Definition Courage Essay Example for Free

Definition heroism EssayAll of us trust the dictionary to give us the full understanding of a word we do not know. In this aspect, it is insufficient when it describes heroism. While it defines physical courage, it omits inner courage which can be argued to be ofttimes more valuable to posses. Websters New World Dictionary describes courage as an attitude of facing and dealing with anything recognized as dangerous, exhausting or painful, instead of withdrawing from it. Courage is not the ability to be brave or to laugh in the exhibit of danger. Courage is not risking your life for justice.Courage is not a person who agrees to fight, but he who can stand up against it. Courage is not something you can define entirely, and therefore can pull up stakes between each person. It can be said that a little girl who ventures out on her bike for the first time displays as much courage as a man jumping into a lake to save a drowning woman, knowing he cannot swim. Courage is a state o f mind that enables a person to overcome misgiving, pain, danger or hardship. Although different from one another, wholly aspects of courage involve taking risks. Physical courage is facing your fears of possible embodied harm.A fireman rushing into a burning building, a woman running across thin- ice to save a child that has just move through, an officer charging into a building to save a hostage. These are all examples of physical courage. Mental courage is standing up to your phobias. While some fear heights, I myself fear speaking in front of a large audience. A son who overcomes his fear of flying to be by his dying mothers human face is mental courage that cannot be fully measured or explained. Mental courage is the ability to overcome tragedy and to move forward in the face of sheer defeat.Mental courage is a man finding out he has a brain tumor, and still cherishing and living life to the fullest. Mental courage is taking care of your brother and sister following the de ath of their parents. The word courage comes from the Latin word cor, meaning heart. It derives from the belief that all feelings begin in the heart. The definitions given to all of us do not suffice because they lack depth and clarity. Mental courage, while not mentioned, and not defined, is portrayed in all of us on a daily basis and should be along-side physical courage in the references we rely on.

Chemistry Energy Levels Essay Example for Free

Chemistry Energy Levels EssayThe nil of the subshell increases as follows4slt4plt4dlt4f * 4s has the greatest probability of being close to the nucleus * Subshells are limited to of negatrons they shadow collar ( 2 electrons per orbital) s=21s orbital d=105d orbital p=63p orbitals f=147f orbitals Assessment * How many p subshells are in the 4th energy take (n=4)? 34px 4py 4pz * What is the maximum government issue of electrons that give the gate occupy the 4p subshell? each p subshell can hold 2 electrons and therefore there are 3p orbitals with 2 electrons *What is the maximum number of electrons that can occupy the 4th energy 322n2=2(4)2 =2(16) =32 Creating Energy Level Diagrams * Used to show the relative energies of electrons in various orbitals under normal conditions * individually orbital is indicated by a separate circle/square * All orbitals of a given subshell collapse the uniform energy. Ie. The 3p orbitals in the 3p sublevels have the same energy * The spa cing between successive subshells decreases as the number of subshells increases overlapping of shells having different values of n.Assessment 1. How many d orbitals exist? 5 2. How many electrons can exist in the 3d orbitals? 10-2 in each of the 5d orbitals 3. How many electrons can exist in the n=2 level? 8-remember 2n2=2(2)2=8 4. How many electrons can one 4f orbital hold? 14-2 in each of the 7f orbitals 5. Which has a higher energy a px, py, or pz orbital? They all have the same energy. 6. Which electron can be found furthest from the nucleus2s or 3s? 3s electrons 7. Which electrons can be found furthest from the nucleus2s or 2p. 2p is further. Fig. 3. 19Arrow orbital Notation Aka Orbital Diagrams * Use circles or squares for the orbitals and arrows for the electrons * RULES * The Aufbau Principal- electrons will occupy lowest available energy level * Pauli Exclusion Principal- no two electrons have the same quantum numbers * Hunds Rule electrons remain un duplicateed for as long as possible. Ex One electrons goes in each Px, Py, Pz, before they start to pair up Fig 3. 21 Electron Configuration Provides the same information as an energy level diagram but in a much concise format. * Li 1s2 2s1 C1s2 2s2 2p2 * Ne 1s2 2s2 2p? Use the following concept map to help to determine the filling order of the orbitals * The similarity among elements within groups and the social organization of the periodic table can be explained by electron configuration * Li 1s2 2s1 * Na 1s2 2s2 2p? 3s1 Short Hand Notation -Use symbol of noble blow with the same core electron configuration Ex. Na 1s2 2s2 2p? 3s1 Or Ne 3s1 Some unexpected Electron Configuration *Example Cru and Cu Expected Actual Cr Ar 4s2 3d? Ar 4s1 3d? Cu Ar 4s2 3d? Ar 4s1 3d10 In each case, an electron is borrowed from the 4s subshell and placed in the 3d subshell. * Cr-3d subshell becomes half-filled * Cu-3d subshell becomes full * Half-filled and fully filled subshells tend to be more stable * Other expectat ions Ag Kr 4s2 3d10 Au Xe 4f14 5d10 6s1 Explaining Ion Charges * Remember s electrons are lost before d electrons when dealing with transition metals. Ex1. Zn Zn Ar 4s2 3d10 Zn2+ Ar 3d10 (4s electrons are lost so that the 3d orbital remains full) Ex2. Pb Pb Xe 6s2 4f14 5d10 6p2 Pb2+ Xe 4f14 5d10 6p2 (The 6s electrons are lost)Pb4+ Xe 4f14 5d10 (The 6p electrons are lost as well as the 6s electrons) Quantum song * Electron waves (orbitals) can be characterized by a set quantum numbers, n, l, ml, ms Principle quantum number (n) * Identifies the energy of an electron in an orbital * All orbitals that have the same value of n are said to be in the same shell * Range from n=1 to n=infinity * Determines the size of it of the electron wave how far the wave extends from the nucleus * As n increases the energies of the orbitals also increase Secondary quantum number (l)Divides the shells into smaller groups called subshells * n determines the values of l * for any given n, l may range from l=0 to l=n-1 * identifies the shape of the orbital Value of l 0 1 2 3 Letter designation s(shape) p(principle) d(diffuse) f(fundamental) Magnetic quantum number (ml) * splits the subshells into individual orbits * identifies the orientation of the orbital * for any given value of l, ml has a value ranging from +l to l * e. g. If l=0, ml=0 for l=1, ml=+1, 0, -1 which correspond to the x, y and z orientations of the p orbitals.

