Analysis Of Scientific Glass Inventory Management Finance Essay

The products of Scientific Glass include customized and specialized glassware for a variety of organizations such as pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, research labs, quality-control sites and testing facilities. By January 2010, a substantial increase in their inventory balances tied up the capital needed for investment for expansion. The debt-to-capital ratio exceeded the 40% target preventing the company to use their capital in other areas. Also the shipping costs were rising, competitive pressures were speeding up, and certain markets in North America and Europe were becoming saturated which underscored the necessity for capital investment for expanding market opportunities in Latin America and Asia. Moreover, expanding warehousing network increased the inventory levels along with costs, documentation complexities and errors. The company hired a new Manager of Inventory Planning, Ava Beane, to come up with an effective plan to manage SG’ s inventory without requiring a large capital investment. In order to finance operations in year 2010, SG requires an external funding of $53.8 million. These expenses would further limit the company to use their existing capital in other areas such as research and development and expanding to international markets. To improve customer service levels, SG had increased the target customer fill rate to 99% and added six more leased ware houses to meet the demand more accurately. This led to an increase in the inventory levels as some warehouse managers kept extra inventory in order to meet the company target fill rate. Good practices Maintained continued sales growth and higher customer satisfaction Produced creative products with lower life cycle costs Focused on durable products, innovative designs and superior customer services Reduced time between ordering and delivering the products to the customers Bad practices Treated inventory management as an afterthought, due to which inventory imbalances were increasing The company exceeded its target debt to capital ratio of 40% Incurred both underage and overage costs High Inventory Problem Due to increasing in customer service level, SG planned to add regional  warehouses in many parts US. SG has the main and the largest one in Waltham, MA, which is next to manufacturing plant. SG also has another warehouse that located outside of Phoenix, Arizona. However, at the end of 2008, SG bought other six warehouses. This means SG has the total 8 warehouses to serve customers. Annual rental and operation costs for North American warehouses were 15% of the cost of the warehoused inventory. However, in 2006, before add more 6 warehouses, SG already made investment to expand the warehouse at Waltham in anticipation of continued growth, but after these 6 warehouses had been bought, this warehouse does not work full efficiency of its capacity. Another problem of warehouse management is company expected to reach high level of customer service to 99%, so that warehouse managers keep order inventory ahead before it reach threshold of inventory level to order new one to assure that they will meet the customer service target level at 99%. This situation causes high inventory levels than required and also high inventory turnover. Moreover, salespeople were allowed to have its products up to $10,000 worth from ware house and keep them in trunk stock in their homes and cars in order to deliver this inventory on short notice to any customer who was within driving distance. This amount could lead to high finished goods in warehouse and in-transit. It could lead to missing products in inventory, and lost. Proposed solutions to inventory problem In order to solve the inventory issues, two main aspects need to be considered: Number of warehouses and their structure can be changed; Related policies can be changed and more appropriate policies need to be implemented. For changing the number of warehouses, in other words, centralizing or decentralizing warehousing functions, the different options considered are as follows: Centralized warehousing in Waltham: This option uses a single central warehouse near to manufacturing facility at Waltham and will send all customer orders from this one location. Centralized warehousing in Waltham to meet demand in Southeast and Northeast regions used the delivery service of Winged Fleet as their rates are cheaper for these two regions. This would allow SG to pool its inventory in one place in order to meet demand. But the customer response times would  increase Decentralized warehousing: This option considers more number of warehouses rather than having a single centralized warehouse to meet the demand better and reduce customer response time. Continuing with 8 warehouses: This option makes no change on the network of the warehouses and all regions will be supplied its warehouse if there is no stock-out occurs. Two centralized warehouses: In this option, the additional warehouse will be at the west at Phoenix and it will be supplied from Waltham. Demand of east region will be met from Waltham, demand of west region will be met from Phoenix and demand of central region will be met from both warehouses, assuming to have equal shares on the central region. This option may also consider including the warehouse at Dallas In addition to the main warehouse at Waltham. This additional warehouse would be supplied from Waltham. This would allow demand to be met for all other regions and prevent any stock-outs in a single warehouse. Outsourcing the warehousing functions: In this option, all warehousing actions will be outsourced to Global Logistics (GL) and distribution will start from main warehouse at Waltham and then GL will be responsible from rest of the operations. Outsource warehousing to GL to meet demand in the Central, Southwest and Northwest regions because shipping costs for those regions is cheapest with the GL rates. Outsource warehousing to Global Logistics (GL) which will provide a centralized warehousing in Atlanta. Goods will be transported in bulk from Waltham to Atlanta and GL would take responsibility of inventory-control and delivery to the customers. This way SG would not have to bear the warehouse rental charges and could focus on increasing sales and develop newer products to meet customer needs. Evaluation of the proposed solutions Having proposed certain options for inventory management, the evaluation of the different options needs to be evaluated using certain parameters to arrive at a conclusion on which would be comparatively the better option to be followed for scientific glass. Evaluation of different options will be conducted based on the following five parameters: Transportation costs, Average inventory levels, Time responsiveness, Fill rates and Additional costs and benefits Since all the products of scientific glass can be arrived out based on the analysis of its 2 products namely Griffin and Erlenmeyer, since they are mentioned as the best representative for a total of nearly 3000 products of Scientific Glass, all the parameters are analyzed for these products to arrive at a conclusion. Transportation Costs: Transportation costs for different options would be calculated for the two products, namely Griffin and Erlenmeyer. In addition, for each option, demand for the next year calculated considering the 20% increase in sales. When warehouse to customer shipments are considered average shipment weight of 19, 5 pound is used and to have an average transportation cost value, these two products’ costs are averaged according to their relative proportion in sales. Inter-warehouse transshipments occur only when stock-out occurs and as the numbers of warehouses are decreasing, effect of these costs will be diminished; therefore, it is only considered in the option where there are 8 warehouses. Option Transportation cost($) Centralized warehouse – all customer shipments are calculated for rates of Winged Fleet 12210, 16 8 warehouses- having 8 warehouses and making no change, from Waltham to all other 7 warehouses all items are sent by bulk shipment. Inter-warehouse transshipments are calculated by bulk shipment rates and they are considered only when a stock-out occurs, therefore fill rate is included in these calculations 2701, 41 2 warehouses – , when two centralized warehouses considered, it is assumed that Waltham will supply east region, Phoenix will supply will west region and they will equally supply the central region 2332, 07 Outsourcing – when warehousing functions are outsourced, assuming the 5 regions of Global Logistics (GL) will have equal amount of demand 2276, 83 To conclude, as it is expected, when numbers of warehouses are decreased transportation costs are increased. From the aspect of transportation costs, GL option has the smallest cost amount. Average Inventory Levels: The inventory policy to be used by the company needs to be decided. Begin with the review type; although firm monitors the entire inventory transfers from Waltham warehouse to other warehouses; they think taking physical counts of inventory at all warehouses. Therefore, it is concluded that company uses periodic inventory review policy. Company did not mention any due date, therefore the inventory plans should consider infinite time horizon. Though there exists a fixed cost for shipments from warehouses to customers; there is no other fixed cost related to transportation to the warehouses, i.e. no fixed ordering cost. The only order cost is $0.40 per pound bulk shipment cost which is a variable cost with weight. As a result, all analysis can be conducted considering critical ratios and the related fill rate values, which is the only option that is left and also it is considered as the most applicable to the situation. Since some of the simultaneous changes can be done, considering ce teris paribus principle and when fill rate is maintained exactly as 99% for all warehouses, we can calculate the average inventory level that must be kept at warehouses. Weighted-average biweekly inventory levels are found as: 8 warehouses : 98853 2 warehouses : 68034 1 warehouse : 59703 Outsourcing : 59703 When outsourcing option is used, it will be the same for the company in the sense of kept inventory levels for the one-centralized-warehouse option therefore they are assumed to be equal. As number of warehouse decreases, level of inventory decreases as it is expected. This is because, â€Å"the greater the degree of collaboration, the lower the uncertainty (standard  deviation of the error or coefficient of variation) of the demand model† This implies that the money tied up in the inventory decreases and this extra capital can be used in other areas, like expansion plans to international markets Based on average inventory levels, either single centralized warehouse or outsourcing gives equal results. Time Responsiveness: Delivery system of the company compensates 2 weeks of shipment cycles including the stock-out situations. In order to be a market leader, differentiation on this subject is also needed and unfortunately since this is not an exact quantitative scale, only possible situations could be mentioned. For having one centralized, or two centralized or 8 decentralized warehouse options, they all include at most 3 days ready to shipment duration and Winged Fleet’s delivery time of at most 3 days if there is no stock-out situation and the stock-out probabilities are diminishing with the aggregated demands. On the other hand, GL has 1-day premium shipment in addition to 3-day regular shipments. Considering the highly growing market situation and different segment of products, having different delivery times to different products and also to different customers will make this company focus on the most yielding areas. Therefore, it can be said that working with GL has the advantage of differ entiating customers/orders and, since there will be 2 warehouses, stock-out probability and related durations will be less compared to other options. And all of these aspects will increase the time responsiveness of the company. Additional Costs and Benefits: Quantitative issues to related to options of inventory management In order to continue with the current 8 warehouses total of $10M investment is necessary, it is assumed that all of this amount will be equally shared among all warehouses. Since warehouse operating costs will be the 15% of the total warehoused inventory, these costs could be directly compared with the annual average inventory levels that are kept in each option The amount paid to sales forces will not change when the company has 1, 2 or 8 warehouses because it is assumed that as the number of warehouses decreased, number of salesperson per warehouse will increase and total number of sales persons will not change. On the other hand, when warehousing is outsourced this  amount will not be paid Qualitative issues to related to options of inventory management. When GL is used for warehousing, SG’s senior managers will be able to focus on increasing sales, marketing issues and developing next generation of products. Stopping the practice of trunk stock could lead to a decrease in the time responsiveness and therefore it should not be stopped. Improving the controlling systems will create a better understanding of the current situation after the warehousing functions changed. Finally, when GL is used, the approach of warehouse managers to keep more than 99% fill rate and 60-day-supply will not be a problem, because all of these operating issues will be responsibility of GL. This will help to company not to keep excessive amount of inventory and less tied-up money in the inventory which can be used in other areas. Fill Rate: Company’s fill rate policy should also be calculated for the different options. The company replaced the earlier fill rate policy of 93%, which is only marginally better that the industry average fill rate of 92%, with 99%. However, there is no sign that the company is implementing this policy because it is the best approach that must be taken for the company objectives. Moreover, using a fill rate higher than optimal level leads to higher inventories and more money tied up in the inventory. Therefore, company should lower the rates down to optimal levels, if there is no other concern related to market leadership or customer satisfaction. To calculate the optimal levels of fill rates for all four options the cost items which are added to underage and overage costs also needs to be considered. The underage costs are 10% of the gross margin and overage costs are 0.6% of the unit cost of any product. Also it is assumed that unit costs covers all the costs such as warehouse rental and operation costs, cost of capital and inventory write-offs. For the three options other than outsourcing, there is no change in cost items, only the multiplied quantities are changed; but the outsourcing alternative eliminates the 15% warehouse rental and operating costs and 1% inventory write-offs. As a result, overage costs are decreased while underage costs are increased. Resulting optimal fill rates are as follows: 1, 2, or 8 warehouses Outsourcing Griffin 95.4% 96.5% Erlenmeyer 94.9% 96.1% These numbers can be interpreted in two different ways: If company is flexible about the determination of fill rate, in other words if it can lower the fill-rates from 99% to optimal levels, outsourcing option pushes the optimal fill rates to higher levels which results in larger inventories and more money to tie up. If the company still insists on keeping fill rate at 99%, the additional costs that must be paid to maintain 99% fill-rate level is lowered in the outsourcing alternative. Consequently, the better policy related to fill rates depend on the attitude of the company. Finally, another policy change about fill-rates can be considered. Rather than using one fill-rate for over all products of the company, different rates for different products can help the company in decreasing inventory costs related to, at least, for some of the products. Conclusion To conclude, since available options are studied from different aspects, it must be mentioned that the company should choose the alternatives and compare the results of evaluations according to their priorities. For instance, evaluation criteria like inventory levels and transportation costs are conflicting on interests. Company can see their situation and make decisions according to priorities. While assessing the weights for factors, it is considered that average inventory level and the transportation costs are the most important costs for the company. Then, the fill rate follows them. Time responsiveness is the next important factor which is followed by additional costs and benefits with equal weights for each. Changes in warehouse management are considered as options other than outsourcing do not provide radical policy changes which could make warehousing management better. These weights and the scores related to the investigations yield that the outsourcing the warehousing  function to Global Logistics is the best alternative among all. All of investigations and cost studies conducted are to find the most cost effective option in order to getting closer to the target debt to capital ratio of the company and provide more capital to fund expansion into new international markets while maintaining or even improving the high customer satisfaction level

