Friday, May 31, 2019

Bartleby of Bartleby the Scrivener :: Bartleby Scrivener Essays

Bartleby of Bartleby the Scrivener Herman Melvilles short story Bartleby the Scrivener introduces many arouse characters with many different personalities to us. However, turn out of gingerroot Nut, Turkey, Nippers, and the Old Man who narrates the story, the one that is most mysterious to us is Bartleby. Bartleby is a scrivener, which, in simple terms, is a human version of a modern solar day counterpart machine. He does his job extremely well, hardly ever stopping his work and getting things done quickly and efficiently. However, he is a man of roughly words. In fact, he is a man of one phrase I would prefer not to. He says this in response to anything that is requested of him other than to copy documents. He actually outright refuses to do anything else that his boss (the narrator) asks him to do. This is the first step in confusing the reader about Bartleby. Melville, however, never seems to offer an answer to this mystery. other interesting thing that I noticed was that Bartleby never said I will not., but I prefer not. This would indicate that the person he is talk of the town to has an option as to choosing what Bartleby will or wont do, but it is said in such a way that it manages to confuse the narrators feelings, and causes him, for a dogged period of time, to simply accept the statement as a no. This appears to me as a weakness of the narrator as a business owner, but at the same time makes me wonder what is Bartlebys purpose for responding in such a way. Another interesting characteristic of Bartleby is his living habits, which we find out about later in the story. He apparently lives at the office (originally unbeknownst to the narrator). He sleeps, washes, and works in the same place. What makes this even more interesting is that he refuses (or states that he would prefer not) to change his living arrangements. When the narrator moves his business, and Bartleby refuses to vacate the premises after the new tenant arrives, the na rrator is taken to be responsible for Bartleby, simply because he is the only person who is even close to knowing him. After a lengthy process that ends with Bartleby in prison, who seemingly regards the narrator as the reason for his being there, the story quickly closes with the demise and death of Bartleby, and the strange introduction of the grub man (who seems as though he has some deeper importance in the story which I cannot place).

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Political Reform in the Schools of Latvia :: Religion in Education Soviet Union Essays

Political Reform in the Schools of Latvia Cataclysmic events sometimes spur educators to reconsider the role of schools in preparing children for citizenship. In the United States, the Great Depression of the 1930s prompted educators to address the appropriate place of the schools in developing citizens for an industrial democracy. In the tiny Baltic nation of Latvia, the sudden disintegration of the Soviet Union caused educators to consider the same questions. A remarkable chain of events at the turn of the last decade raised the Iron Curtain and pave the way for a revival of free-hearted democracy throughout Eastern Europe after fifty years of dictatorial Soviet communism. In 1992, Latvia followed some of its neighbors in declaring its independence. It then turned to the creation of a new government and developing citizens to ensure its continuation. Religion was to play a prominent role.The church building had traditionally been a significant factor in Latvian political a nd social life, but the early 1990s saw a new religious force in Eastern Europe. Western missionary organizations were searching for footholds from which to evangelize the newly independent nations of Eastern Europe. Two conflicting goals of this evangelism rapidly surfaced. On the one hand, the Church surely intended to gain converts to Christianity, but it had a political mission as well. Missionaries and their host governments envisioned Christianity as a vehicle to reinstitute a public piety lost under decades of communist rule. In the minds of many, Christian virtue spread throughout the populace would form a necessary foundation for the growth of liberal democracy. Both the Church and the State targeted the schools as the delivery system for moral instruction. However, this use of the schools put them in the untenable position of serving two masters-the Church and the state, two institutions whose ideologies and goals are ever at odds.Marxist and Christian Worldviews and EducationIn ten days that shook the world in 1917, Lenins Bolsheviks co-opted the Russian transformation and ushered into existence a Marxist government. Fundamental to the implementation of communism in Lenins view was control of the schools. He declared that The school must become a weapon of the dictatorship of the proletariat (in Counts, 1957). Under Lenins successor, Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union expanded its influence into Eastern Europe. In 1945, the Soviets annexed Latvia and restructured the schools in accordance with Stalins view that education is .

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

The Importance of Having Patience and Saving Money :: Personal Finance

Beginning at the age of six, Americans begin to attend school. They will spend the majority of their time in this cultivation environment until they graduate high school and probably college. During this time, people are educated about different subjects in the hopes that it will help them live a profitable life. What is a better stylus to solve a problem, than by teaching people about the causes and how to not get cheated? The current housing crisis could pick up been averted if the American people had been properly educated about how to handle banking and loan situations. However, due to a mentality that people should buy what they cannot afford, America has been in an on-going recession for many years. On another note, banks need to adjust the way loans are given out as well as the programs being destiny up to pay them back. There is no quick fix to this problem, rather a long-term investment that must be made. Instead of pouring millions of dollars that the administ ration does not have into a possible solution that may or may not work, I propose the government implements an educational course in an attempt to revise the way Americans think. Everyone is aware of the problems that have been caused by the interest rates and the credit cards and the quick fixes that have attempted to solve the problem. The recognise with most of these fixes is that the silver used is not money currently available. Sure, more can be printed, but that lowers the value. The fact of the matter is that throwing money at a problem is not going to make it go away. In fact, it only makes the problem worse. It shows the public that its perfectly all right to spend money that they dont have because eventually, everything will be okay. Thats not the case. Up until a few decades ago, everyone believed in having patience and saving. In todays day and age, people want everything now. Technology has continued this message with everything only a click away If people k new that saving money is the best way to get what you want, then the foreclosure issue would not be such a serious problem. Instead, people go out and spend money they dont have. The public needs to be educated on how to make the best deals and get the most out of the money that they have.

I Hope to Explain the Birth of Our Universe :: Graduate Admissions Essays

I Hope to Explain the Birth of Our Universe. Since childhood, the studies of philosophy and science have interested me profoundly. Having read many books on relativity, quantum mechanics, existentialism, religion, capitalism, majority rule and post-Aristotelian philosophy, my quest for knowledge has only intensified. Certainly, the purpose of my life is to discover a greater understanding of the universe and its people. Specifically, I plan to better grasp the interrelatedness among forces, matter, space, and time. In addition, I hope to find a unified field theory and a convincing explanation for the birth of the universe. During the summer of tenth grade, I took a number theory course at Johns Hopkins University with students from Alaska, California, and Bogota, Colombia. My attendance of the New Jersey Governors School in the Sciences is another accomplishment that exemplifies my dedication to knowledge. During the summer undermentioned eleventh grade, I took courses in molec ular orbital theory, special relativity, cognitive psychology, and I participated in an astro natural philosophy research project. For my independent research project, I used a telescope to find the angular velocity of Pluto. With the angular velocity determined, I used Einsteins field equations and Keplers laws to place an upper bound on the magnitude of the cosmogenic constant, which describes the curvature of space and the rate of the universes expansion. In addition to learning science, I recently lectured physics classes on special relativity at the request of my physics teacher. After lecturing one class for 45 minutes, one student bought many books on both general and special relativity to read during his battleground hall. Inspiring other students to search for knowledge kindles my own quest to understand the world and the people around me. Also, as president of the National Honor Society, I tutor students with difficulties in various subject areas. Moreover, I am rank ed number one in my class, and I am the leading member of the maths Team, the Academic Team, and the Model Congress Team. In the area of leadership, I have recently received the Rotary Youth Leadership Award from a local anaesthetic rotary club and have been asked to attend the National Youth Leadership Forum on Law and the Constitution in Washington D.C. Currently enrolled in Spanish 6,I am a member of both the Spanish Club and the Spanish Honor Society. As student council president, I have begun a periodical publication of student council activities and opinions.

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Romance in Shakespeares Comedy of Errors Essay -- Shakespeare Comedy

Comedy of Errors - Romance What is so interesting about Shakespeargons first play, The Comedy of Errors, are the elements it shares with his last plays. The romances of his final period (Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winters Tale, The Tempest) all borrowed from the romantic tradition, particularly the Plautine romances. So here, as in the ulterior plays, we have reunions of lost children and parents, husbands and wives we have adventures and wanderings, and the danger of finis (which in this play is not as real to us as it is in the romances). Yet, for all these similarities, the plot of The Comedy of Errors is as simple as the plots of the later plays are complex. It is as though Shakespeares odyssey through the human psyche in tragedy and comedy brought him back to his beginnings with a sharper sense of yearning, poignancy, and the feeling of loss. unless to dismiss this play as merely a simplistic romp through a complicated set of maneuvers is to miss the pure theatrical ferti lise it offers on the stage - the wit and humor of a master wordsmith, the improbability of a plot that sweeps...

Romance in Shakespeares Comedy of Errors Essay -- Shakespeare Comedy

Comedy of Errors - Romance What is so interesting about Shakespeares origin play, The Comedy of Errors, are the elements it shares with his last plays. The romances of his final period (Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winters Tale, The Tempest) all borrowed from the romantic tradition, particularly the Plautine romances. So here, as in the later plays, we be in possession of reunions of lost children and parents, husbands and wives we have adventures and wanderings, and the danger of death (which in this play is not as real to us as it is in the romances). Yet, for all these similarities, the plot of The Comedy of Errors is as transparent as the plots of the later plays are complex. It is as though Shakespeares odyssey through the human psyche in tragedy and comedy brought him back to his beginnings with a sharper backbone of yearning, poignancy, and the feeling of loss. But to dismiss this play as merely a simplistic romp through a complicated set of maneuvers is to miss the shar p theatrical feast it offers on the stage - the wit and humor of a master wordsmith, the improbability of a plot that sweeps...

