Saturday, August 31, 2019

Business research process Essay

This paper will discuss the business research process and how the business research process works and what the steps are. The business research process usually starts with an overview of the business market or industry. The objective of the business research process is to found out if an opportunity exists within a certain market of business. Business research is the method a company business or corporation makes to decide the most efficient, productive and the ethical way to make money for the company business or corporation to generate in the varied customers. Business research is also a field in which the use of practical study is also involved and is used which a business company or corporation obtains the data or information to get a better observation to better manage the business corporation or company. So when you start any business corporation or company business research needs to be done so that they can identify the competition that they might have. Business research process entails studying all aspects of a company, its customers and the market, then using that information to make sound business decisions. Typically, a company will assess its own strengths and weaknesses, but place particular emphasis on how customers view their products. When company managers study the market, they will usually take a comprehensive look at key competitors and the industry in which they operate. The first step in the business research process is Identifying Competitors in which the business or company identifies the competitors in the industry. One way to gain information on the competition is through a secondary set of research. Secondary research information is the data that is already available about the industry: market share and total market sales. Secondary research may also provide detailed information about competitors, such as the number of employees, the products they sell and their strengths. Secondary research can be found through many  different sources, depending on the industry that they are in. The second step in the business research process is studying the Customers In this process the business company or corporation studies the consumer or business customer. It is very important to figure out what the customer wants and needs before developing any products that will meet the needs of the customers. The customer will usually determine which products or goods will sell. If customers’ needs are not met, they will usually buy the competitors’ products. The best way to found out a customer needs is through primary research. Primary research includes phone surveys, personal interviews and even mail surveys. With these surveys, marketing research pros will test certain product concepts, measure a customer satisfaction and figure out the best features and prices for their products. Reference and citations www.smallbusiness.chron.com

Friday, August 30, 2019

Alcohol Impact on the Fetal Development

Alcohol Impact on the Fetal Development Every year, in the United States of America, between 1000 to 6000 children are born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), that is considered a huge number. (â€Å"Drinking alcohol during pregnancy,† 2008). Pregnancy is a very crucial time for the fetus. Women need to take care of the fetus by resting, eating a balanced and diet nutritious and performing some physical exercise. In the world, there are many things that can impact the fetus that women are not aware of and mothers should be cautious.Alcohol is one of them, expectant mothers should not drink alcohol during pregnancy. The purpose of this research is to explain and discuss the deleterious effects of alcohol on the fetal development during pregnancy. When, Where, How They Discover that Alcohol Has Effect on the Fetus In 1968, a man from France recognized that drinking alcohol during pregnancy may cause Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), name was Lemoin. In 1973 in the United States of A merica, James and Smith continued the research about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome FAS.They mentioned that (FAS) affect the fetus growth and cause bad result to the fetus before and after being born (Caleekal, 1989). The scientist discovered Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in some children whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy before 30 years. At that time, they created FAS about alcohol's effects on the fetus. (NIAAA, 2000). Fortunately, these days with advances in medicine, scientists discover many things having an effect on the fetal development. Many women feel that drinking alcohol during pregnancy is not a big deal.But, depending on some research, it is not only a big deal but a serious problem that will affect the fetus and will cause FAS to be in fetus. Diseases and Disorders of Drinking Alcohol During Pregnancy The Fetus's food come from what the mother consumed either bad or good. Women should not drink any types of alcohol during pregnancy or when they are planning to become pregna nt because the women might be pregnant and they do not recognize that for a few days. This situation is happening in the United States of America every year to many women. Approximately 50% of pregnancies are unplanned.Drinking alcohol during pregnancy might cause FAS. Women can protect their children from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs) completely by stopping alcohol use during pregnancy (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2010). FAS causes many serious problems and diseases in the fetus such as mental retardation, problems on the heart, weak growth of the fetus, difficulties of understanding and problems in the brain. The mothers should never drink alcohol during their pregnancies, at least the three months of first trimester because these are a dangerous and sensitive time for the fetus.However, not all the children whose mothers consume alcohol will develop birth defects. Sometimes, it affects their behavior and their lives will be difficult for them. Oth er effects of FAS are Alcohol-Related Birth Defects (ARBDs) and Alcohol-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorders (ARNDs). ARBDs are the physical problems in the fetus such as heart disease, eyes diseases or organs problems. ARNDs are the learning problems and difficulties in the fetus such as difficulties of understanding or short memory. There is no medicine or treatment for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (â€Å"Drinking alcohol during pregnancy,† 2008).Some researchers discovered that drinking alcohol during pregnancy might cause abortion or premature birth the fetus before the specific time and sometimes kill the fetus. The probability of causing diseases depends on the amount of drinking (â€Å"Drinking alcohol during pregnancy,† 2008). According to Henry and Lyn (1984), consuming alcohol during pregnancy may lead to prematurity. They observed drinking more than seven drinks a week during pregnancy may cause preterm delivery. Also, alcohol abuse during pregnancy is associated with decreased birth weight and neurological effects on newborns.

Color of Water Rhetorical

Racism was a great dilemma for African Americans in the past. James McBride, who was the writer The Color of Water, is a great example on the hardships of racism. McBride tells us of how he and his mother were faced with struggles and still prospered though because It does not matter if he is considered Jewish or Christian; It does not matter if he is considered black or white, all that matters is that you must advance. James begins his life with confusion, not knowing which side to settle with and at the end of the story he is calm and has accepted his identity. He begins with memories about his father's death, about the lack of space in their house, about the hobbies his mother took up after his father's death and about how he was embarrassed by his Jewish mother. On one side he is profoundly in touch with his black side and on the other he despises it. For example, he is teased by the white, and is sent to a Jewish school. He switches between the two sides frequently. When his father dies, he pushes his family away and lives with his step sister and sees the real black life through encounters with the Chicken Man and others. On the other hand, he also traces out his white Jewish roots through his mother. He understands his mother's struggles and identifies with them. He begin to realize that she controlled her life, not her religion or her race and as he reaches this realization through his struggles as a black son of a white mother, as a Christian son of a Jewish mother, he understands that it doesn’t matter. He is what he makes of himself: the color of water. His best friend is a Jew and he becomes the best man at his wedding and McBride's mother attends his wedding and fully participates in it. These events marks the climax of all the struggles, religious and ethnicity, of the McBride family; the son's life rising from confusion and ambivalence. James asks his mother whether God is black or white, when he is a boy living in a black community with a mother who is white, and is doing so because he is confised about his personal race and who he is. Adding to the confusion, his mother responds that she is â€Å"light-skinned†. When his mother explains that God doesn't have a color, and that God is â€Å"the color of water†, he begins to grasp the concept of god being within us. Racism, in this time, affected many African American childrens goal in life. During my residency in Florida, I had a African American freidn who I was not allowed to speak to due to racial discrimination. Some individuals fear them or are provoked by the color, which to me is in-humane. When will we see equality among different races? Racism can be defined as a discrimination or prejudice, based on race and a belief that a particular race is superior to others. According to Christian beliefs, all humans have two ancestors, Adam and Eve. All humans are brothers and sisters but the unique in their own separate ways. Combine this with ignorance and it gives rise to racism. Racism has been around for a long time, and its effects are still being seen. James McBride and his mother stuggle during segregation in 1940-1970's. To this day racisms still exist. It may not be as worse as in the olden days, but it is still affecting individuals around the world. McBride reveals to us of how his life, during racism, was a complete struggle but still is able to prosper.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Response - Essay Example Too many questions and arguments are always negatively eyed by the top management. And this is where Crux went wrong, he did not fit in the â€Å"get to know our business† by ignoring the hidden rules and regulations and misbehaved by putting too many arguments on the table. Answer: Crux believed that the American Dream is not uniform across the American minds and did not provide the minorities with the deserved strength and success. He felt that it was meant for only the elite class who became stronger with the essence of the American Dream and used the minorities as mere puppets on the money minting front. Crux’s notion of success changed from the belief that success is the result of hard work to success is merely working according to the top management. Answer: I can relate to Stephen Cruz’s experience because as you pick up the newspaper and magazines everyday it is filled with stories of injustices faced by the minorities. We are born and brought up with the lessons of hard work and morality, only to grow up and find that only the stronger people rule and the weaker get punished and this is the reality whether we like it or not. Answer: The issues brought up by Crux relate to Racism and Colorism. These two forms of oppression shattered his belief about hard work and success and made him a victim of ‘going with the herd’, depression and other hidden forms of oppression. ‘There are some form of oppressions that one has yet to find a language to name, for many hidden layers embedded in these oppressions are often difficult to reveal.’ (Orelus,

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Marcoeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Marcoeconomics - Essay Example In periods of recession, economic activity drops down to almost null - at the end of both the consumers and the business owners; buying, selling, production and employment are at their lowest. The severity of recession is known as depression. When recession eases and the economy takes an opposite direction to take an upturn towards better financial prospects, there emerges the hope of recovery. It can be considered as the transition phase which leads to growth. As the trough advances towards the peak, the era of growth begins; the consumer confidence increases and business activity starts to pick up - since employment is generated, income of the citizens increase and hence increasing demand and hence production levels picking up and so the cycle continues. But, this activity period is coupled with increasing price levels. The boom does not last forever, even healthy economies face worst. Like recovery, this is a transition period where economy starts to move towards the bottom. Consumer purchases lowers, demand weakens and hence business activity starts to fall. There are multiple reasons that lead to changes in the levels of the economic activity - volatility of investment spending, momentum or follow the herd strategy of the consumers, technological innovation, varying inventory levels, fluctuation in government spending, effect of political conditions on business cycles, monetary policy, change in import and export situations, etc (Knoop, 2004)ii. The global financial crisis all started with the panic emerging in the banking system, with need to nationalize the banks. The credit system was affected with consumers and businesses facing difficulty in obtaining credit, housing market was highly affected. Thus, activity dropped hugely; there was fall in profits of many companies, pessimism and loss of confidence, net worth of businesses declined, and businesses precipitating into bankruptcies. This era can be characterized as Recession. (b) What are the key differences between the Classical and the Keynesian point of views Which of these frameworks has the Australian government been favouring in the global financial current crisis of 2008 and 2009 Classical economics believe that market will adjust itself and has its basis on Say's Law - people supply things to the economy and in return receive income to demand things of the value they have supplied. With regards to unemployment it is believed that unemployment is caused by excess supply due to higher wage levels. Classical economists therefore say that when left on its own, equilibrium wage levels will be achieved and economy will be at a full employment. In 1936, John Meynard Keynes, emphasized the role of the government for stabilizing the economic output over the different business cycle. He pointed out that the private sector decisions can lead to the inefficient macroeconomic outcomes, whereas public sector interference via monetary policy and fiscal policy can lead to positive outcomes. Since individuals and institutions, lead to micro level decisions which leads to economy operating below its potential output and growth. Therefore, economy should be stimulated by reducing interest rates, investing in the infrastructure by the government. This helps in economic activity to pick up. Cheaper credit will be available for businesses to fund their capital requirements

