Case Study Analysis Company s Financial Wealth And...

Toghrul Khalafov A4080865 togrul.khalafov@gmail.com Risk Management Report Bluehill Bank Written Coursework Assignment Ratio analysis is the best way of analysing the company’s financial wealth and position. It helps to understand the crucial financial figures of an entity pointing to weak and possibly risky parts of its finance. Using the results of the analysis managers can strengthen the financial position by determining and eliminating possible risks related to credits, operations and market fluctuations. One of the important cases that a company cares about is profitability. Undoubtedly it plays a great role in the overall performance of an entity and define the actions must be made to improve it. Being on of the indicators of profitability net margin indicates how well companies can convert their revenue into profit. According to the chart that shows changes over the period of 2008-2011 for three banks, Bluehill , HSBC and Deutsche, Bluehill Bank has a downward trend of net margin changes,from 36% in 2008 to 28.7% in 2011. Though there was a significant increase in revenues, impairment loses on loans and tax payments were increased enormously as well. That is why the net margin declined over the period but still remained the best among competitors that have only 20%,HSBC, and 12.44%, Deutsche Bank. In addition, the higher this ratio can be the better it will be for the entity. As a solution in this case managers should focus on impairment losses onShow MoreRelatedWhat Is Wealth Disparity?1291 Words   |  6 PagesWhat exactly is wealth disparity? And why does it matter? The website inequality.org is a fascinating website full of statistics on this topic and provides data by analyzing whether policies instituted help, or hurt this problem. 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Arowoshegbe1 Francis Kehinde Emeni2 1 Department of Accounting, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria 2 Department of Accounting, University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria Correspondence: Amos O. Arowoshegbe Ph.D; ACA., Department of Accounting, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria. Tel:Read MoreMarketing Analysis Of Divestitures Of Corporate Asset1520 Words   |  7 Pagesoriginal company (parent company). Unlike other types of divestitures, a spin off doesn’t involve exchange of cash. In other words, there is no cash transaction taking place in spin off. Therefore, a spin-off is not generated by the company s motivation of generating cash flow benefits. Nevertheless, spin-off is not a costless transaction. Since a spin-off is associated with the cost of registration, new share distribution and dividend payment. Both the parent company and spun off company traded separatelyRead MoreWhy Is Positive Accounting Standards?1162 Words   |  5 Pagescompensation plans, book keeping cots, etc. The results concerned with the theory are consistent. 2. Summary of the Article To begin with it is important to understand why Positive accounting theory is incorporated by a Company. Commonly know as PAT, it supports and guides a company to make good prediction of real world events and translate them to accounting transactions. It is adopted by a firm as it helps mangers to have flexibility of choosing accounting policy by recognising the changes in theRead MoreCase Study : Firm s Performance Essay1629 Words   |  7 Pagescertain task. Hofer (1983) defined performance as â€Å"a concept accomplished with the event being studied. In case of the firm’s financial performance, financial performance is the resulting change in financial results of the firm due to the management decisions and the effort done by the management and each member in the organization to implement these decisions†. The vast majority of studies are concerning about the determinants of performance and as an example, Kunkle (1991) articulated that theRead MoreHow to Write Case Analysis5523 Words   |  23 PagesWhat Is Case Study Analysis? A case study presents an account of what happened to a business or industry over a number of years. It chronicles the events that managers had to deal with, such as changes in the competitive environment, and charts the managers response, which usually involved changing the business- or corporate-level strategy. Cases prove valuable in a course for several reasons. First, cases provide you, the student, with experience of organizational problems that you probablyRead MoreThe Inadequacy Of Free Enterprise1480 Words   |  6 Pageslargest 100 companies in the Toronto stock exchange saw their median funded ratios reduced from 108 percent by the end of the year 2000 down to 79 percent in 2005. This is despite the fact that contributions made by sponsors increased dramatically during the same period from 4 million dollars in 2000 to 14 million in 2005. This is based on a study looking at the largest 100 companies on the Toronto stock exchange index as determined by market capitalization (Bonnar, 2008, p. 21). Companies that didRead MoreShould Private Pensions Be Privatized?1469 Words   |  6 Pageslargest 100 companies in the Toronto stock exchange saw their median funded ratios reduced from 108 percent by the end of the year 2000 down to 79 percent in 2005. This is despite the fact that cont ributions made by sponsors increased dramatically during the same period from 4 million dollars in 2000 to 14 million in 2005. This is based on a study looking at the largest 100 companies on the Toronto stock exchange index as determined by market capitalization (Bonnar, 2008, p. 21). Companies that didRead MoreThe Distribution Of Wealth By John R. Commons855 Words   |  4 Pagesreferring to Human Resources, although human capital regularly alludes to a more slender perspective such as economic growth. In like manner, different terms in some cases utilized incorporate labor, ability, work, or basically individuals. John R. Commons utilized the expression human resources in his 1893 book The Distribution of Wealth yet did not promote expand upon it. The expression human resources was along these lines being used amid the 1910s and 1920s just like the idea that specialists could

