Creative learning environments in education Essay

Education is one of the important aspects of one’s life. †learning creativity, creativity leads to thinking, thinking giving knowledge, knowledge to make you great† (Abdul Kalam, 2015). This clearly shows that education creates creative and inventive person because if one thinks then a new idea is born, †Education is not a factual learning, but a thought-thinking education† (Albert Einstein, 2015) .so everybody needs to support and encourage the younger generation to pursue their studies to university level. Furthermore, in a free market, higher education would become the preserve of wealthy families who can afford to send their children to university. Therefore there is a strong case for the government providing higher education free at the point of use. In my opinion, the government has to give free education to attract students to further their studies. Education has positive benefits for the rest of society. There also have some country provides fre e university education for the student for example, in, Nordic nations Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden all offer opportunities to study free or at low-cost: In Norway, university study is available free of charge to all students, regardless of study level or nationality. My first point is equality. There is also a strong argument that university education should be free to ensure equal opportunities. If a student has to pay university education, this can prevent them. Theoretically, students can borrow or work part-time, but this may be enough to prevent students from learning and otherwise can enter the early job market. (Pettinger, 2017) Equality plays an important role in university-level education. †Education is the strongest weapon you can use to transform the world† (Mandela, 2017). University education is very important for an individual to improve his / her standard of living and to advance the nation. If everyone gets a full university education then negligence can be avoided and they know what needs to be done for their bright future. For example, if medical education is given free then many doctors in the country are born and can help the community by providing free medical services with this reduced rate of death and illness. Governments have to stress more profoundly to give birth to many graduates. Besides,the enhancement of the specialization of work. There are many specializations of which are specialization by professional, specialization by a process, specialization by region and international specialization. The global economy has forced countries, such as the UK to specialize in higher value-added products and higher-end products and services. The largest export industries in the UK include pharmaceuticals, organic chemicals, optical and surgical instruments, and nuclear technology (Pettinger, 2017). Therefore, there is a greater opportunity for skilled graduates who can contribute to this high-tech industry. The world is now pointing towards technology, so all countries should produce IT graduates in large quantities. IT plays a big role in this capital world as an example human beings can stay on planet Mars, there is water on the planet Pluto, and so can be detected through NASA technology. Furthermore, Education is a virtue. One of the virtues is that people can underestimate the benefits of learning and undervalue of higher education. †Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts †(Churchill, 2017). This clearly shows that education is not merely a thought but a birth to a human being Experienced in education. Education creates good and high potential for self-development, society, and nation. If one is fully educated in the university then one has a lot of job opportunities in the state as well as international level. University education is not just for work but it can be used in everyday life. For example, a retail store trader has experience on product brands, prices, shortages and advantages of a product that can promote to the community can help improve the level of communication.

A Liter of Light

The solar bottle bulb is taking the developing world by storm bringing sustainable, affordable lighting to the underprivileged rural communities in a number of regions around the globe, the concept is cheap, simple and most importantly sustainable, but how did such an amazing idea come about? The concept was first conceived in 2002 by Alfred Moser, a mechanic in SAA Paulo, Brazil, to light his workshop when his neighborhood was suffering energy shortages, enabling him to continue working.His neighbors, intrigued by the idea, soon started following suit, adding the bulbs to heir homes in kitchens, bathrooms and living areas where electric light was prohibitively expensive and inefficient. The bottle bulb revolution was then further enhanced by The â€Å"Mystery Foundation†, which runs a program in the Philippines called â€Å"sang Lilting Lillian: a Liter of Light†. Based on a project developed by students at MIT under the Appropriate Technologies discipline, the project aims to bring sustainable, affordable lighting to the underprivileged rural communities in the country.A Liter of Light aim to bring light 1 million homes using this green genealogy not only in the Philippines but in shantytowns in India, Africa and other southeast Asian countries, by the end of 2012. Solar bottle bulbs are usually made out of 2-L bottles, use no electricity and produce the same amount of light as a 50- to 60-watt incandescent bulb, there is no leakage and the bottles can stay there for years without any need for maintenance! The water bottle lights are said to last for 5 years.The concept seems so simple but how does it work? The lights work by refracting sunlight in a 360-degree arc around the room, which provides superior light to a window or skylight, only allowing light into a room in a erect beam. The bleach keeps the water clean and clear by preventing algae growth. So what's the science behind the concept? When light moving through the air runs into a dense r medium such as water, it changes direction because of refraction.The light beam â€Å"bends† when it enters the so that it's traveling more directly down into water. That's very helpful if you're trying to get more light to go down through the bottle into a dark room below. Despite this, some of the light will still be on a path to the opposite side of the cylinder. A portion of the light is trapped in the cylinder because of simple reflection.

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Marketing - Essay Example A brand is said to be enjoying a strong position only when it has a valued place in the mind of a customer and that place is so unique and credible that a competitor would not be able to replicate it easily. Starbucks has been able to immune itself from rival onslaughts by effectively highlighting the points-of-difference and points-of-parity with competition and projects itself as a special place that promises not only exquisite coffee but also an ambient and benevolent environment ideal for free flow of opinions and languid conversations. However, it must be mentioned that my initial attraction towards Starbucks was essentially due to the perfect coffee served almost instantaneously by a brightly smiling attendant. If the basic product Starbucks served was not up to the quality it promised, all promotional campaigns would have surely had a negative and perhaps hostile reaction from me. The associated benefits of a fabulous ambience later became more visible and I have spent hours i n a Starbucks outlet sipping coffee and browsing the internet on my laptop courtesy uninterrupted and lightning fast Wi-Fi connections that are available for free.

Five network management categories that make up the FCAPS model Essay

Five network management categories that make up the FCAPS model - Essay Example These five functionalities are summed up into a five lettered work FCAPS and this is how they are usually referred to. FCAPS NETWORK MODEL Management Network has coined FCAPS. According to The Computer Desktop Encyclopedia (2011), FCAPS is described as, â€Å"(Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, Security) The ISO framework for network management. If an organization does not bill customers, accounting is replaced with "administration."† Thus, it is the ISO Telecommunications /management Network model for network management. The five heads, each recognized by their starting letter, are The tasks performed by a network model, as interpreted by the ISO and are given the name FCAPS. Their brief description is stated as follows: Fault management The problems being faced by a network and the means and methods by which they are being resolved are referred to as fault management. Fault management detects and highlights any discrepancies hat may occur in the normal functionin g of a network. The resolution of the discrepancies prevents them from reoccurring. This functionality is also a part of fault management. Fault detection is essential for the successful running of a network. The fault detection mechanism of a network usually incorporates the trend analysis strategy. In accordance with it a comparison is made with earlier fault occurrences and their successful resolutions.

Nursing and Leadership Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nursing and Leadership - Assignment Example Despite that, there are a few challenges which are faced in the department. The interviewed Director of Nursing (DON) stated that the lack of LTC taught courses/classes to new graduate students is one of the challenges that they do face and that has to be resolved with immediate effect. This is due to the fact that the ratio of individuals at the centre who need LTC is higher than the staffs that are available to offer it. As a result, some inconveniences and hitches do occur while propagating for effective LTC. In a bid to counter the LTC problem, the leadership that is prevalent in the nursing department matters a lot. If the leadership is based on morale and productivity, then that will yield success in offering LTC to patients else more challenges are prone to be faced on a daily basis. With that, there are a number of leadership styles that can be practiced in the nursing department. However, these depend entirely on variables such as people and the environment. Some of the lead ership styles include: Democratic: This is one of the best leadership styles that a nursing department can incorporate. It advocates for the inclusion of the nurses in the decision making process. This makes them feel motivated as well as part and parcel of the health care facility committee. However, the senior nurse makes the final decisions; Authoritative: This style of leadership is stricter as compared to the democratic leadership style. The senior nurse makes all the decisions without the inclusion of the other nurses. Additionally, the senior nurse gives orders to be done and there is very close supervision of the nurses in the department. This is not the best approach to implement in a nursing environment. The nurses may feel de-motivated, neglected and they may lack innovation in their line of work; Affiliative: This leadership style is focussed on people (nurses). It ensures that the nurses have a satisfactory working environment so that they can deliver superior care serv ices to patients. This style is best to boost morale in the nurses. However, the senior nurse may lack their authoritative figure. Based on the response of the DON, the most effective and efficient leadership styles that ought to be incorporated are the democratic and affiliative leadership styles. In a bid to support this, Goleman (2000) suggested that leaders should incorporate a variety of leadership styles and focus on those that are fruitful. Some of the leadership skills that go hand in hand with good leadership styles include: Interpersonal skills - Which incorporate the aspects of managing the different and unique cultural diversities in the department. It is important for a leader to have the right knowledge while dealing with different cultures since a health care centre is a home to all types of people regardless of their ethnicity background; Democratic skills; Listening skills, Problem solving skills – Which help to solve problems without encountering big risks, Time management skills and Motivational skills. If a leader has a number of the mentioned skills,

Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 57

Journal - Essay Example Sheehan terms the advertisement as a perfect example of social responsible advertisement (243). The author further points out that the form of marketing increases the corporate value of an organization (Sheehan 243). However, the Benetton’s Death Row Campaign is my most detestable advertisement. The advertisement has an objective of creating a human feeling on the people who are convicted with death rows. The execution of the advertisement was also poor. The advertisement used picture insertions of people who are on the death rows across the United States. The advertisement is not social responsible. It creates a negative perception of the people against the justice system. Any corporate advertisement should show support of state institutions or not portray them in a negative image. In addition, Sheehan cites that an organization should not put itself in a position whereby they would gain from the miseries of the society (257). The author is also of the assumption that this is an opportunistic strategy (Sheehan

Interpreting and Assessing the Mechanisms of an Award-winning Campaign Essay

Interpreting and Assessing the Mechanisms of an Award-winning Campaign - Essay Example As the report declares Travelocity conducted significant market research and competitive analyses to determine how best to differentiate the business. Qualitative and quantitative research was targeted at mass market consumers to determine the level of spontaneous brand recognition that existed among competitive brands. Survey analyses also indicated that many consumers had never even visited the Travelocity website and that many consumers did not believe Travelocity was differentiated positively against competing travel brands. This market research effort was the primary catalyst for problem recognition: The business needed a voice, needed brand recognition, and a strategy to position the brand effectively against competition. This market research effort, a well-invested activity, also identified the most appropriate target market to give the company its first real sense of direction in promotion. This paper stresses that the proactive market research activities allowed the business to examine competition with a critical and exploratory lens. It identified that the broadest segment of buyers, those who view travel websites and primarily between 24 and 35, were being overlooked by other travel brands. Travelocity realised that lack of competitive emphasis in the 24 to 35-year-old market and their available financial resources could give the business a chance to differentiate and capture this market’s attention. ... This market research effort was the primary catalyst for problem recognition: The business needed a voice, needed brand recognition, and a strategy to position the brand effectively against competition. This market research effort, a well-invested activity, also identified the most appropriate target market (24-35 year old â€Å"novice† travellers) to give the company its first real sense of direction in promotion. 3. Why the 24 to 35-year-old buyer? The proactive market research activities allowed the business to examine competition with a critical and exploratory lens. It identified that the broadest segment of buyers, those who view travel websites and primarily between 24 and 35, were being overlooked by other travel brands (Hall and Nairn 2005). Other markets that consisted of frequent travellers maintained characteristics and attitudes that would have made Travelocity have to invest more capital and human capital into trying to attract and then subsequently retain these buyers, since they were more knowledgeable and discriminating about travel (Hall and Nairn 2005). According to Cui and Choudray (2002), a target market is most desirable when competition is in a weak position to respond to consumer needs and when the demographic maintains adequate resources. Additionally, the market is attractive when the brand has the ability to match a certain segment’s needs and requirements (Cui and Choudray 2002). Travelocity realised that lack of competitive emphasis in the 24 to 35-year-old market and their available financial resources could give the business a chance to differentiate and capture this market’s attention. According to Macrae (2011, p.2), this particular age group faces

Hotel Chocolat Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Hotel Chocolat - Essay Example Then the company started expanding in its domestic land and opened almost 43 stores in the UK and 23 stores inside John Lewis outlets. Hotel Chocolat mainly aims at making fresh chocolates which are way more adventurous in terms of taste. It produces chocolates using less sugar and more of cocoa, very different from the chocolates made by other companies. It follows originality and ethics in its services (Hotel Chocolat, 2010). In order to learn cocoa plantation the company decided to work with the local communities of Ghana. After achieving success in the production of chocolates, the company started many new projects. The company opened a restaurant called Boucan at its cocoa estate located in Saint Lucia. After its expansion in the domestic land, the company is now aiming at internationalisation. For this, the company needs an internationalisation strategy. According to Tyndall, Cameron and Taggart (1990), companies should achieve control over the business operation of both international and foreign market in order to achieve their strategic objectives. The next section of the study will discuss strategic options for the chosen company. In the first part it will be shown how the company will move towards diversification of products in the niche market and also show its internationalisation strategy, by using strategy clock and Ansoff’s matrix. In the second part, using suitability, feasibility and acceptability analysis model an analysis will be done to see whether or not the strategic options selected for the company in the first part is justified. In the third part, recommendation is to be provided, which is based on the directions and methods of strategic development which is appropriate for the organisation for the next 3 to 5 years. Finally, a conclusion will be drawn on the entire project. At first it has to be decided, which strategy out of the three strategies of

