Boston Beer Analysis

Matthew Schreck Management 511: Financial Decision Making Boston Beer Company April 18, 2013 Amelia Drobile Boston Beer Company History and Financial Position Boston Beer Company (SAM) is a brewery in Massachusetts most commonly known for its Samuel Adams line of â€Å"craft† beers. The Samuel Adams line of beer was introduced in 1985. Since then the company has grown to do over 580 million dollars in revenue each year. 580 million is a very small piece of the food and beverage industry but the amount of shareholder wealth they are providing is impressive.Boston Beer Company has been named one of the top publically traded businesses to watch in 2013 by Forbes. Boston Beer Company is actually part of two markets. In the overall U. S. Beer market they have a mere one percent of the market. However, they own 22% of the craft beer market. In their industry, 66% of those competing in the craft brew market are brewpubs, which generally do not do mass distribution giving Boston Beer Company an edge. (Smith, 2011) Boston Beer Company has one major difference from its competitors. The company has no debt.The entire company runs on cash even though they have a 50 million dollar line of credit available to them, which they have never used. The company purchased Diageo’s Pennsylvania Brewery in June of 2008 for 55 million dollars cash so that they could produce 100% of their product without having to subcontract larger orders out. Boston Beer Company is capitalized with no bonds or preferred stock, only 13. 6 million shares of common stock. (Smith, 2011) Boston Beer Company’s cost of capital is 6. 60% since their weighted cost of equity is 6. 60% and their weighted cost of debt is 0. 00%. Market Grader Inc. , 2013) Price to Revenue Ratio (Price to Sales) Boston Beer Company’s price to revenue ratio (TTM) is 3. 54 The price to revenue ratio is usually applied in place of the price to earnings ratio. This ratio is usually applied to companies with in the same industry, however it excludes debt and expenses so the information the ratio provides is limited. Price to Cash Flow Ratio The current price to cash flow ratio for Boston Beer Company is 25. 76. The price to cash flow ratio is used to evaluate the price of a company’s stock as compared to the amount of cash flow it generates.The price to cash flow ratio is important for one main reason, it allows the comparison of companies from different jurisdictions because it removes depreciation (which may vary by country) and other non-cash factors. Therefore, it would allow an investor to compare Boston Beer Company’s stock to that of AB InBev along similar financial values. Price to Book Ratio (MRQ) The price to book ratio for Boston Beer Company is 8. 34. The price to book ratio measures a company’s market value in comparison to its book value.The price to book ratio indicates whether or not a company’s asset value is comparable to the market price of it’s stock. Because the price to book ratio for Boston Beer Company is well over one it may be an indicator that the stock is overvalued. An over valued stock for Boston Beer Company could imply the rapid decline in stock value in the near future, especially since the stock has climbed almost 25% in the last quarter alone. With the book value ratio as high as it is, a drop in stock price seems likely in the near future. Current Ratio (MRQ) Boston Beer Company’s current ratio is 1. 83.Current ratio is defined by a company’s current assets divided by is current liabilities. A company’s current ratio is a liquidity ratio that measures a company’s ability to pay short-term obligations. This ratio also takes into account inventory as current assets, although it may easily be converted into cash quickly. Because Boston Beer Company’s ratio is well over one, it means they have the assets and cash flows available to pay off any immediate debt shoul d it be made due. The company’s amount of inventory provides a great deal of assets that makes the company much more liquid when this formula is used.Quick Ratio (MRQ) The quick ratio for Boston Beer Company is 1. 33. A company’s quick ratio is an indicator of a company’s short-term liquidity. This ratio is a more conservative form of the current ratio because it does not take into account inventory of the company when determining its current assets. Boston Beer Company still has a favorable ratio well above 1. 0. While their current ratio is much better with all the inventory, Boston Beer Company is still a reliable company that can pay off its short term debts if need be. Measuring ReturnsPrimary Stakeholders Boston Beer Company has five primary stakeholders within company, Martin F. Roper (President and CEO), C. James Koch (Founder and Chairman), William F. Urich (CFO and Treasurer), John C. Geist (Vice President of Sales), and Thomas W. Lance (Vice President of Operations). Of the five of them C. James Koch holds more than 34% of the shares and is the sole holder of the class B common stock that gives him the right to appoint five of the eight members that are chosen to be on the board as seen in the following quote from the 2013 Proxy Statement. At the Annual Meeting you will be asked to elect three Class A Directors and cast an advisory vote on executive compensation. As