Decision Making Between Games Workshop And Hornby Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 12 Words: 3711 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Your group is a team of investment analysts for Bresil Investments. Your role is to provide investment advice to high wealth individuals. Stephen has been a client of your bank for many years and has approached your manager for investment advice. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Decision Making Between Games Workshop And Hornby Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Stephen has a large portfolio of shares and has recently inherited a large sum of money which he also wishes to invest in shares. Stephen has a broad portfolio of shares but he does not have very much exposure to the games retailing sector. One of his friends has recommended the following two companies Games Workshop PLC and Hornby PLC. His file has been passed to you by your manager and he has asked you to prepare report for him. You have carried out some preliminary and obtained summary financial, share prices and dividends of the organizations for the last two accounting periods. Required: Carry out a financial analysis of both companies. This analysis should include: A justification of the tools and the ratios that you have chosen. Based on the financial analysis and ratios you have computed, an evaluation of the financial performance and current financial position of both companies. All computations should be included in an appendix. Identify the industry in which these two companies are operating and perform an industry specific analysis to discuss their prospects for investment. Based on your assumption of Stephens attitude to risk which should be clearly stated and supported by the results in (a) and (b) above, advise Stephen on how he should proceed with his investment decision. ASSIGNMENT INTRODUCTION In this course work, we have been asked to assume that we are a group of investment analysts for Bresil Investments and provide investment advisory service for Stephen Curry, a client who has a large portfolio of shares and is wishing to invest in retailing sector. Since he has got not much experience in this sector, he is seeking our help. The companies, Stephen has opted for making investment are Games Workshop PLC and Hornby PLC. For this purpose, we have carried out a financial analysis of both the companies, after careful scrutinization of their income statement and balance sheet for the years 2008, 2009, 2010. We have compared each ratios against suitable benchmarks. The three bases taken for comparison where Time, Industry averages and Expectations which can b referred to as TIE benchmarking. INTRODUCTION Games Workshop is one of the most successful tabletop fantasy and futuristic battle-games company in the world. Games Workshop Group PLC has been in business for about 30 years. Games Workshop deals with designing, manufacturing, distributing and marketing of a hobby based upon collecting, modelling, painting and tabletop gaming with model soldiers (the Hobby). The business of Games Workshop is about helping armies in the field of battle. The main brands of them are Warhammer and dark future Warhammer 40,000 game system. The companys headquarter is situated in Nottingham, in the UK. It has got direct sales operations in the UK, the US, Spain, Italy, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Australia.The majority of the sales and profits of the Group is being contributed by the Games Workshop. It was quoted in the London Stock Exchange and listed in the year 1994. Along with this, Games Workshop PLC has got other companies like BL publishing which is basically publisher of novels, backgroun d books etc. Hornby is the UKs one of the leading model railway manufacturer brand and it is a household . The founder of this company was Frank Hornby who applied for a patent in 1901 and after getting the patent, he started the production under the name Mechanics Made Easy which in 1907, led to the establishment of Meccano Ltd. The company had good time in their journey later on. They started with the production of classic toys to toy trains in 1920 and electric train in 1925. Later on, they introduced lot of innovative toy product items down their way. The company, which is at present known as Hornby Hobbies Ltd, became an independent company and it was floated on the Unlisted Securities Market, on 29 OctoberÂÂ  1986. Now the company is simply called as Hornby and has become successful in establishing a firm reputation as a benchmark for the industries as far as quality is concerned which became possible for them, through the quality service they offer to their wide portfolio customers. E ven now, Hornby is maintaining a firm position in the market , after having more than 50 years experience in this sector and is standing out as Britains leading railway manufacturers.. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Hornby PLC Consolidated Income Statement 2010 000 2009 000 2008 000 Revenue 64,736 61,569 55,692 Cost of sales (32,636) (32,168) (26,297) Gross Profit 32,100 29,401 29,395 Distribution costs (2,702) (2,454) (2,138) Selling and marketing costs (13,602) (13,641) (11,551) Administrative expenses (8,243) (7,976) (6,268) Other operating (expenses)/income (1,549) 1,569 (52) Operating Profit 6,004 6,899 9,386 Finance income 20 27 5 Finance costs (809) (805) (374) Profit before taxation 5,215 6,121 9,017 Taxation (1,530) (1,909) (2,940) Profit for the year after taxation 3,685 4,212 6,077 Other comprehensive income Cash flow hedges, net of tax 848 (813) Currency translation differences 19 (336) Other comprehensive income for the year, net of tax 867 (1,149) Total comprehensive income for the year 4,552 3,063 Earnings per ordinary share Basic 9.76p 11.17p 16.15p Diluted 9.60p 10.98p 15.62p Consolidated Balance Sheet 2010 000 2009 000 2008 000 Assets Non Current Assets Goodwill 13,416 13,624 9,925 Intangible Assets 5,227 5,689 2,404 Property, plant and equipment 10,020 10,523 8,360 Investments Deferred tax assets 140 67 123 28,803 29,903 20,812 Current Assets Inventories 12,273 14,368 11,890 Trade and other receivables 13,291 13,119 10,699 Derivative financial investments 750 Current tax assets 175 124 152 Cash and cash equivalents 8,998 427 940 35,487 28,038 23,681 Liabilities Current Liabilities Borrowings (1,718) (5,138) (2,220) Derivative financial instruments (3,342) (3,960) (1,350) Trade and other payables (10,363) (8,270) (6,851) Provisions (391) (538) (500) Current tax liabilities (1,020) (999) (1,723) (16,834) (18,905) (12,644) Net current assets/(liabilities) 18,653 9,133 11,037 Non current liabilities Borrowings (10,547) (7,181) (41) Deferred tax liabilities (281) (301) (346) (10,828) (7,482) (387) Net assets 36,628 31,554 31,462 Equity attributable to owners of the parent Share capital 380 380 380 Share premium 5,340 5,278 5,278 Capital redemption reserve 55 55 55 Translation reserve (514) (533) (197) Hedging reserve 168 (680) 133 Other reserves 1,688 1,688 1,688 Retained earnings 29,511 25,366 24,125 Total equity 36,628 31,554 31,462 4.2 Games Workshop PLC Group Income Statement 2010 000 2009 000 2008 000 Continuing operations Revenue 126,511 125,706 110,345 Cost of sales (30,683) (35,919) (33,731) Gross profit 95,828 89,787 76,614 Operating expenses (82,839) (84,325) (75,798) Other operating income-royalties receivable 3,056 3,471 1,736 Operating profit 16,045 8,933 2,552 Finance income 442 333 425 Finance costs (367) (1,808) (1,918) Profit before taxation 16,120 7,458 1,059 Income tax expense (1,040) (2,107) (613) Profit for the year from continuing operations 15,080 5,351 446 Discontinued operations Profit/(loss) for the year from discontinued operations 118 1,186 Profit attributable to equity shareholders 15,080 5,469 (740) Group Balance Sheet 2010 000 2009 000 2008 000 Non- current assets Goodwill 1,433 1,433 1,433 Other intangible assets 5,889 5,811 6,059 Property, plant and equipment 23,264 25,380 26,422 Trade and other receivables 1,678 1,570 1,234 Financial assets-derivative financial instruments 14 Deferred tax assets 5,917 4,704 3,005 38,181 38,898 38,167 Current assets Inventories 10,138 10,678 10,392 Trade and other receivables 10,043 9,959 9,870 Assets held for sale 464 Current tax assets 301 32 854 Financial assets derivative financial instruments 210 17 Cash and cash equivalents 17,089 10,355 7,723 37,571 31,234 29,320 Total assets 75,752 70,132 67,487 Current liabilities Financial liabilities borrowings (2) (2,791) Financial liabilities derivative financial instruments (550) (1,401) Trade and other payables (15,550) (14,092) (15,351) Current tax liabilities (1,027) (2,233) (222) Provisions (1,848) (1,046) (1,155) (18,425) (17,923) (20,920) Net current assets 19,146 13,311 8,400 Non-current liabilities Financial liabilities-borrowings (12,000) (15,001) Other non-current liabilities (582) (632) (723) Provisions (1,442) (1,586) (1,317) (2,024) (14,218) (17,041) Net assets 55,303 37,991 29,526 Capital and reserves Called up share capital 1,557 1,556 1,556 Share premium account 7,837 7,822 7,822 Other reserves 3,722 1,837 (321) Retained earnings 42,187 26,776 20,469 Total shareholders equity 55,303 37,991 29,526 RATIO ANALYSIS 5.1 Profitability Ratios (i) Ratio on Capital Employed In any business, the main aim of investing in any business is to acquire sufficient benefit on capital invested. The term used to measure the success of a business is Return on capital employed. Return on capital employed is a ratio that implies the success and profitability of a companys capital investments. This ratio is expressed as Profit Before Interest and Tax (PBIT) over the long term investment made in the business. ROCE = PBIT / [share capital + reserves + long term loans] x 100 Using the above formula, the figures for Hornby and Games Workshop was obtained as follows:- YEAR HORNBY GAMES WORKSHOP 2010 12.65% 27.99% 2009 17.67% 17..11% 2008 29.47% 5.48% (ii) Net Profit Margin A profitability ratio computed as profit before interest and tax over sales. It shows the companys ability to produceÂÂ  at a appropriateÂÂ  salesÂÂ  level. Net Profit Margin = PBIT / Sales x 100 Using the above formula, the figures for Hornby and Games Workshop was obtained as follows:- YEAR HORNBY GAMES WORKSHOP 2010 9.27% 12.68% 2009 11.21% 7.11% 2008 16.85% 2.31% Asset Turnover ratio TheÂÂ  asset turnover ratio is a measure of the amount of sales that a company generates using the assets available. It is calculated as sales over capital employed. Asset Turnover = Sales / Capital Employed x 100 Using the above formula, the figures for Hornby and Games Workshop was obtained as follows:- YEAR HORNBY GAMES WORKSHOP 2010 1.36% 2.21% 2009 1.58% 2.41% 2008 1.75% 2.37% Comparative analysis ROCE of Hornby decreased drastically from 29.47% to 17.67% to 12.65% where as that of Games Workshop increased slightly from 5.48% to 7.11% to 12.68%. This fall in ROCE for Hornby can be attributed to the rise in borrowings during the three years. This fall can also be accounted for the rise in share capital and reserves. This fall can also be linked to the decrease in the operating profit by 63.96% from 2008 to 2010. The profit after tax for Hornby has increased. Both the companies have shown an increase in revenue. The net profit margin figure of Hornby has fallen from 16.85% to 11.21% to 9.27%, where as that of Games Workshop has risen from 2.31% to 7.11% to 12.68%. Games Workshop is maintaining a higher net profit margin than Hornby. Since the Roce of Games Workshop has been increased and its net profit margin has also risen, asset turnover ratio remains almost constant from 2.37 in 2008 to 2.21 in 2009. This shows the relation between ROCE, NP margin and Asset Turnover ratios. 5.2 Efficiency ratios (i) Stock Turnover period Stock turnover period indicates a particular time period, during which the companys stock is restored many times. The ratio is calculated as stock divided by cost of goods sold during the time period. Stock Turnover Period = Stock x 365 / Cost of sale Using the above formula, the figures for Hornby and Games Workshop was obtained as follows:- YEAR HORNBY GAMES WORKSHOP 2010 137 121 2009 163 109 2008 165 112 (ii)Debtor Collection Period The duration of time, on average, taken by the customers to pay for the goods sold.This ratio is also expressed as Trade Debtors over Credit sales. Debtor Collection Period = Trade Debtors / Credit Sales x 100 Using the above formula, the figures for Hornby and Games Workshop was obtained as follows:- YEAR HORNBY GAMES WORKSHOP 2010 75 29 2009 78 29 2008 70 33 Comparative analysis In the last three years, the stock turnover period of Hornby has decreased from 165 days to 163 days to 137 days, where as that of Games Workshop has increased from 112 to 109 to 121 days. When comparing both the companies, Games Workshop has a lesser stock turnover period. This means that the movement of stock is faster than in Hornby. This indicates that Games Workshop is maintaining its stock more efficiently than Hornby. There is a fall in the debtor collection period for both the companies in the last three years. It decreased from 70 to 78 to 75 days for Hornby and 33 days in 2008 to 29 days, which remained constant both in 2009 and 2010 for Games Workshop. Hornby can actually reduce the debtor collection period much further. Comparing both the companies, Games Workshop has higher efficiency. 