Ten Ways to Create Shareholder Value Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ten Ways to Create Shareholder Value - Essay Example Throughout his work, Rappaport emphasizes the need to capitalize on long-term growth strategies at the expense of realizing short-term benchmarks. The writer asserts that those corporations involved in responding to short-term strategies will eventually fail because of dynamics within modern commercial environments. Managers running such companies are obscured about the future prospects of an organization. Inasmuch as they concentrate on maximizing the momentary strengths of a company, they fail to take a glance at emerging opportunities and imminent threats. Since consumer preferences are bound to change and competition intensifies, then short-sighted company executives will have limited choices when trouble arrives. In order to enhance the aspect of practicability, Rappaport postulated 10 principles suitable for creating shareholders value in any given investment. Upon thorough appraisal, all these ten principles are based on ways in which companies can be made to realize increased future cash flows. In order to ensure competence, CEO’s must be thoroughly conversant with aspects of stock markets and forces influencing the value of securities traded within those markets. Thorough conversance on such microeconomic aspects will enable managers to become value-conscious and develop value-maximizing behavior in their professional undertakings. In most of the principles proposed by Rappaport, the main theme remains that managers should be encouraged by stakeholders, especially shareholders, in implementing long-term growth strategies. Encouragement can be achieved through reward mechanisms for both top and middle-level managers who demonstrate the strong commitment towards maximizing the value of the company.

Health Organization Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Health Organization Case Study - Essay Example In the year 2011, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated showed total net earnings of $5.142 billion. UnitedHealth Group is the holding company of the UnitedHealthcare, and is the largest and chief health carrier all over the United States of America. The company was formed in the year 1977 and was initially called the United HealthCare Corporation. The name was changed again in the year 1998, but even the new name has its origin based in a firm that the UnitedHealth Group acquired back in the year 1977 which was called the Charter Med Incorporated and was formed in the year 1974. It was in 1979, that the UnitedHealth introduced their first network-based health plan targeting the seniors citizens in America the company became a publicly traded one in 1984. UnitedHealthcare was very recently given the highest rating in the area of employer satisfaction for all self-insured health plan companies by J.D. Power and Associates. The company also received top ratings in 2011 from the American Medi cal Association (AMA) in the National Health Insurance Report Card published by the AMA. This fourth annual report card published by the American Medical Association assessed seven different national health insurance companies on the criterion of both timeliness as well as the accuracy of their claims basing their evaluation on different metrics like the assortment of payment made to the companies, and some process metrics. UnitedHealthcare also moved to the top spot amongst all of its industry peers on the two metrics: concerning Contracted Fee Schedule Match Rate and Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) Accuracy. Contracted Fee Schedule Match Rate basically is an indicator of how often the insurer's claim payment tallies the fee schedule put down in the initial contract. Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) Accuracy is the measure of the rate at which the amount allowed by the insurer actually equals to the expected allowed payment of the physician’s services. In a more recent publication of the health insurance industry called the ‘Business Insurance’, UnitedHealthcare was called the "readers choice" winner for the year 2010 in the category of "Best health plan provider". In contrast to all these ratings, UnitedHealthcare was given a 65% unfavorable rating by a group of hospital executives who had on several occasions dealt with UnitedHealthcare on previous occasions. Though this number is quite good and up by about 33% from the rating in 2010, UnitedHealthcare still is at the bottom of all the companied included in the list. As already mentioned, UnitedHealthcare is a recognized leader in the health insurance claim business and it strives to constantly improve on the quality of the services they are offering to their customers and the overall effectiveness of the notion of healthcare for every American citizen. They want to enhance every individuals reach to health perks and benefits offered by the health insurance companies like theirs. Th ey are striving to constantly create new and innovative health products and services that will make the entire concept of healthcare more affordable to American citizens. They also tend to use technology to make the entire health care system easier to manage and navigate around. The different subsidiaries of the company are constantly coming up with a line up for innovative services and products for an approximate 70 million of its

School Behaviour Policies For Children Education Essay

School Behaviour Policies For Children Education Essay Student behaviour has always been a key issue in any school. Pupils go to school primarily to interact with other pupils in an environment that is well suited for study and play. However true, pupils seem to be more motivated in the playground than in the classroom. Behaviour suffers very often when these students are not as motivated as the others. Class behaviour becomes problematic at the very worst as kids direct their attention away from the actual academic demands of being in school. Teachers and staff of schools are bent in solving such issue extending their control of student behaviour to heights that may not be beneficial to the students, as well as the school. Disciplinary actions, punitive in every sense, are the most likely to be used to correct student misbehaviour. Sir Alan Steer (2009) in his report found that in the UK, in its schools, there is no need or desire to give schools and its staff wider powers but there is a need for a dissemination strategy to be aware and to understand the existing powers in school. In his 2005 report, he proposed wider options of legitimate rewards and sanctions must be at hand, all of which properly, fairly and consistently applied by all concerned staff. Same has been suggested four years later (Steer, 2009). Findings have been remarkable in his 2009 report. He reiterated that clear rules and the consistent application of rewards and sanctions are vital. He rejects punitive solution to bad behaviour. Tough love is accept able but punitive methods are immoral and socially destructive. Several suggestions have been earmarked so as to implement the relevance of the findings. Steer (2009) reports: A reward system that is effective and tied to performance in the classroom ensures pupil engagement and better behaviour. Good behaviour needs to be learned. It is very imperative to teach kids to behave well so schools must adopt procedures and practices that will help students on how to behave. All staff must be good role models of good behaviour. Schools do have policies that reward good behaviour and good work as well. Sanctions are in place to streamline the need for better behaviour but what is left out is how to create and implement appropriate reward systems. Simple sanctions proved to be more effective than excluding the child from class. Statistical data on behaviour improvement must be at hand to trace changes and complement future actions. Praise can be used to motivate students and encourage better behaviour. Using pupil tracking system to recognise positive and negative behaviour is also efficient. Motivation and Incentives Motivation has been long considered as a very important factor in teaching. It is the precursor for successful comprehension of the students. Getting incentives from good work after a motivating discussion is highly recommended. Student motivation is the interest of students in learning or doing academic work; incentives are methods used to motivate students in learning academic materials (Slavin, 1984). Central to this researchà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s objective is to use the motivational effects of rewards or incentives in teaching. It is long known that motivation plays a key role in student achievement. So, specific in this analysis is the role of motivation in behavioural changes of a student in a classroom setting. Self-worth and Self-Efficacy In educational psychology, it is standard operating procedure to analyse the intrapersonal behaviour of a learner. His or her perceptions of the self must be taken into consideration in order to find the appropriate solutions to behavioural problems. Self-worth is linked to the self-concept of ability in any school setting (Ames, 1990). It is how a student considers his own capacities with respect to othersà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢. Self-efficacy is expectation or belief that one can possibly carry out a task. It is task-specific or situation specific. Often, self-efficacy serves as a barometer on a childs willingness to learn, his set of options in learning and actual performance (Ames, 1990). However, age play a role in how students understand ability. Younger kids are more positive or optimistic. They have high expectations are resilient after a failure. They tend to assume effort and ability as the same. Older kids are more negative in evaluating themselves. Effort for t hem gives them higher chances to succeed but ability is a set of limits. Trying hard and failing are actually threats to their self-concept of ability (Ames, 1990). Pupils determine self-worth and self-efficacy in relation to their environment. To behave poorly means self-worth and self-efficacy are dampened by the rigidities in the classrooms setting. Otherwise, the pupils are able to cope with its demands. It is here where motivation plays its role. Giving rewards or incentives is one motivational tool. To keep on relaying good behaviour and its corresponding benefits, a repetition of good behaviour is expected to occur. This is what we call operant conditioning or response reinforcement behaviourism. It is the gratifying of a partial or random behaviour that which eventually leads to the desired behaviour (PBS, 1998; Phillips Soltis, 2004). This molds future behaviour. If a reward succeeds a response to a stimulus, then that response is likely to be repeated. Interlinking the concepts discussed, this paper plots motivation and the self-concept of students in the classroom through the use of a reward/incentive system. Changes from their behaviour, primarily their self-worth and self-efficacy will be carefully studied. Methods Based on the premise above that rewards play a role in motivating student behaviour, this research is proposing the efficacy of a reward system (that is reinforcing) in different classroom setting and student age groups. With the concepts of operant conditioning, this study is specifically poised to determine how studentà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s self-worth and self-efficacy significantly changes (or not) when treated with rewards or incentives. The Steerà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s reports confirm the value of applying such consistently. The research will be using questionnaires and interviews as the primary mode of data collection (Anderson, 1998). The questionnaires will both target teachers and students as its respondents. Data analysis will be primarily descriptive and correlational (Runyon et al, 2000; Kirk, 2007). Descriptive data from socio-demographics will provide the initial analysis. Correlation analysis on student and teacher information from the questionnaires will follow thereafter. The main portion of this analysis lies on the significant changes of student self-concept as changes in the reward systems are put into place. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) will do a series of significant tests on changes of perception by the students, i.e. self-worth and self-efficacy (as dependent variables) before and after a reward system is placed (Kirk, 2007). Also, the age-groups and classroom setting will be used as independent variables treated against changes in self-worth and self-efficacy.

Zoos: Pitiful Dirty Prisons Essay -- essays research papers fc

Zoos: Pitiful Dirty Prisons If you have ever stepped into a zoo, you have stepped into a prison in which the inmates are defenseless and innocent, the sentence is long, and the penalty is cruel and severe. Zoos are not made for educational purposes but for entertainment, they do not benefit animals but push them toward extinction. "Zoos range in size and quality from cage-less parks to small roadside menageries with concrete slabs and iron bars." (Zoos: Pitiful Prisons.) The larger the zoo and the greater the number and variety of the animals it contains, the more it costs to provide quality care for the animals. Although more than 112 million people visit zoos in the U.S. and Canada every year, most zoos operate at a loss and must find ways to cut costs (which sometimes means selling animals) or add gimmicks that will attract visitors. (Zoos: Pitiful Prisons.) Zoo officials often consider profits over the animals' well- being.(Zoos: Pitiful Prisons.) A former director of the Atlanta Zoo once rem arked that he was "too far removed from the animals; they're the last thing I worry about with all the other problems." (Zoos: Pitiful Prisons.) Zoos are nothing more than animal prisons maintained for human amusement, not for education. ("Zoocheck".) Most zoo enclosures are quite small, and labels provide little more information than the species name, diet, and natural range. (Zoos: Pitiful Prisons.) The animals' normal behavior is seldom discussed, much less observed, because their natural needs are seldom met. Birds' wings may be clipped so they cannot fly, aquatic animals often have little water, and the many animals who naturally live in large herds or family groups are often kept alone or, at most, in pairs. (Zoos: Pitiful Prisons.) Natural hunting and mating behaviors are virtually eliminated by regulated feeding and breeding regimens. (Zoos: Pitiful Prisons.) The animals are closely confined, lack privacy, and have little opportunity for mental stimulation or physical exercise. Animals forced to endure such confinement often display abnormal and self-destructive behavior called "Zoochosis".(Zo os: Pitiful Prisons.) Zoochosis is a mental illness; symptoms include pacing, neck twisting, and other repetitive behaviors.("Zoocheck".) &... ...oadside zoos at all costs. If no one visits these substandard operations, they will be forced to close down. Contact PETA and start your own "Zoocheck" program in your local zoo. Zoos claim that they are good for research, but the purpose of most zoos' research is to find ways to breed and maintain more animals in captivity. If zoos ceased to exist, so would the need for most of their research. The key to saving exotic animals lies in saving their habitat, not removing them from it only to be placed in an unnatural and abusive environment.("Zoocheck".) Works Cited Zoo Target of "Bloody" Protest Over African Elephants PETA News Release http://www.peta-online.org/news/basel199.htm Zoocheck PETA's Action for Activists http://www.peta-online.org/library/actionideas/zoo.htm 21, Nov. 1999 Zoos:Pitiful Prisons Campaigns http://www.peta-online.org/cmp/ccircfs3.-html 21, Nov. 1999

Women’s Rights in the Middle East

This is focused on women in the middle east, in places such as China, Egypt, Turkey, Afghanistan, etc. Women’s rights in this part of the world is very different than in the United States. Women are forced to live by the men’s rules. In China they throw little girls on the streets, leaving them starving to death because they think that there are too many women already, it’s part of their culture. Or they make the women abort the baby if it’s a girl, that’s called genocide.This topic is really interesting because it’s not what you see everyday in our country. It’s a different side and there are different concerns. Women live in the shadow, they don’t have a right to speak, sometimes they have to do demeaning things because it’s what it was intended that they should do according to their country’s rights. There are women that fight for their rights and to be treated equally. Some people approve that, others donâ€⠄¢t.Some women are sick of being treated like slaves and they try to fight for what they want, but some of them get killed in the process because the men take that as rebellion. I’m in favor of those women who fight till the end, who want to make a difference. If I could help change the way people think in these countries, I would. In Afghanistan women try to fight for their freedom because it’s a society where mainly the men are in charge. And it is believed that men have to be deciding everything in the women’s lives, including marriage.