the sole holder of Class B Common Stock, I will elect five Class B Directors and cast a vote to ratify the selection of our independent registered public accounting firm. † (Boston Beer Company, Inc. , 2013) While Koch may have stepped down from CEO in 2001 he has maintained a great interest in his company and has positioned himself to have great control over the Company with his position as Chairman of the Board.His actions and goals are seen laid out in all of the company’s press releases and the company is continuing to be grown and maintained the sam e as it always has been with the exception of Boston Beer Company running its own breweries instead of subcontracting out their orders. Capital Budgeting Boston Beer Company runs just like any cash business. They have no money tied up in debt and any investment they make is paid for in cash. There is an upside and downside to this method of running a company.On the upside, the company is very liquid, meaning they can pay for most investments on the spot without accruing any debt. However, no debt might deter some investors from buying into the company. Having no debt throws off a company’s ratios in comparison with other companies within the industry and can make it difficult for investors to trust in the company. A typical investment for Boston Beer Company would be opening a new brewery or purchasing an existing one to help the company keep up with the demands for their products.The acquisition of the Diageo brewery 60 miles outside of Philadelphia in 2008 was the companyâ €™s most recent investment. Since the purchase, Boston Beer Company has been pouring tens of millions of dollars into the facility that used to employ 220 people to make Smirnoff and now employs 260 people to brew Sam Adams. â€Å"Boston Beer's Breinigsville facility employs 260, up from 220 workers when the plant was purchased from Diageo. † (Richardson, 2012) Boston Beer Company now has three breweries.They are located in Cincinnati, Ohio, Breinigsville, Pennsylvania, and Boston, Massachusetts. Boston Beer Company has been weary to invest in the western half of the U. S. because they believe the craft beer market is oversaturated and they will not have much success, however, some market specialists believe they should do a trial batch with a brewery in the western market and measure real results. The only real measure of value for Boston Beer is the volume being sold. Boston Beer used to lease brewery locations in order to brew according to their demand.Within the last five years the demands for craft beers have grown significantly especially among the younger alcohol consuming demographic that is looking for something more the generic beer taste of the three big beer companies, Anheuser Busch InBev, MillerCoors, and Pabst. Boston Beer Company no longer has the need to lease other breweries after the purchase of the Diageo brewery. Now that they have the capacity to brew their own beer and staff accordingly Boston Beer Company has not only added value to the company, but have positioned them self to expand as the demands for their products continue to increase.The only place that Boston Beer Company seems to be struggling with is the money that they are leaving sit idle. While the company is very profitable and is run as a cash business, some of their cash flows could be invested to generate a better return than they are currently getting. Strategy and Governance The Boston Beer Company is currently governed by a board consisting of eight members. The board consists of C. James Koch, David A. Burwick, Pearson C. Cummin III, Cynthia A. Fisher, Jay Margolis, Martin F. Roper, Gregg A. Tanner, and Jean-Michael Valette.The board has a committee that reviews the current members of the board at least annually and determines what characteristics and skills should be sought in new board members to be elected. Board members for the Boston Beer Company board members are asked to limit the number of boards they are on in order to keep them focused. â€Å"The Chairman of the Board and the Chairman of the Nominating/Governance Committee should be advised in advance of a director’s intention to accept an invitation to serve on another board† (Boston Beer Company, Inc. , 2013) ManagementBoston Beer Company’s executives have deep roots within the company. C. James Koch founded the company in 1984 and was Chief Executive Officer up until 2001 when he stepped down and became Chairman of the Board. Martin F. Roper the Presi dent and Chief Executive Officer replaced C. James Koch as CEO in 2001. Martin F. Roper has been with the company since 1994 when he was hired as Vice President of Operations. In 1997 he became Chief Operating Officer and in 1999 he became the President of Boston Beer Company. William F. Urich is the CFO and Treasurer since 2003. Before joining Boston Beer Company Mr.Urich served as Vice President of Finance and Business Development for United Distilleries & Vinters from 1998 to 2000. From 2001 to 2003 Mr. Urich was Chief Financial Officer for Acirca, Inc. John C. Geist, the Vice President of Sales has been with the company since 1998 when he was first brought on as the National Sales Manager. He was made Vice President of Sales in February of 2007. David L. Grinell has been the Vice