Acquisition is a High Risky Strategy Essay

In the literature, several motives for takeovers have been identified. One is the desire for synergy. That is, similarities or complementarities between the acquiring and target firms are expected to result in the combined value of the enterprises exceeding their worth as separate firms (Collis and Montgomery, 1998). A second motive involves the expectation that acquirers can extract value because target companies have been managed inefficiently (Varaiya, 1987). A third motive is attributed to managerial hubris – the notion that senior executives, in overestimating their own abilities, acquire companies they believe could be managed more profitably under their control. Agency theory motive is the anticipation that firm expansion will positively impact the compensation of top managers since there tends to be a direct relation between firm size and executive pay. Contemporary specialists contend that managerial ownership incentives may be expected to have divergent impacts on corporate strategy and firm value. This premise has been recognized in previous studies. For instance, Stulz (1988) has examined the ownership of managers of target companies and has proposed that the relationship between that ownership and the value of target firms may initially be positive and then subsequently become negative with rising insider ownership. Moreover, Shivdasani (1993) empirically shows that the relationship of the ownership structure of target companies with the value of hostile bids is not uniformly positive. McConnell and Servaes (1990) have likewise analyzed the relationship of equity ownership among corporate insiders and Tobin’s q. Their results demonstrate a non-monotonic relation between Tobin’s q and insider equity stakes. Wright et al. (1996: 451) have shown a non-linear relationship between insider ownership and corporate strategy related to firm risk taking. Ownership Incentives and Changes in Company Risk Motivating Acquisitions An agency-theoretic motive for acquisitions has been used to explain managerial preferences for risk-reducing corporate strategies (Wright et al., 1996). The implication is that both principals and agents prefer acquiring target companies with higher rather than lower returns. In that, shareholders and managers have congruent interests. The interests, however, diverge in terms of risk considerations associated with acquisitions. Because shareholders possess diversified portfolios, they may only be concerned with systematic risk and be indifferent to the total variance of returns associated with a takeover. Senior managers may alternatively prefer risk-reducing corporate strategies, unless they are granted ownership incentives. That is because they can not diversify their human capital invested in the firm. In the literature, it has been argued that agency costs may be reduced as managerial ownership incentives rise. The reason is that, as ownership incentives rise, the financial interests of insiders and shareholders will begin to converge. Analysts conjecture, however, that such incentives may not consistently provide senior executives the motivation to lessen the agency costs associated with an acquisition strategy. Inherent is the presumption that the nature of executive wealth portfolios will differently influence their attitudes toward corporate strategy. The personal wealth portfolios of top managers are comprised of their ownership of shares/options in the firm, the income produced from their employment, and assets unrelated to the firm. Presumably, as senior executives increase their equity stakes in the enterprise, their personal wealth portfolios become correspondingly less diversified. Although stockholders can diversify their wealth portfolios, top executives have less flexibility if they own substantial shares in the firms they manage. Hence, if a significant portion of managers’ wealth is concentrated in one investment, then they may find it prudent to diversify their firms via risk-reducing acquisitions. In the related literature, however, takeovers and risk taking have been approached differently from the described approach. Amihud and Lev (1999) have contended that insiders’ employment income is significantly related to the firm’s performance. Thus, managers are confronted with risks associated with their income if the maintenance of that income is dependent on achieving predetermined performance targets. Reasonably, in the event of either corporate underperformance or firm failure, CEOs not only may lose their current employment income but also may seriously suffer in the managerial labor market, since their future earnings potential with other enterprises may be lowered. Hence, the risk of executives’ employment income is impacted by the firm’s risk. The ramification of Amihud and Lev’s (1999) contentions is that top managers will tend to lower firm risk, and therefore their own employment risk, by acquiring companies that contribute to stabiliz ing of the firm’s income, even if shareholder wealth is adversely affected. Consistent with the implications of Amihud and Lev’s arguments, Agrawal and Mandelker (1987) have similarly suggested that managers with negligible ownership stakes may adopt risk-reducing corporate strategies because such strategies may well serve their own personal interests. With ownership incentives, however, managers may be more likely to acquire risk-enhancing target companies, in line with the requirement of wealth maximization for shareholders. The notion that at negligible managerial ownership levels, detrimental risk-reducing acquisition strategies may be emphasized, but with increasing ownership incentive levels, beneficial risk-enhancing acquisitions may be more prevalent is also suggested in other works (Grossman and Hoskisson, 1998). The conclusion of these investigations is that the relationship between insider ownership and risk enhancing, worthy corporate acquisitions is linear and positive. Some experts assert that CEOs’ personal wealth concentration will induce senior managers to undertake risk-reducing firm strategies. Portfolio theory’s expectation suggests that investors or owner-managers may desire to diversify their personal wealth portfolios. For instance, Markowitz (1952: 89) has asserted that investors may wish to â€Å"diversify across industries because firms in different industries. . . have lower covariances than firms within an industry.† Moreover, as argued by Sharpe (1964: 441), â€Å"diversification enables the investor to escape all but the risk resulting from swings in economic activity.† Consequently, managers with substantial equity investments in the firm may diversify the firm via risk-reducing acquisitions in order to diversify their own personal wealth portfolios. Because they may be especially concerned with risk-reducing acquisitions, however, their corporate strategies may not enhance firm value through takeovers, although managerial intention may be to boost corporate value. The above discussion is compatible with complementary arguments that suggest that insiders may acquire non-value-maximizing target companies although their intentions may be to enhance returns to shareholders. For instance, according to the synergy view, while takeovers may be motivated by an ex-ante concern for increasing corporate value, many such acquisitions are not associated with an increase in firm value. Alternatively, according to the hubris hypothesis, even though insiders may intend to acquire targets that they believe could be managed more profitably under their control, such acquisitions are not ordinarily related to higher profitability. If acquisitions which are undertaken primarily with insider expectations that they will financially benefit owners do not realize higher performance, then those acquisitions which are primarily motivated by a risk-reducing desire may likewise not be associated with beneficial outcomes for owners. Additionally, it can be argued that shareholders can more efficiently diversify their own portfolios, making it unnecessary for managers to diversify the firm in order to achieve portfolio diversification for shareholders. Risk Associated with HRM practices in International Acquisitions There are a number of reasons why the HRM policies and practices of multinational corporations (MNCs) and cross-border acquisitions are likely to be different from those found in domestic firms (Dowling, Schuler and Welch, 1993). For one, the difference in geographical spread means that acquisitions must normally engage in a number of HR activities that are not needed in domestic firms – such as providing relocation and orientation assistance to expatriates, administering international job rotation programmes, and dealing with international union activity. Second, as Dowling (1988) points out, the personnel policies and practices of MNCs are likely to be more complex and diverse. For instance, complex salary and income taxation issues are likely to arise in acquisitions because their pay policies and practices have to be administered to many different groups of subsidiaries and employees, located in different countries. Managing this diversity may generate a number of co-ordination and communication problems that do not arise in domestic firms. In recognition of these difficulties, most large international companies retain the services of a major accounting firm to ensure there is no tax incentive or disincentive associated with a particular international assignment. Finally, there are more stakeholders that influence the HRM policies and practices of international firms than those of domestic firms. The major stakeholders in private organizations are the shareholders and the employees. But one could also think of unions, consumer organizations and other pressure groups. These pressure groups also exist in domestic firms, but they often put more pressure on foreign than on local companies. This probably means that international companies need to be more risk averse and concerned with the social and political environment than domestic firms. Acquisitions and HRM Practices: Evidence from Japan, the US, and Europe In contemporary context, international human resource management faces important challenges, and this trend characterizes many Japanese, US and European acquisitions.   