Marvel Case

MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT GROUP Bankruptcy and restructuring Introduction Marvel entertainment group was started by Martin Goodman in 1939. It originally was a comic book business, known as Marvel Comics now. We have no way to forget the images of X-men, Spider-Man, and Thor. Marvel Entertainment Group has had a glorious history, and a dominant position in the comic market. However, this glorious empire regretfully elapsed in the end. The historical rise and fall influences not only comic fans’ life, but most importantly to its investors and the financial market.Here we discuss in detail about the reason Marvel file for bankruptcy, the evaluation of the restructuring plan, equity worth per share under restructuring plan, its influence on the debt rising ability to other firms in the group, and why the portfolio managers choose to sell their zero coupon bonds. Part 1 Analyzing problems: why did Marvel file for Chapter 11? Were the problems caused by bad luck, bad strategy, or bad ex ecution? After taking a deep look into its performance of a six-year period, we reached the conclusion that the fall of this comic star is mainly caused by bad strategy it adopted, especially the one to acquire Skybox.Though the first two issuance of debt did bring along good operating results, Marvel’s core business began to falter shortly after the third issuance. The sales of three major business lines: Sports and Entertainment Cards, Children’s Activity Stickers, and Published comic books all decline significantly after 1993. The main reason for this decline can be explained by the fact that child entertainment is becoming more diversified, with alternatives appearing such as video games. Besides that, collectors’ declining willingness to invest in comic books drive the sales down dramatically.However, these reasons have little things to do with luck: because a successful and experienced entertainment company like Marvel should have the ability to notice thi s kind of demand change. What is more, sufficient market research should also be done when deciding long-term business strategies. But the creator of Spider man really disappointed us by heading for a totally wrong direction at the turning point of this industry. To be qualified as a bad strategy adopter, Marvel decided to acquire Skybox in 1995. At that time, Marvel has a leverage ratio as high as 52%, which made it hard to pay back the huge debt when revenues are declining.Moreover, the declining demand for entertainment cards will make this expansion unlikely to boost its revenues. We can see more clearly from its operating and financing ratios that this acquisition resulted in worse performance of the whole Marvel group. Marvel’s operating and leverage ratios 1991 Operating Ratios Sales Cost of Sales Cost of Sales/Sales SG&A SG&A/Sales Net Income Net Income/Sales Leverage Ratios Total Debt Shares Outstanding Share Price Market Value of Equity Debt/D+E EBITDA EBITDA/Sales Interest Expenses EBITDA/Interest $115. 10 58. 50. 57% 21. 4 18. 59% 16. 1 13. 99% 1992 $223. 80 112. 6 50. 31% 43. 4 19. 39% 32. 6 14. 57% 355. 3 98. 6 12 1183. 2 23. 09% 67. 8 30. 29% 6. 5 10. 43 1993 $415. 20 215. 3 51. 86% 85. 3 20. 54% 56 13. 49% 324. 7 102. 6 26 2667. 6 10. 85% 114. 6 27. 60% 14. 6 7. 85 1994 $514. 80 275. 3 53. 48% 119. 7 23. 25% 61. 8 12. 00% 585. 7 103. 7 16 1659. 2 26. 09% 119. 8 23. 27% 16. 5 7. 26 1995 $829. 30 538. 3 64. 91% 231. 3 27. 89% -48. 4 -5. 83% 934. 8 101. 3 12 1215. 6 43. 47% 34. 7 4. 18% 43. 2 0. 80 1996 $581. 20 372. 4 64. 07% 168 28. 90% -27. 9 -4. 0% 977 101. 8 4 407. 2 70. 58% 40. 8 7. 02% 42. 7 0. 96 97. 7 5 488. 5 35. 5 30. 84% 3. 5 10. 14 As we can see from the number facts above, both operating and leverage ratios show that bad performance of the company became even worse after the acquisition. On one hand, during this six-year period, Marvel’s operating ratios decreased greatly: Net Income/ Sales dropped from 13. 99% of 1991 to -4. 80% of 1996. Besides, the cost of Sales/Sales rose significantly from 50. 57% to 64. 07%. At the same time, SG&A/Sales also increased from 18. 6% to 28. 9%.On the other hand, the leverage ratios also showed that the leverage is already quite high before it made the acquisition decision. During the period from 1991 to 1995, the operating results were not satisfying and leverage coverage kept falling. Based on this situation, Marvel’s decision makers still expanded further, resulting in a worse situation: after the acquisition, its interest coverage ratio dropped rapidly to only 0. 96; the EBITDA/Sales ratio also declined to 7. 02%. Therefore, we can see clearly that the bad strategy Marvel adopted is the main reason for its bankruptcy.When facing with both an internal problem—financial distress, and external threats—declining demand for cards, Marvel should absolutely seek growth within existing business rather than impudently expand through acquiring Skyb ox. Part 2 Evaluation of the proposed restructuring plan: will it solve the problems that caused Marvel to file Chapter 11? As Carl Icahn, the largest unsecured debt holder, would you vote for the proposed restructuring plan? Why or why not? In early 1996, Perelman announced a restructuring plan in order to bail out.According to the plan, $365 million would be invested in Marvel in exchange for 427 million new Marvel shares to maintain the 80% ownership; Marvel would acquire Toy Biz, using its revenue to serve Marvel’s debt and offset Marvel’s NOLs; debt with a face value of $894. 1 million would shift into equity. In our perspective, this new plan can only solve part of Marvel’s recent problems, while it would be helpless to completely help the company out. The proposed restructuring plan is supposed both to relief Marvel’s debt burden and to increase the liquidity. To achieve this goal, Marvel planned to increase equity investment, and retire 894. milli on of debt, whose interest would be secured by 77. 3 million of Marvel’s shares. In these cases, Marvel would acquire new financing support without giving away part of its ownership, which is vital for the tax and NOLs purpose of the company. Besides, the leverage ratio would decrease sharply as a large proportion of debt would turn into equity, given that the market price of stock would not decline significantly. As a result, the plan could solve the liquidity problem of Marvel, as well as solve the problem that led Marvel to violate specific bank loan covenants.However, the company misemployed the newly acquired liquidity in the wrong place. Rather than transforming its original business strategy, which is problematic, into newly emerging industries such as video games to increase revenue, Marvel would maintain its original business lines, majority of which face downturns in the market. At the meantime, Marvel would continue to expand its current business by acquiring remai ning shares of Toy Biz. As what was mentioned previous in this report, the main reason why Marvel filed Chapter 11 was that it mistakenly bought business that produces non-demanded products.S&P downgraded the company’s debt by noting that Marvel’s earnings â€Å"have fallen while it has added debt to make acquisitions†. To acquire Toy Biz, an estimated $361. 5 million would be paid in cash by Marvel. Though Marvel believed that the acquisition would help generate sustainable cash flow to the company, we consider the revenue of Toy Biz, a company which is closely related to Marvel’s current business lines, is far from guaranteed as a foreseeable downturn in traditional entertainment industry. It means that the relieved debt burden could be ultimately offset by the prudent acquisition.Marvel would be inevitable in crisis. Furthermore, the debt holders, debt of whom would be transformed into equity, would not be fully paid off. After the restructuring plan w as announced, the stock price of Marvel plummeted. From what was shown in Exhibit 3, Marvel’s stock price continued to decline afterwards. Under the downward pressure of share price, the value of the collateral shares for the bonds are now much lower than it used to be at the time of the bonds being issued. In other words, the new shares could now only cover partially the face value of original bonds.For Carl Icahn, the largest unsecured debt holder who would have to invest in the highly discounted share once the restructuring plan is passed, whether or not its investment could be paid back would be doubtful. Though Bear Stearns, a company who prepared financial projections for Marvel’s acquisition of Toy Biz, predicted modest growth for Marvel and significant growth for Toy Biz, and that Marvel was valued more as a going concern, the argument of Bear Stearns is questionable and hard to be guaranteed. Therefore, as Carl Icahn, we would not vote for he proposed restruct uring plan. Part 3 Evaluation of Marvel’s equity: how much is Marvel’s equity worth per share under the proposed restructuring plan assuming it acquires Toy Biz as planned? What is your assessment of the pro forma financial projections and liquidation assumptions? We proceed to estimate equity worth per share by employing the capital cash flow method. Capital cash flow valuation incorporates mainly two approaches: starting with NI or starting with EBIT. Concerning the difficulty of reaching for such items as EBIT, we prefer the NI method particularly.Then the whole valuation process could be divided into two parts: calculation of PV (CCF) and number of shares. Part 1: PV (CCF) How to determine the discount rate is crucial for PV (equity value). This valuation uses data from Exhibit 10. Marvel entertainment group asset beta Risk-free rate Risk premium Pre-tax WACC Note: Pre-tax WACC = Rf + ? a * risk premium We use the five-year yields on US treasury bills, notes, and b onds for correspondence with our estimation time range starting from 1997 and ending in 2001. It gives us the pretax WACC as 11. 