Peuasive Speech on Uniforms Essay

Studies have shown that schools with uniforms function as a whole better than schools without them. Their attendance is better and there are fewer distractions. They instil school spirit and students look more professional. They eliminate fads and jealously between the students because of the latest designer labels. Everyone is treated equally with uniforms and it encourages self expression and individuality through academics, extracurricular activities and not by the clothing they wear. They eliminate a reason to feel self-conscious, helping to improve self-confidence of students. School uniforms ensure that students will come to school in appropriate clothing, and ready to learn. In grade 7 I learned that we would be getting uniforms for my grade 8 year. I wasn’t too pleased to hear the news but I soon realized all of the benefits of a uniform. Safety is a big issue in schools these days, especially with all the gang violence and shootings happening in Toronto. When a school has a uniform it is very easy to spot an outsider because of the way they are dressed. If everyone at school is wearing the uniform and someone enters a school not wearing the uniform they can easily be spotted and reported to the office. Many of you are on teams, be it in school or outside. Teams have uniforms to show pride and unity for the school or club they represent. How good does it feel putting on that football or rugby uniform before a game? When you put that uniform on all you can think of is the sport that jersey represents, your performance on the field. That uniform or jersey was specially made to be worn during that sport. When you win you feel pride in wearing the jersey around, and being seen in it. These same key points apply to school uniforms. School uniforms infuse school spirit inside and outside of school, when you put on that uniform and come to school all you should be thinking about it your performance in school, which encourages less distractions. A school uniform is designed specially to promote education and professionalism. Think about how much you spend on your school clothes each year. Regular clothing is becoming far more expensive than a uniform. Back to school shopping would get some much easier, with a school uniform. You would be able to get more nice and expensive clothes for outside of school. A school uniform is very durable and lasts longer than regular clothing because they are made especially for repeated wash and wear. They can also be handed down through siblings going to the same school.

Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Case Study Essay

1. HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THE ENERGY BEVERAGE CATEGORY, COMPETITORS, CHANNELS, AND DPSG’S CATEGORY PARTICIPATION IN LATE 2007?_ In late 2007 the energy beverage category was reaching market maturity and projected to have a slower annual growth rate from 2007 to 2011 (10.5%) than it had between 2001 and 2006 (42.5%). Rising prices, packaging competition, and the introduction of hybrid energy beverages also added to the slower projected growth rate. However in 2007 the market still saw growth of 32%. The category is dominated by 5 major brands (94% of dollar sales), with Red Bull far above the pack with a 43% dollar sales market share. The other 4 are in close competitions with dollar sales market shares from 10-16%. Though Red Bull continues to grow, so does the competition. New, aggressive competition into the market and brands offering lower prices has brought Red Bull’s market share down from 82% in 2000 to 43% in 2007. This 43% of dollar sales is maintained with only a 30% share of unit case volume. Because of loyalty to Red Bull, consumers pay a premium price for its products. Red Bull’s 8.5 oz. cans sell for the same price (approx. $2.00) as many competitors’ 16 oz. cans and their 16 oz. can sells for around $3.50. This loyalty puts Red Bull far above other brands and leaves them to compete with each other on price and packaging. Pepsi and Rockstar are not projected to have any significant media expenditures in 2007, but Red Bull and Hansen Natural Corporation are projected to increase their media expenditures to $60.9 Million (from $39.6M) and $153,800 (from $61,100) respectively. Once again, it is clear to see the major difference between Red Bull and the rest of the group. Coca-Cola (Full-Throttle, Tab) is projected to decrease its media expenditure from $7.3 million to $492K, which is still more than Hansen, but far from the expenditure that Red Bull maintains. Off-premise retailers represent 71% of total retail dollar sales compared to 29% for on-premise retailers. Off-premise retail sales are dominated by convenience stores (74%), but the off-premise retailers are slowly evolving. Convenience stores are slowly decreasing in percentage of sales, while sales  in supermarkets and Wal-Mart are growing. Brands with broad product lines, multi-packs, and widespread distribution networks are succeeding in supermarkets and stores like Wal-Mart. In convenience stores, brands with smaller product lines and high inventory turnover, are gaining success. Restaurants, night clubs, and other on-premise retailers remain constant and are not projected to have any significant changes. In 2007 DPSG began setting up distribution channels, which were projected to reach 80% of its target market by early 2008. It also began distributing Monster energy drinks on behalf of Hansen. DPSG also participated in the U.S. Sports Drink market in late 2007 with its launch of Accelerade RTD. Using its distribution network, DPSG introduced Accelerade to convenience stores, supermarkets, and mass merchandisers. It targeted the $35 million Americans who were competitive and exercise regularly. It supported the launch with a large marketing budget which consisted of a web site, podcasts, search-engine marketing, and a chat room. It emphasized the protein content to differentiate itself from the competition. _2. DOES YOUR CHARACTERIZATION BODE WELL FOR A NEW ENERGY BEVERAGE BRAND INTRODUCTION GENERALLY AND FOR DPSG, INC. IN PARTICULAR?_ Generally it does not bode well for the introduction of a new energy beverage brand but in Dr. Pepper Snapple Group’s case, they may have the brand loyalty, budget, and awareness to pull it off. With a large market share and huge media budget, Red Bull makes it difficult for new brands to compete. Unless a brand is willing to spend a large amount of cash on R&D, media expenditures and competitively price its product to give incentive for consumers to switch from Monster or one of the other brands, it would not gain enough of the market share to compete. Red Bull is in a league of its own so new entries would mostly be competing with Monster, Full-Throttle, Tab, Rockstar, and numerous other less popular brands. DPSG on the other hand has the brand loyalty, equity, image, and budget to support such a venture. It also has some unique qualities such as the addition of protein, a larger, re-sealable bottle, and an emphasis on performance over simply something to perk the consumer up. Since DPSG already has a target market,  distribution network, and manufacturing set up, it could feasibly enter the market on the shoulders of its good name. The fact that DPSG has differentiated itself from the other brands also gives them a leg up. If it could successfully attract more consumers from the 35-54 year old range by riding its healthy image and promoting a healthier, more fulfilling energy beverage, it could that target market and become a great competitor. _3. WHAT TARGET CONSUMER MARKET SHOULD BE CHOSEN FOR A NEW ENERGY BEVERAGE BRAND?_ An opportunity lies in the 35-54 year old range. It is a market that does not receive much attention and is not specifically targeted. Since this target market consumes only slightly less than the 24 and under market, there is a great opportunity to promote a product that suits their needs and advertisements that speak to them. By capturing that market, DPSG will stay consistent with its brand image and give it the awareness and experience to begin transitioning into the 12-34 year old market in the future. After 35, many men and women begin to exercise harder, and more often to maintain their youth as much as they can. If DPSG can provide a happy medium between a sugary energy drink and a full-fledged protein shake, they could help the 35+ consumers feel younger, while still giving them beneficial ingredients that their bodies need. _4. WHAT PRODUCT SHOULD BE INTRODUCED AND HOW SHOULD IT BE POSITIONED/DIFFERENTIATED?_ Considering DPSG’s brand image, I think its best bet would be to introduce a low carb, low sugar, protein infused energy tea. Since the earliest civilizations, teas have been used for their various health benefits and today is no different. If they target the 35-54 market, a tea would be much more attractive than a sugary, carbonated beverage. Since Snapple has such a good name in today’s marketplace, especially with adults, I believe the drink should be branded under the Snapple name. As of right now, Snapple’s most popular flavors out of all its products are Lemon Tea and Peach Tea. DPSG could parlay that popularity into an energy tea by adding a few  ingredients. In order to position itself in a more grown up market, differentiate itself from the competition, and stay true to its loyal customers, DPSG should introduce the energy tea an aluminum bottle with the same dimensions as its 16 oz. glass bottles. This allows it to be resealed and gives it a different look than the energy drink competition on the shelf. 4-packs could also be considered for supermarket shelves. The tea should keep with the healthy image by using vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other natural ingredients to provide sustainable energy and health benefits that other energy drinks just do not provide. Instead of focusing on providing a large energy burst, DPSG should focus on providing a youthful, energetic feeling, and restoring the body to full potential. _5. THROUGH WHICH CHANNEL(S) SHOULD A NEW ENERGY BRAND BE DISTRIBUTED?_ The new energy brand should be distributed mostly through off-premise retailers, but health conscious on-premise retailers such as subway would also be a good fit. Convenience stores are a great place to start because of the amount of exposure they provide and their track record in the energy drink market. Supermarkets are also a must because the majority of supermarket shoppers are within the target market. Whole foods would be a great place to showcase a new product to health conscious 35-54 year old adults. Also, vending machines in fitness centers and even placing fridges in sporting goods stores could attract attention from the target market. Other possible vending machine spots include golf-courses, college gymnasiums, police departments, firehouses, and airports.

A Look At How Turmoil And Tragedy Helps To Build The Plot In Thomas Bells Out Of This Furnace

A Look At How Turmoil And Tragedy Helps To Build The Plot In Thomas Bell's Out Of This Furnace Thomas Bells Out of This Furnace, presents a plot line consisting of tragedy and turmoil. The characters are put the the test and are forced to live in deplorable conditions. Their life is one of routine and there is little deviation from the norm. In these situations, is someone who deviates from the habitual life viewed as a hero or as a rebel? Kracha is not a hero. He doesnt save lives, he doesnt fulfill any unachievable goals, and he doesnt create a better life for the future generations. He came to America with the selfish goal of improving life for himself. He doesnt think of the ones he left behind and he doesnt look towards the future. He gets swept into the American lifestyle and gets cheated out of the life he could have had. Kracha boards a boat, with many other just like him, from eastern Europe to America. He then, due to his stupidity, puts himself in a position where he has to walk to his work site. Luckily he stumbles at the right doorstep. One week to the day after l eaving New York, toward mid afternoon, Kracha entered a small mountain village noisy with saw mills..Kracha should find himself in White Haven without knowing it. (Bell, p. 8-9) He stays at the mills and lives the everyday life of a railway builder. This becomes tiresome and the pay is little. His wife Elena meets up with him here and soon they travel to find better work. Along the way three baby girls are born to Kracha and Elena. They did the same work, lived in the same ramshackle shanties, wherever they went. (Bell, p.21) Kracha and Elena followed Dubik and Dorta to Braddock. Here Dubik supplied a job for Kracha in the steal mills. When accident strikes Dubiks family and their house is ruined Kracha offers the small amount of money he has, not even thinking of his family and what crisis they might have to encounter. I have a little money saved, he said. I brought it with me and its yours if you want it. ( Bell, p. 37) This is the type of man Kracha is. He is very frivolous wi th his money and always spends it in the wrong places. Kracha does not get involved with the workers who are upset with the low wages and the long hours. He sits on the out side and hears what happens, instead of being the heroic doer of the community. Here, Kracha was told, the bargeloads of Pinkertons had tried to land and take possession of the mill. They were still there, effectively kept from landing by the union men barricaded on shore, and unable to leave because their tugboat had gone back to Pittsburgh. (Bell p. 41) After Dubiks death in the mills, Kracha decides to search for a life outside of the mill. Elena seams to be the one with the realistic ideas. Elena thinks she would like to go back. Since coming to America shes had a bad time of it, what with one thing or another. She remembers what it was like when she was a girl and she thinks it would be the same again.Elena would rather I bought a farm, but I got all I wanted of farming in the old country. Theres no money in farming. The way to get rich in America is to go into business. Buy cheap, sell dear. Theres your fortune in four words. Kracha says on page 59. What Kracha doesnt realize is that hardly anyone is successful in big business. He doesnt see the inborn skill that it takes. He doesnt know how to make it big. He just knows that it has been done before. He doesnt understand business or the politics involved with it. He goes to Perovsky for financial counseling and help with managing the store. In a conversation with Perovsky Kracha states, in reference to the banks, Bastards. I would enjoy throwing the whole business back in their faces. Id lose by it but it would almost be worth it. In return Perovsky says, You think they would mind? As long as they got paid for it you could spit at them. (Bell, p. 94.) Kracha had the right idea, that was to make money. He was able to do this for a while but his main tragic flaw was ignorance. He didnt know how to hold on to his money once it was in his hands. Elenas funeral had