From the critical point of view, Japanese companies experience more problems associated with international human resource management than companies from the US and Europe (Shibuya, 2000). Lack of home-country personnel sufficient international manage ­ment skills has been widely recognized in literature as the most difficult problem facing Japanese compa ­nies and simultaneously one of the most significant of US and European acquisitions as well. The statement implies that cultivating such skills is difficult and that they are relatively rare among businessmen in any country. Japanese companies may be particularly prone to this problem due to their heavy use of home-country nationals in overseas management positions. European and Japanese acquisitions also experience the lack of home country personnel who want to work abroad, while it is less of an impediment for the US companies. In the US acquisitions expatriates often experience reentry difficulties (e.g., career disruption) when re ­turning to the home country: This problem was the one most often cited by US firms.   Today Japanese corporations report the relatively lower incidence of expatriate reentry diffi ­culties, and it is surprising given the vivid accounts of such problems at Japanese firms by White (1988) and Umezawa (1990). However, the more active role of the Japanese person ­nel department in coordinating career paths, the tradition of semi ­annual musical-chair-like personnel shuffles (jinji idoh), and the continu ­ing efforts of Japanese stationed overseas to maintain close contact with headquarters might underlie the lower level of difficulties in this area for Japanese firms (Inohara, 2001). In contrast, the decentralized structures of many US and European firms may serve to isolate expatriates from their home-country headquarters, making reentry more problematic. Also, recent downsiz ­ing at US and European firms may reduce the number of appropriate management positions for expatriates to return to, or may sever expatri ­ates’ relationships with colleagues and mentors at headquarters. Furthermore, within the context of the lifetime employment system, individ ­ual Japanese employees have little to gain by voicing reentry concerns to personnel managers. In turn, personnel managers need not pay a great deal of attention to reentry problems because they will usually not result in a resignation. In western firms, reentry problems need to be taken more seriously by personnel managers because they frequently result in the loss of a valued employee. A further possible explanation for the higher incidence of expatriate reentry problems in western multinationals is the greater tendency of those companies to implement a policy of transferring local nationals to headquarters or other international operations. Under such a policy, the definition of expatriate expands beyond home-country nationals to en ­compass local nationals who transfer outside their home countries. It may even be that local nationals who return to a local operation after working at headquarters or other international operations may have their own special varieties of reentry problems. Literature on international human resource practices in Japan, the US and Europe suggest that the major strategic difficulty for the MNCs is to attract high-caliber local nationals to work for the company. In general, acquisitions may face greater challenges in hiring high-caliber local employees than do domestic firms due to lack of name recognition and fewer relationships with educators or others who might recommend candidates. However, researchers suggest that this issue is significantly more difficult for Japanese than for US and European multinationals. When asked to describe problems encoun ­tered in establishing their US affiliates, 39.5% of the respondents to a Japan Society survey cited â€Å"finding qualified American managers to work in the affiliate† and 30.8% cited â€Å"hiring a qualified workforce† (Bob ; SRI, 2001). Similarly, a survey of Japanese companies operating in the US conducted by a human resource consulting firm found that 35% felt recruiting personnel to be very difficult or extremely difficult, and 56% felt it to be difficult (The Wyatt Company, 1999). In addition to mentioned problem, Japanese acquisition encounter high local employee turnover, which is significantly more prob ­lematic for them due to the near-total absence of turnover to which they are accustomed in Japan. The US, European and Japanese companies admit very rarely that they encounter local legal challenges to their personnel policies. However, in regard to Japanese acquisitions large   amount of press coverage has been given to lawsuits against Japanese companies in the United States and a Japanese Ministry of Labor Survey in which 57% of the 331 respondents indicated that they were facing potential equal employ ­ment opportunity-related lawsuits in the United States (Shibuya, 2000). Conclusion This research investigates whether corporate acquisitions with shared technological resources or participation in similar product markets realize superior economic returns in comparison with unrelated acquisitions. The rationale for superior economic performance in related acquisitions derives from the synergies that are expected through a combination of supplementary or complementary resources. It is clear from the results of this research that acquired firms in related acquisitions have higher returns than acquired firms in unrelated acqui ­sitions. This implies that the related acquired firm benefits more from the acquirer than the unrelated acquired firm. The higher returns for the related acquired firms suggest that the combination with the acquirer’s resources has higher value implications than the combination of two unrelated firms. This is supported by the higher total wealth gains which were observed in related acquisitions. I did however, in the case of acquiring firms, find that the abnormal returns directly attributable to the acquisition transaction are not significant. There are reasons to believe that the announcement effects of the transaction on the returns to acquirers are less easily detected than for target firms. First, an acquisition by a firm affects only part of its businesses, while affecting all the assets (in control-oriented acqui ­sitions) of the target firm. Thus the measurability of effects on acquirers is attenuated. Second, if an acquisition is one event in a series of implicit moves constituting a diversification program, its individual effect as a market signal would be mitigated. It is also likely that the theoretical argument which postulates that related acquisitions create wealth for acquirers may be underspecified. Relatedness is often multifaceted, suggesting that the resources of the target firm may be of value to many firms, thus increasing the relative bargaining power of the target vis-a-vis the potential buyers. Even in the absence of explicit competition for the target (multiple bidding), the premiums paid for control are a substantial fraction of the total gains available from the transaction. For managers, some implications from the research can be offered. First, it seems quite clear from the data that a firm seeking to be acquired will realize higher returns if it is sold to a related than an unrelated firm. This counsel is consistent with the view that the market recognizes synergistic combinations and values them accordingly. Second, managers in acquiring firms may be advised to scrutinize carefully the expected gains in related and unrelated acquisitions. For managers the issue of concern is not whether or not a given kind of acquisition creates a significant total amount of wealth, but what percentage of that wealth they can expect to accrue to their firms. Thus, although acquisitions involving related technologies or product market yield higher total gains, pricing mechanisms in the market for corporate acquisitions reflect the gains primarily on the target company. Interpreting these results conservatively, one may offer the argument that expected gains for acquiring firms are competed away in the bidding process, with stockholders of target firms obtaining high proportions of the gains. On a pragmatic level this research underscores the need to combine what may be called the theoretical with the practical. In the case of acquisitions, pragmatic issues like implicit and explicit competition for a target firm alter the theoretical expectations of gains from an acquisition transaction. Further efforts to clarify these issues theoretically and empirically will increase our understanding of these important phenomena. Bibliography Sharpe WF. 1964. Capital asset prices: a theory of market equilibrium under conditions of risk. Journal of Finance 19: 425-442 Markowitz H. 1952. Portfolio selections. Journal of Finance 7: 77-91 Grossman W, Hoskisson R. 1998. CEO pay at the crossroads of Wall Street and Main: toward the strategic design of executive compensation. Academy of Management Executive 12: 43-57 Amihud Y, Lev B. 1999. Does corporate ownership structure affect its strategy towards diversification? Strategic Management Journal 20(11): 1063-1069 Agrawal A, Mandelker G. 1987. Managerial incentives and corporate investment and financing decisions. Journal of Finance 42: 823-837 Wright P, Ferris S, Sarin A, Awasthi V. 1996. The impact of corporate insider, blockholder, and institutional equity ownership on firm risk-taking. Academy of Management Journal 39: 441-463 McConnell JJ, Servaes H. 1990. Additional evidence on equity ownership and corporate value. Journal of Financial Economics 27: 595-612. Shivdasani A. 1993. Board composition, ownership structure, and hostile takeovers. Journal of Accounting and Economics 16: 167-198 Stulz RM. 1988. Managerial control of voting rights: financing policies and the market for corporate control. Journal of Financial Economics 20: 25-54 Varaiya N. 1987. Determinants of premiums in acquisition transactions. Managerial and Decision Economics 14: 175-184 Collis D, Montgomery C. 1998. Creating corporate advantage. Harvard Business Review 76(3): 71-83 White, M. 1988. The Japanese overseas: Can they go home again? New York: The Free Press. Bob, D., ; SRI International. 2001. Japanese companies in American communities. New York: The Japan Society.

