Free Essays on Functional Areas-business

functional areas Peugeots functional areas work together for the company’s interest and welfare. I will be explaining about Peugeots functional areas and what they do for the company. Production Production is the most obvious area, in all the functional areas. This area takes control over stock, manufactures cars and does quality checks on their vehicles. It is very important that this area is efficient and takes respectable control over stock. If this is overlooked then the company can fall into loss. Finance Finance is maybe the most important area when it comes to the company’s money. This area is responsible of taking care of the company’s/shareholders money. They have to always monitor the money and take observations on profits and loss. They are also responsible for making budgets for the company and the different areas. Sales and distribution This is area gives the company its objectives and targets this could be long term or short term. This department is also responsible for the sales and distribution of the cars that have been manufactured. It is their job to keep their staff motivated in order to maintain a high income of goods. Marketing This area is responsible for launching new car models, pricing them and viewing there market shares. This department controls most of the research that is carried out, and is constant touch with market research. They find out what the public want and frequently attend shows and exhibitions to find out this information. The marketing department launch and promote new models by getting funding with companies who will then advertise for Peugeot. Dealer operations This department establishes the development of the distribution channels in the United Kingdom. Parts and services This department handles everything to do with the after sale of the cars. They train people to fix any problems that may go wrong when a car is bought so that the owner has high sa... Free Essays on Functional Areas-business Free Essays on Functional Areas-business functional areas Peugeots functional areas work together for the company’s interest and welfare. I will be explaining about Peugeots functional areas and what they do for the company. Production Production is the most obvious area, in all the functional areas. This area takes control over stock, manufactures cars and does quality checks on their vehicles. It is very important that this area is efficient and takes respectable control over stock. If this is overlooked then the company can fall into loss. Finance Finance is maybe the most important area when it comes to the company’s money. This area is responsible of taking care of the company’s/shareholders money. They have to always monitor the money and take observations on profits and loss. They are also responsible for making budgets for the company and the different areas. Sales and distribution This is area gives the company its objectives and targets this could be long term or short term. This department is also responsible for the sales and distribution of the cars that have been manufactured. It is their job to keep their staff motivated in order to maintain a high income of goods. Marketing This area is responsible for launching new car models, pricing them and viewing there market shares. This department controls most of the research that is carried out, and is constant touch with market research. They find out what the public want and frequently attend shows and exhibitions to find out this information. The marketing department launch and promote new models by getting funding with companies who will then advertise for Peugeot. Dealer operations This department establishes the development of the distribution channels in the United Kingdom. Parts and services This department handles everything to do with the after sale of the cars. They train people to fix any problems that may go wrong when a car is bought so that the owner has high sa...