Focus on Siemens AG Company Free Essays

string(95) " books so that it could make more nefarious payments \(Balzli, Deckstein Schmitt 2007\)\." There is a state of ambivalence over bribery in organizations. Some people regard bribery as a type of pecuniary corruption since it involves the transfer of money or any form of gift aimed at altering the behaviour of the recipient (Dowling 2008). In deed the Black’s law Dictionary defines bribery as a form of crime that involves giving, offering, soliciting for or receiving any item that has value in order to manipulate the actions of a person or official performing a certain duty (Dowling 2008). We will write a custom essay sample on Focus on Siemens AG Company or any similar topic only for you Order Now In this case, what makes bribery bad is the fact that the person receiving the bribe may act in a manner that would be detrimental to other operations in an organizations or related organizations. Such operations may include substandard services in which the bribery is used to protect the parties involved (Dowling 2008). On the other hand, some people view bribery as an act that is part of development ambitions in organizations. For instance, Lemieux (2005) argues that many countries whose underground economies have grown could not be where they are today were it not for bribery. And this seems to be the secret behind many organizations such as Siemens AG, which have to deal with authorities in terms of taxation and other legal requirements. Along this line, Lemieux (2005) opines that it is often not possible, or it is very costly, for a company or an individual to escape the restrictions and other prohibitions that are prerequisites to operation of business. Lemieux (2005) also notes that bribery in organizations is a phenomenon that cannot be easily gotten rid of because it is perfectly impossible to enforce the measures required to maintain a bribery-free business environment. Instead, the stricter measures to stop bribery in many organizations only serve to amplify the phenomenon (Lemieux 2005). Cash bribes are often used as donations to many political parties, and non-cash bribes may also be used to seek support in certain business ventures. Thus, according to Lemieux (2005), there is a common dictum among organizations: bribe them (the authorities) if you want to do peaceful business. Siemens AG was a company of high repute as the largest engineering firm in Europe, but its image was clouded when it ventured into bribery in order to expand its operations (OECD 2005). As discussed in this paper, Siemens AG was involved in massive bribery deals both locally and internationally in a bid to maintain a good image of the corporation as a global leader in engineering (Economist. com). But as further discussed, bribery is not only expensive but also a phenomenon that can tarnish the name of a company given the fines that Siemens AG had to pay and the numerous apologies it had to make ( Economist. com). The company also had to suspend many of its staff who were allegedly involve in the bribery claims, thus slowing down its vigour in the market (Economist. com). This makes bribery a topic that is amenable to further discussion as to whether it is a mechanism to advance the operations of a business or it is a vice that should be abhorred by organizations if they want to be successful. The Siemens AG Bribery Scandals Siemens AG’s slogan â€Å"Be Inspired† of the mid-1990s was perhaps of the most inspiring slogans to have been used by leading organizations in the world (Economist. com). However, the inspiration later turned out to involve murky deals aimed at promoting the company globally. So did the managers of the company lack the inspiration to build the company or they were just inspired to build it using alternative means? Siemens AG’s managers were involved in mischievous ways of funnelling huge sums of money to corrupt leaders of many authorities and politician the world over (OECD 2005). The methods used in the bribery cases were just astounding. According to Economist. com, the company bribed its subjects with a lot of trust and candour that no one could figure out the vice in many business transactions. To facilitate the bribery operations, the company set up three â€Å"cash desks† in its offices from which the bribery operations were performed (OECD 2005). Company employees would bring empty suitcases to the desks, which would be filled with cash in a manner that could raise no suspicion. As a result of such deals, as much as â‚ ¬1 million or $1. 