Hershey Report

THE HERSHEY CHOCOLATE COMPANY INTRODUCTION The Hershey Company was originally a purely chocolate manufacturer but extended to wafers and other products, some even non-chocolate. Now, the Hershey Company has grown to become a leader when it comes to dark chocolate and premium chocolate. Hershey’s Mission Statement is â€Å"Bringing sweet moments of Hershey happiness to the world every day† (www. thehersheycompany. com).This means delivering quality confectionary to consumer for all occasion, being a dominant and fun organization for the employees, having good business relationships for growth with customers, suppliers and business partners, creating value for shareholders and philanthropic activities for society as a whole. The company, adhering to its Mission from the founding day till today, strives to continuously create value by developing a number of products to cater to frequently changing consumers’ desire.Hence by creating a diverse portfolio which transfo rmed customer desires to reality, and by maintaining its quality The Hershey Company has managed to become one of the top chocolate brands in the market. HISTORY Hershey’s derived from a single decision- the decision of candy manufacturer Milton Hershey. In 1894 he decided to produce sweet chocolate which would coat caramels. He started off an enterprise and called it The Hershey Chocolate Company, located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1900, the Hershey Chocolate Company started the production of milk chocolate bars, chocolate wafers and more.Hershey was the company which made the once a luxury item affordable to the common public by choosing to produce at a mass level. By using mass production the company had lowered its per unit cost and hence was able to sell it at a lower cost than other chocolates. The success of high sales led to Hershey’s expansion of new chocolate factories, one of them being in south-central Pennsylvania in Derry Township, close to the ports of New York and Philadelphia which supplied the imported sugar and cocoa beans needed, surrounded by dairy farms that provided the milk required, and with a local labor supply of honest, hard-working people.By 1905 the production of chocolate in this factory was flourishing. Today, the Hershey Company operates all over the world, employs more than 12,000 people and generates revenues of more than $5 billion. (www. thehersheycompany. com) ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS Sales of chocolate depend majorly on the demand of chocolate, and these demands fluctuate heavily. And hence the success of a chocolate industry relies heavily on whether it’s the Easter, Halloween or Christmas season or a plain summer day, sales being lower in the latter.It has been noted that sales of Hershey’s or any chocolate brand for that matter, increases during the third and fourth quarter of the year, that is, the holiday seasons. For Hershey’s, the difference in the net sales of the first quarter of 2009 and the third quarter of 2009 was $248,087,000. (www. thehersheycomany. com). Judging from this, we can safely deduce that chocolate sales, on a large part, depends on the environment. If we look at the social environment, there are all sorts of consumers with different demands.Some would prefer cheaper chocolate and would be more than ready to compromise on quality and consider it just a snack while others demand a rich taste making chocolate more of a luxurious item. This requires the industry to produce a variety of products to meet the needs of as many customers to ensure greater sales. But there is also the issue of brand image. If a company produces both rich and cheap quality products, it does not develop a specific image of the brand. Hence the business needs to identify what demographics they want to cater to. The Hershey Company has a number of competitors.The company itself has an average of 5 billion dollar sales annually, 5132. 8 million dollars in 2008 (theher sheycompany. com) and employs 14,400 employees which is quite a large number but there are other similar brands in the market. Major competitors of Hershey’s are: †¢ Cadbury, with a sale of 7,792. 3 million dollars and 45,000 employees in 2008. †¢ Mars, with sales reaching 30,000 million dollars and a total of 70,000 employees in 2008. †¢ Nestle with sales of 104,060. 9 million dollars and 283,000 employees in 2008. (www. hoovers. com) MARKET ENVIRONMENT ANALYSISPorter’s Analysis By using ‘Porters five forces’ we can analyze the industry and subsequently to develop business strategy. These five forces present in the marketing environment will help determine the intensity of competition intensity and hence attractiveness of a market. In the marketing context, attractiveness refers to the overall profitability of the industry. A profitable business is an ‘attractive’ industry wherein the combination of these forces acts to pull up the overall profitability. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The supply of Cocoa is limited.Since it is produced in areas with tropical weather, a lot of chocholate manufacturers have to import the cocoa. Suppliers have more bargaining power over the chocolate industry since cocoa suppliers are limited (www. bpi. cam. ac. uk). Bargaining Power of Customers: Bargaining power of customers of Hershey is moderately high. From Hershey’s annual reports, we can see that sales volume is high for The Hershey Company and whenever consumers buy in large volumes, their bargaining power increases. This is specifically applicable to retailers, more specifically to retailers like Wal-Mart.Wal-Mart and other retailers who purchase large volumes of chocolate can bargain for lower prices and the industry’s profits can decrease. Threat of New Entrants: Threat of new entrants is not a major concern for The Hershey Company as Hershey’s uses the technique of mass production (Evan Carmi chael) that is, produces on a mass level and has achieved economies of scale. A new entrant would therefore have to be a mass level manufacturer. Also, there are factors such as capital requirements and channels of distribution which make it harder for business to be set up on a large level and to get the sales going.And, of course, there has to be something that sets apart the new entrant’s products from the existing businesses’ products. Threat of Substitute Products: Since chocolate is not a need-based product and a number of people consider in just a snack, they look to towards other products such as chips, ice-cream, other flavored products such as vanilla, orange etcetera as well. Also there are many people who deem chocolate as unhealthy and fattening and are ready to substitute it with other products. Competitive Rivalry within n Industry: Hershey is not the only chocolate company around. There are a lot more chocolate brands which are as established as Hershey . Consumers have a choice of buying Hershey or Cadbury or Mars or other more generic chocolates, and this provides a significant amount of competition. Hershey’s has to compete against other chocolate brands and watch out for substitute products which makes competition intense. However, this analysis looks at the forces closely affecting the business i. e. the micro environment.Hence the Porter’s Analysis is not a hundred percent useful on its own. For most marketing experts, porters five forces analysis is only a starting point or sort of a â€Å"checklist† and therefore the benefit of this analysis can be taken only when used in conjunction with other analysis techniques. SWOT Analysis STRENGTHS: †¢ Rich history full of tradition, originality and philanthropic service: The Hershey Company produced Hershey’s Tropical Chocolate bars and Field Ration D bars for the troops at war giving it points for both originality and patriotism.Milton Hershey has a lso opened the Hershey Park in 1907 (www. hersheypa. com) †¢ Strong Brand Name and Image: Hershey has been in the market since 1894 and since then it has created a strong brand name and image. †¢ Diverse Product Portfolio: Hershey’s Chocolate Bar, Almond Joy, Kit Kat, Hershey’s Kisses, Mounds, Reese’s, Payday, York Peppermint Pattie, Milk Duds, Mr. Goodbar, Rolo, Skor, Whatchamacallit, Whoppers and Krackle Bar are only a few of Hershey’s products amongst many more. Having a huge variety of products increases chances of high sales for the company. Strong Alliances: Apart from acquiring a number of popular chocolate/candy manufacturing companies and has acquired licenses for producing and selling Cadbury and Nestle products, it has also, recently allied with Starbucks, which lead to a 30% increase in profits for Hershey. (MarketWatch) OPPORTUNITIES: †¢ A number of consumers desire and demand richer products and this gives Hershey to gain more of the upper strata of society †¢ The Hershey Company joined up with Starbucks, which was a wise move as it contributed to a 30% growth in Hershey’s profit (MarketWatch).More joint ventures with, for instance, Dunkin Donuts would boost sales of Hershey. †¢ In today’s day and age, people have started giving more importance to holidays as noted in the Quarterly reports of Hershey sales were higher in the holiday seasons. Hershey can use this to focus more on chocolates as gifts. †¢ Price decline of sugar †¢ Outsourcing of labor to cheaper areas WEAKNESSES: †¢ Hershey is North America’s largest chocolate producer (The Hershey Company) but the same cannot be said when it comes to the international market. Currently, the company’s presence is limited to Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United States. www. investopedia. com) †¢   A key weakness of Hershey is that it does not have much sales in the Asian markets and since Asia is the largest continent and a huge population, it is missing out on a lot. †¢ Price inflation is also an issue. As prices are relentlessly increasing, consumers think twice before purchasing a lot of things and Hershey products are no longer item that once can buy with the loose change in their pocket. Less people are willing to buy chocolates frequently. THREATS: †¢ There has been an increase in Nut allergies both in the UK and USA. ut allergies. (AAIR). A lot of Hershey products uses nuts and it has to consider this fact. †¢ Obesity is also on the rise and according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there has been a massive increase in obesity. â€Å"In 2008, only one state in the United States of America (Colorado) had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%†. Though there is no proof that chocolate equals obesity but that is the general conception and heatlh conscious people tend to buy little or no chocolate. If the health trend rises chocolate sa les will gradually decrease. Technology is becoming more and more advanced every day, and in order to be retain its economies of scale and to remain competent, Hershey has to keep up with technological progress in manufacturing and this will automatically increase cost.. †¢ A recent issue has been minimum wage for labourers. â€Å"Effective July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage increases to $7. 25 per hour†. (Labour Law Center) †¢ Price of milk has been on a steady rise. Milk prices reached its peak in July 2007 and consumers paid â€Å".. an average $3. 80 a gallon, compared with $3. 