`` The Lord Gave Us Two Ends `` - 830 Words

The great Ann Landers once said, â€Å"The Lord gave us two ends – one to sit on and the other to think with. Success depends on which one we use most†. (Laughter) Who here thinks success is pre-determined? Okay. And who here thinks someone born into a family of high economic status is more likely to be successful than the average? This is intriguing because all of you with your hands in the air are facing your biggest enemy. Yourself. The paradox of who society determines who will be successful has been embodied by society for as long as we have sojourned here on earth. Such mindset which was found throughout the middle ages where everyone was born into a social class is something I am present today to erase. The definition of success is†¦show more content†¦(Laughter) Like the survival instincts alluring inside the hypothalamus of a lion, you must construct the necessity of what you want. Napoleon Hill States â€Å"the starting point of all achievement, is desire†, a man who’s personal literary success started purely from his desire and motivational outlook upon his goals. Some of you urge the question of how? Mr. Speaker you’ve told us what success is and the foundation of success. But what is the road to success where do I turn? The investment of time is an inexorable element of success. Commit yourself and foresee a greater reaction of roads linking to one another, travelling in alternative directions, however all alighting at the top of the pyramid. Roam was not built in one day. Albert Einstein stated that he’s not smarter, he just spends more time on the problem. What if I fall short or become side tracked? The answer is within you. Literally within you. Dopamine is your answer. (Laughter) Did I not say within? Ladies and Gentlemen dopamine is your endless, free-access chemical to success. But why release this in a concentrated mix at the top of the pyramid? Why not dice your goal into pieces and mini goals that of which you can achieve along the way to success as well as indulging in that oh so good dopamine throughout the whole

Management Accounting

Questions : 1.What are the Costs that Could be involved ? 2. What sort of forecasts ? Answers : (1) There are several factors that need to be evaluated while switching over to new business plan that involves determination of required and expected return, analysis of present business structure and estimation of proposed cost together with the potential customer target. The present case involves change in fee structure for the present members as well as for the prospective members with an attempt to change the structure of cash receipts (Arrow Kruz, 2013). Accordingly, the club is required to analyze the cost of borrowings or interest required to meet the working capital. Further, the management of the club is required to assess the required rate of return from the new membership plan covering all the estimated costs and expenses to generate income at higher rate. Besides, the organization needs to evaluate the factors of consumers income to assess if they can afford the incremental fees together with the analysis of prospective consumers reaction. For instance, DBS Group Holdings L imited, company incorporated in Singapore evaluated the rate of return expected to earn and consumers preferences while changing the plan of financial service in different regions. For financial services, factor of consumer income and inflation rate is essential for evaluation to determine the accurate returns (Dbs.com, 2017). (2) For the purpose of new business plan, financial analysis is essential for the organization to ascertain the profitability, sustainability or liquidity position from the new project. Accordingly, the management is required to analyze the proposed cost, estimate revenue and value of sources of fund to evaluate the net benefit or loss from the new or proposed business plan (Dewachter et al., 2015). Therefore, in the present situation Triple- F Health Club is required to analyze the estimated cost and forecast the revenues by preparing budgeted income statement as well as estimated balance sheet by stating the available resources for funding and estimated borrowing amount. The statement of balance sheet will be used to evaluate the financial position of the club if the new membership fees structure is considered to measure if the club can bear the related costs. For instance, Global Logistics Ltd, based in Singapore evaluated income statement and balance sheet for the purpose of new proj ect to be undertaken for transportation services. The company estimated the sales forecast based on external analysis in terms of government regulations, consumer behavior and market rates in the industry (Glprop.com, 2017). Financial analysis can also be done by considering internal factors and financial data for performance in previous years. Reference List Arrow, K. J., Kruz, M. (2013).Public investment, the rate of return, and optimal fiscal policy(Vol. 1).Routledge. Dbs.com. (2017). DBS Bank - The Development Bank of Singapore Limited | DBS Group. Retrieved 5 March 2017, from https://www.dbs.com Dewachter, H., Iania, L., Lyrio, M., de Sola Perea, M. (2015).A macro-financial analysis of the euro area sovereign bond market.Journal of Banking Finance,50, 308-325. Glprop.com. (2017). Global Website | Global Logistic Properties. Retrieved 3 March 2017, from https://www.glprop.com Management Accounting Introduction The company decided to start the manufacturing business that deals in the line of educational tools for children. The company will start with two director, husband and wife and it has been registered with the name Educational Toys. Educational Toys will be less profitable in the first year but from the end of the first year, the company will have a steep increase in sales for several years. Initially, the company planned to offer only three types of education toys. First is the Number toy, a fun related toy that teaches children the number skills and some English words. Second product is the letter toy, which has the name hints and helps to quickly grab the alphabet. Last product is the Phonic toy, an electronic device that functions similar to the mini PC and teaches phonic and math skills. The motive behind this idea is to develop the core skills within kids along with some fun. Currently, the toy industry has recorded a bumper sale of educational toys and has captured almost 30 % of the market (Toy Industry Association, INC. 2010) The initial fund required to setup and market the product will be 140,000 and it is planned to make repayment of the principal amount in equal instalments starting after one year from the establishment date. Business and product Educational Toys is a new company that has developed three types of educational toys. The toys are called educational toys because they provide some learning with fun involved in it to children. The company has planned to market the products within the U.K only with future consideration of the global distribution. Educational Toys is privately held company with husband and wife as the principal shareholders. The main objective of the management is to create a profitable