Learning Team Presentation Data Collection Essay

This pack of QNT 351 Week 2 Learning Team Paper – Data Collection shows the solutions to the following problems: Use either the data one of your Learning Team members retained from RES/351 or the data from University of Phoenix Material: Ballard Integrated Managed Services, Inc., Part 1. Discuss with your team whether you have data from RES/351, and if your team would like to use one team member Deadline: ( ), Business – General Business I need tutorials from week 1-5 with all assignments!!! Please help me Learn to budget. No matter where you get your money as a college student, you need to make sure your money lasts as long as you need it. Make a list of your expenses and think of how you can cut corners so that you can do what you need to do without going broke. This pack of QNT 351 Week 2 Learning Team Paper – Data Collection shows the solutions to the following problems: Use either the data one of your Learning Team members retained from RES/351 or the data from University of Phoenix Material: Ballard Integrated Managed Services, Inc., Part 1. Discuss with your team whether you have data from RES/351, and if your team would like to use one team member Deadline: ( ), Business – General Business I need tutorials from week 1-5 with all assignments!!! Please help me Learn to budget. No matter where you get your money as a college student, you need to make sure your money lasts as long as you need it. Make a list of your expenses and think of how you can cut corners so that you can do what you need to do without going broke. This pack of QNT 351 Week 2 Learning Team Paper – Data Collection shows the solutions to the following problems: Use either the data one of your Learning Team members retained from RES/351 or the data from University of Phoenix Material: Ballard Integrated Manage†¦ Complete course guide available here – https://bitly.com/1xptjLj Learn how to write an essay using the â€Å"5 Paragraph Essay† format. This is a simple essay format that is often taught in elementary or middle school. Although it is simple to learn, it is invaluable in college. This format will help you easily get through most essay assignments. Deadline: ( ), Business – General Business

Introduction of American Essay

This paper is dedicated to the history of American Revolution and the War for Independence. The primary purpose of the survey given here is to carry out an analysis of the events of the late 18th century in the British colonies in North America on the basis of vast historical material published in the United States. The process that took place before and during the 1776-1783 period when 13 British colonies’ aspiration for independence broke out into the so-called War for Independence is very remarkable for it’s many unique features, on the one hand, and for many historical parallels that took place a century later when the world-wide spreaded colonial system began to collapse. John Adams, second President of the United States, declared that the history of the American Revolution began as far back as 1620. â€Å"The Revolution,† he said, â€Å"was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people. † The principles and passions that led the Americans to rebel ought, he added, â€Å"to be traced back for two hundred years and sought in the history of the country from the first plantation in America. † As a practical matter, however, the overt parting of the ways between England and America began in 1763, more than a century and a half after the first permanent settlement had been founded at Jamestown, Virginia. The colonies had grown vastly in economic strength and cultural attainment, and virtually all had long years of self-government behind them. Their combined population now exceeded 1,500,000-a six-fold increase since 1700. The implications of the physical growth of the colonies were far greater than mere numerical increase would indicate. The 18th century brought a steady expansion from the influx of immigrants from Europe, and since the best land near the seacoast had already been occupied, new settlers had to push inland beyond the fall line of the rivers. Traders explored the back country, brought back tales of rich valleys, and induced farmers to take their families into the wilderness. Although their hardships were enormous, restless settlers kept coming, and by the 1730s frontiersmen had already begun to pour into the Shenandoah Valley. Down to 1763, Great Britain had formulated no consistent policy for her colonial possessions. The guiding principle was the confirmed mercantilist view that colonies should supply the mother country with raw materials and not compete in manufacturing. But policy was poorly enforced, and the colonies had never thought of themselves as subservient. Rather, they considered themselves chiefly as commonwealths or states, much like England herself, having only a loose association with authorities in London. At infrequent intervals, sentiment in England was aroused and efforts were made by Parliament or the Crown to subordinate the economic activities and governments of the colonies to England’s will and interest – efforts to which the majority of the colonists were opposed. The remoteness afforded by a vast ocean allayed fears of reprisal the colonies might otherwise have had. Added to this remoteness was the character of life itself in early America. From countries limited in space and dotted with populous towns, the settlers had come to a land of seemingly unending reach. On such a continent natural conditions stressed the importance of the individual. 1. Frontier situation The colonists-inheritors of the traditions of the Englishman’s long struggle for political liberty-incorporated concepts of freedom into Virginia’s first charter. This provided that English colonists were to exercise all liberties, franchises, and immunities â€Å"as if they had been abiding and born within this our Realm of England. They were, then, to enjoy the benefits of the Magna Charta and the common law. In the early days, the colonies were able to hold fast to their heritage of rights because of the King’s arbitrary assumption that they were not subject to parliamentary control. In addition, for years afterward, the kings of England were too preoccupied with a great struggle in England itself – a struggle which culminated in the Puritan Revolution – to enforce their will. Before Parliament could bring its attention to the task of molding the American colonies to an imperial policy, they had grown strong and prosperous in their own right. From the first year after they had set foot upon the new continent, the colonists had functioned according to the English law and constitution – with legislative assemblies, a representative system of government, and a recognition of the common-law guarantees of personal liberty. But increasingly legislation became American in point of view, and less and less attention was paid to English practices and precedents. Nevertheless, colonial freedom from effective English control was not achieved without conflict, and colonial history abounds in struggles between the assemblies elected by the people and the governors appointed by the King. Still, the colonists were often able to render the royal governors powerless, for, as a rule, governors had â€Å"no subsistence but from the Assembly†. Governors were sometimes instructed to give profitable offices and land grants to influential colonists to secure their support for royal projects but, as often as not, the colonial officials, once they had secured these emoluments, espoused the popular cause as strongly as ever. The recurring clashes between governor and assembly worked increasingly to awaken the colonists to the divergence between American and English interests. Gradually, the assemblies took over the functions of the governors and their councils, which were made up of colonists selected for their docile support of royal power, and the center of colonial administration shifted from London to the provincial capitals. Early in the 1770s, following the final expulsion of the French from the North American continent, an attempt was made to bring about a drastic change in the relationship between the colonies and the mother country.

John Proctor a tragic hero? Essay

A tragic hero is a character whose flaw or mistake ultimately leads to their downfall. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, the small town of Salem is immersed in a crisis due to the accusations of witchcraft. One of the accused is John Proctor, a strong and moral farmer. John Proctor meets the definition of a tragic hero because of his fatal flaws, the affair with Abigail and his pride, but redemption at the end of the play saves his morals. S One of John Proctors flaws is his affair with Abigail. The affair with Abigail is his downfall because it provokes the witch trials. Abigail doesn’t want to believe that the affair is over between her and John and tries to kill Elizabeth Proctor by preforming witchcraft with other girls in the town. When Parris discovers them and the town begins to ostracize the girls, they call out the names of others they have supposedly seen with the Devil in order to save their reputations and possibly their lives. Therefore, the affair between John and Abigail is the spark of all the hysteria surrounding the witch trials. The affair also caused Elizabeth Proctor to distrust her husband, John, who for seven months was trying to get into her good graces and is tired of her suspicion. He tells her â€Å"†¦ I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you†¦ I cannot speak but I am doubted, every moment judged for lies†¦ â€Å"(52). This illustrates John’s determination in attempting to redeem himself for his sin. Because John cannot control his desire and resist temptation, his life is being destroyed by the jealousy and need for revenge of Abigail, indicating the beginning of his downfall and road to becoming a tragic hero. W John Proctors major flaw was his pride. John’s honor and good name is what kept him from confessing to adultery, which would have most likely, halted the witch trials. Elizabeth asked him to go into the court and tell them that Abigail is fraud, but he refused. He said, â€Å"I know I cannot keep it. I say I will think on it! â€Å"(51). Nonetheless, when Elizabeth is arrested, John has to choose between his pride and his wife. He tries to fix it by bringing Mary Warren into the court to confess to lies and pretense. This fails when Mary Warren turns on him and he has to admit to being an adulterer, reserving his dignity in order to rescue his wife. Unfortunately, he too is arrested after Elizabeth is questioned about his confession by Danforth. She denies his unfaithfulness in an attempt to protect John’s name, causing his arrest for perjury and witchcraft. This proves that John is trying to do good, yet his misfortunes keep coming, which is another quality that makes John Proctor the tragic hero of the play. T As the play comes to a conclusion, Proctor for a second time has to make a decision concerning his pride. The court gives him with an ultimatum with which he can plead guilty and live or be hanged with the others who didn’t confess. After speaking with Elizabeth, John decides that he wants to live and surrenders to a confession. After he signs the confession, he tears it up after learning that Danforth means to hang his confession on the church doors. As Reverend Parris and Hale are about to object, John pronounces â€Å"†¦ for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor†¦ â€Å"(133), referring to his honesty. He would rather die for the greater good, then ruin his name and the names of the other prisoners. Elizabeth doesn’t try to stop him either knowing that he needed to do this, tearfully saying to Hale â€Å"He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him! â€Å"(134). Proctor preserves his pride and dignity, dying as a man with flaws yet a good man, becoming the tragic hero of The Crucible. As the play develops we see that John Proctor is the tragic hero of The Crucible. His flaws destroy him but at the end of the play he preserves his pride and dies a good man. Arthur Miller uses John Proctor to show us how someone can overcome mistakes in life and safeguard ones dignity.

