Case Study Parrot Head Essay

How can we consider Jimmy Buffet as members of a reference group? A brand community. The definition of a reference group is the people of whose attitudes, behavior, beliefs, opinions, preferences, and values are used by an individual as the basis for his or her judgment. One does not have to be (or even aspire to be) a member of a reference group to be negatively or positively influenced by its characteristics. Jimmy Buffet fans are a part of reference group because they each relate to each other with similar beliefs and behaviors and all have a common bond in following the music of Jimmy Buffet and follow the themes of the fan base similar to dead heads (Grateful Dead). It seem that this reference group aka parrot heads are also part of a nerd group by themselves. Parrot heads is also a humanitarian group and has over 200 different clubs and volunteer groups and charitable events for communities for a charity. This reference group notonly attends Jimmy Buffet concerts but they also are part of huge tailgating party that likes to dress up in tropical outfits and like to drink and pass around blow up dolls filled with alcohol and have fun and escape from their daily nerdy lives. Jimmy Buffet music was big in the late 70’s but his following has become even much bigger today and multi-generational and is not uncommon to see a parent attending this events with one of his adult siblings partaking in the festivities. A brand community is a community or a company to express shared interest in a particular product or â€Å"brand†. In the case of Jimmy Buffet the brand name is Margaritaville from his hit song back in 1977. This brand has gone far beyond selling T shirts and posters but has become a major multi- million dollar business and his branding ranges from a wide range from clothing to casinos and everything in between. I personally am not a parrot head or have been to a one of his concerts but enjoy his music and would probably enjoy going to a concert if the opportunity presented itself. I have a neighbor who is a huge â€Å"Parrot Head† and she has all kinds of Margaritaville brand products from bags games, to Adirondack  chairs to a huge fake palm tree in her backyard and travels to Las Vegas to go to the casino. It is reported Jimmy Buffet has a net worth of over $400 million dollars with his branding and although was a decent musician he has become a marketing giant with his branding. What kind of opportunities does the existence of the Buffett community present to marketers? Develop a list of specific marketing and promotional tactics. The opportunities are endless for the Margar itaville community as long as they are not violating the trademark or bootlegging the products. If you are an entrepreneurial type of person you could work with Margaritaville and develop products that are marketed towards this reference group or could be part of several type of businesses that use this branding or other similar products. Here is a list of promotional tactics one could use to market to this reference group. The Margaritaville line implies quality, value and good times and has a colorful tropical theme and can be put on all different kinds of merchandise that could be sold through several distribution channels. Margaritaville clothing line Restaurant Franchise Hotels Casinos Grocery stores Music stores retailing Jimmy Buffet music Liquor stores Books Clothing lines Parrot Head Hats Sunglasses Club for community charity The Margaritaville brand continues to expand and as new booming markets are created you can see the branding take advantage of those markets that are growing. References Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, Being (10th ed.). (2013). Saddle River, NJ: Michael R. Soloman. Reference Group Definition – Sociology. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://sociology.about.com/od/R_Index/g/Reference-Group.htm What Is a Brand Community? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-brand-community.htm Margaritaville: A Brand Anything But Wasting Away | Beneath the Brand. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.talentzoo.com/beneath-the-brand/blog_news.php?articleID=15368 Parrot Heads in Paradise Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.phip.com/

50 Ways to Combat Climate Change

Climate change is something that has been on the radar of people worldwide since the 1980's, when the hole in the ozone layer of Antarctica was discovered. Are we doing enough to reduce climate change, and reverse the effects of global warming? While it might be nearly impossible to reverse climate change, we can try to slow down the effects of climate change. On this page, you can find earth friendly tips on reducing your carbon footprint, from greening your vacations to recycling, reducing your energy use at home to helping promote sustainable forestry. . Eat less meat, and eat more vegetables. Cattle are one of the largest producers of methane, a gas that helps contribute to global warming. Cut back on the meat, and you'll be contributing to less methane. 2. Use a more energy efficient vehicle to reduce emissions and oil use. The Toyota Prius always tops the list of most efficient cars, but don't forget the Accord, Sanata, and Jetta. 3. Plant a tree on your own, or in Brazil. You can make donations to help plant trees far away, or plant one locally to help produce more oxygen and filter our air. 4.Take public transportation. Even if you only take public transportation once a week or once a month, you're lessening potential emissions that contribute to climate change. 5. Turn the temperature down on your thermostat to save energy. Any energy you save lessens the amount of fossil fuels used at energy plants. 6. In the warmer months, use window and fan ventilation over air conditioning when possible instead of air conditioning (in your car, too). 7. Purchase recycled products, like recycled paper and recycled plastic toys. 8. Reuse things in your life.Even recycling takes some amount of energy to transform a material into something else. By reusing, there's no transformation or emissions involved, just a little brain power. 9. Buy locally, from farmers markets, locally grown shops, and even in the grocery store to lessen transport energy. Aim to buy your produc e where it's grown closest to you (it often tastes much better this way, too). 10. Start an herb garden or veggie garden. Nothing tastes fresher, it will save you money, and you won't have to drive in the car to get your herbs and veggies.Very little energy consumed! 11. Unplug energy suckers when they aren't in use. Your appliances, toasters, computers, televisions and cellphone charges all use energy just by being plugged in. So, save energy by unplugging! 12. Use CFL bulbs to reduce electricty usage. They save you money, save the environment, and even glow brighter. 13. Bring your own reusable bags to reduce climate change. Bring them to the grocery store and anywhere else you go shopping. If you have a single item and don't need a bag, don't take one. 14.Drink tap water over bottled water. Bottled water costs more, takes more energy to create, and to transport. In most circumstances, tap water is cleaner than bottled water. 15. Think about using reusable diapers to prevent diape rs from decomposing in a landfill. Disposable diapers take up approximately 4% of landfill space, and take hundreds of years to decompose. 16. Use a zero voc paint when painting a room in your home. The VOCs found in traditional paints can be hazardous for you and the ozone. 17. Switch to paperless billing.It's a benefit for the companies, but a great benefit for the environment, too. It's also nice to not be inundated with bills in the mail. 18. Bring your own reusable take out container. These small styrofoam containers really add up! 19. Bring your own reusable container and reusable bag for lunch. 20. Use less resources and energy when you travel by having a green vacation. 21. When you buy anything, buy for the long term instead of the short term. Buy a product that is going to last for a long time, instead of buying the disposable or short term version.A good example is clothing. Higher quality brands will last much longer and hold up better, while cheaper brands often only ge t a few short wears. 22. Support clean energy to reduce climate change, as well as other renewable resources like wind energy and geothermal. 23. Get healthier. By eating less food and exercising more, you'll be consuming less packaging, throwing away less, creating less waste, spending less, going to the doctor's less, and living longer. 24. Take a slightly less warm shower. Heating water is one of the most energy consuming parts of our lives.Warm showers feel great, but reducing the amount of time in the shower and the temperature by just a small amount can make a big difference. Taking cooler showers can also give you better skin. 25. Buy products with less packaging. The less packaing, the less you'll throw away into our landfills. 26. Turn off your cellphone and other electronics at night to cut back on electricity. 27. Try a low energy cold water wash, combined with hanging clothes on the clothesline. 28. Use energy efficient washers and dryers. The savings on your utilities l one will be substantial, but the benefit to the earth will be greater. 29. Reduce junk mail that comes to your home by following these simple steps. 30. Reduce the amount of aersols, candles, and perfumes used by switching to natural perfumes and natural room fresheners. 31. Learn how to recycle things in your life. Start with the obvious choices like cans and bottles, then get more serious (curbside pickup makes it very easy). 32. Save gas and money by carpoolling. The savings will add up, you'll have someone to talk to, and you'll be helping the slow down climate change. 3. Consolidate errands and plan your route to save gas. 34. Order online orders in bulk. When things are shipped together, less packaging and energy is used (and it's cheaper, usually). 35. Buy used and buy repurposed. This prevents new products from being made (and fossil fuels from being burned), helping the environment. 36. Use a reusable product to clean your home instead of disposable paper towels, like reusa ble paper towels, sponges and cloths. 37. Sell your stuff on Ebay, try to throw away less. 38. Donate your stuff instead of throwing it away. 39.Compost to reduce climate change by reducing trash in landfill spaces. 40. Camp out on vacation instead of staying in a hotel and enjoy the outdoors (without the TV and A/C). 41. Go digital and online with more things in your life, like photos, using ecards instead of ecards, and ebooks. There's the Kindle for wireless reading, free ecards, and many free photo hosting websites to store your photos online. 42. Schedule online meetings to save on flights and travel expenses, as well as transport energy. 43. Bring your own reusable to-go coffee cup to the cafe instead of taking a disposable one. 4. Help protect our forests so that the forests can help combat climate change. 45. Recycle packaging instead of throwing it away. Donate it to a local UPS store or post it on Craigslist. 46. Encourage and become involved in reforestation to slow clima te change. 47. Buy sustainable wood, repurposed wood, or a used wood product for furniture purchases. 48. Consider Ecycling your computers and electronics instead of throwing them away. 49. Swap clothing, toys and books with neighboring parents and friends instead of buying new ones. 50. Most importantly, educate others about climate change.

Philosophy Of Education Paper Essay

As with any successful profession, there must be a strong foundation on which  to build upon. This foundation in the field of education is your personal philosophy of education. Successful teaching includes diversity of every student’s backgrounds, and levels of ability. Without losing sight of goals, my beliefs of teaching and learning are very specific. First, I believe every child deserves to receive an education. No matter their race or income, every child deserves to learn. The are innocent beings, and these children are going to be our future someday. More specifically, the philosophy that I would teach to my students would be Cultural Nationalism. â€Å"The cultural nationalist teacher focuses exclusively on the experience of the oppressed group as the center or pivot of the curriculum† (Asante, p. 4). I want to use what is going on in the world and focus on their cultural experience. This allows children from oppressed groups to feel nurtured in their school environment day by day. Another philosophy that I have is, I believe a teacher should make learning fun for his/her students. When children are having fun at school, It makes them want to come back and keep coming back. Regular curriculum can get pretty boring. Making the curriculum fun engages the students into learning, and helps them understand it better. Also, I believe in staying involved with professional development so we can continuously learn new things. It is important to me to keep using updated technology  in classrooms. â€Å"Matthew Arnold warned that faith in machinery was humankind’s greatest menace† (Postman, p. 36). I do not believe in what  Arnold stated. I think that new technology in the classrooms is constantly helping teachers and the whole education process. Next, I believe in striving to have positive relationships with students and parents. It is very important to have somewhat of a personal relationship with your students and their parents. It really shows that you care as a teacher. Developing positive relationships with your students allows you to understand them more. This allows you to figure out the best way to teach each and everyone of your students. There are times when we encounter students that require a little more effort than others. When we are faced with this type of situation teacher must reflect on the true meaning of teaching. This will enable the teacher to embrace the difference in the learning styles of students and allow the teacher to develop innovative strategies for reaching such a diverse population. Teachers should give all students the chance to let their creative juices flow. With a little nudge and some encouragement there is no end to what a student can do. Teachers must realize that the impact that we have on our students last a lifetime. I can always remember being told knowledge is power. This statement has been true for decades and surely will be true in the future.