company, research and develop innovative educational toys, and enhance the knowledge of children through the use of interactive toys. So, to achieve the objectives, the company has the mission to make the highest quality educational toys and introduce new features that help children to learn more from toys. Management also decided to trademark Educational Toys as its brand name (GOV.UK. 2012). At the initial stage, the company wants to market and sell only three products-Number Toy, Letter Toy and Phonic Toy. All the three types of toys have distinct functions with a variety of options. These educational toys are fun to play with, but at the same time, they are useful in teaching children the required skills. Recently, the company has finished the research on the products and they are almost complete to launch. The details of product features with their cost and selling price are as follows. Number Toy: the toy emits light and sound when touch by the stylus given along with the product. There are series of numbers on the front side of the toy, which blink when the stylus comes in contact with it. In addition to teaching the numbers, it helps children with hand and eye coordination. The planned cost of this product is 12.00 having 2.00 fixed and 10.00 variable. Letter Toy: This product resembles the Number Toy, but only difference in both products is that the Number Toy helps in teaching numbers, whereas the Letter Toy helps in teaching children the alphabets. Like Number Toy, it has light and sound features, and this product is also successful in improving childrens attention span. The cost planned for this product is exactly similar to the Number toy. So, the cost of the product is 00 with 3.00 fixed and 10.00 variable. Phonic Toy: It is an advanced toy and it looks similar to a mini laptop. At the front side, there is a touch screen and there are some buttons to get the access of the main menu. Inside the unit, there is a childs book and stylus. Stylus is used to touch the screen and the device starts reading stories loud, plays the musical instruments and guides children along the basic surrounding. The estimated cost of the product is 25 having 00 fixed and 16.00 variable. Competitors In the U.K. the market size of toy products is very huge. There are few large players in this industry and several small and regional manufacturers. The two main competitors of Educational Toys are: Lego limited: Lego Group is engaged in the development of childrens creativity with the help of playing and learning. Currently, the company provides toys, experience, and teaching material for children in more than 130 countries. It is the worlds third largest manufacturer of play materials (Lego 2013). Rob-Roy Toy Makers: It is one of the oldest toy shops in the U.K. and is selling wooden toys that make children happy and also provide some education guidance (Rob-Roy Toy Maker 2013). Target Price and Sales Forecast Management decided to keep the selling price of all three products below the competitors price to give a high level of competition in the market. Price decided by the cost department is as follows: Product Selling Price Cost Price Fixed part Variable part Number Toy 15.00 12.00 2.00 10.00 Letter Toy 17.00 13.00 3.00 10.00 Phonic Toy 25.00 21.00 5.00 16.00 The cost department has set the above prices after the price analysis of similar products by the competitors in the same market. This level of price will help the company to gain a new market as early as possible. The prices have been kept low because initially the company wants to grab as many customers it can and in the second year of working, the company has decided to increase the prices of products by some percentage. The price range for different products can provide a competitive edge among different customers, but the quality product with low price will help to attract new customers because of the low cost to be incurred in purchasing similar products (Lucey 2003). The cost of the product will include both variable, as well as, fixed cost due to the nature of the business. Variable cost of the product will include the material cost, labour cost and variable direct overhead cost, whereas the fixed cost will comprise of fixed overhead only. Administrative cost and selling and distribution cost is not apportion in the cost of the product because it is not possible to divide this cost with the number of products. Particulars Number Toy Letter Toy Phonic Toy Total Variable Cost Raw material Cost 5.00 5.50 8.00 18.50 Labour Cost 3.00 2.50 5.00 10.50 Direct manufacturing overhead 2.00 2.00 3.00 7.00 Total variable costs 10.00 10.00 16.00 36.00 Fixed Cost General Overhead Cost 2.00 3.00 5.00 10.00 Total variable and fixed cost 12.00 13.00 21.00 46.00 Un-apportioned Cost Selling and distribution cost 45,000.00 Administrative Cost 35,000.00 Number of Products and their equivalent cost Particulars Number Toy Letter Toy Phonic Toy Total No. of Product 5,000 5,000 2,500 Cost of the product 12.00 13.00 21.00 Total variable and fixed cost 60,000.00 65,000.00 52,500.00 177,500.00 Selling and distribution cost 45,000.00 Administrative Cost 35,000.00 Total 257,500.00 Calculation of Breakeven point Total fixed expenses 117,500.00 Variable Cost 36.00 Breakeven point 3263.89 or 3263 units The break even point of the company will be determined using per unit contribution margin and total fixed cost of the different products. On analysing the break even point it can be said that company need to sell 3263 units to cover its fixed expenses. The expected sales of the products are much higher than the companies break even point. The net present value calculated shows that company will have positive outflow in the coming years which will help to increase the future production in order to grab the new markets (Friedman 2009) Conclusion On analysing the operational budget and five years budget income statement it can be concluded that company will be able to generate sufficient cash flow to have a positive net present value. In the first year of working company will be able to sell 4890 units of Number toy, 4580 of letter toy and 2250 units of phonic toy. The total cost of the product will be 193,200 and net profit will be 14,260. The break even units of the company product will be 3263 units that show the company will get higher amount of safety margin that will improve overall earning of the firm. The firm will earn cash inflows as per given below table: 1 year 2 year 3 year 4 year 5 year 14,260.00 26,862.00 45,921.90 62,217.53 85,749.60 On the basis of above calculated cash inflows the net present value will be 30,960 with the consideration of five years income statement. (See appendix). The firm will earn sufficient amount of profitability and cash inflows to repay the bank borrowings that will also enable it to growth as large scale in the market (Drury 2005). Learning Outcomes This activity will help to understand the use of creative thinking and financial analysis in the business plan. It helps in learning various ways to present the cost data in the cost sheet and also provides the guidance on operational budget and forecast income statement. This activity tells how to do planning for the