Financial Report Analysis of a Jute Mill Essay Example for Free

Financial Report Analysis of a Jute Mill Essay Market opportunity is big factor in shaping a company’s strategy. Opportunities may be plentiful or scarce. The may range from widely alternative to marginally interesting. A company is well advised to pass on particular market opportunity unless it has th e resource capabilities most relevant to a company are: i) ii) Those that offer important avenues for profitable growth Those where a company has the most potential for completive. Threats: Certain factors in a company extend environment may pose threats to i ts profitability and competitive well-being. Revels introduction of new product New government regulations that is more burdensome to a company than is competitors Vulnerability to a raise in interest rates Political upheaval and the like. It is management job to identify the threats to the company’s future well-being and to evaluate what strategic actions can be taken to neutralize or lesson their impact. Opportunities and threats point to the need for strategic action. Managers need to i. ii. Pursue market opportunities well suited to the company’s resources capabilities, and Take action to defend against internal threats to the company’ business. Why SWOT analysis? ? It involves evaluating the strengths, weakness opportunities and threats and drawing conclusions about the attractiveness of the company’s situation and the need for strategic action. From a strategy marking perspective strengths are significant because they can be used as the cornerstones of strategy and the basis on which to build competitive advantages. ? Management should build strategy around what the company dose best on the basis of the strengths and should avoid strategies whose success depends heavily on areas where the company is weak. A strategy also needs to aim at correcting competitive weakness that make the company vulnerable, hurt its importance of disqualify it from pursuing an attractive opportunity. ? Strategy must be aimed at pursuing opportunities well suited to the company’s capabilities and provide a defense against internal threats. Mashriqui Jute Mills Ltd. Consolidated profit and loss account For the year ended 30th June, 2 008 Revenue Cost of revenue Gross Profit Operating Expenses Administrative Expenses Distribution (selling) Expenses Profit before Interest, Tax Depreciation Depreciation Net Profit/Loss before Tax Theoretical Illustration Concepts relating to ratio analysis 3. 1 Liquidity Ratio o Liquidity refers to the ability of a firm to meet its short -term financial obligations when and as they fall due. o The main concern of liquidity ratio is to measure the ability of the firms to meet their short-term maturing obligations. Failure to do this will result in the total failure of the business, as it would be forced into liquidation. i) Current Ratio The current ratio expresses the relationship between the firm’s current assets and its current liabilities. Current assets normally include cash, marketable securities, accounts receivable and inventories. Current liabilities consist of accounts payable, short-term notes payable, short-term loans, current maturities of long term debt, accrued in come taxes and other accrued expenses (wages). The rule of thumb says that the current ratio should be at least 2 that are the current assets should meet current liabilities at least twice. (ii) Quick Ratio Measures assets that are quickly converted into cash and they are compared with current liabilities. This ratio realizes that some of current assets are not easily convertible to cash e. g. inventories. The quick ratio, also referred to as acid test ratio, examines the ability of the business to cover its sh ort-term obligations from its â€Å"quick† assets only (i. e. it ignores stock). The quick ratio is calculated as follows clearly this ratio will be lower than the current ratio, but the difference between the two (the gap) will indicate the extent to which current assets consist of stock. 3. 2 Profitability Ratio Profitability is the ability of a business to earn profit over a period of time. Although the profit figure is the starting point for any calculation of cash flow, as already pointed out, profitable companies can still fail for a lack of cash. Note: Without profit, there is no cash and therefore profitability must be seen as a critical success factors. o A company should earn profits to survive and grow over a long period of time. o Profits are essential, but it would be wrong to assume that every action initiated by management of a company should be aimed at maximizing profits, irrespective of social consequences.

The Sme Growth Strategies Economics Essay

The Sme Growth Strategies Economics Essay This paper focuses on factors affecting the growth and performance of small and medium enterprises. The aim was to identify strategic factors differentiating young and long-lived growth SMEs. The empirical data consisted of 32 young (8 years or less) and 33 long-lived (20 years or more) growth SMEs. A comparison of the two groups of growth SMEs revealed strategic differences with important implications between young and long-lived SMEs. The results suggest that firm age does matter for SME growth strategies. The results increase our understanding of the factors affecting SME growth and performance in two different contexts. Keywords: growth; performance; strategies; small and medium enterprises INTRODUCTION Firm growth is a central focus area in strategy, organizational and entrepreneurship research. Much research effort has been targeted particularly at investigating the factors affecting firm growth, but to date there is no comprehensive theory to explain which firms will grow or how they grow (e.g. Garnsey, 1996). It seems that not even very strong explanatory factors have been identified, though various explanatory approaches have been presented. The research community largely shares the view that growth SMEs have a special importance in the economy (see e.g. Storey, 1994). During the last ten years, the research on firm growth has largely focused on high-growth SMEs. It is argued that a relatively small proportion of all small firms are responsible for the major part of the small firm contribution to net new jobs (Storey, 1994; Birch et al., 1993). These firms have been described as gazelles, fliers, growers and winners, and the targeting of effort towards them has been described as picking, stimulating, or backing winners (see e.g. Gibb, 1997; Freel, 1998; Beaver Jennings, 1995). More recently, the role of fast-growing small firms has been questioned, and the issue is known as the mice vs. gazelles (Birch et al., 1993) or flyers vs. trundlers (Storey, 1994) debate. In other words, the debate has focused on the question: which of these actually has the major impact on net employment (Davidsson Delmar, 1998)? On the other hand, it has been recognized that attending exclusively to firm-level growth and jobs may be too narrow an approach. Firms, even very small and non-growing ones, can have different strategic roles or positions in the local economic