35%, used as our discount rate in the case. Then we proceed to the next section of CCF, based on information on Exhibit 9. Table 3. 1 has all the calculations shown in explicit steps with our desired result as equity value = 435. 99. Part 2: number of shares outstanding Up till now, equity value per share is only one step away with the missing number of shares, which is presented directly underneath Exhibit 6, as 528. 8 Therefore, we can come straightforward to the final calculation as: Equity value per share = 435. 99/528. 8 = 0. 2 What makes this case special is that distressed M&A could offer substantial corporate strategy opportunities in the troubled economic times ahead, while at the same time, the value of such opportunities could often be hidden amidst the confusion and distress of bankruptcy, such as the one listed as follows. Liquidation value is presented in table 3. 2. 0. 65 6. 36% 7. 5% 11. 235% Part 4 Will it be difficult for Marvel or other companies in the MacAndrews and Forbes holding company to issue debt in the future? Yes. It will become much harder for other companies in the MacAndrews and Forbes holding company o issue debt in the future, under the influence of Marvel’s bankruptcy. In 1995, S&P and Moody’s downgraded the holding companies’ debt from B to B-. Again, in 1996, Moody’s downgraded Marvel’s public debt once more. After the huge volume debt of Marvel downgraded by two rating agencies, Marvel had announced that it would violate specific bank loan covenants due to decreasing revenues and profits. Because downgrading of debt increases the chance of default, and the default probability would surely bring difficulties to other companies in the MacAndrews and Forbes holding company to issue new debt.This would happen step by step. First, the low credit rating indicates a hi gh risk of defaulting on a loan and, hence leads to high interest rates or the refusal of a loan by the creditor. Then, Investors realize this risk and therefore would require a higher default premium to compensate the risk. After that, increased default premiums would raise the cost of capital for the holding company. Given the increased risk premium and default possibilities, Marvel and other companies in the MacAndrews and Forbes holding group would having more difficulties issuing new debt in the future.Some difficulties would be generated from Perelman, because debt holders and creditors where raising questions about the integrity on the judgment decisions from Perelman. Judge Balick approved Marvel did not discriminate unfairly against non-affecting creditor classes and provided it was fair and equitable to all classes. In reaction, a lawyer challenged the Bearn Stern’s conclusions and insinuated Bearn Sterns had multiple levels of conflicts due to the contingency fee p rovided by Perelman. In the end even the Vice-Chairman of the Andrew group had to come with a statement to overcome all the negative sounds in the market.Anyhow it looks like Perelman’s reputation was damaged already. Also, this would influence the whole company’s reputation and the credibility of issuing new debt. Part 5 Why did the price of Marvel’s zero-coupon bonds drop on Tuesday, November 12, 1996? Why did portfolio managers at Fidelity and Putnam sell their bonds on Friday, November 8, 1996? On Nov 12, 1996, Marvel’s zero-coupon bonds fell by more than 50% when the spokesman for the Andrews Group announced the details of the proposed restructuring plan. According to he announcement, Perelman was to purchase, through Perelman-related entities, 410 million shares of newly-issued Marvel common for $0. 85 per share, 81% discount to the then prevailing market price of $4. 625. After Marvel met the managers of Fidelity and Putnam, those two institutional investors sold their Marvel bonds on hand immediately in response of the meeting before the announcement of the restructuring plan. Public holders predict Fidelity and Putnam should have the insider information about the restructuring plan.Their action made the public holder feels the restructuring plan is not favor to the bond holder and therefore sold it to avoid a greater loss. Apart from that, Marvel’s zero-coupon bonds were secured by its equity, rather than the company’s assets or operating cash flows. Due to the problem Marvel suffered, their share price dropped. Once the stock price dropped below $11. 6 per share, the collateral would not be sufficient to cover the debts. The public debt holders might consider that these bonds were no longer worthy to be held to maturity while the credit risk soared. Therefore they sold the bonds in arge quantity under the deteriorated signals in the market. As a result, the bond price plunged. Due to the restructuring plan, t he prices of Marvel’s shares and bonds dropped 41% and 50% respectively. On Nov 8, 1996, Howard Gittis, vice chairman of Andrews Group, called Fidelity Investments and Putnam Investments, two of the largest institutional holders of Marvel’s public debt, and asked them what they would like to see in are structuring plan. Portfolio managers at Fidelity and Putnam decided to sell more that $70 million of Marvel bonds at a price of $0. 37 per dollar of face value on the next day.Perhaps, during this conversation, they got some detail information of the plan which proved the present value of Marvel’s bonds was overvalued. It gave the chance for them to avoid tens huge losses in diminished value that would have followed and suffer the time they continued to hold the bonds already existing facts were revealed. To explain the portfolio managers at Fidelity and Putnam sell their bonds on Friday, November 8, 1996, we can compare the value of the bond value at the market a nd the expected equity value belong to the public holders after restructuring, Bond value on November 8, 1996, Face value of $894mn X 0. 37per dollar of face value = $ 330mn Equity value belong to the public holders after restructuring, $ 77mn shares X $0. 49 (our projected equity worth per share) = $ 38mn We found that the market value of the Marvel bond is far higher than the value of the future equity worth belongs to the bondholders. So, the bond selling price of Fidelity and Putnam is relatively much attractive rather than the converted equity value after the restructuring plan. ConclusionIn the above analysis, we reached at the conclusion that Marvel’s bankruptcy mainly resulted from its bad strategy and management problems. First, it chose to expand in a wrong time and to a wrong direction. Second, its restructuring decision can only solve its liquidity problem temporarily, and Carl Icahn should veto the restructuring plan. Third, Marvel Entertainment Group in this cas e will have bad influence on other companies and make it hard for them to issue new debt in the future. We also use the capital cash flow method to calculate the equity worth under the restructuring plan.Generally speaking, it does sound that attractive and only resulted in investors’ chagrin. Table 3. 1 (millions) Net (loss) income + depreciation or amortization – change in working capital – capital expenditure + amortization of goodwill – equity in net (loss) income in unconsolidated subsidiaries + minority interest in Toy Biz + provision for deferred taxes +Interest Capital cash flow Growth rate of each year Geometric growth rate Discount rate Present value of CCF Sum of Present value Debt value of Sept. 996 Equity value ? ? ? Terminal cash flow = CCF2001 * (1+g)/(r-g) We use geometric average here because of the rule of thumb: the more volatile the return stream, the more important it uses geometric average Because the market value and book value of d ebt are nearly the same, we directly subtract the debt value from Sum of PV (CCF) to get the final equity value. -7. 12% 11. 235% 248. 21 1412. 99 977. 0 435. 99 192. 3 91. 04 162. 12 118. 67 600. 52 1997 (35. 7) 34. 5 75. 4 83. 0 30. 5 0. 1 3. 0 9. 8 71. 0 271. 6 1998 17. 5 43. 4 11. 5 67. 4 21. 8 0. 2 -8. 3 68. 0 238. 1 (12. 33%) 1999 (12. 1) 44. 1 (44. 3) 47. 4 21. 5 (2. 2) -6. 3 64. 6 125. 3 (47. 38%) 2000 27. 6 44. 8 42. 0 46. 7 21. 2 (3. 2) -8. 1 61. 0 248. 2 98. 08% 2001 33. 6 45. 9 (2. 0) 45. 1 21. 5 (4. 4) -5. 8 56. 6 202. 1 (18. 57%) 1022. 67 Terminal CF 1022. 67 Table 3. Liquidation value Cash Accounts receivable Inventory Deferred income tax Income tax receivable Prepaid expenses and other current assets Current assets PP&E (net) Goodwill and other intangibles (net) Investment in subsidiaries Deferred charges and other assets Total assets Accounts payable Accrued expenses and other current liabilities Short-term borrowings Current portion of long-term debt Current liabil ities Long-term debt Other long-term liabilities Total liabilities Minority interest in Toy Biz Liquidation value Sep-96 35. 9 257. 2 99. 1 32. 5 18. 2 58. 2 501. 1 87. 7 595. 3. 2 72. 7 1260. 4 95. 8 170. 1 28. 7 625. 8 920. 4 0 56. 6 977. 0 102. 9 180. 5 Millions adjustment % 100 85 50 0 100 0 value 35. 9 218. 6 49. 6 0 18. 2 0 322. 3 Note s 1L 2L 3L 4L 50 50 0 0 43. 9 297. 9 0 0 664. 0 5L 6L 7L 7L 90 90 0 0 86. 2 153. 1 0 0 239. 3 8L 8L 9L 9L 0 0 0 0 239. 3 9L 10L 0 0 424. 7 11L 12L Note: all adjustments are based on our group’s estimations, prepared from the 1996 standpoint. ? The second entry accounts receivable is adjusted downward to 85%, based on the â€Å"rule of thumb† of liquidation situations, note (2L), (5L), and (8L) are done likewise.To make it more precise, expert appraisers are needed for specific consultation. ? Notes (3L), (4L), (7L), (9L), (10L) and (11L) identify the items written down to zero if liquidized. ? Note (6L) were written down to 50% bec ause of the perceived value of Marvel’s character portfolio (Spiderman and X-man did enable them steal the thunder), while we still need someone expertise for more accurate estimation. ? Lastly, subtracting liabilities from assets in Table 3. 2 gives us the liquidation valuation of $424. 7 million

