Good Country People

In the short story â€Å"Good Country People,† Flannery O’Connor utilizes the characters Joy Hopewell and Manley Pointer to expose how believing in nothing makes a person isolated and spiritually empty. Joy Hopewell is a well-educated, thirty-two year old atheist with an artificial leg. Joy's lack of belief causes her to lose all the human civility and decency she has. She even changes her name to Hulga. Flannery O'Connor's use of the mythological Trickster persona to seek, attract, and repulse the protagonist Joy-Hulga leads to her spiritual enlightenment. Manley Pointer through the Trickster persona seeks out the Hopewells, specifically Hulga.From the beginning the Bible salesman uses the svelte and persuasive words used by the Trickster. Pointer maneuvers himself inside when he tells Mrs. Hopewell, â€Å"Lady, I’ve come to speak of serious things. † He continues, using her own thoughts and feelings to manipulate her, telling her, â€Å"I know you belie ve in Chrustian service† and â€Å"People like you don’t like to fool with country people like me. † The Trickster knows that Mrs. Hopewell is just being polite, but he persists, taking advantage of her desire to avoid all conflict and her love of â€Å"good country people. † Manley craftily gets himself invited to dinner out of sympathy.Knowing that Joy-Hulga has a heart condition, the Trickster deceives Mrs. Hopewell by telling her, â€Å"I got this heart condition. I may not live long. When you know it’s something wrong with you and you may not live long, well then, lady†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Through deceit and smooth talking, Pointer guarantees he'll spend the evening at the Hopewell's home. The Trickster has found his way inside and can now focus on his target Hulga. The Trickster has found his target and continues to use his mythological persona to attract Joy/Hulga. Pointer uses his silver tongue to convince disagreeable Hulga to accompany him on a picnic the next day.The con-artist tells Hulga, â€Å"I think you're brave. I think you're real sweet† and then later asks her, â€Å"Don’t you think some people was meant to meet on account of what all they got in common and all? Like they both think serious thoughts and all? † Manley is establishing a connection between Hulga and himself to make himself seem more attractive. Manley Pointer further personifies the mythological Trickster persona when he shows up the next day for their picnic in a broad-rimmed hat, and he's also described as very tall, â€Å"Then suddenly he stood up, very tall, from behind a bush on the opposite embankment.Smiling, he lifted his hat which was new and wide-brimmed. † These are two physical traits of the mythological Trickster persona. As they reach the barn, Pointer tricks Hulga and baits her into climbing up to the second floor where the climax of the story occurs. The Trickster fools Hulga by acting innocently as he â₠¬Å"pointed up the ladder that led into the loft and said, ‘It’s too bad we can’t go up there,'† implying that she can't do it because of her handicap, so she quickly proves him wrong.Hulga's pride and feeling of superior intellect blind her from seeing that she's being duped by the Trickster. Flannery O'Connor uses the Trickster persona to repulse the protagonist bringing her to spiritual enlightenment. After Manley Pointer lures Hulga up into the loft of the barn, he becomes more demanding, using Hulga's feelings for him to manipulate her into giving him what he wants, he says, â€Å"'I known it,' he muttered, sitting up. ‘You're just playing me for a sucker. † The Trickster starts to show his true character more and more now that he has Hulga where he wants her. Manley manipulates Hulga into giving him her fake leg which symbolizes Hulga/Joy's soul. As the Trickster takes Hulga's leg, he starts to bring her back into the light and give her a new start. You see it happening when Hulga says, â€Å"When after a minute, she said in a hoarse high voice, ‘All right,' it was like surrendering to him completely.It was like losing her own life and finding it again , miraculously, in his. † Pointer takes Hulga's leg and leaves her there stranded in the loft to ponder her new spiritual enlightenment. Flannery O'Connor uses the Trickster persona to seek, attract, and repulse the protagonist, thus bringing her new enlightenment on her life. Hulga/Joy had lost all human civility and decency in her life using her intellect as an excuse. As Hulga sits in the loft, she is finally forced to realize the error in her ways.

