The Concept of Hinduism Religion

The Story Of An Hour Essays - Smoking In The United States, Smoking

The Story Of An Hour Essays - Smoking In The United States, Smoking The Story Of An Hour What I Already Know: I really dont know much about teen smoking or why they like to smoke. This is just what I think about it. I know most teens love to smoke because they think its cool. Some teens smoke because they want to fit in with their friends. Other kids just smoke because of the peer- pressure from their friends. What I want to Know: - Why do teens smoke? - Is it an addiction? - Do teens smoke because of the peer-pressure? What I found out: The reason why teens smoke is because of the cigarette ads and problems at home. Smoking and chewing tobacco are just like using drugs and alcohol. Once you start you may not ever be able to stop smoking. I also found out a September 2000 study shows that one -quarter of 12-13 year olds. Who smoke as few as two or three cigarettes a day becomes addicted in just two weeks? Most of the rest get addicted within a few weeks or more. New studies show it only takes a matter of days for 12 and 13 year olds to become addicted to smoking. Weve all seen the ads for Marlboro Country, with images of beautiful country scenes, wild horses galloping, and cowboys around fire or on horseback. Well, heres the real Marlboro Country. If Joe Camels ad told the truth about smoking it would say. I wish I hadnt smoked. I got a lot of kids to think smoking was cool, and Im so sorry! Im so very sorry. I smoked, and now Im dying of cancer. Just look at me now! Please whatever you do, dont smoke! More About Tobacco Advertising! Unfortunately, many teens are not too concerned about the risk of disease later in life. But the fact is cigarettes cause emphysema, lung cancer, and heart disease. Today in the US, smoking causes 1 of every 5 deaths. Cigarettes kill 1,2000 Americans every day that amounts to 420,000 Americans deaths each year and two to three million deaths worldwide annually. In coming decades, the World Health Organization tell us that smoking will kill 500 million people worldwide. Thats 9% of the present world population. It means that nearly 1 of every 10 people now alive on earth will die because of cigarettes! And tragically, this is entirely preventable. Tobacco ads are also designed to play with your mind. In magazine ads, we see healthy young people playing sports which require breath, like tennis or mountain climbing, but we all know thats a lie. These cigarette ads intentionally make it appear that smoking is socially acceptable. That is so false. The truth is, here in the US, three out of four people dont smoke, and its not okay to smoke around most people not any more. Smoking is not socially acceptable. Every year, the tobacco industry spends $ 4.5 to $ 5 billion on the daily advertising of its deadly, addictive products. In conclusion, the sad fact is that advertising has as much stronger effect on teens than most consciously realize. Every day 3,000 teens become newly addicted to cigarettes. The tobacco industry knows exactly what they are doing, and they spend billions every year to manipulate the unconscious minds of millions, dont let them manipulate you! New Scientific studies shows. Teens, who believe advertising has no effect on you, consider this. A recent study demonstrated that advertising plays a greater role than peer-pressure in getting teens to smoke. Studies also show the most popular brands teens smoke is Camels, Marlboros, and Newport. The Addiction The physical portion of the addiction is to nicotine. The psychological part of the relaxing, familiar sensation of handling the cigarette, watching its curling smoke, the deep and relaxing breathing associated with inhaling and exhaling, the taste, and so on. When quitting, a smokers conscious mind says, I will stop smoking no problem. But the unconscious mind has been conditioned that cigarettes give pleasure, and thats all it can focus on. The addicted unconscious mind says, Give me a cigarette now! It only recognizes what feels good, or what doesnt feel good. It demands a cigarette without regard to right or wrong, and rebels against the conscious mind decision to not smoke.

Product Launch Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Product Launch - Essay Example American Goods Wholesale Club (AGW) is a service provider and also carries actual products. Our company will tap into the market of patriotic American consumers whiles promoting products that already exist for both local consumption and export. AGW Club will provide a platform for manufacturers to display and promote their products while servicing its members with their needs. Manufacturers determine their prices but will be at a discounted rate compared to how much they will sell it to other retailers. Product owners will be paid when the product is sold. The marketing mix offers a very competitive pricing for AGW Club members, a solid medium for manufacturers and very low to no inventory cost for the company. AGW Club is situated in Virginia, United States of America. The club has also planned to expand the company in other states in the future with enhanced growth and prosperity. Moreover, the club also has an online store for providing services to members of the club across Ameri ca in a more efficient manner. Product Description AGW Club also facilitates in promoting products manufactured in America and in marketing those products to its members. Moreover, AGW Club acts as a medium for manufactures and the products are offered to the members of the club in accordance with their requirements and preferences. The products are procured from manufacturers at a discounted rate in comparison to price determined by manufacturers for offering those goods to local retailers. Contextually, it has been aimed to conduct a product launch in the emerging market of China with the motive of improving the international market exposure of made-in-America products and to enhance profitability of the club. The developing economy in China will assist the club in performing its business operations in an effective manner. Product Positioning Product positioning is the strategy of offering the products to customers in the market segments in an appropriate manner. The American Good s Wholesale Club (AGW) is required to determine the appropriate market segments where the products of the club will be mostly in demand as well as will be consumed in the market of China. The product positioning strategy will also enable the club to provide their products in the market successfully. The products which are to be provided in the market of China should be differentiated from products which are offered by competitors. The club should provide quality products which are mostly in demand by Chinese consumers due to the changes in buying behavior primarily owing to the developing economy of China as well as due to the advancement of technology. Moreover, the club is required to follow a differentiation strategy with the motive of meeting the requirements of Chinese markets as well as to perform business operations in a competitive manner. The differentiation strategy will enable the products of the club to be differentiated form the competitors as along with facilitating it to obtain loyalty of consumers. Contextually, distinct product features and unique selling proposition of the offerings need to be identified by the club in order to highlight that distinctiveness appropriately. The positioning strategy of the club needs to be maintained thoroughly and it needs to be ascertained that positioning of the