5.3 Liquidity Ratios (i) Current Ratio The current ratio is an explanation of the companys capability to meet short-term liabilities. It shows the amount of current assets the company has to cover its current liabilities. The ratio is calculated as current assets over current liabilities. Current Ratio = Current assets / Current liabilities Using the above formula, the figures for Hornby and Games Workshop was obtained as follows:- YEAR HORNBY GAMES WORKSHOP 2010 2.11 2.04 2009 1.48 1.74 2008 1.87 1.40 (ii) Liquid Ratio The liquid ratioÂÂ  measuresÂÂ  a companysÂÂ  ability to cover up its short-term liabilitiesÂÂ  using its liquid assets. Liquid ratio, also known as quick ratio, is calculated as currents assets less stock over current liabilities. LiquidRatio = Current assets Stock / Current liabilities Using the above formula, the figures for Hornby and Games Workshop was obtained as follows:- YEAR HORNBY GAMES WORKSHOP 2010 1.38 1.49 2009 0.72 1.15 2008 0.93 0.90 Comparative analysis For Hornby the current ratio is 1.87 in 2008 and 1.48 in 2009 and 2.11 in 2010. For Tesco the current ratio is 1.40 in 2008 and 1.74 in 2009 and 2.04 in 2010. Both the companies have shown improvement in the current ratio. Hornby is in a good position to clear its short term liabilities than Games Workshop. The standard current ratio is considered to be 2:1, since it is a bit higher, Hornby is not efficiently using its current assets. Quick ratio for Hornby increased from 0.93 in 2008 to 0.72 in 2009 to 1.38 in 2010 . The ratio for Games Workshop increased from 0.90 in 2008 to 1.15 in 2009 to 1.49 in 2010. As a result the quick ratio of the company increased very well and On comparing both the figures, Games Workshop has higher liquid ratio and so, is in a better financial position to cover its short term liabilities. 5.4 Gearing Ratio (i) Gearing Ratio A financialÂÂ  ratioÂÂ  thatÂÂ  comparesÂÂ  companys capital employed to borrowedÂÂ  funds. It relates to the amount of debt a company has. It is calculated as long term borrowings over capital employed. Gearing Ratio = Long Term Borrowings / Capital Employed x 100 Using the above formula, the figures for Hornby and Games Workshop was obtained as follows:- YEAR HORNBY GAMES WORKSHOP 2010 22.22% 0% 2009 18.40% 22.98% 2008 0.13% 32.21% (ii) Interest Cover Ratio TheÂÂ  interest coverage ratio is used to measure how efficiently the company is able to pay the interest on its outstanding debt. It is calculated as companysÂÂ  profit before interest and taxesÂÂ  (PBIT) over interest payable for the same duration of time. Interest Cover Ratio = PBIT / Interest Payable Using the above formula, the figures for Hornby and Games Workshop was obtained as follows:- YEAR HORNBY GAMES WORKSHOP 2010 7.42 50.94 2009 8.57 7.10 2008 25.10 1.52 Comparative Analysis The gearing ratio of Hornby has increased largely from 0.13% to 18.40% to 22.22% while that of Games Workshop decreased drastically from 32.21% to 22.98% to 0%. Games Workshop has a much lesser gearing ratio, when compared to Hornby. This means that Games Workshop has not taken much debt, whereas Hornby has to decrease its gearing ratio or else it will have to pay a high interest. The interest cover ratio for Hornby has decreased from 25.10 in 2008 to 8.57 in 2009 to 7.42 in 2010, while that of Games Workshop has increased from 1.52 in 2008 to 7.1o in 2009 to 50.94 in 2010. The low interest cover ratio of Hornby indicates the large amount of borrowings it has made to finance the business. 5.5 Investment Ratios (i) Return on Shareholders Funds (ROSF) ROSF is a ratio which measures the return to the shareholders from the companys profit, in relation to the investments made. It is calculated as profit after tax over ordinary share capital and reserves. ROSF = Profit after Tax / Ordinary Share Capital + Reserves Using the above formula, the figures for Hornby and Games Workshop was obtained as follows:- YEAR HORNBY GAMES WORKSHOP 2010 10% 32.33% 2009 13% 16.44% 2008 19% 3.59% (Ii) Dividend Payout Ratio It indicates the money that is paid out in the form of dividends by the company to its shareholders. It is calculated as net dividend over profit after tax. Dividend Payout Ratio = Net Dividend / Profit After Tax Using the above formula, the figures for Hornby and Games Workshop was obtained as follows:- YEAR HORNBY GAMES WORKSHOP 2010 51% 51.65% 2009 24.1% 0% 2008 52.5% 0% (ii) Dividend Cover It is a measure of the amount of profit generated by the company, in order to manage the level of dividend paid out. It is calculated as profit after tax over net dividend. Dividend Cover = Profit after Tax / Net Dividend Using the above formula, the figures for Hornby and Games Workshop was obtained as follows:- YEAR HORNBY GAMES WORKSHOP 2010 1.96 1.93 2009 4.15 0 2008 1.9 0 (iii) Dividend Yield It is a ratio that interprets how much an investor may get as dividend, depending on the investment made in a company, in relation to the price per share. It is calculated as dividend per share over market price per share. Dividend Yield = Dividend per Share / Market Price per Share Using the above formula, the figures for Hornby and Games Workshop was obtained as follows:- YEAR HORNBY GAMES WORKSHOP 2010 3.97% 7.2% 2009 3.97% 0% 2008 4.49% 0% (iii) Price-Earnings Ratio It is a valuation ratio of a companys market price per share over earnings per share. It is an important tool for making investment ratio. In order to take a decision, we cannot depend on a single P/E ratio, but a better analysis can be done by comparing P/E ratios of different companies in same industry. P/E Ratio = Market Price per Share / Earnings per Share Using the above formula, the figures for Hornby and Games Workshop was obtained as follows:- YEAR HORNBY GAMES WORKSHOP 2010 12.85 7.14 2009 6.07 11.88 2008 22.23 72.5 Comparative Analysis Return on Shareholders Funds (ROSF) for Hornby decreased from 19% in 2008 to 10% in 2010. It increased from 3.59% in 2008 to 32.33% in 2010. Dividend Payout Ratio for Hornby has increased from 52.5% in 2008 to 24.1% in 2009 and then shot up to 51% in 2010, and increased from 0% in 2009 to 51.65% in 2010 for Games Workshop . This indicates that the proportion of earnings Games Workshop pays out to its shareholders as dividends is more than what Hornby pays to its shareholders. Dividend Cover ratio shows how much of profits are generated to cover the dividends. Dividend Cover for Hornby has increased from 1.9 in 2008 to 4.15 in 2009, and then decreased to 1.96 in 2010. The ratio for Games Workshop increased from 0 to 1.93 in 2010. This means for the year 2010 the profit generated by Hornby can cover its dividends by 1.96 times and profits earned by Games Workshop can cover its dividends by 1.93 times. Hornby is having more dividend cover than Games Workshop. Dividend Yield of Hornby decreased from 4.49 % in 2008 to 3.997% in 2009 and 2010, where as it increased from 0% to 7.2% in 2010. Games Workshop has a higher dividend yield than Hornby. While looking at the scenario from an investors point of view, he would prefer to invest in Games Workshop. . Price Earnings (P/E) ratio has decreased from 22.23 in 2008 to 6.07 in 2009, and later on rised to 12.85 in 2010 for Hornby. It has decreased from 72.5 in 2008 to 11.88 in 2009 to 7.14 in 2010 for Tesco. Price earnings ratio is directly proportional to the expectation of the investors concerning future growth. Hornby has higher P/E ratio than Games Workshop for the year 2010. INDUSTRY ANALYSIS Hasbro, Inc is a company which performs in the same business as Hornby and Games Workshop. We can analyze the performance of Hornby and Games Workshop by comparing with the competitor i.e. Hasbro. The ROCE of Hasbro was 23.53% in 2008 and 21.58% in 2009, where as for Hornby, the ratio was 29.47% in 2008 and 17.81% in 2009. Form this we can understand that there is a decreasing trend in ROCE for Hornby. So the profit will decrease in the coming years. The current ratio of Hasbro increased from 2.142% in 2008 to 2.5% in 2009, whereas that of Hornby decreased from 1.87% to 1.48% in 2009. In the year 2010, the current ratio for Hornby rose to 2.11%. so the financial position of Hornby to meet current liabilities is increasing. The gearing ratio of Hasbro increased from 0.337% in 2008 to 0.415% in 2009, whereas that of Hornby increased from 0.13% to 18.40% in 2009. So when we consider Hornby, gearing ratio is increasing, which will be a loss for the company. The ROCE of Games Workshop increased from 5.48% in 2008 to 17.11% in 2009. On comparing ROCE of Games Workshop with Hasbro, there is an increasing trend, and so the profit will increase. The current ratio of Games Workshop increased from 1.40% to 1.74% in 2009. This ratio on comparing with that of Hasbro, indicates that the financial position of Games Workshop is increasing. The gearing ratio of Games Workshop decreased from 32.21% to 22.98% in 2009. The ratio further decreased to 0% in 2010. This will not be a loss for the company. FUTURE PROSPECTUS In the present technology driven world, you would hardly find people who are not familiar with the companies like Games Workshop PLC, Hornby PLC, Hasbro etc. Hobby enthusiasts who go crazy for technology, music, model toys, games etc are giving sheer push and great support to Hornby and Games Workshop. These industries have successfully made a mark on their respective wider industry. But they had to face many competitions within the competitors in the same field like Hasbro, Wizards of Coast etc . When the competition started going up, it automatically led to the diversification of the product lines like consumer products, mail orders, non-store retail, catalog, television sales etc.. The demand of games and toy industry ll shoot up in the near future due to the increase in demand for entertainment. All kinds of toys has been a demand among children of age grouped 12 and below. But the main threat for the toy industry is the hiking competition from other source of entertainment like internet, television etc. There has been a drastic difference of demand in the electronic gaming products. Gaming industry is one which always welcomes innovation. In the past 10 years, lot of innovations has happened in this sector and it has led to the introduction of lot of product items into the market. There is a wide range of market for this sector and the most interesting part is that, the demand for electronic gaming products has always shown a rise and it has now become an unavoidable part of entertainment for the customers of almost age group. If we take Games Workshop PLC into consideration, it has made an appreciable contribution to the whole British Gaming Industry. Games workshop has been planning lot of new projects and proposals and as a latest update, Games Industry and Fantasy Flight games have entered an agreement. As per the agreement, the Fantasy Flight becomes the exclusive publisher of card games, board games and role playing games based on Games Workshops family of renowned intellectual properties. The company has got an expectation of achieving a 20% growth in profit behind the making of this contract. The company saw its revenues rise 13.5pc to 61.2m for the six months to November 30, as the company swung into a 3.1m pre-tax profit from a 300,000 the year before and is expecting a higher rate in the coming years. On the other hand, Hornby Plc, has announced that it has entered into a contract with Humbrol Limited in Administration for acquiring a few assets. The contract has been made worth 6.5 million pounds. The company is thereby forecasting a significant growth in the near future. They have got plans to launch a series of new products with better performance. The company is expected to have an upward growth after having received the rights for the production for the Olympics in the year 2012. Hornby has also got plans to re-construct their present business, after relocating their distribution, sales and marketing operations centre to its own site in kent. They have also got plans to re-locate their manufacturing and assembling processes to third parties which will help the company to focus on the other aspect of sales whereby they could shoot up their sales level. The success of all companies is in identifying the most appropriate market, fixing their target, identifying the market trend and developing products which could satisfy the present customer wants. Games Workshop and Hornby has the ability to provide a wide selection of product items and have scale advantages in purchasing, producing, distributing,marketing and selling of products. Both the games and hornby are expecting a bright and successful future laid before them. CONCLUSION

