Tel-com-TEK Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tel-com-TEK - Article Example Atasi Das has an MBA degree from a UK university and has 12 years of experience working in TCT. She won’t be a foreign national in the sense that her parents are first-generation immigrants; she is rooted to Indian culture and speaks Hindi well. She can devote on her job better than other candidates, being unmarried, therefore free from the family responsibilities unlike other candidates. Although her birth country is not India but her parents are Indians and she has many relatives in the North of India. The new assignment might be very challenging for Atasi Das as she has no experience of the Indian work environment. Her earlier assignments in staff and line positions may not help her in the role of managing director of the Indian division, as profile of the managing director is totally different from her previous and current job rankings. Ravi Desai has been in the position of assistant managing director of Southeast Asian markets for production and sales only. Managing the functions singularly of all departments might be challenging for him. Tom Wallace has experience of only technical and sales portfolios of TCT, which might be challenging in taking the overall in charge of the Indian division because of little experience in other areas. Brett Harrison has been in supervisory roles and is fine-tuned to take senior level responsibilities but the rank of managing director might prove to be too high with the related challenges. Jalan Bukit Seng also falls short because of his sigular expertise in assembly operation, which has been outside india. Saumitra Chakraborty although might be the most suitable man for the post of managing director of TCT because of his profile of assistant to the outgoing managing director besides functioning competently in operations, customer relations and to some good extent the employee relations but lacking in direct-line experience might prove a big hurdle to the responsibilities attached with the rank of managing

Corporate Social Responsibility And Organisational Profitability Management Essay

Corporate Social Responsibility And Organisational Profitability Management Essay Abstract There are numerous factors affecting the organizational profitability; one of the important factors is corporate social responsibility. This paper tries to examine the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and organizational profitability. Many tools are used to measure the organizational profitability while those of the corporate social responsibility can sometimes be unreliable or insufficient. The tool chosen for measuring the Corporate Social Responsibility is Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini Co. which is a database that is recently used as one of the most comprehensive source for Corporate Social Performance research. This paper will mainly focus on Egyptian organizations and study their engagement in corporate social responsibility and compare the different result of profitability for a period of five years. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Social Performance, Organizational profitability, Return on investment, Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini Co. Corporate social responsibility and Organizational Profitability Researchers tried to define corporate social responsibility in such way that suits all theoretical and operational purposes, such as Actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law (McWilliams Siegel 2001, P.117). CSR concerns everyone such as customers, employees, suppliers, community groups, governments, and even some stockholders as stated by McWilliams and Siegel (2001). This paper will examine the relationship between corporate social responsibility and the profitability of Egyptian organizations. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the corporate social responsibility will increase the profitability or not and to figure out the main benefits of being engaged in corporate social responsibility. The paper is compromised of three main sections. The first section gives an overview on corporate social responsibility in general and how it is important for both organizations and community. The second section focuses on the concept of organizational profitability as it explains how it can be defined and how profit maximization can be measured. The third section is probably the most important section of the paper as it focuses on studying the relationship between the corporate social responsibility and the organizational profitability and the different consequences that may occur. Literature Review Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept that is growing fast and more attention should be paid to the meaning behind its linguistic. (Amaeshi and Adin, 2007). The definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can sometimes be ambiguous as stated by McWilliams and Siegel (2001). Davis (1960) mentioned that CSR is considered as decisions or actions taken beyond the organizations economic or technical self interest. Moreover Davis (1973) mentioned that CSR doesnt only refer to the economic, technical or legal requirements of the firm, it goes beyond that and may affect all the firms actions. While Fitch (1976) described the CSR as the challenges taken by the corporation whether fully or partially to solve social problems. CSR should also have a suitable degree of how much it fits both the societys expectations and business ethics. (Zenisek, 1979). The notion that business organizations have societal obligations which transcend economic functions of producing and distributing scarce goods and services and generating a satisfactory level of profits for their shareholders (Epstein, 1989, P.585). Moreover it was seen by Maclagan (1999) as a process that should express the moral values and interest of the individuals. McWilliams and Siegel (2001) added that CSR should go beyond the Legal interests of the firms. It should be actions that show some good to the society. While CSR as stated by Carroll (1991) is seen as a pyramid of Economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic as shown in Figure (1.1). The pyramid of CSR was supported by Dusuki (2008) confirming that studies have observed peoples perception based on Carrolls Pyramid of CSR. CSR concerns everyone such as customers, employees, suppliers, community groups, governments, and even some stockholders as stated by McWilliams and Siegel (2001). They all form pressure on the company which can sometimes results in a great conflict on goals and objectives (McWilliams Siegel, 2001). As pointed above, CSR has numerous definitions and explanations. Moreover McWilliams, Siegel and Wright (2006) emphasized on how difficult it is, to make theoretical development or measurement