Data-collection in Qualitative Research Essay

This Chapter is about methods and techniques in data-collection during a qualitative research. We mentioned earlier that qualitative research is eclectic. That is, the choice of techniques is dependent on the needs of the research. Although this should be true for almost all social research, it is particularly so with qualitative research in that the appropriate method or techniques is often identified and adopted during the research. Qualitative research is also multi-modal. The researcher may adopt a variety of research techniques, or a combination of such, as long as they are justified by the needs. The discussion below is therefore not to identify a set of techniques unique to qualitative research, but rather, to introduce the methods and techniques most commonly used in qualitative research, and the issues related to such use. We shall introduce the methods and techniques in three broad categories: observations, interviews and study of documents. These are also the basic methods used in cultural anthropology (Bernard, 1988:62). Indeed, the discussions about qualitative research in education can be viewed as a particular case in cultural anthropology. Observations Observation usually means the researcher’s act to find out what people do (Bernard, 1988:62). It is different from other methods in that data occur not necessarily in response to the researcher’s stimulus. Observation may be obtrusive or unobtrusive. A researcher may simply sit in the corner of a school playground and observe how students behave during breaks. He may also stand by the school gate and observe how students behave at the school gate. Such cases of observation may be seen as unobtrusive. In other cases, the researchers may not apply any stimuli, but their presence per se may have some influence on the scene. The most common example in this category is classroom observation. Although the researcher may just sit quietly at the corner of a classroom, the presence of the researcher may  change the classroom climate. It is, nonetheless, still observation. Observation is a basic technique used in almost all qualitative research. Even if other methods or techniques are used, the researcher remains the most essential â€Å"sensor† or â€Å"instrument† and hence observation always counts (McCracken, 1988:18-20). For example, when interviewing is used, a qualitative researcher also takes into account the tonic or facial expressions of the informant, because they help interpret the verbal responses. Such expressions are only sensed by observation. If the interview is done in the field, then the surroundings of the interview site also provide meaningful data for the research. The surroundings can only be depicted through observation. Hence observation is indispensable in almost all occasions of qualitative research. However, the term observation may sometimes go beyond what is seen. It also pertains to what is heard, and even sometimes what is smelled. Case 4.1 provides one of such examples. Case 4.1: Classroom Observation Scheme In the IIEP project on basic education, Leung designed for the Chinese research a scheme for classroom observation. Classroom was taken as one of the environmental factors affecting students’ learning. The scheme was designed after Leung stayed in local schools for two days. The scheme did not confine itself to the performance of the teacher, although that was a part. The figure on the next page shows one of the six sections of the scheme. Different writers have different ways of classifying observations. Without running into juggling of definitions, we shall briefly introduce observations as participant observations and non-participant observations. More detailed classification of observations can be found in Bernard (1988), Goetz and LeCompte (1984) and Patton (1990). Participant Observation Participant observation is perhaps the most typical of qualitative research.  Some authors even use participant observation as a synonym for ethnographic research. Different writers may have slightly different definitions of participant observation. The following description by Fetterman is perhaps the most agreeable to most researchers. Participant observation is immersion in a culture. Ideally, the ethnographer lives and works in the community for six months to a year or more, learning the language and seeing patterns of behaviour over time. Long-term residence helps the researcher internalize the basic beliefs, fears, hopes and expectations of the people under study. (1989:45) Immersion of the participant can either be continuous or noncontinuous. The three classical cases we quoted in Chapter 1 all include participation in the continuous mode. Li’s study of classroom sociology (Cases 3.8 and 3.9) involved one year’s continuous residence. In the second and third year she went to the school three days a week. She combined continuous with noncontinuous participant observations. Fetterman used noncontinuous participation when he was doing qualitative evaluation of educational programmes. Case 4.2: Noncontinuous Visits In two ethnographic studies, of dropouts and of gifted children, Fetterman visited the programmes for only a few weeks every couple of months over a three-year period. The visits were intensive. They included classroom observation, informal interviews, occasional substitute teaching,interaction with community members, and the use of various other research techniques, including long-distance phone-calls, dinner with students’ families, and time spent hanging out in the hallways and parking lot with students cutting classes. (Fetterman, 1989:46-7) II. Environment of the classroom 1. The classroom is on the _____ floor of the school building. 2. The classroom is near ( ) residential area ( ) factories ( ) road(s) ( ) field ( ) marketplace ( ) others _______________________________________ 3. The number of windows which provide lighting and ventilation to the classroom: ( ) satisfies the required standard ( ) is below the required standard 4. The main artificial lighting facility in the classroom is: ( ) florescent tubes total no.__________________ ( ) light bulbs total no.__________________ 5. Condition of lighting during the lesson : ( ) bright ( ) dim ( ) dark 6. Ventilation in the classroom: ( ) well ventilated ( ) stuffy ( ) suffocating 7. Quality of air in the classroom: ( ) refreshing ( ) a bit smelly ( ) stingy 8. Environments for listening: ( ) very quiet ( ) occasional noise ( ) noisy 9. Classroom’s floor structure: ( ) concrete ( ) log ( ) mud ( ) carpet 10. Classroom’s floor condition: ( ) clean ( ) some litter ( ) full of rubbish 11. Classroom’s wall conditions: ( ) smooth & clean ( ) some stains ( ) dirty & damaged 12. Classroom’s area: _____________m2; area/person: _____ m2. 13. Space use in classroom: ( ) looks spatial ( ) fairly crowded ( ) very crowded 14. Furniture and other article arrangements in the classroom: ( ) orderly and tidy ( ) messy 1Figure 1 Classroom Observation Scheme (Designed by Leung Yat-ming) Whyte’s experience in the Italian slum (Case 2) is perhaps the nearest to ideal in participant observation. He stayed in the community for two years. He experienced the life of a member of the Italian slum. In Whyte’s case, native membership allows the researcher the highest level of participant observation. Most researchers are denied such an opportunity, often because of constraints in time and resources, as we have discussed at length in Chapter 3. Under all sorts of constraints, at best the researcher â€Å"lives as much as possible with and in the same manner as the individuals under investigation† (Goetz and LeCompte, 1984: 109). In these circumstances, the researchers may not claim that they was doing ethnography, but it is legitimate to apply ethnographic approach and techniques to the study (Fetterman, 1989:47). Participant observation in its broad sense therefore tolerates different lengths of time and different degrees of depth. There is a full range of possible modes of participant observation, what Wolcott calls â€Å"ethnographer sans[1] ethnography† (Wolcott, 1984: 177). The most frequent case in education is that a researcher may stay in a school and become a teacher in that school. The researcher identity may or may not be disguised. The researcher may then, as a participant, observe teachers’ behaviours in teaching, in meetings, in conversations, and so forth. Sometimes, the researcher is readily a member of the community (say, a school) and may still carry out research as a participant observer. However, in this case, the researcher should be aware of his/her knowledge of the community and should be cautious that such knowledge would not lead to preoccupations about the school under research. In cases where the researchers have successfully gained membership (as Whyte did in the Italian  slum), the distinction between a native member and the researcher-as-participant begins to blur. This insider-outsider dialectics will be further discussed later. Nonparticipant Observation Strictly speaking, nonparticipant observation involves merely watching what is happening and recording events on the spot. In the qualitative orientation, because of the non-intervention principle, strict nonparticipant observation should involve no interaction between the observer and the observed. Goetz and LeCompte assert that in the strict sense â€Å"nonparticipant observation exists only where interactions are viewed through hidden camera and recorder or through one-way mirror† (1984: 143). Dabbs (1982:41), for example, used hidden camera in Atlanta at a plaza in Georgia State University, and studied an informal group that frequently gathered during the morning break. There are examples of using hidden video-cameras in school toilets to study drug problem among students, or to use unnoticed audio recording device to study student interactions. The use of audio or video recording device often invites concern in ethnical considerations. Such problems are similar to those arising in using one-way mirrors in interviews or psychological experiments. Such cases are rare in policy-related research. Another case of nonparticipant observation with ethical problem is disguised observation, or covert observation. A typical example is Humphrey’s (1975) study on homosexual activities. He did not participate in such activities, but offered to act as â€Å"watch queen†, warning his informants when someone approached the toilet. Another famous example is Van Maanen’s covert study of police. He became practically a police recruit. Over more than a decade, he â€Å"slipped in and out† of the police in various research roles (Van Maanen, 1982). Covert observations are again rare in research which is related to educational decision-making. Hidden camera or recorder and covert observation occur only exceptionally.  Most author would accept the watching of audience behaviour during a basketball game (Fetterman, 1989:47) or the watching of pedestrian behaviour over a street as acceptable examples of nonparticipant observations. Interaction between the researcher and the social community under study is often unavoidable. We have again discussed this at length in Chapter 3 under the notion of researcher intervention. If we perceive the problem of intervention as a matter of degrees, then the distinction between participant observation and nonparticipant observation begins to blur. The general principle across the board is that the researchers should minimize their interactions with the informants and focus attention unobtrusively on the stream of events (Goetz and LeCompte, 1984:143). Wolcott’s study of school principal (Case 3) was perhaps the most intensive type of nonparticipant observation that one could find in the realm of education. (He also used other supplementary methods as mentioned in Case 3). He did live with the school for two years, but he did not participate as a school principal which was his subject of study. He saw his role as one of â€Å"participant-as-observer† (Wolcott, 1984:7). So was Li’s study (Case 3.8) of classroom sociology in her first year. She did stay with the school as a teacher but she never became a student which was her subject of study. The following two years of her study, however, was not nonparticipant observation because she applied experimental measures. During the UNICEF research in Liaoning, the basic method I used was interviewing and not nonparticipant observation, but I did have, at times, nonparticipant observation when debates occurred between the local planners and the provincial planners (Case 3.7), or when planners chat among themselves about their past experience in the field. The most frequently employed nonparticipant observation which is relevant to educational decision-making is perhaps observation at meetings. Typically, the researcher attends a meeting as an observer. The researcher tries to be as unobtrusive as possible and records everything that happens during the meeting. When Wolcott did his study on the school principal, he was present at all meetings unless he was told otherwise (Wolcott, 1984:4). The following was my experience of a non-participant observation in China. Case 4.3: A Validation Seminar I realized during the UNICEF research in Liaoning (Case 4) that one essential step in the planning for basic education in China was validation. When drafting of an education plan was complete, the draft plan had to undergo scrutiny in what is known as a validation seminar. In essence, all those related to the plan, including leaders at all levels, representatives of all relevant government departments, experts from all areas – are invited to discuss. Relevant documents are sent to the participants well in advance. They are then asked to comment on the plan during the validation exercise. Only â€Å"validated† plans are submitted to relevant machinery for legislation. The validation seminar for Liaoning was unfortunately held before the UNICEF research. I got an opportunity, however, a year after in 1988, when the Shanghai educational plan was to undergo validation. The host of the meeting agreed to send me an invitation. I attended the meeting in the name of an â€Å"external expert†, although I made clear to the host that my major task was not to contribute. They agreed. During the meeting, I was able to observe the roles of the various â€Å"actors† during the meeting. I was also able to talk to individual participants during tea breaks and meals to understand their background and their general views about educational planning. I was able to do a number of things over the two-day meeting: (a) to classify the over 40 participants into technocrats, bureaucrats, policy-makers and academics; (b) to understand the different extents in which the participants contributed to the modification of the plan; (c) the disparity in capacity among participants in terms of information and expertise; (d) the inter-relations between the different categories of actors and (e) the function of the validation exercise. In the end, I concluded that val idation was a way of legitimation, which employed both technical (expert judgement) and political (participation) means to increase the acceptability of the plan before it went for legal endorsement. The political aspect came to me as a surprise. It indicated a change in the notion of rationality among Chinese planners and policy-makers. Interviewing Interviewing is widely used in qualitative research. Compared with observation, it is more economical in time, but may achieve less in understanding the culture. The economy in time, however, makes ethnographic interviewing almost the most widely used technique in policy-related research. Interviewing is trying to understand what people think through their speech. There are different types of interviews, often classified by the degrees of control over the interview. Along this line, we shall briefly introduce three types of interviewing: informal interviewing, unstructured interviewing, semi-structured interviewing, and formally structured interviewing. We shall also briefly introduce key-informant interviewing and focus groups which are specific types of ethnographic interviewing. Qualitative research of course has no monopoly over interviewing. Interviewing is also frequently used in research of other traditions. The difference between ethnographic interviewing and interviewing in other traditions lies mainly in two areas: the interviewer-interviewee relationship and the aims of interviews. Ethnographic interviewees, or informants, are teachers rather than subjects to the researcher, they are leaders rather than followers in the interview. The major aim of the interview should not be seeking responses to specific questions, but initiating the informant to unfold data. Readers may find more detailed discussions about ethnographic interviewing in Spradley (1979) who provides perhaps the most insightful account of the subject. In-depth discussions about ethnographic interviewing can also be found in Bernard (1988), Patton (1990), Fetterman (1989) and Powney and Watts (1987). Informal Interviewing Informal interviewing entails no control. It is usually conversations that the researcher recall after staying in the field. It is different from  Ã¢â‚¬Å"observation† in that it is interactive. That is, the informant speaks to the researcher. By its own nature, informal interviewing is the most â€Å"ethnographic† in the sense that it is not responding to any formal question. It is part of the self-unfolding process.

