Y2k Essays (1041 words) - Stock Market, Investment,

Y2k Y2K pessimists are approaching their moment of truth. In seven weeks the world will, or will not, run into more trouble than most people think. Investors will, or will not, suffer last-minute jitters as the millennium draws near. Yes, yes, I know?it's not yet the millennium, from a technical point of view. As a stern band of readers likes to remind me, only morons believe the millennium falls on Jan. 1. The 1,000-year span actually ends on the year's last day, Dec. 31, 2000. Well, that may be their millennium, but it's not mine. I'm partying now. A more interesting question than calendar dates is whether the stock and bond markets will be partying too. Has the Y2K selling already happened (as I believe) or will it erupt in the final days? If there's the usual year-end rally?and last Friday looked good?will we wake up with a hangover? When you read this, the Federal Reserve will probably have made its latest decision about interest rates (its open-market committee meets on Tuesday, Nov. 16). Either result?rates up or rates flat?should be good for stocks, says economist Irwin Kellner of Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Investors will feel more secure for the next few months. The markets don't expect the Fed to raise rates in December, on Y2K eve, or in early 2000, when business conditions might be distorted by the millennial bump. Rate hike: After that, investor concern about interest-rate increases may resume. The Fed wants the economy to slow, to ward off the inflation that could arise from tight labor markets and global growth. You're seeing some cooling already in housing and auto sales, but perhaps not enough. We're thinking one or two modest rate hikes, over six to nine months, says economist Allen Sinai, president of Primark Decision Economics in New York. Even so, hardly anyone mentions the R word. A recession could always arise from an unexpected shock, but none of the conventional signals are flashing red. By cooling things down, the rate hikes will preserve the expansion, Sinai says. It's still a great equity bull market. It just won't rise as much as it did in the past. Bond-fund managers have been shouting and waving their hands, trying to attract your eye. Last year's Russian crisis, plus the Y2K effect, drove money into U.S. Treasury securities, says Martin Barnes, managing editor of the Bank Credit Analyst in Montreal. Other types of bonds now carry relatively higher rates. That's a big opportunity, Barnes says. If you buy, you'll earn extra profits when the fixed-income markets get back to normal. High-yield bonds are very cheap, says Theresa Havell of Havell Capital Management in New York. Interest rates are in the 10 to 11 percent range. Havell thinks that total returns could reach 15 to 18 percent next year, as the markets adjust. And tax-free municipals? So cheap they're a giveaway, she says. Still, it's hard to interest people in bonds once they've sampled the thrill of AOL. Jeremy Siegel, of the Wharton School in Philadelphia, and high priest of growth stocks, sees no end to their dominance. A few have disappointed?Coca-Cola, Disney, Merck?but a few always do. AOL may be down 11 percent from its April peak, but it's up 93 percent for the year. Growth stocks generally boast high and rising earnings, and sell for high prices, relative to those earnings. Value stocks, by contrast, sell for low price-earnings ratios, and often are companies in trouble. In the 1970s and early 1980s, value stocks trounced growth. Then growth took over and never looked back. Go wrong: Growth investors go wrong, however, when they try to pick a small handful of winners, Siegel says. You might wind up with too much Coke and too little Lucent (or the opposite, when their relative market performance turns). He also counsels against stocks with P/Es over 75, which currently include Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems, Yahoo and AOL. High P/E stocks that can't keep delivering staggering gains in earnings (or any earnings at all) will get beaten up. The best growth-stock strategy? Buy a well-diversified fund, Siegel says. One good candidate: the Vanguard Growth Stock Fund, which is the growth half of Standard & Poor's 500-stock index (the Value Stock Fund is the other half). So

C-141vsC-17compare&contrast essays

C-141vsC-17compare&contrast essays For the past 39 years, the C-141B Starlifter cargo jet has served the United States Air Force as its primary workhorse for handling transport duties during armed conflicts, as well as, peacekeeping and humanitarian missions throughout the world. However, the needs of todays military in the ever-changing worldwide environment have begun to reveal the C-141Bs age. In recent years, threats to the United States national security have increased the immediacy of replacing the C-141B with an aircraft that meets the current needs of our military, yet is flexible enough to meet future needs as well. The C-17 Globemaster III, originally developed to complement the C-141B, has now become the heir apparent to the aging Starlifter. Developed in 1991 and operational since 1995, the C-17 Globemaster III is in every way superior to the aging C-141B. With its four engines each producing 40,500 pounds of thrust, the C-17 is capable of a maximum speed of 515 mph and a service ceiling of 45,000 feet. Its powerful engines allow the C-17 to use a runway only 3,000 feet long. By comparison, the C-141Bs four engines produce only 20,250 pounds of thrust. This limits the aircraft to a maximum speed of 475 mph and a service ceiling of 41,000 feet. The C-141B requires a runway of at least 6,000 feet, which makes it impractical for many of the worlds runways. A big advantage of the C-17 is its minimal crew requirements. A crew of three is all it takes to fly this aircraft. A pilot and a co-pilot handle flying duties, while only one loadmaster is responsible for the cargo bay, cargo, and passengers. The C-141B, however, requires as many as six crewmembers to operate. A pilot, co-pilot, engineer, and scanner are necessary to fly the plane, and 2-3 loadmasters are required to manage the cargo and passengers. Of course, this also means twice as many crew need to be trained, and the training per person is generally more exp...

