Human Resource Management Essay Topics That Will Get You Off To A Quick Start

Human Resource Management Essay Topics That Will Get You Off To A Quick StartGood essay topics are not easy to come by. In fact, the best way to come up with the perfect topic is to do research online for ideas.You are a professional academic writer, and you know that knowledge is power. The only problem is that you cannot find any college course that teaches these subjects. Even an online course could help you, as there are many free courses on the Internet.The first step is to find out what the instructors at your university or school to teach, and what they consider your area of expertise. If you are enrolled in a course such as English or Sociology, you will probably be taught the basics. For instance, if you were not aware that quotations could be used, you can ask your instructors about this.Next, it is time to select your area of possible dissertation topic. To do this, you should think about why you will be writing this thesis. Is it because you have a particular skill or hob by, or you want to do something else, such as researching, interviewing, or writing a book?Once you have chosen the right topic, you must choose an outline and format to use. Using a professional writing software such as Word, will allow you to make use of much of the formatting features found in Microsoft Word. You will also find that this program is very user friendly and enables you to write quickly and accurately.This type of writing is called research writing, and it is done by a subject matter expert. Whether it is speaking, doing research, or writing a textbook, the ultimate goal is to be able to communicate effectively. If you want to write an effective essay for a research paper, you must be able to convey your point clearly, and let the reader know exactly what you are trying to say.Now that you have chosen your topic, it is time to put pen to paper and start writing. Research is always essential, but you must have your own ideas before you start writing.

Love And Marriage In The Canterbury Tales And The Millers...

Love and Marriage Insanities Making sense out of love and marriage ideals is not an easy task, especially as human actions in emotional circumstances do not follow any logic. It is a fact that has been proven consistently over time, across cultures and is also corroborated by many of the stories within Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. In particular, The Knight’s Tale and The Miller’s Tale, that take place in two different social settings, make fun of conventional beliefs about love and marriage in the context of values such as bravery, street smartness, morality, and faithfulness. Through their plots, the narrators’ styles, and the contrast they set up between cherished and practiced values, the two tales highlight that human behavior†¦show more content†¦Are they willing to go to the extremes of killing each other for a woman who at this moment doesn’t represent anything other than an image, symbol or trophy that they’ve seen from a distance? What makes thi s even more bizarre is that Emily doesn’t even want to get married. She prays to Goddess Diana, â€Å"That I would be virgin all my life, / And would be neither mistress, no, nor wife. / ... of thy company, / A huntress †¦ walk the woodlands wild†. (Chaucer 65) Emily doesn’t like a man’s company, prefers hunting and doesn’t want to marry or bear children. This exposes the foolishness of what Arcite and Palamon were up to, even though they supposedly follow all the ideals of aristocratic class such as bravery, honor, bond and courtly love. The Knight’s Tale depiction of love is strongly influenced by its narrator, a knight, and his worldview. In the Prologue, the narrator is introduced as someone who â€Å"... followed chivalry, Truth, honour, generousness and courtesy.† (Chaucer 4) Since in a knight’s world, bravery and physical fights resolve disputes, it is no wonder that in his story, a tournament clash is the best way to settle the rivalry between Emily’s two suitors. She is no better than a trophy to be won in a contest. The King Theseus treats Emily, in the traditions of the aristocratic class, as a gift to win peace and harmony. Even though she apparently doesn t have any say, her suitors try to woo her with flowery language as per their traditions,Show MoreRelatedEssay Immorality in Chaucers Canterbury Tales1646 Words   |  7 PagesChaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, he specifically illustrates through his pilgrims’ stories some comical and realistic events that display immorality in the Middle Ages. There are several characters whose stories are focused on presenting the immorality within their tales. Like that of â€Å"The Miller’s Tale,† and â€Å"The Merchant’s Tale.† Chaucer utilizes these tales to display one specific immoral act, which is sexual sin or lust. Chaucer addresses the seven deadly sins in his novel; The Canterbury Tales, lustRead MoreAttitudes Toward Marriage in Chaucers the Canterbury Tales1477 Words   |  6 PagesAttitudes Toward Marriage in Chaucers The Canterbury Tales Chaucers The Canterbury Tales demonstrate many different attitudes toward and perceptions of marriage. Some of these ideas are very traditional, such as that discussed in the Franklins Tale, and others are more liberal such as the marriages portrayed in the Millers and the Wife of Baths Tales. While several of these tales are rather comical, they do indeed give us a representation of the attitudes toward marriage at that time inRead MoreMoral In The Canterbury Tales1221 Words   |  5 PagesThe Canterbury Tales The Canterbury Tales have an ultimate lesson at the end, just as every other literary work does. In some of them, he simply states what it is, or some may have to be inferred. During the time, many social and historical events were taking place, and in some instances, Chaucer chose to base the moral around it. While reading The Canterbury Tales, the audience gets entertainment and a basic knowledge of what life what like through the lessons he presents. All of the tales moralsRead MoreSex in The Canterbury Tales Essay937 Words   |  4 Pagesinstrument in The Canterbury Tales. Portraying sex as a power that women exert over men rather than the marital bond of â€Å"making love† makes evident Chaucer’s skewed views of love and marriage with underlying tones of misogyny. He expresses these views throughout the work, however, the theme of love and sex is most evident in the sub-stories of The Wife of Bath and The Miller’s Tale. Chaucer breaks the topic of sex into two basic parts: carnality and romanticism. Although carnal love is a controversialRead MoreMarriage In Chaucers The Canterbury Tales1709 Words   |  7 PagesIn Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, a group of traveling pilgrims on their way from London to Canterbury pass the time by telling each other stories and tales. A handful of the tales are on the topic of marriage, most notably The Miller’s Tale, The Wife of Bath’s Tale and