Essay --

Pain is one of the most powerful human motivators. People will say anything to make it stop because it hurts. And when used specifically to derive information our federal government can make it hurt a lot. No one should ever have to be put through the type of pain that is specifically engineered to hit your pain threshold, engineered to cause you to fear your interrogator, engineered to make you talk. The practice of enhanced interrogation should not be used under any circumstances because it is illegal under international law, it’s not always effective, and it’s inhumane. What is enhanced interrogation? In simple terms it’s when an interrogator uses techniques that are specifically designed to cause you a.) either so much pain that you break down and tell the interrogator what they want to know or b.) you fear pain and your interrogator so much that you readily give them the information that they seek. So, what techniques does the American government use to derive information from it’s prisoners? Some techniques that they have used are sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, sensory overload, solitary confinement, mock execution, medical experimentation, learned helplessness, intimidation by dogs, confinement in a box with insects, and waterboarding. â€Å"The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’s stance on torture is ‘No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war or an emergency may be invoked as j ustification for torture [or enhanced interrogations], which inflict pain and suffering and most UN scholars consider to qualify as torture under international law.† (Dinan) However under international law it is ... ... they will never be normal again.(Stephens) This is a list of just a few of the techniques and their described effects that our own government and foreign governments use. The effects are cruel and long-lasting and they stick with you for a long time, not to mention the immediate effects of fear and pain from thing such as being waterboarded. It’s cruel and inhumane and illegal. All in all enhanced interrogation doesn’t get you anymore and it’s just plain cruel. There are many better alternatives to torturing the information out of someone. The more peaceful route should always be taken. If we don’t want our own citizens undergoing the same stuff that we put the citizens of foreign countries through than we should never ever do that to them. It goes back to the most basic rule of all time. The Golden Rule â€Å"Do unto others what you would have them do unto you†

McDonald’s Corporation (MCD) Essay

Introduction McDonald’s Corporation (MCD) is the world’s largest chain of fast food restaurants, serving nearly 47 million customers daily. McDonald’s primarily sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken products, french fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes and desserts. More recently, it has begun to offer salads, wraps and fruit. Many McDonald’s restaurants have included a playground for children and advertising geared toward children, and some have been redesigned in a more ‘natural’ style, with a particular emphasis on comfort: introducing lounge areas and fireplaces, and eliminating hard plastic chairs and tables. Each McDonald’s restaurant is operated by a franchisee, an affiliate, or the corporation itself. The corporations’ revenues come from the rent, royalties and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company operated restaurants. McDonald’s revenues grew 27% over the three years ending in 2007 to $22.8 billion, and 9% growth in operating income to $3.9 billion. McDonalds’s success is the result of superior products, high standards of performance, distinctive competitive strategies and the high integrity of our people. Approximately 85% of McDonald’s restaurant businesses world-wide are owned and operated by franchisees .All franchisees are independent, full-time operators. McDonalds Vision Mission Statement and Values * Vision: To be the best & leading fast food providers around the globe. * Mission: To be the world’s best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness, and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile.† * Values: Our values summarized in â€Å"Q.S.C & V†. Provide good quality, services to customer . Have cleanliness environment when customer enjoys their meal .The value of food product makes every customer is smiling. Management structure Managing Director Head of MarketingDirector of FinanceHuman Resource head Accounts Manager Senior marketing executiveFinance managerEmployees Marketing executive Brand ManageResearch & Development officer Assistant Brand Manager Customer service managerProduct Development Sales managerMarket research TeamCompensation officer Branch managerRecruitment & Selection Training & Development Branch employees Porters Five Forces(in reference to McDonalds) Competitive rivalry According to Porter’s Five Forces Model, if entry into a market is easy then rivalry is likely to be high. Considering McDonald’s competitive rivalry, there is intense competition in fast food industry that many small fast food businesses fight with each other to improve their customer base. This makes a competition the major focus between businesses. Although, McDonald’s, with more than 32,000 local restaurants serving more than 60 million people in 117 countries each day, has a number of fast food outlet competitors across the countries such as Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, Wendy’s, it is currently the leader of the industry in market capitalization with a cap of $39.31 billion. The Threat of new entrants The threat of new entrants in the fast food industry is high because there are no legal barriers which would keep them from entering the industry. The economies of scale and the access of the distribution are the major barriers that firms face in the industry. Firms must spend a large amount of capital on advertising and marketing in order to enjoy successful existence and long life of a fast food outlet. Large established companies with strong