Education Sector Best Practices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Education Sector Best Practices - Essay Example Curriculum entails more than an ordinary definition; it is a key issue in the process of education. The scope of career development is so large that it affects every person involved in learning and teaching. Inclusive education practices entail  making the students feel welcomed and valued in the school, and therefore the students are effectively able to undertake all school activities entail rams. Diversity is accepted and respected; students’ different cultures, backgrounds, skills interests and needs; are taken into consideration in school practices and programs. To achieve thi9s end, there exists inclusive practices tools like; student survey, community survey, staff survey, school review profile, inclusive practices and survey reports. Inclusive practices tools are applied in supporting primary, intermediate or schools in engaging in the review process. The main purpose of the review process entails supporting schools in the journey towards developing and implementing inclusive processes for learners, including learners requiring special attention and consideration. Continuous personal development entails; learning by participating in the continuing professional development process; and from the experience and even the feedback. Competent professionals; look for opportunities and challenges in personal learning and development; identify mistakes and use them for learning opportunities; continuously participate in professional development programs; change behavior towards the positive through feedback and reflection. (Booth, 2011 15).Opportunities for learning and development include, pursuing management development training program.

Why is it important for individuals and organizations to change Essay

Why is it important for individuals and organizations to change - Essay Example Consequently, personal changes facilitate correction of deviant behaviours in people. Through the process of individual change, people incorporate new knowledge and practices that eventually transform into a culture. Therefore, individual change is a prerequisite process for cultural development. At the organizational level, change is significant for optimisation of the status of the institution. Organizational changes facilitate adaptation of the institution to environmental dynamics. Business organizations operate in a highly competitive market that is intertwined with technological and managerial advancements. Organizational changes thus enable firms to implement new management strategies, operational technologies and effective organizational cultures that would preserve or heighten their marketing niche. Additionally, changes are significant in organizations to mitigate operational or managerial crisis. Thus, organizational change is important for the development and implementation of an effective organizational culture (Quinn, 1996). Personally, deep change refers to a change process that is radical in that it is irreversible and individual control over the process is limited. Deep change is underlined with a personal vision that motivates one to pursue the change process independently. Unlike incremental change that is characterised with transactional processes, deep change entails transformational process and leadership. In addition, one should always be ready to encounter risks or even failure while undertaking deep change. Wholesomely, deep change encompasses sustainable changes at both the individual and organizational

Conflicts of interest in nowadays business Essay

Conflicts of interest in nowadays business - Essay Example Primary interests include all the responsibilities a person has at work depending on his/her kind of activity. Secondary interests are personal purposes and wishes such as making career, money making, doing favors for relatives. Certainly, financial motives are the most widespread causes of conflict of interest occurrence. Actually, personal interests are natural as all the people have them; however, they can easily become obnoxious in case if their motivation becomes stronger in comparison with primary interests’ motivation. The conflict of interest may be frequently present in the dormant form, but it turns into the real conflict when the person is really strongly influenced by secondary interests. Thus, there is a notion â€Å"conflict in a conflict of interests†. It appears in case when the risk of acting following secondary interests is present. More general interpretation of conflict of interest states that it is the circumstances in which a person or a company us es the official authorities for personal advantage. Actually, only the presence of conflict of interest is not considered as bad behavior as this is natural that employees or executives do have conflict of interest sometimes. ... Really, as it was explained above, conflict of interest may be present but the fact of misdeed may be absent at the same time. Here it is essential to introduce the notion of â€Å"conflict of roles† when a person has two roles at once and they are conflicting. For example, he/she may have governmental position and may own stock at the same time. Such differing of roles sometimes can lead to misdeed and misuse. Conflicts of interests may have different forms. The first form is self-dealing conflict of interest when an individual who is working in one company has a deal with the individual from another company for his own advantage. The second form is connected to the conflict of roles when a person has two jobs and the interests of one contradict the interests of another. The next form is related to family interests when a person may give to his/her relative a desired and prestigious job or an individual may buy something from the company his relative works in. Another popular form is making presents to a person who you work with. One of the important purposes of political ethics is to regulate the conflicts of interests, because the primary task of governmental officials is to provide public service not taking into account their personal interests. â€Å"Where a  conflict  exists, it should be dealt with in a transparent and accountable way. Even the mere perception that a  conflict  of  interest  has influenced an outcome can undermine public confidence in an organization’s integrity.   Having a clear policy which details specific reporting procedures and staff who are fully aware  of  their obligations to disclose any  conflicts  of  interest are effective ways  of  ensuing that they are handled appropriately, before they give rise to

Creating a Health Promotion Program for Type II Diabetics Essay

Creating a Health Promotion Program for Type II Diabetics - Essay Example Of course, not all goals will be met for all clients, but it is important to have an optimal objective. The main overall goal of the program is for clients to retain long-term exercise habits. The effective disease management program approaches the problem of diabetes in terms of access, prevention, diagnosis, and prevalence. This is seen as a positive move forward. Goals and methods of the diabetes disease management program include reducing morbidity and mortality. Diabetes often leads the patient to die of a related condition and the patient needs to be educated about risk first and foremost. This group of authors state that, â€Å"The goal is to not only to provide clinical information about new therapy, but also information about the effect of the therapy on aspects of life that are valued by patients, or health related quality of life† (Curtis et al., 13). It is important for evidence based professionals to know their clients and to improve their quality of life, in ways that decrease the incidences of diabetes. The quality of life problems and priorities of people with type II diabetes are various. Patients who cannot control their diabetes or are unable to may develop complications from the disease that are very serious, such as the risk of blindness, renal failure, and even the amputation of lower limbs. â€Å"Adjunctive referral to a diabetes support group may be helpful for some patients when complications arise. Establishing group involvement may be difficult at the stage when serious complications set in, however, because healthier members sometimes have difficulty accepting patients with complications† (Diabetes, 2005). This presents a barrier to the disease management plan for a group format because some patients may see those diabetics with severe complications such as blindness as a reflection their own future with the disease, and react negatively, thus

Why has the Mafia been able to survive for so long, despite enormous Essay

Why has the Mafia been able to survive for so long, despite enormous pressure from law enforcement - Essay Example Evidently, there are several notable reasons as to why the mafia has continuously survived for so long despite pressure from law enforcers. Foremost, the mafia is uniquely structured in its organization by having friends in centers of influence of power. Incidentally, the Sicilian mafia has been known to bankroll the elections of political personalities with close ties to it. Evidently, in 2008, a man who was previously colluding with the mafia was re-elected into parliament. This just shows the political backing that the mafia enjoys as support. Moreover, the types of illegal business operations conducted by the mafia have led to the control of enormous resources. Evidently, the mafia engages in drug trafficking, gambling, extortions, prostitution and street taxes. As a result, the high resource base at the mafia’s control aids them in corrupting government officials and law enforcers that can further aid and abet their illegal activities. The mafia equally has a hierarchical structure of authority among the member that guarantees continuity. Consequently, the crime boss or Capo Famiglia is succeeded by the capo bastone or underboss in the event of anything such as death or incarceration to the crime boss. As a result, breaking the chain of authority and operation of the mafia has proven to be quite a problem to law

Financial Analysis and Pricing Structure Research Paper

Financial Analysis and Pricing Structure - Research Paper Example Off 2 Gran Grans is a service organization with a significant emphasis on using corporate social responsibility as a positioning and competitive tool. The target market for the company is the senior citizen aged 60 to 100, with a secondary market consisting of immobilized shut-ins of varying age categories to assist in revenue production. Off 2 Gran Grans provides assistance services, such as house cleaning and errand running for medications and groceries, with a supplementary service for visitation, consisting of gate keeping services and interpersonal relationship development. Being alone is rather frightening to most senior citizens supporting psychologists stating that warm interpersonal relationships are the most fundamental of human needs (Brammertz and Akkizidis 9). Off 2 Gran Grans will provide psychological adjustment for its target consumers and also fill a tangible need that require fulfilling due to limited mobility, lack of access to transportation, and lack of family an d social support. Financial Analysis for Off 2 Gran Grans In the financial analysis of the products and services that Off 2 Gran Grans, the business will need to re-evaluate the number of customers that are likely going to require its services and determine the revenue that it expects from the services it will offer to the customers (Brammertz and Akkizidis 9). ... The business will also need to estimate the expected return on investment before venturing into business. This will aid the decision on how much to invest in the business and even estimate the time that the business is going to require in order o break even. The financial analysis for the above company is going to encompass three main areas, that is, the net present value, the sensitivity analysis, and the break-even analysis (Lee, Lee and Lee 25). This is important in leveraging the company in a business that has negative reviews from customers. However, this will enable the business to identify where its competitors have been failing and correct it before setting out to provide the services to the people. Break-even analysis The understanding of the break-even in a business is important because it helps in fixing the financial status of any business. As a service provider, Off 2 Gran Grans will need to have a a competitive price for its services and products to the elderly people t hat will be identifiable with the customers. The business will have to take a number of initiatives that are geared towards ensuring that fixed expenses like rent, electricity and others are kept to the minimum with a view of cutting down on the operation costs (Shim and Siegel 32). In determining the breakeven point, Off 2 Gran Grans will require to have 200 customers who will be charged $100 per month as upkeep costs. Since the organization’s initial investments is between $58,000 and $95,000, the company therefore should expect to break even in five years’ time. However, with investment in advertisement each year, this period may be reduced to 3 years. Sensitivity

