Make them give their suggestions and use their assistances. Provide the workers significant responsibilities and the support they require to hold them out well. Agree on aims and objectives mutually, with effort from each and every individual that is concerned. Put quality communication into practice. Manager should construct mutual faith by being open, tolerant, and helpful. Managers can maintain and help in making assisting relations within their responsibilities by acting as a replica by directing and by sustaining, and cheering these managerial abilities in their workers as they cooperate with each other. Conflict may redirect labors from objective achievement or it may reduce income, mainly time and funds. Conflict also may pessimistically have an effect on the mental well-being of workers and cause

Shakespeare, Richard II Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Shakespeare, Richard II - Essay Example He also was able to take over his troops and part of his staff. Richard II said that if Bolingbrook served God that Richard II would serve Bolingbrook but if Bolingbrook did anything wrong to the people that Richard II couldnt make peace with the taking of the crown. "Cry woe, destruction, ruin, and decay: The worst is death, and death will have his day" (Richard, III, ii)Â  Loosing his subjects was doing wrong by them. Richard II was giving an ultimatum to Bolingbrook that he could never take over. In the following soliloquy, he speaks of all his had lost. He used the metaphor of what he had lost is as though he and the few people who with him were in their grave. "Lets talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs" (Richard, III, ii)Â  All they have left which belongs to them is death. This is an oxymoron. We all face death whether we are rich or poor. Shakespeare is showing the stupidity of the rich and of royalty. As with other kings, each has his own personal story of death. Each king is human. "For Gods sake let us sit upon the ground / And tell sad stories of the death of kings!" (Richard, III, ii)Â  He shows that he is discouraged and intimidated by the events that have happened. He is also showing another side where he is comparing the godlike quality of kings. He is saying that even though they are kings they still have a specific story related to death thus making them human. Thus, it can be assumed that they are human as all classes of society. Shakespeare is making another comment about the different social classes "My father hath a power; inquire of him and learn to make a body of limb" (Duke of Aumerle, III,ii) This is a metaphor used to indicated family lineage and then that the body can be bent. His fathers power can form him into anything. "To insinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my limbs."(Richard,IV,i) The tree has limbs which are bent. A body has limbs which can be bent.

Statistics for Managers Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Statistics for Managers - Assignment Example Managers are frequently exposed to large masses of data but before the data can be put into use, must be organized, summarized and critically interpreted. Therefore this is one of a very important aspect of statistics. Research has clearly shown that top managers reach to a consensus 25% more quickly when responding to graphical presentations. This importance of descriptive statistics is thus a key strategy for managers. It is advisable for the management to posses analytical skills necessary to interpret graphs and computations on the same. Inferential statistics It can also be defined as making inferences about a population from a random sample. On the other inference refers to the art of reasoning involved in making conclusions and logical judgement based on the evidence from the collected data. Management revolves around decision making and thus inferential statistics come into place because the manager has to analyze the trend of the business operation (Broster, 1972). Based on the competitors or generally the market fluctuations such as change in consumer demands, the management is able to observe clearly the trend and from the given observations, logical judgements or inferences are made on the same. This is a very important aspect for a successive manager hence a better understanding of inferential statistics is important because it is a driving force to a positive growth of a business. Hypothesis development and testing A hypothesis is some testable believe or opinion while hypothesis is the process of formulating and coming up with hypothesis. On the contrary, hypothesis testing is the process by which they believe is tested through statistical means (Levin, 1987). This aspect of... The main objective of this essay is to critically analyze the different aspects of statistics, learnt by the researcher throughout the course in relation to management. It is an in depth explanation of ethical and managerial traits one has to possess through acquiring statistical knowledge. This essay is also important in helping students aspiring to be future managers to take the study of statistics seriously, so as to avoid future dilemma when it come to making and implementing decisions. Generally statistics improve the quality of data through the use of specific sample surveys and experimental designs It provides the tools necessary for making predictions based on the data collected through statistical models. There are two types of statistics basically qualitative and quantitative or inferential and descriptive statistics. Statistics for managers is of significance since it is the foundation on which precise, accurate and informed decisions are made. The researcher states that a manager has to apply different aspects of statistical knowledge in order to make informed decisions and continue to prosper. The role of statistics cannot be replaced, neither can it be underestimated because it is very useful to managers and improving their analytical and interpretive skills based on data collected. Moreover, the researcher concluds his study on the topic and gives statement that no manager can be successful without statistical knowledge thus a very important aspect in the art of management.

WEB based Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

WEB based - Essay Example This results in a program that is fast in its responses and free of errors. Also, a Unified modeling Language (UML) will be used to study use requirements in the system and identify possible cases for users at various levels. Use Case diagrams in UML will allow us to establish behavioral patterns for the users of the system in order to correctly asses and develop programming features necessary in an organized manner.   According  to the notes of Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Joey F. George, Joseph S. Valacich (2009) presented in association with their distinguished course in modern systems analysis, the definition for the waterfall model is a traditional model that works in many phases, and is often useful in the design of new software systems. In this model, the first phases begins upon the completion of the proceeding phase, with each phase following sequentially. These systems have either no instance or only isolated instances of backtracking and looping. This system provides both simplicity in management and ease of use for the end user, and so lends itself to goal development in each phase (Higgins 2009). The performance of the system will be evaluated in this section, including a detailed discussion of the operations necessary for the system to function. Functional requirements will necessitate the division of the system between two user types to be referred to as administrative users (Admin) and student users (students). Assessment of functional requirements will allow for the effective assessment of system requirements. Non-functional requirements enhance the understanding of unique and specified requirements of the system that are not related to system functionality, including the ease of use and specific hardware/software/upkeep necessary for the successful implementation of the project. According to the Inopedia hompage, the definition UML provides a nonproprietary standard of best-practices for engineers in software development. UML is a third

The shortcomings experienced in the adult learning system syllabi that Dissertation

The shortcomings experienced in the adult learning system syllabi that is implemented by prisons departments - Dissertation Example This essay discusses that the British prison educational system has many challenges to overcome if it desires to address its mandate of rehabilitating prisoners. The British government must deal with the fact that the vast majority of the people it incarcerates have tremendous learning problems, including suffering from high levels of illiteracy and innumeracy than the general population. As a result, education in prisons is filled with many obstacles that the British government, staff, and prisoners must overcome. In order to ascertain the efficacy of its educational programmes in prison, the British government provides tests and diagnoses to seek if it can remedy the problems of prison learning. The issue of evaluating inmates remains a central concern for the prison educational system because of the particular characteristics of inmates that impact their learning, including the fact that some serve shorter sentences versus longer sentences, the lack of funding for classes, the abs ence of a system of transferring school records to the next prison, the lack of a uniform educational system for all, the constraints of prison life, the lack of access to the Internet and library, the lack of high level courses, etc. All of these factors and more militate against inmates learning in the prison educational system. However, in giving these tests, the thesis of this dissertation argues it has uncovered even more problems in terms of making these prisoners take them over and over again, which is called repetitive assessment diagnosis. Finally, it makes recommendations on how to address this problem. The construction of the syllabi design and implementation should not have any items that will cause monotony, such as repetition. Major academic theories of syllabi design and the implementation argue that the learning environment of learners may be definitive of the actual outcome of the learning. Repetition serves as a particular problem of the prison educational system w ith compromising syllabus implementation for inmates. One of the problems that plague the prison educational system is the routine practice of the relocation of prisoners and their subsequent successive subjection to diagnostic assessments. On the other hand, it underscores plausible solutions with respect to the prison educational system in the United Kingdom. With the collaboration of A4E (Action for Employment), adult education system, and prison’s setting training are carried out. The concept of assessment in the learning process and its coordination in successive procedures are important in facilitating education among students. The learning experience of students should to be facilitated with the use of assessment techniques that encourage active participation. Repetition in assessments could result in alienation and loss of interest from students. A well designed assessment should facilitate self-evaluation and progression in personal development rather than be punitiv e and repetitive. This study examines the problems in the prison educational system of the United Kingdom in regards to the assessment failures in its tests, especially in regards to repetitive evaluations of transferred prisoners. In order to understand the impact of successive