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - Term Paper Example With time, the original group split into other factions though all had a common goal: create a separate Tamil state. However, the constitution published in 1972 created a fertile ground for attacks as the Tamil factions saw it as being largely anti-Tamil. This spurred the Tamils into action, and thus joined in the fight. In 1983, countrywide clashes with the Sinhalese that left thousands of Tamils dead saw the rise of the LTTE and the fight against the Sri Lankan government began (Swamy and Narayan 8; McConnell 61).Structure. As noted hereinabove, the LTTE had quite an elaborate command structure with almost all parts of a full government. They had a well organized leadership that was structured along two tiers: the military and the political wings. There was a governing committee whose role was to oversee the running of both wings that was headed by Prabhakaran. This is the body mandated with controlling and directing several of the group’s subdivisions such as the airborne g roup, the navy and the elite fighting wing. They also had a suicide commando unit and an intelligence unit aimed at gathering intelligence (Swamy and Narayan 12). They even had an international secretariat within the governing committee that was in charge of all global networks and communications. There was a truce in 2006 from the government after an onslaught carried out by government military, and this gave them a leeway to increase their strength by recruiting more than 11,000 guerrillas to increase the cadre.

Managing people for a competitive advantage Assignment

Managing people for a competitive advantage - Assignment Example 2. The role of the first line supervisor or manager in an organization is based on the concept of supervision. The main duties are defined by overlooking the employees that are working in specific teams as well as with different projects. However, the role of the first line manager continues with specific concepts of leadership and teamwork. For a manager to be completely effective there has to be insight into what is occurring within an organization. From this point, there is the need to establish insight that allows the first line manager to connect to different employees and establish relationships while guiding the individuals forward with the projects that are occurring. The management can then combine this with coordination, team building and guidance that enhance the business and allow employees to have a specific environment (Hales, 471). 3. The individuals responsible for ensuring HR policies and practices in an organization begin with the leaders and managers in the organiz ation. The higher level management is responsible for understanding what the vision is of the organization as well as how different human resources in the organization can be used. ... This has to be done not only for the managers that have to take a leadership position but also consists of providing information to employees. The more in which the information can be given, the easier it is for the organization to enhance their performance (Roehling et al, 207). 4. Every individual is responsible for performance in the organization. The individual employees are first responsible for their own performance, specifically by understanding the vision and mission of the organization as well as how their job is defined by these details. As an employee understands the requirements for the organization that they work for, they will be able to become a human asset within the organization. However, for this to work, managers and leaders that are responsible for employees and teams are required to communicate the responsibilities of the individual. This is dependent on the expectations of the organization as well as the understanding of specific duties. The managers have the re sponsibility of taking a leadership role and of creating the correct organizational environment for the employees. The responsibility is furthered by the different departments, such as the HR department. The HR is responsible for creating the policies and conditions that create a sense of responsibility among employees and managers. Without communicating the correct message, there is the inability to get the correct response from those in the departments. This is furthered by the top managers in the organization, which are required to communicate the specific messages of the business. Understanding where the business is supposed to go, the vision and mission of the organization and the responsibilities of the departments and

The Media's influence in politics and its impact on voters Assignment

The Media's influence in politics and its impact on voters - Assignment Example President Barack Obama will be a historical leader in America for having emphasized on the need of social media in his early campaigns. Together with his campaign team, they engaged the social media to market their agenda, while bringing people to share a common platform of driving America ahead while mobilizing citizens into action. The media has acted as a public agent for the people to criticize, correct and influence. However, the same agency can be used to spread propaganda, destroying many existing and emerging politicians’ careers. In 2010, the American midterm campaign was a hot spot to capture the defense of republicans and democrats through the social media. Both the parties used the moment to clean up in a-wait of the 2012 elections. Through the media, the American citizens got to understand the existing scandals in the political domain that led to indifferences and political exchange of words between the two rivals American parties. Rove went public through the med ia to dismiss President Obama claims that Republicans were using money politics all over the country, distorting the senate and white house race (â€Å"The Money & Media Election Complex† 11) . ... Once the message is out clearly in the public domain, the media uses the opportunity to seek opinions from the listeners and viewers. One of the media roles is to enlighten people on the current affairs and matters affecting them. President Obama’s claim was not an issue to be ignored and through the back up of media presentation, chances are that he ought to have pulled more supporters on his side. Being a famous leader, his opinion and how the media persistently presented the information generated deep public opinions. The government structure has a way to remit and receive information from the public through its press office. The concerned public servant speaks on behalf of the government to assert and clarify information. Following the democratic rights of the parties and the right to information by the people, the government declares openness in public domain as an effective measure to lead them in justice. Journalists and reporters work hard to gather information on issu es surrounding leadership and how they use their position to bring impact on the nation. No stone is left unturned for any message put across. American media industry, through the money and media election complex, has brought forward the use of money power campaigns and leadership funded by rich organization as a way to secure their uncertain future. Such information assists the public to start making an early opinion of the party involved in such an act. Any public service needs to prove accountability of performance; be it governance, economics, politics, sociology and even management. Different media houses work differently to market their organization, but in the same course they can damage their business at the expense of others while making profits. During political debates, some

Psychoactive Substance use and Mental Health (Hong Kong) Essay

Psychoactive Substance use and Mental Health (Hong Kong) - Essay Example The semisynthetic derivatives in this group include hydromorphone, hydrocodone, oxymorphone, dihydrocodeine, oxycodone, and buprenorphine. The remaining two groups are synthetic chemicals such as the phenylpiperidines which include the meperidineas well as the fentanyl, and the pseudopiperidines which include methadone and propoxyphene (Havens et al 2007, 101). Heroine and morphine were used first as medicine in the 19th century and later used illicitly for recreational purposes. Previously, the dependence of heroin and other opioid drugs has proved difficult to counter successfully whereby the poor result has been accredited to environmental characteristics, patient characteristics as well as other powerful reinforcing effects of the same drugs. The most common problems of opioid abuse are known to be nausea and constipation. These two side effects have been found to be difficult to deal with especially for constipation. The concept of agoinist-replecement therapy was introduced approximately forty years ago representing a breakthrough in opiod drugs management especially heroin. Developments in training have encompassed newer pharmacotherapies, Narcotics Anonymous and the psychosocial therapy (Davids & Gastpar 2004, 210). These drugs tend to produce analgesia, mood changes, drowsiness as well as mental clouding but not all of these lead to loss of consciousness. Patients who report of pain claim that it is less intense and less discomforting which fades eventually after healing dosage of these drugs. Relief in pain is believed to be selective without affecting the other modalities of sense. Some patients are believed to experience euphoria. Vomiting, nausea, drowsiness, mental difficulties, apathy as well as the occurrence of decreased physical activities when given to pain free individual is common. The toxic effects and the subjective analgesic, which includes respiratory depression, may become more pronounced as the dose is

Prescribed methods and tools can be developed for all consulting jobs Essay - 1

Prescribed methods and tools can be developed for all consulting jobs because all Organisations eventually have the same type of problems - Essay Example many organisations to seek advanced management concepts, lean production through Total Quality Management, business process re-engineering (BPR) techniques, and leveraging. Leveraging mainly refers to the techniques of multiplying gains and losses. In this regard, leveraging ratio cannot be avoided by organisations. Leveraging ratio is typically the amount of organization’s equity in relation to debt. This aspect, in management consultancy, implies to the knowledge and skills that an organisations has in terms of human capital to what the organisations lacks according to Carmeli (2005). Organisations are constantly striving to improve efficiency, as such; consultants bring with them a multitude of tools and methods, many of which can add great value to the client (O’Mahoney & Markham 2013). The consulting industry is broad and encompasses a wide range of projects. Any organization for instance, an organisation might require changes to its human resource structure, as seen throughout ROLE PLAY (?). Management consultancy is a new form of management that deals with execution of ideas and knowledge, and therefore it requires commodification of knowledge in its expansion. Commodification in this context means the process of transforming management ideas in a particular manner that can be sold on a market for management solutions (Heusinkveld & Benders, 2005). The process of knowledge commodification is unproblematic and linear since it is concerned with only turning new ideas into marketable commodities. Therefore, methods and techniques used in management consultancy are applicable to all organisations; as all organisations strive for ideas that are marketable. Consulting firms are capable of packing management knowledge into a saleable form then they transmit these solutions by advising the organization appropriately. Most organizations are profit and growth driven, and the techniques developed by consulting companies should be the same. Demand for new

The Largest Health Insurance Firms in the US Essay

The Largest Health Insurance Firms in the US - Essay Example If ObamaCare succeeds in creating oligopolies, the insurance sector may experience some problems for example high operating costs and premiums, low-quality service and less innovation that would otherwise improve service provision. The merging of the firms would significantly reduce competition. In a non-oligopolistic market, insurance firms strive to gain competitive advantage over other fellow service providers. Providing quality service at affordable prices is an essential competitive advantage. Therefore, competition is necessary as it guarantees the proper performance of insurance as opposed to an oligopolistic market scenario.Conversely, the creation of oligopolies would also benefit clients and shareholders. If insurance firms come together to form a single commercial entity, the standardization of benefits that accrue to clients would be possible and premiums may be adequately controlled. As a result, mergers would attract more customers compared to independent insurance firm s. The interest of shareholders is to reduce overhead costs in administration and other expenses. Consolidation of the insurance industry would initiate a centralized administrative system that would control the firms under the oligopoly and reduce the subsequent administrative costs.In addition, ObamaCare advocates for extensive consolidation of hospitals and health care services. Large health care facilities are in a better position to provide quality services and maintain best practices by use of the vast resources that are available.