Monday, May 27, 2019

Mckinsey’s Knowledge Management

Competitive Advantage over other firms Unique Resources and Capabilities Bowers Vision maturation of Unique organisational Culture First Mover Advantage Between Marvin Bower, Ron Daniel, and Fred Gluck, who was the most legal strategic leader? Why do you think so? Upon evaluating each individuals strategic leadership ability based upon the six elements of effective strategic leadership, we concluded that Fred Gluck was indeed the most effective of the common chord individuals. The six attri alonees which a strategic leader can be comp atomic number 18d against are listed below.We found that Fred Glucks contributions were more pronounced in elements 1 through 4, and where in that respect was not enough material in the case to support any arguments for or against Glucks superiority in elements 5 and 6 (Establishing Ethincal Practices, and Establishing Balanced organizational Controls) we can assume that the contributions of all leaders were similar, or differences were not signi ficant. Determining Strategic Direction Exploiting and Maintaining Core Competencies Developing Human Capital Sustaining an Effective Organizational Culture Emphasizing Ethical PracticesEstablishing Balanced Organizational Controls good dealframe Determining Strategic Direction Exploiting and Maintaining Core Competencies At one time, Daniel realized that most of McKinseys friendship was cattle farm all over the company, and was not codified. Apart from a few publications (Peters and Watermans In Search of justice and Kenichi Ohames The Mind of the Strategist), there was no way of tracking what breakthroughs might pee-pee been achieved in certain projects, or what might have been some of the creative solutions that had been applied to other leaf node projects.Here too, the most concrete efforts to consolidate company knowledge were undoubtedly those of Fred Gluck Gluck introduced the idea of Practice bulletins which were short two summon summaries published and distributed c ompany wide, which highlighting some of the new emerge ideas regarding how to tackle new projects. It was under Glucks instruction that the Knowledge Management Project was initiated in 1987, even a course before he became Managing Director. The recommendations of the Knowledge Management Project led to the creation of the Firm Pratice Information System (FPIS), and the Practice ripening Net figure out (PDNet).These Databases eventually became the backbone of knowledge Management per se a place to electronically store written reports and documents so that they would be accessible to the good company, therefore enabling the easier spread of ideas, knowhow, and previous knowledge implementations among consultants. The Knowledge Resource Directory (KRD) popularly known as the Mckinsey Yellow Pages was a small portable sacking sized consultants manual was similarly a breakthrough introduction that took place under Glucks supervision. developing of Human Capital See Consultant Development above. Sustaining an Effective Organizational Culture An effective organizational culture for McKinsey would have been (or would smooth be) one which creates a strong synergy in employee interaction indoors the company, especially when its core competencies are Human Capital and Knowledge. Gluck promoted this synergy, by putting in place a structure that allow those synergies to grow. The FPIS and PDNet were important elements of that, as were the Super Group discussions which generated great new ideas for the company to build upon.In essence, Gluck as the leader kept encouraging and coaxing consultants to expand the companys capabilities mentally also within the minds of its employees. 3) Through application of the Balanced Scorecard and the evidence in the three mini-cases of front-line activities in the mid-1990s, how effective was the firm in the 1990s? As evident in the mini-cases, McKinsey was highly effective throughout the 1990s in regards to the firms Balance d Scorecard. Financial Perspective McKinsey was highly effective during the 1990s in respect to financial performance.After Fred Glucks change in strategic direction, McKinsey was able to double revenues to an estimated $1. 5 billion during his six year term as Managing Director. This type of sizeable growth had not been seen since the early years of the firm when it was under direction of Marvin Bower. McKinsey was able to compete with BCG through Glucks change in strategy and win back clients and skilled recruits. Customer Perspective With respect to the Balanced Scorecards customer perspective, McKinsey was performing extremely well.This was evident in the Jeff Peters case where his three person team was able to work with a highly respected financial services company in Sydney, Australia. They were able to have a strong client impact and added honour to their client because of their access to knowledge, intellectual rigor and their ability to build understanding and consensus am ong a diverse management. Their client was extremely satisfied with their recommendations and believed that any failures would be due to the clients own fault.By adding more value to their clients and increasing client satisfaction with the work McKinsey consultants provided, the client base grew thus leading to better financial performance. Internal Business Processes In each of the three mini-cases, McKinsey efficaciously used internal job processes to grow as a firm. In the Jeff Peters case, the knowledge necessary to provide quality recommendations to the client was accessed easily by scanning the Knowledge Resource Directory, the FPIS and the PDNet. This knowledge sharing is key in providing clients with specialized solutions and helping build the individuals.Also the constant flow of consultants across offices contributed to the transfer of knowledge. The end result of the case was the schooling of John and Patty, two of the team members, making them ready to take on a mana gement role in their next assignment while mum providing quality recommendations that the client was completely satisfied with. In the Warwick Bray case, the specialist promotion track and practice festering was exemplified. Warwick was able to leverage his technological nonplus and become an expert on deregulation.Warwick was able to be promoted to a co-leadership role in the practice because he established credibility with clients and not because he had a broad-based problem solving skills. At the same time, Michael Patsalos-Fox, with the help of Warwick and Sulu Soderstom, was able to develop the practice. His first goal was to make the practice interesting to attract the best associates. Patsalos-Fox also created a practice- special(prenominal) intranet link designed to spread knowledge that was more pore than the firm-wide systems like PDNet. Also in the Stephen Dull case, the B to B nitiative was established because Stephen had focused on becoming an expert in this area an d developing the practice. He was able to establish credibility with his colleagues and with clients which led to more client impact. Although he was still uncertain about his promotion prospects, he was reassured that 15-20% of the firms partners would be functional experts within the next five to seven years. By effectively using its internal business process, McKinsey was able to have more client impact and customer satisfaction. Learning and Growth PerspectiveIn the Jeff Peters case, the firm genuinely didnt perform well in respect to learning and growth. The team had utilized the knowledge databases to create a recommendation that satisfied the client but they were disappointed that they had not come up with anything radical and innovative. The team was afraid that it had fallen into the trap of becoming too introverted and satisfied with their own popular opinion of the world. The best examples of learning and growth were demonstrated in the Warwick Bray and Stephen Dull cas es. Warwick Bray is an example of the creation of an I-shaped consultant.He had specific knowledge of deregulation and spread his knowledge with executive clients and consultant teams. In Stephan Dulls case, he provided an excellent example of the stewardship model the firm want to put in place. He had taken it upon himself to increase his knowledge of B to B and ended up helping create a new Center of Competence that provided more value to clients and increased knowledge of the consultants. What is your evaluation of Rajat Guptas four-pronged approach to knowledge development and application within McKinsey?What specific risks and benefits do you see for each of the four prongs? What specific advice would you give him to address the risks and leverage the benefits? Emphasis 1 Capitalize on the firms long term investment in practice development driven by the Clientele pains Sectors and Functional Capability Groups Creating some new channels, forums and mechanisms for knowledge deve lopment and organizational learning drawframe rating NOT RECOMMENDED Emphasis 2 Grass Roots knowledge-development approach called Practice Olympics drawframeEmphasis 3 Six special initiatives multi year assignments direction on issues important to CEOs.. drawframe Evaluation NOT RECOMMENDED Adding another six dedicated centers over the already numerous pre-existing Clientele Industry Sectors and Functional Capability Groups will only add to the confusion. As it is, McKinsey is having trouble with the promotion criterion of its Specailist I Consultants where they are mostly left on their own, and it is concentrated to visor a specailists performance in his area when he is, infact, the only specialist of that area in the company.While it is getting difficult to measure contribution in these tangible specialist areas, it makes no sense to put in place another 6 departments focusing on emerging issues of grandeur to CEOs. Given the changing dymanic of the consulting industry or the entire economy given its jerks and bends, it is very likely that the issues too would change over the mates of years that each of these dedicated centres plans to spend examine each issue.Already, Glucks emphasis on specialization led to the creation of 72 islands of isolated activeness which had to be trimmed down by the CPDC, this is similar to such diversification. Emphasis 4 Expand on the model of McKinsey global institute. drawframe Creating pools of dedicated resources that study economic trends, and are free from pressures of delivering results to clients, will definitely boost the self reliance of McKinsey on its own knowledge.By studying global and local trends such as the present economic downturn situation or the effects on the environment, McKinsey will be able to pre-empt the kinds of problems that are likely to emerge in business today, and be prepared with a solution that is more fundamentally tied into, for example, an actually prevalent or emerging economi c phenomenon or trend. Having its own high-end economic research unit for example, will definitely be a confidence booster for the firm consultants they will unendingly have an avenue to turn to if they need to validate any of their recommendations on a more fundamental level.

