International Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 11

International Marketing - Essay Example The initial hypotheses all have a flaw in that they attempt to generalize without recognizing the various implications of the specifics of differing businesses. An example of how the differing products will have different results can be seen in the example of attempts by the Czech and CEE automotive production companies when they experienced a collapse. The strategy required that the quality of components be increased while the costs of production be decreased in order to effectively compete in the West. While the strategy worked sufficiently for some of the companies, specifically, it did not work for a truck manufacturer named Tatra (Pavlinek 2008, 232). There are a variety of elements that are pertinent to the success of an export expansion strategy and to suggest that the strategy can be generalized creates a somewhat flawed premise. However, the results of the study disprove the first hypothesis in that the firms using export expansion strategy do not differ in their level of exports. Therefore, the generalization that is made is revealed through analysis of the data to show that the idea of a broad statement about the strategies used by firms does not take into consideration the specific elements of a business that makes their strategizing needs unique. In looking at the second hypothesis, a distinction is made between perceived growth and actual growth, stating that the managers had a perception that they had better than average growth, while their statistical relevancy did not necessarily reveal this to be true. The second hypothesis was also partially rejected because the data did not support its premise. The researchers do not reject the third hypothesis. They find an odd anomaly that top managers of the diversification strategy group perceived that their profitability exports was higher than their domestic sales, while other strategy

Causal story paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Causal story paper - Essay Example This is indeed true for many Latin American nations that have a deficit of foreign capital and are under increasing pressure of going for market driven reforms. Irrespective of the governmental constraints and the increasing opposition of the private sector, a favourable interaction of many variables like the labour backed parties at home and the ties of the local trade unions to the foreign labour and human rights groups has pushed the state governments to opt for pro labour reforms. It is primarily owing to the dependent variable that is the labour backed local parties and the independent variable that are the foreign based labour and human rights groups that the trade unions in Latin America have been able to wrest out favourable reforms. The deregulation of economies and the immense pressure for free market reforms has proved to be very favourable for the trade unions in the Latin American nations that have a history of labour mobilization and organization (Murillo & Schrank 974) . ... Though the labour backed parties in Latin America have been trying hard to break in into new constituencies, yet they could not afford to ignore the traditional support of the independent variables like the organized labour that happen to be a ready source of support and vote. Thereby the local labour backed parties do make it a point to press the governments to opt for pro labour union reforms, because if they fail to do so, they fear losing the support of the organized labour in their constituencies that is historically organized and is capable of shifting alliances if the need be. Argentina happens to be a typical example of a Latin American nation where the governments irrespective of being pro liberalization had to pass pro labour union reforms under pressure from the local labour backed parties (Murillo & Schrank 988). In contrast the Latin American nations which have a tradition of labour repression, the pro labour reforms owe their origins to a different set of variables. The se economies with the enhanced liberalization have become increasingly export dependent and it is the markets like the US where the goods produced by these nations find the customers. Being cost sensitive the governments in these nations are traditionally averse to labour reforms. However, the dependent variables like the labour unions in these nations have wrested reforms by aligning with a different independent variable that are the labour and human rights groups based abroad. These foreign based labour and human rights groups exert a pressure on their governments to push the rogue nations to opt for labour reforms in lieu of getting access to the US

The Role And The Function Of Leadership Management Essay

The Role And The Function Of Leadership Management Essay What makes a leader. What is leadership. What do leaders do. After 100 years of modern studies, these remain cogent questions. Many writers have offered either general or specific answers over the years, but the discussion continues unabated. People have not yet resolved these questions to the satisfaction of most, and the search for acceptable answers continues. Understanding the role and the function of leadership is one of the most important intellectual tasks of this generation, and leading is one of the most needed skills. The reason is simple. Leaders play a major role in helping us shape our life. Leaders define business and its practice. They determine the character of society. They define our teams, groups and communities. They set and administer government policy. In all walks of life, leaders behavior sets the course others follow and determines the measures used to account for group actions. Success in the new millennium, as in the past, will depend on how well leaders understand their roles, the leadership process and their own values and vision as well as those of their groups. Their behavior sets the course others follow and determines the values and other measures used to account for group actions. Understanding leadership is, like all of the important aspects of life, a thing of the mind more than of an objective reality. Traditionally, leadership has been thought of in terms of the heads, or chief officers of organizations, regardless of the tasks or functions they may perform. It is easy to think about leaders and leadership in terms of authority and headship and to talk about leadership as management. Management, as a role for heads of organizations, involves control over others behaviors and actions. For most people a position of leadership centers