Pit Bulls Are Not Aggressive Essay

Just sit there for a second, close your eyes, and visualize this; a puppy no older than 5 months in the pouring rain, freezing, shivering, on your door step. You want to help but you don’t know exactly how to, you just watch almost in tears as this puppy stays there very gloom and soaking wet. You finally decide to take a leap of chance and help the puppy, you go outside and the puppy gently lifts his head toward you and you notice it’s a pit bull. He is so skinny, starved, and parched, with the only thing to drink being muddy rain water. You slowly move closer and pet him, he lays his head on your leg, so you pick him up gently in your arms and you take him inside. When you set him down you notice your arms are covered in blood, when you look down at him you see he has cuts on his legs, neck, and stomach. You start cleaning him up and cleaning his wounds there not deadly but they are heart breaking. He has no collar or tags, but you decide to keep him. You call him Bentley, and Bentley becomes your world, and if it wasn’t for you he would have never been saved. And if it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t have the heart to believe that not all pit bulls are aggressive. When you see a Pit bull, what is the first thing that goes through your mind? For some, it is a sense of fear and for others it is the thought that this breed is misunderstood. Have you ever stopped and thought about if the Pit bull breed is really a vicious breed, or are they just misinterpreted due to the reputation that others have given them along with the many myths that are attached to them? What about the owners of these precious animals? Do you ever think that they are the reason that their Pit bull may be a vicious dog? Many times people speculate too much when it comes to the Pit bull breed. Instead of taking the time to learn about them, they would much rather allow the myths and things they hear through the media to set their mind that the Pit bull breed is a vicious breed. Many people do not know the history behind the Pit bull or where their reputation comes from. Too often this particular breed becomes a victim for something that they have no control over. It’s time to find the facts and finally make a decision based off of the facts that we find. Pit Bulls can be as gentle as any other breed of dog, but due to myths and lack of knowledge from people the Pit Bull breed has been ruined and stereotyped. American Pit Bull Terriers were first introduced during World War I and World War II. The job of the Pit Bull was to deliver messages back and forth across the battlefield. Pit Bulls were first bred to bait bulls and bears as a sport back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but soon became more commonly used as house pets due to their friendliness towards people. This indeed should open up your eyes to them not really being an aggressive breed simply because they became more commonly used as pets. Another fact about the history of the Pit Bull is the Pit Bull.

Overcoming Fear Essay

Fear can be a very crippling emotion. When I was little, my biggest fear was falling off of a bicycle. I was always afraid of bicycles because I watched my best friend fall off of one and break her arm. As I got older, however, I realized that learning how to ride a bike could be very beneficial, as well as a lot of fun. Something I did not know at the time, however, was that learning how to ride would end up being beneficial to me in other ways as well. One day, when I was about eight years old, I asked my grandfather if he would teach me how to ride the bicycle he had bought for me two years earlier. He looked at me and said, â€Å"Are you finally ready, honey?† After telling him yes, my grandfather said that he would take me out that Saturday and give me my first riding lesson. As Saturday approached, I grew more and more apprehensive. Part of me was really looking forward to learning how to ride, while the other part of me was scared to death of falling off and getting hurt. My grandfather seemed to sense my fear, and when Saturday arrived, he took me to the local bicycle shop. We went straight to the section of the store that had all kinds of knee and elbow pads, as well as other protective equipment for riding bicycles, skating, and other activities. He told me to pick out the knee and elbow pads I liked best and said that they would help prevent me from getting hurt if I fell off of my bike. When we got back home, he helped me put on my pads and then went and got my bicycle out of the garage. He showed me how to get on the bike, and then proceeded to walk beside me, holding onto the bike as I pedaled down the sidewalk. Once we turned the corner at the end of the block, my grandfather let go for the first time. He stayed right beside me, ready to catch me if I started to tilt sideways. I was only able to go a few feet before my grandfather had to catch me. He continued to encourage me to keep trying, and, after falling off several times, I was finally able to ride my bicycle up and down the sidewalk in front of my house without any help from my grandfather whatsoever. I learned that riding a bicycle was a lot easier than I could have ever dreamed. By buying me the knee and elbow pads and telling me that they would help protect me, my grandfather helped to diminish my fear of riding a bicycle. Now when I am faced with a situation that scares me, I think back to that day my grandfather taught me how to ride. I may still feel fear from time to time, but I know that I can overcome it by asking myself, â€Å"What will help me to conquer my fear?†Bibliography not needed – This is a true depiction of an actual event in my childhood.

Monmouth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Monmouth - Essay Example Consequently, General Lee was relieved of his duty, and the Continentals attacked the British again under the guidance of General Washington causing them to flee. The Battle of Monmouth, which took place on the June 27, 1778, was a constituent of the Middle Atlantic Campaign. Prior to the battle, the French joined the American’s Continental Army. On the other side, General Clinton, who was ordered to take the British troops from Philadelphia to New York by seas, decided to take them on foot. Seizing this opportunity, General Washington ordered General Lee to lead the Patriots for an attack on the British from behind. Lee’s 6,000 men attacked General Clinton’s 10,000 men, who were leaving the Monmouth Courthouse at that time, from the rear. However, there was a lot of confusion due to General Lee’s poor control of his men and the British army being more in numbers than the Patriots. This caused the British to force the Patriots to retreat. General Washingto n arrived with 6,000 men and relieved General Lee of command. Under the guidance of General Washington, the Continental Army continued the battle against the British troops with renewed encouragement and, by early evening, managed to force the British back to their original position. As a result, the British escaped, and although it was hard to choose who won, the Americans were the ones who gained victory due to forcing the British to retreat and flee. The battle ended on that day itself1,2. The Battle of Monmouth, which began and ended on June 27, 1778, was part of the Middle Atlantic Campaign. In this battle, General Lee led one half of the Patriots to attack 12,000 British troops, who were leaving the Monmouth Courthouse for New York, from behind. However, the Patriots were forced to retreat due to General Lee’s poor leadership and large numbers of the British troops. General Washington arrived with the rest of the men, and General Lee was dismissed from command. Washingt on rallied the Continentals and attacked the British again, causing them to come back to their original position. Discuss Patrick Henry’s impact on the Revolutionary War. Why do you think this person specifically made such an impact on the War? Patrick Henry was one of the most influential characters during the Revolutionary War. He was a man who had extremely good oratory skills and would never hesitate to express his dissatisfaction with the British rule. He played a major role in bringing about the revolution by his support of it in various meetings. Patrick Henry kept up his determination to make the colonies gain independence, taking action wherever necessary against the British. He is known for his famous dialogues, which increased his influence on other representatives. After deciding to become a lawyer, Patrick Henry’s political career fired off in 1763 with his victory in the Parson’s Cause. This victory enhanced his legal practice, causing him to win a seat in the House of Burgesses in 1765. Here, his powerful speech and supported statements against the Stamp Act increased his popularity as being a voice against the British reign. After the Boston Tea Party, Henry attended the First Continental Congress, where he represented Virginia, the state where he was born. At the Congress, he implored the colonists to write in strong resistance to Britain, giving a speech in which he stated, â€Å"

Article Assignments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Article Assignments - Essay Example The Roe v Wade accused some courts of violating the right to privacy because they were violating this right; a woman had the right to terminate a pregnancy if she wanted according to Roe v Wade. The role of the judiciary when it comes to policy making will also be looked at, as well as the pros and cons. Edmund Burke was an Irish statesman and also a political philosopher. He is greatly remembered for his speech on the idea of representation in Congress. Edmund criticized the British Parliament as being inhabited by a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests. He urged that electors were supposed not to vote by numbers, but to vote accordingly. Edmund held that a representative owed his supporter or his constituents’ unbiased opinion, his mature judgment and should have an enlightened judgment. He held that a representative was supposed to work to educate his constituents on matters regarding public policy, and was against individualism. The wishes of the constituents ought to have great weight on their representatives; however, the representative should also not work to the pleasures of his constituents, because he is going to be answerable to that. Rather, he or she should use reason and judgment. He continues to argue that the parliament should deliberate assembly of one nation, with one interest; that of a whole nation, but should never serve local purposes or prejudices, but the general fold. To his supporters, he told them that when they choose a member to represent them, he was not to be a member to represent them only, but rather to represent the whole nation. He told them that their representatives were required to act towards the betterment of the whole nation, and not their pleasure. Edmund burke told his supporters that they should remember that they are members of a rich commercial city, which is part of a rich commercial nation which itself part of a great empire. He argued that the diverse interests

