Toothpaste and Colgate- Palmolive

1. 0 Introduction Colgate- Palmolive is one of the leading consumer product organizations that have been dealing its products in worldwide. Colgate- Palmolive is an America based company and has many branches all over the world. One of the branches is located in Malaysia. Colgate- Palmolive (M) Sdn Bhd focusing their product segment on toothpaste and toothbrush. Both products are very competitive presently in Malaysia market. At the present, Colgate is implementing Activity-Based Costing (ABC) method.ABC is a system had been practices in many organizations for being a tool to measures the cost and performance of the activities and the cost objects. Hence, the management should look into ABC system which uses to provide more accurate information for decision making in determining costs by cost object such as product, customer, and location and the cost pool of the company. 2. 0 Keys Areas for Improvement According to Reuben Mark (2003), Colgate Palmolive has highlighted its strategy o f developing and launching innovative new products globally continues to strengthen the company’s market leadership positions around the world.Hence, it does apply to Colgate Palmolive Malaysia. Indeed the implementation of activity based costing by Colgate Palmolive (M) provide information for achieving its plans since the ABC is costing technology that traces cost to products according to activities perform on them. Accurate cost information is produced as to such purposes; focusing company strategy, designing products to increase customer value, and continuously improving activities on the operation throughout the company (Peter, 1989).In general, the ABC system cover such following area of activities including product design and processes, storage of raw materials, set up of machinery to ensure a smooth flow in the production line, machine operating time as well as cleaning of machine after each production. Product design is crucially for Colgate Palmolive (M) to survive in the market and leading the position. Innovation allows the company to continue doing business and thus create the competitive advantage as to product differentiation. The research and development indeed plays role for this rocess such example where Colgate Palmolive worked on improving soap packaging through quality engineering (Boehmer, 2008). Meanwhile, storage of raw materials ensures the effectiveness of the company on handling its inventory. Chilshom (2000) stated that the potential areas for optimization in production is through shortening of product lead times in which leads the Colgate Palmolive (M) to an increase in machine capacity, a reduction of inventories, shorter, and a higher customer satisfaction thus also leads to increased revenues in a demand driven-market.Besides, by improving unit costs where a reduction of the units costs can be achieved by a high degree of machine capacity utilization. Having accurate cost data will allow Colgate Palmolive to identify acti vities which are not efficient and important, eliminate waste and reduce costs while improving the quality of the products. 3. 0 Steps for Each Activity There are arguments stated that traditional costing (TC) method can misrepresent a cost of the product where it might have deceive the management doing the resolution relating products (Briers, M. , Luckett, P. and Chee, C. 1997). According to Mansur, N. N. , Tayles, M. and Pike, R. (2012), the TC method apportion the indirect costs based on a single element when the deciding a product cost. The element such as number of direct labour hour or number of machine hour was used to apportion the indirect costs. This has created unfairness in costs apportionment into product as different activity provides different incurrence of cost. Furthermore, different product consumed different level of costs in different activities. Therefore, ABC method is formed to solve the traditional costing flaw.ABC method emphasizes on each of the activity c onsumption that needed for producing a product. For the overhead costs to be incurred into the products, the resources, activities, costs and quantities are to be identified (Mansur, N. N. , Tayles, M. and Pike, R. , 2012). The allocations vary to products consumption in different activities. Therefore, management can makes decisions accurately. 3. 1 Cost Object Cost object can be customer, product, service or any other work unit for which a separate cost measurement is desired. The ideal cost object is â€Å"products† which are individual items that are sold to customers.Linking the cost of activities directly to the products that consume the activities is the basis for product costing using the ABC system. To operate effectively, cost drivers should be selected with specific product. Besides that, the customer costing which is the calculation of the total of the total cost of serving a customer makes it possible to assess the profitability of possible either individual or g roup of customers. Hence, the cost object is different for different companies but there are similarity cost object within the industry which is products and customers. (Gunasekaran, A. , 1999) 3. 2 Cost DriverBefore a cost driver is selected, the management needs to gather up the activities in the manufacturing process which then needs to report the cost of each activity and later choose the suitable driver for the activity (No, J. J. and Kleiner, B. H. , 1997). *A cost driver is a factor that has direct influence on the cost and performance of the activities. The cost drivers provide the best explanation of why the costs in an activity cost pool change over time. The activity cost pool is the total cost associated with an activity. Cost driver is a variable used as denominator in the rates used to apply activity costs to product or cost objects.In practice, it is possible that the number of cost drivers exists for the same cost pool. For example, purchasing activity’s cost pool has different cost drivers such as the numbers of orders, number of suppliers and number of parts ordered. (Gunasekaran, A. , 1999) 3. 3 Calculation of Total Cost and Cost Drivers Colgate-Palmolive has numerous products with numerous activities and different cost drivers and taken toothpaste and toothbrush as an example for ABC calculation. Assume the following was the information of toothpaste and toothbrush production.                                     |                                                               |Toothpaste                      |Toothbrush                      |                           | |Number of units produced                                                                |30000                            |20000                               |                           | |Direct Materials                                                                            |450000                            |350000                            |                           | |Direct Labours                                                                               |350000                            |50000                               |                           | |Activity                      |Cost Driver                                              |Cost Driver Volume                                                 |Total                   | |Setup                            |Number of setups                                        |150                               |50                                  |200                      | |Making                         |Machine Hours                                           |3000                               |2000                               |5000                      | |Inspection                   |Number of inspection                                  |100                               |100                                  |200                      | Table 3. 1 Information of relating toothpaste and toothbrush Activity                                                                                                          |Overhead Costs                                                                   | |Setup                                                                                                             |150000                                                                               | |Making                                                                                                             |750000                                                                               | |inspection                                                                                                       |100000          à ‚                                                                     | |Total Overhead Costs                                                                                        |1000000                                                                            | Table 3. 