Thursday, October 31, 2019

Has or Can the West be a Chance for Islam Essay

Has or Can the West be a Chance for Islam - Essay Example They were naturally inspired by what they had known and experienced in their countries of origin" The democratic society that reigns in America makes major concessions and overtures to all forms of religious practices including education. However, one must address the obvious differences in the social doctrines of Islam and America. Whereas, America has the continuity of a successful democracy, Islam is subject to changes made by approved ulama (scholars). These scholars are often from the Middle East therefore, making changes that suit and reflect foreign sentiments towards American society. These factors have been a major contributor to the rise in terrorist affiliations amongst Western Muslims, as foreign Sheikhs and Mullahs have used aggression to permeate the social fabric of those who form the modern doctrine of Islamic jurisprudence and education in the Middle East. From there, this contaminated doctrine guides the societal pursuits of American Muslim groups. This catalysis effect has caused groups like Al Qaeda who represent the Wahabi sect of Islam which is made up of a minority of 10% of Muslims worldwide to have a dominant influence on what is taught in western madrassahs because of their significant influence in the Middle East that has been projected across over 60 nations abroad. These problems are greatly increased by the strategic alliance that seen Al Qaeda and their fellow Wahabi scholars join forces with Shia and Sunni scholars in the Middle East which represent the leadership of over 80% of Muslims worldwide. This reality brings serious questions to mind as to how to prevent terror from emanating from the Islamic curriculum of western Muslims who either brought this type of doctrine to America from overseas or seek guidance from those who are influenced by the same. Terror based Fatwahs have always benefited from these types of parameters that continue to control the 'Islamic education' in the west.Jones 3 Integration The problems noted in the education section clearly present very serious concerns in regard to integration. What type of integration will take place (terrorist intent or democratic reciprocity) It would be extremely nave for one to suggest that a 'Islamic education' that is contaminated by those with terrorist intent will not make allowances for societal catalysis effects that are negative and potentially lethal in every sense of the word. It is imperative that western Muslims make significant strides in the way of achieving scholastic autonomy in order to protect their educational system, as this will prove to be a critical step in terror prevention in addition to setting a new precedent in regards to those who think that western Muslims are puppets of scholars in the Middle East. This type of initiative will potentially save thousands of lives through the

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Executive summary of a research in memo format Essay

Executive summary of a research in memo format - Essay Example It increases the morale, provides better access to new market segments and develops the productivity level. The discrimination-and-fairness paradigm helps to increase the demographic diversity within an organisation which ensures fair treatment to employees. However, due to its principle of every employee being the same, pressure might create among employees for assuring that differences among them do not pose as an obstacle for achieving the organisational goals. Therefore, practical disagreements about work processes or strategies can be falsely interpreted due to the fairness and equal treatment principle followed in this method. Access-and-legitimacy method has evolved after the 1980s when multinational organisations expanded their operations in different communities. The method preferred demographic workforce for accessing with the different communities in enhancing their productivity and sales in different countries. Organisations using this method have the potential of competi tive advantage from the motivation derived based on the market. However, while entering different markets, organisations tend to focus more on the cultural diversity rather than analysing factors which differs the work process. Furthermore, organisations tend to rapidly position employees in between different communities without analysing their capabilities and competencies. Incorporation of the two methods gave rise to a modern method, learning-and-effectiveness paradigm which integrates employees’ perspectives while determining strategies, product demands and also cultures. It helps in motivating employees and acknowledges different cultures while respecting the value each culture possesses. Thus, I would recommend the modern method as it consists of characteristics and principles of both the other paradigms. The learning-and-effectiveness method will be appropriate for fulfilling the overgrowing tendencies of expanding businesses in multination. Factors Affecting the Metho ds However, certain factors should be taken into concern that affect and influence the time required for implementing the diversity programmes. Implementing diversity programmes is time consuming if employees are reluctant for embracing the changed process. Furthermore, the learning-and-effectiveness method will help to identify the employees’ perspectives in implementing the different strategies. As observed in the case of First Interstate Bank which decided to employ loan officers who held the college degrees. Others were hired as support staff and were never promoted. The decision gave rise to huge protests as many employees have been associated with the bank for several years and developed the required skills of loan officers through constant training. Ultimately, the unfolding reasons indicated that diversity was not based on race or culture but class of people, i.e. educational backgrounds. Therefore, repeated protests forced the bank to change its policies and integrat e the changed processes based on the employees’ perspectives. As a result, the diversity programmes were implemented but delayed. I would suggest you to consider the concerning factors significantly and make necessary changes for effectively and rapidly implementing the

