Has the US lost the plot in Latin America Essay

Has the US lost the plot in Latin America - Essay Example He is described as one of the most important intellectuals of our time. "US Perspectives and Foreign Policy in Latin America" homes in on the Heritage Foundation. Wikipedia describes Heritage's stated mission as to: "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense." "Venezuelan "Bolivarian Revolution" and Bolivia's "Movement Towards Socialism" lays down the ideological basis of the emerging economic models of both Bolivia and Venezuela. The Power and Interest News Reports (PINR) [url: http://www.pinr.com/ ] was chosen as the main source for its largely unbiased views. "Left versus Left'" offers glimpses of how a radical socialist criticizes other avowed leftists or center-left politicians. James Petras, a Latin American expert and self-described "revolutionary and anti-imperialist" activist and writer, was chosen for his controversial views and mastery of Marxist political economy. "Prognosis" lays down the conclusions of the main themes: (1) "Does the rise of left wing presidents in Latin America represent a threat to the US," (2) "Focus with a case study of Bolivia; the rise of anti neo liberal leaders - could they combine to create an alternative model for development Compare to empirical evidence and the rise of populism in the past;" and (3) "Examining the prospects of an 'alternative' to capitalism; the search for a non dependent model is back on the agenda because of the wave of anti American feeling and the rise of relations for example between Brazil and China." Has the U.S. lost the plot in Latin America "There is trouble ahead for Uncle Sam in his own backyard. Big trouble. It is one of the most important and yet largely untold stories of our world in 2006. George W Bush has lost Latin America. " -- British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), April 2006 1 I. Introduction The BBC, the world's largest broadcasting corporation, ran a series on Latin America early this year. The BBC asserted that while the U.S. government has been busy implementing its war against terrorism in Iran and Afghanistan, its relations with Latin America turned sour, from Mexico down to Peru. Strong anti-American feelings, or what one Peruvian leader called "the neo-liberal economic model that has failed to benefit our nation", converted into a string of electoral victories by what the West perceives as left-leaning governments. 2 A "leftward" drift is apparent in Latin America's southern hemisphere since the start of the decade. In Venezuela, leftist Hugo Chavez garnered 56.93% of the votes in 30 July 2000. In Brazil, center-Left Luis Inacio LULA da Silva won 61.27% in the second round of elections in October 27, 2002. In Argentina, left-leaning Nestor Kirchner was sworn in as president on May 25, 2003 to a four-year term of office after his rival, Carlos Menem, decided

RED BULL COLA CASE STUDY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

RED BULL COLA CASE STUDY - Essay Example The fast changing socio-economic paradigms and advancing technology has tremendously changed the dynamics of market strategies. In the contemporary times, the customer has become much more informed and technology has provided him with more options within the similar product lines, but produced by different companies. UK market is one such market where the companies face cut throat competition. In such a highly competitive environment, Red Bull needs to base the market segmentation according to psycho-demographic pattern so as to maximise the initial impact and create a creditable position within the UK market. Psycho-demographic is chosen as the focus area primarily because of the fact that the competition within the industry demands a creation of a niche market for Red Bull cola to become a success. Red Bull cola faces stiff competition from the already established brands like Pepsi and Cola Cola. Psychographic or lifestyle pattern categorises the market according to which people exhibit a well defined way of living, maintaining a set of standard and displaying a typical purchasing behaviour. Since Red Bull has already a dominant market position in the energy drinks, launching of its Cola version would become easier within this particular market segment as it has many differentiating elements in its cola product which can be easily promoted within this group. Provide better tool to develop strategies and make significant inroad into the UK market for non alcoholic Red Bull Cola. Of the various demographic characteristics, the most useful would be the income and age-wise identification of the group that could be targeted through intense media blitz and other market techniques to attract them and make them a committed user and purchaser. The mixed segmentation is hugely popular in the contemporary times and gives a big

Social and Ethical Responsibility: New Belgium Brewery

Social and Ethical Responsibility: New Belgium Brewery Introduction How do we judge if a company is good or bad? There are many ways that can be used to define greatness. The company might pay out high dividends to investors or the company may have a huge net income on its monthly yearly statements. Really there is an endless amount of ways to judge how good or bad a company is doing, but probably one of the most critical ways to decide if a company is first-class is how ethically and socially responsible the company is. One such company that not only meets these standards but exceeds them is New Belgium brewery. In the following case study we will answer the following questions, how would you describe operations management at new Belgium, why is it important to engage employees in ownership to enhance quality and efficiency, what does alternatively empowered mean to you, and do you think New Belgiums focus on environmental responsibility and sustainability in its production process is a major cost or benefit that enhances profits of the company. Aft er reading this case study you will be able to judge for yourself if New Belgium is a great company by meeting its social responsibility be lessening the companys ecological foot print. 