Matt and Ben Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Matt and Ben - Essay Example The stars in the play, Kathleen Cowan, a Bachelor of Arts theatre senior, and Kristen Aviles, a BFA acting sophomore, were audible in their performance. Not only were they entertaining throughout the duration of the play, which took 90 minutes, but also they made the audience laugh heartily. They played their roles effectively, consequently leading to the success of the performance. The director of the play, Stephanie Freeman, was also active in directing the play. Apart from directing other performances, Freeman indicates that this play is appropriate for her research. She does an excellent job in executing her role, which is inclusive of effectively introducing women into contemporary comedy. She can show the audience the relaxed side of the theatres, in the hope that the play will enhance the introduction of more creative ideas into theatre performances. For this reason, through the play, she takes part in creating more opportunities for people introduce creativity in their stage performances. Her role is reflected in the reaction of the audience, who are all excited about the performance. West Virginia University. WVU LAB Theatre presents wacky comedy, ‘Matt and Ben’ Nov. 14-16. Retrieved on December 4, 2014 from:

The narrator in Havisham Essay Example for Free

The narrator in Havisham Essay The attitude the poets express about other people can be positive and negative. In Havisham the poet express the character Havisham is in Charles dickens plays great expectation. Havisham is a character who has been jilted by her husband on her wedding day and wants revenge similar to the laboratory where as this rich woman wants revenge as she buys some poison so she kill a woman who is having affair with her lover or husband. In November the poet expresses old people very ugly and helpless, lifeless as this poem empathies you cant avoid growing old and dying which bound to happen eventually to everyone while the character in On my first sonne has an effect of mourning of the death of his seven years old son. Havisham by Carol Ann Duffy portrays the narrator as a very violent as it seen in first four lines Havisham is very angry on the man who has jilted her on her wedding day. Havisham feelings shown that how Havisham hell bent on revenge she wants to take out her anger on the man this shown Beloved sweetheart bastard this shows that how hardened by her hatred for him, yet she desperately want him back as she imagine him everywhere she looks. Her feelings are very confusing as it is mix with the tender of love she would have had for him as a husband and her violent bitterness at being rejected. Havisham wants revenge by seeing Loves hate behind a white veil; a red balloon bursting at my face this shows how angry she is an uses her violent feeling to cover up the fact the fact that she actually very upset and vulnerable because she dumped on her big day. When Havisham describes herself as trembling if I open the wardrobe I feel sad for her as she is scared of what she has become and cannot bear to look at herself in the mirror. In contrast the narrator feeling for the character of the rich woman is very nasty as she is prepared to murder for her rival just to get revenge. the Laboratory is a poem which show an affect of evilness, danger in the character as it can be seen the rich woman wants revenge by giving her lover or husband new mistress to be poisoned. This woman is very nasty as she has prepared to murder the other woman just to get her own back on her husband. As this woman thinks they laugh, laugh at me which is why she is determined to get revenge by wanting kill the new mistress in a painful way. Through killing his mistress she hopes to hurt her lover/husband as well he is sure to remember her dying face. This shows the woman is very obsessed through getting revenge. I am horrified by the lines he sure to remember her dying face this shows she wants her lovers mistress when she dies through giving her poison she wishes her to die in slow and painful death. where as I suggest it an very awful way of getting revenge the poet describes feelings about death in The Laboratory as the woman is single mildness about getting revenge where as she knows what she is doing is wrong as she doesnt even care by her obsession as she wants to murder her rival for being unfaithful. The language used to describe death is used in violent language as she absolutely merciless about taking her revenge. As she the mistresss death to be horrible and painful and violent thought are never far from her mind. The imagery shown in The Laboratory she uses formal language to her description as it shown when it says poison to poison her prithee this shows she knows what she doing is wrong and evil this similar to Havisham Both of these poems give a clear impression of the characters in them. The narrator in Havisham is similar to the woman in The Laboratory in that they are both determined to gain revenge. The poet presents the main character obsessed with getting revenge on her husband/lover mistress by poisoning her. The narrator in this poem is more scheming that Havisham. She plans to murder her rival. Similarity with the narrator in Havisham is her single mindedness. I find Havisham more interesting than The Laboratory.