Auditing Introduction Letter

Dear Mr. Lancaster, I understand that Apollo Shoes, Incorporated is concerned about acquiring certain auditing and assurance services. In today’s business world a company needs to stay ahead by operating more successfully and proficiently than its competition. Stromsodt can help Apollo Shoes to gain this advantage by offering auditing and assurance services designed for the company needs. Stromsodt is a company with certification in Service Auditor Assessments as well as provides specialization of auditing in areas of superior athletic podiatric products. Stromsodt has been providing auditing and assurance services to businesses just like yours for more than 30 years. With more than three decades of experience, Stromsodt has helped over hundreds of companies to achieve their company objectives and run more proficiently. Stromsodt is a company that is more productive and cost-effective than any other auditing and assurance service company. The company provides timely, experienced services at reasonable fees. The Auditing and Assurance services Stromsodt offers are as follows 1. Statutory Audits 2. Internal Audits 3. Risk Management. Corporate Governance 5. Tax Audit 6. Management Audits 7. Review of Accounts 8. Special Audits 9. Due diligence 10. Restatement as according to International Accounting Standards (IAS)/ General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) These services will benefit Apollo Shoes by 1. Ascertain whether the presentation of accounts are fair and true 2. Timely detection of errors and fraud in the company 3. Timely identification of risks of material misstatements 4. Validation of accuracy, validity, and authenticity of account information 5. Improvement of profitability . Maximization of revenue recovery 7. Preparation of documents on a timely basis What other firms fail to deliver, Stromsodt delivers. Stromsodt brings value to a company by focusing on a company’s objectives. Part of Stromsodt’s core philosophy is to provide and perform services that add only value to a client to reach set objectives. The company abides by five essential principles when performing services for a client. These principles are integrity, objectivity, professional competence along with due care, confidentiality, and professional behavior. The roles I perform at Stromsodt vary depending upon the service. Some general tasks I perform include 1. Reviewing financial statements to determine conformity to GAAP 2. Attesting the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting 3. Reviewing previous financial report. Reviewing financial statements to determine conformity to GAAP helps a company by establishing to external users the assurance of a company’s financial statements. Attesting the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting helps to ensure no potential material misstatements or raudulent activities have occurred. This helps to lessen the likelihood of occurrence of these activities as well. Reviewing previous reports can provide assurance to a company in knowing that its previous reports are accurate. In providing these services I would make sure that Apollo Shoes has the necessary information to achieve the objectives of the company by abiding by the five principles set forth by Stromsodt. I will also adhere to the 10 general accepted accounting standards an accountant or CPA is required to adhere by. These standards are as follows 1. Display adequate training and proficiency. 2. Maintain independence from the audited company. 3. Display professionalism in performance and planning the report. 4. Adequately plan the fieldwork and supervise assistants. 5. Sufficiently understand the internal control of the company as well as determine the tests to test these controls. 6. Provide sufficient information to back up opinion formed on the financial statements. 7. State and report if the financial statements represented are in accordance with GAAP. 8. State and report circumst ances of company not consistently using principles 9. Recommend additional information for disclosures expected to be in financial statements. 10. Provide opinion on the financial statements. In conclusion, I look forward to talking further about Apollo Shoes auditing and assurance needs and about how much Stromsodt can provide Apollo Shoes with these services. Please feel free to contact me anytime regarding this proposal. Thank you for the opportunity to submit the proposal, and I, along with the entire staff at Stromsodt, are looking forward to working with Apollo Shoes in the near future.

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Guide to Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS) Written PowerPoint Presentation

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Human Trafficking Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

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Administration experience and training experience Essay

Administration experience and training experience - Essay Example The National Institute for Training is known for conducting seminars and workshop for both public and private organizations in the Middle East. In fact, NIT has always been tapped by the government to give training workshops for public servants because of its excellent programs. NIT is a leader in providing management related training workshops whether for public administrators or private managers. In fact, NIT has been recognized by the United Nations as premier trainor for public administration. Change and Creativity Workshop - I took this training because I know how important it is to introduce change in an organization to better improve its services. Usually, managers are stuck with the same routines and procedures after being used to their daily responsibilities. It seems that there is no other better way to do some things which is why some problems do not get solved at all. What I envisioned from the NIT workshops was an opportunity to gain stronger understanding of the  diff erent ways to improve management skills by making effective decisions while using creativity. I took the training experience for this particular workshop because I am seeking for new approaches to initiating procedures, policies and system. It is in my fervent hope that my management skills would become better after thus workshop. Meetings and Time Management I took the meetings and time management training because I want to enhance my time management skills. Previously, I was burdened my many unimportant tasks because I tried to attend to everything as much as possible. Even insignificant phone calls were answered which preoccupied my time. Likewise, I conducted long meetings that can be already considered unproductive. For this reason, I knew I had to attend the training so I can increase my productivity as a manager by focusing on more important things. I saw myself becoming very effective in time management after attending the training. Problem Solving and Decision Making One of the major functions of managers is to solve problems that can hamper operational efficiency. Part of solving problems is effective decision making that can make a great impact on business processes. I took this training experience because there are many challenges confronting a manager today. Before the start of the training, I was looking forward to new principles about problem solving and decision-making. Also, I knew that there are new approaches to solving problems using different tools or mind maps that can be introduced in the seminar. Usually, managers like myself have been too traditional in approaching problem solving. This time, I wanted something out of the box that can aid me in coming up with more creative ways to solve problems. I also want to come up with decisions that have win-win solutions for all parties involved. Briefly, I want to change and this training experience can help me acquire new skills and knowledge to become an agent of change. Q2. A full descriptio n what you learned from this training experience, including underlying principles, concepts, and competencies. During the training, some of the principles and concepts were not actually new to me anymore. Nevertheless, I still learned many things from this training experience. Change and Creativity Workshop- It is very important for managers like myself to become more resourceful and innovative because of the various challenges posed by the highly-competitive business environment. Likewise, the changing forces of globalization place an extra challenge for organizations to cope with ; hence, managers like myself should move forward along with trends. The first module which was Change and Creativity Workshop aimed at making managers agents of change. Usually, people are