around the management role, its tasks and techniques-its technology. It conjures up ideas like controlling interpersonal relations, making decisions, aligning individual member actions and perceptions with corporate goals, planning, budgeting and directing the effort of the several followers engaged in the work with us. The manager role involves insuring that group activity is timed, controlled and predictable. The idea of business management is pervasive and powerful in society. It defines those human attributes which are thought appropriate to success in the formal corporation, like competition, ambition and financial astuteness. The Western myth of managerial man is one of the dominant myths of our age. The central feature of this concept is the idea of management. Since the early days of the twentieth century until today, management has been given prominence over other, some arguably more important, human activities related to emotional needs, wider family relationships and social or intellectual aspirations. For many people, management has become the metaphor of the twentieth and twenty first century, encompassing work, workers and work cultures. In accordance with www.businessdictionary.com, a leader is a person who holds a dominant or superior position within his or her field, and is able to exercise a high degree of control or influence over others. Eight major traits that differentiate leaders from non-leaders are: responsibility, integrity, ability to make decisions, ability to deal with facts, vision of the big picture, optimism, resilience and excellence. There are two types of leaders: transactional and transformational. Transactional leader approaches followers with an eye to exchanging one thing for another, while transformational recognizes and exploits an existing need or demand of a potential follower and looks for potential motives in followers, seeks to satisfy higher needs, and engages the full person of the follower (Burns, 1972) In order to manage one-on-one communication effectively, a leader has to meet four basic criteria. They are: achievable, inspiring, measurable and shared. Since the result is probably the most important thing in any human activity, it is extremely important for a leader to be achievable. A good leader also has to be inspiring in order to make others achieve. Some people are leaders because of their formal position in an organization or a group, whereas others are leaders because of the way other group members respond to them. These two common forms of leadership are called assigned leadership and emergent leadership. Leadership that is based on occupying a position in an organization is an assigned leadership. Emergent leadership, in its turn, is not assigned by position; rather, it emerges over a period through communication of a leader with his followers. In our contemporary society in order to survive any business has to reshape itself to the needs of constantly changing world. It is not enough to just satisfy consumers needs and wants. In order to withstand severe market competition it has become important to follow consumers ever-changing requirements. Leaders reshape their teams using two ways: episodic and continuous change methods. Each method is used depending on the scale of changes needed and type of the environment a person works in. Also, different exhibition of leadership is needed to perform such changes. Continuous changes take place when a company or a team adapts to the external environment constantly and during a long period of time. Changes appear as endless modifications to working and production processes on micro levels. Working environment constantly evolves, trying to recognize, track and respond to changing market conditions, putting an emphasis on long-run adaptability. This, however, sometimes means organizations or teams inability to remain stable. Leader in this particular case plays a role of a sense maker who redirects changes, however does not play a role of a person who leads the changes in the company. Leadership is revealed through a success of the team in long-run. Episodic changes, on the other hand, are occasional, infrequent and discontinuous changes that dramatically alter the way of doing business inside the company or the team. During a short-run period a group of people strives to adapt to the external environment, being inert and unable to do this using continuous adaptation. Changes take place on macro levels and are usually very distant and global. Leaders are considered as one of the five triggers to such changes. They provide a strong sense of purpose of the change, are passionate, inspire others, making people follow them, and actually make changes happen. Principles of leadership excellence A Focus on Quality The leaders job is to encourage and sustain high-quality products and service to all who have a stake in the groups work. Excellence leadership incorporates ideas that energize and inspire followers to unified action to increase and maintain high-quality services and products. Leaders focus on high-quality performance in all aspects of work. They foster team approaches to task activity that delegate more discretion over the work to the team and to individuals. They set standards of conduct and performance that implement cultural values and behaviors. The leadership model includes encouraging the formation of traditions that foster and inculcate the core-value vision. Often it includes dramatizing the core-value vision in ways that explain and interpret it to organization members. This virtual leadership environment assumes a culture of excellence. Culture includes experience, expectation for the future and values that condition behavior. Without general agreement on acceptable behavior and the values context within which we operate, corporation members are free to follow divergent paths. Coherent, cooperative action is impossible where at least implicit agreement in a common culture is missing. Creating and maintaining a culture conducive to attainment of personal and team excellence goals is, therefore, a hallmark of leadership excellence in any organization. A Focus on Vision The principal mechanism for implementing values and purposes the leader desires is the vision statement. A vision statement is a short, memorable motto or statement that encapsulates the core values of the organization. Creating the statement is a personal task done primarily by the leader. The excellent leader adopts a core-value vision that emphasizes quality improvement values. The impact of vision setting is powerful. It pervades all else the excellent leader