Jeronimo Martins Group’s Consolidated Balance Sheet Essay Example for Free

Jeronimo Martins Group’s Consolidated Balance Sheet Essay Jeronimo Martins Group’s Consolidated Balance Sheet as of 31 December 2011 and 31 December 2010, has been analyzed respectively the correspondents values, structure and relevant changes for assets and Liabilities Shareholder’s Equity with following conclusions: I.The main assets of Jeronimo Martins Group are noncurrent (about 75%) concentrated mostly in tangible assets (about 50%) followed for the intangible assets (about 18%); II.The current assets are mostly inventories and cash or cash equivalent; III.The main liabilities of Jeronimo Martins Group are current (about 55%) concentrated mostly in trade creditors, accrued costs and deferred income; IV. The noncurrent liabilities are mostly Borrowings; V.Total Shareholders Equity represent around 30% of Total Shareholders Equity and Liabilities; VI.The biggest changes in assets, 2010 to 2011, are referred to derivative financial Instruments (-78%) and Cash and Cash equivalents (74%); VII.Changes, 2010 to 2011, in current assets are 27,1% and noncurrent are 2,4%; VIII.The biggest changes in liabilities and total equity are referred to retained earnings (250%) and fair value and other reserves (-101%), provisions for risk and contingences (106%); IX.Changes, in 2010 to 2011, in current liabilities are 11% and noncurrent are -27% and total equity are 32,63%; The structure, values and changes listed above means that Jeronimo Martins Group had, in 2010 and 2011, mostly of its assets as noncurrent, which aren’t expect to be converted into cash or consumed within 12 month. The current ratio is below 1, so this company doesn’t have a big liquidity. Analyzed the 10 biggest companies in the food area, the current ratio is below those values observed such as in Dole food company (current ratio is 1,5). The current ratio is an entity ability to meet its current obligations or to maturing short term obligations, is an important measure of its financial health. This company present 0,406 (2010) and 0,464 (2011) current ratios, more current liabilities than current assets. The total debt to equity ratio represents the long term viability of the company, measure the degree of the indebtedness relative to its equity funding. This company present 2 (2010 and 2011) total debt to equity ratio, more total debt than equity, this imply that greater is this ratio greater is strain on the company to make regular payments to debts holders and higher is the risk of bankruptcy.

Violence in Schools Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Education Essays

Violence among youth, especially in schools, is one of American society's most pressing concerns. It is also a source of controversy. While no recent nationwide study of the real extent of youth violence is available, small-scale and regional studies indicate that youth violence is increasing, at least slightly. In addition, youth, like adults, are now more frequently using guns instead of fists to settle disputes. Youth violence had once been thought to be an urban public school problem; a consequence of poverty and family dysfunction, but stable suburban and rural communities are now also experiencing it, as are private schools. While early intervention is absolutely necessary to help prevent violence, I believe all school operations and staff must be directly involved to effectively reduce the crime. There is sometimes a contradiction between school policies and practice. Many districts and schools have comprehensive regulations for dealing with violence, but enforcement may be uneven or lax. This creates a situation where teachers do not feel supported when they impose discipline, students do not feel protected, and the violence- prone think they will not be punished. Conversely, administrators express dismay that teachers do not enforce policies in their classrooms. Despite these inconsistencies, many promising types of anti-violence strategies have been devised by government, communities, and schools. Most have originated in urban areas, where youth violence was first identified. Elementary education training in anger management, impulse control, appreciation of diversity, and mediation and conflict resolution skills can help prevent youth from engaging in violence as they mature. Early discussions about the negative consequences of gang membership, and providing children with positive ways of getting personal needs met, can protect them from future gang recruitment efforts. Educating young children about the use of guns is also valuable, since accidents have happened as a result of children's naivete about their danger. Even more than violence prevention in general, effective anti-gang strategies require establishment of a positive school climate, good communications and security, a staff trained in crisis intervention, and a coordinated effort. They also require that schools not only acknowledge a gang presence, but that they ... ...ruptive students. Since at-risk students respond positively to personal attention, teachers can help youth resist violent impulses and the lure of drugs and gangs by offering them extra help with their schoolwork, referrals, informal counseling, or even just a sympathetic ear. In all communities it is likely that sometimes anti-violence work will be compromised by lack of resources and time, and that even the most dedicated individuals will feel frustrated. Early evaluations of well-organized programs suggest that success is possible, though; and statistics demonstrating an increase in youth violence, however slight, indicate that more effort is necessary. Works Cited: Ascher, Carol. Gaining Control of Violence in the Schools: a View from the Field, New York: ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, 1994. Hill, Marie Somers. Creating Safe Schools: What Principals can do, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 1994. Rubel, Robert J. The Unruly School: Disorders, Disruptions, and Crimes, Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1977. Walker, H. M. Antisocial Behavior in School: Strategies and Best Practices. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Pub. Co., 1995.