Evaluating Truth And Validity Exercise Essay

The argument â€Å"a mature person is self-directing, so parents who make all their children’s for them are doing their offspring a disservice† has allot of validity to it, and in more ways than one is true. A child whose parents or guardians make all of his or her decisions for them, are in a way hindering the child because the child does not have the opportunity to think for himself. When that child grows up and needs to be able to make important decisions such as what college to go to, who to marry, or what kind of job to apply for, that child will more likely than not, not know how to properly decide based on the information or facts provided to him or her. For instance if a child grows up and is faced with what college to go to and that child has never had to make any important decision for himself, that child may end up in a college going after a degree program that is not truly what he or she wants to do with their life based on what his or her parent tell them t hey should go into. That child has then wasted four to five years of his or her life and has to start all over searching for the proper degree or job where he or she can thrive financially and be happy. There is a minute percent of children who will be able to overcome the mentality of not having to think on his or her own and be able to make the important decisions that need to be made, but at what price? How many times will that child have to make the wrong choice and suffer because they were not allowed to think on their own? The constant failure and rejection could possibly make matters worse for the child, and could lead to relinquishing all hope. The argument â€Å"the Bible can’t be relevant to today’s problems; it was written many centuries ago and is filled with archaic phrasing† is another argument with some validity and non-validity. There are people who claim since the Bible was written over 2,000 years ago that it does not apply to today’s standards, and there are people who say the teachings in the Bible  are meant for all people to follow as a general guideline. The argument can go either way, but if you look at what the Bible really is, it is a book with stories, such as a history book, about people who lived 2,000 plus years ago and the things they went through. If you were to say because it was written back a long time ago it does not apply to today’s standards, would be the same thing as saying because our history books teach about Abraham Lincoln and when he lived in the 1700’s, that those stories are irrelevant. The Bible is a book for Christian based people to read, and is intended as a guideline for these people on how to properly live their life. There are many stories in the Bible that may or may not apply to today’s standards, such as the Old Testament teachings, but that is not to say the entire Bible is not relevant to today’s problems. The Bible teaches not to kill and steal, and if 90 percent of people who are in prison followed these two teachings, they would not be in prison today. The other stories about the people who lived in the Bible days are interesting to some, and not to others, as are most history books ever written about the history of the world. Does this mean we need to stop teaching our children about the history of the world because the teachings in the history books occurred over three centuries ago? I think it just because the Bible represents a faith based book, and that is why it is so ridiculed. The argument â€Å"it’s ridiculous to think that there will be fewer deaths if we ban handguns. Handguns don’t kill people; people kill people† has no validity to it in that an actual handgun itself cannot do anything on its own, it is an inanimate object. A handgun or any other type of gun requires a person to physically pick it up, point, and shoot in order to make it operate; a handgun cannot just fire on its own. When people say that handguns kill people, it is the same as saying that a spoon made another person fat, or a car made another person steal it. These are objects that must have an operator or some sort of life force to operate these inanimate objects. Did handguns assist in the killing of a person is a more proper question to ask. If a person wants another person dead and there is not a handgun around, that person will be creative and come up with another means to kill that person. Take John Wayne Gacy for instance, he did not need the use of a handgun to murder hundreds of young boys, he used rope and scarfs  to strangle his victims. There are people who claim without handguns certain crimes would not take place, and that may be possible, but if the person wanting to perform the crime was adamant on doing it and did not have a gun, that person would use alternative measures to finish the crime.

Nevada History

Since ages I have been firmly stood and evidenced several phases of history and have witnessed  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   numerous mysterious and strange phases that are still unrevealed. I am huge, graceful and well known Battle Mountain. My homeland is Nevada, which is a state of USA and is situated in its West. It’s surrounded by California, Ogre, Idaho, Utah and Arizona. Though it is larger than these states but has lesser population. But, it has always been a point of attraction for the visitors because of the beautiful places like me, the great Battle Mountain. Nevada is a Spanish word which means â€Å"snow clad†. Much about primeval Nevada remains vague but there is sign of human commotion in the area for at least 12,000 years.Almost 30 thousand years ago, Nevada was passing through the Ice Age along with the rest of the west. This was the time when I used to be covered with ice and my valleys were full of glaciers. Gradually, with the melting of ice in the course of centuries the mountains crept further away. (Elliot 1987)Anasazis 8000-18000 B.C.:I kept watching when all of this water reserved the region that is now a desert enclosed with abundant plantation. In this initial metamorphous period some famous ice age animals came into being such as musk ox, caribou and the mammoth. With the constant melting of ice the temperature began to rise and mammals moved northwards in search of new meadows.  The title of first Nevadans went to Anasazi means â€Å"The Ancient Ones†. None of their remains like bones etc have been discovered yet except a few animal art works.  Ã‚  The archeologists and geologists have hypothesized that these ancient people might have lived during 8000 to 18000 B. C. (Elliot, 1987).The Basket Makers 1500 B. C.The next Nevadan civilization is referred to as â€Å"The Basket Makers† in the history, as the finely made baskets are the only evidence of them instead of any pots or artwork. Use of spea rs, sticks and darts is evident but no arrows and bows. They existed near 1500B. C.  Several hundreds years later the first white people came around with the bows and arrows. In the same time in south the basket makers started to cultivate maize and Indian corn and they also began to use the arrows and bows.  Sometime later they learnt to make pottery and with these continued facilities they gradually proceeded towards civilization. Their homes were dug outs or pits. (Rusco 1975)The Lost City:After another episode of five hundred years the Pueblo Indians arrived at Moapa Valley region, from northern Arizona. They brought not only the better residential techniques but also started the agriculture of squashes, cotton and beans.  The Pueblo blended with the Basket Makers, but it's unrevealed that whether any of them was a captor or it was a peaceable join.   The ultimate outcome was, however the formation of â€Å"Pueblo Grande de Nevada† or the renowned Lost City. At it s climax, the Lost City extended for several miles.  Ã‚  It comprised agricultural fields and human settlements scattered all over the valley. It included farm lands, outlying small dwellings and villages scattered through the valley for miles. (Rusco 1975)The first Whiteman: As, I trace back my memory Nevada was the last region of the coterminous United States to be discovered. The history of Nevada took a turn when the first Whiteman, though, not American reached there in 1776. He was Fray Fransico Garces and a swift development started taking place. (Glass 1981)During the same year, Franciscan missionaries may have got into the farthest southern part whilst in search of a route to join the Spanish towns of New Mexico with settlements of California. Further adventure was commenced after fifty years, by British and American fur merchants and trappers. The courageous trader Peter Skene Ogden, who belonged to Hudson's Bay Company, went across the present northern boundary of the st ate in the middle of 1820.Ogden discovered the Humboldt River in 1828 during his second exploring trip. Approximately at the same time, in 1826, the American traveler and trader Jedediah Smith came into southern Nevada on a march to California. In 1827 he went across Sierra, advanced by way of mid Nevada, and came back to the Great Salt Lake region. Jeddediah Smith is known as the first American in the region.A group of trappers, under the command of Joseph Walker traveled to California in 1833, through Humboldt and Carson rivers. After a decade he directed explorers over almost the similar path, setting up a good element of the track used by primitive tourists on their way to California. After the discovery of gold in California in 1848, several explorers went across Nevada on their direction to the Pacific Coast. In the interim, as a consequence of his scientific journeys during 1843and1844 and 1845and1846, John Charles Fremont accomplished a geographic perceptive of the area.Afte r probing through the barren extensions of Nevada for the legendary River Buenaventura, which was supposed to flow towards west to the Pacific Ocean, Fremont assumed that this was an area of internal drainage, and he declared Nevada to be section of his well known â€Å"Great Basin.†(Stewart 1983)I also evidenced the period of territorial days and early statehood. The region from which Nevada was shaped was obtained from Mexico by the Agreement of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. I still remember the days, it was 1849 when in Carson valley, and the first European American settlement was established which was later named as Genoa. Nevada became a section of Utah in 1850 when Utah and new California were recognized as territories. In 1859 silver was discovered in Comstock Lode, which followed a great influx of people to Nevada. Then it was declared as a separate territory in 1861.After almost three years when President Lincoln looked for the support of an antislavery state, Nevada tu rned to statehood. It was October 31, 1864, which is celebrated as Nevada’s birthday every year. In the initial years of statehood mining proved to be as a vital economic factor.   Cultivators and ranchers engaged the majority available farming lands. The mining growth began to diminish in l873. It was the time when silver’s prices started to fall because of being demonetized. However overtiredness of the mines was a causal issue. Consequently the state’s population was reduced by almost 1/3 by the beginning of 1900. (Elliot 1987)Up till now Nevada has undergone remarkable revolutions and now it does hit a high target in US tourism. More than 50 million tourists visit Nevada every year producing an awesome amount of $ 40 billion for the tourism returns. (Nevada Features Stories 2005)Centuries are passing one after the other and me The Battle Mountain is still stood here to record the unknown further advancement of civilization in my homeland, Nevada.References Elliot, Russel R. (1987). History of Nevada. 2nd ed.   University of Neb. Press.Glass, Mary E. (1981). Nevada's Turbulent Fifties: Decade of Political and Economic Change.University of Nev. Press.Nevada Features Stories. Retrieved April 3, 2008, fromRusco, Elmer R. (1975). Good Time Coming? Black Nevadans in the Nineteenth Century.Greenwood Press.Stewart, George R. (1983). The California Trail. University of Neb. Press. Nevada History Nevada History Up To 1900Since ages I have been firmly stood and evidenced several phases of history and have witnessed  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   numerous mysterious and strange phases that are still unrevealed. I am huge, graceful and well known Battle Mountain. My homeland is Nevada, which is a state of USA and is situated in its West. It’s surrounded by California, Ogre, Idaho, Utah and Arizona. Though it is larger than these states but has lesser population. But, it has always been a point of attraction for the visitors because of the beautiful places like me, the great Battle Mountain. Nevada is a Spanish word which means â€Å"snow clad†. Much about primeval Nevada remains vague but there is sign of human commotion in the area for at least 12,000 years.Almost 30 thousand years ago, Nevada was passing through the Ice Age along with the rest of the west. This was the time when I used to be covered with ice and my valleys were full of glaciers. Gradually, w ith the melting of ice in the course of centuries the mountains crept further away. (Elliot 1987)Anasazis 8000-18000 B.C.:I kept watching when all of this water reserved the region that is now a desert enclosed with abundant plantation. In this initial metamorphous period some famous ice age animals came into being such as musk ox, caribou and the mammoth. With the constant melting of ice the temperature began to rise and mammals moved northwards in search of new meadows.  The title of first Nevadans went to Anasazi means â€Å"The Ancient Ones†. None of their remains like bones etc have been discovered yet except a few animal art works.  Ã‚  The archeologists and geologists have hypothesized that these ancient people might have lived during 8000 to 18000 B. C. (Elliot, 1987).The Basket Makers 1500 B. C.The next Nevadan civilization is referred to as â€Å"The Basket Makers† in the history, as the finely made baskets are the only evidence of them instead of any pot s or artwork. Use of spears, sticks and darts is evident but no arrows and bows. They existed near 1500B. C.Several hundreds years later the first white people came around with the bows and arrows. In the same time in south the basket makers started to cultivate maize and Indian corn and they also began to use the arrows and bows.  Sometime later they learnt to make pottery and with these continued facilities they gradually proceeded towards civilization. Their homes were dug outs or pits. (Rusco 1975)The Lost City:After another episode of five hundred years the Pueblo Indians arrived at Moapa Valley region, from northern Arizona. They brought not only the better residential techniques but also started the agriculture of squashes, cotton and beans.The Pueblo blended with the Basket Makers, but it's unrevealed that whether any of them was a captor or it was a peaceable join.   The ultimate outcome was, however the formation of â€Å"Pueblo Grande de Nevada† or the renowned Lost City. At its climax, the Lost City extended for several miles.  Ã‚  It comprised agricultural fields and human settlements scattered all over the valley. It included farm lands, outlying small dwellings and villages scattered through the valley for miles. (Rusco 1975)The first Whiteman: As, I trace back my memory Nevada was the last region of the coterminous United States to be discovered. The history of Nevada took a turn when the first Whiteman, though, not American reached there in 1776. He was Fray Fransico Garces and a swift development started taking place. (Glass 1981)During the same year, Franciscan missionaries may have got into the farthest southern part whilst in search of a route to join the Spanish towns of New Mexico with settlements of California. Further adventure was commenced after fifty years, by British and American fur merchants and trappers. The courageous trader Peter Skene Ogden, who belonged to Hudson's Bay Company, went across the present northern b oundary of the state in the middle of 1820. Ogden discovered the Humboldt River in 1828 during his second exploring trip. Approximately at the same time, in 1826, the American traveler and trader Jedediah Smith came into southern Nevada on a march to California. In 1827 he went across Sierra, advanced by way of mid Nevada, and came back to the Great Salt Lake region. Jeddediah Smith is known as the first American in the region.A group of trappers, under the command of Joseph Walker traveled to California in 1833, through Humboldt and Carson rivers. After a decade he directed explorers over almost the similar path, setting up a good element of the track used by primitive tourists on their way to California.After the discovery of gold in California in 1848, several explorers went across Nevada on their direction to the Pacific Coast. In the interim, as a consequence of his scientific journeys during 1843and1844 and 1845and1846, John Charles Fremont accomplished a geographic perceptive of the area. After probing through the barren extensions of Nevada for the legendary River Buenaventura, which was supposed to flow towards west to the Pacific Ocean, Fremont assumed that this was an area of internal drainage, and he declared Nevada to be section of his well known â€Å"Great Basin.†(Stewart 1983)I also evidenced the period of territorial days and early statehood. The region from which Nevada was shaped was obtained from Mexico by the Agreement of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. I still remember the days, it was 1849 when in Carson valley, and the first European American settlement was established which was later named as Genoa. Nevada became a section of Utah in 1850 when Utah and new California were recognized as territories.In 1859 silver was discovered in Comstock Lode, which followed a great influx of people to Nevada. Then it was declared as a separate territory in 1861. After almost three years when President Lincoln looked for the support of an antislaver y state, Nevada turned to statehood. It was October 31, 1864, which is celebrated as Nevada’s birthday every year. In the initial years of statehood mining proved to be as a vital economic factor.   Cultivators and ranchers engaged the majority available farming lands. The mining growth began to diminish in l873. It was the time when silver’s prices started to fall because of being demonetized. However overtiredness of the mines was a causal issue. Consequently the state’s population was reduced by almost 1/3 by the beginning of 1900. (Elliot 1987)Up till now Nevada has undergone remarkable revolutions and now it does hit a high target in US tourism. More than 50 million tourists visit Nevada every year producing an awesome amount of $ 40 billion for the tourism returns. (Nevada Features Stories 2005)Centuries are passing one after the other and me The Battle Mountain is still stood here to record the unknown further advancement of civilization in my homeland, Nevada.ReferencesElliot, Russel R. (1987). History of Nevada. 2nd ed.   University of Neb. Press.Glass, Mary E. (1981). Nevada's Turbulent Fifties: Decade of Political and Economic Change.University of Nev. Press.Nevada Features Stories. Retrieved April 3, 2008, fromhttp://travelnevada.com/story.asp?sid=3Rusco, Elmer R. (1975). Good Time Coming? Black Nevadans in the Nineteenth Century.Greenwood Press.Stewart, George R. (1983). The California Trail. University of Neb. Press.