The Merchant’s Tale. The Miller talks about his wife and marriage poorly in his prologue and his tale is just as cynical. The Wife of Bath reveals in her prologue that she has had five husbands, something that was frownedRead More Passive Women in Chaucers Canterbury Tales? Essay1466 Words   |  6 PagesPassive Women in Chaucers Canterbury Tales? One argument that reigns supreme when considering Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is whether or not there is an element of anti-feminism within the text. One thread that goes along with this is whether or not the women of The Canterbury Tales are passive within the tales told. This essay will explore the idea that the women found within the tales told by the pilgrims (The Knight’s Tale, The Miller’s Tale and The Wife of Bath’s Tale to name a few) are notRead MoreThe Knight s Tales And The Miller s Tale1032 Words   |  5 PagesConcept of Love in â€Å"The Knight’s Tale† and â€Å"The Miller’s Tale† The concept of love is a very common theme in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. Each story pertaining to this theme treats it differently. There is no starker contrast than that between â€Å"The Knight’s Tale† of chivalry and nobility and â€Å"The Miller’s Tale† of adultery and humor. In â€Å"The Knight’s Tale,† Chaucer describes love as the ultimate reward for gallant Knights; it is very serious and romantic. In â€Å"The Miller’s Tale,† howeverRead MoreWhat a Story Reveals about the Story Teller Essay1377 Words   |  6 Pageswrote the Canterbury Tales from the view of a pilgrim journeying with many other travelers who all had tales to tell. I believe that the stories told by the characters in Chaucers book gives us insight into the individual spinning the tale as well as Chaucer as the inventor of these characters and author of their stories. There are three main characters whose stories I will be using a s examples: The Knights Tale, The Millers Tale, and The Wife of Baths Tale. The knight told a tale of loveRead MoreThe Canterbury Tales832 Words   |  4 PagesThe Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, the stereotypes and roles in society are reexamined and made new through the characters in the book. Chaucer discusses different stereotypes and separates his characters from the social norm by giving them highly ironic and/or unusual characteristics. Specifically, in the stories of The Wife of Bath and The Miller’s Tale, Chaucer examines stereotypes of women and men and attempts to define their basic wants and needs. In the Miller’s Tale, theRead MoreGeoffrey Chaucer s Bath And The Miller s Tale Essay1553 Words   |  7 Pagesof The Canterbury Tales, writes these stories to express a variety of themes and lessons. One of these themes is the fidelity or loyalty in marriages during the late thirteen hundreds. Chaucer uses a collection of pilgrims and their tales to portray the main types of marriage during this time. These views are narrowed down to three main types and they are the feminine view, the courtly view, and the common or fabliaux view. These main types are seen in The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, The Franklin’s

Successful Factors of Malmaison Hotel Chain free essay sample

I had worked in Malmaison hotel chain for 2 years in various departments taking up different roles, and over the two years, Malmaison hotel chain as an organization has demonstrated potential future market leader quality and showed excellent growth rate, good profitability and increased market share. However, the hospitality industry as a whole, over the past a few years has been far from as optimistic as the Malmaison hotel chain has been. In the West Midlands, for example, it has been common for bars, restaurants, hotels to changed ownership, merged, be acquired, or go bankrupt. Indeed, bars and restaurants are three times more likely to go bankrupt than other businesses in the UK, according to Accountants UHY Hacker Young (2007), Their report revealed that 15. 5% of businesses in the UK hospitality and catering sector (restaurants, pubs, and hotels) fail every year in comparison with just 5. 2 % for the economy as a whole. UHY Hacker Young (2007) had investigated over 150,000 businesses that had failed in the past one year, and found out lots of anecdotal warnings about the high failure rate of restaurants in the first year to be true. In the hospitality industry the owners and managers were struggling with raising second round financing; market research and financial planning were not completed in a proper fashion; loyal customer base that protects against fast changing consumer tastes in bars and restaurants was not developed entirely, all of these have contributed to the high failure rate in the UK hospitality industry businesses. In such an economic and market environment, why Malmaison hotel chain has been a success becomes an interesting subject to study. Malmaison hotel chain was founded in 1994 along with its sister hotel chain Hotel du vin which is also owned by the same company MWB, there are 21 chain hotels that are under the same ownership and there are 3 more hotels which are just opened by the end the 2007 and a further 4 more Malmaison hotels are due to open by the end of 2008. The company is also in negotiation for another 7 sites. Malmaison hotel chain is recognised as the UKs leading lifestyle hotel group that is top of the brands in a recent survey. According to Caterer Hotelkeeper (2008), the survey of 2000 business and leisure travellers by BDRC, revealed that 53% of all travellers said they preferred to go to Malmaison as their first choice, 46% chose Hilton and 40% chose Marriott. Malmaison has over 1,500 bedrooms across the UK. The gross value of these hotel property assets in the Groups latest published accounts to 30th June 2007 was ? 553 million, not to mention the reputation which has gained the group a valuable brand image that worth millions. Over the years the group has won a number of awards, such as best hotel groups in the UK, also it won the best place to work for in the hospitality industry 5 years in a row. It is believed that a key reason for Malmaison hotel chain’s success lies in its efficient and developed human resource management system, productivity and performance measurement and monitoring system, market research team work, strategic management, adaptability to changes and its financial control. These will be investigated and discussed in detail later in the research. . 0 Aim The aim of this research project is to explore what has Malmaison hotel chain done to accomplish such a success while operating in the current UK economic and market environment. 3. 0Project Objectives ?To review the current teaching and practice regarding human resource management, marketing management, financial management, and operational management in relation to the hospitality industry. ?To analyze the management fashion and operation processes of Malmaison and their impact on the performance and productivity of Malmaison. To make recommendations to the management team of Malmaison Hotel Chain to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and the performance of the organization. 