Pirates of Silicon Valley Essay

1. How would you describe both Jobs’ and Gates’ innovation process? a. Internal: An innovation process must have a defined goal, mission, and vision to keep the innovation competitive and successful. A firm should start with internal planning and move on to the execution of their innovation once goals and objectives have been defined. Steve Jobs was a rebel who built illegal blue boxes and spent his youthful energies pulling pranks that repeatedly got him suspended from high school. He wasn’t a technical genius (that was his partner Steve Wozniak) but he had an intuitive sense of design and usability, and an almost improvisational approach to business decisions. Jobs was, in essence, a jazz musician who relied on his innate creativity, and turned his lack of formal training into a strength rather than a weakness. His vision, to create a computer for ordinary people’s use, seemed wildly far-fetched to most people at the time. Furthermore, IBM laughed at this idea and even questioned why an ordinary person would need a computer. Finally, despite being turned down by investors and laughed at for his ideas, Apple was born in his garage, and the Macintosh was born. Jobs believed in closed-systems (or fully-integrated systems), meaning that one company designed the computer, the software and all connected devices and peripherals. This belief is what gives Apple products their unique look, and also why Apple products work so well together. Jobs had a successful internal innovation process because he had the technological expertise, a clear vision guiding him to success, and a supportive team that was prepared to work late nights and long days to make this vision become a reality. Bill Gates’ internal innovation process began with the help of his friend Paul, writing code for computers. They eventually dropped out of Harvard to pursue their passion of programming and with the invention of BASIC a new vision was born. They got signed by MITS and convinced competitors, IBM, Xerox, and Apple that they needed his exper tise to write code for their computers. Once Gates had his foot in the door at Apple, he had access to new code and ideas, which got him thinking he could do it better than Jobs was doing at Apple. He was able to infiltrate and leave unscathed with Apple’s operating system. Furthermore by  pirating his competitors’ operating systems, he gained enough knowledge and expertise to start his own company, Microsoft. It appears Gates was more unorganized than Jobs in the sense that he lacked proper preparation. He had an incomplete operating system until he stole code from other systems like Xerox and Apple. Consequently, Bill Gates’ internal innovation process was largely due to replicating other companies’ code. Although this was a dishonest plan, he succeeded by tricking his competitors and ultimately joined Apples team in the end, keeping his project hidden on the side. b. External: External innovation involves enhancing or adding to something that already exists. In Jobs’ case, he is creating the first personal computer as opposed to creating the first computer. In Gates’ case, he is enhancing the computer with programming and integrating a â€Å"language† for computers that already exist. Steve Jobs’ mai n external pressures in his innovation process were his competitors. While he did not notice it at the time, his biggest competitor, Bill Gates, was pirating his software behind his back. Steve Wozniak also quit at one point because of Jobs’ poor leadership and self-obsession. Jobs demanded too much of his workers and in return his company despised working for him. Ultimately, Jobs succeeded in his external innovation process but at the cost of losing friends, and good employees. Unlike Steve Jobs, Bill Gates was more successful through his external innovation process. The Microsoft model was a product of imitating his competitors. Bill Gates convinced his competitors that they needed his talents and in return he gained invaluable knowledge. He did not collapse under pressure and stayed humble throughout his success to ultimately take advantage of his competitors and land on top. 2. For both internal and external acquisition of technology, how was implementation handled? What areas were Jobs and Gates Hardware and Software particularly lacking? Implementation was handled fairly well by both Jobs and Gates. Although they did not have much of a â€Å"written plan† they still seemed to have a plan of what they wanted to do with the information they knew, and in what direction, more or less, they wanted to go in. Jobs had a somewhat fairly  well thought out plan in the sense that he went around everywhere for loans and eventually changed his image in order to better his chances. Luck also struck Jobs’ when the investor came to his garage and offered him a $250,000 investment to help him with the Apple Computers. Jobs implemented his first innovation, Lisa through Apple. He had reputable tangible assets including capital, technology, office space, and many technicians. While the technicians were vital assets to Jobs, they were being over worked and were under appreciated. Throughout the movie it is clear that there was a negative company culture emerging, which inversely impacted his intangible assets. Jobsâ€⠄¢ narcissistic personality got him punched in the face at one point. This displays how Apple workers disliked Jobs as a leader and were constantly on edge from lack of sleep and high expectations. The film portrayed Bill Gates as a superior leader than Jobs because he remained loyal to his team throughout the film. Beginning in his garage and eventually moving towards a partnership with Apple, Gates was able to continuously motivate his team and keep morale high. He focused on engaging his team and explained to competitors how they needed his expertise to create a programming language. Gates gained all the resources he needed through gaining access to his competitors software and ended with great a implementation process for Microsoft. In both of their implementation processes, they lacked a bit of control and awareness. Gates’ had somewhat better control and awareness in the sense that he saw the flaws in Jobs’ reign. Jobs (once Apple computers became bigger than just two guys in a garage) was not fully aware of what he was becoming and what he was doing to his company internally. He had two different sides in his company competing against each other and he also treated his employees like machines rather than people. Gates (along with Jobs’ friend Wise) was aware of this p roblem and helped Jobs overcome it. 3. How well did Jobs and Gates understand the environment in which they were trying to compete? What specific areas challenged their chance of success in the environment? In understanding the environment that Gates and Jobs were competing in, they understood it very well. Both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates had extensive  knowledge about building and coding computers. Jobs had a vision of giving the public access to computers. He was very knowledgeable in starting Apple and turning his vision into reality. Similarly, Gates was skilled in computer programming and was able to build Microsoft with the help of his competitors. Steve Jobs’ main challenge was dealing with employees and becoming a true leader. He was forced to grow up very quickly and without the experience, his image as a leader suffered. In one scene of the movie, Jobs walks into an interview barefoot and tells the candidate that he does not belong at Apple and then makes inappropriate personal attacks. This lack of professionalism shows that Jobs did not have managerial skills or leadership experience. On the other hand, it is clear Gates had business experience or had at least studie d business topics. Gates knew how much he could get away with. His sneakiness got him the information he needed but at the expense of jeopardizing his integrity. Gates’ understood that he needed to convince people (IBM) that they not only did not have what he was offering and creating, but that they needed what he was offering. The areas that challenged their chance of success in the environment were consumers and IBM. IBM said no one would use personal computers because average everyday people had no use for one. It was key that Gates knew how to sell his ideas and products, even if they hadn’t even been produced or built yet. Finally, while both had extensive computer technology knowledge, Jobs lacked personal business skills and Gates lacked a defined plan of action. They both knew they were on to something bigger than the both of them and this is not always an easy idea to cope with.

