Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Outsourcing Plan Essay

1. Outsourcing has become a way to increase an organization’s flexibility to meet rapidly changing market conditions, focus on core competencies and develop competitive advantage. As a result, the need for SM has intensified and positioned Supply Managers as agents of strategic change critical to supply chain success. A. True 2. Outsourcing decreases an organization’s flexibility to meet rapidly changing market conditions, but it can usually reduce total costs in the long-term B. False 3. Early supply management involvement is an approach in supply management to bring the expertise and collaborative synergy of suppliers into the design process. A. True 4. The strategic sourcing plan should be developed in a collaborative environment that includes all relevant functional area representatives and supply chain members. A. True 5. Foreign governments never impose countertrade requirements. B. False 6. Statutory rates are full rates for tariffs. A. True 7. Which of the following is not a strategic issue in making the outsourcing decision? A. The issue of short-term vulnerabilities. 8. Which of the following is a consideration that favors buying a product? B. Multiple source policy 9. Which of the following is not one of the conditions demanding negotiation? C. Market must consist of adequate number of sellers.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Haiti History

Haiti has the distinction of being the first black independent republic, who only two centuries ago was the wealthiest country in the New World and represented more than a quarter of France's economy. Yet today Haiti has been called â€Å"un pays tite-en-bas† where about 80% if Haitians live in absolute poverty, and almost 1/3 of the population is ill or underweight. A long history of political oppression, soil erosion, lack of knowledge and population density of 618 people per square mile has caused modern Haiti to become the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. After almost 200 years of rule by a series of despotic emperors, eccentric kings, cruel dictators, powerless presidents and tyrannical generals Haiti is living in absolute poverty. Haiti has a GDP of less then $8 billion a year and the per capita income is less then $250 showing how poor Haiti truly is. When half a million slaves revolted against their colonial masters in 1804, Haiti became the first nation to abolish slavery. Haiti saw 22 heads of state in 72 years causing unrest and turmoil between the Haitian people. After four consecutive years of Haitian presidents being murdered or disposed, the United States sent marines to Haiti. When the Americans left in 1934, Haiti was again in turmoil, with frequent coups, revolutions, dictatorship, and street violence until the election of Franiois Duvalier in 1957. Duvaliers rule soon turned into one of repression and fear and he soon declared himself president-for-life in 1964. Following his death, his son Jean-Claude used the same violent methods of his father to keep control of Haiti. Read also History Quizzes Under his poor leadership, Haiti became one of the world's poorest countries. Most of Haiti's economic problems are the result of economic mismanagement and government corruption. Forests were cleared, which caused soil erosion, making the land dry and infertile. Farming employs nearly three-fifths of the workforce (see figure 1). The average salary is only $70 a month, and yet inflation tops 14% a year. The growing population has forced many small farmers to concentrate on growing food for themselves, making it impossible to have any income. Nearly 3/4 of the population of Haiti cooks with charcoal, cutting down so many trees that deforestation of the mountains is a major problem. Only about 4% of the land is forest, compared to 30% of US land (see figure 2 ; 3). Extreme weather conditions further threaten the land, with torrential rains during hurricane season racing down deforested mountains and destroying fields, roads and homes. This has caused a horrific impact on Haiti. Fewer then 13% have access to safe drinking water, and most Haitians struggle to find enough food to eat each day (it is estimated that Haiti produces only 40% of the food it needs). Although public education in Haiti is free, textbooks and other school materials are not, and as a result many children, especially those in rural areas (the 90% of Haitians that live in absolute poverty, also called peasants) cannot afford to go to school. It is estimated that about 90% of Haitians are illiterate. Even though legally, education is free and open to all, only about 30% of Haitian children ever begin school, and of the 30%, only 2% stay in school beyond the 5th grade. Many factors play into the lack of education in Haiti, such as education being mainly in French, even though Creole is the official language in Haiti, also after the fifth year students must pass a difficult examination, which is also in French, causing many students to not pass. The lack of proper teachers and inadequate supplies, as well as overcrowding in schools has made it difficult for Haitians to get an education. Haiti's misfortune has continued through the years with a series of natural disasters. Severe deforestation, leading to flooding and landslides, and a lack of proper emergency services and infrastructure has resulted in the storms causing the deaths of thousands of Haitians. In 2008, four separate hurricanes – Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike – in the space of 30 days led to the deaths of more than 800 people. About 60 per cent of the country's harvest were destroyed and entire cities were rendered desolate and uninhabitable. In January 2010, a devastating 7. 0 magnitude earthquake resulting in the deaths of thousands and the loss of many homes and buildings (see figure 5). Haiti is a country full of tragedy and despair. 380 000 Haitians were infected with HIV/AIDS by 2000 and the life expectancy has dropped to the early age of 53. Only 8 people out of every thousand have telephone service and less then 6% of people have access to electrical power. Yet a small portion of the country is not effected by the massive poverty, but instead live a life of luxury. 0. 5% of Haiti's population earns about 46% of the nations income, thus giving the rich more power causing even more corruption. Many organizations such as The Canadian Red Cross and Hope for Haiti are aiming to restore this once hopeful country. The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was established on June 1 2004, and continues to help Haiti today. MINUSTAH peacekeepers help provide basic needs such as clean water to cholera affected towns, where close to 50, 000 cases have been reported. The UN has established an emergency response effort to bring relief to this stricken country, yet even with so much help, Haiti is still a country that has lost all its wealth and is now in great debt with the world.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Improvement Is Better Than Delayed Perfection

