Alcoholic beverage Essay Example for Free

Alcoholic beverage Essay Is the End of the German Beer Industry Near? 1. Discuss how the changing technological environment present international threats and opportunities to the German beer industry. To discuss how changing technological environment presents international threats and opportunities for the German beer industry, the term of changing technological environment has to be explained. The literature distinguishes between a micro environment and a macro environment. Micro environment concludes factors, which are directly influenced by a company. These factors are organizational – Marketing-Mix, Structure, processes etc. Macro environment contains political decisions, cultural and social changes and technological changes (Lee and Carter, 2009). Technological changes can include three sections to improve business processes of companies. The First is through technological innovations in products and processes. For instance producing processes in different Industries are much easier and faster today than before 30 years. Product life cycles are less long today – modern technology allows permanent improvements and innovative new products detach older products. That is a Development of modern Industries, which can be observed (Dicken, 2011). The second one is through communication and information. Technology increases productivity by time saving devices and allowing companies to work in collaboration with team members within a Network, who are not present or the ability of fast access to data from anywhere of the world (Obele, 2004). Furthermore modern Technology allows companies to do consumer or market research in a very short time, especially through the internet which provides opportunities for companies to enter new markets across several countries and regions in a very fast and easy way now (Litan et al. , 2010). The third one is through mobility and innovation in transportation. Today manufacturers are able to transport products with the help of airplanes, trains and ships in a geographical freedom without losing quality of products (Dicken, 2011). By increasing productivity generally through time and space saving devices modern technology provided the German industry opportunities to increase general production output. Improved Information and communication technology (ICT) and innovative transport systems results a less complex of processes to enter new markets by aimed communication and fast distribution. But one of the most important international opportunities that changing technological environment presents to the German beer industry is the improvement in production processes. Process optimisation and increased efficiency are priorities of the most companies. For Instance high-gravity wort fermentation or efficiency of wort sugar uptake are process activities resulting in reduced capital expenditure and gains in economies of scale (Stewart, no date). Economics of scale eventuates when a decline in average cost can be achieved through an increase in output of one product (O’Sullivan A.and Seffrin S. , 2003). In addition many of the big global players are leveraging from innovated brewing and fast fermentation processes. There are heavy investments in brewing development to produce more efficient for instance to exploit ingredients or save water and gain economies of scale. In the USA breweries like Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors managed to dominate the mass-producing sector and gained in economies of scale (Tremblay et al. , 2005). World market leader AB InBev from Belgium owns more then 200 beer brands today, undaunted Becks, a German beer. Local breweries did not attempt to expand in the past and today they are suffering from acquisition of big global players. The device of big breweries is to produce efficient and cheap. But many German customers are struggling against this mass-production provided by modern technology. Most of them argue that the quality of the beer is suffering from mass-production and decide to buy local German beer brands, which are more expensive (Schimansky, 2012). In times of cheap mass-production there are still customers, who are ready to pay more for quality – according to the case study the same applies to emerging markets. So local German breweries could use their quality as a unique selling proposition and start to cooperate and get together by mergers for instance to share costs and risks of overseas operations. It is logical, that only a few German breweries will be able to invest in international operations, because of small financial resources. Therefore maybe only 100 of the 1300 German breweries will stay alive in future – but these breweries will be strong enough to create an availability of German beer internationally. One opportunity for German breweries is to expand to emerging markets like China then, where according to the study customers are ready to pay for quality, as we mentioned. Producing towards the Reinheitsgebot promises that required quality. Referring to the Paper that most of the small German breweries got small financial resources and no experiences in overseas markets, so cooperation with another famous German brewery, as we mentioned, or a joint venture in a foreign country like China to reduce certain risks, costs and gain specific market knowledge, could be profitable. The infrastructure, especially communication and information channels to gain knowledge about local preferences will enhance the way of doing business there. But new technologies and innovative processes provide rival producers new opportunities and form new threats for the German beer industry. By producing more efficient and creative with support of modern producing opportunities beer companies adapt their product following new trend of the new generations. Example is given in the study by offering alcopops or mixed beers etc. Eventually global players, who enter the German market by acquiring German breweries and are close to the market, will be in a position to adapt their own products in the future with support of modern technologies in research methods etc. to gain knowledge of local preferences by ongoing efficient industrialized mass producing processes. And if German breweries still stay small in distribution, big global players will be able to dominate more of the almost saturated market. This is especially because of modern efficient way of brewing and the declining costs involved through economies of scale for example. 