My Childhood Essay Example for Free

My Childhood Essay When I started pre-school, I found it difficult to speak English because I spoke Chinese at home. I was distracted and frightened when I attended school in our Los Angeles neighborhood, and crime was a constant concern for us. It worried my parents to see that I was losing interest in school, so they moved me to Chino Hills after I finished 7th grade to live with my sisters, hoping that the environment would be a better place for me. The different atmosphere I was in changed my perspective on education. The students in Chino Hills are very competitive in their academic pursuits which motivated me to try harder and work up to my potential. The realization that a different environment can make a huge difference brought much confidence to me; I began developing better judgment and making better decisions toward my education. As I approached high school, I was beginning to understand the importance of an education. Although my parents remarks about school were simply for me to behave, I knew they also wanted me to have a good educational opportunity. My first year as a freshman in high school was difficult for me; it became evident that I didnt know how to manage my time. As every con has a pro, I knew that time management was no exception. Mastering the art of time management can reap great rewards, and by ignoring it I found myself facing great disappointment with my grades. At the end of the day, I tried to reflect on my performance and soon realized I have accomplished little. In my sophomore year of high school, I began to manage my time more wisely and took my education more seriously, and realized that it did not take much to use time management in an efficient manner; but the rewards were fulfilling because my grades had greatly risen. My course work and grades became obvious to me that I still had trouble managing my time. I soon started to decompose my goals, making it possible to tackle them one step at a time and realized as I progressed, my time management bettered. During my junior year, Procrastination was the biggest barrier to time management I had to face. I found it difficult at times to start working; however, I realized not working was related to the fear of poor results than it is to the actual difficulty of the work. My junior year gave a spark to my life; it helped me create a target to aim for, which is to attend a top 4 year  University and pursue my dreams in the medical field.

Evaluation Impact On Financial Operations Cadburys And Kraft Marketing Essay

Evaluation Impact On Financial Operations Cadburys And Kraft Marketing Essay Choosing the Topic After completion of all my fundamental papers in August 2010, I waited till the next session to decide to submit a research and analysis project for the Oxford Brooke University. The reason for such delay was the pressure to complete three professional papers in December session. This report is also important to me because I believe by having combination of both Profession qualification and a degree will uplift my career. To base my project on ACCA provided me with a list of 20 recommended topics to choose from. After reading through the list, the topic that immediately attracted my attention was topic 19 which was The financial and operational consequences of a merger between two organisations or of the acquisition of one organisation by another. What attracted me the most about this topic was that, it was all very relevant to my studies as I am thinking to pursue financial management after ACCA. I knew this topic will allow me to try out and learn the all important, analytical skills. Other reason to choose this topic was the much talked about acquisition of KRAFT and Cadbury therefore it encouraged me to choose this topic. Another reason was availability of the vast amount of information through the internet and press release because of recent release of Krafts recent fourth quarter in the month on February 2011. Choosing the organisation Once I chose my topic, I had to choose an organisation to base my research on. I chose Kraft and Cadbury for my analysis; it was an obvious choice as this was the acquisition that impelled me to select this topic. This was one of the most controversial and largest takeovers in the year of 2010. I believed the takeover by the 2nd Largest Food Giants in its industry would accomplish the objective I had in mind for the project. Aims Objectives The main objective of this report is to evaluate the consequences of the acquisition on the finance and operations aspect of KRAFT FOODS. The financial statements by themselves only provide the quantitative data which need to be analysed by drawn graphs. The main focus of this report, therefore, is as follows: To analyse the reasons for Kraft to make a strategic choice of acquiring Cadbury and whether it satisfy the strategic fit as claimed by the CEO of KRAFT FOODS in terms of financial and business operations. The second part of the research aims to analyse whether Kraft is on the track to achieve its targets it promised its stakeholders at the time of acquisition. Since financial information wasnt sufficient for my research, I need to review the strategic decisions made by Kraft for its subsidiary Cadbury after the acquisition along with the friction identified while integrating both business. The anticipated future of Cadbury under Kraft Group. In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, I have done qualitative analysis using SFE (Suitability, Feasibility Acceptability) and Ashridge model along with quantitative analysis using financial ratios and linking both to get an overall picture. THE ORGANISTAION Company Profile Kraft Kraft Foods is the worlds second largest food company headquartered in North Field, Illinois manufactures and market packaged food products, including biscuits, confectionery, beverages, cheese, convenient meals and various packaged and grocery products.( KRAFT FOODS INC, 2009)The business was formed by James L. Kraft and his four brothers who began by wholesaling door to door cheese business in Chicago. Kraft then achieved growth by merging with other companies and increases the size of the business by expanding more product lines.