Strategy to overcome loneliness Essay Example for Free

Strategy to overcome loneliness Essay Though Mrs. Kennedy is indeed a lonely woman, the ritual of having to visit the park each Saturday usually helps her to cope with her boredom and loneliness. It is patent how much this old lady enjoys from the simple activities. The Saturday outing provides a prospect for Miss. Kennedy to be in the presence of other people as she leaves her little boring room which she has lived for the last seventy five years. She has employed the tactics and the techniques of listening keenly and watching in order to passively feel happy and complete in the ongoing activities of the crowd at the park. She is a major expert at eavesdropping to other people’s conversation. This habit of listening and pretending she is not interested has helped her a lot as it makes her feel included too and part of the group. Being an avid watcher, Mrs. Kennedy pays immense attention to all those who are around her. Through the same care that she places in noticing and appreciating the presence of other people, she usually hopes deep inside that somebody among the group would obviously notice incase she was not there. This thought helps her to have a sense of communion and happiness in the midst of strangers on Saturdays. Miss. Kennedy’s seizes each opportunity she get to imagine herself as being connected with individuals that she observes in attempt to have some sense of belonging. She usually likens herself to being a part and parcel of the ‘family’ that the band in the park plays. In effect, the Saturday outing offers her a means to escape from the isolation that is felt and has always been felt in her solitary existence since her husband died through engaging herself in all the happenings of the public park. However, as she listens and observes, she usually prefers to view her entire world through her set of colored glasses in order to confront the truth that she is indeed a lonely woman.

Beer Economics - Supply and Demand Essay Example for Free

Beer Economics Supply and Demand Essay The laws of Supply and Demand may be a simple concept except when it comes to beer. Two large beer companies have formed an Oligopoly and have taken the power from the people. Income high, or income low, beer will be purchased even if the price is not always right. A social gathering is not social without the presence of beer. Beer has been a growing industry year after year. The craft, or microbrewery industry, has grown tremendously since the early 1980s, and the Brewers’ Association reckons that there are now over 1,500 brewing companies in the country, a level not seen since Prohibition was introduced in 1919 (Krafoff, 1). Pabst Blue Ribbon, in 1890 the most popular beer in the U. S. , has seen its market share drop to 2. 8%, but it has enjoyed a resurgence due to its cheap price, decent taste, and new-found cachet among urban hipsters (Krafoff, 1). The beer market is a completely open market. Anyone with a marketing idea and a recipe can get a contract brewery to make the product (Krafoff, 1). Almost every bar has a dozen taps with independent and local brews, but there are two definite brands you won’t ever have to look hard for: Coors and Budweiser. As recently as 2004, 64 percent of the global beer market ownership was fragmented among ten beer corporations (Anderson, 5). In 2008 the merger of Anheuser-Busch (A-B) and global giant InBev created the world’s largest brewer: Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI), followed by SABMiller (second-largest) and Molson Coors Brewing Company (fifth-largest) (Anderson, 5). To better compete with ABI’s growing world beer market share, SABMiller and Molson Coors combined their U. S. and Puerto Rico operations to establish their joint venture, MillerCoors LCC (Anderson, 5). With these massive consolidations, the two beer giants (ABI and MillerCoors) now have combined control of more than 40 percent of the world beer market and 80 percent of the United States beer market (Anderson, 5). MolsonCoors operates in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Their products include Coors Light, Coors, Keystone Light, Blue Moon, MGD 64 and many other recognizable beers. Their number one competitor is Anheuser-Busch. Their products include Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob, Shock Top and many others. The beer market has formed into a classic oligopoly: a market with just a few firms dominating the industry. Both MolsonCoors and Anheuser-Busch have substantial market power and control over beer prices. They are mutually interdependent. MolsonCoors can’t raise the price of Coors Light unless Anheuser-Busch raises the price of Bud Light. Both companies are forced into the game theory. They have to play a guessing game of what the other company is going to do and lower or raise their prices based upon their assumptions. It may seem easy for them to just agree to the same price and share the market. Unfortunately, that is called a cartel, and is illegal in the United States. Their products have few substitutes and complements. A substitute of beer is wine as the cross-price elasticity is . 23. A complement to beer is hard liquor as the cross-price elasticity is -0. 11. Beer is an elastic product because it is not a necessity. Demand is highly affected by price. An example of this is highly popular discount brands such as Keystone Light. MolsonCoors products are equally as elastic as their competitor Anheuser-Busch. They offer discount beers as well as microbrew style beers. Beer is an inferior good. As income falls, quantity of beer demanded falls. Beer has a negative income elasticity of demand of -0. 09. This is because when society becomes richer (income rises); things such as fine wines and spirits are substituted for beer. Beer has a couple factors working in its favor. First, the United States is in a recession, thus income is low, and the quantity demanded of beer is high. Second the marginal utility of beer increases as more is consumed. The utility of one beer is high but increases with every added beer. This is a major advantage to the two beer giants and their profits. There is not an infinite supply of a given beer. This seems unimportant when no one wants said beer, but is important when it is in high demand. Ideally, the amount of beer will meet (or come close to meeting) the desire for it, meeting a market equilibrium. It may not taste like it, but our beer is actually in danger. The popularity of corn-based ethanol has already caused a tight market for malt, one of beers three critical ingredients, as farmers increasingly forgo the barley crops used to make it in favor of more profitable corn (Boyer, 1). This has caused a worldwide shortage in hops, thus a large increase in price. Barley has risen from $157. 6 USD per metric ton in March 2007 to $202. 53 USD per metric ton. The other key ingredient in beer (along with water), hops is a flower that gives beer flavor and aroma (Boyer, 1). The shortage comes after a decade-long surplus discouraged farmers from planting the crop, which grows on trestles and can take years to mature (Boyer, 1). Since 1994, the amount of farm acreage planted in hops worldwide has declined by about half (Boyer, 1). Together, the two mean the beer industry now faces a 10 to 15 percent shortage (Boyer, 1). On the upside, water, aluminum and yeast are widely available and have stable prices. According to MolsonCoors financials, their total revenue (p x q) is $3,254,000. We can assume that they sell every beer at about $3 which would make their quantity sold at approximately 1,084,667 cans. That’s billions! This business model seems to be working. Molson Coors is currently earning economic profits. Their current net income is 670 million dollars. The stockholders’ equity is currently 7,779. The current prime rate is 3. 5% so by multiplying that by the stockholders’ equity we can assume the owner’s implicit costs are approximately 272. 7 million dollars. MolsonCoors generates profits of about 397. 03 million dollars per year. Beer is a profitable product because it is widely sold in many markets and, despite rising costs, fairly inexpensive to produce. Since MolsonCoors has been a company for many years, they have low long run average total costs. Over the years they have been able to decrease their operating costs and increase production and in doing so, reaching a point of economies of scale. Below is a fictitious example of how as quantity rises, total costs only rise a little bit.