29 in January†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Vandore, 2007).If this trend continues in the future, Hershey will have to increase prices due to increased costs of production hence sales could plummet really low. †¢ There has also been a steady price increase in gasoline. In the Clayton News Daily, â€Å"The annual average price of regular unleaded gas is expected to increase from $2. 35 per ga llon in 2009, to $2. 83 in 2010, with similar price hikes on heating oil and diesel fuel†. In this case production costs of running the heavy machinery in factories will increase significantly, making it difficult for Hershey to maintain reasonable price of its products. SWOT of CompetitorsAmongst Hershey’s competitors, Cadbury is one of the major ones. Below is a brief SWOT analysis for Cadbury. |STRENGTHS |WEAKNESSES | |Has been in the market for 200 years- well established brand name &image. |Small product portfolio. There’s not much variety. | |Products sold in over 200 countries. |Very few new products are created by own group. | |High profits | | |Has been awarded Royalty. | |OPPORTUNITIES |THREATS | |Can expand into new markets |Other established brands in the market | |Should produce new products |Diversification of other brands into the market | MARKETING STRATEGY PRODUCT:The Hershey Company has a number of products, the main categories being as foll ows: 1. Chocolate Candy: This includes Hershey’s Kisses, Hershey’s Bliss, and Hershey’s Milk Chocolate amongst a lot of others. 2. Pantry Items: This category includes Hershey Syrup, Hershey Toppings and Hershey’s Hot Cocoa mix etcetera. 3. Snacks: Some products of this category are Canola Bars, Snacksters, 100 Calorie Bars and SnackBarz. 4. Gum and Mint: BreathSavers mints, Bubble Yum bubble gum and Ice Breakers are the products of this category 5.Sugar Confectionary: To capture the market who is sugar conscious or health conscious, Hershey’s developed Hershey's Sugar Free Candy The Hershey Company has, in addition, acquired licenses to manufacture and sell chocolate and non-chocolate products of other brands such as Nestle Kit Kats, Rolos, and Cadbury. It also acquired a number of companies and now Jolly Rancher, Bubble Yum, Mauna Loa, Reeses, Whoppers, Twizzlers and Young & Smylie products are officially a part of the Hershey Company. PRICE: Her shey’s chocolates are priced at a moderate level.A plain Hershey bar of 1. 55 oz is priced at $0. 99 and a Toblerone, 1. 7 oz bar, is priced at $1. 49. Toblerone is 50% more expensive than Hershey, as we can see below. Following is a list of the general pricing of Hershey Products: †¢ Hershey’s Milk Chocolate (1. 55 oz) priced at $0. 99. †¢ Mr. GoodBar (1. 75 oz) priced at $0. 99 †¢ Almond Joy 8 Pack (0. 6 oz x 8 pieces) priced at $2. 45 †¢ Almond Joy Eggs (1. 1 oz) priced at $0. 99 †¢ Cadbury Caramel Eggs (1. 2 oz) priced at $0. 99 †¢ Black Licorice from Y (8 oz bag, containing 55 pieces) priced at $4. 5 †¢ Bubble Yum (o. 17 oz oz x 5 pieces) priced at $0. 99 We can see the general pricing trend of Hershey, as almost all 1. 5 to 2 oz bars are priced at 0. 99 dollars PLACE: Hershey sells its products at a wide array of places. It sells to wholesale distributors, wholesale clubs, mass merchandisers, grocery stores, drug stores, vending companies, convenience stores, department stores, dollar stores and natural food stores. Then these customers of Hershey sell to end consumers in approximately 2 million outlets all over North America and worldwide. (The Hershey Company)One of the largest distributors of Hershey products is the Mc Lane Company Inc. , which in turn sells to other stores. It is the main distributor for Wal-Mart which is one of the few places which sells products of the Hershey Company. (The Hershey Company) PROMOTION: The Hershey Company uses a variety of mediums and techniques for advertising and promotion. Apart from regular mediums such as Billboard advertisement, Newspaper and magazine advertisements and Television commercials, it uses other techniques like using movies and Box Office to promote their company.For instance, in Hershey’s â€Å"Hulked-Up† promotion, you â€Å"enter to win† a Hulk Hummer and get a free T-Shirt by checking out featured products (ComicBookMovie. co m). Other promotions include HERSHEY’S Camaro Sweepstakes to win a 2010 Chevy Camaro, HERSHEY'S KISSES Cookie and HERSHEY’S and the Young Survival Coalition which was used to create breast cancer awareness along with promoting Hershey. (The Hershey Company) ADVERTISEMENT CRITIQUE FINANCIAL ANALYSIS Looking at the financial statement of the last five years (www. thehersheycompany. om) has given the following results: †¢ Net Profit 10. 1% of Sales in 2005. †¢ Net Profit 11. 3% of Sales in 2006. †¢ Net Profit 4. 32% of Sales in 2007. †¢ Net Profit 6. 06% of Sales in 2008. †¢ Net Profit 7. 94% of Sales in 2009. These profitability ratios show that while Hershey has performed better in 2009 than two of its preceding years, its profits have decreased considerably compared to 2006. 2006: By taking a closer look at the quarterly reports of Hershey for these years it is noted that the first half had strong but the second half of 2006 saw a slow-down in sales.The Hershey Company’s long-term strategies seek to attain net sales growth of 3% to 4% annually (The Hershey Company) but results for 2006 did not meet their goals. Net sales growth was 2. 58% for 2006. There was a decline in market share during the second half, mainly in North American. Hershey tried to gain momentum again and succeeded with time but at a price. Apart from the increased interest costs for that year there were increased spending on advertising starting from the fourth quarter and continuing well into 2007, affecting the net profit for 2007 drastically. From a net profit percent of 11. % in 2006, it went down to 4. 32% in 2007. 2007: 2007 was also a difficult year. Net sales growth in this year was 0. 05% which is not even close to the company’s goal of 3%-4% per year, even with the increased sales from international business and sales from the Joint Venture formed with Godrej Beverages & Foods Limited formed that year (Wikipedia). Sales in North America was low, costs incurred were much higher than the previous year and the company saw a much lower profit in 2007. Business realignment and impairment costs rose from 14,576,000 to a whopping 276,868,000.The difference in net income percentage was -61. 7%. Increased investment spending for advertising and expansion of our international infrastructure also contributed to the lower income in 2007. 2008: Net sales growth increased from 0. 05% to 3. 8% in this year. The net income percentage which was negative in the previous year turned into a positive 45. 4%. Needless to say, Hershey gained momentum in the market again. Results for the 2008 up to mark and met the Hershey Company’s goals and expectations. FUTURE TRENDS Health Awareness: Many people don’t use chocolate for fear of become fat, getting acne or other health reasons such as cholesterol. This may reduce sales. †¢ Allergies: some children and adults have allergies, most commonly peanut allergies and o ther nut allergies. This, also, may decrease sales. †¢ High Class society gatherings/increased importance to holidays such as Halloween, Easter, Christmas which use a lot of chocolate and chocolate products. This could increase sales in the future. †¢ Price of cocoa and Price of fuel: The price of these two commodities will effect sales negatively if they continue to rise.RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE: Keeping in mind the factors and trends that may increase or decrease sales in the future, Hershey can take a number of steps to improve their chances of turning unfavorable situations into ones that will actually benefit the company. A lot of people think of chocolate and think of one of these words: â€Å"junk food†, unhealthy†, â€Å"fattening† and so on. But the fact is that chocolate can actually promote good health. Especially dark chocolate, which has anti-oxidant effects and generates antithrombotic mechanisms, can lead to better cardiovascular health (The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal).In layman terms this means it prevents the blood in the heart from clotting up. Hershey’s can use this knowledge for a different spin on their advertisements and removing the concept of unhealthy chocolate. Also many people and children have nut allergies, and since a lot of Hershey’s products include hazel nut and peanuts, this can pose a problem But with careful and well defined market research Hershey’s can overcome the problem of its chocolate bars containing nut not being sold, by finding out approximately what population of chocolate lovers is allergic to nuts and other ingredients which prevent them from buying chocolate.Another trend which poses a problem is the economy. Prices are constantly on the rise and cocoa and fuel are the two major concerns. Increase in fuel prices may lead to closure of a few plants to save on costs, or if the plants are not closed, prices of products may have to be raised to cover up the costs. Prices of cocoa are also on the rise, and an increase in this raw material may lead to an increase in price of the end-products. Since cocoa is produced in a few countries with tropical climate, chocolate manufacturers in colder climates have to import cocoa. Hershey has to pay mport taxes on top of the increased prices due to the global deficit of 145,000 tonnes of cocoa in the 2007-2008 season (confectionarynews. com). To reduce this cost, Hershey has two options. Either to buy as much cocoa in bulk as possible when prices are low and to buy as minimum as possible when the prices are high, or to outsource their manufacturing to places like Indonesia or Ghana where cocoa production is the largest (BBC News). CONCLUSION Hershey is a company which is already popular, but with a few well planned strategic decisions has the potential to be much more successful.They can do this by a reducing their costs, starting up new subsidiaries, perhaps even starting up production of th eir own cocoa beans instead of importing from Indonesia, Ghana and other cocoa manufacturers. The next thing they have to do is increase their advertising to countries Asia, as Asia has a large number of potential consumers.. APPENDIX REFERENCES About The Hershey Company. (www. thehersheycompany. com) < http://www. thehersheycompany. com/about/> Asthma and Allergy Information and Research. Nut Allergy- The Basics < http://www. sers. globalnet. co. uk/~aair/nuts. htm> BBC News. Peanut allergy on the increase < http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/2487769. stm> BBC News. BBC News. Cocoa price hits 14-year-high Clayton News Daily. Confectionerynews. com. Future of cocoa prices uncertain, says ICCO. ComicBookMovie. com. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Emma Vandore. Got Milk? More People Want It Now. Contra Costa Times. Evan Carmichael. His Secret Recipe: How Hershey Achieved Success Groovy Candies. Hoovers. Labour Law Center.Federal Minimum Wage Increase for 2007, 2008, & 2009 Lunde ll, Dean â€Å"Capitalizing on Our Candy Cravings (NSRGY, CSG, HSY). † Investopedia. com. August 1st, 2007. November 13th, 2007. Investopedia website: Investor Relations: Annual and Quarterly Reports (www. thehersheycompany. com) MarketWatch. Hershey's 3rd-quarter profit rises 30% ; http://www. marketwatch. com/story/hersheys-third-quarter-profit-rises-30-2009-10-22; Products (www. hersheys. com) The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. Plasma antioxidants from chocolate Oct, 2003 . Volume 22 Issue 10. p A7