The Housing Financial Crisis Speech or Presentation

The Housing Financial Crisis - Speech or Presentation Example The housing crisis or the sub prime crisis is getting worse rather than cooling off, this means that the US economy is only going to get adversely affected and this in turn is going to affect all the major economies of the world. The labor market is also getting affected and this means that there will be less job opportunities in the future for the people seeking jobs. The sale of new homes has fallen by almost 50% in the US and people have stopped purchasing new homes in the US because of the housing crisis in the country. Body: I. What triggered the crisis? A. The crisis began in the middle of 2007 and into 2008 1. Affected all the major economies 2. The US economy was perhaps the most badly hit B. Almost the whole world started living on a shoestring, deep pockets were reduced to mere pockets and lucre had certainly fallen short. 1. Countless people got their pink slip while some other got their walking papers. 2. AIG, Lehmann Brothers, Northern Rock, Goldman Sachs are some elite names that suffered the most because of the economic crisis also known as recession. 3. Lehmann brothers filed for bankruptcy while AIG and a few other elites just hanged in there with the skin of their teeth. II. This economic crisis is still having repercussions on countries like Greece and Spain; there are a few other countries that have been not so severely affected by the same. A. The crisis triggered off because of unchecked debt, banks kept issuing loans to people who invested heavily in buying assets. 1. Several things were taken for granted but when proved otherwise there was hardly a place in the world to hide. 2. The subprime crisis triggered off because of excessive borrowing, there was no money to pay back and this is why so many financial institutes went flat broke. B. The Great economic depression triggered off in the year 1930 in the US, it was triggered off by the collapse of the US stock market which is now known as Nasdaq. 1. The economy of the US recovered from t his setback only to suffer from a similar setback of a lesser magnitude which is called recession. 2. Overvaluation in real estate is perhaps the biggest cause of the current economic crisis, it is better known as the subprime crisis in the US. 3. Factors like bad income tax practices have added insult to injury, bad mortgage lending also contributed heavily to this current economic crisis. III. Prevention is better than cure. A. The situation could have been prevented 1. The FED should have taken responsibility 2. Lending should have been checked B. The Bailout package worked to a certain extent 1. The current situation remains precarious. 2. Good things to come in the future for the US economy. Conclusion: The stock market slaughter has weakened almost all the major economies of the world and this is because of the housing crisis in the US. High oil prices have affected all the people across the globe and especially the importers, inflation has been constantly on the rise because of the high oil prices and the same has affected the global economy. The confidence of the investors has taken a real beating because of the financial crisis; people have stopped investing the way they used to before the financial crisis.  

The Yellow Wallpaper - Reading Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Yellow Wallpaper - Reading Response - Essay Example Considering the lonely and bored state of the narrator, one could certainly understand her obsession with the color and patterns on the yellow wallpaper, as she comments, â€Å"It is the strangest yellow that wallpaper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw- not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things (Gilman 3).† However, the themes and patterns that this first person narrator sees in the yellow wall paper are not limited to a senseless and misplaced imagination, but rather are related to the issues and problems being faced by the narrator, in the context of her position and status in life. Yet, in a way the story The Yellow Wallpaper throughout remains uncertain and unclear about the narrator’s mental state and health. The other thing is that being limited to the confines of the upstairs nursery; the narrator is left with nothing to do, but, to think about the ugly yellow wallpaper with irregular patterns. At the start of the st ory the patterns and designs on the wallpaper appear senseless and meaningless to the narrator. In fact she positively finds the wallpaper to be boring and uninteresting. However, as the condition of the narrator worsens, this wallpaper begins to take an entire new meaning and importance for her. The wallpaper emerges to be the canvass on which she projects the imprints of her disturbed mental state and her suppressed emotions and aspirations. As her mental condition deteriorates, and perhaps she begins to lose stability, the wallpaper becomes the only puzzle that begins to possess and dominate her. Her occupation with the wall paper goes on increasing. In fact she begins to get confident that the themes and patterns she is able to identify in the wallpaper could be traced by nobody else. As the story proceeds, the narrator begins to lose interest in the people and gets more and more involved with the wallpaper. The wallpaper actually happens to be the only outlet where the narrator could vent her thoughts and aspirations. As her anger increases, she begins to engage in paranoid speculations regarding Jennie and John. â€Å"The fact is that I am getting a little afraid of John. He seems very queer sometimes, and even Jennie has an inexplicable look (Gilman 13).† Finding peace and happiness only in the wallpaper, the narrator slowly begins to merge her identity with the wallpaper, while distancing herself from the other people in her life. The narrator begins to see one other woman creeping behind the patterns in the wallpaper, which is perhaps some repressed aspect of her own personality. It is only after the tracing of the creeping woman in the wallpaper that the things get fast and racy, perhaps indicative of the narrators further decent into mental disturbance and illness. The expression of the narrator gets more confused and disjointed, yet seems to have a meaning and pattern of its own. The yellow wallpaper perhaps is symbolic of the stereotypical state of the women in the society of her times, where she is forced to come out with some sense and meaning within the confines of the physical and mental space that is allocated to her. The narrator once rightly says

Speech of teachers day Essay Example for Free

Speech of teachers day Essay Whether any prosecution detention fine conviction sentence against you has been awarded by any court of law for any offence? If yes, particulars of the same other details whether desirous of taking pre-exam training only for SC St religious minority communities ex- servicemen if yes, Centre for training languages known read write speak HINDI ENGLISH YES declaration I hereby declare that all statements made in this application are true, complete and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. I understand that in the event of any information being found untrue or incorrect at any stage or I am not satisfying any of the eligibility criteria stipulated, my candidature is liable to be cancelled place: date: 30-08-2014 please retain your registration No. and Password emailed to you carefully for further reference NOTE: please do not send the application printout to IBPS Visit a shop and you will find thousands of books lying in shelves. You may choose a book that suits you. It may be a book on literature, history of any other subject. It may be a book having a novel, a drama or a number of poems in it. It may be a picture book. Whichever interest you, you may go in for it. People call me a book-worm. I read books, which give me great interest. I like of heroism. Therefore I like the Ramayana. The Ramayana written in English by Rajagopal acharya, the late governor general of India, is a very good book. But I like Hindi Ramayana, which is called ‘Ram Charit Manas’, written by Goswami Tulsi Dass, the great Indian Saint poet. The verses in Hindi are really interesting. I have read the English version of it as told earlier. I know the story of the Ramayana. Because I am fond of singing songs, therefore I sing verses of â€Å"Ram Charit Manas.† I like the story of the Lord Rama, as he was an ideal son of his ideal father. He was an ideal husband of an ideal wife. He was an ideal brother of Lakshaman, another ideal bother. Again he was an ideal ruler, who saved the people. Everyone could approach him at the time of distress. Lord Rama’s tale of heroism has actually moved my heart. I wish that the people of the country should follow his foot-steps. He was great in many respects. We can be proud to know that our country had such a great ruler. Thus, people used to worship Lord Rama as they do even today. Lord Rama fought against the forces of evil. He used to serve and help the saints and people of his time. It is a great quality of any ruler. He was a hero. He knew what he had to do. He followed his own principles of life. Visit a shop and you will find thousands of books lying  in shelves. You may choose a book that suits you. It may be a book on literature, history of any other subject. It may be a book having a novel, a drama or a number of poems in it. It may be a picture book. Whichever interests you, you may go in for it. People call me a book-worm. I read books, which give me a great interest. I like of heroism. Therefore I like the Ramayana. The Ramayan written in English by Rajagopal acharya, the late governor general of India. The quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps right over the lazy dog The cherries that Raki was eating were sour and sweet both â€Å"The grandfather say so† because he wanted him to use it Raki dashed over to see a pale, pink blossom at the end of a branch One sunny morning grandfather showed a pink blossom at the end of the branch Raki removed the caterpillar because a goat had already eaten its leaves Human activities like the cutting of trees and killing of animals have endangered many plants and animals human activities are the biggest threat to natural resources Ozonehole Mein (Your Name) is Shikshak Divas jaise Vishesh Din mein aap sabka swagat karthi hoon.. Hum har saal 5 Sithambar ko shikshakon ko vishesh sammaan dene ke liye shikshak divas ka aayojan karthe hain.. Yeh Samaj ek Bade parivar Jaise hai.. Is parivar mein kayi Dharma aur kayi Jaat-paat ke log rehte hain.. Is samaj ko samaj banaye rakhne ka mahatvapoorna kaam karthe hai Samaj ke Shilpakar yaani Shikshak.. Shikshak Samaj ke aise shilpakar hain jo bina kisi moh ke is samaj ko Sajathe hain.. Aise Shikshakon ko Sahi Sthan Dilane Ke liye hum hamare Bharath mein hi nahi poore duniya Shikshak Din  manathe hain. Har saal hum Bharatwaasi 5 Sithambar ko hi Shikshak Din kyun manathe hai Bharat ke Purva Rashtrapathi Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan ke Janam Din ko hi Bharat ke shikshak divas ke roop mein manaya jaata hai.. Unke Janam din ko Shikshak Divas Manakar Hum sab bharath vaasi Dr.Radhakrishna ke prathi samman vyakt karthe hain.. Is Vishesh Din mein, main Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishna Ji ke Sammaan karte huye kuch shabd bolna chahti/chahta hoon..Sarvapalli Radhakrishna Ji Swatantra Bharat ke Dusre Rashtrpathi hai.. Unka Janma 5 (Paanch) Sithambar 1888 (Attra Sau Atthasi) ko Tamilnadu ke ek pavitra Thirtha Sthal gram mein hua tha.. Inke Pitha Sarvapalli Veeraswamy ek Garib kintu Vidhvan Brahmman they. Kayin Jimmedhaariyon ke kaaran Radhakrishna ji ko bachpan mein kaafi kathinaayion ka saamna karna pada.. Inke Pitha ek Dhaarmik Vicharon wale insaan they phir bhi unhone Radhakrishna ji ko Ek Christian missionary school, Tirupathi mein padne ke liye Dhaakal kiye they.. Iske Baad vah Tamilnadu ke Vellore aur Madras College mein apna shikshan pure kiye they.. Vah shuru se hi ek medhavi chaatra rahe they.. Radhakrishnaji ke yogyatha ko dekhte huye Unhe Saunvidhaan Nirrmaathri Sabha ka sadasya banaya gaya tha. Isi beech unhe Khyathi Praapt Vishwavidhyalayon