Employment and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Employment and Society - Essay Example The management, which is mostly consisted of male employees, find women not flexible enough, or assume that women do not want to be relocated or put long hours for the company because of their family responsibilities. Because of this, talented and skilled women lose the opportunity to be promoted to the higher management. Although there are women being promoted to the next level, there are still several signs that the place of women in the workplace is still at a lower level compared to men. Although the compensation gap between men and women employees are slowly narrowing, women’s compensation range is still at 77% lower than men’s in a 1999 data (Gregory, 2). By 2000, 46.5% of the US workforce are women but only 11.7% have held board of director positions and only 12.5% are corporate officers (Gregory, 2). Sadly, women themselves have unwittingly become the perpetuator of their own discrimination. Some women do not recognize that a certain policy is discriminatory in nature. Others, who recognize the discrimination, do not want to become involved in legal proceedings. Or are scared of losing their jobs or think that it is useless to bother with such issues as all other workplace are also infested with discrimination. There have been various laws that were passed to ensure that women get an equal opportunity in the workplace. This proves that the course towards gender equality in the workplace is on the works.

Literary Analysis of Bartleby the Scrivener Essay Example for Free

Literary Analysis of Bartleby the Scrivener Essay Bartleby the Scrivener could be described as a story about getting rid of its title character, about the narrators attempt to get rid of Bartleby, and Bartlebys tenacious capacity to be always there. It is the story of an unnamed lawyer and his employee, Bartleby, a copyist of law documents. Confronted not only with Bartlebys refusal to do work (first to read copies against the original, then to copy altogether), but also with the contagious nature of the particular words of his refusal (Bartlebys peculiar I would prefer not to), the narrator concludes that, before Bartleby turns the tongues any further of those with whom he comes into contact, he must get rid of Bartleby. At the same time Bartleby feels mobbed in his privacy (27) when the other office workers crowd him behind his screen, they in turn are invaded by his idiosyncrasy his private idiom prefer. Bartlebys presence breaks down the clear distinctions between public and private, professional and domestic, between privacy and the mob. By pinpointing Bartleby as the cause of infectious language (language turned bad), the narrator wants to stop the course of a process (the turning of tongues) already in progress. But getting rid of Bartleby is as tricky as getting rid of a chronic condition; the narrator emphasizes a phrase which appears textually in italics: he was always there (20). Bartleby is, as the narrator calls him, a nuisance (40), an intolerable incubus. As a character in the story with a body, he moves very little, but the few words he speaks break out at unexpected moments in the office. Every attempt the narrator makes to control the passive Bartleby and his infectious language fails hilariously (Schehr 97). The narrator experiences a curious tension between the impossible imperative (on the level of the story) to get rid of the subject, and the impossibility (on the level of the narration) to write his complete biography (Bartlebys history). Thus, Bartleby is also a fable about writing history or biography. In attempting to write what he thinks of as Bartlebys biography, the narrator merely misnames his writing project, or he emphasizes it from the wrong point of view. In search of Bartlebys origins, the narrator does not simply narrate (as he thinks) the history of Bartleby the Scrivener; he relates rather the story of his own anxiety vis-a-vis Bartleby. In particular, he relates his anxiety over the scriveners silence and modes of breaking that silence; for we could say that, rather than speaking very little or in particular ways, Bartleby has particular ways of occasionally breaking silence. It is this violence in speech, this unexpected eruption, which the narrator fears. The narrator, whose acquaintances describe him as an eminently safe man, who likes nothing better than the cool tranquility of a snug retreat (4), is thrown decidedly off kilter when faced with what he terms Bartlebys passive resistance (17). Bartlebys weapon is his total indifference to truth, whereas the narrator seeks a second opinion on truth from the other office mates. Bartleby could be seen as the one solid block around which the narrator writes his own story about truth rather than the truth about the Bartleby story. Bartlebys passive resistance actually generates the story confronted with it, the narrator creates theories (his doctrine of assumptions, for instance), carries on debates with himself, and seeks the counsel of others all with the opaque Bartleby as the core. In reconstructing Bartlebys story, the narrator follows an implicit logic which he never directly states. It is the logic of cause and effect. (He is not deliberately hiding this logic, but because he takes its validity for granted, he never comments on it critically. ) Believing in the possibility of finding a specific, locatable, and nameable cause to Bartlebys condition (as he is able to do with the other office workers, Nippers and Turkey, whose moods vary according to their diets and the time of day), the narrator thinks that by eradicating the cause of the problem, he can alter the effects, the effects of Bartlebys speaking condition in the office space. McCall follows the same logic as the narrator in seeking causes of Bartlebys behavior. He mentions remark that when the narrator asks Bartleby to run an errand for him at the post office, that is probably the last place, if the rumor is correct, that Bartleby would ever want to go. (McCall 129). The narrator never considers that his line of reasoning might be faulty — that Bartlebys condition may not be linked to a specific, locatable, nameable cause. We as readers may be placed in the same position as the narrator in that we never know either the origin of Bartlebys condition; we witness primarily its effects, or symptoms, in the story. These symptoms reside not only in Bartleby as individual character, but in the very way the narrator tells the story about that character. Rather than speaking about the cause of Bartlebys condition, one could more aptly speak about the ways in which its effects are spread to other characters within the text. When the narrator impatiently summons Bartleby to join and help the others in the scenario of group reading, Bartleby responds, I would prefer not to (14). Hearing this response the narrator turns into a pillar of salt (14). (Faced with Bartlebys responses and sheer presence, the narrator oftentimes evokes images of his losing, then waking to, consciousness. ) When he recovers his senses, he tries to reason with Bartleby, who in the meantime has retreated behind his screen. The narrator says: These are your own copies we are about to examine. It is labor saving to you, because one examination will answer for your four papers. It is common usage. Every copyist is bound to help examine his copy. Is it not so? Will you not speak? Answer! (15) The narrator is exasperated when Bartleby does not respond immediately to the logic behind his work ethic. These are your own copies we are about to examine. It is labor saving to you. Examining or reading copy is a money saving activity, from which every member of the office profits (four documents for the price of one reading! ). Every copyist is bound to help examine his copy. To the contract the lawyer emphatically demands from his employee, a bond based on an exchange of reading, Bartleby replies three times, gently, in a flutelike tone, I (would) prefer not to (15). By refusing to read copy, Bartleby refuses to consent to the economy of the office. It is perhaps only to another type of reading, one not based on a system of exchange and profit, which Bartleby consents. Although the narrator says he has never seen Bartleby reading — not even a newspaper (24) — he does often notice him staring outside the window of the office onto a brick wall. Staring at the dead brick wall (in what the narrator calls Bartlebys dead-wall reveries) may be Bartlebys only form of reading, taking the place of the economy-based reading demanded of him in the process of verifying copies. About halfway through the story, the lawyer/narrator visits his office on a Sunday morning and, discovering a blanket, soap and towel, a few crumbs of ginger nuts and a morsel of cheese, deduces that the scrivener never leaves the office. Realizing the full impact of Bartlebys condition, he states, What I saw that morning persuaded me that the scrivener was the victim of innate and incurable disorder. (25) The narrator clearly locates the disorder in Bartleby. Seeing himself in the role of diagnostician and healer, he himself is faced with the hopelessness of remedying excessive and organic ill (24). The narrators concern about an individual medical cure should more aptly be a concern about an obsessively private rhetorical debate or a dangerously idiomatic group contagion (Perry 409). Despite his assumption that Bartleby is incurable, or perhaps precisely because he can effect no cure, the narrator beleaguers himself throughout the story with questions or commands to do something about Bartleby (McCall 9). If the private mans disorder can be passed on to another (one) person, what happens when the condition is let loose out of close quarantine into the public space of the office? Bartleby walks a precarious tightrope between comedy and tragedy (Inge 25). The tragic dimension often resides in the narrators turning inward on himself (a sort of tragic compression), then putting himself on trial, an interior moment of accusation which eventually results in the collapse of the narrative in a single sigh or exclamation (Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity! 46). The comic effects are often related to the authoritarian attempt (and failure) to contain the spread of idiom as contagion (Perry 412). If Bartleby has been a figure for tragedy in the lone meditation of the narrator, he becomes a figure for comedy in his contact with his office mates Nippers and Turkey. The more the narrator tries to regulate the contact between the three, the more hilarious — and significantly out of control — is Bartlebys influence. The effort to contain or control tends actually to promote the epidemic proportions of the narrative. It is the narrator himself who uses a vocabulary of contagion in relation to Bartleby. He says he has had more than ordinary contact (3) with other scriveners he has known. Bartleby exceeds this already extraordinary contact he has been touched by handling dead letters (Schehr 99). Some critics reproduce the narrators language of contagion in talking about Bartleby. McCall, in his study on The Silence of Bartleby, describes our response, the collective readers response, to reading the tale: As we go through the story, we watch with a certain delight how Bartleby is catching. We root for the spread of the bug. (145) In a somewhat less delighted vein, Borges says, Bartlebys frank nihilism contaminates his companions and even the stolid man who tells Bartlebys story. (Borges 8) In the office scenes where the employees and boss come inevitably together, the bug word is Bartlebys prefer. Nippers uses it mockingly against the narrator as a transitive action verb when he overhears Bartlebys words of refusal to the narrators plea to be a little reasonable. Bartleby echoes, At present I would prefer not to be a little reasonable (26). If Nippers is suffering from his own peculiar and chronic condition of indigestion, he takes on the symptoms of Bartlebys condition when he exclaims to the narrator, Prefer not, eh? – Id prefer him, if I were you sir, Id prefer him; Id give him preferences, the stubborn mule! What is it, sir, pray, that he prefers not to do now? (26) Whereas later in the story the narrator totally loses his critical skill to catch himself in his speech, in this exchange he is still able to articulate the effect Bartlebys word is having on him. He notes anxiously, Somehow, of late, I had got into the way of involuntarily using the word prefer upon all sorts of not exactly suitable occasions. (27) It is this qualifier not exactly which is of particular interest. Bartlebys use of words is not exactly wrong. Prefer is so insidious because it is only slightly askew, dislocated, idiosyncratic. As McCall accurately notes about the power of Bartlebys I prefer not to, one must hear, in the little silence that follows it, how the line delivers two contradictory meanings, obstinacy and politeness. (152) The line calls just enough attention to itself so as to attract others to its profoundly mixed message (its perfect yes and no) in an imitative way (McCall 152). Prefer is as inobtrusive, as contagious, and as revolutionary as a sneeze. The narrator lets it out of his mouth involuntarily. When Turkey enters the scene and uses the bug word without realizing it (without Nippers italicized parody or the narrators critical comments), the narrator says to him, in a slightly excited tone, So you have got the word, too (27). In this pivotal sentence, the verb get implies to receive (as in to receive a word or message), but more strikingly for our discussion here, it implies the verb to catch one catches the word as one would catch a cold. The narrator attempts to monitor the contagion by naming the bug and pointing it out to the others. But the word mocks everyones will to control it prefer pops up six times in the next half a page — four times unconsciously in the speech of one of the employees, and twice consciously (modified by word) in the narration of the lawyer. Bartleby could be described as a story of the intimacy or anxiety a lawyer feels for the law-copyist he employs. The narrator arranges a screen in the corner of his office behind which Bartleby may work. Pleased with the arrangement of placing Bartleby behind the screen in near proximity to his own desk, the narrator states, Thus, in a manner, privacy and society were conjoined (12). The narrator idealizes the possibility of a perfect harmony between privacy and community in the work environment, but it is precisely the conflict between these two spatial conditions which generates the story, defining not only Bartlebys idiocy, but the narrators as well. The narrator most characteristically encounters Bartleby emerging from his retreat (13) or retiring into his hermitage (26). The screen isolates Bartleby from the view of the narrator, but not from his voice. Works Cited Borges, Jorge Luis. Prologue to Herman Melvilles Bartleby in Herman Melvilles Billy Budd, Benito Cereno, Bartleby the Scrivener, and Other Tales, ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987 Inge, Thomas M. , ed. Bartleby the Inscrutable. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1979. McCall, Dan. The Silence of Bartleby. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989. Melville, Herman. Billy Budd and Other Stories. New York: Penguin Books, 1986. Perry, Dennis R. Ah, Humanity: Compulsion Neuroses in Melvilles Bartleby. Studies in Short Fiction 23. 4 (fall 1987): 407-415. Schehr, Lawrence R. Dead Letters: Theories of Writing in Bartleby the Scrivener Enclitic vii. l (spring 1983): 96-103.