How Motivation Influences The Job Satisfaction Level Management Essay

How Motivation Influences The Job Satisfaction Level Management Essay 1.0 Introduction This study is carried out the important of motivation to influence job satisfaction in an organization, to understand the relationship between motivation and job satisfaction in an organization. In this chapter, will be focusing on research background, research objective, problem statement, and research question. 1.1 Research background The purpose of this study was to find out the impact of motivation on job satisfaction of employee in a organization. Motivation is a basic psychological process. A recent data-based comprehensive analysis concluded that competitiveness problems appear to be largely motivational in nature (Mine, Ebrahimi, and Wachtel, 1995). The management dilemma in many organizations and how they can improve the motivation of employees in the fast paced technological environment. Motives are expression of persons need. Hence they are personal and internal. They also can be incentive on the other hand are external to the person. Motivations are made part of work environment by management in order to satisfy the employees to accomplish task. Job satisfaction is positively affects individual performance. Job satisfaction positively affects individual performance (Petty et al. 1984; Judge et al. 2001; Kim 2005) and this make it highly relevant to investigate the cause of job satisfaction. According to Luthans (1998), motivation is the process of arouses, energizes, direct, and sustains behavior and performance. That is a process to influence people action and to achieve a desired task. There is also one of the way to influence people is to employ effective motivation which make the employee more satisfied and committed to their job. Money is a motivator but is not the only motivator. There is still having other incentives which can also serve as motivator. Employee attitudes relating to job satisfaction and organizational commitment are based on the field of organizational behavior and the practice of human resources management. Attitude has direct impact on job satisfaction. On the other hand, organizational commitment is focuses on their attitudes towards the entire organization. Although the relationship between satisfaction and commitment are strong, but there are more recent research shows that commitment cause satisfaction. 1.2 Problem statement There are many reasons why managers are keep facing the problem in organization. Resources, human and material, technology are a few issues confronting managers daily. The more important is the human aspect has question that has confused managers for a long time such as how can they make some employees perform better with satisfied in their job. According to Schofield (1998), an authoritative study conducted by the Sheffield Effectiveness Programme (a joint research project between the Centre for Economic Performance at the London Stock Exchange and the Institute for Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield) has shown that the way people are managed or motivated has a powerful impact on both productivity and profitability. The study which included measurement of levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employees of 67 firms, found that 5% of the profitability variance, and 16% of the productivity variance between companies may be the different variance in job satisfaction levels between their employees. This study is demonstrated the important of job satisfaction, employees motivation and commitment in an organizational capability and effectiveness. According to Watson (1994) business has come to realize that motivated and satisfied workforces can deliver powerful to the bottom line. There are still many employees all over the world do not enjoy the level of job satisfaction and work motivation, because of that they keep seeking alternative employment to experience a higher degree of job satisfaction. Such action will influence an organizations ability to be profitable and successful over n extended period of time. According to Finck, Timmers and Mennes(1998) employees are excited and motivated by what they do will help business be achieve. 1.3 Research objective To find out the relationship between motivation and job satisfaction To determine the impact of motivation towards the employees job satisfaction. To analyze the way to improve the job satisfaction by using work motivation. 1.4 Research question What are the relationship between motivation and job satisfaction? What determine the impact of motivation towards the employees job satisfaction? How work motivation can improve job satisfaction? 2.0 Literature review 2.1 The relationship between motivation and job satisfaction 2.1.1 Motivation According to Pinder(1998 in Ambrose Kulik, 1999) work motivation may be regarded as a set of internal and external forces that initiate work-related behavior, and determine its form, direction, intensity and duration. The concept related to the work and influence on work behavior of both environmental forces. In workplace, work motivation are invisible, it is depends on personal behavior and responsibility of the job. Snell (1999) says that motivation is everything. Without motivation people will not deliver to their potential even the talented people. People that are motivated will perform well and improve the personal ability. He further asserts that company staff are very important in a business due to they are the image of the company that customer see. They have the potential to enhance the quality of service and have the power to influence or reduce the company profits. According to a model developed by Herzberg, motivation is influenced by maintenance and motivational factors. The important motivational factors are the work itself, achievement, growth, responsibility, advancement and recognition. There are basic internal motivators rather than external. The Maslow and Herzberg models are similar due to its focus on needs, but the difference can be seen from the point of views. Nel, Gerber, Van Dyk, Haasbroek, Schultz, Sono and Werner(2001) describe motivation as intentional and directional. Intentional is mean to personal choice and committed of action, and directional indicates being of a driving force aimed at achieving a specific goal. A people who get motivated will know they must achieve the specific goal even in the face of adversity. 2.1.2 Job satisfaction The concept of job satisfaction will be very important now a day. Managers feel that if they responsible for maintaining high levels of job satisfaction among their staff will helps to increase the productivity, absenteeism and staff turnover (Arnold Feldman, 1986). According to Locke (1976), job satisfaction was already significant since the first part of 20th century, for example, there are over 3000 related studies were published between 1935 and 1976 which an average of on publication every five days. Job satisfaction is regarded a s related to important employee and organizational outcomes, ranging from job performance to health and longevity (Spector, 2003). According to Gibson et al (2000) job satisfaction may be defined as an individuals expression of personal well-being associated with doing the job assigned. Job satisfaction depends on the level of internal and external and how the employees view those outcomes. The outcomes of job satisfaction have different values for different people. For some people, responsible and challenging work is negative value and depending on the education level and prior experience with work providing the internal outcomes. For other people, such work outcomes may have high positive values. Those differences would influence the level of jab satisfaction on the same job tasks. Bateman and Snell(1999) say if people feel fairly treated from the