Assignment 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 3

Assignment 1 - Essay Example The information obtained from management accounting system help facilitate this objective. For example the management of an organization can use management information to determine which products to drop outsource or produce in house. The information used in planning can then be used as standards against which future performance can be evaluated. This then forms a basis for controlling output or inputs ad determined from the variance. In management accounting, the decision maker is able to forecast an activity and the required input, such as labour time and cost for production, which helps in planning to determine the feasibility of the project. During actual production, he costs incurred are used to evaluated performance and determine the necessary course of action through control mechanism (Needles, Crosson, & Powers, 2002). Management accounting information is also used in decision making is to; generate information that is useful in helping the management allocate costs between costs of goods sold and inventory for internal and report profit to external users Financial accounting is a term used to describe the process of maintains a system of accounting records such as revenues, and exoenses for business transactions and other items of financial nature and reporting the financial position and fianacial performance of an entity. The main purpose of financial accounting is to provide information to external users such as investors, banks and shareholder (Needles, Crosson, & Powers, 2002). The scope of financial accounting concretes on the external users of financial information of the company. Therefore accounting information is useful in acquisition of financial resources from lenders banks and other financial institutions that depend on such information to make decisions. From a company’s financial information a bank is able to determine the ability of a firm to pay interest on bonds. Financial accounting

Newly Established Nations in World Wars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Newly Established Nations in World Wars - Essay Example At the beginning of the XX century, Asian and African countries were occupied and controlled by European states and the USA. For instance, British Empire controlled population of 458 million people. Belgium had only one colony, the Belgian Congo, but its territory was 76 times larger than Belgium. Germany, France, the USA and Russia controlled countries Asian and African continent. For these colonies World War I opened the door to a revolution in world politics in which several perspectives on international relations competed for attention in the period of intellectual ferment (King 23). Speaking about the establishment of the new states, historians speak about policy of countries involved in a conflict. For instance, German aggression was fueled by Pan-Slavic policy provided in Sarajevo. Usually, the common sense of war concerns the questions of national safety, and usually accepted and accomplished not on the basis of choice, but on the bases of force connected with the bureaucrati c system. The main consequence of the WWI was new division of power and new world order. New states emerged in Eastern Europe and after the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and Turkish Revolution. The large-scale death and destruction exacted by World War 1 destroyed the security that had made current history a comfortable approach to international politics. That catastrophic global war, begun in 1914, was a painful learning experience that stimulated the search for knowledge that could address contemporary policy problems-notably war-in a theoretical context (King 45). After the war, Great Britain became one of the biggest debtors; the USA, and Woodrow Wilson, followed policy of isolationism; France occupied the Republic of Alsace-Lorraine but suffered from destructions caused by the war. Many of its colonial solders returned to native lands and began anti-imperial movements; Russia suffered from the civil war and the revolution (1917); Germany was subjected with obligations and rep arations under the Treaty of Versailles. Bending to French pressure, the Peace of Paris (the Versailles treaty) insisted on the destruction of Germany's armed forces, the loss of territory, and the imposition of heavy reparations to compensate the Allies for the damage that German militarism had exacted (King 76-77). The World War II created new opportunities for colonies to preserve their self-identity and national spirit. Domestically, nationalism inflamed forceful recovery of lost territory and rationalized the expansion of German borders to regain provinces ceded to others and to absorb Germans living in Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland (LaFeber 22). The rise of fascism animated this renewed imperialistic push. German aggression was fueled further by resentment of the punitive terms imposed at the 1919 Paris peace conference by the victorious World War I powers (France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and the United States). A key cause the WWII was the failure of the British hope for Anglo-American collaboration to maintain world order. That hope vanished when the United States, in a fit of anger, repudiated the Versailles peace treaty and retreated