How Do Financially Distressed Companies Overcome Decline Economics Essay

How Do Financially Distressed Companies Overcome Decline Economics Essay The present paper analyzes the recovery process of 526 US firms facing an initial financial distress situation in order to determine the variables of influence on their final survival status. The proposed model of this recovery process implies that severity and reaction capability should be understood as initial conditions that will impose restrictions in the selection of strategies which will drive the performance during recovery, thus, determining the final resolution of long term financial distress process. We found that these variables have an impact on i) the ability of a company to overcome decline; ii) the efficiency of the selected strategies and iii) the results of these strategies on post-distress fit position. Keywords: Recovery process, financial distress, severity, Data Envelopment Analysis Introduction Every organization is inevitably exposed to ups and downs during its lifecycle (Krueger and Willard, 1991; Burbank, 2005) and failure is not a sudden event (Agarwal and Taffler, 2008). The ecological theory of organizations states that in a continuous process of firms, those who survive are better capable to compete. Kahl (2001) defines fittest firms as the ones that have greater chance to survive. In this way, the financial distress process should be understood as a selection mechanism by means of which good performers survive and bad performers do not. In this same line, Sheppard and Chowdhury (2005) consider that failure is a firms misalignment with its environment. Failure is a reversible process and not necessarily degenerative if the company is able to detect signs of underperformance and to achieve an effort in its economic performance. Firms facing a distressed financial situation usually share a series of common patterns which make it difficult to estimate a possible outcome of this situation (Barniv et al., 2002). Among the distressed firms, there are little divergences in the financial weakness indicators in the different failure processes (Ooghe and Prijcker, 2008). The dissimilarities between the failure stages and the turnaround effectiveness as well, become evident on the how quickly the indicators evolve and on the ability of the management to react when distress signals are detected. Ignoring these alert signals may lead to a continuous decline process which may end up in failure without even trying any recovery strategy (Burbank, 2005). Managing a crisis situation is a fundamental issue as it is not a spontaneous process. Moulton and Thomas (1993) affirm that the reorganizations during a financial distress situation are not a simple matter and the probability of a successful exit is very low. However, the percentage of firms that succeed in getting through decline cannot be disregarded. Barniv et al. (2002) found that 50% of the sample firms which filed bankruptcy from the Office of the General Council of SEC resolved their situation as emerged firms. One third of the financially distressed firms in Kahls (2001) study survived as independent companies. Moreover, Gonzà ¡lez-Bravo and Mecaj (2011) found that 22.5% of sample firms presenting a strong crisis situation were still active in the market 10 years later. Yet, we should consider that the exit from a difficult condition, as Moulton and Thomas (1993) sustain, is only the beginning of the story. Not all the successfully exiting firms manage to keep the new situa tion stable. For some firms, operating in a crisis situation constitutes their normal state of environment with crisis periods that can attenuate or loose up. Anyway, being able to maintain this kind of condition is also a manner to survive. In this sense, Kahl (2002) states that the financial distress should be considered a long term process that makes firms end up debilitated even after having recovered from decline. This weakness is observed in poor performance that inevitably may again drag the firms to a new financial distress situation. Hotchkiss (1995) attested that during the first five years after exiting a bankruptcy, 35 to 40% of firms show negative operating income and up to one third of the firms that manage to ease their distress through debt restructuring re-enter a financial distress situation a few years later. Several studies have shown that different factors may determine the exit from a crisis situation. These factors may have a direct influence on the recovery process or on the capacity of the company to develop appropriate redirection strategies. The initial severity degree is considered an important hurdle in implementing successful actions. In this line, Smith and Graves (2005) found that, among all variables of the study, severity and firm size were the only variables significantly important during a turnaround process. Other authors (Robbins and Pearce, 1992; Pearce and Robins, 1993; Harker and Harker, 1998) state that strategies oriented towards cost reduction and efficiency improvement were safe bets for a favorable outcome. However, Castrogiovani and Bruton (2000), Sudarsanam and Lai (2001) or Smith and Graves (2005) affirm that no positive relation could be found between certain strategies and successful outcome. These results indicate that severity, through its influence on th e selected strategy, could be an indirect factor in the turnaround process (Robbins and Pearce, 1992). More consensual results were obtained when stating that the performance in-distress is fundamental for the outcome of the difficult situation. In particular, it is observed that successful companies show better returns when compared to unsuccessful firms (Routledge and Gadene, 2000; Pearce and Doh, 2002; Kahl, 2001). The present paper analyzes the recovery process of 526 US firms facing an initial financial distress situation in order to determine the variables of influence on their final survival status. The proposed model of this recovery process states that severity and reaction capability should be understood as initial conditions that will impose restrictions in the selection of strategies which will drive the performance during recovery, thus, determining the final resolution of long term financial distress process. These variables have an impact on i) the ability of a company to overcome the difficult situation; ii) the efficiency of the selected strategies and iii) the results of these strategies on post-distress healthy position. The proposed model considers that final survival status measures the welfare quality of a firm based on its risk to re-enter in distress, so it discriminates well performers and best performers during the management of a crisis process. Overcoming a financial distress: Determinant factors Even though some weak crisis situations tend to show a natural evolution throughout the exit and may be solved by simply making routine decisions (Gonzà ¡lez-Bravo and Mecaj, 2011), recovery process is not a spontaneous event. The distressed firms will face a long term scenario involving a continuous effort of adaptation to the diverse situations through which a firm passes during the upturn. The effort invested in this process will allow the reestablishment of stakeholders trust, while the variables related to solvency and profitability gain stability (Burbank, 2005). Companies that do not have a long term orientation and just adopt patch strategies do not usually reach successful exits (Pretorius, 2008). However, certain initial conditions may affect the reaction capacity as well as the effectiveness of the measures taken by managers. Severity Similar to a disease process, the gravity of the initial crisis position not only conditions the measures to take but also their success possibilities. Firms that face worse starting situation need to make greater efforts. In this sense, Robbins and Pearce (1992) affirm that there exists a relationship between retrenchment strategies and performance in firms having a severe starting situation while this relationship is not observed in firms facing a weak crisis state. Although Smith and Graves (2005) indicate that the gravity of the starting situation is strongly associated with the probability of recovery, Kahl (2002) sustains that the financial distress diagnosis is an imperfect indicator of the economic feasibility of a firm. In the same line, Gonzà ¡lez-Bravo and Mecaj (2011) affirm that the severity of the initial situation, observed in widely accepted indicators, does not have to be a crucial factor in the outcome of the crisis. Perhaps, following Moulton and Thomas (1993), th e initial gravity status has an influence over the process of recovery more than on the final resolution. Thus, severity determines the rate of recuperation, so that the harder the severity, the greater the effort to react and the slower the process of healing the levels of solvency and profitability. This effort during the process, and not the starting situation, may be the main determinant of the final outcome. Moreover, solvency and profitability indicators such as continuous negative results, inability to generate income by means of operating activity, continuous solvency and/or liquidity problems or incapacity to generate cash flow which reflect problems in the health of the company, are widely accepted as measures of severity degree (Mutchler and Williams, 1990; Gilbert, Menon and Schwarz, 1990; Ponemon and Shick, 1991; Poston, Harmon and Gramlich, 1994; Geiger, Raghunandan and Rama, 1995; Raghunandan and Rama, 1995; Davydenko, 2007). Reaction capability The possible effect of severity on the initial state may be mitigated if the firm counts on appropriate resources which increase the probability of a successful recovery. The structural reaction capability may ease the recovery process to a safe position cushioning the possible actions to implement. The capacity to obtain additional funds or generate additional incomes to implement treatment strategies can soothe the prior pressure imposed by a deteriorated financial distress position. In this sense, Barker and Duhaime (1997) associate successful turnaround processes with increases in sales that make companies have more options to undertake change strategies. Similarly, Pearce and Doh (2002) affirm that firms in distress that used debt and supported their sales to improve profitability successfully solved their difficult situation. They also state that changes in activity and in leverage level are associated with different phases of a turnaround process. In turn, Jostarndt (2006) ide ntifies three factors which could be helpful to measure the risk of becoming financially troubled. An excessive leverage level, a poor firm performance, and an industry downturn may inhibit firms from obtaining the right amount of cash flow to operate normally. Firm operating performance trend dominates as the reason causing financial distress showing that a firm may fail but not only for financial reasons. This allows the author to consider an association between financial distress and economic distress. These results are comparable to the patterns evidenced by Gonzà ¡lez-Bravo and Mecaj (2011) when distressed firms with remarkable financial reaction capacity and/or a solid financial structure evolve mainly toward a healthy zone. However, concerning debt structure Kahl (2001) did not find evidence on if the debt level or the debt structure of a firm influences the final outcome of a crisis situation. Severity Status and Reaction Capability, as initial restrictions, could be moderated by firm size when considering the exit from a crisis situation (Moulton and Thomas, 1993; Barniv et al., 2002; Schutjens, 2002). Altman and Hotchkiss (2006) found that one of the most obvious factor that discriminates between firms that successfully restructure and those that liquidate, after being classified inside Chapter 11, was the firms size. Nevertheless, other works observe that this variable did not present any clear relation with the survival chance (Kahl, 2001; Ooghe and Prijcker, 2008). Possibly, firms size does not determine the final resolution of a distress situation but it influences the reaction capability to confront it, moderating /strengthening the drawbacks when additional support should be guaranteed and restructuring decision must be made. Performance in-distress Regardless of the initial state restrictions, the adopted strategies and the behavior of companies during a financial crisis are crucial for the exit process (Sun and Li, 2007). An inappropriate diagnosis of the firms weaknesses in order to act and react quickly may lead to a fast deterioration of the financial indicators (Barker and Duhaime, 1997). Beaver (1966) already stated that if a difficult situation was properly detected, measures that lead to an improved position could be taken, avoiding so a state of ultimate failure. A series of strategies and action plans should be implemented aiming to reduce the detected weaknesses of the company (Smith and Graves, 2005; Krueger and Willard, 1991, Robbins and Pearce, 1992; Pearce and Robbins, 1993; Arogyaswamy et al., 1995; Castrogiovanni and Bruton, 2000, Pearce and Doh, 2002 and Pretorius, 2008). The operating performance during the recovery process drives a successful evolutionary route towards a new healthy scenario (Kahl, 2001; Routledge and Gadenne, 2000). Improving efficiency through some actions like cost cutting and/or asset reduction is crucial in this sense, having a positive impact on firms performance despite the underlying weaknesses (Robbins and Pearce, 1992; Pearce and Robbins, 1993; Harker and Harker, 1998). Firms facing a distress situation and carrying out a retrenchment strategy are more likely to survive, even though the performance was statistically not greater than that of not retrenched firms (Castrogiovanni and Bruton, 2000). In this sense, Sudarsanam and Lai (2001) showed that the strategies applied by firms successfully recovering were not that different from the strategies applied by firms that did not recover. So, the implementation efficacy was the cause of these differences, even though more intensive restructuration was done by firms that could n ot redirect their situation. The effectiveness of efficiency oriented strategies is supported by the results showing that firms resolving a situation of financial distress are statistically more profitable than those who did not settle (Campbell, 1996; Routledge and Gadenne, 2000; Pearce and Doh, 2002). These authors found that operating efficiency was the only variable used in distinguishing successful turnarounds from unsuccessful ones that significantly persisted during the recovery process. Kahl (2001) also stated that, in-distress, operating performance has a strong positive relation with the survival prospect. In particular, the author shows that an improvement in the standard deviation of ROA during a crisis period can increase the survival probability up to 0.62. In the same line, Gonzà ¡lez-Bravo and Mecaj (2011) found evidence that the companies positioned in a safety zone, starting from a situation of failure status, are characterized by a strong managerial action measured by ROA ratio, generating fu rthermore higher operating cash flow. However, other authors such as Barniv et al. (2002) or Laitinen (1993) found that the ROA coefficients were statistically not significant in predicting the outcome of a crisis situation. The post-distress status The main objective of a firm facing a distress situation is to heal the crisis state. Some researches, oriented to modeling the variables that influence a recovery process, identify the final stage of this process when a firm objectively exits a failure situation emerging as an independent firm, leaving Chapter 11 classification or keeping a defined period of positive income (Smith and Graves, 2006; Barniv et al., 2002; Altman