Financial Reporting and Capital Markets - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 9 Words: 2680 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Level High school Did you like this example? Financial Reporting and Capital Markets: Explain the accounting for ATTs acquisition of NCR and Coca-Colas channel stuffing. Discuss and compare the motivations of those who made the accounting choice, explaining what consequences the academic literature would predict to follow from the choice. Creative accounting is a means by which companies manipulate standard accounting practices, in an attempt to influence the way certain parties interpret financial performance. A multitude of devices exist within creative accounting, two examples of which will be discussed in this essay: firstly, the pooling method of accounting used in ATTs 1991 acquisition of NCR; and secondly, Coca-Colas 1997-99 channel stuffing. The motivations of such accounting choices will be discussed and compared, explaining the relevant consequences academic literature would expect to follow. Discussion relies on the assumption, held and tested by many academics[1], that market efficiency is of the semi-strong form. ATT monopolised the long-distance telephone industry for almost a century, until the Department of Justice filed an antitrust action in 1974. A consent decree was signed in 1982 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" a widely criticised decision à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" stating ATT must divest 75% of their assets (Ly s, 1995), yet could enter the unregulated computer-orientated industry. 1988-appointed CEO in 1988,, Robert Allenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s analysis suggested ATTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s continuing computer losses could be solved significant investment or divestment. Moving forward with the former option à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" arguably to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“save faceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  after signing the decree à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" presented NCR as a potential acquisition. ATT was determined to acquire NCR, debatably in an attempt to reposition itself as a market competitor, despite weak history regarding computer mergers, NCRà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s financial setbacks and the general consensus of NCRà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“lemonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ -like status. Acquisitions can either use the pooling-of-interests or purchase method of accounting à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" neither of which impact future cash flow. The former sees assets acquired at book value, and the latter requires acquisition at fair market value, with the inclusion of amortisable goodwill. Several barriers existed to prevent the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from granting permission to pool (Lys, 1995) some of which were purposefully introduced by NCR as a defence mechanism. Significant costs were incurred to sidestep the barriers; including reportedly lobbying the SEC. ATT arranged 6.3 million NCR shares (at $102.75) to be placed with Californian money manager, Capital Group Inc., which were exchanged for 6.3 million ATT shares (at $110.74). This cost ATT $50.3 million à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" profit recognised by Capital Group à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" with an additional $10 per share offered for NCRà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s managerial cooperation. ATTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s motives to pool rather than purchase à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" costing them a confirmed $50 million premium, with the willingness to pay an additional $450 million à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" were related to the belief that earnings per share (EPS) would increase. The b elieved increase related to ATTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s perception of the market efficiency, who predicted that, with the purchase method, shareholders and financial analysts would incorrectly interpret decreasing earnings due to goodwill amortisation as decreasing cash flow, resulting in a 20% share price decrease (with 100% stock, pooling EPS = $2.42, purchase EPS = $1.97). ATT investors, during the six-month negotiation period, had adverse reactions to all news that increased likelihood of acquisition. Indeed, throughout the 9-month, $7.5 billion acquisition, ATT shareholdersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ wealth decreased $6.5 billion (NCRà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s increased $3.5 billion). ATTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s assumption relating to market inefficiency was that analysts and investors would not recognise the difference between the purchase and pooling effects on earnings. However, research into the correlation between purchase accounting and stock prices reveals no market inefficiencies (Hong 197 8). The lack of evidence supporting this assumption perhaps suggests that NCR supplied inside information to ATT. The disregard to the marketà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s negative response to the deal is illustrative of ATTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s belief of market inefficiency with regard to acquisitions. Lys suggests that psychological motives exist, such as the pressure on a decision-maker to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“become boundà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  to decisions that are taken freely, not easily reversed and have personal ramifications. Such theory coheres with the earlier notion of ATT trying to redeem itself after the 1982 decree, within the computer industry. Coca-Cola Enterprise (CCE) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s biggest manufacturer and distributer of non-alcoholic concentrates and syrups à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" surpassed expected earnings from 1990-1996, with its share price increasing over twice as fast as the SP500. In 1996, Coca-Cola began to face competition in a tough economic envi ronment yet it publically maintained its growth through hidden