since the definitions of CSR is either too many or not clear enough. Approaches of Corporate Social Responsibility According to Kramer and Porter (2006), four issues for organization to be engaged in CSR are: moral obligation, sustainability, license to operate, and reputation. Kramer and Porter (2006) described the Moral appeal as doing the right thing which appears more in the nonprofitable business. Sustainable Development is defined as Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (Kramer, Porter, 2006, P. 81) while the license to operate can be represented in the governments and the communities regulations and other stakeholders to do business. Finally, reputation is used by many companies to improve a companys image, and gain customers loyalty, build a strong brand and have a higher value of its stock (Kramer Porter, 2006). While Brammer, Millington and Rayton (2007) stated that Employees training can be seen as an activity of social responsible and should be used to increase the employees commitment to the organization, they also mentioned that the fair treatment of employees which is a approach of social corporate responsibility increase commitment to the organization. Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility As mentioned by Cacioppe, Forster and Fox (2007) a lot of studies focusing on how important the companies reputation and whether it is engaged in a social responsibility for both customers and investors or not, while other researches focused on how the attitude and behavior of the managers and professionals can be affected by their perception about the companys ethical and social responsibility. Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Community. Kramer and Porter (2006) added that CSR can provide a wealthy economy and society by having different forms of cooperation such as investing capital, doing business, purchasing goods, and providing jobs. Moreover, Evans, Foote and Gaffney (2010) added that companies could be disciplined by their customers when they dont meet the society expectation or the expectation of the customers by decreasing the demand of their products. Mathis (2007) mentioned that CSR can change companies to be more pro-active and accordingly they will have a high influence on the policy making process and a better position within their sectors than their competitors. Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Organizations. It is important to analyze the effect of CSR on organizations and to determine whether CSR can have an impact on the organizational performance or not. Evans, Foote and Gaffney (2010) stated that CSR has important and clear influence on achieving performance excellence. According to Cacioppe, Forster and Fox (2008) some studies showed that CSR can have a potential influence on the employees and leaders behavior, while organizational success is impacted by the ethical sense of customers and investors. Jaramillo, Mulki and Valenzuela (2010) viewed CSR as a way to gain customers retention and loyalty, on their article they analyzed how ethical firms can not only attract more customers but also build a long term strong relationship. While Singh (2006) explained why many researchers focused on how to achieve the customers needs and wants, since customer satisfaction has a positive influence on the organizational profitability. Cacioppe, Forster and Fox (2008) studied that CSR leads to both the retention of both employees and customers with the trusted brand image and the good quality of workforce. Mathis (2007) looked at the CSR as a way to provide sustainability to organizations. Moreover Cacioppe, Forster and Fox (2008) added that investors take in their consideration companies management before investing in it. Evans, Foote and Gaffney (2010) stated that the least benefit companies can get from taking CSR as one of its business strategy is on the public relations level. Organizational Profitability Profit is the end result of deducting total costs (TC) from total revenues (TR) as stated by Primeaux (1997). Therefore, profit maximization is producing the right quantity of goods or services given the suitable amount of resources (Primeaux, 1997). From a behavioral perception, Profit maximization can also be obtained from producing the correct quantity with an acceptable quality of goods or services to the customers and as the legal and ethical standards of the society (Primeaux Stieber, 1994). The performance measurement that will be used to evaluate and compare the efficiency of different investments will be the return on investment (ROI). To calculate ROI, the benefit of an investment, it is divided by the cost of the investment; the result is a percentage or a ratio (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/returnoninvestment.asp) The return on investment formula: In the above formula gains from investment, refers to the profits  gained from spending the investment of interest.  Ã‚  Return on investment  is a very common measurement because of its adaptability  and simplicity. That is, if an  investment does not have  a positive ROI, or if there are other opportunities with a higher ROI, then the investment should be not be undertaken. (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/returnoninvestment.asp) Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Organizational Profitability Kolstad (2007) has shown in his paper that the relationship between CSR and profit are a controversial issue. Kramer and Porter (2006) added that corporations can think of CSR as a constraint or an additional cost, although it may be an opportunity for them to innovate and gain a competitive advantage. Friedman (as cited by Foote, Gaffney and Evans, 2010) was criticizing the money spend on CSR stating that the major responsibility of the managers is to maximize the profit of the organization as they contracted with the owners of the firm. ArinËœo, Canela and Garcia-Castro (2010) mentioned that CSR is not always providing a positive impact on the financial performance, some cases showed that it could have a negative impact as well. While McWilliams and Siegel (2000) added that a lot of empirical studies, showed that CSR and profitability can be engaged in a positive, negative or even neutral relationship. kolstad (2007) stated that CSR can be seen as a way to reach the final goal of the organization which is increasing the shareholder returns but cant be considered as a goal itself. Companies should balance scarifying some financial profit and between satisfying its stakeholders at least on the short term. (ArinËœo, Canela Garcia-Castro, 2010). Kolstad (2007) added that executives used to care only about the profits and the benefits of the shareholders, while nowadays companies may have to widen their goals to include the CSR. Friedman (as cited in Kolstad, 2007) presented