What Are the Ivy League Schools Acceptance Rates for 2018

What Are the Ivy League Schools' Acceptance Rates for 2018 SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The eight schools in the Ivy League are among the most well-known and selective universities, both within and outside of the U.S. Because of this, Ivy League (and similarly selective non-Ivy) schools have tens of thousands of students from whom to choose their class of 2023. But what are Ivy League schools' acceptance rates, and how have those rates changed over time? In this analysis, we'll look at Ivy League admissions, from the number of applicants to the number of students who ultimately end up attending. In addition to the eight Ivy League schools (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, UPenn, and Yale), we'll also consider eight equally selective non-Ivy League national universities: Caltech, Duke, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Northwestern, Stanford, UChicago, and Vanderbilt. Ivy League Schools: Acceptance Rate Averages and Range So what's the most recent data on undergraduate Ivy acceptance rates? We've sleuthed out this information for you and compiled it into a chart below. School # Applied # Admitted % Admitted Stanford 47451 2071 4.4% Harvard 42749 1962 4.6% Columbia 40203 2214 5.5% Princeton 35370 1941 5.5% Yale 35308 2229 6.3% MIT 21706 1464 6.7% Caltech* 7339 568 7.7% Brown 35437 2718 7.7% UChicago 32291 2329 7.2% Northwestern 40426 3392 8.4% UPenn 44491 3731 8.4% Duke 37302 3097 8.3% Dartmouth 22033 1925 8.7% Vanderbilt 34299 3050 8.9% Johns Hopkins 29129 2894 9.9% Cornell 51324 5448 10.6% Average (Overall) 36635 2698 7.4% Average (Ivies) 38364 2771 7.2% *Caltech has not released its 2018 data as of this article's publication, so we've used 2017 data here. As you can see from the chart, the Ivy League and non-Ivy League schools are neck-in-neck as far as applicants, admitted students, and admission percentages go. For lowest 2018 acceptance rate, non-Ivy Stanford (with a 4.4% acceptance rate) just barely beat out Harvard (with a 4.6% acceptance rate). On the other end of the spectrum, the Ivy League school with the highest acceptance rate is Cornell (10.6 % undergraduate acceptance rate overall), which is just slightly more than the school with the next-highest rate, non-Ivy Johns Hopkins (9.9%). When it comes to Ivy League admissions, though, last year's acceptance rates are just a peek into the process. To predict what trends are going to look like for this coming admissions season, we need more data. Ivy League Admissions: 2014-2018 A disclaimer before we dive in: it's true that past admission rates aren't necessarily a sure-fire guarantee of what admissions rates will be like in the future for Ivy League (and other top-tier) schools. Cornell might decide that it wants to decrease its class sizes, causing its admissions rates to suddenly plummet; alternatively, students might decide they don't want to apply to any schools with frat scenes, which would cause Ivy League admissions rates to spike. But putting the unknowns of the future aside, it's still helpful to look at Ivy League admissions trends over the last five years to get some idea of what to expect for this admissions season. We've graphed the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 admissions rates for Ivy League and similarly-competitive national universities below. Data for 2018 comes from sources linked in chart; data for 2014-2017 comes from schools' publicly available Common Data Sets or equivalent school pages. Admissions rates overall have trended downwards since 2014, with top schools becoming more and more selective. Based on the data we've collected, this trend is largely due to more students applying to schools, rather than schools accepting fewer students per year. You can see how the number of applicants to each school has increased at roughly the same rate as acceptance rates have gone down in the graph below: Data for 2018 comes from sources linked in chart; data for 2014-2017 comes from schools' publicly available Common Data Sets or equivalent school pages. Just by eyeballing the graph above, it's clear that for most schools, the number of applicants 2014-2018 increased and so the acceptance rates decreased. The data from the last five years also make it pretty clear that the decrease in acceptance rates is not at all caused by schools accepting fewer and fewer students each year. As the graph below shows, most Ivy-level schools have stable or even increased class sizes over time. Data for 2018 comes from sources linked in chart; data for 2014-2017 comes from schools' publicly available Common Data Sets or equivalent school pages. Pay attention in particular to the flatness of the dotted lines showing the average number of students admitted overall and to Ivy League schools in particular. Aside from Cornell, Northwestern, and Johns Hopkins, every other school on the graph admitted either around the same number of students over the course of five years. By looking not just at Ivy League college acceptance rates over time, but also at the raw numbers of applicants and admitted students, it's clear that there's not a whole lot of variation in how many students Ivy League schools are accepting each year. Most of what's making Ivy-caliber schools more and more selective is the increased volume of students applying. There's one final piece of the puzzle to discuss, though, and that is each school's yield, or the percent of accepted students who decide to enroll at a college. Not that kind of yield. Ivy League Undergraduate Enrollment In the Ivy League admissions game, there are two main factors that schools care about. We already discussed one aspect of admissions to top-tier national universities, which is admissions rates (which depend on the number of applicants and number of students admitted). The lower the admission rate, the more selective the school is seen as being (which leads to schools being higher-ranked, which leads to more people knowing about those schools and applying to them, which leads to lower admission rates...and so on). Besides acceptance rates, the main other factor Ivy-level schools care about is their yield, or how many of the students admitted end up enrolling. Schools want their yield to be high because it demonstrates that students really want to attend their schools. More desirable schools end up ranked higher, which drives more high-achieving students to apply to the schools, which allows the schools to have their pick of applicants. Yield also informs acceptance rates. Based on years of admissions data, schools know almost exactly how many students they need to admit to get the class size that they want. The difference between knowing almost exactly how many students will enroll and the exact number is the reason for waitlists: if more students decline admission than expected, schools still need to fill their incoming freshman class. As a general rule, the lower a school's yield, the higher its acceptance rate. This usually happens because schools with lower yields need to admit more students (AKA have a higher acceptance rate), since a lower percentage of those accepted will attend. So how does this play out in the Ivy League Plus admissions field? While Ivy acceptance rates don't vary a huge amount (from Harvard's 4.5% to Cornell's 10.6% in 2018), the yield rates of Ivy League schools vary quite a great deal. Let's look at a chart of the yield for all students enrolling in Ivy League-caliber universities Fall 2017 (since the data for Fall 2018 hasn't been released by all schools yet). School % Admitted # Admitted # Attending Yield Stanford 4.7% 2085 1703 81.7% Harvard 5.2% 2037 1687 82.8% Columbia 6.1% 2263 1405 62.1% Princeton 6.4% 1990 1306 65.6% Yale 6.9% 2285 1579 69.1% MIT 7.2% 1452 1097 75.6% Caltech 7.7% 568 235 41.4% Brown 8.5% 2779 1639 59.0% UChicago 8.7% 2419 1740 71.9% Northwestern 9.2% 3442 1903 55.3% UPenn 9.3% 3757 2456 65.4% Duke 9.8% 3261 1748 53.6% Dartmouth 10.3% 2093 1217 58.1% Vanderbilt 10.9% 3415 1607 47.1% Johns Hopkins 11.8% 3133 1349 43.1% Cornell 12.7% 5962 3349 56.2% Average 8.5% 2684 1626 61.7% Average Ivies 8.2% 2896 1830 64.8% Note: Data in table is for freshmen who started college Fall 2017. Unlike the mere six-percent range of Ivy League Plus acceptance rates, the yield rates for Ivy League Plus schools range from the lowest yield rate, Caltech's 41.4%, to the doubly-high yield rate (82.8%) of Harvard. In other words, in Fall 2017, relative to the number of students admitted, more than twice as many first-year students enrolled at Harvard as at Caltech. Because Harvard's admission rate is a couple of percentage points lower than Caltech (and because Harvard has a liberal arts undergraduate program, while Caltech is an engineering school), it makes sense that there would be a difference in yield rate between the two schools. However, there are still some pretty startling gaps between school yield rates, even for schools with similar acceptance rates and academic focuses. For instance, MIT (8.3% admitted) had a yield of 72.7%, while Caltech (8.8% admitted) had a yield of 41.4%. Are these trends consistent over time? Let's look at yield over the last five years for these same schools. Data for 2018 comes from sources linked in chart; data for 2014-2017 comes from schools' publicly available Common Data Sets or equivalent school pages. Overall, for most of these top 16 schools, yield rate has gone up over the last few years. This indicates that not only are schools accepting fewer students each year, but more students are also accepting the offers of admission they can get. However, unlike acceptance rate (which is very much within the control of the school), how many students decide to enroll after being admitted is much more dependent on the attitudes of the students admitted. Yield can be affected by factors as clearly related to enrollment as financial aid packages or as seemingly tangential to enrollment as a public exposà © of a school's toxic social atmosphere. To make their yields more predictable, most top universities (including all the ones mentioned in this article) have some kind of early admissions policy (whether it's early decision, restrictive early action, or just plain ol' early action). In the next section, we'll discuss how schools nail down their yields through these early admissions programs. Want to get into Harvard or your personal top choice college? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. Yield and Early Admissions at Top Universities Looking at applicant numbers over the years, it's clear that Ivy League schools aren't suffering from lack of choice when it comes to their applicant pool. While it's true that better-qualified applicants tend to apply early, there's no doubt that any of the sixteen schools we've mentioned in this article could get rid of their early admissions program this year and still be able to fill their class of 2023 with eminently qualified students. However, in addition to netting schools high-qualified candidates, early admissions programs also have the distinct benefit of boosting a school's yield. Having binding early decision programs mean that before regular admissions starts, schools can be assured that they've already met anywhere from 20-35% of their yield goals. This early admissions yield boost can even carry over for schools which offer non-binding admission programs, also known as early action programs. For example, in 2018, 56.8% of freshman who enrolled in Harvard were early admit students. The chart below shows early admission stats for students applying Fall 2017. Schools with non-binding early admission programs (AKA early action programs) are italicized. School Early Applied Early Admitted Early Admit % Total Admitted Total Admit % Stanford 750 2071 4.4% Harvard 6630 964 14.5% 1962 4.6% Columbia 4085 2214 5.5% Princeton 5402 799 14.8% 1941 5.5% Yale 5733 842 14.7% 2229 6.3% MIT 9571 664 6.9% 1464 6.7% Brown 3502 738 21.1% 2718 7.7% Northwestern 4049 1072 26.5% 3392 8.4% UPenn 7074 1312 18.5% 3731 8.4% Duke 4090 875 21.4% 3097 8.3% Dartmouth 2270 565 24.9% 1925 8.7% Johns Hopkins 2037 610 29.9% 2894 9.9% Cornell 6325 1549 24.5% 5448 10.6% Average* 5064* 895* 19.8%* 2698 7.4% Average (Ivies) 5128 967** 19.0%** 2771 7.2% *for all schools reporting data. Caltech, UChicago, and Vanderbilt are omitted due to lack of data.**for all Ivies except Columbia As you can see from this chart, early admission acceptance rates for these highly selective schools are double, or even triple, those for students applying regular decision (or deferred after early admission). The takeaway from this is that if you're a "borderline" admissions case, early admission might make the difference between being accepted and rejected. A note of caution: early decision and early action admission rates being higher than regular admission rates are more a reflection of qualified students deciding they want to apply early than schools admitting students because they applied early. If you're just applying to a school as a shoot the moon kind of chance, you're not going to get admitted just because you applied early instead of regular decision. However, if you're "borderline" in some way (e.g. your test scores aren't at the 75th percentile, or your GPA isn't quite where you'd want it to be, but you're otherwise qualified), applying early will give you your best shot at getting admitted to Ivy League Plus schools. 5 Tips to Boost Your Ivy League Admissions Chances So far, we've gone through the hard data of Ivy League schools' acceptance rates and yields over time, analyzed trends, and discussed why schools care about these admissions metrics. Moving from the abstract to the concrete, we'll now give you five tips for how to increase your chances of getting into one of the elite national universities we discussed in this article. Tip 1: Show Your Passion in Your Application Ideally, your college application will tell a story about what kind of student you have been (and suggest what kind of student you will be). As PrepScholar co-founder Allen Cheng writes in his article on how to get into Harvard and the Ivy League, highly selective national universities care more that you demonstrate your passion for one subject than your ability to be well-rounded. Rather than aiming for diversity within each student, Ivy League-caliber schools aim for diversity among students. Practically speaking, this means that instead of showing elite universities that you can do anything and everything well enough, you need to show them that you can do a few things really well and are really interested in those things. Tip 2: Aim for High Test Scores and a Standout High School GPA Universities who regularly receive a high volume of applications use standardized test scores (mostly SAT/ACT) and GPA as filters to decide which applications to even read through at all. Going through tens of thousands of applications is simply not practical when the majority of students are submitting their applications early January and expect to hear back by mid- to late-March. Even Caltech, with its ~7,500 applications, would have to go through roughly 80 applications a day between the date applications are due and when students get notified. When you consider the existence of non-workdays and the fact that admissions officers "need sleep because they're not undead," it makes sense that schools use test scores and GPAs as filters. Yes, it hurts to feel like you're being reduced down to a few numbers. But on the other hand, that means that there are a few clear indicators of success that you can aim for. Tip 3: Take Rigorous Courses Related to Your Interests Highly selective schools care almost as much about what classes you take as about how well you do in them. This doesn't mean that you have to take every difficult course in your school, but you should take the most rigorous courses that fit in with the narrative of your application. For instance, if you're applying to schools with the narrative that you're a math nerd who loves working on solving p vs np in her spare time, schools will look a little askance at you if you're taking the easiest math and physics courses at your school, even if you're taking advanced English or History classes. A real-life example of this is a high-school friend of mine, M, who took rigorous courses in all subjects throughout high school, including AP Calculus BC in junior year. When M got to her senior year, she had a choice of taking AP Statistics (the only other math class available to her) or Film and Media Studies, which was a non-honors level English class that involved analyzing films. Because M was so deeply passionate about film (she'd started a film club at our school), she decided to take the non-honors English class instead of a math class senior year. Now, granted, she still was taking AP Spanish, AP Bio, AP Macroeconomics, and AP English Lit, so she was still pursuing advanced coursework in the areas that interested her (and ended up taking the equivalent of two English classes); however, the fact remains that M didn't take a math class senior year...and still got accepted early decision to UPenn. To figure out what advanced coursework makes sense for you (and what is unnecessary), we strongly recommend reading our blog articles on what and how many APs Ivy League schools require and what high school classes in general Ivy League schools like to see on students' transcripts. Tip 4: Strive for Quality, Not Quantity in Your Extracurriculars Just as you should focus your academic rigor in the areas that most interest you, you should also focus your extracurricular time on the activities that match up best with your interests. When it comes to non-academic activities (music, sports, community service, and so on), you want to aim for quality over quantity and dedication over broadness. Even if you don't end up pursuing the interests you had in high school in colleges, showing that you are capable of focus and dedication to excellence in a particular area will help your college application. Consider the following two hypothetical students. Candidate A participated in Math Olympiad in your school for one year and in math club a different year. Colleges are not likely to find this super inspiring, even if the student has excelled in her math classes otherwise. On the other hand, consider Candidate B, who was captain of her high school fencing team for two years (after two years on the team). Even if this student doesn't go on to fence in college, the fact that she was willing to put the time and energy into sticking with the same thing for four years (and took a leadership role as captain for two of those years) makes her a better candidate than candidate A. Tip 5: Ensure All Parts of Your Application Are Top-Notch While test scores, GPA, course rigor, and extracurriculars are usually the most important factors for applications to Ivy League or other top-tier national universities, you can still affect your chances with stand-out letters of recommendation, personal statements, and application supplements or portfolios. A strong letter of recommendation from a teacher who's seen you grow as a student, a well-written personal statement that reveals something not evident elsewhere in your application, or an impressive portfolio of work (whether oil paintings or web apps) give schools more points of data for whether or not they should accept you. This admissions officer cannot believe how secure the web apps you've developed are. Or he's floored by the fact that you can levitate your computer. Either way, impressive! What's Next? Now that you've had a look at the admission rates for these elite universities, you might be wondering what kind of test scores you need to get in. We tell you what good scores are for Ivy League schools plus MIT, Stanford, and UChicago here. You know how these schools compare acceptance- and yield-wise, but what about across other dimensions like student satisfaction and graduation outcomes? Find out what our current Ivy League Rankings are and what those rankings really mean in this article. If you're a student athlete, your path into top-tier colleges might be slightly different from what we've described in this article. Learn more about Ivy League athletic recruiting in this article. Looking for a detailed guide on how to be one of the ≠¤10% accepted to Ivy League Plus schools? Read PrepScholar co-founder Allen Cheng's reflections on his college application and tips for how you can get into Harvard and other Ivy League-level schools. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Marketing Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Analysis - Assignment Example Nevertheless, the discussion of the assignment endeavours to identify the key elements of marketing mix approach by analysing these and provides effective recommendations in relation to the primary objective of commencing bicycle shop in the growing market of Oxford. The overview of the current bicycle shop business industry in the UK has long been witnessed to attain major growth since the preceding few decades. In relation to the emerging trends, the bicycle business industry in the UK has been apparently witnessed to accomplish 8.5% growth in the year 2012 (Reed Business Media, 2013). In the context of size, the cycling market of Oxford is noted to gain continuous development especially across the locations adjacent to the universities and other educational areas (Farrelly, 2014). According to the recent observation of the market, the size of the cycling market in Oxford is mainly covered by a wide range of demographics including the income level, gender along with current social status of the customers (Grous, 2011). Correspondingly, the emerging trend of using bicycle by the students and other customer groups in an immense manner is also noted to ensure a major opportunity for the marketers to successfully attain their desired commercial goals (Association of the European Two-Wheeler Parts’ Accessories’ Industry, 2012; Transport for London, 2010). It is worth mentioning that the aspects including strong social inclusion and greater focus on environmental protection related interests of the customers can be duly regarded as the major external environment factors leading to increase the demand of bicycle in Oxford (Nielsen, 2010). The recent trend regarding the use of bicycle in Oxford has been viewed to experience continuous development. In relation to an in-depth observation, it is evident that the city of Oxford along with its surrounding areas are experiencing continuous growth due to the usage of bicycles for different purposes. The