Analysis Of The Poem Nothing Gold Can Stay - 1262 Words

once the poem was published the author of the poem Nothing Gold Can Stay was Robert Lee Frost. I think Robert frost based his poem on things he has seen in his life and based it off of nature. the poem was written in 1923. the poem was one of many poems the author robert frost wrote, its own poem but has the same author of multiple poem the main style of this poem is narrative. I think its narrative because the poem tells a story and digs deep into things found in nature. its not focused on a person or a memory or anything musical related. Robert Frost tells very descriptive about nature and relates it to life. it tells a story about nature and its very realistic because you can compare it to your life,and the nature you see everyday.†¦show more content†¦the period of time could vary from any time period in spring or fall. because the poem is talking about nature but its really nothing about nature, theres some character inside of it, nature, eden and dawn. nature is a cha racter in the poem that is hiding the real meaning of the poem. because the poets is concealing information from the reader, the reader can infer and fill in the blanks and try to figure it out themselves. yes the poet was trying to get the reader to find details and really focus in on the poem and try to figure it out themselves. it helps the reader to dig deep into what they are reading and compare themselves to the poem and contrast themselves to the poem. it also helps the reader understand the poem more. robert frost has put nature in his poem but has put other things inside the poem and was trying to get the reader to discover them, so i think that there is some culture habits hidden inside of his poem under all the nature. 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His poetic ability and knowledge make him an extraordinary author. His past; including schooling, family, and the era in which he wrote influenced nearly all of his poems in some way. This very famous poet contributed to the modernism era, had a familyRead MoreRobert Frost : A New England Poet3698 Words   |  15 Pagescontinued their dreams, and went to college, but after a semester he dropped out. For the next two years, he was a labor worker and wrote poetry (Sullivan). New England became the inspirations to all of his works of poetry. He published his first poem â€Å"My Butterfly† in 1894 in the New York Independent. He was so ecstatic with his accomplishment that in 1895 he proposed to Elinor White, but she refused his proposal because she wanted to finish college (Robert Frost). After waiting some time on December

