Abstract This paper compares two confectionery companies: Hershey Foods Corporation and Tootsie Roll Industries. The confectionery industry is shown to be highly competitive, and the companies worthy of investment will be those that combine the abilities to maximize sales, minimize costs and maximize operating efficiencies. An analysis of their annual reports and financial statements is carried out to find out how profitable and viable they are, as well as how they manage and finance their operations.
From the Paper "The global confectionery industry, estimated at $100 billion USD, has never been more challenging, or more competitive. The world's leading confectionary companies struggle for market share in a mature industry characterized by increased numbers of firms competing for the same business, price erosion, and the necessity to produce more to maintain profit margins. To compete effectively, manufacturers are challenged to create new products, maximize efficiencies at the factory and corporate level and increase penetration within existing markets (Candy Industry, 1998). "
The influence of such companies as AOL, Microsoft, IBM, and Dell. Detailed account of how these pioneer tech companies led the way for the rest of the market.
1,761 words (approx. 7 pages), 3 sources, 2001, $ 56.95
Abstract This paper discusses several hi-tech stocks: Microsoft, Dell, IBM, and AOL (America Online). The author gives a brief background on each company, focusing on stock movements from the inception of each company to the present. Included are charts which are used to compare company performances.
From the Paper "In today's ever-growing economy, businesses are making incredible financial gains, especially businesses that produce high technology goods and services. By following the stock market, one can easily see how these high-technology companies are performing. Within this project I will be evaluating the performance of four businesses that have achieved astronomical gains in the stock market. These four companies are Microsoft, Dell, IBM, and AOL. As well as evaluating these companies, I will show how the common person can invest in the stock market to secure his/her future."
Abstract This paper discusses the factors that contribute to an business' success and how they come together to create a profitable company and supportive environment ensuring success into the future.
From the Paper "While the profitability of corporations is typically measured in dollars, overall success can be measured in terms of profitability plus the attainment of organizational goals. This success derives from a synergy of inputs, including the work of employees who are dedicated, skilled and knowledgeable, and a management team that understands how to inspire competent and motivated performance through sensitive and responsive management of a continually changing workplace. The cost of socially-responsible management is an investment: the workplace environment directly impacts the motivation and productivity of the workforce. Simply put: happy, secure workers are productive workers."
Abstract This paper examines the new monetary unit in Europe, the euro. The author looks at the groundwork that led up to creating a common monetary system, the methods of circulation, the coins' designs and denominations, and the problems that may arise from the system.
From the Paper "On January 1, 2002 over 300 million European citizens saw the Euro transform from a virtual currency into reality. Twelve countries ended their use of individual currency and joined forces in creating a uniform monetary system. These twelve countries are Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Britain, Sweden and Denmark choose not to switch to the Euro. The creation and implementation of the Euro was a long and tedious process that began in 1958 with the Treaty of Rome. The objective of this treaty was to create a common European market, which would benefit the regional economy by bringing these countries closer together economically."
Tags: coins, currency, money, exchange, silver, uniform, nickel, market, system
Abstract In a recent Business Week article on September 20, 2001, Pepsi Co Inc. created a line of young men's and women's apparel, footwear, and accessories that would serve not as a crude brand billboard but rather reflect the lifestyles of Pepsi and Mountain Dew drinkers. Why would Pepsi invest in such a venture even though the Pepsi icon might not be visible on these products? Do you think this marketing strategy is a trend or an effective long-term strategy?
From the Paper " PepsiCo Inc. is best known for its soft drink Pepsi and Mountain dew and yet, over the years it has also created logo items, such as T-shirts, hats and duffel bags with the Pepsi globe design. These are part of its marketing strategy to promote the drinks in the minds of the people making the drink a part of the life of their life. But that sort of marketing has its limitations. These items can be taken to the beach but they are not a 'brand'. In today's lifestyle a brand name is what is needed to succeed. It is the brand name that grabs the attention of the consumer and retains their loyalty as price, quality etc. become associated with the name accordingly. So the logo accessories that were promoted by Pepsi may have been used but they did not create an awareness of Pepsi in any market other than that of soft drinks."
Abstract This paper compares two different marketing strategies: humor and sex. The author discusses how comedy prevails over sexuality in advertisements because comedy is more memorable and generally more easily applies to the product. The paper is based on six advertisements, half comedy and half sexuality and spends a section discussing each and its pros and cons.
