Kolb Learning Styles Essay Example for Free

Kolb Learning Styles Essay David Kolb’s theory of learning styles is one of the best known and widely applied and it suggest that learning is a cyclic process which involves an individual proceeding through each of the following four stages and will eventually prefer and rely upon one style more than the others. The four styles are: Divergers, Convergers, Accommodators and Assimilators. Research has shown that these four styles have different names along with the ones mentioned above, they are: Divergers is also called Reflective observation Convergers is also called Active experimentation Accommodators is also called Concrete experience Assimilators is also called Abstract conceptualization   Let us take a look and see how the knowledge of each one can be applied to the role of being students working individually and as a group. Divergers/Reflective observation Divergers like to think before they talk and they research and analyze a situation before giving their own personal opinion. They like to investigate and are able to view situations from many angles which allows them to recognize problems. A lot of times a Diverger would rather sit back, listen and watch, be imaginative and open to xperience, being very thoughtful of everyones ideas. Convergers/Active experimentation Convergers think about things, use theories to solve problems and then try out their ideas to see if they work in practice. They like to ask how about a situation, understanding how things work in practice. They like facts and will seek to make things efficient by making small and careful changes and look at alternative ways of doing something. They prefer to work by themselves, thinking carefully and acting independently. They learn through interaction and computer-based learning is more effective with them than other methods. Accommodators/Concrete experience Accommodators prefer to be involved in new experiences, have a hands-on approach and learn through trial and error. They like a practical experimental approach, are able to adapt to circumstances and like to set objectives and schedules. Assimilators/Abstract conceptualization Assimilators want to be more logical, they really see no need to give their own personal views, they would rather think it through and do research. They will also learn through conversation that takes a logical and thoughtful approach. They prefer lectures for learning, with demonstrations where possible, will respect the knowledge of experts. In addition they often have a strong control need and prefer the clean and simple predictability of internal models to external messiness. This style is used in schools most of the time along with corporations. After researching these four different styles I was able to compare them to four different individual experiences. One of my friends likes the assimilator approach for her school work, she likes to know the facts before she does anything. She is also going to share the knowledge she has gained from this assignment with her cousin who falls into the category of a Converger and tends to fail with her experiments. Another one of my friends believes that she is a Diverger, she would rather listen, gather data and analyze a situation and give feedback. She is very thoughtful of everyones ideas and puts their feelings and thoughts into consideration. I also onsider myself a combination of the Accommodator and Converger, I learn best by the hands-on experience and looking at different ways of doing things. In conclusion, I feel that it is very beneficial for a person to know their style of learning for the following reasons: if you know this about yourself you are able to pinpoint your weaknesses so that you may work on them to help better your studying habits, you can apply your specific style to the task at hand whether it would be finding a book or article to read, a video to watch, a tape to listen to or solve it by trial and error. You may also notice how others work differently and understand that individual more so that it will be a better work and study environment. Not only does this help when studying individually, it is a great benefit when participating in a group or team because when working in a group or team you have a combination of styles so the participants will have a different opinion of the topic depending on how they view the topic. Along with different views of a topic, if you know your learning style you could share that with them and they may be able to make adjustments to accomodate you style of learning, especially if you are having problems grasping the topic, idea or concept. The importance of learning style stems from the notion that teaching, if it is to be effective, should be tailored to the preferred learning style of the learner(s). If teaching is not aligned to the learning preferences of learners, it is unlikely that the teaching will be effective, or at least not as effective as it could be.

Metoric Rise of Tommy Hilfiger :: essays papers

Metoric Rise of Tommy Hilfiger The Meteoric Rise of Tommy Hilfiger As a Recognized Brand Name "The Four Great American Designers for Men Are: R---- L-----, P---- E----, C----- K----, T---- H-------". When this Wheel of Fortune-style advertisement was unveiled in 1985, the public easily identified the first three designers as Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis, and Calvin Klein, but who was this fourth designer? The fourth designer, to whom the ad belonged to, was Tommy Hilfiger. At that time, Tommy Hilfiger and his recently begun company specializing in men's fashions were unknown. However, in less that a decade since that first advertisement appeared, Tommy Hilfiger has become a hugely successful company at the forefront of the fashion industry. As Jack Hyde, a Fashion Institute of Technology professor, has stated, "It's Hilfiger, Hilfiger, Hilfiger." Tommy Hilfiger, 48, founder, designer, and honorary chairman of the Hong Kong-based company that bears his name, was born and raised in the small town of Elmira, New York. He was one of nine children. Even at a young age, his fashion and artistic talents were shown through his dress. "He's always wearing a shirt or a pair of pants that was a little different than what everyone else was wearing" a friend of his remarked. In 1969, Hilfiger and two friends opened People's Place, a store specializing in trendy fashions and other items. The store grew and expanded with People's Places opening in various upstate New York towns such as Ithaca and Corning. Hilfiger, wanting to design clothes rather than purchase them from the manufacturer, began to consider becoming a designer. When his People's Place chain went bankrupt in 1977, Hilfiger moved to New York and worked as a designer, even though he had never attended design school, for various companies until 1984, when Tommy Hil figer the company was born. Today Tommy Hilfiger labels grace everyone from President Bill Clinton to rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg and that wide range of clientele accounts for the company selling $756.9 million dollars' worth of merchandise each year. Last year, Tommy Hilfiger Corporation (TOM) was one of the top apparel firms traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Research Survey on Use of Opportunity Cost in Project Evaluation

RESEARCH SURVEY ON USE OF OPPORTUNITY COST IN PROJECT EVALUATION AT SELECTED COMMERCIAL BANKS IN THE KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN A RESEARCH PAPER PRESENTED TO THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE AMA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN BY MUBEEN FATIMA August, 2012 ABSTRACT Accounting and Economics work for two different purposes. Today managerial decision making uses economics, as well as accounting concepts, methods & practices of scrutiny given by decision sciences.Literature shows that there are four basic tools and techniques of decision making used by economists, these are; augmentation, statistical valuation, projecting, numerical study, and game theory, most of which are equally procedural in nature they helps us to gather the idea of how decisions are made in economics. Since resources are limited relative to wants, the usage of resources in one way hinders their use in other means.This implies the cost of opportunity, which is lost, is actually the profit of whose output is given up, this indicates that, lost time, satisfaction or any other benefit that provides usefulness should also be taken as opportunity cost. Opportunity cost in literature is the cost referred as the next-best choice available to a rational consumer who has to select between a number of mutually distinct projects. It is, thus the key concept in economics. It has been illustrated as conveying â€Å"the basic relationship between deficiency and choice. Yet its relation to the economic profit is seldom discussed.CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background of the Study Prior research work provides us the idea that opportunity costs is one of the key differences between the concepts of economic cost and accounting cost. Being treated as a cost, opportunity cost had always been considered vital in calculation of the true cost of a project & has always effected a management accountant decision However the modern economists, particularly the Austrian school of thought treats opportunity cost as something that has neither existence nor has any importance in decision making.Though the field of economics gave birth to the concept of opportunity cost, the awareness about assessing the second best alternate is now taken over by management accounting, today this concept is being taught in academic graduate courses of economics however; in practice, the economists today emphasize on mathematical techniques in decision making there by ignoring various conceptual factors like opportunity costs and worth of projects being missed. Evaluating opportunity costs is important to find out the true cost of any project under consideration.If the financial worth of second best alternative of an investment project is low, then, overlooking that opportunity costs, gives an impression that benefits of next best alternative, cost practically