2. Discuss the impact of the current economic global crisis upon the operations of the German Beer industry, given that it appears to be fractionalised and has smaller financial resources than its main competitors. According to a publication of the new economics foundation (nef, 2012), the world is in the second phase of an economic crisis, which has a global reach and affects nut just only the world’s major institutions, but also the established ways of thinking. The nef asserts that the contemporary global economic crisis is a continuation of the financial crisis of 2008. In 2008 the world’s third-largest investment bank at that time, Lehman brothers, bankrupted and led to eventual a collapse of the whole financial system. The nef explains that the crisis of 2008 was halted but not resolved. Now the results of the second phase of the global economic crisis are stagnation and austerity to cut public spendings, so the nef. Furthermore the nef argues that austerity is hindering economic growth, because firms sell fewer goods and services and therefore this creates job losses as we can see in Ireland, Greece and now in the United Kingdom. That global economic crisis impacts the beer industry in several countries proves a declining number in annual per capita consumption of beer in Greece, which has been hit hardest among the countries by the beer recession and by the crisis itself (Ewing, 2011). The main impact of the economic global crisis upon of German beer industry is, that more and more people loss their jobs worldwide within the crisis (BBC, 2009). Therefore they are not able to spend much. Because of that they fear about the uncertain future and want to save money. This fear impacts their customers buying behaviour. There is a strong resistance to buying and therefore prices have to be lowered (Herrmann, 2009). In addition more and more people are drinking at home rather then in bars or restaurants to save money. This in turn leads to that more people loss their jobs, especially in the hospitality industry, like Hotels, pubs or restaurants. Furthermore governments are hindering productivity by value-added taxes, which lower consumption and cots jobs (Ewing, 2011). That means that there is a declining buying power and changing careful buying behaviour, especially of price sensitive German customers, like it is told in the study. The paper shows already a declining number of beer consumption, because of some factors, like Trends, demographic changes and government decisions against alcoholic drinks etc. The fact that the people spent less money, as mentioned before, will accelerate this process. The general economic crisis in Europe, like in Greece, Italy and Spain intensified the situation (Bloomberg, 2013). So this countries import less to overcome the crisis and are out of the question of a potential markets. There is one matter occurred within the global economic crisis especially in Europe that could have a huge affect on the German beer industry in future. The European Union follows a common policy outwards in interests of each country. But in times of economic crisis like in Greece, the idea of a common Identity of several nations within the European Union failed. Many Greeks for instance are blaming Germany and France to benefiting from their spending for Greece in order to help (The Independent, 2012). Both are the main supporters for Greece attempt to overcome the crisis by attempt to support investment and economic growth there (RTE, 2012). But as mentioned, not only Greece; Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy are heavily indebted countries, who are next to face the economic crisis in an extreme kind (BBC, 2012). Situations like these can destroy a common relationship between countries within the EU, because everyone seeks for reasons for the fail of the economy in each country and as it had been said especially Greece is blaming the policy of EU about that. This fact forces countries and governments to shut themselves off from the EU and concentrate on local policy, economy and matters instead showing common interest in the EU as a whole. This could lead people to think more nationalized and consumption could concentrate on domestic products instead of expensive imports, like of a good quality German beer, to save money. These happenings, particularly in Europe, show a negative initial situation for German beer industry and as we said above potential markets in Europe in the future. According to the case study the German breweries are fractionalised and got smaller financial resources than their competitors, which is hindering the Industry to expand overseas an enter new markets to gain sustain success and profit. Like Koenig says in the study the German market is saturated and as I said before the economic crisis in Europe precludes a potential market there. Emerging markets are potential markets because for instance of several factors like the market size in China etc. and according to the paper the fact that customers are ready to pay more for quality in emerging markets. Economy in China for example has continued to grow, while the economy in Europe has fallen into a critical situation. Increased consumer spending and the open business policy of China provide really new opportunities for western companies (B2B International, no date). The expansion to such markets is related with new costs, which complicates the operations of the German beer industry, because of small financial resources. Grave et al. (2012) analyzed the beer industry in China in a journal article in the case of Carlsberg. The paper argues that Porter’s (1980) differentiation or focus strategy may work in western countries, but not in emerging ones. The challenge is, it says, to maintain value proposition as a quality beer while responding to local demands. The Five forces industry analysis resulted that there is a high competition in the Chinese beer market, high supplier power, low buyer power, medium threats of entrants with high entry barriers, i. e. language barriers, and low to medium threats of substitutes. So no matter how attractive emerging markets are, it might be risky to enter China; but first you are established, you will gain big success. This success requires financial resources, which German breweries can only gain by consolidation with associated German breweries or joint ventures with Chinese companies. Carlsberg gained big success by Chinese acquisitions and undergone little affects of the economic crisis, so the journal article. So certain German breweries should get together to share costs and try to enter new emerging markets – as we mentioned European and German markets are almost saturated; if they do not try to find new markets, most of them will collapse, raddled from the impacts of the global economic crisis by declining numbers in consumption, less buying power and changes in buying behaviours. 3. With reference to the EU market only, explain how contemporary cultural and social changes might affect the future development of the German Beer industry. Cultural and social changes are macro environmental matters that businesses have to adapt on to stay competitive. Consumer preferences are dynamic and invariably changing. As consumer preferences have to form adaptations, companies have to consider trends to produce goods which satisfy consumer needs in real. Not only demographic changes, on which I will be come back later, but different ethnical, religious, racial groups and changes in proportion of gender within a society can affect companies in their businesses (Richards, no date). By referring to the Paper an important social change is that more and more people in Europe and in the world become more health conscious. This includes government decisions about penalties related with alcohol in public and suggestions, like it says in the study, to general lifestyle and nutrition of the public. Science and medicine promote this trend by distribute the opinion that long term use of alcohol leads to cancer, liver failure, neurological, psychological and social problems (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). Wellness products are shaping food markets, especially in Germany. Health is status symbol for newly olds and young people are interested in healthy products, as well to prevent illness (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2010). Further drinking beer has a bad image today. We associate beer drinking with lushes and riots in football