From the Paper "Both humorous and sexual themes are used in advertisements because marketing executives believe these to be the most direct way to sell a product. Marketing executives rely on comedy and sex to sell their products, but while interest may be generated for the ad itself using these methods, interest in the actual product can only be obtained if the comedy or sex is realistically applicable to the product itself. When comparing the two kinds of ads, comedy ads are generally much better at showing applicability than are sexual ads
Abstract This paper reviews the roles, activities and impact of the WTO. The paper includes case studies involving China vs. India, the U.S. vs. the E.U. etc.
From the Paper "The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international organization that creates and enforces rules for ensuring free and smooth trade between the countries of the world. With a mojority of world's countries as members (143 as on November 11, 2001), WTO's role assumes great significance, particularly since today's world is disunited over the exact interpretation of globalization of international trade and the means of achieving it. In this paper, we will probe the role of WTO in the process of globalization and how it's activities affect the lives of people in different parts of the world. In this process we will analyze it's contribution to the economic, political, social and cultural systems of the world."
This paper analyzes the concept of "change", theories behind it, why it is necessary and how organizations need to cope with change in order to survive.
1,750 words (approx. 7 pages), 13 sources, 2001, $ 56.95
Abstract This paper analyses the concept of "change", theories behind it, why it is necessary and how organizations need to cope with change in order to survive.
From the paper:
"Change requires change. Organizations today are making abundant changes internally to cope with a highly turbulent external environment. With frequent reorganizing, downsizing, rightsizing, delayering, flattening the pyramid, teaming and outsourcing taking place, careers and career opportunities are in pandemonium resulting from the progressive destabilization of relationships between people and organizations."
Abstract This paper traces the history of human resource management leading to the modern day. It examines the difficulties and challenges which are faced in this profession as well as the conveniences which are experienced due to breakthroughs in technology.
From the paper:
"In today's ever-changing business world Human Resource management is an integral part of a companies success or failure. Human Resources departments ?balance the demands of several different roles: business partner, internal consultant, operational and administrative expert and both employee and employer advocate.? (Brown, 1998, para 8)
"The modern ideas of HR management have their roots in early 20th century theorem and New Age innovation. The managing of people, as a resource vs. just personnel is an improvement pioneered in the latter half of the past century. Differing schools of thought exist on the best way to achieve HR enlightenment. Some value structures while others take a more free form approach. Whatever the dogma, the ultimate desired end result is a competitive advantage over the competition and staying power in a volatile business environment."
Abstract This paper looks at the two different accounting systems for mergers and acquisitions, and evaluates their effectiveness. It uses the merger of Idol Steel and Crown Welding to demonstrate their point. First the details of the merger are first examined using the pooling of interests accounting system, and then, by the purchase accounting system. After the two cases are presented, the author presents a direct comparison of the numbers and the methods used to do the calculations, to show the strengths and weaknesses of these two methods. Through this comparison, the author substantiates the FASB' s elimination of the pooling method in order to improve financial reporting.
From the Paper "Accounting for a business combination using the pooling method is conceptually straightforward. Upon completion of the business combination, the balance sheet of the combined entity reflects the sum of the book values of the assets, liabilities and owners's equity accounts of the combining entities immediately before the combination takes place (Walter, pg 29). The pooling method treats the entities as if they had always been together and thus the combination as "non-event" (Baker, Lembke, and King, 2002, pg 20). Unlike the purchase method when utilizing the pooling-of-interests method it is not necessary to indicate which entity is the acquirer and which is the acquired (Journal of Accountancy, July 1999). However, in order to use the pooling method there are twelve criteria that must be met. If one of the criteria is not met the use of the purchase method is required but if all twelve criteria are met, the pooling method is required (Baker, Lembke, and King, pg 27)."
Abstract This paper looks at five different tasks and at five important functions that a manager plays in insuring a company's success. The roles that a manager plays include--motivating employees, coordinating different workers in either the company, or within a specific division, insuring that the company's goals are maintained, insuring clear communication with the workers in the department and finally, encouraging employees to bring innovative ideas to management's attention.
From the Paper "Third, the manager must ensure that in addition to being coordinated with each other, the work that each employee does is also coordinated with the overall goals of the company ? something that again each individual worker may not be in the position to assess on his own or her own. This is not to imply that individual workers are being negligent; indeed, the reverse may well be true. A worker engaged as deeply as possible in ensuring that his or her own corner of the company's business is being taken care of may simply not have time to attend to what other workers are doing. And this inability of each worker to know what other workers are doing is, of course, made even more likely when not all aspects of a company's business are carried out in the same building, as is so often the case today. It is hardly reasonable to ask the average worker in an American factory to know what someone in Singapore is doing, even if the subcomponents that the two are producing will eventually end up adjacent to each other in a CPU or subcompact. Such coordination is, however, the job of the manager."