2 Overhead costs for toothpaste and toothbrush If calculate the unit cost by assuming using machine hours as the element. |overhead costs/ machine hour                                                                         |=          |1000000                                                                | |                                                                                                                     |             |5000                                                                   | |                                                                                                                     |=          |200 / machine hour                                              |                                                                            |Toothpaste                                                       |Toothbrush                                           | |Direct Materials                                                    |450000                                                       à ‚      |350000                                                 | |Direct Labours                                                       |350000                                                             |50000                                                 | |Overhead costs                                                       |600000                                                             |400000                                                 | |Total Costs                                                             |1400000                                                          |800000                                        à ‚         | |Number of units produced                                        |300000                                                             |200000                                                 | |Unit Cost                                                                |4. 67                                                                |4                                                       | Table 3. Statement showing calculation of unit cost using traditional method Below show the calculation of unit cost using ABC method. |Activity                            |Cost per driver                                                                                                                                              | |Setup                               |750 per setup (150000/200 setups)                                                                                                                   | |Making                               |150 per machine hour (750000/5000 machine hours)                                                                                              | |Inspection                         |500 per inspection (100000/200 inspections) | Table 3. 3 Calculation of driver for each activity.                                                                                           |Toothpaste                                           |Toothbrush                                        | |Direct Materials                                                                   |                           |450000                      |                           |350000                   | |Direct Labours                                                                      |                           |350000                      |                           |50000                   | |Overhead Costs                                                                      |                           |                              |                           |                           | |Setup (750 per setup)                                                          |112500                |                              |37500                   |                           | |Making (150 per machine hour)                                              |450000                |                              |300000                   |                           | |Inspection (500 per inspection)                                           |50000                   |                              |50000                   |                           | |Total Overhead Costs                                                             |                           |612500                      |                           |387500                   | |Total Costs                                                                         |                           |1412500                   |                           |787500                   | |Number of units produced                                                       |                           |300000                      |                           |200000                   | |Unit cost                                                                            |                           |4. 7083                      |                           |3. 9375                   | Table 3. Statement showing calculation of unit cost of toothpaste and toothbrush using ABC method. |Particular                                                    |Toothpaste                                                    |Toothbrush                                                    | |Traditional Method                                        |4. 67                                                             |4                                                                   | |ABC Methods                                                    |4. 7083                                                          |3. 9375                                                          | Based on the calculation shown in the table above, product toothbrush price is under traditional method and the product of toothpaste is underpriced in using the traditional method.Even though, the price between both products are not much in difference but it can be claimed that ABC system more accurately measurements the resources consumed for both products. 4. 0 Increased on National Market Share in Context of Cost Leadership and Product Differentiation Bhimana, A. , Horngren, C. T. , Datar, S. M. , Forster, G (2008) state that the cost leadership is one of strategy in a business offer the average product at lower costs for a broadest possible market. Product differentiation is the strategy to focus offers the unique product by creating new products (innovation). Therefore, Colgate Palmolive is considering and focusing to these challenges through two basic of strategies: differentiating its product a nd achieving the cost leadership.It can see that Malaysia had chosen by Colgate Palmolive because has higher market share of tooth brush and tooth paste. In fact, Colgate was selling more than 30 kinds different products of tooth paste and it’s most popular brands’ name in Oral care. By differentiating the products, this company creates the different new product form the other competitors such as focusing on the design and packaging of the tooth brush should be innovative, colourful and unique then make customer interested and touched to those products. The cost of tooth brush and tooth paste usually based on the quality of products, and it may allow Colgate to charge a higher price.Here, the solution is to reduce the costs and designing the new brand of product and technologies. Obviously, Malaysia has successful cost leadership could generally increase Colgate Palmolive Sdn Bhd’s market share and make this company to grow up. 5. 0 Advantages of ABC System One of the advantages of ABC is that this system gives more accurate costing. ABC system is the method which is useful for all types of business (Hansen, D. R. and Mowen, M. M, 2007). For instance, Colgate Palmolive uses the ABC software that can evaluate the cost of its activity and cost object. The reason of Colgate Palmolive adopted the ABC system is to provide the more accurate revelation of the cost of program and services.Moreover, Colgate Palmolive implemented the ABC system which helps the manager easily understand the impact of products and customers variety on profit margin. After that, this ABC system took the difference in how this company entered orders from its customers, how the packaged orders, how delivered orders, and spent time to deliver it to each customers location. This ABC system has helped Colgate Palmolive acquire the large national customer because it has identified ‘the specific manufacturing, distribution, and handling costs related with serving this c ustomer†. Furthermore, ABC provide support on performance measurement whereby the information provided on cost drivers and cost driver rates shows great influential power on staff behaviour and used as performance measurement.Cost drivers provide volume measures on different aspects of operational performance which reflect the effectiveness of the activity concerned. When linked to costs, the cost drivers can help in assessing the efficiency with which activities are carried out. Colgate- Palmolive can In addition, the detailed information by ABC system assists management in making decisions about product profitability. This is because ABC using unit cost rather than the total cost on making decision. Management can evaluate how the current product and process designs affect activities and costs as a way of identifying new designs to reduce costs. Colgate can do investigation based on the current product costs to do adjustment on the new products that going to be launch. 6. 0 ConclusionThe activity based costing is one of the tools of strategic management accounting which allow the Colgate Palmolive (M) to measure the cost and performance of the activities and the cost objects. It does provide more accurate information for decision making in determining costs by various cost object. The implementation of ABC system by Colgate Palmolive (M) is closely in line with the objective of the company to leads in the market of oral, health and care industry in Malaysia. Innovation in its products and having a lower cost in the market with a good quality always get into the attention of the company as these product differentiation and cost leadership are the key for the competitive advantage.

