Nokia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nokia - Essay Example President will be the overseer managing everything through other people. Figure 1 displays how the chain of human resource would work; Making a move to Morocco will require creating a small subsidiary like company in Casablanca. Plus, from the demographic and survey reports, it is clear that the most skilled people live in Casablanca in Morocco, so Nokia’s search will be narrowed down. What they need to be looking are managers for finance, supply chain, sales and production. As the official language of Morocco is Arabic, there will be a lot of web apps needed to be developed specifically for Moroccan people in Arabic language. For this local IT experts and web developers will be welcomed. All of the departments will be in touch with the export manager, as he will be traffic sergeant of all the supplies from Finland, the home of Nokia. Another aspect that needs to be considered is how many personnel will need to hired from Morocco and how many will fly from Finland to Morocco. The reason for this plan is Nokia doesn’t need many phone manufacturing experts in Morocco, there is a complete powerhouse back in Finland for Nokia so there is hardly any need for establishing something along the manufacturing lines in Morocco. Nokia will only nee managers that can manage the sales and marker research side. The building will be located in Burgogne Ouest, which will give Nokia a central spot in the city to move and supply its Lumia phone easily throughout the city. Better access to phone markets will help refill shelves quickly than the competitors. Taxation system in Morocco consists of two paths; the direct and indirect taxation. Corporates come under the taxation frame known as â€Å"impà ´t sur les societies† or simply corporate tax (â€Å"Doing business in,†). Nokia will have to pay a tax rate of 30% of its income as given by Moroccan corporate law. This rate could

Miranda v. Arizona (1966) and Dickeson v. U.S. (2000) Term Paper

Miranda v. Arizona (1966) and Dickeson v. U.S. (2000) - Term Paper Example It takes time and consumes a lot of it in this case to ensure equity and transparency in their awarding of their judgments. This is because justice must be seen as served to the parties in the most professional way possible based on the facts in a given case. A case study of the Miranda v. Arizona case in 1966 and Dickerson v. U.S. case in 2000 reveals that the Supreme Court did not reverse their ruling or rather their decision. Judges ideologies helped a big deal in reaching the ruling, because judges had to explore different options for them to stay the ruling or reverse it altogether. When rights of suspects and how police do their prosecutions comes into discussion, it changes the approach to the whole story. Judges have to look deeper in the case to understand every single detailed based on their ideologies and possible scenarios should they determine the case in a certain way. Quoting the Miranda’s conviction which was overturned, the court made it clear about what should happen if the suspect chooses to exercise or practice their rights. The judges upheld that how an individual practices their rights, provided they do not infringe on the rights of others, should not be a case of a court scrutiny. The Martin Quinn scores indicate that the Supreme Court’s decision on Miranda Vs Arizona was a liberal judgment as it is marked with a negative. The approach which was brought during the court proceeding by his Court appointed Attorney was that Miranda was not given the chance of requesting for an attorney which the Supreme Court indicated that it should have been an option from the Police Department. This ruling from the Supreme Court of Arizona has therefore set precedence for other cases. It was a difficult case for the judges to make a determination, based on the public interest the case had attracted, but they had to observe their professional ethics and make a determination. It is clear from the above case that judges play a

The Relationship Between Risk and Expected Rate of Return in CAPM Statistics Project

The Relationship Between Risk and Expected Rate of Return in CAPM - Statistics Project Example In the opinion of Roll and Ross (1980, pp.1073-1103.), this theory had considerable significance in empirical work during the 1960s and 1970s. However further researches on this concept have questioned its reliability and authenticity of the computation of empirical constellation of asset returns; and, many related theories have detected ranges of disenchantment with the CAPM. As a result, the most widespread CAPM underwent harsh criticisms not only by the academicians but also by financial experts. In addition, empirical researchers have gathered a range of evidence against this model during the last few decades. That evidence questioned the model’s assumptions and argued the dead of the beta. Roll and Ross (1980, pp.1073-1103.) say that this situation led to the demand for a more potential theory and it caused the formulation of Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT). Although APT was developed recently, CAPM is considered as the basis of modern portfolio theory. According to Shanke n (1982, pp.1129-1140), the ATP is not more susceptible to empirical verification than the CAPM. The author also challenges the testability of arbitrage pricing theory as he finds that the basic elements of testability strategy would not properly work in the case of this model. He also points out that the theory precludes the differentials of expected return that form the basic structure of the concept. Huberman and Wang (2005, pp. 1-18) claim that both the CAPM and APT show relation between expected returns of assets and their covariance with other random variables.