Three stocks Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Three stocks - Assignment Example These companies outstanding performance throughout the past five years in the stock market make them the most preferable investment option. Microsoft Corporation deals with the development, licensing, marketing, and supports software, services, and devices globally. It is based in Redmond, Washington and was founded in 1975. Apple Inc. deals with the designing, manufacturing, and marketing of mobile communication and personal computers, media devices, and portable digital music players across the globe. Its headquarters are in Cupertino, California and was founded in 1977. General motors deals with the designing, building, and selling of cars, trucks, crossovers, and automobile parts across the globe. Its headquarters of operation are in Detroit, Michigan and was founded in 1897. Microsoft has since the past 3 years been experiencing a huge gross profit year after year. Similarly General Motors and Apple have also had huge gross profits throughout the last 3 years. This strong financial record of the three companies is an assured well thought investment. This financial statements are summarized in the table below. Also, from the S&P 500 index the three companies show good trends from the past 5 years. The S&P is an important tool when it comes to investment since it depicts the free-float value of the major 500 corporations in the US equity market. The S&P 500 is constantly updated daily and can be used to track a company’s high and low stock prices for a period of 5 years. Hence, an important tool when evaluating the risk or returns of a particular investment. Data from the S&P index project a significant earnings growth in the three companies by over +30%. The S&P data index forecasts summary is shown in the table below. The three companies’ financial records with good profit margins and generated revenue have sustained the continual existence and profitability of the companies for decades. They have remained at the top despite the presence of

Chapter 7 Reaction Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chapter 7 Reaction Paper - Essay Example Stereotypes end up dehumanizing a whole group of people, essentially pigeonholing them without giving them any chance to prove their own unique identity. When talking about the â€Å"accuracy† of stereotypes, I did not like the fact that the author mentions that some stereotypes are â€Å"accurate.† The fact that he goes on to mention very objective terms (like the income of a certain group of people), further augments my point. Stereotypes, I feel are based on subjective terms and not objective ones, and that is precisely why they are so damaging. However, I did like the idea the author then goes on to say how, even though we cannot get rid of stereotyping all together, we need to recognize them for what they are so that they can be productive and not destructive. In this regard the chapter itself contains certain stereotypes, which the author also admits. However, I would have liked it if there had been mention of stereotypes causing prejudices to be formed. I liked h ow the article relays the idea that we need to acknowledge that people are different, or that certain groups of people will be different as a collective. However, if that is true, then, perhaps, there is a premise for stereotyping to be an effective social tool. Nonetheless, it need not be so if we refrain from making rigid assumptions about a whole group of people and applying them on individuals as well.

Torsional pendulum final experiment Essay Example for Free

Torsional pendulum final experiment Essay To improve reliability of my results I will perform 3 runs for each measurement rather than 1, this will allow me to average the 3 results for each measurement which will improve reliability of results, and if there is one of the 3 that does not fit it can be excluded and average the other 2. I will no longer need to do 5 oscillations and then divide by 5 as the accuracy of the readings by the light gate ensures that the experimental error will already be eliminated as human error and reaction time no longer applies. Â  I will scale up parts of the experiment which produced larger than expected error. Therefore I will use a larger diameter of wire, which will therefore reduce the percentage error as the accuracy of the micrometer will still be the same. Â  The time period was where the majority of the errors occurred in the preliminary. Therefore I am going to use a light gate to measure the time period, this will reduce error on the time period significantly. It will eliminate the human error as the error due human reaction time will no longer apply. There will only be a reading error now, which is far less significant than the experimental error. I will use a range of lengths from 100-500mm rather than 100-800mm, as when the length becomes very long the bar on the bar on the wire tends to wobble a lot more than when a shorter length is used. Therefore I am hoping this will further reduce the error in the time period. I will go up by 50mm each time so that I get a suitable number of results. Aim: Investigate the effect of changing the length of wire on the time period for a Torsional pendulum. Equipment: Â  Retort Stand with clamp to hold the wire and bar when oscillating and to hold the motion sensor. Bung cut into two halves so I can change length of the wire easily and hold the wire tightly. Â  Metal Bar which will move through the motion sensor to give time periods. Approximately 0. 700,m long wire( extra 200mm to allow for tying wire and excess at top of clamp to easily be able to change length) Â  Laptop with Sensing science (graph) software which logs the data in real time. Â  Light gate including easy sensor and cables, this will measure the time period. Micrometer to measure diameter of the wire. Â  Meter long ruler to measure out correct lengths of wire and measure length of the bar. Diagram: Fair test. It is important to make the experiment fair to ensure reliability of results. The following must be considered when carrying out my experiment. Â  Ensure the same bar is used for each run so that these constants (mass and length) dont change. Ensure the diameter of the wire is the same for the whole length, take readings at regular intervals on the wire to be sure. Turn 90 degrees anticlockwise for each time period measured, as the twist on the wire will be different otherwise. Also ensure that before turning 90 degrees that the wire and bar are in the equilibrium position, 0 angular displacement / no twist. Theory: As I predicted in the preliminary I expect the time period to increase as the length of wire increases, this is due to the equation derived in my research above. T=2? Where theoretically the relationship between time period and length should be T? L0. 5. However, from the equation I can see that the diameter is to the power of 4, therefore even a very small change in diameter will cause a major difference in the time period, therefore using a greater diameter will cause the denominator to be much larger and so the overall time period will be significantly lower. For example I will expect the time period for 0. 1m to be significantly less than 6. 162s, which is obtained from the preliminary using a smaller diameter. Using the theory above I can make a predicted graph of what I am expecting from my log log graph, by simply putting the lengths into the formula, as I already have the measured diameter of wire, length and mass of bar. This is what I obtained. This shows that I should obtain exactly 0. 5 as the gradient and the R squared correlation should be as close to 1 as possible to represent a strong correlation Method: Â  Set up the apparatus shown above, connect lead into laptop and open sensing science software, select com1. Set the time to 30 seconds and tick light gate sensor.* Measure the length of the bar using a meter ruler and the mass using a scale. Â  Get two 700mm copper wires and tie them together ensuring that the diameter is constant for the whole length. Then connect the wire to the metal bar, attach the wire to the bung and tighten. Measure the diameter of the wire at a few intervals and ensure that it is the same, record this diameter. Rotate the bar 90 degrees anticlockwise and let go, and at the same time press on run on the laptop. Allow the bar to complete 3 oscillations; this would be 2 peaks, 3 times, as shown below. Once 3 oscillations are complete then click the stop button. Click on interval and hold and drag from one peak to 2 peaks later, this will give you the time period for one oscillation. Record this in a suitable format and do the same for the next 2 oscillations. Â  Repeat this process for lengths 100-500mm going up by 50mm each time, this will ensure I have enough results to be able to have a good graph. Results: As you can see from the first graph without the logs, the relationship is that an increase in length causes an increase in time period. This was the prediction I made and also that the time periods would be significantly less than the preliminary due to a greater diameter of wire. I also added an R squared value to my log log graph; this gives me the strength of the correlation. With 1 being the highest, mine was 0. 9868, which shows very strong correlation.