Amazon.Com Case Studies

Kannan Submission Date: 07. March. 2009 [pic] TABLE OF CONTENTS ChapterTitlePage 1. 0Executive Summary 2. 0Problem Statement1 3. 0Analysis of Causes 3. 1 Amazon’s Debt 2-3 3. 2 Competition3-4 3. 3 Expansion4-6 4. 0Decision Criteria and Alternative Solutions 4. 1 Reduce expenditure in inventories and better management7 in supply chain 4. Presenting a competitive edge to competitors7 4. 3 Expansionto Asia8 5. Recommended Solutions 5. 1 Technology Integration and RD9 5. 2 Strategic Cost Analysis9 5. 3 Differentiation9 5. 4 Inventory10 5. 5 Visionary Informative10-11 5. 6 Keep customers in the loop on everything11 5. 7 Shipping Delivery11 5. 8 Expansion to Asia Region11-12 5. 9 Word-of mouth advertisement12 6. 0 Expand the product lines13 6. 0Appendices14-16 7. 0References17 Executive Summary The study comprises of Amazon. om which started its history by selling books and now one of the online market leaders globally not only for books but products from various categories. Compa ny started with a mission to be Earth’s most customer centric company. In order to become the largest and convenience online store for all, there are major problems or threat being faced by Amazon. com in succeeding its mission. The major problems are Amazon facing high amount of debt, it’s less initiative in not expanding to other developed countries, and also competition from other online retailers and one tough opponent is Barnes Nobles. Many plans of actions can be taken and some of it is; Amazon. com should decrease long–term debt by increasing expenditure on research and development, increasing word-to-mouth advertisement and good customer service. Amazon. com should also expand the five most common languages in Asian region. Focus marketing strategies on customer feedback to find out what Asian customers tend to buy and willing to spend on. Strategize new plan on improving sites to be informative and attractive as much as possible so Amazon. com should also adapt to the best technology where it can sustain as a strong innovator in ever increasing retailer market. Amazon. com also must strive to give customers the best service in shipping and delivery as it’s an important aspect in online business to out beat its entire competitors on this online industry. Problem Statement The main problem faced by Amazon. com now being an online retailer can be divided to three in overall. Amazon. com is in confronting huge debt behind their successful screen. Amazon. com is lack of expansion to other regions or Asia which be said as another big market for a huge online bookseller as Amazon. com. Another problem is the competition being faced by them with one of the tough opponent as BarnesNobles. Analysis of the Problem Amazon. com’s in Debt 3. 1 Amazon’s Debt One of major causes of Amazon’s huge debt is its large expenditure. In order to keep its advantageous position, Amazon has no choice but to continue to spend astronomical amounts of money on sales marketing, research development and general administrative costs. (Table 1 Table 2) â€Å"One misstep, and its love affair withy investors and sources of capital could be over. (Kimberly Weisul, 1999) †¢ Competitors Although Amazon won the battle soon after entering the online cd and music market, there are some competitions in other product lines that may be too immensely strong to beat. For example, in March of 1999, Amazon introduced an auction service. After a few months effort, its auction business performed slightly, indicating how difficult it is to challenge the giant’s eBay and Y ahoo! Auctions. |Auction Sites |27-Sep-99 |Multiplier needed to equal eBay listings | |Amazon Auctions |4. 0% |15. 3 | |eBay |73. 60% |   | |Yahoo! Auctions |21. 60% |3. 4 | Source: Auction Web sites and C. E Unterberg Towbin †¢ Consumer Behavior Amazon. com is widely regarded as having one of the best management team of any internet company. However, there are some outside forces that are not easy to manipulate. Security; as the number of Internet crimes increases, customers are becoming aware of the possible danger involved in the process of on-line shopping. This security problem may not be difficult to improve since security technology is innovated quickly, but to convince customer of this is not as easy ? Etailers vs. retailers Another factor is hard to manage customer purchasing habits. Most consumers still prefer the capability of seeing a product before buying it. Additionally, the number of people buying personal computers and that of the Internet population will dir ectly affect Amazon’s sale. . 2 Competition †¢ Michael Porter’s Model ? Supplier ; Amazon started to build its own distribution centers in different locations and moving the products directly form the factory rather than from other distributors such that Amazon can lower its marginal costs. (Chao Janice C. Rice, Brandi S. Dec 8, 1999) ? Consumers ; Amazon. com continues to spend a lot of money in advertisement to reach customers as well as to increase customer awareness of eCommerce in general and brand name in particular. (Chao Janice C. Rice, Brandi S. Dec 8, 1999) ? Substitutes; The Substitute of eCommerce, the traditional retailers, is still more attractive than the Etailers. For example, we as consumers more than likely would rather go to the bookstore and browse through a book before we buy it. (Chao Janice C. Rice, Brandi S. Dec 8, 1999 ) 3. 3 Expansion †¢ Lack of Spanish website version (Latino and Hispanic Americans are the fastest-growing online ethnic group) †¢ Amazon. com is very less popular or it can said there are people without knowing the existence of Amazon. om †¢ Website is not more expanded with more languages options where currently there are options only for Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France and China (www. amazon. com) Competition with Barnes Nobles Amazon. com Weakness ? Difficulties of handling large number of customers ? Limited operating history ? Security awareness ? Low margins in the sector ? Risk of introduction of wrong new categories which could damage company’s bran d ? Company’s offered free shipping might affect future financial outcome ? Certain products (high volume/weight) have high shipping costs which could confront with local offline retailers Threats ? eBay, Barnes Nobles, and Wal-Mart ? Population segment not targeted to on-line sales due to their lack of internet access ? Weak economic performance of Germany and France in the last year ? Competition will increase due to the low barriers to entry in the market: offline companies are coming online ? Heavy investments in Partnerships (Dustin Nadeau Donatas Sumyla. April 2006) Barnes and Nobles and Amazon. com are competing, but both stores and other online stores recognize what works and are studying one another – often duplicating one another’s business strategies. This has resulted in them having more similarities than differences and it helps the consumers find similarities across the Web such as; †¢ When a description of an item is given, Amazon and Barnes and Nobles both place the shopping cart option prominently displayed to the upper, right portion of the screen. This makes it very efficient and useable for the viewer and they do not have to search around the page for this button. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) †¢ In pricing, both Amazon. com and Barnesandnobles. com display the average price or their items above their own discounted rates so that the users feel as though they are saving money. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) †¢ Both sites are â€Å"Flexible†, there is an option of buying things at a later date and placing them in the shopping cart temporarily. This option is called the wish list and it is displayed just beneath the â€Å"Add to Cart† button. Users can access this saved information and acce ss it on their next visit. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) †¢ Both sites offer â€Å"Security† that provides safe shopping, privacy and efficiency by requiring customers to join as members at a certain point during a transaction. Membership is free and requires an email address, full name, home address and phone number. It allowing customers to maintain an order status and helps provide a history of what they bought. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) †¢   Both sites are very â€Å"Scalable†, allowing for a huge selection of items to be added to the product catalog or taken away. A Field size is accommodated in the database. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) 4. 0 Alternative Solutions 4. 1 Reduce expenditure in inventories and better management in supply chain ? Use increased income to pay down long-term debt ? Keep operating costs low (efficiencies of scales) ? Increase expenditure on Research Development arena ? Strategic cost analysis ( WOU , MIS notes) ? Determining Differentiation ( WOU , MIS notes) 4. 2 Presenting a competitive edge to competitors †¢ Create more expertise in marketing and more product launches compared to competitors; †¢ Do a more through research on the customers needs and come up with something new that has its own brand and establishes as only Amazon. om could have the product. (Sujan Sarkar. April 23, 2007) †¢ A new Strategy on only books should be brought up in order to outcome one tough opponent as Barnes Nobles. For example, Amazon. com’s booth’s can be set up in country sides where there is no access for Internet and give knowledge to country people that there also business through online. This is because; giving more exposure and awareness to people might be a business opportunit y as well. †¢ Product review information; Customers would have n a clear description, synopsis and other customer’s review on the book as it gives a clear rating of the book and there won’t be any sort of disappointments for them after purchase. 4. 3 Expansion to Asia †¢ Create different website versions based on the five most common language in Asian region †¢ Focus marketing strategies on customer feedback to find out what Asian customers tend to buy. †¢ Word of mouth advertisement (Onder Savas Devrim Dirik. January 9, 2003) †¢ Continue expanding its product lines 5. 0 Recommended Solution Implementation 5. Technology Integration and RD Amazon. com should increase expenditure in the research and development arena. We believe that Amazon should prepare itself for additional telecommunications implementations such as high speed internet and network security. These types of implementation, though representative of considerable RD costs, are pro bably most significant factors that etailers must prepare for near future. As users, connections increase in speed, any delays on the part of the etailer they are connecting to will become obvious and less tolerable. Amazon can stay ahead of the pack by preparing a unique and comfortable interface for the users. 5. 2 Strategic Cost Analysis Amazon. com should also use Strategic cost analysis process where identify the firm’s value chain, diagnose the key elements that drive the costs of each value activity, identify competitors value chains, develop a strategy to lower relative costs by controlling cost drivers, ensure that any cost reduction does not erode differentiation in service and test the cost reductions if its sustainable in the end of the analysis. . 3 Differentiation They should also consider by costs by determining Differentiation where the process goes as determine who the real buyer is, identify buyer’s value chain and put in rank order the buyer’s reason to purchase, asses the current potential sources of diffentiation, identify the cost of these resources, design a value chain to maximize value relative costs, test for sustainiablity and reduce costs in activi ties that do not affect the chosen forms of differentiation. 5. Inventory; There are programs built to be extremely user-friendly, and most offer great support along the way of usage for online businesses to maintain the book database. Amazon should invest in software to best highlight and maintain the data on the site and importantly back up systems. Keep inventory accurate and up to date; This is also an important aspect that Amazon can out beat its competitors with as this is first step towards building a long-term relationship with that customer. Inventory of the books stock-out and sold out will be kept up to date on the site. 5. 5 Visionary Informative A picture is worth a thousand words; Uploading pictures by decreasing explanations or descriptions could attract customer’s attraction and curiosity in exploring the book. Somehow it boosts up sales compared to other online booksellers who give attention in words. Product Review Information; In case of books, editorial reviews are provided by the company and it applies for all books. Customers can also rate each other’s review. A rating is placed against each review so that customers can decide whether to read or not based on that. Most online booksellers do not include this but they display the customer’s satisfaction on the delivery service provided by them which is less important to boost up sales. People out there want to pay you for your books; Amazon should use own merchant service account or a service offered by a listing site, make sure that customers can buy books quickly and painlessly with a credit card while you have them on the brink of finalizing said purchase. Don’t judge a book by its cover; First impressions are lasting impressions. When a customer receives the book they’ve ordered, make sure the first thing they see is a product and package that you are proud to have supplied by using use clean, new boxes without writing (or envelopes for low-cost paperbacks) for shipments. Customers will be expecting an excellent service but if its vice versa then they are chances for them to switch to other online retailers. 5. 6 Keep customers in the loop on everything; Amazon should update the status of order to customers on the order made and also keep them in loop by e-mail the listing service directly with questions about their orders and keep updating the latest events and new stocks of books through emails. 5. 7 Shipping Delivery Follow-up; After shipping out an item to the customer, Amazon should send them an e-mail a day or two after expecting that they’ll receive their package, asking them if they’ve received it and are satisfied, and reminding them that there customer rep are there to help should they have any questions about their order. This is also a great time to remind them that you have similar items in stock or to offer them a coupon towards future purchases. 5. 8 Expansion to Asia Region Amazon should strive to expand its expertise to Asia region as well as high potentials are there which huge population. Education is becoming one important aspect in Asia and lack of important reference books are always a problem in many parts of Asia. It should diversify its marketing capability in Asia too to capture the market. Amazon is very less popular in Asia regions. Amazon. om should take Asia to consider for its business expansion. Amazon could also diversify its marketing and research ability to expand mostly to the developed countries of other territory. In order to grow big and always sustain in the market and competition, Amazon should takes this sort of steps to expand. International Sites; Amazon. com has got an added advantage of international sites on Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France and China. All about what the customers have to do to browse the site with their language is by clicking to their national site. For example, if you clink Japan, immediately the whole website will change its descriptions and instructions into Japanese language. This is not at all applicable for a customer in Malaysia or any other regions of Asia. It should expand and add more languages options in its site to accumulate its customers. Giving customers what they want is also one strategy not all online business can do but if this can be proven in Amazon’s case then it have all the potential to be the one. 5. 9 Word-of mouth advertisement Amazon also should increase its word-of mouth advertisement. This might seem odd for an industry leader to rely upon such a quaint tactics as this, but we truly believe that in the world of Internet this is a powerful tool. We are quick to visit sites that our friends identify as being fabulous, and Amazon might capitalize on this by rewarding its customers who can reel in a new prospects. 6. 