Change & Innovation in Car Manufacturing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Change & Innovation in Car Manufacturing - Essay Example also necessary materials and intangible assets) founded on specially developed original technology, which is able to make the product satisfying the needs. This research paper discusses the innovation in the car manufacturing industry. This phenomenon has been often studied from theoretical and practical perspective, but there is a need to study positive effects and the challenges of innovation. The approaches existing in literature represent the recommendations on the solution of certain sides of this problem, which need further development, deepening and systematization. Therefore, the issue under consideration is very relevant. The processes of updating are connected to the market relations. The main innovations are realized in the market economy by the enterprise structures as a mean of resolving commercial tasks and as the most important factor of ensuring stability of their functioning, economic growth and competitiveness. Innovations are therefore focused on the market, on the specific consumer or requirement. Innovations are very complex, many-sided problem which is connected with the production and sale. Management plays a very important role in increasing innovative policy efficiency. The general scientific concept "innovation" is defined as a target change in system functioning. In a broad sense it can be high-quality and (or) quantitative changes in various spheres and elements of the system. The general scientific concept "innovation" is defined as target change in functioning of the system, and in a broad sense it can be high-quality and (or) quantitative changes in various spheres and system elements. Innovative process represents the set of procedures and means, with the help of which a discovery, idea turn in social, educational innovation. Thus, the activity which provides transformation of ideas into innovation and also forms a control system of this process is an innovative activity. Here a novelty is understood as a result of an innovation,

Experimental Research Essay Example for Free

Experimental Research Essay I have chosen to describe the study to be performed by the pharmaceutical company that wants to test a new sleep aid. Before they engage in human studies the researchers must determine what they want to prove exactly. Since the goal of the drug is to promote better sleep habits, the hypothesis for this study would be that individuals taking this new aid will fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer than they did before they started taking the drug. Randomization of the subjects involved in the study is important in order for the results of the variable to be accurate when measured, however there are some ethical considerations that must be addressed first. Since the controlled sleep aid is a drug and with any drug there may be certain side effects, individuals under the age of 18 are not permitted to participate in the trial. Those individuals over the age of 18 who are signed up to participate in the sleep study were given an extensive medical background check to make sure they were not allergic to any medications that might be found in the drug. They were also provided with all the information on the drug including possible side effects and dependency. Once all the prerequisites are met the group of 20 participants varying in weight, age, gender, and nationality are randomly divided into two groups of 10. One group will be a controlled group meaning they will be observed sleeping as they normally would and the other group is the treatment group and will be taking the sleep aid in a normally prescribed dose. Both groups, however, will be given a supplement every night at bedtime in order to achieve experimental realism. Neither group is aware that any placebo is involved. The study will last a total of two weeks, during the first week both groups are placed in similar dorms and are observed sleeping every night without the help of any medications. This not only allows time for the subjects to become acclimated to their new surroundings, it also gives researchers a point of reference as to how the subjects slept before starting on the medication. Every morning the time it took them to fall asleep and the length of time that they slept is documented for each individual and at the end of the first week they are given a survey of how well they think they slept and if these sleep habits compare to their normal sleep habits at home. Administration of the medication begins at the beginning of the second week. The treatment group receives the drug and the control group receives placebo. They are observed for another week under the same conditions, in the same dorm and documented the same way. At the end of the second week they are asked to take the same survey and give their opinion of the drug. All data from both groups is collected and the results from each group is compared to see if the drug made a positive and significant difference on the sleep the individuals received while they we on it. The first step in finding out the results of the trial is to measure the sleep of the individuals with no medication and compare the results to the sleep they received during the second week. Then they compared that data to the sleep those individuals on placebo received. The results showed that those individuals on placebo complained that they did not sleep any better or worse on the drug. The treatment group showed longer periods of sleep while on the drug and only complained of a little grogginess in the morning. There was no change however in the time it took either group to fall asleep on or off the drug. The results of the sleep study indicate that while individuals did experience longer periods of sleep, the drug did not aid them in falling sleep faster whatsoever. Therefore only half of the hypothesis proved true based on the outcome of the trial.

Marks and Spencer Internal and External Factors

Marks and Spencer Internal and External Factors Analysts did not expect there to be a double-dip recession first, but changes in consumer spending trends raised concerns for keeping a keen eye on consumer confidence by carrying out in-depth customer surveys every month. This was to become and stay realistic. Leaders of large firms are very cautious regarding UK economic environment. UK is considered to come through the deepest ravages of the economic turmoil recently and in such a situation still MS managed to post profits of  £632.5m for the last financial year. With the worst effects of the recession behind , the strong foundations in place, and its core values helped MS set for growth under hard circumstances. At  £632.5m, MSs adjusted pre-tax profits for the 12 months to 27 March were 4.6% higher than a year ago but well below the  £1bn profits achieved in 2008. These stats along with the new budget announcement, impact on consumer spending remains a cautious issue and will have impact on outlook for the year ahead. Business Environment Analysis PESTLE The external environment of Marks Spencer is comprised of all the elements that determine what the it needs to compete in its respective industry. Following is highlighted some factors of MAs external environment and how they effect Marks Spencer in executing its strategies: (P)OLITICAL European Integration and Free Trade Agreements have opened up markets for British other Companies to invest in Europe. Thus, causing MA to fight hard to maintain its market share with aggressive strategies. Generally any trade is allowed in UK provided that it does not oppose public policy, public order, or any existing law in the land. But for Marks and Spencer, the most troublesome political elements that they have to contend to deals with the issue of labour laws and industrial relationship. In the long history of MA, its development efforts have been controlled by many infringements in labour laws in local operations and also in international initiatives. (E)CONOMIC UK Retail sector is quite recession prawn and also very sensitive to changes in interest rates. With the event of September 11, the world economies have suffered heavily, Once the customers and economy was on boom track after September 11 post effects, the financial crisis of 2009-09 has again set the economies struggle for survival. UK economy after fighting hard has now regained its system and consumers are again optimistic and the retail industry is once again booming. The United Kingdom being a hub of commerce in Europe, has consumers not limited to only locals but flocks of tourists also, thus creating much variations in base trends and retail business. (S)OCIAL Changes in consumer taste and lifestyle represent both opportunities and threats for the industry. UK consumer have a loyal tendency particularly towards brand. Quality of the product, but these factors can be easily overcome by fairly competitive pricing strategy from a competing brand. Moreover, consumers preference towards trendy styles rather than classics are also apparent in UK consumer market. This is specially in case of Marks and Spencer, as it has struggled hard to gain a greater market share of its customers. This makes evident that UK consumer places high value on their money. (T)ECHNICAL Changes in retailing methods such as Internet used as online shopping store is a common practice in retailing, widening the scope of ecommerce. Moreover, Paperless operation and use of IT systems has provided flexibility in the executing operations of the business. Online marketing activities over the net is also becoming one of the competitive advantages held by the leading retail companies in UK. (E)NVIRONMENTAL The renewable and environmentally friendly sources of resources used in production are opted by most of the companies across globe now which has posed greater struggle for companies to maintain its market share. For Marks Spencer, careful use of fabric and raw materials is a greater concern now. (L)EGAL National legislation for health and safety both in terms of consumer rights and also in terms of production of own natural renewable resources for making clothes is closely monitoring practices of companies so as to evaluate them on complying with legal restrictions . Analysis of the External Environment of Marks and Spencer The retail environment in UK appears to be extremely attractive. Companies, although have government support still there exists in the market some level of difficulty in penetrating the retail market, especially for new entrants, due to the strong hold of monoliths This is also true companies like Marks and Spencer, having strong historical background that their environment is essentially welcoming and neglecting the fact of cutthroat nature of the competition there are chances of immense demise for companies. PORTERS 5 FORCES Porter explains that five forces exist in a market, which determine the intensity of competition and profitability of MS . The first is the threat posed by new entrants, the high capital expenditure and customers changing expectations put significant barriers to entry, making market also sensitive to reputation. But, with emergence of low cost manufactures a significant threat is posed for MS market. There is an opportunity in the low price/ low economy (fast) sector and BHS and Top Shop or ASDA may also consider introducing low cost home products. The second is the threats from substitutes, as there are many retailers in both clothing and food sector, MS has serious concerns regarding this. The third force is the threats from the bargaining power of buyers, this is strong for both MS and the entire food retailing industry with a large number of alternative suppliers, hence, the aggressive pricing strategy which causes strong competitive rivalry in the industry and is getting intensified because of little or no differentiation in the basic product offered. Last is the threats from the suppliers bargainin g power which is considerably low for food industry, due to a range of alternative sources of supply available for products. SWOT SWOT Analysis will help us in understanding Marks Spencers current situation in terms of strengths and where improvements are required within the business and what outside environmental threats it faces along with what new opportunities are available in the short and medium term. (S)TRENGTHS Diverse ranges of Products Food, Clothing, Financial products, furniture, wine and Home Largest retailer in the United Kingdom by sales. Strong Cash Flow Position Increase turnover and trading profits Leading Premium Quality Food Retailer Brand Awareness (O)PPORTUNITIES New Products Innovation Alliances Customers demand change to more value for money products Develop overseas supply chain (W)EAKNESSES Perception of High Prices Customer disinterest Environmental issues: Pollutions Substitute products or technologies (T)HREATS New existing competition Volatility in Price of raw products New legislations Economic recession Low cost retailers  · Extremely high competition Analysis of the Macro environment Microenvironment MS is rated a successful multinational corporation. It has created its large number of loyal customer base by providing them with its high quality, good service, comfortable shopping environment and convenient access to outlets and products. But, due to the immense competition in market and also MSs own wide product ranged offered it has to revise its marketing segmentation approach, especially in reference to clothing market. Consumers have changing fashionable design and coloring requirements and MS as is facing different target markets need to change its designs, cuts and color schemes to meet their demands. These need to specific and separate for women and young consumers who are its main target. MS also needs to enhance stock management. Combing its information technology system with stock management ca help MS find problems immediately and solve them efficiently to supply products timely. MS also needs to consider the global economic environment, where the economic recession has caused deciling sales for MS, it should focus more towards mid-age and mid-class as its target group as now their incomes can afford the high price of MS. Trend Impact Analysis Proposed Strategic Plan for MS After doing analysis of the environment of the MS, the proposed strategic plan will be considering both the internal as well as external environment. Initially its value chain should be focused on: Value Chain The value chain of the organisation is coined primarily by Porter as a tool to recognise the inherent capabilities of the organisation to realise its competitive advantage. The following will describe the primary activities and support activities of the company. Primary Activities The primary activities take in hand several specific functions of the company: inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, sales and marketing, and service. Marks and Spencer receives its inventories from its suppliers, initially the strategy was to stay limited to English suppliers but eventually this trends is now shifting and now suppliers include international suppliers also. Marks and Spencer is involved in the direct selling of apparel, foodstuff, and even home furnishings. The sales and marketing of the company should be the most prioritised elements for the organisation, due to the intense competition present in the industry, vying for consumer favour and to add value to the brand , it takes a step above the rest of these primary activities. Support Activities For these support activities, the company needs to have hold of its f human resource and technology, where with help of proper training of common employee, the company can ccreate knowledge of its products and their awareness during the processes of selling to customers. Use of technology in similar manner can significantly infused in the operations of Marks and Spencer. This includes providing online transactions and loyalty cards on which they should be doing continuous improvements and innovation. Strategic Options Available To create sound strategic options for the MS, they must consider the benefits and impacts those can have on company financial position and customer base also. Following are discussed some options which following the current recession and UK competitive market structure can be of good benefit for the company   Brand repositioning: this technique if used to create fresh feeling in the minds of customers for the brand after frequent intervals. Moreover brand repositioning requires a lot of work on new targets, segments and options, the changing consumer trends and demands can be well handled by MS using such strategies The rapid competition demand fast and logical decisions which are flexible and designed in such a ways that immediate implementation is possible as customers dont have time now and immediately switch to other brands. Thus the structure of decision making should be redesigned to make it more integrated and flexible. Of the many strategic options available for Marks Spencer it appears that Marks and Spencer could focus on to refurbishing its operations. For instance, the company should look into a partnership with the more current and competitive players in the retail industry. This can help broaden the overall outlook of Marks and Spencer regarding their standing in the market. Marks Spencer needs to move ahead with major technology-driven change projects, despite cautiousness over the economy. Improvement in systems can also take place to improve supply chain processes which includes enhancing stock management systems to provide more accurate real-time stock level information. Getting Cost efficiencies by introducing some new point-of-sale system and better customer service to all stores Building a strong multichannel capability can also be useful which will result in more website development and introduction attractive and more efficient facilities and stock availability information for customers

