Should Corporate Parents Interfere in the Strategies of Diversified Essay

Should Corporate Parents Interfere in the Strategies of Diversified Groups of Companies - Essay Example Maybe the child company does the same type of product or service as the parent but more than often not. Some corporate strategies involve micro-managing the interests of the subordinate while others believe that letting the child manage its own affairs will result in a profitable win-win for both. So the question remains then, how much control should the parent exercise over the child? Discussion In the perfect corporate parent and child relationship the parent corporation is simply there to guide as it were. As in the physical parent and child relationship, the parent hopes the child will grow and prosper. No parent would ever expect his four year old child to stagnate there and on the same token the company that prospered in1998 to keep the same strategies as then. Times change, peoples’ needs change, and companies should be flexible enough to keep abreast of those changes. If not, the â€Å"cash cow† of 1998 might have turned into the dog of 2012. Therefore, the parent company should train and coach, while helping the child prepare for the future, only intervening when absolutely necessary for both of their continued successes. A good example of a company that failed to envision the future and failed to intervene was the now defunct Packard car company. From the early days of the automobile, the Packard name stood beside Cadillac and Lincoln as the symbol of luxury American cars. Yet the company made a fatal mistake when it acquired Studebaker in 1953, in response to decreased sales because of cutthroat competition by the Big Three. Even though it was financially solvent, Packard executives failed to see how troubled Studebaker actually was. A short five years later the last Packard was made and the Company tried to continue on as its child. By 1966, the entire company was bankrupt. Speaking of car companies, in 2008 General Motors found itself in financial trouble and received a Government loan. As part of its restructuring activities, and under pressure from Congress, the conglomerate agreed to divest itself of three divisions, one of which was Hummer. Although fairly profitable, Hummer was seen as a ball ast company that would eventually be driven out by its gas-guzzling SUV’s. So GM tried to sell the division but the deal fell through and Hummer was retired in 2010. The above were car companies though that owned other car companies. What about when the child’s core business is totally different from the parent’s? Back to GM, they owned appliance giant Frigidaire for sixty years. Yet their meddling in company affairs and trying to adapt the car model to home appliances, as well as foreign competition, caused Frigidaire to lose a whopping forty million dollars in1978. So GM saw them as an underperforming dog and sold the company to White Consolidated Industries in 1979. White likewise interfered with company business in such a manner that research and new product development was retarded for over a decade, almost a fatal blow to the ever volatile appliance business. Fortunately, White was likewise acquired by the Swedish firm Electrolux in the late eighties. Appl ying the European model to Frigidaire and making the brand visible helped them dramatically by the middle 1990’s and although behind industry leader Whirlpool in overall sales revenue, Frigidaire is still around and fairly healthy (Frigidaire). PepsiCo is a good example of a global corporation that leads its subsidiaries properly and makes just enough interference to ensure that profitability is obtained by both parent and child. True, most if not all of the conglomerate’s secondary companies deal with some segment of the food industry

Comparison -contrast essay army vs airforce Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comparison -contrast army vs airforce - Essay Example One of the main differences of course lies in the defence regulations of each branch. It is usually assumed that the air force is the only primary air defence whereas, it is often overlooked that the army also has a large number of defensive aircrafts. The basic difference is that the air force has more aircrafts devoted to research and development wherein new and latest technology is used to make more powerful aircrafts, while the army is always in preparedness and maintains constantly a battle ready fleet of aircrafts. The army when compared to the air force is capable of deploying its own massive air defence if required at anytime. The air force is however focused on maintaining a larger scope and geographically distributed air defence with its fleet, the army on the other hand concentrates on short range and more of emergency support which explains the functional designs of the aircrafts used by them. This reflects why the army uses short range aircrafts as opposed to the long range ones used in the air force, as they are mainly used for the in and out missions which does not require the long distance and high altitude defence strategies. This clearly defines each unit’s role in the defence function and its goals in general. When we take aircraft as the criteria the most general difference is the fact that aircraft focus or specialisation is a part of a very small function of these units when compared to the military as a whole. Stealth aircrafts are more for long range purposes which is why the airforce posses them while the army focuses more on maneuverability which is the main issue when it comes to the capabilities and functions of the aircraft. The airforce which concentrates on airpower therefore focuses on a combination of stealth, maneuverability and super speed with letahl exponents. Thus we can assume that the airforce jets don’t focus on the survivability factor while the the army tends to carry out more