stadiums. In an era in which apparently health and wellness plays a significant role, especially people who cares about their outward appearances, do not drink beer, because they do not want a beer-belly (Reilly, 2012). These described trends can have a significant affect on German beer industry, especially in a shrinking market, like the paper says. According to the Study besides this there is a declining number of consumption of beer. A low birth rate in Germany, within a declining number of population impacts every area in life and influence economy, as well. (Bundesministerium des Innern, 2011). Particularly demographic changes in Germany and Europe lead to a cease of the core target group. A low birth rate in Germany, within a declining number of population impacts every area in life and influence economy, as well. In addition the case study provides that younger generations prefer to drink alcopops and mixed beers instead of traditional beer. The beer industry recognized the demand and for example the German brewery Schofferhofer gained a big success in 2007 with Schofferhofer Grapefruit – a mixed wheat beer with grapefruit extract. Bitburger, another famous German brewery introduced Copa, a Caipirinha flavoured beer and a pomegranate flavoured one, containing less alcohol to satisfy health awareness of customers (Strohmaier, 2007). Therefore more German breweries have to adapt their beers to local consumer preferences and trends to gain sustainable success in future, which is associated with new costs, like for research and development. Small breweries are threatened, because of small financial resources. Besides that the sophisticated choice of alcoholic drinks is wine, as the study says. At this end the low consumption of beer, changing buying behaviour of German price sensitive customers and less buying power of customers in Europe within the economic global crisis reduce chances of German beer industries of a positive development in the future at the moment. In addition cultural and social changes, like demographic changes, health consciousness, trends of new generations and government behaviour against alcohol consumption, argued above, are threats for the German beer industry, especially in the case of small breweries.

Non Financial Performance Measures: Summary and Analysis

Non Financial Performance Measures: Summary and Analysis Total quality management and non financial performance measures In order to answer the first, fundamental, question of using non financial performance measure: why should companies use non-financial reporting, it is necessary to look at the relationship between market value and book value. The market value of a company reflects the investors’ perception of the company’s present, and future, value, as manifested by stock prices. The book value, on the other hand, reflects the value of the company as reported in the official balance sheet: assets less liabilities, or net assets. Thus book value represents, in a way, the official company value and is reported to shareholders and the financial community. The market and book values for companies were very close by the end of the 1970s. The picture has, however, changed dramatically, and one estimate from the current level of stock market valuations says that book value now represents on average just around one quarter of the market value (Dutta and Reicheistein, 2005). Other data indicates an even more dramatic change in companies with valuable brands, a reputation for high quality or technical expertise, for example, in individual companies, e.g. Microsoft, the estimated book value portion is around 9%, for SAP around 5%, and for Coca-Cola around 7%. (Daum, 2002) The ratio of book value to market value is often so small that the relevance of the balance sheet to modern has often questionable. It is, of course, crucial to understand the gap between market and book values, as the market value comes from the intangible assets, such as the customer, human resource, partner, and brand assets. In order to understand the gap, there is an ob vious need for relevant and reliable information on these intangible assets, thus non-financial performance measures aim to providing such information to the stakeholders, and in particular, to the present and future investors. Lack of reliable and relevant information on intangible assets implies there is no basis for non-financial reporting, which in turn implies that market values will change over time in a less well-founded way. There is always a certain level of volatility on the stock markets, and the increasing relative importance of intangible, non financial performance measurements that has emerged over the last few decades, in combination with a persistent lack of reliable and relevant information on these assets, and no systematic non-financial reporting, is expected to create an increasing volatility. This is clearly seen, for example, on the trends in the NYSE over the past three decades (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003). It is, naturally, expected that a lack of non financial reporting will imply a significant portion of unnecessary volatility, which is clearly demonstrated by the stock price development for technology stocks (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003). For example, the IT ‘bubble’ to a significant extent was built up by a lack of proper information and analysis of intangible assets in these companies, due to a lack of non financial performance measurement and thus an overvaluing of intangible technology assets, such as AOL’s telecommunications distribution networks at the time of the AOL-Time Warner merger (The Economist, 2002). It is clear that this demonstrates a malfunctioning of the capital markets, causing significant negative consequences by destroying values in the short term, as well as long term. As such, the main purpose of non financial performance measurement is to provide the market investors and analysts with information to verify the present and expected future value of a company. Ultimately, the process of verifying the market value at a certain time will then be more fact based, thus reducing the unnecessary price volatility. In order to accurately achieve this, the key predictors of a company’s future financial performance: revenue, profits and market share, are crucial. Most recent research identifies these predictors as being primarily intangibles, non financial assets, thus explaining why market value today is basically determined by intangible assets. (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003) In particular, indicators related to the customer asset: the size and ‘quality’ of the customer base, the human capital, the brand assets, the value of corporate citizenship, and the firms product quality and expertise, will dominate. If such an indicator is a reas onably stable, strong and sustainable predictor of future financial performance, it should be called a ‘Value Driver’ (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003). Non-financial reporting aims at disclosing information on value drivers, which must be operationalised and transparent and, ideally, verifiable according to new accounting standards in order to become true non financial performance measures. Total quality management (TQM) practices have been implemented by firms interested in enhancing their survival prospects by including quality and continuous improvement in their strategic priorities. As such, they often have to