Operation management Essay

a) Introduction The company that our group chose to study is City of Dreams Macau (COD), which is located in Macau Cotai coherent highway. COD is a diversified entertainment resort, which contains a rich set of entertainment, grand hotel accommodation, international cuisine, internationally renowned brands as well as casino. Luckily, we found a manager in entertainment and progress department of this company to help us conduct an interview. The information of this manager are as follows: Manager name: Huà ¡ dà ¬ Telephone number: 66884314 Position: Theatre Director Main responsibilities: All ticketing and frontline day-to-day operation of Atrium, Dancing Water, Hard Rock pool party, The Junyue MMA boxing matches, CUBIC ticketing and TABOO. COD’s corporate goal, as stated by Lawrence Ho, is to become the tourist resort that makes Asian and even the global tourists to have multi-day stay, and to consolidate Macau as Asia’s leading leisure and tourism center. COD locate in one of the most competitive area in Taipa, Macau. There are several entertainment resort hotels, such as Venetian, Sands Cotai Central, Galaxy Macau these competitors. COD has to keep its competitiveness to fight with them. So COD provides with some entertainments (like the house of Dancing Water, Dragon treasure, etc.) to attract the customers to come to COD to achieve corporate goal. In order to improve staff quality, entertainment and progress department also cooperate with HR department to offer training program to staff. Staffs can go for training as long as they are available. In corporate positioning, COD believes that it takes the advantage of providing something different than other competitors by implementing the differentiation strategy, for example, offering Dancing Water, Atrium to customers. COD also has high requirement on the  entertainment activities they offered. In the past, COD once thought of opening a cinema. However, COD thinks cinema is not very high-end and it will low the elegance of COD, so COD rejects the consideration at last. b) Current Operations The current operation is to provide above entertainments to customers and make sure that the entertainment activities go smoothly. The manager has to measure ticketing and frontline workings keep running. In the ticketing, the manager said COD provide 60~70%‘s ticket for internet sell, and the rest of the ticket will provide to the agent like travel agencies, these agencies will sell the tickets to the group customers. The manager said COD won’t overbook the ticket to get the maximum profit, because their shows are unique, and they care more about the quality rather than the quantity. They have to take-care some special needs person, providing convenience to them. COD tries to get a balance between making profit and remaining service quality. Show cancellation & Compensation COD sometimes face problems of show cancellation of Dancing Water and receive complaints from customers. Also, there may have some mistakes on the daily operation, so the customers will not satisfy the services and have complaint with COD. For the compensation part, COD build a compensation standard to deal with customer complains. The general approach is to take the customer complaint at first place, for example, ticket refund. However, if the compensation exceeds the company’s standard, then COD will take company’s benefit at the first place (e.g. some customers will ask for airplane tickets refund and it will be transferred to higher level manager to determine the compensation level). Also, COD’s management group will have meeting every week to discuss complaint affairs and try to analyze whether it is due to guests vexatious or they have some shortcomings. If they think that they are not doing well, then they will think of ways and make improvement. Decentralization Instead of centralization, COD tends to have decentralization because they believe that this is more effective. COD depend on staffs to help monitor  the operations of entertainment activities, so manager do not need to deliberately spend efforts on ensuring the operation of activity is smooth and they can focus on the overall operations. Staffs can directly go to their supervisor when they encounter problems. Also, manager will assign some employees who are in higher position to help monitor the lower level employees’ performance, as well as daily operation of activity. Supervisors directly ask the higher level staffs about the problems on work(e.g. do small circle of people exist and is there any employee they find that is difficult to get along with others ) in order to get a respectively good understanding about what’s going on of daily operation. Reward system There is no reward system implementing now for the staff performance. According to the interview, there was a reward system before, employee who performs well will get free coupons of restaurants in COD, concert tickets, shopping tickets, or dancing water tickets, etc. as a bonus. However, it was cancelled due to the inefficiency. In the past, company let employees to vote for the best employee, and it causes problem that employees will vote to their friends, instead of having an evaluation about who is the best employee. COD think that it cannot reflect the truth and is meaningless. Therefore, COD now cancel the reward system and use the money to hold department activities, e.g. BBQ or order take-away for all employees in the department. Training COD use decentralization to let employees help maintain the current operations. Employees have to handle problems met by them. Therefore, training is an important way to ensure staffs’ quality and performance. The manager said the COD do very well in staff training, COD provides many training courses to the staffs to improve their work quality and skills. In usual time, they will post a form that includes all the training courses available along with corresponding time schedule, staffs can decide which training course to participate in accordance with their working time. COD will try to accommodate staffs’ working time to provide training courses. If it is not possible to arrange the suitable time for the staffs, regular work should be taken in the first place. Staffs can join the training course  after finishing the work. In most of the time, COD won’t enforce the staffs to participate training courses, staffs participate these training course voluntary. But there are some training courses that are compulsory to every staff according to COD’s requirement. For example, in the future, COD will open a new show in CUBIC, and COD will arrange each employee to watch the â€Å"CUBIC† show at least once. So the staffs will know about the show and what is the process of the show. c) Opportunity of improvement Decentralization Although it is a good idea to let all employees help monitor the daily operations of activities, so manager can focus more on the overall operations, there also some drawbacks caused by decentralization. According to the current operations, employees report to manager directly if they find problems on daily operations. It raises possible problems like: (1) The quality of work may be poor because there is no clear responsibility assigned to specific employee. The monitoring work conducted by employees may not be efficient. If there are problems that employees failed to recognize, manager may not know, because employees’ reporting is the only way for manager to get detail daily operating information from employees, it affects the operation activity in the short run if the problem is not negligible. (2) No regular meeting is required for manager and employees to exchange information. Regular meeting is an important way for reporting, if there is no such a meeting, employees are not encouraged to raise problems they found. They may first try to solve the problem when they find it, instead of reporting to their manager. Therefore, some problems may be hided and it causes bigger problems if the problem is crucial to the organization. Moreover, employees may not have a very good understanding of the company’s strategy and may make inappropriate decisions without fully understanding the big picture. Reward system No reward system is implemented in current operations due to the former unsuccessful reward system. Employees’ individual performance is not linked with reward. Employees may be less motivated. Show cancellation In the interview, we asked the COD manager â€Å"What the most difficult problem that you had faced.† The COD manager answered us is the show cancellation, which is a big problem for an entertainment resort. We can find some news about COD canceled the show. According to the news, COD suddenly cancel three shows of the â€Å"house of Dancing Water†. There are a lot of audiences already booked the tickets in a few days ago, they received message from COD about the show cancel after they arrived Macau. This thing disturbs their plan. COD claim they need to cancel the shows because of the technical problems, and they will return the ticket fees, but they won’t compensate the other loss, so audiences feel angry and disappointed with COD. This thing will hurt the image and reputation of COD, it can decrease customers that want to come to COD to watch the show, and decrease the profit. d) Solution Decentralization 1) Manager should provide training to staffs in order to strengthen their awareness of responsibility. Manager may also provide some guideline to staffs about what they should do if they encounter problems. Moreover, instead of fully depending on staff reporting, manager may take time to supervise daily operation if needed. 2) Hold regular meetings for information exchange. With regular meetings, employees will have formal way to express their opinions or problems they found, so problems can be improved or solved in a more efficient way. Reward system According to the interview, the former reward system is based on the vote of employees among each other, and this would easily cause about inequity. We recommend that COD may develop a reward system for a trial using different voting method. Instead of basing on the vote among employees, the department should create a criterion chart for all the employees to be monitored by the supervisor. Once the employee performs great in some area, she/he will get a point in that part. The final score is the cumulative score of every part. At the end of one period, the entire criterion chart should present the  degree of performance of the employees, which could be the grounds to decide which employee to get the rewards. See whether employees’ performance have improved under implementing the new reward system by making evaluation from period to period. If the result is good, then company should consider implementing a reward system in order to encourage employees for better performance in the long-run. This kind of solution will eliminate some bias of the evaluation. Not basing on the evaluation among employees, monitored by supervisor will be more just to use the reward system. Show cancellation We think out some suggestions for the COD to solve this problem. (1) Develop a contingency plans. The staffs of COD must make advance notice about the show cancellation message to the customers, and then arrange the customers to return the tickets, getting back the fees. This can mitigate the dissatisfaction of customers and reduce other unnecessary loss. However, sometimes we cannot expect accidents, which are some aspects we cannot control, and it is hard to tell the customers early. (2) Second, open the other facilities of the hotel. Customers come to COD to enjoy the service and entertainment, and if I was one of them, I don’t want just go back home because of the cancellation of the shows I want to watch. So COD can open some facilities to these customers to ensure they still have an awesome experience in COD. For instance, Venetian has the In the other hand, COD can give these customers equivalent coupons, and they can spend some time in COD, and use these coupons to buy anything in the hotel. Of course, this method needs the cooperation among many involved departments. (3) And the last is to prepare a backup show. If a show has to be cancelled, customers can choose to watch the backup show. But not every customer wants to watch another show because they come for shows that they want to watch, and the cost of backup show is not cheap. Therefore, customers can also ask for refund and buy the ticket next time with a discount. e) Implementation After communicating the suggestions we made for the manager, he said that implementing our solution to the company right now was not practical. Their  decisions need to be made based on some professional analysis. However, he listened to our solution and gave his own comments about the effect of those solutions: For the decentralization part, he thinks holding regular meetings is one of the possible way for staffs to raise problems they found, but managers always need to manage so many things and may not have enough time to do that. For the reward system part, we suggested that to build a new reward system using different voting method. However, according to the manager, biases also exist if using this method. However, there will be two potential problems: 1 There is a grey area between just and unjust, and once the supervisor decides the reward, it’s complicated to say the manager will be definitely just to everyone. The bias might exist still; 2 The supervisor has many things to deal with; there might be some overlook in employees’ performance, which will be hard to monitor all the aspects. For the show cancellation part, sometimes advance announcement is not possible because of the suddenly occurred error. In other way, COD should consider the cost problem if they want to satisfy customers by providing them equivalent coupons. The cost problem also exists in the back-up show suggestion. Conclusion After the interview, we can get some information about the operations of the entertainment fields in the COD. In the daily operations, it depends on the staffs to maintain the operations and solve the problems. COD also provides some training courses for staffs to participate, but these training courses are optional, which means not every staff has enough skills to handle the difficult level operation problems. One of the COD’s selling points is its wonderful shows, these shows attract a lot of people to come. But sometimes, because of some reasons, COD have to cancel the show, which means they need some good back up plans to appease the angry of customers, and try to decrease the loss. COD is a big entertainment resort hotel in Macau. From the interview, we can find out that COD actually do a good job in its operation.