Church Split During Middle Ages Essay Example for Free

Church Split During Middle Ages Essay Ultimately, the cause of the Great Schism of 1054 was a question of who was the highest authority. The underlying reasons why there was a split, however, developed in earliest beginnings of the Church. In those days the Church was never completely unified, and several of the original organizations, such as the Coptic Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, which date from ancient times, still exist as separate entities. By far, the largest body of the Church was the one centered in Rome, which from ancient times was made up of two main groups of people, one speaking Latin and one speaking Greek. Latin was the language of the administrative center in Rome. Greek, however, was the original language of much of the New Testament. The linguistic difference was part of a foundation of a split that developed more, and not always for reasons that had anything to do with religious doctrine. Like the Church, the Roman Empire was divided between Latin and Greek areas, and the common understanding of this is skewed. The date we are accustomed to assign to the fall of the Roman Empire was not actually the date of a sudden destruction of a country. In fact, what happened that year was the abdication of the last emperor of the Roman Empire of the West, with authority being reunited in the hands of the emperor of the Roman Empire of the East. And in theory, the Roman Empire continued with what we call the Byzantine Empire today, but what called itself the Empire of the Roman People at the time. For group of people in the East, who considered themselves the rightful administrators of law and Justice, to admit that they had lost control over the West was difficult enough, but in addition to that, the popes were demanding that they acknowledge the spiritual leadership of Rome, with increasing demands for political leadership as well. When Pope Leo Ill crowned Charlemagne Emperor of the West, in 800, it was not a religious issue, but it was a political issue that made the Greeks very upset. From the Greek perspective, Charlemagne and the Pope were usurping the authority of Empress Irene, who was ruling the empire at the time. When Emperor Michael Ill deposed the Patriarch Ignatius of Constantinople in 858, the Pope, Nicholas l, declared the action illegal and acted on his own authority to return Ignatius to his position. This caused further problems, and this time it was within the Church itself. In 1014, the Pope again tried to exert authority over the ishops of the East, interfering in a change they were making to the to the Nicene Creed. Right or wrong, this created more strain. The time of continual, simmering resentment continued, as the Popes continued to try to get the Greek bishops to accept the supreme authority of Rome, and the Greek bishops always tried to avoid doing this. Finally, in 1054, a group of legates excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople because he would not take an oath to acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope, and he retaliated by excommunicating them. Church Split During Middle Ages By brandyHK

What is budget system in an organisation

What is budget system in an organisation In this high competition market place today, every company need a planning and control tool to act faster to increase competitive advantage. Budget is the tool to plan, monitor and control daily activities to meet organisation goal with effectively and efficiently. The toolkit will help you plan, develop and use budgets effectively in your organisation. If you have a sound understanding of the principles of budgeting, you will be well on the way to sound financial management. If you use this toolkit in conjunction with other toolkits, as indicated, you will increase the capacity of your organisation to manage its finances effectively. You will also increase its ability to survive through foresight and planning. In this assignment is to discuss what is budget system in an organisation, how the organisation uses it as tool to plan and control company expenses and expected revenue. We have chosen to make a case study about the budget process in London Biscuits Sdn Berhad. We will discuss budgeting system in this company and how to improve effectiveness of existing system. London Biscuits Sdn Berhad is a home grown Malaysian company. Main products are corn base snacks and layer cake. London Biscuits product can be found in Malaysia and 65 markets, worldwide. Its main oversea markets are China, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam and Middle East country. As a pioneer in the cake products segment locally, London Biscuits has fine-tuned the process of making cakes with long shelf life, of 8-12 months, without refrigeration. Budget What is budget; according to business dictionary define as estimate of cost, revenue and resources over a specified period, reflecting a managements reading of future financial condition. The CIMA definition of budget is a quantitative statement, for a defined period of time, which may include planned revenues, expenses, asset, liabilities and cash flows (Dyson, 1997). In other words, budgeting is the process of translating financial resources into human purposes (Wildavsky, 1986). Budgeting is also viewed as a process of identifying, gathering, summarising and communicating financial information of an Organizations future activities. Blumentritt (2006) further explained that budgeting processes include a review and study of the prior periods financial