Comparative Academic Review

Introduction The aspects of psychiatric treatment of patients have been widely discussed in the academic literature on the subject in the last several decades. In two separate studies, Christina Katsakou et el. (2010) and Jelena Jankovic et. al (2011) trace the practical implications of treatment satisfaction and caregivers’ experiences respectively. Both studies cover specific aspects of psychiatric treatment in the UK. The first study focuses on the coercion and treatment satisfaction among patients, who have been admitted for psychiatric treatment involuntarily. The research, conducted in 2010, reveals the impact of coercion on the satisfaction of treatment among patients, as well as the psychological aspects of coercion. The study has been conducted as an observation in 22 hospitals in England, where a total of 778 patients were recruited (Katsakou et. al, 2010). Their satisfaction with the treatment they received has been measured at different stages: one week, one month, three months and one year after the admission. In order to measure the levels of satisfaction, the authors have used factors such as clinical improvement and clinical characteristics. The results from this study were obtained using standard statistical analysis, and indicated an increase in the satisfaction among involuntarily admitted patients between their first admission and the different follow ups. The second study, conduc ted in 2011, focuses on the experiences of family caregivers during involuntary hospital admissions of their relatives. It is a qualitative study, which used as a research method semi-structured interviews, conducted with 29 caregivers whose relatives have been admitted involuntary in 12 hospitals across England (Jankovic et.al., 2011). Throughout the study, major themes have been identified, such as relief and conflicting emotions, frustration with the delay of getting help, etc. The results of the second survey have concluded that the role of the family caregivers can be enhanced if their duties are valued enough, without turning into a burden. The purpose of this brief academic review is to critically compare both studies, highlighting their strengths, weaknesses and possible contributions to the literature on the subject. Both studies provide valuable insight on the subject of treatment of patients with mental illnesses, and reveal the interactive nature of the clinical process as a dynamic interaction between different elements – institutions, caregivers, and patients. Both studies manage to reveal the intricacy of the connection, which exists between coercion and satisfaction in the first case, and family caregivers as active elements in the process of involuntary admission in the second case. The first study uses a quantitative research method and statistical analysis, based on an observational study. The study has been conducted in 22 hospitals in England. The advantage of the choice of this method for the purposes of study is its accuracy and straightforwardness. Results obtained through observation are easier to analyse, and presented in a comprehensible and consistent manner. In terms of the design of the research, the use of timeline base is a feasible option, which meets the research aims of the study and unfolds different aspects of satisfaction among patients. The fact that the patients have been examined at three different periods following their first admission provides the researchers with the possibility to explore how satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) develops gradually. This is an important feature of the research design deployed, because here satisfaction is discussed in relation to memory and emotions, which change over time. This changeability has been ca ptured with the choice of the design. Also, it is a good way to operationalize and thus measure the main variable – patients’ satisfaction. Despite the fact that the operationalization of satisfaction was enhanced through the use of specific research design, the study could have also benefited from a bigger emphasis on open interviews, conducted with a certain (perhaps smaller) portion of the patients. This is because interviews allow for more abstract and personal issues to be uncovered in the research and these are issues which are usually unquantifiable and difficult to detect in observational studies and semi-structured interviews. As far as data collection is concerned, the authors of the first study have used two different models, designed to measure satisfaction – one concentrating on potential base lines predictions combining satisfaction scores from all time points (baselines, one month and three months) and another one concentrating on the results from the follow ups only. The data was analysed using a three step model, and applying standard linear statistical analysis (Katskakou et.al, 2010:287-288). This comprehensive choice of methods and models for data collection has enhanced linear results, which allow readers to obtain an extensive view of satisfaction not only as an isolated variable, but also as a process, which is happening over time. However, one of the weaknesses of this study in the methodological part is the sampling. The researchers have attempted to obtain a representative sample, covering hospitals from different geographic areas and patients of different ethnic and social backgro unds. Little, if anything is mentioned however on how the eligibility of the patients has been identified (eligibility criteria). Another weakness in the methodology part is related to the decreasing number of patients interviewed at the baseline, the first month and the third month and one year. For the baseline, the patients are 778, and for the one year follow up their number has decreased almost in double – 396 (Katskakou et.al., 2010: 289). This might pose some problems related with the generalizability of the results obtained and the consistency of observations. Although it would be a formidable task to keep the number of patients at each point exactly the same, at least proximity in the numbers of interviewees could have been targeted. Another possible weakness of the study is related with the lack of causality between coercion and satisfaction. In other words, the study does not necessarily reveal a cause-effect relationship between the two, because coercion in this observation has been explored as an individual projection. However, this can also be looked at as an advantage, because a cause-effect relationship between two abstract concepts can oversimplify their existence in a particular setting. To compare, the second study uses a very different methodology. It is a qualitative study, and the variables measured here are even more abstract compared to the first study. The psychological aspects of personal experiences relating to care are difficult to capture and quantify, and this is important to mention in the methodological review of the second study. In terms of choice of methods, the authors have used semi-structured interviews, conducted among family caregivers of 29 patients admitted involuntary against 12 hospitals in England (Jankovic et.al., 2011: 1). Compared to the first study, here the sample is much smaller. It is arguable whether such a small sample can provide results, which are generalizable. Perhaps the authors have decided to choose smaller number of participants in order to observe the matter more closely. Here it is important to note that the issue of carers’ experiences is sensitive and often a stressful one. Therefore a smaller sample would give t he chance to conduct more detailed interviews, and thus capturing nuances of the matter, which remain unexamined in studies involving larger samples, due to time constraints. Another problem with the sample, just like in the first study, is its ability to represent the population. A closer look at the participant’s characteristics in the second study reveals that in more than 50 percent of the cases, the relationship of the carer to the patient is â€Å"parent† (Jankovic et.al., 2011: 3). This fact could have influenced the results, since parents tend to be much more concerned for their children. They are concerned first as patients, and then as carers – therefore a more representative selection of the carers could have taken place (for example equal number of carers who are patients, partners, siblings or children). Yet, the study manages to make good use of thematic analysis, clustering answers of the patients and identifying four important themes – rel ief and conflicting emotions in response to the admission, frustration with the delay in getting help, being given the burden of care by services and difficulties with confidentiality (Jankovic et.al, 2011:3-4). Just like the first study, the methodology is well-implemented in terms of coding. In the second study, two independent researchers have been selected to code the interviews, and the results have been finalized through a joint discussion (Jankovic et.al, 2011:3). In both studies, the methods chosen have met the research criteria, and have been meticulously implemented to produce comprehensive and well-themed results. Also, the proposed hypotheses have been well tested. Here it is important to note that both studies tackle issues, which are not easily quantifiable or measurable. The first study concentrates on satisfaction among patients which have been involuntary admitted for treatment, while the other one focuses on an even more sensitive and abstract issue, related with personal experiences among family caregivers in the cases when patients have been admitted for treatment. Therefore the authors of both studies have made significant effort in the planning of the research, its design and implementation in order to make the themes of their research measurable. As a result both studies have managed to create consistent results. The first makes coercion and satisfaction measurable, with the implementation of a 0 to 5 scale of coercion and inco rporating the results in a separate model. Critics would suggest that the method implemented in the first study is too rigid for the investigation of issues, which are deeply psychological and reflect the personal perceptions of patients on the way they have been treated. Although the study could have benefited from a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, its reliance on quantitative techniques only does not affect the overall validity of the results. Perhaps one of the biggest strengths of this study is that through the interpretation of the results, the authors manage to reveal the connection between patients’ satisfaction and coercion as an individual perception. As already mentioned, the second study relies solely on a qualitative technique. They authors capture the nuances in the experiences of the caregivers, and interpret the results closely adhering to the themes, identified by them during the data analysis stage. Both studies deal with aspects of psychiatric treatment, which are challenging due to their specificity. Therefore they both make significant contribution to the literature and theory on the subject. The first study sheds light upon the complexity of coercion as an individual perception, and its results resonate with those obtained in earlier studies (Lidz et.al, 1998; Sorgard, 2004). Observing coercion as an individual perception, projected by patients as a result of hospital surroundings and treatment, shows a major transition in clinical psychology, and a shift towards a more constructive approach for understanding patients’ reactions. In this sense, this study can be classified as a constructivist study, because it measures how perceptions are formed and exemplified by particular patients in particular environments. It deviates from earlier studies on the subject, like the ones conducted by Svensson et al. (1994) and Spenseley (1980), which observe patients’ satisfa ction with treatment in their entirely empirical dimensions, ignoring individual projections. Similarly, the findings and conclusions from the second study (Jankovic et.al, 2011) resonate with conclusions from previous research on the subject (Simson et. al, 2002; Jones et.al, 2009). Therefore this study belongs to a particular body of literature in clinical psychology, which explores the psychological and social impact on families of care for people with mental disorders. Both studies contribute to their relative subjects, and might have important implications in terms of policy reform in health care services for people with mental illnesses in the UK. Recommendations for policy-makers in this sector, stemming from Jankovic’s study include an improved service, which would ensure that carers obtain proper assistance and cooperation from hospitals prior to the admission of mentally unwell relatives. This would have positive implications to the quality of treatment of mentally unwell patients, by enhancing cooperation between carers and institutions, which would inevitably lead to a better distribution of responsibilities. Katsakou’s study might have policy implications as well, because it reveals the necessity for interventions, which would reduce patients’ perceived coercion. In conclusion, both studies discussed in this review present specific aspects of treatment of mentally unwell patients. Despite some weaknesses in sampling, and some minor limitations, both studies make significant contributions in their relative fields, and offer new, and well-supported angles of interpretation on the themes they cover. Both studies make good use of research methods, despite the differences in the number of participants for the first and the second study. Some issues related to generalizability of the results have arisen, such as the decreasing number of observed patients in the first study and the small sample in the second study. Still, the data analysis and the interpretation of the results obtained have been meticulously carried out and well situated in the context of existing literature. In addition, both studies might serve as a basis for policy-reform in the UK healthcare system, ultimately leading to improvement of the latter. In sum, the studies present coh esive and well-researched conclusions and can be a useful reading for students and professionals, occupied in the field of Clinical Psychiatry, Health Services and Public Policy. Reference list: Jankovic J, Yeeles K, Katsakou C, Amos T, Morriss R, Rose D, Nichol P, McCabe R, Priebe S (2011) ‘Family caregivers’ experiences of involuntary psychiatric hospital admissions of their relatives – a qualitative study’, PLoS ONE 6(10): e25425. Jones IR, Nilufar A, Catty J, McLaren S, Rose D, Wykes T, et al. (2009) Illness careers and continuity of care in mental health services: A qualitative study of service users and carers. Soc Sci Med 69: 632–639. Katsakou C, Bowers L, Amos T, Morriss R, Rose D, Wykes T, Priebe S (2010) ‘Coercion and Treatment Satisfaction Among Involuntary Patients’, Psychiatric Services 61: 286-292 Lidz C, Mulvey EP, Hoge SK (1998) et al: Factual sources of psychiatric patients’ perceptions of coercion in the hospital admission process. American Journal of Psychiatry 155:1254–1260 Simpson EL, House AO (2002) Involving users in the delivery and evaluation of mental health services: systematic review. BMJ 325: 1265–1268 Sorgaard K (2004): Patients’ perception of coercion in acute psychiatric wards: an intervention study. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry 58:299–304 Spensley J, Edwards DW, White E (1980): Patient satisfaction and involuntary treatment. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 50:725–729 Svensson B, Hansson L (1994) : Patient satisfaction with inpatient psychiatric care. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 90:379–384