does. It is both part of the definition of the excellent leader and the mechanism for integrating context (culture) and technologies. It is the core idea binding the leader and the followers in a common purpose. A Focus on Service Also critical is the need for the leader to address questions of high-quality service in attaining corporate goals. In doing this, leaders act to prepare and then empower followers to be of service. This aspect of the service dimension is similar to the training and education programs managers and leaders have been doing routinely. Excellence leaders see value in helping followers broadly develop their capacity to be of service. They also emphasize high-quality, excellent service levels. The second aspect of the service dimension has to do with the service role of the leader toward followers. The leaders job is not only to encourage and sustain high-quality service by all stakeholders but to provide needed services to all those who have a stake in the groups work. Leaders serve coworkers as their needs arise, so they (the followers) can accomplish their set tasks. Leaders serve followers in ways that energize and inspire them to unified action. The service role casts the leader as a steward in relationships with coworkers. The stewardship role asks the leader to hold in trust the organization, its resources, its people and the common vision of the future. A Focus on Innovation Leaders foster innovation in groups. The leadership model sees the leaders role as transforming the self, followers and the institution to achieve the strategic vision. Leaders see their role as transforming the group. Leaders have a bias for change. They are alert to the expressed and implied needs of customers, employees and clients. They respect both the techniques and the pressures for change. Leaders develop their followers in appropriate ways to enhance them and improve their performance. Leaders love people. They expend large amounts of energy in seeking, developing and expanding the capacities of those around them. Leadership is in the business of making champions. Champions are group members imbued with the leaders vision and capable of moving an idea through all the development phases to full implementation. A Focus on Productivity Improvement Productivity improvement is also a part of the definition of the excellent leader. Leaders take responsibility for improvement in the productive capacity of the group and its members. These leaders have a results-oriented, not activity-oriented, service style. There is an uncompromising commitment to the customer. They inspire others to think, plan and act with the customers need in mind (Fairholm, Real Leadership: How Spiritual Values Give Leadership Meaning, 2011). Productivity, therefore, becomes a function of directed service. Excellence leaders encourage productivity through reward structures contingent upon the demonstration of desired productivity behaviors (Bernard Avolio, 1994). Leaders are focused on reward structures that encourage high-quality work. Leaders provide incentives for stakeholders to change to accommodate the vision values. Rewards in excellent leadership emphasize development of individual capacities and respect for group values, norms, work processes and productivity results. Skills needed for leadership excellence Excellent leadership appears to be an applied capacity. It is action-oriented, and it cannot be learned in classrooms. Of course, some leadership skills are acquired in the normal way through reading, studying and analyzing theoretical propositions and principles. And some leadership capacity is learned through observation of other leaders. But leadership excellence is learned most fully through leadership action. It is a dynamic process. One study of executives in Virginia (Fairholm, Values leadership: toward a new philosophy of leadership, 1991) identified eight categories of skills that seem to define the technology of excellence. They include: Ability to assess the situation Capacity to build on employee strengths Sensitivity to evolving trends Political astuteness Refined sense of timing Capacity to be inspirational Technical (job) competence Ability to focus on a few important things The factors that promote excellence in organizations across the nation include clarity of mission and vision and effective leadership at the top. Leaders select and support service champions (in-house entrepreneurs). They interact closely with both employees and customers. They understand cultures and structures, emphasize process over product and focus on human factors to get a high-quality product. These skills run counter to much of the content of professional business school curricula. These schools teach quantitative analysis and rational decision making as primary technologies. Evidence amassed in leadership excellence suggest otherwise. Unlike management, leadership excellence is more a political process of defining the situation, assessing the strengths of actors, sensing nuances in relationships and acting to focus group resources at the right time. Technical competence in the job to be done is less important than political sensitivity. Preparation for leadership excellence asks embryonic leaders to be political, to be sensitive to the feelings of others and to care about their followers as human beings, not as just cogs in the industrial machine. Leaders who focus too much on traditional managerial goals of tight control will fall short of attainable high-quality performance and can expect failure, even destruction. Quality improvement is a long-term values-change process. There are few quick successes. Attaining high quality requires total employee involvement at all levels in the organization. It is a matter of cultural change to give high priority to quality values and methods. It requires effort by everyone: workers, middle managers and those at the top. Each needs to play a role in changing the culture to value quality and in performing to attain it. Producing high-quality products or services also implies quality-of-work-life factors that are difficult to attain. Leaders need to create a culture that meets the needs of all stakeholders both within and external to the organization. They need to give employees something personally meaningful to commit to before they commit themselves to quality goals or anything else High quality will come only as we move from a situation where workers work because they fear economic deprivation, to a situation where they work because they want to improve themselves and make a difference in the world. It is an empowerment idea.

Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame Essay -- Art

Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame To some, including myself, baseball is the greatest sport that has ever been played. It is a game played by two opposing teams made of multiple players, but only nine players per team play at the same time. To be part of one of the thirty teams that get to play professional baseball, a player has to play the game extremely well (www.baseballhalloffame.com). When a player plays the game better than most have played he gets rewarded, usually with lots of money in a big contract. Then there are those rare players, the 244 elite players of the game that have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Being inducted in the Hall of Fame is the utmost of baseball fame. The players listed are remembered forever. This brings me to my argument. Pete Rose should be allowed induction into the Hall of Fame. Now, most of the baseball critics and brass do not want Pete Rose inducted. They claim that his illegal betting on baseball games should keep him out of the Hall of Fame. Almost all of the "highly questionable" evidence that Commissioner Bart Giamatti held was derived from former friends and associates of Rose. "Up to $30,000 per day", so some of Roses' "close" friends say. These former friends of Rose are Tommy Gioiosa, Donald Stenger, Mike Fry, and Paul Janszen. This evidence is what prompted the banishment from baseball of Pete Rose, which he signed. The evidence was enough for the Commissioner. In 1989, baseball's Commissioner Bart Giammati ...

Financial Statement Analysis of Dutch Lady

I. INTRODUCTION Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad (â€Å"Dutch Lady Malaysia†), a company established in 1963, is currently leading in the business of quality branded dairy in Malaysia. The company, whose holding company is Royal FrieslandCampina–a Dutch multinational corporation, one of the largest milk companies in the world- was the first milk company in Malaysia to be listed on Bursa Malaysia, the local Stock Exchange in 1968.Being the leading producer and seller of quality dairy products and fruit juices for home and export market (such as Infant formula, many types of milks, yoghurt and fruit juice drinks), Dutch Lady Malaysia has a strong consumer following and represented by strong brands (such as Dutch Lady, Frisolac, Completa, Omela, Friso, and Joy). In addition, it was the first company in the world to introduce a growing up milk powder specifically formulated for children from ages one to three (known in Malaysia as Dutch Lady 123 and Dutch Lady 456) and is the largest purchaser of local fresh milk from the Veterinary Services Department.The company receives strong support from its holding company. It also believes in product innovation and commitment to its consumers, which lead it to a constant efforts to improve its processes in order to serve its customers with high quality nutritious products. The company gives prime considerations to Quality Control and Quality Assurance. It has continually received accreditation of ISO 9001 since 1995. In terms of food safety, it applies HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) System to all its plants.Meanwhile, for its Environmental Management System it has in place ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series). The Company’s products are all halal-certified. With factory located in Petaling Jaya that employs 600 Malaysians, Dutch Lady Malaysia made an annual revenues of RM692 million in 2009. Currently, Dutch Lady Malaysia is leading in the market o f key milk categories such as UHT milk, Sterilised milk and Growing-Up milk. II. PERFORMANCE RATIOS II. 1. Liquidity Ratio Liquidity ratio refers to ability of company to meet its short term obligation. There are eight types of liquidity ratio: . | Working Capital Ratio = Current Assets – Current Liabilities| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | = 193,784 – 96,855= 96,929| = 234,244 – 106,261=127,983| = 324,466 – 135,309= 189,157| 2. | Current Ratio = Current AssetsCurrent Liabilities| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | = 193,78496,856=2 :1| = 234,244106,261 =2. 2 :1| = 324,466135,309 =2. 39 :1| 3. | Acid Test Ratio = Quick AssetsCurrent Liabilities| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | = 136,23296,855=1. 4 :1| =161,522106,261 =1. 52 :1| =230,978135,309 =1. 7 :1| 4. | Account Receivable Turnover = Sales on AccountAverage Accounts Receivable| | 2009| 2010| 2011| = 691,847(94,369+122,858)/2=6. 36 times| = 696,625(75,176 + 94,369)/2=8. 22 times| = 810,647(36,714 + 75,176)/2 =14. 56 times| 5. | Invent ory Turnover = Cost of Goods SoldAverage Inventory| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | = 462,510(57,552+74,902)/2= 6. 98 times| = 447,961(72,722+57,552)/2=6. 88 times| = 506,175(93,448+72,722)/2=6. 09 times| 6. | Days Sales Uncollected = Ending Accounts Receivable(Debtor Turnover Ratio) Net Sales| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | =94,369691,847 x 365=49. 7=50 days| =75,176696,625 x 365=39. 3=39 days| =36,714810,647 x 365=16. 5=16 days| 7. Days’ Sales in Inventory = Ending InventoryCost of Goods Sold| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | =57,552462,510 x 365=45 days| =72,722447,961 x 365=59 days| =93,448506,175 x 365=67 days| 8. | Total Assets Turnover = Net SalesAverage Total Assets| | =691,847(280,990+288,570)/2=2. 42 times| =696,625(307,490 +280,990)/2=2. 37 times| =810,647(398,514+307,490)/2=2. 30 times| The increasing amount of working capital shows that Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad is able to continue their operations and it has sufficient cash flow to satisfy both short term debt and upcoming expenses.D utch Lady Milk Industries Berhad experiences an increasing self-support through its growing current assets compared to its current liabilities. The current ratio and quick ratio of Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad is more than ideal ratio. The increasing percentage of both ratios is indicating Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad has the ability to pay its current obligations in time. From account receivable turnover, in 2011 shows that Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad converts 14. 