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Dell Financial Statement Analysis of Profitability Ratios

Dell Financial Statement Analysis of Profitability Ratios Introduction Dell is a transnational corporation that develops, manufactures, sells and supports personal computers and other computer products. It came into success during the 1980s and 1990s and became the largest seller of personal computers and servers. The main difference between Dell and it competitors is that Dell sells its products directly to customers. They do so in order to better understand customers needs and provide the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs and this make Dell so unique. Furthermore Dell uses configure to order approach which means that they deliver computers configured to special customer specifications. To minimize cost just-in-time approach is implemented. Dell maintains a negative cash conversion cycle(CCC) because it uses a direct-sales model via the internet and the telephone network and receives payments for the products before it has to pay for the materials. Other very important aspect is that Dell uses pull system by building computers only after customers place orders and by requesting materials from suppliers as needed and so they avoid overproduction. Dells major competitors are Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Sun Microsystems, Gateway, Lenovo, Sony, Acer, Toshiba and Asus. Dell stocks are trading on the NASDAQ stock market and Dell belongs to Information Technology Industry (Computer Hardware). Financial statement analysis Profitability ratios Comparing Dells and industrys operating margin, Dells is relatively larger. That means that Dell earns more per dollar of sales than industry. Same is with the 5 year average. Net profit margin is higher as well during the 2009 and 5 year average. That means that Dell generates more profit for every dollar it generate ­s in revenue or sales and of course it is a good signal for the investor as well. Dell has higher gross profit margin comparing to the industry both in recent year and 5 year average. That means that Dell is financially healthy and has a bigger proportion of money left. Return on assets is higher as well comparing both recent year and 5 year average, indicating that Dell has an efficient management and that company is able to generate more profit with its assets. To sum up all indicators shows that Dell performs better comparing to the industry, same in the short-time and in the long-time. Financial strength Dells current ratio comparing to the industry ratio is 0.28 less but still companys current ratio is larger than 1 and that means that company can easily meet short-term debt obligations. So Dell is in relatively good short-term financing standing. Since we could not find the industrys total debt to equity ratio we took Apple Company which is Dells competitor and belongs to the same industry to compare it to the Dells ratio. Dells total debt to equity ratio is 5.2 while Apples is only 0.95. Its a huge difference and it is obviously seen that companys have different management approach. Talking about Dell this kind of total debt to equity ratio can be a little bit frustrating because company with a higher debt/equity ratio may be riskier, especially in times of rising interest rates due to the additional interest that has to be paid out for the debt. But since now interest rates are at all time low, there is not a big issue, of course we need to have in mind that sooner or later interest rates will be changed and it will affect companys performance if it dont manage its debts or increase shareholders equity. We couldnt find industrys quick ratio as well, so we used Apples ratio to compare with. Apples quick ratio is 1.59 which is considerably higher than Dells 1.05. That means that Dell has less ability to use its near cash or quick assets to immediately extinguish its current liabilities To sum up Dell in financial strength didnt perform as good as in the profitability. Of course we should take into account that both companies are fallowing different strategies and overall Dells figures are not bad but should be improved to attract more investors. Growth rates Since we couldnt find industrys earnings per share average we used Apples EPS as the measure to compare with our company. Dells EPS is 1.27 while Apples 0.69. That indicates that Dells stockholders retains more earnings than Apples and its a good signal for the investor. Dell has a higher positive beta comparing to the industry. That means that stocks generally follows the market and has higher response to the market change. We think that in this time its generally good, because after credit crunch market will eventually stabilize and return to its previous positions. Dell pays no dividends because company are buying backing its stocks. Generally its a good signal for the investors because its a signal of confidence. Buy backs also increase demand for stocks driving up prices and by taking shares out of the publics hands, buybacks make earnings-per-share look better, since there are fewer shares among which to divide profits. To sum up Dell in growth rates performs well and has all attractive ratios for the investor. Fundamental analysis shows that Dell performs very well in profitability and growth rates. On the other hand it should increase its financial strength. Overall Dell seems to be good investment. Now we should examine when its the right time to buy dells stocks both for the short and long times. We will ground it by technical analysis. DuPont analysis ROE had the biggest return in 2006 and decreased sharply in 2007 because of the financial crisis. The average ROE during the 5 