Tobacco Advertisement Why Restrict Marketing of Tobacco...

Guns do not kill people; people kill people. Cigarettes do not kill people; people who choose to smoke are killing themselves. The health risks of using tobacco are common knowledge. It is a known fact that if someone smokes their chance of getting lung cancer is increased drastically, yet so many Americans choose to do so. The FDA is taking steps to tighten the rules of tobacco marketing, some of these rules will include prohibiting self-service tobacco displays in stores, restricting vending-machine sales, and forbidding most free samples of tobacco products. (Reid pg. 1) These are just small hits to the big tobacco industry, but the FDA has no intention of stopping there. The question that comes to mind is, why attack the advertising†¦show more content†¦The amount paid in federal excise tax would foot the bill for all of NASAs space flights on an annual basis. (Tobacco†¦Working for America pg. 8) The tobacco industry is armed with billions of dollars in profit. It h as extensive connections to Capitol Hill in Washington. Tobacco advertisement contributed 9.6 million in the last election cycle alone. The Industry’s roots branch through every state capitol where budget-makers count on $7.5 billion a year in cigarette tax. In order for the big tobacco campaign to maintain its glamorous appeal, contributors like the automobile racing circuit, and a host of magazines catering to women and minorities give $5 billion in advertisements to the Industry each year. (Falk Pg. 2) Last year, cigarette companies spent $460 million on advertising of its tobacco products alone, most of it on print ads. Womans Day ran $10.4 million worth of tobacco ads, Family Circle $7.8 million, McCalls $5.7 million, Glamour $5.6 million, Mademoiselle $3.8 million and Vogue $3.9 million (Falk. Pg. 2). The tobacco industry uses sponsorship and media to advertise its products, the best selling product being cigarettes. 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The Battle Of The Confederacy During The Civil War

Discussion Introduction â€Å"See what a lot of land these fellows hold, of which Vicksburg is the key! The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket† (Korn, 1985, p. 17). This quotation from the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, demonstrates how vital the city of Vicksburg was to the survival of the Confederacy during the Civil War. The city, which is located on the Mississippi River on the western border of Mississippi, was under Confederate control for over two years of the war, when it was surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant and his Union forces on July 4, 1863 after a successful siege. Many consider the Union takeover of Vicksburg, combined with the Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg, which concluded just one day before, as the turning point of the war in favor of the United States. Evaluating Evidence Political Factors. One of the main reasons that Vicksburg was so significant to the Confederacy was its strategic location. 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Management Control Systems Final Written Case Assignment Free Essays

