Mw Petroleum

Discounted Cash Flow Valuation of Aggregate Reserves Discounted Cash Flow Valuation – Proved Developed Reserves Discounted Cash Flow Valuation – Proved Undeveloped Reserves Discounted Cash Flow Valuation – Probable Reserves Discounted Cash Flow Valuation – Possible Reserves Question 3 To value MW Petroleum we would consider the assets in place and the option bearing assets discretely. The assets in place consist of the proved developed reserves since they are already producing a determinable quantity of oil and natural gas, as well as the non-producing assets as if developed immediately (valued as the NPV of free cash flows). The expenditures associated with the proved developed reserves are also known with some certainty since they consist primarily of maintenance and replacement costs that follow experience based norms. The NPV is subject to commodity price risk due to volatility in oil and gas prices, as well as uncertainty regarding the discount rate. The options consist of the delay in developing proved undeveloped, probable and possible reserves. In the case of these assets, significant development costs must be incurred to monetize the reserves. In the case of the probable and possible reserves, the estimated cash flows are already risk weighted to account for the uncertainty in producible reserves. The options on these reserves are timing options. By incorporating volatility in commodity prices over time, Apache can value the ability to postpone capital expenditures to develop the reserves until volatility in commodity prices returns to historical levels. It is important that Apache have some level of certainty regarding minimum likely commodity prices over time since these are long-lived projects. These options yield a higher value than the DCF valuation (of the aggregate cash flows). Since we are considering these reserves as potential projects in years five through seven, we use the Black-Scholes model to value the options. The option values are inclusive of the project, i. e. not just the option alone. Question 4: The assets underlying the options are quite risky as demonstrated by the rising volatility presented in the case. Since Apache was primarily concerned with the oil assets, we used the highest recent oil price volatility of 50%. Since volatility is such a driver of option value, we also performed a sensitivity analysis to evaluate how the projects plus options would be valued at different revenue levels as well as with differing volatility. Question 5 Based on the value of all the call options derived in question 4, if the sale goes through then Apache Corporation would not exercise any of the options early. In doing so, they would incur significant financial hardship while bearing the risk of highly volatile underlying assets. Given the potential financial strain of this acquisition, as incorporated by the cost of capital, Apache would benefit from observing prices develop over time. Our answer is based on the volatility which is assumed at 50%. Based on the sensitivity analysis it does not appear Apache would attempt to develop the possible reserves within the 5-7 year timeframe.

Breakfast Eating Habit: A Statisical Research Project Essay

Every day millions of people around the globe turn off their alarm clocks and start their day. Some will jump out of bed and hit the door running full tilt because they are already 10 minutes late. Others are up hours before they are required to be anywhere, soak in the sunrise and settle into a predefined routine, of which breakfast may or may not be a part of. But who eats breakfast? Are there any significant factors that predispose certain people to eat breakfast or not eat breakfast? One approach to determining dependency of environmental variables and eating habits is to class individuals according to one of many possible variables. The topic for discussion in this paper is breakfast eating habits among women and the variability of children, specifically, whether women with pre teen children living at home eat breakfast more frequently than women without pre teen children. In theory, a person might assume that that women with pre teen children will tend to eat breakfast more so than women without pre teen children due in part to the responsibility they have to wake up early and prepare their children for the days events including school and sports. Different factors of each home can vary results in either direction but our research attempts to determine the dependency that pre teen may have on their mothers own breakfast eating habits. There is a tremendous amount of research done on the benefits of eating a health breakfast not only for adults, but children as well. Researchers have found that when healthy, lean women skipped their morning meal, it raised their cholesterol levels and diminished their bodies’ sensitivity to insulin, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar levels. In addition, the women tended to eat more calories on breakfast-free days, suggesting that over time, skipping breakfast could spur weight gain. Past studies have also suggested that women who eat breakfast, particularly whole-grain cereals, have lower cholesterol and insulin levels. Along with past evidence, new findings suggest that making time for breakfast is likely to have long-term health benefits. Whether one of those benefits results in a smaller waistline remains unclear. Some research has found a direct correlation between eating breakfast, particularly whole-grain foods, and lower body weight. Conversely, other studies have found no such relationship exists. What is clear is that researchers have found evidence that Mom was right: breakfast may really be the most important meal of the day, especially for growing children. It is essential for children to regularly consume a balanced breakfast. Data supports that the more often adolescents eat breakfast, the less likely they tend to be overweight. Additional studies have shown children are more focused in school and do better academically than those who skip breakfast. Children show the tendency to have more energy throughout the day and are more likely to participate in school activities and sports. Psychologists have determined children mostly observe their parents and follow their actions. A healthy habit of eating breakfast would tend to be a learned trait by following generations and influence the children to continue eating breakfast into adulthood. Experts also surmise that if breakfast is regularly consumed as a family meal, it may reduce the likelihood of drug use as children mature into adults. The feeling of family  closeness and nurturing support is a significant factor in reduced propensity of crime related activities with children. In order to help determine whether or not any dependency exists between breakfast eating habits and having pre teen children, our team created a survey that asked very basic questions relating to age, pregnancy, children, and how many times those women ate a breakfast that consisted of more than water or coffee. Our research chose to exclude women that where pregnant with their first child in order to rule out any difference in opinion of whether or not those women had a child at all. Our research also specifically excluded women under the age of 18 due to a litany of factors that we will not discuss in this paper. The breakfast quantities were lumped into three groups: 0-2 times per week, 3-5 times per week, and 6-7 times per week. We then randomly distributed our survey via the internet in order to capture a diverse group of woman and collated the responses. Since our research focused on determining dependency between pre teen children and eating breakfast, our null and alternative statements were simple: Null Statement – There is no difference in breakfast eating habits of women in relation to having pre teen children or having no pre teen children living in the house. Alternative Statement – Women with pre teen children living in the house eat breakfast more frequently then women who do not have pre teen children living in the house. Failing to reject the null statement would be an indication that no dependency lies between having children and eating breakfast. Conversely and what we expected to see was that a dependency did exist between the two. Our survey yielded 39 respondents, of which the category breakdown is as follows: Breakfast 0-2 Breakfast 3-5 Breakfast 6-7 With Preteen Children 1 7 6 Without Preteen Children 4 4 17 While the data may indicate a correlation between having children and breakfast eating habits exist, performing a Chi Squared Test for Independence revealed that we are 95% confident that no such relationship exists as shown by the graph on the following page: Our research dictates that we need to fail to reject the null hypothesis thus determining that with 95% certainty, no relationship exists. In conclusion, while having pre teen children in the home has no bearing on whether or not women age 18 and higher eat breakfast more often, there may be other factors that would lend itself to a dependency. Actively working, reporting time, time of year, and perhaps a survey on men might be other explored variable in an effort to determine any dependency relating to breakfast eating habits. It was interesting to note that respondents that did not have children ate breakfast in the 6-7 times a week range disproportionately higher than the other two categories. Further research is needed to ferret out any identifiable variable that would support this evidence. It is important to note for further discussion that the test statistic calculated high enough to the critical value that based on a larger sample size, a possibility may still exist that a dependent relationship is real, but not within our sample. Eating breakfast has been determined beneficial for adults and children alike, if research could identify correlations, education could be tailored to specific at risk groups and encourage those within the preferred band of dependency.

Women should get a chance to use birth control Essay

Women should get a chance to use birth control - Essay Example ines that, â€Å"Some women are afforded greater privacy in matters of reproductive control, while others are subjected to limited opportunities† (p.61). At the same time, birth control helps women to lead healthy sex lives because it reduces the scope of pregnancy. Zorea (2012) states that, â€Å"The intentional prevention and control of human conception is identified by many names but is today most commonly referred to as birth control† (p.3). So, birth control must be considered as an individual freedom of womenfolk in general. One can easily identify the fact that birth control is to be considered as a social responsibility. For instance, access to birth control methods prevents the rapid spread of some diseases; especially STDs. Rees (1997) states that, â€Å"Untreated STDs can cause lasting damage to the female reproductive organs, leading to ectopic (tubal) pregnancies, miscarriages, and infertility† (p.11). Besides, population explosion is a burning issue and the same can be resolved by controlling high birth rate. Women must have access to birth control methods because it is a moral responsibility. Engelman (2011) states that, â€Å"Birth control, however, unabashedly affirms the moral necessity of family limitation† (p.95). To be specific, birth control leads to the prevention of abortion. In addition, unwanted pregnancy is a moral issue and the same can be reduced by birth control. Summing, one can see that birth control is related to the individual freedom, social responsibility, and moral responsibility of womenfolk. So, birth control helps women to enjoy their individual rights. Besides, birth control acts as a social responsibility towards the society. On the other side, birth control is a moral responsibility. In short, women must fight for their rights and must gain access to different methods of birth