be measured using both financial and non financial measures, as the expertise and cultural aspects of the TQM process are often difficult to measure by purely quantitative, financial means. One of the key measures of the success of TQM is the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach, which appraises both the four key dimensions of firm performance: customers, financial, learning and growth, and also the internal business processes. The main advantage of this is that TQM does not consider employee satisfaction in its search for continuous improvement, but the BSC does consider employee satisfaction. (Hoque, 2003) Therefore, by adopting a BSC a firm that has adopted TQM will overcome this oversight which will in turn increase employee satisfaction and subsequently firm performance. Indeed, in the modern business context, employee satisfaction is key to firm performance, and so the BSC is an important non financial performance measure. TQM’s relentless pursuit of quality demands that firms identify all non-value adding waste in the manufacturing process and implement procedures to eliminate, or at least reduce, such activities. This implies better production planning to limit over-production and excessive inventory and improved product and plant design to eliminate wasteful movement and handling. (Smith, 1997) Substandard items must be eliminated and a changed attitude reinforced which is customer-focused and adopts ‘the next person on the production line is my customer’ approach (Hoque, 2003). The cost of quality is a potentially important component of management accounting systems which may facilitate the implementation of total quality management, despite being difficult to measure in absolute financial terms. The costs of prevention, appraisal and failure are all aspects of the cost of quality, and it is often necessary to use non financial performance measures to assess these. Prevention costs include the costs of plant, product and process planning, preventive maintenance, training and the implementation of statistical process control systems, and appraisal costs include the costs of inspection and testing of both incoming and outgoing materials, and the cost of maintaining and administering appraisal systems and equipment, both of which can be measure financially However, whilst failure costs include, at the internal level, the financial costs of scrap, rework, redesign and safety stocks necessary to provide a buffer against such failure; at the external level they include losses associated with customers, goodwill and reputation, all of which require non financial performance measurements. Analysis of the costs of external failure is increasingly becoming the focus of attention in this area, reflecting the current trend towards increasing customer orientation of management accounting. (Smith, 1997) Quality considerations also extend beyond those focused on the difficult ‘cost of quality’ question, and non financial reporting is useful in providing measures of other aspects of quality, such as the quality of purchased components, equipment failure and maintenance efforts. As a result, it is necessary for TQM practitioners to consider the relationship between the types of targets or benchmarks used in the two main contrasting performance improvement strategies continuous improvement and radical change. (Johnston et al, 2001) hypothesised that the process of target setting and the reward structures adopted would be different between the two strategies, proposing that organisations involved in continuous improvement of a process will base their performance targets on past performance and internal benchmarking, arrived at through consultation and with a mixture of financial and non-financial measurements of targets. However, for processes involving radical change, targets will be based on external benchmarks imposed by senior management, with purely financial targets, and financial rewards for their achievement. However, research showed that financial measurement and reward strategies predominated in both improvement strategies, thus implying that the pot ential benefits of adopting process changes are being constrained by only considering the financial side. However, whilst academic research and other research activities among accounting organisations on intangible assets has so far mainly focused on creating awareness of the significant importance of intangibles on future financial performance, to a lesser extent, research has dealt with the serious information deficiencies related to intangible assets (Hothorn et al, 2005). In particular, the research focus seems to have been on studying the dramatic shift in production functions and asset composition of the economy, rather than the underlying problems associated with measuring intangible assets, especially in cases such as Enron, where derivatives were grossly overvalued (Wilson et al, 2003). This research involves a multitude of research activities, including the macroeconomic theory of growth, as well as empirical studies on individual companies. The growing importance of intangible assets has already been demonstrated, and one rationale behind this development is the fact that the annual United States investments in intangible assets are of approximately the same magnitude as investments in physical assets: approximately $1.2 trillion (Lev, 2001). These activities have clearly led to a rather general acceptance that traditional, financial, accounting-based, information systems fail to provide investors and policy makers with insights on the impact on the economy from intangibles. This is of increasing importance, given that the volatility of stock prices is becoming abnormally high, and this raises many serious consequences, including systematic inefficiency in managerial decisions. The recommendations so far from researchers seem to be voluntary disclosure of information on intangibles, and indeed, some companies now report externally on various aspects of intangible assets, but this happens in a very non-standardised way and seems to be of limited value for investors’ decisions. Consultants, in particular linked to the accounting industry, are empirically analysing causes and consequences of investments in intangible assets, but this research provides only marginal guidelines in identifying best practice for non financial reporting (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003) Different suggestions have been presented by researchers to identify the new research agenda to understand better and manage intangible assets, with Lev (2001), for example, suggesting a focus on research related to organizational structures. The obviously incorrect validation of intangible assets in the cases of Enron and WorldCom (The Economist, 2002), shows that another focus of research mus t be to identify best practice methodology to measure intangible assets, and to measure the main intangible value drivers for future financial performance. Indeed, the sustainability of non financial reporting is completely dependent on how it will be accepted by the stakeholders of the business community: investors, analysts, customers, boards, management, employees, the accounting profession, etc This, in turn, completely depends on the ability and willingness by the accountants to provide a formal verification of the process to generate information, as well as on the information itself. Finally, this in turn depends on the quality of the information: â€Å"Companies