Swing Vote Free Essays

Introduction: A swing vote is a particular vote which may affect any candidate in an election. Such votes are usually sought after in elections, since they have such a large role in the outcome. † Swing Vote† is the actual name of the movie we chose to write about since it pertains to much of what we have discussed in class, such as how citizens have the right to vote. We will write a custom essay sample on Swing Vote or any similar topic only for you Order Now This movie also has the media itself come alive in mostly every chapter. How it also affects the Electoral College and the battle between conservatives and liberals, and of course presidential election nominees.Film Summary: Swing Vote is about a story of an election that takes place in New Mexico. The main character Bud Johnson who is played by Kevin Costner, is a middle aged deadbeat single father with no ambitious goals that faces one of the strangest dilemmas ever to occur in the United States. He alone is faced with the decision of the next president. He has the complete power to pick whichever candidate he likes best. He has a twelve year old daughter named Molly who practically runs his life and is completely gifted intellectually.She has high hopes for her country and is completely involved with its politics. It was because of her that her father was ever registered to vote. She insisted that he take part in the upcoming election and vote for the candidate he liked best. As voting day arrives he unintentionally missed his opportunity due to the fact that he was completely drunk. Molly then takes it upon herself to sneak into the polling place and votes for her father. However, due to the voting machines being unplugged, the ballot is registered, but there is no decision on which candidate was selected.The entire election comes down to this one county, one person because the popular vote was exactly tied for each candidate in New Mexico, leaving Bud to decide the next President of the United States of America. This film also includes both the Republican candidate and the Democratic candidate fighting it out to win over Bud Johnson’s vote. Bud gets wooed by both parties for best results in their favor. As the media gets involved, they misinterpret his opinions causing both candidates to switch on several positions. Throughout the story Bud begins to realize the power he has at is fingertips and how he completely changes for the best. Concept 1: Citizen’s Right to Vote In the Constitution of the United States, the fifteen amendment states that â€Å"the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition or servitude†. Bud, the main character of the movie has every right to vote. Even though his twelve year old daughter went to the voting polls and did it for him illegally, he still had every right.This movie helped broaden peoples perspectives about the government and how voting takes place. In the movie the main character Bud lived his life without a care for anything but his daughter. He was consistently hopping bar to bar getting drunk without a care, and yet he is still allowed to participate in one of the largest elections the United States has to offer. The movie portrayed voting more as a privilege and something that must be taken seriously because the person you are voting for is going to be around for the next four years.Concept 2: The Media Another large contributing fact towards the movie was the media itself. In the book â€Å"We the People† chapter ten is about the media and its effects on our society. It explains the various types of news coverage available for people in different situations. How the younger generations of people are now starting to use the internet as their main source of information, to where as an older generation will rely on the news coverage that is given to them on their newspaper. It also explains how different news stations may have certain agendas which might help increase a vote for a specific candidate and others which are vice versa. In the movie the media shined upon everything that was going on. The dilemma between one man choosing the fate of the election allowed for great news coverage. Once news spread about where the main character lived, it was all over the news. The main character could not even look out his window without having a reporter take a picture of him. Every movement he made was being watched from every corner, allowing for every news station to report hatever they assumed he was thinking about or doing. Certain news stations made him seem very incompetent while others used it more for ratings. Throughout the entire movie the media was relentlessly accusing the main character without hesitation. Concept 3: Electoral College According to the National Archives and Records Administration, the Electoral College is a process of the United States Constitution. It was established by the founding fathers as a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular vote.It also states that each state is allocated a number of electors equal to the number of its United States Senators, which is always two, plus the number of its