à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“channel stuffingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ , an example of real earnings management. Demand is only truly seen internally, and as such when anticipated demand is low tangible products can be à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“stuffedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  downstream to customers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" known as the carryover effect (Lai, 2010) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" allowing higher sales revenues to be reported, with investors thereby incorrectly overvaluing the company. CCE persuaded bottlers to purchase additional concentrate, that they wouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have required until the next period, offering incentives such as: extended payment terms (Terhune, 2004), indications of increasing price, discounted prices for extra purchase quantities (United States District Court, 2005), etc. Increasing bottler concentrate inventory levels suggested increasing sales, yet their sales rose only 11% from 1997-1999, whereas concentrate levels produced and delivered by CCE increased over 60%. The inflation of product sales à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" increasing revenue by $600 million à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" falsely implied a healthy future for CCE. Channel stuffing was not disclosed to shareholders, and relied on semi-strong market efficiency assuming, correctly for a period of time, that shareholders would not notice the creative accounting device. CCE released higher sales figures, in line with past growth, which created a short-term profit boost; this was not sustainable. Bringing future inventory forward created a deficit for the next period, which required another, larger channel stuff, forcing a vicious spiral of declining sales, inventory deficits and gallon pushes. Ultimately, bottlers were holding significantly more inventory than the forecasted decreasing demand required. In 1999 inventory levels were too high, thus channel stuffing ended, leading to a large decrease in revenue. Gunny (2005) refers to channel stuffing as a mana gerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“willing[ness] to sacrifice future cash flowsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  in the short-term, with research showing that operating performance will be reduced in the long-term. CCE violated Sections 17(a)(2)/17(a)(3) of the Securities Act by not disclosing their channel stuffing to investors. Additionally, CCE produced false statements announcing a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“several-month long optimum inventory studyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  conducted alongside retailers (SEC 2005). Additionally, CCE violated Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act, which stated that any trends known by a company that are expected to negatively impact revenue must be disclosed. In 2000, the investors who bought CCE stock, after being misled, filed a lawsuit claiming that channel stuffing led to inflated and dishonest revenues. CCE agreed to settle in order to elude unwanted litigation, yet did not admit any misconduct. They agreed to abstain from future securities violations, paying close attention to sales levels to bottlers. CCEà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s motives for channel stuffing are arguably twofold: the decline in demand for products, explained by CCE as due to bad weather and unexpected expenses, meant that financial analystsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ sales forecasts would be missed and hence share prices would decrease (Chan, 2005). Secondly, (Chan 2005); and plaintiffs alleged that the performance-based bonuses contributed to the creative accounting. Such theory corroborates the discovery that several officers later suspiciously shorted millions of dollars of inflated CCE stock days before corrective disclosures of CCEà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s financial position (United States District Court, 2005). Similarly, Lys discuses the possibility of incentive-based compensation in ATTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pooling decisions. Details of calculations and estimates can be found in Lys (1995), though an overview explains that the $0.45 EPS decrease from the purchasing method would have reduced Al lenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s bonus by $427,245 (over the ten-year goodwill amortisation period) and by $3.4 million for the officer group, compared to smaller bonus reductions of $140,445 and $811,468 respectively after pooling treatment. This resulted in a  £2,909,862 net pooling benefit, though this is relatively small compared to the wealth of the officer group. It can be reasoned that ATT either had motives not aligned to maximizing value to the shareholders or possessed inside information. The former relates to the principal-agent problem; arguably ATT had psychological and, as well as CCE, compensation scheme motives. The latter relates to the market efficiency, in particular the asymmetry of information. CCEà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s channel stuffing was based on the premise that they knew something the market and distributors did not about the demand trends. Similarly, NCR appeared to the market as a lemon, with all events associated with acquisition reducing ATTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ ž ¢s stock price. Their persistence regarding the deal suggested they saw value that the market did not. Contrary to this, Lys (1995) described the deal as value destruction, and 6 years after the hostile takeover NCR re-established itself as a separate company after a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“disastrous relationshipà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  with ATT (Andrews, 1996), confirming the marketà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s lemon opinion. Considering the motives to pool and not purchase, one must ask if ATTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s belief that EPS would decrease with purchase was justification for a $50 million premium. Hongà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s (1978) research into the correlation between purchase accounting and stock prices questions ATTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pooling