the idea that maximizing the profit is the only essential moral aspect that can be offered by the executive to the corporation and that idea was supported by four arguments. First, he mentioned that managers should follow the interest of the shareholders according to the legal contract they have. Second it will be illegal for managers not to follow the interest of the shareholders since this will be considered as taxation to the shareholders. (Kolstad, 2007). Third, he advised the corporations to focus more on its core operations to be more efficient. Fourth, since not all the corporations is engaged on CSR, then CSR can be an added cost to corporations that cares about society leading to unfair competition between companies Friedman (as cited in Kolstad, 2007). Kolstad (2007) strongly criticized the overstated idea presented by Friedman, saying that responsibility of business should be seen in a wider view and should take in consideration other agents and shouldnt only consider the shareholders interest and that the provided idea will need more examination and analysis. While Peloza (2006) mentioned that due to many criticisms of CSR by whom, managers tried to ensure that CSR will deliver a financial income to the firm by developing different strategic forms for CSR. While Demacarty (2009) pointed out that the CSR doesnt necessarily provide a stronger financial return nor does it produce weaker return, it depends on the techniques that are used to increase the financial. Waddock and Graves (1997) studied the linkage between corporate social performance (CSP) and financial performance using CSP as the variable for CSR and return on investment (ROI), return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA) as the variables used to measure the profitability or the firms financial performance. They hypothesized a positive relationship between financial performance and CSR; the study reported that the improved financial performance leads to increase in the CSP. Moreover, financial performance can be increased when firms are engaged in CSP since their ability to invest socially indicate a good managerial performance that could supply the firm with funds that can be used for other investments (Waddock and Graves, 1997). Orlitzky, Schmidt and Rynes (2003) also reported the same analysis. They used meta-analysis to find a positive relationship between CSP and financial performance. Research Gap While going through the literatures that studied Corporate Social Responsibility, a lot has been found on understanding the Corporate Social Responsibility either in its definition, approaches or even in how to measure it. One can find some limitations and gaps since Corporate Social Responsibility can have many aims, some of its definition was very narrow while others were very broad, involving almost everyones concern. The problem with the confliction on aims and means is that it is not clear whether Corporate Social Responsibility should be applied by organizations or not. Some results showed that Corporate Social Responsibility is a must for organizations and societies to grow while others concerned it as an overhead. Another Gap is that the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and profitability. A lot of researchers analyzed whether Corporate Social Responsibility is profitable or not, but limited researches studies the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on a certain companies or for a certain country and noticed its effect on profitability. The purpose of this proposal is to examine the effect of CSR on organizations profitability. The research question is: What is the effect of CSR on the profitability of Egyptian Organizations? Hypothesis Organizations that are engaged in CSR will have high CSP. Organizations that are engaged in CSR will have higher financial performance. The relationship between CSR and Organizational profitability is strongly positive with a higher corporate social performance and financial performance. Implications Organizations are usually committed to their employees, customers, and their society. Organizations that experience high levels of commitment to the well being of society will have a better image and therefore gain more loyalty of employees, customers and may gain higher profit. Further, organizations may view ethical and social judgment as one of their effectiveness and success. A reasonable measurement of CSR is critical for studying its effect, Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini Co. (KLD) tool will provide a full report of organizations CSR indicating to what extend the organization is involved in social activities. Then different results of CSR measurements will be compared to the annual profit of organizations. A focus on these two variables may improve the overall performance of organizations and bring more satisfaction to the whole society. Method Subjects or Participants The study will focus on the effect of CSR and organizational profit on Egyptian organizations, the population will be 100 Egyptian organizations and accordingly the sampling size will be 80 organizations. The sampling design will be the simple random sampling so that each company will have an equal chance of being chosen as the subject. Instrument Evans, Foote and Gaffney (2010) stated that there should be a reliable way to measure the relationship between organizational profitability and CSP and those researches have been deeply involved in how to measure the CSP of organizations. They also added that past measurement was not accurately measuring the outcomes of CSR since they were based on reputational surveys, government pollution indices, financial reports, and CSR orientation studies. The research tool will be developed by Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini Co. (KLD) which is a social choice investment advisory firm. Their tool is a social performance database. Waddock (2003) mentioned that KLD is currently the most commonly used database and is considered a comprehensive source for CSP research. KLD publishes the CSP ratings and the data cover areas of environmental performance, social contribution, corporate governance, and controversial business involvement.KLD require sources include direct communication with the company managers, public documents, and governmental data ( http://www.kld.com). Figure (1.2) illustrates the structure of the KLD database. Chen and Delmas (2010) described KLDs three main categories which are environmental performance, social ratings, and governance ratings. They described how each of these categories are divided into levels for example the environmental performance includes climate change and operations and management, while social ratings includes human rights and the employees relation while governance rating includes the structure and reporting methods. Design Dependent variable is the organizational profitability, in order to measure our hypothesis; I am using the following measure of profitability: Return on investment (ROI) was among the measures of performance, ROI is the most used. The independent variable will be the CSR. The control variables are factors such as firms size, industry and other risks (Waddock Graves, 1997). Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini (KLD) is used as a measure of how well companies perform socially, KLD measures have been used in previous research to study the SP in premier management journals (Agle et al., 1999; Coombs and Gilley, 2005; Hillman and Keim, 2001; McWilliams and Siegel, 2000). The KLD have several advances, as it represents a multi-dimensional measure of SP, consistently measured by a group of professionals with and where different information sources are combined to find out the final score for each firm (Waddock and Graves, 1997). Procedure KLD researches the social, environmental, and governance performance of corporations. KLD research relies on five different data sources to obtain the ratings and analysis of each company. Data are collected in a closely controlled process from each company, government, non-government organization and media sources. KLD tracks each company through more than 14,000 global media sources daily. (http://www.kld.com). Figure (1.3) illustrates the KLD research process they are using. A quantitative technique will be needed to measures the effect of CSR on profitability, a valuable data should be provided to KLD. To obtain such information required, both documents and Surveys will be used. Documents of the companies CSR behavior in the community will be examined and a comparison will be made between them. Published documents about the companies and how they are engaged in CSR practices will be used to get a broad idea about the subject at hand. For example, National newspapers and articles can be investigated to know what activities each company is sponsoring or to gain an idea about educational simulations moreover, accounting books can be investigated to get an idea of the profitability development at times when CSR activities are applied, such documents may include financial statements, balance sheets and cash flow. Figures in accounting books should be analyzed to measure profitability. Surveys will be conducted to the top management and corporate social responsibility manager to understand their perceptions of CSR and to determine whether CSR is considered one of the decisions made by top management and to determine the extent by which the CSR activities affects the financial value and profitability. Concerning the profit, the analysis will check financial performance through financial documents including (ROI) will be used as the variable to measure the profitability or the firms financial performance and compare it with different CSR measurements reported from the KLD. The research is planned to analyze data within five years period for each of the companies and, the period can be considered long to be able to analysis the effect of CSR and compare it the profit of the organization. Concerning the Time plan, data will be collected for the companies in the first period. The 80 companies will be contacted and debriefed about the purpose of the research. Tasks should be scheduled early to guarantee that there will be sufficient time and that the last period will be left for entering the data using the KLD tool and analyze the reports the final results of the research. Limitations The most important limitation is that the results of case studies cannot be generalized as it studies very specific companies and it only seeks in-depth understanding of some elements. Also there could be information unavailability, where the required information could be unavailable or unattainable. It could sometimes be difficult to be able to get accurate and precise information. Another limitation is that the measurement of the organizational long term profitability and its estimate may be affected by other unexpected factors such as financial crisis, inflation in the market. Yet, the research can give an indicator to organizations on whether the CSR has an impact of their profitability or not and according to the research they can decide to what extent they would like to be involved in CSR.

Titanic :: essays research papers

<a href="http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites The film "Titanic" is riddled with moral dilemmas. In one of the scenes, the owner of Star Line, the shipping company that owned the now-sinking Unsinkable, joins a lowered life-boat. The tortured expression on his face demonstrates that even he experiences more than unease at his own conduct. Prior to the disaster, he instructs the captain to adopt a policy dangerous to the ship. Indeed, it proves fatal. A complicating factor was the fact that only women and children were allowed by the officers in charge into the lifeboats. Another was the discrimination against Third Class passengers. The boats sufficed only to half the number of those on board and the First Class, High Society passengers were preferred over the Low-Life immigrants under deck. Why do we all feel that the owner should have stayed on and faced his inevitable death? Because we judge him responsible for the demise of the ship. Additionally, his wrong instructions – motivated by greed and the pursuit of celebrity – were a crucial contributing factor. The owner should have been punished (in his future) for things that he has done (in his past). This is intuitively appealing. Would we have rendered the same judgement had the Titanic’s fate been the outcome of accident and accident alone? If the owner of the ship could have had no control over the circumstances of its horrible ending – would we have still condemned him for saving his life? Less severely, perhaps. So, the fact that a moral entity has ACTED (or omitted, or refrained from acting) in its past is essential in dispensing with future rewards or punishments. The "product liability" approach also fits here. The owner (and his "long arms": manufacturer, engineers, builders, etc.) of the Titanic were deemed responsible because they implicitly contracted with their passengers. They made a representation (which was explicit in their case but is implicit in most others): "This ship was constructed with knowledge and forethought. The best design was employed to avoid danger. The best materials to increase pleasure." That the Titanic sank was an irreversible breach of this contract. In a way, it was an act of abrogation of duties and obligations. The owner/manufacturer of a product must compensate the consumers should his product harm them in any manner that they were not explicitly, clearly, visibly and repeatedly warned against.