results, projections for sales, operating expenses (fixed, variable, and semi-variable) and Financing expenses, examination of proposals for capital expenditures, and means of rolling up and rationalizing figures from different functional departments to ensure they meet company-wide profit expectations. Hence, budget is a statement of financial position that an organisation would like to achieve. A well planned budget can lead company to achieve company goal successfully. It is managerial control tool to plan and control future expenses, profit and resources allocation in a certain period normally in 1 year advance. In order to have a realistic and good budget, there are few factor need to be considered before we draw up: Assign right person to draw up the budget. The person in change need to heavily involve in the entire exercise. Predictive ability is the must. He or she need to clear about organisation activities as well as the possible income and expenditure. Clear channel of communicate, authority and responsibity Objective and procedure or guidelines of budget must be clear can be implemented in the budget. Accounting generated accurate, reliable and timely information Compatibility and understandility of information Support at all levels of the organisation, upper, middle and lower Budgets consider external factors, such as market trends, economic conditions, and the like. allow for changing circumstances History of budget The budget only is used for governmental setting during agriculture ware. In industrial wave, budget had been use in large company as management control tool to plan and control their business. In 1960, budget is recognized as effective way to centralize company operation under top management. When come into information wave, high expectation from customer, competitors not only from own country but is worldwide comparison, decentralise the business is one of solution in order for company can react faster. When business management style change from centralize to decentralise, company need to change budget system to meet company objective. Hence, traditional budgeting like incremental budget be replace to zero base budgeting and other modern budgeting is begin implement to follow company direction. Method of budget also change from top down (centralise) to bottom up budgeting (decentralise). The order new budgeting system like rolling budget, balance score card, activity base budgeting and beyond budgeting are start implement in some company to improve effective and efficiency of organisation. Purpose of budget As planning tool Budgeting plan and allocate fund to achieve company goal. Manager need to formulate business strategies to achieve company goal with arrange resource allocation e.g machinery, fund, staff changes, scheduling production and operating company in advance. Mean that budget use as tool to link company objective with company resource to allow for thinking how to make operations and resource more productive and efficiently. Budget is a plan to provide the overall picture to manager for status of company resource, expected income and expenses. It is a better money management skill by creating structured plan. Thurs, manager can prevent problem before they arise. All financial statements should be written in terms of the budget so that it is easier to be transparent and accountable and to ensure that no money is spent on costs that you have not budgeted for. So manager have not establishes guidelines in the form of a road map to proceed in the right direction. Communication tool Budgeting process is involving every departments in a organisation. Team work is required to completed a budget. In other word, budget as aids coordination between departments to attain efficiency and productivity. Indirectly budgeting process can improves working realationships. It as coordination of top management with media and lower lever at organisation. Delegation tool Improves managerial decision making because emphasis is on future events and associated opportunities Encourages delegation of responsibility and enables managers to focus more on the specifics of their plans and how realistic the plans are, and how such plans Monitor and control Budget is allows management to monitor, control, and direct activities within the company. Manager can compare budget plan with actual result and points out deviations. Investigation and corrective action will be taken. Therefore, management can aware of problem faced by lower levels. action can be taken earlier before result worse. Motivation Employees participate in the budgeting process able to motivating them to perform in line with the company goal. The feeling in involvement in the process able to enhance motivation. Additionally, expected profit or cost reduction planned in the budget may motivate manager to achive. And those meeting budget target, incentive will given as motivational device. The budget planning and control process The budget process used by a company should suit its needs, be consistent with its organisation structure and take into account human resource. The budgetary process establishes goal ad policies, formulate, limits, enumerate resource need, examines specific requirements provide flexibit, incoparates and consider constraints. ( ) Hence, budget process is start from the company goal with determines the overall or strategic goals and strategic of business, which are then translated into specific long term goals, annual budgets, and operation plans. Setting financial goals is the starting point in the budgeting process. Examples: earnings growth, cost minimization, sales, prod volume, return investment and quality. Once short term goal of company had been set, manager need analysing available