Critically assess the relevance of Marxist theory to the study of Essay

Critically assess the relevance of Marxist theory to the study of media texts - Essay Example Moore looks into the presidency of George W. Bush and analyzes the future of the country in the light of his policies and actions. Moore alleges that Bush family had long-term business relationship with the Saudi royalty and the family of bin Ladens. Bush and his inner circle avoided pursuing the Saudi connection to 9/11, despite the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis and Saudi money had allegedly funded Al Qaeda (Fahrenheit 9/11). Fahrenheit 9/11 shows how a nation is kept in constant fear by FBI alerts and ultimately lulled into accepting the USA Patriot Act, that according to the film infringes on basic civil rights further adding that it is in this atmosphere of "confusion, suspicion and dread" that the Bush Administration "invades" Iraq. Fahrenheit 9/11 shows clips of the war to highlight the US casualties and the human cost to individual soldiers and their families thus invoking anti-state feelings within the armed forces. The core narrative of Fahrenheit 9/11 paraphrased from various reviews on the film: the Bush administration seize... ure the world's second largest reservoir of oil-all on the dubious grounds that Saddam Hussein was behind Al Qaeda's attack on World Trade Centre and his regime which possessed weapons of mass destruction posed a serious threat to the security of the United States and its Western allies. Fahrenheit 9/11 has been one of the most controversial and provocative documentary films since 2004 when it was released in the United States and worldwide. It seems to have borrowed the title and inspiration from Ray Bradbury's fiction novel "Fehrenheir 451" published in 1953. The thrust of the novel is towards highlighting the major concerns of the 1950s such as McCarthyite witch-hunt against communists , burning of books in Nazi Germany; Soviet leader Stalin's suppression of writers and books and the horrifying consequences of a nuclear weapon on the fictional town of Phoenix. Fahrenheit 451 belongs to George Orwell's "Big Brother" genre which is not exactly a Marxist comment on the society but a reflection of Western liberal thought. One may argue that Bush comes out in the film as the main protagonist, however, in its over all impact the film, wittingly or unwittingly, shuns narrative structure of story-telling that is the hallmark of the Hollywood style of film-making. Vertov and his colleagues believed both in the absolute ability of the cinema apparatus to reproduce reality as it actually appears and in the necessity of editing to arrange this reality into an expressive and persuasive whole. This doctrine, called by Vertov kino-glaz ("cinema-eye"), contributed significantly to the montage aesthetics which came to dominate the Soviet cinema after 1924. (Cook, 1996 p.134) Fahrenheit 911 does not use a protagonist or a narrative and uses a format which is more associated with the