4. 0 Literature Review 4. 1 Introduction There are obviously a large number of factors, ultimately all contributing to the success of Malmaison, however, in this research, a limited range of key issues will be addressed which are believed to be the most significant contributing factors behind for Malmaison’s success. The literature review research was supported by electronic resources and library research. There has not been much work been done on the reasons for the success or failure of the UK hospitality industry, and there is even far less attention being paid to hotels. Both strategic marketing management and human resource management are broad concepts, it is therefore, necessary to focus upon a few critical issues within these subjects that have particularly been focused upon in the operation and management of the Malmaison group. 4. 2 Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction is a critical factor that contributes to better performance, Professor Stephen Robbins’ study shows that happy workers are more likely to be productive workers. As a result, the correlation between job satisfaction and job performance is also rather strong (Robbins, 2007). However, George and Jones (2008, p93) pointed out: â€Å"job satisfaction is not meaningfully associated with job performance†. A study that was conducted by Iaffaldano and Muchinsky (1985) in the 1980s in this area concluded that job satisfaction only accounted for 2 percent of the difference in performance levels across employees. Another more recent review indicated a very similar result that job satisfaction only accounted for 3 percent of the difference in performance level across employees. (Judge, Thoresen, et al. , 2001) George and Jones (2008) also mentioned that work attitudes such as job satisfaction affect work behaviours only when employees are free to vary their behaviours. The study suggested that most of the employees are not free to vary their behaviours at work because organizations spend a considerable amount of time and effort to ensure that members perform their assigned duties dependably regardless of whether they like their jobs or not. However, it is worth mentioning that the hospitality industry might be an exception to this rule simply because the work attitudes of the employees account for a very heavy portion of the level of the service in delivering satisfaction to customers’ needs. It will, therefore be worth carrying out further research to study the correlation between job satisfaction and job performance in this particular industry. 4. 3 Motivation, Job Design and Goal Setting Wagner Hollenbeck (2005) suggested that: â€Å"one way for an organization to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals is to generate a more motivated workforce†, â€Å"a person who is highly motivated will start work sooner and leave work later relative to someone is unmotivated. While engaged at work, a highly motivated person will work faster, take fewer breaks, and be less easily distracted relative to someone who is unmotivated†. Job design and goal setting are two of the major factors contributing towards creating motivation, George and Jones’s (2008) study suggested that: â€Å"Job design can have a profound effect on employee motivation. The specific goals employees strive for and the more general corporate objectives that an organization pursues over time are important sources of motivation for employees. † Wagner Hollenbeck (2005) pointed out that the methods of work design developed with the motivational perspective in mind include job enlargement and job enrichment. Callinan, Forshaw Peter’s (2007) studies showed that a job’s core characteristics, which are skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback are believed to be key influences on employee motivation. Goal setting is also considered to be â€Å"communicating accurate information on work performance† and these â€Å"can be positive motivators for employees. † George and Jones (2008) have similar opinions on this subject. They believe that â€Å"two major characteristics of goals that lead to high levels of motivation and performance, one is specificity, the other is difficulty†, â€Å"specific goals lead to higher performance than do vague goals or no goals†, and â€Å"difficult goals (not impossible) lead to higher motivation and performance than do easy or moderate goals. However, there are limits to goal setting theory, Thus, studies by George and Jones (2008) show that there are three particular circumstances under which setting specific, and difficult goals will not lead to high motivation and performance, they are goals which involve employees’ skills and abilities, tasks which require employees’ complete attention and a considerable amount of learning, and when creativity is needed to perform the task. In hospitality, these 3 circumstances do happen very often, this research will be carried out with heavy focus upon these circumstances and issues to review how Malmaison Hotel balance these pros and cons within their organization. 4. 4 Groups and Teams A large amount of work has been done regarding group dynamics and team effectiveness. However, there is one area that is most interesting and related to, not only Malmaison hotel chain, but to the whole hospitality industry, that is the correlation between cohesiveness and performance of groups or teams. George and Jones (2008) suggested there are five factors that influence a group’s level of cohesiveness: 1. Group size, as it gets bigger, members tend to be less satisfied, group between 3 and 15 people are believed to be the right size that promotes cohesiveness. 2. Similarity/diversity of group member, depending on the tasks and situations, similarity and diversity can be beneficial to group cohesiveness. 3. Competition between groups, generally competition will be facilitating group cohesiveness but occasionally it can be dysfunctional and impair effectiveness when there is too much competition within a group. 4. Success, members will be more attracted to a successful group and proud to be a member. 5. Exclusiveness, when it’s difficult to get in a group, and the group has a high status, group cohesiveness tends to be high. However, they also pointed out that occasionally, too much cohesiveness within a group can impair the organization’s effectiveness if the group’s goal is not aligned with the goal of the organization or other groups within that organization, for example waiting staff‘s goals of providing good service in order to get decent tips are aligned with the restaurant’s goal of satisfying customers, but not aligned with bar tending staff’ goals. 4. 5 Leadership Leadership plays an important role in a hotel organization success. Thus, Peter Jones and Steven Gross-Turner pointed out in Managing Projects in Hospitality Organizations, hotels are in a turbulent environment, and â€Å"managers are in fact in the best place to identify what changes need to be made since they are the people who have direct contacts with employees and customers† (Jones et al, 1991). 