Interpreting Financial Statements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Interpreting Financial Statements - Essay Example The number of days in inventory for Pepsico is 40 days whereas it is 64 days for Coca – Cola. It is evident that Pepsico is more effective in converting its inventory into sale and hence has a better liquidity position in terms of the revenue generated. Both the companies have almost equally geared in terms of debt. The debt to total assets ratio is an indication of the company’s long term growth capacity and its ability to generate more capital through debts. Both Coca – Cola and Pepsico have significant interest coverage, as the earnings are almost 33 times the interest expenses. Hence it is evident that the companies will not face any issues in covering the interest expenses. The cash debt coverage is a measure of the ability of the company to cover its debts with the liquid cash in hand generated from the operations. Though both the firms have a significant value, Pepsico is able to generate higher cash from its operations and hence can manage about 57% of its debts with the cash from operations. The free cash flow, as the name indicates, is measured in million USD and is found that in 2004, Coca – Cola has a free cash of $ 5,213 million whereas Pepsico has about $ 3,667 million. It is evident that Coca – Cola has significantly higher free cash compared to that of Pepsico. It is clear from the values that Coca – Cola is able to convert 22% of its revenue as earnings or profit, whereas Pepsico converts only 14% of its revenue into income. Hence the profitability of Coca – Cola is comparatively much higher than that of Pepsico. This is the percentage of revenue after all the expenses, interests and taxes that is available to the shareholders and to the company. The Asset Turnover rate determines the ability of the company to effectively utilize its assets to generate revenue. It is important to note that a company generating high revenues may not actually be effective if its utilizing much

Evaluating the supervisors skills in high schools in the state of Essay

Evaluating the supervisors skills in high schools in the state of Kuwait - Essay Example The educational system is, and needs to be a system that is based on an informed open door policy. This in turn is based on achieving a balance between the dimension of maintenance and adaptation, and hence is able to achieve responsible and informed stability, growth and development (Albakr, 2001). Technical supervision may be considered an important means of developing education. It not only raises the professional competency of teachers, but it also helps to ensure continuous growth. It is also important for solving problems that crop up in a teaching situation. as one of the main components in the education-learning situation, problem solving takes place when required educational experiences are provided, and information about these experiences are spread across the board, educational research is undertaken and used in organizing courses, and providing the facilities required by teachers. (Fiver and Don lab, 1997). At present, there are no legal guidelines that may be used by a court to determine whether supervisors have the skills to support teachers in Kuwaiti schools. This research study was proposed as a means of evaluating the skills of supervisors across three dimensions of teaching. These are, Methods of Teaching and Learning, Communication Skills and Tutorial Skills as defined by the ministry of education in the State of Kuwait. Silver and Kilpatrick (1994) have pointed out that the goals of educational research tend to reflect the diversity and complexity of its subjects of inquiry. At a basic level, the goal of research is to produce new knowledge and reaffirm already established units of knowledge. In a field that is still in the process of defining itself, this knowledge provides an important base for progress. This is very true of Education as a field of study. How one characterizes such progress,