Module 3 SLP Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Module 3 SLP - Assignment Example Market research is essential in identifying specific market needs, characteristics of such markets as well as strategies to be devised to reach those markets (Jargon 2012). The following report explains the processes that were involved in the planning and execution of market research about the company’s products. The research process stemmed from a SWOT analysis that was carried to determine the company’s ability to take advantage of various opportunities in the market as well as tackling its threats in the market. The process was comprehensive, tackling both the internal and external business environment and providing recommendations on ways to improve the companies effectiveness and competitiveness over its rivals. The main objective in carrying out the research was to find out the specific weaknesses that the company was facing in its operations. In addition, it was also to find out some of the pointers to the company strengths so that it would work on weakness to increase its competitive advantage. In analyzing the company’s internal environment, the research aimed at identifying the influence of specific issues on business activities, as well as their merits and demerits to the business. According to the SWOT analysis that was done, there were pertinent issues of concern to the business that needed research on how they could be addressed to increase the company’s market competitiveness. In reference to the business’ internal strengths, some of the issues relevant for research included the number of staff and their knowledge about company goals and objectives, awareness about company products and their marketing strategies. There was also concern about the communication channels that were used in the company and how they influenced effective performance. As far as the company’s weaknesses were concerned, there was need to research the record keeping process

Electronic Health Records Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Electronic Health Records - Research Paper Example EHRs, Pros, Cons In a document from the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the benefits of adopting the use of HIT in both public and private institutions were presented, as well as the goals, vision, and changes in the system once health care delivery would integrate the use of such innovations. In 2004, former US president Bush â€Å"called for a widespread adoption of interoperable EHRs within 10 years,† and the established position of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology was tasked to develop and implement a â€Å"strategic plan† that would guide the implementation of HIT nationally in both public and private sectors (HSS 1). From here we see that such advancements in technology are supported by the federal government, and imply that they may have more advantages than disadvantages. In a publication by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), they adopt the Health Informati on Management Systems Society’s (HIMSS) definition of EHR where, â€Å"The Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a longitudinal electronic record of patient health information generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting. Included in this information are patient demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data, and radiology reports. The EHR automates and streamlines the clinician’s workflow. The EHR has the ability to generate a complete record of a clinical patient encounter, as well as supporting other care-related activities directly or indirectly via interface - including evidence-based decision support, quality management, and outcomes reporting.† (1) The pen and paper system adopted in health care institutions have been blamed more than many times in errors that occur in health care delivery. In the development of EHRs, these mistakes are perceived to lessen because they say that electronic records are legible and consistent, not encouraging other members of the health care team to assume or guess medications, dosages, and other physician orders written on the patients’ charts once they get hard to read. Fragmentation of information that may be caused by paper records have the risk of increasing health care cost to manage adverse effects the patient could experience in the event that something undesirable happens when information on paper are misinterpreted. Another advantage of an EHR is its increased capabilities to store information for longer periods of time, and it is accessible, allowing immediate retrieval of information (Gurley). The system is also designed to detect abnormal results, in laboratory and diagnostic procedures, for instance, and reminds and alerts providers when such are found in the records. This feature thus enhances patient safety in the deliverance of care. One disadvantage with an EHR is its startup costs, which ma y be too much (Gurley). Although the system is seen to reduce health care costs, there is a need for financial capital to be invested during its initial adoption that may be a huge amount. Also, to users who are not technically knowledgeable, EHRs may become difficult, instead of convenient, to them. The issues considered when EHRs are

The role of religion in health promotion from a sociological point Essay

The role of religion in health promotion from a sociological point - Essay Example The World Health Organisation (WHO, 1947) defines health as â€Å"a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity† (Edlin, et al, 2000). This paper proposes to identify the benefits and factors relating to religion in the socialization of individuals, the development of social networks, and opportunities to enhance the health of various populations within the United States. The holistic view of health acknowledges the inter-relatedness of the spiritual, physical, psychological, emotional, social, and environmental factors that contribute to the overall quality of a person’s life. (Edlin, et al, 2000). Socialization may be defined as the process by which an individual learns the ways of a given society or social group so that he can function within it. The socialization process occurs through social relationships, hence it is a function of social interaction (Elkin, 1960). Through the mechanisms of religion: church attendance, participation, etc, socialization takes place. A principle of theosomatic medicine, as stated by Levin (2001) is that â€Å"regular religious fellowship benefits health by offering support that buffers the effects of stress and isolation†. Thus it is observed that by developing social contacts through the church or other religious organisation, the individual is able to come out of his isolation and get socialized into the religious group. Becoming a part of a group gives them a sense of belonging and security which has positive health outcomes. From a study conducted by Berkman and Syme (1979), for people between sixty and sixty-nine years of age, the relative risk of dying over the next nine years was 1.8 times greater for the most isolated men than the risk for the most connected men. For women in this age group, those with the least connections had three times greater risk than those with the most connections.. Surveys and research on Americans’ religious practices

Multivariate Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Multivariate Analysis - Essay Example The huge capacity of research in the field of modeling of the real world processes along with handling of several input and output variables is obvious. All these situations can be considered as multivariate due to the presence of multiple variables. Multivariate Analysis: Multivariate analysis techniques identify the relationship patterns among a number of variables at one time. Multivariate analysis techniques are generally used for, Development of classification systems. Enquiring ways to group and use data items. Generation and testing of hypothesis. Selected Papers The research papers selected for the study are listed as follows, 1. A Study of Diversification in banking sector with special reference to Finance, by Yaseen Ahmed Meenai, IBA, Karachi, Pakistan. 2. Performance measurement by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA): A study of banking sector in Pakistan by Sultan Jahanzaib, Bilal Muhammad, Zaheer Abbas. International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan. 3. The Comparison of Principal Component Analysis and Data Envelopment Analysis in Ranking of Decision, by Filiz KARDYEN and H.Hasan ORKCU, Turkey. The sources of these research papers are indicated in the references. The rationale of selection: Keeping in mind the major field of study as ‘finance’, these papers are selected to study the application of multiple multivariate analysis techniques in the field. Following paper wise description clarifies the selection criteria to a better extent. Research paper 1, discusses the growth of consumer financing in Pakistan during the early years of the first decade of this century. The purpose is served through the selection and study of the data generated by ten financial institutions in this era. To support the hypothetical claim of a boom in performance during this period, two multivariate analysis techniques namely Profile Analysis and Correspondence Analysis are used. The second research paper is also related to the banking sector in Pakista n. The relevance with the field of finance becomes the main reason for the selection of this paper as well. The added reasons are that the paper exhibits the application of a unique non statistical multivariate technique namely Data Envelopment Analysis. This technique is used to comment on the efficiency and effectiveness of the DMUs (banks). The hypothesis presented claims no correlation between efficiency and effectiveness. The result of analysis supports the hypothesis. Research paper 3 is selected mainly to enhance the knowledge of multivariate techniques studied and learnt in this research so far. This paper is taken as an extension to the previous one as it compares the Data Envelopment Analysis with a purely statistical multivariate analysis technique namely Principle Component Analysis. The case study (a bit financial) and data selected for the comparison is related to the ranking of multiple European Union Countries in terms of economy. The paper stands out as it proves th at PCA could be used instead of DEA for ranking the DMUs (counties in this case) as effectively as DEA. The paper highlights the procedural differences of both the techniques as well. The Techniques: Profile Analysis This technique takes the data in tabular manner to consider the row wise or column wise profiles. The visualization of data through profile analysis enhances the understanding of data. The factors like relative inclination or decline and percentage

Watching debate video and answer the questions Movie Review

Watching debate video and answer the questions - Movie Review Example In the wake of this, strategy needs to be devised. Be it spying, or preventive measure or any other scheme manifested towards protecting the citizens and the cities makes up for quite a valid point from the debate. The possible misuse of the authority, the too much infiltration of the security agencies into the private lives and activities is a fact and possible fear that makes up for the point of disagreement. Liberty Security, technology and democracy are few of the factors that are stressed for and possibly feared of being violated in the spying process. The overall debate allowed knowing the level of threats faced by the United States of America and the level of work and research invested into the process of spying in order to prevent any mishap and event from happening. The integrated presence and participation of the American top corridors decision makers is another revealing fact with regard to the spying process and grants being granted

Social Media as marketing, social and entertainment tool Research Paper

Social Media as marketing, social and entertainment tool - Research Paper Example A classic example is the use of Social Media by current United Sates President to reach millions of young voters (Kanter 28).A more recent even though grotesque example of Social Media power has been its use by Islamic radicals in the Middle East to post the beheading of people on social media. The act is ugly but the effect is instant and compelling. Non Profit organizations and their communities exist in the same environment that profit making one’s and politics do. The dilemma is should non profit organizations whose interest is not necessarily profit go the same way. Beth Kanter in her book The Networked Non Profit answers this question. Overcoming Fears The skepticism and concern of Help Worldwide Board and Staff members is quite understandable. However we will soon find out that the advantages of joining Social Media far outweigh the disadvantages. Social Media help to build social capital cheaply (Kanter 34) and keeping in touch with the Social Culture is vital. An example is given of the American Red Cross which lost touch with the public during Hurricane Katrina because it failed to hear criticism about it’s failure to respond quickly since it did not have the capacity to listen (Kanter 41).The organization reacted by creating a Social Media policy that was open and candid thereby embracing a new Social Culture. This signified a Culture shift (Kanter 56) that is required of all non profit organizations since Social media enables organizations to listen to millions in an easy way (Kanter 61). The saying goes that if we don’t change, change will change us.We cannot talk about change without mentioning generational change.

