Case Study for Management Accounting Essay Example

Case Study for Management Accounting Essay Editor’s Remarks I am pleased to present the nine teaching cases presented at the 2002 Conference of the Management Accounting Section of the American Accounting Association. These cases provide a wide range of topics and contexts for use in upper level undergraduate and MBA classes. Here is a list of the cases, authors and topics discussed. Bal Seal Engineering, by Robin Cooper, discusses alternative cost management approaches: traditional, ABC, and TOC. Bill’s Custom Planters, by William Stammerjohan and Deborah Seifert, discusses production and cash flow projections, developing pro forma statements and sensitivity analysis. Dublin Shirt Company, by Peter Clarke in association with Paul Juras and Wayne Bremser, discusses customer profitability analysis. ECN. W, by William Lawler, discusses ABC in a service organization. Endesa, by Gary M. Cunningham, Scott Ericksen, Francisco J. Lopez Lubian and Antonio Pareja, discusses strategy and control issues in a changing organization. Kincaid Manufacturing, by Jon Yarusso and Ram Ramanan, discusses supply chain management. Osram. NA, by John Shank, Lawrence Carr, and William Lawler, discusses economic value to customer and related life cycle costing issues. Pleasant Run Children’s Home, by Brooke E. Smith, Mark A. McFatridge, and Susan B. Hughes, discusses dealing with the financial condition of a not-for-profit organization. University Bottom Line, by Enrico Uliana, discusses management control issues in a university. I thank these authors and all of the other authors who submitted cases to the conference. I also thank members of the editorial board for their help in reviewing cases: Tom Albright, Wayne Bremser, Paul Juras, Ken Merchant, Gary Sundem and, especially, Larry Carr and Jim Mackey. I am grateful to the other conference organizers, Steve Hansen, K. Sivaramakrishnan and Naomi Soderstrom for their advice and help. We will write a custom essay sample on Case Study for Management Accounting specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Case Study for Management Accounting specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Case Study for Management Accounting specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer I am grateful for the help of Leslie Estelle at the IMA for her work in putting these cases into Management Accounting Quarterly. And on behalf of the members of the Management Accounting Section of the AAA, I thank the IMA for its support. Bal Seal Engineering Company, Inc. Peter Balsells and his late wife Joan founded Bal Seal Engineering Company, Inc in 1958. From humble beginnings, the firm grew steadily primarily based upon a strategy of selling the most innovative products in the industry. In particular, Bal Seal’s products were characterized both by the high value they provided and the technical manufacturing challenges they overcame. The initial invention that formed the basis for the firm’s success was a canted-coil spring in a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) jacket (Figure 1). The advantage of the canted-steel coil spring, over a conventional one, was its ability to produce near uniform force over its operating range. In contrast, a conventional spring provided a linearly increasing force as deflection increased (Figure 2). This property of a canted coil spring was critical in ensuring both an effective seal and an extended operating life. The firm considered itself an industry leader and standard setter in providing customers worldwide with innovative solutions to their industrial sealing problems. The firm, over its 40-year life, had created in excess of 60 active patents and numerous other innovations that had helped shape the seal and spring industry. This innovative history had provided the firm with, what top management considered a sustainable competitive advantage. The firm’s profit margins were historically higher than industry average reflecting both its advantageous patent position and high level of engineering skills. In 2000, sales were just under $25 million. The company’s customers were primarily in the medical equipment, analytic equipment, industrial OEM, and semiconductor industries. The company sold directly from the factory with the assistance of independent manufacturer’s representatives who covered the territories of Canada and the United States. Internationally, the company had a sales office in Western Europe and had contracted with several distributors who provided coverage of the Japanese and Australian markets. Product Development The firm had developed its own approach to product development that consisted of three steps; design, fast prototyping, and production. In the design phase, the firm’s engineers concentrated on understanding the customer’s requirements. The firm’s products were used in a wide variety of applications and most were custom designed. Many of these applications presented state-of-the-art challenges in sealing technology. Without careful attention to the underlying requirements, the firm could easily fail to design an effective seal. Fast prototyping consisted of rapidly creating a working example of the new product. Fast prototyping had two advantages. First, the customer could, early in its own product development process, test the new seal to ensure that it would be effective in the specific application for which it was designed. Second, the fast prototype enabled the manufacturing engineers to designate specific quality control steps and to establish guidelines for cost-efficient production. The final step, production consisted of ensuring that very high quality products were produced on a timely basis. The firm’s commitment to quality was necessarily extreme because its products were relatively inexpensive compared to the customers’ end products in which they were used. However, since seal malfunction could lead to disastrous failure of the customer’s product, long-term consistent performance of the firm’s products was essential. Consequently, Bal Seal’s manufacturing process was geared to produce products that had exceptionally long meantimes between failures. Production Process A spring-energized seal consisted of a plastic U-cup ring and a canted-coil spring. The purpose of the plastic ring was to ensure that metal to metal contact did not occur between a piston and its housing. In addition, the seal was often designed to provide the piston with both support and guidance. The seal could either be mounted on the piston (Figure 3) or on the housing (Figure 4). The springs and plastic rings were manufactured independently and then assembled to create the seal. While springs were sold separately, plastic rings were only sold as part of a completed seal. Products were produced to order, only a small number of items were retained in finished goods inventory. For small orders, only one production run was required. However, for larger orders it was necessary to break production into multiple production runs so that other orders were not excessively delayed. The production process consisted of three major stages; spring production, ring production, and final production and assembly (Figure 5). Ring production required 5 major steps. The first step consisted of taking powdered PTFE and mixing it. Subsequently the mixture was placed in an oven where it was pressed under high pressure to form the desired shape. The shaped pipe was then removed from the mold and cooked in a sintering oven to harden it. After sintering, the sintered pipe was ground to the desired size and specifications. The completed seal blank was then placed in the buffer inventory that was maintained before the computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines. Blanks are machined to customer specifications to create rings soon after receipt of the customer order. Spring production was proprietary and only senior executives and the specially trained workers were allowed to enter the area of the factory where springs were produced. Bal Seal senior management was convinced that the firm had created a sustainable competitive advantage from the proprietary technology associated with spring production. Consequently, intense security was applied to this production area to ensure that competitors could not learn anything from visiting Bal Seal or hiring its normally trained employees. Computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment was used to create the seal. The part was then inspected to ensure that it was up to specifications. Assembly consisted of three major steps. In the first step, the spring and seal were assembled to create the completed product. In the second step, the part was inspected to ensure that it met specifications. In the final step, the completed seal was tested to ensure that it provided the near uniform resistance that was characteristic of canted coil spring technology. The completed part was then released to shipping and sufficiently early to insure on-time delivery. Only a few standard parts were maintained in finished goods inventory to ensure that unexpected demand for such items was met in a timely fashion. Total finished goods inventory accounted for only two days of average production of stocked items. Theory of Constraints The theory of constraints emerged in the mid-eighties as a way to better manage constrained resources and hence increase firm profits. Bal Seal had adopted the theory of constraints as both its production philosophy and its product costing methodology in 1997. In the theory of constraints, a single machine, or class of machines, is identified as the bottleneck. The bottleneck machine or machine class is the one that limits the overall level of production of a product, product family, or product line. To maintain maximum output, the bottleneck machine, or as it is more formally known the capacity constrained resource, is kept busy at all times. Any other machine or production operation could be idle as long as it does not lead to the bottleneck machine being starved. The theory of constraints has its own language. The throughput of a system is the revenue generated in the period of analysis. Throughput = Revenue The throughput contribution is the revenue generated by an order minus the totally variable costs associated with it. Throughput Contribution = Throughput – Totally Variable Costs The operating expenses are all of the costs that are not totally variable with production volume. Profit is given by subtracting operating expenses from total throughput contribution: Profit = Total Throughput Contribution – Operating Expenses Ensuring that the maximum throughput contribution is generated maximizes the profit generated. That objective is achieved by manufacturing products that have the highest throughput contribution per constrained minute for which bottleneck capacity is available. The throughput contribution margin per constrained minute is the throughput margin generated by the order divided by the time it takes on the bottleneck machine measured in minutes. Throughput Contribution/ Constrained Minute =  © 2001 by Robin Cooper 3 Throughput Contribution / Time on Bottleneck Machine The objective of the theory of constraints is to maintain as high an average throughput margin per constrained minute as possible, while keeping the bottleneck machine fully loaded. If this objective is achieved, according to the theory of constraints, profits will be maximized. Five simple rules govern the approach: 1. . 