Logistics and E-Commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Logistics and E-Commerce - Essay Example Products and services ordered over internet require more delivery trucks on the road to homes and businesses. This is where Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) relevance to E-commerce is to be construed. Intelligent Transport System is defined as the application of information technology to the surface transport system. ITS covers all modes air, sea, road and rail and components of each mode – vehicles, fixed, infrastructure and control and operational systems. ITS seeks to improve the existing transport system rather than adding vehicles physically resulting in congestion. ITS stresses on reducing traffic congestion, thus reducing travel time, reducing sound and air pollution and also avoiding delays in delivery consequently keeping in time with production schedules (Jerzy Kisielnicki, 2002 ). â€Å"It often seems that net is changing every aspect of our lives, yet in other ways, it has had little effect. There are two opposing ideas of what effect of the net will have on supply chains and logistics. One view suggests that increased efficiency will pay rewards for all parties in a supply chain. The other view is that the net will overwhelm the supply chains, spot markets will make it impossible to plan and instability will dominate. But we have seen stability even during recessions in most of the economy. Important point to note is that web enabled supply chain may be the future but a manufacturer survives on the quality of the goods and relationship with customers and suppliers.

Personal Leadership Assessment and Philosophy Project Essay

Personal Leadership Assessment and Philosophy Project - Essay Example The importance that has been given to this area of research is the importance of leadership on employees, performance and overall success of the organizations. There have been a lot of facts and myths associated with the concept of leadership. In the past, leadership was linked by people with the superhuman characteristics bestowed by God to various leaders. This idea was further developed by Weber and named as Charisma by him. The leadership charisma involved the qualities and special characteristics that leaders posses. The leaders having leadership charisma are Charismatics. The concept of Charisma actually directs towards the special power and influence of Charismatics over the followers (Rickards & Clark, p79). In addition to the concept of charisma in leadership, it has been a point of debate if leadership skills are inborn or they can be taught. Researchers have been struggling to find an appropriate answer to this. However, it is not unjust to say that the answer to this ques tion contains an equal portion of both statements. The answer to this question has been given attention for the reason that it may help organizations have effective leaders. Brainpower is the only thing that requires being in a person naturally. Knowledge can be gained, skills can be learnt but intelligence cannot be generated. A person needs to be intelligent and sharp in order to gain knowledge and utilize it. Leadership requires certain traits in a person. These traits include strength of mind, interest to resolve issues, ready to face challenges, power to proceed with plans, will to succeed, determination and passion (Levicki, 2008). Personal Values of my Leadership Leadership qualities, theories and concepts are valuable and useful when it comes to practical life. The leadership skills are not limited to benefit in businesses but are useful in leading all teams including the political, social, cultural and virtual ones. The leadership techniques, qualities and skills are of par amount importance in successfully handling the followers. Religious and political leaders may be taken as a helpful example of how influential leaders are. My personal experiences helped a lot in learning the concept of leadership in a better way. The theory and practice of leadership differ in some ways. However, the theory and literature on leadership helps in understanding and building a better and more influential personality to handle and motivate the followers. To make my opinion more clear and effective I would describe Managerial work and leadership. Since my personal life involves being a financial manager who directly reports to the president of the company I know quite about the concepts of leadership. The step by step development of my career and promotions helped me in understanding which traits are valued and which ones are not. Managerial work is closely linked to leadership. A leader is a person who carry out plans and knows what to do, whereas, a manager is a person who knows how to do things and how would they actually complete a particular task. For instance, a student who is making a plan to carry out a stage performance on some occasion and take the responsibility to select

The Rise Of The Feminist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Rise Of The Feminist - Essay Example Feminism is a general term used to describe a very broad and complex ideology. There are lots of different feminist theories and approaches, as well as several different types of feminists. The most straightforward meaning however describes it as ‘a movement advocating the rights of women and of their social, political and economic equality with men’ (Roger Scruton). Feminism views the personal experiences of women and men through gender – gender identity (how people think of themselves), gender roles (how people act), and gender stratification (each sex’s social standing) are all rooted in the operation of society. Although feminists are united by their common desire for sexual justice and their concern for women’s welfare, there is a wide spectrum of ‘feminisms’ (Ann Oakley). These can be divided into four broad groups, liberal, radical, Marxist/socialist and Black. This essay will only however look at the former two in more detail. Those who consider themselves to be feminists disagree about many things (this mainly depends on which of variants they fall into); most feminists usually support some general principles however: ‘All the varieties of feminism contain at their heart a paradox – requiring gender consciousness for their basis, their political rallying cry is the elimination of gender roles.’ The importance of change is obviously paramount in feminist thinking as feminism is definitely political since it links ideas to action. Feminism is critical of status quo, and promotes social equality for women and men.