must start by first identifying their true value drivers both financial and non-financial within the context of their business model, and by ensuring they have defined the right metrics as well as the measurement methodologies and systems to capture the right information for internal management† (PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 2001). Recognising that the treatment of non financial performance is a key current issue in accountancy, accounting associations have already identified a number of criteria and principles to secure and describe the quality of non-financial information. This process, however, appears far from being finalised, and in particular lacks a focus on the statistical characteristics of the information, and there is also a need for further operationalisation and transparency of the quality principles (Lev, 2001) As a general principle, any verification process should verify that non-financial reporting includes the right choice of information, has the necessary degree of relevance, and that the information provided has a reasonable level of reliability. If these three requirements are not sufficiently fulfilled there is unlikely to be a sustainable future for non financial performance measurement, in TQM or any other business aspect. Further to this, information that does not say anything or very little about future financial performance should not be included in non-financial reporting. All the included information must manifest the so called Value Drivers (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003) and such value drivers should be either directly linked to future financial data, or they could be indirectly linked, through a direct value driver. Thus, relevance should be defined by the existence of verified links to future financial numbers; however this raises a number of pertinent questions to be answered by the accounting profession. Mainly, they would need to decide which financial criteria should primarily be considered to secure relevance; and which future time period is of interest to investors. For the moment, it is probably worthwhile to have a very broad scope here, as this would mean that any financial information of interest could be used and, in addition, the future time period is defined in a very generic way. Of course, it is much more difficult to verify links to financial numbers if the lead time is substantial, and so care should be taken that the data will have a recognised financial impact within a reasonably short period of time. Indeed, whatever financial criterion and time period is chosen, it is crucial to be able to verify a strong enough and stable likely future financial impact from the non financial data. In order to better, and more accountably, measure this, such impacts should be statistically significant according to a standard statistical measurement, written into the accounting standards. However, the question that remains is still whether impacts should also exceed a certain financial level, as well as a statistical level, in order to qualify as a significant non financial value driver. In this context, it is also difficult to decide whether these qualifying criteria should also involve the extent to which a value driver will explain any likely variation in the future financial criterion. There are many potential principles to be found in information theory and statistics that might be used here, such as direct explanatory power (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003), but unfortunately the requirement levels necessary to use these principles are not very easy to determine, and could be open to abuse. In summary, in almost all modern industries, the book value of a company does not reflect the actual market value of the company, due to the increasing importance of branding, technology, knowledge and reputation. Whilst the market and book values were still very close at the end of the 1970s, since then the picture has changed dramatically, with estimates stating that book value now represents just one quarter of the market value. As a result, it is reasonable to conclude that the measurement of intangible, non financial factors is now roughly three times as important to investors as the measurement of financially measured, tangible assets. As the market value comes from intangible assets, like the customer, human resource, partner and brand assets, in order to understand the gap there is an obvious need for relevant and reliable information on these intangible assets, which is best provided by non financial performance measures. In the context of TQM, a large portion of the process improvements seen due to TQM initiatives will not have a definite financial effect; rather they will improve a product’s attractiveness to customers, or improve the efficiency of a firm’s processes. As a result, their primary impact will be difficult to measure by financial measures, and so non financial performance measures will be most relevant. From this, it follows that the accountancy profession needs a new reporting system and also need to define a best practice of measurement for these non financial performance measures, in order to reflect the true value of initiatives such as TQM. This system has a number of requirements, including causality, standardisation, relevance or link to financial results and reliability. The prevailing opinion appears to be that it is time that new reporting systems are introduced and implemented, as the discrepancy between the importance of intangibles and the ability to account for these types of assets constitutes a growing challenge for companies, investors and for society in general. The relevant people, including academics, managers, accountants, practitioners and auditors, should thus come together and formulate a new charter for future reporting of non financial performance measures. References: Daum, J. H. (2002) Intangible Assets or the Art to Create Value Wiley. Dutta, S. and Reicheistein, S. (2005) Stock Price, Earnings, and Book Value in Managerial Performance Measures. Accounting Review; Vol. 80, Issue 4, p. 1069. Hoque, Z. (2003) Total Quality Management and the Balanced Scorecard Approach: A Critical Analysis of their Potential Relationships and Directions for Research. Critical Perspectives on Accounting; Vol. 14, Issue 5, p. 553. Hothorn, T. Leisch, F. Zeileis, A. and Hornik, K. (2005) The Design and Analysis of Benchmark Experiments. Journal of Computational Graphical Statistics; Vol. 14, Issue 3, p. 675. Johnston, R. Fitzgerald, L. Markou, E. and Brignall, S. (2001) Target setting for evolutionary and revolutionary process change. International Journal of Operations Production Management; Vol. 21, Issue 11, p. 1387. Kristensen, K. and Westlund, A. H. (2003) Valid and reliable measurements for sustainable non-financial reporting. Total Quality Management and Business Excellence; Vol. 14, Issue 2, p. 161 Lev, B. (2001) Intangibles: Management, Measurements and Reporting Brookings Institution Press. PriceWaterhouseCoopers (2002) Value reporting, Forecast 2002 Bringing Information out into the Open. Smith, M. (1997) Putting NFIs to work in a balanced scorecard environment. Management Accounting: Magazine for Chartered Management Accountants; Vol. 75, Issue 3, p. 32. The Economist (2002) A steal? Vol. 365, Issue 8296, p. 57. Wilson, A. Key, K. G. and Clark, R. L. (2003) Enron: An In-Depth Analysis Of The Hedging Schemes. Journal of Applied Business Research; Vol. 19, Issue 4, p. 15.