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

A consideration of the biblical theme, Kingdom of God, showing the Essay

A consideration of the biblical theme, Kingdom of God, showing the development of meaning in the Old and New Testaments - Essay Example The ‘Kingdom of God’ is a fundamental theme which runs from Genesis to Revelation. In its earliest expression there are strong similarities to the views of ‘kingship’ and ‘kingdom’ which were current among nations during the period of the OT, but from the outset it was clear that this was understood in terms of a universal and eternal divine authority. This overriding principle becomes increasingly dominant in the Biblical perspective until it comes to reality in the life and work of Jesus Christ. The actual phrase ‘kingdom of God’ does not occur in the OT. But from the outset the idea of God as absolute monarch and his kingly rule are pervasive in Scripture.†(Cf.New Dictionary of Theology). The concept of â€Å"Kingdom† is not current in the democratic mindset of our modern world. Ladd points out that in western idiom a kingdom is primarily seen as a realm over which a king exercises his authority. He quotes a modern dictionary definition: â€Å"A state or monarchy the head of which is a king, Dominion, realm†, and adds that while a secondary meaning of â€Å"kingdom,† relates to the people belonging to a given realm. He does not see either of these definitions as being accurate, as they tend to â€Å"lead astray from a correct understanding of the Biblical truth.† Much better, he says, is an ‘archaic’ definition in Webster’s dictionary, ‘The rank, quality, state or attributes of a king; royal authority, dominion, monarchy; kingship.† (Ibid). Greek and Hebrew scholars that the primary meaning of the Hebrew word â€Å"malkuth† in the Old Testament and the Greek word â€Å"basilieia† in the New Testament is of the rank, authority, and sovereignty exercised by a king. As Ladd says, â€Å"When the word refers to God’s Kingdom, it always refers to His reign, His rule, His sovereignty, and not to any realm in which it is exercised. (20) Kittel underlines this; â€Å"†¦ the expression denotes the fact that God is king, i.e. it describes His kingly being or kingship.† Edersheim adds that the rule of heaven and the kingship of God was the â€Å"very substance of the Old Testament; the object of the calling and mission of Israel; the meaning of all its ordinances whether civil or religious; the underlying idea of all its institutions.† The Old Testament, he says, could not be understood without this.† (265) It was common that the rule of a king would be established by the terms of a co venant, in which two parties are bound together in a solemn, unbreakable oath. There are a series of covenants in the Bible, the terms of which were always determined by God. The earliest books of the Old Testament outline these covenants, showing the development of the nation that was to be the primary realm of his sovereignty on earth. God chose a series of patriarchs to found this nation; giving specific promises, and calling for their trust and obedience. For several centuries these people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, lived in and are eventually become enslaved in Egypt. After 430 years, â€Å"God commissioned Moses, with Aaron as his mouthpiece , to lead out the Hebrew slaves, tribal descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, from Egypt, to become a nation in Palestine, the land of promise (Exodus 3:4)† (New Bible Dictionary). At Mount Sinai, god established a covenant with the Israelites, grounding His requirements (the laws which were to function as the constitution for a theocratic kingdom in which God would be the sole ruler) on what He had already done for them, and giving promises of great blessings which would accrue if they were obedient to the terms of the covenant. Closely coupled to the idea of God’s absolute sovereignty is the fact of his holiness. â€Å"God is the king of His covenant people, Israel. In a particular sense, not true of any other nation. †¦

Monday, August 26, 2019

Total Quality Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Total Quality Management - Case Study Example on what is expected of them, the restaurant shall be instilling useful information that would help it achieve its objective of offering high quality products and services. The ideas of the partners are not only customer-focused, but also aim to establish complete employee involvement and are also centered on improving processes to ensure high customer satisfaction at all times. Employee review and feedback system would ensure their growth and thus service and process improvement. Q2.The main elements of TQM are customer-focus, total employee participation, process-focus, integrated system, strategic approach, constant employee improvement, and effective communication among others. The business model of the partners is meeting all the different dimensions of quality. For example, in the case study, the partners would ensure that all food production processes are documented to reduce safety issues and quality deviations. Also, the restaurant will conduct regular review of its hourly employees to ensure service improvement. Further, the partners’ business model will include training program for new managers and employees to orient them with the culture of the restaurant and ensure that they live up to what is expected of them. As such, the business model of Rob and Daine covers almost all aspects of

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Adapting leadership styles while organising commanies overseas Essay

Adapting leadership styles while organising commanies overseas - Essay Example (Koontz 1986:162). A managing director thus has an all-encompassing task of ensuring functionality of the organization through streamlined working of groups. The managing director must understand that while good people can make any organizational pattern work, it is essential that they know each other's role to work most effectively. (Koontz 1986:161). This essential aspect needs careful consideration when an organization is being established, in an alien environment particularly in relation to the style of leadership adopted by the managing director.There are numerous classifications of styles of leaderships given out by management thought leaders. When based on use of authority and decision-making these have been indicated as autocratic or that denoted by command authority of the leader with a benevolent authoritative being its softer version. Democratic, which has, participative and supportive as its sub types entails consulting subordinates and encouraging their participation in decisions. While a free rein style restricts a leaders role to that of aiding operations of followers. (Koontz 1986 : 400). Another study includes styles as charismatic, servant and quiet which are self-explanatory and in one form or the other follow the pattern denoted by Koontz. (Changing minds.org)

Saturday, August 24, 2019

How children develop their interpersonal skills Essay

How children develop their interpersonal skills - Essay Example Infants may cry to communicate their needs to their parents; they learn that when they cry they are fed and thus carry on with this routine. Eventually, with the correct training and assistance, children will learn that making use of words or expressions to communicate their needs could be their most effective technique (Hersen, 2011). This essay discusses how children develop their interpersonal skills and how digital technologies or electronic devices can be used to enhance children’s learning experience. Nevertheless, interpersonal skills are not confined with social tact like being courteous and well-mannered. Children’s social and interpersonal skills develop as they acquire communication skills. Numerous parents are anxious that their children are deficient in interpersonal or social skills, but this is a misperception in most instances. The essentials of social behavior originate from the emotional area of the brain, which is a vital determinant of morality, compassion, and fellow feeling (Hersen, 2011). Babies usually fret when they hear another baby screaming, for they know that someone is disgruntled. Hence several antecedents of interpersonal skills are perhaps wired to the brain, but experiences also affect the ability of children to recognize, understand, and react to others’ needs (Hersen, 2011). Focusing jointly on something is an early sign of interpersonal skills. Babies who often draw people’s attention to fascinating objects at nine months are more probable to be classified as socially capable at roughly two years. By their first year babies want or prefer people who support or give comfort to other people (Mathieson, 2004). Genuine fellow feeling, the capacity to understand and reflect on the feelings of others, is manifested by age five. In this young age, children exhibit remarkable improvements in self-discipline. Children who have greater self-discipline also manifest greater fellow feeling and more advanced sense of right and

Friday, August 23, 2019

Criminal Law U4IP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Criminal Law U4IP - Research Paper Example It usually arises when someone who was committed to supervise or monitor someone else money or property steals the money for personal gain. The stealing of the money is a desecration of a specialty of trust which results in a distinctive crime. Embezzlement usually arises due to several circumstances such as, a bank teller has permitted access to client money hence trusted to handle the money or employees and officers of companies can also misuse the companys funds since they are in charge of running the company (Fjeldstad, 2003).. Nevertheless, this does not imply that it has to be done by employing but any kind of relationship where by trust is given to somebody else to manage your property. The following three elements that are essential for an event to be considered for embezzlement charges. In case any of the three sections are not satisfied, these charges will not apply to these cases. If the person was entrusted with ownership of property that belongs to somebody. Secondly, that the person hid or took the property or someway converted it to his own without the owners permission to do so. Thirdly, they had planned to do these crimes to enduringly take ownership pleasure away from the owner (Francken, 2009). There are a limitless number of ways that someone could oblige to the crime of embezzlement of public funds. Siphoning is a good example of embezzlement crime. This is usually accomplished by people who work in restaurants or stores. They invent a way to getting money using the register without any discrepancies between the records in the computer and a drawer. The item is not entered into the calculator section of the register but they keep a record of how much they pocketed after their shift. Lapping is a crime that is found in parts of the business that takes incoming payments from vendors and customers. Someone working for example church could use bank deposit for many companies and alter the distribution of the

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Feminist organizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Feminist organizations - Essay Example Accordingly, the following brief analysis will make an inventory of each of these aspects as a function of further delineating and defining the National Organization for Women. Firstly, the website which was analyzed denoted that fact that the ultimate goal of the group was to take immediate action for the equality of women. Although this is specifically tied to the manner in which women’s issues and women’s rights are exhibited within the United States, the group also seeks to effect change in various regions around the globe on behalf of women and their needs/rights. The mission statement itself further seeks to hone the areas of focus that NOW seeks to integrate with. Accordingly, the mission statement is as follows, â€Å"the purpose of NOW is to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men† (NOW 1). Similarly, with regards to the political orientation of the group, the website itself promotes the understanding that the group is specifically interested in engaging in actions that promote women’s rights, feminism, anti-racism, ending homophobia, promoting LGBT rights, and promoting reproductive rights. As might be easily inferred, the group generally promotes a more liberal interpretation of the political paradigm; siding more often than not with liberal and progressive elements within the United States and typically aligning with the Democratic party. However, with that being said, it must also be understood that NOW does not promote any one single political party; rather, their interests are supra-political and the group only sides with more progressive and liberal ideologies due to the fact that these most specifically represent the goals and ends that the group is trying to effect. With such a constraining level of missions and values, the group is invariably at

An Ethical Dilemma Essay Example for Free

An Ethical Dilemma Essay There exists a strong link between the way and pace of life in a society and eating habits of the individuals. No matter how diverse and sophisticated the cuisine of a certain culture might be, todays hyper moving tempo necessitates cheaper and faster food. That is where the fast food sector steps in, saving the day. At first glance, they appear to be life savers with their affordable menus. However, when we take a closer look and observe the long-term effects of fast food on individuals, we are faced with health problems such as obesity and heart diseases. Nevertheless, fast food firms also do a very good job in marketing their products to carefully targeted audiences, especially children. This paper will focus on the case of McDonalds and argue how ethical it is for them to advertise for children directly, examining the issue from the perspective of social responsibility. The spread of McDonalds in other parts of the world creates mixed feelings in some countries, and people even claim that the McDonalds and the distorted image of Americanization is harmful for their culture and societies. This opinion is especially valid in Europe, but surprisingly McDonalds is welcome in Asia. What is a common reaction in all countries hosting McDonalds, including its homeland America, is the attitude taken towards the effects of McDonalds on eating habits and the following negative consequences. There are plenty of fast food advertisements in North America and this industry has especially become a part of the life of families with children. Starting from very little ages, children are used to eating this good-tasting, well-marketed and fun menus which usually come along with a toy for free; and their tastes and eating habits are influenced. Even though fast food companies have started to offer â€Å"light† menus and food with less fat and calories, they do not offer the best menus for children. They continue the habit of eating fast food as they go into adolescence and adulthood, and become another candidate for an obese person with various diseases resulting from being overweight. â€Å"Overweight children do tend to become obese adults, putting themselves at a much greater risk, and at a much earlier age, for chronic illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease† (Dalton, 2004, p. 2). One out of three children in the United States is either overweight or at serious risk of becoming so. The number of overweight children ages six to nineteen has tripled within three decades; the rate of overweight preschool children is nearly as great. The accelerating rate indicates that the current generation of children will grow into the most obese generation of adults in history. (Dalton, 2004, p. 2) Although parents are aware that food sold at McDonalds is not very healthy, they are misled by the fact that it is affordable and makes their children happy. What is more, some parents do not have very healthy eating habits either; so one should not be surprised in seeing their children liking McDonalds menus. Moreover, it is not easy to resist the tempting advertisements. â€Å"Some might say that no one is forcing parents to buy these products or foods for their children. But, these ads position the products as must haves. Even if their parents do not buy them the products, children are influenced† (How to Prevent Childhood Obesity. com, 2009). â€Å"Experts name Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds franchise and Walt Disney as the pioneers of child-focused marketing, since they first recognized children as a separate marketing demographic from adults in the 1960s† (Veracity, D. , 2008). Today, we cannot help but wonder how the managers of McDonalds feel about the harsh criticisms that the company gets for advertising and promoting unhealthy food for children. From a business point of view, the company has done a great job since it was founded by Ray Kroc in 1955, generated enormous profits and even became a better known brand than Coca-Cola (Veracity, D. , 2008). Competition in the fast food sector is harsh, so McDonalds heavily invests in high quality advertisements aimed at targeting the right audience, using celebrities and partnerships with other brands, or cartoon characters in their campaigns if possible. They build playgrounds in their stores, which serve as a socializing place for children to meet other kids and have fun. McDonalds not only influences American children and families, but also exports its food, image and advertisements to the rest of the world. They have opened branches in almost all parts of the world, and keep expanding despite the economic recession. They are â€Å"optimistic about business prospects in China and plan to open about 500 stores in the country in three years† (Yan, F. Li, H. , 2009). This gives an important hint about the tastes and habits of the growing generation of children and it is not difficult to foresee that the global influence of McDonalds will intensify in the coming years, despite all criticisms that it is unethical to promote unhealthy food to children. How ethical is the advertising strategy of McDonalds really? Are the managers of McDonalds actually guilty, or is everyone being too harsh and oversensitive? Even though it is normal for a company to hold its own rights and benefits before everything, if it is as influential and global as McDonalds, it also has some moral and ethical responsibilities and should consider the social consequences of its actions as well as making profits and opening new stores. One of the most important causes of childhood obesity is lack of exercise, so it might not be totally fair to blame McDonalds and other fast food chains for obese children. On the one hand, the McDonalds culture heavily contributes in a bad way to developing irregular eating habits. But on the other hand, they cannot be the only ones to blame, as children and their parents are increasingly becoming computer and TV addicts, engaging in very little physical activity. When coupled with fast food consumption, health problems become inescapable. What is the solution to this moral problem then? It is obvious that a company this successful will not quit this business or abandon its strategy. However, McDon can at least modify its advertising approach slightly and recommend doing exercises as the underlying message after having a good McDonalds meal. They can include famous sportsmen in their advertisements and encourage children to engage in sports. They can give out toys associated with sports brands, even organize sports competitions for children with awards, sponsored by major brands like Nike or Adidas. These are just a few suggestions, and there is no doubt that professionals designing McDonalds marketing strategy can work wonders with this idea if they want to. This way, children can learn to associate the consumption of fast food with exercise in their minds and be convinced that they must be physically active in order to burn those calories taken at McDonald and be healthy. In conclusion, if McDonalds and other fast food chains would alter their advertisement campaigns so as to include the theme of more exercise and sports, they would have been more socially responsible. This way, even though they do not sell the most healthy meals, their customers, especially children would know that they have to pay a price for eating a high calorie and high fat meal by doing more exercise. They would also associate fast food meals with the energy and dynamism of sports, which also makes individuals happy. Therefore, this can be a very good formula for McDonalds to keep its happy customers all over the world and appease an angry crowd of protesters who argue that McDonalds advertisements are unethical. References Dalton, S. (2004). Our Overweight Children: What Parents, Schools, and Communities Can Do to Control the Fatness Epidemic. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Should there be Ethical Issues with Fast Food Companies Advertising to Children?How to Prevent Childhood Obesity. com. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from http://www. howtopreventchildhoodobesity. com/ethicalissues- fastfoodadvertisements. html Veracity, D. (2008, July 13). Americas Fast Food Giants Perfect the Art of Selling Junk Food to Children. Organic Consumers Association. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from http://www. organicconsumers. org/articles/article_1092. cfm Yan, F. Li, H. (2009, February 18). McDonalds eye 500 stores in China in 3 years. Reuters. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from http://www. reuters. com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE51H13F20090218