President of Brewing since 2008. Prior to that he started working as the Manager of Brewing Operations in 1988 before being promoted to Director of Brewing and Quality in 2001.The Vice president of Oper ations, Thomas W. Lance, joined the company in 2007 after leaving the Executive Vice President of Operations position at Ken’s Foods. A position which he held for five years. Ai-Li Lim is the Vice President of Human Resources. She joined the company in February of 2012 after leaving Vistaprint USA, Inc. as Senior Director of Human Resources. Robert P. Pagano, the Vice President of Brand Development joined the company in 2011. Prior to joining Boston Beer Company Mr. Pagano was the Managing Director at the brand strategy firm, Red Sky Insights, LLC, for five years. Kathleen H.Wade is the Vice President-Legal and Corporate Secretary. She joined the company in 1999 as Corporate Legal Director and Corporate Secretary. She became Secretary of the company in 2010 and was appointed to the vice president position in 2012. Average Ceo Compensation In This Industry Industry Range Salary686. 8K Bonus871. 2K Total Short Term Compensation1. 0M Total Value of Options4. 9M Key Executive Com pensation Boston Beer Company, Inc. SAM Name/Title 20082009201020112012 Key Executive Compensation10,037,7063,868,6674,181,5019,897,5693,718,707 Martin F. Roper/President and Chief Executive Officer ,415,9181,049,3031,094,238933,8181,052,493 William F. Urich/Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer 834,313766,768938,3183,437,998599,363 C. James Koch/Chairman of the Board 589,496546,005836,895754,163817,949 Thomas W. Lance/Vice President, Operations 449,636858,643479,857693,401721,454 John C. Geist/Vice President, Sales 748,343647,948832,1934,078,189527,448 *A publicly-traded company is only required to disclose information concerning the amount and type of compensation paid to its CEO, CFO, and the three other most highly compensated executive officers in a given year.Information about compensation for these individuals may be unavailable in prior years if they were not in their current roles or did not qualify as among the most highly compensated officers at the time. (MorningStar, 20 13) For the most part Boston Beer Company pays below the industry average with the exception of the executive bonuses that certain members of upper management received for reaching certain sales goals. Boston Beer Company is not nearly as large as the other beer conglomerates so it is expected that their executive compensation would be to scale.Corporate Social Responsibility Boston Beer Company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) is heavily mandated by the government. Because they deal in the alcoholic beverage industry there are numerous amounts of taxes and laws restricting their advertising and sales. â€Å"The alcoholic beverage industry is regulated by federal, state and local governments. These regulations govern the production and distribution of alcoholic beverages, including permitting, licensing, marketing and advertising, distributor relationships, sales, environmental, and occupational health and safety issues.To operate its breweries, the Company must obtai n and maintain numerous permits, licenses and approvals from various governmental agencies, including the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the Food and Drug Administration, state alcohol regulatory agencies and state and federal environmental agencies. † (Boston Beer Company, Inc. , 2013) Growth and Opportunity Boston Beer Company has grown significantly in the last decade. It has grown organically through increasing sales and demand from their marketing campaigns.It has also grown a great deal through acquiring two more breweries, one in Ohio and one in Pennsylvania in addition to the original Massachusetts brewery. Boston Beer Company is known primarily for its Samuel Adams line of â€Å"craft† beers however they also compete in other segments of the alcoholic beverage industry for those that don’t prefer beer. Boston Beer Company also makes Twisted Tea and Angry Orchard Cider. The concept of making several types of beverages allows Boston Beer Company to be more diversified and attract more sales by appealing to a larger demographic by providing a wider selection of products.Boston Beer Company has what most market analysts would call a â€Å"niche market†, meaning they will never produce a large scale generic beer like the big three beer companies (Anheuser Busch InBev, Miller, and Coors). So the need to diversify is not a necessity for survival or growth for the Boston Beer Company. Of the three major lines of alcoholic beverages the company produces, there are 56 varieties of them combined. Boston Beer Company essentially has it’s own market because 66% of their competitors are brewpubs that do not mass distribute. The only thing limiting Boston Beer Company other than its sales are it’s distribution network.Since the firm operates entirely on cash the value of the company has skyrocketed. Boston Beer Company has plenty of capital to reinvest in itself and increase shareholder wealth all while maintaining a balance sheet with minimal debt. Boston Beer has grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade, which is reflected by their total sales, volume of product produced (measured in barrels), and price per share, which is currently leveling out around $166. 