Advocacy-LLM Criminal Litigation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Advocacy-LLM Criminal Litigation - Essay Example These criminal legal professionals help to defend and prosecute particularly in the most serious criminal cases. The legal practitioners in UK have to demonstrate high magnitude of commitment, professionalism and ethical norms since UK has earned high reputation for its criminal justice system on the international level. To guarantee the delivery of high quality of criminal justice in UK courts, criminal advocates have to demonstrate higher advocacy and great technical knowledge skill. The criminal advocates help to ensure that all citizens receive a fair trial in the adversarial legal system, which is the backbone of the nation’s criminal justice system1, It is widely accepted that a huge sum is being spent as criminal legal aid in UK, pubic expects an efficient and effective advocacy from criminal advocates and if any poor standards will definitely not only have an impact on the quality of criminal advocate profession but also on the overall legal profession in UK. The Law S ociety in UK affirmed its pledge to enhancing advocacy norms which it regarded as to be must for the efficient functioning of the criminal justice system in UK. In view of the same, the Law society strongly recommended to create a certification scheme for solicitor advocates with the main spotlight on enhancing the knowledge update and training available to solicitor advocates in UK.... etiquettes for a criminal advocate as for instance, there had been severe criticism in the Milly Dowler3 trail against the counsel in 2011 for the treatment received by the victim’s family when they were in the witness box, and it is an obvious signal that even in criminal cases, antagonist backing has its limits4. The most significant traits of a criminal advocate can be summarised as follows: He should have adequate knowledge and appropriate qualification in criminal law and criminal justice system. The criminal advocate should always work for to safeguard the rights and interest of his client and should have strong fervent for justice. While in court, he should be confident and bold and should have a strong presence and should be capable of intimidating the prosecution. He should be a great performer with emoting talents to attract the jury’s attention and be able to influence them of the defendants’ misery or innocence. He should have more confident and shoul d have conducted many analogues’ litigations and should have good success rate. He should have adequate courage and more capable of facing the judge and cannot be either browbeaten or humiliated. He should have adequate knowledge of how the police functions and should be capable of detecting out facts and clues. He should have sound, deep knowledge in hidden components of law and during court hearing; he should be capable of spring surprises when never anticipated. With a client, a criminal advocate should always be fair in his professional dealings and also be honest and should brief his client the status of the case and what one can anticipate. He should be sociable in character so that he can have good relations with police, other advocates so that he can search for information from them to help his

Outdoor Recreation Movement in America Assignment

Outdoor Recreation Movement in America - Assignment Example The initiation of this code of act fostered the understanding of the boundaries of operations by the law (Jensen, Clayne & Steven 284). Administration of Federal lands for the largest achievable recreation gain constant with other vital utilizations. The management of the recreation gains have attributed to the provision of means to manage the population finances while availing the appropriate uses. This program has ensured that the natural resources are not misused but are treated as provided in the law. Collaboration with the States via technical and financial assistance in the United States has been pivotal in embracing the outdoor recreation. The coordination of different locations in America has fostered understanding of the common interest of the people. Converging objectives of the people have assisted in determining the necessities of outdoor and recreational practices together with their essence to people (Jensen, Clayne & Steven 290). This has led to the presumption of vigorous administration of the natural resources and the environment and the accompanied attempts. The committee assisted the people into understanding the essence of the rural and by carrying out visit in the areas, economy is boosted in the areas due to the money received from leisure activities. The assumption of enthusiastic, supportive leadership in a nationwide recreation effort among the government, state and the law has been improved through the outlined act (Jensen, Clayne & Steven

Environmental Factors the Affect the Marketing Procedures of Coca Cola International Essay Example for Free

Environmental Factors the Affect the Marketing Procedures of Coca Cola International Essay Coca Cola is an international business company that needs international advertising as well. Businesses spend billions of advertising dollars every year because they know that viewers are influenced by what they see and hear. They don’t spend that money because they think advertising might work; they know it works. It sells their products. In 2004, The Coca-Cola Company spent 2. 2 billion dollars advertising its products worldwide in print, on the radio, and on television. Was the investment worthwhile? The company made nearly 22 billion dollars in profits for that year. Advertisers realize that one ad may not affect behavior. Instead, they rely on the cumulative impact of years of indoctrination. The truth is, with just a minute’s airing of an advertisement, some thousands of consumers are rather attracted to buy the products shown on TV. With this fact in mind, it could be noted that advertising is rather considered as one of the major procedures of marketing that any type of company could invest upon. However, the question is how sure are the advertisers that their products would sell up through the presentation that they make through advertising? What are the factors that contribute to the said effects of advertising marketing to the consumers? This is what is considered within the discussion of how the environmental factors actually affect the impact of advertising towards the target consumers. The Marketing Strategy’s Effective Placement As noted earlier, Coca Cola is an international beverage company that actually handles the production of drinks that are likely to soothe the drinking needs of the consumers. However, selling beverages may not appear to be as easy as it looks. Most people would consider the beverages presented by Coca Cola to the society are likely for hot times only. How then is the company coping up with its sales during cold season? It is undeniable that Coca Cola, upon observation, tries to make the best out of the time that they are given. It could be noted that even during the cold seasons, the said company is able to attract consumers that are likely fond of the beverages that they offer no matter what weather there may be. December is likely the winter time which usually caters hot beverages and their promotions to the buying public. However, Coca Cola managed to use the said environmental change in terms of weather for their own advantage. Coca Cola’s advertisement of Santa Claus holding Coke Beverages is indeed an attractive approach, whereas the company paved the way to a more appreciated matter of the season than that of the cold weather itself. It was a rather creative approach that has given this advertisement a major difference from that of the other marketing strategies used by the same company. Obviously, their approach to the situation has placed them in a better edge against their competitors in the industry thus giving the company better gains than the others for annual productivity for the entire business organization. Conclusion Weather is just one particular factor in the advertising and marketing word that actually affects the approach of product promotion in the field of consumer-producer relationship. It is undeniable through that weather, single as it is, has a great effect on the presentation of advertisements during specific seasons as suggested by the environment itself. Coca Cola on the other hand has been able to take responsible consideration of these unavoidable changes in the environment for the their own good that actually outlines the possibility that they are then given the rightful share of their own creativity in presenting their marketing approach in the field of advertising. As a result, the said company was able to get the best out of the possible changes of the environment. Their gains and the edge against their competitors that they were able to accomplish through the said approached saved their values for service and profit well. True, environment itself may present challenges to different companies with regards the launching of the different products that they present to the society, however, effective utilization of the said situations for the benefit of the organization could make the strategy of marketing more apprehended and efficient for international advertising approaches.

Dominos Marketing Strategies And Technology Commerce Essay

Dominos Marketing Strategies And Technology Commerce Essay According to Dominos corporate website (2010), Dominos pizza was founded in 1960 by Tom and James. It was bought and started as a small pizza store in Michigan. With $500 as initial investment, Tom joined forces with his brother and together they opened a pizza delivery store in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Initially it was known as Dominicks. As Monaghans operations grew, the original owner of Dominicks decided to maintain rights to the name. Under deadline for a Yellow Pages ad, driver Jim Kennedy came up with the name Dominos Pizza. The three dots of Dominos the fact that Tom initially started 3 stores. In February 1968 a fire accident took place in Monaghans original pizza store. Advertising manager Bob Cotman had a narrow escape from the building, climbing down a firemans ladder. Although the pizza shop started operations within two days, Dominos lost stored goods worth $40,000. (information from the UK site (2010). The staff pulled together, with each existing store location responsible for producing one pizza item cheese, dough, chopped toppings which drivers then ferried from one store to the next to keep operations running. After that a very difficult situation arose that he had to cover not only the total fire losses of $150,000, of which only $13,000 were paid by insurance but also had to pay leases of five new franchises and recruit five new store operators as soon as possible. In 1975, the trademark lawsuit was launched by Amstar against the company. Furthermore, they started preparation to launch themselves on an international scale. In 1989, the Dominos Pizza changed ent irely when the Deep Pan pizza was launched for the very first time in twenty five years as the company had the urgent need for reacting to market demand. This step proved vital in providing strength to the financial foundation and made certain the growth of Dominos Pizza because they started operating their five thousandth store. The chain of Dominos Pizza grew quickly as they were operational in all varied places. Despite Dominos Pizza grew up at diverse locations and started doing good business, they were still a very traditional company. (History of Dominos pizza) Tom retired in 1998. He was the one who expanded Dominos chain around the world making it the worlds largest pizza delivering company known for quick service restaurants around the world. In addition, he gave majority of the $1bn earned through the sale of Dominos to charity. Marketing Strategies In 1973, Dominos Pizza introduced the policy that customers must be receiving their pizzas not later than 30 minutes of placing their orders, or if not they would take delivery of the pizzas free. The guarantee was condensed to $3 off in the mid 1980s. In 1985, Advertising Age placed Dominos ad among the fastest-growing money makers in the restaurant industry. The company had to keep pace not only with its own growth but also with that of its competitors, including the industry leader, Pizza Hut, which had more than 4,000 units to Dominos 2,300.In the previous year, Dominos spent 249% more in advertising, media. On the other side, the biggest threat for Monaghans empire entered in delivery business that is Pizza Hut in 1986. (Advertising age, Dominos inc. 1985) In 1992, the company settled a case filed against it by an Indian family whose lady was killed by a Dominos delivery driver. The company paid the family US $2.8 million. In 1993, Dominos settled yet another case in which the company was sued because a Dominos delivery driver ran a red light and collided with a ladys vehicle. The woman was paid almost US $80 million. The guarantee was dropped the same year because of the public perception of reckless driving and responsibility, according to Monaghan.(Founder of Dominos) Dominos Truck Kills 2 En Route to Delivery, (Chaudhury,1998) In December 2007 Dominos introduced a new slogan, You Got 30 Minutes, sticking to the earlier promise but getting short of promising delivery in a half hour. (Dominos corporate website 2010) In addition to this, Dominos changed their menu in 1992 and introduced for the very first time a non pizza item to their menu. Being Domino Pizza already on hand, the making of bread sticks was not so different which was the introduced item. The company kept on advertising for many years that if the delivery of their pizzas took longer than 30 minutes, the pizza would be delivered at no cost. This was also copied by the Ninja Turtles movie and cartoons. The benefits to Domino Pizza were enormous as millions of kids heard the name of Domino Pizza out of their favourite cartoons and they were the prospective customers. In 1993, Domino Pizza discontinued this policy and came up with a new one stating that if a customer was unhappy he could on his will have a new pizza or a refund. By 1994, Dominos Pizza marketing policy winded and they introduced chicken wings also in to the menu. Not only this, the company hit the African market as they opened a new store in Egypt. 1996 was the year when Dominos Pizza website was launched. That year the company declared global sales to be nearly $3 billion. In the 1980s, Dominos Pizza was well known for its advertisement campaign featuring The Noid. (Dominos corporate website 2010) In the same way, the Super Bowl Sunday was the most hectic and very busy pizza delivery day of the year and Dominos Pizza sold over a million pizzas, which was forty-two percent more as compared to normal Sunday trading volume. According to Dominos marketing director Robin Auld (Noelle McElhatton, marketing director management) Dominos franchisees pay a 5% royalty of their net sales into Dominos National Advertising Fund (NAF). Thats centrally managed and used to maximize sales and grow brand awareness. He said door-dropped menus are very effective for prosperity of ordering pizza and we use news paper and royal mail. Dominos also launched new offers that can be ordered by national hotline (087 12121212), in-store and online at www.dominos.co.uk. or SMS ordering system, which was the first time in UK in 1999. The Dominos text service requires only five minute initial online procedure. Firstly customers register and create their favourite menus giving them each an easy to remember name, delivery address and mobile number for order. Secondly, the chosen menu is typed directly from mobile phone. Customer can put their credit card details while registering so that they can use their card when they order and pay with cash upon delivery. In February 2003, the company announced multiyear partnership with the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) through which Dominos became the Official Pizza of NASCAR. According to news paper article (Detroit News, March 26, 1997) Dominos delivered $2.8 Billion in world wide sales last year. By 2011 the value of the home delivery food market was estimated to have reached  £1,474 million in the UK and expects to grow 30% to  £1,918 million. At Dominos Pizza, the values are summed up in a chant thats sung in the Sell more pizza, have more fun! DPZ Dominos Pizza Inc (NYSE)   12:00 AM ET, 03/04/2010     Last:  13.70   Change:  -0.36   %Change:  -2.56%   Volume:  2,982,700  Ã‚     Open: 14.06     High: 14.06     Low: 13.36     Previous Close: 14.06     Market Cap: 805.0M     Shares Outstanding: 58.8M     EPS: 1.38     52wk High (3/3/2010): 14.13     P/E Ratio: 9.93     52wk Low (3/9/2009): 5.61     Dividend: 0.00     Dividend Date: N/A     Yield: 0.00     Average Volume: 572,000.00   Figure 1 : Marketshare (Dominios corporate website) Financial information Dominos Pizza UK IRL plc financial results.[1][9][11][12] Year to December1 Revenue ( £Ã‚  million) EBIT ( £m) Net profit ( £m) Earnings per share (p) 2008 136.0 22.5 15.7 10.9 2007 114.9 18.3 13.2 8.4 2006 95.0 13.7 10.0 6.2 2005 81.7 10.4 8.3 5.1 2004 74.2 9.1 6.7 4.1 2003 61.6 6.0 4.6 2.8 Note 1: Accounts to 2005 prepared according to United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Accounts from 2006 onwards prepared according to International Financial Reporting Standards. Figure: 2 Performance of the Dominos pizza 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 System sales ( £m) 293.6 240.1 200.7 174.3 142.3 118.9 98.4 Stores at start of year 451 407 357 318 269 237 215 Stores at year-end 501 451 407 357 318 269 237 (Dominos corporate website) Figure: 3 SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTHS 3,500 global operating franchises in over 50 countries Well-built brand equity maintained by intense marketing campaigns Effective supply chain distribution network  with fast operations WEAKNESSES Slow further growing and decreasing existing-stores sales OPPORTUNITIES Growing presence in emerging markets, particularly in India, China Leverage supply chain distribution system to introduce new products   THREATS Ever-changing consumer food tastes Adverse effects due to foreign currency Tough multi-national competitors Hard competition with local pizza shops and small chaons Conclusion Like any other thing, there is a positive as well as a negative point and the negative point of Dominos is that it can be a burden on ones finances. The large pizzas can have a price of  £14.99. The side orders also can cost on average  £4 each and that in anyways not cheap. Occasionally, there are offers introduced by Dominos.   However, one can say that dominos is great because the food is fresh and always warm when delivered and the taste is fantastic. The group invests a lot of time and money in upholding the positive reputation of their brand and has remained successful quite a lot. Dominos brand marketing activity is financed through a National Advertising Fund (NAF) which is made up of franchisee contributions. Dominos pizza sells hot and freshly backed. There is neither a deep frying nor for any forms of cooking like baking on a gas-fired conveyer oven. Furthermore, Dominos believes to meet strict quality standards to ensure food safety measures that meet or exceed any applicable government guidelines and that is the reason it has come forward as a strong competitor of pizza hut and has outclassed it in many countries. Today there are over 8,000 Dominos Pizza stores in more than 50 countries, employing over 145,000 team member and involving over 2,000 franchisees. Globally Dominos Pizza delivers more than one million pizzas every day. So, it equates 25 to 30 part time or full time jobs in every new store. In the same way, conc ept of home delivery means its reduce noise of store and traffic. Bibliographies History of Dominos available from htpp://www.Dominos uk.com [Accessed June 22, 2010] Financial data available from http://Dominos_Pizza_UK__IRL and http://www.domino-s-pizza-inc#cite_note-19 Dt: 21-Aug-09 [Accessed June22, 2010] http://www.brandrepublic.com/Discipline/DirectMarketing/News/926816/Britains, Interviewed with Dominos marketing director Robin Auld [Accessed June 22, 2010] QSR Magazine, (27January 2006) Dominos pizza delivery in 8000 store.(Accessed June 22, 2010) Dominos Delivered $2.8 Billion in Worldwide Sales Last Year. (Detroit News, March 26, 1997.) Dominos Truck Kills 2 En Route to Delivery, (Chaudhury, 1998 Nations Restaurant News, August 29, 1988.) (Accessed June 22, 2010) Hume, Scott, and Raymond Sera fin, Dominos Burned Up Over Pizza Hut Spot, Advertising Age, January 7, 1991. (Accessed June 22, 2010) Food information from http://www.recipepizza.com/the_history_of_dominos_pizza.htm Dominos Franchises information available http://www.dominos.uk.com/franchising/ Dominos Information available from http://www.domino-s-pizza-inc#cite_note-19 httpp://www.dominos.co.uk.