and Hotchkiss, 2006; Kahl, 2001). However, the accomplishment of this objective should have one necessary quality condition. The new post-failure position should be achieved in suitable conditions that would permit an appropriate and continuous growth and performance rate. A financial distress process could place a firm in a weak position, even if it had managed to solve its difficulties, inciting a poor performance that inevitably makes it enter again in an emergency situation (Kahl, 2002). If a firm does not emerge profitably in the restructuring phase, in order to achieve a long term success, the probability of a successful exit process is very low (Burbank, 2005). In this sense, Hotchkiss (1995) showed that up to one third of the firms that relieve their conditions by means of debt restructuring tend to go into a financial distress situation few years afterwards. With regard to post-distress position, Robbins and Pearce (1992) affirm that industry indicator variations should be considered in order to better identify the good performers or the exceptional good performers during turnaround. Despite of the assessment of Altman and Hotchkiss (2006) stating that the firms overcoming a Chapter 11 situation perform below firms of the same industry that di d not pass through that same situation, Kahl (2001) found that the post-distress operating performance of firms getting through a crisis situation is similar to the industry performance. The model of recovery When a firm is facing a distress situation and considering all the above analyzed dimensions, severity and reaction capability should be understood as initial conditions that will impose restrictions in selecting the strategies which will drive the performance during recovery, thus, determining the final resolution of long term financial distress process as shown in Figure 1. (Figure 1 here) The left side of the diagram gathers the initial determining factors to initiate the recovery process, outlining the firms ability to improve its future and overcome the difficult situation. Severity Status offers valuable information about the initial degree of gravity of a firms situation. This degree will condition the actions to be taken in a deteriorated situation and the possible outcome as well. Reaction Capability measures the firms capacity to apply such actions through: i) the possibility to obtain further resources without worsening its position, ii) the capacity of debt negotiation or iii) the ability to generate additional incomes which may facilitate the application of strategy changes. The right side of the above Figure 1 defines the final subsequent status of firms, once specific actions have been taken. Post-distress Status shows the effectiveness of the management effort in a crisis situation, not only because the firm solves the initial state, but also since the new position is reached evidencing a well performance to set a suitable continuity in the new balanced situation. Accordingly, Post-distress status assesses the quality of firms welfare accounting for the risk to re-entry into distress discriminating well performers and best performers in a crisis management process. In a distress context, a well-performer just achieves the objective (i.e. exiting the crisis situation) while best-performers are located in a new healthy scenario minimizing the likelihood to reenter in distress. Hence, considering the above model, the following hypotheses will be tested: H1: Severity degree of financially distressed firms is likely associated with the post distress status. H2: Reaction Capability of distressed firms is positively related to a fit final position after recovery process. H3: Performance in-distress is positively related with the welfare of the post distress status. H4: Retrenchment strategies have a positive influence on the outcome of a distressed situation. H5: Size of financially distressed companies is associated with the final position after recovery process. Methodology, sample and variables To test the hypothesis we use the financial data of US firms derived from the Compustat Database in an eight year period: 1993-2000 which is considered to be economically appropriate for the analysis. Smith and Graves (2005) affirm that in an economic expansion context distressed firms could easily perform a successful turnaround. Particularly, the US economy experienced an economic expansion during the analyzed period. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (2001), a peak in business activity occurred in the U.S. economy in March 2001. A peak marks the end of an expansion and the beginning of a recession  [1]  . So, the year 2001 was marked by events like the Dot-Com Bubble, Stock Market Crash, the loss of investors confidence in the Stock Market or the emergence of corporate fraud and corporate governance. The September 11, 2001 attacks also, may have been an important factor in turning this decline in the economy into a recession. The financial data for the year s after 2000 would be, to a greater or lesser extent, influenced by all these external factors. From a total of 1721 companies that offer complete data in their financial statements during all years, only the ones that presented a crisis situation in the first year of analysis, 1993, were selected. We consider a crisis status as a variety of enterprise adversity situations that threaten the future viability of the company (Turetsky and Mcwewn, 2001; Graveline and Kikalari, 2008), which show some incapacity to generate resources and/or to fulfill the payment of debts in time. This incapacity can be transitory and of a major or minor gravity and it can be observed through a series of symptoms alerting that the health and the future of the company are at risk. Considering this general approach and following Gonzà ¡lez-Bravo and Mecaj (2011), we classify a firm as financially distressed if, in the first year of our analysis, it presented one or more of the following criteria: Negative Net Income, Negative Operating Income, Negative Retained Earnings, Negative Working Capital, Negative Cash Flow, Negative Operating Cash Flow and Negative Shareholders Equity. In agreement with Gilbert, Menon and Schwartz (1990), to prevent the selection of firms that only had a poor performance in t he starting year firms presenting merely a Negative Net Income for the year 1993 were not selected. This criterion made possible that poor performers were selected only when they also showed a continued instable situation such as losses in previous years or solvency problems. As a result, our study is performed on a total of 526 companies that satisfied all the previous conditions. Table 1 shows the principal features of the analyzed sample. (Table 1 here) The number of observed symptoms permits an objective a priori classification based on the gravity of the starting situation. A firm would experience a weak crisis if it presents three or less criteria and, on the contrary, a strong crisis if it shows 4 or more. Following this further, in the first year of the analysis 77.38% of the firms encounter a weak crisis while 22.62% are facing a situation of strong crisis. Variables Severity Status, Reaction Capability and Fitness Status, as representative indicators of post-distress position, in the above proposed model (Figure 1) are built by gathering information given by some individual variable-indicators according to the features evaluated. The complete picture integrating the model and variables is showed in Figure 2. (Figure 2 here) Severity status (SEV_STAT) should be understood as an index assessing the degree of severity distress by seven financial ratios. These ratios correspond to the 7 symptom-indicators used to classify a firm as being in financial distress previously described, all divided by Total Assets in order to eliminate the size effect. Ratios such as: Net Income/Total Assets, EBIT/Total Assets and Retained Earnings/Total assets, representatives of the economic performance, are also commonly used to determine the existence of a decline phase in turnaround and recovery research (Pearce and Robins, 1993; Arogyaswamy et al., 1995; Smith and Graves, 2005). Negative Operating Cash Flow is also an indicator of liquidity deterioration and of financial distress probability (Anandarajan et al. 2001; Bell and Tabor, 1991; John, 1993). These seven indicators should be considered in a negative direction with respect to financial distress. That is, the lower value of the indicators, the worse the starting situ ation of the firm. In the same way, the more the number of negative indicators in a firm, the higher the crisis severity degree will be. Reaction capability is evaluated through three indicators: Sales/Total Assets (TURNOV), Shareholders Equity/Total Liabilities (FIN_AUT) and Current Assets/Current Liabilities (SOLV). The first one reflects the capacity of the company to enhance profitability while the other two indicators are linked to the financial structure of a firm and enable us to value its self-sufficiency and solvency. Together, these three variables measure the capacity of a firm to obtain external and additional funds or to reorganize its debts, the short term response capacity and the ability to generate resources. Fitness status (FIT_STAT) is defined as an index measuring the final health position on an objective and on a quality base as well, by means of 4 variables. Final Position is a categorical variable which indicates the existence or not of a crisis situation, when the firm still presents any symptom of distress. This variable takes value 0 if the firm exits successfully and doesnt present distress signals or value 1 otherwise. Additionally, to measure the health quality of this position, we follow the approach of Jostarndt (2006) when he identifies three factors that could cause financial distress: excessive leverage, a poor firm-specific operating performance and an industry downturn. These factors could be interpreted as indicators of the incapacity of a firm to generate cash flow which may influence a continuous economic and financial deterioration. The variables are defined as follows: (For further details on all variables calculation refer to Appendix B): Debt payment level: it permits the evaluation of the effects that a higher debt level of a firm has on cash flow generation, with respect to the industry where it operates. It indicates the level of interest payment the firm is paying compared to the median of the sector. If the level is above the median, the firm is paying more than other firms, so it should reduce it. Firm Performance: It measures the effects that a poor performance, lower than the median of the industry, has on cash flow generation. It measures the operating income of a firm compared to the median of the sector. It indicates if the firm is performing above or below the median of the sector. Sector performance: it allows analyzing to what extent the trend of the performance of the sector where the firm operates influences its capacity to generate cash flow if it behaved as the industry average. This item measures the improvement or the deterioration of a sectors performance, compared to its performance the year before. These three variables measure the risk of distress which could be the consequence of leverage problems or economic issues, including the downturn of the industry. The former three defined ratio-indicators should be understood in a negative sense, thus, the higher the three ratios are, the worse the quality position of the firm and the greater the probability of financial distress. Therefore, Fitness Status variable measures the position of a firm t years after the financial distress has been detected, allowing to evaluate the performance in managing a difficult situation. Severity Status and Fitness Status indexes could be interpreted as two composite indicators gathering the information of 7 and 3 individual ratios, respectively. To overcome some of the drawbacks of aggregated indexes, such as the degree of subjectivity in attribution of weights to each individual component (Munda, 2005; Messer et al., 2006; Munda and Nardo, 2009; Ramzan et al., 2008), we decided to use Data Envelopment analysis to summarize the complex information in just one index (Nardo et al., 2005a; Cherchye et al. 2008; Dyckhoff and Allen, 2001). DEA is a non-parametric performance measurement technique, based on a productivity approach, widely used to evaluate the relative efficiency of Decision Making Units (Cooper et al., 1999; Seiford, 1997; Gattoufi et al. 2004; Sherman and Zhu, 2006). However, this methodology has also been used to create indexes combining different components by means of an optimization process, when the structure of weights of these components is not kn own, and without making any assumption concerning the internal operations of a DMU (Cherchye et al., 2006; Zhu, 2000 and 2001; Puig-Junoy, 1998; Sexton and Lewis, 2003). Thus, both Severity Status and Fitness Status scores are obtained applying a DEA model without explicit inputs, called DEA-WEI models by Liu et al. (2011). This formulation, discussed by Lovell and Pastor (1999), considering a model with only outputs and a single constant input, has been used by Chen (2002) and Cooper et al. (2009), and it is similar to other approaches as DEA-R (Despic et al., 2007) or DEA-Index composite (Cherchye et al. 2008). Fitness Status use as DEA variables a series of indicators that measure negative features of a firm and they are also linked to the possibility of presenting a marked financial distress situation. This consideration is in agreement with the called pessimistic DEA approach, where the efficiency frontier contains, using Azizi and Ajirlu (2011) terminology, the worst-practisers as efficient in being poor-performers. In this way, DMUs scoring unity or close to unity levels will be the ones with higher degree of severity in their financial distressed situation. Furthermore, Fitness Score DEA manages a categorical variable Final Status indicating the existence or not of distress symptoms. In this sense we follow the approach of Banker and Morey (1986) concerning the treatment of exogenously fixed data. To measure the strategies and the behavior of firms during distress, profitability and downsizing actions have been included in the analysis. With regard to profitability, we use ROA in the last year of the analysis (ROA) and the average of its variations in the previous years (ROA_AVG) to measure the impact of efficiency oriented strategies to the final post-distress position. Concerning downsizing actions, variations in total assets during previous year are included to measure the impact of retrenchment strategies (RET_STG) Finally, to control the size effect (SIZE), natural logarithm of sales [ln(sales)] is included in the analysis in order to assess the influence of size on the possibility to return on a healthy scenario. Methodology The DEA score Fitness Status will be treated as a dependent variable in order to analyze to what extent post-failure position could be explained by issues such as severity, reaction capability or certain strategies implemented by the firms. Many different approaches can be found in the literature when a DEA score is used as a dependent variable of a regression to relate efficiency to the factors and study their influence on the former. The consideration of the DEA score as a censored variable (showing values between zero and unity) has been the argument for using regression censored models such as Tobit. On the other hand, Mancebà ³n and Molinero (2000) do not share this opinion and affirm that efficiency takes natural limits of zero and one and they estimate a model of the log type to explain inefficiency. In the same line, Puig-Junoy (1998) considers that DEA scores do not fit the theory of sampling censoring for Tobit models explaining inefficiency by a multiplicativ