4 million was withdrawn at different times to facilitate securing of contracts for Siemens AG’s telecoms equipment division (OECD 2005). The cash desks for bribery deals operated on honour mechanisms and not many questions were asked about the operations, nor was proof documentation required (Economist. com). In addition, managers who made application for money from the company were allowed to approve their requests without following due procedures (Economist. com). In fact, by the year 1999 Siemens AG was openly claiming tax deductions to cater for bribes, and the dealings were recorded in accounts books as useful expenditure (Economist. com). In the context of the bribery deals, it is worthwhile to note that Siemens AG considered bribery as a business venture aimed at widening its scope of operations. As a matter of fact, Siemens AG spent about $67 million in â€Å"suitcases† between 2001 and 2004 (OECD 2005). Nevertheless, according to OECD (2005), the people involved in the bribery transactions felt confident about what they were doing and knew that there was nothing wrong. The point here is that bribery was considered as a normal activity that required no questioning. The seemingly conducive culture of bribery continued with illicit payments even after Germany had banned bribing of foreign officials in the year 1999 (Balzli, Deckstein Schmitt 2007). Thus, when Siemens AG listed its shares on United States’ New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2001 and it was subjected to stringent American anti-bribery measures, the managers desisted from counting cash in office (Balzli, Deckstein Schmitt 2007). Instead, they turned to the use of cash cheques to perform the same operations. The cheques were deposited in various accounts but the company did not keep records in its own books so that it could make more nefarious payments (Balzli, Deckstein Schmitt 2007). You read "Focus on Siemens AG Company" in category "Papers" In order to disguise the underhand operations, Siemens AG managers outsourced most of its accounts works to â€Å"business consultants† so that no it would not be culpable in any secret operation would be unearthed (Economist. com). In bid to cover their operations further, the managers of the company used more eccentric mean to avoid being found (Balzli, Deckstein Schmitt 2007). When they authorised the bribery payments, they used removable sticky notes, which would be easily destroyed to conceal all evidence of any transaction (Fernando Bellamkonda 2007). The sums of money transferred by the managers of Siemens AG were staggering. According to Balzli, Deckstein and Schmitt (2007), a total of $805 million was handed over by the company to foreign officials in bribes. The money handed out was aimed at ensuring that Siemens won as many contracts as it could in many foreign markets (Economist. com). In other instances, the bribes were meant to woo labour representatives in supervisory areas to support Siemens AG policies when they would obviously need to rejected (Fernando Bellamkonda 2007). Along this line, Fernando and Bellamkonda (2007) note that the German government’s stance on bribery was perhaps a contributing factor in Siemens AG’s underhand operations. This is because many companies understood that the German law and even the law in many other OECD countries permitted bribery and even offered subsidies to companies in order to enhance their operations in spite of the huge sums of money given out in form of bribes. Implications of the bribery cases When the Siemens AG bribe scandals were unearthed between 2006 and 2007, it was dubbed the â€Å"$2 billion bribes-for-business scandal† (Bushan 2008). When the details of scandal spilled out, German authorities raised siemens AG’ s offices in Germany an further investigations were initiated in countries such as the United States, Italy, Greece, and Switzerland where the company hand major investments (Bushan 2008). What followed were court suits, apologies, and a general decline in the company’s performance. The first reaction by the company managers was a fallout in which the CEO, Heinrich von Pierer and head of the company’s supervisory board, known as Klaus Kleinfeld, resigned in spite of the fact that they were not directly implicated (Bushan 2008). On December 15 2008, Siemens AG agreed with its host country Germany and the United States to pay them $1. 34 billion in response to bribe charges (Dowling et al 2008). This ended a two-year inquiry that had been made by the German Government to Siemens AG officials all over the world. In the agreement, Siemens AG paid â‚ ¬395 million to settle to the German Government’s inquiry expenses and a further $800 million as the charges raised by the United States Security Exchange Commission (Dowling et al 2008). In addition, Siemens AG pleaded guilty to flouting the United States anti-bribery laws, which resulted into a penalty of a further $1. 36 billion (Dowling et al 2008). In an attempt to recover the massive losses, Siemens AG sued eleven of its former board executives led by Heinrich von Pierer and Klaus Kleinfeld (Dowling et al 2008). The new management of Siemens said that the action was meant to seek compensation from the former managers for damages that the company incurred as a result of their wanton actions (Dowling et al 2008). Some of the damages that were inflicted on Siemens and which the company would take time to recover from included a fall in the company’s share price by 23 cent to â‚ ¬47. 