Analysis of the Dar Es Salaam Stock Exchange

Analysis of the Dar Es Salaam Stock Exchange 3.0 Chapter Three 3.1 Research Methodology This chapter aims at explaining the methodology which has been adopted in this study. Research approaches or style have been categorized into mainly two groups, the phenomenological approach and positivist approach. The phenomenological approach studies the phenomenon through observation, no theory at outset while the positivist approach use an existing theory or develop a new theory and test its validity. Since this study has used the existing theory on market efficiency therefore positivist approach have been adopted with this study, the rationale behind the choice of this approach is due to the nature of the study. 3.2 Research Design Research design can be broadly classified as exploratory research and Conclusive research .This study is conclusive research design because it involves the testing of specific hypothesis and examination of relationships as well as the data analysis is quantitative and research process is formal. 3.3 Data types and sources Two types of data that has been used in this study, the daily closing stock of market index(Dar es salaam Stock Exchange Index-DSEI) and the weekly share prices for a sample of five listed companies from Dar es salaam Stock Exchange. The daily closing stock for market index has covered the period from July 2007 to August 2008 making total number of observation to be 280, excluding public holidays and non trading days. The daily data prior to July 2007 were not found therefore the study had to use the available data . The second type of data that has been used in this study are weekly share prices of the five companies/securities included in the study .The weekly data runs from Jan 2002 to August 2008, which makes the total number of observation to be between 90 and 266. The final date is the same for the all companies but the initial date differs depend on when the company joined the stock market. The weekly data refers to the Wednesdays closing stock price, however if Wednesdays data were not available then Thursday closing price were used, in absence of Thursday data , Tuesday was taken instead, but when both Tuesday and Thursday were not available as well , the data for that week was regarded as a missing data. The use of weekly data is appropriate for this kind of studies as Humphrey and Lont (2005) asserted that weekly data helped to mitigate any non-trading effects and also reduced the effects of noise trading. Even though the stock price was collected for the purpose of performing statistical tests, the actual test was conducted using natural logarithmic of the relative price. The stock return (denoted by R) was calculated by natural logarithmic difference of the weekly stock price given by the following equation = [- )] (1) Where: Rt = Return at time t P = Price at time t The reasons why change in log price was used instead of the normal change in price, has been explain by Fama (1965), he mentioned that logarithms neutralize price level effects as well as producing a series of continuously compounded returns. The daily closing stock for market index (DSEI) was used in performing the parametric serial correlation test and the weekly share prices for five listed companies was used to perform the non parametric runs test .In additional to the primary data (Stock prices) collected from Dar es salaam Stock Exchange, the study has also used the secondary source of data. The secondary data includes academic books, journals and other publications. 3.3.1 Thin Trading As discussed earlier in literature review section, infrequency trading or thin trading is big problem in most of emerging stock market and failure to take into account can results into serious biasness of statistical results. In this study this problem has been taken into account and the weekly data were collected from infrequency trading. The first step taken in controlling the infrequency trading was to eliminate the mostly thin traded securities / companies as Shanken (1987) depicted that some of researchers controls the thin trading problem by eliminating some of thin traded stocks. Initially the study was meant to include all ten companies listed in Dar es salaam Stock Exchange, however five companies were found to be very much affected by infrequency trading therefore were eliminated from the study. The actual correction of weekly data from thin trading for the five companies included in this study was based on approach by Atchison et al (1987) as adjusted by Milambo et al (2003;cited in Mabhunu 2004). They suggested correcting thin trading problem by adjusting approach by Atchison at el (1987) who used uniform process which allocates returns equally over the days in multi -days interval where security not traded. According to Mlambo et al (2003 ;cited in Mabhunu 2004), if a stock is not traded for example after 14 days of non trading, then a single entry given by the following equation (2) should be used as an oppose to 15 entries of equal value. Where: = Length of time between a trade in a period t and previous successive trade = Price of stock at time t = Dividend at time t Therefore the infrequency problem in this study have been controlled by applying equation 2 without taking into account the dividend adjustment as it has been suggested that adjustments of dividend does not have much effects.Also the use of weekly data instead of daily data for individual companies has helped to control this problem. 3.3.1 Test of goodness -of-fit One of the hypothesis in which the random walk has based on is about price changes to conform to some probability distribution. Therefore in testing the efficiency of stock market it is essential to identify the pattern and determine which known statistical distribution the pattern follows. In this study the Jarque-Bera test has beeen employed to test the normality of the stock return. This techniques has been used in several studies, includes the recent study of Market Return and Weak Form Efficiency: The case of Ghana by Frimpong and Oteng (2007). The Jarque-Bera test statistic is given by JB = T(+ ) (3) Where: JB = Test Statistic T = Number of observation S = Sample Skewness K = Sample Kurtosis. Kurtosis which denoted by (K) in equation (3) measures the sharpness / peakness or flatness of the distribution of a series and is given by the following equation K = (4) A normal distributed series has kurtosis of 3, therefore whenever kurtosis of a series exceeds 3, the distribution of that series is regarded as leptokurtic relative to normal and if the kurtosis is less than 3, then the distribution is regarded as platykurtic(flat) relative to normal. The skewness which denoted by (S) and computed by the following equation S = (5) Measures the asymmetric distribution of the series from its mean. A normal distributed series has skewness of zero, therefore if the skewness of the series is positive then the series is concluded to have a heavier right tail and if the skewness is negative the distribution is regarded as having a heavier left tail relative to normal. The results of the Jarque-Bera test together with the skewness and kurtosis of the return series employed in this study have been reported in table 1. 3.4 Methods employed As mentioned earlier this study aimed at achieving three main objectives, first to find empirical evidence of weak form efficiency hypothesis for Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange, secondly to identify the main barriers for the development of the Dar es salaam Stock Exchange i.e. the factors that hampers the growth of DSE and lastly to identify the quality of information available to investors at Dar es salaam Stock Exchange. Therefore in this chapter the methods used in achieving each objective have been explained in detail, starting with the first objective. 