Fredrick Jackson Turner Seminar

Frederick Jackson Turner, â€Å"The Significance of the Frontier in American History,† Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1893. CONTENT: Turner’s article overviews the American past as it were in a transition period of expanding west. He reviews the significance of this move and evaluates the various results of the expansion on different groups in America. THESIS: The expansion resulted in crucial advancements/ building blocks for American society as it created significant economic, social, and culture transformations; although this period eventually ended. THEMES: . Although Indians played a large part in assisting Americans find/ inhabit new land, many were not treated with peace and respect as the white man instead on remaining as the dominant power. While the Indians showed Americans the way (literally), Americans ungratefully followed. 2. As New England was strong on maintaining their religious values, they made sure to carry their sa me ideas west. Therefore, the western frontier was built with a strong influence of religion from the east. 3. Because of the continuous expansion, American gov’t buckled down and held stronger regulations and rules.Following the Louisiana Purchase, that area was proclaimed land where there could be national jurisdiction and must obey the constitution. The idea to spread land throughout the Union states had been suggested but President Johnson rejected the idea. REACTION: Although Turner’s paper was informative, I feel that it could have been better synthesized still make the same point. HISTORIOGRAPHY: Progressive School— The paper covers the crucial aspect of the evolution of the American people during the expansion and the various hurdles that they had to overcome.

Key Performance Indicators in Alliances essays

Key Performance Indicators in Alliances essays Strategic alliances are formal relationship between two or more parties that meet critical business needs while allowing organizations to retain their independence. While retaining their individual independence, firms gain access to specific resources, manufacturing capabilities, project funding, capital equipment, knowledge, expertise, and intellectual property. However, if these alliances are to succeed, they must have established means to track and measure organizational performance, this requires establishing negotiated key performance indicators that will improve open communication while reducing organizational friction. Key Performance Indicators in Alliances It is no secret that the world is becoming a global market place and that organizations that wish to remain competitive are forming strategic alliances. Described as a formal relationship between two or more parties, strategic alliances are meant to meet critical business needs while allowing both organizations to retain their independence (Brown The Importance of Negotiating Key Performance Indicators Organizations that choose to partner, create a unique competitive advantage that is built on trust and commitment (Gibbs, 2009). Furthermore, once the alliance is established, it is hoped that each partner will learn from each other, thereby creating a benefits multiplier that is advantageous to both partners. Therefore it is essential that each organization negotiate KPIs that will attract custo...

Customer care in hospitality The WritePass Journal

Customer care in hospitality Introduction Customer care in hospitality IntroductionTypes of Customers:Customer:1. Teenagers:2. Families: (Parents and Children)3. Business clientele:Customer Care policy:1. Quick service:2. Quality policy:3.   Equal opportunities policy(Internal customer policy):Evaluate the Customer Care policy:a) Internal customer:b) Position of the Organisation: c) Trends:d) Targets:a) Listening to the customer:b) Provide appropriate tranning to the staff: c) Analysis of   customer complaints and feedback at your regular intervals:ConclusionRelated Introduction McDonald’s is the biggest fast food service company in the world. McDonalds provide a fast food meals and soft drink to eat in restaurant or take away. McDonald which is located near the Broadway centre is providing a better service to the customers. This outlet is getting very busy in peak hours due to its location. It is in the centre of a major public transport hub. This outlet is established from last 30 years. There are 32,000 restaurants, who served 55 million people in a day. McDonald’s having an outlet in more than 118 countries all over the world. McDonalds first opened in California, USA. In 1940 Mr. ray Kroc take over a franchisee of the McDonalds brother (Dick and Mac) and started opening the new restaurant according to the McDonalds concept. In 1974, McDonalds started his first restaurant in United Kingdom. As of 31st December 2001, McDonalds and his franchisees running over 1,184 outlets in the United Kingdom. The reason to choose this organization because McDonald gives the best quality of foods and beverages to the customers in a lower price. McDonalds gives high standard of service to achieve their customer expectations. McDonalds knows the value of customer. allinlondon.co.uk/directory/1165/19839.php  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1 Types of Customers: Customer: Customers are actual who purchase the Product / Services. Hospitality Industry Customer Hospitality having a various kind of Customer which  Ã‚  Ã‚   is depends on their Needs, Budget, Expectations and Satisfaction. This Hospitality business had different types of customer which include Families, Teenagers and Business Clientele etc. 1. Teenagers: It is cheaper than other organizations. So, most of teenagers find it more affordable and some McDonald outlets offer a internet facilities in their restaurants, which is become common in most of the restaurants to increase the customers. Lots of the teenagers find easier to take a quick bite, which save more time of teenagers. There is also a student discount. 2. Families: (Parents and Children) Most of the children love to have a food and Beverages in McDonalds so, many families take their children to enjoy the McDonald environment. There are different types of menu which includes light and heavy food. McDonald also research the health issues of the customer. Most of the McDonald serves the health conscious food in their outlets for examples; they are using less salt and oil in the food to provide the health conscious food to every customer. 3. Business clientele: Business customer are always in rush for working in the morning. Normally Business customers always have a short period of time to spend a break. So, they prefer the McDonald for takeaway according to their needs and expectations. McDonald provide a quick and efficient service to the business people without wasting their priceless time. McDonalds which is located in Hammersmith Broadway, there are Disney store where the families are coming with their children to do the shopping for the kids. This McDonald has a many number of customers because of it location, like tube station and shopping mall are nearby to the McDonald. So, therefore that outlet having a different types of age group customers. The price of McDonald keeps on changing but the McDonald at Hammersmith Broadway has a happy meal for the kid’s party at Just 5.99 pound. The starting and closing time of the McDonald at Hammersmith Broadway is Monday to Sunday (6.00a.m to 23.00p.m) But on Friday it open till 12.00a.m in night. McDonald at Hammersmith Broadway provides a best service to the customer and they know the value of the customers. Also, they know how to make a profit to the organization to keeps a guest happy. McDonald’s Corporation (2008) Customer Care policy: 1. Quick service:   According to their services McDonalds gives a 100% satisfactions to the customer McDonald ensure that each and every order goes correctly and always double checked done by the team members. If any mistake has been done in the customer order and they are not satisfied with their service, McDonald policy is that to make it correct by offer complementary meal to the customer for service recovery. McDonalds have different types of policy while dealing with customer. They follow first order goes first and then to second order. According to this policy the operation always remain smooth and the customers always be happy with the efficient service. This policy helps them to work easily and provide excellent and quality service to the customer. http:www.makeupyourownmind.co.uk/questions/how-do-you-operate/customer –service/index8.html#question11 2. Quality policy: The management of McDonald’s constantly strives to: 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Improving its standards of food safety and hygiene 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Providing excellent customer service 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Food safety programmes and Assurance of quality. 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Control of every link in its supply chain. Management of mcdonalds is committed to maintain the highest standards in terms of quality,value and cleanliness. The management is fully determined in exceeding its customer needs in the way   of quality assurance and foof safety programmes. Effective communication on all the levels is the key for keeping tracks of guest complaints and following up with necessary measures. 3.   Equal opportunities policy(Internal customer policy): According to the policy, every employee had equal rights. So, employees love to work comfortable in a proper environment. There is no discrimination of age, nationality, disabled, ethnic origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, race, and colour. They prefer if you make your staff happy than staff will make your guest happy. Every employee treated with respect and   provided   training   and   development   educations to improve their skills and knowledge , so that training would make them professional towards their work, it includes health and safety, secure working, hygiene and environment. Any employee who is found guilty for unlawful discrimination may face disciplinary action. bized.co.uk/comfact/mcdonalds/mc15.htm Importance of Effective Customer care in hospitality: Customer Service is the essence of hospitality industry. Customers are the back bone for the success of any organisation. Effective communication on all levels of the organisation is very important to impress or disappoint each customer. Every hotelier should be attentive and passionate about customer needs. If the customers are satisfied, you are building a relationship based on trust and loyalty. If the organization is successful in meeting the customer needs, then the customers are more likely to come again to the hotels or become regular customer for that organisation. Some organisation may provide the best service, but they are not fast enough, hence it may lose the important customers and several other referrals. McDonalds always strives to take good care of their customers and provide a service that exceeds customers expectations by providing and offering various options in their menu and encouraging the customers for any feedback or suggestions. McDonald works on the principle that the customer needs to be treated with priority and he should see value as well as quality in what he gets. Every management tries its level best to meet or exceed the customer expectations as it the only mantra for any organization to increase its revenue. The happier customers are more likely to spend more at your establishment. If they are given some small discounts or vouchers, it is more likely that they some back the next day and spend even more on of the other products of your organization. If the staff is friendly and polite it acts as cherry on the cake as the customers some back knowing that they will get a good customer service with a smile and acknowledgment. McDonald believes that it’s better to find a solution for a problem rather than running away from it. The staff are given appropriate training to deal any consequences or problems hence McDonald always encourages its associates to solve any problems which also motivates and builds confidence   in them and makes the customer happy making a good impression of the organization.   McDonalds’ provides highest level of quality, food, service and hygiene at each and every restaurant. The key for its success is constantly monitoring and keeping a track of guest complaints and acting on the feedbacks given by customers to make necessary changes in terms of service, food, quality, and value for money which urges the customers to come back again and again. McDonalds encourages all its associates and customer care department to be open for any feedback from the customers and act on it. Meeting the customer needs is very important for any organization to make profit and for that it is very important to recognize what the customer wants and how much is willing to pay for it. Evaluate the Customer Care policy: Why to evaluate? a) Internal customer: By evaluating the internal customer of a specific age helps to built a relationship with the same age group customers. By checking the evaluation of internal customer and the policies which were implied by the company for the customer helps us to know the benefit of the policy which was implemented. b) Position of the Organisation: By evaluating the organisation comes to know the position, strength, weakness and rating. It helps to compare the organisation with other competitor.   There is some point’s like- What’s going on in the market? What are the competitor’s policies? How the Organisation will use it in an effective way? c) Trends: There are different types of trends in the market. By evaluating we come to know the latest trends in the market and new technology through which guest will be attracted. d) Targets: Every organisation has a goals and targets. It is also helps to complete the targets and achieve the goals of the company and to get the regular business. How to evaluate? a) Listening to the customer: It is very important in any organisation to listen to the customer complaints or suggessions in   order to meet or exceed his expectations. According to Avril owton Customer love to share and talk about their experience and give suggestions to improve the service or standards. b) Provide appropriate tranning to the staff: It is the staff who represents your organisation, in other words they are the face of your organisation. It is the staff who will delever the final product to the customer an make him happy. Hence the primary objective of any organisation to keep iots policies intact is to providew appropriate traning to its staff in terms of the service to be delivered better than the competitors. (William.bmartin,1993) c) Analysis of   customer complaints and feedback at your regular intervals: It is very important for any oraganisation to analyse the customer complaints as well act on it as soon as possible to win the customers loyalty. Organisation should also give a proper feedback to the customers.(avril owton) Conclusion It is clear that the good customer service is vital in any kind of business. The good customer care always performs best in front of the guest. In results, the satisfied customers always return to the business and give the profit to the organisation. According to the McDonalds â€Å"success of their restaurant is gained through their customer†. McDonalds build a good reputation with a customer so, they knows the expectation and demand of the customer always been change. McDonalds always do a market research from which they got information about customer likes and dislikes. According to market research McDonald implement the new things to attract the customer. They know if the customers receive the good service than the customer will be regular for the organisation