3. 4. 5. Identify the constraint. Decide how to exploit the constraint. Subordinate everything else to the above decision. Elevate the constraint. If the constraint has been broken, go back to step 1 Under these five rules, the majority of continuous improvement efforts are focused upon increasing the output of the bottleneck resource; only reduced attention is p aid to making the non-constraint activities more efficient. At the heart of theory of constraints is the drum-buffer-rope scheduling system. In this approach to scheduling, a protective buffer is maintained in front of the machine that creates the constraint. This capacity constrained resource (CCR) buffer is designed to be sufficiently large that it ensures that the bottleneck is never starved. Theoretically, the size of the buffer is determined as a trade-off between security versus lead-time. In practice, as was the case at Bal Seal, it is often determined from experience. At Bal Seal, the conversion to the theory of constraints went extremely smoothly and within three months the firm’s manufacturing performance had improved dramatically with overall production levels higher and production costs lower. As the firm smoothed out its production process, the firm’s cash flow became more predictable. Senior management was very pleased with the ease of the transition to theory of constraints and identified it as one of the major strengths of the approach. For example, they compared their experience favorably to the length of time other firms had taken to shift to lean production. In their opinion, the shift to lean production, typically took longer because it required balancing most, if not all, of the firm’s production processes, not just the bottleneck ones. In addition, they felt that the cultural changes under the theory of constraints approach were much less demanding than those required by the adoption of lean production. The non-bottleneck resources could be managed much the same as they always had been thus reducing the amount of learning that had to be achieved to bring the new production approach on line. The theory of constraints was also adopted, at Bal Seal, as the basis for product costing. Under the theory of constraint approach, with the exception of the costs that are totally ariable with the number of units produced, all other costs (operating expenses) are assumed to be fixed in the short term. In most settings, the only significant totally variable cost is material, other totally variable costs such as the electricity required to run the machines are typically ignored as they are small compared to material costs and instead, they are treated as part of operating expenses. At Bal Seal only material, freight, and sales co mmissions were treated as totally variable costs and hence subtracted from revenues to give the throughput contribution for the period. In the firm’s traditional cost system, the freight and sales commission costs were treated as indirect costs and assigned to products using direct labor dollars. Activity-Based Costing Activity-based costing emerged in the mid 1980s as a way to report more accurate product costs than was possible by traditional cost systems. Activity-based cost systems differed from their traditional counterparts in two ways. First, the cost pools represented activities performed and not types of production processes. Second, the way costs were assigned to products was more sophisticated. In traditional systems only unit-level cost drivers were utilized. Unit level drivers were those drivers whose driver quantities doubled when the number of units produced of a product doubled. Examples of frequently used unit-level cost drivers in traditional systems include direct labor hours and dollars, machine hours, and material dollars. In contrast, in activity-based cost system two other types of cost drivers were utilized. The first type was batch-level drivers and the second type was product-level drivers. Batch-level drivers were used to assign the costs of activities that were performed every time a batch was produced. Examples of this type of activity include machine setup, material movement, and production scheduling. Examples of batch-level drivers include setup hours, number of setups, and number of batches or production runs. Product-level drivers were used to assign the cost of activities that were performed to sustain the ability to manufacture particular products. Examples of product-level activities include parts administration, process engineering, and bill-ofmaterial maintenance. Examples of product-level cost drivers include number of parts, number of part numbers, and number of engineering change notices. Proponents of activity-based costing argue that it provides a more accurate picture of the cost of the resources consumed by different products than traditional cost systems. In particular, activity-based cost systems are sensitive to batch size and overall production volume and thus report higher costs for the same product if it is made in small batches or overall low volume than if it is manufactured in large batches or high overall volume. In contrast, traditional systems reported the same product costs irrespective of the batch size or overall production volume of a product. Thus, activity-based cost systems were sensitive to scale economies while their traditional counterparts were not. Product Costing at Bal Seal In 2000, Bal Seal did not utilize either traditional or activity-based costing to determine product costs; instead it relied solely upon its theory of constraints system to support its pricing and order acceptance decisions. Prior to the adoption of the theory of constraints, the firm had developed a traditional costing system. This system consisted of the direct assignment of material, labor, and setup costs and the indirect assignment of all other costs. The indirect costs were assigned to the products using a single cost pool using direct labor dollars as the cost driver. In 1999, the overhead burden rate that would have been used in the traditional costing system was 500%. Bal Seal’s traditional costing system was slightly unusual in that it isolated the costs of setups from normal run costs. Setup costs were assigned to the batch as a lump sum and then divided by the number of units in the batch to develop a unitized setup cost. The sum of the run cost and the unitized setup cost was the total unit cost of the product. The advantage of this approach was that it reported different costs for the same product depending upon batch size with reported unit costs dropping as batch size increased. Thus, Bal Seals’ old traditional costing model, because of the way it incorporated setup costs, was somewhat sensitive to batch size. However, since it ignored the implications of non-setup related batch-level costs and all of the product-sustaining costs, it was at best a partial activity-based cost system. In 1999, a specialist in activity-based costing visited Bal Seal. He was interested in the relationship between theory of constraints and activity-based costing and wanted to study an active theory of constraints implementation. Many theory of constraints advocates believed that activity-based costing was a misleading costing approach that led to poor decisions. At the heart of this perspective was the inability of the activity-based costing approach to identify bottlenecks and thus ensure that they were kept fully loaded. Since any failure to keep the bottleneck fully and efficiently loaded resulted in lower profits, the position adopted by advocates of the theory of constraints was that activity-based costing led to inferior performance. In contrast, most activity-based costing advocates had a different opinion; they believed that theory of constraints was the appropriate solution for short-term decisions in which the firm’s infrastructure (their term for operating expenses) could not be modified. However, they believed that over the long run, the firm’s infrastructure could be modified in ways that led to overall superior performance. Thus, they perceived the optimum solution to be to use theory of constraints for short-term decisions and activity-based costing for long-term decisions. To help understand the relationship between the two approaches, the specialist identified five orders that the firm had recently received for different members of its Mark IV family of Balance Seal products (Exhibit 1). The primary difference between the orders was the number of units ordered. He chose these five orders because he felt that, despite being from the same family of products, they covered the entire spectrum of orders received by the firm. In particular, they captured small, medium, and large volume orders. Furthermore, the selling prices of the Mark IV product family were relatively easy to estimate despite being dependent upon the size of the order and the industry in which seals were to be utilized. Mark IV seals were primarily used in medical equipment industry and the historical bidding information was sufficiently detailed to enable quite accurate estimates of probable selling prices to be developed. Such detailed information was not available for many of the firm’s other product families. The specialist asked Bal Seal management to determine the profitability of the five orders using the theory of constraints. To provide a basis for comparison, he designed a simple activity-based cost system for Bal Seal. This system identified two additional indirect cost pools to the one that was used in the firm’s old traditional cost system. The first additional cost pool was a batch-level one. It captured the costs of ensuring that a production order was processed. The second additional cost pool captured the cost of the product-level activities. In particular, it identified the parts administration costs associated with each member of the Mark IV family. Removing the batch-level and product-level costs from the direct labor cost pool reduced the direct labor dollar burden rate to 115%. This burden rate also excluded the freight and sales commission costs which the expert felt should be treated as costs of the order in addition to the setup and order processing costs. Management’s Reaction Bal Seal top management was not convinced that even experimenting with activity-based costing was a good idea. They justified this perspective based upon several deeply held views. First, the success of theory of constraints, at Bal Seal, was such that they were unwilling to risk disrupting it with even an experiment. Second, they believed that the theory of constraints approach was philosophically superior and that activity-based costing would simply cause people to focus excessive attention on non-bottleneck resources. Attention that they felt was better directed to increasing the throughput of the capacity constrained resource. Third, they believed that it would be confusing to have two sets of reported product costs â€Å"floating† around the firm – one based on theory of constraints and the other based on activity-based costing. In particular, they felt that this confusion would be particularly serious if one of the two approaches recommended selling a product that the other indicated was unprofitable. Bal Seal Assignments It will help considerably to work in Excel or another spread sheet program, as many of the calculations are identical except for the price list. The following graphs will also be beneficial in helping you gain insights into the capabilities of the various costing approaches; traditional profit margin versus ABC profit margin, unit contribution or profit versus volume, and ABC unit profit versus TOC unit contribution per minute. Price Lists – Pair 1 1. Determine the cost and profitability of the five selected orders using the firm’s traditional cost system, TOC system, and the activity-based cost system proposed by the visiting specialist. 