Foucaults Theories of Autocrats: Management Application

Foucaults Theories of Autocrats: Management Application In Discipline and Punish (1977) Foucault comments that a stupid despot may constrain his slaves with iron chains; but a true politician binds them even more strongly with the chains of their own ideas. How is this comment relevant for a discussion of work in contemporary organisations? French philosopher, Foucaults analysis and ideas are equally used in the contemporary management of companies and organisations. In this essay, I will analyse how his ideas in relation to the changes in the western can be used in the contemporary management of institutions and other managerial positions. Throughout the essay, the research will majorly focus on how autocrats treat their slaves by subjecting them to iron chains. Enchaining by the iron would, in this case, mean how the current leaders and managers subject their juniors to duties and implementation of policies and strategies that were not agreed upon by the employees without considering their contributions towards the formulation od the duties, therefore, considered as imposed by the leaders and managers. Equally, this essay will also evaluate how true politicians, competent and good managers, binds their junior in the chains of their ideas., The chains of their ideas would be taken to refer to either the policies, strat egies and terms and conditions that are passed upon the agreement of all the stakeholders or the ideas that would be proposed to the firm by the junior employees. Michel Foucault in his Discipline and Punish book used the term despot to refer to a person who dictates how things would be done without taking into account the contributions of his or her subjects. A despot, in this case, is more than just a dictator, rather, a person who does not respect the opinions of others. In his context, Foucault posited his ideas in relation to his analysis of mechanical and social changes that were behind the changes that were posed to the Western disciplinary system majorly based on the historical French documents that were accessed (Foucault, 1977). His analysis was majorly based in the hospital, school, camps and prisons through an in-depth evaluation of how torture, punishment, imprisonment and discipline. In his evaluation, the concept of torture is subjected to the suspects in two ways; one of the major incidents where torture was applied was during the process of investigating the suspect. During the investigation, the suspect was subjected to tortu re. Inflicting torture to the suspects compelled him or her to provide evidence. In case, torture failed to compel the suspect to produce evidence ascertaining his or her guilty; innocence was pronounced. The second incident where torture was applied was during the punishment of a crime offender with the aim of correcting him or her (Foucault, 1977). To begin with, in the contemporary organisational management, despotic leadership is bound to reduce the organisations productivity. In the operation of an organisation, an autocratic manager may not have strategic ideas and insights on how to manage the organisation (Howard, 2007). The employees under him or her may have these strategic ideas on how to operate the organisation in a manner that would increase the productivity and therefore, growth in the long run. To the disadvantage of the firms growth and productivity, the despotic manager does not take into consideration the proposals of the junior employees, in fact, he or she discourages them from challenging his ideas at all costs. As a result, he or she imposes the ideas and proposals to his or her junior employees for implementation regardless of the consideration of the impacts, both positive and negative; they would pose to the firm (Howard, 2007). The failure of the manager to count on the ideas and the opinions of the jun ior members of staff may amounts to the implementation of wrong strategies on account that they are not subjected to scrutiny by the implementation team. For instance, for a marketing organisation, the manager may impose old-fashioned marketing ideas for implementation by the junior employees. Based on the fact that the strategies were not subject to questioning or assessment by the necessary stakeholder, the junior members of staff would implement the imposed strategy which would serve no purpose for the firm. The manager should put into consideration the emerging trends in management, such as a rise of technology. His junior members of staff may be conversant with the technology-based ideas. Thus, their contribution would be beneficial to the organisation. As commented by Foucault, a stupid despot who, in this case, refer to an autocratic manager constrains his slaves in iron chains. In this case, imposing foreign ideas to the team of implementation without their stake in deciding on which strategy serves better for the organisations goals and objectives would be likened by the act of constraining the slaves in iron chains which, they have no knowledge on how to unchain themselves. Constraining the slaves into iron chains would serve no better reason for the despot because they iron chain would weaken their effort and ability towards serving their master. Second, autocratic management lowers the morale of the employees in the organisation. In this case, there are two types of employees. To begin with, the employees who are ready and willing to conform to the directives issued or imposed by the management. To this type of employees, it does not matter how beneficial the policies or strategies may be to the firm, therefore; they are loyal to the organisation regardless of the direction of may be taking concerning growth. The second type of employees are the employees who are concerned with the operations of the firm. Despite working for pay, these types of employees are concerned about the impacts of the strategies that are imposed by the management may pose to the organisation. Therefore, in a situation where the management has proposed strategies that may hurt the reputation and the performance of the organisation, they would challenge the strategies and propose the alternative strategies that would help the organisation regarding inc reasing the productivity and the growth of the firm. In the context of an autocratic leadership, the concerned employees would try to challenge the policies and strategies to the management and perhaps propose the alternative following their analysis of the situation. As usual, a dictatorial manager would reject their challenge and proposal and in fact, discourage them from challenging his or her in the future (Depaul, 2008). In some cases, the manager may issue sacking or dismissal threats to them. In such a case, the concerned employees morale would be lowered. In some cases, they may even resign to seek a better workplaces that would appreciate their contribution to the firm through encouraging their opinions whether challenging or supporting the proposed strategies. Working with the employees whose morale is lowered by the organisational culture significantly reduces the productivity and the reputation of the firm. Employees whose morale is low would have no motivation of workin g towards the organisational goals and objectives, rather, they would only conform to the imposed strategies (Depaul, 2008). In this case, the employee with low morale would be working for the organisation just because they need to earn a living. As commented by the Foucault, a stupid despot enchains his slaves to the iron chains which serves him to his disadvantage. The slaves are likely to be demotivated in serving their master, owing to the harsh working conditions. Third, as commented by Foucault, a stupid despot enchains his or her slaves to the iron chains. In this case, the slaves are not encouraged to make a proposal on the best ways of enchaining. Communication is thus, is a one-way type in disseminating information. In the contemporary organisational management. The employees and the employer are two important stakeholders that determine the success of the firm. The communication between the two levels ensures that the employees are presented with a platform to air their feedback towards the policies or strategies proposed to them by the management. In the context of a dictatorial management, communication is in a one-way structure. Communication applies only when the manager wants to impose or to give directives to the junior employees. The structure of communication, does not allow the employees to give their feeling, opinions, and feedbacks towards the implementation of the strategies that have been proposed and mostly, the feedback th at may appear to challenge the decision made by the management. Therefore, the management loses touch with the junior level or management (Tatnall Davey, 2015). The management may never learn about the negative impacts of the strategies and possible occurrence of a failure in the management in the future. In case, the employees may need to something from the management as an additional requirement for the implementation of the policy or strategy; the management may appear either reluctant or directly reject the request. There lacks a mutual relationship between the employees and the management. Instead, the organisation faces a power relation problem that in, this case, skewed towards the management. Unfortunately, the management works towards discouraging a possible equilibrium of the power relation between the two levels. In the long run, the organisation is bound to perpetually suffer from management challenges and perhaps a collapse in the future resulting from perpetual losses . Contrary to a stupid despot, Foucault commented on how a true politician should behave. In his comment, he posited that a true politician binds his slaves more strongly with the chains that come with their ideas. In this case, enchaining the slaves in their ideas would contemporarily mean managing the slaves, according to the management and ideas that they propose. Instead of grilling them with iron chains, a true politician should enchain them with their ideas to ensure that they are beneficial to him. Logically, if one manage people according to their ideas, despite being their boss, he or she will benefit from their labour owing to the increment in their morale based on the appreciation of their ideas in managing various situations. Therefore, both the organisation and the employees would equally benefit. Managing people according to their ideas reduces the communication gap. Through managing the people according to their proposals and ideas in the contemporary organisational management, the organisational manager creates a working environment that encourages the contributions of the employees at any point in the course of management (Iqbal, Anwar Haider, 2015). Therefore, the employees feel free with the management to contribute their ideas in the firm management whether it opposes or supports the strategies proposes by the management. Logically, the proposals may not necessarily be the best in the organisational management regardless of the position of the proposer. The reduction of the communication gap thus, creates a platform that encourages the discussions from all the stakeholder on what is the best for the firm (Tatnall Davey, 2015). The input of all the stakeholders is likely to come up with the best strategy that would ensure organisational growth and increase the reputati on and the productivity of the firm. Additionally, the reduction of the communication gap creates a platform where all the employees can easily communicate with their manager regardless of their job position. In this case, the management levels would easily learn about the challenges that are faced by the junior level employees, thus, resolving them as soon as they arise. Managing employees in the context of the organisational management, according to their ideas and opinions is, hence, beneficial for the organisational growth. Similarly, the management that appreciates the contribution of all employees in an organisation significantly reduces the employee turnover. In an organisation, most employees despite working with the aim of earning a living, they also work to develop their career (Valcour, 2014). An organisation that appreciates the contributions of the employees regardless of their position at the organisation motivates the employees towards working to develop their careers. Employees would feel motivated if the organisation has implemented his idea as part of the solution to a certain problem or as a strategy to maximise their output and minimising the inputs. In the long run, appreciating the contributions of the employees and the act of involving them in making critical decisions for the organisation enables them develop loyalty towards their employer. For an employee who has been hardworking and has been contributing positively regarding the strategy, formulation may be promoted from one job po sition to another. In this regard, the employees will have advanced his careers at the firm. The loyalty reduces the extents of employees resigning and dismissals due to a mutual relationship between the two levels of operation. Notably, managing the employees in their ideas creates a concept of teamwork. One of the ideas in which organisations should strive to achieve is the culture of teamwork. Through teamwork, the organisation is in a position to solve complex managerial situations. Through teamwork, the employees can combine their knowledge, skills, techniques regardless of their positions in the organisation and come up with the best strategy that would enable the organisation to solve the problems that are faced. In the context where management encourages works within the principles of democracy, employee develop loyalty towards the organisation; therefore, they are ready to work with other employees regardless of their level in the rank of job positions to contribute to the ultimate success of the organisation (Rosen, 2014). Unlike in the management context where the manager has the final say, the democratic organisational management encourages the employees to contribute to the ideas to the manageme nt or hold discussions within themselves or together with the levels of management to come up with the best ways of managing certain situations. It should be noted that in the context of a dictatorial leadership, there is often a cycle of a dictatorial level of management. For instance, most of the levels of management receive directives from the senior management for implementation. Therefore, even if the junior level employees who are expected to implement that strategy report negative impacts to their immediate boss, he or she cannot report back to the senior manager because he or she would not take the challenge. Therefore, organisational management should encourage democratic leadership that creates an enabling environment for teamwork. In conclusion, as commented by Foucault, a stupid despot who, in this case, is the organisational manager enchains his slaves with the iron chains, therefore, barring them from serving him efficiently. On the other hand, a true politician chains his or her employees with their ideas and opinions which, hence mean that he manages them according to their ideas. In the contemporary organisational management, there are two types of organisational leader just as posited by Foucault in his stupid despots and true politicians analogy. The two types of organisational managers are dictatorial and democratic. Majorly, democratic management is advantageous to dictatorial management. Through democratic management, the employees are empowered to make their contributions to the management on how they believe the firm would achieve the goals and objectives. In this case, the management creates a platform of contribution, therefore, it is an inclusive type of management. Dictatorial management, on t he other hand, is a scenario where one man runs the show. Most of the employees are discouraged from making their contributions which to a larger extents affects their morale negatively, thus, reducing the productivity of the organisation in the long run. (Word count:2502) References (Sr), B. H., 2007. A Study of Teacher-perceived Differences in the Leadership Styles of African-American and Caucasian Principals. 2nd ed. ProQuest: Michigan. DePaul, V. C., 2008. Creating the Intrapreneur: The Search for Leadership Excellence. 1st ed. Texas: BookPros, LLC. Foucault, M., 1977. Discipline and Punish. 2nd ed. New York: Vintage Books. N, I. N, A. S. . H., 2015. Effect of Leadership Style on Employee Performance. Arabian J Bus Manag Review open access journal, 5( 5 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ 1000146), pp. 1-6. Rosen, N., 2014. Teamwork and the Bottom Line: Groups Make A Difference. 1st ed. Abingdon-on-Thames: Psychology Press. Tatnall, A. Davey, B., 2015. Reflections on the History of Computers in Education: Early Use of Computers and Teaching about Computing in Schools. 