Management of financial resource and performance at Vodafone Free Essays

string(127) " stakeholder involvement are Voluntary involvement: Everyone involved should be committed to progress and full participation\." Introduction Being the largest mobile company of the world it is giving job opportunities to more than 65000 people.It is succeed to popularised its name as a new largest communication company of the world.Around 130 million people are being the costumers of this company. We will write a custom essay sample on Management of financial resource and performance at Vodafone or any similar topic only for you Order Now It does not see its business and service only but a best and effective communication too provide all over the world.It’s increasing its level of selling power to high status.Vodafone has made its aim to grow its revenue and improve its profit margin by adding value to its products and services i.e. earning more from each product sold and to be the leadingcompany in the communicationsmarket. Vodafone also has a commitment to Corporate Responsibility (CR). This is when a business tries to ensure its activities have a positive influence on the people and places where it works. Vodafone is planning to reduce the company’scarbonfootprint by encouraging therecycling and re-use of old phones. The ‘Vodafone live!’ service enables customers to use picture messaging and to download ring tones, colour games, images and information, through an icon-driven menu.This service will soon be further enhanced by picture messaging libraries, video clips and video telephony (seeing the person you’re calling) and improving download speeds. Another service is the Vodafone Mobile Connect Card, which enables customers to access their normal business applications on a laptop when out of the office. Such services add value to the product, and high profile effective promotion will help sell these services to existing and new customers. The head quarter of this company is in London.It operate more than 30 milllion subscribers by the year 2010and largest company is in United States also. As we go to the history of vodafone ,we find its progressive report since 1982,extending from Racal strategies Limited.The Racal got its name change as Racal telecommunication Group Limited in 1995 and in 1996 Racal Electronics bought out the minority shareholders of Vodafone for GB?110 million.The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone, chosen by the company to â€Å"reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones†The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone chosen by the company to â€Å"reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones.†(Anderson,T.J.,2006). Types of communication system and Its Importance One-way communication involves a company distributing information via brochures, letters, or with an exchange of information and ideas among stakeholders and the company. Information is usually exchanged. The next type of communication is stakeholder engagement or stakeholder dialogue. The intent of stakeholder engagement is learning stakeholdersi issues and concerns. If well designed, dialogue leads to knowledge being gained by both the company and stakeholders. The company commits itself to considering stakeholder input in making its decisions with an exchange of information and ideas among stakeholders and the company. Information is usually exchanged The next type of communication is stakeholder engagement or stakeholder dialogue.The intent of stakeholder engagement is learning stakeholders issues and concerns. If well designed, dialogue leads to knowledge being gained by both the company and stakeholders.The company commits itself to considering stakeholder input in making its decisions. Vodafone operates a global Performance Dialogue process for every employee. The process ensures that employees can make a clear connection between their goals and the business objectives. Each individual’s performance is discussed with their manager and career development goals are set. 93% of managers completed the Performance Dialogue process in the 2007 calendar year and 83% of employees approved development goals with their manager. Finally, with participatory/interactive decision making, a company collaborates with stakeholders in making decisions. Shared decision making is not appropriate in all situations, but can be effective in helping a company design a plan that, when implemented, will be acceptable to its stakeholders. communication and stakeholderTo be a good corporate citizen, your company should be communicating with and involving its stakeholders to determine their issues concerning a particular facility. There are costs associated with conducting these activities; however, costs to the company can be even greater if stakeholders take action against the company (e.g., hurting the company’s image through a media campaign, holding up permits, suing the company). Being aware of issues and concerns and working to resolve them early before they turn into negative action is time and money well spent. On a positive note, ideas and suggestions from stakeholders can often be insightful and useful in improving a facilities planning and