Coffee and Starbucks Essay

Gordon Bowker, Jerry Baldwin and Ziv Siegl founded Starbucks in 1971. Their goal was to sell the finest quality whole beans and ground coffees (Starbucks timeline and history, 2004). In 1982, Starbucks had grown to five stores and started serving coffee to restaurants and espresso bars. Harold Schultz was employed as the director of retail operations and marketing. Harold Schultz convinced the founders of Starbucks to open a downtown Seattle coffee bar, which opened in 1984. With the success of Seattle coffee bar, Schultz left Starbucks to start his own company named Il Giornale. In 1987, Il Giornale acquired Starbucks retail operations for 4 million dollars. In addition, Il Giornale changed its name to Starbucks Corporation and open locations in Chicago and Vancouver, B. C. (Starbucks timeline and history, 2004). Starbucks continued its expansion throughout the late 1980 and beyond. In 1991, Starbucks became the first privately owned U. S. Corporation to offer stock options to part time employees (Starbucks timeline and history, 2004). In the early 1990s Starbucks started setting up coffee shops in Nordstrom?  ¦s department stores, Barnes & Noble bookstores and ITT/Sheraton hotels. In 1995, the corporation began selling compact discs and formed an alliance with the Canadian bookstore, Chapters Inc. In 2000, Schultz promoted Orin Smith to the position of CEO. Schultz remained chairman for the corporation. This allowed Schultz to focus on Starbucks?  ¦ global strategy. Starbucks operates and licenses more the 7,500 coffee shops in more than 30 countries. Coffee Industry In the United States, coffee is the second largest import (Roosevelt, 2004). Furthermore, the United States, consumes one-fifth of all the worlds?  ¦ coffee (Global Exchange, 2004). The present industry is expanding. It is estimated that North America? ¦s sector will reach saturation levels within 5 year (Datamonitor. n. d. ). According to National Coffee Association (NCA), 8 out of 10 Americans consume coffee. In addition, it is estimated that half of the American population drinks coffee daily. The international market remains highly competitive. It is estimated that 3,300 cups of coffee are consumed every second of the day worldwide (Ecomall, n. d. ). The latest trends included dual drinkers, an increase in senior citizens consumption and a shift in consumption away from home. There has been a significant increase in the consumption of dual drinkers (NCA, 2004). Dual drinkers are people who drink both traditional coffee and gourmet coffee. According to NCA, 54% of America?  ¦s coffee drinkers are dual drinkers. Gourmet coffee is experiencing substantial growth with senior citizens. According to NCA, senior citizens coffee consumption leaped from 9% to 13%. Another trend is coffee consumption is moving outside the home. Coffee consumption away from home increased by 6%. Mission Statement The current mission statement is ?  §Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow. This mission statement fits well with the general direction and the future strategies of Starbucks Corporation. Principles The following principles compliment both Starbucks mission statement and their strategies. Our recommendation is to keep the current mission statement and principles. ?aProvide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity. ?aEmbrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business. ?aApply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of our coffee. ?aDevelop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time. ?aContribute positively to our communities and our environment ? aRecognize that profitability is essential to our future success. SWOT Analysis StrengthWeakness ?aFinancial Resources ?aGlobal Presence ?aBeverage Innovator ?aReliance on US Domestic Markets ?aReliance on Beverage Innovation ?aInternational Expansion Problems OpportunitiesThreats ?aInternational Operations ?aContinued Growth of Gourmet Coffee Market ?aExpanding ? V Unit Clustering ?aSupply Risk/ Dependence on Trading Companies and Exporters ? aUS Market Reaching Saturation Levels ?aCompetition Internal Strength. A few of Starbucks strengths included strong financial position, name recognition and being creative beverage innovators. Starbucks has reported revenue from January to July 2004 as 409 million dollars, which gives the company a strong financial position. Starbucks has a strong global presence from its many stores and licensees units, which has made Starbucks a household name. Starbucks is known for their creative innovations of beverages. Starbucks is not afraid to experiment and test new drinks in their stores. Some of the beverages introduced are Fappuccino Blended Beverages or Iced Shaken refreshments. Internal Weakness Some of the weakness the corporation faces includes international expansion problems and dependence of the United States markets and beverage innovations. The corporation was forced to close a number of stores. These stores failed to entice potential customers and Starbucks was forced to end a joint venture due to the lack of success. Starbucks has a dependency on beverage innovation and US markets. It is estimated that 85% of the corporation revenues come from the United States (Datamonitor, n. d. ). Starbucks contributes its growth based on beverage innovations (Datamonitor, n. d. ). External Opportunities One opportunity deals with clustering its business units. Starbucks uses clustering to ensure domination in chosen geographical areas. This practice allows Starbucks to bring conveniences to customers and at the same time preventing new business from entering the market. The last two opportunities are profitability of international operations and the expected growth of the specialty coffee market. The profitability of international operations and the expected growth will give the company greater leverage into the world market and will promote new market expansions. External Threats. One major threat is the lack of superior coffee beans. The expansion of Starbucks operations and limited quantity of superior coffee beans may result in a shortage of supply. Other factors, which could affect the coffee beans, are weather, political and economic conditions. Organizations like Fair Trade could change or alter the coffee industry. Another threat to Starbucks is the dependence on trading companies and exporters for their supply of superior coffee beans. Although Starbucks has limited the risk by paying above average prices for the superior coffee beans, the risk is still there. The last threats are competition and market saturation. The success of the coffee industry will attract more competitors. A competitor with a serious financial backing and resources could compete against Starbucks (Datamonitor, n. d. ). It is estimated that if the current market growth continues saturation levels will be reached in five years (Datamonitor, n. d. ). Customer Satisfaction Customer Satisfaction is defined as the measure or determination that a product or service meets a customer’s expectations, considering requirements of both quality and service (www. eglin. af. mil/46tw/StrategicPlan/glossary.htm). A customer?  ¦s expectations of product quality, service quality, and price, then a firm will achieve high levels of customer satisfaction. On the other hand, if the customer?  ¦s expectations are not met, the customer will be disappointed and this is likely to lower the satisfaction level. Due to lowered satisfaction, the customer could choose to stop buying from the firm/company. There have been many studies done that have shown that high customer satisfaction increases the likelihood of corporate profitability. It also showed that the costs incorporated with keeping an existing customer are five times that of getting new ones The Starbucks Customer The Starbuck?  ¦s Corporation is the leading retailer in the coffee industry. The market size of the coffee industry in the United States for 2003 is near 18 billion. The company?  ¦s sales have increased 23. 9% in the year 2003. These statistics show how many people in the U. S. are drinking Starbucks coffee. Starbucks attracts a cult-like following, serving 25 million drinks a week at nearly 7,000 locations worldwide. At one time or another, just about everyone has been a customer at a Starbucks retailer. Based on research done on the Internet, we have identified who the typical Starbucks?  ¦ customer is. A typical Starbucks customer is a male or a female, age ranging from 18 to 55. In most cases, the Starbucks?  ¦ customer is a college student, businessperson or someone in their mid to late fifties. A Starbucks customer tends to be very loyal to the company and will not accept substitutes. The usage level of a typical customer is at least three times a week, for some; it is every day. The benefits sought by customers range from enjoyment, relaxation, energy, and reward. Those who are not in a hurry like to sit down for a cup of coffee, listen to the relaxing songs played at the shops, enjoy a conversation with a friend, or just way to be alone and study. Another important characteristic of a typical customer is that most of the customers are financially stable enough to be able to afford to spend at least $2. 50 for a small cup of coffee. A typical Starbucks?  ¦ customer spends and average of $40 to $65 a month for coffee drinks. However, there are many customers who spend well over $65 a month. Improving Customer Satisfaction According to Schultz, ? §our success is based on their continued trust in our people and our environment over long periods of time. † Redefining the industry you’re playing in doesn’t just mean hiring an agency to think up a fancy new slogan. To make it work, you have to offer high-quality new products and services that customers actually want, and that will reinforce the value offered by your core brand and expand the emotional connection your customers feel with it ( www. fastcompany. com from Issue 84 July 2004, Page 50 by:Alison Overholt). To continue the success that Starbucks had over the years, there must be ways to measure the customer? ¦s perceptions of the company. The customers are what make Starbucks what it is today, and to keep them we need to know what they expect from us. Based on research done on starbucks. com, it is evident that Starbucks values their customers. On the main page of the website there is a link to Customer Service; here the customer can ask questions or leave comments. This tool could be much more beneficial to the company if questions and/or comments could be asked by the customer. In the area of questions/comments-there is a drop down list of freqeuntly asked questions/comments, from this list the customer must pick. There could be many times when a customer has a question/comment, but it is not included on this list. The idea of having this link makes the customers feel that their opinions are valued, but there are a few areas that could be improved on that would be much more beneficial to the company. It is important that Starbucks asks for the opinions of their customers, but why only offer this online? Even though we have become such a computer savy world, there are still many people out there that are not computer literate. Many do not have access to computers, or some just do not know how to use them. This does not mean that these people don?  ¦t drink Starbucks coffee. To increase overall customer satisfaction, we should also incorporate a general product/service survey or some type of comment card in the retail stores. Surveys may seem tedious at times, but to help us find out information that could help our company in the long run, it is worth it. Surveys will give us an idea of how we can improve our product and service to satisfy the customer. Typical customer surveys are designed to measure: ?aOverall satisfaction ?aProduct-level satisfaction ?aImportance vs. satisfaction ? Timeliness of delivery ?aCustomer service process satisfaction ?aReturns and exchange process satisfaction ?aInterest in new potential products and services Included is sample survey that could be used to get a general idea of how our customers feel about our products and services. The main goal to achieve customer satisfaction needs to be: to find ways to deliver a great customer experience around your product or service. Customer expectations may be set, the idea is to exceed those expectations that they might already have. The recipe for a great cup of coffee includes four fundamentals, proportion, grind, water and freshness. Using the right proportion of coffee to water is the most important step in making great coffee. The shorter the brewing process, the finer the grind. The amount of time the coffee and water spend together affects the flavor elements that end up in your cup of coffee. Using fresh, cold water heated just off the boil is perfect for extracting the coffee?  ¦s full range of flavors. Use fresh ground coffee by grinding beans each time you brew the freshness is preserved. Starbucks quality is dependent on trading companies and exporters for its supply of green coffee. The company is looking to secure long term supply contracts, and in some cases has had to pay inflated prices in order to obtain such contracts. Starbucks responded to world coffee prices reaching 30-year lows during fiscal 2001 by offering suppliers more money to guarantee supply, and as such the risk of non-delivery on such purchase commitments is low. However, the nature of the business dictates that the company?  ¦s dependency on suppliers does put it at risk. Starbucks quality is at risk to the volatility of the supply and price of coffee. The company?  ¦s search for the superior standard coffee mean in can be adversely affected by multiple factors in the producing countries, including weather, political, and economic conditions. In addition, green coffee prices have been affected in the past, and may be affected in the future, by the actions of organizations and associations that have in the past attempted to influence prices of green coffee through agreements establishing export quotas or restricting global coffee supplies. The actions of these associations could cause a degree of costly disruption to Starbuck?  ¦s operations. Purchasing Guidelines Starbucks has also introduced coffee purchasing guidelines. The goal of these guidelines is to support Starbucks commitment to purchase coffee that has been grown and processed by suppliers who meet environmental, social, economic, and quality standards. Global coffee production can only be sustainable if it is economically viable, socially responsible, and environmentally sensitive at all levels of the supply chain. Over the past few years Starbucks has been working on the sourcing guidelines and they feel that is an important step that will help increase the production of high quality coffee and improve the health of the specialty coffee industry. With these guidelines, Starbucks is taking a leadership role in addressing the environmental and social issues surrounding the global coffee industry. This initiative is part of a long-term partnership between Starbucks and Conservation International to promote methods of coffee production that help to conserve global biodiversity. To launch these guidelines, Starbucks will enlist the support of coffee suppliers who are sustainable advocates. Starbucks has instituted a flexible point system that rewards performance in sustainable categories. Points will be accrued based on a supplier?  ¦s ability to meet sustainability guidelines, and suppliers who earn more points in the program will receive higher purchasing preference when Starbucks purchases green coffee. Starbucks has a long-standing practice of paying premium prices for coffee, and has always paid an average of at least $1. 