new business, how to find the investors, and also prepare the students to become a good entrepreneur. It shows how to calculate the break even point and net present value of the business. It also assists on how to make use of budgeted figures to conclude with the net borrowings and repayment schedule. Management Accounting Question: Write a business report on management accounting. Answer: Executive Summary ABC system provides the organizations across the world with a very powerful tool which helps them in the evaluation of the costs in an efficient manner. It helps the organizations to avoid any cost distortion which occurs as a result of employing the traditional system of accounting. In this article, there have been included researches conducted by the researchers, from the time of the inception of the concept of ABC. The various researches also prove the theory that the application and implementation of the ABC system in an organization will provide precise results than the traditional systems. Further, the ABC can not only help in the cost allocation but can also help in the evaluation of profitability of an organization. Introduction Activity Based Costing is the method of accounting of various costs related to the products. Through this method, the activities which are performed by a company are identified and then the indirect costs are allocated to the products involving those activities. This method is less arbitrary than the traditional methods and it allocates costs in a systematic manner over the products which are produced by a company. Thus, ABC can be defined as a system which helps in recognizing the connection between the various costs, products and the activities associated with manufacturing these products. This connection which is established helps in assigning the costs to various products. This method is more suitable to allocate the manufacturing costs rather than the administrative costs. For example, it will be quite difficult to allocate the costs relating to the salary of the employees over a particular product. Using ABC in the manufacturing sector helps in proper allocation of the costs si nce the data so obtained is reliable. This system of costing is also used in other costing methods such as the target costing, product line profitability analysis, service pricing and product costing (Investopedia, 2016). In this method, the focus is on reducing the overhead costs by allocating the same to the activities and that allocation depends upon the costs incurred to perform the said activity. This method is in use since the 1980's and the same has been implemented by many business houses across the world. There are various advantages of the ABC which include overall process improvement, identification of the wastes, better allocation of the prices and the flexibility to get implemented to each and every activity which a business involves. However, there are many disadvantages of using ABC as well. These disadvantages include huge costs of implementing ABC in an organization, it is time consuming to implement the same and there can be flaws in the data so obtained because the data is procured from different departments of the organization. Even a single mistake in the data can render the entire outcome useless. Hence, implementing ABC depends upon the need and want of an organization (The Next Galaxy, 2016). Literature Review According to Turney (1996), the concept of Activity Based Costing is being used since the 1980's. In a very short span of time, the ABC has evolved as an innovative and a valuable methodology of costing. But it took nearly 20 years for the ABC to get established in the industry. The concept of ABC came into picture due to the various deficiencies in the existing traditional system of costing. At present, the ABC is serving many of the needs of the business. It is now also used as a tool for analysis of profit and also to evaluate various types of profitability such as the customer and channel profitability. Over the period since its emergence, the ABC has adapted itself to a lot many areas which include the cost to serve activities as well. At present, the ABC can be said to be the foundation of management of performance (Turney, 1991). As per the views of Shields (1995), past decade has seen many organizations and firms developing and implementing the system of Activity Based Costing in their costing system. However there are many evidences available which clearly depict that the organizations are facing many issues in proper implementation of the ABC into their system which has rendered the implementation quite useless. They have not been able to derive the requisite benefits from implementing the ABC. The main reason of the failure can be said to be the fact that the organizations are focusing more on the designing and architecture of ABC rather than concentrating upon the behavioral factors. In many of the organizations it is treated as an innovation to technology and not as an administrative innovation. For the long term success of the ABC, the organizations must focus upon the behavioral variables of implementing the ABC and not the technical innovations (Shields, 1995). According to the research conducted by Gosselin (1997) in this regard, the Activity Based Costing is mostly adopted and implemented by bureaucracies. This research was conducted to find out when an organization must adopt the ABC method in the organization, the situations in which the implementation will be beneficial for the firm and the organizations and also the profits associated with the implementation. As per the results, the organizations which are having high vertical differentiation are more inclined towards adopting the Activity Based Costing. Moreover it was also found from the study that the organizations which adopt the ABC are more likely to price their products in a better way. However, despite the theoretical benefits of the ABC, many of the organizations are not implementing it (Gosselin, 1997). As per the views of Kaplan and Anderson (2003), the ABC system which was being used by the firms and the organizations initially was very expensive and also time consuming to implement. The traditional model of Activity Based Costing was very difficult for the firms to implement because of the above stated reasons. The difficulty arose due to many reasons like adding of new activities, increasing diversity of the activities of the firm and also the increasing complexity of the business conducted by the organizations. Therefore, it was required to modify the existing method so as to improve the functionality of the system. Therefore the authors in their study have suggested time-driven system of ABC. The time-driven model can be updated quickly so as to reflect the changes that occur in the undertaken processes and can be installed immediately and can be scaled to tackle thousands of transactions (Kaplan Anderson, 2003). As per the views of Cooper and Kaplan (1991), in the recent times the organizations are reducing their reliance on the traditional system of cost accounting. They are achieving this by developing the ABC system and implementing it in the organization. Initially, the cost managers