4. 6 Organizational Structure Centralizing and decentralizing organizational structures are two most used structures nowadays. A decentralized structure will decentralize authority to lower level managers and non-managerial employees, give them the responsibility to make important decisions, keep the problem of slow and distorted communication to a minimum and make the job more interesting and rewarding while, at the same time, fewer managers are needed. (Blau and Schoenher, 1971) However, too much decentralization provides employees with too much authority and they might pursue their own goals at the expense of the goal of the organization. A centralized structure generally has more levels within the organization and provides employees with more opportunities to gain promotion and progress. For the hospitality industry, where employees perform primarily physically, more opportunities clearly will be attractive for those who desire a less physically demanding position. 4. 7 Conclusion Kotler (2001) pointed out that â€Å"today’s successful organizations to a certain degree all have one thing in common, that is they are dedicated to sensing, serving and satisfying the needs of customers in well defined targeted markets†. In the hospitality industry, when service is their major product, this philosophy is obviously critically important. However, how Malmaison strategically positions itself to compete with its rivals is an even more crucial and difficult issue that the proposed research will focus on. 5. 0Methodology 5. 1 Introduction A number of approaches will be taken to collect the needed data and information in order to serve the purpose of this research project, increase the quality of the results and findings and enhance the credibility of the research project. Malmaison hotel chain has over 20 hotels throughout the UK, each individual hotel will be unique and differentiated in terms of their focus and priorities depending on their local customs and culture. However, what this research project will be concentrating on is what the common factors are for the Malmaison hotel chain as a whole that turns the organization into a success. Therefore the Birmingham Malmaison will be the subject of the investigation. Birmingham is a multi cultural city and operating in a multicultural organizational environment has been becoming a trend for organizations world wide. The researcher gained two years working experience in this hotel, and therefore it is especially worthwhile doing the research project in such an environment. (Cox, 2001) To complete this research project, three stages will be taken in order to process the project, they are desk based research, field based research and the preparation of a detailed case study. 5. 2 Desk Based Research At this stage of the investigation, a heavy focus will be upon the articles that address the hospitality industry, hotel management, hospitality strategy, as well as the paper work that states hotel policies, financial and management accounts, board of directors statements, stock control data, and general manager’s letters to all the staff. These secondary data contain enormous amounts of information that indicates the hotel’s management style and attitude and forms the fundamental policy to the customers and market. These data are absolutely the first key for this research and will provides valuable information and evidence on the reasons for the Malmaison hotel chain’s success. In addition to that, some of these data are available to the public and can be quickly and easily collected. Some of these data are not available to the public, but, as a former member of staff, I could still gain access to this information. With the information and evidence collected, the primary data collection work will be much more focused and relatively easier having the support and assistance of the secondary data collected. 5. Field Based Research A series of interviews (8-12 people) will be carried out to gain a first hand insight of the impacts which the management style of Malmaison hotel chain has on its employees, and how it affects the performance of the organization. The interviews will take place in various departments across the organization in order to gain a full understanding of the operation sy stem in the Malmaison hotel chain. Some of the board of directors, the general manager, department managers, sector supervisors, and staff that work at the front line and have direct contact with customers all will be interviewed. The total number of interviews will be between 8 to 12. This will give the evidence and information on how each department functions and what are the impacts of them on each other. One or two suppliers will also be interviewed to provide evidence on how the Malmaison hotel chain cuts deals with suppliers and how they interact with each other and how is it affects the organization financially and what impact it has on the marketing and sales strategy of the organization. However, caution must be taken while conducting these interviews. Thus, Saunders (2002) suggests that it is in the researchers’ own interest to seriously consider the reliability, forms of bias, validity and generalisability of the information obtained. Therefore, carefully prepared interview questionnaires will be used and questions which appear in the questionnaires will also be cautiously selected to gain as fair a view as possible. The framework suggested by Easterby-Smith (1991) may be adopted to make sure that the data generated from the interviews is thoroughly reviewed and evaluated. The stages in this process will include: 1. Familiarisation 2. Reflection 3. Conceptualisation 4. Cataloguing concepts 5. Recording 6. Linking 7. Re-evaluation 5. 4 Preparation of the Case Study A case study will be generated at the final stage of the research by putting together the data that is gathered from the previous stages. The case study will bring up recommendations to the management team of Malmaison hotel chain and also, there will be discussions of to what extent the findings can be generalized and to what degree the Malmaison hotel chain management structure, human resource management policies and operational systems can be copied and utilized by other organizations within, or even outside the hospitality industry. . 0 Ethical Issues While conducting the research and interviews, the financial information of Malmaison will be discussed in the interviews, its financial statement will also be used later in the dissertation to analyse and measure its performance, and such information will be kept confidential. The final report will be identified as ‘Commercial in c onfidence’ and will not be available to a wider audience than those directly involved in its assessment. 7. 