Jim Crow Essay

C. Vann Woodward’s book The Strange Career of Jim Crow is a close look at the struggles of the African American community from the time of Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement. The book portrays a scene where the Negroes are now free men after being slaves on the plantations and their adaptation to life as being seen as free yet inferior to the White race and their hundred year struggle of becoming equals in a community where they have always been seen as second class citizens. To really understand the motivation of C. Vann Woodward’s motives of his book, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, one must look at Mr.  Woodward’s life. Comer Vann Woodward was born and raised in Vanndale, AK in Cross County on November 13, 1908. The town was named after his mother’s aristocratic family. He attended Henderson- Brown College in Arkadelphia, AK for two years before transferring to Emory University in Atlanta, GA in 1930, where he graduated. He received his PHD in history at the University of North Carolina and after he took graduate classes at Columbia University where he was introduced and influenced by the Harlem Renaissance. Woodward taught at Johns Hopkins University from 1946-61 and at Yale University from 1961-67. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for Mary Chestnut’s Civil War and won the Bancroft Prize for Origins of the New South*. It was when he was teaching at Johns Hopkins when he wrote the book, The Strange Career of Jim Crow. It was during the court ruling of Brown vs Board of Education in 1954 that Woodward started his lectures, which lead to his book, at the University of Virginia. His audience was more or less surprised about the race relations of the old south during reconstruction; most thought that the two races have always been separated with hatred. Woodward argues that the Jim Crow laws of the 1890s were a new concept of separating the two races. Throughout slavery and during the reconstruction period, the two races were fully integrated working on economics and political problems; the separation of the two races would lead to an insufficient and ineffective plantation. â€Å"The typical dwelling of a slave-owning family was a walled compound shared by both master and slave families. Neither non-slaveholding whites nor free Negroes escaped this ntimacy, for they were ‘sprinkled through most parts of town and surrounded by people of both races’† (14). The same relations remained true during the Reconstruction era when the blacks started to urbanize in the south. Woodward goes on to say that the â€Å"blacks and whites lived side by side, sharing the same premises if not equal facilities and living constantly in each other’s presence† (14). The good relations of the south turned sour when conflicts between the whites over economic troubles heightened in the late 1870s. the determination of the Negro’s ‘place’ took shape gradually under the influence of economic and political conflicts among divided white people- conflicts that were eventually resolved in part at the expense of the Negro† (6). The Negro at the time became the scapegoat for all of America’s economic strife. Many thought it best if they separated themselves from the Negro then all would be better. Hence the Jim Crow laws started to form on the segregation of the two races and then court cases followed in suit, aka Plessy vs Ferguson in 1896 which ruled â€Å"separate but equal†. Ironically the south is known for the most racism but most cities were reluctant in to enforce legal separation of the races. In New Orleans, whites and blacks gathered freely at public events and even many had sexual relations with one another resulting in an influx of mulattos in that area (15-16). Racism did in fact take place in mostly rural areas. â€Å"An excessive squeamishness or fussiness about contact with Negroes was commonly identified as a lower class white attitude, while opposite attitude was popularly identified with ‘the quality’ (50). It was within these rural lower classes that extreme racism was formed involving white supremacy groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. As political parties started to shift in the mid 1880s, more conservative Democrats took the scene and strictly enforced the laws of segregation. The Republicans were the ones in support of more tolerant and equal society. The mentality of if one thing is separate then they all have to be took precedent during this time. With the shift of political parties, the segregation of the blacks from the whites heightened and the individual rights a Negro had were limited. Blacks were discouraged to vote and separation of the two races became almost total with separate modes of transportation to separate drinking fountains. After the Progressive era and the New Deal, integration was a thought in higher education. Colleges started to let Negro students attend white universities because the separation of the races at school was infringing on their fourteenth amendment rights (144). Even though theses students did not attend the university for all four years, it was progress that helped lead up to the 1954 case of Brown vs Board of Education. The school boards argued that â€Å"’Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect on colored children’, for it ‘generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone’† (147). The ruling of integration of public schools was monumental for the blacks at that time. After trying to fight racism and limitations of their individual rights, the blacks could finally be more equal then they had been in the eyes of the law. When Woodward presented his lectures at the University of Virginia, which subsequently led to his book, it was right after the ruling of Brown vs Board of Education. He insisted that his audience would be integrated as well so he spoke to not only students, faculty and dignitary of the university but he also spoke to local blacks and whites of the community. His lectures received mix reviews; some older, more conservative members of the university were shocked and appalled by Woodward’s comments of pro-integration, while others were intrigued. For them, the white Southern professor’s message was a challenge to the assumption that race relations had been immutably fixed over the course of Southern history† (224). Woodward also argued that the south was always changing and something that limited the rights of blacks in the 1890s was to turn around in the 1950s to something better. When The Strange Career of Jim Crow was released nationally, America did not agree with Woodward’s idea that it was time for a change, â€Å"segregation was ore firmly embraced than ever† (225). Whites did not approve of the ruling of the integration of schools so they protested and sometimes rioted when the government tried to integrate some of the schools. States such as Georgia put the confederate flag back on their state flag in defiance of the new laws (225). Blacks protested in comparison. After the arrest of Rosa Parks not wanting to give up her seat to a white man, the Civil Rights Movement launched its campaign of civil and equal liberties lead by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. When this book was originally published in 1955, Rev King called it â€Å"the historical bible of the Civil Rights Movement†. I believe that the main reason behind King’s statement was that the movement was on the front page of every newspaper for over a decade that when the book did come out, Woodward looked at the struggle of the Negro in a historical sense and not putting blame on a specific race, but on certain decisions some legislators made that forced America to head in the direction of segregation. Woodward presented a historical and non threatening story which gave reason to the Civil Rights Movement. The blacks liked it because it showed the persecution they had to endure for so long and the perseverance they maintained throughout that time and the whites bought the book because it helped explain what was going on at that moment in time. No doubt that this book is an important historical document that helped a nation through one if its more difficult times in history.

Daughter Essay

Latasha Echols Professor Jacobs English 1101 20 February 2013 A Mothers Story Have you ever considered how becoming a parent could affect your life? I never knew how much a child could change my life until I became a mother. Growing up I never really knew what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go in life. I liked to party and be rebellious. I felt like nobody cared about me, so I didn’t really care about myself or where my life went. When I turned 19, everything that I ever felt, thought, or did, became a major reconsideration when I gave birth to my beautiful daughter, Dalayshia Briana Harris.During my childhood, I felt like my mother wasn’t there for me, which led me to make a lot of negative decisions in my life. Becoming a mom has made me as my dad would say, â€Å"Wake up and smell the coffee†. The one thing that I’m sure about now that I’ve became a mother, is that, I do have a purpose, and I want to be the best role model I can be to my dau ghter. September 28, 2007 is a date that changed my life forever. Growing up I never really felt like I had a place in this world. My parents got married and had me at a young age. My mom wasn’t quite ready to be a mother, and my dad did the best he could.My parents divorced when I was twelve, and that day is when my world ended and I felt like no one cared about how the outcome of their decisions would affect me. I thought the anger, loneliness, and my battered emotions, was the way my life would be, so I accepted it. As a child, I tried to numb myself from the pain and move forward in my life. My teenage years were quite memorable, but unfortunately not as positive as I wish they could have been. When I turned sixteen, I felt like school was not important. I could never focus and my behavior left me getting into a lot of trouble.I chose to drop out of high school and see what else life had in store for me. I started hanging out with the wrong people, which led me to getting a false identification card that said I was twenty-one. Then I began going to adult clubs with these friends. As I entered the club life, it was like a new world to me. I started drinking and partying on a consistent basis. The club scene became so much a part of me that for the next couple of years of my teenage life, that’s all my life consisted of. I had no goals and no positive outlook on my life.The only thing I became to know and like to do was party and hang out with my friends. When I turned eighteen, little did I know I was in store for some life changing news. When I turned eighteen I officially became an adult. Little did I know that in becoming an actual adult I was about to be hit with the most shocking news ever. One morning I woke up, I just didn’t feel well at all. So the next day I went to the doctor to find out why I was feeling so under the weather. The doctor ran some test as I sat there and patiently waited for the results.Finally the doctor comes in and says, â€Å"Congratulations, you’re pregnant†! I didn’t quite understand, so I asked him to repeat his self once more, so I could make sure I heard right before I went into a complete state of shock. The doctor repeated himself with saying, â€Å"Congratulations, you’re pregnant†! My whole world started spinning. I didn’t know how to take the news. I was scared and confused. I didn’t really know how to take care of myself, better yet bring a child in this world. Before going to the doctor the only thing I had become immune to doing is partying and drinking.Now I had to reconsider my whole life. Being a mom I never really considered that lifestyle before. Now I was faced with a decision that was going to change the rest of my life. I didn’t really know what to do, however, all I knew is that I was pregnant. During my pregnancy I stop drinking, but continued to party. Partying was a path I continued down, because that was all I knew, and the friends I thought I had were the only people who I felt cared about me. I continued to go to the club until I was eight months pregnant. By this time, I was far enough to know that I was having a girl.I had put on enough weight, where being in the clubs became miserable. I just wanted to rest, something I had not done in a long time. As I became further along in my pregnancy, I started to think about what I was going to do and where I was going to be once I had my daughter. When I first became pregnant my mom told me she didn’t want anything to do with me, but as I got closer to my due date she became more accepting. I packed my stuff up and decided to go back home to my mom’s house, where I could be to myself and focus on my future until I delivered. I spent the remainder of my pregnancy at my mom’s house.I had nothing but time to rest and think about the future I was soon to be faced with me and my unborn child. As I thought about my futur e my mind was still everywhere, and uncertain about what I was going to do. I didn’t know how to be a mom or how I was going to take care of a child. My due date was set for September 22, and was getting closer and closer. It was September, 28 2007, and the weather was beautiful and warm. I was set to deliver my daughter on September 22, but my baby was running late, guess she was just not ready to come in the world yet.September 28, I was supposed to go to the hospital and be induced since my baby hadn’t been quite ready to come on the original due date. When I got to the hospital I ended up not getting induced, because I went straight into labor. After twelve hours of labor, the time had come for me to push. After my first three pushes I felt a major release of pressure. When I looked up, there she was, my beautiful baby girl! After spending two days in the hospital, I got to bring my daughter home. From that point I knew my life would change forever.When I looked at my daughter, everything I ever felt missing in my life as far as the love, neglect, and loneliness started to go away. All I knew was that I wanted to love and be the best mom I could be for my daughter. From that moment I brought my daughter home is when I realized that I was somebody in life. I wanted to change, so I could reflect, and be the most positive person that I could be for myself and child. Today in my life, if someone were to ask me if I ever considered being a parent and how it could affect my life, I could honestly say â€Å"Yes†, because now I am a parent and have truly adapted to the word sacrifice.Once I became a mom I wanted to be the best possible role model I could be for my daughter. I knew for me to be a good role model, I had to work on myself to set a good example for my child. Everything that wasn’t important to me when I was a teenager had become goals for me to accomplish as a mother. I went back to school and got my GED, and now I am a col lege student. I no longer go to the clubs or drink. I’ve realized that there is way more to life than what you settle for. Now I can say I am a great role model not only for myself, or my daughter, but for anyone.