resources, forecasting profit and expected cost à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. manager can base on history or past experience to estimate cost like capital cost, staffing cost, operation cost and organisation cost. And estimate revenue like usually is generate from sales income. Therefore, sales budget is first budget to be plan then following with cost budget. Those estimate figure will be put in the budget format according to company needed. Finally compare revenue and expense projections. First draf of budget will sudmit to top management to obtain approval. Top manager will evaluate the budget with company objective. If budget is realistic and meet the company goal or target. It will be implemented, distributed and coordinated among different functional department. If budget is rejected, necessary adjustments to the budget, check your calculations once again and resubmit for approval again. The budget is the most important tool you have for monitoring the finances of your organisation, project or department. You use the budget to monitor income and expenditure to see whether or not you are on target; report how you are doing financially to your staff, board and donors;do cash flow projections and make financial decisions.() Comparisons of actual income and expenditure against the budgeted income and expenditure need to be done regularly. Variance report need to be prepare if any. There are 2 variance result: Interpreting the result: Favourable = actual is better than planned then it is a positive variance Adverse= actual is worse than planned then it is a negative variance Investigate and corrective action need to be taken. Budget process in London Biscuit ( LB) London Biscuit top management group will start to plan the next year budget on every year end. That top management group include CEO, COO and head of department. They will have the pre budget meeting to set the next year target or short term objective need to meet by next year. Target and short term objective are link to company goal. For example, LB plans to open new market at USA. So short term objective will be develop new product and survey the USA market. Therefore, company may decide to spend more money to invest at RD and having market survey for USA food market. They will only set the target to organisation, and let staffs collect relevant information will influence next year target. Therefore, method of budget in LB is bottom up budgeting. Finance department is department to lead and compile budget to master budget. Same with common company, budget will start from sales budget. Sales team start with constructing prognoses and environment analysis. They need to include the objective or target had been set by top management. For example they may need to achieve 10% of total sales growth on next year. Sales department at LB is delegate base on area sales. Account dept will help to provide sales history for past few years to predict future sales performance. Statistical analysis will be performed by each area sales managers. Simple calculation Statistical analysis can be averages based on past sales to identify trends that can be extrapolated into the future. This is call incremental budgeting. In this case, top management is set yearly target for sales dept is 10% of inscreasment of total sales. Hence, managers will base on past year record and forecasting 10% increase sales figure. After sales budget be approved by sales director, it will be distribute to related department to continue plan the expenses will be incur to procure estimate sales figure. There are 2 type of main organisation expense; operation cost and administration cost. In LB there are few dept in charge of operation cost: Production, engineering, QA and QC and supply chain departments. Production budget included unit of product need to be produced to meet sales target qty. Example: budgeted sales volume on Jan 2011 is 10,000 carton of pie cake, production manager need to base on this figure to estimate how many direct labour, machinery cost, utilises cost and so on. QA QC need budgeting how many instruments to support production output checking before pass the output to shipment. Common instrument include in the LBs QA QC is pass sticker, scale and manpower needed as well. Supply Chain manager budgeting direct material cost base on budgeted sales target. The required raw materials are computed to meet the production schedule which planned base on the sales target. According to policy of LB, less than 5 % of raw material inventory can be planned. SCM manager is considering the material pricing increase factor during budgeting. Administration cost are non-operational costs and will include things such as marketing, human resources, rents and vehicle costs as well as general administration HR admin manager in LB prepare the indirect labour budgeting. It includes training cost estimation, general overhead, office maintenance cost à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Account manager budgeting the general office cost like IT is one of supported dept in the LB. IT manage handle all the IT intructment. He need to budget those equipment like computer, printer or other related need. After all the departmental budget and sales budget is done, finance dept as accountable to compile these budgets into master budget. Finance controller will compare revenue and expense projections and verify budgeted result in line with the LB short term objective. In case finance controller found that any contingency budgeted result, department manager is request to revise and submit budget again. Else, master budget will submit to CEO and COO for final approval. Once Master budget is approved, it will distribute, communicate and implemented in