The UK manufacturing sector has declined significantly over the last Essay

The UK manufacturing sector has declined significantly over the last 40 years - Essay Example This structural change had created disturbances in the labour market as jobs had to be redistributed from declining to growing sectors leading to significant shifts in the design of industrial specialisation at both the national and regional level (Robson 2006). Changing patterns of domestic demand—Pattern of domestic demand saw changes due to economic development. With the maturity of the economy the consumer demand changed from goods to services. Due to increased presence of public sector services, it led to growth of tertiary sector. The shift in UK demand for manufactured goods grew faster than expected, which was hardly relevant for a bigger changeover for the UK industries producing goods. As the pattern of demand is also impacted by changes in the age structure of population, it affected the demographic pattern by 1.68M less people in the age group of 16-24 in 1996 in comparison to 1981. Growth in education, recreation and entertainment sectors suffered due to lack of resources. Statistics show that between 1983-1993, the total actual consumer spending at 1990 prices increased by 33.5% but on recreation, entertainment and education it increased by 55% while on food items it went up only by 11.3% (Lam 2010). Changes in the availability of resources—the availability of resources, as it happened very unexpectedly with oil finding in 1973 and 1979 when OPEC decreased the production of oil, its prices shot upward. It directly affected the substitutes and compliments prices like coal, gas and cars. It affected the production and employment in energy-related industries such as steel industry (Griffith 2003). International competition and globalisation—has been a force affecting the economic structure of the UK. Due to changing consumer tastes, introduction of new products and reducing comparative costs, economic functions got reallocated globally. For example, the UK motor-cycle industry could not meet the standards,

Teamwork discovery Essay Example for Free

Teamwork discovery Essay Describe team members’ results on the Discovery Wheel and Develop your multiple intelligences exercises. What similarities and differences exist within the team? Looking at our team results as individuals, it appears that we have all had a surprising look into ourselves accurately. We all have learned things about ourselves that we did not realize in the past. For instance, Jacob learned he would like to bring up his reading, Kathleen wants to be more time managed as she grows in her schooling she has learned, Nicole learned she wants to work on many areas in her growth with schooling, and Joni learned she needs to learn how to do testing better throughout schooling as well. Our team has the similarity of a high strength in Purpose. This is pretty much the only prominent high score as a team that we have in common. In the same since, we have looked at our results and we all have many differences. Like mentioned before, Kathleen, Jacob, Nicole, and Joni all want to improve areas throughout their course in their studies in schooling. Kathleen feels she will be stronger as a person once she is able to control her time management, Jacob feels one his reading becomes better he will be able to do better in school and in his life further down the road, Joni feels if she can do a test with less stress she will be able to pass them and accomplish much more through school. As a team we work well together through our weaknesses, because we are all different and have strength in the areas where others are lacking; therefore we work well as a team. 2. What are the advantages of having diversity on a team? What challenges might the team face because of diversity? As a team, we feel there are great advantages to having diversity on a team. We believe that diversity can bring a lot to a team; you can learn new points of view, opinions on how things are being done, and various ways of study that could help each other out. These are advantages, but they can also be seen as challenges in a team as well. The way these areas could be seen as a challenge is, if a team member is set in on specific way of study, does not do well with listening to how things could be approached differently, or they are just plain â€Å"set in their own ways†, then this could cause challenges. 3. How might factors such as diversity, attitude, learning, and work styles affect team building? Factors such as diversity, attitude, learning, and work styles may affect team building if one or more team members are unwilling to adapt to change that may take place; or even the styles of how people learn being different may become an issue. Work styles of how some team members want to get the job done right away and others procrastinate. Many of issues can arise while building your team. Once your team is built, you will know who is strong in areas and you will know where they will be needed the most. 4. Describe team members’ results on the Career Interest Profiler, and the Career Plan Building Activity-Competencies. What similarities and differences exist within the team? As the team, we scored high on Purpose and averaged in mostly everything else. Our low score came in at Reading. Our team has the similarity of Purpose, and a few of us paired up on other areas on where we scored, but overall we have many of differences on how we feel our areas need to be worked on. The differences are that some of us may have scored high in timing and low in other areas, but we fail to have time management. 5. How can you use the knowledge gained in the Career Interest Profiler, and the Career Plan Building Activity-Competencies to improve the performance of the Learning Team? We will stay on task and set early deadlines to make. This will help keep stress levels down to be able to complete the assignments at hand. We will stay in communication better with one another and post more often to find out what is needed; and if there is any confusion it can be clarified within the team or by the instructor if needed. This is what we learned to improve the performance of the Learning Team. 6. What obstacles might arise from different ethical perspectives among team members? There are many obstacles that could arise from ethical perspectives from a team. These obstacles can range from politics, religion, gender, race, or language. The list may go on even further, but these are major obstacles our team could think of. 7. How might these factors, diversity, attitude, learning and work styles, and ethical perspective be used to resolve conflicts? As a team we feel that diversity could be used to solve a conflict by learning the different ways of study that diversity may have to offer. Attitude can resolve conflict if the team comes forth as positive key players and are willing to keep an open mind without taking things personally. Learning new ways and being open to different ways of others’ ways of learning can resolve conflict as well. Taking in consideration that each individual is different and work in different styles may help resolve any conflict with work styles; try different work styles before just assuming you do not like them and keep in consideration they may work for other team members.

