How The Black Death Influenced Life - 1399 Words

Explain how the Black Death influenced life in Europe The Black Death had a significant negative effect on both the economy of Europe and the Catholic Church during and after it s prime, proving to ruin the lives of many both directly and indirectly subject to the plague. However, it can be argued that the Black Death prompted a restructure in feudalism, increasing equality in society. The Bubonic Plague became prominent in 1347 AD, tearing through the lives of many throughout Europe. A major financial shift in the fourteenth century saw millions living in poverty. The Catholic Church was shunned because it had no power over the plague, and therefore lost much of its influence on society. However, lower class citizens were able to stand†¦show more content†¦Consequently prices rose dramatically, stabilising for a long period of very high rates. Braginsky highlights the difficulty for peasants and land owners alike during the time of the Bubonic Plague. It can be observed that there was strife in the European community, having t o deal with inflation of food prices, causing victims of the plague to often not be well nourished, leading to more deaths. Henry Knighton, an English monk, once wrote that â€Å"all essentials are so expensive that something which had previously cost one quid, was now worth four or five quid†. It is obvious that many were negatively effected by this inflation, which was caused primarily because of the decrease in the population due to the Black Death. Another reason for the worsening of Europe s economy was that the trade business was hit hard and those dependant on the trade business lost substantial amounts of money. As it came to the realisation that trading with people from plague ravaged areas transported the disease, no one wanted to continue trading. It was also because of the major decrease in population that trade became less prominent. This is as a result of the people alive having to work in their own area (often in agriculture) to support themselves. A notary from Piacenza, Gabriele de Mussi gave a vivid account of the spreading of the plague.

Accounting Theory and Analysis - Essay Example

Essays on Accounting Theory and Analysis - Essay Essay CORPORATE GOVERNANCE CORPORATE FAILURE Introduction Corporate Failure Corporate Governance is a system through which a company is directed and controlled (Tricker and Tricker 2002). It provides guidelines through which an entity can achieve its objective and avoid corporate failure. Normally, all corporate governance codes provide guidelines in many areas such as internal controls, constitution of board, and performance management etc (Fernando 2009). There is no universal definition available for corporate failure, but generally it refers to a situation where an entity ceases to carry its business due to a heavy loss or bankruptcy and etc. filing for bankruptcy, delisting from stock exchange, ceasing to trade for any reason or entering into receivership can be termed as corporate failure (Patrick 2011). Corporate governance guidelines are designed by the experts keeping in mind the causes of corporate failure incidents happened in past so these guidelines would surely be helpful to companies in avoiding future collapses. Guards against Corporate Failure Enhancement of Independence of External Auditors and Partner’s Rotation Corporate Governance requires board of director to take all necessary steps to enhance the independence of the external auditors for the fair and unbiased audit of the financial statements. If the independence is threatened due to any reason than the auditor may fail to provide true and fair view of the financial position of the company (Plessis† 2011). Enron was one of the biggest companies listed in US stock exchange, collapsed in October 2001, due to the fact that the auditor was forced not to report the financial losses in their reports. Arthur Andersen was the auditor of Enron whose independence was threatened due to the fact that a large portion of their revenue was being generated from Enron. In addition to this, Corporate Governance codes require the rotation of the audit partner after certain period of time. In case of Enron the audit partner was not rotated and the result of departure from these guidelines was $20 billion loss to its shareholders due to the fall in Enron share prices from $90 per share to $1 per share, further Arthur Andersen was also collapsed due to this famous scandal (Theodore 2002). Constitution of the Board Corporate Governance code requires the companies to include both executive and non executive directors (NEDs) (Jill 2004). According Australian code of corporate governance the board should be constituted with both executive and non-executive directors. NEDs does not take part in the affair of the company, but they critically analyze the decision made by the executive directors and bring their expertise for the success of the business. In case of non presence of NEDs in the board executive director may take poor strategic decisions. According to Hamilton poor decision making is one of the reason for the corporate failure of the companies in past which can be countered with the inclusion of the Non executive directors in the board. Separation of CEO and Chairman of the Company One of the main reasons for the corporate failure is the use of excessive powers by the executives. In many companies, one person holds both the designation of CEO and Chairman having supreme decision making authority. Due to the seriousness of this fact, corporate governance codes requires chairman and CEO to be different person so that they can be hold responsible for their decisions (Gà ¼ler 1996). For example, if the CEO takes highly risky decision chairman of the board can resist him to risk company’s resources. Acting upon the guideline will surely bring the chances of corporate failure to a low level. Evaluation of Board’s Performance Corporate Governance code requires the company to evaluate the performance of the board after a reasonable time period. Normally, NEDs are responsible to judge the performance of the executive directors (Clarke 2007). It is a good provision of the corporate governance codes and because of it executive director will take careful decision in the best interest of the company. In the absence of this provision it the board of director may take risky decision in order to obtain short term benefits which main ultimately result in loss to shareholders. Agency Theory and Communication with Shareholders Agency theory in corporate governance stresses on the need of two sided control that is; the manger and the owners. This theory assumes that there will be some sort of mistrust between these two groups. In addition to this managers of the business are under the fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the company and they must report all significant matters to the shareholders to obtain their willingness in taking risky decisions. Corporate governance code also requires the board to communicate with the shareholders on sufficient regularity to bring into their knowledge all the affairs of the company. HIH insurance is another example of the biggest corporate failures in Australia due to the risky practices and miscommunication from the management and eventually it was collapsed in 2001. The company had total assets of $7.8 billion dollars and there were huge debts and insurance claims which reduced the net assets of HIH to only $133 million and ultimately the company was insolvent. The management did not communicate the presence of heavy debts and claims over the assets of the company. Liquidator estimated that HIH demise took place with around $5.3 billion which is the considered to be the worst ever collapse in the Australian history. Effective Internal Control and Financial Reporting System All the corporate governance codes stresses on the need of effective internal control system to avoid fraudulent activities. In some countries like United States the director including CEO are required to report on the appropriateness of the internal control system. Similarly financial reporting system is also one of the most important tools recommended by the corporate governance to control unauthorized transactions (Nate† 2008). In the absence of effective internal control, it is very easy for staff to hide the fraudulent transaction and obtained unfair benefit. The CFO of Enron with the help of the other executives successfully misled audit committee and board with the use of accounting tricks and hide multi billion dollars debts which the company was liable to pay due to project failure. WorldCom is also one of the main victims of the corporate failure due to the financial reporting issues. Due to the downfall in the economy in early 2000, the share price of the WorldCom was declining sharply and the company was under huge pressure from their bank to cover the markup on the loans. This situation continued till 2002 when CEO, Controller and the Director of general accounts used accounting trick to show the better results than actual. Due to this fraud company’s declining financial position was shown as growing and the stock went upwards. The accounting department understated the cost of revenue by around $3.6 billion to increase the revenue; on the other hand revenue was inflated. Conclusion Different aspects of the corporate governance have been discussed above with their benefits. Above mentioned facts show that the corporate governance practices help corporate entities to avoid corporate failures. Different courtiers have different codes for corporate governance, but the essence of all code is to bring transparency in the business and avoid heavy losses to shareholders as in case of Enron and WorldCom. However, it is important to mention that there is a huge cost involve in complying with the requirements of the codes, so the corporate entities must make cost benefit analysis to put this system in place and avoid corporate failure. Bibliography Clarke, Thomas. International Corporate Governance: A Comparative Perspective. New York: Routledge, 2007. Fernando, A. C. Corporate Governance: Principles, Policies and Practices. Delhi, India: Dorling Kidersley Private Limited, 2009. Gà ¼ler, A. Global Perspectives on Corporate Governance and CSR. Burlington: Gower Publishing, 1996. Jill, Solomom. Corporate Governance and Accountability. Chichester: John Wiley Sons, 2004. Nate†, Stephens M. Corporate Governance Quality and Internal Control Reporting Under SOX. Arizina: Proquest, 2008. Patrick, Gaughan A. Mergers, Acquisitions, and Corporate Restructurings. New Jersey: John Wiley Sons, 2011. Plessis†, Jean Jacques du. Principles of Contemporary Corporate Governance. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Theodore, Sterling† F. The Enron Scandal. New York: Nova Science Publishers Inc, 2002. Tricker, Bob, and Ian Robert Tricker. Corporate Governance: Principles, Policies and Practices. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Australian people Free Essays