20 per pound. As part of this practice, Starbucks will provide additional premiums of up to ten cents per pound to vendors based upon how well their coffee samples meet the standards. These financial incentives will help defray the costs incurred by participating suppliers. Suppliers wishing to participate will be required to provide independent, third party verification of their performance against the guidelines. Starbuck?  ¦s hopes that the success of this program demonstrates to the rest of the coffee industry that they can benefit by producing coffee in a way that protects global biodiversity and improves the livelihoods of coffee farmers. The Three Keys to Quality Coffee The three keys to quality coffee are: 1)Quality Green Arabica Coffee – The best coffee beans produce the best cup of coffee. 2)Fresh Roasted – Great tasting coffee relies on how soon the coffee is brewed, and consumed after roasting. For coffee to be fresh, and best, it must be consumed within five days after roasting, three hours of grinding, and fifteen minutes of brewing. The first sign that coffee is stale is a bitter taste. 3)Proper Brewing ? V Temperature and time, brewing is the extraction of coffee flavor oils from the roasted grounds using water. The best temperature for optimum extraction is water just off the boil (195 degrees to 205 degree Fahrenheit). This temperature will extract the full range of flavors from fresh roasted beans. Time is a function of brewing method and grind size. There are many ways to brew good coffee. Steeping and espresso are the two best methods. Financial Analysis Total net sales for Starbucks Corporation were analyzed for 2001, 2002, and 2003. The company had a total net sales increase of $639. 9M between the years 2001 and 2002. Another net increase of $786. 6M in sales occurred between 2002 and 2003. This is a positive sign because in a growing company, of course, we would expect a consistent increase in sales. A result of the increase in sales in part is due to a recent innovation of drive-throughs being added for the convenience of its many customers. Net income increased substantially to 215. 1M in 2002. This was due to the boom in sales and good control of its cost of goods sold. Net income increased to $53. 2M in 2003. The coffee giant acquired Seattle Coffee Company from AFC Enterprises for $72. 0M in 2003, as well. Income from operations took a boost up from $281. 0M in 2001 to $318. 7M in 2002, a difference of $37. 6M. Income from operations saw a considerable upturn of $424. 7M in 2003. In a growing company we would expect income from operations to grow from year to year. Cost of sales continued to increase $237. 2M between the years 2001 and 2002 and it peaked again $335. 9M between 2002 and 2003. This is normal when sales are increasing significantly. Management Strategies From cappuccinos to lattes to just regular coffee, the quality of Starbucks fine coffee beverages is worth the cost in dollars. An article from the Internet stated ?  §At $43 in mid-June, a share of Starbucks (SBUX) cost 47 times what Wall Street analysts expect the coffee-shop chain to earn per share this year. The typical stock in the S&P 500 index trades at just 19 times earnings (Rosato, D. , 2004, p. 124). The article continued to state that management is projecting Starbucks earnings to grow to 20% every year for the next three to five years. With an amazing growth rate like that its no wonder that their growth far exceeds the typical S&P stocks growth rate by as much as three times. Starbucks has a very strong balance sheet. It has little long-term debt and $380. 0M in cash. It continues to expand its long-term assets and finances them from its own cash flow. If a company is in a state of expansion, we would expect long-term assets to increase. The total current assets for the year ending September 29, 2002 for Starbucks Corporation were $847. 5M. For the year ending September 28, 2003 total current assets grew $76. 5M. This gives us a good indication that the company is expanding. Inventory increased from $263. 1M in 2002 to $342. 9 in 2003. In a growing company, we would expect inventory to increase. An article in the Internet stated that in November 2001, Starbucks offered their own Starbucks card. It was a convenient way for coffee drinkers to pay quickly and easily for their morning cup of coffee (Kuykendall, 2004, p. 7). Starbucks sold roughly $18. 0M of these gift cards. This strategy is a great way to increase volume and unlike other cards Starbucks said, ?  §It had never charged the fee noted on its cards — $2 a month after on year ? V to anyone (Kuykendall, 2004 p. 7). Another vision to increase its financial strategy was the introduction of the Duetto combo prepaid/credit card in late 2003. An article on the Internet stated how the Chicago based Bank One Corp. called Duetto worked with Starbucks to generate a program where cardholders would receive rewards based on their spending habits. Starbucks conducted a survey to determine the gift that was most attractive to customers and Colette Courtion, director of Starbucks Global Card Services stated, ?  §Duetto cardholders receive a one-time $10 ?  §preload and 1% in so-called Duetto dollars that are automatically loaded on the stored-value side each month for every Visa purchase made. Starbucks also donates $5 to the Starbucks Foundation, after every customer?  ¦s first Starbucks Card Duetto Visa purchase (Martin, Z. , 2004, p. 22). A half-pound of coffee was one of the great appealing rewards, as well. Bank One and Starbucks were very well pleased with the markets positive response to the Duetto card. We are in agreement with these financial strategies and as a team, we concur that Starbucks Corporation should continue the card services as a strategic process that gives their company a great competitive advantage. A key strength of Starbucks is being a disciplined innovator. Frappuccino blended beverages and iced refreshments were new innovations and helped the growth of Starbucks. Starbucks should continue coming up with new kinds of beverages, as that is its core product. Perhaps a vegetable drink that is geared more toward the healthier population like a low calorie, low fat, and low sugar carrot drink that is actually providing the body with good vitamins and minerals. According to information retrieved from the Factiva database, Starbucks Price/Earnings ratio in the last twelve months was 56. 9 and its current ratio was 1. 8. Starbucks is on the right track with their strategies and they have done such an excellent job so far that we believe these strategies will continue to bring revenues for many upcoming years. Growth Starbucks Corporation has a good strategic growth plan currently to enhance their business and gain market share over their competitors. In this section of the report, it will go over Starbucks current ideas about their growth and give different recommendations in how some other ideas may increase their current and future growth. In the current high completive coffee market Starbucks has a good market share and are opening location across the world. Starbucks have opened their location in markets before any of their competitors has any of their location even around that market. Starbucks has a global brand name over their competitors. Starbucks Corporation has roughly 7,500 retail locations across the world, with majority are owned and operated in the United States of America. Starbucks currently has locations across 30 different countries to set their business in the market before any competitors due. Even with Starbucks aggressive move to open many locations across the world they have very little profit with their business. The reasons that Starbuck?  ¦s profitability is low because they?  ¦re trying to cease the market first. In the fiscal year of 2003, the company has a total of nearly 1,300 licensed retail stores, with 1,000 in Asia-Pacific region, 176 in Europe/Middle East/Africa and the remainder in America, excluding North America (Canada, Hawaii, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Peru and Chile). Starbucks is headquartered in Seattle, derives approximately 85% of its revenues and substantially all of its profits from its domestic US market. The US market is the market that gives them the most profit of all markets. Starbucks started most of their locations at cold states based that more coffee drinkers live in cold states. With the new innovation of the cold flavored coffee drinks increased their chance to open more location in warm clement locations. Even with the rapid growth of coffee businesses in the US Starbucks has a large market share and with any change the Starbucks may due their competitors looks to target. Starbucks looks to enhance their brand image in the US market to increase their product sales from the stores that carry Starbucks coffee drinks, like Seven Eleven that carry only Starbucks coffee only. Starbucks reliance on the beverage innovation is important for the Starbucks future growth. With the increase for coffee store based on the need for coffee because of the new flavors, coffee market is growing but Starbucks looks to bring a new innovation to the market. The only problem at hand would be how long will the need and growth of the market last. In the international markets need less innovation then the US market based that there are less competitors in the market. International markets may need to have certain products for their taste. Most often different countries have different customs and life styles that could change the need for each custom. By the fiscal year of 2004, Starbucks international market will achieve profitability. About 23% of the company?  ¦s stores locations that are profitable are located in North America markets that include UK and Japan. Currently the specialty coffee sector accounts for 15% of the US retail market, and which is already worth $21 billion. By 2005, the retail coffee market will be worth $22 billion, and the specialty coffee will account for 41% of the market. Also Starbucks are looking to invent a coffee ice cream and ice cream coffee drink. All of the ice cream has many different flavors and if the newly product takes of like it?  ¦s planned on doing. The specialty coffee products are now sold even at retail store based on the growing need for it. Starbucks is looking to open coffee and ice cream combined stores in start a new market. Starbucks currently sees that more and more coffee business are opening threw out the US by small business owners, so Starbucks is selling more stores to lessen the opening of small businesses. Starbucks feels that if they sell their name that more small business owner would rather have a well-known name to enhance their chances in doing well. Starbucks owners will learn and gain from the innovation and marketing ideas that Starbucks will give. Starbucks will grow faster if they sell of most or all of their location because their will be less need in maintaining their stores and more need in bring new ideas to the market. Now their competitors are franchising their location to. Most of the Starbucks locations in malls or in strip malls across the world. Currently Starbucks are building freestanding locations and designing a drive threw so their customers can have a more convenient way when needing their service. With these newly developed locations will have a food line. They?  ¦re looking to have hot food and cold food to compete with the Tim Horton coffee business. They are also looking to stay open 24 hours, seven days a week. Starbucks is looking to carry donuts, breakfast sandwiches, bagels and other morning food. Starbucks interest to change to compete with Tim Horton?  ¦s may hurt their business or help their business based on the cost involved in the change. Starbucks has concerns regarding the US store growth potential. Currently if the growth continues, saturation levels within the North American retail division will be reached inside five years, the reasons why Starbucks has some concern is that about 75% of the companies revenue growth and a greater portion of its profit. Before the US market becomes saturated, the US market sales growth will grow slowly over the next three to five years. With this change of saturation point coming, the pressure will be on the international Starbucks division will need to grow faster. Currently Starbucks global coffee market is very competitive, and must compete against the likes of restaurants, coffee shops, and street carts. Any major competitors, with a large financial background and the same resources as Starbucks can enter the market at any time and compete directly against the company. Starbucks feels that they have a good market share and are aware of competition on all levels and can maintain its operational performance if its to maintain its status as the world?  ¦s leading specialty coffee retailer. Starbucks was one of the first coffee businesses in the market and will try to be one of the last to leave. The recommendation to Starbucks Coffee that if they are going to grow in the market faster than their competitors is not to change their business to be more like Tim Horton?  ¦s and have their own identity. Currently Starbucks started the wireless Internet access in their stores and now every competitor is doing it. Also, it will help Starbucks if they would enhance the online service to provide laptops and other computers at their locations. They should have online ordering of coffee so when business people need to go fast they can order online and pay online to have a faster way in getting there coffee. With the innovation of new products, Starbucks should think in expanding in creating a coffee machine that can be place at schools, hospitals, and other companies that may need coffee and late hours or that don?  ¦t need a store. They currently market their own coffee brand coffee to purchase at other store but they should have it accessible online to order. The best thing that Starbucks has going for them is that none of its direct competitors are selling their product at store and online. With the increase in people that drink specialty coffee, Starbucks should innovate more different flavored coffee to increase their potential growth currently and in the future. The international looks to be the best growth for their business and they should invest more into locations and countries. Summary In order to ensure future success, we feel that Starbucks should implement the following suggestions. To improve customer satisfaction, Starbucks should include a section where customers actually ask questions and/or leave comments both in store and at their website. In addition, Starbucks should incorporate a survey to measure customer satisfaction. To ensure quality, Starbucks should continue its current practices. The practice includes securing long-term contracts, paying premium prices for coffee and additional premiums to suppliers to ensure quality needs are meet. To guarantee financial security, Starbucks should continue its role as a disciplined innovator. Starbucks should continue to promote the use of Starbucks cards and Duetto combo prepaid credit cards. An important part of Starbuck continued growth is emphasizing their unique image and to continue to provide the latest technical advancements. Starbucks should start expanding by providing coffee machines at schools, hospitals and other similar organizations. These strategies will continue to promote Starbucks as a leading retailer in a highly competitive coffee industry. Starbucks Customer Survey Dear Customer: I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you. Please help us serve you better by taking a couple of minutes to tell us how we are doing. We appreciate your business and want to make sure we meet your expectations. Attached you will find a coupon good for 1 free coffee.   