system (Laukkanen 1999). Some are critical facilitators of other firms growth or of their very emergence, and thus are important for job creation at the local level. In fact, previous research reveals that firm growth is a multidimensional phenomenon. There is substantial heterogeneity in a number of factors associated with firm growth and related research (Delmar et al., 2003). The most recent research on firm growth has increased our understanding of different growth patterns. As Delmar et al. (2003) have shown, firm growth patterns are related to the demographic characteristics of firms such as firm age. SME growth is often closely associated with firm overall success and survival (e.g. Johannisson, 1993; Phillips Kirchhoff, 1989). Growth has been used as a simple measure of success in business (e.g. Storey, 1994). Also, as Brush and Vanderwerf (1992) suggest, growth is the most appropriate indicator of the performance for surviving small firms. Moreover, growth is an important precondition for the achievement of other financial goals of business (de Geus, 1997: 53; Storey, 1994; Reynolds, 1993; Day, 1992: 128; Phillips Kirchhoff, 1989). From the point of view of an SME, growth is usually a critical precondition for its longevity (Storey, 1994: 158). Phillips and Kirchhoff (1989) found that young firms that grow have twice the probability of survival as young non-growing firms. It has been also found that strong growth may reduce the firms profitability temporarily, but increase it in the long run (McDougall et al., 1994; cf. MacMillan Day, 1987). However, there are several conceptual and empirical challenges in the study of firm growth (see e.g. Davidsson Wiklund, 2000; Delmar, 1997). Firm growth in general refers to increase in size. In research, firm growth has been operationalized in many ways and different measures have been used. This may be one reason for the contradictory results reported by previous studies (Weinzimmer et al., 1998: 235), though other explanations have also been presented (see Delmar et al., 2003; see also Davidsson Wiklund, 2000). The most frequently used measure for growth has been change in the firms turnover (e.g. Weinzimmer et al., 1998: 238; Hubbard Bromiley, 1995; Hoy et al., 1992; Venkatraman Ramanujam, 1986). Another typical measure for growth has been change in the number of employees. However, it has been found that these measures, which are frequently used in the SME context, are strongly intercorrelated (North Smallbone, 1993; Storey et al., 1987). Such an intercorrelation may not exist among capital-intensive large companies. Most studies of firm growth have focused on large companies or new venture, while the growth of established, long-lived SMEs seems to have attracted much less attention. In fact, many organizational life cycle models present growth as one stage of development in the organizational life cycle. On the other hand, it has been shown that most new jobs are created by existing, not new, SMEs (e.g. Davidsson et al., 1993; see also North et al., 1992). However, previous studies of SME performance have focused on the performance of new ventures rather than on existing SMEs and on the factors behind their longevity and growth (e.g. Tsai et al., 1991; Duchesneau Gartner, 1990; Keeley Roure, 1990). This study takes a holistic and extensive approach to factors affecting SME growth and performance. Firm growth and performance are much affected by strategy, which involves choices along a number of dimensions and can be represented by a firms overall collection of individual business-related decisions and actions (Mintzberg, 1978; Miles Snow, 1978). Though there is a variety of definitions of the term of strategy, it can accurately be conceptualized as a pattern of strategic variables, because the elements of strategy the individual business-related decisions and actions are interdependent and interactive (Galbraith Schendel, 1983). It is argued that the identification of strategy patterns permits a more complete and accurate depiction of overall strategic behavior (see e.g. Hambrick, 1983; Robinson Pearce, 1988). Previous research has suggested that the paths to growth can differ systematically by firm-level factors such as firm age (Fisher and Reuber, 2003; Delmar Davidsson, 1998). In fact, already in the late fifties Penrose (1959) presented the view that a firms growth pattern is dependent on its age, size, and industry affiliation (see Delmar et al., 2003; also Stinchcombe, 1965). As Delmar et al. (2003) suggest, it is probable that different growth patterns have different implications for management and possibly also for the long-term performance of the firm. In this light it seems useful to compare young growth SMEs and long-lived growth SMEs and determine whether they differ in characteristics and strategies. The central research question is, how do young and long-lived growth SMEs differ in their strategic attributes? In other words, the aim of this paper is to investigate whether firm age plays a role in firm characteristics and strategies. The findings will increase our understanding of the factors associated with firm growth and performance in these two different contexts. FACTORS AFFECTING SME GROWTH Although there has been much interest in understanding small firm growth during the last ten years (e.g. Davidsson Delmar, 1999; Delmar, 1997; Wiklund, 1998), there is still not much of a common body of well-founded knowledge about the causes, effects or processes of growth (Davidsson Wiklund, 2000). Moreover, although several determinants of firm growth have been suggested, researchers have been unable to achieve a consensus regarding the factors leading to firm growth (Weinzimmer, 2000). Most of the research work in this area fails to provide convincing evidence of the determinants of small firm growth as a basis for informing policy makers (Gibb Davies, 1990: 26). Attempts to build models for predicting the future growth of the firm, i.e. picking winners, have not been particularly successful. Moreover, as Spilling (2001) reminds us, the status of being a growth firm may be rather temporary. Early studies of growth focused on large companies and their diversification strategies. However, small firms are not small big firms. In large companies the role of diversification, for example, may be significantly bigger than in the case of SMEs. Indeed, growth through diversification may be necessary for the growth of a large company (Kay, 1997). The existing research on the growth and strategy of SMEs has focused mainly on new ventures (Olson Bokor, 1995). There are few studies of the growth of established SMEs: one instance is Davidsson (1989), who studied the subsequent growth of an SME from the psychological point of view. Maybe the most comprehensive compilation of results of previous studies focusing on small firm growth is that presented by Storey (1994). Several classifications of factors affecting firm growth have been presented. The general preconditions for growth have been suggested to be (1) entrepreneurs growth orientation; (2) adequate firm resources for growth; and (3) the existence of the market