Throughout the years, the entire Australian nation has been in the course of constant social and racial issues between the indigenous Australian people and non-indigenous white Australian people. From the ancient time and up to the modern contemporary era, differences and gap between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people are clearly visible that have been the main reason of suffering amongst the indigenous Australians. Moreover, it is indeed undeniable that indigenous Australians have been through a long road of suffering from removal, discrimination, hostility and the shortcomings of effective government policy to resolve this long been issue of Aboriginal Australian. We will write a custom essay sample on Australian people or any similar topic only for you Order Now (BRI) For the most recent customary practice, the Aboriginal children are separated from their families, while the entire aboriginal homes or the indigenous communities have been moved out of their houses and sent to another subdivision of the country. Since then, the Islander traits and Indigenous way of living was in regulation and oversee in most of its aspects. (Global Ministries) Nevertheless, this issue between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people is not only historical. In the modern or contemporary time, the Australian aboriginals still carry the burden of intense social scrutiny with all the things that they do and to all the places that they walk off. In the most clever sense, reconciliation in the entire Australian nation signifies that both indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people must work hard together to resolve and cure the ruined relationship between them. Essentially, this process reconciliation or cure on the issue between indigenous and non-indigenous Australian will be effective through the cautious settlement of the negative outcome of the dilemma, which are the following. (BRI) â€Å"40% of the Aboriginal population is under 15 years old (compared to less than 25% of the white population). Less than 8% of the Aboriginal population is over 50 (compared to more than 25% of the white population). Unemployment amongst Aborigines is 40% compared to 10% of the white population). Unemployment in the 15-19 year age group is approx. 60% for those not in educations (compared to 20% of white youths). 55% of Aboriginal employment is provided by the private sector (compared to 78% of non-Aboriginal employment). Aboriginal people are significantly underrepresented in the wholesale/retail industry and in the Finance/Business sector). 35% of Aboriginal males’ jobs are classified as ‘laborers’ (compared to 15% of the non-Aboriginal population). 20% of Aboriginal females jobs are classified as ‘laborers’ (compared to 12. 5% of the non-aboriginal female population). 9% of Aboriginal has any post school qualifications (compared to 26% of the overall population). 53% of Aborigines live in rental accommodation (compared to 14% of total population). Aboriginal life expectancy is 15 to 17 years less than for the whole population. Death rates associated with the circulatory system are 2. 5 times greater than for the total population. 10% of the Aboriginal population lives more than 100 km. from a hospital, 17% have no access to a doctor and a further19% has no access to a nurse. Aboriginal imprisonment is 18 times that of non Aborigines. 20% of those detained in custody are Aboriginal and yet Aboriginals represent only 2. 5% of the overall population. 10% of Aboriginal people aged over 25 were taken away from their natural family by a church or government agency. The arrest rate of Aboriginal â€Å"stolen children† is 32% compared to 19% of â€Å"non-stolen† Aborigines. † (BRI) In a more in-depth review, the above factual statistics can be accounted as well to be the factual suffering of the indigenous Australian people for a long time, as the result of racial discrimination in the entire Australian nation. Nevertheless, the following statistics shows the serious and hazardous suffering of the Australian indigenous people. Basing on these detrimental statistics of the issue, it is no doubt that reconciliation across the Australian nation is badly needed to unite both the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people and end the social suffering of the Australian aboriginals. Data shows that one of initial process of reconciliation in Australia had happened way back May 26, 1997, through â€Å"The Bringing Them Home† report, which provide an in depth information on the violence that had carried out on Australian indigenous and on the communities of Torres Strait Island, by means of forced separation of children or young aborigines from the custody of their parents and families. (Global Ministries) In deeper standpoint, the report had created a positive outcome for the Australian Federal Parliament, which initiates the change on the outlook of Australians on the indigenous as well as the Torres Strait Island people of the entire country. Also, the report had suggests that a â€Å"Sorry Day† must be done every year to remind and commemorate the soreness as well as the suffering of the indigenous Australian people, which they have experienced in a long time. Due to this, communities throughout the entire Australian nation celebrates and carries a â€Å"Sorry Day† each year on the 26th day of May, which define by most of the people as the â€Å"Day of Healing† (Global Ministries) Technically, one of the greater result of â€Å"The Bringing Them Home† in 1997 was that it inspired the formal public apology of the Australian Prime Minister for all the members of stolen generations. A day before the formal public apology of the Australian Prime Minister, Peter Garret, a well reputable Australian musician and politician, had said that the impending apologetic statement for the Australian stolen generation will pave way for the real impact of the reconciliation in entire country. According to Peter Garrett: â€Å"This simple act will open up the possibilities for healing and mutual respect so keenly needed in relations between white and black Australia. We believed that we needed to square up to our past, that the lack of an apology to Aboriginal Australians was a broken link in the chain to a joined future. † (Guardian News and Media Limited 2008) Last February 13, 2008, the Australian Prime Minister had formally delivered his statement of apology for the stolen generations that have been separated from their parents, families and communities by force. According to Mick Dodson (co-chairman of Reconciliation Australia), the apology is something that the people have been waiting for the longest time on its history. Moreover, some of the leader indigenous leader had defined the prime minister’s statement of apology as monumental, as this kind of happening in federal parliament is entirely one of the significant events in its history. (ABC Darwin) In a brief background of the social injustice, it is said that the harmful practice had begun in early and the middle of 18th century, which continuous to moves on until the year 1970. Through the 1997 analysis made by the Equal Opportunity Commission and Human Rights, it was stated that between one out of ten and three out of ten young children of Torres Straight Islander children and aboriginals are separated by force from their family from 1910 and 1970. (ABC Darwin) The initial beginning of force removal of child policy was specifically designed for the fortification that vindicates the assimilation and segregation of Indigenous people in Australia. This policy was formalized through Legislation under the command of the Colonial governments, which gives broad authority over the lives of indigenous and Torres Straight Islander people defined by the governmental subsidiary, named as the Aboriginal Protection Board or better known as the APB. (Link Up 1997) Nevertheless, the above policies have been through different objections as it was cited to be a violation of human rights. Through the recent years, the agreement was released that quotes the assimilation programs as a failure that it only generate suffering and sorrow for the Indigenous Australians of today. (Maiden, p. 1) Currently, the appreciation on the stolen generation is a major subject across the Australian nation and in the House of Representative. In reality, the present Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of the Commonwealth of Australia had formalized the recognition of the stolen generation through his statement of apology for the indigenous Australian. Together with the Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had received a warm welcome on their entrance in the Great Hall. This event is considered to be the largest recognition for the social injustice in the entire Australian history (Maiden, p. 1) In more in-depth analysis, the apology made by the Australian Prime Minister had garner vague and diverse feedback from the entire Australian people from both indigenous and non-indigenous. Some of the feedback says that the apology is a brighter action to lead the entire nation into reconciliation between the indigenous and non-indigenous people. Also, some of the initial reactions on this, states that an apology is not enough and would only turned out to be meaningless if the apology will not be supported with the necessary procedures to ensure the progress of the positive beginning for reconciliation. Nevertheless, some of the feedbacks by the Australian people directly says their negative or oppositionist stand on the statement of apology by the prime minister and utter that a long been problem like racism in Australia will not be healed by just a simple public apology, rather compensation and effectual actions is needed. (Guardian News and Media Limited 2008) The Table below shows the actual size and population statistics of the Australian indigenous people. Technically, the table states that there are 410,000 Australian indigenous people, as of the year 2001 Census. Approximately, there are 409,729 Australian people with Aboriginal foundation and there are 29,239 Australian populace of Torres Strait Islander origin. Furthermore, there are 19,552 Australian people that are recognized with both indigenous and Torres Strait Islander origin. Slightly, the statistics of Australian indigenous women is greater that the aboriginal men with 230,994 female as compare to the 227,562 male, which is identical with the Australian non-indigenous distribution. (Human Rights Equal Opportunity Commission) The Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law in the Faculty of Law, on the other hand, portray a significant independent function in the reconciliation process in the entire Australian Nation. The Firm is active to held public debate on the major issues that is critical to the future of Australia: includes the native title, bill of rights, terrorism challenges and the reconciliation process in the entire country. With al of these participations of the firm, it can be argued that the greatest contribution of the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law is the participation of the firm in the reconciliation process between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people. Essentially, the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law had made their submission to the Australia 2020 Summit. (Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law) Technically, the 20/20 summit was a two day meeting with the list of volunteers and people form the government. Held last 19th and the 20th day of April 2008, the summit tackles the ten specific policies from the summit, which include the aspect of Australian economy and government’s long health program strategy. Nevertheless, the issue of indigenous Australians is one of the most important subjects of the two day summit, which deals with the future of the indigenous Australian people. (ABC International) Moreover, the topic 7 of the 20/20 summit talks about the future of Indigenous Australian people. The discussion states that in the year 2020 must be part of the national good information of the history inside the school classrooms. Health should have rapidly increased closed to the national average of non-indigenous Australians. Topic 7 then states that Australian indigenous people must increase the stage of employment, which Australian aboriginals must have their fair share of the country’s wealth, through equal employment or work opportunity. (The University of South Wales) Furthermore, the discussion includes that Australian Indigenous people must be included to the legislative position of public policy in the entire Australian area and in Canberra. Indigenous leader must participate to the programs of government and lead autonomous aboriginal institutions of governance. Also, 20/20 summit states that the Australian constitution must spread the pride about the profound and lasting and forceful contribution of the Australian aboriginal people to the life of entire nation and protect their equal rights of citizenship in the country, as the original owners of the land. (The University of South Wales) In addition to this, the national treaty must spread the honest information of the past and portray a positive outlook on the future of relationship amongst indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people. Nevertheless, the end conclusion of the 20/20 summit in the country, contributes to the brighter future of countries stable citizen relationship and to the reconciliation process between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people. (The University of South Wales) In a deeper review of the subject, a treaty is essentially necessary for the entire Australian country in able to resolve the long been issue of racial discrimination between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people. Technically, a treaty is also known as a governmental agreement specifically designed to resolve a specific issue or conflict in the society. In Australia, a treaty is critical to connect the link between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people and resolve the historical issue of racial discrimination in the entire country. Moreover, the Australian version of their treaty was designed to resolve the human right issues of the indigenous Australian and to create the positive relationship between the two different races, which have been the long intend of the nation. (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) Specifically, the Committee of Australian Treaty is accounted to negotiate and formulate an agreement that will deal with the following issues in the society: 1. ) â€Å"The protection of Aboriginal identity, languages, law and culture; National land rights legislation; 2. ) Conditions governing mining and exploration of natural resources on Aboriginal land; 3. ) Compensation for loss of traditional lands and for damage to those lands and traditional way of life; and 4. ) Right of Aboriginals to control their own affairs and establish their own associations for this purpose. † (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) Nevertheless, Australian treaty is negotiated specifically to resolve the long been conflict of both past and present social injustice between the indigenous and the non-indigenous Australian people. Moreover, the Australian treaty carries same goal or purpose to make the link and acceptance between the indigenous and non-indigenous people in the entire Australian community. In addition to this, the treaty in Australia will definitely support and empower the progress of reconciliation in the entire Australian nation. (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) According to Mark Leibler, the symbolic idea is significant in the reconciliation of Australian races, which he states that concentrating in just one side will never be the true essence of reconciliation. Furthermore, he states that practicality is more important to achieve the unity of the country that reconciliation is not just the government’s work – rather it is the voyage of the entire nation and Australians must have done their part. (Reconciliation) Jackie Huggins, on the other hand, gives a clear emphasis to the right of an individual to choose the path that he or she wanted to take. Moreover, she states that indigenous and non-indigenous Australian must be protected on their political and legal rights, as an individual in able to sustain their culture and heritage of the land, as a unified nation. (Reconciliation) Treaty of Waitangi is an agreement between the British Crown and Maori. Signed in the year 1840, the treaty had established the British law in New Zealand, when at the same time it assures the Maoris to their right on their culture and land. With this, the Treaty of Waitangi is renowned as the beginning article of the entire country of New Zealand. Nevertheless, the Treaty of Waitangi was a definite success in New Zealand law, which it serves as a brilliant agreement between the British crown and Maori of equal distribution of powers and rights on their land. (Tourism New Zealand) However, despite of the success of the agreement, the treaty still records mishaps and problems on its history. The first mishap of the treaty is that in the English version of the agreement says that the Maori had give up their governorship or sovereignty or better known as kawanatanga, to the British Crown, when the truth is that Maori just agrees to share power with the British crown. (Tourism New Zealand) In addition to this, the Maori holds their edition that broader pledge of rights for Maori to the custody of their on hand treasure or better known as taonga. While the English version states that the Maori had give up their control on their treasures like lands, fisheries and forests to the British crown, when the fact is that Maori had agrees to protection of their heritage such as language and culture. (Tourism New Zealand) With all of these mishaps and dilemmas of the Treaty of Waitangi, the Australians must be definite and specific to the context of their version of treaty in able to prevent and avoid the problems that the Treaty of Waitangi had experienced. Nevertheless, the Australians must learn how to protect the true essence of their treaty to assure that they will never experience the same thing that had happened in Treaty of Waitangi, which was troubled by the diverse version of their agreement. On the other hand, the Australian version of treaty must have the essential legal avenues to resolve the conflict in its society in able to ensure the effective progress of reconciliation between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people. Furthermore, the Australian treaty must have the legal procedures that straightforwardly deal with the past and present social injustice that indigenous Australians had experienced in able to restore the equal justice between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people. In the end, the Australia’s version of treaty is essential to achieve the nations intend of reconciliation between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people. Moreover, the treaty is definitely helpful to resolve the social injustice on Australian indigenous people from past and present. Nevertheless, the Australian treaty will be supportive to restore the equal share of justice and human rights between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people. It is essential for Australian treaty to have a clear and definite context to efficiently prevent the predicaments that the Treaty of Waitangi had experienced. Finally, the Australian treaty must be symbolic, which both the indigenous and non-indigenous must work hard together in able to achieve the reconciliation between the two different Australian races. Nonetheless, the treaty must convey equal terms on both indigenous and non-indigenous side to equally cater the needs of both parties. References BRI (n. d), RECONCILIATION ISSUES: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. bri. net. au/Reconciliation. html Global Ministries (2006), Reconciliation Australia: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. globalministries. org/eap/missionaries/reconcilliation-australia. html Guardian News and Media Limited (2008), Australia says sorry for racist past: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://blogs. guardian. co. uk/news/2008/02/it_has_been_a_long. html ABC Darwin (2008), The long road to a short word: Retrieved June 12, 2008 http://www. abc. net. au/local/stories/2008/02/07/2157107. htm Link Up (NSW) Tikka Jan Wilson (1997): In the Best Interest of the Child? Stolen Generation Aboriginal pain/White shame, Paragon Printers, pp 51-57, 125-126 S. Maiden (2008), Rudd apology sorry to Aboriginal Stolen Generations: Retrieved June 12, 2008 http://www. theaustralian. news. com. au/story/0,25197,23205437-601,00. html Human Rights Equal Opportunity Commission (2006), A statistical overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. hreoc. gov. au/Social_Justice/statistics/index. html Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law (2008), Latest News: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. gtcentre. unsw. edu. au/ ABC International (2008), Australia’s report on 20/20 ideas summit released: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. radioaustralia. net. au/news/stories/200805/s2261233. htm? tab=latest The University of South Wales (2008), Australia 20/20 Summit: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. gtcentre. unsw. edu. au/news/docs/2020_Summit_Submission. pdf Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (2002), Treaty – Advancing reconciliation Murdoch University, Western Australia, 27 June 2002: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. hreoc. gov. au/about/media/speeches/social_justice/treaty_conference. html Reconciliation (n. d), Reconciliation in Australia – Current Practices and Future Directions: Retrieved June 12, 2008 Tourism New Zealand (2008), Treaty of Waitangi: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. newzealand. com/travel/about-nz/history/history-treaty-of-waitangi. cfm How to cite Australian people, Papers