3.4.1 Objective 1: Empirical evidence for weak form efficiency hypothesis. In achieving the first objective, the study intended to answer the following two specific questions Is the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange weak-form efficient? Do the stock prices in Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange follow the random walk? The study was guided by the following hypothesis Dar es salaam Stock Exchange is weak form market efficient. Stock price follows a random walk Various techniques have been used so far in testing for weak form hypothesis by different researcher as depicted in literature review section, the techniques includes the statistical test of independence and trading rules. In determining whether a stock market is a weak form or not using statistical test, the correlation / relationship between stock price and return over the successive time interval is identified. If no significant correlation found then the market is regarded as weak form market as past return can not be used to determine future return. The market will be regarded as weak form inefficient if significant correlation will be found. In testing our first null hypothesis, one statistical test of independence have been employed, the serial correlation test . The non parametric runs test was employed to test our second null hypothesis, the random walk hypothesis. The following is the explanation of each statistical test employed in this study. Serial correlation test It is among the widely used test of independence .The serial correlation test measures the correlation of a variable over consecutive time interval e.g. at time t and time t-1.The reasons why this approach have been chosen to be used in this study is because of its familiarity in this kind of study. Several studies have employed this technique for example Vaidyanathan (1994) in the study of efficiency of the Indian capital market employed this approach. Similarly, Baral and Shrestha (2006) studying the daily stock behavior of commercial banks in Nepal, used the same approach. In testing the weak form efficiency of the stock market using this approach, the correlation of log price/return series is determined, if autocorrelation is found the assumptions will be that the series does not follow the random walk, meaning that the stock price are not independent, past return can be used to determine the future return and hence the market is weak form inefficient. The test statistic for the serial correlation coefficient for lag p can be express as p = (5) Similarly written as P = (6) In determining the autocorrelation of the return in this study, the Ljung-Box test was used. This is a portmanteau test which measures the autocorrelation of the variable. The Ljung-Box test statistic is given by =T(T+2) (7) Where by: = Test Statistic T = Number of observations = Is the jth autocorrelation or autocorrelation coefficient (for lag j) K = Number of coefficients to test autocorrelation, in other words the number of lag to be Tested. Given the value of obtained from the test, the conclusion on the randomness of the log price/return can be reached if > , K at significance level ÃŽ ±, where by , K means the ÃŽ ±-quantile of the Chi-square distribution with K degrees of freedom. Alternatively if the p-value obtained from the statistical test is less than 0.05,then the test is significant at 95% level of confidence and therefore the null hypothesis of zero auto correction can be rejected. The results for this test have been reported in figure 1in the next chapter. Runs test This is the second test that had been employed in this study to test for the second null hypothesis. Unlike parametric tests such as serial correlation, a runs test is a non-parametric test which means that it does not require the normal distribution of the series. This is one of the advantage of using this approach and it is also the reason why this technique has been adopted in our study. A run can be define as a set of identical (or related) symbols contained between two different symbols or no symbol (such as at the beginning or end of the sequence)Spiegel et al (2000.p366). In performing this test, each change in return/price is classified as positive (+), negative (-) and zero change (0). Alternatively change in return could be classified alphabetically for example A ,could be each return that equal or exceeds the mean value and B could be each return that are below mean value. The test can be executed to obtained the actual number of runs (denoted by V), and then the actual number of runs (V) can be compared with the expected number of runs () which is given by the following equation = (8) Where = Expected number of runs N = Total number of return observations = Sample size of each category of price change If actual number of runs will be greater than expected runs, it will be indications of negative serial correlation and if actual runs fall below expected return it will indicate the positive serial correlation of the return. Alternatively the p-value obtained can be used to conclude on the results of this test, if p-value is less than 0.05, then the test is significant at 95% level of confidence and therefore the null hypothesis of randomness can be rejected. For a large sample i.e (N>30), the sampling distribution of V is approximately corresponds to a normal distribution and thus Z = (9) Where: Z = Z-Test Statistic V = Actual return = Expected return = Standard deviation given by the following equation = [{+ N (N+1)} 2N (10) Therefore at appropriate level of significance, the Z-statistic can be used to test for independence of return series. The reason why the randomness tests such as non parametric runs test are used to test for the efficiency of the stock market is because efficiency of the stock market is determined by the way information are incorporated in current stock price. For a well efficient market , new information is incorporated instantaneously and spontaneously and therefore no arbitrage opportunity can exist. Since new information is incorporated instantaneously and spontaneously in current stock price then stock price/returns will be generated in random fashion i.e there will be no any pattern. In relation to the weak form efficient market all past information is expected to be incorporated in current stock price in such a way that a positive change in returns is not expected to be followed by positive change in return or negative to be followed by negative as the returns generated randomly. However, for the weak inefficient market all past information are not incorporated instantaneously and spontaneously as the results the change in returns is generated in a pattern which can lead to opportunity of making fortune. Therefore testing of randomness helps to reveal the how new information is incorporated in current stock price and the way returns are generated, if its in a random fashion or with pattern. This helps in drawing conclusion regarding the efficiency of a stock market. The results for this non parametric runs test are shown in table 2 3 and discussed in the next chapter. Objective 2:Factors affecting the growth/ development of Dar es salaam Stock Exchange Despite aim of finding empirical evidence of weak form hypothesis, also the second objective of this study was to identify and discuss major factors/ challenges that have been affecting the development and progress of Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange. April 2008, the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange celebrated its tenth years anniversary, however for the period of its ten years of operations; we have witness the slow growth / development of the stock market, only few companies have been listed so far. But what are the main causes of this slow growth? in terms of listing of