Alternative Courses Of Action Information Technology Essay

Alternative Courses Of Action Information Technology Essay authoritative epoch tv limited media is a social attempt that as being in existence since 1984 with the aim of helping the socially excluded groups, socially deprived atomic number 18as and risk group to voice their concerns and challenges they are faced with using democratic media. authorized sentence Video Limited is one of the few dissolutes who received annual break from council also, fund are being raised by means of lease out of equipment and funds received for specific projects from opposite agencies or body. This establishs a direct of steady inf number one of fund to Real Time Video Limited. However, the council grant remains the study source of income for Real Time Video Limited. Real eon works more or lessly with the councils and few project from other firm this imput suitable to the stiff completion with other profit making firm.With the rapid add in social enterprise or the third sector in UK w e stimulate seen many faced with challenges which as hampered their growth or force them to close down this rare. Some of the conundrum encounter includes improper management, inadequate funds, lack of strategic planning etc.In reinvigorated-fangled years, with the globalization..Companies of today must respond to change to survive the future. Change is inevitable-growth is optional. Change forces all business owners to conciliate, adjust and be ener seizeic in building their businesses. After all, there are only three things a company croupe do with change ignore it, adapt to it or embrace it. By focusing on mod ways of doing things, a company can revitalize their business. In particular, trade in new ways and with different strategies not only simulates new business, only when also gives a company a new vision on productivityThe study problem faced by Real Time Video Limited is the failure to realise the importance of marketing and projecting what they do to wider audie nce. Through the implement of every possible means instead they depend on referral and word of mouth, although referral are good and cost effective medium but, with the changes in technology and the orb becoming smaller everyday other means should be explore to reach targeted audience.Secondly, another problem is the inability to upgrade to the recent technology level due to the high prices of these equipments. This has left Real Time Video Limited to be about(predicate) two to three year technology backward and this has a significant effect on the mode of operation but, Real Time Video Limited still produce top word-paintings with the equipment at its disposal.Others include poor staff that possess the need skills in video recording and digital art, also they are faced with stiff competition with other profit making business, some epochs the charges do not cover their entire cost due to long processes and participatory nature of their work, and some eons having difficulty w orking with young battalion and conflux deadlineAnalysisBoschee. (2006), pointed out that every social enterprise his faced with two fundamental challenges To do the right things (strategic marketing) and to do them right (operations). In fact, strategic marketing may be the only thing that holds a non-profit together in an increasingly competitive world. Marketing most times is perceived to be orthogonal and too costly, either financially or in terms of time (Foley and Green 1986). In addition, marketing is perceived to be a cost rather than an investment. Real Time Video Limited is not out left in making these assumptions. This has partly imparted in the shrinking of income as some of its major client/sponsor has pulled out and projects accommodate reduced. The major challenges noted was the absent of marketing plans or budget, in these time and age the importance of marketing cannot be over emphasis to the success of any enterprise. Rather Real Time Video Limited depends on the word of mouth and referral from previous client. According to recent survey of 900 sales marketing professional it was said that small business should focus more on those who they know and have stick outed them. This experts ranks referrals as the most effective method for attracting new clients. But with the recent introduction of social media marketing where the word of mouth is now operated by means of different social media this can be an addition to help create awareness about the divine service of real time. In addition, real time has a entanglement site but is it not fully utilized and it contents gives only microscopical information about who they are, how they do it. This website has little videos that shows their past project, with numerous opportunity available through YouTube to share video to a wide audience at no cost, real time has no video on YouTube and that bothers me.Also real time does not adequately presenting itself to the public, these as resulted in l osing potential sponsors and guest, reduction in the streams of funds and ultimately reduction in the number of projects. Sometime it affects the execution of a project i.e. not being able to cover the cost of some project or leads to the suspension of others. On visiting one of Real Time Video Limited shows event, which was basically showing different films to the public in and hoping to get voluntarys or skilled people who are interested in video editing, production and other aspect of Real Time Video Limited. That was a great idea but to my surprise, it was not well manage or presented. on interviewing one of the first timer at the venue he seems confused and mistake the venue for a relaxing centre, on asking him about Real Time Video Limited i found out he had little or no knowledge of what Real Time Video Limited is all about. This problem can be said to be as a result of limited finance, and probably inadequate knowledge of marketing.Furthermore, inadequate volunteer there h as being some volunteer in the past who being trained but most times they go to the university they dont come back or their family relocates. This has left real time with only one volunteer who has the required skill and one of the founders who acts so many functions. Also the inability to upgrade to the afoot(predicate) technology. Limited finance, rapid change in technology, changes in the environment are some of the factor that contribute to the challenges of real time.Alternative courses of actionFrom the list of problem sighted in Real Time Video Limited the following solution are proposed. For the marketing problem which seems to be the main problem i will suggest the firm should carry out an awareness program reasons being that the firm has being around for long. This can be done through the soft touching of flyers, posters, and other hand held pamphlet, they can be easily created on most computers, which are low cost when printed by self or print one and take it to a copy shop to duplicate. These can be distributed at location where targeted audience will easily find them much(prenominal) as school, restaurants, other social enterprises, charity organizations, local council office and can be included in local newspapers note permission may be required in these case. These flyers should contain basic information, firstly who Real Time Video Limited, what they do, how they help build and influence the society, details of past projects, current projects and views of past participants.Secondly, Articles are another simple and inexpensive way to get the word out about a business which can be use in Real Time Video Limited video. Article can be written on a weekly or monthly basis and place in various social enterprise magazines or local newspapers and other publications. For example having a write-up on how participatory video can be of eudaimonia to the physically challenged or less privilege and other write-ups that gives insights and relevance of par ticipatory in recent times or brief history of participatory video how they are being used in other country. In addition, these articles can be submitted to the top article directories like ezinearticles.com, isnare.com or ladypens.com and creating a link to your website in the resource box. In as much as writing an article mogul sound interesting but it requires a great skill and creativity. Writing about concept that is not well known might take time before it is accepted.In addition, Participating in assemblages is another great way to dot the word about a business. This can be done by creating or locating a few social enterprise or unoriginal forums, blog, etc which is related to what you do and spend a little time each week answering questions. Direct advertisement of your services should be avoided, but circular a link back to your website might do the trick or use your website as your signature. The main aim of creating or locating a forum is to create a relationship wi th other forum participants and getting them to see you as someone who is an expert in that area which when done they will wishing to find more about you and possibly becomes a potential customer, volunteer or sponsor. Some of the implications of these is that it is time consuming which may affect the time great(p) to the overall projects because building a relationship requires time say six month depending on the time put in and involves some level of creativity. It might be difficult to be implemented as the founders age bracket does not seem to appeal to this.Furthermore, Building relationship with other social enterprise or charity organization that works with the homogeneous target audience or the same line of business thereby would learn from there develop where relevant. There are many other charity or social enterprise in reading such as, Berkshire County Blind Society, Disabilities Trust, Prospect For People With encyclopedism Disabilities, and lots of others that fit into your target audience. In the case of other social enterprise in same industry, we have Media Community Network Ltd, Malt Films Ltd, gryphon Theatre Company, just to mention a few all of which are located in London, however their some conventional media partners. Smart partnering help collapse a business to new groups of customers, or hard to reach audience. using a partners contacts and reputation can be a valuable way to get a foothold with new groups of customers or sponsor. Also the relationship sees the two business have a greater buying power than individual. It can result into having volunteer with the required skillAlso, Employing the services of a consultant or having a specialist in marketing will be helpful has it brings on with it wealth of experience. Marketing cannot be over emphasis as it is vital to the success of any business as it help to create awareness or inform on the existence of a particular service. Employing the services of a consultant to help in pl anning the marketing strategy of Real Time Video Limited would be a welcome idea as it brings along with a lots of benefit such as it save time as that aspect is being handled by a professional, also wealth of experience from acquired over year can be relevant and other advantages attached. However, with the benefit that come s with employing a consultant also cons the cost, the average cost of having a service of consultant is about 1070, which is much for Real Time Video Limited who has one only major sponsor. Example of a consultant that works with social enterprise is Eastside Consulting Ltd. The other opinion is to employ marketing personnel whose duties would be to plan and implement marketing strategies and working according along side with clive and other partners. This option is less expensive and members are baffling in the planning, it allows for progressive update to the members.Moreover, Video advertising is one of the fastest growing means of passing across messages t o wide audience, with the advent of social website such as face book, YouTube, etc which allow sending and sharing of videos at no cost, and makes it easier to cover a wide rank of people. In recent time, statistics has showed that people do not have patience to read anymore and would rather watch a video that explains a concept. Over the years there has being an increase in the use of video to promote products and services amongst small businesses and this feature is added to their website. From the chart below in the fourth quarter of 2008 5.2% of small business had video on their web site, in the fourth quarter of 2009 the number increased to 19.2% almost four times as many.From http//www.reelseo.com/video-small-business-advertisers/Thats the growth recorded within a year, and the growth is expected to increase over the years, as it is inexpensive and it is one of the ways to best engage and position your firm amongst the targeted audience that are desire for your services via s earch. This area is the specialty of Real Time Video Limited because they make videos to promote other area of concern, i believe they should be able to make a video that shows what they do, how they do it and how it is affecting their society.Lastly, there is no denying that social media websites are the next destination for marketing on the web. The number of people who participate in social network website has increased and this as led to the increase in the investment in social media marketing. Some small businesses has structured social media marketing as strategies in achieving their goals. Some of such social network site include, twitter, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. Social media marketing is word-of-mouth in an online environment and it has greater effect than conventional word of mouth as information moves faster with just a click. If you want to attract new visitors to your site then you have to actually participate and become involved in a community. The of the is to real is that it is easy to set up at no cost, Social media helps engages audience, increase your online visibility, it helps to create brand awareness, generate publicity (both good bad). All these suggested solution are geared towards building relationship with real time video-targeted audience. (Relationship marketing) Dees et al (2001).RecommendationsAll the suggested recommended was base on the assumption that Real Time Video Limited has limited financial resources, has not maximize it potential and the latest trend of marketing effectiveness, want/nature of the target audience.Firstly, I will recommend having a new employee against consulting a specialist in marketing reason being that a firm like Real Time Video Limited video have limited funds, also approaching a consultant is expensive and there is little control over their activities. However, since marketing is a cyclical and continuous process having someone responsible will allow for flexibility, daily monitoring of p rogress and low cost of running compare to consulting. It should be noted that the person employed might not have the wealth of experience compared to a consultant. Nevertheless, with training and different exposure there will be an improvement. The process for getting marketing personal is putting up job advertising and volunteer on the web site.Furthermore, Also building a web site that is comprehensive that show what you do and how u do they, e.g. putting up videos, pictures, relevant links to support each project. E.g. the project on the land lord rent policy should be linked to various property agents, also the project on track to recovery and whats up doc can be linked to other social enterprise that works with recovering addict and those with learning disabilities. The social media networks should be linked with the website to allow for easier access by visitors. Most social enterprise are using this means as it i.e. cheap and easy to set up and it helps to build relationshi ps. Relationship marketing is one the quiet means but the most effective as customer seek to establish relationship with its service provider. In implement this, according to Clive Real Time Video Limited video is building a new website all these suggested features can be added to the new website, as they are easy to set-up. In building the relationship over the social media, it takes 6 month or more depending on the creativity and time input.Lastly, the printing of flyers and handbills showing and describing what real time video is all about, what they do, how they do it, and how it has affected the society. Also establishing symbiotic relationships with other social enterprise in the same target audience and other conventional business. This can proof difficult at first but over time and established trust amongst the parties they can learn from each other. Creating a strong network of business partnerships can be a valuable way to provide good customer service. When you cant meet a customers needs, a reference to a reliable business can be a relationship saver. In turn, both the customer and the other business are happy, and may return the favour. Real Time Video Limited can ride on reading borough, council forums and publications as a means to create awareness of its services however, application must be made to this course.