rationale, revealing no inefficiencies, rendering the premium to pool shares redundant. Yet, Ayers (2002) indicates that CFOs commonly fear purchase accounting negatively affects stock values justifying the large premium, researchi ng that on average a firm will pay over $60 million for pooling treatment. Hopkinsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (2000) research, contradicting Hongà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, within experimental settings shows that analysts frequently do not appropriately take into account purchase or pooling methods when adjusting stock prices. Additionally, it could be argued ATTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s concerns over investor misinterpretation could have been reduced with voluntary disclosures, reducing the information gap between managers and investors (Healy, 2001). A decline in demand and failure to meet analyst forecasts and expectations would indefinitely result in a decreasing stock price. CCE, rightly, believed the market would not recognize the downward trend due to their lack of access to the soft drink industryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s data. Additionally, their understanding of market efficiency led them to assume investors would not immediately recognize their channel stuffing activities. Though financial rep orting and disclosure are crucial for outside investors to understand performance, it can be argued that the device used by ATT was transparent à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" an informed investor could have inferred motives from publically available information à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and by CCE was opaque. Keller (1991a) references that Donaldson, Lufkin Jenrette analyst Gross recognized and agreed with ATTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s insistence on pooling treatment, foreseeing the negative share price implications if SEC denied the pooling request. Though in CCEà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s case it was not recognized, Lai (2010) notes certain activity à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" for example large increases in accounts receivable or excess inventory at customersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Hendricks 2008) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" can hint at, though not identify, channel stuffing. Ulterior motives to use the aforementioned accounting devices, such as psychological or bonus schemes could not be deciphered without inside information. Thou gh ATT did not use an illegal device, and CCE admitted no wrongdoing, both performed questionable accounting practices. Thus, decreasing shareholder trust would be a certain consequence, especially for CCE. Indeed, Akerlof (1970) stated à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“dishonest dealings tend to drive honest dealings out of the marketà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ , suggesting future and potential investors would distrust ATT, who acted despite the marketà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s concerns, and CCE, who used information asymmetry to mislead the market. The SEC proved that channel stuffing occurred and CCE put certain bodies and practices in place to ensure openness with regard to financial, ethical and compliance matters. This would not repair the broken trust between the two companies and the market and thus stock prices, in the long-term, would be predicted to decrease due to the dishonesty. CCE knowingly misled investors into believing their sales were continuously growing, in order to meet and exceed forecasted ear nings, taking advantage of the asymmetric nature of the marketà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s information. Whereas, ATT paid a $50 million premium, with the potential to increase this to $500 million, in order to protect themselves from misinterpretation due to their perceived market efficiency, which was arguably weaker than semi-strong. An alternative hypothesis is that the principal-agent theory was in play, with ATT managers acquiring the lemon-like company for reasons other than maximising shareholder value. Both ATT and CCE office members received financial benefits from the acquisition and channel stuffing respectively, although neither the significance nor the malicious attempts to secure such bonuses has been proven. Academics, in particular Hong, suggests that the semi-strong market form would not let either pooling or purchase methods of accounting affect ATTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s stock price, contradictory to Grossà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s and Hopkinsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s analyses. Lai and Hendrick both suggest that certain activities can indicate channel stuffing and though the CCE device was not immediately detected the incident has helped reinforce and improve regulations put in place to prevent future channel stuffing. Akerlofà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Lemon model implies that the two companiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ dishonest behaviour would not bode well in the long-term with investors or shareholders. In conclusion, the assumption, held throughout this essay, of semi-strong market efficiency is crucial when deciphering the true motives and consequences of the two cases. The motives, which are still unclear, of ATTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pooling treatment and CCEà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s channel stuffing stemmed from the seemingly innocent desire to increase shareholder value and avoidance of misinterpretation, to the controversy of performance-related bonuses, malicious information asymmetry and psychological pressures. ATTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s perception of lower than semi-strong form, and corroborating analyses from Gross and Hopkins, suggested uninformed investors would misinterpret their financial performance, despite Hongà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s conflicting research. CCE believed the semi-strong form left room to mislead the uninformed investors into thinking financial performance was significantly greater than it actually was, leading to poor performance and distrust in the long-term. The creative accounting devices discussed would have led to decreasing stock