Abstract This paper explains in detail the consumer benefits of trading music files over the Internet on the Napster web site. It provides a historical overview of the growth of the company and its enormous popularity. It touches upon the copywriting controversy being fought in court.
From the Paper "The Napster is one of the most controversial and popular systems produced by the Internet. Unlike the many dot.com companies that have fallen by the wayside in droves, the controversy surrounding the Napster rages on and its popularity continues to grow. Still, the question remains, is it a form of artistic piracy? Or is it the greatest way for consumers to explore the wide range of musical forms and musical talent in the world and on the web?
The history of the Napster began in January 1999, making it fairly old in terms of Internet chronology. Shawn Fanning created it while he was a nineteen-year- old student at Northeastern University. At present, Shawn Fanning lives in San Mateo, California, just a few minutes from the Napster offices. He rooms with Sean Parker, the twenty-year-old co-founder of Napster Inc. (Rollingstone.com) Their invention allows students to download songs for free from the Internet without buying the band's album, without paying any royalties to either the music company or the musicians who produced the music. At the end of 1999, 20 million Internet surfers had made use of the technology. By 2000, the number increased to nearly 70 million. (CNET News.com)"
Abstract This paper focuses on the seven habits listed in the book and examines how these can be used in both personal and professional venues as well as the ways in which these pieces of advice are also fundamentally limited in key aspects.
From the Paper "Stephen Covey's "seven habits of highly effective people" are pretty straightforward and simple: 1) Be proactive; 2) begin with the end in mind; 3) put FIRST things first; 4) think win-win; 5) seek first to understand, then to be understood; 6) synergize; and 7) sharpen the saw. The first three of these habits Covey considers to be private victories, the second three "public victories" and the seventh habit is the renewal process that encompasses all of the other habits."
Abstract This paper examines the Just in Time (JIT) System which IT organizations are using to get more innovative procurement and asset management approaches. This system provides dynamic capacity capability with practical and prearranged budget accountability. It offers a rapidly improving server and storage vendor. The paper goes on to give examples of several companies such as: Toyota, Ford and Chrysler. It also compares this system to other traditional systems such as the push and pull systems.
From the Paper "The main idea behind the principle of Just in time (JIT) is to exclude the roots of manufacturing waste by getting just the right quantity of raw materials and generating just the right quantity of products in the right place at the right time. This manufacturing management method was first designed, developed and implemented by the Japanese in 1970"s. The first company to use this technique in their manufacturing plants was Toyota. Toyota's main interest at that time was to meet consumer demands. Because of the success of JIT management, Taiichi Ohno of Toyota was named the Father of JIT. "
After the first introduction of JIT by Toyota, many companies followed up and around mid 1970s", it gained extended support and widely used by many companies.
One motivation for the Japanese for developing JIT and some other better production techniques was that after World War II, Japanese people had a very strong incentive to develop good manufacturing techniques to help them rebuild their economy. They also had strong working ethics, which concentrated more on work rather than leisure. The Japanese pursued continuous improvement and committed their lives to work. The Japanese were group conscious rather than individualistic and worked hard to achieve a common goal. These motivations were what drove and energized the Japanese economy to succeed. "
Abstract This paper discusses the principles of Total Quality Management and how it was used in several companies in America and Japan such as: Ford and Xerox. It also discusses the MBO Model and Deming's universal fourteen points for management. It gives tips for managers and a step-by-step guide for implementing Total Quality Management.
From the Paper "The term Total Quality Management or TQM is defined as a mutual type of doing business that focuses on relying on the skills and abilities of the labor as well as the management in order to bring a continuous improvement in the quality and productivity of the organization by working in the form of teams. However, this concept of quality has not emerged overnight. Total quality management has its roots back to the era of 1970s and 80s when the US companies were struggling for their survival in an adverse atmosphere of recession, decline in business, deregulations, increasing competition, growing trade deficit, low productivity and a more aware and educated customer demanding more quality products. The giants of the American economy such as Ford motors and Xerox has suffered from huge losses in this period because of the unfavorable market conditions and increasing competition from the foreign competitors. This was the time when the true concept of TQM begins to emerge and companies started realizing the importance of quality."