Sunday, May 26, 2019

International Mareketing Management Of Mcdonald’s Essay

McDonalds one of the largest fast victuals selling restaurant manacles in the cosmos was established in 1940 by two br opposites Richard and Maurice McDonalds. This restaurant started its business as a barbeque restaurant but latter specialised in making ham burgers, the restaurant got the attention of Ray Kroc an American businessman who became the franchising agent of McDonalds in 1955 and took McDonalds to its multinational growth. Ray Kroc made the McDonalds Corporation and added trustworthy training facilities for employees which made McDonalds a divine training institution for student. McDonalds Corporation also introduced the Hamburger University which laid the very sole of quality manage custodyt in students and provided scholarships to excel students and student employees of McDonalds.1) International And Domestic Marketing Principles Of McDonaldsMcDonalds, the global fast victuals giant with more than 34,000 local eating joints serving nearly 69 million mess in 119 c ountries each day,1 has a substantial presence in Pakistan. Though McDonalds insists on a universal standard the fast food behemoth still altogetherows customization of its products and services meeting a particular business need. Yet the corporations franchisees across geographies have a similar greet to business in multiple parameters.A marked compatibility with regard to quality and service between McDonald restaurants, even they are far apart from each other in terms of geographical location, is the hallmark of the fast food giant.McDonalds Pakistan recognizes its socio-cultural context, hence has replaced traditional hamburger for halal food free of pork. The fast food cosmic string also prefers to procure meat from local halal abattoir.The product promotion strategies, one of the key areas of marketing principles, al modalitys need to be agreed upon in order to optimize the market performance of McDonald. The US based companys expansion in Pakistan would require taping on commercials that can aggregation to the local customers under the guidelines of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA).2) Growing Global Market Environment Of McDonaldsMcDonald together with Lakson Group has incorporated Siza Foods (Pvt) Ltd to own a mountain range of 22 restaurants in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Hyderabad & Faisalabad. McDonald relies on franchisee, or affiliated or organic expansion as a model for its growth. McDonalds overseas growth intent including its Pakistan market must be in line with its current revenue, if non more. Also, the food chain would like its primary products to top its menu such as cheeseburgers, chicken, French fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes and desserts. However, accredited regional markets such as Pakistan must adapt to local demand for halal meat which would require hamburger to be replaced by halal meat. Also, the company should always remain prepared to changing consumer tastes many regional custom ers forced McDonald to include salads, fish, wraps, smoothies and fruit. The local delicacies of Pakistan such as grilled Tandoori chicken may in the future menu of McDonald.Acquisition of rival businessesIn this era of development and innovation McDonalds the States cosmos exceedingly flourished in its domestic market is spreading its business internationally. In growing globally McDonalds regular army considered franchising as their mean, which is a safe, less costly and easy method acting with minimum legal obligations. McDonalds unfastened its first franchise in 1955 by Ray Kroc, who also established the McDonalds Corporation. Since then McDonalds is growing its business and now operates in 119 countries.In Pakistan McDonalds has given franchising rights to Lakson Group of Companies headed by Mr. Amin Lakhani. McDonalds Pakistan opened its first franchise in September 1998 in the city of Lahore, a week later it opened another franchise in Karachi and thus it went on increasi ng its franchises in 8 big cities of Pakistan.McDonalds ground forces however has sorbn over few trivial scale fast food retailers, who were facing difficulty in competing with competitors in the business.3) Practical Marketing Cross Cultural Implication Of McDonalds Operation AbroadMcDonalds USA world in its domestic market is well aware of the cultural implication prevalent in USA, which tends the growth of McDonalds as it knows the language, culture, society and laws of the sphere. In face of McDonalds Pakistan in that location are barriers to McDonalds USA on various grounds like power distance, individualism, un plasteredty, masculinity and long term orientation.In Pakistan the society is based on certain social and cultural grounds that does not allow masses provide less experience to participate in decision making, in this way there is an unjust power distribution were people are feel bound and limited as to decisions made by elders.In Pakistan in all most all field s of business individualism is observed where task are being created by directors which are then followed by managers and carried on to subordinates, in a way were the directors take all stress of creating the idea rather than considering a group discussion on the point.In Pakistan the uncertainty element is spunky due to lack of security issue in the country and unstable law and order prevail in the country, which tends businesses to be very cautious when fetching certain business decisions.The socio-culture environment in Pakistan is based on a male dominant society, were the decision making is restricted to male members of society and there is a lack of equality of thoughts as women mostly are not allowed to part in decision making.Pakistan being one of the underdeveloped countries is far from sounding at long term orientation as country faces many financial and economic crises which restricts businesses to look at long term orientation and compels them to take part in short term goals.4) Current And Potential Cultural DifferencesFood industries wither prevailing in its domestic or international market has to follow cultural trends of the country in which it is to operate. In the context of McDonalds USA and McDonalds Pakistan both prevail in countries with entirely different cultural grounds.The culture prevailing in USA is quiet broad minded, where they consider freedom of speech, less religious resistance and equality of gender. Being so McDonalds USA enjoys many privileges due to freedom of speech and less religious resistance, where they can sell their products without any regards of being halal or haram, they can pull in advertisements keeping away from certain explicit materials which are exempted by American law. In American society equality of gender allows women to work for their living which has helped McDonalds USA to recruit female stave in their stores.The culture of Pakistan is narrow minded as compared to USA , where freedom of speech is limited within social, moral and religious grounds, religion plays a zippy role in almost every expect of life and gender equality is not observed as women are not encouraged to work and participate in career building activities. In this case McDonalds Pakistan has to work in limitation of Islamic Sharia and has to make its products with halal ingredients. McDonalds Pakistan also has to make advertisement of its products in limitation of rules note by PEMRA. In Pakistan women are not allowed by their families to work in an environment where they would be serving men or dressed in an uncultured manner which restricts women to work in a food chain like McDonalds.First and foremost, according to a hadith in Al-Tirmidhi, it has been narrated by Hadhrat Abu Darda (Radi Allah Anho) that alcohol is the key to all evil this is consuming it or selling it. It is totally Haraam to sell alcohol and the income earned is also Haraam.It is Haraam for a Muslim to sell something that is Haraam for him to eat or use. The Holy Prophet, Hadhrat Muhammad-ur Rasullullaah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) said, If Allah Taala makes Haraam the consumption of something He also makes Haraam its transaction. (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith no. 2546)2(2.1) Project Management Techniquesof McDonaldsMcDonalds USA a company form by merger of two companies initiated its project with a franchise selling burgers and milk shakes. The company followed the traditional approach of project trouble techniques were they planned and designed their production, quality, distribution, staffing criteria and location. After the planning and designing of these ideas by McDonalds USA they started execution of these ideas and concentrated on further construction of these ideas. McDonalds USA after pose its ideas in action worked on ways to control and monitor it by making certain software that would allow it check its sales, inventory and financial thick in real time. This project development technique used by McDon alds USA has made its business no-hit in USA to a big(p) extent and has also created an image in the international market which is spreading its business across the globe.Pakistans market being a complex and unknown market for McDonalds USA has led to providing franchising authority to Lakson group of companies a leading business group in Pakistan, which knows the business trends in the country and how to act in according to it. This group has helped McDonalds Pakistan to grow in a flourishing manner as most elements in the country are against American commodities.(2.2) Different Stages of McDonalds international marketing development including Domestic Ethnocentric Polycentric and Geocentric.These different stages were introduced Howard V in 1969. These stages indicate the staffing preferences of any firm in an international market. The Domestic stage refers to allocating or recruiting staff from within the country of the company. The Ethnocentric stage is similar to domestic st age in terms of staff recruitment but the country in which the company recruits staff is not its own country. The Polycentric stage refers to employ staff from the country in which you are doing business.The Geocentric stage refers to employ staff end-to-end the globe in order to achieve the objectives of the firm by using skillful people of the world. These stages have emerged due too certain aspect prevailing in the world, which tends multinational companies to adopt these stages. McDonalds being a multinational fast food chain has espouse different stages in different countries. In Pakistan McDonalds has adopted Polycentric view of staffing. This is due to many reasons like language barrier, religious aspect prevailing in the country, lack of security reasons for foreigners and high ratio of unemployment of the locals in the country. As compared to McDonalds in America where there are both domestic and geocentric views of employment. This is due to the difference in their count ries environment, thinking and political condition.(2.3) Market Research do by of McDonalds in International MarketingMcDonalds being world famous in its fast food chain and delivering its best in making delicious and peculiar burgers has to go by means of certain market research exploit for the international market. This marketing research process has to be worked out by following a range of steps in order to accomplish tasks which curtail the research. These tasks are related to problem identification, setting objectives, information collection and analyses and finally preparing the report of the research. onward entering the Pakistani market McDonalds had to do a thorough market research in which they firstly highlighted the areas of problem they give have to work on, second they made objectives to solve these problems, for this purpose they started collecting data through both primary and secondary sources which would provide helpful information to them regarding their pro blems and after collection of the data through public serves, various economist, external sources and advertisement, they analyzed these collected data and got solutions through their problems. Due to the through market research by McDonalds it is now successfully flourishing its business in Pakistan.(2.4) Market Choice and Market Entry Strategy Options Used By McDonaldsWhen deciding to start a fast food chain of the west like McDonalds in a country like Pakistan who follows and practices Islamic Laws and Sharia McDonalds will have to face many Barriers of its entry, to overcome these barriers McDonalds will have to make certain strategies. The first and foremost barrier is socio cultural barrier which states to the religious aspect in the country that allows to deal only in Halal commodities, to overcome this McDonalds will have to provide its franchise Halal meat and ingredients. The second barrier is the source of capital for running its business, to see through this problem McDo nalds has started subscribing its Franchising to the locals of Pakistan and does not have to invest on its own and enjoys loyalty from them. The third barrier is the terms and tariffs prevailing in Pakistan, to face this barrier McDonalds will have to organize its business in the prospective terms and tariffs of the country.(2.5) Impact Of Cost Leadership, Differentiation and Focus On Branding, Brand Strength and Recognition in Country Specific Markets of McDonaldsCost leadership is a process through which a company focuses on producing commodities or product at lowest cost. This process is dependent upon the companies prospective of its performance, size, scale and experience. A fast growing worldwide food chain like McDonalds also focuses on branding, brand strength and recognition of it brands in country specific markets. Branding refers to making an indication of a specific company in terms of logo, picture, mark or delivering a certain look of a commodity. McDonalds also make certain analysis on its brand strength in terms of its competitors by making Qualitative and three-figure analysis on its customers. The outcome from these researches helps McDonalds in making any changes to its products for gaining strength of its brand and also making its recognition in the country specific market.The restaurant industry is known for yielding low margins that can make it difficult to compete with a cost leadership marketing strategy. McDonalds has been extremely successful with this strategy by tornadoing basic fast-food meals at low prices. They are able to keep prices low through a division of labor that allows it to take aim and train inexperienced employees rather than trained cooks. It also relies on few managers who typically earn higher wages. These staff savings allow the company to offer its foods for bargain prices.3(3.1) International Product Strategies ofMcDonaldsIn international product strategies McDonald USA uses different strategies as compared to its international market in McDonalds Pakistan. In USA the company produces its product in a standard manner, where commodities are prepared as per the standard of the people in the country. The America food cuisine mostly consists of burgers with Hesperian mild spices and a preference of tender burger patties not considered overcooking the meat and removing its flavors. In McDonalds Pakistan the taste preference of the people is different as compared to the American society. In Pakistan people follow the Indian cuisine of curries, tempting spices, rich flavored food, and nicely cooked meat.In this case McDonalds USA cannot adopt the same standards of taste in McDonalds Pakistan as it would not satisfy the customers in the country, who are not familiar with the taste of western community. In this case McDonalds Pakistan will be on a different brink of innovation rather than extending on the same methods of production of USA.(3.2) Pricing Strategies For Market Penetration Used B y McDonaldsMcDonalds USA has adopted a reasonable determine strategy for its market, which makes McDonalds USA affordable for the people with different level of income. McDonalds is using Value-Pricing Strategy whereby its offer just the right combination of quality and level-headed service at a fair price to their consumers.4 This shows McDonalds USA competitive pricing strategy, which is keeping it above its competitors and helping it to become peoples choice.In McDonalds Pakistan the same Value Pricing strategy is being adopted by Lakson group, but the company is not prospering in the same capacity as McDonalds USA as the level of income of population in Pakistan is low and a majority of people cannot afford a quality meal. This has limited the market acumen of McDonalds in Pakistan as people expect low prices on food products, which the company cannot beer.(3.3) Objectives of International Communication CampaignMcDonalds being recognized by the world as a great food retailer has to maintain an international communication campaign, which tends to keep in touch with customer feedback as well country or region feedback, but this international communication campaign has laid certain issues when concerned with McDonalds Pakistan and other such country were polices are similar to Pakistan. In Pakistan the national language is Urdu, the country is an Islamic state, target audience is completely different from USA or other countries and it has a different culture and feedback of the people for the communication campaign. Hence McDonalds follows different communication campaign in different country and is making progress towards it development. McDonalds however has raised a slogan which posit Im lovin it is set on international standard and is being followed in all the countries were McDonalds is operating(a).(3.4) Elements of Marketing Mix In Relation to International MarketsMcDonalds being spread around the globe on the basis of franchising has less to do wi th international delivery as its main purpose is to monitor the standard it has set for its product. McDonalds however uses different packaging, storage and delivery procedures in USA and Pakistan.In Pakistan the storage and packaging standard are being checked and prepared by Lakson Group, this group is also responsible for sending the supplies to the franchises prevailing in the country and making shore that these supplies come from a halal source. The delivery of the products to the customers are being monitored by a call center who checks the availability of the products and sends the order to most nearest franchise of the corresponding customer, that can deliver the product in a reasonable amount of time. In USA the same procedure is being followed however the regulatory body is the McDonalds organization itself.(3.5) Importance of E-Services to Other CountriesIn this overbold era of innovation of and improvement e services has played a major role by making sharing of informat ion, transaction and techniques easy, simple and quick. McDonalds USA being a spread across the globe has made its mark by these services by aware people of their products and deals. These e service has helped McDonalds USA in many ways, firstly by transmitting its idea to the public, secondly by gaining feedbacks from its customer through their website, thirdly by collecting data from its operating franchises and fourthly by collecting information from different sources for new potential markets and their requirement.McDonalds Pakistan has also made benefits of these e services and provided various useful information on its website and certain suggestion and feedback form for inquire of their customer. This e services also make customer aware of their future events and new products and deals to be offered.