1. How would you describe operations management at New Belgium Brewing? New Belgium Brewery has an open book management policy which means that its employees can see the companys financial statements, and can take part in making decisions for the company. New Belgium Brewery provides financial training to its employees, in order for them to understand how to make sense of the business side of business. The employees also have a say in the production of new types of beers that are being introduce to the public. Employee contribution affects the companys profitability, from the different brewed beers they choose to produce to their vote on company projects. In 1995, New Belgium Brewery designed themselves a state of the art custom-built facility. They ensure quality and productivity in their products, and also the efficient and environmentally friendly way the beer is produced at their plant. Quality assurance is critical in operations management, especially when it will be produced in large volumes. It is difficult to maintain a consistent product, but in the brewery employees constantly monitor every step, from receiving the hops, to brewing and finally bottling to ensure the highest possible quality of its product. At New Belgium Brewery their employees expertise, knowledge and their passion helps the companys profitability. By having cutting edge technology implemented in their plants thanks to the vision of the companys management and employees has helped the company to cut costs and also help the environment in the process. 2. Why is it important to engage employees in ownership to enhance quality and efficiency? Employee involvement is creating an environment in which people have an impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs. Employee engagement is not the goal nor is it a tool, as practiced in many organizations including The New Belgium Brewery. At New Belgium Brewery employee engagement is the key ingredient in High Involvement Culture. They consider ideas from over 300 unique perspectives with their coworkers. This helps the Brewery to operate more intelligently while recognizing everyones unique gifts. Forty three percent of New Belgium is owned by the employees through an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). After one year of employment with the company, employees become employee-owners, which give them an interest in the success of the company. Source: Textbook pg 404 New Belgium opens all of the books to employees and provides financial training so people can understand the business of doing business. Trusting each other with this level of detail also helps them to feel appreciated, empowered, and ultimately more fulfilled. Employees have the opportunities to ask questions, provide feedback and share their ideas with one another. Engaged employees create loyal customers who in turn create Bigger Profits. Richard Branson at Virgin says: We embarked on consciously building Virgin into a brand which stood for quality, value, fun and a sense of challenge. We also developed these ideas in the belief that our first priority should be the people who work for the companies, then the customers, then the shareholders. Because if the staffs are motivated then the customers will be happy, and the shareholders will then benefit through the companys success. Sources: www.maganement-issues.com The New Belgium Brewery employees are considered area leaders, and everyone is responsible to ensure that each product is of the highest possible quality and ensuring that quality remains high. In other words, it is very important to New Belgium Brewery to engage employees in ownership to enhance quality and efficiency for the companys success and benefits for everyone who worked hard to improve and growth of the company. 3. a) What does Alternatively Empowered mean to you? What being alternatively empowered means to me is doing activities in a way that minimizes social and environmental impacts by protecting natural resources. For instance activities like reusing and recycling bottles and cans, reducing paper by using e-bills and turning off equipment not in use to save energy, and reduce water by reprocessing and filtering. These three examples reduce costs while allowing them to carry out tasks efficiently and productively. Respecting coworkers and employees is also important, this gives motivation to everyone involved in a business to feel responsible and get involved in their job. Utilizing and preserving natural, technical, human resources by minimizing the costs to ensure quality and progressive results while making any business decisions. Therefore, coming up with quality outcomes in an effective way is what alternatively empowered means to me. b) Comment on New Belgium Beliefs are related to being Environmental Stewards? Todays growing industrialization and development has resulted in pressures on the environment. Therefore its a businesss responsibility to conserve them, New Belgium Strives to care for the planet on which they sustain their business. New Belgiums method of reducing coal-fired electricity prevents air pollution. Burning coal is the leading cause of smoke, acid rain and global warming; most heart and breathing disorders results from coal power. New Belgium supports innovative technology by utilizing their facilities, they have also employed an innovative waste water reclamation plan, and this allows them to use waste water to create some of its own energy. New Belgium also supports involvement of their employees, each employee acts as an owner within their own departments, which contributes to their successful environmental project implementations. c) Utilized Green Design throughout our Building By starting so small, New Belgium was able to be more focused into the quality of the beer and any decisions that needed to be made almost in an instant. But with a lack of resources, their process at the time was not efficient in meeting their demands from consumers. By the time they were able to purchase a new location; they designed a state-of-the-art custom built facility and is considered more efficient than standard brewers. With the new available resource, they were able to increase production efficiently while maintaining the quality their customers expect. Taking advantage of the abundant sunshine in Fort Collins, the company maximizes the amount of light produced by the sun with sun-tubes, UV blocking windows, and light shelves. Using evaporative coolers to condition their 55,000 square foot packaging hall instead of compressors uses less energy which lowers the power consumptions, and in it return reduces costs. Pine beetles kill 98% of their lodge pole pines, so New Belgi um uses the fallen trees as materials for various jobs. Maximizing their productivity, the company can fully utilize their facilities and employ new and innovative technologies such as the waste water reclamation plan, which converts the waste water from the plant into energy that can be used in the factory. With other major brewers already established, the technology New