Coca Cola Drinks In A Time Of Economic Difficulty Business Essay

coca plant Cola Drinks In A Time Of Economic Difficulty Business raiseAlways Coca-Cola This slogan was used in 2003 by the Coca-Cola participation, but years later it still resounds. Despite, the continuous changing of consumers needs, wants and lifestyles, economic down-turns and increasing competition in the marketplace, Coca-Cola has managed to incessantly take first place as the worlds to the highest degree valuable f al peerless guy, since 2001. (Interbrand Best Global Brand Surveys, 2001-2010)This report is intended to explain and analyse wherefore the sales of Trademark Coca-Cola drinks, namely Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero and Coca-Cola Light/Diet Coke were all immune to the economic receding. The analysis will be indoors a consumer behaviour scope. Inevitably, the relationship of consumer behaviour to other disciplines will be seen. First, there will be a brief history on Coca-Cola and a reappraisal of its performance all over the last 4 years. Subsequently, the Consum ers Buying ending reservation Process in relation to Coca-Cola drinks will be discussed. Then, there will be an examination of how input factors from the Buying Decision-Making Process Model such as, the come withs marketing concoction and individual factors such as attitudes might hand over influenced consumers behaviour in the buying process and enabled Coca-Cola to be successful throughout the years, even during the recession. Additionally, the influence of reference groups would be discussed as it is purported to be a nonher attribute to the brands success during the recession.It is becoming to note that, according to the National Bureau of Economics Research the recession started in December 2007 in the US. However, countries could choose experienced a recession at different times (imf.org). thitherfore, the study is based on 2007-2010 time period.2.1 Coca-Colas History and Performance ReviewWhen carbonated water is added to a syrup make from Coca leaf extracts, Cola nut , sugar and citric acid, the call back Coca-Cola drink is produced. Its name was derived by combining its two briny ing ruborients Coca and Cola. The Coca-Cola formula was concocted by a passionate physician and chemist named Dr. John Stith Pemberton in 1886. Dr. Pembertons goal was to invent the ultimate medicine and tasty drink all into one. (Business Heroes, 1998) Therefore, Coca-Cola was initially marketed as a valuable brain tonic and a cure for all nervous affections such as headaches, neuralgia, hysteria as well as a delicious, refreshing and invigorating beverage(curezone.com). Although, some ingredients live with been added or removed to enhance the drink but not to change the taste too much, up to this day it is not certain if the Coca-Cola Company still includes Coca leaf extracts.The Coca-Cola drink was interchange for 5 cents a glass and only an average of 9 glasses of Coca-Cola were sold daily in the 1880s. Many years later, the Coca-Cola Company produces gallons of syrup daily and nearly 1.6 billion times a day, mickle around the world revel one of our beverages (Coca-Cola Annual report, 2008). The concentrates and syrups that be manufactured are thence sold to licensed Coca-Cola bottlers in more than 200 countries.Coca-Cola has become a multi-million dollar profit-making society and has been able to continue that trend even during challenging economic times. Although according, Brian Morgan, Beverages Industry Analyst, global value sales had redressd in the soft-drinks market (Euromonitor blog, 2010). Coca-Cola was affected insignificantly by the global decline and this was reflected in its financial reports.The Coca-Cola Companys consolidated Net Operating Income beforehand Interest and Taxes (NIBIT) had increased from $7,252m in 2007 to $8, 446m in 2008. However, there was a 2.5% decline in (NIBIT) from 2008-2009. The impact of the decline was insignificant because of the partnerships well balanced portfolio, well-known brand and i nnovative strategies. Another indicator that the company was doing well during the recession was the slopped increase in cash dividends payments. The cash dividend payments to constituentholders in 2007, 2008, and 2009 were $1.36, $1.52, $1.64 respectively (Coca-Cola Annual Review, 2009).The sales of Trademark Coca-Cola, which includes Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero and Diet Coke/ Coca-Cola light, are what fuel our bank line (Coca-Cola Annual report 2009, p.16). Trademark Coca-Cola has seen volume unit growth in 2009 for many of its markets around the world including Vietnam (27%), India (25%), Pakistan (18%) and Nigeria (11%) to name a few (Coca-Cola Annual report, 2009). full-blooded performance has been reported for Coca-Cola in its 2010 third quarter and year-to-date company report. As at the ending of October, Operating Net Revenues had increased by 5%. Moreover, the global unit case volume had increased 5%. This volume growth was led by the brand Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola Year-to-Da te report, 2010). Please see Appendix 1 2 for more indicators of the Coca-Cola Companys resilience to the 2007-2010 economic down-turn.3.0 Discussion and Analysis3.1 Routinised Response BehaviourResearchers find identified three main levels of consumer decision making. They are extensive trouble solving, limited problem solving and routinised response behaviour levels (Schiffman et al 2007, p.526).Consumers would have engaged in a routinised response behaviour level with regards to Coca-Cola drinks. This is because the trademark brand has been in the beverage market for years and so consumers would have had experience with it and other brands. Also, consumers would have established a set of criteria well enough to survey the Coca-Cola brand against other brands (Schiffman et al, 2007).Additionally, due to the low-involvement of consumers in purchasing Coca-Cola drinks, consumers are able to make quick decisions and they would have then relied heavily on heuristics, its prices, p ackaging and their familiarity with the brand. This would then have led to race purchasing Coca-Cola out of habit and in some cases automatic corrupts. Therefore, it can be argued that because of the difficulty in breaking their ordinary purchases and the little thought that goes into buying Coca-Cola drinks, consumers continued to buy Coca-Cola during the recession which made Coca-Cola immune.3.2 Effective Marketing MixAnother reason why Coca-Cola was resilient to the recession could have been because of the companys effective marketing scuffle. The Coca-Cola Company has been able to build its brand throughout the years by using the right blend of marketing mix for the Trademark Cola-Cola drinks. Coca-Colas marketing mix efforts will now be discussed.ProductSome people argue that the taste of Coca-Cola makes it very(prenominal) popular and gives it a emulous advantage. Moreover, people have demonstrated their love for the taste in different ways. One well-known incident was w hen consumers rejected the new formula of Coca-Cola, the New Coke. The company was compelled to bring back the original taste of Coca-Cola (Fortune, 1985). Coca-Colas trademark is its intersection name Coca-Cola in a unique white script against a bright red background. This assists customers to easily identify the brand in groceries, shops and advertisements. The Coca-Cola drink is packaged in aluminium cans, glass and plastic bottles in a range of sizes 2L, 1.25L, 500ml and 330ml. Although variations have been made to the shape of the glass and plastic bottles, The contour bottle remains the signature shape of Coca-Cola today and was chosen for its attractive appearance and original design (Coca-Cola hereditary pattern Timeline, 1905-1918).PriceCoca-Cola is priced slightly higher to the prices of non-popular cola brands such as store brands but the same to main competitor, Pepsi. For instance, in England the price for a 2L bottle of Coca-Cola and Pepsi is 1.66 small-arm a 2L ASDA store brand cola is 0.47 (asda.com). During 2007-2010 the price of Coca-Cola was increased for some regions equivalent North-America due to increase commodity costs for the bottlers and to other recessionary pressures. (Coca-Cola Company Annual Report, 2008 p.47)Promotions AdvertisingCoca-Cola makes large investments in promotions and advertising. Advertising costs for 2006, 2007 and 2008 has been $2.6b, $2.8b and $3.0b respectively (Coca-Cola annual report, 2008). In 2007 there were promotions in Europe for Rugby World-cup and for the Christmas holidays (Coca-Cola Annual Review, 2007). There were many point-of-sale promotions world-wide in 2008. Loyalty programs that enable customers to receive free rewards and prizes by collecting points became very popular in 2009. For instance, the North-American market has the my coke rewards and the European market has the coke zone websites particularly set up for these promotional programmes (Coca-Cola Annual Review, 2009). Coca-Colas cre ative, colourful, animated and high imagery advertisements become many peoples favourite. Indeed, some of Coca-Cola advertisements have won several awards such as the Golden Award of Montreux, 2007 (Gold Medal) and CLIO Awards, 2007 (Gold) Animation (adforum.com).Place/ Distribution ChannelsCoca-Cola uses an intensive distribution strategy. Customers can easily chafe Coca-Cola drinks at their convenience through groceries, shops, malls, vendor machines, universities, work offices, bars and restaurants. Coca-Cola works closely with all constituents of the supply chain to underwrite that the distribution process is economic and effective (coca-cola.com). Additionally, Coca-Cola