Comparing the Tragic Flaws in Oedipus Rex (the King) and Death of a Salesman :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Tragic Flaws in Oedipus Rex and Death of a Salesman "Oedipus Rex" and "Death of a Salesman" are two examples of tragedies. In these two plays the characters are good, but not perfect, and their misfortunes are the result of their tragic flaws. Blindness and vision are used as motifs in the play "Oedipus Rex," which are also the tragic flaws of the hero. Vision refers to both literal and metaphorical blindness. The frequent references to sight, light, eyes, and perception are used throughout the play. When Oedipus refuses to believe Tiersias, Tiersias responds by saying "have you eyes" and "do you not see your own damnation?" Tiersias also says "those now clear-seeing eyes shall then be darkened." The reference to sight has a double meaning. Oedipus is famed for his clear-sightedness and quick comprehension. He was able to "see" the answer to the Sphinx's riddle, yet ironically, he lacks the ability to see the truth about his own identity. Oedipus has become the very disease he wishes to remove from Thebes. In "Death of a Salesman," Willy Loman is the opposite of the classic tragic hero. Unlike Oedipus, Willy is a ordinary man. His name implies he is a "lowman" whose dreams and expectations have been shattered by the false values of thesociety he has put his faith into. This simple characteristic makes him a tragic hero like "Oedipus Rex." Willy is blind to the reality around him. This blindness, is his tragic flaw like that of Oedipus Rex. Willy is a dreamer who is unable to face the realities of a modern day society. Willy builds his whole life around the philosophy that if a person is well likedand good looking, he will be successful. Willy says to Biff, "I thank Almighty God that you are both are built like Adonises." Later, Willy makes the comment, "Be liked and you will never want." His need to be well liked is so strong that his choices throughout his life, and his blindness to the reality around him, prevents Willy from realizing his dreams and values were flawed.

Environmental Sciences Cover Letter

Manar Mansour Beirut, Lebanon To whom it may concern, I am highly interested in the practice of improving the public wellbeing. Through my research, I have learned that this is a rapidly expanding field, and that your esteemed company is a leader in this domain. I am interested in a public health related job, in which I can utilize my analytical skills and inclusive education for our mutual benefit. I recently graduated from the American University of Beirut, having served an internship at AUB as well.During my internship, I gained valuable knowledge of public health while helping to evaluate and report various health oriented practices of several industries, and their abidance by internationally agreed upon standards and guidelines. I also participated in a community based study in an underprivileged Lebanese village, in an attempt to assess particular health related concerns and help propose and facilitate the necessary measures to be taken. Besides, my coursework has enhanced my s tatistical analysis skills, which are crucial to data interpretation and research.In the meantime, I was elected as a committee responsible for three consecutive years for one of the active clubs in AUB, which gave me the opportunity to build administrative and organizational skills, and participate in large scale community service activities as well, such as public awareness campaigns in poor camps, charity activities with children with disabilities and elderly, as well as providing children in underprivileged areas with the necessary education.My goal is to get experience in a public health related field toward solving today’s related problems. My skills and experience will enable me to address the current challenges in delivering efficient product to its seekers. Please find attached my CV for additional review. I appreciate your time and consideration. Yours Sincerely, Manar Mansour October 15th, 2012

The Twilight Saga 4: Breaking Dawn 38. Power

â€Å"Chelsea is trying to break our bindings,† Edward whispered. â€Å"But she can't find them. She can't feel us here. . . .† His eyes cut to me. â€Å"Are you doing that?† I smiled grimly at him. â€Å"I am all over this.† Edward lurched away from me suddenly, his hand reaching out toward Carlisle. At the same time, I felt a much sharper jab against the shield where it wrapped protectively around Carlisle's light. It wasn't painful, but it wasn't pleasant, either. â€Å"Carlisle? Are you all right?† Edward gasped frantically. â€Å"Yes. Why?† â€Å"Jane,† Edward answered. The moment that he said her name, a dozen pointed attacks hit in a second, stabbing all over the elastic shield, aimed at twelve different bright spots. I flexed, making sure the shield was undamaged. It didn't seem like Jane had been able to pierce it. I glanced around quickly; everyone was fine. â€Å"Incredible,† Edward said. â€Å"Why aren't they waiting for the decision?