Workplace Violence :: essays research papers

A summary paper for the partial fulfillment of the requirements for completion of the Pacific Union College Degree Completion Program leading to a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice Administration. Napa Valley College November, 1999 INTRODUCTION Preface This paper is intended to explore the issues of violence in the workplace. It does not recommend a specific course of action or purport to address all of the issues associated with the problem. It is my desire to examine particular elements of workplace violence with the idea that I may author a policy for my employer. Background Crime continues to be a controversial topic in American society. Debate regarding the cause of crime may be found in the media on any given day. What to do about crime is also the topic of much discussion. 5.5 million people were on probation, in jail or prison, or on parole at year’s end 1996. (U. S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.) Many changes have taken place within the Department of Corrections in California during the 1990s. Most significantly, dwindling financial recourses have reshaped the priorities of the department. It cost $21,470 a year to house an inmate in a California state prison. (Inmate Costs, 1997-1998 p.1 Corrections: Public Safety, Public Service). There are currently about 161,033 inmates in California Prisons. Since staffing levels must remain more or less constant, it is inmate programs that suffer from lack of funding. Criminals sentenced to prison are under the custody of the Department of Corrections. In addition to fiscal pressure, the department is subject to political pressure at all levels. Public reaction to crime is responsible for the denial of weight yard and other recreational activities; â€Å"Three Strikes†, and the loss of conjugal visits. All place varying levels of stress upon inmates and staff. Nature of the Problem Violence is universally recognized as a pervasive part of contemporary American society and of our Nation’s past as well. Many of the attempts to understand the phenomenon have been made in response to specific situations, such as the lawlessness of the prohibition era, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the urban riots of the mid 1960’s. (Roth) I work for the California Department of Corrections. I am on a two-year assignment as the Employee Relations Officer. Many people understand the title to mean that I am to be an employee advocate. I am, but not for that reason.