used to implement the ABC system because they considered it as a precise way of calculating the costs of the products. But ABC has proved to be a very useful tool for conversion of various actions taken by the management into higher profits. The ABC system helps the managers to concentrate on those activities which can directly affect the bottom line of the organization (Cooper Kaplan, 1991). According to Edwards (2008), in the initial times, ABC was mainly meant for manufacturing industries where the productivity and the developments in the technology although had decreased the costs of labour and material but led to the increase in overhead costs of the organization. In the traditional method of cost accounting, the allocation of the costs was done arbitrarily on the basis of the machine hours and direct labour hours. But the cost allocation done with the help of ABC costing is much precise and accurate than the traditional method of cost allocation. In the ABC system, the costs are accumulated for each activity and then these costs are assigned or allocated to various products or services. The major advantage of implementing the ABC system is that it helps the organization in correctly pricing the products so manufactured by it (Edwards, 2008). According to Roztocki and Schultz (2003), the ABC has come into focus of various researchers and managers in the 1980's because of the growing distortions in the costing of a product due to using the traditional methods of cost accounting. The ABC approach is way better than the Traditional costing approach because it uses a two-stage procedure for allocating the costs to the products. It also uses multiple cost drivers to allocate the costs. The ABC system had many advantages but the outcomes of various studies show that the rate of application and implementation of the ABC in the organizations has been slower than it was expected (Roztocki Schultz, 2003). According to Lima (2011), there were many challenges that hampered the economic development of the cost accounting system in the 1980's. During the earlier times, the costing methods were devised in a way to allocate the direct costs because at that time the direct costs formed a large part of the costs incurred by the organization. But due to the increase in technology, there has been an increase in the indirect costs and a consequent decline in the direct costs. Hence, there was a need to implement the ABC in the organizations (Lima, 2011). According to Pete (2011), various challenges and the changes that are faced by the organizations have triggered the need of innovations in the financial and the costing management. Therefore, the companies operating in the current environment are using the enhanced systems of costing. Therefore, on the basis of the findings in this research the authors have suggested the companies across the world to employ the ABC and the ABM to manage their costs (Cardos Pete, 2011). According to Fei and Isa, (2010), due to the increasing complexity in the manufacturing firms, the implementation of the ABC is of utmost importance. It can be said to be one of the best strategic tools that help the management in decision making process especially the decisions relating to the pricing of the products and also to evaluate the profitability of the company. This research lays down the importance of organizational structure and culture over the technical and organizational behavior in the success of the ABC system (Fei Isa, 2010). According to Wegmann Stephen (2010), the ABC system was more of a conventional system of management accounting but later on according to the needs of the business and the growing complexity refined it to a large extent. The ABC system can now be seen as a globally accepted system which along with the allocation of the costs, can also be used by the management in the decision making and evaluation of the profitability of the organization (Wegmann Stephen, 2010). According to Kumar and Mahto (2013), ABC can be said to be a system which helps in the determination of the true costs of the product. ABC is comparatively a new system of cost accounting than the traditional systems but it is growing at a very fast pace. This method is becoming popular with the companies because this system is designed in such a manner which enables the organizations to get more accurate information of the costs. With the implementation of the ABC in the organization, the management of the organization can make decisions regarding the unprofitable activities and eliminate them from the system completely. This will help in increasing the profitability of the company (Kumar Mahto, 2013). According to Briciu Cpuneanu (2010), there are many tools which can be used to classify the costs on the basis of the ABC system so as to do a proper analysis of the costs. The ABC method uses various types of costs such as the variable costs, fixed costs, total costs and the indirect costs. Hence, ABC system is a very reliable system of allocation of costs and no costs can be left out from the process of allocation (Briciu Cpuneanu, 2010). According to the views of Mahal Hossain (2015), the ABC is a very effective tool to avoid any type of distortion to the costs of the products, which helps the organization to achieve sustainable development (Mahal Hossain, 2015). Conclusion From the above analysis of various researches conducted by the researchers, it can be concluded that the management of the company in question must switch over to the ABC system from the traditional system of costing because the outcomes from the ABC system are more reliable and accurate than the traditional system. Further, the ABC system can also be used for the evaluation of the profits of the company in a better manner, after taking into considerations all the costs which are incurred after the production of the products. References Gosselin, M. (1997). The effect of strategy and organizational structure on the adoption and implementation of activity-based costing. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 22(2), 105-122. Investopedia. (2016, May 20). Activity-Based Costing - ABC. Kaplan, R. S., Anderson, S. R. (2003). Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing. Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. Kumar, N., Mahto, D. (2013). Current Trends of Application of Activity Based Costing (ABC):. Global Journal of Management and Business Research Accounting and Auditing, 13(1), 1-15. Lima, C. M. (2011). The Applicability of the Principles of ActivityBased Costing System in a Higher Education Institution. Economics and Management Research Projects: An International Journal, 1(1), 57-65. Mahal, I., Hossain, M. A. (2015). Activity-Based Costing (ABC) An Effective Tool for Better Management. Research Journal of Finance and Accounting, 6(4), 66-73. Roztocki, N., Schultz, S. M. (2003). Adoption and Implementation of Activity-Based Costing: A Web-Based Survey. IIE Annual Conference. Proceedings. (p. 1). Institute of Industrial Engineers-Publisher. Shields, M. D. (1995). An empirical analysis of firms' implementation experiences with activity-based costing. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 7, 148.