Niagara Falls :: essays research papers

Niagara Falls, one of the worlds greatest natural wonders, can only be described as breath taking. No matter what time of year, whether it’s the beautiful rainbows glistening in the mist, or the magnificent ice bridge created by the cold of winter, Niagara Falls always seems to amaze it’s viewers. Schoolbooks called it one of the greatest wonders of the world, bringing to mind pictures of a far away, unattainable place. It seemed like a larger-than-life miracle of nature. As a child, I believed that Niagara Falls, like Mt. Rushmore and the Grand Canyon were all very real attractions of the United States. I was given the facts and numbers, but never could my young mind comprehend the actual size and greatness of the falls.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This past June, I was given the opportunity to travel to Canada and see the expansive falls with my own eyes. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of the falls is that they are not in some far away place in the country. They are right smack in the middle of a town, the town of Niagara Falls. As a child, I envisioned the falls as a giant rushing shower of water. However, I could never have imagined the great beauty and breathtaking view the falls offer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The falls serve as a border between the U.S. (New York) and Canada (Ontario). The falls actually consist of the American Bridal Veil Falls and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, collectively called Niagara. They were created 12,000 years ago when large glaciers retreated allowing the Niagara River to flow over large sections of rock. There are several ways to view the falls, but perhaps the best way to observe the splendor and majesty of Niagara Falls is through a tour. Our tour guide directed us through many of the unseen attractions including the man-made tunnels behind the falls. Here, several look-out points allowed us to observe the incredible speed at which the water rushed over the rock. The water flows at an amazing 212,000 cubic feet of water per second. We were also guided to the basin where the falls originated miles away. In fact, over the last 12,000 years, the falls have eroded back seven miles. The incredible history of the falls came to life when I actually viewed them with my own eyes. No schoolbook could possibly give an understanding of the vastness of the falls. Nor could a book bring to life the remarkable history behind this amazing wonder of nature.

Methamphetamine Notes

The main ingredient that goes into making meth is pseudoephedrine, a decongestant in most over the counter cold medication, that in combination but a host of other toxic chemicals such as lye and drain cleaner. Form White or yellow powder, clear or yellowish crystals or â€Å"shards†, or in pill form. Use Smoked, snorted, swallowed, or injected. Addiction Factor Extremely Addictive Physical & Mental Effects Brain damage, organ failure, open sores, rotting teeth, stroke, mania, paranoia, obsesSive compulsive behaviours, twitching or shaking, psychosis, etc. Social Effects Withdrawal from friends and family, increased criminal activity to support addiction o r due to violent episodes while high, and an increase in overall violent and/ or rude behaviour. Environmental Effects When methamphetamine is being synthesized, there are over 5 pounds of toxic wast e as a byproduct for every pound of meth. This waste is almost never disposed of properly and finds its w ay into ecosystems w hich pollutes water, destroys habitats and kills wildlife and can be harmful to huma ns if they should come nto contact with any chemical byproducts.This is why many meth lab technicians ar e sent to the hospital for chemical burns. What Does Methamphetamine Do To The Body? Heart Methamphetamine affects the heart and the circulatory system by increasing heart r ate and blood pressure substantially. Repetitive use can cause irregular heartbeat, heart attack, stroke, and u Itimately death. These side effects will improve over a long period of time in which the individual has abstai ned from using the drug. The Senses Meth may cause the user to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste things that aren't really the e, if these sort of hallucinations persist, fullblown psychosis may develop.Bones Since Meth use can cause loss of appetite, some meth users can develop anorexia an d/or osteoporosis. This is because of the lack of essential proteins and elements such as calcium which help keep the b ody strong and healthy The Muscles Because the drug has such a profound effect on the part of the brain that aids in the coordination of movements, the user very likely to eventually develop: Involuntary muscular contracti ons, uncontrollable twitching or shaking, and strange movements like facial ticks.These side effects wors n as the addiction progresses. Immune System Since meth causes vasoconstriction (narrowing of the blood vessels) the skin can become deprived of oxygen, and nutrients. This also means that white blood cells and other immunocytes (cells of the immune system) also may not be able to reach certain areas of the skin. In conjunction, this will lead to pale or grey tinted skin, acne, and open sores.Temperature Regulation When an individual uses meth their body temperature skyrockets which can be very dangerous, leading to an increase in heart rate and blood pressure as well as increasing the likelihood of orga failure or brain damage caused by cellular destruction d ue to the high temperatures created within t he body. The Teeth Smoking meth will cause rotten teeth and gums. This can be caused by any of the foll owing: Poor oral hygiene, bacteria, teeth chattering or grinding, or the acidity ot the drug itselt.Hair The toxic chemicals in meth, combined with the constant urge to pull at the hair or pi ck at the scalp while high can lead to thinning, greying, or drying of the hair, as well as an increase in oils produced by the scalp. bald patches may also occur in individuals who have a bad habit of pulling hair out. References: http://www. methpro]ect. org/answers/whatdoesmethdotoyour body. html#BodybyMeth The Heart Specificly. The Heart On Meth While under the influence of meth, you probably already know that it increases heart rate and blood pressure, but what does that really mean for the heart of the user?To get an idea, th e average adult heart will pump between 6,000 and 7,000 litres of blood per day; when a person uses meth even a few ti mes a week, this output will increase to an unhealthy level of about 7,500 to 8,500 litres per day, The same goes for heart rate. The average adult heart rate at rest is between 60 00 beats per minute depending on the size, shape, gender, and overall health of the individual, but when he or she ingests methamphetamine, their heart rate at rest will spike, causing it to fall between 100 120 beats per minute.That means that when he or she is sitting, their heart rate is going as fast as it should if they were to walk up a flig ht of stairs between two floors of a house, or take a brisk walk. This is especially dangerous when engagin g in any kind of physical activity since the users heart will gain the potential to beat too fast which wil I eventually send it into rrhythmia (irregular beating of the heart) which is a medical emergency and is likely to result in death.Considering the poor cardiovascular health of meth users, most individuals who expe rience an arrhythmia, heart attack, or stroke while under the influence are more likely to die due to the fact that after prolonged used, the addicts heart will need to increase in size so it can compensate for the hear t rate and blood pressure spike. Having an enlarged heart is especially dangerous because it means t he the heart is not as strong as it once was, leaving it more susceptible to complications. Left Ventricular Hypertrophy

Sci-Fi essays

Sci-Fi essays Science fiction is among the most versatile forms of writing. It can be a romance, a comedy, a war story, a drama, a mystery and as the recent film The Wild, Wild West proves, even a western. Take any literary classic add in a crazed robot bent on world destruction, and a space station the size of a small moon, and BAM! Its Sci-Fi. Science fiction belongs to a genre of writing called speculative fiction, which also includes fantasy. Perhaps the easiest way to define Speculative Fiction is all stories that take place in a setting contrary to known reality (Card 17). Which include: 1. Any story set in the future, beings future technologies cannot be known. 2. Alternate world stories, or stories set in a past that contradicts historical fact. 4. Stories set on earth before recorded history. 5. Stories that contradict a known or supposed law of nature. Stories set in worlds that follow our rules are Sci-fi. If it is set in an universe that doesn't follow our rules it's fantasy. Many sci-fi stories fall into several of the above categories. Star Wars for example takes place in an alternate world. It also has elements that contradict laws of nature, such as The Force, or sound in space. Other sf stories fall into only a single of the categories and to further confuse things some stories that fall into those categories are not consider sci-fi at all (Card 18) What would Star Wars be without the screeching of Tie Fighters, or buzz of proton torpedoes as they cut through space? Sometimes it becomes necessary for a writer to break scientific laws in order to appeal to the audience or for the story its self to work. Beings most writers don't expect their audiences to be astrophysicists, it is easy to fool them by bending the rules little bit. Which is okay beings the majority of readers are far more interested in the story itself than by making sure every sm ...