Management Control Systems Final Written Case Assignment Budgeting and Performance Evaluation at the Berkshire Toy Company Prepared for: Karen M. Foust, Ph. D. We will write a custom essay sample on Management Control Systems Final Written Case Assignment or any similar topic only for you Order Now , C. P. A. Adjunct Professor at Tulane University A. B. Freeman School of Business New Orleans, Louisiana Prepared by: Andres A. Calderon andres. calderon@ieminc. com PO Box 21420 Baton Rouge, LA 70893 Date: September 4, 2000 Background Janet McKinley’s father, Franklin Berkshire, founded Berkshire Toy Company (BTC) in 1974. In 1988 Janet worked her way up to the position of Assistant to the President after completing her MBA. Janet promoted employee participation and teamwork. The company went public in 1991, and in 1993 Mr. Berkshire retired, leaving Janet as corporate CEO. In 1995 Quality Products Corporation, a company with a wide variety of products, acquired BTC for $23 million. Janet had an agreement that allowed her to continue to work for BTC for at least 5 years at an annual salary of $120,000. The company had a staff of 241 employees organized in three different departments: purchasing (11 employees managed by David Hall), production (175 employees managed by Bill Wilford), and marketing (52 employees managed by Rita Smith)1. BTC produces a fifteen-inch, fully jointed, washable, stuffed teddy bear. The bear is packaged in a designer box and is accompanied by an unconditional lifetime guarantee, and a piece of chocolate candy. The bears are accessorized according to customer order specifications. Internet sales began in 1997. Janet has just received the June 30, 1998 income statement showing Operating Income at $1,632,317 below budget, while Total Revenue is at $1,440,487 above budget (see Exhibit 1). Janet is having trouble understanding how the company’s revenue is thriving, but the company is not generating profits as expected. Current Situation BTC is a decentralized division of Quality Products Corporation that has been experiencing growth in sales over the past four years (see Exhibit 2a). BTC’s strategy is to have an enhanced product image, build customer brand loyalty through product differentiation, and produce an all American quality product. BTC implemented a management compensation plan in 1997; the plan is structured as follows: †¢ †¢ David at Purchasing: 20% of net materials price variance, assuming favorable Rita at Marketing: 10% of excess variance of net revenue, assuming favorable 1 The remaining three employees are Janet, her secretary, and her secretary’s assistant †¢ Bill at Production: 3% of net variance in material, labor, variable overhead, labor rate variance, and the variable and fixed overhead spending, assuming favorable variances The bear is hand made and the quality of material acquired by purchasing can negatively affect production generating excess waste or potentially jeopardizing the quality of the product. Marketing sells the bear through catalogs, company’s retail store adjacent to the factory, Internet sales, wholesale to department stores, toy boutiques, and other specialty retailers. Most orders are shipped the same day as they are received. Commissions of 3% are paid on retail store sales and sales to wholesale buyers, no commissions are paid on catalog sales. Internet sales began in 1997 with bears being sold at a wholesale price of $32. The Marketing and the Purchasing departments seem to be operating well, but the Production department manager has identified the following problems: production was affected by materials ruined during flood, raw material is substandard, high rate of product stock-out, deviations from standard production plans, overtime to met sale demands is high, overworked staff, plant is at maximum capacity, and maintenance is almost impossible to be scheduled. Analysis of the Case Non-quantitative BTC could work an alliance with its supplier in such a way that raw material is guaranteed to meet high levels of quality. Currently Bill in production receives the raw material from David at purchasing, so inspections for defective material happen at the time of production and under the pressure of orders piling up awaiting production. David does not have any incentive to provide quality, but just to reduce his cost. Current incentive plan is not working to the advantage of the Production department, it is not fair to have bonus linked to factors that cannot be controlled by the responsible manager. Incentives are structured in such a way that they encourage â€Å"low balling† revenue figures by the Marketing and â€Å"high balling† raw material price budgets by the Purchasing manager. A budget of zero sales to be achieved by the Internet deployment, supported by an expensive national radio campaign, is not acceptable and should not be rewarded. Quantitative Analysis The favorable sale revenue of $1,440,487 can be explained by a favorable impact of Internet sales2 (+307%), an unfavorable effect of the Retail and Catalog sales (-214%), and a negligible budget variance (+7%) explained by the Wholesale efforts. Ninety one percent (equivalent to $2,300,980) of the unfavorable Total Variable Cost variance ($2,515,896) can be attributed to unfavorable variances in: Direct Labor (39% or $980,305), Variable Overhead (27% or $679,361), and Variable Selling Expense (25% or $641,314) (See Exhibit 4). Almost the entire unfavorable variance of fixed cost can be attributed to the unfavorable variance in Selling Expenses. The Direct Labor3 variance is mainly due to a variance of 42% (from 1. 2 budgeted to 1. 7 actual) labor hours per unit and a variance in salary rate from $8. 0 budgeted vs. $8. 17 actual. The Variable Overhead also affected by the unfavorable 1. 7 hours per unit of direct labor, contributed with an unfavorable amount of $181,639 (see Exhibit 6c). The Variable Overhead Cost per Hour went up due to the additional overhead. The Variable Selling Expense caused an unfavorable variance of $ 443,100 due to the added cost per unit (see Exhibit 6c). Average price per unit sold $44. 37 compared to a $46. 45 budget. The mix variance stemmed mostly from a price difference between Retail Catalog ($49) and Internet ($42) sales. The 280,000 units are distributed between Retail Catalog (85%) and Wholesale (15%) sales. Using the Static Budget Mix expected sales are of $15,122,083 (see Exhibit 5). Fixed Cost Selling Expenses caused an unfavorable variance of $560,192 to the budget, compared to a negligible favorable increase of $261 to budget due to the Fixed Cost Administrative Expense. 4 Almost half ($225,627 favorable) of this unfavorable variance is counteracted by the higher than budgeted output and a fixed manufacturing overhead per unit of $ 1. 674 compared against the budgeted $1. 97. The overall unfavorable $114,910 Fixed Manufacturing Overhead is due to the variance in labor hours per unit. Due to 2 3 Or better said a very unrealistic â€Å"low ball† budget of Internet sales I attribute this to the fact that the company works on an â€Å"order received basis†, instead of forecasting production. the incentive structure at BTC, David Hall has been buying â€Å"cheap† polyester fill ing and accessories, causing an unfavorable price efficiency variance of $49,609. Sales and Total Cost unfavorable variance of $ 2,669,607, compared to $1,632,317 budgeted can be attributed to poor sales mix performance (unfavorable Budgeted Sales Variance $675,589) and unfavorable Labor Volume Variance ($437,338)5. Incentive Program It is my opinion that the incentive program at BTC is the major contributor to the unfavorable variances. David Hall is rewarded for purchasing â€Å"cheap† raw material, which is affecting production. Rita is rewarded for selling products over the Internet at prices that are not appropriate. For a bonus allocation in dollars please refer to Exhibit 7, Incentive Plan (better named: â€Å"Let’s all gang against poor old Bill†). While David pockets $9,636. 62 ($48,183 @ 20%) by purchasing substandard polyester fillings for the bear, Bill looses $2K due to additional filler required for production of a quality bear. There is no reasoning on how Rita sets the price for the Internet bear. Rita set a low price on the bear causing an unfavorable mix variance and there is no reasoning on how she established the budgets; overall she is favored by both moves, hurting the company’s profits. Overtime This is due to the inefficient use of labor, adding to the low morale of the employees. The unit labor requirement went from 1. 2 to 1. 7 due to the poor quality of raw material. The pay rate went up 17 cents due to new hires that had to be enticed to work at BTC. All these problems can be associated with the order base production scheduling, causing a â€Å"knew jerk reaction† in the system every time a new order is received, forcing employees to work overtime (See Exhibit 8 for more details). The case makes it clear that there have been no technology improvements in the past five years at BTC. Fixed manufacturing overhead is favorable due to the higher volume of items sold, but it does not reflect on the performance of the firm, since this is due to the low Internet price. I assume that most of this expense is to cover the radio campaign and the Internet cost, increasing volume with no concerns on the effect on Production 5 I blame this on Rita for selling products at less than reasonable price, only looking after her compensation. She increased volume with no concerns on the effect this might have on production. 4 Recommendations Production Bill should consider going to a forecasted production cycle, allowing a better distribution of the work load over the year (reducing overtime from 9. 11 to 8. 