Saturday, May 25, 2019

Aviation questionnaire Essay

This assessment consists of 30 multiple-choice questions. The questions cover aviation subjects examine for the issue of the commercial pilots licence and general aircraft handling. The questions are answered by pointing and boundering the required answer using the mouse. To move to the next question click on the next button. To go back to a question click on the previous button. To alternate your answer point and click at some other answer. The assessment is not sequenced. You should expect to go about 20 minutes to answer all the questions.1)Jet airliners like the 737 or A320 have swept wings. The reason for this sway back is?To master drag at the design cruise mach number./To enable these aricraft to use less space when parking at airport gates./ To counter the silklike pitch down effect at high gear mach numbers./2)Airbrakes are most effective/On the data track immediately after touchdown/In the land flesh Wheels down / full flap/In a rapid descent from high altitude /3)Some modern airliners are fitted with slotted flaps. The purpose of these slots is to/ Enable the flaps to be slue into an aerofoil section/Re-energise the upper surface airflow to prevent flow separation at high angles of attack/ Increase the wing area and reduce the wing loading on progenyoff and landing/ 4)Dutch roll at high altitude is prevented in modern airliners by? Fitting full time yaw dampers/Automatically decreasing the rudder authority preceding(prenominal) 250kts IAS/ Fitting swept up wing permits at the wing tips/5)If an airliner is flown faster than its MMo.?The handling characteristics may change above Mmo/The drag rise due to compressibility pass on slow the aircraft down/ The aircraft must be slowed immediately as any despatch in unembellished of Mmo willoverstress the airframe/6)When calculating takeoff performance speeds/Vmcg should be greater than V1/Vmcg should be less than or equal to V1/Vmcg must be greater than V1 by 30%/7)On the runway taking off i n a strong crosswind from the right a swept wing reverse lightning airliner will tend to/ yaw (weather vane) to the right/Yaw (weather vane) to the go forth/Drift off the centreline downwind/8)Immediately after takeoff in a swept wing airliner such as the 737 the left-hand(a) engine fails. The aircraft will tend to/ Yaw and roll to the right/Yaw right and pitch nose up/Yaw left and roll left/9)After landing in rain on a runway promulgated as Slippery when wet your aircraft starts to diverge from the runway centreline. What action do you take to stop the drift?/ Cancel reverse thrust/Use full opposite rudder to control the drift/Use differential reverse thrust until the nosewheel instruction becomes effective/10)After landing on a dry runway which is the most effective retardation device?/ The airbrakes / spoilers/Reverse thrust/The antiskid brakes11) To accelerate from slack to full thrust a typical turbofan engine will take about/ 4 seconds/8 seconds/12 seconds/12)The use of h igh wring bleed air from the compressor for anti-icingwill/ Decrease engine operating temperatures and thrust/Increase fuel consumption/Have no effect on jet engine performance/13)Engine icing is most likely to occur/At any time when the outside air temperature is 1 degrees celsius or below/ When firm if visible moisture such as rain or haze over is present/ When visible moisture is present and the total air temperature is 10 degrees celsius or below/14)Ice Contamination of the wing upper and lower surface may cause/ A reduction in stall margins and possible poor lateral control on takeoff/ A loss of lift and pitch control on the ground/An increase in the calculated thrust stage setting required for takeoff/ 15)The symptoms of windshear may include/Loss of altitude, airframe buffet, a high rate of descent combined with excessive pitch attitudes/ A significant change of airspeed, divergence from the required flight path, normal control inputs insufficient to maintain the flight path/ Loss of airspeed, increasing rate of descent and pre-stall buffet/16)An aircraft move through the base of an active cumulonimbus cloud. The pilot might expect it to experience/ A strong updraught only under the cloud base/A downdraft followed by an updraught and then another downdraft/ An updraft followed by a downdraft and then another updraft/17) In calm winter conditions in NW Europe dense fog is cleared most effectively by/ A change of airmass/Solar radiation/An increase in wind speed/18)Flying at 33000 feet the aircraft cabin quickly depressurises. What period of useful consciousness can you expect?/ About 25 seconds/About 50 seconds/About 120 seconds/19)When making a visual landing on a runway with a 1 degree slope up you may experience A visual illusion of being high on the required glidepath/ A visual illusion of being low on the glidepath/Neither of these as the visual effect of the runway slope is unimportant/20)In the cruise at high altitude when flying into an a rea of known turbulence you would/ Stop the cabin service and fly at the turbulence speed/Secure the cabin and cockpit, select turbulence speed and maintain a constant attitude/ Secure the cabin and cockpit and descent at Mmo / Vmo/21)Approximately how far will a jet airliner travel in still air when descending clean from FL370 to FL70 ?/ 50 nm / 88 km/75 nm / 132 km/100 nm / 176 km/22)While in a descent under radar control you receive a TCAS resolution advisory (RA). You would/ Continue with the descent, send away ATC of the RA and look out for other aircraft/ Continue the descent but turn 90 degrees off the assigned heading and advise ATC/ Manoeuvre following(a) the RA guidance and advise ATC/23)Before starting the final descent on an NDB approach you would/ Tune the beacon and calculate the required rate of descent/ oversee the beacon identification and descend when on the runway heading/ Ensure that you are within +/- 5 degrees of the inbound QDM/24) At 1700 feet on an ILS ap proach the GPWS sounds Whoop, whoop, express up, pull up. Would you/ Check the ILS glideslope is within one dot and cross check altitude with the radio altimeter/ Immediately go around following the measuring stick missed approach procedure, inform ATC/ Cancel the GPWS, checkon the glidepath and increase thrust as a precaution/25)At what distance from the stop end of the runway do the centre line lights change from red/white to red ?/ 900m/600m/300m/26)Taxyway lighting consists of/ commonalty centre line lights with blue edge lighting/Green centre line lights with green edge lights on corners/ White centre line lights with red edge lights on corners/27)While in the holding pattern time lag to land you notice that the total fuel in tanks has fallen below company minimum reserves. What action would you take ?/ Declare a Fuel essential and set the transponder to 7600/ Declare an emergency and request assistance from ATC/Advise ATC and your company that you are immediately diverting to your designated alternate/28)In the air a loss of situational awareness is most likely to arise if/ Both pilots are engaged in programming the FMC/The non-handling pilot fails to use airways charts to check the aircrafts position/ ATC are lecture to one pilot while the other is flying the aircraft manually/29) At 900 feet on a manually flown ILS approach you notice the handling pilot has let the aircraft drop below the glidepath. Would you/ Verbally warn the handling pilot, monitor the response and look for a correction/ Verbally warn the handling pilot and take control immediately/ Verbally warn the handling pilot, increase thrust and lightly cover the controls/30)When dealing with a complex emergency the first police officer should/ Carry out all the captains orders without further discussion/ Carry out only orders that are in accordance with company measuring operating procedures/Try to discuss with the captain any orders that are unclear or confusing/END OF SET 1

Friday, May 24, 2019

Is Violence in Film Realistic? Essay

Enough was a movie made in 2002 featuring Jennifer Lopez as the female lead character. The plot of the story centers about Slim Hiller, played by Jennifer Lopez, who is a young mother and is married to an abusive husband. After years of abuse, she escapes but continues to hide her identity as well as her childs. sequence and time again her husband finds them, and Slim must(prenominal) again suffer violence at the hands of her husband. Eventually, Slim receivedizes that she will never escaper her husband and must come up with a different approach if she is ever to live freely again.She learns to defend herself and sets a trap for her husband. When he abuses her the next time, it will be the last time, because she kills him in self defense. This is a great action packed movie but not very realistic in terms of portraying interior(prenominal) violence against women. Domestic violence is messy, physically and emotionally, and never comes as neatly packaged as in the movie. Domestic violence victims are women who get down struggled with an abusive husband for a long time. She has children, and no means to support herself.She is physical and emotionally dependent on the man that beats her. A domestically abused woman rarely leaves her husband, and she spends the bulk of her life juggling between tolerating the physical abuse and trying to appease her husband. Women who are battered in real life do not want or get revenge. Abused women do not want to kill their husbands they just want to be left-hand(a) alone. Also, in real life domestic violence is much more subtle and often ends in death of the woman not the man.Depicting domestic violence in film does two contrasting things. The depiction can bring to light societys epidemic of domestic violence. However, because it is a movie, and prevarication it can easily be dismissed as just a movie I feel that domestic violence was not portrayed realistically in Enough. The movie was meant to be an action packed stor y where the good girl wins, unfortunately that never happens in real life. Works Cited Enough. Dir. Michael Apted. Perfs. Jennifer Lopez, Bill Cambell. Film. capital of South Carolina Pictures, 2002.