opportunity for growth (cf. Davidsson, 1991). Storey (1994: 158) claims that there are three key influences on the growth rate of a small independent firm: (1) the background and access to resources of the entrepreneur(s); (2) the firm itself; and (3) the strategic decisions taken by the firm once it is trading. The most important factors associated with an entrepreneur are motivation, education, the firm having more than a single owner, and the firm having middle-aged business owners. The growth of the smallest and youngest firms is the most rapid. The location and industry sector also affect the growth. The most important strategic factors are shared ownership, an ability to identify market niches and introduce new products, and an ability to build an efficient management team. Storey argues that these three components need to be combined appropriately for growth to be achieved. Gibb and Davies (1990: 16-17), on the other hand, have grouped the factors explaining growth into four types of approach (Gibb, 1997: 2-3; Pistrui et al., 1997; Poutziouris et al., 1999). These are: (1) personality-dominated approaches, which explore the impact of personality and capability on growth, including the entrepreneurs personal goals and strategic business aspirations (e.g. Chell Haworth, 1991; 1992); (2) firm development approaches, which seek to characterize the growth pattern of the firm across stages of development and the influence of factors affecting growth process (e.g. Scott Bruce, 1987); (3) business management approaches, which pay attention to the importance of business skills and the role of functional management, planning, control and formal strategic orientation in terms of shaping the growth and performance of the firm in the marketplace (e.g. Bamberger, 1989; 1983); and (4) sectoral and broader market-led approaches which focus largely on the identificati on of growth constraints and opportunities relating to small firm growth in the context of regional development or the development of specific industrial sectors such as high-technology small firms (e.g. Smallbone et al., 1993). The entrepreneur and growth intention The behavior of entrepreneurs is strongly affected by intentions (e.g. Krueger Carsrud, 1993: 315; Bird, 1988: 442). The firms strategic behavior and subsequent growth is understandable in the light of its growth intention. Therefore, firm growth is based not merely on chance, but on the managements conscious decision making and choice. Naturally, the firm can grow even though it is not the managements aim, but in such a case the growth is not planned and so may include more risks. Planning helps in managing growth. In general, goals and objectives can be divided into two categories. On the one hand, there are final goals which are valuable as such. On the other hand, there are goals which have instrumental value for achieving some other goals. Growth can be regarded as the second most important goal of a firm, the most important one being firm survival, i.e. the continuity of the business. Moreover, growth is an important precondition for a firms longevity. Negative growth of an SME is often a sign of problems, while stagnation, i.e. a situation where growth has stopped, is usually indicative of problems that a firm will face in the future. As a matter of fact, growth often has instrumental value. For new ventures, firm growth is needed to ensure an adequate production volume for profitable business. Growth can serve as an instrument for increasing profitability by enlargening the firms market-share. Other similar goals include securing the continuity of business in the conditions of growing demand or achieving economies of scale. Moreover, growth may bring the firm new business opportunities (cf. the corridor principle, Timmons 1999), and a larger size enhances its credibility in the market. Also, achieving a higher net value of the firm can be regarded as a motive for firm growth. In SMEs, growth objectives are often bound up with the owner-managers personal goals (e.g. Jennings Beaver, 1997), and so it is important that they support each other. Much has been written about the importance of the entrepreneurs growth motivation (e.g. Perren, 2000; Davidsson, 1991; Miner, 1990). The close connection between an owner-manager and the firm is the dominant characteristic of small firms (Vesalainen, 1995: 18). Instead of profit maximization or growth, a firms primary goal may be the entrepreneurs independence or self-realization (see e.g. Foley Green, 1989). Moreover, there may be no adequate resources for growth, or the expected increase in business risks may limit a firms growth willingness. However, aversion to growth has been said to be the principal reason why most SMEs stagnate and decline (Clark et al., 2001). In several typologies, entrepreneurs and firms are categorized by their business goals, so growth has been a widely used dimension in many typologies. There are two broad approaches in the studies of small firm success: (1) the business professionals model, and (2) the small business proprietors model (Bridge et al., 1998: 140-142). These two approaches can be identified in several typologies of entrepreneurs (e.g. Smith, 1967; Stanworth Curran, 1976). According to the business professionals model, a successful firm is one that achieves its highest potential in terms of growth, market share, productivity, profitability, return on capital invested or other measures of the performance of the firm itself. In the small business proprietors model, the owner-managers main concern is whether the firm is providing them with the benefits they want from it. These benefits are often associated with a lifestyle and an income level to maintain it. In the latter model, firm success therefore mean s being able to reach a level of comfort rather than achieving the businesss maximum potential. Firm development In firm development approaches, firms are seen as temporal phenomena which are born, grow, mature, decline and die. Firm growth is the basic dimension of the models of organizational life cycles (e.g. Greiner, 1972; 1998; Mintzberg, 1979; Churchill Lewis, 1983; 1991; Miller Friesen, 1983b; Scott Bruce, 1987). Numerous models of organizational life cycles have been presented, e.g. a three stage model (Smith et al., 1985), four stage models (Quinn Cameron, 1983; Kazanjian, 1988), five stage models (Greiner, 1972; Galbraith, 1982; Churchill Lewis, 1983; Scott Bruce, 1987), and a seven stage model (Flamholtz, 1986). These multistage models use a diverse array of characteristics to explain organizational growth and development. Organizational life cycle models is one application of the configurational approach in describing the stages of life cycles and the transformation from one stage to another (Mintzberg et al., 1998). Common to these growth pattern models is the claim that changes in an organization follow a pattern characterized by discrete stages of development (Dodge et al., 1994). Typical of these patterns are the sequence of events that show how things change over time, a hierarchical progression that is not easily reversed, and a composite of a broad range