outcomes they receive, or the processes used, they will be satisfied. These authors mention that a satisfied worker is not necessarily more productive than a dissatisfied one due to sometimes people are happy with their jobs which dont have to work hard. 2.2 The impact of motivation towards the employees job satisfaction All employers want their workers to perform well of their abilities and they try to provide all the necessary resources and a good working environment in order to keep their employees motivated. However, motivation is a difficult factor to manage due to every employees wants or target does not always match with what the employers provide. Motivation and job satisfaction reinforce each other and work together, if the employee is satisfied on job performance he tend to be motivated. So that understand the employee needs can give better insight to managing human motivation. Frankl(1984) suggested that, motivation reflects peoples search for meaning and that job satisfaction may reflect the degree to which people have found meaning in their work. According to Sylvia and Hutchinson (1985), true job satisfaction is derived from the gratification of higher order needs such as social relations, esteem, and self actualization rather than lower- order needs 2.3 The way to improve the job satisfaction by using work motivation Motivation is very important in an organization nowadays, but not everyone satisfy when the motivation in processes. May be that is because the employers make the wrong way to motivate their employees. Because of that, there are few strategies helps to improve the job satisfaction such as salary, wages and conditions of service, money, staff training, information availability and communication. 2.3.1 Salary, Wages and Conditions of Service To use salaries as a motivator effectively, managers which are motivator must consider four major components of a salary structures such as job rate, payment, personal or special allowances, associated with factors and side benefit. Job rate is relates to the importance the organization attached to each job. Payment is to encourage workers or group by rewarding them according to their performance. Personal or special allowances, associated with factors are the scarcity of particular skills or certain categories of information professionals or with long service. Last but not least, side benefit represent holiday with pay, pensions, and so on. It is also important to ensure the salary structure of the organization will retained the same level of the market salary structure. 2.3.2 Money According to Akintoye(2000), money remains the most significant motivational strategy. Money is the major factor which able to motivate employee to increase the productivity of the company (Taylor, 1911). Incentive system will be able to improve job satisfaction, high performance, commitment. Katz, in Sinclair, et al. (2005) emphasizes the motivational power of money through the process of job choice. He explains that money has a very strong power to attract or motivate individually to achieve higher performance. For example, a employee will simple shift company for the greater financial reward of the job, if the differences of the workload of the job is similar with the current job. Banjoko(1996) mentions that many managers use money to reward or punish workers. 2.3.3 Staff Training No matter how computerized an organization, high productivity depends on the level of motivation and the effectiveness of the workforce. Staff training is an essential strategy for motivating workers. An organization must have good training programme. This will give the employee opportunities for self-improvement and development to meet the challenges and requirements of new equipment and new techniques of performing a task. 2.3.4 Information Availability and Communication One way managers can stimulate motivation is to give relevant information on the consequences of their actions on others (Olajide, 2000). According the researcher, there is no known organizations in which people do not usually feel there should be improvement in the way department communicate, cooperate, and collaborate with one another. Information availability brings a powerful pressure between the employees, where two or more people running together will run faster than when running alone. By sharing information, subordinates compete with one another. 2.4 Theoretical framework Motivation n Salary, Wages and Condition of Service Job Satisfaction Money Staff Training Information Availability and Communication Dependent variable Independent variable 2.4.1 Analysis path The framework shows that the two variables in the research proposal, motivation is the independent variable. From this research I have identify that salary, wages and condition of service, money, staff training, information availability and communication are the motivational factors that affect job satisfaction level. The dependent variable in this research would be job satisfaction. From the framework, we will understand the relationship between motivation and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction will be interrupt by the motivation method or strategies. On the other hand, motivation strategy is also able to enhance the job satisfaction level. 3.0 Methodology 3.1 Introduction In this section, we slightly describe the research methodology use in the study to know how motivation affects in job satisfaction and using the data collection to analysis the data for the study. To find out the relationship between motivation and job satisfaction, impacts and the strategy to improve job satisfaction level in a organization. 3.2 Data Resources According to Bell (1995), primary data are such data that does not yet include any interpretations and analysis from other people. Secondary data on the other hand is data that is analyzed and include someones interpretation of the data (Bell, 1995). Secondary data was chosen for this research due to the cost and time saving for collect data that needed for the research (Hair, Money, Samouel, and Page, 2007), According to Saunders et al (2007), primary data is expensive which compare to secondary data. In additional, Hair et al (2007) emphasizes that most of the secondary data are free of charge or either can be purchase in a cheaper price. 3.3 Data Analysis Procedure The secondary resources needed in order to be able to fulfill the purpose of this proposal are mainly journal articles and textbook. When searching for secondary data search engine such as Google Scholar, Emerald and others. KBU International College has provided student a huge variety of reference books. Google search engine is the advancement of technology which allowed us to get information conveniently and quickly to obtain various journals from the website which allowed us to understand the research objectives. Emerald website which can access through it using Anglia Ruskin University account is easy to obtain various journals which needed for the research. Less text book are used in this research as the source from the library about our research questions. 3.4 Hypothesis Null Hypothesis H0: There is no relationship between motivation and job satisfaction Alternative Hypothesis H1: There is a relationship between motivation and job satisfaction Null Hypothesis H0: Motivation cannot affect job satisfaction level Alternative Hypothesis H2: Motivation can affect job satisfaction Null Hypothesis H0: Motivation unable to improve job satisfaction Alternative Hypothesis H3: Motivation able to improve job satisfaction 4.0 Limitation The research could have done more accurately if more resources which could be obtain to support the research. There are limited resources provided in KBU International College library. However, KBU does provide student access to Emerald Insight website which contains many research journals and the college had already paid the fee, but student are still allowed to access to the website within the college premises. In additional, this research only used secondary data collection which easy to obtain. Most of the secondary data come from other authors opinion and their personal findings. Because of that, this research may be inaccuracy due to the opinion from the author might disagree with research and opinion done by other author around the world. 