Management Accounting Change Essay Example for Free

Management Accounting Change Essay Describe the ‘Challenge of Management Accounting Change’ in light of recent research findings and discuss, how can this change help an organisation, in getting its strategic, tactical and operating objectives? Management accounting change and the continuously changing roles of management accountants have dominated accounting literature for the past few decades and the theme of management accounting change procedures has been a topical issue of many studies such as Baines and Langfield-Smith, 2003; Kapla, 1985 and Granlund and Lukka, 1998, just to name a few. In order to understand the relationship between a firms strategy and objectives with its management accounting systems, it is necessary to first define the latter. The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) define Management Accounting as the process of identification, measurement, accumulation, analysis, preparation, interpretation and communication of information used by management to plan, evaluate and control within an entity and to assure appropriate use of and accountability for its resources. Management accounting also comprises the preparation of financial reports for non-management groups such as shareholders, creditors, regulatory agencies and tax authorities. It is important to explore the extent to which management and strategic concerns are driven by accounting practices, and also how accounting practices are mediated by the views that managers have of the role of accounting (Burns et. al, 1999). Changes in Management Accounting can be viewed as an inevitable process, and they are also intrinsically interlinked to not only changes in a firms strategy, but also with environmental changes. Both internal and external changes in our economic and business environment are the dominating factors in the change of management accounting practices within organisations. This view that change is inevitable has been supported by Kaplan (1985), where he details the change as a cause-effect relationship. In short, management accounting systems have to change whenever there is any sort of change in an organisations business or economic environment. Organizational change is frequently a response to environmental change; such as changes in competition, or changes in laws and legislation. So if Management Accounting change occurs due to organizational change, it is important to note the indirect link between environmental change and management accounting change (Burns et. al, 1999). Wijewardena and De Zoysa (1999) support this idea by detailing that the success of an organisations strategy can be determined by how quickly and effectively management accountants can adapt to their systems to ever changing environmental and economic conditions, thereby supporting the link between management accounting practices and the business environment. It is fair to state that there are a number of factors that can influence change in management accounting and these factors are both internal and external. A research project on management accounting change in the UK, that was funded by CIMA and the Economic and Social Research Council was conducted between 1995 and 1998 by Burns et. al (1999). The study aimed to investigate changes in management accounting systems, the changing role of management accountants and the adoption of modern accounting techniques. The study initially sought to settle the claim that management accounting had not changed in more than 60 years (Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). The initial stages of the research found that management accounting practices use traditional accounting systems and modern techniques such as Activity-Based Costing and Strategic Management Accounting were not being used as much as expected. One reason for management accounting changes is the general economic factors such as the globalisation of markets. Changes in technology are another key factor, especially changes in information systems and methods of production. It is in this context that changes in management accounting have taken place. Changes in information technology have allowed for accounts and information to be dispersed around the organisation and managers have a more profound and hands on role within a firm. This in turn indefinitely has an impact on how objectives are met and how strategies and tactics are implemented to achieve, said objectives. This has led to a decentring of accounting knowledge, meaning that it is not only specified accountants who have knowledge of a company’s accounts, but also managers and their subordinates. This gives managers a greater ownership of information and it also means that they have to have an increased knowledge of accounting systems. Ezzamel (1997) states that a lack of change in accounting practices is presented as being not only detrimental to business interests but also threatening to corporate survival. However we must also look at external environmental factors and how they affect management accounting systems. A definition stated by Macy and Arunachalam (1995) define an external environment as a phenomenon that is external and have either potential or actual influence on organisations. However we must reiterate the fact that organisations of no control whatsoever over external factors. It is in an organisations best interest to take any external factors that could affect their operations, into consideration and to recognise them for their long term survival. External factors create a lot of uncertainty for firms. This uncertainty means that companies have to learn to adapt to sudden changes in external environmental business factors. Research by Mia and Patiar (2001) show that organisations must have more refined management accounting practices in order to operates successfully in uncertain business environments. There are also a number of views that contradict the idea that management accounting systems are directly influenced by external environmental factors. The idea of uncertainty, according to Chapman (1997), can be linked to internal factors as well as external factors. More research shows that external factors affecting management accounting can be dealt with in the way internal managers and accountants actually perceive the external variables. Despite the vast amount of advantages to management accounting and organizational change, there are also downsides to such changes. Burns, Scapens and Ezzamel (1999), show that accounting change can challenge existing routines and institutions within an organisation. This can then lead to conflict and resistance within employees, managers and perhaps even board members. Goal congruence may disappear, and an organisations strategy to achieve objectives may be hindered with the lack of an aligning view from all the members who have succumbed to the initial accounting change. Burns et al. (1999) also state that it can be a difficult process for previous systems to be unlearned. A major role for management accounting systems is to motivate behaviours of employees and managers in line with the desires of the organisation as a whole. A great problem is that many managers try to implement new accounting systems without taking into consideration the behavioural implications and consequences of employees with regards to these systems. The lack of goal congruence and effective communication can lead to low motivation and dysfunctional behaviour of employees. A change in an existing system will reduce employees’ knowledge and skill thereby affecting the effectiveness to achieve company objectives. Implementation of new techniques has to be orchestrated with great care and communicated thoroughly throughout the organisation. Accounting practices and emerging routines can be said to be institutionalised when they become widely accepted in the organisation such that they become the unquestionable form of management control. In which case, they are an inherent feature of the management control process, and represent expected forms of behaviour and define the relations between the various organisational groups (Burns and Scapens, 2000). Burns et. al study of CHEM, a small chemicals manufacturer showed that a change in the accounting and organisational systems had little impact on the company as a whole and it did not change their previous ways of thinking. This led to conflict between individual members of the chemical manufacturing company. Later, the new accounting systems were scrapped as they offered little benefits to the company; there had been very little change in the routines, institutions and systems of the firm. There are also claims that management accounting does not always change or respond to environmental or business changes. For example Kaplan (1984) suggests that despite significant changes to the business environment, such as increased competition and continuous changes in technologies and production processes, there has been no signicant changes in management accounting to match since 1925. Research conducted by Horngren (1995) and Burns et. al (1999) show that firms still tend to use traditional management accounting methods instead of adopting new techniques such as ABC. It is also important to note that their has also been a lack of implementation of non-financial measures such as Total Quality Management, Strategic Management Advice or Internal Financial Presentation and Communication. The absences of modern accounting methods support the claim that there is indeed in some cases little change within organisations from traditional accounting systems to new techniques. It is a difficult process to draw a set conclusion on the effectiveness of management accounting change. It is evident that there are vast pools of research both supporting the idea that management accounting hange is beneficial in aiding an organisations strategy but there is an equal amount of research to support the idea that change in accounting systems is derogatory to the success and progress of a business. It is fair to say that further external factors can determine how successful accounting change can be for a firm. For example we must take into account cultural and political factors of the country a particular organisation resides in to fully understand the implications of strategic, and management accounting change. It is impossible to apply findings from research to every company, because in short, every company is different; be it its strategy, its structure, its ethics or its objectives. We must be liberal in what we determine is successful implementation of management accounting change. The change that has taken place in organisations cannot be pinpointed to solely a change in management accounting systems and techniques but it is in fact the change in how these new systems are used and implemented (Burns et. al 2000) and these changes are more often than not part of wider changes of the organisation as a whole.