Correlation Between Drug Use and Suicide Essay -- Drugs Drug Suicide E

Correlation Between Drug Use and Suicide   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  America's on-going drug abuse epidemic continues into this millenium, and there are many social problems linked to drug use, including suicide. The disparity of daily life in suburbs or the inner cities are why many people have fallen into their reliance on drugs, including alcohol. Patros and Shamoo (1989) describe the abuse of drugs and alcohol as a 'slow form of suicide.' But many drug abusers choose to end their life before drugs have time to claim it by way of an overdose.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Contradictory to popular belief, teens are not of the majority of drug related deaths. Teenagers made up just two percent of drug related deaths in a 1994 survey of coroners. Many of these numbers are down dramatically from the 1970s, when illegal drugs were more available throughout the United States. Half of drug overdoses and suicides nationwide are men age thirty-five to fifty-four. Possible reasons for the dramatic difference between teenage drug deaths and middle-aged drug deaths are mid-life depression prior to drug use, more time to build as worsening habit, and the fact that most young people are primarily experimenting with drugs and not using them on a full time basis. Interestingly enough, Vietnam veterans had a higher level of drug-abuse fatalities than the rest of the population, probably due to their exposure to drugs derived from opium and the use of drugs to avoid flashbacks. Suicide rates among female drug users are higher t...

Robert Edward Lee :: essays research papers

Robert Edward Lee   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Robert Edward Lee was born of two distinguished Virginia families. He was a devoted son, an outstanding Westpoint cadet, and an United States army officer for thirty two years. He graduated second in his class.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lee started his impressive Military career as a Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. His first assignment was to work on the construction of Fort Pulaski in 1830 near Savannah, Georgia. Then in 1831 he was transferred to Fort Monroe, Virginia where he worked on harbor defenses.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1834 he moved to Washington, D.C. as an assistant to the chief of engineers. In 1835 he was assigned to resolve the Ohio-Michigan boarder conflict. In 1837 he went to Saint Louis to work on stabalizing the Mississippi river channel. He was promoted to captain in 1838. Being sucessful in Saint Louis he was assigned to Fort Hamilton in 1841 to work on the New York Harbor fortifications. When war broke out with Mexico in 1840 Lee was sent to Mexico for two years as an engieneering officer. There he was praised for his galantry and good conduct. In the war with Mexico he was wounded in the Storming of Chapultepec in 1847. The Mexican war was suposed to be the help that Lee needed in the experance of commanding troops. After the Mexican war Lee was assigned to Baltimore in 1848, he was to supervise the construction of Fort Carrol for nearly four years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1852 the United States military academy at West Point became Lees home when he was appointed superintendent. During his three year stint he raised acidemic standards, lengthened the program from four to five years, and improved facilities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1859 in Arlington, Texas Lee was given command of Federal forces which were there to make sure Mexicans did not invade Texas. Then Lee was sent to capture the abolitionist, John Brown at Harpers Ferry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Then when war seemed impossible to avoid, President Abraham Lincion summond Lee and asked him to lead the Union army, but Lee declined. On April 23 he became commander and chief of the military forces in Virgnia, just three days after he resigned from the U.S. Army.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In February 1865 Lee was made commander and chief of all confederate forces. His great battles of the Civil wars include Antietam, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg. He won many, many battles in the Civil war. Finally on April 9, 1865 General Robert E.