Features of the International Economic Environment

.1 An analysis of the features of the international economic environment The features of economic environment have direct relationship with economic activities .Income and wealth is the components of the economic environment. The international business of a country is greatly influenced by the technological development. The technology environment ensures better productivity. Technological environment influences the business and the effects of technology on markets are very much important (Helpman and Krugman, 1985). Social environment is very important to perform business in foreign countries. This kind of environment has great impact on business policies of a country. This environment determines a business organization’s future. To do business effectively in a foreign country a person has to get perfect knowledge about social environment. Political environment is significant to do business in other countries. There are different factors of political environment. These factors can influence the government decision making and other activities. For foreign investors every country set some rules and regulations. Investor need to maintain these rules and regulation to do business on certain country. Political factors can influence the government to change these regulations. So investors need to know the regulations and get the proper knowledge about political environment. The features of international economic environment are complex in structure. There are different aspectsShow MoreRelatedThe Experience of Living in Another Country1448 Words   |  6 PagesLiving in another country is a difficult experience for many people. A common feature of people living in a foreign country is finding them Gathered together in restaurants, discussing about their home and their experiences in the foreign country. Moreover, these groups are not all from the same home country. 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It also reduces states’ dependence on military based se curity and ultimately reduces states’ monopoly on security. This effect is considered by many, a prime factor contributing towards peace and stability. There are number of factors associated with economic globalization which affects states authority. FirstlyRead MoreEconomics and Business Climate Overview of Lagos, Nigeria.1500 Words   |  6 PagesEconomics and Business Climate Overview of Lagos, Nigeria. 1.0 Background Information 1.1 Geopolitical Profile The smallest in area of Nigerias states (total land area of three thousand, five hundred and seventy seven square meters), Lagos State is the most populous state (with over eighteen million people according to 2006 population census) and unarguably the most economically important state of the country and the nations most urbanized (Economic Intelligence Unit, MEPB 2012). This large,