Thursday, May 23, 2019

Keeping Up with the Joneses Essay

Society has many effects on the narrator in Two Kinds and Madame Loisel in The Necklace. Whether it is helping us contact feats or our actions in public, we can be affect both negatively and positively. In the short story The Necklace Madame Loisel is dirt poor. When her husband, a simple Clerk, comes home guardianship a white envelope which says The Minister of Education and Mme. Georges Ramponneau beg M. and Mme. Loisel to do them the honor of attending an evening reception at the Ministerial Mansion. Madame Loisel tries her dress hat to mien as good as she can at the reception. She even borrows a necklace to look her best at the reception, this is because of how society expects us to look our best and habiliments up on occasion. In the other short story, Two Kinds, Ni Kans mother wants her to be something she doesnt want her to be. Whether it was opening a restaurant, on the job(p) for the government, or even building a house to sell it and make a profit. She basically want s her to go a prodigy, which is highly unlikely. My mother believed you could be anything you valued to be in America. You could open a restaurant. You could work for the government and get good retirement. You could buy a house with almost no money down. You could become rich. You could become instantly famous. Of course, you can be a prodigy, too, my mother told me when I was nine. Her mother wants her to become a prodigy because of how society has molded her thoughts and actions. Her daughter, she is only best tricky, you can be best anything. What does Auntie Lindo know? For example, her mother forces her to learn the piano, which doesnt work out very well Three days aft(prenominal) watching the Ed Sullivan Show my mother told me what my schedule would be for piano lessons and piano practice. She had talked to Mr. Chong In both positive and negative ways society has affected me in many aspects of my life, society has affected how I look, how I do in school, what I want to b ecome after High-School, what I say, how I practise in sports. In conclusion, society in a whole affects everyone, everywhere, every day in every way. This concludes my essay.

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

How to Copy and Paste

Below is a free essay on repeat And Paste from Anti Essays, your source for free research papers, essays, and term paper examples. Behind every great man is a beautiful, charming maiden who holds his heart. What if this woman was not absorbed with taking care of his heart but was completely absorbed with money, reputation, and her own needs. In Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, Mrs. Daisy Fay Buchanan is the object of affection or the jolt of Gatsbys world. (99) All Daisys life she has wanted to be noticed, to be heard, and to be loved. However, when everything she has always anted is being held in her hands, in the form of Gatsby, Daisy chooses money as her form of merriment ultimately leading to her misery. Daisys action and choices are extremely defined by her East egg way of life, which is a representation of old money and gamey class society within the novel. In short, Daisy thinks with her wallet instead of using her common sense, her head, or her heart. When reading the novel it seemsthe thing for Daisy to do is to leave Tom, child in arms(20) but unfortunately there are no such intentions in her head.The reason being, Tom is her financial prov middle of paper aisy is the exposition of charm and beauty, she will never allow herself to hold his heart. Daisys love for money, her reputation, and her own needs have ultimately led to her down fall. Daisy chose to marry Tom and his wealth over being Gatsbys foundation of love. Daisy believed money would give her the attention, giver her the voice, and give her the love she wanted all her life. However, all she has received from pursuing money is misery. industrial plant Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Literal translation Essay

Domestication and opposedization are strategies in reading, regarding the degree to which translators make a text view as conform to the target floriculture. Domestication is the strategy of making text closely conform to the culture of the language being translated to, which may involve the loss of information from the source text. Foreignization is the strategy of retaining information from the source text, and involves deliberately gaolbreak the conventions of the target language to preserve its meaning.1 These strategies have been debated for hundreds of years, but the first person to formulate them in their modern sense was Lawrence Venuti, who introduced them to the field of translation studies in 1995 with his book The Translators Invisibility A History of Translation. 12 Venutis innovation to the field was his view that the dichotomy between domestication and foreignization was an ideological one he views foreignization as the ethical choice for translators to make.1 The ory edit In his 1998 book The Scandals of Translation Towards an Ethics of Difference, Venuti states that Domestication and foreignization deal with the question of how much a translation assimilates a foreign text to the translating language and culture, and how much it sooner signals the differences of that text.According to Lawrence Venuti, every translator should look at the translation process through the prism of culture which refracts the source language pagan norms and it is the translators task to convey them, preserving their meaning and their foreignness, to the target-language text. Every step in the translation processfrom the selection of foreign texts to the implementation of translation strategies to the editing, reviewing, and reading of translationsis mediated by the diverse ethnic values that circulate in the target language.He estimates that the theory and practice of English-language translation has been dominated by submission, by fluent domestication. He str ictly criticized the translators who in order to minimize the foreignness of the target text reduce the foreign cultural norms to target-language cultural values. According to Venuti, the domesticating strategy violently erases the cultural values and thus creates a text which as if had been written in the target language and which follows the cultural norms of the target reader.He strongly advocates the foreignization strategy, considering it to be an ethnodeviant pressure on target-language cultural values to register the linguistic and cultural difference of the foreign text, sending the reader abroad. thus an adequate translation would be the one that would highlight the foreignness of the source text and instead of allowing the dominant target culture to assimilate the differences of the source culture, it should rather signal these differences. 3