operation. In this light, stakeholders can be seen as consultants to a company. The basic principles of stakeholder involvement are Voluntary involvement: Everyone involved should be committed to progress and full participation. Openness, honesty, trust: Open and honest communication is a requirement for mutual trust. Inclusiveness: Strive to include all interested parties in some form of dialogue. Common information base: Participants should have access to the same information. Mutual learning: All parties, including host and stakeholders, should come to the discussion with a willingness to learn. Creative options: Have a diverse set of stakeholders as a catalyst for creative thinking. Collaboration in decision making: Build ownership to increase the likelihood of implementation, and future collaboration. Coordination of stakeholder feedback: Communicate how you will use stakeholder feedback. Even if consensus is not possible, it is important that stakeholders feel their concerns are heard. Communication and stakeholder involvement should be a continuous activity conducted at a facility level and then augmented during periods of change or crisis when major decisions are being considered. This guidebook describes the overall process, which can be tailored to fit the circumstances at your site n resources, history of community interaction, the role of the facility in the community, and decisions being contemplated.†This is a new venture for many if not most cement companies so don’t be discouraged if your communications plan is basic and lacks the involvement of stakeholders†(Barne J,1991).Theenvironmentalandsocialperformanceofcompaniesisincreasinglyunderscrutinyfrominternalstakeholders (e.g. employeesandstockholders) andexternalstakeholders (e.g. localcommunities, activists, regulators). Greaterscientific, economicandsocialknowledgeisfuelingstakehold ers demandsforincreasedinformation, clarity, andinvolvementinbusinessoutcomes. Role of stakeholder The basic principles of stakeholder involvement are Voluntary involvement: Everyone involved should be committed to progress and full participation. Openness, honesty, trust: Open and honest communication is a requirement for mutual trust. Inclusiveness: Strive to include all interested parties in some form of dialogue. Common information base: Participants should have access to the same information. Mutual learning: All parties, including host and stakeholders, should come to the discussionwith a willingness to learn. Creative options: Have a diverse set of stakeholders as a catalyst for creative thinking. Collaboration in decision making: Build ownership to increase the likelihood of implementation, and future collaboration. Coordination of stakeholder feedback: Communicate how you will use stakeholder feedback. Financial Analysis If we talk aabout financial seector of the company we get that It had amarketcapitalisation of approximately ?93 billion as of 9 March 2011 and it is making itself as the fourth largest company on the London Stock Exchange.Vodafone Group plc is providing its products in Europe, Africa, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and the United States. The company offers various handsets; voice and messaging services; data services comprising Internet, email, music, games, and television; and fixed services, including fixed voice and fixed broadband solutions. It also offers value added services, such as Vodafone Email Plus and Windows Mobile. It also offers value added services, such as Vodafone Email Plus and Windows Mobile Email, which provide enterprise customers with real time handheld access to email, calendar, and address book; Vodafone PC Backup and Restore that enable users to remotely store data automatically through their Internet connection.Training and development Consolidated statement of financial position 2010 ?m 2009 ?m Non-current assets Intangible assets74,258 74,938 Property, plant and equipment20,642 19,250 Investments in associates36,377 34,715 Other non-current assets11,489 10,767 142,766 139,670 Current assets14,219 13,029 Total assets156,985 152,699 Total equity shareholders’ funds90,381 86,162 Total non-controlling interests429 (1,385) Total equity90,810 84,777 Liabilities Borrowings Long-term28,632 31,749 Short-term11,163 9,624 Taxation liabilities Deferred tax liabilities7,377 6,642 Current taxation liabilities2,874 4,552 Other non-current liabilities1,550 1,584 Other current liabilities14,579 13,771 Total liabilities66,175 67,922 Total equity and liabilities156,985 152,699 Information Systems Vodafone Information Systems depends on service level agreements (SLAs).according to this system it provides srvice through central reporting system.and brings the different datas from differrent sources.and rpovides them all the time to the employees and costumers.For a long time, Vodafone Information Systems used a combination of two applications for reporting purposes, both of which ran on an IBM mainframe. Training and development Using SAS, Vodafone Information Systems’ employees are now able to bring together data from a wide range of sources with a few mouse clicks and to create sophisticated reports in a very short period of time. At the heart of the new