0 Task List TaskProblemsSolutions Research literature on hospitality management, current hospitality industry trends analysis in the UK. Limited amount of literature in the area of topic. E- journals, business review magazines, textbooks, newspapers, internet. Review literature and identify relevant and reliable articles. Time consuming to select relevant articles. Time management. Contacting general managers in Malmaison hotel chain to gain access to information. Very difficult to get access to key information and financial report and management accounting report. Utilize my identity as former employee in the organization. Selecting different individuals to conduct interviews. Too many employees to choose fromSelect people who may represent the department and be able to give valuable information and opinion. Arranging interviews with selected staff. Difficult to fit in everyone’s schedule and it’s time consuming since the amount of time between each interview when the person is available is unpredictable. Be patient and positive. Conducting interviews. Response may not be relevant. Textbooks on how to carry out interviews. Transcribe interviews scripts. Time consuming while large amount of information gathered in interviews with limited amount of transcribe skills.

Star Appliance Company Essay Example

Star Appliance Company Essay This paper will discuss how Star Appliance Company managed its cost of capital and plan for future investments. The paper will reveal corporate problems and present relevant management theories to lead the company into a solution. The underlying problems consist of choosing a new and more efficient financing strategy, and designing more accurate method of evaluating investment projects. Previously, the company was having positive sales performances which indirectly cause the problem to be hard to identify. However, as the company needed to expand their business, the new financial officer discovered several inefficiencies in managing corporate financing strategies and evaluating future investment. The condition was described by the WACC method.   The paper will present alternatives of solutions for the problem and in the end choose the most beneficial one for the case. The company must adopt a new financing strategy which incorporates a balanced proportion between debt and equity financing instruments. The company must also design a new evaluation strategy for the new investment projects which incorporate risks premiums, additional cost of investments and a margin of error in forecasting future cash flow. The financial department has obtained increasing roles in the corporate management concept. In previous times, marketing department projects sales, production department determined the necessary amount of assets required in order to meet the projections, and the financial department’s function was only to provide funds for providing other department with their requirements. However, this model of management is obsolete and replaced by more coordinated types of decision making, where financial managers are responsible for planning as well as controlling activities. This reflects the increasing importance of good financial considerations in each decision of the corporation. We will write a custom essay sample on Star Appliance Company specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Star Appliance Company specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Star Appliance Company specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer According to Weston and Brigham (1996), there are several detailed activities related to financial management. One of them is the activity of making investment and financing decisions. In line with corporate long term strategy, financial managers must provide funds to support growth. Successful companies usually have high rate of sales, which required additional factory investment, equipment and current assets to produce goods and services. In the more coordinated decision making activities, financial managers must help determining the optimum sales level and make decisions on specific investment that will be performed. Within those activities, there are also questions of whether to use internal or external financing, debt or equity financing, and short or long term debts. These are important aspects of corporate management that could determine whether the company is heading to success or financial failure. Within this paper, I am discussing the importance of considering cost of assets in corporate financial management. The case study will be the Star Appliance Company in 1977. In this paper, I will describe the problems within Star Appliance Company financial management and offer recommendation to solve existing problems within the company. II.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Problems Within the Star Company II.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Corporate Background The Star Appliance Company is a successful business of manufacturing home appliances, especially electric stoves and ovens. Soon after the company was established in 1922, it receives a warm welcome from the growing market for home appliances. The company focuses on providing its customers with premium types of home appliances with a slightly higher margin than its competitors. In a short time, the company managed to gather significant market share due to its reputation of providing high quality appliances. Corporate financial strategy –to use equities instead of debts- has seemed to be working splendidly as The Company was able to survive the great depression and maintain its existence with smaller-based operations but strong financial structure within the company. However, management has become aware that there are problems in maintaining profitable operations with existing lines. The company plans to enrich its product lines, but there are some concerns regarding how the company managed its cost of capital. Without strong financial management capabilities, investments in new product lines could destroy corporate profitability instead of developing it. Therefore, these problems must be addressed first. II.