How to Ensure Individual Freedom and Community-Building in a Society?

Topic: How to ensure individual freedom and community-building in a society? Every people want to live freely to do whatever they want in a society with freedom and want to communicate with every social groups or governments to build up a good community. If we want to ensure individual freedom I shall briefly that what is the freedom and community is? Freedom is the power or rights to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Community means that all people living in a particular area or place which call local communities.How to ensure individual freedom and community-building in a society? First of all, Individual freedom is talk about people is given rights to pursue life, liberty and happiness. To ensure individual freedom in society is security. Security is the most important point for the individual freedom because security is the degree of protection to safeguard for citizens live in country. If the country does not maintenance the security for the citize ns or in society have not well developed in security, so the citizens or in society have no freedom to act or rights to do everything and it might be harm in society.But if the society does maintenance the security for the citizens or this country in society will have no war. And also a country which provides citizens live in freedom under well developed in security in everything that they feel free to do anything they want. Hence, people have individual freedom that want to do everything freely because freedom is born out of an understanding of natural law and natural consequences and that drive each of us to be personality responsible for our own actions, to be self-reliant in our thinking and in our work.Second, to ensure individual freedom in society is self-autonomy because self-autonomy is a self-governing in society whom responds for our own actions in society. If we have self-autonomy to do something, to govern in our own decision in society, it seems that we strongly have a bility to do everything. So self-autonomy is another point that seek to individual freedom. For the community-building is creation or enhancement of community among ndividual within regional area or with common interest. To improve community-building we have to make social capital. Because social capital produce a sense of belonging which make an increasing overall health of community. Social capital is a social group that cooperated between citizens and governments that participates in society. To increase evidence shows that social capital cohesion is critical for societies to prosper economically and for development to be sustainable.Social capital is focus on social relations that have productive benefits. It is the most important participates in this society is to make social group and the governments make it to the strong system one to ensure which mean to build up the local communities or social truth governments and create more policies. Thus, to ensure community-building in society is we have social capital which have group of social or governments cooperating to build up the strong community.To sum up, we seems to ensure individual freedom and community-building in a society have many reasons or explanations to describe. For reasons or explanations to ensure individual freedom are security and self-autonomy. If every people live in society does have individual freedom which means that their society must have well developed in security and have self-autonomy. But for the ensure community-building is about social capital which means that all citizens and governments work together with a good community in society.

Write a short biography on James McGill Buchanan, an analysis of his Essay

Write a short biography on James McGill Buchanan, an analysis of his economic theories, and his contributions to the welfare of society - Essay Example He was also, in 1963, at the senior most position at the Southern Economic Association; shortly after, in 1971, at the American Economic Association he served as vice president, and then for two years, 1983 and 1984, in a similar position at the Western Economic Association (â€Å"James M. Buchanan†). Buchanan coauthored ‘The Calculus of Consent’ with Gordon Tullock as one of the products of thinking cultivated by reading a German article by Knut Wicksell, a Swedish economist(DiLorenzo 180). Wicksell was of the idea that the benefits taxpayers received should be directly linked to the taxes they pay. This implied that taxes and government spending would be agreed upon and validated, as opposed to the conventional view of the 1940s and even the current view. The book ‘The Calculus of Consent’ revised Wicksell’s idea, and referred to it as ‘workable unanimity’, as they thought it impractical. This together with ‘The Economics of Democracy’, a book by Anthony Down, gave birth to the field of public choice. Buchanan and Tullock even went on to initiate an academic journal- Public Choice. At this time, he raised dissimilarity between two levels of public choice; the first being during the making of the constitution and the second being after the constitution has been implemented. He has attempted to convert his fellow economists to this line of thinking, where they should focus more on the first level rather than on the second level as mere political players. To push this ideology farther, he published a journal- Constitutional Economics (â€Å"James M. Buchanan†). Buchanan also believed that welfare economics is skewed as costs are subjective. He pointed this out in an unusually ardent economics book- Costs and Choice. This was the book that he considered most essential yet to the Nobel Committee it was ‘The Calculus of Consent’. In the book, Buchanan’s aim

Critical Review about Postgraduate Research Methods Essay

Critical Review about Postgraduate Research Methods - Essay Example The author defined the glass ceiling as those artificial barriers based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organization into management-level positions. Since the feminist movement gained power since the late sixties of the twentieth century the women began to think that they should gain the power and authority among the men community. As a result they from the very beginning women placed themselves to the other side of the discussion. Nowadays women are trying to prove their self-dependence, putting aside the case of that they had begun this confrontation. To show the relevance of the problem, the author shows some statistic data about salary inequities between women and men. She asks following questions: Why are women still paid substantially less than men are Why does the glass ceiling stay in place And why does much of the popular press do its best to paint a rosy picture of job prospects for women The main purpose of Brenda's research was to identify factors that support and perpetuate the glass ceiling for women in public relations and corporate communications management. The author points out, that many researchers in management have attempted to isolate factors contributing to sex segregation and sex discrimination. After analysis of their work she made a conclusion that the body of knowledge is contributed in two very important ways: First, it highlights the need for research about women, research frequently marginalized in both the academic and business arenas. Second, it has begun to suggest factors that create and maintain the glass ceiling in corporate public relations and communications. The author describes in details research problem and its reflection in literature. The research project assumes the glass ceiling as an important area for further study for several reasons that are enumerated by the author. Feminization of the field means that although women make up more than half of the U.S. population their representation in management in public relations and many other fields is a much smaller percentage. The author points out that this limits opportunities for women and the organizations that could benefit from their contributions. Vrenda emphasizes that women in public relations have difficulty being treated equally in terms of advancement and salary. She looks at nature of today's business climate and remarks that the pressure on organizations to practice public relations as more of a two-way communication process becomes even more urgent. The author suggests the following points for consideration: 1: Do women in corporate public relations and communications management perceive a glass ceiling to be in place 2: What factors do women think help to create or maintain the glass ceiling for women in public relations and communications 3: What strategies are there for women in public relations and communications who want to work to eliminate the glass ceiling These are the main questions of the research. In the research the author used qualitative methods because, as the author explained it, the factors contributing to the glass ceiling have not yet been clearly delineated. The study used focus groups (one pretest and two subsequent focus groups) and depth interviews (a total of 10 interviews). Nevertheless, the author uses statistic to show the tendency of nowadays situation in case that groups are too small to show off the full idea. That is reasonable because

Mercedes Benz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Mercedes Benz - Essay Example Innovation of new ideas, which brings forth new products, is a factor behind this success. However, global companies have failed due to lack of customer satisfaction. Mercedes Benz is a company that for years has realized its goals by providing best automobile products to clients although critics argue that the price is unfriendly. 2. Background of the company The Mercedes Benz is a leading German automobile manufacturer with global presence through subsidiaries in various parts of the world. It deals with production of a wide range of vehicles including luxurious cars, buses, coaches, and trucks. The world’s leader in luxury cars has its origin traced back to German citizens in the name of Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler. Over the years, the company has brought in diverse hi-tech and safety improvement that other vehicle manufacturers have borrowed (Kristin 112). Today, brand name is among the most popular brands in the world. The company grew over the years to become one of t he leading suppliers of automobiles around the world. 3. Products offered Since the formation of the company, it has preserved a global repute of quality and resilience, winning various quality awards around the world. ... However, as more companies ventured in the production of similarly deluxe, elegant and cheaper cars, its popularity started to exhibit a slowed growth and losing its grip as the leading supplier of quality and durable cars. Major competitors include the Audi, BMW, Toyota, Lexus, Land Rovers, Fox wagon, the Cadillac model, and the prestigious Porsche among others. The company prides in the production of the lavish Mercedes Benz models including cars buses, trucks and buses as well (Koichi 111). At some point, the company produced sport cars, but has since then withdrawn from it. 4. Related industries and competitors The year 1958 saw the company enter into a distribution treaty with Studebaker- Packard, a marketing company of Indiana in the United States of America, which marked the beginning of its numerous subsidiaries around the states as well as other countries around the world. At present, the company has many outlets in several countries for assembling or full manufacture of the luxurious brand automobiles. These subsidiaries are now operational in several countries in South America, Africa, Asia; especially south eastern parts, parts of Europe and North America, giving the company a global representation. The company has close relation with tyre industries including companies like Michelin, Dunlop, Ferari, Bridgestone, and Firestone among others, leather companies, paint and adhesive companies as well as several marketing industry players. 5. Marketing strategy The company’s marketing strategy has traditionally focused on the luxury, precise engineering, and safety of the cars it produces. However, more recently owing to increased competition from other manufacturers of luxury cars, increasing cost of production and changing consumer preferences, the

Corporate Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Corporate Risk Management - Essay Example In the past years, companies had a risk manager who would oversee the organization’s insurance purchases. In addition, the extent and undertaking of corporate risk management has drastically changed and expanded beyond insurance to comprise all types of corporate in use and tactical perils. Risk describes both the probability and severity of a loss event. Probability delineates the likelihood of the occurrence of the loss while severity denotes the magnitude of the loss in a given period. All organizations face risk and the resultant potential losses on a daily basis (Lim, 2010, p. 234). They willingly accept risks with hopes of gaining financial return. Intercontinental hotel is an example of a venture that is taking risks. An organization may be exposed to loss exposures that offer an opportunity to gain or not to gain. Pure loss exposures are exposures that offer Intercontinental Hotel potential for losses and no opportunity to gain. These pure loss exposures include  "asset exposures, personnel exposures, liability exposures and consequential loss exposures† (Merna & Al-thani, 2011, p. 167-169). Loss exposure has three primary elements. It describes the item subject to loss, the peril and cause of the loss and the financial effect of the loss. In loss exposure, the organization must have a loss of anything that could be assets, personnel or liabilities (Merna & Al-thani, 2011, p. 170). Personnel Loss exposures People are the principal inputs in an organization in generation of income. People could either be employees of a firm or belonging to a certain household. The loss of humans is indispensable as human capital cannot be replaced and that no value can be placed on human life. Personnel loss exposure refers to the probability that an organization will suffer a financial loss because of disability, retirement, death or resignation of primary employees (Siljander, 2008, p. 190). Intercontinental Hotel faces personnel loss exposures which, according to Lim (2010, p. 239), includes the â€Å"disability insurance, workers compensation insurance, long term care insurance, medical insurance and Medicare supplemental insurance†. Nonetheless, Intercontinental Hotel generates for the organization through effective risk management. In order to effectively manage the loss of personnel in the organization, it is essential to understand the value that each personnel contributes to the organization, and identify and evaluate the risks and dangers that affect the value of generation and operation of the company (Lim, 2010, p. 237). Intercontinental Hotel apprehends the value that each of its employees creates and then analyzes the dangers that affect the significance of its generation. In addition, the organization assesses the magnitude of the loss suffered after the occurrence of personnel peril. A loss of personnel in Intercontinental Hotel raises two further risk management concerns as to the employer’s liabilit y in administering and funding the employee benefit plans and the uncertainties involved in funding such plans. The personnel in any organization have a financial value to the organization. As according to Carrel (2010, p. 142), they assist in generating income for the organization. Moreover, the services that personnel render to the organization are valuable and cannot be replaced. In this regard, the financial value of an individual in an organization