companies?, what are the challenges faced by the stock market?. Further more the numbers of individuals participating in the market as investors is not so impressive, in a speech by the minister of finance and economic affairs on 10th anniversary of DSE , he said the market so far DSE has enable more than 116,651 Tanzanians to own shares. This is small figure to be as a minimum figure for the country with population of approximately 39.4 million people, we would expect a good number of individual to be aware of operations of the stock market and hence participating and a minimum figure could have been a million and above, however the situation is different then what is the real problem?, are there any efforts by the market authority to ensure the general public is aware of the stock market operations and hence increase the number of investors in the market?. Despite of the barriers and challenges for its growth, what measures have been and will be taken to ensure the stock market is growing? .What are the future prospects of the market? . In achieving our second objective the above mentioned questions will be addressed and discussed. This was done through reviewing and studying of the existing literature and publications regarding Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange and African stock markets in general, since most of the emerging African stock markets share the same kind of the obstacle/ challenges. The findings and discussion of these issues have been presented the following chapter. Objective 3: The quality of information to investor and other stakeholders at DSE. The last objective was to determine the quality of information available to investors and other stakeholders at Dar es Salaam Stock Market. There various sources of information for investors in any stock market and one of the sources is financial statements. Even though financial statements are sometimes subjective to the manipulation of management and by the time financial statements are published some changes might have already happen, yet financial statements remains to be crucial source of information for investors and analysts. Normally the existing investors as well as potential investors would like to know how the investment have been well managed as this will give them the overall picture on how safe investing in the company has been or will be. Using the published financial statements, investors and analysts can acquire valuable information which can help in their decision making. However, investors will be deprived from using this type of source of information, if the information provided with the financial statements are not of good quality and required standard. According to Benston (2003), if the information provided by financial statements is not useful and accurate then its reception will not give investors the kind of insight they wanted and as the results investors will incur costs to find information somewhere else. Therefore with this objective, the quality of information available to investors in DSE was determined and discussed. This was achieved through a comparison of financial statement of Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL)- a company listed in Dar es salaam Stock Exchange and Sanisbury PLC a company listed in London Stock Exchange. The aim of the comparison was to determine if an investor in DSE using financial statement will get the same quality of information similar to an investor in London Stock Exchange. In this comparison in additional of looking the contents and standards in which these annual report have been prepared also the study looked at the general accessibility of the annual report and other companys information which might be helpful to investors between these company .Also the general overview of corporate governance between these two companies was analyzed and discussed. The results and discussions of this comparison have been presented in the following chapter. 3.5 Data Analysis Since the study had involve the statistical tests, therefore data was analyzed with the help of statistical packages. The parametric serial correction test and parametric runs test was performed using SPSS (Statistical Package For Social Science) and the Jarque -Bera test was performed using EVIEWS .Both quantitative and qualitative approach have been used in interpreting the results of analysis 4.0 Chapter Four: Data Analysis, Presentation Discussion of Findings 4.1 Introduction The aim of this chapter is to present the analysis and discuss the findings of the study. The chapter have been divided in three main part (A, B, C). The first part (A), reports the results and the discussions from statistical tests relating to the first objective of this study. Part B and C report the findings and discussions relating to the second and third objectives respectively . 4.2 Part A : Empirical evidence for weak form efficiency hypothesis In finding the empirical evidence for weak form efficiency hypothesis in Dar es salaam Stock Exchange ,three main statistical tests were performed , firstly the normality test i.e the Jarque Bera test, parametric serial correlation test and non parametric runs test, the findings of these test are presented in that order. 4.2.1 Test of goodness of- fit Since it is essential to determine the probability distribution of the series when performing efficiency tests /statistical tests, therefore the returns for the stock market index(DSEI) as well as the returns for the five companies used in the study were firstly analyzed to determine if the return series follows the normal distribution. The result of nomality test are shown in table 1 Table 1: Jarque- Bera Test DAHACO DSEI SIMBA TBL TCC TWIGA Mean 0.002166 0.000227 0.006390 0.002727 0.000724 0.008349 Median 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Maximum 0.141970 0.021668 0.277632 0.202941 0.074108 0.287682 Minimum -0.182322 -0.024520 -0.253781 -0.146093 -0.117783 -0.072759 Std. Dev. 0.028979 0.002794 0.045971 0.027860 0.021852 0.040065 Skewness -0.462822 -0.623957 0.863549 2.133508 -0.934278 4.314131 Kurtosis 15.81011 39.73707 17.61886 23.35083 11.19382 29.39428 Jarque-Bera 1216.549 15707.35 1751.608 4792.031 532.6697 2891.643 Probability 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Sum 0.383447 0.063240 1.239581 0.725336 0.130979 0.751392 Sum Sq. Dev. 0.147799 0.002170 0.407877 0.205694 0.085951 0.142861 Observations 177 279 194 266 181 90 Source : Analyzed data As shown in the table 1, the p-value of the jarque -bera test for stock market index series(DSEI) and the p-value for the five individual companies is below 0.05 i.e p-value As depicted in the table 1 above, the return for the market index(DSEI), TCC Ltd and DAHACO/SWISSPORT Ltd are negatively skew(heavier left tail) as their skewness less than zero. I,e skewness 0) which means that their returns are positively skew( a heavier right tail) relative to normal. A perfectly symmetrical distribution such as normal distribution has skewness which equal to zero. Regarding the kurtosis which describe the flatness or peaknedness of the distribution the results shows that the returns of both market index and individual companies have kurtosis greater than three i.e kurtosis > 3, which implies that the distribution of the returns are sharply peaked (leptokurtic) relative to normal. The p-value from test statistic, kurtosis and skewness indicates the rejection of normality for the returns so the general conclusion which can be drawn from the test of goodness-of-fit is that the returns employed in this study are not normally distributed and therefore non parametric statistical tests are more appropriate to be used than parametric statistical tests. 4.2.2 Results of Serial Correlations/ Autocorrelation Test Though it has been suggested that when the series is not normally distributed then non parametric tests wo