nothing. The invisible opportunity costs then become one of the hidden costs of that particular project. Mr. John Stuart Mill, a British philosopher and a civil servant was the first man to give the idea of Opportunity Cost in his economic theory of free markets as well as explaining his concept of liberty and an individual and freedom of choice.Opportunity costs are thought of as the retrospective costs that cannot be recovered in the field of Economics and Corporate decision making. Opportunity costs are occasionally compared with â€Å"potential costs† which obviously are the future costs that may or may not incurr depending upon the decision taken. Both past aswell as prospective costs can be either static or dynamic Austrian school of thought pay attention to the concept of opportunity costs on both sides of the market links very deeply to the importance of finance and economic profit estimation in their model of the market process.They argue that the money of an investor having opportunity cost means that his money has many uses but the uses are not unlimited. With the assumption of a market with seamlessly exclusi ve capital goods, those goods will have no opportunity cost as every exclusive good has only one yield. In a market of seamlessly standardized capital goods, they have no opportunity cost because all of the goods are same in terms of use and benefit thus can be used equally well for each yield. In practice the calculation of project cost by an accountant is different from that of an economist.This variance is not grounded in different fundamentals on what to assess or how, but lies in the basic difference in understanding-of costs and profits. However if opportunity costs are not ignored by the economist then while calculating the GDP of Country the economist must also consider the large scale pearl diving industry in certain areas of Bahrain. Statement of the Problem The study aims to discuss the relevance of the concept of Opportunity Cost in project evaluation procedure adopted by commercial banks in Kingdom of Bahrain.The opportunity cost has different importance in the opinion of economists and accounts professionals and therefore the use of this concept in project costing . This research will attempt to find out importance of Opportunity cost while considering an investment proposal. Specifically it sought to answer the succeeding questions. 1. What is the status of the opportunity cost in project evaluation at Selected Commercial banks in Kingdom of Bahrain? 2. What are the banking operations where opportunity cost is deemed important by Commercial Banks in Kingdom of Bahrain? 3.What are the factors effecting the importance of opportunity cost faced by Commercial Banks in Kigdom of Bahrain? 4. What are the problems encountered in application of Opportunity cost concept by the Bankers while evaluating a project? Assumption The study assumed that the respondents are honest in answering all the questionnaire Significance of the Study The study is beneficial to the following: Decision Makers: the study will help the decision makers in Commercial Banking ind ustry to find the true cost of a project and therefore finding the true profit or loss generated by itFuture Researches: the study will help in relating the two concepts i. e, opportunity cost and Project Costing by using the quantitative methodology of research. It will further help in decision making and project evaluation for the accounts Managers and Economists. Scope and Limitation The aim of this study is to deliberate the significance of the concept of Opportunity Cost in project evaluation procedure adopted by Commercial banks in Kingdom of Bahrain. The opportunity cost has different importance in the pinion of economists and accounts professionals and therefore the use of this concept in project costing . The study includes Bank Officers at selected Commercial Banks working in Kingdom of Bahrain. The target population is Executives and managers (top and middle level ) who are directly involved in decision making This research focused on finding out importance of Opportunity cost while considering an investment proposalstudy is conducted in Commercial Banks of Bahrain, the responses therefore reflect the most important sector of Bahrain economy. The study is conducted in the natural settings i. during the business hours and responses are taken while the samples are on their work places, therefore 100 percent reliability of responses is not possible due to various un controllable distractions. The period covered by this study is January till December 2012. All the data is collected in Bahrain and responses therefore will represent the local population. Definition of Terms Opportunity Cost (OC) The cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Put another way, the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action (John Stuart Mil)Economic Value Added (EVA) A measure of a company's financial performance based on the residual wealth calculated by deducting cost of capital from its operating profit (Stern St ewart) EVA is also referred to as â€Å"economic profit†. CHAPTER 2 Review of Related Literature and Studies Foreign Literature Mankiw ( 2000) from Harvard University USA and the author of† Principles of Microeconomics† explained here that Economic profits are calculated by using both explicit as well as implicit costs however Accounting profits are calculated using only explicit costs.Therefore , accounting profits are higher than economic profits Neale( 2001) have found that due to forgoing opportunity costs, delayed decisions can be seen as option between certain loss and the risk of greater or zero loss. Chung, (2005)from Princeton University have conclude in their work â€Å"The Opportunity Cost of Admission Preferences at Elite Universities† that economic cost of a decision relies on the cost of the project that is selected and also the profits that the second best alternative project may had given if selected.This perspective of scarcity of resource leads to the dimension of opportunity cost. Hawkins et. al ( 2008 ) in their article â€Å" Cost and benefit Analysis† are of the view that the â€Å"next best alternative† is an important concept in cost and benefit analysis (CBA). The benefits gone by not implementing the second favorite choice are known as opportunity costs. Opportunity costs are relevant in calculating costs of a project. Opportunity costs help in economic scrutiny. In financial investigation market values are used as the market price for man power has the market value same as a person’s wageThe Indian scholars are also of the view that Opportunity Cost of Idle Capacity Zero, supporting the work of (Coase 1938). The researchers of M2 Presswire publications have found that opportunity cost of ignoring the markets, have disastrous results as eBay failed to beat yahoo in this regard. Buchanan (1969 ) says that it is just to bind the term opportunity cost to this idea that only decision changing cost represents an analysis of given up â€Å"opportunities. † and to invent other vivid terms to mention ecision altering cost in a logic of choice and to the objective cost of the predictive theory. Hebert (1985 ) gave a very comprehensive idea about the market value. Yet his belief of fundamental value has quite possibly been a red-herring in the antiquity of economic analysis, according to him market value is sensitive to elements other than â€Å"on record costs† few of them are independent. Horwitz (2010) identifies the partiality of opportunity costs on either sides of the market connections so well to the importance of capital and economic calculation in the Austrian theory of the market process.Aherns (2008) says that management accountants’ most prior duty is to relate the available reserves with the future dealings of the business. Whereas this process is rather simpler in economics to determine which of the available alternates is going to pay off h ighest future cash flows Kearing et. al (2005) are of the view that multiple allocation of capital funds , commercial analysis and manufacturer side opportunity costs are all the unified part of the Austrian ideology. Woodbery (2000) says that the true opportunity cost of using the additional capability is the change in the worth of the firm's choices.By emphasizing on the state-contingent nature of best decisions, his framework distinguishes that the cost is not always identical to the present value of explicit venture or manufacturing decisions. Taylor (2005) suggests that many proficient economists may not completely comprehend opportunity cost. Frank (2005) said that comparative prices helps in finding out the comparative worth of ordained opportunities. His hypothesis is based on an indepth study of consumer indifferense curves. According to the author the economic cost is virtually the opportunity cost.Samuelson( 2009) puts stress on a close link between opportunity costs and cost of available resources. Economic cost consist of not only the noticeable monetary purchases or on record financial transactions but also more indirect opportunity costs, such as the profits on the manpower supplied by the owner of a resource company and other returns of similar nature. The factors mentioned are firmly controlled by the quotations available and demand in competitive markets. Henderson (2011), said that by â€Å"opportunity cost† of a resource, the economist mean the financial worth of the second favourite utilization of the available resource.Opportunity costs as in (Lawrance Gitman 2000) are those profits or returns that could be obtained from best alternative use of an a retained asset. So opportunity cost is the cash that shall not be obtained because of engaging an asset in project under consideration. Due to this, opportunity cost should be included as an expense or loss while doing the project evaluation. Raftery et. al(1999) writes that considerati on of opportunity cost is essential for the economist's while determining the costs. As resources are less compared to the needs, so application of resources in one profitable project hinders their use in other profitable pojectsBauman (2011) says that opportunity cost is the second best choice, he said that it is difficult to clearly frame the opportunity