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Innovation in strategy

Innovation in strategy This essay evaluates the role of innovation in strategy, and explores the ways management can promote it in organisations. It first looks at the nature of innovation, and examines its importance in current economic and social conditions. It then sets strategy in context, defining it primarily in terms of competitive advantage that is, as a search for capabilities which allow allows an organisation to meet consumers needs better than its rivals. It then investigates why, exactly, innovation is often seen as a key component of strategy. It comes up with two key reasons: its capacity to generate a sustainable competitive advantage for business organisations; and its ability to aid organisations in preventing strategic drift. As a result of these benefits, strategies which are centred upon innovation can add real value to an organisations value proposition, and consequently can substantially improve business performance. The essay then turns to look at the ways that management can promo te innovation in organisations. For this, it turns to the worlds most famous management thinker Peter Drucker and the worlds most innovative company Apple Inc. for guidance on theory and practice respectively. Having thus established the importance of the role of innovation for strategy, and the ways in which management can promote it in organisations, the essay then considers some limitations. In particular, it looks at the possible advantages of strategic drift; and also the other aspects of strategy beyond innovation which must be considered by an organisation. The essay thus concludes that innovation is a necessary component of a successful strategy in that it is able to generate a sustainable competitive advantage for a business but that it is not sufficient in and of itself: an organisation must consider more than innovation if it is to develop an effective strategy. Innovation is usually defined as ‘the successful commercial exploitation of new ideas or simply as ‘the successful implementation of new ideas. This encompasses ideas that are ‘new to the world, ‘new to an industry or merely ‘new to a particular firm (Gabriel, 2008, p. 146). The prominence given to the role of innovation in strategy is to a large extent the result of the prevailing social and economic conditions. In what Peter Drucker the most influential management thinker of the second-half of the twentieth century termed the ‘knowledge economy that has emerged due to the rise of the service industry and decline of manufacturing since the end of the Second World War, business organisations have increasingly had to react to change more rapidly if they wish to succeed in the marketplace (Drucker, 1992, p. 263). Indeed, so important is the successful implementation of new ideas that Drucker famously reflected that: ‘Business has only two bas ic functions marketing and innovation (Kotler Armstrong, 2008, p. 40). In other words, a business organisation must first create a customer, but consequently that business must constantly adapt to provide the necessary goods and services to keep them making a profit: they must pursue innovation both to survive and to thrive. Having explored the nature of innovation, it is useful now to define what is meant by ‘strategy, and examine briefly why it matters. The nature of strategy has traditionally been a contentious issue. A helpful starting point for understanding the concept is found in Anthony Henrys (2008) Understanding Strategic Management, where he provides a synopsis of forty years of heated debate on the issue. He first outlines that, ‘there is agreement that the role of strategy is to achieve competitive advantage for an organisation. He then continues: ‘Competitive advantage may usefully be thought of as that which allows an organisation to meet consumers needs better than its rivals . . . [and] its source may derive from a number of factors including its products or services, its culture, its technological know-how, and its processes (Henry, 2008, p. 4). It is an important issue for a business because a strategy which can enable a sustainable competitive advantage will allow an organisation to generate super-normal returns, and will have a distinct impact on overall organisational performance: an effective strategy can add value (Kay, 1995). Herein lies the essence of the role of innovation in strategy it is often a key component of a sustainable competitive advantage. For instance, Grant (2005, p. 513) has observed from empirical evidence based on such successful companies as 3M, Wal-Mart, and Toyota that, ‘ultimately, the only sustainable competitive advantage is the ability to create new sources of competitive advantage. Firms with a fixed commitment to innovation seem to prosper in the modern ‘knowledge economy. For instance, Apple a company which this essay examines in more depth below has become synonymous with strategic innovation. In Fortunes Americas Most Admired Companies 2008, Apple topped the chart. A senior commentator reflected on this development with the following remark: Apple not only takes the No. 1 slot on this years list of Americas Most Admired Companies but also tops the global survey and wins the highest marks for innovation too. Thats probably no coincidence. In an industry that changes every nanosecond, the 32-year-old company has time and again innovated its way out of the doldrums. Rivals always seem to be playing catch-up. (Fisher, 2008) Moreover, innovation can be key to preventing ‘strategic drift. Strategic drift is the tendency for strategies to develop incrementally on the basis of historical and cultural influences but to fail to keep pace with a changing environment (Johnson, Scholes, Whittington, 2008, p. 179). This is what happened to Sainsburys who were one of the most successful food retailers in the world until the early 1990s, using a tried-and-tested formula of selling high quality food at reasonable prices. Its strategy consisted of gradually extending its product lines, enlarging its stores, and expanding its geographical coverage; but under no circumstances would it deviate from its traditional ways of doing business (Johnson, Scholes, Whittington, 2008, p. 179). However, during Sainsburys period of strategic drift, its rival Tesco followed a policy of ruthless innovation developing Club-Card marketing, building a successful on-line retailing capability, and implementing new ideas to radica lly reduce its distribution costs (IMD, 2008). By having a strategy centred on innovation, therefore, Tesco was able to both establish a competitive advantage and avoid strategic drift. It was, in short, able to develop a strategy which added value, and which made the business organisation much more profitable. So where can business organisations look for innovation how can they promote it more effectively? Peter Drucker has suggested that there are seven areas where companies should look for such opportunities. These have been expertly surmised by Hindle (2008, p. 105), as being: ‘the unexpected success that is rarely dissected to see how it has occurred; any incongruity between what actually happens and what was expected to happen; any inadequacy in a business process that is taken for granted; a change in industry or market structure that takes everyone by surprise; demographic changes caused by things like wars, migrations or medical developments (such as the birth-control pill); changes in perception and fashion brought about by changes in the economy; and changes in awareness caused by new knowledge. Moreover, although it is often the case that ‘innovation has been used interchangeably with the term â€Å"creativity† (Forrester 1993, p. 3; cited in Thompson McHugh , 2002, p. 255), Drucker insists that this ought never to limit a business, claiming that: ‘There are more ideas in any organization, including businesses, than can possibly be put to use (Drucker, 1964, p. 188). Across the literature on innovation, there seems to be a general agreement with this approach set out above: that the opportunities for innovation are multitudinous, and that by paying attention to such factors organisations can develop strategies which can lead to a sustainable competitive advantage and prevent strategic drift. A brief case-study of Apple will help demonstrate how this theory outlined above works in practice, and help us to better understand the ways management can promote innovation in organisations. First, Apple appreciates that innovation is an inexact science: as the CEO and cofounder of Apple, Steve Jobs, puts it: ‘You cant ask people what they want if its around the next corner rather you have to simply provide what you think they might want (Morris, 2008). To guide them, Apple looks to the areas mentioned by Drucker above to gain insights into such potential needs and wants. Apple employees in particular focus on the inadequacies in every-day technology processes that are currently taken for granted, and innovate in these areas. New-product development, according to Apple sources, occurs as a result of conversations such as: ‘What do we hate? (Our cellphones.) What do we have the technology to make? (A cellphone with a Mac inside.) What would we like to own? (You guessed it, an iPhone) (Morris, 2008). Moreover, at Apple, innovation is centred on producing technology the employees really want: as Jobs says, ‘One of the keys to [innovation at] Apple is that we build products that really turn us on (Morris, 2008). This results in an organisation thoroughly committed to the successful commercial exploitation of new ideas at a strategic, operational and tactical level. Indeed Morris (2008), observing the culture of innovation at Apple, has pointed out that: ‘You wont find that word on a placard or a piece of propaganda at One Infinite Loop, Apples headquarters . . . there innovation is a way of life. It is this culture that ‘provides the push to overcome design and engineering obstacles, [and] to bring projects in on time (Morris, 2008). Thus a commitment to a strategy of innovation should foster a culture which reflects this aim of management, as this can lead to the organisation innovating more effectively. Finally, it is important to note the impact of a strategy centred on innovation upon the performance of Apple. It has astounded commentators with one perplexed writer asking: ‘who knew [Apple] could build a . . . [successful] company on the strength of a portable jukebox and a computer with a single-digit market share? (Elmer-DeWitt, 2008). Indeed, the company has been monetarily hugely successful as a result of the innovation it has pioneered. In the 5 years ending in March 2008, sales of Apple wares tripled to $24 billion; and profits rose to $3.5 billion, from a mere $42 million only five years before. Morris (2008) sums up the position of Apple thus: [It] set the gold standard for corporate America with an entirely new business model: creating a brand, morphing it, and reincarnating it to thrive in a disruptive age. . . Apple has demonstrated how to create real, breathtaking growth by dreaming up products so new and ingenious that they have upended one industry after another: consumer electronics, the record industry, the movie industry, video and music production. Thus innovation can play a key role in an organisations strategy, and it can often be effectively promoted by following the theory of Drucker and the practices of Apple. Nevertheless, it is important to note that there are limitations on the role of innovation in strategy. First, ‘strategic drift may not be such a bad thing after all. This is a view outlined by John Kay (2009) in his article History vindicates the science of muddling through. He contrasts the views of the American political scientist Charles Lindblom (published in 1959) with those of Dr H. Igor Ansoff. Lindblom supported a view of incremental adaptation by organisations to changes in their environment; Ansoff proposed a design-orientated, purposive approach to strategy. However, Kay then points that in terms of the organisational case-studies used to support each view Saint-Gobain for Lindbolm; the US conglomerates TRW and Litton for Ansoff the clear winner emerges as Saint-Gobain, a company which adopted a q uasi-strategic drift approach to their strategy, which is still going strong while the other companies have suffered catastrophic failure. Thus, it seems that sometimes simply ‘muddling through can constitute an effective strategy perhaps a firm commitment to innovation is not necessary after all. Moreover, innovation is not the sole component of an effective strategy, and it never can be. Organisations must consider a range of other issues. For instance, business organisations ought to consider issues highlighted by Michael Porters ‘Five Forces model. This shows how the strategic situation of a company can be established by investigating the power of suppliers, the power of buyers, the threat of substitution, the threat of new entrants, as well as the degree of competitive rivalry between the industrys firms. An organisation must consider innovation if it is to ensure that it continues to have an effective strategy in the medium to long term, but it must also pay attention to these other aspects of strategy innovation is necessary, but it is not sufficient. Thus innovation is a necessary component of a successful strategy in that it is able to generate a sustainable competitive advantage for a business. However, it is not sufficient: an organisation must consider other issues as well as innovation if it is to develop an effective strategy. Nevertheless, by following the theory of Drucker and learning from the practices of Apple, management can promote innovation in organisations. And if this is done effectively, innovation can play a key role in what every business organisation seeks: a competitive strategy which adds real value. References: Drucker, P. (1964). Managing for results: economic tasks and risk-taking decisions. California: Harper Row. Drucker, P. (1992). The age of discontinuity: guidelines to our changing society. 2nd ed. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. Elmer-DeWitt, P. (2008, March 3). Americas Most Admired Companies 2008. Retrieved November 24, 2009, from Fortune Web site: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0802/gallery.mostadmired_top20.fortune/index.html Fisher, A. (2008, March 3 ). Innovation Rules. Retrieved November 24, 2009, from Fortune Web site: http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/29/news/companies/fisher_amac.fortune/index.htm 2008 Gabriel, Y. (2008). Organizing Words: A Critical Thesaurus for Social and Organization Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Grant, R. M. (2005). Contemporary strategy analysis. 5th ed. London: Wiley-Blackwell. Henry, A. (2008). Understanding Strategic Management. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hindle, T. (2008). Guide to Management Ideas and Gurus. London: Profile Books. IMD. (2008). Tesco: Keeping the Hard Discounters at Bay? Switzerland: IMD International. Johnson, G., Scholes, K., Whittington, R. (2008). Exploring corporate strategy: text cases. 8th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education. Kay, J. (1995). Foundations of corporate success: how business strategies add value. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kay, J. (2009, March 15). History vindicates the science of muddling through. Retrieved December 13, 2009, from John Kay Web sit: http://www.johnkay.com/in_action/604 Kotler, P., Armstrong, G. (2008). Principles of Marketing. 13th ed. London: Pearson Education Ltd. Morris, B. (2008, March 17). What makes Apple Golden? Retrieved October 27, 2009, from Fortune Web site: http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/29/news/companies/amac_apple.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008030309 Thompson, P., McHugh, D. (2002). Work Organisations. 3rd ed. London: Palgrave.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Intelligent Software Agent