Contract Law Engaging in Contracts

Question: Assignment on the basic principles of Contract Law . - Apply their knowledge in daily situations where this area of law comes into play - Make informed decisions in respect of matters covered in the topics of the course, such as engaging in contracts - Recognise and identify the need for professional advice where necessary. Answer: 1. There are several ways in which an offer can be terminated. These are the events that take place after one party has made an offer to the other party but due to these events, the offer comes to an end and as a result, it cannot be accepted by the opposite party any more. Some of the ways of terminating an offer include revocation, rejection, counter-offer, lapse of time, operation of law or death. Revocation: An offer can come to an end as a result of revocation of the offer. In this regard, revocation can be described as a situation where the offer is withdrawn by the opposite party. The general rule related with the revocation of offer was provided by the court in Payne v Cave when it stated that offeror can revoke before it has been accepted by the opposite party. But in such a case, the revocation of the offer should be effectively communicated directly or indirectly to the other party before the offer has been accepted (Atiyah, 2000). This position was further strengthened in Byrne v Van Tienhoven (1880) where the court stated that the withdrawal of the offer that was directed by telegram was considered to be communicated simply when such telegram was received by the other party. However in Dickinson v Dodds (1876), the court said that sufficient communication regarding the withdrawal of offer can also be made through a third-party. Rejection: an offer is also considered to have been terminated when the party to whom the offer was made, communicates its rejection of the offer to the party making the offer. In this way, the law provides that when the offeree has made a counter-offer or has introduced new conditions, the consequence is the rejection of the offer and as a result, the original offer cannot be accepted later on (Beatson, Burrows and Cartwright, 2010). For example in Hyde v Wrench (1840), it was mentioned that the consequence of the counter-offer made by the offeree is that the original offer is terminated. 2 (a) In the present case, a valid and enforceable contract has not been created between Kaira and her aunt due to the lack of consideration. (b) according to law contract, there are certain elements that should be present in a contract to make it valid and legally enforceable. Among these elements is the element of consideration. The law of contract provides that in order to make the agreement binding, the promisee should provide some kind of consideration the return of the comments received by them. The result of this requirement is that generally the gratuitous promises are not considered as being the enforceable. In the same way, the law provides that a past consideration is not valid. Hence, the consideration is required to be existing either with or after the promise (Collins, 2003). On the other hand, when the specified consideration pre-dates the promise, it will be considered as a past consideration and therefore not a good consideration. But certain exceptions are there to the general rule. As a result, the past consideration can be considered as a good consideration if it has been provided at the request of the promisor or if an understanding was present between the parties that such an act will be remunerated or if the promise took place in advance of the act, it would have been legally enforceable (McKendrick, 2009). On the other hand, in the present case Kaira had washed and polished her aunt's car in order to surprise and therefore the act was not done at the request of her aunt. Moreover, there was no understanding between them that they will be remunerated. Therefore in the present case even if Kaira had purchased necessary warm clothes for the trip to Disneyland, the promise made by Kaira's aunt is not legally enforceable. Furthermore, in case of domestic agreements, there is a rebuttable presumption that did not have the intention of creating a legal relationship. Therefore, Kaira is also required to establish that they had the intention of creating a legal relationship. 3.(a) The price tag of $30.00 has been mistakenly placed on the set of pearls. Moreover, the price tag cannot be considered as an offer but it was only an invitation to treat. (b) In the present case, the shopkeeper can refuse to sell the pearls set to Hari at the mistaken price of $30. The reason is that the fact that the set of pearls had been displayed in a showcase along with a price tag does not amount to an offer but it is just an invitation to treat. The distinction between the two is that when an offer is accepted it forms a contract between the parties, an invitation to treat is merely made with a view to invite offers from the other party. As a result, an invitation to treat cannot be accepted for the purpose of creating a legally enforceable contract (Peel and Treitel, 2011). In Pharmaceutical Society of Britain v Boots (1953), the court stated that the display of a product in a store along with its price is not sufficient for being considered as an offer but it is merely an invitation to treat. Similarly in Fisher v Bell (1961), it was stated that displaying a flick knife in the shop did not contravene the law according to which, offering such offensive weapon for sale was prohibited. In the same way if any item has been mistakenly displayed by a shop at a very low price, the shop is not under an obligation to sell the item at that price. 4.(a) As mentioned above, there are certain elements that should be present for making an agreement enforceable by the law. Among these elements, the first requirement is that of an offer. Therefore in order to make an agreement the enforceable, a party should make an offer to the other party. There is no particular form required for making an offer. Consequently, when Tom asked Jerry if he will be interested in purchasing his car, he had made an offer to Jerry. (b) In the present case, Jerry was under the impression that Tom wanted to sell the SLK280 because he had always seen Tom drive this car. Under the circumstances, he believed that when Tom made an offer to sell his car, he must have been talking regarding his Mercedes-Benz car. Therefore the issue deals with mistakes under the contract law. Under the contract law, mistake is a complicated field. However the general rule mentions that in case the party is mistaken regarding particular aspect, it will not allow such party to discharge its responsibilities under the contract, even in the mistake is a basic one. However, remedies and will be provided under the contract law only in case of four types of mistakes under limited circumstances. These are common mistake, mutual mistake, unilateral mistake and non est factum. Therefore in the present case while Jerry believed that when Tom was talking about selling his car, he must have been talking about his Mercedes-Benz car as he had never s een Tom drive these are the car, the Lexus S250MR. But in this regard it needs to be noted that as both the cars belong to Tom, he was also correct when he stated that he was willing to sell his car thereby meaning the Lexus S250MR. Under the circumstances, it is clear that Jerry was under a mistake when he believed that Tom was talking about his Mercedes-Benz car. (c) In the present case, the validity of the contract between Jerry and Tom has been affected as a result of the mistake made by them. As mentioned above, under the contract law there are three types of mistakes that are recognized by the courts. These are common mistake, unilateral mistake and mutual mistake. When both the parties have made the same mistake, it is called the common mistake. Mutual mistake takes place when the parties are at cross purposes and in case of a unilateral mistake, only one party is mistaken. However when a finding is made by the court regarding the presence of a mistake in the contract, generally the effect will be that the contract will be rendered void ab initio. In this way, it is considered that a contract never existed between the parties. This position is significantly different from the voidable contracts. In case of a voidable contract, the contract is valid until the innocent party has taken action to set aside the contract. For example, in the present case it appears that Jerry and Tom had made a mutual mistake. In such a case, the parties are at cross purposes. In the present case also, while Jerry wanted to purchase the Mercedes-Benz car, Tom believed that he was going to sell his Lexus. In such a case, an objective test is applied by the courts for the purpose of seeing if the contract can be saved. In this context, it is considered in any other reasonable person, keeping in view the negotiations between the parties, would have understood the contract to have a single meaning. If the answer is in the affirmative the contract is considered as valid regarding that meaning. On the other hand if any other reasonable person would also fail to decide the meaning of the contract, in such a case the contract will be considered as void on the grounds of mistake. In the present case also, the contract between Jerry and Tom is void and therefore, the law considers that there was never a contract between Jerry a nd Tom. References Atiyah, P.S. 2000 An Introduction to the Law of Contract, Clarendon Beatson, J. Burrows A. and Cartwright, J. 2010 Anson's Law of Contract, 29th edn OUP Collins, H. 2003, Contract Law in Context 4th edn CUP McKendrick, E. 2009 Contract Law 8th edn Palgrave Peel E and Treitel, G.H. 2011, Treitel on the Law of Contract, 13th edn Sweet and Maxwell Case Law Byrne Co v Leon Van Tien Hoven Co [1880] 5 CPD 344 Dickinson v Dodds (1876) 2 Ch D 463 Fisher v Bell [1961] 1 QB 394 Hyde v Wrench [1840] EWHC Ch J90 Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists (Southern) Ltd [1953] EWCA Civ