year period is 0.66 and Dell probably will seek to increase its REO to attract more investors. Technical analysis To analyze Dell as the investment opportunity its not enough just to rely on the fundamental analysis, so we decided to do some technical analysis to determine is it the right time to buy stocks of the company. Graph below shows the trend of the Dells stocks: Source: Nasdaq As you see now it is not the right time to buy Dells stocks. Price of the stocks break through the lower support line and decreased. We dont think that its due to companys financial stability or other major factors related to the company. For short-term investment we could recommend to wait until trend will reverse. Furthermore Dell predicts higher demand for the next year due to stabilization of the world economy, and that of course will increase shareholders equity. We think that if the world economy will stabilize and we already have indicators showing that and there will be no W shape recession Dell stock as the long-term investment is considered as good investment. Individual case analysis Capital Structure There are some possible ways how to use Debt and Equity data to get an informative info about capital structure, so to be more informative will show three charts in which there several possible ways to check how capital structure are placed. As is seen from chart Debt / Equity, debt is higher than equity and this leads to: company is aggressive in financing growth with debt. This growth expansion by issuing debt may effect on future profitability high interest expense. Debt / Equity ratio is falling down in 2009 it is good information, cause in 2008 economical turndown, debt has in proportion to equity decreased which means in more difficult times Dell have reduced risk of default. Interesting information could be taken from Debt / Market Capitalization proportion changes. As can be seen from graphs that comparing market value of a company and equity value from balance sheet, market valued company many times more than it actually is in balance sheet. This could be a signal to be more careful on investing in Dell, because it seems that Dell market price is overvalued. And in 2009 market capitalization of a company has been less then debt is it is very bad signal, but on the other hand market capitalization is going by the trend to get closer to equity value. Dell currently have long term debt by issuing bonds in the bond market, all of which are rated in A, it is in category of investment level. Longest bond maturity date is 2038-04-15. Coupon differs from 3.38% till 7.1% correlates to maturity date. Weighted Average Cost of Capital for Dell is extremely high 38%, the biggest impact of high WACC value is made by very high cost of equity which is based on calculation of ROE. ROE = 65%. High WACC shows high risk probability, increases risk of insolvency. From WACC point of view there must be issuing new debts to repurchase equity, cause by now equity requires big interests expenses. In today situation there is other sources for lower prices of debts than equity holders supplying. Payout policy One-way oriented payout policy Payouts are often called dividends. But not only dividends could be a form of companies payout, companies can repurchase its shares, and it will be called payout. As data showed Dells board of directors made a decision not to pay dividends. Company is only repurchasing its shares. It could be a signal for investors that shares are undervalued. Retained earnings and payout. From 2005 to 2009 Dells retained earnings more than doubled, from 9174 millions to 20677millions. but payout sum havent changed, and for all these 5years it was above 3000millions only in 2005 it skyrocketed to 6000millions. (See Dell balance sheet) Shares repurchases As one of the Dell corporation officers argues, Dell uses only shares repurchase as payout because of business climate. Company is located in climate which requires permanent growth. So Dell needs to invest in order to be competitive in laptops market. Shares repurchases also has same advantages over a dividends. Firstly repurchase of shares helps to reduce opportunity of dilution, or even eliminate it. Secondly it is easier for Dell to balance return for shareholders with other business objectives. And finally it gives more flexibility for shareholders to make a decision then they want to withdraw their investment. Also where some disadvantages of shares repurchases as: There could be some agency conflicts inside the company, if managers have same inside information which is unknown for other share holders they could repurchase shares for less value than intrinsic value of the shares. Shares repurchases can negatively affect liquidity of firms stock, because the will be decrease in shares outstanding. Shares repurchases can also be a result of penalties, because government or other responsible organizations can view shares repurchases as way to help shareholders to avoid taxes. It can also be a negative signal of firms future growth. Key competitors payout policies IBM IBM is one of two key competitors for Dell. Its payout policy differs from Dell, IBM pays dividends for shareholders and also repurchases shares. One of the main reasons why IBM pays dividends could be its revenues which are almost twice as big as Dells. (see table1a, table1b) HPQ HPQ second of Dells key competitor. HPQ also as IBM pays dividends to its shareholders, but amount paid in dividends is two times smaller than IBM. So companies payout policy is the middle compared with IBM and Dell payout policies. (See table2) Dell Company has long term debt. Long term debt is at the moment much bigger than in recent years. In 2009 April, Dell sold 500 million notes, later in June they sold 1 billion worth of bonds. This explains why Dell long term debt is much bigger than in recent years . In comparison Apple had no long term debt in recent years. Apple company has a lot of cash so they do not need to release new bonds and increase long term debt. Dell is an American