Global Warming and Government Policy Measures- MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theGlobal Warming and Government Policy Measures. Answer: Introduction Global warming is an environmental problem in economics that is caused by the emission of harmful carbon dioxide gases in the air. This is mostly from production of coal and the use of unleaded oil. Unlike other types of pollutions that face the polluting economy, greenhouse gas emissions is a global issue as the impacts are evenly dispersed across the globe (World-nuclear.org, 2017). This is the reason why the policy implementation requires international agreements and collaborations. The paper shall consider to know why some economies may not be willing to collaborate using clean power plan. A country like Alabama depends on coal for most of its energy production and thus contribute to great emissions (Lewis, Bryant, and Hansen, 2017). The use of petroleum has increased in the modern period and has greatly contributed to global warming (Hansen and Sato, 2012). This paper will identify the several causes of this issue and identify the various policy actions that the government have implemented in lowering the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Thus this paper will confirm that there is a great importance for the global warming issue to be resolved by every means possible. The paper will analyze the possible negative impacts that have occurred and those that many occur in future if the policy actions were not to be put in place. The change in global temperature has been argued to be close to 1oC. This has been argued to be as a result of global industrialization which has resulted in increased emission of greenhouse gases. The paper shall consider how the carbon dioxide gas has changed in concentration on the air and how the global temperature has changes. This analysis will be done on a time frame of more than 100 years. Since several policies will be analyzed, conclusion on the best policies between the market-based program and regulation will be drawn. The paper will thus be important for the formulation of future policies. Economics of Global Warming The earths temperature has gone up to high levels as compared to 100 years ago. Initially the increases in temperature were believed and actually were only from natural causes. The current period is a period where the human actions are argued to be responsible for increased temperatures (whatsyourimpact.org, 2017). Increment in temperatures initially could be resolved without any intervention, but currently, actions has to be taken since the adjustment sometimes take place at a slow rate. This has distorted the climate system such that rainfall seasons that occurred at a specific time of the year have shifted or rain could fall heavily at a period when its not expected and little when its expected. This has had great impacts on agricultural activities since it has become difficult to time the planting period. According to MacMillan (2016), the transportation sector is a major source of carbon gases emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. The problems of sufficient sources of ener gy is responsible for increased carbon emissions. A country such as Alabama that depends on energy as its major source of energy is not willing to collaborate on the use of clean power plan. It is worried that this would in turn create an energy shortage. Human activities such as burning of fossil fuel and deforestation have been noted to be the major factors behind global warming (Ichoku, 2017). Biologically, plants use carbon dioxide to make their food. This explains why there is more rainfall in forested areas than in areas with less plants. In forested areas, the impacts of carbon dioxide is lowered since plants use it and release oxygen. However, when the plant population is small, most of the greenhouse gases emitted goes to the air and forms a cloud above the earths surface that acts as a blanket such that the earth retains some of the heat received from the sun (Denchak, 2016). The major recorded impacts of global warming is rising sea levels resulting from melting of ice, glaciers and permafrost. Major researches has provided information that people have cleared and burnt many forests to create land for farming; this has been mainly to the increased food demand since the world population is growing at a fast rate. If global warming is not to be controlled, weather patterns would change and this may create permanent deserts in some areas whereas other areas may be made wetter and constituted by flooding. This may not be good for the drier economies or rather even the flooding economies. This would create a food shortage problem that may need a high government spending in an attempt of ensuring that there is sufficient food supply. The research by Whatsyourimpact.org (2017) noted that global warming has affected both the human society as well as nature and more negative impacts will be experienced in future is the global temperatures continue rising. According to Denchak (2016), come 2100 century, the global temperature will be very high. Graph: Changes in carbon dioxide concentration on the air over the century Source: Bbc.co.uk (2017) Graph: Changes in global warming over the century Source: Bbc.co.uk (2017) As it can be observed from the two graphs above, there is a similar trend in the change in the concentration of co2 in the air and the change in global temperatures. The increase in co2 can thus be deducted to be responsible for global warming. This is an explanation as to why most economists focuses on the policies of lowering the co2 concentration in the air when attempting to lower the global temperatures (Randers, 2017). Public Policies Towards the Reduction of Global Warming Global warming may not be solved through public policies alone. According to Ball (2010), if everyone was to become responsible such that everyone reduces his/her carbon emissions, and helping the poor to fight global warming, this in addition to public policies would help in reducing greenhouse gas accumulations. There are many public policies put in place to help in solving the global warming problem. Pigouvias Tax One of such policy is encouraging the imposition of carbon tax. This is an extra cost to the production process and it discourages high production level that results in massive carbon emissions. This tax is meant to make the producers responsible for the externalities they cause to the environment. Without the imposition of this tax, producers will produce output at their profit maximization level by ignoring the impacts on the environment resulting from their overproduction. Graph: Pigouvias Tax Source: Gallego (2017) If the firms are allowed to operate freely without governments intervention, they would produce a high quantity level QA which would involve a lot of emissions. This is at the point where their marginal benefit (MB) equates the Marginal Private Cost (MPC); the price and cost level is PA. an imposition of a Pigouvias tax forces the firms to produce at the point where the MB equates the Marginal Social Cost (MSC) and the new marginal private cost rises to MPC; the new price and cost level is at PS and the quantity produced is QS. Subsidy The government may take another action that may work similar to the tax. It may pay a subsidy equal to the green area labelled s in the diagram above. It does this with an agreement that the firm will produce quantity QS and thus avoid emissions. Auction Pollution Permits This has similar effects to the Pigouvias tax scheme. This involves the selling of permits to the emitting firms. This requires the government to know who the emitting firms are and also their production quantities. The government then makes an announcement that its selling permits for emission but specifies the output level associated with that emission level. This just like the Pigouvias tax scheme achieves an efficient emission level. Firms after receiving the announcement bids for these emission rights and they are sold to the highest bid. With a tax scheme, the government is required to have information on the marginal benefits and marginal private costs. The absence of this information creates uncertainty of the extent at which the emission level is going to fall when an emission tax is imposed. This make the auction pollution permit superior to the Pigouvias tax scheme as it lowers future uncertainty of the ultimate emission level will be. The Difference between Pigouvias Tax and Auction Pollution Permits When a Pigouvias tax is imposed, the government is not aware of the pollution that the firms will generate, but the firms are aware of the prices they will pay. On the other hand when an auction pollution permit is sold, the government knows the emission amount but the firms do not know the price they will have to pay. This explains why Pigouvias tax is not commonly used but some economies apply the auction pollution permits policies. Regulation Another policy is the creation of a green economy. Climate scientists argue thatcarbon dioxide and every other greenhouse gases emissions are harmful to the environment and it is thus a high time for policies to be implemented that will help in preventing the global climate from further damage. If business are to continue being operated as usual, the global temperatures are projected to continue rising which is posing threat to the world falling into an apocalyptic situation. In order to avoid this apocalypse, our economy has to be discourage from fossil fuels use and coal above all (Krugman, 2010). The solution towards the changing climate as agreed by many environmental economists is to use market-based programs that involve putting a price on carbon emissions to limit their level of emissions. Modest results can be observed if these programs were implemented as argued by Krugman (2010). However, he noted that there is an issue of determining the rate at which the programs should b e implemented; either immediately or gradually. Under regulation legal sanction threats are used to ensure that when the government orders the polluters to cut their emission level; they cut their emissions as ordered. There are two classes of regulations used in controlling pollution. One is the direct regulation that involves the setting of a critical level of pollution. This is followed by continuous monitoring to ensure that the emitting companies observes the set standards and if not they get prosecuted. The other category is input regulation where the government regulates the production process. Since its difficult and most expensive to monitor whether firms are observing the emission standards, governments usually use the input regulation method. This is because its easier for the government to monitor inputs. It is argued that firms are in a better position to identify the best means to lower their emissions than the government could. Thus, if the government regulates their input, it would also be regulating their output l evel at the desired level. The scope for creativity and flexibility is absent when direct regulation is used. Even though it may be effective in some cases, it may have no positive results in some other cases. Conclusion The greenhouse effect is a useful part of the environment since the gases traps heat from the sun and radiate it back to the earth when the sun is gone and thus provide warmth necessary for supporting life on earth. Otherwise the earth would be so cold and would not support life. However, when an accumulation of the greenhouse gases in very intensive, it prevents harmful radiation rays from the sun from reflecting back. This results in exposing the earth to harmful diseases such as cancers and many others. The change is weather patterns has also affected food productions since it has resulted in some places becoming more dry and others to experience floods. There is high importance for implementation of policies that could help in lowering the level of greenhouse gas emissions in order to prevent a further global temperature rise in the future. The study has covered both the market-based policies and those for regulations. The argument by many economists most importantly as argued by Krugman were that the best results on the reduction of greenhouse emissions would be obtained by the implementation of market-based programs rather than the use of regulations. The market-based programs are used for ensuring that the emitters pay or rather suffer additional costs from their behaviors of carbon emissions. This would make them become more cautious and may avoid some production practices that results in huge emissions. The other possible action they would take is to lower their production level so as to emit less carbon and thus pay less carbon tax. In the case of regulation we have seen that there is the absence of the scope for creativity and flexibility when direct regulation is implemented. The outcome delivered by the free market operations is not always fairs and thus government intervention is important. Negative externalit ies are some of the problems experienced from free market operations. References Ball, J., and Evangelical Environmental Network. (2010). Global warming and the risen Lord: Christian discipleship and climate change. Washington, D.C: Evangelical Environmental Network. Bbc.co.uk. (2017). BBC Bitesize - GCSE Biology - Acid rain and global warming - Revision 4. [Online] Bbc.co.uk. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/znsk7ty/revision/4[Accessed 21 May 2017]. Denchak, M. (2016). Are the Effects of Global Warming Really that Bad? [Online] NRDC. Available at: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/are-effects-global-warming-really-bad [Accessed 21 May 2017]. Gallego, L. (2017). Externality. [Online] Policonomics.com. Available at: https://policonomics.com/externality/ [Accessed 21 May 2017]. Hansen, J., and Sato, M. (2012). Paleoclimate Implications for Human-Made Climate Change. In: Climate change inferences from paleoclimate and regional aspects. Wien: Springer. Ichoku, C. (2017). Global Warming: Feature Articles. [Online] Earthobservatory.nasa.gov. Available at: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/page2.php [Accessed 21 May 2017]. Krugman, P. (2010). Building a Green Economy. [Online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/magazine/11Economy-t.html [Accessed 21 May 2017]. Lewis, H., Bryant, K., and Hansen, M. (2017). Climate Change Clean Energy. [Online] Gaspgroup.org. Available at: https://gaspgroup.org/climate-energy/?gclid=Cj0KEQjw9YTJBRD0vKClruOsuOwBEiQAGkQjP_brcOWdq85S6cY31DxYR6mf_yXPYHDUxfN9psXwgkIaAqjL8P8HAQ [Accessed 21 May 2017]. MacMillan, A. (2016). Global Warming 101. [Online] Nrdc.org. Available at: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101 [Accessed 21 May 2017]. Randers, J. (2017). 8 Ways The World Will Change By 2052. [Online] Fast Company. Available at: https://www.fastcompany.com/1680127/8-ways-the-world-will-change-by-2052 [Accessed 21 May 2017]. Whatsyourimpact.org. (2017). What is global warming? [Online] Whatsyourimpact.com Available at: https://whatsyourimpact.org/global-warming [Accessed 21 May 2017]. World-nuclear.org. (2017). Policy Responses to Climate Change. World-nuclear.org. Available at: https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/energy-and-the-environment/policy-responses-to-climate-change.aspx [Accessed 21 May 2017].