1st ed. Berlin: Springer Science and Business management. Valcour, M., 2014. If Youre Not Helping People Develop, Youre Not Management Material. [Online] Available at: https://hbr.org/2014/01/if-youre-not-helping-people-develop-youre-not-management-material[Accessed 22 March 2017]. Richard Kuklinski: The Iceman Richard Kuklinski: The Iceman INTRODUCTION At 7:00 he his awoke by the sound of his alarm clock. It was time to get his children ready for school. Richard Kuklinski walks down the staircase and sees his lovely family around the kitchen table. He kisses his wife Barbara on the check and continues to say good morning to his three children Merrick, Christin, and Dwayne. After getting ready, he drops his children off at their prestigious private schools and is off to work. To an outsider, it may seem that Richard has always lived an ordinary life. But little did they know, he was a deadly and notorious murderer. He thought of killing as a hobby and had absolutely no remorse for the horrible and cruel deaths he caused. II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND A. Early Life Richard had a horrific childhood. He was born at 222 Third Street in Jersey City, New Jersey, to a Polish family and was destined to live a hard and lonely life. His family was poor and highly dysfunctional. His father, Stanley Kuklinski, was a horrible, abusive father that Richard would only grow to hate. His mother, Anna, had no emotional attachment to any of her children at all. Violence was a daily occurrence in the Kuklinski household. Stanley would beat Anna and her children until they bled, and the gangs of the neighborhood were always causing fights with Richard. When Richard was just five years old, Stanley beat his older brother, Florian, to death. Richard vowed that he would one day kill his father and make him suffer the way he had suffered his whole life. Richard’s life was an uphill battle as he grew older. He was constantly teased at school and beaten up by boys in the town. He was forced to steal for food and many nights he went to bed hungry. He began stealing cars at the age of thirteen and found his only joy in life by reading crime magazines that he stole weekly. Inside, he was very lonely and grew up never knowing what love and friendship really meant. He was constantly tormented by a gang called â€Å"the project boys† and never had the courage to fight back, till one day when the fire in his eyes took over. Richard decided to go for the head of the gang, Charley Lane. He hated Charley almost as much as he hated his father and decided to grab a bat and hunt him down. When Richard finally found Charley he struck him in the head without hesitation. He went down like a ton of bricks and Richard became nervous. He checked for a pulse and there was none. He decided to throw Charley’s dead body in a pond under the Pulaski Skyway. Richard had killed for the first time at age thirteen. He felt powerful and invincible. He realized he liked killing. B. The Coming Up Roses Richard then developed vicious pastimes. He took great joy in the killing of animals. He would tie two cat’s tails together and hang them over a telephone wire and watch them claw each other to death. He also liked to put stray cats in the incinerator and watch them burn to death. A strong rage grew inside Richard and he yearned to kill more and more. He went from a weak, little boy to a dangerous man in just a few days. Richard was very eager to fight and often picked violent fights with men in bars. He was dangerous, willing to stab or beat anyone in his way. Word spread about his fearlessness and a gang called the Coming Up Roses was looking to invite him in. Richard gladly accepted and the five boys began to terrorize the city’s streets. The second man Richard killed was a cop named Doyle. He was very rowdy and a â€Å"loud-mouth,† Richard’s two least favorite qualities. The two men began fighting and Richard decided to leave the bar and wait for Doyle outside. Richard unnoticeably followed him to his car, where Doyle passed out drunk. This was Richard’s golden opportunity. He bought a quart of gasoline and poured in all over the car. Then, he lit a match from a safe distance and threw it on Doyle’s lap. Richard laughed as the car exploded and Doyle burned to death. The police investigated Doyle’s murder but found no suspects. The Coming Up Roses gang began committing more and more crimes and had accumulated a variety of guns, knives, and explosives. They began to receive attention from the De Cavalcantes, the most notorious mob family in New Jersey. A â€Å"made man† in the family, Carmine Genovese (also known as ‘Meatball’) decided to approach the gang. He had them over for dinner and asked them if they would be interested in killing a man for him. The gang agreed and gang member John Wheeler decided to be the gunman. The gang drove to Lincoln Park where the mark lived and saw him getting into his car. When it was time to shoot John became nervous and froze. Richard immediately took the gun and shot the mark in the head, driving away as if nothing happened. Meatball was impressed and began to give the gang a lot of work. They received a lot of money and began killing more and more. Richard decided to move out of his mother’s house and live with his new girlfriend Linda. Richard had grown to become very handsome and was towering over six feet tall. Linda was twenty five years old and liked Richard until he began beating her. Then she just began to fear him. Richard began to love killing people and the idea of â€Å"being able to decide when a man’s life ends.† He would walk through Manhattan and shoot the homeless men for fun. He killed them brutally: knives jammed into the brain, slitting the throat, tying a rope around their neck and hanging them off of his shoulder as if he was a tree. The police never suspected him of anything, and thought these bums were just killing each other. Richard was now a serial killer at only eighteen years old. One day, Albert Parenti, another made man in the mob and a friend of Carmine Genovese, approached Richard. He told him that two of his gang members, John Wheeler and Jack Dubrowsi, held up a mafia poker game and now had to die. He wanted Richard to do the job. Richard knew if he did not kill his two friends he would be killed himself, so he accepted the job and killed his two best friends. Linda became pregnant and Richard decided to marry her at City Hall, but Richard knew he did not love her. He had no emotional attachment to her or their child at all. Though he continued to commit various crimes, Richard’s business was slow. His boss, Genovese, was sent to jail and Richard was forced to search for new contracts. He contemplated killing his father, but Richard says â€Å"he could never find him.† On strange detail in all of Richard’s killings was that he would take any contract except killing a woman or a child. He said that â€Å"anyone who does doesn’t deserve to live.† III. KUKLINSKI’S KILLINGS A. A Contract Killer After he was released from jail, Genovese became Richard’s mentor. Richard was now a genuine mafia contract killer, making a living by killing â€Å"marks† for the mafia. Genovese gave him many brutal jobs and paid Richard to commit several murders. His first few killings from Genovese included a man in Chicago named Anthony De Peti for not being on time with his payments, a Cop named Jim O’Brian for tricking Richard into delivering heroine, and a mob boss named Arthur De Gillio. Genovese also asked for some special requests during the killings, for example, he specifically told Richard that after killing Arthur De Gillio he must â€Å"take all of his credit cards and shove them up his a**.† He was also told to break bones one by one to ensure the most pain in the victims. Richard’s killing empire expanded and he became affiliated with other mob families, such as the Ponti family from New Jersey, and the New York crime families. Because of his Polish ancestry, he was never able to become a made man in he mob, so he worked as an independent contact killer for all mob families. He was well-connected through Genovese and was raking in the money. Until one day, Genovese was shot. The murder remained unsolved and Richard was left to fend for himself. B. Barbara The contracts were no longer â€Å"rolling in† and he was forced to take a job at a trucking company. There, he met Barbara Pedrici, a beautiful Italian woman. She was 18 years old and Richard was now 26. They began talking and their boss became angry, knowing Richard was dangerous. He decided to fire him to protect Barbara. Unfortunately, his plan backfired. Richard asked Barbara out on a date and immediately fell in love with her, but he was still married to Linda. Fond of Richard, Barbara was angry that he was still married and he decided to get a divorce. They began seeing each other everyday and Barbara began feeling trapped by their relationship. Richard became violent and she was too afraid to break-up with him because she thought he would kill her. She soon became pregnant and Richard and Barbara married. Barbara knew he was violent but had no idea of his many brutal killings. He deiced to try and stay away from crime, in order to protect his family. But for Richard, this proved too difficult. Barbara’s uncle gave Richard a job in film lab, where he began pirating videos and eventually got into the pornography industry. He teamed up with his co-workers Paul Rothenburg and Anthony Argrila, who were supposedly â€Å"connected† to the mob. Richard owed them a lot of money and it didn’t seem as if he would pay it back soon. Argrila and Rothenburg became angry and decided to call their friend Roy DeMeo. Roy DeMeo was a â€Å"murder machine† and a picciotto in the Gambino crime family. C. Roy DeMeo One August day in 1973, DeMeo found Richard and confronted him about the money he owed his two partners. Richard, unaware of who DeMeo was and his mafia connections, gave him an attitude and told him to mind his own business. DeMeo left and returned minutes later with his â€Å"killing team,† Joe Guglielmo, Anthony Senter, and Joey Testa. Richard was surrounded with guns pointing at his head. He was armed of course but knew these men were for real. If he killed them, the mafia would kill him and his family. The four men knocked Richard down almost to a state of unconsciousness. Richard said, â€Å"they beat me good, but I knew if I fought back they’d kill me in an instant, so I just took it.† DeMeo realized Richard had a gun and admired that he didn’t use it. He took it as a sign of respect and courage. DeMeo and Richard talked over dinner at the Gemini Lounge in Brooklyn, a popular mafia hotspot. Both apologized and DeMeo said he would like to do business with Richard. In essence, this event was Richard’s rebirth. He was able to quit his job at the film lab and survive on killing. He was making up to $40,000 for each mark he murdered. He would also enjoy making them suffer before their death and being able to kill them up close, so he could see the look in their eyes as they died. DeMeo and Richard were a murder dream team and they made the leader of the Gambino family, Paul Castellano, very happy. Paul also promoted DeMeo to a sgarrista, and gave him more and more power in the family. As DeMeo’s premiere killer, this in turn gave Richard more power. His deaths were notorious in the mafia families, and his methods of killing were brilliant and gruesome. He always knew where to hide the bodies and was never a suspect in any case. By this time, Richard had three children: Merrick, Christian, and Dwayne. No one knew about his business and he was well liked around the neighborhood. He seemed like an ordinary family man that would never hurt a fly. In most of the murders he committed, Richard never even knew the victims name. He only knew one thing – that they must die, and this was a good enough reason for Richard. Some of his most famous murders were: Richard Hoffman, Gary Smith, Paul Rothenburg, and Henry Marino. He also started to use poison to kill his victims and always carried around his favorite poison with him, cyanide. Through his business, Richard met another contract killer, Robert Pronge. Richard said, â€Å"The two most dangerous men I ever met in my life were Roy DeMeo and Bob Pronge. Pronge was a complete psychopath. At least Roy had some semblance of being normal, but Pronge was way out there†¦dangerous beyond belief far more dangerous than Roy.† Robert Pronge drove a Mister Softee truck, which according to Richard was â€Å"purely brilliant.† They became good friends and acted as if they had known each other for years. Together, they came up with diabolical ways of committing murders and making their victims suffer. This led Richard to his next murder. He had stalked the mark for weeks and finally attacked. He used a tazer gun and then continued to tie his hands and feet. He took the man and headed to the woods in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He took the mark to a cave filled with vicious rats and secured him to the floor. He took his knife out of his sock and began to cut his face, arms, and legs – just enough for the rats to smell the blood. Richard set up a video camera and left as if nothing ever happened. Two days later he returned to the cave and saw only stained leaves where the man was. He picked up his video camera and watched the video. He saw the rats flock to the victim and cover his entire body. He watched them rip off his flesh and eat them alive. He felt no remorse for the victim and decided to take the tape to DeMeo and the DeCavalcante captain who had ordered the job. They loved it and praised Richard for his work. They told him â€Å"if he was Italian they would sponsor him [to be inducted into the mafia] in a minute.† D. â€Å"The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall† Shortly After, Richard received the most important murder contract of his life – the killing of Carmine Galante, the head of the Bonanno family. He was â€Å"out of control† and killed nine Genovese sggaristas. Every mafia family plotted and worked together to plan his downfall. DeMeo knew this would be a great opportunity for himself and Richard so he made sure the plot was flawless. Of course, everything went perfectly as planned and Galante had two bullets in his head thanks to Richard. This infamous murder introduced Richard to more and more connections. He was now receiving contracts from Sammy â€Å"the Bull† Gravano, underboss of the Gambino family and original friend to John Gotti. Gravano now had a special piece of work to do and he knew Richard Kuklinski was the man for the job. They met in a small parking lot and Gravano told him the mark’s name was Peter Calabro from Saddle River, New Jersey. For Richard this was just another day another job and he completed the murder successfully on March 14, 1980. Afterwards, Richard found out Peter was cop and never trusted Gravano again. Richard became well respected in the Gambino family and became friends with the Gotti family. On March 18, John Gotti’s youngest son, Frank, was killed by a car driven by John Favara. Nervous, John kept driving and went to his home shocked and afraid. He knew his life was now over. He had just dug his own grave. Richard, the Gotti family, and a few other accomplices were sent to capture Favara and tortured him to death. They then stuffed his dead body into a Fifty-five gallon drum. IV. THE POLICE INVESTIGATION A. The Iceman Richard longed to create his own mafia and started his own breaking and entering gang. His partners consisted of Al Rinke, Gary Smith, Danny Deppner, and Percy House. This gang became a very important part of Richard’s life and ultimately would help cause his downfall. With the help of his gang, Richard received his nickname – The Iceman. Richard called his only life-long friend Phil Solimene to help him with murder of Louis Masgay. He had come up with the brilliant plan of freezing the body to slow the decomposition. By preserving the body it would then be impossible to trace back to the actual time of death. Solimene and Richard took his body and dumped it in an ice cold well in North Bergen. Though this seemed like a normal murder to Richard, it would have severe consequences. Solimemene had a big mouth and told Richard’s gang about the murder. They in turn told their wives and friends who told their wives and friends. Richard’s secrets had finally leaked out after almost 40 years. Pat Kane was a young state trooper and was deeply devoted to his new job. He was honest, forthright, and willing to put anyone behind bars who deserved it. In October of 1982, his boss called him to his office. There were over a hundred burglaries in northern New Jersey and one burglar in the gang had been captured. It was now Kane’s job to talk to him and see if his information is true. The captured burglar was Al Rinke, and he gladly named all of his accomplices in order to save himself. He told them his accomplices were Danny, Deppner, Gary Smith, Percy House, and Big Rich. He was not sure of Richard’s last name and did not know where he lived. Richard had always made it a point to keep all of his information a secret. Kane asked Rink to point out all the homes they robbed and Rinke willingly obeyed. By the end of their conversation, Kane had completed an indictment with 153 charges against the gang members. He watched the homes of Deppner and Smith but they had never returned. He realized this hunt for the gang would be very difficult and devoted all his time to finding them. Meanwhile, Richard was still doing well. He had completed fifteen murder contracts in the last month and his record was still as clear as crystal. He bough a garage-warehouse in North Bergen and an entire truckload of fifty-five gallon drums to store his victims. He started dismembering the bodies and tearing them apart at the joints. He liked this method and enjoyed leaving traces of a body all around New Jersey.