Financial Statement Analysis of Pharmaceuticals in Pakistan

Final Project Profitability Ratios’ Analysis of Pharmaceuticals in same industry for FY 2008-10 Sanofi-Aventis Ferozsons Abbott A REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES, VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY OF PAKISTAN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Submitted By Mc080402262 Sheikh Khurum Akram Department of Management Sciences, Virtual University of Pakistan Acknowledgement In the name of ALLAH, the most Gracious, the most Merciful Firstly I am thankful to ALLAH ALMIGHTY, WHO is sprinkling HIS blessings upon me and my family.HE has bestowed me with sound health and determination to perform this task. I really acknowledge guidelines from my course tutor who taught me the techniques of research. This project is my own effort. Executive Summary I will evaluate three leading pharmaceuticals of Pakistan for profitability ratio analysis of Abbott, Ferozsons and Sanofi-Aventis. I will assess them on the basis of facts and figures provided in their financial statements. My objective is to figure out their flaws and potencies. Outcomes of profitability analysis are worthy for management in making effective decisions.My findings will make easy for all related parties to have impartial analysis. This project will also make available a snapshot of pharmaceuticals’ capability in managing their resource for yielding profits. The main purpose behind this analysis is to conduct a quantitative study of raw data. Outcomes of my project will assist the title-holders and decision-makers to keep an eye on improvement in their businesses. I will perform profitability ratio analysis of Abbott, Ferozsons and Sanofi-Aventis. I will cite my sources each time if exact quote is copied of an author or paraphrasing of the same is drafted in my own words.I will provide reference if I copy a table, chart, diagram, or graph wholly or partly. Microsoft word and excel will be used to evaluate ratio analysis. APA styl e of referencing will be used. Ferozsons and Abbott have yielded sufficient net profits to recover all operating, non-operating expenses and taxation charges and to build up reserves after paying all fixed interest charges and dividends. Sanofi-Aventis has yielded very low net profit despite reasonable sales volume due to escalating cost of goods sold, operating and non-operating charges. Abbott laboratory and Ferozsons are efficiently managing its assets to generate profit.Sanofi-Aventis is not utilizing its assets properly to generate profit. Abbott laboratory and Ferozsons have higher generating rate of their wealth. Sanofi-Aventis has lower generating rate of its wealth. Ferozsons has better pricing approach and operating competence. On the contrary Sanofi-Aventis has flaws in pricing tactic. Abbott has shown adequate operating profits to meet its fixed cost. Sanofi-Aventis has shown its efficiency at its best in managing significant assets like Property, Plant & Equipment, Stoc k in Trade and Cash with bank balances.Ferozsons has utilized its revenue producing assets exceptionally well. Abbott has produced bulk sales volume with a relatively small amount of fixed assets. Sanofi-Aventis has shown effective job by producing better sales volume turnover with minute amount of property, plant and equipment. Sanofi-Aventis has produced insufficient returns to satisfy its investors. Ferozsons has generated sufficient gross profit volumes to face unfavorable financial circumstances such as low demanding and price competition. Ferozsons and Abbott need to keep scheming in the same way for curtailing cost of goods sold, operating and on-operating expenses. They need to retain effective management policies by utilizing more assets for the generation of higher profits in future. They need to keep strengthening better pricing approach and operating competence. They need to utilize operating assets more effectively to improve their turnover as per sales volume. Ferozson s needs to downsize overinvested in fixed assets. Abbott and Sanofi-Aventis should improve their turnover of fixed assets in terms of sales volume. They can increase gross profits by implementing more effective management policies.Sanofi-Aventis really needs to look its profit yielding capacity. It should review and improve its products range. Furthermore effective management policies can produce the desirable results. It requires implementing improved pricing tactic to attain better operating proficiency. It needs to watch over its policies for better return on owner’s equity to retain its investor confidence. It has shown better operating assets turnover, it should keep utilizing them in the same manner. It needs to improve its selling and marketing strategies to improve profit margins.Table of contents Acknowledgement Executive Summary Section IPage # 1. Chapter 1) Introduction8 Financial Period Under-Consideration for Analysis:10 Objectives10 Significance11 2. Chapter 2) Data Processing and Analysis 11 * Data Collection Sources:12 * Data Processing and Analysis Tools: 12 3. Chapter 3) Data Analysis12 Profitability Ratio Analysis Project12 †¢ Net Profit Margin 12 †¢ Return on Assets 14 †¢ DuPont Return on Assets 17 †¢ Operating Income Margin 20 †¢ Operating Assets Turnover 23 †¢ Return on Operating Assets 26 †¢ Sales to Fixed Assets 29 Return on Total Equity 31 †¢ Gross Profit Margin 34 4. Chapter 4) Summary, Conclusion, Recommendations & Limitations: 5. 2 Conclusion36 5. 3 Recommendations38 Section II a) Introduction of the student39 b) Bibliography39 Section I Chapter 1) Introduction to the Project: My project is about the financial standings and performance interpretations of three leading pharmaceuticals of Pakistan. I am willing to conduct this project to analyze the potentials and flaws of the same sort of business. My findings will facilitate all related parties to have impartial analysis.This project wi ll also provide a snapshot of pharmaceuticals’ competence in handling their resource for generating profits. Profitability ratio analysis helps to conduct a quantitative scrutiny of raw data. It assists the title-holders and decision-makers to monitor improvement in their businesses and endow with qualified analysis. It also helps to analyze and interpret for future prospects. My project will help all the stakeholders to have impartial comparative performance analysis. Reliable analysis of financial statements has got enormous importance in the current economic scenario.Investors, debtors, creditors and customers demand concrete, credible and result-oriented approach on which they can rely. This sort of project is always needed to have impartial analysis that encourages financier to invest in more profitable venture. It will also help the relevant pharmaceuticals to overcome their loopholes. The pharmaceutical concerns have shown high sales in the current era. It is justifiab le to call it the most developed technological segment in the country's financial system. This business is presently experiencing a phase of considerable transformation in under developed countries.Well-established pharmaceuticals can allow investments in more R ; D that expand their potential drugs range. Abbott Laboratories: They are a global, broad-based health care company devoted to discovering new medicines, new technologies and new ways to manage health. Their products span the continuum of care, from nutritional products and laboratory diagnostics through medical devices and pharmaceutical therapies. Their comprehensive line of products encircles life itself – addressing important health needs from infancy to the golden years.They have over 70,000 employees worldwide and a global presence in more than 130 countries, Abbott Pakistan is part of the global healthcare corporation of Abbott Laboratories, Chicago, USA. Abbott started operations in Pakistan as a marketing af filiate in 1948; the company has steadily expanded to comprise a work force of over 1500 employees. Currently two manufacturing facilities located at Landhi and Korangi in Karachi continue to use innovative technology to produce top quality pharmaceutical products. Abbott Pakistan has leadership in the field of Pain Management, Anesthesia * Medical Nutrition * Anti-Infective Ferozsons Laboratories Limited: It is one of the leading pharmaceuticals in Pakistan. It was incorporated as a Private Limited Company in 1954; Ferozsons Laboratories Limited became Pakistan's first local pharmaceutical company to be listed on the country's stock exchanges (1960). Commencing production in 1956, they made their beginnings primarily as manufacturers of fine chemicals and galenicals, and as toll-manufacturers for multinational pharmaceutical corporations today, heir core strength lies in their own range of branded generics, which cover products in the following segments:   * Anti-infective * Gast rointestinal * Cardiovascular * Dermatology Their marketing force consists of over 230 representatives and managers covering the territories of Pakistan. They have a  consistent prescription growth rate of over 20% per annum  in their promoted products; they provide a solid platform for creating and establishing brands in the Pakistani market. Sanofi-Aventis:Sanofi-Aventis is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies serving the cause of improving health and wellbeing. It is present in more than  100 countries, with around  11,000 scientists. They have around 100, 000 employees  working to improve health and wellbeing. Their Global headquarters are in Paris, France. Sanofi-Aventis focuses its activities on 7 major therapeutic areas: * Cardiovascular * Thrombosis * Oncology * Central Nervous System * Metabolic Disorders * Internal Medicine * VaccinesI have selected this project to have broad based comparative analysis between pharmaceuticals operating in Pa kistan with different origins. It is desirable for me to know how these pharmaceuticals utilizing their resources to yield high profits effectively. 1. 1 Financial Period Under-Consideration for Analysis: Financial years under consideration for analysis are 2008 to 2010 of Abbott, Ferozsons and Sanofi-Aventis. 1. 2 Objectives: The core objectives of the project will be to observe the operations of pharmaceuticals, their financial emergence and potencies along with flaws. To analyze the ability of selected pharmaceuticals to earn profit over a period of time * To analyze the selected pharmaceuticals efficiency in managing their resource for generating profit * To find out the reasons for generating profit over the years for selected pharmaceuticals * To find out that how effectively selected pharmaceuticals are maximizing their profits by controlling their costs/expenses * Trend Analysis will help to study the financial history of pharmaceuticals for comparison. * I would justify my findings about the financial capability of the pharmaceuticals to satisfy the stakeholders. . 3 Significance of the Project: Profitability ratio analysis would provide thorough information about the credibility and current standings of pharmaceuticals. My project will help creditors to know the liquidity position of pharmaceuticals, its relation with profitability and help to settle their priorities. Liquidity determines a company’s capability to meet up its obligations. If a company is facing troubles in meeting its urgent monetary commitments, it can affect its business functions and profitability.Concisely a pharmaceutical with better profitability will be enjoying improved liquidity position. It can help debtors to assess how pharmaceuticals are extending credits, effectiveness of collecting debts and its impact on profit. I want to carry out this type of project to help the investors for settling their decisions in making investments in such a pharmaceutical that would b est value their wealth. It will assist the customers to select such pharmaceutical that is yielding better profits and more reliable. It would help the management to have an independent analysis in identifying their loopholes.Profitability Ratio Analysis, Trend analysis and comparisons of results with other type of data will be judged against the pharmaceuticals within the industry. In short my analysis will help all stakeholders to have relevant and reliable information to ease their decision making process. Chapter 2) Data Processing and analysis: I will disclose and acknowledge all references for all materials that are used from all sources. I will cite my sources each time if exact quote is copied of an author or paraphrasing of the same is drafted in my own words.I will provide reference if I copy a table, chart, diagram, or graph wholly or partly. APA style of referencing will be used. 2. 1 Data Collection Sources may be: Primary Sources: This first hand data will be the conte nts I am investigating through financial statements of my relevant pharmaceuticals. Study of current data is my primary source. Secondary Sources may be: It will be collected through financial statements of my selected pharmaceuticals and internet. 2. 2 Data Processing and Analysis Tools: Microsoft word and excel will be used to evaluate ratio analysis. Chapter 3) Data AnalysisProfitability Ratio Analysis Project I have taken into consideration three recent Financial Years 2008, 2009 and 2010 for analysis of Abbott, Ferozsons and Sanofi-Aventis. 1- Net profit margin Introduction: The net profit margin formula reveals that how much of a company's revenues are reserved as net income. It is generally expressed as a percentage. It is calculated by dividing net profit with sales revenue for a given year. Formula: Net profit margin= Net Profit / Sales Revenue * 100 Net profit margin= (Answer) %age Calculation: Net profit margin| Year 2008| Year 2009| Year 2010| Abbott| =343,980/7,089,163= 4. 5%| =609,072/8,450,118=7. 21%| =1,176,944/10,995,701=10. 70% | Ferozsons| =217,023. 829/932,297. 994=23. 28%| =182,757. 453/1,085,393. 578=16. 84%| =317,542. 675/1,273,374. 822=24. 94%| Sanofi-Aventis | =38,269/4,346,528=0. 88%| =167,371/6,725,708=2. 49%| =224,024/6,158,295=3. 64%| Note: Numeric Figures are mentioned in ‘000’ Working: No need to provide breakup of net profit (numerator) and sales revenue (denominator) as these figures are mentioned in Profit and loss account. Graphical Representation and Trend Analysis: Interpretation and Comparison Ferozsons has yielded highest net profit ratio (24. 4% in 2010) whereas Abbott laboratory has the maximum sales volume with compare to other two. Ferozsons and Abbott have yielded sufficient net profits to recover all operating, non-operating expenses and taxation charges. They have the tendency to build up reserves after paying all fixed interest charges and dividends. Sanofi-Aventis has yielded very low net profit (0. 