Lost and Found Essay Example for Free

Lost and Found Essay It’s a story that many people have lived through, from one side or the other. You’re a child in a busy department store, tethered to your mother’s side by her firm grip on your hand, your eyes constantly drawn left and right by the colorful displays. She lets go to grab something or talk to a salesperson, and you see an exciting toy or stuffed animal and run to it. After playing with it for a few minutes you try to walk back, but your mother is gone. First a wave of confusion hits you, but it is quickly overcome by dread. You are alone and lost in a sea of noise and people. When great philosophers or authors talk or write of being â€Å"lost† they can mean all sorts of things, but few are as visceral as the feeling of being lost that a child in a situation like that can experience. Even if there’s a good chance the child is in no danger at all, the feeling of dread that accompanies feeling alone and lost in a crowded department store can be terrifying. Most people will have their first feeling of being lost as being literally, physically lost as children, whether it is in a department store, or in a large park, or simply down the next street. It makes sense, then, to start defining what it means to be â€Å"lost† with the experience of a child. What about that deep, philosophical â€Å"lost,† though? When people say they feel lost (as opposed to being physically lost) they often are referring to alienation of some sort. One way that people address alienation that serves as a good comparison is religion. People who believe strongly in their religion will often feel like they are spiritually â€Å"in place.† On the other hand, if some tragedy or crisis of identity strikes, they might suddenly feel spiritually lost. The same dread that a child who can’t find his mother feels in the department store can be felt by an adult who experiences a tragic accident and loses their belief in their religion. These definitions of lost could apply five hundred years ago just as easily as they apply today. I believe, though, that every era has challenges that are unique to it, and the information age is no exception. The â€Å"information age† really is aptly named, because in today’s fast-paced world we are hit with more information than any humans have ever faced. As modern people, we are constantly inundated with a flood of information everywhere we turn. Magazines and newspapers and books and nutrition labels and billboards and television programs – they’re all feeding us new information every waking moment. All these mediums pale in comparison to the true information mother lode though: the internet. With computers, people gain access to the vast majority of the world’s information at their fingertips. With the increasing popularity of internet-connected smart phones and tablet computers, though, this information is not only at our fingertips but alwa ys at our fingertips. What does the internet have to do with alienation and being lost? The sensory overload that Wikipedia and Youtube provide can be great for keeping people entertained, but it can also be all too easy to get lost in. Many people know the feeling of logging onto a computer or smart phone with a single goal in mind – sending an email, perhaps, or checking the weather next week – and spending not five minutes but an hour and a half, as the myriad attractions of the digital age distract them. Just like the child in the department store, people can be drawn to the colorful displays of the internet, and realize only when it is too late that they are lost. So, then, we can define (at least) three different ways that people can be lost. There is the physical â€Å"lost† – not knowing where you are physically. There is also the spiritual â€Å"lost† – not feeling at peace with your own existence. Finally, there is the information age â€Å"lost† – being trapped, pinned beneath ever-growing piles of information that your mind will never have time to process all of. All three of these forms of being lost have something in common: they feel bad, but are actually ultimately helpful. Since it’s been established previously that being lost is connected to being alienated, it might seem contradictory that it is actually a good thing. After all, those feelings associated with being lost – hopelessness, dread, despondence – are all quite uncomfortable and even painful to feel. Nobody likes to feel like they don’t know where they are in life, like they are out of place. No child likes the feeling of separation from their loved ones. And certainly nobody likes to look up and realize they’ve just wasted three hours of their lives they’ll never get back watching funny videos about cats on the internet. Overall, all the emotions that being lost makes people feel are negative – but all the negativity serves a purpose. Without darkness, there’s no light, and without being lost, there’s no being found. There’s an old stereotype that people who are on a bad path in life will never be able to clean up their act until they hit the lowest possible point, and in a way getting lost can be like that. Realizing that they are lost can be the ultimate wake up call. It’s easy to demonstrate how getting lost once or twice in a physical way can help someone. Going back to the example of the child in the department store, what is most likely to happen is that the child will have a harmless scare for a while and then be re-united with its mother. While in the short-term both the child and its parents will be scared, in the long-term the child will hopefully learn not to stray far from its parents in an unfamiliar place. If the person getting physically lost is an adult instead of a child, they may learn the value of being more prepared (by bringing a map on a road trip, perhaps) or even the value of asking other people for directions. Spiritual periods of being lost can be similarly helpful to a person’s growth and development. Someone who’s faith has never been tested may continue to go on acting as they do while life is easy, but if things get harder they won’t know what to do. On the other hand, if someone experiences a tragedy or unexpected twist in their life their faith might be challenged and tested. Even though they may feel horribly lost during this period, they may emerge from it with a new, stronger faith in their beliefs. On the other hand, if they find their beliefs to be lacking, they may instead have new personal revelations and growth that will lead them to a belief system that they more truly support. Getting lost in the information age is less easy to define than the more traditional ways people get lost. In many cases, people embrace the information overload and dive right in. Every day, people’s jobs and education can require them to submerse themselves in the sea of information that is the internet. It is hard to say what the consequences of people being inundated with so much information will be. The easy access (and unavoidable flood) of information is a relatively new thing, that has only been around to this degree for at most a bit over a decade, so the implications have yet to be seen. What is it to be lost? There are at least a handful of answers to this question, but in the broadest terms possible, being lost is being alienated from one’s surroundings. Everybody gets lost from time to time in one way or another, and that will likely never change. Getting lost can be uncomfortable and scary, but getting lost is an important part of life. Through getting lost and then finding themselves again, people can grow and learn more about themselves and their surroundings. So what is it to be lost? To be lost is to be in a state of change: to be lost is to be down, but coming back up, to be in trouble but in hope of being found again.