0 Expand the product lines Amazon should expand its product lines. Given’s Amazon’s vision and its unique position in the etailer industry, the cost associated with entering new markets is significantly lower than that of its competitors. There is no reasons to let this advantage slip away unused. Conclusion In order to stay focus on business Amazon. com has various ways and strategies that can be implemented with proper organizations communication networks. Financial reports should be reviewed annually and quarterly if necessary to come up with decisions whether to boost up sales or to maintain on a certain criteria for the wellness of business. Amazon. com also should have a frequent customer feedback program where they could exchange view on the services and products most desired to be acquired online by customers. Top level management meetings should be initiated to assure goals are achieved. A proper corrective action should be determined after the first year if annual objectives weren’t accomplished. However there are difficulties and competitions to overcome, and how companies attack these difficulties will separate the winners form the losers. Appendix |AMAZON. COM, INC. HISTORICAL INCOME STATEMENTS | |(in millions, except per share data)(quarterly information unaudited) | |Amazon. com Investor Relations | | | | | | | |Calendar Years Ended – December 31, | | |2008 |2007 |2006 |2005 |2004 |2003 |2002 | |Media |   | $ 5,350 | $ 4,630 | $ 3,582 | $ 3,046 | $ 2,589 | $ | | | | | | | | |2,270 | |Other |   | 448 | 326 | 263 | 222 | 130 | | | | | | | | | |110 | |International |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |Media |   | 5,734 | 4,612 | 3,485 | 2,885 | 2,513 | | | | | | | | | |1,780 | |Other |   | 94| 57| 20| | | | | | | | | |8 |2 |- | |Consolidated |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |Media |   | 11,084 | 9,242 | 7,067 | 5,931 | 5,102 | | | | | | | | | |4,050 | |Other |   | 542 | 383 | 283 | 230 | 132 | | | | | | | | | |110 | Table 2- Source; www. amazon. com (Investors Relations) |Total U. S. Home, Work and University Locations, Unique Visitors (000) | |Source: comScore Media Metrix | |Rank |Property |Unique Visitors |Rank |Property |Unique Visitors | | | |(000) | | |  (000) | |   |Total Internet : Total Audience |191,863 |   |   |   | |1 |Google Sites |151,010 |26 |Target Corporation |28,628 | |2 |Yahoo! Sites |146,131 |27 |Time Warner – Excluding AOL |27,209 | |3 |Microsoft Sites |125,568 |28 |Weatherbug Property |26,944 | |4 |AOL LLC |108,441 |29 |Bank of America |26,322 | |5 |Fox Interactive Media |90,510 |30 |United Online, Inc |26,048 | |6 |Ask Network |74,742 |31 |Gorilla Nation |25,585 | |7 |eBay |72,160 |32 |ATT, Inc. 25,574 | |8 |Amazon Sites |64,768 |33 |Answers. com Sites |25,563 | |9 |Wikipedia Foundation Sites |62,737 |34 |Demand Media |25,447 | |10 |FACEBOOK. COM |57,232 |35 |CareerBuilder LLC |24,750 | |11 |Glam Media |55,293 |36 |Everyday Health |24,717 | |12 |Turner Network |54,877 |37 |Shopzilla. com Sites |24,097 | |13 |Apple Inc. 54,194 |38 |Photobucket. com LLC |23,928 | |14 |CBS Corporation |53,539 |39 |WordPress |23,730 | |15 |New York Times Digital |49,110 |40 |Real. com Network |23,359 | |16 |Viacom Digital |46,510 |41 |Expedia Inc |22,703 | |17 |Weather Channel, The |40,056 |42 |JPMorgan Chase Property |22,399 | |18 |craigslist, inc. 39,437 |43 |Monst er Worldwide |22,244 | |19 |ATT Interactive Network |38,184 |44 |Gannett Sites |21,829 | |20 |Adobe Sites |35,315 |45 |WorldNow – ABC Owned Sites |21,586 | |21 |Comcast Corporation |33,940 |46 |WebMD Health |21,185 | |22 |Wal-Mart |33,513 |47 |iVillage. com: The Womens Network |21,002 | |23 |Superpages. com Network |32,558 |48 |NBC Universal |20,974 | |24 |Verizon Communications Corporation |32,412 |49 |WhitePages |19,351 | |25 |Disney Online |30,345 |50 |ESPN |19,266 | Table 3; Media Matrix; http://www. comscore. com References 1] Chao Janice C. Rice, Brandi S. Dec 8, 1999 http://www. rhsmith. umd. du/faculty/jbailey/ents630/amazon. pdf 2] Dustin Nadeau Donatas Sumyla. April 2006- Amazon. Com Inc 2004. (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 3] Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001 – E-Transaction: Shopping Carts Comparison (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 4] Paul Larson. February 14, Amazon. com – Motley Fool Research, Stock Report http://www. fool. com/search/index. aspx? go=1site=USMFq=am azon. com (Accessed Feb 16, 2009) 5] Onder Savas Devrim Dirik. January 9, 2003 – Informat? on Management (Accessed Feb 16, 2009) 6] Strategic Analysis of Amazon. com (Accessed Feb 19, 2009) 7] www. wikinvest. com/wiki/E-Commerce, (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 8] www. ikinvest. com/stock/Amazon. com_(AMZN), (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 9] www. wikinvest. com/stock/Barnes_%26_Noble_(BKS), (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 10] Sujan Sarkar. April 23, 2007 – Amazon vs. Barnes Noble: www. santarosa. edu/~ssarkar/cs66sp07/fprj/abn. htm (Accessed Feb 16, 2009) 11] Table 1- Source; www. amazon. com (Investors Relations) (Accessed Feb 17, 2009) 12] Table 2- Source; www. amazon. com (Investors Relations) (Accessed Feb 17, 2009) 13] Table 3; Media Matrix; http://www. comscore. com (Accessed Feb 17, 2009) ———————– AMAZON Supplier New Entrance Substitute Consumers Amazon.Com Case Studies Kannan Submission Date: 07. March. 2009 [pic] TABLE OF CONTENTS ChapterTitlePage 1. 0Executive Summary 2. 0Problem Statement1 3. 0Analysis of Causes 3. 1 Amazon’s Debt 2-3 3. 2 Competition3-4 3. 3 Expansion4-6 4. 0Decision Criteria and Alternative Solutions 4. 1 Reduce expenditure in inventories and better management7 in supply chain 4. Presenting a competitive edge to competitors7 4. 3 Expansionto Asia8 5. Recommended Solutions 5. 1 Technology Integration and RD9 5. 2 Strategic Cost Analysis9 5. 3 Differentiation9 5. 4 Inventory10 5. 5 Visionary Informative10-11 5. 6 Keep customers in the loop on everything11 5. 7 Shipping Delivery11 5. 8 Expansion to Asia Region11-12 5. 9 Word-of mouth advertisement12 6. 0 Expand the product lines13 6. 0Appendices14-16 7. 0References17 Executive Summary The study comprises of Amazon. om which started its history by selling books and now one of the online market leaders globally not only for books but products from various categories. Compa ny started with a mission to be Earth’s most customer centric company. In order to become the largest and convenience online store for all, there are major problems or threat being faced by Amazon. com in succeeding its mission. The major problems are Amazon facing high amount of debt, it’s less initiative in not expanding to other developed countries, and also competition from other online retailers and one tough opponent is Barnes Nobles. Many plans of actions can be taken and some of it is; Amazon. com should decrease long–term debt by increasing expenditure on research and development, increasing word-to-mouth advertisement and good customer service. Amazon. com should also expand the five most common languages in Asian region. Focus marketing strategies on customer feedback to find out what Asian customers tend to buy and willing to spend on. Strategize new plan on improving sites to be informative and attractive as much as possible so Amazon. com should also adapt to the best technology where it can sustain as a strong innovator in ever increasing retailer market. Amazon. com also must strive to give customers the best service in shipping and delivery as it’s an important aspect in online business to out beat its entire competitors on this online industry. Problem Statement The main problem faced by Amazon. com now being an online retailer can be divided to three in overall. Amazon. com is in confronting huge debt behind their successful screen. Amazon. com is lack of expansion to other regions or Asia which be said as another big market for a huge online bookseller as Amazon. com. Another problem is the competition being faced by them with one of the tough opponent as BarnesNobles. Analysis of the Problem Amazon. com’s in Debt 3. 1 Amazon’s Debt One of major causes of Amazon’s huge debt is its large expenditure. In order to keep its advantageous position, Amazon has no choice but to continue to spend astronomical amounts of money on sales marketing, research development and general administrative costs. (Table 1 Table 2) â€Å"One misstep, and its love affair withy investors and sources of capital could be over. (Kimberly Weisul, 1999) †¢ Competitors Although Amazon won the battle soon after entering the online cd and music market, there are some competitions in other product lines that may be too immensely strong to beat. For example, in March of 1999, Amazon introduced an auction service. After a few months effort, its auction business performed slightly, indicating how difficult it is to challenge the giant’s eBay and Y ahoo! Auctions. |Auction Sites |27-Sep-99 |Multiplier needed to equal eBay listings | |Amazon Auctions |4. 0% |15. 3 | |eBay |73. 60% |   | |Yahoo! Auctions |21. 60% |3. 4 | Source: Auction Web sites and C. E Unterberg Towbin †¢ Consumer Behavior Amazon. com is widely regarded as having one of the best management team of any internet company. However, there are some outside forces that are not easy to manipulate. Security; as the number of Internet crimes increases, customers are becoming aware of the possible danger involved in the process of on-line shopping. This security problem may not be difficult to improve since security technology is innovated quickly, but to convince customer of this is not as easy ? Etailers vs. retailers Another factor is hard to manage customer purchasing habits. Most consumers still prefer the capability of seeing a product before buying it. Additionally, the number of people buying personal computers and that of the Internet population will dir ectly affect Amazon’s sale. . 