Challenges to Domestic Violence Prevention and Intervention

Challenges to Domestic Violence Prevention and Intervention What are some of the key challenges to understanding the nature and extent of domestic violence? This paper will explore the nature and the extent of domestic violence, In order to understand domestic violence and how still today this type of abuse is still perpetrated against women we need to look at the history of how women was treated before and what has changed now. Then will continue by exploring of what is domestic violence by looking at the definition from the government and other organisations. We will look that who is affected by domestic violence how this affects the victims and are they protected by law. Domestic violence â€Å"exists in many cultures throughout the world and it was socially accepted until recently in the 20th century, especially in places that with male are dominants†. (Heise, 1995) Historically, women and in particular married women have had no protection in law against violence at home. Until the end of nineteenth century, the legal position in England with regards of violence against women was not whether a man had beaten his wife, but how severe that beating was. A man could legally beat his wife providing he used a stick that is no thicker than his thumb (Abbot and Wallace, 1997) It was not until the late 1960s that this type of violence began to be a matter of an open debate, as until 1940s was still accepted that many man would hit their wives. Not only this violence wasn’t condemn by law but women were expected to suffer in silence and had no resources to law, as only men could institute divorce proceedings. (Abbot and Wallace, 1997) Hence, the feminists were challenged throughout the history for trying to bring this problem out in the open as this was regarded as a private matter. (Heise, 1995) EU-Wide Survey defined the problem of violence against women, as a fundamental rights abuse although the violence against women has always existed it is only in the last two decades that the international community has highlighted the problem and it is increasingly addressed as â€Å"gender-based violence†. (Violence against women: an EU-Wide Survey, p-9) A definition, used by the UK government for domestic violence, is: â€Å"any incident of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (physical, psychological, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been in a relationship together, or between family members, regardless of gender or sexuality†. (Home Office 2013) Home office also explained the meaning of coercive control, where controlling is recognised as an behaviour to make a person subordinate, dependant by means of isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain and regulating their everyday behaviour. And Coercive behaviour is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish or frighten their victim. (Home Office 2013) Considering that domestic violence it is still a ‘hidden’ issue in our society Home Office has widened their definition of do mestic violence and included the young adults as well, where in the past years the 2011-12 Crime Survey found that young people aged 16-19 are more likely to suffer domestic violence than any other age range and was found that they are more likely to hide this form of behaviour than adults. Young adults are more resistant to disclosure of this behaviour as NSPCC report suggests that they feel that adults do not take them seriously also they can underestimate abuse or minimise the effects of emotional abuse due to the lack of visible harm. (Home Office 2013) Where domestic violence is often equated with physical force that leaves some obvious marks or injury on the person. (McKie, 2006) A wider recognition by researches that domestic violence is about Perpetrators power and control over women and involves not only physical and sexual violence, but can include a number of behaviours such as intimidation and threats, isolation and humiliation, behaviour often named as psychological coe rcion violence. (Henrs, Hill, 2008) Women’s Aid included verbal abuse, coercion, isolation, threats and intimidation. Women’s Aid view on domestic violence is physical, sexual, psychological or financial violence that takes place within an intimate or family-type relationship and that forms a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour. Women’s Aid have made a poster of what one can go through domestic violence, where they listed some of the facts that have been or one might go through. The poster †Imagine† ‘we know what the bully is’ Women ‘s Aid Federation of England (2002) The abusers desire for power and control over the family members and partners it is mainly the cause, the Crime statistics show that domestic violence is gender-specific such as most commonly experienced by women and perpetrated by men, regardless of race, ethnicity or religious group, class disability or lifestyle. (Women’s Aid, 2005) Most cases of domestic violence involve female victims but some cases involve men too and it can occur in a range of relationships. However, whilst both women and man can experience domestic violence, women are more likely to be repetitive victims and sustain psychological or emotional impact or physical injuries or even death. (Women’s Aid, 2005) The figures show that one in four women and one in six men will experience domestic violence at some point in their lives. (Council of Europe 