47), allowing time to mentor new employees (as attrition rate would be hire), allowing for scheduled maintenance without worrying about capacity during peak production times, and dedicate more time to the cleaning of the machinery (there is a substantial drop in cleaning material cost, in this industry this can be associated with a higher maintenance expense, see Exhibit 2b). The quality management effort should be integrated to supports the overall strategy of maintaining a high quality product at BTC. The integration of marketing and production could yield better production schedules to be developed; this integration can be accomplished by establishing shared goals between the two departments. With better production schedules BTC could identify bottlenecks and make sure that those are never starved for work6, reducing overtime demands during peak demand cycles. Overtime Premiums have been rising at an alarming rate (1619% in 1998, 1055% in 1997, see Exhibit 2b); this has very bad consequences on the company’s bottom line7. Production planning should increasing employee morale, allow for proper maintenance of equipment and reduce the risk of breakage during peak production times, and allow for planned training of new employees. In order to offer a higher quality product and impact the reduction of overtime, Bill has to consider upgrading some of the outdated equipment, especially replacing the equipment that reduces overtime and maintenance cost. The company is operating near to capacity; new equipment should alleviate the production bottlenecks and provide the foundation to reduce the overtime labor cost. If Bill is not familiar with new technologies in this industry, he should seek support from consultants in this area. Incentive Plan The incentive model should encourage accurate reporting by encouraging the right behavior, thus discouraging â€Å"low or high balling† while developing budgets (see Exhibit 3). David should be rewarded for finding the least expensive input material, without compromise of quality. Samples of material to be 6 Technology could also be deployed to reduce the bottlenecks, especially the labor-intensive bottlenecks. purchased should be analyzed by Production prior to committing to the shipment and purchase. This can only be accomplished if purchases are based on forecasted production, also allowing David to have more time for the negotiation of better prices for quality raw materials. Rita should continue to be rewarded for selling products, and growing markets. Instead of basing Rita’s bonus on the Static budget, her bonus should be evaluated against the Flexible Budget. In general static budgets are departmental goals that jointly represent corporate goals. Flexible Budgets incorporate some of the present variations in prices, markets, production, costs, etc. that tend to invalidate the Static Budget over time. The incentive plan for BTC should have a mix of departmental goals and division goals, so that there is a better integration among the different departmental goals. Bonuses should reflect management’s favorable performance; therefore, managers should have adequate control over those drivers that affect BTC’s outcomes. BTC should design a Balanced Scorecard as an integrative effort to support efforts of the individual managers of the different department in an orchestrated effort. Balanced Scorecard BTC’s Balance Scorecards should be aligned to support the corporate strategy, both short and long term. Incentives should be assigned to the degree the different measures contribute to the corporate goals. Managers shall respond to incentive, thus supporting corporate goals (see Exhibit 9 for details). A Balanced Scorecard typically includes measures in each of four areas: Financial, Customer, Internal Business Processes, and Learning and Growth8. Some organizations add other dimension to support their strategy, or replace one of the four perspectives with one that uniquely reflects their mission and strategy. In the case of BTC the identified areas are: Corporate (BTC), Marketing, Purchasing, Production, and Management9. The proposed set of Balanced Scorecards for BTC is presented in Exhibit 10. It sounds like the previous manager was a former student of Dr. Page, since the â€Å"two envelop† strategy was employed. First envelope: Blame the predecessor, write loss off. Second envelope: Prepare two envelopes. This case is common in situations with companies that pay bonuses. That’s why companies are moving into options. 8 The Balanced Scorecard, Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, Harvard Business School Press, 1996 9 Management as part of the Balanced Scorecards tends to be forgotten. Management (upper) has a responsibility to support the different departments with information on quality, cycle time, and cost. 7 Exhibit 1 Berkshire Toy Company A Division of Quality Products Corporation Preliminary Statement of Divisional Operating Income for the Year Ended June 30, 1998 Units Sold Retail and Catalog Internet Wholesale Total Revenue Variable production costs Direct Material Acrylic pile fabric 10-mm acrylic eyes 45-mm plastic joints Polyester fiber filling Woven label Designer box Accessories Total Direct Material Direct Labor Variable Overhead Total Variable Production Cost Variable Selling Expense Contribution Margin Fixed Costs Manufacturing Overhead Selling Expenses Admin Expenses Total fixed Costs Operating Income Actual Units 325,556 $ 8,573,285 174,965 $ 4,428,018 105,429 $ 1,445,184 45,162 $ 14,446,487 Master (Static) Budget 280,000 $ 11,662,000 $ $ 1,344,000 $ 13,006,000 Master Budget Variance 45,556 $ (3,088,715) $ 4,428,018 $ 101,184 $ 1,440,487 Unfavorable Favorable Favorable Favorable $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 256,422 125,637 246,002 450,856 16,422 69,488 66,013 1,230,840 3,668,305 1,725,6 65 6,624,810 1,859,594 5,962,083 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 233,324 106,400 196,000 365,400 14,000 67,200 33,600 1,015,924 2,688,000 1,046,304 4,750,228 1,218,280 7,037,492 661,920 4,463,000 1,124,000 6,248,920 788,572 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 3,098 19,237 50,002 85,456 2,422 2,288 32,413 214,916 980,305 679,361 1,874,582 641,314 (1,075,409) (3,023) 560,192 (261) 556,908 (1,632,317) Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Favorable Unfavorable Favorable Unfavorable $ 658,897 $ 5,023,192 $ 1,123,739 $ 6,805,828 $ (843,745) Unfavorable Exhibit 2a Company Growth based on Schedule of Actual Manufacturing Overhead Expenditures for years Ended June 30, 1994 — 1998 Units Produced 350,000 300,000 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 – Units 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Year Exhibit 2b Variable Cost Associated with BTC growth Berkshire Toy Company A Division of Quality Products Corporation Schedule of Actual Manufacturing Overhead Expenditures for years Ended June 30, 1994 — 1998 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 325,556 271,971 252,114 227,546 201,763 Units Produced Variable Overhead Payroll Taxes and fringes Overtime Premiums Cleaning Supplies Maintenance Labor Maintenance Suppliers Miscellaneous Total $ 840,963 $ 423,970 $ 4,993 $ 415,224 $ 27,373 $ 13,142 $ 1,725,665 $ 524,846 $ 24,665 $ 6,842 $ 256,883 $ 15,944 $ 11,244 $ 840,424 $ 467,967 $ 2,136 $ 6,119 $ 232,798 $ 12,851 $ 9,921 $ 731,792 $ 413,937 $ 1,874 $ 5,485 $ 244,037 $ 15,917 $ 8,906 $ 690,156 $ 356,150 $ 1,965 $ 4,996 $ 216,142 $ 14,323 $ 7,794 $ 601,370 The following table shows the increases in variable cost associated with the production growth. Variable Overhead Growth Payroll Taxes and fringes Overtime Premiums Cleaning Supplies Maintenance Labor Maintenance Suppliers Miscellaneous Units Produced 1998 1997 1996 1995 60% 12% 13% 16% 1619% 1055% 14% -5% -27% 12% 12% 10% 62% 10% -5% 13% 72% 24% -19% 11% 17% 13% 11% 14% 20% 8% 11% 13% Increases in Variable Cost Associated with the Production Growth 1800% 1600% 1400% 1200% 1000% Percent 800% 600% 400% 200% 0% 1994 -200% 1995 1996 Year 1997 1998 1999 Payroll Taxes and fringes Maintenance Suppliers Overtime Premiums Miscellaneous Cleaning Supplies Units Produced Maintenance Labor Exhibit 2c Fixed Cost Associated with BTC growth Berkshire Toy Company A Division of Quality Products Corporation Schedule of Actual Manufacturing Overhead Expenditures for years Ended June 30, 1994 — 1998 Fixed Overhead Utilities Depreciation—machinery Depreciation—building Insurance Property Taxes Supervisory salaries Total 1998 $ 121,417 $ 28,500 $ 88,750 $ 62,976 $ 70,101 $ 287,153 $ 658,897 1997 $ 119,786 $ 28,500 $ 88,750 $ 61,716 $ 70,101 $ 274,538 $ 643,391 1996 $ 117,243 $ 28,500 $ 88,750 $ 57,211 $ 68,243 $ 275,198 $ 635,145 1995 $ 116,554 $ 28,500 $ 88,750 $ 55,544 $ 68,243 $ 269,018 $ 626,609 1994 $ 113,229 $ 28,500 $ 88,750 $ 54,988 $ 66,114 $ 254,469 $ 606,050 The following table shows the increases in fixed cost associated with the production growth. Fixed Overhead Growth Utilities Depreciation–machinery Depreciation–building Insurance Property Taxes Supervisory salaries Units Produced 1998 1% 0% 0% 2% 0% 5% 20% 1997 2% 0% 0% 8% 3% 0% 8% 1996 1% 0% 0% 3% 0% 2% 11% 1995 3% 0% 0% 1% 3% 6% 13% Increases in Fixed Cost Associated with the Production Growth 25% 20% 15% Percent 10% 5% 0% 1994 -5% 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Year Utilities Property Taxes Depreciation–machinery Supervisory salaries Depreciation–building Units Produced Insurance Exhibit 3 Incentive Model for Accurate Reporting10 ?b1* forecast + b2 * (actual – forecast) if actual ? forecast Incentive = ? b1* forecast – b3 * (forecast – actual) if actual forecast b1: rewards are positively related to forecasted sales, give managers and incentive to forecast high b2: sales should be higher than the forecast, b2 affect this component b3: w hen actual sales are less than the forecast, this plan penalizes the manager For example: b1 b2 b3 5% 3% 7% Actual Sales Forecasted Sales Incentive 1000 1000 50 1100 1000 53 1200 1000 56 1000 1100 48 1100 1100 55 1200 1100 58 1000 1200 46 1100 1200 53 1200 1200 60 10 Example from: Managerial Accounting an Introduction to Concepts, Methods, and Uses by Maher Stickney Weil. Exhibit 4 Total Variable Cost Variance Contributions Variance Cost Contribution Acrylic pile fabric 1% 10-mm acrylic eyes 1% 45-mm plastic joints 2% Polyester fiber filling 3% Woven label 0% Designer box 0% Accessories 1% Direct Labor 39% Variable Overhead 27% Variable Selling Expense 25% Total Variable Cost Variance Contributions Acrylic pile fabric 45-mm plastic joints Woven label Accessories Variable Overhead 10-mm acrylic eyes Polyester fiber filling Designer box Direct Labor Variable Selling Expense Exhibit 5 Analysis of Sales Flexible Flexible Budget Budget (Budgeted Units Sales Volume Mix)(5) Variance $1,897,427 $$218,656 $2,116,083 $13,559,427 276723 $0 $1,562,656 48833 $15,122,083 325556. 