Globalization and Survival of Smaller Firms

Introduction Globalization is a structure of cooperation among different countries around the globe in order to strategize on how to improve world economy. In other words, it is the integration of markets from different states with a view of advancing market segments to the global market.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Globalization and Survival of Smaller Firms specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More We have both positive integration and negative integration, where positive integration focuses on standardizing global laws and policies. Negative integration involves abolishing of trade regulations, such as, tariffs. Though globalization widens the market for countries’ products, it has both positive and negative effects on small and medium sized businesses (SMEs). We will look at the major challenges that small enterprises are facing in Kenya due to globalization and how these problems may be put to rest. Small firms usually compete well in domestic market than in the foreign markets because of the power they have locally that is set by the market. The only way that could make these firms to survive from being eliminated from the market is through government protection. Local government may apply several measures to strengthen local firms and industries and prevent them from unfavourable pressure from external markets. Local enterprises employ up to 50 per cent of citizens in the country, this reflect how these firms play a major role in gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the economy (Wright Etemad 2001). It is evident that the local businesses if eliminated by these foreign markets could harm the economy of any country. Now let us look at the methods that governments have applied to protect smaller firms in the wake of globalization. Export Strategies An export promotion strategy as viewed by Knight (2000) should be put in place to outline how these small firms could be helped to in crease their performance and compete with other bigger firms in foreign markets. The major strategies that can enable these small firms to improve their exports include; well established infrastructure, improved market, and free access to finance. Developing Export Infrastructure If well established infrastructure such as export processing zones and bonded production points are set for the small firms, it will encourage these enterprises to export more and thus increase revenue. In developing countries provision of water, electricity, roads, ports and telecommunication services would boost the firms since absence of these services has been seen as the major obstacles for their expansion (Anazawa 2004). Finance Adequate access to finance would assist these firms to fund their operations and stand a better ground to compete with foreign markets. These firms should be allowed to get loans from financial institutions to enable them expand their operations and stand a better ground for c ompetition (Knight 2000).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Strengthening Of Market Channel Many of these small firms have not been able to identify potential markets for their products due to lack of knowledge. This has made these firms find it hard to market their products; this is due to the fact that they have not been able to establish good marketing channels and have weak relationship with potential customers within the market segment. One way that could solve these issues is for the trade houses to link the small producers with other channels such as packaging, quality management, insurance, and delivery to ease trade. And also receive assistance from joint marketing consortia (Wright Etemad 2001). Trade Promotion Another important issue that government and other trading organization could put in place so that the small firms’ products enjoy a bigger market sha re is trade promotion such as advertisement and organizing trade exhibition. Private sectors and small firms’ organization should emphasize on awareness creation to the public through availing of market information and vocational training to impart ideas on the emerging issues in business sectors. Governments in different countries have set institutions that provide technical support and training on matters relating to quality assurance and control, product design, loan certification, and trade promotion. However, the success of these firms mostly depends on their level of understanding on commercial sector, financial resources, and equipments (Knight 2000). Government should be aware that increased cost of infrastructure could harm the small firms and thus stand a bad chance on competition. Trade information and knowledge on commercial set up should be acquired through market research and developed skills of data analysis together with better knowledge of modern technology. This issue should be emphasized through small firms’ associations and government agencies. These firms should be aware of current customers’ preferences and be able to create a brand image that will attract many consumers. This will help them to cope with the prevailing market scope and expand their markets (Tetteh Burn 2001). Means of cutting down the cost of production should be put on ground by the government to enable the firms to offer a competitive price that is prevailing in the market. The prices will often contingent upon the quality of the product they are offering in the market. Small firms’ association should try and advice them on competitive costing and best method of pricing. Saving of cost can be attained if proper inventory planning is exercised, which may reduce the cost up to 10-20 per cent. In developing countries, small and medium size enterprises have adopted skills to attain this level of cost. They have kept in touch with local suppliers and this has made imported products to suffer a blow due to low prices of local products. The prices of these imported goods have remained high and in return this promotes the local produce.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Globalization and Survival of Smaller Firms specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Wright Etemad (2001) observed that old technology have been the contributor of low quality produce and this is the reason that have made governments to encourage these small firms to adopt new/modern technology to enable them produce goods of high quality that would compete well with foreign products. Outdated technology tends to be also polluting due to poor waste disposal and management. Firms which fail to adopt the modern technology may soon face eviction from the market. In Korea and China, programs to connect small firms with bigger firms as subcontractors have been started. These programs encourage the well established and successful firms to assist the smaller firms increase their performance and improve on response capacity on export field. These countries have succeeded due to the joint coordination and presence of well established body called Investment Development Bureau located in China Taiwan province and also assistance from ministry of international trade and industries in Korea (Anazawa 2004). This method of subcontracting with bigger firms assists the smaller one to gather adequate information to widen their markets. It has proved beneficial in Korea and Japan by widening