As a Mercerian, what do you consider the most importasnt leadership Essay

As a Mercerian, what do you consider the most importasnt leadership quality and why - Essay Example Intelligence appeals to me as the core leadership quality because it arouses and supports all the other requisite qualities for successful leadership. It is out of intelligence that a leader would be able to communicate sense to the audience, understand the desires of the followers and appeal to their support for the intended course. It is intelligence that would give a leader the confidence to communicate to with followers and earn confidence in whatever decisions made. Indeed, intelligence could be attributed to the success of many leaders be it in political, social, professional or religious circles. For example, Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc., a leading international technological company, was endowed with intelligence that not only enabled him innovate the most marketable technological gadgets but also appeal to employees of Apple Inc. to live to the vision of the organization. It is the intelligence of Nelson Mandela, the first president of independent South Africa, which saw the country attain independence from colonialists and in addition unite the people of South Africa after apartheid regardless of their background. Therefore, I am certain that intelligence is the most important leadership

Business-to-Business E-Business Technology Research Paper

Business-to-Business E-Business Technology - Research Paper Example The Business-to-Business E-Business Technology concept emerged owing to the growing use of internet technology in the business sphere. With the enhanced use of internet technology, business corporations can effectively interact with each other both in an intrinsic and extrinsic manner. Intrinsically the business corporations can better relate the head office functions with the several branches spread along different regions and also to the warehouses. The business corporations with the use of internet medium can modify the business functions related to purchases and sales in a much faster and efficient fashion. Business-to-Business technological interface helps the business corporations gain a huge number of advantages which can be enumerated as follows. Management of the inventory and sales functions is better managed by business houses through the expanded use of internet technology. The business corporations through the use of the internet medium can effectively track changes in t he external market and thereby modify the products and services rendered. Through enhanced satisfaction of consumer demand, the business houses can generate more amount of profit and also augment on the market share. Moreover, with the enhanced use of internet technology in the business medium the business corporations can effectively minimize the cost of business operations thereby enhancing the productivity aspects. Different companies pertaining to manufacturing and other information technology companies have gained largely owing to the expanded use of internet technology in the business to a business sphere (Haag, 2005,p.139-410). An enhanced understanding of the Business-To-Business Electronic Commerce technology shows that the above technology can be used in different forms by the business corporations while performing business activities.

Review of Own Leadership Behaviour Essay Example for Free

Review of Own Leadership Behaviour Essay B Braun Medical Ltd is one of the worlds leading healthcare suppliers. Our company’s success can be attributed to its employee’s belief in the overall goal of the company and the dedication to achieve them. I work within the Supply Chain Customer Care Department as a Leader of the Emerald Prescription Service, a home delivery business supplying long or short term patients delivery off stoma and incontinence products to there home address. We are a dedicated, compassionate team consisting of six personnel, we look after approximately 2,000 patients who use our service around the UK. We as a team pride ourselves on the fact we are all cross trained and have the ability to undergo anyone’s role if required. I as a leader believe it is important for everyone in the team including myself to be able to carry out any of our procedures with confidence and ease. Various roles within our team are carried out daily in order to supply a slick pro-active service to our patients, which include regular telephone contact with the patients, monthly ordering to ensure they always have supply, contacting GP’s on there behalf to obtain there prescription to dispense there products. Offering hospital specialist stoma and urology nurses a dedicated telephone line so we are able to supply urgent stock to there patients, regular contact with our field based sales staff to communicate wins and falls in achievement and how to improve if something does go wrong. We are a compassionate team pod and have to be when dealing with people. I naturally sit in a democratic leadership model and have strengths which sit in this style, I am a motivated, supportive, calm self confident leader. I listen and communicate well using positive banter and body language. I will encourage idea’s from my team and I give praise and recognition on a good job done. I can adapt well to change and will try new things. Sometimes faced with office culture (tickle tackle) I can face this head on and any problems within my team are ironed out as soon as they occur. I can read a persons personality and situation well and will deal with whatever happens in an appropriate way. To support my theory on my democratic leadership style I carried out a questionnaire with my team please see appendix 1 attached. Our team constantly bring new ideas to the table and our business is in growth and in order to meet this growth we hold monthly meetings. These meetings have advantages and are interactive. They are great for instant feedback, the same information is outlined at the same time making it fair and avoids Chinese whispers. You can get an instant verification of understanding with a clear action plan in place before leaving the meeting and as we are currently looking at improving our procedures to meet business demands the meeting is a priceless tool! Minutes are also issued to backup any member who needs clarification. I also carry out one on ones with my team members a company procedure with yearly objectives set please see examples off these objectives in appendix two. We discuss achievements of these objectives and I give praise, feedback and guidance if required. This helps me to build a strong, flexible and highly effective team with mutual trust for one another.