How to Use Pinterest For Business The Ultimate Marketers Guide

How to Use Pinterest For Business The Ultimate Marketers Guide Pinterest is that fun platform where people plan unrealistic weddings, right? They can do that, but they can also do more. They look for recipes, plan their homes and so much more. After all, there are over 75 billion ideas  out there. What if your business was able to show potential customers how your product or services could help them actually accomplish their ideas? Using Pinterest allows your business to do just that. When your customers are searching for inspiration or solutions, your organization can be there to help them achieve what they want. However, you need to be strategic with your Pins. It’s easy to jump on to the platform and start saving Pins everywhere. In this post, we’ll show you exactly how to use Pinterest for your business, making it a key piece in your social media marketing strategy. Do This With : Did you know you can schedule Pins on your marketing calendar, and measure their performance with robust analytics, with ? Try it free for two weeks or schedule a demo to start saving time on social media marketing. Download Your Pinterest Marketing Strategy Template When you’re ready to actively start planning your Pinterest strategy, use our free template. In this post, well show you how to complete each slide, so you can build an effective and clearly documented strategy in no time flat. Pinterest is still relatively new in the world of social media. So instead of searching for all the need-to-know information you want, we compiled it into one infographic. Get the 411 on #Pinterest marketing with this handy infographic.Is Your Audience On Pinterest? The first step in using Pinterest for marketing your business is to figure out if your audience is even active on the channel. How do you do this? First, determine the demographic makeup of the 175 million people who use Pinterest. Then see if your target audience falls into that category. If they do, Pinterest may be the channel for you. The Demographics of Pinterest According to the latest data from Pinterest and other sources, this is the current demographic makeup of Pinterest users as of 2016. How to Determine If Your Target Audience Fits The Bill So now that you have a bit of background on the demographics of Pinterest users, how do they compare to your target audience? If your target audience is primarily female Millennials, it would make sense to start investing time into creating content for a Pinterest profile. If your audience doesn’t fit the current Pinterest audience demographic, it may not make the most sense to spend time creating content for this social media channel. Is your target audience active on Pinterest?Do Your Business Objectives Match What Pinterest Has To Offer? You’ve decided that Pinterest is something you want your social media team to invest in. So what’s next? You need to figure out how you are going to tie your business objectives to your Pinterest marketing strategy. How To Find Your Business Objectives Your business objectives are the overarching goals that have been created by upper management that need to be met by the end of the year. These are the objectives that every team in your company helps contribute to. Some example business objectives could be: â€Å"We want 60% of our audience to be millennials.† â€Å"We want to be the number one soft drink for women over 40.† â€Å"We want to sell more ski resort passes to college-aged vacationers.† Because these objectives are so high level, they’ve probably already been decided by your CEO, CMO, etc. Schedule a meeting or email them to find out exactly what those objectives are (if you don’t already know). Here's how to connect your #Pinterest #marketing strategy to your business objectives.How Is Being On Pinterest Going To Benefit My Business? The next thing you need to determine after you’ve gotten your business objectives is: How is being on Pinterest going to benefit my business? This question should be answered anytime you try something new. Your answers are going to vary based on what your business wants to achieve. There are two steps to this process, the first is determining what your business wants to achieve (your business objectives). Then your marketing team needs to determine if the suggested channel is going to be beneficial in helping you reach your goals. For example, if your business wanted to engage more with your customers and increase product recall, pinning your products to Pinterest could provide that benefit. If it makes sense to your marketing team, pursue Pinterest. You’ll never know if something works unless you try. How could #Pinterest marketing benefit your business?How To Create Your Pinterest Boards By now you’ll have set your account. You’re all ready to go. Until you realize your profile is completely blank. It’s time to add some boards. Boards are like groups that hold certain categories of pins. Each one of these boards has a title, which needs to be awesome enough to grab the attention of your audience and make them want to follow it. So how do you know what types of boards create? Recommended Reading: How To Create A Marketing Strategy That Will Skyrocket Your Results By 9,360% Create Boards Around Your Content Core Your content core is a special place where you take into consideration what your audience cares about and combine it with what you want to say. Your content core is basically the intersection between what your audience cares about, and your brand's expertise: Create Pinterest boards about topics in your core.   Once you have your board topics figured out you can move on to naming them. Record your content core topics in your template. How to Choose The Right Titles Pinterest suggests you should set your boards up like window displays. You want them to appeal to your audience’s tastes and also keep them coming back for more. Here’s a basic look at it from their perspective: Rebekah Radice takes Pinterest’s advice one step further with a few great ideas  that’ll help you choose memorable names for your boards. Make them: Eye-catching. Keyword rich. Content specific. She’s right. Start With: If you’re just starting out on Pinterest, come up with two different board ideas. Build those to start with. If you’ve been on Pinterest for awhile now, focus on cleaning up two of the Pinterest boards you already have. When going through your boards, make sure there aren’t any exact duplicates, make sure the links work, and add keywords to the descriptions. Maybe even rewrite descriptions, so they are stronger. So how do you set up your boards once you’ve decided on a title? First, go to your Pinterest profile and select Boards: After that, all you have to do is enter your board name. For this example, let’s say we’re a local farmers market. A great board title could be Seasonal Recipes. Record your board titles in your template. How should brands select #pinterest board categories and titles? Find out here.How To Curate Pins Something like 80% of the content shared on Pinterest are Repins (now called Saves). Start out by exploring Pinterest for content you think your audience will enjoy, and save that awesome stuff. When Pinning, abide by the 80/20 rule: Share 80% of other people’s content and only 20% of your own. For every piece of content that you share, that is yours, save four Pins from others. As you begin, your goals will be: Make connections with other pinners by following them, liking, saving, and commenting on their Pins. Build your content foundation with curated content to find your audience and build a following. Know what your niche likes so you can share more of that. Record the topics your curated content should cover in your template. Recommended Reading: How to Curate Content For Social Media To Help Boost Your Reach How To Create Your Pins While the 80/20 rule says that you should Pin 80% of your content, you’ll still need to figure out how to create the other 20% of those pins. Here’s how to do it. Writing Your Pin Descriptions Mitt Ray writes about Pinterest a lot. And he compiled some interesting data  to help you write better descriptions for your Pins so you can get the attention your content deserves. Mitt suggests that by writing a great Pin, your audience will have a better chance of finding your awesome content. Writing An Awesome Pin: Longer descriptions get the most Repins.  Aim for slightly more than 300 characters. Buzzfeed found that robust descriptions, especially if your image isn’t beautiful, interesting, or useful, combined with positivity  help get them more Saves and click-throughs. Include a link back to your site.  Adding a link back to your site will make your entire description a clickable link. Write a killer call to action.  If you want your Pins to convert, inspire Pinners to click through with an awesome call to action. Use keywords.  Your audience uses keywords to find the content they want. If you’ve focused your blog on an SEO content strategy, you’ve already located the keywords you know your audience is searching for, so include those in your descriptions. Mention others.  When you share other people’s content, mention them as a thank you. Plus, you’ll make more friends that way! How to Use Pinterest For Business The Ultimate Marketers Guide Pinterest is that fun platform where people plan unrealistic weddings, right? They can do that, but they can also do more. They look for recipes, plan their homes and so much more. After all, there are over 75 billion ideas  out there. What if your business was able to show potential customers how your product or services could help them actually accomplish their ideas? Using Pinterest allows your business to do just that. When your customers are searching for inspiration or solutions, your organization can be there to help them achieve what they want. However, you need to be strategic with your Pins. It’s easy to jump on to the platform and start saving Pins everywhere. In this post, we’ll show you exactly how to use Pinterest for your business, making it a key piece in your social media marketing strategy. Do This With : Did you know you can schedule Pins on your marketing calendar, and measure their performance with robust analytics, with ? Try it free for two weeks or schedule a demo to start saving time on social media marketing. Download Your Pinterest Marketing Strategy Template When you’re ready to actively start planning your Pinterest strategy, use our free template. In this post, well show you how to complete each slide, so you can build an effective and clearly documented strategy in no time flat.How to Use Pinterest For Business: The Ultimate Pinterest Marketing GuideWhat Should Marketers Know About Pinterest? Pinterest is still relatively new in the world of social media. So instead of searching for all the need-to-know information you want, we compiled it into one infographic. Get the 411 on #Pinterest marketing with this handy infographic.Is Your Audience On Pinterest? The first step in using Pinterest for marketing your business is to figure out if your audience is even active on the channel. How do you do this? First, determine the demographic makeup of the 175 million people who use Pinterest. Then see if your target audience falls into that category. If they do, Pinterest may be the channel for you. The Demographics of Pinterest According to the latest data from Pinterest and other sources, this is the current demographic makeup of Pinterest users as of 2016. How to Determine If Your Target Audience Fits The Bill So now that you have a bit of background on the demographics of Pinterest users, how do they compare to your target audience? If your target audience is primarily female Millennials, it would make sense to start investing time into creating content for a Pinterest profile. If your audience doesn’t fit the current Pinterest audience demographic, it may not make the most sense to spend time creating content for this social media channel. Is your target audience active on Pinterest?Do Your Business Objectives Match What Pinterest Has To Offer? You’ve decided that Pinterest is something you want your social media team to invest in. So what’s next? You need to figure out how you are going to tie your business objectives to your Pinterest marketing strategy. How To Find Your Business Objectives Your business objectives are the overarching goals that have been created by upper management that need to be met by the end of the year. These are the objectives that every team in your company helps contribute to. Some example business objectives could be: â€Å"We want 60% of our audience to be millennials.† â€Å"We want to be the number one soft drink for women over 40.† â€Å"We want to sell more ski resort passes to college-aged vacationers.† Because these objectives are so high level, they’ve probably already been decided by your CEO, CMO, etc. Schedule a meeting or email them to find out exactly what those objectives are (if you don’t already know). Here's how to connect your #Pinterest #marketing strategy to your business objectives.How Is Being On Pinterest Going To Benefit My Business? The next thing you need to determine after you’ve gotten your business objectives is: How is being on Pinterest going to benefit my business? This question should be answered anytime you try something new. Your answers are going to vary based on what your business wants to achieve. There are two steps to this process, the first is determining what your business wants to achieve (your business objectives). Then your marketing team needs to determine if the suggested channel is going to be beneficial in helping you reach your goals. For example, if your business wanted to engage more with your customers and increase product recall, pinning your products to Pinterest could provide that benefit. If it makes sense to your marketing team, pursue Pinterest. You’ll never know if something works unless you try. How could #Pinterest marketing benefit your business?How To Create Your Pinterest Boards By now you’ll have set your account. You’re all ready to go. Until you realize your profile is completely blank. It’s time to add some boards. Boards are like groups that hold certain categories of pins. Each one of these boards has a title, which needs to be awesome enough to grab the attention of your audience and make them want to follow it. So how do you know what types of boards create? Recommended Reading: How To Create A Marketing Strategy That Will Skyrocket Your Results By 9,360% Create Boards Around Your Content Core Your content core is a special place where you take into consideration what your audience cares about and combine it with what you want to say. Your content core is basically the intersection between what your audience cares about, and your brand's expertise: Create Pinterest boards about topics in your core.   Once you have your board topics figured out you can move on to naming them. Record your content core topics in your template. How to Choose The Right Titles Pinterest suggests you should set your boards up like window displays. You want them to appeal to your audience’s tastes and also keep them coming back for more. Here’s a basic look at it from their perspective: Rebekah Radice takes Pinterest’s advice one step further with a few great ideas  that’ll help you choose memorable names for your boards. Make them: Eye-catching. Keyword rich. Content specific. She’s right. Start With: If you’re just starting out on Pinterest, come up with two different board ideas. Build those to start with. If you’ve been on Pinterest for awhile now, focus on cleaning up two of the Pinterest boards you already have. When going through your boards, make sure there aren’t any exact duplicates, make sure the links work, and add keywords to the descriptions. Maybe even rewrite descriptions, so they are stronger. So how do you set up your boards once you’ve decided on a title? First, go to your Pinterest profile and select Boards: After that, all you have to do is enter your board name. For this example, let’s say we’re a local farmers market. A great board title could be Seasonal Recipes. Record your board titles in your template. How should brands select #pinterest board categories and titles? Find out here.How To Curate Pins Something like 80% of the content shared on Pinterest are Repins (now called Saves). Start out by exploring Pinterest for content you think your audience will enjoy, and save that awesome stuff. When Pinning, abide by the 80/20 rule: Share 80% of other people’s content and only 20% of your own. For every piece of content that you share, that is yours, save four Pins from others. As you begin, your goals will be: Make connections with other pinners by following them, liking, saving, and commenting on their Pins. Build your content foundation with curated content to find your audience and build a following. Know what your niche likes so you can share more of that. Record the topics your curated content should cover in your template. Recommended Reading: How to Curate Content For Social Media To Help Boost Your Reach How To Create Your Pins While the 80/20 rule says that you should Pin 80% of your content, you’ll still need to figure out how to create the other 20% of those pins. Here’s how to do it. Writing Your Pin Descriptions Mitt Ray writes about Pinterest a lot. And he compiled some interesting data  to help you write better descriptions for your Pins so you can get the attention your content deserves. Mitt suggests that by writing a great Pin, your audience will have a better chance of finding your awesome content. Writing An Awesome Pin: Longer descriptions get the most Repins.  Aim for slightly more than 300 characters. Buzzfeed found that robust descriptions, especially if your image isn’t beautiful, interesting, or useful, combined with positivity  help get them more Saves and click-throughs. Include a link back to your site.  Adding a link back to your site will make your entire description a clickable link. Write a killer call to action.  If you want your Pins to convert, inspire Pinners to click through with an awesome call to action. Use keywords.  Your audience uses keywords to find the content they want. If you’ve focused your blog on an SEO content strategy, you’ve already located the keywords you know your audience is searching for, so include those in your descriptions. Mention others.  When you share other people’s content, mention them as a thank you. Plus, you’ll make more friends that way!

Pasteboard Mask

Pasteboard Mask Pasteboard Mask Essay Throughout my life, I have made most of my decisions and performed certain acts based on how I felt at that particular period. You could say that I did these things because they made me happy and I thought that it was appropriate at the time. In Moby Dick, Captain Ahab feels that he must explore the outer limits of the "pasteboard mask" he has painted for himself, which would be his eagerness to encounter the whale with the intent to kill it. However, his intention turned on him and the whale ultimately destroyed him.Although Ahab's experience was negative, pasteboard masks can have positive results as well. After situations like these, we might often find ourselves asking why we do such things or how we get these motives in the first place.Ahab is an admirable and intelligent man whose balance has been disturbed by the blind and aimless anger of the whale that eventually destroys him.The Call of the Wretched Sea

Consumer Law And Deceptive Marketing Guidelines Case Study

Consumer Law And Deceptive Marketing Guidelines - Case Study Example Most good companies would avoid such a situation and try to provide a product as per the specifications. Thus it would be wise to study both sides of the aspect and neutrally evaluate the outcome in best interests of society and individuals as well as reasons for companies providing a service or a product, albeit with a rider that profitability than service is their prime concern. The history of consumer protection is not as old as that of the consumers. In 1962, President John F Kennedy introduced 'The Consumer Bill of Rights.' However, before 1965, there was no effective legal protection available for consumers across the world. The idea was first conceived by Garland Dempsey. In December 1965, probably the first refund of $ 787 was provided by a finance company to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Outlaw, the lucky neighbors of Garland Dempsey in North Philadelphia. Mr. Dempsey filed the complaint on their behalf in regard to a swindle of the refinancing of a loan. Another such case, the Gallman case got nationwide approval and led to passage of Consumer Credit Protection Act of 1968 by the Congress. This act was later aptly called "The Truth in Lending Act", the first in the series of consumer protection legislation. Today, across the world, consumer protection laws have evolved protecting consumers from all kinds of manufacturing and retailing defects, protection from fraudulent advertisements, invasion of privacy, deceptive marketing techniques and many such issues. Sections of population defend both sides of the arguments which lead to millions of litigations across the world with sometimes heavy penalties for defaulting companies in the event of intentional deception or even unintentional action leading to loss or damage to a consumer in a financial/personal manner. With the passage of time, certain conventions have emerged for the corporate sector to strictly adhere to, failing which they can be held guilty of consumer rights violation.