2. Bal Seal has only a small amount of bottleneck resource available. It receives an order for 1,000 P5 Mark IVs and 35 orders for 10 units each of 35 different products that have the same overall production characteristics as the P1 Mark IV Balance Seal. The high volume order or all of the small volume orders will consume the remaining bottleneck resources. Which of the orders would the three costing approaches suggest accepting? 3. Which orders would you recommend be accepted? Repeat the above calculations assuming that the selling prices are: Product Identification Order Volume Selling Price $100. 00 $20. 00 $4. 75 $3. 00 $2. 0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 10 50 200 500 1,000 Would your recommendations about which orders to accept change? 4. Analyze the pricing strategies that are being used in this industry based upon the two sets of prices. Hint, it will help if you look at the rankings of profit in each pricing scenario. Price Lists—Pair 2 5. Repeat the calculations assuming that the selling prices are: Product Identification Order Volume Selling Price $69. 50 $16. 50 $9. 50 $8. 50 P1 P2 P3 P4 10 50 200 500 P5 1,000 $8. 25 Would your recommendations about which orders to accept change? 6. Repeat the calculations assuming that the selling prices are: Product Identification Order Volume Selling Price $47. 50 $22. 40 $19. 25 $18. 00 $17. 75 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 10 50 200 500 1,000 Would your recommendations about which orders to accept change? 7. What is the best way to integrate TOC and ABC? 8. If your recommendations include computing both TOC and ABC costs, how would you explain your solution to Bal Seal management given their concerns about the potential resulting confusion? 9. Analyze the pricing strategies that are being used in this industry based upon the last two sets of prices. Hint, it will help if you compare the unit ABC profits and TOC contributions generated in each price scenario. Exhibit 1 Information on the Mark IV Family of Balanced Seals Order Information Product Identification Number Order Volume Unit Selling Price $50. 00 $9. 00 $5. 00 $4. 00 $3. 75 Number Of Production Runs for Order 1 1 2 3 5 Estimated Annual Production Volume 10 75 500 2000 5000 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 10 50 200 500 1,000 Cost Information Material Costs Labor Costs Order Processing Costs Set-Up Cost/Run Parts Administration/Product Freight Sales Commission $0. 40 $0. 33 $75. 00 $45. 00 $500. 0 5% of selling price 10% of selling price Processing Time Information for CNC Machines Run time per unit Setup Time per run 1. 5 minutes 30 minutes Figure 1: Bal Seal Engineering Company Inc. Canted-Coil Spring Seal Figure 2: Bal Seal Engineering Company Inc. Canted-Coil Spring Performance Normal Working Deflection Force Conventional; Spring Canted-Coil Spring 5% Deflection 35% Figure 3: Bal Seal Engineering Company Inc. Piston Mounted Seal Piston Figure 4: Bal Seal Engineering Company Inc. Housing Mounted Seal Piston Figure 5: Bal Seal Engineering Company Inc. Production Process Final Proprietary Inspection Spring Production Ring Production Shipping Material Production Figure 6: Bal Seal Engineering Company Inc. Production Timeline Shipping Buffer Post-Constraint Processing Constraint Process Constraint Buffer Pre-Constraint Processing Bill’s Custom Planters1 William Stammerjohan, Washington State University Deborah Seifert, Washington State University Bill’s Custom Planters (BCP) manufactures a line of decorative wooden planter boxes that are sold to both retail and wholesale customers. Dr. Bill started building custom planter boxes in his garage as a hobby/business about ten years ago. His custom planter boxes were so popular that he quit his â€Å"day job† seven years ago and began to manufacture planter boxes full-time. Dr. Bill rarely builds a planter box himself anymore because he is now the full time manager, production supervisor, sales force, and bookkeeper. The word â€Å"custom† no longer truly describes the planter boxes because BCP now offers only one model that is available in four, very similar, variations. Several factors have contributed to increased popularity, increased demand, and increased production volume for the planters over the last few years. A feature article in a regional home improvement magazine, â€Å"Northwest Home and Garden† got the ball rolling for the planters a couple of years after Dr. Bill went into business full-time. A monthly display ad in the same magazine appears to have contributed to increases in both retail sales and wholesale customer demand. Dr. Bill significantly increased production capacity almost four years ago when he moved BCP into a new rented building and bought all new equipment. Like many small businesses, BCP’s growth has not been without setbacks. The sale of planters is seasonal by nature and shortly after the move into the new building, BCP was suddenly faced with new price competition from a much larger supplier of garden supply products. The â€Å"custom† planters that BCP was building at that time were priced a lot higher than the current more generic model. The market seemed to become â€Å"price sensitive† overnight and the sales volume dropped precipitously. It took Dr. Bill several months to realize that he had to simplify his product line and become competitive if BCP was going to survive. It seems that BCP has now weathered this storm, but there are some lingering scars from this period. Dr. Bill’s credit rating is now far from perfect. This is the result of several very late interest and principal payments on the equipment loan, and an inability to make timely interest payments on a former credit line balance. After his former bank canceled his credit line, several other local banks refused to extend credit to either Dr. Bill or BCP. Dr. Bill feels fortunate that his current bank, No Heart Trust Co. NHTC), agreed to extend a small line of credit during BCP’s darkest days and has grudgingly agreed to some small increases in the credit limit over the last two years. The NHTC credit line currently has a $60,000 credit limit. NHTC requires BCP to maintain a minimum cash (checking account) balance of $6,000, or 15% of the We would like to thank Tom Albright for his insightful discussion comments at the 2002 AAA-MAS Conference. 1 outstanding credit line balan ce, whichever is greater. NHTC requires a minimum payment of the accrued credit line interest on the last day of each month (12% annual rate). The now current equipment loan requires a minimum principal payment of $2,000 plus accrued interest on the last day of the month (8% annual rate). The key factors describing BCP’s current operations include the fact that all retail sales are mail order and the wholesale customers are either home improvement or garden supply stores. Retail customers pay for their purchases by credit card and all wholesale sales are on account. The retail price is $70. 00 plus $8. 00 shipping and handling. Wholesale customers receive a $20 per planter discount off the retail price and all wholesale shipments are sent freight collect. On an annual basis, about 30% of the planters are sold retail and 70% are sold wholesale. NHTC deducts a 3% service charge on credit card sales and credits BCP=s account almost instantaneously. Wholesale customers are billed on the last day of each month and are given terms of 2%-10th/net 30. Forty percent of all credit sales are collected during the discount period, 20% within the net 30 period, 25% one month late, and 13% two months late. Roughly 2% of credit sales are never collected. BCP has the capacity to produce 800 planters per month using one shift. BCP has eight employees that each work 160 hours per month performing direct labor. Wood is purchased from a local supplier on an â€Å"as-needed† basis. The local supplier has a very good record for both quality and on-time delivery, but will only deliver on a COD basis. The COD arrangement is another remnant of the period when Dr. Bill was not able pay BCP’s bills on a timely basis. While Dr. Bill has re-established credit with the hardware supplier, BCP must buy hardware in lots of 1,500 sets to receive competitive pricing. Hardware delivery takes about one month from the time an order is placed. The hardware supplier pays the shipping cost, but requires full payment within ten days of receipt of the hardware. Selling and Administrative expenses are $2,500 per month plus $3. 40 per planter sold. All cash overhead costs, rent, shipping and handling costs, and selling and administrative expenses are paid in the month incurred. Dr. Bill’s current estimation of the cost per planter is as follows: Bill’s Custom Planters Schedule of Planter Cost For 2003 Direct Materials: Wood Hardware (1 set per planter) Direct Labor: (1. 6 hours @ $11. 00 per hour) Variable Overhead ($2. 00 per direct labor hour) Fixed Overhead (based on 800 lanters per month) Cost Per Planter $10. 00 5. 00 17. 60 3. 20 5. 25 $41. 05 The shipping and handling cost per planter sold retail is $6. 00. The $4,200 per month in fixed overhead is comprised of: building rent, $1,000; equipment depreciation (12 year/straight-line), $2,000; and casualty and liability insurance, $1,200. BCP’s expected f inancial condition is reflected in the 12/31/02 Pro Forma Balance Sheet. Although Dr. Bill has returned BCP to profitability, and although all the interest and other liabilities are now current, the equity balance is mostly the result of money that Dr. Bill contributed to the corporation when he â€Å"cashed out,† his former day job retirement account. Dr. Bill does not draw a regular salary, but was able to