system is SAS, which allows IT system managers to have a single point of control over all the IT processes. Measurement data from sources. The system also offers completely new ways of presenting the information. Employees and customers can access the reports via the company intranet or the Internet using a Web browser anywhere and at any time. As the SAS solution has been integrated into the V.E.C.T.O.R. reporting system developed by Vodafone Information Systems, the company can guarantee that employees and customers can only display the information that is relevant to their needs. Customers themselves are able to choose the level of detail in the reports and therefore receive only the necessary information that they need to be able to complete the ir tasks. The simple archiving process means that developments can be tracked over a longer period without any additional work being involved. IT service providers like Vodafone Information Systems depend on service level agreements (SLAs) as a measure of their success. In order to ensure that the agreed service level is provided at all times, the service provider needs a central reporting system, which brings together measurement data from a wide range of sources. The increasing heterogeneity of the IT environment – which includes a host, UNIX and Windows operating systems – makes central access to the relevant data essential. For a long time, Vodafone Information Systems used a combination of two applications for reporting purposes, both of which ran on an IBM mainframe. In spite of the capabilities of these applications, they weren’t scalable and were no longer able to keep pace with the most recent requirements.. Strategies Vodafone’s Partner Network strategy represents an increasingly significant development in the delivery of Vodafone’s mobile services and Og fjarskipti will be an ideal partner for the further development of mobile services. Vodafone is already established in many regions through its operator like Vodafone Sweden, as well as Partner Network Agreements with TDC in Denmark and Radiolinja in Finland, and this new agreement will increase one after another.Vodafone will continue to develop the Partner Network strategy, so the customers and partnerscustomers can use Vodafone services in an increasing number of countries†.Following today’s announcement, Vodafone global services, supported by its global brand communication, will be available in eight Partner Network countries: Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Kuwait and Slovenia, in addition to its subsidiary and associate markets.In course of making strategies it has forwarded the following po ints. A regionally focused Group: Europe, Africa and India Mobile data: accelerate exploitation of mobile data growth opportunity Enterprise: selective expansion in growth segments Emerging markets: drive penetration and data across attractive footprint Total Communications in Europe: continued capital efficient approach New services: growth opportunities including machine-to-machine and financial services Exploit scale to enhance efficiency and deliver cost benefits Generate free cash flow or liquidity from non-controlled assets building on the China Mobile and SoftBank disposals Rigorous application of capital discipline to enhance shareholder returns Market Strategies Product A product with many different features provides customers with opportunities to chat, play games, send and receive pictures, change ring tones, receive information about travel and sporting events, obtain billing information – and soon view video clips and send video messages. †¢ Vodafone live! provides on-the-move information services. †¢ Vodafone UK operates over 300 of its own stores. †¢ It also sells through independent retailers e.g. Carphone Warehouse. †¢ Customers are able to see and handle products they are considering buying. †¢ People are on hand to ensure customers’ needs are matched with the right product and to explain the different options available. Price †¢ Vodafone wants to make its services accessible to as many people as possible from the young, through apprentices and high powered business executives, to the more mature users. †¢ It offers various pricing structures to suit different customer groups. †¢ Monthly price plans are available as well as prepay options. Phone users can top up their phone on line. †¢ Vodafone UK gives NECTAR reward points for every ?1 spent on calls, text messages, picture messages and ring tones. Advertisement and offers †¢ Advertising on TV, on billboards, in magazines and in other media outlets reaches large audiences and spreads the brand image and the message very effectively. This is known as above the line promotion. †¢ Stores have special offers, promotions and point of sale posters to attract those inside the stores to buy. †¢ Vodafone’s stores, its products and its staff all project the brand image. †¢ Vodafone actively develops good public relations by sending press releases to national newspapers and magazines to explain new products and ideas. There is good balance, 70/30 consumer/enterprise, and good balance, more or less 70/30 mature/emerging.the new strategy is composed of five elements. The first one is clear