( Wikimedia Foundation,2011) Being listed on NYSE, Kraft now has approximately 127,000 employees worldwide. Kraft sells products to consumer in approximately 170 countries. At 31 December 2010, Kraft had operations in more than 75 countries and made products at 223 manufacturing and processing facilities worldwide. Kraft portfolio included eleven brands with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion each: Oreo, Nabisco and LU biscuits; Milka and Cadbury chocolates; Trident gum; Jacobs and Maxwell House coffees; Philadelphia cream cheeses; Kraft cheeses, dinners and dressings; and Oscar Mayer meats. Kraft portfolio included approximately 70 brands which each generate annual revenues of more than $100 million. (KRAFT FOODS INC, 2010) Cadbury Cadbury was a leading global independent business in the exciting world of confectionery, a large, growing, brand-led industry. With an outstanding portfolio of chocolate, gum and candy brands, the largest emerging markets business and a focused and experienced team, Cadbury is committed to its long-term vision to be the worlds biggest and best confectionery company. Cadbury operated in more than 60 countries with a workforce of 46000. (Cadbury, 2008) Cadbury made its beginning by opening one single shop by John Cadbury. As time progressed John Cadbury moved into the manufacturing of drinking chocolate and cocoa. Cadbury grew bigger through some organic growth and some mergers. During the first world war Cadbury started to achieve great success, its products were regarded as necessities and Cadbury were at their peak. Cadbury kept investing in technology, new factories and in new products to remain ahead of competition. With factories all over the world and a host of well known brand names it has become a household name in many countries. (Birminghamuk, (n.d.)) INFORMATION GATHERING Sources of Data Data can be collected for any research by the following ways: Primary Research: Under primary research new information is collected via interviews, survey or questionnaire etc; hence information is collected first hand. Secondary Research: Also known as Desk Research is gathered from information which has already been provided but may not be for the same purpose. Such information are easy to access and are my cheaper than carrying out primary research. Such information gathered should be analysed and screened properly so that it fits for the purpose. Kraft and Cadbury both being listed companies although listed in different countries were required to issue annual accounts for its stakeholders by Sarbanes Oxley and Companies House respective. These companies especially Kraft issued Interim Reports as per the stock list requirement. Therefore much of the quantitative and qualitative date was readily available for analysis. Hence I chose to use secondary data over primary. The only complication I faced apart from time pressure was obtaining latest financial information for Cadbury (2009 accounts). Fortunately Kraft public relation team co-operated and emailed me 2008 and 2009 Cadbury annual accounts on my request. The following are the sources of secondary information I used for my project: Annual and Interim Financial Accounts and Reports This is the main source I used for financial aspect of my business and to draw graphs. I had to use interim reports even to demonstrate impact of Cadbury acquisition on Kraft at each and every quarter due to complexity of the business. Krafts annual accounts were available to view and download on Krafts Investors Website. However Cadbury financial statement isnt easily available. Internet This is the source of limitless information; hence it took me a lot of time to extract information which was relative to the point. Firstly it provided me the qualitative information which was missing or less in the financial statement of both entities. Secondly it also provided me information from a third party or neutral point of view. Letters and Reports Under this source, I analyzed the documents sent by Kraft to Cadbury management or reports addressed to Kraft shareholder explaining them the strategic fit of Cadbury acquisition. These documents were available over the internet. Library I used study text published by Kaplan for ACCA to brush my skills and be of aid when I got confused during an analysis phase. Apart from my course books I visited local library for reference books. As I mentioned earlier I didnt had an opportunity to visit British Library for the access of database such as Datamonitor and Mintel. However I was able to get access to Euromonitor through internet and used it as a tool to aid understanding of the application of analytical tools regarding acquisition and both the entities. Data Collection Methods Its easy to collect data, but skills are required to make sense of data and using it for the purpose. It was a fiddly job to collect reliable authentic information to base my reports on. Any negligence on my behalf may cause me a failure in achieving the report objectives. I was cautious and took my time to read through all the information once before starting with my project. As this acquisition was of the biggest acquisition in the year 2010, too much was written by the newspapers and media about it. Reading about the merger in 2011 gave me this idea to do a project on Kraft and Cadbury, as Kraft were about to issue its fourth quarter results. I started my data collection by reading articles from local newspapers as well as papers or journal published in other counties. I viewed them retrospectively. The most prominent newspaper I viewed was Financial Times, Guardian, Reuters, Wall Street Journal and Economists. After I got a general idea behind the acquisition and critics claiming the acquisition as a failure. I downloaded the fourth quarter as well as annual report. I need to know what did CEO responded on the acquisition as it had been a year. Then I looked at financial data provided to support any statement by the CEO. Internet provided me great deal of help in my project. I type in the keywords such as Cadbury Kraft in etc at www.google.com . Find the relevant articles and making notes as well as bookmarks of the WebPages if I needed to read it again for qualitative part of my research. I even visited many libraries in my local areas; the librarian helped me by giving me advice on referencing as I had no idea on references. Unfortunately I couldnt make a trip to British Library to access database which could help me in my project. But I was pretty content with the amount of information I already collected to carry out my analysis. Referencing I have used the HARVARD REFERENCING SYSTEM for the referencing in my research and to aid readability, I have cited the source below the paragraph if the whole paragraphs were written based on the same single