Spanish Prepositions De and Desde

Spanish Prepositions De and Desde Because they can both mean from, the Spanish prepositions desde and de are easily confused. And the fact that they sometimes are interchangeable - for example, both de aquà ­ al centro and desde aquà ­ al centro can be used for from here to downtown. - doesnt help matters. When to Use Desde However, as a general rule, it can be said that desde more strongly indicates motion from a location. To give two examples, desde commonly would be used in sentences such as Echà ³ el libro desde el coche (he threw the book from the car) and Corrià ³ desde la playa (he ran from the beach). It can similarly be used where the emphasis is on the original location rather than the destination. Desde also is used with other prepositions: desde arriba (from above), desde dentro (from inside), desde abajo (from underneath). Note that these phrases tend to indicate motion from the specified area. It is also common with time phrases. When to Use De There are numerous cases where de, not desde, must be used to translate from. Many of those are instances wherein the translation of can be substituted for from, even if awkwardly. Examples: Soy de los Estados Unidos. (Im from the United States. Im of the United States.) Sacà ³ el dinero de la bolsa. (She took the money from the purse. She took the money of the purse.) Sometimes the preposition por can be used to mean from: Est debilitado por hambre. (He is weak from hunger.) Sample Sentences Using De and Desde To Mean 'From' You can see more about how these prepositions are used in these sentences: Desde aquà ­ se ve todos los sitios turà ­sticos. (From here all the tourist sites are seen. Here, the emphasis is on the place to be in order to see the sites.)Desde siempre he sabido que la mà ºsica era algo muy importante. Since forever I have known that music is something very important. Desde siempre is a fairly common time phrase.)Esculpià ³ la estatua de piedra muy cara. (She sculpted the statue from very expensive stone. From in the translation could substitute for of.)Desde hace un aà ±o hasta dos meses, mi amiga estaba a cargo de la programacià ³n de la red. (From a year ago until two months ago, my friend was in charge of network programming. This is another example of desde in a time expression.) ¡Encuentra excelentes ofertas de vuelos desde Nueva York a Ciudad de Mà ©xico y ahorra con el mejor precio! (Find excellent sales of flights from New York to Mexico City and save with the best price! The flight involves motion from New York City.)El actor famoso dijo que sufrià ³ de depresion y adicciones. (The famous actor said he suffered from depression and addictions. De is used for from when the preposition is used to state the cause of something.) Mi novio es de un familia rica. (My boyfriend is from a rich family. From here could be substituted with of.)El presidente vivià ³ de 1917 a 1962. (The president lived from 1917 to 1962. De is used with the time element.)