has even been endorsed by many restaurants including Mc Donalds and other businesses, where a formal agreement is made between the two parties to only sell Coca-Cola drinks.With the Consumer Decision Making Model that was produced by Schiffman et al (2007) in mind, consider this example. When consumers who d rink Coca-Cola became thirsty or were out of stock of Coca-Cola at home, a need was recognise which is the first stage of the Process component of the model. The consumers would have then entered the development search stage and would have first drawn on past experiences they had with Coca-Cola drinks before using external sources of information from the Input component of the model, such as the companys marketing communications and socio-cultural influences. Because of Coca-Colas effective marketing mix efforts in the past, the customer would have most likely had good memories and experiences with the drinks. Also, Coca-Colas marketing efforts during the time of the consumers decision making would have played a big role in influencing consumers decisions. As a result, when consumers entered the Output stage, their decision was to re-purchase Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola marketing mix was effective because of its strong impact on the consumers decision making process.Another reason why Co ca-Colas marketing mix was effective because it catered for the individual factors of consumers and this made the marketing mix more influential on individual decision making processes of consumers. For instance, Coca-Colas loyalty reward promotions would have appealed to those customers who like to be rewarded for their commitment or the sales promotions for those who were always seeking bargains. The changing of shapes of the bottles and the creative and high imagery advertisements, especially the one ones with the polar bears drinking Coca-Cola, would have appealed to those emotional and impulsive consumers. Also, by getting many businesses to only sell Coca-Cola drinks would have trapped those consumers who do not normally purchase Coca-Cola. The fact that most people would have had less disposable income might have made these marketing tactics more influential on their actual Decision Making Process because peoples need for rewards and stimulation to buy Coca-Cola and not switc h to a cheaper brand would have been greater.3.3 Commitment to AttitudesIt is believed that peoples high level of commitment to their favourable Attitudes towards Coca-Cola drinks was another(prenominal) reason that caused people to continue to purchase Coca-Cola drinks during the recession. Attitude is a persons well-educated predisposition, tendency to respond to an object in a systematically favourable or unfavourable way (Allport 1935, cited in Professor Jiang 2010 Lecture 5 slides). In relation to Coca-Cola drinks this means that, people were not born with the attitudes that they have towards Coca-Cola. Instead they learned about Coca-Cola from their direct experiences with the drinks, from other peoples opinions and from the companys marketing mix. They used these factors to develop an overall evaluation of Coca-Cola and in so doing formed favourable attitudes towards the drinks. Consequently, people were then incite by their attitudes to purchase Coca-Cola drinks (Schiffma n et al 2007, p.238).The psychologist, Daniel Katz, purported that attitudes exist because they serve a function for the person (Solomon et al 2010, p.275). The function could be a Utilitarian, Value-expressive, Ego-defensive or Knowledge function. For instance, people who like the taste of the Coca-Cola drinks and who derives pleasure from it would have an attitude that serves the Utilitarian function. Value-expressive attitudes would be seen in those people who drink Diet Coke because it may convey that they are dieting and watching their figure to others (social identity) or because they personally believe its the healthier choice of drink (personal values). Coca-Colas efforts to provide more factual and meaningful nutritional information on their packaging would form attitudes that serve the knowledge function in those people who need such information in selecting products.Attitudes change when it no monthlong gives satisfaction to its related need state (Katz, 1960 p.177). Co ca-Colas marketing mix efforts has been consistently satisfying the needs of consumers and so consumers became committed to their attitudes towards Coca-Cola. For example, Coca-Colas total quality management systems ensure that every bottle on the production line tastes the same so that peoples Utilitarian function would always be satisfied.There have been misperceptions and rumours of Coca-Cola drinks including soft-drinks cause Kidney stones or Coca-Cola can be used as household cleaners. In order to provide clarity and consistency for individuals with knowledge function needs, Coca-Cola posted responses on its website to these rumours. Moreover, the company had spent $9m to promote active healthy lifestyle programs in 2008 (coca-cola.com). This also illustrates Coca-Cola satisfying the needs of consumers which would then lead to consumers becoming highly committed to their attitudes. jibe to Katz (1960) attitudes consist of affective or feelings and cognitive or belief components . Attitudes can be related to behaviour which makes it a third component. Another consequence of Coca-Colas efforts consistently satisfying consumers needs was that it strengthened the affective component of consumers attitudes and reinforced the beliefs they had towards Coca-Cola. The result was people holding onto to their favourable attitudes towards Coca-Cola which was then the driving force of their purchase behaviour.It is worthwhile to note that the results of many studies have shown a very low correlation between a persons reported attitude towards something and their actual behaviour towards it (Solomon et al 2010, p.290). Researchers set that events, circumstances or social pressure can interfere with a persons planned or expected behaviour. For instance, people may like Coca-Cola but do not buy it because of persuasive campaigns from health organisations that say soft-drinks are unhealthy (social pressure). Therefore, it can then be debated that although people may have had favourable attitudes towards Coca-Cola this may not have caused them to purchase Coca-Cola drinks during the recession or any time. It is believed that this happened because people were not strongly committed to their attitudes. It can then be argued that Coca-Colas marketing strategies have been encouraging people to remain highly committed to their attitudes towards Coca-Cola. Once consumers are very committed to their attitudes, it would become very difficult for external influences to change their beliefs or feelings for the product and by extension change their behaviour.3.4 Reinforcement of loyalty through Reference GroupsCoca-Cola has used the internet to create a virtual community where its fans from all over the world can wager other fans, chat about various topics and reminisce about Coca-Cola memories. Although Coca-Cola has an official website (coca-colaconverstaions.com) to facilitate this community, the website provides links to Twitter and Facebook so that fans can use those forums if they desired. Additionally, there is a Coca-Colas Collectors Club for people who are very nostalgic and who enjoy collecting Coca-Cola merchandise. The club has more than 5000 members from all over the world. Several conventions and meetings are held annually and monthly newsletters are published. There are also swap meets and other social events that enable members to share their interests with others (coca-cola.com).Researchers find that people within brand communities feel more positive about the product (Solomon et al, 2010 p.392) when they interact with other people who share similar interests in the same product and when they participate in social events held for them. Their brand loyalty is enhanced and the chance of them switching to competing brands that are as good or even better is very low. Moreover, these community members do not only become emotionally involved with the product, but genuinely concerned with the welfare of the company as well (So lomon et al, 2010, p.392).Coca-Cola has been the main sponsor of big events for many years such as NASCAR racing, Youth Olympics Games, FIFA World cup and Special Olympics (coca-cola.com). These different events bring together people who share common interests and these people make up sub-cultural groups within society. Attitudes, beliefs and certain behaviours would be adopted faster by these groups because of their cohesiveness and group members desire to share one identity. By Coca-Cola sponsoring the events for these groups often, Coca-Cola would have become accepted and liked by these groups. Coca-Cola would have relied on the social power of these groups to remind and reinforce the brand. As a result, members within these groups would have been motivated to purchase Coca-Cola as long as they were active members of these groups in order to fit in.Therefore, the presence of Coca-Colas brand communities both virtual and those that meet face-to-face had strengthened peoples brand loyalty and this enabled Coca-Cola to maintain a high retention of consumers during the recession. Also, the influence of sub-cultural groups could have contributed to Coca-Colas continued success during the recession.Conclusion/RecommendationsCoca-Colas has maintained a strong brand image and financial performance for many years, even during the recession. The reasons for this success could have been because of consumers habitual purchase behaviour, successful