Easyjet analysis, competitive advantage and plan Essay

Easyjet is one of the successful European ‘no frills airlines’. The airline was founded in 1995 by a Greek man called Stelios Haji-loannou. A concept that made him found the Airline was based on the fact that customers’ demand for short-haul air transport is price elastic. This can be translated to mean that when flight costs are reduced, many people fly due to the affordability of the flight prices. Easyjet has been successful because it has been able to liberate itself from traditional airline concepts. These concepts were based on the assumption that the lowering of flight costs could only lead to decrease in the economy. The traditional concepts made many airlines believe that airline traffic grows in line with the economy. Easyjet benefited from the introduction of the ‘no-nonsense’ concept and its deregulation in 1992, to the European market. (Gregory, 2000). The company has been able to woo customers from other airlines due to the low competitive prices it offers for its services. This has made the company expand and increase the size of the market it can access. As of now, the airline company provides 125 routes from 39 European airports with Geneva, Amsterdam, Luton and Liverpool operating as its base airports. As of November 2003, the company was operating seventy two aircrafts. The number now has tripled as the airline has continually increased in size. Easyjet has established goals that the company hopes will be able to attract and maintain its customers. The company’s strongest desire is to develop long lasting relationships with its customers. These goals have been incorporated into the Company’s Mission statement. These goals include: †¢ To provide customers with safe, good value, point-to-point air services. †¢ To effect, and provide a consistent and reliable product and fares, appealing to leisure and business markets on a range of Europe routes. (Collett, 1999) Porter’s five competitive forces have been used to effectively analyze the airline industry comprehensively. These competitive forces comprise: The threat of substitutes, the threat of new entrants, the power of suppliers, the power of buyers, and finally, the rivalry among existing firms. The airline industry experiences minimal threats from other substitute modes of transport. For example, transport modes like train and car are not speed conscious. For a journey that could take an hour when using Easyjet plane, a train takes approximately 6 hours. It is also cheaper to travel on an Easyjet plane than it would cost when travelling via train. Thus, the time and cost advantage of travelling by the low-cost carriers far outweighs the increased flexibility and comforts of trains. Trains and cars cannot manage long distance international routes. Therefore the only substitute is to ravel by plane and this is where Easyjet enjoys the competitive advantage it has over its substitutes. (Porter, 1985) Easyjet was founded using a large sum of money. It was established with a loan of 5 million dollars. This being not enough, it still required 50 million dollars for expansion to meet the needs and demands of customers. The airline sector demands of new entrants to have high capital in order to start a stable business. Limited finance has been a barrier for many businesses which consider entering the industry. New entrants in the airline sector are discouraged by the limited take-offs and landing slots which make it difficult for them to find suitable airports. The low cost airline market in U. K is very mature as compared to the rest of Europe. Easyjet has been in the market for quite long till it has acquired the title of being the biggest operator in the market. This is a very comfortable position for it as it considers itself as a leader in the field. This is not all advantageous to the airlines as entering new markets in Europe may become a big problem for it. Any entrant in the low-cost market has to be ready to make a few losses before establishing itself. Hence, Easyjet has not really considered the threats of new entrants as a big problem. (Gregory, 2000) Easyjet has been affected by the powers of suppliers. Easyjet has realized that depending on one supplier or manufacture for spare could pose a risk. Boeing and Airbus are the major manufactures in the industry providing majority of commercial planes. Easyjet needs to expand more in order for it to have more powers over its manufactures and suppliers. The cost of oil and the price of aviation oil have a direct relationship and it is not in the power of Easyjet to alter this. The power of buyers within the airline industry is very strong. Airline operators have the duty of checking on prices to avoid being exploited by the consumers. Consumers are in a position to detect price discrepancies which they exploit. Due to the low switching costs experienced within the airline industry, the customers need to be loyal. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has ensured that the airline customers are well treated and protected. Some of the ways in which CAA sides with the consumers is by, protecting customers against the consequences of travel organizer failure for people who buy package holidays. It also ensures that airlines are licensed and comply with the requirements of UK and European liability, financial, and resources legislation. Easyjet experiences rivalry from existing firms. In the UK, Easyjet has My TravelLite, Ryan air, Buzz, and BMIbaby, as its major competitors. Ryan air is Easy jet’s greatest competitor as it has shown continuous yearly profit. Future expansion plans may increase its competitors to include the: Virgin Express, Hapag Lloyd Express and Air Berlin, some of which are already competing with the airline. The other competitor that Easyjet has is the British Airways but it competes at a lower scale as it targets different market segments. (Porter, 1985) SWOT-Analysis of the Easyjet Company which reveals its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and Threats has been carried out. (Anthony, 1998). Internal analysis of the Company depict the fact that there are numerous strengths that it has enabling it to have a competitive edge over Companies in the industry. Easyjet has a strong e-business. This airline has incorporated the advanced technology and this has enabled it to offer quality services to customers. The other strength that Easyjet has is its ability to reach a wide scope of customers. This is due to many branches that exist all over the world. Research shows that this airline is expanding globally and will soon be able to have branches in all parts of the world. One aspect that is important to airlines is safety. This airline is highly reputed for safety and this has enabled customers remain loyal to it. Its up dated website enables customers to book for their flights on line. The comfort in travelling by Easyjet planes is exceptional. The airline also has got qualified personnel like the cabin crew, control assistants, flight attendants, customer care, pilots and stewards. Another strength that is found in Easyjet is its flexibility in adapting to new technology in the future. This airline is not tied to single technology. The airline has been financially successful and is part of the consortium that has been awarded to run UK’s air traffic control system (NATS). (Anthony, 1998) One of the world’s largest industries is the Air travel which in 2001 generated over $ 300 billion in revenues. In the past, business people dominated air travel but then this changed when living standards of people improved so that many people could afford air travel for leisure activities. The deregulation of the airline industry has served to increase the frequency of air travels. Easyjet contracts everything from pilots to check-in staff. The airline avoids travel agents high commissions by selling seats over a telephone reservation system. To ensure it grows in future, the airline invested 6. 