2 Competition †¢ Michael Porter’s Model ? Supplier ; Amazon started to build its own distribution centers in different locations and moving the products directly form the factory rather than from other distributors such that Amazon can lower its marginal costs. (Chao Janice C. Rice, Brandi S. Dec 8, 1999) ? Consumers ; Amazon. com continues to spend a lot of money in advertisement to reach customers as well as to increase customer awareness of eCommerce in general and brand name in particular. (Chao Janice C. Rice, Brandi S. Dec 8, 1999) ? Substitutes; The Substitute of eCommerce, the traditional retailers, is still more attractive than the Etailers. For example, we as consumers more than likely would rather go to the bookstore and browse through a book before we buy it. (Chao Janice C. Rice, Brandi S. Dec 8, 1999 ) 3. 3 Expansion †¢ Lack of Spanish website version (Latino and Hispanic Americans are the fastest-growing online ethnic group) †¢ Amazon. com is very less popular or it can said there are people without knowing the existence of Amazon. om †¢ Website is not more expanded with more languages options where currently there are options only for Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France and China (www. amazon. com) Competition with Barnes Nobles Amazon. com Weakness ? Difficulties of handling large number of customers ? Limited operating history ? Security awareness ? Low margins in the sector ? Risk of introduction of wrong new categories which could damage company’s bran d ? Company’s offered free shipping might affect future financial outcome ? Certain products (high volume/weight) have high shipping costs which could confront with local offline retailers Threats ? eBay, Barnes Nobles, and Wal-Mart ? Population segment not targeted to on-line sales due to their lack of internet access ? Weak economic performance of Germany and France in the last year ? Competition will increase due to the low barriers to entry in the market: offline companies are coming online ? Heavy investments in Partnerships (Dustin Nadeau Donatas Sumyla. April 2006) Barnes and Nobles and Amazon. com are competing, but both stores and other online stores recognize what works and are studying one another – often duplicating one another’s business strategies. This has resulted in them having more similarities than differences and it helps the consumers find similarities across the Web such as; †¢ When a description of an item is given, Amazon and Barnes and Nobles both place the shopping cart option prominently displayed to the upper, right portion of the screen. This makes it very efficient and useable for the viewer and they do not have to search around the page for this button. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) †¢ In pricing, both Amazon. com and Barnesandnobles. com display the average price or their items above their own discounted rates so that the users feel as though they are saving money. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) †¢ Both sites are â€Å"Flexible†, there is an option of buying things at a later date and placing them in the shopping cart temporarily. This option is called the wish list and it is displayed just beneath the â€Å"Add to Cart† button. Users can access this saved information and acce ss it on their next visit. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) †¢ Both sites offer â€Å"Security† that provides safe shopping, privacy and efficiency by requiring customers to join as members at a certain point during a transaction. Membership is free and requires an email address, full name, home address and phone number. It allowing customers to maintain an order status and helps provide a history of what they bought. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) †¢   Both sites are very â€Å"Scalable†, allowing for a huge selection of items to be added to the product catalog or taken away. A Field size is accommodated in the database. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) 4. 0 Alternative Solutions 4. 1 Reduce expenditure in inventories and better management in supply chain ? Use increased income to pay down long-term debt ? Keep operating costs low (efficiencies of scales) ? Increase expenditure on Research Development arena ? Strategic cost analysis ( WOU , MIS notes) ? Determining Differentiation ( WOU , MIS notes) 4. 2 Presenting a competitive edge to competitors †¢ Create more expertise in marketing and more product launches compared to competitors; †¢ Do a more through research on the customers needs and come up with something new that has its own brand and establishes as only Amazon. om could have the product. (Sujan Sarkar. April 23, 2007) †¢ A new Strategy on only books should be brought up in order to outcome one tough opponent as Barnes Nobles. For example, Amazon. com’s booth’s can be set up in country sides where there is no access for Internet and give knowledge to country people that there also business through online. This is because; giving more exposure and awareness to people might be a business opportunit y as well. †¢ Product review information; Customers would have n a clear description, synopsis and other customer’s review on the book as it gives a clear rating of the book and there won’t be any sort of disappointments for them after purchase. 4. 3 Expansion to Asia †¢ Create different website versions based on the five most common language in Asian region †¢ Focus marketing strategies on customer feedback to find out what Asian customers tend to buy. †¢ Word of mouth advertisement (Onder Savas Devrim Dirik. January 9, 2003) †¢ Continue expanding its product lines 5. 0 Recommended Solution Implementation 5. Technology Integration and RD Amazon. com should increase expenditure in the research and development arena. We believe that Amazon should prepare itself for additional telecommunications implementations such as high speed internet and network security. These types of implementation, though representative of considerable RD costs, are pro bably most significant factors that etailers must prepare for near future. As users, connections increase in speed, any delays on the part of the etailer they are connecting to will become obvious and less tolerable. Amazon can stay ahead of the pack by preparing a unique and comfortable interface for the users. 5. 2 Strategic Cost Analysis Amazon. com should also use Strategic cost analysis process where identify the firm’s value chain, diagnose the key elements that drive the costs of each value activity, identify competitors value chains, develop a strategy to lower relative costs by controlling cost drivers, ensure that any cost reduction does not erode differentiation in service and test the cost reductions if its sustainable in the end of the analysis. . 3 Differentiation They should also consider by costs by determining Differentiation where the process goes as determine who the real buyer is, identify buyer’s value chain and put in rank order the buyer’s reason to purchase, asses the current potential sources of diffentiation, identify the cost of these resources, design a value chain to maximize value relative costs, test for sustainiablity and reduce costs in activi ties that do not affect the chosen forms of differentiation. 5. Inventory; There are programs built to be extremely user-friendly, and most offer great support along the way of usage for online businesses to maintain the book database. Amazon should invest in software to best highlight and maintain the data on the site and importantly back up systems. Keep inventory accurate and up to date; This is also an important aspect that Amazon can out beat its competitors with as this is first step towards building a long-term relationship with that customer. Inventory of the books stock-out and sold out will be kept up to date on the site. 5. 5 Visionary Informative A picture is worth a thousand words; Uploading pictures by decreasing explanations or descriptions could attract customer’s attraction and curiosity in exploring the book. Somehow it boosts up sales compared to other online booksellers who give attention in words. Product Review Information; In case of books, editorial reviews are provided by the company and it applies for all books. Customers can also rate each other’s review. A rating is placed against each review so that customers can decide whether to read or not based on that. Most online booksellers do not include this but they display the customer’s satisfaction on the delivery service provided by them which is less important to boost up sales. People out there want to pay you for your books; Amazon should use own merchant service account or a service offered by a listing site, make sure that customers can buy books quickly and painlessly with a credit card while you have them on the brink of finalizing said purchase. Don’t judge a book by its cover; First impressions are lasting impressions. When a customer receives the book they’ve ordered, make sure the first thing they see is a product and package that you are proud to have supplied by using use clean, new boxes without writing (or envelopes for low-cost paperbacks) for shipments. Customers will be expecting an excellent service but if its vice versa then they are chances for them to switch to other online retailers. 