History of British Empire Notes Essay Example for Free

History of British Empire Notes Essay History of the British Empire leading to the establishment of the commonwealth This work contains information about the British Empire compared to the Roman Empire than compared to the Spartans. This shows who done b=worse things and was it worth going through all of that if their Empire is not the best? My work also contains certain opinions(mine and my dad) and tan some extra information about the commonwealth, what they do and who’s involved in it. I say that that British Empire changed the world the most because their economic system and schooling system means they had technology and money to build army and navies in Rome could only dream of. However the British got their political and law system from the Romans and Rome in the day had great economic power. ‘The sun never sets on the British Empire’ Is a well-known saying about the British Empire because there was a lot of colonies around the world which meant it was daytime somewhere in the Empire. The British Empire covered the largest land area ever ruled over by one nation, this involved over 166 countries. The British Empire began around the 1700, even though there is no longer considered an empire it still has a vast commonwealth network (this means that there are still some colonies that still believe in the British Empire) However, the Roman Empire lasted over 1,000 years and stretched from Britain to the Middle East. Much of the building technology of the Romans were adopted by the western world and are still used today. 2,000 years later. The Romans had much less of advanced tools to work with and the longer length of the time they was an empire. There are many good and bad points about the Roman Empire but what shocked me the most was that they took over neighbouring countries in their plan to take over the world; they tried to do this through violence and destruction. They would use black slaves and animals as entertainment; this would involve blood and violence. This would be held in the Colluseam. They also had massive amounts of slaves and killed hundred thousand during their conquest. The Empire wasn’t all that bad, considering the Empire was so big there had to be harsh and inhumane things to keep control of it. But things like the gladiatorial games weren’t necessary as without the slave the Roman Empire wouldn’t have been as successful and prosperous as they were. I think that the slaves deserve a lot of credit in making the Empire a success, even though what the Romans done to them were harsh and despicable. If I was to compare the Roman Empire to the Spartans, really the Roman Empire would be k nown as what they done would have been common at the time as the Spartans put a whole race into slavery and never let one of them rise above being classed as a slave. The Romans was quite cruel as they would torture slaves, child molestation, rape, poison and incest slaughter, this was just some of the things they would to the slaves compared the British Empire which invaded countries, changed most of their original cultures, once used privateers(pirates that were authorized by the government) would be used to plunder enemy ships during war and encouraged the colonies even in America to do the same. So I have compared the British Empire to the Roman Empire who was then compared to the Spartans and to conclude my research i believe that we should be proud the British Empire as we was much more civilised and didn’t go over the top in attempting to take over the world unlike the Roman Empire who would put people/slaves through the worst things to try to succeed in taking over the world. Just to make things clear the Spartans was far worst as they put a whole race into slavery and that’s all they would be. I asked my dad if he is proud o f the British Empire and he said: ‘At the time they brought allot of civilisation to many places that lacked in it, in different countries they helped build rail roads, postal services, and religion.’ Than I asked him if he was proud of it now, he replied: ‘Yes because nowadays we have strong, economical and commercial ties with the common wealth countries’ I don’t think my dad was too sure about the bad points but apart from that it was clear that he is proud of the British Empire because of how much it has helped the world today. The coalition government has set out a vision to strengthen the commonwealth as a focus for promoting democratic values and development. There are 54 independent sovereign states in the commonwealth. The commonwealth are a group of countries working in the same direction to promote the common interest of their people and promotion of international understanding. Membership of the commonwealth is voluntary , it is 63 years old, it has 54 member states which together comprise over 2 billion citizens. Her majesty the queen is head of the commonwealth, membership of the commonwealth does not bring with it contractual obligations rather members commit to a series of statements of believes esta blished by heads of government. The priorities and programmes of the commonwealth: 1.Good offices for peace- strengthen democratic processes and institutions 2.Rule of law- promoting the rule of law is seen enhancing democracy, good governments and development across the membership 3.Human rights- aims to assist members in the adoption and implementation of international human rights 4.Economic development-to assist developing countries to improve their understanding of international trade rules and regulations and to help them strengthen their negotiations within the world trade organisation. 5.Environmentally sustainable development- the commonwealth brings together industrialised countries with significant greenhouse gas emissions. 6.Large emerging economies- notable energy production and some of the poorest and the most vulnerable economies. 7.Human development- the commonwealth works towards the millennium development goals and is partially active in education, gender and health.

