Activity-Based Costing

The Activity-Based Costing indicates that all indirect costs shall be apportioned to direct costs for the organization. The ABC takes the indirect expense that relate to each activity for the specified product or service. The use of ABC can be identified where the several costs that cannot be apportioned for the particular cost. The ABC system is high-cost accounting technology which requires the efficient personnel, considerable amount and money. Traditional costing relates to costs of products/services whereas the Activity based costing relates costs and activities and products/services.It means the Activity Based Costing can also be implemented in production section and service sector too. The main base of the ABC is to distribute the indirect costs to the respective departments i. e. production department, service department, miscellaneous services etc. there will be no confusion about direct costs and they can directly be allocated to the respective departments. But some costs c annot be apportioned to the particular head and at that ABC will be identified. La Villa Roma Pizza With respect to La Villa Roma Pizza wants to introduce a small fee for deliveries.The company also wants to determine the cost of delivering pizzas to clients. Cost object In this regard, the company wants to charge a small fee with respect to deliveries. The main base of the company is to deliver the pizzas for particular charge. Again the company wants to impose some small fee which attracts negative approach to the customers. Hence the company has to charge the small fee for those who are out of specified area, specified condition etc. Cost drivers The charge of the particular activity is to be based on the distance and time of delivery.Hence it may vary for every activity. The fixed charge cannot be levied. The ABC provides more accurate cost information with cost driver associates with the activities. Cost of pizza. In addition to normal charge of the pizza, the additional charge may be levied who were supposed to be received beyond the specified area and specified time. REFERENCE: 1. http://greenbusinesscentre. com/Documents/TCM%20bulletin-ABC. pdf 2. www. bauer. uh. edu/mnewman/HS/Chapter04. doc 3. http://www. answers. com/topic/activity-based-costing

Family Business Case 5 Vega food Company Essay

Family Business Case 5 The Vega Food company owner Francisco Valle Sr had just recently died and now the rest of the family is having problems with the money, shareholders and what exactly are the siblings responsibilities in the company. Francisco Jr has been working there the longest and has the most experience working along side his dad in the company. His four sisters are now wanting more percentage of the shares in the company. The main problem is with his young sisters Mari who wants more responsibility in the family business. Francisco received a big CEO salary and bonus that the sisters didn’t receive nearly as much as he did. They thought this was unfair. This problem seem to hurt the company in sales. After calling a family meeting, a consultant got everything straightened out for what each member of the family had to do and what the shareholders wanted out of the company and what percentage of shares they all had. This problem seem to hurt the company in sales. Francisco seems to be the right person to take most of the responsibilities because was worked there the longest and knows what to do. Read more:  Family Run Business Wyncraft Mari wanted out of the company for feeling that she wasn’t treated the same way as the rest of the siblings so Francisco bought her shares out. Everyone always thinks that they all deserve the same percentage and same amount of salary at the work place but that just doesn’t happen in real life. If Mari wanted to stay in the company I think they could have given each other a little bit more percentage in the shares but still having Francisco have the highest percentage. It also never really stated what she did for the company and how she could help the company. She just thought that she deserved more shares. Personally I don’t think that is fair just because your family doesn’t mean you’re entitled to have shares in the company. But in the end I think Mari just had enough and wanted to give her shares up and move on in her life. After reading what the family did to over come this problem I thought it  seem to be the best for both the company and Mari. Now their sales have been going up and the company is growing and doing good with new employees. If they didn’t resolve this problem I think the company would have been destroyed and more feelings would have been hurt in the long run. Also being a good CEO, Francisco saw a problem and decided to do something about it.

Case Analysis: The Annual Report Essay

1. The basic factors of communication that must be considered in the presentation of the Annual Report are compliance with accounting principles and regulations, accuracy of the information presented, and how much information you are going to disclose. The management has a lot of control over what and how much information it wants to disclose to the users of their financial report. Users can be shareholders, investors, customers, or if you want it or not, competitors. Therefore management doesn’t want to disclose too much strategic details about their future plans. However, it also has to attract prospective investors and therefore needs to give them enough information about the companies’ health. 2. One part of the Annual Report that is very interesting for investors is the Management’s Discussion and Analysis section. It gives the user of the financial report more specific details about how the company has done that year and contains information that cannot be found in the financial data. This section can include coverage over any favorable or unfavorable trends and any significant events or uncertainties in the areas of liquidity, capital resources, and results of operations (Ormiston, 2013). Another section of the Annual Report is the Proxy Statement. It is required by the SEC and solicits shareholder votes as many shareholders don’t attend shareholder meetings. This section also contains voting procedures, background information about nominated directors, executive compensation, etc. This information helps investors and creditors by providing information about the longevity and compensation of the companies’ top management as well as corporate governance (Ormiston, 2013). 3. One advantage of stating well-defined corporate strategies in the Annual Report is to attract investors. Prospective investors in your company want to see that your company is healthy and that you are generating cash flows from operations. They want to know if you are going to be able to pay out dividends. Therefore stating a well-defined strategy for the future can possible attract more investors. Another advantage of stating your strategy is that current investors remain investing in your company when they see that your company has a bright future. Investors like to plan ahead and therefore want to know your corporate strategy in advance. A disadvantage of stating well-defined strategies in the Annual Report is that you also disclose  critical information to your competitors. By doing so, your competitors know what your plans are and can try to position them better to compete with you. Another disadvantage of stating your corporate strategy in the Annual Report is that your customers might not like a change in your strategy and switch to your competitors. An example for this might be deciding to outsource all manufacturing to China. This corporate strategy might outrage your customers and lead them away from your company. 4. The effectiveness of annual reports in fulfilling the information needs for current and potential shareholders is usually good because management tailors the Annual Report as much as possible to the needs of investors in order to attract more investment into its company. Items like the MD&A or Pandora, which includes additional material to attract current and prospective investors, are specifica lly designed to attract more investment while giving the shareholder enough useful information to make a decision. Creditors of the company find the cash flow from operations statement useful because it provides them with information about how much money the company is making to determine their ability to pay their debt back to you. For most employees of the company the Annual Report is probably hard to read and understand because of the complexity and volume of information that it contains. They would most likely suffer from information overload and therefore the Annual Report is in my opinion not very effective in fulfilling their information needs. Most customers of a company are not going to be much interested in reading the financial statements of the company where they buy products. However, if important information about the company’s practices leaks to the public, the customers may switch to a competitor if they strongly disagree with said practice or strategy. Financial Analysts are probably going to find the information disclosed in the Annual Report very effective because they are used to reading these reports and know where to find useful information. However, because management has some control over what information to disclose or not to disclose, there is also some hard-to-find or missing information for Financial Analysts. This information can be employer relations with management, morale and efficiency of employees, or the firm’s prestige in the community. 5. Management knows when creating the Annual Report that competitors are going to analyze their strategy as well as shareholders and other users. Therefore it needs to be careful about  what information they want to disclose. The dilemma here is that you want to disclose enough information in order to attract investments, but cannot disclose too much information because otherwise your competitors are going to position themselves against you. This dilemma affects the decision about what information managers provide in their annual reports. 6. The sustainability report gives information about the environmental, social, and governance performance of a company and is a non-financial report. Many companies utilize this report to create a better image of their company in the public. This report is intended to show the companies’ performance and compliance with environmental standards and ratings. Sustainability reporting started in the 1980s by companies in the chemical industry who had image problems because of their negative impact on the environment. Nowadays, many companies use sustainability reports to improve internal processes, persuade investors, and improve their image in the public. This information can be helpful to investors because it portrays transparency and accountability and assures the investor of a good public image of the company. References Ormiston, A., & Fraser, L. M. (2013). Financial Statements. Understanding financial statements (10th ed., p. 12). New York, NY: Pearson Education.

Thinking Through Religions 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Thinking Through Religions 4 - Essay Example This is because self isolation and being separate can lead to a mental state of renunciation. There is a perception that when men make vows, they tend to become spiritual men who state separate from the physical world (Merton, 1966). In a sense, this theory suggests that it is possible to subscribe to a personal ideology to the exclusion of the mainstream society (Braght & Sohm, 1987). The illusion theory assumes that men become separate by taking vows that cause them to belong to an interior life. The new reality suggests that while the interior world may be real, it should not lead to denial of physical world which is dominated by the secular (Merton & Bochen, 2000). The reality of the God does not denounce the existence of hatred and corruption in a physical world that has evolved through revolution (Ferch, 2012). The reality of the interior world and the secular world in which we live is brought about by the level of awareness. The new reality is that there are no strangers (Ward, 8). The level of understanding of how we appear in God’s eyes can alter the values of collective existence (Broom, 2003). A telling example would be destroying weapons after realizing the need for friendship and company. As members of the human race, God has designed us to be naturally interdependent. Question 2 Father Maximilian was arrested for aiding Jews and Polish underground. He with four others was deported to Auschwitz labor and death camp. According to the Camp Commandant, Fritsch, Roman Catholics had only one month to live while Jews were entitled to only two weeks. They would then be killed through a crematorium. He was tattooed with 16670 as his number and began hard labor. However, when a prisoner escaped five months later, officers from Kolbe’s bunker were paraded, ready to be taken to death chamber. Ten men were picked at random. One was a sergeant, Francis Gajowniczek. Father Kolbe offered to die of his behalf after listening to his desperate cry. In 1982, during a rescue operation, Lenny Skutnit dived into the icy waters to save a lady. Priscilla Tirado was too exhausted to hold the rope dropped from a helicopter as dozens of people watched, emergency service personnel included. The 30 feet swimming to the river show saved her life. Both men indicated their willingness to offer their lives on behalf of other people with actions as the evidence (Braght & Sohm, 1987). While one incident involved drowning, the other involved prison execution. Fath er Kolbe offered to offer his life for a person who could not reciprocate. These actions reveal that human nature can be moved to act on behalf of others without having a prior knowledge of their existence. The actions also reveal that human beings are naturally in need of each other. Human beings can act heroically on behalf of those in desperate circumstances or dire need of rescue. Question 3 Charles Roberts, 32 year old milk truck drivers killed ten girls before committing suicide. This occurred in west Nickel Mines School in Pennsylvania. The members of the community went through extreme moments of grief and mourning (Kraybill, 2007). However, hours after the shooting, an Amish neighbor had comforted Roberts’s family. The Amish community donated money to the widow and attended the burial ceremony of the killer. They showed love to Roberts’s family hours just a day after some of them had buried their own daughters. The members of the Amish committed offered uncondi tional forgiveness even when it was extremely difficult. The national society might have mistaken their kind acts to mean they were less affected. Many affected families