5.0 Ethical consideration The information of the people who provide information to the study would not show to the others when the study done to protect the human right of privacy. There is the action that should be taken. The information provider are willing to provide the information to finish the study and not being force. During the research, the information collected would not be modify as to maintain the accuracy of the information which been collected. 6.0 Executive Summary From the study done, we know that the motivation was so important in an organization which can affect the job satisfaction level. By the way, the relationship between the employee motivation and job satisfaction using the right way to motivate the employee; thus enhancing the job satisfaction level and the organization at the same time. When motivation and job satisfaction are reinforced together as one, motivation and job satisfaction can increase the working performance of employees. Besides that, there are several strategies used to enhance the working performance. The strategies used are such as; Salary, Wages and Conditions of Service strategy, Money strategy, Staff Training strategy, and lastly the Information Availability and Communication strategy. Using all this strategy will further develop the working condition to the highest level of job satisfaction. To sum it up as a whole, motivation and job satisfaction are co-related because when the motivation to work increases, emp loyee will have a higher job satisfaction, thus creating maximum output for the organization. 7.0 Gantt Chart Activity FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY Week number 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 Read literature Finalize objectives Draft literature review Read methodology literature Devise research approach Draft research strategy and method Enter data into computer Draft findings chapter Update literature read Complete remaining chapters Submit to tutor and await feedback Revise draft, format for submission Print, bind Submit

The Utopian Philosophy of Shangri-La in James Hiltons Lost Horizon Ess

The Utopian Philosophy of Shangri-La in James Hilton's Lost Horizon    For some people life may not be satisfactory. Life has many troubles including death, pain, and suffering. It leaves little hope. There are ways in which people can live to have a good life. This method of how a person should live is viewed differently thoughout the world. James Hilton represents this combination of ideas and cultures in the novel, Lost Horizon (1933). This novel tells the tale of four distinctively different people retreating from a war zone. In their retreat they are kidnapped and taken by plane deep into the Himalayan mountain wilderness. Little did they know that here in the confines of the mountains there is a paradise. This paradise is called Shangri-La and is a Tibetan Monastery and community in a place of splendid beauty. Surprisingly, the kidnapped group finds that they are considered guests in this elevated community. They are apprehensive of the cerebrated treatment that they receive, but soon accept and enjoy their "misfortune." Shangri-La is a paradise, but the guests become held prisoner to pleasure and happiness. In the time they spend at Shangri-La they learn that this is a Utopia where they do not age. Because of the people's long life, they find time to become educated and "achieve calmness and profundity, ripeness and wisdom, and the clear enchantment of memory" (155). Surprisingly, the paradise is rich in culture. It contained work of art that "museums and millionaire alike would have bargained for" (94). Along with the arts, Shangri-La's library contains "a multitude of books †¦ that the whole atmosphere was more of wisdom than of learning" (95). The distinct philosophical views of Shangri-La create the essence of th... ...bligation. Kant's theory to portray virtue is evident throughout the novel's setting to make sure that everyone will "find everything quite satisfactory" (68).    These four distinctively different philosophical theories create a complex web of mental environment, which is the most important aspect of the setting in this novel. These philosophies are so effectively blended into the spirit of Shangri-La, that they created a new philosophical fusion: a perfect society. The philosophical beliefs of the Shangri-Lain culture is what frames it into a Utopia. The philosophy is not only the setting, it is the deeper meaning of the story. This setting gives hope to the weary, and may be a link into the development, through philosophical understanding, of a perfect world. Works Cited Hilton, James. Lost Horizon. PocketBooks: Simon & Schuster Inc. New York, 1960.

Isaac Asimovs Foundation - Cycles of History :: Isaac Asimov Foundation

Isaac Asimov's Foundation - Cycles of History Foundation is a novel throughout which the cycles of history are present. Isaac Asimov's peculiar notions on how change in the environment affects the nature of historical change are present throughout this novel. Asimov uses principles of Marxism to fabricate his future history. Asimov also creates a future political structure modeled on the Roman Empire. According to Jean Fielder, one of the greatest influences on Asimov's Foundation novel is Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This parallel is most discernible as Foundation depicts the gradual disintegration of a great empire, the concomitant rise in regional trade, and the eventual consolidation of political and economic power in the trading city- (or planet-) states. And, like a history, "[Foundation] focuses on mass movements rather than on individual actions"(Fiedler 59). In Foundation, the Galactic Empire is the gradually disintegrating great empire, just as the Roman Empire is the disintegrating empire in Gibbon's work. And, as in Gibbon's history, the Foundation builds a trading empire that later unites the planets together. Many popular histories seem to focus on the empire-builder's military conquests. However, in Foundation, Asimov's history of the future "makes the cogent point that the true tools of empire-building are economic and socio-political development" (Fiedler 57). This principle is shown through the use of the Seldon Crises. Most often, the resolutions to these crises are a unique mix of psychological manipulation and technological usage. For example, the Galactic religion provides a means of psychologically manipulating the people of the galaxy to become dependent upon the technological sophistication of the Foundation. Much of Asimov's Foundation is based upon Marxism and the Marxist principle of historical materialism. In Charles Elkins's opinion, these Marxist ideas include the old puzzle of historical inevitability (predestination) versus free will, which itself flows out of the often unsuccessful yet desperately necessary-and therefore always repeated-struggles of men to control their personal futures and the futures of their societies.(Elkins 100) These ideas are shown throughout Foundation, and in fact are the basis behind most of the heroic characters. Characters like Hober Mallow, Salvor Hardin, and Limmar Ponyets epitomize men who struggle to control their futures (Elkins 105). These men devote their lives to doing their part to help Seldon's Plan to be a success, but in reality, they are a planned part of Seldon's plan to help the Foundation succeed.