RG Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

RG - Essay Example I have been to many other churches in the past but this church exudes a certain level of peculiarity in terms of church practices. Upon my arrival at the church, I was met by an usherette who greeted me blissfully and guided me to my seat. The solemnity inside the church is just the same as many other churches but what you will observe is that Adventists do have this very welcoming spirit: they would smile at you and ask you of where are you from, they would enlist you in their rolls of Sabbath visitors, etc. For me, that was unusual because this is the first church that really recognized my presence to this level. Their church services are different from many other religions because the morning services are divided into two: the first half is the Sabbath School program and the second half would be the Divine Service. I was captivated by the nature of their class discussions: the church is divided into many classes and each class has its own teacher. Everyone in the class, and that i ncluded me, tackled issues on the Bible. The leader even asked for my opinion and was very open-minded about the possibility of my answers. Seventh-day Adventists are very conservative, at least based on my personal experience with the church during my visit, especially when it comes to their music. They do not use drums and electronic guitars; instead, they are only using a piano or an acoustic guitar. One person told me that they refrain from using â€Å"loud† instruments because they believe that it would shift the congregation’s attention to worldly things and they would decrease the level of solemnity of the services. I also noticed that Seventh-day Adventists do have a peculiar grooming. They do not wear earrings, necklaces, or bracelets. Majority of the members I have saw and met during that visit look very simple in their grooming. There is not much embellishment in the body; only watches and marriage rings.

Non-Oil Sector Stocks in Saudi Arabia Research Paper

Non-Oil Sector Stocks in Saudi Arabia - Research Paper Example Saudi Arabia has proven oil reserves of 264.52 billion barrels of oil (OPEC, 2011) and recently surpassed by Venezuela who claimed their oil reserves had risen to 269.5 billion barrels of oil. In terms of oil production, Saudi Arabia has a quota allocation of just over 30% of production among Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) countries. The Saudi Arabian oil production in 2010 was 9.1 million barrels per day which accounted for 13% of world’s total oil production. Oil is the major driver of economic activity in Saudi Arabia. Oil-related activities accounted for 47% of the GDP in 2010 (MoF, 2011), and petroleum products exports amounted to $193 billion and accounted for 84% (by value) of total exports in Saudi Arabia (OPEC, 2011). Therefore, oil prices play a vital role in the Saudi Arabian economy. However, from the perspective of an investor or an enterprise in Saudi Arabian market, it is also important to know whether oil prices have a major role to pl ay in stock prices of non-oil sector companies too. If there is a high positive correlation between oil prices and non-oil sector stocks, an investor can use these stocks to hedge on their investments in oil. The outcome of this study could, therefore, be very useful for foreign investors and enterprises already present or planning to enter the Saudi Arabian market. Clarification of Terms and Concepts Aggregate Demand: The total demand for goods and services in an economy for a specified time period and at specific price levels is called aggregate demand. It is made up of 4 major components – consumption or consumer spending, investment, government spending and net exports. Correlation: A statistical measure that describes how two variables move together with each other. The coefficient of correlation has the value between -1 and 1. A positive value means the two variables move in the same direction simultaneously. The closer the value is to 0, the lesser relative movement th ey have. Disposable Income: The amount of money that the households in an economy have for spending and saving after taxes have been deducted from their total income. It indirectly measures the potential for consumer spending in the economy. Downstream (oil industry): The downstream activities in oil industry refer to refining and distribution of natural gas and products refined from crude oil. Exchange rates: The rate at which two currencies can be exchanged for each other. Essentially, it is the price at which one country’s currency can be exchanged for another country’s currency. Granger-Causality test: A statistical test used to measure whether the change in one variable causes a change in another variable. Granger-Causality tests relationship between two variables. This methodology is employed to test the causality of each variable for the other and establish which variable causes the change in which variable. The key principle used is that the independent variabl e is better able to predict the dependent variable than when taking only the lagged values of the dependent variable to predict it.