Question- † Continuous betterment is better than delayed flawlessness † A? Mark Twain ( 1835-1910 ) . Analyse this statement critically and strictly with mention to allow literature beginnings.IntroductionThis essay will be looking at the importance of quality and uninterrupted betterment at a glimpse within an educational context. The author ‘s involvement in the subject is simply to research and understand the kernel to which every constitution for whatever intent it was built upon should endeavor in uninterrupted betterment to services rendered to its clients and the community at big while keeping quality services. The focal point is to foreground any defects within the organizational pattern with which quality could still be improved upon for the good of the whole community. The construction of the essay will take an expressed reading and description of quality and uninterrupted betterment while portraying an interventionist stance at the conclusive statements made at the terminal of the essay.Literature reappraisalThe construct of QualityQuality direction is a systematic manner of vouching that organized activities happen the manner they are planned. It is a direction subject concerned with forestalling jobs from happening by making the attitudes and controls that make bar possible & A ; acirc ; By Philip Crosby Hagiographas in 2008, Winch and Gingell province that during the 1990s it became stylish to speak about â€Å" ?quality in instruction ‘ . Part of the ground for this is a renewed involvement in answerability. Why should the concern for answerability be expressed in footings of quality? One major ground is that concerns about whether or non a peculiar signifier of instruction is worthwhile have been expressed in footings of a paradigm derived from fabricating industry. â€Å" ?Quality ‘ in a commercial context strongly connotes merchandise utility and dependability. â€Å" ?Quality confidence ‘ refers to systems that are robust plenty to guarantee that merchandises that are faulty or undependable merely do non acquire made. The thought, as one quality guru has said, is to â€Å" ?get it right first clip ‘ . Of class, an artifact can be scrapped or reworked if it is faulty, but a service can non. If it is non â€Å" ?right first clip ‘ so it is non r ight. Some effectual quality confidence systems ought to be peculiarly relevant to serve countries of economic activity. Whether or non it is in the private or the public sector of the economic system, it is sometimes maintained that instruction has the features of a service industry. In peculiar, if instruction is ill provided so there is no 2nd opportunity for the receiver. A diner at a eating house who has a severely cooked repast will experience dissatisfied but will endure no lasting harm. On the other manus, the student who receives a hapless instruction may non even experience disgruntled but may endure lasting harm in footings of future life chances. It is, so, non surprising to hear that a cardinal characteristic of educational answerability is the proviso of quality confidence systems. Every facet of leading and direction across all sectors of most administrations require a sustainable attack towards guaranting quality and sustainable steps are being utilized and developed within a planetary context. This includes steps which most leaders would follow towards keeping and prolonging the strategic purposes of any administration with due considerations of internal and external forces which influences the determinations made each twenty-four hours. An illustration of what entails leading that is sustainable through quality steps can be found in a school direction system. Where the Head instructor aspires to hold really committed pupils who have good classs, a good school construction and a qualitative staff that would assist the school achieve its strategic aims successfully. But during the procedure of strategising for an academic twelvemonth other factors comes into drama i.e. client service, effectual acquisition and deployment of resources, school budget for the academic twelvemonth etc. There may be a figure of cardinal factors that would assist accomplish such successFirst, a well-devised system of service rating procedure of Search-Feedback-Act that could be put in topographic point affecting all employees, non merely direction or instructors, in developing programs for betterment.Second, all employees could be given considerable instruction and preparation to assist them better service quality and would actively and consistently promote creativeness and invention.Third, the administration that may travel off from mensurating quality strictly by the figure of ailments it gets from clients and the feelings of the caput of forces section. Alternatively, administrations implement a multi-factor index which includes quantitative points such as the length of clip clients have to pass being tested into the school, and qualitative points such as the friendliness/politeness experienced at response.The construct of Continuous bettermentContinuous betterment has been succes sfully used by the Japanese for a figure of old ages, and the Nipponese word kaizen is used to depict it. The thought of kaizen is non to sit back one time betterments have been made to a merchandise, but to be about like bees working off at a hive. Each does a small at a clip, but by adding on an incremental footing they can finally bring forth something that is much larger and better. The issue of quality can be approached in the same manner, so that really minor alterations over clip can ensue in a considerable betterment in public presentation. For illustration, the degrees of fuel efficiency in the mean barroom auto have improved dramatically over recent old ages. This has been made possible due to the cumulative effects of continual minor alterations in auto organic structure form, fuel bringing systems and engine design ( .Porter, K. , Smith, P. , Fagg, F. 2006 ) . Foskett, N. , Lumby, J. 2003 provinces that the 3rd manner of specifying quality ( in respects to uninterrupted betterment ) is to fit the current province with an imagined hereafter improved province. In other words, persons or groups non needfully take as their comparator an bing criterion or outlook but, instead, work creatively to propose ways to which a current facet of instruction could be improved. This definition is realistically based on working signifier what exist to what could be achieved. It is a universally applicable in theory in that thoughts for betterment will take into history resources and political worlds. However, the accent on uninterrupted betterment is predicated on a grade of liberty and power that may non be in all establishments or civilizations. If authoritiess impose a construction or course of study on schools/colleges, or if the internal direction constructions are hierarchal and commanding, so the freedom of staff, parents and pupils to propose ways f rontward is clearly constrained. This thought of uninterrupted betterment can be linked to Deming ‘s ( 1986 ) thought of Plan, Do, Study and Act, where a job is examined, information is gathered and a program to better it is suggested. The â€Å" ?Do ‘ portion is when the program is tested on a little graduated table, followed by the â€Å" ?Study ‘ phase, where rating of the test takes topographic point to see if any other issues have arisen. The â€Å" ?Act ‘ phase is where the program becomes standard and is carried out continuously. This leads back into the â€Å" ?Plan ‘ phase for farther analysis. The inquiry so arises of how one assures the quality of instruction. There are two replies which are non needfully incompatible with each other. The first focuses on procedures, the 2nd on results. Process-based quality confidence relies on observation of instruction and acquisition and the activities that support it, as the cardinal determiner of whether the instruction being offered is worthwhile. Inspection is the most common signifier of procedure quality confidence. Outcome-based quality confidence relies on the appraisal of the results against certain pre-agreed criterions. Examination and testing are the most common signifiers.Leadership ApproachsQualitative leading accomplishments in educational direction revolve around factors described below:Identifying the key issuesBettering Customer satisfaction and ways of mensurating itCustomer attention – preparation employees and scene criterionsEmployee engagement in overall ends of the administration.Bettering quality â€Å" † observation and benchmarkingContemplation and decisionQuality and organizational culture- Foskett, N. , Lumby, J. ( 2003 ) stated that Quality can besides be comparative to cultural norms. What appears to be choice proviso for pre-school kids in China will look really different to western eyes and frailty versa. They farther noted that steps of Quality by definition are dependent on numeral values in relation to, e.g. , scrutiny passed or scrutinies met, but such values do non needfully capture the assortment of results expected of instruction or the dynamic alterations in outlooks in the experiences of even the scholar, allow alone the all those of an establishment. Quality will therefore stay a fluid and cloudy construct, interpreted diversely in pattern, an orthodox to which many feel indebted to follow. No individual prescription will procure betterment in quality in a context as complex and animated as a school or college. The most that an educationalist can make is to stay cognizant of the impreciseness of the construct and be sensitive to both the educational and micro-political forces which affect its accomplishments, taking with attention from the overplus o f taxonomies, doctrines, good pattern and recommended procedure they can offer.MethodologyQualitative researched literature reappraisal was adopted which typically includes rationalist, interpretative, constructionist, critical, and participatory paradigms. The research worker ‘s perspective roots from the long documented history of realistic observation in real-world state of affairss. Positions of positivism scope from conservative to progressive-activist, but all involve the belief that world is external to self and can be observed utilizing tools that produce information that can be understood and interpreted by others. The essay is linked historically to societal activism through the thought that societal state of affairss can be studied, critiqued, and later changed. The essay may hold collected informations through observations or assorted signifiers of instruments and frequently derive accounts for their consequences from preexistent theory without concern for whether the survey population understands or agrees with their positions. a literature reappraisal is really much a plural instead than a remarkable one as there are many literatures a research worker must analyze to bring forth a consistent literature reappraisal. For illustration, by making qualitative research, the research worker is fall ining an on-going argument in some form or signifier. The originality of an thought, an attack, or a theoretical reinterpretation adds to bing literature. The aim of this entry is to depict the plurality of literature, to underscore the difference between general and specific literatures, to foreground how to utilize theoretical literature as a tool to increase apprehension of a capable country and prove a research inquiry or hypothesis, and to analyze the methodological analysis and information literatures that form of import parts of the research procedure. ( GIVEN, M. L. 2008 )Data findings on quality and uninterrupted betterment in educational conte xt.Wherever an educational operation is based, whether it is public or private, it needs clients, and consumer pick has increased dramatically over the past 20 old ages because of three factors: globalization, engineering and competition.TechnologyTechnology provides chances and menaces. The development of computing machine engineering in the signifier of online and blended acquisition, podcasts, webcasts and web logs can and progressively will supply consumers with the option of new self-study methods and the pick to larn with an administration in a foreign state while populating at place or working in the office. At some point interlingual rendition package may even contradict the demand for some people to larn a foreign linguistic communication. These engineerings, nevertheless, besides provide administrations with chances to supply new methods of larning and new agencies of communicating with clients. The rise of online acquisition and blended acquisition programmes, plus the en largement in province instruction of new engineering [ such as synergistic whiteboards ] means that pupils are progressively more techno-literate. It besides means that as engineering develops and becomes more portion of our mundane lives, pupils by and large expect linguistic communication categories, which in some instances take up a big portion of their disposable income, to be technologically well-equipped. The exponential growing of engineering can non be ignored as the velocity of technological promotion is improbable to decelerate down.CompetitionCompetition may come from new administrations come ining the market, as mentioned above, but it may besides look in other signifiers. As other states gain economic power, their linguistic communications become more of import and people begin to analyze them to enable them to come in that economic system. This phenomenon has already been observed ( Graddol, 1997 ) with Spanish, Arabic and Mandarin expected to derive importance over th e following decennaries, finally going a serious menace to English as a foreign linguistic communication. As economic systems develop, instruction is going progressively of import as skill becomes indispensable to happening work. An increasing figure of classs are going available, particularly in the field of computing machines and information engineering, which compete with ELT for clients, peculiarly within the preparation budget of major companies.Deriving an Edge over RivalsIf an administration has an component of its service which is different or more attractive than its rivals it is said to hold achieved competitory advantage. Deriving competitory advantage requires a transverse functional attack between an facet of selling which gathers informations about client demands and outlooks and the daily operational maps that translate those market needs into operational capablenesss. The functions of selling and pull offing the twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours operation are frequently taken by one individual in little administrations, which can do it easier to interpret client demands into operational world. In a little private linguistic communication school of 10 instructors, for illustration, the manager may be the focal point for information about the local market, the local economic system, the type of clients the school serves and how they feel about the service. In a school of this size the manager may besides be the individual who decides what classs are offered and whether the market is best served by, for illustration, offering expensive one-to-one ESP tuition for concern professionals or inexpensive general English classs for categories of 20 pupils. A not-for-profit administration may besides see prosecuting a peculiar scheme based on the sort of clients it serves. For illustration, a charitable or province ELT administration may make up one's mind to supply inexpensive walk-in English categories for deprived female parents to go to as and when they have clip. In this instance, flexibleness is the key to fulfilling the client and deriving competitory advantage. The three factors of globalization, engineering and competition mean that educational administrations have to pay increased attending to the demands and outlooks of bing and possible clients to retain them and to pull new 1s. By garnering information on clients ‘ demands and through market analysis administrations can develop a service which is different or more attractive than that of rivals. ( Walter. 2001 )DecisionIf stakeholders allow ourselves to acquire caught by the short-run disease of modern direction, non-thinking, market-driven patterns so the thought of sustainable organisation is out of the inquiry. Besides the opportunity of of all time making the degrees desired will be eliminated in all but the shortest of steps. It is necessary for every leader of the hereafter to cognize plenty about the moral side of concern and how it could be approached with sacrificial purposes through which sharing and upholding several values together among rivals would better upon planetary jobs. Or how the socio-economic net income of the organisation could be able to show or help the concerns required to reflect a longer-term position of the community at big. I would urge that every leader in every spectrum or field of survey to convey about ways through which the underlining influences surrounding the picks we make in life ( in respects to quality and uninterrupted betterment ) should reflect upon the curative social issues instead than viing. Merely as we know in the history of human dealingss over clip that competition brings about a helter-skelter province while the harmoniousness of shared values and forfeits brings about social coherence and benefits all.MentionsCrosby, P. ( 1980 ) Quality is Free. McGraw-Hill. Deming, W. ( 1986 ) Out of the Crisis. MIT. Foskett, N. , Lumby, J. ( 2003 ) Leading and pull offing education-International dimensions.London. Paul Chapman Printing Given, M. L. ( 2008 ) The SAGE Encyclopaedia of Qualitative research methods. California. Sage Publication series Graddol, D. ( 1997 ) The hereafter of English. London. The British council Porter, K. , Smith, P. , Fagg, F. ( 2006 ) Leadership and Management for HR Professionals Oxford.Butterworth-Heinemann Walker, J. ( 2001 ) . Clients ‘ Positions of TESOL â€Å" † Expectations and Perceptions The International Journal of Educational Management 15/4. MCB University Press hypertext transfer protocol: //www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp? Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0600150404.pdf Walker, J. ( 2007 ) Service Climate in New Zealand Language Centres Journal of EducationalAdministration 2007 Volume: 45 Issue: 3 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp? Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0740450305.pdf Winch, C. , Gingell, J. ( 2008 ) Doctrine of instruction. Oxon. Routledge publishing houses