Article review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Review - Article Example The procedure and results of the experiment are briefly explained in easy words right in the beginning of the article so that readers get maximum information in the first few seconds of reading.  The editors have written  how the mice that had been bred to be more exercise-loving over generations (high voluntary wheel-running) had a 13% larger volume of the midbrain. A 3D reconstruction of the brain of a mouse is also presented alongside the article to provide the readers with a visual idea of the location and size of the midbrain of a regular mouse.   The author has also incorporated the comments of the professors involved in the research project to make the article more interesting and additional information is also provided to the reader along with the personal opinion of the experts.  They have  quoted professor  Garland  saying that it is the first study which has shown a particular mammalian behavior resulting â€Å"in a change in the size of a specific brain region† (Science Daily).  Ã‚   As the reader goes further, the author has provided more important details of the experiment such as the selection of the mice which has been going on for 65 generation in the lab (20 years), and the functioning of different parts of the brain. This section of the article answers any questions that might have occurred in the mind of the reader and deals and deals with them one at a time. From the sample selection to the procedure adopted by the researchers to reach conclusions, the briefly explains them all in easy language. Other findings of the research are also mentioned toward the end of the article including how the high voluntary wheel-running mice also had a larger volume of non-cerebellar brain mass.   The article also mentions  what the researchers  wanted to achieve through these experiments and whether or not they have been successful. In order to provide a concise answer to these questions,  they have  provided yet another direct quotation of the

GOTHIC AND TABOO Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

GOTHIC AND TABOO - Essay Example In England, it was marked by the vertical lines and a four-centered arch with fan vaulting and was between the 14th and the 15th centuries. Gothic writing as earlier mentioned is said to be old fashioned, therefore, their form of writing is Frankenstein (Schultz, p 34). This book was meant to be of artistic value that was characterized by gloomy and mystery and grotesque features. When a person imaginary self is the issue of one of these conventions then, it is specialized in the following manner. It is the place of the self to be extremely blocked off from something to which it should normally to have the right of entry (Schultz, p 35). This something can be its past, the details of its kin history; it can be an open atmosphere, when the nature has been buried when still breathing. It might be a combination of life or a lover (Sedgwick 17). Usually, there is both something going on inside the segregation and something hugely relevant going on incredibly out of reach (Schultz, p 31). While the three top elements take (Sedgwick 12). On the most varied guise, the terms of the association are incontrovertible. The self contains everything that the outside possess including appropriate, ordinary, essential relationship to one another. It also contains the swiftly incompetent of making (Goldsmith, pp.23-28). Both the inside and outside life have to continue independently, becoming counterparts rather than allies, the affiliation between them one of the parallels and correspondences rather than contact. This, though it may happen in an instantaneous, is a fundamental reorganization, creating doublings where singleness should be (Goldsmith, Being Dumb). Finally, the failure of restoring them to their initial being is the most feature energies of the Gothic novel (Goldsmith, the Colbert Report). From the novel, it can be scrutinized that the most heinous violence and the most dreadful situations of Uncanny are not occurring.

Glider 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Glider 2 - Assignment Example for measuring the length of the glider, scissors, coping saw I blade and razor blades are the main materials and tools utilized in constructing Basal Gliders. The tools are majorly used in cutting unnecessary parts. The construction should begin by constructing the wing and using a wood stripper tool in cutting the thick strips of balsa. Moreover, there should be sheet weighing at least 10.6 grams. The sheet was more the one gram but less than 10.6 grams. The remaining parts were constructed with the available materials and tools. Preparation of fuselage or glider was the first step with each base width and components of tailpiece measured and recorded. Notches and slits were cut from the balsa wood length thus resulting to a full glider. All components of glider were assembled by gluing each individual component to the body of glider. This consumed quality time thus permitting adequate time for the drying of each component before attaching the next components. At this stage of glider construction, penny-nose weight was applied to the glider. Eventually, a tape was then utilized in affixing each penny to the glider’s nose, and ultimately resulting to a full glider. A starting line on the floor was marked using a masking tape. Flight distance testing had a minimum of 17feet to the landing target such as a desk or chair. The result of the flight test was then recorded on the scorecard. This process aids in predictions of the functionality and reliability of the balsa glide of meeting its target. Testing process used a minimum of two throws for the glider. The weight and balance of the glider was changed by moving the wings of the glider forward and backward, which affected the flying process of the airplanes. The wings of the Glide were increased to have a maximum gliding distance. Glide Ratio is computed by dividing the glide distance value with the altitude value of the glide. Glide flight-testing method is normally used to test the gliding distance and