Is Shylock a Victim or a Villain? Essay

Shylock: Victim or Villain? With close reference to at least three scenes examine Shakespeare’s presentation of Shylock. Is a villain someone who lends money to help others but then charges interest? Intending to receive a pound of human flesh resulting in certain death if a promise is broken, surely this is somebody who is viewed as a villain. The same man who has experienced prejudice and discrimination all his life only because of his religion, which would be unimaginable in modern day, has this man now turned into a victim? Shakespeare a play writer of the 16th century, so much more creative, sophisticated and knowledgeable then the Elizabethan audience he wrote this play for whom would have perceived Shylock as a Jew a villain, presents Shylock in a more complex way. Jews were thought of by Christians as stubborn non-believers and were accused of poisoning wells and spreading the plague. Shylock was shown to be treated as all these things were true, yet he had a complexity about him as an audience today, against discrimination and accepting other religion and cultures, would feel pity, sympathy and put him towards the victim category. However trying to murder someone for revenge, this is clear villainy to anybody now or thousands of years ago. Throughout the play we ask ourselves, is Shylock a villain or a victim? Shakespeare intends this as he gives Shylock emotive speeches about inequality, which contradicts Shylock as being a villain. Shylock as a character represents the Old Testament, Judaism, which is the belief of justice, retribution and following the law by the letter. Shakespeare gives a clear message about Justice against Antonio for all that he has done towards Shylock; he wants to get his revenge within the law hence the bond. Shylock talks about the Old Testament with Bassanio and Antonio in Act 1: Scene 3, â€Å"This Jacob from our Holy Abram.† Christianity, the New Testament, follows mercy and forgiveness. The Duke and Antonio both show mercy towards Shylock when he has shown none. Shakespeare first introduces Shylock in Act1: Scene3. With no stage directions we have to decipher what a character is like only through what they say. â€Å"Three thousand Ducats-well.† His first line is about money. Shakespeare instantly gives us the impression that his only interest is money. This is also the case when he is at home with Jessica, his daughter and away from work. He explains how he dreamed of money bags yet does not acknowledge his daughter or show her any affection. However we later find out that money is not the only thing on his mind but his longing hatred for Antonio. Shylock hates him for he is a Christian but more because he lends money with no interest. â€Å"I hate him for he is a Christian. But more, for that low in simplicity he lends out money gratis.† Antonio’s hate is reciprocated as he compares Shylock with the Devil and other animals like dogs. In the ring plot involving Portia and the caskets the first Prince is from Morocco, who was black, chose the gold casket but it was not the correct one. The complexion of a Devil in the eyes of An Elizabethan audience was black. Furthermore he has been associated with the devil by his own daughter and also Salerio and Salanio referred to him as the devil in Act 3: Scene 1. This hatred between them is introduced only to grow throughout the play. Shakespeare is very clever and drops hints about Shylock’s character and the actions he will take at the start of the play. Shylock mutters â€Å"Cursed be my tribe, if I ever forgive him.† He will show no mercy towards Antonio and he does not in the trial scene in Act 4: Scene 1. It hard to decide whether Shylock is a victim or villain when he is first introduced as we learn about what he has had to put up with, being called a â€Å"misbeliever†, â€Å"cut throat dog† and others spitting on his beard for the reason that he is a Jew. We feel pity and sympathy for the things he has had to endure which means we cannot cling to a unique view of Shylock as a villain. He wants people to respect him and like him yet he cannot show any affection or respect towards his own daughter. He shows the same hatred back towards Antonio and if he catches him out, â€Å"If I catch him once upon the hip, I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.† he will take his revenge. Coiling up all the hatred he has inherited has caused him to pass on the mistrust and hatred to others without being totally aware he is doing so. Moments later he talks about being Antonio’s friend and charging him no interest. This sudden change of feeling and thought gives the audience a suspicion that he is planning something. We no longer think of him as a victim alone, he has shown us through his speech and actions that he has a villainies way about him. He hates him for he is a Christian just as the way Antonio hates Shylock for he is a Jew. Should we now feel sympathy for Antonio? We don’t and I think Shakespeare has decided to portray Shylock as more as a Victim in this scene is to capture the Elizabethan audience alone. A victim is the opposite of what they would have thought of him yet Shakespeare is trying to send a message. They would have though of him to be a stereotypical villain yet he is not Shakespeare has added complexity to his character. A relationship between father and daughter is surely the most precious, the relationship between Shylock and Jessica. However we soon learn a totally different story about the hostile environment when they are together and the deeply buried hatred of Shylock from his only Daughter. Act 2: Scene 3 is where we first meet Jessica, we learn how unhappy she is willing to leave her home town and convert to Christian in order to be with Lorenzo and away from her father, â€Å"I have a Father, you a Daughter lost.† Jessica is also ashamed to be her Fathers child. Again we hear comparisons between Shylock and the Devil: ‘Our house is hell, and thou, a merry Devil’. Shylock has not noticed Jessica’s odd behaviour, too caught up with his own problems and obsession with money. This shows us that although he may love Jessica he does not show it, he is not perceptive and can’t read his own daughter’s unhappiness. Act 2: Scene 3 when we first learn about her willingness to escape to Act 2: Scene 6 when she leaves with Lorenzo for Belmont. The inevitable happens but was this, the turning point for Shylock. Was his daughter running away the point were Shylock would go as far as attempting to kill a man for his revenge? At least before he had someone who looked up to him, loved him and looked after him, or so he thought. The shame would have overwhelmed him, his own flesh and blood turning into a Christian. I think he feared the most what others would say; they would mock him even more once this news had spread. Shylock, his only child that he has bought up single-handed has fled, leaving him totally alone as he has already been widowed. He is evidently controlling over Jessica, â€Å"Do as I bid you, shut doors after you. Fast bind, fast find.† This controlling manner could also be attributed to the over protective nature of a loving single parent. Shakespeare has intended for us to think of Shylock as the victim and we sympathise with him but at the same time we sympathise with Jessica. In Act 2: Scene 5 we see Shylock and Jessica alone. At the start Shylock speaks about money indirectly once again, he is preoccupied and cares more about material things than his only daughter. Shakespeare also portrays the relationship as an awkward one with Jessica not saying a great deal but when she does it is a lie: â€Å"His words were ‘Farewell Mistress’ and nothing else.† When, in fact, they had been talking about Lancelot. A Christian. She is reluctant at first: â€Å"Call you? What is you will?† but by the end she is letting her emotions and true feelings out: â€Å"Farewell and if my fortune be not crossed, I have a Father, you a daughter lost.† Shylock does not know his own daughter yet holds something over her, which makes her scared and a little ashamed to betray him. Through Jessica we see Shylock as an old, cruel man. Devil, hell, blood, ashamed and tediousness are all words that Jessica related to her father. In the 16th century daughters should have respected their fathers, even to this day they still seem a little extreme. These words don’t show respect, only hate. In Act 2: Scene 8, Shakespeare has decided to play this scene so we hear the information second hand. Salerio and Salanio are gossiping about how they have seen Lorenzo and Jessica on a Gondola escaping. The two characters could play this scene in a laughing manner full of jokes. I think this is how Shakespeare intended it to be played. Doing it like this would mean as an audience we would also be influenced by the joking atmosphere and therefore feel less sympathetic towards Shylock. The Elizabethan audience would have loved this, as they would be in the shoes of Salerio and Salanio, mocking Shylock about his loss. We would feel dramatically more sympathetic if Shylock had spoken this speech by himself. However in this scene Shakespeare portrays Shylock as a villain in the way he talks about the flight of his Daughter. A single parent loosing their only daughter should have been the worst possible outcome imaginable. Turmoil, distress, depression and anger should have been the things that were felt. They were but not for his daughter Jessica, but Shylocks money, jewels and wealth. Our sympathy grows as Shylock is portrayed as a victim but is stripped away when we learn he is more interested in his precious stones and jewels that have been taken: â€Å"My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter! †¦ And jewels, two stones, two rich and precious stones. Stolen by my daughter. Justice! Find the girl!† these are definitely not the words of a warm hearted, doting father. Did he really love his daughter? Or did he only use her to take his aggression out on that he had built up from all the discrimination he had received. He also loses our sympathy in Act 3: Scene 1 when he finds out that Jessica has run away with a Christian. He treats Jessica merely as another possession and when he learns of her flight he is more anxious of the whereabouts of his treasures and precious ducats: â€Å"I would my daughter were dead at my foot†¦and the ducats in her coffin.† These are not the words of a loving Father, it proves that Shylock would not mourn Jessica’s death or disappearance and the only thing he is interested in his wealth and status. This backs up the points said on Act 2: Scene 8 but this time we read and listen to Shylocks words from his mouth. Salerio and Salanio are here once again but this time mock him directly. They claim Jessica is a better person for converting and that they are not nearly related: â€Å"There is more difference between thy flesh and hers, than between jet and ivory; more between your bloods, than there is between red wine and rhenish.† Shylock has been discriminated on and betrayed by others all his life but when his own daughter does the same, is this the point when he decides to take his revenge and relieve is anger? Shylock claims that Salerio and Salanio knew about his daughter going to flee, he blamed them but how can this be when he lives with his daughter yet did not notice or acknowledge her unhappiness and disconnection with him. Shakespeare is taking us on a roller coaster of emotions towards shylock. We feel sympathetic for him in this scene because he is being mocked for his loss but we then feel hostile towards him only minutes later when he proves he is no better than the Christians who mistreat him. This is the scene when he decides to take a stand and follow through with his unimaginable bond. Well its unimaginable to everyone else but necessary for him, to him he is only giving back what he has taken in the past. â€Å"†¦He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?†¦ the villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.† This is one of Shakespeare’s most famous speeches but why does he give it too Shylock, the villain of the play in the Elizabethan audience’s eyes? It gives him a different dimension and makes him seem more human. He stands up for himself and is not as in control or as noble as he was previously. He lets his emotions out many of the ideas used have been taken straight from the teachings of the Christian church. He is using the Christian’s own arguments against them. Shakespeare illustrates Shylock as being intelligent and is no longer a stereotypical villain; he has true, strong feelings that cannot be argued against by anyone. In this scene we also learn the scale of Jessica’s betrayal when she gambled his ring that he had given to Leah when he was a Bachelor for a monkey: † One of them showed me a ring that he had of your daughter for a monkey.