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hurdle Rates In simple understanding, hurdle rate means the minimum acceptable rate of return on a capital investment project. It is required to measure the limitation of when an investment is no longer considered profitable. The calculation has the basic logic of requiring returns to be higher than the cost of investment. However it also incorporate several factors such as the cost of risk, inflation, etc. It is a comprehensive look on how an investment will increase the wealth of the shareholders. Mathematically, the hurdle rate consists of the cost of the capital plus the project’s risk premium (‘The Hurdle Rate, 2006). II.2.1  Ã‚   Corporate Hurdle Rates The company seemed lacked logical reasoning to determine its hurdle rate. Corporate hurdle rate is based only by an experience on previous return of equity. According to the elaboration above, this policy is vulnerable to risks and provides low assurance for profit. The company must determine a new and more reasonable hurdle rate by incorporating factors such as cost of capital and risk premium (‘The Hurdle Rate’, 2006) II.2.2  Ã‚   Cost of Capital The cost of capital must be included within an investment calculation simply because we do not want to invest where we it provides us with no profit what so ever. Nevertheless, because obtaining money results additional costs, the concept cost of capital must include two things: the project cost and the financing cost. To be acceptable, a project must have a rate of return that exceeds the project cost plus the financing cost (‘The Hurdle Rate’, 2006) II.2.3  Ã‚   Risk Premium Nevertheless, cost of capital itself still does not provide a logical measurement toward a good financing decision. This is because every return from different sets of investment has a different degree of assurance. If the investment has less than 100% assurance for the return, then a risk premium must be included in the calculation of financing decision. However, the rate of risk premium must be set very in a very careful manner. Inadequate amount of risk premium will put our investment if jeopardy, on the other hand, over assuming the amount of risk premium will eliminate some profitable projects from consideration (‘The Hurdle Rate, 2006). II.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Financing Alternatives and Inflation II.3.1  Ã‚   Corporate Financing Strategy As mentioned in the case study, the company ha a unique strategy of financing. The company depends on equity financing methods a lot more than debt financing methods. On other words, the company survived through its years mostly by selling corporate equities. According to the case study, this is possible because the company has a remarkable reputation as a premium producer of household appliances and able to maintain good relationship with its affiliates. Nevertheless, Arthur Foster, the financial president of the company seemed confuse about corporate unwillingness to use debt instruments. Debt instruments have a considerably lower cost than equity, especially after incorporating tax into the calculation. The company might want to reconsider its policies of financing instruments. Furthermore, he argues that a proper additional margin must also be incorporated into the calculation to offset the effect of inflation. II.3.2  Ã‚   Debt and Equity Instruments The company prefers the equity financing because it has lower cost and smaller legal risk. However, due to corporate policy of increasing dividend rate, the alternative is no longer providing more efficiency compare to debt instruments. Generally, debt instruments will result a slightly higher capital cost and they would require monthly payment, nevertheless, they do not have the risk of loosing corporate control to shareholders. Moreover, if the company is able to maintain the good credibility toward creditors, after some time they would be more than happy to facilitate the company with debt extensions. On the other hand, the equity instruments are a tool of obtaining additional funds through affiliates or partners. These means management will loose more of the corporate control as the equity instruments build sups inside the company. Generally, the best option is to keep the proper balance between debt and equity financing instruments. Because the good balance differs among industry, the Star Appliance Company must put some effort in finding its own financing balance (‘Financing’, 2006). II.3.3  Ã‚   Inflation As stated by many economists in the late 1970’s, inflation was a significant factor influencing the cost of capital. A study by Cohen (1997) however, revealed that until today, inflation is still a significant influence for cost of capital. Inflation, even at its low rates, increases the user cost of capital significantly. If the rate of inflation decreases, the marginal gain in investment is greater compare to the rate of the decrease. This reflects the stronger effect of inflation toward cost of capital. Therefore, inflation should be incorporated in every investment analysis. II.4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Risk, Legal Fees and margin of Error The last of Foster’s concerns is about how the company accounts for investment risks that are significantly larger than the others. There are opinions that riskier information should be evaluated using higher hurdle rates. Furthermore, Foster believed that there should be a margin to account for the existence of legal fees such as safety, and environmental costs. This margin is required to prevent the additional costs to eat away corporate profit from the investment. Finally, the investments must also calculate a margin of error, in order to account for unexpected disturbance in the forecasting process. In case of using different hurdle rates for different projects, management theories favor the opposite. According to several management theories, investment and financing consideration has different factors that must not be brought together. Investment decisions are based on the consideration of which project are the most profitable, while financing decisions should focus on supporting investment decision and not altering it. III.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Star Company Cost of Equity Cost of Equity is measured by various indicators. However, one of the most utilized is the Weighted Average Cost of Capital ratio. A firm’s WACC is the overall required return on the firm as a whole. In simple terms, the ratio accounts for every possibility of financing a corporation. According to the WACC concept, a corporation can either be financed by debt, preferen stock or common stock. The WACC put all of these factors into equation that resulted the average interest the company must pay for every dollar it finances. The calculation is as follows: WACC = w1k1(1-T) + w2k2 + w3k3 W1   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = percentage of debt K1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = the rate of interest W2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = percentage of preferen stock K2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = cost of preferen stock W3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = percentage of common equity K3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = cost of common equity (Weston Brigham, 1996) According to existing data, the company financed most of its investments using retained earnings. The company did not have any long-term debt, which means that the w1 and k1 equals to 0. The case study also reveals that the company did not have any preferred stock within corporate balances sheet, which mean that the w2 and k2 equals to 0. Thus, the only variable exist within Star Appliance Company’s WACC is the common stock variable. Without the presence of debt and preferred stock, If we calculate the number of dividend paid and divide the result with total common stock of the company, then we will obtain a very high number of WACC. nbsp; Calculation : WACC (1978)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = percentage of common stock * (dividend paid/ total value of common stock) WACC (1978)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = 100% * [(dividend/share * total shares common stock)/total value of common stock] WACC (1978)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = 100% * [(1.52 * 13,414,268)/ 27,835,000] WACC (1978)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = 73% nbsp; The number means that on the period that ended December 31, 1978, the company paid as much as 73% for equity financing instruments. This is due to corporate operation to increase the rate of dividend paid, in order to satisfy shareholders. Despite corporate ability to sustain corporate operations and investment activities, the number is extremely high. Observing corporate financial structure, the company could easily obtain additional funding from debt instruments. Debts would have a much lower capital cost compare to the ‘sky-reaching’ dividend rate. nbsp; IV.