Belgium acquired goes a long way in giving the company an edge over its competitors by lowering their power consumption, reducing their costs, carbon foot print, and being recognized within their community as a green company. d) Wind -Powered Electricity since 1999 Becoming the largest private consumer of wind-powered electricity in 1999, New Belgium made a ten year commitment to buy all of their electricity through the city-sponsored wind program in Colorado. Un-wanted judgment from the community reflexes bad on a company and destroys its reputation so New Belgium goes out of their way and employs wind power as a source of power. Instead of polluting the environment and continuing their commitment, also reducing unnecessary cost and improving efficiency. Sustaining this mandate as a leader in green efficient energy brewers, many other brewers may follow in their carbon free foot prints and continue to grow and expand as a newer, smarter, and greener industry. As a work in progress, there are many other technologies that can be implemented in the business as another step to be more green such as solar panels on the roof from the sun, or capture heat underground as geothermal and reducing their heat bill while staying nice and toasty during the winter times. With much improvements over the years as a green leader in the brewing business, leaving the pollutant past behind and leading the way with a greener future is beneficial for both the industries and consumers. 4. Do you think New Belgiums focus on the environmental responsibility and sustainability in its production process is a major cost or benefit that enhances the profits of the company? New Belgium Brewerys focus on environmental responsibility and sustainability during its production process is a major benefit that enhances the profits of the company. New Belgiums focus on the environment has helped the company grow their customer base as well as their brewery, by using such technologies as wind power, water recapture, turning waste water into energy, energy efficient brew kennels, spent grain going to a local cattle farm, 98% landfill diversion rate, constructing the factory from reclaimed timber, and recapturing steam are among some of the methods New Belgium uses to be environmentally friendly. These choices that New Belgium brewery has made have helped to grow the brewerys clientele. This has been done with much success because of all the attention that is being given to the health of our planet. By being the first brewery to adopt such methods in the United States, New Belgium was able to gain consumers from other more prominent breweries through environmental stewardship, and in turn the customers have given New Belgium their unwavering support. As it turns out going green does cost money, but it actually saves money in the long run, and has made New Belgium extremely profitable. This is obvious from New Belgiums humble beginnings in a basement to its new brewery state of the art brewery; this can also be seen because New Belgium is the third largest craft brewery and ninth largest brewery in the US. New Belgium Brewery has secured its place in the American brewing industry and will continue to gain a loyal following in the future thanks to cutting edge technology, it can produce the highest quality product while at the same time being sustainable. The outcome of this is very big profits Conclusion To wrap things up, New Belgium Brewery is ethically responsible to its employees and socially responsible through its environmental stand point that is instilled in the company from its infancy to maturity. New Belgium is a first-class company by these standards of being ethically and socially responsible as was shown through the management, employee ownership, environmental responsibility sustainability, and earning profits at the same time. Will New Belgium be able to meet and exceed its ethical and social responsibilitys? That remains to be seen, but if New Belgium Brewerys past and present have bearing on the future then the company probably will.

Australia In The Vietnam War :: essays research papers

The only time Australia has come under direct attack from another country, was when Japan bombed Darwin and sunk a number of ships in Sydney, during World War 2. The question then has to be asked, why Australia has been involved in so many conflicts. A number of recent conflicts in this century come to mind, they include, The Boer War, World War One, World War Two and The Vietnam War. By far the conflict that drew the most outrage from Australian citizens was the Vietnam War. Australia has been drawn into these conflicts through a number of treaties and alliances made with other countries. Often it is not the conflicts that have drawn most outrage from Australian citizens, rather the insistence of other countries, for Australia to accept large numbers of post-war refugees. The introduction of conscription into Australia during the Vietnam War, caused much outrage in the Australian public. Vietnam was the first war ever to be properly televised, the public saw for the first time the true brutality of war. The public started to question Australia’s involvement in the war. Moratoriums were held around Australia in protest against conscription and Australia’s involvement in the war. Much of the protesting was done by students and the younger generations, there was still support for the war effort. This was reflected in the November 1966 elections, when there was a landslide victory for the Liberals. Conscription did have an effect on the Liberal governments popularity, a few months after a complete troop withdrawal in 1972 from Vietnam, the Whitlam Labour government replaced the McMahon Liberal government. Historically, one of the influencing factors of the Liberal’s election loss was the Governments choice to get involved in a war that h ad little to do with Australia. Australia’s involvement in Vietnam came about due to the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation(SEATO). Australia was a country involved in SEATO. After Americas request, South Vietnam requested Australia’s help in the Vietnam Conflict. Australia’s involvement in this organisation was an important one, if South-East Asia fell to communism, then it’s northern shores would be vulnerable. Having said this, Australia’s involvement in this conflict was not purely for this reason. Political ambition was a major contributing factor in Australia’s involvement. After all, it was a chance to help one of the most powerful countries in the world out, and this would strengthen Australia’s political alliances with America.

Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov Biography

Lenins political finesse, his understanding of the strength of the peasantry and his rewriting of the communist thought are the characteristics which made Lenin one of the greatest leaders of Russia. Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, was born on April 22, 1870, in Simbirsk, on the bank of the Volga river. Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov, a man with high cheek bones, a dark complexion and dark brown eyes, all of which Lenin inherited, was Lenins father, and was the director of schools in Simbirsk province. Lenins mother, Maria Aleksandrovna Blank, was a woman who was very devoted to her six children who all eventually became evolutionaries, except for one who died before she could follow her siblings. Lenin overall had a good childhood. He liked to play chess, swim, hike, and hunt. Although Lenin had no close friends, he did look up to his brother, Alexander, a great deal. When Lenin entered school in 1879, at the age of 9 he became a brilliant student and this was acclaimed to a teacher who came into the Ulyanov home before Lenin could enter school, and taught him to read by the age of five. During Vladimirs young years Russia was quite quiet, although not for him. In 1886 Lenins father died and in 1887 his rother Alexander, whom Lenin looked up to, was involved in an unsuccessful plot to kill the czar and was hanged for doing so. The death of Alexander came as a great blow to Lenin. About his brothers death Lenin simply said â€Å"Ill make them pay for this! I swear it! † The same year his brother was hanged, Lenin finished school at the age of 17 and received a gold medal for excellence in studies. During the fall of that year Lenin was admitted to Kazan University to study law there. Three months after Lenin had settled in Kazan he was expelled from the University for joining in a student meeting protesting the ack of freedom the students were given in the school. Over the next three years Lenin tried many more times to regain admission to the university, but was unsuccessful on all attempts, until 1890 when he tried to gain acceptance to St. Petersburg University. He was admitted as a student but he was not, however, permitted to attend classes, though he would be permitted to take the examinations after studying on his own. In 1891 after studying on his own and taking the final examinations Lenin received a law degree from St. Petersburg University and united with a law firm in Samara. While still in university Lenin was introduced to the works of Karl Marx, Marx being a major contributor to the Communist Philosophy. In early 1893 Lenin became part of the Social Democratic band, a Marxist establishment. In the latter part of that year Lenin reallocated to St. Petersburg and got a start on his revolutionary career. While in St. Petersburg Lenin found that the quality of leadership came to him easily and he quickly became the leader of a Social Democrat group. Lenin came across as a bright intelligent man. All of Lenins written work was very precise, intensely specific, and crystal clear. In 1897 Lenin was banished to Siberia, after being held for questioning for more than a year, after he was caught by the Czars Secret Police while preparing a revolutionary newspaper, The Cause, in December of 1895. During Lenins interval in Siberia he married Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya. As banishment to Siberia did not mean confinement and Lenin took advantage of his freedom by carrying on his propagandist writings and also wrote one of his more dominant accomplishments, The Development of Capitalism In Russia (1899). During the span of 1898, while Lenin was in expulsion from Russia, a collection of concealed Russian Marxist groups allied to form the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. In the ensuing period following Lenins Siberian expulsion, January 1900, he received authorization to leave the country and go to Germany to assist with the founding of the parties newspaper, The Spark, of which the first issue appeared on December 24, 1900. In 1902 Lenin wrote a pamphlet called â€Å"What Is To Be Done† and from this pamphlet came the base of what is called Leninism. The following year the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party broke into two separate, equal, collectives over a ontention about party membership. Lenin became the leader of the Bolsheviks, which translates to â€Å"The Majority†, which suggested that his group was larger. The Bolsheviks desired that membership to their party be confined to a small member of full-time revolutionaries. The other group, The Mensheviks, which translates to The Minority, desired that party membership be less restrictive and did not prefer a dictatorship, as the Bolsheviks did, but rather to practice more democratically. Just as all this was taking place a vitality of insurrection was taking place across Russia fronting the Czar Nicholas II. The Russian people wanted land, higher wages, and increased political rights including a legislation. Included in these revolts was an incident called â€Å"Bloody Sunday† which happened when an Orthodox Priest led a march of â€Å"peaceful† peasants to the home of the Czar, on Sunday January 22, 1905. When they reached the palace the Czars head man panicked at the sight of the many people and had his troops fire on the defenseless crowd, slaying and damaging hundreds. By the fall of 1905 a full strike of nearly all workers stupefied the country compelling the Czar to give the people a Duma, which is a ower level Parliament. By the end of 1905 mammoth strikes commenced and was followed by a brimming revolution to which the Czar quickly put a stop to. After this Lenin found it quite arduous