The Boardwalk of Santa Cruz Essay -- Observation Essay, Descriptive Ess

The Boardwalk of Santa Cruz "Keifer Sutherland blockbuster Lost Boys filmed on this spot," proclaimed the self-important plaque. It was mounted on a wall along a long flight of log stairs. As I looked back, miles of beach stretched out before me and, across the bay, I could see red, blue, orange lights whirling high above the crowds upon a huge wheel. We made our way back to where the steps met back up with the sidewalk alongside the highway. We were hit by the smell of the city, of the freeways, re-invading our senses. I took one final look back and studied once more the long progression of wooden planks stretching off into the distance. It had been like no place I'd ever experienced. The Boardwalk. Santa Cruz. It was the summer of 2000 and I had moved in with my sister Jana in Santa Cruz, California for the summer. I had taken a 32-hour bus ride to get there and was completely exhausted from it, but Jana wanted to show off her city, so the next day she gave me a tour. She had an apartment right on the beach, and we could go swimming anytime. We went downtown and I took in this unfamiliar environment. The people were so much more diverse than I was used to. Growing up in a town of 280 people in western Colorado does not exactly allow one to experience many types of people. In one glimpse down a street in Santa Cruz, I could see a sampling of the world. People of all colors and creeds wearing turbans, sarongs, and other exotic clothes mixed right in with the type of people I had grown up with. California does not have mental institutions, so most mental patients end up homeless in the streets--another wrinkle to the cloak of humanity of this particular street. I witnessed one man... ...s and blocks of shops, restaurants, bowling alleys, bars and emergency medical stations for those who needed assistance, such as having their stomachs pumped, after a night on the Boardwalk. The people milling about were just as varied as those downtown, if decidedly younger. The beach was filled with rides and volleyball nets all along the coast. We started out in a bowling alley and progressed on to numerous other establishments, including a Falafel place where none of the employees spoke anything but Farsi. As the night wore on and the bars became less and less selective, the night became hazier and hazier. One of the memories that remained in my addled brain the next morning was riding the Ferris wheel high above the crowds and feeling the wondrous ocean breeze coming in. It was one of the most fun nights I had while I was in California.

A Comparative Analysis of Moses

The biblical Moses and the Moses described by Zora Neale Hurston in her book Moses, Man of the Mountain, are both based upon the Exodus story, found in the second book of the Bible.Although the stories are similar in many respects, both concerned with the bondage of a people and their cries for a deliverer, who is found in Moses, the biblical Moses is firmly rooted solely in the Hebraic tradition, following the lead of the patriarchs, Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.Hurston’s Moses, however, although still a Hebrew, has a more universal appeal. He speaks in black colloquialisms, creating an extended analogy that can be linked not to the ancient Hebrews, but also to the oppressed blacks in America, and to the modern Jews who were savagely persecuted by Hitler and Nazism.The Exodus story concerns a male son born to Hebrew slaves. The midwives disobey Pharaoh’s command to kill all male newborns. Moses is hidden only to be discovered by none other than Pharaoh’s own daught er, who then raises him as her own son, who later discovers his   true identity and leads the slaves to freedom.   Moses’ life is divided into forty year segments: forty years in Egypt; forty years on the back side of a mountain; and forty years wandering in the wilderness.In Hurston’s version, more is made about race. The story discusses the idea of a â€Å"people† and their origins to a greater extent. Hurston slants the argument toward the idea of racial origins and perhaps origin more generally as the start of many of the evils of the world. She not only wants to create doubts about Moses’ pure origins, but also about the very concept that was prevalent during 1939 when her book was written: that of racial purity.As an anthropology researcher she understood racial divisions as idealized abstractions, even though they had concrete functions in the real world. Hurston explored race as a cultural creation rather than a biological fact. Her novel assu mes an even greater meaning as Germany, led by Hitler’s theory of eugenics-founded on the idea of racial improvement through selective breeding- started the world war in 1939.In the United States the eugenics movement was related to racist campaigns against European undesirables and blacks. Eugenics was thought to be necessary to produce a great race. Hitler’s goal was a Master race who guarded the purity of their own blood. By keeping race â€Å"pure,† exterminating Jews and Slavs were deemed   essential to that undertaking.(Hurston, introduction xii-xiv).The spectre of Nazism looms over the beginning of Hurston’s novel   as it starts  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   with the act of marking Hebrew male newborns for extinction. Parents, desperate for places to hide their children, become frantic that the police might get tipped off and come execute their child. In fact, Moses’ father is so fearful that he aims to kill the baby himself so that the police won ’t have that chance. Yet despite their terror, Moses’ mother is determined that he lives and hides him. In all this hoopla of extermination, the irony is   that there is plenty of   Hebrew blood in Pharaoh’s family already.â€Å"That is why he wants to kill us off. He is scared someone will come along and tell who his real folks are. The grandmother of Pharaoh was a Hebrew.† ( Hurston, 14).Besides his murder of male infants, Pharaoh is cruel in other ways. He denies citizenship to the Hebrews, relegating them to slavery. Yet in still another act of irony, Pharaoh ends up with a Hebrew grandson in Moses.As he grows older, Moses fights for inclusion of the Hebrews in the Egyptian army. But the Egyptians oppose him, remarking:â€Å"They are not citizens of Egypt, but enemy prisoners, and as such it would bbe rash to put arms into their hands again. Who knows when they might rise up and turn the tables?†