Pagkalulong Sa Bawal Na Gamot

Critical thinking is an important quality to cultivate and for many educators, it is the goal of education. Here are a few examples of critical thinking from my own life. First, one of the things I try to do for work is to make good financial investments. For this to take place, you need to analyze everything or think critically. You need to know what is going on in the world (economically speaking), see what things are going to be in demand in the future, and act before others do.So, I drew up a picture of the world and what I thought would happen and I invested based on my convictions. All of this was borne out of critical thinking. Second, when I think back to my university days, I had to decide on a major. There were so many choices and I decided to go with a major that I not only loved, but also a major that would make me more marketable in the long run. I realized that I could study practically all the things I loved in various departments. Based on this, I chose the department that was most marketable.Critical thinking entails careful analysis of all the variables (or as many as you can cover) in a situation, using data and logic to process the information and shape the decisions. Other factors may also enter into the mix†¦ As I considered the timing of my retirement from classroom teaching, I reviewed the financial considerations regarding investments, pension and Social Security payments, options for other means of obtaining income, and tried to predict anticipated current and future expenses.All of this took time and research, but was â€Å"easy† in terms of recording figures that could be examined objectively. Harder to quantify but still vital to the analysis were my reflections on how I was approaching the challenges inherent in classroom positions. I evaluated my energy level, commitment to spending the time and effort outside of the classroom, and my enthusiasm for continuing my personal education in the field. I also felt that emotio ns did play a role in the process and did allow my feelings about continuing to work with middle schoolers enter the process. Bless them, but they are enough to wear anyone out after so long! ) The final piece in my decision-making process was the awareness that my father's health was declining and that I needed to make myself much more available to assist with transportation, supervision of medical concerns, and general involvement in trying to maintain a quality of life for him that is as good as possible for as long as possible. Is critical thinking fast and easy? NO! Is it important in many real life situations? YES!

Summary for a research article-----Litreture review for the article Assignment - 1

Summary for a research article-----Litreture review for the article - Assignment Example The discount rate pertains to the â€Å"opportunity cost† or the anticipated rate of return as one invests on one option, instead of other comparative investments with similar risks (258). The most common discount rate employed is the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC), which includes the risk of the cash flows. Second, some of the Income Valuation methods are â€Å"the capitalization of earnings or cash flows and the discount of future earnings or cash flows† (258). Capitalization is preferred when past operations can best indicate the businesses’ future operations (258). The discount of future earnings is more appropriate, when past operations do not reflect future cash flows (258). Some of the different cash flow methods used are: â€Å"Free Cash Flow, Capital Cash Flow and Equity Cash Flow† (259). Third, the Free Cash Flow (FCF) refers to what is left from the cash operations after tax is deducted and it does not consider the organization’s debt level, which means that it does not deduct interest expenses (259). For its valuation, the proper discount rate for Free Cash Flows is the after-tax Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACCAT), which is computed by using the after-tax cost of debt in the WACC formula (259). Bunea-BontaÅŸ and Petre stress that the Free Cash Flow is a vital measure of the capability of the company to present positive returns to its shareholders. They note that one of the weaknesses of FCF is that since the capital structure of the company is continuously changing, this means that the computation for the WACC must be changed as well (260). Fourth, Capital Cash Flow (CCF) values the cash flow for all security holders of the company, including debts or shares (260). It adds all cash flows paid or can be paid to capital providers, by measuring all of the assets’ after-tax cash (260). CCF’s present value is equal to the value of the enterprise (260). It uses the

Information Technology - Human Computer Interaction (Evaluating Essay

Information Technology - Human Computer Interaction (Evaluating Website for usability) - Essay Example One of these handfuls of researchers who helped build the internet in the 1970’s .The world we see now has become a global village. The internet has made this world into this global village .We see hustle and bustle everywhere, houses, gardens, schools, colleges, universities etc .Since now the world has become such a global village it has made man more inquisitive and competitive at the same time. Every man today wants high living standards, good education, high quality of food and leisure etc. To cater this never ending flow of human wants and needs, groups of individuals formed organizations, and then the process of production and marketing, selling came into being. It is also a fact that in the fast paced world we live in today, things are in flux almost always. What was a trend a decade back may not be evident anymore. The world has been completely invaded by modern inventions. The vast exposure that internet has provided to us has resulted in bringing about great change to the mind sets of people. Various organizations and institutions small and large tend to market their products and services differently. For e.g. marketing through print media, electronic media etc .these ideas came more into being because of the individual wants and needs and how humans were to cater to those. This also then helped individuals identify and prioritize their needs. A prime value of ‘Education’ exists, this has all along been the vital contributor to wards the evolution of man. As time has elapsed both young and old have this clear in their minds that they need to acquire quality education in order to exist respectably in this world. There are different modes of advertising of products and services .This is done in order to help satisfy themselves and others around them. Initially schools, then colleges and now universities with huge campuses, state of the art facilities and accommodation are being

Being An Adult Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Being An Adult - Essay Example I believe one of the significant aspects of adulthood is the ability to support and fend for oneself without one’s parental support. As individuals leave their home and enter college or this work environment this is exactly what is required of them, constituting a significant aspect of assuming adulthood. While I recognize that moving out of one’s parent’s home constitutes a significant aspect of adulthood, another important aspect is simply living one’s existence after the age of eighteen. In these regards, when one passes this age they assume significant legal responsibility. For instance, they then assume legal responsibility for their actions, as if they commit a crime they will be tried as an adult. At age eighteen, individuals are also given the right to vote, join the military, and serve on juries. With this in mind, it’s clear that even if the individual doesn’t have specific experiences, they are still forced to encounter adulthood t hrough these legal elements.

Calvinism and Ephesians Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Calvinism and Ephesians - Essay Example It stands for Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace and the Perseverance of the saints. These Five Points were adopted by the Synod of Dordt (or Dordrecht), each point the subject of a chapter or head of the Canons of Dordt. According to the followers of Calvin, the Five Points "set forth clearly the biblical teaching on the sovereignty and particularity of the grace of God in salvation."1 Total depravity" is often mistaken to mean that humans are all hopelessly, intensely sinful. Actually, it means something quite different: as a result of Adam and Eve's disobedience to God -- the Fall of Man -- sin has extended to all parts of every person's being: "his thinking, his emotions and his will." Sometimes, this has been called "Total inability." This is the concept that it is impossible for the ordinary "natural" human to understand the Gospel's message. They are spiritually helpless. First, God must first decide to intervene in the form of the third personality within the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, the person is lost forever. 2 This is seen in Romans 5:12: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" and in Mark 4:11: "And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables."3 Unconditional Election is the concept of predestination: that God has divided humanity into two groups. One group is "the elected." It includes all those whom God has chosen to make knowledgeable about himself. The rest will remain ignorant of God, and the Gospel. They are damned and will spend eternity in Hell without any hope of mercy or cessation of the extreme tortures. God made this selection before the universe was created, and thus before any humans existed. The ground or grounds that God uses to select the lucky few is unknown. What is known is that it is not through any good works on the part of the individual. It is not that he extends knowledge to some in order to find out who will accept salvation and who will not. There is a degree of tension within the Bible concerning precise division of responsibility between God and humans on this matter. The Bible does not resolve this issue. Hyper-Calvinists believe that a person has zero responsibility for their own salvation; it is all up to God. Arminians teach that humans have free will and thus can accept or resist the call of God.4 This is supported by Romans 9:15: "For he saith to

Human Resource Managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Human Resource Managment - Essay Example This paper approves this performance review will not only help the management grasp the magnitude of contribution made by each employee, but will also help the employees get a measurable perspective regarding their job expectations and requirements. Besides, the company could come out with a structured remuneration and compensation policy, based on the data collected from these surveys and reviews. All the existing research and experience corroborate to the fact that change always begins from the top. It is only when the top management evinces appropriate level of sincerity and commitment to change that the messages and policies eventually percolate down to the juniors. In that context, the senior management at GS Plumbing is loaded with ample issues. The owner of GS Plumbing is noncommittal towards the problems being faced by the organization and dedicates very little time and effort to the company. This essay makes a conclusion that that the human resources employed by GS Plumbing are being poorly managed and scheduled, resulting in employees resorting to cash-in-hand work after hours, by exploiting the company equipment and inputs. The employees are flouting the reporting procedures regarding safety, which may eventually lead to serious union problems. In that context, a timely HR audit on the part of GS Plumbing will lead to a formal identification of these issues and lacunas. As is the nature of problems, it is first important to identify a problem, before it is resolved.

