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

IMF - Case Study Example It was founded to help developing countries by lending cash for development of financial structures so that it can reach developed stage (Mody & Saravia, 2008). However, this contradicts the functions of IMF presently. Some of these countries engage in highly risky activities with the notion that IMF will come to their rescue in case of failing of the business or inevitable losses. This has led to increased numbers of financial crises due to the increased responsiveness of the IMF to such crises. As a result of the increased number of crisis, the IMF has faced overloading of tasks. This needs response; hence, its main aim of increasing financial structures of developing countries is often slow to allocate and fund them. They give first priorities to crisis’s hit countries hence these countries tend to drag in developments (Mody & Saravia, 2008). IMF system of short-term crisis management is too costly, responds too slow, its advice often incorrect to the lending and repayment, and its efforts to influence policy and practice too intrusive. IMF management of crisis is often too expensive due to the process of analyzing the extent of the crisis, and vulnerability and the dangers and also the damage it has caused and it can cause if not addressed. This is done by a set of appointed board members to analyze it for a time and make a decision on the outcome and the necessary measures to solve such a crisis. This process is often somehow expensive as it includes payments to those appointed to analyze within that short period. The steps of this process are often costly and expensive as they include vital decisions that need careful analyzation before coming up with a decision (Collyns & Kincaid, 2003). Management of crisis is often a slow process as it includes analyzing the extent of the crisis, and the damage caused, the effect it would cause if not collected and the way to solve

See inside Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

See inside - Assignment Example A company will come up with a strategy to achieving a particular goal or a set of goals set out as planned. Then a means or a tactic by which the strategy will be carried out. A sound strategy will succeed by using facts and assumptions, analysis, previous conclusions, and previous recommendations. However, a strategic outline plan begins with a vision that should be futuristic, specific, and promises a better outlook than the current state of affairs. To achieve a vision, a company should have a mission statement that is in line with its objectives. A mission statement should identify core competencies and philosophies while explaining why it is possible to achieve a vision. SWOT analysis is a crucial part when a company is laying out a strategic plan. SWOT analysis simply means identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that a company possesses and faces. It is through SWOT analysis that a company gets to learn about its competitive advantages and disadvantages. From the article, it is clear that Duke Energy Company has an ambitious vision that it wants to achieve by the year 2050. The vision that Duke Energy Company has is to modernize its grid and make its communities the most energy efficient communities in the world. This vision is in line with our current text since it is both futuristic, and it promises a bright future. However, according to the President and CEO of Duke Energy Company, this vision can be achieved without factoring in facts and data analyses since he believes numbers do not necessarily connect to the vision. According to our current text, it is tactically crucial to use facts and analysis in-order to be able to achieve a vision that has been set out. Using SWOT analysis on Duke Energy Company, it is easy to identify its competitive advantage. According to the CEO, the fact that they have already experimented with different technologies gives them an

Analysis of Profitability Ratios

Analysis of Profitability Ratios If a company shows good profitability then the shareholders can expect good profit distribution on their investment. For this purpose we should also examine the dividend payment history of the company in order to make a reliable estimate of profit distribution. So far as the Spectrum Manufacturing Company [SMC] is concerned, its profitability is decreasing. The reasons of the decrease in profitability are: Decrease in sales Increase in interest expenses Increase in the amount of depreciation [may not be a concern, since it is non cash expense. Further increase the depreciation will ultimately decrease tax liability] The disadvantages of using above ratios are that these ratios may not provide an accurate estimate of the company profitability if used individually. The ratios calculated above should be used with other techniques in order to get more accurate and reliable estimate of the company financial position. The above ratios also ignore the impact of items which may result in low profitability but may increase share holders wealth maximization. For example, depreciation charged and interest expenses paid will ultimately decrease the tax liability of the company resulting in more profits available for distribution. The are many methods to calculate the leveraging of the company some considers long term debt while others considers both long term and short term debt of the company so this ratio should be calculated as per the requirements. The ratio of ROCE ignores the impact of risk taken by the company. We may use RROCE [Risk Adjusted Return on Capital Employed] in order to get a more reliable estimate. The following additional techniques and tools can be used for the analysis of SMC: Cash Flow Analysis [Liquidity Ratios] Peer Group Comparison Inventory turn over ratio Average collection period Price earning ratio Taxation structure of the countries where the company wants to enter Exchange rate risk. The Board of Directors are the agent of shareholders (Principal). It is the responsibility of the BOD to act in the best interest of shareholders. But there are chances that the BOD may not act in the interest of shareholders due to some potential conflict of interest. The conflict of interest may arise due to difference in goals and objectives of BOD and shareholders. However different techniques can be used to reduce the chances of conflict of interest such as profit participation, performance based remuneration etc. The dividend policy is related with the profit distribution of the company. The investor would like to invest in a company which has a good dividend policy. The dividend policy is normally affected by the stage of business and future expansion plans. The dividend policy is important due to the following reasons: The dividend policy plays an important role in attracting the investors High dividends may result in higher share price of the company [market capitalization] Distribution of dividend in the form of cash shows good liquidity position of the company. The debt financing is normally encouraged due to the fact that the interest expenses are deductable for taxation purposes while the dividend paid to share holders is not considered as an expense for taxation purposes. Three main sources of financing: Debt Financing from financial institutions Subscription money from shareholders Subordinated debt form sponsors Government Grants