Total Quality Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Total Quality Management - Essay Example This approach to quality helps in sustenance of success and business profits in the long run. Moreover, adopting TQM approach is also a long-term commitment and cannot be achieved through simple practices. TQM is more of a philosophy and a culture that infuses focus on quality, improvement, as well as innovation. Hence, this approach uses a combination of different practices, tools and techniques. The present discourse explains application of one such technique at the accounting section of Al Faisaliah, in Saudi Arabia, which resulted in an overall improvement and sustenance of their performance in terms of key results; further this approach helped in identifying non-performing areas and in stabilizing new practices that replaced conventional methods of working in order to sustain high performance. Basically, application of TQM happens in two phases namely the human resources phase and application of tools and techniques phase. The process of TQM requires commitment from employees an d effective coordination and communication along with new methods of working. Both phases are closely linked to each other in the process of TQM application because achieving total quality is possible only through strong commitment, teamwork and application of various tools, techniques and practices produce high-quality and/or sustainable results. One such comprehensive approach, or tool, to achieving continuous improvement in all business areas is the Six Sigma methodology. About Six-Sigma, Tennant (2001) suggests that Six Sigma, as an approach to TQM, can be viewed as a vision and philosophy that can direct an organization, department, and team or function towards highest quality standards; as a metric, a symbol, a goal and a methodology to help an organization maintain highest quality standards. However, this approach cannot be considered as the end solution or guarantee of success; and is a complex mix of different tools and techniques. This methodology can be applied to manufac turing as well as service industries. Just as TQM is a measure of continuous improvement, Six Sigma methodology is most suitably applicable to achieve continuous improvement in quality, productivity, customer satisfaction, timeliness, and any other measurable business attribute; however, six sigma cannot be applied to situations or processes that lack historical data and tangible metrics. Intangible objectives such as employee motivation, commitment etc can also be improved by using Six Sigma methodology only if these subjective attributes can be converted to measurable objectives and can be measured to derive a quantifiable number that can describe the present status. Despite presence of proven and efficient quality tools and techniques in the market, some companies have embraced Six-Sigma methodology as their guiding force towards TQM. The pioneers of this technique are Motorola and General Electric (GE), both adopted this technique to improve their manufacturing quality and waste reduction. General Electric embraced Six Sigma much more rampantly than any other firm in their manufacturing as well as service sectors. They attribute cost reduction, customer satisfaction improvement, Wall Street recognition and corporate synergies to application of Six Sigma methodologies. Six Sigma is embedded into GE’s culture. This company employs over 4000 Black Belts and 10000 Green Belts across its businesses, and has set a benchmark for Six

Causes of income inequality in the UK and evaluate the measures that Coursework

Causes of income inequality in the UK and evaluate the measures that could be used by the UK government to achieve a more equal distribution of wealth - Coursework Example income may involve engagement in jobs resulting to wages and salaries, self-employment, benefits accruing from welfares as well as incomes emanating from asset ownerships (Anderton, 2008, 38). On this perspective, it is significant to mention that there exists a notable difference in the structural division and distribution of income on global perspective. However, concerning the United Kingdom, it is evident that the issue of income inequality may feature in the poverty perspective. This involves absolute as well as relative poverty. The issue of income inequality in the United Kingdom has taken greater heights. There are several causes of such income inequalities evidenced in the United Kingdom. Some of these include the issues regarding employment of individuals in certain sectors of work in the United Kingdom. It is a fact that there exists a significant pay differentials amongst those people under employment schedules in all the countries in the world. This significant pay differential is also evident in the United Kingdom. This has led to difference in wages as well as salaries earned by the employees. This causes a significant inequality in income experienced in the United Kingdom (Anderton, 2009, 67). The difference in wages and salaries experienced by the employees follows the levels of differential in kills and expertise that each employee possesses. However, other reason that may lead to income inequality relevant to employment includes employee discrimination in the companies in which they are employe d. This leads to differences in payments thereby translating to income inequality. The other reason behind the inequality of income in the United Kingdom is associated with the differences in wealth amongst the individual members of the country (Harjes, 2007, 57). It is true that a wealthy person can rent his possessions to other prospective individuals and get huge amounts of income as opposed to the less wealthy individuals. This brings in the issue of

John Lewis new product 4p's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

John Lewis new product 4p's - Essay Example John Lewis has come up with one of the interesting range of products in the children department and one of their latest hits seems to be that of Childtablet (Barker and Angelopulo, 2005). In this paper, let us see the marketing strategy that can be used in order to promote the product Childtablet in the market. Any marketing strategy has Four Ps as their crux based on which all of the marketing activities are carried out. According to Baker and Hart (2007), Product strategy is the ground for a product’s competitiveness and also the maintenance of its position in the market. John Lewis is one of the most established names not only in the UK market but has a good standing all over the world. Products from John Lewis have a competitive advantage over the other educational electronic tablets that are out there in the market. All of John Lewis kid products have done good business so far and people give importance to brand factor very much. When it comes to pricing, it is better to provide some discount offers or promotional offers in the beginning so that people will get used to the product. Once the quality of the product gets established then pricing will not be an issue. In order to gain a winning edge over the competitors, it become absolutely necessary to monitor the competitor price and provide a slightly lesser price than that. Demand and supply forms are the basic when it comes to pricing (Onkvisit S and Shaw J J 2008). As per Smith (2003), Place constitutes the most important aspect when it comes to marketing. John Lewis is a world renowned store that has more number of visitors each day thus it becomes easier to sell the Child Tablet through the outlets. Also, John Lewis has a wide spread branch of department store all over Britain and also some parts of the world. Thus the product can be market both indigenously as well as in the international market. Distributing the child tablets to places that has a good record

Case analysis for enterprise rent-a-car Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analysis for enterprise rent-a-car - Case Study Example By the end of 2010, the enterprise had grown bigger, and became the largest private car rental enterprises with 6,000 rental locations and 850,000 rental cars in service. Since 1994, the enterprise has been the leading car rental company and by the year 2010, it accounted for almost half of the auto rental market with its competitor being Hertz (Busse and Swinkels 2). In order to maximize its profits and ensure quality services to its customers, the Human Resource department decided to employ more employees, most of them being university graduates than any other car rental company (Burns 90). This enables the enterprise to compete other companies since these graduate employees were goal oriented, had good problem solving skills, had good communication and leadership skills, had good customer and sales service skills, they were flexible, and ensured a well-built work ethnic. However, in order to sustain its employees, the company offered an opportunity to develop well-paying careers, if they showed the efforts of working hard and willing to learn new skills. The new trainees earned approximately $35,000 per annum including overtime allowances. However, the Human resource management ensured that the hardworking employees received promotions to better positions and this made the company to appear in the BusinessWeek top fifty places to launch your c areer consistently (Burns 90). Secondly, all the branches of enterprise rent-a-car typically started their operations at 7:30 a.m. to 6:00p.m. This enables the enterprise to serve a large number of customers since the allocated working hours were the working hours for the customers. The company could, for instance, fetch customers to their work location and back home in the evening (Busse and Swinkels 3). The Human Resource staffed offices with the adequate number of employees to manage the allocated fleet of cars.

Smoking and Risk of Cardiac Disease Research Paper

Smoking and Risk of Cardiac Disease - Research Paper Example There are several risk factors for cardiac disease, some of which are preventable. The most significant preventable factor is smoking. Several studies have associated smoking with risk of cardiac disease. Infact, both passive and active smoking are associated with cardiac disease and hence in several countries in the world, smoking in public places has been banned. The specific cardiac disease that is caused by smoking is ischemic heart disease. While there are several views as to how smoking causes cardiac disease, most experts agree that there are several mechanisms through which smoking leads to the development of cardiac disease. Smoking is associated with many health-related problems and hence is a major health-related issue. It is a leading cause of illness and death all over the world. A smoker is at risk of developing cancers of the throat, mouth, lungs, bladder and esophagus and also heart attack. Research has shown that smoking increases the risk of lung, throat and mouth c ancers by 14 times, cancer of the esophagus by 4 times, chances of death through heart attack by two times and chances of bladder cancer by 2 times (Bernstein, EmedicineHealth). Other health-related problems occurring due to cigarette smoking are emphysema, chronic bronchitis, peptic ulcer disease, pneumonia, cancer of the lip, cancers of the larynx and pharynx, malignancies of the abdomino-pelvic organs like pancreas, bladder and kidneys and also cancer of the cervix. Cigarette smoking can also increase the risk of burns (Bernstein, EmedicineHealth). In this essay, the role of smoking in the development of cardiac disease will be discussed. This will be preceded by an overview of ischemic heart disease. The thesis statement in this essay is â€Å"What is the relationship between smoking and cardiac disease?† Ischemic heart disease or IHD or coronary heart disease is a condition in which there is oxygen deprivation to the muscles of the heart as a result of decreased blood fl ow and perfusion and is accompanied by inadequate removal of the products of metabolism (Zevitz, Emedicine). This is the most common form of heart disease and a leading cause of premature death in the developed countries (Zevitz, Emedicine). The hallmark feature of this condition is imbalance between the supply and demand of oxygen of the myocardium which can occur either due to increased myocardial oxygen demand or decreased myocardial oxygen supply or both. It can manifest as one of these: anginal discomfort, ST-segment deviation on ECG, decreased uptake of technetium 99 or thallium 201 in images of myocardial perfusion and ventricular function impairment (Zevitz, Emedicine). Ischemia to the myocardium results from disease in the coronary arteries. The disease is most often due to formation of atheroma and its consequences like thrombosis. Coronary arteries can be affected in other conditions also like aortitis, polyarteritis, certain connective tissue disorders and in some congen ital anomalies like fistula, malformation of major coronary artery and anomalous origin of coronary artery (Mcpherson, Medscape). Atheroma, also known as atherosclerosis is nothing but patchy focal disease of the intima of the artery. Of all the arteries in the body, coronary arteries are at increased risk of developing atheroma (Ross, p.443). The beginning of these plaques occurs in the second or third decade and gradually progresses. Initially, the circulating monocytes migrate into the intima of the arteries and take up oxidised low density lipoprotein from the plasma. These cells then become lipid-laden foam cells (Mcpherson, Medscape). Once these foam cells die, the contents of the cells are released which are mainly lipids. These form fatty streaks. Smooth muscles cells of the artery migrate in and around the

Project Management - Teams, Leadership, & Negotiation [sap5] Essay

Project Management - Teams, Leadership, & Negotiation [sap5] - Essay Example Project teams develop plans required for scheduling activities, estimating costs and making decisions on resources of work to be accomplished. Project teams revise plans of every project phase in its life cycle. These constitute people and other resources needed in executing various plans. It provides services, products and the results of the project. For instance, implementing processes take into account development of project teams, managing and directing project team, carrying out quality assurance, selecting sellers and distributing information. Project progress is measured and monitored so that project teams meet the desired objectives. The staff and project manager determines progress against plans through taking corrective action. This phase includes performance reporting, where stakeholders identify significant changes keeping the project on track. The project is formally accepted and administrative activities such as project files archiving, contracts closure, documenting of lessons learned and receipt of formal acceptance of work delivered and