the linkage of their market segments. Government also boosted this move, which in long run yielded fruits and saw the small firms in these two countries benefit (Anazawa 2004). Bigger companies can be encouraged by the government to develop models that would assist the small enterprises in accomplishing their goals. Emergency of trading associations and trading houses facilitated by the big firms can increa se total exports of small enterprises. In Brazil, India, and Turkey the bigger firms have established their own organizations, which act as their intermediaries to assist them in exportation and importation of their products (Samad 2007). Though these organizations act as agents of the marketing channels for these companies, they can also assist the small firms to get better markets for their products. Trading houses have also been opened up in Japan. In real sense these organizations are not producers but they link small firms with world markets and thus the SMEs gain access to the foreign markets. Governments of various countries have adopted this move and are encouraging the small enterprises to link themselves with the association so that they stand a better ground of competition and consequently widen their market.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Governments should link the small firms with necessary data to avoid surprises in exports markets. These are notifications relating to measures and standards of the products that are demanded in the international markets. Business should keep track on the prevailing requirements in the foreign markets and it is the obligation of the government to keep the business enterprises informed through collaboration of government national inquiry point and business sectors (Anazawa 2004). But this has been greatly undermined by developing countries because of exporters’ negligence in these countries on their rights. They don’t take advantage of notifications that are available in the national enquiry centre. This has made it difficult for small business enterprises in the less developed countries to expand their trade outside their mother countries. Business sectors in developing countries should put pressure on government to avail them with necessary information and notificatio ns available. Brazil and Canada have adopted this policy. These countries have put down mechanism that keeps the business informed of matters arising. This is mostly in regard to sanitary and phytosanitary Measures (SPS) for those countries who mostly produce agricultural goods for export. Some countries have gone to an extent of creating an SPS committee and this has made both small and medium enterprises expand their operation from national level to international markets. This has made it possible to maximize the profit margin and compete fairly in the international markets. The committee facilitates gathering and close relation among trade organizations such as chamber of commerce and exporters associations (Wright Etemad 2001). These are main bodies that facilitate trade within a given country and through their interaction, strong trade solutions may be reached. Exporting firms should produce commodities of high quality and that reflect their target market as stated by Samad (2 007). Failure to this may lead to elimination by the larger firms, which are well established. Further to this, trade associations and other government bodies may put some standards so that national industries and business enterprises, at least accomplish the minimum standards as required by global markets. Collaboration between exporting and importing countries has enabled businesses to enter in the market of their choice and that has enabled the small enterprises to also venture in these markets Tariffs Government can impose high tax on imported goods and this will regulate the importation of these goods. When government tax heavily on imported goods then low tax on exports, it means that local products’ price will be relatively low and this will discourage the traders from importation of the same product. Instead they will tend to purchase local products because of their low prices and on the other hand people will tend to export more than what they import (Tetteh Burn 20 01). This will encourage the local firms to produce more items for exports and in return this will create a favourable balance of payment in the economy. More jobs will be created due to emergency of new firms, which emerge so as to enjoy tax advantage. Governments can also protect these small enterprises by putting quotas on imports. This involves the regulation of quantity of a certain product that enters into the country. If for example in a particular country maize is their major produce, the country may regulate the importation of the similar product from external markets. It can adopt a policy which will spell out the quantity that should be imported within a given period. This method prevents dumping of items in the country and consequently encourages the local products. This method of trade regulation has been practiced in several countries and in long run it has assisted the small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) to expand their operations (Anazawa 2004). Another restrict ion that is normally used by various governments to prevent local industries is total ban on imports. This is where a country withdraws importation of a particular product if it has a major effect on local firms or a negative effect to the citizens. Latin America applied these trade barriers to restrict the entry of companies in its territory; this made it hard for emerging firms to find their way in the country especially those in clothing and food business. Quotas play a major role in protecting the local firms and this has seen many traders opting to venture in local market other than importation. Tax subsidies have also been practiced in various economies to encourage the local market. This has been with respect to tax cut or even tax holidays on export to encourage exportation of locally produced items; this has made importers to embark on exportation and thus promoting local market and firms (Tetteh Burn 2001). Small firms have enjoyed lower cost of production since there is low cost of labour than foreign firms. If the cost of raw materials for locally manufactured products is cheap it means that the firms will buy these products at relatively low prices. This promotes local firms and consequently imports lack market locally. Globalization in India affected the local companies because of increased competition in the Indian market. Due to foreign goods being of better quality than the Indian goods, the consumers demanded foreign goods. This reduced profit margin that was being enjoyed by Indian industry companies. It normally was mainly experienced by pharmaceutical, manufacturing, chemical and steel industry. The emergency of modern technology made the number of labour required decreased and consequently several people lost their jobs. This was experienced by pharmaceutical, chemical, manufacturing as well as cement industries. Recommendation/ Conclusion The government of India should focus on policies that will be beneficial to the local industries ra ther than concentrating on measures that would lead to harmful effect on the economy. In addition, governments and trade associations have a major role in