Introduction To Microsoft Word Computer Science Essay

Introduction To Microsoft Word Computer Science Essay Microsoft Word is a non-free commercial word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS (1983), the Apple Macintosh (1984), the ATT Unix PC (1985), Atari ST (1986), and Microsoft Windows (1989). It is a component of the Microsoft Office system; it is also sold as a standalone product and included in Microsoft Works Suite. The current versions are Microsoft Word 2010 for Windows and 2011 for Mac. HISTORY In 1981, Microsoft hired Charles Simonyi, the primary developer of Bravo, the first GUI word processor, which was developed at Xerox PARC. Simonyi started work on a word processor called Multi-Tool Word and soon hired Richard Brodie, a former Xerox intern, who became the primary software engineer. Microsoft announced Multi-Tool Word for Xenix and MS-DOS in 1983. Its name was soon simplified to Microsoft Word. Free demonstration copies of the application were bundled with the November 1983 issue of PC World, making it the first program to be distributed on-disk with a magazine. Unlike most MS-DOS programs at the time, Microsoft Word was designed to be used with a mouse, and it was able to display some formatting, such as bold, italic, and underlined text, although it could not render fonts. It was not initially popular, since its user interface was different from the leading word processor at the time, WordPerfect. However, Microsoft steadily improved the product, releasing versions 2.0 through 5.0 over the next six years. In 1985, Microsoft ported Word to the Macintosh. This was made easier by the fact that Word for DOS has been designed for use with high-resolution displays and laser printers, even though none were yet available to the general public. Following the precedents of LisaWrite and MacWrite, Word for Mac added true features. After its release, Word for Macs sales were higher than its MS-DOS counterpart for at least four years. The second release of Word for Macintosh, shipped in 1987, was named Word 3.0 to synchronize its version number with Word for DOS; this was Microsofts first attempt to synchronize version numbers across platforms. Word 3.0 included numerous internal enhancements and new features, including the first implementation of the Rich Text Format (RTF) specification, but was plagued with bugs. Within a few months Word 3.0 was superseded by a more stable Word 3.01, which was mailed free to all registered users of 3.0. After MacWrite, Word for Mac never had any serious rivals on the Mac. Word 5.1 for the Macintosh, released in 1992, was a very popular word processor owing to its elegance, relative ease of use and feature set. Many users say its the best version of Word for Mac ever created. In 1986, an agreement between Atari and Microsoft brought Word to the Atari ST under the name Microsoft Write. The Atari ST version was a port of Word 1.05 for the Apple Macintosh and was never updated. The first version of Word for Windows was released in 1989. With the release of Windows 3.0 the following year, sales began to pick up and Microsoft soon became the market leader for word processors for IBM PC-compatible computers. In 1991, Microsoft capitalized on Word for Windows increasing popularity by releasing a version of Word for DOS, version 5.5, that replaced its unique user interface with an interface similar to a Windows application. When Microsoft became aware of the Year 2000 problem, it made Microsoft Word 5.5 for DOS available for download free. As of November 2010, it is still available for download from Microsofts web site. In 1991, Microsoft embarked on a project code-named Pyramid to completely rewrite Microsoft Word from the ground up. Both the Windows and Mac versions would start from the same code base. It was abandoned when it was determined that it would take the development team too long to rewrite and then catch up with all the new capabilities that could have been added in the same time without a rewrite. Instead, the next versions of Word for Windows and Mac, dubbed version 6.0, both started from the code base of Word for Windows 2.0. With the release of Word 6.0 in 1993, Microsoft again attempted to synchronize the version numbers and coordinate product naming across platforms, this time across DOS, Macintosh, and Windows (this was the last version of Word for DOS). It introduced AutoCorrect, which automatically fixed certain typing errors, and AutoFormat, which could reformat many parts of a document at once. While the Windows version received favorable reviews the Macintosh version was widely derided. Many accused it of being slow, clumsy and memory intensive, and its user interface differed significantly from Word. In response to user requests, Microsoft was forced to offer Word 5 again, after it had been discontinued. Subsequent versions of Word for Macintosh are no longer ported versions of Word for Windows. MICROSOFT WORD 2007 Word 95 for Windows was the first 32-bit version of the product, released with Office 95 around the same time as Windows 95. It was a straightforward port of Word 6.0 and it introduced few new features, one of them being red-squiggle underlined spell-checking. Starting with Word 95, releases of Word were named after the year of its release, instead of its version number. Word 2010 allows more customization of the Ribbon, adds a Backstage view for file management, has improved document navigation, allows creation and embedding of screenshots, and integrates with world web application. WORD FOR MAC 2008 ICON In 1997, Microsoft formed the Macintosh Business Unit as an independent group within Microsoft focused on writing software for the Mac. Its first version of Word, Word 98, was released with Office 98 Macintosh Edition. Document compatibility reached parity with Word 97, and it included features from Word 97 for Windows, including spell and grammar checking with squiggles. Users could choose the menus and keyboard shortcuts to be similar to either Word 97 for Windows or Word 5 for Mac. Unfortunately, Word on the Mac in this and later releases also became vulnerable to future macro viruses that could compromise Word (and Excel) documents. Word 2001, released in 2000, added a few new features, including the Office Clipboard, which allowed users to copy and paste multiple items. It was the last version to run on classic Mac OS and, on Mac OS X, it could only run within the Classic Environment. Word X, released in 2001, was the first version to run natively on, and required, Mac OS X, and introduced non-contiguous text selection. Word 2004 was released in May 2004. It included a new Notebook Layout view for taking notes either by typing or by voice. Other features, such as tracking changes, were made more similar with Office for Windows. Microsoft released patches through the years to eliminate most known macro vulnerabilities from this version. Word 2008, released on January 15, 2008, included a Ribbon-like feature, called the Elements Gallery, that can be used to select page layouts and insert custom diagrams and images. It also included a new view focused on publishing layout, integrated bibliography management, and native support for the new Office Open XML format. It was the first version to run natively on Intel-based Macs. Word 2011, released in October 2010, replaced the Elements Gallery in favor of a Ribbon user interface that is much more similar to Office for Windows, and includes a full-screen mode that allows users to focus on reading and writing documents, and support for Office Web Application. Microsoft Words native file formats are denoted either by a .doc or .docx file extension. Although the document extension has been used in many different versions of Word, it actually encompasses four distinct file formats: Word for DOS Word for Windows 1 and 2; Word 4 and 5 for Mac Word 6 and Word 95 for Windows; Word 6 for Mac Word 97, 2000, 2002 and 2003 for Windows; Word 98, 2001, X, and 2004 for Mac The newer .docx extension signifies the Office Open XML international standardfor Office documents and is used by Word 2007 for Windows, Word 2008 for the Macintosh, as well as by a growing number of applications from other vendors, including OpenOffice.org Writer, an open source word processing program. Microsoft does not guarantee the correct display of the document on different workstations, even if the two workstations use the same version of Microsoft Word, primarily due to page layout depending on the current printer. This means it is possible the document the recipient sees might not be exactly the same as the document the sender sees. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the default Word document format became a de facto standard of document file formats for Microsoft Office users. Though usually just referred to as Word Document Format, this term refers primarily to the range of formats used by default in Word version 97-2003. Word document files by using the Word 97-2003 Binary File Format implement Object Linking and Embedding structured storage to manage the structure of their file format. OLE behaves rather like a conventional hard drive file system and is made up of several key components. Each Word document is composed of so-called big blocks which are almost always 512-byte chunks; hence a Word documents file size will in most cases be a multiple of 512. Storages are analogues of the directory on a disk drive, and point to other storages or streams which are similar to files on a disk. The text in a Word document is always contained in the WordDocument stream. The first big block in a Word document, known as the header block, provides important information as to the location of the major data structures in the document. Property storages provide metadata about the storages and streams in a doc file, such as where it begins and its name and so forth. The File information block contains information about where the text in a Word document starts, ends, what version of Word created the document and other attributes. Microsoft has published specifications for the Word 97-2003 Binary File Format. Word 2007 and 2010 continue to support the DOC file format, although it is no longer the default. The XML format introduced in Word 2003 was a simple, XML based format called WordprocessingML. Word 2007 introduced a new XML-based file format called Office Open XML. The version of OOXML that Word 2007 supports is the ECMA-376 standard, published by Ecma International. After the release of Office 2007, underwent another round of standardization under the International Organization for Standardization . The standard, has two variants. A Transitional variant is intended for legacy compatibility and is not supposed to be used to produce new documents. A Strict variant is based on ISOs revisions and improvements to the ECMA standard. Word 2010 supports reading and writing Transitional documents but only reading Strict documents. This caused consternation among members of the ISO Office Open XML subcommittee, who claimed that Microsoft was only paying lip service to the standards process. In response, Microsoft says that the Strict schema will be fully supported no later than Office 15, the next major version after Office 2010. In August 2009, Canadian firm issued Microsoft before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for infringing on a software involving custom XML in a document.In December 2009, the judgment of the district court was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. An injunction was issued that bans Microsoft from selling copies of Word with the code that infringes on the patent after January 11, 2010. Several days after the court ruling, Microsoft released a mandatory patch that brings the software into compliance with the courts decision. In November 2010 the US supreme court agreed to hear an appeal by Microsoft. Opening a Word Document file in a version of Word other than the one with which it was created can cause incorrect display of the document. The document formats of the various versions change in subtle and phenomenon to the base standard. Formatting created in newer versions does not always survive when viewed in older versions of the program, nearly always because that capability does not exist in the previous version. Rich Text Format, an early effort to create a format for interchanging formatted text between applications is an optional format for Word, that retains most formatting and all content of the original document. Later, after HTML appeared, Word supported an HTML derivative as an additional full-fidelity roundtrip format similar to RTF, with the additional capability that the file could be viewed in a web browser. In February 2007, Sun released an initial version of its ODF plugin for Microsoft Office.Version 1.0 was released in July 2007.Microsoft Word 2007 supports PDF and XPS formats, but only after manual installation of the Microsoft Word has a built-in spell checker, thesaurus, dictionary, Office Assistant and utilities for transferring, copy, pasting and editing text, such as PureText. WordArt enables drawing text in a Microsoft Word document such as a title, watermark, or other text, with graphical effects such as skewing, shadowing, rotating, stretching in a variety of shapes and colors and even including three-dimensional effects, starting at version 2007, and prevalent in Office 2010. Users can apply formatting effects such as shadow, bevel, glow, and reflection to their document text as easily as applying bold or underline. Users can also spell-check text that uses visual effects, and add text effects to paragraph styles. Like other Microsoft Office documents, Word files can include advanced macros and even embedded programs. The language was originally WordBasic, but changed to Visual Basic for Applications as of Word 97. This extensive functionality can also be used to run and propagate viruses in documents. The tendency for people to exchange Word documents via email, USB flash drives, and floppy disks made this an especially attractive vector in 1999. A prominent example was the Melissa worm, but countless others have existed in the wild. Nearly all anti-virus software can detect and clean common macro viruses.. These macro viruses were the only known cross-platform threats between Windows and Macintosh computers and they were the only infection vectors to affect any system in 2007. Microsoft released patches for Word X and Word 2004 that effectively eliminated the macro problem on the Mac by 2006. Words macro security setting, which regulates when macros may execute, can be adjusted by the user, but in the most recent versions of Word, is set to HIGH by default, generally reducing the risk from macro-based viruses, which have become uncommon The program was unable to handle ligatures defined in TrueType fonts those ligature glyphs with Unicode codepoints may be inserted manually, but are not recognized by Word for what they are, breaking spell checking, while custom ligatures present in the font are not accessible at all. Since Word 2010, the program now has advanced typesetting features which can be enabled: OpenType ligatures, kerning, and hyphenation. Other layout deficiencies of Word include the inability to set crop marks or thin spaces. Various third-party workaround utilities have been developed. Similarly, combining diacritics are handled poorly: Word 2003 has improved support, but many diacritics are still misplaced, even if a precomposed glyph is present in the font. Additionally, as of Word 2002, Word does automatic font substitution when it finds a character in a document that does not exist in the font specified. It is impossible to deactivate this, making it very difficult to spot when a glyph used is missing from the font in use. If Mirror margins or Different odd and even are enabled, Word will not allow the user to freshly begin page numbering an even page after a section break. Instead it inserts a mandatory blank page which cannot be removed. In Word 2004 for Macintosh, support of complex scripts was inferior even to Word 97, and Word 2004 does not support Apple Advanced Typography features like ligatures or glyph variants. Word has extensive list bullets and numbering feature used for tables, list, pages, chapters, headers, footnotes, and tables of content. Bullets and numbering can be applied directly or using a button or by applying a style or through use of a template. Some problems with numbering have been found in Word 97-2003. An example is Words system for restarting numbering.The Bullets and Numbering system has been significantly overhauled for Office 2007, which is intended to reduce the severity of these problems. For example, Office 2007 cannot align tabs for multi-leveled numbered lists. Often, items in a list will be inexplicably separated from their list number by one to three tabs, rendering outlines unreadable. These problems cannot be resolved even by expert users. Even basic dragging and dropping of words is usually impossible. Bullet and numbering problems in Word include: bullet characters are often changed and altered, indentation is changed within the same list, bullet point or n umber sequence can belong to an entirely different nest within the same sequence. Users can also create tables in MS Word. Depending on the version, Word can perform simple calculations. Formulas are supported as well. As mentioned in Creating Tables, MS Word supports the use of formulas. To The formula function is on the ribbon in the Data section. Click on the Formula icon to open the Formula Dialog box. At the top of the Formula box is a place to enter a formula. Formulas use a similar convention as that used in Excel. Cell references use the reference style. Formulas are written using cell references Word tables dont display column and row, the address must be determined by counting the number of columns and rows. For example, cell appears three columns from the left and four rows down. Once cell addresses are known the formula can be written. Optional Microsoft Word in program called Formula Builder provides cell references in a number of different ways so the user doesnt have to determine it by counting columns and rows. For example, cell references may be added to a formula by double-clicking the cell. As an alternative to using actual cell references as the arguments in the formula, you can use instead which adds a range of cells. There are limitations to this method. The cells in the range must not be empty and they must contain numeric values otherwise the calculation will not include the entire range expected. Another problem is that doesnt recognize negative numbers when the number is surrounded by parenthesis and as a result does not calculate correctly. Word also adds the heading row if it contains a numeric value provided the cells in the range are contiguous and all contain values. AutoSummarize highlights passages or phrases that it considers valuable. The amount of text to be retained can be specified by the user as a percentage of the current amount of text. According to Ron Fein of the Word 97 team, Auto Summarize cuts wordy copy to the bone by counting words and ranking sentences. First, AutoSummarize identifies the most common words in the document and assigns each word the more frequently a word is used, the higher the score. Then, each sentence by adding the scores of its words and dividing the sum by the number of words in the sentence the higher the average, the higher the rank of the sentence. Its like the ratio of wheat to chaff explains Fein. CONCLUSION To conclude with ms office one of the main set up which busy people are using todays world. Microsoft Word is a non-free commercial word processor designed by Microsoft.