† A pit in his stomach is what he would have felt yet it was quickly filled with the thought of Antonio’s misfortune and finally having a chance to take revenge against Antonio within the law. When talking to Tubal about Antonio’s sunken ships he uses a lot of repetition that could mean he has other things on his mind such as how and when he is going to take this inevitable revenge: â€Å"I thank God, I thank God†¦Is it true? Is it true?† Act 3: Scene 1 is one of the most important in the play but also has the most unusual layout. The scene follows the layout of the whole play and also Shylocks emotions. It starts calm, Bassanio trying to take Portia’s hand in marriage, Shylock is doing his job and Salerio and Salanio are just gossiping. It then advances to irritation ad revenge. Shylock decides to take his revenge and in the ring plot Portia and her maid trick both their husbands. Furthermore it reveals all the relationships that Shylock is involved in, his relationship with his daughter, Christians and Tubal who is a Jew. The last time we meet Shylock and the scene that the whole play has been moving towards, the Trial scene. Wanting to go as far as killing a man for revenge is what Shylock wants to do. He is the only being in the court room that believes what he is doing is what he deserves.. He wanted to get his revenge within the law, which is exactly what he is about to do. The duke of Venice greets Antonio and expresses pity for him, calling Shylock an inhuman monster who can summon neither pity nor mercy. The duke of Venice greets Antonio and expresses pity for him, calling Shylock an inhuman monster who can summon neither pity nor mercy. This shows just how biased on others religion people were in the 16th century. The duke, a man of the law has already taken Antonio’s side. However at the same time we get a sense that the Duke is also frightened that Shylock might well go through with his promise inevitably killing Antonio. With words such as inhuman wretch, incapable of pity and stony adversary the Duke turns the audience against Shylock from the start. In addition he says: â€Å"Call the Jew into the room.† They are reminded that he is only a Jew not a human being worthy of credit. Although Shylock is portrayed in a poor light by the other characters, Shakespeare give him intelligence in what he says. â€Å"You have among you many a purchased slave Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules, You use in abject and in slavish parts Because you bought them. Shall I say to you ‘Let them be free, marry them to your heirs. Why sweat they under burdens?. . . You will answer ‘The slaves are ours.’ So do I answer you. The pound of flesh which I demand of him Is dearly bought. ‘Tis mine, and I will have it.† Shylock is not attacking the Venetian law just wants to be treated the same and to be allowed to share in it. This is not something a stereotypical villain would say and we can take this view and relate to it yet for us is does not excuse the killing of another human being. Again, in this passage, we find Shylock cleverly using Venice’s own laws to support his very own revenge. He abides by the law by the letter as his religion of Judaism teaches. Furthermore Shylock asks many questions making people think if they were in his shoes would they not do the same: â€Å"What wouds’t thou have a serpant sting thee twice?† every time he makes a point he justifies it and compares it to the Christians around him. Throughout the play Shylock is reffered to as animals such as dogs, wolves and the Devil. This has been from Antonio because he has been higher in society and power than Shylock but not in this scene. Shylock compares Antonio cats, pigs and rats. Just as some Christians hate cats, pigs, and rats, Shylock hates Antonio. The tables have turned and he is so near to his revenge and Antonio is now so helpless under Shylocks new power. Just as some Christians own slaves with their power, Shylock owns a pound of Antonio’s flesh. Shakespeare shows Shylock to be a new, triumphant man that can show no mercy towards Antonio. In the trial scene, we can see the conflict of idea of judgment of two religions. According to Judaism (Jews religion), justice means punishing the bad people. So, Shylock feels that he has suffered and he must get an eye for an eye. On the other hand Christianity believe in mercy and forgiveness. Mercy is an apparent theme in this scene. It is first mentioned by the Duke, then by Portia who delivers another one of Shakespeare’s speeches. â€Å"The quality of mercy is not strain’d, it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Portia states first that the gift of forgiving the bond would benefit Shylock, and second, that it would take Shylock to an improved status. Lastly, Portia warns Shylock that his quest for justice and revenge without mercy may result badly and to his own diadvantage. Rather than a trial scene this scene is more like an interlectual argument between Judaism and Christianity. Once again the two religions are against each other. Shylock decides to unwisely ignore Portia’s speech. Shakespeare creates tension here as it is almost inevitable that he will be allowd to take Antonio’s life and Shylocks greed and blindness has alone portrayed him as a villain. Furthermore he is offered twice the amount in money but he replies: â€Å"If every ducat in six thousand duats were in six parts, and every part a ducat, I would not draw them, I would have my bond.† He explains clearly that he only wants his bond. All his l ife it has been about his money, stones and wealth. It had driven away his daughter and his job involving money was one of the reasons he had been mistreated all these years. Shylock always put money first, if he had only done this once more he could have saved himself and his religion. Yet he was so intent on getting his revenge and this clouded his judgment. Shylock is still relishing his revenge just before the final moment: â€Å"O noble judge, O excellent young man.† He is thanking Portia but little does he know he is about to have his life and religion taken from under his feet. We feel resentful towards Shylock for the actions that he is going to take but when Portia reveals he can no longer do so we feel reeif. This does not last for long though as when we hear the punishments and consequences we cannot empathise. In a society today it would be unimaginable for someone to be forced to be taken from their religion. in the 21st centruy we respect others and the religions that they follow, we judge a pearson by their actions. Not their religion. which is what Shylock experienced. As a modern audience we feel sickened when we think and watch this happening yet to the Elizabethan audience this would have only greatly added to the humour of the play. The tables have trned and now after Shylock showed no mercy he is now made to plead for it. as Christians they show it to him. We have to remember that this play is a comedy. A comedy in which the baddy, Shylock the Jew, is punished and the goody, Antonio the Christian, is saved. In this case Portia was the one who restored the humour for the Elizabethan audience by restoring justice against Shylock. There are many themes in this play that link all characters. Bonds that exist between people, revenge, the sea and law versus justice. The bond of hatred that existed between Shylock and Antonio was a central element of the play. It leads to the actual bond of the pound of flesh being signed. They are bound together with Antonio’s life being in Shylock hands but then at the end Shylocks life in Antonio’s hands. Futhermore in the casket plot when Portia marrys Basanio she makes him vow never to give his ring away. This is a tight bond but is broken when Bassanio gives it away in appretiation, in the same way as when Antonio broke his promise in having 3000 ducats available to pay back Shylock back in the given time. Another is the sea. Had Antonio’s ships sailed to saftey Shylock would not have been able to demand revenge. The Elizabethan audience would have also enjoyed this familiar sea lore. The link between the law and justice is one that came up often and is explored in depth by Shakespeare. Through the behavior of Shylock towards Antonio, Portia when punishing Shylock and showing no mercy after she asks Shylock to show it, Antonio when insisting Shylock converts to Christianity and the Duke letting events follow the law. We learn the law in Venice is not capable of providing fairness and justice. Finally, the theme of revenge, which appears in two plots in the play. Firstly when Portia and Nerissa trick their husbands then watch them suffer and try to redeem themselves. Secondly Shylock attempts to kill Antonio for all he has done, then Antonio shows mercy but then takes his revenge by making Shylock convert to Christianity. To Shylock this may have been a worse punishment, did he want to live an empty life with no meaning or direction, betraying his own God? This play, Merchant of Venice, was written for an audience and Shakespeare creates suspense extremely well. He does this by switching between plots and locations at vital points in the play. He never spends too much time on one that we forget about the others. For example, in Act 1: Scene 2 we learn that Portia must marry whichever man chooses the right casket. At the end of the scene the arrival of Prince Morroco is announced, but we have to wait whilst Shylock and Antonio agree a bond before we are taken back to learn the outcome. Switching between plots this way is even used today particularly in soap operas. For audience advantage, Shakespeare makes them ahead of the characters, such as in the episode with the rings. On anther occasion the audience do not know something untill the characters themselves see it, as in the choice of the caskets. By varying these techniques, Shakespeare is able to develop dramatic tension and ultimately humour. â€Å"The quality of mercy is not strained.† Or is it? Shylock found it impossible to show mercy but can we blame him? His only daughter deserted him then sold his preciouse ring. The very same one that he had given to the love of his life when he was a bachelor. She left with all his wealth, money and stones to be with a christian. Shylock had lost the closest person to him but also the most important thing to him, his money. He has been spat upon and called names such as â€Å"cut throat dog† all his life, mocked at and laughed at by every other. He should not then be expected to show mercy to the very same people who had caused him all this pain and misery. Afterall mercy was not an aspect of his religion, Judaism, but justice. However in the end his own religion is what let him down. If he had turned, only for a second, from his religion and showed a llittle mercy he would have been able to hold onto his religion and wealth rather than having it stolen away. He was portrayed as a victim from the start and we sympathised with him when we hear the discrimmination he had to put up with. â€Å"†¦ lest the devil cross my prayer, for here he comes in the likness of a Jew.† To an Elizabethan audience Shylock would have only been viewed in the light of a villain and a Jew going through misery would have just added to the humour for the Christians watching. Shakespeare plays to this when he gives Shylock a menacing turn. He tells us how Shylock hates Antonio: â€Å"I hate him for he is a Christian.† But then, in contrast, Shakespeare shows us that in fact, Shylock wants to be Antonio’s friend: â€Å"I would be friends with you and have you love.† Has this been done on purpose? Or has Shakespeare done this too confuse the audience and portray him as a vitim with potential to become a villain? There are no rules to whether Shylock is a victim or a villain, only interpretations. Shakespeare has given Shylock a complex character with mixed emotions that many producers and directors have interpreted for their purposes. In the film version, with Albaccino, Shylock was portrayed as a vulnerable victim who was easily sympathised with. With such an intelligant, crafty play writer who included deeper meanings, no-one will ever truly know if Shakespeare intended Shylock to be a victim or a villian. Maybe this was his intention, you decide whether you sympathise with him because all he has been through or you may think he is a man that has crossed a line with bad intentions. People to this day have acted because of the way they have been treated or how they have been bought up. Remember, Is a villain someone who lends money to help others but then charges interest? Intending to receive a pound of human flesh resulting in certain death if a promise is broken, surely this is somebody who is viewed as a villain. The same man who has experienced prejudice and discrimination all his life only because of his religion, which would be unimaginable in modern day, has this man now turned into a victim? Shakespeare fills your mind with suspicions, theories and questions but only your emotions and thoughts can decide whether Shylock was a victim or a villain. Or maybe he was neither.