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How did the French Revolution inspire Romanticism and why - Essay Example Romanticism, therefore, turned to an assessment of imperialism and materialism of an industrial community. Although the French revolution enabled romanticism to gain popularity, it turned romantics against it. The French revolution in an immense way influenced the era of romanticism and most of it in a positive way. The French revolution significantly inspired interest in the portrayal of modern-day events, although there was evidence of detailed paintings that were done before the revolution (Mosse, 1989). The French revolution was inspired by the enlightenment era which led to a period of anticipation and optimism. Artists in France chose to represent their happenings in highly detailed forms of art. Their leader Napoleon demanded that their achievements should be displayed in detailed pictures. Napoleon wanted everything to be remembered and, therefore, pictures would do the representation better. Paintings that also represented individual suffering were represented in â€Å"The Raft of the Medusa.† rudiments of romanticism can be establish in art, music and literature and other forms of writings (Mosse,1989). Napoleons invasions can be attributed to dispersal of reforms across Europe. The Romantic Movement also helped shape the political movements such as the French revolution, and it was also shaped by the revolution. Both played a significant part in the creation of nationalism among the citizens. The romantics were ready to end the terrible reign and would do everything possible to improve the society. The French revolution helped cultivate the idea that rebuilding of the society was achievable. The revolution built on the Enlightenment plan of advancement that society could improve. The romantics, therefore, began embracing their history and displayed it in the form of art and music. The revolution inspired them and they started looking at their ancestral origins as a source of inspiration. The romantics during those times were focused on ending the reign of terror. It seems that they had the same vision as the people of France who wanted to break away from the monarchy. Romanticism developed to being a philosophy, which could not match the power that the French revolution had (Friedrich). The French revolution brought about the change that the romantic philosophers so much desired. Before the French revolution, the romantics lived in an oppressive society with no or little freedom. The romantics wanted a strong group to intervene and help them attain a stable government and a strong sense of individuality. Their society was particularly divided, and they could not write anything that was not acceptable. This made them desire so much for freedom. The rise of the French revolution, therefore, enabled people to be capable of putting across their feelings in whichever way they wished. The French revolution had a significant impact on the European lifestyle in the nineteenth century. A significant wave of emotion was spread thr oughout the society. The French revolution introduced new laws for the citizens. It also resulted in change, in both literature and art (Doyle). Romanticism is largely responsible for shaping the world to a better place to live. The French revolution was the climax of the romantic philosophy. The revolution provided with problems, which acted as a basis for the romantic literature and art. The French revol

Conlon Nancarrow's career and his relation to player piano Research Proposal

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Organization Policy and Stategy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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As sophocles observes in antigone Essay Example for Free