Bowman’s strategy clock

Bowman’s strategy clock Executive summary The rationale of a chosen topic Tesco is because it is a top UK supermarkets since 1995.Tesco has shown considerable increase in the market and is been rewarded for its performance. In our evaluation of business environment of Tesco in past 5 years we have come to know that it is constantly making improvement in all environmental factors. By doing this models like Porters Five Force Rule, Pest Analysis, SWOT analysis we come to know why Tesco is UKs top supermarket by being focused differentiator. We have explained the successful strategy of Tesco by linking it with Bowmans Strategy Clock which helps us to know the strategy followed by Tesco over the years. Our evaluation on Tesco includes the statistic that proves why Tesco is the Best supermarket in the UK. Our statistic proves the number of customer increase of customers turning in Tesco in previous years. In our conclusion we have showed all this points of Tescos successful strategy and always trying to do something innovative to keep their customer focus because of the changing needs of customers in different cultural environments. Introduction The founder of Tesco was Jack Cohen, he managed to gain a profit of  £1 and sales of  £4 on the day he started with Tesco. Tesco is ranked third in world for largest grocery retailer, with its operations in more than 14 countries. The name Tesco had appeared first in 1924, and its first shop was opened in London. This strategy made them successful and is now the topmost Supermarket in UK. Tesco apart from being one of the largest retailers for food have also embraced the non food products and expanding on household goods, toiletries, electrical items, clothing etc. Strategy of Tesco is to focus on its customers. www.tescoplc.com, (2010) [online] Business environment: Business Environment is the total of all things external to business firms and industries which affect their organisation and operations. (B. Wheeler, 1968) The Environment is anything outside an organisation which may affect organisations present or future activities, thus the Environment is situational and it is unique to each organisation. (J. Kew, J. Stredwick, 2005) Changes that occur within a company are called as internal factors and changes outside the company are called as external factors. This affects the objectives and strategies of the company. PEST Importance The pest analysis tool helps us to understand the growth or decline of the market. It also helps to know about its position, potential and direction of the business. It is basically a business measurement tool. It consists of four main factors they are political, economic, social, technological. Pestle analysis of Tesco Pestle does consist of following factors such as political, economic, social, technology, environmental and legal. Political Political factors of any company has some government instruction and legal formalities and it also defines formal and informal rules. www.quickmba.com, (2010) [Online] The main problem Tesco is facing is recession that is directly affecting Tesco and all other retailers throughout the globe. Because of recession all the countries have to face huge number unemployment but Tesco been the fastest growing retailer might help in reducing the huge amount of unemployment. With the emergence of Tesco in recent years as a grocery retailer has kept them on the list of (OFT) Office of Fair Trading but it is using its strong position in agricultural market. The effect of the public regarding a supermarket in the town centre has grown a future problem in the policies. In order to gain momentum, the community organisation have ignored competition by starting and getting help from its neighbours to boycott other markets and large manufacturers provides support to smaller instead of huge supermarkets like our because of the expenses. After receiving the proposal from European commission regarding selling of goods at a lower price has been cut down this will affect this supermarkets which provide goods at a cheap rate in order to maintain the supremacy. Economic Environment Business Organisations operate in an economic environment which shapes, and is shaped by, their activities. In Market based economies this environment comprises variables which are dynamic, interactive and mobile and which, in part are affected by government in pursuit of its various roles in the Economy. C.Britton, I. Worthington, (2006) These factors are those which reduce the buyers capacity to purchase and also cost on capital. www.quickmba.com, (2010) [Online] The food retail market in UK is quite mature and highly competitive in which Tesco is the largest food sale retailer. Due to recession the food sectors in UK market has been badly affected and the inflation rate has gone negative. There is an increase in globalisation because the domestic market are been saturated and have the desire for their growth through self start, acquisition, franchising and merger. Because of scarcity of land, that is been compounded by the government legislation on the facility of town shopping has made difficult like supermarkets like Tesco to expand their location. Social Environment The social environment handles the graphical and cultural nature of external environment. Which contain of customer needs and size of potential needs. www.quickmba.com, (2010) [Online] The changing lifestyle of the consumers, their trends, their buying patterns and the opinion about the product after the use of the products are the main events that influence the buying trends of the customers in Europe and different countries. Thus Tesco needs to always try to understand what are changing needs of the customers. There is a considerable increase of young professional in the eastern European regions that have the changing trends. Thus Tesco and other retailers need to understand the customer opinion. Therefore the new products which the company wants to develop can be done by keeping a single persons view. The targets of Tesco as said in 2007 are to save carbon emission from all the new stores. Tesco did not only save carbon emissions in their own existing stores but also to distribute in different centres worldwide till 20/20. In the same year the Tesco divided CO2E into the number of goods delivered throughout the world at the end of 2012. Tesco invested around 86 million pounds for saving energy on technology on its stores like energy lightening, wind turbines, efficient bakery Owens and CHP (Combine Heat and Power) and stopping the use of freeze doors. Tesco has provided healthy products to the customers in different ranges like fruit and vegetables. They have also improved in nutritional labelling which helps the public to eat healthier diets. Tesco involved 2.4 million people in Thailand for national aerobics competition in the year 2007 in the same year Czech Republic and Malaysia got people active to raise money for cancer research. Technological Environment Technological factors help us in reduce barriers of entry, influence outsourcing decisions and also help in reducing minimum efficient production level. In 2008 Tesco had build 3 energy efficient stores in the country for testing the new equipments and this idea had intent to rule out across the business. Their first store reduced energy consumption by 29% compared to the original size of Tesco store. In Swansea consumption rate was reduced to 36% and carbon footprints reducing at 50% from the standard size of the store. The Tesco stores have very efficient Owens, refrigerator and energized air conditioners. They use timber instead of steel in their stores in order to reduce embedded carbons. The Tesco is been focused and working hard in order to reduce carbon technology for achieving energy reduction targets for which they have invested more than 65 million pounds in year 2008. Environmental Environment The Tesco was successful in reusing all the plastic trays. These plastic trays were been used to replace cardboard boxes which were been adopted by all over the world in order for safety of products. Tesco was the first UK supermarket to introduce degradable plastic carrier bags. These plastic bags decompose within sixty days into CO2, H2O, mineral matter and bio mass unlike the other plastic carrier bags. The Tesco has also taken steps to ensure the health and safety for products likes fruits, Vegetables and salads. This management scheme was introduced by Tesco in 1992 which concentrates on standard like variety, size, shape, taste and shelf requirements. The nature scheme also involves pollution prevention, use of plant protection products like fertilizers and manures. Re-use and recycle of materials and also to improve the wild life. The Tesco does not test its non food product items on animals. The Tesco contributes 10000 pounds every year in funding replacement of animals which are kept in medical experimentations. This seeks to the end of animal points. Analysis Porters Five Forces: By using porters five forces we are going to investigate the threats of substitutes from supermarkets, the buying capability of purchasing groceries, buying capability of suppliers regarding groceries, last but not the least the buying power of customers. www.321books.co.uk, (2010) [online] Threat from Entry: The pressure exerted from new entry is less and the market entrant cannot get large market share quickly. They get a big setback of cost and in addition they have to cut price on product as well as increase output. With Tesco and other supermarket having an experience of more than 50 years in the business the entry point is very tough. But Tesco and other supermarkets have a very less threat of new entrants because their distribution channel is well established and whoever enters new faces this as their biggest problem. Power of buyer: Tesco is a very huge organisation and they are market disciplined, its other competitors are also disciplined in approach for setting price because of government regulation. The customers have the power to purchase their product from many suppliers but in this industry it is more economic to purchase from retailer instead of many. Power of suppliers: In supermarket industry Tesco has an extreme advantage to dictate the market cost they offer their suppliers; this is because incase they refuse to pay then suppliers have got no one to sell their products. Tesco as a giant retailer does not need a supplier because he has got option of many suppliers but suppliers cannot lose. Tesco who purchases their material in large quantity. Hence power of suppliers is not much in this retail industry. Threat of Substitute: The retail market industry like supermarket there has been a large amount of competitors which makes the rivalry even intense. This intense rivalry makes the substitution force very high. The substitution level is further enhanced with customers having option of switching from one to another supermarket according to their needs. This avenues Tesco to improve its quality and be able to differentiate from its competitors. www.ivythesis.typepad.com, (2010) [online] SWOT Analysis Strength, weakness, Threat and Opportunities Understanding thorough various business models, all companies need several business strategies to run their business in a smooth manner. They follow various methods to do so. One of the major is to analysis the strengths weakness of the company along with the opportunities it has and which may arise in future and the threats which they may face. Strengths Tesco had received the award of being the best Retailer of the year in 2008. Thus they can use as this as a marketing campaign in order for demographic base, helping them to maintain their goal of maintaining substantiality with market growth. Every other retailing market has shown a severe decline in performance growth except Tesco which has shown a considerable increase in sales which is about 13% in UK market and around 26% in International market. Tesco consists of reserve funds on credit couples and those can enjoy the income they get it from in order to increase their business. Weakness Due to the high credit card arrears Tesco had to face bad debts which affected their profit margins greatly. And also house hold insurance claim affected their profit margins further. In some areas Tesco does not have a specialist grocer retail outlet on some products whose advantage can be taken by small retailers. The cost of products is rising and the income of people is very low which can directly affect Tescos message of mid to high ticket price items. Opportunities: Tescos acquisition of doing whatever at any time can help them to explore their stores to Asia and most probably South Korea and also other international retail markets. Tesco is able to maintain its economies of scale because of their high buying power it is ranked 3rd as global grocer in the globe. Tesco has a scope of further enhancement in technological area and also its sales revenue is increased by  ¼ million in 2008. We will see a growth in use of technology as Tesco provides its customers with direct online shopping of products. This is going to be done by launching Pad for non food items at reasonable or huge margin intakes. Threats: The profit margin will be impacted as there is an increase in cost of food and non food products. The needs of the customers are always changing thus Tesco needs to look after their buying pattern and thus needs a good technology to know about it on daily basis. The economies of country like UK and USA have been badly affected which means they will have low income and this will distract them from their main strategic focus. And thus they will need to focus on lower priced based goods or products instead of high priced products. Also some of sources are changing its position to far most areas will affect the margin rate on this product. This in turn will be a loss in margin of sales for Tesco. And Tesco will always be threatened to lose its market position to Wall-mart who can able to provide same means of motive and actions as done by Tesco. Bowman strategy Clock: The Bowmans clock is a way to analyze competitive position of the markets as compared to other competitors. The first step is competitor analysis, the process of identifying, assessing and selecting the key competitors. The second step is developing competitive e marketing strategies that strongly position the company against competitors and give it the greatest possible competitive advantage. P.Kotler, et-al, (2008). There are eight options: Low Price: Tesco being the market leader they have to keep their price on products very less which means low margin. Although Tesco have a low price for all its products but it does focus more on customers then to focus on low pricing to attract customers which is been done aggressively by other competitors. Hybrid: Tesco has a very low price and does take up steps to reinvest in the low price factor and which is one of the reason of its Leadership. The Company make enough efforts to take care of the cycle of reinvestment. Differentiation: Tesco Differentiates itself with their main objective of low price offered to customers with an added value services provided as it keeps in mind the customers their main focus. Focused differentiation: The primary objective of Tesco is focusing their customers and to improve relation with them in order to maintain a good customer loyalty with them, in order to survive in such a high competitive market. The main Steering Wheel of Tesco is its performance in all areas of their business like financial sector, non-food products, telecommunications and new markets to spread their business. The following are some important points as follows: Focusing to be a successful international retailer: Tesco is not only focusing on UK market as their main target but they are also forward in exploring itself in International markets too. They are coming up with opening few outlets in china, Brazil and India as well. Provide customers best service: Tesco is always looking forward to provide a good customer service with added value to its customers in UK market as it being their main aim. They are very good in food as well as non food: Not only very good in non-food market but they are also very good in food market. With increasing demand of fast food products by consumers Tesco has a very good and large section of providing them their needs. Developing retail service: It has always focused on to keep on developing its service sectors for customer loyalty like Tesco Finance, Telecommunication. They have achieved the best retailer of the year Award in 2008 which shows its performance. Earning Customer Loyalty: Is their main aspect of improvement in years of its success. Their scheme of launching loyalty card for its members has given them great results. Its Club Cards have got more than ten million peoples which capture eighty-five percent sales weekly. Implementation of Club Card done by Tesco has increased by 52% in sales and is growing higher then industry average. From there multidimensional customer segmentation with tailored communication in last June shows the number of mails received by it from its customers on their local Grocers .The mailing is been tailored on needs, potential and interest of its Club Card members. Tesco has achieved floor space expansion by 150%. Tesco online transactions are boosted up to 500,000 weekly, with sales of around two billion pounds every year. Conclusion: After researching about the environment of Tesco we have come up with this opinion that the strategies adopted by company are paying off from them. The company is showing a constant graph of their sales and the yearly turnover made by the company. Although company is doing good and is still making profit in the retail market during this recession period but still they are facing few challenges which are been tackled by constant technological enhancements and supported by good strategy. The company is diversifying pretty fast in international market but they are also looking to improve on better customer satisfaction. They stand at number three in the world retail market and have 30% of market share with them. They also have launched a new range of cheaper products to stop deserting of shoppers. They provide shoppers with a discount on buying of more than two items. The most successful story of Tesco is there launch of club card which has encouraged customers to buy and maintain loyal ty. Bibliography: (B. Wheeler, 1968, Business, Harper co) (C. Britton, I. Worthington, 2006, Business Environment, Pearson Education.) (J. Kew, J. Stredwick, (2005), Business environment: Managing in strategic context, CIPD Publishing) (P. Kotler, et-al, (2008), Principles of marketing, Pearsons Education) www.businessteacher.org.uk, (2010) [online], Available from URL http://www.businessteacher.org.uk/business-resources/swot-analysis-database/tesco-swot-analysis/ [Accessed 15 March 2010] www.guardian.co.uk, (2010) [Online], Available from URL http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/16/tesco-sales-losing-market-share [Accessed 5 March 2010] www.ivythesis.typepad.com, (2010) [Online], Available from URL http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2009/09/porters-five-force-model.html [Accessed 17 March 2010] www.loyalty.vg, (2010) [Online], Available from URL http://www.loyalty.vg/pages/CRM/case_study_14_Tesco.htm [Accessed 15 March 2010] www.modelanswer.co.uk, (2010) [Online], Available from URL http://www.modelanswer.co.uk/business/help/pestle/tescos.php [Accessed 14 March 2010] www.marketingteacher.com, (2010) [Online], Available from URL http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_bowman.htm [Accessed 19 April 2010] www.opapers.com, (2010) [online], Available from URL http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Pest-Tesco/127719?topic [Accessed 17 April 2010] www.tesco-gradutes.com, (2010) [online], Available from URL http://www.tesco-graduates.com/home/about/social-responsibility [Accessed 18 April 2010] www.tesco.com, (2010) [online], Available from URL http://www.tesco.com/csr/downloads/pdf6.pdf [Accessed 19 April 2010] www.tescoplc.com, (2010) [Online], Available from URL http://www.tescoplc.com/plc/about_us/strategy/ [Accessed 14 April 2010] www.tescoplc.com, (2010)[Online], Available from URL http://www.tescoplc.com/plc/about_us/strategy/community/ [Accessed 1 March 2010] www.tescoplc.com,(2010)[online] , Available from URL http://www.tescoplc.com/plc/ir/financials/fiveyearsummary [Accessed 13 March 2010] www.oppapers.com,(2010)[Online] , Available from URL http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Tesco/249648 [Accessed 14 April 2010] www.quickmba.com, (2010)[Online], Available from URL http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/pest/ [Accessed 15 March 2010]