† Tanya hissed. â€Å"Normal procedure,† Edward answered brusquely. â€Å"They usually incapacitate those on trial so they can't escape.† I looked across at Jane, who was staring at our group with furious disbelief. I was pretty sure that, besides me, she'd never seen anyone remain standing through her fiery assault. It probably wasn't very mature. But I figured it would take Aro about half a second to guess – if he hadn't already – that my shield was more powerful than Edward had known; I already had a big target on my forehead and there was really no point in trying to keep the extent of what I could do a secret. So I grinned a huge, smug smile right at Jane. Her eyes narrowed, and I felt another stab of pressure, this time directed at me. I pulled my lips wider, showing my teeth. Jane let out a high-pitched scream of a snarl. Everyone jumped, even the disciplined guard. Everyone but the ancients, who didn't so much as look up from their conference. Her twin caught her arm as she crouched to spring. The Romanians started chuckling with dark anticipation. â€Å"I told you this was our time,† Vladimir said to Stefan. â€Å"Just look at the witch's face,† Stefan chortled. Alec patted his sister's shoulder soothingly, then tucked her under his arm. He turned his face to us, perfectly smooth, completely angelic. I waited for some pressure, some sign of his attack, but I felt nothing. He continued to stare in our direction, his pretty face composed. Was he attacking? Was he getting through my shield? Was I the only one who could still see him? I clutched at Edward's hand. â€Å"Are you okay?† I choked out. â€Å"Yes,† he whispered. â€Å"Is Alec trying?† Edward nodded. â€Å"His gift is slower than Jane's. It creeps. It will touch us in a few seconds.† I saw it then, when I had a clue of what to look for. A strange clear haze was oozing across the snow, nearly invisible against the white. It reminded me of a mirage – a slight warping of the view, a hint of a shimmer. I pushed my shield out from Carlisle and the rest of the front line, afraid to have the slinking mist too close when it hit. What if it stole right through my intangible protection? Should we run? A low rumbling murmured through the ground under our feet, and a gust of wind blew the snow into sudden flurries between our position and the Volturi's. Benjamin had seen the creeping threat, too, and now he tried to blow the mist away from us. The snow made it easy to see where he threw the wind, but the mist didn't react in any way. It was like air blowing harmlessly through a shadow; the shadow was immune. The triangular formation of the ancients finally broke apart when, with a racking groan, a deep, narrow fissure opened in a long zigzag across the middle of the clearing. The earth rocked under my feet for a moment. The drifts of snow plummeted into the hole, but the mist skipped right across it, as untouched by gravity as it had been by wind. Aro and Caius watched the opening earth with wide eyes. Marcus looked in the same direction without emotion. They didn't speak; they waited, too, as the mist approached us. The wind shrieked louder but didn't change the course of the mist. Jane was smiling now. And then the mist hit a wall. I could taste it as soon as it touched my shield – it had a dense, sweet, cloying flavor. It made me remember dimly the numbness of Novocain on my tongue. The mist curled upward, seeking a breach, a weakness. It found none. The fingers of searching haze twisted upward and around, trying to find a way in, and in the process illustrating the astonishing size of the protective screen. There were gasps on both sides of Benjamin's gorge. â€Å"Well done, Bella!† Benjamin cheered in a low voice. My smile returned. I could see Alec's narrowed eyes, doubt on his face for the first time as his mist swirled harmlessly around the edges of my shield. And then I knew that I could do this. Obviously, I would be the number-one priority, the first one to die, but as long as I held, we were on more than equal footing with the Volturi. We still had Benjamin and Zafrina; they had no supernatural help at all. As long as I held. â€Å"I'm going to have to concentrate,† I whispered to Edward. â€Å"When it comes to hand to hand, it's going to be harder to keep the shield around the right people.† â€Å"I'll keep them off you.† â€Å"No. You have to get to Demetri. Zafrina will keep them away from me.† Zafrina nodded solemnly. â€Å"No one will touch this young one,† she promised Edward. â€Å"I'd go after Jane and Alec myself, but I can do more good here.† â€Å"Jane's mine,† Kate hissed. â€Å"She needs a taste of her own medicine.† â€Å"And Alec owes me many lives, but I will settle for his,† Vladimir growled from the other side. â€Å"He's mine.