Congestive Heart Failure: Complications and Affects

Congestive Heart Failure: Complications and Affects Congestive heart failure is a cardiac disease that causes many complications and affects many individuals in multiple ways. Aspects of ones life that are impacted by CHF are: activities of daily living, including social, family, and spiritual involvement. It can be very difficult for someone with heart failure to manage the disease and deal with the complications both physically and emotionally. However, there are some preventative measures that can be taken to avoid such extremes. Nurses play a huge roll when caring for a patient suffering from heart failure. It is important that they understand how this disease is affecting their patient beyond the cardiovascular system, and to be aware of interventions that will improve the outcome of their patients health. A patient presents to the clinic complaining of dyspnea, fatigue, weakness, swelling in his feet so bad that he is unable to put his shoes and he has a persistent cough. The nurse quickly assesses the patient and expresses her concerns of the probability of heart failure to the physician. The physician further assesses the patient and begins to get a history of the patients onset of symptoms. It is discovered that the patient has gained about five pounds in the last three days despite not being able to eat very much food. As the doctor auscultates heart sounds, he notes that his patients heart rate is very rapid. After careful consideration the physician diagnoses the patient with heart failure. Now what? The nurse must anticipate the level of care her patient is going to require while considering the many effects the diagnosis of heart failure is going to have on the patient. We would like to take this opportunity to now explain exactly what heart failure is, the details of its dive rse effects, and describe the care expected. Heart failure is a clinical syndrome that results from the progressive process of remodeling, in which mechanical and biochemical forces alter the size, shape, and function of the ventricles ability to fill and pump enough oxygenated blood to meet the metabolic demands of the body. Seventy five percent of heart failure cases are caused by systemic hypertension (Grandinetti, 1974/à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹2010). A third of patients experiencing a heart attack will also develop heart failure; another common cause is structural heart changes such as: valvular dysfunction especially pulmonic or aortic stenosis which leads to pressure or volume overload on the heart. (Grandinetti, 1974/à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹2010). However, those are not the only risk factors. Other serious risk factors that nurses should be aware of are: coronary artery disease, irregular heartbeats, diabetes, medications used to treat diabetes such as Avandia or Actos, sleep apnea, congenital heart defects, viruses, alcohol, certain kidney conditions, and of course, genetics (Mayo Clinic, 2010). As you can see, CHF is a very intricate disease process that involves more than just the heart muscle itself. Complications from chronic heart failure take a serious toll on a patients ability to perform ADLs without becoming short of breath or easily exhausted. The patient may have activity limitations demonstrated by the avoidance of walking long distances, walking up stairs, or exerting themselves because they become dyspenic very easily. The nurse must assess the patients ability to perform minor tasks such as putting on shoes. Since heart failure can lead to severe swelling especially in the feet and ankles, the patient may not be able to put his or her shoes on without assistance or in some cases a specially designed shoe may be necessary. It is also important that the nurse inquire the patient about the ability to perform simultaneous arm and leg work, such as carrying groceries. This type of activity may place an intolerable demand on the failing heart (Ignatavicius, 1991/à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹2010). Congestive heart failure does not solely affect the patients ability to perform activities of daily living, yet it affects other portion of life such as their family, social, and spiritual lives. Patients with advanced CHF often require help with daily tasks (i.e. making food, getting dressed, running errands, housekeeping); and family members often help out by doing these tasks for their loved ones. If the patient lives with a family member, that person may also be responsible for further management of cares in the home. This requires the family to be willing to learn about the disease process, and when it is necessary to call the health care provider or bring the patient into the hospital. This can cause a great amount of stress on the family member due to the responsibility of managing care. The fact that the patient may not be able to perform tasks on their own may lead to frustration which can further lead to self isolation due to the fact that they dont want to be bothersome no r embarrassed by their deficits. This is damaging to their social life and may cause depression. While the patient may be struggling with managing their social lives and trying to remain as independent from family members as possible the patient may turn to their religion. They may turn to their faith and pray more in hopes that it will benefit them and make it easier for them to deal with losing their independence. Spiritual well-being is an important, modifiable coping resource for depression, but little is known about the role of spiritual well-being in patients with heart failure (Bakelman, 2010). However, hope is a major indicator of ones wellbeing. This is especially true for patients with heart failure. Those who are hopeful tend to feel better and are more socially involved (Ignatavicius, 1991/à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹2010). Another factor that plays a major role in how patients with heart failure manage their care is the cultural background which they are from. For instance, those in minority communities may require more direct contact and consistent encouragement to follow the recommendations for treating their disease. A 2006 study concluded that: Nurse management can improve functioning and modestly lower hospitalizations in ethnically diverse ambulatory care patients who have heart failure with systolic dysfunction. Sustaining improved functioning may require continuing nurse contact (Sisk, 2006). It is not well understood why this is, but it may be likely that those patients who reside in minority communities do not have access to the types of health promotion and prevention programs as those who reside in a more socioeconomically stable community. Moving on now to the psychological effects that disease casts upon its victims; many patients with heart failure are at risk for anxiety and frustration. They may experience symptoms such as dyspnea, which further complicates their anxiety level. Those who are dealing with an advanced disease are certainly at high risk for depression. It is not certain whether the function impairment contributes to the depression or the depression affects functional ability. It is thought that those who are rehospitalized for an acute episode of heart failure are more likely to be depressed (Ignatavicius, 1991/à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹2010). Nurses may help these patients with alternative coping methods. It is important to keep in mind that nurses have a great amount of responsibility when it comes to prevention and treatment for those suffering from heart failure. Preventative measures that can be taught and reinforced to clients are: to quit smoking, control certain conditions such as hypertension, stay physically active, eat healthy foods, maintain a healthy weight, and tips for reducing and managing stress (Mayo Clinic, 2010). Treatment for these clients is generally directed by the physician, but the nurse reinforces the treatment plan and continues to guide the care throughout its course. Treatment often starts with conservative measurements such as treating the underlying cause, for example, a rapid heart rate or repairing a heart valve (not as conservative). But for most people, treatment involves a balance between the right medications and in some cases devices that help the heart beat and contract properly. Medications often used are: ACE inhibitors, ARBs, Digoxin, beta blockers, diuretics, and aldosterone antagonists. If medications alone are unable to treat the disease, other forms of treatment such as coronary bypass surgery or heart pumps may be used (Mayo Clinic, 2010). Furthermore, nurses must continue to intervene and assess the patients response to prescribed treatments. As mentioned before, nurses can educate their clients on the measures taken to prevent heart failure. Even more so, if the patient already has heart failure, the nurse shall administer medications as prescribed, place the patient on physical and emotional rest, while continuing to monitor for their therapeutic response to the medication and reducing the workload of the heart to increase its reserve. The nurse shall also monitor for complications such as excessive fluid volume, by weighing the patient daily and carefully assessing for lung sounds that would indicate fluid buildup (i.e. crackles in the lung fields) (Grandinetti, 1974/à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹2010). Another nursing intervention that may be useful in helping the patient to manage their care at home is to teach them about MAWDS, an acronym that stands for Medications, Activity, Weight, Diet, and Symptoms. This module is an easy way to teach patients about medication usage, recommended activity level, maintaining weight and the boundaries for weight loss and weight gain, a heart healthy diet, which includes low sodium (2-3gms) and fluid restrictions, as well as symptoms that should be noted and reported to the physician immediately (Ignatavicius, 1991/à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹2010). This is a very concise and understandable tool that is beneficial to both the nurse providing the education and the patient required to remember and comply with the self-management techniques. It is critical for nurses to understand the care needed to manage the patient with heart failure. They must be able to comprehend all aspects of its affect upon the patient in order to know how to direct them toward the right health choices and to know when to intervene to prevent complications. As we have discussed heart failure affects more than just the patients cardiovascular system, and there are many other factors that are involved in the disease process as well. Lifestyle changes must be made and maintained, those in minority communities may need more frequent contact to manage their care, and the health care provider must also remain aware of the psychosocial effects such as depression. Once these factors are understood to the best of their knowledge then improvement and management of this dynamic disease can be attained. Even if this means aggressive treatment because the conservative course did not serve its purpose as expected. Sometime drastic measures must be done. Eithe r way nurses shall continue to provide teachings and management strategies to improve the outcome of their patients care. References References Bakelman, D. B. (2010). Spiritual Well-Being and Depression in Patients with Heart Failure. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 22(4), 470-477. Grandinetti, D. (Ed.). (2010). Lippincott Manual of Nursing Practice (9th ed.). Ambler, PA: Wolters Klewer Health, Lippincott Company. (Original work published 1974) Ignatavicius, D. (2010). Medical Surgical Nursing: Patient-Centered Collaborative Care (6th ed.) (L. Henderson, Ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders Elsevier. (Original work published 1991) Mayo Clinic. (2009, December 23). In Mayo Foundations for Medical Education Research (Eds.), Heart Failure. Retrieved February 19, 2011, from Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-failure/DS00061 Sisk, J. E. (2006). Effects on Nurse Management on the Quality of Heart Failure Care in Minority Communities. Annals of Internal Medicine, 145(4), 273-283.