2002). Where around 750,000 children in UK witnesses domestic violence (Department of Health 2002: 16) and the majority of children happen to be either in the same room or next room where the incident happens. (Hughes 1992: 9-11). The extend of domestic violence Researches show that despite the attempts to estimate its true extent this issue goes under-reported and under-prosecuted. Coercive and control abuse is seem to be far more â€Å"damaging form of abuse† (Nate, Women’s Aid) Especially when it comes to reporting an incident, as when reporting an incident there needs to be some sort of evidence to prove that domestic violence is present, but proving that, one is being coerced or controlled it is almost impossible to do so. (Nate, Women’s Aid) A person can be isolated from her family and friends and being emotionally or financially abused, they can be deceived and brainwashed by her partner, and it will take long until the victim discloses this kind of abuse and difficult to prove it. Further more, it takes time until they realize that they are being abused as the perpetrator makes sure that the victim believes them what ever they say its true, they isolate them by limiting their acces s to resources for help, or threatening them. (Nate, Woman’s Aid, Karen McVeigh, 2014) Victims of this kind of abuse tend not to report the incident, as they fear that the Police wouldn’t believe them and not be able to prove until they had physical injury. (Nate, Women’s Aid) Therefore, as the case of Abby Horne where she sought the help of police twice, but the experience of reporting to the police about her partner allegedly assaulting one of her children was so poor it stopped her from reporting the incidents when he assaulted her’. She was told: †you are just a middle-class housewife. You need your heads banging together†. (Karen McVeigh, 2014) an experience like Abby Horn’s puts many other victims off to seek for help. In order to prevent someone being at risk of domestic violence, a disclosure scheme has been implemented since March 2014 across England and Wales. This scheme includes ‘the right to ask’ and ‘the right to know’ such as if one needs to ask the Police about their existing or new partners past regarding domestic violence, they have a right to do so. The police will disclose the information if the records show that an individual might be at risk of domestic violence, a disclosure can be made if its legal, proportionate and necessary to do so. (Home Office 2013) In many cases the dominance over the victim develops and escalates over the years until the perpetrator has complete control’, and the abuse continues long after the victim escapes the perpetrator. (May, Alan Travis, The Guardian, 2014) Home office has created an action plan in order to prevent violence; this plan contributes to change the attitudes, behaviours and practises towards violence. Also to increase the public understanding of the violence by looking at the causes, hidden nature and economic cost society. The prime risk indicator was found, is being ‘female’ but not excluding age, ethnicity disability, religion, and sexual orientation and also the social culture plays role. The economy also plays a vital part in contributing towards Domestic violence where women in household with an income of less that  £10.000 were three and a half times more likely to suffer Domestic Violence more than those living in household income over  £20.000. In 2003 the gov ernments strategy to address domestic violence was to prevent the DV from happening, bring the perpetrators to justice and support the victim, providing adequate housing and financial support to help the victims and their families to rebuild their lives. (Home Office 2003:58) Domestic violence can cause physical and mental injuries, and many further impacts on the lives of victims. Women are more likely to be a repeat victimisation when it comes to domestic violence and are subject to multiple incidents of the same type of event. They also are more likely to be a victim of the repeat victimisation by the same perpetrator of the same incident where as men were not subject to more than one occurrence 89% of all those who suffered four or more incident were women. (Home Office 2003:58) The extent of the violence it depends on the nature of the violent action, frequency, gender of the perpetrator and victim, the effects can be very damaging and have wider repercussions. These injuries are reported as the worst experienced and women are more likely than men to sustain some form of physical or mental injuries. (Home office, Walby, Allen, 2004) According Home office reports in 2013-14 the prosecution for domestic violence has improved and risen in volumes, such as the police reports rose to 103,569, which mean that a rise of 15,459 cases from 2012-12 and 70.4% of these referrals were charged. Women’s Aid found that 88% of the victims said that criminal justice system did not take psychological harm into account. (Karen McVeigh, 2014) Recently domestic violence has been on the headline with the changes that were made to the law as announced by the government that the domestic abuse covers coercive and controlling behaviour as well as physical harm, but at the same time the there has been reports of how Police fail in handling cases to the closure of specialist refuges because of the cuts that has been made for private family law cases. (Mary O’Hara, 2014) Statistics show that Police in the UK receive a call a