Ford Motor Company Marketing Strategy Essay example -- BTEC Business M

Ford Motor Company Marketing Strategy Ford Motor Company is one of the world’s largest producers of cars and trucks and one of the largest providers of automotive financial services marketing vehicles under the eight brands shown below. The Company is a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. During 2002, the company made 6.7 million vehicles and employed 328,000 people worldwide. Business partners include 25,000 dealers and more than 10,000 suppliers. Ford motor company offers a wealth of variety to the automotive consumer. As they start their second century of business, they are now in a position to appeal to the widest range of potential customers. Each of their automotive brands has a unique personality and holds a distinct place in the ford motor company family. Vehicle Brands   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ford   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lincoln   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mercury   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mazda   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Volvo   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jaguar   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Land Rover   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aston Martin AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE BRANDS Introduction The marketing orientation has become common in companies that make things for individual customers. It remains rare in heavy industry that produces steel, coal, oil, and paper, where the immediate consumers are other businesses. The transition from the production orientation to the marketing orientation is still going on. It is the most important but least understood revolution in human history, marking a decisive power-shift from institutions to individuals. In the production orientation, human enterprise asked first what we could make, and second whether anyone will want it. In the marketing orientation, we ask first what we want, and second how we can invent the means to fill that want. Production made people technology’s servants. Marketing makes us technology’s masters. The marketing revolution promises a golden age when social institutions and markets are systematically organized to maximize human happiness. One of marketing’s strongest features is its empiricism. What science did for perception, marketing does for production. It tests intuition and insight against empirical fact. Henry Ford thought he knew what people wanted from a car: cheap, reliable, and black. Ford sold millions of model-Ts in the 1920s with this mass marketing strategy. Then General Motors came along, segmenting the ma... ...icient/lower cost operator those competitors  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  12  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  10 10  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Level of investment compared with operators (facilities, databases, technology, advertising, R&D and people developments)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  8  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  8 Total score  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  100  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  90 Conclusion Ford Motor Company started the last century with a single man envisioning products that would meet the needs of people in a world on the verge of high-gear industrialization. Today, Ford Motor Company is a family of automotive brands consisting of: Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin, and Volvo. The company is beginning its second century of existence with a worldwide organization that retains and expands Henry Ford's heritage by developing products that serve the varying and ever-changing needs of people in the global community. References 1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  www. ford .com 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  www.prenhall.com 3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Financial report Ford motor company 2002.2003 and 2004 4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Letter from Bill Ford - Published by Ford Company 5  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marketing management -Philip Kotler 6  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Strategic Management - Thompson,Strickland 7  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marketing Management MRKT 601 course notes 8  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marketing Management MRKT 601 course discussions