company which as many other companies hold their part of cash outside the US. Dell chose to access capital markets in order to supplement liquidity ratio in the United States. By accessing the capital markets Dell needs to raise its long term debt. Dell also believes that its share repurchasing is good for the company, that increases operating leverage and this keeps shareholders happy to, so they spend a big part of long term debt for share repurchasing. As we see from the graph in period from 2005-2008 long term debt was not changing dramat ically. In 2008 long term debt was smaller than in last 3 years. One of the main reasons why it was lower is, that Dell was suffering from interest expenses, so they decided to repay their loans and buy back some of bonds in order to decrease interest payments. Company released coupon bonds as well. There are 7 types of bonds, all of them have A rating, and that means that these bonds are high quality. Bonds differ by coupon worth, price and maturity. Dell .GH has the longest maturity (until 2038). All bonds are callable, and that means that the issuer can redeem the bond before the maturity. These bonds most time have higher coupon rate. Short term financing Net working capital during 2005 2008 didnt change a lot, with the average NWC of 1971 million dollars, but in 2009 NWC increased dramatically nearly four-fold comparing to net working capital of 2008. To understand why Dell had such a huge increase in net working capital we need deeper investigation of its Balance Sheet. During 2007 2009 Total Current Assets increased only by 212 million dollars, so its not the driving factor which led to such huge increase in Net Working Capital, but on the Current Liabilities side a situation is different. Accounts payable decreased by 3183 millions dollars to 8309 millions by 2009 and it was the main factor which led to decreased current liabilities and furthermore an increase in Net Working Capital. Other factors like accrued expenses, notes payable, and other current liabilities decreased as well, but they played only a minor role due to a small amount of decrease. Looking at Net Working Capital, we could strongly say that Dell NWC increased due to decrease in accounts payable, which is a good signal to the investors. Dell maintains a negative cash conversion cycle(CCC) because it uses a direct-sales model via the internet and the telephone network and receives payments for the products before it has to pay for the materials. Looking at the last two years Dell improved its accounts payable and decreased to 60 days. Accounts receivable has improved as well to 28 days. Due to its improvements CCC has decreased. If we exclude years 2007 and 2008 as the abnormal receivables and payables due to the financial crisis, average accounts receivable will be 27 days, and accounts payable 73 days. From these calculations we can strongly say that Dell improved and that company will try to keep these figures stable, or improve even more. Industries receivable turnover is 6.17 (source:http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/financialHighlights?symbol=DELL.O) while Dells 9.48 in 2009. This implies that Dells collection of accounts receivable is more efficient comparing to the industry average. Industries inventory turnover is 10.26 (source: http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/financialHighlights?symbol=DELL.O) while Dells 57.84 in 2009. Comparing to the industry level, Dells inventory turnover is five-fold bigger. That may mean that company is not keeping enough inventories to meet demand. This could equate to loss of sales. But because Dell proceeds its orders only after customers place orders and by requesting materials from suppliers as needed they avoid overproduction, so high measure of inventory turnover doesnt mean that Dell is in trouble unless other companies which supply Dell with materials will struggle to meet Dells demand But that is another case. To sum it up, I think that Dell manages its working capital well, and performs in most of the cases better than the industry average. Furthermore Dell uses configure to order approach which really helped them during the crisis to avoid overproduction. Dell Net Working Capital increased dramatically and Cash Conversion Cycle decreased almost by the half. All these figures are good signals for the investors. Following the company as financial analyst Since 2005 Dells prices slightly started to fall. Even though there were periods when it lifted, the whole trend was shifting down until it plummeted during end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. From this period company slowly recovered. However at the end of November prices dropped again. In this article stock values during September-November 2009 and major factors affecting it are described. There are also comparison of Dell with other companies, future prospects and solutions for investors included. Using a weekly review of prices following findings were made. Graph above was made by using weekly prices (in dollars) At the beginning of September stock prices started to rise quite significantly till it reached 16.6 in day 8. Then the growth became smaller and from 16.69 in day 14 it dropped to 15.04 at the end of the month. October hadnt been too promising either. At the beginning there was a rise to 15.81 then followed by slight fluctuation stock value dropped from 15.48 in day 19 to 14.45 seven days later. November seemed to be inspiring at first when the trend started rising, but then it dropped from 15.4 at day 9 to 14.29 at day 16. Towards the end of the month trend was pretty much stable, however still slightly decreasing and reached the point of 14.12 at November 30. The graphic shows some fluctuations during these three months. However after each major rise in stock price there is a lot bigger fall which determines the decreasing trend in the whole period. Stock value due to given time span lessened by 1.57. By looking from a bigger scope (the whole 2009 year) stock prices were