1464 Actual Retail and Catalog Internet Wholesale Units Price Master (Static) Budget $11,662,000 $$1,344,000 $13,006,000 Budgeted Budgeted Mix in Total Sales Sales Mix Mix PercentagesBudgeted Price Variance Variance 238000 0 42000 280000 85% 0% 15% 100% $49. 00 $42. 00 $32. 00 $46. 45 $(3,088,715) $(4,986,142) $4,428,018 $4,428,018 $ 101,184 $(117,472) $1,440,487 $(675,596) $8,573,285 174,965 $49. 00 $4,428,018 105,429 $42. 00 $1,445,184 45,162 $32. 00 $44. 37 Total Revenue $14,446,487 325556 Exhibit 6a Schedule of Standard Costs: Fifteen-Inch Berkshire Bear Table 2 Standard 280,000 Units Quantity Allowed per Unit Direct Material Acrylic pile fabric 10-mm acrylic eyes 45-mm plastic joints Polyester fiber filling Woven label Designer box Accessories Direct Material per unit Total Direct Material Direct Labor Sewing Stuffing and cutting Assembly Dressing and Packaging Total direct labor 0. 02381 2 5 0. 9 1 1 Input Price $ $ $ $ $ $ 35. 00 0. 19 0. 14 1. 45 0. 05 0. 24 Standard Cost Per Unit $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 0. 83335 0. 38000 0. 70000 1. 30500 0. 05000 0. 24000 0. 12000 3. 62835 1,015,938 0. 50 0. 30 0. 30 0. 10 1. 20 $ 8 $ 9. 60 Variable manufacturing overhead 1. 2 $ 3. 114 $ 3. 7368 Fixed manufacturing overhead 1. 2 $ 1. 970 $ 2. 3640 Exhibit 6b Schedule of Actual Manufacturing Costs for year Ended June 30, 1998 Table 3 Actual 325,556 Units Quantity Allowed per Unit Direct Material Acrylic pile fabric 10-mm acrylic eyes 45-mm plastic joints Polyester fiber filling Woven label Designer box Accessories Total Direct Material Direct Material per unit Direct Labor Sewing Stuffing and cutting Assembly Dressing and Packaging Total direct labor Overtime Premium Other Variable Manufacturing Overhead Fixed manufacturing overhead 7,910 661,248 1,937,023 344,165 328,447 315,854 Input Price $ $ $ $ $ $ 32. 4174 0. 1900 0. 1270 1. 3100 0. 0500 0. 2200 Total Cost $ 256,422 $ 125,637 $ 246,002 $ 450,856 $ 16,422 $ 69,488 $ 66,013 $ 1,230,840 $ 3. 780732 189,211 104,117 121,054 34,615 448,997 103,787 $ $ 8. 1700 4. 0850 $ 3,668,305 $ 423,970 $ 1,301,695 $ 658,897 $ 7,283,707 Exhibit 6c Analysis of Cost Static Budget Direct Material per unit Direct Material per unit Units Total Materials Labor Cost per Unit Total direct labor per unit Labor Hours Hourly Rate Total Labor Cost Variable Manufacturing Overhead Variable Overhead Cost per Hour Labor Hours Variable Manufacturing Overhead Variable Selling Expenses Cost per Unit Units Total Variable Selling Expenses Fixed Manufacturing Overhead Cost per hour of labor Total hours Fixed Manufacturing Overhead $ $ 1. 97000 336,000 661,920 $ $ 1. 46749 448,997 658,897 $ (225,627) $ (222,604) $ (448,231) Price Total $ $ 1. 97 390,667. 20 769,614. 38 $ 225,627 $ (114,910) Volume $ $ $ 4. 35100 280,000 1,218,280 $ $ 5. 71206 325,556 1,859,594 $ (443,100) $ (198,214) $ (641,314) Price Total $ 4. 35 325,556. 00 $ (443,100) $ Volume $ $ $ 3. 11 336,000 1,046,304 $ $ 3. 84 448,997 1,725,665 $ (327,488) $ (351,873) $ (679,361) Price Total $ 3. 11 390,667. 20 $ (327,488) $ (181,639) Volume $ $ $ $ 1. 20000 336,000. 00 8. 00000 2,688,000 $ $ 1. 6980 448,9 97. 00 8. 17000 4,092,275 $ (980,305) Total $ (76,329) $ (903,976) Price $ $ 1. 20 390,667. 0 8. 00 $ (76,329) $ (466,638) Volume $ $ $ 3. 62835 280,000. 00 1,015,938 $ $ 3. 78073 325,556. 00 1,230,840 (49,625) (165,291) $ (214,916) Price Total $ 3. 63 325,556. 00 $ (49,609) $ Volume $ Actual Variance Type Flexible Budget Price Efficiency Variance Volume Variance $ 1,181,231. 11 $ 3,125,337. 60 $ 1,216,537. 66 $ 1,416,494. 16 Flexible Budget Total Cost per Unit Total Cost Variance Price Variance Volume Variance (670,915. 33) (1,841,957. 90) $ 14. 26335 $ 16. 50162 $ 14. 26335 Flexible Budget Variance $ (1,434,086) Total Price Efficiency Variance $ (670,899. 27) Total Volume Variance $ (763,187. 10) Static Budget Variance $ (2,512,873. 3287) Fixed Costs Actual Static Variance Total Cost Variance Selling Expenses $ $ $ $ 5,023,192 4,463,000 (560,192) (3,072,804) Administrative Expenses $ $ $ 1,123,739 1,124,000 261 TOTAL Budget Cost Variance Budget Sales Variance Budget Variance Total Cost Variance Flexible $ (1,994,017) $ (675,589) $ (2,669,607) Static $ (3,072,804) $ 1,440,487 $ (1,632,317) $2,669,607 1,632,317 $1,037,290 Variances Volume Variance $ (903,976) $ (466,638) Labor Variance $ (437,338) Labors Hours Exhibit 7 Incentive Plan (better named: â€Å"Let’s all gang against poor old Bill†11) David Hall (Purchasing) Quantity Actual Price Static Budgeted Price Acrylic fabric 7910 $ 32. 42 $ 35. 00 10-mm acrylic eyes 661248 $ 0. 19 $ 0. 19 45-mm plastic joints 1937023 $ 0. 13 $ 0. 14 Polyester fiber filling 344165 $ 1. 31 $ 1. 5 Woven label 328447 $ 0. 05 $ 0. 05 Designer box 315854 $ 0. 22 $ 0. 24 Accessories 325556 $ 0. 20 $ 0. 12 Bonus $ 14,632. 71 20% Rita Smith (Marketing) Revenues Variable Selling Expenses Fixed Selling Expenses Net Revenues Bonus Actual Master Budget $14,446,487. 00 $13,006,000. 00 $ (1,859,594. 00) $ (1,218,280. 00) $ (5,023,192. 00) $ (4,463,000. 00) Delta $ 7,563,701. 00 $ 7,324,720. 00 $ 238,981. 00 10% $23,898. 1 Pur chasing Variance $ 20,428. 37 $ $ 25,181. 30 $ 48,183. 10 $ $ 6,317. 08 $ (26,946. 28) $ 73,163. 57 Bill Wilford (Manufacturing) Price Variance Volume Variance Static Budget Variance $ (670,915. 33) $ (1,841,957. 90) $(2,512,873. 3) NO BONUS Since negative Static Budget Variance 11 Production processes input into output. Both, the input responsible manager and the output responsible manager, make good money $73K and $24K in 1998, while the production manager makes no money. This situation is ill-fated, or just plain dumb. The â€Å"sandwich effect†, the manager in the middles gets squeezed. This is the sarcasm in management that I am illustrating with this title. Exhibit 8 Overtime Hours 448,997. 00 Direct Overtime 103,787. 00 448,997. 00 Actual Pay Rate Total Hours $ 8. 17 $3,668,305. 49 390,667. 20 $ 4. 09 $ 423,969. 90 45,457. 20 $ 9. 11 $4,092,275. 39 390,667. 20 Flexible Pay Rate Total $ 8. 0 $3,125,337. 60 $ 4. 00 $ 181,828. 80 $ 8. 47 $3,307,166. 40 Exhibit 9 Balanced Scorecard12 The actions of management are not static but, rather, are dynamic over time. A round of Strategic performance improvement (usually every year at the time budgets are being developed) may result in an increase in the goals that have been established by the manager and their Balance Scorecard supervisor. (see Figure 1) An analogy may be useful at this point (see Figure 2): just as in high jumping, the goal (bar) is not set at the point at which it will eventually end. It is Performance Measure in set lower, and as the jumping progresses, it is steadily moved higher. As the jumper Management trying to meet Performance clears it at lower heights, the bar is moved up. Each time the assessment (depicted by the black line in the graph) approaches or exceeds the goal (depicted by the gray line), the Figure 1. Balanced Scorecard in action 100 95 90 Performance Metric 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 2000 goal is increased until performance is at a level at which further improvements may not be desired. The management group of a corporation will develop plans for the year, those plans are revised through time, incentives are allocated and measures are taken to draw new plans for future years. The Balance Score card allows managers to keep their Goal core and their measures clear, so that decisions are made towards a goal that is congruent with the corporate goal. Outcome measures are results. Driving measures are Assessment incremental in nature, such as the ones depicted in Figure 2. 2004 Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2001 2002 2003 Figure 2 Progressive Goal Setting 12 Graphs were extracted from Leadership Model based on Performance Measures and Continuous Improvement by Andres A. Calderon Exhibit 10 Balanced Scorecard for BTC Group BTC Scorecard Customer Satisfaction Measures Number of Complaints and number of unsolicited letters Employee satisfaction (involvement, recognition, access to information, support from staff functions, etc. , Staff turnover, Productivity (revenue per employee, return on compensation, profit per employee, etc. ), Number of employees qualified for key jobs relative to anticipated requirement Outcome Performance Initiatives Driver BTC Employee Satisfaction Marketing Attain a high market share in the sale Percent of stuffed animal market share and cost to attain of quality stuffed animal toys a new customer Brand recognition by becoming the synonymous for Teddy Bears (â€Å"brain Percent of people that relate teddy bear to TCB share†) Reduction of selling expenses while increasing number of sales (Last Year Sell ing Expense – Current Year Selling Expense) / (Last Year Sale – Current Year Sale) Marketing Marketing Marketing Marketing Marketing Introduction of successful new product Number of new motives or designs introduced per year, variations to the market Time to market, Break even time Introduction of better distribution channel Accurate product pricing based on market Market accessibility related to delivery cost Contribution Margin Growth and market understanding by polling customer perception of value for money Marketing Accurate forecasting of sales and Percentage off error related to inventory cost, Percent of peak seasons (to minimize stock-outs key items out of stock, Number of back-orders and inventory cost) Group Scorecard Reduce cost of raw material while maintaining Production quality standards Minimize raw material shortages, so that Production does not have to wait Minimize production cycle time Measures Number of times Production rejected raw material, raw material cost compared to price index Percent of key raw material out of stock, Number of backorders Production cycle time Outcome Performance Initiatives Driver Purchasing Purchasing Production Production Production Minimal percentage of manufacturing Service failure index, return rate, warranty claims, number defects of defects Timeliness Percent on-time delivery, total time for customer interaction (e. g. time of Internet session), average waiting time (e. g. to receive a teddy bear), satisfaction with delivery time Number of processes having adequate information on quality, cycle time, and cost New revenue or savings per database, report, etc. Management Information coverage ratio Management Return on Data How to cite Management Control Systems Final Written Case Assignment, Essay examples