Becoming an Intellectual Craftsman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Becoming an Intellectual Craftsman - Essay Example The intellectual craftsman trusts their imagination, memory, and experience to craft an idea that will resonate through a targeted audience. A fundamental principle of the intellectual craftsman is that they are always functioning as craftsmen. Every waking experience contributes to their well of knowledge and catalogue of ideas. They do not simply work as scholars; they are thinkers that do not separate their craft from their life. They continually strive to gain new experience that they can add to their breadth of knowledge, while not yet being aware of how today's most trivial experience may contribute to tomorrow's groundbreaking truth. The intellectual craftsman trusts this knowledge, as it is the most important component of any truly original intellectual thought. Storing this knowledge for later use is all just a part of the craft. Becoming an intellectual craftsman begins with the amassing and storing of these thoughts, ideas, and experiences. They are stored as materials in the tools of the intellectual trade such as notes, journals, diagrams, and the most trusted corners of the academic mind. Once the intellectual craftsman has gathered their materials and tools it is time to assemble, disassemble, and reassemble them into a concrete set of ideas that have form and substance. Here is where the craftsman separates themselves from the technician. Becoming an intellectual craftsman demands trusting your imagination enough to stretch its limits and examine the subtle connections that bind your experiences into a cohesive unit. Developing the art, or the craftsmanship, is really just a matter of letting the imagination run free. The craftsman differs from the technician as the craftsman assumes the risk of imagination. As the imagination runs free, ideas combine, reinforce, invert, and create new strains of thinking. They form building blocks of ever-larger concepts until the idea becomes prioritized as a set of questions that need to be answered. The academician has expanded their imagination and constructed unique concepts and viewpoints out of the basic material of experie nce. They have become an intellectual craftsman. Just as a cabinetmaker needs a building to practice their trade on, the intellectual need an audience to ply their craft. Left alone, ideas are nothingness. Ideas only come alive and take form when they are shared with an appreciative audience that can understand the nuance and rigor involved in the process. This demands that the intellectual craftsman becomes a communicator. Becoming a communicator of academic ideas requires putting complex ideas and concepts into a language that conveys the meaning, while still remaining understandable by the intended audience. One does not become an intellectual craftsman by communicating with pseudo-scientific hyperbole that is designed to shade the meaning and mask the truth from the audience. Becoming an intellectual craftsman is learning the language of their peers and applying it wisely and with restraint. In conclusion, intellectuals create a piece of work through the systematic application of the process of craftsmanship. The process begins by gaining the materials and methods that are everywhere all around us. Becoming an intellectual craftsman means learning to recognize the importance of every experience and every idea without

Health and Homelessness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Health and Homelessness - Essay Example Common health predicaments and service issues Drugs In the case of homeless people, especially rough sleepers, there is a higher rate of morbidity and mortality as compared to the general population. What this implies is that homeless people tend to have a lower or average lifespan than the general population. In this instance, the main problem is drug overdependence, and the exploitation of intravenous drugs, which results in the spread of diseases and viruses such as HIV, Hepatitis B & C, cellulitis, among others (Baggott, Allsop & Jones 2005). Furthermore, the use of schedule 1 drugs that are not meant for medicinal purposes such as heroin and crack cocaine also increases the mortality and morbidity among the homeless people. The use of such drugs makes it hard for medical practitioners to deal or treat individuals with different medical problems. Sometimes, homeless people can just get into different medical centers just to get drugs, which prevents the process of rehabilitation (Baggot 2011). Drug treatments have now different nationally accepted outcomes. The prescription of drugs to homeless patients depends on the patients, the general practitioners, and the drug workers. The different individual circumstances might also aid in determining the outcomes of the strategies employed to cater to the different individuals present (CSDH 2008). Detoxification can only work with the cessation of drug use and/or provision from drug workers. Frenzied users may not prefer such an approach since it is not practicable or realistic.

Walt Disney Prospectus Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Walt Disney Prospectus - Case Study Example intellectual property for using in connection with publications and merchandise; distribute end products to retailers through major Disney stores and other associated outlets; and finally publication of magazines and books. The Walt Disney Company is subjected to Securities Exchange Act of the year 1934. This report focuses on the public offer which the company offered way back in 2008. A comparison has been done to compare its former offers to the mentioned offer. Disney offered 4.50% global notes debt to citizens who had shares as well as those who never had shares. For successful results out of this, one of the approaches the company took was to provide a convenient mode for purchasing Disney common stock shares and reinvest any cash dividends paid on such shares. The discretion of the company to purchase shares was meant to be made by a designated purchasing agent either from Disney or in the open market (Barrier, 2007). Open market share purchases could be transacted through negotiated operations on such terms depending on purchasing agents’ determination. Either Disney or any participant had no authority alter the time, price or the date when shares would be purchased by the agent that deals with purchases. These were a few measures the company took to ensure that its plan fared on well. Disney proposed to sell $1,000,000,000 to the public. This amount has significantly increased as compared to initial offers. This is majorly attributed by the fact that the company’s strategy of building brands that are firm and franchises has continued creating great value across the company. The offer also increased due to the fact that the company brought in new products and services that gave them much security and confidence in offering the public these notes. More investors were also attracted to the offer which was really paying well in terms of dividend pay despite economic crisis that tried to destabilize global markets. Corporate and the unallocated

Pornography Read and focus on the instruction Essay

Pornography Read and focus on the instruction - Essay Example For example, piracy threatens music industry if it is left without monitoring and other legal measures. This indicates that there should be moral and legal issues to govern copyright (Bouchoux 108). Mostly, people who benefit from the program are the composers. Therefore, increasing the use of technology can enhance the knowledge of internet users. In this regard, strict laws and encouraging morality are the best ways to prevent music piracy and protect intellectual property by upholding copyright laws (Crane and Matten 24). Music industry, for example, creates a number of employment opportunities for those who are interested in that sector or operating entertainment joints. As an economic venture, the musicians and music producers believe that the technologically driven products have a future in the competitive market due to increasing preference for online products. The music industry is capital intensive and if the products is free on internet, then those who engage in this activi ty for economic gain will not benefit. Therefore, music should not be free on internet to make sure that the musicians benefit from their effort (Kelly 81). Since the children who are below the recommended age, sometimes those less than twelve years could have access to internet; they might access the pornographic pictures with pronounced impacts on the child’s psychology. Indeed, such psychological changes might not conform to the societal norms and could ruin the development of the child. Question 2: critical analysis of hard-core art Focusing on the â€Å"hard-core art† film, it is evident that internet pornography is a real impediment to the virtuous practices in the society. In fact, it is addictive, thus wipes out the ethical values among the youths in the society. Since these groups of people are considered as the future of the society, actions that could significantly alter their morality have to receive a major opposition from the different groups of people (B laxill and Eckardt 107). Culturally, sexual actions are regarded as sacred and should be exposed unnecessarily, mostly to the children. However, with the use of internet, controlling the children’s access to such pornographic actions might be difficult, because they could access them through mobile phones, cyber cafes, video CDs, which are easily within their reach (Blaxill and Eckardt 112). With increased accessibility to internet pornography, the children might start engaging in prostitution, which have adverse effects on their lives. This is because; there has not been any mechanism to detect the age of the internet user, thereby making it difficult to bar the children from accessing them. Some of the impacts of engaging in prostitution at an early stage might cause include, dropping out of school, contracting sexually transmitted infections and erosion to the moral practices of the people (Crane and Matten 48). In this regard, it is necessary to note that such practices a re not desirable, thus it is the responsibility of the person and other members of the society to eliminate them. Therefore, the fight on internet pornography is justified (Hughes and Kroehler 97). Increase of online bullying has raised a lot of concern among the internet users in both developed and developing countries. Notably, the people’s awareness of its prevalence in many internet sites has significantly increased, and

Coursework for LLB final year Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

For LLB final year - Coursework Example In Harry and Sally’s case, Sally should agree to divorce Harry before she can make any financial claim from him.1 Sally can claim for long term and short term maintenance payments from Harry. The claim that Harry cannot offer Sally any help since his business has been hit by the recent recession is not admissible in court2. Also, the amount that he is pledging i.e. $1000 for three months is not sufficient. This is because Sally has two dependants who require basic amenities such as food and proper shelter. Additionally, Lara goes to a private school and has private music practice while Gregory has chronic illness that requires constant medical care. Thus, the amount that Harry is offering is hardly enough2. Therefore, Harry should pay more money for maintenance since his family clearly needs more than he is offering. The money should be enough to afford the family a comfortable life since the children are too attached to Sally, who is unable to work due to Gregory’s illness. According to law, child support is accorded to children until they reach the majority age. Harry should, therefore , continue to pay increased amounts of money for the children’s upkeep until they reach this age. Sally has a remedy of obtaining a lump sum from Harry as salary and upkeep for the time she was working for him. When they married, Sally quit her job to support Harry in his practice. She worked for him as his secretary without pay. They built the business together. Though the decision to quit her job is purely a family matter, the fact that Sally worked for Harry has legal backing. Therefore, Harry had a legal obligation to pay Sally a salary as his employer, which he did not fulfil. Harry should, therefore, pay her a lump sum that reflects the salary for the years that she was his employee. Fringe benefits including medical insurance, paid leaves and bonuses should also be included in this lump sum amount. The