56 times from account receivable into cash. In 2009 and 2010, the sales movement from account to cash is not quite good because above 12 times.However, as we can see from inventory turnover from 2009-2011, indicating that Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad inventory management techniques in 2010 and 2011 are less efficient as compared to that in 2009 because productions selling is less frequently and make the number of inventory increase. The decline in the total of days’ sales uncollected from 2009 to 2011 shows that Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad has an effective accounts payable procedures. It would benefit Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad because they would get cash faster from their customers.The days sales in inventory measures the liquidity of inventory, the operating cycle time for Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad in 2009 is shorter than 2010 and 2011, they only need 45 days, 22 days faster than in the 2011. Technically total asset turnover shows how many times company can generate revenue from every dollar asset that they have, it measures the efficiency of assets in producing sales. In 2009, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad can use their assets efficiently compared to the year 2010 and 2011. II. 2. Solvency Ratio It measures the ability of firm to survive in the long run.There are 4 types of solvency ratio: 1. | Debt Ratio = Total Liabilities Total Assets| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | =101,005280,990x 100=35. 9 %| =110,018307,490x 100= 35. 7 %| =139,360398,514x 100=34. 9 %| 2. | Equity Ratio = Total Equity Total Assets| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | = 179,985280,990=64% | =197,472307,490=64. 2% | =259,154398,514=65% | 3. | Debt to Equity Ratio = Total LiabilitiesTotal Equity| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | =101,005179,985=56. 1%| =110,018197,472=55. 7%| =139,360259,154=53. 7%| 4. | Times Interest Earned = Net Income before Interest Expense and Income ExpenseInterest Expense | | 2009| 2010| 2011| = 82,031 1=82 times| = 89,2210=0 times| = 139,368 919=152 times| Based on the table above, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad has favorable debt ratio. There is a decline of percentage from 35. 9% (2009) to 34. 9% (2011), indicating that they has a good strategy in reducing company’s assets that are contributed by creditors. Equity ratio shows that they have tendency to depend more on the owner for financing. Consequently, it is considered as a good result for the investors as long as the company earns good profits and maintains its performance.Debt to Equity Ratio has decreased from 56. 1% to 53. 7% in 2009 and 2011 respectively, which means that in 2011 for 1 RM of Dutch Company owned by the shareholders, they owe 53. 7 cent to creditors. This is a good indicator that the company is not facing a risky situation as its business does not rely the financing on debt. The investors, therefore, may find the company as a promising firm to invest. II. 3. Profitability Ratio It is used to assess a business’s ability to generate earnings as compared to its expenses and other relevant costs incurred during a specific period of time.There are 4 types of profitability ratios: 1. | Gross Profit Margin = Net Sales – Cost of Sales Net Sales| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | =691,847-462,510691,847= 33%| =710,588-447,961710,588=36%| =810,647-506,175810,647=37%| 2. | Operating Profit Margin = Net Income Net Sales| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | =82,031691,847=12%| =89,221710,588=12. 5%| =139,368810,647=17%| 3. | Return on Total Assets = Net IncomeAverage Total Asse ts| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | =60,400(280,990+288,570)/2=21. 21 %| =63,887(307,490+280,990)/2=21. 71 %| =108,082(398,514+307,490)/2=31. 1%| 4. | Return on Common Stockholders’ Equity = Net Income – Preferred DividendsAverage Common Stockholders’ Equity| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | =60,400-0(179,985+161,585)/2=35. 37 %| =63,887-0(197,472+179,985)/2 =33. 85 %| =63,887-0(197,472+197,472)/2 =32. 35 %| Based on the graph above, we can see the percentage of gross profit margin has been increasing over the last three years. It is a good sign for a company, as it is considered as a sign of healthy and growing company. Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad is able maintain their inflow and outflow.It is able to make a reasonable profit on sales by keeping its overhead costs in control. Operating profit margin ratio increases from 12% (2009) to 17% (2011), showing that Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad has a great management skill and operating efficiency. However, there is a decline i n the percentage of return on total assets from 21. 50% to 20. 78% in 2009 and 2010 respectively. This reveals that year 2010 is less profitable. Return on assets (RoA) declines from 21. 50% to 20. 78% in 2009 and 2010 respectively. This could be an indicator that Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad has spent much assets to do business.If they have to pay a lot in order to maintain these assets, it will decrease the RoA even lower since the maintenance costs will decrease their earnings. In 2011, however, we can see in the table that there is an increase to 27. 12%. This indicates that they required less assets on that year. A high or low RoE needs to be interpreted in the context of a company's debt-equity relationship. The rise percentage of RoE (Return on Equity) above RoA shows that Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad takes a financial leverage. In 2010, by taking on debt, Dutch Lady increased its asset than to the cash that came in.It may be sign that management is using leverage t o increase profits and profit margins. So, debt amplifies RoE in relation to ROA. II. 4. Market Prospect Ratio For Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad, the market prospects can be observed from Earnings per Share, Price-Earnings Ratio and Dividend Yield. 1. | Basic Earnings per Share (EPS) = Net Income – Preferred Dividends Weighted-Average Common Shares Outstanding| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | = 60,400,000-064,000,000= 99. 