Analysis of Phosphate free essay sample

The aim of the experiment is to determine the concentration of phosphate ions in unknown samples. A series of dilution of known concentration is performed from the phosphate working solution. Each of the prepared working standards, the unknown samples and the blank are then made to react with a mixed reagent which have been prepared after acid wash of the glasswares Glassware * 2 Beakers * 11 conical flasks * 9 Volumetric flasks 50 ml * 1 Volumetric flasks 1000 ml * Pipette type 1 Pipette 25 ml * Stir rod * 11cuvette * Spectrophotometer Chemical needs; hazards and safety precautions: 1. Sulphuric acid It is very hazardous in case of skin contact. It is classified as corrosive, irritant and permeator. Safety needs: Lab coats,safety goggles and gloves should be worn to minimize risk of contact. In case of: †¢Eye Contact: Check for and remove any contact lenses. In case of contact, immediately flush eyes with plenty of water for at least 15minutes. Cold water may be used. We will write a custom essay sample on Analysis of Phosphate or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Get medical attention immediately. †¢Skin Contact: In case of contact, immediately flush skin with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes while removing contaminated clothing and shoes. Cover the irritated skin with an emollient. Cold water may be used. Wash clothing before reuse. Thoroughly clean shoes before reuse. Get medical attention immediately. †¢Serious Skin Contact: Wash with a disinfectant soap and cover the contaminated skin with an anti-bacterial cream. Seek immediate medical attention. †¢Inhalation: If inhaled, remove to fresh air. If not breathing, give artificial respiration. If breathing is difficult, give oxygen. Get medical attention immediately. 2. ammonium heptimolybdate Ammonium heptimolybdate e is harmful if swallowed or inhaled. It causes irritation to the eyes, skin, and respiratory tract. It affects kidneys and blood Safety measures: Lab coats,safety goggles and gloves should be worn to minimize risk of contact. 3. Potassium antimonyl tartrate Slightly hazardous in case of ingestion. Non-corrosive for skin. Non-sensitizer for skin. 4. Ascorbic acid Slightly hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant), of ingestion, of inhalation. Safety measures: Lab coats, safety goggles and gloves should be worn to minimize risk of contact. 5. Hydrochloric acid Concentrated hydrochloric acid forms acidic mists. Both the mist and the solution have a corrosive effect on human tissue, with the potential to damage respiratory organs, eyes, skin, and intestines. The HCL should be used in a fume hood and personal protective equipment such as rubber or PVC gloves, protective eye goggles, and chemical-resistant clothing such as lab coats should be used to minimize risk when handling hydrochloric acid. Procedures and calculations. * All of the glassware’s to be used are to be washed with acid (HCL) and then with distilled water. * Nine standards, a blank and 2 random sample are going to be analysed. * Prepare a series of working standards in the range of 10-500 µg NO2-N/L * To 50 cm3 of each working standard and sample add 1. 0 cm3 of sulphanilamide, mix and stand for 2 minutes Calculations 1ml = 0. 5  µg of NO2- 1000 ml of solution contain = 10 ml of NO2- (100  µg) 50 ml of solution contain = 1 ml of NO2- (10  µg) SN| Volume of standardPHOSPHATE solution (s)| Volume ofwater| Concentration| Absorbance| 1. | 1. 0| 49| 10| 0. 003| 2. | 2. 0| 45| 50| 0. 035| 3. | 3. 0| 40| 100| 0. 058| 4. | 4. 0| 35| 150| 0. 074| 5. | 5. 0| 30| 200| 0. 099| Blank| 0| 50| 0| 0. 000| Sample A1| | 0. 022| Sample B1| | 0. 068| Result A Graph of absorbance (OD) against concentration ( µg). Using the equation (y=mx+b) to determine concentration of samples. Let Y equal the concentration. This is what will be solved for. Let X equal the absorbency of the sample. This is the absorbency measured by the spectrophotometer Allow â€Å"to equal the slope and b to equal the y-intercept y= 0. 019 x + 0. 947 Concentration of Sample 1 Absorbance of sample A1 = 0. 022 y= 0. 019 (0. 022) + 0. 947 = 0. 947 Concentration of unknown sample 2 Absorbance of sample B2 = 0. 068 y= 0. 019 (0. 068) + 0. 947 = 0. 948 Discussion The concentration phosphate ion in of samples D and E were determined In this experiment I determined the concentration of phosphate ion in samples D and E. These values were determined by obtaining data from solutions of known concentration. These solutions were placed in the spectrophotometer and then by plotting a graph of absorbance vs. concentration, an equation was produced from which the unknown concentration were determined Conclusion From the result of the experiment, it was determined that the relationship between concentration and absorbance is linear. The amount of light absorbed by a solution varies directly with solute concentration.

Sample Standard Deviation Example Problem

Sample Standard Deviation Example Problem This is a simple example of how to calculate sample variance and sample standard deviation. First, lets review the steps for calculating the sample standard deviation: Calculate the mean (simple average of the numbers).For each number: subtract the mean. Square the result.Add up all of the squared results.Divide this sum by one less than the number of data points (N - 1). This gives you the sample variance.Take the square root of this value to obtain the sample standard deviation. Example Problem You grow 20 crystals from a solution and measure the length of each crystal in millimeters. Here is your data: 9, 2, 5, 4, 12, 7, 8, 11, 9, 3, 7, 4, 12, 5, 4, 10, 9, 6, 9, 4 Calculate the sample standard deviation of the length of the crystals. Calculate the mean of the data. Add up all the numbers and divide by the total number of data points.(925412781193741254109694) / 20 140/20 7Subtract the mean from each data point (or the other way around, if you prefer... you will be squaring this number, so it does not matter if it is positive or negative).(9 - 7)2 (2)2 4(2 - 7)2 (-5)2 25(5 - 7)2 (-2)2 4(4 - 7)2 (-3)2 9(12 - 7)2 (5)2 25(7 - 7)2 (0)2 0(8 - 7)2 (1)2 1(11 - 7)2 (4)22 16(9 - 7)2 (2)2 4(3 - 7)2 (-4)22 16(7 - 7)2 (0)2 0(4 - 7)2 (-3)2 9(12 - 7)2 (5)2 25(5 - 7)2 (-2)2 4(4 - 7)2 (-3)2 9(10 - 7)2 (3)2 9(9 - 7)2 (2)2 4(6 - 7)2 (-1)2 1(9 - 7)2 (2)2 4(4 - 7)2 (-3)22 9Calculate the mean of the squared differences.(4254925011641609254994149) / 19 178/19 9.368This value is the sample variance. The sample variance is 9.368The population standard deviation is the square root of the variance. Use a calculator to obtain this number.(9.368)1/2 3.061The population standard deviation is 3.061 Compare this with the variance and population standard deviation for the same data.

Clean up the Resumess Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Clean up the Resumess - Essay Example The screening tool has helped the HR department to function effectively. Usually the best candidates are among the first one who are being hired, if the company does not have the capacity to screen resume in a faster and accurate way the company would end up hiring someone who are the least qualified. The significant impact of using the Hire.com screening tool is that you will be able to hire candidates with qualities that you really prefer. Southern has able to increase the number of resume they screened from 40% to 65%. While the Plantronics sometimes screens out resume as many as 95%. In any business the most important component to succeed are their employees. One of the competitive advantages of using online screening tool is that you will be ahead of other companies in hiring best employee. The company will become more competitive since you will be hiring employees which are competent and effective in the position that the company need. Since the resume will be stored in the company's database, hiring again in the future will be easy. All you need to do is to review the database and pick the best for the position. Using the online screening tools the company will be able to access applicants from all locations. Another advantage of the software is the cost. Posting ad in the newspaper or other means of advertisement cost a lot and can reach only limited number of people.

Audit of client Linstead Parva plc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Audit of client Linstead Parva plc - Essay Example (Independence Provisions Applicable to Audits of Public Interest) The potential threats that may flow are: The acceptance of the staff scheme will cause significant influence on the decision and the professional judgment of the audit team members. The team will not be independent during the course of the audit due to possibility of significant benefits that will aid the team which will impair their objectivity. The audit objective will not be attainted as the members of the team will not be able to exercise proper skepticism during the course of the audit which may impair the objectivity of the audit. (Audit Ethics) Solution It is strictly advised to the members of the Tick and Bash LLP, which are involved in the course of the audit, not to accept significant gifts from Linstead Parva which may impair their objectivity and professional skepticism during the course of the audit. The engagement partner should also make sure, in light of the code of ethics, that any other token or gift which may impair the objectivity is not accepted from the Linstead Parva plc. RELATIONSHIP WITH EMPLOYEE OF AUDIT CLIENT One of the junior accountant working at the CPD (Development) Ltd has become engaged to be married to the son of the engagement partner and since CPD (Development) Ltd is a 100% owned subsidiary of a jointly controlled entity of Linstead Parva plc, i.e. CPC Ltd, there also arises a risk that the audit engagement partner may exercise influence on the team members of the audit team where a matter arises during the course of the audit. However, there can be an argument that the risk will not be very substantial as the person to... It is strictly advised to the members of the Tick and Bash LLP, which are involved in the course of the audit, not to accept significant gifts from Linstead Parva which may impair their objectivity and professional skepticism during the course of the audit.The engagement partner should also make sure, in light of the code of ethics, that any other token or gift which may impair the objectivity is not accepted from the Linstead Parva plc.RELATIONSHIP WITH EMPLOYEE OF AUDIT CLIENTOne of the junior accountant working at the CPD (Development) Ltd has become engaged to be married to the son of the engagement partner and since CPD (Development) Ltd is a 100% owned subsidiary of a jointly controlled entity of Linstead Parva plc, i.e. CPC Ltd, there also arises a risk that the audit engagement partner may exercise influence on the team members of the audit team where a matter arises during the course of the audit.However, there can be an argument that the risk will not be very substantial as the person to whom the audit engagement partner's son is engaged to, is only a junior accountant at CPD (Development) Ltd. But the code of ethics has clearly said forth that "Such relationships must be avoided with the audit clients which tend to prejudice, bias or even influence the objectivity of the auditor".The risk can be mitigated by lowering the level of reliance placed on the work performed at the audit of CPD (Development) Ltd and exercising extra amount of skepticism when dealing with the particular accountant.