Biological Theories of Crime Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Biological Theories of Crime - Research Paper Example According to Johan Caspar, the facial features, as well as the shape of the skull, have an impact on the human conduct. Cesare Lombroso echoed this opinion. He theorized that other aspects of body organs, such as the size of hair and ears, were related to the conduct of individuals. This was so in that those individuals who had longer hair had higher chances of being criminals as they behaved to match the primitive nature of other primitive animals (Velden, 2010). The earlier theories of criminality tried to relate the physical features of an individual’s body, such as deformity, disability and ugliness with crime (Brewer, 2000). Fundamentally, the biological theories of crime put the biological traits of an individual as the main factor that affects their behavior and the way they act. However, the modern biological theories of crime have related their observations and arguments to the works of Charles Darwin (Wilson, 1980). These theories postulate that crime is a factor of the process of man trying to adapt to the environment. There are various theories that have been put across to establish the relationship between the biological make up of an individual and their behaviors and actions. Such theories include the constitutional theories and the psychological theories. Psychoanalytic Theory is one of the psychological theories postulating that all human beings have some aspects of natural urges that are suppressed in their subconscious (Velden, 2010). According to this theory, all individuals have criminal urges and tendencies. However, through the process of behavioral development, socialization and the build of self-control such urges and tendencies are restrained (Brewer, 2000). If there is that lack of control learnt by individuals during their childhood, and if there happens to be a faulty identification by a child with his parents, a criminal behavior develops. The aspect of lack of proper development in a child may develop personality disturbanc e, which is a responsible for developing antisocial tendency either inwardly or outwardly. According to this theory, a child who directs the antisocial impulses inwardly becomes restless, while the one who directs them outwardly becomes a criminal (Wilson, 1980). Cognitive development theory is another psychological theory that postulates that criminal behavior emanates from the way individuals organize their thoughts on morality and law (Brewer, 2000). According to this theory, individuals undergo three levels of morality development, where each stage can shape the tendencies for individuals to become criminals, based on their moral character development at each stage. At the first level of moral development, which is the preconventional level, individual’s moral reasoning is based on obedience and the fear of punishment (Velden, 2010). This is mostly found at the early stages of childhood. When individuals get to the middle stages of childhood, they enter the conventional l evel of moral development. At this level, individuals develop moral reasoning and behaviors based on what their families and others expect of them. After this stage, an individual proceeds to early adulthood stage. This is the post-conventional level of moral behavior development. At this stage, individuals do value the social conventions and laws, but are at a freedom to adapt changes that will eventually change such social convention

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Biology home worl Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Biology home worl - Essay Example nd shows the status of the daughter strand after the action of DNA polymerase, DNA primase,  and DNA ligase,  and  could represent a final resulting strand sequence  after DNA replication is complete. The DNA polymerase enzyme that was synthesizing the leading daughter strand  in this  example, shown again below, would be producing that daughter strand of  DNA from the right  side of the page toward the  left. In the scenario presented above in question #2, we can also see whats happening on the lagging strand with our snapshot.   The lagging strand (the second daughter strand) is being copied from the parental strand  complementary to the one you deciphered in question #3.  Ã‚   During  DNA synthesis, the replication forks are bi-directional (two forks unzip the DNA helix in both directions), and thus  there are a total of  two DNA polymerase enzymes simultaneously working on this replication  zone.   HINT: look again at your packet from class and the drawing of the replication bubble. An enzyme called __________________ unwinds the double helix, but thank goodness for the enzyme _________________ which is responsible for relieving the coiling or supercoiling ahead of the replication fork.   During the synthesis of DNA, DNA polymerase breaks the bond between the first and second phosphates from an incoming deoxynucleoside triphosphate. In the process, a new bond links two nucleotides together, from the carbon in position # 3 with the carbon atom in position # 5, of the sugar.   You are more likely to be struck by lightning in a given year (based on average Homo sapiens  activity,  which doesnt include those people who stand at the top of a Colorado  alpine ridge with a metal rod in late July), than for a mistake to result from the replication of DNA and not be corrected  (based on the average number of errors per number of nucleotide bases,  after proofreading and DNA repair is complete. DNA can be replicated for the purpose of cell division.   However, the

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Cybersecurity Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Cybersecurity - Assignment Example They should be considered by the company as part of the security structure, and thus included in the responsibility scope. Addressing cyber security is not only an IT risk and issue. Organizations are now far too reliant on technology to survive such circumstances unscathed. Organizations must approach cyber security just like any other business risk. Particular subject matter experts can deal with the instant response and strategic details, but the leadership should identify and control the cascading monetary, reputational, in addition to operational impacts (Anderson, Schanfein, Bjornard & Moskowitz, 2011). It should as well as ensure effective and precise crisis communications all through all stakeholder-facing trade areas. It is possible to stop being skimmed. Look at the ATM entrance for sites where a scammer could hide a minute camera, like a brochure rack. Another way is to scrutinize the keypad to see if there is a false cover on top of it. In addition, look over the whole ATM for the parts that do not match in styling, material or color. Lastly, cover the hands when entering the PIN. It is one of the most effective and easiest ways to avoid an ATM scammers concealed

Friday, July 26, 2019

The Shots of Goodfellas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Shots of Goodfellas - Essay Example Goodfellas does not glorify the gangster lifestyle like The Godfather. The framing of the short tracking shot from a three-shot to the two-shot is vital for the psychological state of mind of the audience that must be willing to accept the perhaps fictional assertion that the man through whose eyes the story will be told was not as bloodthirsty and violent as those around him. The movement away from directly including Henry in this show to bringing Tommy and Jimmy together is a distancing device that subtly creates a sense of audience participation with Henry’s character. At no point in the editing of the incredibly violent opening sequence of Goodfellas is Henry Hill ever included in the finishing off the murder of the man in the trunk. The audience has no way of knowing who this man is or what part he will play or why he was killed. For the audience can’t possibly know he was a completely innocent witness to a crime rather than a wiseguy himself. Because this is the o pening scene that essentially introduces the audience to the main characters it is imperative that Henry is not only never seen taking an active role in the murder, but is seen to react to Jimmy’s nod of the head to open the trunk in the first place as Jimmy is his boss. The reaction shots of Henry responding to the brutality before him rather than taking part also serves to further intensify audience participation in part because of the murderous glee with which Tommy kills and the quick sneer that appears on Jimmy’s face before he shoots the corpse.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Exclusion clause Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Exclusion clause - Essay Example Exclusion clauses are guided by statutory provision and case law (Barker, 2007). In English Law, Simon (1981) noted the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (UCTA) seeks to regulate exclusion clauses in contracts by limiting their applicability to cases where they are absolutely necessary. The Act regulates all contracts (Beale, 2012). One of the statute’s primary roles is to restrict the legality of disclaimers of liability to reasonableness, depending on the kind of the duty which is claimed to be exempted and whether the offerer who intended to benefit from such clauses harmed the consumer’s interests (Brawn, 2012). The UCTA is usually applied in combination with the Sale of Goods Act 1979, the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. Firstly, under the UCTA, a party cannot excuse himself or herself from negligence under section 2(1) of UCTA 1977 when the breach of duty results in death or personal injury (Hughes-Jennett and Anslow, 2009). Secondly, under section 5(a), a company cannot exempt itself from liability caused by faulty goods or distributor negligence, particularly where commodities are meant for consumption (Stone, 2013). The doctrine that cushions the consumer is referred to as manufacturer liability. Thirdly, in light of the need to protect the consumer, sections 12-15 of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 outlaw the exclusion of implied terms or terms which provide details of value or sample of goods (Walsh, 2009). In addition, the Consumer Protection Act 1987, and the Occupiers Liability Act 1984 are also vital pieces of legislation whose enactment contributes to the regulation of exclusion clauses (Page, 1994). Despite the enactment of these rafts of legislation to regulate a relatively small area of law, the fundamental reason behind them is to protect unsuspecting consumers from death, personal injury or material losses

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

A Critique of a Clinical Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

A Critique of a Clinical Nursing - Essay Example This study clearly identifies the facts that simply educating patients on appraisal of symptoms of myocardial infarction would not suffice to influence a rapid reporting to seek care and that the decision making is a complex process involving interplay of many factors that may be hitherto unknown by the caring staff. To promote a speedy decision making process in such a situation, an individualistic approach is to be taken, and the care staff may play a significant role in improving awareness in the population. The main problem is that myocardial infarction may present with a various array of symptoms in subsequent attacks, and the patients may fail to recognise it. This situation brings the population back to square one, they may be educated that future infarctions may well be different from the previous and the perspective remains unpredictable, and with age, the frequency of atypical symptoms increases. Since many factors play roles in the process of decision making to seek help, and there is still possibility that other hitherto unknown factors may emerge in other larger studies, no single determinant will have absolute generalized principality. This study included population from a wide range of socioeconomic background, this had inadequate female presentation, and in contrast to the authors’ expectation, a real generalization is possible with a larger number of study population, and it is expected by authors themselves that these varied themes are not all inclusive, and new themes may arise. This essay makes a conclusion that care is not medicine alone, care involves all round facilitation of wellbeing on the face of an illness, as a result that demands a continuous update of knowledge.