40 cent | = 63,887,000-064,000,000= 99. 80 cent | = 108,082,000-064,000,000= 168. 90 cent| 2. Diluted Earnings per Share| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | There were no diluted earnings per share for the company| There were no diluted earnings per share for the company| There were no diluted earnings per share for the company| 3. | Price-Earnings Ratio (PE) = Market Price per ShareEarnings per Share| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | = 1162 cent99. 40 cent= 11. 69 times| = 1754 cent99. 80 cent=17. 58 times| = 2340 cent168,90 cent=13. 85 times| 4. | Dividend Yield = Annual Dividends per ShareMarket Price per Share| | 2009| 2010| 2011| | = 65. 63 cent1162 cent=5. 65%| = 72. 50 cent1754 cent=4. 3%| = 72. 50 cent2340 cent=3. 1%| The improvement of basic EPS for Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad from 99. 40 cent in 2009 to 168. 90 cent in 2011 is an indication that the company can generate its share to gain better profit every year. Diluted earnings per share is illustrated the assumption of the worst case scenario, it means if the company announce any dilution it will decrease the equity position in every issuance of additional shares. Diluted earnings per share seen as a bad thing for the shareholders because it will reduce the amount of the basic EPS that belongs to their stock.Thus, no diluted EPS in Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad can be interpreted that there were no reduction of the basic earnings per share for every share issued. For Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad, the PE ratio from 2009 to 2010 is increasing because the market price per share in 2010 is h igher than that in 2009. Market price per share indicates how much the price that market stock is willing to pay or sell for the share. Therefore, when the market price is going up, it means that the stock is quite appreciated, more demand that is willing to buy rather than to sell. Whereas, PE ratio from 2010 to 2011 decreased from 17. 8 times to 13. 85 times because of the firm’s earnings per share rises. In this case, however, the investors who already had share in Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad are recommended to hold their stocks, because the market price tends to rise. For long-term outlook, keeping the shares is still better then selling them. However, PE ratio is not the only information to be considered in carrying out stocks investment. Thus, no diluted EPS in Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad can be interpreted that there were no reduction of the basic earnings per share for every share issued.The dividend yield by Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad is declining from 5. 65% in 2009 to 3. 1% in 2011, because the rise of its market stock price. If the dividend yield increases because the market stock price is fall, it will make investors unhappy. High yields can be a sign of an unsustainably high dividend. Some investors perceives that dividends are important and usually their interest is in receiving a steady return each year. The Dutch Lady stockholders seem to be less concerned with the dividends. For them, the important things are the stock price appreciation and capital gains.III. RECOMMENDATION 1. Improve a long operating cycle ratio. Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad should increase collection efforts on accounts receivable to ensure timely payment from customers, for example are frequent billing or increased collection calls and correspondence. They can decrease unused inventory by putting on sales or selling overstock products to resellers. Negotiate for more favorable payment terms with creditors to give the company more time to pay bills without incurring late payment penalties or additional interest. . Increase the liquidity of inventory Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad should evaluate their sales, because the operating cycle in inventory take longer time than the previous year. If the sales not improving and only in a steady condition, it will increase inventory, and occurs loss for the company, because their product will be expired. To solve this problem, they can expand to the new market/export, increase their sales with promotion and advertisement. Brand awareness is important to encourage customer buy the product.If they success improving the sales, the company not only will generate more profit but also have a less inventory. 3. Manage total asset turnover efficiently. The efficiency of total asset in producing sales decreased from 2009 to 2011. Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad should allocating their resource and update technology to maximize the utilization of asset. Furthermore, they also have the depreciation of current assets, before the book value of their current asset decreasing they can improve human resource/labor competencies to use the asset efficiently. 4. Improving the price earnings ratio.This ratio reflected confidence of the shareholders to buy and keep Dutch Lady stock, and will attract more big investors. If the company can maintain their supply towards the market demand in the stock market, and also maintain the earnings per share by increasing net income, it will increase the price earnings ratio. Because the higher price earnings ratio means the more opportunity for Dutch Lady to grow. This improvement can support point 2 of the recommendations, the more they can keep the big investors happy, the more opportunity Dutch Lady to expand the market. IV. CONCLUSIONSThe increasing amount of working capital shows that Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad is able to continue their operations and it has sufficient cash flow to satisfy both short term debt and upcoming expenses. The company does not seem to face any risk of being unable to meet its current obligation. However, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad has problem in the management of inventory system, the production capacity is exceed than the ability to sell their product. Solvency ratio shows that Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad prefers to finance their business from owner’s equity instead of debt.This is a favorable condition for investors as their investments are not put in risky situation. This is also a favorable for creditors, as the company provides them with a safety and security by its ability to quarantee that it is able to pay off all the loans. Market prospect ratio is used to evaluate market growth of the company because this ratio estimates company’s prospect and risk in earning reinvestment and distribution to the shareholders. Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad can be a good target for big investors as it is able to improve their market share every year.Th e improvement of basic EPS for Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad reveals the company’s ability to generate its shares to gain better profit every year. In terms of performance in profitability, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad has demonstrated good performance in profitability. The company has been able to improve its gross margin over the last three years as shown in graph above. The RoE tells common shareholders how effectively their money is being employed. ——————————————– [ 2 ]. Loth, R. Profitability indicator ratios: return on equity.Retrieved November 16, 2012, from http://www. investopedia. com/university/ratios/profitability-indicator/ratio4. asp#ixzz2CMaaeQwt [ 3 ]. Data obtained from Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad Annual Report 2009, 2010, and 2011. [ 4 ]. Draker, P. P. Financial Ratio Analysis. Retrieved November 11, 2012, from http://educ. jmu. edu/~drakep p/principles/module2/fin_rat. pd [ 5 ]. eHow. What Does the Dividend Yield Tell the Investors. Retrieved November 14, 2012, from http://www. ehow. com/facts_5192566_dividend-yield-tell-investor_. html

Establish the genre and themes of the film Essay

How does the opening sequence of â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† try to capture audience interest and establish the genre and themes of the film? â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† has a very effective opening sequence, the first four minutes set the story of the movie, giving you an idea of what’s to come. â€Å"Romeo & Juliet† is believed to have been written around 1595 by William Shakespeare. The story is about a pair of star-crossed lovers. Two teenagers pursue their love for each other despite the fact that their families have been at odds with each other for decades. It is directed by Baz Lurhman who immediately captures the audience’s attention whilst establishing the film’s genre and themes using different methods. Baz Lurhman uses lighting and colour to capture the audience’s interest. â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† starts with a black background and a Television coming closer to the camera with a newsreader. The black focuses the audience’s attention onto the newsreader and what she’s saying. Colour symbolism plays a key part in this film and is already demonstrated by the newsreader. The reporter wears red perhaps signaling love, danger and passion. Behind the newsreader is a sky blue screen, giving a feeling of coldness. Also Capulet and Montague are associated with red and blue. Colour symbolism is also demonstrated a lot in the opening sequence with grey, white, black, blue and red being the most common colours used. The colours grey, white and black are used in the clips of the newspapers with the black and white perhaps used as a contrast showing good versus evil or opposing sides. The grey can be interpreted as the families merging as white mixing with black makes grey or showing that the battles between the families isn’t as straight forward as it may seem. Another frequently used colour is red, the cross between Romeo and Juliet’s name is red maybe indicating that there is blood shed, tragedy and passion between them. Romeo and Juliet’s names are white on a dark background, which in a way could be emphasizing their innocence in a dark corrupting world. The different family names (Capulet and Montague) are coloured as red and blue. Different lighting techniques are used alternate between day and nighttime adding dramatic effects to the beginning, in the daylight the consequences of the feud can be seen e. g. people fighting, with guns etc. Strobe lighting is used to create the effects of police lights on the family’s faces of Romeo and Juliet, which is extremely effective and realistic reflecting modern day life. The next tactic used by Baz Lurhman to attract the audience’s attention is sound. The sounds helps set the atmosphere especially the music which keeps up with the images displayed on screen, the more dramatic the shots the more dramatic the music. For example when violent pictures are being shown the music becomes louder and faster. The music is exceptionally effective as the change of pace/dynamics in the music engages the audience’s attention. The sounds used are both diagetic and non-diagetic, the voiceover and music is diagetic and the helicopter, newsreader are non-diagetic which adds to the realism of the opening sequence. The voiceover featured in â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† is very realistic, serious and atmospheric. The man reads out a phrase from â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† summing up the story of the film, the extract is portrayed in three ways in the form of dialogue and writing. The repetition of the prologue may be for emphasis, the director would have seen this as an important extract for the audience so portrayed it in different ways as, different things appeal to different people. Another important part of sound is when the imagery of the guns are shown a choir boy sings a high note which could be interpreted as a scream, perhaps subtlety implying the hurt that has been caused by the feud. In the opening scene Baz Lurhman sets a lot of narrative clues and themes by showing different clips. A theme of violence is apparent with a lot of imagery of guns and police. In a way Baz Lurhman may have been trying to reflect modern day American society with guns being a common object on the streets as the film is also set in modern day New York. Another clear theme is religion; the film is Christian based (catholic), this is apparent by the statues of Mary and Jesus placed between the two