Poverty And Environmental Degradation In Ghana Environmental Sciences Essay

Poverty And Environmental Degradation In Ghana Environmental Sciences Essay The relation between poverty levels and environmental degradation has been widely debated inside academic circles. The theoretical linkage between poverty and environmental degradation has for some time been shroud in ambiguity. Environment degradation and poverty are closely interrelated and inseparable, particularly in developing countries. Awareness and concern about environmental degradation have grown around the world over the last few decades; these concerns are shared by people of different nations, cultures, religions and social classes. In recent years economic researchers have become increasingly aware of the important implications that the state of the environment has for the success of development effort. .(Michael P Todaro, Stephen C Smith, Economic Development) it has been asserted that the interaction between poverty and environmental degradation can lead to a self perpetuating process in which ,as a result of ignorance or economic necessity, communities may in advertently destroy or exhaust the resources on which they depend for survival.(Michael P Todaro, Stephen C Smith, Economic Development) According to Michael P Todaro and Stephen C Smith, environmental degradation can have severe consequences on the poor in developing countries. They further conclude that since the solution to environmental problems involve enhancing the productivity of resources and improving living conditions among the poor, achieving environmentally sustainable growth is synonymous with achieving economic growth. Poverty is considered a great influence on environmental degradation. In many regions of the developing countries, regional overgrazing has resulted in destruction of grazing lands, forest and soil. In addition air and water have been degraded . It has been hypothesized that as people become poorer, they destroy the resources faster . By so doing tend to overuse the natural resources because they dont have any means of survival except through the natural resources. They therefore tend to depend more on natural resources. An increase in poverty gives rise to an equal increase in environmental degradation thereby necessitating the need to improve the quality of living. Ghana is located on the west coast of Africa bordering the Gulf of Guinea with a 539-kilometer stretch of coastline. The capital, Accra, is situated along the coast. The country shares borders with Togo to the east, Cote dIvoire on the west and Burkina Faso to the north. Ghana covers a total area of 238,537 square km (92,100 square miles). Ghana is well endowed with natural resources gold, timber, and cocoa the major sources of foreign exchange, and recently discovered oil in commercial quantities. The domestic economy continues to revolve around subsistence agriculture, which accounts for 34.7 percent of GDP and employs 56 percent of the work force, mainly smallholders. The country has a total of 170 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies within its ten administrative regions and has approximately 22 million people. Most of the population is concentrated in the southern part of the country, with highest densities occurring in urban and cocoa-producing areas.(USAID) . Ghana is rapidly urbanizing. Despite this, most of Ghanas poor live in rural areas without basic services such as health care and clean water. Small-scale farmers, who are affected most by rural poverty in Ghana, depend on outdated farming tools and lack access to improved seeds and fertilizers to increase crop yields. Since independence Ghana has had a long fight with poverty. There have been six development plans implemented in Ghana since 1951. They have all generally sought to improve upon the growth of GDP and ensuring an acceptable level of social and political life for the country. The most recent and significant have been the Vision 2020 and The Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy.( Eugene Eluerkeh,2004) Environmental degradation is difficult to define. In simple terms environmental degradation can be said to be the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil, the destruction of the ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. Poverty is the state of having inadequate access to ones survival needs and basic social amenities which include food, clothing, shelter, education, good health, employment, transport, communication and other basic social services. Poverty breeds frustration, depression, helplessness, carelessness, insecurity, indiscipline, crime and struggle to meet immediate survival needs at the expense of long-term environmental benefits. This struggle for survival has been the major linkage of the poor to environmental degradation such as deforestation, land degradation of coastal habitats and poor urban sanitation that keep perpetual poverty. Poverty can be assessed at the individual, household, community, district, regional and national levels in which case a nations capability to provide the social needs of its people is used as a measure of its poverty status. One out of five people on earth still live with $1 a day, and many coordinated effort and commitment have been targeted to reduce the number of poor people including the socalled Millennium Development Goals: halving extreme poverty by the year 2015 (World Bank, DFID, EC, UNDP, 2002). As part of the conditions to be met for the realization of (HIPC) relief package, Ghana, like its counterpart countries, was to develop a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) to indicate how monies accrued from joining (HIPC) would be used to alleviate poverty among Ghanaians. The broad strategies outlined in the document included good governance, macro-economic stability, production, employment, vulnerability and exclusion, and human resource development. Unfortunately, however, the environment, which is the primary ingredient for survival, growth and development was not streamlined in the document. Environmental degradation is a result of the dynamic inter play of socio-economic, institutional and technological activities. Environmental changes may be driven by many factors including economic growth, population growth, urbanization, intensification of agriculture, rising energy use and transportation. Poverty still remains a problem at the root of several environmental problems. Poverty is said to be both cause and effect of environmental degradation. The circular link between poverty and environment is an extremely complex phenomenon. Inequality may foster unsustainability because the poor, who rely on natural resources more than the rich, deplete natural resources faster as they have no real prospects of gaining access to other types of resources. Moreover, degraded environment can accelerate the process of impoverishment, again because the poor depend directly on natural assets Environmental sustainability should thus, be a key priority area in our strategic plans towards poverty alleviation. Within this context therefore, the right linkage between the various specific environmental degradation and poverty must be well established to the appreciation of all stakeholders. In search of an explanation of the poverty- environmental degradation linkage, many studies have been done in this regard. In terms of urban poverty, it is suggested that there is little evidence of it being a significant contributor to environmental degradation but strong evidence that urban environ-mental hazards are major contributors to urban poverty (David Satterthwaite). Most of the studies on the poverty-environment linkage have used panel data studies and hence have not been country specific. This study thus aims to explore in detail the poverty-environment linkage with specific reference to the Ghanaian situation. It will thus review the existing literature on the poverty-environment linkage, provide an overview of the poverty and environment profile in Ghana and attempt to provide policy recommendations suitable for the Ghanaian situation. Statement of Problem Poverty in Ghana has for a long been considered an economic problem. Hence economic policies that have been developed haved not considered the environment. It is however useful to consider the interplay between the environment and poverty in formulating policies designed to alleviate poverty. Various studies have established that there exists some kind of dynamic interplay between the state of the environment and poverty levels. Hence it is useful to consider the impact of the various economic policies designed to reduce poverty on the environment. Significance of the study The study will be of immense significance to the economy of Ghana. It will attempt to explain the poverty-environment linkage in Ghana. The study will review the literature on the poverty and environmental profile of Ghana. It will then explore the impact that policy reforms that have been designed to alleviate poverty have had on the environment. Objectives of the study The main objective of the study will be to: explore the poverty-environmental degradation linkage in Ghana. Explore the determinants of environmental degradation im Ghana. Elaborate on steps taken to reduce environmental degradation in Ghana Evaluate the existing economic policies designed to reduce poverty Data and Methodology The study will use macro data on poverty levels and measures on environmental degradation. To achieve the above objectives the study will adopt and modify the model used by Shaista Alam in the study Globalization, Poverty and Environmental Degradation: Sustainable Development in Pakistan . The model is given as: lnEGt= ÃŽÂ ²0+ÃŽÂ ²1lnPVRTt+ÃŽÂ ²2lnFRTt+ÃŽÂ ²3lnURBNt+ÃŽÂ ²4lnPOPt+ÃŽÂ ²5lnEDUt+ÃŽÂ µ where the variables are defined as follows: EG is environmental degradation,FRT is fertilizer consumption (in metric tons), URBN is the rate of urbanization, POP is the population growth, PVRT represents poverty, EDU is the education.