Peer review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 15

Peer review - Essay Example In Psalm 106:3, God says, â€Å"Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right†. As a result, organizations have to ensure that they protect every employee from any violation of their human rights. In addition, the paper highlights the importance of training in fighting the vice. Educating employees about the problem is an effective approach in minimizing its occurrence (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). However, the paper has failed to focus on the importance of punishing individuals who perpetrate such actions at the workplace. Any person who harasses a colleague or a junior employee should face serious consequences. Besides losing their job, there should be further punitive measures taken. The practice would discourage employees from engaging in the practice. As a result, it will protect the image of the organization. In the event that the perpetrator of the practice is a supervisor, the organization may be viewed negatively (Abbott, Elkins, Phillips & Madera, 2014). The victim may feel that it provides an enabling environment for such activities. The organization can encourage such activities by tolerating people who disregard such policies (Buchanan, Settles, Hall, & O’Conner, 2014, p. 689). Abbott, J. L., Elkins, T. J., Phillips, J. S., & Madera, J. M. (2014). Attributing corporate responsibility for sexual harassment: The supervisory connection. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 55(4), 376-387. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1938965513511145 Buchanan, N. T., Settles, I. H., Hall, A. T., & O’Conner, R. C. (2014). A review of organizational strategies for reducing sexual harassment: Insights from the U.S. military. Journal of Social Issues, 70(4), 687-702.

Sociology - Written Review (1000 words) - PREMIUM WRITER NEEDED MAJOR Essay

Sociology - Written Review (1000 words) - PREMIUM WRITER NEEDED MAJOR IN SOCIOLOGY - Essay Example l personage who offers them his intentions, his sentiments, rather than his acts, far their consumption.† (1977: p 261) He also emphasises on the nature of and need for the intimate relationships among the individuals by making a comparison of present-day intimate socio-cultural relations with those of the past. The writer vehemently sustains the very fact that the modern man takes intimacy as the ethically beneficial act, a source of personality development and the way to overcome social evils from the environment. This type of philosophy and the desire for solving the individual problems through moral values may put the very meanings of intimacy in serious jeopardy. â€Å"This ideology of intimacy†, Sennett declares, â€Å"defines the humanitarian spirit of a society without gods: warmth in our god.† (1977: p 259) The feelings of alienation in the past have given birth to the present day intimacy. The writer is of the opinion that reckoning the past memories brings disappointment and remorse, and pushes man to perform something wrong in utter remorse; but it should not be the only mania to be recollected from the past; rather, a comparative analysis of the olden days is highly supportive in detecting the quintessence of customs, norms, mores and traditions prevailing in the contemporary times. In addition, such analyses facilitate the individuals alter their life style accordingly, as the distances between the individuals have left indelible imprints on them on the one hand, and have made them learn how to go closer to family, friends and relations on the other. â€Å"The past†, Sennett views, â€Å"built a hidden desire of stability in the overt desire for closeness between human beings.† (1977: pp 259-260) The people witnessed inadequate approach towards interaction even with the close relations during 18th and 19th centuries, particularly during the last deca des of the Victorian Era, which brought untoward modifications in socio-cultural unit. Hence, people

SWOT anaysis and Financial anaysis for Breakthrough Miami Essay

SWOT anaysis and Financial anaysis for Breakthrough Miami - Essay Example Ratios can be used to analyze an organization financial statement. This can be done by comparing the financial statements with the competitors. Financial statements are easy to read. From the above financial statements, the current assets were 19.7 percent of the total amount of assets in 2003, and up by 19.1 percent in 2002. The current liabilities declined r\from 16.1 to 15.1 percent of the capital at that time. Financial analysis can be used to kick of the strategy formulation in a more sophisticated way as a serious strategy tool. The tool can be used to understand the competitors, which gives the insight needed to craft coherent and successful competitive position. Dealtry, T R. Dynamic Swot Analysis: Developers Guide : When Looking to the Future Look for the Opportunities and Threats and Consider Your Strengths and Weaknesses. Birmingham: Dynamic SWOT Associates, 2002.

Protein purification using anion exchange membranes Term Paper

Protein purification using anion exchange membranes - Term Paper Example This change results in the protein being less capable of forming a strong ionic interaction with negatively charged cation exchanger. A similar chain of events occurs with anion exchange media. At a lower pH of the mobile phase the target molecule becomes more protonated and hence positively charged. The result is that the target molecule no longer has the capability to form a strong ionic interaction with the positively charged anion exchanger which causes the molecule to elute from stationary phase. Ion exchange is the most commonly practiced chromatographic method of protein purification due to its ease. This technique exploits the amphoteric character of a protein ( net positive in low pH buffer and negative in a high pH buffer). The technique exploits the fact that the distribution and net charge on the protein’s surface determines the interaction of the protein with the charged groups on the surface of the immobile phase, an anion exchange membrane in this case. The char ges on the protein and the membrane must be opposite for the exchange interaction to occur. The support membrane, which has covalently attached positive functional groups, is referred to as an anion exchanger if mobile negatively charged anions will be the exchanged species. ... In membrane chromatographic processes, the transport of solutes to their binding sites take place predominantly by convection and the pore diffusion is very small comparing with the beads column, thereby the mass transfer resistance is tremendously reduced. Membrane chromatography is a promising process for the isolation, purification, and recovery of proteins, enzymes, and nuclear acids. Comparing with traditional beads column chromatography, membrane chromatography can be faster, easier and cheaper to mass-produce. And also, it is easy to set up and scale up. Most important is saving time in membrane chromatography, this is important because many proteins lose their activities with time. Membranes are also more convenient because they do not require column hardware or packing, they reduce buffer usage and floor space requirements and they generally improve manufacturing flexibility. There are mainly three shapes of membrane available, including flat sheet, hollow fiber and radial f low used for protein purification (2). (From http://www.natrixseparations.com/media/application_note7.pdf) Figure 1 Principles of an anion exchange chromatography: Lowering pH on the protein elution from positively charged anion-exchange membrane. Molecules with higher charge density bind much stronger to the membrane and consequently require greater change in pH to be released from the membrane surface. Theory: Proteins are bound to anion exchange membranes by reversible, electrostatic interactions. A separation is obtained because the diverse array of molecular species have different affinities for the exchanger. The adsorbed proteins are eluted in order of least to most strongly bound molecules,

Hinduism - Krishna Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hinduism - Krishna - Essay Example When Devaki got married to Vasudeva, a voice was heard from the sky saying that one of Devaki’s children would kill Kamsa. The voice further stated that the son that would bring about the death of Kamsa would be Devaki’s eighth son. This made Kamsa very frightened and infuriated that he unsheathed his sword with an intention of killing his sister Devaki. However, Vasudeva (Devaki’s husband) implored Kamsa to spare the life of Devaki with the promise that each of the child born would be delivered to Kamsa. In reluctance, Kamsa agreed but imprisoned both Devaki and Vasudeva. When Devaki delivered her first child, the child was slaughtered by Kamsa and his henchmen. This happened each time a child was delivered for the first six children. However, Lord Vishnu intervened during the birth of the seventh and eighth child. It is said that Lord Vishnu assured Devaki and Vasudeva that he would not let them succumb to fate and that he had a plan to rescue the child and the people of Mathura in general. In Gokula, a cowherd’s chief wife had given birth to a daughter. Vasudeva was required to deliver Krishna to the cowherd and in exchange brings the cowherd’s daughter back to the prison. When Vasudeva delivered Krishna to Gokula to the cowherd’s homestead, he found the door open and after the exchange, Vasudeva went back to the prison with Yoshida (cowherd’s wife) baby. When Kamsa went to the prison to kill the baby, a hand reached out from heaven and grabbed the baby before it could be struck with the blade. The baby was later transformed into a goddess Yomagaya. It is said that the goddess Yomagaya asked Kamsa how he would have benefited by killing her while his nemesis had already been born somewhere else. It was during his youth that Lord Krishna killed Kamsa and reinstated Ugrasen as the supreme king of Mathura. The birth of Krishna is considered as a transcendent phenomenon that continues to draw awe and disbelief among the people of Hindu

SWOT anaysis and Financial anaysis for Breakthrough Miami Essay

SWOT anaysis and Financial anaysis for Breakthrough Miami - Essay Example Ratios can be used to analyze an organization financial statement. This can be done by comparing the financial statements with the competitors. Financial statements are easy to read. From the above financial statements, the current assets were 19.7 percent of the total amount of assets in 2003, and up by 19.1 percent in 2002. The current liabilities declined r\from 16.1 to 15.1 percent of the capital at that time. Financial analysis can be used to kick of the strategy formulation in a more sophisticated way as a serious strategy tool. The tool can be used to understand the competitors, which gives the insight needed to craft coherent and successful competitive position. Dealtry, T R. Dynamic Swot Analysis: Developers Guide : When Looking to the Future Look for the Opportunities and Threats and Consider Your Strengths and Weaknesses. Birmingham: Dynamic SWOT Associates, 2002.

Hinduism - Krishna Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hinduism - Krishna - Essay Example When Devaki got married to Vasudeva, a voice was heard from the sky saying that one of Devaki’s children would kill Kamsa. The voice further stated that the son that would bring about the death of Kamsa would be Devaki’s eighth son. This made Kamsa very frightened and infuriated that he unsheathed his sword with an intention of killing his sister Devaki. However, Vasudeva (Devaki’s husband) implored Kamsa to spare the life of Devaki with the promise that each of the child born would be delivered to Kamsa. In reluctance, Kamsa agreed but imprisoned both Devaki and Vasudeva. When Devaki delivered her first child, the child was slaughtered by Kamsa and his henchmen. This happened each time a child was delivered for the first six children. However, Lord Vishnu intervened during the birth of the seventh and eighth child. It is said that Lord Vishnu assured Devaki and Vasudeva that he would not let them succumb to fate and that he had a plan to rescue the child and the people of Mathura in general. In Gokula, a cowherd’s chief wife had given birth to a daughter. Vasudeva was required to deliver Krishna to the cowherd and in exchange brings the cowherd’s daughter back to the prison. When Vasudeva delivered Krishna to Gokula to the cowherd’s homestead, he found the door open and after the exchange, Vasudeva went back to the prison with Yoshida (cowherd’s wife) baby. When Kamsa went to the prison to kill the baby, a hand reached out from heaven and grabbed the baby before it could be struck with the blade. The baby was later transformed into a goddess Yomagaya. It is said that the goddess Yomagaya asked Kamsa how he would have benefited by killing her while his nemesis had already been born somewhere else. It was during his youth that Lord Krishna killed Kamsa and reinstated Ugrasen as the supreme king of Mathura. The birth of Krishna is considered as a transcendent phenomenon that continues to draw awe and disbelief among the people of Hindu

Abuelitas Beans Essay Example for Free

Abuelitas Beans Essay Nothing can be more enticing to a nose than waking up to the delicious aroma of simmering beans. The scent compels one to peal away the comforter and stagger into the kitchen for a bowl of creamy delicious beans. Pinto beans have been a staple in Mexican cuisine for hundreds of years, and every family has his/her own recipe. I recall, as a young girl growing up in a large, Mexican family, that there was always a large pot of legumes ready to nourish twelve mouths for less than five-dollars. Dad always ended his meal rubbing his barrel stomach while saying his favorite aphorism, â€Å"Pansa llena, corazon contento† (â€Å"Full belly, happy heart†), which always meant that the beans were delicious. Here is Abuelita’s recipe to fill the tummy of those that are endearing to one’s heart. Cooking beans really is not that hard. First, gather the supplies needed: one, five-quart slow-cooker with a ceramic liner with a glass lid cover, a sturdy plastic cooking spoon ( Abuelita always said that one should never stir the beans with a metal spoon or they will stick and burn. I obey her. ), one-pound dried pinto beans, one-half aromatic white onion, two fresh garlic cloves, water, and two tablespoons kosher salt. Several people have asked me, â€Å"Why a slow-cooker? † Well, all the women in the family cook the legumes in a cazuela (an earthenware pot made of clay). The cookware is either given to the bride at her wedding with hopes that her culinary endeavors will produce a happy marriage, or it is an inheritance from her mother or grandmother. The beans have a better taste if cooked in the cazuela, at least that is what the women in my family declare. I on the other hand, embrace the beauty of the slow cooker; it frees me to leave the house to run errands, and I have never endured stinky-burned beans. Once all the supplies and ingredients have been gathered and prepped, proceed by placing beans in a colander. Rinse the beans and run them through one’s hands to make sure debris is washed away, and small stones are picked out. Put the beans into the slow-cooker and cover them with water. Furthermore, add all the ingredients in the cooker. Except for the salt. Set the temperature at high for six to eight hours. After one hour, the earthy aroma starts to penetrate the whole house, reminding one of what will be for consumption. Please, if you want plump beans do not stir the beans during the first two hours. After approximately three hours, check to see if water is needed, due to water evaporation, and the legumes absorb a lot of water. Always add hot water never cold because the cold temperature lowers the heat and toughens the beans. Once another three hours has past, test the legumes for doneness. I was told when one bites into a bean, it should be soft and creamy. As a result from respecting the process, and not disturbing them, the pot liquid will have thickened leaving a delicious dark chocolate color broth for a healthy soup. Lastly, but not least, it is time to salt the beans. Add two tablespoons of kosher salt and stir with a wooden or plastic spoon. Go ahead and taste the broth and decide if more salt is needed. Always remember to gradually add salt to the beans since adding is easier than extracting. In the end, set the temperature to warm and ladle beans into the bowl of one’s choice. In conclusion, if an individual follows these simple steps of gathering supplies, for example, a slow-cooker, it will make the process of cooking worry free. Basically, pinto beans are easy to make, but easier to consume any time of day, resulting in everyone rubbing his/her tummy’s with contentment. â€Å"Buen Provecho! †(Enjoy your meal).