Should Canada play a larger international role

Introduction International role has been a heritage for every nation in the world. The recent decades have seen all countries in the world anticipate becoming the key players in the international scope. International role of a nation becomes pronounced in terms of economic, social, political, and economic aspects.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Should Canada play a larger international role? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Over the years, Canada has played very crucial roles internationally as a result of its enthusiastic leaders and citizens, always committed to act as change models. Additionally, the nation has proved to have great potential in the international affairs, a factor that places the country among the global giants. Global giants have proved themselves through their endless interest to become more prominent as well as to dominate the economic and social society of the world. However, part icipation in international roles becomes a success for those countries that have set themselves apart for the sake of international development. Thus, with the modern global transformations, Canada should play a larger international role than it has done previously to enhance their participation in global affairs[1]. The discussion in this paper is aimed at establishing the fact that Canada should play a larger international. It will also provide a detailed discussion to establish how Canada should play a larger international role International role An International role is that which an individual or a nation performs for the benefit of other nations. The role need not only be played when a need arises, but at any given time and to any nation across the globe. Many countries have been enthusiastic to take part in the global development and transformation through their advancement in all aspects. Many expand industrially like china and Japan, others in terms of agrarian revolution l ike South-East Asia etc. However, every nation possesses a unique cultural set up, historical background as well as political and economical backgrounds. The interplay of these factors provides a ground for each country to play a distinct role internationally. Some countries like Canada are good players when it comes to the international security and peacekeeping roles[2]. Additionally, participation in international roles depends on the historical background of a nation, since it acts as a confident driving force towards anticipated success. More over, the world needs such international players, since the international roles act as instruments for global cooperation.Advertising Looking for research paper on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Several roles that international players can participate in include boosting of the global economy, enhancing the global social relationships, taking part in buildin g an ample political world as well as improving the cultures of the global nations. More over, the current world is dynamic, especially on issues regarding technological advancements[3]. Thus, nations should boost each other in order that equity in these advancements may take pre-eminence to avoid a nation’s lag behind. In addition, it takes the strategic decisions that an international player makes in order that their international roles objectives may be achieved, the reason why Canada should continue enthusiastically to play larger international roles[4]. Canada’s historical Background Canada has had an enticing type of historical background in the past years due to their active participation in the international affairs. However being ruled by some drastic and overwhelming challenges in the recent past, they have been enthusiastic to accomplish their local and global goals up to date. The nation is well known for its long participation in international trade over t he years, a factor that renders them understand global challenges in a better way. For instance, they have long traded with the United States, having been known as global giants over the years. Additionally, Canada has been known to embrace democracy in its traditional political and governmental set up, which is manned by a parliamentary system. It is also evident from historical sources that Canada duly participated in the rampant wars that tormented the whole world in the 19th and the 20th centuries. This background has played a key role in their recent engagement in the international affairs[5]. Recent research findings have declared Canada as an active economist in the world. This is evident in the fact that they participated in international trade even before the massive destructive wars, and had even managed to construct railways in the country. Canada has also been known as a state that values confederation and expansion in terms of economic, social, and political grounds, a major reason for their participation in the global context. The cultural background has played a great role in the growth and development of Canadian history, having been marked by a sense of oneness and democracy for all races. Issues like racism, extensive domineering has not been found to take pre-eminence even in the traditional Canada.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Should Canada play a larger international role? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A number of countries in the world, including South Africa and Sudan have benefited from Canada’s act of good faith in promoting global diplomacy in the recent years. More to that, contradictions in the political system are not known to have been a hindrance to the Canadian people due to everyone’s development of a receptive heart in terms of development. Therefore, the historical background of Canada gives a positive direction for it to play larger international roles in future. The economic, social and political status of Canada The status of a country in the economic, social, and political set up plays a crucial role in terms of developments, both locally and internationally. There have been an up and down trend in these status values over the years due to the interplay of negative and positive forces. For instance, the twentieth century saw the factors above experience drastic and sudden transformations as a result of the world wars that devastated the whole world. However, the country has been re -correcting drastically in the 21st century with an aim to restore the original status quos, and at the same time improve to the best[6]. First, Canada has been able to develop in all its economic areas, making long term and positive changes. The current economic status has all its desired areas playing key roles in the countries development, productivity, global performance, as well as sustainability. The development in a griculture, which involves cultivation of a wide variety of crops, has really manifested itself in the global context. Such are the items that are supplied to other nations, the trade partners. In addition to that, the current Canada is tending towards becoming an industrial giant with the rapid industrialization that is taking place everyday. It is also evident that Canadians are very good at resources exploitation, and with the development of economic tools and valuable government policies, Canada is liable to become a global giant very soon, a factor that makes it suitable as a potential player of larger international roles[7]. On the other hand, the social set up of Canada, though having been drastically interrupted during the massive world wars is well established. Canadians, just like the United States do not limit the level of societal interactions. A large number of immigrants are also allowed into the country, a factor that provides freedom for social interaction between al l races. In addition, their cultures are quite flexible, since there is no fixed culture for all citizens, but mixed cultures are evident. A few social issues are questionable in the country, by either the state or the government.Advertising Looking for research paper on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More More over, it is a society where all people are provided with equal participatory rights in the development processes that take place within the country. This kind of a social set up is crucial in fostering international relations as well as societal growth. More over, Canada is one of the few nations that are known to have had few political crises. They have a parliamentary government, led through a hierarchical system, which is embraced by the country citizens. Though the ruling system is also problematic, having legalized some incredible society issues in the recent years, no major governmental crises have been felt. The system is entirely democratic, thus giving every societal member to participate directly or indirectly in the governmental process. Their tradition has always been characterized by a democratic system, a reason for their continued success in the international issues. It has been a key participant in maintaining international peace, having acted as a role model in the maintenance of local peace. Thus, it is with enthusiasm and interest that Canada should continue playing larger roles in the international arena[8]. Factors influencing Canada as an international player Contribution of Canada in the international scope is enhanced by a number of factors. First, the geographical positioning of the country is ample, since it borders with the United States, thus centrally placed for ease in penetration to other global parts. The aforediscussed political, social, and economic situations are suitable in providing a ground for Canada to participate fully in the global development. The elapsed past has also seen Canada succeed in international trade, having established trade relations with a number of global giants, to an extent of having traditional trade relations with the immediate neighbor; the U.S. this is a factor that directly contributes to its global participation[9]. On the other hand, the past charitable global deeds have enhanced the count ry’s profile in the world, creating receptivity for it in all other countries including those in the African continent. First, its combination of forces with the U.S army to help combat the Afghanistan rapid wars in the recent past has helped build trust for Canada in other states. Secondly, the key function that it performed in enhancement of diplomatic relations in the neighboring countries is a source of international credit. South Africa has sustained global friendships with Canada in the recent years. The lead role that Canada played in the abolishment of apartheid system in S. Africa in 1976 remains memorable today[10]. The assistance in the enactment of peace, security and democratic political system is approve that Canada is a global peace-creator, a factor that leads to most countries embrace the state. As is if that was not enough, Canada has enthusiastically participated in the Sudan crises, acting as an object of making peace, basing their total assistance in the pillars of peace, security, and democracy. In addition, it participated in the legalization of peace process, whose first step involved the signing of treaties of peace between Sudan and Darfur. The compassionate and human rights international commission has recognized Canada as a campaigner for the human welfare, a factor that makes many nations to envy Canada, thus involving them in their issues. Having participated in the world wars in the 19th century has created a good ground for Canada to participate in other recent wars, thus becoming an international player through the past experience10. How Canada should play a larger international role Canada should play a larger international role in the near future. The stability in the Canadian government system will help Canada to participate in the international affairs with a lot of ease. The political system is identified to embrace democracy, peace, and security, which will help the world in very many ways, bearing in mind the iss ue of international immigration[11]. Additionally, Canada anticipates getting involved in the promotion of world peace, security as well as diplomacy in all states, having served as an example in the promotion of South-African and Sudan peace in the recent past. The experience they have gained through their active participation in the international trade with global nations is a driving factor towards their future participation in the international trade. Having long established strong trade relations with its neighboring states, Canada will have a great opportunity in establishing trade relations with the global entities in the future. In addition, the nation is captivated towards becoming successful in the anticipated modern agrarian revolution, with an objective of producing the best crops that are a benefit to the world. This will drive the country into becoming globally famous for all nations to t desire relating with Canada[12]. On the other hand, for Canada to participate in the international roles, there is a requirement that the government system be completely evaluated in order to eliminate the vices that may act as drawbacks for future development. The recent criticism towards the government legalization of unethical issues like similar gender marriage may be a source of rampant challenges, in the feeling that the influence may spread to other parts of the world. At the same time, it is possible to play international role in the sense that the great anticipation that the country has is to become an international role model for sustainable metropolitan development[13]. This aspiration should drive the country far in terms of economic growth, since the urbanization will also play a lead role in tourism promotion. The current project management systems are also well suited for international affairs. Canada is a leader in managing quality as the most crucial aspect in the construction and improvement of the modern transport means. Thus, with great enth usiasm to attain the set goals, it will be easier for them to penetrate in the world. Canada is also one of the leading countries in the military strength, thus it would be crucial if the countries involve it in the peacekeeping and war combating efforts in the near future. With the recent technological advancements, it is easier for every country in the world to penetrate globally, Canada inclusive as one of the states that have really embraced global development[14]. Conclusion The recent economic, social, and political developments are contributing factors for Canada’s participation in larger international roles. Embarking on the modern technological and infrastructure developments will also play a key role in making Canada a future global entity. Therefore, it is crucial that the nation implements new international standard strategies with the main objective of enhancing productivity and performance in the international scope. Thus, Canada should play a larger internation al role. Bibliography Cutler, Claire and Zacher, Mark. Canada. Canadian foreign policy and international economic regimes. N.Y. UBC Press, Inc, 1992.Web. Liem, Simon. Canada Playing a Larger Role on International Stage. Ontario: the link newspaper, Inc, 2011. Web. Kilgour, David. Canada’s Role in the World: New Opportunities in a Changing Global Environment. N.S: Halifax, 2005. Web. Mahler, Gregory. New dimensions of Canadian federalism: Canada in a comparative perspective. UP: Farleigh Dickinson, Inc, 1987. Web. OECD Publishing. Canada. Ontario: OECD Publishing, Inc, 1998. Web. Whelan, Peter. Canada’s international role: Four political perspectives. The Ploughshares Monitor, volume 25, no. 3, 2004. Web. Winter magazine. Business and entrepreneurship. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Ontario: Council for Small Business Entrepreneurship, Inc, 1986-1987. Web. Footnotes Kilgour, David. Canada’s Role in the World: New Opportunities in a Changing Glo bal Environment, (N.S: Halifax, 2005). Winter magazine. Business and entrepreneurship. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, (Canada: Council for Small Business Entrepreneurship, Inc, 1986-1987). Winter magazine. Business and entrepreneurship. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, (Canada: Council for Small Business Entrepreneurship, Inc, 1986-1987). Winter magazine. Business and entrepreneurship. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, (Canada: Council for Small Business Entrepreneurship, Inc, 1986-1987). Winter magazine. Business and entrepreneurship. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, (Canada: Council for Small Business Entrepreneurship, Inc, 1986-1987). OECD Publishing. Canada, (Canada: OECD Publishing, Inc, 1998). OECD Publishing. Canada, (Canada: OECD Publishing, Inc, 1998). Whelan, Peter. Canada’s international role: Four political perspectives. The Ploughshares Monitor, volume 25, no. 3, Autumn 2004. Mahler, Gregory. New di mensions of Canadian federalism: Canada in a comparative perspective, (UP: Farleigh Dickinson, Inc, 1987). Mahler, Gregory. New dimensions of Canadian federalism: Canada in a comparative perspective, (UP: Farleigh Dickinson, Inc, 1987). Cutler, Claire and Zacher, Mark. Canada. Canadian foreign policy and international economic regimes, (UBC Press, Inc, 1992). Liem, Simon. Canada Playing a Larger Role on International Stage, (Canada: the link newspaper, Inc, 2011). Liem, Simon. Canada Playing a Larger Role on International Stage, (Canada: the link newspaper, Inc, 2011). Liem, Simon. Canada Playing a Larger Role on International Stage, (Canada: the link newspaper, Inc, 2011). This research paper on Should Canada play a larger international role? was written and submitted by user Wayne Curry 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.