Exhibition of Wayne Thibaud Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Exhibition of Wayne Thibaud - Essay Example The essay "Exhibition of Wayne Thibaud" discovers Wayne Thibaud's Exhibition. A student of commercial art, he spent several years as a professional cartoonist at the Walt Disney Studios and elsewhere before moving on to teach art. Thibaud’s knowledge of and respect for commercial illustration greatly informed his subsequent work, which is marked by its formal geometric order and clearly defined forms. After briefly working in the dominant abstract expressionist style, Thibaud settled on realism as his primary mode of expression in the mid-1950s. In the 1960’s Thibaud received his Master’s from Sacramento State and later became an assistant Professor at the University of California, Davis—where he would remain through the 1970s. It was during his tenure at UC Davis when he created some of his most iconic works.In 1963, Thibaud turned increasingly to figure and landscape painting. Beginning in the 1970s, he began painting San Francisco cityscapes, wildly dis torted views of the city's streets and hillsides that are reminiscent not only of Richard Diebenkorn's cityscapes from the mid-sixties but also the Precisionist paintings of Charles Sheeler and Georgia O'Keefe. His most recent landscapes dating from the mid-1990s share many of the same spatial and planar distortions seen in the cityscapes but utilize hotter color and flattened planes to create the imagery. Although he has been frequently associated with Pop Art due to his choice of subject matter, Thibaud does not consider himself a Pop artist., nor does he align himself with the Bay Area figurative movement. His painting does not critique American culture so much as celebrate it, and his brushwork is more individual and expressive than the flat, mechanized style favored by Pop artists such as Andy Warhol and James Rosenquist. Thibaud himself disavows an allegiance to any style, preferring to concentrate on the discipline of painting and his formal concerns. This focus places him in context with earlier painters he admires, including the 18th-century French painter Chardin, Giorgio Morandi, and Edward Hopper. Wayne Thibaud was awarded the National Medal of Arts and a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. In 2001, he was honored with a retrospective and monograph organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco's Legion of Honor. The show to traveled to the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas. His work is held by major museums in the United States and abroad. His recent series of beach painting was influenced by his youth which dates back to the 1920s and 1930s in Long Beach, California. Thibaud served as a city lifeguard which gave him a unique perspective of the coastline and activities happening at the beach. This was the first impression of beach culture that was marked on his tab (Wayne Thibaud: 70 years). At present, Thibaud continues to work on themes inspired by Southern California beach culture. He fuses his vivid colors with these subjects slightly diverging from the subjects of his early works. Comparing Thibaud's early works from his recent works, most of the subjects of his early works were foods such as cakes, pies and sandwiches. An example of his early work is the painting Cakes, pictured below, which was created in 1963. During his later years, his works incorporate landscapes and street scenes. Such is evident with his painting Rivers and Farms, pictured below,

Quality Assurance & Control in the Procurement Chain (Oil & Gas Dissertation

Quality Assurance & Control in the Procurement Chain (Oil & Gas Industry) - Dissertation Example This concern can be stated as quite vital for the oil and gas companies as the products offered by the industry is termed to be inelastic providing minimum opportunity to the customers to switch to substitute products (Slocum, 2006). The research study proposed in this paper shall emphasise on this aspect of quality assurance and control measures as considered by the oil and gas companies. Further description of this paper will thereby focus on identifying the particulars of the research process intended to be executed. In other words, a comprehensive and detailed outline of the research planning shall be provided in this paper with due consideration to the research problem, research questions and the research methodology to be followed in the study. II. Literature Review Various measures had been considered in concern to the aspect of quality assurance and control in the oil and gas companies. These include environmental regulations and procurement rules imposed by the government wi th the intention to standardise the operations of the industry players. ... Companies should also intend maintaining a community standard in their operations as directed in the programme (Gao, 1998). In the current day context, gas and oil industry plays a significant role for an economy. The industry nearly contributed 24% to the total GDP earning of the UK in 2008. The industry also witnessed a significant rise in the investors’ interest. This in turn significantly enhanced the profitability of major industry players with inelastic consumer demand and increased financial strength (UK National Statistics, 2009). However, from an in-depth perspective it can be observed that the taxation charges were increased in the recent years. To be illustrated, the budget planned in 2011 stated a hike in revenue tax charges from 20% in the prior fiscal year, i.e. 2010-2011, to 32% in the current fiscal year, i.e. 2011-2012. It is worth mentioning that the UK oil and gas industry was recognised to be one of the most stable industries in comparison to the energy ind ustries of other economies. With strong barriers to the price hike in the industry, the UK government also focussed on relatively secure tax regimes that provided the investors in the industry with certainty assurance (Energy and Climate Change Committee Inquiry, 2011). On the similar context, it can be stated that with strict regulatory barriers the oil and gas industry in the UK is likely to face various challenges in maintaining its profit. According to the report forwarded by Energy and Climate Change Committee (2011), there are various challenges likely to be faced by the oil and gas industry in the economy due to the increase in tax charges. For instance, the industry is likely to witness decelerated investment operations that in turn shall

The Man at the Well Essay Example for Free

The Man at the Well Essay Some say it’s not what we do but what we don’t do that can truly define who we are. In the tenth chapter, â€Å"The Man at the Well†, from Tim O’Brien’s memoir, If I die in a Combat Zone, O’Brien manages to portray one of the most powerful messages throughout his entire journey. It’s about American ignorance, the inability to help those in need, the true meaning of humanity and whether we, as a population, are capable to break down barriers and walls that we, ourselves, have constructed. â€Å"A blustery and stupid soldier, blond hair and big belly, picked up a carton of milk and from fifteen feet away hurled it, for no reason, aiming at the old man and striking him flush in the face. The carton burst. Milk sprayed into the old man’s cataracts. He hunched foreword, rocking precariously and searching for his balance. He dropped his bucket. His hands went to his eyes then dropped loosely to his thighs. His blind gaze was fixed straight ahead, at the stupid soldier’s feet† (Page 100). O’Brien’s language it’s purposefully proposed and constructed to paint one of the most vivid images in the whole memoir. He creates a scene which the reader’s innovative mind engulfs and produces it into one of the most captivating and heart wrenching pictures easily shown like a movie in our own heads. His undeniable choice of descriptive words can’t help but have the effect of a film-like image flowing through the reader’s imagination. O’Brien uses this carefully disguised writing technique to ultimately grasp the hearts of his followers and use their sacrificing vulnerability to engrave a philosophical idea in their minds such as humanity’s opinion of right and wrong. â€Å"The Man at the Well† produces a foundation of shame and disbelief to think that a human being, an American soldier who is looked up to by children, Vietnamese and American, can fabricate such a hurtful scene. The audacity to even act out the horror and hate is appalling to any reader it makes he or she question the motives of several American soldiers and whether or not their morals are politically correct. It is a fine line between what is right and wrong there is little gray in a situation such as this. It’s clear the anecdote was an act of hatred. There was no question to whether the ignorance of the â€Å"stupid soldier† was right it was far past right. However why then, did no one do or say anything? Instead an audience watched as a man, a blind and elderly man, who voluntarily was helping them, suffered from one man’s intolerable actions. People are afraid and that fear creates a boundary. It changes people’s beliefs and ideas one thought always to be right and those ideas could change in an instance with the doubt fear carries. People come to a crossroads in their lives; where what they once thought their morals were, what they once thought they would stand up for is no longer because fear created a wall a wall that is unbearable to take down. It is a wall built in front of different people however sharing a common sense of right and wrong. These people cannot see past their own selfish fear to solve a crisis outside of themselves. If just a few attempted to demolish this imaginary roadblock the outcome could be greatly beneficial, however, it’s impossible to achieve unless people step outside of themselves and into a world they desire. The chapter argues one’s sense of humanity and the pressure that people feel and sometimes are burdened by. However, O’Brien places himself, as an author, in a position which he attempts to break down the wall. He asks you, â€Å"What is and what is not right? What are you going to do? Stand there and watch? Or are you going to do something about it?† I found the section powerful, moving and inspirational, and even more so if those who did answer his underlying questions, answered with an optimistic, â€Å"yes we can do this† point of view.