of organizational activities and structures. Organizational life cycle models are important in understanding the differences in success factors of the firm between the stages of the life cycle. However, organizational life cycle models have been criticized because of their extreme simplification of reality: in some cases not all stages of development are found, some stages of development may occur several times, the stages of development may occur in an irregular order, and there is a lack of empirical evidence to support the theories (e.g. Gibb Davies, 1990; Bridge et al., 1998: 105; Eggers et al., 1994; Birley Westhead, 1990; Miller Friesen, 1983a; Vinnell Hamilton, 1999; cf. Dodge et al., 1994). In addition, on the basis of the results of their study of high-growth firms, Willard et al. (1992) concluded that the applicability of conventional wisdom regarding the leadership crisis in rapid growth entrepreneurial firms may no longer be valid, if, in fact, it ever was. Despite the critiques of organizational life cycle models, strategic management and entrepreneurship research has demonstrated life cycle theory to be one of the most powerful tools for understanding and predicting venture performance. According to Greiner (1972; 1998), for example, a firms failure to adapt to a series of crises caused by growth is one of the principal causes of firm failure. Growth strategies Several growth strategies related to business management approaches have been presented in the literature. Managing growth is a major strategic issue for a growing firm (see e.g. Arbaugh Camp, 2000). Strategy is the most important determinant of firm growth (Weinzimmer, 2000). Among high-growth firms, Dsouza (1990) identified three primary strategic clusters: (1) build strategy, i.e. emphasis on vertical integration; (2) expand strategy, i.e. emphasis on resource allocation and product differentiation; and (3) maintain strategy, i.e. emphasis on market dominance and/or efficiency. Thompson (2001: 563-565) presents four growth strategies: (1) organic growth; (2) acquisition; (3) strategic alliance; and (4) joint venture. On the other hand, when looking at the product/market strategy, four options can be seen: (1) market penetration; (2) new product development; (3) new market development; and (4) moving into new markets with new products (Burns, 1989: 47). However, there is a lack of agreement in empirical findings concerning product- and market-based strategies. While Sandberg and Hofer (1987) argue that product-based strategies work better than focused strategies, Cooper (1993) claim that focused strategies outperform differentiated product strategies (Pistrui et al., 1997). Perry (1986/87) investigated growth strategies for an established small firm, and concluded that the most appropriate growth strategies are niche strategies, i.e. market development and product development strategies, in that order. However, it seems that most empirical studies focus on new venture strategies. Studies of competitive strategies related to firm growth have been carried out in the new venture context by McDougall and Robinson (1990), McDougall et al. (1992), Carter et al. (1994), and Ostgaard and Birley (1995), among others. As opposed to the organic growth strategy, acquisitions are regarded rather as a large company growth strategy which can be either synergistic or nonsynergistic (Anslinger Copeland, 1996). Forward or backward vertical integration means that the acquired firm is located at a different level of the value-addition chain, i.e. the acquired firm is a customer or supplier of the firm. In contrast, horizontal integration refers to a firm which is at the same level of value-addition, i.e. it is a competitor. Lateral integrations refer to unrelated businesses which represent a diversification strategy. In addition to becoming bigger and thus acquiring greater market power, there might be several other reasons for acquisitions, e.g. acquiring synergies, industry restructuring, reduction of business risk, acquiring new knowledge and other necessary resources, overcoming barriers to entry, and entering new markets quickly (see Vermeulen Barkema, 2001; Empson, 2000; Birkinshaw, 1999; Tetenbaum, 1999; Chatterjee, 1992). Despite the fact that growth through acquisitions is more typical of larger firms than smaller ones (see e.g. Davidsson Delmar, 1998), it is one option for the growth of an SME. However, it seems that few studies focus on acquisitions made by small firms. Also, one often neglected way of growing is by setting up new firms. Studies using a firm as the unit of analysis have not been able to identify growth through a portfolio of firms as one way of growing (see Scott Rosa, 1996). However, it has been found that portfolio entrepreneurship appears to be more common than suspected, and that it is characteristic of entrepreneurs who own and manage growth firms (Pasanen, 2003b). Wiklund (1998: 239) concluded that growth through portfolios of firms does not seem to be an alternative to growing a single firm, but entrepreneurs leading rapidly growing firms tend more often to start subsidiaries and independent new firms and to grow these firms. Small business growth through geographic expansion is a challenging growth strategy, as during the course of opening a new geographical site an entrepreneur will be confronted with the task of managing an existing business and a start-up at the same time (Barringer Greening, 1998). Penrose (1959) proposed already in the late fifties that firm growth is constrained by the availability and quality of managerial resources. Many studies draw attention to the important role of an entrepreneurial team for firm growth (see Birley Stockley, 2000). Also, in their study of technology-based ventures, Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven (1990) found an association between a strong management team and firm growth (see also Weinzimmer, 1997). In addition to the importance of favourable firm-internal conditions, the strategies should be in harmony with the environmental conditions. Different growth environments may require different business strategies for SMEs. For instance, Chaganti (1987) found that for small manufacturing firms, different growth environments required distinctly different strategies. Interestingly, this was contrary to the findings concerning large companies. It was concluded that strategic flexibility is a critical requirement for small firms (Chaganti, 1987). Growth barriers Sectoral and broader market-led approaches focus largely on the identification of growth constraints and opportunities. It has been found, for instance, that economic fluctuations strongly affect the growth probability of small firms (Kangasharju, 2000). Also, for firm growth, it seems that aiming at growing market niches is more important than taking market shares from competitors (Wiklund, 1998). However, growth can happen only if there are no growth barriers. Such barriers can be related to firm-internal and firm-external factors (see e.g. Barber et al., 1989; Smallbone North, 1993a; Vaessen Keeble, 1995; Jones-Evans, 1996; Vesper, 1990: 174-175; Hay Kamshad, 