Miumiu Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Miumiu - Essay Example The portfolio of products of this brand includes Apparel, Jewellery, Accessories including eyewear, Bags and shoes though the main focus is on apparel. The collections portray the strong and autonomous identity it has created for itself (Jackson and Shaw, 2006, p.69). The brand aims at evoking a lavish sense of intimacy and liberty with an attention to intricacies and superior quality. The brand targets those women who would explore and experiment with their choices in fashion. Thus liberty, freedom and autonomy are the key words that drive their business. Miu Miu had the opening fashion show in Paris in 2006. In 2011, it also started retailing its products online. The concept in which the Miu Miu boutiques were designed had a liberty aspect to it in the most dramatic way possible and a combination of archetypal material and futuristic facets were incorporated in the style to highlight the unfailing courage of the modern opulence and sensuality in the style of Miu Miu (Tungate, 2012, p.192). The flagship store was also shifted to a building of historic relevance in Milan, in order to incorporate this taste and the fashion shows were conducted in Paris rather than Milan which the brand believed went better with the image of the brand. The uniqueness was maintained also by eliminating men from their target of customers. In its efforts to promote the brand in times of recession, the brand launched â€Å"The Women’s Tales† a project in which five prestigious women film directors were asked to shoot silent films which would have a focus on the Miu Miu line of clothing and accessories and the first four were screened at the Venice International Film Festival. The fifth one is on the making. The theme around which the brand revolves is ultra modernity, style and luxury (Liu, 2010, p.47). The products are designed by the specialists after thoughtful observation of the recent developments around the world, the changing society and shifting cultures. Thus t he brand has moved out of the limitations of the showrooms and boutiques in order to interact with the rest of the world full of diversity. All these have led the family business to a becoming a successful fashion brand operating in more than 70 nations. History of the parent company: the Prada Group The Brand Prada came into existence in 1913, when Mario Prada set up a store selling luxury items including bags and jewellery in Milan. The goods were handmade and exclusively designed with materials of first class quality. Immediately the brand became a status symbol for the aristocratic population of Europe. In 1919, the brand started supplying merchandise to the Italian Royal Family (Prada, 2012, p.5). In 1977, the granddaughter of the originator, Miuccia Prada, restructured the brand with Patrizio Bertelli, a Tuscan businessman, and sustained the business in a new way. Over the years, opened stores in various other places and met success. The brand still targeted the elite of the s ociety and produced apparel, shoes and other accessories. The brand Miu Miu was the brainchild of Miuccia Prada who started this new brand as a form of diversification strategy targeting the ultramodern women. Employee Creativity and Innovation in MIU MIU The distinctive feature of Miu Miu comes from the typical process of management

Benefits of eating organic foods Essay Example for Free

Benefits of eating organic foods Essay There are many benefits of eating organic foods and the main reasoning for this is because of the way these foods are grown. They are all grown on smaller farms and are cared more for. The farmers use natural soils, get rid of the weeds naturally without using sprays, and they use beneficially insects and birds to get rid of pests and diseases. Using natural resources to grow foods prevents us from eating chemical and in some cases added hormones. Organic foods have more zinc, iron and other vitamins than non-organic foods. They can help reduces your risk for cancer because weed, insect, and mold killers have been linked to the cause of some cancers. The ways these foods are grown also help our environment by creating less pollution. The prices for organic foods are more expensive than non-organic. Non-organic foods are generally more affordable and there are more varieties as well. Non-organic foods do not contain E coli because most organic soil that is animal manure and it can cause E coil in organic foods. Between organic and non-organic foods there are benefits to eating each of them. There are certain foods that you should buy organic over non-organic. These foods are the ones that are more nutritious and contain fewer pesticides. Apples are generally more contaminated with pesticides so buying them organically will reduce the risk of them. Celery, strawberries, peaches, spinach, nectarines, grapes, sweet bell peppers, potatoes, blueberries, kale, and lettuce are all other foods that you should buy organically due to pesticides. There are some foods that are safe to buy non-organically and they will save you money. These foods are onions, corn, pineapple, avocado, asparagus, sweet peas, mangos, eggplant, cantaloupe, kiwi, cabbage, sweet potatoes, watermelon, grapefruit, and mushrooms. Some sources think that organic foods are healthier than non-organic foods and others believe there is no significant difference between the two. Organic foods are grown on smaller private farm and they do not release or consume any pesticides. Organic foods are also more nutritious because they do not contain any pesticides either. The sources I chose were all from the Internet and they were from either a print or web source. I found these sources to be helpful because they were all able to provide me with enough information that I needed. More than half my sources described what foods you should buy organically and what foods you shouldnt buy organically. I found this information to helpful because the list of foods that you should buy organically is shorter than the ones you shouldnt. Fruits are typically the ones that have to worry about having pesticides and that are why more fruits are recommended to buy organically. The pesticides that are used on foods kill the nutrients in foods but it still is able to hold some nutrients but not as much as organic fruits. Composting at the World’s Largest Natural Foods Supermarket Chain. (2004). Biocycle. 45(11). p27. Retrieved on 3-3-05 from Ebscohost. Federal or Government Sources Organic Foods 101: Basic Information about organic foods, national labeling standards and online organic foodsellers. (2002). Retrieved on 3-3-05 from http://www. nrdc. org. The National Organic Program . (USDA). (2002). Retrieved on 3-3-05 from http://ams. usda. gov. Trade Publications Organic Food Facts. (2003). Organic Trade Association. Retrieved on 3-3-05 from http://www. ota. com/organic/mt/food. html Industry Statistics and Projected Growth. (2003). Organic Trade Association. Retrieved on 3-3-05 from http://www.ota. com/organic/mt/business. html Organic foods are getting more popular among the world compare to the bigger consumption of conventional foods. There certain true organic foods may cost a bit more, but most of the people agree, taste and quality are well worth compare to conventional. In today`s supermarket, organic foods are everywhere. There are clearly many benefits to organic foods, but there are specific like: it is healthier, protect the environment, different taste. The organic farming and produce of organic foods has been prevalent from the time agriculture was first conceived. The natural way of growing crops started becoming unpopular and economically less feasible. More crop yields meant higher profits to the farmer and better utilization of the land. The farmers who used fertilizers started growing two crops during the same time-period. That was the begging of fast growing industry of conventional foods. Organic foods are healthier than conventional in many aspects. The nutrients present in organic foods that are not in commercial foods. Organic food for mineral levels, the researchers also looked for the amount of the heavy metals aluminum, cadmium, lead and mercury. Aluminum has been implicated for years in the development of Alzheimers disease. Its content in organic food averaged 40% less that in commercial foods. Lead toxicity, which has been in the new a lot lately, can adversely affect our childrens IQ. It averaged 29% lower in organic foods. Mercury, which can cause neurologic damage, averaged 25% lower in organic foods (Crinnion, Walter). The organic meat is healthier compare the conventional gown, full with antibiotics and many other chemicals for fast growing, which goes to us. The healthier means saver way of leaving. People consume more conventional food which evokes more farmers to use pesticides and to double their crops. The pesticides are dangerous for environment and wild life. People should buy more organic foods and lower the production of the conventional. That`s one of the ways to protect and safe the environment and wildlife of the world. Used chemicals kill different insects which are part of our ecosystem. Chemicals go from soil to the water reservoir and again back to us. The organic foods are proven to taste better and different than conventional grown foods. The organic food not only taste better, but doesn`t contains preservatives. The conventional milk, has inspiration date around 2 months compare to the organic one it`s not more than two weeks. The smell and the taste of organically grown tomatoes are totally different. The organic farms will continue to grow and produce more quality foods around the world. The healthier and long lasting life is connected with the consumption of more organic foods, which taste better and than the conventional. The organic farms help to reduce chemicals that are used for produce their crops. Thats the way to save the environment and the wild life of the world. A disadvantage of organic food is the life of the product. Without the preservatives found in inorganic foods nearly all of these products must be refrigerated. Organic farming also yields fewer crops because insects, weeds, and fungi often damage a larger portion of organic crops than conventionally grown crops. Finally, only about half of the states regulate organic foods and little exists to stop organic farmers from labeling any food they wish as â€Å"organic†. There are numerous benefits of organic farming[-0] for the environment, as well. Without pesticide or chemical use, the water contamination and health risks that occur elsewhere are eliminated. Crops on organic farms are rotated constantly, which keeps the land fresher, healthier, and less worn out. They also help to avoid pest problems, erosion of the soil, and nutrient deprivation in the soil. Cover crops are planted prior to the main crop and bring helpful things to the land such as nitrogen and helpful insects (Roth, 2) [-0] .. /essay_search/organic_farming. html.