Software Quality Development Plan for a Hospital :: software industry, risk management

1. Introduction:- The development of good quality software is very important factor in software industry . Medical software of medical devices with embedded software and decision support system can have great affect on the supply of patient care . A good quality software with poor management practices will never give very good quality of services. Hospital industry and telecom industry are facing challenges in terms of managing software . There have lots of reasons behind this activity . Main reasons are size , complexity of practices , management and comply to change. Depending upon the quality of the software systems, the accuracy of data and consequently of information are determined . There are a number of major and minor systems placed in Irish hospitals , where patients clinicians , nursing , it , administration , data entry personnel , researchers , governing bodies , and external auditors have different expectations understanding and requirements . The use of MS Access allows staff with little experience or knowledge of data quality techniques to collect data which is used for crucial decision making process along the patient journey . I will discuss an implementation of a software quality plan for Irish hospitals through the use of recognised healthcare and software quality models and standards in this essay.

Evaluation of The Psychoanalytic Approach Essay -- Papers Psychology F

Evaluation of The Psychoanalytic Approach Sigmund Freud the founder of psychoanalysis (1896-1939) worked on many ideas and cases that were to do with the mind and the body. Freud spent most of his life in Vienna where he expressed and distinguished the concepts of the unconscious, infantile sexuality and repression. Freud identified psychosexual stages, which are: - Oral stage – (approx 0-2 years) During the first year of life the libido is gratified through stimulation of the mucous membrane of the mouth (breast feeding, sucking behaviour). The child will enjoy sucking and biting. Freud suggested that if a child is weaned too early or too late they can have a fixation by using sucking sensations. Freud though did not give any indication when the correct time is to wean a child in order to overcome these fixations. He did though suggest that the fixations could be apparent in later life in the form of pen sucking or biting of the nail and smoking, as they are all types of oral stimulation/activities. Freud also said that too little stimulation in this early age could lead to the child in adult life having uncaring, self-centred attitude. And the other way with too much stimulation can lead to self controlled, gullible and unrealistic goals. These are both long lasting affects in later life if this stage is not correctly overcome. Anal stage – (approx 2-4 years) Pleasure is focused on the passing or excreaton of faces. On this stage Freud said that if parents were too pushy and strict with toilet training then the child may become anally retentive – resulting in excessive tiredness and cleanliness and very self contr... ...success, it has very much failed in the eyes of most of today's critics. Carl Jung (1875-1961) did not agree with Freud in the distinction between manifest and latent content as to Jung dreams had no deliberate disguised meaning but directly reflected the minds current state. A major difference therefore was that where Freud emphasised the dark and destructive nature of the unconscious Jung was influenced on the positive and constructive nature of these influences. Sigmund Freud has had a huge impact on psychoanalytic techniques and most of them are still used today i.e. dream analysis and the talking technique. Without Freud’s ideas and findings maybe the world of psychoanalysis would not be where it is today as many theorists have used Freud techniques’ as a base for their own modifications and contributions.

Family Heritage In Everyday Use Essay -- Everyday Use Alice Walker Ess

Family Heritage In Everyday Use In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," the message about the preservation of heritage, specifically African-American heritage, is very clear. It is obvious that Walker believes that a person's heritage should be a living, dynamic part of the culture from which it arose and not a frozen timepiece only to be observed from a distance. There are two main approaches to heritage preservation depicted by the characters in this story. The narrator, a middle-aged African-American woman, and her youngest daughter Maggie, are in agreement with Walker. To them, their family heritage is everything around them that is involved in their everyday lives and everything that was involved in the lives of their ancestors. To Dee, the narrator's oldest daughter, heritage is the past - something to frame or hang on the wall, a mere artistic, aesthetic reminder of her family history. Walker depicts Dee's view of family heritage as being one of confusion and lack of understanding. The differences in attitude that Dee and Maggie portray about their heritage are seen early in the story. When the family's house burned down ten or twelve years ago, Maggie was deeply affected by the tragedy of losing her home where she grew up. As her mother describes, "She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground" (409). Dee, on the other hand, had hated the house. Her mother had wanted to ask her, "Why don't you dance around the ashes?" (409). Dee did not hold any significance in the home where she had grown up. In her confusion about her heritage, it was just a house to her. Another example of Dee's confusion about her own African-American heritage is expressed when she announces to her mother and sister that she has changed her name to "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo." When her mother questions her about the change, Dee says, "I couldn't bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me" (411). According to her mother, the name has been in the family since before the Civil War and most likely represents family unity to her. However, Dee does not realize that. Apparently, she believes that by changing her name she is expressing solidarity with her African ancestors and rejecting the oppression implied by the taking on of American names by black slaves. Commenting ... ...tage" (413). That comment is somewhat ironic since it appears to be Dee who does not understand what family heritage is all about. Walker's view is very clear at the end of the story. By Dee wanting to hang the family heirloom on the wall to look at from a distance, she is alienating herself from her family heritage. That is exactly what Walker thinks is the wrong thing to do. Walker would prefer the quilts to be used and integrated into daily life, like Maggie and her mother prefer. The same idea applies to all of the other household items that Dee has her eye on: the churn top, the dasher, and the benches for the table that her daddy made. They all are a part of life for Maggie and her mother. Walker believes that the only value that they hold for Dee is that they would be good trinkets to show off in her house. By using the quilts in this symbolic way, Walker is making the point that family heirlooms can only have meaning if they remain connected to the culture they sprang from - in essence, to be put to "Everyday Use." Works Cited: Walker, Alice. â€Å"Everyday Use.† Robert DiYanni, ed. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007.