cost as identifying second best choices is a knotty matter. According to him the concept of opportunity cost can only be clearly defined in academic problems as in practical field a project â€Å"price to worth† calculations are complex Kimberly (1998) said that computerized accounting systems today solely emphasize on cash in and out of the firm, this eventually attracts clever dealers to dump credits that produce a big accounting profits.By the introduction of opportunity cost in persuit of calculating the true costs enforces further control on reporting process. Such concept implication helps the auditors to identify the fake earnings shown in the financial statements made in the year end. Recklies (2001) argues that from economic perspective the cost include all those expenditures that are crucial for perpetual succession of a business as as going concern, it also consist of the reimbursement for owners in shape of profit so that they maintain their investment portfolio within the firm.Marshall (2009) identifies the income as a total of personal skills, capital funds invested, assets possessed and the reputation of the business. Leeson (2008) has explained in his research work the uses if the concept of uncertainty and derives from this concept of the value of information and how it can be calculated. And emphasized upon the role of management accounting in the decision-making Berntell (2005) have focused on the optimum utilization of scarce resources like water to give maximum utility by reducing various costs and losses. For which economist must make a clear cut cost and benefit analysisDmytrenk o (1997 )has elaborated in his price to value investigation the opportunity cost of increased automation in a firm via changing the human resource by computers and equipment Caplan (2003) says that the term opportunity cost is sometimes confusing. Sometimes it is used to submit to the profit foregone from the next best option, and Often it is used to mention the difference in benefit of decision made and the benift of second favourite decision that is given up Fraker( 2006) suggests that EVA is a unique financial performance determining tool .Unlike other financial efficiency ratios, it gives a different outlook of a Bank’s financial health by including the cost of Capital employeed in the business and is more of concern to its shareholders. Shcherbakov( 2012) explains that implication of the concept of EVA is an enhanced measuring technique to find out the effect of internationalization on the commercial performance of any business King (2009) explained that Accountancy and Economics work for different purposes. He explained the multi-national corporation scenarios and compared the use of economic profits with that of accounting profitsLocal Literature (Hasan Al-Basteki 1998) worked on the use of modern Accounting techniques in the decision making in Bahrain and he concluded that not just the western world is implementing the new costing techniques but the middle east is also adopting the modern techniques Synthesis of the Literature Review The synthesis of the literature reviewed enlightens few similarities and differences with this research studies . The main similarities found in the literature are as follows i) Opportunity cost has been used in different parts of the world particularly in Banks and Construction industry ii) The No. f alternatives available influence the Opportunity Cost iii) Economic factors like inflation has effect on the project evaluation by the Banks . A closer review of these research papers show that Economists belonging to the Austrian school of thoughts are of the view that i) Opprtunity cost is not as important as Economic Profits are for economic decision making ii) Scarcity of resource is a factor which effects the decision makers approach The literature explains the significance of opportunity cost in framing the actual picture of the financial position of a company, same is the case evaluation of an investment project.Opportunity cost helps identifying the true cost of a project Opportunity cost is important in the determining the accurate financial position, hence in this research the relationship between the factors effecting opportunity cost and decision making is under study Theoretical Frame Work The study tends to explore the Opportunity cost and EVA for a given project in order to understand their relationship with each other. Very little literature is available in Economics and Accounting to determine the true profits of an organization(Denise Woodbery).The idea behind this research is t o establish the nature of relationship between Economic value added that reflects the monetory importance of a given project or in other words the economic profit and that of Opportunity Cost that reflects the accounting profit of the same project. Conceptual Frame Work The idea behind this research is to find out how effective is Opportunity cost in project evaluation perceived by the Bankers in the Kingdom of Bahrain.The data is collected and analysed to understand what status opportunity cost concept holds in project financial evaluation and its relative efficiency perceived by the bankers at selected commercial banks of Kingdom of Bahrain The study tends to explore the two concepts for a given project in order to understand their relationship with each other. The Opportunity cost as discussed in literature like any other relevant cost adds to the overall project expenditure (Ferraro & Laura O Taylor)Opportunity cost effects the total Cost of a Project , any increase in Opportuni ty cost means increase I nthe total cost of the project The higher the Opportunity Cost of a Project is the Smaller will be the net profit of it However the higher the net profit of the project is Opportunity Cost of the Project will be lower. Financial decision making tends to go for a project with smaller cost and hence inclusion of opportunity cost will alter the project cost and alter the decision ultimately.Various factors like availability of alternatives (James Raftery 1999), Scarcity of resources (Robert Frank 2005), Economic factors like trade cycle recession, inflation (Peter T leeson 2008) effects the use of opportunity cost in Project costing CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter presents the research design and methodology, sampling design, respondents of the study, research instrument, validity and reliability of the instrument, data gathering procedures, and statistical treatment of the gathered data.Research Design This study used the descriptive type of resear ch which involves assembling data which provide knowledge about the variables and then systematically tabularizing, portraying, and defining the data gathered (Glass & Hopkins, 1984). To get evidence concerning the current standing of the incidences to describe what happens in terms of change in value of the variables or settings in a state of research.. Opportunity Cost reflects the monetary importance of the next best alternative project.The study helps to find out how effectively this concept is incorporated in project evaluation procedure Research Design This is a descriptive research in which the population from which data is collected are the Management Personals from different business concerns established and working in Kingdom of Bahrain, directly or indirectly associated with the decision making and investment evaluation . Respondents of the Study The target population includes the working class particularly the managers , assistant managers and executives who work in Bahr ain and their field esponsibility include Investment Analysis ,Project evaluation and decision making of similar nature. Sample Size The sample size is 50 and the response rate is well above the international standard of quantitative research required to validate the result of the study Sampling Design There are many methods of sampling; however for this study Random Sampling is used that is from the target population a sample of 100 is collected on random basis.The study uses random sampling for convenience and to avoid bias of respondents that work in one organization have one opinion(as in cluster sampling) Research Instrument The instrument used in this study is Questionnaire, the content of the questionnaire that consist of 20 queries the first five of which are about the general information of the respondent, remaining queries for which the respondents will answer on a Likert Scale. All the queries will help to find the relation between the two variables Opportunity Cost (IV) and Decision Making (DV)Part I: Provide demographics of the respondents in terms of age , gender, educational attainment, work experience in years Part II: Provide the data about the respondents opinion on various factors that influence their decision while making financial evaluation of a project. The answers to these questions will be given on a five point rating scale. 