Self-delusion In Death Of A Sa :: essays research papers

In Arthur Miller’s drama “Death of a Salesman'; the protagonist is a character by the name of Willy Loman. Willy suffers from self-delusion and is obsessed with a desire to succeed. Willy’s family is strongly influenced by his actions, which contributes to their own self-delusions. Willy has an extremely large ego and fabricates most if not all of his success. He brags about how much money he makes inflating his sales commissions to his wife Linda. Willy is too proud to accept a job from Charley yet he seems to have no problem accepted money from him to make ends meet. Willy says; “I’m keeping strict accounts'; (1683) of the money Charley gives him, but has no intention of ever repaying the debt. Willy wants to be recognized, liked and admired. In Willy’s mind success is linked to how well a person is liked. He exaggerates how well liked and respected he really is and tells his sons Biff and Happy in order for them to be truly successful they must first be well liked. Linda is an enabler and is codependent on Willy. She encourages him and participates in his delusions. Linda is unselfish and her life revolves around Willy and the boys. Despite what she might think or feel personally she tries to influence Biff and Happy to listen to their father stating; “attention must be paid'; and encouraging them to participate in his delusions. By giving into Willy, trying to keep peace in the family and trying to avoid hurting him she is actually causing more harm than good. Biff is irresponsible and unable to find happiness. He learned from Willy the way to achieve success is through lying, stealing, and powerful acquaintances. His disillusionment with his father stems from the discovery of Willy’s adulterous relationship and unfaithfulness to his mother. Biff becomes frustrated with his mother when she defends Willy. He rebels against success and authority taking pleasure in defying his father. He does try to face the trut h and has a sense of moral responsibility. Biff has inherited some of Willy’s best traits. He believes there is a better life out there for him, but not as a salesman. He wants to be outside working with his hands, which ironically is when Willy seems to be truly happy and when he feels he has been successful at something. Happy has inherited the worst of Willy’s traits.