1994). The growth barriers characteristic of small firms in peripheral locations have been presented by Birley and Westhead (1990: 538). In the study carried out by the Cambridge Small Business Research Centre (1992), the most common growth barriers were related to factors on the macro level. The most important growth barriers were related to difficulties in obtaining finance and the price of money, the level of and decrease in demand (also Perren, 2000), and tightening competition (also Hay Kamshad, 1994). Other growth barriers were caused by restrictions determined by authorities, problems in obtaining a skilled workforce, and the small number or lack of potential cooperation partners in the area. The firm-internal factors affecting unwillingness to grow include the entrepreneurs fear of losing her or his autonomy, difficulties in fitting together personal and the firms goals, and weak managerial or marketing skills (see also MacNabb, 1995; Perren, 2000). These issues are particularly ty pical when an entrepreneur transfers from the role of entrepreneur to that of manager, or when the firm hires a new manager. DATA AND METHODS This paper is based on data from a larger exploratory study of the factors affecting SME performance (Pasanen, 2003a). Empirical data were collected from 111 growing SMEs in Eastern Finland. The sample was split into quartiles, based on firm age. Lower and upper quartiles of firms were chosen for the final samples, in order to compare the firms in these quartiles with each other. The lower quartile consisted of 32 SMEs aged eight years or less (young firms), whereas the upper quartile consisted of 33 SMEs aged twenty years or more (long-lived firms). A growth firm was defined as a firm with actual growth in turnover during the past five years. Growth was measured as a change in turnover between two time points ignoring the regularity or irregularity of growth over time (see Delmar et al., 2003; Weinzimmer et al., 1998; Delmar, 1997). A mail questionnaire was directed to the CEOs of SMEs operating in the sectors of manufacturing, business services, and tourism. The response rate was 5 3.7 %. Firms in the samples shared the following features: (1) size: SMEs, i.e. they employed fewer than 250 persons; (2) performance: growth firms, i.e. they had grown in terms of turnover during past years; (3) location: peripheral, i.e. outside major cities and not in core areas; (4) ownership: independent firms, not subsidiaries of other companies; and (5) industry sector: operated in the sectors of manufacturing, business services, and tourism. The age of young firms ranged from 2 to 8 years, the average being 5.5 years with standard deviation of 1.7 years. The age of long-lived firms ranged from 20 to 120 years, the average being 40.4 years with standard deviation of 24.9 years. Half of the long-lived firms were less than 35 years old. A comparison of the two groups of SMEs was based on data referring to the characteristics of entrepreneurs and enterprises, their life cycles, the strategic choices made, the success factors of SMEs, and the nature of their environment (see Pasanen, 2003a). Several factors in these areas are associated with firm performance. The characteristics of entrepreneurs consist of variables relating to entrepreneurs education, experience and other demographic factors. Variables related to the characteristics of SMEs and their life cycles include the firms demographic characteristics and growth behavior indicators. For the strategic choices made by the firm, the focus was on innovativeness, internationalization, specialization and networking. These strategic choices include three important elements affecting SME performance: markets, products, and the way of doing business (Normann, 1976). Innovativeness refers to the products of the firm, internationalization to its markets, and specializatio n and networking to the way of doing business. The environment was approached by studying the characteristics of the customer, industry and location. The success factors of SMEs were presented as statements describing their importance in the firms competitive advantage. In identifying the differences between young and long-lived SMEs, approximately 150 variables were tested using appropriate statistical tests, depending on the variable: the t test, non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test, or chi-square test. These tests were conducted to test the differences between the two groups for each of the individual variables. In some analyses, the U test was used instead of the t test due to the skewness of the data. RESULTS A number of differences in characteristics of the owner-managers and firms and their success factors were found between young and long-lived growth SMEs. Three variables related to the characteristics of the owner-managers showed statistically significant differences between the two groups of SMEs (Table 1). Almost all young firms were led by the founder(s) of the firm, whereas this was the case for only half of the long-lived SMEs. Among young SMEs, owner-managers had less experience and were younger than their counterparts in long-lived SMEs. TABLE 1 Differences in characteristics of owner-managers between young and long-lived SMEs (p Variables Test p value Founder  Ã‚ £2 = 6.705 (df = 1) p = .010 Total length of experience as owner-manager U test (z = -2.546) p = .011 Age U test (z = -2.459) p = .014 Fourteen variables characterizing the SMEs showed statistically significant differences between young and long-lived SMEs (Table 2). Young firms had had more founders (means 3.3 vs. 2.1) and had more founders still involved in the firm at the time of the survey than long-lived SMEs had (means 2.9 vs. 1.1). Almost all young firms were founded by a team of owners, whereas half of the long-lived SMEs were founded by a single owner. Being a family firm was more typical of long-lived SMEs (58%) than of young firms (19%). Long-lived SMEs were bigger in size than their younger counterparts: the average full-time personnel was 84 employees in long-lived SMEs and 21 in young firms. Moreover, the number of establishments was bigger in long-lived SMEs than in young firms, averaging 3.5 and 1.7, respectively. Acquisitions or mergers were more typical of long-lived SMEs (39%) than of young SMEs (13%). Owner-managers in long-lived SMEs were more satisfied with their firms success than those in young firms. On a scale of 1 (fully satisfied) to 4 (not at all satisfied), owner-managers in the long-lived SMEs had an average satisfaction of 1.7, whereas among young firms the average was 2.1. During their life cycle, more than half of the long-lived SMEs (55%) had at least once faced a situation where the firms existence, i.e. survival, had been threatened, while only one fifth of the young SMEs (22%) reported that their existence had been threatened. Managerial know-how was considered to be higher in long-lived SMEs than in young firms. In long-lived SMEs, principles and practices of management had changed more than in young firms. Among young SMEs, almost all firms (91%) had stayed close to their original business, whereas among long-lived SMEs seven out of ten firms (70%) had stayed close to their original business. There were also differences in products and customer structures between young and long-lived SMEs. The proportion of products with declining volume was higher in long-lived SMEs (6% of their products), whereas such products accounted for 2% of the young firms products. Among young firms, the cumulative proportion of turnover due to the five biggest customers was 59% of the firms total turnover, whereas in long-lived SMEs it was clearly lower, 41%. TABLE 2 Differences in characteristics of firms between young