00 per share. While companies like Anheuser Busch InBev have a much larger market cap (157. 93B) compared to Boston Beer Company (2. 1B), Anheuser Busch InBev’s price per share is only $98. 78. The overall value to the shareholders for Boston Beer Company is much greater because of the way the business operates and finances its investments. The company finances everything without debt controlling the company’s resources carefully and allowing rapid growth. Boston Beer Company will be one of the premiere firms to watch over the next decade to see how they will combat the much larger competitors within the industry as they try to compete in the craft beer market. References Smith, B. (2011, August 30). Buffett-Munger S creener Highlight – Boston Beer Company (Sam).Retrieved from Guru Focus website: http://www. gurufocus. com/news/144123/buffettmunger-screener-highlight–boston-beer-company-sam Market Grader Inc. (2013, March 30). Boston Beer Co. , Inc.. Retrieved from Market Grader Inc website: http://www. marketgrader. com/MG. Services/servlet/pdf. PDFServer? ticker=SAM Boston Beer Company, Inc. (2013). Proxy Statement 2013. Retrieved from Boston Beer Company website: http://www. bostonbeer. com/phoenix. zhtml? c=69432&p=irol-overview Richardson, T. (2012, January 27). Boston Beer pouring millions into Lehigh Valley. Retrieved from The Morning Call Website: http://articles. mcall. om/2012-01-27/business/mc-allentown-boston-beer-20120127_1_craft-beers-samuel-adams-beer-yuengling Boston Beer Company, Inc. (2013) Corporate Governance Guidelines. Retrieved from Boston Beer Company website: http://www. bostonbeer. com/phoenix. zhtml? c=69432&p=irol-governance MorningStar. (2013, April 18) . Boston Beer Company, Inc. Class A (SAM). Retrieved from MorningStar website: http://insiders. morningstar. com/trading/executive-compensation. action? t=SAM Boston Beer Company, Inc. (2012) 10-K Annual Report 2012. Retrieved from Boston Beer Company website: http://www. bostonbeer. com/phoenix. zhtml? c=69432&p=irol-overview

Discuss Friel’s presentation Essay

In the time ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’ was set Gerry and Chris’s relationship would have been extremely unorthodox and would have circulated a lot of town gossip. Having a child out of wedlock was extremely shocking and making the decision to then keep Michael even more so. In 1936 women had very few rights and with the shock of Michael being born only the towns respect for their brother, a missionary, kept them from being societal lepers. Friel presents the relationship between Gerry and Chris by using stage directions to show the true feelings between them and how their relationship is sustained. Having Gerry and Chris talking in the garden while the four other sisters are inside listening intently shows how little privacy the two have in their relationship. When Gerry first arrives Chris appears extremely cold and offhand in front of him using one word answers ‘Chris: Hello, Gerry†¦ yes†¦yes. ’ All of this gives the impression that she has very little time for him and doesn’t particularly care about him. However Friel’s staging shows the audience that she really does care because we see her reaction before Gerry comes on stage. Friel portrays her as standing stock still in shock then, when coming to her senses, rushing around panicking, ‘adroitly adjusts her hair and clothes. ’ It is the panic before the extract that shows her much Chris truly does care about Gerry and also about how little the sisters have in their lives due to the their scramble to make themselves presentable. This highlights how Gerry is a key romantic figure in the play because even though all the while the sisters are saying ‘Kate: He won’t stay the night here’ and ‘Rose: I hate him!’ they still all end up crowding around the window to listen in and watch, suggesting that though disapproving they still half wish to be in Chris’s shoes. The social constraints of the situation lead them to wanting Gerry out of the families lives, but still the desire is there through the constant comments. These comments are key to the suggestion of an invasion of privacy, ‘Maggie: you should see the way she’s looking at him†¦Kate: they’re not still talking are they? ’ Friel is trying to show how hard it must be for Gerry and Chris to live in such an enclosed area where everyone knows everyone’s business, thus exploring a theme of romance, or lack of romance. This is continued throughout the extract, the fact that Gerry never visits ‘Chris: 13 months’ making the relationship seem very one sided – Chris remembering the last visit to the day while Gerry can’t remember the month. Gerry proposes to Chris at the very end of the extract and this gives a sign that maybe he does care about her. Even though Chris turns him down there is still the slight remembrance of this moment throughout the rest of the play, leading to the audiences opinion that maybe Gerry does truly care for Chris despite leaving her alone with child. However through Michael’s narrative closer to the end of the play in the second act we find out that Gerry already had ‘a wife and three grown children’, Friel