Function of Storytelling Essay

The novel Atonement by Ian MCewan and the short story â€Å"The Things They Carried† by Tom O’Brien both employ storytelling as a form of redemption. This is achieved in each text through the narrator’s freedom to manipulate the content and truth of the narrative in order to amend past wrongs and to imagine a more comforting, alternate reality. In Atonement, the narrator , Briony uses her literal imagination to alter the story of her life in hope to seek redemption for past actions with great consequence, while the narrator in Tim O’Brien’s â€Å"The Things They Carried† tells and retells his version of the memory to help it become real. Both narratives show storytelling to be a possible healing process. P1-First step to redemption is to admit the reason for your deception. A novels allows narrator to confess the motive behind his/her sin. Briony initial stage towards redemption is by confessing the dangers of interpretation. quote- To herâ€Å"reading a sentence and understanding it were the same thing; as with the crooking of a finger, nothing between them. There was no gap during which symbols were unravelled†(37) -quote shows Briony’s belief in the ease of interpretation which leads her to jump to conclusions she can never change. The blame for the tragedy is not only due to Briony’s misinterpretation of events , but the misguided nature of interperation provided by books. â€Å"The Things They Carried† -The narrator describes the difficult conditions of war by describing the emotional and physical baggage they carry. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried the love letters from Martha. These horrible conditions forced Lieutenant cross to day dream about Martha which lead to Ted Lavender’s death. -quote:told they carry â€Å"pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches†¦and two or three canteens of water† which weigh â€Å" between 15 and 20 pounds†(241). -quote allows the reader to feel the overwhelming weight of being a soldier, which words can’t simply explain. The narrator demonstrates the reasoning for Lieutenant cross’s daydreaming as a way to escape from chaos of Vietnam war. P2-Using storytelling another step towards redemption is taken by character’s revealing repentance by punishing themselves for their wrong doing (reveal repentance/remorse) -briony becomes a nurse and turns away Cambridge. She writes about the hard work she does as a nurse. quote: â€Å"Whatever skivvying or humble nursing she did and however well or hard she did it, whatever illumination in tutorial she had relinquished ,or lifetime moment on a college lawn, she would never undo the damage. She was unforgivable† -Lieutenant Jimmy burns Martha’s letter and pictures, thus destroying his distracting fantasy in order to become a true soldier -quote: â€Å"Lavender was dead. You couldn’t burn the blame† -Something is missing in explanation. How can I tie in that acts of remorse both did not make amends. P3-Novel is attempt by narrators to erase the wrong he/she did. The outcome of redemption differs for each narrator. -Briony alters the ending of the ending of the story in hope to seek redemption but does not achieve it because quote: â€Å"The problem of these fifty-nine years has been this:how can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God? There is no one , no entity of higher form that she can appeal to, or be reconciled with, or that can forgive her† -No matter how many times she rewrites the story she will never receive Robbie and Cecile’s forgiveness. She can†t achieve self forgiveness because no alternate ending that she imagines will replace the true ending. -The only way Briony will end her guilt is when her memory fails and she dies. (disease) -Narrator for â€Å"The Things They Carried† achieves redemption for Ted Lavender’s death because storytelling allows the memories of Ted Lavender to stay alive. -Storytelling enables the narrator’s memories to be shaped and rearranged in order to make sense of past events and make them real -The narrator achieves redemption for Ted Lavender’s death by storytelling because each time the story is told or retold the soldier’s in the Alpha Company are being given a new life each time by the reader. -quote:At first, we learn â€Å"he was shot and killed outside Than Khe† (O’Brien 241) and gradually learn â€Å"Ted Lavender was shot in the head on his way back from peeing† (O’Brien 246).