Consultancy Business Performance Management

Consultancy Business Performance Management Profile of Alpha Consultants Alpha Consultants is a Management and IT consultancy firm. It is a multi-disciplinary consultancy house, which offers services to both private and public sector organizations in a wide range of matters. Alpha Consultants offers knowledge innovation, brings in entrepreneurial drive, helps create bonds between clients and customers and helps organizations to achieve their goals with optimal efficiency. Alpha consultants have a resource pool of over 100 of experts available at their disposal. Depending on the requirement of the job and the expertise that are required for any particular project, services are acquired from the consultants from their resource pool. What makes Alpha consultants stand out from their competitors is the diverse skillset and background of their consultants. It allows the organization to step in a wider and a bigger market and do what others cannot. The professionals seated in the highest level at Alpha consultants bring multicultural experience, mainly in the field of development and health. This allows Alpha Consultants to pitch solid proposals for both public and private sector projects in the development and health sectors. However, over the years, Alpha Consultants has managed to hire consultants from all the various fields and sectors to make sure that they are able to cope with any challenges that a project has to offer. It adds more value and reliability to their profile, while also allowing them to aim at more diverse and new business opportunities. Moreover, Alpha Consultant is an IT firm which has been providing solutions to both private and public sector institutions. By IT, it is clear that there is a significant relation of computer oriented workforce. So, it is not difficult to categorize it as a service concern business organization. It is currently not having a larger span of services so it falls into the class of small and medium enterprises. The illustrative report will provide solutions and information related to management related functions along with other core operations of the consultancy house. Performance measurement is a set of tools to evaluate the performance of a firm. The services offered by Alpha Consultants include1: Research, Evaluation and Assessment Project Management, Design and Planning Strategy Analysis and Policy Reviews Institutional Development, Training and Organizational Management Advocacy IT Media Consultancy Vision Alpha consultants aims to become partner in knowledge based innovation with institutes that are looking to bring change to the world. Their vision is to make a name in service excellence with the help of their skilled and experienced consultants. Alpha consultants looks forward to become a name that is known to provide sustainable and innovative solutions and help their clients in capacity building, partnership building and organizational development. They want to become the bridge to fill in the gap between the clients and customers with a vision for both entrepreneurial and human development. 2[i] Every business has some certified Aims and objectives based on the strategy devised by the governing structure. Alpha Consultant as one a SME aims to extend the IT departments of their clients and provide multi-disciplinary services in the ICT spectrum. The technical facilities can be managed by IT Media Division with a mix of management services or it can deliver a full fledge built IT system to clients. The mixture of both will also be offered by the firm. Mission The fundamental purpose of the organization is to use their expertise and experience to help their clients achieve new milestones. Alpha consultants have highly professional, experienced and skilled experts in the field of Management, Development and IT. It is currently engaged with various NGOs and Public sector organization who are working in development sector in various less privileged and under developed areas. It has worked in various war and disaster struck areas for different national and international organizations. In the future, it aims to expand the target projects and aim to provide consultancy not just in development and health sector, but also in IT, Media, Education and other domains. It plans to move into more professional areas such as organization development and structural environment of organizations and work in more developed areas. Factors Affecting Business Performance Internal Innovation in the technology and the response of employees is considered of the most important factor affecting the business environment. In the case of this firm, which is in a way part of the growing IT industry it is necessary to give response to every change in the technology. The employees or the software engineers are not that much trained as the new technology comes and their expertise becomes outdated. External The political environment and the legislation of the authorities for IT activities have a great impact on management consultancy businesses. The licensing services and the tax structure changes rapidly whenever new technology is introduced that the business policies and strategy has to be changed. In the case of IT one of the most important factors is the availability of low cost substitutes being offered in the international market. Assessing the Situation – SWOT Analysis: Strengths: Extensive experience of the key personals in the assignment and their relations with officials in their major clients is the key strength of Alpha consultants. They have a broad range of clients and get various types of projects on regular basis. Alpha consultants has a wide set of expertise, the diverse resource pool allowing them to select experts from all various fields for any desired job. They have been known around the world and get large scale projects from international clients and get payments in international currency hence generating revenues and enhance profitability. The old presence of the company helps to gain the advantage of trust through which a good base of loyal customers can be maintained. About 64% of the customers of this SME are using it for supplies. This is a very strong feature of a firm. Company has got a strong financial position as there is no Debt to Equity ratios due to absence of Debt. The companys share is with 150 employees but they are serving their own company and they are connected with it (100, 2014). Weaknesses: Most consultants/experts are not employees, rather Alpha consultants has to hire freelance experts who work on contractual basis. Freelancer experts charge handsome amounts of fee and every time services are acquired, company has to search, track and negotiate with experts for each separate job. There are certain weaknesses as compared to other competing companies i.e. the concentration of the firm is divided into multiple segments under the name of Alpha Consultants. There are no separate services entities. Along with this the company is only targeting the local and the concentration towards internationalization is very less while other firms are going international or global. Considering the outreach the companies have got internationally now with the social media and search engine tools the competition has gotten very tough. Moreover, the handheld devices and smartphones influx have changed the dimension of IT industry on a massive level. Adapting to the changing needs of the market and new technologies has become very important for SME like Alpha Co and not being able to expand its outreach to international market has been a very major weakness. Opportunities: Due to their wide and diverse resource pool, they can handle all different sorts of projects and explore new work areas. Yet, Alpha consultants is associated with various NGOs and public sector organizations. Alpha consultants can use their IT and Media professionals to explore new IT grounds, provide services to Telecom giants and Entertainment industry. Also they can form collaboration with defense institutes to provide various services. As they get projects on usual basis, they need young talent as well as experienced staff. They provide employment opportunities to fresh graduates and experienced jobseekers to get benefit from their energetic minds and use them in project developments by providing economic salaries. Many of the IT firms from EU are now outsourcing the basic tasks to south Asian countries like India. This can be a good opportunity for Alpha Co to save costs along with efficiency in work. Another opportunity is to establish umbrella brands and other co-brands for different segment of IT services. Threats: The consultants who are not Alpha consultants’ employees but working only on contractual basis, get to interact with their clients and form bonds. These consultants not only gain experience under the banner of Alpha consultants, but if they decide to work alone, they can ruin these connections and the inside knowledge they have to offer competition. Freelancers will be working on organization projects; they may have access to the organizational internal details and may leak out this confidential information to others. If at some stage project accomplished by freelancer comes to the organization for feature addition or updations, the freelancer may not be available to complete that project or charge fee more than the budget. In that case, Alpha consultants has to hire a new freelance expert who will first have to understand all the previous work and this leads to wastage of time as well as money. There are multiple threats associated with IT business and SME sector. To make SME is not at all a difficult task. Most of the IT business and core operations are being performed in underdeveloped countries or the third world countries. The reason is that the cost is lessoned as compared to EU. So Alpha Consultants has threat of new entrants in the same field along with the cost determination in the current scenario of changing business environment. Overcoming Weaknesses There are different strategies to overcoming the weaknesses of SME like Alpha Co. The first solution is to outsource majorly activities for the development of infrastructure and software. Secondly, branding can prove to be a key of success. Human Resource system will be needed if the company is internationalized. According to the research the internationalization of the SME brings in 7% employment chances and gives growth to the firms. So for these methods and alternatives the evaluation is given in this report: Outsourcing: Most of the processes like development of the script of different software can be outsourced to other countries like India, where the IT infrastructure is cheap. In this way the company will be able to earn more profit by covering most of the cost incurred. The outsourcing technique will provide a contribution towards social welfare as the company will provide employment sources. Outsourcing for other activities will also help the company to attain the status of global organization. Branding: The services being offered separately can be considered as different brands like: Alpha Management Consultants Alpha Media Advocacy Consultants Alpha IT Consultants In this way different service segments will be considered as different service entities. These services will be provided under the umbrella of parent brand Alpha Consultancy. It will show the expansion of business in real as well as in imaginary terms. The co-branding technique will provide boost to the company. Compensation System: After going international, the company may develop some compensation systems to provide healthy incomes to the new employees from different companies. So that the motivation level of the employees may get higher and they may contribute towards innovation and development. Constraint and Restrictions There are many types of restriction mounted by the local authorities on small businesses. In the case of consultancy business, there are following restrictions: Registration The business or the SME should be registered under authorities with correct particulars. It should mention everything related to business and prove that is ethical business and there is no harm for environment. Authorization The SME should be authorized by the governing bodies of the country. The trademark should be registered and there should be acquisition of copyrights to run a Small Medium enterprise. This is very important that the name should be unique and in the case of IT, the processes should not be imitated from any other firm. Evaluation: The evaluation of small Medium Enterprise is necessary as the government of EU countries takes the working infrastructure of employees in account. The working of employees and the utilization of human resources are checked and evaluated by different authorities. Responsibilities and Liabilities of Owner Managers Owner In small and medium enterprises there are multiple roles associated with owner of the business. Owner is not only an investor, but is also responsible to make business strategy of the business. Conduct Financial analysis and arrange the finances if needed. Check the legal requirement of the firm along with some attention to the marketing and sales activities of the business. Managing human resource and customer feedback evaluation is also one of the liabilities of owners. In SMEs with more than one owner it is important to contribute in terms of time and finance equally in the business. Manager There are four basic management functions which should be performed by every type of manager. These four basic functions include: Planning Leading Controlling Organizing By planning it is meant to plan the routine and day to day activities in the business. In the case of Alpha Consultants it is necessary to plan activities which are the part of multiple projects on going. Some are the management consultancy projects while other is the IT services being offered different firms. The manager should ensure the good planning. Then the manager should lead the working team of employees in accordance with the policy and objectives of the business. As to provide the solutions for IT and management both, it is necessary for a manager to provide a controlled environment in which the activities are organized to deliver best quality in time. Such services can only be delivered when there is a proper control and innovation is appreciated through the leading role of a manager in business (Fincham, 2000). Finance There financial status of Alpha Consultant is one of the best in its kind. It is a debt free company. There is no incorporation and the proprietorship is sole. The companys profit is increasing gradually with time due to appropriate cost base with respect to other companies. Marketing and Sales The customer base of Alpha Co must be very strong as it has started from providing services only to customers and now it reselling the services to end users as well as public and private sector. Most of the customers were of public sector organizations. The company has increased its business portfolio by providing multiple solutions. These multiple solutions include Infrastructure, Microsoft, networking, optimized desktop, Asset Management and security. The other SMEs in this category are only limited to one type of services like only security or networking. Very less firms are giving asset management software oriented services (Eikebrokk, 2007). According to the secondary research given in the assignment, IT firm from UK or EU can easily internationalize on the basis of services provided online. In this way the firm can increase the profit and employment capacity. Human resources There are about 600 people in the SME. They are very energetic and like tradition strong innovation is demanded from the skilled workers of the firm. The detailed analysis provides the competitive advantage of Alpha Co on other similar firms. This advantage is that apart from passionate employees the preference is given to disciplined, flexible and diversified employees. In this way the firm stands at its best among other firms of same category. Use of Technology As this is an IT related firm and knows better to use the technology. The company is using the technology related to multiple fields at once. It has got many advantages along with the disadvantages. It is very difficult for a SME to provide core operations of different or multiple solutions. Especially in IT one business SME can only provide expert solution for one factor of the technology. There are other firms in the category which are having customer base and expertise only in one sector of the technology. Whether it’s the web, security or networking Alpha Consultants is giving multiple solutions which is the good point but customer can perceive a Jack of all trades and Master of None type stereotype. Developing Strategies, Goals and Objectives: Considering the weaknesses and threats faced by Alpha consultants, a number of recommendations can be suggested: Alpha consultants has a huge resource pool. It has professionals and experts in tens of sectors and fields. However, the key professionals inside the organization are development experts, so they key focus is on development projects. It strongly needs a separate department that will be dedicated to hunting new opportunities and finding new projects. That way Alpha consultants will be able to target various new projects and explore untouched domains. As discussed in the SWOT analysis, when Alpha consultants has to acquire freelance experts for various projects, it not only allows the consultants and experts to get access to company’s information, but also allows them to interact with their clients. These freelance professionals can exploit this information. However, if Alpha consultants hires more experts as their employees rather than outsourcing to freelance expert, it can gain a lot of advantage. We have been discussed that Alpha consultants has both the valuable experience and a valued name in development and health sector. It can use this name and use their profile to land in new opportunities. By entering new domains, it is expanding and at the same time giving the business a bigger name. The goal of Alpha consultants at the moment should be to gain multi-sector and multi-regional experience using its already established name in development sector. Areas such as Telecom giants, Defense organizations, Financial Institutions and Entrepreneurial start-ups are key areas of focused. Alpha consultants with their experience can provide assistance to all these clients, while also helping their inner growth. References 100, T., 2014. The Top 100 European Software Vendors: European Software Vendors Ranking 2013. [Online] Available at: http://www.truffle100.com/2013/ranking.php [Accessed February 2014]. Eikebrokk, T.R., 2007. Information and Management: An empirical investigation of competency factors affecting e-business success in European SMEs. Elsevier. Europa, 2012. SoftCat: A Case Study. Europa. Fincham, J.E., 2000. Basic Management Principles. University of Kansas, School pf Pharmacy. ISO, 2012. Quality Management Report. ISO Central Secretariat. Softcat, 2014. SoftCat: Our People. [Online] Available at: http://www.softcat.com/who-we-are/our-people [Accessed February 2014]. www.softcat.com, 2014. Softcat Limited. Terms and Conditions for Customers. [Online] SoftCat Available at: www.softcat.com/explorer/files/SoftcatTerms_Conditions.pdf‎ [Accessed 2014]. [i] Alpha Consultants (2013). Alpha Consultants, Expertise in Detail. Retrieved From: http://www.Alphaconsultants.com/Alpha/closerlook.html