minute from the public or victims of domestic violence or 1.300 calls every day and two women are killed by her partner or ex-partner every week. (Karen McVeigh, 2014) By cutting legal aid budget it is making difficult for domestic abuse victims to survive and putting them at a greater risk, domestic violence was named as an exception to be founded by the legal aid, but only under specific circumstance such as strict ‘evidential’ eligibility. By putting these conditions on the legal aid an d making it tougher to get access to it, it means that fewer experts for victims to turn to. (Mary O’Hara, 2014) Another challenge for the victims of domestic violence is that the evidence that they need to produce ‘ evidence’ that they have been domestically abused, such as a letter from the GP, time spent at a refuge place, a verification that her partner has a conviction or is on bail. (Caplen, Mary O’Hara, 2014) This restriction, points out that due to the toughness on the evidential requirements, the victims fail to get access to legal aid; as most victims fail to have this evidence as most of the time they do not report their incidents due to shame or fear. According to Women’s Aid report 43% of the victims do not have the required evidence to apply for legal aid and also almost impossible to get psychological abuse evidence. (Mary O’Hara, 2014) Another obstacle is that they must prove to meet the criteria that they have a condition or injuries of a domestic violence victim within 24 months of making a legal aid application. (Women’s Aid) As result of these conditions put on the legal aid, most ‘women are staying in the abusive relationship’. Where 46% of the cases took no actions, as they weren’t able to have apply for legal aid and 25% represented themselves to the court and some either paid out of their money or borrowed money. (Mary O’Hara, 2014) After all the obstacles that they have to go through to get the legal aid in order to prosecute the domestic abuser, there is a risk that Judiciary might undervalue the impact of the domestic violence on women and this leads to the perpetrator being under prosecuted. (Jamie Doward, The Observer, 2014) In some cases the judge tends to be more lenient to domestic abusers, such as Moorhouse’s sentencing history that rose â€Å"an issue of misconduct through neglect of duty† and that Judge Moorhouse â€Å"wholly disregarded sentencing guidelines on domestic violence† as result of this, the crime commissioner claims that Judge Moorhouse â€Å"failed to deliver justice for the public†. (Jamie Doward, The Observer, 2014) If judges fail to follow the guidelines of sentencing on domestic abuse even after determining that there was a pattern of abuse, it results on an imbalanced prosecution as Harry Fletcher added, â€Å"the sentencing of domestic violence cases is a postcode lottery.† (Jamie Doward, The Observer, 2014) Looking at the problem of Violence Against Women other crimes related to gender specific where the majority of the victims are women, such as honour crimes, FGM, forced marriage, ‘death by culture’ Home Office Guidelines specifically recognize forced marriage as an example of gender-specific persecution, and acknowledge that the fact that violence against women is common.., does not mean that protection on an individual basis is inappropriate.† Despite the promulgation of gender guidelines, there continues to be a regular failure by decision-makers to take a gender sensitive approach to refugee law interpretation. This may also contribute on Domestic Violence as many women may be subjet to imigration and their status depends on perpetrator. (Burman Chantier, 2004) To improve the accuracy for the unsuccessful outcomes the recording of the reasons were changed, where previously reasons may have been recorded as ’essential legal element missing’ or ‘unreliable witness’. Also the reason for ‘evidence of victim does not support the case’ has fallen from 14.5 against a rise on victim retraction and victim non-attendance. By these changes it is hoped that the outcome may accurately reflect the issues to be addressed, as on of the main issues is that the victim retracts for the reason of a close intimate relationship between the victim and the defendant. In this case the majority of the defendant are men 92% of the defendant in 2013-14 were men and the majority of the victims are women, the number of the victims has risen to 84% in 2013-14. (Home Office, 2004) Conclusion All in all, it is shocking, in the true sense of the expression, that the abuse of the human rights on women continues today in the UK. The work of the government in the last two decades and particularly since 2007 has helped to reduce the abuse, however, there is yet more to be done. The non-exhaustive list of actions which need to be taken should be required reading by all those interested in eradicating this abhorrent and heinous practice. Nevertheless, in the UK, the courts have to come to the rescue of many such individuals who have been abused within their family home or realtionaships of any nature and granted them legal protection by way of recognising Domestic violence as a form of abuse. by deferring a criminal status to domestic violence it should widened the scope of protection to individuals. References S. Burman and K. Chantier. Culture as a barrier to service provision and delivery: domestic violence services for minoritized women. (Critical Social Policy 24, 2004). 