10 Jobs Perfect for People Who Value Freedom and Want to Travel

10 Jobs Perfect for People Who Value Freedom and Want to Travel So you love to travel. The trouble is, you also, you know, have to work most days. Thank goodness it is possible to get paid to travel- oh yes, it is. Travel jobs might not be the easiest to find, but they are out there. Figure out how to earn a salary while traveling the world by checking out a few of these choice job options. 1. ArcheologistFor this, you need to have a passion both for traveling and ancient artifacts. It will require a good deal of schooling, but then you’ll be out in the field as much as you’ll be in a classroom or a lab. So get your Ph.D. or master’s, and start taking those long research trips to keep you going.2. Athletic RecruiterFind a job through a college or professional sports organization and travel the country- even the globe- scouting out talent. Being an avid sports fan is a requisite, as well thriving when you are living on the road and seeing the world.3. English Teacher AbroadYou might take for granted that you speak English, but did it ever occur to you that your natural ability is actually an asset in foreign countries? Find somewhere you really want to go and then figure out how and where you can teach English there. Any required certification is easy to acquire. You can also consider becoming an au pair and caring for children while helping them to learn English.4. Tour GuideEspecially if you’re an extrovert, you can get a job as a tour guide sharing your passion for a foreign place with other travelers. If your memory is good and you learn fast and chat well with people, you’ll be a natural.5. WWOOFLove traveling, the outdoors, and organic produce? Try WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). You’ll get paid and you’ll be doing something good for the planet and for small farms and your travel will be super ethical, rather than super frivolous or exploitative. Give back!6. Flight AttendantThis seems like a pretty obvious travel-friendly career choice, but it’ s also quite enjoyable and jobs are not that hard to come by. See the world, get paid rather well, and score discounted flights for life! You’ll have to be a people person and put up with some unorthodox hours, but it’s a great way to get around.7. Cruise EmployeeThere are lots of these jobs out there in a wide variety of areas, but lots of people want them. If you do get one of these coveted gigs, you’ll be getting free room and board, and a chance to see some of the most beautiful places on earth.8. YachtieGet paid a great amount of money to work insane hours in some of the most beautiful places in the world. Free room and board, though you’ll be slaving away for almost all of your waking hours. But for the right people, this job is a dream.9. Travel AgentIf you love travel so much that you feel the need to share tips and help people plan their own travels, then why not get paid for it? Plus, you’ll enjoy deep discounts and perks when it comes ti me for your own vacations.10. Travel WriterIt’s not as impossible as you might think to get paid to write about travel. Just remember you’ll have to start somewhere- likely small and unpaid, and work your way up to recognition and compensation. But the more interesting your travels, and the better your writing, the easier a time you’ll have setting up your audience and your career.

American Psychological Associations Ethical Principles of Essay

American Psychological Associations Ethical Principles of Psychologists AND CODE OF CONDUCT - Essay Example etency in services and human relations, privacy and confidentiality of the patients, promoting the right advertising and public statements, documentation procedures, designing appropriate education and training programs, carrying out approved research studies and publication, following standards in assessment and providing the right therapy to patients. The importance of obtaining informed consent while providing therapeutic services, counseling and consultation to patients has been stressed in many instances throughout the code of conduct as it is extremely vital for patients to know what kind of services are being offered to them. These informed consents are generally provided as a written format and in languages understood by the patient in simple words. When the patient is unable to provide consent the psychologists will have to take appropriate steps to explain the procedure to the patient or in cases where consent from any other authorized person is permitted it shall be obtain ed. In case of therapeutic treatments, the psychologists should inform the patient well in advance about the treatment modality, fees, involvement of a third party, confidentiality and clarify any other questions put forth by the patient. As it is a therapeutic intervention, the risks and alternative treatment present should be included in the consent. If the treatment is handled by a trainee who will be supervised by a supervisor, the informed consent should include both their names. In case the therapy is to be afforded to families or groups of patients, the psychologists should clarify the roles and responsibilities of all involved. In case of patients who are receiving treatment elsewhere the treatment issues and patient’s welfare should be discussed clearly by the psychologists in order to avoid confusions. Psychologists should not be sexually involved with the patient or any of their relatives and should not accept previous sexual partners as their patients or clients d uring the

HR Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

HR Plan - Research Paper Example The land acquired by the company is located at various locations all over the United States to take advantage of the geographical variation. The product line of Ritz ranges from organic spices to organic detergents. The company also produces cereals, processed foods, pulses, tea, rock salt, sweeteners and medicinal herbs which are all organic in nature. Ritz also hires officers who are highly experienced in field work and know how to deal with farm resources. The company has employee strength of around 500 skilled individuals. Ritz develops its products by efficiently identifying customer needs and then modifies product line accordingly. Maintaining customer satisfaction is an important goal that the company always tries to fulfill (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). Ritz operates on the basis of a one person Human Resource (HR) department. In such a scenario, it becomes imperative to strategically design a HR plan that suffices to all the objectives and goals of the company. The design of the HR department must correspond to the various dimensions of the organization i.e. the HR needs to manage all the divisions of the company appropriately and strike a balance between all the divisions (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). An efficient HR plan requires that the various components and functioning areas that are vital for efficient HR management are strategically developed and given equal importance. The process should not be complicated. This would ensure that the organizational objectives are always in sync with the HR policies (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The various components are given as follows: While designing plan about recruitment and selection of employees, the HR manager must keep in mind the appropriate skills necessary for the available job opportunities at the company. The company can design a recruitment system of its own or use other sources which help the company to identify prospective

Molecular Microbiology Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Molecular Microbiology - Case Study Example The commoner intravenous catheter-related infections are exit-site infections, as in this case, often with erythema around the area where the line penetrates the skin. Bacterial blood stream infections are common in this given scenario, and Staphylococci are the second most prevalent bacteria. However, a smear suggesting the staphylococci or Gram-positive cocci in clusters in blood culture as in here, is not sufficient for the diagnosis of true bacterial blood stream infection before the species is identifiable, since the most frequent of this species, Coagulase-negative staphylococci or CoNS usually habituate in the skin, and there is always a chance of contamination of the culture bottles during the venipuncture. In contrast, such an infection due to Staphylococcus aureus is virulent by its intrinsic nature, and isolation in one blood culture bottle is clearly diagnostic and is an indication of initiation of antibiotic therapy. Thus the therapeutic decision making is based on identification of the organism (Beekmann, S. E., Diekema, D. J. and Doern, D. J., 2005). The first test obviously would be to do a light microscopic examination. Direct microscopic examination may provide a rapid, presumptive report of Gram-positive cocci resembling staphylococci. Isolation of S. aureus should be performed using 5% blood agar following an incubation period of 18-24 h in air at 35-37 C. Staphylococcus aureus ferments mannitol, resulting in a change in the colour of the medium from pink to yellow. Colony morphology may be used by the experienced observer to define presumptive staphylococci. A Gram stain appearance of cocci in clusters and a positive catalase test provide rapid indicators of staphylococci. However, in order to be able to distinguish between Staphylococcus aureus and the remaining members of the staphylococcus species, other tests are necessary. For clinical microbiological purposes, two or three simple tests suffice. The coagulase test detects the production of coagulase by S. aureus. In this test, one colony is mixed with plasma, incubate d at 37 C for 4 h and observed for clot formation. Samples that are negative at 4 h are incubated and observed again for clotting at 24 h. The slide agglutination test detects clumping factor (ClfA). This is performed by making a heavy homogenous suspension of cells in distilled water on a glass slide to which a drop of plasma is added. Within 10 s, the mixture is examined for presence of clumping (Chapin, K., and M. Musgnug, 2003). How would you differentiate the cocci in clusters from those in chain Cocci in clusters are named as staphylococci. All staphylococci have the ability to convert hydrogen peroxide into nontoxic H2O and O2. Both coagulase positive and negative staphylococci produce catalase. This test differentiates them from cocci in chain or streptococci, which cannot produce catalase and hence are catalase negative (Chapin, K., and M. Musgnug, 2003). What is the principle of DNase test and what is the identity of this organism and why Support your answer with microbiological diagnostic facts. DNase or deoxyribonuclease is an extracellular enzyme that can hydrolyze deoxyribonucleic acid to oligonucleotides. Several varieties of deoxyribonucleases are distinguished on the basis of antigenic properties, response to inhibitory substances, hydrolytic end products, and

Performance Enhancing Drugs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Performance Enhancing Drugs - Essay Example The first factor is the developments in the field of science that have led to the finding of a larger number of performance enhancing drugs. The second factor has been the dramatic increase in the financial rewards that accrue to successful sportsmen, and hence the incentive to attempt to use any means to succeed. Measures have been introduced to discourage the use of performance enhancing drugs in the field of sports, but anecdotal evidence suggests that these measures have in no way reduced the use of performance enhancing drugs in the field of sports. (Athletes and Performance-Enhancing Drugs). Strychnine, heroin, cocaine, and morphine have seen use as performance enhancing drugs, but probably was more harmful than in providing an enhancement of performance. During the Second World War amphetamines were used widely by soldiers to avoid fatigue, due to the toll of a long war on their physical capabilities, and as such represents the first use of performance enhancing drugs in the form of stimulants. (Athletes and Performance-Enhancing Drugs). The stimulant group of performance enhancing drugs includes amphetamines, caffeine, B-agonists, phenylpropanolamine, and ephedrine. Stimulants work on the Central Nervous System, and speeds up certain parts of the brain and body. This capacity of the stimulants makes it useful to sportsmen like athletes and weight lifters, as it quickens reflexes, improves confidence, and reduces an athlete’s sense of fatigue. The side effects due to the use of the stimulants include anxiety and psychosis. The anabolic-androgenic steroids makes up the next group of performance enhancing drugs, and include stanozolol, methanedienone, nandrolone, clostebol, oxandrolone, and testosterone. Anabolic steroids are the synthetic equivalents of testosterone, which is the naturally occurring male hormone. Chemical modifications enhance the muscle building capabilities,

The Impact of Evolving Technologies on Political Participation Essay

The Impact of Evolving Technologies on Political Participation - Essay Example While the technology has introduced itself and enforced its presence in the different forms, one of the shapes in which the technology has been used to aid and assist the political participation is that of social media. Social media, which is also dubbed as the Web 2.0 is an invention and gift of the 21st century A.D. it is a totally new concept that was not known to the users or implementers of the digital media in the previous decades. The Web 2.0 is a more dynamically assisted digital interface that has allowed new applications usage and improved service providing. The Social media is a gift of Web 2.0. Through the social media, people from all walks of life get together and express their views, concerns, optimism and other related trends and concepts. They all merge under a unified group of entity followed by the large number of fans. Arab spring one of the most dominant words in the political sphere of global politics has been in practice for last four to five years. It was a movement and agitation activity that turned governments. It was a movement that toppled the governments of dictators who had been in seat for over two to three decades. The Arab spring was a gift of technology. It was spurred by the use of Face book and other social media websites (Howard & Hussain, 2013, 65). It served as a platform for the youth of that area to mobilize, find a platform. While the practical fields were cordoned off by the police and other means of militia and regimental forces, the Face book served as a medium where the people could gather, express their views and express their legal concerns. The Tehrir square which late on became the house and center to over a million people was initially set into fire by the Face book when a group of individuals sat together and discussed the possible actions against the incumbent President