8 8% in 2008) despite reasonable sales volume. Abbott has shown increasing trend from FY 2008 to 2010 by producing the highest sales volume and by curtailing cost of goods sold, operating and non-operating expenses.Ferozsons has shown a decreasing trend from FY 2008 to 2009 due to the increase in cost of goods sold. It has revived in FY 2010 by yielding the highest net profit percentage by controlling its cost of goods sold. Sanofi-Aventis has shown an increasing trend from FY 2008 to 2010 but insufficient net profit to keep any reserves. It has shown the lowest profit percentage in FY 2008 due to very high cost of goods sold and operating expenses along with finance charges. Abbott has changed its financial year from November to December in 2010 (13 months) that has also given it edge in producing better sales volume.Ferozsons has been leading and surpassed other pharmaceuticals with high profit margins by curtailing its cost of goods sold and operating expenses as compared to others . On the other hand Abbott has shown the highest volume of sales as compared to others but profit yielding capacity has seemed to be been on the way out. Sanofi-Aventis has yielded very low profits due to escalating cost of goods sold, operating and non-operating charges. 2- Return on Assets Introduction: Return on average total assets is a profitability gauge of a company with relation to its total assets.It is generally expressed as a percentage. It is calculated by dividing net profit with average total assets for a given year. Formula: Return on Assets= Net Profit / Average Total Assets * 100 Return on Assets = (Answer) %age Calculation: Return on Assets= Net Profit / Average Total Assets * 100| | Return on Assets| Year 2008| Year 2009| Year 2010| Abbott| 343980/4865539*100=7. 07%| 609072/5007143*100=12. 16%| 1176944/5377499*100=21. 89%| Ferozsons| 217023. 829/1349994. 951*100=16. 08%| 182757. 453/1530769. 165*100=11. 94%| 317542. 675/1724423. 948*100=18. 41%| | | | | Sanofi-Ave ntis | 38269/2706204*100=1. 1%| 167371/3211724*100=5. 21%| 224024/3393760*100=6. 60%| | | | | Note: Numeric Figures are mentioned in ‘000’ Working: No need to provide breakup of net profit (numerator) as it is mentioned in profit & loss account. | Total Assets| | | | Total Assets| Year 2007| Year 2008| Year 2009| Year 2010| Abbott| 4681368| 5049710| 4964576| 5790421| Ferozsons| 1218361. 366| 1481628. 536| 1579909. 793| 1868938. 102| | | | | | Sanofi-Aventis | 2428053| 2984355| 3439093| 3348427| | | | | | | Average Total Assets=(Current Year + Preceding Year)/2| | Average Total Assets| Year 2008| Year 2009| Year 2010|Abbott| (4681368+5049710)/2=4865539| (5049710+4964576)/2=5007143| (4964576+5790421)/2=5377499| Ferozsons| (1218361. 366+1481628. 536)/2=1349994. 951| (1481628. 536+1579909. 793)/2=1530769. 165| (1579909. 793+1868938. 102)/2=1724423. 948| | | | | Sanofi-Aventis | (2428053+2984355)/2=2706204| (2984355+3439093)/2=3211724| (3439093+3348427)/2=3393760| | | | | Gr aphical Representation and Trend Analysis: Interpretation and Comparison: Abbott Laboratory has yielded better percentage of return on assets due to reasonable net profit.The better ratio of Abbott laboratory depict that the pharmaceutical is able to manage its assets efficiently to generate profit. Ferozsons has also reasonable percentage of ROA that depicts its effective management of assets to generate profit. Sanofi-Aventis has low volumes of net profit with higher size of average total assets that depicts its inability in utilizing its assets properly to generate profit. Abbott has shown increasing trend from FY 2008 to 2010 due to better profit margin as compared to previous years. Ferozsons has shown a decreasing trend from FY 2008 to 2009 due to decline in net rofit volume. It has also revived in FY 2010 by yielding the higher net profit against average total assets. Sanofi-Aventis has shown an increasing trend from FY 2008 to 2010 but inadequate net profit to utilize total assets effectively. It has shown the lowest ROA in FY 2008 due to very low net profit. Ferozsons has the highest ROA on the whole. It has outclassed other pharmaceuticals. In contrast Sanofi-Aventis has shown the lowest volume of net profits but considerable magnitude of average total assets that depict inefficient management policies to utilize total assets.Abbott has shown considerably well managed performance in utilizing total assets for producing profit. 3- Dupont Return on Assets Introduction: Dupont return on total assets is used to evaluate how productively assets are used. It measures the mutual effects of profit margins and asset turnover. It is generally expressed as a percentage. It is calculated by multiplying net profit margin and total asset turnover for a given year. Formula: DuPont Return on Assets= (Net income / Sales) x (Sales / Total Assets) DuPont Return on Assets = Net profit margin x Total asset turnover DuPont Return on Assets = (Answer) %ageCalculation: Dupo nt return on Assets = net profit margin x total asset turnover Dupont return on Assets| Year 2008| Year 2009| Year 2010| Abbott| 4. 85%*1. 41=6. 84%| 7. 22%*1. 70=12. 27%| 10. 70%*1. 90=20. 33%| Ferozsons| 23. 28%*0. 63=14. 65%| 16. 84%*0. 69=11. 57%| 24. 94%*0. 68=16. 99%| Sanofi-Aventis | 0. 88%*1. 46=1. 28%| 2. 49%*1. 96=4. 87%| 3. 64%*1. 84=6. 69%| | | | | Note: Numeric Figures are mentioned in ‘000’ Working: Net profit margin= (Net income / Sales)*100 | Year 2008| Year 2009| Year 2010| Abbott| =343980/7089163*100=4. 85%| =609,072/8,431,080*100=7. 22%| =1,176,944/10,995,701*100=10. 0% | Ferozsons| =217,023. 829/932,297. 994*100=23. 28%| =182,757. 453/1,085,393. 578*100=16. 84%| =317,542. 675/1,273,374. 822*100=24. 94%| Sanofi-Aventis | =38,269/4,346,528*100=0. 88%| =167,371/6,725,708*100=2. 49%| =224,024/6,158,295*100=3. 64%| Total assets Turnover= (Sales / Total Assets) Abbott| 7089163/5049710=1. 41 Times| =8450118/4964576=1. 70 Times| =10995701/5790421=1. 90 Times | Ferozsons| =932297. 994/1481628. 536=0. 63 Times| =1085393. 578/1579909. 793=0. 69 Times| =1273374. 822/1868938. 102=0. 68 Times| Sanofi-Aventis | =4346528/2984355=1. 46 Times| =6725708/3439093=1. 6 Times| =6158295/3348427=1. 84 Times|   | Dupont Return on Assets|   | | Year 2008| Year 2009| Year 2010| Average| Abbott| 6. 84%| 12. 27%| 20. 33%| 13. 15%| Ferozsons| 14. 65%| 11. 57%| 16. 99%| 14. 40%| Sanofi-Aventis | 1. 28%| 4. 87%| 6. 69%| 4. 30%| Graphical Representation and Trend Analysis: Interpretation and Comparison: We can analyze the sales comparisons with net income and assets of Abbott laboratory; it has yielded better volume of profits along with an increase in its total assets and sales volume over the years. Its higher ratio depicts the higher generating rate of its wealth.Ferozsons has yielded higher profit margins by controlling its cost of goods sold but lower total assets turnover rate due to less sales volumes. Sanofi-Aventis has very low net profit margins bu t reasonably well total assets turnover rate that depicts lower generating rate of its wealth. Abbott has shown increasing trend from FY 2008 to 2010 due to better net profit margin and sales volumes. Ferozsons has shown a decreasing trend from FY 2008 to 2009 due to comparatively low profit margin. It has also revived in FY 2010 by yielding higher profit margins, increase in total assets and sales volume.Sanofi-Aventis has shown an increasing trend from FY 2008 to 2010 but insufficient net profit margins has overlooked better total assets turnover rate. Ferozsons has the highest Dupont return on assets. It outshines other pharmaceuticals in better performance on the basis of relevant FY’s average. On the contrary Sanofi-Aventis has shown the lowest volume of Dupont return on assets but reasonable magnitude of total assets and sales volume. Abbott has shown fair performance in utilizing total assets with sales spectrum. Its average is near to Ferozsons’. 4- Operating i ncome margin Introduction:This ratio is used to compute the price policies and operational competence. It is generally expressed as a percentage. It is calculated by dividing operating profit with net sales for a given year. Formula: Operating income margin = Operating Profit / Net Sales*100 Operating income margin = (Answer) %age Calculation: Operating income margin| Year 2008| Year 2009| Year 2010| Abbott| 547526/7089163*100=7. 72%| 878503/8450118*100=10. 42%| 1744787/10995701*100=15. 87%| Ferozsons| 280330. 464/932297. 994*100=30. 07%| 238019. 515/1085393. 578*100=21. 93%| 330518. 449/1273374. 822*100=25. 6%| Sanofi-Aventis | 171478/4346528*100=3. 95%| 384071/6725708*100=5. 71%| 531682/6158295*100=8. 63%| Note: Numeric Figures are mentioned in ‘000’ Working: Operating Profit (Numerator) = Gross Profit + Other Operating Income – Admin Expenses – Selling & Distribution Expenses – Other Charges Operating Income Break-up GP+OTHER OPERATING INCOME-ADM IN EXP-SELLING & DISTRIBUTION EXP-OTHER CHARGES|   | 2008| | Abbott| 2097653+105545-255737-1334884-65051=547526| | | | | Ferozsons| 540738. 562+20809. 63-60719. 276-199424. 66-21073. 792=280330. 464| | | | | Sanofi- Aventis | 1055823+52809-122627-757135-57392=171478| | | GP+OTHER OPERATING INCOME-ADMIN EXP-SELLING & DISTRIBUTION EXP-OTHER CHARGES|   | 2009| 2010| | Abbott| 2321131+141890-201943-1252810-129765=878503| 3687038+109079-267915-1601101-182314=1744787| | | | | | Ferozsons| 584211. 298+23954. 076-80995. 604-261185. 939-27964. 316=238019. 515| 633242. 518+43434. 507-83262. 197-234076. 533-28819. 846=330518. 449| | | | | | Sanofi- Aventis | 1626599+101126-152707-1048283-142664=384071| 1753544+102220-175580-1094063-54439=531682| | | | | No need to provide breakup of Net Sales (denominator) are mentioned in profit and loss account of respective pharmaceutical.Graphical Representation and Trend Analysis: Interpretation and Comparison: Abbott laboratory has yielded comparativ ely low operating income margins as compared to Ferozsons due to an increase in business cost and its expenses. Abbott has lower volume of operating profit in 2008 with increased net sales. Ferozsons has optimum capacity to pay for its fixed cost. Sanofi-Aventis has low operating income margin that depicts its poor pricing strategy and operating efficiency. It has minimal operating profits over the years but reasonable net sales volumes. Abbott has shown increasing trend from FY 2008 to 2010.The pharmaceutical should manage its expenses to reduce this decline. It has done better in FY 2010 by producing highest operating profit. Ferozsons has shown a decreasing trend from FY 2008 to 2009 due to comparatively low operating profit with comparatively better sales volume. It has also revived in FY 2010 by yielding higher operating profit. Sanofi-Aventis has shown an increasing trend from FY 2008 to 2010 but insufficient operating profit margins has caused inadequate margins to meet its f ixed costs. The aforementioned ratio provides an insight to determine the quality of a company.Ferozsons has the highest operating income margins. It has left behind other pharmaceuticals by yielding sufficient operating income that depicts better pricing approach and operating competence. On the contrary Sanofi-Aventis has shown the lowest volume of operating profit margins that shows its flaws in pricing tactic. Abbott has shown adequate operating profits to meets its fixed costs but comparatively low as compared with Ferozsons. 5- Operating Assets Turnover Introduction: This is a financial ratio that indicates the effectiveness with which a firm's management uses its operating assets to generate sales.It is generally expressed in times. It is calculated by dividing net sales with average operating assets for a given year. Formula: Operating Assets Turnover= Net sales/ Operating assets Operating Assets Turnover = (Answer) Times Calculation: Operating Assets Turnover| Year 2008| Ye ar 2009| Year 2010| Abbott| 7089163/5168443=1. 37 Times| 8431080/4684635=1. 80 Times| 10995701/4740615= 2. 32 Times| | | | | Ferozsons| 932297. 994/1055296. 397=0. 88 Times| 1085393. 578/652061. 759=1. 66 Times| 1273374. 822/865565= 1. 47 Times| | | | | Sanofi- Aventis | 4346528/33338090= 0. 13 Times| 6725708/2785713= 2. 1 Times| 6158295/2399541= 2. 57 Times| | | | | Note: Numeric Figures are mentioned in ‘000’ Working: No need to provide breakup of Net Sales (numerator) are mentioned in profit and loss account of respective pharmaceutical. Operating Assets = Total Assets – (Intangible Assets + Capital work in progress+ Loans and Advances + Investments + other assets) Break-up of operating Assets Operating Assets Turnover| Year 2008| Year 2009| Year 2010| Abbott| 5790421-(0+392954+170071+2801+56152)=5168443 | 4964576-(0+159886+73056+4393+42606)=4684635 | 5049710-(0+202480+23580+44896+4393+33746)=4740615 | Ferozsons| 1868938. 02-(0+141831. 157 +223867. 236+438228. 405+9714. 907)=1055296. 397 | 1579909. 793-(0+171010. 120+215775. 559+205992. 988+35069. 367)=952061. 759 | 1481628. 536-(0+0204216. 826+217372. 560+194474. 564)=865565 | Sanofi- Aventis | 33484287-(339+ 119,808+21381+4669)=33338090 | 3439093-(114+ 618,974+29683+4609)=2785713 | 2984535-(729+550391+30549+3325)=2399541 | Graphical Representation and Trend Analysis: Interpretation and Comparison: Operating assets turnover of Abbott laboratory has improved over the years as operating assets are slightly decreasing with respect to better net sales.Ferozsons has comparatively improved turnover due to substantial increase in net sales with respect to operating assets. Sanofi-Aventis has reasonably well sales volume but operating assets haven’t grown in proportion. Abbott has shown increasing trend from 2008 to 2010 due to improved sales volume and minor change in operating assets. Ferozsons has shown an increasing trend from FY 2008 to 2009 due to comparatively decrease in operatin g assets as compared to net sales. Sanofi-Aventis has shown an increasing trend from FY 2008 to 2010 due to better sales with respect to operating assets.Sanofi-Aventis has represented its efficiency at its best in managing significant assets like Property, Plant ; Equipment, Stock in Trade and Cash with bank balances. It has surpassed others during FY 2009-10. On the other hand Ferozsons has shown comparatively low operating Assets Turnover with respect to other two. Abbott has shown rather better performance on the whole. 6- Return on Operating Assets Introduction: This is a financial ratio that gives an idea  as how efficient  management is  at using its assets to generate earnings. It is generally expressed as a percentage.It is calculated by dividing net profit with average operating assets for a given year. Formula: Return on operating Assets = Net profit / Operating assets*100 Return on operating Assets = (Answer) %age Calculation: Return on operating Assets| Year 2008| Year 2009| Year 2010| Abbott| 343980/5168443=6. 66%| 609072/4684635=13%| 1176944/4740615=24. 83%| | | | | Ferozsons| 217023. 829/1055296. 397=20. 57%| 182757. 453/952061. 759=19. 20%| 317542. 675/865565=36. 69%| | | | | Sanofi-Aventis | 38269/33338090=0. 11%| 167371/2785713=6. 01%| 224024/2399541=9. 34%| | | | |Note: Numeric Figures are mentioned in ‘000’ Working: No need to provide breakup of Net Profit (Numerator) are mentioned in profit and loss account of respective pharmaceutical. Operating Assets = Total Assets – (Intangible Assets + Capital work in progress+ Loans and Advances + Investments + other assets) Break-up of operating Assets Operating Assets Turnover| Year 2008| Year 2009| Year 2010| Abbott| 5790421-(0+392954+170071+2801+56152)=5168443 | 4964576-(0+159886+73056+4393+42606)=4684635 | 5049710-(0+202480+23580+44896+4393+33746)=4740615 | Ferozsons| 1868938. 102-(0+141831. 157 +223867. 36+438228. 405+9714. 907)=1055296. 397 | 1579909. 793-(0+171010. 120+215775. 559+205992. 988+35069. 367)=952061. 759 | 1481628. 536-(0+0204216. 826+217372. 560+194474. 