Explain why Germany and her allies were defeated in WWI and assess their treatment in the 1918/1919 settlement

There were many factors that played a part in Germany's defeat in World War One, and none of them can be singularly attributed to its loss. Despite this, some factors did play a more important part than others. Some of the major factors were America's entry into the war, low morale in Germany, and Germany's Ludendorrf Offensive. The American entry into the war was a major factor contributing to Germany's defeat. When the Americans declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, they provided a huge injection of funds, soldiers and productive capacity to the Allies' war effort. The millions of American soldiers that were sent overseas in 1917 and 1918 were fit, young, and most importantly, fresh with relatively high morale compared to the other Allied soldiers. World War One was a war of attrition. The side that could wear down the enemy side first would be victorious. The contribution of the American soldiers, funds and resources to the Allied side allowed them to survive for longer than the Central Powers. Therefore, the entry of America into World War One was a major factor causing Germany's defeat. The Ludendorrf Offensive, which was launched on March 21, 1918, was a series of three offensives undertaken by the Germans to try to force an Allied surrender after the Russian withdrew from the war. With the Eastern front free, the Germans concentrated all their resources on the Western front to try to break the stalemate there. At first the Ludendorrf Offensive was successful, but the German troops advanced so fast that their supply lines could not keep up. This allowed the Allied forces to surround and defeat the stranded German troops. The Ludendorrf Offensive was a gamble by Germany. It required an input of high levels of resources, and as it was not successful, these resources were ultimately wasted. As World War One was a war of attrition, the Ludendorrf Offensive accelerated, if not caused, Germany's defeat. By 1917 and 1918, morale amongst the German people was very low. They had begun to lose faith in the war. An outbreak of Spanish Influenza in Europe had hit Germany, and had created unrest amongst the population. Shortages of consumer essentials spread widely throughout Germany. The Germany public began to resent the war, calling for â€Å"peace at any cost†. The production of munitions fell, and the weapons supply to the German soldiers fell to levels much lower than the Allies'. The low morale amongst the civilians and soldiers worsened the German position. Therefore, low morale amongst the troops and civilians on the German side was a major factor leading to Germany's defeat in World War One. There is no obvious single factor for Germany's defeat in World War One, but among the main reasons were the American's entry into the war, the Ludendorrf Offensive, and the low morale among soldiers and civilians at the home front. The Treaty of Versailles was the culmination of the 1918/1919 peace settlement process that was imposed on Germany by the Allied powers in 1919. The treaty imposed a number of harsh conditions on Germany. As a result of the treaty, Germany had to reduce its army to 100 000 men, and give up its air force altogether. Germany had to give away thirteen percent of its land, and hand over control of its overseas colonies. Germany was forced to pay over à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½6, 600, 000, 000 in war repatriations. Also, and significantly, the Treaty of Versailles demanded Germany accept full responsibility for starting the First World War. To assess Germany's treatment in the 1918/1919 settlement, it is useful to examine the motives behind the key negotiators, Germany's aims, and Germany's guilt The British public were very angry and were out for revenge. â€Å"Hang the Kaiser† and â€Å"Make Germany Pay† were both very common calls in the time just after the war and the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George could not afford politically to be easy on Germany. This shows that Britain's intentions when contributing to the Treaty of Versailles would have been to harshly punish Germany The then president of France, Georges Clemenceau, was determined to see that Germany was punished so harshly that it would never be able to start a war again, as he believed they had done. As was the case with the British, there was also widespread public anger towards Germany. The American President, Woodrow Wilson, was the third major participant in the treaty negotiations. He too wanted to punish Germany, but also had an interest in a stable Europe, which would depend on a stable Germany. Given the attitudes of the Allies who met in Paris for the peace negotiations, Germany's treatment in the Treaty of Versailles would definitely have been harsh, as all three entered the negotiations with a view to punishing Germany. When judged by its previous actions, it can be argues that Germany was not justified to expect a settlement any more favourable than what they received. They had already proven that in victory they could be as harsh as the Allies with the treaty they presented Russia upon their withdrawal from the war, the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. In this treaty, the Germans demanded that Russia hand over large areas of its territory and pay substantial repatriations. Given the harsh treatment the Germans imposed on Russia after its defeat, the treatment of Germany in the Treaty of Versailles can be justified. There is an argument that if Germany had won, they would have imposed penalties as harsh or harsher on the Allies. This supports the argument that the Treaty of Versailles was not too harsh on Germany. But perhaps the best way to determine whether or not the Treaty of Versailles was really harsh on Germany is to see the effect on Germany of the treaty, and the length of time it took for Germany to recover.

To be determe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

To be determe - Essay Example There were also news about illegal organ harvesting from prisoners who were executed in China (news.bbc.co.uk). Due to this horrific circumstances, organ selling remains to be illegal in the United States as enunciated in the principles written down by Congress in 1984 in the National Organ Transplantation Act that only allows the acquisition of organs through donation (Kass 67) This perspective however is slowly changing considering the issues wrought by the banning of organ sales. In America, an average of 11 people die everyday while waiting for transplant and thousands more are dying and/or already died while waiting for an organ donor (Sally 84). Despite the prohibition of its sale, the black market for organ trade continues to thrive and is even encouraged by the ban to the detriment and peril of its donors. The realization that organ sale cannot be stopped and the widening chasm between the availabe organs and the number of people dying while waiting called for a reconsideration and rethinking of this position (Ritter). Organ trade will continue to exist no matter how strongent its sale is prohibited. Making organ sale illegal will not automatically mean that it will not take place. In fact, this prohibition is the very reason that encouraged the black market to thrive as organ sale is becoming a luxurious business endeavor. This is because supply is being contracted due to the prohibition of its sale while the demand continues to escalate. Making organ sale illegal only makes those who are willing or forced to sell their organs vulnerable with the absense of proper medical care which aggravated the problem further. Prohibition of organ sale also widens the chasm between the unmet need for organ transplant and the available organ. As a result, people die due to the non-availabilit of organ while those who acquired it often do so through illegal means to the detriment

Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 23

Response - Essay Example After all the friends left him, Abu al-Hasan went back to his mother’s house. He promises to keep distance from his untrustworthy old friends. Therefore, Abu al-Hasan develops a new approach of inviting only strangers to his home at night. Afterwards, he refuses to recognize them. He spent a year inviting and engaging strangers. One-day Abu al-Hasan welcomed two men disguised in merchants dress to his home. Namely the Caliph and Masrur, the Sworder of his retribution. After the new friends drank and dined, Abu al-Hasan informed them that they would never meet through the story about Larrikin and the Cook (Tarnowska and Naff 471). Up to this level, Abu al-Hasan transforms into a careful yet gullible person. He extensively used symbolism and metaphors in the story to explain and justify his experiences. During the story, Larrikin mentioned that the narrative had a cause and a tail. Therefore, Caliph probed Abu to explain the cause of the story. However, Caliph objected to leave. The story took an interesting twist when Caliph asked Abu about his wish. Ironically, Abu requested to be Caliph for one day to punish shaykhs who oppressed and disapproved his hospitality. Later Caliph covertly placed Cretan Bhang in Abu’s beverage and instructed Masrur to take Abu to the Palace after he fell asleep. The Caliph told everyone in the Palace to obey and pretend Abu to fulfill his dream. Upon waking up, Abu al-Hasan found himself in a deluxe apartment. He wondered if it was paradise or heaven. Consequently, Abu assumed his new role while the Caliph watched and laughed from hiding. Later that night Caliph placed another Bhang in Abu’s drink, which made him to fall asleep (Tarnowska and Naff 477). Abu woke up in his mother’s home the next morning. His mother insisted it was a dream while Abu emphasized about the Caliph until he beat his mum with a staff. Folk outside reasoned that Jinn

Brands in Retail Market Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Brands in Retail Market - Literature review Example Brands give products a unique identity or name with the help of a name / design or logo which catches the imagination of the customers. â€Å"A brand is an experience that lives at the intersection of promise and expectation. Your products are a way to deliver upon that promise. Forget features; concentrate on the unique experience you can provide† (Savard & Gallagher, 2010). The goal of retailers is to build strong brand identity to compete with other players in the industry. The paper discusses the implications and strategic significance of retail branding and its impact on customer choice and preference of stores. Introduction The retailing industry has gained increased prominence over the past few decades with growing consumerism in countries and wide range of products flooding the markets vying for consumer attention. The retail industry comprises of the department stores, local shops, discount stores, and specialty stores that form the vital link between the manufacturer s and customers. The global retail industry has witnessed significant changes in the post globalization period with markets opening to multinational products and brands making their way to the retail counters. The small local retail shops are disappearing to large multinational retail chain stores that have created a brand image for their quality of service and range of products available under one roof. Popular retail chain stores like Tesco, Walmart, Marks and Spencer have adopted international expansion strategies to increase market shares and profits. â€Å"Indeed, the larger the company, the more likely it is to operate beyond its domestic borders and to generate a higher percentage of its sales from foreign operations† (Deloitte, 2009). Brand management has emerged as a critical top management function for a business in the last decade. Brand image is increasingly being acknowledged as one of the most valuable intangible assets for a company. In the highly competitive r etailing industry, branding has a very important role to play in influencing customer perceptions and enhancing store loyalty. In the United States grocery and general merchandise industry, retailing has made major inroads in the last few years. The surge in promotions and private labels has been seen as an indicator of increase in retailer power. Simultaneously, there has also been a significant increase in the number of discounters and warehouse clubs. This has put a lot of pressure on traditional retailers. Retail competition has increased and become cut throat both within and between retail formats. Based on these observations the research provides an insight into the different perspectives that have emerged in driving customers to the retail chain stores. What role does branding play in influencing choice of retail stores and how do customers differentiate one retail brand from the other? These are some of the vital questions that are answered by the research paper through an a nalysis of existing literature and theoretical perspectives defining customer decision making process. Retail branding – a conceptual overview Retail branding is an evolving concept that has transformed the way customers shop today and it has generated a lot of speculation on how retail brands influence customers. Retail branding has been defined by Zentes, Morschett, and Schramm-Klein in their book Strategic Retail Management (2007) as â€Å"