Warriors dont cry :: essays research papers

Title Navy to Limit Sonar Testing Thought to Hurt Sea Mammals Paper New York Times Authors THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Summary this article comes from San Francisco and is about how the Navy has agreed to limit the testing grounds the testing of a new sonar system designed to track down enemy submarines. The Navy finally agreed after there were a couple months of protest for the harm of marine life. The protest was about the concern of harming marine life . With all the limit’s the Navy has the Navy agrees to test the system in about 14 million square miles in the ocean and the limit will be a million square miles of remote ocean around the Mariana Islands. Andrew Wetzel a lawyer in the Natural Resources Defense Council said that the Mariana Islands was the least affective of Ocean the Navy could have. This wonderful sonar system can send signals hundreds of miles. It can be as loud as 215 decibels, as much noise as a twin-engine F-15 fighter jet makes when it takes off. This agreement doesn’t stop the navy from using the sonar anywhere in wartime and but limit’s the training gro und of the sonar. The judge ordered all discussions between the environmental group and the Navy to not to be mentioned. The Natural Resources Defense Council said Navy sonar used in March 2000 has caused about 16 whales and 2 dolphins to beach themselves on islands in the Bahamas. Eight whales died, and scientists found bleeding around their brains and ear bones, injuries consistent with exposure to loud noise. Critique This article is very important because the Navy has to train with their equipment but marine life cannot be harmed. The Navy has made the same decision I would have made to limit grounds for harming marine life but still training. This was a very hard decision to make because the Navy doesn’t want to kill animals but they have to just to train. I didn’t find this article interesting nor boring I found it hard to agree or disagree with. A call to battle Comment: I read Warrior's Don't Cry for a book report last year. As a high school student, I had heard very little about the integration of Central High School, and living in a predominantly white suburban community, knew very little about the Civil Rights Movement beyond Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Beals' personal account spurred me to learn more about the Movement on my own and to start demanding a 20th century in America class for my Social Studies department.

The Character Flaws of Macbeth Essay -- Macbeth essays

The Character Flaws of Macbeth      Ã‚  Ã‚   Since The Tragedy of Macbeth was written there has been speculation about the cause of Macbeth's downfall.   Readers ponder whether Macbeth's fall was caused by a flaw in his character, Lady Macbeth, or an outside force of evil.   Although the witches set a certain mood and Lady Macbeth exerts a certain influence on him, Macbeth's downfall is caused by his own character.      Ã‚  Ã‚   Macbeth's tragic flaw in character was the paradoxical pairing of his ambition with his passivity.   Throughout the play we see many examples of Macbeth's conflict between his ambition to attain the crown and his passive attitude towards the actions that are required to obtain it.   Macbeth's ambition is first illustrated in his susceptibility to the idea of becoming king, introduced by the witch's prophecies. When the witches greet Macbeth by saying, "All hail, Macbeth!   That shall be king hereafter" ( I, iii, 50)      Ã‚  Ã‚   Banquo observes that Macbeth seems "rapt" (I, iii, 58) and Macbeth says, "Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more?say from whence you owe this strange intelligence??.Speak, I charge you" (71-79). As scholar A. C Bradley observes, "The words of the witches are fatal to [Macbeth] only because there is in him something which leaps into light at the sound of them" ( 289).   However, this ambitious attitude soon changes to passivity when he realizes the grave actions that are required of him.   The contrast between Macbeth's ambition and his passivity-caused by reluctance to do evil-is depicted clearly by his actions and thoughts that occur before he murders Duncan.   Macbeth focuses on "the deterrent, not the incentives"; he is plagued by the "spectral bloody dagger" rather than the though... ...o Macbeth, they point to the unfolding of his evil.   He was ambitious enough to want to be king but not shrewd enough to have thought through the eventual consequences of his conniving.      Ã‚  Ã‚   Although there were many contributing factors to Macbeth's downfall, the primary cause was his own character flaw.   His internal contradiction between ambition and passivity allowed him to become susceptible to the witches' prophecies and Lady Macbeth's wickedness and eventually led to his downfall and death.    Works Cited Bradley, A.C.  Ã‚   Shakespearean Tragedy. Fawcett Publications: Greenwich, Conn., 1965. Shakespeare, William.   The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.   Oxford University Press:   London, 1964. Stoll, Elmer Edgar.   "Source and Motive in Macbeth and Othello."   Ed.   Leonard F. Dean.   Oxford University Press:   New York, 1961, 282-93.

Critique of the Novel Our Town Essay -- Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder was born on April 17, 1897, and died on December 7, 1975. He was born in Madison, Wisconsin to Amos Wilder, an American diplomat, and Isabella Wilder. Thornton Wilder started writing plays in The Thacher School in Ojai, California, and graduated from Berkeley High School in 1915. He served in the Coast Guard in World War II. After the war he attended Oberlin College, then Yale University where he earned his B.A. in 1920. His writing was honed at Yale where he was a part of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity which is a literary society. In 1926, he earned his M.A. in French from Princeton University. Wilder won Pulitzer Prizes for The Bridge of San Luis Rey in 1928, Our Town in 1938, and The Skin of Our Teeth in 1942. He also won the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1957, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, and the National Book Award in 1967 for his novel The Eighth Day. Form, Structure, and Plot The novel is organized into three acts, each one representing a different period of time. There are only two flashbacks in the book. The first takes place in act two, after George and Mr. Webb have a conversation. They both leave the stage and the Stage Manager introduces the flashback of when Emily and George had their first date at Mr. Morgan’s drugstore. The second flashback is not so much a flashback as it is time travel. It occurs in act three after Emily Webb joins the rest of the dead. She, as well as the Stage Manager, goes back in time to revisit her twelfth birthday. The first act is of George Gibbs and Emily Webb as teens, the second act is of their marriage, and the third act is of Emily Webb’s funeral. In the play a total of twelve years is covered. Throughout the play, the tone becomes more and m... ...out that Emily is dead. Additional Comments I was not thrilled with this book, but I did not hate it. The book’s strengths are that it has good, applicable themes that are easy to understand. Another strength that the book has is that it is not written in formal diction, so it is easy to read and understand. One of its weaknesses is that it is sometimes hard to follow the plot because of the lack of narration. The reader can get confused because of sudden scene or time changes. The book does leave one lingering question: What happens to George Gibbs? Although this is not my favorite book, it will have lasting effects on me. The transience of human life is a universal theme that can be observed by anyone. Bibliography Thornton (Niven) Wilder (1897-1975). . Our Town. Wikipedia. .