Biochemical Analysis of Rice

Biochemical Analysis of Rice Rice (Oryza sativa (2n = 24) is a monocot plant and belongs to the Poaceae family and Oryzoidea subfamily. It occupies almost one-fifth of the total land area under world cereals. It covers about 148 million hectares annually that is roughly 11 percent of the world-cultivated land. It is life for more than half of humanity and in past, it shaped the cultures, diets, and economies of billions of people in the world (Farooq et al., 2009). More than 90 percent of the worlds rice is grown and consumed in Asia where 60 percent of the world population lives. The world major rice consuming countries are China, India, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines, Japan, Brazil, South Korea and USA that consume 135, 85, 39, 37, 26, 18, 10, 10, 9.7, 8.7, 8.1, 5.0 and 3.9 million metric ton, respectively (Meng et al., 2005; USDA, 2003-04). Biochemical and nutritional aspects of rice Rice is a major source of macro and micronutrients for human being. It feeds more than two billion people worldwide and is the number one staple food in Asia. It provides over 21 percent of the calorific needs of the worlds population and up to 76 percent of the calorific intake of the population of South East (SE) Asia (Fitzgerald et al., 2009). It is mostly consumed as a polished grain, which usually lacks its nutritional components such as minerals and vitamins 41 P. Lucca et al., Genetic engineering approaches to enrich rice with iron and vitamin A, Physiol. Plant. 126 (2006), pp. 291-303. Full Text via CrossRef | View Record in Scopus | Cited By in Scopus (7)( Lucca et al., 2006). Since the advent of molecular techniques, recently genetically modified rice verities have been developed, which contains more nutritional aspects like minerals and vitamins in endosperm (Vasconcelos et al., 2003; Paine et al., 2005; Fitzgerald et al., 2009). The major value-added nutritional protein c onstituents of the rice. Rice Position in Pakistan In Pakistan, besides its importance as a food crop, rice is the second important component of daily diet of bulk of the population after wheat. About 23% of the total foreign exchange earnings is shared by rice and thus called as Golden Grain of Pakistan (Shah et al., 1999). Around one third of total production is annually exported and two third is locally consumed to meet food needs. Rice is also used in dishes for special occasions (Sagar et al., 1988). Pakistan is the third largest rice exporting country. In Pakistan, rice occupies about 10% of the total cultivated area, accounts for 6.1% of value added in agriculture and 1.3% in gross domestic product. Production of rice during 2007-08 was estimated at 5,540 thousand tones, 10.4% higher than last year with 6.1% increase in yield per hectare (Anonymous, 2006). Area, production and yield of rice for the last 5 years are shown in Fig. 1. Varieties of basmati rice, sub-species of indica, are economically important due to the high quality of the grain and constitute an important source of revenue for two major rice-growing countries in Asia (Pakistan and India). The international market for basmati rice has always been higher than that of the moderate varieties. Pakistans annual rice export stands at about 2.5 million tons, which earn a total of 513.0 million dollars for the country (Anonymous, 1998). During the year 2005-2006 rice export was about one billion US$ (Bashir et al., 2007). Rice growing areas of Pakistan Depending upon the irrigation water availability, rice can be grown in any part of the country from sea level up to 2500m height. Pakistan has a climate and a potential in soil that permits the expectations of a most bright future for the productions of rice. Considering temperature difference, optimum sowing seasons and the varietals performance, rice growing areas can be divided in four ecological zones (Salim et al., 2003; Table-1.2). Rice is grown in all four provinces of Pakistan. However, the acreage under rice varies greatly from one province to another. The Punjab and Sindh are the major rice growing provinces with about 59% and 33%, respectively of the total rice in the country. The remaining 5% of the area is planted in Baulochistan and 3% in NWFP (Bhatti and Anwar, 1994). Despite the fact that its cultivated area is far smaller than wheat (more than 7.24 million), it has a great impact on national economy due to two reasons. Firstly, rice is the only crop which can be grown successfully in vast chunks of salt-ridden and water-logged areas where it facilitates not only the reclamation of land for the cultivation of other crops but also provide food. Secondly, superior quality basmati has a consistently increasing demand in the foreign countries. Consequently, there is a great scope for augmenting the foreign exchange earning by exporting it in bigger quantity. In view of these facts, it is highly desirable to increase the production and improve the quality of rice the quality is particularly more important from the trade view point, as it is instrument entail in increasing and then sustaining the demand in the foreign market in competition with other rising exporting countries. There in no denying the fact that purity is the very sole of quality. The impurities not only restrict the export trade, but also inflict losses to the growers, millers and the consumers alike. Therefore, these should possibly be minimized (Saleem et al., 2003). Major rice varieties in Pakistan More than 20 rice varieties have been released for general cultivation in Pakistan (Bashir et al., 2007). A general description of agronomical and physiochemical characteristics of these varieties. Importance of Basmati Rice in Pakistan There are thousands of rice varieties and landraces, which differ with respect to plant and grain characteristics. Of these, aromatic (Basmati) rice constitutes a small but special group that is regarded as best in grain quality, superior aroma and usually used for special dish preparation (Khush and dela Cruz, 2001). Quality of rice may be considered from the view point of size, shape and appearance of grain, milling quality and cooking properties (Dela Cruz and Khush, 2000). Pakistan is famous for the production and export of Basmati rice. The origin of the word Basmati can be trade to the word Basmati meaning earth recognized by its fragrance. The Hindi word Bas was derived from the Pakrit word BAS and has a Sanskrit root Vassy (Aroma), while Mati originated from Mayup (ingrained from the origin). In common usage Vas is pronounced as Bas and while combining Bas and Mayup, the later changed to Mati thus the word Basmati (Ahuja et al., 1995; Gupta, 1995). The fragrance of basmati rice is most closely associated with the presence of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (Buttery et al., 1983; Lorieux et al., 1996; Widjaja et al., 1996; Yoshihashi et al., 2002). Although many other compounds are also found in the headspace of fragrant rice varieties (Widjaja et al., 1996) possibly due to secondary effects related to the genetic background of the rice variety, 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline is widely known to be the main cause of the distinctive basmati and jasmine fragrance. The desirability of fragrance has resulted in strong human preference and selection for this trait. Non-fragrant rice varieties contain very low levels of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, while the levels in fragrant genotypes are much higher (Widjaja et al., 1996). Basmati rice occupies a prime position in the Indian subcontinent and is becoming increasingly popular in Middle East, Europe, USA and even in non-traditional rice growing countries such as Australia (Bhasin, 2000). High-quality, traditional Basmati rice varieties command premium prices, more than three times that of non-Bamati rices in the world market due to its exquisite aroma, superfine grain characteristics and excellent cooking (extra elongation, soft and flaky texture) qualities (Bhasin, 2000; Singh et al., 2000a; Khush and dela Cruz, 2002). Basmati rice traditionally grown in the Himalayan foothills regions of Pakistan and India, and the name is traditionally associated with this region. Basmati rice is the result of centuries of selection and cultivation by farmers (Khush, 2000). Cultivation of basmati rice in mainly confined to the Kallar tract (Gujranwala, Sheikhupura and Sialkot districts) of Punjab province. Basmati rice always fetch a higher price in the domestic as well as in the international market due to their peculiar quality features such as pleasant aroma, fine grain, extreme grain elongation (7.6mm long) and soft texture on cooking. In spite of hard competition from India, Thailand and the United States, Pakistan enjoys a good position in the global trade of aromatic rice and every year earns a lot of foreign exchange (Akram and Sagar, 1997). Genetic Diversity in Rice Diversity among organisms is a result of variations in DNA sequences and of environmental effects. The diversity in crop varieties is essential for agricultural development for increasing food production, poverty alleviation and promoting economic growth. The available diversity in the germplasm also serves as an insurance against unknown future needs and conditions, thereby contributing to the stability of farming systems at local, national and global levels (Singh et al, 2000). In crop improvement program, genetic variability for agronomic traits as well as quality traits in almost all the crops is important, since this component is transmitted to the next generation (Singh, 1996). Study of genetic divergence among the plant materials is a vital tool to the plant breeders for an efficient choice of parents for plant improvement. Genetically diverse parents are likely to contribute desirable segregants and/or to produce high heterotic crosses. Parents identified on the basis of dive rgence for any breeding program would be more promising (Arunachalam, 1981). In early 1970s, public authorities felt the need that genetic resources should be collected, maintained and conserved, especial focus was on important food crops e.g wheat, rice, barley etc (Hawkes 1983; Bellon et al., 1998; Barry et al., 2007). This was the first official attempt to preserve genetic diversity. Currently different genetic diversity assessment methods including morphological, biochemical and molecular markers are available. Morphological Markers used to study genetic diversity Morphological evaluation is the oldest and considered as the first hand tool for detection of genetic variation in germplasm (Smith and Smith, 1989). It is cheap and convenient. It requires not any in depth knowledge at genomic or proteomic level. However, morphological markers are relatively less effective for genetic diversity analysis due to sensitivity to environmental influences and developmental stage of the plant (Werlemark et al., 1999). It takes long time, requires seasonal changes and quite laborious. The genetic variability for some of the traits needed for high yield performance and stress tolerance is limited in cultivated germplasm. This is because a small core of adapted progenitors has been used repeatedly in rice breeding programs such that the genetic base of rice has become narrow (Moncada et al. 2001; Hargrove et al. 1980; Dilday 1990). Introgression of genes from other rice species can provide genetic variation to improve rice and meet the challenges affecting ri ce production. Morphological traits including both qualitative and quantitative ones are used to evaluate genetic relationship among genotypes (Goodman 1972; Bajracharya et al., 2006). Fida et al. (1995) reported the evaluation of elite rice genotypes for agronomic traits during 1992 at NARC, Islamabad. All the genotypes possessed similar grain quality. Agronomic evaluation was used for screening of lines with desired performance by Akram et al. (1995), in field leading to the identification of varieties possessing longer and fine grains as donors for utilization in breeding programmes aimed for the improvement of grain length in Basmati rice. Iqbal et al. (2001) morphologically evaluated selected landraces for paddy yield and other important agronomic traits as a propose to select parents for hybridization program. All the landraces possessed some desirable agronomic traits so these proved effective in rice breeding programmes. Koutroubas et al. (2004) described variation in grain quality traits among some European rice lines. They concluded that these lines could be used as parents for introgression of desired traits into different rice cultivars grown in Europe. They also suggested that the interrelations among grain quality traits found in these lines could be useful to study the relationship among their grain quality components and for improving selection criteria. Nabeela et al. (2004) evaluated fifteen agronomical important traits in landrace genotypes of rice collected from various parts of Pakistan. A significant amount of genetic variation was displayed for most of the traits examined. The coefficient of variation was more than 10% for all the characters with exception of grain length. Seven accessions with best performance for individual character were identified, by exploiting their genetic potential. These genotypes can have a beneficial use in the breeding programs. Nepali rice landrace diversity was evaluated by Bajracharya et al. (2005) by usin g morphological traits as one of the parameter for selection. The genotypes varied only for few quantitative traits controlled by major genes; husk color, seed coat and panicle traits. Agronomic characterization also helped to decide which traits need to be improved for further crop improvements. Zaman et al. (2005) studied fifteen different rice varieties which showed that the different morphological characteristics such as the yield, tiller number per hill and filled grains per panicle did not contribute towards the total divergence. This suggested that the breeding improvement of these morphological characteristics have the little possibility. Little phenotypic variation at farm level was observed in Vietnamese rice by Fukuoka et al. 2006, which was considered to be the result of genetic drift and selection by the farmers, on farm conservation of the landraces of rice is considered to be under a force to decrease phenotypic diversity. Different phenotypic profiles contribute to t he conservation of regional genetic diversity of the landraces of rice. Veasey and colleagues (2008) investigated the genetic variability among different rice species from South in a greenhouse experiment. They showed a significant difference (p Keeping in view these benefits, morphological variation is a selection criterion for plant scientists among landrace genotypes. Though the environmental factors also play an important role in morphological variation but the knowledge of agro-morphological diversity and the distribution pattern of variation among crop species could be an invaluable aid in germplasm management and crop improvement strategies. Zeng et al. (2003) studied ecogeographic and genetic diversity based on morphological characters of rice landraces (Oryza sativa L.) in Yunnan, China. A great difference in ecological diversity index of rice resources between prefectures or counties in Yunnan province exists. Kayode et al. (2008) studied the relationship in geographical pattern and morphological variation of 880 rice landrace in CÃ ´te d’Ivoire for 13 agro-morphological characters. Result of the phenotypic frequency showed differential distribution of landraces with height, heading and maturity period whic h reflected the distribution pattern of different Oryza sativa landraces in CÃ ´te d’Ivoire that proved useful in germplasm management and breeding programs. The altitudinal distributions of grain length, grain width, grain length to width ratio and grain weight were evaluated by Siddiqui and coworkers in 2007. It was noticed that grain length decreased with the increase in altitude, while