United States Representatives. In the movie, the case was by popular vote which is why it was up to one man to make the decision. Before his daughter had put in his vote it was an equal tie between both parties and his vote was the one that counted most. Since all other states had finished the voting only his state remained due to the fact of the polling machine being powered off during the exact timing of the voting process. As the Electoral College is by popular vote, both parties were wooing the main character for his vote which in the end would give victory to one candidate only. Concept 4: Conservatives and Liberals Political movies always have your conservatives and your liberals or better affiliated as the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. Conservatives believe in personal responsibility and very limited government, whereas liberals believe more in governmental control over people and to create an equal opportunity for all.Both parties work under the democracy of the United States but have very different views upon government interactions with citizens. Throughout the movie both candidates began with their views toward their campaigns. As the story progressed both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party were doing anything they could to win over Bud for his vote. They went as far as switching perspectives for certain situations where the democratic would be pro-life and anti-illegal i mmigration stands; whereas republicans take a pro-environmental and pro gay marriage stands. Both parties were doing the opposite of what they preached just to win the election. Concept 5: Presidential Nominees In the movie both candidates qualified to be the President of the United States because they met the eligibility guidelines set by the Constitution, which states â€Å"No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States. Both nominees in the movie were above the age of thirty five and both had been natural born citizens. They both had set up primaries and had campaigns going for them which supported the events which took place throughout the interviews. They were both running to become the President of the United States and doing whatever it takes to make it all the way. Concluding Remarks:I personally believe the movie was quite interesting. I understand that this may not happen very often, but if it did, imagine being that one person to be in charge. You alone get to decide who the next President of the United States will be. But then again, if you select someone who does a bad job it might just be your fault. That might be just a little too much pressure to handle. How to cite Swing Vote, Papers

Macroeconomics Short-Term Economic Impact

Question: Part 1 (Max 1000 words in total, this part counts for 2/3 of the grade) How is Brexit likely to affect the UK business cycle? Suggested approach (feel free to deviate) 1) Focus on the main drivers of cyclical fluctuations. How is Brexit likely to affect them and why? 2) How would these affect the relevant macroeconomic indicators? Are there feedback effects? 3) Discuss possible policy responses and how they could affect the cycle. Part 2 (Max 500 words in total, this part counts for 1/3 of the grade) (Please choose between Question 2a and Question 2b.) 2a Pick a sector in the UK economy and discuss the main opportunities and threats that macroeconomic changes to the business environment (due to Brexit) could create. Answer: Part 1 Effect of Brexit on UK business cycle The main drivers of business cycle fluctuations are interest rate, investment and multiplier effect of investment and consumption, inflation etc. When the output of the economy increases, there is a boom phase in business cycle. The equation of national income is presented as Y = C + I+ G + (X-M), where Y represents national income or GDP, I represents investment, G represents government spending and the last components is net export. When, the federal bank increases the interest rate, the cost of borrowing increases. This has direct impact on private investment. Business organisations reduce their investment spending. In the view of neoclassical economists the supply shocks are main determinants of business cycle fluctuations. The sources of supply shocks are technology, increase in productivity of labour or capital. These factors affect the business performance during a period. When there is technological up gradation or improvement in factor productivity, output in different secto rs of the economy increases (Thomas 2015). Inflow of capital affects the business cycle. Brexit is likely to affect UK business and other countries, which are related through business agreement. Before Brexit UK enjoyed advantage of single market in the European Union. After Brexit there would be a trade relationship between the UK and EU. The new tariff rate in UK and single market of EU are likely to be different. This can impact the business prospects of UK economy. There is a possibility of increase in trade deficit in UK economy as UK may lose the existing privilege of free trade agreement with EU. If EU increases the tariff rate for