Use of Force Essay Example for Free

Use of Force Essay Use of force can be defined as the right granted to the authority or an individual to settle conflicts through measures that are aimed at either preventing or dissuading a given party from a certain course of action or physical intervention to stop the individual(s) from taking a certain course of action. As such, use of force may be applied by the military, the police, other security personnel or corrections in an effort to stop or prevent crime. The executive branch may also exercise the use of force in such cases as deploying the military or the police in an effort to maintain law and order or to defend the sovereignty of the country in question. However, the use of force by the executive branch is dependent on political jurisdiction passed by the legislative branch. In essence, the use of force is vested in statutes in the constitution with a series of progressive actions authorizing given authorities and security bodies to apply the use of force in certain situation. Unlike the use of negotiation and conflict resolution techniques, forced is useable by a law enforcement officer if a law breaker decline from desisting a certain course of action or if he attempts to run. Use of force in this context includes physical restraint and lethal force to solve or to restrain such an individual from committing the crime. The general rule however remains that only a reasonable force maybe used and only the necessary one given the circumstances under which force is required. As such, individuals authorizing the use of force are always held accountable for the degree or the level of force employed in any given situation (Marie, 2001, p. 43). Law enforcement officers and security personnel are usually faced with varying situation in their line of duty that requires them to use force in deterring crime or even to protect themselves. An example of such a situation is when a police officer is involved in a shoot out with criminals. In such a situation, force will be required not only to deter the criminals but also for self defense. While use of force is permissible in certain circumstances, the level and the degree to which force is applied is usually limited by the circumstance in question. Security and police officers are required to use only the necessary force given a certain circumstance and are thus held responsible and accountable for force used in such circumstances. On the other hand, the degree of force applied by an officer is dependent on not only the circumstance at hand but also on how such an officer is equipped in terms of a gun, handcuffs or other equipment and tools used by law enforcement officers such as pepper spray. As opposed to police officers, security officers are not authorized to make arrests but situation may bid them to take a criminal into custody. Whether a security officer or a police officer, dealing with any situation require the application of reasonable force by avoiding excessive force under the circumstance in question (Regina, 2001, p. 38). In this regard, the officer involved is required to access the seriousness of the situation, the risk associated with such a situation and the situation immediacy. In case it is a security officer who is present in such a situation, the best action to take is to inform law enforcement authorities to take the relevant action. Diffusing any given situation requires that the police officers be well trained and informed regarding the laws applicable and especially on the use of force continuum which gives the necessary guidelines in regard to the degree of force applicable in different situations (Thomas, 2002, p. 62). The use of force continuum can be broken down to six levels that are designed in an elastic manner in the context of the need for using force given that situations keep on changing. For example, a situation may require that the level of force used bounce from level one to level two and back again in a matter of minutes or seconds. In regard to the use of force continuum, the first level includes the presence of a visible and uniformed police officer or a marked vehicle. This is usually seen as enough to stop or deter a crime. The presence of an officer here includes walking, running or standing. Also defined in the concept of presence is use of vehicle lights, speaker or a horn. In this context, the police officer is capable of stopping a crime without a word but rather through the use of gestures and body language. However, such gestures should be professional and non-threatening. The second level involves the combination of presence of an officer and the use of verbal communication to deter or stop a crime in progress. In essence, variation in voice can be used such as whispering, shouting or just normally to achieve the desired results. Officers are usually advised to start calmly in a firm but non-threatening manner. Words chosen and their intensity can be varied as deemed necessary and short commands can be used in dealing with serious situations. This level requires that a police officer be well trained in communication skills so as to be able to communicate effectively in any given situation. In essence, the use of verbal communication combined with the presence of the police officer can be able to deter or stop a crime without the need for physical force (Ian, 1998, p. 23). Level three involves the use of control holds and restraints where words and presence fails to apply. This requires the physical involvement of the police officer present in the situation. However, minimal force should be used including bare hands for guiding, restraining or holding the law breaker. Thus at this level, use of offensive moves such as punching should be avoided. The officer in question may make use of pain compliance holds where ordinary holds fail to control a suspect who is aggressive. On the other hand, the officer may make use of handcuffs where a suspect exhibits traits of aggression, where he or she poses a real threat of where such a suspect exhibits the possibility of fleeing. On the other hand, not all suspects require handcuffs and if the officer uses handcuffs, he is responsible for guiding such an individual to prevent him from falling or tripping. Great care should also be observed to avoid any bodily harm to the suspect such as positional asphyxiation. Training is therefore important to help police officers apply the necessary measures in situations that require use of control holds and restraints (Marie, 2001, p. 52). The forth level of use of force continuum involves the use of chemical agents to diffuse a crime. If the officer establishes that the suspect is threatening or violent, extreme but non violence measures can be used to control the suspect. This however is subject to the assumption that all other levels of force continuum have failed to be effective. In this regard, pepper splay or tear gas can be used to diffuse the situation. It is important to note here that proper care should be taken when using chemical agents to deter or stop a crime as such agents may cause death or severe reactions to suspects with allergic and other medical conditions. Moreover, they can cause the suspect to fall down a staircase or walk into traffic (Regina, 2001, p. 27). Level five involves measures aimed at temporary incapacitating the suspect in question. The assumption behind use of force in this level is that the circumstance was extreme, immediate and violent. The officer then can use empty hands or impact tools. In this regard, defensive and offensive moves are allowed but must be applied properly and in the right circumstances. Temporary incapacitation is useful in preventing an injury in regard to the officer and other people involved in the situation. The officer may make use of baton blows on certain joints areas or on soft tissues or use of stun gun to incapacitate the suspect long enough to handcuff him or get more help. Care must however be taken while applying any measures as some of them such as neck compressions are very risky and poses a threat to the livelihood of the suspect.

Analysis of Marketing Campaign: Victorias Secret

Analysis of Marketing Campaign: Victorias Secret Currently, Victorias Secret offers a large assortment of products that are not only lingerie based. In the store part of the organization, there are also beauty and fragrance products that include cosmetics and skin care. In the Victorias Secret catalogue and Web, the assortment varies even further with lingerie, swimwear, apparel and shoes. Within the Victorias Secret brand, there are sub-brands or collections. These sub-brands have also built recognition. The sub-brands are Pink, Very Sexy, Body by Victoria and Angels. These sub-brands have their own identity but offer and deliver quality, Victorias Secret is one of the most successful businesses in the US today. Their Marketing strategy is hinged upon a well thought of advertising campaign and other special features. History Victorias Secret was established by Roy Raymond in the San Francisco area during the 1970s. Raymond saw an opportunity in taking underwear of the time and turning it into fashion. Products stood apart from the traditional white cotton pieces, which department stores offered, with colours, patterns and style that gave them more allure and sexiness. They combined European elegance and luxury. Even the name Victorias Secret was meant to conjure up images of 19th-century England. The store went so far as to list a fake London address for the company headquarters. Today, Victorias Secret enjoys nearly a monopoly position on the retail of intimate apparel in the US. The typical bra that once sold for $15 at Victorias Secret, when the company first opened and was worried about competition, now sells for over $40. Victorias Secrets Success Starting from Raymonds six stores, Victorias Secret has grown into a giant in the lingerie business. As my colleague just explained VS has virtually no competitors in the womens elegant lingerie market. In the more general category of all underwear, Victorias Secrets sales also tower over the sales of all other underwear brands. Victorias Secrets success is evident in the numbers. Not only does Victorias Secret dominate in its own market, it has also become the fastest growing branch in the Limited family. To understand the success of Victorias Secret, it is necessary to look at the forces in the lingerie industry. First, a range of complements contribute to increasing demand. Complements range from Britney Spears and MTV to perfume, basically anything that is sexually suggestive. The acceptable boundary for sexuality has with these complements been raised higher and higher. Along with this, the media has elevated the position of intimate apparel in our society. Magazines like Cosmo and Glamour advise women to pamper themselves with nice underwear as one of lifes secret survival tips. Bras and panties are commodities that need to be replaced at a modestly frequent level. Therefore, there is no concern for the intimate apparel industry of a decline in demand. The industry is not rivalrous either. Bras are priced over a fairly broad range with high markups. Firms in this industry have very high profit margins. Furthermore, neither the buyers who are women shoppers nor their husbands who are buying gifts have much bargaining power. Suppliers for the intimate apparel industry similarly have very little bargaining power because of the large number of manufacturers and few big buyers. Supermodels who can be considered suppliers in the highly-advertised lingerie business certainly do not have bargaining power, especially when it comes to Victorias Secret. Most models consider it a prestigious honor to be a Victorias Secret model. There is more supply (models) than demand in this case. For such a lucrative industry, there are surprisingly few competitors in the US market. Besides Fredericks of Hollywood, there are no other lingerie retail chain stores. Victorias Successful Marketing Campaign Advertising One of Victorias Secrets strengths is its very successful advertising strategy. In a business that sells an image and a lifestyle, advertising is crucial. Victorias Secret spends $66 million each year on advertising, essentially defining beauty and packaging it for consumers. Thousands of newspaper ads, catalogues, and televised fashion shows convince women that buying Victorias Secret products will boost their confidence and enhance their appeal. A Victorias Secret product represents fun, romance, fantasy, desire and love all in one. As long as they do Victorias Secret lingerie, women can be transformed like Cinderella from the ties of domestic life to one of the angels seen on the walkway. Annual Fashion Show Televised annually, the Victorias Secret Fashion Show Extravaganza has an exclusive contract with nationwide broadcasting station CBS. A symbiotic relationship exists between the two firms. Victorias Secret obtains one hour of nationwide advertising, while CBS holds the exclusive right to one of the most popular programs on TV. For one full hour, beautiful supermodels parade about in Victorias new-line of beautiful lingerie with chic special effects and music that heightens the fashion show to the level of a Broadway production. Women are persuaded that Victorias Secret lingerie will win the enthusiasm they see plainly in their male colleagues. The Supermodels Victorias Secret holds one of the most important input supplies in the lingerie industry: supermodels. Victorias Secret models are synonymous with beauty. Advertisements capitalize on this association and cement in consumer minds that Victorias Secret represents beauty and class. The fact that Victorias Secret has most of the top supermodels working for them is no surprise. Nobody boasts of Banana Republic models or GAP models, but mention Victorias Secret models and everybody gushes about how gorgeous they are. Being a Victorias Secret supermodel is a sign of prestige. Like the top animators who are honored to work for Disney, talented models are enthusiastic about signing up with Victorias Secret because it guarantees them a successful name and chance to be named in an elite group of supermodels, including the likes of Adrianna Lima, Heidi Klum, and Tyra Banks. In order to keep good business flowing, stores need strong marketing strategies. If they do not have people coming into their stores, they obviously will not have much business. Victorias Secret is well aware of this, and they constantly give customers reasons to visit by sending them coupons, special offers, and best of all free stuff! 1. Freebies:ÂÂ  The Free Panty coupon is one of the customers favourite methods. Victorias Secret sends these coupons out every month to all of their customers, and the best thing about this coupon is that there is no purchase necessary. Many times when stores give out coupons to receive free items, it is required that you buy something first. However, people love this particular offer because they can receive a free panty just by walking into the store and handing over the coupon. How does this help Victorias Secret?ÂÂ  Giving away a free item gives customers a reason to go into the store. There arent too many people who will just go in the store, get their free item, and then walk out. Every time one goes in to claim their prize, they always end up stopping to look around at everything else (and usually end up falling in love with something that they really did not need). One ends up spending money every time, and thats a nice profit for Victorias Secret. Theyve gained more business just by handing out a small panty that most likely costs them very little! 2. Exclusive, Limited-Time Coupons:ÂÂ  Another one of their great techniques is when they send coupons for 10 dollars off any Pink purchase. In this situation, customers would receive $10 off any Pink brand item bought in the store. Pink is extremely popular for Victorias Secret, and theres a wide selection in this line. Theres something for everyone. Why not see if you can save on a higher-priced item you may have had your eye on? How does this help Victorias Secret?ÂÂ  They may provide $10 off, but theyre getting you to spend money there. Again, the incentive gets customers through the door and the sought-after merchandise urges them to stick around and do some more shopping. 3. Clearance or Bargain Sales:ÂÂ  Victorias Secret also holds their Semi Annual Sales to drum up business. These sales occur in the winter time (usually every January) and also every summer. These sales are huge (some ladies ransack the displays to find the best deals) and they get tons of people into their store. Many of the items that go on sale during this time are usually discounted between 40 and 70%. People who love Victorias Secret go crazy over these prices, because on a regular day, their prices arent usually that cheap. How does this help Victorias Secret?ÂÂ  Bargain-hunting customers usually buy as many pairs of unmentionables as they can which not only brings in cash but also clears out previous-season merchandise. This frees up space for new designs, which people catch previews of while theyre waiting in line to pay for their purchases. 4. Incremental Incentives:ÂÂ  Not every patron sees the appeal of waiting in lines for the best prices, and VS understands that. Thats why they incorporate online-only deals. For example, they may give a $15 discount for every $100 spent, $30 off for every $150 spent, or maybe even $75 off for $250 spent. This incremental technique is another way for the store to gain new business. How does this help Victorias Secret?ÂÂ  Incremental incentivesÂÂ  encourage people to buy more for a price break or discount. This is especially beneficial for customers who may be near a price break lets say you have $90 worth of merchandise in your cart. Wouldnt you be likely to add one more item if you knew you could then use the coupon for $15 off? I would.