Continental/Fintelco Jv Case Analysis Essay

1. Is entry into the Argentine market a good strategic move for Continental? Entering Argentine market in 1993-1994 was a good strategic decision for Continental as one of the TOP5 cable TV companies in the US despite certain risks for several reasons: 1. Changes in the US regulatory environment created additional challenges for Continental’s core business: 1992 Cable Act limited the cable TV companies’ ability to raise cable rates whereas costs at market prices reached up to $2000/subscriber. This inevitably led to constrained profit margins 2. US market began saturating: long-standing competition on the market coupled with growing demand and consumer selectivity has led to further squeezing margins and forced companies to seek for diversification of revenue streams –by entering non-traditional cable markets, capturing smaller niches, or expanding overseas. 3. Argentine cable TV marked lagged in behind US market by almost a decade: cable TV penetration barely re ached 50%, subscription growth rates approached 60-70% in selected areas. Also, the market was only beginning to consolidate around 4 major players – more than 50% of the market was controlled by a thousand of smaller operators. Although Buenos Aires was relatively more mature market, other regions and provinces presented lucrative opportunities. Telephone, satellite, and other adjacent markets had untapped future opportunities. So far, emerging Argentine promised much brighter prospects for cable TV companies than saturating US. 4. Argentine macroeconomic indicators exhibited positive dynamics despite high level of uncertainty: indeed, after a decade of political turmoil and military rule Argentine was finally building a democratic civilian government. During four years preceding the acquisition, Carlos Menem and Domingo Cavallo launched effective economic and political reforms, including deregulation and privatization in TMT and other major sectors. In particular, legislation became very favorable to foreign investors. However, Argentine was suffering from hyperinflation and chronic recessions during the previous decade. Moreover, political risks were becoming more and more tangible as presidential elections of 1995 approached. As a result, the beta for Argentine was two times as high as that for the US. Is Fintelco an appropriate venture partner? Fintelco possessed at least three characteristics of a good venture partner: a. Knowledge of local market including cultural, political, and regulatory background as well as customer programming tastes. Basically, buying a successful incumbent is one of the best potential moves while entering â€Å"terra incognita† b. Fintelco had strong presence in various regions and owned licenses in MDDS and satellite, which created solid base for revenue streams diversification and future growth. c. Fintelco was still owned and managed by its founder, a prominent serial entrepreneur with diversified assets. Liberman had a very hands-on approach in business, and thus secured complete alignment of incentives between the management and the owners. 2. What are the major opportunities and risks you see in the venture? Success factors and opportunities (excluding market opportunities mentioned above): a. Personal and professional â€Å"click† between Samuel Liberman and Amos Hotsetter indicated good potential for constructive and conflict-free partnership. b. Similar growth strategies and vision: both companies grew using clustering strategy and capturing operating efficiencies by consolidating subscribers geographically. c. Limited access to capital markets in Argentine: Continental had access to capital markets in the US which could significantly foster business development in a country with scarce financial resources. Risks&Concerns: a. Active involvement of Fintelco’s founder and owner in business operations has also created certain problems. For instance, it resulted in a sort of nepotism – many key positions were held by Liberman’s direct relatives. Thus, potential restructuring and changes in management would be complicated. Also, after an acquisition Liberman would have 50% ownership, which could decrease his involvement in this particular business and also led to incentives misalignment. Indeed, he had diversified businesses and could have been looking for a cash-out. Liberman’s full involvement and commitment were crucial for joint venture success. b. Fragmented regional market in Argentine commanded inorganic expansion trajectory for Fintelco, which in turn required capital commitment from both parties. A ceiling should have been established to limit uncontrollable capital pump and its inefficient allocation. c. Exchange rate risks: significant portion of revenue stream born currency exchange risk (peso vs. USD) regardless of geographical and product diversification. These risks were absolutely external and thus could have been hardly mitigated. 3. One could value Fintelco in either of the following ways: a. Peso cash flows discounted at peso rate and then value converted at the spot rate b. $US flows discounted at $US rate Which approach is more appropriate in this case? We analyzed assumptions required to adopt each of proposed approaches. Approach (b) – $US cash flow discounted at $US rate – assumes that: (1) Peso/$US rate would remain constant – despite stable projection of peso exchange rate till 1998, PPP implied exchange rate has a high range (0.999-1.436, 44%) and hence significant volatility. (2) $US discount rate reflects the risk of the project – As revenues of Fintelco are denominated in pesos while a significant portion of its liabilities, including interest expense and a portion of programming costs, would be denominated in $US, the project bears significant currency risk which is not reflected by US discount factor. Although the real currency of the industry in Argentina is in local currency Peso, we believe that finding a proper discount rate in Peso is quite tough and unreliable. Moreover discounting the Peso valuation with today’s exchange may be a biased approach. Hence what we prefer Ä ±s to conv ert the Peso cash flows to USD with the estimated USD/Peso rates for each period and then discount it with the US$ discount rate. 4. Is $80m for a 50% interest a fair value for Fintelco? Based on our valuation we believe that $80m for a 50% interest is a fair value for Fintelco. In our valuation we chose to be conservative with the assumptions as well as try