Physical or Mental Stability and Trigger

Question: Discuss about the Physical or Mental Stability and Trigger. Answer: Introduction Stress is as a psychological response to stimulus that disturbs our physical or mental stability and triggers adverse reactions in an individual. One stressful event might trigger to fight-or-flight response leading to the release of adrenaline and cortisol hormone. Chronic stress begins to have negative impact on physical and mental well-being of individual. In order to manage stress and change health behavior of affected person, understanding about different theories of health behavior is necessary to reduce stress and improve well-being of University students (Thoits, 2013). This literature review will particularly discuss two of the five theories of health behavior that might influence stress management practice of students. In psychology, health professionals base their intervention based on several health behavior model that aim to identify peoples behavior based on various variables. This health behavior model explains the reason behind peoples engagement in health promoting or health compromising behavior. The five theories of health behavior- health belief model, protection motivation theory of health, theory of reasoned action, theories of health behavior and theories of planned behavior are all influenced by social-cognitive concept. All these theories mainly explain the health belief of individuals that might be risk health and increase their susceptibility to illness (Prestwich et al., 2014). This literature review particularly looks at the health belief model and the protection motivation theory of health to determine its impact on reducing stress and improving well-being of students. Health belief model One of the theories related to human behavior is the health belief model which focus on the fact that peoples health related action is based on six factors which are as follows: Perceived susceptibility- it is an a persons belief that they are likely to contract an illness Perceived severity - It is perceived impact of illness on peoples life Perceived benefits of health behavior- Ones belief on the benefits of an advised action to reduce the impact of illness Perceived barriers/ costs of health behavior- peoples perception about the psychological cost an action or treatment Cues to action- strategies taken to activate readiness to a health behavior Self-efficacy-confidence on ones ability to modify their health behavior. Hence this factors indicate that the health behavior is determines by individuals personal belief about illness and the strategies taken by them to reduce its occurrence. These perceptions are also modified by variable like culture, education level, past experience and motivation (Skinner, Tiro, Champion, 2015). One research literature focused on applying the concepts the health belief model to explore stress management in University students. Stress has affected college students in many ways. It has lead to chronic health conditions, poor quality of life, reduced productivity and poor individual morale (King et al., 2012). The researcher indicated that all this had been due to psychological and emotional problem in individuals such as anxiety, depression and frustration. College students are most vulnerable to negative consequences because college is a stressful time in their life. They have found to suffer from academic performance impairment, increased anxiety and decrease in life satisfaction due to academic stress of competing for the highest grades. They start experiencing physical and psychological impairments frequently (Baghurst Kelley, 2014). The research applied the components of perceived benefits, perceived barriers and cues to action of health belief model in coping with stres s. The purpose of the research was to analyze if students habit of stress management techniques differs based on the three constructs of health belief model. The coping strategies employed according to this research included breathing exercises, emotional support, acceptance, problem focused coping, emotional focused coping, mindfulness and many others. The results indicated that most helpful techniques for reducing stress in university students included listening to music, exercise and taking deep breaths. It was also found that frequency of stress management differs based on the core concept of the model. This research gave the implication that more research should be done to promote frequent use of stress management techniques among University students (King et al., 2012). Research by Ryff, (2013) investigated the efficacy of health belied model to address negative functioning in individual due to presence of stressors in life and enable them to realize personal capacity and talent. It gave idea about how psychological well-being is affected by changes across adult development. Personality correlates was regarded as an important predictor of well being in individual. The health belief model has the concept that ones perception about illness affects their health behavior and this research showed that it is this perceptions are also created due to experiences in family. Therefore the challenges of stress and reducing risk of complication are dependent personal traits like resilience which help people to manage adversities in life and attain positive psychological outcome. The study was useful as it gave the implication that psychological well-being is dependent on resisting social pressures and regulating behavior, competence in managing environment, fee ling of modifying self-behavior, engaging in trusting relationship with others and having a positive attitude towards life. Regehr, Glancy, Pitts, (2013) looked at the possible approach to reduce stress in University students. This research was important due to the high rate of anxiety and depression among university students and low percentage of student seeking treatment from university health services. The research investigated the efficacy of different treatment in relieving stress in university students through meta-analysis and the result gave idea about cognitive, behavioral and mindfulness based interventions to decrease symptoms of anxiety and stress. The limitation of the research was that it over-represented interventions with female students and some intervention did not have sufficient data for analysis. The usefulness of this research is that it provides evidence based interventions to reduce stress and which would encourage universities to develop stress reduction program for university students. Protection motivation theory Protection motivation theory is based on the idea that individuals tend to protect themselves based on factors of perceived probability of occurrence, perceived severity of threatening events, perceived self-efficacy and efficacy of preventive behavior. This motivation originates both from threat appraisal and coping appraisal. The former evaluates severity of a situation while the assessed response to the situation (Mullan et al., 2015). Therefore through this approach health behavior can be modified by sustaining protective behavior. Protection motivation theory might help in attitude change and stress management in university students by making them aware of the variable in the theory that can influence cognitive appraisal process. Review of the theory in research literature reveals that it has the advantage of addressing fear and attitudes of people with psychological problems due to stress and anxiety (Posey et al., 2013). Research by De Castella, Byrne, Covington, (2013) investigated the impact of this theory to manage factors that lead to anxiety in university students. They develop symptoms of anxiety due to fear of failure, competition for good grades in exams and success orientation. Although success orientation is good for developing self-worth of students, however it is that way that their fear of failure interacts that make them vulnerable to stress and underachievement in college. This research tried to employ the protective behavior technique of need achievement to determine how this are related to stress and other symptoms in vulnerable people. Study with Japanese students showed that their helplessness were low in success orientation but high in fear of failure. Therefore the research gave the idea that success orientation might help students to overcome of failure and reduce their anxiety. Therefore the research was successful in demonstrating that fear of failure is a maladaptive self-pr otective strategy and students should engage in positive application of motivation to achievement dynamics. Another research literature tried to reduce stressors in University students by studying the relation between study engagement and intrinsic motivation. The main purpose was get insight into the psychological capital of students. The research was done by two studies, one evaluating the relation between psychological capital and study engagement and other investigating the intrinsic motivation as a factor leading to study engagement. Through the analysis of data, the results showed that motivation technique like dedication, absorption and vigor can help to reduce anxiety and increase study engagement in university students (Siu, Bakker, Jiang, 2014). Hence, the study gave the implications that intrinsic motivation can be a significant mediator of study engagement in students. Conclusion From the literature review on the theories of health belief model and protection motivation theory, it can be concluded that this theories can be affectively applied in stress management and improving psychological well-being of university students. Review of several research studies gave the implication that different means of stress management techniques have helped student to reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety and overcome their fear of failure. Some research was useful in providing techniques that university health service program could employ to manage stress in university life and be confidence by adapting intrinsic motivation factors. This literature review gives the implication that more research should be done to think of ways to increase the frequency of stress management techniques in University students. Reference Baghurst, T., Kelley, B. C. (2014). An examination of stress in college students over the course of a semester.Health promotion practice,15(3), 438-447. De Castella, K., Byrne, D., Covington, M. (2013). Unmotivated or motivated to fail? A cross-cultural study of achievement motivation, fear of failure, and student disengagement.Journal of Educational Psychology,105(3), 861. King, K. A., Singh, M., Bernard, A., Merianos, A. L., Vidourek, R. A. (2012). Employing The Health Belief Model To Examine Stress Management Among College Students.American Journal of Health Studies,27(4). Mullan, B., Norman, P., Boer, H., Seydel, E. (2015). Protection motivation theory. Posey, C., Roberts, T., Lowry, P. B., Bennett, B., Courtney, J. (2013). Insiders protection of organizational information assets: Development of a systematics-based taxonomy and theory of diversity for protection-motivated behaviors.Mis Quarterly,37(4), 1189-1210. Prestwich, A., Sniehotta, F. F., Whittington, C., Dombrowski, S. U., Rogers, L., Michie, S. (2014). Does theory influence the effectiveness of health behavior interventions? Meta-analysis.Health Psychology,33(5), 465. Regehr, C., Glancy, D., Pitts, A. (2013). Interventions to reduce stress in university students: A review and meta-analysis.Journal of affective disorders,148(1), 1-11. Ryff, C. D. (2013). Psychological well-being revisited: Advances in the science and practice of eudaimonia.Psychotherapy and psychosomatics,83(1), 10-28. Siu, O. L., Bakker, A. B., Jiang, X. (2014). Psychological capital among university students: Relationships with study engagement and intrinsic motivation.Journal of Happiness Studies,15(4), 979-994. Skinner, C. S., Tiro, J., Champion, V. L. (2015). The health belief model.Health Behavior: Theory, Research, and Practice. John Wiley Sons, San Francisco, CA, 75-94. Thoits, P. A. (2013). Self, identity, stress, and mental health. InHandbook of the sociology of mental health(pp. 357-377). Springer Netherlands.

Titians Altarpieces In The Church Of The Frari, Venice Essays

Titian's Altarpieces In The Church Of The Frari, Venice Titian's Pesaro and Assunta. Altarpieces in the church of the Frari, Venice. What was the importance of these two altarpieces for the development of painting in Venice, both from a stylistic and iconographic point of view? It has been said that Titian's Assunta, which adorns the high altar, and Pesaro (on the left aisle of the chapel of the Immaculate Conception) stand mid-way between the past and the future of Venetian painting. This infers that Titian drew on established traditions learnt from his masters Bellini and Giorgione, and imbued his works with a freshness and inspiration not seen before. Furthermore, it becomes apparent that his sensitive construction of the works ? considering the authority of his patrons ? facilitate a depth of interpretation which highlight both the sacred and civic concerns of the time. To illustrate Titian's progressive role in Venetian art history, I will draw on Renaissance documentation, and contemporary research that notes the stylistic and iconographic elements of these altarpieces. In 1568 the Florentine chronicler Vasari wrote of Titian, ?Titian?who has adorned with great pictures the City of Venice?deserves the love and respect of all craftsmen, who ought to admire and imitate him in many things. For he is a painter who has produced?work which?will live as long as the memory of illustrious men endures? . This is a useful starting point for such an investigation: this representation is valid, since Vasari had met and spoken to him while writing the book, and being a Florentine he wasn't so susceptible to employing the Venetian rhetoric which could tend to be biased The contemporary chronicler Ludovico Dolce recorded the shock and criticism the Assunta attracted when it was first unveiled. Such controversy points to its radicalism and supports assertions that it was influential for developing artists: ?For all [the panel's grandeur and awesomeness], the oafish painters and the foolish masses, who until then had seen nothing but the dead and cold works of Giovanni Bellini, of Gentile, and of Vivarino?, which were without movement and modelling, grossly defamed the picture. Then, as envy cooled and the truth slowly dawned on them, people began to marvel at the new style established in Venice by Titian There is good reason to conclude that the Assunta and Pesaro altarpieces rank amongst the finest and most notary of Titian's works. In his book, The Altarpiece in Renaissance Venice, Peter Humfrey claims that the exceptionally large number of churches in Venice elevated the prevalence of this style, as they all needed to be decorated. The lack of fresco painting (due to the humid climate) meant more panel paintings were constructed, and so ?Venetian painters tended to concentrate their most ambitious efforts?on altar painting? Limitations of the investigation The lack of primary documentation from this era hinders our ability to place the artwork in its socio-cultural context. When relying on the rhetoric of the State-appointed historians, we must consider the bias that results from their upholding of the ?Myth of Venice'. Obviously, the value of these to the research question is limited; being contemporary, they are unable to describe Titian's long-term influence on Venetian painting. Definition of key terms When analysing artwork from a stylistic point of view, all visual (not metaphorical) factors are taken into account. Issues of composition, symmetry and asymmetry, colour palette, application of paint, and rendering of forms are all relevant. Iconography refers to any elements of the painting that can be left open for a religious or sacred interpretation. These two points of view are inextricably linked: for example, the placement (re: composition, thus stylistic element) of the Madonna and Child, elevated in the centre of a devotional painting also has iconographic references: this was their traditional position, and portrayed their roles as intercessors between the figures below, and God in Heaven above. In this context, the altarpiece refers to a painting set behind an above the altar in a Christian church. Painted altarpieces might be accompanied by sculpture, as in the case of Titian's Assunta, which features three free-standing marble figures on the frame. The term sacra conversazione refers to the type of composition made popular by Bellini, where a group of saints are gathered in