the import from UK, the export of UK becomes costly, which decreases the trade balance of UK. The trade deficit decreases cash flow in the economy. It may also reduce the volume of trade between UK and rest of the economy in the EU. Decrease in export in the EU may reduce output of the export sectors in UK, which negatively affects countrys GDP (Baker et al. 2016). Some market analysts expect that the value of pound is likely to fall due to Brexit. Therefore, depreciation of currency may hit the internal market in the form of rising inflation. Depreciation increases export and reduces import, as import gets costlier. Inflation increases the borrowing cost. Therefore, investment in real estate and business tends to fall. Private investment falls due to rise in interest rate. Decrease in investment reduces output and employment in the economy. Therefore, the economy is likely to enter into the recession stage (Moultonet et al. 2016). Figure 1: Changes in investment rate (Source: created by author) Increase in interest rate has other aspects. Rise in interest rate influence people to save more. Therefore, economy experiences a decrease in consumption. Decrease in consumption reduces aggregate demand. It also negatively affects the economy by reducing output. As the consumption decreases given the same level of investment, aggregate decreases below aggregate demand and thus there is accumulation of inventory in the economy. Hence, in the next period, national output is likely to fall. Chances are there to enter into recessionary stage increases. Figure 2: Impact on Real GDP (Source: created by author) Brexit may make the UK economy a less attractive location for investment. Firms of other country may intend to sell in EU markets, as it may give more facilities for business operation. Therefore, reduction in external investment may reduce capital inflow. This effect may also increase unemployment rate in the UK economy. IMF has warned that, Brexit is likely to have adverse impact on UK as the possibility of inflation in more. High inflation rate may decrease standard of living of UK people. There is lots of argument against Brexit. Presently Britain gets facility to sell goods in the European market easily. Moreover, the influx of migrant from different region of European countries increases supply of labour in the UK market. The immigrant workers contribute significantly in countrys growth (global-counsel.co.uk, 2016). Baker et al. (2016) argues that Brexit has positive impact Brexit is likely to affect the employment policy of UK, as UK can freely regulate the labour market without the influence of EU. Therefore, the government can regulate the productivity of labour through labour market reform. At present UK has to follow the EUs agency workers directive, which gives the temporary workers same working environment and right of equal pay as the permanent workers. The UK economy incurs annual cost of 490 million due to these regulations. Exit from European Union will give Britain the freedom of own policy formation in the labour and product market. However, unemployment in UK may rise after Brexit, which would reduce the pressure in the wage rate. In case of recessionary stage, the monetary policy is more effective than fiscal policy. According to Keynesian economics, in very short run, the federal bank has to boost up aggregate demand by raising money supply. Investment can be encouraged by reducing interest rate. The central bank can buy short term government bonds to increase money supply in the economy. Increase in investment increases output in several sectors in the economy. As a result, output, employment can rise in medium term. The recessionary effect is offset somewhat as the recessionary gap is reduced. The recessionary gap arises due to gap in actual GDP level and potential GDP. In recessionary period, the actual output falls below potential output. Possibility of increase in tax rate is there with decrease in government spending. However, this also has political impact (Thomas 2015). Part 2 Effect of Brexit on banking business in UK Currently UK is an important financial centre of Europe. In cross border bank lending, the UK have 17% share in international market. In hedge fund assets and wholesale financial services, UK have significant share. However, the Euro zone countries want the wholesale banking to be overseen by the ECB. After Brexit, this enforcement is more likely to happen. UK may suffer an opportunity cost as it cannot take part in liberalising initiatives of Capital market union after Brexit (Smales 2016). The actual outcome of Brexit on UK depends on treaty between UK and EU. Brexit may have mixed impact on UK financial sector. HSBC has decided recently to continue business in UK even after Brexit. However, chief executive of JP Morgan mentioned in Financial Times 2016, that this bank may reduce business in London after exit of Britain from EU. Reducing banking business in UK will have effect on employment. Unemployment in banking sector may rise after Brexit (Monaghan and Elliott 2016).) Passporting is an important pillar of EU financial