LB. Each department manager need to explain detail to subordinates and monitor the result from time to time. Budget control in LB Finance department and department managers take important role in controlling parts. Each department managers are assigning as budget committee. Quarterly management meeting will be held in LB for follow up and monitor budgeting purpose. Finance controller need to liaising between the budget committee and managers responsible for budget preparation. Finance controller is core person in the budgeting control as he have to provide training to budget committee, ensure budget dateline is meet and dealing with budget problem. According to finance controller at LB the reason why budget meeting only held quarterly is some department manager like sales manager will be outstation and seldom in the office to join the meeting. But department managers need to submit monthly report every early of the month to finance department. Account department also will provide history of income and expenses to finance department for verify purpose. Master budget in Lb is break into monthly report. They call it as Monthly Budget value report. This report includes all budgeted and actual income and expenses in a month. Comparison of actual and budgeted figure need to be shown in the standard format which fix by finance controller. This shows you, month by month, where you are over-spending, under-spending or on target. For that variance more than RM5000, explanation and variance report needed. This report outline the cause of significant variance, propose remedial action and any other significant matter. An analysing report provided finance controller base on variance report to analysing and foresee what impact for master budgets is. Current financial status Analysis of budget changes Financial position to date In month financial position Trend analysis by month Main cause of variance Estimate end of year position Suggestion action or corrective action In some cases that prove the budgeted figure is unrealistic, budget is request to revise. First month Year-to-date Budget Actual Budget Actual Revenue Sales Cost recovery Interest from investment Total income Expenditure Project 1 Project 2 Directorate Operational costs Organisational costs Staffing costs Total expenditure That department budget with significant deviation will be issue short cause letter and variance report from finance depart. They need to follow the action plan and act accordingly. Audit will be held from time to time from finance dept to ensure they are complying accordingly. Budget system Types of budget Marketing Budget The marketing budget is an estimate of the funds needed for promotion, advertising, and public relations in order to market the product or service. Project Budget The project budget is a prediction of the costs associated with a particular company project. These costs include labor, materials, and other related expenses. The project budget is often broken down into specific tasks, with task budgets assigned to each. Budgets can be classified according to Time, Function, and Flexibility. ACCORDING TO TIME: 1. Long Term Budget 2. Short Term Budget 3. Current Budget 4. Rolling budget ACCORDING TO FUNCTION: 1. Sales Budget 2. Production Budget 3. Cost of Production Budget 4. Purchase Budget 5. Personnel budget 6. R D Budget 7. Capital Expenditure Budget 8. Cash Budget 9. Master Budget ACCORDING TO FLEXIBILITY: 1. Fixed Budget 2. Flexible Budget Cotrolling A budget Budgetary control is defined by CIMA as the establishment of budgets relating the responsibilities of executives to the requirements of a policy, and the continuous comparison of actual with budgeted results, either to secure by individual action the objective of that policy, or to provide a basis for its revision. Budgetary control is a system of controlling costs and resources which includes comparing actual performance with the budgeted performance and subsequently acting upon the actual results to minimise variance and achieve maximum returns. In essence, budgetary control is purported to ensure that the activities carried out are providing the desired results. Monitored using variance analysis Good Writing a budget require target to be set- every1 know what need to achive, concentrates wokers mind on what gas to be done Depart have to communicate Problem can be identifiend before it is too late unacceptable By comparing a bugest wuth the actually happened a bunisess can identify weak area. Useful tools in allocting resoures e.g machinery, employee, makinf staff changes, scheduling prod and operating business Their creation can also be used as a motivational tool. The plan can be used as a means of evaluation and control as well as a resource for information and decision-making. A Bad Inaccurate unrealistic budgets will be ingoned It can restrict business activity which may lose the firm business If budgets are impose upon people there is little incentive for them to stick to target If 1 of dept not focus to B, whole master b will be effected. Lack of training Long lead to plan The signs of budget weaknesses must be spotted so that corrective action may be taken. Such signs include: Managerial goals are off target or unrealistic. There is management indecisiveness. The budget takes too long to prepare. Budget preparers are unfamiliar with the operations being budgeted and do not seek such information. Budget preparers should visit the actual operations firsthand. Budget preparers do not keep current. The budget is prepared using different methods each year. The What and Why of Budgeting / 15 Exhibit 1.3 XYZ Company Divisional Performance Evaluation Net Income Net Sales There is a lack of raw information going into the budgeting