The First World War Satire Essay Example for Free

The First World War Satire Essay How does Blackadder Goes Forth satirize the First World War and how does it fit into the situation comedy genre as a whole? A situation comedy, or a sit-com, is a comedy series projected from radio or television. The programme itself is based upon how characters react to unusual or comic situations. Situation comedies follow specific characters that encounter situations and then they try and deal with them. In each episode of a situation comedy, the story follows the same characters. Most situation comedies are set in a specific place that forms the set for every episode. A flat is commonly used in situation comedies for the set. Popular examples of flat share situation comedies are Only Fools and Horses and Friends. These two sit-coms are extremely popular, and both are set in a flat. Situation comedies used to form gaps in between more important shows. This was soon changed as the demand for sit-coms massively grew. They are now one of the most dominant television genres around. Blackadder is a situation comedy. It is a most unusual sit-com as in each series the scene is based on a different timeline. Blackadder has been through Elizabethan times, many other timelines and important historical times, and then ends up with the final series in World War One. Most other sit-coms dont do this instead each of their different series is set on the same timeline and in the same place. This is one of the points that make Blackadder different, as in each series the eager watchers dont know what to expect. Blackadder goes forth is also different from the usual sit-com as it is the same situation every episode. The majority of sit-coms dont do this, instead they are based in the same place, but with a different humorous situation with which the characters have to deal with. In Blackadder Goes Forth the situation is exactly the same just the characters deal with it differently. The situation is that Blackadder himself is trying to escape and relieve himself of the hideous atrocities of the First World War. Of course like in any other sit-com, things go very wrong for him and comic experiences pop up along the way. Altogether Blackadder fits into the situation comedy genre in a sense, as it is a sit-com, but is totally different from the majority of other sit-coms. Blackadder has a different story every episode, involves the same characters in every episode, and takes place in the same place in every episode. The differences of Blackadder to the mainstream of sit-coms are shown obviously. This is shown in many ways; one is that Blackadder is set in different historical time in each different series. This attracts viewers to watch Blackadder, because they want to see something new rather than the usual flat share show with people shouting bawdy jokes. This is why the producers of Blackadder have made the show different from the usual sit-com. Another reason why Blackadder is different from most sit-coms is that the situation is the same in every episode of Blackadder. Nearly every other sit-com has different situations and different ways in which the characters tackle these situations. Blackadder Goes Forth doesnt. The situation is of Blackadder trying to escape the war in any way he can. He tries lots of different approaches to deal with his problem, but every episode he fails. This becomes very amusing as no matter how hard he tries; he just cant get out of fighting in the war. Another very important feature in Blackadder that is dissimilar to other sit-coms is the way that even though the scene is set on a historical time scale, Blackadder still has 20th Century views. All the other characters in the whole programme have views of life that relate to the time scale that they are set in, while Blackadder has views of life that we would. This is what makes Blackadder so hilarious to us, as we can relate to precisely what Blackadder is saying and thinking, while all the other characters in the play are trapped in that time zone with historical thoughts, Blackadder makes fun of all the stupid things that happened within that time zone and has the same views and points to express as we do. The one other reason why Blackadder Goes Forth doesnt fit well into the genre of situation comedies is that Blackadder uses satirical comments and elements throughout the programmes. This makes the programme extremely funny, but also makes a point in which we can understand and learn from. Satire is using humour or exaggeration to show what it is bad about a person or thing. Blackadder uses this strongly in all of its episodes in all of its series. Blackadder: Well George, I strongly suspect your long wait for certain death is nearly at an end This is portraying the scene that everyone who wanted action in the war is going to be sent to his or her deaths. The reason why the produces of Blackadder decided to make different historical time scales for their series was possibly so they could use satire to make a point about those different time lines. With Blackadder