Impact of Grey Marketing on Indian Economy Essay Example for Free

Impact of Grey Marketing on Indian Economy Essay â€Å"An unofficial market in which goods are bought and sold at prices lower than the official price set by a regulatory agency Grey marketing (also sometimes known as â€Å"gray market†) involves the trade of legal goods through unauthorized, unofficial, and unintended channels of distribution. Hence, trademarked products are often exported from one country to another and sold by unauthorized individuals or firms. This practice is also often known as parallel importing, product diverting, and even arbitrage, and typically flourishes when a product is in short supply, when manufacturers resort to skimming strategies in specific markets. A good example is the trading of crude oil by an individual. The grey market includes services that are typically unregistered to evade taxes. Perfectly legitimate occupations, such as domestic help, babysitters, part time beauticians and freelancers, may not be registered. Not only is it difficult to detect such defaulters, the punishment is usually mild. For example, even as Apple, Inc., rolled out its latest third-generation iPhone on July 11, 2008, several retail stores throughout the world, including those in China and Thailand, continued to take orders even though this product was not being sold in those markets. Their computer codes were unlocked, so that the phones could be used with different mobile service providers. Even in India, one of the fastest-growing markets for cell phones, Apple delayed the release of the original iPhone until mid-2008, a year after the release in the United States and six months after its release in Europe, because of the fear of grey market sales. A wide range of goods and services have been sold through grey markets, including automobiles, broadcasting delivery, college textbooks, pharmaceuticals, photographic equipment, video games, and even wines. Research has demonstrated that every one of the world’s eight major export regions has experienced grey marketing activity damaging to their operations. Parallel market is further encouraged by periods of war or any other crisis. During harsh political conditions or natural disasters, scarce goods are rationed by the government. People have the tendency to violate restrictions or rationing laws to secure the products they desire. In the United States, grey market goods are prohibited according to Section 526 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which expressly forbids importation of goods of foreign manufacture without permission of the trademark owner. However, the implementation of regulation by the U.S. Customs Service and the courts’ interpretation of the law have not been in line with each other. In a recent study, about 13 percent of the firms in North America have reported some form of grey marketing. A positive outcome of grey markets is that they provide brand-name goods at lower prices to the customer. They can create incremental sales in markets not in direct competition with sanctioned dealers, and sometimes help companies overcome distribution bottlenecks because of local government regulations. Occasionally, it is less expensive to tolerate grey marketing than to shut down the operations completely because of the time and resources required to monitor the violations. Finally, eradicating grey marketing activities can provide a firm with sound marketing intelligence regarding customers in these markets and their buying behavior. On the other hand, the phenomenon obviously also has several drawbacks for companies. It simultaneously undermines the manufacturer’s distribution arrangements and their ability to control quality it creates the dilution of exclusivity and damages existing channel relationships. Official dealers may not choose to offer significant services in order to compete with the grey market price for the product. There is likely to be an erosion of the brand’s global image, and the firm is unlikely to have the ability to use traditional pricing strategies, thus having less control over their overall marketing strategies. 2.According To World Health Organization: 2.1.Parallel Imports: Parallel imports are imports of a patented or trademarked product from a country where it is already marketed. For example, in Mozambique 100 units of Bayers ciprofloxacin (500mg) costs US$740, but in India Bayer sells the same drug for US$15 (owing to local generic competition). Mozambique can import the product from India without Bayers consent. According to the theory of exhaustion of intellectual property rights, the exclusive right of the patent holder to import the protected product is exhausted, and thus ends, when the product is first launched on the market. When a state or group of states applies this principle of exhaustion of intellectual property rights in a given territory, parallel importation is authorized to all residents in the state in question. In a state that does not recognize this principle, however, only the patent holder who has been registered has the right to import the protected product. Sometimes referred to as â€Å"grey market† imports, parallel imports often takes place when there is differential pricing of the same product either brand-name or generic drugs in different markets (usually owing to local manufacturing costs or market conditions). The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement explicitly states that this practice cannot be challenged under the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement system and so is effectively a matter of national discretion. Parallel imports can reduce the price of health products and pharmaceuticals by introducing competition. However, they can also affect the negotiation of tiered pricing regimes with pharmaceutical companies. If a private pharmaceutical company agrees to sell a product at a lower price in poor countries, it will need some assurance that the cheaper product will not be imported back into its rich country markets, undercutting its profits (product diversion). 3.Grey Marketing by Industry: 3.1. IPO Grey Marketing in India: Cities like Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Rajkot are the most active centers for the IPO (initial public offerings) grey market. Trades done in the grey market are settled on the day of listing. Once the deal is done at a stipulated price, the seller must deliver the shares after he has been allotted the shares by the company. If the seller falls short in receiving the exact number of shares that he has sold in anticipation, then he must buy the shares on the market (once the share is listed) to honor his commitment. Most of the recently-concluded initial public offerings are quoting at a significant premium in the grey market, compared to their issue prices; this means that the issues are perceived to have been underpriced. Many traders short sell in the grey market if they feel that the premium on offer is unwarranted and that the stock may list at a price lower than what most market players expect it to. Though grey-market operators say that there is a constant change in the grey-market premium, it largely depends on the subscription on the last day and the market conditions, post issue closing. 3.1.1. In the stock market, what is the concept of grey marketing? Grey marketing is a trade of something legal but through unofficial and unauthorized distribution channels. In contrast, black marketing is a trade of illegal goods or services through illegal channels. The grey market of goods is to import and sell products through market channels which are not authorized by the manufacturers. It occurs when the prices of a product differ significantly in different countries. The grey market of securities markets and IPO (Initial Public Offer) is to buy and sell the shares to be allotted in the future. Once the trading is done in the grey market at a stipulated price, the seller must deliver the sold number of shares to the buyer on the day of listing to honor the commitment. 3.1.2.Effect of Grey Market Trading on Indian Economy 3.1.2.1Grey Market: Rs. 1L in Reliance Power IPO will earn 9% in 20 days [pic] AHMEDABAD: Reliance Power (REPL) seems to have electrified grey market operations in Ahmedabad with operators willing to shell out as much as Rs. 9,000 for every application of Rs. 1 lakh. In the bustling grey market in Gujarat, such high rates are unheard of. The last benchmark for hectic activity was the Mundra Port and SEZ IPO in November when the grey market started buying applications for Rs. 7,500 in the last stages of the issue. With the REPL offer ready to hit the market on January 15, the grey market is trading the shares and the applications. It basically means that if you have Rs. 1 lakh to invest when the IPO opens, you have a secured 9% return within 20 days of closing of the issue when the stock would be listed. After SEBI cleared REPLs IPO, grey markets had resumed trading in the stock with premium saudas (trades) at Rs. 340-350 and application buying rate at Rs. 7,500. While the premium has zoomed to Rs. 390-400, the applications rate touched Rs. 9,000 and could break the Rs. 10,000 mark by the time the IPO hits the market, sources said. The excitement on the counter in the grey market has come on the heels of news that REPL will offer 5% discount to retail investors, who will also get an option to pay only 25% of IPO amount at the time of application. 3.1.2.2.Reliance Power IPO: Grey market sees Rs. 2000 crore loss: [pic] AHMEDABAD: The dismal debut of Reliance Power on the bourses may result in losses to the tune of Rs. 2,000 crore in the grey market. Operators also fear a payment crisis as many investors are threatening to hold back payments. Grey market players — both operators and investors — who were expecting the stock to list in the range of Rs. 550-Rs 600 per share, were in shock as Reliance Power opened at Rs. 430 and closed at Rs. 372.50 on its first day on the exchanges. This could also adversely impact the premium transactions in forthcoming IPOs (initial public offers). Ever since the grey market began trading in this IPO, the premium on Reliance Power shares had peaked at Rs. 450 over and above IPO price of Rs. 450 per share. Majority of trading in R-Power IPO in the grey market was done at an average premium of Rs. 300 per share. As the issue closed at Rs. 372.50, most market operators, who had taken huge exposures, have lost Rs. 377 per share. It is estimated the grey market has already taken an exposure of five crore equity shares, leading to losses worth Rs. 1,900 crore. It is also learnt that many investors in Jaipur have refused to honor their payment commitment to grey market operators in Ahmedabad, as the IPO plunged after listing. This could well result in operators losing out on large sums of money and have a cascading effect in the market. 3.1.2.3.Grey market bets big time on DLF IPO: [pic] AHMEDABAD: Only time can tell whether you could get the elusive pit of gold at the end of the DLF IPO rainbow. But, street savvy investors in Gujarat have already started earning a secured 4% return on their investment in the initial public offer of the countrys biggest realty developers, much before the offer hits the market on June 11. Large numbers of investors, who want to earn secured interest earning up to 4%, are selling their IPO applications to grey market operators in Ahmedabad. Although the DLF IPO is opening from May 11, IPO applications are being sold anywhere between Rs. 3,800 and Rs 4,000 for a single application worth Rs. 1 lakh. Activities in the Ahmedabads grey market, popularly known as Sakar Bazar, has gradually been heightening as the market enters the final week before a deluge of public offering hit the primary markets. Led by DLF IPO, the next two months could see close to Rs. 50,000 crore being raised from the market. On one hand, the grey market is witnessing huge trading in IPOs, which are yet to be listed on the bourse. On another hand, people are selling their IPO applications to the grey market operators for a secured interest. Even as DLF shares are yet to be listed on the bourse, operators in Ahmedabads grey market are trading DLF shares at a premium of Rs 37 to Rs 38 on its issue price of Rs 500-Rs 550. Similarly, Meghmani Organic is fetching a premium of Rs 5 over its issue price. And, its not only in the case of these two IPOs. All IPOs are traded in the Ahmedabad grey market, which seems to have a handle on the pricing of IPO listings. It has been found by most market participant of the capital market that majority of the IPOs listing prices are normally close to the last trading price of the IPO in the Ahmedabads grey market. 4.WINE: The grey market in wine flourishes, particularly in the case of champagne. Many large champagne producers do their own importing, and desire to maintain independent price points in different markets. Thus a bottle of Champagne might cost US$35 in the United States while the same bottle might be only 15 Euros in France. It is often profitable to buy the wine in Europe from an authorized distributor, and resell it in the US. In the case of enormous pricing disparity, it is not uncommon to find a grey-marketed wine selling for less at retail than the wholesale price of the authorized distributor. In the case of a large availability disparity between the US and Europe, the grey market price may be the same or higher than the authorized price. Typically the importer of a wine is the one most concerned about grey market sources. The winemaker may or may not care what happens to the wine after it is sold, although he or she might complain to appease an importer. 4.1.India imports 72,000 cases of wine a year PUNE: The Indian wine market is growing at 30-40% annually and this rate will continue for the next 5-6 years in keeping with global trends. However, the current per person per year consumption of wine in the country is as low as 9-10 ml. The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation has mentioned this in its note on the grape wine industry of Maharashtra, based on a report prepared by Rabo International Bank. The highest wine consuming countries such as France and Italy has per person wine consumption as high as 60 to 70 liters annually. Those in China consume four liters, the report stated. Domestically, 80 % of wine consumption is confined to major cities like Mumbai (39 %), Delhi (23 %), Bangalore (9 %) and Goa (9 %) whereas rest of India has only 20 % consumption. The MIDC report further stated that India currently imports 72,000 wine cases (nine liters to a case) a year. About 32,000 of this are bottled at origin and the other 40,000 cases are imported in bulk flexi bags, which are subsequently bottled by Indian wineries. Besides this, about 12,000-15,000 wine cases are sold through the grey market. In 2009-2010, some seven lakh liters of wine worth Rs. 5.92 crore was exported to France, Italy, Germany, US, UK, Singapore and Belgium from Maharashtra. The state had announced its `Maharashtra Grape Processing Industrial Policy 2001 on September 19, 2001 with wine as an important part of it. According to a report by MIDC, four components are required to make good wine. Those are soil, climate, vines and human factor that is the people who brew wine. A lot depends on finding the ideal balance between the characteristic of soil, the microclimate and the grape varieties. At present wine grapes are grown on a 7,000 acre area in the state. In 2010 there were a total of 74 wines making units (36 in Nashik, 13 in Sangli, 12 in Pune, 5 in Solapur, 4 in Osmanabad, 3 in Buldana and 1 in Latur district) that had started production in the state. At present, total production of wine in the country is 1.45 crore litres from 90 wineries in the country. Of that, 1.32 crore litres wine is produced by 75 wineries in Maharashtra. The total investment in wineries was Rs 431.71 crore in 2009 which rose to Rs 452.10 crore in 2012. France, Italy, Spain, Germany are the main grape wine producing countries in the world. Nearly 32,000 million litres wine is produced per annum. 