15 on the Frankfurt stock market. In addition, Siemens’s stock in the market plummeted by 56 per cent in 2008 (Dowling et al 2008). What the Bribery Scandal in Siemens AG means about Bribery in Organizations Given that the law in Germany and other OECD countries was somehow supportive of bribery, the efforts by the German Government to investigate the bribery claims can be considered to have been aimed at dignifying international laws on trade and laws against bribery (Dowling et al 2008). This is particularly true since other countries such as the United States, Greece, Italy and Switzerland were involved. According to Lemieux (2005), countries usually support corporations that have significant influence on the magnitude of their gross national product, as was the case of Siemens in Germany. Here, the fact that the German government provided subsidies to Siemens AG to facilitate its bribery payments cannot be gainsaid and is a clear pointer that even the though the government reacted, its officials had been well aware of the underhand operations. The Siemens AG bribery case also points out the weaknesses in governments when it comes to dealing with giant corporations. It is particularly worthy noting that Europe is still miles behind the United States when dealing with corruption cases particularly bribery (Georgiev 2008). According to a further analysis in Economist. com, Siemens invited group of lawyers from a United States firm called Debevoise Plimpton to represent it with the hope that doing so would make it win sympathisers and have its name cleared from the bribery scandal. Nevertheless, this move made things even worse as the lawyers carried out a private investigation that cost the company a further â‚ ¬204 million. Thus, according to Economist. com, an investigation by German investigators would not have unravelled as much. Although Siemens AG paid many fines, the amount of money cannot equal the damage it did to markets both locally and at the international level. Considering the fact that Siemens AG was used to paying bribes, the fines were just meant to polish the name of the company. Nevertheless, other companies lost several contracts due to Siemens AG’s bribery (Balzli, Deckstein Schmitt 2007). This perhaps is the worst effect of the bribery claims as companies that seemingly would have been more competent than Siemens AG were denied the chance to compete for tenders due to the bribe mask. This shows how unpopular companies are treated unfairly at the expense of pleasing giant companies, which have the ability to finance illegal operations. Siemens AG was able to influence market policies through bribery and this therefore leaves a question of whether the giant organizations of the world actually reach the top through excellent performance or through underhand deals as portrayed by firm. According to Economist. com, the confession by Siemens AG of involvement in bribery was triggered not by the fact that bribery is a vice in the organizational environment. Rather, it was due to the realization that the company was bound to lose a major market in the United States- which was firmly against the deals, as well as other markets in Greece, Italy, and Switzerland. A question that arises therefore is what would have happened had the bribery scandal not been raised in the public limelight. Would Siemens AG have been praised as a company that has roots all over the world and experiencing rapid growth to necessitate government subsidies, or would it have been criticised to have grown based on underhand operations? Probably the answer lies in viewing bribery a vice and not an incentive within organizations, and realizing that fair competition should not involve bribery. Conclusion Bribery in organizations is viewed with different standpoints depending on the effect it has on the respective organizations. For large organizations such as Siemens AG, bribery is seen as a mechanism to augment expansion since restrictions such as laws are avoided. Nevertheless, the adverse effects of bribery include massive fines against the organizations involved and a significant corporate damage as was realized in the case of Siemens AG. References Balzli, B, Deckstein, D Schmitt J 2007, New Report Details Far-Reaching Corruption, Spiegel Online International, Available from http://www. spiegel. de/international/0,1518,462954,00. html (16 March 2009) Bhushan, A 2008, Bribes-for-Business: Siemens AG Sues 11 former management board executives, CEOWORLD Magazine, Available from http://ceoworld. biz/ceo/2008/07/31/bribes-for-business-siemens-ag-sues-11-former-management-board-executives/ (16 March 2009) Dowling, P; Welch, D E ; Festing, M Engle A D 2008, International human resource management: managing people in a multinational context, Cengage Learning EMEA, New York Economist. com, 17 Dec 2008, The stench of bribery at Siemens signals a wider rot in Europe, Available from http://www. economist. com/business/displaystory. cfm? story_id=12800474 (16 March 2009) Fernando, R Bellamkonda, B 2007, The Bribery Scandal at Siemens AG, Available from http://www. caseplace. org/d. asp? d=375 (16 March 2009) Georgiev, P K 2008, Corruptive patterns of patronage in SE Europe, VS Verlag, London Lemieux, P 2006, In defense of bribery, Available from http://mises. org/story/1884 (16 March 2009) OECD 2005, Fighting corruption and promoting integrity in public procurement, OECD Publishing, London How to cite Focus on Siemens AG Company, Papers

Social Attitudes And The American Revolution free essay sample