to proceed with revolutionary actions in Russia and exhausted most of his time from 1906 until 1908 publishing radical leaflets and attending party congress in England, Germany and Sweden, chiefly with the intentions of keeping the party together, but also to expand the distance between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks alleging that the Mensheviks did not want revolution. On August 1, 1914 Germany declared war on Russia and World War I commenced. As Lenin was in Austria at that time, the Austrian government arranged for Lenin to be transported to Switzerland who did not participate in the war. It has been noted that many extremists desired a victory for Russia, but it has also been noted that others wanted peace lacking a victory for any one country, but a victory of peace for all involved. Lenin, however, desired that his country suffer a defeat, and that would bring about revolution in the country. During the war Lenin and his cause were aided financially by the German government, by performing this the Germans felt that they were eroding the Russian war endeavor. By this time most of Lenins supporters had deserted him, indicating as their more popular reasons that Lenin was using assets intended for the assemblage for himself, and that his apparent seizure of power was unwilful by some. This period in Lenins career was suggested by Krupskaya, his wife, as the loneliest point in Lenins career, and as a time when Lenin would transfigure his passions into a surely revolutionary conclusion. It had been three years since the start of the war and the countries were still attling, Russia had lost many of her battles and the country was in annoyance. Food shortages were occurring all across the country, mainly in the cities, but bread was especially shortly yielded. In early February 1917 bread was nowhere to be found in Petrograd and immense lines aside the bread shops collected and the tensions increased. By the end of the first quarter of February approximately two hundred thousand workers were on strike and demonstrating in the capital. On the fifteenth day of March nineteen- seventeen, the Czar Nicholas II, gave up his throne and also gave up the throne or his son. This left the throne to the Nicholass brother who did not want the throne, thus ending three hundred years of autocratic rule. With no one in power of the country a democratic provisional government was formed. For a duration the governing power was shared by the provisional government with the Petrograd Soviet, but before long the Bolsheviks, although very unorganized demanded that all ability be granted to the soviets. At the present time Lenin was still in Switzerland and was pondering a way to return to Russia. The German government was willing to allow Lenin passage through Germany, by way of rail. The only thing the German government was, however, worried about during Lenins trek was of him agitating the German workers. Because of this the German government had Lenin ride in a single sealed train car that was deemed, for the duration of his trip, Russian territory. On the sixteenth day of April nineteen seventeen Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov returned to Russia landing in Petrograd and receiving a welcome fit for a hero. After arriving in Petrograd Lenin abruptly took back control of the Bolsheviks and ordered the overthrow of the provisional government. Lenin was unable to take control of the provisional and upon the reorganization of it, Alexander Kernsky took control and decreed Lenins arrest on the account that he was a German agent, and Lenin quickly fled to Finland. The rest of the Bolsheviks also quickly dispersed or were taken into custody. After living in Finland for about three months, during this time writing The State and Revolution, which was considered to be one of the most important of his labors in which he described how to come about power by way of revolution, Lenin returned to Russia, October 1917, as he felt it was necessary to bring about the revolution. Upon Lenins arrival in Petrograd he strongly recommended to the Bolshevik Central Committee to take advantage of Kerenskys weak government. The Central Committee decided to take action while they had the chance. The Bolshevik president of the Petrograd Soviet, Leon Trotsky, managed to gain control of some government troops and some Naval crews who supported the uprising, and then with minute amount of brutality the Bolsheviks captured Petrograd on October twenty fifth, nineteen seventeen. The Bolsheviks now only had one more thing to do before they were to hold all power of the government, capture Moscow. The capturing of Moscow proved to be more difficult and rougher, but at any rate Moscow was seized and the Bolsheviks had taken power. November 8, 1917 was the day that the Second All-Russian Congress opened with representatives from all across the country in attendance. At the meeting of the congress, which was controlled by the Bolsheviks, Lenin was appointed chairman of The Council of Peoples Commissars, and therefore he became head of the new Russian State. When Lenin ade his first appearance before the congress he asked to be allowed to ask Germany for a three month truce, and for the eradication of private land ownership, both of these requests were authorized. Soon after Lenin took control he found himself in a battle to stay in control, as the Red Army had broken apart, German forces were advancing deeper and deeper into Russia, and also other opposing forces were gathering large groups in parts of Russia. Lenin believed that if the Bolsheviks were to stay in power then the war with Germany would have to come to an end soon and at any cost. It was the third day of March 1918 when the battles between Russia and Germany ended with