Contract and Hire Purchase Act

1. What are the principles under the doctrine of binding precedent? When it comes to deciding on case, judges do not decide solely on their own. They are bound to follow certain accepted principles which are commonly known as â€Å"the doctrine of binding precedent†. The doctrine of binding precedent required that â€Å"like cases decided alike†. If a case now before the court has facts and raises issues similar to those of a previously decided case, then the present case will be decided in the same way as the earlier one.In this way, the earlier case, referred to as ‘a precedent’ will have provided a legal basis on which the latter case and subsequent cases could be decided. Generally, lower courts are bound to follow the decisions of courts higher than them in the same hierarchy. If the judge fails to follow a binding precedent, the decision of the said judge will be legally wrong and it may be reversed on appeal or overruled in a later case. Below is how The Doctrine operates in Malaysia. The court system in Malaysia, was last restructured by the Constitution (Amendment) Act 1994.The present court structure, which has been in force since then, is as follows : * The Federal Court stands at the apex of the Malaysian court system. It is headed by the Chief Justice. * Below the Federal Court is the Court of Appeal. This court is headed by the President of the Court of Appeal. * Below the Court of Appeal are two High Courts with co-ordinate jurisdiction. One is the High Court of Malaya which serves Peninsula Malaysia, while the other is the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak, which serves East Malaysia, i. e. Sabah and Sarawak.Each of the High Courts is headed by a Chief Judge. * Below the High Courts are the Subordinate Courts, the highest of which are the Sessions Courts, each of which is headed by a Sessions Court Judge. * Below the Sessions Courts are the Magistrates’ Courts, each of which is presided over by a magistrate. Paral lel to the Magistrates’ Court is the Juvenile Court (Court For Children) which is also presided over by a magistrate. * In Peninsular Malaysia (West Malaysia) there are provisions for Penghulu’s Courts below the Magistrates’ Courts.These are headed by a penghulu or village headman. He has very limited jurisdiction and usually deals with local disputes in an informal manner. However, in practice, these courts hardly function. * There are also the Native Courts and the Syariah Courts. These courts operate only at the State level. The Native Courts exist only in Sabah and Sarawak and they deal with native rights while the Syariah Courts deal with matters pertaining to Islamic law in the respective states. 2. Does silence amount to acceptance? Kindly support your answer with evidence.Silence does not necessarily indicate that there is acceptance. However, there are exceptional instances where silence may amount to acceptance itself. The rationale behind this general rule is based on the idea that acceptance must take some form of objective manifestation of the offeree’s intention though some form of positive action. This is to ensure that no one should be able to enforce a contract upon an unwilling party. Based on Section 3 of the Contract Act 1950 provides that acceptance must be made in the manner prescribed by the offer.However, based on Section 7(b) of the Contract Act 1950 states that when the acceptor deviates from the prescribed manner, the offeror must not keep silent. If he does so and fails to insist upon prescribed manner, he is considered as having accepted the modified manner. For instance, refer to the below case of Felthouse v. Bindley (1826) Case : Felthouse v. Bindley (1826) 11 CB (NS) 869; 142 ER 1037 * The plaintiff had discussed with his nephew, John, on the purchase of a horse belonging to John, and wrote to him, offering to buy his horse and added, â€Å"If I hear no more from him, I consider his horse is mine at ? 0 15s†. However, John did not reply. * Six weeks later, John, whilst selling his faming stock, told the auctioneer to keep the horse out of the sale as he planned to reserve the horse for his uncle. But the auctioneer sold it by mistake. The plaintiff then sued the auctioneer. * Held : There was no acceptance of the plaintiff’s proposal by John. Therefore, the plaintiff had no right to impose upon his nephew a sale of his horse by silence. However, there are exceptions to this, and a strong case to find for silence mounting to acceptance is when the offeree explicitly states that he wants his silence to be regarded as an acceptance. Using the above case of Felthouse v. Bindley (1826), if the fact is twist by saying that Plaintiff and John have communicated with each other about the sale of the horse, and John told Plaintiff that he should write him a note about the sale of the horse, and if Plaintiff does not receive any reply from him, Plaintiff can assume that John has agreed to the sales. In such an instance, should John not replying to Plaintiff, acceptance may be found and a binding, enforceable contract may be found.Hence, communication becomes effective when it has been communicated. 3. â€Å"A consideration must be adequate†. Do you agree with the statement? Is a contract without adequate consideration void? Support your answer with cases and statuses whenever necessary. I do not agree with the statement above as consideration need not be adequate but must be sufficient. There is no requirement that the consideration must be at market value, as long as the promisee provides something in value in example ? 2 for an exchange of a car would be valid. The courts are not concerned the adequacy.For example, we may refer to the below case of Chappell & Co v. Nestle (1960) Case : Chappell & Co v. Nestle (1960) Nestle had a special offer involving if customer sent in 1s6d and three chocolate bars wrappers, they would get a record of a son g called ‘Rockin Shoes’. Chappell & Co who owned the copyright of the song has brought an action for breaches of copyright and claimed royalties. Nestle willing to pay the royalties at 6. 25% of 1s6d however Chappell and Co argued that it should be include the chocolate wrappers although Nestle thrown it away after they received it.The court held that consideration must be sufficient but need to be adequate; hence, the chocolate wrappers were part of consideration as it was part to increase sales and provided value. Therefore, Chappell & Co granted the injunction and Nestle could not sell the records. Under the Malaysian Law, explanation 2 to Section 26 of Contract Act 1950 provides that an agreement to which the consent of the promisor is not void merely because the consideration is inadequate; but the inadequacy will be question by the court whether the consent of the promisor is freely given.The illustration (f) to Section 26 of Contracts Act 1950 clearly states the application of the rule: â€Å"A agrees to sell a horse worth RM1,000 for Rm10. A’s consent to the agreement was freely given. The agreement is a contract notwithstanding the inadequacy of the consideration†. This was illustrated in the case of Phang Swee Kim v. Beh I Hock (1964), the respondent’s solicitor notified the appellant that she had trespassed on the said land and claimed for vacant possession and for an account of all income received by her from the land. In May 1963, the respondent instituted an action against her claiming the relief stated.The appellant counter-claimed for a declaration that she was entitled to the said land. At the hearing, the appellant contented that there was an oral agreement made between her and the respondent in which the respondent agreed to transfer the land to her on payment of $500 in 1958. The learned trial judge accepted her evidence, but held that the agreement is void due to inadequacy of consideration. However, on ap peal the Federal Court held that by virtue explanation 2 to Section 26 of Contracts Act 1950, there was adequate consideration as being no evidence of misrepresentation or fraud.The appellant was therefore entitled to the declaration sought by her. 4. Is an invitation to treat an offer? Support your answer with cases, whenever necessary. An ‘invitation to treat’ is not the same as an ‘offer’. In order for binding contract to be formed, there must be an ‘offer’ and an ‘acceptance’ of that offer. An invitation to treat is sometimes mistaken for an offer. There are many similarities between an invitation to treat and offer, making the distinction can be difficult.A good way of looking at the difference between the two terms is that an offer is a definite promise to be bound on specific terms, whereas an invitation to treat is only an indication that someone is prepared to receive offers with the view of forming a binding contract. Thu s, the distinction turns on the specificity of the offer and the degree of vagueness or conditionality attached to it. The main situation where an invitation is mistaken for an offer is in advertising. Advertising is not an offer, but rather an attempt to induce offers. Advertising is therefore classed under contract law as an invitation to treat.Only when the customer offers to pay for the goods at the advertised price has an offer been made. Similarly, the ‘exhibition of good for sale’ can be confused as an offer when really it is an invitation to treat. When goods are displayed in a store this constitutes invitation to customers to make offers to purchase the items. Another situation is in auction sales. At an auction the bid itself is an offer then the auctioneer can either accept or reject the offer. Refer below list of cases of invitation to treat :- * An auctioneer inviting bids offers an invitation to treat when a bidder makes a bid.Case : Payne v. Cave (1789) I n this case, the defendant made the highest bid for the plaintiff’s goods at an auction sale, but he withdrew his bid before the fall of the auctioneer’s hammer. It was held that the defendant was not bound to purchase the goods. His bid amounted to an offer, which he was entitled to withdraw at any time before the auctioneer signified acceptance by knocking down the hammer. * When a customer puts goods in basket, he or she makes an offer. Case : Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v. Boots Cash Chemists Lts (1952)Certain brand name medicines were displayed for sale in a self service store. The issue arose as to when and where the sale of the medicines took place. The reason this was an important issue was because the Pharmacy and Poisons Act 1933 S 18(1) provided that it was unlawful to sell such medicines unless the ‘sale is effected by, or under the supervision of, a registered pharmacist’. If the sale took place when the customer put the medicines in her shopping basket the sale would not take place ‘under the supervision of, a registered pharmacist’ because a pharmacist was present at the checkout desk.The issue here is before the court was when did the sale tale place? Was it when the customer put the medicines in her shopping basket or was it when the customer presented the goods to the cashier? The court held that the sale took place when the customer presented the goods to the cashier. The placing of the medicines in the shopping basket has no contractual significance. It was not even an invitation to treat since there had been no communication between the shopper and the shop. The contract would only be made at the cashier’s desk. The display of goods in a shop by shopkeeper is an invitation to treat. Case : Fisher v. Bell (1961) A shopkeeper was convicted of offering for sale a flick knife contrary to the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 S 1(1); he had displayed the knife in his shop window . The shopkeeper appealed. The issue here is, before the court was whether the shopkeeper was offering a flick knife for sale. On the appeal the shopkeeper was acquitted of ‘offering’ a flick knife for sale. Before the magistrates court he was actually convicted of ‘offering’ the knife for sale.This case shows that goods on display are inviting customers to make an offer to buy them from the shopkeeper. In other words ‘goods on display in a shop’ are an invitation to treat not an offer to buy. * Supply of information is an invitation to treat. It is considered to be in the process of negotiation and not a define offer to sell. Case : Harvey v. Facey (1893) The prospective buyer, Harvey, sent a telegram to the seller Facey, asking: â€Å"Will you sell us Bumper Hall Pen? Telegraph lowest cash price. † Facey responded by telegram: â€Å"Lowest price for Bumper Hall Pen ? 900. † Harvey later eplied: â€Å"We agree to buy Bumper Hall Pen for the sum of nine hundred pounds asked by you. Please send us your title deed in order that we may get early possession,† but received no response. Harvey brought an action to enforce the contract. The court held a contract for the sale of the property could only have been concluded of Facey accepted Harvey’s final telegram. Facey had not said that he would sell the property and had merely stated the lowest price he was willing to sell at. Harvey could not imply Facey’s telegram was an offer to sell as this must be expressy given.In essence, a price quotation of itself does not amount to an offer but is merely an invitation to treat. An invitation to treat is quite literally an invitation to another party to negotiate, which does not suggest an intention of being bound. Hence, an invitation to treat is a tool to get negotiations going and show the terms which one party may be willing to accept, as opposed to an offer in which one party is prepared to be le gally bound by upon acceptance. 5. What is the definition of ‘contract of sale of goods’ under the law?A contract of sale of goods is a contract whereby the seller agrees to transfer the property in goods to the buyer for a consideration called the price, consisting wholly or partly of money. Where, by virtue of one or more contracts, a person has agreed for value to bail goods to a bailee on such terms that the property in the goods will or may at the option of the bailee pass to the bailee then, for the purposes of this Act, that person is deemed to have agreed to transfer the property in goods to the bailee, and the bailor shall be deemed to be the seller and the bailee shall be deemed to be the buyer.There may be contract of sale between one part owner and another. Thus, a contract of sale may be absolute or conditional. 6. Does the Hire Purchase Act cover all hire purchase transaction? The Hire Purchase Act does not in actuality cover all hire-purchase transaction. Hire Purchase agreement is used by Financial Institutions to fund the purchase of consumer goods (goods purchased for personal, family and household purposes), vehicles and other business equipment and industrial machinery.In Malaysia, the legislation governing hire purchase transaction is the Hire Purchase Act 1976, which came into force on 11 April 1968 after hire purchase became popular in the acquisition of expensive consumer goods such as cars, business equipment and industrial machinery. In respect of goods not specified in the First Schedule of the Hire Purchase Act, the parties are free to contract outside the provision of the Act or agree to be bound by the provisions. However, the First Schedule may be amended by the Minister concerned from time to time. 7. i) What is the main legislation governing partnership in Malaysia? In Malaysia the governing law that addresses partnership matters is provided in the Partnership Act 1961 (Act 135) (ii) What is the statutory definitio n of partnership as provided under the Malaysian Law? Partnership is defined by Section 3(1) of the Partnership Act 1961 as ‘the relation, which subsists between persons carrying on a business in common with a view of profit’. No person may be a partner with himself. There must be at least two or more persons to form a partnership.