6 million dollars for developing a safe, reliable and efficient air traffic system. This was meant to ensure that it has sufficient capacity in the air and on the ground. Easyjet acquired British Airways ’low-cost subsidiary GO which played a huge part in its expansion. Easyjet stands for ‘orange culture’ which means being ‘up for it’, ‘passionate’ and sharp. Easyjet has low operational costs because all bookings are done via phone and it has less cabin crew due to the absence of the business class. Easyjet has been able to recognize that Business class reduces seats from 149 to 109. (Matthias, 2005) Some of the other players in the airline industry include the: Virgin Atlantic, Ryan air and British airline. These airlines pose a healthy competition to Easyjet which it has to measure up to improve on its position in the market. These airlines have a strong brand name which makes them to have a competitive advantage over Easyjet. The name ‘Virgin Atlantic’ is quite unique and it attracts many customers to use the airline. Research shows that virgin atlantics’ airline provider is global in nature. It operates its services to Barbados, Lagos, Johannesburg, Hong Kong and London Hub. This is a great strength for this airline. (Branson, 2006). One aspect that is important to airlines is safety. This airline is highly reputed for safety and this has enabled customers remain loyal to it. The airline also has got qualified personnel like the cabin crew, control assistants, flight attendants, customer care, pilots and stewards. (Branson, 2006). The British and Ryan airlines have efficient customer service and effective policies that positively affect the overall running of the airlines. These airlines have a competitive edge over the Easyjet and Virgin Atlantic in terms of the many operation routes they have. The British airline has a high technological advancement which has greatly increased its customer base. The Virgin Atlantic has some weaknesses which affects its smooth operation in the airline industry. One of them is very evident in its prices. Virgin Atlantic airline flight charges are slightly higher than the other airlines. This makes most people who are middle class not to afford their services. Another weakness in Virgin Atlantic airline is in its departure control systems which are not really updated to the current technology. Ryan airline which is the major Easyjet competitor in the market has continually expanded and made lots of profits over the years. Thus, the airline has enough resources to cater for its consumers. It has a stable base and enjoys the comfortable position it holds in the market. Easyjet offers affordable flight prices attracting many customers to use its services. The Ryan airline and British airlines have very high operational costs. This is because they contract the services of customer agents who charge them exorbitant prices. Similarly, because they have a business class, the numbers of seats are reduced and the airline is also forced to increase the number of cabin crew it has to cater for passengers in the business class. The low flight charges of Easyjet plane are what attract customers to its services. The key element of the brand is the low price. The management uses differential pricing systems. (Michael, 1985). The cost of flight is directly related to the time one wishes to travel. Off-peak travelling and advance ticket booking is less expensive. Easyjet encourages its customers to book tickets online by giving discounts to tickets booked online. The airline company has good promotion strategies that catch the attention of many potential customers. Some of the attention catching lines that the airline uses include: ‘size matters’, and ‘the web’s favourite airline’. Most of its advertising campaigns are humorous, attention-catching and unforgettable. (Hilltop, 1994) For Easyjet to do well in future, it has to consider how it is going to handle new entrants in the market. It should decide whether it is going to create niche segments in the market for the new entrants or if it is going to compete aggressively on price, routes and services to drive the entrants out of the market. Easyjet should make strategic decisions market research on the size of different combinations of pricing and service if it intends to increase its market share over the next three years. It has to know the amount of power the competitor has over it. (Massingham, 1988). For example, the competitor’s service costs, competitor’s capacity for the various airline routes. Easyjet should target leisure travellers this is because business travellers usually seek very high quality service, frequent flights to a wide range of destinations which could translate to high operational costs and low profits. The airlines need to develop an accurate and realistic assessment of the market-niche it wants to serve. The market shares of Easyjet could increase in the next three years if it adopts CRM (Cause Related Marketing) scheme which involves selling shares in forest help programmes over its websites and supporting charity by collecting foreign currency on flights. The airline should also establish a growth plan that would see it expanding over the next three years. (Matthias, 2005) Experts have predicted that Easyjet airline is well positioned in the market and that it has excellent growth opportunities for the low-cost sector. Competition is likely to intensify because the UK market is really saturated. Therefore, marketing is very important if Easyjet wants to attract new customers as well as maintain those that it already has. Since the UK market provides very little growth opportunity, more airlines are likely to invade the continental market with new bases being established at Berlin as well as Eastern Europe. (Collett, 1999). Marketing should play a role in convincing customers that flying is the safest mode of transport. Before formulating a market plan for the airline, the political, legal, Technological, Socio-cultural, and Economic factors should be taken in to consideration. (Massingham, 1988)

The Sarbanes Oxley Act Dealt With Four Major Issues Accounting Essay