Theme Of Facade In The Harlem Dancer English Literature Essay

Theme Of Facade In The Harlem Dancer English Literature Essay Masks mean many different things to many people. They are used at parties, ceremonies, rituals, sports, and so many other things. Most people eventually take masks off, revealing who they really are. However, some people put masks on to conceal who they really are, shielding them from the world. The poems The Emperor of Ice Cream by Wallace Stevens and The Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay both demonstrate the theme of faà §ade in different ways. The women depicted in the poems are completely different, however they both felt as if they needed to use a mask to go on with their lives in society. The Emperor of Ice Cream by Wallace Stevens portrays a woman who has passed away and the wake that is held for her. It is implied that she is nothing but a common woman who had no real achievements in her life. Her social status is revealed in the second stanza: Take from the dresser of deal, Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet On which she embroidered fantails once And spread it so as to cover her face If her horny feet protrude, they come To show how cold she is, and dumb. It can be understood from reading that her dresser is lacking the three glass knobs that the dresser is old and possibly falling apart, implying that this woman does not have the money to afford a new one. The sheet that was placed over her body also came from atop of the dresser. She had also embroidered fantails once. When someone does not have a lot of money, it makes them thrifty. She must have embroidered the birds onto the sheet to make it look nicer. Making herself appear to have more wealth and status seems like something she did often. However, when her horny feet are revealed her masquerade is over. Her callused feet reveal that she has had hardship and has done a lot of hard work in her life to just survive. The size of the sheet that covers her is also very telling. The fact that the sheet was not large enough to cover her entire body reveals that she was not quite what she let people think she was. It is as if the sheet covered the part of her that she showed to the worl d and in her passing revealed the part of her that she really was. Her death has finally revealed that she was just an ordinary woman who tried to make her life seem better by tweaking a few things to live her faà §ade. The first part of the poem is also very telling about how the people who knew her perceive her now as she lays deceased in her bedroom. Let the wenches dawdle in such dress As they are used to wear, and let the boys Bring flowers in last months newspapers. Let be be the finale of seem. The people that are attending her wake seem to be dressed in ordinary clothing. They seem unbothered by the fact that they are at a wake of a woman that they possibly know. They are in such dress as they are used to wear which means that this event is not of major importance to them. The boys also brought flowers that are wrapped in last months newspapers. The womans wake was not even important enough for them to wrap the flowers in something nicer than last months newspapers. Both the girls and the boys who attended her wake did not think it was important enough to do anything special. The most telling line of the first stanza is, Let be be the finale of seem. The finale of seem represents the finality of the mask of what the woman wanted people to perceive when they looked at her. The line is saying that it is time to let fall the mask that the woman put on for a large portion of her life. This line alone sums up the theme of faà §ade in this poem. The faà §ade that this woman has worked so hard to maintain is lifted and even as she is dead, she is left pathetic and in her true form. The people who knew her used her death as an occasion to eat ice cream, to relieve some of their own troubles. Another poem that explores the theme of faà §ade is the poem The Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay. This poem is in the form of a sonnet, unlike the other poem which was free verse except a rhyming couplet at the end of each stanza. This poem captures what life was like for an African American woman during the 1920s. Being a woman in the 1920s was hard enough. When this poem was written women were given the right to vote two years prior, so tensions were still high. To add to the tension, an African American woman would have been given a harder time. Although no longer slaves, the tension between whites and African Americans still existed and would continue to exist until the Civil Rights Movement. This is the time that Claude McKay lived in. McKay used his experiences as a Harlem Renaissance writer to depict what an African American woman during the 1920s might have done in order to get by. The mask that the woman wears in The Harlem Dancer is much different than the mask the woman wears in The Emperor of Ice Cream. The mask the woman uses in The Harlem Dancer is used to protect her and save what little dignity she has left. Devoured her shape with eager, passionate gaze; But looking at her falsely-smiling face, I knew her self was not in that strange place. The woman in this poem is not being herself as she dances for the people throwing money at her. She had taken herself completely away mentally from the situation she is presently in and has put herself somewhere more comforting. She put on a mask to protect herself, instead of trying to make herself appear better than she really is. She uses her mask as a shield, making sure that no one will ever be able to get to the shred of pride and dignity in herself that she has left. It is obvious that this woman does not like dancing for money for these people that treat her terribly and ridicule her. It can be said that this is one of the few things that she is able to do to make ends meet. In order to support herself and possibly others, this is probably the profession that is the most lucrative for her during this time. The sad part of this is that she is not even earning much money. This is revealed in the line, Luxuriant fell; and tossing coins in praise. She is only earning petty coins and nothing of real monetary value that could be of use to her. Another part of the poem is also very telling about how resilient this woman is because of how she maintains her faà §ade. She sang and danced on gracefully and calm, The light gauze hanging loose about her form; To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm Grown lovelier for passing through a storm. The woman seems to be weathered and has also gone through hardship much like the woman in the first poem. She has gone through things that have made her stronger in mind and body. It seems that because she has gone through such hardship, it has made her even more beautiful than she was. What has helped this woman become so strong and able to get through the tough times is that she can separate herself from the profession that she has to do any her actual self. It is akin to a victim of a murder or a rape that as it is happening, they block it out and put themselves somewhere else in their mind so they can get through the terrible experience. This woman is putting her mask on once again to get through her degrading job so she can support herself and possibly others. Her strength gives way to the hope that she will be able to stop dancing and be successful. The faà §ade presented in the poem The Emperor of Ice Cream has more to do with concealing and hiding away what the woman really was from the rest of the world. Her mask was like a security blanket, making sure that no one would ever see that she was just an ordinary woman with nothing to show of her existence. However, the faà §ade in the second poem The Harlem Dancer is more like a defense-mechanism. The woman in the second poem puts on the faà §ade to protect her dignity and to also transport herself away from the trauma. This faà §ade is used as a necessity whereas the faà §ade used in the first poem was a matter of pride for the woman. The women in both poems have seen many hardships and both struggle to survive in the world. They try to better themselves in hopes of living happily. The woman in the first poem hoped that the mask she put on would someday be who she really was. The woman in the second poem hoped that she would not have to wear a mask any longer. By using a f aà §ade, both women hid their true selves from the world.

Macroeconomics Coursework :: Economics

It is the role of every government to safeguard its people in all matters including controlling the economy. Every economy faces different challenges including the business cycles that may emanate from the global market. In this paper we try to examine measures taken by the UK’s coalition government in trying to ensure that the economy benefits every citizen and reduces the overall burden to it. We consider the recent comprehensive review on spending. Many countries in the world have been suffering a recession in their economies and UK has not been an exception. A recession is a macroeconomic term describing one of the two business cycles that economies go through. The business cycles is characterized by either a boom where there are more business activities carried with a rapid economic growth and points of recession where there is retardation min economic growth. Various aspects and factors contribute to economic growth, which is measured through GDP. This factor may include savings, investments government spending plus other factors within either an increase or a decrease. Reduction in spending may lead to a recession while a n increase in spending may lead to expansion that is a boom in the economy. According to Maynard, John (1930), various measured may be taken by government in order to improve the state of the economy and probably move the economy from a recession or even speed this process. Various players can play a role in improving the economic though as Keynesian theory explains the government plays a great role in this compared to other players like the private sector. The government can therefore use various measures through its budgeting policies, fiscal policies and monetary policies by the Central Bank. It’s on this basis that the UK coalition government has proposed slashing of its budget to reduce the overall spending in the economy. Taxpayer isn't a â€Å"first-time homebuyer† with respect to that purchasing a new home unless he or she delays the purchase until the three-year period since his previous home ownership has ended. An individual whose principal residence is in rented quarters (and has been for at least three years) but who owns a vacation home can qualify as a first-time homeowner, because he has had no ownership interest in his principal residence. The Committee Report adds that the individual must not have had an ownership interest in a principle residence in the UK during the three-year period before the purchase of the home to which the credit applies.