Personal Leadership Assessment and Philosophy Project Essay

Personal Leadership Assessment and Philosophy Project - Essay Example The importance that has been given to this area of research is the importance of leadership on employees, performance and overall success of the organizations. There have been a lot of facts and myths associated with the concept of leadership. In the past, leadership was linked by people with the superhuman characteristics bestowed by God to various leaders. This idea was further developed by Weber and named as Charisma by him. The leadership charisma involved the qualities and special characteristics that leaders posses. The leaders having leadership charisma are Charismatics. The concept of Charisma actually directs towards the special power and influence of Charismatics over the followers (Rickards & Clark, p79). In addition to the concept of charisma in leadership, it has been a point of debate if leadership skills are inborn or they can be taught. Researchers have been struggling to find an appropriate answer to this. However, it is not unjust to say that the answer to this ques tion contains an equal portion of both statements. The answer to this question has been given attention for the reason that it may help organizations have effective leaders. Brainpower is the only thing that requires being in a person naturally. Knowledge can be gained, skills can be learnt but intelligence cannot be generated. A person needs to be intelligent and sharp in order to gain knowledge and utilize it. Leadership requires certain traits in a person. These traits include strength of mind, interest to resolve issues, ready to face challenges, power to proceed with plans, will to succeed, determination and passion (Levicki, 2008). Personal Values of my Leadership Leadership qualities, theories and concepts are valuable and useful when it comes to practical life. The leadership skills are not limited to benefit in businesses but are useful in leading all teams including the political, social, cultural and virtual ones. The leadership techniques, qualities and skills are of par amount importance in successfully handling the followers. Religious and political leaders may be taken as a helpful example of how influential leaders are. My personal experiences helped a lot in learning the concept of leadership in a better way. The theory and practice of leadership differ in some ways. However, the theory and literature on leadership helps in understanding and building a better and more influential personality to handle and motivate the followers. To make my opinion more clear and effective I would describe Managerial work and leadership. Since my personal life involves being a financial manager who directly reports to the president of the company I know quite about the concepts of leadership. The step by step development of my career and promotions helped me in understanding which traits are valued and which ones are not. Managerial work is closely linked to leadership. A leader is a person who carry out plans and knows what to do, whereas, a manager is a person who knows how to do things and how would they actually complete a particular task. For instance, a student who is making a plan to carry out a stage performance on some occasion and take the responsibility to select

Current Environmental Issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Current Environmental Issue - Essay Example This implies that this is anthropogenic climate, and the noteworthy upsurges in the air of these powerful greenhouse gases are as a result of human practices. The most forces of the conservatory gases are carbon dioxide, methane as well as nitrous oxide. These gases accumulate in the atmosphere, resulting into concentrations to escalation with time. Significant increases in all these gases have happened in the industrialized period. Accordingly, all these increases are attributed to human practices. For instance, carbon dioxide has amplified from fossil fuel usage in transport, construction heating and cooling, as well as the production of cement and other products. Deforestation discharges carbon dioxide and lessens its uptake by vegetation. On the other hand, methane has amplified because of human practices associated with agriculture, natural gas circulation and landfills. It is discharged from natural processes that take place in swamplands. Nitrous oxide is also produced by huma n practices including the use of manures and the fossil fuels burning. Natural processes in soils and the oceans also discharge nitrous oxide into the atmosphere thus interfering with the climate change, which leads to global warming and its consequences. ... They comprise of both natural influence and human influences. For instance, burning of biomass and use of fossil fuels involving sulphur compounds