Pricing and Distribution Channels: Hilton Amsterdam

Pricing and Distribution Channels: Hilton Amsterdam Selling a hotel room used to be simple; business would literally walk in off the street. No more. As the number of channels a customer can use to book a hotel room grows, hoteliers will be forced to take a more holistic view of their technological infrastructure, as quoted by Bruno des Fontaines (2007), Vice President for Amadeus Hospitality Group Asia Pacific. Revenue Management is a complex phenomenon with many factors affecting the final outcome. Out of these innumerous factors, playing their role in revenue management, price is indeed one the most powerful tools a hotel can use to increase revenue. The key however is to know how to set the right prices and which distribution channels to use in order to maximize your revenue. Tools using which, any product or service is provided to end consumer, constitute Distribution Channel of that product or service. Success or failure of a product relies greatly upon distribution channels. In hospitality business, a successful channel management strategy consists of selling inventory at the highest possible rates, while pushing reservations through the lowest-cost channels. (Barash 2005) It is therefore of prime importance that a hotel chooses most effective distribution channels in order to manage prices and eventually to maximize its revenue. There is, however, a great array of approaches available to manage distribution channels which makes it a very challenging task for hoteliers, requiring for them to understand all distribution options available. In past hotel distribution channels used to be most simplistic, the traditional main distribution channels were: Brochures Advertising guide books mail shots call centers and Travel agencies. All of these modes, even though very simple and easy to manage, are extremely expensive and have a very limited range. They could be effective for local clientele only. With the passage of time and advancement in technology, other sophisticated and complex distribution channels originated that were never even thought of, such as Central reservations Global Distribution systems Hotel Booking Agent Tour Operator Online wholesalers However most of these channels only acted as a go-between hotel and the global-distribution-system (GDS)/travel agent. (Barash 2005). This wide array of distribution channels no doubt provide a great deal of benefit to the hotel in the sense that its availability to customers increases infinitely, customers all over the world can get to know about any hotel anywhere in the world through a travel agent or website etc. however at the very same time this phenomenon makes hotel distribution channels most complex and difficult to manage. Reasons for decline of GDS as an effective distribution channel as reported by HeBS (2002) can be due to following reasons: Slower than expected travel industry recovery and the weak economy Channel shifting from traditional Consumer-Travel Agent hotel reservations to online bookings (leisure and unmanaged business travelers) and self-booking corporate systems. Growing popularity of online business models (e.g. merchant) that do not utilize the GDS. The emergence of direct interfaces between major online agencies and major travel suppliers thus bypassing the GDS. Services like WorldRes, which utilize direct interfaces to the major hotel brands CRSs also undermine GDS distribution. Decreased corporate travel: the latest survey by NBTA (September 2002) showed that 68% of corporate travel managers said travel was down in their companies from last year, in some cases by as much as 20%. Also, 72% of them said that current travel is below the 2000 levels-the last time travel was at normal volumes. Distribution of hotel rooms through traditional distribution channels such as GDS/travel agent and call center/reservation office, proves to be inefficient and extremely expensive, especially in light of the current weak economic situation. Focusing only on traditional distribution channels will result in lower occupancy rates, and higher distribution and operational costs. In this current scenario internet channels are emerging as more popular distribution channels that are being given increasing preference over traditional channels of distribution. Internet distribution of hotels is of two types: Direct Online Distribution Indirect or Third party online distribution Direct online distribution is where hotel pushes its property through a website constructed and owned by the hotel itself. Whereas third party web-based travel intermediaries such as online travel agents, have a certain number of rooms allocated to them that they sell through their own sites where mostly air tickets and car rentals are also offered among other things. The indirect distribution channel can be further subdivided into further subcategories such as channel to sell distressed inventory such as priceline. (HeBS 2002) A hotels revenue is greatly affected by the method that a customer uses to book his/her room. If a lot of middle parties are involved in booking process then hotels share, in the amount that a guest pays for booking a room, can reduce to a great extent. According to Marvel (2004) a room booked through a travel agent and the GDS (global distribution system) typically costs the hotel 15% of the reservations total. Contrary to popular belief, third-party websites are no bargain either for the hotelier, as they keep about 13% of a bookings value. So-called merchant websites (such as Priceline.com or Hotwire) which basically buy inventory from hotels usually average a 33% mark-up on the rooms they sell. Bookings arriving via the central reservation system of voluntary chains (such as Minotel) can cream over 25% of the clients original payment between travel agent, tour operator and chain fees. Many tour operators working in mass leisure destinations only pay 50%-60% of the normal room pri ce to the hotelier who is lodging their clients. Looking at Hilton Amsterdams site also reveals similar facts, as can be observed from following table: ADVANCE PURCHASE FULL PREPAYMENT, NO REFUND OR CHANGES (price in GBP) Hilton website 243 Laterooms.com 258.76 Orbitz 243.5 Booking.com 254.871 (Rate differences between Hotels website and other online sources: The rate for Twin Hilton Deluxe Amsterdam room, on different booking sites available online, for one day 30th April 1st May 2011. These rates were observed on 4th April 2011) The fact can be clearly observed that best rates for room bookings are given by hotels own website, and obviously so because direct online booking on hotels own website has proven to be the best and cheapest source of distribution for a hotel. eTRAK Full Year 2009 report on hotel bookings by distribution channel as quoted by Starkov (2010) shows that the online channel is the only channel that is growing even in todays difficult economic conditions where demand for rooms is far less than the supply, Internet bookings for the top 30 hotel brands increased by a remarkable 6.6% in 2009 vs. 2008. Whereas hotel room bookings through GDS and Voice Channels, decreased considerably. HeBS findings based on the latest eTRAK benchmark report, surveys and industry data from PhoCusWright and ARC as quoted by Starkov (2010) are as follows: 1) GDS Channel Is in Steady Decline: GDS hotel bookings via the CRS of the top 30 hotel brands declined by 3.7% 2009 vs. 2008, and constitute 23.6% of total CRS bookings in 2009 vs. 27.3% in 2008 (eTRAK). Back in 2006, GDS CRS reservations constituted 31.3% of total CRS bookings for the top 30 brands. GDS share has decreased by 24.6% from 2006 to 2009, when it was reported at the 23.6% level. Travel Agency Share from Total Travel Market in the U.S. dropped from 41% in 2006 to 33% in 2009 (PhoCusWright). U.S. Travel Agency Locations decreased by 7% in 2009 vs. 2008. The number of locations has been decreasing at an average rate of 4% every year since 2001, and the number of travel agencies has declined from as high as 35,000 in 1995 to less than 16,450 in September 2009 (ARC, HeBS). 2) The Voice Channel Contribution Is Decreasing: Voice channel hotel bookings via the CRS of the top 30 hotel brands declined by 2.9% in 2009 vs. 2008, and now constitute 22.2% of total CRS booking in 2009 (eTRAK). Last years decrease is in addition to a decline of 2.8% for the full 2008 vs. 2007 (eTRAK). The Voice Channel is in decline for the 6th consecutive year (HeBS). 3) The Shift from Offline to Online Channel is Permanent: 54.2% of overall CRS bookings for the top 30 hotel brands come from the online channel, which is an increase of 6.6% vs. 2008 (eTRAK). 60% of leisure and 40% of business travel will be booked online in the U.S. this year (PhoCusWright). 45% of hotel bookings in 2010 will be via the Internet (direct + indirect online channels) (HeBS). 4) Direct online bookings are on the rise: In 2009, 70.9% of online bookings came from the direct online channel (i.e. the major hotel brands own websites), while 29.1% came from the indirect online channel i.e. the Online Travel Agencies. Whereas in 2008 direct online bookings constituted 75.2% part of online bookings and indirect bookings were 24.8%. This represent a great increase in the number of bookings made directly on the hotels website as compared to indirect bookings. (Starkov 2010) Hotel management perceptibly has greater interest in promoting the online booking, especially direct booking on the hotels own site, because it is far cheaper. According to a report on E-commerce estimated cost of direct reservations by traditional means (i.e. fax, telephone, e-mail, etc.) could be as much as 300% higher than processing the same reservation through the GDS, which costs between $3-$5.Furthermore, most reservations, passing through the GDS, are generated by travel agents who charge an average fee of 10%. Bookings via a chain central reservation system cost the hotel $6 to $10 and reservations by a toll free telephone number $4 to $8. However for hoteliers the cheapest and most satisfactory mode of booking a room is direct online booking variable cost of which is only about $1.50. (Marvel 2004). Even though GDS still constitutes the major distribution channel for hotel rooms with a 68% share in 2003, their share is diminishing fast due to higher growth rate of the internet, according to Marvel (2004) overall electronic booking increased by only 1.6%, while online reservations rose by 35.5%. However the best source of distribution for any hotel is direct online booking because in indirect bookings the third party intermediaries take away the major chunk of hotels revenue in the form of commission. Therefore the major concern of hoteliers nowadays is to devise ways to attract customers to make room bookings directly to the hotels website. Several examples of such efforts are as follows: Four Seasons do not allow any direct bookings over third-party websites. Hilton (USA) declines HHonors points or air miles for online bookings to all the bookings that are made indirectly i.e. not on Hiltons own website. As of January 1, 2004, Starwood has also take a step in this regard i.e. all bookings made through indirect internet channels will not be eligible for any in-house benefits. Marvel, M. (2004). Therefore all in all direct online bookings are on the rise and they appear to be the preferred mode in present conditions of recession. However in order to take advantage of this