5. 6 Keep customers in the loop on everything; Amazon should update the status of order to customers on the order made and also keep them in loop by e-mail the listing service directly with questions about their orders and keep updating the latest events and new stocks of books through emails. 5. 7 Shipping Delivery Follow-up; After shipping out an item to the customer, Amazon should send them an e-mail a day or two after expecting that they’ll receive their package, asking them if they’ve received it and are satisfied, and reminding them that there customer rep are there to help should they have any questions about their order. This is also a great time to remind them that you have similar items in stock or to offer them a coupon towards future purchases. 5. 8 Expansion to Asia Region Amazon should strive to expand its expertise to Asia region as well as high potentials are there which huge population. Education is becoming one important aspect in Asia and lack of important reference books are always a problem in many parts of Asia. It should diversify its marketing capability in Asia too to capture the market. Amazon is very less popular in Asia regions. Amazon. om should take Asia to consider for its business expansion. Amazon could also diversify its marketing and research ability to expand mostly to the developed countries of other territory. In order to grow big and always sustain in the market and competition, Amazon should takes this sort of steps to expand. International Sites; Amazon. com has got an added advantage of international sites on Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France and China. All about what the customers have to do to browse the site with their language is by clicking to their national site. For example, if you clink Japan, immediately the whole website will change its descriptions and instructions into Japanese language. This is not at all applicable for a customer in Malaysia or any other regions of Asia. It should expand and add more languages options in its site to accumulate its customers. Giving customers what they want is also one strategy not all online business can do but if this can be proven in Amazon’s case then it have all the potential to be the one. 5. 9 Word-of mouth advertisement Amazon also should increase its word-of mouth advertisement. This might seem odd for an industry leader to rely upon such a quaint tactics as this, but we truly believe that in the world of Internet this is a powerful tool. We are quick to visit sites that our friends identify as being fabulous, and Amazon might capitalize on this by rewarding its customers who can reel in a new prospects. 6. 0 Expand the product lines Amazon should expand its product lines. Given’s Amazon’s vision and its unique position in the etailer industry, the cost associated with entering new markets is significantly lower than that of its competitors. There is no reasons to let this advantage slip away unused. Conclusion In order to stay focus on business Amazon. com has various ways and strategies that can be implemented with proper organizations communication networks. Financial reports should be reviewed annually and quarterly if necessary to come up with decisions whether to boost up sales or to maintain on a certain criteria for the wellness of business. Amazon. com also should have a frequent customer feedback program where they could exchange view on the services and products most desired to be acquired online by customers. Top level management meetings should be initiated to assure goals are achieved. A proper corrective action should be determined after the first year if annual objectives weren’t accomplished. However there are difficulties and competitions to overcome, and how companies attack these difficulties will separate the winners form the losers. Appendix |AMAZON. COM, INC. HISTORICAL INCOME STATEMENTS | |(in millions, except per share data)(quarterly information unaudited) | |Amazon. com Investor Relations | | | | | | | |Calendar Years Ended – December 31, | | |2008 |2007 |2006 |2005 |2004 |2003 |2002 | |Media |   | $ 5,350 | $ 4,630 | $ 3,582 | $ 3,046 | $ 2,589 | $ | | | | | | | | |2,270 | |Other |   | 448 | 326 | 263 | 222 | 130 | | | | | | | | | |110 | |International |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |Media |   | 5,734 | 4,612 | 3,485 | 2,885 | 2,513 | | | | | | | | | |1,780 | |Other |   | 94| 57| 20| | | | | | | | | |8 |2 |- | |Consolidated |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |Media |   | 11,084 | 9,242 | 7,067 | 5,931 | 5,102 | | | | | | | | | |4,050 | |Other |   | 542 | 383 | 283 | 230 | 132 | | | | | | | | | |110 | Table 2- Source; www. amazon. com (Investors Relations) |Total U. S. Home, Work and University Locations, Unique Visitors (000) | |Source: comScore Media Metrix | |Rank |Property |Unique Visitors |Rank |Property |Unique Visitors | | | |(000) | | |  (000) | |   |Total Internet : Total Audience |191,863 |   |   |   | |1 |Google Sites |151,010 |26 |Target Corporation |28,628 | |2 |Yahoo! Sites |146,131 |27 |Time Warner – Excluding AOL |27,209 | |3 |Microsoft Sites |125,568 |28 |Weatherbug Property |26,944 | |4 |AOL LLC |108,441 |29 |Bank of America |26,322 | |5 |Fox Interactive Media |90,510 |30 |United Online, Inc |26,048 | |6 |Ask Network |74,742 |31 |Gorilla Nation |25,585 | |7 |eBay |72,160 |32 |ATT, Inc. 25,574 | |8 |Amazon Sites |64,768 |33 |Answers. com Sites |25,563 | |9 |Wikipedia Foundation Sites |62,737 |34 |Demand Media |25,447 | |10 |FACEBOOK. COM |57,232 |35 |CareerBuilder LLC |24,750 | |11 |Glam Media |55,293 |36 |Everyday Health |24,717 | |12 |Turner Network |54,877 |37 |Shopzilla. com Sites |24,097 | |13 |Apple Inc. 54,194 |38 |Photobucket. com LLC |23,928 | |14 |CBS Corporation |53,539 |39 |WordPress |23,730 | |15 |New York Times Digital |49,110 |40 |Real. com Network |23,359 | |16 |Viacom Digital |46,510 |41 |Expedia Inc |22,703 | |17 |Weather Channel, The |40,056 |42 |JPMorgan Chase Property |22,399 | |18 |craigslist, inc. 39,437 |43 |Monst er Worldwide |22,244 | |19 |ATT Interactive Network |38,184 |44 |Gannett Sites |21,829 | |20 |Adobe Sites |35,315 |45 |WorldNow – ABC Owned Sites |21,586 | |21 |Comcast Corporation |33,940 |46 |WebMD Health |21,185 | |22 |Wal-Mart |33,513 |47 |iVillage. com: The Womens Network |21,002 | |23 |Superpages. com Network |32,558 |48 |NBC Universal |20,974 | |24 |Verizon Communications Corporation |32,412 |49 |WhitePages |19,351 | |25 |Disney Online |30,345 |50 |ESPN |19,266 | Table 3; Media Matrix; http://www. comscore. com References 1] Chao Janice C. Rice, Brandi S. Dec 8, 1999 http://www. rhsmith. umd. du/faculty/jbailey/ents630/amazon. pdf 2] Dustin Nadeau Donatas Sumyla. April 2006- Amazon. Com Inc 2004. (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 3] Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001 – E-Transaction: Shopping Carts Comparison (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 4] Paul Larson. February 14, Amazon. com – Motley Fool Research, Stock Report http://www. fool. com/search/index. aspx? go=1site=USMFq=am azon. com (Accessed Feb 16, 2009) 5] Onder Savas Devrim Dirik. January 9, 2003 – Informat? on Management (Accessed Feb 16, 2009) 6] Strategic Analysis of Amazon. com (Accessed Feb 19, 2009) 7] www. wikinvest. com/wiki/E-Commerce, (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 8] www. ikinvest. com/stock/Amazon. com_(AMZN), (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 9] www. wikinvest. com/stock/Barnes_%26_Noble_(BKS), (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 10] Sujan Sarkar. April 23, 2007 – Amazon vs. Barnes Noble: www. santarosa. edu/~ssarkar/cs66sp07/fprj/abn. htm (Accessed Feb 16, 2009) 11] Table 1- Source; www. amazon. com (Investors Relations) (Accessed Feb 17, 2009) 12] Table 2- Source; www. amazon. com (Investors Relations) (Accessed Feb 17, 2009) 13] Table 3; Media Matrix; http://www. comscore. com (Accessed Feb 17, 2009) ———————– AMAZON Supplier New Entrance Substitute Consumers