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Assignment4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assignment4 - Assignment Example Pablo Sarozabal’s No Puerde Ser was the final piece in the concert. A couple of songs in native Samoa and Maori were represented during the concert as well. C. Generally, I was attentive listener during the concert. The performance was very engaging and I liked the timbre of the voice of the soloist. It was the first time I had an opportunity to listen to all pieces included in the concert, but I was encouraged to listen to them once again. Unfortunately, Pene Pati does not post his performances online, but he has his YouTube channel. This fact gave me an opportunity to enjoy more of his performances a couple of days after the concert in order to refresh my memory about the quality of his voice. D. The soloist had tenor voice which was easy to notice during the performance. Higher register notes were better accentuated than the lower register. Most of the selected pieces were written for tenor. The soloist was accompanied by piano. Obviously, the soloist and the pianist worked as a team on the stage. Close to the end of the concert, Pati, accompanied by his guitar, represented a couple of songs which were not listed in the program. E. Out of all pieces represented at the concert I enjoyed No Puerde Ser, Go, Lovely Rose and O Mistress Mine most. These pieces revealed the power of Pene in the best way. No Puerde Ser had fast tempo and was not as lyrical as other pieces included in the concert. It included deviations in tempo which made the piece slower when Pati wanted to dwell on separate notes. The song expressed clear Italian motifs. Even without reading the translation of the text it was obvious that it traced a love story. Pati used vibrato very skillfully; he applied it when necessary and did not exaggerated emotional connotation of the piece. In this piece, Sun Ha Yoon added a lot to the texture of the piece by her emotional and professional accompaniment. Overall, the

Country Analysis Report - Saudi Arabia Research Paper

Country Analysis Report - Saudi Arabia - Research Paper Example Being a growing country, the government has launched strategies to encourage integration of the digital technology within the business sector. In this light, this is a potential market for ICT infrastructure. If Apple invests in this business sector, it is likely to benefit from high market demand, high customer loyalty, less competition and a stable market position. With a high bargaining power, the organization should expect more profits from this environment. These benefits are expected to last in the long term. The challenges that exist in this market sector cost of imports, delay in obtaining a license and high construction costs. In fact, this market is ranked as one of the hardest market for foreign investors to launch their products. This makes it quite hard for Apple Inc to launch its business plan in this market. Its ability to design a strategy that overcomes these challenges will determine its survival in this market. Numerous risks threaten business survival in this mark et. Existence of terrorism and political instability promises an unpredictable future within this market environment. Also, religious conflicts make it hard to predict consumer behavior in this market. On entry in this market, Apple Inc should be aware of these risk and devise plans to neutralize them. Altogether, Apple Inc should consider entry in this market as challenges and risks are inevitable in every market environment. Saudi Arabia Analysis Report Introduction In the 21st century, there is pressure for every business organization to push its operations in the international markets as a strategic plan to target more customers and optimize profits. Before developing an international investment plan, it is crucial to conduct a thorough environmental market scanning before choosing potential countries where business is viable. This process requires a clear identification of the opportunities available in the country, risk, difficulties and potential of the target country. This h elps a business entity to understand the nature of the new market, and decide whether it is worth to invest in this country. In addition, this helps the organization to devise the right market entry strategy to take advantage of the opportunities, neutralize risks and overcome difficulties associated with the new environment. Understanding the market environment goes way far in determining the success of the organization within the international market. Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that are becoming potential investment market sectors especially in the field of technology. As the country struggles to absorb technology within its industry, there is potential for ICT business in this part of the world. However, this market has associated risks that pose threat to business survival in this industry. For Apple Inc, this market sector is a potential investment environment due to the demand of technology infrastructure that is building up in this country. Although Apple Inc produc ts are already trending in this market, there is need to develop a manufacturing plant in this country to take better advantage of this market. This report is a presentation of the image of the Business environment in Saudi Arabia. It presents the opportunities, benefits, risks and difficulties that Apple Inc would encounter in launching manufacturing operations in this Saudi Arabia. The ICT Potentials of

Monday, July 22, 2019

Informative Speech Outline Essay Example for Free

Informative Speech Outline Essay Purpose: To inform my audience members about diabetes, the complications of diabetes, and what they can do to prevent diabetes from happening or how they can manage and maintain a healthy lifestyle if they are currently living with diabetes. Introduction I. Show of hands, how many of you know someone who has diabetes? Need/Connection II. According to the National Diabetes Report, 2014 from the centers for disease control and prevention, nearly 29.1 million people in the United States have Diabetes Speaker Credibility III. Almost all of my family are now currently living with diabetes, and one of them is my mom, she has type 2 Diabetes and having to see her inject herself with insulin every day and have to watch her not being able to eat all the food she wants is tough since she always has to watch how much sugar she intakes. Topic and Main Points IV. Now, although some of us may not all have diabetes, diabetes is the fastest growing disease in the country, and is also one of the top ten leading causes of death. Today I will speak to you about the types of diabetes, complications of diabetes, and steps you can do to prevent yourself from this disease or ways to keep your diabetes under control. Transition Statement V. I will begin by informing you all on what exactly diabetes is, and the types of VI. Body A. What is diabetes? According to the Joslin Diabetes Center; diabetes is defined as a disease in which the body is unable to properly use and store glucose. Glucose is the main source of fuel for the body. And a person with diabetes cannot absorb glucose properly, and glucose stays circulating in the blood damaging tissues over time. B. Types of diabetes I. Type 1 Diabetes: Formally known as juvenile diabetes, which is usually diagnosed in children and young adults. Type 1 diabetes is where the body does not produce any insulin, and people who have type 1 diabetes must take daily injections or pumps to be able to survive on a day to day basis. II. Type 2 diabetes: Formally known as adult-onset or non- insulin dependent diabetes, type 2 is much more common than type 1. Type 2 diabetes is where not enough insulin is produced, and people with type 2 diabetes will need to take either medication or insulin to help regulate the insulin in their body. III. Gestational Diabetes: According to the Baby Center Medical Advisory Board when the body needs additional insulin, the pancreas dutifully secrets more of it, but if your pancreas can’t keep up with the increased insulin demand during pregnancy, your blood levels rise, eventually resulting to gestational diabetes. Most woman with gestational diabetes don’t remain diabetic after the baby is born, but the women are at higher risk for getting it again during a future pregnancy and for developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Transition Statement Keeping diabetes under control can reduce the risk of having future complications C. Complication of Diabetes I. There are many risks and complications with diabetes that are serious, and can sometimes even result to death. Just to give a couple examples: heart disease, nerve damage, amputations, and vision problems. II. According to the World Health Organization diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. 50% of people with diabetes die of cardiovascular disease. Transition Statement There are many complications associated with diabetes that can be very scary, and life threating. But there are many steps you can do to keep your diabetes under control or prevent diabetes from entering your lifestyle. D. What we can do to maintain/prevent normal blood sugar levels. I. For those who are currently living with diabetes you can take some measures to keep your condition in line by exercising regularly, eating healthy, and taking medications instructed by your doctors. II. For those who don’t have diabetes we can take preventative measures to stop diabetes from happening  to us. Although it may tough to stay away from all those sweets, once in a while we can make some healthy eating choices and increase our physical activity. Transition Statement By better understanding of what diabetes is, and becoming knowledgeable on the consequences of diabetes we can prevent it or still maintain a healthy lifestyle while living with diabetes. Conclusion I. Diabetes is an incurable disease that affects a large amount of people today, but if we are well informed we can make smart decisions. II. There is no real cure for diabetes, but those who are diagnosed with it can still live a long healthy life if they take care of themselves. To better understand diabetes we need to recognize the types of diabetes, and realize the steps we can take to prevent and maintain this disease. Works Cited Gestational Diabetes: Causes, Diagnosis Treatment. BabyCenter. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. What Is Gestational Diabetes? American Diabetes Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. Translation, Division Of Diabetes. National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2014(n.d.): n. pag. Web. National Diabetes InformationClearinghouse (NDIC). Diabetes Overview. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. Large squirrel 556

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Working Capital Affect on Performance of Retail Industry