brand names such as McDonald’s make it more difficult to enter the market because new entrants are faced with price competition from existing chain restaurants. Thus, it takes a pretty much time for a new business to establish in the fast food industry. Supplier bargaining power The bargaining power of suppliers of McDonald’s is high because McDonald’s restaurants use the same products from the same suppliers and it doesn’t matter if you are in Rochester, MN or Beijing, China you can get the same Big Mac everywhere. This is a feature McDonald’s want to keep going on by encouraging consistency among its restaurants. Supplying these products to McDonald’s across the globe is the whole business for the suppliers and, however, if McDonald’s would lose even one supplier it would have to change one or more of its product lines and perhaps the whole menu what the McDonald’s customers were used to. This gives the suppliers of McDonald’s a high bargaining power. Buyer bargaining power Bargaining power of customers of McDonald’s is low because of low customer switching costs which are nearly zero; however, for example, one-fifth of the USA population eats in a fast food restaurant every day. Thus, fast food industry does not worry about customers’ loyalty. Fast food products industry is differentiated which are usually or almost always promoted by advertising – that is because of a vast competition between fast food firms Furthermore, if the fast food industry does not match the demands of the buyers and the general consumer trends, then the buyers can choose not to buy their product and convince others to do the same. A good example of this is the movie ‘Super Size Me’. It is a movie showing an ordinary consumer trying to live of McDonalds fast food, and the purpose of the movie was to see what the traditional fast food from McDonalds could do to your health if you were to eat their products for every meal. This movie shows what the buyers possible reactions could be if not satisfied or not being pleased. The reactions from the whole market were a large change in consumer preferences and brand preferences. The Threat of Substitutes With so many firms in the fast food industry with low switching costs, vide variety of similar products that people can chose, and healthier alternatives, the threat of substitutes is very high.As there is intense competition between rival sellers in the fast food industry, the competition between firms selling substitute products is intense as well. One very important issue is that the customer always tends to find another product comparable or better in terms of the quality of fast food products. Another thing is that fast food industry is unhealthy to its customers’ health. The majority of the public think that fast food restaurants primarily serve high in fat content foods which are unhealthy and as a consequence they tend to look elsewhere for healthier alternatives. While fast food products are not always associated with health and quality, fast food restaurants keeps a major advantage over other firms selling substitute products through the lower prices of their products and a quick, convenient service. Competitive Profile Matrix The above matrix re-establishes McDonald’s supremacy in the fast food market. * Pricing: McDonalds certainly gets an edge on the pricing front. Its competitors like Wendy’s are rapidly proliferating high-quality burger chains like Five Guys. Wendy’s has more premium products on its menu and therefore is relatively highly priced. The line â€Å"apke zamane mein baap ke zamane kaa daam† reinforces pricing edge enjoyed by McDonalds. They follow the value based pricing strategy * Financial Position: Wendy’s sales as in 2011 was 8.5 billion dollars closely competing with Burger King at 8.4 billion dollars. However McDonalds total sales were 27 billion dollars that is more than three times of its competitors. * Advertisement : McDonalds spends on an average 6 percent of its sales on advertisement. Slogans like â€Å"I am loving it† are really catchy and every McDonalds customer can associate with it. Also McDonalds can be seen using a marketing mixture by being there as a sponsor for Olympics to TV advertisement. However McDonalds generally doesn’t use print media. * Market Share: McDonalds market share is much more than its competitors and all the above factors such as pricing, quality, marketing strategy have played their role in this. * Global Expansion: McDonalds high sales are a result of its global expansion. McDonalds has its presence in 119 countries and serves 68 million customers daily which is way more than any of its competitors. Since its inception, McDonalds has consistently emphasized on restaurant operations procedures, service, quality and cleanliness. Here are a few milestones which the firm accomplished: 1. Hamburger University: It is a training facility which was designed to instruct personnel employed by McDonald’s in the various aspects of restaurant management. More than 80,000 restaurant managers, mid-managers and owner/operators have graduated from this facility. It is also located in Shanghai, China. 2. The Big Mac: The Big Mac was created by Jim Delligatti, who was operating several restaurants in the Pittsburgh area.It was introduced in 1967. The sandwich was so popular that it was added to the menu of all the U.S restaurants by 1968. 3. Happy Meal: A Happy Meal is a form of kids’ meal specifically marketed at childrensince June 1979. A toy is typically included with the food, both of which are usually contained in a box or paper bag with the McDonald’s logo. Frequently, the packaging and toy are part of a marketing tie-in to a popular film, TV show, or toy-line. 4. Drive-Thru: The first McDonald’s drive-through was created in 1975 in Arizona on a military base to serve soldiers who weren’t permitted to get out of their cars while wearing fatigues.McDonald’s drive-through service is called McDrive. 