The Extinction Event and Life in the Post-Apocalyptic Greenhouse :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Extinction Event and Life in the Post-Apocalyptic Greenhouse The biggest mass extinction of the past 600 million years (My), the end-Permian event (251 My ago), witnessed the loss of as much as 95% of all species on Earth. Key questions for biologists concern what combination of environmental changes could possibly have had such a devastating effect, the scale and pattern of species loss, and the nature of the recovery. New studies on dating the event, contemporary volcanic activity, and the anatomy of the environmental crisis have changed our perspectives dramatically in the past five years. Evidence on causation is equivocal, with support for either an asteroid impact or mass volcanism, but the latter seems most probable. The rest of this article spends time speculating through the advances in technology and the reanalyzation of old evidence to determine various cataclysmic events that happened millions of years ago. There are many sections in this article that discuss the methods used to determine the closet possible dates and the sequence in which they follow. There are also sections in this article which discuss methods used for the evidence of impact, eruption and how reading the environmental changes can help paleontologists determine conclusions and narrow the perspectives of paleontologists (scientists) and popular culture as a whole. However, there are still many factors in the evidence collecting process that make it difficult to determine the actual events, let alone the sequence of them. For instance, at the end of the Permian, giant volcanic eruptions occurred in Siberia, spewing out some 2 million km3 of basalt lava, and covering 1.6 million km2 of eastern Russia to a depth of 400-3000mteres, equivalent to the area of the European Community. Consequently, with increasingly precise dating, the Siberian â€Å"Trap† (areas which are composed of basalt, a dark-colored igneous rock which is generally not erupted explosively from classic conical volcanoes, but usually emerges more slowly from the long fissures in the ground) have switched from having only a minor role in the Permian crisis to being the most probable cause of the whole catastrophe. Some scientists have even suggested recently that the massive flood basalts were actually themselves caused by a giant extraterrestrial impact, which tore deep into the continental crust of that part of present-day Siberia. So this is yet another example the evolutionary and

Truth, Knowledge, and Opinion Essay -- social issues

Truth, Knowledge, and Opinion WHAT IS TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, OPINION AND WHY IS EXTREME SKEPTICISM? What is Truth, Knowledge, Opinion and why Extreme Skepticism is Self Contradictory? Truth is simply the mind corresponding with reality, knowledge is having the truth and knowing that you have it and understanding why it is true, Opinion is having an hypothesis but not being entirely sure that your idea is true and extreme skepticism is self contradictory because skeptics say that there is truth  ¡Ã‚ §that there is no truth ¡Ã‚ ¨. By doing this they are making a true statement. In this essay we shall discuss a more deeper and in-depth meaning truth, knowledge, opinion and why extreme skepticism is self-contradictory. What is truth? Truth is basically the mind corresponding with reality. This of course is the easy problem of truth; the hard problem is the mind trying to know reality. So we see  ¡Ã‚ §truth is connected to knowledge ¡Ã‚ ¨. True ideas are those that we can corroborate and verify. Truth works in way of our thinking. So you see to achieve complete truth there must be correspondence between our mind and reality and to know exactly what reality really is. For example If we say  ¡Ã‚ § the Auckland blues are going to win the super 12 ¡Ã‚ ¨ and later on they actually win, therefore your mind did indeed correspond with reality. Through this example we see that knowing what is reality is almost impossible, if a man is completely sure that he has grasped reality he is GOD. What is knowle...

The Tatler and the Spectator :: Tatler and the Spectator Essays

During the early part of the 1700's Joseph Addison, the Tatler and Sir Richard Steele, the Spectator, came together to write The Tatler and the Spectator. Through their hardships of life they came about understanding what others were feeling and the actions that they took. They documented five hundred and fifty-five essays that were depicted from the world around them. They used the feeling of  Ã‚   love to show about human nature and what it did to achieve its goals. Through stories, such as "Jilts and their Victims", "Country Festival", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Knowledge and Time", and "Reasons" Addison and Steele show what they know about life and the power they had publishing it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The two men met at a young age at the Charter House School in England where from their they became the best of friends. Through their hardships they ended up going separate ways. Addison went into politics where he became a popular figure in society.(World Book Addison) Steele went to the military where he later got knighted. In 1710 they were united when Steele asked Addison to join him in writing in the "Spectator".(World Book Steele) Addison gladly excepted and the two men would go out and view the world around them. The two men would write about any occasion, but whenever they wrote they were really in depth of their feelings and thoughts. Their was one   topic in particular that fashioned their writings and that was the topic of love. Love was portrayed as being good and bad throughout the writings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Love was used repetitively due to it is a constant in every bodies life and they could easily relate to the characters. Allowing others to relate to their writings helped make them popular. Addison and Steele gave love a good and bad side to show the readers that love is not cracked up to what it really can be. It was good in the way that it showed people having a good time together and enjoying the presence of   another. It also demonstrated those relationships that everyone dreads getting into. Love is bad in a way that in a way that it could be used as a possession, or a gold-digger. Steele himself was a god-digger and in his two marriages he had never dealt with the true meaning of love.