using satire in this way it gives viewers the humour and hilarity that we get and love from all sit-coms, but also spreading a point across the country about how bad those situations were and how badly our ancestors handled them. So the reason why Blackadder is a funny character is because he is the only sane man and fools surround him. This makes us learn from mistakes that have happened in the past but also provides us with the amusement that we want when we watch a sit-com. Satirical elements are present in Blackadder, even in the title sequence at the start of each episode. There are many satirical elements in the title sequence; the first one being the two rows of five men marching after a sergeant majors command. The first row of soldiers is bandsmen wearing the traditional red colours of the English army. The second row of soldiers is armed forces, wearing the up-to-date camouflage green. This is satirizing the tactics of the British army. The way in which Blackadder does this is by having the bandsmen in red marching in front of the armed forces, it symbolizes that the bandsmen are more important. It shows that playing instruments and wearing smart colours and clothes into battle is more important then staying undetected with camouflage and looking scruffy. This satirizes British tactics and approach to war. It also shows that the British army is out of date, as fighting in bright colours was a thing of the past, showing that the commanders were just old forgotten war heroes who needed to be slapped up-to-date if they wanted to keep their men alive. It also satirizes the fact that blood is to come for those soldiers are behind. The blood red of the bandsmen shirts marching in front of the armed forces means that blood is to come for them and pour from their bullet stricken bodies. There is a character in Blackadder Goes Forth, named baldrick. In the title sequence he is out of place in the band and is franticly running around to find his place. Baldrick is a private in the army. This satirizes the privates as being stupid and out of place fighting in such a war. Also that Baldrick is in the band, and not in the armed forces row like he should be satirizes that he is out of place in the army, and will do more good playing a triangle in a parade. As baldrick is out of place, there is still no place for him in the ranks of men as both are of equal numbers and there is no more room for him. This emphases the point even more that the dim privates are out of place in the war, and they shouldnt be put there, as they dont understand it. How can a man be expected to shoot if he cant even find a place in a band? This is the satirizing point that Blackadder is making when the character baldrick is out of position. Also in the title sequence General Melchett and Captain Darling are standing atop a podium watching the soldiers march. General Melchett is wearing cavalry clothes. This satirizes the generals in the war by showing that they are out of touch and out of date with the tactics of war. They still think that cavalry are the best option to winning a battle, but now that machine guns have been invented cavalry are useless. Yet the generals do not know this, and assume that old tactics are good, but they arent. Captain Darling is cowering behind the General. This satirizes the Captains in the war. This shows that they were cowards and used the Generals as protection to stop them having to fight. Further on in the title sequence Lieutenant George is smiling in a childish way as he marches forwards. This is satirizing the pompous Lieutenants. Showing that they believe that war is just a game, and they should enjoy every minute off it. This is of course the wrong attitude to take to war, as you killed be obliterated any second. Aside from the title sequence, the whole programme contains satirical elements throughout its course, one of these being the living conditions of the soldiers shown in the programme. Blackadder opens up the programme of the last ever episode of Blackadder goes forth with: Hullo, Somme Public Baths. No running, shouting or piddling in the shallow end. Aside from this being droll, it also makes a great satirical point on how the living conditions of the soldiers actually were. The soldiers were caked in mud up to their elbows and sopping wet with the continuous moral beating rain. It satirizes how bad the living conditions really were by basically saying it was wet, and the rain was the least of the soldiers problems at that time. Private baldrick explains that the coffee that all the soldiers have been drinking for months is actually hot mud. He also describes what each of the elements of the coffee is. He states that the milk is saliva, the sugar is dandruff and although he doesnt state what the chocolate sprinklings are, he gives us a very good idea of what they could be! All this satirizes the living conditions of the poor soldiers that had to live in here day in and day out. They were soaked in rain, encrusted in mud, and drinking hot mire with all manner of things inside, but worst of