Reference library on memory management Research Paper

Reference library on memory management - Research Paper Example Apart from many advantages, virtual memory and paging have various disadvantages as well. One of the challenges is the extra resource consumption, i.e. overhead for saving page tables in the memory (Null & Lobur, 2010). In environments where numerous applications are operating, the page table occupies a significant part of the physical memory. However, this challenge can be addressed by paging the page tables; this is a complex and confusing task (Null & Lobur, 2010). These challenges are not significant as compared to benefits of virtual memory and paging offers. Advantages of virtual memory and paging are easy to understand. For instance, programs are not limited to the physical memory present on the system, as virtual memory allows executing individual programs possessing larger virtual address space when compared to available physical memory (Null & Lobur, 2010). This process helps the programmers to avoid worrying about physical address space boundaries. Moreover, virtual memory also facilitates multi-tasking by executing more than one program simultaneously, and, as a result, system throughput and CPU utilization enhance. The limited size of pages and frames eases the tasks for placement and allocation for the operating system. Moreover, the paging process facilitates the operating system to protect and share the page on specific permissions (Null & Lobur, 2010). ... Moreover, the physical memory remains intact and is not divided into any sort of fixed or equal size partition. Whenever there is a requirement of copying a segment in the physical memory, free memory is analyzed by the operating system, and after finding a chunk it is adequate enough to store an entire segment (Null & Lobur, 2010). Likewise, every segment possesses a base address that provides an indication of its location in the memory along with bound limits reflecting its size. Now every program incorporating various segments is now linked to a segment table instead of a page table. Likewise, the segment table incorporates the assembly of base for every segment (Jipping, 2007). The role of virtual memory in smart phone operating systems is also vital. For programming and designing virtual memory for a smart phone operating system, logical-segment addresses and physical-segment- addresses is the prime focus. Likewise, the segments are tagged with numbers, and these tags are incorp orated within a logical address. For instance, a typical address format will be a , in which the segment number is the starting part of the address and the offset is identified as the last part of the address. Memory Management Technique for Paging on Distributed Shared Memory Framework The two analogous computer classes, i.e. shared memory and distributed memory, are symbolized by the DSM Systems (Hine, Mitrani, Tsur, & Gaines, 1979). This system works by providing shared memory generalizing in the system that further physically distributes the memory and thus combines the rewards of both the approaches. In fact, the DSM system is described as a memory system that physically distributes but is

Unemployment in the European Nations Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece Essay

Unemployment in the European Nations Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece - Essay Example Unemployment in the European nations of Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece The thing that makes unemployment most dangerous is that it directly affects the growth of a nation. Indefatigably high levels of unemployment have become a common scenario throughout most of the European Union. Although, it contrasts considerably with the comparatively low unemployment levels in neighboring developed nations, especially in those of the United States and Japan. Inspite of the fact that high unemployment rate is rendered as a common problem in European unions, there are significant variations in the unemployment rates of each of its members1. Despite being amongst the developed European countries, unemployment rate in Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Greece is rising at a staggering rate. The Problem of Unemployment Unemployment in Spain The contrasting difference in the unemployment rate of the European nations was essentially recognized in the unemployment rate of Spain. In the year of March 2004, it was evidenced that the unemployment rate in Luxemburg was at a low of 4 .0%, while in Spain, it reached a mammoth 11.1%. It is significant that there are other factors idiosyncratic to each of those nations with soaring unemployment rate results to this problem. This phenomenon is essentially true in the case of Spain, as persistently high level of unemployment has been recorded there. The scenario in Spain was once so dismal that unemployment rate recorded was twice the average of the European nation’s unemployment rate. High unemployment rate is currently a problem that is encountered by all almost all the major nations of the European Union. ... condition is so dismal, that it is the high level of unemployment that essentially distinguishes the economies of the European member countries with that of the United States. The situation is problematic as, underutilization of resources takes place due to the low level of unemployment. This simultaneously results in decline of the total production of goods that could have been achieved in a stable employment situation. This instigates the citizen of Spain to migrate into other countries if they are unable to obtain proper employment conditions in their native country. It is a general phenomenon that people want to allocate to work places where they get higher wages for their work. Acknowledging the reason of unemployment from a neo classical perspective, several key elements can be identified. The primary among them is the actual factors related to job search. The job market is never stable, as the frequency of workers changing jobs is essentially high. Although the problem takes a larger shape when this changes in job takes a long time due to heterogeneity of the work force and job openings. This implies that there is no significant balance between the labor supply and the labor absorption in the market. This condition is due to the lack of job openings, lack of proper information about employment, and the cost of retraining that many workers are unable to cope up with. Another factor that contributes to low employment is rigidity in the wages of workers, due to labor legislation and significant influence of labor unions. The wage rigidity’s effect is essentially noted when the prices of goods fall due to the decrease in demand for products, which simultaneously decreases the marginal productivity of workers. In this scenario, due to rigidness of labor supply in

Godfather movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Godfather movie - Essay Example this film to be preserved in its national archives and it was noted by the American Film Institute as the second greatest film produced by Hollywood after Citizen Kane. The story of the film is quite complex but there are several themes which run throughout the film with regard to the action and the dialogue. The importance of family has been noted as a central theme even though the film does glorify crime and violence to achieve certain ends. However, considering that the film is essentially a crime drama, it is difficult to object to that being a part of the action since that defines the genre of the film itself. Of course, crime related films had been made before The Godfather came to the scene but instead of glorifying them and eventually showing their downfall to send the message that crime does not pay, this film humanizes criminals. Undoubtedly, the characters are all involved in shady dealings and are certainly not upright citizens but the manner in which they are shown to have a deep psychology and how they take interest in their own families and their wellbeing gives them a human touch. This allows the viewers to empathize with the family which appears to be struggling to keep up with changing times. The crime business moves from the hands of one generation to the other and even though there is change, some things and certain values remain the same for the family. In fact, the value of the film and appreciation for the artistic values held within has been noted by quite a few critics. Universally, the film has received positive reviews and is often at or near the top of lists made of the greatest films of all times. Not only have other critics paid their respects to The Godfather, other films, television shows and even cartoons have taken inspiration from The Godfather with parodies, satires and even remakes of the story. This homage to the film crosses cultural and international barriers as even Bollywood has made films that pay homage to The

Film Treatment about the boston bombing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Film Treatment about the boston bombing - Essay Example After he finishes his shower, David puts on a small short and vest before dressing into a track suit, he then goes to the kitchen in order to make waffles for breakfast. While preparing his breakfast, he switches own his flat screen TV where he notices all the channels are talking about the Boston marathon that is being held on the same day. While he is having his breakfast, he hears a knock at the door and on opening the door he is hugged by his best friend Chris who asks him if his ready to win the prize money and start a fund for young boys who are suffering from leukemia. David shouts â€Å"hell yeah† while he welcomes Chris in with a glass of juice and a piece of waffle. Chris is also dressed in a track suit only that his is made up of the national flag of the United States of America. Both Chris and David are intending to take part in the Boston marathon and win the prize money which they will use to establish a fund for boys who are battling with leukemia. Chris tells D avid to harry up since the marathon is expect to begin at around 9.00 am hence they needed about an hour to stretch in preparation for the huge task ahead. David grabs two bottles of water and locks the door as they leave his apartment. While they are on the lift Chris reminds David to show up at the library later in the evening so as to study for the continuous assessment test that they had the following day. At the lobby, they meet up with their class mates June and Lee who have come to give them support in their efforts to win the Boston marathon. Lee tells David and Chris that they will wait for them near the finish line since they are sure that one of them will win the prize money. June shows them a cheque for 1000 dollars and tells them that she will put the money in the medical fund the two wish to start for leukemia patients. The second scene begins at the starting line of the Boston marathon where participants are getting ready for the race to begin. David notices 6 Kenyan and 4 Ethiopian athletes who he recognized from a feature he had seen on ESPN naming them as the best athletes who might win the race. In his mind, he tells himself that if he keeps up with the ten athletes then he is sure that he will cross the finish line among the top three finishers. He whispers to Chris that they make sure that they run parallel to the Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes then they will be able to finish the race among the top three. Te ace starts and after about two hours time their approach seems not to have worked since both the Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes are both nowhere to be seen. Despite the fact that they are sure that they will not be able to finish the race David urges Smith to be strong for them to at least finish the race. After about thirty minutes, both Chris and David could see the finish line since it was about a quarter mile away. They both smiled and held hand as they ran towards the finish line. In just after 5 minutes David hears a loud explosio n and sees that it comes from the finish line. After about two seconds he hears a second explosion which makes him deaf for about five seconds. When David’s hearing comes back, he hears a lot of screams and sirens form government vehicles. Act Two David is so scared that his heart is pounding against his chest. He looks at Chris