564)=865565 | Sanofi- Aventis | 33484287-(339+ 119,808+21381+4669)=33338090 | 3439093-(114+ 618,974+29683+4609)=2785713 | 2984535-(729+550391+30549+3325)=2399541 | Graphical Representation and Trend Analysis: Interpretation and Comparison: Percentages of return on assets actively used to create profit of Abbott laboratory have been reasonable. Net profit has declined during 2008 that has caused comparatively low ratio.Ferozsons has also utilized its assets actually required to run the business. Its operating assets have improved over the years with reasonable net profit volumes. Sanofi-Aventis has not utilized it’s actively used assets efficiently to create revenue, consequently very low returns. Abbott has shown increasing trend from 2008 to 2010 due to comparatively high net profit. Ferozsons has shown a decreasing trend from FY 2008 to 2009 due to decline in net profit an d increased volume of operating assets. It has the highest percentage of 36. 69% in FY 2010 due to rapid increase in net profit.Sanofi-Aventis has shown increasing trend over the years due to substantial increase in the volumes of net profit but these percentages have been below average. It needs to improve its net profit. Ferozsons has utilized its revenue producing assets exceptionally well. It has been leading other two. On the other hand Sanofi-Aventis has shown very low percentages of return on operating assets and it has been unable to actively use its assets to create revenue. Abbott has shown noticeably improved performance but has not performed better than Sanofi-Aventis. 7- Sales to Fixed AssetsIntroduction: The fixed-asset turnover ratio measures a company's ability to generate net sales from fixed-asset investments –  specifically property, plant and equipment (PP&E) – net  of depreciation. It is generally expressed in times. It is calculated by dividin g net sales with fixed assets for a given year. Formula: Sales to fixed Assets = Net sales / Fixed assets Sales to fixed Assets = (Answer) Times Calculation: Sales to fixed Assets| Year 2008| Year 2009| Year 2010| Abbott| 7089163/1560835= 4. 54 Times| 8450118/1662785=5. 07 Times| 10995701/1877596= 5. 6 Times| Ferozsons| 932297. 994/610987. 413=1. 53 Times| 1085393. 578/735614. 952=1. 48 Times| 1273374. 822/742280. 446=1. 72 Times| Sanofi-Aventis | 4346528/1195978= 3. 63 Times| 6725708/1393461=4. 83 Times| 6158295/1409260=4. 37 Times| Note: Numeric Figures are mentioned in ‘000’ Working: No need to provide breakup of Net Sales (Numerator) are mentioned in profit and loss account of respective pharmaceutical. Fixed assets breakup (Denominator) = Property, Plant and Equipment-net  of depreciation, the said figure has been given in the balance Sheet.Graphical Representation and Trend Analysis: Interpretation and Comparison: Abbott laboratory’s performance is better as it is generating almost more than 5 times (on average) sales turnover as compared to its small amount of property, plant and equipment. Ferozsons seems to be lenient in producing sales as per the volume of Property, plant and equipment. It has overinvested in fixed assets. It needs to revive its sales by introducing new product’s range. Sanofi-Aventis has also done reasonably well to generate sufficient sales volume as compared to its small amounts of fixed assets.Abbott has shown increasing trend from 2008 to 2010 due to increased sales volume and comparatively small amount of fixed assets. Ferozsons has shown a decreasing trend from FY 2008 to 2009 due to overinvestment in property, plant and equipment. It has improved its ratio in FY 2010 by sufficient increase in sales volume. Sanofi-Aventis has shown increasing trend from FY 2008 to 2009 due to adequate increase in sales volume. It has declined in FY 2010 due to decrease in sales. Abbott has surpassed others by produ cing bulk sales volume with a relatively small mount of fixed assets. On the other hand Ferozsons has shown very low turnover that means it has overinvested in fixed assets. Sanofi-Aventis has shown effective job by producing better sales volume with minute amount of property, plant and equipment.. 8- Return on total equity Introduction: Return on equity  measures a corporation's profitability  by revealing how much  profit a company generates  with the  money  shareholders have invested. It is generally expressed as a percentage. It is calculated by dividing net profit with share holder’s equity for a given year. Formula:Return on total equity = Net profit / Share holder’s equity*100 Return on total equity = (Answer) %age Calculation: Return on total equity| Year 2008| Year 2009| Year 2010| Average| Abbott| 343980/3568512*100=9. 64%| 609072/3238460*100 =18. 81%| 1176944/3912539*100 =30. 08%| 19. 51%| Ferozsons| 217023. 829/826236. 891*100 =26. 27%| 182757. 453/970129. 401*100 =18. 84%| 317542. 675/1275765. 058*100 =24. 89%| 23. 33%| Sanofi- Aventis | 38269/1116612*100=3. 43%| 167371/1292449*100=12. 95%| 224024/1461403*100=15. 33%| 10. 57%| Note: Numeric Figures are mentioned in ‘000’ Working:No need to provide breakup of Net Profit (Numerator) are mentioned in profit and loss account of respective pharmaceutical. Share holder’s Equity breakup (Denominator) = Issued, subscribed ; paid-up capital + Reserves – capital + Reserves – revenue Issued, subscribed ; paid-up capital + (Capital Reserves + Revenue Reserves)|   | 2008| 2009| | Abbott| 979003+154777+2434732=3568512| 979003+173853+2085604=3238460| | | | | | Ferozsons| 144672. 768+321. 843+681242. 280=826236. 891| 173607. 322+321. 843+796200. 236=970129. 401| | | | | | Sanofi- Aventis | 96448+1020164=1116612| 96448+1196001=1292449| | | | Issued, subscribed ; paid-up capital + Reserves – capital + Reserves – revenue|   | 2010| | Abbo tt| 979003+197167+2736369=3912539| | | | | Ferozsons| 208328. 786+321. 843+1067114. 429=1275765. 058| | | | | Sanofi- Aventis | 96448+1364955=1461403| | | | Graphical Representation and Trend Analysis: Interpretation and Comparison: Abbott laboratory has yielded better profits on owner’s equity that is a positive sign for investors and lenders. Its return on owner’s equity falls in FY 2008 due to decline in net profit. Ferozsons has also done considerably better by yielding sufficient returns.It has also decline in returns during FY 2009 due to rapid decrease in net profit. Its owner’s equity has also improved over the years. Sanofi-Aventis has also slightly improved over the years as it has yielded nominal returns on investment in FY 2009 and 2010. It has very low returns in FY 2008 that should be a matter of concern for the management. Abbott has shown increasing trend from 2008 to 2010 due to increase in net profit volume over the years. Ferozsons has shown a decreasing trend from FY 2008 to 2009 due to substantial decrease in net profit.It has improved its ratio in FY 2010 by sufficient increase in net profit. Sanofi-Aventis has shown increasing trend from FY 2008 to 2010 due to slightly noticeable increase in net profit volumes but these are not attractive from investors’ point of view. Ferozsons has surpassed others by producing overall better average return that is 23. 33%. It has generated sufficient net profit volumes. Sanofi-Aventis has produced insufficient returns to satisfy its investors. It needs to watch over its policies for better performance. Abbott has also produced reasonable returns on owner’s equity. 9- Gross Profit Margin Introduction:It is used to assess  a firm's financial health by revealing the  proportion of money left over from revenues after accounting for the cost of goods sold. It is generally expressed as a percentage. It is calculated by dividing gross profit with net sales for a given ye ar. Formula: Gross profit Margin = Gross profit / Net sales*100 Gross profit Margin = (Answer) %age Calculation: Gross profit Margin| Year 2008| Year 2009| Year 2010| Abbott| 2097653/7089163*100= 29. 6%| 2321131/8450118*100=27. 53%| 3687038/10995701*100=33. 53%| Ferozsons| 540738. 562/932297. 994*100=58%| 584211. 298/1085393. 578*100=53. 82%| 633242. 518/1273374. 22*100=49. 73%| Sanofi- Aventis | 1055823/4346528*100=24. 29%| 1626599/6725708*100=24. 18%| 1753544/6158295*100=28. 47%| Note: Numeric Figures are mentioned in ‘000’ Working: No need to provide breakup of Gross Profit (Numerator) and Net Sales (Denominator) as these figures are mentioned in profit and loss account of respective pharmaceutical. Graphical Representation and Trend Analysis: Interpretation and Comparison: Abbott laboratory has reasonable overall gross profit margins. That’s why it has yielded sufficient returns on equity. Its net sale has increased over the years. It has a decline in gross p rofit in FY 2009.Ferozsons has also done exceptionally well by yielding the highest gross profit margins. It has the tendency to face adverse economic condition such as low demanding and price competition. Sanofi-Aventis has undermined overall gross profit margins. Its gross profit margins are not sufficiently enough to bear operating and non-operating expenses. Abbott has shown decreasing trend from 2008 to 2009 due to decrease in gross profit. It has revived in FY 2010 by yielding higher gross profit. Ferozsons has also shown a decreasing trend from FY 2008 to 2009 due to significant decrease in gross profit.It has decreased further in FY 2010 due to bulk net sales volumes. Sanofi-Aventis has shown almost same trend in FY 2008 and 2009 but an increase in FY 2010 due to higher gross profit. Ferozsons has left behind others by producing overall excellent gross profit margins. It has generated sufficient gross profit volumes to face unfavorable financial circumstances such as low dem anding and price competition. Sanofi-Aventis has produced insufficient gross profit returns to satisfy any stakeholder. Abbott has produced adequate gross profit margins to absorb operating and non-operating expenses.Chapter 4) Summary, Conclusion, Recommendations & Limitations: 4. 2) Conclusions * Ferozsons and Abbott have yielded sufficient net profits to recover all operating, non-operating expenses and taxation charges. They have the tendency to build up reserves after paying all fixed interest charges and dividends. Sanofi-Aventis has yielded very low net profit despite reasonable sales volume due to escalating cost of goods sold, operating and non-operating charges. * Abbott laboratory and Ferozsons are efficiently managing its assets to generate profit.Sanofi-Aventis has low volumes of net profit with higher size of total assets that depicts its not utilizing its assets properly to generate profit. * Abbott laboratory and Ferozsons have yielded greater volume of profits along with an increase in its total assets and sales volume over the years. Its higher ratio depicts the higher generating rate of its wealth. Sanofi-Aventis has very low net profit margins but reasonably well total assets turnover rate that depicts lower generating rate of its wealth. * Ferozsons has the highest operating income margins that depict better pricing approach and operating competence.On the contrary Sanofi-Aventis has shown the lowest volume of operating profit margins that shows its flaws in pricing tactic. Abbott has shown adequate operating profits to meets its fixed costs. * Sanofi-Aventis has shown its efficiency at its best in managing significant assets like Property, Plant & Equipment, Stock in Trade and Cash with bank balances. On the other hand Ferozsons and Abbott have shown comparatively low Operating Assets Turnover in utilizing operating assets for generating sales. * Ferozsons has utilized its revenue producing assets exceptionally well.On the other hand Sano fi-Aventis has shown very low percentages of return on operating assets. Abbott has shown noticeably improved performance on the whole. * Abbott has produced bulk sales volume with a relatively small amount of fixed assets. Ferozsons has shown very low turnover that means it has overinvested in fixed assets. Sanofi-Aventis has shown effective job by producing better sales volume turnover with minute amount of property, plant and equipment. * Sanofi-Aventis has produced insufficient returns to satisfy its investors. Ferozsons has produced enough returns on owner’s equity whereas Abbott has also yielded reasonable returns.It is a good sign for prospect investors. * Ferozsons has generated sufficient gross profit volumes to face unfavorable financial circumstances such as low demanding and price competition. Sanofi-Aventis has produced insufficient gross profit returns to satisfy any stakeholder. Abbott has produced adequate gross profit margins to absorb operating and non-opera ting expenses. 4. 3) Recommendations * Ferozsons and Abbott need to keep scheming in the same way to keep curtailing cost of goods sold, operating and non-operating expenses. Sanofi-Aventis really need to look its profit yielding capacity.It should review and improve its product range. Furthermore effective management policies can produce the required results. * Ferozsons and Abbott need to retain effective management policies by utilizing more assets for the generation of higher profits in future. Sanofi-Aventis can yield better profit by utilizing its assets proficiently through effective management role. * Ferozsons and Abbott have reasonable Dupont return on Assets with sales spectrum. Sanofi-Aventis needs to improve it by curtailing its cost of goods sold, operating and non-operating expenses. Better profits always enhance investors’ confidence and it matters in the end. Ferozsons and Abbott have reasonable operating income margin and they need to keep strengthening bett er pricing approach and operating competence. Sanofi-Aventis requires implementing improved pricing tactic to attain better operating proficiency. * Abbott and Ferozsons need to utilize operating assets more effectively to improve their turnover as per sales volume. Sanofi-Aventis has unexpectedly better turnover, it should keep utilizing operating assets in the same manner. * Sanofi-Aventis needs to utilize its revenue producing assets in a better way. Abbott and Ferozsons should retain their current line of action. Ferozsons needs to downsize overinvested in fixed assets. Abbott and Sanofi-Aventis should keep their approach towards utilizing its fixed assets in terms of sales volume. * Sanofi-Aventis needs to watch over its policies for better return on owner’s equity to retain its investor confidence. Ferozsons and Abbott have to retain their pace in retaining current returns on owner’s equity. * Sanofi-Aventis needs to improve their selling strategies to improve pr ofit margins. Abbott and Ferozsons can increase gross profits by implementing more effective management policies. Section II a) Introduction of the student Last degree Obtained: B. ComOrganization’s Name: Wisdomhouse School Designation: Owner/Principal Experience: 7 Years b) Bibliography †¢Vu hand Outs †¢Internet sources †¢www. investopedia. com †¢http://www. accountingtools. com/fixed-asset-turnover-ratio †¢http://www. abbott. com. pk/11_Financial. htm †¢http://www. pakistaneconomist. com/database2/pdffiles/Pharmaceutical/Abbot/Year%202008/ALAnnual-%20Y08. pdf †¢http://www. ferozsons-labs. com/investor. htm †¢http://www. sanofi-aventis. com. pk/l/pk/en/layout. jsp? scat=59A5026C-701D-4C54-B1EC-E7788EA00832 †¢Ross, S. A. , R. W. Westerfield and B. D. Jordan. Essentials of Corporate Finance (1999), 2nd Edition, Irwin/McGraw-Hill.