Theories of Merger and Takeover Waves

Theories of Merger and Takeover Waves Merger Wave The American economy experienced two great takeover waves in the postwar period, first in the 1960s and the second in the 1980s. Both waves had a deep affect on the structure of corporate America. The main trend in the 60s was diversification and conglomeration. In contrast the 1980s takeover reversed the previous process and brought US corporations back to specialization. In this respects, the last thirty years were a roundtrip for corporate America. This paper is an overview of the salient features of the two takeover waves. 1.1 The 1960s Conglomerate Merger Wave The merger wave of the 1960s was the major since the turn of the century (Stigler, 1968). A typical characteristic of the 1960s transaction was a friendly acquisition, frequently for stock, of a smaller private or public firm which was outside the acquiring firms main line of business. During this period unrelated diversification was widespread among the large companies. Rumelt (1974) has reported that the fraction of single business companies in the Fortune 500 decreased from 22.8% in 1959 to 14.8% in 1969. Further, the portion of conglomerates with no dominant businesses increased to 18.7% from 7.3%. There was also a considerable move to diversification among companies that retained their core business. The driving force behind the 1960s wave was high valuations of company stocks and large corporate cash flows. However the management was unwilling to pay out the high cash flows as dividends, and on the other hand able to issue equity at attractive terms therefore, turned their atte ntion to acquisitions (Donaldsoni. 1984).Dividends were considered as a complete waste, and acquisitions as a very attractive way to conserve corporate wealth. There are two sets of arguments used to explain why companies diversify. The first set argues that firms diversify to increase shareholder wealth. A number of authors have discussed different aspects of diversification that can potentially raise shareholder wealth. Williamson (1970), suggest that firms diversify to beat imperfections in external capital markets. Through diversification, managers create internal capital markets, which are less prone to asymmetric information problems. Lewellen (1971), argues that conglomerates can carry on higher levels of debt since corporate diversification reduces earnings variability. if conglomerate firms are more valuable than companies operating in a single industry If the tax shields of debt increase. Shleifer and Vishny (1992), state that conglomerates may have a higher debt capacity since they can sell assets in those industries that suffer the least from liquidity problems in bad states of the world. Finally, Teece (1980) argues that divers ification leads to economics of scale. The second set of arguments states diversification as a product of the agency problems between shareholder and managers. Amihud and Lev (1981) argue that managers follow a diversification strategy to protect the value of their human capital. However, Jensen (1986) suggests that companies diversify to increase the private benefits of managers. Similarly, Shleifer and Vishny (1989) suggest that managers diversify because they are better at managing assets in other industries. Thus, diversifying will make skills more indispensable to the firm. 1.2 The 1980s Merger Wave Form a longer historical perspective, Golbe and White (1988) presented time series evidence of U.S. takeover activity from the late 1800s to the mid-1980s. Their findings have suggested that takeover activity above 2 to 3 percent of GDP is unusual. However, the greatest level of merger activity occurred around 1980s, at roughly 10 percent of GNP. By this measure, takeover activity in the 1980s is historically high. The size of the average target in the 1980s had increased extremely from the modest level of the 60s. By 1989 28%, of Fortune 500 companies were acquired and many transactions, particularly the large ones, were hostile. Further the medium of exchange in takeovers was cash rather than stock, they were characterized by heavy use of leverage. Firms were purchased by other firms by leveraged takeovers by borrowing rather than by issuing new stock or using solely cash on hand. Other firms restructured themselves, borrowing to repurchase their own shares. The 80s was also characterized by latest forms of control changes, which included bustup takeovers. Bustup takeovers involved the sell off of a substantial fraction of the targets assets to other firms. (Bhagat, Shleifer, and Vishny, 1990; Kaplan, 1997). 2 Merger Motives The following sections will explain the motive behind the two merger waves. 2.1 Managerial Motives Agency theory predicts that unless managers are strictly monitored by large block of shareholders they will certainly act out of self-interest. Amihud and Lev (1981) have provided proof that unless closely monitored by large block shareholders managers will attempt to reduce their employment risk through diversification. Lane et al.(1998) in this study have reexamined Amihud and Lev findings about agency theory Using a sample of 309 US firms that diversified between 1962 1970, from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Statistical Report on Mergers and Acquisitions (1976). This study falls in the third broad category[1] of agency studies. However this analysis only examines the strategic behaviors of managers when they are not under siege and are also not in a situation, in which their interests are clearly in conflict with those of shareholders. Specifically, firms without large block shareholders are expected to engage in more unrelated acquisitions and show higher levels of diversif ication than firms with large block shareholders (Jensen and Meckling (1976)) Using Multiple Regression, the study found no evidence for the standard agency theory predictions that management controlled firms are linked with strategically lower levels of diversification and lower levels of returns than are firms with large block shareholders. It was found that Ownership structure and diversification are largely independent constructs. Thus, managers may be are worthy of more trust and autonomy than what the agency theorists have prearranged for them. Rather than seeking to restrict managerial discretion through extreme oversight, a more balanced approach by principals is needed. Some safeguards are essential as conflicts of interests between managers and shareholders do arise in certain situations, therefore, the assumption that such conflicts dominate the day-to-day management is not realistic. Matsusaka,(1993) takes a deep look at the astonishingly high pre-merger profit rates of target companies during the conglomerate merger wave. The main goal of the study is to assess how important was managerial discipline as a takeover motive. The analysis uses an extensive data set of 806 manufacturing sector acquisitions that took place in 1968, 1971 and 1974. The sample was collected from New York Stock Exchange listing statements. Sample of 609 observations was taken from 1968, 117 from 1971, and 129 from 1974. The results did not differ in any vital way by year, so observations from the three periods were pooled. Because antitrust enforcement was strict in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was safely assumed that the sample mergers were not motivated to increase market power Ravenscraft and Scherer (1987). This allowed the investigation to focus on a narrow set of merger motives. Profitability[2] throughout the study was measured as a rate of return on assets. The theory identified two basic characteristics of mergers motivated to discipline target management. First it wsa observed that the target was underperforming its industry and the only reason to discipline the managers was that they were not maximizing profit. It could be because of incompetence that they were pursuing their own objectives. The second, the target company had publicly traded stock and the only posibility to discipline management was by electing an appropriate board of directors. In this situation a takeover was necessary to effect a change as the diffused stock ownership resulted in free-rider problems. Owners can remove bad managers of privately owned firms, as they are closely held. The problem occurs in large publicly traded firms with diffuse ownership. The statistical results revealed that both public and private targets had extremely high profit rates prior to acquisition compared to their size classes and industries. Therefore, takeovers were not motivated to discipline target managers during the conglomerate merger wave. The second finding of the study is that public targets were not as particularly profitable as private targets. It was also found that the largest public targets had the lowest profit rates. A credible interpretation of the evidence is that managerial discipline may have been significant for just a small set of acquisitions that involved large publicly-traded targets. Matsusaka (1993) leaves the bigger question unexplained. Why buyers time and again sought high profit targets during the merger wave. There is a simple clarification, that high quality assets are generally favored to low quality assets, as high quality assets are more expensive. In addition to explaining why firms seek high-profit targets, an asset complementarity theory implies that firms tend to divest their low-profit divisions Palmer and Barber (2001) have determined the factors that led large firms to participate in the1960s wave. The theoretical approach, of the study conceptualizes corporate elites (managers and directors) as actors. However it is assumed that these actors have interests which have arisen from positions held in organizational and institutional environments, and from multidimensional social class structure. Often Acquisitions are deviant and innovative ways by which corporate these elites can increase their status and wealth. Corporate elite diversify to the extent that their place in the class structure provides them with the capacity and interest to augment their wealth and status in this way. The authors have examined how the firms top directors and managers class position influenced its tendency to employ diversification in the 1 960s. More specifically the following arguments on social status[3] have been tested empirically. Firstly, Firms run by top managers who attended an exclusi ve secondary school or whose family was listed in a metropolitan social register were less likely than other firms to complete diversifying acquisitions in the 1960s. Secondly, Firms run by top managers who were Jewish were more likely than other firms to complete diversifying acquisitions in the 1 960s. Thirdly, Firms run by top managers situated in the South or west were more likely than other firms to complete diversifying acquisitions in the 1960s. The study selected a sample of the largest 461 publicly traded U.S. industrial corporations from the Federal Trade Commissions Statistical Report on Mergers and Acquisitions (1976), between January 1, 1963, and December 31, 1968. This particular time period was chosen because as the merger wave took off at the end of 1962 and crested in 1968. The results of the study were found through count and binary regression models. The findings of the study are consistent with that of Zeitlin (1974). According to him top managers capacities and interests are shaped by their social class position. Corporate elite members differ in their social class position. It is this variation that influences the behavior of the firms they command. The results indicate that social club memberships and upper-class background influenced a firms propensity to complete diversifying acquisitions in the 1960s. Network embeddedness and status influenced acquisition likelihood in opposite directions. Corporations that were run by chief executives who were central in social networks but marginal with respect to status were more likely than other firms to complete diversifying acquisitions in the 1960s. Therefore, individuals with high status had small interest in adopting innovation. Corporate elites can inhibit the spread of an innovation when it threatens their interests. As observed by Hayes and Taussig (1967), One must never under estimate the moral suasion that the business and financial communities can bring to bear on those who engage in practices of which they disapprove. In this respect, the analysis provides additional evidence that intraclass conflict shaped corporate behavior during the 1960s merger wave. It seemed that in the 1960s, it was not concentrated ownership but, ownership in the hands of capitalist families that reduced a firms tendency to complete diversifying acquisitions. Further, as predicted by agency theory , concentrated ownership would lower acquisition rates most when in the hands of the CEO or other top managers, as opposed to outsiders, However it was found the reverse to be the case. Overall, there was very little support for any of the agency theory in the 1960s merger wave. Further, the results provided no support for several of the class-theory hypotheses. Firms headquartered in the South or West run or by Jewish CEOs did not have a greater propensity to complete diversifying acquisitions during the 1960s. The process of diversification of American firms reached its height during the merger wave of the late 1960s. Matsusaka(1993)evaluated the 1960s merger wave. In an attempt to do so the author has proposed a number of explanations that drove managers to diversify during the conglomerate merger wave. There are reasons to suspect that managers may have pursued a diversification strategy even when it impaired the shareholder. They may have entered new lines of business to protect their organization-specific human capital or establish themselves. On the other hand, they may have been pursuing size as an end and because of strict antitrust opposition to horizontal and vertical mergers they had to expand by buying into unrelated industries. The study has evaluated whether manager were diversifying for their own advantage or in the interest of shareholders returns .To do so the author inspected the effect of diversification on the value of his firms equity. Thus, if the value of a firm declined upon announcement of an acquisition, then its management was not acting to maximize shareholder wealth. One explanation for conglomeration stated in the study, stems from Managerial-Discipline theory. Firstly, Firms were taken over to discipline or replace their bad managers ie â€Å"Managerial-Discipline. Secondly, Managerial Synergy theory states that the bidder management wanted to work with target management, not replace it. In this case the acquirer management believed that the target management would complement to their skills. Therefore firm that had Managerial-discipline problem were likely to have had low profits, and on the other hand managerial-synergy targets were likely to have had high profits. Another explanation is that buyers were motivated by earnings-per- share (EPS) manipulation. This explanation states that conglomerates have a high price-earnings ratio (P/E). [4] Therefore the bidder management was bootstrapping, by buying firms with low P/Es. Construction of the dataset began with a list of mergers from the sample of 1968, 1971 and 1974 .The sample was identified from the takeovers from New York Stock Exchange listing statements and the results were presented through regression. The announcement-period return to the bidders shareholders was measured through dollar return, [5] .Regression of the dollar-return measure found that the return to a diversification acquisition was significantly positive. On average their shareholders enjoyed an $11.0 million value increase in value when bidders made a diversification acquisition,. This rejects the hypothesis that diversification hurt shareholders and is thus inconsistent with