Why Foreign Language Should Be a Core Subject

Silvana Domaz Professor Hussein ENG108: Writing Project #4 22 April 2012 Why Foreign Language Should be a Core Subject in Public Elementary School The benefits of learning a foreign language go beyond learning a different culture or being able to communicate with people of different backgrounds. It is essential that Americans speak languages other than English in order to compete internationally, keep the country safe, and prepare children to be world citizens.Several language organizations, educators, and policy makers have recommended the introduction of a second language at the elementary school level as a way of assuring a high level of language proficiency (Pufahl and Rhodes 273). However, the reality of foreign language education in the United States is far from that goal.The Center for Applied Linguistics conducted a nationwide survey of public and private schools in 2008 and discovered that â€Å"since 1997, the percentage of elementary and middle schools that offer foreign language courses has fallen significantly, from 31 percent to 25 percent at the elementary level and from 75 percent to 58 percent at the middle school level† (Pufahl and Rhodes 261). One of the reasons for the decline could be attributed to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 signed by President George W. Bush.The NCLB act is a framework aimed at improving the performance of America's elementary and secondary schools, with a stronger emphasis on reading. About one third of all public schools with foreign language programs reported being affected by NCLB (Pufahl and Rhodes 270). Educators and politicians see the need for improving students’ achievement in reading and math and for a better score on standardized tests (Stewart 11). For that reason schools are under pressure to allocate time and resources to math and English-language arts instruction.Educators and school administrators are left with no budget, resources or time to use for foreign language education (Pufahl and Rhodes 273). In contrast, in June 2004, the Department of Defense and the University of Maryland joined for a summit on National Language Policy. It became very clear that â€Å"there is an immediate need for governmental personnel who can function at the advanced proficiency level in foreign languages† (Byrnes 247). The government needs people who are able to communicate in other languages, people who can understand different cultures and analyze critical content and ideas from other countries.Projections for the total numbers of speakers of various languages for the year 2050 indicate that Mandarin will surpass English (Byrnes 254). Thus, it is likely that trade and diplomacy will be increasingly conducted with those who speak languages other than English, such as Mandarin. In 2000, the Center for Applied Linguistics conducted a study to collect data from 19 countries on their foreign language programs and methodologies so that the results could help improve la nguage teaching in the U. S.Those countries were Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Spain, and Thailand. Some of the recommendations drawn from the study results are: 1) start language education early; 2) push for stronger federal leadership in language teaching; 3) improve teacher education; and 4) take advantage of the rich sociolinguistic context in the United States (Pufahl and Rhodes and Christian 3).Starting language education at an early age will lead to higher levels of language proficiency not only in one language but also in multiple languages. Based on the survey, most countries begin foreign language instruction in the elementary grades, while most schools in the U. S start at age 14. In Arizona, foreign language courses are not a requirement. According to Jill Campos, World Language Academic Coach for the Scottsdale School District, â€Å"f oreign language is introduced for a semester at 6th and 7th grades as an exploratory course.Eight graders can take the first year of a world language for high school credit and continue, if they so choose, through the 5th year†. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) report that â€Å"the language areas of the brain seem to go through the most dynamic period of growth between the ages of 6 and 13† (qtd. in Talukder 3). The UCLA study instead suggests that â€Å"the elementary and middle school years are the biologically most advantageous times for acquisition of a second language† (qtd. in Talukder 3).It is during the first years of life that â€Å"the foundations for thinking, language, vision, attitudes, aptitudes, and other characteristics are laid down,† says Ronald Kotulak, author of Inside the Brain (qtd. in Dryden and Voss 266). Studies of the brain show that a second language is stored in the same part of the brain as a fir st language when learned by age 8. After that age, a second language is stored in a different part of the brain. However, simply introducing a program at the elementary level is not enough.The second recommendation is that a successful language program has to be consistent and coherent among all organizations and educational sectors. The federal government can provide leadership in developing long term policies for enhanced teacher training, incentives for school districts to offer early language instruction, and conduct long term research on language education (Pufahl and Rhodes and Christian 16). Effective teaching strategies must be implemented such as foreign language as a medium of subject instruction, immersion or dual-language programs.Foreign languages should have the same status as other core subjects such as math and reading and they should be carried through elementary to college (Pufahl and Rhodes and Christian 17). The third recommendation is enhanced teacher training. Based on the survey results, teacher training that integrates academic subject studies with pedagogical studies and teaching practice, was one of the most successful aspects of foreign language education in their respective countries (Pufahl and Rhodes and Christian 10).The fourth recommendation is that educators need to take advantage of our ethnic diversity by promoting the learning of heritage languages. The United States is one of the world’s largest Spanish-speaking countries; however, we don’t capitalize on this powerful human resource or in any other heritage languages. The majority of public schools don’t offer programs for immigrant students to build on their home languages even when there’s a large group in the