families, the cross between the name’s of Romeo and Juliet as well as the person shown in the clips wearing a veil. It is noticeable that there is rivalry between the two families, both businesses on the opposite sides of the street and that there is a war/conflict going on not just involving the family indicating that both families have power and authority as they have influenced people to take their sides. Editing is an essential part of the opening sequence to attract the audience’s attention. The director Baz Lurhman edits the opening shots of the movie so the audience are introduced to the plot and characters (apart from Romeo and Juliet) before the film even begins. Jump shots are used at a very fast pace to reflect the speed of events in the play. There are variable scene lengths used to focus the audiences attention e. g. some scenes are long like when introducing characters compared to the shorter scenes when fast clips are shown of violence. Shots are interchanged very quickly e. g. shots of the statues which are then relegated to the background in a way the director is setting themes in context for the audience. Scenes of pure text and visuals are also used to reinforce messages through different perspectives e. g. dialogue, newspaper or action etc. as different people take in information in different ways. In a way it is the directors way of getting people to keep up with what is happening in the film. Baz Lurhman also uses mis-en-scene to help capture the audience’s attention and establish genres and themes of the film. Shots are often straight and centered to emphasise things clearly e. g. the statue of Jesus in closed into but is shown dwarfed by skyscrapers maybe showing a theme of religion versus business. This is a trend throughout the opening scene helping to classify major themes in the film such as police versus crime and Capulets versus Montagues. The use of news and media in the starting scene highlights how big a scale the feud has. The news and media are used to set the scene and to tell the audience what has happened so far in the film. Newspaper headlines are thrown into view of the camera with text from the original play, this may interest people in different ways gaining attention from them. Another tactic used with the media to gain the audience’s attention is right at the start of the film. The newsreader’s voice begins minimalist and muted but getting louder to focus the audience on language. Whenever text is used in the beginning it is always put in it’s own frame to emphasise importance. Frames of later scenes in the film, which are violent and disturbing, are juxtaposed with shots of e. g. a choirboy in a church singing maybe signifying that innocence is evil, corruption and danger. The majority of shots are filmed at night perhaps Baz Lurhman was being symbolic emphasizing darkness. Fireworks are also caught in one frame symbolizing passion, fury and anger in the plot. When the director is introducing the characters, there is one freeze frame for each character all in time with the music to focus the audience’s attention. Introducing each of the characters and unwinding their lives in the opening scene is helpful to gain the audience’s attention and to keep them interested. The audience is given clues to the current family situation e. g. the skyscrapers at opposite ends of the street with the family names written on them- â€Å"Capulet and Montague† hinting at opposing sides. Also when the voice over is talking about â€Å"two foes† the images of the parents come across the screen. It is shown in the newspapers that the two families are the centre of media attention, leading the audience to understand what extraordinary and special lives they must live. It is also interesting the way Romeo and Juliet are portrayed in the newspaper picture, it is the only real time that you see them properly in the opening scene and they are shown as children. This may be a tactic used by Baz Lurhman to emphasise to the audience how innocent and victimized Romeo and Juliet both are. The only other real time you see Romeo in the opening scene is him hiding and shying away from the outside world, again emphasizing him as a victim of his families feud. The parents of Romeo and Juliet when introduced, all seem to be in the middle of the action yet not included perhaps indicating that the feud has got so out of hand not even the Capulets or Montagues can control the situation. When all the characters are introduced they all seem very solemn and not portraying any emotion. But this isn’t the case for Dave Paris. When he is introduced he is happy, well dressed and purposely made different by Baz Lurhman to make him stand out to look like the hero of the film. Mercutio is also made different when introduced, he is a different race from everyone else indicating his uniqueness as he is showing true emotion at the same time. He is shown on a dry, isolated landscape demonstrating his distant from the involvement of the feud taking place in the city. Another key character in the introduction is the police officer; he is shown involved in the middle of the action, but is wearing a uniform signifying authority and discipline. There is also colour symbolism involved in the characters, Romeo’s mother has red hair, which may be an indication of her personality as people with red hair are said to be more passionate and quick tempered. This is also the case with clothing, the father’s of Romeo and Juliet show no emotion and are dressed normally, but with the mother’s of Romeo and Juliet although they show no emotion on their face but it is portrayed through their clothing. The mother’s clothing tends to be more flamboyant and colourful indicating to the audience distress. Baz Lurhman effectively captures the audience’s attention throughout the opening scene using all these different methods. At one point in the opening scene you are shown an aerial view of the city and I feel that this is an essential scene. After the aerial view of the city is shown a violent, busy, intimidating clip of modern street life within the city is shown demonstrating that the city is complex and dangerous. Even though â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† is four hundred years old, it still relates to modern society.