execution of marketing strategies by the company, consumers commitment to their favourable attitudes towards Coca-Cola drinks and the presence of reference groups. These factors simultaneously impacted consumers actual decision making process which then caused them to continue to purchase Coca-Cola.It is becoming more difficult to predict consumer behaviour because sociological factors, circumstances and events interfere with consumers intended behaviour (Schiffman et al, 2007). Coca-Cola has built a secret research facility at its plate and this shows that the company is aware of the importance of understanding consumer behaviour. Were spending a lot of time trying to understand shopping and shopping psychology, says Joe Tripodi, Coca-Colas chief Marketing officeholder (CNBC 2009).It is apparent that Coca-Cola has been able to build an extremely strong brand loyalty for its drinks. Therefore, the company should continue with its innovative strategies and continue its research into why and when people purchase their products. The company should also continue using their websites and peoples blogs to get feedback from consumers about beliefs and feelings towards the companys products and strategies. One caveat for the company is that it should never become arrogant and think that consumers will always have that strong brand loyalty for Coca-Cola.Appendix ISELECTED FINANCIAL infoYear Ended December 31,(in millions except per share data)2009200820072006SUMMARY OF trading operationsNet operating revenue s$30,990$31,944$28,857$24,088Net income attributable to shareowners of The Coca-Cola Company$6,824$5,807$5,981$5,080PER SHARE DATABasic net income$2.95$2.51$2.59$2.16Diluted net income$2.93$2.49$2.57$2.16Cash dividends$1.64$1.52$1.36$1.24BALANCE SHEET DATATotal assets$48,671$40,519$43,269$29,963Long-term debt$5,059$2,781$3,277$1,314Appendix IIPERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE20072008200922.723.724.4UNIT CASEVOLUME(in billions)200720082009$7,252$8,446$8,231 operationalINCOME BEFOREINTEREST TAXES(in millions)200720082009$7,150$7,571$8,186OPERATINGCASH FLOW(in millions)

The Factors affecting dividend payout policy

The Factors affecting dividend payout insuranceINTRODUCTIONDividend polity in the house has been the major matter for recognizing how managers set dividend dimension and c been dividend given to stockholders. The existing belles-lettres on dividend payout ratios provides firms with no generally accepted prescription for the level of dividend payment that ordain maximize treat value. Black (1976) in his study conclude with this question is that what the corporation should do about dividend policy. It has been argued that dividend policy has no cause on either the price of a firms share or its make up of gravid of the United States. Thus, extensive studies were done to materialize out various factors affecting dividend payout ratio of a firm. The setting of corporate dividend policy re chief(prenominal)s a difficult issue and involves ocean deep judgment by finality makers.The way of dividend policy is the most debatable issue in the corporate finance literature and st ill keeps its prominent place both in true and emerging grocery stores. Many researchers try to unc all over the issue regarding the dividend behavior or dynamics and determinants of dividend policy but still dont have an acceptable explanation for the observed dividend behavior of firms (Black, et.al (1976), Allen and Michaely, 2003 and Brealey and Myers 2005). One of the well known explanations of dividend behavior is the smoothing of firms dividends vice versa scratch and step-up. Linter (1956) embed that firms in the United States adjust their dividends smoothly to defend a target long run payout ratio. Numerous studies bulge outed after this work and facts suggested that the dividend policy of the companies varies from rural area to country collectable to various institutions and capital mart differences.The study examined the relationship between determinants of dividend payout ratios from the context of a developing country like Pakistan. The primary objective of thi s thesis is to uprise out whether numerous factors influence the dividend payout ratio of Sugar Sector in Pakistan.The purpose of this study is to investigate the dynamics and determinants of dividend policy of sugar firms in Pakistan. subsequently that it explored how Pakistani firms set their dynamic dividend policies in a different institutional environment than that of developed markets. This study examined whether Pakistani firms follow stable dividend policies as in developed markets or they are going to retain their earnings. The paper also identified the areas of firm level factors that influence the degree of dividend smoothing. This paper indicated that importance of institutional features towards the dynamic of dividend policy and also critical out the advantages of examining the dividend policy in different institutional environments. The outcomes of the thesis provided meaningful and handy information in the use of goods and services of institutional factors which cr eates dividend policy at firms level. More than a few studies become visible after this work and evidence suggest that the dividend policy of the companies varies from country to country due to various institutions and capital market differences.The Pakistans capital market and the sparing have several grand features for examining the dynamics of dividend policy. Firstly Pakistan is moving towards the development and upward(a) the economy face in the world since the 1980. Pakistan capital markets are much better than before. Many studies conclude that firms are likely to pay continuous dividend during the risque growth period and it is involutioning to find that how dynamic dividend policy is determined in growing economy like Pakistan. In fact, in Pakistan the many major investors are still disagreed with dividends and consider stock prices positive reception as the major per centum of stock returns therefore, it is assumed that investor attitude towards dividends is expec ted to have an uphold on the way in which firms set their dividend policy in Pakistan.Sugar Industry in PakistanThe sugar industry plays an important role in the economy of the Pakistan. It is the second largest industry after textiles. The Pakistan sugar industry is the second largest agro based industry consists of 78 sugar mills with per year crushing capacity of over 6.1 million tones. Sugarcane farming and sugar manufacturing dedicate significantly to the national exchequer in the form of various taxes and levies. Sugar manufacturing and its by-products have contributed appreciably towards the hostile ex trade resources through import substitution. The Sugar industry employs over 75000 people, including management experts, technologists, engineers, and financial experts, skilled, semiskilled and unskilled workers. It contributes around 4 billion rupees only chthonic the head of excise duty and other levies to the Government are also paramount significance.In the year 2008-0 9 sugarcane production is estimated at 51.5 MMT, a sink of 19 percent over the former year due to both a surrender in area harvested and yield. Milling policies and practices, coupled with attractive prices for secondary/competing crops (rice, cotton and sun devolveer) and insufficient irrigation supplies are major factors limiting crop expansion in the country.In the year 2009-10 sugarcane production is estimate at 53.6 MMT, an amplification of 4 percent over the previous year due to an expected profit in area and yield. A shortage of cane supply during the incumbent crushing season led to an increase in cane prices. This stake benefitted growers who received prices higher than the indicative prices announced by the Government. This development is expected to contribute to an increase in sugarcane area and productivity in the ensuing year. Moreover, last years higher production of rice and sunflower led to lower prices received by farmers, thereby encouraging the switch ba ck to sugarcane.Purpose of the StudyIn Pakistan there were few firms which paid dividend to stockholders constantly. For this explore, the listed sugar firms of Karachi Stock alter (KSE) were non able to pay their dividends and which factors are influencing or determining the dividend policy in Pakistan. In this thesis it examined the number of firms various factors and their function in dividends policy. The liquidness of the stock market, is the profitable firms are give dividends in Pakistan, is the firms with greater investiture opportunities pay less dividends in Pakistan, is the dividends and debts are substitutes and the degree of leverage is negatively associated with dividends payments and lastly examined the firms with greater currency flows pay lesser dividend in Pakistan.Research ObjectiveObjective of thesis has to find out the relationship between dividend policy and identify specie flow, EBIT, sales and Debt to Equity balance. It is very important for invest ors to examine the factors of dividend policy that whether they have been impact on the sugar sector of Pakistan or not.Hypotheses DevelopmentH1 there is association between CFO and dividend payout ratio.H2 There is association between Debt to Equity and dividend payout ratio.H3 There is association between Revenue and dividend payout ratio.H4 There is association between EBIT and dividend payout ratioThesis StructureThis thesis is composed of five chapters. The first part of a thesis is introduction (Chapter I).Then after it evaluates and discusses the literature review in (Chapter II), in this chapter it examined the dividend payout policy of Pakistan and the main factors that