source. Acquisition for Kraft Pre Acquisition To systematic analyse the strategic choice by Kraft to acquire Cadbury, I will be using Johnson and Scholes framework (Suitability, Feasibility and Acceptability Model). (Wu, 2010) Suitability Kraft Foods Inc. being the second largest food company still looks for opportunities to grow and try to remain one of the market leaders in the industry and and to spread risk by a diversified portfolio. Kraft believes in rapid expansion by acquiring other businesses. Kraft adopted new strategy implemented by new CEO who believed low growth segment should be disposed of and adopt those strategies that will achieve rapid growth even by means of acquisition .Kraft will look for businesses that will build on its strengths and guide against its threats. Kraft has a successful track record of acquiring iconic brands and businesses and effectively using it for its expansion. We will be using one of the criteria of Ashridge model under suitability. Under Ashridge model we will be examining two criteria; whether Kraft has sufficient skills, resources and understanding of the Cadbury business and whether there are opportunities for helping to achieve critical success factors. (Steiner, 2009) Source: Euromonitor One key reason for Kraft to acquire Cadbury was to penetrate in those growing markets where Cadbury has good base such as China, India and Mexico. Brands such as Cadbury Dairy Milk dominated such markets by a vast length compared to its rivals. Cadbury did receive 40% of its revenue from fast growing emerging market. Cadburys acquisition of Adams played a vital role to increase their market share in Latin America. Cadbury has experienced 12% growth in revenue in emerging market over five years (EUROMONITOR, 2008) this can be beneficial for Kraft as it intends to use Cadbury s distribution network to sell its brands. (Cadbury, 2008) (Cadbury, 2009a) Kraft being aware of Cadbury s heritage and its strong confectionery business ranking and its iconic brands makes Cadbury globally number one in chocolate, gum and candy. By attaining all these eponymous brands Kraft will become a global powerhouse in snacks, confectionery and quick meals with exceptional portfolio of leading brands in the world. Hence will be one step closer in achieving organic growth objective. Feasibility Under feasibility we would evaluate Krafts position before acquisition in terms of internal resources of the organization this can even be connected to Ashridge s model criteria of possessing sufficient resource by Predator Company. Kraft being second largest business in its industry has huge cash reserve which reflects in its Cash flow Statements of 2008 and 2009 ($1.24 billion and 2.10 billion respectively). Buts its worth mentioning the disposal of Krafts North American Pizza to Nestle for total consideration of $3.7 billion contributed majorly to its high cash reserve. High cash reserve helps them to with acquisition cost and integration cost and any other abnormal cost. Apart from cash reserve Kraft does have reasonable current ratio of 1.04 reflecting its above average liquidity position then its peers. Although Cadbury has a strong hold on overall emerging markets Kraft have a greater position in some markets such as Brazil and Russia. As Kraft being a huge conglomerate busine ss it has vast amount of resources in terms of specialist staff, a highly invested research and development teams and finance etc to back up Cadbury to face competition from other rivals such as Hershey and Mars. Kraft can eve use its power over major supermarket chains such Wal-Mart to increase shelf value of Cadbury as majority of its sales come from small convenient store. Kraft is even able to promote Cadbury heritage brand more rigorously due to available of immense resources. It would be worth mentioning the fact that billion dollar Kraft empire has been experiencing an average growth of impressive 5 % over period of four years to 2008 (where it achieved 13% growth than previous year).(Daltorio, 2009) Acceptability To carry on with a strategic choice it also need to be acceptable by the stake holders. As shareholders are key stakeholders their consent is highly important. Although Kraft assured them the acquisition would result in increase in shareholders wealth as it fits in into its business culture, some shareholders have different opinion. One of the reasons for such conflict of interests is the fear of increase in companys gearing. By 2008 Kraft had a high gearing of 1.34 (ratio) compare to its rival Nestle of (0.36). They fear by acquiring Cadbury, Kraft would issue more long-term debt that may adversely affect the gearing ratio and hence increasing the financial risk of the business and affecting the capability of paying out dividends, hence damaging shareholders interest. The other reason for conflict of interest was the reaction from one of the biggest shareholders Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway who regarded the acquisition as bad deal .He believed Kraft has overvalued Cadbury fo r purchase consideration and the disposal of pizza business to Nestle for $3.7 billion was a mistake. He firmly believed Kraft is paying high premium for the acquisition. One shareholders view didnt affected Krafts strategic choice and Kraft went ahead with the acquisition despite got rejected first time. (Barr, 2010) Ballast Businesses *CADBURY* Heartland Businesses Alien Business Value trap Business Skills Opportunity Low High High According to my analysis I think Kraft values Cadbury as Heartland Business as Kraft has the skills to exploit opportunities from Cadbury. (UNDER ASHRIDGE MODEL) ACQUISITION for Kraft The long clashing 5 month battle between Cadbury and Kraft was finally over on 2nd February 2010 as Kraft clinches control over Cadbury by 72% holding. Kraft then took total control of Cadbury on June 2010. Cadbury shareholders had a deadline of 2nd February to accept Kraft offer of 500 pence in cash for each Cadbury share and 0.1874 new Kraft shares for each Cadbury share which altogether values each Cadbury share at 840 pence including a special 10 pence dividend. This sums up the total valuation of Cadbury business to approximate of  £11.9 Billion ($19.4 Billion). Kraft offered this purchase price on 19th of January after a long negotiation with Cadbury management. Kraft tried to make hostile takeover on 7th September by a bid worth 300 pence in cash and 0.2589 new Kraft shares for each Cadbury share (valuing it 745 pence a share). However Cadbury rejected