Free Essays on Ludwig Van Beetoven

Beethoven was born in Bonn. His father’s harsh discipline and alcoholism made his childhood and adolescence difficult. At the age of 18, after his mother’s death, Beethoven placed himself at the head of the family, taking responsibility for his two younger brothers, both of whom followed him when he later moved to Vienna, Austria. Beethoven’s music is generally divided into three main creative periods. The first, or early, period extends to about 1802, when the composer made reference to a â€Å"new manner† or â€Å"new way† in connection with his art. The second, or middle, period extends to about 1812, after the completion of his Seventh and Eighth symphonies. The third, or late, period emerged gradually; Beethoven composed its pivotal work, the Hammerklavier Sonata, in 1818. Beethoven’s late style is especially innovative, and his last five quartets, written between 1824 and 1826, can be regarded as marking the onset of a fourth creative period. The celebrated Symphony No. 5 in C minor op. 67 from 1808 is the most thematically concentrated of Beethoven’s works. Variants of the four-note motif that begins this symphony drive all four movements. The dramatic turning point in the symphony-where a sense of foreboding, struggle, or mystery yields to a triumphant breakthrough-comes at the transition to the final movement, where the entrance of the trombones reinforces the music. Beethoven uses here a large-scale polarity between the darker sound of C minor and the brighter, more radiant effect of C major, which is held largely in reserve until the finale. The series of gigantic masterpieces of Beethoven’s third period include the technically demanding Hammerklavier Sonata, completed in 1818, about which he correctly predicted on account of its challenges that â€Å"it will be played fifty years hence,† and the Diabelli Variations. The latter work for piano transforms a trivial waltz by Viennese publ isher Anton Diabelli into an ... Free Essays on Ludwig Van Beetoven Free Essays on Ludwig Van Beetoven Beethoven was born in Bonn. His father’s harsh discipline and alcoholism made his childhood and adolescence difficult. At the age of 18, after his mother’s death, Beethoven placed himself at the head of the family, taking responsibility for his two younger brothers, both of whom followed him when he later moved to Vienna, Austria. Beethoven’s music is generally divided into three main creative periods. The first, or early, period extends to about 1802, when the composer made reference to a â€Å"new manner† or â€Å"new way† in connection with his art. The second, or middle, period extends to about 1812, after the completion of his Seventh and Eighth symphonies. The third, or late, period emerged gradually; Beethoven composed its pivotal work, the Hammerklavier Sonata, in 1818. Beethoven’s late style is especially innovative, and his last five quartets, written between 1824 and 1826, can be regarded as marking the onset of a fourth creative period. The celebrated Symphony No. 5 in C minor op. 67 from 1808 is the most thematically concentrated of Beethoven’s works. Variants of the four-note motif that begins this symphony drive all four movements. The dramatic turning point in the symphony-where a sense of foreboding, struggle, or mystery yields to a triumphant breakthrough-comes at the transition to the final movement, where the entrance of the trombones reinforces the music. Beethoven uses here a large-scale polarity between the darker sound of C minor and the brighter, more radiant effect of C major, which is held largely in reserve until the finale. The series of gigantic masterpieces of Beethoven’s third period include the technically demanding Hammerklavier Sonata, completed in 1818, about which he correctly predicted on account of its challenges that â€Å"it will be played fifty years hence,† and the Diabelli Variations. The latter work for piano transforms a trivial waltz by Viennese publ isher Anton Diabelli into an ...

Death be not proud because I could not stop for death Essay

Death be not proud because I could not stop for death - Essay Example Donne treats death as a person in his poem and contradicts its power. He tells death not to be so proud as it is not as scary as it shows people it is. The writer tells death that it isn’t as powerful as it thinks it is and he contradicts its strength. The writer says that people don’t die when they meet death and neither will he himself. He compares death with ‘rest and sleep’ (Donne 11), the two things which are peaceful and not scary at all. He says that the good people know that death doesn’t bring pain rather pleasure. The poem further goes on to explain death as a slave and the writer accuses death of being associated with elements such as poison, sickness, and war. He says that he could just have some drugs and fall asleep which is just the same as death would be. Death is considered to be just a short sleep that humans take and then the good ones wake up again to eternity (Donne 11). Since this happens, death is not eternal and death dies whi ch means it has no power. The beginning of the poem focuses on the theme of death and the speaker addresses death as a proud person with an attitude problem who thinks himself as the most powerful. The speaker says that death considers himself as someone who can boss around and overpower the people. It is a powerful force that scares people and people wish to escape it. He is treated as the king as everyone thinks it is here to do something terrible (Donne 11). However, the speaker says that he isn’t afraid and he knows that death isn’t as scary as it shows everyone. The speaker confronts death and tells him that he isn’t scared as he knows that people think wrong. The poem then forms further elements that death is not actually death and it dies with reference to the Christian tradition that everyone will rise for eternity. This means that death is not real and it is not forever.

Teachers Collaborating to Help Students with Epilepsy Research Paper

Teachers Collaborating to Help Students with Epilepsy - Research Paper Example While this collaboration holds weight on all instances, its significance increases substantially in instances of extreme difficulty, such as presence of illnesses in students. Epilepsy: Epilepsy is a brain disorder characterized by repeated seizures over time. Seizures are sporadic episodes of perturbing brain activity that causes changes in attention and behavior. Defining Seizures: Seizures are caused by abnormal electrical activity in the brain. The symptoms and affects of the seizure will depend on the area of the brain affected. The organ which is affected depends upon what part of the brain is affected. Seizures are classified into two types: Focal seizures and generalized seizures. Focal seizures start in any one area of the brain and may or may not spread across other areas of the body. Generalized seizures result from abnormal neuronal activities on both parts of the brain. Simple Focal seizures are guilty of causing unusual sensations, movements and feelings; however, they are not the cause of loss of consciousness. Complex focal seizures can be the cause of loss of consciousness and can produce dreamlike experiences or repetitive behavior. The area at which these focal seizures begin is what defines these seizures. E.g. Epilepsy of the temporal lobe originates on the temporal lobes of the brain (National Institute of Health, 2007). Generalized seizures are known to cause massive muscle spasms, loss of consciousness and falls. Generalized seizures have several subtypes. Some of the key types of generalized seizures are: Absence Seizures: Absence Seizures are characterized by symptoms that cause victims to stare into space or jerking and twitching of muscles. They are known to start during childhood or adolescence. Tonic Seizures: They cause stiffening of muscles. Clonic Seizures: This form of generalized seizures causes repeated jerking of movement on both sides of the body. Myoclonic Seizures: Myoclonic seizures cause twitches, jerks, and sporadic mu scle movements in the upper body, arms and legs. Atonic seizures: Loss of normal muscle tone which can lead to sudden drops of the head is caused by atonic seizures. Epilepsy, which is characterized by Seizures, is also divided into different types. Several syndromes of epilepsy are identified by researches; while some of them are recognized as hereditary, the causes of other syndromes are not known (Wyllie, 2007). Epileptic syndrome classification uses the terms symptomatic, idiopathic and cryptogenic. Seizures that have a known underlying cause are characterized as symptomatic. Idiopathic seizures are seizures which do not have a known cause. Cryptogenic seizures are seizures which have a suspected cause but the cause is not known for certainty (National Institute of Health, 2007). Location Related Epilepsy: This form of epilepsy consists of focal seizures. This form of epilepsy constitutes an EEG pattern, characteristic of focal electrical abnormality. The prognosis of location r elated epilepsy is very difficult and depends upon location of the brain abnormality (Engel, Pedley, & Aicardi, 2008). West’s Syndrome/ Infantile Spasms Infantile spasms fall under the symptomatic generalized epilepsy. They are found mostly in children of the age from 3 months to 3 years, associated with sudden epileptic flexor spasms and extreme risk for cognitive impairment. During the episode, the affected child may suddenly flex his limbs, flex forward at the trunk and cry. This episode is transient,

Analysis on the Metamorphosis by applying physical or mental illness Essay

Analysis on the Metamorphosis by applying physical or mental illness to Gregor - Essay Example Gregor was initially concerned about the nature of his job, observing that it was always demanding, due to the requirements to travel every day, face irregular train connections and eat bad food. However, of great concern is the fact that Gregor had â€Å"worries about†¦temporary and constantly changing human relationships which never come from the heart† (Kafka, 4). This is a simple indication that Gregor was not actually fascinated by the nature of the interactions that he had in the course of his job. It is this lack of appreciation of the social interactions that is characteristic of the attempts to avoid social interactions, which is a symptom of Avoidant Personality Disorder. The other aspect of Gregor that is characteristic of the disorder is the fact that he did not want to be associated with the others unless he was certain that he would be accepted. This nature of caution is attributable to the Avoidant Personality Disorder, which is symptomatic of a person avoiding any form of communication and interaction with the rest of the people, unless he/she is assured that the other people will like him or her (Johansen, et al., 518). In this respect, when Gregor’s family and the office manager came to check on Gregor after he had delayed to come out of his bedroom, he did not instantly wish to communicate to any of them, unless he was sure they would not reject him because of his new monstrous insect status. Thus, when his sister Grete whispered at his door that the office manager was there, the response was; â€Å"‘I know,’ said Gregor to himself. But he did not dare make his voice loud enough so that his sister could hear† (Kafk a, 14). This behavior is characteristic of avoiding interaction with others until at least some assurance would be given that he would be accepted in his new status. Showing restraint to intimately close relationship is yet another symptom of the Avoidant Personality Disorder