Why we should have a Black President Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Why we should have a Black President - Essay Example The United States should have an African, or Black President, because it's the only way to demonstrate principles of equal human rights in actual fact. All the history of the United States has never been anything but a chain of white male presidents. Oddly, little has been said about this embarrassing subject. Of course, America probably has to break a few more social barriers before a black president could be elected. To be frank, a lot of people are not ready to have a black man or woman as President. On the other hand, there are a lot of progressive people, black and white, concerned that democratic principles should be implemented in the real life indeed.Electing of African President in 2008 will help to attract an attention of publicity to the problems of black community, such as educational, health, social, political and other issues. According to the recent Gallup Survey on "Black-White Relations" cited in Cronc, seven out of ten whites believe that blacks are treated equally in their communities: an optimism with which only 40 percent of blacks agree. Eight in ten whites say blacks receive equal educational opportunities, and 83 percent say blacks receive equal housing opportunities in their communities. Only a third of whites believe blacks face racial bias from police in their areas. If a Black President is elected in the United States in 2008, these problems will more likely to be solved. (1999)I think that the main benefit of Black President is providing the United States with the real equality in all areas of life. Also it will show to every black person that there is nothing impossible for him or her in self-development. Self-confidence of colored people will serve as a powerful tool for further development of democracy in the United States. Also, Black President will stimulate black people to get involved in the political process. If we have a black woman as a President, feminist's movement will also become more politically active and more significant. The idea of America having its first Black president has resonated with many African-Americans over the years, especially with the emergence of Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Obama is the third African American since the Reconstruction Era to serve in the United States Senate. He is also the only African American currently serving in the Senate. Obama showed he had national appeal last year, when he delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. Though he was not even elected into office yet, dreams of a black President popped into the heads of many African Americans who watched as Obama electrified an audience of all races. Obama is not the first African American to show national appeal as a potential presidential candidate. The Rev. Jesse Jackson ran twice in the 1980s, and though he did not win the White House Jackson showed that he had enormous appeal outside of the African-American community. Jackson managed to attract 6.9 million votes from Urban Blacks, Hispanics, poor rural whites, farmers, factory workers, feminists, homosexuals and white progressives. One more step to an African President is Bill Clinton, who often is referred to as the "black president" because he was so receptive to the needs of African Americans and because he worked to include them in the political process more than any other president. Reasons cited here for Clinton's popularity among blacks include his poor Southern upbringing and underdog status, the fact that he appointed more blacks to his cabinet and other federal posts than any other president, and good timing (he came into office after three consecutive Republican administrations). But perhaps the biggest factor discussed is the genuine ease with which Clinton relates to black Americans. Blacks trust him to consider their perspective and do not view him as just another white politician who appears only during election years. This is not to say that Clinton always did their bidding; he often disappointed them. But they also shared common enemies and a common outlook that brought

The Impact of Evolving Technologies on Political Participation Essay

The Impact of Evolving Technologies on Political Participation - Essay Example While the technology has introduced itself and enforced its presence in the different forms, one of the shapes in which the technology has been used to aid and assist the political participation is that of social media. Social media, which is also dubbed as the Web 2.0 is an invention and gift of the 21st century A.D. it is a totally new concept that was not known to the users or implementers of the digital media in the previous decades. The Web 2.0 is a more dynamically assisted digital interface that has allowed new applications usage and improved service providing. The Social media is a gift of Web 2.0. Through the social media, people from all walks of life get together and express their views, concerns, optimism and other related trends and concepts. They all merge under a unified group of entity followed by the large number of fans. Arab spring one of the most dominant words in the political sphere of global politics has been in practice for last four to five years. It was a movement and agitation activity that turned governments. It was a movement that toppled the governments of dictators who had been in seat for over two to three decades. The Arab spring was a gift of technology. It was spurred by the use of Face book and other social media websites (Howard & Hussain, 2013, 65). It served as a platform for the youth of that area to mobilize, find a platform. While the practical fields were cordoned off by the police and other means of militia and regimental forces, the Face book served as a medium where the people could gather, express their views and express their legal concerns. The Tehrir square which late on became the house and center to over a million people was initially set into fire by the Face book when a group of individuals sat together and discussed the possible actions against the incumbent President

Modern society Essay Example for Free

Modern society Essay The modern family is obviously in many ways different from the traditional family types that existed in the past. A number of trends are at work nowadays shaping the modern, or, as some scholars put it, post-modern family (United Nations University). These factors affect the basic foundations of the family and reconfigure the roles of all members of this institution, receiving different evaluations of psychologists, economists, and sociologists. Professor Yount from Emory University notes that modern American families have undergone a dramatic sociological change in the past decades. Thus, the size of household declined among Caucasians and African Americans and rose among Hispanics, the â€Å"percentage of households headed by married couples declined from 78 percent to 53 percent in the period from 1950 to 1998† (Yount, 2005). In addition, the proportion of dual-earning couples has increased significantly, creating a new economic reality (Yount, 2005). Today, the woman is increasingly contributing as much as or even more than the man to the family budget, a fact that has implications for her economic role in the family. A woman is more likely to remain financially independent after divorce or even lose money in divorce proceedings to her husband. This has positive implications for children that are less likely to remain without support after the parents’ separation and benefits the society, creating a new workforce pool. Against this background a noticeable trend is certainly an alarming divorce rate. In a certain sense, this trend works against growing importance of women as bread winners, contributing to insecurity of children’s well-being and putting heavy financial pressure on spouses that take custody of children. On the other hand, divorce rates are connected to â€Å"the new level of women’s involvement in the workplace, as well as modernization of women’s roles in general† (Swanson 2004:1). In a sense, divorce is the result of growing egalitarianism in family relations, a trend clear from the psychological perspective. Families become more and more egalitarian in the sense that younger and older members, women and men are achieving a more equal status in many ways. However, Swanson (2004) also points out that perfect egalitarianism remains elusive. Most men and women aspiring to build egalitarian families in the times of their courtship face a reality in which they cannot attain this desired ideal and instead lapse into traditional rigid gender roles. This becomes even more of a problem with childbirth. Although men tend to have a greater role in parenting than before, women are still responsible for most of it, and it tends to re-shape the roles in the family toward greater participation of the woman in household duties and increases her workload relative to that of the man. Thus, a study conducted in Switzerland â€Å"reveals some moderate tendencies towards less sex typing of task allocation in such items as administrative contacts, gifts, holidays, cleaning, but there seems to be a hard core of tasks showing very little change (cooking meals, washing)† (Levy, Widmer, Kellerhals 2002). There are many other changes obvious in the psychological realm. Values and priorities in family life are undergoing a constant change. United Nations University in its article on the post-modern family notes that today’s families see â€Å"optional participation in most aspects of communal life, high levels of privacy and choice† as opposed to â€Å"compulsory participation in all aspects of communal life, lack of privacy and personal choice†. Because of lower level of required participation in communal activities, people experience a shift in the nature of identity, often associating themselves with a greater number of fluid social groups. Values become less constant, and social roles are changing. One interesting trend pointed out by Professor Gillis of Rutgers University is the growing virtual character of people’s connections with home. Many spend little time at the place associated with their home, something underscored by the fact that â€Å"homemade† and â€Å"homecooked† is likely to be made anywhere but at home† (Gillis 2000:7). On the other hand, modern communication possibilities in the form of Internet, cheaper long-distance calling and other ways allow for greater connection with relatively remote places. This creates prerequisites for a deep psychological change in the mentality of people who feel at the same time estranged and closer to their relatives who they see less frequently, but can communicate with from a distance. A word should also be said about the emergence of non-traditional households, starting from cohabitation prior to marriage that can now last decades to homosexual households and those including several couples. Welcomed or abhorred, these families also have a presence in the modern society. As to homosexual couples, we see these days a clear trend toward legitimizing these relationships. This can have far-reaching consequences for modern families. There is a greater scope of opportunities for adoption of children, greater security for members of such families that previously lacked social security, and other economic and social advantages. However, there is also an opinion that the prevalence of these arrangements destroys the foundations of the regular family. Thus, families nowadays undergo a profound change that occurs on sociological, psychological, and economic plane. Most often, these planes prove to be deeply interconnected in many ways. Thus, divorce has roots in growing egalitarianism and shift of values that affect the psychology of young people who get married. On the other hand, it has profound economic ramifications, creating instability and jeopardizing the financial well-being of women and children in most cases. Overall, the modern family demonstrates many trends, increasingly exhibiting diversity and fluidity in definition of patterns and values. Bibliography Gillis, John R. â€Å"Our Virtual Families: Toward a Cultural Understanding of Modern Family Life†. Emory Universitys Center on Myth and Ritual in American Life Newletter Working Paper No. 2 (2000). 19 November 2006 http://www. marial. emory. edu/pdfs/Gillispaper. PDF. Levy, Rene, Widmer, Eric, and Jean Kellerhals. â€Å"Modern family or modernized family traditionalism? : Master status and the gender order in Switzerland†. Electronic Journal of Sociology (2002): Universite de Lausanne. 19 November 2006 http://www. sociology. org/content/vol006. 004/lwk. html.