Intelligent Software Agent Chapter 1 Intelligent Software Agent 1.1 Intelligent Agent An Agent can be defined as follows: â€Å"An Agent is a software thing that knows how to do things that you could probably do yourself if you had the time† (Ted Seller of IBM Almaden Research Centre). Another definition is: â€Å"A piece of software which performs a given task using information gleaned from its environment to act in a suitable manner so as to complete the task successfully. The software should be able to adapt itself based on changes occurring in its environment, so that a change in circumstances will still yield the intended results† (G.W.Lecky Thompson). [1] [2] [3] [4] An Intelligent Agent can be divided into weak and strong notations. Table 1.1 shows the properties for both the notations. Weak notation Strong notation Autonomy Mobility Social ability Benevolence Reactivity Proactivity Rationality Temporal continuity Adaptivity Goal oriented Collaboration Table 1.1 1.1.1 Intelligency Intelligence refers to the ability of the agent to capture and apply domain specific knowledge and processing to solve problems. An Intelligent Agent uses knowledge, information and reasoning to take reasonable actions in pursuit of a goal. It must be able to recognise events, determine the meaning of those events and then take actions on behalf of a user. One central element of intelligent behaviour is the ability to adopt or learn from experience. Any Agent that can learn has an advantage over one that cannot. Adding learning or adaptive behaviour to an intelligent agent elevates it to a higher level of ability. In order to construct an Intelligent Agent, we have to use the following topics of Artificial Intelligence: Knowledge Representation Reasoning Learning [5] 1.1.2 Operation The functionality of a mobile agent is illustrated in 1.1. Computer A and Computer B are connected via a network. In step 1 a mobile Agent is going to be dispatched from Computer A towards Computer B. In the mean time Computer A will suspend its execution. Step 2 shows this mobile Agent is now on network with its state and code. In step 3 this mobile Agent will reach to its destination, computer B, which will resume its execution. [7] 1.1.3 Strengths and Weaknesses Many researchers are now developing methods for improving the technology, with more standardisation and better programming environments that may allow mobile agents to be used in products. It is obvious that the more an application gets intelligent, the more it also gets unpredictable and uncontrollable. The main drawback of mobile agents is the security risk involved in using them. [8] [9] The following table shows the major strengths and weaknesses of Agent technology: Strengths Weakness Overcoming Network Latency Security Reducing Network traffic Performance Asynchronous Execution and Autonomy Lack of Applications Operating in Heterogeneous Environments Limited Exposure Robust and Fault-tolerant Behavior Standardization Table 1.2 1.2 Applications The followings are the major and most widely applicable areas of Mobile Agent: Distributed Computing: Mobile Agents can be applied in a network using free resources for their own computations. Collecting data: A mobile Agent travels around the net. On each computer it processes the data and sends the results back to the central server. Software Distribution and Maintenance: Mobile agents could be used to distribute software in a network environment or to do maintenance tasks. Mobile agents and Bluetooth: Bluetooth is a technology for short range radio communication. Originally, the companies Nokia and Ericsson came up with the idea. Bluetooth has a nominal range of 10 m and 100 m with increased power. [38] Mobile agents as Pets: Mobile agents are the ideal pets. Imagine something like creatures. What if you could have some pets wandering around the internet, choosing where they want to go, leaving you if you dont care about them or coming to you if you handle them nicely? People would buy such things wont they? [38] Mobile agents and offline tasks: 1. Mobile agents could be used for offline tasks in the following way: a- An Agent is sent out over the internet to do some task. b- The Agent performs its task while the home computer is offline. c- The Agent returns with its results. 2. Mobile agents could be used to simulate a factory: a- Machines in factory are agent driven. b- Agents provide realistic data for a simulation, e.g. uptimes and efficiencies. c- Simulation results are used to improve real performance or to plan better production lines. [10[ [11] [12] 1.3 Life Cycle An intelligent and autonomous Agent has properties like Perception, Reasoning  and Action which form the life cycle of an Agent as shown in 1.2. [6] The agent perceives the state of its environment, integrates the perception in its knowledge base that is used to derive the next action which is then executed. This generic cycle is a useful abstraction as it provides a black-box view on the Agent and encapsulates specific aspects. The first step is the Agent initialisation. The Agent will then start to operate and may stop and start again depending upon the environment and the tasks that it tried to accomplish. After the Agent finished all the tasks that are required, it will end at the completing state. [13] Table 1.3 shows these states. Name of Step Description Initialize Performs one-time setup activities. Start Start its job or task. Stop Stops jobs, save intermediate results, joins all threads and stops. Complete Performs one-time termination activities. Table 1.3 1.4 Agent Oriented Programming (AOP) It is a programming technique which deals with objects, which have independent thread of control and can be initiated. We will elaborate on the three main components of the AOP. a- Object: Grouping data and computation together in a single structural unit called an ‘Object. Every Agent looks like an object. b- Independent Thread of control: This means when this developed Agent which is an object, when will be implemented in Boga server, looks like an independent thread. This makes an Agent different from ordinary object. c- Initiation: This deals with the execution plan of an Agent, when implemented, that Agent can be initiated from the server for execution. [14] [15] [16] [17] 1.5 Network paradigms This section illustrates the traditional distributed computing paradigms like Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and Remote Procedure Call (RPC). 1.5.1 SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol is a standard for gathering statistical data about network traffic and the behavior of network components. It is an application layer protocol that sits above TCP/IP stack. It is a set of protocols for managing complex networks. It enables network administrators to manage network performance, find and solve network problems and plan for network growth. It is basically a request or response type of protocol, communicating management information between two types of SNMP entities: Manager (Applications) and Agents. [18] Agents: They are compliant devices; they store data about themselves in Management Information Base (MIB) (Each agent in SNMP maintain a local database of information relevant to network management is known as the Management Information Base) and return this data to the SNMP requesters. An agent has properties like: Implements full SNMP protocol, Stores and retrieves managed data as defined by the Management Information Base and can asynchronously signal an event to the manager. Manager (Application): It issues queries to get information about the status, configuration and performance of external network devices. A manager has the following properties: Implemented as a Network Management Station (the NMS), implements full SNMP Protocol, able to Query Agents, get responses from Agents, set variables in agents and acknowledge asynchronous events from Agents. [18] 1.3 illustrates an interaction between a manager and an Agent. The agent is software that enables a device to respond to manager requests to view or update MIB data and send traps reporting problems or significant events. It receives messages and sends a response back. An Agent does not have to wait for order to act, if a serious problem arises or a significant event occurs, it sends a TRAP (a message that reports a problem or a significant event) to the manager (software in a network management station that enables the station to send requests to view or update MIB variables, and to receive traps from an agent). The Manager software which is in the management station sends message to the Agent and receives a trap and responses. It uses User Data Protocol (UDP, a simple protocol enabling an application to send individual message to other applications. Delivery is not guaranteed, and messages need not be delivered in the same order as they were sent) to carry its messages. Finally, there is one application that enables end user to control the man ager software and view network information. [19] Table 1.4 comprises the Strengths and Weaknesses of SNMP. Strengths Weaknesses Its design and implementation are simple. It may not be suitable for the management of truly large networks because of the performance limitations of polling. Due to its simple design it can be expanded and also the protocol can be updated to meet future needs. It is not well suited for retrieving large volumes of data, such as an entire routing table. All major vendors of internetwork hardware, such as bridges and routers, design their products to support SNMP, making it very easy to implement. Its traps are unacknowledged and most probably not delivered. Not applicable It provides only trivial authentication. Not applicable It does not support explicit actions. Not applicable Its MIB model is limited (does not support management queries based on object types or values). Not applicable It does not support manager-to-manager communications. Not applicable The information it deals with neither detailed nor well-organized enough to deal with the expanding modern networking requirements. Not applicable It uses UDP as a transport protocol. The complex policy updates require a sequence of updates and a reliable transport protocol, such as TCP, allows the policy update to be conducted over a shared state between the managed device and the management station. Table 1.4 1.5.2 RPC A remote procedure call (RPC) is a protocol that allows a computer program running on one host to cause code to be executed on another host without the programmer needing to explicitly code for this. When the code in question is written using object-oriented principles, RPC is sometimes referred to as remote invocation or remote method invocation. It is a popular and powerful technique for constructing distributed, client-server based applications. An RPC is initiated by the caller (client) sending a request message to a remote system (the server) to execute a certain procedure using arguments supplied. A result message is returned to the caller. It is based on extending the notion of conventional or local procedure calling, so that the called procedure need not exist in the same address space as the calling procedure. The two processes may be on the same system, or they may be on different systems with a network connecting them. By using RPC, programmers of distributed applications avoid the details of the interface with the network. The transport independence of RPC isolates the application from the physical and logical elements of the data communications mechanism and allows the application to use a variety of transports. A distributed computing using RPC is illustrated in 1.4. Local procedures are executed on Machine A; the remote procedure is actually executed on Machine B. The program executing on Machine A will wait until Machine B has completed the operation of the remote procedure and then continue with its program logic. The remote procedure may have a return value that continuing program may use immediately. It intercepts calls to a procedure and the following happens: Packages the name of the procedure and arguments to the call and transmits them over network to the remote machine where the RPC server id running. It is called â€Å"Marshalling†. [20] RPC decodes the name of the procedure and the parameters. It makes actual procedure call on server (remote) machine. It packages returned value and output parameters and then transmits it over network back to the machine that made the call. It is called â€Å"Unmarshalling†. [20] 1.6 Comparison between Agent technology and network paradigms Conventional Network Management is based on SNMP and often run in a centralised manner. Although the centralised management approach gives network administrators a flexibility of managing the whole network from a single place, it is prone to information bottleneck and excessive processing load on the manager and heavy usage of network bandwidth. Intelligent Agents for network management tends to monitor and control networked devices on site and consequently save the manager capacity and network bandwidth. The use of Intelligent Agents is due to its major advantages e.g. asynchronous, autonomous and heterogeneous etc. while the other two contemporary technologies i.e. SNMP and RPC are lacking these advantages. The table below shows the comparison between the intelligent agent and its contemporary technologies: Property RPC SNMP Intelligent Agent Communication Synchronous Asynchronous Asynchronous Processing Power Less Autonomy More Autonomous but less than Agent More Autonomous Network support Distributed Centralised Heterogeneous Network Load Management Heavy usage of Network Bandwidth Load on Network traffic and heavy usage of bandwidth Reduce Network traffic and latency Transport Protocol TCP UDP TCP Packet size Network Only address can be sent for request and data on reply Only address can be sent for request and data on reply Code and execution state can be moved around network. (only code in case of weak mobility) Network Monitoring This is not for this purpose Network delays and information bottle neck at centralised management station It gives flexibility to analyse the managed nodes locally Table 1.5 Indeed, Agents, mobile or intelligent, by providing a new paradigm of computer interactions, give new options for developers to design application based on computer connectivity. 20 Chapter 2 Learning Paradigms 2.1 Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) and Information Retrieval (IR) KDD is defined as â€Å"the nontrivial process of identifying valid, novel, potentially useful and ultimately understandable patterns in data† (Fayyad, Piatetsky-Shapiro and Smith (1996)). A closely related process of IR is defined as â€Å"the methods and processes for searching relevant information out of information systems that contain extremely large numbers of documents† (Rocha (2001)). KDD and IR are, in fact, highly complex processes that are strongly affected by a wide range of factors. These factors include the needs and information seeking characteristics of system users as well as the tools and methods used to search and retrieve the structure and size of the data set or database and the nature of the data itself. The result, of course, was increasing numbers of organizations that possessed very large and continually growing databases but only elementary tools for KD and IR. [21] Two major research areas have been developed in response to this problem: * Data warehousing: It is defined as: â€Å"Collecting and ‘cleaning transactional data to make it available for online analysis and decision support†. (Fayyad 2001, p.30)  · Data Mining: It is defined as: â€Å"The application of specific algorithms to a data set for purpose of extracting data patterns†. (Fayyad p. 28) 2.2 Data Mining Data mining is a statistical term. In Information Technology it is defined as a discovery of useful summaries of data. 2.2.1 Applications of Data Mining The following are examples of the use of data mining technology: Pattern of traveller behavior mined: Manage the sale of discounted seats in planes, rooms in hotels. Diapers and beer: Observation those customers who buy diapers are more likely to buy beer than average allowed supermarkets to place beer and diapers nearby, knowing many customers would walk between them. Placing potato chips between increased sales of all three items. Skycat and Sloan Sky Survey: Clustering sky objects by their radiation levels in different bands allowed astronomers to distinguish between galaxies, nearby stars, and many other kinds of celestial objects. Comparison of genotype of people: With/without a condition allowed the discovery of a set of genes that together account for many case of diabetes. This sort of mining will become much more important as the human genome is constructed. [22] [23] [24] 2.2.2 Communities of Data Mining As data mining has become recognised as a powerful tool, several different communities have laid claim to the subject: Statistics Artificial Intelligence (AI) where it is called â€Å"Machine Learning† Researchers in clustering algorithms Visualisation researchers Databases: When data is large and the computations is very complex, in this context, data mining can be thought of as algorithms for executing very complex queries on non-main-memory data. 2.2.3 Stages of data mining process The following are the different stages of data mining process, sometimes called as a life cycle of data mining as shown in 2.1: Data gathering: Data warehousing, web crawling. Data cleansing: Eliminate errors and/or bogus data e.g. Patients fever = 125oC. 3- Feature extraction: Obtaining only the interesting attributes of the data e.g. â€Å"data acquired† is probably not useful for clustering celestial objects as in skycat. 4- Pattern extraction and discovery: This is the stage that is often thought of as â€Å"data mining† and is where we shall concentrate our efforts. 5- Visualisation of the data: 6- Evaluation of results: Not every discovered fact is useful, or even true! Judgment is necessary before following the softwares conclusions. [22] [23] [24] 2.3 Machine Learning There are five major techniques of machine learning in Artificial Intelligence (AI), which are discussed in the following sections. 2.3.1 Supervised Learning It relies on a teacher that provides the input data as well as the desired solution. The learning agent is trained by showing it examples of the problem state or attributes along with the desired output or action. The learning agent makes a prediction based on the inputs and if the output differs from the desired output, then the agent is adjusted or adapted to produce the correct output. This process is repeated over and over until the agent learns to make accurate classifications or predictions e.g. Historical data from databases, sensor logs or trace logs is often used as training or example data. The example of supervised learning algorithm is the ‘Decision Tree, where there is a pre-specified target variable. [25] [5] 2.3.2 Unsupervised Learning It depends on input data only and makes no demands on knowing the solution. It is used when learning agent needs to recognize similarities between inputs or to identify features in the input data. The data is presented to the Agent, and it adapts so that it partitions the data into groups. This process continues until the Agents place the same group on successive passes over the data. An unsupervised learning algorithm performs a type of feature detection where important common attributes in the data are extracted. The example of unsupervised learning algorithm is â€Å"the K-Means Clustering algorithm†. [25] [5] 2.3.3 Reinforcement Learning It is a kind of supervised learning, where the feedback is more general. On the other hand, there are two more techniques in the machine learning, and these are: on-line learning and off-line learning. [25] [5] 2.3.4 On-line and Off-line Learning On-line learning means that the agent is adapting while it is working. Off-line involves saving data while the agent is working and using the data later to train the agent. [25] [5] In an intelligent agent context, this means that the data will be gathered from situations that the agents have experienced. Then augment this data with information about the desired agent response to build a training data set. Once this database is ready it can be used to modify the behaviour of agents. These approaches can be combined with any two or more into one system. In order to develop Learning Intelligent Agent(LIAgent) we will combine unsupervised learning with supervised learning. We will test LIAgents on Iris dataset, Vote dataset about the polls in USA and two medical datasets namely Breast and Diabetes. [26] See Appendix A for all these four datasets. 2.4 Supervised Learning (Decision Tree ID3) Decision trees and decision rules are data mining methodologies applied in many real world applications as a powerful solution to classify the problems. The goal of supervised learning is to create a classification model, known as a classifier, which will predict, with the values of its available input attributes, the class for some entity (a given sample). In other words, classification is the process of assigning a discrete label value (class) to an unlabeled record, and a classifier is a model (a result of classification) that predicts one attribute-class of a sample-when the other attributes are given. [40] In doing so, samples are divided into pre-defined groups. For example, a simple classification might group customer billing records into two specific classes: those who pay their bills within thirty days and those who takes longer than thirty days to pay. Different classification methodologies are applied today in almost every discipline, where the task of classification, because of the large amount of data, requires automation of the process. Examples of classification methods used as a part of data-mining applications include classifying trends in financial market and identifying objects in large image databases. [40] A particularly efficient method for producing classifiers from data is to generate a decision tree. The decision-tree representation is the most widely used logic method. There is a large number of decision-tree induction algorithms described primarily in the machine-learning and applied-statistics literature. They are supervised learning methods that construct decision trees from a set of input-output samples. A typical decision-tree learning system adopts a top-down strategy that searches for a solution in a part of the search space. It guarantees that a simple, but not necessarily the simplest tree will be found. A decision tree consists of nodes, where attributes are tested. The outgoing branches of a node correspond to all the possible outcomes of the test at the node. [40] Decision trees are used in information theory to determine where to split data sets in order to build classifiers and regression trees. Decision trees perform induction on data sets, generating classifiers and prediction models. A decision tree examines the data set and uses information theory to determine which attribute contains the information on which to base a decision. This attribute is then used in a decision node to split the data set into two groups, based on the value of that attribute. At each subsequent decision node, the data set is split again. The result is a decision tree, a collection of nodes. The leaf nodes represent a final classification of the record. ID3 is an example of decision tree. It is kind of supervised learning. We used ID3 in order to print the decision rules as its output. [40] 2.4.1 Decision Tree Decision trees are powerful and popular tools for classification and prediction. The attractiveness of decision trees is due to the fact that, in contrast to neural networks, decision trees represent rules. Rules can readily be expressed so that humans can understand them or even directly used in a database access language like SQL so that records falling into a particular category may be retrieved. Decision tree is a classifier in the form of a tree structure, where each node is either: Leaf node indicates the value of the target attribute (class) of examples, or Decision node specifies some test to be carried out on a single attribute value, with one branch and sub-tree for each possible outcome of the test. Decision tree induction is a typical inductive approach to learn knowledge on classification. The key requirements to do mining with decision trees are:  · Attribute value description: Object or case must be expressible in terms of a fixed collection of properties or attributes. This means that we need to discretise continuous attributes, or this must have been provided in the algorithm.  · Predefined classes (target attribute values): The categories to which examples are to be assigned must have been established beforehand (supervised data).  · Discrete classes: A case does or does not belong to a particular class, and there must be more cases than classes. * Sufficient data: Usually hundreds or even thousands of training cases. A decision tree is constructed by looking for regularities in data. [27] [5] 2.4.2 ID3 Algorithm J. Ross Quinlan originally developed ID3 at the University of Sydney. He first presented ID3 in 1975 in a book, Machine Learning, vol. 1, no. 1. ID3 is based on the Concept Learning System (CLS) algorithm. [28] function ID3 Input: (R: a set of non-target attributes, C: the target attribute, 2.4.3 Functionality of ID3 ID3 searches through the attributes of the training instances and extracts the attribute that best separates the given examples. If the attribute perfectly classifies the training sets then ID3 stops; otherwise it recursively operates on the m (where m = number of possible values of an attribute) partitioned subsets to get their best attribute. The algorithm uses a greedy search, that is, it picks the best attribute and never looks back to reconsider earlier choices. If the dataset has no such attribute which will be used for the decision then the result will be the misclassification of data. Entropy a measure of homogeneity of the set of examples. [5] Entropy(S) = pplog2 pp pnlog2 pn (1) (2) 2.4.4 Decision Tree Representation A decision tree is an arrangement of tests that prescribes an appropriate test at every step in an analysis. It classifies instances by sorting them down the tree from the root node to some leaf node, which provides the classification of the instance. Each node in the tree specifies a test of some attribute of the instance, and each branch descending from that node corresponds to one of the possible values for this attribute. This is illustrated in 2.3. The decision rules can also be obtained from ID3 in the form of if-then-else, which can be use for the decision support systems and classification. Given m attributes, a decision tree may have a maximum height of m. [29][5] 2.4.5 Challenges in decision tree Following are the issues in learning decision trees: Determining how deeply to grow the decision tree. Handling continuous attributes. Choosing an appropriate attribute selection measure. Handling training data with missing attribute values. Handling attributes with differing costs and Improving computational efficiency. 2.4.6 Strengths and Weaknesses Following are the strengths and weaknesses in decision tree: Strengths Weaknesses It generates understandable rules. It is less appropriate for estimation tasks where the goal is to predict the value of a continuous attribute. It performs classification without requiring much computation. It is prone to errors in classification problems with many class and relatively small number of training examples. It is suitable to handle both continuous and categorical variables. It can be computationally expensive to train. The process of growing a decision tree is computationally expensive. At each node, each candidate splitting field must be sorted before its best split can be found. Pruning algorithms can also be expensive since many candidate sub-trees must be formed and compared. It provides a clear indication of which fields are most important for prediction or classification. It does not treat well non-rectangular regions. It only examines a single field at a time. This leads to rectangular classification boxes that may not correspond well with the actual distribution of records in the decision space. Table 2.1 2.4.7 Applications Decision tree is generally suited to problems with the following characteristics: a. Instances are described by a fixed set of attributes (e.g., temperature) and their values (e.g., hot). b. The easiest situation for decision tree learning occurs when each attribute takes on a small number of disjoint possible values (e.g., hot, mild, cold). c. Extensions to the basic algorithm allow handling real-valued attributes as well (e.g., a floating point temperature). d. A decision tree assigns a classification to each example. i- Simplest case exists when there are only two possible classes (Boolean classification). ii- Decision tree methods can also be easily extended to learning functions with more than two possible output values. e. A more substantial extension allows learning target functions with real-valued outputs, although the application of decision trees in this setting is less common. f. Decision tree methods can be used even when some training examples have unknown values (e.g., humidity is known for only a fraction of the examples). [30] Learned functions are either represented by a decision tree or re-represented as sets of if-then rules to improve readability. 2.5 Unsupervised Learning (K-Means Clustering) Cluster analysis is a set of methodologies for automatic classification of samples into a number of groups using a measure of association, so that the samples in one group are similar and samples belonging to different groups are not similar. The inpu