Classism: High School and Social Class Essay

Social class in America is a subject which always has and always will continue to affect our daily lives. The video â€Å"People like us: Social Class in America† offered several depictions of class in the U.S.. The video’s depictions ranged in accuracy in terms of its definition of social classes. However the video itself caused me to realize the great affect social class has on my life as well as the lives of those around me. Classism in the United States is a very big, yet silent prejudice that is continually causing many problems in our society. I have always been affected by the evils of classism in my life. The most brilliant example this, is public schooling. The public school system, especially here in White Plains, provides a mock â€Å"real world† in my eyes. Because White Plains’ schooling is so diverse, it is the perfect habitat for viewing how various classes interact with each other. Some of the observations I’ve made during my years as a pupil in this wonderful, equal opportunity, educational system are as follows: The more well off students always get off. Because of their much concerned and well-to-do parents the worst kid could do the worst thing and always get away with it. However, I find it very interesting that a ragged, dirt smudged Hispanic boy can do that very same thing and end up having to get sent home; causing his mother to take off of her twelve hour minimum wage job to stay at home with him. All the while not knowing what is going on because of the simple fact that she couldnâ €™t speak English. Thank god for mom’s and dad’s . . . . money and image. Another issue that greatly affected my life was how class determined social circles. All throughout my schooling I have seen friends come and go. Even at the early age of seven, it was evident who was richer than whom; solely based on the gifts I received at birthday parties. The kids who gave the cool presents where the rich kids. Those were the kids who never invited you to their parties. They just invited the kids just like them. Those â€Å"rich kids† have held their titles all through high school. They have evolved though; they are now referred to as the â€Å"preps† I find in amusing to see  just how many groups of students or cliques have remained throughout secondary schooling. Each one of these groups is constantly fighting to be noticed, or not noticed in some cases. Every one of them, as subtle as it may be, knows where the other stands in their eyes. The video â€Å"People like us: Social Class in America† depictions’ were very accurate in that they provided a wide spectrum of viewing for the uneducated eye. The video allowed anyone to realize how people in different classes than his or her own are perceived. The video did an especially good job on defining what social class is as well as exhibiting what social classes exist on the high school level. â€Å"People like us†¦Ã¢â‚¬  showed the varying social classes which exist in any high school such as the Geeks, the Jocks, the Preppy girls and boys, the loud Hispanic girls, the loud Black girls, the abrasive and dangerous Black and Hispanic boys, the Goths, the Artsy kids, the Theatre types, the Smart Asians; the list could go on and on. The video hit the nail right on the head. High School is just a conglomeration of cliques who want nothing do with the other based on the unwritten rules of high school hierarchy. It was a real shock to see what some of the students had to say about the others. Some of the comments a particular girl made about â€Å"the kids not like us†, referring to herself, left my mouth gaping wide open. The one thing I noticed above all was that the less sheltered students were a lot more open to others than the ones who had been given everything their entire lives. I believe the video was a good model as to the various characteristics assigned to various classes throughout the world. Class exists in any environment, whether it is school, the workplace, or any social gathering; there will always exist some form of prejudice based on your class. The people on the top of the class ladder create a mold in which they expect all others to follow. Anyone who doesn’t is automatically dubbed an outcast because he or she is different. This is especially true of people of a different race. There is almost a direct relationship between race and class. Ones race almost seems to hold down ones class. You can ask any black or latino well off family how their neighbors truly view them, and you will be shocked. One can be just as rich as the man next to him, but he will  always be dubbed rich†¦for a black man, or rich†¦for a latino. It is a fact among real estate agents that when a minority family moves into an all white neighborhood the actual market value of the surrounding homes drops severely. Why is that? It is because race has a direct relationship with class. Class can only bring you so far. In conclusion, Classism is an ever-present prejudice that most all of us face in our everyday lives. We see it in our schools, places of work as well as ordinary nights out. Classism in the United States is a very big, yet silent prejudice that is continually causing many problems in our society, especially in the ranks of our youth. Videos like â€Å"People like us: Social Class in America† allow us to see classism through lense of the youth of America, informing us of the problems put forth this prejudice. Only by realizing the problem can we step forth and attempt to resolve it.

Free Essays on Natural Evil

â€Å"Natural Evil† â€Å"Natural Evil† refers to injury and suffering caused by diseases, accidents, earthquakes, fires and floods. When seeing these events on the television or hearing them on the radio we either think nothing of it or feel bad for the victim or in most cases the victims. This begs us to ask â€Å"Why do bad things happen to good people?† or if we are unfortunate enough to experience these events firsthand we ask ourselves â€Å"Why?† or Why me?† As human beings, all of us feel that we are good people and that these courses of events are unjust and wrong. This gives us a general notion that bad things really don’t happen to good people, never have and never will. This notion has absolutely no clarity though, because bad things do happen to good people every day. It is these people with this notion that bad things don’t happen to good people that put the blame of tragic events on God’s shoulders. These same people are one’s who faith is threatened when a young boy dies of leukemia but only feel sorrow for a man who dies â€Å"in good old age and full of years.† (Gen 25:8) According to Migliore, it is no more just that a young boy of leukemia than a man die of old age, because as he says it is god’s natural order and not that of â€Å"infinite creatures.† Creaturely life is Transient; it has a beginning and an end (Ps. 90:10). This quote out of psalms states that life is simple you are born and you die. According to Migliore, â€Å" God has created a world in which there is both birth and death, both rationality and contingency, both order and freedom, both risk and venerability.† Migliore uses this to explain natural order. He is explaining that God has no set natural order of death or order in which people die. According to Migliore, it is all freedom; we are in somewhat control of when we die. If you die from lung cancer because you are a smoker that is your own fault, god has no control over it. Na... Free Essays on Natural Evil Free Essays on Natural Evil â€Å"Natural Evil† â€Å"Natural Evil† refers to injury and suffering caused by diseases, accidents, earthquakes, fires and floods. When seeing these events on the television or hearing them on the radio we either think nothing of it or feel bad for the victim or in most cases the victims. This begs us to ask â€Å"Why do bad things happen to good people?† or if we are unfortunate enough to experience these events firsthand we ask ourselves â€Å"Why?† or Why me?† As human beings, all of us feel that we are good people and that these courses of events are unjust and wrong. This gives us a general notion that bad things really don’t happen to good people, never have and never will. This notion has absolutely no clarity though, because bad things do happen to good people every day. It is these people with this notion that bad things don’t happen to good people that put the blame of tragic events on God’s shoulders. These same people are one’s who faith is threatened when a young boy dies of leukemia but only feel sorrow for a man who dies â€Å"in good old age and full of years.† (Gen 25:8) According to Migliore, it is no more just that a young boy of leukemia than a man die of old age, because as he says it is god’s natural order and not that of â€Å"infinite creatures.† Creaturely life is Transient; it has a beginning and an end (Ps. 90:10). This quote out of psalms states that life is simple you are born and you die. According to Migliore, â€Å" God has created a world in which there is both birth and death, both rationality and contingency, both order and freedom, both risk and venerability.† Migliore uses this to explain natural order. He is explaining that God has no set natural order of death or order in which people die. According to Migliore, it is all freedom; we are in somewhat control of when we die. If you die from lung cancer because you are a smoker that is your own fault, god has no control over it. Na...