the idea that diversification was driven by managerial objectives. On the other hand, bidders who made related acquisitions cost their shareholders $6.4 million on average. Thus, the hypothesis that the markets reaction was the same to related acquisitions and diversification is rejected, suggesting that there was a market premium to diversification. Using descriptive statistical summaries it was found that both diversifying and horizontal buyers preferred to buy firms that were profitable. For both type of acquisitions the average operating profit was more than 5% in excess of the targets industry average. Therefore fame of high-profit targets argues against the importance of a managerial-discipline motive for both types of acquisition and in favor of a managerial-synergy motive. This is because Managerial-discipline takeovers should have been directed at low-profit firms, whose profitability needed improved. The motive was Managerial-synergy as the targets were takeovers were high- profit firms, this is because synergy-motivated managers were looking for good partners Matsusaka(1993). Another factor linked to the managerial theories is whether or not the targets management was retained.Top management is said to have been retained if it meet the following criteria. Firstly It was reported in the Wall Street Journal that the acquired firms management would continue to operate under the new management. Secondly, it was indicated in the buyers listing statement that the targets management would be retained. Lastly, when the merger took place at least one of the top three executives of the target firm was still managing the firm three years later from when the merger took place. According to the above mentioned definitions, 61.8% of the managers in the sample were retained and only 3.5% of the acquisitions fell in the Replaced category. The main finding is that buyers earned significantly positive announcement-period returns during the conglomerate merger wave when they made diversifying acquisitions. The hypothesis that conglomerates were driven by empire building or some other managerial objective can be rejected because such explanations imply value decreases to unrelated acquisitions. Another explanation of the conglomerate merger wave is that mergers were driven by an accounting trick rather than expected efficiencies. Therefore, investors watched EPS; when the EPS went up they bid up the price of the stock. According to this argument, Conglomerates, tended to buy companies with lower P/E ratios than their own in order to increase their EPS and boost their stock prices. There was no evidence that firms earned positive returns which inflated EPS in this way. The study indicated that early conglomerators earned significantly positive returns simply because they were first. They may have gained some rents to organizational innovation. Possibly the men who built the first conglomerates had a unique talent for diversification, which the market rewarded. Hubbard, Palia (1999), have examined the likelihood that internal capital markets were formed to alleviate the information costs associated with the less well-developed external capital markets of the time; that is, whether they were expected to create value by the external capital markets in the 1960s.In this paper, the authors have inspected a form of cross-subsidization that occurs when a financially unconstrained bidding firm takes over a financially constrained target firm and as a result forms an internal capital market.The study examined whether the external capital markets expected that the formation of internal capital markets in the 1960s were value-maximizing for the bidding firm. However, existing research has argued that internal capital markets can be value-enhancing. As argued by Geneen(1997), the financing and budgeting expertise that a firm possesses is not necessarily related to its degree of diversification. Accordingly, the internal capital market hypothesis for all acquisitions is tested. The study also tests the bootstrapping explanation for conglomeration in the 1960s, which takes place when firms with a high price-earnings ratio (P/E) took over low P/E target firms and fooled the stock market with an increased combined earnings-per-share. In the 1960s, external capital markets were less developed in terms of company-specific information production than in later years. The authors have classified company-specific information into two general categories. Firstly, production information; and secondly, financing and budgeting expertise. However, in this study information-intensive activities were introduced. This was because; it assists the manager to internally allocate capital across divisions of a diversified firm. It was suggested that diversified firms were perceived by the external capital markets to have an informational advantage, because external capital markets were less well developed at that time. Comparing it to the current decade, there was less access by the public to computers, data- bases, analyst reports, and other sources of company-specific information. Not only this there was less large institutional money managers and the market for risky debt was illiquid. The authors selected a sample of 392 acquisitions that occurred during the period from 1961 through 1970. Diversifying acquisitions were defined as those in which the bidder and target do not share any two- digit SIC code Matsusaka(1993), and related acquisitions as those in which they do share a two-digit SIC code. Further the Wall Street Journal was used for announcement date as the event date. Four measures of abnormal returns to the conglomerate bidding firm were calculated. These measures are as follows. Firstly, the usual percentage returns or the cumulative abnormal returns from five days before to five days after the event date. Secondly the percentage returns until date of last revision or the cumulative abnormal returns from five days before to five days after the date of the last revision (Lang et al. (1991)). Thirdly, the dollar returns or the percentage return times the market value of the bidder six days before the announcement (Malatesta(1983); Matsusaka(1993)). Lastly , the investment return defined as the change in the value of the bidder divided by the purchase price (Morck et al. (1990)). Tobins r ratio[6] is used as a proxy for a firms capital market opportunities. The evidence from these measures is mixed. Positive abnormal returns for all four measures were shown for related acquisitions. On the other hand, two of the four measures had shown statically significant positive abnormal returns for diversifying acquisitions in. Not only that diversifying acquisitions do not significantly earn less than related acquisitions in two of the four measures. Thus, evidence suggests, the capital markets believed acquisitions to be generally good for bidder shareholders during the 1960s. More significantly, it was found that when financially unconstrained buyers acquired constrained target firms, highest bidder returns were earned. Further, bidders generally retain target management, signifying that management may have provided company- specific operational information and the bidder on his part also provided capital budgeting expertise. Therefore, external capital markets expected information benefits from the formation of the internal capital markets. The study found no evidence in support of the bootstrapping hypothesis, as the coefficient on the dummy variable[7] was not statistically different from zero. This result is consistent with Matsusaka, (1993), who also finds no evidence for bootstrapping.Therefore, firms merged to form their own internal capital markets as there was a deficiency of well-developed external capital markets in the 1960s. Some firms apparently had an information advantage over the external capital markets and were expected to produce value in an internal capital market. In the 1960s diversified acquisitions were rewarded by financial markets, the informational advantage that acquiring firms appeared to possess was likely to be in the capital budgeting, allocation process and operational aspects of each division. Bidder firms generally retained the target management as it would facilitate them running the operational part of each target firm. The Motives discussed in the above mentioned articles are appealing; however evidence from the stock market suggests that shareholders preferred their firms to diversify. Using a data set from the 60s and early 70s, Matsusaka (1993) reported that, when the company announced an unrelated acquisition, the stock price of the bidder increased on average of $8 million. However, on the announcement of a related acquisition, the bidding firms stock price fell by $4 million. The difference between the two returns is quite significant. Thus it appears that investors fully believed that unrelated acquisitions benefited their firms relative to the alternatives. Thus the managers just did what the stock market told them to do that is to diversify. Evidence from 1980s stock market suggested that shareholders, again, liked what was happening. Shleifer, and Vishny (1992) found that in the 1980s, stock prices of the bidding firms rose when they bought other firms in the same industry, and fell with unrelated diversification. It is clear that the market disapproved unrelated diversification. Therefore it does not astonish that, in light of such market reception, managers stopped diversifying and did what the stock market directed them to do. 2.2 Legal Motives Matsusaka (1996) investigated whether the antitrust enforcement of the 1960s led firms to take on the diversification goal, by preventing them from expanding within their own core industries. If correct, diversification should have occurred more less frequently when small firms merged than when large firms merged since small mergers were less likely to have attracted antitrust attention. Further the author examined the diversification patterns in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and France in the late 1960s and early 1970s, where none of these countries had legal restrictions on horizontal growth similar to those in the Unites States. The US Clayton Antitrust Act was the antitrust legislation in the postwar period (1950 Celler-Kefauver amendment to Section 7). The act, prohibited mergers that would substantially lessen competition, or tend to create a monopoly. This new law was used by the antitrust authorities and the courts to limit the number of mergers between vertically related and firms in the same lines of business. The strictness of the antitrust environment in 1968 is illustrated by the observation that in the earlier 12 years, all antitrust cases that reached the Supreme Court had been resolved in support of the government. The study indicates the following two implications. Firstly, large horizontal mergers were more liable to have been challenged on antitrust grounds than small horizontal mergers. Secondly mergers between unrelated firms were unlikely to have been blocked, regardless of size. Firms diversified in 1960s, since antitrust authorities prevented them from expanding in their home industries. Later when antitrust policy became less rigid in the 1980s, firms expanded horizontally, leading them to refocus on their core business. Stigler (1966) was perhaps the first to present evidence on the antitrust hypothesis, concluding that, the 1950 Merger Act has had a strongly adverse effect on horizontal mergers by large companies. The author selected a sample of 549 mergers (that took place in 1968) from the New York Stock Exchange. Results of the study were reported through Logit regressions .It was found that bidders were as likely to have entered new industries when they made small acquisitions as when they made large acquisitions, and small buyers were as likely to have diversified as large buyers. Further the total number of diversification acquisitions concerning small companies was high.Though, according to the antitrust hypothesis; diversification should have been widespread primarily in large mergers where same industry acquisitions were prohibited by tough antitrust enforcement. Secondly assembled international evidence indicated that diversification took place in many industrialized nations in the 1960s and 1970s, although restrictions against horizontal combinations were unique to the United States. Yet, most other industrialized Western nations[8] experienced diversification merger waves and general movements toward diversification in their largest companies (Chandler (1991)).Thus most of the evidence, is not consistent with the antitrust hypothesis, signifying that other explanations for corporate diversification should be emphasized not the anti trust hypothesis. Scholes and Wolfson (1990) state, that the changes in U.S. tax laws[9] in the 1980s had obvious affect on the desirability of mergers and acquisitions. However such transactions were not only motivated by tax factors but also non tax factors[10]. Tax laws can have number of affects on mergers and acquisitions , which can include the following capital losses, presence of tax-attribute carry forwards such as net operating losses , investment tax credits, and foreign tax credits, among others, that might be cashed in more quickly and more fully by way of a merger; the desire to step up the tax basis of assets for depreciation purposes to their fair market value; the desire to sell assets to permit a change in the depreciation schedule to one that is more highly accelerated. The authors in this study have examined the effect of changes in tax laws passed in 1980s on merger and acquisition activity in the United States. The authors selected the annual values of mergers and acquisitions from 1968 through 1987 in nominal dollars. The data source for nominal values was W. T. Grimm and Company for 1968-85 and Mergers Acquisitions (1987-88, rev. quarterly) for 1986 and 1987. Using time series analysis it was found that the dollar volume of merger activity between 1980-1981 increased from $44.35 billion to $82.62 billion (86%) in nominal terms. The percentage increase was approximately twice as large as the next largest percentage increase in annual merger and acquisition activity over the 1970-86 periods. There was spectacular increase in merger activity that began with the passage of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, however this was not the only merger wave that occurred in that time frame. Unusual merger activity was also witnessed in the 1960s. The termination of 1960s wave was accompanied by quite a few regulatory events that depressed such transactions. Firstly, the Williams Amendments had en larged the cost and difficulty of effecting tender offers. Secondly the issuance of Accounting Principles Board Opinions 16 and 17, forced many acquiring firms to boost depreciation expense, goodwill amortization and cost of goods sold. Thirdly the Tax Reform Act of 1969, made transferability of tax attributes (net-operating-loss carry forwards) more restrained. Therefore there was a sudden decline in merger activity from the peak in 1968. Relative to the tax benefits when the non tax benefits of the transaction were small, current management were the most efficient purchasers, as they had an advantage along the hidden information dimension. Therefore 1981 act had increased the incidence of cases in which non tax benefits were less than the common tax benefits of mergers and acquisitions. As a result, there was an increase in the number of transactions involving management buyouts. The annual dollar value of unit management buyouts between 1978-80 increased by a factor of 3, and by a factor in excess of 20 for the period 1981-86. The antitrust proposition mentioned above is appealing as one of the most important reason for diversification, during the 60s and 70s, which simply disallowed mergers of firms in the same industry, regardless of the effects of these mergers o Theories of Merger and Takeover Waves Theories of Merger and Takeover Waves Merger Wave The American economy experienced two great takeover waves in the postwar period, first in the 1960s and the second in the 1980s. Both waves had a deep affect on the structure of corporate America. The main trend in the 60s was diversification and conglomeration. In contrast the 1980s takeover reversed the previous process and brought US corporations back to specialization. In this respects, the last thirty years were a roundtrip for corporate America. This paper is an overview of the salient features of the two takeover waves. 