The Cottage – Creative Writing

It was exactly a week after my first day at NFG, and I had brought both overnight- and sleeping bag with me to school, as had everyone else in my class – it was time for the ‘get to know each other'-trip. The ‘get to know each other'-trip is a trip were the new students can get to know each other. Every 1.g-class has to go, not alone of course. The class goes along with a pair of teachers and two older students: ‘Introes'. My class, Susanne, Steen Carl, our two introes Nadia and Jakob and I were going to Middelgrunden in Middelfart, so the time in the bus weren't long and only made shorter by song and small-talk. It took 5 minutes, after getting off of the bus, to reach our destination: The Cottage, a nice and small place mainly used by scouts. After getting settled into our dormitories, we all joined in the large dining room for tea, cake and coffee. Then, after having stuffed our stomachs with homemade cake, we had to have an hour or two dedicated to our education. In that time we took some important behavior related problems up to debate, and we did so by being divided into six groups. We had to discuss the subject, then, create a presentation or sketch, which we had to use in front of the rest of the class to get the debate started. When we finished we had a set of ground rules about our behavior in class. Then, we had to do an Orienteering's race, which our introes had put together. To keep us busy I suspect, and we were busy, busy having fun and getting to know each other through songs and dancing. As we got closer to dinnertime, something strange happened: the boys disappeared, into the kitchen, to make Spaghetti Bolognese, and it wasn't that bad. After dinner everybody seemed to need some time relaxing, and some of the boys and girls wanted to do so in water, and even though Jakob hadn't brought a bathing suit, some of the boys still figured, that he should get into the water with them; poor Jakob got absolutely soaked through and through. Then Dee figured something out, they weren't the only ones relaxing in the ocean; the jellyfish had arrived. When everybody was back at the cottage, and everybody had dried off, it was the introes turn figure something, everybody had to show them what kind of song they'd sung, dance they'd danced and any other kind of entertainment we had created during the O-race. When we were done with the performances, everybody was tired and there were only one more thing we needed to figure out for the day, a theme for the 1.g-party, we finally reached an agreement about a Christmas-theme (Elves, Santa Claus etc.) After that we were free to do as we wanted, whether we wanted sleep or games. The next day we had to get up early and eat breakfast, so that we could cram some time for educational purposes into the mix of cleaning and packing. We ended up having sort of like a civics test, which was fun. Then, all that was left was the bus ride home to the school, and getting home afterwards. As for the conclusion about the small trip with my new class, I've figured; we had fun and the trip served its purpose, as I now know a class filled with great people.

Calculate the Expected Value in Roulette

Calculate the Expected Value in Roulette The concept of expected value can be used to analyze the casino game of roulette.  We can use this idea from probability to determine how much money, in the long run, we will lose by playing roulette.   Background A roulette wheel in the U.S. contains 38 equally sized spaces. The wheel is spun and a ball randomly lands in one of these spaces. Two spaces are green and have numbers 0 and 00 on them. The other spaces are numbered from 1 to 36. Half of these remaining spaces are red and half of them are black. Different wagers can be made on where the ball will end up landing. A common bet is to choose a color, such as red, and wager that the ball will land on any of the 18 red spaces. Probabilities for Roulette Since the spaces are the same size, the ball is equally likely to land in any of the spaces.  This means that a roulette wheel involves a uniform probability distribution. The probabilities that we will need to calculate our expected value are as follows: There are a total of 38 spaces, and so the probability that a ball lands on one particular space is 1/38.There are 18 red spaces, and so the probability that red occurs is 18/38.There are 20 spaces that are black or green, and so the probability that red does not occur is 20/38. Random Variable The net winnings on a roulette wager can be thought of as a discrete random variable. If we bet $1 on red and red occurs, then we win our dollar back and another dollar. This results in net winnings of 1. If we bet $1 on red and green or black occurs, then we lose the dollar that we bet. This results in net winnings of -1. The random variable X defined as the net winnings from betting on red in roulette will take the value of 1 with probability 18/38 and will take the value -1 with probability 20/38. Calculation of Expected Value We use the above information with the formula for expected value. Since we have a discrete random variable X for net winnings, the expected value of betting $1 on red in roulette is: P(Red) x (Value of X for Red) P(Not Red) x (Value of X for Not Red) 18/38 x 1 20/38 x (-1) -0.053. Interpretation of Results It helps to remember the meaning of expected value to interpret the results of this calculation. The expected value is very much a measurement of the center or average. It indicates what will happen in the long run every time that we bet $1 on red. While we might win several times in a row in the short term, in the long run we will lose over 5 cents on average each time that we play. The presence of the 0 and 00 spaces are just enough to give the house a slight advantage. This advantage is so small that it can be difficult to detect, but in the end, the house always wins.