Working Capital Affect on Performance of Retail Industry 1.1 Introduction: The main aim of this dissertation is to study how working capital management affects the performance of retail industry. This dissertation concentrates on one of the important areas of finance the working capital management. Working capital management is the management of both the current assets and current liabilities. Management of working capital is considered as an important function for any kind of organization. Without proper management of working capital the company cant perform their day to day operations smoothly. So each organization in the industry performs several activities to manage their working capital as efficiently as possible in order to compete from each other. Companies in retail industry depends heavily on working capital for their daily operating activities and therefore it is essential for managing their working capital in order to gain profitability and also to avoid solvency. Improper management of working capital can also lead to bankrupt and there are also some retail companies in the past to explain this fact is true. The main problem and issue in working capital management it is to determine the optimum level to be maintained in the current assets and current liabilities and also to determine whether the firm should invest heavily in current assets or in fixed assets. These issues can seriously affect the profitability and liquidity of the organization and it should be carefully considered in order to compete in the industry. It is very necessary for the organization to know the level of funds to be invested in each component of the current assets such as cash, inventory, accounts receivable and marketable securities. Funds invested in current assets are generally turned back into cash in the end of the working capital cycle which is normally within one year. Therefore investing high or low in current assets affects the profitability and liquidity of the firm and it should be maintained in such a way which satisfies the exact needs of the business. It is also necessary to know how to investment these currents assets which are either by short term financing or by long term financing. For these decisions to be made efficient working capital management is essential. It has been discussed in many journals that working capital management has a direct relationship with the profitability and liquidity of the organization. Therefore managing the working capital components is very critical to maintain the firm profitability and liquidity. For example in the case of cash which the company holds if it holds more it is going to lose the profit which can be earned by investing the excess cash in current assets and if the company has low level of cash it is going to miss the business opportunities when they arrive. In the case of inventory investing more in inventory can reduce the profit if the company cant able to sell the goods quickly and also investing less in inventory can lead to loss of sales. Accounts receivable and account payable also has a huge impact on the profitability of the firm. The company credit policies have a great impact on the volume of good sold. If the firm grants a longer credit period for the customers it is going to encourage the sales which thereby increase the profit. On the other hand companys which delays the payments to their suppliers can use that cash for in some other asset and could earn from that investment. But delaying the payment should not exceed the granted period given by the suppliers otherwise the firm may lose the discounts provided by the supplier for early payments. The main objectives of this study is to, To measure the working capital management performed in retail companies and then analysing the performance of retail companies. To determine the working capital cycle for the retail company. To determine what kind of working capital policy is practiced in retail industry. To determine whether the working capital management practices really affects the profitability of the firm. The first chapter of this dissertation is the introduction which is a short description explaining the basic idea behind this research. It will give the problems and issues associated with the research topic and it also explains the aims and objectives accomplished by this research. The second chapter is the literature review which discussed the theoretical concepts in working capital management. This chapter explains the importance of working capital management, the working capital cycle and the different working capital approaches followed in different industries. It also explains the management of each of the working capital components such as cash, inventories, accounts receivable and marketable securities in detail and the objectives satisfied by managing these working capital components. In the end of this chapter the various sources which finance the working capital are discussed. The third chapter is the research methodology which explains the research methodology adopted for this dissertation. It explains what kind of research method followed in this dissertation and also shows the different data collection methods and tools used to complete the dissertation. The fourth chapter is the findings and analysis. In this chapter the performance of the retail industries is analysed and then the findings are discussed. The different analyses performed in this chapter are ratio analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis. By ratio analysis the performance of the retail companies are analysed and then by correlation and regression analysis it is analysed to see whether the inventory holding days, accounts receivable days, accounts payable days and cash conversion cycle affects the return on capital employed. Finally the last chapter concludes and gives recommendation based on the results analysed. 1.0 Working Capital: Working capital is the capital which satisfies the short term financial requirements of any business enterprise. It is capital which is engaged in the operations of the business for not more than one year. Every organization whether it is profit oriented or not needs working capital for the day to day operations of the business. Managers when making investment decisions not only plans for the long term such as buying new building or machine but also considers the need to have additional current assets in the short term for any expansion of activity that the organization is planning to do. For example if the organization is planning to increase the level of production the organization needs to hold a greater level of raw materials similarly if the organization increases the sales there will be an increase in level of debtors. All these investment decisions can bring the organization to level of risk. So it is very necessary for an organization to manage this working capital effectivel y to avoid the company fall into risk (Mclaney 2006). 1.1 Importance of Working Capital Management: The management of working capital is very important for several reasons. According to Padachi (2006), working capital management is very important for the financial health of the business of any size. He also suggested that the funds invested in the working capital are high in proportion to the total assets employed. Therefore it should be managed in effective and efficient way. Also working capital management directly affects the liquidity and profitability of the firm. Therefore managing the working capital should be done in such a way that it should create a balance between the liquidity and profitability (Falope, I and Ajilote, T 2009). The main advantage of working capital management is the flexibility of it. That is it has the ability to change with the rise and fall in seasonal demands of the product or service, and with the rise and fall in economic and market conditions (Mathur, B 2003). Largay, A and Stickney, P (1980) studied the bankruptcy case of a large retail store in the year 1980. From their study they found that the bankruptcy should have occurred because of the poor cash flow from their operation during the last few years of their bankruptcy. So managing the working capital is very necessary for the survival of the business 1.2 Components of Working Capital: Working capital which is also called as current capital or circulating capital is the capital that the managers put it to work for the day to day operations of the organization. There are two important concepts in the working capital management that is the gross working capital and the net working capital. Gross working capital is the capital that includes only the current assets used in the day to day operations of the organization and net working capital is the capital which includes the current assets less the current liabilities. The components which comprise the current assets are the following, (Brigham, F and Houston. F 2007). Cash Marketable Securities Inventories Accounts Receivables These currents assets are financed using the following sources such as, Accruals Accounts Payable Short term bank loans Commercial paper etc. The degree to which an organization invests in current assets depends on several factors such as the type of business and products the organization do. For example retail companies mostly invest a lot of funds in their current assets such as inventory and they invest less in long term assets such as buying plant and equipment. But in the case of some manufacturing companies more is invested in long term assets such as machines and equipment as they are very necessary for the organization. The length of operating cycle also is an important factor. The longer the operating cycle the more is invested in the current assets. The level of uncertainty in the business also is one of the important factors. So depending upon the industry practices the organization invests more in current assets or in long term assets (Fabozzi, J 2003). . 2.0 Working capital cycle: Working capital cycle is the time taken for the capital invested by the organization turning back into cash. Generally the working capital cycle for a manufacturing business starts when the organization buys the raw materials on credit followed by working on these raw materials to produce the final goods, and selling of the finished goods. During this cycle the organization also needs to pay the creditors. As the organization sells the final product on credit, the debtors are increased and when the customers started to pay it will increase the amount of cash in the business (Myddelton, D 2000). Retailers Supplier Inventory Supplier Merchandise Supplier Merchandise Supplier Merchandise Supplier Merchandise Customers Payment Payment Payment Payment Figure1: Working capital cycle of a Retail Business (Reynolds, Cuthbertson and Bell 2004) The above figure shows the general working capital cycle of a retail business and it explains how the operating process is performed in a retail business. The first stage in the operating process is where the suppliers provide the merchandise to the retailers. Large retail companies manufacture their own products under their brand name. After all the merchandise is received from the suppliers the retailers makes the store ready, and other arrangements for the received products to be sold. The products which are available to be sold become the inventory. In the next stage the customers buys the products which generates cash into the company (Reynolds, Cuthbertson and Bell 2004). 2.1 Cash Conversion Cycle: An important cycle which is embedded in the working capital cycle is the cash conversion cycle. When the organization buys raw materials from their suppliers they dont pay them immediately. They usually have a credit period contracted by the supplier and before that they need to pay. This is known as the creditors payment period. Also not all customers pay the cash immediately when they buy a product. Some buy them on credit and they should pay the certain amount within a particular period. This period which is granted by the business to the customer is known as the debtors payment period. The gap between these two periods is known as the cash conversion cycle. It is the cycle where the invested cash that is the cash invested in the suppliers turns back into cash when the customers pay the money during the debtors collection period (Arnold 2005). Raw Material Stock Period Work-in Progress Period Finished goods inventory period Debtor Collection Period Creditor Payment Period Stock Conversion Period Cash Conversion Cycle Figure2: Cash Conversion Cycle (Arnold 2005) The above figure shows the cash conversion cycle. The length of the cash conversion cycle depends on three factors, Stock conversion period Debtor collection period Creditor payment period Stock conversion period is the period where the raw material bought from the supplier are processed and converted into finished goods. Therefore the duration of a cash conversion cycle is found by, Cash conversion cycle = Stock Conversion period + Debtors collection period – Creditors payment period In an article Jose, Lancaster and Stevens (1996) suggest the importance of cash conversion cycle in the profitability and liquidity of the organization. They explained that for an aggressive approach to liquidity management the organization should reduce the cash conversion cycle by reducing their inventories and debtor collection period while increasing their creditors payment period. Managing the cash conversion cycle this way may involve tradeoffs between liquidity and profitability. If the business reduces the inventory and the debtors collection period they will lose the sales because of stock running out so early and also losing customers who usually buys in credit. Also if the firm increases the creditor collection period they will lose the discounts available for early payments and also the flexibility of pay debts in the future. So cash conversion holds an important role in maintaining the liquidity and profitability of the organization. 3.0 Working capital policy: Working capital policy is the policy made by the organization for making decisions on two important things, which are how much should the firm invest in each component of current assets and how these investments should be financed. Any business for managing their working capital efficiently should make decisions on what level of cash they should hold, what level of inventory they should maintain, what level of accounts receivable can be allowed and they should also decide whether to finance these current assets either with short term funds or with long term funds. These decisions made by the organization together make up the working capital policy (Correia et al. 2007). According to Vishnani and Shah (2007) working capital policies had a great impact on the firms performance. They suggest the importance of working capital policies for maintaining the firms liquidity and profitability. An unnecessary investment in current assets can reduce the rate of return thereby affecting the prof itability. Also it is very necessary for maintaining the liquidity for a normal running of the business. If the firm holds too much liquidity it explains that the firm is not using its funds efficiently and on the other hand if they have inadequate liquidity it will affect their credit worthiness. So it is very essential to determine the optimal level of working capital. 