the bid immediately and regarded it derisory. Kraft sweetened the bid by raising the original offer and increasing the cash component from 40% to 60% to make it more appealing for Cadbury shareholders. (Cimlluca et al, 2010) http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/0210/EZ_CBRY0210.gifI have extracted this graph from Thomson Reuters to illustrate the impact on the share price for both involved parties after the announcement of take-over. We notice an increase of almost 40% in the market value of Cadbury. The increase in Cadburys share price was triggered by the initial announcement by Kraft of its intention to take over Cadbury in early September of 2009. The announcement was received well by Cadbury Shareholders causing an increase in demand and thereby price of the stock. However we see a fall in the share price of Kraft food at the time announcement (graph below), some analysts believe this was due to Warren Buffet dissatisfaction of Kraft Acquisition. He regarded the acquisition as bad deal, which caused chaos amongst other shareholder hence a price falls. This price fall deteriorated the purchase price offered by Kraft which was immediately rejected by Roger Carr, Chairmen of Cadbury. http://graphics.thom sonreuters.com/0210/EZ_CBRY0210.gif (Wiggins, 2009) Source: Digital Look(Munya , 2010) http://data.moneycentral.msn.com/scripts/chrtsrv.dll?symbol=kftE1=0LPR=2C1=2C5=6C5D=1C6=2009C7=6C7D=1C8=2010D5=0D2=0D4=1DD=1width=612height=258CE=0CF=0palette=2AF=2 KEY POINTS FOR FINANCIAL ANALYSIS Kraft foods acquired Cadbury plc in February2 2010. Hence Cadbury results are restricted to 10 months rather than full 12 years and its subject to fluctuate with moving exchange rates. Cadbury data was adjusted from IFRS (previously applied by Independent Cadbury) to U.S GAAP followed by its new Parent Kraft Foods Inc. Cadbury previous years figures couldnt be compared with unless comparison is made in percentile due to the size difference of both businesses. Kraft even revised its Net Revenue retrospectively 2009 onwards.Post Acquisition Financial Perspective The above graph represents s the growth and decline in sales over a period of 4 years by means of percentage. The 2010 information contains data post acquisition, specifically contribution from Cadbury of $9143 that has been converted using the exchange rate of $1.595 per  £1.00 for the aid of analysis. It can clearly be noted the reason why Cadbury was so desirable by Kraft. Cadbury attained significant growth from 2007. In June 2007 Cadbury introduced their Vision into Action plan which insisted in strengthening their position in emerging market. This strategy was immediately effective and can be reflected in the graph. As stated earlier in this research report one of the key reasons for Kraft to acquire Cadbury was their better position in emerging market as compared to Kraft. Although Cadbury has just been acquired for 11 months under Kraft we see a marginal fall of 4% in Cadbury sales than its preceding years. This maybe because Kraft maybe getting acquainted to Cadburys opera tion and network hence not utilizing Cadburys full potential. (Cadbury, 2009a) This graph explains what did Krafts CEO meant by GLOBAL POWER HOUSE. If we examine the two graphs we see a change in the revenue from developing and North American markets. The main reason for Kraft to takeover Cadbury was to derive maximum benefit of Cadburys strong hold in emerging market. Although Kraft is one of the largest companies in food industry it drives more than 57% of its revenue from its Home Market US. As US market is experiencing economic recession Kraft needed to adopt an effective strategy to broaden its operations globally. Hence Cadbury looked more attractive from Krafts perspective. Its worth mentioning that Cadbury earns more than 40% from the fast emerging markets portraying its position being better than Kraft.. It should be taken into consideration that fact that Kraft hasnt launched any new aggressive marketing scheme or any strategic step via Cadbury in emerging markets. In 2010 Kraft has continued to run Cadbury operation without making any major changes. Talking quantitatively Cadbury boosted Krafts net revenue in emerging markets by $3382 million which can be seen clearly in the graph at the bottom. Krafts strengths in Russia, Brazil and China along with Cadbury great position in United Kingdom, India and Mexico has spread its revenue source which has reduce the risk of a recession affecting Krafts sales .By acquiring Cadbury Kraft enhanced its distribution channel which became effective in the first year of acquisition and clearly be seen in the 2010 net revenue segments. In 2010 revenue from US market contributed less than 50% to Total Net Revenue minimizing the business risk driven by recession. (Farrell et al, 2010) The above illustrated graphs represent the change in Krafts revenue source after the acquisition of Cadbury. Krafts adopt a rational approach and pursue the strategy of selling off less profitable brands and achieving quick growth by acquisition. Kraft faced fierce competition from private label companies in the cheese and packaged meat market. Therefore Kraft acquired Cadbury to diverse its revenue source as there were dangers of fall in revenue from its main segments. There is an increase of 16% in the contribution made by confectionery segment. This segment is a high potential growth segment and Kraft would like diverse its business risk by investing more in promotion of this segment. (Trefis, 2011) The Gross margin shows the amount of gross profit generated by the company as a percentage of the sales revenue. Kraft Gross Profit Margin has been plotted against each quarter from 2009. It can be analyzed by the graph that Kraft tried to maintain its Gross Profit Margin in mid 30s percentile despite economic downturn in US market and increase in raw materials Kraft is able to maintain its objective, the main grounds for such level gross profit margin was the acquisition. By acquiring Cadbury Kraft has widen its distribution network as Cadburys main selling networks are convenient stores open on High Street therefore reach of every individual. Talking in respect on cost of sales (100 Gross Profit Margin) Kraft will benefit from economies of scale especially regarding purchases as Kraft will be bulk buying and using Cadbury suppliers rationally to minimise cost of sales as possible. (Szalai, 2011) Net Profit Margin is an indicator of profitability, calculated as net income or net profit divided by net revenue. As shown by the graph, we see a downward trend in the net profit margin against each quarter in 2010.Despite the fact that there has been a 27% increase in Net Revenue in 2010 as compared to its preceding year, we notice a fall of 23% in net profit especially in the fourth quarters of 2009 and 2010 ($711m and $547 respectively. However in aggregate there has been an increase in the net profit from 2009. The major reason for such deteriorates result for the fourth quarter was the cost associated with integration between Kraft and Cadbury. The pizza business of Kraft did contributed to the net profit in 2009 , by the sale of its pizza business to Nestle ,Kraft has deprived itself from the positive contribution of its disposal component.