price as a consequence of their dishonest nature. In the words of Akerlof (1970), the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“cost of dishonestyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  ultimately à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“[drives] legitimate business out of existenceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . Bibliography Akerlof, G 1970, The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol 84, no. 3, pp. 488-500. Ambreen A. Delawalla, JAJJ,TRDABLA 2007, In re Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc Securities Litigation, Case: 1:06-CV- 0275-TWT, United States District Court, Georgia. Andrews, E 1996, ATT Acquisition, Soon to Be Spun Off, Regains NCR Name, The New York Times, 11 January 1996. Ayers, B 2002, Do firms purchase the pooling method?, in Review of Accounting Studies, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands. Chan, F 2005, The JIT revolution: What actually happened in the inventories of American companies between 1981 and 2000?, Forthcoming in Management Science. Fama, EF 1970, Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work, The Journal of Finance, Blackwell Publishing for the American Finance Association, New York. Gunny, K 2005, What are the Consequences of Real Earnings Mangement?, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. Guoming Lai, LDLN 2010, Manager Incentives for Channel Stu ±ng with Market-based Compensation , Chicago Booth School of Business , University of Chicago , Chicago. Hai Hong, RSKGM 1978, Pooling vs Purchase: the effects o f accounting for mergers on stock prices, The Accounting Review, no. 53, pp. 31-42. Hendricks, KB,VRS 2008, Demand-supply mismatch and stock market reaction: Evidence from 28 excess inventory announcements, MSOM. Hopkins, PE,RWHAMFP 2000, Valuation of the components of purchased goodwill, Journal of Accounting Research. Lys, T 1995, An analysis of value destruction in ATTs acquisition of NCR, Graduate School of Business, J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Manchester, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Chicago. Merton, RC 1987, A simple model of capital market equilibrium with incomplete information., The Journal of Finance , pp. 42, 483à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"510. Paul M Healy, KGP 2001, Information asymmetry, corporate disclosure, and the capital markets: A review of the empirical disclosure literature, Graduate School of Business, Harvard University, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Boston. Perler, HMSJ 2010, Financial Shenanigans, 3rd Edition, McGraw Hil l, New York. SEC 2005, US Securities and Exchange Commission, viewed 20 February 2014, https://www.sec.gov/news/press/2005-58.htm., April 18, 2005. Terhune, C 2004, Probe of Cokes Sales Leads to Japan, The Wall Street Journal. Tobin, J, On the Efficiency of the Financial System, Lloyds Bank Review, 153: 1-15. United States District Court 2005, Civil Action, file note 1:06-CV-0275. Vishny, ASARW 2011, Stock Market Driven Acquisitions , Harvard University, Boston. 1 Financial Reporting and Capital Markets, Essay 1, 7167N Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Financial Reporting and Capital Markets" essay for you Create order [1] Notably, (Vishny, 2011),) (Tobin, n.d.) (Fama, 1970)

The Psychology of Architecture Essay - 1004 Words

Architecture is a fascinating business that encompasses the art and science of designing with the construction of buildings. An architect designs all kind of buildings, such as schools, churches, houses, restaurants, and more. This profession has been around since the 1st century CE when Vitruvius, a Roman architect, called it De architectura. Architects have to have a wide range of knowledge. For example they need to have good communications skill, so they can take the information of what a client wants and transform into a sketch then eventually a building. Architects must always consider the following when designing a structure: psychology, design, and the fractional triangles of architecture. Psychology has a huge amount of†¦show more content†¦Therefore architecture and psychology go hand and hand together, so that architects can understand actions and clients to the best of their abilities. Design is a very important aspect in architecture; this is what gives a buildings style. Cortese expressed his ideas about design when he says, â€Å"Design is fundamentally a generative art requiring generative impulse, hubris, to be balanced with regenerative impulses, humility.†(Cortese 6). To be able to make an attractive building, someone need to have an eye for design. This includes being able to put colors together, which materials looks good, and a good since of style. According to the dictionary design is a plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of a building, garment, or other object before it is built or made. (Merriam Webster) Cortese also stated, â€Å"†¦design buildings that mimic natural systems and have the capacity to reconnect people to the spirit of nature†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Cortese 10). This means that all architects need to keep updated on current trends and design, and what styles can influence certain feelings. Overall all architects must have some style and aspects forShow MoreRelatedHow Architecture Can A ffect The Surrounding1361 Words   |  6 PagesArchitectural Psychology- ‘I want to design things that people get pleasure in making and want to make things that people get pleasure in using’- William Morris How architecture can affect the surrounding relating to human emotions- Architecture for Humanism=Architecture for people, encouraging people to respond of pleasure in inhabiting. As an architect in in the study field, we required to provide to write our work, our motives, our philosophies and our detailed approach to the design. To buildRead MoreEssay on The Human Response to Physical Structure1583 Words   |  7 Pagesstructure through visual elements such as bricks, rock, vegetation and foliage, hallways, doors, windows, trims, and flooring. These elements combine to allow each individuals experience of a space. The German word gestalt means form or shape. Gestalt psychology attempts to investigate the human mind and how it conceives of or recognizes patterns. Scientists believe the human mind is wired to search for import and significance in sensory information input. This wiring may be the evolutionary result of