Governmental Abuse in America :: Politics Political Essays

Governmental Abuse in America The U. S. government has been expanding its influence on the personal lives of American residents for many years, particularly during the twentieth century. This growth has disabled people's abilities to take care of themselves and their loved ones, and ruined their chances at personal growth and development. Once a vehicle solely for the preservation of a free and peaceful society, the U. S. government has distorted our country into a nightmare police state. The short-term beneficiaries of continued and expanded lawful encroachment are only the government officials themselves and the criminal underground who gain more power with every newly prohibited good in their black market economy. The primary cause of this governmental abuse is the collective will of the people. The vast majority of individuals refuse to allow other people to act in ways that are foreign to them. One set of laws that has destroyed many people's lives is the asset forfeiture system. These laws are in place as a consequence of the government's drug policy, where inflated profits can be made as the illegality of the product limits supply. "Police stopped 49-year-old Ethel Hylton at Houston's Hobby Airport and told her she was under arrest because a drug dog had scratched at her luggage. Agents searched her bags and strip-searched her, but they found no drugs. They did find $39,110 in cash, money she had received from an insurance settlement and her life savings; accumulated through over 20 years of work as a hotel housekeeper and hospital janitor. Ethel Hylton completely documented where she got the money and was never charged with a crime. But the police kept her money anyway." (Wollstein) Another government practice that has caused many people considerable duress is racial profiling. The main reason this practice isn't condemned to the point of prosecuting enough officers to discourage its use is that the people who are hurt by it are not like them. The victims of these attacks are thought to be alien, somehow related to the actual criminal element and probably deserving anyway. When people think of themselves being negatively affected by a police procedure they take an interest in actually preventing these things from happening. "Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Rayford Means got lost three years ago, driving through Pennsylvania's Chester County. A policeman pulled over his car and asked why he was in the area.

Formal lab gravitaional acceleration :: essays research papers

Lab #5: Gravitational Acceleration Preparation: In preparation for the first part of this lab involving the Atwood's machine our team started by discussing the effects of the masses on the results of the machine as requested in question 1 of the lab manual. We believe that if the two masses were equal there would be no motion of either of them when released. However we believed that if the two masses were not equal, the heavier mass would fall downward pulling the lighter mass upwards. Below as requested by question 2 is a free body diagram of both situations Masses Equal Masses Unequal The tension on mass 1 is equal to the tension in mass 2 due to the same string attaching both masses and is shown mathematically above in the section where the masses are equal. In the second part gravity is solved for. We also believe that the difference between the two masses will affect the acceleration in a linear matter as requested in question 3. In preparation for part 2 we started by answering question 4 on which graph best describes freefall based for distance vs. time. We believed graph (b) showed this and is shown below. Our rational for this was that the object in free fall is undergoing a constant acceleration meaning its velocity will increase with time. This is shown on graph (b) by the increasing slope with time, and is the only graph to have its slope increase with time. Graph (a) has constant slope and graph (c) has its slope decrease with time. For question 5 which asked for the best velocity vs. time graph we believed that graph (a) is the best graph. Our rational for this was that because the object is under constant acceleration the velocity will increase at a constant rate. Graph (a) shows this while graph (b) shows constant velocity and graph (c) shows decreasing velocity. For question 6 which asked for the best acceleration vs. time graph we believed that graph (b) shows this the best. Our rational for this was that the object is under constant acceleration. Only graph (b) shows a constant acceleration. Graph (a) shows decreasing acceleration while graph (c) shows increasing acceleration. Procedure: Our procedure for part 1 is the following: First we measured the masses of both sides of the Atwood's machine and record these values. Next we held the smaller mass on the ground and measured the distance from the ground to the bottom of the larger mass, calling this value "s".

My Math Difficulties began with Pre-Algebra and Fractions

It was the summer before college when I had the best vacation in my life. I never had enjoyed any vacation since the past years. Too bad I became so pre-occupied with take pleasure in this escapement that I lost my penchant for learning. Summer was fast ending and I had to pack-up hastily and drive back home. And schooldays are coming. I felt like a lonely cavalier on my college’s first math class. As everyone on the class each has varied high school backgrounds, I found it hard to cope up with the subjects pace. I got a very failing mark on my first quiz. And worse, it went on until the end of the semester. My young freshman mind found it tough to adapt to such a demanding subject. I always had to sleep late at night solving problems and forgetting them when I wake up in the morning. My mouth gaped at the sight of endless assignments and workbooks. Our teacher could see our agony, our pleading eyes hoping she would blow her whistle and let us take a break from the work. Twenty pages of reading and a worn out pencil erase keeps me awake every night. I sweated over those small numbers above and below the fraction line. How could I learn all this and still have time to watch Smallville? This wasn’t a freshman’s usual anxiety. I honestly thought I hated math. What is this subject anyway? Why would I have to really put much time and agony into it? Nightmares would come in numbers dancing across my room. It would torment me just thinking about how bad my day became because of that exasperating pre-algebra exam. It would send me down lurching on the sofa everyday when I get home. Nothing had been that much demoralizing, when the test papers were returned and what you got isn’t even enough to lift your aching pride, what more than to show it to your mom. A research paper, published Anna  Sierpinska, Georgeana  Bobos and Christine  Knipping of Concordia University in Canada(August  2007), tackles about the frustration in students of mathematical courses. Their paper summarizes the reactions of the students and instructors they interviewed. They identified numerous causes of frustration, such as the fast pace of the courses, inefficient learning strategies, the need to change previously acquired ways of thinking, difficult rapport with truth and reasoning in mathematics, being forced to take PMC, insufficient academic and moral support on the part of teachers, and poor achievement (Sierpinska, Bobos and Knipping, 2007). These sources of frustration are discussed from the point of view of their impact on the quality of the mathematical knowledge that students develop in mathematical subjects. All of us go through all of the learning stages but not always on the same timetable (Hood, 1997). Sometimes, other inclinations in us, like music and arts, develop much earlier than the others and we do not fully grasp many mathematical concepts until we reach adulthood. In our course of growing up, we learn through our environment and according to our level of maturity (Hood, 1997). The book â€Å"Taking the Frustration out of Math† by Mary Hood tells us about the three distinct learning styles (auditory, visual and kinesthetic). She relates them to math learning. Along her book, she reminds us that each kid is diverse and that the parent is truly the expert on his/her own child. If a child is not grasping a concept, she recommends putting it aside and working on it again at a later date. Frustrating the child will only make a child hate math. Just because a child should be in a particular stage, does not mean that the individual child is ready for certain concepts. Eventually, he or she will be. Some websites, such as â€Å"Coping with Math Anxiety† offers various ways on coping with math frustrations. It recommends that the primary pace is to identify that math anxiety is an emotional response. And since it is an emotional reaction, it can be in a constructive or unconstructive way. Unconstructive ways comprises rationalization, suppression, and denial. By rationalization, we mean finding reasons why it is okay and perhaps even inevitable, and therefore justified, for you to have this reaction. By suppression is meant having awareness of the anxiety, but trying very, very hard not to feel it. Finally, there is denial. People using this approach probably aren’t likely to see this essay, much less read it, for they carefully construct their lives so as to avoid all mathematics as much as possible (Coping with Math Anxiety, www.mathacademy.com/pr/ minitext/anxiety). The constructive way to manage math anxiety involves making as conscious as possible the sources of math anxiety in one’ own life, accepting those feelings without self-criticism, and then learning strategies for disarming math anxiety's influence on one’s future study of mathematics (Coping with Math Anxiety, www.mathacademy.com/pr/ minitext/anxiety). I never had much luck on my first college math subject. It took me countless sleepless nights before it dawned on me that I had much more things to prove and accomplish. One time or another, each of us will be haunted by math frustrations. We may take it as a frustration forever, or we could take it as a positive challenge to move on to much greater heights, where our past failure becomes too insignificant. References Printed References: Arem, Cynthia.   Conquering Math Anxiety: A Self-Help Workbook.   Pacific Grove, CA:   Brooks/Cole Publishing, 1993. Burns, Marilyn.   The I Hate Mathematics! Book.   Little, Brown ; Company, 1975. Buxton, Laurie.   Math Panic.   London: Heinemann, 1991. Mary Hood, PhD 1997, Taking the Frustration Out of Math, Elijah Company, January 1, 1997 Online References: Coping With Math Anxiety, (www.mathacademy.com/pr/minitext/anxiety) Professors Freedman's Math Help (http://www.mathpower.com/) Soloman/Felder's Learning Styles ;