Advertising Through Social Networking Websites Marketing Essay

Advertising Through Social Networking Websites Marketing Essay The purpose of this paper to study the effectiveness of advertisements through SNS amongst Post Graduate Students in Indore City. This paper studies factors which make advertisements attractive also identifies whether the advertisements are only till viewing or does it leads to purchase also. Design/methodology/approach- The survey was conducted in Post Graduate College of Indore City, MP. This research can be considered as the basis for a more extensive research, covering other geographical areas, which will produce results allowing more specific and accurate predictions regarding the effectiveness of advertising through Social Networking Websites. Implications- The findings reveal a number of issues that are important for companies eager to explore the potential of promotions through Social Networking Websites. Also the study will help the organizations understand the consumer behavior of evolving commercial cities like Indore. Humans in all cultures at all times form complex social networks; the term social network here means ongoing relations among people that matter to those engaged in the group, either for specific reasons (like blood donation camps, fashion communities) or for more general expressions of mutual solidarity (like families, friends etc). Social networks among individuals who may not be related can be validated maintained by agreement on objectives, social values, or even by choice of entertainment. Social Media presents potentially seductive opportunities for new forms of communication commerce between marketers consumers. As advertisers typically want to find some way to follow their target audiences, many new media opportunities are presented to advertisers. (Miller, Lammas). Advertisers are always in search of new ideas technologies that often promise great potential. In this century, when the media is fragmenting advertisers are skeptical about the cost effectiveness of ubiquitous media, particularly among young demographics, the facts present a strong platform as to why Social Media can become a life saver. Social Networking a place where people can use networks of online friends group memberships to keep in touch with current friends, reconnect with old friends or create real-life friendships through similar interests or groups share their social experiences. Social network advertising is a term that is used to describe a form of Online Advertising that focuses on social networking sites. Some responses showed light to this direction with a different perspective. Indeed social medias influence promises some sort of marketing communications revolution: for instance, global brand Pepsi will not be advertising during the Super Bowl, instead opting for a digital social media campaign they say will help their customers better understand what pepsi stands for(WARC, 2010b). Consumers searching online for information about a product, or brands, not only gain access to corporate marketing materials, they now also have access to product reviews, opinions commentary from other consumers (Smith, 2010). It was observed that a majority of consumers surveyed relied on various types of social media websites as much as company websites for product brand information that nearly half of those made a purchase decision based on what they gathered. However, although social media applications are controlled by users, trend data is not yet conclusive with respect to who is generating, and accessing information (Thackerey et. al. 2008, p. 341). The interaction of the consumers with SNS has also become a very crucial aspect. One stream of research suggests the existence of a loyalty ladder in social networking communities that splits users into categories such as: lurkers (those who are reticent to contribute to sites); tourists (those post comments but demonstrate no commitment to a network); minglers (those who post with no regularity of frequency); evangilists/insiders (those who are enthusiastic, expert regular their contributions)(Harridge-March Quinton 2009, p. 176). Other researchers split users into slightly different categories, for example: social clickers (users who communicate with friends create content on message boards review sites); online insiders (avid online shoppers who vocalize product preferences); and content kings (young men addicted to online entertainment) (Riegner 2007, pp.439-440). These bifurcations show the complexity lack of uniform measurements for marketers targeting social media users . 1.1 Social Networking Sites (SNSs) Social Networking Sites can be defined as web based services that allow individuals to construct a public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, view traverse their list of connections those made by others within the systems. Some networking can also help members find a job or establish business contacts. SNS include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Orkut so on. Most SNS also offer additional features. In addition to blogs forums, members can express themselves by designing their profile page to reflect their personality. The most poplar extra features include music video sections. While SNSs are often designed to be widely accessible, many attract homogeneous populations initially, so it is very common to find groups using sites to segregate themselves by nationality, age, education or other factors that typically segment society. 1.2 Advertising on Social Networking Sites Social Networking advertising can be used to describe a form of online advertising that focuses on social networking sites. The advantage this advertising has is the benefit of the users demographic information target their advertisements appropriately. It continues to add variety on a continuous basis. Organizations can also utilize this feature to make it up to the target audience in diverse ways. SNS are changing the way advertisers reach consumers, that these changes are transforming online advertising all together (Gangadharbatla). Few instances can be taken into consideration like in Facebook, when users log on, they get News feed, where they can easily access all the ads videos they like. The study has taken into account the fact that knowledge of the network is limited. The success of social networks marks a dynamic shift in how are using net. 1.3 Things to be kept in mind From various researches it has been experienced that marketers have now become risk adverse is reluctant towards consumer- generated media due to their inability to control message. In one instance, pharmaceutical manufacturer Johnson Johnson released an online marketing campaign via an online video about pain relief for women who carry their babies in a sling. Within hours, Twitter exploded with negative commentary about the videos perceived deprecation of motherhood. To air it further, the online discussions would also be communicated off-line sometimes reach tradition media. Thus, over a single weekend, the volume sentiment of the consumer-generated media brought down a well planned advertising campaign (Baker 2009, p.2). Another obstacle for marketers is that viewers will consider information if it is both useful believable, but will react badly to sales-push messages that are violating social networkings intrinsic qualities of socialization trust (Angel Sexsmith 2009, p.4). Making social networking sites entirely commercial is risky, as users might turn away from the site if they feel their interests are being subjugated to those of advertisers; a warning issued by analysts to News Corp when it acquired MySpace, shifting it to a mass market advertising platform giving brands the opportunities to both advertise interact with the web users (Carter 2008, p.16). Creating fake blog entries is another example of how the misuse of social media can irritate consumers harm brands. The now infamous Walmarting across America fake blog (or flog as it became known), came under severe criticism online after the ethical breach was exposed (Burns 2008, p.16). Also poor execution of the ads or poor display sometimes irritates the users which lead to poor results and negative remarks. One of the major criteria can be the size of online communities as well. It becomes a major factor which limits in generating a massive Word of Mouth. For online groups to be effective, there needs to be a finite size to each community (Phillips 2008, p.82). For social media campaigns to be effective, the new commercial imperative dictates marketers needs to belong to a large number of groups or communities, rather than merely rely on broadcasts to an online group with a large number of members.This becomes the evidence for the fat that both the cultural emotional relationships are paramount (Phillips 2008, p.84), reflecting the surge to simultaneously monitor than to only be the users. 1.4 Need for using Social Media To generate a sense of group mind-set shared interests, online brand communities should include a wide range of interests that have a direct, but nonintrusive, connection with the brand (Brown, Broderick Lee 2007, p.15). Conceptual models have been developed to guide the process of cocreation with online consumers. One example is the DART model which comprises: dialogue (fostering something tangible to the online consumer), Access (providing a companys customers access to each other), risk return relationship (offering something tangible to the online consumer) transparency (creating an environment to share valuable information) (Ramaswamy, 2008, p.3). Real dialogue with consumers led to Unilevers ground breaking online viral campaign Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. Unilever was able to send the most relevant messages to consumers based on precisely what they were seeking /or conversing about. Another area of opportunity for social marketing is brand building connecting enthusiastic online brand advocates with the companys product development cycle (Ferguson 2008, p.181). 1.5 Effectiveness of Social Marketing Many marketers feel the need to tick the social media box demonstrate how cutting edge they are, while the primary drivers of their campaign remain embedded in traditional media. There is a need to effect a paradigm shift from a traditional more is better approach. While many social marketers fixate on volume metrics (website traffic, hit rates, click-through, time spent on-line, postings etc), successful social marketing often depends more on qualitative metrics for desirable signs of tone, quality customer benefit of the interaction (Angel, Sexsmith Sexsmith 2009, p.6). These may include: unique visitors, interaction rates, relevant actions taken, conversation size, conversation density, author credibility, content freshness relevance, audience profiles, unique user reach so on (Fisher 2009, p.191). Such metrics not only measure whether people are engaged, but how they are engaging. However, such metrics often need to be customized for individual campaigns need to be considered in the pre launch phase, ideally incorporated in message testing. OBJECTIVE The study aims to fulfill the following objectives: To know whether social network advertising is effective in sales or not To know the most preferred Social Network advertising approach To know the level of exposure a customer gets when he is being approaches on SNS To study the effectiveness of advertising through Social Networking Websites in Post Graduate Students with special reference to Indore City DATA ANALYSIS: Following factors were considered for preparing questionnaire: Contact {Number of times, durations} Intention Customizability Experience FINDINGS 40 percent of the social networking comes from high school secondary school students 40 percent tarrif generators are the graduate post graduate students. The highest number of active users is from 19-25 age groups but LinkedIn Twitter has a different age group of active users i.e. 25-40 age groups. Facebook delivery service is to about 75 percent of the users. 60 percent of the post graduate students who are looking for jobs have their profiles in LinkedIn. Only 30 percent of the population said that they purchase any product after searching or viewing it on website. 15 percent of the population accepted that they look the pop ups or click on the ads whereas 75 percent said they ignore the ads. Out of five SNS given in choice viz Facebook, Orkut, LinkedIn, G- plus Twitter; 60 percent said Facebook is the most used site by them. 20 percent said they used LinkedIn the most. 30 percent of the population said that they dont have any qualms regarding the quality of the product they see online. 46 percent confirmed that they would like to filter the ads from their profile page whereas 38 percent said they dont have any troubles by the placement of ads on their profile page. 78 percent confirmed that they are attached to Twitter because of the glamour quotient; 14 percent said they like twitter as a networking site; rest logged on for otherwise reasons. 82 percent of the respondents agreed that advertising through websites is a better medium whereas 18 percent said it has no effect on target audience. CONCLUSION SUGGESTIONS Any organization will not be able to make profits if its product introduction doesnt attracts the audience or if it does not reach to them. As the time has increased its momentum the consumers now-a-days do not consider anything worth watching if it is not of value tom them as far as traditional ads are considered. So to reach these kinds of targets Websites can become a very effective tool. If following points kept in mind, the advertisers can succeed in gaining interest of the audiences: Trust must be established subsequently reinforced in order to overcome any reluctance on the part of the would-be consumer. This means moving beyond old school approaches to website advertising to embrace the principles of relationship marketing- building virtual environments in which customers can connect with each other to share insights relevant information. Social media marketers can influence a brand community potentially influence consumer behavior.