1.1 The 1960s Conglomerate Merger Wave The merger wave of the 1960s was the major since the turn of the century (Stigler, 1968). A typical characteristic of the 1960s transaction was a friendly acquisition, frequently for stock, of a smaller private or public firm which was outside the acquiring firms main line of business. During this period unrelated diversification was widespread among the large companies. Rumelt (1974) has reported that the fraction of single business companies in the Fortune 500 decreased from 22.8% in 1959 to 14.8% in 1969. Further, the portion of conglomerates with no dominant businesses increased to 18.7% from 7.3%. There was also a considerable move to diversification among companies that retained their core business. The driving force behind the 1960s wave was high valuations of company stocks and large corporate cash flows. However the management was unwilling to pay out the high cash flows as dividends, and on the other hand able to issue equity at attractive terms therefore, turned their atte ntion to acquisitions (Donaldsoni. 1984).Dividends were considered as a complete waste, and acquisitions as a very attractive way to conserve corporate wealth. There are two sets of arguments used to explain why companies diversify. The first set argues that firms diversify to increase shareholder wealth. A number of authors have discussed different aspects of diversification that can potentially raise shareholder wealth. Williamson (1970), suggest that firms diversify to beat imperfections in external capital markets. Through diversification, managers create internal capital markets, which are less prone to asymmetric information problems. Lewellen (1971), argues that conglomerates can carry on higher levels of debt since corporate diversification reduces earnings variability. if conglomerate firms are more valuable than companies operating in a single industry If the tax shields of debt increase. Shleifer and Vishny (1992), state that conglomerates may have a higher debt capacity since they can sell assets in those industries that suffer the least from liquidity problems in bad states of the world. Finally, Teece (1980) argues that divers ification leads to economics of scale. The second set of arguments states diversification as a product of the agency problems between shareholder and managers. Amihud and Lev (1981) argue that managers follow a diversification strategy to protect the value of their human capital. However, Jensen (1986) suggests that companies diversify to increase the private benefits of managers. Similarly, Shleifer and Vishny (1989) suggest that managers diversify because they are better at managing assets in other industries. Thus, diversifying will make skills more indispensable to the firm. 1.2 The 1980s Merger Wave Form a longer historical perspective, Golbe and White (1988) presented time series evidence of U.S. takeover activity from the late 1800s to the mid-1980s. Their findings have suggested that takeover activity above 2 to 3 percent of GDP is unusual. However, the greatest level of merger activity occurred around 1980s, at roughly 10 percent of GNP. By this measure, takeover activity in the 1980s is historically high. The size of the average target in the 1980s had increased extremely from the modest level of the 60s. By 1989 28%, of Fortune 500 companies were acquired and many transactions, particularly the large ones, were hostile. Further the medium of exchange in takeovers was cash rather than stock, they were characterized by heavy use of leverage. Firms were purchased by other firms by leveraged takeovers by borrowing rather than by issuing new stock or using solely cash on hand. Other firms restructured themselves, borrowing to repurchase their own shares. The 80s was also characterized by latest forms of control changes, which included bustup takeovers. Bustup takeovers involved the sell off of a substantial fraction of the targets assets to other firms. (Bhagat, Shleifer, and Vishny, 1990; Kaplan, 1997). 2 Merger Motives The following sections will explain the motive behind the two merger waves. 2.1 Managerial Motives Agency theory predicts that unless managers are strictly monitored by large block of shareholders they will certainly act out of self-interest. Amihud and Lev (1981) have provided proof that unless closely monitored by large block shareholders managers will attempt to reduce their employment risk through diversification. Lane et al.(1998) in this study have reexamined Amihud and Lev findings about agency theory Using a sample of 309 US firms that diversified between 1962 1970, from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Statistical Report on Mergers and Acquisitions (1976). This study falls in the third broad category[1] of agency studies. However this analysis only examines the strategic behaviors of managers when they are not under siege and are also not in a situation, in which their interests are clearly in conflict with those of shareholders. Specifically, firms without large block shareholders are expected to engage in more unrelated acquisitions and show higher levels of diversif ication than firms with large block shareholders (Jensen and Meckling (1976)) Using Multiple Regression, the study found no evidence for the standard agency theory predictions that management controlled firms are linked with strategically lower levels of diversification and lower levels of returns than are firms with large block shareholders. It was found that Ownership structure and diversification are largely independent constructs. Thus, managers may be are worthy of more trust and autonomy than what the agency theorists have prearranged for them. Rather than seeking to restrict managerial discretion through extreme oversight, a more balanced approach by principals is needed. Some safeguards are essential as conflicts of interests between managers and shareholders do arise in certain situations, therefore, the assumption that such conflicts dominate the day-to-day management is not realistic. Matsusaka,(1993) takes a deep look at the astonishingly high pre-merger profit rates of target companies during the conglomerate merger wave. The main goal of the study is to assess how important was managerial discipline as a takeover motive. The analysis uses an extensive data set of 806 manufacturing sector acquisitions that took place in 1968, 1971 and 1974. The sample was collected from New York Stock Exchange listing statements. Sample of 609 observations was taken from 1968, 117 from 1971, and 129 from 1974. The results did not differ in any vital way by year, so observations from the three periods were pooled. Because antitrust enforcement was strict in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was safely assumed that the sample mergers were not motivated to increase market power Ravenscraft and Scherer (1987). This allowed the investigation to focus on a narrow set of merger motives. Profitability[2] throughout the study was measured as a rate of return on assets. The theory identified two basic characteristics of mergers motivated to discipline target management. First it wsa observed that the target was underperforming its industry and the only reason to discipline the managers was that they were not maximizing profit. It could be because of incompetence that they were pursuing their own objectives. The second, the target company had publicly traded stock and the only posibility to discipline management was by electing an appropriate board of directors. In this situation a takeover was necessary to effect a change as the diffused stock ownership resulted in free-rider problems. Owners can remove bad managers of privately owned firms, as they are closely held. The problem occurs in large publicly traded firms with diffuse ownership. The statistical results revealed that both public and private targets had extremely high profit rates prior to acquisition compared to their size classes and industries. Therefore, takeovers were not motivated to discipline target managers during the conglomerate merger wave. The second finding of the study is that public targets were not as particularly profitable as private targets. It was also found that the largest public targets had the lowest profit rates. A credible interpretation of the evidence is that managerial discipline may have been significant for just a small set of acquisitions that involved large publicly-traded targets. Matsusaka (1993) leaves the bigger question unexplained. Why buyers time and again sought high profit targets during the merger wave. There is a simple clarification, that high quality assets are generally favored to low quality assets, as high quality assets are more expensive. In addition to explaining why firms seek high-profit targets, an asset complementarity theory implies that firms tend to divest their low-profit divisions Palmer and Barber (2001) have determined the factors that led large firms to participate in the1960s wave. The theoretical approach, of the study conceptualizes corporate elites (managers and directors) as actors. However it is assumed that these actors have interests which have arisen from positions held in organizational and institutional environments, and from multidimensional social class structure. Often Acquisitions are deviant and innovative ways by which corporate these elites can increase their status and wealth. Corporate elite diversify to the extent that their place in the class structure provides them with the capacity and interest to augment their wealth and status in this way. The authors have examined how the firms top directors and managers class position influenced its tendency to employ diversification in the 1 960s. More specifically the following arguments on social status[3] have been tested empirically. Firstly, Firms run by top managers who attended an exclusi ve secondary school or whose family was listed in a metropolitan social register were less likely than other firms to complete diversifying acquisitions in the 1960s. Secondly, Firms run by top managers who were Jewish were more likely than other firms to complete diversifying acquisitions in the 1 960s. Thirdly, Firms run by top managers situated in the South or west were more likely than other firms to complete diversifying acquisitions in the 1960s. The study selected a sample of the largest 461 publicly traded U.S. industrial corporations from the Federal Trade Commissions Statistical Report on Mergers and Acquisitions (1976), between January 1, 1963, and December 31, 1968. This particular time period was chosen because as the merger wave took off at the end of 1962 and crested in 1968. The results of the study were found through count and binary regression models. The findings of the study are consistent with that of Zeitlin (1974). According to him top managers capacities and interests are shaped by their social class position. Corporate elite members differ in their social class position. It is this variation that influences the behavior of the firms they command. The results indicate that social club memberships and upper-class background influenced a firms propensity to complete diversifying acquisitions in the 1960s. Network embeddedness and status influenced acquisition likelihood in opposite directions. Corporations that were run by chief executives who were central in social networks but marginal with respect to status were more likely than other firms to complete diversifying acquisitions in the 1960s. Therefore, individuals with high status had small interest in adopting innovation. Corporate elites can inhibit the spread of an innovation when it threatens their interests. As observed by Hayes and Taussig (1967), One must never under estimate the moral suasion that the business and financial communities can bring to bear on those who engage in practices of which they disapprove. In this respect, the analysis provides additional evidence that intraclass conflict shaped corporate behavior during the 1960s merger wave. It seemed that in the 1960s, it was not concentrated ownership but, ownership in the hands of capitalist families that reduced a firms tendency to complete diversifying acquisitions. Further, as predicted by agency theory , concentrated ownership would lower acquisition rates most when in the hands of the CEO or other top managers, as opposed to outsiders, However it was found the reverse to be the case. Overall, there was very little support for any of the agency theory in the 1960s merger wave. Further, the results provided no support for several of the class-theory hypotheses. Firms headquartered in the South or West run or by Jewish CEOs did not have a greater propensity to complete diversifying acquisitions during the 1960s. The process of diversification of American firms reached its height during the merger wave of the late 1960s. Matsusaka(1993)evaluated the 1960s merger wave. In an attempt to do so the author has proposed a number of explanations that drove managers to diversify during the conglomerate merger wave. There are reasons to suspect that managers may have pursued a diversification strategy even when it impaired the shareholder. They may have entered new lines of business to protect their organization-specific human capital or establish themselves. On the other hand, they may have been pursuing size as an end and because of strict antitrust opposition to horizontal and vertical mergers they had to expand by buying into unrelated industries. The study has evaluated whether manager were diversifying for their own advantage or in the interest of shareholders returns .To do so the author inspected the effect of diversification on the value of his firms equity. Thus, if the value of a firm declined upon announcement of an acquisition, then its management was not acting to maximize shareholder wealth. One explanation for conglomeration stated in the study, stems from Managerial-Discipline theory. Firstly, Firms were taken over to discipline or replace their bad managers ie â€Å"Managerial-Discipline. Secondly, Managerial Synergy theory states that the bidder management wanted to work with target management, not replace it. In this case the acquirer management believed that the target management would complement to their skills. Therefore firm that had Managerial-discipline problem were likely to have had low profits, and on the other hand managerial-synergy targets were likely to have had high profits. Another explanation is that buyers were motivated by earnings-per- share (EPS) manipulation. This explanation states that conglomerates have a high price-earnings ratio (P/E). [4] Therefore the bidder management was bootstrapping, by buying firms with low P/Es. Construction of the dataset began with a list of mergers from the sample of 1968, 1971 and 1974 .The sample was identified from the takeovers from New York Stock Exchange listing statements and the results were presented through regression. The announcement-period return to the bidders shareholders was measured through dollar return, [5] .Regression of the dollar-return measure found that the return to a diversification acquisition was significantly positive. On average their shareholders enjoyed an $11.0 million value increase in value when bidders made a diversification acquisition,. This rejects the hypothesis that diversification hurt shareholders and is thus inconsistent with