to cover all possible risks and ran multiple iterations to obtain a good understanding of the value ranges. Our valuation is based on the following assumptions: (1) WACC of 15.35% calculated used 9.01% as Rd (BB rating), D/V ratio of 14.44% (current Balance sheet), Re of 17.07% (Lessard model) and tax rate of 40% (Exhibit 1). Beta was estimated using comparable companies (Exhibit 2). We recognize that D/V ratio as well as Return on Equity is subject to our judgment hence we assessed sensitivity of WACC to change in these assumptions. We estimated Re using 4 different models (Exhibit 3) and D/V at the level of comparable companies. WACC ranges between 10.77% and 17.19% (Exhibit 4). We believe that 15.35% is an adequate estimation of WACC reflecting both country and project risks. (2) Terminal growth of 4% based on our view of sustainability. We noticed that Fintelco’s projections imply 7% revenue growth however we do not believe that such high level of growth is sustainable in the long run, hence we suggest more conservative estimation. (3) Conversion to $US based on parity-implied exchange rates for 10yrs. We believe that due to difference in US/Argentina inflation rates over the long horizon only PPP-implied exchange rate reflects true value of money at any given point in time. We used it to convert annual peso free cash flows at the respective rate (Exhibit 5); We calculated terminal value using 2002 $US DCF value and Gordon Growth formula and arrived at Enterprise Value. We further subtracted net debt converted @1994 exchange rate to arrive to Equity Value in $US (Exhibit 6). We also calculated $US value based on spot rates (both official and PPP-implied) to assess sensitivity of the model (Exhibit 7) and concluded that our estimation is reasonably conservative and reflects country’s currency risk adequately. (4) 30% private penalty discount – as Fintelco is a private company, we discount its value further for 30% to account for lack of liquidity. Exhibit 8 contains the summary of our valuation under different scenarios. We concluded that though there are scenarios under which value of 50% share of Fintelco is below $80m, probability of these scenarios occurring is fairly low. Our base case scenario uses Lessard’s model for Return on Equity calculations, PPP-implied 10 years forecasted exchange rate and 30% private penalty discount (result highlighted). 5. In the course pack there is a reading (Estrada (2007)) about valuing offshore projects using techniques proposed by Lessard, Godfrey and Espinosa, Goldman Sachs and Salomon Smith Barney. What assumptions underlie each approach? The reading Estrada 2007 describes four models for evaluating investment opportunities in developing markets. Each model estimates a required return on equity by attempting to incorporate country and/or project-specific risk. Unlike the CAPM, none of these models has reached the level of standard-bearer in the finance community, and each rests on critical assumptions that must be considered before using them in a project assessment: The Lessard Approach: R = Rf + MRP*(ÃŽ ²p* ÃŽ ²c) * Assumes that the country beta is a good approximation of country-specific risks (political, sovereign, and expropriation) * Assumes that the risk of a project is not related to the risk of the country (e.g., ÃŽ ²p for oil industry may be low, but should be high for a country which has a history of expropriation) * Assumes that investors do not value the effect of global diversification that the project would bring the company The Godfrey and Espinosa Approach: R = (Rf + YSc) + MRP* [0.60*(ÏÆ'c/ ÏÆ'w)] * Assumes that the yield spread, which measures default risk, is an appropriate risk premium to capture sovereign risk associated with an offshore project * Applies a value (60%) that reflects the average risk reflected by the stock market but not the bond market across all developing markets, thus ignoring country-specific correlations * Assumes that the project’s risk is solely dependent on location. It does not factor project or industry-specific risk Goldman Sachs: R = (Rf + YSc) + MRP* [1- Ï SB * (ÏÆ'c/ ÏÆ'w)] * Assumes that the yield spread, which measures default risk, is an appropriate risk premium to capture sovereign risk associated with an offshore project * Assumes that the project’s risk is solely dependent on location. It does not factor project or industry-specific risk Salomon Smith Barney: R = Rf + MRP* ÃŽ ²p + [{Ï’1 + Ï’1 + Ï’3)/30]*YS * Assumes that three factors can be measures on a scale from 1 to 10 in a robust and consistent way: the company’s access to capital markets, susceptibility of project to political risk, and financial importance of project to the company) 6. Would you suggest any modifications to the structure of the deal? The structure of the transaction described in the case is to form a joint venture. Continental will: c. Purchase 50% of equity stake in Fintelco for USD 80 million. d. Commit to provide USD 70 million of capital for acquisitions and investments in technology upgrade at Fintelco. Samuel Liberman undertakes to provide another USD 70 million for the investments. e. Fintelco will bear a significant currency risk on its balance sheet, as its revenues are in peso, but liabilities, interest expense and programming costs are in US dollars. f. Continental will provide technical assistance to Fintelco on cost basis. g. The deal contained an exit agreement, the so called â€Å"shotgun deal†, whereby after four years the partners could sell to each other our trigger an outright sale to the third party. The terms of the transaction are in our opinion fair for both parties. When being a financial advisor of Continental, we would suggest: * That the commitment to invest USD 70 million in the target company is stated clearly, structured with limited recourse to the new shareholder to prevent undertaking a blanco commitment to invest capital. * Share purchase agreement between Continental and Samuel Liberman contains certain clauses about representations and warranties of both parties to mitigate the risk of financial loss in case of â€Å"window dressing† of the target company. * Shotgun clause to contain more substance over the price of the transaction in the future, giving a call and a put option to both contractual counterparties: * If one party will not wish to sell in the future at a certain price, it will undertake to purchase 50% shares in the target company from the other party at the price it declined to sell at.