as well as black carbon among others are all human activities that lead to aerosol formation. Furthermore, human practices such as mining and industrial activities have increased dust in the atmosphere. Therefore, anthropogenic climate change is greatly because of human events on earth. According to studies, the universe has a natural greenhouse effect where particular gases referred to as greenhouse gases in the troposphere permit the sunshine to enter but absorb the heat radioactivity. Because these gases absorb the heat, they maintain the average surface temperature on the universe. Therefore, without the ordinary greenhouse effect, the universe`s average surface temperature would be negative nineteen degrees Celsius. Human practices have augmented the amount if greenhouse gases on earth since the commencement of the industrial uprising . The increased amount of gases that take in heat has directly caused more heat being reserved in the atmosphere and thus intensification in universal average surface temperatures. This transformation in temperature is referred to as global warming. The increase in temperature is also resulting into other impacts on the climate system. Therefore, all these affects linked together are referred to as anthropogenic meaning human cause climate change. Climate change fits within the definition of the concept of anthropogenic change because the effects that are encountered from climate change are because of human caused activities. For instance, the increase in human population led to the

Results negatively Essay Example for Free

Results negatively Essay According to this result then, we must accept the null hypothesis that there is no significant association between the age of the children and the ability to conserve number. Discussion Having analysed the results, with the df of 5, the critical value for an alpha value of 0. 05 is 11. 07 and because our figure was smaller than this, the result becomes non-significant. Consequently, there was no significant relationship between the age of children and their ability to conserve number. Hence the experimental hypothesis was rejected and the null hypothesis accepted. Compared to the 3 year old children, the 5 year olds conserved slightly better. Only 4 of the 3-year-olds got the right answer whereas 5 of the 5-year-olds answered correctly. Having said this, 3 year old tended to get more wrong answers. 8 of the 3-year-olds got the wrong answer, compared to only 5 wrong answers from the five-year-olds. This shows that there may be a slight difference between 3 and 5 year olds in conserving number, as 5-year-olds seemed to conserve better. Also during the experiment it was observed that, in the 3-year-old condition, 2 out of 7 children actually counted the blocks before answering. In contrast 5 out of 7 children counted before answering in the 5-year-old condition. The fact that those who did not count still got the right answer could be put down to the child simply guessing. As the outcomes of psychological experiments are often subject to uncertainty, interpretation is required in order to find out whether or not there is an association between the independent variable and the dependant variable. Similarly, there could be many different reasons as to why these differences occurred. Although this study did not portray any significant gender differences, variances in gender must be taken into account. The environment a child grew up in could effect their ability to conserve. Factors such as the childs parents financial position and educational status could effect the intelligence of a child. Due to lack of learning resources, the childs education could suffer because they are not able to achieve their full potential. In addition, biological and innate elements could account for the differences between the ability for the child to be able to conserve. Some children may be predisposed with such genes, which may hinder their progress. The results of this study agreed with Piagets views and conclusions. According to Piaget, the child did not posses the concept of the conservation of number. Similar to Piagets experiments and results, this study also found that there was no significant association between the childs age and the ability to conserve. Conversely, this study refutes Light et als conclusion that maybe Piaget underestimated the childs ability and stated that children can in fact conserve number. In a psychological experiment there are many components which could have effected the results. Similarly, the sample size of this experiment could have led the results to be non-generalisable. The sample size was extremely small this could have effected the results negatively. Firstly it lacks validity and reliability because the results could not be generalised. Secondly, if more children were used