Product Layouts and Group Technologies Essay -- Operations Management

Product Layouts and Group Technologies In today’s world of operations management, layouts of manufacturing processes play a key role in achieving and maintaining long term goals. These layouts need to be well thought out and carefully planned for they can effect the cost or producing goods and delivering services for many years into the future. Layouts are dependent on the technology utilized and product type manufactured. There are four typical layouts: process layout, product layout, fixed position layout and combination layout. A combination layout is a layout that shares properties of two or more layouts. Such as a group technology layout that shares characteristics of a process layout and a product layout. They’re similar in that the cells are designed to perform a specific set of processes, and it is similar to product layout in that the cells are dedicated to a limited range of products. Each layout usually involves compromise and balancing of the process variables and it’s always debatable whether the perfect layout actually exists. â€Å"The purpose of layout planning is: to maximize the efficiency and profitability of a manufacturing operation to allow consistency and quality in products to be produced to allow flexibility and ease of adaptation for machinery and production personnel to products as required by the market†(Anonymous 2). Some characteristics of a good layout would be minimum material movement, workstations close together, easily adjustable to changing conditions and one plant floor so that everyone can see what’s going on. To define and explain, a product layout is a product-orientated layout that is appropriate for producing one standardized product in typically large volumes. Each unit being produced requires the same sequence of operations from beginning till end. During times when product demand is high enough and sustainable over a long period of time, it is usually cost effective to rearrange resources from a process layout to a product layout. In certain cases the equipment layouts are arranged so that the product in manufactured in a sequential and continuous arrangement. A good example would be an assembly line. Assembly lines can vary widely either they can be virtually 100 percent parts assembly by workers or by a transfer line where all the work being done is by machine. An assembly line is ... ...erformance. For example the decision to adopt a process layout which often groups workers according to skills may not be compatible with an operation requiring some persons of all skills to produce a variety of different products. For process and product layouts, the design begins with a statement of the goals and facility. Preliminary layouts are then designed to meet these goals. After initial designs have been developed, improved designs are sought through numerical analysis and discussion with the users. The development of a layout should involve everyone that it is effecting. Computer based models can be used for preliminary estimations to create some preliminary layouts using CAD or similar drawing software. The layouts then can be analyzed against the goals of the facility and improvement made if necessary. In summary while there are a lot of tools for good layout planning and each layout are dependent on the type of products and external variables impacting on the manufacturing process. A skilled layout planner working with manufacturing staff and management should work through objectives and options to determine the optimal solution for a given facility. Product Layouts and Group Technologies Essay -- Operations Management Product Layouts and Group Technologies In today’s world of operations management, layouts of manufacturing processes play a key role in achieving and maintaining long term goals. These layouts need to be well thought out and carefully planned for they can effect the cost or producing goods and delivering services for many years into the future. Layouts are dependent on the technology utilized and product type manufactured. There are four typical layouts: process layout, product layout, fixed position layout and combination layout. A combination layout is a layout that shares properties of two or more layouts. Such as a group technology layout that shares characteristics of a process layout and a product layout. They’re similar in that the cells are designed to perform a specific set of processes, and it is similar to product layout in that the cells are dedicated to a limited range of products. Each layout usually involves compromise and balancing of the process variables and it’s always debatable whether the perfect layout actually exists. â€Å"The purpose of layout planning is: to maximize the efficiency and profitability of a manufacturing operation to allow consistency and quality in products to be produced to allow flexibility and ease of adaptation for machinery and production personnel to products as required by the market†(Anonymous 2). Some characteristics of a good layout would be minimum material movement, workstations close together, easily adjustable to changing conditions and one plant floor so that everyone can see what’s going on. To define and explain, a product layout is a product-orientated layout that is appropriate for producing one standardized product in typically large volumes. Each unit being produced requires the same sequence of operations from beginning till end. During times when product demand is high enough and sustainable over a long period of time, it is usually cost effective to rearrange resources from a process layout to a product layout. In certain cases the equipment layouts are arranged so that the product in manufactured in a sequential and continuous arrangement. A good example would be an assembly line. Assembly lines can vary widely either they can be virtually 100 percent parts assembly by workers or by a transfer line where all the work being done is by machine. An assembly line is ... ...erformance. For example the decision to adopt a process layout which often groups workers according to skills may not be compatible with an operation requiring some persons of all skills to produce a variety of different products. For process and product layouts, the design begins with a statement of the goals and facility. Preliminary layouts are then designed to meet these goals. After initial designs have been developed, improved designs are sought through numerical analysis and discussion with the users. The development of a layout should involve everyone that it is effecting. Computer based models can be used for preliminary estimations to create some preliminary layouts using CAD or similar drawing software. The layouts then can be analyzed against the goals of the facility and improvement made if necessary. In summary while there are a lot of tools for good layout planning and each layout are dependent on the type of products and external variables impacting on the manufacturing process. A skilled layout planner working with manufacturing staff and management should work through objectives and options to determine the optimal solution for a given facility.

Buddhism :: essays research papers

Buddhism is a strict religion with restrictions that determines how a follower of the religion must live life. Buddhism is a large part of culture and society in south- eastern Asian countries. In the western hemisphere, there are simply not enough Buddhists to have a large impact on western society. A Buddhists ultimate goal is to reach their state of nirvana. To reach this state, their life is guided by firm presets. Buddhists believe that their lives they are living now were shaped in a previous life. Therefore Buddhists have to reach their own Karma. In order to reach their own karma, a Buddhist must follow the noble eightfold path. These are right views, right aims, right speech, right conduct, right living, self-control, right- mindedness and right meditation. This backbone to the religion is one of the reasons many people can’t follow it. One of the hardest principles for most Americans to follow would be self- control. The Buddhists meaning of self- control is meditation, yoga, deprive the body of sleep, have no contact with corrupted minds and control your diet. Considering that nearly 2/3 of all Americans are overweight, this would be a hard principle to follow. Another principle Americans would have following is, right conduct. Most people can’t be pure in behavior. This means no drinking or doing drugs, no looking at pornographic magazines etc. a lot of people in the united states will also have trouble telling the truth all the time. It’s hard to find a completely honest person now- a- days. The hardest principle for Americans to follow would be right meditation. Meditation requires willingness to suspend all thought, desires and attachments, and remain quiet. In meditation the material world that we live in is seen as a distraction that robs people of their

Desegregation, Busing, and Schools Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive T