community who speaks the same language.Promoting strong bilingual programs such as dual-immersion where half the students speak another language than English and both groups study together and become bilingual in both languages of instruc tion (Pufahl and Rhodes and Christian 19). A major change needs to happen in the United States in regards to foreign language education, from the national to local level. Besides personal and academic achievement, being proficient in foreign languages is extremely important for international trade, diplomacy, and national security.It is important that the federal government creates a sizable budget for language education and establishes foreign language as a core subject. Educators and teachers should benefit from the country’s sociolinguistic context and promote bilingual programs that capitalize on heritage languages. Schools should create long term programs so that students can continue their foreign language education all the way to college if they so choose. Works Cited Campos, Jill. â€Å"Re: foreign languages in elementary schools. Message to the author. 04 Feb. 2012. Email. Hines, Marion E. â€Å"Foreign Language Curriculum Concerns in Times of Conflict. † Del ta Kappa Gamma Bulletin 70. 1 (2003): 15-21. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. Larew, Leonor. â€Å"The Optimum Age for Beginning a foreign Language. † Modern Language Journal 45. 5 (1961): 203. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. Meyers-Scotton, Carol. â€Å"Why Bilingualism Matters. † American Speech 75. 3 (2000): 290-292. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Mar. 012. Pufahl, Ingrid, and Nancy Rhodes. â€Å"Foreign Language Instruction in U. S. Schools: Results of a National Survey of Elementary and Secondary Schools. † Foreign Language Annals 44. 2 (2011): 258-288. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. Pufahl, Ingrid, Christian Donna, and Nancy Rhodes. â€Å"Foreign Language Teaching: What the United States Can Learn from Other Countries. † ERIC Clearing House on Languages and Linguistics (2000):1-35. Eric Digest. Web 18 Apr. 2012 (2011): 258-288.Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. Schick, Jo-Anne E. , and Paul B. Nelson. à ¢â‚¬Å"Language Teacher Education: The Challenge for the Twenty-First Century. † Clearing House 74. 6 (2001): 301-304. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. Talukder, Gargi. How the Brain Learns a Second Language. 2001 Brain Connection. Web. 21 Apr. 2012. Zehr, Mary Ann. â€Å"Elementary Foreign Language Instruction on Descent. † Education Week 28. 23 (2009):8-8. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Mar. 2012.

Bhagvad Gita

You have 7 response papers due throughout the semester. Please see the syllabus for due dates. The prompt/question will be posted one week before the response is due. You may drop 2 responses for any reason. ; Each response is worth 20 points. You will be graded on how well you answer the question or respond to the prompt. This means you should provide evidence from the lecture or readings/films to support what you are saying.While this is not a formal paper, you must use good grammar, complete sentences, and proper citation methods if you choose to quote, for example, the textbook. ; Responses should be -?200-250 words. Please avoid making them much longer. You will lose points if your response is significantly shorter than the word requirement. ; Please type your response and use standard 12 point font and standard margins. ; Papers should be posted on Encounters on the due date no later than 11 PM.Late response papers will not be accepted without proper documentation of illness or emergency. ; The prompt/question for each response will be posted on Encounters by the Tuesday before (-?one week) It's due. ; Remember: These papers are intended to engage with the material and think about the abstract concepts that we will be covering in this course. In addition, these papers give you the opportunity to compare aspects of the tradition and think critically about what we learn.For Response #7-Please respond to the following question/prompt. Answer the following In the context of the Baghdad Gala. Why doesn't Aragua want to fight in the war? What reasons does he give? How does Krishna respond? What are the two Identities of the human being? Which one Is more Important and why? What is the goal of life according to the Krishna? How does one achieve It? Clearly explain and make sure to answer all parts of the question. Provide at three direct examples from the Baghdad Gait In your answer.

Answers to math 230

1. The slope of a function at the point of its local or global maxima is zero. Explain why using an example. The slope of a function is zero at the point of its local or global maxima because of the fact that it is the point where the function is horizontal, thus the slope is really zero. For example, given a function f(x) =-x^2. The first derivative of f is -2x and equating it to zero will yield to solution x=0 which is our candidate for maximum or minimum point. Furthermore, we apply the second derivative test. The second derivative is -2 thus 0 is a local maximum. Accidentally 0 is the only local maximum thus 0 is also the global maximum of the function. At x=0, f(x) =0, which has slope of 0. 2. Show how the derivative of the function f(x) = (2x^4) (3x+2)2 can be obtained with out using the product rule. We can differentiate the given function 2x^4 (3x+2)2 without using the product rule by just simply distributing (2x^4) to the term (3x+2) giving you 6x^5+ 4x^4. Afterwards, multiply it with the constant 2, thus you have 12x^5+8x^5. Now you can solve the derivative using the simple idea of getting the derivative of function.   Hence you have (12)(5)(x^5-1)+(8)(5)(x^4-1) yielding you to 60x^4+40x^3 which is the derivative of the function f. 3. Provide a discussion showing that the limit of the function, f(x) =2x^4 / (x-2) does not exist at x=2. It is possible that the limit of a given function doest not exist at a particular point. In the problem, to show that the limit of f(x) as x approaches 2 does not exist we need to get the right hand side and left hand side limit of f(x). The right hand side limit of f is positive infinity while the left hand side limit of f is negative infinity. Since they are not equal, we are forced to conclude that the limit of f(x) does not exist. Reference: What the Derivative Tells Us About a Function. Retrieved October 12 2007 from http://www.ugrad.math.ubc.ca/coursedoc/math102/keshet.notes/chapter5