system. The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) allows the banks to carry business in member states without having license in each country. Any other bank belonging to country other than member of EU, cannot get the opportunity of passporting system. Presently mainly third country banks thus established business in London to use the EU market for financial services. After Brexit, this facility will depend on the negotiation between UK and EU. UK banks may then require new licenses to operate multiple EU jurisdictions under capital requirement directives (Moulton et al. 2016). Currently, the European banks, which trade derivatives, operate under the European Market Infrastructure Regulations (EMIR). The banks require following regulations regarding clearing, trade reporting and risk reporting in line with G20 group. These rules are not applicable for UK after Brexit. However, being a G20 member, UK may have to follow pr inciples of EMIR even after exit from EU. Brexit may increase the interest rate in the market raising the borrowing costs. Average cost of mortgage can increase up to 1000 annually. Therefore, investment in real estate sector may fall. As UK may face recession after Brexit, many economists have suggested that Bank of England should cut the interest rate to boost the economy. Reduction in interest rate would encourage domestic private investment. After Brexit, the UK banks may lose their rights to provide services based on passport. This will not have much effect on retail banking product as few customers obtain retail services in short or medium term. In case of consumer credit, Brexit may have positive effect (bbc.com, 2016). UK is likely to implement the Consumer Credit Directives, which imply that the lender has to comply with one regime for consumer loans up to 60260 and a different regime for consumer loan in excess of the amount and for business loan. References Baker, J., Carreras, O., Ebell, M., Hurst, I., Kirby, S., Meaning, J., Piggott, R. and Warren, J., 2016. The short-term economic impact of leaving the EU.National Institute Economic Review,236(1), pp.108-120. bbc.com (2016). How will Brexit affect your finances? - BBC News. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-36537906 [Accessed 4 Aug. 2016]. global-counsel.co.uk (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.global-counsel.co.uk/sites/default/files/special-reports/downloads/Global%20Counsel_Impact_of_Brexit.pdf [Accessed 4 Aug. 2016]. Monaghan, A. and Elliott, L. (2016). British economy begins to show signs of post-Brexit slowdown. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/28/health-check-of-key-sectors-post-brexit-vote-counter-growth-figure [Accessed 4 Aug. 2016]. Moulton, R., Coiley, J., Perry, J., Aird, R., and Ward, N., (2016). Brexit: potential impact on the UKs banking industry [online] Available at: https://www.ashurst.com/doc.aspx?id_Content=12909 [Accessed 4 Aug. 2016]. Smales, L.A., 2016. 'Brexit': A Case Study in the Relationship between Political and Financial Market Uncertainty.Available at SSRN 2805807. Thomas, D.S., 2015.Social Aspects of the Business Cycle (RLE: Business Cycles)(Vol. 7). Routledge.

Bio of Timbaland free essay sample

Timberland quickly made a name for himself in the late-ass hip-hop game as not only an inventive producer with an eccentric sense of beat construction but also as one of the most commercially proven producers. This unlikely synthesis of eccentricity and commercialism made him a hot commodity by the end of the ass as Americas top Masc. Nas, Snoop Dog, Jay-Z paid big money for an opportunity to work with him on the occasional track or two.Though his aesthetic was undoubtedly unique, It did show a bit of Southern influence, characterized by a knack for evoking a bounce feel; In addition, other trademark attributes Include a shuddering sense of rhythm and a tendency to subtly Integrate his deep voice Into the background of his songs. Overall though, Timberland was the first of a new generation of producers also Including Swiss Beat that crafted Infectious hip-hop beats without relying on samples. We will write a custom essay sample on Bio of Timbaland or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Course, Tidelands beginnings were a bit humble at first; born Tim Moslem, he royally was a part of a duo also Including the rapper Mango, with whom he later recorded Welcome to Our World (1997). Before that album hit the streets though, Timberland;s first success came via his collaborations with another rapper/songwriter, Missy Elliott. The two were critical to the astounding success of Elijahs One in a Million (1996) and Guanines Genuine. ..The Bachelor (19961 foreshadowing the similar success the duo would achieve on Elitists debut album, Sups Dupe Fly (1997). After Timberlands album with Mango and also his 1998 solo album, Times Bio, failed to storm up the charts like his production work, it became clear that Timberland worked best as a behind-the-scenes producer. By the end of the ass he was one of the priciest producers in rap a bill rappers were lined up to pay, given his proven commercial clout.