the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. This treaty made it obligatory for Russia to give up a lot of land, which in effect hurt her, until the end of World War I when Germany lost and the treaty became void. In order to put his government further away from German power, in the territory that Russia gave up, Lenin moved the countrys capital to Moscow from Petrograd. In December of 1917 Lenin brought into existence the Cheka, which was a political police force setup to se extreme force to control anyone with an opinion that differed from that of the Bolsheviks. Most of the people that the Cheka arrested were imprisoned, murdered, or sent to the Gulag, which was a system of prison labor camps where most died. In 1918 Lenin suggested to the Bolshevik Central Committee that they change the name of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party to the Russian Communist Party and this was done. In July 1918, for fear of the former Czar making an uprising, the Bolsheviks had the Czar and his entire family, including servants, slayed. About a month after the Czar was killed, Lenin as at a factory giving a speech to the employees and he was shot twice by Dora Kaplan, who was a member of a Socialist Revolutionary Party. After quickly recovering from the bullets Lenin had Dora Kaplan executed and to set an example for others he had hundreds of others executed, claiming they were hostages. The revolution was like a speeding locomotive in the cites, but was slower to catch on in the more remote parts of the country and in these parts of the country resistance was becoming a major problem and civil war was breaking out. The two enemies in the war ere the Red Army, which Lenin had created in January 1918 and named after the color of the world Communist movement, and opposing them were the whites, who were for the most part democrats, Russian Nationalists and those who opposed change in any form. The Whites had a major problem though, this problem was that they lacked any organization. The Bolsheviks easily won this civil war by 1920, although not untouched. By the end of this war the Russian economy was in shambles and millions of Russians had left to go afar, or died. But yet still the Communist government survived. Although Lenin had successfully taken control of Russia he had not yet accomplished his true goal that he had set out to achieve many years before, which was the goal of a Communist world revolution. In 1921, in a radical attempt to regain control of his country, Lenin instituted a program called the New Economic Policy. This policy replaced a lot of the measures that were put in place when the Bolsheviks took power, it allowed small businesses to continue to operate, peasants to sell food to private customers, free trade was reinstated, and foreign business was invited to invest in Russia. By this time Lenins health had also started to suffer from the stress, among various other things. Although foreign nations were invited to invest in Russia few did and by this time, also, no major country still held diplomatic relations with Russia. In the month of May in 1922 Lenins health took a turn for the worse and he endured a stroke. Lenin then, opposing his doctors advice, kept on working. It was the December of 1922 that Lenin suffered his second stroke and that same month the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established by the Bolshevik government. On March 9, 1923 Lenin suffered from a third stoke and his ability to speak clearly was impaired. Less than a year later, on January 21, 1924, Lenin died of a brain hemorrhage, thus ending his rein of power. Lenin used the strength of the peasantry in revolution by appeasing some of their demands, such as implementing the New Economic Policy. The masses supported Lenins beliefs and showed their unrest in ways such as striking. Lenin also utilized his fellow politicians in his bid to accomplish the first part of his goal, to bring communism to Russia, y finessing them into his turn of mind via his personal fervor and his writings. Lenins vision of communism included bringing theories into practice. He also brought widely varied classes of people to his conclusions. Thus by using any and every means possible, Lenin brought communism to Russia, although it took far longer that he expected and he died before reaching his ultimate goal of World Communism. Whether or not communism is or was beneficial to a society, Lenin was a great leader in as much as he reshaped an entire country and its ideals.

Case Write-Up: The Investment Detective Essay

Case Summary The purpose of this case is to become a capital budgeting analyst and evaluate which set of free cash flows for 8 projects will result in the most effective investment for a firm’s capital. The objective given is to rank the four best that the company should accept. The case is broken down into three separate steps including the given information about estimated cash flows (inflows & outflows), determining the appropriate discount rate, and evaluating the cash flows using the IRR (Internal Rate of Return), MIRR (Modified Internal Rate of Return), NPV (Net Present Value), and other metrics. Each project is chosen solely on the basis of the quantitative analysis. Here are some factors to consider for this case: Each project has the same initial investment of $2 million; in addition, all are believed to be of the same risk class. The managers have determined that projects 7 and 8 are mutually exclusive. The issue is that the WACC has never been officially estimated and in the pas t the discount rate has been assumed at 10 percent (however, certain officers have asserted the discount rate to be higher). Ranking Projects Ranking projects simply through the inspection of cash flows is inadequate