Explain and justify ways in which individuality, difference and Essay

Explain and justify ways in which individuality, difference and diversity can be respected and celebrated in work with parents - Essay Example The factor of working with parents generally helps to nurture as well as provide boundaries which ultimately lead towards the development of relationships (CSSP, 2010). It is usually described as the services which intend to facilitate the parents with regard to enhancing their parenting abilities. Moreover, it is regarded as a form of work which assists parental relationship, increases the confidence level of the parents and enhances the interactions between the child and parents (Crown, 2012). It has been apparently observed that social inequalities tend to exist in every community in different forms which deeply influences the lives as well as attitudes of the people by a considerable level. A community is found to be generally composed of different individuals who possess a broad assortment of values, opinions and beliefs which can be observed to be a significant reason behind the existence of social inequalities. It can be stated that there are different ways by which the aspect s of individuality, diversity as well as difference can be distinguished as well as valued in the course of working with parents. In this similar context, the facet of parents’ engagement can be considered to be one of the significant ways by which individuality, difference and diversity can be valued and distinguished (CSSP, 2010). In this discussion, the ways in which difference, diversity as well as individuality can be celebrated and respected related to working with parents will be taken into concern. Moreover, the legislative policies or the acts including Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 98, Equality Act 2010 and Special Educational Needs & Disability Act 2001 will also be discussed. Besides, the ways in which various aspects such as inclusion, equal opportunity, anti-discriminatory practices and non-judgemental approach can support working with parents will also be highlighted in the discussion. Individuality, Difference and Diversity Can Be Respected and Celebrate d in Work with Parents The chief principles relating to working with parents include the rights as well as requirements of the children, building partnership with the parents and adopting strength-based approach. It has been viewed that a major proportion of the parents desire to perform significant activities in order to offer a better life to their children along with developing their learning practices. The parents as well as the practitioners both work together towards delivering long-term benefits which ultimately poses an optimistic impact upon the development of the children. It is quite necessary to build an effective partnership with parents for the purpose of working together in delivering best interests with regard to the children. There are supposed to be several ways through which the parents can support the learning development of their children. The parents can develop the learning competencies of their children by generating an optimistic home learning

Is there a connection between human freedom and modern physics Essay - 1

Is there a connection between human freedom and modern physics - Essay Example Every man has a natural right to pursue happiness but the human thought process is very tricky. This is Maya, and Maya incites the human mind to dance to its tune. Through its thoughts the human mind can create individual and societies but these very thoughts bring it to a state of confusion. Thinking cannot control the forces of nature, says Wilhelm (Ch1, p45). Thoughts like to drown itself in the assumption that it has control over the senses and nature. Ideas are intelligent perceptions but they too can take different forms. An individual has to assume responsibility to express ideas and this may eventually lead to a new reality. This demonstrates the power in human thoughts, and this very power of ideas, reality and thoughts have led to discoveries in science. Ideas have the power to make us believe in the reality or turn the ideas into reality. It also has the power to create chaos. Human beings are always struggling for freedom – freedom not from other human beings but from their own thoughts. Freedom is not external to the self. Freedom lies in one’s own thinking process, in one’s own perception. It is freedom from one’s own confusion. This is precisely what Lord Krishna in Bhagwad Gita has conveyed. Human beings are forever fighting with their own inner selves – sometimes the divine mind reigns Supreme only to be overpowered by the demonic thoughts. Freedom is to evolve from this Maya and und erstand the Reality. It is freedom from the inner conflict and not a fight between two individuals that has been portrayed. Arjuna’s thoughts and ideas formed a chain and distorted the Reality; he was far away from the Truth. Today human beings view freedom as a right without responsibility. Standards of behavior are determined through the use of statistical curves. Money and success is the yardstick of freedom. Money is linked to spirituality. Spiritualism is a profession and those

Titus andronicus by william shakespeare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Titus andronicus by william shakespeare - Essay Example In the first passage chosen for this paper, Titus Andronicus tells Saturninus that he in fact killed his two sons, and then proceeded to mix their flesh with pie, which their mother then unwittingly ate: â€Å"Why, there they are both, baked in that pie;/ Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,/ Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred. Tis true, tis true; witness my knifes sharp point. (Shakespeare). In this passage two things are worth noting. One is that Titus seemed to be proud of the fact that he had killed two people, and both of them the sons of the person he is addressing. If this were an act of revenge, or an act where a noble man kills men who were evil and had done some terrible wrong to others, then this boasting would have remained within the confines of sane narration. What makes this killing so monstrous is that Titus was not content with killing the two sons, but we read between the lines that he had prepared their flesh and mixed them with pie, precisely so he co uld feed the flesh of her dead sons to their mother. There is no sense to this, and no justification, other than to show that Titus lacked remorse. It was unnecessary to do things this way. The purpose of the monstrous in this case seems to be just to demonstrate how inhuman the whole cascade of events was. The killing and the subsequent baking and feeding of the pie to the mother was gratuitous, totally uncalled for by the turn of events. This aspect of the killing is what makes the act so monstrous and totally inhuman (Shakespeare). Elsewhere we see just how Titus killed the two sons. He did so with the help of Lavinia, who held the basin that caught the blood from the slit throats of the two brothers. We understand that Lavinia suffered much from the two, but the measure of her revenge seemed to go beyond the bounds of what is human too. She could have just had them killed, but she chose to see the killing, and she chose to do so

Db5 team and leadership Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Db5 team and leadership - Research Paper Example Other factors that might contribute to the teamwork failure include lack of open-mindedness and progressive thinking among team members (McCallin & Mike, 2009). However, this is opposed to another experience I had with another team that was very successful from the start to end. Among the main factors that contributed to the success of the team was commitment to the goals of the project, good interpersonal skills and interdependence among team members. According to Tarricone & Luca (2002), interpersonal skills such as open discussions among team members, honesty, trust and respect are some of the most important factors that can enhance effective teamwork among members. However, the most crucial factor that helped the team become successful was communication among members. Open communication and positive feedback among the team members are important attributes for a successful team (Tarricone & Luca, 2002). All members of a particular team need to learn teamwork and be committed to targets, timelines and responsibilities set for the project. Such effectiveness can only be achieved through proper communication among team

Airline Mergers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Airline Mergers - Essay Example Over the years, the number of airlines have been intentionally narrowed down to just a few major airlines. Narrowing down of the airlines have been actualized by mergers that have taken place over the years. The number of mergers have been exceptionally high. This has resulted in creation of some of the world huge airlines. Mergers happen in order for the two partners to gain a certain leverage that was not there before. Universally the reasons behind most of this unions are known. The main reasons include-: 2. Cutting cost- this might be the biggest motivator if not among the best factors. The situation can be looked as previous competitors marrying. This means that we will not have price wars into the future and costs of advertising automatically drops. 3. Surviving- it is a last resort on most companies, it is usually a case of staying in the business or being driven out of business. Therefore when a company is bankrupt or does not have the capability of surviving the tough market forces, merger come through as the only remedy. 5. Competitive advantage- it is a huge factor. Companies are able to reach out to market traditionally not accessed. Therefore this creates a headache for other players since the new merger brings with it financial might. 7. The reasons behind the mergers in the USA airline industry are factored in the above explained reasons. Mergers are nice for business but they are not immune to the law. It is normally a case of trending carefully in order not to break the laws of consumerism in the name of mergers. Therefore, it was not by mistake that in 2013 the government of the USA with support from numerous consumer federations filed a law suit stopping the merger between the mighty American and the mighty US air. The previous mergers that ever occurred did not raise as much issue and outcry as the

Chinas automobile industry Chapter 1 and 3 Essay

Chinas automobile industry Chapter 1 and 3 - Essay Example Started in 1984, the first wave of investment in the automobile industry in China includes the establishment of Beijing Jeep and Shanghai Volkswagen (Wu, 2006). Six years later, the second wave started when FAW-Volkswagen, Guangzhou Peugeot, and Dongfeng- Citroà «n was manufactured and publicly introduced in Chinese market (Wu, 2006). Sometime in late 1990s, the third wave happened when GM, Toyota Motor, and Ford secured their respective car assembly deals at Shanghai GM, Tianjin Toyota Motor, and Chang’an-Ford respectively (Wu, 2006). Other than the foreign-owned automobile manufacturing companies that entered the Chinese market between the years 1980s to 1990s, the fourth wave of investment can be noted when local automobile manufacturing companies like Geely Group, Brilliance China, and Shanghai Cherry started selling cars back in 2001 (Wu, 2006). The continuous development and transfer of foreign automobile technology together with the huge demand for new cars contributes a lot to the success of Chinese automobile industry. In 2009, the total number of cars, trucks and other vehicles sold in China was 13.6 million which accounts for 46% increase from the previous year’s total vehicles sold (Lewis, 2010). In fact, China’s Automobile Industry was the 2nd largest Industry back in 2008. (Table I – China’s Top Ten Industries) The main objective of this study is to gather existing and most current literature regarding the degree of competition in China’s automobile industry. Aside from determining the theoretical approaches that can be use in examining the degree of competitiveness in China’s automobile industry, the gathered literature will provide the readers with useful information regarding significant issues that has been discussed about the advancement of its existing automobile technology including the legal, economic, social, and political factors that could affect the Chinese’s