Electronic Communications Privacy Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Electronic Communications Privacy Act - Essay Example , which require a legal framework to manage the workings of the new features created by the development in computer and internet sector (Matsuura, 2003). Ideally, the act seeks to ensure sanity and protection of privacy, but the rapid changes in the communication sector especially in the internet-based sector has rendered the act virtually ineffective while other laws such as the patriotic act have made it impossible to enhance privacy. In its present form, the ECPA has countless flaws owing to the dynamism of communication. The inadequacies of the act can be linked to its enactment. The ECPA was enacted in 1986 when the communication sector was not expansive or as specialized and innovative as it is today. As such, most of the concerns were addressed generally. Today privacy has become a major concern but back then, it was not a key concern. Fundamentally, the act seeks to enhance privacy but in light of other laws such as the patriotic act, it is ineffective (Electronic Privacy Information Center, 2012). The patriotic act granted the government huge leeway in compromising or breaching privacy in all the forms of electronic communications. The government can compromise the privacy of communications in the form of images, signs, writings and even oral communication due to the flaws of the law as revealed by United States v. Councilman. In the above suit, the defendant sought to block the government from accessing e mail in temporary storage prior to the recipient reading them. Nevertheless, on appeal, a full court of appeal revealed that e-mails on transit are not protected from surveillance (Packard, 2012). From the above, it is evident that despite having strict clauses on privacy ECPA is inherently inadequate. Surveillance is one of the most controversial issues in America owing to its extensive nature. The surveillance involves electronic data, which is protected by this act. Nonetheless, the government has seemingly unlimited access to electronic data. One of

Flooding in South Africa Essay Example for Free

Flooding in South Africa Essay Most floods take hours or days to develop, giving residents enough time to prepare or evacuate. Others happen quickly and with little warning. These flash floods can be extremely dangerous and cause major damage to the landscape and the habitants of such an area. Disaster specialists have various ways of classifying floods according to their likelihood of occurring and the intensity of the flood. A hundred-year flood, for example, is an extremely large, destructive event that would theoretically be expected to happen only once every century. Heavy rain in a short period of time in the part of South Africa, caused more than hundreds of people to be homeless by heavy flooding. Floods caused many to seek refuge on rooftops and on trees. This catastrophe killed more than hundreds of people causing the death toll to rise. Recently these floods caused evacuation of the Kruger National, a game reserve in Northern South Africa. Floods also covered some farmlands and crops were killed as a result forcing farms to close. Most of the roads, dams and large buildings were damaged. Due to flooding some mines were forced to close, this the case of a coal mines in Limpopo. Floods frequently causes major infrastructure damage of roads, railway lines, electricity supply systems, water supply and sewage disposal systems. Bribges over rivers are particularly exposed to damage and disruption of transportation systems follows. The economic effects of flooding are often greater than the flood itself. (Parker 2000) According to Parker (2000) be cause floods frequently destroy crops and livestock, food shortages are not uncommon in the aftermath. Floods may affect food availability in a number of ways. Food stocks may be damaged if storage areas are flooded. Serious flooding usually disrupts transportation of food deficit areas, particularly in towns, which are cut off from supply sources and have inadequate food stock. Impacts of flooding may hinder the economic growth and development that is the high cost of relief and recovery may adversely impact investment in infrastructure and other development activities in the area and in certain cases may cripple the frail economy of the of the region. Recurrent flooding in a region may discourage long-term investments by the government and private sector alike. Lack of livehoods, combined with migration of skilled labour and inflation may have a negative impact on a region’s economic growth. Loss of resource can lead to high costs of goods and services, delaying its development programmes. (Drep operation international federation of Red Cross and crescent societies). Figure 2 three kid were during floods in Limpopo As discussed under various perspectives, it is clear from the assignment that floods had adverse impact on the socio-economic status of livehoods for people in South Africa more especially the residents of Limpopo. It is also evident that there are varying underlying causes of floods i South Africa. Places near the flood event are the most susceptible to the dangers of the floods. Proximity of these places and poverty were identified as being the main cause of vulnerability of people

Privacy versus freedom of expression

Privacy versus freedom of expression The media in their long history have shattered countless reputations and destroyed countless careers. We have driven people to suicide. We have caused immeasurable emotional pain, suffering and humiliation, not only to individuals but to familiesand to entire communities (Goodwin and Smith 1994, p. 280) President of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), Max Mosley sued the News of the World for breach of confidence and was rewarded 60,000 pounds as compensation on winning the case. The Sunday journal clandestinely filmed Mosley taking part in an orgy with five prostitutes in a Chelsea flat and splashed it all over the paper and the web. The paper alleged that the orgy had a Nazi theme to it and broke the news with the outrageous headline F1 BOSS HAS SICK NAZI ORGY WITH 5 HOOKERS. This brings forward the everlasting debate over privacy versus freedom of expression. Archard (1998: 83) claims that Privacy has to do with keeping personal information non-public and undisclosed. Freedom of expression on the other hand, upholds the rights of all to express their views and opinions freely (Freedom Of Expression {online} link: http://www.hrea.org/index.php?base_id=147: accessed 22.12.09). However, the extent to which the privacy of Max Mosley has been intruded into by the family newspaper is unacceptable in my opinion. There are certain parameters to the freedom of press that have to be maintained and this was certainly indecent and unethical scheming on the part of the News of the World. International supermodel, Naomi Campbell filed a case against The Daily Mirror for breach of her right to privacy. The paper disclosed that she secretly attended meetings of Narcotics Anonymous. It was in public interest to publish that she was a drug addict and that she was being treated for it but where she was being rehabilitated, what her reaction to it was and surreptitiously collecting photographs of her leaving after a treatment session, was going much too far. Therefore, the judgment in favour of Max Mosley, Naomi Campbell and similar cases like Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones versus Hello! Magazine do not chill press freedom but only draw a line minding the excesses of the media. This would lead the press into focussing on meaningful news coverage and control any digression into agenda based news reporting for exciting the public. As Legal analyst Joshua Rozenberg said the court ruling in favour of the FIA President was a warning to journalists.(Mosley Wins Court C ase Over Orgy, 2008 {online} available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7523034.stm : accessed on 16.12.09) Alongside this will limit the power the media has over peoples minds and life altogether which has been misused for profits in this and other similar cases. Subsequently, I would like to point out that, be it the motor racing chief or any celebrity nobodys personal life can be made a public spectacle. Big names are liable to the public to some extent but filming somebodys intimate moments followed by a so-called newsworthy piece published about his/her sexual interests is objectionable. I found here a creeping sense of commercialism considering the choice of story and the sensationalised language used in it by NOTW. Many in the media arena agree with US journalist Carol Marin who claims we are afraid of being unpopular, we are afraid of shrinking markets.'(CJR forum1998, p. 3). Also whatever Mosley may do in his personal life, as long it does not affect his work or as far as he is not merging his professional life with his personal life he is free to pursue whatsoever. News of The World seems to be thriving on the idea if it bleeds, it leads- they did not consider it essential enough to translate the German spoken in the video to under stand what it said, tagged it as having Nazi undertones and rashly threw it open for the public to watch. Clause 10 of the code of practice of The Press complaints commission Clandestine Devices and Subterfuge, sets a ban on the use of hidden recording devices as a method to gather information unless it were the only way to disclose a public interest story. The method used by the tabloid to bring out the story was inherently flawed it is his personal life and the defence of public interest is altogether irrelevant. There is no harm in being a part of such a scenario between consenting adults on private property. Paying an informant to secretly record the orgy was one thing but along with that drawing metaphors like the alleged Nazi connections was completely appalling. On this point I would like to elaborate that basing a persons actions and drawing conclusions keeping in mind his family history is completely unfair and is a very narrow outlook to a situation. As Mosley told Mr Justice Eady on his first day of giving evidence in the High Court, All my life I have had hanging over me my antecedents, my parents and the last thing I want to do in some sexual context is be reminded of it.(2008) In Quotes: Mosley Trial, The BBC, link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7510193.stm: accessed 18.12.09. Having the blood of a Nazi supporter and founder of the British Union of Fascists, Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley should not imply that even Max Mosley has the same offensive beliefs and ideology. It is entirely unjustified to back up Mosleys story of having a Nazi-style orgy and defame him by digging out some facts like insulting family history or any similar far-fetched connections that encourage a hostile impression of him. The News of the World stole my image and my dignity, said motor racing boss to the BBC. The humiliation caused to Mosley and his family is irreparable. There seem to be clear formulas adopted by newspapers covering such stories they create a hype which boosts the demand for such papers. This is meddling too much with Mosleys personal life and such a story is no ones business. Had Max Mosley made a speech before the public that had Nazi implications to it or had he influenced any third person with his supposed Nazi loyalty then it would fulfil the public interest defence for publication. In this case, it was an extremely personal set-up and even if it was a Nazi oriented one it is his personal life behind closed doors it is clearly of no interest to any outsider. In Nick Davies book Flat Earth News (2008), he has referred to such irresponsible journalism as churnalism. Journalists have a huge responsibility towards man and unfortunately this is being overlooked by focussing on sensational news. I would end with something that Mr. Roy Greenslade says, No better reason to be a journalist than to make a change in peoples lives.