Research Methodology for Business Analysis

Research Methodology for Business Analysis RESEARCH METHODOLOGY METHOD Research Strategy The purpose of this study is to use the literature as a framework to answers our two research questions. Because our questions are profound, and therefore hard to measure, an analytical research approach that promotes measurement and a quantitative model is not appropriate for our study. Since the term strategy is an intangible phenomenon, information regarding the subject can only be gathered through deep interviews. For such studies the qualitative research strategy is preferred (Gilljam, Esaiasson et al 2004). Our purpose is to describe the strategy applied in our case company by using the literature we have compiled as a framework. Even though there might be some instances of normative conclusions for how a strategic management controls system should be formed, there is no direct empirical research tied to that conclusion in our thesis. Therefore our research approach neither derives from a normative research approach. Our study should rather be classified as a descriptive one. Our main purpose is to describe how a strategy can be defined and how it can be used as a management control instrument. The descriptive study is used to describe a certain phenomenon through previous theories and thereby testing the validity of these theories in practice. The descriptive study leads to a deductive research approach. The deductive approach is used when the research is based on previous theories. The theories used states what type of empirical information that should be gathered, how it should be in terpreted and how the results can be related to the theories to describe the empirical material. This research approach consist the base of our thesis. Research Philosophy Since we wanted to identify the strategy of Lema, the best way to gather this information was to interview the staff of the management team. Through our interviews we were able to gather adequate empirical information to interpret and describe Lema’s strategy based on our theoretical framework. Due to our emphasis on interviews we derive our interpretation of reality through an operator’s perspective. This perspective concludes that reality is a social construction (Gilljam, Esaiasson et al 2004) and it is interpreted differently by each individual. Therefore the truth consists of coherency among different individuals’ interpretations of reality. This perspective is consistent with our choice of conducting four interviews to validate the coherency between each individual’s interpretations and thus we attempt to build a reliable empirical data of reality. Inquiry approach By studying and summarizing the works of Michael Porter and Chan Kim Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy we have come up with a coherent theoretical work frame for examining how a strategy can be defined in an actual business. Further to this, we have investigated how the strategy can be executed by using Kaplan Norton’s theories about Strategic Mapping and The Balanced Scorecard as well using Simon’s strategy implementation theory Levels of Control. According to Robert K. Yin (2006), a case study is that which discusses a contemporary fact in its real context. A case study also supports the use of several theoretical frameworks to describe empirical information. In accordance with this guidance we realized that this was an appropriate method for achieving the purpose of our thesis. Therefore our research method is based on an in depth, single case study in which we examined both the strategy and strategy management control system. Further to this we also wanted to make clear how the different theories could be used as complements to one another and use them together to describe the strategy of a company. Selection of Case Study Objects In order to be able to apply the theories that we have chosen for strategy definition and strategy implementation, we thought that a company with a clear market position would be suitable for us. This because an evident market position often mean a distinct value proposition, which facilitates the process of defining a strategy (Porter, 1996, 1998). Since our theoretical framework revolves around many different theories, it was also important that the company was of an appropriate size so that we would to be able to assemble the empirical and theoretical material into one comprehensible context. When searching for interesting companies that could be appropriate for our thesis, we became more and more interested in Lema because they have a unique concept and position. While the vast majority of companies have suffered during the recent financial crisis, Lema has defied this general pattern of decline and prospered. In mid-2009 their growth rate was higher than it had been for almost h alf a decade, despite the prevailing crisis. The fact that Lema has defied the general condition of the market suggests that they are in some way distinguished from their competitors. This triggered our interest for a more detailed study of the strategy that has contributed to Lema’s success. After some initial contacts with Lema and receiving their support we decided to build our case study around their company. Literature search In order to find a practical and valid theoretic framework for strategy definition and strategic management control systems, we started our literature search by looking at previous studies within the field of strategic management controls. This was done by searching the Swedish database â€Å"Uppsatster.se† and through Gothenburg University’s own database GUNDA. We used key search words such as â€Å"strategy†, â€Å"strategic management controls† and â€Å"strategy implementation† to find relevant studies within the specified field. After covering a broad number of previous works we found several commonly used articles and books. We later searched for these articles by entering their specific article names within the scientific databases EBSCO, Emerald and Google scholar. The books that we used in our thesis were found in the various Gothenburg University libraries by searching on either the author’s name or the title of the book. We first briefly overviewed the articles and books that we had found in order to evaluate whether they were relevant to our research question or not. The sources that we found relevant were later used to create our theoretic framework. We were also g iven literature guidance from our supervisor Ingemar Claesson and from a business case competition’s (BI-Marathon) readings recommendations. The coherency among the sources we found through the database searches and those sources we received from our supervisor and reading recommendations from the business competition gives credibility of relevancy to our sources. Since our thesis converge two interconnected discourses; those of strategy literature and those of management control, we consider our literature overview of five models quite broad. This approach enabled us to apply a combination of appropriate theories to be able to answer our research questions in a manner that we saw fit. Through the literature search and understanding of the previous studies we created a theoretical framework. This theoretic framework guided our collection of empirical data in the case study so that the theoretic framework could later describe and interpret the empirical information. Selection of Respondents In the process of selecting respondents we assumed that we needed to interview employees at leading positions within Lema in order to gain information from those with significant insight into the strategic processes. In order to gain a broad perspective of Lema business and activities we chose to interview the CEO, CFO, Purchasing Manager and the Store Manager of the company. By interviewing these respondents we gained insight into the different areas relevant to our study. Our respondents were: Boris Lennerhov, CEO, Lema Ullared (3/5 16.00-18.00) Per Andreasson, CFO, Lema Ullared (3/5 10.00-12.00) Christian Henriksson, Store Manager, Lema Ullared (4/5 10.00-12.00) Carin Kjellgren, Purchasing Manager, Lema Ullared (5/5 10.0-12.00) Interviews We have designed our interview template based on the theories that we have compiled so that the interview would be thematic and thereby congruent with the purpose of our thesis (Gilljam, Esaiasson et al 2004). Our interview questions were designed in a semi-structured way, as an entirely structured interview often leaves too little room for respondents to answer freely (Patel Davidsson, 1994) A semi-structured interview also enabled each respondent to focus on the questions he/she found more relevant. We used the same general design for all interview templates in order to get a broad perspective of the interview subjects and to cross-reference these answers with one another to ascertain the answers coherency. Before the interview we met with the respondents to briefly explain to them on the different areas that we would be discussing so that our respondents would be acquainted with the topics of the interview. However we did not send the exact interview template, since we did not want our respondents to give us â€Å"automated† answers. None of the respondents requested to be anonymous, which contributed to the credibility of our research (Gilljam, Esaiasson et al, 2004). Data processing To facilitate the data processing and ensure the reliability of data received from our interviews we printed out our interview templates and used them during the interviews. Answers were document by both computer and by hand to ensure reliable answers. Since the interviews were held in Swedish in order to make sure that our respondents felt comfortable and to be able to gather more information, we had to first translate the raw data into English. The interviews were recorded for validity check during the data processing. After documenting all answers directly after each interview we put together all four answers and concluded the coherent answers of each performed interview into one final main answer. This process is consistent with our research philosophy of the operator’s perspective that reality is based on coherency among each individual’s interpretations. Due to our interview structure, which is based on our theoretic framework, we could quite easily relate the answers to our theories. We later analyzed the empirical data with our theoretic framework to answer our two research questions. Method Critics – Validity and reliability The validity of research studies is the most difficult and most important problem in empirical social studies. (Gilljam, Esaiasson, 2004) The term validity can be defined in three different ways: Congruency between the theoretic definition and the operational indicators Free from systematic errors The research examines what we intend to research The first two definitions can be categorized as conceptual validity while the third definition is categorized as result validity. (Gilljam, Esaiasson ,2004) These two categories are related to each other by the following formula: Conceptual validity + Reliability = Result validity (Gilljam, Esaiasson et al, 2004) The greatest validity problem is that of conceptual validity. The problem of social science empirical research is that many theoretic terms are abstract and intangible and therefore makes it difficult to use proper operational indicators that measure the theoretic term. Therefore improper results and wrong conclusions are created by using inconsistent operational indicators to measure the theoretic term. Further for the proper result to be valid, the reliability of the study must be high. Reliability implies that the thesis is free from unsystematic and random errors. These kinds of errors might occur due to stress, carelessness or sloppy notes, misunderstood interview answers, negligence of certain information during data processing etc. However it is argued that conceptual validity is more important than reliability. (Gilljam, Esaiasson et al, 2004) For example if the operational indicators used in a study does not measure the intended theoretic term the results are flawed, but if the conceptual validity is correct and the reliability is low the results are slightly skewed though the overall result is still accurately measured. Since the theoretic terms strategy and management control systems are very abstract and interpreted differently among researches and professionals. There are no unanimous operational indicators that properly define these two terms or any unanimous framework in which these two terms can be described. However in this thesis we have implied a theoretic framework that guided us how to describe strategy and through this framework we formed interview questions that could be seen as our operational indicators. Thereby we attempted to achieve as good conceptual validity as possible. To increase the reliability of our thesis, we taped all our interviews and performed the same interview with our four chosen respondents. We used structured interview templates printed on A4 paper that would provide a clear guide for notes and made it easier for us to refer answers to our literature framework. We transcribed the answers directly after the interviews to make sure that the answers were correctly documented. Still the reliability for this study might be imperfect because our behavior during the interview might have affected the respondents’ answers. However we tried to prevent this so-called interviewers effect (Denscombe, 2000) by reacting as neutral as possible to the respondent’s answers. Further, Lema has not worked with any kind of strategy controls therefore some respondents were unfamiliar with our subject. If the respondents had read through our content email and prepared a bit before our interviews, their answers might have been better. Since we only conducted four interviews with the management team of Lema our empirical finding might include a large amount of their subjective assessments. It would have been better to interview a larger number of respondents within the management team and even conduct the same interviews with external industry experts5 to further validate the answers of our respondents from Lema.

Communication Problems in Relationships :: Couples Relationship Marriage

Communication One of the major problems that affect couples is communication. It is hard to listen to the other person when you think you are right. Couples seen to blame, criticize, and give the silent treatment among other things. There are struggles over power and lots of conflict. With so many things to fight about it’s good to be able to know how to fight in a way that’s healthy. Some of the things couples may fight about are gender roles, fidelity, sex, money, and power. With so many women working there is a conflict of who does everything at home and since they both have incomes then there is a struggle of who makes financial decisions. Fidelity is a big issue along with violations of trust and commitment. If the relationship is not going well, women seem not to want sex. This is because they tie emotional feeling with sex. Men don’t seem to do this. Next, couples cope with these conflicts in many different ways. One may finally give over to the other person. They can compromise, witch is the best method. They may agree to disagree or just stop talking about the issue. Denying conflict can ruin a relationship. Some Couples yell, humiliate, embarrass, and demoralize each other. These are not affective ways of fighting. There are ways to improve your communication skills. When your partner is upset don’t be defensive. A lot of the time its not a right wrong situation. It’s a different perspective that ur partner is coming from. Being caring and supportive increases the desire to talk. An important thing is to be honest with each other. Lying will make the conflict worse. Listening is probley the most important thing you can do. Lastly, there are rules for fighting fair. You should never attack your partner. It will only make them defensive. No one likes to be backed into a corner. Like I wrote before, be honest. Do not belittle or threaten your partner. Its better to focus on the problem not the person. Avoid fighting dirty, its not fair to your