Personal Trojan War experience essays

Personal Trojan War experience essays I can remember it like it was yesterday. I sat quietly in that huge horse, first thinking about how hot and crowded it was then questioning the reasons behind this battle. Wondering what I was doing going into this battle. Then suddenly my thought were interrupted by the movement of the horse. My heart began to race as I realized that I could not turn back now. At first the battle was very intense. Left and right the men came, they came to protect their king. It was if I had blinked and I looked around and saw hundreds of innocent dead people. Then I looked down and on my sword was the body of a young man and I was covered in his blood. This battle did not take long. Soon after we arrived we had killed hundreds of people not to forget we had killed the king of Troy. We were very pleased with our accomplishments. As we began to flee from the scene we set the city on fire. We attempted to flee the scene by the front gate, but it had been closed by the citizens at the beginning of the battle to prevent more people from coming. So we had to climb over the walls. After climbing the walls we ran for about a day to assure our safety. After that we slowed down and continued home. On the way there we encountered minor problems. Although these problems were small they set us back months in traveling. After six long years of traveling I finally returned home. It was the most wonderful feeling anyone could have felt. It has taken allot to get use to. My son has grown so much and I have missed so much in my families life while in Troy. Now, however, as I look back I am very happy that I am one of the lucky ones that made the journey home. ...

DQ7 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

DQ7 - Essay Example For example, it is a common practice in business that the quotations or estimates submitted for a project tapped by the competitors using false means. They will utilize the information in the tapped documents for their advantages while submitting their quotations for the same project. In a highly professional business world such things may not be considered as a sin. But ethically it is not a good practice since such practices may result in unhealthy competition which will be harmful to the overall business activities. A company which follows strong ethical standards in their business will never go after such undercutting methods and we can conclude that normal decisions and moral decisions are entirely different in the current world in general and in the business world in specific. Morality is a social invention which is essential for the sustainability of a society. We cannot think of a society which is filled with immoral activities, survive for a long period. For example, if robbery is legally allowed in a society to tackle poverty, what will happen? Thus moral decisions are always different from the rational decisions. Information is one of the main segments of an organization. It is often said that man, material, machine and money (4M’s) are the four major components required for the smooth functioning of an organization. In fact information is equally important with the above mentioned 4M’s of business. Like all the other resources of an organization, information of a company needs to be protected well for the business growth. It is easy for the competitors to devise strategies well in advance to counter the innovative and challenging business strategies of an organization, if the secret information of the company leaked via the managers or some other employees of the organization. The managers have a variety of the information regarding the future plans of an organization. It is necessary to keep such information as secrets for the well

The Milgram Experiment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Milgram Experiment - Research Paper Example This research paper will concentrate on discussing the Milgram experiment, the method used in this experiment and the results of the experiment. Literature review Most people would answer no, when ordered by a person in authority to deliver an electrical shock of 400-volts to another person, but Stanley Milgram conducted obedience experiments that showed results which were surprising. Experiments like this offer a disturbing and powerful look in the power of obedience and authority. Shortly after the trial of Adolph Eichmann had begun who was a World War II criminal Milgram started his experiments. Adolph Eichmann’s defense roused Milgram’s interest when he said he was following instructions when he ordered millions of Jews to be killed. "Could it be true that Eichmann and his were just following orders accomplices during the Holocaust? Could we call them all accomplices?" (Milgram, 1974); this is the question Milgram posed in his book Obedience to Authority. The Milgra m Experiment method The Milgram experiment involved 40 participants who were men who were recruited in for exchange for $4.50 due to their participation. In this experiment, Milgram had to develop a shock generator that was intimidating. This shock generator had shock levels that started at 30-volts and had an increment of 15-volt up to 450-volts. Switches had terms labeled slight shock, moderate shock, severe shock and finally two switches that were labeled XXX. Each of the participants took the role of a teacher delivering a shock to a student each time there was a production of an incorrect answer. Participants in this case thought that they delivered ideal shocks to the respective student, while actually the student in the experiment was pretending to get a shock. The participant heard the learner plead for a release or complain of a heart condition as the experiment progressed. After reaching the 300-volts level, the learner had a demand to be released and banged on the wall. T he learner refused to answer and remained silent, refusing to answer more questions. Milgram, who was the experimenter, then gave instructions to the participant to deliver another shock when there is silence treating silence as a response that is incorrect. Most of these participants asked Milgram whether to continue delivering these shocks. Then Milgram issued a series of commands to determine what the participant would follow his orders. Milgram first commanded the participant to continue delivering shocks; he then commanded them that the experiment required that they continue delivering shocks. He then commanded them that it was essential that they continued delivering these shocks. Finally, he commanded them that they had no other choice but to continue delivering those shocks. In his book Obedience to Authority Milgram quotes that social psychology reveals a lesson that not what kind of person a man is, but the kind of a situation in which he can be, that determine the action of a person, (Milgram, 1974). Milgram Experiment results The measure of obedience was determined by the levels of shock that participants were willing to subject to the learner. Milgram once posed a question to a group of students at Yale University as to how far they thought most participants were willing to go. The prediction was that not more than 3 percent of the participan