hundredsRead MoreGothic Elements In Gothic Literature1023 Words   |  5 Pagesliterature’s roots are in the architecture of the dark ages. The buildings were made to intimidate oncoming enemies, because of this it presents the perfect setting for eerie literature such as the Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto. Whilst reading gothic literature fear is to be expected, because the nature of gothic is grim( Hutchins). Fear as we know is an emotion that is triggered by one of these three reactions: physical threats, sources of poison and signs of disease(â€Å"Psychology†). The Castle of OtrantoRead MoreEssay1354 Words   |  6 Pagesthe US, the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee best suit my needs. UW Milwaukee, located less than an hour from Waterford, provides the only accredited architecture program in Wisconsin. University of Washington also provides an architecture program. Both schools offer reputable psychology programs as well. Additionally, the two schools each offer benefits associated with their location; Seattle and Milwaukee, two large cities, both provide great opportunity for studentsRead More‘Happiness, or subjective well-being (SWB) is a biopsychosocial phenomenon.’1084 Words   |  5 PagesIn this essay I will define and discuss the concepts of ‘positive psychology’, of ‘happiness’, which is synonymous with subjective well-being (SWB); of ‘the architecture of sustainable happiness’; and the biopsychosocial model. I aim to demonstrate that SWB is a multifaceted and can only be understood by investigating biological, psychological and social factors and their interdependence to construct a holistic model. I will provide examples of these different factors and their interdependenceRead MoreEssay957 Words   |  4 Pagespurpose of applying for permanent residency to Australia under Independent Skilled Immigration. I have explained in details as to how my qualifications as a Bachelor in Architecture (B.Arc h) is on par with Australian accredited academic qualifications in the seven areas of core study as required. I have completed my Bachelors of Architecture from Thiagarajar College of Engineering (affiliated to Anna University, Chennai). The duration of my Undergraduate degree was of five years which was divided intoRead MoreNature Versus Nurture1607 Words   |  7 Pagesdetermination of human behaviour depends not only on genes (nature), but also on the environment (nurture). It is usually the joint product of genes and environment, one of the first principles in Leda Cosmides and John Tooby in Evolutionary Psychology: Nature and Nurture (attached). This remains our groups thesis. Introduction Take for example this Calvin and Hobbes strip. We assume that duplication is the same as cloning and therefore the two Calvins are genetically similarRead MoreThe Root Of Cognitive Architecture Essay1600 Words   |  7 Pages1. Introduction and Background The root of cognitive architecture goes back to 1950s during which the topic of creating programs capable of reasoning about problems in different domains, developing insights, adaption to new situations and reflection on themselves started to receive general attention. This domain, which lies partly in artificial intelligence area, may be realized in four different ways [2]: ïÆ'Ëœ Systems that think like humans ïÆ'Ëœ Systems that think rationally ïÆ'Ëœ Systems that act likeRead MorePhenomenology And The Post Modern Movement949 Words   |  4 PagesThe word phenomenon is loosely defined as: something that happens. The study of phenomenon in psychology terms is the study of how people experience and interpret these things that happen. Also as architects, we create the things that happen in a building for people to experience. Post-modern architects embraced this idea of creation and took it to places never imagined before. In this essay, I will explain why phenomenology and the post-modern movement went hand in hand and how they were crucialRead MoreThe Psychology Of Childhood Social And Emotional Development1103 Words   |  5 PagesMatilda Comenote Anita Newman English 24 Senior project November 30th, 2015 Title Psychology helps us understand the way humans think and how our brain functions, this may also include certain behaviors in any given situation. My research is based on the psychology of childhood social and emotional development, and adolescence. Like a lot of things in psychology and this world, this has led my research to prove their is a direct correlation between social and emotional development in children

Managing Dynamic Technology Oriented Business

Question: Discuss about the Managing Dynamic Technology for Oriented Business. Answer: Inadequate information led to disaster in companies Kodak is one of the examples of organisation, which failed because of inadequate information. Kodak was bankrupt due as the company lost its edge in new technology competition. The company was unable to collect adequate information about the change in the technology of camera. The information system in any organisation plays important role in decision making. There is a direct relationship between management decision, organisation, information, decision-making, command and control. Many organisations faced disaster due to lack of information needed (Twati, 2014). The management of information system is a key to success. They did not move into the digital world and stick to the traditional technology used in camera and filmmaking. Due to inadequate information, the company was unable to develop a right business strategy for future. The digital revolution changes the business concept of camera and filmmaking. Other companies like Fuji started collecting mandatory information for adopting changes of the digital revolution. Kodaks management was unable to control the future vision of the company for digitalisation in photography industry (Wakolbinger, Fabian and Kettinger, 2013). There are different theories are available for human-related information practices. Social network theory explained the position of individual in different social groups. The individual have a different motivation in the direction of different information. This theory concludes that the original meaning of information is distracted the main objective and develop inadequate information (Lohikoski et al., 2014). The inadequate information becomes a disaster of Kodak and company become bankrupt. The social construction of technology is another theory, which focuses on the technological