5. Strongly Agree 4. Agree 3. Moderately Agree 2. Disagree 1. Strongly Disagree Validity of the InstrumentThe validity of instrument is carefully checked by the research committee that includes research professors, statisticians and advisors. The recommendations were incorporated. The justification of this validation was to avoid vague items and bias statements which have been correctly achieved. Reliability of the Instrument The questionnaire is pre-tested to test the reliability of it, with a small group of individualsworking in different companies in the Kingdom of Bahrain, in order to check their understanding of the questions.Data collection Method Questionnaire copies were distributed among bank officers in different branches of distinct commercial banks in various regions of Kingdom of Bahrain. The target respondents are expected to be acquainted with the subject and questions, included in the questionnaire. There are other methods of data collection like documentary analysis and interview however for this study survey methodology is opted. A copy of questionnaire is provided in the appendix Statistical Treatment of the DataThere are many choices of appropriate statistical methods however Correlation Coefficient as statistical method is used, so to find out the relation between the two variables. The survey form was used the Likert five point scale for the respondents to choose from as follows: [pic] Very few enterprises are using opportunity cost for just one reason. It is clearly evident that Opportunity cost related information is being used to accurately manage wide range of activi ties across a banking organization. Activities influenced by Opportunity cost calculation Activities |% of respondents | |Product Costs & Profitability |65 | |Performance Measurement |47 | |Shared Service Costing |41 | |Planning & Budgeting |40 | |Customer costing |38 | |Customer/Channel Costs & Profitability |38 | |Transfer pricing |25 | |Outcome / Output based management |25 | Expectedly, opportunity cost is used for product costing by approximately two by three of those respondants working in banking sector. It’s precision over traditional costing methods is borne out later in the survey with 87% finding that their Opportunity Cost product costs differed substantially from traditional costing methods, leading around 50% to reprice their products as a result!Validating the views expressed by Kaplan & Norton in their latest book ‘Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes’, which lays emphesisis on the importance of using Opportunity Cos to support a Balance Scorecard, nearly half of all respondents are using their Opportunity Cost data to support their Performance Management The use of Opportunity Cost to support Shared Services costing has increased in popularity over the last few years. Now that internal services are represent up to 30% of an organisation’s costs, it has become imperative to accurately reflect how those services are consumed by business units. Over 40% of respondents are using opportunity cost to support Shared Service costing, enabling them to understand who and what is driving consumption of their internal services, and thereby increasing the effectiveness of their focus an core business. These trends are repeated by those who do not yet use opportunity cost, but are planning to. They want to use opportunity cost to support Initiative |% of respondents planning to use OPPORTUNITY COST | |Product Costing |55 | |Planning & Budgeting |36 | |Customer costing |27 | |Process/Continuous Improve ment |27 | The most noticeable difference is that only 18% are planning to use the information to support Performance Measurement. This could well be because the ease of which opportunity cost lends itself to Performance Measurement is not evident until an opportunity cost is up and running.Alternatively, the respondents may be looking to introduce opportunity cost to solve a pressing business requirement, and the links between Opportunity Cost and performance metrics are not immediately apparent. Opportunity Cost for Planning The emphasis of Bankers has moved from historical costs to future costs. An enormous 94% of those questioned are now using opportunity cost, or plan to use, opportunity costs for developmental drives. Opportunity cost Planners are looking at all aspects of their organisations in order to identify improvement opportunities. Some 60% are looking to identify process improvements, with 55% looking at activity level improvements via resource planning, and 49% looki ng to affect strategy formulation. However, only 13% are questioning their organisation’s process design in a fundamental way.Consistent with historic uses of opportunity Cost planning data is being used to support a variety of initiatives, although there is a surprising focus on opportunity cost for goal setting. |Initiative |% of OPPORTUNITY COST Planners | |Shared Service Costing |51 | |Product Costing |49 | |Defining team/dept goals |27 | |Defining organisational goals |13 | Product/Service Costing and Customer ProfitabilityBy using cause and effect tracing rather than allocations, opportunity cost better reflects the value chain of how organisations consume costs and provides more accurate product, service and customer costings than achieved using traditional costing techniques. The difference in opportunity cost product costs to absorption or other allocation based costings can be dramatic. The survey shows that 87% of practitioners found that their product and service costs differed from traditional costings markedly. The majority had an average variation of between 5 and 10%, which can be dramatic at a gross or net margin level. However, a surprising number of respondents (11%) experienced variations of over 100%! |Average variation |% |Maximum variation % | |0 |13 |; 10% |25 | |1-5% |15 |10-25% |17 | |5-10% |26 |25-50% |25 | |10-15% |13 |50-75% |14 | |15-20% |10 |75-100% |8 | |; 20% |23 |; 100% |11 | Cost Reduction and Process ImprovementThat ABC can improve your bottom line is beyond doubt, with potential cost savings amounting to 25% of cost bases being identified. Some organisations are yet to find where they can reduce their costs, but it is worth noting that over 70% of those who have not identified cost savings have less than 100 activities in their model. Whilst it is important to prevent ABC models become too large and unmanageable (primarily because they can induce analysis paralysis), it is essential that a reasonable level of detail is available, so that there is sufficient information on which to make cost reducing or revenue enhancing decisions. After all, profit outcomes are the result of process design and activity workflow†¦ Maximum potential cost saving as a % of cost base |% | |0% |18 | |1-5% |21 | |5-10% |33 | |10-15% |8 | |15-20% |13 | |20-25% |2 | |;25% |5 | A variety of methods are being used to help organisations translate their ABC data into real cost reductions. Cost driver analysis is the most frequently used method for aiding cost reduction and/or process redesign, with 67% of organisations using this technique. Process mapping and benchmarking are also popular, as is repricing of products and/or services, and analysis of the value that an activity adds to an organisation. Top techniques used to aid cost reduction |% | |Cost driver analysis |67 | |Process mapping & redesign |52 | |Benchmarking |52 | |Repricing |50 | |Value adding analysis |42 | |Product rationalisation |38 | |Value chain an alysis |32 | Conclusions ABC can, and does, add value to organisations. 96% of respondents have found the experience to be beneficial to their organisations, and 98% are expecting their implementations to deliver even more positive returns on their investment in the future Level of benefit delivered by ABC |% achieved |% future | |Adverse impact |4 |2 | |Negligible benefit |22 |13 | |Moderate benefit |54 |60 | |Substantial benefit |20 |25 | Regardless of the benefit analysis above, respondents recommend the use of ABC unanimously! In particular, practitioners recommend using ABC for product costing and cost reduction, to derive the most benefits, although there is a general belief held by ABC practitioners that the methodology should be broadly used as shown below. ABC supporting |% of organisations | |Product/service costing & profitability |80 | |Cost reduction |65 | |Continuous Improvement Program |56 | |Business Process Re-engineering |55 | |Shared Services Costing |51 | |Custom er, channel or value chain analysis |44 | ABC is generating real benefits for all sorts of organisations across Australia. These benefits can only increase as more organisations are looking to start an ABC project for the first time, but the full potential of ABC will not be realised as so many existing ABC users are still not employing ABC to its full capabilities. It is important that experienced ABC companies capitalise on their implementations to achieve the maximum possible benefits.Increasing the scale of an ABC project need not be an expensive, time-consuming process. There are cost-effective solutions that combine ABC, Process Mapping and Balanced Scorecard, to produce automated, regular reports with a minimum of manual intervention. With organisation-wide implementations providing much greater cost savings, expanding your ABC project can only be advantageous to your organisation’s bottom line. CHAPTER 4 Analysis and interpretation The data collection method for this study is survey questionnaire conducted face-to-face with 51 randomly chosen Bankers from various commercial banks in Bahrain from various cities. The questionnaire includes multiple choice, open-ended, and Likert scale questions.Some questions of the survey were adopted form various previous studies (Brierly et al. , 2001; Van Triest and Elshahat, 2007; Wijewardena and Zoysa, 1999). The data collection period ranges from October 2012 to November 2012. (1) general information on the business organizations and respondents; and (2) cost and management accounting practices. Table 4. 1 Information gathered from the first part of the questionnaire. |Bank Classification |Percent | |Commercial Banks |  40 | |Islamic Banks |  10 | |Other Banks |  1 | |No. f Employees |Percent | |10 to 49 |   | |50 to 99 |  90% | |100 and more |  10% | |Age of the Banks |Percent | |10 years or less |  10% | |20 year or less |  80% | |20 years or more |  10% | In the Table 1, Bank classifica tion, position of respondent, number of employees, and age of Banks are presented. In Bank classification, the highest percentage belongs to commercial banks (5banks), and â€Å"others† includes Banks dealing particularly in investment (1 bank) 4. 1. Product costing methodsThe respondents were asked to specify the cost factors they implement in an investment project costing. According to the answers, the most widely used costing factor is Financing cost (31 respondent), followed by opportunity cost (11 respondent) and loan process cost (9 respondents). In Table 2, which shows the detailed answers to this question, the most significant points are the financing cost widely by lower managerial levels, and that of opportunity cost largely by top managerial level. Primary cause for the financing cost by banks is that they offer more of the saving accounts than fixed deposit accounts. Table 4. 2 Most important Cost elements in an Investment Project Bank Classification |Financial Co st |Loan Processing Cost |Opportunity Cost |Other | |Commercial Banks |  20 |  3 |  3 |  0 | |Islamic Banks |  6 |  3 |  5 |  0 | |Other Banks |  5 |  3 |  3 |  0 | |Total |31 |9 |11 |0 | 4. 