Security Manager - Working with and leading people The WritePass Journal

Security Manager - Working with and leading people Task 1: Teamwork mini project Security Manager Working with and leading people ). I demonstrated a proper knowledge of the job role as well as presented specific skills in organising important job roles and responsibilities. Moreover, I illustrated adequate communication and teamwork skills that have contributed to the successful completion of the project. I was able to work with culturally diverse individuals and lead them accordingly (Sohmen, 2013). However, I could have done better in improving my knowledge of specific aspects of security policies, rules and regulations pertaining to the job position. I could have taken my time to explore each of these aspects in detail in order to provide a better understanding of the specificity of the profession, which could have helped me focus on selecting the right candidates (Adams et al., 2012). Although I believe I have good skills in assessing people’s potential in a particular field, I need to do more research on this topic to improve my own capacity of working with and leading culturally diverse individuals (Tiffan, 2014). I could have also improved my cultural awareness considering the highly diverse workforce of the educational institution. In conclusion, this task has been completed successfully because of the focus on teamwork at all stage of the process. Task 4: Discussion of the main financial statements of a company There are three key components involved in the financial statements of a company, which are a profit and loss statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. All the key components are used as a whole, to provide a clear picture of the financial position and financial results of a company (Parker, 2009). A structure designed for each of the financial statements is considered the most important element, though the influential decision depends on the requirements of the user. The key point supporting the importance of the profit and loss statement is that it is one of the most important financial statements and users like to observe the financial statements of a company, since it has the capability to help users or businesses generate profit by examining the over financial report (Buffett and Clark, 2008). In addition, the information inserted in the profit/loss statement is mostly released in the applicable currency, so it can provide a reasonable level of accuracy. Though, profit/ loss does not show the amount of assets and liabilities required by a company to generate a profit (Parker, 2009). Moreover, its financial results are not necessarily associated with the total cash flows generated by a company. The accuracy of this statement can be suspected when the  cash basic  of the accounting method is used. It is important to focus on ensuring accuracy as part of the broad purpose of accounting. Thus, the profit/loss statement, when utilised, can be fairly misleading. Balance sheet is expected to be positioned at a second place by many users, since it does not provide the financial results of business operations, and some of the information provided in it may be based on past business costs (Kalsyte and Verikas, 2013). This makes the balance sheet report less instructive or informative. However, the balance sheet is considered to have importance when compared with the profit/loss statement, since this sheet provides the amount of investment requirement to maintain the sales and profits shown on the profit/loss statement (Buffett and Clark, 2008). The third most important component of financial statement is cash flow, because it mainly focuses on recording cash inflows and outflows (Parker, 2009). This financial report provides a clearer analysis of a companys cash flows than the profit/loss statement, which can sometimes present unbiased results, particularly when accruals are authorised under the  growth basis  of accounting (Palea, 2014). It is essential to understand the concept of the  balance sheet, as it provides a company’s financial situation  at any period of time, while a  profit/loss statement  provides a company’s overall financial performance  within a set period of time. The profit/loss statement normally shows a company’s financial performance over a period, such as being released every year or after six months (Parker, 2009). On the other hand, the balance sheet gives a snap shot of the financial position accurately at the year-end or month-end.   Finance managers rely on the balance sheet statements to examine whether purchasing certain equipment on debt is the right choice for a company at that time (Palea, 2014). The balance sheet also provides the owners equity; for instance, it indicates the total value of the inventory and the number of a company’s shares identified as outstanding. The profit/loss statement is one of the most important documents because it plays a significant role in a company’s  decision making process. The profit/loss statement is an end result of the financial information that is provided in the  journals and ledgers,  and then changed  into brief, summarised, compiled  revenue and expense  structures (Bao, Li, Wu, Zhu et al., 2014). This statement shows the overall revenues and expenses of a company for a set period of time. Senior managers and shareholders