A revolution is simply described as people overthrowing the government and replacing it with another, in the most common research source- Wikipedia. The American Revolution is by far, the most important historical event of the American history and a beginning of country of the United States. What caused American colonists to overthrow the differences of social classes and the need to break away from the English government and radical dictatorship, and the start of the revolution? There were thousands of books, journals, writings and articles done on this particular topic, where many seem to prioritize different events, where their perspectives and interpretations differ. Furthermore, there are many answers to this question, many writing focus on the intolerable acts put on the colonies as high taxes during tough times, a struggle for freedom during the times of tightening English control over the colonies, etc. There are always two stories to the same dilemma, and English social opinions and attitudes dramatically differed in comparison to the American towards the topic of the causes and beginnings of American Revolution. Nothing gives a better picture of public opinion better than daily newspaper articles, which lead me to Frank Hinkhouse’s book, â€Å"The preliminaries of the American Revolution as seen in English Press†. With comparison Richard Morris’, â€Å"The American Revolution: a short story† it is easy to notice the differences of perspectives on events of the eighteenth century. A good place to start this debate would be the reason of the settlement of the colonists in America itself, which basically was a starve for freedom. Freedom was, what couldn’t be commemorated in England, since it was fully controlled by the monarchy, which was further controlled by Catholicism; causing any other religion to be not only discriminated against, but eventually leading to an absolute conquer of it. By moving to America the colonists were assured the freedom of religion in a big part, but most importantly from England itself. Social class differences have been on the extreme rise since the earliest times of the American Colonies. In order to become wealthy people needed one- money. The plantation owners became richer and richer with the rising success of export industry, especially tobacco. Life in America was not considered the spare time for the lower-class settlers, causing tremendous amounts of deaths from starvation and lack of survival skills and a drastic struggle for existence. However, England found its roots even on the other side of the Atlantic by dictating, and treating the ENGLISH colonies as a simple expansion and growth of England itself. The strict control didn’t make it any easier; English taxes, laws and regulations put on the American colonies seemed like a desire to finish any sense of freedom the colonists had left. Overtime, the government became tremendously corrupt, favoring the rich and wealthy and showing no interest in bettering the situation of the poor and the lower class. One of the first signs of England pushing it too far was the Stamp Act of 1765, which required a notary stamp on every legal document, which of course was heavily taxed. The Stamp Act was particularly discriminating the colonies, because only the colonies were forced to require it; using them to pay England’s debt after the Seven-Year war. The fact that the colonies were not allowed to have any representative in the parliament, to be able to actually vote against the taxes, put them in a position with no options, which only heated people’s attitudes toward the English government. Then, there was the Townsend Act of 1767, which put new taxes on the most popular imported goods as sugar or tea, at the same time rising prices of those goods and putting pressure on local merchants. This was the act that truly convinced the upper class and local elites, and made them view the new acts as attempts to really hurt the American colonies as a whole not only the lower class. The demonstrations started to attract all social classes within the colonies, of which one of the most heard of was the Boston Tea Party of 1773, in which the colonists boarded the ship of the British East India Company and threw imported tea overboard. It was the sign of opposition to the Tea Act passed through parliament, which excused the British company from taxes on exported goods. The English Parliament didn’t hesitate and passed the Boston Port Act, which closed off the Boston Port until the loss from the Boston Tea Party was fully repaid. The Boston Port was one of the pain roots of American export and practically closed off the export- leaving people with produced goods and no income. The Boston tea Party and the anger towards the Boston Port Act was a step toward the open rebellion against the ridiculous British laws, an inspiration towards uniting the colonies and at the same time a first sign of the approaching revolution. Another demonstration that is definitely worth mentioning was the Boston Massacre of 770, where English militia opened fire on a group of drunken colonists demonstrated in front of the custom house, killing five colonists. â€Å"They marched through the town with all the insight of triumph and (†¦) the appearance of hostility† (Morris, 107). Morris describes how over time the perception of the English army started to shift, from the assurance of security to a threat. Nevertheless, England knew that the lack of discipline and control over the settlement on the other side of Atlantic could turn into a revolution and knew how important the internal control was. The massacre was not much of a massacre itself, but has a more symbolic meaning. The Boston Massacre