Socrates - Definitions of Piety Essay -- Socrates Plato Philosophy

Socrates - Definitions of Piety   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the Periclean age (around 400 B.C.) in Athens Greece there was a man named Socrates. He was considered a very wise man by the Athenians. However there were men in power who did not care for him or his teachings; Claiming that he corrupted the Athenian youth and did not believe in the Greek gods, Socrates was put on trail. On his way to his trial Socrates met a man named Euthyphro, a professional priest who is respected by the "authorities" (those who want get rid of Socrates). Euthyphro is at the court house to prosecute his father for murder. Socrates finds this to be interesting. If Euthyphro can properly explain why he is prosecuting his father for murder Socrates might have an understanding of piety. This would help Socrates to defend himself, for the prosecutors know and think highly of Euthyphro. Socrates could then draw parallels between himself and Euthyphro, who the citizens' highly respect, thus bringing him respect, and freedom. This is where Socrates begins his dialogue with Euthyphro seeking the definition of piety. Socrates wants Euthyphro to teach him the meaning of piety since Euthyphro considers himself an authority on the subject. In this dialogue Euthyphro gives Socrates four different definitions of what he believes piety is, none of which prove satisfactory to Socrates, leaving the question unanswered in the end.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first definition that Euthyphro provides to Socrates is that "the ..

Financing

On this basis, CDC has set a strong foundation as one of the largest (by both sales and production value) confectionery companies in Vietnam and aims to leverage through expansion of our reach and product strategy into daily use products to become one of the largest food & beverage companies in Vietnam. The overall goal is to meet the daily demands of our consumers. Vision: â€Å"FLAVOR YOUR LIFE† CDC creates life's flavor through wholesome, healthy, nutritious and convenient foods. Mission: Kid's mission for consumers is to identify, anticipate and meet the demands of our consumers with food, flavor and beverage products.This includes the current range of products and looks to expand further into beverages, condiments, instant foods, processed foods, eats and health supply to become a full range, food & beverage company. Our goal is to provide products that are market leading in quality, healthy, satisfying and conveniently available all our consumers. Financial: As predicted , 2012 has proven to be a very challenging year for the country as a whole and businesses in particular. GAP growth was lower than expected, inflation remained high and consumer confidence and purchasing power were reduced to marginal growth levels.These factors resulted in making it difficult for all businesses to realize their growth strategies, including us at CDC. However, despite very challenging economic environment of the past 12 months, CDC have successfully completed Stage Three of our four part growth strategy. CDC aimed for â€Å"Profitability through Efficiencies†, and they realized that objective in 2012. However we are not stopping there. They are continuing to channel our resources into our core food business and invest in our distribution and supply chain networks.Our primary goal continues to be striving for improved efficiencies which can drive profit by achieving optimal operating performance. To date, our results in this area have been impressive. They gen erated a profit of VEND 490 billion in 2012 as against VEND 349 billion the previous year. Significantly, our ROE increased from 7. 2% to 9. 1%. II. THE BODY Financial accounting is concerned with reporting to external parties such as owners, analysts, and creditors. These external users rarely have access to the information that is internal to the organization, nor do they specify the exact information that will be presented.Instead, they must rely on the general reports presented by the company. Therefore, the reporting structure is well defined and standardized. The ethos of preparation and the reports presented are governed by rules of various standard-setting organizations. Furthermore, external users generally see only summarized or aggregated data. In contrast, managers of a business oftentimes need or desire far more detailed information. This information can sometimes take on familiar formats. Subsequent chapters will reveal typical examples of budgets, segment income repor ts, and so forth.A fundamental awareness of the financial accounting processes and resulting financial statements is a vital prerequisite to understanding the framework for these typical managerial accounting reports. In addition, managers usually request reports that are tailored to specific decision- making tasks. These reports are apt to become more â€Å"free formed. † Managerial accountants must be able to adapt their generalized knowledge of accounting to develop customized data and reports that are logical and support sound management processes. Managerial accounting information tends to be focused on products, departments, and activities.It necessarily crosses over a broad range of functional areas including marketing, finance, and other disciplines. Many organizations refer to their internal accounting units as departments of strategic enhance, given their wide scope of duties. Managerial accounting information is ultimately based on internal specifications for data accumulation and presentation. These internal specifications should be clear and consistent. Great care must be taken to insure that resulting reports are sufficiently logical to enable good decisions. Specific reporting periods may be replaced with real-time data that enable quick response.And, forecasted outcomes become critical for planning. Further, cost information should be disseminated in a way that managers can focus on their business components segments. . Features of useful management accounting information in CDC. The features are required in order for management accounting information to be useful, mainly in making decisions. The information must be: relevant, understandable, timely, comparable, reliable and complete and last with cost benefits features. A) Relevant. The management needs to consider only the relevant information. The information must be relevant to decision making in process.We can understand simple, relevant information is a part of information that con sequences in different decision being made for a particular activity. The piece of information have to be able to effect decision that has to be made. Relevance accounting information is the compilation of a company's financial dealings. CDC present accounting information to internal and external business stakeholders for creation decisions. Relevant to investors, creditors, and others for investment, credit, and similar decisions, accounting information must be capable of making dissimilarity in a decision.Relevant in sequence should have predictive value, feedback value, and timeliness. Relevant information helps decision makers make predictions about future; it has Predictive Value. Relevant information also helps decision makers confirm or accurate previous prospect; it has Feedback Value Most companies must present accounting information according to national accounting standards; generally accepted accounting principles (GAP) symbolize the most trustworthy accounting standards .GAP requires accounting information to include qualitative characteristics on which business stakeholders can rely. B) Understandable. The second feature of management accounting information is that it can be understood by the user of the information. The information clear, simple and easily understood by the manager. This is because most managers do not have a