(BBC, 2011) The Prime objective of making investment in any business is to obtain satisfactory return on capital invested. Hence, the return on capital employed is used as a measure of success of a business in realizing this objective. Return on capital employed establishes the relationship between the profit and the capital employed. It is used to show the overall profitability and efficiency of the business. By analysing we see a fall in return on capital employed although the sales and net profit overall has increased however it hasnt increased by the proportion of investment made by KRAFT FOOD. As Mr. Warren Buffet feared that Kraft did overpay for the acquisition this can be reflected in diminish of return on capital employed. I have also included a graph showing fall in earning per share that illustrate the point of less return for the investors this maybe due to issue of new share to Cadbury shareholders. (Wilson , 2010) I have included this graph in my research report especially to breakdown the positive and negative contribution made by Cadbury to Kraft operating income in 2010 as compared to Kraft in 2009. As announced by CEO of Kraft Foods, Kraft is highly likely to expect $1 billion in incremental revenue synergies apart from $750 million in cost saving by 2013. In order to achieve the synergies Kraft has budgeted to spend $1.5 billion in the first three years following the acquisition to combine and integrate the two businesses and already incurred $657 million in 2010. As stated in Kraft Annual Account 2010, Kraft incurred and expensed transaction related fees of $218 millions in 2010 and $40 million in 2009.Kraft has recorded the mentioned costs under selling, general and administrative expenses in Profit and Loss Statement (Statement of Comprehensive income). However in the above graphs include figures which has been given in the Kraft 2010 annual accounts analysis of operating profit rather than actual incurred cost as some cost have been taken under finance cost which hasnt been included in arriving at operating profit for 2010. This seems a draw back in the acquisition objecti ve and maybe criticizes by its stakeholders as integration cost has reduced Krafts earning by 33%. (BBC, 2011) Liquidity ratio expresses a companys ability to repay short-term creditors out of its total cash. The liquidity ratio is the result of dividing the total cash by short-term borrowings. This Graph represents the two liquidity ratio one normal current ratio and another quick test ratio. Unlike Current ratio, quick ratio focus on the most liquid assets hence it exempt inventory from current asset while calculating ratio. Some of the key points that need to be addressed before analysis of the graph are the disposal of the pizza business and all the working capital relating to it. We should also account for the current assets and current liabilities acquired by Kraft such as Net Receivable of $ 1333 m and Accounts Payable of $ 1605 m etc. Another point to be mentioned is that while calculating Quick ratio I havent excluded the deferred tax asset, while some analyst exclude deferred tax asset as they dont regard it liquid. We see a significant difference between both ratios as inventory has occupied much of the working capital. Comparing it to the last year it is almost consistent with the growing sales. We notice a slight deterioration in both the ratio of 2010. The $3.7 billion cash raised by disposal of the pizza business was used to pay cash component of the acquisition. The rise in the actually figure is in line with the growing and diverse sales (Kraft Foods Inc, 2010) Gearing Ratio is a measure of financial leverage, demonstrating the degree to which a firms activities are funded by owners funds versus creditors funds (investopedia).The above graph represents how much company has borrowed compare to equity raised by KRAFT FOODS. Kraft had issued a long term debt of $9.379 billion (net proceeds) to support the cash component of Cadbury of acquisition along with proceeds from Pizza Business. Kraft even made a repayment $2.1 billion of long term debt during the year. This has increased the total debt of the business from $18990 million to $28724 Million. Kraft has also issued 262 million shares to existing Cadbury shareholder as part of purchase consideration. This has enlarged Krafts share capital affecting the gearing ratio. By taking into consideration the above mentioned circumstances, we see an increase in the gearing ratio of 7%. This may cause some concerns amongst shareholders and lenders of Kraft as the financial risk of the business has increased as more interest will be paid from the profits available to pay dividends to shareholders. (Tradition Financial Concept.). This may even damage the creditability of KRAFT FOOD in lenders market as it has borrowed 80% to Equity, hence it may be charged high interest rate by the lenders in future. (Kraft Foods Inc, 2010) (Hoskins, 2010) Interest cover is a measure of the adequacy of a companys profits relative to interest payments on its debt. This ratio will help to explain the previously mentioned financial due to increase in gearing. Due to the increase in leverage we see a fall of 0.94 in interest cover which means there would be less profit available for dividends. This maybe is one of the reasons why Warren Buffet (one of the major shareholder in Kraft) reduced its stake from 9% to 6%. The ratio is over 2 which is considered strong by analyst and reflects Krafts strong position in borrowers market. However Fitch, one of reputed credit rating agency, has downgraded the default rating on both companies to BBB-. However its rivals havent downgraded the rating as yet but our reviewing if they should follow their peers. Flitch has downgraded the rating due to