Financial Analysis Project

Your task is to provide a written report discussing the financial position of the companies. Calculation of ratios should be included in an appendix to the report. In other words, in addition to the mechanical process of determining the ratios the report must include a written comparative analysis of the financial information: from year to year, between the companies and an overall comment on the financial session of the companies.The financial analysis project will be marked considering the following: Company selection [provide a brief description of each company] Liquidity analysis Solvency analysis Profitability analysis Activity analysis Overall comparative analysis Organization/flow/quality of writing Professionalism Please provide references to the corporate Web sites where copies of the financial statements may be found. Each analysis should have appropriate appendices showing your calculations and your work. Please ensure that your solution can be easily traced back to the Or lando financial statements.Thus, your entire analysis should be no more than 1000 words not Including any attached appendices and no more than 10 different ratios. Financial Analysis Project By strengthens are in the same industry [e. G. , Imperial Oil & Petrol-Canada, or Salesman & Big Rock]. Each other and between periods, indicating which company is in the best financial * Organization/flow/quality of writing easily traced back to the original financial statements. Thus, your entire analysis should be no more than 1000 words not including any attached appendices and no

A Personal Study on B. F. Skinners Theory on Operant Conditioning

A Personal Study on B. F. Skinner's Theory on Operant Conditioning The theory that I chose to write about is B.F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning because it intrigues me and is the one that I agree with the most. B.F. Skinner is an incredible American psychologist who developed one of the most influential theories there is. Skinner is a behaviorist and had developed his theory through conducting numerous amounts of research on shaping behavior. Operant conditioning is a behavior modification technique, which he developed in contrast with classical conditioning from Pavlov and Watson. His idea of the behavior modification technique was to put the subject on a program with steps. The steps included setting goals, which would help you determine how the subject would be changed by following the said steps. Operant conditioning is a type of learning where a person’s actions are reinforced or punished. The principle of Skinner’s theory reflects on how behavior that is positively reinforced will most likely reoccur again. In order for responses to be reinforced, information should be presented in small amounts. Another key principle states that reinforcements will also generalize across similar stimuli, which, in turn produces secondary conditioning. In summary, behavior is influenced by the consequences of actions, and reinforcement is crucial in changing or altering behavior. The term reinforcement in itself is any characteristic in the environment that increases the likelihood that a person will repeat a behavior in the future. On the contrary, punishment is any characteristic that decreases the probability that a person will repeat a behavior. According to B.F. Skinner, â€Å"children operate on their environments (hence the term operant conditioning), adjusting their b ehaviors to attract more reinforcements and to avoid punishments†. (12) This theory of Skinner’s proves that children adjust behavior to gain reinforcement and to avoid punishment as well. Operant conditioning and Skinner’s theory have been applied throughout various forms of research and clinical settings. Teachers use this method of operant conditioning to control children in their classroom and parents apply both positive and negative reinforcement to their children as well throughout their daily lives. When it came to more complex sorts of behaviors, the idea of shaping came into play. The procedure of shaping is selectively reinforcing certain behaviors while ignoring or punishing others. It is said that language development and how children come to produce speech have to do with shaping. â€Å"Learning theorists believe that the specific language training a child receives governs language development and that biological predispositions do not play an important role†. (264) When conducting research, Skinner and his students have had successful outcomes in getting simple animals to do extremely difficult things using shaping. We, as humans, are essentially shaped by our environment to enjoy or dislike certain things. This theory both compares and contrasts with my childhood and how I was growing up in a numerous amount of ways. In regards to