2. Complications faced in product costing The respondents were also asked to point out the difficulties they encounter in Investment project costing. Out of 51 respondents, 22 see the limited Complexity in cost evaluation as top difficulty (43 percent), availability of alternative resources(33. 3 percent), followed by economic instability (24. 7 percent). 4. 3. Role of Opportunity Cost in Management Accounting PracticesIn another part of the survey, which was adopted from Van Triest and Elshahat (2007)’s study, respondents were asked to score the role of opportunity cost in various financial analysis on a Likert scale of 1 (no role) to 5 (major role). To evaluate the results, one sample t-test was conducted (Table 4). The results showed that pricing decisions are t he most important area where opportunity cost is deemed important at an average of 4. 16, followed by customer profitability and activity analysis at 4. 07. Performance measurement and make or buy decisions with an average of 4. 04 and 3. 96 respectively are also important areas where opportunity cost is used. However, opportunity cost is not seen important in product mix decisions, and adding or deleting products as much as other areas. Management Accounting Practicies |Mean |S. D |t-test | |Pricing decisions |  4. 15 |  1. 146 |4. 29 | |Customer profitability |  4. 08 |  1. 034 |  4. 01 | |Performance measurement |  4. 03 |  1. 071 |  3. 714 | |Activity analysis |  4. 08 |  1. 120 |  3. 793 | |Make or buy decisions |  3. 96 |  0. 62 |  3. 576 | |Product mix decisions |  3. 54 |  1. 168 |  0. 289 | |Adding or deleting products |  3. 47 |  1. 370 |  0. 199 | Table 4. Results of one sample t-test for use of Opportunity cost in management accoun ting practicies (Test value=3. 5) |Management Accounting Practicies |Mean |S. D |t-test | |Pricing decisions |  4. 15 |  1. 146 |4. 9 | |Customer profitability |  4. 08 |  1. 034 |  4. 01 | |Performance measurement |  4. 03 |  1. 071 |3. 714 | |Activity analysis |  4. 08 |  1. 120 |  3. 793 | |Make or buy decisions |  3. 96 |  0. 962 |  3. 576 | |Product mix decisions |  3. 54 |  1. 168 |  0. 289 | |Adding or deleting products |  3. 47 |  1. 370 |  0. 199 |Furthermore, the findings are compared with the results of Van Triest and Elshahat (2007). The comparison indicated that two studies yielded parallel results. As seen in Table 5, first three items with the highest mean are the same. In both countries, pricing decisions, customer profitability, and performance measurement are the most prominent areas in which costing information is applied. Among the remaining four application areas, the rank of activity analysis is different. In this study, ac tivity analysis is the fourth in ranking, but it is the last in ranking in Van Triest and Elshahat (2007)’s study. Table 5. Comparison of results with the results of Van Triest and Elshahat (2007) Management Accounting Practices |Mean |Rank |Mean* |Rank* | |Pricing decisions |  4. 15 |  1 |  4. 44 |  1 | |Customer profitability |  4. 06 |  2 |  4. 19 |  2 | |Performance measurement |  4. 06 |  3 |  4. 11 |  3 | |Activity analysis |4. 08 |  4 |  2. 33 |7 | |Make or buy decisions |3. 99 |  5 |  3. 5 |  4 | |Product mix decisions |  3. 54   |  6 |  3. 33 |  5 | |Adding or deleting products |  3. 50 |  7 |  2. 89 |  6 | * The results of Van Triest and Elshahat (2007) 4. 5. The ratio of opportunity cost to total cost In the questionnaire survey, the ratio of opportunity cost to total cost (O. C/T. C) was also questioned. Overall mean for all the banks is 34. 48 percent. (Table 6) was conducted to see the significant differences a mong banks. The results showed that there is a significant difference among industries (significant at 0. 10).Duncan test from Post Hoc tests showed that Commercial Banks has the highest OC/TC ratio and is significantly different than Islamic Banks and Investment Banks and miscellaneous Banks. Table 6. The ratio of opportunity cost to total cost (percent) 4. 6. The reasons for the increased interest in opportunity cost manifestation in banks dealing The respondents were asked to score the reasons for the increased manifestation of Opportunity cost in their daily dealing on a Likert scale of 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree). A list of reasons was provided for the respondents so that they evaluated each. The results of one-sample t-test in Table 7 showed that decreasing profitability (4. 9) is the primary reason which increases the importance of opportunity cost. Other reasons which increase the importance of opportunity cost are increasing costs (4. 57), increasing dom estic and global competition (4. 30), and economic crises (4. 23). Actually, means of four items above 4. 00 indicate that they are all factors considered important for the increased interest in opportunity cost . This means profitability of companies is decreasing, possibly due to increasing costs, and increasing domestic and global competition. Economic crises which hit companies from time to time are also important reason for the increased interest in opportunity cost identification and implication. Table 7.The reasons for the increased interest in opportunity cost Calculation (Testvalue=3. 5) |Mean |S. D |t-test | |Decreasing profitability |  0. 566 |14. 170   | |Increasing costs |  0. 666 |  11. 929 | |Increasing domestic and global competition |  0. 940 |  6. 450* | |Economic crises |  1. 020 |  5. 399* | Significant at 0. 001 level 4. 7. Perceived importance of opportunity cost in overall Banking Operation Lastly, the respondents were asked to evaluate the per ceived importance of Opportunity cost that are utilized in banking organizations on a Likert scale of 1 (unimportant) to 5 (very important). The results of one-sample ttest in Table 8 indicated that the most important management accounting practices in decreasing order are budgeting (4. 48), planning and control (4. 33), cost-volumeprofit analysis (4. 3), target costing (4. 16), quality cost reporting (4. 09), performance measurement and evaluation (4. 02), responsibility accounting (4. 0), standard costing and variance analysis (3. 89), and strategic planning (3. 78). Transfer pricing (3. 65) is unique practice that is significantly not important based on test value of 3. 5. These findings indicate that companies perceive traditional management accounting tools still important. For example, budgeting, planning and control, and cost-volume-profit analysis are perceived the most important of all management accounting practices. Quality costing and target costing as new management acc ounting practices are utilized by the companies. However, strategic planning, and transfer pricing are perceived the least important ones. This may be due to size of the sample firms.Since the sample consists mostly of small and medium-sized enterprises (according to number of employees), some tools may be too sophisticated to be utilized. Szendi and Shum (1999) states that the larger the firm the more sophisticated the management accounting system and the more likely isthe firm to utilize sophisticated management accounting techniques and practices. Abdel-Kader and Luther (2008) also proved that large firms adopt more sophisticated management accounting techniques and practices than small firms. Table 8. Perceived importance of Opportunity Cost in routine banking operations (Test value=3. 5) |Mean |S.D |t-test | |Budgeting |0. 754 |  9. 911** | |Planning and control |0. 819 |  7. 500** | |Cost-volume-profit analysis |  0. 871 |  6. 900** | |Target Costing |  0. 849 |  5 . 820** | |Total Quality Management |  1. 115 |  3. 890** | |Performance measurement and evaluation |  1. 027 |  3. 39** | |Responsibility accounting |  1. 056 |  3. 450** | |Standard costing and variance analysis |  1. 140 |  2. 480* | |Strategic planning |  1. 011 |  2. 050* | |Transfer pricing |  1. 300 |  0. 860 | ** Significant at 0. 001 level * Significant at 0. 05 level CHAPTER 5 Summary and Conclusion The survey revealed the perceived importance of Opportunity Cost at selected commercial banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain.The findings are expected to contribute to the existing literature about the subject, especially in developing markets. The major findings of the study are as follows: The most vital cost element for Commercial Banks is financial cost The complexity in loan costing poses as the highest ranking difficulty due to the availability of alternative projects, Customer Activity Analysis and pricing decisions are the most important area where op portunity cost is calculated (parallel to the finding of Van Triest and Elshahat, 2007), Overall mean of the ratio of overhead to total cost is 34. 48 percent for all Commercial Banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain,The highest opportunity cost/total cost ratio belongs to non-islamic Commercial Banks, Decreasing profitability, increasing costs and competition, and economic crises are reasons which increase the importance of opportunity cost The most important use of Opportunity Cost is in Budgeting out of all routine functioning of Commercial Banks (parallel to the finding of Chenhall and Langfield-Smith, 1998) The findings indicate that Banks perceive traditional management accounting tools less important. The new management accounting practices such as strategic planning, and transfer pricing are perceived more important than traditional ones. Therefore, the banks have been calculating the Opportunity Costs for these management accounting tools. Scope for further researchSince the sampl e consists mostly of medium sized local branches of International banks , they may not reflect the applications of large scale banking corps. Secondly, the results are confined to the Commercial Banks and should not be generalized to the other sectors. Thirdly, since the survey conducted on companies operating in Bahrain , the findings may not be generalized for the worldwide policies of the Banks. For future research, whole region wide and more comprehensive survey could be conducted with the participation of more banking companies from different countries. Moreover, case studies can be conducted to make more in-depth analysis about cost and management accounting practices.