Cowgirl Chocolates Essay

Her product development was based on the input of her friends and family, which represents a skewed and too small sample of the population. In addition, Marilyn is cutting out the biggest portion of her target market by naming her product Cowgirl Chocolates and making the brand label May Lillie. Therefore, the branding is not appealing to men, which constitute the biggest portion of her target market. Before spending money on advertising, a target market has to be defined and the proper channels to reach that target market. Advertising without a clearly defined target market is inefficient and wastes company resources. Giving samples will help establish a base of awareness of her product and the acquired taste but this has an inherent cost involved. Secondary Problems Marilyn’s lack of resources poses a great problem because without sufficient resources she will not be able to expand her business and increase sales. Cowgirl Chocolates lack the resources to become a large company they desire to become. Financially Cowgirl Chocolate does not have the resources to operate at full potential. The company is using revenue generated from Marilyn’s artwork, a small loan, and her personal savings to operate the company. Expenses completely overshadow her revenue of $30,000 while expenses were $50,000. This lack of funds give little to no room for promotional activity, a product that is as unique as spicy chocolates needs to have promotional abilities. Staff resources are minimal; Marilyn is the main source of production of her company. She does everything by herself, from the packaging and shipping the product to design and making the chocolate. This leaves Marilyn little time to expand to bigger ideas and meet with possible investors. She is devoting her time to the tedious work required to produce the product. Positioning of her product is the key to its success. Another problem is the distribution channels that the company uses. The lack of sales deterred Seattle Chocolates from agreeing to manage the wholesale operations for Cowgirl Chocolates. â€Å"They were not interested in taking this on at the present time†¦because they were not really sure where the market was for the product. †Marilyn also knew she had to increase sales before Seattle Chocolates would consider such an arrangement. However, the company is lacking a clear understanding of where the product should be sold, and which distribution channel will bring the greatest sales. Currently Marylin’s strategy is to directly gain placements in retail stores one after the other. Marylin does not have the expertise and connections in distribution to gain product placements in stores. Marylin is currently trying to perform all tasks that a wholesaler would do such as promotion, negotiation, matching, physical distribution and risk taking. A wholesaler would perform those tasks better, cheaper, and more efficient and effective than Marylin ever could. One example of this is Marylin not being paid for her chocolates by a local vendor and having them returned after months. Although the Cowgirl Chocolates website is responsible for a third of total sales, it lacks crucial features. The website does not have the ability to track repeat customers and does not know how customers found her website. Although Marilyn advertises on other websites and portals there is no tracking and she does not know how effective each channel is, and how many customers it brings to the site. There is no knowledge what search terms customers that found her site were using. That way there is no data on whether the Cowgirl Chocolates website is competing with other chocolate companies, spicy foods, or online gift stores. The website would be the cheapest way to gather market research and further identify a target market. An additional problem is Marilyn’s pricing strategy. Cowgirl Chocolate is premium gourmet chocolate in special packaging that makes it stand out from the rest of the competition. Furthermore, it is a new and unusual product. Marilyn states that she is unsure on how to price her product. Cowgirl Chocolate is sold in overpriced spicy food specialty stores, upscale gourmet food stores, and even the grocery stores. Marilyn could not identify a trend on how pricing affect sales. This does not come as a surprise because the product is new and customers are still unaware of it. Cowgirl Chocolates should be sold at a premium price. However, in the current stage of the product cycle the company needs to create customer trial. The way to accomplish this is to offer promotions, for example by offering in store promotions, coupons, coupons and/or mail in rebates. Again, those tasks should be handled by a wholesaler. Furthermore, Cowgirl Chocolates advertising is ineffective since there is no clear defined target market. Marilyn advertises randomly in different magazines using ads created by a friend and not a professional advertising agency. Marilyn is unsure herself if the advertisement will actually increase sales or not, even though it will cost thousands of dollars. Again, market research is missing to direct advertising to the right channels and reach the target audience, with the right ads that will increase customer trial. The company currently advertises the product year round, when it should concentrate more on advertising during the peak seasons of Christmas and Valentine’s Day. The company needs to have more product information in the advertisements. Recommendations To establish a target market we recommend that Cowgirl Chocolate should add more features to the website. The website should be able track how customers found the website, track orders and repeat customers, and gather such information as demographics. By tracking purchases, Cowgirl Chocolates will be able to send out promotional emails, for example customers could be informed about a special sale, given a discount code, or just be informed about new product creations or gift ideas. Additionally, a short survey should be added after the purchase is completed to gather valuable customer information (see appendix for sample survey questions). This would be the cheapest method of doing market research and establishing a target market. By tracking customers, the company will also determine who its main competitors are. Cowgirl Chocolates could be competing with other premium chocolate manufacturers, spicy packaged food, or gift websites. Another advantage of using the internet as a distribution channel is that Cowgirl Chocolates can be sold internationally. Markets in other countries can be entered with little to no initial investment. This will again offer opportunity to feel out markets in other countries that could be physically entered at a future point of time. Secondly, Marilyn should put effort on finding a wholesaler for her product that will take over crucial tasks that she is currently trying to perform all by herself. A good wholesaler will not only take risk of Marilyn’s hands by buying greater quantities at once, but will also fight for placement in stores and offer promotions to boost initial sales. A good wholesaler will select the right distribution channels and retail outlets using years of experience and expertise that Marilyn is lacking. Using a wholesaler will free up some time for Marilyn and allow her to concentrate on other aspects of her business like product creation and design. Half of the product portfolio currently only constitutes for 5% of total sales. These products should be discontinued since a wholesaler will most likely not carry them. Using the market research gathered from the Cowgirl Chocolate website, Marylin can effectively advertise by choosing the right channels and targeting the right customers. An advertising budget can be set apart and adjusted to the seasons with the highest sales. More emphasis should be placed on seasonal advertising such as during Christmas, Easter, or Valentine’s Day to take advantage of the gift aspect of Cowgirl Chocolates. We recommend that Cowgirl Chocolate sell their chocolate to spicy food restaurant for them to give to customers at the end of their meal. This would create more product awareness among consumers who already enjoy spicy foods. In addition to the internet and wholesale business, this can be a third distribution channel. Finally, we recommend that Marilyn should capitalize on effective free marketing, such as a local newspaper or news programs and have them run a story on her product. The cookbook would be a good form of promotion for her product. Marilyn could use it to generate more customer awareness and include recipes for different uses of the Cowgirl Chocolate.

Employee Motivation Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Employee Motivation - Coursework Example The secret to Motivating Employees,† university management professor Adam Grant proposes an easy strategy to motivating employees for a healthy organizational framework: a brief contact with the beneficiary. With case studies as backbones, Grant proves to a certain extent how such kind of approach boosts employee productivity to a notch higher than usual. In one study in a call center, an agent was made to interact with a recipient of a school fundraising program (â€Å"Open Secret,† 2010). The agent was able to generate twice as much as sales. In another study at a community recreation center, the certain group of lifeguards who were liberated of their abilities to save lives has worked up to several more hours than the group who only learned about the personal rewards of the job (â€Å"Open Secret,† 2010). In these experiments, Grant proposes the need for a social-emotional link between the end-users and the workers which could actually titillate employee motiva tion at its peak. With a consistently motivated employee, it is a no-brainer that a business can run its course into the industry for a long time. Furthermore, he also proposes a customer-driven approach not merely for the benefit of the customers but also to mold the interpersonal relations of the employee which any individual needs.   Grant’s proposition is a psychological assertion in the same way the larger context of ‘motivation’ itself stands on a psychological platform. Psychologist Frederick Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory has been putting important stress on the effect of employee motivation on the overall performance of an organization. In this model, the motivators refer to achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, growth, and advancement (â€Å"Herzberg’s,† n.d.). By adding awareness about who benefits from their jobs, employees will learn the gravity of their social responsibility, the extent of their achievement, and to feel the nature of their work.  Ã‚  

War on Terror Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

War on Terror - Research Paper Example War on Terror The interest that this author had in joining the military began when as a senior at Whetstone High School in Columbus, Ohio. During the autumn of 1988, Eddie Johnson, a former classmate, came home from Marine Boot Camp and visited the school. Standing tall in the hallway Eddie was shaking hands with all the teachers and students commanding the space around him with ease and confidence I had not seen from him previously. It was amazing to see the Principal; standing beside him beaming proudly. Eddie had just completed 8 weeks of hell at Parris Island, SC and he was looking fit, and trim in his shiny new Marine Uniform. One glance at him it was apparent that those same qualities which Eddie displayed should be exhibited in more young men. As this author compared himself to Eddie, it became clear and apparent that if he could endure and carry on through such hardships and trials, so too could anyone determined to succeed. Shortly after that day, this author mustered up the inner courage and went and talked to the Marine Recruiter and signed up. Two weeks after that point in time, graduation from high school had taken place and the long and difficult path of becoming a Marine lay ahead. From entering boot camp a young know-it-all and emerging a hardened warrior forged by blood, sweat and tears, it became apparent that United States Marines must value the rights and desires of others above their own. In this way, the development of an appreciation for guarding and providing the frontline of defense became to be born. Yet serving one’s country is not just a decision that is right only for this author; rather, serving our country should be vitally important to every citizen. The war on terror knows no bounds and is being fought each and every day on our soil as well as abroad. The struggle between radical Islamic sectarian beliefs and the principles of free societies have been on a collision course for quite some time now. Due to the fact that so many fanatics believe so strongly that their narrow-minded interpretation of religion is the â€Å"true† and â€Å"right† way, a glut of active and willing volunteers from many of the most poverty stricken regions of the planet has come to exist. Many nations that are controlled by radical elements of fundamentalist Islam practice cultural and ideological hegemony in these countries; thereby having a low tolerance towards different religions or views being practiced of promoted. In order to gain further control, many of these radical fundamentalists have splintered off and chose to use terrorism to achieve their ideological goals. Many American have always taken the concepts introduced by the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights for granted; believing that â€Å"all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness†. This belief has often come with a level of comfort that we are safe; that everyone likes our country and most importantly that bad things do not happen to good people because we have a right to be happy. This sheltered and wholesome belief system, although admirable, was shaken to its very core within the recent past. On September 11,

Final exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 9

Final exam - Essay Example Switching from this form of negotiation to the integrative negotiation will involve the establishment of a relationship between the parties. This may be difficult because mutual trust will not be exhibited by the parties. A relationship may not be the final interest of the parties, hence they may decide to maintain their positions due to mistrust. Negotiators trying to make this switch should create a mutual environment of relationship. They should be ready to integrate the other parties’ interests and adopt a joint problem-solving initiative. They should avoid tricks, but the openness and use of fair principles is necessary. They should initiate a collective criteria that determines the other parties’ position and bargaining their interests on this basis. They should also seek a long-term relationship, hence promoting a win-win situation that is mandatory. Union negotiators find it difficult to make this switch because their interests are stipulated by the large group of union members. They cannot easily switch and consider the needs of the other party because they follow specific requirements that must be adhered to. Union negotiations occur at periods when the concerns are more employee oriented than company oriented. Therefore, they place their interests towards obtaining a specific goal for a large number of employees. Company negotiators represent a group of stakeholders who are flexible in their decisions. In a business situation, the company tends to look at the forces of the market to make the decision. The other parties also understand this force and they tend to be flexible to allow a win-win situation. The workers have a right to strike and the employers have a right to replace the workers if their negotiations become deadlocked. Employers have a right to permanently or temporarily replace striking employees. During a lockout, the employer can make temporary replacements in order to continue production; and not permanent

Project Implementation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Project Implementation - Assignment Example This research aims at curbing misappropriation of digital data within the customer premises. This refers to the use of data available within a premise for other purposes than the intended one. This includes officers taking away data from the company server for personal use. The need for a company to protect its data arises as results of numerous cases of misappropriation go on the rise. The main goal of this project remains to secure the data which its customers require secured from access. This shall be achieved through the installation of programs which allow only a limited access. The other goal of the project would be defining and securing the information accessed from the institutions’ infrastructure. The project shall also define the points at which certain data can be accessed. Limitation of access points will translate to being able to monitor access to any classified information. Access control shall also be another of the main goals of this project. This shall be aim ed at exerting control over what people can access while at the place of work. Creation of access control systems shall be essential for the success of the project. Basically, the scope of this project lies in securing information, which can be, accessed from company premises. This being classified information owned by the company and harmful information from other places outside the company. A need arises for the project to define personal and general information. Personal data can be defined as information relating to an identifiable subject. This information may relate to numerous aspects of the subject. This is information which one can be able to link or associate with another person. In the case of Soul’s clients, this information relates to student details, results and other personal records of students. This project aims at reducing cases of information

Canada and China cooperation in Science and Technology Thesis

Canada and China cooperation in Science and Technology - Thesis Example the free trade policies and agreements in NAFTA, SAFTA, ASEAN etc. Apart from the common summit, various countries also have been indulging themselves in treaties which are more individualistic in nature, helping both the participants. China and Canada are good example of such nations. There have been various agreements and various treaties signed by the two nations which have helped them to grow economically as well as culturally. There has been a huge difference in the cultures of the two nations. Despite of this, they have sidelined the cultural barriers and created an era of utmost friendship and fostered mutual understanding and economic growth. The major agreements between the two countries are in the field of agriculture and science and technology. Funding organizations like MOST in China and ISTP in Canada have been set up to fund various research projects in universities/colleges, companies and association to augment the growth of research and technology based partnership. A lso with the help of CIDA's Agricultural Program, the agricultural productivity of China has touched new heights. In the course of this paper, we will study the cultures, demographic details, science and technology and the economies of the two nations and then the growth achieved by them with the help of their treaties in agriculture and science and technology. Han Chinese, the largest ethnic group in China,constitute about 91.9... Languages There are seven major Chinese dialects and many subdialects. Mandarin (or Putonghua), the predominant dialect, is spoken by over 70% of the population. Mandarin is taught in all schools and is the medium of government. About two-thirds of the Han ethnic groups are native speakers of Mandarin; the rest, concentrated in southwest and southeast China, speak one of the six other major Chinese dialects. Non-Chinese languages spoken widely by ethnic minorities include Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur and other Turkic languages (in Xinjiang), and Korean (in the northeast). The Pinyin System of Romanization In 1979, the Government of China adopted the pinyin system for spelling Chinese names and places in Roman letters. Pinyin has now replaced other conventional spellings in China's English-language publications. The U.S. Government also has adopted the pinyin system for all names and places in China. For example, the capital of China is now spelled "Beijing" rather than "Peking." Religion Religion plays an important role in the life of many Chinese. Buddhism is the religion that is most widely practiced, with an estimated 100 million adherents. Traditional Taoism also is practiced. Official figures indicate there are 20 million Muslims, 5 million Catholics, and 15 million Protestants; unofficial estimates are much higher. While the Chinese constitution affirms religious toleration, the Chinese Government places restrictions on religious practice outside officially recognized organizations. Only two Christian organizations--a Catholic church without official ties to Rome and the "Three-Self-Patriotic" Protestant church--are sanctioned by the Chinese Government. Unauthorized churches have sprung up in many