choosing to leave this revelation till the end to produce a far more dramatic climax to their relationship. It is then that the audience realises that Gerry never intended to marry Chris and only offered in the knowledge that she would refuse. This all gives the impression that there is never any real closeness or intimacy for the two of them and the whole summer of happiness before, ‘suddenly he takes her in his arms and dance. ’ was a lie. A large influence on Friel when writing ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’ was the changing role of women in society. Thatcher had just been Prime Minister and women’s rights were becoming much more accepted in the 1990’s, perhaps why Friel chose to make this such a large part of the play. Set in 1936 the Mundy sisters would not have been at all accepted by society with Chris having Michael out of wedlock and then deciding to keep him. Changing attitudes within society would have influenced Friel’s interpretation of Chris and Gerry’s relationship. Friel depicted this family as an example of what is yet to come, the sisters supported Chris throughout and after her pregnancy even though it went against societies beliefs, thus inflicting Chris’s embarrassment upon themselves as well yet still sticking together as a family. Friel emphasizes that women should have the right to do as they please through the disruption of outside influences. At the beginning of the play the sisters are happy in their little bubble making jokes about the outside world ‘Maggie: steady on girl, today its lipstick; tomorrow it’s the gin bottle’ although never participating in it. It’s when they begin to allow others into their circle that things begin to go down hill for them. Before Gerry’s arrival they were all dancing and laughing but his arrival marked a change for them all, Friel perhaps suggesting that women don’t need the influences of men and all they bring with them is destruction. Danny Bradley and Rose are another example of this, the death of Rose’s defenceless white rooster is symbolic of mans predatory nature and the violence of this act implies violence between Rose and Bradley. Therefore Friel is portraying women as stronger without the male interference, Chris and Gerry’s relationship is used to highlight this as it is obvious to the audience that Chris would have been better off without Gerry in the first place but it is this continued procrastinating relationship that truly destroys her. The audience views Chris and Gerry’s relationship with trepidation throughout the play due to Friel’s depiction of him as a stereotypical womaniser. Kate calls him a ‘Loafer! Wastrel! ’ but conveniently neglects to mention the obvious charisma he has. In a short few minutes of conversation he has turned Chris from cold and unwelcoming ‘Chris: Thirteen months. ’ To one who is warm and laughing and allows Gerry to ‘dance her lightly, elegantly across the garden. ’ The audience views this exchange with surprise having heard only very negative things about Gerry from the sisters; the easy acceptance from Chris confuses them. The audience’s mistrust of Gerry’s character increases after the small discussion of Agnes between the two. Having already seen Agnes’s rigid, almost forced disinterest in Gerry, and then to have Gerry asking specifically after her Friel creates a slight unease for the audience, suggesting that something may have between the two of them. This leads to the audience beginning to see the cracks in the family’s foundations with Gerry seemingly at the centre of this. Friel enforces this idea of him being a womaniser later in act 2 when he begins to flirt with Agnes ‘Gerry: Dance with me Agnes.’ and then kisses her forehead, all of this watched by Chris. The audience begins to really mistrust Gerry at this point as it is obvious that he is the cause of conflict between the family they have come to love. The audience is seeing men in a bad light which relates to the feelings at the time it was being performed when the term ‘glass ceiling’ was coming into existence, women in the workplace being oppressed by men and now, in the play, them to being oppressed in relationships. There is the feeling that men can get away with any sort of misdemeanour by just walking away, leaving, whereas women i.  e. Chris, are always left with the result – a baby. Gerry’s carrying on represents this stereotypical male so that when the audience discovers that Gerry in fact has ‘a wife and three grown children’ it comes as no surprise. In conclusion, Friel presents Gerry and Chris’s relationship as something parallel to that of a pre 1990’s relationship. He wants to suggest to the audience that women no need longer depend on men by showing how much better off the Mundy sisters were before the arrival of Gerry and the conflict he brought within the family. Although the influences on Friel were all about the empowerment of women, he presents Gerry and Chris’s relationship with Gerry as the dominant figure, putting the play in the context of its setting and to show how the male dominance was a cause of the family breaking down. Through his presentation of the relationship he is evoking the idea that there are more possibilities available to an empowered women rather than a dominated one.