became the turning point, in which the colonists finally noticed what England is capable of doing in order to keep control over those territories. The colonies noticed the enemy in the English army, after opening the fire on them – the Englishman. â€Å"The cause of the late war was wholly an American one, the expenses attending which has loaded the government with an immense increase of debt† (Hinkhouse, 52). The following quote appeared in Britain’s newspapers before passing of the Stamp Act through parliament. According to the politicians it was the colonies that through the necessity of the war caused England’s debt, and it was the colonies that were obligated to repay it. The colonies as well as their economy was somewhat developing, but not to the point where the colonists could afford additional taxes. It is and definitely was obvious that the colonies are not going to be able to repay the whole debt themselves. Promoting the colonists’ blame and their obligation of repayment was caused by parliament’s bureaucracy and expanding corruption, and in order to pass the laws the administration needed people’s approval, in order to get the approval it needed one- propaganda. Hinkhouse admitted the occurrence of propaganda, its influence of people’s thinking and judgment and of course monarchy’s benefit. The Boston Massacre, for example was represented through â€Å"accounts giving the soldier’s version† and Public Advertiser- English gazette even added false statements of colonists starting the â€Å"massacre† by killing one of the captain to exaggerate the story. It only heated up the public opinion, where English â€Å"became more pronounced in their expressions of friendliness toward their brothers beyond the Atlantic† (Hinkhouse, 159). The Boston Massacre also caused the Bostonians being viewed as the leaders of the American oppression and were described as â€Å"the most turbulent of any on the continent† (Hinkhouse, 159). Seeing it through the colonist’s eyes, the events of March 5th, 1770 the reconstruction of the events is at least slightly different. The colonists insist that the English army tried to represent them as â€Å"rebellious people†, who were simply punished for what they did. There were other acts that contributed to the rise of the American Revolution in a big way as The Administration of Justice Act, which allowed moving the trials out of the colony even all the way to England, if the administration thought the convict would not get a fair trial. People violating the intolerable acts were most of the time if not supported, then at least understood by the local courts and had a big chance of found not guilty. This act violated the core Englishman right of a judicial hearing by their peers, which also made the colonists doubt their Englishman right and the English government itself. The social opinions caused a great stir on both sides of the Atlantic, but what really amazes me are the differences of the perspectives and views on the same events between both sides. The multiple taxes passed on the American colonies were an answer to a huge debt England got into after the Seven years war, which in the end protected the colonies. They exaggerated the idea of the colonies being solely responsible for the repayment, and it was the major factor that caused the rebellion. The colonies’ eyes saw it in a completely different light- as cruelty and oppression directed specifically toward them.

Team performance management

THE VOICE OF THE COMMON SOLDIER essays

THE VOICE OF THE COMMON SOLDIER essays In contemporary times, much criticism has been placed upon Rudyard Kipling for his support of British Imperialism; George Orwell went so far as to call him the "prophet of British Imperialism during its expansionist phase." To be sure, a considerable portion of Kipling's works were written in celebration and support of Imperial expansion, but it is short-sighted to simply label him as an Imperial propagandist or apologist. Two of his most oft-condemned poems, Recessional and The White Man's Burden, actually were used by both sides of the colonial issue at the time.1 A reading of Recessional, taken in the context of the prevailing attitudes of the time, seems to indicate that it is a piece about hubris rather than a promotion of the Empire. And the "burden" that Kipling writes on, while patronizing, was indeed a genuine burden.2 The fact that the British Empire went far in alleviating famine and disease in the conquered territories should not be ignored. It is beyond a doubt, however, that Kipling was convinced of Britain's superiority in the world. In For All We Have and Are, for instance, the reader is convinced with the last two lines, "What stands if Freedom fall?/Who dies if England live?" Kipling was not by far the most vociferous of the jingoists; having been somewhat of an outsider all for his life, he showed great sympathy for those whose lives were wasted in the expansion of the empire, and criticized the Imperial machinery that used them. His poetry as told by the common British soldiers show his ability maintain his status as poet laureate of the Empire while telling the stories of its victims, and at times, condemning it for the way it treated those soldiers. Kipling published Barrack-Room Ballads in 1890, and it immediately gained him great success in England. A collection of poems written in the voice of a London cockney, they display Kipling's remarkable breadth of understanding of soldiers and soldiering during the Vi...