As sophocles observes in antigone Essay 4. Awareness (Greenleaf, 2002): Able servant-leaders are usually sharply awake and reasonably disturbed from integrated holistic perspectives, yet with inner serenity (Greenleaf, 2002). Habit 1 (of 7 or of 8), Being Proactive or the concept of Inside-Out, that any significant type of change in the would-be-leader must first come from within himself (Covey, 1900). 5. Persuasion (Greenleaf, 2002): Servant-leaders rely primarily on persuasion and on convincing even by way of group-building consensus, rather than through coercion or force based on the traditional authoritarian model (Greenleaf, 2002). While Gardner insists that: â€Å"Leadership is the process of persuasion or example by which an individual (or leadership team) induces a group to pursue objectives held by the leader or shared by the leader and his or her followers† (Gardner, 1990). Yukl emphatically stressed, in that: â€Å"influence is the essence of leadership† (Yukl, 2001). 6. Conceptualization (Greenleaf, 2002): Servant-leaders perform a delicate balance between thinking out a problem and facing beyond day-to-day-focused-realities approach (Greenleaf, 2002). Habit 2 (of 7 or of 8), Beginning with the End in Mind, that the would-be-leader develops his own principled-center mission statement in life with long-term goals (Covey, 1900). 7. Foresight (Greenleaf, 2002): Intuitive servant-leaders understand the lessons from the past, the realities of the present, and the likely consequence of a decision for the future (Greenleaf, 2002). Characteristic 1, They Are Continually Learning, that the would-be-leader’s perception is more than enough honed by his self-initiated desire to know it all (Covey, 1992) and similar to Characteristic 6, They See Life As An Adventure (Covey, 1992). Alfred North Whitehead strongly suggested, in that: Every leader, to be effective, must simultaneously adhere to the symbols of change and revision and the symbols of tradition and stability (Warren Bennis, 1995). 8. Stewardship (Greenleaf, 2002): Servant-leaders merely act as stewards or â€Å"hold men and resources in trust† for the good of all or for society, emphasizing openness and persuasion (Greenleaf, 2002), likewise very similar to Stewardship Delegation (Covey, 1900). Habit 3 (of 7 or of 8), Put First Things First, that the would-be-leader’s effectiveness lies in making sure he balances his Production (P) with his building Production Capacity PC (Covey, 1900). Also, hence, according to Covey’s classification, Stewardship is under Habit 3 (Covey, 1900). 9. Commitment to the Growth of People (Greenleaf, 2002): Servant-leaders are seriously responsible and deeply committed to the growth and nurturing of each individual worker within the institution (Greenleaf, 2002). Characteristic 2, They Are Service-Oriented, that the would-be-leader/ servant-leader regards his work as a vocation or a way of life and not as a career (Covey, 1992). Characteristic 4, They Believe In Other People, that the would-be-leader is very hopeful for the beneficial potential capacity of everyone around him (Covey, 1992) though not quite far is Habit 8, It is about Finding Your Voice and Helping Others to Find Theirs (Covey, 2006). 10. Building Community (Greenleaf, 2002): Servant-leaders selflessly give themselves for building true communities among themselves who work within given institutions (Greenleaf, 2002). Characteristic 3, They Radiate Positive Energy, that the would-be-leader despite the â€Å"drudgery† of strengthening his institution, you could still find him cheerful, pleasant, happy; his attitude optimistic, positive, upbeat; and his spirit enthusiastic, hopeful, believing. Therefore, with the above, Covey concluded, in that: â€Å"A (good) habit can be defined as the intersection of knowledge, skill and desire† (Covey, 1900). Thus, with all of the above information, Sergeant Kidd’s dictum of soldiers learning to be good leaders from good leaders (Army, 1999) could now apply even to civilian employees or even ordinary civilians as more and more people are convinced through more and more pieces of literature pointing towards that thinning gray area between military and civilian leaderships. Political leadership is what John W. Gardner in his On Leadership, espoused in that: â€Å"Men and women of the greatest integrity, character, and courage should turn to public life as a natural duty and a natural outlet for their talents† (Gardner, 1990). While under business leadership falls all the works of Covey, Bennis, Goldsmith, and Yukl; however, noteworthy are those other works by Frances Hesselbein and Retired US Army General Eric Shinseki’s BE*KNOW*DO, Leadership the Army Way (Frances Hesselbein, 2004) and Jason Santamaria, Vincent Martino, and Eric Clemons’ The Marine Corps Way: Using Maneuver Warfare to Lead a Winning Organization (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003) because they believe that the business world could benefit from their shared experiences of the military. While the civilian sector regularly and easily pirates top executives from one private company to another or among themselves, the military sector cannot do that but because the military must so promote within its own ranks is why military leadership development is that paramount according to Hesselbein and Shinseki (Frances Hesselbein, 2004). Santamaria, Martino, and Climons first laid down the premise that although business and war are entirely worlds apart, the same principles apply to them because they both thrive in very competitive environments. The authors gave 23 true-to-life civilian examples followed by explanations before proceeding to compare and contrast 23 parallel true-to-life military examples (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003). Like the non-original â€Å"Servant-Leader† Greenleaf with his 6th century BCE Tao Te Ching, the non-original â€Å"Maneuver Warfare† Santamaria has his more than 2,500 years ago genius and timelessness of Sun Tzus work The Art of War, especially in targeting critical vulnerabilities, surprise, focus, tempo (speed), and combined arms. The authors ask if they are really â€Å"natural or universal laws of warfare†; however, because the concepts are intuitive to the greatest strategists, generals, and CEOs, the authors have endeavored to transform such intuition into a systematic problem-solving approach that the rest of us can clearly grasp and then apply (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003). These authors interchangeably explained the 46 examples in detail the workings of the Marine Corps Way by compressing Maneuver Warfare through these not only 7, but 10 Guiding Principles which when implemented singly and shortly is very powerful, but all the more deadly when applied in subsets or as an integrated whole (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003). When these situationers are examined closely, potential businesses should achieve breakthrough results (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003). 1. Targeting Critical Vulnerabilities (Jason A.Santamaria, 2003): To attack and to swiftly take advantage of the competitor’s weaknesses after thoroughly studying both the allied leader’s group and the competitor’s situation (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003). 2. Boldness (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003): When occasion arises to grab that opportunity to carry out calculated risks which can secure breakthrough results (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003). 3. Surprise (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003): Using surreptitiousness, vagueness, and sham to confuse the competitors. And for them to outrightly disregard their knowledge of the allied leader’s group condition thereby prejudicing their capability to position well their assets against the allied leader’s group (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003). 4. Focus (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003): Clustering together the allied leader’s group materiel at decisive places and times to take advantage of important favorable conditions to meet the allied leader’s group needs and objectives (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003). 5. Decentralized Decision Making (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003): Designating responsible people for them to make their own judicious decisions nearest the action centers after they have timely and thoroughly assessed firsthand local information about the situation within the mission target area (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003). 6. Tempo (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003): Recognizing prospective breaks, deciding, and executing plans more swiftly than opponents for the allied leader’s group to grab the upper hand and relegate the enemy to always be on the defensive and always to be confused by the allied leader’s group concerted and coordinated actions against the enemy (Jason A.Santamaria, 2003). 7. Combined Arms (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003): Timing the allied leader’s group attack in such a way that his group’s people, vehicles, equipment with pre-planned sequencing become orchestrated as only one entity; whereas, if the allied leader’s group use them singly, the effect will not be as dramatic (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003). 8. Integration of Principles (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003): When measured individually, these concepts give the best results when implemented in subsets or all are treated collectively as only one whole (Jason A.Santamaria, 2003). 9. Reconnaissance Pull (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003): Reconnaissance pull is an illustration of implementing the concepts in subsets: the unintended reaction is an actual time happening to a golden chance to weaken or defeat the enemy, whereby when the possibility is afforded to the allied leader to surprise the enemy, that leader then familiarizes the greater organization towards the situation, with him assuming that leadership function in setting up and applying the attack. Reconnaissance pull covers four of maneuver warfare’s ten concepts: decentralized decision-making, targeting critical vulnerabilities, tempo, and focus (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003). 10. Full Integration (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003): Joining simultaneously all ten concepts together as one combined entity allows the person to effect the greatest outcome with much reduced cost of materiel (Jason A. Santamaria, 2003).

Steps in a case study method Essay Example for Free

Steps in a case study method Essay All studies require that a research problem be identified and stated, and must be simple, concise, and in clear terms. Such problem will be the focus of a case study. IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM OF THE STUDY The General and specific objectives of the study must be categorically expressed. Such objectives will be the bases in conducting research activities. State the Objectives of the Study The research must identify his sources of data or information, how he is going to select his sources, what variables are to be included and excluded, and how these variables are to be selected  or determined. Determine the Sources of Data The researcher should identify the procedures of data gathering, the tools used in data gathering so that the researcher will be able to proceed smoothly with the research activities according to the time frame of the study. Determine the Procedures of Investigation After gathering the data, they are collated, arranged, and presented for easy analysis and interpretation. Collate, Analyze, and Interpret the Data 1. The researcher may select convenient cases, which are not typical for a case study. 2. The researcher may find difficulty  selecting the factors to be studied due to different environmental settings and sampling sizes. Limitations or Weaknesses of Case Study Method 3. Hypotheses cannot be tested due to small sampling size and limited number of variables. 4. Reliable and genuine data may not be obtained in some case studies due to limited primary sources. Experimental Methods of Research 1. To test the external validity of a laboratory ndings. 2. To improve conditions under which people live and work. Several Reasons For Conducting Experiments in a Natural Setting: Experiment also Involves†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Manipulation of One or More Variables which includes the: -Independent Variable -Dependent Variable Internal Validity -Reliabililty -Sensitivity -External Validity Characteristics of a Good Experiment -if the cause and e+ect is interpretable, that is by manipulating the independent variable, it can cause a change in dependent variable. Internal Validity An experiment is reliable if the obtained di+erence is likely to be found again and if the experiment is to be repeated. Reliability -an experiment is sensitive if such experiment is likely to detect the e+ect  of an independent variable even when that e+ect is a small one. Sensitivity -if the ndings can be generalized to individuals, settings,and conditions beyond the scope of the particular experiment. External Validity To provide empirical tests of hypotheses derived from theories. -experiments can be used to test the e+ectiveness of treatments and program. Purpose of Conducting Internship -Experimental Control -Random Assignment Two Conditions for an E$ective Experiment -Covariation -Time Order -Plausible Alternative Courses Three Conditions of Control:

Personal Reflection In Research Study Skills English Language Essay

Personal Reflection In Research Study Skills English Language Essay In this essay am going to write my personal reflection on what I have learnt in research study skills. This will include some assessment of my personal learning style and strengths and weaknesses, an estimated work plan for my completion of the degree, and the strategy I intend to adopt for future essay writing. Research Study Skills has taught me the difference between a book review and a book report. Even though it might take me a while to learn how to write using the correct and the best format laid out in lesson 7 I believe that by the time I am finished with this course, I will be able to write excellent reviews and reports. I have also discovered some ideas on how to write a report and a review. Therefore this lesson makes a clear explanation about these two subject matters. The lesson also gives simple ways and forms of writing reports and reviews. PERSONAL LEARNING STYLE I enjoy memorising academic concepts and ideas. I love to be challenged mentally, because it stimulates my thought patterns and enables me quickly discover academic concepts. This also helps me to retain as much academic information as possible. I like discussing issues from different viewpoints. My other way of learning is through research and visual aid. I enjoy reading topics of interest and if I find a video documentary on that topic, I get so stimulated to watch it as this enhances my remembrance of all that I have previously read in my research studies. I also like to study and discuss academic theories with others. Meanings of new and challenging words are very fascinating to me and I love to listen more than speaking. I prefer to write down an answer than speak it out. I find myself remembering more when am writing than when I am speaking. There are a lot of information I have come to know since I started this course, and this has helped me learn to how to write better essays , construct sentences properly, and the use of appropriate information for a particular assignment. I commend the research study skills book to be a very useful resource that can help any aspiring student to use it if they want to get the best results in essay writing. Most people overlook the subject on research study skills simply because they do not see the benefit of it. STRENGTHS I am quick at discovering new concepts and I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t easily give up because I try to do my best to present the best form of work. I refuse to be called a failure because I always want to try again and again and I love to see others excel in their work. When choosing essays, I love to pick tough questions rather than simple ones. I cherish discovering new ideas for myself. I find it exciting to write book reports and reviews and also reading academic books apart from the Bible. My written work is often organised and I also try to make it interesting and different. My special interest is to research on different subject matters, especially matters to do with church history, world history and cultural history. I am never satisfied until I learn something new from that subject I am researching on. WEAKNESSES I sometimes struggle to understand what the question is all about in an essay. I also mix up the meanings of certain words. I easily forget what comes first in a bibliography or footnote. I often want the lecturer to give me an example before I can attempt to do it myself. I find it hard to put quotes in my work unless if I am helped by someone who knows how to put quotes in their essays. I get frustrated, with a subject that I do not seem to understand or follow. I sometimes, concentrate more on one subject and neglect the other ones. My sources are often limited because I do not expand my research and I never try to think of ways to search for them. WORK PLAN I have put down a chart and on that chart I have written down every subject I am doing this term and the assignments in those subjects. I have laid down a plan to work on one assignment per week and this time I will use more sources and learn how to use citations. I have decided to write good essays this term and to go through the research and study skills book over and over again to help me understand the correct principles of writing a good and excellent essay. I have set a deadline for every one of my assignments apart from the one given by the Lecturer. I set a timetable of how am going to involve my studies and other schedules. The idea of handing in an assignment per week fits well in my timetable. I have also put of things that were wasting my time when I should have been doing my assignments. I have to learn to allow my mind to get used to a working plan that is consistent. I plan to make use of every opportunity in my busy schedule to write down some points about the topic I am dealing with in the essay. POINTS TO REMEBER IN MY WORK PLAN I will remember to use the same format throughout my work I will write the correct information in every assignment I will first choose a particular essay that I want to work on. Find out or define the problem. Write a bibliography for that particular essay. Approach the question from every angle using different resources and books by different authoritative writers. Always begin with an introduction Always have conclusion in my essay unless if ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a book report. Explain the meaning of a new word in the essay. Use quotes and reference them correctly giving credit to the person who quoted it. Always use the right methodology of writing. Never repeat a statement more than once. No plagiarising, but always put the work in my own words and understanding. Always use the correct format when writing footnotes. Remember the difference between bibliographies and footnotes. Use accurate and up to date resources. Understand the question. Always check the spelling of words. Have one systematic way of writing my essays. Have a continuous and correct form of connecting sentences. Always put sub-headings in the body. Allow the lecturer to look at the essay before final submission. Never leave spaces in between one paragraph to another. STRATEGY The hand book provides a very useful and simple form of writing excellent essays. In the future, I plan to write essays in a systematic way and not mixed up information. Before I write an essay, I will first choose a topic or question that I think I would easily research on. Secondly, I will expand my search for sources, I will use internet, libraries and educational places like museums and art galleries. Thirdly, I will write essays that will capture the marker or examinerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s attention. Fourthly, I will collect sources required for the assignment in advance. I will also make sure the sources are useful for that particular subject. I will make sure I understand what I am writing about. I will imagine myself being present in that piece of work like a writer imagines him or herself being present in every event of the story he or she is writing. Finally, I will always start and finish my assignments before the due date and critically view and answer the question being de alt with. CONCLUSION Writing this reflection has helped me to write effective and productive essays. I will take it as my top priority to improve my essay writing. The lessons learnt through this essay will be used in future essay writing and also help in research purposes. Having a written work plan will help me remember principles that need to be applied in my essay writing.

E.E. Cummings :: essays papers

E.E. Cummings is characteristically American. He is a famous, well known American author. I found that his writing style is of a stereotypical American. What is it to be stereotypically American? Well I found that one of the main things is that you can say or write whatever you want and not feel threatened about if what your saying is the right thing or not. Also a lot of Americans will use sarcasm. Also you don’t have to come right out and say whatever you mean. Some will talk about something completely different then what they are really trying to say. Cummings used a good amount of sarcasm in his writing. He sort of made fun of things in his poems without coming out and saying it. He also doesn’t just come right out and say what he means. I haven’t been able to figure out many of his poems at all. The things he says just makes no sense at all. Even after analyzing his work I haven’t been able to understand what he means. I think that is one thing that most Americans do in one way or another. Cummings also wrote a large amount of poems that probably would have offended people in one way or another. But freedom of speech is one thing that all Americans have. We can say whatever we want and not have to answer to anyone about it. If we were in another country that freedom of speech isn’t allowed he possibly could have been thrown in jail for some of his writings. He was known for his lack of correct punctuation and capitalization in his writings. Very often he would write his name as "e.e. cummings", not even capitalizing his own name. He basically had his own style of writing things even though they were not written correctly. He never followed any of the rules which might have been one of the reasons he was so remembered. He was born in Cambridge Massachusetts. He grew up there and worked at a mail-order publishing company for a short time. He decided to volunteer for the Norton-Harjes Ambulance group in France. He was imprisoned for three months in a French Detention camp. While being there

Our Town :: essays research papers

Wilder's passionate plea in the play is to appreciate every moment of every day, for life is a fleeting thing. With troubles rapidly expanding in Europe and war becoming a looming reality, people were inundated with the negative aspects of life. To see Our Town was to escape from the negative and rejoice in the ordinary; it reaffirmed faith in the unchanging moral values of small town living. It was obviously the balm that audiences needed in the midst of a pessimistic and changing world. Through his play, Wilder tries to teach the audience to seize the moment and enjoy living. There are no guarantees about a certain life span, as evidenced by the premature deaths of Emily Webb and her brother, Wally; tomorrow may be too late. By calling the drama Our Town and portraying ordinary people and events, the people in the audience and the readers of the play can identify with the theme and apply it to their own lives. Our Town is an unusual play in structure. It intentionally contains lit tle action, in order to support the theme; nothing exciting or suspenseful happens in any of the three acts, just as nothing exciting happens in Grover's Corners. The play also ignores most dramatic conventions. In the beginning, the Stage Manager saunters on to an empty stage to talk directly to the audience; he tells them that the play is ready to begin. He then describes the appearance of Grover's Corners and its inhabitants. The play also ignores the unity of time and place. Between the first and second acts, three years pass. Then between the second and third acts, another nine years pass. In addition, the omniscient Stage Manager has repeated flashbacks to the past and flash-forwards to the future, further negating a unity of time. The play also has many locations. Although the entire play takes place in or around Grover's Corners, each act has a different and distinct key setting. In Act I, most of the action takes place in the homes of the Webb’s and the Gibbs; often the activity in both homes is seen on stage at once, in order to emphasize the sameness of things in this small town. The second act is set largely at the church, where Emily and George are married.