The Problem Of Computer Security - 1167 Words

Computer security has been creating issues in the news lately. Almost every week, corrupt forces try to take down high-profile websites. Companies lose millions of dollars and suffer damage to computer systems. As a result, large companies spend thousands of dollars on security systems and products to protect the doors to their corporate networks. It s hard to set a barrier for the intruders. Most systems administrators and users have built up a tolerance to attempted hacking. They have accepted intruders as the norm. An intruder attack is only one side of security .Viruses are another big security threat; the fact that they spread easily only increases their infestations. For example, worm viruses spread when users open email attachments, which cause the virus to email itself to the user s entire contact list. Other Trojan horse viruses can come into your system and leave a back door for intruders who will use your computer as a Threat Machine to spread or to make countless attacks on other users machines. Because the operating system plays an important role in a computer s functioning, and because it s the only layer between the machine s available resources and its users, it s critical that the OS resists compromise. Hardening is this process of establishing a strong security wall against unknown threats. System administrators harden against whatever they think could be a threat. This guide is designed to provide a reference for system administrators who need toShow MoreRelatedThe Problem Of Computer Security1031 Words   |  5 Pages the computers sold worldwide are represented by portable computers nowadays. An old cliche of computer security is that if an attacker has access to a computer, that attacker has access to the data of that computer. 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Some user’s have acquired the authority to load there own software on their system, this has attributed to some user’s purchasing or borrowing software from unimprovedRead MoreCybercrime And Internet Hacking And Its Effect On The Security Of The Internet1386 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Internet hacking is the practice of modifying or altering computer software and hardware to accomplish a goal considered to be outside of the creator’s original objective.† (Merriam-Webster). Any individual, business, or even government with a computer is not safe from these computer criminals. So, the main question is: How do we fix this cybercrime that does millions of dollars in damage, and should we implement â€Å"ethical hacking† to improve the security of the internet? It is obvious that hacking is one

Johannes Gutenberg, Inventor of the Printing Press

Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1398–February 3, 1468) was the inventor of a movable-type printing press, based on a Rhenish wine press and using ink that clung to the metal type and produced color fonts. His technological innovations, which included punch-cutting, matrix-fitting, type-casting, composing, and printing, was used nearly unchanged for three centuries after his death.   Fast Facts: Johannes Gutenberg Known For: Invention of several technologies surrounding the printing pressBorn: c. 1394–1404 in Mainz, GermanyParents: Friele Gensfleisch and Else WirichDied: February 3, 1468 in Mainz, GermanyEducation: Apprentice to a goldsmith, possibly enrolled at the University of ErfurtPublished Works: 42-Line Bible (The Gutenberg Bible), a Book of Psalter, and the  Sibyls ProphecySpouse(s): None knownChildren: None known Early Life Johannes Gensfleisch zum Gutenberg was born between 1394 and 1404 in Mainz, in what is today Germany. An official birthday of June 24, 1400, was chosen at the time of a 500th Anniversary Festival held in Mainz in 1900, but that is symbolic. What information about his early life is limited to court documents—and sources are limited in usefulness because his surname, like many people of the time, was a reference to the building or property he lived in, and so changed according to his residence.  As a young child and adult, he lived in the Gutenberg house in Mainz. Johannes was the second of three children of Friele Gensfleisch and Else Wirich. Else Wirich was the daughter of a shopkeeper, whose family had once been of the noble classes. Friele Gensfleisch was a member of the aristocracy and worked in the ecclesiastical mint, the place that supplied gold and other metals for coins, minted the coins, changed the species of coins when needed, and testified in forgery cases. Education Johannes worked with his father in the mint, which is where he learned and may have been a goldsmiths apprentice. As a young man, he may have also worked in the clothing trade in Mainz until 1411, when a craftsmans revolt against the noble classes occurred, and Johann and his family were forced to flee Mainz. They may have gone to Eltville am Rhein, where his mother had an inherited estate. In 1418, a student named Johannes de Altavilla enrolled at the University of Erfurt—Altavilla is the Latin form of Eltville am Rhein.  By 1434, they were in Strasbourg. Wherever he was educated, Johannes learned reading and writing in German and Latin, the language of scholars and churchmen. Books have been around for nearly 3,000 years, but until Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the mid-1400s they were rare and hard to produce. Text and illustrations were done by hand, a very time-consuming process, and only the wealthy and educated could afford them. But within a few decades of Gutenbergs innovation, printing presses were operating in England, France, Germany, Holland, Spain, and elsewhere. More presses meant more (and cheaper) books, allowing literacy to flourish across Europe.   Books Before Gutenberg British Library / Wikimedia Commons / CC0 Although historians cant pinpoint when the first book was created, the oldest known book in existence was printed in China in 868 CE. Called The Diamond Sutra, it was a copy of a sacred Buddhist text, in a 17-foot-long scroll printed with wooden blocks. It was commissioned by a man named  Wang Jie to honor his parents, according to an inscription on the scroll, though little else is known about who Wang was or who created the scroll. Today, it is in the collection of the British Museum in London. By 932 CE, Chinese printers regularly were using carved wooden blocks to print scrolls. But these wooden blocks wore out quickly, and a new block had to be carved for each character, word, or image that was used. The next revolution in printing occurred in 1041 when Chinese printers began using movable type, individual characters made of clay that could be chained together to form words and sentences. Printing Comes to Europe By the early 1400s, European metalsmiths also had adopted wood-block printing and engraving. One of those metalsmiths was Johannes Gutenberg, who began experimenting with printing work during his exile in Strasbourg—at the time, there were metalsmiths in Avignon, Bruges, and Bologna who were also experimenting with presses. By 1438, Gutenberg had begun experimenting with printing techniques using metal movable type and had secured funding from a wealthy businessman named  Andreas Dritzehn; between 1444 and 1448 he returned to Mainz. An illustration of Gutenbergs printing press. ilbusca / Getty Images It is unclear when Gutenberg began publishing with his metal type, but by 1450 he had made sufficient progress to seek additional funds from another investor,  Johannes Fust. Using a modified wine press, Gutenberg  created his printing press. The ink was rolled over the raised surfaces of movable handset block letters held within a wooden form, and the form was then pressed against a sheet of paper. Gutenbergs Bible A copy of Gutenbergs Bible. NYC Wanderer / Kevin Eng / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 By 1452, Gutenberg entered into a business partnership with Fust in order to continue funding his printing experiments. Gutenberg continued to refine his printing process and by 1455 had printed several copies of the Bible. Consisting of three volumes of text in Latin, Gutenbergs Bibles had 42 lines of type per page with color illustrations. But Gutenberg didnt enjoy his innovation for long. Fust sued him for repayment, something Gutenberg was unable to do, and Fust seized the press as collateral. The bulk of Gutenbergs presses and types went to Peter Schà ¶ffer of Gernsheim, an employee and later son-in-law of Fust.  Fust continued printing the Bibles, eventually publishing about 200 copies, of which only 22 exist today. In addition to the 42-Line Bible, Gutenberg is credited by some historians with a Book of Psalter, published by Fust and Schà ¶ffer but using fonts and innovative techniques generally attributed to Gutenberg. The oldest surviving manuscript from the early Gutenburg press is that of a fragment of the poem The Sibyls Prophecy, the German text of which was made using Gutenbergs earliest typeface between 1452–1453. The page, which includes a planetary table for astrologers, was found in the late 19th century and donated to the Gutenberg museum in 1903. Legacy and Death Few details are known about Gutenbergs life after the lawsuit. According to some historians, Gutenberg continued to work with Fust, while other scholars say Fust drove Gutenberg out of business. After 1460, he seems to have abandoned printing entirely, perhaps as a result of blindness. He survived on a pension from the archbishop of Mainz known as a Hoffman, a gentleman of the court. Gutenberg died on February 3, 1468, and was buried in a Franciscan church in Eltville, Germany that was torn down in 1742. Sources Daley, Jason. Five Things to Know About the Diamond Sutra, the World’s Oldest Dated Printed Book. Smithsonian Magazine. 11 May 2016.Garner, April, project coordinator.  Teaching Gutenberg. Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin. Accessed 6 March 2018.Green, Jonathan. Printing and Prophecy: Prognostication and Media Change 1450–1550. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2012.Kapr, Albert. Johann Gutenberg: The Man and his Invention. Trans. Martin, Douglas. Scolar Press, 1996.Man, John. The Gutenberg Revolution: How Printing Changed the Course of History. London: Bantam Books, 2009.  Steinberg, S. H. Five Hundred Years of Printing. New York: Dover Publications, 2017.