The Gold Rushes

The Gold Rushes What could be more American than the gold rush? Well, here are four of them. Californias was not the first nor the last. Earlier Gold Rushes While the 1849 Gold Rush is the one we capitalize, it was not the first gold rush. That one happened in North Carolina starting in 1803.  Not even coin collectors may know about that one, because unlike later gold rushes no federal mint was established there at the time. Nevertheless, all of Americas gold coinage from 1804 to 1828 was Carolina gold, shipped to Philadelphia for minting. The next gold rush happened in the hills of Georgia in 1828, in Cherokee country near the town of Dahlonega. A mint was duly established there, and the original D mint mark is found on coins from 1838 to 1861. A gold museum is there today, and historical markers around Lumpkin County point out mine after extinct mine. Another mint opened in Charlotte at this time to serve the mature gold mines of the Carolinas. The California Gold Rush Were all taught that early in 1848, on the 24th of January, James Marshall found gold nuggets in the flume of the water-driven mill he was building in Coloma, California Territory. The news took a while to build steam, but once it did California was swiftly transformed, and the Forty-Niner entered the worlds folklore. The Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park site has a good summary of the events of that day. There were parallels between Georgia and California. Hordes of outsiders poured in, stripped the land of the easy gold, and pushed out the original inhabitants. Soon the romantic- and destructive- prospectors and panners gave way to organized mining firms, which won the bulk of the wealth. A federal mint was established in both states to turn the gold dust into legal tender- Dahlonegas turned out gold coinage with the D mint mark until the Civil War began, and San Franciscos still makes specimen coins today with the S mark. (The original San Francisco mint is a cherished landmark building that survived the 1906 earthquake and fire, safeguarding its supply of money and helping fund the recovery.) Later Gold Rushes Lesser gold rushes over the next half-century left their traces elsewhere in the American West, in Nevada, Oregon, Colorado and Utah. The Colorado gold rush began in 1859, and many former Forty-Niners, themselves former twenty-eighters, set up diggings there. More natives were displaced, and another mint arose in Denver (again with the D mark) that still operates today. Some old coins bear a CC from the short-lived mint in Carson City, Nevada, which was not just a gold rush but a silver rush. But the classic gold rush ended with the turn of the century, starting in 1898 in the Klondike district of the Canadian Yukon and neighboring Alaska. This is the one that Charlie Chaplin reenacted in the movie The Gold Rush. Modern mining companies moved in quicker than ever, and the days of amateur gold hunters striking it rich ended. (North Ontarios major gold rush in 1910, for instance, was a fast-moving corporate affair.) By Chaplins time, just a generation later, history had become farce. Instead, gold-rush history has become a kind of pay dirt, and sites all over the Web serve up choice nuggets about the Klondikes glory days. Today the real money in gold belongs to serious miners, guided by serious geologists. Thus geology, the most practical science, creates the worlds wealth, and that is why the seal of the U.S. Geological Survey features mining tools. Some companies still work the old gold-rush grounds, but most of the diggings are anonymous waste lands today. PS: Many gold rush localities are fondly maintained today as attractive destinations for visitors and tourists. Try these: Columbia, CaliforniaCoos Canyon, MaineKlondike, AlaskaOld Sacramento, CaliforniaSkagway, AlaskaWickenburg, Arizona

Argument Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Argument Analysis - Assignment Example moted to write the article by the heavy persuasion from his followers, who emphasized that Santiago could be right, which would see him reconsider his previous position (Ebert 1). The article takes on a debate which has featured in other article, including â€Å"Sorry MoMA, Video games are not art† which was published in the guardian online magazine (Jones 1). However, the author was prompted to write the article, mainly, by the response of game producer Santiago and the attention offered to the issue by his followers and audience. For that reason, the article is directed towards clearing Santiago’s criticism, as well as offering his audience, more information about his position on the issue (Ebert 1). The common experience among the target audience is that they are art and Video game enthusiasts, and in their view, video games are as interactive as traditional art. For that reason, it is possible that they hold a biased view of the issue, mainly because the audience a nd Santiago are all presenting personal views of art and games. Through authoring the article, the author hopes to clear the air about the issue, therefore communicating the rationales behind his statements that video games are not art (Ebert 1). The author of the article, Robert Ebert has worked in the area of critiquing film for the Chicago Sun-Times starting 1967. Through his career, he has been recognized by the Hollywood walk of fame, awarded a star and pointed out as an â€Å"honorary member of the Directors guild of America† (Ebert [b] 1). The author’s occupation is film critic, screenwriter and journalist; therefore his strong background in the field qualifies him to be a noteworthy writer on the topic. His entry into the field of journalism during his early years qualified him to grow into a highly experienced film and art critic. The author’s political inclination was neutral, and that was evident from his emphasis that his kindness insulates all his political beliefs (Ebert [b]