due to the time value of money and cost of capital of companies; the only piece of information that can be derived from looking at the cash flows is the amount of time it would take to be paid back (regular payback period). There are several capital budgeting tools that can be used, including IRR, MIRR, and NPV. These three can be used to see if a project exceeds the expected rate of return or the cost of capital for a company. We also refer to payback, discounted payback period, and a profitability index to help assist the decision-making process for which projects should start to commence. In addition, qualitative factors must be considered for any project given outside of this case, to cover the bases and have successful implementation. A company could find that having a negative NPV is acceptable due to the critical nature of the project. Experimenting in new markets to identify potential favorable businesses should be taken into consideration. Finally, cash flows are estimated in most projects so a  consideration has to be made for the quality of estimation. Therein lies one of the critical issues in capital budgeting; that there is a margin of error in the calculation of cash flows, whereas in the example above, the margin of error (typically larger with uncertain outcomes) could mean there would be a positive NPV for that critical project. Typically, NPV is the foremost choice for determining the investing worthiness of a specific project; NPV, determined by the sum of discounted cash flows compared against the cost of the investment. NPV allows anyone to see how much value above the initial investment. MIRR, would be the next best choice, as it is measures profitability of a project as a percentage (IRR does this as well). The reason MIRR is of higher significance is it has the extra part of assuming cash flows being reinvested at the WACC rate; additionally MIRR eliminates the problem of IRR having two potential rates. Quantitative Ranking Methods We ranked each project by the various methods stated above. Below, in Exhibit 1, are the metrics ranked by highest amount or percentage, except for payback and discounted payback periods which are ranked from low to high, signifying the shortest amount of time that the initial investment is recovered. The answer to determine which project is best to invest in is dependent on the variables and requirements that management deems necessary, meaning the qualitative content that is supplementary to the cash flow data. Typically, firms will decide to invest on the project that produces the highest NPV, and for this case if we are to rank by NPV, project #3 is the clear winner. Ranking by profitability index gives the same answer for each project number (it is indirectly related to NPV through the sum of discounted cash flow benefits). However when we look at the other values for project #3, it is  lower down the order. This is a result of the only cash flow being in the last (15th) year; due to the time value of money, this lowers the IRR and MIRR substantially, and obviously the payback period is the longest of all the projects. The next prosperous project based off of NPV but also ranked 2nd highest for IRR, MIRR, and PI, is project #4. At first glance, when considering the two mutually exclusive projects: project #7 and #8, the NPV and PI for project #8 is higher, while the IRR and MIRR are higher for project #7. Additionally the payback and discounted payback periods are shorter for project #7. This presents a dilemma in which it appears project #8 should be selected, yet #7 seems to be more favorable overall. There is a continuity of this dilemma as the cash flow streams are unequal for each project. To solve for this issue, we used a replacement chain analysis to determine which project between the two is the best investment decision. Below, in Exhibit 2, is an analysis of each project using replacement chaining. We excluded the last cash flow of $70 at T15, because for project #8’s last cash flow is after 7 years (project #7’s last cash flow is after 5 years), so we repeated that to T14. As shown above, when using the replacement chain method, we can see the change in outputs when the cash flows are repeated  through time. The decision between each project is now much clearer once the cash flows are repeated to the same* time-frame. Project #7 is the clear-cut investment decision when deciding between those two projects. Alternative Courses of Action There are always numerous ways to see a problem and decide how to react. The investor could choose any of the above mentioned methods (NPV, IRR, MIRR, payback, discounted payback, or Probability Index) to choose an investment project. Due to the mutual exclusivity of projects #7 and #8, the investor can choose whatever criteria method deemed most significant. Other factors for consideration include the project’s proposing manager’s track record for success, the proposing manager’s confidence in the project, the timing of the project’s cash flows, the project’s ability to protect market share, or the proposing division’s track record of success. Recommendation Based on these options, and the previously detailed analysis, we recommend that the project be selected based on the NPV ranking shown in Exhibit 1. With mutually exclusive projects, conflicts may arise in choosing between using the NPV, IRR, and MIRR. In this case, the NPV is the best choice for selection because it chooses the project that maximizes value for the firm. If managers are interested in the expected rate of return on the project, the MIRR or IRR will be more likely to demonstrate the rates that are actually earned if the project’s cash flows are reinvested in future projects, but this should be supplemental to the NPV during the decision process.