Financial Analysis of Carrefour

Chapter 5 Carrefour S. A. Teaching Note Version: March 2007 Introduction The Carrefour case is a financial analysis case. Carrefour S. A. is one of the world’s largest retailers. During the first half of the 2000s, the company’s share prices steadily declined, despite the fact that the company reported above-average returns on equity. Students are asked to analyze Carrefour’s financial statements and segment data to find explanations for the company’s poor share price performance and to make recommendations for the future. The discussion of the financial analysis is preceded by a discussion of Carrefour’s strategy and accounting.Both the accounting analysis and the financial analysis are affected by Carrefour’s switch from French GAAP reporting to IFRS reporting in 2005 but specialist knowledge of French GAAP and IFRS (and first-time adoption) is not required. Questions for students 1. 2. Analyze Carrefour’s competitive and corporate s trategy. What are the key risks of the company’s strategy? Analyze Carrefour’s accounting (including the effects of Carrefour’s switch to IFRS-based financial reporting). Are any adjustments to Carrefour’s financial statements necessary?Analyze Carrefour’s operating management, financial management and investment management during the years 2001 to 2005, making use of both financial statement data and segment data. What are the primary drivers of the company’s poor share price performance? Summarize the key findings of the financial analysis and provide recommendations for improvement to Carrefour’s management. What actions could management take to regain the confidence of Chrystelle Moreau and her fellow investors? 3. 4. Case analysis Question 1 Key characteristics of Carrefour’s strategy and the associated risks are the following: – Competing on price and product.Carrefour follows a strategy that combines some elements of a differentiation strategy with elements of a cost leadership strategy, especially in its hypermarkets. Specifically, the hypermarkets differentiate themselves from competitor supermarkets (1) by offering a much broader assortment (more product categories (food and non-food) as well as a wider choice of brands within one product category (including its own brands)) and (2) investing in customer loyalty programs (e. g. , the â€Å"Pass† card). This strategy is backed up by a strong marketing campaign.At the same time, however, Carrefour realizes that—especially during economic downturns—its customers have low switching costs and are relatively price – sensitive. The company therefore wishes to keep the prices in its hypermarkets at economic levels. The way in which the company can achieve this is by: o Keeping a close eye on what consumers want (through customer surveys and building a â€Å"customer behavior database† using data gathered through , for example, the company’s customer loyalty card) and by timely adjusting its assortment and pricing to changes in consumers’ preferences. Having a well developed logistics network. This keeps turnover high and helps to control costs. o Benefiting from economies of scale, not only in logistics but also in purchasing of supplies (aggregation of purchasing; international negotiations with suppliers). o Selling low-priced products under Carrefour’s own brand name. An important risk of following a combination of strategies is that Carrefour’s hypermarkets become â€Å"stuck in the middle. † The planned changes that Jose Luis Duran—the new CEO—announced after replacing Daniel Bernard suggest that this happened during the first half of the 2000s.While many of Carrefour’s competitors, such as Leclerc, Auchan, Aldi, and Lidl, were able to aggressively lower their prices during the economic downturn, according to Duran Carrefour had f ocused too much on differentiation and improving its margins per square meter of store space (which mixes percentage margins and asset turnover). Consequently, the company lost its competitive edge to price discounters (by losing its reputation for low prices), which slowed down Carrefour’s growth and harmed its domestic market share. International growth.When large companies such as Carrefour start to obtain a dominant position in their domestic markets, they may be â€Å"forced† to expand overseas or enter other industries. Carrefour’s corporate strategy is to expand overseas rather than diversify. More importantly, as indicated above, achieving growth is an essential part of Carrefour’s strategy because (international) growth helps the company to obtain economies of scale in purchasing, logistics and the development of Carrefourbranded products. For example, Carrefour sells its own branded products in the same packaging worldwide (of course printed in different languages).The company’s overseas retailing operations are, however, more risky than its domestic operations. First, to some extent retailing remains a local business because consumers’ tastes differ substantially across countries. Profitable expansion outside Carrefour’s domestic market is only possible if the company has good knowledge about local customers’ preferences and tastes. Consequently, a slightly safer way to expand abroad is to acquire local supermarket chains. A disadvantage of this strategy is, however, that acquisition premiums have to be paid, which can also drive down profits.Second, many of Carrefour’s â€Å"intercontinental† hypermarkets are located in countries where the economic environment is risky: consumers in economically less developed countries are likely to be more price sensitive; East Asian and South American countries tend to have more bureaucracy and stronger government protection of local firms. Th ird, in several countries, Carrefour has to compete with other multinationals such as Tesco and Wal Mart, who are trying to gain a strong market position (mostly through severe price competition).In sum, Carrefour’s overseas operations tend to be in countries where consumers are likely more price sensitive, several multinationals engage in severe price competition, and the economy is less stable. Note, for example, that Carrefour generated 10 percent of its fiscal 2005 profits (before interest and taxes) in South America and East Asia, although the company generated close to 15 percent of its fiscal 2005 sales in these areas. Question 2 In 2005, Carrefour changed its accounting policies from French GAAP to IFRS.This change affected the company’s financial statements and, consequently, could affect the analysis of Carrefour’s historical performance. More specifically, to improve comparability across years the analyst must assess how Carrefour’s pre-2004 pe rformance and financial position would have been under the newly adopted accounting standards. When doing so, the following changes are important to consider: – Under French GAAP, Carrefour was required to amortize goodwill. IFRS does not allow goodwill amortization but requires companies to regularly test goodwill for impairment.The elimination of goodwill amortization increased Carrefour’s net profit in 2005 by close to 25 percent (and ROA by 0. 8 percentage points). Pre-2004 earnings figures might be understated because of goodwill amortization charges. However, amortization charges may have replaced/prevented impairment charges in these years. Hence, the net effect on net profits is likely to be (significantly) less than 0. 8 percent of total assets. – French GAAP based earnings did not include an expense for stock option grants to Carrefour’s employees.Because such a grant imposes costs on Carrefour’s shareholders, IFRS requires that the Black & Scholes value (or the value from another accepted option valuation model) of these option grants is recognized as expense in the income statement during the vesting period. In 2005, Carrefour’s stock option expense had a negative effect on net profit of 1. 4 percent (and a negligible effect on ROA). – The switch from French GAAP to IFRS has resulted in negative adjustments to both inventories and cost of sales in 2004.The reason for these adjustments (which was not explicitly mentioned in Carrefour’s 2005 financial report) is that under IFRS, inventories include amounts for (inventory-related) services that Carrefour billed to its suppliers. That is, instead of recognizing the amounts as revenues in the period of billing (as the company did under French GAAP), Carrefour now delays the recognition of these to the period in which the associated inventories are sold. This change of treatment reduced end-of-year inventories in 2004 by 10. 2 percent (and equity by 5. 7 percent).In addition, cost of sales in 2004 increased because the amounts billed for services related to the beginning-of-year inventories were smaller than those related to the end-of-year inventories. More specifically, the adjustment reduced net profit by 3. 3 percent. During years in which Carrefour’s inventories (as well as the services that Carrefour provides to its suppliers) increase, the IFRS treatment will most likely result in higher cost of sales than the French GAAP treatment. In the 3 years immediately prior to 2004, inventories decreased by fairly small amounts.It is therefore unlikely that during these years the French GAAP treatment of inventories had created significant differences between reported net profits and net profits that would have been reported under IFRS. The French GAAP treatment did, however, result in higher inventories (and equity and deferred tax liabilities) than those that would have been reported under IFRS. Assuming that during the se years, the overstatement of inventories due to the immediate recognition of revenues from services provide to suppliers has been around â‚ ¬500 million, the overstatement of equity has been in the range of 4-5 percent.Under IFRS Carrefour has to recognize (slightly) greater employee benefit obligations and classify (slightly) more leases as finance leases (hence reported on the balance sheet) than under French GAAP. In 2004, employee benefits have resulted in a negative adjustment of end-of-year equity (by close to 4 percent) and a positive adjustment of end-of-year non-current liabilities (by close to 3 percent). Financing lease adjustments affected primarily non-current assets and current liabilities.In addition to the changes mandated by IFRS, Carrefour made one voluntary change in its estimates of the economic useful lives of buildings: the company increased the depreciation period from 20 to 40 years. Assuming that this change was justified, depreciation of buildings prio r to 2004 was overstated. In particular, Note 15 indicates that the difference between restated accumulated depreciation and â€Å"original† accumulated depreciation on buildings at the end of 2004 was â‚ ¬158 million. This suggests that depreciation in 2004 was initially overstated by â‚ ¬158 million, resulting in an understatement of ROA of close to 0. percentage points (all under the assumption that the new policy is correct). In summary, under French GAAP, return on (total) assets may have been â€Å"understated† by, at maximum, 1. 2 percentage points because of â€Å"overstated† goodwill amortization and buildings depreciation. In addition, under French GAAP equity may have been â€Å"overstated† by at maximum 8 percent because of its accounting for inventories and employee benefits, but, at the same time, may have been â€Å"understated† because of (an unknown amount of) â€Å"overstated† goodwill amortization.Note that the adjus tments that Carrefour made to its financial statements because of the change in estimates are not the same as the adjustments that an analyst would make if he/she would assume that Carrefour had always depreciated its buildings over a period of 40 years. Carrefour does not â€Å"restrospectively† adjust its financial statements, but uses the new 40-year depreciation period only for 2004 and later fiscal years. At the end of 2005, Gross Buildings equaled â‚ ¬8,031 million.Unfortunately, the carrying value of Net Buildings is not disclosed, making it impossible to derive the average age of Carrefour’s buildings and forcing the analyst to make a crude assumption. Under the assumption that the average age of Carrefour’s buildings is 5 years, the carrying value of Net Buildings would have to be increased by an amount of â‚ ¬1,004 million ((5/20 – 5/40)x8,031) to retrospectively adjust Carrefour’s financial statements.Similarly, under the assumptio n that the average age of Carrefour’s buildings is 10 years, the carrying value of Net Buildings would have to be increased by an amount of â‚ ¬2,008 million ((10/20 – 10/40)x8,031) to retrospectively adjust Carrefour’s financial statements. In addition to the overly conservative depreciation rate on buildings, Carrefour’s noncurrent assets may be understated because the company has operating leases. At the end of 2005, Carrefour had large operating lease commitments. Exhibit TN-1 estimates the net present value of these commitments.The estimated NPV of Carrefour’s operating lease payments is approximately â‚ ¬3. 