there was more chance of the results being reliable. In addition, there were many methodological problems, which could have biased the results especially due to the fact that the participants were children. During the course of the experiment, it was noticed that the children tended to give the experimenters opinion rather than their own by imitating the experimenters words. For instance, when the child was asked if the cubes were the same, less or more, then they tended to answer more. Conversely, when these same three words were said in a different order, the child still tended to repeat the experimenters last word. A way of eliminating this problem could be by asking the child to write their response down. Alternatively, a computer could be used to lessen the interaction between the experimenter and child, in order to use these two methods. However, further investigation maybe required, as some children may not be able to read or write. Another, vital observation was made, some children, especially the three year olds tended to treat the experiment as a game. After one answer, they wanted to start playing with the cubes. This problem could be overcome by making the whole process a bit more interesting for the child. Other factors, which were not directly visible, were that firstly, children may not understand what is being asked of them to do, therefore their answer may reflect self-desirability. Secondly, children especially the three-year-olds, do not always realise the difference between real and make believe. Thirdly, adults may find it difficult to relate to children as their emotions and ways of thinking contrast. Fourthly, children should be relaxed, they might feel threatened at the slightest of things. In addition, children need an incentive or motive to do something for someone and are very easily influenced. A cognitive explanation of this is that children have short attention spans therefore get bored easily and want to do something else. Having said this though, problems like these exist in every experiment regardless of whether the participants are children. The sign of a true experiment is one, which devises new techniques to overcome the difficulties. In conclusion, it can be said that the findings of these studies are in line with previous studies, specifically Piagets. Therefore according to this study results children still do not have the ability to conserve number.

Performance of Goldman Sachs and Financial Ratio Analysis

Performance of Goldman Sachs and Financial Ratio Analysis Conventionally the Bank performance is evaluated by analysis of the financial ratios. However, despite of quite a few number of ratios being calculated, a sculpt that completely convinces the analysis of requirements and bank operations efficiency evaluation is yet to be developed. Hence for these reason, the financial ratio analysis is balance with unlike eminence evaluations, with characteristics such as organization quality, equity structure, spirited position and others which are incorporated in the concluding assessment. In this piece of work we are going to evaluate overall performance of Goldman Sachs and critically analyse how financial ratios are used to evaluate banks performance. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a American investment banking and securities organisation which slot in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and erstwhile financial services principally with institutional clients. Goldman Sachs was founded in the year 1869 and its headquarter is at 200 West Street in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City. It has additional offices in major international financial hubs. The Goldman Sachs offers mergers and acquisitions advice, underwriting services, asset management, and prime brokerage to its clientele, which include corporations, governments and individuals. The Goldman Sachs also engages in proprietary trading and private equity deals, and is a primary dealer in the United States Treasury security market (Goldman Sachs Website). Bank Internal Performance Evaluation Strategic planning Goldman Sachs ability to address and tap into important economic and financial trends through roles such as advisor, financier, market maker and asset manager are critical for fulfilling their mission to help spur growth and perform strongly as a firm. Technology Technology is a core part of GS product offering and client experience. GS ability to respond quickly and effectively to address its clients needs with customized systems, products and services helps differentiate the firm. A technological advantage for GS is that they have only one central risk system, which is partially a byproduct of not having done multiple, major acquisitions that often require merging and retrofitting platforms. Personnel development The