Organizational Culture Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Organizational Culture Analysis - Essay Example The essay "Organizational Culture Analysis" presents the analysis of the organizational culture as the defined whole set of values, personalities, norms, assumptions, behaviors, beliefs, ideas and tangible and intangible signs of the organization in its internal and external environments of business conduct. Such tangible and intangible artifacts include organizational goals such as mission and vision. Culture is a tool for the manager to inculcate a set of values, beliefs, and ideas in the employee whose vision is then transformed into that of the organization’s vision. According to Edgar Schein organizational culture is â€Å"A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way you perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems". Schein has provided one of the most thought-provoking definitions to organizational culture and goes on to claim that of all the attributes of the organization, culture is perhaps the most difficult to transform. He identifies three attributes in the organization culture. Next Geert Hofstede identified five dimensions as the basis for organizational culture. Hofstede actually preceded Schein the latter theory’s importance is much greater. It has been given the preference in this paper. A number of other scholars produced their theories on organizational culture too.

The Impacts Of Media On Pakistans Economy Media Essay

The Impacts Of Media On Pakistans Economy Media Essay The reason of choosing this particular topic is to establish the idea that how a countrys internal and external imbalances can be affected by its economy and how a country can face the potential threats while the nation is economically either strong or weak. Why am I choosing the topic? In terms of choosing this particular topic I have personally taken keen interest in the economy of Pakistan along with its political history and have observed a clear change with e involvement of media in the countrys politics, international affairs and economy with in last 2 decades. Historically Pakistan has been an agricultural state with 80% of the countrys population living in rural areas making the agricultural industry as the main source of employment and GDP.But in recent decades a sharp rise in the media industry has turned the direction of economy where even though most of the population still resides in the rural areas, the power of media has increased the influence on its over all economy. As per influence of media is concerned surprisingly it can create a two way influence on a countrys economy. There are observations and facts which have proved that in times of financial or economic crisis a media can play a role of either a life saver or even a fan over the burning flames of the economy. The character of media in particular has motivated myself to see and research the actual impact of media in Pakistans economy as it has been a controversial industry even though its growth seems to be a non stopping phenomena. The idea of researching into this topic is to establish a fact where we can put media into one category or may be not.As in past 2 decades we have send its huge impact on countrys politics and other affairs, I have noticed that it has effected the country in general more then ever before.Its effects on countrys politics are massive and I would like to find out whether these effects actually have been positive or rather have damaged the countrys image internationally where we have seen international media projecting the country as a state which is on its brink to collapse and is struggling to counteract the rising extremism inside the country.; International media has most probably played a key role in damaging the countrys economy with in last 2 decades where it is seen that this country has been named in media in relation to a place where there is all danger for any other country and unfortunately the impression passed over to the world has not been positive. International media has projected this country as a failed state, a dropping down economically not viable place for investment. On the other hand the media inside the country has influenced the countrys economy in a different way where more and more investment is being done to privatize this industry which includes, TV, Radio , news papers and etc. Because of this two way impact from one industry, this has in fact become a very interesting topic to work on trying to find out exactly where the country itself stands in between international and national media. The main purpose of choosing this title. As a student of Finance I would like to highlight the key factors which can shape a countrys economic and political stability. Pakistans economy in particular has been my key interest because of certain reasons including the fact that I was born there and have seen the biggest economic instability swings in last 30 years and the obvious relationship of this situation with the media and politics. In my observation politics in Pakistan itself has been influenced a lot by the existence of media especially with in last 2 decades where we have seen a massive rise in private media industry talking and taking stand against the old fashioned state run media and have given out the message globally that this country has the potential where international organizations can invest in in this country with a sense of freedom of speech and a free to use media for their financial campaigns with out getting influenced by the government. This in fact is a great success of media which has clearly shown the changes in general ranging from more investment to a clear and reliable media which can of course point out any significant change in time and making it possible to use media as a generator of revenue giving out jobs and keeping the country in a race with its neighboring countries as well as globally. The current media revolution sweeping the nation began ten years ago when Pakistan had just one television channel, according to the UKs Prospect Magazine. Today it has over 100. Together they have begun to open up a country long shrouded by political, moral and religious censorship-taking on the government, breaking social taboos and, most recently, pushing a new national consensus against the Taliban. The birth of privately owned commercial media has been enabled by the Musharraf-era deregulation, and funded by the tremendous growth in revenue from advertising targeted at the burgeoning urban middle class consumers. With television presence in over 16 million households accounting for 68% of the population in 2009, the electronic media have also helped inform and empower many rural Pakistanis, including women With an increase of 38% over 2008, the television advertising revenue for 2009 in Pakistan was Rs 16.4 billion ((US $200m), accounting for about half of the total ad market during the year. The TV ad revenue is continuing to rise as a percentage of total ad revenue, mostly at the expense of the print media ads. The biggest spenders in 2009 were the telecom companies with Rs 8 billion, followed closely by fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector with Rs. 7 billion, as reported by Pakistans GeoTV channel According to Daily Times, Chairman Mushtaq Malik of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has said that the cable television sector is the fast growing segment among the electronic media ventures. In the first 100 days of the current government, he has claimed that new licenses for 16 satellite TV channels, 10 FM radio stations, and 232 cable TV channels have been granted. It is anticipated that this would lead to additional investment worth Rs. 2.5 billion, generating 4000 additional jobs in this sector. The cable television sector alone is employing some 30,000 people in the country. Foreign media, such as the business channel CNBC Pakistan, have also found a niche with the stellar performance and increased viewer and investor interest in Karachi stock exchange in the last decade. The Gallup Pakistan estimates that the number of TV viewers age 10 and above has increased from 63 million in 2004 to 86 million in 2009. Though exact numbers are hard to find, it is estimated that the rapid growth of Pakistans media market over the last decade has attracted significant investment in the range of billions of dollars, and produced hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. There are 150 advertising agencies and 74 production companies. Given the rising power of the media to shape Pakistani society, public opinion and government policy, I personally experienced the pervasive effects of Pakistans media boom , competing channels catering to almost every niche, whim and tastefrom news, politics, education, health, sports, comedy and talk shows to channels dedicated to cooking, fashion, fitness, music, business, religion, local languages and cultures etc. The media have had a profound influence on how many young people learn, talk, dress and behave, and emulate the outspoken media personalities, various experts, actors, preachers, singers, sportsmen, celebrities and fashion models. The growth in Pakistans media market has resulted in more useful information, more advertising, more competition and more choice for the public. Pakistan finds itself in the midst of many crises, ranging from a deep sense of insecurity and economic stagnation to low levels of human development and insufficient access to basic necessities of life such as proper nutrition, education and health care. My hope is that the mass media will effectively play a responsible role to inform and educate Pakistanis on the fundamental issues of poor governance in Pakistan, and help in shaping the economy, the debate and policies to solve some of the most serious problems facing the nation today. Required sources to complete the research. In order to present all these highlights mentioned above ,in detail I will be using people in general as my main source of information which will include interviews with key figures who are involved in Pakistans media industry as well as individuals from the finance market who have observed the statistics in last 2 decades in terms of rising up and slowing down economy and its interaction with the media in particular. Other sources which will be used will include Newspapers, electronic media and Internet.I will also be using international media reports about the countrys economy compared the national medias reports in same time frame to actually compare and evaluating my main thought whether international media is in any way damaging or constructive to this countrys economy or vice versa.

Modernization Vs. Dependency Theory Essay -- Political Science

LDC Advisement: Modernization Theory vs Dependency Theory   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The path to modernization is one never clearly defined. The following report will attempt to analyze and critique our nation’s potential options concerning social and fiscal policy and use this information in an attempt to recommend future policy agenda.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We will be dealing with primarily two theories on national (i.e. LDC) policy - modernization theory and dependency theory. Both have their own sets of costs and benefits as well as they do policy approaches. But before we go further, we must compare the two in attempt to see if either would compromise our government’s mandate.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Currently our nation has found itself at a crossroads between the progress the western world has to offer and our own historical values and cultural integrity. We have various entities prodding us toward opposite ends of the spectrum. Our foreign investors wish only for further industrialization and perhaps political stability to further their own aims while certain conservative elements at home fear we our losing our cultural identity. A modernist approach would align itself with that of our foreign investors and MNC’s operating within our country. The theory claims that our society suffers from being traditional in so far as that we sacrifice economic and industrial progress by placing too great a focus on our cultural heritage (which largely includes religious ideals). The theory goes on to state that in order to modernize we must make further efforts to secularize our governmental processes and as have many western-industrialized nations separate church and state to as great a deal as possible#. While such an approach may satisfy foreign monetary interests we run a very real risk of a political backlash due to this cultural-imperialism of the west. If this backlash were to lead to internal instability we may not only scare off potential foreign investments but also compromise our own legitimacy to rule. This may effectively place our state in a worse position than with which we began!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The approach of the dependencistas however would allow for much greater cultural preservation though it is an approach not as much favored by the western powers-that-be. Dependency theory supports the notion that the western world wishes to impose its customs/ideals/etc. upon all - regardless of the cult... ...e recommendation entails as follows: The country needs to set both short and long-term goals for itself, each based on a specific theory of development. In the near future we need to ensure internal political stability while adopting a modernization approach to development. Groups that may present opposition to any resulting cultural changes need to be dealt with in some way - preferably a peaceful way, as we make our country more attractive to western investment. As more revenue/educational-opportunity/technological-exposure/etc. becomes available we should begin reinvesting in the infrastructure of our nation via ISI. The increased capital and knowledge we will have gained as the result of cooperation with the west should allow us to be much more competitive in the international marketplace. Specialization in a high-tech field could help us see further autonomy in the international realm.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Education, goal-setting, and political stability will all be of top priority if our development plans wish to have a chance of succeeding. If we can maintain focus in our policy, we should be able to achieve much greater levels of development with only minimal cultural disintegration.