growth in the online distribution channel especially the direct online channel, hoteliers need to make strong and proactive Direct Online Channel Strategy. This strategy should be backed by funds. Hoteliers must carefully employ ROI-centric initiatives, including website redesign, website optimization and SEO, paid search, email marketing, online display advertising and proven social media initiatives. (Starkov 2010) Even in this economy, the budget for internet marketing, and most importantly of direct online channel, should not be decreased or even diminished, because after observing past trends and results of various researches it can be safely said that online channel is the only growth channel for hoteliers and the only light at the end of the tunnel in this environment. Even in these difficult times we see Return on ad spend (ROAS) as high as 3500% from Internet marketing campaigns we run for our clients. (Starkov 2010) Another obvious pattern in Hilton Amsterdams direct online pricing is that the rates given on hotels website are the most expensive when the booking is completely flexible (customer has complete liberty to alter his/her plans as well as they get their full money returned if cancellation is made before or on the day of arrival) whereas other sites give cheaper rates in this situation. However on the other end Hotel website gives best rates in case of fixed reservations i.e. reservations in which no room is available for any changes and in case of cancellation hotel keeps all the money. This could be due to the reason that in case of cancellation hotel has to bear the entire cost whereas booking sites that usually have rooms allocated to them do not have to face any such penalties. ADVANCE PURCHASE FULL PREPAYMENT, NO REFUND OR CHANGES (price in GBP) FLEXIBLE RATE, (Price in GBP) Hilton website 243.524 278.438 Laterooms.com 258.76 277.31 Orbitz 243 262 Booking.com 254.871 273.201 Another observation is that Advance booking rates are different from immediate booking rates. It is an effective tactic to increase confirmed sales. Customers are encouraged to book their rooms well in advance, by offering them lower than usual rates. Booking cycle of a hotel determines how well in advance customers can book rooms, a hotel offers greater discount at the beginning of a cycle whereas higher rates are offered towards the end. (Ismail, 2001). This also helps in managing the bookings in lean seasons i.e. in off seasons lower booking rates are offered to attract greater distribution. Best rate for Hilton deluxe twin room decreases to  £202 from  £243 if the booking date was moved from 30th April to 31st April. Hilton also offers package rates, hotel package comprise of a hotels room combined with any other service of the hotel, most commonly it is room and meal package that hotels offer. There are many kinds of package deals available at Hilton hotel, such as: Bread and breakfast package, where room is bundled with breakfast for two at a discounted price. Another package combines air ticket, car rental and room all three in one package price. Beside package pricing Hilton also offers group rates, i.e. booking a larger number of rooms for a party mostly at a lower rate. Keeping in view the benefits and complexities of using multiple channels in hotel distribution we can say that the key to adopting best distribution channels and increasing revenues is to choose distribution channels as per hotels needs without falling prey to an increasingly convoluted snakes nest of technology. Managing these distribution channels also costs money and considerable time of hotel employees. . (Fontaines 2007) Complex hotel distribution systems are strategically dangerous for a hotel as managing a complex distribution may raise the price for customer who may switch to low cost channels. Spend Analysis: Application and Strategies Spend Analysis: Application and Strategies In spend analysis, skills to do with data analysis are extremely important. However, experts in related fields question the use of a software application to automatically generate the required data. In most cases, automated application does not necessarily give the accurate data as some processes require practical skills needed in the respective field. In everyday life, individuals come across a lot of information and data that is less likely important in decision making. This implies that an individual must possess data analysis skills to identify the information that is required and the less vital. In decision making, some major characteristics of vital information are; consistency, having a pattern and without errors. â€Å"Spend analysis is referred to as the systematic review of historical purchase data† (Pandit Marmanis, 2008). One of the major reasons why spend analysis is carried out is to be able to identify savings opportunities. Despite the fact that there are several indicators used to identify such opportunities, an automated software application would be incapable of successfully identifying such opportunities depending on the order of accuracy and precision. Some of the key indicators in spending analysis require analytical skills such as in price and applying best practice in various processes in an organization or household setting. If there is a consistent increment of prices of goods and services with time, it would be prudent for an individual or an organization to pay more attention to the purchases in specific categories and ensure that the factors leading to the rise in prices is well addressed. Such a process would require data analysis skills with specific attention to identifying a pattern of price increase. The application of best practice has over the years not been fully adopted by businesses. This is because, this technique is considered as simplified and less likely to come up with a saving opportunity. However, there is always the likelihood that an organization or an individual is overpaying for goods and services. Best practice requires data analysis skills which are applied to areas that provide the best cost saving strategy. Other indicators in spending analysis, such as the purchase price variance (PPV) can use software application to identify patterns or any irregularities from the data collected. According to Barone Franco. (2012) the six sigma methadolo0gy is used to enhance organizational performance through the use of statistical process meant to reduce process variation that characterizes most organizations. Currently, the six sigma methodology is commonly used by many organizations to identify areas of wastage in addition to improving the overall productivity of the organization through the improvement of business processes. The six sigma indicator shows the variation in parts, processes and products. However, of importance to note is that the six sigma method is not used independently in an organization. Most of the businesses that use six sigma also incorporate other lean methods. The six sigma methodology has over the years evolved to become a dynamic process that is used to improve performance and also maintain the process environment. Whats the strategy does is identify the major causes of performance gaps, then propose appropriate methods of addressing the performance gaps with an overall aim of increasing performance. The six sigma uses a sequential method known as the DMAIC, which stands for define, measure, analyze, improve and control. This is the guide that is used to identify the performance gaps and propose remedies to the gaps. Define: This step is expected to identify the performance gaps and develop alternatives that would lead to a higher sigma. Measure: In the step of measuring, there’s the use of metrics to come up with the baseline data to be used to identify the major cause of the problem. In addition, information must be gathered first before any data is incorporated. Analyze: In this step, statistical tools are used to confirm that the problem identified is admissible and that the factors found to cause the problem are the root causes of the problem. Improve: This step seeks to offer alternative solutions aimed at addressing the problem. Some of the key questions that are frequently in this step include; which way is cheaper, which way is faster? There are many solutions that are commonly identified as the alternatives to performance gaps. The most common solutions under this step include; mistake proofing and cellular manufacturing. Control: The control stage is also known as the institutionalization stage. This stage modifies parts, processes or products in accordance to the proposed solutions and also periodically monitor the changes that arise from such substitution. When carried out effectively, spend analysis can be greatly beneficial to an organization. This is because in addition to maximizing productivity and efficiency of business processes, spend analysis also encourages insightful decision making that is backed by both facts and figures. In addition, spend analysis is responsible for viable, cost-saving techniques that assists businesses identify areas of wastage and address the issue for better performance. These roles on spend analysis are more inclined to the financial aspect of business. Most of the problems that spend analysis aims to solve are issues to do with the expenditure and supply management. While most business processes seem intertwined and thus cannot occur individually, the financial aspect of business is the hub of all the performance gaps that spend analysis seeks to solve. By analyzing the concept of ‘spend’ most businesses are able to compare the spending behaviour with the production output and identify areas that need to be improved so that the organization can achieve higher performance. As stated by Ramsey and Silverman, (2002) research has established that businesses that use spend analysis are more likely to improve on performance with an approximated improvement rate of 24% in terms of general efficiency. With such statistics, there is no doubt that spend analysis has immense benefits to an organization in terms of driving performance and through the establishment of viable cost-saving techniques. Considering that spend analysis is a process that is meant to improve on the efficiency of products, processes and parts, there are numerous challenges that most organizations face during the implementation stage. Most organizations consider the spend analysis to be a dynamic process that is difficult to initiate and manage. More importantly, the processes involved in spend analysis require a high level of accuracy. For a business to develop a well leveraging spend analysis, integration of data from various different sources is required. However, a spend analysis is not only made possible by accurate data. There are various other factors that complement the methodology including finance, supply chain and IT. The prevailing economic times dictate that organization take advantage of any spending opportunity that comes across. The best technique to do this would therefore be through spend analysis. References Barone, S., Franco, E. L. (2012). Six Sigma methodology. Statistical and Managerial Techniques for Six Sigma Methodology: Theory and Application, 1-21. Ramsay, J. O., Silverman, B. W. (2002). Applied functional data analysis: methods and case studies (Vol. 77). New York: Springer. Pandit, K., Marmanis, H. (2008). Spend analysis: the window into strategic sourcing. J. Ross Publishing.