Maoism in China Essay

Generally, the Communist system in the Soviet Union and in China are practically identical politically, economically, with the reciprocal purges ect†¦ However, Mao Tse-Tung and Stalin did not see eye to eye on many things and Maoism is considered today by most people to be a more developed stage of Marxism-Leninism. This is because of the historical and cultural background of China and because of her geographical position and climate which affects society. Contrary to Russia, Communism developed in the countryside instead of in the cities. Thus it was a peasants’ revolution rather than, as predicted by Karl Marx, a workers’ revolution. The cities in China were at the beginning, anti-Communist. The Chinese absorption of Marxism was highly selective. China took from Marxism those aspects which best suited the Chinese situation rather than force the Chinese situation to fit an overachieving ideology. Thus Marxism was to be the servant of the Chinese Revolution. Mao Tse-Tung believed that adherence to pure Marxist theory would be suicidal and concluded that proletarian revolution based upon the urban areas was impossible in China since 80 percent of the people were peasants. Due to the warmer climate and more fertile land, peasantry was more popular in China. This pragmatic solution led to the Revolution starting in the rural areas. The most important difference between Stalin and Mao is the comprehension of the word ‘proletariat’. The Russians believed it meant, as Marx had, the industrial workers while the Chinese, by lack of sufficient workers, understood it as the peasantry. The Great Leap Forward where everyone was put to work was another Maoist characteristic. For 100 days each year, the peasants were not working in the fields so Mao set them up to work in the off-season harvest after 1957. Millions of men and women were put to work in winter, digging irrigation ditches and canals, preparing railroads and laying track. Then the â€Å"backyard furnace† was invented and 600 000 small steel establishments were set up.  The object was to overtake Britain in steel production. However, when the peasants left their land to work on the industrial projects, the lands suffered. So more changes were made. In some communes, men and women were separated to increase their productivity by cutting down socialising. On February 27th 1957, Mao was feeling very positive about all that he had done so he decided to loosen the straps on the Chinese people. He introduced the ‘hundred flowers’ campaign where he encouraged arts, sciences and â€Å"a flourishing socialist culture in our land. Different forms and styles in art should develop freely†. It seemed he was encouraging free thought and criticism of the system. After only six weeks though, Mao’s open invitation brought a real storm of furious criticism from the intellectual community who believed the chairman was sincere. This infuriated Mao who was expecting positive feedback and in April 1957 a rectification campaign had begun to eliminate the ‘triple evils’: â€Å"subjectivism, sectarianism, and bureaucratism†. The party members and Mao believed to be above criticism so a purge of intellectuals began. The Cultural Revolution is perhaps the greatest difference between Stalinism and Maoism and was entirely set up by Mao Tse-Tung. He has been called insane many times for the crazy extent which the Cultural Revolution took and for the lasting and devastating effects it continues to have. Mao favoured the word, â€Å"destruction† when he promoted the Cultural Revolution; he preached that he had to destroy an old system of production, an old ideology and old customs first. He thought that once the ideology had been established, productivity would follow in a revolution. â€Å"Although the bourgeoisie has been overthrown, it is still trying to use the old ideas, culture, customs and habits of the exploiting classes to corrupt the masses, capture their minds and endeavour to stage a comeback. The proletariat must do the exact opposite: it must deal merciless blows and meet head-on every challenge of the bourgeoisie in the ideological field and use the new ideas, culture, customs and habits of the proletariat to change the mental outlook of the whole of society. At present, our objective is to struggle against and overthrow those persons in authority who are taking the  capitalist road, to criticize and repudiate the reactionary bourgeois academic authorities’ and the ideology of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes and to transform education, literature and art and all other parts of the superstructure not in correspondence with the socialist economic base, so as to facilitate the consolidation and development of the socialist sy stem.† Fifteen years after the success of the Revolution, Mao saw his new society as troubled, he had destroyed the old ruling class, but had established two new ones: the intelligentsia and the bureaucracy. Mao had turned against the intelligentsia after the ‘hundred flowers’ campaign but had not finished destroying them. When he saw the Soviet Union’s new aristocracy with their dachas and limousines, he set out to destroy the establishment he had created. Always one to manipulate the masses, he turned towards the youth for a new society by creating the Red Guard, an army of children. They were sanctioned by the highest authority, Mao himself and were bent on destruction. In essence, the children destroyed anything which did not appeal to them, although the initial target was to destroy the ‘four olds’: ideas, culture, customs and habits. They travelled in bands for mutual protection and inspiration, destroyed stores and restaurants and attacked however they desired. The Red Guards were divided by family background: poor peasants against well-to-do peasants, peasants against workers, and the children of army officers. The next step of the Cultural Revolution came in January 1967 when Mao replaced the officials all over China by young people with no experience and no common sense. Then universities, middle schools and primary schools closed down. This was called the period of the terror. The only young people to receive an education were the children of intellectuals who were taught by relatives and parents. Mao tried to destroy the education process which was disastrous for China as specialist, technicians ect†¦ were indispensable for the development of a country, and in this case, they were dismantled. However, he changed his mind in 1978 and sent in the People’s Liberation Army to desman the Red Guard. Mao’s theory of constant revolution to avoid the forming of classes is the major separation with Leninism and Marxism. It was under these conditions that the most earthshaking political event and the largest mass mobilization the Earth has ever seen took place. This is how Chairman Mao defined its objectives: â€Å"The current Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is absolutely necessary and most timely for consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat, preventing capitalist restoration and building socialism.† Mao’s Communism focuses especially on the particular interest for China and this by rejecting foreign intervention. The only use for foreign involvement is to insure Chinese security, economy†¦ He believes in Chinese Communism first, and not in World Communism. However, China supports people threatened by oppression which explains their expansion policy. Indeed, China has expanded her territory by invading the Tibet, fighting Korea. China has refused economic aid, except for trade with the Soviet Union which represented only 2 percent of Chinese investments. China developed its own brand of Communism to suit its needs and similarly to Stalinism, was dictated by only one man, who had the power to decide anything he desired.