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Recommendation From the case study, we are able to capture two main problems of the Star Appliance Company. The first point is the problem of choosing from alternatives financing instrument. Arthur Foster believed that despite the acceptable state of corporate financial performance at the time, the company could be a lot more efficient by altering its financing strategy. The second issue is that of choosing between different methods of evaluating alternative investments. There are several alternatives of solution forth both problems. nbsp; IV.1   Ã‚  Ã‚   Choosing Financing Instruments The first choice is to maintain corporate policy of using retained earnings and equity instruments in financing. This alternative will not create a problem for the company in the short-run. However, in the long-run, the company would need to expand its business by performing investment activities that require large amount of funds. This condition has been described in the case study as the company is trying to finance three projects with existing resource. In order to move forward with this project, the company needs to increase the efficiency of its financial structure. Maintaining current financing strategy will deny the company from further profitable investments using the projects. The second choice is to use debt instruments to cover the needs for investment. This alternative could provide the company with large amount of funds, considering the company did not yet have a balance of long-term debt. However, debt instruments are known for its slightly higher cost compare to standard equity instrument’s cost. It also requires a monthly payment that could be a burden if occurred in large proportions. Furthermore, companies overburdened with debts generally less favored by shareholders and future investors. The third alternative is to maintain a balance between debt and equity financing. This can be achieved by observing the debt-to-equity ratio and maintaining it within the proper balance. Some companies believe that a good company would not have a debt-to-equity ratio of more than 3 to 1. However, a good balance for debt-to-equity financing differs within each industry and the company must benchmark to other sin the industry to find the right balance. nbsp; IV.2  Ã‚  Ã‚   Methods of Choosing Investment Projects Within this issue, foster emphasizes several important points: methods of determining the proper hurdle rate, incorporating inflation, incorporating legal cost and a margin of error. The first alternative is to remain practicing existing investment evaluation method: using 10% hurdle rate, with little consideration of inflation cost, legal cost and a margin of error. This method will result all three projects to be acceptable alternatives. The company might be able to successfully financed all three projects if it apply for further external financing instruments, however,   the level of accuracy within the calculation will be low and there will be no certainty of the real cash flow that will be received in following years. The second alternative would be to incorporate financing costs, risk premium, inflation, legal cost and a margin of error. There is no sufficient data to perform these types of calculation within this paper. However, it can be estimated that the second alternative will not be acceptable according to the new hurdle rate and the new evaluation standard. The third alternative is to incorporate financing costs, risk premium, inflation, legal cost, margin of error and additional margin for riskier investments that require additional asset. This alternative will present a more accurate calculation of existing projects, but it will influence investment decisions with consideration of financing, something that will reduce investment activities considerably. nbsp; V.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Solution In choosing financing alternatives, the best solution for Star Appliance Company is to start using considerable debt instrument. The target is to balance the proportion between debt and equity. The company should have no difficulties in obtaining additional funds from debt instruments because of its good reputation and zero balance of long term debt. The balanced proportion between debt and equity instruments will lead to efficient financial management and resulted optimum capacity for further investment activities. In designing methods of evaluating investment projects, the company should choose to incorporate inflation, legal fees and margin of error, but should not choose to make additional margins for relatively riskier projects. Each project should be calculated using similar percentage of hurdle rate plus additional costs mentioned previously. nbsp; VI.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Conclusion Unlike most companies, the company seemed to have no problem in marketing and selling its premium product. However, the premium profits caused management to neglect efficiency concerns in managing its operations and investment decisions. The problem became visible as the company appointed new financial officer and tried to plan for further investment. Despite previous success, company’s WACC displayed that corporate cost of capital is significantly higher than average. The new financial officer mentioned problems such as the lack consideration of inflation, legal fees and margin of error in evaluating new projects. These factors are important in providing managers with accurate investment decisions and accurate predictions of cash flow. For example, according to a study by Cohen (1997) inflation has a significant effect in cost of capital. Furthermore, not incorporating legal fees and margin of error will eat away the profit of the investment. The solution presented for the company is to redesign its financing strategy into a balanced proportion between debt and equity. In terms of evaluating investment activities, the company should incorporate additional fees and a margin of error.