financial or accounting background. Therefore, it is reasonable for the management accountant to use simple terms that can be understood by the management to guarantee that the information is used to make accurate decisions.Long winded information will only be puzzling and may cause erroneous decisions to be made. This implies the expression, with clarity, of accounting information in such a way that it will be understandable to users – who are generally assumed to have a reasonable knowledge of business and economic activities Accounting information and financial tenements should be prepared in such a way as to facil itate understanding by users of the financial statements. Information about complex matters should be presented, if important or material.Users of information and financial statements are assumed to have a reasonable knowledge of business, economy, and accounting and to be willing to study information to gain a reasonable level of financial expertise. C) Timely. A piece of information is Just useful to the management if it is received in a timely manner. If Kid's the management accounting information is received late, the correct actions cannot be taken or the decision made will no longer be of value. D) Comparable. Accounting information must be comparable. Kid's management accounting information is often used by the management to make comparisons.Accounting information and financial statements should be equipped in such a way as to assist assessment of entity information during time and also alongside information from different, but similar, entities. Comparability results when di fferent enterprises apply the same accounting management to similar events. Compliance with international accounting standards helps to enhance comparability. ) Reliable and Complete. KID'S management accounting information is always associated with the future. However, it cannot be 100% accurate. It only has to be accurate for a decision within a relevant range.Thus, important and useful information during particular period cannot be left out. This is to ensure that the information is reliable as well as complete. Reliability is the quality of information that authorized users to depend on it with assurance. This means it is verifiable, has faithful representation, and is reasonably free of errors and bias. Representative closeness refers to resplendence or agreement between a measure or description and the phenomenon that it purports to represent. That means the numbers and imagery represent what really existed or happened.Accounting information and financial statements should be prepared in such a way that they are free from material error and bias. That is that CDC represent faithfully that which they either hold themselves out to represent or could be reasonably expected to represent. F) With Cost- benefit Features. Kid's the preparation of information will certainly incur cost such as the costs of collecting, analyzing and interpreting the data obtained. Thus, it is important that the information can bring returns that cover the costs involved. In other words, the value of the information obtained must be more than the costs of obtaining it.The information must be useful before it can produce results. All in all, the accounting information is too particular, will enlarge the risk of investor decision- making, therefore the formation of the happening of internal control is leap to influence the entire capital market competence and capital market financing capacity. Thus, accounting information must allow the reader to recognized, so that it can be used pr operly. 2. Planning. CDC must plan for success. What does it mean to plan? It is about deciding on a course of action to reach a desired outcome. Planning must occur at all levels.First, it occurs at the high level of setting strategy. It then moves to broad-based thought about how to establish an optimum position to maximize the potential for realization of goals. Finally, planning must give thoughtful consideration to financial realities/ constraints and anticipated monetary outcomes (budgets). A business organization may be made up of many individuals. These individuals must be orchestrated to work together in harmony. It is important that they share and understand the organizational plans. In short, everyone needs to be on the same page. As such, clear communication is imperative. ) Strategy CDC should invest considerable time and effort in developing strategy. Employees, harried with day-to-day tasks, sometimes fail to see the need to take on strategic planning. It is difficult to see the linkage between strategic endeavors and the day-to- day corporate activities associated with delivering goods and services to customers. But, strategic planning ultimately defines the organization. Specific strategy setting can take many forms, but generally includes elements pertaining to the definition of ore values, mission, and objectives. Core values: An entity should clearly consider and define the rules by which it will play.Core values can cover a broad spectrum involving concepts of fair play, human dignity, ethics, employment/promotion/ compensation, quality, customer service, environmental awareness, and so forth. If CDC does not cause its members to understand and focus on these important elements, it will soon find participants becoming solely â€Å"profit-centric. † This behavior leads to a short-term focus and potentially dangerous practices that may provide the seeds of self-destruction. Remember that management is to build business value by making the right decisions, and decisions about core values are essential.Be aware that the Institute of Management Accountants (AMA) is a representative group for the managerial accounting profession. The IMAM has established a set of ethical standards for its members that are part of the core values for the profession. Imam's overarching ethical principles include: Honesty, Fairness, Objectivity, and Responsibility. Many IMAM members have earned the CAM (certified management accountant) and CFML (certified financial manager) designations. These certificates represent significant competencies in managerial accounting and financial management skills, as well as a pledge to follow the ethical precepts of the ‘MA.Mission: CDC attempt to prepare a pithy statement about their mission. Such mission statements provide a snapshot of CDC and provide a focal point against which to match ideas and actions. They provide an important planning element because they define Kid's purpose and direct ion. Interestingly, some organizations have avoided mission, in fear that it will limit opportunity for expansive thinking. For example, General Electric specifically states that it does not have a mission statement, per SE. Instead, its operating philosophy and business objectives are clearly articulated each year in the Letter to Shareowner, Employees and Customers.In some sense, though, Gee's tag line reflects its mission: imagination at work. Perhaps the subliminal mission is to pursue opportunity wherever it can be found. As a result, GE is one of the world's most diversified entities in terms of the range of products and services it offers. Overall, the strategic structure of CDC is established by how well it defines its values and purpose. But, how does the managerial accountant help in this process? At first lance, these strategic issues seem to be broad and without accounting context.But, information is needed about the returns that are being generated for investors; this a ccounting information is necessary to determine whether the profit objective is being achieved. Actually, though, managerial accounting goes much deeper. For example, how are core values policed? Consider that someone must monitor and provide information on environmental compliance. What is the most effective method for handling and properly disposing of hazardous waste? Are there