Part IV: Condensed Version

As an overview, Cleanthes is described as a philosopher that has a calm disposition. Demea is the one more concerned in the cause of religion. Philo is the arbiter or mediator between the ideas presented by Cleanthes and Demea. Cleanthes was wondering why Demea was insisting that the Deity had no resemblance to humans in terms of human mind and understanding. For Cleanthes, the Deity has powers that humans cannot comprehend, for that is its nature––unexplainable. Though incomprehensible, Cleanthes recognized the Deity as a supreme being.Cleanthes also questioned Demea what was the difference of those who believed in the Deity and those who were Sceptics or Atheists. Atheists believed that the first cause of all was an unknown being. Atheists do not recognize the existence of a Deity. Atheists have boldness. Not only they had rejected the production by a mind, they also pretend to assign intelligible cause. Demea replied and commented that Cleanthes had presented his tho ughts concerning the Deity with criticism instead of reasoning.Demea presented the comparison between the Deity and humans since Cleanthes said that the Deity is similar to the way humans think and understand. A human mind is filled with ideas, feelings, passions, and different faculties. And the human mind varies from one person to another. Though they vary from one another, the ideas they presented have form or order. The Deity has a perfect nature. He is able to see into the past, into the present, and into the future. Also, unlike the human mind that can change from one instance to another, the Deity has a fixed and firmed decision.The presence of the Deity is felt by those who believe in it. He is present everywhere, unlike humans who can only exist in one place at a certain point in time. Cleanthes again commented based on Demea’s words. With the way Demea explained, Cleanthes said that those â€Å"who maintain the perfect simplicity of the Supreme Being† were co nsidered Atheists, yet they were unaware of it. For if we recognized the existence of the Deity, and since we know that his characteristics are incomprehensible, humans must give the Deity the respect he deserves.As humans, it is but natural to give due respect to the Deity. However, humans who do not give due respect to the Deity are diverging to the accustomed way of the Deity’s nature. It all bois down to human mind and the way it perceives things. Those who do not respect the Deity have restricted their minds to think of ways to give glory to the Deity. A mind that thinks with simplicity cannot think of creative reasoning and normally inclined to what is common, or to something that has no uniqueness at all.Demea chose to believe in the â€Å"perfect simplicity† of the Deity. The way we defined simplicity does not describe the true nature of the Deity, for the Deity’s mind definitely does not think simply. Same with humans, the Deity’s way of thinking is complicated yet creative. Philo, upon hearing the exchange of ideas between Cleanthes and Demea, argued that in order to know â€Å"the cause of that Being whom you suppose the Author of Nature,† they could judge the matter by reason or by experience. With reasoning we are able to explain the cause of every idea we thought of.We explain things based on reasoning that involves a whole lot of mind thinking. With experience we are able to explain the cause based on what we had experienced or what others had experienced. And because experience differs from one person to another, no two individual can think exactly alike. In reasoning, the mental world and the material world both need a cause. In experience, the material world is much easier to comprehend than the mental world because the material world is tangible unlike the mental world or the world of ideas.Philo continued to argue that in order to understand the cause of the Author of Nature why not consider focusing on th e present material world. What is beyond the material world is vague and unknown. It is like saying to be contended on what we presently know about the Deity or God and do not worry ourselves on what is incomprehensible to us. The most important is that we know that there is a God. Philo added that some philosophers were ignorant and yet they disguised to know explanation to some matters.Such philosophers were called Peripatetics they would reason out and yet they were not really knowledgeable of the matter. They took advantage of those who were unaware of the matter. The matter on having an order in the ideas of the Supreme Being was an example. Some philosophers explained that having order is just one of the natures of the Deity. Cleanthes commented that Philo’s arguments were easy to answer. Cleanthes gave an example that if he were assigned cause for an event, would there be a problem if he could not tell the cause of that cause?For Cleanthes, knowing the Deity is the mos t important. He had stopped his inquiries and settled on the fact that there is a Deity. He did not push to knowing the cause or the order of the ideas of the Deity. For him, the existence of the Deity is what is more important. Believing on this fact is already enough. He would not busy himself on discovering what else should be known about the Deity. However, Cleanthes also said that those who would want to know what is beyond the existence of a Deity may do so.Philo said that he pretended not to be like Cleanthes who stopped thinking what lies ahead or what is beyond the existence of the Deity. Philo also pretended not to be like those who go and explore beyond to inquiry more of the existence of the Deity. Philo said he should have not attempted to expound on his arguments. Philo stressed that naturalists, with regard to the matter about the Deity, normally explain their ideas by giving out general causes.