can find prosperity of valuable information on the profit/loss statement including the company’s overall sales,  profits, retained earnings, net profits, and operating earnings. From this information, finance experts can determine and distinguish vital information about a company’s performance. Profit/loss statements usually give information for more than one period, for example two successive years (Buffett and Clark, 2008). It is simple to compare the financial results from one period to the next and conclude trends in earnings and expenditures. Whereas, cash flow statement is considered to be the most crucial element for any enterprise’s financial performance. It calculates the amount of capital that enters into a company and out of it over a specified time period. In this way, an enterprise is able to analyse and control how much capital it has in inflow to pay expenses and purchase assets. There is a difference existing in the structure of financial statements (profit/loss statement and balance sheet) for different types of business, such as sole trader, partnership and private/public limited company. Each company has different financial and economical positions so they use different financial statements with different structures that satisfy their financial positions (Bao et al., 2014). The financial statements gather the financial information from the sales and services provided and include the net taxable profit or loss for each month. Different types of business use different structures. For a sole proprietor, the financial statement is easy and simple because the financial report is just provided for the proprietor of the company. This means that it does not have to provide any balance sheet and profit/loss statement (Parker, 2009).   The report just needs to provide or to show profit and loss financial information, whereas a private limited and public limited c ompany, which has to organise its’ report based on accounting standards. There are two types mostly used by companies: international financial reporting standard (IFRS) and generally accepted accounting principle (GAAP). If financial statements are not structured based on standards it is complicated to evaluate and compare performance with that of other companies. For a partnership, the financial structure is focused on providing the profit/dividend and total contribution by partners in the investment capital of a company (Ronen, 2006). The objective of the financial statement is revealed in the balance sheet, profit/loss, cash flow and loss statement. When creating financial statements, the profit/loss statement would typically be structured first because the net profit or loss becomes a part of the statement in the balance sheet, or in a partners’ capital. Moreover, the end of a partner’s capital statement becomes a part of the balance sheet (Parker, 2009). The financial statement is focused on examining the total capital and profits of a company that are distributed inside its structure. For a public and private limited company, the financial statement must provide the following components: current assets, non-current assets, current liabilities, total sales, total profits, payable, dividends, and share prices (Ronen, 2006). References Adams, B. L., Cain, H. R. and Giraud, V. (2012). ‘Leadership, Motivation, and Teamwork Behaviors of Principal Investigator’s in Interdisciplinary Teams: A Synthesis of Research’. Journal of Leadership Education, vol. 11(2), pp. 176-191.Bao, C., Li, J., Wu, D., Zhu, X., Liang, C. and Liu, C. (2014). ‘Optimization of Integrated Risk in Commercial Banking Based on Financial Statements’. Procedia Computer Science, vol. 31, pp. 501-510.Buffett, M. and Clark, D. (2008). Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statements: The Search for the Company with a Durable Competitive Advantage. New York: Scribner. Kalsyte, Z. And Verikas, A. (2013). ‘A Novel Approach to Exploring Company’s Financial Soundness: Investor’s Perspective’. Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 40(13), pp. 5085-5092. Pacios, A. R. and de la Fuente, G. (2013). ‘Teamwork and Leadership in a Virtual Learning Environment’. RUSC: Revista de Universidad y Sociedad del Conocimiento, vol. 10(2), pp. 358-374. Palea, V. (2014). ‘Are IFRS Value-Relevant for Separate Financial Statements? Evidence from the Italian Stock Market’. Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, vol. 23(1), pp. 1-17. Parker, R. H. (2009). Understanding Company Financial Statements. New York: Penguin Books. Reevy, G. M., Chamberlain, C. J. and Stein, J. (2013). ‘Identifying Collaboration, Teamwork, and Leadership Practices on Campus’. Currents in Teaching Learning, vol. 6(1), pp. 4-17. Ronen, J. (2006). ‘A Proposed Corporate Governance Reform: Financial Statements Insurance’. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, vol. 23, pp. 130-146. Sohmen, V. S. (2013). ‘Leadership and Teamwork: Two Sides of the Same Coin’. Journal of Information Technology Economic Development, vol. 4(2), pp. 1-18. Stupans, I. (2013). ‘Development of Contemporary Leadership Capacity through Teamwork in an Online Environment: A Pilot Study’. International Journal of Teaching Learning in Higher Education, vol. 25(2), pp. 262-268. Tiffan, B. (2014). ‘The Art of Team Leadership’. Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, vol. 15, pp. 799-801.