345, 348. Family Law Act 1996, Part IV, c 27 A. Sabbe, M. Temmerman, E. Brems, E. Leye. Forced marriage: an analysis of legislation and political measures in Europe. (Crime, Law and Social Change, 62(2), 2014). 171-189. E. B. Council, T. Hulse. Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014. (Image, 2014). 2-8. Retrieved from: http://www.elmbridge.gov.uk/documents/detail.htm?pk_document=25350.accesses on 07 February 2015 A. Shachar. The Paradox of Multicultural Vulnerability in C. Joppke and S. Lukes (eds), Multi-cultural Questions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999). 88-95 A. Gill, A. Engeland. Criminalization or ‘multiculturalism without culture’? Comparing British and French approaches to tackling forced marriage. (Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 36(3), 2014). 241-259. A. Sabbe, M. Temmerman, E. Brems, E. Leye. Forced marriage: an analysis of legislation and political measures in Europe. (Crime, Law and Social Change, 62(2), 2014). 171-189. Legal Responses to Domestic Violence Mandy Burton http://0-lib.myilibrary.com.emu.londonmet.ac.uk/Open.aspx?id=139452 accessed on 20 February 2015 Abigail Sterne and Liz Poole (2010) with Donna Cadwick, Ctherine Lawer and Lynda W Dodd. Domestic Violence and Children http://0-lib.myilibrary.com.emu.londonmet.ac.uk/Open.aspx?id=231611 accessed on 20 February 2015 CPS (2014) Violence Against Women and Girls http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/equality/vaw/index.html accessed on 18 February 2015 Family Law Act 1996 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/27/pdfs/ukpga_19960027_en.pdf accessed on 15 February 2015 Women’s Aid, The Survivers Handbook http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violence-survivors-handbook.asp?section=000100010008000100310003 accessed on 15 February 2015 Domestic Violence, Parliament www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/sn06337.pdf accessed on 17 February 2015 Home office, March 2013 https://www.gov.uk/domestic-violence-and-abuse accessed on 23February 2015

Ergot Essay examples -- Botany

Ergot Ergot (Claviceps purpurea Tul.) is a poisonous fungus that is hazardous to animals and humans. It appears to be a small, hard, black, elongated structure that grows on and contaminants grains, which is called scelrotium. The appearance tends to look like mold. When eaten in quantity or small amounts over a period of time it can be highly toxic. Furthermore, it is a major problem for humans in North America but even more severe for animals. Humans are susceptible to being contaminated with this poisonous fungus because ergot can grow on mushrooms, rye, wheat, and barley. These are products that humans ingest everyday. Ergot is the most notorious poison because it includes several species of ascomycete fungi with complex life cycles that parasitize the grains of various cultivated and wild grasses. Therefore, it is necessary to check for ergot contamination, especially if they are home-grown grains. The epidemic or spreading phase of the ergot fungus occurs at the same time the grasses are in flower. Fungal spores infect the ovaries of the mature flower of the host plant. These develop mycelia (fine threadlike filaments). At this initial infection an excretion of honeydew (moist, sticky secretion) stage, develops and the mycelia continue to grow within the ovaries of the host and become sclerotia (fruiting bodies). A sclerotium appears as a cylindrical, three sided body, slightly curved, hornlike, hard, grooved on one or both sides, dark purple next to black that is 1/3 to 1 1/2 inches long and 1/8 to 1/4 inches wide. There is a very unpleasant aroma (odor), which is somewhat fishy. The developed sclerotia finally falls to the ground to germinate in the summer at once or may wait until after the winter and germinate the ... ...y resulting in poisoning of animals by plants, in this instance has the opposite effect. It allows pasture grasses to develop an inflorescence and become potentially dangerous (86-87). REFERENCES Fuller, Thomas, and Elizabeth McClintock (1986). Poisonous Plants of California. Berkley, LA: University of California Press. p. 15-20. Kingsbury, John M. (1964a). Poisonous plants of the United Canada States and. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. p. 79-86. Kingsbury, John M. (1968b). Harvest. New York, Chicago, San Francisco: Holt Rinehart and Winston. P. 34-37. Morton, Julia F.D.Sc. (1977). Major Medicinal Plants Botany, Culture, and Uses. USA, Springfield: Charles C. Thomas Publisher. P. 4-9. Szezawinski, Adam PhD, and Nancy J. Turner. (1991). Common Poisonous Plants and Mushrooms of North America. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. p. 64-66. Ergot Essay examples -- Botany Ergot Ergot (Claviceps purpurea Tul.) is a poisonous fungus that is hazardous to animals and humans. It appears to be a small, hard, black, elongated structure that grows on and contaminants grains, which is called scelrotium. The appearance tends to look like mold. When eaten in quantity or small amounts over a period of time it can be highly toxic. Furthermore, it is a major problem for humans in North America but even more severe for animals. Humans are susceptible to being contaminated with this poisonous fungus because ergot can grow on mushrooms, rye, wheat, and barley. These are products that humans ingest everyday. Ergot is the most notorious poison because it includes several species of ascomycete fungi with complex life cycles that