Issues Facing Blacks in Alice Walkers In Search of our Mothers Garden

Issues Facing Blacks in Alice Walker's In Search of our Mother's Gardens In Alice Walker's book, In Search Of Our Mother's Gardens, she addresses many issues facing blacks in today's society. The two essays examined here, "The Black Writer and the Southern Experience" and "The Unglamorous But Worthwhile Duties Of the Black Revolutionary Artist Or Of the Black Writer Who Simply Works and Writes," concern themselves with the truth and beauty of being a black Southern writer and the role of the revolutionary black artist, respectively. The first essay, "The Black Writer and the Southern Experience," is concerned with the truth of the South, primarily in the era beginning with the Jim Crow laws and coming up to the present. Walker speaks of some of the incidents that happened in the South and that even though these are shameful events, there is a beauty to be found in them. In one anecdote, she recalls a time in which her mother was to redeem a voucher for flour from the Red Cross. When the Red Cross woman looked at her in the clothes sent to her by an aunt from the North, all she could remark on was the gall of those "niggers" who come to beg, wearing nicer clothes than her. While this can be seen as an ugly, embarrassing scene, Walker sees the beauty in the fact that this scene did not keep her from feeding her family. Walker states, " I am nostalgic for the solidarity and sharing a modest existence can sometimes bring" (17). By this statement she speaks of the way in which the community of neighbors joined togeth er to take care of each other. This is one of the truths of the South. Walker also speaks of another truth. This truth is one of no universals, as far as people go. Some of the same people that preach... ....should be hated...However, there are some men who should be loved" (137). I am in agreement with Walker in this essay also. The way in which Walker relates her ideas is one of directness. Her view of the world as a whole does not seem to concentrate on the victim mentality or of the evil of white as seems the prevailing opinion of some black writers of the day. There exists a positivism in her writing that is to be applauded. Walker states, "It is the duty of the artist to present the man as he is" (137) and it is this commitment to honesty that makes her a great writer. Based on the reading of the essays, I would characterize her as a conservative womanist. Her views and the ways in which she wishes to instigate change are not too radical as to be mistaken as anti-society or as anti-white. Walker realizes, as everyone should, change takes time. Issues Facing Blacks in Alice Walker's In Search of our Mother's Garden Issues Facing Blacks in Alice Walker's In Search of our Mother's Gardens In Alice Walker's book, In Search Of Our Mother's Gardens, she addresses many issues facing blacks in today's society. The two essays examined here, "The Black Writer and the Southern Experience" and "The Unglamorous But Worthwhile Duties Of the Black Revolutionary Artist Or Of the Black Writer Who Simply Works and Writes," concern themselves with the truth and beauty of being a black Southern writer and the role of the revolutionary black artist, respectively. The first essay, "The Black Writer and the Southern Experience," is concerned with the truth of the South, primarily in the era beginning with the Jim Crow laws and coming up to the present. Walker speaks of some of the incidents that happened in the South and that even though these are shameful events, there is a beauty to be found in them. In one anecdote, she recalls a time in which her mother was to redeem a voucher for flour from the Red Cross. When the Red Cross woman looked at her in the clothes sent to her by an aunt from the North, all she could remark on was the gall of those "niggers" who come to beg, wearing nicer clothes than her. While this can be seen as an ugly, embarrassing scene, Walker sees the beauty in the fact that this scene did not keep her from feeding her family. Walker states, " I am nostalgic for the solidarity and sharing a modest existence can sometimes bring" (17). By this statement she speaks of the way in which the community of neighbors joined togeth er to take care of each other. This is one of the truths of the South. Walker also speaks of another truth. This truth is one of no universals, as far as people go. Some of the same people that preach... ....should be hated...However, there are some men who should be loved" (137). I am in agreement with Walker in this essay also. The way in which Walker relates her ideas is one of directness. Her view of the world as a whole does not seem to concentrate on the victim mentality or of the evil of white as seems the prevailing opinion of some black writers of the day. There exists a positivism in her writing that is to be applauded. Walker states, "It is the duty of the artist to present the man as he is" (137) and it is this commitment to honesty that makes her a great writer. Based on the reading of the essays, I would characterize her as a conservative womanist. Her views and the ways in which she wishes to instigate change are not too radical as to be mistaken as anti-society or as anti-white. Walker realizes, as everyone should, change takes time.