The Genius of Aurora Leigh Essay -- Aurora Leigh Essays

The Genius of Aurora Leigh Elizabeth Barrett Browning uses multiple elaborate metaphors and comparisons to establish vivid imagery that actively involves her audience in her verse novel Aurora Leigh. The first pages of this work quickly establishes this extremely effective stylistic imagery and quickly captures the readers attention, making it a chore to be diverted from reading this famous work. She begins with the metaphor, which likens writing this novel to better herself "as when you paint your portrait for a friend," (Longman p. 1863; l. 5) and it continues to connect the past and present for that friend. The imagery is so real that the reader quickly becomes completely enthralled within the world Browning is describing. Just twelve lines into the work, she masterfully creates a tender and calming scene of an infant smiling in its sleep, due to its understanding of the infinite nature of life. Then broadening the view of the scene to include the watchful mother outside the nursery, calming the household to insure the continued peaceful rest of the infan...

The Removal of Eudemonism from Ethics Essay -- On the Basis of Moralit

Although Arthur Schopenhauer was never able to gain the acclaim during his lifetime of some of the rival post-Kantian philosophers he competed against despite going so far as to schedule lectures at the same time as Hegel, he is now creating more buzz than ever and is widely considered one of the most important German philosophers, as he has earned himself the nickname of â€Å"the philosopher of pessimism†.1 Most believe that he was a man before his time, as he wrote during the German classical period where Idealism was the main school of thought. Schopenhauer however went against the grain and believed the world as will to be fundamentally irrational, and held no prisoners when it came to openly criticizing his contemporaries.1 This caused him to be almost brushed aside during his own lifetime, which is made perfectly evident in how his work, On the Basis of Morality was simply turned away by The Danish Academy of Science as it did not line up with their very Kan t-centric views. Although he didn’t always agree Kant, Schopenhauer did consider himself Kant’s true philosophical heir, and was always full of praise for the man who he claimed, â€Å"gave this science (metaphysics) a foundation having definite advantages over previous ones, and because it still remains the last important event to occur in ethics† (47).2 He would use Kant’s foundation of morals as a guide to prepare himself to establish his own foundation. It would turn out that he would not be bias in Kant’s favor, but rather attack Schopenhauer would attack Kant’s ethics for being â€Å"wholly unjustified, groundless, and fictitious assumptions† (48).2 He replaces Kant’s ethics with his own ethics of compassion, or the ability some human be... ...chopenh/ 2 Schopenhauer, On the Basis of Morality, trans, by EJ.F. Payne (Indian Hills, Colorado : The Falcons Wing Press, 1958), p. 143 3 Kraut, Richard, "Aristotle's Ethics," The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = . 2 Schopenhauer, On the Basis of Morality, trans, by EJ.F. Payne (Indian Hills, Colorado : The Falcons Wing Press, 1958), p. xxiii 2 Schopenhauer, On the Basis of Morality, trans, by EJ.F. Payne (Indian Hills, Colorado : The Falcons Wing Press, 1958), p. xxiii 2 Schopenhauer, On the Basis of Morality, trans, by EJ.F. Payne (Indian Hills, Colorado : The Falcons Wing Press, 1958), p. xxiii 2 Schopenhauer, On the Basis of Morality, trans, by EJ.F. Payne (Indian Hills, Colorado : The Falcons Wing Press, 1958), p. xxiii The Removal of Eudemonism from Ethics Essay -- On the Basis of Moralit Although Arthur Schopenhauer was never able to gain the acclaim during his lifetime of some of the rival post-Kantian philosophers he competed against despite going so far as to schedule lectures at the same time as Hegel, he is now creating more buzz than ever and is widely considered one of the most important German philosophers, as he has earned himself the nickname of â€Å"the philosopher of pessimism†.1 Most believe that he was a man before his time, as he wrote during the German classical period where Idealism was the main school of thought. Schopenhauer however went against the grain and believed the world as will to be fundamentally irrational, and held no prisoners when it came to openly criticizing his contemporaries.1 This caused him to be almost brushed aside during his own lifetime, which is made perfectly evident in how his work, On the Basis of Morality was simply turned away by The Danish Academy of Science as it did not line up with their very Kan t-centric views. Although he didn’t always agree Kant, Schopenhauer did consider himself Kant’s true philosophical heir, and was always full of praise for the man who he claimed, â€Å"gave this science (metaphysics) a foundation having definite advantages over previous ones, and because it still remains the last important event to occur in ethics† (47).2 He would use Kant’s foundation of morals as a guide to prepare himself to establish his own foundation. It would turn out that he would not be bias in Kant’s favor, but rather attack Schopenhauer would attack Kant’s ethics for being â€Å"wholly unjustified, groundless, and fictitious assumptions† (48).2 He replaces Kant’s ethics with his own ethics of compassion, or the ability some human be... ...chopenh/ 2 Schopenhauer, On the Basis of Morality, trans, by EJ.F. Payne (Indian Hills, Colorado : The Falcons Wing Press, 1958), p. 143 3 Kraut, Richard, "Aristotle's Ethics," The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = . 2 Schopenhauer, On the Basis of Morality, trans, by EJ.F. Payne (Indian Hills, Colorado : The Falcons Wing Press, 1958), p. xxiii 2 Schopenhauer, On the Basis of Morality, trans, by EJ.F. Payne (Indian Hills, Colorado : The Falcons Wing Press, 1958), p. xxiii 2 Schopenhauer, On the Basis of Morality, trans, by EJ.F. Payne (Indian Hills, Colorado : The Falcons Wing Press, 1958), p. xxiii 2 Schopenhauer, On the Basis of Morality, trans, by EJ.F. Payne (Indian Hills, Colorado : The Falcons Wing Press, 1958), p. xxiii