Hcc Industries

1. Evaluate the decision to use â€Å"minimum performance standard† (MPS) targets instead of â€Å"stretch† targets. The purpose of setting a budget system is to briefly forecast a company’s performance in the following year, and it can also be a result control system that makes people in the corporation work properly to achieve the objectives and give them incentives by bonus related to performance. From this point of view, the budget system should be reasonable, achievable, and also have some challenge to ensure the hard working. HCC Industries was using â€Å"stretch† performance targets until 1987.The main idea of using â€Å"stretch† targets was to motivate managers to perform at the highest level possible by setting aggressive targets with probability of achievement between 75 % and 80 %. In order to motivate the managers, incentive system was directly related to the budget targets. The bonus potential for division managers was 30% of base sal ary and was equally based on profit before taxes (PBT) and subjective rating of performance depending on the degree of accomplishment of the targets in all seven performance areas.In case that only few of performance areas were not met, but the management considered them important, no subjective bonus would be provided. Objective bonus based on profit before taxes was provided as following: if 60 % of the budget was achieved, 80 % of the bonus potential was paid; if 100 % of the budget was achieved, 100 % of the bonus potential was paid; and if 140% of the budget was achieved, 150 % of the bonus potential was paid. Bonuses were paid quarterly at the level of 80 % of what was earned in order to prevent paying the bonuses that were not earned.However, philosophy of using â€Å"stretch† performance targets in HCC Industries did not work very well, since it encouraged thinking optimistically that pushed employees to perform at a higher level leading to innovation. This philosophy is advantageous for particular companies with a certain size that have an understanding of the markets and have an ability to influence them. HCC Industries was a small publicly held corporation which was just taking orders and not doing marketing. For this reason, there was little probability for the employees to enlarge the market and achieve an aggressive growth in sales every year.Performance targets were set too high and optimistic, they were unrealistic, unachievable, and not suitable for a company which could not make a sustaining growth by influencing the market. One of the main disadvantages of â€Å"stretch† targets was that they were set too high. This led to the situation that for the last four years HCC Industries never achieved its targets. As a result, employees lost their motivation and commitment to achieve the targets; they were discouraged, and exert less effort by giving up trying, as they felt that â€Å"stretch† concept was causing the corporatio n not to achieve its plans.If a division keeps missing the budgets, employees feel like a failure. Taking into account that the employees could not achieve the targets for already four years, they had lost their confidence and became used to missing the budget and the enthusiasm to strive for the objectives was weakened. Although the targets were set at an unreachable level, the control system was not that tight. Even if the managers failed to achieve the targets, they may also be paid the bonus. For example, the managers were still paid 80% of objective bonus potential based on profit before taxes if they had just achieved 60% of the budget.So if a manager was not so ambitious, he did not have to worry about meeting the budget. Moreover, important constraint to motivation of division personnel was that they did not know their bonus potential and the bases on which the bonus awards were made, as division managers did not want to disclose division-level financial information to their personnel. As a result, being unaware of the main objectives of the corporation and its incentive system, employees did not exactly know what they are expected to do and how they would be rewarded for their efforts.As a result of the lack of communication between division managers, middle managers and employees, division personnel became discouraged and demotivated. In addition, if employees are systematically undercompensated, the corporation may suffer from losing key employees. Another disadvantage of â€Å"stretch† performance targets was subjectivity of incentive system. According to the information, provided from the case study, bonuses were paid only to employees included in the bonus plan. It can be concluded that not all employees were included in this plan.Moreover, half of the bonus potential was based on subjective evaluation of top management. However, there is a concern whether top management could judge each division in appropriate way, taking into account all the differences between them. The aforementioned subjective aspect influences performance and motivation of employees. In addition, important demotivating factor was that awards had to be paid quarterly at the level of 80% of what was earned. It took three to four months before they actually were paid because the necessary approvals by several levels were needed before the payments could be made.The remaining 20 % was paid at the end of the year based on annual performance. Taking into account aforementioned challenges of using â€Å"stretch† performance targets, the management of the corporation had taken a decision to change the philosophy to â€Å"minimum performance standard† (MPS) targets from the fiscal year 1988 onwards. The philosophy provided a two-level budget standards. The first level included the minimum performance standard that determined the basic financial target that divisions should reach. The second level included the targets that were set more cha llenging, and had some incentive effect.The main objective of this decision was to submit budgets with realistic targets with an achievement probability of 100% in order that divisions could meet the targets. As a result, division managers and other employees would become motivated by being proud of themselves, having self-esteem and starting feeling like â€Å"winners†. Being motivated, division personnel would be encouraged to work hard, be entrepreneurial and increase the level of aspiration for the future. Moreover, they would be given an opportunity to earn extra rewards.Another advantage of highly achievable budget targets is that they reduce the costs of needed interventions from corporate managers and the costs of optimistic revenue projections. Highly achievable budget targets also reduce the risk of game-playing. However, not all potential advantages of MPS targets were achieved in HCC Industries. Before implementing MPS targets, corporate managers did not analyze c arefully all problems that the company faced on the level of operations, marketing and finance. Corporate managers of HCC industries introduced the following changes in the corporation connected with the switch to MPS budgeting philosophy.First of all, the probability of the achievement of the budgets had been changed. MPS budgets were to be set with the felt probability of achievement 100%. In addition, managers were asked to set targets that exceed normal capability and involve an increase by 25-30 % with the probability of achievement of 50 %. However, although the budgets were planned to be set realistic and achievable, in reality they were too high and some division managers were even more than before concerned whether it would be possible to achieve them.In some divisions, such as Glasseal and Sealtron, corporate managers just increased the planned budgets without any analysis of the actual situation and discussion about business potential and risks with the division managers. As a result, division managers became even more demotivated because of too optimistic budgets. Moreover, by missing the new budgets, employees could be fired. The division manager of Hermetite was not provided by top managers with essential information about the corporation, its strategy, targets and the actual situation, and targets of his division before planning the budget.Being just hired and having the lack of experience and knowledge, he set too optimistic targets that could never be achieved in reality. As a result, the new division manager experienced failure and frustration at the beginning of his working experience in HCC Industry that had led to undermining of his confidence and commitment. Secondly, the incentive system had also been changed. According to new incentive compensation plan, bonus pool consisted of 20 % of the amount by which actual division PBT exceed MPS and 25 % of the amount by which it exceeded the target.Bonuses were paid quarterly at a level of 90 % of that earned and the remaining 10 % at the end of the year depending on the performance. It can be concluded that the rewards became lower than with â€Å"stretch† performance targets. The probability of losing the job in case the MPS targets would not be met, became greater. The disadvantage of subjective judgment concerning the bonuses was not eliminated under the new philosophy, as the division managers were given the discretion to decide which of their subordinates would share in the bonus pool and how the pool would be allocated among themselves and the others included.The key factor to the success of the budget system lied in the accuracy of forecasting the market share, the booking rate, the potential growth of sales, and so on. If a manager had little knowledge about the market information and the competitors, it would be difficult to set the MPS. The effectiveness of the budget system would be weakened, and this was the one of the main problems HCC faced after intr oduction of the MPS system. Evaluating the decision of changing the corporation’s philosophy based on early results, allows concluding that the new concept was not implemented well, even given the fact that it was a good idea.After the first quarter of fiscal year 1988, none of the divisions achieved all of its MPS and some of the divisions missed their minimum performance by large margins. 2. Should HCC managers have expected that the MPS target-setting philosophy would be equally effective in all four operating divisions described? HCC Industries was organized into four operating divisions: Hermetic Seal, Glasseal, Sealtrol that were producing connectors of various types, and Hermetite that was producing custom-designed, micro-electronic packages. Each division was run by a general manager who was responsible for all business functions of a certain division.In order to proper evaluate and monitor divisions’ results on which the bonuses were based, controllers of each division reported to HCC’s CFO. Corporate managers should have taken into account that the divisions differ from each other, and should have considered each division separately while using MPS target-setting philosophy as each division had some specific characteristics that were different from others. Although all the three connector divisions were similar in that they were profitable but growing slowly, there was a significant difference in the degree of standardization of their product lines.For example, division Sealtrol was highly standardized and produced connectors with large economies of scale. On the contrast, Hermetic Seal was the least standardized division and operated primarily as a job shop that designed and produced small batches of custom connectors. Glasseal’s product lines had the medium level of standardization. The forth division Hermetite was completely different from the connector divisions. In comparison with the first three divisions, its market and competitors were well defined and its potential for growth was tremendous.In addition, Hermetite faced huge price competition and significant production technology and control challenges. Moreover, the production processes were complex and its engineering and production organizations were instable. Given the fact that all four divisions were independent from each other, had different targets, accounting and information systems, product standards, served different customers, had different professional background of division managers, a detailed analysis should have been made whether MPS targets would be equally effective in all four divisions.Mike Pelta, the manager of the first division Hermetic Seal was more motivated after the changes, as with â€Å"stretch† performance targets, the probability of the achievement of the targets was 85-90%, whereas with MPS targets it has increased by 95-98%. The reason of such a high probability of achievement the targets was the fact that the division manager had set conservative targets. Mike Pelta was a cofounder of HCC, and was more familiar with the situation of the company. From the first quarter revenue result of 1988, we can find that only Hermetic Seals exceeded target in both bookings and profit before tax.But on the other hand, there were some problems in product qualities such as returns and rework. The manager of the second division Glasseal was even more demotivated after the changes than under the â€Å"stretch† performance targets. After the division manager had prepared the budget based on realistic forecast, the targets were increased by corporate managers. As a result, the probability of the achievement of the targets remained 90%, as it was before changes. However, with the â€Å"stretch† targets the rewards were greater and could be earned even if the budget was missed.It could be concluded that the change for MPS targets had not become better and more motivated for the second d ivision. Historical performance of the third division Sealtron was not so good. Efficiency in sales per employee was 50 % below other connector divisions, and budget was missed so salaries were frozen. The division manager, Lou Palamara, was recruited in 1986. Lou Palamara had a background of an engineering manager, so he was not that familiar with the corporation and had less knowledge about budget and cost saving. The division manager was discouraged by newMPS targets, as the targets he set had significantly been increased by corporate managers and the probability of its achievement according to division manager, was only 60-65%. As a result, if the budget would have increased by 18 % compared to the previous year, there would be still no bonus earned. Moreover, in case MPS standards would not be achieved the manager could be fired. At the same time, CFO of the corporation assessed the probability of the achievement of the targets by 90%. His idea was to stimulate sales as the Sea ltron’s efficiency was below other connector divisions.It can be concluded that the opinion of top managers and division manager on the achievement of targets was significantly different (90 % versus 60-65 %). In this situation, in order to come to common solution, additional analysis should have been done of actual situation and current performance of the division. It should have been carefully analyzed the reason of poor performance of the third division. Before the fourth division Hermetite was acquired in August 1985, it had been operating at a loss for the price competition and the production problems.The former general manager of Hermetite left a serious delinquency problem, which had worsen the reputation of the company, so booking could not be guaranteed. The manager Alan Wong, being new in the corporation and lacking particular experience and knowledge, was not provided with additional training and explanation of the corporation’s and division’s main ob jectives. He thought the corporate managers would not accept a budget that projected a loss. As a result, he had set very aggressive and optimistic targets that were unrealistic and corporate managers decreased the targets.However, the probability of achievement of the performance target at sales was 80 % and PBT target was only 5 %. The performance of the forth division was very risky and uncertain. From the first quarter results of 1988, we can