process. There is a lack of communication between those involved in budgeting and operating personnel. The budget is formulated without input from those affected by it. This will likely result in budgeting errors. Further, budget preparers do not go into the operations field. Managers do not know how their budget allowances have been assigned or what the components of their charges are. If managers do not understand the information, they will not perform their functions properly. The budget document is excessively long, confusing, or filled with unnecessary information. There may be inadequate narrative data to explain the numbers. Managers are ignoring their budgets because they appear unusable and unrealistic. Managers feel they are not getting anything out of the budget process. Changes are made to the budget too frequently. Significant unfavorable variances are not investigated and corrected. These variances may also not be considered in deriving budgeted figures for next period. Further, a large variance between actual and budgeted figures, either positive or negative, that repeatedly occurs is an indicator of poor budgeting. Perhaps the budgeted figures were unrealistic. Another problem is that after variances are identified, it is too late to correct their causes. Further, variance reporting may be too infrequent. There is a mismatching of products or services. A budget can be disadvantageous because: A budget promotes gamesmanship in that those managers who significantly inflate requests, knowing they will be reduced, are in effect rewarded by getting what they probably really wanted. A budget may reward managers who set modest goals and penalize those who set ambitious goals that are missed. There is judgment and subjectivity in the budgeting process. The What and Why of Budgeting / 19 Managers may consider that budgets redirect their flexibility to adjust to changing conditions. A budget does not consider quality and customer service. Conclusion Activity Duration Future-proof the council 10 days Define the required outcomes and their relationships 15 days Define measures and set bases and targets 20 days Assess risks and allocate rewards at the corporate level 10 days Total 55 days Recommends Understandable and attainable. Flexibility and innovation is needed to allow for unexpected contingencies. Provide more opportunities for staff to join. Sometimes it is necessary to have two different budgets for your organisation. One as the ideal budget that you would like to have and a second one as a minimum budget of the money that is absolutely necessary for your organisation to survive. Often when your draw up the ideal budget, your are not yet sure that your will get all the money your need and a minimum budget will help you to decide which costs can be cut, if your dont manage to raise the necessary funds. A computer should be used to make quick and accurate calculations, keep track of projects instantly, and make proper comparisons. Shortened planning and budgeting cycles.Ć¦Ãƒâ€žÃ¢â‚¬ ¦ Enabled better decision making.Ć¦Ãƒâ€žÃ¢â‚¬ ¦ Reduced total cost of the processes.Ć¦Ãƒâ€žÃ¢â‚¬ ¦ Improved credibility and quality of outputs.Ć¦Ãƒâ€žÃ¢â‚¬ ¦ Planned and relocated budgets based on material events.Ć¦Ãƒâ€žÃ¢â‚¬ ¦ Increased user participation with frequent real-time updates.Ć¦Ãƒâ€žÃ¢â‚¬ ¦ Raised ownership and accountabilityĆ¦Ãƒâ€žÃ¢â‚¬ ¦ Aligned individual, department and business unit plans with company ojb. There are a number of advantages to budgeting and budgetary control:  · Compels management to think about the future, which is probably the most important feature of a budgetary planning and control system. Forces management to look ahead, to set out detailed plans for achieving the targets for each department, operation and (ideally) each manager, to anticipate and give the organisation purpose and direction.  · Promotes coordination and communication.  · Clearly defines areas of responsibility. Requires managers of budget centres to be made responsible for the achievement of budget targets for the operations under their personal control.  · Provides a basis for performance appraisal (variance analysis). A budget is basically a yardstick against which actual performance is measured and assessed. Control is provided by comparisons of actual results against budget plan. Departures from budget can then be investigated and the reasons for the differences can be divided into controllable and non-controllable factors.  · Enables remedial action to be taken as variances emerge.  · Motivates employees by participating in the setting of budgets.  · Improves the allocation of scarce resources.  · Economises management time by using the management by exception principle. Problems in budgeting Whilst budgets may be an essential part of any marketing activity they do have a number of disadvantages, particularly in perception terms.  · Budgets can be seen as pressure devices imposed by management, thus resulting in: a) bad labour relations b) inaccurate record-keeping.  · Departmental conflict arises due to: a) disputes over resource allocation b) departments blaming each other if targets are not attained.  · It is difficult to reconcile personal/individual and corporate goals.  · Waste may arise as managers adopt the view, we had better spend it or we will lose it. This is often coupled with empire building in order to enhance the prestige of a department. Responsibility versus controlling, i.e. some costs are under the influence of more than one person, e.g. power costs.  · Managers may overestimate costs so that they will not be blamed in the future should they overspend. Conclusion 2. Dyson, J. R., 1997. Accounting for Non-Accounting Students. 4th ed. London: Pearson Professional Limited.