success of the GSs efforts are measured by how effectively their people act. Over time, effective training and development have enrich their corporate culture and strengthen the values of client service and focus on reputational risk management. Recognition includes compensation, promotion, assignments and mobility opportunities. They have made it clear the link between the behaviour expected of its people and the recognition used to encourage it. This is critically important because it signals broadly the way GS expects its people to behave and conduct business (Goldman Sachs Annual report 2010). Bank External Performance Evaluation Market share GS has frequently performed above the market despite worsening economic conditions. Since the 2008, the company has outpaced the market enough to draw public admiration. With strong profits and expected strong returns, the company has set aside $500M to invest in small businesses. These efforts are a combination to both improve the economy and their public image. Regulatory compliance The Dodd-Frank legislation and new capital and liquidity requirements under Basel 3 are two of the more significant outcomes from the recent focus on enhancing financial stability. Given regulatory implementation is only just beginning, and unclear on how the new rules will ultimately impact the industry. The broad contours of new regulation, however, are clear: improve the safety and soundness of the global financial system, increase the transparency of derivatives markets, limit certain investing activities and reduce the consequences of a failure of a large financial institution. Public confidence Goldman Sachs announced in May 2010 that it formed a Business Standards Committee to reshape its business practices and mend its reputation. Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein said at the time that there is a disconnect between how we view the firm and how the broader public perceives our roles and activities. GSs shareholders, BoDs, clients and customers have supported Mr. Blankfein through all the crisis and this shows their faith in bank (Goldman Sachs Annual report 2010). 4.0 Analyzing Bank Performance with Profit Ratios Goldman Sachs financial performance was better in 2009  than 2010 and Q4 2009 was the best quarter since the recession. 4.1 ROE Return on equity (ROE= net income after taxes/total equity) reveal GS capability to produce profits from shareholders equity (further referred as net assets or assets minus liabilities). In other words, ROE shows how effectively a company uses the shareholders money. As seen in graphical representation above, it is clear that Goldman Sachs is tendering a lower return on shareholders equity as compared to year ended in2009. The ROE of GS for the last year was 18.93% as compared to 10.08% this year. There has a been a significant decrease in the ROE which suggests GS is not utilising shareholders money properly. GS return on equity has declined substantially due to deleverage and is only marginally higher than its current cost of capital. 4.2 ROA Return on assets (ROA = net income after taxes/total assets) is how resourcefully a firm uses its assets. From the formula it is quite obvious that higher the ratio, the company is performing more efficiently and thus is generating more profits. A low ROA with enormous assets designate that the firm is handling its asset at a poor rate. As seen in graphical representation above, it is seen that Goldman Sachs has provided a lower ROA of 0.91% this year over 1.58% last year. There is one key differentiation between ROE and ROA and it is debt. In absence of debt, the shareholders equity is same as total assets of the firm which means that in this case, ROE and ROA are identical. Now if the firm come to a decision to take a loan, ROE exceeds ROA. A elevated ROE does not always guarantee a extraordinary performance of a firm. Incidentally, ROA is then a healthier pointer of the financial performance of a firm. With a high ROA and manageable debt, if ROE is also high it means that the company is generating decent profits using shareholders money. But if ROA is low and there is huge debt carried by the company, even a high ROE can only be a misleading figure. 