focus of the companyis in three areas – Europe, Africa and India.The second will be growth; coming from data in different ways. The vodefone Groupl talks a lot about mobile data, and what internally it call ‘Supermobile’, but also enterprise and also some regional differences between Europe and emerging markets, and some investment in new services, which, in the future, will be appealing to the customers. Continuing to leverage on our scale advantage, it can really create a difference for our customers in terms of lower costs. It will deal with the assets below the line in an approach to generate liquidity or cash flow from all of our non-controlled assets, in terms of portfolio strategy. Then it continuing to apply capital discipline, financial objectives and commercial tests to all investm ents it makes, internal and external. Financial risk management The Group’s treasury function provides a centralised service to the Group for funding, foreign exchange, interest rate management and counterparty risk management.Treasury operations are conducted within a framework of policies and guidelines authorised and reviewed by the Board, most recently on 1 February 2011(Mc,Hee). A treasury risk committee comprising of the Group’s Chief Financial Officer, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary, Corporate Finance Director and Director of Financial Reporting meets at least annually to review treasury activities and its members receive management information relating to treasury activities on a quarterly basis. The Group accounting function, which does not report to the Group Corporate Finance Director, provides regular update reports of treasury activity to the Board. .Risk management purposes only that are transacted by specialist treasury personnel. The Group mitigates banking sector credit risk by the use of collateral sup port agreements. Financial risk management:Under the Group’s interest rate management policy, interest rates on monetary assets and liabilities denominated in euros, US dollars and sterling.are maintained on a floating rate basis except for periods up to six years where interest rate fixing has to be undertaken in accordance with treasury policy where assets and liabilities are denominated in other currencies interest ratesmay also be fixed. In addition, fixing is undertaken for longer periods when interest rates are statistically low. Foreign exchange management As Vodafone’s primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange.Its share price is quoted in sterling. Since the sterling share price represents the value of its future multi-currency cash flows, principally in euro, US dollars and sterling, the Group maintains the currency of debt and interest charges in proportion to its expected future principal multi-currency cash flows and has a policy to hedge external foreign exchange risks on transactions denominated in other currencies above certain de minimis levels. As the Group’s future cash flows are increasingly likely to be derived from emerging markets it is likely that more debt in emerging market currencies will be drawn. As such, at 31 March 2011 130% of net debt was denominated in currencies other than sterling (55% euro, 47% US dollar and 28% other) while 30% of net debt had been purchased forward in sterling in anticipation of sterling denominated shareholder returns via dividends and share buybacks. This allows eur o, US dollar and other debt to be serviced in proportion to expected future cash flows and therefore provides a partial hedge against income statement translation exposure, as interest costs will be denominated in foreign currencies. Yen debt is used as a hedge against the value of yen assets as the Group has minimal yen cash flows Liquidity risk Management At 31 March 2011 the Group had ˆ4.2 billion and US$4.2 billion syndicated committed indrawn bank facilities and US$15 billion and ?5 billion commercial paper programmes, supported by the ˆ4.2 billion and US$4.2 billion syndicated committed bank facilities, available to manage its liquidity. The Group uses commercial paper and bank facilities to manage short-term liquidity and manages long-term liquidity by raising funds in the capital markets. ˆ4.2 billion of the syndicated committed facility has a maturity date of 1 July 2015 and US$4.2 billion has a maturity of 9 March 2016 which may be extended by a further year if agreed by those banks who have participated in the facility. Both facilities have remained indrawn throughout the financial year and since year end and provide liquidity support. The Group manages liquidity risk on long-term borrowings by maintaining a varied maturity profile with a cap on the level of debt maturing in any one calendar year, therefore minim ising refinancing risk. Long-term borrowings mature between one and 26 years.Liquidity is reviewed daily on at least a 12 month rolling basis and stress tested on the assumption that all commercial paper outstanding matures and is not reissued. The Group maintains substantial cash and cash equivalents which at 31 March 2011 amounted to ?6,252 million (2010). Vodafone also produces proportionate customer number figures on a similar basis, e.g. if an operator in which it has