alternative products that may cost more to acquire but cost less to dispose? What system must be established to record and track such material?All of these issues require accountability. As another example, ethical codes likely deal with bidding procedures to obtain the best prices from capable suppliers. What controls are needed to monitor the purchasing process, provide for the best prices, and audit the quality of procured goods? All of these issues quickly evolve into internal accounting tasks. B) Positioning. An important part of the planning process is positioning CDC to achieve its goals. Positionin g is a broad concept and depends on gathering and evaluating accounting information.Costumer/Profit analysis and scalability: A subsequent chapter will cover cost/volume/profit analysis. It is imperative for managers to understand the nature of cost behavior and how changes in volume impact profitability. Methods include calculating break-even points and determining how to manage to achieve target income levels. Managerial accountants study business models and the ability (or inability) to bring them to profitability via increases in scale. Global Trade and Transfer: The management accountant frequently performs significant and complex analysis related to global activities.This requires in-depth research into laws about tariffs, taxes, and shipping. In addition, global enterprises may transfer inventory and services between affiliated units in alternative countries. These transactions must be fairly measured to establish reasonable transfer prices (or potentially run afoul of tax an d other rules of various countries involved). Once again, the management accountant is called to the task. Branding / Pricing / Sensitivity / Competition: In positioning a company's products and services, considerable thought must be given to branding and its impact on the business.To build a brand requires considerable investment with an uncertain payback. Frequently, the same product can be positioned as an elite brand via a large investment in up-front advertising, or as a basic consumer product that will depend upon low price to drive sales. What is the correct approach? Information is needed to make the decision, and management will likely enlist the internal accounting staff to prepare prospective information based upon alternative scenarios. Likewise, product pricing decisions must be balanced against costs and competitive market conditions.And, sensitivity analysis is needed o determine how sales and costs will respond to changes in market conditions. Decisions about positio ning Kid's products and services are quite complex. The prudent manager will need considerable data to make good decisions. Management accountants will be directly involved in providing such data. They will usually work side-by-side with management in helping correctly interpret and utilize the information. It is worthwhile for a good manager to study the basic principles of managerial accounting in order to better understand how information can be effectively utilized in the decision process. Budgets. A necessary planning component is budgeting. Budgets outline the financial plans for an organization. There are various types of budgets. Kid's budgeting process must take into account ongoing operations, capital expenditure plans, and corporate financing. Operating Budgets: A plan must provide definition of the anticipated revenues and expenses of CDC, and more. Operating budgets can become fairly detailed. The process usually begins with an assessment of anticipated sales and procee ds to a detailed mapping of specific inventory purchases, staffing plans, and so forth.These budgets oftentimes delineate allowable levels of expenditures for various departments. Capital Budgets: The budgeting process must also contemplate the need for capital expenditures relating to new facilities and equipment. These longer-term expenditure decisions must be evaluated logically to determine whether an investment can be Justified and what rate and duration of payback is likely to occur. Financial Budgets: CDC must assess financing needs, including an evaluation of potential cash shortages. These estimates enable companies to meet with lenders and demonstrate why and when additional financial support may be needed.The budget process is quite important (no matter how tedious the process may seem) to the viability of an organization. Several of the subsequent chapters are devoted to the nature and elements of sound budgeting. 3) Directing. There are many good plans that are never re alized. To realize a plan requires the initiation and direction of numerous actions. Often, these actions must be well coordinated and timed. Resources must be ready, and authorizations need to be in place to enable persons to act according to the plan. By analogy, imagine that a composer has written a beautiful score of music.For it to come to life requires all members of the orchestra, and a conductor who can bring the orchestra into synchronization and harmony. Likewise, the managerial accountant has a major role in moving business plans into action. Information systems must be developed to allow management to maneuver the organization. Management must know that inventory is available when needed, productive resources (people and machinery) are scheduled appropriately, transportation systems will be available to deliver output, and so on. In addition, management must be ready to demonstrate compliance with contracts and regulations.These are complex tasks which cannot occur witho ut strong information resources provided by management accountants. Managerial accounting supports the â€Å"directing† function in many ways. Areas of support include costing, production management, and special analysis. A) Costing. A strong manager must understand how costs are captured and assigned to goods and services. This is more complex than most people realize. Costing is such an extensive part of the management accounting function that many people refer to management accountants as cost accountants. But, cost accounting is only a subset f managerial accounting applications.Cost accounting can be defined as the collection, assignment, and interpretation of cost. Subsequent chapters introduce alternative costing methods. It is important to know the cost of products and services. The ideal approach to capturing costs is dependent on what is being produced. Costing Methods: In some settings, costs may be captured by the Job costing method. CDC might consider tracing cos ts and assigning them to activities (e. G. , training, client development, etc. ). Then, an allocation model can be used to attribute selected activities to a Job.Such activity-based costing systems are particularly well suited to situations where overhead is high, and/or a variety of products and services are produced. Costing Concepts: In addition to alternative methods of costing, a good manager will need to understand different theories or concepts about costing. In a general sense, these approaches can be described as absorption and direct costing concepts. Under the absorption concept, a product or service would be assigned its full cost, including amounts that are not easily identified with a particular item, such as overhead items moieties called burden.Overhead can include facilities depreciation, utilities, maintenance, and many other similar shared costs. With absorption costing, this overhead is schematically allocated among all units of output. In other words, output ab sorbs the full cost of the productive process. Absorption costing is required for external reporting purposes under generally accepted accounting principles. Some managers are aware that sole reliance on absorption costing numbers can lead to bad decisions. As a result, internal cost accounting processes in CDC focus on a direct costing approach.With direct costing, a unit of output