5. McDonaldization: McDonaldization is a term used by a sociologist, George Ritzer. It occurs when a culture possesses the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant. McDonaldization is a reconceptualization of rationalization, or moving from traditional to rational modes of thought, and scientific management. Its five components are Efficiency, Calculability, Predictability, Control and Culture. 6. Plan to Win Strategy This strategy was adopted in 2003 with its strategic focus on being better and not just bigger. The 4 P’s of this strategy were People, Place, Price and Product. SWOT Analysis Strength * McDonalds holds a very strong brand name worldwide.. * It is said that McDonalds was the first food outlet to provide its customers with nutritional facts. Nutrition information is printed on all packaging and more recently added to the McDonald’s Internet site. McDonalds offers salads, fruit, roasted chicken, bottled water and other low fat and calorie conscious alternatives. * McDonald’s uses only 100% pure USDA inspected beef, no fillers or additives. Additionally the produce is farm fresh. McDonald’s serves 100% farm raised chicken no fillers or additives and only grade-A eggs. McDonald’s foods are purchased from only certified and inspected suppliers. McDonalds works closely with ranchers, growers and suppliers to ensure food quality and freshness. * Loyal employees and management and customers is their biggest strength * McDonalds makes sure that cultural and regional barriers are kept in mind while providing food to different countries. * Clean environment and play areas for children where they can enjoy their time. Weakness * The weakness that hits the list is the employee turnover rate. Every year many of their employees are fired out of the restaurant * Health conscious people seldom complain that they do not provide us with the organic and healthy food. This becomes their weakness when they get in the complaints. Opportunities * Discounts given on every food item may help them gain more customers. * In today’s health conscious societies the introduction of a healthy hamburger is a great opportunity. They would be the first QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) to have FDA approval on marketing a low fat low calorie hamburger with low calorie combo alternatives. Currently McDonald’s and its competition health choice items do not include hamburgers. * In order to be environment friendly, they can use packing material which can be recycled later or material that does not create pollution. Threats * Emerging competition of similar outlets is becoming a problem for McDonalds. They have a threat of local food outlets in different countries. * As it is a multinational food outlet, fluctuations in the currency of other countries becomes a problem for such companies * Political factors Political Factors The international operations of McDonald’s are extremely under influence of a policy of the separate state put into practice by each government. For example, there are certain groups in Europe and the United States, which demand the acts of governmental power concerning medical values of meal of fast food. They have specified that harmful elements as cholesterol and negative influences as fatness are concerning consumption of products of fast food. Economic factors The organizations in the fast food industry aren’t excused from any disputes and problems. Definitely, they really have the separate problems involving business factors. Branches and privileges of networks of the enterprises of fast service as McDonald’s has a tendency to experience difficulty in cases where the economy of the corresponding states is amazed by inflation and changes in exchange rates. Clients hence face a survey stalemate through their separate budgets, whether they should spend more on these foreign networks of the enterprises of fast food. Hence, to these chains, possibly, it is necessary to take out problems of effects of economic environment. Especially, their problem depends on the answer of consumers to these main principles and how it could influence their general sales. In an estimation of operations of the company, food chains as McDonald’s tend to import the biggest part of the raw materials to certain territory if there is a delivery lack. Exchange rate fluctuations will also play an essential role in company’s operations. The company’s international supply as well as the existing exchange rates is merely a part of the overall components needed to guarantee success for the foreign operations of McDonald’s. It is besides obligatory, that the company has been informed on the existing tax requirements needed by the separate governments on which they operate. It basically guarantees smooth operations of McDonald’s privileges. In the same relation the company should consider also a state economic situation on which they influence. Level at which the economy of special state grows, defines purchasing capacity of consumers in that country. Hence, if the privilege works in the especially economically weak state, then their products should cost above than other existing products in the market, these privileges should take certain regulators to support economy at the expense of manufacture growth. Social The main reason is the consumers’ worries had greatly increased with health fears so customers now opted for healthier options like subway, which offered more of a variety for health conscious customers. Social Considerations: To ease customers concern about health issues, McDonald’s has made changes to the following; McDonalds changed its image vastly by evaluating the current menu and making changes to it from using organic products to revising the whole menu entirely by offering salads and vegetarian burgers. McDonald’s serves a range of high-quality foods that can fit into a balanced diet. The accurate and accessible nutrition information help guests make informed menu choices. Social Considerations Emphasis on food safety: McDonald’s suppliers have food safety management systems in place, including Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), a verified Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan and crisis management, food security and