influenced on it, theories, homunculuss put forward by many well-known authors is examined various studies. In (chapter III), it explained research methods and sample in detail. (In chapter IV),examined the dividend payout policy and the main indicators that affect the dividend payout policy of listed firm s on the Karachi Stock Exechange 100 over the period 2003-2008 and present the interpretation of results. Finally in Chapter V, we present and discuss the main contributions and conclusion, suggestion and recommendation of this thesis.CHAPTER-2LITERATURE REVIEWNaceur (2006) found that the high profitable firms with much stable earnings can manage the big cash flows and because of this they pay larger dividends. Moreover, the firms with fast growth distribute the larger dividends so as attract to investors. The self-command concentration does not have any impact on dividend payments. In Indian case Reddy (2006) showed that the dividends paying firms are more profitable, large in size, and growing. The corporate tax or tax pickence theory does not appear to hold true in Indian context. Amidu and Abor (2006) found dividend payout policy decision of listed firms in Ghana Stock Exchange is influenced by profitability, cash flow mooring, and growth scenario and investment opportuni ties of the firms.Lease (2000) the firms should follow a life cycle and imitate managements assessment of the importance of market imperfection and factors including taxes to honor holders, sureness cost crooked information, floating cost and transaction costs.Linter (1956) studied and developed a compact mathematical model based on survey of 28 well establish industrial U.S. firms which is well thought-out to be a finance classic. gibe to him the dividend payment pattern of a firm is influenced by the present-day(prenominal) year earnings and previous year dividends.Linters (1956) study of dividend policy found that a firms bottom line force out income is the key determinant of dividend changes, which in his sample are largely dividend increases since he primarily surveys healthy firms. If one can extrapolate this finding to dividend fall vanquishs, it implies that low bottom line earnings drive dividend reductions.Jensen (1986) argued that debt is an effective substitute mechanism for dividends in this rate. By outcome debt instead of equity, managers give amazeholders the right to take the firm into bankruptcy court if managers do not maintain their promise to make the interest and principal payments. This substitutability between debt and dividends as alternative mechanisms for reducing the agency costs of FCF implies that firms that use low debt ratios will tend to follow a policy of high- dividend payout.Alli (1993) the liquidity or cash flows position is also an important determinant of dividend payouts. A poor liquidity position centre less generous dividends due to shortage of cash. It reveals that dividend payments depend more on cash flows, which reflect the companys ability to pay dividends, than on current earnings, which are less heavily influenced by news report practices. They claim current earnings do no really reflect the firms ability to pay dividends.Farzad Farsio and Amanda Geary (1983) in their research the relationship betw een Dividends and Earnings severalize that dividends have no explanatory power to forecast future earnings. They presented four cases for possible effects of earnings on future dividends and show that there should be no significant relationship between dividends and future earnings in the long run. The contribution of this study is that it provides financial managers and investors with evidence that it would be a slue to base investment decisions on inferences about dividend/earnings relationships that rely on some certain short-term periods.John and Kalay (1982) Debt agreement to minimize dividend payments are requisite to prevent bondholder wealth transfers to shareholders. An additional way dividend payout ratio affects agency costs is the reduction of agency cost through increased monitoring by capital market.Analysis shows the positive association among profitability and dividend payout ratio, corporate tax and cash flows. The study also suggests that when the liquidity of companies increases the companies disburse more dividends. The companies with dynamic profitability find out hard to disburse dividends. Last but not least, conclusion of the study shows that cash flow, profitability, growth and investment opportunities influence the dividend payout policy.Amidu and Abor (2006) conducted and they have taken the Payout Ratio as dependent multivariate star and defined as dividend per share divided by earning per share. The included the explanatory variable profitability(profit), pretend(risk), cash flows (cash), corporate tax(tax), institutional holdings(INSH), Sales Growth and Market to Book value(MTBV). By using the Panel data which involves the pooling of observations on a cross sectional of unit over several clip periods and provides the results that are simply not measurable in pure cross-sections or exact time series studies. Because the panel time series is different from a regular time series or cross section regression equation and each variable use the double subscript in the data.Jensen (1986) concluded that funds remaining after financing all positive net present value projects cause passage of armss of interest between managers and shareholders. Dividends and debt interest payment decrease the free Dividend payout ratios in Ghana cash flow available to managers to invest in marginal net present value projects and manager perquisite consumption.Crutchley and Hansen (1989) examined the guesswork that financial leverage, dividends and managerial ownership are jointly determined by firms attempts to minimize the total agency costs of debt and equity. Chaplinsky and Niehaus (1992) examine whether managerial ownership share and financial leverage common determinants. In addition to the agency costs of debt and equity, they also assess whether these decisions are governed by the tax advantage of debt, the costs of issuing securities and the demand for risk sharing by insiders.Avazian (2006) conducted the study on Un ited Stated listed firms at NYE and find that decision to smooth dividends depend at the part of public market access as proxies by the rating of bonds. In their study dividend payment is the optimal for firms raising debts in the public Unknown bond markets but not for firms in the private informed bank markets. In this logic the dividend decision is related to information asymmetric between the managers and the creditors of the firms.Pruitt and Gitman (1991) found that risk (year-to-year variability of earnings) also important factor firms dividend payout ratio. A company that has constant earnings is often able to forecast approximately what its future earnings will be. Company is therefore more likely to pay out a higher region of its earnings than a firm with unpredictable earnings.The liquidity or cash flow from operation is an important factor of dividend payouts policy. A less liquidity position means less generous dividend due to shortage of cash. He exposed that dividend payments depend more on cash flows, which reflect the companys ability to pay dividends, than on current earnings, which are less heavily influenced by report practices. They claim current earnings do not really reflect the firms ability to pay dividends. (Alli, 1993)Green (1993) questioned the irrelevance argument and investigated the relationship between the dividends and investment and financing decisions. Their study showed that dividend payout ratio is not totally decided after a firms investment and financing decisions have been made. Dividend decision is taken along investment and financing decisions. Higgins (1981) indicated a shortest link between growths and financing needs, speedily growing firms have external financing needs because working capital needs ordinarily exceed the cash flows from new sales.Daniel (2007) conducted the study that they found that firms are more likely to manage their earnings upward when their earnings would otherwise fall down of expected div idend levels. The earning management behavior significantly impacts the likelihood of dividend cut off. The firms made discretionally accruals because reported earnings to exceed the expected dividend levels are significantly less likely to cut dividends than those firms whose reported earnings fall down of expected level of dividends. They conclude that managers treat expected dividend levels as a vital earning threshold.Higgins (1972) and McCabe (1979) et.al the leverage (Lev) also influenced the dividend behavior of the firm, if the level of the leverage is high that mean the firm is high risky in the cash flows. The negative effect of leverage on dividends payments is documented in the literature, finds that the firms with higher leverage pay lower dividends in order to evade the cost of raising external capital of the firm.Lintner (1956) founded that past dividends of the companies and current earnings are the key determinants of current dividends and managers prefer to mainta in stable dividends and make cyclic adjustments toward a target payout ratio.Arditti (1976) carried out research in order to evaluated dividend policy with respect to taxes and uncertainty. The purpose of this paper has been to tackle the distressing dilemma of the zero dividend solution by clearly incorporating MMs original proposal that dividends have an information aspect that is of latent worth to investors. The analysis of ambiguity they have offered is only one of many possible hypotheses which can account for the experimental