shaping, I noticed that my parents would reinforce positive behavior as much as possible when I was learning math because it was something I struggled a bit more with as a kid. I would be placed in an environment where all I could do is learn and there would be no distractions. My parents would constantly tell me how crucial it was that I receive good grades. I would be praised for the good grades I received and it made me want to work harder to receive that praise continuously. I still experience a form of operant conditioning even during college. Credit cards give more student loan options to students who are performing well in a university which is another form of a reward that makes them work much harder. However, sometimes operant conditioning doesn’t work and if parents were to punish their child constantly for receiving bad grades, a child can grow to have a hatred towards school as they grow up. It is important to be understanding as well as notice that sometimes children struggle and reinforcement isn’t always going to provide the outcome you want. I believe strongly in discipline and not caving in to your children when you already told them no multiple times. For example, if a kid wants to buy candy or a toy in a store and starts crying, a parent should be stern and continue to refuse the candy bar. If the parent ends up giving in and buying the child the candy or toy, the child can start to put two and two together and apply this method of operant conditioning in a negative reinforcement way. Therefore, there needs to be a consistent pattern displayed through this method. Certain ethical or cultural issues that may connect with the operant conditioning theory from Skinner would be any time that there is physical or mental abuse being placed upon a person. Punishment being placed upon a person should never do any physical harm and reinforcement should be healthy and not anything that could be considered addictive. There needs to be a lot of care and attention that goes into both correcting and teaching behavior. B.F. Skinner is said to have also â€Å"grossly underplayed the role of biology in forging and regulating human behavior dismissing the burgeoning fields of behavioral genetics, evolutionary psychology, and cognitive science. Skinner argued that humans dont really think — that they merely respond to environmental cues†. Therefore, this theory can’t apply across all cultures because there are certain cultural factors that one person may experience opposed to someone else. Parents may use stricter forms of operant conditioning in different countries because that is how they were raised and a child may not have th e same positive effect like Skinner would hope his theory proves. My interactions with children are now influenced by this theory because I have grown more cautious in understanding that essentially you can try to train a child through delivery and reinforcement but ultimately it all comes down to how the kid is. Operant conditioning doesn’t necessarily always provide the outcome you want if the kid refuses to go along with it. I will try to apply the method of operant conditioning when babysitting or when I have my own kids someday to alter behaviors as best as I can if a child is acting up unnecessarily. Some parenting advice that I would give parents would be to stray away from the authoritarian approach as best as possible and realize that there is a difference between discipline and damaging discipline. Using the operant conditioning method to keep children â€Å"in line† and exactly how you want them to act can be harming for them down the line. If a child is always harmfully punished for his wrong actions, there will be a lot of mental damage done and it can hurt the child instead of allow him to grow and understand his wrongdoings. The best advice to understand and incorporate into parenting is that there is a fine line between discipline and compassion/understanding. If a child does something incorrectly, talk to them patiently and calmly without the reinforcement. Sometimes a child can grasp and have a better understanding through the kindness a parent shows because they see the concern come from the heart. It is also important to be consistent if applying B.F. Skinne r’s method of operant conditioning because a child can get confused on what is right and what is wrong. If a child gets punished for doing something but also receives positive reinforcement, they may perform their behavior once more in hopes of receiving that positive reward once again. All in all, B.F. Skinner’s method of operant conditioning does work but it is important to use it to an extent in parenting and understand that it may work for some but not for others. It is all dependent on outside factors such as cultural values, parenting styles, and our lives in general.