other applicabl e programs Technology Technological Advantages McDonald’s has taken advantage of technology to streamline their processes and improve efficiency. Through technology enhancements such as FPI’s Help Desk Service, network and application consolidation, and other technology implementations, operations of the company are greatly improved. Technological Advantages: * Technological Advantages Touch Order Allows You To Place Order At McDonald’s Via handset. * T The customers can place their order directly from their tables, dubbed as â€Å"Touch Order†. It’s the first self-ordering system in the world to use RFID* Technology Spotlight. * McDonald’s has also implemented technology to improve supply chain management, and allows customers to access this information to make more informed decisions about what they eat. Supply Chain They strive to ensure that every step of the McDonald’s supply chain contributes positively to the safety, quality and availability of their final products. They also want their product ingredients to be produced in ways that contribute positively to the development of sustainable agricultural and food manufacturing practices. Since McDonald’s does not actually produce any of the food they ultimately serve their customers, it’s essential that they work with suppliers who share our values, and we do. They have a large number of direct suppliers – companies that make or deliver final products for their restaurants as well as an even larger number of indirect suppliers companies and farms that grow or process the ingredients that are eventually delivered to their direct suppliers. They work closely with their direct suppliers to continuously improve the practices that impact their employees, their communities, the environment, their own suppliers and, of course, McDonald’s customers. Profit Pyramid Model The key is to get customers to buy at a low price, low price, entry point and move them upto high price and high margin products where the company makes its profit. For example McDonalds uses products like Mc Aloo Tikki to get the customer inside the restaurant. Once the customer establishes a taste for its products his focus is shifted to products belonging to the higher strung of the ladder such as Mc Paneer Spicy, Chicken Maharaja Wrap etc. This is where it makes it profit. Thus McDonalds follows a Profit Pyramid Model. Corporate strategy Corporate level strategy fundamentally is concerned with the selection of businesses in which the company should compete and with the development and coordination of that portfolio of businesses. McDonald’s is engaged in. Mc Donald’s only deals in the restaurant business, so its corporate strategy is a single business unit strategy, likely of growth. Business strategy: A strategic business unit may be a division, product line, or other profit center that can be planned independently from the other business units of the firm.McDonald’s has pursued two strategies since 2003. To keep up with rapidly changing consumer preferences, demographics, and spending patterns, McDonald’s has introduced new items (Premium Chicken sandwiches and the Angus Beef Burger) and campaigns to create more healthy foods (Premium Salads). The strategy reflects the philosophy that novelty, as opposed to loyalty to traditional products, is the key determinant of sales in the fast food industry. McDonald’s has also focused on increasing sales at existing restaurants instead of opening new ones. To do so, McDonald’s has remodelled many restaurants, kept stores open longer, and increased menu options. Marketing Strategy McDonalds uses marketing mixture by using the different sources of media to reach the consumer: * Medium: Marketing medium of McDonalds ranges from TV advertisement to sponsoring the Olympics.It normally doesn’t use the print media for advertisement. * Branding: When someone says McDonald’s things like the golden arches ,Ronald McDonald Big Mac, etc come automatically comes to our mind. McDonald’s is loaded with brand images that are embedded into our souls from a very early age, and the company’s influence has been profound. * They Speak to the Children: McDonalds has established strong relationships in their brand by marketing directly to children, and giving them the products they want—little meals with lots of color, happy faces, and a toy (hence, Happy Meal). Core Competency The only core competency that Mc Donalds has is developing localized products. We can explain this with the example of the products that were provided to their French customers. They included beer in their menu. All their hamburgers also included a tinge of mustard to it since the French are extremely fond of mustard sauce. To overcome their unhealthy image they also began to include salads in their menu. In Thailand some of their dishes also included rice since all their meals have rice. To cater to the taste buds of Indians they have started dishes like Paneer McSpicy. McDonalds also focuses mostly on children by providing Happy Meals and toys along with it which attract the kids. There no other fast food brand which has customized its product to such an extent and therefore it is a core competency for McDonalds. Distinctive Competency The distinctive competencies of McDonalds are as follows: * Price * Standardized products * Quick service VRIO Analysis * Value: McDonalds provides value to the customer’s because of its competitive pricing. There are not many brands which can match the same prcing, standardized product, quality which McDonalds provides therefore it does provide value to the customer’s. * Rareness: McDonald’s approach towards children is very rare and no other competitor has the same to this extent. Also localizing their products is one more rare feature of this brand. * Imitability: Designing a business model which has been successful in 119 countries with annual sales of 27 billion dollars and with so much brand recognition is definitely not easy to imitate. * Organization: They exploit their resources because they cater to the local customers in an extremely efficient manner.