† â€Å"I just want Caius,† Tanya said evenly. The others started divvying up opponents, too, but they were quickly interrupted. Aro, staring calmly at Alec's ineffective mist, finally spoke. â€Å"Before we vote,† he began. I shook my head angrily. I was tired of this charade. The bloodlust was igniting in me again, and I was sorry that I would help the others more by standing still. I wanted to fight. â€Å"Let me remind you,† Aro continued, â€Å"whatever the council's decision, there need be no violence here.† Edward snarled out a dark laugh. Aro stared at him sadly. â€Å"It will be a regrettable waste to our kind to lose any of you. But you especially, young Edward, and your newborn mate. The Volturi would be glad to welcome many of you into our ranks. Bella, Benjamin, Zafrina, Kate. There are many choices before you. Consider them.† Chelsea's attempt to sway us fluttered impotently against my shield. Aro's gaze swept across our hard eyes, looking for any indication of hesitation. From his expression, he found none. I knew he was desperate to keep Edward and me, to imprison us the way he had hoped to enslave Alice. But this fight was too big. He would not win if I lived. I was fiercely glad to be so powerful that I left him no way not to kill me. â€Å"Let us vote, then,† he said with apparent reluctance. Caius spoke with eager haste. â€Å"The child is an unknown quantity. There is no reason to allow such a risk to exist. It must be destroyed, along with all who protect it.† He smiled in expectation. I fought back a shriek of defiance to answer his cruel smirk. Marcus lifted his uncaring eyes, seeming to look through us as he voted. â€Å"I see no immediate danger. The child is safe enough for now. We can always reevaluate later. Let us leave in peace.† His voice was even fainter than his brothers' feathery sighs. None of the guard relaxed their ready positions at his disagreeing words. Caius's anticipatory grin did not falter. It was as if Marcus hadn't spoken at all. â€Å"I must make the deciding vote, it seems,† Aro mused. Suddenly, Edward stiffened at my side. â€Å"Yes!† he hissed. I risked a glance at him. His face glowed with an expression of triumph that I didn't understand – it was the expression an angel of destruction might wear while the world burned. Beautiful and terrifying. There was a low reaction from the guard, an uneasy murmur. â€Å"Aro?† Edward called, nearly shouted, undisguised victory in his voice. Aro hesitated for a second, assessing this new mood warily before he answered. â€Å"Yes, Edward? You have something further†¦ ?† â€Å"Perhaps,† Edward said pleasantly, controlling his unexplained excitement. â€Å"First, if I could clarify one point?† â€Å"Certainly,† Aro said, raising his eyebrows, nothing now but polite interest in his tone. My teeth ground together; Aro was never more dangerous than when he was gracious. â€Å"The danger you foresee from my daughter – this stems entirely from our inability to guess how she will develop? That is the crux of the matter?† â€Å"Yes, friend Edward,† Aro agreed. â€Å"If we could but be positive†¦ be sure that, as she grows, she will be able to stay concealed from the human world – not endanger the safety of our obscurity . . .† He trailed off, shrugging. â€Å"So, if we could only know for sure,† Edward suggested, â€Å"exactly what she will become†¦ then there would be no need for a council at all?† â€Å"If there was some way to be absolutely sure,† Aro agreed, his feathery voice slightly more shrill. He couldn't see where Edward was leading him. Neither could I. â€Å"Then, yes, there would be no question to debate.† â€Å"And we would part in peace, good friends once again?† Edward asked with a hint of irony. Even more shrill. â€Å"Of course, my young friend. Nothing would please me more.† Edward chuckled exultantly. â€Å"Then I do have something more to offer.† Aro's eyes narrowed. â€Å"She is absolutely unique. Her future can only be guessed at.† â€Å"Not absolutely unique,† Edward disagreed. â€Å"Rare, certainly, but not one of a kind.† I fought the shock, the sudden hope springing to life, as it threatened to distract me. The sickly-looking mist still swirled around the edges of my shield. And, as I struggled to focus, I felt again the sharp, stabbing pressure against my protective hold. â€Å"Aro, would you ask Jane to stop attacking my wife?† Edward asked courteously. â€Å"We are still discussing evidence.† Aro raised one hand. â€Å"Peace, dear ones. Let us hear him out.† The pressure disappeared. Jane bared her teeth at me; I couldn't help grinning back at her. â€Å"Why don't you join us, Alice?† Edward called loudly. â€Å"Alice,† Esme whispered in shock. Alice! Alice, Alice, Alice! â€Å"Alice!† â€Å"Alice!