RFP's are sick, not dead Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

RFP's are sick, not dead - Essay Example In simple word RFP is a document used by buyer to solicit proposal from various potential suppliers. Proposal is prepared by suppliers by answering specific queries of buyer in the form of document. For example if a company wants to purchase computer system then they will write and issue Request for Proposal to suppliers. After the RFP is issued by the company then suppliers start responding to it. In the second step company receives and analyzes potential proposals from suppliers and after analyzing proposal they select most specific supplier. Industry report says that suppliers proposing low cost but quality solution to buyer have high probability to crack the deal in comparison to others (Schwalbe, 2010, p. 475). There is no fixed way for companies to select proposals from suppliers and entirely depends on business requirement of buyer. Research scholars suggested that companies should use expectancy value model to select right proposal. In expectancy value model buyers emphasizes on attributes of proposals. According to this model, buyers assign value point on various attributes of a proposal and then summarize total points assigned on potential proposals. ... Generally RFI and RFP include following points. Introduction Background of buyer Information regarding the project Purpose and Scope of RFI Specific Request Qualification of Vendor (Stein, 2006, p. 430) Due date of submitting proposal Confidentiality norms (Whitney, 2011, P. 246) Detailed information of supplier (Langer, 2012, pp. 49-50). Theoretically any company can use RFP for particular project but in low cost project issuing RFP ultimately harts objective of the organization. RFP for project costing below $10,000 can be classified as costly in terms of both staffing and investment (Click, and Duening, 2004, p. 78). Specific situations where buyer needs to issue RFP can be summarized in the following manner. Project cost is more than $10,000. Numerous suppliers are available to provide solution Requirement is complex and needs technical supervision High customization is required for the requested system (Wisner, and Stanley, 2007, p. 324) Substantial cost is associated with maint enance of requested system Multiple agency involvement is required during purchase process (Institute for Law and Justice, 1999). Cost of preparing RFP document is negligible in comparison to overall cost of the process. Problem areas for RFP process can be explained in the following manner. Potential Problems and Issues of RFP Reason Potential Effect Potential Threat No mention of Coordinator in RFP Creates confusion among suppliers and agencies Suppliers may protest against the company and solicitation might get cancelled No clear mention of needs or requirement by the buyer in RFP Suppliers do not respond sufficiently to RFP Buyers might need to reissue RFP with clarified requirement statement Ambiguous proposal requirement Confused vendors send incomplete

Community Health Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Community Health Nursing - Essay Example Quality of life really depends upon not only what the family can do, but about what the community health nurse can impart to her patient. In the case of Mrs. Thomas, making her comfortable is going to be the nurse’s primary concern. It seems that Mrs. Thomas is on a regime that includes Vicodin, but she doesn’t seem approving of using medication for pain management. However, it is okay for the nurse to reassure Mrs. Thomas that this will help her make a smooth transition in the process in which she is going through. She is in a lot of pain, and managing the pain will definitely take a lot of pressure off of Mr. Thomas knowing that his wife feels better. Unfortunately, many times pain is undertreated by physicians in the U.S. Since Mrs. Thomas is a cancer patient, it only makes sense that she is going to feel badly with the metastasis of the cancer to her lung—and indeed, it probably is as painful as she has described to the nurse. However, not treating the pain i s going to leave Mrs. Thomas without other recourse, and in the process, Mr. Thomas may become severely affected, seeing his wife in pain and feeling powerless to do much about it. Therefore, the best decision seems to be to treat the pain. This is going to be the greatest help for Mrs. Thomas as she now goes through the dying process. B. Discuss three strategies that you could use in the Thomas’s situation to improve the quality of life for Mrs. Thomas and her husband during this illness. Community health nurses definitely can have a positive impact on being able to improve the quality of life for terminally ill patients such as Mrs. Thomas. According to Larsen and Lubkin (2009), â€Å"By evaluating the extent to which nursing interventions improve quality of life for clients and families, nurses are in a position to [help their clients with this]† (pp. 156). Of course, many times people may argue about what does quality of life mean. According to Sinclair (2007), â €Å"Referring to quality of life†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢its definition is notoriously problematic.’ The tendency toward superficiality in measurement of quality of life in palliative care has been [criticized]† (pp. 62). Three strategies that could be used in order to improve Mrs. Thomas’s quality of life would include the following: have her listen to music; make sure she has good hygiene and grooming; and making sure Mrs. Thomas has some visitors so she can get some social interaction, perhaps with her family members who live out-of-state. Music can be a quite calming factor, especially when one is not feeling well. Something light and airy, or classical music, might be especially soothing. In addition, Mrs. Thomas should be very well-groomed and be helped to maintain good personal hygiene so that she doesn’t get any kind of infection. Third, perhaps visits from her family members from out-of-state might be a nice touch, if the nurse could get in contact with th em and see if they’d like to visit her. Or, alternatively, the nurse might like to arrange a visit or two from a minister of Mrs. Thomas’s faith or a volunteer who cares for hospice patients. Volunteers who work in hospice might best serve Mrs. Thomas if at least one person came to see her on a regular basis so she could maintain some social contact with others outside her husband. C. Create a holistic nursing action plan appropriate for managing Mrs. Thomas’s care at home by doing the following: ? 1. Discuss ways to optimize Mrs. Thomas’

An Analysis of Christianity Through the Lens of Toulmins Method of Essay

An Analysis of Christianity Through the Lens of Toulmins Method of Argumentation - Essay Example In regards to the claim, it is the stance of this brief essay that at its very core, Christianity places a high emphasis on that stewardship should necessarily define the way in which the Christian interacts with the world around him. Although Christianity in and of itself places the primary motivators upon the need to live as Christ, the writings of Paul and others indicate that a primal focus with respect to resources and their utilization must be adhered to in order to better exhibit a Christ-centered relationship. As will be expanded upon in greater depth within this analysis, this fundamental concept of stewardship with regards to the way the Christian should interact with the material world traces its understanding not only to the life and example of Christ or the writings of Paul but back to the very beginnings of humanity with the creation and instruction given to Adam and Eve (Bookless 39). In keeping with Toulmin’s model, the ground is the second part of the argument which must be developed upon and considered. As such, the ground supports that stewardship, although a New Testament Doctrine is also exhibited elsewhere under different names throughout the Bible. One of these is of course indicated during the creation story as God charges Adam to look over the creation and tend to it (Grizzle 233). Obviously, man and woman were created above the animals and were given dominion over them; however, this dominion, as exhibited in the Old Testament book of Genesis, did not indicate that humanity could exploit the resources given to him for no other benefit than his own self gratification. Rather, man was given dominion over the animal kingdom (and by extension the environment) as a means to use his God-given talent and superior intellect to seek to further the needs of these animals. By extension, the animal kingdom was given to man originally as a special charge; one in which mirrored the charge that God had with mankind – a unique relationsh ip whereby the creator uniquely loved and cared for his creation. In this way, the ground for the argument is made even stronger that God attempted to engage mankind with the seriousness of stewardship through giving him charge of the lesser creatures that God had created. Similarly, Toulmin’s argumentative logic continues on to the issue of the warrant. In this stage of argumentation, Toulmin would have the reader link the preceding claim and ground to a verifiable connection that leads to a verifiable end. In this way, the author of this analysis has thus far laid out the fact that stewardship in the New Testament lays a fundamental framework through which the Christian is charged with integrating with and watching over the material resources he/she is responsible for in this life. Accordingly, the ground went on to give

Student affairs Essay Example for Free

Student affairs Essay For a student affairs event, I attended a Brilliant Bobcat Workshop. The event was called U-Turn and was very informative. U-Turn was about helping with turning your academic life around. It was a presentation to help show that if you are put on academic probation or going in the wrong direction, that there is still hope and a chance to turn your academic life around. The thing I found most helpful to me was the resources that are found on campus. We went over all the resources helpful to students. Two of these resources that appealed to me were the Writing Center and Career Services. I learned that the Writing Center is a place to go when you need help with a paper. I found it convenient that you can make appointments online. Students go in to either an hour or an hour and a half appointment and get a personal tutor to help with any writing piece. Career Services also seems very helpful. Students can go here if they need any help with figuring out their major, if they need help with improving their resume, and even to help with job interviews. I found it cool that they would even do a mock interview to help you get the feel of things for the real deal. Another thing we talked about was distractions. We went over the many ways you can be distracted from school. For each distraction, we went over a way to avoid these distraction and how to find help if these distractions are hurting your grades. I learned many tips on how to make a U-Turn. I learned that to make good grades I should always study and attend class, to be realistic, avoid procrastination, eliminate all distractions, and set goals. If this doesn’t help, it’s always a smart idea to meet with an academic advisor or professor. For this workshop I sat at a table with a Pace Advisor and three other girls and we collaborated on everything that was said. I really liked this idea because I got to hear different viewpoints. I heard what other people do when they get distracted and some of their study methods. I love working in groups and I think it was very helpful with this workshop. The actual presentation itself was good as well. There were three different speakers that presented. One talked about all the different resources on campus. The second speaker was a man who talked academic probation and the process on how to appeal it. The final speaker was from financial aid and spoke about how grades have to be kept up in order to keep receiving financial aid. Overall, I enjoyed the whole presentation. The hour in a half flew by because I was interested in what was said. I liked all the speakers as well as my small group. I found it really useful and learned a lot. I would definitely attend another Brilliant Bobcat workshop.