Intangible Asset Essay

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to examine several issues when dealing with intangible assets. By means secondary research, relevant evidence from many sources was selected, evaluated and organized into three main points, which are research and development cost, brand valuation and the risk of intangible asset in financial statement in relation with market and book value. The evidence includes statistical data and expert opinion. The research results that intangible assets give a significant impact to the company if they are not measuring appropriately based on the accounting standards. Based on these findings, it is argued that intangible asset would affect company’s performance if there are misjudgments in the valuing of these assets. Introduction Financial statement has a significant role in businesses system in due to transparency of company’s financial position in the businesses environment. The purpose of financial report is to give important information about any changes in company’s performance that is useful for a wide range of users in making decision making in order to make investment in that particular company. According to FASB that is stated in Canibano, Garcia-Ayuso, & Sanchez (2000, p.102), financial statement should provide a useful information that will benefit to any potential investors and creditors to make further investment, credit and similar decision. Therefore, any event that will affect company’s performance either present or future should be presented in this annual report. During last 20 years, expansion in technology, economic system and people knowledge have brought many changes in businesses environment which increase the use of media due to more competition between companies a nd company’s feasibility in the future. Due all these changes as stated in Canibano, Garcia-Ayuso, & Sanchez (2000, p.102) the resource of wealth and future economic benefit is not from material production or tangible asset but from investing and management of intangible asset. As defined in paragraph 8 of AASB 138 that is noted in Picker et al (2006, p. 313) intangible asset is â€Å"an identifiable non monetary asset without physical substance†. There are two main forms of intangible asset, first legal intangible such as trademark, patent, brand  and other thing that defendable in the court and the second one is competitive intangible such as knowledge activities and other activities that have a direct impact and effectiveness to company’s performance (Wikipedia, 2010, accessed 15/05/10). Intangible asset is one of accounts that should present in the financial statement; this is however, by putting intangible assets in the financial statement, this report would be less informative because they raise the difficulties of estimation of market value and book value which can affect the company’s performance. It can be argued that there are some issues that arise when dealing with internally generated assets. Therefore, in this essay the author will discuss possible issues that can arise in intangible asset such as research and development cost, brand valuation and the risk of intangible assets in financial report in relation with market and book value. R&D cost In order to expand intangible asset, companies need to spend more money in research and development (R&D) due to market competition to get more profit. This expense is relatively expensive and continuous until the firms can find a new finding in intangible asset that can improve company’s performance. This statement is strengthened by Canibano, Garcia-Ayuso, & Sanchez (2000, pp.108-109) argument which states that between R&D and future economic benefit had not been confirmed thoroughly because there were no confirmation that can be found in relation with expanding research and development a new product can lead future improvement in the company’s performance. Changes in the R&D can cause a divergences between profit each year and also enlarge the difference between cash flow that is actually generated by firms and profit that is stated in financial statement because a new product of the research is about to be commenced and generated revenue later (Wrigley, 2008, p.258) . Furthermore, in determining research and development cost, this activity will lead to greater amount of expense in balance because when any spending for research incurred, it will be recorded as expense and it will affect company’s performance which can be a huge disadvantages for companies. If there are more expense that company generates as a result of research and development in one accounting period, it will decrease value of profit which lead to a negative expectation to investors because the investors will start to doubt with the company’s  performance if they see more expenses than profit during the year. An example arises from Sigma Pharmaceuticals Limited (SIP) that was developing a new product that have a purpose to measure carbon gas emission in order safe the environment (Sigma Pharmaceuticals Limited 2009, p.5). Based on SIP summary of complex accounting policy, R&D cost would be capitalised if the research bring a future economic benefit or can be sold to other parties (Sigma Pharmaceuticals Limited 2009, p. 54). This means that SIP would spend a lot of money to make this research success and able to generate profit but it is more expense would be generated during this research that has possibility to reduce the profit in that year. Another significant example is from Rolls-Royce Company, â€Å"in 1960’s because of R&D expenditures Rolls-Royce Company couldn’t make profit† (Yardimcioglu 2008, p.91). This explanation can be conclude that even companies increase their research and development to find a new intangible asset such as patents that have expectation to bring more profit to the particular corporation, the firms still do not have control to this expectation because of uncertainty in the future economic benefit. It also gives negative impact to firm’s performance in investing activities because it will affect the investors’ confidence to put their investment in a particular company’s. Brand valuation Brand valuation has appeared as issues that arise from measuring intangible asset in financial report of companies. This is because of the deficient of perceptive and evaluation from accounting standard