amazon com Essay -- essays research papers

Have you ever purchased any product on the Internet, used the Internet to collect information or data, or played computer games on the Internet? You must agree that it is fast, easy, and enjoyable. The Internet has been a part of our daily life for several years now. In addition, in the business world, a new business model, E-business and E-commerce, has appeared for several years. According to Ali, there are two main types of E-commerce: B2B and B2C (2000). One is business to business (B2B). This means that enterprises use the Internet to transact or trade between business operations and their partners. Another is business to consumer (B2C). In other words, enterprises provide products, support good, and services to the customers on the Internet. Amazon.com is a famous Internet retail company in E-commerce. Its business includes B2B and B2C. It opened its business in July 1996. Today, Amazon.com has expanded its business in more than two hundred and twenty countries and this company sells various products like electronics, books, music, DVD, House wares, PCs and cars (Amazon.com Announces 4th Quarter Profit 2002). It is the biggest retail store in E-commerce. Even though Amazon.com owns these accolades, this company is struggling to survive. Amazon.com had a $19 billion market value before its stock prices decreased from $75.25 to $9.25 (German, 2001). The problem is that Amazon still has not made real profits since it opened. How to help Amazon.com keep standing on the stage? If Amazon.com wants to survive in E-business and start making real profits, Amazon.com should merge with other retail companies, operate a new E-business strategy, and rebuild its financial structure. Everyone is wondering when Amazon.com will start making real profits. Last year, their stock price went down from $76 to $14 (Hahn & Celarier, 2001). Moreover, Amazon.com lost almost $150 million last year (Amazon.com announces 4th quarter profit, 2001). How can Amazon.com start making real profits? Hahn & Celarier suggests that Amazon.com should merge with other retail companies such as General Growth Properties, Wal-Mart, and Bertelsmann because the merger will expand their market share, and create a new passageway and increase new customers and products , and recover their cash and Net sales loss (Fitch, 2000). First of all, the merger will help Amazon.com expand the market ... ...ve a good system or body in E-commerce. Since the so-called internet bubble burst in April 2000, hundreds of dotcom companies have closed because of the recession of E-commerce (Misek, 2003). According to Seewald,  ¡Ã‚ §That trend is expected to continue this year as chemical companies continue to cut back on external spending ¡Ã‚ ¨ (2001). E-business seems like a bomb for investors and customers because the speed of collapse is very fast. No one knows which company will disappear in E-business. Even though Amazon.com is an E-commerce Pioneer, and it earned $1.12 billion last quarter, compared with $972 million in the fourth quarter in 2000, and has $19 billion market value (Amazon.com Announces 4th Quarter Profit 2002), it is also struggling to survive in the E-commerce world. Unless Amazon.com merge with other retail companies, practice new E-commerce strategy, and rebuild its financial structure, it will not be eliminated through competition in the E-commerce. Marking profits is the most important for company, espec ially for Amazon.com. If Amazon.com exercises these proposals presented in this paper, it will overcome its challenges and weaknesses, and then start making real profits.

Case Petroil

In one of Its first projects, the OLL exploration company Petrol was engendering two sites for two 011 exploration wells. Only one may be punctured. The cost of drilling the Site Numerous 1 was $ 100,000. Preliminary geological data indicated that the well could be dry, or be of low productivity or be highly productive. He had signed a contract with a development company to buy the site if a well by drilling success you had. The buyer would pay $ 250,000 for a well of low productivity and $ 600,000 for high productivity well.If the well was dry, Petrol lose $ 100,000 of the cost of drilling. By that time, the company geologist,Jane Goodwill, was unsure about the existence of a structural dome that site. A dome structure is a kind of anticlines (geological rock deformation formed as a curved folds as strata tectonic stress resulting from various types) raised to a certain depth by the accumulation of oil and the increase of the pressure produced by the natural gas . Structures are ide al for the accumulation of oil. She assigned a probably of 0. 6 to the existence of a structural dome.Their assessments for dry, low, or high productivity wells were conditioned to geological structure. Table 1 shows the odds by estimated conditions. The geologist would ether give the information in this way though as she said, â€Å"we will never know for sure if there is a structural dome, up to drill. † TABLE 1 Geological structure Well With No Doom Doom Dry 0. 60 0. 85 Low 0. 25 0. 125 High 0. 025 0. 15 1. 00 1. 00 Furthermore, the site No. 2 was quite different, the area had been thoroughly examined using seismic testing and core samples.A core sample Is a method directly by taking witnesses or cores (cores), collect rock samples taken within drill pipe, In which you can perform direct measurements of the petrochemical characteristics of the geological formation. There was almost certainly oil. The geologist assigned a probability of 0. 8 of finding oil there. The drawba ck to this place was that drilling costs were high, $ 200,000, and if oil is found, the well would be low productivity of oil. A contract was also signed with the same development company to buy the well of low production at Site No. 2 for $ 250,000.To help decide between the two sites, each drill site. Using the decision tree diagram A decision tree diagram should be developed for this problem using the concepts and the necessary rules. You must specify the uncertain events that will be revealed eased on each decision. The random variable of interest is the net contribution can be calculated at the end of each alternative or branch of the decision tree. Therefore in the branches of the diagram decision alternatives were presented with their respective probability and net contribution as a gain or loss. The decision alternatives with uncertain probabilities for drilling Site No. Events are available and would be appropriate to show them on the decision tree diagram (see Annex 1). Wh at would be the likely alternatives Drilling Site Number 1? They are not available erectly. We know the odds of having high, low or that the well is dry productivity. However, we can adjust the chart for evaluation inserting another uncertain event as the geological structure (with or without dome). By including this â€Å"extra† node, the description of the branches of the decision tree will expand to calculate the return (you only need dry, low or high to calculate the net contribution). Now include the status of the geological structure.With the expanded tree diagram decision is straightforward to calculate the probabilities required by the president of the many. Therefore, this problem has to insert the â€Å"additional† uncertain event (geological structure) so that the probability can be calculated. The uncertain event should be displayed in the diagram to have an observable result where not only the state of well productivity, but also the state of the underlyin g structure is found. Addition should be included because the geologist of the company wanted to use it as a basis for probabilistic assessments to the president of the company.

the warlords essays

the warlords essays In his book, The Warlords, AJP Taylor defines a warlord as "...a man of great, of unique, power dominating both the military and civil affairs of his country; a dictator whose power was unlimited and who made all vital decisions" (Taylor 16). Taylor is trying to portray Joseph Stalin, Denito Mussolini, Adolf Hilter, Winston Churchill, and President Roosevelt as warlords by his definition. He uses many examples of events during World War II that show how these men are dictators and can dominate military powers. I believe that the author is fairly successful in showing that these men are warlords; however, there are several instances where Taylor seems to contradict himself. First, his definition says a warlord must be a man of great power and control his military. In the case of Mussolini, Taylor tells how he was noted as being a "lazy man" and how he lied about the actual size of his army. Taylor also talks about how Mussolini only consisted of impression and how without Hitler he would have never become anything after his resignation of commander- in- chief. Also, Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt were not dictators of their countries and therefore only fit half of the author's definition. Taylor does a good job in general of proving that these five men are warlords, however he leaves a few loopholes for others to argue his theories. No one disputes that these men are leaders in their own way, but they do not all fit the authors exact definition of a warlord. This book was well written and well organized. By reading this book you not only learn about the lives and politics of these five men, but you also learn a lot about many different events in World War II. I feel like I came away from this book knowing much more than I did when I began reading it. It was easy to read and, as I already stated, very inte ...