Alcohol and Tobacco

Alcohol and Tobacco Although the public knows about the negative effects of these products, people still continue to use the substances without thinking twice. These products are legal if you are of age, so people will continue to experiment with alcohol and tobacco. On the other hand, drugs are not legal and are not advertised all over the media because they are prohibited in our society. If drugs were legal, experimentation and usage of these dangerous and deadly drugs would skyrocket. The usage of alcohol and tobacco is legal, but the usage of drugs should be prohibited in the United States. A theory is that if a person tries one drug such as marijuana, there is a high likelihood that that person will eventually try a harder drug such as cocaine. This is a very scary thought. If drugs were legal, many more individuals would be trying them. The media would be advertising cocaine like it was voldka. There is a large difference between these two products. People would feel like it was okay to experiment with the drug because its usage was legal. This could be harmful, because everyone can have a different effect to each drug. Drugs such as cocaine and heroin are highly addictive and dangerous. They not only cause damage to the person using but also to surrounding people. I am not trying to undersize alcohol and the damage it can cause, but at least there are laws against driving while intoxicated so that you can prevent yourself from harming another individual. Tobacco use affects your body in the long run, but other than second hand smoke, it does not directly put others in danger. Certain drugs can make a person spiral out of control and make them do certain things that they would never do if they were clean. A counter viewpoint is that drugs should be legalized because it is a person choice to use or consume whatever they wish. Advocates of legalizing drugs say that people will use drugs if they have the desire to whether it is legal or illegal. They mention that what is the difference between tobacco and alcohol versus drugs. Alcohol can be just as damaging to other people as drugs can be sometimes. The United States is a free country where we can speak how we feel and do how we feel and no one can tell us how to live our life. They say that if people want to use alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs, they should have the freedom to do so. Both sides make valid points, but I definitely feel that drug usage would contaminate our society even more. Alcohol and Tobacco Although the public knows about the negative effects of these products, people still continue to use the substances without thinking twice. These products are legal if you are of age, so people will continue to experiment with alcohol and tobacco. On the other hand, drugs are not legal and are not advertised all over the media because they are prohibited in our society. If drugs were legal, experimentation and usage of these dangerous and deadly drugs would skyrocket. The usage of alcohol and tobacco is legal, but the usage of drugs should be prohibited in the United States. A theory is that if a person tries one drug such as marijuana, there is a high likelihood that that person will eventually try a harder drug such as cocaine. This is a very scary thought. If drugs were legal, many more individuals would be trying them. The media would be advertising cocaine like it was voldka. There is a large difference between these two products. People would feel like it was okay to experiment with the drug because its usage was legal. This could be harmful, because everyone can have a different effect to each drug. Drugs such as cocaine and heroin are highly addictive and dangerous. They not only cause damage to the person using but also to surrounding people. I am not trying to undersize alcohol and the damage it can cause, but at least there are laws against driving while intoxicated so that you can prevent yourself from harming another individual. Tobacco use affects your body in the long run, but other than second hand smoke, it does not directly put others in danger. Certain drugs can make a person spiral out of control and make them do certain things that they would never do if they were clean. A counter viewpoint is that drugs should be legalized because it is a person choice to use or consume whatever they wish. Advocates of legalizing drugs say that people will use drugs if they have the desire to whether it is legal or illegal. They mention that what is the difference between tobacco and alcohol versus drugs. Alcohol can be just as damaging to other people as drugs can be sometimes. The United States is a free country where we can speak how we feel and do how we feel and no one can tell us how to live our life. They say that if people want to use alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs, they should have the freedom to do so. Both sides make valid points, but I definitely feel that drug usage would contaminate our society even more. Alcohol and Tobacco