Perspectives on Policing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Perspectives on Policing - Essay Example The police force is given a mandate to oversee the public relationship therefore public service function is one of the most important aspects of the function of a police. In servicing the public, the police therefore are involved in an array of activities that are meant to ensure an enabling atmosphere of life in the public. In this regard, they integrate important function like management and directing of traffic, directing tourists, attending to emergences, and other functions beyond their normal function of arresting and container law breakers. Therefore we can say that the public needs policing in order to be effective. This shows that the police will need to effective in their work in order to deal with various issues that arise in the management of order in the public. The force will need to be well prepared and well adapted to these challenges. The public is diverse so is the problems that the police needs to address in the public. Therefore one of the most important issues that the police need to have is diversity in their training and in their composition of the force in order to address effectively all these issue. There need to have diversity in gender, training, and other aspects in order to function well. Lack of diversity may constrain their service to the public since the force will not be well prepared to cope with some of these challenges. Failure to deliver services will not be the only negative outcome of lack of diversity but it will also be compounded by bad perception by the public which many mirror the ineffectiveness of the force. (Joan 1998, P. 470) Policing function and diversity As we have stated diversity in the police force is one of the most important aspects that should be looked at. This is due to the effect that it's likely to have on the overall perception and the effectiveness of the police force. Lack of diversity my constitution the enforcement of also as it may be difficult to offer effective services especially to the marginalised groups. It is imperative for all communities to feel represented in the police force also have faith and feel secure. It has been shown that there is increasing malfunctioning of the police force as a result of lack of faith and mistrust between different ethnic groups depending on the way they feel represented in the force. In major cities in the world, there has been increasing conflicts between minority ethnic groups and the majority police force e.g. in the US there is increasing conflict between the white police and the Black American youths who feel that they are not represented in the police force. As a result, t here may be public reluctance to give information to the police for and hence undermines the issue of communicating policing. The public or the police are also likely for decline of appear as witness due to the relationship between the two. It has been shown that some of the crimes that are committed especially in the low income areas are due to marginalisation of these areas since they are not well represented in the police force. (Spencer and Hough 2000, p. 82) When the marginalised groups feel that they are not well represented, they may resource to criminal activities or organisation of criminal gangs which assume the role of protecting the public where police have failed. There is also a likely hold the police order will not be recognised in the

A Rose for Emily Essay Example for Free

A Rose for Emily Essay Foreshadowing is an advance sign or warning of what is to come in the future. Foreshadowing is used as a literary device to tease readers about plot turns that will occur later in the story. In the story, â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† by William Faulkner, several examples are used to achieve the surprising but believable ending. The extremely strong scent about Ms. Emily’s house and the purchase of the poison are just what of these examples of foreshadowing in this story. The first example of foreshadowing is the horrible stench that the townspeople complain about. In the quote, â€Å"just as if a man any man- could keep a kitchen properly,† it shows how the women accuse the male servant of the smell because they stereotype how bad men are in the kitchen since it isn’t their place. Anthor accusation of the smell from the butler is Judge Steven when he states â€Å" its probably just a snake or rat that nigger of hers killed in the yard.† These two quotes suggest the smell to be from the butler but kept us on the edge of what the smell really was. The townspeople tried to resolve the issue, as some of the men decided to sprinkle lime around her house in hopes it would alleviate the stench. However, the smell did not dissipate for another week or two. If the odor had come from a mere snake or rat, the smell would have persisted for only a few days. In anthor section of the story Emily plans on buying arsenic. This is the next example of foreshadowing. â€Å"I want the best you have. I don’t care what kind,† this quote made by Emily to the town druggist when she wants the strongest poison. This questions the reader what she might need it for and why the strongest one. The druggist answers back to her, â€Å"they’ll kill anything up to an elephant,† the druggist made this point to let Miss Emily know that it kills huge animals not only just rats. When Emily goes home she finds written on the box, under the skull and cross bones- â€Å" for rats,† this suggest to the reader to think whether she might use it on herself or for someone else. Therefore in the ending of the story, when Miss Emily dies and the townspeople discover the corpse of Homer Barron, the reader recalls the use of foreshadowing, Miss Emily buying the poison and the horrible stench that was coming from the house. Faulkner in fact prepares the reader for Homer Barron’s death at the ha nds of Miss Emily almost from the very beginning. The use of foreshadowing throughout the story contributes to the unity of the story and allows the reader to accept the lovers’ fate as inevitable.

Archimedes Essay Example for Free

Archimedes Essay Archimedes was one of the most known and respected mathematicians of ancient Greece. He was born between the years of 290 and 280 BCE in Syracuse, Sicily which is currently known as Italy. His death took place in Syracuse, Sicily between the years of 212 and 211 BCE. In autumn of 212 or the spring of 211 Syracuse was taken over by Roman General Marcus Claudius Marcellus (Encyclopedia Britannica, n. d). It was during the cities take over that Archimedes was killed. There is rumors about what lead up to a Roman solider killing him. Some historians believe his death was due to Archimedes not willing to give up his mathematical diagrams of mirrors that would burn the Roman ships. The exact years of his birth and death are uncertain, but Greek historian John Tzetes believes he lived to be 75 years old (â€Å"Archimedes†, n. d). Archimedes father was named Phidias who was an astronomer. His mother’s name is unknown, but there is belief that Archimedes is related to the Ruler of Syracuse King Hiero II. There are currently not many documents of Archimedes upbringing. In fact there is only one record of his life that was written by his friend Heracleides. Unfortunately this biography was lost. Education Archimedes was not only a mathematician but also a physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer (â€Å"Archimedes†, n. d). Archimedes thought of himself as first a mathematician and secondly an inventor, his other qualities where simply additional characteristics. He received his knowledge by spending most of his life studying in Syracuse but did spend some time in Alexandria and Egypt possibly with another ancient mathematician known as Euclid. Besides Euclid, Archimedes partnered with other mathematicians of his time. These mathematicians are Conon of Samos and Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Along with studying with these individuals, Archimedes published some of his works in correspondence with them. These published essays include The method of Mechanical Theorems and the Cattle Problem (â€Å"Archimedes†, n. d. ). Greatest Accomplishments Archimedes is famous for several great accomplishments by many during his time period and individuals within this present time period. He is known to have written several books and other types of work. One book which is actually divided into two books is called On the Sphere and Cylinder. On the Sphere and Cylinder describes characteristics of spheres and cylinders as identified by Archimedes. He goes into detail the surface area of any sphere has a radius that is four times that of its greatest circle and the volume of a sphere is two-thirds that of the cylinder in which it is inscribed (Encyclopedia Britannica, n. d. ). Archimedes was so proud of his discovery that he had his tomb marked with a sphere inscribed within a cylinder. The tomb was found in 106-43 BCE by Marcus Tullius Cicero (Encyclopedia Britannica, n. d. ). Another one of his greatest accomplishments would include his determining of the exact measurement of pi. He was one of the first mathematicians to begin studying PI. He began his study of PI between the years of 287 and 212 BCE. His studies determined PI equals 223/71 PI 22/7. His results are related upon approximating the area of a circle based on the area of a regular polygon inscribed with the circle and the area of a regular polygon within which the circle is inscribed (â€Å"PI†, n. d). According to his work he started with studying a hexagon and worked his way up to the polygon with 96 sides (â€Å"PI†, n. d). This was deemed very impressive back in his day and in the current modern day. Archimedes created a great invention that is still used in some parts of the world today it is called the Archimedes Screw. Historians believe the Archimedes Screw was invented when King Hieron II approached Archimedes with the request of building a large luxury ship. Thanks to Archimedes’ excellent knowledge of buoyancy, he constructed the ship with little hesitation. Unfortunately, he found that the ship constantly leaked. The ship’s leakage is what brought on the invention of the Archimedes Screw. Archimedes constructed a device that could be operated by one person. The device was simple in design and efficient at moving both liquid and solid particles. This invention that was intended to originally pump water out of the bulge of a luxury ship led to an agricultural device used to pump irrigation water up a gradient and still used by modern day farmers. Around 211 BCE Archimedes formulated the â€Å"hydrostatic principle† also known as the Archimedes principle. The Archimedes principle demonstrates how an object’s density when immersed in a specific volume of fluid will sink or float. The formula is described as W=pVg (â€Å"Archimede’s Principle† n. d). The formula demonstrates that if the density of the object is greater that the fluid the object is placed in, the object will sink. If the object has the same density off the volume of fluid it is placed in it will neither sink nor float. It is when the object is placed in a mass of fluid that is greater than the density of the object that causes it to float. This principle is still practiced today by modern day mathematicians. Archimedes principle has an interesting story associated with its origin. Rumor has it that Archimedes was approached by King Hiero II after he ordered a gold crown. The King was concerned the crown was not pure gold as he had requested. He was convinced it was mixed with silver. So, the King approached Archimedes with his concern. Archimedes decided to take a bath. This bath is what leads to one of the greatest discoveries of all times-the Archimedes Principle. While in the bath he discovered that the exact amount of water equivalent to his submerged body mass overflowed the edges of the tub. After realization of his discovery he was so excited he jumped out of the tub and ran out of his home into the streets of Syracuse screaming â€Å"Eureka, Eureka†. The term eureka stands for â€Å"I have found it†. Besides the invention of the Archimedes Principle, the commonly used term of Eureka can be credited to Archimedes himself. Before his death between the years of 212 and 211 BCE, Archimedes played an important role in the defense of Syracuse against the Roman navy. He invented what was known as â€Å"war machines†. He constructed these machines so effectively they delayed the initial capture of the city of Syracuse. Archimedes created these machines by applying his knowledge of mathematics and science he used devices known as pulleys, and levers. These war machines consisted of several aspects of his inventions. Some of these aspects include stone throwers, and large crossbows. Other characteristics of his war machines included the use of the Archimedes claw. The Archimedes claw uses a crane and grappling hook to reach down and grab the Roman galleys. This action ultimately leads to capsizing them (â€Å"war machines† n. d). Besides these great inventions that deterred the Roman navy for quite some time, Archimedes included the use of mirrors or polished stones to focus direct sunlight into a point and would cause the wooden ships owned by the Romans to become engulfed in flames. This concept of using mirrors to catch fire to the Roman ships is known as the â€Å"Archimedes Death Ray† (â€Å"war machines† n. d). This one invention is thought to have been the ticket to his death. According to history the Romans wanted the designs so significantly that if Archimedes did not render them over he would be killed. Archimedes can be thought of as a hero that fights for what he believes in, he refused to hand over his invention and death was his only option. Conclusion Archimedes can be credited with the title of one of the world’s most knowledgeable mathematicians and inventors. He was highly thought of during his time period and his wisdom still lives on in modern day society. Archimedes has created several inventions and contributed several mathematical concepts. To sum up some of his most known and most important inventions they are determining the measurement of PI, the Archimedes Screw, the Archimedes Principle, and his creation of war machines. Even after his death in Syracuse around 212 or 211 BCE, his mathematical concepts did not die with him. His inventions and knowledge will continue to be acknowledged, studied, and taught well into the future.