Monday, August 19, 2019

Timothy Findley :: essays research papers

Biography of Author Timothy Findley Timothy Findley is a native of Toronto, Ontario. He was born in 1930 and grew up in the Rosedale district of Toronto. Growing up, Timothy Findley knew that he wanted to be an artist of some form. He studied dance and later acting, which had more success. While acting, he met one of his current life long friends; actress Ruth Gordon. Gordon convinced Findley that writing was his real talent and that he should pursue it further with more concentration. So findley gave up acting after his first short story was published in The Tamarack Review to concentrate on his writings. Findley had problems receiving recognition from his first two books, The Last of the Crazy People (1967) and The Butterfly Plague (1969). It was The Wars that gave Findley the recognition that he deserved; he received the Governor General’s Literary Award for this novel. In his early years of his writing career, Findley also wrote scripts for television, radio, and film. The most success of his film career cam e from the television series The Whiteoaks of Jalna, and The National Dream; for which he received an ACTRA award for co-writing with his partner, William Whitehead. After The Wars, Findley came out with six other popular novels, two collections of short stories and Inside Memory: Pages from a Writer’s Workbook (1990), a collection of articles, journal entries, and reminiscences. Findley has been very active in the writing community; he has helped to found the Writer’s Union of Canada and has served as its chairperson. He has also been President of the Canadian chapter of P.E.N. International, and is also active in Artists Against racism. In addition to this Findley has won many awards including the Canadian Authors Association Award, The Order of Ontario, The Ontario Trillium Award, and he has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Discomfort, Irritation, and Confusion of The Bath Essay -- Wife of Bat