Facebook And Google Ads Advertising Methods Marketing Essay

Facebook And Google Ads Advertising Methods Marketing Essay Introduction We have identified the current online advertising methods applicable to e-commerce. We have conducted a research on the internet by using search engines to identify the latest advertising methods. We have discussed these online advertising methods. We have found 3 online advertising methods. There are Banner and Popup advertising methods, Content Provider advertising methods and Online Marketplace. We have also state the advantage and disadvantage of online advertising methods, the definition of online advertising methods. Online advertising is an advertising method through online to share their product and information to public. This can be legal and illegal according to the law. But online advertising have a very fast efficient and speed because people everyday using computer to search out what is the news. We have few example and we give the definition, advantage and disadvantage. We share banner advertising methods, popup advertising method, Google ads advertising method and Face book advertising method. This few methods bring us much benefit and this makes us have a easier life style. This also helps a lot of business to make their product more popular. Banner Advertising Methods Banner advertising method is defined as a web banner or banner ads are a form of advertising on the World Wide Web, this form of online advertising needs of the ads embedded in Web pages, this is a website to attract traffic police to link to the advertiser website. The advantage of Banner Advertising methods is whether you are an established company or upcoming business entity, you will find that Internet banner advertising is the best way to promote your online businesses. Just like your magazine or newspaper ad to see the Internet banner ads can give you answer, you want from your target market. The ads found in square or rectangular box, which contains some text and pictures. Perhaps the main advantage of banner ads is that you will be able to target market from your response is almost instantaneous. When youre in the newspaper advertisement, readers might be interested in your proposal, but their curiosity, they may not always straight. These people will forget who the ads for some time, you will not get any of their responses. However, Internet banner advertising is different, because the reader will immediately take action to read your ad in their curiosity. In to see your online ad, viewers will click on your banner, and then it will tak e them to your site, you are selling your products and services. The Disadvantage of Banner Advertising is it will be anyone to see or read advertising payment guarantee. This is difficult to assess the effect of advertising, or measures, although can be installed on your website; you can display the source of website traffic, your sites software tools. Discussion as a manager When a cooperate use a banner advertising methods manager must make sure that attention of the title and topic involve in the advertisement to make searchers realize the advertisement is good enough to search. Discussion as a consumer The consumer will be attracted by the decoration or design of the advertisement and the advertisement must include the needs and expectation of consumer. The example of Banner Advertising Methods Popup Advertising Methods The definition of Popup Advertising Methods is a form of online advertising on the World Wide Web intended to attract web traffic or capture email addresses, it works when certain web sites open a new web browser window to display advertisements, the pop-up window containing an advertisement is usually generated by java script, but can be generated by other. The advantage of Popup Advertising Methods is block those program that are illegal to watch and prevent the computer get hack. Visitors can use the certain web sites for free with conditions apply. These programs are incredibly efficient most in the time and can fee advertisers a good deal of money if the ad just isnt reaching the intended target. It can bypass blocker system and can still provide the advertising to your display, whether visitors like it or not. The disadvantage of Popup advertising methods is however pop-up ads can do, in fact, more online users than to identify more harm than good may never resolve any association with the Company and are sources of irritation and inconvenience. Such advertising may also be responsible for the actions as a spasm. Discussion as a manager It is very irritating when the popup advertising appear, sometime even cannot close the popup advertisement. Discussion as a consumer The popup advertisement is very irritating, when doing work, something will popup and interrupt. The example of Popup Advertising Methods Google ads advertising Methods The definition of Google ads Advertising Methods is ad serving applications run by Google Inc, website owners can enroll in this program enable text, image, and video advertisement on their website. These advertisements are administered by Google and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-impression basis. The advantage of Google ads Advertising Methods is it provide simple and easy to understand states, whether you own various website only one account is sufficient. The Google ad is very easy to join and with it is very simple to paste code into your web page or blog, there is no need to mess around with different code for various affiliate programs, and when you are using Google Ad sense you dont have to spend time find advertisers. The disadvantage of Google ads Advertising Method is if somebody make a click on the tag saying Ads by Google you wont get anything for giving free promotion to Google, the web having excessive advertising are currently being rejected. Other than that, the statistics of Google are easy to understand but sometimes are inadequate and far away from reality, with Google Ads you cant determine the payout rates of the advertisements. Furthermore, websites and blogs that desire to display Google Ads may not include other content targeted and text based ads on the pages displaying Ad words ads. A fatal disadvantage of Google Ads is that they dont say how much is Google Ads partners will receive, you are not able to make any estimation just receiving an unknown share of the revenue. Google Ads does not allow you to share your states with other person. Discussion of a manager It is convenient to do an advertisement on Google website and it will be seen by many people around the world, other than that the companys product or services will be purchase and ask by the consumers. Discussion as a consumer Too many advertisements had affected the focus when working, it should be improve. The example of Google Ads Advertising Methods is Facebook Ads Advertising Methods The definition of Facebook Ads Advertising Methods Facebook ads are a growing number of people online business advertising and Facebook is actually a real participation in paid advertising platform. Sign up for Facebook, the solid and the establishment of ad creative is what is in store for you in the balance of this article. The advantage of Facebook Ads Advertising Methods is reaching your target customers. Facebook is connecting with more than 500 million potential customers and we can choose our audience by location, age and interests. It is a test simple image and text-based ads and use what works. This can increase our relationship and build a community around your business. It also can control our budget like set the daily budget we are comfortable with, adjust our daily budget at anytime. The disadvantage of Facebook Ads Advertising Methods is you must direct to know each other or search from our friend only can know this people or product. Someone can block you to prevent see their profile without agreement. And also that someone will use hacking program to hack your account. The security system is not very strong. Discussion of a manager When company use this advertisement is a very dangerous to company and it will possible bring bad reputation to company, this is because sometimes is illegal action to commit extortion. Discussion as a consumer It had become a habit to online facebook, so the advertisement at facebook will be seen by many people. The example of Facebook Ads Advertising Methods Conclusion The current online are advertising methods applicable to e-commerce. We may conduct a research on the internet by using search engines or relevant references for example books, newspaper, magazines, etc. this can help to identify the latest advertising methods. Online advertising is popular to public and easy to research for those know to how use computer, but for those does not know how to use computer, they cant do research and does not know how to research by using computer. Online advertising is always using by business man because they feel that this advertising method can provide a very big range of news to the social and public. So when many and many of people know their product. The company will become popular for example, Sony, Samsung, Nokia and etc. they done their very good advertising in online advertising so that is the reason they become popular. The advantage of online advertising is very to use and have a good efficient. But it also have disadvantage when you try to find something on the online advertising, it does not get the answer or it reject the thing you search. In conclusion, online advertising can provide a big range advertising to public and popular and also easy to use for public. This is a very nice methods using online for advertising.

Eulogy for Son :: Eulogies Eulogy

Eulogy for Son I'd like to thank you all for the outpouring of support and condolences on the loss of my beautiful son Adam. My entire family appreciates it. This is my eulogy to Adam: Depression is a terrible disease. Adam suffered so much with a disease that often goes unrecognized as very serious, or even as a disease, but is often fatal. Many people who meet someone like Adam think all he needs is tough love - how wrong they are. To those who have never had this disease, you cannot imagine how frightening the demons are, how they take over your life, your every thought, your every action. There is no respite within the mind; it is constantly on overdrive. Doctors have few clues as to how to treat this. Lord knows how many doctors, tests, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers we've seen. Adam was hospitalized at least three times and lived in a residential therapeutic facility for seven months. He tried every anti-depressant drug available. He spent another year in the military. The National Guard and Air Force were brief respites from his torments. He excelled at both and became a poster soldier for the National Guard. He received an honorable discharge from the Air Force. But, in the long run, the military was ill-equipped to deal with the disease. Despite his disease Adam had passions, passions for hockey, for music, for his family. He worked out three days a week and studied to better himself. His sense of humor was infectious; he saw the world differently and would always see the irony in life. On Monday driving to the airport after the Super Bowl he saw a gun shop and a hospital next-door. Once at a New Jersey Devils hockey game he seemed the only one shocked by the scoreboard message: "Devils welcome the Churches of NJ." He'd always noticed the contradictions in life. But, he was always his own worst critic - never able to bask in his successes with the military, getting his GED, scoring a 3-point basket, getting a goal in hockey or fixing complex computer problems. He emulated his brother, David, but disease got in the way. He loved his sister, Deena, more than anything, but was rarely able to show it. They, in turn, loved him dearly - a better brother and sister there's never been. For that matter, a better mother there's never been.

I Write to Impress, Expose, and Inspire :: Writing Composition

I Write to Impress, Expose, and Inspire I'll just say it, "I like myself." I shake hands with just about every "part" of who I am. I have an admirable supply of self-esteem and I...well,...I show it off. I'll say this, "I'm a pretty decent writer." Of course, that's my own opinion, but I'm modest. I don't think I'm as good as "they" get, nor do I think that I'm as good as I can get. I like manipulating words so that they are comprehended at face-value and understood at a deeper value. I like to be enthusiastic when I write, and I like to project this to the reader. Am I doing that yet, you lovely reader, you? I like who I am, I like to hear myself talk, and I think I speak well. When rereading my introductory paper for this class, I smiled as I remembered typing it the night before it was due. I could tell that I wrote it, and that I had a bit of fun doing so. I used quotation marks around sarcastic, or pun-ny phrases. I used contractions and slang to sound more like "me" than anyone else. I had a flowing, conversational style, as Lanham might put it, with a catchy first sentence and a smile-producing conclusion. I admit that there's obvious theme paper influence within it: I have a definite intro, 4 paragraphs of "discussion," and a predictable conclusion; but I didn't let my creativity sit in the corner. I based my information on my own life, my own experiences, and my own darn opinion. I didn't look in a book for anything for that paper, and yet, it's believable. I think that there is definite magic within words and their organization on a page or in the air. While I think that I'm in control of what I say and what I mean when I say it, I can look back at something I've written and see a different, maybe deeper, meaning. In my intro paper, I can see the frustration about which I write, within the style of my writing. I get excited and poetic when I write about going to school forever to fill those barren 2/3rds of my brain, and when I write about how I'm beginning to know what I want. On the other hand, my writing "slows" in a sort of literary sigh when I write about my lack of dollars and the ambiguous future.

College Sucess Essay

1. Explain three (3) of the tips discussed in Chapter 6 that you should know about using your campus Library for research Three tips discussed in chapter 6 about using your campus library for research are focus on your research question, take a stance, use computerized. 2. Briefly explain the SCC Heuristic. Why is using this heuristic important when using Internet sources for Research? SCC heuristic stand for sourcing, context corroboration it’s a method to help you with online information when you are trying to put a research paper together. It’s very important when using the internet sources for a research paper because it breaks it down three ways one sourcing which tell you a lot about the quality of the information. And it’s best to trust the information an authority field. Second is context the internet an ever changing source of information so there for you need to ask yourself this question what’s the reason for this site, make sure you check to see when it has been last updated even now most web pages tell you the last time it been updated. Always double check third step are corroboration which deals with the level agreement. When you are writing your paper. You should always check out a few sources to help determine the corroboration because most sites will contain some sort of bias. When you think about corroboration it’s the step that pulls the ideas from different sources. 3. Word Wise: Create original sentences for imperative and honing, two Word Wise vocabulary. Sentence one: At the time it was imperative to clear the black plague Sentence two: On the first day of school I spent two hours honing in the mirror 4. Discuss the research of Paul and Elder concerning how being a skilled writer must be a reflective writer Paul and elder concerning how being skilled writer must be a reflective writer b excuse in a way to learn they mention that writing can be a way to test yourself over the info because you need to understand and explain Cleary to audience. And to become a skilled writer Paul and elder mention to learn how to write reflectively they usually carry on inner conversation while they type and they also think how the audience might perceive the idea. And to help the reader get full understanding the issue they ask themselves question like main point stated points supported and explain fully also learning bring home the importance develop the skills of writing well during your college years. Dr Paul and elder also state learning to write wellis a key to learning. 5. Explain the differences between the typical high school writing assignment and the typical college-level Writing assignment. The differences between the typical high school writing assignment ad college level writing assignment because in high school focused on recounting personal experiences like the five paragraph essay or the research paper, In high school the papers generally involve selecting certain topics example civil right movement, should the drinking age be eighteen or twenty-one and mostly likely the information was collected then you summarized the report. In college it is a little different the expectations are much greater then high school. In college you need to provide thesis statement. A thesis statement lest the reader know the main idea of your argument an explains what you had wrote about, 6. Briefly summarize the four main stages of the writing process The four main stage of the writing process. Is one organizing when you gathering resource together that’s when you can start organize your information? There are different ways you can organize ex notes cards, outline form creating map. But find a way that’s works for you. Most importance when it comes to organizing is not always the format but its selecting the key points. Second drafting your first step ways to organizing how you are ready to begin writing your draft. Make sure you have a good thesis statement make sure it is related to an argumt it doesn’t always have to be perfect these notes can including formation make sure it’s to clarify support. The third step is revising check to see you are still focused on key points if you did all the other step your revising should be easier since you are writing to an academic audience you need to check for grammar and error. Since writings not easier for most students make sure you are doing a lot of revising in order to get it right 7. Explain two (2) of the tips discussed in Chapter 6 for working effectively in group projects. The two tips discussed in chapter six for working effectively in group projects. Are set ground rule this is very important because when you usually work in a group there someone that does not do their share of work and the other team member has to do the work and that become stress on the individual on the person so you always have to set ground rules on the first meeting. The second tips that should of work In a group project is to keep in contact keeping in contact can help out a lot you can schedule meeting time and this should help everyone keep in tack of each other 8. Briefly summarize the steps Chapter 6 recommends for creating an individual presentation. Creating an individual presentation you should create individual make sure first thing list all the task involved next should make a time line that help you not to go over your deadline usually in college nine of ten times you are going to have to talk in front of the class so making 3Ãâ€"5 cards can help.

Respect Quotes

Respect is very essential to each of us and it is one of the admirable altitudes that a person always wants to earn. Anyway, everyone deserves to be respected and all of us must respect each other. However, not all people in the world know how to respect other people as well. There are so many disrespectful people that were not taught not taught how to be kind to others. So, if that’s the case, it is much better if they read more quotes about respect. And these disrespectful people would surely appreciate the real meaning of the word respect.Actually, you can read so many quotes about respect from the different sources like books, bible and from the different internet sites. Well, I have in here a list of some interesting quotes about respect. So to start, I have here a quote from Jarod Kintz â€Å"Respect doesn’t have to be shiny. ‘It just needs to be wearable. Would you be so kind as to hold my jockstrap while I stir your hot coffee? † Then I also have in here very famous quotes about respect from Confucius. â€Å"Respect yourself and others will respect you. Next we also have another inspiring quote about respect by Fyodor Dostoyevsky â€Å"If you want to be respected by others, the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self- respect will you compel others to respect you. † We also have a heartfelt touching quote by Mahabharata â€Å"Should even one’s enemy arrive at the doorstep, he should be attended upon with respect. A tree does not withdraw its cooling shade even from the one who has come to cut it. † Then lastly, we have a quote from Laurence Sterne, â€Å"Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners. Always put these quotes in mind because these quotes are very important for us because it serves as a guide in making us a better person. It is such a nice thing if a person is respectful; a lot of people will look up to those respectful people. It is n ot hard to respect other people because all you need to do is to be sensitive to other people’s feelings and to know your limitations. Meanwhile, for those people who are not respectful, well, they might just learn their lessons soon and will realize that a person who is rude could not make a person happy and contented.