General Electric Company Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

General Electric Company - Research Paper Example In addition the modern management of the company has helped the business to diversify into other key areas citing opportunities thereby hinting on both growth and profitability through aiming at cost reduction ventures (GE, 2012). . Mission and Motto of the Company The mission and motto of General Electric is targeted at transforming the imaginative and potentially innovative ideas to help in the production of such products and services that would help in providing effective solutions to potential business problems merging both in the current and future era of the business happening in different countries round the globe (Cohen and Cohen, 2006, p.5). Significantly the company has also designed its tagline or slogan as â€Å"Imagination at Work† thereby reflecting on the large amount of innovative actions taken in the workplace to help in the production of effective new products aiming at meeting the needs of the consumer in a sustained fashion. The company making its activitie s based on the motto or slogan stated aims at creating difference of actions and thoughts while operating in the global landscape (GE-a, 2012). Attitude and Job Performance Issues of the People in General Electric The people absorbed as employees in General Electric are required to have attitudes that would help in fostering innovation and focusing on new types of business opportunities. Thereby the people are required to grow with the company harnessing the knowledge and technological resources in order to develop their individual capacity and potential. Further the concern also regards its employees to work in a culture based on integrity, trust and accountability both towards the concern and to the society at large (GE-b, 2012). In a recent issue in regards to job performance levels of the people in General Electric Company during the times of CEO, Jack Welch is that the former CEO advised the human resource managers of the firm to remove the employees from the company who would fall in the bottom 10 percent of the performance appraisal rating pyramid. Here, thus a forced distribution system in regards to the performance appraisal functions was carried out wherein the employees would be rated in regards to three categories like the upper crux of 20 percent, middle layer of 70 percent and the bottom layer of 10 percent. The final bottom layer was required by the company management to be devoid of any incentives or bonuses and finally removed from the company (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart and Wright, 2006, p.282). Current Personnel Issues in General Electric In regards to current personal issues disturbing the work atmosphere of General Electric it is found that in New York the company management arrived at a confrontation with union workers pertaining to United Electricals. The issues ranged from not rendering effective sick leaves and benefits to the employees in addition to making the retirees get devoid of pension schemes and other medical care facilities. It is stated that a large number of workers joined the protests in New York City during 2011 protesting against the company’s policies in regards to sick leave that is reported not being employee friendly and stagnant for decades. The people protested that each year they work to render significant contributions to render both productivity and profitability to the firm. However in that the company takes

Law and economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Law and economics - Essay Example More over, Black and Decker in their argument demonstrated that Byrne fully participated in the prosecution, comprising the addition that limitation into the claim and as such his claim was deemed to fail. While responding to this motion, Byrne filed an affidavit discussing the scope of the quoted previous art and hence the argument that for patentability limitation is necessary is not valid. Holding that Mr. Byrne was not qualified to provide expert testimony as one of the ordinary skill in the art, the court cleared Black and Decker of any malpractice. By denying Mr. Byrne the chance to proof his possession of ordinary skill in the art, it is inappropriate, and the court abused its discretion by denying the inventor to testify and proof the relation of the scope and content to the invention. Most intellectuals argue that in the absence of property rights over the knowledge embodied in an innovation would spur imitation and competition, thereby minimizing the innovators’ profit. As a result, legal rules have been enacted to address the intellectual property disputes. It is the amalgamation of an increasing pool of patents that should have never been approved, in the first place, with the growth of the patent lawsuit industry that is building up enormous costs for technology corporations of all dimensions and the economy at large. All of those billions of dollars spent in protecting dubious patent lawsuits, and buying up patents that will never be used to produce anything fresh is an appalling waste of money. The patent scheme has been wrecked for a long time, and failure to fix it soon will slow down one of the small number of engines of the economy still purring. Patents, which were initially perceived to protect innovators, are increasingly becoming nothing more than economic and legal weapons, to be cumulated in ranges by non-practicing bodies and used