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

Finance coventry - Essay Example The balance scorecard and the strategy map formulated can serve as an effective tool for the company to predict its effective future plan. This study contains suitable recommendations based on the key parameters used for the purpose of analysis which can serve as benchmark for the company to improve its financial and non-financial performances. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 1. Introduction 4 2. Vision and Strategy 4 3. Balanced Scorecard for Marks and Spencer PLC 5 3.1. Financial perspective 6 3.2. Customer perspective 6 3.3. Internal business perspective 7 3.4. Learning and innovation perspective 8 4. Strategy Map 8 5. Recommendations 9 6. Critical Discussion and Evaluation 10 Reference List 10 Appendices 12 1. Introduction Marks and Spencer (M&S) Group PLC is an international retailer headquartered in London, England, United Kingdom. It is listed as a holding company of the Marks and Spencer Group of companies. Its varied line of products includes clothing (both Men’ s wear and Women’s wear), home ware as well as food. Its clothing division alone includes 731 shops across the United Kingdom. Its presence is not only limited to the domestic circuit. The company enjoys an unprecedented level of presence around the globe having 387 stores in 43 territories across Europe, the Middle East and Asia (Reuters, 2013). This report will primarily involve the analysis of the food retail section of Marks and Spencer thereby identifying its vision and strategy. Henceforth, a balanced scorecard and a strategy map will be designed in order to align business activities of the company to its identified vision and strategy as well as to explain each parameter used for the analysis and their significance towards the company’s goals and targets. 2. Vision and Strategy Marks and Spencer’s vision is to set a benchmark on the basis of which everything else is evaluated. In order to stay true to the vision, they have laid down subsequent strategies which when followed will help the company to grow from strength to strength. Their primary aim is to become truly international, multichannel retailer whereby they can make their long range of products and services easily accessible to people all around the globe. Apart from providing quality products, they also aim to deliver exceptional value as well as high quality services to their customers. Their penchant to stay at the forefront of innovations in both general merchandising and food section is a significant factor giving them the recognition of a truly world class company. As far as Marks and Spencer’s strategies to improve its food retail section are concerned, they have been moderately successful in 2011 as well as in 2012 with their sales increasing by 4.1% in 2011 from what it was in 2010 (Marks and Spencer, 2011). This growth in sales owed to the fact that customers expected the company to come up with innovative products and this expectation in return resulted in an appreciation in the number of customers of M&S. Their strategy is to grow their food business by focusing primarily on their core strengths which are convenience, freshness and speciality. Convenience of shopping is another area that the company is currently working on for improving the way customers find and choose things in the store. This aim led them to come up with the clearer signage scheme. M&S also want their stores to be easily accessible

Globalization for the Arab Countries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Globalization for the Arab Countries - Essay Example Then in 1973, "King Faisal of Saudi Arabia cuts off his country's oil exports to the United States, triggering an oil crisis, long lines at the gas pumps and a recession." (Newton, p 53) Globalization is typically defined as a shift from internal local human societies (including financial, politics and religions) to linking distant communities of people and levels of industry, expanding them across regions and continents - in other words removing boundaries from the world. Globalization can reduce the deficiencies of third world countries with technological advances and with equal allocation of resources. An advantage to globalization is the lowering of trade barriers, for example, the reduction of export tariffs to the developing countries charged by industrialized nations. The lowering of the trade barriers then allow the developing countries to also move towards industrialization with the realized gains. Globalization is also said to liberalize countries with less than democratic political processes, for example, the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Organization according to the theory of globalization One might argue that the GCC is a regional rather than a global organization, but they formed together because of globalization. They wish to base their common goal on the creed of