Diversification and Firm Performance

DIVERSIFICATION AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION Anil M. Pandya and Narendar V. Rao Abstract Diversification is a strategic option that many managers use to improve their firms’ performance. This interdisciplinary research attempts to verify whether firm level diversification has any impact on performance. The study finds that on average, diversified firms show better performance compared to undiversified firms on both risk and return dimensions. It also tests the robustness of these results by classifying firms by performance class.The results show that among the best performing class of firms, undiversified firms have higher returns, but these returns are accompanied by high variance. Whereas, highly diversified firms show lower returns, and much lower variance. Results further show that diversified firms perform better than undiversified firms on risk and return dimensions, in the low and average performance classes. The paper concludes that a dominant undivers ified firm may perform better than a highly diversified firm in terms of return but its riskiness will be much greater.If managers of such firms opt for diversification, their returns will decrease, but their riskiness will reduce proportionately more than the reduction in their returns. In such firms, there will be a tradeoff between risk and return. INTRODUCTION Two seemingly irreconcilable facts motivate this study: one, diversification continues to be an important strategy for corporate growth; and two, while Management and Marketing disciplines favor related diversification, Finance makes a strong case against corporate diversification.With the help of a large sample, this interdisciplinary study tries to address this contradiction in the associative relationship between diversification and firm performance. Diversification is a means by which a firm expands from its core business into other product markets (Aaker 1980, Andrews 1980, Berry 1975, Chandler 1962, Gluck 1985). Rese arch shows corporate management to be actively engaged in diversifying activities.Rumelt (1986) found that by 1974 only 14 percent of the Fortune 500 firms operated as single businesses and 86 percent operated as diversified businesses. Many researchers note a rise in diversified firms (Datta, Rajagopalan and Rasheed 1991, Hoskisson and Hitt 1990). European corporate managers according to a survey, not only favor it but actively pursue diversification (Kerin, Mahajan and Varadarajan 1990). Firms spend considerable sums acquiring other firms or bet heavily on internal R&D to diversify away from their core product/markets.Of late U. S. firms are beginning to moderate their zeal for diversification and are consolidating around their core businesses. But this trend has not affected large Asian corporations which continue to remain highly diversified. As in any economic activity there are costs and benefits associated with diversification, and ultimately, a firm's performance must depend on how managers achieve a balance between costs and benefits in each concrete case. Moreover, these benefits and costs may not fall equally on managers and investors.Management researchers argue that diversification prolongs the life of a firm. Researchers in finance argue diversification benefits managers because it buys them insurance, and shareholders usually bear all the costs of such insurance. Diversification can improve debt capacity, reduce the chances of bankruptcy by going into new product/ markets (Higgins and Schall 1975, Lewellen 1971), and improve asset deployment and profitability (Teece 1982, Williamson 1975).Skills developed in one business transferred to other businesses, can increase labor and capital productivity. A diversified firm can transfer funds from a cash surplus unit to a cash deficit unit without taxes or transaction costs (Bhide 1993). Diversified firms pool unsystematic risk and reduce the variability of operating cash flow and enjoy comparative adva ntage in hiring because key employees may have a greater sense of job security (Bhide 1993).These are some of the major benefits of diversification strategy. Diversification, firm size, and executive compensations are highly correlated, which may suggest that diversification provides benefits to managers that are unavailable to investors (Hoskisson and Hitt 1990), creating what economists call the agency problem (Fama 1980) and managers stand to lose if they become unemployed, either through poor firm performance or bankruptcy (Bhide 1993, Dutta, Rajagopalan and Rasheed 1991, Hoskisson and Hitt 1990).Diversification can also lead to the problem of moral hazard, the chance that people will alter behavior after entering into a contract-as in a conflict of interest by providing insurance for managers who have invested in firm specific skills, and have an interest in diversifying away a certain amount of firm specific risk and may look upon diversification as a form of compensation (Ami hud and Lev 1981, Bhide 1993).Although it may be necessary for a firm to reduce firm specific risk to build relations with suppliers and employees, only top managers can decide what is the right amount of diversification as insurance (Bhide 1993). Diversification can be expensive (Jones and Hill 1988, Porter 1985) and place considerable stress on top management (McDougall and Round 1984). These are the costs of diversification.In the final analysis, this situational argument regarding balancing costs and benefits can only explain the performance of individual firms but it cannot address the theoretical question about the veracity of diversification as a valid corporate strategy. Consequently, following the benefit-cost agreement, whether in general, diversification enhances firm performance becomes an empirical question. Further, recent reviews of the rather extensive literature do not find agreement about the direction of association between firm diversification and firm performanc e.This lack of a clear answer in the literature motivates the present study. The paper is organized in four sections. The first section briefly reviews the empirical literature and presents the research hypotheses. Section two describes the research methodology and operationalizes the dependent and independent variables. Section three presents the results of the study. The concluding section discusses the results and summarizes the findings. REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL LITERATURE AND HYPOTHESIS The impact of diversification on firm performance is mixed.Three recent reviewers (Datta, Rajagopalan and Rasheed 1991, Hoskisson and Hitt 1990, Kerin, Mahajan and Varadarajan 1990), broadly conclude: (a) the empirical evidence is inconclusive; (b) models, perspectives and results differ based on the disciplinary perspective chosen by the researcher; and  © the relationship between diversification and performance is complex and is affected by intervening and contingent variables such as related ver sus unrelated diversification, type of relatedness, the capability of top managers, industry structure, and the mode of diversification.Some studies claim diversifying into related product-markets produces higher returns than diversifying into unrelated product-markets and less diversified firms perform better than highly diversified firms (Christensen and Montgomery 1981, Keats 1990, Michel and Shaked 1984, Rumelt 1974, 1982, 1986). Some claim that the economies in integrating operations and core skills obtained in related diversification outweigh the costs of internal capital markets and the smaller variances in sales revenues generated by unrelated diversification (see Datta, Rajagopalan ; Rasheed 1991).While agreeing that related strategy is better than unrelated, Prahalad and Bettis (1986), clarify that it is the insight and the vision of the top managers in choosing the right strategy (how much and what kind of relatedness), rather than diversification per se, which is the key to successful diversification. Accordingly, it is not product-market diversity but the strategic logic that managers use that links firm diversification to performance; which implies that diversified firms without such logic may not perform as well.Markides and Williamson (1994) show that strategic relatedness is superior to market relatedness in predicting when diversifiers related outperform unrelated ones. Others however argue, it is not management conduct so much, but industry structure that governs firm performance (Christensen and Montgomery 1981, Montgomery 1985). Besides diversification types and industry structure, researchers have also looked at the ways firms diversify. Simmonds (1990) examined the combined effects of breadth (related vs. nrelated) and mode (internal R ; D versus Mergers ; Acquisitions) and found that relatedly diversified firms are better performers than unrelatedly diversified firms, and R ; D based product development is better than mergers and acquis ition- led diversification (Simmonds 1990, Lamont and Anderson 1985). Among studies of acquisitions the results are mixed. Some report that related acquisitions are better performers than unrelated ones (Kusewitt 1985), or there is no real difference among them (Montgomery and Singh 1984).Some studies on breadth and performance find relatedly diversified firms perform better than firms that are unrelatedly diversified (Rumelt 1974, 1982, 1986). Others show confounding effects in firm performance because of diversification category and industry (Christiansen and Montgomery 1981, Montgomery 1985). Recent studies suggest service firms should not diversify (Normann 1984), whereas, Nayyar (1993), shows that in the service industry diversification ased on information asymmetry is positively associated with performance, whereas diversification based on economies of scope is negatively associated with performance. A contradiction of Johnson and Thomas' (1987) confirmation of Rumelt's findin g that the appropriateness of product diversity is judged by a balance between economies of scope and diseconomies of scale. It also appears there is a limit on how much a firm can diversify; if a firm goes beyond this point its market value suffers and reduction in diversification by refocusing is associated with value creation (Markides 1992).Apart from the empirical evidence, the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) holds that competition among investors for information ensures that current prices of widely traded securities are the unbiased predictors of their future value, and that current prices represent the net present value of its future cash flow. Evidence supports the existence of weak, semi- and near-strong forms of market efficiency (Fama 1970). If this view of the market is true, then investors have the information necessary to construct portfolios of stocks to maximize their risk/return strategies for a given amount of resource.Consequently, a firm's management cannot do better for the investor by diversifying into different product markets and create a portfolio that will improve returns or better manage risk than investor’s stock portfolio. Stockholders also do not pay a premium for diversified firms (Brealey and Myers 1996); the market does not value risk/return trade-off positively for unrelated diversification (Lubatkin and O'Neil 1987), and acquiring firms only earn normal returns (Lehn and Mitchell 1993), and not economic rents.Finally, corporate takeovers discipline managers who waste shareholder resources and bust-ups promote economic efficiency by reallocating assets to higher valued uses or more efficient uses (Jensen and Ruback 1983, Lehn and Mitchell 1993). The review of empirical literature from Management/Marketing disciplines and the theoretical and empirical literature from Finance show that the relationship between diversification and performance is complex and is affected by intervening and contingent variables. Taken toge ther, the evidence and arguments presented above seems to suggest that diversified firms (i. . highly unrelatedly diversified firms) as a class, should perform less well than an optimal securities portfolio, and thus for our study we propose the following null hypothesis. Our null hypothesis (H0) is that: Highly diversified firms should perform less well than moderately diversified and single product firms. There are numerous arguments and findings against the null hypothesis proposed above. In certain markets, an investor may face assets constraint in constructing a portfolio, restricting diversification opportunities (Levy 1978).Farrelly, and Reichenstein (1984) show that total risk rather than systematic risk alone, better explains the expertly assessed risk of stocks. Jahera, Lloyd and Page (1987), find well-diversified firms have higher returns regardless of size. DeBondt and Thaler (1985, 1987), argue that the market as a whole overreacts to major events. Prices shoot up on go od economic news and decline sharply on bad news. According to Brown and Harlow (1988, 1993), investors hedge their bets and over react or under react to important news by pricing securities below their expected values.As uncertainties decrease, stock prices adjust upwards, regardless of the direction of the impact of the initial event. The post-event adjustment in prices tends to be greater in the case of bad news than in the case of good news. Haugen (1995) also casts doubts on the validity of the EMH. Finally, Fama and French (1992), changing their earlier stance, argue that the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is incapable of describing the last fifty years of stock returns, and the beta is not an appropriate measure of risk.This implies that a stockholder may not be better positioned to diversify his portfolio of stocks as compared to a corporate manager as implied by the null hypothesis. On the basis of this discussion, we could argue that market inefficiency may not allow i nvestors to optimally allocate their resources. It can put managers, especially good ones, in a more advantageous position to diversify their product market portfolios and thereby improve firm performance. Thus, our alternate hypothesis (H1) is: that diversified firms perform better in terms of return and risk measures compared to less diversified firms.Thus, on average, diversified firms as a class should perform better than moderately diversified or single-product firms. STUDY DESIGN The availability of the Compustat database has made it possible to study a larger sample of firms over several years and approach the problem of diversification from a more macro perspective. The approach used in this study is akin to that of military historians who examine past battles and in the context of operational tactics conclude that combatants with greater orce (material and manpower) tend to win more often. Those with insufficient force need the advantage of mobility and surprise to neutrali ze superior force in order to win. These insights, based on outcomes of many battles, allow historians to disengage from contingencies and specificities of stewardship and terrain. This does not imply that situational specifics should be ignored in planning military campaigns. The finding only points out the general truth of certain tactics.Similarly, in the context of the conduct of business strategy, we could also first examine the performance of diversified firms without regard to specifics of strategy, like