Exam questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Exam questions - Essay Example The use of technology enhanced the invention of machines that increased the productivity of workers. Technology also enhanced the growth of enterprises to large scale producers. Food products were, therefore, produced in masses that fed the society. End products were produced at cheaper costs and less time than in the recent times. Due to the changes the standards of living of the citizens were improved and also recorded a social change. People moved from suburb areas to the cities thus land was left vacant for production of food. At times people who lived in the urban areas and worked in the factories lived in filthy conditions due to overpopulation in the urban areas (Goloboy 2008, p.58). Increased food production is essential for industrialization in any state. Labor is essential for the growth of industries and the state to maintain a sufficient number of laborers it needs to device ways of producing enough food to feed the population. Industrialization in Europe was due to sustainable methods of food production. Industrialization in Britain occurred between 1750 and 1830. Britain had perfect conditions for industrialization to occur. Mineral resources, labor and technology, were present in Britain and facilitated the industrial revolution (Goloboy 2008, p.67). Britain had made the use of wood as a source of heat for a long time it thus had plenty of coal deposits remaining and were used in new ideas. The source of heat was used in the industries. Britain was also a colonial master of many nations, the raw materials that could not be found in Britain could be imported from the colonies at cheap costs. The colonies also provided markets for the end products. Other factors that contributed to industrialization in Britain were the plenty natural resources in Britain. The government of Britain also improved the transportation in Britain enhancing the movements of finished goods and raw materials. The growing population in

Organisational Creativity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Organisational Creativity - Essay Example The idea box is a creativity technique used to explore new ideas as well as options. The idea box technique works by nudging the thinker to enhance creative thinking and come up with apposite solutions. I choose the idea box techniques because I have used it in the past. Additionally, the technique enables one to play with different ideas as well as possibilities before coming up with a solution. This ensures that the root of the problem is identified and the most appropriate solution applied. Additionally, brainstorming makes this method appealing, since it does not include any predetermined approaches. Therefore, it makes it possible to deal with the problem conclusively without making assumptions. This paper focuses on the use of idea box creative technique in enhancing business performance. The paper will make use of a personal experience to describe the procedure followed while developing and using an idea box to come up with a solution. Additionally, the benefits and shortcomin gs of using the idea box will be identified. Overview of the Idea Box Technique The Idea box is a morphological analysis technique that was invented by Fritz Zwicky. The technique enables a person to examine all the relationships in comprised in multidimensional problems. Additionally, the idea box helps in generation of ideas. By using the idea box, one generates multiple ideas, which can be combined in different ways to produce different creations. Having several combinations increases the chances of obtaining a workable combination. Designing and Using the Idea Box for Creative Thinking My brother Alex owns a coffee retail shop, which has three coffee outlets. When he initially opened the business, the number of customers grew rapidly since there were no coffee retail shops in the neighborhood. The business activities include roasting of coffee beans, sale of coffee beverages and other soft drinks, as well as sale of snacks. After operating his business for some time, another ret ailer opened a coffee shop a few meters from one of my brother’s outlets. This was a threat to Alex’s business since some of the clients started switching to the newly opened coffee retail shop. I was one of Alex employees and he sought my assistance in developing a way to prevent the loss of customers. Additionally, he wanted a solution that would enable his business attract new customers. We thus decided to use the idea box to come up with possible ways of attracting new customers and retaining the existing ones. To develop the idea box we followed a number of steps. To generate the idea box, you have to identify your objectives. The next step is to identify the parameters of the problem. After identifying the different parameters, one makes a list of variations. This is followed by combining the different variations and examining the different outcomes (Desaeyere, n.d.). We analyzed the problem and wrote it as the caption of the idea box. The idea was to improve per formance of the retail business to retain the existing and attract new customers. We realized that there were quite a number of factors that we hindering maximum performance in the retail business. We thus identified the different areas that required to be analyzed. The areas identified were those that determined the performance of a retail business. After analyzing the problem, we came up with four parameters and

Strategic Management - News Paper business Essay