ensuring that small business enterprises are not eliminated by globalization wave. Small enterprises contribute about 50 per cent toward the country’s GDP growth. This is the reason why government applies regulation tools to curb importation and encourage exports. Small business enterprises must establish associations to facilitate their protection and availing of market information when necessary. Government and also financial institutions should reduce their tight restrictions that make it difficult for these small enterprises to acquire loans. If these small enterprises are funded well, they can stand a better chance to compete with their rivals and survive in long run. Reference List Anazawa, M. 2004. Sharing of Japanese SMEs Experiences: SME+s as the New Source of Growth. Global Productivity Challenges Seminar, 5 Augus t, Kuala Lumpur: Nikko Hotel. Knight, G. 2000. Entrepreneurship and Marketing Strategy: The SME under Globalization. Journal of International Marketing, 8(2), 12–32 Samad, N. A. 2007. Positioning Malaysian SMEs in the Global: Proceedings Of Persidangan Kebangsaan IKS 2007. Kota Kinabalu, University Utara Malaysia Tetteh, E. Burn, J. 2001. Global Strategies for SME-Business: Applying the SMALL Framework. Logistics Information Management, 14 (1/2), 171-180. Wright, R.W., Etemad, H. 2001. SMEs and the Global Economy. Journal of International Management, 7, 151-154. This report on Globalization and Survival of Smaller Firms was written and submitted by user Gianni Pollard to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Ongoing Battle with Drugs essays

The Ongoing Battle with Drugs essays Have we lost the War on Drugs? The War on Drugs officially started in 1972 with President Nixon declaring that drug law enforcement was not strict enough. To enforce the laws of the original Harrison Act, a new and intensified plan was to be enacted. The war reached its peak during the Reagan and Bush administrations, in which $67 billion was spent in enforcement of drug laws. The plan had worked relatively well until near the end of the Bush administration and drug use overall was down. But the Clinton administration has not been as effective and it is time to determine what our next course of action will be regarding drug enforcement. Prisons are becoming increasingly overcrowded and many people are being labeled as hard criminals as a result of experimentation with soft drugs. There are many possible courses of action to take, but the best one is not very clear-cut. America has always had a tremendous demand for illegal drugs. And simple economic principles will show that when the re is a large demand for a product someone will supply it. It is just like any other precious commodity and follows the same theory of buy low, sell high. Foreign sources have historically supplied this great demand. Latin Americas drug lords have always been a very big problem for the United States. It can be virtually impossible to catch them in a position to make an arrest. The power and support that these drug lords receive can almost overwhelm authorities trying to stop them (Burdge 2). One of the largest ever drug traffickers was Pablo Escobar Gaviria, he was so large and powerful, not even the court system could punish him when he was arrested and detained. The arresting officers were killed and nine different judges would not try the case due to threats on their lives. Then the official records disappeared from the courthouse and there could not be a trial. His net worth grew to almost $2 billion and he was helping the ...

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Gesture-based Interface 1.1 Definition Gesture recognition is a mix on language technology and computer science which helps in achieving interpretation of human gestures with the use of mathematical algorithms. Any kind of movement made by human body is a gesture and according to current researches, gesture technology is now focusing more on emotion gestures, hand and face gesture. This technology is playing a very important role in many fields such as Smartphones, Tablets and other devices Automobiles Transit sector Electronics sector Gaming sector Gesture based interface technology have turned out to be one of the basic innovations that can decide the future of video games /computer games. In current time, video games offer interaction with players without the need of using remote controls and allows players to perform actions and exchanges with game characters and game objects displayed in the virtual world in front of their screen. But for these advancements to achieve, new algorithm and calculations have been incorporated which makes use of sensors, cameras, accelerometer sensors and visual pattern recognition devices. Trend shows that games that adapts true life experience interface have a very good chance of making a good successful name in the gaming industry. So, almost every big game producing companies are spending resources in their gaming development team and looking for more advanced technology to implement so that they can beat their competitors and can provide entertaining and more exciting experiences to their c onsumers (Rocetti, Marfia, Semeraro, 2012) Gaming industry is a multi-billion industry, so many new technological ideas and trends are emerging in this field. Video games designer of big gaming companies are gradually moving their consideration of playing games at homes, expanding their interests to games which can be played in open areas such as museums and gaming exhibitions. However, till date, only a few number of researches have been done to consider the number of problems which occurs when making a video game. This paper will help us in understanding the concept of gesture interface and how its implemented with games and other multimedia devices. Many research has been done on how to better the experience by favoring big screens for a better and more immersive experience. While touchscreen devices have significantly enriched our experience with tablets PCs for example iPad, tablets etc., technology used in large displays being used in group meetings, presentations or lectures still remain unchanged. we all know that its quite difficult to apply touchscreen technology to such huge displays. In this research paper, the author displayed a new game design Laser shoot for FPS games. Earlier, users used to play shooter games on computer using a keyboard and a mouse or a joystick controller. Currently, we use CRT display technology for real like gun interface because CRT technology can detect beam direction and able to detect shooting position. However, CRT technology does not support big screen displays because of its manufacturing limitations. In order to encourage a community oriented and experience for gaming users, the author designed a new input interface technology which includes a laser gun and a large screen which has laser enabled spot detection capability. This interface successfully creates a real like environment for gamers and according to the results, the laser-based interface makes a characteristic UI conditions which helps learners to appreciate playing a FPS quickly, and furthermore gives experienced players another gaming knowledge. Current research development The author has developed a laser shoot technology that recognizes laser movements displayed on a smart display using a computer. With