Lewins Planned Change Model Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Lewins Planned Change Model - Case Study Example The paper considers the problem identification from the different sides. From the perspective of the initial step, i.e. entry or problem identification, it has been viewed that the morale of the employees in Peppercorn Dining was lowering irrespective of the fact that the organization attempted to largely value the productivity of its staffs. In this regard, the organization was willing to make changes in order to create a better workplace for everyone. In relation to the second step of contracting, the assessment of employees’ thoughts, beliefs and attitudes were conducted. Moreover, the evaluation of the kitchen environment, in which the staffs of Peppercorn Dining prepared attractive stuff for the customers, was performed in the case. With regard to the third step of the Action Research Model, the i.e. diagnosis which concentrates on data gathering and preliminary diagnosis, different operational service areas and administrative information have been gathered. Furthermore, in relation to preliminary diagnosis, the recruitment, as well as the perseverance of a professional management staff who can comply with any sort of challenges that might arise while performing operational functions, was also adopted in the case. With reference to the case of Peppercorn Dining, the OD consultant, i.e. Roger and the management of the restaurant, initiated a data collection process which was focused on accumulating adequate information by means of personal interviews and continuous observations. The management also scrutinized the organizational goals, rules, regulations, and policies among others when obtaining data with the sole intention of identifying the need for change in particular managerial areas. It is in this context the techniques of informal interviews and continuous observations in the natural setting of the workplace provided with the vital scope for obtaining actual data to support the change program. It can also be observed as a time-efficient and co st-effective process. Apart from these advantages, the used techniques also imposed a few significant limitations. For instance, the use of unstructured interviews through informal interactions implied that the findings were much depended on the perceptions of the interviewers, which created discrepancies in data interpretation. Moreover, reassessment of the data gathered and information interpreted was not considered, which further limited the reliability of the process implemented. In this regard, the management and the OD consultant could have used structured survey process to obtain feedback from the participants, i.e. the employees along with the observation method. This would have reduced the influence caused by the perceptions of the interviewers and the observers thereby assisting in the generation of highly reliable information. Furthermore, no specification was made by the management or Roger regarding the sample size of the data collection process.

Organization behaviour Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Organization behaviour - Article Example However, in most of the large corporations, the sales plan is usually developed by the decision-making/higher management. In this case, core responsibility of the manager is to execute and manage the sales plan through motivating the sales team in order to achieve one of the corporation’s objectives. In IBM, I would like to be a role model in order to instigate my team of salespeople and develop a culture of sales reputation keeping in view the client value. I will do following steps to manage and motivate the team to enhance their working tempo in dynamic environment. My main focus will be increasing contract quantity and haste in the business unit. This could be achieved by maintaining proper communication of the sales plan to the team in order to motivate them to enhance their performance and productivity. Three months before my company hired a new manager and he is used to assign the tasks of my responsibilities to one of my colleague; even he has not the same job responsibilities as mine. I am one of the most efficient employees of the company and also got recognitions from the company. But I am not as much proficient on the tasks that are being assigned to me. This eventually affects my efficiency and creating an embarrassing situation for me. After my joining to this company, initially I assigned two very important tasks to Dusan. But unfortunately, he did not respond to those up to the standard and right at that moment I have to reproduce them from my own in order to provision of reports of the tasks to my higher management. Furthermore, I have also given instructions to Dusan to redo the tasks but he was not available at that moment. Due to this situation, he lost my trust on the important and urgent tasks; therefore, I am assigning these tasks to one of his colleague. I would propose five steps strategy to handle the above conflict situation. The first step is an assessment of the conflict regarding what is the conflict at

Business law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 28

Business law - Essay Example McDonald (McDonald 840) suggests that to fulfill fiduciary responsibilities in providing investment advice, one must (a) put the client’s interests first, (b) act in utmost good faith, (c) provide full and fair disclosure of all material facts, (d) not mislead clients, and (e) divulge all conflicts of interest to clients (McDonald 840). This article recommends the film Inside Job as an effective teaching tool for illustrating the ethical issues that surrounded the global financial crisis of 2008 and the subsequent economic downturn (McDonald 840). The study discusses issues such as the revolving door, conflicts of interest, fiduciary duty, executive compensation, and financial regulation. The presentation of each ethical issue comprises suggested questions, background information, and guides to specific sections of the film. An overview of the film is provided as well (McDonald 840). Whether the investment firms that sold CDOs had a fiduciary duty has been the focus of both congressional hearings and legal proceedings. This section of the film focuses largely on the activities of Goldman Sachs and whether its representatives violated the concept of fiduciary duty in selling CDOs to their clients (McDonald 840). In addition to selling CDOs that Goldman Sachs obviously believed were of suspect quality, the firm took positions from which it would clearly benefit given a collapse in the CDO market. Goldman Sachs executives argued that they were simply satisfying the brokerage or market-making function by facilitating the buying of CDOs and did not have a fiduciary responsibility (McDonald 840). . Whereas the film clearly blames Goldman Sachs for failing to protect its clients’ interests, this situation is not trivial. Legendary investor McDonald (McDonald 840) notes that, while a broker has a definite responsibility not to lie, he or she does not owe

Patient with heart failure Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Patient with heart failure - Case Study Example rthopnea are caused insufficient flow of blood so that there is no enough oxygen circulating within the body therefore causing a problem of breathing. The symptom of diaphoretic comes about when the body tries to enable the heart muscles pump enough oxygen in blood through the body and this ends up causing profuse perspiration (Molinari & Compare et al., 2006). The priority problems that the patient has based on the nursing assessment done upon admission include, severe dyspnea, a low heartbeat of 132 beats per minute, diaphoresis and a risky blood pressure of 98/70mmhg because they are potentially fatal (Molinari & Compare et al., 2006). ECG is administered before dose 3 and 4 to boost the electrical activity of the heart and increase muscle performance, start IV treatment is used to prevent nausea, vomiting and correct urinary dysfunctions . Remarkably, the nurse should instruct the patient to avoid food items with sodium salt, quit smoking, drinking alcohol, do regular exercise, and lose weight to avoid accumulation of cholesterol around the myocardium. The nurse should teach the patient that digoxin causes a little nausea and vomiting (Molinari & Compare et al.,

Culture unit 9 Human resources Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Culture unit 9 Human resources - Research Paper Example A health care organization must stay on top of the latest technological advances in the medical industry. New technologies can provide more income opportunities, greater productivity, and better efficiency. Quality and patient safety are two principles that must be followed by all health care organizations. Organizations in this industry that do not emphasize creating a corporate culture in which safety is top priority may face unwanted business risks such as the potential of a lawsuit for medical malpractice. Maintaining high quality standards is important towards the success of any organization. A corporate culture can help managers create a platform in which the quality versus cost debate is considered in the decision making process of the executives of the organization. Choosing quality over cost is a better long term strategy because it can increase the customer retention rate of the company. Hospitals have to make changes to their operations to adapt to the changing health care environment of the 21st century. A way to determine the needs of hospitals is by hiring a consultant to assess the business operations of a hospital. Changes in the coverage of medical plans must be closely monitored by hospitals each month. This can prevent a hospital from admitting a patient under the erroneous assumption that the medical plan will pay for the medical procedure. Another change that hospitals must pay attention too is changes in the compensation for medical professionals. Higher labor costs are forcing hospitals to adjust the fees they charge to its customers. A dysfunctional culture often occurs due to the presence of miscommunication and bad relationships among the employees of a firm (Calvert, 2009). There are different steps that companies can take to change dysfunctional cultures. The first step is to emphasize the importance of communication in the workplace. A firm suffering from a dysfunctional culture can implement a feedback system to gain insight