What responsibilities did David Duncan owe to Arthur Andersen? To Enron ‘s direction? To Enron ‘s shareholders? To the accounting profession? David Duncan owed Arthur Anderson the duty to make what a sensible employee would make in any state of affairs to include a responsibility to work with sensible attention and accomplishment. Not to interrupt concern, non to vie in concern against Arthur Anderson while still working for them as an employee or behavior Acts of the Apostless of corporate espionage, nor to unwrap Arthur Anderson? s confidential information. Duncan had the responsibility and duty to be honest, and carry out and follow the orders of Arthur Anderson, so long as they were legal, and if non to unwrap the error, even if this will imply him. As a professional comptroller, David Duncan had an duty to record, supply, and attest to information sing the economic personal businesss of Enron. Because investors and creditors place great trust on fiscal statements in doing their investing and recognition determinations, it is imperative that the fiscal coverage procedure be true and reliable. ‘ Therefore, the duty Duncan owed to Enron? s direction and Enron? s Stockholders was to exert the general responsibility of public presentation, accomplishment and attention of the ordinarily prudent comptroller in the same fortunes and detect a criterion of ethical or societal duty. This responsibility is non merely morally right, but it is required by jurisprudence, and arises from the jurisprudence of carelessness, contract, and fiduciaries ; required by those in professional services, such as comptrollers. David Duncan owed a duty to the accounting profession to continue and adhere to the ethical codification of the profession. These codifications of moralss are established throughout the professional associations of comptrollers such as The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, The Institute of Management Accountants and the Institute of Internal Auditors. These codifications provide guidelines for responsible behaviour by accounting professionals, and stress unity, objectiveness, confidentiality, and competence. Duncan failed in his duties to Arthur Anderson, Enron? s direction and shareholders, and the accounting profession. He did non keep his unity, objectiveness, confidentiality, and competence. He did non decently follow By and large Accepted Accounting Principles and unwrap Enron? s true fiscal position, ensuing in an inauspicious impact to Arthur Anderson employees and Enron? s shareholders and employees. When he suspected Enron of unethical behaviour, he failed to inform direction at Enron or Arthur Anderson, his silence was a inactive tolerance to their behaviour. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants codification of moralss suggests that the best involvement of the client is served when comptrollers fulfill their duty to the populace, one time once more Duncan failed. What are the ethical duties of a corporate lawyer, such as Nancy Temple, who works for an â€Å" aggressive † client wishing to force the envelope of legality? The professional responsibilities of an lawyer, who represents or advises hearers, as was the instance with Nancy Temple and Arthur Anderson, must integrate an consciousness of the hearer ‘s professional duties. Nancy Temple finally owes her responsibility to Arthur Andersen as in-house advocate and was ethically bound to prosecute the involvements of her client and in making so serves the public involvement best by stand foring Arthur Andersen? s involvements. As an lawyer admitted to the Illinois saloon, Nancy Temple was capable to the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct. These regulations impose professional duties of competency, diligence, communicating, and confidentiality. Under both the Illinois Rules and the Model Rules, if a attorney stand foring an organisation â€Å" knows that an officer, employee, or other individual associated with the organisation † is go againsting the jurisprudence in a mode that is â€Å" likely to ensue in significant hurt to the organisation, † the attorney shall react by taking â€Å" moderately necessary † steps that are â€Å" in the best involvement of the organisation. † Such steps may finally ensue in the attorney â₠¬Ëœs surrender, but shall be designed to minimise the hazard of uncovering confidential information. Nancy Temple, although non be required to unwrap Arthur Andersen? s confidential information, she could hold elected to stop representation of Arthur Anderson? s due to their engagement in fraud and illegal Acts of the Apostless. Under what conditions should an employee such as Sherron Watkins blow the whistling to outside governments? To whom did she owe trueness? Although touted as the â€Å" Enron whistle blower † Sherron Watkins ne'er truly blew a whistling. Whistle-blowing is the release of information by a member or past member of an organisation who has grounds of illegal or immoral behavior in the organisation, or behavior in the organisation that is non in the public involvement. Whistle-blowing reveals information that would non be normally revealed in mundane context. In about every instance whistle-blowing involves an existent or at least a declared purpose to forestall something bad that would otherwise occur ( Beauchamp, Bowie, & A ; Arnold, 2008 ; Boatright, 2000 ) . Sharron Watkins, as a whistle blower should hold written the missive to the Houston Chronicle ; Watkins wrote it to Ken Lay, saying â€Å" We ‘re such a crooked company † and warned him of possible whistle blowers skulking among them, and recommended actions to understate, or minimise the harm ( Time Magazine ; Beauchamp, Bowie, & A ; Arnold, 2008 ) . In the finding and under which conditions an employee should blow the whistling to outside governments there are two theories, DE Georges? Standard theory and Davis? s Complicity theory. Harmonizing to DE Georges? Standard Theory, whistle-blowing is allowable when the company will make serious injury, the whistle blower has reported the menace to her superior but concludes it will non be fixed, and the whistle blower has exhausted other internal coverage processs. Furthermore, whistle-blowing is required when there is converting grounds to an impartial perceiver, and a good ground to believe uncovering the menace will forestall the injury at sensible cost ( Beauchamp, Bowie, & A ; Arnold, 2008 ) . Harmonizing to Davis? s Complicity Theory, whistle-blowing is morally required when the information derives from the persons work at the organisation and non obtained through illegal agencies, such as descrying. That the person is a voluntary member of the organisation and are non being held against their will or hale. The single believes there is serious moral wrong-doing, non a injury. The single believes their work will lend or in some manner be supportive to the moral incorrect if they do non travel public ( Beauchamp, Bowie, & A ; Arnold, 2008 ) . Sharon Watkins, Vice President and a certified public comptroller, knew the