† other voices murmured around me. â€Å"Alice,† Aro breathed. Relief and violent joy surged through me. It took all my will to keep the shield where it was. Alec's mist still tested, seeking a weakness – Jane would see if I left any holes. And then I heard them running through the forest, flying, closing the distance as quickly as they could with no slowing effort at silence. Both sides were motionless in expectation. The Volturi witnesses scowled in fresh confusion. Then Alice danced into the clearing from the southwest, and I felt like the bliss of seeing her face again might knock me off my feet. Jasper was only inches behind her, his sharp eyes fierce. Close after them ran three strangers; the first was a tall, muscular female with wild dark hair – obviously Kachiri. She had the same elongated limbs and features as the other Amazons, even more pronounced in her case. The next was a small olive-toned female vampire with a long braid of black hair bobbing against her back. Her deep burgundy eyes flitted nervously around the confrontation before her. And the last was a young man†¦ not quite as fast nor quite as fluid in his run. His skin was an impossible rich, dark brown. His wary eyes flashed across the gathering, and they were the color of warm teak. His hair was black and braided, too, like the woman's, though not as long. He was beautiful. As he neared us, a new sound sent shock waves through the watching crowd – the sound of another heartbeat, accelerated with exertion. Alice leaped lightly over the edges of the dissipating mist that lapped at my shield and came to a sinuous stop at Edward's side. I reached out to touch her arm, and so did Edward, Esme, Carlisle. There wasn't time for any other welcome. Jasper and the others followed her through the shield. All the guard watched, speculation in their eyes, as the latecomers crossed the invisible border without difficulty. The brawny ones, Felix and the others like him, focused their suddenly hopeful eyes on me. They had not been sure of what my shield repelled, but it was clear now that it would not stop a physical attack. As soon as Aro gave the order, the blitz would ensue, me the only object. I wondered how many Zafrina would be able to blind, and how much that would slow them. Long enough for Kate and Vladimir to take Jane and Alec out of the equation? That was all I could ask for. Edward, despite his absorption in the coup he was directing, stiffened furiously in response to their thoughts. He controlled himself and spoke to Aro again. â€Å"Alice has been searching for her own witnesses these last weeks,† he said to the ancient. â€Å"And she does not come back empty-handed. Alice, why don't you introduce the witnesses you've brought?† Caius snarled. â€Å"The time for witnesses is past! Cast your vote, Aro!† Aro raised one finger to silence his brother, his eyes glued to Alice's face. Alice stepped forward lightly and introduced the strangers. â€Å"This is Huilen and her nephew, Nahuel.† Hearing her voice†¦ it was like she'd never left. Caius's eyes tightened as Alice named the relationship between the newcomers. The Volturi witnesses hissed amongst themselves. The vampire world was changing, and everyone could feel it. â€Å"Speak, Huilen,† Aro commanded. â€Å"Give us the witness you were brought to bear.† The slight woman looked to Alice nervously. Alice nodded in encouragement, and Kachiri put her long hand on the little vampire's shoulder. â€Å"I am Huilen,† the woman announced in clear but strangely accented English. As she continued, it was apparent she had prepared herself to tell this story, that she had practiced. It flowed like a well-known nursery rhyme. â€Å"A century and a half ago, I lived with my people, the Mapuche. My sister was Pire. Our parents named her after the snow on the mountains because of her fair skin. And she was very beautiful – too beautiful. She came to me one day in secret and told me of the angel that found her in the woods, that visited her by night. I warned her.† Huilen shook her head mournfully. â€Å"As if the bruises on her skin were not warning enough. I knew it was the Libishomen of our legends, but she would not listen. She was bewitched. â€Å"She told me when she was sure her dark angel's child was growing inside her. I didn't try to discourage her from her plan to run away – I knew even our father and mother would agree that the child must be destroyed, Pire with it. I went with her into the deepest parts of the forest. She searched for her demon angel but found nothing. I cared for her, hunted for her when her strength failed. She ate the animals raw, drinking their blood. I needed no more confirmation of what she carried in her womb. I hoped to save her life before I killed the monster. â€Å"But she loved the child inside her. She called him Nahuel, after the jungle cat, when he grew strong and broke her bones – and loved him still. â€Å"I could not save her. The child ripped his way free of her, and she died quickly, begging all the while that I would care for her Nahuel. Her dying wish – and I agreed. â€Å"He bit me, though, when I tried to lift him from her body. I crawled away into the jungle to die. I didn't get far – the pain was too much. But he found me; the newborn child struggled through the underbrush to my side and waited for me. When the pain ended, he was curled against my side, sleeping. â€Å"I cared for him until he was able to hunt for himself. We hunted the villages around our forest, staying to ourselves. We have never come so far from our home, but Nahuel wished to see the child here.