parasitize the grains of various cultivated and wild grasses. Therefore, it is necessary to check for ergot contamination, especially if they are home-grown grains. The epidemic or spreading phase of the ergot fungus occurs at the same time the grasses are in flower. Fungal spores infect the ovaries of the mature flower of the host plant. These develop mycelia (fine threadlike filaments). At this initial infection an excretion of honeydew (moist, sticky secretion) stage, develops and the mycelia continue to grow within the ovaries of the host and become sclerotia (fruiting bodies). A sclerotium appears as a cylindrical, three sided body, slightly curved, hornlike, hard, grooved on one or both sides, dark purple next to black that is 1/3 to 1 1/2 inches long and 1/8 to 1/4 inches wide. There is a very unpleasant aroma (odor), which is somewhat fishy. The developed sclerotia finally falls to the ground to germinate in the summer at once or may wait until after the winter and germinate the ... ...y resulting in poisoning of animals by plants, in this instance has the opposite effect. It allows pasture grasses to develop an inflorescence and become potentially dangerous (86-87). REFERENCES Fuller, Thomas, and Elizabeth McClintock (1986). Poisonous Plants of California. Berkley, LA: University of California Press. p. 15-20. Kingsbury, John M. (1964a). Poisonous plants of the United Canada States and. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. p. 79-86. Kingsbury, John M. (1968b). Harvest. New York, Chicago, San Francisco: Holt Rinehart and Winston. P. 34-37. Morton, Julia F.D.Sc. (1977). Major Medicinal Plants Botany, Culture, and Uses. USA, Springfield: Charles C. Thomas Publisher. P. 4-9. Szezawinski, Adam PhD, and Nancy J. Turner. (1991). Common Poisonous Plants and Mushrooms of North America. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. p. 64-66.

Mercedes Benz All Activity Vehicle Essay

The target costing case literature contains numerous examples of Japanese cost management practices; however, few cases describe the use of target costing by large companies outside Japan. The purpose of the Mercedes-Benz AAV case is to consider the competitive environment of a leading German automotive manufacturer and the company’s response to changing competitive conditions. The teaching plan generally follows the suggested student assignment questions. In places, I recommend considering additional material during the case discussion. These questions are identified by a check mark. Student Assignment Questions 1. What is the competitive environment faced by MB? Students will identify a number of changes, including significant market share lost to Japanese companies such as Lexus. Stress the importance of a cultural change taking place within top management at Mercedes. Reinforce that Mercedes is a company that had never lost money. They simply built the best car their engineers could design and priced it above cost. Demand often exceeded supply. As a result, cost had never been a primary consideration. Changes include: cost competition; product innovation. 2. How has MB reacted to the changing world market for luxury automobiles? Students should identify the following changes implemented by management at Mercedes; try to get them to explain how different these approaches were from traditional strategies at Mercedes: many new product introductions; partnering with suppliers; reduced system complexity; new emphasis on cost control; layers of management reduced; lead time from concept to introduction reduced. 3. Using Cooper’s cost, quality, functionality chart, discuss the factors on which MB competes with other automobile producers such as Jeep, Ford, and GM. If the instructor wishes to give a brief mini-lecture on Robin Cooper’s  survival triplet and confrontation strategy, this is a good point in the case discussion to do so. (Robin Cooper, When Lean Enterprises Collide, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1995.) The factors are: price-at mid to upper range of zone; quality-at upper range of zone; functionality-at upper range of zone. An interesting point to discuss is that Mercedes does not produce the most expensive sports utility vehicle. This distinction is reserved for the Land Rover; however, they strategically placed themselves toward the luxury end of the spectrum. Also, unlike many Japanese examples, Mercedes does not use target costing as a strict cost control mechanism to produce the lowest priced product in its class. 4. How does the AAV project link with MB strategy in terms of market coverage? The new introductions expand the product line of the traditionally luxury-oriented manufacturer. Recent product introductions include the following: A class; C class; SLK; E class; M class. These new introductions include new sports cars and off-road vehicles. The C-class is a mid-sized vehicle sometimes referred to as the baby-Benz. Let’s discuss the elements of the target costing model and how these elements are developed. At this point in the discussion I usually write the target costing formula on the board and ask students to consider sources of various inputs: selling price; margin; target cost. What are the sources of input for the projected selling price? Students will most likely identify the following sources of information: customer focus groups comparable products: – existing; – potential. Stress the broad, cross-functional aspects of acquiring consumer information. To compare