3.1 Permanent and Temporary Working Capital: A working capital policy is affected because of the firms varying requirements of current assets. The working capital requirements of a firm do not always remain stable through out the year and it varies from time to time. Because of the seasonal demands of some product the firm changes their level of production and holdings of inventories. Due to these conditions the currents assets in the firm also varies. But a certain amount of current assets is always maintained regularly in the business to meet the minimum day to day operations of the business to continue without any difficulties. This minimum requirement of current assets is known as the permanent working capital. On the other hand the amount which is invested in current assets due to the varying seasonal requirements is known as the temporary working capital (Van Horne, C and Wachowicz, M 2008). Amount of working capital Permanent working capital Temporary working capital Time Figure 3: Permanent and Temporary working capital (Source: Van Horne, C and Wachowicz, M 2008) Generally permanent working capital remains the same for whole year and the temporary working capital is the one which varies over time. But for some growing business the permanent working capital also rises steadily over time to meet the expansion activities of the business which is described by the figure above. 3.2 Approaches in Working Capital Policies: There are three different approaches in working capital policies and they are moderate, aggressive and conservative approaches. A firm which follows a moderate approach uses both long term and short term financing to finance their assets. The main aim of this moderate approach is to create a balance between the risk and the return. The firm which follows an aggressive approach tends to use a more of short term funds and less of long term funds to finance its current assets. Even though short term interest rates are lower than long term interest rates short term financing is more risky than long term financing because they should be paid off in a short time period. Therefore following an aggressive approach increases the risk of liquidity and it also increases the possibility of higher profits. The firm which follows a conservative approach uses a less of short term funds and more of long term funds. Therefore it reduces the liquidity risk and also the possibility to achieve higher pr ofits (Gallagher, J and Andrew, D 2007). Weinraub, J and Visscher (1998) examined the relative relationship between the aggressive and conservative approach by studying on ten different industry groups and found that each of these industries were following a unique and different working capital management polices. From their research they also found that the relatively aggressive working capital management appear to be balanced by the relatively conservative working capital management. 3.3 Factors Determining the Working Capital Requirements: Financial managers should manage their working capital in such a way that it should not be surplus or excessive. For this the managers the managers need to know the working capital requirements of the organization to make sure to provide the perfect financing. The working capital requirements of any business depends among several factors and generally some of the factors which should be considered while determining the working capital requirements are the following (Banerjee 2005), Nature of the business: The general nature of the business itself affects the working capital requirements of the business. In the case of manufacturing industry they will invest significantly in both fixed and working capital. But in other industries such as trading and financing firms invest a small amount fixed assets and a large in working capital. Some firms needs to have a large amount of inventory and debtor balances because of their nature of business. Growth and Expansion of Business: The level of investments in working capital depends upon the size of the business. The more the business expands its activity the more working capital requirement is needed. Production Cycle: Production cycle is the period where the raw materials are converted into their finished product. The longer the period to convert these raw materials into finished product the larger is the working capital. Business Cycle: The business cycle is an important factor in considering the working capital requirement. The business has to pass through a period of good times and bad times such as recession. During the good times where the business is growing the business needs to increase their working capital requirements because of the increased sales and during the bad times the business needs to reduce their working capital because of reduced sales. Production Policy: The demands of certain products are seasonal in nature. So during the peak season the working capital requirements are higher while during the off-season the working capital is kept lower. Therefore depending upon the seasonal demands of the product or service the working capital requirements varies. Credit Policy: Credit policy has a direct impact on the working capital requirements. When the business reduces the credit period it will reduces the volume of sales which leads to the reduction of working capital requirements. But when the business grants a longer credit period it encourages the sales and there by needing to increase the working capital requirements. Price Level Changes: The varying price level also affects the working capital requirements. When the price level increases the business also needs to increase their working capital to maintain their same volume of activity. Operating Efficiency: Operating efficiency is an important factor to be considered by the business. The business can maintain their working capital to a minimum level only when they are able to manage or control their operating costs and utilise their working capital efficiently. 4.0 MANAGEMENT OF CURRENT ASSETS: As discussed before working capital management is the management of both current assets and the current liabilities. The main objective of working capital management it is to maintain an optimum balance of each of the working capital components and to develop the optimum level between the current assets and the current liabilities. The optimum level is the level where a balance is created between risk and efficiency (Filbeck and Krueger, M 2005). In the following paragraphs the management of currents assets such as cash, marketable securities, inventories and accounts receivables are discussed. 4.1 Cash Management: Cash management is defined as the management of cash inflows and cash outflows. The cash flows out of the firm when the business buys goods and services from its suppliers and cash flows into the firm when the customer pays for the product they purchased. The term cash refers the cash like assets like currency, bank balances etc. The cash is often considered as non earning assets because they do not provide earnings but the cash provides safety from insolvency. Cash is very important for the day to day operations of the business and to meet the liabilities when they are due (Besley and Brigham 2005). There are several reasons for a business to hold cash (Besley and Brigham 2005), Transaction balance: Cash balance is very essential for the operations of the business. Cash is used for paying their employees wages, buying raw materials, fixed assets, and also to pay their taxes. Compensating balance: It is the minimum bank balance that the firm should maintain for the services provided by the bank such as check clearing and cash management advice. Precautionary balance: It is the cash kept as reserve by the firm because the company cannot predict the future cash flow. The amount which is kept as reserve depends upon the predictability of the cash flow. The less cash predicted the more cash balance is maintained. Speculative balance: These are cash maintained by the firm to take advantage of any profit opportunity when arises in the business. Ferreira, A and Vilela, S (2004) suggest that the level of cash holdings is positively affected by the investment opportunity and cash flows of the firm and it is negatively affected by the liquid assets, leverage and size of the firm. Firms with high investment opportunity needs to hold a high level a cash to take the benefits of the immediate opportunities available to them and also if the firm has a unpredictable cash flow the firm holds a high levels of cash. On the other hand firms which has high level of liquid assets holds low level of cash because the firm convert the liquid assets into cash when they are needed. Also firms with higher leverage that is the ability of the firm to raise debts will hold less level of cash. And at last the size of the firm affects the level of cash holdings. Large firms hold less level of cash than smaller firms because borrowing funds by smaller funds is expensive when compared to larger firms. So smaller tend to hold more cash to avoid borrowin g funds. The two main goals of cash management practices is (Fabozzi, J 2003) To have adequate cash in hand to meet the immediate needs of the firms and To receive the cash from those to owe it as early as possible and to pay the cash which the business owes as late as possible. To determine the level of investment in cash is a very important function. The firm cannot hold too much cash because of the holding cost associated with it. Holding cost is the cost that the business would have earned if the cash is invested in some form of asset. The level of investment in the cash depends upon the firms liquid assets, debt levels, and rate of return and economic conditions. There are two models used by the firms to determine the adequate level of cash needed to be maintained. One is the Baumol model which assumes that the cash is used uniformly through the period and based on this assumption the amount of cash to be maintained is measured. But by the second model which is called as Miller model assumes that the cash flow varies in an unpredictable manner and based on this assumption the amount of cash to be invested is measured. These two models help in satisfying the first goal of cash management (Fabozzi, J 2003). To achieve the second goal of cash management which is to reduce the period cash inflow and to increase the period of cash outflow, several ways are being followed. The following techniques help reduce the period of cash inflow (Shim, K and Siegel, G 2000). Lockbox System- In this system the customer instead of mailing the check to the firm send their checks to a nearby post office box which is controlled by the firms bank. The firms bank then collects the check from the post office and deposits the check. Due to this process the time the check spends in the mail and also since the bank itself receives the check it avoids the time the check spends when received by the firm and thus saves the processing time of the checks in the firm. Pre-Authorised Debits- In this system the cash is collected from customers by obtaining permission from customers to have pre authorised debits automatically charged to their bank accounts. Thereby it eliminates the time the check spends in the mail and the processing time of the check. Wire Transfer- In this system the cash is transferred quickly between banks and thus eliminates the transferring time of the cash. Wire transfers are done though computer terminal and telephone. So far we have discussed the ways to reduce the period of cash inflow. Now lets discuss the ways to increase the period of cash outflow. Zero-balance account- Zero balance account as the name suggest it requires no balance. It is an arrangement between the bank and the firm to achieve controlled disbursement which is to pay exactly what the company owes. When the check is offered to the bank the bank just transfers the money from the firms account. By this system the firm can pay the exact amount which covers the check. This system also increases the period of cash flowing out (Bragg, M 2007). Payable through drafts- Payables through drafts is similar to the checks. But a draft works in a different way. When a draft is offered to the bank the bank sends to the firms which issued the draft and waits for its approval. Only after receiving the approval from the firm the bank deposits funds into the receivers account. Due to complex procedure when using drafts it takes a long time for the amount to be transferred in to the receiver account (Shim, K and Siegel, G 2000). 4.2 Management of Marketable Securities: Management of marketable securities is just a continuation of cash management. We know that cash does not earn any return so instead of holding these cash firms just invest these cash in marketable securities for a short period of time. When the firms feel that they need some they just convert these marketable securities back into cash. Depending upon the yield curve the security earns the return. When the yield curve rises the firm gains a higher return. For example if the firm invest in a security for one year period of time then the return it would be getting is measured by (Puxty, G and Dodds 1988) R = P2 P1 + I P1 Where R is the return, P2 is the maturity value of the security, P1 is the purchase price and I is the interest paid. There are several factors which the firms consider when investing on securities and they are as follows (Chandra 2005), Safety – The most important factor which the firm consider when investing in any kind of security is safety. The firm before investing in any security first checks whether they will get back the amount invested. T-bills or the treasury bills are considered as the safest investment because the obligation are promised by the government. But investing in other securities depends upon the type of security and the issuer. Liquidity- The liquidity refers to the ability of the investor to convert the security back into cash without acquiring any loss. For a traded security a large and active secondary market ensures liquidity while a non traded security liquidity risk is high. Yield- The yield represents the return which the security is going to gain by way of interest, dividend and capital gain. Maturity- Maturity represents the expiry time of the security. The longer the maturity period the higher will be the yield. But securities like t-bills provide a fixed return when they are matured. Some of the marketable securities where the firms generally invest are the following, (Fabozzi, J 2003) Treasury Bills- These are securities issued by the US government and as a maturity period of one, three and six months. Investing in this type of security is risk free but it provides a lower rate of return. Certificates of deposits- These are debts issued by the bank in large amounts and have a maturity period up to one year. Investing in this type of security is highly risky because some times the issuer will not pay the interest and principal as promised. Commercial paper- These are debts issued by firms in large amounts and have a maturity period generally up to thirty days. Investing in this security is also risky but this risk is minimized by the back up lines of credit offered by commercial banks. Commercial paper is very attractive because of the higher returns it provides than when compared to the return provided by t-bills. Holding cash and marketable securities offers both advantage and disadvantage for a firm. The advantage is, it reduces the transaction cost because there is no need to issue security or borrow cash and holding cash or marketable securities provides opportunities to take advantage of immediate growth opportunities. The disadvantage of holding cash and marketable security is the after tax return of both cash and marketable security is considerably very l