a 30% stake has 10 million customers that equals 3 million proportionate Vodafone customers. This is a common practice in the mobile telecommunications industry. Year ended 31 MarchTurnover ?mProfit before tax ?mProfit for the year ?mBasiceps (pence)Proportionate customers (m) 201044,4728,6748,61816.44341.1 200941,0174,1893,0805.81302.6 200835,4789,0016,75612.56260 200731,104(2,383)(5,297)(8.94)206.4 2006*29,350(14,835)(21,821)(35.01)170.6 200534,0737,9516,5189.68154.8 200436,4929,0136,1128.70133.4 Conclusion Valuation plays a key role in many areas of finance – in corporate finance, in mergers and acquisitions and in portfolio management. The value of the company can be directly related to decisions that it makes – on which projects it takes, on how it finances them, and on its dividend policy. Understanding this relationship is the key to making value?increasing decisions and to sensible financial restructuring. In the focus of this thesis was the value of Vodafone Group, who is operating the biggest mobile network worldwide with presence in both emerging and mature markets. Drawing from the analyses of Vodafone and its environment, the major influencing risks, that are the most critical in terms of the future profitability and hence the value of the company, were found as following: 3G market take?up, fixed mobile line substitution and level of regulations. The equity value of Vodafone was calculated using the discounted cash flow scenario method (?87,954mln) (Domadaran,2008). Provided that the assumptions on which the forecasts were based and the probability distribution are correct, the Vodafone is currently under priced by almost 11%.The following actions could constitute the strategy that will maintain strong performance and deliver value to both customers and shareholders of Vodafone Group: cost reduction and revenue stimulation in mature markets, development of new products and services, extension to new emerging markets and selling unprofitable businesses. As a concluding remark, one has to keep in mind that although the discounted cash flow framework, along with other valuation models, is a quantitative tool, but the inputs leave plenty of space for subjective judgements. A mixture of financial theory, accounting methodology, industry knowledge and sound assumption was used to evaluate the equity of the company. As the underling assumptions change, the estimated value of the firm may change as well. References Andersen, T. J. (2006). â€Å" Global Derivatives A Strategic Risk Management Perspective†, Pearson Education, Harlow, England. Andersen, J. (2006). â€Å"Perspectives on Strategic Risk Management†, Copenhagen Business School Press N.P. Barney, J. (1991). â€Å"Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage†, (In Journal of Management, 1991, vol. 17, no. 1, pg. 99?120). Damodaran, A. (2002). â€Å" Investment valuation: Tools and Techniques forDetermining the Value of Any Asset†, John Wiley Sons, New York. Damodaran, A. (2008). â€Å" Strategic Risk Taking†, Wharton School Publishing,New Jersey. Johnson, G., Scholes, K., Whittington, R. (2005). â€Å" The Environment In Exploring Corporate Strategy†, Earson Education, pp. 64?87). McGee, J., Thomas, H., and Wilson, D. (2005). â€Å"Strategy Analysis Practice†, McGraw?Hill Maidenhead, UK Miller, K. D. (1992).†A framework for integrated risk management in international business†,( In: Journal of International Business Studies.vol. 23, no. 2, pg. 311?331) Wise, D. (1991). â€Å"Vodafone’s solo debut could boost share price†,The Guardian (Guardian Newspapers). Cane, A. (1996). â€Å"Companies and Finance: UK: Vodafone acquires Talkland in Pounds 60m deal†,Financial Times. p. 22. Reguly, E. (1996). â€Å"Vodafone pockets Peoples Phone†.The Times (Times Newspapers). â€Å"News Digest: Vodafone snaps up Astec†. Investors Chronicle: p. 55. How to cite Management of financial resource and performance at Vodafone, Essay examples

Knowledge Essay Summary Example For Students

Knowledge Essay Summary Throughout the ages, man has always used his idea of correct knowledge as a way of pushing himself higher, a way of reaching a new plateau of superiority. Whether or not this knowledge proves to be true is superficial. The only matter of any importance is that he believes he is correct. A well respected and possibly pompous mathematician may be proven incorrect by a student, yet were it a colleague that had shown him the error in his ways, he would have accepted the remark with quiet disdain, never openly accusing the said colleague of any falsities. But seeing as it is no more then a mere student, he may thus ridicule and disregard the observance, knowing that with his superiority of rank over the student, he may simply command him to silence. The use of knowledge, even false knowledge, is to better understand yourself and those around you. Yet for some, the use of knowledge is to simply push themselves higher above others, naming them inferior or deplorable. So why is it that the mighty may rule the weak in a world of intelligent sanctity? Why is it that those with the answers are in the end, the ones asking themselves if indeed, they are correct any longer, after the ridicule and derision received from a superior? Yet for the sake of argument, let us say that in the end, the knowledgeable overthrow the once superior denizens of ignorance, tear down their walls of false sublimity, and once and for all catapult these mindless drones to the furthest reaches of the known galaxy. So, for all the intelligence shown in past occasions, would these new superiors prove to be as ambiguous as once thought? Would they give credit where credit is deserved? To the weaker, to the let us not say less intelligent, but less noted. Or, with the sense of power that has not touched them, would they re-instate the tyrannical law once forged by their ancestors, so that they too, may pave the way for another dark age of unclear thought, passing back and forth through the murky fog of eternity.