Machiavellianism :: essays research papers

After months of routinely being metal detected and blindly handing over my bags to be searched, I finally stopped to think about it the other day. I realized that all the â€Å"security† cameras, metal detectors and guards were merely used to gain power over the people by oppressing them and forcing their submission; not to protect us. We are all blind to this. We think it’s for our own good, but it’s all part of a Machiavellianist Plot.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Niccolo Machiavelli lived in Italy in the early 1500’s. He thought that if one person, namely Lorenzo de’ Medici, could be the absolute ruler of all Italy, then order could be restored. In an effort to gain favor with the powerful Medice family, he wrote The Prince as an early blueprint of a New World Order justifying the use of any means, no matter how sinister, to gain and keep power. Machiavellianism envisages: the seizure, maintenance, and extension of absolute power by the nicely graduated use of fraud, force and terror; control by the ruler of all avenues of communication, thus facilitating the deliberate molding of public opinion; and the employment of surveillance and terrorist activities of subordinates who can be disowned and liquidated by the ruler, who thus escapes the blame for their atrocities. (In other words, the big political figureheads get their lackeys to do their dirty work and then use them as scapegoats.)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Basically, what Machiavelli was trying to say was that if a prince conquered a city, the people would hate him, but if the prince secretly hired terrorists to create an insurrection, then marched into the city to put down the insurrection, the people would praise him. (He would hire his men to act like they were rebelling, and then the leader would act like he was stopping the rebellion and protecting the citizens, thus earning the community’s trust.) Either way, he would increase his domain, but it would be better for his popularity if the citizens loved him rather than hated him for doing it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I see the same things happening today with gun control, censorship and all the other so-called security the government has imposed upon us. These are not isolated incidents. This censorship has occurred throughout history, whether it was censorship of religion, freedom, books or individuality and self expression.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first and most obvious is the case of Jesus and how he was oppressed and persecuted because he expressed his beliefs which didn’t agree with the political leaders of the day. These leaders did not want to be disputed or made to look bad, so if someone got in their way, they killed that

Negative Consumer Behavior Essay

To fully understand what negative consumer behavior is and what makes a bad customer, we first have to understand what â€Å"consumer behavior† is. In their book, â€Å"Consumer Behavior: Concepts and Strategies,† Berkman and Gilson (1981) say that the American Cultural System, which is made of values and artifacts, strongly influences consumer activity in the United States. â€Å"In the twentieth century, American Culture reflected a distinct consumption ethic based upon affluence and gratification of desires through material acquisition† (Berkman and Gilson, 1981). Consumer Behavior is defined as â€Å"the activities of people engaged in actual or potential use of market items-whether products, services, retail environments, or ideas† (Berkman and Gilson, 1981). Thus, there are unlimited types of behaviors that the consumers can exhibit making it difficult to distinguish between good and bad consumer behavior. Sometimes, a consumer behavior that maybe considered negative in one market place can be considered positive in another. Shoplifting for example. â€Å"Some 800,000 times a day, this tableau of temptation, fear and exhilaration plays out in the humdrum aisles of department stores and supermarkets† (Adler, 2002). Shoplifting without a doubt is a type of negative consumer behavior since this behavior costs department stores and supermarket thousands of dollars every day. Yet in the February 25, 2002 â€Å"Newsweek† article written by Jerry Adler, Brandy Samson, the manager of a jewelry and accessories store in the Sherman Oaks California Fashion Square, sees shoplifting in a positive way by using it to understand what it is that the consumers want. She continued to say â€Å"We know what’s hot among teens by seeing what they steal† (Adler, 2002). Though shoplifting has negative effects for one type of market it is a positive consumer behavior in another like the security and protection market. The rise in shoplifting incidents will lead storeowners to increase their spending on security devices like cameras and sensor tags for clothing. Kelly Barron, the author of the article â€Å"Your money or your life? Crime rates are down. Are Americans overspending for security?† says that  even though crime rates have been decreasing over the past years, revenues in the security business are on the rise. â€Å"Americans keep buying more and more protection. Revenues for the security industry have risen 46% over the past five years, to an estimated $57 billion† (Barron, 1997). The vast increase of credit card use has given birth to yet another type of this complex consumer behavior that can be categorized as the compulsive buyers. In their study, James A. Roberts and Eli Jones, say that â€Å"the consumer culture is defined as a culture in which the majority of consumers avidly desire, pursue, consume, and display goods and services that are valued for non-utilitarian reasons, such as status (power), envy provocation, and pleasure seeking† (2001). Such behavior has both positive and negative outcomes. In one hand, the rise of consumer spending increases revenues for certain goods and services. In the other hand, the same behavior increases debt. â€Å"For the first three month of 1999, consumer spending increased at an annualized rate of 6.7 percent. Purchases of durable goods, non-durable goods, and services all registered healthy gains. During the same period, savings reached an all-time low of -0.5 percent† (Roberts and Jones, 2001). Roberts and Jones noted in their study that past research shows that credit cards facilitate spending and that college students were found to spend more at a given store if the store accepted credit cards as a mode of payment. It was also noted that such compulsive buying activities was a significant reason for the large number of credit card debt and personal bankruptcy filings. Roberts and Jones acknowledge that earlier studies have found that students with high debt earn lower grades, and have higher probabilities of dropping out of school. You would think that educational organizations would limit the access of credit card vendors into a college campus. However, what is happening is exactly the opposite. â€Å"Four of five universities allow on-campus solicitations for credit cards and charge credit card vendors between $175 to $400 per day to rent tables during freshman orientation. Schools also receive a percentage of all student charges when they authorize the issuance of an affinity card† (Roberts and Jones, 2001). So is compulsive buying behavior negative or positive? There are however some consumer behaviors that are easy to distinguish from being negative or positive. The abusive customer for example, is a type of consumer that is never satisfied that induces high amounts of stress on the employees. Those who have worked in retail and customer service have probably dealt with such consumers. Working in a clothing store has given me the opportunity to experience the stress created by dealing with the so-called â€Å"abusive customers.† This negative behavior creates a conflict between customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction. â€Å"The consumer satisfaction category has the main position in marketing theory and is based on the premise that the profit is made through the process of satisfaction of consumers’ demands†¦researchers continually confirm a significant correlation between satisfaction and repeated buying, greater brand loyalty, and spreading a positive opinion of the product† (Dubrovski, 2001). Customer is indeed important to the success of a business, but so is employee satisfaction. See the problem when it comes to dealing with abusive customers? The face-to-face interactions with abusive customers cause employees to increase their â€Å"emotional labor† which is also known as emotional dissonance. â€Å"Emotional dissonance occurs when expressed emotions conform with organizational norms but clash with true feelings† (Rafaeli and Sutton, 1987). In her study on emotional dissonance, Rebecca Abraham establishes that emotional dissonance provokes unhappiness at a job, which motivates the intentions to quit. At my former job, a clothing store, I was able to observe high employee turnover rates due to job dissatisfaction. Not a day passed by without a single interaction with an abusive customer. I wouldn’t doubt that the high volume of such interactions lead to the high employee turnover. This particular store did nothing to decrease the high employee turnover, probably costing them hundreds of dollars. When does employee satisfaction become more important than customer satisfaction? Abusive customers, no matter what they spend and no matter how high their lifetime value is, are expressing negative consumer behavior. This particular clothing store that I used as an example should evaluate or re-examine their values because in the  end nobody will want to work for them. Exhibiting negative consumer behavior in one type of market may result in a positive outcome in another market. Some types of consumer behaviors are so complex that it is extremely difficult to distinguish it from being a positive or negative behavior. It depends on what side of the market the specific business is. In this paper I illustrated for the most part a few of these complex consumer behaviors. However, there are some consumer behaviors that a business owner might be better off with. In the retail business there are some customers that take a great deal of time in deciding what it is that they want to purchase. If you are a storeowner, you might want to have your employees spend less time pleasing these types of customers. After all time is money. The welfare and satisfaction of employees should also be a great concern for the employers. I believe that the more satisfied an employee is with their job, the better they will perform at it. Thus, it is important to protect employees from abusive customers. I can recall a time when a customer became extremely angry when we did not have a specific item in the size he was looking for. There was nothing that I could do but to deal with the costumer’s mistreatment. The types of negative consumer behavior are immense that some are hard to even conceptualize. Such behaviors range from lack of spending, usually expressed by the elderly, to theft and overspending. Future research should examine these activities. Bibliography Abraham, Rebecca. The impact of emotional dissonance on organizational commitment and intention to turnover. Journal of Psychology v133, n4 (July, 1999): 441. Adler, Jerry. The â€Å"Thrill† of Theft: it’s not just the movie stars. Why, each year, ordinary people shoplift $13 billion of lipsticks, batteries and bikinis from stores. Newsweek (Feb. 25, 2002): 52. Barron, Kelly. Your money or your life? Crime rates are down. Are Americans overspending for security? Forbes v160 (November 17, 1997): 66. Berkman, Harold W; Gilson, Christopher. Consumer Behavior: concepts and strategies. Kent Publishing Company. Boston 1981. Dubrovki, Drago. The role of customer satisfaction in achieving business excellence. Total Quality Management. (December 2001): 920 Rafaeli, A.; Sutton, R. Expression of emotion as part of the work role. Academy of Management Review. (1987): 12, 23-37. Roberts, James A; Jones, Eli. Money attitudes, credit card use, and compulsive buying among American college students. Journal of Consumer Affairs, Winter 2001, 35(2): 213-240.