A Concussion is No Laughing Matter Essay examples -- Exploratory Essay

A Concussion is No Laughing Matter It’s something we see it in cartoons all the time; one character gets bonked on the head and stars are suddenly floating in the air with the cartoon having a dazed look. However, only seconds later the cartoon is back up and back in action. This may seem funny on the latest saga of Tom and Jerry or Coyote and Roadrunner, but it’s not so funny in real life. Seeing stars, feeling dazed, and losing consciousness may be a type of brain injury called a concussion. A concussion, simply put, is a temporary loss of normal brain function caused by a sudden jolt or blow to the head. Concussions and other types of brain injuries are fairly common. According to the Brain Injury Association of America, â€Å"every 21 seconds, someone in the United States suffers from a brain injury.† Most doctors consider concussions as a mild form of brain injury because they are usually not life threatening (cdc.gov). Even so, the effects of concussions can be serious. Any blow to the head can warrant a concussion. Sport accidents, falls, fights, and car accidents are th... A Concussion is No Laughing Matter Essay examples -- Exploratory Essay A Concussion is No Laughing Matter It’s something we see it in cartoons all the time; one character gets bonked on the head and stars are suddenly floating in the air with the cartoon having a dazed look. However, only seconds later the cartoon is back up and back in action. This may seem funny on the latest saga of Tom and Jerry or Coyote and Roadrunner, but it’s not so funny in real life. Seeing stars, feeling dazed, and losing consciousness may be a type of brain injury called a concussion. A concussion, simply put, is a temporary loss of normal brain function caused by a sudden jolt or blow to the head. Concussions and other types of brain injuries are fairly common. According to the Brain Injury Association of America, â€Å"every 21 seconds, someone in the United States suffers from a brain injury.† Most doctors consider concussions as a mild form of brain injury because they are usually not life threatening (cdc.gov). Even so, the effects of concussions can be serious. Any blow to the head can warrant a concussion. Sport accidents, falls, fights, and car accidents are th...

Comparing Deception, Trickery, and Concealment in Much Ado about Nothin

Deception, Trickery, and Concealment in Much Ado about Nothing and Macbeth      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   William Shakespeare's classic romantic comedy, Much Ado about Nothing and tragic history, Macbeth revolve around the theme of deception, trickery, and concealment. There are portrayals within these two plays that depict deception and trickery as merely harmless and even beneficial. In some cases the characters are thoroughly masked in their lies; for ill or well, they are hiding who they truly are. In other cases, the person they attempt to hide is merely obscured, the masks being only a slight deterrent from their real personalities. Sometimes they are harmless diversions; sometimes they are even beneficial tools to be utilized for one's friends. There are times when the masks have only been used to deceive the wearer, and other times when they serve no effective purpose at all, yet remain.    The double personalities of the characters are revealed, or at least foreshadowed as revelation-to-be, in the masque scene of MAaN. The plays constant theme of deception and trickery are strong notes throughout the festivities, and are frequently used to "unmask" the hidden personalities beneath the exterior.    Beatrice is depicted as a unique and unconventional member of society who is nonetheless thoroughly comfortable in that society. With her close family and friends, she appears to be a very social, friendly character and a witty conversationalist--yet her wit, ironically, is decidedly anti-social. She rejects the societal norms by scorning marriage, encouraging her cousin to become more disobedient, boasting of being "too curst" and positioning herself as a counter-cultural unconcerned with social customs. N... ...ll, Lily B. Shakespeare's Tragic Heroes, Slaves of Passion. Gloucester: Peter Smith Publisher Inc., 1973. Edwards, Terence. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Macbeth. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1977.    Lewalski, B. K. "Love, Appearance and Reality: Much Ado About Something" Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 8 (1968): 235-251.    Rossiter, A.P. "Much Ado About Nothing."   William Shakespeare Comedies & Romances. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.    Shakespeare, William;   Much Ado About Nothing;   Washington Square Press;   New York, NY;   New Folger Edition May 1995    Shakespeare, William.   Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.  Ã‚  Ã‚      Vaughn, Jack A. Shakespeare's Comedies.   New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1980

Hofede in China Essay