Market Segmentation and Product Positioning Term Paper

Market Segmentation and Product Positioning - Term Paper Example By the year 2006, the company has become amongst the most popular beer company in the African region (Smit, 2009). This was as a result of aggressive marketing of the beer by the company. This implied that advertising was exceedingly an essential factor for the success of the product. In fact, by the end of 2008, the beer was sold across the whole continent. Up to around 2010, most of the big cities and small town dwellers loved the beer at the bars and lodges. Frequently, joined by competitive alcoholic drinks, the beer has decreased in popularity. Currently, the company’s products are consumed at one billion beers rate per each single day. The company headquarter is located in Lusaka, in Zambia. It is a large firm and has many facilities and structures in different regions across the world. In addition, our company operates in seven nations, specifically in the northwest. The BERVET Company owns three manufacturing facilities with more than twenty five sales locations. The f irm is the largest beer company in the northwest region of Africa. The company offers a wide range of beer brands and services that makes it attractive to its customers. Some of the known brands include kegi, chura, and kiboko among many others. The company has several foundations and programs to assist in various services. For instance, the company has partnered with an LGC company which is an NGO to offer health services. We also support various corporate initiatives that empower girls and women around the region through economic support. We are also focused on providing services on sanitation and water to people who cannot access them. Vision The company is committed to continual renewal so that individuals, organizational structure, facilities, products, systems and our partnership remain dynamic. Mission statement BERVET produces high quality; alcoholic products with a vision of becoming the leading company in Africa by 2015. We are focusing on maintaining our customers as an a sset in expansion mission of the company. We are, therefore, committed to winning our customers loyalty to BERVET products forever. Market target BERVET targets the European market. The market segment for our company includes retailers, wholesalers, the private sector, the government and the individual customers. The company target customers by having specific lines in Europe. We expect our sales to be exceedingly high bearing in mind the variety and quality of our beer that we offer. This is because BERVET plans on reducing prices and opening more outlets for the drink in the region. We are targeting the big restraunts, bars, and lodges. However, there are some essential economic factors that will affect our products that include taxes, economic trends, and the rising energy prices. The legal factors include legislation and regulations on the operations of the business and government initiatives. Also, control from the government might affect the operations of the business. Environ mental factors might also affect the market, but some are uncontrollable like natural disasters and calamities such as fire, earthquakes, and floods. Having identified the market and the factors that might affect these will help in proper planning for strategies like price, promotion and distribution. We must come up with pricing strategies that will aid in profit maximization, current revenue maximization, and maximization of quantity, quality, and profit margin,

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 3

Assignment Example Following the theory, Walmart Company is fully unethical. It was because of the win lose situation they created. The company becomes the winners and customers were the losers. The health of the consumers got placed at risk due to the company selling food that could make the consumers sick (Spotts 76). It demonstrated that the company did not respect the consumers or care for their welfare. The company did not make the efforts of ensuring the happiness of consumers. They only cared for their own happiness. The company also made themselves unhappy due to cheating on their customers and taking their money. The theory developed by kant also indicates that the company is unethical in a more different ration. The customers lacked a chance of making any decision. There was no information issued to them on the products they were buying as the company held the information. They also gave them false information so that they can have their money. The denial of information hindered the customers from making their own decisions on the product. The most likely decision they would have made is not to consume their products. It was due to the health hazards associated with the meat. The theory of kant also indicates that the company should not consider themselves above the law and also rules. They fully understood the illegal actions they had associated themselves with and were not willing to accept the consequences. The interpretation of the word courage can get done in several ways. The Walmart company did not have to cater or even compensate to the customers they cheated which they did not. The courage to offer an apology or even compensation was not a step towards the right direction (Spotts 26). The company possessed unreasonable desires, therefore, they lied to their customers in the efforts of obtaining happiness and also profit. On the case justice, it was also not present. The company did have fair practices

Misuse and Abuse of Antibiotics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Misuse and Abuse of Antibiotics - Essay Example regulated. Despite the Penicllin Act of 1948, more and more resistant strains of bacteria kept evolving, and continued research led to development of newer and newer antibiotics. The effect was devastating. In 1950s, a resistant strain of the bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus led to catastrophic events throughout the world, especially in the hospital setting and especially in children admitted to the hospital. Thus, the mechanism of resistance was probed into, and researches ultimately found that development of resistance is produced by indiscriminate use of the antibiotics, and such use may well be termed as misuse or abuse (Wenzel, R.P., 2002). The rational use of antibiotics is dependent on understanding of their mechanisms of action, pharmacokinetics, toxicities, interactions; bacterial strategies of resistance; and bacterial susceptibilities in vitro. The acquired resistance is a well-known major limitation to effective antibacterial chemotherapy. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics develop by mutation of the resident bacterial genes or by acquisition of new genes that resist antibiotics to cause bacterial death. Almost all bacteria have cellular mechanisms of transmission of genetic traits by a system of mobile genetic elements, such as, plasmids, transposons, and bacteriophages (Martnez, J.L. and Baquero, F., 2002). As a result, the new genes mediating resistance are spread from bacteria to bacteria to create a colony of resistant bacteria. Such populations flourish in areas of high antibiotic use where they enjoy a selective advantage over susceptible population. To answer the question how resistance becomes operative, one can deduce that the antimicrobial...Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy; 52: 564 - 571. Martnez, J.L. and Baquero, F., (2002). Interactions among Strategies Associated with Bacterial Infection: Pathogenicity, Epidemicity, and Antibiotic Resistance. Clinical Microbiologic Review; 15: pp. 647 - 679. Metlay, J.P., Shea, J.A., and Asch, D.A., (2002). Antibiotic Prescribing Decisions of Generalists and Infectious Disease Specialists: Thresholds for Adopting New Drug Therapies. Medical Decision Making; 22: 498 - 505.