Sociological perspectives on deviance

Sociological perspectives on deviance The term deviance is used by sociologists to refer to behaviour which changes, in some way, from a social norm. In this respect, it is clear that the idea of deviance refers to a violation of social norms and refers to rule breaking behaviour. Deviance refers to those actions which go against the norms, values and beliefs of ordinary culture. For example, drinking alcohol at the age of 16. In relation to deviance, the idea relates to all kinds of rule-breaking which involves such things as murder, theft, rape or wearing unsuitable clothing for a given social situation. Many sociologists have given their own definition of deviance. Some sociologist conceive of deviance as a collection of conditions, persons or acts that society disvalue (Sagarin, 1975, 9) There are various perspectives in Sociology such as the functionalist theories and Karl Marxist theories which asks different questions and focuses on different issues regarding deviance. In order to answer the question above it is n ecessary to outline and discuss the sociological perspectives on deviance. I will be discussing the main perspectives of deviance throughout sociology. Functionalism is defined as a Framework that conceptualises society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability (Macionis and Plummer, 1997. p. 19-20).Functionalism has grown through the work of many sociologists including Durkheim and later on by Brown and Merton, The works of these sociologists was based on a biological scientific model called organic system-comparison of social operations to that of a living organism (Giddens, 2001.16) Functionalist theorists, including Durkheim, state crime as having a social role. Others, including Merton, state the strain between socialized aims and reality as the true cause of crime. Functionalist Emile Durkheim believed that societies are held together by shared values and economic dependence. He thinks that society would crumple if principles are not passed from one generation to another. A vital function of society is the preservation of its values, which is done through education and religion. The concept of anomie was introduced by Emile Durkheim which suggested that In modern societies, traditional norms and standards become undermined without being replaced by new ones. (Giddens, 2009, 941). This is the breakdown of society, and will lead to social disorder, deviance and violence. Durkheim also argues that deviance is useful and necessary in society. It helps to strengthen the consensus of values, norms and behaviour of the majority non-deviant population, through the idea of anger at crime which reinforces social solidarity. Other theorists, including Erikson who argues that influential groups within any society are able to impose their views upon the maj ority by a process of ideological manipulation. The excitement generated by the crime quickens the tempo of interaction in a group and creates a climate in which the private sentiments of many people are fused into a common sense of morality.(Bean, 2003, 24). However, Robert Merton criticised Durkheims idea of anomie as being unclear. Merton argued that anomie is a state where the socially approved goals of society are not available to a significant amount of the population if they followed socially approved means of obtaining these goals. According to Merton, people turned to deviance in this state because there is anxiety between what people have socialised to want and what they are able to achieve through legitimate means. Robert Merton, who also accepted the view of functionalists who believed that society, must have certain features to survive. He argues that both goals and constraints on behaviour are socially based, and that desires are socially copied, from socialisation, into cultural goals such as work-related status or financial achievement. Mertons theory on deviance, which is known as the Strain Theory, is a development of Durkheims ideas of anomie and culture. Anomie, in Mertons perspective, can occur when people are not capable to follow the main norms within a society.Some individuals adapt by becoming ritualises, conforming to society norms without any expectations of achieving them. (Clinard, 2001, 5) Merton argues that individuals are socialized into wanting success, wealth, status and power. When they are unable to achieve this, it results in a strain between what we want, and what we can get. One possible response to the strain theory is deviance through innovation (deviant and crimin al behaviour resulting to crime), retreatism (backing out of socially desirable behaviour, for example, alcoholics, drug addicts), Ritualism (ignoring goals of society) and rebellion (rejection of goals and means, but an attempt to replace them with alternative values). Mertons analysis on deviance suggests that deviant behaviour is efficient. First, for the people involved, it allows them to adjust to the situation in which they find themselves in. Merton sees these responses as useful to the society as they help to release the anxiety, therefore maintain the social system stability. However, Merton was criticised by Valier, amongst others, for his importance on the continuation of a common goal in society. Valier argues that there are a range of goals that people struggle to attain at any one time Feminist approach have also criticised functionalism for not explain on conflict, also not considering it to be an integral part of the social world (Dominelli, 1997. p.17). Feminist also argues that this supports and explains structures which have a tendency to be male dominated and in so ignoring the past and women contributions to the society. In conclusion, it can be argued that Functionalist theories do certainly go a long distance in justifying the reasons for Deviance. However, it is overly deterministic in the view of society and the way in which it shapes and forms human behaviour. However, it should argued that Functionalist theories are useful in explaining and deviance, In terms of civil theories or triangulation and procedural pluralism to stable out the problems and challenges linked with Functionalist theory. Sub cultural theories on deviance were developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s from the Albert Cohen and Richard Cloward. They stressed that people respond to forces which are outside to them. This therefore leads them to behave in different ways. Their behaviour is explained by social causes. Sub cultural theorists have tried to seek the causes of these differences. Subculture theories claim to have recognized break downs in the social order. These break downs are seen to be rectifiable by dissimilar types of social engineering e.g. Social reform, social welfare and education. According to interactionist theories of deviance, they make fundamental ideas of deviance in terms of there being no such as deviant act. They place firm importance on reaction. Interactionist put forward useful idea such as labelling, self-fulfilling prophecy, and mortification and primary and secondary deviance. They are significant of the functionalist and subculture theories of deviance. Interactionists argue that human action is original. Humans create roles in relation to and adjustment to others. American Sociologist Edwin Lemert, argues that public reaction is a cause of deviance. Lemert starts by explaining between primary and secondary deviance. Primary deviance is deviance before it is openly labelled; it has a number of likely causes and is not worth looking at given that the samples are unfair and it has no impact on the individual, therefore it does not strain status or activities. The general factor among deviants, argues Lemert, is the process of labelling. The public response to the deviant leads to secondary deviance, the response of the deviant to public labelling. Lemert claims that secondary deviance should be the focal point of study because of its result on the individual. The vital idea is that societal reaction can in fact cause deviant behaviour. The Labelling theorists are another approach in sociology which views the point of seeing deviance from the view of the deviant individual. They claim that when a person becomes known as a deviant, and is expected to have deviant behaviour, it is to do with the way they have been labelled, as the deviant act they are said to have committed. The labelling theory realises that certain acts labelled as deviant are more than likely to be carried out by certain types of people. If society labels a person as a criminal or as deviant there is much evidence that this label sticks with the person to the extent that he believes that they are deviant. So to satisfy society they carry out the role of a deviant to the degree that they are fitting in with what they observe is their role in life or in the society. This makes a great impact on their life, as they need someone to help them to see that they are not deviant or a criminal. If a person becomes a criminal then society need to recognise this and help the person to overcome this, by offering support or counselling to make it aware to the person that this behaviour is not acceptable and if they continue it will lead to them not achieving. However the main criticism of labelling theory is that it is deterministic, and that it makes the person as if they were not human, which then leads to certain behaviour by the act of labels being given to it, and following behaviour patterns as a result of behaviour patterns that go with it.. The Marxist approach has been one of the most vital approaches in explaining deviant behaviour. They mostly base their ideas and theories on how the powerful people control the society which influences how the society works today. The definition of deviance from a Marxist perspective is a conflict between powerful and less powerful groups. Definitions of deviance then emerge from class conflicts between powerful groups and less powerful groups. (Clinard, 2002, 118) Marxists believes that working class males of a younger age commit most crime mainly due to the media which emphasize ideas of greed into people. Therefore, results in a materialistic capitalist system that may force working people of a lower class to commit crime as they have a lower income and may not be able to afford certain equipment such as clothes like the rest of the society. Marxism criticizes a capitalist society where by the productions are owned by the ruling class and the lower class. The bourgeoisie are the ruling class, whilst the proletariats are seen as the lower class. The bourgeoisie act as a societies ruling class. The proletariats, on the other hand, fill the ranks of the ruled end of society. (Clinard and Meier, 2008, 77) The idea of deviance came when Marx attempted to look for something in the world that caused conflicts. He found it in the idea of class struggle. Throughout the past, we have fought against each other for the control of food, shelter, money. Marxists mainly focus on the class distribution and empathises that the ruling class control the norms and values of the society. Therefore, it will not be classed as deviant unless the bourgeoisie say so. The bourgeoisie will only class deviant unless it is committed by a working class person. However, the Marxist approach in terms of explaining deviant behaviour is only consistent to some degree. Along with the challenges from other perspectives, it shows that improvements can be added to their ideas. Marxists mostly focuses on the class distribution and argue that they the ruling class manage the norms and values of the society. It will not be classed as deviant if the bourgeoisie say so and they will not say so if a working class person commits it. Finally In conclusion to sociological perspectives of deviance, they all give an account of some explanation to deviance and give their point of view. However, it varies depending on the various approaches. For an act to be thought to as deviance it varies from place to place and from time to time

Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine :: European Europe History

Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine In the year 1122, soon to be Duke William X of Aquitaine was informed that his bride of one year, Aenor, daughter of the Viscount Aimery, had bore him a daughter. She was christened Alia-Aenor, or Eleanor. Since Aquitaine consisted of more than a third of the entire land of France, she was a heiress of some esteem. Soon after, Aenor gave birth to another daughter, Aelith (Petronella) and then to the heir that William so desired, William Aigret. Unfortunately, when Eleanor was eight, both her mother and brother died, leaving her heiress to the whole of Aquitaine. Eleanor's close childhood friends were her uncle Raymond, who was only eight years older than herself, and her sister. She was influenced by the great heroines in her family, like her grandmother, who sacrificed her place as a Viscountess, for love. When Eleanor was fifteen, her father went on a pilgrimage. On the way, he encountered food poisoning. He left Eleanor in the charge of King Louis the Fat, to marry her off. King L ouis married her to his own son, and made her Queen of France upon his death, some days after the wedding. Louis Capet, Eleanor's new husband, was only sixteen when they wed. The second son, he had grown up in a monastery, preparing for a life in the service of the Lord. However, when his older brother fell off his horse and broke his neck, Louis became heir to the throne of France. Louis was a quiet, deeply religious man, eager to show off for his new, rich and beautiful wife. Eleanor dreamed of a warrior for a husband, and Louis, despite his shyness, desperately wished to fill that part. Quickly he went to war, against his vassals and anyone else that would oppose him. When Petronella was married to Count Ralph of Vermandois, his first wife's family-who he had divorced to marry Petronella-quickly took up arms against him. Louis jumped in to protect his sister-in-law's interests. Even so, Louis's war was badly planned and his army ended up burning an entire village who had taken refuge in a church. The experience left him virtually destroyed, he who had been so in God's favour. The King and Queen went to a respected and feared Abbot, Abbot Bernard. Louis wished to repent for his sins and Eleanor wished to bear Louis a child. By the time they left, Louis was committed to going on a crusade, and Eleanor was pregnant.