School of Business, Saint Marys University, Halifax, Canada Shen Cheng, Business School, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China Abstract Questionnaires were completed by 554 respondents in cities in east-central China and in eastern Canada to compare the levels of Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions in the two countries and to examine the effects of gender and age on these levels. Country differences were found with four of the five dimensions. Differences in the evels of power-distance, masculinity, and individualism were observed across classes of gender and age. Introduction Hofstede’s (1980) dimensions of culture have become the most widely used model for explaining various effects across cultures (Yoo and Donthu, 1998). Stedham and Yamamura (2004) describe culture as stable and enduring but also somewhat changeable due to external forces. Hofstede’s five dimensions include the following. a. Power Distance. The power distance dimension has to do with inequality in a society. In a high power distance environment there would be greater tolerance for, nd expectation of, inequality in prestige, wealth and power. b. Uncertainty Avoidance. Hofstede focuses on uncertainty at the organizational level looking at the use of rules and strategies to reduce exposure to an unsure future. c. Individualism and Collectivism. This dimension has to do with the relationship the individual has with the group and more generally with society. Hofstede points out that the nature of this relationship determines not only how people think about themselves and their immediate group but the â€Å"structure and functioning of many institutions aside from the family’ (p210) . Masculinity and Femininity. There seem to be two elements to this dimension. One deals with the values held and the other with role expectations. Hofstede (1980) notes that in a work setting, males value â€Å"advancement, earnings, training, up-to- dateness† while females value â€Å"friendly atmosphere, position security, physical conditions and manager cooperation† (p281). The second aspect of this dimension culture, sex roles would be differentiated while in a feminine culture sex roles would be more similar. e. Long Term Orientation (L TO). This is a recent addition to the Hofstede model, dded as a new dimension to the model in the second edition (2001). It is based on the philosophy of Confucius and has to do with â€Å"persistence, thrift, personal stability and respect for tradition† (p351). It describes a longer term, higher level view of life. China was not included in the Hofstede’s original study (1980) as the sample for that study was from the offices of IBM and, in the 1970’s, there was none in mainland China. Its scores were not reported in the second edition Hofstede (2001) either. There have, however, been some efforts to study the Chinese using Hofstede’s dimensions. Pheng and Yuquan (2002) studied the Chinese in the Wuhan area of China, comparing construction employees there to those in Singapore. Taking a workplace focus similar to that of Hofstede, they found that, compared to Singaporeans, Chinese had lower levels of power distance and individualism, and higher levels of uncertainty avoidance and masculinity, but their scores are different from those of Hofstede and therefore are of limited use in predicting how the Chinese scores will compare to those of other countries. Culture has been observed to vary within Chinese areas. Huo and Randall (1991), for xample, used the framework to examine the differences among Chinese in Taiwan, Beijing, Hong Kong and Wuhan and found sub cultural differences. Just as there are differences seen in the dimensions between countries, it could be expected that there would be differences expected between groups of individuals within countries. Differences between attitudes and behaviors of males and females are extensively studied and well documented in Western culture. Similarly, individuals have been observed to change in their attitudes and behavior as they age. Variations in Hofstede’s cultural dimensions across age and gender have been tudied by some researchers. Stedham and Yamamura (2004), for example, examined the cultural differences between Americans and Japanese with a focus on sex and age differences. They found no differences due to age and differences between males and females on the power distance dimension in Japan (m>f), individualism (m>f) in both countries. In the current paper, differences in the levels of the four dimensions of Hofstede’s model are examined between Canada and central China. As well, differences in the levels of the five dimensions across age groups and sex category as well as nteraction among these three variables are studied. Hypotheses Main Effects was settled by Chinese several centuries ago and was the target of an influx of several million more Chinese around 1950. It seems likely that the culture of Taiwan would be similar to that of mainland China. As none of Hofstede’s scores were available for China, perhaps those of Taiwan would be useful for the purpose of hypothesis formulation. A large difference on the individualism score is apparent where Taiwan was one of the lowest of all the countries studied while Canada tended to be toward the top of the individualism scale.