reaching a peak during these three months which was at September 14th. However an eight month climb in stock prices slackened and continues to head down. There are few main events affecting the trend of stock prices shown in the graph. One of them is acquisition of Perot Systems the other is Dells lost position in worldwide sales from 2nd place to 3rd and the last one is sharp drop in PC sales. The agreement of Perot Systems acquisition on September 21 shows Dells willingness to expand in business and get some market share from IT services was a good sign to investors. It was a move made against Hewlett-Packard (HP) which also used this kind of expanding strategy by acquiring another service company, Electronic Data Systems Corp. This reflects that hardware industry is not as profitable as services. However Dell expects to gain earnings from this deal only at fiscal year 2012. This event hadnt boosted the price of shares significantly but at least helped keeping it from dropping even more. Dell gave its position in worldwide sales and production of PCs to Acer and it made the company lose some of its market share. This was due to strategy not to lower the prices too much even though its market share can suffer. Thats how company wanted to increase profitability. Its worth mentioning that Dell had increased sales internationally. In China, India, Brazil and Russia it was up 18 percent. China is Dells second-largest country in terms of revenue, sales there increased 20 percent. However this did not help much in keeping companies position in worldwide sales. At the end of November a big decline in PC sales appeared. This made Dells stock prices plummet. Dell has been hit by economic crisis just like other brands in computer industry. The only difference is that this particular brand has problems getting back its wellbeing even at the recovering of the IT sector. Companies like Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Acer and some others start to feel the improvement of market conditions and during November had bigger than expected profits. This was influenced by boosting their presence in retail stores and also by the popularity of so called netbook computers that mostly supplemented Acers wallet. The reason why Dell recovers so slowly is its target market. Company focused on corporations and large government agencies that had tightened their spending even at economic recovery and the demand for PCs isnt as robust as hoped. Since these customers made up to 80% of Dells revenue, loss in earnings was substantial. This benefitted Dells rivals and shaped the market by making HP top seller of PCs worldwide. Acer advanced to the second place and pushed D ell to third. Now Michael Dell CEO of company is starting to put some effort to expand Dells presence in consumer PCs sold in stores to improve its condition. When comparing Dell with its competitors big difference in their stock price can be seen. For example when looking at share price of HP during September-November there had been an increasing trend that rose by 3.96 at the end of period when looking at weakly closing prices. Apple had also boosted stock value that lifted from 170.31 to 199.91 during these three months. There are more examples of increasing value of companies in IT sector unfortunately Dell is not joining them. In future Dell market position should start recovering. Firstly the acquisition of Perot Systems should lead to an expansion not only in hardware but also in IT service niches. Also company announces to increase its earnings in short future, but mainly they are hoping to boost sales in holidays which might lead just to a seasonal uplift. Company started to change the ways of making and selling PCs by focusing on contracting the retailers and manufacturers instead of doing everything themselves. Expanding acquisitions is also the goal towards reaching more profitable markets. The release of a new operating system Windows 7 according to Dell CEO Michael Dell will hopefully also increase the sales due to positive views towards it. There seems to be many changes and factors that could help Dell to recover its wealth again. According to the trend of historical stock prices, taking into account the position of Dells competitors and considering changes that have been and will be made in the future the following solutions for the investors have been made: The stocks should not be acquired by investors that seek to gain earnings in short term and who want to invest lets say for 6-8 months and then sell their basket (a proposition also made by Jayson Noland, a senior analyst at investment firm Robert W. Baird), because there is a possibility for them to lose earnings due to down sloping trend in share price. However there can be boost in sales of PCs during holidays that can increase earnings, but this would only be a seasonal uplift. Long term investors can benefit from buying Dells shares. The price is relatively cheap comparing to other hardware producers and sooner or later the company is going to recover and bringing profit to shareholders. The only question is how long will it take for it to recover completely. Existing investors that already bought Dells shares should not panic, keep the stocks to themselves and wait for Dells recovering. By selling shares now most of them will definitely lose money and the opportunity to retrieve their accumulated earnings. There is another possibility. Investors could focus on companies in PC industry that are more successful and stable than Dell. For example HP. The price of shares is bigger, but so is the opportunity to gain wealth. In conclusion Dells financial situation comparing to other companies in IT and hardware industry does not look very good. High expectations didnt come true, but there is still a possibility to recover. By expanding to other fields and restructuring operations Dell will be able to stand on its feet however this might take several years to happen.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Framed :: social issues