Essay on Mathematics - The True Universal Language :: Graduate Admissions Essays

Mathematics - The True Universal Language The true universal human language is not punctuated by accents or vowel intonations; it does not spring from any particular continent; it rises above ink on paper, scratches on the earth or daubs of paint on the wall of a cave. No, I am a firm believer that the true universal human language is composed of numbers. For while numerical characters may vary across the globe, the logic they convey transcends borders, localities, and customs. The "language" of numbers flows from the inherent human capacity to reason. It is my love for the reach and power of numbers that started my career in Mathematics and Electrical Engineering and has inspired me to pursue graduate work in Database Management Systems. In my native Hungary, I was the winner of the national mathematics competition award before going on to study Mathematics at MIT. My academic career at MIT was immensely enriching, and my hard work landed me at the top of my classes. I was awarded the _____________ Scholarship and was on both the Computer Science National Dean's List and the MIT University Dean's List. But just as important as my awards and honors was the assistance and support I received from my professors, who not only taught but nurtured me. As an undergraduate Teaching Assistant under Dr. __________, I graded papers and worked with the students-an experience that encouraged me to think about a future teaching position. And in my independent research study project in Complex Systems Theory, completed under the direction of Dr._________________, I was able to learn in a creative, exploratory fashion. This project cemented my decision to venture into postgraduate studies. My past projects centered around analyzing, formulating and delivering solutions in every stage of providing Microsoft-format software for major Fortune500 companies. I have also designed a database system (implemented in SQL Server) and developed front end applications in Visual C++ and Visual Basic that used ODBC and DAO to access the server. This work piqued my interest in doing research in the field of database systems, and I started to think more analytically about the limitations of relational databases. I became interested in object-oriented databases, particularly their flexibility and their ability to meet the requirements of more complex structures. In my graduate studies, I plan to focus my research on optimizing queries and improving the performance of complex systems such as image, engineering, or scientific database systems. Essay on Mathematics - The True Universal Language :: Graduate Admissions Essays Mathematics - The True Universal Language The true universal human language is not punctuated by accents or vowel intonations; it does not spring from any particular continent; it rises above ink on paper, scratches on the earth or daubs of paint on the wall of a cave. No, I am a firm believer that the true universal human language is composed of numbers. For while numerical characters may vary across the globe, the logic they convey transcends borders, localities, and customs. The "language" of numbers flows from the inherent human capacity to reason. It is my love for the reach and power of numbers that started my career in Mathematics and Electrical Engineering and has inspired me to pursue graduate work in Database Management Systems. In my native Hungary, I was the winner of the national mathematics competition award before going on to study Mathematics at MIT. My academic career at MIT was immensely enriching, and my hard work landed me at the top of my classes. I was awarded the _____________ Scholarship and was on both the Computer Science National Dean's List and the MIT University Dean's List. But just as important as my awards and honors was the assistance and support I received from my professors, who not only taught but nurtured me. As an undergraduate Teaching Assistant under Dr. __________, I graded papers and worked with the students-an experience that encouraged me to think about a future teaching position. And in my independent research study project in Complex Systems Theory, completed under the direction of Dr._________________, I was able to learn in a creative, exploratory fashion. This project cemented my decision to venture into postgraduate studies. My past projects centered around analyzing, formulating and delivering solutions in every stage of providing Microsoft-format software for major Fortune500 companies. I have also designed a database system (implemented in SQL Server) and developed front end applications in Visual C++ and Visual Basic that used ODBC and DAO to access the server. This work piqued my interest in doing research in the field of database systems, and I started to think more analytically about the limitations of relational databases. I became interested in object-oriented databases, particularly their flexibility and their ability to meet the requirements of more complex structures. In my graduate studies, I plan to focus my research on optimizing queries and improving the performance of complex systems such as image, engineering, or scientific database systems.

Icici Bank and Bank of Rajasthan Merger Essay

Meaning : A general term used to refer to the consolidation of companies. A merger is a combination of two companies to form a new company, while an acquisition is the purchase of one company by another in which no new company is formed. Basic information of icici bank (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Bank): ICICI Bank was established by the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India, an Indian financial institution, as a wholly owned subsidiary in 1994. The parent company was formed in 1955 as a joint-venture of the World Bank, India’s public-sector banks and public-sector insurance companies to provide project financing to Indian industry.[10][11] The bank was initially known as theIndustrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Bank, before it changed its name to the abbreviated ICICI Bank. The parent company was later merged with the bank. Current information: Based on 2013 information, it is the second largest bank in India by assets and third largest by market capitalisation. It offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customer through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialised subsidiaries in the areas of investment banking. life and non-life insurance, venture capital and asset management. The Bank has a network of 3,350 branches and 10,486 ATM’s in India, and has a presence in 19 countries. ICICI Bank is one of the big four banks of India, along with SBI,PNB,CANARA BANK BANK OF RAJASTHAN : It was set up at Udaipur in 1943 with an initial capital of Rs.10.00 lacs. An eminent Industrialist Late Seth Shri Govind Ram Seksaria was the founder chairman. It was classified as the Scheduled Bank in 1948. The Bank also established a rural (Gramin) bank Mewar Anchlik Gramin Bank in Udaipur District in Rajasthan on 26 January 1983. The bank’s central office is located at Jaipur, although its registered office is in Udaipur. Presently the bank has 463 branches, in 24 states, with 294 of the branches being in Rajasthan. †¢ 1. Merger of ICICI and BoR Submitted †¢ 2. About BoR and Merger private sector lender Bank of Rajasthan on 18 may 2010 agreed to merge with ICICI Bank, India’s second largest private sector lender Bank of Rajasthan has a market value of $296 million The acquisition of Bank of Rajasthan by ICICI bank is the first consolidation of country’s crowded banking sector since 2008.ICICI Bank and Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) boards on Sunday cleared their merger through an all-share deal, valued at about 30.41 billion rupees. †¢ 3. ICICI offered to BoR ICICI offered to pay 188.42 rupees per share, in an all-share deal, for Bank of Rajasthan, a premium of 89 percent to the small lender’s closing price on Tuesday, valuing the business at $668 million .ICICI is offering the smaller bank’s controlling shareholders 25 shares in ICICI for 118 shares of Bank of Rajasthan. †¢ 4. The Big Deal The deal, which will give ICICI a sizeable presence in the northwestern desert state of Rajasthan, values the small bank at about 2.9 times its book value, compared with an Indian banking sector average of 1.84.Bank of Rajasthan has a network of 463 branches and a loan book of 77.81 billion rupees ($1.7 billion). †¢ 5. Why MergerIn March, the Reserve Bank of India appointed consulting firms to conduct a special audit of the books and accounts of Bank of Rajasthan .The government has called for consolidation in the banking sector in order to make lenders more competitive but there has been little activity.RBI had imposed a penalty of Rs 25 lakh on Bank of Rajasthan for various violations. †¢ 6. Totals of BoR F or the nine-month ended December’09, the bank had net loss of Rs 9 crore with total income of Rs 1,086 crore. For the year ended March’09, Bank of Rajasthan had net profit of Rs 117 crore with total income of Rs 1,507 crore .Operating income fell 11% to Rs 373.78 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008. †¢ 7. Advantage for ICICI and BoR ICICI Bank will gain marginally from the merger as Bank of Rajasthan has a reasonable penetration in its home state. As of March’09, it had 463 branches across the country. The deal will also help ICICI tackle increasing competition by HDFC Bank. the deal values BoR at about 2.9 times its book value, compared with an Indian banking sector average of 1.84. †¢ 8. Comparison OF ICICI and BoRICICI bank added CASA deposits totaling over 210 billion rupees in the year ended March 2010, compared with 41.63 billion rupees of BoR .ICICI recorded a business per branch of 3 billion rupees compared with 47 million rupees of BoR for fiscal 2009.For the quarter ended Dec 09, BoR recorded 1.05 percent of advances as NPA’s, which is far better than 2.1 percent recorded by ICICI Bank. †¢ 9. Why is RBI allowing the merger of this bank? This is very intriguing factor; when RBI claims that there is corporate governance. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee claims that there is corporate governance prevailing in SEBI, RBI and Finance Ministry. †¢ 10. Hurdles To protest the Bank of Rajasthan’s management plan to merge with the ICICI Bank, more than 4200 employees of Bank of Rajasthan went on a two-day countrywide strike .SEBI maintains that Tayals hold 55% in the bank and that would make them owners of nearly 1.87 crore ICICI Bank shares from new dilution by ICICI Bank, amounting to around 1.75% stake in the bank .ICICI Bank found it economic as always to invest in this deal on a 100% stock swap basis. †¢ 11. Impact of the Deal The deal is very expensive The proposed amalgamation would substantially enhance branch network and presence in  northern and western India for ICICIBank of Rajasthan has a network of 463 branches and a loan book of 77.81 billion rupees ($1.7 billion).As on March 2009, BoR had 463 branches and 111 ATMs, total assets of Rs 17,224 crore, deposits of Rs 15,187 crore and advances of Rs 7,781 crore. †¢ 12. ICICI After merger PE ratio22.97 10/06/10EPS (Rs)36.10 Mar, 10Sales (Rs crore)5,826.98 Mar, 10Face Value (Rs)10 Net profit margin (%)9.74 Mar, 09Last dividend (%)120 26/04/10Return on average equity7.58 Mar, 09 1 millions = 10 lakhs 1 billions = 100 crores 1 trillions = 100,000 crores