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The Solar System Humans live on a small planet in a tiny part of a vast universe. This part of the universe is called the solar system, and is dominated by a single brilliant star-the sun. The solar system is the earth’s neighbourhood and the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are the Earth’s neighbours. They all have the same stars in the sky and orbit the same sun. Scientists believe the solar system began about 5 billion years ago, perhaps when a nearby star exploded and caused a large cloud of dust and gas to collapse in on itself. The hot, central part of the cloud became the sun, while some smaller pieces formed around it and became the planets. Other fragments became asteroids and comets, which also orbit the sun. The early solar system was a turbulent mix of hot gas and rocky debris. In the solar system everything is affected by the sun’s gravity. 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Elsewhere, the Moon still bears the scars... Free Essays on The Solar System Free Essays on The Solar System The Solar System Humans live on a small planet in a tiny part of a vast universe. This part of the universe is called the solar system, and is dominated by a single brilliant star-the sun. The solar system is the earth’s neighbourhood and the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are the Earth’s neighbours. They all have the same stars in the sky and orbit the same sun. Scientists believe the solar system began about 5 billion years ago, perhaps when a nearby star exploded and caused a large cloud of dust and gas to collapse in on itself. The hot, central part of the cloud became the sun, while some smaller pieces formed around it and became the planets. Other fragments became asteroids and comets, which also orbit the sun. The early solar system was a turbulent mix of hot gas and rocky debris. In the solar system everything is affected by the sun’s gravity. The planets and a variety of other objects, including comets, move the way they do because of the sun’s gravitational attraction. Our planet, Earth, is the third out from the sun. The planets are all different. Their differences are largely the result of their different distances from the sun. We call the planets that are closer to the sun, including the Earth, the inner planets. They are small rocky worlds. The outer planets are much larger and are made from much lighter materials. All but two planets, Mercury and Venus, have moons in orbit around them. The Moon The explorers found a dead world. There is no air and no water. Without an atmosphere, the sky is black at midday and the temperatures swing by hundreds of degrees from day to night. No rivers or oceans have eroded the surface; no volcanoes are rebuilding the boring landscape. The surface has survived unchanged for billions of years. Smooth plains and lava flows that froze on the Moon long before life arose on the Earth. Elsewhere, the Moon still bears the scars... Free Essays on The Solar System The Solar System Humans live on a small planet in a tiny part of a vast universe. This part of the universe is called the solar system, and is dominated by a single brilliant star-the sun. The solar system is the earth’s neighbourhood and the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are the Earth’s neighbours. They all have the same stars in the sky and orbit the same sun. Scientists believe the solar system began about 5 billion years ago, perhaps when a nearby star exploded and caused a large cloud of dust and gas to collapse in on itself. The hot, central part of the cloud became the sun, while some smaller pieces formed around it and became the planets. Other fragments became asteroids and comets, which also orbit the sun. The early solar system was a turbulent mix of hot gas and rocky debris. In the solar system everything is affected by the sun’s gravity. The planets and a variety of other objects, including comets, move the way they do because of the sun’s gravitational attraction. Our planet, Earth, is the third out from the sun. The planets are all different. Their differences are largely the result of their different distances from the sun. We call the planets that are closer to the sun, including the Earth, the inner planets. They are small rocky worlds. The outer planets are much larger and are made from much lighter materials. All but two planets, Mercury and Venus, have moons in orbit around them. The Moon The explorers found a dead world. There is no air and no water. Without an atmosphere, the sky is black at midday and the temperatures swing by hundreds of degrees from day to night. No rivers or oceans have eroded the surface; no volcanoes are rebuilding the boring landscape. 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