the grain width increased with the increase in altitude, resulting into a decrease in length to width ratio with the increase in altitude. Considering the change in altitude as a difference in habitat and environment, it can be assumed that Pakistan rice cultivars show a wide variation between and within locations. It may be concluded that the Pakistan rice genetic resources comprise of great diversity for grain morphological characteristics. The prevailing diversity for grain type (shape and size) and pericarp color has distinct correlation to its geographical distribution in terms of alt itude. Morpho-physiological traits are an important tool in hands of plant breeders for identification and purity testing of rice varieties. Sharief et al. (2005) investigated the genetic purity of four different rice varieties on the basis of morphological characteristics at their different growth stages. All of the varieties were identified by different morphological characteristics in terms of flag leaf area, grain color, seed width, number of tillers, time of heading, absent awing, slemma, palea pubescence, plant height, and culm diameter. Biochemical markers for analysis of diversity Seed proteins are very helpful in genetic diversity evaluation in cereal crops because the seeds of these crops have nutritional value. Glutelin, globulin and prolamin are important seed proteins in rice. Variation in these proteins at subunit level changes the quality of rice. Various tools were used to assess variability at peptide level. Biochemical markers have some disadvantages being tissue specific and affected by environmental and developmental changes. These disadvantages could be eliminated by the use of seed storage protein as they are conservative in nature and least effected by environmental changes. (Thanh et al., 2006) Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate-Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) is useful method not only for revealing variations but also for identification of a variety in seed storage proteins. Four protein fractions (albumin, globulin, gliadin and glutenin) separated by SDS-PAGE as biochemical marker for evaluating polymorphism in three spelt wheat varieties. Very significant difference was observed at protein profile level in old cultivars and new breeding lines (Dvoracek and Curn 2003). Sengupta and Chattopadhyay (2000) identified twelve rice varieties on the basis of banding pattern obtained by SDS-PAGE. Aung et al. (2003) investigated 350 local rice cultivars from different regions of Myanmar. These were analyzed by using SDS-PAGE and IEF. Various cultivars differed in their SDS-PAGE profiles. Padmavathi et al. (2002) evaluated seven aromatic and five non-aromatic rice cultivars using SDS-PAGE. Two bands of 60.3 and 51.3KDa were polymorphic for their presence in both aromatic and non-aromatic genotypes and suggested that these polymorphic bands can be used as markers for verification of hybridity in crossing programme. Rehana et al. (2004) investigated twenty accessions of Pakistani rice germplasm for total seed protein by using SDS-PAGE, to determine the magnitude of genetic variation with respect to geographical distribution. Vari ation in protein banding pattern with respect to various geographical regions was evaluated and it was suggested that the inter-specific variations were more pronounced as compared to intra-specific variations. Variation in banding profile of globulin and glutelin was used as identification tool for differentiating coarse, fine and super fine rice cultivars by Thind and Sogi (2005). Jahan et al. (2005) studied protein diversity in 576 rice cultivars from Bangladesh and SDS-PAGE was used for separation. Thanh et al., 2006 used seed storage protein profiles of different varieties including rice for evaluation of genetic purity and variability. Molecular markers for diversity analysis Variation in a DNA sequence is known as DNA polymorphism. This quality of DNA can be used as a marker to assess diversity in the genome of any organism. An ideal DNA marker must have any of the following qualities: Highly polymorphic in nature, co-dominant inheritance, frequent occurrence in genome, selective neutral behaviour, easy access/availability, easy and fast assay, high reproducibility and easy exchange of data between laboratories (Joshi et al., 1999). DNA-based molecular markers/DNA fingerprinting can increase screening efficiency in breeding programs in a number of other ways. For example, they provide: the ability to screen in the seedling stage for traits that are expressed late in the life of a plant (i.e. grain or fruit quality, male sterility, photoperiod sensitivity), the ability to screen for traits that are extremely difficult, expensive, or time consuming to score phenotypically (i.e. root morphology, resistance to quarantined pests or to specific races or biotyp es of diseases or insects, tolerance for certain abiotic stresses such as drought, salt, or mineral deficiencies or toxicities), the ability to distinguish the homozygous versus heterozygous condition of many loci in a single generation without the need for progeny testing (since molecular markers are co-dominant), and the ability to perform simultaneous marker-aided selection for several characters at one time. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs) Randomly-amplified polymorphic DNA markers (RAPD) are arbitrary sequence markers developed by Welsh and McClelland in 1991. This procedure detects nucleotide sequence polymorphisms in DNA by using a single primer of arbitrary nucleotide sequence. In this reaction, a single species of primer anneals to the genomic DNA at two different sites on complementary strands of DNA template. If these priming sites are within an amplifiable range of each other, a discrete DNA product is formed through thermocyclic amplification. On an average, each primer directs amplification of several discrete loci in the genome, making the assay useful for efficient screening of nucleotide sequence polymorphism between individuals. However, due to the stoichastic nature of DNA amplification with random sequence primers, it is important to optimize and maintain consistent reaction conditions for reproducible DNA amplification. They are dominant markers and hence have limitations in their use as markers for ma pping, which can be overcome to some extent by selecting those markers that are linked in coupling. RAPD assay has been used by several groups as efficient tools for identification of markers linked to agronomically important traits, which are introgressed during the development of near isogenic lines. though it is less popular due to problems such as poor reproducibility faint or fuzzy products, and difficulty in scoring bands, which lead to inappropriate inferences but it is still applied as markers in variability analysis and individual-specific genotyping has largely been carried out,. Raghunathachari et al. (2000) differentiated a set of 18 accessions from Indian scented rice by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. The RAPD analysis offered a rapid and reliable method for the estimation of variability between different accessions, which could be utilized by the breeders for further improvement of the scented rice genotypes. Porreca et al. (2001) reported confirmati on of genetic diversity among 28 rice cultivars, different for biometric traits, biological cycle and suitability to water limitation, using RAPD markers. High level of polymorphism was found between japonica and indica subspecies, whereas japonica cultivars with long grains (tropical) resulted to be genetically different from the short grains genotypes (temperate). Genetic relationships among indica and japonica cultivars and between tropical and temperate japonica was estimated. Variability among the varieties could lead to good heterotic combinations between japonica genotypes. Neeraja et al. (2002) determined genetic diversity in a set of landraces in comparison to a representative sample of improved rice varieties, using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Analysis of 36 accessions using 10 arbitrary decamer random primers, revealed 97.16% polymorphism. Similarity values among the landraces ranged from 0.58 to 0.89 indicating wide diversity. The landraces and improved vari eties formed separate clusters at 0.65 similarities suggesting that genetically distant landraces could be potentially valuable sources for enlarging and enriching the gene pool of improved varieties. Kwon et al. (2002) evaluated genetic divergence among 13 Tongil type rice cultivars and the relationship between genetic distance and hybrid performance in all possible nonreciprocal crosses between them assessed. These results indicate that GDs based on the microsatellite and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers may not be useful for predicting heterotic combinations in Tongil type rice and support the idea that the level of correlation between hybrid performance and genetic divergence is dependent on the germplasm used. Rabbani et al. (2008) evaluated the genetic polymorphism and identities of several Asian rice cultivars by using random amplified polymorphic DNA technique. On the basis of analysis performed on similarity matrix by using UPGMA, they grouped 40 cultivars in to three main clusters correspondent to aromatic, non-aromatic and japonica group, and a few independent cultivars. The cluster analysis placed most of the aromatic cultivars close to each other showing a high level of genetic relatedness. But the clusters produced by the aromatic cultivars were distinct from those of non-aromatic and japonica types. In this study, several improved and obsolete cultivars originating from diverse sources did not produce well defined distinct groups and indicated no association between the RAPD patterns and the geographic origin of the cultivars used. Amita et al. (2005) performed molecular and hybridization studies to investigate variation patterns in O. meridionalis by producing 119 polymorphic RAPD markers from 12, 10-mer operon primers. In addition, they detected 67 alleles by using 11 SSR primers. They showed speciation in O. meridionalis a with respect to its geographic distribution in northern Australia and Irian Jaya. Santhy et al. (2003) test ed application of RAPD markers for the identification of three rice (Oryza sativa L.) hybrids and their parental lines i.e. CMS female parent (A line), maintainer (B line) and pollen parent (R line), using 17 random oligonucleotides. It was possible to distinguish each of these genotypes, following a combination of selected primers. The results are discussed in view of its application for the purpose of Plant Variety Protection and for testing the genetic purity of A line and hybrid seed lots. Simple Sequence Repeats Analysis Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are simple tandemly repeated di- to penta-nucleotide sequence motifs. Microsatellite data are also commonly used to assess genetic relationships between populations and individuals through the estimation of genetic distances (e.g. Beja-Pereira et al., 2003; Ibeagha-Awemu et al., 2004; Joshi et al., 2004; Sodhi et al., 2005; Tapio et al., 2005). The most commonly used measure of genetic distances is Neis standard genetic distance (DS) (Nei, 1972). Because of microsatellite abundance and even distribution in nuclear genomes of eukaryotes and some prokaryotic genomes, they offer valuable good source of polymorphism, which make them a promising class of genetic markers. The high levels of polymorphism performed by these markers; they are mostly referred as SSLP (simple sequence length polymorphism). Li et al. (2004) examined genetic diversity within and differentiation between the indica and japonica subspecies, including 22 accessions of indica and 35 of japonica rice by using five microsatellite loci from each chromosome having total 60 loci. Evaluating on chromosome-based comparisons it is concluded that nine chromosomes (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10 and 11) harboured higher levels of genetic diversity within the indica rice than the japonica rice. By applying chromosome-based comparisons they suggested that the extent of the indica-japonica differentiation varied substantially, ranging from 7.62% in chromosome 3 to 28.72% in chromosome 1. At 15 of the SSR loci, traditional and crossbred Basmati rice varieties amplified different alleles than those in the indica and/or japonica rice varieties. During this study the identified SSR markers, which can be used to differentiate among the traditional Basmati varieties and between traditional Basmati and other crossbred Basmati or long grain, non-Basmati rice varieties. Genetic relationships among rice genotypes as determined by UPGMA cluster analysis and three-dimensional s caling based on principal component analysis showed that the three traditional Basmati rice varieties are closely related and have varying degree of similarity with other crossbred Basmati rice varieties Priyanka et al. (2004). Amanda et al. (2004) classified 234 accessions of rice into five distinct groups corresponding to indica, aus, aromatic, temperate japonica, and tropical japonica rices using 169 microsatellite markers. Yunbi et al. (2004) evaluated diversity in 236 rice accessions by applying 113 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and 60 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci at DNA level. Higher value of polymorphism information contents (0.66) was recorded for SSR markers as compared to RFLP (0.36). A diverse subset of 31 rice cultivars was identified that embodied 95% of RFLP and 74% of SSR alleles. This subset was useful in developing core collections and an efficient source of genetic diversity for future crop improvement. Zhang et al. (2005) evaluated the poten tial of discriminate analysis (DA) to identify candidate markers linked with agronomic traits among inbred lines of rice (Oryza sativa L.). A sum of 218 lines originating from the US and Asia were planted in field plots of Texas. Data were collected for 12 economically important traits, and DNA profiles of each inbred line were produced using 60 SSR and 114 RFLP markers. Model-based methods revealed population structure among the lines. Associated marker alleles pointed to the same and different regions on the rice genetic map when compared to previous QTL mapping experiments. Results of the study suggested that candidate markers associated with agronomic traits can be readily detected among inbred lines of rice. Bajracharya et al. (2005) estimated genetic diversity of rice landraces collected from different locations of Nepal based on agro-morphological variability and microsatellite marker polymorphism. They 39 microsatellite (simple sequence repeats, SSR) markers among these coll ected accessions by using 10 different names. After studying all these qualitative and quantitative traits they concluded that these accessions showed low morphological diversity having an average Shannon Weaver diversity index of 0.23. Among the studied traits only 16 morphological traits showed significant variation among the accessions. Discriminant function analysis showed that only 36% of accessions could be clustered according to name by morphological traits. Only one SSR locus was polymorphic, distinguishing only one accession. Genetic differences among new rice lines (NERICA), developed by cross breeding of African rice (Oryza glaberrima) with high yielding Asian rice (Oryza sativa subsp. japonica), were explored by using simple sequence repeat markers (Semagn et al. 2006). Michael et al. (2006) characterized 330 rice accessions, including 246 Indonesian landraces and 63 Indonesian improved cultivars, by studying 30 fluorescently-labeled microsatellite markers. By using gene tic diversity analysis they characterized the Indonesian landraces as 68% indica and 32% tropical japonica, having an indica gene diversity of 0.53 and a tropical japonica gene diversity of 0.56