discover that the bookings and shipments were both below MPS. After analyzing MPS targets in all four divisions, it could be concluded that only the manager of the first division, that was the original HCC business, was motivated by the changes. The managers of the other three divisions were even more concerned than before the changes.The main reason of such situation was that corporate managers thought that the targets were achievable, whereas division managers had the opinion that they are not achievable and unrealistic. It can be conclud ed that there was a lack of communication between corporate and division managers. Moreover, the evaluation standards were the same for every division without taking into account different situation and various targets of each division. Given the fact that there were only four independent divisions, individual approach and specific evaluation standards for each division should have been used. 3.What, if anything, could have been done to improve the implementation of the new philosophy? From 1988 onwards, the philosophy in HCC Industries had been changed from â€Å"stretch† targets to minimum performance standard (MPS) targets. However, according to the results of the first quarter of 1988, none of the divisions had achieved all of its MPS. It can be concluded that there were some problems in implementing new philosophy. First of all, the targets of every division should be aligned with the long-term strategy of the corporation. Top managers should clearly set the company stra tegy and priorities and communicate them to all divisions.Division managers should in turn have been communicated to the corporate managers opportunities, resource needs, constraints and risks. HCC Industries would achieve success if all divisions would work together towards common targets and objectives instead of being concentrated on personal goals of each division that could diverge from the strategy of corporation. According to the information provided in the case study, corporate managers were confident that the set objectives were achievable and realistic, division managers had the opposite opinion.As a result, division managers were discouraged to perform from the beginning. In order to avoid demotivation and increase the probability of the achievement of the targets, the balance should be found between the desires of the top management and the possibilities of the divisions. In that case, they closely need to communicate with each other and come together to the common solut ion. This would lead to more realistic budgets, would build employees up and increase managers’ commitment to achieve the targets.Secondly, as long as at HCC all divisions were decentralized, the differences and unique characteristics of each division should be taken into account. As a result, different performance evaluation standards should be used for every division. It is impossible to compare Hermetic Seal which is the original HCC business with Glasseal and Sealtron that were acquired even if all of them produce connectors. Moreover, the degree of standardization of product lines within these divisions is completely different. The forth division is completely different from the first three.That is why individual approach should be used for every division. There are only four divisions, that is why it is realistic for corporate managers to evaluate and analyze each division separately. Whereas some divisions could achieve higher targets, for others lower targets are more realistic. When planning the budget, the actual situation and performance of each division should be analyzed instead of comparison with other divisions. Before increasing the targets of the second and third divisions a more detailed analysis was needed.In addition, it would be helpful for corporate managers to discuss with the division managers the possible constrains of poor performance of their divisions and to evaluate whether additional actions are needed in order to improve performance. In order not to demotivate employees, it would be better to agree the targets and to find compromise rather than just to set them. Corporate managers should establish the dialogue with division managers and other personnel in order to gather an objective opinion about the real situation inside the company.Such working atmosphere would encourage employees to be involved in the company more and would give them the feeling that corporate managers listen to them when changing strategic issues. Div ision managers would feel themselves important in the organization and would be more encouraged to perform at the highest level possible and would feel more responsibility for the achievement of the targets. Thirdly, top management before changing the budgeting philosophy should have made a sound analysis of current performance on corporate level as it is a very important decision.Implementing new standards for evaluating involves the research of effectiveness of operation potential growth, the personal characteristics, the financial constraints, resource limitations, opportunities and risks. Fourthly, personal controls could be used by training division managers. For instance, it was very important for the fourth division to provide the manager with some additional information about the corporation before planning the budget.Taking into account the fact that Alan Wong was relatively new in the corporation, it is quite obvious that he lacks some experience and knowledge to plan an e ffective and realistic budget. It is also clear from the information provided in the case study, that he was unfamiliar with the strategy of the corporation and the expectations from the top managers from his division. Planning the budget is very important for the corporation. It requires deep understanding not only the goals and objectives of a particular division but also of the entire corporation.As there was a lack of communication between the top management and the division managers, the new division manager had set unrealistic budget. Fifthly, there was not only a lack of communication between top management and division managers, but also between the division personnel. In order to increase the motivation amongst personnel, the division managers should clearly communicate the main objectives and set the targets to their employees and provide them with the detailed information concerning the incentive system.In this case, employees would understand what they are expected to do and how they would be rewarded for that. Sixthly, as the marketing information collection was an obvious obstacle for the accurate forecast of the future, it is important to set up a marketing team in the four divisions. The target of the team is to collect the market share data of each product in previous years, the reasons for the up-and-downs of the market share, find out what kind of improvement will the target consumers need in the future, the scale of potential customers, and so on.With the detailed information of the market, it will be easier for the division to forecast the future sales and try to expand the existing market. Seventhly, it can be suggested, that for the first year when the changes were applied, the top management could set very realistic conservative targets in order to encourage employees and make them feel that the targets are achievable. Given the fact that the targets were not achieved for the last four years the employees got used to missing targets and became demotivated.In addition, given the fact that some divisions, for example Hermetite, experience current problems, flexible targets could be set, that would depend on certain conditions at a particular time. Finally, before taking a new decision about the changes, it could be helpful to organize the meeting with all division managers in order to announce them personally about the expected changes and gather some ideas from them about how to implement the new philosophy. Such brainstorming could help to pay attention to some important aspects from the bottom that top management was not considering. Hcc Industries 1. Evaluate the decision to use â€Å"minimum performance standard† (MPS) targets instead of â€Å"stretch† targets. The purpose of setting a budget system is to briefly forecast a company’s performance in the following year, and it can also be a result control system that makes people in the corporation work properly to achieve the objectives and give them incentives by bonus related to performance. From this point of view, the budget system should be reasonable, achievable, and also have some challenge to ensure the hard working. HCC Industries was using â€Å"stretch† performance targets until 1987.The main idea of using â€Å"stretch† targets was to motivate managers to perform at the highest level possible by setting aggressive targets with probability of achievement between 75 % and 80 %. In order to motivate the managers, incentive system was directly related to the budget targets. The bonus potential for division managers was 30% of base sal ary and was equally based on profit before taxes (PBT) and subjective rating of performance depending on the degree of accomplishment of the targets in all seven performance areas.In case that only few of performance areas were not met, but the management considered them important, no subjective bonus would be provided. Objective bonus based on profit before taxes was provided as following: if 60 % of the budget was achieved, 80 % of the bonus potential was paid; if 100 % of the budget was achieved, 100 % of the bonus potential was paid; and if 140% of the budget was achieved, 150 % of the bonus potential was paid. Bonuses were paid quarterly at the level of 80 % of what was earned in order to prevent paying the bonuses that were not earned.However, philosophy of using â€Å"stretch† performance targets in HCC Industries did not work very well, since it encouraged thinking optimistically that pushed employees to perform at a higher level leading to innovation. This philosophy is advantageous for particular companies with a certain size that have an understanding of the markets and have an ability to influence them. HCC Industries was a small publicly held corporation which was just taking orders and not doing marketing. For this reason, there was little probability for the employees to enlarge the market and achieve an aggressive growth in sales every year.Performance targets were set too high and optimistic, they were unrealistic, unachievable, and not suitable for a company which could not make a sustaining growth by influencing the market. One of the main disadvantages of â€Å"stretch† targets was that they were set too high. This led to the situation that for the last four years HCC Industries never achieved its targets. As a result, employees lost their motivation and commitment to achieve the targets; they were discouraged, and exert less effort by giving up trying, as they felt that â€Å"stretch† concept was causing the corporatio n not to achieve its plans.If a division keeps missing the budgets, employees feel like a failure. Taking into account that the employees could not achieve the targets for already four years, they had lost their confidence and became used to missing the budget and the enthusiasm to strive for the objectives was weakened. Although the targets were set at an unreachable level, the control system was not that tight. Even if the managers failed to achieve the targets, they may also be paid the bonus. For example, the managers were still paid 80% of objective bonus potential based on profit before taxes if they had just achieved 60% of the budget.So if a manager was not so ambitious, he did not have to worry about meeting the budget. Moreover, important constraint to motivation of division personnel was that they did not know their bonus potential and the bases on which the bonus awards were made, as division managers did not want to disclose division-level financial information to their personnel. As a result, being unaware of the main objectives of the corporation and its incentive system, employees did not exactly know what they are expected to do and how they would be rewarded for their efforts.As a result of the lack of communication between division managers, middle managers and employees, division personnel became discouraged and demotivated. In addition, if employees are systematically undercompensated, the corporation may suffer from losing key employees. Another disadvantage of â€Å"stretch† performance targets was subjectivity of incentive system. According to the information, provided from the case study, bonuses were paid only to employees included in the bonus plan. It can be concluded that not all employees were included in this plan.Moreover, half of the bonus potential was based on subjective evaluation of top management. However, there is a concern whether top management could judge each division in appropriate way, taking into account all the differences between them. The aforementioned subjective aspect influences performance and motivation of employees. In addition, important demotivating factor was that awards had to be paid quarterly at the level of 80% of what was earned. It took three to four months before they actually were paid because the necessary approvals by several levels were needed before the payments could be made.The remaining 20 % was paid at the end of the year based on annual performance. Taking into account aforementioned challenges of using â€Å"stretch† performance targets, the management of the corporation had taken a decision to change the philosophy to â€Å"minimum performance standard† (MPS) targets from the fiscal year 1988 onwards. The philosophy provided a two-level budget standards. The first level included the minimum performance standard that determined the basic financial target that divisions should reach. The second level included the targets that were set more cha llenging, and had some incentive effect.The main objective of this decision was to submit budgets with realistic targets with an achievement probability of 100% in order that divisions could meet the targets. As a result, division managers and other employees would become motivated by being proud of themselves, having self-esteem and starting feeling like â€Å"winners†. Being motivated, division personnel would be encouraged to work hard, be entrepreneurial and increase the level of aspiration for the future. Moreover, they would be given an opportunity to earn extra rewards.Another advantage of highly achievable budget targets is that they reduce the costs of needed interventions from corporate managers and the costs of optimistic revenue projections. Highly achievable budget targets also reduce the risk of game-playing. However, not all potential advantages of MPS targets were achieved in HCC Industries. Before implementing MPS targets, corporate managers did not analyze c arefully all problems that the company faced on the level of operations, marketing and finance. Corporate managers of HCC industries introduced the following changes in the corporation connected with the switch to MPS budgeting philosophy.First of all, the probability of the achievement of the budgets had been changed. MPS budgets were to be set with the felt probability of achievement 100%. In addition, managers were asked to set targets that exceed normal capability and involve an increase by 25-30 % with the probability of achievement of 50 %. However, although the budgets were planned to be set realistic and achievable, in reality they were too high and some division managers were even more than before concerned whether it would be possible to achieve them.In some divisions, such as Glasseal and Sealtron, corporate managers just increased the planned budgets without any analysis of the actual situation and discussion about business potential and risks with the division managers. As a result, division managers became even more demotivated because of too optimistic budgets. Moreover, by missing the new budgets, employees could be fired. The division manager of Hermetite was not provided by top managers with essential information about the corporation, its strategy, targets and the actual situation, and targets of his division before planning the budget.Being just hired and having the lack of experience and knowledge, he set too optimistic targets that could never be achieved in reality. As a result, the new division manager experienced failure and frustration at the beginning of his working experience in HCC Industry that had led to undermining of his confidence and commitment. Secondly, the incentive system had also been changed. According to new incentive compensation plan, bonus pool consisted of 20 % of the amount by which actual division PBT exceed MPS and 25 % of the amount by which it exceeded the target.Bonuses were paid quarterly at a level of 90 % of that earned and the remaining 10 % at the end of the year depending on the performance. It can be concluded that the rewards became lower than with â€Å"stretch† performance targets. The probability of losing the job in case the MPS targets would not be met, became greater. The disadvantage of subjective judgment concerning the bonuses was not eliminated under the new philosophy, as the division managers were given the discretion to decide which of their subordinates would share in the bonus pool and how the pool would be allocated among themselves and the others included.The key factor to the success of the budget system lied in the accuracy of forecasting the market share, the booking rate, the potential growth of sales, and so on. If a manager had little knowledge about the market information and the competitors, it would be difficult to set the MPS. The effectiveness of the budget system would be weakened, and this was the one of the main problems HCC faced after intr oduction of the MPS system. Evaluating the decision of changing the corporation’s philosophy based on early results, allows concluding that the new concept was not implemented well, even given the fact that it was a good idea.After the first quarter of fiscal year 1988, none of the divisions achieved all of its MPS and some of the divisions missed their minimum performance by large margins. 