† Huilen bowed her head when she was finished and moved back so she was partially hidden behind Kachiri. Aro's lips were pursed. He stared at the dark-skinned youth. â€Å"Nahuel, you are one hundred and fifty years old?† he questioned. â€Å"Give or take a decade,† he answered in a clear, beautifully warm voice. His accent was barely noticeable. â€Å"We don't keep track.† â€Å"And you reached maturity at what age?† â€Å"About seven years after my birth, more or less, I was full grown.† â€Å"You have not changed since then?† Nahuel shrugged. â€Å"Not that I've noticed.† I felt a shudder tremble through Jacob's body. I didn't want to think about this yet. I would wait till the danger was past and I could concentrate. â€Å"And your diet?† Aro pressed, seeming interested in spite of himself. â€Å"Mostly blood, but some human food, too. I can survive on either.† â€Å"You were able to create an immortal?† As Aro gestured to Huilen, his voice was abruptly intense. I refocused on my shield; perhaps he was seeking a new excuse. â€Å"Yes, but none of the rest can.† A shocked murmur ran through all three groups. Aro's eyebrows shot up. â€Å"The rest?† â€Å"My sisters.† Nahuel shrugged again. Aro stared wildly for a moment before composing his face. â€Å"Perhaps you would tell us the rest of your story, for there seems to be more.† Nahuel frowned. â€Å"My father came looking for me a few years after my mother's death.† His handsome face distorted slightly. â€Å"He was pleased to find me.† Nahuel's tone suggested the feeling was not mutual. â€Å"He had two daughters, but no sons. He expected me to join him, as my sisters had. â€Å"He was surprised I was not alone. My sisters are not venomous, but whether that's due to gender or a random chance†¦ who knows? I already had my family with Huilen, and I was not interested† – he twisted the word – â€Å"in making a change. I see him from time to time. I have a new sister; she reached maturity about ten years back.† â€Å"Your father's name?† Caius asked through gritted teeth. â€Å"Joham,† Nahuel answered. â€Å"He considers himself a scientist. He thinks he's creating a new super-race.† He made no attempt to disguise the disgust in his tone. Caius looked at me. â€Å"Your daughter, is she venomous?† he demanded harshly. â€Å"No,† I responded. Nahuel's head snapped up at Aro's question, and his teak eyes turned to bore into my face. Caius looked to Aro for confirmation, but Aro was absorbed in his own thoughts. He pursed his lips and stared at Carlisle, and then Edward, and at last his eyes rested on me. Caius growled. â€Å"We take care of the aberration here, and then follow it south,† he urged Aro. Aro stared into my eyes for a long, tense moment. I had no idea what he was searching for, or what he found, but after he had measured me for that moment, something in his face changed, a faint shift in the set of his mouth and eyes, and I knew that Aro had made his decision. â€Å"Brother,† he said softly to Caius. â€Å"There appears to be no danger. This is an unusual development, but I see no threat. These half-vampire children are much like us, it appears.† â€Å"Is that your vote?† Caius demanded. â€Å"It is.† Caius scowled. â€Å"And this Joham? This immortal so fond of experimentation?† â€Å"Perhaps we should speak with him,† Aro agreed. â€Å"Stop Joham if you will,† Nahuel said flatly. â€Å"But leave my sisters be. They are innocent.† Aro nodded, his expression solemn. And then he turned back to his guard with a warm smile. â€Å"Dear ones,† he called. â€Å"We do not fight today.† The guard nodded in unison and straightened out of their ready positions. The mist dissipated swiftly, but I held my shield in place. Maybe this was another trick. I analyzed their expressions as Aro turned back to us. His face was as benign as ever, but unlike before, I sensed a strange blankness behind the fa?ade. As if his scheming was over. Caius was clearly incensed, but his rage was turned inward now; he was resigned. Marcus looked†¦ bored; there really was no other word for it. The guard was impassive and disciplined again; there were no individuals among them, just the whole. They were in formation, ready to depart. The Volturi witnesses were still wary; one after another, they departed, scattering into the woods. As their numbers dwindled, the remaining sped up. Soon they were all gone. Aro held his hands out to us, almost apologetic. Behind him, the larger part of the guard, along with Caius, Marcus, and the silent, mysterious wives, were already drifting quickly away, their formation precise once again. Only the three that seemed to be his personal guardians lingered with him. â€Å"I'm so glad this could be resolved without violence,† he said sweetly. â€Å"My friend, Carlisle – how pleased I am to call you friend again! I hope there are no hard feelings. I know you understand the strict burden that our duty places on our shoulders.