5.AUTOMOBILES: Automobile manufacturers segment world markets by territory and price, thus creating a demand for grey import vehicles. In the United Kingdom the term applies to vehicles imported either new from cheaper European countries or from Japanese domestic models imported secondhand from Japan or Singapore, which both have strict laws against older cars. This importation of secondhand models from Japan/Singapore tends to involve sports models that were never released in the UK or models that fetch a high price in the UK due to their performance or status. Although some grey imports are a bargain, some buyers have discovered that their vehicles do not meet British regulations or that parts and service are hard to come by because these cars are different from the versions sold new in the UK. In New Zealand, grey market vehicles comprise a majority of cars in the national fleet. These secondhand imports have achieved normal status and are used and serviced without comment throughout society. A huge industry servicing and supplying parts for these vehicles has developed. After years of trying to stop grey imports the car companies themselves have become involved, importing in competition with their own new models. 6.MOBILE HANDSET: iphone Launch gets hit by Grey Marketing: 6.1.Low-cost handsets to get impacted, says industry: Nearly 75 per cent of the currently available mobile handset models in the market could get defunct or redesigned with the Government deciding to bring in new radiation norms for the telecom sector. The Department of Telecom has accepted a proposal by an inter-ministerial committee to lower the permitted radiation in mobile phones by 50 per cent. The move will impact almost all the handset makers, especially those who operate in the low-end segment. 6.2.Handset price: According to the Indian Cellular Association, the new radiation norm will jack up handset price by 5-30 per cent as handset makers will have to make additional investments to meet the new rules. According to the new guidelines, handsets should not have Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) of more than 1.6 watt/kg taken over a volume containing as mass of 1 gram of human issue. This is the same levels allowed in the US. India till now followed the European standards wherein handset makers are allowed to have SAR levels of 2 watt/kg on a 10 gram human issue. Globally, about 1,500 million mobile phones are sold per year out of which more than 80 per cent is sold in countries where European guidelines are followed. In India, there about 10 global brands, another 15-20 Indian brands and more than 4,000 importers who trade in unbranded Chinese phones. â€Å"Most of the handsets under Rs 11,999 which are approximately 645 or so would have to be redesigned. Effectively, this would disrupt the entire operation of more than 88 per cent of the legal handsets sold in the market (the legal market is approximately 70-75 per cent of Indias total volume market). All global brands and domestic brands will get seriously impacted by this,† Mr. Pankaj Mohindroo, President, Indian Cellular Association. 6.3.Chinese handsets: The industry is worried that the new guidelines will have no impact on the Chinese unbranded grey market phones, which is handled by over 4,000 importers with volumes between 3 and 4 million a month. The handset makers fear that the grey market will get a window of opportunity of approximately 6-9 months to rapidly expand their volumes before the branded companies start bringing redesigned phones. â€Å"If the Government is bringing new laws to address concerns of health and security then it should also set up good monitoring. While the branded phones will have to bear the costs to redesign phones, grey market devices will continue to be available without any check,† said Mr. S.N. Rai, Co-founder Director, Lava International – one of the Indian handset Company. According to ICA, the industry would be able to redesign approximately 100 models in about 6-9 months and 200 in 24 months. There are about 850 handset models available in the market at present. â€Å"The legal industry will never be able to redesign all the models and the availability would constrict to at best 150- 200 models within 18-24 months of implementation of such norms,† Mr. Mohindroo said 6.4.Ultra low-cast models: ICA said that in the case of ultra low-cost handsets, it may not be possible to redesign these handsets and all the models in the ultra low-cost handsets less than Rs 1,500 could get knocked out of the market. Apart from lowering the permitted radiation levels, the new guidelines also make it mandatory for handset makers to display the SAR level on the handset. The DoT is expected to notify the new norms shortly. Keywords: mobile radiation norms, low-cost handsets to get impacted, Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) 6.5.Dark days for mobile grey market: The import duty on mobile phones has been reduced from about 16 per cent to around 4 per cent.Industry participants also believe that the shift from grey market to the legal market is by and large on the account of growing number of mobile retail stores. The mobile stores provide accessibility to the consumers. Our mobile stores are at all the visible locations, so consumers can walk in anywhere and get the best deals possible, said Subhiksha marketing vice-president Mohit Khattar. Industry analysts say that a huge grey market exists because of the differential of around 10 per cent to 25 per cent between legal and grey handset prices.With growing competition in the organized mobile retail market, players are offering products at lower prices. This, in turn, helps counter the grey market and bolsters footfalls in these stores. Consumers can buy high-end, genuine branded handsets with guarantee of replacement or repair through the mobile retail stores. Trust is the predominant factor that consumers are turning towards the branded retail stores, said HotSpot CEO Sanjeev Mahajan. Consumers are opting for accessibility and do not mind paying extra for it. The grey markets operate from a few areas in a city. On the other hand, mobile stores are more easily accessible as they are located in all prominent markets. The growing brand consciousness among the people, analysts say is also propelling the consumers to approach branded mobile retail stores. Mobile phone retail chains like Mobile Store, Mobi Retail, RPG Cellucom, currently account for just 7 percent of the overall mobile handset market, which has a market share of Rs 15,000 crore. Currently, the impact of mobile retail stores on the grey market is minimal. However, considering the rapid growth rate of organized mobile retail, its contribution is set to increase in the next 3-4 years, said retail consultancy Technopak Advisors chairman Arvind Singhal. Though the grey market in mobile phones has reduced, a large (75%) grey market still exists in mobile phone accessories such as batteries and chargers, which are often available at one-tenth the price of company branded accessories . Last year, the mobile phone makers asked finance ministry to reduce 34% duty on imported accessories, but nothing concrete has happened as yet. 7.PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPTMENT: Generally regarded as legal in most countries, parallel imports make expensive photographic equipment attractive to savvy users. The grey market in photographic equipment is thriving in highly developed and heavily taxed states like Singapore, with dealers importing directly from lower taxed states and selling at a lower price, creating competition against a local authorised distributor. Grey sets, as colloquially called, are often comparable to authorised imports. Lenses or flash units of parallel imports often only differ by the warranty provided, and since the grey sets were manufactured for another state, photographic equipment manufacturers often offer local warranty, instead of international warranty, which will render grey sets ineligible for warranty claims with the manufacturer. Due to the nature of local warranty, importers of grey sets usually mask the flaw in warranty with their own warranty schemes. These are often warranties with reduced benefits or lasting a shorter period of time. Grey sets do not differ particularly from an authorised import. They look and function identically, apart from the manufacturers warranties having been voided. 7.1.Grey market for digital cameras may bite the dust soon: KOLKATA: Grey markets for digital cameras may soon become a thing of past, feel the imaging majors in India. It is certainly the year of demise for grey market in compact category, and the sun will set soon in DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) segment, said Alok Bharadwaj, senior V-P, Canon India. Though being an unorganized sector, it is spread in many metro cities, like in Kolkata, at Metro Galli, Kidderpore, and in Delhi, at Pallika Bazar. Earlier, Nikons competition was Nikon grey but now the scenario has changed and grey market has shrunk a lot. Its no more a cause for concern, said Sajjan Kumar, GM, imaging, Nikon India. According to Bharadwaj, the grey market in the country is mostly activated in DSLR segment and its roughly around Rs. 250 crore, but since India is the main focus for all the global camera majors and as a consequence of that, the market is also increasing rapidly, which is ultimately causing the death of grey market. The general trend amongst consumers is to buy expensive lenses and camera bodies from the grey market at a cheaper rate, but now with most of the players providing the product at a place nearby them, with an extended guarantee period and free memory cards, people are ready to buy it from us officially, said Kumar. More awareness among the consumers and round-the-clock marketing have also stepped up the chances to diminish the grey market, said Hiroshi Takashina, MD, Nikon India. It may be noted that Nikon India has recently doubled its marketing expenditure to Rs. 120 crore from last years Rs 60 crore. Another common feeling amongst the leading camera players is, if government reduces tax on the DSLR bodies, lens, accessories, then the process of erasing grey market will be rapid. Currently, the basic duty on lenses and accessories is still at 10%, which makes it a little difficult for us to bring DSLR prices further down, despite a phenomenal growth in the sector, said a top official of Olympus India. Currently only 1% of Olympus Indias sales is affected by grey market. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) will benefit us surely to cut the excessive costing, feels Bharadwaj. It may be noted that India and Japan have signed the CEPA Act, under which both the countries will enjoy some trade benefits during the bilateral trade. According to Takashina, India is a price conscious market where 75% of the sales are in the category of cameras priced below Rs.10,000, so with more shopping shop concept and 24 hour customer care backup, it is now more sensible for a customer to buy the gear from official dealers than to go and buy it from the grey market. 8.BROADCASTING: In television and radio broadcasting, grey markets primarily exist in relation to satellite radio and satellite television delivery. The most common form is companies reselling the equipment and services of a provider not licensed to operate in the market. 8.1Industry body opposes levy on TV sets: [pic] NEW DELHI: Consumer electronics industry said on Monday that sale of television sets would be hit and investment flows affected, if government imposes a license fee on TV sets. Also, share of the grey market would go up if such a proposal is accepted, Anoop Kumar president Consumer Electronics and TV Manufacturers Association (Cetma) said.[pic] Government is planning to impose a license fee of 10-15% on purchase price of each TV set, to provide financial help to Prasar Bharati. If the proposed levy is imposed, the level of taxation on TV sets would rise to 45-50% and the share of the grey market will certainly increase, a Cetma official said. When total incidence of taxes on ACs was about 50%, the grey market was more than 80%. With the reduction of taxes, the grey market for ACs has practically disappeared. The increase in the share of grey market for TV sets will ultimately result in loss of revenue to the government, Cetma added. Cetma said any additional burden would result in a major slowdown of the television industry, already reeling under heavy taxes. 9.VIDEO GAMES: Grey markets can sometimes develop for select video game consoles and titles whose demand temporarily outstrips supply and the local shops run out of stock, this happens especially during the holiday season. Other popular items, such as dolls can also be affected. In such situations the grey market price may be considerably higher than the manufacturers suggested retail price. Online auction sites such as eBay have contributed to the emergence of the video game grey market. 10.How to control the web of Grey Marketing? In order to reduce the impact of grey market goods, firms can take the following strategies: Enforcement of intellectual property rights Manufacturers or their licensees often seek to enforce trademark or other intellectual-property rights against the grey market. Such rights may be exercised against the import, sale and/or advertisement of grey imports. However, such rights can be limited. Examples of such limitations include the first-sale doctrine in the United States and the doctrine of the exhaustion of rights in the European Union. When grey-market products are advertised on Google, eBay or other legitimate web sites, it is possible to petition for removal of any advertisements that violate trademark or copyright laws. This can be done directly, without the involvement of legal professionals. eBay, for example, will remove listings of such products even in countries where their purchase and use is not against the law. Refusal to supply Manufacturers may refuse to supply distributors and retailers (and with commercial products, customers) that trade in grey-market goods. They may also more broadly limit supplies in markets where prices are low. Refusal to honor warranties Manufacturers may refuse to honor the warranty of an item purchased from grey-market sources, on the grounds that the higher price on the non-grey market reflects a higher level of service. Alternatively, they may provide the warranty service only from the manufacturers subsidiary in the intended country of import, not the diverted third country where the grey goods are ultimately sold by the distributor or retailer. This response to the grey market is especially evident in electronics goods. Reliance on regulation Local laws (or customer demand) concerning distribution and packaging (for example, the language on labels, units of measurement, and nutritional disclosure on foodstuffs) can be brought into play, as can national standards certifications for certain goods. Tracing grey-market goods Manufacturers may give the same item different model numbers in different countries, even though the functions of the item are identical, so that they can identify grey imports. Manufacturers can also use batch codes to enable similar tracing of grey imports. Parallel market importers often de-code the product in order to avoid the identification of the supplier. In the United States, courts have decided that decoding which blemishes the product is a material alteration, rendering the product infringed. Parallel market importers have worked around this limitation by developing new removal techniques.