Role of Visions and Hallucinations in Macbeth Essay examples -- Macbet

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth’s visions and hallucinations play a significant role and contribute to the development of his character. In the play Macbeth, a man is driven to murder his king and his companions after receiving a fairly ambiguous prophecy told by three witches. Although the witches triggered the series of events that later aid Macbeth’s descent into complete insanity, Macbeth is portrayed from the very beginning as a fierce and violent soldier. As the play goes on, several internal conflicts inside of Macbeth become clear. After he performs several bloody tasks, the madness inside of Macbeth is unmistakably visible to everyone around him. As a result of this insanity, he sees visions and hallucinations. Each time Macbeth hallucinates, he plunges further into insanity that is essentially caused by misguided ambition, dread and guilt. Macbeth has three key hallucinations that play a considerably important role in the development of his character: a dagger, the ghost of Banquo, and four apparitions while visiting the prophesying witches. Macbeth’s first hallucination and sign of madness comes directly before his wife and he murder King Duncan. After hearing from the witches that he will become the king and conversing with his wife about this, the two of them decide they must kill Duncan. From the beginning of the play, we see Macbeth is a loyal warrior, albeit a vicious one with no trouble killing. It is in the first scene that Macbeth’s brutality is illustrated. An army captain reported: â€Å"For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name), Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel, Which smoked with bloody execution, Like valor’s minion, carved out his passage Till he faced the slave; Which ne’er sh... .... His insanity was a result of ambition taken much too far, ambition mutated and converted into evil by internal as well as social conflict; Macbeth’s wife did nothing to prevent Macbeth’s sickness and actually helped the problem develop. From his ambition came actions that filled his mind with conflict, dread, suspicion and guilt. It could be said that Macbeth was insane from the beginning, from the moment that the witches appeared to him in the third scene of the play or even from when he carved out his bloody passage in battle. Whether Macbeth was insane his whole life or just from the moment he first saw the imaginary dagger, it is indisputable that his visions and hallucinations only helped to supplement his lunacy. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1915. Google Books. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.