anticipated increase in financial leverage of the combined Kraft/Cadbury. (Peters et al, 2010) Operational Changes Post Acquisition The significant changes in operations along with their impact on KRAFT FOOD GROUP as a whole: Closure of Somerdale factory Days after acquisition Kraft announced the closure of Cadbury factory in Bristol. During the acquisition struggle, Kraft pledged to retain Somerdale Factory. The announcements created a chaos amongst Cadbury workforce and British Unite trade union as 400 employees were being made redundant. It would be worth mentioning; Cadbury prior to its acquisition (in year 2007) had already announced the closure of its Somerdale factory as they had invested more than  £100million in the production plant in Poland to be cost effective. However at the time of acquisition Kraft assured Cadbury stakeholders that it will keep the Somerdale factory running. Kraft tried to justify the closure by stating that they made a genuine attempt to keep it running but its irrevocable. This had a negative impact on the motivation of 5400 Cadbury employees working United Kingdom as they feared less job security .Kraft faced high criticism from British media which lead to boycot

Neurobiology of Aging and the Diagnosis of Generalized Degenerative Dis

The neurological deficits of aging may be viewed from a developmental perspective. That is, the decline in functional efficiency and deterioration of highly specialized non-dividing neuronal cells is the end point of a maturation process that occurs throughout adult life. Involution to senescence is a normal, inevitable, and inexorable physiological march; the end phase of which is expressed in generally predictable and specifically unpredictable ways. The earliest of these developmental changes occurs long before senescence and the effects of these physiological events quietly accumulate toward expression late in life. There is a relationship between chronological age and the developmental dimensions of human life, including behavior and intelligence. This relationship begins at conception, and is at that point the only moment when there is exact correspondence between chronology and development. Afterwards, behavior or structural differentiation have shifting reference points: one with some structural differentiation or performance milestone already achieved, the other with the time chronology (age) of the organism. Development refers to a continuum of lifelong biological and psychological processes. Neurological development along the biological scale is swift and complex during the prenatal period and small units of time constitute considerable change. In infancy, there is less neurological change as compared to prenatal development, but it is considerably more than those changes that occur in adult life. Indeed, in adult life, neurological development largely constitutes a diminution in function . Nonetheless, until the onset of senescence, in the absence of organic brain pathology, psychological development and learning co... ...otein and the neurofibrillary pathology of Alzheimer’s disease. TINS. 1993; 16 (11): 460-465. 5.Goldman, J., Cote, L. Aging of the Brain: Dementia of the Alzheimer’s Type. Chapter 62 (reference incomplete). 6.Hansen, L. A. Deteresa, R. Davies, P. I., and Terry, R. D. Neocortical morphometry, lesion counts, and choline acetyl-transferase levels in the age spectrum of Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology, 38: 48-54. 7. Human, B. T., Van Hoesen, G.W., Damasio, A. R. and Barnes, C. L. Alzheimer’s disease: Cell specific pathology isolates the hippocampal formation. Science, 225: 1168-1170. 8. Miyakawa, T., Katsuragi, K., Yamashita, K., Ohuchi, K. Morphological study of amyloid fibrils and preamyloid deposits in the brain with Alzheimer’s disease. Acta Neuropathologica, 1992; 83: 340-346. 9. Rossor, M. Alzheimer’s disease. Brit. Med. J., 1993; 321: 779-782.

Social Security Systems in the Netherlands :: essays research papers fc

From decades social security policies are in question all across the Europe. Moreover, the future expectations of changes in the social security systems due to the variations in household structures and ageing of the society bear new social security systems. As most of the European countries the Netherlands, had a substantial growth in the 1960s. After the oil crises, the economy of the Netherlands worsened. Despite the successful creation of a large number of new jobs in the 1980s the growth of unemployment continued and remained persistent in character and still today. However, the social security system in the Netherlands is not alike to the 1970s and 1980s. The Dutch government expenditure on social benefits is characteristic of the well-developed welfare states - at 27.4 percent it is now above the EU average of 22.9 percent. It is among the high taxation countries and over average GDP per capita. Public employment is low and it has one of the lowest poverty rates. The extraordinary level of economic growth of the 1960s created the economic surplus in the Netherlands but by the world’s two oil crisis in the early 1970s the economic climate started to deteriorate. A stunning increase of unemployment in the late 1970s provoked a policy of labor cost reduction and cuts in the social security budget. It was believed that an increase in the real wages and social benefits would imply a further rise of unemployment. Moreover, it was predetermined by the government that the country could only recover from the economic downfall of the 1970s if free entrepreneurship and the functioning of market mechanisms would be restored. Gradually social policy lost its position as a more or less independent domain. It became the servant of economic policy as it was strongly believed that once the aim of a healthy economy was reached, social and economic deprivation would consequently vanish. In the 1980s the reduction of public expenditures became a keystone of Dutch socio-economic policy, partly to decrease a growing budgetary deficit of the state, partly to reduce the costs of labor as many social insurances were paid for by employers’ and employees’ contributions. As a result the levels of social security benefits like social assistance, unemployment and disability benefits were significantly lowered, while at the same time the definitions as to the eligibility for these benefits were reduced. Moreover, the Dutch social security system offered too few incentives for the non-active part of the labor force to participate in the market.