How To Fix Your Marketing Strategy With Marcus Sheridan

How To Fix Your Marketing Strategy With Marcus Sheridan When you were younger, who did you go to when you had a tough question? Your single source of truth your dad. These days, when people have questions, they ask a search engine. They go to Alexa! There are big questions that companies are afraid to answer. As marketers, are you listening to questions your customers are asking? Are you answering the right questions? Today, my guest is Marcus Sheridan, author of They Ask You Answer. Premise of Book: Business philosophy of how buyers think, questions they ask, and how they want to learn and buy Elements of Success: Seen as a teacher and trusted voice in your space Many of us think and speak like marketers; be honest when creating content Big 5 subjects that determine what people buy and companies don’t want to address; cost-based, negative/problems, comparison, best of, and reviews Let customers learn from you, not someone else; consumer ignorance is no longer a viable sales and marketing strategy Stop the mindset of digital marketing as an expense and sales team as revenue Get leadership to understand concepts/results of sales and marketing initiative Marketer Psychology: Prophet to the world, but no one listens to you in hometown Why are you producing content? For marketing or sales? The falsehood of too much Emails should include education; refuse to be average Links: They Ask You Answer Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan on LinkedIn Marcus Sheridan’s Email Marcus Sheridan on Twitter The Sales Lion Blog Amazon Alexa Angie’s List Seth Godin Who and what would you like to hear about and from? Send me your feedback! If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes by Marcus Sheridan: â€Å"It’s a business philosophy and it’s an obsession with the way buyers think, the questions they ask, and how they want to learn and how they want to buy.† â€Å"We make a big mistake within the marketing space because, fundamentally, too many of us think and speak like marketers.† â€Å"Big 5: Buyers are obsessed with them. Businesses don’t like to talk about them.† â€Å"Consumer ignorance is no longer a viable sales and marketing strategy.†

Postal Rule Essays

Postal Rule Essays Postal Rule Essay Postal Rule Essay Wajid, a plumber, has a mobile phone contract with Telecom until 31st October. He has also had dealings with phone companies Webphone and Savaphone, with a view to getting a cheaper phone contract elsewhere. The current date is 7th October. Wajid has a problem in the area of agreement concerning the three contracts he has sought advice on. Agreement is the meeting of minds or actions of the parties to agree on a contract, within which are two sections, offer and acceptance. Both offer and acceptance are essential for the formation of a valid and binding contract, so each issue Wajid has needs to be viewed in these terms to discuss whether he is bound to any contracts or not. Individually each contract, or potential contract, will be discussed to decide whether Wajid has a binding contract with any of the three companies which he has dealt with. Telecom Wajid currently has a phone contract with Telecom, which is due to expire on 31st October. He received a letter from them on 1st October, explaining to him that his contract will automatically be renewed unless they hear from him before the end of his current contract. With reference to acceptance. For a contract to be valid there must be an offer and an acceptance. A valid acceptance must agree to all particulars in the offer, otherwise it becomes a counter-offer. All terms and conditions must be met in order for an acceptance to be valid. See Neale v Merritt (1930), where an offer stipulated full payment on acceptance. The defendant purported to accept the offer and enclose part payment, and a promise to pay the rest in instalments. This was deemed in court to not be a true acceptance, and the contract declared void. Offers, unless stated otherwise, can be communicated either in writing, orally or by conduct. Wajid would extend his contract with Telecom on 1st November by conduct, as he would not have informed them that he no longer wishes to have a contract with them, however, given the current date is still only 7th October, he has not entered into this new contract yet. Wajid does not have a binding contract with Telecom apart from that which he is coming to the end of. Unless the 31st October passes and he has not communicated to them his wish to end his contract, then he will not have a binding contract with them, only the contract which he already has, which is coming to its end. Savaphone On 2nd October Wajid telephoned Savaphone, and was quoted a price cheaper than that of Telecom. He said on the phone that hed sign up and the salesperson sent out the forms for him to sign, which Wajid received on the 4th, signed and promptly posted back on his way to work. With reference to offer. An offer is made where a person (offeror) unequivocally expresses to another (offeree) his willingness to make a binding agreement on the terms specified by him if they are accepted by the offeree. An offer may be made to a specific person, a group of people or the world at large. An offer to a specific person cannot be accepted by anyone except that person. In relation to invitation to treat. Invitation to treat is not an offer, and its acceptance does not constitute the formation of a contract. There are many cases where invitations a misconstrued as offers. For example a shop displaying goods for sale with a price tag attached, they are not obliged to sell at that price, and it is only an invitation to buy the products, not an offer, see Fisher v Bell (1966) and Partridge v Crittendon (1968). Wajid received an invitation to treat on the phone from Savaphone, so does not constitute a binding contract. However, when he receives the formal offer letter in the post, signs it and posts it back, he has accepted an offer from Savaphone. With reference to Postal Rule. The postal rule is that, where acceptance by post has been requested or where it is an appropriate and reasonable means of communication between the parties, then acceptance is complete immediately the letter has been posted, see Adams v Lindsell (1818) and Household fire insurance co v Grant (1879). The application of the postal rule requires that the letter of acceptance has been posted, addressed and stamped properly; see Re London and Northern Bank (1900) and Getreideimport GmbH v Contimar (1953). The postal rule does not apply where the means of communication are instantaneous (oral, telephone, telex, fax, e-mail) where the express or implied terms of the offer exclude the postal rule. See Holwell Securities v Hughes, CA, 1974 where it is unreasonable to use the post or where the application of the rule would produce a manifest absurdity, see Holwell Securities v Hughes, CA, 1974. Wajid has a binding contract with Savaphone, because the postal rule states that as soon as a letter of acceptance has been posted, then acceptance is complete and a contract is binding. With regard to Wajid leaving a telephone message stating he no longer wants a contract with them, after contacting Webphone, the postal rule states that where the rule applies, an offeree who has posted his acceptance is not allowed to revoke it by some quicker means of communication, in this case by phone, see Dunmore v Alexander (1830). Wajid does have a binding contract with Savaphone, as of 4th October, due to the effect of the postal rule, and that he was not allowed to revoke the rule and acceptance by leaving an answer phone message with Savaphone. Webphone The Webphone case is based on whether an offer has been made and accepted. By clicking on the internet prompts, Wajid had not entered into a contract with Webphone. The website gave an invitation to treat, which Wajid accepted, which would lead to the formal offer letter being sent to him, similar to what happened with Savaphone. However, by the 6th October Wajid had not received the forms from Webphone, and the company had realised that they had made an error on the website, that they had been offering a wrong price (too low). After Wajid contacted them via e-mail, they replied inviting him to take advantage of the correct price for a contract. Wajid had not accepted an offer at a lower price, as Webphone had realised their error before sending out the official offer documents, so he has no binding contract with Webphone at all, at the correct or lower price. Wajid could have claimed a case of Negligence through common mistake from Webphone, but, using Smith v Eric S Bush (1990), the case gave rise to giving the defendants suitable time to detect the error and rectify it, which Webphone did in this case. Only if Webphone had sent out the documents with the lower price and then retracted the lower price, would they be liable for negligent charges against them. Wajid has no binding contract with Webphone. When looking for a remedy to this problem, an overview of Wajids situation is required. He has a contract with Telecom which expires on 31st October but will automatically renew on 1st November unless he contacts them to cancel. He has a binding contract with Savaphone because he has signed and posted his acceptance of their offer, and on 7th October has received confirmation of his new mobile phone contract with them. Wajid has no binding contract with Webphone, as they rectified their error and sent no official documents for him to sign. It seems that Wajid now has no choice but to stick with the Savaphone contract to which he is now bound to, which is cheaper than that of Telecom. He would be advised to cancel his Telecom contract before his time runs out, and stick with the Savaphone deal. He need have no more dealings with Webphone because he has no binding contract with them. Wajid will be left with one mobile phone contract, which is cheaper than that which he originally had, so is better off now than before. He need not pursue any court proceedings for his mobile phone contracts, as he would not have a case against any of them. Advice to Wajid would therefore be to stick with his now binding Savaphone contract. Bibliography Law for Accountancy students 7th edition; Richard Card Jennifer James; Butterworths publishers 2002