fact that companies naturally do not take on intense dividend policies.Arnott and Asness (2003) suggested that a higher payout ratio results in low future growth, based their study on America stock market it founded that higher aggregate dividend payout ratios were associated with higher future earnings growth.Modigliani and Miller (1985) carried out research to evaluate dividend Policy under asymmetric information. The Standard finance model of the fir ms dividend/investment/financing decisions gives manager more appropriate information regarding the firms current earnings. The purpose of research is to replace the assumption built by Miller and Modigliani that the outdoors investors and inside managers have the same information about companies profit and future income with the assumption that inside managers know more than outside investors about the actual situation of firms current earnings.James A. Gentry (1990) informed about free cash flow analysis, showed that the financial position of a company depends upon its ability to generate net operating cash flows that are sufficient to cover up a hierarchy of cash outflows. The profiles generated from a large sample of companies show that relative cash flow components vary across company size and across industry groups. The researcher hopes that these profiles will serve as benchmarks for comparing cash flow components and gain ground financial analysts to use cash flow analysis .Miller and Modigliani et.al (1961) suggest that in perfect markets, dividend do not affect firms value. Shareholders are not concerned to receiving their cash flows as dividend or in shape of capital gain, as for as firms doesnt change the investment policies. In this type of situation firms dividend payout ratio effect their respite free cash flows and the result is when the free cash flow is positive firms decide to pay dividend and if negative firms decide to issue shares. They also conclude that change in dividend may be conveying the information to the market about firms future earnings.Gordon and Walter (1963) present the bird in the hand theory which says that investors always prefer cash in hand rather than a future promise of capital gain due to minimizing risk.Jensen and Meckling (1976) the agency theory is based on the conflict between managers and shareholder and the constituent of equity controlled by insider ownership should influence the dividend policy. Easterbroo k (1984) gives further explanation regarding agency cost problem and says that there are ii forms of agency costs one is the cost monitoring and other is cost of risk aversion on the part of directors or managers.The firm size (SIZE) defined as natural logarithm of total assets is expected to have a positive effect on dividend payouts as large more diversified firm are likely to have very low chance of bankruptcy and can sustain higher level of debt.In investigating the determinants of dividend policy of Tunisian stock Exchange, found that the high profitable firms with more stable earnings can manage the larger cash flows and because of this they pay larger dividends. (Naceur, 2006)Baker (2007) reports that Canadian dividend paying firms are significantly larger and more profitable, having greater cash flows, ownership structure and some growth opportunities.The liquidity or cash flows position is also an important determinant of dividend payouts. A poor liquidity position means l ess generous dividends due to shortage of cash. Alli et.al (1993) reveal that dividend payments depend more on cash flows, which reflect the companys ability to pay dividends, than on current earnings, which are less heavily influenced by accounting practices. They claim current earnings do no really reflect the firms ability to pay dividends.Megginson and Eije (2006) examined that the dividend paying tendency of fifteen European firms decline dramatically over this period 1989 to 2003. The increase in the retained earnings to total equity doesnt increase the payout ratio, but company age does.The empirical study of Canadian dividend-paying firms found that they try to maintain stable dividends per share, are reluctant to decrease the payout level, and smoothly adjust the level of payout based on level of expected future earnings. (Adjaoud, 1986)Easterbrook (1984) argues that increasing dividends raises the probability that additional capital will have to be raised externally on a p eriodic basis and consequently, the firm will be subject to constant monitoring by experts and outside suppliers in the capital market.Green (1993) questioned the irrelevance argument and investigated the relationship between the dividends and investment and financing decisions. Their study showed that dividend payout levels are not totally decided after a firms investment and financing decisions have been made. Dividend decision is taken along investment and financing decisions.Partington (1983) revealed that firms use of target payout ratios, firms motives for paying dividends and level to which dividends are determined are independent of investment policy.Lipson (1998) conducted study to examine the factors that derives dividend initiations and earnings surprises, look at the performance of newly firms that started dividends with those that did not. Earnings increases by-line the dividend initiation and earnings revelations for initiation firms are more constructive than for tho se non initiating firms. In an economy that charges taxes on investment income, dividends are obviously a disadvantageous means of transferring wealth to shareholders. To validate dividend costs, two clarifications are typically given dividends are used to solve agency problems inside the firm, or dividends are used to cash in ones chips information to the market.H. Kent Baker, Gail E. Farrelly (1983) in their study A Survey of Management Views on Dividend Policy say that the major determinants of dividend payments today appear strikingly similar to Linters behavioural model developed during the mid-1950. In particular, respondents were highly concerned with dividend continuity. Second, the respondents seem to believe that dividend policy affects share value, as evidenced by the importance attached to dividend policy in maintaining or increasing stock price. Although the survey does not uncover the exact reasons for their belief in dividend relevance, it does provide evidence that the respondents are generally awake(predicate) of signaling and clientele effects. Finally, the opinions of the respondents from the utilities differ markedly from those of the other two industries.Smith and Watts (1992) examined the relationship among executive compensation, corporate financing and dividend policy. They concluded that a firms dividend policy is impact by its other corporate policy choices. Jensen et.al, Solberg and Zorn (1992) linked the interaction between financial policies (dividend payout and leverage) and insiders ownership to informational asymmetries between insiders and external investors. They found that corporate financial decisions and insider ownership are interdependent.Lintner (1956) suggested that the firms have long run target dividend payout ratios and place their attention more on dividend changes than on absolute dividend levels. He also finds that dividend changes follow shifts in long-run sustainable earnings and managers are hesitant to make dividend changes that may later need to be reversed. Managers also try to stabilize dividends and avoid dividend cuts. Linter developed a partial adjustment model to describe the dividend decision process that explained 85 percent of year-to-year dividend changes. Gordon (1959) argued that an increase in the dividend payout raise stock price (value) and lowers the cost of equity, but practical support for this position is weak.Bemstein (1996) maintain that dividend policy makes no difference because it has no effect on either stock prices or the cost of equity. According to Gordon (1959) a higher payout ratio will reduce the required rate of return (cost of capital), and hence increase the value of the firm.Miller and Rock (1985) dividends convey this private information and therefore can be used as a sign device to influence share price. An announcement of dividend increase is taken as good news and accordingly the share price reacts favorably, and vice versa. Only good-quality f irms can send signals to the market through dividends and poor-quality firms cannot mimic these because of the dissipative signaling costs. According to Easterbrook (1984) the agency costs thesis predicts that dividend payments can reduce the problems associated with information asymmetry. Dividends may also serve as a mechanism to reduce cash flow under management control, and thus help to mitigate the agency problems. Reducing funds under management discretion may result in forcing them into the capital markets more frequently, thus putting them under the scrutiny of capital suppliers. The tax-preference theory posits that low dividend payout ratios lower the required rate of return and increase the market rating of a firms stocks. Because of the relative tax disadvantage of dividends compared to capital gains investors require a higher before-tax risk adjusted return on stocks with higher dividend yields.Higgins et.al indicated that a direct connection between growth and financi ng needs growing firms have outside financing requirements because working capital needs normally go beyond the incremental cash flows from new sales. It showed those payouts ratios are negatively related to firms need top fund finance growth opportunities. (Higgins, 1972)De Angelo (2004) conducted a study on dividend policy, agency cost and earned