My Hospice Volunteer Experience Essay -- Contribution to My Community S

My first encounter with hospice was on the receiving end and I remember asking the hospice nurse that first day, â€Å"How can you do this every day?† I will never forget her answer, â€Å"Hospice is not about dying, it’s about affirming life, helping people live their last days to the fullest.† During the next several months, I began to understand how true her words were. Today, as a volunteer, those words echo in my mind each time I’m about to meet a new patient. I was so excited to get my first assignment; I had taken all the volunteer classes, listened to countless stories from other volunteers. I was trained and eager †¦until I received my assignment. Anna was a 92 years old lady with colon cancer given only a few days to live. Anna was bedridden and mute. Mute†¦none of the stories I had heard ever mentioned their patients being mute. A thousand questions came to mind along with a mild panic attack. How would I ever know what she needed? Would I know the right words? How would I give her support and companionship if she couldn’t tell me what she needed? Would I be enough? I was a nervous wreck! Getting ready to walk into Anna’s hospice room, my anxiety level was escalating. Saying a quick prayer, I asked God to help me find the right words to comfort Anna and her family. Upon knocking on her door, a young lady in her middle 20’s answered the door. Opening the door for me, she informed me Anna was her grandmother and she would like me just to sit with her and that she would return after work. And she left. No get to know you introduction here, very formal, matter of fact, serious kind of girl. No one was going to invade her space. Oh well, I thought, I’m here to help Anna, hopefully Julie will open up later. Turning my attenti... ...slightly. The disease seemed to loosen its grip on her body with each stroke. I was rejoicing when Anna’s head finally rested on her pillow, something that hadn’t happened since I had gotten there. By the time Julie returned her grandmother was ever so lightly snoring. The look of gratification and appreciation of Julie’s previously stern face melted my heart and again my eyes welled with tears. The fence Julie had built around her heart slowly disintegrated as she observed the bond I had developed with her â€Å"mom†. With a quivering voice, Julie revealed the stress and emotional turmoil of watching this devastating disease imprison the only mother she had ever known. Volunteering for hospice has been one of the most gratifying things I have done. Every patient is different and sometimes you’re just there to support the family, but every family is so appreciative.

Managing Resources Essay

The learning resource I have chosen is actually also used as an ice breaker for a lesson and then used to build on students communication, reading and understanding skills. The task is used to put students under a time constraint to complete a task of ready and answering simple and possibly trick questions in a short time frame. This resource is not used in a way to trick students but used to then get them to reflect on their ready and interpretation of a question. For example, the first part of the document tell them what they must do and this also asks them to use the space before the number to write their answers. Many students do not do this and proceed to write their answers at the end of the question. When a student is under stress, they may be able to learn skills in much less than the â€Å"usual† time. This is the theory also used in military basic training. It is known as ‘Quick Learning Under Pressure’, it reduces the time it takes to learn a skill through study. This theory has been interpreted under many different ways and Ann Dupuis suggests that under pressure students will gain new skills without taking time to study. Her theory goes onto describe how a Physician caught on a battlefield will under pressure help other people and learn surgery to assist other. I feel this adapts itself to my resource. Many students do not know how to adapt their skills under a timed period such as an exam and placing them under pressure for a short period of 5 minutes will get them later to reflect on their actions. This learning resource however may not be suitable to all students and it is not always used where I am aware of slow reader or maybe people who suffer with dyslexia. The choice to use this is based upon group dynamics and ability. When I thought of designing this resource I took into account how learners who complete this task can reflect on each question and question other peer group member answers. This then is reflected within Kolb’s idea on the learning cycle. Kolb works on a four stage cycle of Concrete Experience, Reflective observation, Abstract Conceptualization and Active Experiment. The experience side of things is the student actual having to complete the task. The reflective observation is covered by completed a group review of the answers. So at the end of the 5 minutes I will lead the students through the questions and statement finding out the students answers and getting them to reflect both personally and as a group on what they had originally written. Now they are reflecting are they changing their mind about the answers? Do they see their initial error when reading the question? The 3rd stage Abstract Conceptualization is then covered by the students looking at the task and ideas or concepts of others around them. The other student interpretation of the questions. The student will then process this information and is able to make a more informed decision. Final the Active Experiment part. 9/10 students want a copy to take a way and try on friends and family so they can put their new skills or understanding into practise of others. This theory is adapted from Kolbs 2006 theory which he updated added extra reasoning behind the 4 main stages. The learning resource once we have gone through the answers can now have the idea and new acquired skills in practising exam questions or exam papers under timed conditions. It also teaches the students not to read something once and immediately think the understand what is being asked of them. When I am moving on from this learning resources onto practise exams I am conscience of the different learning styles I have in the room. I have to ask myself what type of learning styles I have in the room. Do I have the reflector, the theorist, the activist or the pragmatist? The understanding behind this is designed by Honey & Mumford. They came up with these 4 titles. Reflectors like to stand back and look at a situation from different perspectives. They like to collect data and think about it carefully before coming to any