SSEs acquisition of The Energy Solutions Group (ESG)

SSEs acquisition of The Energy Solutions Group (ESG) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report has been undertaken to come up with the intrinsic value of SSE plc which is operating in energy industry, using shareholder value analysis (SVA) model. The underlying value of the company is estimated to be  £12,122.14m, which is lower than the market value of  £15757.52m (FAME database, accessed on 19th January 2017). The discrepancy of the two values may be explained by referencing to Efficient Market Hypothesis, asymmetric information issue and shortcomings of SVA model. Based on sensitivity analysis, it is determined that SSEs intrinsic value is highly sensitive to changes in operating margin and WACC. It is found out that an adjustment of +2% made towards operating margin and WACC will remarkably change the company value by +86% and nearly -50% respectively. Therefore, analysts should pay more attention to these two variables when employing SVA model. The later section of the report identifies SSEs acquisition of The Energy Solutions Group (ESG) as a critical financial event, highlighting that the transaction will bring more synergy to the firms operation and enhance its competitive advantage in the energy industry. However, it is imperative for shareholders to keep track of the companys performance to alleviate problems of hubris or empire building. Objectives This financial report is expected to achieve two primary objectives. First, this report aims to provide the valuation and analysis of SSE plc a company operating in the energy industry by employing Shareholder Value Analysis (SVA) technique. Second, SSEs acquisition of The Energy Solutions Group (ESG) in 2014 will be evaluated with reference to finance theories in Mergers and Acquisitions. 1.2 Report structure This financial report is organized in five main parts: Section I: Introduction This section provides main purposes of the report and briefly describe structure of the report. Section II: Company Profile This section gives an overview of SSEs business activities, its market share and competitive positioning. Section III: Company Valuation This section covers the following contents: Evaluate the appropriateness of SVA model to value a company Perform the valuation of SSE plc using SVA model Provide justifications for variables and proxies used in the model Carry out comparative analysis and sensitivity analysis Section IV: Actual Corporate Financial Event This section critically evaluates SSEs acquisition of The Energy Solutions Group (ESG) with reference to finance theories. Some implications would also be proposed following the event evaluation. Section V: Conclusion This section summarizes the employment of SVA measure in case of SSE and then provide some recommendations. 2.1 Business Description SSE plc (Scottish and Southern Energy plc) is a British energy company headquartered in Perth, Scotland, United Kingdom. SSE was established in 1998 as a result of the merger between Scottish Hydro-Electric and Southern Electric. SSE is listed on London Stock Exchange and it stock forms part of FTSE 100, FTSE 350 and FTSE All-Share. SSEs business covers three segments: Wholesale, Networks and Retail. The Wholesale segment involves power generation from renewable and thermal plant in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe; the Networks segment is responsible for distributing electricity to customer premises in the North of Scotland and the South of England; meanwhile, the Retail segment supplies electricity and gas to residential and business customers in the United Kingdom and Ireland (Financial Times, 2017). Since SSE undertakes both generation and retail supply activities, it is considered a vertically integrated energy business. This makes SSE unique since SSE is the only company listed on London Stock Exchange involved in such a broad range of energy businesses (SSE, 2016a). Market share Regarding Wholesale business, in 2015 SSE had a small market share of 7%, accounting for only a quarter of EDFs share and about half of RWEs share (see Appendix 1). Referring to Ofgem (2016b), in 2015 the market shares of dominant energy producers in the UK remain relatively unchanged compared with these of 2014, which is also the case of SSE. With respect to Retail business, there were over 43 active energy suppliers in Britain by March 2016, most of which offering both gas and electricity supply (Ofgem, 2016a). SSE is included in Big 6 which are widely known as dominant leaders in the market, including British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON, SSE, npower and ScottishPower. These companies supply gas and electricity to over 50 million household and businesses in Britain, with 87% share of domestic customers by March 2015 (Ofgem, 2016a). SSE is operating in a very competitive and well-functioning energy retail market. The firms market share in the market for energy supply can be illustrated in Appendix 2 and Appendix 3. By March 2016, SSE had the second largest market share of UK electricity supply market (about 15%), while its market share of gas supply (about 13%) only accounted for approximately one-third of British Gass share. Increasing competition in energy industry and SSEs competitive positioning Out of the three segments, Wholesale and Retail businesses have been facing increasing competition in recent years due to the entrance of new rivals in the GB Energy Supply market. There have been some concerns over barriers to entering wholesale and retail energy market such as the complexity and extent of credit requirements or low levels of liquidity in the market. Despite of these, new entry has taken place (see Appendix 4). The result of new suppliers entry is falling market share of the six large suppliers from 90% to 87% between March 2015 and March 2016 for electricity, and 90% to 86% for gas over the same period (Ofgem, 2016a). Specifically, the entry and growth of new suppliers has led to SSEs market share declining. There is a decreasing trend in the number of energy customer accounts for the past three years (see Appendix 5). In addition to the new rivalries entrance to the market, customers switching is another issue that reduce the market share of six large suppliers. Households are increasingly turning to smaller suppliers, with consumers complaining the sector is slow to pass on wholesale energy cuts and offers poor service. The total number of users switching suppliers in March 2016, 476,528 customers, was the highest since November 2013 (Energy UK, 2016). As the market become more and more competitive, attracting and retaining customers can pose challenges to SSE. However, SSE has a clear strategy to differentiate itself and create value by becoming a market-leading, digital and diversified retailer of energy and essential services. According to SSE (2015a), for the past few years SSE has: Launched its first large-scale advertising campaign for the SSE brand in both Britain and Ireland, known as Proud to make a difference campaign. The campaign has been implemented in many forms from TV, radio, billboards, print media to various digital and social media formats; Overhauled its digital channels in order to create a simple, seamless and intuitive customer experience and provide the best possible service at the lowest possible cost; Introduced a new customer relationship management (CRM) platform which facilitates better customer understanding and tailors communications and propositions to the needs of different customers; Developed and reopened sales channels and processes to ensure compliant growth. Additionally, SSEs commitment to decarbonization means that the firm will continue potential expansion in renewable energy portfolio which are comprised of onshore wind, offshore wind and conventional hydro. Furthermore, SSE is the leader in the UK energy industry to handle customer complaints. According to Energy Ombudsman in February 2016, only four out of 100,000 customer complaints required further investigation in the first three quarters of the year, pointing out the fact that 99.969% of SSEs customer issues were fully resolved (SSE, 2016a). 3.1 Evaluate the appropriateness of SVA Model There are many methods for estimating value of a company, including valuations based on asset, dividend, earnings and cash flows. Among these methods, discounted cash flow valuation is the most technical way of valuing a business as it is heavily dependent on assumptions about long-term business conditions. This measure is especially useful for cash-generating businesses which are stable and mature. Alfred Rappaport (1998) developed a simplified approach of cash flow discounting called shareholder value analysis (SVA). SVA model makes assumptions about steady changes in a number of cash flow factors as they are all relevant to sales level. There are obvious advantages associated with the use of this model. SVA is not subject to different accounting policies used by different companies and therefore can be applied across many business sectors. In addition, firms using SVA must concentrate on the future and customers, with specific focus on future cash flows. On the other hand, SVA is not a perfect model as it contains some shortcomings when being used in practice. Irrational assumptions about value drivers, as well as data unavailability are possible drawbacks that analyst frequently encounter when employing this model. 3.2 Justification of variables and proxies Employing the SVA Model to calculate a companys intrinsic value requires assumptions about a number of key variables. Sales growth might be the most important factor in the model, setting the foundation to come up with other variables values such as operating profit, incremental capital investment and incremental working capital investment. In case of SSE, sales growth is determined after careful consideration of historical growth rates, price forecast and potential future projects. For the last three years, sales growth has witnessed a decreasing trend, which can be explained by a number of reasons. First, energy prices in the UK are influenced by oil and coal prices; therefore, when these commodities prices move upward or downward, they are likely to drive gas and electricity prices in the same direction (Ofgem, 2016b). Since the second half of 2014, there were downward trends in oil and coal prices due to oversupplied markets for these commodities, contributing to declining energy prices and therefore SSEs revenues. The movements of oil price can be illustrated in the following figure: Figure 1: Brent Crude Oil price from 2010 to 2016 (Source: Bloomberg, 2016) Second, there are more and more energy suppliers in the UK market. Levels of new entry have been very high recently: 14 new suppliers became active between April 2015 and March 2016, compared to five between April 2014 and March 2015 (Ofgem, 2016a). The presence of new rivals leads to SSEs declining market share as well as the firms revenue. Third, more and more customers are switching to small and medium-sized suppliers, as shown in Figure 2. If this trend goes on, there will be much pressure on expected revenue of large energy suppliers. Figure 2: Monthly increases in the total number of domestic gas and electricity meters supplied by small and medium-sized suppliers (Source: Ofgem analysis of data provided by Xoserve, DNOs and iDNOs, 2016) From the above data, it might seem that SSEs revenue will be struggling in the next few years. However, there are evidences for investors to believe in SSEs sales growth for at least the next 5 years. First, oil price forecasts by World Bank, IMF and EIU indicate crude oil prices will observe steady increases from 2017 to 2025 (Knoema, 2016) (see figure 4, figure 4 and figure 6). Figure 3: World Bank Oil Price Forecast (Source: Knoema, 2016) Figure 4: IMF Oil Price Forecast (Source: Knoema, 2016) Figure 5: EIU Oil Price Forecast (Source: Knoema, 2016) Second, some renewable projects will be fully operational in 2017 and these will definitely support revenue growth in the next few years. As reported by SSE (2016c), three onshore wind projects under construction are expected to come into operation in 2017, including Dunmaglass (94MW), Clyde Extension (173MW) and Bhlaraidh (108MW). After above analysis has been taken into account, the sales growth is determined as the arithmetic average of the changes in sales over the previous three years, giving the result of 0.82%. This sales growth is reasonable given that SSE is operating in increasingly competitive industry, with customers tending to switch to small and medium-sized suppliers in recent years. The operating profit margin is predicted to be 2.87%, which can be worked out by taking the average of the margins in previous three years. The reason behind this assumption is that SSE is an efficient energy supplier committed to maintaining relatively low operating costs in order to make a fair profit. According to SSE (2015a), SSEs indirect costs per customer are around 20% lower than the average across the rest of the major suppliers. The effect of low operating costs can be demonstrated by stable operating profit margins for the last three years, and it is expected that this trend will continue for the coming financial years. The incremental capital investment of 53% is