products, the company had to evaluate existing competitive vehicles as well as vehicles under development. What factors are considered when developing the required margin? This question provides a link to finance classes. Most students have studied the concepts of weighted-average cost of capital. I recommend spending a few minutes reviewing these concepts and linking cost of capital to net present value (NPV) analysis. Because of the capital-intensive structure of automobile manufacturing, production volume is a critical factor in determining each model’s NPV. Students may identify the following points for determining a required margin. long-run profitability; cost of capital; profitability across the entire product mix (classes of vehicles); sales volume by class. The MB case suggests the target cost is â€Å"alive.† Is this consistent with the ideals of target costing? I generally emphasize that Mercedes did not consider the target cost to be locked in. It was a moving target. As engineering changes became necessary, the target cost was allowed to move. However, before making a change, market forces were considered. For example, changes included the addition of side airbags. In addition, the European press was critical of a simulated wood-grain part. Management decided the part would remain plastic because costs could not be passed on to the consumer. The main point to emphasize is the design of the vehicle is dynamic; thus costs must evolve to reflect the changing design characteristics. 5. Explain the process of developing a component importance index. How can such an index guide managers in making cost reduction decisions? The index development process has five steps, as follows: consumer importance category rankings; target cost percentage by function group; category: function group matrix; importance index; target cost index; I recommend making slides of Tables 1-5 to facilitate discussion. Index development is an important element in the early conceptualization phase of the AAV. The indexes help to quantify some very abstract concepts. Table 1. From conversations with potential consumer groups, a list of key categories was developed. Next, potential customers were asked to rate the importance of each category. Their responses were computed as a percentage. Thus, safety and comfort of the AAV were viewed as significantly more important than economy and styling. Table 2 represents a rough estimate of the cost by function group and the relative percentage. The information is used later to create a target cost index. Table 3 is best understood by reading each category as a column. The rows explain the relative importance of each function group to satisfying each category defined by customers. An interesting aspect of this table is that the link between consumer preferences and engineering components is made explicit. Table 4 builds on Table 3 by weighting the percentages computed in Table 3 by the importance percentage calculated in Table 1. The key point is to understand which function groups contribute the most (least) to important (less important) consumer categories. Table 5 results in a target cost index that attempts to capture cost and benefit trade-offs. As discussed in the case, this index may indicate a cost in excess of the perceived value of a function group. Thus, opportunities for cost reduction (aligned with customer requirements) may be identified. 6. How does MB approach cost reduction to achieve target costs? At this point, ask students to identify various value-engineering strategies. At Mercedes, reducing the cost of each function group was accomplished by reducing costs of various components that make up the function group. Stress the importance of this approach over an â€Å"across-the-board† cut. 7. How do suppliers factor into the target costing process? Why are they so critically important to the success of the MB AAV? From the conceptual phase through the production phase, the suppliers of systems for the AAV truly were partners. Suppliers attended regular meetings with the cost planners throughout the entire process. Thus, suppliers were design and development partners from very early stages of development, responsible for meeting cost targets. Why is the relationship with suppliers a crucial element in the success of the AAV? Suppliers provide entire systems for the AAV. The facility uses a JIT production system. In fact, many suppliers deliver directly to the assembly line, rather than to a small warehouse. The Black Warrior River separated Mercedes and a major system supplier. This supplier built a new production facility on the same side of the river as the Mercedes Benz plant to avoid possible delays associated with accidents on a major bridge. 8. What role does the accounting department play in the target costing process? Stress the fact that accountants were watchdogs in the target costing process. Their primary responsibility was to ensure costs did not exceed targets during the production phase. Thus, the accountants’ role was as follows: cost control; actual vs. target: development stage; production stage. What are some of the organizational barriers that may challenge managers attempting to introduce TC systems? Try to get students to identify various impediments to target costing systems in the United States. Examples may include: willingness to share cost data with suppliers; suppliers treated as adversaries; government regulations affecting exchange of information.