Road Rage Aggression on the Road

Driving is an involving activity and people experience many negative emotions especially if they are experiencing a traffic jam or if other drivers are acting inconsiderately. This might result in road rage, a condition caused by annoyance and that often results in aggression on the road. Road rage increases the probability of a driver committing traffic offences or even risking the lives of other road users. Stricter laws should therefore be passed to discourage people from engaging in road rage.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Road Rage: Aggression on the Road specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Road rage causes aggressive driving which may result in fatal accidents. When a driver experiences road rage, he/she may engage in reckless driving in an effort to retaliate or frustrate the other driver. Some of these aggressive driving includes following other vehicles too closely and switching lanes at random and withou t indicating. Some drivers drive at excessive speeds and ignore stoplights because of road rage. Such behaviour increases the likelihood of accidents being caused by the driver who has road rage. Media reports reveal that the number of accidents caused by road rage is on the increase. This accidents are not only restricted to the drivers on the road. The lives of people not directly involved in the confrontation such as cyclists and pedestrians are also jeopardized by road rage. Road rage leads to distractions on the road as the driver focuses on activities such as verbal arguments with other drivers. In some instances of road rage, drivers engage each other in verbal insults or make rude hand gestures at each other. I have seen drivers stick their hands outside their windows as they engage other drivers in intense arguments. As they are doing this, their attention is not on the road. This is an important consideration since drivers are required to demonstrate high levels of alertne ss to the road and their surroundings at all times. This distraction caused by road rage increases the chances of causing an accident as the drivers focus less on the road. Road rage can cause physical fights between drivers with bad results. The high frustration experienced during road rage can cause drivers to physically attack each other. Because of the great anger felt, the physical violence can lead to severe consequences. For example, there are cases where the injuries inflicted on a driver lead to assault charges being made against the aggressive driver. A driver therefore risks having a criminal record because of damages inflicted because of road rage. In addition to the annoyance caused to other road users, road rage causes disturbance to businesses that are near the road. Road rage is often characterized by loud yelling by the drivers involved. Other drivers engage in unnecessary honking in an attempt to get the attention of the other drivers or to annoy them.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More I have encountered this disruption at my favourite cafe, which happens to be near a road. The noise caused because of road rage often spoils the atmosphere at the cafe. Road rage disrupts the activities of nearby businesses, which have to deal with all the noise being generated. Increases in the cases of road rage have made our roads more unsafe than they were in the past. This paper has argued that stricter laws should be put in place to help discourage this behaviour. To support this claim, a discussion of some of the negative causes of road rage has been made. Every safety-minded citizen should support strict legislation against road rage in order to make the roads safe for everyone. This essay on Road Rage: Aggression on the Road was written and submitted by user Sidney Frederick to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Economic Systems essays