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The issue of desegregation has been a very controversial issue since it was first legally introduced by the Supreme Court in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS. Favoring or not favoring desegregation has not been the issue; almost everyone says they are for it on the surface. The controversy arises when it comes to how to implement desegregation. Immediately following the Brown decision, which advocated school assignment regardless of race, many school districts adopted a geographic school assignment policy. This plan, especially in the 1950's, did very little to do away with segregated schools even though it was a race-neutral policy for integration. From that rocky beginning to desegregation, to the current battles over how best to implement desegregation through mandatory (or voluntary) busing of minorities and whites, this issue has been in the forefront of discussions about race and education. This paper will attempt to give a brief hist ory of desegregation in the United States, followed by a discussion of the current events which surround this issue (with balance given to the viewpoints of both sides), and then offer advice on solutions which most benefit everyone involved.       Brown v. Board of the Education in 1954 was a landmark decision in the education arena. The decision maintained that schools that separated students by the color of their skin could no longer be maintained. The court saw this as necessary, since in their mind schools for black students would always be inferior. This inferiority would not be caused by lack of resources, although that usually was a contributing factor to the poor quality of the school, physically and performance-wise. As the Supreme Court saw it, s... ...yllis A. and Dalmas A. Taylor, eds. Eliminating Racism. New York: Plenum Press, 1988. Bankston III, Carl and Stephen J. Caldas. "Majority African American schools and social injustice: the influence of de facto segregation on academic achievement." Social Forces, Dec. 1996, v75 n2 pp535-556. Bobo, Lawrence. "Whites' Opposition to Busing: Symbolic Racism or Realistic Group Conflict?" Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1983, v45 n6 pp. 1196-1210. Hacker, Andrew. Two Nations. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992. Katz, Phyllis A. and Dalmas A. Taylor, eds. Eliminating Racism. New York: Plenum Press, 1988. Massey, Douglas A. and Nancy A. Denton. American Apartheid. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993. Rivkin, Steven G. "Residential Segregation and School Integration." Sociology of Education, Oct. 1994, v67 pp. 279-292.    Desegregation, Busing, and Schools Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive T   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The issue of desegregation has been a very controversial issue since it was first legally introduced by the Supreme Court in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS. Favoring or not favoring desegregation has not been the issue; almost everyone says they are for it on the surface. The controversy arises when it comes to how to implement desegregation. Immediately following the Brown decision, which advocated school assignment regardless of race, many school districts adopted a geographic school assignment policy. This plan, especially in the 1950's, did very little to do away with segregated schools even though it was a race-neutral policy for integration. From that rocky beginning to desegregation, to the current battles over how best to implement desegregation through mandatory (or voluntary) busing of minorities and whites, this issue has been in the forefront of discussions about race and education. This paper will attempt to give a brief hist ory of desegregation in the United States, followed by a discussion of the current events which surround this issue (with balance given to the viewpoints of both sides), and then offer advice on solutions which most benefit everyone involved.       Brown v. Board of the Education in 1954 was a landmark decision in the education arena. The decision maintained that schools that separated students by the color of their skin could no longer be maintained. The court saw this as necessary, since in their mind schools for black students would always be inferior. This inferiority would not be caused by lack of resources, although that usually was a contributing factor to the poor quality of the school, physically and performance-wise. As the Supreme Court saw it, s... ...yllis A. and Dalmas A. Taylor, eds. Eliminating Racism. New York: Plenum Press, 1988. Bankston III, Carl and Stephen J. Caldas. "Majority African American schools and social injustice: the influence of de facto segregation on academic achievement." Social Forces, Dec. 1996, v75 n2 pp535-556. Bobo, Lawrence. "Whites' Opposition to Busing: Symbolic Racism or Realistic Group Conflict?" Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1983, v45 n6 pp. 1196-1210. Hacker, Andrew. Two Nations. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992. Katz, Phyllis A. and Dalmas A. Taylor, eds. Eliminating Racism. New York: Plenum Press, 1988. Massey, Douglas A. and Nancy A. Denton. American Apartheid. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993. Rivkin, Steven G. "Residential Segregation and School Integration." Sociology of Education, Oct. 1994, v67 pp. 279-292.   

Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 27~28

27 Girl Talk Sepie washed the pilot's hair in a bowl with pounded coconut and brackish water. She had been taking care of the unconscious white man for two days and it was starting to get tedious. She was mispel of the bachelors' house, and washing and ministering to a sick and stinky white man was not in her job description. This was women's work. There are legends in the islands, and some of the old men swear they are true, that the women who service the bachelors' houses, the mispels, were taken to the secret island of Maluuk, known only to the high navigators, where they were trained in the art of pleasuring a man. After months of training, a mispel was required to pass a test before she was allowed to return to her home island to take over the duty of tending to the sexual needs of the men of the bachelors' house. The test? She was sent into the ocean with a ripe brown coconut clutched between her thighs, and there she floated, in heavy surf, for the entire circuit of the tides. Should the coconut pop loose or the mispel touch it with her hands, she failed the test (although there was some leeway in the event of shark attack). It is said that the inner thighs of the mispels of old were as strong as net cable. The second part of the test required the girl to find a delicate dragonfly orchid with a straight stem, and while her teachers looked on, she would lower herself over the flower until it disappeared inside of her, then rise again after a few minutes, leaving the stem unbent and the petals unbruised. The mispel held a position of honor, respected and revered among the is-landers. She was n ot required to do housekeeping, cooking, or weaving, and while the other women toiled in taro fields from the time they could walk, a mispel was allowed to nap in the shade, conserving her energy for her nocturnal duties. A mispel often ended her tour of duty by marrying a man of high status. No stigma followed her into married life, and she would be sought out to the end of her days by the other women for advice on handling men. Sepie, however, had not been chosen because of any special skill, nor had she passed through any vigorous concubinal boot camp. Sepie had been marked for mispel from the moment of her menses, when she emerged from the women's house with her lavalava tied a bit too high and showing a bit too much cappuccino thigh, her skin rubbed with copra until she glistened all over, and her breasts shining like polished wooden tea cups. She had painted her lips with the juice of crushed berries and peppered her long black hair with scores of sweet jasmine blossoms. She giggled coquettishly in the presence of all the men, danced dangerously close to the taboo of speaking to them in public, risked beatings by refusing to fall to her knees when her male cousins passed, and went about her chores with a wiggly energy that had caused more than one of the distracted village boys to fall out of a breadfruit tree during harvest. (She broke ankles as well as hearts.) Sepie was all titter and tease, a lazy g irl who excelled at leisure, a natural at invoking and denying desire, a wet dream deferred. At fifteen she took up residence in the bachelors' house and had lived there for four years. When Malink and the men brought the flyer and the man in the dress to her, she knew she was in for some trouble. â€Å"Take care of them,† Malink said. â€Å"Feed them. Help to make them strong.† Sepie kept her head bowed while Malink spoke, but when he finished she took his hand and led him into the bachelors' house, gesturing to the other men to lay the flyer and his friend on the ground outside. The men smiled among themselves, thinking that old Malink was going inside to receive a special favor from the mispel. What, in fact, he was receiving was an ass chewing. â€Å"Why don't you take them to your house, Malink? I don't want them here.† â€Å"It's a secret. If my wife and daughters find out they are here, then everyone will know.† â€Å"I'm the only one who can keep a secret in the bachelors' house. Take them to old Sarapul's house. No one goes there.† â€Å"He wants to eat them.† Malink couldn't remember ever having to argue with a woman and he wasn't at all prepared for it. â€Å"You're chief. Tell him not to. I will not cook for them. If I feed them, they will shit. I'm not going to clean it up.† â€Å"Sepie, what will you do when you marry and have children? You will have to do these things then. I am asking you as your chief to do these things.† â€Å"No,† Sepie said. Malink sighed. â€Å"I am asking you to do these things because these men have been sent to us by Vincent.† Sepie didn't know what to say. She had heard the Sky Priestess chastise Malink in front of the people, but she had been more concerned with losing coffee and sugar for a month than with the actual offense. â€Å"You will tell the men to cook for them?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"And they will carry them to the beach and wash them if they shit?† â€Å"I will tell them. Please, Sepie.† No man had ever said â€Å"please† to her before, let alone the chief. It was not a courtesy that women deserved. For the first time she realized how desperate Malink really was. â€Å"And you will tell Abo to wash his dick when it is his turn.† â€Å"What does that have to do with this?† â€Å"He is stinky.† â€Å"I will tell him.† â€Å"And you will tell Favo to quit making me put beads in his ass.† â€Å"Favo does that?† â€Å"He said he learned it from the Japanese.† â€Å"Really? Favo?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"But he's old, and he has a wife and many grandchildren.† â€Å"He says it makes his spear stronger.† â€Å"He does? I mean, does it work?† Malink had momentarily forgotten why he was here. â€Å"I don't like it. It is evil and unclean.† â€Å"You're talking about my old friend Favo, right? He's the one you're talking about?† â€Å"I told him only bachelors were suppose to stay here, but he says his wife doesn't understand him. His hands are like the skin of a shark.† â€Å"What kind of beads?† â€Å"Tell him,† Sepie said. â€Å"Okay,† Malink said in English. Then to himself he said: â€Å"Old Favo.† He shook his head as he walked out of the bachelors' house. â€Å"Beads.† Sepie watched him go, wishing that she had asked for more favors. Outside the men were grinning when Malink stepped into the moonlight. He hitched up his loincloth and averted his eyes from theirs. â€Å"Take them inside. You must cook and clean for them. Don't let the woman do it. It is too important for her.† As the men carried Tuck and Kimi into the bachelors' house, Favo ambled up to Malink. â€Å"How was it?† Malink looked at his old friend and noticed for the first time that Favo wore a long string of ivory beads around his neck. â€Å"I have to go home now,† Malink said. Sepie was, once again, swabbing up the wooden floor where the pilot had urinated on himself, when she heard the other one speak for the first time. The men had propped the Filipino up in the corner, where he had sat drinking the coconut milk and fish broth that she had been pouring into the pilot, but except for a few grunts when he made his way outside to urinate, the man in the dress had been quiet for two days. Sepie had learned to ignore him. He didn't smell as bad as the pilot, and she sort of liked his flowered dress. She'd said a prayer to Vincent for a dress just like it. â€Å"Where is Roberto?† the Filipino said. Sepie jumped. It didn't surprise her so much that he had spoken, but that he had spoken in her language. Although the words were clipped, the way someone from Iffallik or Satawan might speak. â€Å"He's right here,† she said. â€Å"Your friend stinks. You should take him outside and wash him in the sea.† â€Å"That's not Roberto. That's Tucker. Roberto is shorter.† Kimi crawled over to Tuck and laid his hand on the flyer's forehead. â€Å"He has bad fever. You have medicine?† â€Å"Aspirin,† Sepie said. Malink had given her a bottle of the tablets to crush into the flyer's broth, but after he gagged on the first dose she had stopped giving it to him. â€Å"He is more sick than aspirin. He needs a doctor. You have a doctor?† â€Å"We have the Sorcerer. He does our medicine. He was a doctor before the Sky Priestess came.† Kimi looked at her. â€Å"What island is this?† â€Å"Alualu.† â€Å"Ha! We have to get doctor for Tucker. He owes me five hundred dollars.† Sepie's eyes went wide. No wonder he wears such a fine dress. Five hundred dollars! She said, â€Å"The chief says I have to be secret about this man. Everyone knows he is here. The boys get drunk and talk. But I can't get the doctor.† â€Å"Why are you taking care of him? You are just a girl.† â€Å"I am not just a girl. I am mispel.† Kimi scoffed. â€Å"There are no mispels anymore.† Sepie threw down the rag she was using to wipe the floor. â€Å"What do you know? You are a man in a dress, and I don't believe you have five hundred dollars.† â€Å"It was a nice dress before the typhoon,† Kimi said. â€Å"Wash-and-wear. No dry cleaning.† Sepie nodded as if she knew what he was talking about. â€Å"It is a very pretty dress. I like it.† â€Å"You do?† Kimi picked at the crushed pleats around his legs. â€Å"It's just an old thing I picked up in Manila. It was on sale. You really like it?† Sepie didn't understand. Among her people, if you admired someone's else possession, manners bound them to give it to you. How could this silly man speak her language and still not know her customs. And he wasn't even looking at her that way all men looked at her. â€Å"What island do you come from?† â€Å"Satawan,† Kimi said. â€Å"I am a navigator.† Sepie scoffed. â€Å"There are no more navigators.† Just then the doorway darkened and they looked up to see Abo, the fierce one, entering the bachelors' house. He was lean and heavily muscled and he wore a permanent scowl on his face. The sides of his head were shaved and tattooed with images of hammerhead sharks. He wore his hair tied into a warrior's topknot that had gone out of fashion a hundred years ago. â€Å"Has the pilot awakened?† he growled. Sepie looked down and smiled coyly. Abo was the one boy in the bachelors' house who didn't seem to accept the communal nature of her position. He was always jealous, enraged, or brooding, but he brought her many presents, sometimes even copies of People that he stole from the men's drinking circle. Sepie thought she might marry him someday. â€Å"He is too sick for this,† Kimi said. â€Å"We need to take him to the doctor.† â€Å"Malink says he must stay here until he is well.† â€Å"He is dying.† Kimi said. Abo looked at Sepie for confirmation. â€Å"Well, he smells dead,† she said. The sooner they sent the pilot to the Sorcerer, the sooner she could get back to spending her days swimming and preening. â€Å"Malink will be angry if he dies,† she added for good measure. Abo nodded. â€Å"I will tell him.† He pointed to Kimi. â€Å"You come with me.† Kimi got up to leave, then turned back to Sepie when he reached the doorway. â€Å"If Roberto comes, tell him I'll be right back.† Sepie shrugged. â€Å"Who is Roberto?† â€Å"He's a fruit bat. From Guam. You can tell by his accent.† â€Å"Oh, him. I think Sarapul ate him,† Sepie said casually.† Kimi turned and ran screaming into the village. Malink looked up from his breakfast, a banana leaf full of fish and rice, to see Abo coming down the coral path toward his house. Malink's wife and daughters shuffled to the cookhouse at the sight of the fierce one. â€Å"Good morning, Chief,† Abo said. â€Å"Food?† Malink answered, gesturing with his breakfast. Abo had already eaten, but it would have been rude not to accept. â€Å"Yes.† Malink's wife poked her head out of the cookhouse and saw the chief nod. In a second she was giving her own breakfast to Abo, who neither thanked her or acknowledged her presence. â€Å"The pilot is sick,† Abo said. â€Å"Very bad fever. Sepie and the girl-man say that he will die soon without the Sorcerer's help.† Malink suddenly lost his appetite. He set his breakfast on the ground and one of his daughters appeared out of nowhere to take it to the cookhouse, where the women shared what was left. â€Å"And what do you think?† Malink asked. â€Å"I think he is dying. He smells of sickness. Like when Tamu was bitten by the shark and his leg turned black.† Malink rubbed his temples. How to handle this? The Sky Priestess was angry with him for even dreaming of the pilot. What would happen if he suddenly showed up with him? â€Å"What about the girl-man?† â€Å"He is not sick, but he has gone crazy. He runs around the village looking for Sarapul.† Malink nodded. â€Å"Catch him and tie him up. Make a litter and take the pilot to the betel nut trees by the runway. Leave him there.† â€Å"Leave him there?† â€Å"Yes, quickly. And bring the litter back with you. Make it look as if he walked to the runway. Send a boy to me when it is done. Go now.† Abo put down his food and ran off down the path. Malink went into his house and pulled the ammo box out of the rafters. Inside, next to the portable phone, he found the Zippo that Vincent had given him. He clicked it open, lit it, and sat it on the floor while it burned. â€Å"Vincent,† he said, â€Å"It's your friend Malink here. Please tell the Sky Priestess that this is not my fault. Tell her that you have sent the pilot. Please tell her for your friend Malink so she will not be angry. Amen.† His prayer finished, Malink snapped the lighter shut, put it away, then took the portable phone and went outside to wait for the boy to tell him everything was in place. 28 Choose Your Own Nightmare Tucker Case rolled through a fever dream where he was tossed in great elastic waves of bat-winged demons – crushed, smothered, bitten, and scratched – and there, amid the chaos, a pink fabric softener sheet passed by the corner of his eye, confirming that he had been stuffed into a dryer in the laundromat of Hell. He tumbled toward the pink, ascended out of the clawing mass, and awoke gasping, with no idea where he was. The pink was a dress on a heart-faced woman who said, â€Å"Good morning, Mr. Case. Welcome back to the world.† A man's voice: â€Å"After your message and the typhoon, we thought for sure you'd been lost at sea.† He was a white blur with a head, then a lab coat wrapped around a tall, smiling middle-aged man, gray and balding, a stethoscope around his neck. The doctor had his arm around the heart-faced woman. She too was smiling, with the aspect of an angel, the vessel of human kindness. Together they looked as if they had walked off of fifties television. The man said, â€Å"I'm Dr. Sebastian Curtis, Mr. Case. This is my wife, Beth.† Tuck tried to speak, but emitted only a rasping squeak. The woman lifted a plastic cup of water to his lips and he drank. He eyed the IV bag running into his arm. â€Å"Glucose and antibiotics,† the doctor said. â€Å"You've got some badly infected wounds. The islanders found you washed up on the reef.† Tucker did a quick inventory of his limbs by feel, then looked at them lest he had lost a leg that was still giving off phantom feel ing. He raised his head to look at his crotch, which was sending pulses of pain up through his abdomen. The woman gently pushed him down. â€Å"You're going to be fine. They found you in time, but you're going to need more rest. ‘Bastian can give you something for the pain if you need it.† She smiled beatifically at her husband, who patted Tuck's arm. â€Å"Don't be embarrassed, Mr. Case. Beth is a surgical nurse. I'm afraid the catheter will have to stay in for a few days.† â€Å"There was another guy with me,† Tuck said. â€Å"A Filipino. He was piloting the boat.† The doctor and his wife shot each other a glance and the â€Å"Ozzie and Harriet† calm shattered into panic, but only for a second, then they were back to their reassuring cooing. Tuck wasn't even sure he had seen the break. â€Å"I'm sorry, but the islanders didn't find anyone else. He must have been lost in the storm.† â€Å"But the tree. He was hung in the tree†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Beth Curtis put her finger gently on his lips. â€Å"I'm sorry you lost your friend, Mr. Case, but you need to get some rest. I'll bring you something to eat in a little while and we'll see if you can hold down some solid food.† She pulled her hand away and put her arm around her husband's waist as he pushed a syringe of fluid into Tuck's IV tube. â€Å"We'll check on you shortly,† the doctor said. Tucker watched them walk away and noticed that for all her â€Å"Little House on the Prairie† purity, Beth Curtis had a nice shape under that calico. Then he felt a little sleazy, as if he'd been caught horning on a friend's mom. Like the time, drunk and full of himself, he'd hit on Mary Jean Dobbins. To hell with solid food. Gin – in large quantities over a tall column of ice – that's the rub. Tonic to chase away the blues of bad dreams and men lost at sea. Tuck looked around the room. It was a small hospital ward. Only four beds, but amazingly clean considering where it was. And there was some pretty serious-looking equipment against the walls: technical stuff on casters, stuff you might use in complicated surgery or to set the timing on a Toyota. He was sure Jake Skye would know what it was. He thought about the Learjet, then felt himself starting to doze. Sleep came with the face of a cannibal, leg-jerk dreams, and finally settled in on the oiled breasts of a brown girl brushing against his face and smelling of coconut and flowers. There was a scratch and scuttle on the tin roof, followed by the bark of a fruit bat. Tuck didn't hear it. The pig thief had been caught and Jefferson Pardee had to find a new lead story. He sat at his desk pouring over the notes he'd written on a yellow legal pad, hoping that something would jump out at him. In fact, there wasn't a lot of jumping material there. The notes read: â€Å"They caught the pig thief. Now what?† You could run down the leads, pound the pavement, check all your facts with two sources, then structure your meticulously gathered information into the inverted pyramid form and what you got was: The pig's owner had gotten drunk and beat up his wife, so she sold his pig to someone on the outer islands and bought a used stun gun from an ensign with the Navy Cat team. The next time her husband got rough, a group of Japanese tourists found him by the side of the road, sizzling in the dirt like a strip of frying bacon. Mistaking him for a street performer, the tourists clapped joyously, took pictures of each other standing beside the electrocuted man, and gave his wife five dollars. The whole intrigue had been exposed when police found the pig-stealing wife in front of the Continental Hotel charging tourists a dollar apiece to watch her zap her husband's twitching supine body. The stun gun was confiscated, no charges were pressed, and the wife beater was pronounced unharmed by a Peace Co rps volunteer, although he did need to be reminded several times of his name, where he lived, and how many children he had. The mystery was solved and the Truk Star had no lead story. Jefferson Pardee was miserable. He was actually going to have to go out and find a story or, as he had done so many time before, make one up. The Micro Spirit was in port. Maybe he'd go down to the dock and see if he could stir up some news out of the crew. He slid his press card into the band of his Australian bush hat and waddled out the door and down the dusty street to the pier where rock-hard, rope-muscled islanders were loading fifty-five-gallon drums into cargo nets and hoisting them into the holds of the Micro Spirit. The Micro Spirit and the Micro Trader were sister ships: small freighters that cruised the Micronesian crescent carrying cargo and passengers to the outer islands. There were no cabins other than those of the captain and crew. Passengers traveled and slept on the deck. Pardee waved to the first mate, a heavily tattooed Tongan who stood at the rail chewing betel nut and spitting gooey red comets over the side. â€Å"Ahoy!† Pardee called. â€Å"Permission to come aboard.† The mate shook his head. â€Å"Not until we finish loading this jet fuel. I'll come down. How you doing, Scoop?† Pardee had convinced the crew of the Micro Spirit to call him â€Å"Scoop† one drunken night in the Yumi Bar. He watched the mate vault over the railing at the bow and monkey down a mooring line to the dock with no more effort than if he was walking down stairs. Watching him made Pardee sad that he was a fat man. The mate strolled up to Pardee and pumped his hand. â€Å"Good to see you.† â€Å"Likewise,† Pardee said. â€Å"Where you guys in from?† â€Å"We bring chiefs in from Wolei for a conference. Pick up some tuna and copra. Same, same.† Pardee looked back at the sailors loading the barrels. â€Å"Did you say jet fuel? I thought the Mobil tankers handled all the fuel for Continental.† Continental was the only major airline that flew Micronesia. â€Å"Mobil tankers won't go to Alualu. No lagoon, no harbor. We going to Ulithi, then take this fuel special order to the doctor on Alualu.† Pardee took a moment to digest the information. â€Å"I thought the Micro Trader did Yap and Palau States. What are you going all the way over there for?† â€Å"Like I say, special order. Moen has jet fuel, we here in Moen, doctor wants jet fuel soon, so we go. I like it. I never been Alualu and I know a girl on Ulithi.† Pardee couldn't help but smile. This was a story in itself. Not a big one, but when the Trader or the Spirit changed schedules it made the paper. But there was more of a story somewhere in those barrels of jet fuel, in the ru-mor of armed guards, and in the two pilots that had passed through Truk on the way to No One's Island. The question for Pardee was: Did he want to track it down? Could he track it down? â€Å"When do you sail?† he asked the mate. â€Å"Tomorrow morning. We get drunk together tonight Yumi Bar. My boys carry you home if you want. Hey?† The mate laughed. Pardee felt sick. That was what they knew him for, a fat, drunken white man who they could carry home and then tell stories about. â€Å"I can't drink tonight. I'm sailing with you in the morning. I've got to get ready.† The mate removed the betel nut cud from his cheek and tossed it into the sea, where tiny yellow fish rose to nip at it. He eyed Pardee suspiciously. â€Å"You going to leave Truk?† â€Å"It's not that big a deal. I've gone off-island before for a story.† â€Å"Not in ten years I sail the Spirit.† â€Å"Do you have room for another passenger or not?† â€Å"We always have room. You know you have to sleep on deck?† Pardee was beginning to get irritated. He needed a beer. â€Å"I've done this before.† The mate shook his head as if clearing his ears of water and laughed. â€Å"Okay, we sail six in morning. Be on dock at five.† â€Å"When do you come back this way?† â€Å"A month. You can fly from Yap if you don't want to come back with us.† â€Å"A month?† He'd have to get someone to run the paper while he was gone. Or maybe not. Would anyone even notice he was gone? Pardee said, â€Å"I'll see you in the morning. Don't get too drunk.† â€Å"You too,† the mate said. Pardee made his way down the dock, feeling every bit of his two hundred and sixty pounds. By the time he made it back to the street, he was soaked with sweat and yearning for a dark air-conditioned bar. He shook off the craving and headed for the Catholic high school to ask the nuns if they had any bright students who might keep the paper running in his absence. He was going to do it, dammit. He'd be on the dock at five if he had to stay up all night drinking to do it.