equity. The study told that why companies pay dividends? If they didnt have their assets and capital structure, would ultimately become unsustainable as the earnings of successful firms surpass their investment opportunities. They found that dividend payments prevented major agency problems since the retention of the earnings would have given the managers command over an additional $1.6 trillion without access to better investment opportunities and without any monitoring. This find suggests that firms with high retained earnings are especially likely to pay dividends. In this view, firms pay high dividend when earned equity to total equi ty is high, and decline when this ratio declines and when this ratio is zero or near to zero, meaning that firms dont have the earned equity. They finally found that the highly significant association between the decision to pay dividends and the ratio of earned equity to total equity controlling for size of the firm, profitability, growth, leverage, cash balance.CHAPTER-3RESEARCH METHODSAs a various factors available in literature review have been identified that they affect the dividend policy decisions of the companies. It includes some important variables in order to achieve at some positive conclusions. seven-fold linear regressions model has been developed to conduct the research, which contain of dependent variable and independent variables. pendant variable in this study has dividend payout that is defined as the percentage of earnings disbursed as dividends. While the independent variables include of profit (EBIT), sales, debt equity ratio and cash flow from operation. Th ese four variables are used as predictors in order to conclude that how much each of the variables affects the dividend payout of sugar firms listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange over the period of eight years (2001-2008).ModelDP = + 1 EBIT + 2 sales + 3 CFO + 4 DER+ DP is the annual dividend paid by firms during the period, while is Alpha constant in the model. Whereas (beta) shows the times of the variable in the model and represents the error term. Variables include in the model are Earning before interest and tax, Sales per year, Cash flow from operation and Debt equity ratio.Dependent VariableDividend payout ratioThe dividend policy is the one of the very important issue of corporate finance. It developed the dividend model which becomes very famous and known as Linter partial derivative Adjustment Model. According to the Linter each firms i has target dividend payout ratio. By using the target payout ratio linter figure the target dividend at time (Dit*) as percentage of net earnings of the firms i at the time t (Eit), i.e Dit*= ri. Eit. John Linter (1956)In this study we used dividend payout ratio as dependent variable. It is calculated by percentage of net earnings of the firms paid at the end of period. The set of determinants of dividend payout ratio consist of following variables. CFO (cash flow), Sales, EBIT (earning) and Debt to Equity Ratio (leverage). self-sufficient VariableThere are four independent variables are used in this thesis to find out their impact on the dependent variable as dividend payout.Operating Cash FlowThe liquidity or cash flows position is also an important determinant of dividend payouts. A poor liquidity position means less giving dividends due to shortage of cash. Alli (1993) reveal that dividend payments depend more on cash flows, which reflect the companys ability to pay dividends, than on current earnings, which are less heavily influenced by accounting practices. They claim current earnings do no really reflect the firms ability to pay dividends.The market liquidity is defined as annual value of stock traded divided by the stock market capitalization. Market liquidity is one of very important factor that can influence the decision or behavior of the dividend policy. Belanes (2007) there is a negative relationship between the market liquidity and dividend yield in Tunisian Stock exchange (TSE).OCF= EBIT +Depreciation-TaxesH1 There is positive impact of CFO on dividend payout ratio.Debt to Equity Ratio (leverage)The leverage has been used as proxy of Debt to equity ratio and variable in this study. Because debt to equity is very important variable for the determinants of dividend policy,if the level of the leverage is high its mean the firm is more risky in the cash flows. The effect of negative leverage on dividends payments is already documented .Higgins (1972) and McCabe (1979) suggested that long term debt had

The Western Lawman :: Television Media TV Essays

The Western Lawman Gunsmoke was a dramatized radio program that portrayed life in the old west. According to online sources, Plots dealt with the lives and activities of marshall Dillon, Doc, Miss Kitty, Chester, and the other residents of Dodge City, Kansas in the late 19th century. Lawman Marshall Dillon was the center of everything that happened. The peace and welfare of Dodge City rested in his hands. Marshall Dillon represents the quintessential western lawman, with his independence, authoritativeness, and general distrust of strangers. Dillon stood alone. No one could dictate to him how to act or what to do. This is illustrated in several instances. In the episode The soldiers Trial the army officer assigned to bring in Jed pull strings, the deserting soldier asks for Dillons cooperation after Cook escapes. Dillon agrees to cooperate but on his terms. He demands that the officer study his troops from town and allow him to conduct the search personally. In the second episode , General Parsley Smith, Dillon insists on handling all investigation himself. He takes tips from Parsley, but instructs him to stay reveal of the situation while he checks things out. In Uncle Oliver, he makes it plain that there is no job opening for a Marshalls assistant. Oliver suggests that Biney say how to be a Marshall by shadowing Dillon, but Dillon wont have it. He states that he does non need any help from anyone except Chester. Chester is the wholly person he consistently allows to help him. Otherwise, he is a one man outfit. Marshall Matt Dillon is also characterized by his authoritativeness. He will not be challenged and he will not back down. When General Parsley stirs up trouble in town, Dillon warns that he will run Parsley out of town if he does not stop slandering the new banker. When Parsley is caught once again repeating the same offense, true to his word, Dillon orders him to leave town. While being arrested for desertion, Cook cannot fire on Dillon because of the respect he commands. And Uncle Oliver is compelled to search for Biney even though he is plotting to kill Chester. As you listen to these episodes, you realize that Dillon is also very shady of strangers. He is constantly questioning whether or not they are legitimate. In the first episode (The Army Trial) as he and Chester approach the police wagon in distress, they are ready to help but their help is repeatedly refused which arouses suspicion.

A Study of Product Quality, Pricing, and Labeling & Packaging Essays

Businesses are responsible for the point of intersection they manufacture and distribute. This perspective will examine the ethical implications of crossway manufacturing concerning Product Quality, Pricing, and Labeling & Packaging. In this paper, we will discuss each of these topics and show how each view of manufacturing has its own set of factors.One of the first major aspects of product manufacturing is Product Quality. The responsibilities of a business are simple. Develop a low cost, high feature product that withstands the normal limitations of its use. Quality can be be as doing the right thing, the right way, the first time, and every time. It is serious this is understood from both the consumer and the business perspective. In short, the product will meet customer expectations, priced appropriately, and delivered as advertised. Within the business, producing a product the right way is the most effective, efficient, lowest cost, and most valuable way to produce quali ty results, the first, and every time. Product quality implies all standards are met, with minimal repercussions of poor quality, reducing the amount of rework and waste. Businesses developing products of poor quality are failing to do the right thing, or doing the right thing, the wrong way. In the case study I researched, H.B. Fullers, a St. Paul, Minnesota corporation, produces a shoemakers glue, called Resistol, which contains the neurotoxin called toluene . In southmost America, Fullers company makes a huge profit off this product, in large part due to the millions of street kids, called resitoleros , who sniff this glue daily. This poses a huge ethical dilemma. Does one continue to develop a product that is being used the incorrect and potentially unsa... ...roduct development to product placement, ethics plays an important role in the decision making process of a company. Ethics plays a large role in such a small aspect of a companys product. Safety and Security, begin ning with the packaging itself, is a moral obligation of any company.ReferencesBauerlein, M. (n.d.). HB Fullers Social Responsibility. Pangaea Publishing and Design for temper & Peoples of the Earth. Retrieved from http//pangaea.org/street_children/latin/citypg1.htmDeColle, S. (2008). Why Wine is not Glue? The Unresolved Problem of Negative Screening in Socially Responsible Investing. ledger of Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 5(1), 121.Shaw, W. H. (2005). Business ethics (5th ed.). Belmont, CA Thomson/Wadsworth.Velasquez, M. G. (2002). Business ethics concepts and cases (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentiss Hall