will be assigned only its direct cost of production (e. G. , direct materials, direct labor, and overhead that occurs with each unit produced). Future chapters examine differences between absorption and direct costing. B) Production. Successfully directing an organization requires prudent management of production. Because this is a hands-on process, and frequently involves dealing with the tangible portions of the business (inventory, fabrication, assembly, etc. ), some managers are especially focused on this area of oversight.Managerial accounting provides numerous tools for managers to use in support o f production and logistics (moving goods through production to a customer). To generalize, production management is about running a lean business model. This means that costs must be minimized and efficiency maximized, while seeking to achieve enhanced output and quality standards. In the past few decades, advances in technology have greatly contributed to the ability to run a lean business. Product fabrication and assembly have been improved through virtually error-free robotics.Accountability is handled via comprehensive software that tracks an array of data on a real-time basis. These enterprise resource packages are extensive in their power to deliver specific query- based information for CDC. BOB (business to business) systems provide data interchange with sufficient power to enable Kid's information system to automatically initiate a product order on its vendor's information system. Logistics is facilitated by radio frequency identification processors embedded in inventory tha t enable a computer to automatically track the quantity and location of inventory.MM (machine to machine) enables connected devices to communicate information without requiring human engagement. These developments ultimately enhance CDC efficiency and the living standards of customers who benefit from better and cheaper products. But, despite their robust power, they do not replace human decision making. Managers must pay attention to the information being produced, and be ready to adjust business processes in response. Inventory: For a manufacturing CDC inventory may consist of raw materials, work in process, and finished goods.The raw materials are the components and parts that are to be eventually processed into a final product. Work in process consists of goods that are actually under production. Finished goods are the completed units awaiting sale to customers. Each category will require special consideration and control. Failure to properly manage any category of inventory can be disastrous. Overstocking raw materials or overproduction of finished goods will increase costs and obsolescence. Conversely, out-of-stock situations for raw materials will silence the production line.Failure to have goods on hand might result in lost sales. Subsequent chapters cover inventory management. Popular techniques include Just-in-time inventory management and economic order quantity. Responsibility Considerations: Enabling and motivating employees to work at peak performance is an important managerial role. For this to occur, employees must perceive that their productive efficiency and quality of output are fairly measured. A good manager will understand and be able to explain to others how such measures are determined.Direct productive processes must be supported by many service departments (maintenance, engineering, accounting, cafeterias, etc. ). These service departments have nothing to sell to outsiders, but are essential components of operation. The costs of servi ce departments must be recovered for a business to survive. It is easy for a production manager to focus solely on the area under direct control and ignore the costs of support tasks. Yet, good management decisions require full consideration of the costs of support services.Many alternative techniques are used by managerial accountants to allocate responsibility for CDC costs. A good manager will understand the need for such allocations and be able to explain and Justify them to employees who may not be fully aware of why profitability is more difficult to achieve than it would seem. In addition, techniques must be utilized to capture the cost of quality, or perhaps better aid, the cost of a lack of quality. Finished goods that do not function as promised cause substantial warranty costs, including rework, shipping, and scrap.There is also an extreme long-run cost associated with a lack of customer satisfaction. Understanding concepts of responsibility accounting will also require o ne to think about attaching inputs and outcomes to those responsible for their ultimate disposition. In other words, a manager must be held accountable, but to do this requires the ability to monitor costs incurred and deliverables produced by defined areas of accountability (centers of responsibility). This does not happen by accident and requires extensive systems development work, as well as training and explanation, on the part of management accountants. ) Analysis. Certain business decisions have recurrent themes: whether to outsource production and/or support functions, what level of production and pricing to establish, whether to accept special orders with private label branding or special pricing, and so forth. Managerial accounting provides theoretical models of calculations that are needed to support these types of decisions. Although such models are not perfect in every case, hey certainly are effective in stimulating correct thought. The seemingly obvious answer may not always yield the truly correct or best decision.Therefore, subsequent chapters will provide insight into the logic and methods that need to be employed to manage these types of business decisions. 4) Controlling. Things rarely go exactly as planned, and management must make a concerted effort to monitor and adjust for deviations. The managerial accountant is a major facilitator of this control process, including exploration of alternative corrective strategies to remedy unfavorable situations. In addition, a recent trend is for enhanced internal controls and mandatory certifications by Coos and Scoffs as to the accuracy of financial reports.These certifications carry penalties of perjury, and have gotten the attention of corporate executives. This has led to greatly expanded emphasis on controls of the various internal and external reporting mechanisms. CDC has a person designated as controller (sometimes termed â€Å"comptroller†). The controller is an important and respecte d position within CDC also the largest corporations. CDC control function is of sufficient complexity that a controller may have hundreds of purport personnel to assist with all phases of the management accounting process.As this person's title suggests, the controller is primarily responsible for the control task; providing leadership for the entire cost and managerial accounting functions. In contrast, the chief financial officer (SCOFF) is usually responsible for external reporting, the treasury function, and general cash flow and financing management. In CDC, one person may serve a dual role as both the SCOFF and controller. Larger organizations may also have a separate internal audit group that reviews the work of the accounting and treasury units.Because internal auditors are reporting on the effectiveness and integrity of other units within a business organization, they usually report directly to the highest levels of corporate leadership. A) Monitor. Begin by thinking about controlling a car. Steering, acceleration, and braking are not random; they are careful corrective responses to constant monitoring of many variables like traffic, road conditions, and so forth. Clearly, each action is in response to having monitored conditions and adopted an adjusting response. Likewise, business managers must rely on systematic monitoring tools to maintain awareness