Strategic Management - News Paper business - Essay Example If management wants to stress on the importance of customer needs they may vary from area to area in the regions the firm offers its products. Innovation can be considered as prime need of the customer in the case of weightage to customer needs. Every body covers the news, but the presentation matters. If the presentation is against the interests of a particular community they may be against the organization. So presentation of the news and analysis of the events must be according to the needs and interests of various customers in different areas. Desired Position: It is important to meet the customer needs in every business and industry. Here the needs of customers are timely delivery, publishing and presenting the problems in their areas, critical analysis of current national and international issues, interacting with the customer to let him express his views, to make government officials and heads of departments and governments to talk communicate with the people through our newspaper. The innovation in this area can be made possible by selecting a different topic and a new problem before out competitors pick and communicate with the people. The innovation here lies in continuity. ... The strategy canvas: The strategy that gives success in this business is not only to market the product but also getting advertisements. Generally in this business getting advertisements is the way to get profits. Obtaining advertisements depends upon the circulation of the newspaper. More the circulation the more number of advertisements the news paper can get. One can fix more tariffs for the ads also. The tariffs depend upon two factors: 1. The area that is covered by newspaper, 2. The circulation of the newspaper. If we want to be a head of our competitor having equal circulation with us, we must gather more ads for more tariff. This is made possible if the newspaper is supplied in more number of areas than our competitor. Though we are having an equal circulation with our competitor by selling our newspaper out of the state (if our competitor sells within our state) and out of the country (if our competitor sells his news paper within our country) and in more countries (if our competitor sells his product in other countries also). This strategy involves high establishment costs regarding the installation of offices and edition centers regarding collection of advertisements and publication of newspaper. But this investment will be fruitful in long term as it gives upper hand over competitor in increasing the circulation in future and deciding high tariffs for advertising in our paper in present. Along with newspaper one can publish magazines also. This thing will give an advantage to our infra structure as more than one product can be launched from the same infrastructure. This gives publicity without an advertisement as all the readers of magazine know about the newspaper and the readers of newspaper know about the magazine. This

The development of key ideas in contemporary management and leadership Essay

The development of key ideas in contemporary management and leadership development - Essay Example The effects of technology and globalization on various sector of the world’s economy had been satisfying. This is not to forget that sometimes the avenue may also find other inappropriate use. For organizations, there has been pressing need to adjust to such advances. For example, organization leadership has been greatly affected by globalization and technology. This is especially so given that various organizations try to make sure that they implement competitive quality management (Arendt et al., 2005). To do so, leadership and other management positions in many organizations have become highly competitive. Technology and globalization has affected management and leaderships of virtually global organizations in the following ways. Organizations are increasingly looking for very flexible, highly skilled and competent personalities to occupy their leadership positions (Rothstein and Burke, 2010). Strategic Human Resources Management There may be many explanations given to stra tegic human resource management (S-HRM). Even so, one may notice that irrespective of various definitions the common denominator usually points to the same meaning. S-HRM, therefore, is just the managerial process requiring human resource policies and practices to be linked with strategic objectives of the organization. The importance of a HR strategy is that it can be used as a tool to gain a competitive advantage. It is by that definition a key factor. Using the traditional approach to strategic management, one may observe that a strategic plan attempt to balance how best to utilize resources available in the business environment in order to meet some established desirable outcomes. S-HRM can as such also be seen as a set of managerial decisions and actions that determines how an organization will eventually perform in the long run. In fact, Mintzberg (1994) assert that a strategy defines an organization and reduces ambiguity. Given that organizations do go changes with time, orga nization development should therefore be approached from a strategic perspective that takes into account all the vital factors that are key to the success of an organization. A strategic management thinking that may impact on the productivity, performance and efficiency of an organization has to take into consideration the following. It should make address: mission and goals, environmental analysis, strategic formulation, strategy implementation and strategy evaluation (Ridderstrale and Nordstrom, 2002). For organizational development, the role and position of the senior management in the organization shall be assessed within the context of organizations missions and goals. The functions and duties of the management should be geared towards achieving the set organization goals, values and objectives. As the management team, they should make sure that they, together with all those who are below them in the organization hierarchy, work towards achieving the organization goals. Goals s hould be consistent with what the organization does so that every effort and input could be analyzed in line with duties allocated. The goals should be measurable especially in the short term (Bordia et al., 2004). Any decision that the management shall execute in line with organization change or organization development shall take into consideration analysis of internal environment and external environment. As pertains to internal environm