Islam, believing they have a common destiny. However, it is notable that Yemen, Jordan, Iraq and Iran are not included in the regional organization. Saudi Arabia was the primary in setting up the Gulf Cooperation Council in 1981. Other members are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Gulf Cooperation Council aims to coordinate resistance to outside intervention in the Gulf. Progress towards economic integration has been slow during the 1980s economic downturn in the region. The presidency of the Gulf Cooperation Council rotates yearly among members. Council headquarters are in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Gulf Cooperation Council was initially formed in response to the out break of the Iran-Iraq war. ("Gulf Cooperation Council - GCC.") During that time and after the 1973 Oil Em bargoes it has been estimated that the population of the GCC is about 35 percent expatriates from the surrounding countries. (IOM, LAS 2004). The practice of globalization theory will lead countries to gain of knowledge even if the theory turns out wrong for them. It can also be used to rule out non-working solutions to diagnose and treat economic events. Liberalism of culture, religion, language by GCC Liberalism ('liberate') is opening up the local cultures, religions and languages (internal human societies) to compatibility with global cultures, religions and languages (distant across regions and even continents). In fact, one might say that liberalism wants to synthesize all of the local areas of

Out sourcing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Out sourcing - Essay Example Originally, outsourcing started as a simple way to cut down on personnel costs by the hiring of sub-contractors to do certain parts of the manufacturing process. This concept later on was expanded to other functions which a sub-contractor is better able to do and at a lower cost. Usually, the outsourced functions are those in the logistics, distribution, delivery and the other parts that usually constitute a supply chain of a large manufacturing or merchandising or any fast-moving consumer goods distribution company. The early sub-contractors were usually located just nearby, maybe in the next town or the next country. Gradually, it expanded to nearby countries (termed as near-shoring) and with the advent of better information technologies and improved means of transport, it later on still came to called as off-shoring (work sent out to faraway countries). The usual jobs outsourced are either back-office functions (accounting, auditing, finance, human resources, legal, etc.) or those with front-office responsibilities like customer service, order taking, sales, etc. The term for it now is business process outsourcing (BPO) which is construed to mean services. Discussion Benefits of Outsourcing - The original rationale or justification for sub-contracting and later on BPO was to cut down costs. When a certain function is outsourced, the usual benefit is transforming fixed costs into variable costs. This lessens the need to invest in infrastructure to increase capacity and at the same time allows the organization to respond more quickly to changes in markets in which it operates. The additional benefit is greater speed of response to sudden changes in the external environment. Perhaps a persuasive argument for outsourcing is to gain a key competitive advantage by allowing the firm to focus on its more core functions and let non-essential administrative functions be performed by an outside third-party supplier. Total global BPO industry is estimated at about $154 billion annually and is considered as a natural extension of the free-trade movement and the globalization of business and industry (Duening & Click, 2005:vii). The organizations using BPO now are more inclined towards to availing themselves of the lowest-cost provider wherever they are located on the world. Big improvements in information technology is largely responsible for a rapid growth of the BPO industry, hence it is sometimes termed as information technology-enabled services (ITES). It now includes content-rich materials such as newsletters, Power Point presentations, video and graphics animations, sales kits, teaching materials, etc. New BPO sub-sectors are knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and legal process outsourcing (LPO) which is geared towards the production of outputs that are more knowledge intensive. The outsourced industry is growing at an estimated 10-12% compounded annual growth rate and has now expanded to jobs which normally required intensive education and ample technical training. An example is reading, analyzing and interpreting the X-ray and CT (computed tomography) scans of mostly American patients in outsourced business parks located in India, the Philippines and Russia. Outsourcing is a legitimate business strategy to enhance revenues or profits (Sople, 2009:43). As Business Strategy –