Evaluate The Organization’s Involvement To The Community

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was established on February 4, 1962. It was founded by an entertainer Danny Thomas. Danny was revolutionized how children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases are treated around the world. The company’s core values, their vision and their mission explain the social responsibilities and factor that influence local and a national community. The mission of St.Jude Children’s Research Hospital consists of enriching the life of children by advance means of prevention, for the cure of pediatric catastrophic diseases. Using a vast amount of research and treatment has cause a recent expansion in St Jude’s hospitals to expand its services nation wide. This modern treatment provides an opportunity for these children to live a meaningful life all while being treated. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital started as leader in research for munity-based alternative to institutional care.The need for alternative medicin e and advance technological treatment of children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases was a determining factor that caused the organization to grow to what is known today. Summarize what factors have influenced the social responsibility strategies of the organization. The financial factor has a major influence in the strategies and social responsibility of the company. These funds are the fuel that keeps St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital striving for success.These funds not only pay employees but help families with medical cost and support. The factors that have caused St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital become a successful nonprofit organization can be seen in many other nonprofit companies. These companies strive to reach out to the community that has the most need, like children with Developmental disabilities, cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Does this organization have social initiative? If so what is it?The social initiative is to provide pat ients with exceptional medical care, it all started from St. Jude core values are to be true to their beliefs: respectful, honest, transparent and fair. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is determine to offer a broad combination of services based on the principle of full participation in community by advancing the treatment awareness and prevention of catastrophic diseases in children’s. Jude Children’s Research Hospital receive federal and state grants, donations, foundation funding.These funds are use to conduct research for Biomedical Engineering, Cytogenetic and Protein Production. All of this research is essential in the prevention and treatment of disease like cancer (2013). What are moral effects of the organization? The protocols that St Jude has created helped rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent when the hospital opened in 1962 to 80 percent today Research. (2012, 0507 02). The responsibilities of St.Jude Children’s Research Hospital are to the children with catastrophic diseases, their families, and to the donors that have committed their personal resources toward the mission. A major factor of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital determination for success is the fact that they’re a catholic religious hospital. Being able to generate Substantial amount donation has its moral debate. In the recent data collected science has proven the positive effect of stem cell research. Do to the catholic believe of the organization St. Jude will not fund research for cancer that has stem cells.