Stereotypical Ideas Of Australian Identity English Literature Essay

Stereotypical Ideas Of Australian Identity English Literature Essay One such example of a text that can be identified as Australian due to its use of the stereotypical ideas of Australian identity is Clancy of the Overflow, a poem by AB Banjo Paterson. This text is written from the point of view of a city-dweller who once met the title character, a shearer and drover, and now envies the imagined pleasures of Clancys lifestyle, which he compares favourably to life in the dusty, dirty city and the round eternal of the cashbook and the journal. The title comes from the address of a letter the city-dweller sends, The Overflow being the name of the sheep station where Clancy was working when they met. The poem is based on a true story that was experienced by Banjo Paterson. He was working as a lawyer when someone asked him to send a letter to a man named Thomas Gerald Clancy, asking for a payment that was never received. Banjo sent the letter to The Overflow and soon received a reply that read Clancys gone to Queensland droving and we dont know where he a re The imagery that is used within the poem allows us to see the landscape that we now except to be Australian, the language used also allows us to appreciate the behaviour that we have come to adopt as our own Australian way. For example In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of Clancy, Gone a-droving `down the Cooper where the Western drovers go; As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing, For the drovers life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know. The real question is, without these so called Australian images would we be able to recognise the text as an Australian one? The answer is no, Australian texts cannot afford to let their setting be ambiguous. Australia has few attributes that separate it from mediocrity and its setting is one of them. As well as Australias aesthetic attributes it also has its behavioural attributes that can be referred to as individual. Australian is renowned as being a masculine society, in which the sporting arena is worshiped; now this occurs other countries but this aspect of Australian life adds to overall individuality of Australian society. Bruce Dawes Life Cycle is an example of this obsession that Australians have with sport in our masculine society. The diction in the poem plays the largest role in creating the ideas and the sense of obsession. The ability to create a poem which covers a life-cycle of a person through the game of AFL would not be possible without the choice of diction. For instance in the line For possession of a Rusk: Ah he is a little Tiger! It uses particular words like possession, which would be a term used in a game of AFL, or Tiger, the name of a team. Ideas are also conveyed through the word choice, for instance You bludger and the covenant is sealed- creates the sense that the poet is saying AFL is almost a religion. People live their life according to the success of the team they follow. The word covenant being a commonly used religious term portrays ideas of religion. The word choice and words chosen prove the obsession as they bring in direct ideas and terms from AFL, and relating them to many stages of life and deeper ideas such as religion. Australia being the young nation that it is has not forged its own identity fully as yet, although many different sources contribute to the countrys social amalgam. It is possible for different understandings, representing different starting points, to be grafted onto a common stock of images and beliefs. And we see this done within Dawes poem, which we identify as an Australian text. Perhaps Australia suffers from these deeper identity issues because of the relatively ignoble cause of European settlement in this country. No tales of Pilgrim Fathers escaping from religious persecution for us. Instead there is the ball and chain and the ignominy of a convict settlement consciously designed to house what were considered to be the dregs of another society. Or perhaps the difference lies in the fact of the ease of our attaining self government and independence. Whatever the case, we do know that Australian texts are recognised by their unambiguous imagery and setting. There are very few texts that show this better than Peter Allens Tenterfield Sadler. The highly stereotypical imagery that is used throughout the song is the kind that separates Australia from mediocrity and allows the text to be viewed as a unique Australian text. Some examples of this are, 52 years he sat on his verandah, made his saddles, and if you had questions about sheep or flowers or doves, you just asked the saddler, he lived without sin, There building a library for him These words used are typically Australian, meaning that they appear nowhere else in the world, the use of these words, i.e. verandah indicates the uniqueness of the Australian lifestyle and also the individuality of Australian texts. The typical Aussie has been described as male, easy going, fair and democratic, having a healthy disrespect for authority, and a dry laconic humour. In the song, Peter Al len describes his characters as these types of people. The problem with defining Australian identity is that there are so many different sources contributing to the countrys social amalgam. This in itself does not cause an insuperable problem. It is possible for different understandings, representing different starting points, to be grafted onto a common stock of images and beliefs. And perhaps the matter is more simply explained as an absence of time since settlement coupled with such rapid change that there has been no opportunity to generate an Australian identity that can be consciously articulated and shared by all. We could argue all day about what the Australian identity should be but in the end the identity that we have, in the eyes of those who look in from the outside, is the well known stereotypical, clichà © identity. And yes, any text that you read that is Australian will be identified so, due to the unambiguous fashion in which the setting and images have been constructed. The suit this stereotypical identity we have acqui red. Clancy of the Overflow, Life Cycle and Tenterfiel Sadler are all examples of how Australian texts use the things we have, and the things we do to separate us from the rest of the world.