1 billion, which is equivalent to slightly more than 48 percent of Carrefour’s net non-current debt in 2005 (3,121/[10,443 – 226 – 3,773]) and implies an understatement of Carrefour’s non-current tangible assets by approximately 18 percent (3,121/[13,864 + 3,121). The use of operating leases is not abnorma l in the retailing industry. For example, at the end of the fiscal year ending on February 26, 2006 (labeled fiscal 2005), Tesco, one of Carrefour’s U. K. based competitors had operating leases for an estimated amount of ? 2,718 million, which was equivalent to slightly less than 75 percent of Tesco’s net non-current debt in 2005 (2,718/[4,958 – 1,325]) and implied an understatement of Tesco’s non-current tangible assets of approximately 15 percent (2,718/[15,882 + 2,718). – In summary, Carrefour’s non-current tangible assets appear to be understated by an amount in the range of â‚ ¬4 – 5 billion (or 22 – 27 percent (versus 15 percent for Tesco)). Question 3 Carrefour versus Tesco Exhibit TN-2 displays a set of ratios for Carrefour and Tesco.The ROE decomposition indicates that Carrefour has lower operating profit margins than Tesco but higher asset turnover. The net effect is that Carrefour has a moderately lower operating ROA than Tesco. Although Carrefour’s Operating ROA is lower than Tesco’s, Carrefour has a higher return on equity than Tesco, both in 2005 and 2004. The reason for this is that Carrefour is more leveraged than Tesco. Note that operating returns on assets are substantially greater than returns on assets. This is because both Carrefour and Tesco make much use of vendor financing, which makes their working capital negative.This emphasizes the importance of recasting the financial statements and using the alternative approach to ROE decomposition. The differences in the components of ROE between Carrefour and Tesco may find their origin in the strategic differences between both companies. However, they may also reflect differences in the effectiveness of operating management, investment management and financing decisions. We will discuss each of these sources below. Strategic differences. – Carrefour focuses more on creating a reputation for low prices and engages m ore in price competition with discounters than Tesco.Consequently, Carrefour’s profit margins are likely to be smaller at the benefit of higher asset turnover. – Tesco has a lower presence in non-European markets (such as Asia and South America) than Carrefour. Especially in these markets, entering multinational retailers such as Carrefour, Tesco and Wal Mart strongly compete on price to become the dominant market player. Operating management. – As indicated, Carrefour’s net operating profit margin is lower than Tesco’s, possibly because Carrefour engages in price competition more than Tesco. The ratio Cost of materials/sales indeed confirms this.In 2005, this ratio was 3. 6 percentage points higher for Carrefour than for Tesco, which illustrates the margin-reducing effect of price competition. Possibly because Carrefour competes less on product and services than Tesco, its personnel expenses as a percentage of sales were 1. 2 percentage point lowe r than Tesco’s. Depreciation and amortization charges as a percentage of sales are approximately equal for both competitors. Investment management. – The PPE/Sales ratio suggests that Tesco has invested a substantially larger amount in property, plant and equipment.There are various reasons for this difference: o Part of the difference between Carrefour and Tesco is due to the fact that Carrefour has a slightly greater proportion of its PP&E financed under operating lease agreements. Tesco’s decision to sell and leaseback a substantial proportion of its property suggests that Tesco’s management believes that Tesco does not yet optimally benefit from lease financing. In addition, Carrefour’s depreciation of buildings has been overly conservative in the years prior to 2004. Consequently, Carrefour’s understatement of non-current – – angible assets is estimated to be approximately 10 percent greater than Tesco’s (see also q uestion 2). o Statistics disclosed in the notes to the financial statements suggest that Tesco owns significantly more expensive stores (possibly at significantly more expensive locations) than Carrefour. In particular, the cost price of Tesco’s land and buildings per square meter equals ? 2,778 p. sq. m. (14,247/5. 129), or â‚ ¬4,086 p. sq. m. , whereas the same statistic equals â‚ ¬1,005 p. sq. m. (11,141/11. 08) for Carrefour (in fiscal 2005). o Sales per average square meter in fiscal 2005 was â‚ ¬6,850 (76,496/[0. x11. 08 + 0. 5Ãâ€"10. 671]) for Carrefour versus ? 8,140 p. sq. m. (39,454/[0. 5Ãâ€"5. 129 + 0. 5Ãâ€"4. 565]), or â‚ ¬11,972 p. sq. m. , for Tesco. Hence, although Carrefour’s square meters of store space are substantially less expensive, Carrefour needs, on average, more square meters than Tesco to generate a euro of sales. Although Carrefour’s PPE/Sales ratio is substantially lower than Tesco’s, the companies’ net no n-current asset/sales ratios are almost equal. (Note that part of the remaining difference is explained by the fact that Carrefour’s non-current assets are more understated than Tesco’s. The explanation for this is that Carrefour has a much greater amount of goodwill recognized on its balance sheet. This amount of goodwill has primarily arisen from the acquisitions of Compoirs Modernes (1998/99: â‚ ¬2,356m), Promodes (1999: â‚ ¬3,032m), GS (2000: â‚ ¬3,136m), and GB (2000: â‚ ¬1,128m). The negative effect of goodwill on asset turnover illustrates that Carrefour (past) strategy of growth through acquisitions has a downside: organic growth is typically more profitable than growth through acquisitions (see also question 2). Carrefour’s working capital turnover is substantially lower than Tesco’s.More specifically, it takes Carrefour approximately twice as much time as Tesco to sell its inventory. For a retailer, this is important because inventor ies comprise a large proportion of the company’s assets. This may be due to a difference in strategies: the company that sells relatively more non-food products will also have lower inventory turnover. Historically, Carrefour has been the European leader in selling a mix of food and non-food products. During the past decade Tesco has added more and more nonfood products to its assortment.Although both companies are not very open about their reliance on non-food sales, there are some (older) statistics available. In 2004, about 46 percent of Carrefour’s hypermarket sales came from dry grocery, 16 percent from fresh food, 17 percent from consumer electronics, 7 percent from apparel, and 14 percent from general merchandise. In comparison, 22 percent of Tesco U. K. sales came from non-food sales in 2004. Under the assumptions that (1) Carrefour sold its non-food products only in hypermarkets (which generated 8 percent of total 2004) and (2) Tesco sold a similar percentage of non-food products in its non-U.K. markets, the contribution of non-food products to the companies’ total sales is fairly comparable: 22 percent (0. 58 x [7% + 17% + 14%]) versus 22 percent. Carrefour’s trade receivables turnover is also substantially lower than Tesco’s. An important reason for this difference is that Carrefour’s financing company provides consumer credit to Carrefour’s customers. This credit has been extended to Carrefour’s customers through point-of-sale financing (offering a credit facility that enables customers to amortize the cost of their purchases over a longer period) or private credit cards.The short-term portion of this credit has been classified as trade receivables. Point-of-sale financing and private credit cards were common especially in Carrefour’s domestic market, France. Carrefour may therefore need to supply these financial services in order to effectively compete with its French industry peers. F inancial management. – Carrefour is more leveraged than Tesco. Carrefour’s degree of leverage is, however, not abnormal for a retailer. This is illustrated by the fact that Tesco has planned to sell and leaseback a substantial amount of property (more than ? billion) and return the proceeds of this transaction to its shareholders. The net effect of these transactions will be that Tesco’s leverage will get closer to Carrefour’s. In addition, Carrefour’s interest coverage ratios are—although lower than Tesco’s—sufficient, indicating that Carrefour experiences no problems to meet its interest obligations. Carrefour’s performance over time When analyzing Carrefour’s financial performance over time, the analysts has to take into account that Carrefour applied IFRS for the first time in 2005.A pragmatic approach to account for this is analyze year-to-year changes in ratios that are based on the same accounting standards (change in 2005 = IFRS-based change from 2004 to 2005; change in 2004 = French GAAP-based change from 2003 to 2004). Exhibit TN-3 displays the year-to-year changes in various ratios. The following changes are noteworthy: – Operating management. Both personnel expenses and cost of materials as a percentage of sales have increased during the past two years. As indicated, this most likely illustrates the margin-decreasing effect of severe price competition. – Investment management.In 2004, Carrefour managed to increase asset turnover, which mitigated the negative effect of the operating margin decrease on operating return on assets. In 2005, both margin and turnover decreased, suggesting that Carrefour has been unable to effectively compete on price. – Financial management. Leverage (as well as Carrefour’s financial leverage gain) decreased for three consecutive years. This seems inefficient because Carrefour’s spread is still positive and its intere st coverage is still sufficient. On the other hand, Carrefour’s financial spread, and with that the benefits of leverage, has decreased over the past two years.Analysis of Carrefour’s segment information Exhibit TN-4 displays several ratios that have been calculated using Carrefour’s segment information. Based on the segment analysis (at least) the following conclusions can be drawn: – The comparison of Carrefour’s with Tesco’s asset turnover illustrated that Carrefour’s sales per square meter of store space was substantially less than Tesco’s. The segment analysis shows that this difference in turnover is primarily caused by the underperformance of Carrefour’s stores outside France: o In 2005, sales per square meter was â‚ ¬10. 6 thousand in France versus â‚ ¬5. 90 thousand, â‚ ¬3. 13 thousand, and â‚ ¬3. 55 thousand in the Rest of Europe, South America, and Asia, respectively. o In 2005, fixed asset turnove r was 4. 51 in France versus 2. 18, 2. 62, and 2. 59 in the Rest of Europe, South America, and Asia, respectively. – EBIT margins were also much lower in Carrefour’s foreign markets than in its domestic market. However, like turnover, Carrefour’s profit margins declined in its domestic market after 2003. – There has been a strong decline in sales per square meter in France after 2002.This decline can possibly be attributed to Carrefour’s loss of market share in its domestic market. – During the first half of the 2000s, Carrefour primarily invested outside France. – It is puzzling that sales per square meter is substantially lower in hard discount stores (where one would expect low margins and high turnover) than in hypermarkets. Analysis of Carrefour’s cash flow performance Exhibit TN-5 displays Carrefour’s standardized cash flow statements. Between 2002 and 2005, Carrefour’s operating cash flow before working cap ital investments ranged from â‚ ¬3. 6 billion (in 2005) to â‚ ¬3. 9 billion (in 2003).In 2006, Carrefour will have (at least) the following uses of its cash flows: – Carrefour’s management announced in the company’s 2005 financial report that capital expenditures in the years 2006-2008 would be close to â‚ ¬3. 3 billion per year (on average). – Dividend payments equaled â‚ ¬758 million in 2005. Given the pattern of dividend increases over time, dividend payments in 2006 are likely to exceed â‚ ¬800 million. If in 2006 operating cash flow before working capital investments will be similar to historical values, Carrefour will need additional sources of cash to finance its investments and dividends.The question therefore arises as to what sources of cash flow might be available to the company: – Carrefour’s management is likely resist cutting dividends or raising new equity as this may put further pressure on the company’s share prices. – Like in previous years, the amount of net investments in non-current assets will be less than the amount of capital expenditures. This is so because Carrefour will divest stores that are underperforming. However, as restructuring progresses cash inflows from divestments can be expected to decrease. This illustrates the necessity for Carrefour to improve its cash flow from operations.As argued above, possible ways to do this is by improving margins outside France or by regaining market share in France. In addition, the company may reduce its investments in inventories either by improving logistics or by improving knowledge of customer preferences. Question 4 Analyst Chrystelle Moreau could use the following summary of key issues (and potential recommendations) arising from the analysis of Carrefour’s (and Tesco’s) financial statements: 1. The analysis suggest that Carrefour’s management should take actions to improve operations management. In particular: a. Carrefour’s low inventory turnover (relative to Tesco’s) suggests that the company needs to improve logistics. This would improve asset turnover, improve cash flow from operations and help the company to more effectively compete on price. b. Carrefour could also make better use of vendor financing. The company’s trade payables turnover is relatively high compared to Tesco’s. Vendor financing may help the company in lowering its net debt (and interest expense). 