Corporate Social Responsibility Essay

Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance are the two important inevitable corporate practices all over the world today. Once voluntary acts, these practices have now been made mandatory in the wake of various corporate scandals that shook the corporate world in the past decade. 1. 1 Aims and Objectives With the above background, it is proposed enquire into the corporate practices in the realms of Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance that are prevalent in the U. K. and to ascertain how effective the practices are in achieving the objectives behind the said concepts and finally conclude whether U. K has established standards of these practices or still lagging behind. This paper shall be a proposal to determine feasibility of such an exercise. 1. 2 Problem Statement As the term suggests Corporate Social Responsibility is an obligation of the corporate entity in addition to the duties owed to its shareholders. Maximising profit for the shareholders is not the only goal of a company. It owes responsibility to all the stake holders in the company. The group of stake holders are share holders, employees, suppliers, customers, Government agencies, and Environment. It implies that while maximising the value of the firm for the sake of shareholders, interests of these stake holders should not be sacrificed in the process. Hence ensuring the social responsibility of a corporate entity is part of Corporate Governance. Corporate Governance is a wider term encompassing the corporate social responsibility also. Hence the managers of the companies must establish sound standards of corporate governance based on the combined code of corporate financial reporting. A corporate entity must comply with code or explain why it has not, in its annual reports as per the guideline set out by Cadbury report. Prior to the Cadbury report, there was no requirement as such on the part of the U. K. Corporates. It was only after the surfacing of corporate scandals in U. K, that the Cadbury report was required to be made by the Government. This proposal therefore gains significance to make a study on the practices of UK companies complying with their social responsibility and other aspects of corporate governance. That there is a Minister in the U. K. for corporate social responsibility would show the importance attached to it by the Government. The two aspects of CSR and Corporate Governance are part of business ethics. Chapter2 Literature Review Literature review is an exercise to justify this research proposal. This involves examining the literature available on the subject of this proposal which will form part of secondary data for the study. 2. 1 Corporate Governance It is a system by which the corporate entities are directed and controlled. Thus accountability is required on the part of the board to make sure that te corporates are managed in the best interests of their shareholders. (Higgs 2003) There must be an effective board which while providing for entrepreneurial leadership should also at the same time control the incumbents of the board. To achieve this, the board must consist of a balanced structure of directorship with executive, non-executive, independent non-executive in right proportion to ensure against concentration of power and at the same time ensure balanced decision making. Where there are conflicts of interests likely, the board should appoint sub-committees for nomination and remuneration of directors and auditors to make proposal to the board for approval. The board is expected to deal with shareholders effectively ensuring transparency and accountability. The combined code issued by the Financial Reporting Council and revised from time to time prescribes general principles and procedures of Corporate Governance for listed companies. (CSR) However Corporate governance is not a new concept. Adam Smith’s(1776) ‘An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of Wealth of Nations’ gave rise to Berle and Means’(1932) agency theory which enunciated separation of corporate ownership from control. Corporate Governance is precisely that. Bruce (2006) states that it is a myth that concentration of power improves firm value. Rather dispersed ownership enhances firm performance. This warrants corporate governance. 2. 2 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Rather than shareholder interests, CSR principle requires companies to have a wide range of stakeholder interests. In pursuit of its business activities, a company should keep in mind the interests of the stake holders as well so that maximisation of firm value in the long run is consolidated. In the process, key relationships with consumers, employees, and other stakeholders are improved. Interaction with consumers results in better understanding of their needs and improvement in the quality of the products besides becoming more competitive in the market. Efficiency increases through cost minimisation. Corporates such as BT and Cooperative Bank are in the practice of giving feed back on their competitiveness as a result of their CSR initiatives. Similarly showing the company’s concern towards its employees in whatever ways possible including facilitating their work-life balance and giving of additional benefits to physically challenged employees would result in increased productivity and over all improvement in the company’s image. Company’s environmental concern also is demonstrated through its practice of energy saving , participation in greening projects, compliance with pollution control requirements, minimising carbon consumption and taking part in carbon credit programs. Desisting from giving bribes to Government officials is also considered a part of CSR. 2. 3 Corporate Governance Practices in UK The Corporate governance gained more significance in the U. K. ever since the collapse of BCCI bank and the Robert Maxwell pension funds during 1991. In order to put its own house in order, Government set up a committee under the chairmanship Sir Adrian Cadbury which gave a report known as Cadbury Report with ‘comply or explain’ directives. It was later followed by Greenburg Report in 1995 concerning remuneration to directors. And both the reports together were integrated to make a combined code in the year 1998. And this has been twice updated once in 2003 after Enron and World com scandals of the U. S. and again in 2006. The Financial Reporting Council enlists the following as key aspects of corporate governance in the U. K. There is a single board of directors with collective responsibility to the company’s success. A balancing act is achieved by a separate chief executive and chairman. A right proportion of executive and non-executive directors to ensure balanced decision making in the affairs of the company. Presence of independent audit and remuneration committee. Evaluation annually by the board of its own performance. Maintaining transparency in the matters of appointments and fixation of remuneration. ‘Comply or explain’ are the basic guidelines when making annual reports for compliance or failure to comply any of the codes recommended by the financial reporting council as regards corporate governance. As a result, the U. K. is the leading country with best standards of corporate governance as per the report by FISE ISS in 2005. National Association of pension funds as also certified in the same year that 94% of the U. K. pension funds complied with corporate governance measures in more efficient manner. Compliance cost for companies is also reported to be lower than in other countries. This positive corporate governance makes investors to prefer the U. K. for listing their companies in preference to the U. S stock exchange as per the Oxera report of 2006 (FRC 2006) As a part of its corporate social responsibility, the company Procter & Gamble has introduced a product ‘turn to 30’ as a substitute to its own ‘Ariel’ in order to reduce carbon consumption while people washed clothes. This is as part of their commitment towards removing carbon foot print in their product. The company was awarded with Ethical Marketing Prize by the U. K. marketing society. The company found that rather than the presence of carbon foot print