Wyeth Pakistan Limited Business and Financial Analysis

Wyeth Pakistan Limited Business and Financial Analysis 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC Business and financial analysis has been my area of interest during ACCA. I have already studied the models that I require to answer the research questions of this research project, namely Ratio analysis, PESTEL analysis, and SWOT analysis, RATIO analysis. This project came as a golden opportunity to demonstrate the practical application of my knowledge. It has always aroused my curiosity why some businesses outperform and why some underperform financially. This topic will utilize the financial and business analytical skills I have acquired so far and prove my skills once I get the degree in applied accountancy to prospective employers. The research will give me an opportunity to brush up skills that require searching internet for information. It will also brush up my spreadsheet capabilities. 1.2 REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE ORGANIZATION I want to work in my uncle’s pharmacy in future. Knowing the pharmaceutical sector will give me an edge in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of suppliers of medicines. Most of the medicines I have seen in my uncle’s pharmacy are by Wyeth, therefore it aroused my curiosity. 1.3 PROJECT OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS: The aim of this report is to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency with which Wyeth Pakistan Limited has been performing over the past 3 years in business and financial matters. The report will include the business analysis in terms of: Assessment of the macro environment of Wyeth using PESTEL analysis. Typical PESTEL factors to consider include: Factor Political Could include: e.g. EU enlargement, the euro, international trade, taxation policy Economic Social Technological Environmental Legal e.g. interest rates, exchange rates, national income, inflation, unemployment, Stock Market e.g. ageing population, attitudes to work, income distribution e.g. innovation, new product development, rate of technological obsolescence e.g. global warming, environmental issues e.g. competition law, health and safety, employment law (PESTEL analysis of the macro-environment) Assessment of the strategic capabilities of Wyeth using SWOT analysis SWOT analysis is a basic, straightforward model that provides direction and serves as a basis for the development of marketing plans. It accomplishes this by assessing an organizations strengths (what an organization can do) and weaknesses (what an organization cannot do) in addition to opportunities (potential favorable conditions for an organization) and threats (potential unfavorable conditions for an organization). (DANCA, Anthony C.) Assessment of Wyeth’s future prospects The financial analysis will include: Sales analysis: Sales analysis helps the company know it is meeting its sales objectives in a given timeframe. (MANDA, Gilbert) The analysis will include sales revenue and growth. Profitability Analysis: Every firm is most concerned with its profitability. One of the most frequently used tools of financial ratio analysis is profitability ratios which are used to determine the companys bottom line. Profitability ratios show a companys overall efficiency and performance. (PEAVLER, Rosemary) The analysis will include Gross Profit (G.P) ratio, Net Profit (N.P) ratio and Return on Equity (ROE). Liquidity ratios: A class of financial metrics that is used to determine a companys ability to pay off its short-terms debts obligations. Generally, the higher the value of the ratio, the larger the margin of safety that the company possesses to cover short-term debts. (Liquidity Ratios) The analysis will include Current ratio, quick ratio, debtor turnover ratio and inventory turnover ratio. Investor ratios: The holders of the ordinary shares of a company (its equity) are interested in the return on their investment and the value of their shares. (Advanced Level Accounting, 1996) The analysis will include Earnings per share, Price Earning ratio, Dividend per share and dividend yield ratio. The research questions for my research report are: The growth in sales between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2009? What is the effect of Governments price freeze policy on profits of Wyeth? What is the effect of the economic crisis of Pakistan on the financial performance of Wyeth? What was the effect of changing the policy of selling on credit to selling on advance on the working capital of Wyeth and hence its liquidity position? What are the strengths and weaknesses of Wyeth? How well did Wyeth perform compared to its major competitor GSK? How well is Wyeth utilizing its strategic capabilities? 1.4 OVERALL RESEARCH APPROACH I started my research by carrying out a financial analysis using ratios as the tool for my analysis. Most ratios can be calculated from information provided by the financial statements. Financial ratios can be used to analyze trends and to compare the firms financials to those of other firms. (Financial Ratios) Then I carried out an analysis of the environment of Wyeth using PESTEL analysis. This was followed by SWOT analysis to assess its strategic capabilities. 2. INFORMATION GATHERING 2.1 SOURCES OF INFORMATION PRIMARY DATA Information that has been collected at first hand. It involves measurement of some sort, whether by taking readings off instruments, sketching, counting, or conducting interviews (using questionnaires). (Primary Data) To gather primary data I tried reaching Mr. Khwaja Bakhtiar Ahmed, the company secretary, through his assistant. After persistent efforts I finally got an appointment. He was a charismatic person with a lot of knowledge. He enlightened me about Wyeth policies and answered many of my questions. He also handed me the annual reports of Wyeth and management accounts. For the purpose of collecting data I also emailed a questionnaire to a sample of employees of the organisation. The response was good. SECONDARY DATA Secondary data is data collected by someone other than the user. Common sources of secondary data for social science include censuses, surveys, organizational records and data collected through qualitative methodologies or qualitative research. (Secondary data, 2011) My secondary sources of information included the following: The annual reports of Wyeth and GSK. News papers such as Business recorder, pharmaceutical literatures. ACCA text books especially for Paper F1, F3, F7, P3 and P5. News websites such as â€Å"The news† and â€Å"Jang†. Books that I found in the library of Superior college. Internet 2.2 METHODS USED TO COLLECT INFORMATION 2.2.1 Visiting stock Exchange: I visited the stock exchange to get the hard copy of the annual reports of Wyeth and GSK. 2.2.2 Interview: My interviews with Mr. Khwaja Bakhtiar Ahmed, the company secretary and Mr. Imran Baig, my mentor proved to be a good source of information. 2.2.3 E-Mail survey: I conducted an e-mail survey. The questionnaire was sent to different employees of the organization as a word attachment and asked them to fill up the word file and send it back as attachment 2.2.4 On-line Access: Various websites were visited for the purpose of research. The most important ones were the website of Wyeth, Karachi stock exchange, and Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association. I also visited ACCA website for archives of student accountant articles. 2.3 QUESTIONNAIRE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUES USED The questionnaire was emailed after having it reviewed by the different department heads. The population I used was the one that was using an email. I had taken the email addresses from the records maintained by the company. The method I used for sampling was haphazard sampling. I chose the email addresses at random 2.4 LIMITATIONS OF INFORMATION GATHERED Some information was collected from Wyeth website which may be favourably biased towards the organization. It is possible that in spite of all the efforts some information sources may not have been identified which could have lead to a different conclusion. The sample chosen for the email questionnaire might not be representative of the population The views of the company secretary about future prospects might be biased or over optimistic The information present on internet can be subject to the authors own judgements instead of presenting facts. 2.5 ETHICAL ISSUES DURING INFORMATION GATHERING As per the guidelines of Oxford Brookes university I was supposed to disclose the full details of the information sources that I used, but it was in the best interest of the employees of the organization to have their names kept anonymous so they do not face problems with their employer. I put special care into making sure the questionnaire kept the identity anonymous. During the interview with Mr. Khwaja Bakhtiar Ahmed, the company secretary I asked some questions about the new product launch of ENBREL and ORISTIQ. He was hesitant in answering at first but then I assured him that this information was publicly available, after knowing this he co-operated. 2.6 ACCOUNTING / BUSINESS TECHNIQUES USED AND THEIR LIMITATION The accounting/business techniques used for the project were as follows: 2.6.1 Ratio Analysis The term accounting ratios is used to describe significant relationship between figures shown on a balance sheet, in a profit and loss account, in a budgetary control system or in any other part of accounting organization. Accounting ratios thus shows the relationship between accounting data. The ratios analysis is one of the most powerful tools of financial management. Though ratios are simple to calculate and easy to understand, they suffer from serious limitations. Limitations of financial statements: Ratios are based only on the information which has been recorded in the financial statements. Financial statements themselves are subject to several limitations. Thus ratios derived, there from, are also subject to those limitations. For example, non-financial changes though important for the business are not relevant by the financial statements. Financial statements are affected to a very great extent by accounting conventions and concepts. Personal judgment plays a great part in determining the figures for financial statements. Comparative study required: Ratios are useful in judging the efficiency of the business only when they are compared with past results of the business. However, such a comparison only provide glimpse of the past performance and forecasts for future may not prove correct since several other factors like market conditions, management policies, etc. may affect the future operations. Ratios alone are not adequate: Ratios are only indicators, they cannot be taken as final regarding good or bad financial position of the business. Other things have also to be seen. Problems of price level changes: A change in price level can affect the validity of ratios calculated for different time periods. In such a case the ratio analysis may not clearly indicate the trend in solvency and profitability of the company. The financial statements, therefore, be adjusted keeping in view the price level changes if a meaningful comparison is to be made through accounting ratios. Lack of adequate standard: No fixed standard can be laid down for ideal ratios. There are no well accepted standards or rule of thumb for all ratios which can be accepted as norm. It renders interpretation of the ratios difficult. Limited use of single ratios: A single ratio, usually, does not convey much of a sense. To make a better interpretation, a number of ratios have to be calculated which is likely to confuse the analyst than help him in making any good decision. Personal bias: Ratios are only means of financial analysis and not an end in itself. Ratios have to interpreted and different people may interpret the same ratio in different way. Incomparable: Not only industries differ in their nature, but also the firms of the similar business widely differ in their size and accounting procedures etc. It makes comparison of ratios difficult and misleading. (Accounting Ratios | Financial Ratios) 2.6.2 SWOT analysis SWOT analysis is a tool that is used to evaluate the Strengths and Weaknesses of an organization and the external Opportunities and Threats faced by the organization in the external environment. Limitations of SWOT: The way SWOT analysis is often conducted does not allow for proper communication, discussion, and verification of all external and internal factors proposed by all involved. On such occasions, SWOT results prove less reliable an input to the strategy generation process than they are capable of being. Still worse, as documented later, the results of SWOT analysis are sometimes never meant to be used as an input to the strategy generation process. If that is known, or anticipated, by those involved in SWOT analysis, the quality of their inputs will most likely suffer and be lower than otherwise possible, and desirable.(KOCH, Adam J.) 2.6.3 Porter’s five forces analysis Porter looked at the structure of industries. In particular, he was interested in assessing industryattractiveness, by which he meant how easy it would be to make above average profits (forshareholders and to fund adequate investment). He concluded that industry attractivenessdepends on five factors or forces: Competitive rivalry between existing firms Threats of new entrants Threats of substitute products Power of suppliers Power of customers (Paper P3 Business Analysis Essential Text) Limitations of five forces model: Porter’s 5 forces of competition have a few weaknesses and limitations. The modelunderestimates the influence of a company’s core competencies on its ability to achieve profit.It, instead, assumes the industry structure is the sole determining factor. Porters 5 forcesdefinition is difficult to apply to large multinational corporations with synergies andinterdependencies achieved from a portfolio of businesses. Additionally, the five forcesframework assumes there is no collusion in the industry. Finally, Porter’s analysis doesn’tconsider the possibility of creating a new market. (Porter’s Five Forces of Competition , 2010) 3. ANALYSIS 3.1 PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR 2009 was a challenging year and witnessed modest growth in Pakistan’s economy due to uncertain law and order situation and global economic recession. The economy continues to witness double digit inflation; low economic growth and continued depreciation of the rupee against major currencies. During this period the pharmaceutical industry has been adversely impacted by both inflationary trends as well as Rupee depreciation. The government has not allowed any across the board price adjustment to pharmaceutical industry for nine years. Growth in pharmaceutical markets is mainly volume growth. (BENGALI, Iqbal, 2010) Pharmaceutical Industry is one of the major manufacturing industries in Pakistan providing employment to thousands of people directly and indirectly. The industry, however, is facing many challenges, which are hindering its growth. The major challenge faced by the industry is the complete freezing of price of pharmaceutical products since 2001. Pakistan is the only cou ntry in the entire Asian region that has not given its pharma and biotech industry tax-breaks and R D incentives. Government’s requirement that drug production lines should be separate is raising cost and reducing the ability of local manufacturers to compete not only in the global market but even at home. (JAVED, Aamar, 2009) Pakistan has a very vibrant and forward looking Pharma Industry. At the time of independence in 1947, there was hardly any pharma industry in the country. Today Pakistan has about 400 pharmaceutical manufacturing units including those operated by 25 multinationals present in the country. The Pakistan Pharmaceutical Industry meets around 70% of the countrys demand of Finished Medicine. The domestic pharma market, in term of share market is almost evenly divided between the Nationals and the Multinationals.