Discomfort, Irritation, and Confusion of The Bath People are living robots. They follow the norm. They go with the latest trend. They walk the latest walk and talk the latest talk. Even the "brilliant ideas" that sprout from people's minds are a combination of other people's thoughts and ideas; friends, family and the media are the greatest influences. When a situation that is out of the norm confronts people, they are suddenly caught off guard, and instead of dealing with the situation, they shy away from it in attempt to return to their protective glass case; the norm. Raymond Carver forces his readers to face discomfort, irritation, and confusion through reading "The Bath". His language is dry, and the story is short. The characters do not have names, the language does not flow well, and the ending leaves the reader hanging. The message of the story is vague, and the plot lacks depth; however, the details that this story reveals through the concise language surpasses any detail that "A Small, Good Thing" reveals through its abund ance of words. To begin with, "The Bath" lacks much usage of adverbs. Adverbs typically help describe an action so that the reader better understands either the character or the situation. Clearly, the point of not including adverbs in this short story is to force the reader to focus on what happens instead of how something happens. A short story is "something glimpsed from the corner of the eye, in passing" (Carver 558). A reader should not feel connected with the characters in the story because that is not the author's main concern. An author simply attempts to convey a message through some words in a page that is arranged in ... ... intentions for "A Small, Good Thing" differ from his intentions for "The Bath". Throughout "The Bath" the reader struggles with many uncomfortable feelings, and although the reader may not immediately realize that he/she can relate to the story more than he/she knows, a relationship is present. "The Bath" does a good job of putting the reader in the characters' shoes. "A Small, Good Thing," on the other hand, provides a comforting feeling of knowing everything that happens, and knowing that everything works out at the end. Since there is a beginning and an ending to the story, the reader can conclude a meaningful message from the story and relate or apply it to his/her life. Overall, "The Bath" sets the mood of the story better than "A Small, Good Thing" because of its concise language and its focus on "the glimpse" instead of the "big picture".

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Financial Statement Analysis of Square Pharmaceuticals Essay

I hope and elieve that you will be kind enough to consider any types of mistakes that occurred at the time of preparing this proposal. Thank you. Yours sincerely, Roll : 24040 Executive Summary A few comments on the organization and content of the report may be helpful to reader. In doing so, we realize that some topics may be more important to some reader then to other. For that reason we some advanced material (e. g. questionnaires) appears in appendices. Our goal is to help the reader who must compare financial position of these two companies. First we focused on the essential element of this report. We have included here the introduction of this report, objectives of the report, findings, methodology, so that the reader can get ideas easily. The second part is very important from the sense of this report. Here we have given our recommendation of the report. We have tried out level best to give the commendation neutrally. It also contains the conclusion of this report. Contents: Topic Page Introduction Objective of the Report Limitation of the Study Literature 2 Analysis 4 Summary and Conclusion 11 Introduction: Financial Statement includes the Balance Sheet, Income statement and other tatement which determine the company’s performance. Financial ratio analysis is the calculation and comparison of ratios which are derived from information in company’s financial statements. Financial ratios are the analyst’s microscope. It allowed them to get a better view of the firm’s financial health than Just looking at the raw financial statements. Objective of the Report This term paper is prepared under submitted as a major requirement of the Financial Accounting Course. Financial Accounting provides the facts needed to make informed economic as well as operational control. Limitation of the study is about: ) Based on only secondary source of data b) Time bound restrict me for further research on the topic c) possible to analyze every ratio of the financial statement There is not Literature: Financial Ratio: Financial ratios are useful indicators of a firm’s performance and financial situation. Financial ratios can be used to analyze trends and to compare the firm’s financials to those of other firms. Current Ratio Current ratio is the ratio of current assets of a business to its current liabilities. It is the most widely used test of liquidity of a business and measures the ability of a usiness to repay its debts over the period of next 12 months. Current ratio is calculated using the following formula: Current Ratio = Current Assets Current Liabilities Receivables Turnover Ratio An accounting measure used to quantify a firm’s effectiveness in extending credit as well as collecting debts. The receivables turnover ratio is an activity ratio, measuring how efficiently a firm uses its assets. Receivables turnover ratio = Net receivable sales/ Average accounts receivables Inventory Turnover A ratio showing how many times a company’s inventory is sold and replaced over a period. The days in the period can then be divided by the inventory turnover formula to calculate the days it takes to sell the inventory on hand or â€Å"inventory turnover days. † Inventory Turnover = Cost of Goods Sold Average Inventory Asset Turnover : The amount of sales generated for every dollar’s worth of assets. It is calculated by dividing sales in dollars by assets in dollars. Asset Turnover Ratio = Net Sales Average Total Assets Return On Asset: An indicator of how profitable a company is relative to its total assets.

Oxford Brookes Bsc(Hons) in Applied Accounting (Acca)