2. Compared to Tesco’s, Carrefour’s sales per square meter is too low: a.The decrease in France suggests that management should take action to regain market share in France (in accordance with its announced intentions). b. The observation that sales per square meter (and margins) are especially low in Carrefour’s foreign markets suggests that in those markets operations need to be improved. 3. It is questionable whether a focus on growth by adding stores is the most appropriate strategy for the near term. Given the low level of sales per square meter, a less expensive way of growing might be to focus on improving sales levels in Carrefour’s current stores.In addition, as indicated, asset turnover could be improved by improving logistics and, consequently, increasing inventory turnover. Finally, a substantial proportion of Carrefour’s net assets consists of goodwill. Adding more goodwill would probably have a further negative effect on the company’s abnormal profitability. One way to provide a powerful positive signal to investors about Carrefour’s future cash flow generating ability is to follow Tesco’s example in selling and leasing back a substantial proportion of the company’s property. (Analysts estimate Carrefour’s property to be worth â‚ ¬25 billion. The proceeds from this transaction could then be used to return cash to investors. Because future lease payments discipline managemen t’s actions and forces management to improve operating performance (see cash flow analysis), the transaction would signal management’s confidence in Carrefour’s future performance and has the potential to put an end to the company’s share price decline. Subsequent developments Carrefour continued the refocusing of its growth strategy under the adagio of â€Å"more square meters in fewer countries†. Carrefour expanded its store network primarily in Europe (especially outside France).The company disposed of its stores in underperforming markets, such as Mexico, Japan, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and South Korea and increased its store space in well-performing markets such as Poland, Italy, Turkey, Romania, Brazil, China and Taiwan. For example, in December 2006, Carrefour acquired all of Ahold’s Polish supermarkets and hypermarkets for the amount of â‚ ¬375 million. In September 2006, Carrefour announced its earnings for the first half year o f 2006. Both sales and net profit had increased relative to the first half of 2005. In particular, net profits had increased from â‚ ¬637 million to â‚ ¬706 million.The increase in net profits was, however, lower than analysts expected. On January 12, 2007, Carrefour announced that its fourth-quarter sales in 2006 had decreased by 1. 5 percent in comparison with fourth-quarter sales in 2005. Following this announcement, Carrefour’s share price decreased by 5 percent to â‚ ¬44. 50. On March 8, 2007, Carrefour’s President of the Supervisory Board (and protege of the company’s primary shareholder, the Halley Family), Luc Vandevelde, resigned, possibly as a result of a disagreement with the Halley Family. Vandevelde was replaced by Robert Halley.On the same day, private equity investor Bernard Arnault and US Fund Colony Capital acquired a 9. 8 percent stake in Carrefour. Analysts expected that they were planning to force Carrefour to sell (and lease back) i ts valuable property (estimated to be worth â‚ ¬25 billion). – – – – Exhibit TN-1 (1) Calculating the interest rate implicit in finance leases (implicit rate = 9. 6%) and (2) calculating the present value of operating lease payment using the implicit rate of 9. 6% Year Reported Payment finance leases â‚ ¬52 196 in 5 y. 196 in 5 y. 196 in 5 y. 196 in 5 y.PV Assumed PV PV Reported Assumed Payment factor finance Payment Payment operating finance leases operating operating leases leases leases leases â‚ ¬52 0. 9552 49. 7 751 751 717. 4 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 39. 2 8. 2 0. 8715 0. 7952 0. 7255 0. 6620 0. 6040 0. 5511 0. 5028 0. 4588 0. 4186 0. 3819 0. 3485 0. 3180 0. 2901 0. 2647 0. 2415 0. 2204 0. 2011 0. 1834 0. 1674 0. 1527 34. 2 1780 in 5 y. 31. 2 1780 in 5 y. 28. 4 1780 in 5 y. 26. 0 1780 in 5 y. 23. 7 1780 in 5 y. 21. 6 2670 in 7. 5 y. 19. 7 2670 in 7. 5 y. 18. 0 2670 in 7. 5 y. 6. 4 2670 15. 0 2670 13. 7 2670 12. 5 2670 11. 4 2670 10. 4 9. 5 8. 6 7. 9 7. 2 6. 6 1. 3 372. 6 in in in in in 7. 5 7. 5 7. 5 7. 5 7. 5 y. y. y. y. y. 356 356 356 356 356 356 356 356 356 356 356 356 178 310. 3 283. 1 258. 3 235. 7 215. 0 196. 2 179. 0 163. 3 149. 0 136. 0 124. 1 113. 2 51. 6 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 196 in 5 y. 2012 and 557 in 14. 2 y. subsequent (557/39. 2) 557 in 14. 2 y. 557 in 14. 2 y. 557 557 557 557 557 557 557 557 557 557 557 557 in in in in in in in in in in in in 14. 2 14. 2 14. 2 14. 2 14. 2 14. 2 14. 2 14. 2 14. 2 14. 2 14. 2 14. 2 y. y. y. y. y. y. y. y. y. y. y. y. 3,132. 1Exhibit TN-2 Carrefour versus Tesco 2005 IFRS Traditional Decomposition of ROE Net profit margin (ROS) Asset turnover =Return on assets xFinancial leverage =Return on equity (ROE) 1. 9% 1. 61 3. 1% 5. 52 17. 1% 2004 IFRS 2. 2% 1. 73 3. 8% 6. 06 22. 9% Carrefour 2004 2003 French French GAAP GAAP 1. 9% 1. 86 3. 6% 5. 16 18. 4% 2. 3% 1. 80 4. 2% 5. 51 23. 0% Tesco 2002 French GAAP 2. 0% 1. 77 3. 5% 5. 88 20. 7% 2001 French GAAP 1. 8% 1. 60 2. 9% 5. 89 17. 2% 2005 IFRS 4. 0% 1. 75 7. 0% 2. 41 16. 7% 2004 IFRS 4. 0% 1. 68 6. 7% 2. 34 15. 6% Distinguishing Operating and Financing Components in ROE Decomposition Net operating profit margin 2. % 2. 6% 2. 3% xNet operating asset turnover 3. 55 3. 91 4. 65 =Operating ROA 8. 1% 10. 1% 10. 9% Spread 6. 0% 7. 7% 7. 0% xFinancial leverage 1. 50 1. 67 1. 07 =Financial leverage gain 9. 0% 12. 8% 7. 5% ROE = Operating ROA + Financial leverage gain 17. 1% 22. 9% 18. 4% Asset Management Ratios Operating working capital/Sales Net non-current assets/Sales PP&E/Sales Operating working capital turnover Net non-current asset turnover PP&E turnover Accounts receivable turnover Inventory turnover Accounts payable turnover Days' accounts receivable Days' inventory Days' accounts payable . 8% 4. 37 12. 4% 8. 3% 1. 28 10. 6% 23. 0% 2. 7% 4. 09 10. 9% 6. 4% 1. 54 9. 9% 20. 7% 2. 6% 4. 00 10. 5% 4. 9% 1. 35 6. 7% 17. 2 % 4. 2% 2. 69 11. 3% 9. 6% 0. 56 5. 4% 16. 7% 4. 2% 2. 56 10. 9% 8. 8% 0. 54 4. 8% 15. 6% -9. 2% 37. 3% 18. 6% -10. 9 2. 7 5. 4 12. 8 9. 6 7. 0 28. 1 37. 5 51. 5 -10. 1% 35. 7% 18. 0% -9. 9 2. 8 5. 5 15. 2 10. 1 8. 2 23. 7 35. 5 43. 8 -11. 7% 33. 2% 17. 7% -8. 5 3. 0 5. 6 23. 8 9. 1 7. 5 15. 2 39. 7 48. 1 -10. 0% 32. 9% 17. 4% -10. 0 3. 0 5. 8 22. 2 9. 6 7. 7 16. 3 37. 5 46. 7 -9. 5% 33. 9% 18. 0% -10. 5 2. 9 5. 5 21. 8 9. 3 8. 0 16. 38. 7 44. 8 -10. 3% 35. 3% 19. 6% -9. 7 2. 8 5. 1 23. 6 9. 1 7. 3 15. 3 39. 5 49. 3 -8. 3% 45. 5% 40. 3% -12. 0 2. 2 2. 5 44. 2 20. 2 3. 2 8. 1 17. 8 113. 9 -9. 2% 48. 3% 42. 9% -10. 9 2. 1 2. 3 44. 0 19. 3 2. 9 8. 2 18. 6 122. 6 Exhibit TN-3 Carrefour’s performance over time 2003 to 2004 2004 to French 2005 GAAP IFRS Common-sized Income Statement: percentage point changes in†¦ Sales 0. 0% 0. 0% – Cost of Sales -0. 2% -0. 3% – SG -0. 1% 0. 1% – Depreciation and Amortization 0. 3% 0. 0% – Other Operating Income, Ne t of Other Operating Expenses -0. 4% -0. % – Net Interest Expense or Income 0. 0% 0. 1% – Investment Income 0. 0% 0. 0% – Tax Expense 0. 0% 0. 0% – Minority Interest 0. 0% 0. 0% Net Profit -0. 3% -0. 4% Pro forma income statement items: percentage point changes in†¦ – Cost of Materials (nature) -0. 2% -0. 3% – Personnel Expenses (nature) -0. 5% -0. 2% – Depreciation and Amortization 0. 3% 0. 0% 2002 to 2003 French GAAP 0. 0% -0. 1% 0. 3% 0. 1% -0. 1% 0. 2% -0. 1% -0. 1% 0. 1% 0. 3% 2001 to 2002 French GAAP 0. 0% 0. 2% 0. 3% 0. 1% -0. 2% 0. 1% 0. 0% -0. 2% 0. 0% 0. 2% -0. 1% -0. 1% 0. 1% 0. 2% 0. 1% 0. 1%Distinguishing Operating and Financing Components in ROE Decomposition: percentage (point) changes in†¦ Net operating profit margin -0. 3% -0. 5% 0. 2% 0. 0% xNet operating asset turnover -9. 1% 6. 6% 6. 7% 2. 2% =Operating ROA -2. 0% -1. 5% 1. 5% 0. 4% Spread -1. 7% -1. 3% 1. 9% 1. 5% xFinancial leverage -10. 4% -16. 4% -16. 9% 13. 5% =Financial leverage gain -3. 8% -3. 2% 0. 7% 3. 2% ROE = Operating ROA + Financial leverage gain -5. 8% -4. 6% 2. 2% 3. 6% Asset Management Ratios: percentage (point) changes in†¦ Operating working capital/Sales 0. 9% Net non-current assets/Sales 1. 6% PP/Sales 0. % Operating working capital turnover 10. 1% Net non-current asset turnover -4. 4% PP turnover -3. 1% Accounts receivable turnover -15. 7% Inventory turnover -5. 5% Accounts payable turnover -14. 9% Days' accounts receivable (change in days) -1. 2 Days' inventory (change in days) 4. 4 Days' accounts payable (change in days) 2. 1 -1. 8% 0. 4% 0. 4% -15. 2% -1. 1% -2. 0% 7. 2% -5. 6% -2. 8% -1. 1 2. 2 1. 3 -0. 5% -1. 1% -0. 6% -4. 8% 3. 2% 3. 6% 1. 7% 3. 3% -4. 0% -0. 3 -1. 2 1. 9 0. 9% -1. 4% -1. 6% 9. 1% 4. 1% 8. 9% -7. 6% 1. 9% 10. 0% 1. 3 -0. 7 -4. 5 Exhibit TN-4 Segment analysis France 4. 1% 5. 50% 6. 00% 5. 88% 5. 55% 5. 16% 3. 62% 4. 51 5. 09 5. 23 5. 17 4. 95 4. 57 4. 11 2. 22% 2. 45% 2. 29% 1. 73% 2. 26% 2. 00% 4. 04% Rest of Europe 4. 22% 3. 94% 3. 73% 3. 37% 3. 31% 3. 69% 2. 15% 2. 18 2. 31 2. 19 2. 01 1. 93 1. 55 1. 88 4. 40% 3. 72% 4. 58% 5. 18% 6. 49% 6. 10% 14. 00% Latin America 2. 62% 1. 06% 0. 28% 0. 43% 0. 63% 2. 47% 3. 48% 2. 62 2. 33 2. 26 2. 48 2. 16 1. 73 1. 44 4. 89% 4. 89% 6. 39% 5. 13% 4. 38% 5. 19% 19. 25% Asia 3. 22% 2. 92% 3. 08% 3. 04% 2. 93% 2. 49% 1. 54% 2. 59 2. 56 2. 44 2. 37 2. 20 2. 19 1. 50 6. 63% 6. 59% 9. 40% 7. 65% 6. 96% 9. 02% 23. 10%EBIT margin 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 Fixed asset turnover CAPX to sales Exhibit TN-4 Segment analysis (continued) France Sales per sq. m. 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 10. 96 11. 69 12. 23 12. 62 12. 64 12. 62 NA Rest of Europe 5. 90 6. 36 6. 39 5. 70 5. 90 5. 84 NA NA Latin America 3. 13 2. 55 2. 43 3. 00 4. 73 5. 58 NA Asia 3. 55 3. 41 3. 78 4. 41 5. 08 5. 21 Hypermarket 6. 18 6. 12 6. 39 6. 56 7. 23 7. 40 7. 49 Supermarket 5. 71 5. 64 5. 57 5. 80 6. 38 6. 59 5. 65 Hard discount 3. 85 3. 97 3. 93 5. 03 4. 8 5. 01 4. 58 Sales per store 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 21. 38 23. 41 24. 66 26. 49 26. 41 19. 80 20. 50 6. 61 7. 09 7. 08 6. 94 6. 95 5. 64 4. 83 6. 21 5. 52 5. 67 7. 72 12. 98 16. 72 18. 98 13. 55 15. 00 23. 30 37. 72 43. 50 43. 99 32. 47 52. 21 53. 08 55. 45 57. 60 62. 40 67. 04 66. 83 8. 73 8. 75 8. 63 8. 63 10. 29 10. 26 10. 20 1. 49 1. 35 1. 41 1. 74 1. 66 1. 67 1. 46 Sq. m. per store 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1. 95 2. 00 2. 02 2. 10 2. 09 1. 57 NA NA 1. 12 1. 12 1. 11 1. 22 1. 18 0. 96 NA 1. 98 2. 17 2. 34 2. 57 2. 74 3. 00 NA 3. 82 4. 40 6. 17 8. 54 8. 56 8. 45 . 45 8. 67 8. 68 8. 78 8. 64 9. 06 8. 93 1. 53 1. 55 1. 55 1. 49 1. 61 1. 56 1. 81 0. 39 0. 38 0. 36 0. 35 0. 34 0. 33 0. 32 Exhibit TN-5 Cash flow analysis 2005 IFRS Net profit Profit before taxes minus Taxes paid After-tax net interest expense (income) Non-operating losses (gains) Non-current operating accruals Operating cas h flow before working capital investments Net (investments in) or liquidation of operating working capital Operating cash flow before investment in non-current assets Net (investment in) or liquidation of non-current operating assets Free cash flow available to debt nd equity After-tax net interest expense (income) Net debt (repayment) or issuance Free cash flow available to equity Dividend (payments) Net share (repurchase) or issuance Net increase (decrease) in cash balance 2004 IFRS 2004 French GAAP 1,509. 1 2003 French GAAP 1,737. 6 2002 French GAAP 1,539. 4 2001 French GAAP 1,438. 5 1,943. 0 263. 6 (206. 0) 1,564. 0 3,564. 6 175. 0 3,739. 6 (2,617. 0) 1,122. 6 (263. 6) 428. 0 1,287. 0 (758. 0) 88. 0 617. 0 1,723. 0 279. 7 (103. 0) 1,939. 0 3,838. 7 875. 0 4,713. 7 (2,148. 0) 2,565. 7 (279. ) (1,723. 0) 563. 0 (677. 0) (368. 0) (482. 0) 317. 7 (117. 9) 2,102. 2 3,811. 1 841. 2 4,652. 3 (2,146. 6) 2,505. 7 (317. 7) (1,675. 0) 513. 0 (608. 9) (367. 6) (463. 5) 368. 9 (253. 7) 2,066 . 0 3,918. 8 323. 0 4,241. 8 (1,966. 2) 2,275. 6 (368. 9) (855. 4) 1,051. 3 (522. 5) 17. 3 546. 1 453. 4 (344. 6) 1,950. 0 3,598. 2 (149. 0) 3,449. 2 (3,163. 7) 285. 5 (453. 4) (1,541. 1) (1,709. 0) (475. 5) 300. 4 (1,884. 1) 550. 3 (1,193. 9) 2,537. 8 3,332. 7 837. 9 4,170. 6 (1,005. 6) 3,165. 0 (550. 3) (559. 4) 2,055. 3 (424. 6) 183. 7 1,814. 4