growth of social groups are influenced with their meaning in relation to the individual. This theory explains that society and individual misuse the original meaning of information. Kodak was failed to develop management of information system that led to the disaster of a company. The company has failed because it had the wrong information about the business. The management of company focus on film business, however, they should focus on storytelling business. Leadership is ultimately re sponsible for decision making for the organisation (Twati, 2014). Kodak has also gone through the various restructuring process, which affect the organisation and employees. There is social and organisation culture factor that influences the company to adopt information system. The organisational culture pressure decides the flow of information whether it is upward to downward or downward to upward. Generally, top level management resists them self with opposing and contrast. This enables them to take a decision after comparing with contrast situations. The inadequate information to top management makes them unaware about how the competition around them is changing (Wakolbinger, Fabian and Kettinger, 2013). The management of company always assumed that customer, value filmed based photo for their high quality. Kodak was lacking the innovation culture in an organisation and innovation is directly related to the information system. The decision making is a crucial process which requires management intuition and reasoning. Intuition is the feeling of a possible course of action that comes after a year of experience, whereas reasoning is the decision based on facts and figures. The effective decision making is not possible until management does not have enough information. Another problem is too much information that conflicts each other in the decision-making process. The digital revolution changes the mindset of the customer about photography. This gives freedom to the customer to save their photographs in many ways in digital format (Cox, White and Abernethy, 2014). It was also cheaper as a comparison to traditional hard print photograph. Another reason of company failure is inadequate information about target customers. The market has changed and the customer also changes, Kodak target cus tomers were women however business environment demographical changes made men as a target customer. Nokia Case Information is a crucial factor in any company which drives the industry more profitable and equitable in the market. Inadequate information led to disaster for any industry in the market. Information failure in any industry due to some reasons like organizations does not have a perfect knowledge of economic scenario and secondly, one organization knows better than the other about economic trends in the market (Quora, 2016). These scenarios arise due to unbalanced information in the market. In both the situation, there are chances of inappropriate use of resources, with customers paying too much or too less and the organizations or industries produce too much or too less. Nokia mobile phone is the example of failure from telecommunication industry that could not make an innovative move in the latest technology trends due to less or inadequate information. Nokia is Finland-based mobile company from has failed to share the information about innovative ideas into advanced technologies. Nokia management didnt communicate the adequate information to top management regarding the technological advancements in recent years (Nokia, 2016). After 2012, other mobile phones brands worked for latest technology such as Android but the top managers of the Nokia thought that company is too late to enter into the new technology due to high competition but they didnt know that Asian and European markets still expected from Nokia phone that it could do everything like other phones could do. Due to lack of market information, it developed the windows platform which cannot meet the requirement of customers that leads to the loss of brand value in the market. There are othe r competitors already entered on that time like Apple and Samsung to work on latest technologies and meet the market demands (Aspara et al., 2016). In organization, Nokia management did not adopt new strategies at the time of the adoption of new technologies in the market. Nokia management continuously worked on Symbian technology rather switch on new market trends. Due to lack of information to the management regarding competitors and technological advancements, Company has still struggled to retain its original market share (Ciesielska and Iskoujina, 2012). Company organization structure is designed by the managers to ensure good productivity and smooth flow of information regarding decision making. Managers follow the autocratic style of leadership in the organization while taking any decisions related to organization growth. This leadership affects the hierarchy level of the company. Employees cannot share the information and ideas due to the autocratic style of manager that lacks the productivity and growth of the employees. Another issue which creates a problem for Nokia is that the long chain of command creates problems f or business. Information flows from top to bottom and comes across various multiple layers creates conflicts in the organization (Laamanen, Lamberg and Vaara, 2016). It hinders the decision-making process of the company. Managers give important instructions to their employees regarding any issue that information flows from many levels that confuse the employees to take important decisions. The company faced the serious dilemma a few years back regarding the loss of production of cell phones due to some technical error. One of the supervisors from the technical team in the company not notified to the manager that hampers the thousands of production units of a cell phone. Information inadequacy influences the motivation of the employees in the company. The overall downfall of the company due to wrong decisions taken by the management is mostly due to irrelevant information and too much investment in the only one technology. Also, it finds that company chain of command led to Nokia being incompetent, slow, and inconsistent (Walter, Kellerman and Lechner, 2012). British Petroleum (BP) Oil disaster case British petroleum oil disaster is the worst case in the history of US. The explosion is between the sea and huge fire sets into the ship. It was the worst industrial disaster for the