2. Should HCC managers have expected that the MPS target-setting philosophy would be equally effective in all four operating divisions described? HCC Industries was organized into four operating divisions: Hermetic Seal, Glasseal, Sealtrol that were producing connectors of various types, and Hermetite that was producing custom-designed, micro-electronic packages. Each division was run by a general manager who was responsible for all business functions of a certain division.In order to proper evaluate and monitor divisions’ results on which the bonuses were based, controllers of each division reported to HCC’s CFO. Corporate managers should have taken into account that the divisions differ from each other, and should have considered each division separately while using MPS target-setting philosophy as each division had some specific characteristics that were different from others. Although all the three connector divisions were similar in that they were profitable but growing slowly, there was a significant difference in the degree of standardization of their product lines.For example, division Sealtrol was highly standardized and produced connectors with large economies of scale. On the contrast, Hermetic Seal was the least standardized division and operated primarily as a job shop that designed and produced small batches of custom connectors. Glasseal’s product lines had the medium level of standardization. The forth division Hermetite was completely different from the connector divisions. In comparison with the first three divisions, its market and competitors were well defined and its potential for growth was tremendous.In addition, Hermetite faced huge price competition and significant production technology and control challenges. Moreover, the production processes were complex and its engineering and production organizations were instable. Given the fact that all four divisions were independent from each other, had different targets, accounting and information systems, product standards, served different customers, had different professional background of division managers, a detailed analysis should have been made whether MPS targets would be equally effective in all four divisions.Mike Pelta, the manager of the first division Hermetic Seal was more motivated after the changes, as with â€Å"stretch† performance targets, the probability of the achievement of the targets was 85-90%, whereas with MPS targets it has increased by 95-98%. The reason of such a high probability of achievement the targets was the fact that the division manager had set conservative targets. Mike Pelta was a cofounder of HCC, and was more familiar with the situation of the company. From the first quarter revenue result of 1988, we can find that only Hermetic Seals exceeded target in both bookings and profit before tax.But on the other hand, there were some problems in product qualities such as returns and rework. The manager of the second division Glasseal was even more demotivated after the changes than under the â€Å"stretch† performance targets. After the division manager had prepared the budget based on realistic forecast, the targets were increased by corporate managers. As a result, the probability of the achievement of the targets remained 90%, as it was before changes. However, with the â€Å"stretch† targets the rewards were greater and could be earned even if the budget was missed.It could be concluded that the change for MPS targets had not become better and more motivated for the second d ivision. Historical performance of the third division Sealtron was not so good. Efficiency in sales per employee was 50 % below other connector divisions, and budget was missed so salaries were frozen. The division manager, Lou Palamara, was recruited in 1986. Lou Palamara had a background of an engineering manager, so he was not that familiar with the corporation and had less knowledge about budget and cost saving. The division manager was discouraged by newMPS targets, as the targets he set had significantly been increased by corporate managers and the probability of its achievement according to division manager, was only 60-65%. As a result, if the budget would have increased by 18 % compared to the previous year, there would be still no bonus earned. Moreover, in case MPS standards would not be achieved the manager could be fired. At the same time, CFO of the corporation assessed the probability of the achievement of the targets by 90%. His idea was to stimulate sales as the Sea ltron’s efficiency was below other connector divisions.It can be concluded that the opinion of top managers and division manager on the achievement of targets was significantly different (90 % versus 60-65 %). In this situation, in order to come to common solution, additional analysis should have been done of actual situation and current performance of the division. It should have been carefully analyzed the reason of poor performance of the third division. Before the fourth division Hermetite was acquired in August 1985, it had been operating at a loss for the price competition and the production problems.The former general manager of Hermetite left a serious delinquency problem, which had worsen the reputation of the company, so booking could not be guaranteed. The manager Alan Wong, being new in the corporation and lacking particular experience and knowledge, was not provided with additional training and explanation of the corporation’s and division’s main ob jectives. He thought the corporate managers would not accept a budget that projected a loss. As a result, he had set very aggressive and optimistic targets that were unrealistic and corporate managers decreased the targets.However, the probability of achievement of the performance target at sales was 80 % and PBT target was only 5 %. The performance of the forth division was very risky and uncertain. From the first quarter results of 1988, we can discover that the bookings and shipments were both below MPS. After analyzing MPS targets in all four divisions, it could be concluded that only the manager of the first division, that was the original HCC business, was motivated by the changes. The managers of the other three divisions were even more concerned than before the changes.The main reason of such situation was that corporate managers thought that the targets were achievable, whereas division managers had the opinion that they are not achievable and unrealistic. It can be conclud ed that there was a lack of communication between corporate and division managers. Moreover, the evaluation standards were the same for every division without taking into account different situation and various targets of each division. Given the fact that there were only four independent divisions, individual approach and specific evaluation standards for each division should have been used. 3.What, if anything, could have been done to improve the implementation of the new philosophy? From 1988 onwards, the philosophy in HCC Industries had been changed from â€Å"stretch† targets to minimum performance standard (MPS) targets. However, according to the results of the first quarter of 1988, none of the divisions had achieved all of its MPS. It can be concluded that there were some problems in implementing new philosophy. First of all, the targets of every division should be aligned with the long-term strategy of the corporation. Top managers should clearly set the company stra tegy and priorities and communicate them to all divisions.Division managers should in turn have been communicated to the corporate managers opportunities, resource needs, constraints and risks. HCC Industries would achieve success if all divisions would work together towards common targets and objectives instead of being concentrated on personal goals of each division that could diverge from the strategy of corporation. According to the information provided in the case study, corporate managers were confident that the set objectives were achievable and realistic, division managers had the opposite opinion.As a result, division managers were discouraged to perform from the beginning. In order to avoid demotivation and increase the probability of the achievement of the targets, the balance should be found between the desires of the top management and the possibilities of the divisions. In that case, they closely need to communicate with each other and come together to the common solut ion. This would lead to more realistic budgets, would build employees up and increase managers’ commitment to achieve the targets.Secondly, as long as at HCC all divisions were decentralized, the differences and unique characteristics of each division should be taken into account. As a result, different performance evaluation standards should be used for every division. It is impossible to compare Hermetic Seal which is the original HCC business with Glasseal and Sealtron that were acquired even if all of them produce connectors. Moreover, the degree of standardization of product lines within these divisions is completely different. The forth division is completely different from the first three.That is why individual approach should be used for every division. There are only four divisions, that is why it is realistic for corporate managers to evaluate and analyze each division separately. Whereas some divisions could achieve higher targets, for others lower targets are more realistic. When planning the budget, the actual situation and performance of each division should be analyzed instead of comparison with other divisions. Before increasing the targets of the second and third divisions a more detailed analysis was needed.In addition, it would be helpful for corporate managers to discuss with the division managers the possible constrains of poor performance of their divisions and to evaluate whether additional actions are needed in order to improve performance. In order not to demotivate employees, it would be better to agree the targets and to find compromise rather than just to set them. Corporate managers should establish the dialogue with division managers and other personnel in order to gather an objective opinion about the real situation inside the company.Such working atmosphere would encourage employees to be involved in the company more and would give them the feeling that corporate managers listen to them when changing strategic issues. Div ision managers would feel themselves important in the organization and would be more encouraged to perform at the highest level possible and would feel more responsibility for the achievement of the targets. Thirdly, top management before changing the budgeting philosophy should have made a sound analysis of current performance on corporate level as it is a very important decision.Implementing new standards for evaluating involves the research of effectiveness of operation potential growth, the personal characteristics, the financial constraints, resource limitations, opportunities and risks. Fourthly, personal controls could be used by training division managers. For instance, it was very important for the fourth division to provide the manager with some additional information about the corporation before planning the budget.Taking into account the fact that Alan Wong was relatively new in the corporation, it is quite obvious that he lacks some experience and knowledge to plan an e ffective and realistic budget. It is also clear from the information provided in the case study, that he was unfamiliar with the strategy of the corporation and the expectations from the top managers from his division. Planning the budget is very important for the corporation. It requires deep understanding not only the goals and objectives of a particular division but also of the entire corporation.As there was a lack of communication between the top management and the division managers, the new division manager had set unrealistic budget. Fifthly, there was not only a lack of communication between top management and division managers, but also between the division personnel. In order to increase the motivation amongst personnel, the division managers should clearly communicate the main objectives and set the targets to their employees and provide them with the detailed information concerning the incentive system.In this case, employees would understand what they are expected to do and how they would be rewarded for that. Sixthly, as the marketing information collection was an obvious obstacle for the accurate forecast of the future, it is important to set up a marketing team in the four divisions. The target of the team is to collect the market share data of each product in previous years, the reasons for the up-and-downs of the market share, find out what kind of improvement will the target consumers need in the future, the scale of potential customers, and so on.With the detailed information of the market, it will be easier for the division to forecast the future sales and try to expand the existing market. Seventhly, it can be suggested, that for the first year when the changes were applied, the top management could set very realistic conservative targets in order to encourage employees and make them feel that the targets are achievable. Given the fact that the targets were not achieved for the last four years the employees got used to missing targets and became demotivated.In addition, given the fact that some divisions, for example Hermetite, experience current problems, flexible targets could be set, that would depend on certain conditions at a particular time. Finally, before taking a new decision about the changes, it could be helpful to organize the meeting with all division managers in order to announce them personally about the expected changes and gather some ideas from them about how to implement the new philosophy. Such brainstorming could help to pay attention to some important aspects from the bottom that top management was not considering.