Exploring Business Purpose Essays

Exploring Business Purpose Essays Exploring Business Purpose Essay Exploring Business Purpose Essay Why businesses set aims? Businesses set aims to make profit, provide goods and services. An aim also helps the business survive and expand. Maximise sales or improve quality and be environmentally friendly. All business has aims that they want to achieve and objectives that help them they have to do to achieve those aims. And aims are the overall goals and purposes that the business was set up to fulfil. Aim should always be appropriate to the business achieve and size of the business. Also aim is to provide a focus for the business also development and achievement of key areas of business. Why businesses set Objectives? Objectives: Objectives are steps which help to achieve an aim; they are broken down aims so that they can be easier to achieve them. They also should be monitored to be regularly checked if the achievement is successful. OBJECTIVES also are specific targets that must be achieved if the business is to fulfil its aims. Also objectives are to break down the aim so that they are easier to achieve and its step which to achieve aim. All objectives mast is monitored regularly to check achievement. Mission statement A Mission Statement sets out the business idea and values that enables employees, managers and customers and even suppliers to understand the basics for the actions of a business. The beast objectives are SMART SMART stands for: Specific There is a clear definition often including a number for example saving à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20 a week. Measurable- This means achievement can be checked. Banking your saving mean your bank statement will record and measure your achievement. Achievable- This means you attain your target if you stretch yourself a litter- so saving à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20 a week may be achievable without having to make too many sacrifices. Realistic-This means the target is sensible so that you stand achance of achieving it you could not save à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20 a week if you did not have a job that paid at least that amount. Time-related- Every objective should have a time limit in which it should be accomplished. Therefore you can set a time limit to review your performance to see your objective progress. SMART objectives: SMART objectives are accessable and help business to plan and monitor its aim and objectives. For example if a business aim is to make profit and their objective is to make 12%profit they have to sell more products which is specific. They can compare the current years product sold record to previous and calculate that they are selling more each month that is measurable. Management giving the permission or create the plan is agreed. Time helps manager to monitor and plan and also to see where they are that time is constrained. SMART objectives also known as management tools it helps manager to prioritise work load. By breaking down the aims into smaller achievable goals help the business to plan and monitor these smaller goals and see progress toward achieved long term aims. Richer sounds Mission statement. The reason for having aims and objectives is to keep moving the business forward. At Richer Sounds they have a mission statement. This states our business aims in simple terms. Having a mission statement helps us to ensure that everyone in the organisation is working to achieve the same aims. RICHER SOUNDS MISSION STATEMENT 1. To provide second to none service and value for money for our customers. 2. To provide ourselves with secure well paid jobs working in a stimulating and equal opportunities environment. 3. To be profitable to ensure our long term growth and survival. The current goals and Objectives of Richer Sounds. 1. Consolidate the business and improve our profitability. 2. Develop the audiovisual home cinema range and increase the sales of plasma TVs and L C Ds. 3. Keep the business fun. We measure the success of this through our yearly Colleague Attitude Survey. 4. Keep the level of excellence of customer service above 90% for the company as a whole. Richer sounds measure the success of this through our customer till receipt questionnaires. 5. Control them costs through the cost control group to keep these to budget levels. How Richer Sound Achieve they Aims richer sounds didnt change the mission statement but often change the way they try to achieve they aims. They change product line so that richer sounds continue to ensure our customers receive value for money. Also richer sounds have a suggestion scheme. Every member of staff has a suggestion pad and every single suggestion is read by our Chairman Julian Richer. The idea is that everyone can contribute towards ideas for future improvement. Often the smallest ideas can be the most effective and richer sounds try to implement every plan which would provide a positive benefit. So they are trying to improve the way richer sound operate all the time to cope with changes in technology, new product developments, changing customer needs and economic changes. The OBJECTIVES of Richer Sounds one goal is always to keep the fun and to continue to reward people for working hard. We like to think of new ways of doing this, to keep all our colleagues motivated at work. Other issues will vary from one year to another, depending upon external influences, suggestions richer sounds have received and other developments. At the end of the year they check how far we achieved our goals. We look at which goals havent been achieved and why. We then set new goals for the next year. However, in between times we will also adjust, change or alter our goals the key point is that we are constantly moving forward. This is very important in they business. Technology develops new products come on to the market. There are new ways of doing business such as through our web site. New competitors may enter the market and some may Oxfam Mission Statement Oxfam is an international charity group of organizations working together with over 3,000 partnerships in more than 100 countries to find long term solutions to poverty, sufferings and injustice. With many cases of poverty in caused by nature, the members of the global Oxfam international believe they can achieve a greater impact through their joint efforts. Aims: Oxfams vision on the world is where there is no poverty and where everyone gets justice, and to help ensure that every individual is guaranteed of. A sustainable livelihood: this means that they can earn a reasonable living over many years to support themselves and their families. Education and health: this means that they access the basic service for example learning the basis education and health and safety. Life and security: this means that the poor should have a shelter and security when conflict and natural disasters strike. An equal right: this means that the poor should not be judged by their gender or ethnic identity. Long term goal for Oxfam and Richer Sounds The long time goal for Oxfam is to ensure the rights income security that is sustainable for their future. Oxfam want to see the part of people living in extreme poverty on less than $1a day halved, by 2015 in all countries of sub-Saharan Africa, South and East Asia, and America. Richer Sounds is a Public Limited Company, this means that they gain a profit. It is owned by Julian Richer who also is the chairman of Richer Sounds. The head office richer sound is in London, there are over 50 retailing shops in the UK and in Ireland. Richer Sounds are specialists retailers of audio equipment and separates- such as DVD players, CD players and amplifiers. Richer Sounds think it is very important that all our staff enjoy working here and are well rewarded for their achievements, they employ nearly 400 colleagues. Oxfam is a charity and all the money made excluding the wages of the staff are given to the charity organization for the poor. It is a non- government agency dedicated to fight poverty and related injustice around the world. Oxfam has 42 shops throughout Ireland selling goods donate by the public as well as 3 shop committed to sell Fair Trade crafts and food products. Oxfam have over 40 full time staff working in 2 head offices (Dublin and Belfast) and nearly 70 staff involved in running shops around the country. Oxfam also have a field office in Tanzania with a full time staff.