the idea that diversification was driven by managerial objectives. On the other hand, bidders who made related acquisitions cost their shareholders $6.4 million on average. Thus, the hypothesis that the markets reaction was the same to related acquisitions and diversification is rejected, suggesting that there was a market premium to diversification. Using descriptive statistical summaries it was found that both diversifying and horizontal buyers preferred to buy firms that were profitable. For both type of acquisitions the average operating profit was more than 5% in excess of the targets industry average. Therefore fame of high-profit targets argues against the importance of a managerial-discipline motive for both types of acquisition and in favor of a managerial-synergy motive. This is because Managerial-discipline takeovers should have been directed at low-profit firms, whose profitability needed improved. The motive was Managerial-synergy as the targets were takeovers were high- profit firms, this is because synergy-motivated managers were looking for good partners Matsusaka(1993). Another factor linked to the managerial theories is whether or not the targets management was retained.Top management is said to have been retained if it meet the following criteria. Firstly It was reported in the Wall Street Journal that the acquired firms management would continue to operate under the new management. Secondly, it was indicated in the buyers listing statement that the targets management would be retained. Lastly, when the merger took place at least one of the top three executives of the target firm was still managing the firm three years later from when the merger took place. According to the above mentioned definitions, 61.8% of the managers in the sample were retained and only 3.5% of the acquisitions fell in the Replaced category. The main finding is that buyers earned significantly positive announcement-period returns during the conglomerate merger wave when they made diversifying acquisitions. The hypothesis that conglomerates were driven by empire building or some other managerial objective can be rejected because such explanations imply value decreases to unrelated acquisitions. Another explanation of the conglomerate merger wave is that mergers were driven by an accounting trick rather than expected efficiencies. Therefore, investors watched EPS; when the EPS went up they bid up the price of the stock. According to this argument, Conglomerates, tended to buy companies with lower P/E ratios than their own in order to increase their EPS and boost their stock prices. There was no evidence that firms earned positive returns which inflated EPS in this way. The study indicated that early conglomerators earned significantly positive returns simply because they were first. They may have gained some rents to organizational innovation. Possibly the men who built the first conglomerates had a unique talent for diversification, which the market rewarded. Hubbard, Palia (1999), have examined the likelihood that internal capital markets were formed to alleviate the information costs associated with the less well-developed external capital markets of the time; that is, whether they were expected to create value by the external capital markets in the 1960s.In this paper, the authors have inspected a form of cross-subsidization that occurs when a financially unconstrained bidding firm takes over a financially constrained target firm and as a result forms an internal capital market.The study examined whether the external capital markets expected that the formation of internal capital markets in the 1960s were value-maximizing for the bidding firm. However, existing research has argued that internal capital markets can be value-enhancing. As argued by Geneen(1997), the financing and budgeting expertise that a firm possesses is not necessarily related to its degree of diversification. Accordingly, the internal capital market hypothesis for all acquisitions is tested. The study also tests the bootstrapping explanation for conglomeration in the 1960s, which takes place when firms with a high price-earnings ratio (P/E) took over low P/E target firms and fooled the stock market with an increased combined earnings-per-share. In the 1960s, external capital markets were less developed in terms of company-specific information production than in later years. The authors have classified company-specific information into two general categories. Firstly, production information; and secondly, financing and budgeting expertise. However, in this study information-intensive activities were introduced. This was because; it assists the manager to internally allocate capital across divisions of a diversified firm. It was suggested that diversified firms were perceived by the external capital markets to have an informational advantage, because external capital markets were less well developed at that time. Comparing it to the current decade, there was less access by the public to computers, data- bases, analyst reports, and other sources of company-specific information. Not only this there was less large institutional money managers and the market for risky debt was illiquid. The authors selected a sample of 392 acquisitions that occurred during the period from 1961 through 1970. Diversifying acquisitions were defined as those in which the bidder and target do not share any two- digit SIC code Matsusaka(1993), and related acquisitions as those in which they do share a two-digit SIC code. Further the Wall Street Journal was used for announcement date as the event date. Four measures of abnormal returns to the conglomerate bidding firm were calculated. These measures are as follows. Firstly, the usual percentage returns or the cumulative abnormal returns from five days before to five days after the event date. Secondly the percentage returns until date of last revision or the cumulative abnormal returns from five days before to five days after the date of the last revision (Lang et al. (1991)). Thirdly, the dollar returns or the percentage return times the market value of the bidder six days before the announcement (Malatesta(1983); Matsusaka(1993)). Lastly , the investment return defined as the change in the value of the bidder divided by the purchase price (Morck et al. (1990)). Tobins r ratio[6] is used as a proxy for a firms capital market opportunities. The evidence from these measures is mixed. Positive abnormal returns for all four measures were shown for related acquisitions. On the other hand, two of the four measures had shown statically significant positive abnormal returns for diversifying acquisitions in. Not only that diversifying acquisitions do not significantly earn less than related acquisitions in two of the four measures. Thus, evidence suggests, the capital markets believed acquisitions to be generally good for bidder shareholders during the 1960s. More significantly, it was found that when financially unconstrained buyers acquired constrained target firms, highest bidder returns were earned. Further, bidders generally retain target management, signifying that management may have provided company- specific operational information and the bidder on his part also provided capital budgeting expertise. Therefore, external capital markets expected information benefits from the formation of the internal capital markets. The study found no evidence in support of the bootstrapping hypothesis, as the coefficient on the dummy variable[7] was not statistically different from zero. This result is consistent with Matsusaka, (1993), who also finds no evidence for bootstrapping.Therefore, firms merged to form their own internal capital markets as there was a deficiency of well-developed external capital markets in the 1960s. Some firms apparently had an information advantage over the external capital markets and were expected to produce value in an internal capital market. In the 1960s diversified acquisitions were rewarded by financial markets, the informational advantage that acquiring firms appeared to possess was likely to be in the capital budgeting, allocation process and operational aspects of each division. Bidder firms generally retained the target management as it would facilitate them running the operational part of each target firm. The Motives discussed in the above mentioned articles are appealing; however evidence from the stock market suggests that shareholders preferred their firms to diversify. Using a data set from the 60s and early 70s, Matsusaka (1993) reported that, when the company announced an unrelated acquisition, the stock price of the bidder increased on average of $8 million. However, on the announcement of a related acquisition, the bidding firms stock price fell by $4 million. The difference between the two returns is quite significant. Thus it appears that investors fully believed that unrelated acquisitions benefited their firms relative to the alternatives. Thus the managers just did what the stock market told them to do that is to diversify. Evidence from 1980s stock market suggested that shareholders, again, liked what was happening. Shleifer, and Vishny (1992) found that in the 1980s, stock prices of the bidding firms rose when they bought other firms in the same industry, and fell with unrelated diversification. It is clear that the market disapproved unrelated diversification. Therefore it does not astonish that, in light of such market reception, managers stopped diversifying and did what the stock market directed them to do. 2.2 Legal Motives Matsusaka (1996) investigated whether the antitrust enforcement of the 1960s led firms to take on the diversification goal, by preventing them from expanding within their own core industries. If correct, diversification should have occurred more less frequently when small firms merged than when large firms merged since small mergers were less likely to have attracted antitrust attention. Further the author examined the diversification patterns in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and France in the late 1960s and early 1970s, where none of these countries had legal restrictions on horizontal growth similar to those in the Unites States. The US Clayton Antitrust Act was the antitrust legislation in the postwar period (1950 Celler-Kefauver amendment to Section 7). The act, prohibited mergers that would substantially lessen competition, or tend to create a monopoly. This new law was used by the antitrust authorities and the courts to limit the number of mergers between vertically related and firms in the same lines of business. The strictness of the antitrust environment in 1968 is illustrated by the observation that in the earlier 12 years, all antitrust cases that reached the Supreme Court had been resolved in support of the government. The study indicates the following two implications. Firstly, large horizontal mergers were more liable to have been challenged on antitrust grounds than small horizontal mergers. Secondly mergers between unrelated firms were unlikely to have been blocked, regardless of size. Firms diversified in 1960s, since antitrust authorities prevented them from expanding in their home industries. Later when antitrust policy became less rigid in the 1980s, firms expanded horizontally, leading them to refocus on their core business. Stigler (1966) was perhaps the first to present evidence on the antitrust hypothesis, concluding that, the 1950 Merger Act has had a strongly adverse effect on horizontal mergers by large companies. The author selected a sample of 549 mergers (that took place in 1968) from the New York Stock Exchange. Results of the study were reported through Logit regressions .It was found that bidders were as likely to have entered new industries when they made small acquisitions as when they made large acquisitions, and small buyers were as likely to have diversified as large buyers. Further the total number of diversification acquisitions concerning small companies was high.Though, according to the antitrust hypothesis; diversification should have been widespread primarily in large mergers where same industry acquisitions were prohibited by tough antitrust enforcement. Secondly assembled international evidence indicated that diversification took place in many industrialized nations in the 1960s and 1970s, although restrictions against horizontal combinations were unique to the United States. Yet, most other industrialized Western nations[8] experienced diversification merger waves and general movements toward diversification in their largest companies (Chandler (1991)).Thus most of the evidence, is not consistent with the antitrust hypothesis, signifying that other explanations for corporate diversification should be emphasized not the anti trust hypothesis. Scholes and Wolfson (1990) state, that the changes in U.S. tax laws[9] in the 1980s had obvious affect on the desirability of mergers and acquisitions. However such transactions were not only motivated by tax factors but also non tax factors[10]. Tax laws can have number of affects on mergers and acquisitions , which can include the following capital losses, presence of tax-attribute carry forwards such as net operating losses , investment tax credits, and foreign tax credits, among others, that might be cashed in more quickly and more fully by way of a merger; the desire to step up the tax basis of assets for depreciation purposes to their fair market value; the desire to sell assets to permit a change in the depreciation schedule to one that is more highly accelerated. The authors in this study have examined the effect of changes in tax laws passed in 1980s on merger and acquisition activity in the United States. The authors selected the annual values of mergers and acquisitions from 1968 through 1987 in nominal dollars. The data source for nominal values was W. T. Grimm and Company for 1968-85 and Mergers Acquisitions (1987-88, rev. quarterly) for 1986 and 1987. Using time series analysis it was found that the dollar volume of merger activity between 1980-1981 increased from $44.35 billion to $82.62 billion (86%) in nominal terms. The percentage increase was approximately twice as large as the next largest percentage increase in annual merger and acquisition activity over the 1970-86 periods. There was spectacular increase in merger activity that began with the passage of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, however this was not the only merger wave that occurred in that time frame. Unusual merger activity was also witnessed in the 1960s. The termination of 1960s wave was accompanied by quite a few regulatory events that depressed such transactions. Firstly, the Williams Amendments had en larged the cost and difficulty of effecting tender offers. Secondly the issuance of Accounting Principles Board Opinions 16 and 17, forced many acquiring firms to boost depreciation expense, goodwill amortization and cost of goods sold. Thirdly the Tax Reform Act of 1969, made transferability of tax attributes (net-operating-loss carry forwards) more restrained. Therefore there was a sudden decline in merger activity from the peak in 1968. Relative to the tax benefits when the non tax benefits of the transaction were small, current management were the most efficient purchasers, as they had an advantage along the hidden information dimension. Therefore 1981 act had increased the incidence of cases in which non tax benefits were less than the common tax benefits of mergers and acquisitions. As a result, there was an increase in the number of transactions involving management buyouts. The annual dollar value of unit management buyouts between 1978-80 increased by a factor of 3, and by a factor in excess of 20 for the period 1981-86. The antitrust proposition mentioned above is appealing as one of the most important reason for diversification, during the 60s and 70s, which simply disallowed mergers of firms in the same industry, regardless of the effects of these mergers o