Framed In this piece I create a particular day with a girl and her pet. I intend to cause a deadly scene where the supernatural is involved. I also plan to allow the reader to make the story believable by setting it in the real world. This piece is aimed at all ages. The sound of glass shattering onto the kitchen tiles was enough concern for Socks to investigate. He pounced immediately out of his personal rug and in a matter of seconds he was at the scene. It appeared that broken pieces of glass were scattered on the floor along with bright red tulips. He then looked up at the distress face of his owner Elisa, who had just arrived home from work. He decided to comfort her and gave her a juicy lick on her soft white face. ‘Oh! Socks. These were supposed to be for my boyfriend. I’m going over to his place tonight,’ she explained with a single teardrop, whilst rubbing her fingers through his golden fur coat. ‘I guest I’ll have to bring you along, you sweaty. Okay?’ He barked ecstatically to highlight a ‘yes.’ Socks was able to understand what Elisa had said as he was a Labrador and had five years of training. An hour prior to the departure, Elisa had tried on at least fourteen different outfits, which all looked dazzling. She finally chose the violet dress with matching lipstick and high heels that showed her stunning long legs. She added a touch of foundation to her naturally beautiful face and flipped her blonde hair back to create a catwalk style-look. ‘Socks, here boy,’ Elisa called from the front gate. â€Å"Hop into the car, we’re leaving.’ She tied a violet strap around his body to correspond with her look. They arrived at the spacious double storey house with an eerie atmosphere due to the leafless trees mainly surrounding the estate. At the entrance a tall, slim man with electric blue eyes greeted them at the front brass door. ‘How are you, Elisa?’ he asked her cheerfully. ‘I’m fine Darren. This is my pumpkin - Socks,’ she replied as they entered the house. Her first impression of the house was simply shocking. Clothes were spread on the couch to the floor not to mention the creepy appearance of the house, however when she reached the dining room she was quite stunned. Framed :: social issues Framed In this piece I create a particular day with a girl and her pet. I intend to cause a deadly scene where the supernatural is involved. I also plan to allow the reader to make the story believable by setting it in the real world. This piece is aimed at all ages. The sound of glass shattering onto the kitchen tiles was enough concern for Socks to investigate. He pounced immediately out of his personal rug and in a matter of seconds he was at the scene. It appeared that broken pieces of glass were scattered on the floor along with bright red tulips. He then looked up at the distress face of his owner Elisa, who had just arrived home from work. He decided to comfort her and gave her a juicy lick on her soft white face. ‘Oh! Socks. These were supposed to be for my boyfriend. I’m going over to his place tonight,’ she explained with a single teardrop, whilst rubbing her fingers through his golden fur coat. ‘I guest I’ll have to bring you along, you sweaty. Okay?’ He barked ecstatically to highlight a ‘yes.’ Socks was able to understand what Elisa had said as he was a Labrador and had five years of training. An hour prior to the departure, Elisa had tried on at least fourteen different outfits, which all looked dazzling. She finally chose the violet dress with matching lipstick and high heels that showed her stunning long legs. She added a touch of foundation to her naturally beautiful face and flipped her blonde hair back to create a catwalk style-look. ‘Socks, here boy,’ Elisa called from the front gate. â€Å"Hop into the car, we’re leaving.’ She tied a violet strap around his body to correspond with her look. They arrived at the spacious double storey house with an eerie atmosphere due to the leafless trees mainly surrounding the estate. At the entrance a tall, slim man with electric blue eyes greeted them at the front brass door. ‘How are you, Elisa?’ he asked her cheerfully. ‘I’m fine Darren. This is my pumpkin - Socks,’ she replied as they entered the house. Her first impression of the house was simply shocking. Clothes were spread on the couch to the floor not to mention the creepy appearance of the house, however when she reached the dining room she was quite stunned.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Alan Mulally’s Restructuring of Ford Motor Company

According to the Nelson & Quick, Manually created one team focusing on ford brand. Ford was accused in the recession time, to keep too many brands under its corporate umbrella so it can't focus on its cash cow â€Å"Ford† Brand. He sold out Jaguar cars, Land Rover brand and Volvo cars to minimize the corporate losses. (wickeder. Com). Following answers focus more on what extent his managerial and structural change decisions helpful to create profitable brand. 1. What are the key structural issues that Alan Manually encountered as incoming president and CEO of Ford? An automobile has about 10,000 moving parts, right?An airplane has two million, and it has to Stay up in the this is the answer Alan Manually provided when he was being asked a question by a journalist â€Å"How are you going to tackle something as complex and unfamiliar as the auto business when we are in such tough financial shape†. It was that tough when Manually came into ford from Boeing. There were sign ificant structural issues were at the Ford. Naming them, financial crisis- while other major car manufacturers filing bankruptcy, according to nelson (2013) â€Å"ford dad to resolve to stand on its own feet and go it alone' (p. 39).Internal culture- when Manually come in ford has a very competitive rivalry culture â€Å"and didn't help much to its profitability. According to Nelson & Quick (2013) ‘those who believe that competitive rivalry brings out the best, others know win lose competition carries costs for everyone involved† (p. 