Elasticity Of Demand And Economics Decision Making Economics Essay

Elasticity Of Demand And Economics Decision Making Economics Essay Extent or degree to which a demand or supply curve reacts to the change in price is called elasticity of that curve. This nature of curve varies with different nature of products means if a product is essential then change in price does not effect much on demand. On the other hand less essential product are quite sensitive to the price changes because opportunity cost of buying those product become too high. A good or service is said to be highly elastic if slight change in price leads to a sharp changes in quantity demanded or supplied. There are lots of products in the market which are not needed in our routine life. And a good or service is said to be highly inelastic if changes in price doesnt effect much on the quantity demanded or supplied. These are those product or services which are very much essential to our daily life. Price Elasticity of Demand It is defined as the percentage change in quantity demanded to the percentage change in price for a particular product or service. Demand is said to be elastic if change in price leads to a higher change in demand, in that case Price Elasticity of Demand (PED) would be more than one i.e PED > 1 P P D D Elastic demand PED>1 Q Perfectly Elastic Q Goods which comes under elastic category tend to have following characteristics They are luxury goods. They are very expensive like sports cars. Goods bought frequently. Goods with many substitutes in market. Price Inelasticity of Demand: Demand is said to be inelastic if the percentage change in price doesnt affect much on the demand of a product i.e. PED P P Inelastic demand PED Goods which come under inelastic category tend to have following characteristics: They are necessities. People are use to them means they are addictives like wine cigarettes. They have no or very few substitutes like petrol. They cost a small percentage of income and bought infrequently. In the short demand is usually more inelastic because it takes time to find alternatives. We can say if the price of chocolate increased demand would be inelastic as there is no alternatives, however if the price of mercury increased there are close substitutes in the form of other chocolates. Therefore demand would be more elastic. In broad there are three factors influencing the demands price elasticity: The availability of substitutes: This is the most important factor influencing the elasticity of a good or service. In general speaking more the substitutes the more elastic the demand will be. Income available to spend on goods: This factor affecting demand elasticity refers to the total a person can spend on a particular good or service. Now suppose price of orange juice goes up from $2 to $3 and the income remains the same. So the income that is available to spend on orange juice which is say $12 is enough for only 4 cans rather than 6. In other words consumer is forced to reduce his demand of orange juice. So if there is increase in price and at the same time no increase in available amount for that good or service then there will be elastic reaction in demand. Therefore demand will be sensitive to a change in price if there is no change in income. Time: Another important factor is time. If price of cigarettes goes up by 15%, a smoker with very few substitute start buying on daily basis instead of buying for a week or so. This suggests that tobacco is inelastic because change of price will not have a considerable influence on the quantity demanded. However if the smoker finds difficult to spend extra 15% and begins to get rid off smoking, the price elasticity of cigarettes for that consumer become elastic in long run. Market Structure: Every market has his own features on which it works or behaves. There are few features which we should consider while determining the market structure as First of all we should know the awareness of consumer about the market. We should know how knowledgeable our customers are. We should know how many firms are doing the same business; it tells us the extent of competition we are supposed to face. What type of product we are dealing with, whether it is coming in the category of necessary product or in the category of luxury product. Whether the entry in the market is easy or difficult and same is the case with leaving the market. Based upon these factors we decide whether the market is perfectly competitive or imperfectly competitive. In a perfectly competitive market there is no entry and exit barrier, we can enter or exit at any point of time from the market. Also in perfectly competitive market product is homogenous and there are large number of buyers and sellers. While in imperfectly competitive market there are very few buyers and sellers, very difficult to enter into and exit the market and at the same time there is monopoly of product. Market Structure of Airline Industry: Market structure which suits to Airline Industry is oligopoly market. In this type of market there are only 2-3 firms who dominate the market. Advertisement and marketing is very important in such type of markets. As there are very few firms, they know each other very well. They know strategies of each other. So they always consider their competitors, while making price strategies, because they just cant set the prices by themselves. They have to consider the pricing of their competitors as well. Although when one firm has a dominant position in the market the oligopoly may experience a price leadership. Firm having lower market share may forced to follow the pricing policy of dominant firm. As large amount of fixed cost is involved in this type of market so entry as well as exit is very difficult. There are basically three major theories about the oligopoly of pricing as under: These firms collaborate to charge the unique price and at the same time unique profit. These firms compete on price so that price as well as the profit will remain same as in competitive market. These firms had the price and profit in between of perfectly competitive and monopoly markets. Market Structure Seller Entry Barrier Buyer entry Barrier Number of Seller Number of Buyers Perfect competition No No Many many Oligopoly Yes No Very few many Monopoly Yes No Only one many Table for different market structure Yield Management: The basic concept of yield management is to provide right service to right person at the right price on right time. (Kimes, 1989: Weatherford and Bodily 1992). Now in case of Airline Industry we can define yield management as generating maximum revenue per seat by keeping customer satisfied. We can do this by applying different policies. As in every industry, customer is very important in this industry. Customer is paying quite an amount to get the services of this type of industry. So we have to take a very good care of customer as well. We have to provide good service right from the booking of ticket to leaving off the plane. The strategic points of yield management are four Cs namely, calendar, capacity, clock and cost and they all bound together with another C i.e. customer. Singapore Airlines is a great example of this. They take a great care of their customers. They keep data of each and every passenger travel with them. They not only provide excellent service but also maintain good and caring relations with customers. Firms compete for market share and demand from customers in many ways. We differentiate these ways into two major subheads i.e. Price Competition and Non-price Competition. We are considering New Zealand Airline Industry as an example Price Competition: Price competition involves increasing the demand by discounted the price. We increase our business in different ways as under: We can provide discounted tickets in the off seasons. We can provide ticket through some scheme like buy one ticket and get 50% discount on purchase of another ticket. This would definitely attract customers and at the same time would increase the revenue. Because there is no use of flying with vacant seat, its better to have customers with discounted tickets. We can also start pre booking scheme especially for our off season. We can launch scheme like discount on ticket booked 1-2 months before. This would enable us to know how much customer we have in our off season and we can make our further strategy according to that. If we still have very few bookings then we can offer some gifts, holiday package or so on booking to boom our sale. We can introduce new packages with our tickets. We can collaborate with few hotels to provide a complete holidays package to family, newly married couples teenagers. We can provide one way free travel, means a person can pay for one way and get the ticket for return as well. This will increase the revenue and at the same time enable us to get few loyal customers. Non- Price Competition: This is the focus on other strategies to increase the market share. There are various strategies which comes under this category as Advertisement and marketing is the major strategy which comes under this category. As there is huge investment involve in this type of industry so we want to get super normal profit out of this. Advertisement plays an important role in achieving this. We advertise and market our product or service in such a way that it put significant impact on customer. On line booking is another value added service. We can book our ticket from home and get our seat confirmed. This would help customer to make his plan well in advance and at the same time it is hassle free. This would enable them to get rid off agents as well as long queue. And apart from this it is 24 hours service. Locality card or points given to every customer, who keeps on adding and customer, will get a prize on reaching certain points. This enable customer to interest for his next trip from same airline.