Basic Concepts in the Law of Contracts

LGST 612 Prof. Kevin Werbach BASIC CONCEPTS IN THE LAW OF CONTRACTS Contracts are essential to business. They are a legal mechanism used in every industry and every part of the world to structure relationships among firms, and with customers, partners, and suppliers. Over several centuries, the law governing contracts has developed a large number of doctrines. Most are consistent with common sense, but unless you know what the rules are, you can easily make a mistake. This document introduces the fundamentals of contract law most relevant to businesspeople.Important legal terms are italicized. What is a Contract? And what is Contract Law? Legally, a contract is a set of promises that the law will enforce. We make promises all the time. Only some of them – the ones that meet the contract formation requirements listed below – are legally enforceable. That means the legal system, in the form of courts, can step in to order some action or payment for violation of the contra ct. Contracts are therefore private deals with the possibility of public (governmental) enforcement.Of course, there are many reasons to fulfill promises other than legal obligations. Reneging on promises may be unethical, or may result in a loss of goodwill or reputation as costly or more so than anything a court can impose. The general principles of contract law are fairly universal around the world. However, specific rules vary from country to country. In common law countries such as the United States and Great Britain, most of the legal doctrines governing contracts have been developed by courts over the centuries.In civil law countries such as those in Continental Europe, most of the terms of contract law are specified through comprehensive legislative codes. Even in the U. S. , some aspects of contract law are regulated by legislation. Certain classes of contracts involving employment, securities transactions, health care, and consumer financial transactions are subject to reg ulations that supersede the general principles of common law. Commercial contracts for the sale of goods (as opposed to services like consulting) are covered in virtually every state in the U. S. y the Uniform Commercial Code, which imposes specific statutory requirements. And certain contracts are made unenforceable by the Constitution: for example, a provision that a house may not be sold to a certain racial or ethnic group. Parties negotiating a contract each believe they will benefit from the agreement. For example, a corporation purchasing a license for enterprise software believes the benefit from the software will exceed the price it pays, and the software vendor believes the price will exceed sum of expected costs for providing access to its product.When parties enter into a contract, therefore, they generally do not expect it to be breached (violated), or to resort to the legal system. However, they recognize that sometimes a partner may make a promise with good intentions, and later fail to fulfill it, or that circumstances may chance in some way. When evaluating contracts, courts will generally not consider whether the deal was a good one for either side. The standard view is that no one forced the parties to enter into the contract; they should be held to the bargain they struck.Another way to think of a contract is as a legal hedge against uncertainty or risk. The contract gives each party confidence that if the other fails to perform, they can receive compensation through the courts. It also allows parties to specify how specific situations in the future may be addressed. For example, in the software license described above, what happens if the buyer decides to modify some of the software code and resell it? Rather than wait for the confusion if that happens, the parties can specify ahead of time how the situation will be handled, by adding provisions to the contract.LGST 612 (Prof. Werbach) Page 2 Contemporary legal systems focus on two things i n contracts cases: intent and reliance. If the evidence shows that all parties acted as though they intended to be legally bound to a contract, and the plaintiff (the one filing the lawsuit) reasonably relied on the defendant to follow through with the contract, the courts will generally enforce it. To do otherwise would be unfair to the party that was harmed by honoring their commitments. In modern contract law, intent and reasonable reliance often trump formalities.A contract may generally be enforced even if it not signed, written, or even expressly made. For example, if a fishmonger delivers fresh fish to a restaurant every Monday for a year and receives the same payment each time, there may be an implied contract even if the parties never explicitly spoke about it. The plaintiff still needs to convince the judge or jury in court, which is much harder to do based on oral testimony than documentary evidence. Unwritten contracts also leave significant gaps for courts to fill in.Th e implied contract between the restaurant and the fishmonger, for example, could be terminated at any time by the parties, because there is no explicit term guaranteeing how long it will last. Remedies What a court awards to a successful plaintiff for breach of contract is known as the remedy. In contract law, the sole purpose of the remedy is to adequately compensate for the breach. You cannot receive additional â€Å"punitive† damages to punish someone for breach of contract, as you might under a tort claim such as products liability. The same facts, however, might give rise to both kinds of claims, as when a party deliberately breaks a contract in order to harm the other party’s business. ) In most contracts cases, the remedy is a payment of money, known as damages. There are three main ways that courts may calculate the level of damages: †¢ Expectation is the preferred formula. Whenever possible, this is what courts will use. Expectation means that the plainti ff (who did not breach the contract) gets the â€Å"benefit of the bargain. † In other words, they receive compensation to put them in the position they would have been in, had the contract been performed.For example, if an airline enters into a futures contract to purchase jet fuel in one year at $4/gallon, and at the time of performance the fuel company breaches because the spot market price is now $7/gallon, the expectation remedy would be $3/gallon times the number of gallons. In other words, it is the difference between the market and contract price. That way, the airline can buy the fuel from someone else at the market price, and still get the benefit of the contract. Reliance is used when expectation damages cannot be calculated because the amounts are too uncertain, or there is some other reason not to give expectation damages.Under this formula, the plaintiff gets back any costs he or she has expected by relying on the contract, so they are no worse off than before t he agreement. Generally, this will be a smaller amount than the expectation remedy. Restitution is used in rare situations where even reliance damages are not feasible to determine. Under this formula, the defendant (who breached the contract) must give back whatever benefit he or she received from the plaintiff, even if this does not fully cover the plaintiff’s reliance.For example, if the plaintiff paid money to the defendant for some services, the defendant must give it back. †¢ †¢ Courts may also consider awarding incidental and consequential damages. These are other costs the plaintiff can demonstrate, which go beyond his or her expectation under the contract. For example, imagine a factory owner contracts for a $50,000 piece of machinery to power a production line, and LGST 612 (Prof. Werbach) Page 3 the supplier breaches the contract. It takes a month before the factory can obtain an equivalent machine from another supplier (also for $50,000).As a result, the factory loses one month of production, which produces financial losses of $500,000 and causes its customers to terminate future orders worth several million dollars. All those costs are considered consequential damages. Whether they can be recovered depends on how foreseeable they were, and on the terms of the contract itself. On the one hand, those are actual losses the plaintiff suffered; on the other hand, was it reasonable to think the defendant took on millions of dollars of potential liability when it sold a $50,000 machine?In limited situations, monetary damages are not sufficient to give the plaintiff an adequate remedy. In such cases, a court may order an injunction (forbidding the defendant from some course of action) or specific performance (affirmatively ordering the defendant to go through with the transaction). Specific performance is only available for unique objects, where the money to purchase a similar object is not considered sufficient. This includes things such as works of art and real estate. Breach Failing to follow through on the legal obligations of a contract is called a breach.A breach might mean one party totally ignored its contractual obligations, or that it failed to perform some of them (such as completing the contracted-for services within a specified time), or that it did so in an inadequate manner. Whether something constitutes a breach is a factual decision for the court. The decision may be easier if the contract itself specifies conditions for breach, or whether a failure to perform specific responsibilities constitutes a breach of the whole agreement.As mentioned above, breaching a contract is not the same thing as breaking a promise, because law and ethics are not identical. In particular, sometimes a breach is, economically at least, a good thing. Imagine that an architect contracts with a cabinetmaker for custom-designed built-in furniture in a renovated house. However, the owner of the house changes her mind before f inalizing her contract with the architect, and he loses the commission. The cabinetmaker has not yet started to manufacture the furniture.It would be wasteful to force the architect to go through with the contract, when he knows the cabinets will be useless. It is more efficient for the architect to breach the agreement. So long as the architect pays sufficient compensation to the cabinetmaker (voluntarily or in the form of monetary damages or a voluntary payment), there is nothing unethical in his breach. Contract Formation There are five required elements for a legally binding contract. In other words, a plaintiff suing for breach of contract must first show that all five were met. Then they must show the contract was breached, and they are entitled to a remedy. ) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Offer Acceptance Consideration Legality Capacity The first two requirements, offer and acceptance, are sometimes lumped together and called â€Å"mutual assent. † They are typically the most difficu lt and important elements to establish. LGST 612 (Prof. Werbach) Offer Page 4 An offer is a proposal that manifests intent to enter into a contract. It is distinguished from an invitation, which is merely a proposal to enter into negotiations and therefore not legally binding.The party that makes an offer is called the offeror and the party that receives it is called the offeree. For the offer to be valid, the offeror must: 1. Manifest the intent to enter into a contract 2. Be definite and certain regarding the essential terms of the proposed contract 3. Communicate the offer to the offeree Suppose you are at a used-car dealer's lot. You see a care you like with the price listed as $9,995. You ask the salesperson what he’d take for the car; he doesn't answer you, but responds by asking you what you would offer.If you then say, â€Å"I wouldn't pay the list price, but I might pay $8,000 if I could finance it,† have you made an offer? In considering questions of this typ e, courts will look to â€Å"objective† manifestations of intent. Would a reasonable (ordinary, average) person, listening to your conversation in context, think that you intended to bound into a contract if the salesperson accepted? Again, reasonable reliance is what the courts look to protect, so your subjective mental state, even if it could be reliably determined, is irrelevant. Courts do, however, consider the context.You might offer to purchase a candy bar simply by holding out a dollar bill to a cashier, but an offer to enter into a multi-million dollar merger agreement might require significantly greater formalities. Similarly, if it would be clear to a reasonable observer that a statement was made as a joke, or in a social setting that does not involve contractual obligations, such as a wedding invitation, there is no binding offer. All these, however, are factual questions that courts might assess by hearing witnesses, looking at evidence, and listening to experts.A cceptance An acceptance is the mirror of an offer. If the offeree (the one receiving the offer) objectively manifests intent to be bound, the other elements below are met, and the offer is still valid, a contract comes into being at that moment. Intent is evaluated the same way for acceptance as for the offer. For the acceptance, however, courts are more sensitive to situations where someone takes actions that indicate acceptance (such as signing a document), but does not in fact understand the obligations they are undertaking.In such cases, courts generally look to whether this is the sort of contract that is typically accepted in that manner, and whether the offeree had a reasonable opportunity to analyze the contract but chose not to. Many business-to-consumer agreements are so-called contracts of adhesion or form contracts, where the consumer has no real opportunity to negotiate the specific terms – think of a rental-car agreement – but acceptance is still generall y considered valid because there are other means to protect the consumers and the alternative would be extremely inefficient and cumbersome.There are four ways that an offer may no longer be valid: 1. The offeror may generally revoke the offer by communicating that to the other party at any moment before acceptance. 2. If the one receiving the offer rejects it, which includes making a counter-offer, the original offer is considered no longer binding. 3. After some reasonable period of time, determined by the court based on the context, offers lapse. You cannot walk into a used-car dealer and say you are accepting the list price of a car advertised two years before. 