Human Resources Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Human Resources - Case Study Example It is worth mentioning in this context that an individual is free to do anything as long as he or she does not violate the nation’s constitution. Oiler’s activities, on this basis, can also be argued as the ones that do not violate the nation’s constitution, which lacked any protection for transgender or even did not provide any legal barrier to such activities. Moreover, Peter Oiler has always been punctual, trustworthy, and an exceptionally productive employee. He has always performed his tasks honestly, without giving the management any chance to make any complaints. He has always been working hard for the betterment of the organization and was treated as an asset for the company by his peers. There have been no complaints regarding his discipline or manners at the workplace even before his dismissal. In addition to these facts, even his co-workers did not have any complaints either with his work or with his cross-dressing. It should be noted that Civil rights Acts of 1964, Title VII (Equal Employment Opportunities) prohibits any kind of employee discrimination based on color, sex, race and national origin (National Archives, n.d.). It should be noticed that Peter Oiler was a truck driver in the organization and not the employee of a higher rank; therefore, it can be argued that Winn-Dixie has not only violated the employees’ rights but has also lost one of its loyal and hardworking employees (Texas Woman’s University, 2012). To be precise, the case apparently depicts that the rights of Oiler were violated. Question 2 ‘Employment at-will’ is being followed in many American states by the employers or the organizations to fire their employees and end the employment relationship without any liability, especially in cases which do not involve any defined contract (Texas Woman’s University, 2012). Such practices have often been observed to impose negative impacts on the employees and often de-motivate them fr om giving their best to the organization. It may also result in the decline in their productivity for the organization, distorting its image to a certain extent. In this case, after Peter Oiler’s termination, a fear and a doubt have arose in the minds of the Winn-Dixie’s employees concerning their job security and future – they thought that what had happen with Oiler can also happen to any other employee of the organization. This activity of the organization also raised many questions regarding its trust-worthiness among the employees. It may create tension between the organization and the employees, creating hurdles in the way of the organization to achieve its predetermined missions and objectives. Employees may also stop focusing much on the quality of their performance, which may ruin the overall image of the organization. Even if new ideas are generated among the employees, they may resist communicating them to the management, as they are afraid to lose the ir job. Furthermore, people are likely to resist the interference of any other entity in their personal life without liability. If the organization like Winn-Dixie continues to relate one’s personal life with one’s workplace performances, the employees are likely to consider it as a restriction to their personal space, which can affect the company’

HCM337-0704B-01 Current Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Issues in H - Essay - 5

HCM337-0704B-01 Current Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Issues in H - Phase 3 Discussion Board - Essay Example Medical errors are common in the field due to human involvement however the life and death situations pay no respect to human error. A 2006 report by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies study found that medication errors are among the most common medical mistakes, harming at least 1.5 million people every year [2]. With the current system each day about 125,000 suits are filed against the doctors for mal practice. Although 70 percent of those suits filed are closed without any payment, the rest who don’t, deliver hefty sums to the patients [3]. A 2001 year average payout to the patients was estimated to be $3.9 million according to the Jury Verdict Research of the Insurance Information Institute. With such a change to extract so much money out of a suing, it is any wonder who doesn’t want to win the lottery? With so many suits filed every day, the doctors are taking malpractice insurance to keep them monetarily safe from the patients. However the costs of the insurance have risen since the 1990s. The U.S. Government Accounting Office reported in 2003 that these increases were due increased losses to malpractice insurers in paying malpractice claims, decreases in investment income of insurers, and increased costs of reinsurance, which increased overall costs to insurers. Nearly all states require that physicians have liability insurance. Even in states that don’t, physicians usually have to have insurance coverage in order to get privileges to see patients at a hospital [3] In order to cap the sky rocketing premiums and costs for mal-practice insurance, most of the states have adopted Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 (MICRA) which restricts the maximum award of a law suit. One solution to bring the cost of insurance down is by treating the patients correctly. Once the patient has no chance to complain, the law suits will become non-existent and hence this would

Big Five Personality Theory Essay Example for Free

Big Five Personality Theory Essay Psychology refers to study of human mind and behavior. The main aim of psychology is to gain an intricate understanding of all and why individuals behave the way they do and what are the causes of their behavior. The ultimate aim is to understand a man in order to benefit society at large. There are many theories that discuss and try to explore different aspects of human behavior. The big five personality theory has been revolutionary and is currently the most accepted model in the scientific community. It consists of five traits – Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional stability, and openness and can be remembered by acronym – Ocean. One of the best ways to access a trait is to directly ask a person about the trait ( self report ) and then get an observer to confirm the trait ( observer report ). Me and my husband scored me on various traits as detailed above separately. We scored the answers, the scores and details of each trait are as below: Extroversion: My extroversion scores were (41- 41). This suggests I am talkative, outgoing, seek adventure, and excitement. Introverted people are quiet and reserved, though some researchers have shown that introverts can be as gregarious in social situations as extroverts but the key is in the source of energy. Extroverts gain energy from social interactions where as introverts from solitude. This is so true in my case. I have never been comfortable being alone. Openness: I scored (78-65) in openness, which is characterized by imagination, broadmindedness, originality. People low in this trait traditional, stick to familiarity, follow tested paths. It’s true in my case. I love challenges, trying new things adds new dimension and meaning to my life. In fact I would go ahead and say not doing different things disappoints me. It is this trait that got me my boyfriend who is now my husband. I guess this need comes because I lived 22years of ritualistic and traditional life. Thanks to a strict father. Conscientious : I scored (33-36) on conscientious which is characterized by dependability, efficiency and persistence. I love order in anything. Be it my wardrobe, gym routine, doing my laundry on Saturday or cleanliness of the house. Being on time to appointments, keeping order in life, I believe speaks volumes about a person and I intend to have a positive one. Guess, I get that trait from my father. He was always prompt with bills, early for appointments even informal ones. I did not know one could live any other way. Agreeableness: I scored 30(me)-43(husband) in agreeableness. It is characterized by less negative emotions, like jealousy, revenge and more empathy. People low in this trait look to win arguments not people, lean more towards excitement and dominance. I guess my husband sees me as being as agreeable because he himself is a agreeable person and sees positive in others always whereas I am more critical of myself. I am supportive of friends and family and empathize a lot with people to an extent that I feel angry if my close ones are insulted. But at the same time if someone does something wrong even if it is my mother I will not stop myself from confronting her. So, I must say I agree with my score of 30. Emotional stability: I Scored 16(me)-29(husband) in Emotional stability. It is characterized by stability in emotions in various situations in life and they are calm, free from persistent negative feelings. People rating low on this trait show negative emotions like anger, anxiety, depression, low tolerance to stress, mood swings and pessimism, Both me and my husband have scored me low on this scale. The reason is I do get stressed easily. Exams, major decisions in life get me on my nerves. At those times I am a different person – angry, not approachable and irritable. But once I find solution to the problem in my mind, I immediately get back to being myself. I guess, I need to work on being more stable. The big 5 theory helps shed light towards formation of human personalities and why different individuals exhibit different emotions and reactions when dealing with different social situations. Human behavior just like psychology itself is a broad specialty and having all the answers is virtually i mpossible. However having different theories give innumerable details that helps form a bigger picture of causes and variables that shape a human. Anju Priyadarshini

Pendleton Civil Service Act :: essays research papers

Pendleton Civil Service Act Since the beginning of the government, people gained and lost their jobs whenever a new president took office. These jobs were political pay-offs for people who supported them. Many people did not take their jobs too seriously because they knew they would be out of their office soon. As Henry Clay put it, government officials after an election are "like the inhabitants of Cairo when the plague breaks out; no one knows who is next to encounter the stroke of death." Over the years the flaws that were made and the problems that resulted became more obvious. After an election you could open a newspaper and find many advertisements, which offered government jobs that were filled before the election. On January 16, 1883 the U.S. legislation established a law, which gave employment based on merit rather than on political party affiliation that leads to corruption in the government system. Widespread public demand for reform in the government was stirred after the Civil War by accusations of incompetence, corruption, and theft in federal departments. After a guy who was refused an office job that he was capable of assassinated President James A. Garfield in 1881, civil service reform became a leading issue in the elections of 1882. In January 1883, Congress passed a comprehensive civil service bill sponsored by Senator George H. Pendleton, providing for the open selection of government employees and guaranteeing the right of citizens to compete for federal jobs without regard to politics, religion, race, or national origin. The new law covered only about 10 percent of the positions in the federal government, but nearly every president after Chester A. Arthur, who signed the bill in to law, broadened its scope. By 1980 more than 90 percent of federal employees were protected by the act. The Pendleton Civil Service Act classified certain jobs, removed them from the ranks, and set up a Civil Service Commission to oversee a system based on merit and not political stance. The commission draws up the rules governing examinations for those positions that Congress places in the classified civil service.