Knowing Your Audience Paper and Communication Release Essay

Knowing Your Audience Paper and Communication Release - Essay Example The aftermath of the collapse was entrapment of over thirty workers at a depth of three hundred meters deep. This meant inadequate basic needs such as water, food and oxygen, a situation that downed the hearts of their relatives whose hope died after four days with their husbands, fathers and brothers trapped in a mine. New York Times (2011) asserts that there has never been such a scenario where, miners would survive after a long period trapped underground. However, the supply of food that started for two days would subsequently run into weeks after the establishment that the miners were still alive and intact. Additionally, a second collapse of one of the other remaining shafts destabilized the rescue process by making the process even more difficult. The news f this collapse spread throughout the world like a bush fire with many fearing that the miners will not last until their rescue. However, it was astonishment instead of cries when after seventeen days the first contact was ma de to the miners only to find that all the miners were safe and in a good condition. Initially, it had been, communicated to them that it should take the rescue team almost four months to rescue them onto the surface. However, at the fall of 69 days, the first miner of \all the miners who had been trapped were brought to the surface exceeding effectively (Weik, 2010). Given the fact that communication must be designed with a particular audience in mind, and there are a number of considerations to be observed. This is, in addition to, needs of the potential receivers of the information. Therefore, it is noteworthy that the person relaying the information understands the recipient, and use a proper communication, tone and even information message caries. This will enable appropriate delivery of the message, which will ensure that the audience understands, and clear doubts about any confusion (New York Times, 2011). Therefore, the company has to communicate to different people, and the se include the family, other employees and the press. Any wrong word is sure to create panic especially to the family members, and this makes family essentials extremely valuable, and, therefore, taken into grate consideration. There are certain needs of the family that have to be met to ensure their peace of mind. However, it is noteworthy that few companies have appropriate preparations for such situations, and use of addressees to convey the message. This one of the hard times in the Mining Company, for it had a hard time keeping the families of the trapped miners reassured. Ability to maintain the staff tranquil and at peace that the Chilean Copper Mining Company was doing everything to get the miners out, was their top priority. It is noteworthy that the company had an already established way of keeping the families, the local community and the other employees of the trapped miners. During this entire time of rescue efforts, the relatives of the trapped miners should have recei ved some counseling while praying for beneficial outcomes, but also being prepared for the worst. All information obtained by exerts during the process should have been shared at a gathering of family of the trapped miners with grief counseling making the necessity of the sessions of briefs. This means that the family should

13th and 14th century european Scholasticism Research Paper

13th and 14th century european Scholasticism - Research Paper Example There were twenty three universities in Europe during 1300 and by 14th century end twenty two more universities were founded. Training was provided in arts, law, medicine and theology. Legal study was done by a large minority of students (Hilde DeRidder-Symoens, 596) Training was given in canon and civil law to large number of students. Privileges Students were all from other countries and it was the time when Justinian Code of Roman Civil Law was rediscovered. University of Bologna became the most preeminent site for obtaining legal scholarship and the students of this university formed a cooperation called ‘universitas’ the corporation of scholars. The corporation aimed to protect the rights of these students and to obtain recognition officially. Teachers in Paris incorporated themselves and established an organizational model for the university. As large number of people was trained with common text in same subject network formation was also encouraged by these studen ts. Training in law led to formation and development of civil, administrative and merchant laws along with staffing of court. This also led to enforcement of contracts for solving fundamental issues (McAdams, Richard H 509). Subjects Undergraduate programs were provided in seven liberal arts. Training of argumentation and reasoning came under trivium of logic, rhetoric and grammar which helped to know how the truth can be known and how it can be conveyed to others. Music, arithmetic, astronomy and geometry quadrivium explained the natural laws of universe. Neither Roman nor Greek classical literature was part of curriculum. Students were to listen to prescribed works of writers which were read to them by instructors who had masters’ degree in the Faculty of arts. After reading the text it was explained to students by these instructors along with their comments. Difficult issues were solved as debates conducted in University in which both students and faculty participated. Mos t of the students were less than twelve years of age and only a few of them completed six years study for getting enrolled as graduates (Acemoglu, Daron and Simon Johnson 949). Mode of study and life Students of arts during medieval period were like school boys and not like university students of today. He was supposed to listen and remember the lectures given by their masters’ and never compiled research papers or wrote essays that were expository. The students were not using library and most universities didn’t even allowed the students to use libraries. Medicine was not a separate branch of study till middle of 13th century. Later it developed in to a separate branch and the students were to follow verbal commentaries, definition, argument, deference to text of authority etc. There was no observation or clinical experience (James Robinson 579). Those students who were really ambitious wished to obtain higher degrees and for the same remained in universities itself. Usually it was students who were studying for master degree in theology who were used to give lecture to graduate students of arts. It was usual for faculties of medicine, canon law and civil law to prepare graduate students in arts for obtaining professional career. In all these students were to listen to readings of masters from texts prescribed and comments there on (Garca y Garca, Antonio 105). Books were also needed for preparing for disputes. Disputes were public performances were the lecturer used to give a question and present critical answers to it including both negative and positive aspects. These positive and negative aspects were supported by quotes from Bible and Church Fathers. Books were also very costly before printing became popular

The Media Impact on the Arab Revolutions Research Proposal

The Media Impact on the Arab Revolutions - Research Proposal Example Therefore, the media has been a versatile tool in ensuring the success of the revolts; while on the other hand, the same media has been an accomplice in committing large scale atrocities to innocent people in cover up campaigns. A report by an anonymous reporter in BBC (2011) argues that in Bahrain, the dramatic events have occurred as the government tries to ban coverage of demonstrations and other media in pretence that such black coverage would reduce the demonstrations as there would be no information being passed to the public. The government would also use such avenues to crush demonstrators with massive causalities occurring in such cases. The result has been that though the government has banned the coverage, more and more people feel that their independence was threatened and this leads them to the streets to demonstrate against the government. This has also been reported in Syria, Jordan and other Middle East regions. The increasing number of reporters and journalist being killed in the Middle east win a bid to cover up the government brutality has increased the rage and criticism to these regimes globally, a situation that has seen more and more people in the Diaspora supporting the revolution against these regimes (Anonymous, 2011). Silencing the media is observed as silencing the voice of people or their rights to know, and this result to increased demonstrations against the government especially in Bahrain and Syria. In Bahrain however there are massive cover-up of the tortures and shedding the blood of popular majority that dare air their voice on reforms. The lack of convergence of interests in this case as Al-Amin (2011) argues means that since the western countries in most cases have no interests in Bahrain, the atrocities in this country goes unreported and the dismal regime along with an elite that has been robbing the country provide editorials and other cover-ups that do not reflect the truth. On the same note as Al-Amin argues, in Syria d ue to the convergence of interests has also been able to continue with the atrocities against the citizens as nations watch. According to Al –Amin (2011) though Arab Gulf states have no qualified basis to give any lesson related to democracy, freedom and equality, they have been of late trying to hold many meetings in the media, to air their support in this country, as convergence of interests in the country mainly in the Oil industry persist.. This means that the media though used in other revolutions positively, has been used in Bahrain and Syria to cover up the atrocities, offering the regimes the life they need to expound their atrocities and ensure their survival. The case of Libya was however different in that there were more interests from the western countries, a move that saw the western-lead NATO invading the country in pretest of ensuring democracy and freedom for the Libya regime. This we as viewed as convergence of interests among the NATO members as many of them had been robbing

Ampex VTR organization Essay Example for Free

Ampex VTR organization Essay After the second world war, the introduction of televisions opened way for the technological innovation of video recording. In the 1950s, there were major inventions in the video recording industry in the US and Japan. This case study involves the technological advancement in the video cassette recorders (VCRs) manufacturing industries. Six pioneering companies will be considered, namely; RCA and Ampex of USA, Japan Victor Company (JVC) and Sony, Toshiba and Matsushita all of Japan. JVC, Sony and Matsushita had the competitive advantage of management in this industry. They emphasized on opportunities that were more rewarding, productively positioned their technical efforts and executed these efforts in more productively. These companies learnt the market technological demands for videocassette recorders and produced in mass at limited costs. To prove their technological competence, these firms produced equipment with utmost sound clarity and consistently adhered to this. JVC was under pressure to come up with a common standard for its products which led to the advent of VHS system. RCA engineers came up with a video recording machine moving a narrow tape very fast past magnetic heads. At Toshiba, a recording head was made to rotate fast while the tape moved past at relatively slow speed (helical scanner). Despite these efforts, Ampex was the first to come up with a commercial video recorder. This VTR technology was patented but was soon shared out to other companies like RCA. Ampex failed to come up with a manufacturing capability for mass production despite the high performance designs. Ampex engineers opened up the helical scanner technology for broadcast recorder but Sony, JVC and Matsushita overtook them in this technology. RCA suggested the introduction of a television magnetic tape player but this was not considered by the management until later in 1958 in the design of VTR. Sony did not employ the method of market research but instead chose to insist on high technology and innovation. In 1950, Sony introduced the first Japanese magnetic recorder for sound and tape, followed by a TV camera and stereo tape recorder. In 1961, it unveiled the first fully transistorized VTR in the world. Matsushita was a diverse company dealing with a range of electrical appliances. To beat this companys success, the rivals developed cheaper appliances. The diversities in technology led to a need for international standards to govern this. Sony wanting to outdo its foreign rivals collaborated with JVC and Matsushita in the establishment of ? inch tape cassettes. Sony, JVC and Matsushita made strategic management of technology by learning through trials. These companies were persistent and flexible. Ampex and RCA in America lacked consistency in their strategic direction making them fail to sustain technical development. The Japanese companies had stable technical teams which ensured stability in the organization. Top managers were involved in making critical decisions. Ampex VTR organization was however marred with instability (Rosenbloom Cusumano, 1987). The basic VCR technology originated from the US and Europe although the Japanese industries have been successful in the industry. The success attributed to the Japanese industries was achieved by more improvements on the basic technology rather than just copying what the West had to offer. The advent of transistors, semiconductors and microchips greatly boosted the electronic industry in Japan.