Athlete’s Warehouse Essay

decision maker SummaryColins un duty status has caused him to get by generateing up his own ancestry. His plight is deciding where to finalise his tune both at great(p) eastern mental synthesis downtown or Exploits V every(prenominal)ey in the mall. imput adequate to him world unemployed, Colin put forward to grow understanding an income to put egress. To do so he of necessity to better his project sales so that his last(a) income would be sufficient to live on and to be able to conduct back Eds investing in the business organization.The intimately feasible etymon to Colins stain is opening up the business downtown at the Great eastern Building. This location produces a high uper(prenominal) net income and a humbleer notice purge point than the mall. Although the net income starts out quite low, once the business is launch as a persona insert with good sell and excellent node service, customers loyal to them leave return to their descent when the y surrender a need or compliments that they can fill.Before the business is up and running, Colin mustiness(prenominal)inessiness determine how he give integrate the four aspects of the trade mix to satisfy his coffin nail market. He will need to reconcile how he will promote his retention to the local anesthetic citizens in the best way possible, bit giving them what they want and need on good quality products at affordable, rivalrous prices.Statement of ProblemGiven that Colin is in an unfortunate situation, his primary concern straightaway is deciding whether or not to open up a business. His immediate return resulting from this dilemma is that he must decide where to locate his business. It is this particular dilemma that Colin needfully to confront the issue of improving intercommunicate sales for the possibility of incurring a profit. In addition to currently being out of work, Colin is looking to change his unemployed status. Colin must first consider his send market and then take into sum up the marketing mix when deciding where to locate and how he can make the business profitable. This is a two-step process that is the of import focusof any marketing music directors job.Analysis of SituationDue to Colins unfortunate state of personal matters and the situation of his brave business, he must immediately govern work to crystalise an income. Before deciding whether or not he should open up a business, he needs to clearly unsex the market which the company would be railroad train towards. Then he needs to mold the marketing process using product, price, place, and promotion. This is alike known as the four Ps of the marketing mix. His business plan must be feasible and conjectural to be able to make his business successful.many factors must be taken into favor before deciding where to locate. To do so, he must consider the rent, the size of the retention, challenger in the area, unglamourous dealing and separate thing s of a similar nature. Colin should construct a projected income statement and break up to now analysis to compare the two locations to find out which site is more profitable. Furthermore, to reduce his previous cash flow paradox he needs to make reliable his inventory dollar volume is not besides high and that he does not marry up all his capital in his assets. Either way would tie up his cash and he will not be able to pay his expenses once more causing him to hold up bankruptcy.This business has a better chance of succeeding than the last angiotensin-converting enzyme because this time around Colin will be able to devote all his time to the business instead of allow Ed take care of it for the intimately part.Action PlanFor Colin to start working, he must open up a business at the Great Eastern Building. Opening up a business in this location will not only provide Colin with work provided it can also help him earn an income. This location not only provides the memory board with a bring low rent than Exploits vale it also allows Colin to set his own investment company hours. This gives him the flexibility to work when he wants and needs to. Since Colin does not like working for former(a)s, this situation is ideal for him.To make his business successful, Colin must consider an integration of price, promotion, place, and product. He must also try and distance themselves from their competition. To do so the brothers must maintain the quality of theirmerchandise and customer service, reasonable prices, and improve their promotion strategies. For one thing, the price of his products must be within a reasonable range of his competition Sports Experts. Too low and consumers may think he is fling low quality merchandise withal high and most people will not consider purchasing from his store. Also, Colin must preserve the excellent service he is known for. Prospective customers will go to his store eventide though pedestrian traffic is not as high a s Exploits Valleys referable to his expertise in sports clothing and equipment. He must also uphold merchandise quality because even though he continues to provide advice to consumers, if his products are too shabby, most would not consider returning to his store.Attracting his target market will comprise of one thing in marketing providing them with what they want and need . To help promote his store to his target market, Colin must not depone on word-of-mouth advertising even if the location of the store is in a small town. He must appeal a potential customers eye to enter his store. Distribution of flyers or even through the local wireless station will suffice because the store is not located next to the highway.Although the projected sales are impose than the other location, the projected net income is higher (see viewing B). These figures are conservative due to the generally accepted accounting principles conservatism principle . Furthermore, for Colin to break even at G reat Eastern he can sell less than he would have had to at Exploits Valley (see submit C). Therefore, it will be easier to make a profit at Great Eastern than at Exploits Valley.ContingencyThe business may not generate the amount of sales projected, thus not being able to incur a profit. Furthermore, pedestrian traffic may also not be up to par which could possibly lower the number of prospective customers. This would lead to lower sales than expected. Similarly, Colins expenses may be more than predicted. There could be near unforeseen problems that need to be fixed. For example, his employee turnover could be higher than expected ifthe ply he trains is not satisfied working there, they will leave and find economic consumption elsewhere. Not only will they take his expertise with them, but Colin will have to train new employees. Consequently, more coin will be needed which will add to his expenses, therefore lowering his net income. Some of these problems combined could lead t o another(prenominal) closure. Should Colins new business pause after the first year, he should declare bankruptcy and start looking for employment elsewhere.