Janmar Coatings Case Analysis

Janmar Coatings, Inc. | To:| Ronald Burns| Subject:| Janmar Coatings, Inc. Suggestions| Comments:| The problem facing Janmar Coatings, Inc. is deciding where and how to execute corporate marketing efforts in the southwestern United States. Janmar Coatings is currently marketing to 50 counties, their main focus area so far has been the 11 counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The main issue Ronald Burns, the president of Janmar Coatings, is having is trying to come up with a solution to market his company in the most cost effective way during 2005.After 2 long meetings with his executive team he still has no clear direction. He has gathered an approach from each of his team members, including: VP of Advertising, VP of Sales, VP of Operations, and VP of Finance, and now has four solutions to consider. The VP of Advertising has proposed to increase corporate advertising with an large emphasis on television. The VP of Sales proposed hiring a new field representative to help generate ne w accounts. The VP of Operations has proposed a 20% price cut on all Janmar product sales.The VP of Finance proposed that nothing be done; that the company continue with their current efforts and keep a 35% contribution margin. After looking at the company’s overall goals and finances, I would agree with the VP of Sales. Based on his suggestion, I believe it would be a smart time to hire a new sales representative for Janmar. The cost attributed to company for hiring a new sales representative would be $60,000 per year. And the amount of sales revenue needed to cover this expense is $170,000.However, if this sales representative position is correctly used, they will be able to make this margin back rapidly. Because by concentrating on only developing new retail accounts in the non-DFW area, the company could generate lots of sales to a brand new buyer market. Janmar has realized that they need to focus more energy on the ‘Do-it-yourselfers’ as they say, or DIY po pulation, and the non-DFW area seems to be where most of these consumers are located. It was mentioned that product prices would need to be lowered 40% in order to attract contractors, but that is not an immediate worry.Janmar needs to focus all their current energies on the DIY consumers and professional painters. Hiring a new sales representative would be the smartest decision right now because they will know every detail of the products and have the ability to market that properly to each of those consumer segments. However, I have also considered the Vice President of Advertising’s suggestion that they should increase advertising expense by $350,000. While initially, increasing advertising expenses sounds like a good thing to do, this decision would almost double the current advertising expenditure.Janmar is spending around 3% of revene on advertising and sales promotions efforts; which comes out to nearly $360,000. And while it may By increasing advertising expenses by $ 350,000, an additional $1,000,000 in sales will need to be recovered to make up for this expenditure. Mr. Burns makes a valid point by saying that 75% of the audience advertised too is not buying paint. With 25% of your audience only looking to buy paint, it would not be worth the risk of not increasing sales by $1,000,000, to implement the extra advertising expense.Also, I considered the Vice President of Operations proposal for a 20% price cut on all Janmar Coatings, Inc products. Price cuts are always something that needs to be entered into with extreme caution. Even the slightest 1-2% drop in price can lead to a huge drop in margin. In Janmar’s situation, if they choose to implement a 20% price cut, they decrease their overall sales dollars by $2. 4 mm. And their variable cost will not be effected by this price cut to their cost of goods sold will be held constant.In the end reducing their gross profit by 50%, which is extremely high. By implementing this price cut too, t hey would be lowering their contribution margin by almost 60%. While initially, a price cut may seem very appealing to the consumers, the overall toll it will take on the contribution margin and sales dollars generated by Janmar, it would not be a smart decision to move forward in making that a reality. Now, the Vice President of Finance suggested pursuing the current approach. His idea is that Janmar Coatings has always, and will continue, to be successful.The contribution is high, just because an increase in costs doesn’t mean there will be an increase in sales, so why do anything different? Although the VP of Finance has valid points, there is obviously something that needs to be done, or else 22 meetings would not have been necessary. Yes there is a great contribution now, but if things stayed the same, other companies may become more popular and generate more sales than we do and push us out. Based on information from 2004, Janmar currently has a 15% market share in the 50-county service area. If Janmar just stays where they are, they could ose market share as well. It is true that with any expenditure, sales have to increase to compensate for those expenditures, but a company cannot merely stay â€Å"neutral† when something absolutely has to be done. There is a way to introduce a plan that will generate sales to compensate for the expenditure. In this case, simply adding a new sales representative seems to be the best, lowest risk, most probable solution in this case. Lastly, to do a more in depth review the Vice President of Sales suggestion to bring on a new field representative to the sales force.The focus for this new representative would be to focus on developing retail account leads and calling on professional painters to gain new business through dealers. In the overall non-Dallas Fort Worth area, the penetration of Janmar is only 16%, so this representative would only concentrate in this area. Over the last 5 years, Janmar has focus ed most all of the actions toward the DFW area, while the non-DFW area has started to grow. The non-DFW area sales have grown 23% over those 5 years. DIY customers represent a higher percentage of sales than professionals in both areas.However, DIY customers represent 90% of sales in non-DFW areas. Because our contribution margin is 35%, with the addition of a new representative costing $60,000, about $171,429 additional in sales would be needed to recover the expense. With the addition of a sales representative, though, this sales rep could be focused on the non-DFW area and create account leads with more professional painters. The company would need a price cut of about 40% to attract contractors, but if the company could also just create awareness among more professionals in the non-DFW area, more sales could be generated there.Let’s not focus on contractors right now, and get the professional sales in the non-DFW area up, and create more accounts with them. Sales in the D FW area and non-DFW area in the last 5 years:Increase Advertising Spending (emphasis on television): Current advertising spending| 3% of sales=. 03*12mm=$360,000| Sales needed to recover advertising expenditure| $350,000/. 35(CM)=$1,000,000| 20% Price Cut on all Janmar products: Current: Sales Gross Profit CM| Sales: $12mmGross Profit: $4. mmCM: 40%| Sales, Gross Profit, and CM changes after 20% price cut| Sales: $9. 6mm ($2. 4mm change)Gross Profit: $2. 4 mm ($2. 4mm/50% change)CM: 25% (60% decrease)| | | | Adding another Sales Representative to the work force: Current Sales Reps| 8 field reps that cast about $480,000 +commission (assuming they receive the $60,000 salary the new rep would receive)| Sales needed to recover new rep expenditure| $60,000/. 35 (CM) = $171,428. 57| Janmar Market Share of architectural paint and allied products| 15% |

The effect of the American culture on my use of language

The effect of the American culture on my use of language Cultures are different in certain aspects. Language is one of the cultural aspects that differ across cultures. Although I am a Chinese, I am able to speak three languages, Mandarin, Cantonese and English. The notion that I am an international student, having come from a very different culture implies that I have been exposed to different cultures where the use of the English language varies. Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The effect of the American culture on my use of language specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This follows from the fact that I have resided in the United States for more than one year after completing my high school studies in the United Kingdom. It is important to note that earlier on, I schooled in China where I began perfecting my knowledge in English. Based on this illustration, it is clear that I have encountered different cultural backgrounds that influence my use of language. The fact that t he UK and the US use different languages from the one I was used to presented a big challenge since I had to learn the language again. Although, both the UK and the US use the English language, it is evident that there are slight differences that become clear in the usage. When an individual joins a different place where the language used is not the same, it is sensible to learn the language used in the new location. It is thus necessary to learn the American English language in order to fit into the American culture. Learning the American English has taken control of the way I relate to my colleagues. This has become clear since, even amongst Chinese colleagues, the use of the American English is dominant. Further, the American culture has influenced the way we conduct ourselves. As an illustration, the Chinese people do not take direct commands, instead, they humbly submit. However, the American culture has forced those Chinese living in America to face off with people issuing co mmands. It is also worth to note that after coming to the US, one changes speech rules. By way of example, even though it may not be necessary to say a response, I find myself responding, an aspect that is ingrained in the US culture. As I indicated earlier, English differs across regions. As an example, the language version that is used in the UK is not the same as the one used in the US. As an English learner, I still experience problems despite the fact that I have learned the language for some time. I believe that some of the problems that I face are down to knowledge issues although others revolve around cultural aspects. The major problem lies on the idea that I began learning English in China. During the English lessons, the teachers did not take time to highlight any aspects of the American culture. As a result, I was not in a position to figure out how English is used within the American culture. Advertising Looking for essay on languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More As an illustration, when one poses, â€Å"how are you?† a Chinese is tempted to think about himself whereas, the expression is used as a greeting. Additionally, in the Chinese culture, there are limited responses to greeting expressions. It is thus little surprising that after coming to the US I have learned more response expressions. It is evident that culture is influential in many respects. As the paper establishes, since coming to California, I have been heavily influenced by the American culture. Specifically, I have changed my use of language. I have also been able to enlarge my knowledge of English since the version of the language used in the US is slightly different from the ones used in China and the UK.