Globalization in the 1970s Essay Example for Free

Globalization in the 1970s Essay Globalization is not a new concept as there have been numerous cycles of globalization stretching as far back as the ancient civilizations. The wave of globalization prior to the oil embargo was after the Second World War. Although this period was marked with rapid economic growth, it came to an end in 1973 after the Arab oil embargo that resulted in a rise in oil prices. Financial globalization particularly can be termed as the integration of country’s local financial system with international financial institutions and markets. The main agents of financial globalization are the governments and hence they need to liberalize any restrictions on their domestic financial sector and capital account of the balance of payments if any form of integration is to take place (Schmulker, 2004:5). Dammasch (2010: 4) asserts that the economic environment in times of globalization changes rapidly with capital movements becoming larger and less controllable. Therefore there is usually a need to create a stabilizing system. The situation after the Second World War which was marked by falling credit institutions, mass unemployment, hyperinflation and bankruptcy of enterprises brought about such a necessity. The Bretton Wood system thereby came into creation. Bretton Woods’s agreement of 1944 was part of the decision by the industrialized countries to restructure themselves after the Second World War and the difficulties encountered especially after the First World War for the purpose of financial globalization. There was a great need for these nations to come up with workable rules and regulations which would direct them in the formulation of national policies that would facilitate the pursuit of common economic objectives (Kenen, 1994:11). The necessity and urgency of this legal structure was collectively agreed upon and accepted as it was viewed as a way of avoiding the negative effects that had marred the inter-war period (King, 2003:30). The Bretton woods years that spanned from 1946-1971 are seen in retrospect as a golden age of capitalism with exchange rate stability and rapid economic growth (King, 2003:30). This is because the system ensured that value of price increases was just and that the exchange rates remained fixed for unlimited periods in all key industrialized countries. Moreover, the national income in the G7 countries rose more rapidly than in any other comparable period. The system ensured long-run price stability for the whole world because the fixed price of gold provided an ostensible anchor to the world’s money supply. Therefore by pegging their currencies to gold, individual nations fixed their prices levels to that of the world (Bordor et al, 1993:1). King, 2003:30 emphasizes that the Bretton Woods system had two main characteristics which were: the existence of a set of rules that consisted of fixed rates of exchange, capital controls and independent policies of domestic macroeconomics on one hand and US domination on the other hand. Capital control as was stipulated in the Bretton Woods system was officially authorized and every government was highly encouraged and had the right and obligation to control its movement of capital. Capital control is the ability of the government to control the in and out flow of capital to and from their country. This meant that bank discount rates were not necessary when the central bank wanted to attract capital inflows or avoid flight of capital. As a consequence, the bank rate is maintained as low as possible (King, 2003:31). However, a country’s domestic economy can be adversely affected through inflation by in and out rapid flow of capital together with fixed rates of exchange. Capital controls essentially prevent rapid outflow of capital and can equip governments with the ‘tools’ to prevent economic crisis in the future. In this system capital control played a significant role whereby it effectively regulated the fixed exchange rate system that had been agreed upon by members during the Bretton Woods agreement. Whenever exchange rates required adjustments capital control was an integral component of the adjustment mechanism. These controls were fundamental to the reconstruction and growth of the international trading system that had been devastated by global depression, the two world wars and hyperinflation. This meant that capital flow was highly restricted with countries prohibiting convertibility. In capital control, currency non-convertibility was the most restrictive form of control. The government was the only one permitted to have the exclusive authority to hold foreign currency and to also to give it out to importers that had been approved by the government. Countries that fixed their exchange rates at levels that were unacceptable could therefore be monitored through this system (Eicher et al, 2009:470). Kitschel (1999, p. 38) further expounds that the capital controls were viewed as instruments of exchange rate stabilization and also as means of securing full employment and other national economic priorities. Additionally the system condoned the controls not only for short term management of balance-of –payment crises but also for the purpose of domestic economic management. The limited capital-account convertibility was the most common form of restriction. It enabled the system to place limits and know who had the right and accessibility to foreign exchange rates. Moreover, qualitative restrictions were also put in place which urged for the limitations on the external asset and liability position of domestic financial institutions. The controls were also placed on foreign banks domestic operations as well as on resident firms’ and on individuals’ direct savings, collection of foreign possessions and real estate property. Dual or multiple exchange rate system was another form of capital control that involved discrete rates for either commercial or financial transactions (Kitschel, 1999:39). Therefore the system allowed members to regulate international capital movements as long as they did not restrict payment for current external transactions. Although currencies would be freely convertible into one another after a transaction period, members were allowed to place capital controls on currency transactions if such capital flows threatened to overwhelm the nation’s balance on payment or exchange rate stability (McNamara, 2003:75). Forces challenging the system Although the Bretton Woods system was important to the economic prosperity after the Second World War, it nevertheless failed to support the equally rapid growth in the advanced countries over the next 25 years. One of the reasons according to Kenen (1994, p. 7) is the fact that the permanence and malleability of the system was slowly being destabilized by the postwar system. There were two vital roles of the Bretton Woods system. The first goal was geared towards producing exchange rates that were stable through the use of capital control and the second goal was meant to shield member nations from the shifting demands brought about by the flow of gold. Nonetheless, these goals highly contradicted each other because the system could not guarantee that global prices would remain stable as it lacked an effective technique. Additionally, the founders of the Bretton Woods system explicitly designed the system in an effort to disentangle international monetary relations from power politics. Nonetheless postwar monetary relations were highly politicized and required constant political interventions to keep the system functioning smoothly. Another flaw of the Bretton Woods design was that it lacked an effective, automatic mechanism to adjust and settle payment imbalances that inevitably arose between surplus and deficit countries. Under this system, a country that had a payment deficit most probably lost its gold which decreased the domestic monetary base and resulted in a decline in the currency’s purchasing power. Inevitably, the country’s imports would fall, exports would rise and the payment would eventually balance. However, the loss of gold and the decrease in money supply also meant that there would be a fall in the cumulative domestic demand, which meant deflation or even the possibility of depression. These structural problems assured that chronic balance of payments would mushroom into full-scale political problems, both domestically and between nations (Gavin,:6). Originally, the Bretton Woods system was designed to produce stable exchange rates while at the same time shielding national economies from demand shifts produced by the flow of gold (Gavin,:6). The founders wanted to set monetary arrangements that could combine the advantage of classic gold standard i. e. the exchange rate stability with the advantage of floating rates i. e. the independence to pursue national full employment policies. They mainly sought to avoid the defects of floating rates (destabilizing speculation and competitive beggar-than-thou-neighour policies). The disadvantage of fixed rates is that individual nations were exposed to both monetary and real shocks transmitted from the rest of the world via the balance of payment and other channels of transmission. The common world price level under the gold standard exhibited secular periods of deflation and inflation which reflected shocks to the demand for and supply of gold (Bordo et al, 1993:1). Countries like Germany and Japan were reluctant to import foreign inflation and this could have attributed to the eventual collapse of the system. In the long run this broke the credibility of the fixed exchange rate commitment among countries and the willingness of the central bank of several countries to cooperate in order to maintain the fixed parities. In other words the system failed because the commitment by the US of fixed equality was not reliable due to the inflation that was accelerating (King, 2003:33). The collapse of the Bretton Woods system is also related to the increasing speculative capital flows. With time as the dollar continued to decline, the US economy was unable to assure other countries that the dollar could be converted to gold at the fixed parity. In this view, the collapse of the system was related to the escalating in and out movements of capital and the lack of capacity of the dominant country, the US to control them (King, 2003:32). In conclusion the end of the Bretton Woods period can be said to have come when President Richard Nixon finally suspended the official conversion of the dollar into gold at $35 an ounce, shut down the gold window and cut the exchange rate system loose. Importance of the Euromarkets The growth of the Euromarkets has been directly linked to the expansion of the US multinational firms, and the consequent expansion of US banking abroad. This growth of the market and its development coincided with the increasing pressure of the US economy and the recoveries witnessed in the capitalist economy. The Eurodollar market therefore took over aspects of a developed domestic credit system since it was operating globally and independently from the central banks. Therefore, Britain which was a low-productivity and low-wage country became the center of global finance due to the contribution of the Eurodollar market. London developed as a center of global circulation of capital and hence became the world’s leading Eurodollar market. The regulation of the currency which allowed the partial and finally the full convertibility of the pound for those who were neither residents of the dollar or the sterling are some of the factors that brought about the growth and development of the Eurodollar market (Patel, 2007:1). This market was deemed important as it helped in redistributing surplus liquidity, in facilitating adjustments of internal liquidity in countries whose monetary systems rely on the import and export of short term funds through banks as a major monetary regulator. The Eurodollar market also helped to maintain world business activity at a high level by the availability of short term working funds. The Nixon Shock The Nixon Shock is termed as a series of economic measures that were taken by the then US president Richard Nixon in 1971. This decision was reached upon by various events which included: the Vietnam War that had become too costly and had drained the gold reserves of US, the increased domestic spending that accelerated inflation, the balance of payment deficit by US and trade deficit (Engdahl, 2003:1). Additionally, the US dollar foreign arbitrage had also caused the governments gold coverage of the paper dollar to decline by 33 points from 55% to 22%. Therefore in 1971, President Nixon imposed tariffs on all imports of 10 per cent to help reduce the trade deficit though it was removed in December the same year. At the same time, a freeze was put on wages and prices for a period of 90 days in a bid to lower inflation with the Federal Reserve Swap ending its support for other central banks. The convertibility of the dollar into gold was also ended and a limitation on gold transactions was put implying a decrease in the value of the dollar. This announced detached the US from the Bretton Woods system which collapsed from operation. After the gold convertibility of the dollar was suspended and flexible exchange rates emerged (James, 2010:1). After the Nixon shock, the US realized that it could exert more global influence through US treasury debt than from trade surpluses. In the 1970s oil was the only key commodity traded in dollars. This was due to the fact that the dollar was the only currency with the highest purchasing power and the only one that was backed by gold (Dammasch, 2010:6). As a result the US realized that the other nations would continue to demand for dollars for them to buy oil which was by now inflated in price. Thereafter, US trade partners had so many dollars in their reserves that they feared to create a dollar crisis. Instead they inflated and eventually weakened their own economies to support the dollar system as they feared a global collapse. Therefore when the price of oil increased in 1973 the dollar surprisingly continued to gain despite countries like Japan, Germany and the rest of the world suffering from severe economic destruction (Engdahl, 2003:1). Nonetheless, these measures did not help to restore or even quicken the economic growth rates of US or even correct the surplus reserves of dollars in Japan and Germany. From there henceforth, all the currencies of the Western nations began to ‘float’. There were no longer set exchange rates in the international market since the common link that was there before i. e. the Bretton Woods System, no longer existed. Ultimately, by the end of 1974, the price of gold had risen to $195 from $35 per troy ounce. As a result, due to unrestrained inflation there was a155% increase in the price of gold in a period of three years (James, 2010:1). Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War named after the Jewish holiest holiday, Yom Kippur began on October 1973 when Syrian and Egyptian forces backed by Soviet Forces launched attacks on Israel forces in the Golan Heights and Sinai in an attempt to recapture the land occupied by Israelites. However, despite the surprise attack on Israel, they emerged victorious due to the immense backing from US who provided them with weapons and intelligence. Therefore in a bid to punish the Western world for their aid to Israel, the Arab nations placed the oil embargo. This was initially political tactic meant to pressure the US into requesting Israel to withdraw from the Arab territories. However, with time the Arabs used it as an economic tactic when they realized the amount of power they had over the world through oil. The prices of oil thereafter quadrupled and continued to be a threat not only to America’s economy but also to the whole world. After the Yom Kippur war the OPEC member states struck back against the West for their support of Israel by imposing an oil embargo which increased oil prices by 70%. Lending by Private Banks to Developing Nations The origin of the debt crisis in the Third World countries has been attributed to the expansion of banking society in the US at an international level together with the rapid economic growth in the world. Before the oil price crisis of 1973-74 began, the real domestic product growth rate of developing countries averaged 6% annually. However, though the rate of growth had slowed down for the reminder of the 1970s it averaged 4-5%. This growth nonetheless generated new interests by the US corporate investment and similarly by other international banks. This multinationalism in providing financial services contributed to the emergence of the Eurodollar market which gave the US banks access to funds that they could undertake Third World Loans on a large scale. Additionally, the sharp rise in crude oil accelerated the expansion in lending (LCD debt crisis, 2010:192). The oil-exporting countries in the Arab world deposited their profits made during the oil crisis in banks in the European and US banks. This further fueled the lending boom. Since the banks had now been provided with more funds they became eager to make profits and hence invested it in developing nations by financing new development projects. The abrupt increase in oil prices brought about instant inflation into the prices of all other commodities. Moreover, the developing countries which had been crippled by these high oil prices saw this as an opportunity to borrow cheap money from the international banks so that they could offset the huge deficits ((LCD debt crisis, 2010:192; Schmulker, 2004:2). These funds that were known as petrodollars and had been recycled back to developing nations therefore generated inflationary pressures around the industrial world and created the debt crisis in developing nations (Cypher and Dietz, 2008:204). US High Interest Rates The developing nations during the 1970s were given loans at very low interest rates. However, this situation changed when the US in the early 1980s pushed up the interest rates of loans in an endeavor to stop inflation. This meant that the loans that had been lent out to Third World nations by US or other lending banks in Europe had to paid back with huge interests rates. Hence, by the 1980s the economy of Third World nations had began to stagnate and many nations were on the verge of bankruptcy due to the combination of mounting debts and low economic growth rates. The total debt had amounted to $567 billion and the high interest rates forced them to take out new loans which increased the burden (Jauch, 2009:1). This dismal situation was further compounded by the oil shock of 1973 and 1979. This decision by OPEC crippled the economies of many Third World nations with the cost of imported energy rising. Therefore, the culminative result of this crisis saw many developing nations especially those in Latin America unable to pay their debts during this period. IMF Structural Adjustment Programmes When it became evident that these nations would be unable to service their loans, the IMF came up with conditions which were dubbed Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) to solve the debt crisis among developing countries (Shimko, 2009:168). The SAP was proposed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund which were formed during the Bretton Woods period. These programmes imposed various conditions for countries especially developing ones that intended to borrow more loans (Jauch, 2009:1). IMF claimed that these reforms were necessary for promoting the economic growth needed to pay back the loans. The IMF required reforms to be carried out in the respective countries before aid could be provided. For example, Mexico whose debt burden grew faster than its own economy was loaned money by IMF to prevent a default. However, Mexico had to certain economic reforms before the loan could be dispatched. Although the conditions imposed on the developing nations differed, the same basic conditions were expected of all the nations (Shimko, 2009:168). The various key reforms according to Shimko 2009:169 included: †¢ Balancing of government budgets: this entailed either increasing the revenue for the government (providing new fees for government services) or drastically reducing the government spending. †¢ Reducing quotas, tariffs and other import barriers: this was aimed at subjecting the domestic industries to international competition. †¢ Liberalization of the capital market: this basically meant reducing the restrictions on foreign investment. †¢ Reducing government subsidies to domestic industries: these subsidies are those that had been part of import substitution strategies. †¢ Privatizing or selling the government-owned industries to the private sector. Nonetheless, these conditions did not alleviate the dire economic nor bring any economic development but rather the conditions intensified the existing situation. Although IMF studies claimed that the growth rates in countries under this programme increased from -15% in the 1980s to only 0. 3% in the early 1990s and 1% by mid-1990s, the World bank declared that there was no evidence whatsoever to account for any economic growth (Shimko, 2009:178). Additionally, lack of government subsidies or protection from foreign competition forced domestic industries to reduce their costs by lowering wages or by laying off workers. Therefore the liberalization of trade and the opening up of economies to unrestricted foreign investment had a deleterious impact on the poor nations and people (Shimko, 2009:177). Effects of the High Oil Prices in the 1970s As a result of the Bretton Woods system and the oil shock, a new wave of globalization began. Recession was prevalent with unemployment peaking at 9. 1% industrial production went down by 15% and high inflation in all areas. Additionally, when the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates collapsed, countries were now opened up to greater capital mobility and they also retained the autonomy of their monetary policies. The Brandy Bonds came into existence when Mexico’s Minister of Finance announced that the country would be forced to default on its debt. The default on loans worsened as more banks in developing nations informed the IMF and Chairman of the Federal Reserve of their inability to service their debts in time (LDC debt crisis, 2010:191). The Brandy Bonds in a bid to resolve the debt crisis of the 1980 not only led to the subsequent development of the bonds market but also brought about a new phenomenon especially for emerging economies. Moreover, technological advancement, privatization and deregulation (which resulted in the corporate culture with national interests of decreasing consideration in business decisions) made foreign direct investment and equity investment in the emerging markets even more attractive for households and firms in the developed nations (Schmulker, 2004:2). Overall, there was a severe recession which hit the hardest the Western world. In Wall Street, oil stocks performed well due to the price increase as the profits soared as the rest of the market buckled under the low prices. Before the oil embargo was imposed by OPEC members, the price of crude oil was mainly determined by major oil companies in the West which retained 65% of the revenue of the oil. This type of arrangement was referred to as oligopolistic market arrangement. This meant that oil prices that had been posted in the market were established with the taxes and royalties paid to the exporting governments on the basis of this price. However following the embargo, property rights were transferred to the host countries from the major companies that had operated the industry and hence the cartel was able to take over the functions of the companies and retain more of the revenue generated Thereafter, the determination of crude oil price was passed into the hands of OPEC which set an official selling price for the best known among its crude. At the same time individual members were given the opportunity to adjust their selling prices in relation to this market according to the quality of the oil being produced (Trumbore, 2010:1). The continued high oil prices encouraged the exploration and subsequently the production of oil in high-cost oil regions such as Canada, Mexico, and North Sea. During the 1970, the increased demand of fossil fuels and increased prices for the product greatly reduced globalization. As the nations became more advanced, the rate of globalization declined. Although globalization grew for a while after the embargo, the rate of growth began to decline as the oil prices decreased (Okogu, 2003:1). The oil embargo impacted severely on the economy of Japan resulting in energy price inflation since by this time it was the only developed nation that relied heavily on oil with very few hydrocarbon reserves or any other alternatives. Japan was therefore forced to reconsider its industrial model. The oil shocks catalyzed the rapid turnaround which enabled Japan to become the leading energy efficiency country. The petroleum Supply and Demand Optimization Law was aimed at setting oil targets and restricting oil use. Japan’s vision after the oil embargo was to reduce its dependence of oil from the Middle East, therefore it started to charge import taxes on all petroleum products especially those that were used to generate power. Japan therefore became a pioneer in liquefied natural gas which today accounts for half of the worlds market. During this period, Japanese car brands like Toyota and Honda which had previously sold poorly enjoyed enormous success in the US market. Americans who had traditionally been fond of big cars were now confronted with a new challenge that included higher oil prices accompanied by long queues at the gas stations and rationing of gasoline. They therefore began to demand more of the Japanese brands for their small size and fuel-efficiency (Stewart and Wilczewski, 2009:1). Conclusion Even today, the Dollar System is still the real source of global inflation since t is the only global reserve currency as it has been witnessed worldwide since the 1971. Other countries in the world have to ensure that the reserves of their central banks are in dollars if they are to trade in the international market. This helps to guarantee against currency crisis, to back their export trade and to finance the importation of oil. Today, 67% of all central bank reserves are dollars (Engdahl, 2003:1). The debt crisis in the 1970s created by various variables including the oil embargo, the unprecedented borrowing and poor economic planning crippled the economy of many developing nations in Africa and Latin America. Despite efforts by the World Bank and IMF to offset these payment balances, the situation remained virtually unchanged. Ironically, other countries like Japan and US though they were affected by the rise in oil prices, were able to rise above the situation through oil exploration in their own countries which reduced their reliance on the imported oil from Middle East. Therefore, though the oil embargo did touch the economies of all the different nations, the degree and intensity was not the same. While other countries were completely devastated e. g. Third World nations others in the West found ways of reviving and even propelling their economies to greater heights. References Bordo, M, Eichengreen, B and National Bureau of Economic Research (1993). Bretton Woods System: A Retrospect. London. University of Chicago Press. Dammasch, S. (2010). The Bretton Woods System. [Online:] Available from http://www. ww. uni-magdeburg. de/fwwdeka/student/arbeiten/006. pdf Dietz, J and Cypher, J. (2008). Economic Development Process. New York. Taylor Francis. Eicher, T, Mutti, J and Turnovsky, M. (2009). International Economics. Taylor Francis. Engdahl, W. (2003). The Dollar System US Economic Reality. [Online:] Available from http://www. engdahl. oilgeopolitics. net/1973_Oil_Shock/Dollar_System/dollar_system. html Garber, P, Dooley, M and Folkerts-Landau, D. (2005). International Financial Stability. [Online:] Available from http://people. ucsc. edu/~mpd/InternationalFinancialStability_update. pdf Gavin, F. The Cold War Gold Battles. American Monetary Policy the Defense of Europe, 1960-1963. [Online:] Available from http://www. utexas. edu/lbj/faculty/gavin/articles/gold_battles. pdf Jauch, H. (2009). How Africa was destroyed by the World Bank, IMF- Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP). [Online]: Available from http://www. newsrescue. com/2009/05/how-the-imf-world-bank-and-structural-adjustment-programsap-destroyed-africa/ Kenen, P. (1994). Managing World Economy. Washington. Institute for international Economics. King, E, J. (2003). The Elgar Companion Economics. Cheltenham. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. Kitschelt, H. (1999). Continuing Change in Contemporary Capitalism. Cambridge. Cambridge University. Okogu, B. (2003). Changing Oil Market in North Africa Middle East. [online:] Available from http://www. imf. org/external/pubs/ft/med/2003/eng/okogu/okogu. htm Patel, H. (2007). The Eurodollar Market Contribution to the Modern Financial World. Online: Available from. http://www. pharmasuppliers. com/index. php? option=com_contentview=articleid=14catid=13Itemid=20