PART IPROJECT OBJECTIVES AND OVERALL RESEARCH APPROACH 1. 0. 0 INTRODUCTION Business and financial performance in the tourism industry Tourism is now one of the largest industries in the world. According to the WTO, the export income generated by international tourism ranks fourth after fuels, chemicals, and automotive products. Furthermore, the WTO points out that, for many developing countries, tourism is one of the main income sources of foreign exchange, and creates much-needed employment and opportunities for economic development. The industry has also enjoyed staggering growth over the past six decades. ttp://www. qfinance. com The tourism industry is also a major contributor to Zimbabwe’s economy thus I chose to assess the performance of a company in this sector to obtain a clear picture of how the performance of a major player in such a sector would contribute to the economy. In the tourism industry business and financial performance is highly dependent on the politica l factors of the host country. Political stability and good international relations are important for the growth of firms in the tourism industry as tourists only go to places where they feel safe and protected. Spending on tourism and hotels is also closely related to the economic cycle. Certainly, spending on leisure activities such as holidays tends to be one of the first things that consumers cut back in times of economic hardship. REASONS FOR CHOOSING RTG 1. 2. 1 Rainbow Tourism Group Background Rainbow Tourism Group was established in 1992, and is the second largest tourism group in Zimbabwe and a major player in Zimbabwe’s Tourism Industry. Listed on the Zimbabwe Stock exchange, the company has spread its wings into the regional markets through management contracts  and Strategic Alliances. In Zimbabwe, RTG operates  four brands namely, The Rainbow Towers, Rainbow Hotels  (three star city and resort hotels), Touch the wild (top of the range eco-tourism lodges offering unique safari experiences)  Ã‚   and Zimbabwe Tourism Services (a destination management services company that caters for travel arrangements). (www. rtg. co. zw) RTG has a good corporate governance struct ure and is the second largest tourism group in Zimbabwe the largest being Africansun RTG’s operating environment For the period 2007 to 2009 Zimbabwe’s business environment was extremely hostile, most businesses were closing down and the few lucky survivors were scaling down their operations massively. The economy was ranked the worst in the world and inflation at its peak was around 6. 5 quindecillionnovemdecillion percent (65 followed by 107 zeros) . Long term planning was impossible in the industry due to the political instability and bad publicity that the country received following violence surrounding the March 2008 presidential elections as well as cholera outbreaks affected tourist arrivals in 2008, thereby limiting any growth in the economy. The highest decrease in the number of tourist arrivals was reported from traditional source markets, such as the UK and the US. Http. //www. euromonitor. com/Zimbabwe The managed exchange rate and high inflation rate made budgeting difficult. The introduction of price controls by the government in the sector meant that RTG could not increase their prices in line with inflation as they were supposed to request for price increases first whereas their expenses were increasing therefore cutting down their profits unreasonably. The rampant shortage of basic commodities such as food and drinks increased costs as supply could not match demand it also meant that hotels and restaurants could not offer services to its customers and therefore a drop in revenues and standards of services. A high unemployment rate of about 94% and a shrinking economy also meant that the local customers had no disposable income as 98% of the population was living under the poverty datum line and had to cut back on leisure activities. The tourism sector also faced a crumbling air transport sector, with ramifications for the entire economy and the withdrawal of a number of reputable airlines, citing viability problems. Approximately 18 international airlines are reported to have left the country since the start of the economic crisis in the year 2000. Some of the airlines that pulled out of the Zimbabwe route were Zambian Airways, British Airways, Swissair, Lufthansa, KLM and Air France. High fuel prices, combined with political and economic turbulence, were the reasons cited for the withdrawals. Zimbabwe’s isolation was a major blow to the already ailing travel and tourism industry, which relies heavily on high-spending incoming tourists. (www. newzimbabwe. com) Purpose and objectives of the research The objective of this research is to find out how RTG’s business and financial performance over the three year period 2007 to 2009 contributed to Zimbabwe’s economy when it was in a massive economic recession and when foreign currency and jobs were needed most. RTG is a major player in the tourism sector which contributes a significant portion to the GDP of Zimbabwe therefore RTG’s business and financial performance was not only important to its shareholders but also to the whole economy. To achieve this objective the researcher will also establish the following: * To establish how RTG measures and assesses its performance. * To find out what strategies RTG adopted to meet its business and financial performance objectives. * To assess whether RTG’s business and financial performance was adequate to survive the economic crisis it was facing. The research aims to answer the following questions: What measures were used by RTG to assess the business and financial performance and were they adequate? * What were the strategies RTG used to achieve its business and financial objectives and were they adequate? * How did RTG perform compared to its main competitors? * How did RTG’s business and financial performance contribute to the economy of Zimbabwe? * Did RTG meet the expectations of all its stakeholders? * How can RTG improve its performance? Research approach The researcher used a case study approach employing both qualitative and quantitative techniques to evaluate the performance of RTG. This approach enabled the researcher to make a balanced assessment and to consider other stakeholder’s interests that might be difficult to measure quantitatively. To answer the above questions the researcher will use traditional techniques such asratio analysis and trend analysis to establish the patterns of performance while comparisons with other organizations in the same industry will also be done. Modern techniques such as Kaplan and Norton’s balanced scorecard will also be used in order to develop a comprehensive framework of assessing the business and financial performance of RTG. Gaps will be identified, conclusions drawn and recommendations will be made as to how RTG can improve its business and financial performance in future. PART IIINFORMATION GATHERING AND ACCOUNTING / BUSINESS TECHNIQUES Introduction Description of methods This section identifies the research methodologies which will be used for data gathering by the researcher. â€Å"research methodology refers to a whole range of questions about the assumed, appropriate ways of going about social research and is therefore a theory or an analysis of how research should operate† (hitchcock and hughes 1995:20). Data collection procedures Data collection is about using the selected methods of investigation which Robson (1997:304) believes there is no generally best methods as all methods have their weaknesses. Various methods of data collection were used in this research and the following are the primary and secondary data collection methods that were used. Primary methods * Interviews * Observation Secondary methods * books * journals and publications * internet * Published financial statements Secondary data Secondary data are statistics not gathered for the immediate study at hand but some other purpose. Churchill 2002). Secondary data was used in this research to get an in-depth understanding of the business and financial performance of RTG. Saunders (2007) gave the following advantages and disadvantages of secondary data Advantages * Saves time and money * High quality of information compared to data gathered by an individual at the point of research * Provides a general framework for c omparing data collected by the individual. Disadvantages * Accessibility of data maybe costly or difficult * The purpose why the secondary data was collected may not be relevant to the research being undertaken. There is no control over the quality of secondary data therefore accuracy maybe difficult to verify * Information gathered maybe outdated Primary data Advantage * The most important benefit of primary data is that data is original. Disadvantages * Results may not be representative of what is found in the population * The flexible nature of methods used can result in ambiguous results Research instruments Interviews An interview is a social survey conducted in a face-to-face or personal conduct situation. Heyward and Sparks (1984) define an interview as an occasion when one or two people ask questions that seek to find out opinions and ideas. Advantages of interviews Face to face * Immediate feedback * Quick feedback * Easy to tell whether respondent understood the questions, * physical gestures and personal contact adds emphasis * allows for a wide exchange of ideas * Good relations are established E-mails and Telephones * Immediate feedback * Appropriate for â€Å"always busy† interviewees * E-mails can be easily stored for other uses Disadvantages of interviews Face to face * Data is difficult to record, code and analyze * time consuming interviewee accessibility may be difficult * The interviewee maybe uncooperative E-mails and Telephones * late feedback caused by disruptions due to network congestion and technical breakdowns * High telephone charges Literature review 1. 1. 11. 1. 1 Financial performance Financial performance is a subjective measure of how well a firm can u se assets from its primary mode of business and generate revenues. It measures a firm’s overall financial health over a given period of time and/or compare with similar firms across the same industry www. investopedia. com/terms/f/financialperformance. asp 1. 1. 2 Business Performance Business performance can be defined as â€Å"the integration of financial and non-financial systems and processes to achieve organization goals and objectives† http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/business_performance_management Business performance is about creating value for the stakeholders of a business. Measuring business performance is therefore very subjective and finding suitable measures is very difficult. An organization’s business and financial performance cannot be measured in isolation it has to be compared with prior periods or other organizations in the same economic sector taking into consideration the company’s business environment. Business performance is guided by an organization’s vision and mission these outline the aims to be achieved and the desired end results. Research Approach The researcher will use a variety of business and financial performance measures. Firstly the researcher will consider traditional financial performance measures such as return on capital employed, liquidity gearing indicators, earning per share and trend analysis which shows the value added to the shareholder’s investments. The traditional argument is that shareholders are the legal owners of a company and so their interests should thus be to maximize shareholder wealth. Shareholders are generally concerned with the following: * Current earnings * Future earnings * Dividend policy * Relative The objective of wealth maximization is usually expanded into three primary objectives which are survival growth and to make profit Kaplan 2007:184) Traditional financial performance measures will be used to measure how RTG has been able to satisfy its shareholders. Weaknesses of ratio analysis As illustrated by Owen G (1994:386) the following are the main weaknesses of using ratio analysis * It uses historical information which maybe out of date * Can mislead when making comparisons if accounting policies are different * Can be distorted by one-off transactions * Takes no account of cyclical changes throughout a period * One dimensional To fully assess the business and financial performance of RTG the researcher will also use non-financial performance measures through the use of the balanced scorecard and other performance measures. The Balanced scorecard The balanced scorecard was developed by Kaplan and Norton as cited in Kaplan ACCA P5 (2009) defines it as a tool to translate an organization’s vision and strategy into objectives and measures. It looks at four perspectives namely financial perspective, customer perspective internal business perspective and learning and growth perspective. The aim of the balanced scorecard is to enable the business to develop a comprehensive framework for translating a company’s strategic objectives into a coherent set of goals and performance measures. Kaplan ACCA P5 (2009) Limitations of the balanced scorecard Neely (2002) argues that the most difficult problem of Balanced Score Card (BSC) is that it lacks several important interest groups in its structure: such as suppliers, co-operation partners and close neighbors. The International Institute of Management (2002) states the following implementation pitfalls and limitations of the Balanced Score Card: * Cut the jacket to fit the person do not cut the person to fit. * The balanced scorecard should not be balanced, success factors are not equal and their relationships are not linear. Trying to balance the scorecard will lead to confusion, conflict and lack of focus. * Insufficient cause and effect relationships and performance drivers. * Conflict of interest (different stakeholders want different things) * Measuring intangible assets (information and human capital) is difficult. Other measures of performance The researcher will also use other Critical success factors and Key performance indicators such as revenue per and room occupancy rates, among others to fully analyze the performance of RTG Ethical issues The researcher took into consideration ethical issues such as confidentiality and objectivity in carrying out the research and analysis. The researcher assured RTG that he was going to use the information he collected strictly for academic purposes. The researcher also assured all the individuals he interacted with that he was going to be objective in analyzing the information they provided. All the information the researcher obtained was kept secure at all times to preserve anonymity and confidentiality. . PART 3  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Results, analysis, conclusions and recommendations This section is dedicated to the presentation of the data collected, its interpretation, drawing of conclusions and making recommendations. The researcher will start by presenting and analyzing his findings on the financial performance of RTG for the period 2007 to 2009 using ratio and trend analysis. In latter sections the researcher will present his findings and analyze RTG’s performance using non-financial performance indicators to assess its business performance. 3. 1 Traditional Financial Ratios of RTG 3. 1. 1 Profitability ratios of RTG Analysis of profitability was made very difficult by the hyperinflationary environment that was in Zimbabwe between 2007 and 2008. On 14 February 2008, the Central Statistical Office announced that the inflation rate for December 2007 was 66,212. 3%. On 20 February 2008, the Central Statistical Office said that officially, inflation had in January 2008 gone past the 100,000% mark to 100,580. 2%. On 4 April 2008, the Financial Gazette (FinGaz) reported that officially, inflation in February 2008 jumped to 164,900. 3%. On 15 May 2008, the Zimbabwe Independent reported that officially, inflation in March 2008 jumped to 355,000%. On 21 May 2008, SW Radio Africa reported that, according to an independent financial assessment inflation in May 2008 jumped to 1,063,572. 6%. The state statistical service in April 2008 said there were not enough goods in the shortage-stricken shops to calculate any new (official) figures. On 26 June 2008, the Zimbabwe Independent reported that, latest figures from the Central Statistical Offices (CSO) showed that annual inflation rose by 7,336,000 percentage points to 9,030,000% by June 20 and was set to end the month at well above 10,500,000%. According to Central Statistical Office statistics, annual inflation rate rose to 231 million percent in July 2008. The month-on-month rate rose to 2,600. 2%. By December 2008, inflation was estimated at 6. 5 quindecillionnovemdecillion percent (65 followed by 107 zeros) The Zimbabwe Central statistical office stopped publishing inflation figures and therefore the Zimbabwe Consumer Price Index was not available to adjust the 2008 financial statement figures. The historical figures used were out of date and comparison of costs and revenues gave a false picture and thus care should be taken in interpreting them. The researcher therefore could not analyze trends in revenue and cost as they had been heavily distorted by inflation and no adjustments could be made as the Central Statistical Office stopped publishing the inflation figures and the Consumer Price Index. Gross Profit Margin The gross profit margins of RTG in 2007, 2008 and 2009 were 74%, 99% and 84% respectively. The gross profit margin shows the gross profit generated per every dollar of sales. In 2009 Africansun limited’s gross profit margin was 65% therefore showing that although RTG’s gross profit margin had decreased from the prior year it was still better than its competitor. In the researcher’s interview with Mr L Chasakara RTG’s operations director, he said thatâ€Å"RTG managed to increase its gross profit margin from 74% in 2007 to 99% in 2008 by specifically targeting the domestic market†. Sales from the domestic market were increased from 78% in 2007 to 83% in 2008 as the foreign market was deteriorating due to the political instability in Zimbabwe in this period. The researcher however also noted that the increase in gross profit margin from 74% in 2007 to 99% in 2008 could have been due to the fact that the use of historical cost in 2008 overstated revenues due to high inflation figures and understated costs as most costs had been incurred earlier in the year. Revenue will generally be overstated in hyperinflationary environments if historical costs are used as costs are normally incurred before revenues are realized. Net Profit Margin The net profit margins of RTG in 2007 was (0. 62%), it rose dramatically in 2008 to 879% then decreased again sharply to 0. 13% respectively. In 2008 the net profit margin was heavily distorted by the RTG’S investment income which it gained from trading on the Zimbabwean Stork exchange which was booming at this time. In 2009 the use of the United States dollar as the official currency in Zimbabwe (Dollarization) saw inflation dropping to below zero percent. This resulted in more realistic profitability ratios with the gross profit margin dropping to 84% from 99% in 2008 and the operating net profit margin dropping to 0. 913% in 2009 from 879% in 2008. Removing investment income from the net profit before interest and tax in the 2008 statement of financial position gives us a net profit margin of 17% which is more indicative of RTG’s performance in 2008. The researcher asked Mr L. Chasakara, RTG’s operations director if the large profits that RTG had reported in 2008 were a true indication of its performance. Mr L. Chasakara responded saying â€Å"these were unusual results in unusual circumstances we did what we had to do in order to survive and excel in one of the most hostile economic situations in history† The trend in the gross profit margin and the operating and the net profit margins of RTG from 2007 to 2009 is presented in the table below: Source; Kembo H (2011) The table below shows the trend in net profit margin after subtracting investment income from RTG’s 2008 net profit before interest and tax: Source: Kembo H (2011) Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) ROCE is an indicator of the management’s efficiency in generating profit from resources. In 2007 RTG’s ROCE was 2%, it then rose sharply to93. 5% in line with the high profits that were earned in 2008 and then came down to 29. % in 2009. In 2009 Africansun Limited which is RTG’s main competitor had a negative ROCE of 18. 75%. Therefore even though RTG’s ROCE dropped from 93. 