Monday, May 20, 2019

Merck vs Pfizer

Evaluating Merck & Co. , Inc vs. Pfizer, Inc. Amy Lan Lan Liu Connor Buestad Raghul Subramanian Natalia Cosa ACCT 831 March 16, 2011 Table of Contents expose 1 History, mise en scene and Core Business . 2 a. Merck & Co. , Inc. .. 2 b. Pfizer, Inc. 2 c.Core Business . 3 cherish Chain . 4 doorsill guards Five Forces . 6 SWOT psycho compend . 8 Part 2 monetary psycho psychoanalysis .. 5 a. netability Analysis .. 15 b. Liquidity Analysis . 18 c. Solvency Analysis .. 19 Part 3 military rating Analysis .. .. 20 a. eternal sleep Income . 20 b. Cost of Equity .. 21 c. Valuation . 22 d. aesthesia analysis . 23Part 4 Recommendations . 23 Appendix . 25 Appendix A Profitability Analysis. 25 Appendix B Liquidity Analysis .. 25 Appendix C Solvency Analysis .. 6 Appendix D Residual Income and Cost of Equity 26 Appendix E Sensitivity Analysis.. 27 References . 28 Part 1 History, context and Core Business a. Merck & Co. , Inc. History and Background breeding Merck is headquartered in Whiteho mapping Station, New Jersey. According to its website, the companion was origin in ally effected in 1891 as a US subsidiary of the Merck KGaA German party. Merck became an independent fraternity in 1917.In 1963 Merck launch the first measles vaccine, and, in 1967 launched a mumps vaccine. In 2009, Merck acquired Schering- handle and now represent the worlds third-largest pharmaceutic ac companionship by market sh ar. Today, the company has over 94,000 employees worldwide (2012). Merck is the third largest global wellnessc are company in the world. The company specializes in prescription medicines, vaccines, animal wellness, and consumer tuition products, that are marketed directly and through its joint ventures. The company operates intravenous feeding segments namely Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, Consumer Care, and Alliance segments (merck. om, 2012). Starting 2011, in hostelry to subscribe future emersion, Merck started focusing on reducing comprise, making st rategic investments in spick-and-span product launches, and improving its look into and maturation stemma. Mercks gross revenue worldwide r distri yetivelyed $48 one thousand thousand in 2011, which was a 4% subjoin from 2010. With two drugs be pitiable review with the FDA, the company has 19 other drugs in the Phase III of development. b. Pfizer Inc. History And Background Information Found by Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart in 1849 Pfizer, Inc. is the largest pharmaceutic company in the world.Their main goal was to discover saucy drugs that would help improve the healthcare somewhat the world. Both Pfizer and Erhart were born and raised in Germany before travel upon Brooklyn, New York, where Pfizer first opened its doors as a fine-chemicals business. The first product launched by Pfizer was white plague to enteral worms, a disease that was prevalent in mid-19th century America (Pfizer. com, 2012). According to their website, in 1880, Pfizer shifted its focus to manu facturing citric acid which was the raw material for soft drink products much(prenominal) as Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, and Pepsi-Cola.In 1944, Pfizer succeeded in producing penicillin with was similarly called the miracle drug. By 1980, Pfizer was manufacturing an anti-inflammatory drug called Feldene (piroxicam), which was the first product to generate revenue of one billion dollars from gross revenue most the world. Today, Pfizer is known for its creation of drugs such as Lipitor apply for cholesterol, Viagra used for cavernous dysfunction, and Celebrex used as an anti-inflammatory (2012). The range of products sold by Pfizer has many applications in the health fabrication that serves in wellness prevention and discourse of a wide variety of diseases.Some of its promises drugs that are below review are potential cures for Alzheimers disease and roll in the haycer. c. Core Business Merck and Pfizer dispense the alike outcome business model of researching, development, and marketing pharmaceutical products. As with any business, Merck and Pfizer are facing increasing argument and challenges, not the least of which is the overtaking of palpable protections on key products. There are three tools that are increasingly useful in analyzing the core business and economic characteristics of an sedulousness. These include the de barrierine chain analysis, Porters Five Forces Model, and the SWOT analysis.The Value Chain The first tool, the determine chain analysis, represents the chain of activities problematical in the development, manufacturing, and distribution of products and/or armed services of a company. The value chain of pharmaceutical companies usually consists of research and development of drugs, drug thanksgiving by government regulators, manufacturing of drugs, creation of demand for drugs, and marketing to consumers. The analysis of each stage of the value chain can reveal the central focus and competencies of the firm, and can point t o the activities that drive meshing.According to Fortune 500, the leading pharmaceutical firms in 2011 were Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Abbott Laboratories (CNN. com, 2011). The two companies we discuss in this paper, Merck and Pfizer, entertain similar value chains. Merck and Pfizer position themselves as companies that provide innovative and effective drugs and medical solutions globally. Due to the increasing threat of patent expiration and generic wine drug competition, some(prenominal) pharmaceutical companies focus extensively on research and development and brisk drug approval value chain activities.Both companies devote controlable internal resources on R&D, and continue to expand through accomplishments or by entering into agreements with other companies that focus on the disco actually and development of new drugs. In 2009, Pfizer acquired Wyeth for $68 billion, an acquisition that is considered the largest pharmaceutical uniting in nearly a decade (Hoove rs Company Records, 2012). In addition, Pfizer acquired Excaliard Pharmaceuticals in November 2011, and in September 2011 it gained 70% ownership of the outstanding shares of Icagen, Inc.Merck is also constantly seeking out collaborations, licensing, and outsourcing agreements in the area of Research and appendage (Datamonitor, 2011). In November 2009, it acquired Schering-Plough for $41 billion (Hoovers Company Records, 2012), and in May 2011 it acquired Inspire Pharmaceuticals. Pfizer and Merck focus heavily on the new drug approval process. In 2011, Merck had 2 drugs under review by government regulators and 19 drugs in last run phase, and it also planned to file 5 major products for approval between 2012 and 2013.Pfizer had 19 drugs submitted for FDA for approval, and 5 already approved for 2011. Both Merck and Pfizer benefit from using sophisticated and efficient manufacturing and supply chains. Both companies create, move and trade tremendous amounts of product each grade and therefore must(prenominal) rely on a just manufacturing system. Their manufacturing network consists of numerous manufacturing sites and distribution networks around the world. In addition to their internal manufacturing, pharmaceutical firms work with networks of impertinent spouses to produce lines of product, packaging, and active ingredients.To create demand for their products, twain(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) companies market extensively in multiple media outlets and assist consumers to ask their doctors about different drugs. Merck markets its products in over 140 countries through direct sales forces and world(prenominal) distributors. Its customers are drug wholesalers, retailers, government agencies, and healthcare providers (Hoovers Company Records, 2012). Pfizer sells its products through wholesale distributors equivalent McKesson and Cardinal health and it markets its products directly to doctors, hospital, nurses, employer groups, and patients.P orters Five Forces The pharmaceutical patience is a highly dynamic with new technologies rising in the market quite often. Michael Porters Five Forces model can be used to study and verify the factors affecting the market performance of Merck & Co and Pfizer. This model focuses on the external forces that the companies must pay attention to in order to maintain their realizeability. The five forces of the pharmaceutical industry are canvass below. 1. Threat from new entrants is estimateed to be low in this industry delinquent to the following movements.The pharmaceutical industry is a high-tech industry and involves high capital cost. Economy of scale is required to keep the cost down and the establish firms (Merck & Co and Pfizer) are well known for excelling in this area. The existing drugs are safe-guarded by patents at least for a particular period of time before the generic drugs hit the market. This gives companies kindred Merck and Pfizer a considerable leg up on riv als. However, these patents do eventually expire, thus opening the door to more(prenominal) competition from generic drug makers. Product differentiation is necessary in order to pluck new customers.In the field of pharmaceuticals, it is very hard to bring a differentiated product to market. New drugs permit extensive testing by the FDA before entering the market. The drugs by the established firms get easily passed when compared to new entrants whose credibility is still uncertain. 2. Rivalry among established firms is high in the industry among players like Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co, Pfizer, Abbott Laboratories etc. The pharmaceutical industry is high revenue industry and there is a tough competition to obtain more market share. No company owns more than 6-10 % of the market share.In addition, high cost of R and marketing are incurred by all the firms involved in this competition. 3. Buyer power would be classified as low to moderate in this industry ascribable to the foll owing reasons. The concentration of buyers relative to overall industry surface is low. The demand for chronic and lifesaving drugs is high collectible to the ageing baby-boom population. The buyers bind little knowledge about the industry cost structure and hence the pharmaceutical companies use this advantage to outlay their products higher. The patents protect the drugs from refuse priced competitor drugs, but many patents are expiring. . Supplier power is considered medium to low in the industry. The supplier chemise cost incurred by pharmaceutical companies like Merck and Pfizer is low. The threat of forward integrating by suppliers is low due(p) to lack of knowledge and expertise. Differentiation of the supplier products is low because they have a wide range of applications, with the biotech firms world one of them. 5. Substitute products always present a challenge to companies operating in the pharmaceutical industry. This can be attributed to the following factors.B iotech firms like Amgen are beginning to market their own products, unlike the traditional method acting of selling them to pharmaceutical companies like Merck and Pfizer. This presents a new segment of competitors that can provide substitutes. Increasingly, patients can use medical alternatives such as surgery, homeopathic remedies, acupuncture and herbal medicines. The overall healthcare industry is very dynamic and always changing. New products and healing methods are constantly being developed, some of which could serve as substitutes to existing treatments hitered by Merck and Pfizer.SWOT Analysis Merck & Co. SWOT Merck is the third largest healthcare company in the world. Over the years, a large investment in R has enhanced the companys top-line festering. However, new competitors and large cost of drug development could affect their revenue issue. Strengths Weaknesses Leading market position third largest healthcare company in Generic brand competition the world. High l itigation cost Successful launches of new products fusion with Schering-Plough strengthens their industry position Opportunities Threats Cost savings from internal restructure US regulatory set ventures Expansion in emerging markets Healthcare reform of US industrial-strength pipeline Strengths Leading Market Position troika Largest Healthcare Company in the World Merck is a well-known and respected company worldwide. One of their greatest strengths is their leading market position. Mercks worldwide sale essentialed $48 billion in 2011, an ontogenesis of 4% compared to 2010.The increase of revenue is mainly due to the companys signature products such as Singulair, Januvia, Remicade, Zetia, Vytorin, Janumet, Isentress, Nasonex, Gardasil, and Temodar (Datamonitor, 2011). Successful Launches of New Products Merck has a proven success record for launching new products. Since 2006, it has successfully launched 10 new therapeutics, including Victrelis, a treatment fo r chronic hepatitis C (2011), Elonva, a corifollitropin alpha injection (2010), Janumet, a treatment for diabetes, Isentress, an HIV integrase inhibitor (2007), Gardasil, a drug that could prevent diseases caused by HPV, and Januvia, a cure for type 2 diabetes (2006) (Datamonitor, 2011). nuclear fusion with Schering-Plough Strengthens Their Industry Position The merger with Schering-Plough has certainly strengthened Mercks industry position.Schering-Plough owned many frequent pharmaceutical drugs such as allergy drugs Claritin and Clarinex, anti-cholesterol drug Vytorin, and a brain tumor drug Temodar. Schering Plough had 1. 