type, breadth, modality and industry, and figure out if in general, the average performance of diversified firms is better than that of undiversified firms. The diversification literature is unable to demonstrate that diversification type, breadth, modality, and industry have consistent and predictable impact on performance. We therefore treat these as situational contingencies and do not take them into account.Earlier studies of diversification use cross sectional data, smal l samples and single measures of performance. We on the other hand, examine a large sample of firms with data over a seven year period. We use about two thousand firms, and multiple performance measures. The starting point of our main study is 1984, the earliest data point for segment information available on the Compustat database. Specialization Ratio (revenue from a firm's largest segment divided by its total revenue) as the dependent variable measures the extent of diversification.Accounting and market returns, their variability, coefficient of variation, and the Sharpe Index are the independent performance variables. The study also tests the robustness of classification of firms based on SR ratios. For this part of the study, the data is available from 1981. It also tests the robustness of results based on the extent of performance and the degree of diversification. MEASUREMENT OF CONCEPTS Diversification is treated as the independent variable in this study. As a policy variabl e, managers can control the extent of diversification desired, and performance is the dependent variable.This section defines and operationalizes these concepts. Diversification This study uses Specialization Ratio (SR) to classify firms into three classes of diversification. Its logic reflects the importance of the firm's core product market to that of the rest of the firm (Rumelt, 1974, 1982; Shaikh ; Varadarajan, 1984). After we started this work some researchers have argued that the entropy measure of diversification is probably a better one. We leave it to future research to test the robustness of SR versus other measures of diversification.Operationally, SR is a ratio of the firm's annual revenues from its largest discrete, product-market activity to its total revenues. In the diversification literature, SR has been one of the methods of choice for measuring diversification. It is easy to understand and calculate. TABLE 1 Values of Specialization Ratios in Rumelt's and Our Cla ssification Schemes SR Values in Rumelt’s Scheme SR Values in Our Scheme Undiversified, Single Product Firms SR ? . 95 SR ? 0. 95 Moderately Diversified Firms 0. 95 ; SR ? 0. 7 0. 95 ; SR ? 0. 5 Highly Diversified Firms SR ; 0. 7 SR ; 0. 5 Performance Management researchers prefer accounting variables as performance measures such as return on equity (ROE), return on investment (ROI), and return on assets (ROA), along with their variability as measures of risk.Earlier studies typically measure accounting rates of return. These include: (ROI), return on capital (ROC), return on assets (ROA) and return on sales (ROS). The idea behind these measures is perhaps to evaluate managerial performance-how well is a firm's management using the assets (as measured in dollars) to generate accounting returns per dollar of investment, assets or sales. The problems with these measures are well known. Accounting returns include depreciation and inventory costs and affect the accurate reporting of earnings.Asset values are also recorded historically. Since accounting conventions make these variables unreliable, financial economists prefer market returns or discounted cash flows as measures of performance. For the sake of consistency, we use two accounting measures: ROE and ROA; along with market return to measure performance. Return on equity (ROE) is a frequently used variable in judging top management performance, and for making executive compensation decisions.We use ROE as a measure to judge performance and calculate the average return on equity (AROE) across all sampled firms and time periods, its standard deviation and also the coefficient of variation for each of the three diversification groups. ROE is defined as net income (income available to common stockholders) divided by stockholders equity. The coefficient of variation (CV) gives us the risk per unit of average return. ROA is the most frequently used performance measure in previous studies. It is defined as net income (income available to common stockholders), divided by the book value of total assets.We also calculate the average return on assets (AROA) across all sampled firms and time periods calculate its standard deviation and also the coefficient of variation for each of the three diversification groups. Market return (MKTRET), is the third dependent variable we use. MKTRET is computed for a calendar year by taking the difference between the current year's ending stock price, and the previous year's ending price, adding to it the dividends paid out for the year, and then dividing the result by the previous year's ending price.This study includes companies for which complete data to calculate the variances used is available on Compustat PC- Plus for the period 1984 through 1990. In addition, we calculate the average market return (AMKTRET) for each of the three groups, the standard deviation of AMKTRET, and the Sharpe Index (Sharpe, 1966), a commonly used risk-adjusted performance measure. It measures the risk premium earned per unit of risk exposure. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION As mentioned earlier, Table 1 presents comparison of breaks between Rumelt’s classification and the modified version.Using the Compustat database we then classified 2637 firms using Rumelt’s classification scheme for the years 1981-1990. Table 2 presents the AROE and its standard deviation using Rumelt’s classification. While we intended to calculate AROA and MKTRT for this data set we were unsuccessful because of the problem of missing data. The 1984 – 90 data set proved to be better and was used for the alternate classification scheme for all the three performance variables. Using the same Compustat database, we classified 2188 firms in three groups: Single Product Firms (SR ; 0. 5), Moderately Diversified Firms (0. 5 ? SR ? 0. 95), and Highly Diversified Firms (SR ; 0. 5), for each of the seven years, from 1984 to 1990, for which complete segmental data was available. We kept only those firms in the sample that remained in the same SR category for the entire seven year period, and had all the data for computing the variables. After classification, we calculated each of the three performance variables: return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), and market return (MKTRET), for each firm in each of the three groups, for each year from 1984 to 1990.We also calculated the average ROE (AROE), average ROA (AROA), and average MKTRET (AMKTRET), first by averaging across the seven years for each firm, and then by averaging across firms by pooling across the years, along with their standard deviation, and coefficient of variation. Tables 3, 4 and 5 present the results. The number of firms in each performance group varies slightly because we had to ensure that the data was available for all variables, for all the seven years. Statistical ProcedureThe test of the null hypothesis requires a test of equality of means of each classification group , and for each performance variable. While the study may indicate one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), it is not a robust test. The application of ANOVA requires that the data set meet three critical assumptions: first, the test is extremely sensitive to departures from normality; second, the assumption of homogeneity of variance is necessary; and third, the errors should be independent of group mean.While for our study the first and the third assumptions checked out, the second assumption regarding the homogeneity of variance failed. We carried out Hartley's test of equality of variance for each performance variable. This test confirmed that variance of the three groups is unequal for each performance variable. We faced the Beherens-Fisher problem or checking for equality of means when variances of the underlying population are unequal. Such situations indicate Cochran's approximation test for hypotheses testing (Berenson and Levine 1992).This test requires us to test the null hyp othesis of equality of means, taken two at a time, and according to the test we must reject the null if the t (observed) exceeds t (critical) at chosen levels of significance. (Statistical information available from authors by request) TABLE 2 Performance Based on Rumelt's SR Classification Scheme: ROE-1981-1990 N AROE SD CV Undiversified Firms (SR ? 0. 95) 1663 3. 8 277. 73. 13 Moderately Diversified (. 95 < SR ? .7) 371 2. 3 181. 2 78. 78 Highly Diversified (SR < . 7) 603 9. 9 100. 9 10. 25 Results Classification Methods: Comparison and a Test of Robustness Table 1 compares the breaks in SR values. Table 2 reports the results using Rumelt's scheme with 1981-1990 data, and Table 3 reports the results using our scheme with 1984-1990 data.The first column in Table 2 shows the three categories of diversification based on SR values; N stands for the number of firms that remained in the same group for the period 1981-1990, and had performance data for the entire period under study; ARO E stands for the average of the ROE calculated over N firms; SD stands for the standard deviation of AROA; and CV represents the coefficient of variation, given by the ratio of SD divided by the AROE, representing the risk per unit average return. Tables 3 through 5 follow the same layout for ROE, TABLE 3 Performance As: Return On Equity (AROE)-1984-1990N AROE SD CV Undiversified 1844 -1. 6 323. 3 NA Moderately Diversified 315 32. 7 409. 4 12. 52 Highly Diversified 23 14. 6 9. 8 0. 67 N= Sample Size, AROE= Average Return on Equity, SD= Standard Deviation, CV= Coefficient of VariationROA and MKTRET. The highly diversified group in Table 2 has AROE of 9. , SD equal to 100. 9 and CV of 10. 25; the moderate group has AROE of 2. 3, SD equals 181. 2 and CV equals 78. 8. The Undiversified group AROE is 3. 8, SD 277. 9 and CV 73. 1. The highly diversified group has the highest AROE, the lowest Standard Deviation and the lowest Coefficient of variation. The results are in the expected direct ion. The results follow the expected path with the exception that AROE of the moderate group is less than that of the undiversified group but the mean values are not far apart and the difference is statistically insignificant.The result for the undiversified and the highly diversified groups are as expected. The SD values are also in the expected direction. Compare these results with results obtained in Table 3. Table 3 shows the relationship between the degree of diversification and group-wise performance measured by ROE. The sample consists of 1844 single product firms with SR greater or equal to 0. 95. The average ROE of these firms over the seven year period is -1. 6 percent, with a SD of 323. 3. The moderately diversified group with SR between 0. 95 and 0. , has 315 firms. The AROE of the group equals32. 7 percent and the SD equals 409. 4. While the AROE of this group is clearly superior to that of single productfirms, the group shows high ROE variability. Thus, the moderately diversified group shows an slightly improvedrisk-return profile. The third group with SR values of less than 0. 5, is the smallest, and includes only 23 firms. The average ROE of the group equals 14. 6 or about half that of the second group, with SD of 9. 8, which is much lower than the first and the second group.The CV is the lowest at 0. 67, which is about 1/20 of the moderate group. Table 3 shows that while highly diversified firms have lower risk than moderately diversified firms; moderately diversified firms have higher average ROE compared to highly diversified firms. It also shows that single product firms have lower risk than moderately diversified firms, but moderately diversified firms have much higher returns. When we combine the return and risk measures as given by the coefficient of variation CV, we do see consistent results, i. e. that highly diversified firms have better risk-return profile than moderately diversified firms; and moderately diversified firms perform be tter in risk-return terms when compared to single product firms. We find that the Tables 2 and 3 show results in expected direction. The highly diversified groups have higher AROE and lower SD compared to the other two groups. This comparison of the two classification schemes shows sufficient consistency especially in the two extreme groups to strongly suggest that performance tends to be invariant to classification breaks.The comparison also demonstrates the validity of using the more pronounced classification scheme used in this study. Performance as Return on Assets and its Variability Table 4 shows the relationship between the degree of diversification and group-wise performance based on ROA. The sample consists of 1848 single product firms with SR greater or equal to 0. 95. The AROA of these firms over the seven year period is – 1. 9 percent, with a SD of 38. 2. TABLE 4 Performance As: Return On Assets (AROA)-1984-1990 N AROA SD CV Undiversified 1848 -1. 38. 2 NA Moderat ely Diversified 316 4. 0 5. 0 1. 25 Highly Diversified 24 5. 8 2. 7 0. 47 N= Sample Size, AROA= Average Return on Assets, SD= Standard Deviation, CV= Coefficient of Variation The moderately diversified group with SR between 0. 95 and 0. 5 has 316 firms. Its AROA equals 4 percent with a5 percent SD. In absolute terms, the AROA of this group is higher than that of undiversified firms and has lower SDof 5. 0 percent, as compared to 38. percent of the first group. The CV is positive at 1. 25, which shows a much improved risk-return profile. The third group of the highly diversified firms includes 24 firms, with AROA of 5. 8 and SD of 2. 7. These values are lower than the first and the second group. The CV of this group is high at 0. 47, being 38 percent of the moderate group. Statistical results in Table 2 show that as we move from undiversified group of firms to the highly diversified group of firms, the average return on assets increases, and the variability of ROA as given by SD decr eases, and CV or the risk per unit return decreases.Statistically, according to Table 4, the above results are significant at the 1% level. Based on these findings reject the null hypothesis. Performance as Market Return Table 5 reports group-wise markets return performance. The sample consists of 1195 firms in the single product category, and 280 and 23 firms in the moderately and highly diversified groups. The sample for each group is smaller than it was for AROA and AROE because we eliminated firms that did not have complete information for the period under study.The average market return AMKTRET of the undiversified group over the study period is 8. 2 percent. The SD is 21. 1, the risk per unit of return as measured by the CV is 2. 57 and the Sharpe Index is 0. 0421. The moderately diversified group with SR between 0. 95 and 0. 5 has 280 firms. Their AMKTRET equals 13. 2 percent and the SD equals 40. 8 percent. Whereas, the average market return of this group is clearly superior to that of the single product firms, the group shows higher variability as compared to the first one. The CV, i. e. , the risk per unit return also is higher at 3. 