in measuring brand in a firm that mostly lead to uncertainties between goodwill and other intangible assets. Brand can be defined as a unique symbol or trade mark that is used to identify goods and services differently from its competitors (Tollington, 1998, p.180). The problem that occurs from brand as intangible asset is from useful life of it because brand does not have a fixed life which can lead to misjudge of indefinite and definite life of other intangible asset (Seetharaman et al, 2001, p.247). Another problem that arises from brand measurement is the difficulties of prediction in maintaining the value of brands in a period of time, for example, well known brand like Ferrari, Marlboro and Coca Cola mostly have a stable value if compare with forgotten brand that may have less v alue (Seetharaman et al, 2001, p.247). In the most case, it has been debated that the value of brand asset could be measured  appropriately because in order to evaluate brand value, the company will use relief from royalty. However, Royalty rate is not always available and often the rate used is based on the company’s decision rather than reliable source in that particular company. If the royalty rate is too high, it could be destroy the company’s profit that could earn (Sinclair & Keller, 2007, accessed 16/05/10). Risk in financial statement. Intangible asset that takes a place in financial statement would create significant risk in relation with company’s performance. This is because the values of intangible assets have not exhibited in the financial report due to lack of measurement on intangible asset such as trademark, knowledge of employees and development of technology. An example of the risk that is reflecting the difficulties of measuring intangible asset value is from Nokia Corporation. According to the data from Yardimcioglu (2008, p.91), financial position that stated on financial statement in 1999 was US$11 billion of total asset, liabilities were US$5.3 billion and residual cost US$5.7. In 2000, Nokia’s market value was US$190 billion and made US$183 billion differences between book value and market value, and this differences arise because intangible asset that Nokia possessed. This difference should be stated in the financial statement, but after one year Nokia’s market value has decrea sed to US$97 billion and if the difference of market and book value was stated in the financial position, Nokia would lose profit by US$86 billion. Another example of the risk of intangible asset in financial statement is Rolls Royce Company; this company has suffered a loss in 1960’s that lead to serious financial issues because of transference of more sources to R&D process (Yardimcioglu, 2008, p.91). Based on these two examples, measuring intangible asset is quite difficult because â€Å",,, it is impossible to supply the deficiency between book value and market value in consequence of taking the intangible assets into financial statements (Yardimcioglu, 2008, p.91). In conclusion, there are some issues that arise from valuing of intangible asset in a corporation. This issue is including uncertainty of research and development cost that still cannot be ascertained to make future economic benefits, brand valuation because inadequate measurement for this intangible assets and the risk of putting intangible asset in financial report. Companies should do some actions to  solve this problem that might be useful for company’s management or even for investors who are willing to invest their money to the company. First, maximise the use of intellectual property by expanding only small proportion of patents. Second, introduce a new product to the market that will possibly generate an innovation and third, technologies involvement (Hand & Lev, 2003, pp. 511-512). References Canibano, L, Garcia-Ayuso & Sanchez, P 2000, â€Å"Accounting for Intangible: A Literature Review, Journal of Accounting Literature, vol.19, pp.102-130. Hand, J, R, M & Lev, B 2003, Intangible assets: values, measures, and risks, Oxford University Press, London, accessed 14/05/2010, http://books.google.com.au/books?id=RmFLUk7NydQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=intangible+assets&source=bl&ots=1QtSgbhUPK&sig=Nsy8mguyyw6tV8-FUAqpWi6pzVw&hl=en&ei=jNfsS96tM47U7APH_tiMBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CDoQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false Picker, R, Leo, K, Alfredson, K, Pacter, P & Wise, V 2006, Australian Accounting Standards, John Wiley & Sons, Queensland, Austalia, Seetharaman, A, Azlan Bin Mohd Nadzir, Z & Gunalan, S 2001, â€Å"A Conceptual Study on Brand Valuation†, Journal of Product & Brand Management, vol.10, no.4, pp.243-256. Sigma Pharmaceuticals Limited 2009, Annual Report 2008-2009, accessed 14/05/2010, http://sigma.ice4.interactiveinvestor.com.au/Sigma0901/Annual%20Re port/EN/body.aspx?z=1&p=-1&v=2&uid= Sinclair, R & Keller, K, L 2007, â€Å"Determination of Fair Value of Intangible Assets for IFRS Reporting Purposes†, International Valuation Standards Committee (IVSC), pp.1-6, accessed 14/05/2010, http://www.ivsc.org/pubs/comment/intangibleassets/06_keller.pdf Tollington, T 1998, â€Å"Brands: the asset definition and recognition test, Journal of Product & Brand Management, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 180-192. Wikipedia 2010, Intangible Asset, accessed 14/05/2010, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intangible_asset Wrigley, J 2008, â€Å"Discussion of ‘What financial and non-financial information on intangibles is value-relevant? A review of the evidence†, Accounting and Business Research, vol.38, no.3, pp.257-260. Yardimcioglu, M 2008, â€Å"The Risk of Intangible

Emergence of Malls in India