Minority Marketing

There are various environmental factors that must be considered in the designing of the marketing strategy.   The microenvironment, as part of the company’s marketing environment, consists of factors that directly impact the company and its ability to serve.   The macroenvironment, on the other hand, includes the larger societal and cultural forces that affect the microenvironment (Multicultural Marketing). Another name for minority marketing is multicultural marketing, which entails communication with diverse cultures or market segments that belong to diverse backgrounds as well as settings.   Cultures determine how members of society think, feel, and act (Haralambos and Holborn, 1995).   Hence, culture also determines the tastes of people in products that they would actually purchase. As a matter of fact, cultural values of a society are reflected in the members’ views of organizations, products, services, and other environmental entities.   Therefore, it is essential for a company planning to market to minorities to gain an understanding of the culture of the minorities in question.   Only by understanding the culture and values of the minorities may the organization be able to provide its targeted consumers with the products and services they would eventually buy. Through advertising and public relations with segmented media, an organization may come into contact with any diverse group that it wants to target through its marketing strategy.   By placing an ad or article in the language of a minority group, the company may easily get its message across.   Experts indicate that it makes very good business sense to include the people of color, different age groups, genders, in addition to people with disabilities, in advertisements as  well as other marketing materials.   This strategy allows for powerful, nonverbal communication which goes deep into the mind of the consumer (Multicultural Marketing). It is also essential for organizations to take into account the meaning of differing cultural universes (Dr. Michael Hurd).   As an example, the American Motor Corporation named its product, the â€Å"Matador,† only to realize later that to Puerto Ricans, the word means â€Å"killer.†Ã‚   Another example revealing the significance of understanding cultural universes has to do with ethics. In this case, a 30-second advertising spot proved to be an expensive error on the part of Doubletree Hotels Corporation, seeing that it was deemed as offensive to the Arab community, portraying the staff of the hotel wearing Arab-style clothing and bowing to guests.   This ad segment was interpreted as the staff worshipping or imploring visitors.   As the majority of Arabs worship the one true God, the ad was seen to ridicule them (International Business Customs). Organizations cannot assume that all people of the nation would have the same cultural values.   Rather, it is ethical to take into account the societal and religious practices as well as beliefs of the people that the organization targets in its marketing strategy as potential customers.   After all, the marketing mix is meant to satisfy customers.   Therefore, it is of the essence for the organization to analyze the what, where, when, and how of consumer behavior.   The social factor is very important in the consumer’s decision to make a purchase.   This factor is influenced by opinion leaders, the consumer’s family, reference groups, culture and social class. Understanding different cultures helps an organization to produce that which a particular market segment demands.   Given that Chinese Americans have a strong preference for communicating in their native language, a company that wants to target Chinese Americans may  want to write the name of its product on marketing literature in both English and Chinese.   According to research, the Hispanics too have a preference to communicate in their own language.   Sixty eight percent of Hispanics in Houston indicated that they prefer to watch Spanish language television.   Hence, an organization that wants to target Hispanic Americans may want to spend more of its marketing funds on ads that would be run on Spanish language television (Qaddumi, 1999). Back in 1998, research further revealed that given the Chinese emphasis on new technology, at least 72.1% of Chinese American families have access to computes and at least 53% have access to the Internet.   Hence, it is easy to target Chinese American consumers through Internet marketing (Chinese American, 1998).   What is more, a majority of Hispanic Americans indicated that food coupons had a great influence on their purchasing decisions. Once again, marketing research based on minorities as the target consumers of an organization, can work wonders for the organization.   Every minority group has differing needs with relevance to its cultural practices.   An organization that includes ethical considerations with special reference to minority groups, is more likely to satisfy its target consumers with its marketing approach, seeing that this organization is not bound to ridicule its consumers instead of pleasing them. One very successful organization targeting minorities through its media campaigns is Southwest Airlines.   The fourth largest major airline in the United States especially targets African Americans as well as Hispanics.   The result? – Today, Southwest Airlines is a model organization that everybody would like to study in terms of marketing strategy. References â€Å"Chinese American Social Behavior Index.† (1998, Jan 24). Asian Trends. Online. Internet. 26 Jul. 2001. Churchill, Richard. (2001, April 2). â€Å"Southwest Airlines Powering a Sales Liftoff – Southwest Airlines Co. advertising targets African-Americans.† Brandweek. â€Å"Dr. Michael Hurd on Effective Therapy.† Dr. Hurd’s Website. Online. Internet. 25 Jul. 2001. Haralambos, Michael, and Holborn, Martin. (1995). Sociology—Themes and Perspectives. 4th ed. London: Collins Educational. â€Å"International Business Customs† Eglobal Greetings. Online. Internet. 21 Jun. 2001. 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Multicultural Marketing.† About the Human Internet. Online. Internet. 25 Jul. 2001. 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Qaddumi, Thora. (1999, September 15). â€Å"’Impact’: Houston Hispanic market is ripe for Marketing.† Houston Business Journal. Online. Internet. 25 Jul. 2001.

Born This Way

Okonkwo was a hero in Ibo society, initially, because of his devotion to tradition and religion. He was a hero, also, because of his unbreakable resolve, his ambition to be great, and his hard work ethic. Okonkwo’s fall from hero status is a microcosm of the Ibo society’s lost of values which made it an esteemed society. Both Okonkwo and the Ibo society itself abandoned their traditions, religious beliefs, and lost their positions of strength. Okonkwo was a hero in the Ibo society because; he was devoted to tradition, religion, and the rules. Okonkwo stood firm against the religious and political orders that the Europeans brought to Umofia. Even though Okonkwo said that he was doing what was best for his society, he also was fearful of the change to a new culture and a new tradition that would change his high stature in the society, â€Å"[a]n abominable religion has settled among you. A man can now leave his father and his brothers. He can curse gods of his fathers and his ancestors, like a hunter’s dog that suddenly goes mad and turns on his master. I fear for you; I fear for you the clan† (Achebe 124). This was problematic for Okonkwo because his sense of his own worth was dependent upon how the society judged him. Okonkwo was a hero because of his unbreakable resolve, his ambition to be great and his hard work ethic, â€Å"[h]e had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and could not get his words out quickly enough, he would use his fists had no patience with unsuccessful men. † (Achebe 5). Okonkwo’s behavior was the result of having a father who was poor, soft, and did not claim any title in his life time. Okonkwo struggled not to become a weak and lazy man like his father. He believed that he had to be strong, hard working, and become well respected by his village but, he was afraid of failure. Okonkwo took on opposite beliefs such as being wealthy, brave and anything else that would not make him look like an agabla, or feminine. Okonkwo’s life began to fall apart after three incidents; first when he killed Ikemefuma, who was someone who lived with him and was like a son to him but he did it because he wanted to appear to be brave. Next, he was exiled from the clan for seven years. Okonkwo knew that he lost his standing in the Ibo society because of his exile. Okonkwo’s awareness of his lost of stature in the Ibo society was conveyed by the narrator when he said, â€Å"he had lost the chance to lead his warlike clan against the new religion, which, he was told, had gained ground. [h]e had lost the years in which he might have taken the highest titles in the land† (Achebe 121). His ambitions of being rich and powerful became obsolete, because of his exile. His final downfall was when Nwoye, his oldest and favorite son, converted to Christianity. This deeply depressed Okonkwo because he had not only high hopes for Nwoye, but he was his heir. Being robbed of a position of strength and not being able to resist change was the downfall of the Ibo culture. As soon as the white people came to Umofia everything that the tribe had once stood for was slowly becoming obsolete, â€Å"Now he has won out brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart† (Achebe 125). Okonkwo felt betrayed by the members of the tribe whom he had once seen as great warrior like men. Okonkwo believed that if he had not been exiled he would have prevented people from converting to Christianity. He was also disappointed in the behavior of his clan members. â€Å"Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was not just a personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had unaccountably become soft like women† (Achebe 129). The clan members that he knew and remembered would have driven out the white men long ago. Okonkwo’s feelings of disappointment of the new society that had taken over Umofia, lost of esteem, lost of cultural identity, guilt and disappointment in his clan members led him to commit suicide. Okonkwo started out with everything he wanted, barns filled with yams, wives, children, being a warrior, and a well-respected, hardworking member of the society. He had a plan for his life but the plan fell apart. He lost the traditions that he loved and cherished. He viewed the white missionaries as a threat to the way he wanted his life to be in his society. He was not flexible and did not want to change. Despite his self assessment, Okonkwo actually does adhere to his values. The Ibo culture has changed; but Okonkwo, while he was exiled (or maybe because he was exiled) does not take on the culture values of European society. He could have only become accepted in the changed culture if he, himself, had accepted the new culture, and changed himself. This change was not a change that Okonkwo wanted to evolve into. He believed that he was born that way and could not and would not change his beliefs. He did it the way he wanted to and ended his life.