conclusions. They enjoy observing others and will listen to their views before offering their own. Theorists adapt and integrate observations into complex and logically sound theories. They think problems through in a step by step way. They tend to be perfectionists who like to fit things into a rational scheme. They tend to be detached and analytical rather than subjective or emotive in their thinking. Activists like to be involved in new experiences. They are open minded and enthusiastic about new ideas but get bored with implementation. They enjoy doing things and tend to act first and consider the implications afterwards. They like working with others but tend to hog the limelight. And finally; Pragmatists are keen to try things out. They want concepts that can be applied to their job. They tend to be impatient with lengthy discussions and are practical and down to earth. The one good thing about this resource is as long as I have it on paper to hand out (good planning) I don’t need any other resource or technology. I have used this learning resource as a back up lesson in the past when either our computer systems have gone down, or I have arrived at a venue that does not have ICT facilities of some way of showing resources on a smart board or projector. This learning resource is shared out so widely. As mentioned earlier many students ask for a copy to take away with them so I ensure I always have spares to hand to give out and share the experience. Even if it is just for fun.! The main learning outcomes are to show the students that they need to read the question carefully, even if under pressure. To look out for trick questions or two part questions. And finally extracting the information out of the question that is not relevant to exactly what is being asked of them. In relation to legal requirements, this learning resources has been adapted from a many similar styles. I have used a number of my own questions, however I have added questions I have seen elsewhere and this includes from magazine riddles for fun and other websites. This resource has been changed several times and questions replaced with what I felt where better one to get the students thinking more. This then I believe fall under my Intellectual property right. This is the ownership of ideas or work. Copyright is different as copyrighted material means information created by someone else and a you are not allowed to copy it without the owner permission which may incur costs. An easy understanding of this would be music. If I brought a cd from a store and copied it onto a blank disc and then sold it I would be breaking copy right laws as I am selling something someone else owns. This is the same with learning materials.

Assessment of Patient’s Perceptions Essay

Caring has been widely discussed in the health care professions, especially in nursing which is considered to be one of the caring professions (Boykin and Schoenhofer 2001). Watson (1985) describes caring as a moral ideal of nursing. According to Watson, caring preserves human dignity in cure dominated health care systems and becomes a standard by which cure is measured (Watson 1988c, p. 177). Research literature indicates that the assessment of quality of care from the patient’s perspective has been operationalised as patient satisfaction (Dufrene 2000). Nurse caring has been related to patient satisfaction in western literature (Wolf et al 2003; Wolf et al 1998; Forbes and Brown 1995; Boyle et al 1989). There are so many factors that influence patients’ perceptions of care given by the opposite sex. Some of these are: Age, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic and health status. The most consistent finding has been related to age. Older patients tend to be more satisfied with their health care. Studies that have looked at ethnicity have generally held that being a member of a minority group is associated with lower rates of satisfaction. Studies on the effect of gender show that women tend to be less satisfied and other studies show the opposite. Most studies have found that individuals of lower socio-economic status and less education tend to be less satisfied with their health care. Other studies have shown that poorer satisfaction with care is associated with experiencing worry, depression, fear or hopelessness, as is having a psychiatric diagnosis such as schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder or drug abuse. Health status can greatly influence satisfaction of an individual (Hall, 1990). It is important to examine the relationships of nurse caring to patient satisfaction in Cape Coast because of severe staff shortages, heavy workload, and low salaries in Cape Coast Hospitals. Nursing literature had long recognized importance of these perceptions as major factors militating against prompt and effective service delivery in the care environment. One of the critical roles and ethics of the nurse is to treat all patients irrespective of their gender, colour, creed, political inclination and religious affiliations. High quality nurse-client communication is the backbone of the art and science of nursing. It has a significant impact on patient well-being as well as the quality and outcome of nursing care, and is related to patients’ overall satisfaction with their care. The maintenance of high nurse patient communication also depends on the nurse and patient. The quality of care in a hospital has been shown to be influenced by several factors including: inadequate nursing staff, lack of regular water supply on wards, too much nursing documentation, too long waiting time, and lack of specialized nurses. In Ghana, there is crisis in nurse-client communication evidence from four sources. These are personal observation, anecdotes from client and their families, media reports, and official health reports. Although there is ample evidence to demonstrate that most nurses are females, one cannot discount the enormous services that male nurses provide irrespective of their gender. The ever increasing number of female nurses compared to male nurses in our wards, coupled with patient dissatisfaction toward treatment received has raised a lot of questions as to whether there is a perceived idea that male nurses offer better care or otherwise. With the introduction of Health Insurance a few years ago, more patients report to the hospital and are also consciously aware of their rights and responsibilities as patients and hence will demand for better service delivery from care givers. Recently, patient dissatisfaction has been on the ascendancy in several hospitals across Ghana including University of Cape Coast Hospital. This has raised a lot of concerns about the perceptions patients have regarding the care given by male nurses.