4.3 Net Interest Margin 4.4 Leverage ratio Debt to Equity Ratio 4.5 Decomposition of ROE DuPont Analysis As revealed in Appendix B, The ROE of a bank is dependent on a various factors and thus change in any one of these factor can affect the rate of return on shareholders equity of the bank. As Net Income is the main source to calculate ROE in conjunction with the shareholders equity in the bank, every alteration in the Income and Expense of the bank openly affects the net income and thus influence the ROE of a bank. The detailed DuPont analysis of Goldman Sachs for year 2010 is presented in Appendix B. The ROE is decomposed as follows wrt dupont identity. Now assuming that changes are made in Income or Expense levels of the Goldman Sachs, its effect will be seen on ROA and ROE. Let us consider a case where the Interest Expense for Goldman Sachs goes down by 10% and there are no changes in its Interest Income, following are the effects on ROA and ROE of the bank. Scenario 1 : -5% change in interest expense Change Values after change Interest Expense -10% 6125.4 Interest Income 0% 12309 Effect on NI 6680.6 39841.6 Effect on ROA +0.07% 0.99% Effect on ROE +0.88% 11.68% A few other situations with amendment in Total Non-interest Income and expenses and their outcome on the ROA ROE of bank are given away in the chart below. Scenario 2 : -5% change in non-interest expense Change Values after change Total Non-interest Income -5% 31975.1 Effect on NI -1682.9 37478.1 Effect on ROA -0.19% 0.73% Effect on ROE -1.46% 8.62% Scenario 3 : +10% change in non-interest expense Change Values after change Total Non-interest Expenses 10% 27962 Effect on NI -2542 3160 Effect on ROA -0.31% 0.27% Effect on ROE -4.44% 3.78% Bank Performance Evaluation Based on Economic Profit 5.1 Risk-Adjusted Return on Capital (RAROC) In risk- adjusted return on capital the capital is allocated for two vital motives: (1) risk management and (2) performance evaluation. In support of risk-management rationale, the banks most favourable capital structure can be establish by allocation of capital to individual business units. This course of action entails assessing the amount of the risk (volatility) each business unit chip in to the total risk of the bank and hence to its overall capital requirements. Now, for performance-evaluation function, RAROC structure allocate capital to business units as part of a procedure for shaping the risk-adjusted rate of return and, eventually, the economic value added of each business unit. The EVA of every and each business unit is its adjusted net income minus the amount of equity capital allocated to the unit times the required return on equity. The purpose is to compute a business units input to shareholder value and so to provide a source for effective capital budgeting and incentive compensation at the business-unit level. RAROC is calculated by dividing risk-adjusted net income by the total amount of economic capital assigned which is dependent on the risk calculation. Risk-adjusted net income is calculated by taking the financial data allotment to the bank and fine-tuning the income statement for expected loss. A further modification is also required to take into account the effects on the net interest margin because the attention is moved from book profitability to economic profitability. Thus RAROC = Risk adjusted income / Allocated Capital RAROC for 2010 of Goldman Sachs therefore comes to 2.24 %. Let us consider some scenarios where the risk adjusted income for Goldman Sachs are changed by {-2%, +2%, -5% +5%}, The effect on its RAROC is represented as below. Change in Risk Adjusted Income 2 % + 2 % 5 % Effect on RAROC 2.20 % 2.29 % 2.13 % Economic Value Added (EVA) EVA (Economic Valued Added) is a present day financial dimension instrument which concludes whether a business is earning greater than its true cost of capital. EVA stands out apart from ROA ROE which are most accepted measures of bank performance. This is because it includes cost of equity capital employed. On the other hand, net banking income and the efficiency ratio, also, do not consider the cost of equity capital employed. Therefore, these ratios possibly will propose a banks performance as healthy but in fact it could be deteriorating its value to its shareholders. EVA is essentially a tool that focuses on maximizing shareholder wealth. EVA = Adjusted earnings Opportunity cost of capital {Net operating Profit after Taxes} {Cost of Equity X Equity Capital } With an aim of creating values, the return on invested capital (ROIC) for a bank must be greater than cost of capital. So, the EVA can be possibly increased in quite a few ways, by: 1) Increasing Net operating Profit after Taxes; 2) Lowering the Cost of Equity and 3) Reducing Equity Capital Conclusion Year on year Goldman Sachs revenues have descended by 11.04% from $51.67bn to $45.97bn. This along with an increase in the cost of goods sold expense has contributed to a reduction in net income from $13.39bn to $8.35bn, a 37.59% decrease. In 2010, Goldman Sachs did not generate a significant amount of cash. Cash Flow from Financing totalled $7.84bn or 17.05% of revenues. In addition the company used 6.16bn for operations while cash used for investing totalled $185m. Goldman results were also dragged down by a $465 million one-time expense to cover a U.K. payroll tax and a $550 million outlay to settle  SEC  charges that it favoured certain clients over others.