Malls as we understand, is a form of organized retailing. They lend an ideal shopping experience with an amalgamation of product, service and entertainment, all under a common roof. Before going into the details of emergence of malls, let's see how the Indian retail sector has evolved over the years and how the concepts of malls came into being. The era of rural retail industry could be categorized into two formats:  weekly markets  and  village fairs.Primarily, weekly formats catered to the daily necessities of villagers. Village fairs were larger in size with a wide variety of goods sold from food, clothing, cosmetics and small consumer durables. The traditional era saw the emergence of the neighborhood ‘Kirana' store to cater to the convenience of the Indian consumers. The era of government support saw indigenous franchise model of store chains run by Khadi ; Village Industries Commission. The KVIC has a countrywide chain of 7000 plus stores in India.This period also w itnessed the emergence of shopping centers with car parking facility. The modern era has a host of small and large formats with exclusive outlets showcasing a complete range of products. The department stores and shopping malls targeting to provide a complete destination experience for all segments of the society. The hyper and super markets are consistently trying to provide the customer with the 3 Vs (Value, Variety ; Volume).Over the last three years, this sector has witnessed an exorbitant growth due to the establishment of numerous international quality formats to suit the Indian purchase behavior, the improvement in retail processes, the development of retail specific properties and the emergence of both domestic and international organizations has witnessed the emergence of malls. it is not just the north of the country that is seeing a furious construction of malls. Visakhapatnam, a fast-growing city in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, is witnessing a huge demand for sh opping malls.The biggest of them, CMR Shopping Mall, occupies 60,000 square feet over five floors. The throngs of buyers who visit the mall are working class and office employees of the numerous public and private sector outfits that are based in Visakhapatnam. Similarly, Ahmedabad in western India is slowly becoming a magnet for shopping malls. More than half a dozen malls have sprung up in Ahmedabad, known as a fading city of dying textile mills until a few years back. The biggest of them, aptly called Super Mall, occupies a gargantuan 90,000 square feet and has 200 shops in its folds.But the biggest mall-construction activity in India is taking place, as expected, in Mumbai, the country's financial and business capital. In all, 25 malls are under construction, each measuring anything between 90,000 and 600,000 square feet. A hefty Rs. 4 billion (US $87 million) is being pumped into these projects by 20 investors. About a dozen malls are already up and running in the up-market sou th side of the city, as well as the downmarket distant suburbs. Making the job easier for the anchors is a gradual change in the Indian economy from a socialistic to a capitalistic one.This has led to a rise in the numbers of middle-class consumers, their wallets stuffed with more disposable income. According to one estimate, over the past three years, consumer spending has increased at a respectable rate of 12% per annum. Another reason for the ongoing boom in mall activity is the opportunity to retailers for a greater accessibility to real estate at affordable prices. Part of this is due to easier availability of bank and institutional finance. And in places such as Mumbai, the freeing up of much-needed real estate.This has happened with the many closed textile mills in the central part of the city now being allowed to exploit their real estate for other commercial purposes. Investors are attracted by the 14% returns in the malls business, compared to 11% in the office segment and 6% in the residential segment. For the young crowd, malls have become areas in which to â€Å"hang out†, to catch up with friends in stores like Cafe Coffee Day and Barista, each vying to be the Starbucks of India. There's also an entertainment factor, with more and more of the youngsters beginning to see shopping as an enjoyable thing to pass the time.

Reading Art Essay

The four main roles of an artist according to Henry M. Sayre are: Keeping a historical record much of the art that was created in the past and that is considered to be history was created at a time when most of the people in the world were considered to be illiterate, and it was better for the people to get a visual understanding because it was better for them to understand than a worded understanding. Another role is to be able to give form to intangibles when one thinks of the emotions of fear, love, or even adornment these emotions cannot be seen but are felt, an artist’s job is to create works that can make these feelings seen in their work. The next main role of an artist is being able to reveal the hidden, when an artist creates a piece through their own interpretation instead the actual event. Picasso was known for this type of works. The last main role of an artist is showing the world a new way when one is an artist they may see the same exact things as everyone else does, but when it come to them interpreting things the artists inspiration is beyond any other humans. When one is able to see the world through the eyes of any artist, they will be able to see it in a whole new way (Xaxx, 1999-2011). An example of a piece of art that is an explanation of symbolic significance would be Pablo Picasso’s â€Å"Guernica† this piece may not be a picture of the actual events of what happened at the Massacre of Guernica but this is how he portrayed them, or how the artist saw the victims of that massacre. Another example of a piece of art is Sara Atzmon’s â€Å"A Sealed Room at the Center of the World†. Atzmon was a Holocaust survivor who had seen many of her family members murdered during the Holocaust many of her pieces reflect the pain and horror that she saw during these events (Pelaia, 2011). Bibliography Pelaia, A. (2011). Jaduism. Retrieved from  https://www.dotdash.com/

The Co-operative Bank Brand positioning Project Essay