all being pounded by shells all day long. Blackadder Goes Forth also satirizes everyones attitudes to war. Starting with the Generals, they had the worst attitude towards war. As the Generals were not in the trenches and not experiencing the horrors of war, they had no idea what it was like. The generals still thought war was what it used to be, fighting against unarmed enemies that cant win the fight. As general Melchett explains, That pigmy woman with the sharpened mango could have seriously Apart from this being comical, it has a real satirizing point to it. The old wars in which the English used to fight were against aborigines with no weapons other than maybe a spear. The English couldnt really loose a battle against such little an opposition, and from that day they thought they could win any battle that faced them, as they were full of themselves over their glorious victories. This is the attitude that the generals still possessed when commanding in World War One, especially in the Somme area that Blackadder goes forth is set. It satirizes the generals lack of understanding of modern warfare, and shows how they believe they will always win. In the episode Goodbyeee, Field Marshall Haig is playing with toy soldiers. This is satirizing the generals perspective of warfare, and apart from it being hilarious it proves just what the generals were like. They thought that war was a game and that it didnt matter who won or lost. This is shown as Haig knocks over a handful of the plastic soldiers on his model battlefield. Blackadder himself satirizes the advance and progress the army has made while at war, Weve advanced as far as an asthmatic ant with heavy shopping. Apart from this being droll, it satirizes how far the army progresses with such stupid and out of date tactics and childish generals. This relates highly to World War One as the army progressed about a few inches a year, as the generals just didnt know what to do. Another main thing that is satirized is the ranks of different troops. With the generals, they thought that war was just a game. This is shown and satirized in Blackadder by the way the general plays with toy soldiers. He used this as his tactics, moving individual toys and then knocking them over in one fell swoop. This actually shows that he expected his men to die, but sent them in regardless of the consequences, as he was bored of sitting in one place for a long period of time. Being incredibly child-like satirizes the lieutenants. This is shown in the character George. He is satirizing the pompous upper-class lieutenant. He always has a silly grin on his face and relates everything that happens in the war to a well know game of some sort. He even states that he played tiddly winks when signing up to volunteer for the war. He makes such remarks as by saying, we ducked and we dived. This is satirizing views of many soldiers in the war, as they just didnt have a clue about what it was really like. They just thought it was like participating in a sport match, and whatever the outcome, no one would get hurt, but how wrong they were. The other rank that is displayed and satirized in Blackadder is the private. Baldrick plays this role, and acts as the dim private, which is exactly what he is. He is always one step behind everyone else, in the mental way, and in the literal way. As in the title sequence he is behind everyone, and in the speeches he is behind everyone. He is satirizing the low-class dim private. At the end of the last episode Goodbyeee, just before they are about to go over the top, baldrick is more concerned about getting a splinter while climbing the ladder then getting mowed down in a hail of lead by a machine gun. This is because he doesnt understand what is going on. This is satirizing the fact that the dim people shouldnt be there, because if they dont understand what they are doing, how can they possibly fight? Captain Blackadder plays the other rank. He is the only commonsensical man in the whole warfare situation. This is how Blackadder is made funny, as he satirizes everything around him and makes fun of everything. He shares our views of the war, and tries in vain to get out of fighting just as we would, but to no amend, as the generals cant understand why he would possibly not want to go out and fight. This satirizes the generals lack of understanding. Fools surround Blackadder, this satirizes that everyone fighting was a fool, and with such stupid people everywhere, how can they win the war. It also satirizes that no one understands the war, no matter how clever or how high rank. And that everyone is as stupid as the private as they have no idea to fight a war more than he does. The equipment is the last thing that is satirized. This is done by the sticks that the higher ranking officers hold. These sticks do nothing at all. I wouldnt want to face a machine gun without one of these George explains to Blackadder. This is satirizing the fact that some of the equipment had no purpose, and some of the people didnt have a clue what a machine gun could actually do to you.