Malaysia Airlines Marketing Analysis

Malaysia Airlines Marketing Analysis Jump to: PEST Analysis | Marketing Mix Analysis | 5 Ps Analysis Malaysia Airlines, more commonly known as MAS was founded in 1947, as Malayan Airways. Its primary hub used for domestic and international flights is the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the secondary hub being Kota Kinabalu International Airport. Malaysia Airlines has flights that cover most of Asia and flights that go on the Kangaroo Route between Europe and Australia. They also operate transpacific flights from Kuala Lumpur to Los Angeles, via Tokyo. MAS consists of two main airline subsidiaries that are MASwings and Firefly. Firefly focuses on flights to tertiary cities whereas MASwings prioritizes inter-Borneo flights. Apart from that, MAS also has a freighter fleet operated by MASKargo, which commands freighter flights as well as aircraft cargo-hold for all Malaysia Airlines passenger flights. Lastly, MASCharter operated charter flights using MAS aircrafts. 2.0 Market Environments Micro and Macro 2.1 Micro Environment Malaysian Airlines Systems (MAS) has suffered financially throughout the past decades due to many factors, just like other major full-service carrier airlines company in other countries. Due to events such as the September 11th terrorist attack, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and also the outbreak of many viruses notably the Influenza virus, the airlines companies throughout the world had suffered its consequences. In order to evaluate Malaysia Airlines microenvironment, the method used is the Porters five forces analysis which consists of Threat of New Entrants, Power of the Customer, Power of the Supplier, Substitutes and Competitive Rivalry. 2.1.1 Threat of New Entrants Malaysian Airlines Systems (MAS) has not been affected by any threats of new entrants for the international stage because the company has been in the industry for a long period of time, which makes the company more stable and mature through the service they offer in the airlines industry. Although the company may not be threaten right now, there could be possible new entrants to the market which may be created by merging two or more airlines company as one. These mergers may also offer competitive prices and services to their customers and could possibly dominate the full-service carrier market in Malaysia. For the local market, Malaysian Airlines Systems (MAS) had been threatened by the new entries to the market notably Air Asia, and a few other entrants such as Tiger Airways and Berjaya Airways. Although these companies target the low-cost carrier market, they have made a dramatic effect to Malaysia Airlines performance and operations. There could be a possible reason that this trend would continue in the future if MAS through its subsidiary company, FireFly could not be as competitive as the other company. 2.1.2 Power of the Customer The airlines industry is full of operations that fly to many locations from many other locations. In Malaysia, there are other airlines company such as Emirates Airlines and KLM Airlines which offers value for money to customers to fly overseas mainly to Europe, which affects the operations of international flights for Malaysia Airlines. The choice of the customers choosing which airlines they prefer are more open due to its variety of offerings from these flight operators with their competitive prices. Therefore, one company does not have the power to monopolize the market because of customers have power to choose and select when they want to fly at the price they are willing to pay. Based on a research, the power of the flight operators has been decreasing in the late 1990s with business airfares decreasing drastically up to 50%. 2.1.3 Power of the Supplier Aircraft maker, Boeing has been dominating the market of supplying aircraft to airlines companies throughout the world, alongside Airbus and other smaller companies. MAS has been buying planes from Boeing since the start of its operations and for this reason; supplier has the power to control the market due to limited choices for the flight operators to choose from. Most of Malaysia Airlines pilots and staff had been trained to use the Boeing systems since the majority of planes owned by Malaysia Airlines are from Boeing. Recently, Malaysia Airlines had purchased a few up to date aircrafts from Airbus, notably the Airbus A380 Jumbo, for their upgrades to their aircraft line-up. Boeing and Airbus has the power towards their customers because they have been monopolizing the market for a very long time and they produce high quality aircrafts and the safety measures they provide are excellent. 2.1.4 Substitutes For a long distance travelling, substitutes are not possible as there are no other form of transportation that can compete with what airline companies can offer which is comfort, the ease of travel, the speed of travelling and also affordability as compared to other source of travelling such as by car, train, busses or by sea. Travelling through air is also more environmentally friendly, able to save a lot of travelling time and can be considered affordable in the current time. 2.1.5 Competitive Rivalry MAS has been competing with other big competitor in the Asian flight market; one of the companies is the neighbouring airlines company, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways. Singapore Airlines has been offering attractive promotions and discounts to their customers and these have affected Malaysia Airlines operations and profitability in the full-service carrier market. The only way for these companies to survive is through merging with other airlines company. 2.1.6 Prospects Malaysia Airlines has been collaborating with many other airlines operators to share international routes mainly with Australias Qantas Airways, where Malaysia Airlines can fly to more routes that provide them with more profits. Malaysia Airlines should also monitor their performance for the unprofitable routes and cut them off from their offerings so that they could avoid huge losses in the future. 2.2 Macro Environment The definition of Macro Environment is the major external and uncontrollable factors that influence an organizations decision making, and affect its performance and strategies. To evaluate the macro or external environmental factors, PEST analysis is used to provide information on the factors that relates to MAS. 2.2.1 Political Factors It is essential to consider political factors towards the airlines industry in Malaysia due to its important nature in order to determine the future growth of the company. Malaysia has been viewed as a peaceful and harmonious country to others, and has become one of the popular and famous attractions for tourist all over the world because the country is politically stable. Malaysia also has many attractive travel destinations for people to visit and it is considered safe to travel anywhere throughout these destinations. The government of Malaysia has been promoting and maintaining its tourism assets and also implements policies and legislation to protect the investors, customer and the public, so that everyone feels at ease when they are in Malaysia. 2.2.2 Economic Factors In the past decade, global financial crisis has happened notably in year 1998, 2003 and year 2008. This event has affected the performance of the airlines industry globally and most airlines companies had suffered a huge loss and bankruptcy. Malaysia Airlines is one of Airlines Company that got affected the most in this region. Malaysia has been categorised as a developing country, therefore, from the past global financial crisis, the purchasing power of the people has gone down drastically and people rather save up more for important needs rather than getting on a flight for holiday or business trip. Although Malaysia Airlines has been pressured by many other competitors in the airlines industry, they have tried to overcome it by launching their initiative plan such as, Everyday Low Fares promotion in which they offer attractive discounts to any flight that has a lot of unsold seats to attract more customers to fly with them. People prefer to fly with low-costs carriers when the glo bal financial crisis occurs. 2.2.3 Social Factors Social factors are elements which consist of demographic and cultural considerations that affect the size of potential market and the needs of its customers. These factors includes beliefs, value, attitude, opinions and lifestyles of a person which may affect the companys external environment such as cultural, ecological, demographic, religious, ethnic and educational. Government has already implemented some ways to boost the tourism and airlines industry by carrying out campaigns by investing in maintaining the attractiveness of the tourists hotspots and provides excellent hospitality towards the tourism industry. People still prefer to travel by air due to its convenience. The change in the lifestyle of the people in Malaysia will probably help boost the tourism and airlines industry in line with the increase in gross national income per capital (GDP), to indicate that more people can afford to travel by air. 2.2.4 Technological Factors Malaysia Airlines provides online services for their customers to book tickets online, and they also provide other packages such as hotel bookings, lease of car, travel insurance and other commodities. In the recent years, Malaysia Airlines has upgraded its online system in which they implement the Passenger Services System (PSS). This system ensures the smoothness of transactions made online, snappier service delivery and also loyalty programmes, namely the Enrich loyalty programme. Malaysia Airlines has also been providing excellent in-plane entertainment systems such as digitalized entertainment screen for selected seats that consists of movies, music on demand, games and interactive applications. 3.0 Marketing Targeting 3.1 Segmentation Market Targeting is a marketing concept that helps marketers to diverge the market into small units that include people of the same mind. Market segmentation can be divided into several areas such as geographic, psychographic and demographic segments. According to demographic research, the average age of Malaysia Airlines passengers is 14.6 years and mostly ranges from 25 years and above. Most passengers of Malaysia Airlines earn high income that enables them to use their services anytime and it is also seen that most of their passengers are business people that travels all the time. Geographic segmentation The Kangaroo Route that Qantas Airways provides connects flights from Europe to major Australian and New Zealand gateways via Kuala Lumpur International Airport within 5 hours. 