List of Fantasy Themed Stage Plays

List of Fantasy Themed Stage Plays A quest begins! Dragons lurk in caves. Diabolic beasts wait around nearly every twist and turn of the trail. But, if the heroes are brave and loyal, a triumphant ending is in store. Fantasy has long since delighted young and old alike. Although this very visual genre offers a great many challenges to a director, it can be a very fulfilling experience to both the audience and the artists. The following plays are some of the most popular fantasy stories in the history of children’s literature. With the right elements, each of these stage adaptations can be transformed into a top-notch production. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe Many artistic mediums have brought the world of Narnia to life. Literature, radio, television, animation, and film have each interpreted C.S. Lewis’ work. Yet the stage play adaptation of this fantasy classic possesses immense charm and sincerity. Production Challenges: Lots of fantastical set pieces and imaginative costumes make this a difficult show to perform without an extravagant budget (or a very forgiving audience!) Production Advantages: This highly moral story of good versus evil offers a wide range of characters for actors of various ages. Performers get the rare opportunity of playing intelligent animals, enchanted creatures, and heroic children. Casting Advice: It’s a plus if the children can pull off a British accent. It’s an even bigger plus if they can reverently gasp â€Å"Aslan!† on a continual basis! Much of the believability depends on how the child actors respond to the magical creatures. If they are genuinely in awe, the audience will feel that same sense of wonder. Script available at Dramatic Publishing. The Hobbit Adapted by Edward Mast, this prequel to Lord of the Rings captures the essence of this magical quest- though it does skip a few parts of the book. J.R.R. Tolkien spins the wondrous tale of Bilbo Baggins, the unlikely hero who learns that there is more to life than relaxing in the Shire. The stage play is simple enough that it could be performed by junior high students. Yet, the themes are sophisticated enough to warrant a professional production. Production Challenges: The large cast consists almost entirely of male characters. If this is performed by a school or children’s theater, the many young actresses who audition may be disappointed to find themselves cast as a beard-clad dwarf! Production Advantages: The sets can consist of a number of fantasy forest and cave backdrops. The look can also be enhanced with a skilled lighting and sound designer. Casting Advice: With the right cast, this can be a fun play to use both child actors (as dwarves and hobbits) and adults (as Gandalf, Goblins, and Gollum). More faithful productions have cast adults in all parts, selecting shorter actors for the â€Å"vertically-challenged† characters. Find out more about this stage adaptation of The Reluctant Dragon So many fantasy stories end with a dragon being slain. Imaginary-animal activists will be happy to know that at least one show is sympathetic to the plight of these endangered magical beasts. Though a tale of fantasy, this version by Mary Hall Surface teaches a valuable lesson of the dangers of prejudice. Production Challenges: Some creative costuming is required to make the title character look dragon-like. Other than that, this is very easy to produce play. Production Advantages: The script is short, sweet, and to the point. It runs about sixty minutes and sports a small cast of eight players. Casting Advice: Much of the script contains dialogue befitting of medieval knights. Cast a regal sounding actor for the distinguished role of St. George. Script available at Anchorage Press Plays. Tuck Everlasting Not all fantasies contain wizards and monsters. Some of the best imaginary tales present a single magical element. In the case of Tuck Everlasting, a family drinks from a supernatural spring and attains eternal life, for better or for worse. Production Disadvantages: Mark Frattaroli’s adaptation of Natalie Babbitt’s beloved novel is not yet available through publishing companies. However, since 1991, it has been performed at several regional theaters such as the Magic Theatre Company. Production Advantages: If a playhouse manages to get the rights to Tuck Everlasting, the Chicago Playworks company has created a very handy guide for drama teachers and students.