Analysis Of BMW Financial Position And Performance Accounting Essay

Analysis Of BMW Financial Position And Performance Accounting Essay This is a financial analysis report on BMW. Specifically, in the first part of this report, the financial position and performance of BMW for the four financial years from 2008 to 2011 will be firstly re-formulated, and the financial ratios for the company will be computed for analysis purposes. In order to perform a throughout financial analysis on the company, the trends of the financial ratios of BMW will be analyzed. Then, the financial statements of Audi will also be reformulated and the respective financial ratios for Audi will also be computed. The financial performance of Audi will be used to compare to the performance of BMW, to gauge the relative performance of BMW, as compared to one of the peer within the industry. Then, in the second part, BMWs forecasted value of equity per share at the end of the fourth financial (i.e., at FY 2011) will also be computed. Recommendations will be provided if the stock is a good investment choice, based on the various findings derived fr om this study. 1.2 Company Background Today, BMW is the worlds best-selling manufacturer of premium cars (Rauwald, 2012). BMW is founded in 1916; and is headquartered in Munich, Germany. Today, the company has more than 96,000 workforces at 24 production facilities in 13 countries and had penetrated to around 140 countries in the world (Avery Bergsteiner, 2011). BMW is also a company emphasizing on corporate social responsibilities (Stamoulakis Bridwell, 2009). Some of the competitors of BMW include Audi and Mercedes-Benz, whereby these companies has also been competing with BMW in important markets such as China (Rauwald Pearson, 2011a). Referring to Table 1 below, the various business segments BMW is operating within is shown. The major revenue contribution of the company comes from selling automobiles, and then followed by car financing activities. Table 1: The Various Business Segments BMW Operating Within Source: Worldscope Table 2 below however shows the various geographical regions BMW is operating within. As shown from the figure, the revenue generated from BMW sales in China is improving fast, while the revenue generated from the United States are stagnating. Indeed, prior to the financial crisis, United States is the biggest market for BMW (Rauwald, 2010). In contrast, as discussed in Muller (2010), BMW growth in recent years had largely driven by the increase of sales from emerging countries. This is a trend worth acknowledging in analyzing the current financial performance and to predict the future probable performance of the firm. Table 2: The Various Geographical Region BMW Operating Within Source: Worldscope Part I: Analysis of BMW Financial Position and Performance In Part I, the financial analysis on BMW will be performed through two major methods, firstly by reviewing the trends of the financial metrics of BMW and its competitor; and secondly, through the review of various financial ratios of BMW and to compare the ratios to the competitors ratios. 2.1 Trend Analysis A Review of BMW Past Performances 2.1.1 Profitability Ratios Based on Table 3 below, the various profitability ratios of BMW are shown. As measured by the Return on Assets, Return on Equity and Return on Invested Capital, BMW performance is generally well-performing in FY2007, but subsequently suffered to a minimal profitability in FY2008 towards FY 2010, before returning to superior profitability situation in FY2011. This is not surprising. In FY2008, the world financial crisis hit, and the automotive industry, which is cyclical in nature, are impacted adversely (Peterson, 2008). Indeed, the entire automotive industry fall into a turmoil as auto sales have plunged in the United State and Europe; while sales faced stagnation in previously booming markets like China and India (Rauwald, 2009b). In 2009, as discussed within Rauwald (2009a), BMW suffered losses due to recession as the sales and demand of luxury cars stalled. This is logical as in recessionary period, people cut down spending and luxury product manufacturers are often the most im pacted as the product demand are highly elastic. Then, qualitatively speaking, in FY 2010, the profitability improvement in BMW is due to improved efficiency significantly in all areas of the company (during the restructuring programme of BMW in the global financial crisis) as well as favourable exchange-rate fluctuations for the company (Rauwald, 2010). Next, Rauwald Schmidt (2012a) had however attributed the significant enhanced of BMW performance due to the companys comprehensive transformation, via cutting jobs and costs since 2007 (which include a cut of more than 8,100 jobs and reduction of more than 6 billion Euros in costs). This is also true as based on the employee per sales figure, the company is showing positive improvement as in recent years, more sales are generated per employee. Aside from that, it is also observed that the ratio of research and development to sales ratios has also been high, approximately around 5%. This is because BMW has been investing in research and development activities for further innovations in the future. For example, one of the recent innovations of BMW is development of eco-super car through the Vision Efficient Dynamics concept (Kable, 2010). Overall, based on the profitability ratios, a gross profit margin of 24% and the Return on Equity ratio of 19.2% in the recent years suggest that BMW is a well performing firm. Nonetheless, the fact that the firm could be seriously affected by recession also suggests that the business is cyclical, and therefore, the business risk faced by the firm and investors could be high. Table 3: Trends of Profitability Ratios of BMW Source: Worldscope 2.1.2 Asset Utilization Ratios Based on Table 4 below, the various asset utilization ratios, such as assets per employee, total assets turnover, inventory turnover and net sales to gross fixed assets are shown. Overall, there is a trend of improvement on these ratios. As discussed in Rauwald Schmidt (2012b), the strong performance of BMW is primarily contributed by the strength of the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands as well as improvements in efficiency. The improved of efficiencies can be noted as the assets per employees had increased (i.e., fewer employees as compared to the total assets), and the higher total assets and inventory turnover ratios (as the company is more able to generate more sales from every unit of asset). Table 4: Trends of Asset Utilization Ratios of BMW Source: Worldscope 2.1.3 Leverage Ratios Based on Table 5 below, the trends of use of debt financing and capital structure of BMW are shown. Overall, it can be noticed that BMW is a highly geared firm, as the long term debt within the capital structure has been consistently high throughout the past few years, i.e., at approximately 60%. Then, the portion of debt is also far outweigh the portion of equity, and as indicated by the total debt to common equity ratio, the total debt is approximately more than 2 to 3 times the total amount of equity. Overall, this suggests that BMW is heavily leveraged and the firm would face higher finance risks (such as solvency, liquidity and interest payment risks) in hard times. In contrast, the firm would make high return on equity for the shareholders due to use of leverage. Therefore, part of the reasons contributing to the high return on equity for BMW is through the use of high leverage within the firm. Table 5: Trends of Leverage Ratios of BMW Source: Worldscope 2.1.4 Liquidity Ratios Based on Table 6 below, the various liquidity ratios such as quick ratio and current ratio are shown. Overall, the liquidity position of BMW is marginally satisfactory, as the current and quick ratio fall around the range of 1. A more conservative ratio would be a current ratio of more than 2 times. Then, it is also noted that throughout the years, the proportion of receivables in the current assets is the highest, followed by cash, and then inventories. This is however unavoidable, as most of the customers would purchase the luxury cars on credit. Table 6: Trends of Liquidity Ratios of BMW Source: Worldscope 2.1.5 A Review of the Financial Performance Trends of BMW In order to form an overview of the financial performance of BMW in the past few years, the general profitability picture of BMW is presented in Figure 1. As shown below, prior to the crisis, BMW has been in a rising profit position for more than a decade (Avery Bergsteiner, 2011). However, unfortunately, the firm performance is badly affected during the global financial crisis (as discussed previously). During the period of financial crisis, the net income, return on equity and total common equity fall sharply. Nevertheless, upon the crisis, the profitability of BMW surged sharply. Avery Bergsteiner (2011) had found that one of the reasons contribute to fast BMW recovery from the global financial crisis in 2008 is due to sustainable leadership model and processes within the company. Therefore, this suggests the resiliency and the quality of the management within the firm as satisfactory and competent. Then, another trend worth discussing is that in the recent years, BMW car sales have been increasing significantly in the China market (Rauwald, 2012). Indeed, as discussed within Schafer (2011), much of the sales increases of BMW come from the growth of sales from China and India. Such a trend had contributed significantly as even in FY2011 and FY2012, BMW sales in Europe are facing challenges due to sovereign debt crisis (Rauwald Pearson, 2011a). Similarly, as discussed within Schafer (2011), the sales of BMW cars are slow in Europe due to the slow recovery within the region. Figure 1: Net Income, Equity, ROE and ROCI Trends of BMW C:Documents and SettingsHappyGoLuckyDesktopData Collectiondatareturn analysis chart.jpg Source: Worldscope 2.2 Peers Financial Ratios Comparisons In this section, in order to understand the financial position and the performance of BMW in the context of its industry as well as in relation to its peers, the various financial ratios of BMW, the peers and one of its leading competitors, namely Audi will be performed. 2.2.1 Growth Rates related Ratios As shown in Table 7, the various growth rates of BMW is compared to the peers and Audi. Firstly, it is noted that the growth of sales of BMW is slightly worse than the growth of Audi, but significantly worse off than the peers. In other words, both Audi and BMW are performing less satisfactorily as compared to the industry average. Therefore, while the financial picture of BMW is recovering and experiencing sharp upturns in FY2011, the firm is actually down perform as compared to the industry average. Table 7: Trends of Growth Rates of BMW, Audi and Peers Company BMW AG Peer Mean Audi AG Last Fiscal Yr End Date 12/31/2011 12/31/2011 Key 1 Year Growth Rates Sales 1Yr Growth 13.80 22.22 24.42 Operating Income 1Yr Growth 53.21 47.75 57.09 Net Margin 1Yr Growth 32.92 104.88 36.41 Net Income 1Yr Growth 51.26 149.43 69.72 EPS 1Yr Growth 51.12 146.47 69.73 Total Assets 1Yr Growth 11.71 14.54 19.56 Equity 1Yr Growth 13.11 8.58 13.72 Key 5 Year Growth Rates Sales 5Yr Growth 7.03 15.17 7.20 Operating Income 5Yr Growth 16.39 23.44 14.71 Net Margin 5Yr Growth 3.92 7.76 18.21 Net Income 5Yr Growth 11.22 23.09 26.72 EPS 5Yr Growth 11.21 21.35 26.72 Total Assets 5Yr Growth 9.18 12.25 14.00 Equity 5Yr Growth 7.17 9.09 11.83 Source: Thomson One Banker As shown in Table 8, the figures of growth rates of several financial metrics are also computed, from the reformulated financial statements (as shown in Appendix at the end of this document). Overall, it can be observed that both Audi and BMW financial performance move in tandem, whereby the good performance of both company tend to be happen at the similar time. For instance, the growth of sales was negative for both of the firm at FY2009. Then, the growth rates of common shareholder equity also tend to be similar in terms of magnitude. For example, the growth rate of shareholder equity has been slight negative or positive at FY2009. However, the growth rate of operating income (after tax) for both the company tend to be less similar. This could be due to the operational management differences between the two firms. Table 8: Trends of Growth Rates of BMW to Audi Profitability R 2009 2010 2011 Growth Rate in Sales BMW -4.73% 19.33% 13.80% Audi -12.74% 18.77% 24.42% Growth Rate in OI (after tax) BMW 352.36% -20.66% 49.91% Audi -43.17% 128.13% 60.40% Growth Rate in NOA BMW 31.36% 13.02% -10.94% Audi 10.86% 47.64% -4.07% Growth Rate in CSE BMW -1.79% 15.94% 17.18% Audi 2.62% 9.30% 13.72% Source: Computed from Reformulated Financial Statement 2.2.2 Profitability Ratios As shown in Table 9, the profitability related ratios for BMW, peers and Audi are shown. Overall, the profitability margins of BMW would be slightly lesser than that of the Audi (particularly from the net margin perspective), but would be higher than that of the peers. This