64). Additionally, Ford was famous for world car and mass production people didn't buy ford because it is quality car. Ford is inherently face a challenge in a world of cars to build a culture quality. Nelson & Quick, 2013). Too many brands- when Manually come in, ford is more focusing on other attached brands than ford brand name.At the time ford owned Jaguar, Volvo cars, Mazda, Land Rover and Gaston Martin. Which loss the focus of manag ement towards ford brand. Don't have a right products- Manually saw potential of ford focus as a world car and but they didn't market it as it supposed to be and Ford Taurus Was a successful seller and they already discontinued that product How has Alan Manually addressed structural issues identified in the previous question? When Manually came in 2006, financial crisis was at its peak. He decided not to borrow money from government and stand its own feet.It was a right decision, because, overnight sales went up due to many patriotic Americans decided to switch to ford. He borrowed $24 billion from other parties and Stop dividends to shareholders. He sold all the other brands loosely associated with ford. By selling those brand Manually collected some money to get out of recession. Internal culture- when Manually came in, there was competitive culture. It was not helping the good team. Ford was thinking, by competitive culture best come out and actual result was there are bunch of u nhappy internal customers.So Manually created a culture of applauding openness and problem recognition culture. Quality issue- ford ware coincided by the whole worked as a common car. Manually wanted to create a ford as a quality product what exactly customers looking for. Too many brands so entire ford team work as one. According to Nelson & Quick (2013) ford anticipates consumer needs and delivers outstanding products and services that improve people's lives (p. 315). Loss focus- ford has so many brands under its corporate umbrella those did not help them to focus on ford brand.Manually decided to sell them all to get cash to recover the recession. That was increased attention towards ford brand. Bring back right product- first thing Manually did at the ford was bring back Taurus brand which was discontinues for no reason. Which helped to bring loyal customers back Explain the context that ford strategic goals provide for the design of its organization structure (Figurer : ford mo tor company structure) Ford's strategic goals were 1 . Ford is a global family with a proud heritage passionately committed to providing personal mobility to people around the world (Nelson & Quick, 201 3), 2.Ford anticipates consumer needs and delivering outstanding products and services that improves people's lives. Current ford culture would not help to achieve these targets. Inherently automobile industry is fairly club. According to Nelson & Quick (201 3), â€Å"Ford was known for the feudal infighting about its executives, conflicts consumed time, energy and resources in counterproductive internecine warfare† (p. 349). In order to meet the challenge successfully, ford needs an outstanding team. Eventually Manually able to build the winning team.Nelson & Quick (2013) mentioned that â€Å"Manually became a unifying figure who pulled the entire team together collectively'. Manually introduced large scale system integration in to ford learned from Boeing. Which was challen ging at first at ford. Ford had a linear structure shown above. This kind of system is ideal for manufacturing company. The problem was they didn't use the structure properly. Company culture, and structure wasn't that problem, problem was there are some recesses need to fine tune. Reason given for that was ford never felt a fresh blood so often.Manually had to fine tune corroded systems in general. He created united team, he created open door policy instead of competitive policy, he standardize manufacturing pants, etc†¦ By doing all the repairs for this old system, team was align for their new strategy to conquer the market. Would a network (or lattice) organization be a viable structural alternative for ford? Explain your answer (Figurer: Sample network organization) According to my knowledge, linear organization structure would be better Han network organizational structure for the manufacturing company.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

A Christian View of Beauty Essay

Beauty, a term once revered in ancient days as the pinnacle of physical attributes embodied in worldly entities, has seemingly in this day lost much of its meaning. Phrases like â€Å"beauty is in the eye of the beholder† have surprisingly become commonplace, and even Christians have begun to subscribe to the notion of aesthetic relativism. Specifically, this is the idea that beauty is purely contained within the observer and objects on their own have no aesthetic value in and of themselves. It is what has effectively stripped the main essence from the old ideal of beauty, and in my opinion a primary reason why there are so many who cannot see or refuse to see God in the world today. â€Å"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder†, the oft-heard phrase today, refers to one’s belief in the subjectivity of beauty—that is, aesthetic relativism. This prevailing belief dictates that my own perception of what is beautiful does not necessarily correlate to others’ perception of what they find beautiful. Simply because I find a song inspiring and relaxing does not necessarily mean that everyone will and it’s even pretentious and rude of me to insist so. And since everyone has their own particular tastes in all types of art, it is inferred that those tastes correlate to true beauty in their own eyes. But, this whole concept of beauty in each man’s own perception is severely lacking: it gives our own God far too little credit for the creation itself. In my opinion, a greatly preferable view for one who professes to believe in a divine creator is the belief in the objectivity of beauty. Perhaps the ancient Greeks were on