5% in 2008 to 29. 1% in 2009 it still was better compared to its rival in the Zimbabwean tourism industry. RTG’s ROCE was also higher than the average borrowing rate in 2009 of 15% which means that RTG added value to its investor’s funds as it managed ROCE above the minimum borrowing rate to compensate for the extra risk they took upon investing in RTG. Asset turnover The asset turnover ratio shows the revenue generated per dollar of assets that is the efficiency of assets in generating revenue. RTG’s asset turnover ratio for 2007 was 0. 20 times per annum then decreased to, 0. 094 times then rose to 0. 92 times per annum The Asset turnover trend between 2007 and 2009 is shown in the table below: Source Kembo H (2011) In 2007 and 2008 investment income contributed to the bulk of the net profit therefore RTG’s asset turnover ratios were very poor at 0. 20 times per annum and 0. 94 times per annumrespectively. This suggests that the group was using its funds for other investments rather than its operating activities as the operating environment was extremely hostile. In the researcher’s interview with the Operations Director of RTG, heexpressed that this move was necessary for survival as the mismatch of revenues and costs due to hyperinflation meant normal operations of the RTG would result in heavy losses. Asset turnover of RG T improved dramatically in 2009 rising to 0. 2 times per annum meaning that the group was using its assets effectively to produce revenue. Although RTG’s asset turnover ratio improved in 2009 it fades in comparison with its main competitor Africansun Limited which had an asset turnover ratio of 1. 32 times a year. This means that RTG was less efficient in generating revenue from its capital than its competitor. Working Capital Ratios Current ratio The current ratio measures the adequacy of current assets to meet liabilities as they fall due. (Financial Reporting F7 Kaplan 2009) In 2007 RTG’s current ratio was 0. 7:1 which meant that RTG’s could not service its liabilities in the event that they fall due. In an interview with the researcher the Accountant of RTG Mr G Nzunga said hyperinflation made it difficult to keep too much cash it would quickly be eroded, thus they had to channel their resources into the acquisition of tangible assets and keep current assets at a minimum. In2008there was further decrease of the current ratio to 0. 32:1 as inflation continued to rise and most people discouraged to keep cash or cash equivalents. In 2009 the current ratio of RTG was 0. 76:1, an improvement from the 2008 current ratio but still not satisfactory. In 2009 the use of the United States dollar as the official currency in Zimbabwe (Dollarization) saw inflation dropping to below zero percent thus the improvement as the economic environmentbecame began to normalize. Mr G Nzunga, RTG’s Accountant said that RTG was still in a difficult position as far as working capital management was concerned as a liquidity crisis began across industry soon after dollarization in Zimbabwe in 2009. The company was not generating enough money from its day to day activities to pay mostly suppliers and other current liabilities as they fell due. In 2009 Africansun Limited which is the biggest tourism group in Zimbabwe’s current ratio was 0. 49:1. The liquidity crisis in Zimbabwe made it very hard for companies in Zimbabwe to maintain decent current ratios and most of them had to employ aggressive working capital management. With a current ratio of 0. 76:1 RTG is considered to have performed quite well given the surrounding circumstances. Inventory Turnover Period Due to lack of information the researcher was unable to calculate RTG’s inventory turnover ratios, receivables periods and payables periods for the years 2007-2008 and could only calculate the inventory turnover ratio, receivables and payables periods for the year 2009. RTG’s inventory turnover ratio for the year 2009 was 143 days which was very bad considering the fact the larger percentage of RTG’s inventory is food that they sell to guests. Normally in the food industry inventory turnover should be fairly quick so as to preserve the reputation of the company and quality of the meals served. Africansun’s inventory turnover in the same period was 70 days which was better than that of RTG in this period. The accountant of RTG commented in this high ratio saying that they purchased large amounts storks to avoid the effects of stork outs in the event of food shortages which were common in Zimbabwe in 2008. In 2008 the retail and Food industries were almost facing ruin as shelves in shops went empty due to the economic and political challenges Zimbabwe was facing, therefore it was generally reasonable for RTG to keep relatively large amounts of stork. Payables Period RTG’s payables period was 726 days in 2009 which represents the credit period it was taking from its suppliers. RTG had such a bad payables period mainly due to liquidity problems that the majority of companies was having in industry and partly as an aggressive working capital management strategy. This however resulted in RTG gaining a very bad credit reputation from its suppliers. One of their major security suppliers Chubb Locks’ Manager was once quoted saying â€Å"RTG is the worst paying customer in the country†. Some suppliers have stopped supplying RTG as a result of RTG’s bad credit record but because they are a large firm RTG still gets new suppliers. Some suppliers now demand cash for all purchases made by RTG. RTG has also been forced to purchase their supplies from more expensive suppliers or poor quality supplies. RTG is also losing out on discounts they could gain by paying promptly. In an interview with the researcher Mr G Nzunga the accountant for RTG said that the company did not have enough liquid funds to pay all their suppliers. He also stated that it was also part of an aggressive working capital management strategy as they were receiving free financing from creditors. He however admitted that the strategy was getting over-aggressive and it was ethically questionable to pursue this strategy any further. In the same period African sun’s payables period was 12 days which was better than RTG’s period and hence its good reputation with suppliers across the industry. Receivables Period The receivables period for RTG in 2009 was 94 days. This was in line with their credit policy which states that the credit period allowable to customers should be three months. The receivables period for African sun was 59 days in 2009 which was better than RTG’s period this obviously shows that African sun Limited faces less risk from irrecoverable debts. Gearing The gearing ratio indicates the degree of financial risk the company is facing and the sensitivity of earnings and dividends to changes in profitability and activity levels. Kaplan ACCA F7(2009)) In the years 2007 and 2008 RTG did not have any long term borrowing thus the gearing ratio was zero. This meant that risk for financial risk for RTG was very low. Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe made long term loans difficult to get as any lender would find it very difficult to set interest rates as inflation was highly unpredictable in this period. The value of any money borrowed could be eroded within days if not hours therefore no companies had meaningful long term liabilities. In 2009 after the introduction of the US Dollar as the official currency in Zimbabwe companies started gearing up although the liquidity crisis that followed made it difficult to get funding from local financial institutions. In 2009 the gearing ratio for RTG was 2%. RTG’s gearing ratio was very low and induced very little credit risk to the shareholders. A low gearing ratio means that RTG has the scope to borrow more if there are any profitable ventures in the future and for their current refurbishment and expansion project at their A’Zambezi River Lodge unit and increasing the group’s room capacity. Financing will also be cheap for RTG as lenders will face very low levels of risk in extending loans to them. In 2009 Africansun Limited’s gearing ratio was also very low at 3. 5% which means it also had low levels of financial risk. The low gearing across industry also reflected the liquidity crisis which was eminent in Zimbabwe in 2009 where lenders did not have the funds to extend loans to firms and they were also still skeptical about the economic and political situation in Zimbabwe. Interest Cover Interest cover is the ability of a firm to pay interest out of its profits. In 2009 RTG Interest coverwas1. 52 timesand indicated that the shareholder’s dividends were at risk. However the ability of RTG to pay its interests having emerged from difficult economic times should satisfy its shareholders as Africansun Limited its major competitor failed to make profits to pay for their finance costs. Earnings Per Share The earnings per share of RTG for 2008was384 billion Zimbabwean dollars per share and the earnings per share for 2007 was 253. 7 Zimbabwean dollars per share. Converting these figures to United States dollars at the unofficial exchange rates that were ruling at the 2007 and 2008 year ends would make the respective earnings per share figures less than 0. 000001 US cents. Due to the hyperinflation in these periods the researcher found analyzing these figures very difficultand almost impossible. The earnings per share for RTG in 2009 was USD0. 01 which was quiet impressive compared to its rivals in the tourism industry as most of them. In 2009 the earnings per share for African sun Limited was negative USD0. 8. Customer Perspective Occupancy rates One of the main indicators of performance in the tourism industry is the occupancy rate of hotels. RTG managed an occupancy rate of 44% in 2007 which was below the Zimbabwean tourism industry average occupancy rate of 45%. In the tourism industry the more customers are satisfied by your service the higher your occupancy rate will be. In 2008 the occupancy rate of RTG decreased by 9% to 37%. The decr ease in occupancy rate was due to the economic and political instability during the 2008 Zimbabwean Elections were here was widespread violence in the country, therefore the number of tourists decreased. Most airlines also pulled out of the country ma The industry average room occupancy rate in Zimbabwe’s tourism industry was 41% which was higher than that of RTG which was 37%. This shows that RTG performed badly compared to peers in the tourism industry. The fall in RTG’s occupancy rate can therefore be attributed to failure to satisfy customers better than its rivals. In 2009 RTG’s occupancy rate increased to 40% which was an increase of 3% from the 2008 occupancy rate. The increase could be attributed to the improvement in the political and economic environment in Zimbabwe after the formation of a Government of National Unity (GNU) and the dollarization of the economy. The industry average occupancy rate for 2009 was 31% which was 9% below that of RTG. In an interview with the researcher Mr L Chasakara the operations director for RTG attributed the higher occupancy rate to better brand management, better marketing strategies and service excellence. RTG’s higher occupancy rate means that it was more able to satisfy its customers better than its competitors. RTG’s main competitor and the largest hotel group in Zimbabwe African sun Limited’s occupancy rate in 2009 was 32% showing that RTG performed exceptionally well in 2009 in managing to attract customers The table below shows RTG’s occupancy rate compared to the tourism industry average: Source Kembo, H(2011) . In an interview Mr G Nzunga RTG’s accountant said that the occupancy rates also improved because 65% of their sales come from repeat business from satisfied guests and large groups of organizations who hold seminars at RTG’s hotels. Service lead time In 2009 RTG managed to reduce its service lead time in its hotels to an average of 20 minutes between the time food in restaurants and rooms is ordered to the time it is served. In 2007 and 2008 the average service lead time was 30 minutes. Better training and process improvement helped in achieving the reduction in service lead time as said by the Mr L Chasakara the operations director for RTG, he also added that benchmarking against the best restaurants also helped in achieving the improvement. In 2007 RTG was not recording complaints in late service delivery to customers but in 2008 RTG recorded 2700 complaints and the figure improved to 1100 in 2009 which was a 59% improvement. This improvement shows that RTG improved in satisfying its customers in 2009. Service Quality RTG keeps books at all its hotels were customers are asked to write a comment on the services they would have received before they leave. A review of these books at two of RTG’s units Victoria Falls Rainbow Hotel and A’Zambezi showed the results presented in the table below: Comment| 2007| 2008| 2009| Favorable| 98%| 96%| 99%| Unfavorable| 2%| 4%| 0. 9%| Will Return| 68%| 80%| 70%| Will not Return| 0%| 0%| 0%| The results from the review of the comment books showed that the majority of guests were satisfied by the service they received on staying at RTG units which means that RTG performed very well in this regard. Internal perspective Room service complaints were 3500 in 2007 and increased to 4550 in 2008. This was mainly due to the shortage of basic commodities in Zimbabwe in 2008. Shortage of commodities meant that the hotel could not provide its customers with some luxury items they were used to having every time they visited and hence the increase in complaints. The Accountant at RTG Mr G Nzunga explained that they made sure that their staff would explain the situation very carefully to the customers and extensive training of staff ensured that they were able to utilize the few commodities that were available. In 2009 complaints decreased to 2900. This could partly explained by the end of the commodity crisis in Zimbabwe. This also shows that RTG managed to improve its internal processes to reduce the number of complaints they were receiving from customers yearly. Learning and innovation RTG has invested heavily in the training of its staff in order to give better service to its customers. RTG has opened a Hotel School for the training of its workers and other external students. The commitment of RTG to continuously improve its operating processes and learn new ways of doing things has seen them being able to keep costs low and increase room capacity to make when its competitors are making losses and their occupancies are dropping. In an interview with the researcher Mr G Nzunga RTG’s Accountant said that every worker at RTG attends at least 1 seminar every month in order to keep them abreast of changes and new ways of doing things. Interview review Question1 In the first question the researcher asked the operations director and the accountant of RTG what their financial and business objectives were. The responses can be summarized as follows: * To be profitable and to create value for our shareholders. * To survive and grow in the long run thus protecting the interests of all our stakeholders. In 2008 the main objective was to survive in the harsh economic climate in order to save the tourism industry and the Zimbabwean economy itself * To achieve service excellence in tourism and hospitality. Question 2 In question 2 the researcher asked the accountant of RTG how they measure their business and financial performance. In response he said RTG assesses its performance through traditional financial perform ance measures such as ratio analysis and trend analysis and other modern measures especially the balanced scorecard as they are equally concerned about the qualitative aspects of performance. Question 3 In the third question the researcher asked the accountant and the operations director of RTG if they could explain the trend in the ratios that had been calculated from 2007 to 2009 financial statements. They gave various explanations for all the fluctuations in these ratios some of them have been quoted in the analysis of these ratios in the section above. The most common response to the financial ratios was that they were unusual results in an unusual environment referring to the hyper inflationary environment that was in Zimbabwe during this period. Question 4 Question 4 was to establish which strategies RTG used to ensure that they met their business and financial objectives. In response the accountant and operations director outlined the following as some of the strategies they implemented: * Employing an aggressive working capital strategy to mitigate the liquidity and operational challenges they were facing * Investing in money markets rather than core operating activities to improve the cash and revenue inflow. Focusing on the local markets rather than the traditional international markets that had been negatively impacted by bad publicity and political instability. * Process and service improvement through employee training. * Intensive marketing both nationally and internationally * Strict stock management to curb the shortages of basic commodities that were prevailing as a result of price controls by the government. Questions 5, 6 and 7 These questions were to establish how RTG business and financial performance contribu ted to the economy and how it can improve its performance in future. In response the interviewees stated that in making profits and surviving through the historic hyperinflationary environment in the period under review RTG saved the tourism industry in Zimbabwe as its downfall would have surely resulted in the collapse of the tourism and hospitality industry. They also stated that they managed to save thousands of jobs and provided business for hundreds of their suppliers. They also stated that to improve performance RTG would spend more on capital through hotel refurbishments and also taking advantage of their low gearing by taking loans thus improving working capital. They also stressed the need to advertise and restore the image of Zimbabwe as a tourist destination. Conclusion The researcher found out that RTG uses both financial and non-financial performance measures through the balanced score card which gives a comprehensive framework for performance measurement. This ensures that both quantitative and qualitative performance objectives are assessed. RTG used various strategies to ensure that it met its financial and business objectives which were mainly to survive the harsh economic environment and to protect its investors employees and all its stakeholders. RTG used strategies such as aggressive working capital management, investing in the money markets instead of its core operational activities and shifting their attention on the local market rather than the traditional international market. RTG also innovated through constantly innovating and improving its processes to achieve its business and financial objectives. Limitations of results The major limitation of these results is the unavailability of inflation adjusted figures for the proper analysis of financial ratios and trend analysis which might have given a false picture. The researcher held interviews with only 2 members of the executive management team which might have given a narrow picture of RTG’s performance. Interviewing all members of the management and the board would have given the researcher a broader understanding of the business and financial performance of RTG, but time and the availability of most of these people was a challenge. The researcher could not visit all RTG companies due to limitation of resources as they are geographically dispersed. This might have limited the researcher especially when he looked at the qualitative aspects of RTG’s performance. Recommendations The researcher recommends that RTG should employ less aggressive working strategies. RTG’s current working capital strategy may see suppliers refusing to supply them with critical supplies. RTG might also face legal action from its suppliers which may increase its legal costs and even loose customers who may not want to be associated with firms who have bad credit reputation. RTG should thus reduce its payables period to a more reasonable period of perhaps 90 days. The researcher also recommends that RTG should increase its gearing levels as they are currently very low in order to take advantage of loans which provide cheaper financing than equity. Zimbabwe’s reputation as a safe tourism destination was severely damaged due to the political and economic instability in 2007 and 2008. The researcher thus recommends that RTG should form partnerships with other players in the tourism industry to market the Zimbabwean brand in the international tourism market.