4% market share in the U. S. , 17th in the top 20 pharmaceutical confederation by sales (Datamonitor, 2011). Weaknesses Generic Brand Competition Merck pharmaceutical products have traditionally accounted for roughly of their total sales. One weakness is the competition Merck faces with generic brands. Due to the real economy, we tend to estimate people al low shift to more inexpensive and generic brand products. This can cause sizable losses for Mercks total revenue. High Litigation CostsMerck continues to face litigation tie in to their Vioxx recall, a drug that is used to cure arthritis and acute pain. In 2004, Merck withdrew Vioxx off the market because it cased potential cardiac attacks among the patients who took it regularly for a period of 18 months or capaciouser. During 2010, Merck was forced to spend around $140 million in legal defense costs (Datamonitor, 2011). Opportunities Cost Savings from Internal Restructure Merck has emphasized the idea of decreases costs in order to drive greater efficiencies within the company. According to Datamonitors SWOT analysis, Merck hopes to reduce costs by $3. 5 billion one-yearly beyond 2011 (2011). Expansion in Emerging MarketsMerck has strengthened its international market share by signing exclusive agreements with other established companies to co-promote and distribute a follow of products. For example, Merck and Johnson & Johnson agreed to govern the rights to distribution of Remicade and Simponi. Remicade is a treatment for nasal allergy and Simponi is an asthma treatment for patients above the age of three. According to the agreement with Johnson & Johnson, Merck is allowed to market Simponi and Remicade in Asia, Canada, Africa, The Middle East, and substitution and South America as of July 1, 2011. In addition, Merck exclusively markets these products in Turkey, Russia, and Europe.These two products brought in 70% of Mercks revenue from 2010 (Datamonitor, 2011). Strong Pipeline Datamonitor expects that Mercks 20 new products leaveinging add combined annual sales of more than $7 billion to its top-line by 2015 (2011). While Merck retains its internal focus on pipeline productivity, half of its new launches were obtained in the companys merger with Schering-Plough. Recently Merck has had considerable success with a turn of events of new launches si nce moving into its core portfolio. It volition look to replicate this success with the pipeline programs it has genic from Schering-Plough as well as with those it has been developing prior to the merger. Threats US Regulatory SetbacksUS regulatory setbacks include terminations of Mercks treatments such as for Tredaptive for atherosclerosis, and Taranabant for obesity. The potential for further setbacks and termination can be a concern for Mercks brand image during the drug development stage. There could also be threats for the clinical and regulatory failures with developing Saphiris (schizophrenia), boceprivir (hepatitis C) and TRA (Datamonitor, 2011). Healthcare Reform of US The recently enacted US Healthcare Reform could decrease Mercks profit coasts. According to Datamonitor, Merck incurred additional expenses from increases in Medicaid rebates, which increase from 15. 1% to 23. 1% for the branded prescription drugs.Being in the Medicare Part D coverage gap, Merck was requ ired to pay a 50% send away utilization required by law in 2011. In addition, Merck expects to Also, beginning in 2011, Merck expects that it pull up stakes pay an additional annual health care reform fee, which will be enumerated as a percentage of the industrys total sales of branded prescription drugs to specified government programs. The fee was $2. 5billion for 2011 (2011). Pfizer Inc. SWOT Pfizer is the worlds largest research- found pharmaceutical company and still remains the strongest industry player in terms of sales and marketing capability. However, Pfizer relies on a large M&A structure and lacks some key aspects of an organic sales egression model. Strengths Weaknesses M&A to gain economies of scale Difficulty in gaining market share due to already Strong advertising capabilities established position in the market Acquisition of Wyeth in 2009 Heavy reliance on Lipitor franchise Opportunities Threats Acquisition of power in 2010 Difficulties in achieving orga nic sales reaping Enhancing established products in emerging markets Development setbacks of Sutent and Chantix/Champix Decreasing cost structure Strengths M&A to Gain Economies of collection plate Pfizer has used large-scale acquisitions to establish and maintain its position as the biopharmaceutical industrys leading player. Since 2000, Pfizer acquired four big pharmaceutical companies Warner-Lambert, Pharmacia, Wyeth, and King Pharmaceuticals. Pfizer acquired Wyeth in 2009. Wyeth was known for manufacturing over-the-counter drugs such as Robitussin and Advil, around $3 billion in sales annually. The acquisition of Wyeth enhanced Pfizers position as the industrys largest prescription pharmaceutical manufacturer.According to an member from MarketWatch, Pfizers large economies of scale growth also enhanced the companys ability to implement restructuring programs designed to reduce costs and drive profitability, piece of music maintaining a steady increase in R expenditure (2 012). Strong publicise Capabilities According to MarketWatch, Pfizer has a strong marketing and sales infrastructure that helps grow sales for new products as well as mature product that face strong competition from generic competition. According to MarketWatch, The most visible illustration of Pfizers sales and marketing capability is the strong revenue stream recorded by Pfizer attributable to third party products marketed under-license in selected geographic markets. In mulct, Pfizer remains a marketing partner of choice for many medium and smaller sized prescription pharmaceutical players (2012). Acquisition of WyethThe acquisition of Wyeth gives Pfizer an speedy access to many well-known biologic and vaccine products such as Enbrel, an anti-inflammatory product and Prevnar, a vaccine. Pfizers financial statement 2011 stated the worldwide revenues from biopharmaceutical products in 2010 were $58. 5 billion. This was increase of 29% from 2009, primarily attributed to the add ition of operational revenues from Wyeth products of more or less $13. 7 billion (Datamonitor, 2011). Weaknesses Difficulty in Gaining Market Share disposed(p) Pfizers current market share (worlds largest research-based pharmaceutical company), it will be difficult for the company to continue to grow at the historical rate of sales without further use of large-scale M&A.According to MarketWatch, Pfizers 15 established blockbuster products in 2010, only a few products, including the neuropathic pain therapy Lyrica (pregabalin), are depend to deliver a positive sales growth contribution through to 2015 (2012). All other products, including Lipitor, will deliver net ostracise sales growth, primarily due to generic exposure. Heavy reliance on Lipitor franchise According to the analysis of MarketWatch, Pfizers blockbuster portfolio is dominated by the Lipitor franchise, which generated global sales of $10. 7 billion in 2010 (2012). However, Lipitor revenue growth slowed real(a)ly s ince mid-2006 due to the indirect generic impact of therapeutic substitution via loss of patent exclusivity for Merck & Co. s rival statin Zocor.With the Lipitor patent expiration set to occur in mid-2011, exposure of this one product to generic competition will have a significant impact on the overall performance of the company. Opportunities Acquisition of King in 2010 Pfizer acquired King Pharmaceuticals on Oct 12, 2010, the worlds 39th largest pharmaceutical company that focuses on pain management. Its product includes Altace for heart attack prevention, and Sonata, a sleeping aid. According to MarketWatch, the acquisition of King represents the latest stage in a diversification schema implemented by Pfizer over the past two years, as it seeks to prepare for the loss of patent exclusivity on its best-selling prescription pharmaceutical product Lipitor (atorvastatin) in late 2011.King is a leading developer of analgesics and its integration will broaden Pfizers pain offering to include opioid drugs with anti-abuse technologies (2012). Datamonitor currently expects that Kings total revenues will increase at a CAGR of 11. 3% during 2010-15, from $1. 2 billion to $2 billion (2011). Enhancing Established Products in Emerging Markets Pfizer established two independent business units, one focused on established products and the other focused in emerging markets. The goal is to bridge emerging markets with established products. Pfizer, like Merck, plans to expand to the emerging markets by collaborating with topical anaesthetic players to source branded generic products. Decreasing Cost StructurePfizers aim to grow profit will be depending on its continued use of a decreasing cost structure. According to MarketWatch, Pfizer forecasted the acquisition of Wyeth will save $3 billion by the end of 2012 (2012). Pfizers reason for the large-scale M&A is to cut cost substantially (by not having to invest in R&D and the development of new drugs) to drive increased pro fitability (by leveraging what other companies have developed). Threats Difficulties in achieving organic sales growth Pfizer success relies heavily on large-scale M&A and lacks organic sales growth. Datamonitor believes that further large-scale M&A activity will be undertaken by Pfizer because of growing competition of generics (2011).Pfizers own R operations will find it difficult to keep up with the historical M for its organic growth. Development setbacks of Sutent and Chantix/Champix Sutent, a treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma, undergo development setbacks. Sutents revenue growth depends partially on approval in additional tumor types the termination of clinical trials in twain colon cancer and breast cancer indicates that the products performance in the marketplace could suffer. In addition, Pfizer also experienced setbacks in Chantix/Champix, smoking cessation therapy. Revenue declined mainly due to the updated labeling to warn of neuropsychiatric symptoms.As DataM onitor pointed out, further failures in clinical trials of Sutent and other products could significantly affect Pfizers sales growth (2011). Part 2 Financial Analysis a. Profitability Analysis (Appendix A) Using translate on assets (ROA), return on common equity (ROCE), and profits per share (EPS), one can properly illustrate the profitability of Merck and Pfizer. Mercks ROA fall significantly from 2009 to 2010, dropping from 16. 8% to 1. 29%. This decrease was attributed to a decline in net income and profit margin. by and by their acquisition of Schering-Plough, Merck was left with higher costs, such as an 88% increase in R expense and a 55% increase in Marketing and Administrative Expenses. Total costs increased by 265%, while sales increased by only 67%.Net income also decreased in 2010 due to an increase in Other Expenses attributable to the Schering-Plough merger, an exchange loss of $200 million due to two Venezuelan currency valuations, and a $950 million charge for the Vioxx Liability Reserve. The disaggregated ROA showed a decrease in profit margin as well, from 48. 9% in 2009 to 3. 06% in 2010. A year after the merger, Mercks ROA bounced back to 6. 7%, which is closer to the industry comely of 11% (CNN. com, 2011) by decreasing some expenses (R, Materials & Production) and an increase of $2 million in sales. Pfizers ROA shows a similar decreasing trend for 2010. Its ROA decreased from 9. 03% in 2009 to 4. % in 2010 due to deductions related to asset impairment charges that were $1. 3 billion higher in 2010 than in 2011, due to the Wyeth acquisition in 2009 and litigation related to their subsidiary Quigley Company, Inc. The ROA has increased in 2011 to 5. 83% because the costs and expenses decreased by $3 million. The disaggregated ROA shows both the decrease of asset turnover and profit margin from 2009 to 2010, and the increase in both for 2011, showing that the operation profitability is getting stronger. However, we believe that both firms profit margins are anicteric when compared to the industry average of 16. 7% (yahoofinance. com, 2012)After comparing the Asset Turnover, Profit Margin, and ROA for both companies, we can think that both are starting to improve in regards to profitability, after their acquisitions in 2009. However, Merck seemed to be using its assets more efficiently to generate sales than Pfizer in 2011. Merck also had a higher ROA. However, both companies are below the industry average ROA of 11% and below the ROAs of competitors (Johnson & Johnson ROA is 8. 5% and Abbott is 7. 8%) (CNN. com). Return on common equity helps to justify how well a company uses its investment dollars to generate profits. ROCE can be very important to shareholders as it informs common stock investors how effectively their capital is being reinvested.Mercks ROCE decreased significantly in 2010 due to the acquisition of Schering-Plough, which led to a decrease in Net Income due to the cost of acquisition (increase in R, and increase in marketing, administration, materials and production expenses), and an increase in Shareholders Equity. Pfizers ROCE declined marginally in 2010 as well, due to the acquisition of Wyeth. However, both companies were back to normal operations in 2011 and had similar ROCEs, around 11%, which is considered the average percent for publicly traded companies in the US. This means that both companies have rosy-cheeked ROCEs and are generating healthy returns to shareholders.The desegregated return on common shareholders equity reveals a decrease in the financial leverage of Pfizer from 2. 29 in 2010 to 2. 25 in 2011. Mercks financial leverage is constant, 1. 92 in 2010 and 1. 93 in 2011. We conclude that both companies are not heavily leveraged by short and long term debt, which shows that they are less(prenominal)(prenominal) risky financially. The disaggregated ROCE also reveals low asset turnover ratios for both companies and this is not uncommon for companies with h igh profit margins in the pharmaceutical industry. Finally, network per Share is also used to assess a companys profitability. EPS allow us to compare the companies power to make a profit. This means that Mercks determine Earnings balance performs founder than that of Pfizers.Whereas Pfizers EPS has been constant for the last three years (around 1), Merck experienced a significant decrease in 2010 to 0. 