is because BMW operate within the luxury car segment, and therefore, the margins would be higher, as the majority of other competitors go for the volume for profitability. Therefore, the asset turnover of BMW and Audi is lower significantly than the peers, as the company focus on the luxury niche segment. Aside from that, it could be seen that the RD expense to sales ratio for BMW (and Audi) is higher than that of the peers. For this, one of the successes of BMW comes from investing heavily in extra production capacity and new technology constantly (Rauwald, 2012). Table 9: Profitability Related Ratios for BMW, Peers and Audi Company BMW AG Peer Mean Audi AG Last Fiscal Yr End Date 12/31/2011 12/31/2011 Asset Turnover 0.57 0.85 1.25 Pretax Margin 10.73 13.70 ROA 4.37 13.86 Return on Invest Cap 5.62 34.13 Reinvest Rate 13.25 37.59 35.68 R D to Sales 4.90 3.43 5.09 Gross Profit Margin 24.62 19.45 18.57 Operating Profit Margin 11.42 6.92 9.54 Pretax Margin 10.73 13.70 Net Margin 7.09 9.95 Source: Thomson One Banker Table 10 is about the profitability ratios of BMW and Audi, computed from the reformulated financial statements (as shown in Appendix at the end of this document). Overall, it can be seen that Audi would perform slightly better than BMW, although from the net profit margin perspective, BMW outperform Audi in FY2010 and FY2011. Then, it is also observed that the financial margins of BMW are more volatile as compared to Audi. Therefore, the risks (from the standard deviation perspective) for BMW are higher. Nonetheless, as discussed before, BMW is performing well in terms of cutting down the expense. This can be observed as the portion of administration costs to the sales ratio for BMW has been decreasing from FY2008 towards FY2011; whereby the ratio for Audi had been staying relatively constant (around 8-10%). This reaffirm that BMW had been slowly transform itself into a more efficient organization. Table 10: Trends of Profitability Ratios of BMW to Audi 2008 2009 2010 2011 Operating Profit Margin BMW 0.95% -0.09% 5.71% 8.03% Audi 5.27% 3.43% 6.59% 8.50% Sales Profit Margin BMW 1.95% 9.27% 6.17% 8.12% Audi 5.27% 3.43% 6.59% 8.50% Other Items Profit Margin BMW 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% Audi 2.82% 2.86% 2.87% 2.90% Net Profit Margin BMW 1.25% 0.13% 5.23% 7.75% Audi 6.46% 3.52% 3.07% 5.91% Expense Ratio Admin Costs BMW 9.59% 9.91% 7.98% 7.83% Audi 9.47% 10.52% 8.57% 8.16% Expense Ratio Distribution Costs BMW -0.21% 0.10% 0.24% 0.50% Audi 0.88% 1.01% 1.06% 0.97% Operating Profitability (RNOA) BMW N/A 14.55% 9.55% 14.27% Audi N/A 12.48% 21.87% 30.03% Financing Profitability (RNFA) BMW N/A 0.70% 0.98% 1.37% Audi N/A 5.07% 5.54% 9.98% Source: Computed from Reformulated Financial Statement 2.2.3 Asset Utilization ratios Table 11 is about the asset utilization related ratios for BMW, Audi and peers. Overall, BMW down perform both Audi and the peers from asset turnover and inventory turnover perspective. Indeed, Audi perform best in utilizing assets in generating revenue. This shown that BMW may not be effective to the peers and Audi in leveraging on the assets to generate sales, and there are much room for improvement to significantly enhance the asset utilization ratios for the firm. Table 11: Asset Utilization Related Ratios for BMW, Audi and Peers Company BMW AG Peer Mean Audi AG Last Fiscal Yr End Date 12/31/2011 12/31/2011 Asset Turnover 0.57 0.85 1.25 Inventory Turnover 5.11 8.52 8.85 Source: Thomson One Banker 2.2.4 Leverage Ratios Table 12 is about the comparisons of leverage related ratios between BMW, Audi and peers. Obviously from the figure of the industry mean score, it can be noticed that most of the automotive manufacturers are highly geared. Indeed, as it is discussed that BMW is a firm that relied heavily on debt instrument for financing its operations, the industry average figure is even higher. In stark contrast, Audi is a lowly leveraged firm. Indeed, the use of debt is very minor within the firms capital structure. Table 12: Leverage Ratios Related Ratios for BMW, Audi and Peers Company BMW AG Peer Mean Audi AG Last Fiscal Yr End Date 12/31/2011 12/31/2011 Total Debt to Common Equity 245.94% 250.96% 9.39% LT Debt to Common Equity 133.58% 146.61% 0.17% LT Debt to Total Capital 56.96% 41.23% 0.16% Dividend Payout 17.46% 15.80% 0.00% Cash Dividend Coverage Ratio 7.13 21.08 #N/A Source: Thomson One Banker In Table 13 below, trends of leverage ratios of BMW and Audi, computed from the reformulated financial statements (as shown in Appendix at the end of this document) are presented. Similar to the discussions presented above, the financial leverage ratio of BMW is significantly higher than the case of Audi. However, from the operating liability leverage ratio perspective, the figures of the two firms are roughly comparable. Table 13: Trends of Leverage Ratios of BMW to Audi 2008 2009 2010 2011 Financial Leverage Ratio (FLEV) BMW 0.299 0.414 0.413 0.410 Audi 0.256 0.198 -0.128 0.054 Capitalization Ratio BMW 1.378 1.843 1.796 1.365 Audi 0.781 0.844 1.140 0.962 Operating Liability Leverage Ratio (OLLEV) BMW 1.093 0.663 0.645 1.011 Audi 1.479 1.381 1.058 1.268 Source: Computed from Reformulated Financial Statement 2.2.5 Liquidity Ratios In Table 14 below, the liquidity related ratios for BMW, Audi and peers are compared and presented. It is noted that the liquidity position of BMW, as measured from all of these ratios, i.e., quick ratio, current ratio, cash and equivalent to current assets ratio, account receivables days as well as inventories days held are not only down performing the peers, but also perform much badly as compared to the situation of Audi. Indeed, Audi is having strong liquidity position, thereby indicating that the firm is unlikely to suffer from any near term liquidity issues. Audi had also outperformed the peers significantly and based on the findings above that Audi is a lowly geared firm; the firm is financially conservatively managed. Table 14: Liquidity Related Ratios for BMW, Audi and Peers Company BMW AG Peer Mean Audi AG Last Fiscal Yr End Date 12/31/2011 12/31/2011 Quick Ratio 0.82 1.00 1.32 Current Ratio 1.04 1.28 1.60 Cash Equivalent to Current Assets 23.52 32.24 41.13 Accounts Receivable Days 136.25 102.07 61.22 Inventories Days Held 71.44 48.60 41.24 Source: Thomson One Banker 2.2.6 Summary Overall, while BMW is a profitable firm, and the firm is performing very well in FY2011 (i.e., experiencing sharp recovery) such performance can be largely attributed to the industry wide recovery situation around the world. However, the performance of BMW would seem to be lacking, more risky and less efficiently, effectively and conservatively managed when compared to the peers. This is particularly when compared to Audi, as Audi had found to be having much stronger and yet conservative financial position and performance. It can be summarized that BMW performed unsatisfactorily as compared to the other automotive manufacturers. Part II: Valuation In this section, valuation of BMW stock will be performed via the discount cash flow model. In order to compute the company value via this method, the dividend distributed to the investors will be treated as the proxy of the cash flow to the investors. Currently, the latest dividend payment from BMW is EUR 2.30 (Figure 2, the indicated dividend payment from the management). Then, from Figure 3, the growth rate of the dividend yield/ payment (i.e., the growth rate of the cash flow of the firm) range from 0.23% (i.e., 3-years growth rate) to 1.01% (i.e., 3-years growth rate). Theoretically, the longer term growth rate should be used. However, the global financial meltdown in FY2008 to FY2009 would be considered as anomalies (the black swan event), and therefore, it is unfair to take the three year average figure for the firm. Therefore, conservatively, a growth rate of 0.5% would be assumed to represent the growth rate of dividend payment for the investors. Then, in order to compute th e required rate of return for BMW, the risks pertaining to the firm will be considered. As BMW is found to be highly geared, a required rate of return of above 10% would be necessary. Therefore, conservatively speaking, a required rate of return of 15% is justifiable. Hence: D = EUR 2.30 g = 0.5% r = 15% Firm value = D (1+g) (r-g) = 2.3 (1+0.005) (0.15-0.005) = 2.3 (1.005) (0.145) = EUR 15.94 Therefore, a very conservative firm value for BMW from the dividend discount model (i.e., Gordon Growth Model valuation method) is only EUR 15.94. This is even much lower than the analysts target price of EUR 75.60 (Figure 2). Therefore, from the valuation method applied, it is unwise to purchase into BMW stock. Figure 2: Estimates from Analyst C:Documents and SettingsHappyGoLuckyDesktopUK0538 Advanced financial statement analysisData Collectiondatathomson forecast report.jpg Source: Thomson Financial Figure 3: Estimates from Analyst C:Documents and SettingsHappyGoLuckyDesktopUK0538 Advanced financial statement analysisData Collectiondatastock valuation.jpg Source: Thomson Financial In Table 15 below, the price multiple of BMW, peers and Audi is shown. It is shown that BMW stock prices is valued at 10 times earnings multiple, as compared to Audi (which is only 5 times earnings multiple). Indeed, from the other two yardsticks, namely price to book value and price to cash flow ratios, BMW stock is valued more expensively. Then considering that the financial position and performance of BMW is significantly lower than the peers, and particularly, to Audi, the high price multiples of BMW would justify a sell comment on the stock. Table 15: Market Value Related Ratios for BMW, Audi and Peers Company BMW AG Peer Mean Audi AG Last Fiscal Yr End Date 12/31/2011 12/31/2011 Current P/E Ratio 10.17 5.15 Price/Book Ratio 1.84 1.33 1.81 Price/Cash Flow Ratio -11.10 1.94 3.34 Source: Thomson One Banker Then, from the qualitative perspective however, looking forward, competition between automotive manufacturers in China could be intensifying and this could affect how BMW compete with other car manufacturers (Rauwald, 2012). However, some analysts had also been optimistic as they anticipate growth in markets such as China and Russia which would contribute to higher BMW sales in these emerging regions (Rauwald Schmidt, 2012a). Then, as discussed in Reed Schafer (2010), the rise of sales in China is primarily due to the branding and the quality of the cars sold by BMW. Therefore, the growth story of BMW in emerging regions would be in doubts, as the competitors, such as Audi has also strong performance in these emerging regions. Therefore, from a more conservatively perspective, it is reasonable to conclude that even it is expected that BMW could profit from the emerging countries, which would also not justify the high valuation of the stock. Hence, it is not rational to purchase i nto the stock of the company at the current price. In contrast, investors seeking exposure to automotive industry would be better to purchase the stock of Audi, as the firm is financially conservatively and operational effectively managed, and yet, having a low price multiple. References Avery, G. C., Bergsteiner, H. (2011). How BMW successfully practices sustainable leadership principles. Strategy Leadership, 39(6), 11-18. Kable, G. (2010). Bolts from BMW. Autoweek, 60, 12-12. Muller, J. (2010). BMWs push for made-to-order cars. Forbes, 1. Penman, S. H. (2010). Financial Statement Analysis and Security Valuation, 4th Edition. McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York. Peterson, T. (2008). BMW 135i: High performance, low price. Business Week (Online). Rauwald, C. (2009a). Corporate news: BMW posts loss as unit sales fall 21%. Wall Street Journal. Rauwald, C. (2009b). Corporate news: BMW swings to $1.24 billion loss as luxury-car sales plunge. Wall Street Journal. Rauwald, C. (2010). Luxury demand drives BMW results. Wall Street Journal (Online). Rauwald, C. (2012). BMW, Porsche profits rise on higher sales. Wall Street Journal (Online). Rauwald, C., Pearson, D. (2011a). Corporate news: BMW cranks up profit view luxury-auto maker gains on emerging-market demand as European woes damp peugeot-Citroen. Wall Street Journal (Online). Rauwald, C., Pearson, D. (2011b). BMW raises sales, profit forecasts. Wall Street Journal (Online). Rauwald, C., Schmidt, N. (2012a). Managing careers: For BMW, a tough transformation pays off. Wall Street Journal (Online). Rauwald, C., Schmidt, N. (2012b). For BMW, a tough transformation pays off; no grand prix cars, but pole position in luxury market gives CEO reithofer a happy start to the new year. Wall Street Journal (Online). Reed, J., Schafer, D. (2010). Demand for luxury powers BMWs China sales. Financial Times. Schafer, D. (2011). BMW receives sales turbo-charge from China and India. Financial Times. Stamoulakis, D., Bridwell, L. (2009). BMWs approach to global warming and environmental management: Corporate social responsibility or greenwashing? Competition Forum, 7(1), 98-106. Subramanyam K. R., Wild, J. J. (2009). Financial Statement Analysis, 10th Edition. McGraw Hill, New York.