information was damaging, both harmful and morally incorrect, to investors, shareholders, and employees likewise. She did informed her supervisor CEO Ken Lay of sensed abnormalities in the accounting patterns of Fastow? s Special Purpose entities. Therefore, within the context of both theories, she was justified to alarm outside authorizes. To whom did Sharron Watkins owe trueness? Ronald Duska argues that the employee does non hold an duty of trueness to a company, and that whistle-blowing is allowable, particularly when a company is harming society ( Beauchamp, Bowie, & A ; Arnold, 2008 ) . Additionally, since Sharron Watkins was a member of a professional organisation as a Certified Public Accountant, she was required by their professional codification of moralss to describe unethical behaviour on the portion of her fellow professionals in order to modulate their profession, therefore she owed trueness to the populace, her profession and herself. To whom does the board of managers owe their primary duty? Can you believe of any jurisprudence or ordinances that would assist guarantee that boards run into their primary duties? In the United States, corporate jurisprudence dictates that a board of managers must supervise the leading of the house to guarantee that the corporation is run right and efficaciously in the long-run involvement of stockholders. Therefore, the board of managers owes their primary duty to investors ; they owe both the responsibility of attention, or due diligence, and the responsibility of trueness, or seting the investors foremost in their decision-making. Boardss of managers are by and large recognized as holding five cardinal charges. First, and most of import, they must choose, proctor, evaluate, and when necessary replace the CEO of the house, with a cardinal implicit in responsibility of prosecuting in careful, beforehand sequence planning. Second, the board is responsible for signing the company? s overarching vision and strategic program, once it is developed by the CEO and his or her staff. Advising and reding the CEO and other top directors as needed is a 3rd map of the board, underlining the importance of a board? s diverseness of expertness. The board? s 4th duty is to turn up and put up high-quality board members and to measure the procedures of the board and the public presentation of both the board and its members. Finally, the board is responsible for guaranting the adequateness of the house? s internal control systems, a responsibility that is now reinforced by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 act was designed to protect stockholder value and the general populace from corporate error. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act dealt with four major issues in corporate administration of public corporations. First, the act created an inadvertence board to put and implement auditing criterions and discipline public company hearers. Second, the act intended to further auditor independency. Third, the act increased corporate duty, by necessitating that CEOs and CFOs certify all periodic studies incorporating the company? s fiscal consequences. Having cognition of the enfranchisement of false statements is capable to condemnable liability. Finally, the act enhanced fiscal revelation with respect to the off-balance-sheet minutess and duties with amalgamate entities and persons. These cardinal commissariats of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have significantly strengthened the function of the board of managers and have made directions more accountable. What responsibilities do authorities regulators owe to concern? To the market? To the general populace? â€Å" One of the chief duties of authorities regulators is to guarantee that the Torahs they enforce are on a regular basis reviewed, and on occasion adjusted, to take history of altering conditions in the world. ? Federal Trade Commission Government regulators, such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, are responsible for administrating Torahs written to supply protection for investors. The duty authorities regulators owe to concerns is to guarantee they are in conformity with the Torahs in consequence. With respect to the market, the duty to ensures markets are just and honest, and if necessary, implement the Torahs through the appropriate countenances. To the populace, regulators owe the duty of trust, to supply the assurance to the populace that the market and concern are carry oning operations in a just, and legal mode and to supply for informed investing analysis and determination devising by the public investors, chiefly by guaranting equal revelation of stuff information Are accounting and jurisprudence professions or concerns? What is the difference? A concern is a lawfully recognized organisation designed to supply goods, services, or both to consumers or other concern in exchange for money. Whereas a profession is a career that is to provide disinterested advocate and service to others for a direct and definite compensation without outlook of other concern additions. In that the primary motivation of concern is to do a net income, and in making so may neglect, a professional is relatively safe as he earns fees for his services and there can non be negative fees. In set uping a concern, no particular educational or proficient makings are required, other than supplying a demand, service, or trade good to the market, a professional is required to get a peculiar grade or making prescribed by a peculiar professional organic structure. Most significantly, in a concern upon completion of the dealing there is no premise or implied contract of any kind, but in a profession their actions, workss, or services do attach to an implied contr act, a contract which provides that the service or information provided is true, complete, and verifiable. A professional ‘s good repute is one of his or her most of import ownerships Peoples need to hold assurance in the quality of the complex services provided by professionals. Because of these high outlooks, professions have adopted codifications of moralss, besides known as codifications of professional behavior. Codes of professional behavior are of extreme importance to professionals and those who rely on their services. These ethical codifications call for their members to keep a degree of self-denial that goes beyond the demands of Torahs and ordinances. Professionals know that people who use their services, particularly determination shapers, anticipate them to be extremely competent, dependable, and nonsubjective. Those who work in a professional field must non merely be good qualified but must besides possess a high grade of professional unity. Both comptrollers and lawyers are professions, in that they both must provide disinterested advocate for a set fee, they are hired or contracted to execute a service and in making that service, are to supply an honorable appraisal or true information. Therefore they have a professional duty to their clients, to the authorities, and to the populace.