4. Death or incapacitation of an offeror generally cancels an offer.One exception to the rule about revocation of offers is the option contract. This is essentially a contract that binds only one party. For example, a property owner might grant a real estate investor LGST 612 (Prof. Werbach) Page 5 an option to purchase a building for $15 million within a period of 90 days. If the investor comes forward with the $15 million, the owner must sell the building. The investor, however, is under no obligation to do anything. (Options on stocks operate the same way; the price for the put or call is the payment for the option. ) Under U. S. aw, there must be a separate payment for holding open the option, even if it is specified in the same document as the purchase terms. In other words, in the real estate example, if the building owner promised to keep the offer open for 90 days, but received no compensation for that promise, it would technically be free to sell to someone else. In many other countries, a party that promises an option must keep it open for a reasonable period of time, even without payment. The acceptance must mirror the offer. That means the offeree must comply with any conditions the offeror placed on the offer.If, for example, the offer states that payment must be made in cash, or that t hose wishing to accept the offer must show up in person at a certain location, those conditions must be met for a valid acceptance. If the offeror does not specify, the offeree may use any reasonable means. This may even include actions rather than words. If I ask a friend to bring me a sandwich from the cafe downstairs, which I’ll pay for, and she immediately goes to purchase it without saying a word, her actions would likely be a sufficient manifestation of intent.As always, context matters. In a complex commercial negotiation, it may be reasonable to exchange numerous very specific drafts, which are not formally accepted until the final version is signed off on by senior executives. Consideration Consideration means that each party has committed to giving up something of value to induce the promise or action of the other party. It is the way the law distinguishes an enforceable contractual bargain from a gift. If someone promises to give you a gift, and then reneges on the promise, you cannot sue them for breach of contract.There was no contract to begin with, because you did not have to give anything up in return for the gift. In most contracts, consideration will be money in exchange for some goods or services. However, it can be anything of legal value, including property or voluntarily giving up a legal right to act in a certain way. In a famous case, a court held that an uncle’s promise to pay money to his nephew if the nephew gave up smoking and drinking was enforceable, because the nephew stopped doing something he was legally entitled to do. The consideration must, however, be needed to induce the promise.If your action or inaction wasn’t what motivated the other party, there is no consideration. The amount of consideration need not match the value of what the party receives in return. A contract to pay $100 for a computer worth $1,000 may be a bad deal, but it has sufficient consideration. The main question is whether there is something of value exchanged to demonstrate the agreement is not a gift. In business agreements, this sometimes means a recital (a contractual provision that simply states a fact) along the lines of, â€Å"in exchange for good and valuable onsideration of one dollar†¦Ã¢â‚¬  to ensure consideration is found. Legality Contracts that are made for an illegal purpose will not be enforceable in a court of law. An agreement with a hit man to kill a disfavored relative may meet all of the formalities of a contract, but it should be obvious that you could not sue him for failing to go through with it. More realistically, an agreement to engage in bribery or to restrain market competition in violation of antitrust laws would be unenforceable.Capacity All parties to a contract must have the legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement. In other words, they must have what the law considers sufficient mental fortitude to understand and commit to LGST 612 (Prof. Werbach) Page 6 the obl igations involved. Two main classes of people who do not have capacity are children and those under significant mental disability or impairment. Children are generally not allowed to become legally bound by contracts. (The specific age cutoff and other considerations vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. If an adult contracts with a child, the child can void the contract at will, but the adult is still bound if the child wishes to enforce the agreement. The other situations in which capacity becomes an issue are when a party either has a significant disability that prevents them from understanding contractual obligations, or they are too severely impaired by drugs, alcohol, or another factor. Capacity is judged objectively: would a reasonable observer think the party was in a state that made it impossible to express intent to contract?If so, the party at that moment lacks the legal capacity. It is important to note that capacity is not the same thing as capability or authority. A bank may not actually have the financial wherewithal to provide the financing that it contracts for, but this does not mean it is incapable of entering into any contract. If it fails to provide the financing that the other party reasonably relied on, it is in breach of contract, whether or not it actually has the resources needed to perform. Similarly, an agent may or may not have the legal authority to speak for a firm.If a sales representative (or someone claiming to be a sales representative) commits a company to an agreement with a customer that the company does not in fact wish to honor, that has no bearing on the legal capacity to contract. In that situation, the court must determine whether it is appropriate to bind the company. If the salesperson did not in fact have actual authority to sign off on such contracts, courts would look to whether it was reasonable for the customer to think that they did, especially without communicating with corporate headquarters.Whether a Cont ract Must be in Writing (â€Å"Statute of Frauds†) As mentioned above, there is no general requirement that contracts be in writing. It is generally a good idea to write contracts down, because that provides clear evidence of their existence and terms if they are ever breached. Fundamentally, though, an oral agreement, or an unsigned written agreement, is a valid contract, except in two broad cases. The first is when there is a statutory or regulatory requirement to put a certain agreement in writing. This is often the case, for example, with financial and healthcare agreements.The second is if the contract is under the statute of frauds. The Statute of Frauds was a 17th century English law that required some contracts to be in writing, because otherwise there would be too much risk of witnesses lying (the â€Å"fraud†) in their oral testimony in court. Today, the term refers mostly to common law principles that impose a writing requirement, plus provisions of certain modern statutes (such as the Uniform Commercial Code) that impose similar obligations. Saying that a contract is â€Å"under the statute of frauds† means that it has to be in writing.There are several categories of contracts that fall under the statute of frauds, including suretyship (promising to pay someone else’s debts) and contracts in consideration of marriage (such as prenuptial agreements). The three categories most likely to arise in a business context are: †¢ †¢ Sale of land. This also includes interests in land, such as a mortgage. Sales of goods worth $500 or more. Note that contracts for services, such as consulting or financial advice, are not covered under this provision. The $500 figure comes from the Uniform Commercial Code, and is an arbitrary figure, not pegged to inflation.LGST 612 (Prof. Werbach) Page 7 †¢ Promises not performable in one year. In other words, there is no way the contract could be successfully performed within a year. If the contract does not specify a term of longer than a year, and there is come conceivable scenario in which both parties would discharge their responsibilities before the end of the year, it need not be in writing. If a contract falls under the statute of frauds, a sufficient â€Å"writing† is a document that identifies the parties, describes the basic obligations of the contract, and is signed by the party to be charged.As with any written contract, if there are specific details not set out in the document, the court can interpret the language or fill in reasonable terms as necessary to enforce it. If, however, the writing is missing a material term – for example, the price in most sales contracts – it is not enforceable. Basically, the court needs enough information to determine a remedy. If the contract is not under the statute of frauds, the courts can look to other written evidence or oral testimony to find a material term. However, if the parties simply failed to agree on such an essential point, the contract is unenforceable.Note that when the statute of frauds applies, only one party is required to sign the agreement: the party who is being sued to enforce it (the defendant). The signature of the other party may still be useful to prove there was intent to enter into a binding agreement. Excuses to Performance In some circumstances, a party will not be held to an agreement, even when it met all the legal requirements for a valid contract. The most common excuses to performance are: Fraud. If one party induces a contract by lying to the other party, it is not enforceable even when the form of the contract is perfectly good.Duress. If a party felt it was forced to enter into a contract against its will, it can claim the contract is unenforceable due to duress. This means something more than a difficult situation or a tough negotiating partner on the other side. For example, if there is only one supplier for an important input with sufficient production capacity, buying from that supplier is not duress. There must generally be some misconduct, involving threats to engage in illegal conduct or breach other obligations, which convinces the other party it has no choice. Unconscionability.As noted above, a contract will not be considered unenforceable because it is unfair, or because there is unequal bargaining power (as is typically the case in business-to-consumer interactions). However, if one party has no reasonable opportunity to understand the obligations they are undertaking, or there are terms in the agreement so manifestly unfair that they â€Å"shock the conscience,† courts can declare specific provisions or whole contracts as unconscionable. This doctrine is successfully invoked infrequently, and then typically when there is unfairness in the process, rather than the substantive terms.Mutual mistake. If both parties were mistaken about the fundamental subject matter of the contract, such that th ey never truly had an agreement, the contract can be declared unenforceable. If the mistake is simply a bad business decision, such as an assumption that the price of a good will not increase substantially, it will not excuse performance. Impossibility/frustration of purpose. If circumstances change so dramatically that either a contract is effectively impossible to perform, or it would be pointless to complete it, courts can excuse performance.As with the other doctrines, courts will not release parties from their obligations if performance is merely more difficult or costly than they expected. – – – – LGST 612 (Prof. Werbach) Page 8 These excuses are considered by courts after the fact. In such situations, there is a contract, but there is no legal remedy for a breach. Sometimes, the result is merely to sever a problematic provision of the contract. For example, a contract may be enforceable minus the specific term the court considered unconscionable.Re covery Outside of Contract (â€Å"Promissory Estoppel†) Modern contract law makes it relatively easy for parties to enter into contracts, to specify the terms of those contracts, and to be excused from contractual obligations when fundamental fairness dictates. Consequently, the legal system generally focuses on whether the procedural obligations of contract law described above have been met, rather than on whether the outcome is just. After all, the parties were free to act differently, yet chose to structure their agreement in a certain way.Why should the courts interfere with their decisions? In a host of cases, this freedom-based view of contracts fails to account for reality. Inequalities in access to information or bargaining power may so warp the relationship between parties that the formal structure of an agreement may not actually reflect the intent of at least one of them. Or there may be significant public policy concerns, such as avoiding mistreatment of patients or retail investors, which counsel for heightened obligations beyond those of common-law contract doctrines.Another category cuts in the opposite direction. Sometimes the un-enforceability of an agreement is unfair. If one party reasonably relies on the other party, yet has no remedy because the agreement is unenforceable, it can create a situation in which the courts view themselves as parties to an injustice. The legal doctrine known as promissory estoppel arose to allow for recovery of damages in court, even when there is no enforceable contract between the parties.The Restatement (Second) of Contracts, a collection of â€Å"best practices† in contract law written by leading legal experts in the field, describes promissory estoppel as follows: â€Å"A promise which the promisor should reasonably expect to induce action or forbearance on the part of the promisee or a third person and which does induce such action or forbearance is binding if injustice can be avoided only b y enforcement of the promise. The remedy granted for breach may be limited as justice requires. † Most commonly this doctrine is invoked for charitable gifts.For example, imagine that a donor to Wharton promises the school $100 million for a new building bearing her name, the school builds the building in reliance on the gift, and the donor then reneges on the promise. There is no enforceable contract, because there is no consideration. (The school’s expenditure in building the building was a response to the promised gift; it is not what induced the promise, as required for consideration. ) In such a situation, if a court feels it would be an â€Å"injustice† that Wharton receives no compensation, it can award damages on a promissory estoppel theory.Courts have applied promissory estoppel in other situations where, because of some legal quirk, a party reasonably relies on a contract and yet has no adequate remedy. Note that promissory estoppel is a distinct legal claim, not a lawsuit based on a valid contract. One consequence is that damages are generally limited to reliance. In the donation example in the previous paragraph, this means that Wharton might recover the amount it spent on constructing the building, but not the full $100 million that was promised. And remember that the court can decline to award anything if it does not feel that an injustice has occurred.