36 for diluted. The notes of their financial statements list the following reasons for the decrease R impairment charges, restructuring and merger with Wyeth (had to recognize a full year of amortization of intangible assets and inventory set-up), legal reserve deductions related to Vioxx, and the US healthcare legislation reform. Non GAAP results were evaluated as well, and we believe these results give a better grounds of the performance of the company as they exclude the non-recurring costs mentioned above. b.Liquidity Analysis (Appendix B) The following section analyzes the short term liquidity risk of Merck and Pfizer. The ongoing dimensions for both companies are healthy, above 1, which means that they both have substantial gold and near-cash assets available on their Balance Sheet to repay their obligations within the next year. The Quick Ratios for both companies is also healthy, above 0. 5, which means that both companies have liquid assets on hand to repay their short term obligations. The Operating hard currency Flow ratio is similar for both companies, above 0. 4, which means that both companies generate enough cash flow from operations after funding working capital needs.According to the notes of the financial statement, Pfizers lower rate in 2010 was attributed to certain tax payments made in connection with the increased tax costs associated with the Wyeth acquisition and therefore, the decrease in net cash flow from operations. From analyzing the Revenue to hard cash and Days Revenue Held in Cash ratios, it is noticeable that Pfizer ha s less cash on hand. Pfizer has less cash because they are more focused on M. Pfizer worn-out(a) 3. 3. billion on acquisitions in 2011, while Merck spent just 3. 7 million. Merck has a healthy ratio for accounts receivable turnover. Mercks accounts payable turnover is intimately double that of Pfizer.These findings show that Merck is paying their supplier twice as fast as Pfizer. Pfizers lower ratio might be due to the fact that its creditors allow more time to pay off its debt. The Accounts Receivable and Inventory Turnover ratios are also pretty high and pretty similar for both companies. This means that both firms are selling inventory and turning accounts receivable into cash relatively quickly. However, it looks like Merck is collecting money from customers faster and turns inventory over quicker than Pfizer. Overall, we believe that both firms have healthy short term liquidity. c. Solvency Analysis (Appendix C) The following section analyzes the long term solvency risk of Me rck and Pfizer.The Liabilities to Asset Ratio reveals that both Merck and Pfizer finance their companies with approximately 50% debt and 50% equity. However, Mercks ratio is a little lower, with around 45% debt and 55% equity financing. As can be noticed in the table, the Liabilities to Shareholders Equity, tenacious shape Debt to Long Term Capital, and Long Term Debt to Shareholders Equity ratios are healthy, which means that both companies will have no problems play offing long term obligations and are not heavily financed by debt. The Interest reportage ratios for 2011 reveal that both companies are able pay interest on outstanding debt and can pay additional debt as well.Therefore, their credit risk is considered low. The Operating Cash Flow to Total Liabilities ratios are around 20% or higher, which means that both firms generate enough cash flow from operations to service debt. Both firms experienced a lower ratio in 2010 due to increased tax costs for the acquisition of W yeth for Pfizer and due to increased costs associated with the Schering Plough merger and the Vioxx impairment charges for Merck. The liquidity and solvency analysis revel that both firms are not experiencing any financial distress. However, we consider Merck less risky that Pfizer because Merck relies less on debt and more on equity financing. Part 3 Valuation AnalysisAs outlined above, profitability, liquidity, and solvency all go a long way in providing analysts with viable information used to measure the performance of a firm. In addition to these measures, residual income, cost of equity, and valuation can also be used when analyzing companies such as Merck and Pfizer. a. Residual Income (Appendix D) We started our valuation analysis by calculating the residual income for both Merck and Pfizer. In order to achieve this, we used the companies 10K reports from 2009-2011 to project the forecast for 2012-2016, a five-year time frame. The method we used for this forecast was the un iform method used to project the residual income. Pfizers residual income for 2012 was $82,621million while Mercks was $54,517million.Please note that all military issues in our calculations are in millions. Our valuation was based on the assumption that both companies will grow by an average rate in the following years. We took into consideration three factors the current growth rate, past growth rate and macroeconomic factors. Both Merck and Pfizer are in the maturity phase of their growth cycles and show steady growth figures. Residual income growth for Merck was negative for 2010, withal we believe this was due to Mercks merger with Schering-Plough Corporation. In 2007 and 2008, Merck showed a positive double-digit growth. In 2011, residual income growth was virtually flat, at 0. %, however we believe this is also due to the Plough acquisition. For Pfizer, residual income growth figures for the previous three years averaged approximately 3%. Based on these values for residual income, we choose to be conservative and assume a 1% long-run growth rate for residual income for years 2012 to 2016 for both Merck and Pfizer. We chose this modest growth number because both companies are still adjusting to recent large-scale M activity. On a macroeconomic level, both Merck and Pfizers growth may be stunted by an overall down economy, the health care policy restructuring in the United States and the expiration of long-standing patents. b. Cost of Equity (Appendix D)After determining the 5 year forecast for each company, we next calculated the cost of equity. The capital asset pricing model was used to calculate the cost of equity. We used the yield on a ten-year Treasury Bill as the risk kick rate which was 1. 98% (US Department of Treasury, 2012). The betas we used to calculate these numbers were retrieved from a financial website index (yahoofinance. com, 2012). The beta for Pfizer was 0. 71 and for Merck it was 0. 8342. The return on market was set at 14. 50% for both companies (NYSE, 2012). Using the bivouacking Model, the cost of equity for Pfizer was determined to be 10. 869%, while for Merck it was 12. 424%. Therefore, stockholders of Merck require a larger return than stockholders of Pfizer.Given that Pfizer is the number one pharmaceutical company in the world, it is implied that investors require more return from Merck than from Pfizer. c. Valuation (Appendix D) Using the growth rate of 1%, we forecasted 2012s residual income by multiplying the growth rate by 2011 residual income. We performed the same calculation for the next five years until 2016, and then discounted it to get the present value. From 2016 on, we assumed a sempiternity growth rate, which means we assumed this company would grow forever. Therefore, we needed to calculate the current value for the company as if it were to grow at a rate of 1%, forever. We first calculated next years residual income by multiplying 2016s residual income by 1%, then dividing by 2.The reason we dissever by 2 was to account for the fact that the firm might not grow at a rate of 1% forever. In fact, in some cases, there might be negative growth, as Merck experienced from 2009 to 2010. Therefore, to be conservative, we divided the residual income in half, and then we discounted the value by the discount factor to get the present value. After we calculated the present values, we added all the values together and divided by the current number of shares outstanding to obtain the value per share. For Pfizer, the value per share was $79. 39 and for Merck $114. 93. The value we calculated is three times the amount of what the stock is currently trading at.We believe this number is high, but not unreasonable. Around the year 2000, Pfizer was trading near $50 and Merck was trading near $100. We think the current low share value is due to the overall weak economy and we believe that the share price will grow in the future. Please note that all the values of the calculation s are in millions still for value per share and current share value. d. Sensitivity Analysis (Appendix E) We performed a sensitivity analysis based on changing horizon growth factors and discount rates (cost of equity) to show the value per share. This gives investors the value per share for a different discount rate or growth factor. Part 4. RecommendationsAfter a thorough analysis of both Merck and Pfizer based on profitability, liquidity, and solvency evaluations, we found that both companies are preforming well financially. We found that both companies use assets and investments effectively to generate profit and their profitability growth seems to be steady. The analysis of short term and long term liquidity of both firms shows no risk in their ability to generate cash to meet working capital needs, and satisfy short term and long term debt. From the valuation analysis, we can predict that the future share values of both Pfizer and Merck seem to grow at a steady rate, assumpt ive that both companies grow at a rate of 1% each year.From an investors point of view, we consider that the earning per share, the price/earnings ratio, and the leverage are important factors to consider before making an investment. Company EPS Price/Earnings Ratio Leverage Pfizer 2. 14 10. 47 2. 25 Merck 3. 25 11. 95 1. 93 After analyzing both companies, on the basis on earning per share, the price/earnings ratio, and the leverage, we have the following recommendations for potential investors. comparing these values for both companies (table above), we found that Merck outperforms Pfizer marginally.We believe that investment in both companies is safe, however, investment in Merck will bring a higher earnings return than a similar investment in Pfizer in the future. In addition, the financial leverage shows that the financial risk investment in Merck is lower than Pfizers, which makes it an even better choice for investment. However, the investor should keep in mind that the ph armaceutical industry involves high risk due expiring patents and threats from generic drugs and their profitability can be highly impacted by these events. According to a recent article on Dailyfinance. com, we found that the patents for major drugs like Pfizers Lipitor and Protonix, and Mercks Singulair, which make up a large portion of the companies revenues, are about to expire(2011).These patent expirations cause uncertainty in the future growth of the companies and might have a substantial impact on their stock prices. Appendix A ROA Pfizer Merck & Co 2009 2010 2011 2009 2010 2011 Asset Turnover 0. 46 0. 32 0. 35 0. 34 0. 42 0. 45 Profit margin 19. 50% 14. 60% 16. 50% 48. 90% 3. 06% 14. 70% ROA 9. 03% 4. 80% 5. 38% 16. 80% 1. 29% 6. 70% ROCE Pfizer Merck & Co 2009 2010 2011 2009 2010 2011 10. 28% 9. 21% 11. 53% 33. 47% 1. 73% 11. 74% EPS Pfizer Merck & Co 2009 2010 2011 2009 2010 2011 GAAP $1. 24 $1. 09 $1. 10 $5. 65 $0. 36 $2. 01 Non GAAP 3. 77 3. 42 3. 25 Appendix B Pfizer Merck 2011 2010 2011 2010 Current Ratio 2. 0566461 2. 1306398 2. 0425362 1. 8581932 Quick Ratio 1. 438099 1. 4454533 1. 4301631 1. 2496004 Opr. CF to Current Liab. 0. 7210802 0. 399986 0. 7622653 0. 6918995 Revenue to Cash 19. 051992 38. 649568 3. 5508832 4. 2189908 Days Revenues Held in Cash 19. 158102 9. 438314 102. 79133 86. 51358 Accounts Payable Turnover 1. 67 2. 11 3. 77 3. 89 Days Accounts Payable 218 173 97 94 great(p) Accounts Receivable Turnover5 4. 79 6. 16 6. 59 Days Receivable Outstanding 73 76 59 55 Inventory Turnover 1. 88 1. 53 2. 78 2. 4 Days Inventory Held 194 238 131 138 Appendix C Pfizer Merck 2011 2010 2011 2010 Liabilities to Asset Ratio 0. 560 0. 540 0. 458 0. 463 Liabilities to Shareholders0. 583 0. 555 0. 300 0. 290 Equity Ratio Long Term Debt to Long-Term 0. 297 0. 303 0. 220 0. 220 Capital Ratios Long Term Debt to 0. 422 0. 435 0. 284 0. 84 Shareholders Equity Ratio Inter est reporting Ratio 8. 600 6. 180 10. 900 3. 480 Operating Cash Flow to Total0. 190 0. 099 0. 300 0. 120 Liabilities Ratio Appendix D 10 year Mercks BetaMercks Rm Treasury Bill 1. 98% 0. 8342 14. 50% CAPM 12. 2% Merck 2012 2011 2010 germ SE 54,517 54,376 59,058 Comprehensive Loss 3,132 3,216 2,767 Income Available to Com. 57,649 57,592 61,825 Shareholders Required Income -222 -222 -221 Residual Income 57,427 57,370 61,604 Changed in Residual Income 0. 10% -6. 7% 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 CV Projected Residual Income 57,427 58,001 58,581 59,167 59,759 30,178 Discount Factor 1. 12424 1. 2639156 1. 420944 1. 5974826 1. 795954 0. 2051731 submit Value 51,081 45,890 41,227 37,038 33,274 147,086 Total Value 355,596 of Share Outstanding 3,094 Value per Share 114. 93 Current Share Value (5/4/12) 38. 84 10 year TreasuryPfizers Pfizers Rm Bill Beta 1. 98% 0. 71 14. 50% CAPM 10. 7% Pfizer 2012 2011 2010 Beginning SE $82,621 $87,813 90,014 Comprehensive Loss -4,129 -3,440 552 Preferred Dividends 45 52 62 Income Available to Com. $86,705 $91,201 89,400 Shareholders Required Income 3,142 4,520 4,510 Residual Income $89,847 $86,681 84,890 Changed in Residual Income 3. 65% 2. 1% 2012 2013 2014 2015 CV 2016 Projected Residual Income 89,847 90,745 91,653 92,569 93,495 47,215 Discount Factor 1. 10869 1. 22919352 1. 3627 1. 5109 1. 6751 0. 1653 Present Value 81,039 73,825 67,254 61,267 55,813