to something after all when artists such as Polykleitos sought the perfect proportions of beauty. Such a pursuit required one to see beauty as objective: something contained within the object itself. Especially farseeing was Plato’s belief in the â€Å"idea† realm, in which perfect prototypes of every living and nonliving thing existed. It was a transcendent realm which we could never quite reach in terms of achieving this perfect â€Å"idea form†. Such a theory, old as it is, is not very far from the truth in my opinion. The real truth of beauty lies in none other than our own God. Nevertheless, I think it is necessary to divide beauty into two types to see how God influences it. There is a physical beauty in each living and nonliving thing; something which can be perceived by the eye. Such beauty, I think, aligns with Plato’s â€Å"idea form† concept—that is, we perceive things as the most beautiful when they are closest to that ideal shape from which they were wrought. Among my beliefs is that God really does have ideal forms in His own mind, from which spring forth every single precious creation. God’s creations are often universally seen as beautiful to us—forests, rivers, grasslands, domestic animals and wild animals alike are loved by us and sometimes even worshipped for their beauty. Their forms tend to be very similar among their own kind, and many different organizations strive to find the perfect proportions, coloring, and other attributes of them. A well-known example is the American Kennel Club, which appoints judges in dog shows who determine the ideal proportions of many breeds of dogs. In such competitions, we are striving to find the ideal, most beautiful form of dogs, which strongly hints at a belief in an archetypal â€Å"idea form†. Perhaps the human form itself could even have its archetypal roots in Adam and Eve; but regardless, humans who most closely fit this prototypical form are perceived as most beautiful by others. Ugliness is the disfiguration or mutilation of this form, such as severed parts or scars or even obesity. Even so, there is always some degree of the supreme beauty in each and every creation, for God’s own light can shine through even the darkest of places. Indeed, God’s original beauty shining through us and our own creations is the main source of aesthetic pleasure in this world. God revealed this to us in Ezekiel 16:14, when He declared â€Å"And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect†. This constitutes a second kind of beauty, a nonphysical and more conceptual beauty. Such beauty is what normally would be seen in man’s creations and his very personality. It can be witnessed in personalities such as a warm and inviting host, a charitable man who goes out of his way to help others, or something as simple as one who laughs often. And, of course, a massive demonstrator of this kind of beauty is creations of man’s own design such as music, paintings, and sculptures which frequently grab hold of our emotions. The reason these things are so beautiful is simple: God’s immense love when He created us and our intellects is still shown brilliantly in things which we produce. These do not necessarily have to be direct reflections of God’s own exquisite creations (as in the Realist style of art); His magnificence can be shown in abstract art as well. A good example is the Asian kanji form of writing, which for centuries has been considered highly artistic and stylized. The Japanese kanji ai, or â€Å"love† (Appendix A) has a very smooth and majestic feel, and is capable of triggering human emotions of wonder and calmness on its own. It is a mere thirteen strokes of a brush, yet because of God’s own love and inventiveness shining through the artist onto the paper, we can consider it beautiful. Truly, God’s creativeness can be seen in every single thing which man has created, and therefore we can see some degree of beauty in everything. Looking at the world in this objective way is doubtlessly far greater than the popular aesthetic relativist stance in contemporary culture. It introduces a sense of wonder in the individual in everything he perceives, because he has the knowledge that it was specifically created by the supreme God and personally beheld in all its glory as â€Å"very good† (Genesis 1:31). Hiking through mountainous forests can fill a man with such a sense of sheer majesty that it can be a religious experience, and I have personally witnessed even unbelievers profess to see a glimpse of God in such prime examples of His glorious creation. Even more typical occurrences such as a snowy night under a star-speckled sky or waking up to a dazzling sunrise peeking through lush treetops can in a person bring forth extreme awe if that person accepts aesthetic objectivity through God. Maybe the subjectivity of beauty is not as enlightened as it appears to countless millions in our culture. The beauty in that captivating mountainous forest or star-speckled sky becomes fully dependent on the individual. It’s reduced to a matter of taste, and if a person finds such things wondrous, that in itself does not make them truly and rapturously divine as it does in one who believes that God Himself has blessed such occurrences. Beautiful entities are simply something which an individual deems â€Å"nice† or â€Å"quaint† to which someone else might readily disagree, in contrast to a glimpse of the utter splendor of God. Some things are beautiful, some are ugly, and it all depends on preference; whereas objectivity of beauty proclaims that beauty is to be found everywhere in varying degrees. Aesthetic relativism ultimately leads to a sense of incuriosity towards much of the world and blocking out what does not â€Å"suit your taste†, a sort of omnipresent mild malaise of the subconscious. It would be wiser to consider that â€Å"the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect† (Ezekiel 16:14), and approach the magnificent world with an ever-growing curiousness and a watchful eye for the inherent beauty present in each and every creation.