8. The Sharpe Index of the moderate group is 0. 1443, about three times higher than the first group, and is in the expected direction. The third group includes 23 firms. Its AMKTRET equals 16. 3, with SD of 10. 1, which is much lower than the first and the second group. The CV is 0. 67, about a fourth of the first group. The Sharpe Index at 0. 89 is about six times higher than that of moderately diversified firms. Table 5 shows that the average market return for the highly diversified group is higher than the moderately diversified group, followed by the single product group.The variability of market returns of the highly diversified group is lower than firms in the single product group. Moderately diversified firms on average have a higher market return, but higher risk than single product firms. The Sharpe Index, the i nverse of which gives us risk per unit return, and is a better risk-return measure, shows that the performance of highly diversified firms is much better than the moderately diversified ones, and performance of moderately diversified firms is better than single product firms. TABLE 5 Performance As: Market Return (AMKTRET)-1984-1990N AMKTRET SD CV SI Undiversified 1195 8. 2 21. 1 2. 57 0. 0421 Moderately Diversified 280 13. 2 40. 8 3. 08 0. 1443 Highly Diversified 23 16. 3 10. 1 0. 67 0. 8900 N= Sample Size, AMKRET= Average Market Return, SD= Standard Deviation, CV= Coefficient of Variation, SI= Sharp’s Index Analysis of ResultsStatistical analysis of the results in Tables 3, 4 and 5 are reported in Table 6. These results look strong. They `show that performance of firms as measured by all the variables in the undiversified group is markedly below that of the firms in the highly diversified group and that these results are statistically significant. The results also show that the performance of firms in the moderately diversified group is better than that of the firms in the undiversified group. These results are also statistically significant.The performance difference between the moderate and highly diversified group however, is not always that clear. When measured on AROA, Sharpe Index and CV, the results are in the expected direction and significant, but when performance is measured by AROE and its SD, and AMKTRET and its SD, the results are not as clear. TABLE 6 Statistical Analysis of Performance Variables STATISTIC AROA AROE AMKTRET n 729. 33 727. 33 499. 3 F max (3,n) 20. 17* 1747. 78* 16. 32* F12 58. 37* 0. 67*+ 0. 27+ F23 3. 43* 1747. 78* 16. 32* F13 200. 17* 1088. 33* 4. 45* t’12 6. 29* 1. 41**** 1. 9** t’23 2. 91* 1. 86*** 0. 96*+ t’13 7. 38* 2. 08*** 3. 07* *Significant at 0. 01 or less; **Significant at 0. 025; ***Significant at 0. 05; ****Significant at 0. 1; *+Significant at 0. 25; +Not significant. The results sugge st that we can reject the null and accept the alternate hypothesis: that higher the degree of diversification, greater is the average performance, measured in risk-return terms.The following paragraphs analyze the results for each performance variable in greater detail. Analysis of Results by Performance Class We further massage our data by subdividing each diversification category: undiversified, moderately diversified, and highly diversified, into three performance classes by adding and subtracting one standard deviation from the average ROE. Thus, each category is divided into three performance subclasses: Average ROE + 1 Std. Dev. ; Average ROE; and Average ROE – 1 Std. Dev†¦ This gives rise to a total of nine performance classes, three for each level of diversification.If the hypothesis that the higher the degree of diversification, the higher the performance is robust, then we should expect it to hold when we compare performance across the performance sub-classes. That is; the high, average and below average ROE performance of highly diversified firms should be higher than the respective performance of the three moderately diversified groups, and each of the three moderate performance groups should have higher average ROE as compared to each of the three undiversified groups.If this relation holds then we can say with greater degree of confidence that diversification of firms leads to higher performance for all classes of firms. We, therefore, hypothesize that the best, the average and the medium performing groups demonstrate a consistent pattern of performance across the three diversification groups on both risk and return dimensions. Table 7 shows classification of firms based on degree of diversification and by performance class. These results are both in expected and unexpected directions.The performance for the low and average performing firms, both in terms of risk and return diversification is in expected directions. But the results fo r the high performance group is found to be in the expected direction only for risk, while for the return measure the performance is in the opposite direction. In the worst performance sub-class, the AROE of undiversified firms is -59. 53, and the SD is 103. 16. As we go toward increasing level of diversification, AROE performance increases to -5. 78 and SD drops down to 5. 58 for the moderate group. For the highly diversified group, AROE becomes +2 and SD falls to 0. 2. In the average performance sub-class, the AROE for the undiversified group is 2. 46, and SD is 6. 87. For the moderately diversified group, ROE increases to 4. 21 and SD falls to 2. 91. For the highly diversified group, AROE increases to 5. 27 and SD falls 1. 60. The results for these two performance sub-classes are consistent with the results obtained for the entire group as shown in Table 3. The results for the best performance sub-class show interesting results. The AROE for the undiversified group is 35. 28 and the SD is 36. 44. AROE for the moderately diversified group decreases to 12. 9. SD also decreases to 3. 3. For the highly diversified group, AROE drops to 9. 52, nearly a fourth of the undiversified group, and the SD decreases to 0. 87, one thirty sixth of the undiversified group. Clearly the results for the best performance class are contrary to earlier findings as far as ROE is concerned, but they are in expected direction as far as standard deviation is concerned. We are, however, able to reject the null hypothesis if we look at CV (Risk per unit return). The value of CV decreases as we move from undiversified to highly diversified group.These results suggest that dominant firms operating with core competencies and operating in less competitive environments are better off concentrating on one business segment. Our results show that such firms have superior returns but are unable to diversify away market risks. These firms may waste investor resources by diversifying into other bu sinesses. On the other hand, firms operating in markets where they face considerable competition and have fewer core competencies, or are unable to dominate their markets, they are likely to be better off diversifying, as it would reduce risk for such firms and increase average returns.SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS The study began with questions regarding discrepancies in empirical and theoretical investigations into the relationship between firm diversification and performance. Our results suggest that the average performance of diversified firms (especially highly diversified ones) perform well on a risk-return basis on accounting measures as well as market-based measures, when compared with group of firms that are not as highly diversified. Managers tend to judge performance using accounting measures such as ROE and ROA where as financial markets use market-based measures such as MKTRET.Our results show that on both types of performance measures, the group of diversified firms on avera ge tends to perform better. The data show that with an increasing degree of diversification, the average return on assets, average return on equity and average market return, increase and the average risk per average unit return decreases. The results are clearer when comparisons are made between the highly diversified and the undiversified group, and the moderate and undiversified groups. The results are not as sharp when we compare results between the moderately diversified and the highly diversified group.The implication of the finding is that in general diversification is helpful but it does not tell us how much of it is helpful. Additional research on economies of scope for these groups of firms may throw some light on this issue. The marginal ambiguity between the moderate and the highly diversified groups may also be the result of eliminating the contingent variables like type, modality and extent of diversification. Controlling these variables may provide greater insight and clarify the differences between the moderate and the highly diversified groups of firms and lend support to theory building.The most surprising finding of our study was about the class of â€Å"best performing† firms. The study found that AROE of undiversified firms was four times better than the highly diversified firms, but such firms had 36 times the volatility of the highly diversified firms. This result implies that the best performing firms, if they diversify, will reduce their earnings, but dampen the volatility of their returns. Managers of such firms therefore will be tempted to dampen the volatility of returns by diversification.Such actions, according to this study will lead to a reduction in returns, but the reduction in volatility of returns will be much greater. This is clearly beneficial to managers and employees of the firm, but a benefit of such insurance for the shareholders is not as clear. The implications for investors are that, if they risk such high pe rformance, they ought to stay in for the long haul, and have high tolerance for volatility. But even for this class of firms based on coefficient of variation, we feel that the average performance of highly diversified firms tends to be better than that of the undiversified firms.One must judge Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric (GE) in this context. GE's top management group insists that each of their divisions must be either number one or number two in their specific product markets. Thus GE, a high performing conglomerate is trying to emulate characteristics of a dominant undiversified firm at the product market level in order to earn very high returns and concomitantly it practices the art of being an aggressive and active conglomerate at the corporate level to reduce the risk engendered by dominant firms.But not all high performing firms are as careful, well managed or lucky. The study echoes the belief of senior corporate executives who think diversification enhances firm value because it contributes to improvement of the firm's risk-return profile. The results also speak to the concerns of investors. Diversification, especially for the truly high performing firms reduces risk but at the cost of returns. There is undoubtedly a trade-off here between risk and return when managers of such single firms diversify from their core business.Thus diversification does buy insurance for the managers which may help managers and employees more than investors. But in the case of the average and the low performing single firms (most likely the non dominant firms), gain from diversification in return and risk terms, seem significant. The moderate and highly diversified groups also benefit from diversification on risk and return dimensions but their performance is not stellar by any stretch of the imagination. One can argue that diversification tends to reduce the already severe competitive threat faced by the majority of firms in these groups.The implications for investors follow suit. They are better off picking stocks of well-diversified firms as these deliver better returns over time as compared to moderately diversified or undiversified firms. The finding that on average, highly diversified firms, including conglomerates, show better performance than single product firms or moderately diversified firms, supports the belief of corporate executives but is contrary to the viewpoint of research in finance. A classification scheme by definition remains arbitrary, no matter how well we justify the scheme.The only safeguard against such arbitrariness is to demonstrate that the results of the study are invariant to changes in arbitrarily set classification boundaries. We were somewhat successful in showing that changing classification boundaries did not change the thrust of our results. Both methods showed that AROE of highly diversified group of firms was greater than that of the undiversified group. But this still is a fruitful direction for f uture research. We were able to examine ROE alone because of data limitations.The 1981-1990 data set was not consistent for all the variables and segments of businesses. Other variables need to be tested. Researchers may also want to know if, at what point, the results are no longer invariant to SR classification values. Our study has several other limitations. The research period (1984-1990) of this study does not match the time periods reported in earlier studies. If diversification matters as a strategy, then it ought to do so no matter what the time period. This study has examined pooled time series data and finds the results consistent with expectations.Subject to the availability of data, replication over different time periods will adequately address this issue. Economic arguments require that we measure performance in terms of cash flows. We do need to look at the net present value of cash flows to make strong statements about the usefulness of a diversification strategy in the capital budgeting sense. Market return may be a reasonable substitute but the examination of the net present value of cash flow may be necessary from the point of view of the stock market. This is left to future research.Although SR is an acceptable measure of diversification, the entropy measure (Hoskisson, et. al. , 1993) has become an important and probably a better measure of diversification. This study was extensive enough. Perhaps multiple measures of diversification in a future study will alleviate methodological concerns about the appropriateness of diversification measures. The research design of this study differs somewhat from similar earlier studies, and as stated at the outset, it does not address the question whether investor portfolios outperform diversified firms.Therefore, while addressing several possible objections, we urge caution in accepting these results, and suggest future research to verify the findings reported here. Finally, this study examines the ass ociation between corporate diversification and performance per se. It does not address the differences in performance caused by types of diversification, like related, or unrelated; nor does it use modifying variables like firm size and other firm-level factors, or modalities of diversification such as internal product development or mergers and acquisitions.The results of this study are interesting enough to warrant the inclusion of variables that control for industry structure and contingency variables such as interest rates or the state of the economy; or underlying managerial motivation like risk reduction, agency problem, or moral hazard. Such controls will provide greater insight into the diversification strategy, as a practice and as a phenomenon.