Defensive Strategies By Cadburys Against Craft Marketing Essay

Defensive Strategies By Cadburys Against Craft Marketing Essay Discuss the types of defensive strategies available to target companies and in particular, describe the strategies used by Cadbury to, albeit unsuccessfully, defend the bid by Kraft. With the development of economy and technology, competition among enterprises is becoming increasingly intense. Many companies decide to expand their companies scale and business through mergers and acquisitions to achieve maximum profits. Takeover is a business behaviour that one company is purchased by another one. There are several types of takeover, including friendly takeovers, hostile takeovers, reverse takeovers and backflip takeovers. Even though some mergers and acquisitions can bring about synergy and more substantial profits, some takeovers are not welcome. Therefore, a large numbers of measures are taken by target companies to defend the hostile takeover. In this essay, I state different types of takeover defence and their characteristics. Furthermore, I introduce their practical application taking the merger of Kraft and Cadbury as an example. Different types of defensive strategies Defensive strategies can be classified into active measures and preventive measures. Active measures consist of greenmail, standstill agreement, white knight, and so on, while preventive measures are made up of poison pills, people pill and other defences. In particular, greenmail, poison pills, staggered board terms and supermajority rules are common used defensive strategies by incumbent managers. Greenmail is purchasing enough shares of the target company to threaten its shareholders interests and then forcing the target company to agree to buy the bidders stock back at a premium as long as it does not want to be taken over. It has brought fabulous profits for investors. For example, in June 1979, Icahn Corporation in the United States bought 9.9% of the shares of the Saxon Industries Corporation at $7.21 per share. And in February 1980, Saxon repurchased its own shares held by Icahn Corporation at the price of $10.50 per share. Icahn also bought 10% of shares of Hammermill paper Corporation at 25 dollars per share in the late of 1979. After that, the latter bought back these shares held by Icahn at the price of 36 dollars per share. Icahn totally invested $20,000,000 in the merger activities and made 900 million dollars profits after these stocks were repurchased. As the US tax law regulates that the income from greenmail should pay 50 percent of the tax. Moreover, disputes often lead to high legal costs, as a result, the use of this takeover defence are greatly restricted. Stock price of the target company usually goes down after it pays greenmail to the firm which want to take over the company. For instance, in 1984, David Murdoch held 5% of Occidental Petroleums stock and forced it to take measures to increase the value of its stock. Occidental Petroleum responded to the pressure by buying Murdochs shares back at a substantial premium to the fair stock market price. It repurchased the 5 percent of stocks at a price of $40.1 per share instead of the market price of $28.75, that is, it enabled Murdoch to gain the extra 42 percent of profits to the market value and made the total profits up to 56 million dollars. After paying greenmail to Murdoch, the market price per share of Occidental Petroleum stock dropped by $0.875, indicating the market value of the company declined over 80 million dollars. Since the stock price had decreased before the announcement of the repurchase, the actual losses were more than $80 million. A poison pill, which is also called a shareholder rights plan, is the most effective defence strategy. It was devised in the mid-1980s which forced the acquiring firm to negotiate the purchase price of the stock with the target firms board of directors, rather than negotiate with shareholders directly. Even though there are different kinds of pills, they have one thing in common that they increase the cost of takeover as a transfer occurs from the bidder to shareholders. Poison pills are forbidden in some countries such as the United Kingdom. In Europe, due to the complicated political environment and the uncommon explicit poison pills, many governments can prevent companies from buying other firms by taking a series of political actions, but some hostile takeovers may be successful. There are five types of poison pills, including preferred stock plan, flipover rights plan, ownership flip-in plan, back-end rights plan and voting plan. Flipover rights plan is the most popular takeover defence in these five kinds of poison pills. Shareholders of the target firm have the right to buy stocks of the acquiring enterprise at a discounted price after the merger, which is equal to a stock dividend. In the event of the acquisition, the number of shares held by the bidder will decrease as well as stock prices. If Corporation A decide to merger with Corporation B and Corporation B have the option to purchase As shares at a discount, the acquisition cost is quite expensive for A so that it may choose to give up the acquisition of B ultimately. An acquirer which has gained over fifty percent of a target firms stocks may be unable to take over the company as some companies have regulations that who acquire at least two thirds supports from shareholders and sometimes 90% of shares have the right in charge of the company. Staggered board of directors or classified board refers to that the board of directors is divided into different classes, and companys articles of association formulate that only a part of directors, commonly one third or one fourth, can be re-elected each year. The measure means that even if the acquirer has held enough shares of the target firm and gained control of