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Examples Of Some Best Leaders And Managers Commerce Essay

Examples Of Some Best Leaders And Managers Commerce Essay Leadership and management are one of the most discussed topics in business corporates and organizations. It is highly unlikely to switch on any media (radio, internet, etc.) and not run into a number of topics that do not link back to leaders and managers. By definition, the two systems are not the same; however, they need to be utilized complementarily to achieve one common goal and any effort to separate the two will cause more problematic issues than it will solve. In attempt to point out the difference, this report will address different areas of both leadership and management, such as; different characteristics of a leader, theories of leadership, management and its skills, and some examples of effective managers. There may be some intersections, but the essential difference between the two systems is that leaders are born and managers are made. Though leadership comes as a natural talent this is not enough to make a fully qualified leader as there must be a constant improvement at every step of their career by investing tons of efforts and energy into their work to truly accomplish the definitions of leadership qualities. On the other hand, in a nutshell managers are problem solvers depending on the reasonableness and control and they administer what has been innovated by leaders. Leadership and Management It has become quite a common practice to differentiate between leadership and management. The most significant part off all these differentiations is that they are all orientated towards change. This idea is well outlined by John Kotter in his book who came to a conclusion that management is about coping with complexity whilst leadership, by contrast, is about coping with change (John Kotter, 1990, p104). He stated that good management brings about a degree of order and consistency to organizational processes and goals, whilst leadership is required for rapid change. The differentiation of leadership from management as outlined by Kotter evidently inspires a change in emphasis from the moderately inflexible, administrative processes characterized as management to the more rapid and strategic processes categorized as leadership, yet even he concludes that both are of equal importance for the effective running of an organization:, Leadership is different from management, but not for the reason most people think. Leadership isnt mystical and mysterious. It has nothing to do with having charisma or other exotic personality traits. Its not the province of a chosen few. Nor is leadership necessarily better than management or a replacement for it: rather, leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary activities. Both are necessary for success in an increasingly complex and volatile business environment. (Kotter, 1990, p103). Even though there are a quite number of business writers such as John Kotter and his contemporaries who argue that there is a difference between leadership and management, however, these arguments cannot prove beyond reasonable doubt, especially when we put practice into consideration, therefore some people doubt as to whether they are really quite as separate as this in practice. Firstly, there has been an increment in the rejection to the way in which studies tend to disparage management as a system that is tedious and uninspiring. Gosling and Murphy (2004) propose that upholding a sense of steadiness during times of rapid change is a key to successful leadership. Thus the leader must safeguard that systems and structures remain in place whose purpose is to give workers a sense of security and a sense of balance, without which it would be hard to maintain levels of motivation, commitment, trust and psychological wellbeing. Secondly, research has shown that the two systems are far from being separate thus the practices labeled as management and leadership are an essential fragment of the same task. From the exhaustive interpretations of what managers really do, Mintzberg (1973, 1975) identified 10 key roles, and among the roles leadership is one of them. He further came to a conclusion that far from being separate and different from management, leadership is just one dimension of a multidimensional management role. The most difficult thing and which causes confusion that are derived from comparing leadership and management is the method in which they are often charted to different individuals. Therefore, we often refer to managers and leaders as if they were different and incompatible people we look at leaders as individuals who respond to rapid changes quite easily thus dynamic, charismatic individuals with the capacity to inspire others, whilst managers are seen as administrators who just focus on th e current task. Such an interpretation, however, does not concur well with an individual who is experienced as a manager. People are generally employed into management, instead of leadership positions, and are expected to complete a pile of tasks extending from everyday planning and implementation, to longer-term strategic planning. None of these are done in isolation, and throughout, it is essential to work alongside other people to motivate and inspire them, but also to know when to relinquish the lead and take a back seat. Most of us have become so enamored of leadership that management has been pushed into the background. Nobody aspires to being a good manager anymore; everybody wants to be a great leader. But the separation of management from leadership is dangerous. Just as management without leadership encourages an uninspired style, which deadens activities, leadership without management encourages a disconnected style, which promotes hubris. And we all know the destructive power of hubris in organizations. (Gosling and Mintzberg, 2003). Leadership Theories Even though individuals who are practically involved hands-on within the leadership field, they see practice being different from theories, but they are inseparably related. Traditional leadership theories were more fixated on what qualities differentiate between leaders and followers, while contemporary theories looked at other variables such as situational factors and skill levels.  Both of these types of theories of leadership have an impact the current practice, education and policy and offer a useful guideline for the selection and development of leaders in other words: theories are too good to be practical. I will discuss some of the most prominent leadership theories, which offer a valuable context for the consideration of wider issues about defining leadership capabilities and development approaches. Leadership Traits For a long time it was presumed that it would be feasible to recognize and separate a limited set of traits, which can then be used to employ individuals in the positions of leadership. These qualities include but not limited to; -strong drive for responsibility, -focus on completing the task, -vigor and persistence in pursuit of goals, -originality in problem-solving, -drive to exercise initiative in social settings, -self-confidence, -sense of personal identity, -willingness to accept consequences of decisions and actions, -readiness to adsorb interpersonal stress, -willingness to tolerate frustration and delay, -ability to influence the behavior of others, and -capacity to structure social systems to the purpose in hand. This method was strongly based on the great man theory that concentrated on how many records occupy and maintained positions where they have the capacity to influence. The hypothesis was that these individuals were born to be leaders and would grow by quality of t heir personality alone. Ralph Stogdill (1974) carried out a study to extensively revise the traits, and concluded that some qualities appeared more often than others. Other studies were carried out as well (e.g. Bird, 1940; Stewart, 1963) but did not identify the same set of traits. Since then the list has been growing, therefore it is now widely accepted that no such decisive set of traits will ever be identified. Leadership styles and behavior An approach which is an alternative to the traits approach was to look at what leaders actually do instead of just looking at their fundamental characteristics. Attention in this approach came about by the work of Douglas McGregor (1960), who suggested that leadership and management style is affected by the each individuals views about human nature. He briefly contrasted two theories of managers which he called Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X managers fairly look at human nature negatively, thus trusting that the average employee has an in-born dislike of and will not do the job at hand if it is possible. Managers who perceive in this view believe that employees need to be closely supervised and controlled to make sure that tasks are successfully completed. Theory Y managers assumes employees may be striving and self-motivated and exercise self-control. Expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest, and that the average human being, under proper cond itions, learns not only to accept but to seek responsibility. Such leaders will endeavor to enhance their employees capacity to exercise a high level of imagination, cleverness, and creativity in the answer to organizational problems. It can be understood that leaders holding diverse assumptions will show different methods to leadership: Theory X leaders preferring an autocratic style and Theory Y leaders preferring a participative style. Contingency Theories These theories concentrates on particular factors associated to a specific environment that might govern which particular leadership style will most suitably be fit for a particular situation. The theory states that there is no one leadership style that is suitable in all situations, thus making success to be dependent on a number of factors including the style of leadership chosen, qualities of the followers and features that defines that particular situation. Situational Theories At the same time as behavioral theories presented the idea of different leadership styles, they provided little direction as to what is needed for effective leadership behaviors in diverse situations. Researchers have proven that there is no one leadership style is best suited for every manager under all situations. Therefore, the concept of situational theories was developed to give direction that the style to be used is dependent upon such environmental variables factor. Fiedler (1964, 1967) suggested that there is no single best way to lead; instead the leaders style should be selected according to the situation. He differentiated between managers who are task or relationship oriented. Task oriented managers concentrate on the task at hand have a tendency to do better in situations that have good leader-member relationships, organized tasks, and either weak or strong position power. Such leaders have a tendency to show a more indicative leadership style. Managers who are relations hip oriented do better in all other situations and show a more participative style of leadership. Transformational Leadership This concept of transforming leadership was first developed by James MacGregor Burns. According to him, transforming leadership is a process by which leaders and followers help each other elevate to higher morality and motivation (Burns, 1978). At the center point of this concept is the importance of the leaders ability to motivate and empower his/her followers and also the moral dimension of leadership. Burns notions were then developed into the idea of transformational leadership where the leader transforms followers: The goal of transformational leadership is to transform people and organizations in a literal sense to change them in mind and heart; enlarge vision, insight, and understanding; clarify purposes; make behavior congruent with beliefs, principles, or values; and bring about changes that are permanent, self-perpetuating, and momentum building. (Bass and Avolio, 1994). In closing, leadership styles depend on the situation of the business or organization, there is no single style that is suitable. Also, blending leadership with team building, a leader can create an ideal team thus team members may become more involved and ask questions like; who does this? Who did that? How am I helping to achieve a common goal? Characteristics of a Leader Every individual is inspired or motivated in a different way; it is for this reason that being a leader will require a cautious combination of different leadership characteristics and skills. Personality traits and characteristics will determine the kind of leader one is. These characteristics that make up a leader are vast and they are all influenced by the followers, meaning depending on who he/she is leading, a leader will have different characteristics; ranging from being self-confident to being initiative. The United States Marine Corps teaches more than ten leadership traits, such as being dependable and enthusiastic. Below is a full list that is taught by the US Marine Corps: Justice Judgment Dependability Initiative Decisiveness Tact Integrity Enthusiasm Bearing Unselfishness Courage Knowledge Loyalty Endurance Retired General Colin Powell believes a good leader has the quality to make decisions that everyone can understand. In his own words, lesson number 14 teaches that Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand. Effective leaders understand the KISS principle, Keep It Simple, Stupid. They articulate vivid, over-arching goals and values, which they use to drive daily behaviors and choices among competing alternatives. Their visions and priorities are lean and compelling, not cluttered and buzzword-laden. Their decisions are crisp and clear, not tentative and ambiguous. They convey an unwavering firmness and consistency in their actions, aligned with the picture of the future they paint. The result: clarity of purpose, credibility of leadership, and integrity in organization. Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, marks another great leadership quote and amongst those quotes is Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, its amazing what they can accomplish. In the following paragraphs I am going to bold some of the key skills a leader is required to have. Emotional Intelligence is another concept that serves as a quality a leader should possess and was introduced by Daniel Goleman. Its the ability to perceive, control and then evaluate emotions (Daniel Gloeman, 1998). The people who have researched about emotional intelligence say that it can be learnt and some say that it can be produced also. In 1990, Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer defined emotional intelligence as the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor ones own and others feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide ones thinking and actions. There are four branches of emotional intelligence: Perceiving Emotions, Reasoning with emotions, Understanding Emotions, and Managing Emotions. According to Nitin Nohria, a professor at Harvard Business School, communication is really what a leader does most of the time. He proposes that great leaders follow or should follow oratory communication fundamentals. He believes that a leader can communicate any type of message no matter how complex it is. Aristotle said that people can be reached in by means of different methods; people can be treated in a way that it will charm their emotions and we can make arguments on their sense of value but the great leaders spend a lot of their time communicating. According to Joe Badaracco, another professor at HBS, Simplicity is very essential at every step of communication, that no matter how complex the message, a great leader can convey a message as simple as possible and in fewer words. Communication can however be more efficiently and effectively be conveyed if the correspondent knows the audience. Great leaders always understand the worth and position of their audience. They know th eir audience well and in this way they can communicate with their audience in a far better way. He further states that being a good communicator is not enough to be a good leader; since it will be a two way communication the leader must also be a good listener to avoid misinterpretation from the audience. Jeff Bezos, the CEO and founder of Amazon.com says that one of the key elements of being a good leader is the ability to tell the hard truths and realities. All these examples come under better communication. As I have mentioned before, organizations are rapidly changing, thus making them dynamic. Great leaders are those who can manage and cope with these organizational rapid changes and all its employees or members. They know and comprehend the value of change and accept the common vision of desired results. Empowerment is also important in managing the change process. Managing the change successfully makes ordinary humans the great and effective leaders. People often resist change for reasons that make good sense to them, even if those reasons dont correspond to organizational goals. So it is crucial to recognize, reward, and celebrate accomplishments. (Kanter). In this current age, technology is one of the things travelling on the fast lane. It is reported that a technological of most things such as information systems evolve every six months. It is for this reason that a great leader must keep him informed and aware of such evolutions. Knowledge is the key to success and they key element of effective leadership. Great and effective leader must have knowledge about everything that he is interacting with. Joe Badaracco says that in the previous days, the leaders had to rely on their subordinates for collecting and implementing the knowledge but now a days, the leaders must be good enough in knowledge so that they can cope with different situations well. Another consequence of fast changing technology is that managers are required to be creative. Creativity is becoming one of the key elements and quality of a great and effective leader. This is one quality that can distinct a leader from a great and effective leader. Examples of some best leaders and managers It is not easy to find a great leader, especially when the organization plays great game of blaming each other on anything that goes wrong within itself. Few companies have good, solid leadership from people who are willing to stick to their word. Glen Stansberry a writer, in his online article he has identified the following 5 of 10 leaders considered to be good examples in our society. James Parker Southwest Airlines Southwest is recognized for their great customer service in an industry considered to be bad at customer service. Southwest stands out from other airlines by putting the customer first, regardless of the situation at hand. After 9/11 terrorist attack, airlines were not operational for number of days. As a result, all airline passengers, flight attendants and pilots were stuck with the planes across the country unable to travel to their destinations. Instead of merely sitting and waiting, Southwest employees were encouraged to take passengers bowling or to the movies to pass the time. Also, other airlines were retrenching their employees by 20%, but James Parker decided to keep all the employees and even announced a profit sharing payment of US$179.8 million. Jim Lentz Toyota In the year 2009, circa Toyotas 2.3 million vehicles were recalled for faulty brakes. Outrage ran rampant across the media and public. Instead of letting a Public Relations team deal with the problem with only press statements and interviews, Toyota offered a live conversation on one of the most aggressive and popular communities on the web known as Digg. They were all caught by a surprise when the Toyota CEO Jim Lentz appeared on Digg Dialog to be questioned all sorts of queries about the company and the recall. Over a thousand hard questions were submitted from consumers and even past employees, and Mr Lentz answered as many as possible in the given time. The questions were asked in order of votes, and none were filtered therefore making it a totally transparent interview. Even though the number of recalled vehicles skyrocketed, Toyotas honesty and transparency will help with lessening the damage to the companys reputation. Glenn Kelman Redfin Redfin is an online real estate brokerage firm that gives back two-thirds of the commission that traditional agents charge. Real estate agents hated it, and started blacklisting anyone who used the service. So, instead of keeping the problem quiet, Kelman started a company blog that focused on many of the awful aspects of the real estate business. He also posted about internal struggles within the company, and even criticized himself on many occasions. The blog was raw and authentic. Customers loved the transparency. They appreciated the fact that a CEO could make fun of himself and the dirty parts of his industry. Since starting the Redfin blog in 2006, business has grown dramatically. (Glen Stansberry, 2010). Costco Jim Sinegal Costco net worth value is ranked at U$2 billion, but the CEO Jim Sinegal only gets US$350,000.00 per annum. In general, most employees tend to get de-motivated by the fact that their bosses earn a lot of money and do not really care about them. It even gets worse when an employee does not see the head of the company. In Jims case, he has a simple office, on the same floor with his employees and without any walls and decorations, and answers his own telephone. His employee turnover rate is the lowest in the retail industry, over five times less than rival Wal-Mart. In an age where CEOs are paid in the millions and would never be seen in the trenches, Jim Sinegal is an anomaly. And his workers love him for it. Howard Schultz Starbucks Starbucks is known for its exceptional treatment of employees, offering things like insurance to even part-time workers. In 1997 three employees were killed in a bumbled robbery of one of their Washington D.C. stores. Instead of issuing a press release or calling legal counsel, CEO Howard Schultz flew straight to D.C. and spent the entire week with the employees and their families in the area. Schultzs compassion and incredible leadership helped heal those closest to the tragedy. Conclusion Regardless of the extensive research about the importance of management and leadership in terms of individuals, organizational performance, and national performance there is still a lack of realistic evidence. According to the economic analyses, even though management and leadership are the integral part in influencing national competitiveness, their influence is just another factor of many others. Strictly at organizational levels, it may seem like leadership and management are the only factors that have a direct influence on results, however they are just part of Human Resource Management activities. The influence of Management and Leadership development (MLD) at an individual level, it seems to be affected by the type of intervention and the wish and the chance of individuals to take on leadership responsibilities. These however may not reflect positively on the influences of management and leadership with regard to performance. This report may show how important it is to consider leadership in the broader context of any organization. Separately, there is no assurance that leadership development will improve the individuals performance, however, if we look at leadership development as the main thing within and organization and human resource management (HRM) processes its influence becomes obvious. Similarly, the availability of effective leadership and management processes inside an organization raises the probability of additional training and development becoming a success. Regardless of the lack of conclusive evidence indicating the relationship between management, leadership and performance it has been widely accepted that this are the key elements of effective performance of groups, individuals, organizations, etc. The fact that this relationship cannot be linearly measured indicates that there is a need for more research to be done. The way in which enhanced management and leadership leads to improved performance is complex and thus when looking at the benefits that are raised from the interventions a much wider idea of performance needs to included instead of just looking at improved productivity/profit.