CEO and Head of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors Essay

This memo is in response to your request concerning how to establish the appropriate tone. The purposes of this memo are, first, to explain the meaning and significance of evaluating control environment; second, to discuss the integrity and ethical values; third, to show the organizational structure; fourth, the importance of establishing commitment to competence; finally, to establish and segregate the division of responsibilities of finance and accounting department in order to establish the appropriate tone. Control Environment Control environment is the step engaged by a company to prevent fraud; both misappropriation of assets and fraudulent financial reporting. It has an equal role in assuring control over manufacturing and other processes. As a result of fraudulent financial reporting, the objective of accounting company is to study the causal factors that are associated with fraudulent reporting and to make recommendation to reduce its incidence. COSO emphasizes that internal control is a process to an end, and not an end in and of itself. The process is effected by individuals, not merely policy manuals, documents, and forms. By including the concept of reasonable assurance which recognizes that the cost of a company’s internal control should not exceed the benefits expected to be obtained. The control environment sets the tone of the company by influencing the control awareness of individual. It may be viewed as the foundation for the other components of internal control. The effectiveness of internal control depends on the integrity and ethical values of the personnel who are responsible for creating, administrating, and monitoring controls. Integrity and Ethical Values Integrity and ethical values are very importan... ...cide what skills are required to appropriately perform job responsibilities. Second, it must staff those jobs with individuals who have the needed skills. Trade-offs can be made in fulfilling these step, such as placing a less experience person in a demanding job and providing that person with extra supervision. Develop a matrix management in other to share authority. Delegate authorities in other to accomplish the organization’s goals, and make sure that people who are making decisions understand that they will be responsible. Works Cited Auditing & Assurances Services by Messier 9th edition 2 (COSO Internal control Framework, Executive Summary) 3 http://www.isaca.org/Journal/Past-Issues/2009/Volume-3/Pages/Tone-at-the-Top-Is-Vital1.aspx 4 http://www.coso.org/documents/990025P_Executive_Summary_final_may20_e.pdf 5 www.journalofaccountancy.com †º May 2004‎

Greatest Happiness Principle

In his book Utilitarianism, philosopher John Stuart Mills expands and defends the notion of using the theory of utility to decipher between right and wrong, good or bad, in an attempt ‘to rescue it from utter degradation’ from those who have misapplied the theory.   This brief essay will summarize Mills’ view of utilitarianism by outlining its main themes and issues.Mills is primarily concerned with determining how feelings of pleasure, beauty and happiness play into our ethical standards.   His theory is founded upon the belief that a rational human being will make choices and act with the goal of achieving and fulfilling the greatest utility.   For Mills, the words pleasure and utility are interchangeable, a point he makes in reference to criticism received by previous theories of utility that limited the range of utility’s possibilities.In contrast to his predecessors, Mills advances the Greatest-Happiness Principle in chapter two.   This princip le holds that any action can be judged ‘right’ or ‘good’ as long as they promote happiness.   In fact, the principle states that the degree of ‘rightness’ or ‘goodness’ of an act stands in direct proportion to the amount of happiness the act promotes.This has far ranging consequences because it is not limited to the happiness achieved by an individual in each context, but more importantly it takes into account the greatest human happiness that results from any particular action.Utilitarianism, then, creates a model by which human beings can gauge their actions with the metric of utility for all.   His proof of utilitarianism therefore shows how happiness can be morally desired as a end in and of itself.   It promotes people to act in accordance with the greatest common good.   People not only benefit themselves by acting in this noble way, but they benefit all of humanity in the process.