The Co-operative Bank Brand positioning Project - Essay Example Brand positioning of an organization involves the following steps: 1. Identification of the direct competition of the business (including players offering products or services amongst bigger portfolio of solutions) 2. Understanding of the brand positioning of the competitors in the market. 3. Documentation of the own positioning of the company. 4. Comparison of company’s positioning with its competitors in order to identify the possible areas of differentiation. 5. Development of distinctive differentiated and value based brand positioning concept. 6. Creation of a positioning statement with customer value propositions and messages used for the purpose of communication development throughout the target audience. In order to develop a distinctive place in the operational market, an organization should choose a target market followed by the creation of a differential advantage in their mind. Thus, brand positioning is the medium by means of which the company can convey to its cu stomers that what it desires to achieve for them. It can be said to be an activity of creation of the brand offer in such way that it will occupy a separate value and place in the mind of the target customers. It includes identification and determination of the similarity as well as difference for ascertainment of the correct brand identity and creation of proper brand image. An effective brand positioning helps in directing the marketing strategy by explanation of brand details, distinctiveness of the brand, its similarity and dissimilarity with competitive brands and specific reason for using the brand. It is the base of development or increase of required knowledge or perception of its customers. It is the only feature which distinguishes the products or services of a company from its competitors. Financial condition of Cooperative banks in Europe The financial crisis situation of the countries and financial institutions are not over. The financial condition is far away from its stability and the confidence of the public in the financial institutions is very weak (Groeneveld, 2011). The Cooperative Banking Group has weathered/battered present and previous periods of the financial distress situation relatively well (Acadia, et al., 2010; EACB, 2010; Wyman, 2008). The cooperative banking group has recovered from the financial crisis situation of the period of 2007-2008 in a better pace as compared other shareholders value or the listed banks. The financial crisis leaded to the critical assessment of the business principles, models and rules in the banks. The top priority is given to safeguard of the stability in the global financial system. A major effort was given on the restoration of confidence of the customers on the financial sector. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has announced high capital and liquidity requirements for the financial systems and banks as the preventive measures for reducing the financial crises to some extent (Basel Committe e on Banking Supervision, 2010). This regulatory reform will result in the shift of the funding structure from the short term and volatile sources to long term and stable sources like capital and other deposits (Kodres and Narain, 2010). This financial crises situation has resulted in the increased awareness of the investors related to the capital endowments of the banks. Thus, it is likely that the market participants will request for additional buffers above

The importance of derived demand in B2B marketing Essay

The importance of derived demand in B2B marketing - Essay Example In terms of technology, the company has established the need of aligning the company with emerging technologies. Additionally, the company considers Loyalty of each client paramount and in doing this, looks for ways how to be loyal to customers. The report explores much on marketing strategies that helps organization to concentrate on the greatest opportunities to increase their earnings and attain a sustainable competitive advantage. Many companies adopt the need of having marketing strategies in running their businesses centered on shopper, consumer and retailer need. Due to stiff competition, the company has taken a lot of time to evaluate opportunities that would enhance success. The purpose of this has been to evaluate companies of the same nature and assemble them to offset the marketing program. The company has established that it is from consumer’s needs that their productivity is informed and achieves a notable growth. Introduction Business to Business popularly known as B2B is a commercial transaction that occurs between two businesses as in the example of a manufacturer and a wholesaler (Block & Block, 2005) . The term was coined with the main purpose being to differentiate between electronic communication that was taking place between businesses and consumers. The term has been used mostly to describe the business transactions that take place between two businesses in an online scenario. Therefore, B2B marketing mostly involves sending and receiving mails plus other activities that take place in the online environment. This report seeks to explore the concept of derived demand and B2B marketing. Objectives The main objectives of this paper are to find out how a company (SolidWorks in this case) that is involved in B2B marketing: 1. Estimates derived demands 2. Evaluates business segmentation opportunities 3. Develops a new channel strategy that is aligned to one business segment About SolidWorks SolidWorks is a software engineering (CAD softw ares) which mostly sold to mechanical engineers (Brennan, 2011). The company engages so much in marketing activities by use of links that lead people to their site where they have advertised their products. Derived Demand and B2B marketing Derived demand in marketing term can be defined as the requirement that comes up as a result of purchasing another product. This mostly occurs in cases where the consumer has bought the product with the main purpose being to use it for purposes of production (Bruhn, 2003). The main reason for this is that the purchase of these products is normally due to desire to have their final products. In the case of the software manufacturing company Solidworks, there are a number of ways in which it determines the derived demand in which it decides to respond. All the demand in B2B chain are as result demands that are made somewhere by the consumer. SolidWorks being a software development company relies on engineers who want to design either bridges, houses or other building designs that the consumer has demanded for (Christopher & Ballantyne, 2002). However, the value chain is still incomplete because the consumer sought the services of the mechanical engineer and the engineer sought the service of a software developer who in turn sought the service of the person who developed the programming language. The position that the company is in the chain of value addition determines the contact that it has with the consumer (Bernadson & Toole, 2007). The