the company, it can neither make a substantive restructuring of the board of directors nor immediately take over the board of directors. The staggered board of directors plays a significant role in delaying the process of hostile takeover. As the majority of directors in the board are original, they still hold the majority voting power and contr ol the company. They can decide to broad investments and increase their shares to dilute the bidders stock shares, or take other actions to achieve the purpose of anti acquisition. Staggered Boards is an effective takeover defence that has less impact on share prices. Case Study: Cadburys defences against the bid of Kraft Cadbury is an international company to produce, promote and distribute sweets and beverage products. It is the worlds second largest confectionery company as well as the second largest chewing gum company. Kraft food is the second largest food company in the world, whose core products are coffee, candy, dairy products and beverages. It has over sixty thousand employees around the world and has launched business in 145 countries. Even though the American blue-collar are enthusiastic about Kraft products, Krafts sales performance was far less than expectation as its revenue declined by 6%. Due to the excessive reliance on low end market and the lack of new growth points, Kraft faced a crucial decision: one was introducing new products and promoting a new brand, the other was taking over the existing namely brands. On 28 August 2009, Rosenfeld, the chairman of Kraft, proposed an offer to absorb Cadbury at a price which was 31% higher than the closing price at that day and amounted to nearly 10.2 billion pounds. Although Roger, the chairman of Cadbury realized that the development of the company size had suffered bottlenecks, he convinced that in the acquisition game, Cadbury would be able to reap the initiative opportunity. On 7 September, Cadbury formally stated that it rejected Krafts acquisition, because the proposed acquisition greatly underestimated the value and development prospects of Cadbury. Because of the acquisition news, Cadburys share price rose by 37% at that day, causing its total market value up to an unprecedented 106 billion pounds, which was more than Krafts bid. On September 22nd, intolerable Cadbury asked the British MA supervision institution to give a ruling to Kraft, forcing it to nail down before the 9 November. If it cannot submit a more reasonable offer, Kraft would not take acquisition activities within at least six months. Immediately, Rosenfeld said that Kraft did not have to take over Cadbury. This made a lot of Cadburys shareholders begin to worry that Cadburys share price would collapse if Kraft gave up the acquisition. Roger appeased shareholders and he believed that refusing the acquisition and remaining independence of Cadbury could bring about best interests to shareholders. Cadbury was confident of its independent strategy and development prospective in the future, while merging with Kraft, which had low growth, may have an obscure prospect. On October 21st, Cadbury released the third-quarter financial statement which indicated that the quarterly revenue rose by 7%. On that day, its stock price reached a record high, with a total market value as much as 11.08 billion pounds. Shareholders of Cadbury took the opportunity to express that if Krafts offer was 122 million pounds, they were able to discuss on the issue of acquisition. This price was 20 billion pounds higher than Krafts original offer price. On 9 November, Kraft announced that it would launch a hostile bid for Cadbury in accordance with the previous offer. In late November 2009, the US Hershey Corporation, the Italian Ferrero Corporation and Nestlà © of Switzerland had expressed their willingness to bid. Therefore, Cadbury must not be so easily accept Krafts offer. Because Kraft is not the only one which tended to take over Cadbury, while Cadbury is almost the only choice for Kraft. Roger Carr said that Cadbury preferred to merger with Hershey rather than Kraft, because this merger was expected to generate higher earnings per share. It was reported that the directors of Cadbury secretly contacted Hersheys directors to encourage it to act as a white knight and launch a tender offer in order to compete with Kraft. It is a takeover defence known as white knight. When a company become the hostile takeover target, it may invite another company to make friendly acquisition proposal to defuse the pressure of hostile takeovers. The company which is invited to help the target firm defend hostile takeovers is called white knight. Success for the Cadbury takeover would bring about less synergy and make Nestle face antitrust scrutiny, while Hershey had no ability to bear acquisitions without Ferreros assistance. As a result, they gave up taking over Cadbury. Finally, Krafts merger of Cadbury was successful at the price of $19.5 billion. Conclusion Takeover defences mentioned above are effective and commonly used measures to resist the hostile takeover of acquiring firms. Different strategies have different characteristics and applications. For instance, staggered broad of directors has less influence with the companys stock price than greenmail, while poison pills are forbidden in some countries. The merger of Cadbury and Kraft is a well-known and significant MA case in this century. Even if Cadbury had taken a series of actions to defend Krafts takeover and achieve some results initially, causing Kraft had to sell its pizza business at a super low price and issue new shares, eventually, Kraft gained the victory of the campaign. In my opinion, adopting efficient defensive strategies do not mean obtaining desired results. The surrounding economic environment and views of counterparty also play a vital role in merger and acquisition activities.