country. It was a huge explosion under deep water in the Gulf of Mexico on July 15, 2010.Eleven people dead and many of the missings still not found. It considered as the biggest accident in the history of the oil industry. In this case, the root cause of this accident was the lack of information about the leakage of oil and gas into the well by the employees and the top management. Top management has no information about the leakages of a toxic substance in the well for many days. Lack of timely exchange of information with the top management and lower level management led to the serious accident (Heller, 2012). The inadequate information led to disaster and this has been proven in the incidence of British Petroleum disaster. The technology creates many problems in the communication process. The social cognitive theory explains that individual influence behavioural change and development by social groups. The cognitive and emotional are the factors that mainly influence the individual decision making (Ye, 2014). British petroleum did not have adequate control over information of security and safety. This disaster is the result of inadequate information to the company management. The company management has taken a much wrong decision which results in this accident. The company ignore the safety information of the project required to run the operation more securely. The company took poor decisions like lack of proper test and experiment of the chemical before using them for the project (Gire et al., 2013). The engineering team analyse the accident and found that the risk was associated with cement floor and drilling process. The company was lacking effective information system that makes aware them about the risk associated with drilling and production process. The management did not have command and control over the operational information. The decision making becomes difficult when too many people involved in this process. The effective and fast decision can be taken by few people after analysing facts and figures. The company has changed its top management after this disaster for ineffective and wrong decision making. The management of the company held responsible for ignoring the adequate information required for correct decision making (Cox, White and Abernethy, 2014). The company has an expert of risk management team to stop disaster at any time. But due to late and inadequate information provided by the lower level management became situation more complex. Managers and employees does not make the proper planning about any type of crisis are happened in future. Risk management team did not give the adequate training and substantial information to all hierarchy levels in management due to rigid organization structure (NYC, 2016). Due to complex organization structure, information flows from various levels of management and it affects the decision-making process. Due to strict command and control of board and managers in the organization that lacks the free flow of information process in the company (Safford, Ulrich, and Hamilton, 2012).Effective and timely information communicate to every level of management led to stop any disastrous situation. Managers need to exchange of relevant information to all of their subordinates and junior level manageme nt so that they can take effective decisions at the time of critical incidents. References Quora (2016). Why did Nokia fail?[Online].Available at: https://www.quora.com/Why-did-Nokia-fail (Accessed by: 26 August 2016). Nokia (2016). Nokia outlines new strategy, introduces new leadership, operational structure.[Online].Available at: https://company.nokia.com/en/news/press-releases/2011/02/11/nokia-outlines-new-strategy-introduces-new-leadership-operational-structure (Accessed by: 26 August 2016) Aspara, J., Lamberg, J.A., Laukia, A. and Tikkanen, H., (2013). Corporate business model transformation and inter-organizational cognition: the case of Nokia.Long Range Planning,46(6), pp.459-474. Ciesielska, M. and Iskoujina, Z., (2012). Trust as a success factor in open innovation. The case of Nokia and Gnome.Managing Dynamic Technology-Oriented Business: High-Tech Organizations and Workplaces. Information Science Reference, pp.11-29. Laamanen, T., Lamberg, J.A. and Vaara, E., (2016). Explanations of Success and Failure in Management Learning: What Can We Learn From Nokias Rise and Fall?.Academy of Management Learning Education,15(1), pp.2-25. Walter, J., Kellermanns, F.W. and Lechner, C., (2012). Decision making within and between organizations rationality, politics, and alliance performance. Journal of Management,38(5), pp.1582-1610. Heller, N.A., (2012). Leadership in Crisis: An Exploration of the British Petroleum Case. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(18). pp 1-12. Safford, T.G., Ulrich, J.D. and Hamilton, L.C., (2012). Public perceptions of the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: Personal experiences, information sources, and social context.Journal of environmental management,113, pp.31-39. The New York Times (2016). BP Shortcuts Led to Gulf Oil Spill, Report Says. [Online]. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/15/science/earth/15spill.html?_r=0 (Accessed by: 27 August 2016). Lohikoski, P., Kujala, J., Haapasalo, H. and Ala-Mursula, L. (2014). Information contingencies in the virtual teams of global new product development projects. In Proceedings of the PMI Research and Education Conference. pp. 27-29. Wakolbinger, T., Fabian, F. and Kettinger, W. J. (2013). IT-enabled Interorganizational Information Sharing Under Co-opetition in Disasters: A Game-Theoretic Framework. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 33(1), pp. 5. Twati, J.M. (2014). The influence of societal culture on the adoption of information systems: The case of Libya. Communications of the IIMA, 8(1), pp. 1. Cox, C.E., White, D.B. and Abernethy, A.P. (2014). A universal decision support system. Addressing the decision-making needs of patients, families, and clinicians in the setting of critical illness. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 190(4), pp. 366-373. Gire, D.H., Whitesell, J.D., Doucette, W. and Restrepo, D. (2013). Information for decision-making and stimulus identification is multiplexed in sensory cortex. Nature neuroscience, 16(8), pp. 991-993. Ye, J. (2014). A multicriteria decision-making method using aggregation operators for simplified neutrosophic sets. Journal of Intelligent Fuzzy Systems, 26(5), pp. 2459-2466.