Code Of Ethics For Nurses With Interpretive Statements

There is no doubt about the importance of ethics in our life as well as in our clinical area as nurses to protect ourselves, our patients, and their families. There are nine provisions in code of ethics. What I am interested to examine is provision number 3† the nurse promotes, advocates for, and protects the rights, health, and safety of the patient†. This provision consists of 6 statements, which are protection of â€Å"the rights of privacy and confidentiality, protection of human participants in research, performance standards and review mechanisms, professional responsibility in promoting a culture of safety, protection of patient’s health and safety by acting on questionable practice, and patient protection and impaired practice†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦Another case that was happened also in one of our hospital in Saudi Arabia about the importance of secure electronic communication. We do have a kind of electronic system called â€Å"Quadra metà ¢â‚¬  pretty similar to patients’ file with all information about patients. This system access doesn’t offer for students, its only for staff nurses; however, student nurse ask one of her friend who was a RN to use Rn’s access to the Quadra met system. The student accidently checked the name of one of her family member who has AIDS. This act from Rn leaded to many bad outcomes in the student’s future in nursing school and with her family relationship. It is important to increase the awareness about this ethics code to protect nurses from any inappropriate action could be done later on. My job as an advanced nurse is to apply code of ethics by recommend health institutions to enforce all nurses and nursing students in attending code of ethics courses and workshop to enhance their knowledge in ethics. In addition, Participants in research have the right for protecting them from any violates by researchers. Some governmental hospitals in Saudi Arabia may en force their patients to sign for their paperwork to be part from clinical research. Although some patients don’t want to participate in the clinical research, they still need to sign on that form to receive the care from the hospital. Personally, I think this kinds of hospital do not respect patient’s autonomy even if they signShow MoreRelatedNursing Code of Ethics Essay1052 Words   |  5 PagesNursing Code of Ethics Introduction Butts and Rich (1-26) point out that effective nursing requires both broad knowledge and a set of well developed abilities and skills. The required tasks, are many and varied and in order to do them properly, care must be taken to respect each patients rights and sensitivities. This is why, according to the authors, nursing care must be guided by a code of ethics. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview and discussion of the Code of Ethics forRead MoreHow the Core of Nursing Helps to Prevent Abuse in Age Care637 Words   |  3 PagesHow the Core of Nursing Helps to Prevent Abuse in Age Care There have many numerous abuses by physicians and nurses alike. Is it right? Is it justifiable? Of course, the answer is no. The nursing profession has a code of ethics, just like other professions that spell out what professional behavior is acceptable in the profession. The code of ethics puts accountability on nurses to show compassion, dignity, and respect to patients and others alike. As patients go through the aging process, theyRead MoreHow Ana Codes Of Ethics Affect Nursing Practice1084 Words   |  5 PagesCode of Ethics According to the American Nursing Association, â€Å" Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations† (Association, Scope and Standards of Practice, 2010). In the case scenario, a middle aged man is admitted to the hospital because of his bleeding ulcer. 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Purchasing Management for Coca Cola Company †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Purchasing Management for Coca Cola Company. Answer: Introduction The successful operations of most organizations bot private, public, or military rely on their abilities to manage their purchasing power in the marketplace. This paper focuses on the purchasing management strategy in particular consideration of company of Coca-Cola that continues as the chief marketer of soft drinks in the universe. Besides, the paper provides the critique to purchasing management practices adopted by the company as well as some of the recommendations that can aid in improving such management practices. This article presents the detailed analysis and recommendations for purchasing management for Coca-Cola Company as one of the key aspects of its performance. According to Gupta (2011), Coca-Cola Company deals with non-alcoholic beverages. The supply strategy of the company comprises of the well-organized approach to distribution from the year 1890 where the company focused on manufacturing of concentrates of syrup before supplying to some bottlers all over the global society. The strategies of management of the company focus in moving in the right direction by capturing advance opportunities that need its mission together with purpose executed across its operations by recommending best structure of partners with non-alcoholic soft drinks. The major competitor of the company comprises of Pepsi Company, Snapple industry, Dr. Pper, along with Monster Beverage Corporation among other businesses that deal with soft beverages. The organizational goals of Coca-Cola Company aim at refreshing the global body, mind, as well as spirit (Gertner et al., 2015). Therefore, the company has its targets set to provide inspiring moments of optimism and happiness through the provision of quality brands and actions in the marketplace. Besides, the company operates its purchasing management operations on the vision that focus to attaining its underlined strategic goals and mission. Therefore, this primary objective of this paper is to analyze phases of management of purchasing of Cola-Cola Company such as supplier asortement criteria along with issue, Information Communication technology for acquiring competitors, plus buying cost examination while recommending appropriate techniques of improving these aspects. Supplier production standards and issues The company focuses on the process that is tangible as well as intangible materials flow in its operations. Besides, Coca-Cola Company involves the institutions that engage in its activities for the delivery of these essential for its operations. In the shared scenario, other organizations that the company collaborates with to ensure that they become competitive in the market include the raw material suppliers along with its loyal customers (Foster, 2014). Therefore, the phases of supply production of the company revolve from the acquisition of raw materials from its suppliers, processing within the corporation and finally the supply to its domestic and international customers. As reported by Hartogh (2013), supplier production criteria along with issues of the Coca-Cola Company consist of the network of other organizations that are having linkage in both downstream as well as upstream in various activities and processes of production. Therefore, supply production for the Coca-Cola C ompany comprises of customers, distributors, retailers, suppliers, and manufacturers. There is a need for the Coca-Cola Company to have highest standards along with processes because of the nature of the business involving non-alcoholic drinks. The highest standards and processes for supplier production criteria and issues within the company will ensure that the corporation to have reliable excellence across itscomplete value chain from its focus creation to its bottling together with release of its products (Akomea, 2016). Coke company must ensure that all of its suppliers and other employees to comply with the law and act ethically in all matters to increase the supply of quality products and services. Suppliers of the company are expectable to operate in the greatest interest of the organization. The dealers should have no rapport, monetary, or else, with the employees of the company that might conflict or appears to conflict with the obligations of the workers to take action in the top attention of Coke Company. The appropriate criteria when selecting suppliers sh ould follow the supplier guiding principles of the company by its communicating the values and expectations.the decisions needed for issues that relate to supplier selection include the proper focus on the requirements for all suppliers (Vrontis Lains, 2013). All the stakeholders involved in the selection of suppliers must prohibit themselves from cartel activity, refraining from bribery activities, follow the supplier of business behavior, supplier-guiding