Economic Systems essays In the world today there are primarily three types of economies and they are capitalism, socialism, and communism. The United States is an example of a capitalistic country, where Cuba is an example of a country adhering to Communism. These three economic types have scattered similarities as well as striking differences. Capitalism is a system of economics governed b the will of the people and the doctrine of free enterprise. Socialism is a system where the government owns the basic means of production and wages and also provides social services. Communism is the evolution of one class, common property holdings and holds no need for a working government. Capitalism and communism both emphasize the need for a fair and stable economy. However, with socialism and communism, the working class is most often sympathized with. Capitalism and socialism are similar because they are both looking out for the common interest of the people. The systems are also very different for example, Capitalism is an economic system where the government is confident in the decision-making skills of the individual where socialism relies on the government to override the economic decisions of the individual and provide control over the economy. Capitalism is encouraging of fair competition and the highs and lows of the free market and communism eliminates any competition and gives complete ownership to the government. Socialism places heavy emphasis on the necessity for government control of the economy whereas Marx envisioned a version of communism called for the evolution of one class system, common property, and no need for a government. In the power point presentation, capitalism is represented with a picture of George Washington, as well as skyscrapers this represents the US as a capitalistic country and industrialization is often linked to capitalism. The picture of people holding hands portrays that socialism aspires to achieve equ ...

Sexual Transmitted Infection Prevention in Adolescents Essay

Sexual Transmitted Infection Prevention in Adolescents - Essay Example These could include family planning clinics, sex workers and gynecologists. STIs are very commonly found amongst most women suffering from sexual assault. Little data on men has been found. STIs put men and women especially to considerable risk. There is a huge lack of awareness and dearth of information available to these people at large. Most young women are most concerned about pregnancy prevention than STI transmission. There is a lack of concern and negligicence towards the seriousness of this matter that makes it an all the more important issue to address. STIs can lead to cancer, organ damage, pregnancy issues and even death. Thus it is important for health agencies to look into it. The definition of adolescence has been subjected to intense debate and argument over the course of last couple of years. In the 1950s it was thought that adolescent should be best considered to be the period of transitioning other literature defines it in terms of the words â€Å"young† and â€Å"youth†. However, the term young adult was also introduced recently. The treatment of adolescence has varied in different parts of the world. It is different in the west and different in the east. For instance in India, many girls have pre-arranged marriages before they hit their first menstruation. As soon as they hit get their first periods, they are married off at ages as young as 16 years. This increases the probability of STI transmission in them. On the contrary, in the west, marriage does not materialize till really long. Girls there are subjected to consummation with different people at different phases of their life. There are no ethical obligations to restricting sex to one partner. Hence, all this makes it very difficult to come up with a universal STI prevention transmission program for health agencies. There are various barriers to prevention and treatment of STIs amongst adolescents. The biggest problem associated with STI control is considered to be the as ymptomatic nature of the infections caused by STI. The infections remain invisible in many young girls in particular till some severe sequels. In some settings the proportion of infections that are rated as asymptotic may even be even higher because many women would consider them to be â€Å"normal†. The only viable way of detecting asymptomatic infections is via the use of laboratory test. In some resource poor settings, this is impeded by the fact that the tests are not just difficult to perform they are even expensive. Even more difficult is obtaining tissue samples for these tests as they are less likely to be accepted without them. The adoption of these tests is perpetually impossible in most developing countries like India. This is because they are very expensive to conduct and obtain there. More than half the population, lives below the poverty belt which makes it impossible for them to afford such tests. Another important reason behind the failure of STI transmission prevention is the fact that most adolescents don’t consider it to be an issue important enough. It is only HIV which is considered to be important by these young adult and hence, this topic is at an all time low priority for them. Adolescent girls tend to be more cautious about preventing pregnancy and their menstrual problems then about their STI problems. For the boys on the other hand, sexual health concern outride reproductive health ones. A study was recently conducted in Zimbabwe. The study unveiled