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Appraisal of foreign direct investment - Essay Example A review of capital structure of FUSE plc has also been undertaken. Foreign direct investment implies transfer of capital, managerial, and technical assets by a multinational entity from the country where it is based to the country where investment is made. FDI may involve participation by the host country in equity capital, managerial control, and operational control. FDI decisions are complex issues as FDI projects are subjected to a variety of risk factors. For the case under study the FUSE plc has set up certain criterion for taking a decision for investment in a power generating project in Pajistan. The basic rule for investment decisions is that the internal rate of return on the project should be greater than the weighted marginal cost of the investment. The rule dictates that â€Å"accept projects up to the point at which the marginal return on an investment equals its weighted cost of capital. Beyond that point, its investment return will be less than its capital cost.† (Lawrence J. Gitman, page 519)i However, the investment criterio n of FUSE Plc for investment in emerging market like Pajistan is three fold as under: As per above criterion of investment, the computations of hurdle rate become imperative. Hurdle rate is the â€Å"minimum acceptable rate of return for a proposed project to merit investment. Usually, the hurdle rate is the opportunity cost of capital or the best return the company could get by investing the capital elsewhere. To be financially justifiable, a project’s internal rate of return must exceed the hurdle rate set by the firm for such project.†(Paul M. Swamidass, page 286)ii FUSE plc has set its hurdle rate for Pajistan project at 5% above the weighted cost of average capital to the company. Accordingly computations of WACC are important to devise the required hurdle rate. It is important to note that â€Å"cost of capital is the rate of return that a firm must earn on the projects, in which it invests to maintain the

The women used their voice as power Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The women used their voice as power - Essay Example The paper pursues to comprehend the power of the female voice and sexuality as demonstrated by Miranda in â€Å"The Tempest† and Cunegonde in â€Å"Candide.† Miranda and Cunegonde have demonstrated that women should not remain quiet and submissive within the background. The two personalities mirror the mentalities of the men who court them, and to a level, create them. Miranda’s marriage to Ferdinand aids Prospero to regain his dukedom in The Tempest. Throughout both works, Cunegonde and Miranda come out as markedly florid and romanticized terms that imply the women are not what the protagonists identify them to be (Nelson 2). Voice is power filled with truth and love and can be regarded as an embodiment of the women’s strong spirit within the society. In the play, â€Å"The Tempest,† Miranda is the daughter of Prospero who falls in love with the Prince of Naples, Ferdinand. Miranda comes out as gentle and compassionate, but also passive and a heroi ne. Initially, Miranda displays meek and emotional nature; however, in the play final scene, Miranda she surprisingly comes out as forthright and powerful to the extent of complicating the reader’s constructions of her as naive. In The Tempest, a father isolates his daughter with the aim of protecting her from the terrible realities the world. Miranda enjoys all the privileges of her father’s reign over the island. ... Miranda’s relationship with a shipwrecked prince contributes to the reconciliation of the exiled Duke with the Milanese court. The romantic aspect of the play highlighted by the inclusion of most of the dialogue between Miranda and Ferdinand within the play-text, especially in Act 3. Miranda delivers a powerful speech to Ferdinand in Act III, Scene I in which she declares her undying love for him. Miranda uses this speech to propose marriage, but also practically insist on it. The demonstrates the power of her voice  in which Miranda appears to break out of her predictable self as she has established under the influence of her father’s magic. The first instance features in Act I, scene 2, in which Miranda appears to arrive to a point at which she can no longer contain what she thinks. This does not arise from the fact that her desires are getting better, but rather Miranda realizes the requisite of expressing her desires. As a result, the naive girl who could hardly h old still long enough to listen to her father’s a long story in Act I, Scene 2 is replaced by an assertive, more mature woman at this moment. In the powerful speech Miranda proclaims her sexual independence by employing a metaphor that implies both a pregnancy and an erection, which appears to transform her all at once from a girl into a woman. Miranda in â€Å"The Tempest† uses her voice to carry the plot forward, whereby she pledges to be with Ferdinand regardless of the cost to herself (Shakespeare, Jonathan, and Eric 7). The power of Miranda’s voice features in Act II, Scene I, in which Miranda makes a marriage proposal to Ferdinand can be regarded Miranda’s second surprising moment. Miranda’s proposal follows her resolve to remember her

Potential impact of Chimps making spears for hunting on American Term Paper - 1

Potential impact of Chimps making spears for hunting on American Culture - Term Paper Example e developing into a human form, the study of this behaviour of the chimpanzees gives a great deal of insight into the hunting skills and the weapons that might have been used by the early man. (Pruetz JD and Bertolani, 2007) The research was conducted by two anthropologists Jill Pruetz and Paco Bertolani. Dr. Jill Pruetz who specializes in Biological Anthropology is an associate professor of Anthropology. Her research work has taken her to places including Peru, Costa Rica, Kenya, Nicaragua and Senegal. (www.terradaily.com, 2007) The research mainly focussed on the behaviour of spider monkeys, chimpanzees and howling monkeys. The observation of chimpanzees exhibiting predatory behaviour to hunt food has increased her interest to study the influence that ecology might have exerted in developing feeding habits and social behaviour of early man. (news.nationalgeographic.com) She is currently in Senegal undertaking a research funded by the National Geographic Society and the National Science Foundation. Its aim is to study the behaviour of chimps in an environment that is as simulated and close to the condition that existed during the times of the early man. She also co-founded DANTA which is a non-profit organization and is also actively involved in teaching and other conservation activities. (www.anthr.iastate.edu, 2011) Paco Bertolani is a Phd student and an anthropologist of great promise who successfully conducted these research experiments with Dr. Jill and has formulated several key aspects on behavioural policies exhibited by chimpanzees. A dissertation presented in 1994 dealt with the challenges faced by primates in food consumption and their social interaction. In 1997 another dissertation on adoption scenarios being taken up by chimpanzees was also a major achievement. (www.human-evol.cam.ac.uk) Paco also has a wealth of field experience. He was present in 1994-1996 to study the behaviour of forest chimpanzees. In 1998-2000 field studies were also

ITEM 7 (Elaborated response to issued raised) Essay

ITEM 7 (Elaborated response to issued raised) - Essay Example g been vitiating the social atmosphere without ever being identified as a problem that is essentially different both in nature and potential than the interpersonal problem that racism is generally viewed as by intelligentsia across the world. The author has painstakingly described how United Kingdom has long viewed racism to be essentially an interpersonal problem or at the most a problem between two or more groups that perceive the each other as adversaries and the primary reason for some long standing social malaise that happens to adversely affect the agitated group. Since this problem is entrenched between individuals, a possible solution to this problem has always been thought of in terms of influencing interpersonal behaviors through changing perceptions in the minds of ethnic majority about minority stereotypes. (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) However, the leaders of the society and successive governments in Great Britain acknowledged the fact that these misconceptions had become deeply entrenched in the minds of adversarial ethnic groups. Thus, the best way to rid the society of such pernicious prejudices, the governments thought, would be to introduce a school curriculum that would educate school going children in the age group of 5 – 11 about their duties and responsibilities as citizens of a multi-ethnic country. (Ryan, 2003) There have been a series of education policies that attempted to educate, or rather, enlighten the future citizens about their responsibilities and duties both towards the country and towards fellow citizens. (Banks, Multicultural education: Historical development, dimensions, and practice, 2004) The first concerted attempts to educate school going children about duties and responsibilities of a contributing citizen began in early 1990s when ‘cross cultural themes’ were introduced in the school curriculum specifically to make young would be citizens aware of what their responsibilities shall be as they grow up to be adults. These