values, and policy of trade permits. Coke Company can adopt various practices in the criteria of supplier production to solve issues such as bribery and breaching of the contract during supplier production. The company can set an anti-bribery policy that it expects its suppliers to respect and abide with during their operations (Mubayi, 2012). Therefore, such systems allow the suppliers to focus on achieving sustainable working conditions by adhering to the set policies when interacting with officials of several authorities globally on behalf of Coca-Cola Company along with its subsidiaries. The company needs to prohibit activities of cartel during activities of suppliers production. Therefore, Coca-Cola Company can expect all of its suppliers to comply with every applicable antitrust or competitive business laws in every jurisdiction where it conducts its operations. ICT for purchasing operations The goals of ICT in Coca-Cola Company in the acquisition are to communicate both internal and external operations of the company. During purchasing operations, Coca-Cola Companys goal of the usage of Information and communication technologies (ICT) aims at addressing the actual outcomes in its operations in various ways (Wang, 2015). The use of ICT leads to variations of different technical factors during supplier management. Some of the of the goals of the ICT comprises of designing for packaging of the companys products, the growth of innovative equipment for productions, advertisements, and development of programs that aid in the promotion of the companys products. Additionally, ICT for purchasing operations in the Coca-Cola Company is essential in maintaining several types of the code of conduct of every supplier and customers. The ICT has then resulted to a significant breakthrough in the manner of communicating throughout us of the internet to achieve an efficient environment f or purchase. In the previous years, the company used to consist of a centralized approach of ICT in purchasing operations, and after some years, the company has discovered that meeting the demands of ICT for purchase is necessary. Therefore, adoption of the best ICT decentralization has become the requirement for purchase (Robert, 2013). The ICT departments in the operations o the Coca-Cola Company has helped the management in making the right decisions that are essential in the administration of every operational sector of the company in a more efficient manner. ICT has helped the company in focusing at the on the best ideas on how to increase their market advantage among the businesses that produce non-alcoholic beverages. The company can invest in the supply chain infographics to help in solving transportation issues. The use of technological infographics by the company forms the snapshot as to what exactly the logistics that it focuses on daily without fail in production, distribution, marketing, and supply. Improving the ICT of the company with the current advancements in the market will help the organization in purchasing its products. Besides, improved technologies during the acquisition will allow the company to evaluate the trends of its sales. The evaluation can be reachable through call completion, development of business marketplaces, together with the active call of productions by the use of advanced ICT (Saltelli et al., 2013). The company can embrace the need for training its stakeholders to understand how to evaluate their production and performance during purchase. The company can adopt the use of cloud computing to improve its operations in selecting quality products and services from t he suppliers. The idea can help the company in purchasing only raw materials that are of the highest quality from suppliers to be applicable in the production of COKE products. The use of advanced technologies can aid the company to check on the quality of the goods before their supply to marketers, distributors, and loyal customers (Yu, 2015). The production of such quality products using advanced technologies will allow the company to attain huge income in every financial year. Even though the company has the bigger following on the platforms of social media, the company lacks the engagement in the development of loyalty with its esteemed and targeted customer. Therefore, the company can focus to be innovative in its strategies of marketing by using advance development of ICT in accessing social media to engage with the clients. Purchasing cost analysis Just like every organization in the business environment, the goals of purchase of Coca-Cola Company is to create a climate that allows it to become the biggest company that deals with non-alcoholic beverages in the world. Its goals are to ensure that every customer around the global society stays refreshed. Therefore, purchasing costs of the company in the operation of global business places it to have tremendous demands on the supply chain (Halation, 2011). These requirements make it possible for everyone to find the best person answering the calls everywhere where they perform their businesses. The company focuses on reducing its purchasing costs by ensuring that every link in the supply chain stretches from bottler to consumer collaborate in working as a team. The company needs improving its purchasing costs by the creation of some of the best-selling beverage products in the world (Sundar, 2012). The company achieves the production of such products by incorporating the best tech nology around and employing some of the best employees to perform its business operations. The development of effective marketing plan is essential in controlling the needs of purchase in the company and its costs. The program of activities can include the detailed along with the complete document that aid in covering all the purchasing activities that the company needs to follow. The use of purchasing plan is essential as it can support the company to focus only on the planned purchasing activities without incurring extra costs (Collier, 2014). The management of the company can do marketing research to understand the cost of purchasing various products without necessarily relying on a single supplier that might increase its purchasing costs because of monopoly. Besides, market research can also help the company to know exactly the test and preferences of its consumers and this will be essential that they produce only the products loved by many clients. Such production of quality products will enable it to reduce the production costs of products that will not add more valu es to its loyal and target consumers (Yuvaraju et al., 2014). Conducting of research will allow the company to understand its competitors and focus on how to invest on modes of improving purchasing costs among its goods. Understanding purchasing costs involved in operations allows the company to achieve consistent, quality and safety products. The company will also be able to develop strong governance practices in the working environment (Sundar, 2012). Besides, every employee will work diligently in ensuring that they comply with applicable business regulations and standards.all these recommendations will help the company to continue with modern policy marketing trends and situations, together with companys best practices(The real thing: truth and power at the Coca-Cola Company, 2014). Through engagement of standard setting as well as the organization of operations, the company can reduce its purchasing costs, and this will boost the revenue of the company. Ideal purchasing costs will ensure that the company link in the chain stretched from bottler to consumer to work together. Furthermore, the need to stay current with new operational regulation is essential in purchasing costs of the Coca-Cola Com pany (Wang, 2015). Establishment of best governance process in every sector within the company aid in the implementation, documentation of activities, and maintaining the safety and quality system about the international marketing standards that aims at regulating purchasing costs. Conclusion After reviewing the stand of the Coca-Cola Company in the global marketplace as well as determining the activities for its purchase management, the company needs to perform various reforms to achieve greater sustainability. The discussed recommendations in sectors of Supplier production principles and concerns, technology for operations of purchasing, as well as cost analysis of purchase are vital for the future growth of the business of the company. An essential part of the purchasing management of the Coca-Cola Company is the formation of efficient criteria of supplier production and resolving any issues that might arise during the operations. It is essential for this company to have differentiated connections of its supply production chains. A differentiated supplier production criteria and issue will allow every supplier that gets into the operations of the company to receive appropriate treatment with different entities from the transactions that involve the sale of products to the targeted consumers. Therefore, the effective purchase management practices will define the success of the business of theCoca-Cola Company. If the organization can implement the ideal practices characterized by current technology, there is a high likelihood that it will be successful in its operations. Practical approaches to purchase management allow the company to achieve sustainable business working environment to its clients thereby aiding in winning their trust. References Akomea Bonsu, C. (2016). 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