An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley :: Papers

An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley Introduction: The play was written in 1945, but the play was set in 1912, before the 2nd World War when people talked confidently of the future, unaware of the disasters to come. Part 1: Mr. Birling is very self-cantered, doesn't like to be proved wrong and he thinks low-class people are not as good as him. Mr. Birling is very competitive and if Sheila marries Gerald Croft the son of Mr. Birling's competition, then he will not have to worry about losing profit if Mr. Birling and Gerald Croft's father join sides. He wants his daughter married to a high-class family because he doesn't want her in a low-class family. My first impression of Sheila is that she doesn't care about anyone but herself, she is very stuck up, excitable and jealous and she is excited about her marriage to Gerald Croft, her father also spoils her Part 2: When Mr. Birling first meets the inspector, he is very surprised that the inspector thinks that he and his family had anything to do with the death of Eva Smith, he begins to ask the inspector questions because Mr. Birling knows most of the police in the area and thinks the inspector is a fake. When Sheila first meets the inspector she does not understand why he is there and asks what is going on. She is shocked at the fact that the inspector thinks her father was the cause of Eva Smith committing suicide, and also shocked at the fact that her father fired Eva Smith for asking for enough money to live on because Mr. Birling was paying her below minimum wage. She is very different to Mr. Birling because Mr. Birling doesn't care about the fact that a woman has committed suicide because of him, whereas Sheila does and she can't stop thinking about it. Part 3: Mr. Birling acts very calm when the inspector starts asking questions, but as he starts asking more personal questions, for example when Eva An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley :: Papers An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley Introduction: The play was written in 1945, but the play was set in 1912, before the 2nd World War when people talked confidently of the future, unaware of the disasters to come. Part 1: Mr. Birling is very self-cantered, doesn't like to be proved wrong and he thinks low-class people are not as good as him. Mr. Birling is very competitive and if Sheila marries Gerald Croft the son of Mr. Birling's competition, then he will not have to worry about losing profit if Mr. Birling and Gerald Croft's father join sides. He wants his daughter married to a high-class family because he doesn't want her in a low-class family. My first impression of Sheila is that she doesn't care about anyone but herself, she is very stuck up, excitable and jealous and she is excited about her marriage to Gerald Croft, her father also spoils her Part 2: When Mr. Birling first meets the inspector, he is very surprised that the inspector thinks that he and his family had anything to do with the death of Eva Smith, he begins to ask the inspector questions because Mr. Birling knows most of the police in the area and thinks the inspector is a fake. When Sheila first meets the inspector she does not understand why he is there and asks what is going on. She is shocked at the fact that the inspector thinks her father was the cause of Eva Smith committing suicide, and also shocked at the fact that her father fired Eva Smith for asking for enough money to live on because Mr. Birling was paying her below minimum wage. She is very different to Mr. Birling because Mr. Birling doesn't care about the fact that a woman has committed suicide because of him, whereas Sheila does and she can't stop thinking about it. Part 3: Mr. Birling acts very calm when the inspector starts asking questions, but as he starts asking more personal questions, for example when Eva