understandable as the company continues to develop secure, sustainable and low carbon energy infrastructure, given that the energy industry is switching to renewable energy sources. In its interim results for the six months to 30 September 2016, SSE announced it plans to invest a record  £1.85bn of capital expenditure and investment in Great Britain and Ireland in 2016/17 (SSE, 2016b). According to Alistair Phillips-Davies, SSE Chief Executive, the firm is making more investment in supporting the modernization of UKs energy facilities, and the total investment and capital expenditure by 2020 is forecast to reach approximately  £6bn. A relatively low working capital investment of 10% is determined since SSEs current assets are just enough to absorb current liabilities in the last few years. Trade and other receivables accounts for a large proportion of SSEs current assets due to the nature of the energy supply business. Meanwhile, current liabilities are mainly comprised of trade and other payables, which is because the company is making heavy investment in renewable energy infrastructure. Simply put, an incremental working capital investment of 10% is appropriate for SSE given that many potential energy projects will be under construction in the coming years. The corporation tax rate of 20% is applied to company profits (HMRC, 2016), and SSEs business is also subject to this rate. Another key variable in SVA is weighted average cost of capital (WACC). The cost of debt is determined as SSEs weighted average interest rate, which is 3.73% for year 2016. Meanwhile, the cost of equity is computed using CAPM model. SSEs beta (0.74) was obtained from FAME database, while the UK Gilt 10 Year Yield (1.40%) collected on Bloomberg website is used as the proxy for risk-free rate; all of these figures were retrieved on 19th January 2017. In addition, the UK market risk premium (5.3%) by Fernandez, et al., (2016) is another key component in the CAPM. Subsequently, a WACC of 4.59% is achieved and this is the required rate of return for SSEs capital providers. In short, the following seven value drivers will be applied in case of SSE: Table 1: Seven value drivers for SVA model Key Drivers Value Sales growth 0.82% Operating Profit margin 2.87% Tax rate 20% Incremental fixed capital investment 53% Incremental working capital investment 10% Planning Horizon 5 Required Rate of Return 4.59% Source: Analysts estimate 3.3 Employment of SVA Model Table 2 illustrates how SVA model is utilized in SSEs case. SSEs revenue of  £28,781m (recorded on 31st March 2016) was increased annually by a sales growth of 0.82% over a 5-year planning horizon. Subsequently, an operating margin of 2.87% was applied to revenues to come up with the firms operating profit. Before arriving at SSEs operating cash flows, a corporation tax rate of 20% was imposed on the operating profit, followed by subtractions of 53% in incremental capital investment and 10% in working capital investment. Afterwards, the present value of future cash flows was estimated by discounting the firms operating cash flows by 4.59% cost of capital. It is noted that SSEs terminal value at year 6+ was discounted twice, the first of which worked out the value at year 5 and the second one brought out the value in present day. After the net present value of  £18,930.7m was figured out, adjustments were made by adding  £360.2m cash and marketable securities, and then deducting  £7,168.8m total debt. After all, SSEs intrinsic value was determined at  £12,122.14m. Table 2: SSEs Shareholder value analysis (unit: million pounds) Year 1 2 3 4 5 6+ Sales 29,018.4 29,257.7 29,498.9 29,742.2 29,987.5 29,987.5 Profit 833.6 840.5 847.4 854.4 861.5 861.5 Associate Profit 206.5 208.2 209.9 211.6 213.4 213.4 Less Tax 166.7 168.1 169.5 170.9 172.3 172.3 Less ICI 125.1 126.1 127.2 128.2 129.3 0 Less IWCI 23.7 23.9 24.1 24.3 24.5 0 Operating Cash Flow 724.6 730.6 736.6 742.7 748.8 902.6 PV of cash flows 692.8 667.8 643.8 620.6 598.3 15,707.4 NPV 18,930.7 Add mkt secs 19,290.9 Less debt 7,168.8 Equity Value SVA 12,122.14 million Actual Value 15,757.52 million FAME access on 19th January 2017 Source: Analysts estimate 3.4 Comparative Analysis SSEs intrinsic value derived from SVA model was  £12,122.14m while its market capitalisation was recorded at  £15757.52m (FAME database, accessed on 19th January 2017), pointing the difference of  £3,635.38m between the two values. One possible explanation for this discrepancy is that all relevant information may not be incorporated into the share price. It could be inferred from Efficient Market Hypothesis (Fama, 1970) that the extent to which the share price is reliable depends on the efficiency of the markets. Under the strong form efficiency, the market value of  £15757.52m will fully reflect all past, present and insider information. On the other hand, if the market is under the weak form efficiency, the market value of  £15757.52m will only reflect the historical prices of the security, and hence lacking reliability. Furthermore, the information asymmetry, e.g. between management and investors and between investors themselves, is another explaining factor. Plesco Sobol (2013) states that investors who are ill-informed about financial disclosures can make unreasonable decisions in their investment. Due to irrational trading behaviours of these investors, share prices may not yield a fair market value. Another cause of the difference between the two values lies in the limitations of SVA model. The constant sales growth every year is not very realistic because the growth depends on potential development and firms strategies, which are subject to annual reviews. In the same manner, keeping WACC (4.59%) constant over 5-year planning horizon is not rational in practice, because the firms capital structure will change over time. Last but not least, the assumptions of sales growth and other key variables depend on each analysts subjective viewpoint. Changing these values by a small percentage might result in considerable change in eventual intrinsic value. 3.5 Sensitivity Analysis The sensitivity analysis performance indicates that SSEs underlying value is highly sensitive to changes operating profit margin. A positive adjustment of 2% made towards the operating margin will result in a substantial increase of 86% in the firms equity value (see Appendix 6). It is worth remembering that SSE is committed to preserve low operating costs so as to gain a fair profit. According to SSE (2015b), the firm has participated in a value program to ensure effective use of people and capital, the overall objective of which is business streamlining and simplification. This program comes with efficiency target, with expected  £100m of annual savings in overheads. In addition, the program involves reduction in offshore wind development as well as disposal of non-core assets. In general, this value scheme is likely to help SSE optimize its investment and re-balance its business. Moreover, it is noticeable that the firms intrinsic value is susceptible to changes in WACC. An adjustment of +2% in the WACC will lead to approximately 50% reduction in the firms equity value (see Appendix 6). According to Fitch Ratings (2016), SSEs equity has been diminishing recently due to the influence of sustained asset impairment losses and generous dividend pay-outs. In agreement with Pecking Order Theory, debt takes priority over equity in case external finance is required (Donaldson, 1961). Because SSEs cost of debt (3.73%) is lower than cost of equity (5.32%), it is appropriate for SSE to obtain  more bank loans to finance its long-term operations, while still making sure cost of capital is kept to a minimum. Particularly Fitch Ratings (2016) claims that SSE has a policy of accessing debt markets, ensuring that its committed borrowings equal to at least 105% of forecast borrowings over a six-monthly rolling period and adequate liquidity will be fulfilled until at least S eptember 2017. 4.1 Background information In the end of July 2014, SSE completed the acquisition of The Energy Solutions Group Topco Limited (ESG), the North west-based provider of energy management services, from Bridgepoint Development Capital for  £66m with an additional  £6m if agreed targets are achieved. Working with private and public sector customers, ESG identify improvements in their management of energy consumption; as well as install, maintain and support building management systems and solutions, saving customers around 20% to 30% of their energy consumption (SSE, 2014). 4.2 Evaluation of the issue in the context of finance theories This acquisition is classified into vertical MA (Mergers and Acquisitions). According to Arnold (2013), vertical MA occur between companies operating in the same industry at different stages of production, i.e. one company acquires another company that is either before or after it in the supply chain process. In case of SSEs acquisition, both SSE and ESG work in the energy industry. SSE involves in all many stages of energy supply chain including wholesale, networks (distribution) and retail; meanwhile ESG engages in the retail business where it is the designer and provider of energy management solutions. Therefore, SSEs acquiring ESG would be a downstream vertical acquisition. So, what is SSEs motivation behind this acquisition? Vertical integration has some advantages, including the attraction of increased certainty of supply or market outlet; reducing cost of search, contracting, payment collection, advertising, communication and co-ordination of production (Arnold, 2013). SSE (2014) states that the acquisition of ESG will strengthen SSEs services in competitive markets for industrial and commercial customers. These services are comprised of electrical and mechanical contracting, lighting services, private energy networks and telecoms, all of which are under the control of Enterprise division which forms part of SSEs retail business. According to Arnold (2013), one of the merger and acquisition motives is synergy in which the two firms together are worth more than the value of the firms apart; hence in this case, ESG will bring commercial synergies to SSEs Enterprise division. SSEs Chief Executive Alistair emphasized that managing energy costs and environmental impact are SSEs big priority for large industrial and commercial customers. Benefiting from ESGs expertise, SSE expects to meet the energy and related demands of these customers in an enhanced manner. It was confirmed that the ESGs existing management team would be in charge of the Enterprise division, and the firm believed that the commitment of the ESG management team and other employees will benefit its customers and the environment in terms of effective energy management solutions delivery. SSEs acquisition of ESG is considered a strategic acquisition in order to achieve external growth. There are two ways to categorize strategic acquisitions: by type of capability transferred and by their relation to corporate strategy (Goold Luchs, 1995). Regarding capability transfer, SSE (2015a) asserts that the acquisition of ESG added new capabilities to the business. (Goold Luchs, 1995) claims that value is created in an acquisition when competitive advantage of one firm is enhanced through the transfer of strategic capabilities including resource sharing, functional skill transfer and management skill transfer. The presence of ESG management team in SSEs Enterprise division will upgrade SSEs capability of strategic planning, ensuring that effective energy management solutions are delivered for the sake of customers. Generally, SSE is expected to benefit from management skill transferred from ESG. Another way to categorize strategic acquisitions is based on their contribution to corporate-level strategy. In other words, acquisitions are assessed considering their connections in maintaining and changing the balance between the firms existing domain and the renewal of its capabilities (Goold Luchs, 1995). An acquisitions contributions are classified into either domain strengthening, domain extension or domain exploration. In light of SSEs acquiring ESG, this would be an illustration of domain strengthening because this acquisition will deepen SSEs presence in retail business, especially reinforcing Enterprise divisions operation. Next, it is essential to see what happened with SSE stock price after the firm made announcement about the acquisition of ESG. Theoretically, when a firm acquires another one, a short-term impact on the stock price of both companies is expected. Specifically, a lot of practical studies point out that the acquiring firms stock price will go down while the acquired entitys stock price will rise (Investopedia, 2016a). With respect to the takeover company, its stock will go down mainly because of a number of uncertainties associated with the acquisition, such as turbulent integration process, lost productivity, additional debt or expense incurred and accounting issues (Investopedia, 2016a). Figure 6 demonstrates SSEs stock prices after the acquisition of ESG was disclosed. Figure 6: SSEs stock price movements after acquisition of ESG (Source: Hargreaves Lansdown, 2014) As can be seen from the above figure, SSEs stock prices witnessed decreases in two consecutive days after the acquisition and this conformed with the empirical studies implication m