Financial forecasting & planning Essay

Financial forecasts are, quite simply, your forecast of how your business will perform financially over, say, the year ahead. Preparing forecasts will help you to assess your likely sales income, costs, external financing needs and profitability. Financial forecasts are essential if you need to raise money from a third party, such as a bank. But they also provide you with the means to monitor performance on, say, a monthly basis and thereby exercise effective financial control – arguably the second most important management function in running a business. Objectives The aim of this section is to help you to prepare financial forecasts. It will enable you to: †¢Understand costing and pricing; †¢Use break-even analysis as a way of setting sales targets; †¢Understand financial forecasting; †¢Assess working capital requirements. Assignment The purpose of these assignments is to ensure that you are able to prepare the necessary financial forecasts for your business. Satisfactory completion of the set of assignments will demonstrate that you know and understand how to: †¢Identify and calculate the financial outlines it will be necessary to prepare. †¢Calculate your own personal survival budget. †¢Determine the funding/materials requirements of starting in business. †¢Consider how you will take and keep effective financial control of the business. †¢Consider and plan to deal with alternative scenarios. 1. Personal budget How much money do you need for yourself. Think about food, clothes, holidays, personal travel, etc. Draw up a personal budget. Don’t skimp. You may be in business to have fun – but you need to make money as well. Use this budget in calculating your costs and prices. Of course you may not have enough sales at the start to be able to take that amount of money, so you should also calculate the minimum requirement that you must take from the business. 2. Costing and pricing Calculate all your costs and determine a suitable price for your product or service. Think about your raw material requirements as part of your direct costs; think about your likely overhead costs. 3. Break-even Now that you have calculated all your costs and set a price, you should be in a position to prepare a break-even chart. Is your forecast of sales above or below break-even? Do you have a reasonable margin of safety? How much profit will you make if you achieve your sales forecast? 4. Forecasting profit and loss You should have all the figures that you need to prepare a forecast of profit and loss. What is your anticipated gross profit margin? What is your operating profit? How much money will be retained in the business? 5. Cash flow forecasting You should have all the figures that you need to prepare a cash flow forecast. Remember to think about everything shown on the profit and loss account, expenditure items not shown on the profit and loss and, in particular, to think about timing or receipts and payments. You will also need to think carefully about your stock holding requirements and your capital expenditure. The first time you prepare the cash flow, ignore any investment or borrowing other than that required for capital equipment. The worst cumulative deficit will indicate the minimum level of working capital required. 6. Forecasting your balance sheet Once you have completed the profit and loss and cash flow forecasts, you  should be able to prepare a balance sheet forecast. What level of working capital requirement is suggested by the balance sheet? 7. Sensitivity analysis Have another look at your profit and loss and cash flow forecasts. What happens if sales are 15% less than you have forecast? Do you still make a profit? What happens if raw material prices go up by 25%? What does this do to your profitability? Can you pass on such increases to your customers or will they switch suppliers? 8. Effective financial control You should now be in a position to exercise control over your business. Will you use a simple manual book-keeping system or a computerised one? As a brief reminder, write down the key reasons for keeping effective financial control. What are the critical numbers at which to look to ensure you retain effective financial control? Break Even Analysis Break-even analysis identifies the point at which your business starts to make a profit. You can work out the break-even point using any timescale, e.g. weekly, monthly, yearly, etc. To calculate the break-even point you need to know the following: †¢The total fixed costs of your business – these include rent and rates, your drawings, loan repayments, etc; †¢The total variable costs for producing your product – these include labour, materials and packaging; and †¢The selling price of your product. Once you have these figures, you can work out your break-even point using four simple calculations and plotting the findings on a graph. Example: Ron from Widgets ‘R’ Us want to work out how many widgets he needs to sell in order to break-even every month. He works his fixed costs out as follows: †¢Rent –  £167 per month †¢Salary –  £834 per month †¢Rates –  £70 per month †¢Loan repayment –  £100 per month †¢Total –  £1,171 ( £1 = Rs.84) (Note: It is better to round figures up rather than down, as this will increase your safety margin.) This figure can be plotted as follows: Ron then works out his variable costs for the production of each widget: †¢Materials –  £9.00 †¢Packaging –  £1.00 †¢Labour –  £11.00 †¢Total cost –  £21.00 per widget ( £1 = Rs.84) He selects a value on the ‘number of widgets’ axis (in this case, 250) and does the following calculation: †¢250 widgets x  £21.00 per widget =  £5,250 Ron plots this figure on the graph and draws a straight line from it to zero. The next step is for Ron to work out his total costs. To do this, he adds his fixed costs to his variable costs:  £1,171 +  £5,250 =  £6,421 ( £1 = Rs.84) He plots this figure on the graph and draws a straight line from it to  £1,171 on the ‘Pounds’ axis. Ron now needs to work out his revenue line. To do this, he simply multiplies his products’ selling price by the example number of widgets he chose earlier (250):  £32.50 x 250 =  £8,125 ( £1 = Rs.84) He then plots this figure on the graph and draws a straight line from it to zero. Ron can now find his break-even point simply by locating the exact point where the revenue line disects the total costs line. In this case, Ron must sell 100 widgets each month if his business is to break-even. If he sells more than 100, he makes a profit; if he sells less he makes a loss. Costing And Pricing Costs Although accountants define costs in several different ways, there are, effectively, just two types of cost. The first cost is that which is directly attributable to the product or service. Direct costs include, for example, raw materials and sub-contract work. If you make desks, for example, the cost of wood will be a direct cost. Within reason, the cost will be the same for each desk, no matter how many desks you make. When you make a sale the income first has to cover the direct costs relating to that sale. Whatever is left is called gross profit or contribution. All other costs are overheads. These include, for example, staff salaries, marketing, rent, rates and insurance. They also include depreciation; that is, an allowance for wear and tear on capital equipment. Overheads are often called fixed costs because, generally, they are fixed for the business. Interest is often regarded as a deduction from net profit rather than an overhead cost. You need to include it as an overhead in your costing calculations, even though it varies with the size of your overdraft or loan. If you are self-employed, you will take drawings from the business. Whilst, strictly speaking, drawings are an advance against profit, include them (and an allowance for income tax) as an overhead when calculating total costs. The contribution is so-called because it contributes towards covering the overhead costs. Each sale generates a contribution. When enough contributions have been made, and all the overhead costs are covered, they start to contribute to net profit. Price The price at which you sell your product or service clearly needs to exceed the total costs of providing it. But the price should also reflect what the market can stand. If you are selling a differentiated product or have  adopted a strategy of market focus then you may also be able to charge a premium price. If you are pursuing a cost leadership strategy you will need to be ruthless in keeping your costs down and under control. In calculating your price you will need to follow a number of steps: †¢Estimate your likely sales for a period, say, one year; †¢Calculate the total direct costs and divide by the sales volume to give direct costs per unit (say per product or per hour of service); †¢Calculate your total overhead costs and divide by the sales volume to give overhead costs per unit; †¢Add direct costs per unit and overhead costs per unit to give total cost per unit; and, †¢Add a further profit margin (to allow for reinvestment, etc). If necessary, add VAT as well. You now have a first stab price. How does that compare with your competitors? Will customers buy at that price? Do you need to reduce costs? Can you achieve a higher profit margin? What happens if you fail to achieve sales at the determined price? Remember that the overhead costs are fixed, so if sales fall the overheads will be spread over fewer items and the unit cost effectively increases. The converse is also true. Increasing the volume of sales means that the overheads are spread over more units, so the unit cost falls. This means that you can, if you choose, reduce the price. And reducing the price might increase your level of sales. It’s a fine balancing act. Depreciation Depreciation is an allowance for wear and tear on the equipment used in your business. As time passes, your equipment will usually lose value, and this can be considered a cost to your business. You need to think about how long you expect your assets to last. For example, if you purchase a computer system, you may forecast that in 5 years it will be obsolete. That means the depreciation rate is 20% per year. If you determine it to be 2 years, then it will be 50% per year. This does not have any effect on cash flow, just on how profits are calculated. Deprecation is an accounting cost that must be included to give a Profit & Loss account more relevance. Finance Action Planner (FAP) The Finance Action Planner (FAP) is a learning tool that will help you to: †¢Develop your all-round financial skills †¢Learn more about a range of financial issues †¢Identify suitable sources of finance †¢Create a set of financial forecasts †¢Test out different financial scenarios Financial forecasts Once you have an idea of your likely costs and an idea of how much you need to sell to make a profit you are in a position to prepare financial forecasts. There are three basic financial statements (the profit and loss account (P&L); the cash flow statement; and the balance sheet) that describe the activities and financial state of any business. These can be prepared on a historical basis – to show how a business performed during a defined period – or as forecasts – as estimates of how the business will perform in the future. 3 steps to forecasting 1. Businesses often start by forecasting their cash flow and then aim to derive other forecasts from it. It makes more sense, however, to start by forecasting the income and expenditure of the business, which will indicate whether you will make a profit, then worry about when money will be received or paid out – to discover if you will have enough cash when it is needed. Income and expenditure is summarised in a profit and loss account. 2. You will also need to look at your likely sales for, say, the year ahead. This needs to relate back to your market research and, if you are already in business, to previous performance. The direct costs can then be estimated (usually as a percentage of sales) to give gross profit. 3. The next step is to estimate the likely overheads. Deducting these gives an operating profit forecast. If the net profit is too low you will either need to assess whether you can achieve higher sales or whether you can reduce the overheads. When preparing your forecasts, remember to allow for increased costs, for instance, due to inflation or future pay awards. If you do need a loan, then you will also need to allow an amount for loan interest. If you use equipment, remember to allow for depreciation. Whilst depreciation is  not included in the P&L, you may need to allow for the replacement or repairs of machinery, so you may wish to include a contingency. The P&L forecast will show whether you are likely to achieve your first key financial requirement: making a profit. Preparing cash flow forecasts In preparing your forecasts, you will need to think carefully about all your costs, about your price and likely sales at that price and about the timing of both receipts and payments. As mentioned above, the first forecast that you set out should ideally be a P&L, summarizing income and expenditure for, say, the year ahead. You might do this monthly or annually. The P&L is important for demonstrating profitability; over the very short term, however, the key requirement is to generate cash and know the business’s working capital requirements. This can best be done by preparing cash flow forecast which should set out all the information, month by month, regarding cash inflows and outflows. The cash flow forecast should include: †¢Receipts of cash from customers; †¢Payments for raw materials; †¢Payments for all other expenses; †¢Drawings and wages; †¢Capital expenditure; †¢Capital, loans or grants introduced; †¢Loan repayments; †¢VAT receipts and payments (if VAT registered); and, †¢Tax payments. All of these items should normally be shown separately and in the month into which the money will be received, or paid by, your business. For businesses with a modest turnover and that demonstrate profitability in the year, it is normal only to forecast one year ahead, with a monthly cash flow. Larger businesses, especially those seeking equity investments and/or which do not show profitability in the year, may need to prepare forecasts  for two or three years. The first year cash flow is usually shown monthly, the second year quarterly and the third year just a single annual figure. It is often helpful when preparing cash flow forecasts initially to ignore any finance that is available from the bank or other lenders. The cash flow forecast then shows the true position of the business. It can then be used to decide if the budget is viable and can be adjusted to reflect the true position and to assess the total funding requirement. If you do not have sufficient money of your own, then you will need to seek loan finance or an equity investor. Most small businesses simply look for loan finance. Aim to match the term of the loan to the life of the asset for which it is required. It would be normal to look for a short-term loan, for example, to purchase equipment, or a long-term loan to purchase premises. You will also need to buy stock and pay overheads whilst awaiting payment from your customers. The money required is called working capital and is typically funded by an overdraft. When preparing your cash flow forecast, you may like initially only to include personal investment or loan finance for fixed assets and to ignore funds for working capital. The worst cumulative deficit will then give an indication of your total working capital requirement. Of course, the amount that you need to borrow can be reduced if you have more available to invest yourself. If you have a term loan, the capital repayments will not figure in your profit and loss account – they are not a business expense – although the interest portion of the repayments will be charged as an expense. However, the repayments do need to be included in your cash flow forecast. Balance sheet The money in a business can only come from three sources: capital introduced by the owner(s); loans (whether from the bank or, effectively, from creditors); and, retained earnings; that is, profit which has been generated by, and retained within, the business. That money is used to finance the fixed and current assets of the business. Current liabilities include: †¢Creditors †¢Overdrafts †¢Loans due within one year †¢Money owed under hire purchase agreements †¢Any amounts owed in VAT or tax, etc. In larger businesses, loans falling due in more than one year are usually shown separately. You will, however, have a better idea of your business’s performance if you show all loans as current liabilities. Current assets less current liabilities show your working capital requirement. Since the balance sheet is merely a snapshot, however, it may be better to deduce your working capital requirement from the cash flow forecast. The net assets are always equal to the capital introduced plus reserves; that is, the net finance, sometimes known as net worth or the equity of the business. The net finance, together with any long-term loans, is called the capital employed. All borrowing should be included when calculating capital employed. Pricing strategies The greatest danger when setting a price for the first time is to pitch it too low. Raising a price is always more difficult than lowering one, yet there are great temptations to undercut the competition. It is clearly important to compare your prices to your competitors’, but it is essential that your price covers all your costs. There are a number of possible pricing strategies from which you might choose. These include: 1. Cost based pricing – total costs are calculated and a mark up is added to give the required profit. 2. Skimming – you charge a relatively high price to recover set up costs quickly if the product is good or new. As more competitors enter the market, you lower the price. 3. Individual – you negotiate prices individually with customers based on how much they are prepared to buy. 4. Loss leaders – if you wish to sell to a particular market then you might sell one product or service cheaper to gain market entry. You balance this by selling other products or services at a higher price. This can be risky as the danger is that everything becomes a loss leader. 5. Expected price – what does the customer expect to pay? If you are selling a quality product, do not under price. Often the customer expects to pay a lot as the product or service has a certain ‘snob’ value and this may be diminished if you under price. 6. Differential pricing – you charge different segments of your market different prices for the same service. For example, offering discounts to certain people like pensioners or the unemployed, or charging lower rates for quiet periods. If, after working out your costs, the price you charge is much greater than your competitors’ then you will have to look at ways of reducing costs. Sensitivity analysis It is important to know how sensitive your forecast is to changes. Sensitivity analysis looks at ‘what if?’ scenarios. What happens to your cash position, for example, if sales fall by 10%? What happens if your main supplier increases raw material prices by 12%? Financial institutions when considering propositions for a loan particularly use sensitivity analysis. If your business is particularly susceptible to small changes, then you probably do not have a sufficiently large profit margin. You will thus be less likely to receive the loan required. You may find it difficult to cut costs. You may not be able simply to increase prices to improve your margins – that might deter customers. Are there other ways in which you can push up the margins, e.g. by increasing output? Having undertaken your sensitivity analysis, you may need to review elements of your forecast. Sensitivity analysis can help in making decisions. You may want to consider, for example, the effect of increased raw material, labour or overhead costs; of reducing prices, with constant volumes, to counteract competitors; or reducing volumes, with constant prices, due to over optimistic forecasts. Furthermore, if you are about to spend a large sum of money on equipment, you may want to look ahead several years, if at all possible. Including a sensitivity analysis in your business plan will demonstrate that  you have thought about some of the potential risks – and that is half way to avoiding them. VAT (Value Added Tax) VAT is tax paid on the value added at each stage of delivery of a product or service. It is a method whereby businesses act as tax collectors for the Government. If you are registered for VAT, by submitting a VAT return you can claim back what you have paid in VAT, and hand over what you have collected. Not all goods are taxable – for example, insurance, some education and training, and postal services are exempt. If items are VAT-able, then, ignoring VAT on fuel, there are two rates – standard (currently 17.5%), and zero-rated. Zero rated items are different from exempt items. It is only necessary to register if your output is taxable. If you do register, you will be able to recover VAT on your purchases including materials, capital equipment and overheads. You will, however, have to charge VAT on your sales. The difference between what you collect and what you pay out in VAT is passed on in due course to Customs & Excise. There is more paperwork involved if you are VAT registered – you need tax invoices showing your VAT number, an analyzed VAT account, and VAT return forms. It may, however, be advantageous to register voluntarily if your sales are below the turnover limit, because VAT paid on purchases can be reclaimed. You may also reclaim VAT on capital equipment, raw materials and stocks bought before registration, provided the business still owns them. If you are selling to VAT registered businesses, it is likely to be more attractive for you to register. If you are selling to the general public, it probably will not be. This is, however, an area where you should seek professional advice. CASE STUDY Brian’s Book-keeping Business Brian runs a book-keeping service for several small businesses. His overheads are as follows: Costs £ Per year ( £1 = Rs.84) Office costs5,000 Advertising 1,100 Insurance550 Telephone650 Vehicle running costs900 Other3,000 Brian works 40 hours per week. He spends 8 hours per week on administration, marketing, etc. He works 45 weeks each year allowing for holidays and illness. Brian draws  £200 out of the business each week. Brian has been asked to undertake a specific task and estimates he will need to spend 12 hours on it. What is the cost of providing the service? How much should he charge? Solution: What is the cost of providing the service? 1. Total hours worked per annum = 32 hours per week x 45 = 1,440 hours 2. Total drawings = 200 x 52 =  £10,400 3. Total fixed costs =  £11,200 4. Total costs =  £21,600 5. Costs per hour = 21,600/1,440 =  £15 6. For a job lasting 12 hours, the cost is  £ 180 ( £1 = Rs.84) How much should he charge? Brian has decided that he should also add a further 20% profit margin in case his costs go up and to make a little extra for reinvestment. 180 + 20% = 216 He is also registered for VAT and needs, therefore, to add VAT at the standard rate (17.5%) 216 + 17.5% =  £253.80 So the price he charges to his customer is  £ 253.80 Useful tips: 1. Some readers of your business plan will regard the financial forecasts as the most important component. It is where you summarise the expected income, dependent on your market research, and where you set out your expected costs. 2. The forecasts need to demonstrate that the business is viable and that there is a sufficient margin of comfort to allow for fall in demand or increase in costs. 3. Take care to prepare your financial forecasts as accurately as you can. Then compare your actual results with your forecasts and, if necessary, take corrective action at an early stage to keep yourself on course.