Free Essays on Black Rice

â€Å" Grains of Knowledge † Judith Carney, a historical geographer at UCLA, builds on and extends the work of Peter Wood (Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion, New York, Knopf, 1974) and Daniel Littlefield (Rice and Slaves: Ethnicity and the Slave Trade in Colonial South Carolina, Baton Rouge, LSU Press, 1981)and other folklorist and anthropologist to demonstrate that the rice industry of the colonial low country was built by slaves using technologies developed in West Africa. Carney is persuasive, and her book should put to rest forever the notion that the only thing Africans contributed to the early American economy was unskilled labor. The big question is why would a slave want to help his master. Slaves were treated bad and received just what was needed to survive. Carney states that slaves used it as a bargaining chip, by trading knowledge for less work. While others received more time to do things for the family. The Africans still ended up with the worst end of the deal because they still ended up doing the work anyway. Economic historians who turn to Carney for a comprehensive account of the origins of the South Carolina rice industry will be disappointed, for in her enthusiasm to demonstrate her main point, that without the knowledge provided by their slaves, the planters and merchants of South Carolina would have been unable to supply European consumers with so much rice. She focuses almost exclusively on issues of supply and ignores the demand side of the industry. Thus, we are told nothing about the prices rice commanded, or about the marketing process. She is particularly concerned to demonstrate the contribution of slave women to the colonial rice industry. So concerned that she asserts that planter demand for slave women led to shipments in which women outnumbered men. Although the bulk of the evidence indi... Free Essays on Black Rice Free Essays on Black Rice â€Å" Grains of Knowledge † Judith Carney, a historical geographer at UCLA, builds on and extends the work of Peter Wood (Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion, New York, Knopf, 1974) and Daniel Littlefield (Rice and Slaves: Ethnicity and the Slave Trade in Colonial South Carolina, Baton Rouge, LSU Press, 1981)and other folklorist and anthropologist to demonstrate that the rice industry of the colonial low country was built by slaves using technologies developed in West Africa. Carney is persuasive, and her book should put to rest forever the notion that the only thing Africans contributed to the early American economy was unskilled labor. The big question is why would a slave want to help his master. Slaves were treated bad and received just what was needed to survive. Carney states that slaves used it as a bargaining chip, by trading knowledge for less work. While others received more time to do things for the family. The Africans still ended up with the worst end of the deal because they still ended up doing the work anyway. Economic historians who turn to Carney for a comprehensive account of the origins of the South Carolina rice industry will be disappointed, for in her enthusiasm to demonstrate her main point, that without the knowledge provided by their slaves, the planters and merchants of South Carolina would have been unable to supply European consumers with so much rice. She focuses almost exclusively on issues of supply and ignores the demand side of the industry. Thus, we are told nothing about the prices rice commanded, or about the marketing process. She is particularly concerned to demonstrate the contribution of slave women to the colonial rice industry. So concerned that she asserts that planter demand for slave women led to shipments in which women outnumbered men. Although the bulk of the evidence indi...

Revolutionary Era Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Revolutionary Era Paper - Essay Example Thirteen colonies in North America joined and broke free from the British Empire, merged, then became the United States of America. They deterred the rules and regulations of Great Britain Parliament that governed them from overseas with no representation. A number of ideas sparked this revolutionary era. During this period, the idea of liberty fueled Americans into actions that sparked revolution in their country2. What the eighteenth-century politicians and other people meant by liberty was, first, a wake up call for individual human rights. This idea was so radical because even the most enlightened and revised monarchs believed customarily that it was their task to keep an eye on what people wrote or believed. Liberals of this revolutionary era protested those particular controls that enslaved their conscious. According to Americans, liberty was of overriding importance to them since they believed it would be through liberty, they would get to choose and define the outcome of thei r censorship. They demanded freedom from arbitrary laws and judges who commonly and easily obeyed rules from the government that did not carry the rule of law to the letter. Their feelings towards freedom of worship with regard to their consciences acted as a morale booster towards revolution. This eventually led to freedom of worship amongst other things. ... However, many eighteenth century men were actually individuals of some kind. They generally shared with other men the belief that it was neither practical nor desirable for women to be their equals. Therefore, they curtailed their political rights. They could not vie for office or participate in the governing of the state. Again, liberals despised the belief that everyone should be equal economically. They based this on the belief that, not everyone could succeed equally in pursuit of acquiring property during American conquest for independence. Hence, great rift in terms of wealth or material possession and income generation between the rich and the poor was highly encouraged and perfectly acceptable by liberals. British administrators taxed Virginia citizens. In 1765, after North America restored peace, the British government decided to push via parliament the Stamp Act that sought to levy taxes on a longer list of legal documents and commercial articles like pamphlets, diplomas, a nd newspapers. Effort to end taxation started as Americans claimed taxation without representation was tyranny. This idea rose questions as to who should make laws for American people. Colonial experience formed people who felt that they were separate and distinct to their very own country. The taxation controversies made these feelings separation and distinctiveness more intense thus bringing them to the fore. These extreme attempts led to expanded governor’s power. As fighting spread and the colonialists moved slowly, East Virginia inhabitants developed ideas of being independent. They inevitably opened up towards open rebellion and boldly shown urge to declare their independence. Some American icons arranged civilized and

Exploring Entrepreneurship in Dubai Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Exploring Entrepreneurship in Dubai - Coursework Example The secondary research tool used was the internet. The website of the MOBH group covers all essential aspects of the company background, mission and vision, and future projects. It focuses on all areas of the company and served as a helpful resource. Gulf News and other articles on the group's acquisitions and deals assisted in getting a background on the company. The most important source of primary research was Mr. Mohammed Omar bin Haider, who agreed to a discussion and is the major source of research. The detailed discussion dealt with all the topics that were to be covered in the report as well as most issues faced by him and the corporation. The limitations faced were that the discussion could have been more objective and straightforward and it was difficult to get real problems out on the table. Third party sources and information from and about major customers was difficult to find. Most statements from the entrepreneur were biased or ambiguous. Mohammed Omar Bin Haider Group (MOBH) is a Dubai based corporation run by Mohammed Omar bin Haider. His father Omar Ali bin Haider was the founder of the company in the early 1950s along with his son. He started with a factory for gas production from 1964 to 1971 was the exclusive provider in Dubai. Mohammed Omar bin Haider is the current chairman of the group and is actively involved in its operations, direction and overall strategy. The company’s vision is to be the best at everything. The mission is to be a high growth company and diversify into various sectors.