Bankruptcy Among Young People Because of Credit Card Essay

Consumer credit can be defined as a debt that someone incurs for the purpose of purchasing a good or service. Common forms of consumer credit include credit cards, store cards, motor (auto) finance, personal loans (installment loans), consumer lines of credit, retail loans (retail installment loans) and mortgages. The spread of credit card ownership and usage across developing Asia Pacific countries has been overwhelming. A review of literature on credit card reveals that most studies have been undertaken in developed country settings. Credit cards were first issued in the USA in the early twentieth century. Since then, they have become a major system for exchange of transactions (or payments) that stimulates household and personal spending even in many developing countries of the world (Watkins, 2000). In Malaysia, cards were first introduced in the mid-1970s. At the early stage, credit cards were only issued to professionals or those considered successful businesspersons by card issuing companies. By the end of 1970s, an estimated 20,000 cards were issued. During that time, owning a credit card was considered a symbol of prestige. However, with the passage of time, eligibility criteria for obtaining credit cards have been increasingly relaxed. As a result, the number of cardholders reached to about three million by the turn of the last century. One of the fastest ways to bankruptcy is the misuse of credit cards. One of the more common reasons that people end up filing for bankruptcy is due to too much credit card debt. Credit cards are so often too seductive because they offer the ability to buy what we want now. We can then pay it off later, using very small and affordable monthly payments. Credit cards offer a way for us to make attractive purchases that we might not be able to make otherwise. Suddenly, it seems as though we can afford anything we want. The low monthly payments seem reasonable and easy to fulfill. That is one of the biggest problems associated with credit cards. It is easy to forget about the high rate of interest that we are paying instead we consider the low minimum payments we make each month and count that our self is lucky. We can continue for years, making minimum payments each month and building up credit card debt. However, one day something may happen. We could have our hours cut at work, or maybe our minimum payment will be increased. We might have a costly hospital stay, or our home may be struck by a natural disaster not covered by our home insurance. Suddenly, our credit card payments do not seem as affordable as we once did. After looking at our situation, it dawns on us how much credit card debt that we have. The only way out of our financial mess may seem like bankruptcy. An article from New Straits Times Online dated 14 November 2011 has highlighted the issue of easy cash turns many into bankrupts. Easy cash here means credit card. Credit card is a familiar type of open-end credit. The term credit card is used to cover a variety of types of cards, some of which actually do not involve credit. In general, a credit card is a plastic card printed with an account number and identifying the holder as a person who has entered into revolving credit agreement with a lender. From the article it states that Malaysian youth are becoming increasingly reckless with spending, thanks in no small measure to the convenience offered by credit cards. An average of 41 Malaysians are declared bankrupt daily, with the majority failing to repay their car purchase loans. BANKRUPTCY STATISTICS BASED ON CREDIT CARD DEBTS IN MALAYSIA The Department of Insolvency Malaysia (MDL) had restructured 80,348 bankruptcy cases from 2005 to May 2010 categorized as following: 31,950 cases – Malay 26,805 cases – Chinese 7,661 cases – Indians 13,932 cases – Others Some of the cases involved in different type of loans that caused the bankruptcy: 19,380 cases for failing to settle hire purchase loans 9,464 cases for failing to settle personal loans 8,786 cases for failing to settle business loans 6,022 cases for failing to settle housing loans 4,417 cases for failing to settle credit card debts 4,291 cases for failing to settle corporate loans 3,726 stood as guarantors CAUSES OF BANKRUPTCY The proliferation of credit cardholders has brought an indiscriminate spending by users with many side effects. Many Malaysian consumers seem to display excessive buying behavior, commonly known as ‘‘compulsive buying.’’ Easy availability of credit and compulsive buying has led to many adverse consequences such as addiction to shopping and excessive debt. Another noteworthy feature of card users in Malaysia is that they use the card to grant loans for themselves. It is easier to obtain credit cards in Malaysia rather than applying for personal loans, which requires the applicant to comply with more formalities like providing guarantors or collaterals. It was reported that outstanding debts from credit card holders amounted to RM15.719 billion by the year March 2009 (RM or Ringgit Malaysia is the local currency, 3.40 RM was approximately equal to 1 USD at the time of study). By the year 2009 outstanding credit card debts accounted for 1.35 percent of the total loans outstanding or 11.41 percent of the total consumer credit (Bank Negara Malaysia, 2009). On a more serious note, 6.43 percent of the outstanding debts had to be converted to non-performing loans. An alarming increase in the number of credit card holders seeking bankruptcy proceedings over the years was also reported. Shopaholic is one of the causes of bankruptcy among young people because of credit card. On average, 41 are declared bankrupt every day, mostly due to credit card debts, while every weekend, about five million peoples throng the 300-odd shopping complexes in the country. These habits are among the shocking revelations on why Malaysian consumers cannot cope with the rising cost of living. Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA) discovered that many of those declared bankrupt due to credit card debts were below 40 years old. Another cause of bankruptcy is poor financi al management skills. Article from New Straits Times states that 10 million of credit cards had been issued but only 30 per cent of card holders is able to meet the monthly repayments. From the article, Chief executive officer of FOMCA Datuk Paul Selvaraj said it is because of the convenience of credit cards that people seem to prefer using them rather than cash. He also said that credit card holders do not  feel the immediate pinch of emptying their wallets when they make a purchase. It was reported that those who used credit cards were more inclined to spend 17 per cent more compared with those who used cash. Besides that failing to repay credit card debts is also the cause of bankruptcy. This is because credit card interest rate for outstanding balance is very high. Banks require consumers to pay only the minimum which is 5% or RM50 (whichever higher) of total outstanding balance (debt). If they only make minimum payment, it takes about 2 years to clear all the outstanding balance providing that there is no new spending. On top of high interest rate, consumers are also subjected to finance charges if they do not make full payments every month. This means, if they make partial payment, minimum payment or do not make payment on or before the payment due date, finance charges will be imposed from the day the transaction is posted to the card account. The relationship between psychographic variables, attitude development and credit card usage by cardholders in Malaysia. HOW TO OVERCOME A total of 87,583 individuals were declared bankrupt up to October this year, with 4,651 or 5.1% of them due to unpaid credit card debts. In light of this, the government will be discussing with Bank Negara on finding a solution to the problem of high interest rates imposed on credit card users, resulting in many being unable to settle their outstanding balance. Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong said a solution was necessary as the number of credit card users declared bankrupt was worrying with the majority of them being young people (The Sun Daily, 15 December 2010). One way to overcome credit card debt is consumers have to have full payments prior to due date. They will enjoy interest-free period for retail transactions for 20 days on retail transactions. Cash advance, balance transfer and installment payment plan programs are excluded from interest-free period. Consumers also subjected to late payment charges minimum of RM5 or 1% of total outstanding balance, whichever is higher, up to RM50 if they fail to make payments before due date. If you have problem  to settle your credit card debt, the best solutions is to cut the card and stop using it. Second way to overcome credit card debt is pay more than the minimum payment. Always pay more than the minimum amount that you owe. If you can afford to do it, double or triple the minimum payment. This will help you get rid of credit card debt more quickly. If you have multiple credit cards, you might want to concentrate the bulk of the money you have available to paying one off at a time. The credit card you should focus on first is the one with the highest annual percentage rate. Pay this card off and then move on to the next highest one and so forth. This not only gets rid of the worst credit card debt (i.e. the one with the highest interest rate), but it gives you a sense of accomplishment and peace of mind, knowing that you have one less payment to worry about. Third way to overcome credit card debt is treat a credit card like a debit card. The biggest fallacy of credit cards is that they are ‘additional money’ to be spent each month. The typical household sees the monthly credit card bill as just another bill to spend money paying off. Worse, many people see ‘responsible’ credit card use as paying the minimum or slightly more each month. Using a checkbook to balance your finances or free financial software such as Mint.com or paid software such as Quicken can help you balance finances and ensure there will be enough money each month to pay off the credit card bills. Every time you make a purchase with a credit card, treat it like a debit card and deduct that money spent out of checking or savings accounts. Software can do that automatically when linked to the accounts, but a checkbook or simple pen and paper works the same way. Next, set alerts to avoid missed or late payments. A missed or late credit card payment can put even the most responsible credit card user over the edge and into debt. Interest rates get raised and high fees will tack on finance charges to the bill. Set up free e-mail or text message alerts from your credit card issuer’s online account management site. If your credit card issuer does not offer online account access, consider finding a new credit card company. Many late fees and missed payments are due to using regular postal mail to keep up with bills and make payments. Online payments are time stamped and come with an e-mail record of statements and payments. Another way to overcome credit card debt is do not spend money that we do not have. This tried and true financial tip holds true for credit cards as well. Credit cards can be an excellent financial  tool to establish and build credit. They can also allow responsible users to earn rewards such as cash back or points. Credit cards also act as interest free loans in a pinch with grace periods ranging from 20-30 days for users who can pay the balance off when the bill comes due. Spending on a credit card should adjust according to one’s financial situation. Responsible credit card use starts with spending less than one has in their bank account month to month. Besides that you must try not to rack up your credit card bill. If you can avoid it, do not use your credit card at all, as this will just put you deeper into debt. Try to pay cash for what you need and eliminate the things that you want (even if only temporarily). The horrible thing about credit card debt is that it is so easy for your debt to increase. Write down a list of expenses is also a way to overcome credit debt. It is very beneficial to know exactly where your money is going each month. Money seems to disappear before you even get your hands on it. Writing down a list of where your money goes will get you thinking about certain areas where you can save money. You can change your money habits by taking the time to understand where it is going. When you look at your list (and you should include what you are paying in credit card debt), you will probably be motivated to do what you can to try to hold on to more of your money. Lastly, pay down your credit card debt before you put money in a savings account. Your credit card interest rate is exponentially higher than what you gain from a savings account at a bank. Get rid of the credit card debt first, otherwise it will keep growing. CONCLUSION In conclusion, those who want to avoid bankruptcy do their best to avoid credit card debt to begin with. Bankruptcy can damage your credit score and cause other financial problems. On top of that, the financial strain can begin to take its toll on your relationships. Avoiding bankruptcy requires careful financial planning. We should create a budget and track our spending. Live within our means so that we are not acquiring debt. Each month, pay off our credit cards bill. We can use credit cards as part of our financial spending plan but we need to be careful to avoid carrying a balance. Besides that, we must set aside money for emergencies. That way, if  unexpected expenses come up, we won’t be as devastating. Being debt free and having some savings built up and can go a long way toward helping us to stay away from bankruptcy and providing us with some of the cash flow we need. With careful financial planning, credit cards can be a helpful tool, rather than a path to bankrupt cy. Do not let something so useful become our downfall. The problem with credit card debt is that it is very easy to get into but hard to get out. (Some people associate it with a bad marriage, and it is really similar to it). To get into a credit card debt is even easier than any other debt, because the plastic is just there in out wallet all the time, as an easy solution, and we tend to use it as a â€Å"quick fix. Credit card debt reduction is although a different story, to get out of credit card debt you needs discipline and planning to reduce your outgoings and change your attitude towards your spending. Getting to a stage when you realize that you must eliminate your credit card debt before it gets out of control is kind of scary experience. When you realize that you need to find a solution because there is no other way out, and you cannot carry on piling up interest on your debt. You can start reduce credit card debt with preventing it from increasing and paying off the capital or getting a lower interest credit scheme, therefore reducing your total credit card debt (credit plus monthly interest). Other than following the step by step instructions of your credit card debt consolidation plan, there are more methods to eliminate credit card debt. You can always seek assistance either at your own credit card company or an independent credit card debt specialist. Your credit card company wants their money back, so most of the times they are ready to compromise, give you a lower APR or freeze the interest if you agree a credit card debt consolidation plan. You must remember if you are not confident enough to negotiate a deal with your credit card company, there are many companies who are willing to support you and also offer free credit card debt consolidation consultation. REFERENCES Books: 1. Vickie L. Bajtelsmit with Linda Rastelli, (2008), Personal Finance, Wiley Pathways. 2. Sarah Young Fisher and Susan Shelly, (2009), Personal Finance in Your 20s &30s, Alpha Books. 3. Curtis E. Arnold, (2008), How You Can Profit From Credit Cards, FT Press. Journals: 1. A study of financial awareness among youths, Joyce K.H. Nga, Lisa H.L. Yong and Rathakrishnan D. Sellappan. 2. Malaysian consumers’ credit card usage behavior, Zafar U. Ahmed, Ishak Ismail, M. Sadiq Sohail, Ibrahim Tabsh and Hasbalaila Alias. 3. The influence of image consciousness, materialism and compulsive spending on credit card usage intentions among youthJoyce, K.H. Nga, Lisa H.L. Yong and Rathakrishnan Sellappan. Web: 1. http://www.nst.com.my/top-news/easy-cash-turns-many-into-bankrupts-1.5518 2. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/11/23/nation/12361423&sec=nation 3. http://voices.yahoo.com/credit-card-debt-one-cause-bankruptcy-7101354.html?cat=3 ARTICLE