this technology, users can use ordinary laser points in a way that they experience laser pointers as extended fingers on a display. So, therefore, with the use of this technology, users can now draw pictures, diagrams, bar graphs and anything using their normal pointers on large display from a normal distance with users at the same or different locations. example: during meetings, presentations etc.) This laser shoot technology has been a ground-breaking revolution when it comes to online learning and helps interacting learners, teachers, trainers from all over the globe to connect and share knowledge. It also helps people with different expertise and skills to engage is different kind of learning activities. The idea of this technology not only helps people interacting but can also be used in terms of gaming aspect and specially first person shooter games FPS so the researcher applied this technology with FPS gaming environments. The gaming interface between the player and the virtual world was improved by using a new control using laser shoot technology laser guns and a display to recognize the laser shoot signal. Their system created a reality based gaming world for players and according to the results, it allowed players to experience a better gaming experience (Shim Kim, 2016) Related works and comparing different technologies First person shooter FPS is a genre of video games where the game is rendered in the virtual world from the players point of view involves aiming guns and other weapons. FPS features elements like running and shooting. As you can see from the picture (1), modern shooter games are played on a computer machine using a keyboard and mouse and using the layout (WASD) and arrow keys to control the game. Mouse controls the free look of the game and keyboard adds to other actions like running, shooting and other variations. We can also experience shooter games using CRT display as can be seen in the picture below. A real gun interface is used with CRT monitors for aiming and CRT monitors because of their good picture render capabilities, As can be seen from the picture below, PlayStation also uses a different kind of technology which makes uses of sensors called PlayStation move which communicates with their detectable motion controller to allow users to aim and shoot and also includes some buttons which helps in walking, running, strafing etc. For this technology to work, PlayStation uses a camera which detects light signals from the controllers sensors and interprets the action on the screen. Another example of gesture based interface is pistol mouse as shown in the picture below which makes use of hand gestures to allow shooting and recognizes movements of player using webcam images Another device called chairlO was developed by Hamburg university which is similar to a joystick but make use of users body motion and is based on a stool. In this device, they created a gun which had a motion detecting product called inertiacube2 and used virtual reality Laser shoot technology has an interface which makes use of a gun with laser shooting and a display which can recognize laser. Laser shoot includes a laser gun, an active screen and last a laser beam recognizable signal processing module. The above picture shows the overall process of designing laser shoot technology In this research, the author covered many related issues going from hardware to programming design that help fabricating and new devices for a FPS game and develop a new gaming interface design for FPS gamers. In order for this research to be possible, a large screen was very important but as we know, previous technology and user interface does not support real like interface and a large display. Shooter games on PC supports large display but the use of WASD layout on keyboard is traditional and old now. Even playing FPS games on CRT makes use of a realistic gesture based gun but due to CRTs manufacturing limitation, it cannot support large screen display. So, in order to encourage an environment among users/players, they designed a new gesture based interface called laser shoot technology which makes use of a large laser recognized display and a laser gun. Their research work contributed to gaming world by using laser inputs, which can help the world in developing more immersive gam ing experience for human computer interaction. Future research works incorporate higher acknowledgment rate for three letters including 0, v and y, which are quite difficult for humans to implement. Laser Shoot makes a characteristic UI conditions which helps novices to appreciate playing a FPS quickly, and furthermore gives experienced players another gaming background. References Hyun, K., Chang, L. W., Keechul, J. (2004). Recognition-based gesture spotting in video games. Pattern Recognition Letters, 25(15), 1701-1714. Rocetti, M., Marfia, G., Semeraro, A. (2012, April). Playing into the wild: A gesture-based interface for gaming in public spaces. Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation, 23(3), 426-440. Talbot, T. B. (2016). Making Lifelike Medical Games in the Age of Virtual Reality: An Update on Playing Games. Transforming Gaming and Computer Simulation Technologies across Industries, 103. Aker, Ç., RÄ ±zvanoÄÅ ¸lu, K., Ä °nal, Y., YÄ ±lmaz, A. S. (2016, July). Analyzing Playability in Multi-platform Games: A Case Study of the Fruit Ninja Game. In International Conference of Design, User Experience, and Usability (pp. 229-239). Springer International Publishing. Balachandra, N. (2016). Gesture recognition using proximity sensors with Mojo (Doctoral dissertation, San Diego State University). Foottit, J., Brown, D., Marks, S., Connor, A. M. (2016). A wearable haptic game controller. arXiv preprint arXiv:1604.05479. Renzi, M., Vassos, S., Catarci, T., Kimani, S. (2015, January). Touching notes: a gesture-based game for teaching music to children. In Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (pp. 603-606). ACM. Simor, F. W., Brum, M. R., Schmidt, J. D. E., Rieder, R., De Marchi, A. C. B. (2016). Usability Evaluation Methods for Gesture-Based Games: A Systematic Review. JMIR serious games, 4(2). Beckhaus S, Blom KJ, Haringer M (2005) A new gaming device and interaction method for a first-personshooter,in computer science and magic 2005. GC Developer Science Track, Laipzig Dardas NH, Silva JM, El Saddik A (2012) Target-shooting exergame with a hand gesture control. MultimedTools Appl 70:2211-2233. doi:10.1007/s11042-012-1236-4 Shim, J. Y., Kim, S. W. (2016). LaserShoot: a natural shooting interface for FPS gaming using laser recognizable display. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 75(6), 3409-3423. Olivas, A., Molina, J. P., Martà ­nez, J., Gonzà ¡lez, P., Jimà ©nez, A. S., Martà ­nez, D. (2012, October). Proposal and evaluation of models with and without position for immersive FPS games. In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Interaccià ³n Persona-Ordenador (p. 52). ACM. Opara, F. K., Aririguzo, M. I., Agbaraji, E. C. (2012). Comparative Analysis And Performance Features Of Plasma, Lcd And Crt Screens: Operating Features, Merit And Recommendations. Academic Research International, 2(2), 140. Di Natale, M., Zeng, H., Giusto, P., Ghosal, A. (2012). Understanding and using the controller area network communication protocol: theory and practice. Springer Science Business Media.