To Kill A Mocking Bird Analysis Essays - To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill A Mocking Bird Analysis In the widely known novel To Kill A Mockingbird there are two families that are very diverse and are text book examples of complete opposites on the moral ladder of success. The Cunninghams and the Ewells have two very distinct and opposite reputations. The Cunninghams which are very respected while the Ewells very much despised. The Ewells are given the privilege to hunt out of season, so that the residents of the small town of Maycomb would not have to tolerate their continuous begging twenty-four hours a day for seven days a week. These two families show the respectability of hard workers or, in the Ewells case, can fill their peers with sorrow. The Cunninghams have pride, as for the Ewells, they have a natural like anarchist nature that will eventually haunt them and hurt others because of their lurid like attitude. The Cunningham's are very respected by the citizen's of Maycomb county. The Cunninghams took nothing, unless they could pay it back. Walter the youngest in the Cunningham clan was in the same class at school as Scout Finch the daughter of Atticus Finch. While in school, a fresh young new school teacher known as Miss Caroline did not know the reputations of the predecessors of these two children. In what looked like a good day for the rookie teacher quickly turned into complete disarray and a total adversity trip for the teacher. Walter Cunningham being raised in a very hard working environment was taught not to take what he could not pay back. The teacher obviously did not know about his background in the most minute way and embarrassed him extensively by almost demanding him to take some lunch money. Knowing that he could not pay Miss Caroline back in the way that she had in mind he knew that he could take the money which he wanted to take so bad. Walter eventually ended up eating with the Finch's. While eating at the Finch's he did not know what to do with all of the food that they have offered to him. For example he drowned his waffles in a lake of syrup. Bob Ewell's son, Burris was also faced in the same way but in an total opposite direction and purpose. The same day as the Walter Cunningham incident there was another incident concerning the Ewells. Burris had "cooties." A "cootie" came frantically flying out of the assumed Afro of Burris's hair, and scared the overseer of the class, Miss Caroline. Miss Caroline quickly demanded that Burris go home and wash and scrub his hair with Kerosine. Burris coming from what seemed like a broken home and he had no pride so, he told the teacher off, made her cry, threatened her, and then left. The Cunninghams are given special privileges. Cunninghams paid Atticus for some legal work that Atticus did with their farm, they paid him with food, and other services. The population of Maycomb county excepted this because they know that the family is very loyal, truthful and extremely hard working. The Cunningham's would never take anything that they couldn't payback equally or greater of value. Then their are your slacking, lying, cootie infested, mooching Ewells. Bob Ewell is a total drunk, he takes what money he may have earned or stole and drinks it away. Mr. Ewell very rarely or if ever has bought or cooked his family a hot and total nutritious meal in his life. The kids would basically shrivel up in the little shack that they live in and starve, if they did not have the privilege to hunt and eat the food that they kill. The Cunninghams were a family of truthfulness, loyalty and able to carry on great responsibilities. They did not want to hurt anyone, they were grateful for the people that had helped them on their journey of life. When the Cunninghams were wrong they admitted it, when they were right they didn't show it. They had great respect for anyone who walked on the face of the earth. But as usual the Ewells were just the opposite, they did not tell the truth on a consistent basis, and it wasted a human life. After the trial of Tom Robinson versus Mayella Ewell, the Ewells were ashamed because Mayella may have like a black negro, Bob Ewell caught them in the bedroom kissing and suspected the worse. He claimed that Tom raped his daughter and then beat her. All of the bruises were on the right