Amnesia – Memory Loss

Amnesia: Memory Loss Outline Thesis: Amnesia is a condition involving memory loss, which can cause people to lose their ability to memorize information and/or could cause people to be unable to recall information. I. General amnesia A. Types of amnesia 1. Anterograde 2. Retrograde B. Symptoms II. Causes of amnesia III. Diagnoses C. How to determine D. Treatments IV. Prevention of amnesia Amnesia: Memory Loss Memory loss can be associated with many different conditions in today’s medical fields such as amnesia, Alzheimer’s disease, different forms of dementia, depression, or even a brain tumor.These conditions have similarities yet differences to define each one as a different illness. Amnesia is a well-known condition that is associated with memory loss in today’s medical world, which can cause people to lose their ability to memorize information and could cause people to be unable to recall familiar material. Amnesia comes in various forms of memory loss; the tw o most frequently seen forms of this are anterograde amnesia and retrograde amnesia. Anterograde amnesia is when the brain gets damaged and new information after the incident cannot be stored.The patient that has had this happen to him can remember aspects of life that has happened before the incident (Nordqvist 2). New information that is gained after the occurrence cannot be stored. The International Encyclopedia of Rehabilitation describes this condition: Anterograde amnesia refers to a deficit in encoding new information subsequent to a given and specific event in time, for instance trauma due to an accident or the onset of brain damage. Consequently, new information cannot be or is partially retained by the individual, which leads to a learning disorder.This type of amnesia can be partial (some of the information is forgotten), and often underlies the individual's subjective complaints; or total, and is therefore characterized by the individual's inability to recall daily life activities or progressive loss of information (1). Retrograde amnesia is contrary to anterograde amnesia. After a traumatic event, the individual cannot remember certain things that happened before it took place but can normally remember anything that takes place after the incident.The degree of how much that can be remembered before the incident all depends on the amount of damage to the brain (de Guise 1). Amnesia comes with diverse symptoms. The two main symptoms are â€Å"impaired ability to learn new information following the onset of amnesia† and â€Å"impaired ability to recall past event and previously familiar information† (Mayo Clinic Staff 2). Other signs consist of confusion, disorientation, false recollections, uncoordinated movements, inability to identify the current president, and many others.Any head injury that causes any of these symptoms could be a sign of amnesia. The brain is a complex operating system that controls the body. The brain also contro ls memory. Damage from â€Å"accidents, encephalitis, or conditions that interrupt blood supply from the brain† can result in amnesia (Thompson and Madigan 119). Additional causes of amnesia can be but are not limited to such things as stroke, lack of oxygen to the brain, long-term alcohol abuse, and brain tumors. Lenore Terr, a clinical professor of psychiatry, states that a very common cause of retrograde amnesia is a concussion (67).Amnesia can also come about from emotional shock. This dissociative amnesia can be associated with being a victim of a crime, sexual abuse, child abuse, combat, and any other â€Å"intolerable life situation, which causes severe psychological stress and internal conflict† (Nordqvist 6). When a person thinks that he has amnesia, he should take several steps to determine what it is and what should be done about it. The first step is to seek help from a doctor. An appointment should be made to determine what the patient’s symptoms ar e indicating.In most cases, the patient takes a family member with them to their appointment to be able to help answer questions that the patient may not know or remember. At the appointment the doctor is very likely to ask questions such as â€Å"Were you involved in any trauma? †, â€Å"When did you first notice your memory loss? †, and â€Å"Does anything help to improve your memory? † (Mayo Clinic Staff 5). The doctor will do an evaluation to dismiss other possible causes of memory loss like Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, depression, or a brain tumor (Mayo Clinic Staff 5-6).Harvey S. Levin, Ph. D. , Vincent M. O’Donnell, M. A. , and Robert G. Grossman, M. D. developed an amnesia test of their own. This test consists of 15 questions. For each question the patient gets wrong, a number is deduced in the error score column. After all questions are completed, the doctor adds up the error score column and subtracts it from 100. Scores that range from 100-76 strengthens that the patient is normal, 75-66 implies the patient is borderline amnesia, and anything below 66 confirms the patient is impaired.Another exam that will be done is a physical exam. This will test reflexes, balance, and other components that deal with the brain or nervous system. It may be necessary to do imaging tests as well to look at the brain. This could include an MRI, a CT scan, or an EEG scan. These tests will determine if there is any physical damage to the brain or identify if something is abnormal about it. Once amnesia is diagnosed there are few things to be done to help the patient. Medical News Today states that in most cases amnesia resolves itself without treatment (8).Even though there are no current drugs to help the restoration of memory, different types of therapy may help to reestablish recollections. These can include psychotherapy, hypnosis, and occupational therapy. Some people are turning to technology for assistance; PDA’s or oth er hand held devices are helping patients to remember their everyday tasks more easily. The most important factors to treating amnesia is family support. Families can help â€Å"nudge patients back into their environment† if they are surrounded by familiar objects and people (Nordqvist 8).Amnesia can be prevented if the right precautions are taken. Any damage to the brain can cause amnesia, so a person needs to take any step they can to protect it. For instance, wearing a helmet while riding a bike will shield the brain from any injury in case there is a blow to the head. Avoiding excessive alcohol use is another precaution (Mayo Clinic Staff 8). Another great preventative measure to take is to make sure to treat any infection quickly (Mayo Clinic Staff 8). By doing this it will secure the infection from being able to spread to the brain.Protecting the brain in any form that is possible is the best prevention of amnesia. Memory loss is a very serious condition that can come i n many different forms including amnesia. A sign of amnesia is when people lose their ability to memorize information and are unable to recall facts. Even though there is no medical drugs to treat this condition as of now, the importance of seeking help from a medical expert to confirm if it is amnesia or not is very high. With other forms of treatments available, this condition could be reversed or fixed with a coping method.The brain controls every part of our body in some form or another. Protection of the brain is the key essential to preventing amnesia due to it controlling one’s memory. If taking care of the brain and shielding it can prevent amnesia, why would someone not take the proper steps to do so? Works Cited de Guise, Elaine. 2012. Amnesia. In: JH Stone, M Blouin, editors. International Encyclopedia of Rehabilitation. Web. Levin, Harvey S. , Vincent M. O'Donnell, and Robert G. Grossman. â€Å"The Galveston Orientation and Amnesia Test. † UTMB Health | The University of Texas Medical Branch | UTMB. du. N. p. , n. d. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. Mayo Clinic Staff. â€Å"Amnesia – MayoClinic. com. † Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic, 11 Oct. 2011. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. Nordqvist, Christian. â€Å"What Is Amnesia? What Causes Amnesia?. † Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl. , 14 Jul. 2009. Web. Terr, Lenore. Unchained memories: true stories of traumatic memories, lost and found. New York, N. Y. : Basic Books, 1994. Print. Thompson, Richard F. , and Stephen A. Madigan. Memory: the key to consciousness. Washington, D. C. : Joseph Henry Press, 2005. Print.