Hansson Private Label

Vent Consulting Expansion and Risk at Hansson Private Label, Inc. Evaluating Investment in the Goliath Facility HBS#4021 Vent Consulting takes pleasure in presenting our Hanson Private Label’s (HPL) capital expansion executive summary. We carefully reviewed all applicable case materials and believe we have quantified your primary risks, benefits, and most attractive course of action. 1) HPL has performed exceptionally well since inception in 1992. Financial statements show that operating revenues have increased from $503. 4M in 2003 to $680. 7M in 2007.During this time, gross operating profit increased by $24. 3M. This illustrates that the company is not sacrificing profits for top level growth. Capital replenishment matches or exceeds depreciation. Net income increased during the same time span by $9. 6M. The revenue gross margin has averaged 7. 8% growth and the gross margins have averaged 18. 6% over the last five years, while net income has averaged 5. 3%. Dividends have b een paid to stockholders. Cash flow from operations has increased steadily. The cash from investing has fluctuated from a low of $5. M in 2006 to a high of $7. 8M in 2003, indicating an overall conservative strategy of controlled expansion. HPL used more cash in financing in 2006 and 2007 than in previous years, which may contribute to future growth. To reinforce the company’s financial performance: †¢Total assets have grown over the years to a high of $380. 8M in 2007 †¢Long-term debt is at a five year low at $54. 8M †¢Net working capital is at a five year high of $102. 5M All four plants under HPL are operating at 90% capacity and a focus on conservative efficiency has led to strong financial performance.Comparatively speaking, HPL’s 9. 26% EBITDA ratio is stronger than industry competition, another indicator of strong earnings and management. 2) Vent Consulting’s analytical summary is provided in Appendix 1. Note the calculated NPV of $4,971 an d IRR of 11. 1% at tab NPV-BASLINE. Given an accepted discount rate of 9. 38%, both the positive NPV and the positive 1. 7% IRR spread on this investing type project initially indicate a rewarding proposal. Additionally, the calculated profitability index of 1. 11 suggests the project should be pursued.Note that the discounted payback period is just under 7 years, 4 years beyond the contractual commitment under consideration with HPL’s largest retail customer. 3) Sensitivity analysis reveals interesting factors, however. Note in the additional tabs: †¢Ramping up capacity utilization to 85% in 3 years instead of the projected 5 years yields a full 2% IRR increase. †¢If aggressive marketing can capture secondary demand from competitors and increase capacity utilization from 85% to 95% in years 4 through 10, IRR is increased to 14. 8%. †¢The project is very sensitive to unit selling price.If expected annual growth in sales price rises from 2% to just 3. 5%, IRR ri ses a full 6. 7% to 17. 8%. †¢The project is also very sensitive to commodity costs. A small . 5% increase in expected inflation from 1. 0% to 1. 5% annual raw material costs reduce baseline IRR calculations to 9. 5%, making the project unattractive compared to the 9. 38% discount rate. †¢Improved capital planning yields expected improved project returns. The last tab illustrates a potential improvement of 2. 5% IRR. Given this information, Vent Consulting has identified 3 courses of action (COA): 1) Accept the capital expansion proposal as written by Mr.Gates 2) Accept the retailer ‘s 3–year contract, but reduce capital risk by reducing the scale of expansion, improving the use of working capital and sub-contracting production shortfalls to other producers. 3) Maintain status quo and reject the retailer contract Despite the positive NPV, Vent Consulting recommends rejection of COA 1 due to the following uncontained risk factors: †¢Required capital expans ion and associated financing does not match the proposed customer contract, adding uncontrolled capacity utilization risk.This risk is compounded by a lack of customer diversification. †¢Difficult-to-predict sales price and raw material cost variables also add significant uncovered risk. Vent Consulting also recommends rejection of COA 3. This course of action would propagate HPL’s growing â€Å"cash cow† business model, and sacrifice an ideal opportunity to improve company performance and steal market share in cooperation with one of the largest industry retailers. We strongly recommend COA 2, which apitalizes on market opportunity while minimizing the significant risk of the original proposal. Specifically: †¢Reduce capital expansion to 40% of proposed project. †¢Improve capital management †¢Dedicate primary capacity to key/primary retail customer(s) †¢Sub-contract production shortfalls to other producers for lessor retailers/customers Vent C onsulting is eager to provide additional recommendations on how this is would be best accomplished — for a fee — once we’ve completed another few Themes.