in their product, the carbon emission took place when people washed clothes in hot water. So the company developed ‘turn to 30’ which could be used for washing in cold water without giving rise to emission of carbon while washing. As a result the percentage of population using cold water for washing rose from 2 percent to 17 percent. This could amount to a great deal in terms of carbon emissions that were saved. (Baker 2008) Chapter 3 Methodology The methodology for the research chosen will be qualitative. The literature review will be the major contributor for arriving at conclusions though about 25 companies will also be randomly selected for the sake of primary data to gain first hand knowledge of the subject of research. And to corroborate the findings in the secondary data gathered through literature review. Chapter 4 Conclusion The Brief literature review above proves to be of immense value as an indicator of practices in the U. K. as regards Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance. Commitment of the companies and the Government in the U. K. towards the CSR and Corporate Government encourages further detailed research in the discipline so as to understand the implications fully and suggest measures to increase the present compliance rate in the U. K. by identifying bottle necks still faced by the corporates in that connection. With this in view, the researcher hopes to make a substantial contribution to the field through this proposed research. References Baker, Mallen. 2008 How to make friend and influence customers: Buisness Respect issue 129 June 10 Berle, A. A, & Means, G. C. (1932) The Modern Corporation and Private Property, Larcourt, Brace & World Inc. , New York, N. Y. Bruce N Douglas. , 2006 Corporate Governance, Capacity Utilisation and Growth CSR Corporate Social Responsibility: A government update. Accessed 17 June 2008 FRC 2006 Financial Reporting Council: The UK Approach to Corporate Governance Higgs, Derek. 2003 Review of the role and effectiveness of non-executive directors. Accessed 17 June 2008

Degree Plan Essay

For as long as I green goddess remember I treasured to be a truth patrol policeman. As a little son, what caught my attention were the photoflash lights and sirens on the constabulary cars. It could ingest withal been then the facts that police officer were permitted to scat a gun and had the ability to elapse red lights. This is why as I grew up and played games similar cops and robbers, I was al musical modes the police officer. During my teenage geezerhood, I later joined the auxiliary police officer and started to learn about police process. Thats when I realized that a police officer was nonhing like I thought.I started to understand the lineament of the police was not as a symbol of power, but one of peace. I started to understand that fraternity emergencyed law enforcement measures to uphold the laws that project been set for our metropoliss and countys. I alike erudite that a police presence was the stovepipe as well asl in deterring crime and creatin g a safe environment for everyone. Police officers atomic number 18 in the fraternity for all the duty reasons, to rail us as children and educate our parents on safety. They were on that point when my friends and family pauperisationed them. non only for the worse of convictions, but in the outstrip as well. To me, police officer were my heros and I treasured to be one of them in put together to be able to return to the community and provide the service and write outledge Ive gained all over the years of growing up pursuing my dreams of organism a police officer. Although Ive always extremityed to be a police office, since I am human and had to grow from a boy to a man, I produce do mistakes in my life growing up by allowing peer pressure got the best(p) of me in whatsoever aspects.Although I did my best to overcome the pressures of high civilize, by distancing myself from those injurious influences that is when I opened my eyes to predict out what do I want o ut of life and that I need to put me first and come after my vocation. In September of2012 I decided to keep an eye on my gentility for my children so I wrote elaborate some options on a charge change. So I looked into Empire College and axiom that I apprise take online classes to pursue a spirit level and pop off at my leisure because I am a plentiful time father and constitute two chores so I beginnert sincerely have time.I would like to do this for my family so I am going to have to work heavy(a) so I plenty conquer my goals. So I am starting out with my associates degree I have registered for some(prenominal) classes this has been a big quarrel since I havent been in school for about ten years. But in order for me to continue my dream of being a police officer by monitoring federation I have to work a little hard and I will conquer this challenge for my family. I would bop to become a police officer. It is a skilful pipeline even though its a risky air de pending on where you are working, but it is worth it.It has good benefits and a reasonable salary. Most authoritative is that I signify it will be a challenging and rewarding career, and I hark back with my natural curiosity and desire to go problems that I will be good at this. Ever since I was a little kid I have always been fascinated with becoming a police officer. Doing justice the right way and making sure that people pursue government laws the right way is the benignant of job I would like to pursue. This job is becoming a police officer. start semester I have taken productive Writing, intro to biology , Western subtlety these classes are assist me get my associates degree Second semester I am registered for corrections in American systems, degree planning, unveiling to Algebra. These classes have befriended me study and look into companionship instead of just getting thrown and twisted into a position that I have no clue about. Writing and version class was not one of my popular but it gave me some ideas on arrangement what I was reading and to elaborate on my writing.I enjoyed the compare and contrast unmindful essays that I needed to write. I work as an EMT for Lutheran Medical so I love Biology. My job is arouse right now I am in Brooklyn where all the action is I love to help people and love the action every day. It wants to make Brooklyn and there is action every day that is what I like I love helping people and I love the action. To be a police officer I want to change this society some since I was a child I remember listening to the sirens out the window or a police officer chasing two kids because the stole an elderly fair sex handbag .This by far is not an easy job But this is a very serious job, every job is different and the way society is today you can never trust any(prenominal)body. I am continuing school so I understand and have an education. work in /for our society today can be extremely difficult and I am a firm of an education to become a police officer. I might not use Shakespeare if there is a robbery but perchance I can distract him with a poem. Going to class again also will help me get back end into routine you need routine also you need to be educated and healthy.This is a serious job I tone that Police Officers are protecting our society everyday all day long. Officers do carry a lot on their shoulders they witness a lot and some jobs can be worse than others. I have learned that College is very time consuming its a full time job I am ready to receive some help from my counselor about the requirements that I would need to conquer my dreams . This isnt just any job this to make sure your society is safe and everyone understands. I do think it is important to have an education level.I have had about 10 years experience with police officers and fire department. I wouldnt trade it for the world in a firm believer in succeeding what I like to do and knowing what to do. So I know I am starting at late but I really hope this second semester I do well so I can run off and start my career and enjoy it. I am nerve-racking my hardest to get all these done so I can just be in the action. Its almost over thats why its important to work hard and continue your education. delight remember its never too late to follow your dreams