3.2 Evaluating Market Segments 3.2.1 Segment Size and Growth Demand for flights from Asia as well as North America and Europe has increased at a high rate since 2002, which dramatically outpaced supply growth. Intra-Asian demand has increased by 40% in the same time span. The predicted Asian economic recovery ensures that MAS has a chance to profit from this excess demand. According to their Business Plan, MAS expects ASEAN passenger demand to double by the year 2020. 3.2.2 Company Objectives and Resources To properly execute their Recovery Plan, MAS intends to further develop their branded customer experience. MAS plans to put their customers as top priority and will be making investments in several tools as well as processes which will mobilize the organization and enable them to execute their vision. Also, they will undergo an overhaul which will allow them to excel on three major dimensions which are commercial effectiveness, flight operations and cost management. They plan to continually improve in areas such as revenue management, direct sales, and intend on the usage of social networking to aid in marketing. MAS also plans to make their service to a more performance-based culture. They are also going to hire more suitable people for the senior leadership of MAS and shall not hesitate to make key decisions to put that objective into action. By cutting down and creating a more limited board of leaders, decisions will be quick and they will once again become a competitive and winni ng organisation, according to their Business Plan. As MAS is to obtain 23 new aircrafts in 2012 with state-of-the-art passenger features, this will generate more sales and marketing functions focusing on the premium sector. Also, in the first half of 2012, MAS launched their new short-haul brand which is flying an entirely new Boeing 737-800 fleet. 3.2.3 Selecting a Market Segment Based on their new business plan, Malaysia Airlines plans to target the premium sector, much like the strategy of Cathay. MAS has the vision to become the preferred premium carrier which will lead to competition between them and competitors Cathay and SIA. Their focus on the premium sector is influenced by the growth in demand in the last decade for domestic as well as international flights where demand greatly outstrips supply. MAS is putting emphasis on a branded customer experience and their new premium carrier will focus on international flight destinations with high traffic rates which in turn will generate revenue at a quicker pace than before, according to their Business Turnaround Plan. 3.2.4 Choosing a Market-Coverage Strategy While Malaysia proves to be a fairly small country in comparison with other Asian countries, MAS plans to harness Malaysias geo-economic centricity in ASEAN which emphasises on their natural cost-competitiveness. In line with focusing on the premium sector, Malaysia Airlines network plans to include destinations where their premium travelers have a high demand and also expand their network to cover the worlds major economic hubs and regions. MAS plans to focus on the individual customer needs of regional premium travelers. This is brought about by the launch of their new short-haul brand which will set standards that emphasise on operational excellence, premium service and cost efficiency. Their new plan to focus on the premium sector is highly advertised with several television ads, news alerts and public service announcements which are easily accessible online, increasing the coverage of aforementioned advertising methods. 3.3 Choosing implementing a positioning strategy MAS makes sure maintenance staff, flight operation staff, and ground crew are world class trained on their technical skills, cabin crew are highly trained and committed to excellent service. Based on MAS recovery plan in 2012 they will buy 23 new aircrafts and slowly get rid of the A330-200 and B747-400 aircrafts over the next 3 years. By 2015 they will have the youngest fleet in the region, where their aircrafts would be equipped with the best hardware. MAS will redo their approach of their branding, distribution and customer loyalty. They will also restore their commercial approach towards their customers. 3.3.1 Product differentiation Service MAS focus on service quality which has earned the company the status of a top-tier global brand. In 2004 Skytrax awarded MAS Five Star. This recognition has won them the Best cabin crew for four consecutive years. MAS staff are trained in their technical skills, their cabin crew is highly trained and committed to excellent service and professionalism. Personnel MAS makes sure maintenance staff, flight operation staff and ground crew are world class in their technical skills. Cabin crew are highly trained and committed to excellent service. Location MAS estimated that 60% of their routes are not profitable on a fully cost allocated basis. To help with their recovery, they are reducing the capacity on routes that have generated losses over the years. Physical attributes MAS will be buying 23 new aircrafts in 2012, and slowly get ride of the A330=200 and B747-400 aircrafts over the next 3 years. By 2015 they will have the youngest fleet of aircrafts that will be full equipped with the best hardware. 4.0 Marketing Mix 4.1 Product In the 4Ps of Marketing Mix, the term product refers to tangible, physical and also the service provided. It characterised the direct product or service to fulfil the customers needs. Malaysia Airlines has been providing up to date products and service. One of it is the e-Ticketing service. E-Ticket service is an online service that provides electronic tickets. With the purchase of e-Tickets, customers need not have to go to physical outlets to purchase their tickets but they can make their purchases online and print the tickets as proof of purchase. It is more convenient to the customers and the airlines company also able to save handling and administrative costs. Customers only need to bring a copy of the printed tickets that indicate details such as booking reference and purchase details. To purchase the e-Ticket, customers need a valid credit card and other approved payment methods. Malaysia Airlines also provides easy payment to their customers. Currently, Malaysia Airlines accepts many different types of payment methods such as credit card (Visa/MasterCard/American Express), Local banks online banking (Maybank2U, CIMB Clicks) and also PayPal. Malaysia Airlines Engineering and Maintenance is one of Malaysia Airlines subsidiaries which are well known for its world class service. The standards of service that they provide is on par with the work carried out overseas such as top European companies in the same line of service and have been in compliance with EASA as recognition for its competency and quality standard. 4.2 Place Malaysia Airlines fly to more than one hundred destination across six continents and they would expand their routes to new attractive destination in the future. They fly domestically and also to foreign countries in North America, South America, Europe, Central Asia, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and so on. Malaysia Airlines has been recognised as Asias Premier Airlines that offers intensive network to more than 100 destinations worldwide. Recently, Malaysia Airlines offers new destinations such as flying to Narita, Japan and cut off its unprofitable routes including those to Dubai, Johannesburg, Buenos Aires and Cape Town. 4.3 Pricing Malaysia Airlines is currently implementing a new micro-segmentised fare system for its domestic network which covers 23 routes. This is in line with the Flying to Win Customers aspect of the MAS Business Turnaround Plan. Apart from price flexibility, every fare segment has its own set of conditions regarding aspects like ticketing deadlines and refunds. The revised fares allow travelers the choice to combine different one-way fare flights to plan a personalized travel experience. With the new fare system, customers can enjoy cheaper air fare rates. According to the managing director of MAS, Mr Idris Jala, MAS customers will still be able to enjoy some of the lowest air fare rates globally even though the full fares for economy and business class have been raised to an average of 15% and 30% respectively. Research shows that Malaysia is behind Thailand in terms of the average fee of domestic fares. When inflation caused living cost and in turn fuel costs to hike, Malaysia Airlines to ok into consideration that their customers would want more affordable air fares. They implemented cost cutting strategies that positively affected their air fares plus the overall Business Turnaround Plan. MAS plans to remain committed to the governments plan for national integration initiatives which are currently offering trans-Malaysian fares that begin from lower rates than before 21st August 2006. They also plan to continue offering discounts to senior citizens, members of parliament and the like. Aside from these discounts, MAS has ceased to offer its previously discounted price fares. During the implementation of the new micro-segmented fare system which is currently in motion, Malaysia Airlines will still deem all transactions carried out with the previous fares valid. To ensure transparency of said transactions, all fares sold are effective immediately and this is reflected on the tickets of the customers which tallies with the recent cut over to nett fares displayed on tic kets. 4.4 Promotion MAS has strength which is derived from its global acclaim as a 5-star airline with a highly acclaimed brand supported by service orientated personnel. MAS strives to not only provide comfortable long distance service, but luxurious service. Their expertise in providing immaculate service from every aspect has had MAS named Worlds Best for 3 consecutive years. As of late, travelers have bestowed upon Malaysia Airlines the 5-Star WorldAirline Ranking in the 2006 Skytrax Passenger Survey. Participation in the MATTA-MITM Fair 2006 was part of their Business Turnaround Plan to increase revenue via their existing routes plus deliver the their brand experience to customers and business associates. Subsequently, MAS has increased its capacity to cater to the increasing number of web-surfers, Mastercard and Visa credit card users. The users can now pay for their tickets by calling and booking via the call center for flights departing from Malaysia. Customers who opt for this method of payment also enjoy the extra convenience that is the ability to obtain their tickets anytime before their determined departure date from any Malaysia Airlines ticket office in Malaysia or online. MAS has also added the ability to check-in and print your boarding pass via the internet. 5.0 Conclusion In conclusion, Malaysia Airlines has identified the factors that are hindering their growth as a company such as economical factors affecting fuel charges which in turn result in a fare price hike. To rectify this and minimize losses, they have devised a new business plan which is focused on the premium sector that is currently