(Pakistan Pharmaceutical Industry) Pakistan’s $1.61 billion pharmaceutical market is now expected to post a five-year compound annual growth of 8.95 per cent, down from 9.39 per cent forecast in the previous quarter, according to Business Monitor Internationa l, a global business intelligence firm. (Pharmaceutical sector growth slowing down: BMI , 2010) 3.2 THE COMPANY As a result of the global acquisition of Wyeth by Pfizer Inc.,on October 15, 2009, Wyeth has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer Inc.. Pfizer Inc has become the ultimate parent company of Wyeth Pakistan Limited. Wyeth however continues to be the principal shareholder of Wyeth Pakistan Limited. (AHMED, Khawaja Bakhtiar, 2010) Wyeth, with its pharmaceutical and over-the-counter divisions, is a leader in the research and development, manufacturing and marketing of a broad range of health care products. (WYETH PAKISTAN LIMITED ) 3.3 RATIO ANALYSIS The following ratio analysis is based on the Annual Reports of WYETH and GSK Pakistan. Comparison has been made with the results of GSK for FY2009 since these were the latest financials available. Ratios 3.3.1 SALES Analysis GSK 2009 Sales Revenue (Rs. in million) Growth in revenue (%) Cost of sales. (Rs. In million) Growth in cost of sales.(%) 14,719 9.8% 11,173 17% FY2010 2,310 0.17% 1,830 1.4% FY2009 2,306 3.3% 1,805 8% FY2008 2,384 13% 1,699 22% 3.3.2 Profitability Ratios GSK 2009 24.1% FY2010 FY2009 FY2008 G.P Margin N.P Margin ROE 20.82% 1.13% 2.58% 21.73% -3.77% 8.86% 29.87% 6.04% 12.73% 6.3% 11.5% 12 3.3.3 Liquidity Ratios Current Ratio Quick Ratio Debtors’ Days Inventory Days 3.3.4 Investor’s Analysis GSK 2009 3.2 1.6 25 67 FY2010 2.56 1.01 26 163 FY2009 2.71 0.98 38 144 FY2008 3.43 1.38 29 143 Ratios GSK 2009 5.5 20 5 4.6% FY2010 FY2009 FY2008 Earnings per Share (EPS) (Rs.) PE Ratio (Times) Dividend Per Share (Rs.) Dividend Yield 18.61 49.08 10 0.92% -61.09 _ _ _ 101.50 25.62 250 10.55% Comments on Ratios The operating results of currents year are for a 12 months period ended November 30, 2010 compared to the previous year which for an 11 months period ended November 30, 2009. Sales analysis. The growth in company’s net sales for the period ending 30 November 2009 reduced by 3.3% as sales were Rs. 2,384 million in year ending 31, December 2008 and in 2009 period it was Rs. 2,306 million which is due to challenging conditions of external environment in 2009. On the other hand cost of sales for year ending 2008 was Rs. 1,699 million which increased to Rs. 1,805 million in period ending 2009. It was an increase of 8% which shows that company does not have efficient policies to control its operational expenditure. In year ending 2010 overall sales increased by 0.17% but as we mentioned above that this period comprises 12 months comparing last 11 month period and if we compare like with likes then sales reduced by 8%. This is due to due to uncertain law and order conditions of Pakistan. But this year company showed efficiency in controlling its costs as this year cost of sales increased by just 1.4%. This could be due to training and development of employees as training on six- sigma was conducted after the losses incurred by company in 2009. This training was to increase efficiencies of employees to control the cost. GSK: Sales of GSK are in year ending 2009 were Rs. 14,719 million as compared to Rs. 2,310 million of Wyeth which is due to major market share of GSK. Out of to 20 products 9 are manufactured and sold by GSK. Profitability analysis GP Margin: In year ending 2010 gross profit margin reduced as it was 21.73% in year ending 2009 and it was 20.82% in year ending 2010. This decrease was mainly due to adverse economical conditions of country as inflation increased and cost of resources and operations increased accordingly. In period ending 30 November 2009 the GP margin decreased from 29.87% in 2008 and 21.73% in 2009. In year 2009 the profit also reduced as compared to sales which is also mainly to due to increase in cost of operations. On the other hand the government has not allowed an increase in price since year 2001. The GP margin of GSK is 24.1% for year ending 2009 as Wyeth has GP margin 20.82% in year ending 2010 which shows that GSK has more ability to control its cost and transfer it to its customers. NP Margin: In period ending 30 November 2009 the net profit margin reduced from 6.04% in 2008 to 3.77%. The major cause of this reduction in profitability was the economical condition of Pakistan. Costs of operations increased due to inflation and at the same time the devaluation of currency. However, company maintained control on expenses as their advertising and promotion costs were in line with last year. Administrative cost increased due to cost of Voluntary Separation Scheme. Other operating expenses were lower than last year. NP margin for year ending 2010 increased to 1.13% from -3.77% in the last year. This improvement was due to increase in efficiency of employees and efficiently controlling the operational cost of company as the operating expenses reduced by 10% in year ending. There has been a long stand price freeze by the government since 2001 due to which company was not able to earn abnormal profits. The net profit of GSK was 6.3% in year ending 2009 which also reduced as it was 14.6% in 2008. This shows that the industry was adversely affected by increase in operational costs and long standing price freeze by government due to which companies cannot pass their cost to customers. ROE: Return on equity increased for year ending 2010 to 2.58% as it was -8.86% in year ending 2009 this increased was due to increased operational efficiency of organization. While in period ending 2009 the ROE reduced significantly from 12.73% to -8.86%. . ROE of GSK is 11.5% in year ending 2009 as compared to % of Wyeth. Liquidity analysis. Current ratio: Current ratio indicates how many times the company’s current assents can meet company’s current liabilities. A ratio of 2 is considered sufficient for current ratio generally. In the period ending 30, November 2009 the current ratio reduced from 3.43 times to 2.71 times. This shows that the company can meet its current liabilities 2.71 times by its current assets. This decreasing trend could cause an alarming situation for Wyeth because a company can survive without profits for some years but without cash it can’t survive more than one year. So worsening condition of Wyeth needs effective and efficient policies for fund management. Current ratio for year ending 2010 reduced to 2.56 times as it was 2.71 times in year ending 2009. This shows that now company can meet its current liabilities by 2.56 times. A ratio of 2 is a standard for current ratio. Company improved its working capital condition this year as they changed their sales and distribution model from credit to advance cash. Current ratio of GSK for year ending 2009 is 3.2 times which shows strong policies of funding are in place. Quick ratio: Quick ratio indicates how many times company’s current assets can fulfill its current liabilities but it ignores inventory from current assets because in some organizations inventory takes times before it can convert to sales. Quick ratio of Wyeth is reducing quicker than current ratio for years ending 2009Quick ratio for period ending 2009 also reduced from 1.38 to 0.98 times which was an alarming situation for Wyeth. It indicates that major part of current assets consist inventory and company’s inventory increased from last year due to increase in cost of materials. . Ratio of 1 is considered a standard for quick ratio so company’s liquidity is worsening. Quick ratio improved in year ending 2010 which is 1.01 times as it was 0.98 times in 2009. This is due to improved working capital management policies as company received cash in advance instead of credit. Due to which company earned interest on deposits too. Quick ratio of GSK for year ending 2009 was 1.6 whi ch shows a healthy liquidity position. Debtors Days: Debtors turnover period indicates how many days debtors take to pay their debt to company. Debtors are part of working capital and for the successful operations of company good debtor management strategies need to be in place. In period ending 2009 the debtor’s turnover period increased by 9 days as these were 29 days in 2008 and 38 days in 2009. During this year due to inflation and devaluation of currency the company had to extend debtors turnover period as company made loss after tax this year. In year ending 2010 company’s debtor days reduced to 26 days as compared to 38 days in 2009 this also shows the improvement in fund management policies as this year company received advance cash from sales and distribution instead of credit. Debtor’s days of GSK for year ending 2009 were 25. This shows that debtor collection policies of GSK are more efficient than Wyeth. Inventory days: Inventory days indicate the period during which inventory of a company remains in its warehouse or in work in progress before it is finally converted into sales. Inventory holding initiates many expenses like warehouse, damages etc. which can be mitigated by good inventory management policies in place. Inventory turnover period in 2009 increased by 1 day as it was 143 days in 2008 and became 144 days in 2009. This increase was nominal but instead improvement this increase was due to decreasing in underlying sales. Inventory days increased this year too from 144 days in 2009 to 163 days in 2010. This increase was mainly due to increase in inflation and instability of prices in material. Sales for this year was lower than last year. Inventory turnover period of GSK in year ending 2009 was 67 days which is less than half of Wyeth. This shows that GSK has more efficient working capital policies and sales of GSK were more than Wyeth which is due to the higher market share of GSK. Investor’s analysis. EPS Earning per share can be used to indicate the profitability of a company. It shows the earning allocated to each common share. In period ending 2009 the EPS reduced badly by Rs.162 per share. In this year company’s EPS was -61.09. This major decrease was due to consistent inflation and devaluation of currency of Pakistan. These factors became the reason for increase in operational cost. And due to the price freeze by government the company was not able to transfer the cost to customers. In year ending 2010 EPS increased from Rs. -61.09 last year to Rs. 18.61 this year. This year company made a net profit margin of 1.13% which was loss of (3.77) % in last year. This improvement is due to controlling the operational expenses of the company this year. The EPS of GSK for year ending 2009 was Rs. 5.5 which is consistent with previous years. PE ratio: The PE ratio of Wyeth moved adversely during last years. In year ending 2008 the PE ratio was 25.62 times while In year ending 2009 the company’s made a loss. Which was due to increase in cost which company was not able to pass to customers. In year ending 2010 PE ratio improved to 49.08 times which was nil in last year this improvement also due to improvement in operational efficiency of company during 2010 as the company improved its cash position as well as its productivity. The PE ratio of GSK was 20 which show good performance of GSK compared to Wyeth. Dividend per share Dividend per share ratio indicates the dividend earned by an investor by holding one share of company. There was no dividend per share in year ending 2009 as company was in loss. This loss was mainly due to adverse environmental, economical, and political situations. In year ending 2010 company announced the dividend of Rs. 10 per share which shows the attractive position of company in this year. Company improve its profitability as well as its operational efficiency during year ending 2010 as retrospective measures taken in 2010 like training on six-sigma plan. The dividend per share of GSK for year ending 2009 was Rs.5 which also indicates that company performed well in such crises. Dividend yield This ratio represents the cash flows earned by the investor by investing each rupee in form of shares. In year ending 2010 earning yield improved to 0.92% as it was nil in year ending 2009. This improvement was due to improvement in operational efficiencies during year ending 2010 while economical and political instability remained consistent in year ending 2010. In the period ending 2009 company made a loss. While GSK’s dividend yield in this year was 4.6% which shows the good governance of GSK as compare to Wyeth. 3.4 PESTEL ANALYSIS PESTEL analysis is a tool which is used to understand external environment. It deals with external environmental factors like political, economical, social and demographical, technological, environmental and legal. By considering these factors we can judge the influence of all above factors on the operations and profitability of any company. Political factors. In political factors we consider the government policies like tax policies, their stability, political environment and institutions. In 2008 there was instability in political conditions of Pakistan which adversely affected the pharmaceutical industry. Policies of government about electricity price raises also contributed adversely to pharmaceutical industry. Government’s price freeze policy since 2001 also reduced the profitability because firms were not able to transfer their increasing operational cost to the customers. In the last quarter of 2008 government gave some relaxation on price increase but that was for some products that did not contribute too much to improve the conditions of profitability. Economical factors: Inflation (too much money chasing too few goods) remained the major problem of Pakistan in the last few years. Due to consistent rise in cost of electricity, labor, and fuel the profitability of pharmaceutical industry reduced as firms could not increase prices according to cost due to limitation by government policies. But demand in the public remained unchanged. Devaluation of Pakistan currency also adversely affected the industry as value of rupees consistently reduced against major currencies of world especially against US$. Due to which many firms had