Marketing Planning Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Planning Report - Essay Example In some target audiences, Burger King has established brand insistence, or â€Å"consumer refusals of alternatives and extensive search for desired products† (Boone & Kurtz, 2007, p.383). Unlike some competition that only establishes brand preference or brand recognition, the unique production capabilities (flame-broiling) has managed to improve its loyalty ratios over many competitors. Additionally, Burger King achieves higher revenues through its franchisee programme that allows royalties to be paid whilst still using current advertising methodology. This is accomplished through its widespread geographic diversification and its presence in a multitude of international locations across the globe. By handing operational costs to the franchise owner, Burger King is able to earn revenues without considerable overhead costs. Unlike corporate owned, competitive fast food companies, Burger King maintains much lower operational costs and would normally be associated with corporate-o wned facilities. Burger King’s weaknesses include the influence of ever-changing labour laws that provide concentrated regulatory presence related to worker treatment, hours allowable, and diversity policies that differ internationally. This creates cost associated with maintaining new training programmes and also increases governmental control over how the business structures its labour pool in relation to retention and corporate organisational structure. Burger King also relies heavily on attempting to retain currently loyal customers rather than seeking new target audiences. This could be an effort to save on advertising costs by consolidating, however the business misses out on opportunities for gaining new market loyalty. Opportunities for the business include gaining higher revenues and more international brand visibility through its breakfast menu that grows more diverse over the years (marketingteacher.com, 2010). There are many threats to Burger King’s increas ed market share expectations, including troubled international economic conditions that lead to less disposable income for customers (such as the current rise in oil prices globally). This changes consumer sentiment related to pricing and their willingness to buy based on cost alone. Troubled economies represent unstable and uncertain operating environments that impact marketing strategy in a multitude of different ways. At the same time, consumer eating habits are changing due to international or domestic trends in healthier eating or acknowledgement of problems with obesity that directly impact an organisation where high fat content products are part of the core menu variety. Finally, consumers today are willing to defect to new brands based on many factors, with cost being one of these main trends. There is no guarantee in current market conditions, based on fluctuating buying behaviours in multiple consumer markets, that brand loyalty will be guaranteed over the long-term. There are virtually no political factors impacting business other than the aforementioned regulatory increases in labour protectionism. At the economic level, there are currently ongoing lawsuits related to franchisee unrest related to value pricing models that erode business owner profitability. Socially, there

Contrast leadership and power Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Contrast leadership and power - Essay Example owerful person rewards or pays the cooperative followers, he/she encourages goal-directed behavior and when such rewards are withdrawn or threats and intimidations are issued, the unwanted behaviors are discouraged while the desirable ones are encouraged. (Nye, 2-3) The powerful are influential over their powerless dependants and the greater the follower’s dependency, the greater the power of the powerful. Dependency rises with the rise of the scarcity, importance and the non-substitutability of the resources that the powerful controls. In contrast, leadership is mutual and aims at everyone’s autonomy as opposed to dependency. (Prentice Hall inc, 2-5) Leadership can be defined as the ability to influence and motivate followers towards achievement of a common goal or purpose. Leaders are people of integrity, visions and charisma – they inspire and not coerce. Unlike power that operates from being in control over valued resources, leadership motivates without necessarily being in control of resources. Leadership is set on a common goal and requires the compatibility of the goal with the followers for common good. Power on the other hand is a means of achieving personal goals and requires the followers to be dependent thus to work in compliance with their leaders. Power is therefore egocentric while leadership is exercised to the benefit of all. A leader puts others first before self while the vice versa is true with the powerful (Prentice Hall inc, 5 and Ciulla, et al, 285) Leadership influences intrinsically as opposed to power that is used to attain lateral and extrinsic influence. Power uses rewards and punishment which makes followers feel that their behavior is externally demanded i.e. extrinsic motivation. When such rewards are absent, the powerful looses control and direction of behavior. This is contrary to leadership that transforms the feelings and thoughts persuasively and intrinsically devoid of rewards, promises or threats and intimidations.