MSD Construction Business Plan Analysis

MSD Construction Business Plan Analysis The analysis of MSD business plan Introduction The paper is about MSD Construction Company own by an Omani citizen Mr Mujahid Al-Zadjali.it specialized in providing services including concrete fabrication, utilizing framework, concrete placement and excavation. It focuses on commercial as well as residential clients. It aims to become the leading contractor by providing high quality services with affordable prices. This paper is about analyzing of the business plan for MSD. It will evaluate whether the plan is suitable for the firm to achieve their long-term goals. This assignment will be organized as follows. First, it will highlight the owner-personal quality and the skills he possessed. Then, the organizational structure and management skills and duties will be evaluated. Later on, the company product-market will be discussed. It also will discuss about its market and pricing strategy. Next, it will focus on competitive environment and their strategies. Then, the financial performance of MSD will be analyzed. After the analysis of financial statements, the paper will analyze the SWOT of the company. In conclusion, there will be a brief summary about the case and recommendation for MSD to improve their business plan. 1.0 Personal Quality of the owner manager Mr. Mujahid AL-Zadjali is capable to run his own construction business as he has 5 years experience in the field. In addition, he possesses a variety of skills that are required in running this type of the organization, such as marketing, time management and cost control skills. In addition, these will help assists him to solve the crises in future. The business plan had not mentioned whether he has IT skills which are important for all business. Based on the business plan, the owner is willing to hold liable for all debts and obligation related to company. He also established long-term planning for the organization. These all indicate that he is self-motivated and emotionally strong to face all the business risks. Also, it means that the owner definitely desires to growth his business. The objectives of the entrepreneur are to develop infrastructure for long-term planning and to achieve regular profit yearly. Furthermore, it aims to provide quality services at affordable cost to its customers. Another objective of the company is to provide health and safety work environment to its employees. The owner of the firm has adopted leadership style based on responsible and mutual respects between the staff. This is one of the ideal characters for this construction company as there are many technical works have to be performed by specialized employee. 2.0 The Management Team The business already had management team which consists of two administrative assistant and general manager. However, there are not sufficient numbers of management in the team. It should include human resource manager to accomplish the safety requirement on the job and high quality of services. The company should also appoint stock manager to manage in-coming and out-going materials for the constructions. In addition MSD did not appoint proper manger for preparation of the financial statements as it kept in position the administrative assistant with marketing and public relation background. It should hire manager that is specialized in accounting and finance. According to the management team that mentioned in the business plan have adequate mix of outside experience. For example, Ms. Jaya is an administrative assistant has excellent organizational and managing office crisis skills with 25 years of experience in accounts payable and receivable. Except for Mr. Varma which has seven years experience in marketing and public relation but which is not adequate for accounting job. The company set a goal to build an infrastructure for organizational structure but seems it does not applied yet proper organizational chart. It did not mention a detailed organizational structure and who should report to whom. It should clearly set up structure with staff position and duties. The business plan has not mentioned if there is any delegation of authority between staff. They have to plan a proper delegation strategy and to inform staff about it in order to be aware of the responsibilities that are transferred to them. There are no monitoring procedures to check the performance of the employees. The company had to have performance measurement to evaluate how the staffs perform in their duties. The organization philosophy is based on job responsibility and mutual respect between staff. The staff should follow this organization culture to achieve the companys common goals and objectives. MSD consider its employees as it provides health and safety work environment within the concrete industry. Moreover, it trains its employees adequately on the industry work. Although these are satisfying staff, there is probability of cost increasing of the company especially overhead expenses. 3.0 Product-Market Offering The construction company had set target market by supplying its services to both commercial and individual customers. It provides road construction and dirt work for commercial customers. It also provides house slabs and driveways for residential houses. Moreover, it provides concrete fabrication services for both residential as well as commercial customers. The business plan although highlight the services that provided to clients, it did not mention the types of services that are preferred by the clients. It should have a detailed investigation of customers needs to satisfy their requirements. MSD adding-value in their products through provides certain benefits to its clients including solid foundation, long lasting and safety and high quality products with cost-effective prices. Therefore, the clients can enjoy living at their house and feel safety. According to the statistics in business plan the demand of single-family units has been increased by 12% and 1.5% for multi-family units in 2001. This indicates that there is market space for MSD products and services. However, the statistics are out of date and the company should rely only on the recent data. The firm has knowledge of the industry and competitors as it knows that the market is in growth position and the competitors strength and weaknesses, such as Julfar and Bahwan Company. These all will assist firm in having resistance against any reaction by the competitors. The products and services of the firm are well-constructed and durable with high quality but at reasonable price. Therefore, it leads to low maintenance requirements. In addition, it ensures that their products are saved and approved by Muscat Municipality and Ministry of Electronic and Water Resources before providing to customers. This indicates that the company has shown the value of their products for prospect customers. Bahwan and Julfar are well known brand with many years experience in construction services. They have an exemplary skill in customer relation management which enables them to retain their clients. Besides that, they have marketing skills and database resources that create obstacles to MSD to become market leader. Construction Company is trying to stay close to customers by gathering all its services in head office (AL-Khuwair) and it provides 24 hours call centre as a facility for customers if they face or to complain about any problems. In tight economy and high competition, MSD planned to design a unique strategy to keep the cost at reasonable level with high quality of products. It also verifies calls in accordance to their circumstances and then transfers these particular calls to proper department. It can be cost leadership firstly by attempt to gain more market share than its competitors. Then, the cost will be automatically reduced by distributing fixed cost in wide range of products. 4.0 Competitive Environment Based on business plan there are no indicators of whether some of elements will affects the construction industry, such as economic stability and customer needs. MSD firm had collected only some information regarding to its competitors. This include as follows: * Operating method. The competitors using high quality services with reasonable price. These prices will gradually decrease up to the current market price without reducing in quality. * Market strategies. In order to retain their clients, they hired customer relation management for this purpose. On other hand, MSD did not find information related to competitors including size and profitability. It should get some statistical data about the competitors profit, their market shares, number of employees, number of branched and so on. The entrepreneur did not identify of the future marketing mix strategy of the competitors. It also did not investigate of whether the rivals have planned to develop new products for the future. The companys objective if the competitors develop new products or provide new services. It might be the latest one to possess these products or services and these possessions might already reach at their maturity level. MSD should at least try to gets some information about the competitors (through analysis current market strategy of the rivals to predict its future plan) in order to find proper reaction against its competitors to keep their objectives achievable. The company did not have a unique resources that makes it difference from the competitors to attract clients. It should have something that allows them to be differentiating from other. For instance: providing free maintenance after sales. 5.0 Financial Performance * Financial Statements figures The analysts found certain errors in the MSD financial plan. In its projected income statement the amount of retained profit that desired by MSD is same as the break even. Therefore, the firm should make more profit to achieve its target. Moreover, the retained profit for the year 2007 was wrongly calculated. The amount after deducting provision for tax and legal reserve should be R.O 21,000 instead of R.O 42,600. This error affected the rate of some ratios like net profit and ROE. In projected balance sheet of the firm two issues were found. First, the fixed assets were relatively low. The companys fixed assets balance should be higher due to heavy machinery and building that it possessed. If we assumed that most of its fixed assets is in form of leasing, it did not mention in the F.S. secondly, in 2008 the F.A was significantly low compare to previous years. About the projected cash flow, there is one mistake has deducted. The advance pre-payment have to be ‘nil instead of negative balance of R.O 5,000 as it is constant every year. The business plan also includes the calculation of ratios. In calculation of interest cover, MSD did not mention the amount of interest or the amount of loan that will enable it to calculate the interest. There is a financial charge in income statement but it represents beside interest other items, such as transaction fees and cost of credit. Thus, it will mislead all the stakeholders who depend on the statements. * Financial ratios analysis However, the analysis of the ratios was based on the given statement except for 2007 where it calculated after the amendment of net profit. a) Performance ratio: Return on shareholders funds. 2006 2007 2008 22.5% 14% 29% The profit available to owner had been decreased in 2007 by 8.5% but it increased again in 2008 15%. This is because the profit after tax decreased in 2007 and then increased again in the following year. According to the plan the net profit is fluctuated every year. This indicates that company does not have adequate plan for uncertainty. Return on capital employed 2006 2007 2008 25% 33.33% 35% ROCE had been increased continuously every year. It is because the profit before interest and tax increased yearly. This mean the company situation is continually improving and willing to pay its debts. However, long term debt had not taken into account as it was not available in projected balance sheet. This lead to inaccurate identifies the percentage of profit available to pay its debts. b) Profitability ratio: Gross margin 2006 2007 2008 34.84 33.48% 33.33% The projected income statement shows that gross profit has been slightly decreased from 2006 to 2007. This is due to the increasing in cost of sales and the revenue did not increase at the same level while it remained almost same in 2008. MSD should investigate the reason of such decreases as it may affect he net profit in future Net profit margin 2006 2007 2008 17.42% 18.52% 19.40% Although the gross profit had been decreased, it can be noticed that the net profit is increasing every year. The reason for increasing is operating expenses has been increased at acceptable level which let retained profit to reflect the increasing in sales revenue. The total expenses were increased from 2006 to 2007 by 1.13% (27,000/24,000) whereby retained profit had increased by 1.58% (42,600/27,000) for same period. c) Asset efficiency ratio: Debtor turnover 2006 2007 2008 177 days 143 days 155 days The debtor collection period has decreased in 2007 by 34 days and it increased again in 2008 by 12 days. However, it is still considering high. (Further explanation in III) Creditors turnover 2006 2007 2008 74 days 88 days 76 days Average payment period to MSDs suppliers is 79 days whereby average collection period is 158 days. Company might face problem in cash flow because it pays to supplier before receiving from customers. It should make sure that the money collected earlier than the payments although customers may not like it otherwise the firm will suffer to pay to its suppliers. If this situation is continued, the suppliers may not renew the contract or may ask the firm to pay on delivery. d) Liquidity ratio: Current ratio 2006 2007 2008 5.36:1 4.18:1 4.78:1 The current ratio of the firm has been decreased in 2007 and 2008 compare to 2006 but it is still at acceptable level. This is probably because the current liabilities in 2006 are less than in 2007 and 2008. MSD attempted to ensure that its current ration did not fall below 4:1. Quick ratio 2006 2007 2008 3.79:1 2.76:1 3.27:1 Again, the current liabilities in 2006 are more than in next two years. It was noticed that the inventory was less in 2006 than the inventory in following years. MSD should ensure their inventory level should not increase further otherwise it might face difficulties in cash flow. e) Gearing ratio Interest cover 2006 2007 2008 21 times 26 time 29 times The interest coverage of less than three times is considering low. It can be seen that the interest cover is increasing every year from 21 times in 2006 to 29 times in 2008 which is good news to company. The reason behind this increasing is the profit before interest and tax is greater in 2007 and 2008 than in 2006 regardless of increasing in total expenses. * Sensitivity analysis The following table will help to calculate the sensitivity to profit. 2006 2007 2008 R.O000 R.O000 R.O000 Sales 155 230 300 Less: Material cost (101) (153) (200) Less: Labor cost (8) (9) (10) Contribution 46 68 90 Less: Fixed cost (16) (18) (20) Net profit 30 50 70 I) Calculation of sensitivity Since the plan had not given clear figures for calculating sensitivity of the project, we had assumed the following: * Cost of sales had been taken as a material cost. * Staff salaries as a labor cost. * Other expenses had used as fixed cost. 2006 2007 2008 Profit to sales 19% 22% 23% Profit to material 30% 33% 35% Profit to labor 375% 555% 700% Profit to fixed cost 187% 278% 350% It had found that sales were the lowest percentage among the others. Therefore, it was more sensitivity to profit. It means that the sales will affect the profit more than other element if it decrease or increase. II) Calculation of BEP Profit to BEP (in value) = sales*(F.C/contribution) 2006 2007 2008 R.O54,000 R.O61,000 R.O67,000 The company had to sell an average of R.O54000, R.O61000 and R.O67000 in 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively in order to cover all of its expenses. III) Margin of safety 2006 2007 2008 65% 73% 78% The company can allow its sales to decrease by 35%, 27% and 22% in 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively without incurring any losses. 6.0 SWOT analysis of MSD construction * Strength: MSD provides quality construction services by providing an honest, fair working relationship with residential and commercial clients, subcontractors and sales people. Since the biggest concern within the concrete work industry is the health and safety of its employees as well as the customers. Also, it developed a comprehensive infrastructure designed, long term planning with a safety policy and secure company. They did good analysis about the strength and weaknesses of their competitors. The company management has different facilities which enhance them to perform better such as, experience and qualification in different areas in the market started from the owner. The ability of company to provide superior quality services at highly competitive and guaranteed price. * Weaknesses: There is no clear organizational structure of the company. They dont have a famous brand name yet. Also, they focus only in few department and duties. Moreover they did wrong calculation in different areas like in concrete work and in single-family housing construction. In order to overcome these weaknesses, MSD should create additional departments, such as IT and human resource department. Furthermore, it should hire financial analyst to analyze market accurately. * Opportunity: The owner and his management team are highly experienced and qualified in construction work. The growth in population, demand increase in construction and increase in government projects will help them to survive. Also, competitors have high overhead expenses, bad contractual terms with its key suppliers that often delay particular project and because of that they are losing some of their strategic partnership with significant firms. * Threats: MSD faced strong competitors with strong capital and shares, which they already in the market and they have high construction services and distribution quality at very competitive price. The competitors have exemplary skills in customer relationship management and leading marketing skills with efficient database management. In pricing strategy the competitors seems to be the expert in the field by offered reasonable price with high quality for a year and then slowly moves it down to compete with current price in the market. Government regulation to apply omanization which could lead to high cost and the labors May not have a good experience. MSD can merge with other construction company to get extra capital for competing with competitors. It can build its own IT department to process the data efficiency. It should have proper procedures for recruitment so it can minimize after employment cost. Conclusion and Recommendation This paper had analyzed the appropriateness of MSD business plan. There were some issues against the plan that is necessarily to succeed the business. Some of importance investigation had not carried on, such as competitors strategy. On other hand, there were some incomplete statements and improper collection of market statistic. Moreover, the firm F.S had included errors that would affect its financial goals. In addition, the company did not have PEST and Porters five forces analysis of the industry. These missing statements will lead to business failure. If it is plan to propose their business plan to the any of financial instruments to seeking loan there is potential of rejecting this proposal. Recommendation MSD should review some of its plan, such as market statistic and attempt to get more accurate data. Beside the correction of data, it should also collect significant data like competitive market shares, profit and the size. In addition, it should collect information about competitors Porters five forces. It had found that some of the management holds inappropriate position in accordance to their qualification and experience. The firm should review this and try to appoint right person for the right job. It should also hire some additional managers in management team, such as human resource manger and stock manger to implement the companys strategies.