A Review On VBNC Bacteria

A Review On VBNC Bacteria Viable but Non-Culturable (VBNC) state is a unique survival strategy of many bacteria in environment in response to adverse environmental conditions. VBNC bacteria cant be cultured on routine microbiological media but they remain viable and retain their virulent capacity too. VBNC bacteria can be resuscitated when provided with appropriate conditions. A good number of bacteria including many human pathogens have been reported to enter VBNC state. Though, there was disputes on the existence of VBNC in past, extensive molecular studies have resolved most of them and VBNC has been accepted as distinct survival state by all. VBNC bacteria are considered as threats to public health and food safety due to their non-detectability and virulence as food and water have been reported to be contaminated with pathogens at VBNC state though conventional methods declared them as safe and clean. A number of outbreaks have also been reported where VBNC bacteria has been implicated as causative agent. Further molecular and combinatorial research in conjunction with predictive modeling are needed to elucidate the mechanisms and to identify the critical points to tackle the threat posed by VBNC bacteria with regard to public health and food safety. Key words: VBNC, Pathogen, public health, Food safety, Detection Introduction The cells that form colony in specific media are the culturable cells. Viable means metabolically or physiologically active. So the cells those are metabolically or physiologically active but cant be cultured on specific media are the viable but non-culturable cells (VBNC) (Bogosian Bourneuf, 2001). Most microorganisms growing in nature have yet to be cultured in the laboratory. In fact less than 1% of the microorganisms in natural water and soil samples are cultured in viable count procedures (Barcian Arana, 2009). In 1982, Prof. Rita Colwell and co-workers introduced the term Viable But Non-Culturable Bacterial Cells (VBNC) to distinguish particular cells that could not form colonies on solid media but obtained metabolic activity and the ability to elongate after the administration of nutrients (Xu et al., 1982). According to Oliver (1995), VBNC can be defined as a metabolically active bacterial cell that crossed a threshold in this way, for known or unknown reasons and become unable to multiply in or on a medium normally supporting its growth. Most of the bacteria that enter VBNC state are gram negative species belonging to the gamma subclass of the Proteobacteria branch, except for Rhizobium, Agrobacterium and Helicobacter-Campylobacter species (Oliver, 2000). History Debra Bashford and colleagues announced that they had recovered Vibrio cholerae from streams and drainage ditches, including sites with negligible chance of sewage contamination. Around the same lime, Rita Colwell was also finding Vibrio cholerae in Maryland. She and her coworkers showed that both this bacterium and E. coli, incubated in artificial sea water remained viable but lost the capacity to form colonies on culture media (Colwell Grimes, 2000). Soon Salmonella enteritidis, Shigella sonnie and Legionella pneumophila joined the list of organisms known to be capable of entering a state in which they failed to show up on nutrient agar yet took up substrates and signaled in other ways that they were certainly not dead. The use of laboratory media to recover and enumerate bacteria and lo link them with or absolve them from pathological and other activities became obsolete by the new discoveries and a term VBNC (viable but non-culturable) came (McDougald et al., 1998). VBNC Microorganisms that do not grow in culture methods, but which are still metabolically active and capable of causing infections in animals and plants are said to be in VBNC state. Traditional laboratory culture conditions methods cannot meet the requirements of VBNC organisms to resume growth (Yamamoto, 2000). Semi-starved bacteria usually resume growth immediately when appropriate nutrients conditions are provided. Viable but non-culturable cells will not resume growth even when nutrients are provided (NystrÃÆ'-m, 2001). VBNC cells exhibit active metabolism in the form of respiration or fermentation, incorporate radioactive substrates, and have active protein synthesis but cannot be cultured or grown on conventional laboratory media. They have been detected by observing discrepancies between plate count enumeration of bacterial population and direct staining and microscopic counts (Sachidanandham Gin, 2009). These cells may be of particular problems in the environment if they are pathogens, for example, viable but non-culturable cells of Vibrio cholerae, Enteropathogenic E. coli, Legionella pneumophila and various other bacteria have been shown to regain culturability after they have entered the intestinal tracts of animals (Colwell et al., 1996). The VBNC state is defined as a state of dormancy triggered by environmental harsh conditions, such as nutrient starvation (Cook Bolster, 2007), temperature (Besnard et al., 2002), osmotic stress (Asakura et al., 2008), oxygen availability (Kana et al., 2008), several food preservatives (Quirà ³s et al., 2009), heavy metals (Ghezzi Steck, 1999), exposure to white light (Gourmelon et al., 1994) and decontaminating processes, as pasteurization of milk (Gunasekera et al., 2002) and chlorination of wastewater (Oliver, 2005). VBNC state is believed to be a unique survival strategy of bacteria in response to environmental stresses (Oliver, 2010). It is also considered as an important reservoir of many human pathogens in the environment (Lleo et al., 2007). VBNC state has been a matter of dispute for ling since its inception, due to the difficulty of differentiation of VBNC cells dormant cells through resuscitation phenotypic studies, recent molecular studies, data of which supported the existence of VBNC state, the dispute has mostly been put to rest (Barer and Harwood, 1999). VBNC Pathogens Following list includes but not limited to pathogenic bacteria that can enter VBNC state (Oliver, 2010)- Aeromonas hydrophila, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Burkholderia cepacia, Campylobacter jejuni, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterobacter cloacae, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli (including EHEC), Helicobacter pylori, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Legionella pneumophila, Listeria monocytogenes, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella typhimurium, Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella flexneri, Shigella sonnei, Streptococcus faecalis, Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio harveyi, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus (types 1 and 2) Characteristics of Bacteria in VBNC state 1. Maintain apparent cell integrity; 2. possession of some form of measurable cellular activity (Lai et al., 2009); 3. possess apparent capacity to regain culturability (Anuchin et al., 2009); 4. respond to external stimulus by specific gene expression (kell et al., 1998); 5. low metabolic activity (oliver, 2005); 6. Exhibit dwarfing (Costa et al., 1999); 7. reduced nutrient transport; 8. High ATP level and high membrane potential (Signoretto et al., 2000); 9. extensive modifications in cytoplasmic membrane fatty acid compositions (Day Oliver, 2004); 10. Changes in cell wall peptidoglycan such as increasing cross linking, increasing muropeptides bearing covalently bound lipoprotein shortening of average length of glycan strands (signoretto et al., 2002); 11. Higher autolytic capability than exponentially growing cells; 12. Plasmids are retained; 13. changed antibiotic sensitivity as metabolic activity is lower, most bacteria at VBNC state demonstrate high antibiotic resistance (Ol iver, 2010); 14. Changes in outer-membrane protein profile (Muela et al., 2008); 15. Continuous gene expression (Maalej et al., 2004) etc. Conditions stimulating VBNC state In the environment, bacterial cells can enter VBNC state may be due to- 1. Lack of nutrients; 2. Lack of temperatures; 3. High pressure; 4. Sharp changes in pH or salinity (Cunningham et al., 2009); 5.damage to or lack of an essential cellular component; 6. DNA damage; 7. activation of lysogenic phages or suicide genes such as sok/hak or autolysins (Aizenman et al., 1996); 8. Nutrient starvation; 9. incubation outside the normal temperature range of growth; 10. elevated or lower osmotic concentrations; 11. oxygen concentrations (Mascher et al., 2000); 12. food preservatives; 13. Heavy metals (Del Campo et al., 2009); 14. exposure to white light; 15. pasteurization of milk (Gunasekara et al., 2002); 16. chlorination of wastewater (Oliver, 2005) etc. Public health significance of VBNC Though virulence of bacteria in VBNC state is still not very clear, many believed that pathogens in VBNC state are unable to induce infection/disease but still retain their virulent properties has potential to cause disease infection following resuscitation and resume of active metabolic state, which occurs when they pass through host animal (Baffone et al., 2003). The VBNC state appears to be the common to many bacteria especially those which have aquatic habitats, and may represent a mechanism to survive adverse environmental factors as temperature, salinity etc. or have a means of inducing cross protection against other adverse factors (Du et al., 2007). Among these bacteria entering this state are many significant human pathogens and indicator bacteria of these pathogens; such cells may represent a public health hazard and may be a factor in human health and/or disease (Rivers Steck, 2001). Even today, it is still not possible to cultivate most bacterial species directly from the environmental samples or after exposure of previously culturable cells to environmental conditions unfavorable for growth and multiplication in vitro. The passage of VBNC through an appropriate animal host will induce return of culturability. Even these VBNC bacteria retain their pathogenicity and may trigger life in vivo and thus cause severe disease (Sardessai, 2005). Under normal condition it is not possible to culture or detect VBNC. Many diagnostic laboratory set up does not have sufficient molecular facilities to detect VBNC. In case of food and water quality control test, such VBNC may not be detected. Even some indicator of some pathogenic bacteria undergoes VBNC state and may remain undetected (Signoretto et al., 2004). Upon consuming such food or after drinking such water, one may be infected by those VBNC that can trigger life as well as pathogenicity (Adams et al., 2003). Thus, environmental and clinical samples no longer can be considered free from pathogens if culturing yields negative results. For the general public, the presence of VBNC in water and food may be related to low-grade infections or so called aseptic infection. For example, Vibrio cholerae O1 in the surface water remain as non-culturable state. These water sources are used for domestic purpose regularly and posed a risk of infection (Edwards, 2000). When conditions are not favorable for growth then it transforms to the non-culturable state in association with crustacean copepods. Persistence of Vibrio cholerae in water in the VBNC state is an important public health factor, since detection will not be successful if only conventional cultural methods are used (Barer et al., 1993). Similarly, Shigella can undergo VBNC state in water but become a threat when enter in human body. Thus it is important to recognize that non-culturable bacteria are capable of producing diseases. The first evidence of pathogenicity of non-culturable cells was the demonstration of fluid accumulation in rabbit ileal loop assay (RICA) by VBNC Vibrio cholerae O1, followed by human volunteer experiments (Amel et al., 2008). VBNC E. coli non-culturable cells were re-isolated after passage through rabbit ileal loops 4 days post inoculation and chick embryos died when injected with non-culturable cells of Legionella pneumophila, led to the conclusion that VBNC pathogens remain potentially pathogenic. So, VBNC has a huge significance in public health care (Cappelier et al., 2007). Previous studies indicated that a good number of pathogenic bacteria can survive food water treatment processes persist as well as retain virulence in processed food, pasteurized milk, potable water environment (Colwell et al., 2000). Many evidences suggested that recurrent urinary tract infections in many individuals are caused by uropathogenic E. coli cells which remain in VBNC state (Anderson et al., 2004) thus resistant to antibiotic treatment cause reinfection when resuscitate back to active metabolic state (Steck, 2001; Mulvey et al., 2001). Studies also showed that uropathogenic E. coli retain enteropathogenicity at VBNC state through continued production of enterotoxin (Pommepuy et al., 1996). Nilsson et al. (2002) showed that VBNC Helicobacter pylori cells can express virulence factors such as cagA, vacA and vreA. All these above evidence proved that many deathly pathogenic strains not only enter but also persist survive in VBNC state in environment most of them remain infectious as well. VBNC state of foodborne bacteria- a challenge in food safety Many evidences suggested presence of VBNC bacteria in food (Ordax et al., 2009). For example, in stored wine, acetic acid and lactic acid bacteria entered VBNC state as consequence of lack of oxygen and presence of sulphites, respectfully (Millet and Lonvaud-Funel, 2000). Food and its surrounding environment is a complex system, in which physic-chemical characterisitcs (pH, aw, chemical composition) and environmental factors (storage temperature and time, decontamination treatments, packaging under modified atmosphere) act simultaneously on contaminating bacteria (Sun et al., 2008). For example, it has been demonstrated that refrigerated pasteurized grapefruit juice induced VBNC state in E. coli O157:H7 and S. typhimurium within 24 hours of incubation (Nicolo et al., 2011). Again, Gunasekera et al. (2002) reported that in pasteurized milk which have undergone thermal treatment, contaminating bacteria such as E. coli and Pseudomonas putida enter into VBNC state but retained transcription and translation machineries. Several foodborne outbreaks has been reported in Japan, where pathogen such as Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica (Asakura et al., 2002) and E. coli O157 (Makino et al., 2000) in food in VBNC state were responsible for the outbreak. Therefore, the role of food and treatment for food preservation in induction of VBNC state has to be elucidated. Predicitve models offered by biomathematics and bioinformatics would be very helpful tools, in order to evaluate the possibility that, under certain conditions, pathogen bacteria contaminating a tipology of food may enter the VBNC state (Fakruddin et al., 2012). Methods of detection of VBNC bacteria 1. Bright Field Microscopy with Nalidixic acid For detection of Bright-field or light microscopic is usually used. Cell division inhibitor such as nalidixic acid (20-40 mg/L) is used to stop cell division. After such treatment the viable cells, which actively growing, will be appeared as lengthen and the non-viable/ metabolically inactive cell will remain as it is. The cells are then observed under microscope. Viable cells will be seen as elongated whereas VBNC/ dormant cells will be seen as oval and large. 2. Fluorescent Microscopy Various fluorescent staining procedures are used in combination with other procedure to determine VBNC organisms. Frequently used stains are Acridine orange, 4,6- Diamino-2-phenyl indole (DAPI), Fluorescein isothiocyanante (FITC), Indophenyl-nitrophenyl-phenyl tetrazolium chloride (INT), 5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride (CTC) etc (Villarino et al., 2000). Table: Fluorescent dyes used for detection of VBNC bacteria Dye Mechanism Reaction Acridine orange Acridine orange stain cells depending on the ratio of DNA to protein in the cells Actively reproducing cells appear green but slow-grower or non-reproducing cells at time of staining appear orange Di-amino-phenyl-indole (DAPI) Living cells look green under fluorescent microscope Indophenyl-nitrophenyl-phenyl tetrazolium chloride (INT) INT deposit red dye in cells that have active dehydrogenase and thus determine which of the observed cells are metabolically active INT react with dehydrogenase enzyme to produce formazone and red color, thus living cells appear red. Nalidixic acid (NA) Lengthen metabolically active cells, VBNC cells remain as it is Cells that are dividing appear to be longer in size than VBNC Fluorescein isothiocyanante (FITC) Enzyme activity in living cell FITC stain living cells violet or blue In recent years, a new differential staining assay, the BacLight ® Live/Dead assay, has been developed. The assay allows to simultaneously count total and viable (metabolically active) cells, by using two nucleic acid stains, that is green-fluorescent SYTO ® 9 stain and red-fluorescent propidium iodide stain. SYTO ® 9 propidium iodide has significant difference in their cell membrane penetration capability. SYTO ® 9 stains both live and dead bacteria whereas propidium iodide penetrates only bacteria having damaged membranes. When used together, propidium iodide reduces SYTO ® 9 fluorescence in staining dead bacteria with damaged membranes. As a result, viable bacteria with intact membranes fluoresce green while dead bacteria with damaged membranes fluoresce red (Rowan, 2011). 3. Gene probe / oligonucleotide probe / hybridization: Molecular analysis can also be used to study non-culturable microorganisms in nature. Oligonucleotide probes of l8-20 nucleotides are proving most useful because they hybridize rapidly to specific DNA sequences of target organisms. These gene probes can reveal closely related organisms or organisms with similar functional capabilities. Especially useful for the analyses of rRNA that demonstrate the presence of diverse microbial populations whose phylogenetic relationships can be ascertained by comparison with rRNA sequences from previously described microorganisms (Josephson et al., 1993). Blotting: There are different types of blotting such as colony blot, slot blot, dot blot and southern blot. The principle of blotting is the use of radio- or non-radioactive or fluorescence labeled probe (DNA/RNA/Antibody) to detect VBNC cells directly from the environmental samples. Fluorescent in situ Hybridization (FISH): In situ hybridization is an alternative format for hybridization probes in which fluorescence labeled DNA or RNA probes are hybridized with target nucleic acids in whole, permeabilized cells. The application of this method to the detection of single microbial cells by using rRNA-targeted probes in combination with epifluorescent microscopy has been developed. This is done through selective targeting of regions of rRNA, which consist of conserved and variable nucleotide regions. By choosing the appropriate rRNA probe sequence, FISH can be used to detect all bacterial cells (a universal probe) or a single population of cells (a strain specific probe) of VBNC. It has lower sensitivity and cannot distinguish live and dead cells. 4. Molecular techniques: Hybridization probes and DNA/RNA amplification: Hybridization probes are nucleic acids (DNA/RNA) which have been (a) chemically or radioactively labeled and are used to detect complementary target DNA/RNA. Hybridization assay DNA/ RNA probes form a stable double stranded structure with target nucleic acid via H-bonding between complementary bases. Amplification of targets: DNA Based methods: Specific amplification of DNA targets in bulk DNA extracts from environmental and clinical samples permits detection of specific organisms or groups of related organisms without the need to cultivate them. DNA recovery procedures do not discriminate between culturable and non-culturable forms of the target organisms- all cells with intact amplification targets will be detected. Confocal laser microscopy in combination with fluorescence-based hybridization assays, also provide a more sensitive method for detecting and identifying VBNC organisms. RNA based methods: Due to the failure of distinguishing between dead or live cells by DNA-based methods, the mRNA level may be a valuable estimate of gene expression and/or cell viability under different conditions (Lleo et al., 2000). RT-PCR: RT-PCR (Reverse Transcriptase PCR) can distinguish between Live and dead cell. This is possible because this is an mRNA based method and mRNA is short lived (half-life less than 1 minute), mRNA is only present in metabolically active cells, not found in nature after the cell death. By this method we can study community relationship and can also detect non-culturable but active or live cells. DNase enzyme is used during the isolation of RNA from environmental samples. Reverse transcriptase and random primers are added to the reaction mixture and the RNA in the sample (both RNA and rRNA) is transcribed into DNA. PCR is then use to amplify the specific sequence of interest (Pai et al., 2000). Is the concept of VBNC is a misnomer? By extending the concept of bacterial self-suicide scientists tried to explain what happens when cells are exposed to chemical and physical injury (Forsman et al., 2000). Thus VBNC organisms came alongside with those, which do not grow in ordinary media but which do grow when offered selective or enrichment media. They said, Such cells are not un-culturable they wrote We are simply failing to provide appropriate conditions to support culture (Sinton, 2006). The reasons, which made the term, VBNC a misnomer are as follow: 1. VBNC bacteria semi-starved bacteria very often mimic each other. Semi-starved bacteria resume growth if provided with appropriate nutrients conditions. But viable but non-culturable bacteria do not resume growth even though nutrients are provided. VBNC cells become too starved to grow on nutrient rich medium directly. This phenomenon resembles a widely accepted condition termed substrate accelerated death (Heim et al., 2002). These starved VBNC cells require an adjustment period to allow phenotypic adaptation back to normal growth state (Epstein, 2009). Sudden shift to nutrient enriched media imbalances metabolic networks of the cells resulting formation of DNA damage agents such as super-oxide free radicals causing cell death (Barer Harwood, 1997). 2. There is yet no complete and perfect media to isolate arid culture all the organisms from environment. 3. Cells are usually-injured or stressed or starved condition in natural environment. So complete system has been devised to enrich or resuscitated the VBNC cells. Culture condition that can be applied in laboratory is not sufficient to recover all microorganisms i.e. yet it is not possible to provide or stimulate exact environmental conditions in the laboratory. Conclusion From the above discussions, it is evident that a number of non-spore forming human pathogenic bacteria enter VBNC state with maintained cellular structure biology persistent gene expression but remain non-culturable by traditional cultural techniques. Thet can survive revert to culturable conditions when provided with appropriate conditions. It is also evident that VBNC bacteria pose significant threat to both public health and food safety. Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanism to combat the threat of VBNC in future.