The Increasing Application Of Scientific Management Principles Of Work

The Increasing Application of Scientific Management Principles Of Work Organisations To Services Is, Despite Its Limitations, Inevitable and Irreversible. I  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Introduction From the outset of this essay it is necessary to define the basic principles of Scientific Management in order for the statement to be fully understood and why if at all such a practice is ‘inevitable' and indeed ‘irreversible' within a service industry context. The underlying belief that scientific management, or rationalisation= , is able to provide the basis for separating management from the execution of work. ‘The rationalisation of work has the effect of transferring functions of planning, allocation and co-ordination to managers, whilst reinforcing the managerial monopoly of decision-making, motivation and control'. Hales (1994). Taylor (1856-1915) has been referred to as the father of Scientific Management. He believed that management, not labour, was the cause of and potential solution to problems in the industry. Taylor concluded that workers systematically ‘ soldiered' because they believed that faster work would put them out of a job and because hourly or daily wages destroyed individual incentive. Taylor believed that in order to discourage, and indeed halt, this ‘soldiering' a ‘ mental revolution' was required. He believed this could be achieved via four vital principles: (1) the development of the best work method, via systematic observation, measurement and analysis; (2) the scientific selection and development of workers; (3) the relating and bringing together of the best work method and the developed and trained worker; (4) the co-operation of managers and non-managers which includes the division of work and the managers responsibility of work. From this five key facets have evolved that lie at the foundation of scientific management. Hales (1994) has summarised these as follows:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  - systematic standardised work methods via mechanisation and standard times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  - a clean functional division between managers and non-mangers. Braverman (1974) described this as the ‘separation of conception from execution'.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  - centralised planning and control.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  - an instrumental, low-involvement employment relationship due to the requirement of t... ...s that are attracted to the industry. But the deskilling due to rationalisation means that such people are ‘strait-jacketed into one dimensional jobs' (Hales 1994) stifling variety and creativity. Therefore such a sentiment tends to argue against the notion that scientific management principles are inevitable. In summary to return to the original statement it can be argued against the belief that scientific management is inevitable and irreversible throughout the entire service industry, although certainly some areas of the industry could benefit from utilising such a management strategy - notably in the budget sector. Bibliography Hales, C. (1994) Managing Through Organisation, Routledge, London. Peters, T. & Waterman, R., In Search of excellence, Harper & Row, New York. Ritzer, G. (1993) The MacDonaldization of Society. Targett, D. (1995) ‘Management Science in service industries', in Schmenner, R.W. (ed.) Service Operations Management, Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Taylor, F.W. (1984) ‘Scientific Management', in Pugh, D. Organisation Theory, Penguin, Harmondsworth. Thompson, P. & McHugh, D. (1990) Work Organisations: A critical introduction, Manmillan, London.