The case of HSBC bank Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 15000 words

The case of HSBC bank - Dissertation Example ......................................................................4 1. Introduction...............................................................................................................................................5 1.1 Corporate Social Responsibility – An Introduction..................................................................................5 1.2 The Aims ..................................................................................................................................................6 1.3 Objectives.................................................................................................................................................6 1.4 Dissertation Question...............................................................................................................................7 2. ... ...........................................................14 2.6 Stakeholder Theory – Prevalent Definitions...........................................................................................15 2.7 Banking and CSR......................................................................................................................................16 2.8 The UK Banking Sector............................................................................................................................20 2.9 Theoretical Analysis over HSBC...............................................................................................................22 2.10 Moralisation and Ethical Leadership....................................................................................................22 2.11 Sustainability Strategy of HSBC.............................................................................................................26 2.12 Notion of Time Scale................. ............................................................................................................27 3. The Methodology.....................................................................................................................................28 4. Analysis....................................................................................................................................................31 4.1 Case Study -- HSBC BANK........................................................................................................................31 4.2 Ignorance of the â€Å"micro†.........................................................................................................................35 4.3 Analysis of Chairman’s

Exectuive Branch Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Exectuive Branch - Research Paper Example The decision-making branch of the state level is headed by heads of states. All bureaucrats in the state executive level are answerable to the president, but in other cases, the executive level in different states are headed by governors The president in any state level has his own directives to carry out like being the commander in chief of the armed forces. This implies that the head of state is the only individual who can command the military wing of the forces. Secondly, the president has authority to select individuals or ministers to oversee the daily running of public institutions, like ministries and embassies (Ferguson, 2006). Functions of the State Executive Level The executive level has various functions to perform. They include overseeing and put into practice the work of their juniors, since they are mandated to see the overall running, and implementations of the laws. Secondly, the executive level makes sure that laws are followed to uphold their constitution and protec t their interest. It applies rules and orders in insuring that enactments are strictly followed. The laws enforced into enactment by the executive level involve the constitution laws signed and acknowledged by the executive head. Thirdly they have the responsibility to appoint the judicial officers like lawyers and state judges. Lastly, the executive has the mandate to appoint officials in a state subsection. The arm is in-charge of the of all key policy-making positions in state or government (Thorburn, 2008). The Authorizing Legislation of the State Executive Level Authorizing legislation can be used to describe the management process, and the instructions used to institute information sharing in any set of an institution. The legislation offers a structure for the enactment of laws and ideas in any set of a system. The executive, state level is guided by rules on the appointments of their officials. The authorizing legislation in any state government is the president or the gover nor. An excellent authorizing legislation has to meet the set standards like being timely in fulfilling vacancies in any state office. All the officials in the state institutions are appropriately expected to use the legislation act in occupying vacant positions inside an institute. Secondly the authorizing legislation should be considerate of an institution when making decisions pertaining to the appointments of officials in an institution. The authorizing legislation should entail the opus and qualifications for individuals who are to be appointed to occupy key positions in a state institution. Thirdly, the legislation act should plainly state the duties of the commission is selecting to aid in its operations. Lastly, the act should clearly state powers and limits of state officials in the handling of issues. The powers awarded to an individual are stated to avoid abuse (Thorburn, 2008). Structure of the Executive Federal Level The executive federal, level entails distribution of power among the state governments and other institutions like the national administration. The level is collected the office of the president, the managerial departments, the first lady and the independent agencies and committees (Ferguson, 2006). 1 The office of the president is regarded to be the uppermost bureau in the structure. It is composed of the president, the first lady, the vice president and the cabinet. The president