† â€Å"Leave in peace, Aro,† Carlisle said stiffly. â€Å"Please remember that we still have our anonymity to protect here, and keep your guard from hunting in this region.† â€Å"Of course, Carlisle,† Aro assured him. â€Å"I am sorry to earn your disapproval, my dear friend. Perhaps, in time, you will forgive me.† â€Å"Perhaps, in time, if you prove a friend to us again.† Aro bowed his head, the picture of remorse, and drifted backward for a moment before he turned around. We watched in silence as the last four Volturi disappeared into the trees. It was very quiet. I did not drop my shield. â€Å"Is it really over?† I whispered to Edward. His smile was huge. â€Å"Yes. They've given up. Like all bullies, they're cowards underneath the swagger.† He chuckled. Alice laughed with him. â€Å"Seriously, people. They're not coming back. Everybody can relax now.† There was another beat of silence. â€Å"Of all the rotten luck,† Stefan muttered. And then it hit. Cheers erupted. Deafening howls filled the clearing. Maggie pounded Siobhan on the back. Rosalie and Emmett kissed again – longer and more ardently than before. Benjamin and Tia were locked in each other's arms, as were Carmen and Eleazar. Esme held Alice and Jasper in a tight embrace. Carlisle was warmly thanking the South American newcomers who had saved us all. Kachiri stood very close to Zafrina and Senna, their fingertips interlocked. Garrett picked Kate up off the ground and swung her around in a circle. Stefan spit on the snow. Vladimir ground his teeth together with a sour expression. And I half-climbed the giant russet wolf to rip my daughter off his back and then crushed her to my chest. Edward's arms were around us in the same second. â€Å"Nessie, Nessie, Nessie,† I crooned. Jacob laughed his big, barky laugh and poked the back of my head with his nose. â€Å"Shut up,† I mumbled. â€Å"I get to stay with you?† Nessie demanded. â€Å"Forever,† I promised her. We had forever. And Nessie was going to be fine and healthy and strong. Like the halfhuman Nahuel, in a hundred and fifty years she would still be young. And we would all be together. Happiness expanded like an explosion inside me – so extreme, so violent that I wasn't sure I'd survive it. â€Å"Forever,† Edward echoed in my ear. I couldn't speak anymore. I lifted my head and kissed him with a passion that might possibly set the forest on fire. I wouldn't have noticed.

Building a Compensation Plan

Building a Compensation Plan Introduction The aim of the paper is to design a compensation plan for the sales force of an engineering company that mostly entails in B2B sales. The company had posted high sales in 2006-07 but with the recession, sales had gone down.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Building a Compensation Plan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Apart from declining sales another problem that the firm faces was attracting, retaining, and motivating the frontline sales team of the company. Therefore, a need arose in order to restructure the sales force compensation plan, which comprises the largest employee structure of the company in order to motivate and retain salespeople maintaining the budget of the company. Further, with economy showing a continuous slowdown, most companies are looking at revamping their compensation structure. The design of the compensation plan is for a B2B sales force. The sales people are the ones who are m ore aware and close to the customers than the company. In designing the sales compensation plan for a B2B sales force, the first step would be to identify the key responsibility areas (KRA) of the salespersons. Key Responsibility Areas One of the primary factors affecting the performance of a salesperson is his ability to be a good team player: â€Å"†¦good teamwork is a determinant factor in winning sales and building long-term partnering relationships† . Distribution of financial incentives to a sales team is a crucial concern among managers; therefore, one important decision for compensation planners is to decide (a) how much remuneration is to depend on performance, and (b) how the financial benefits should be distributed among the team members. For instance, distribution of awards can be based on either individual performance or the performance of the sales team. In order to decide on the type of the sales force, first the key responsibilities of the sales people mu st be ascertained.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The key responsibilities of sales people in the organization and their reporting pattern is delineated as follows: Primary responsibility will be to effectively utilize the company’s sales strategy and make sure that the revenue and profit objectives by creation of small, mid-size and large accounts. Generation of new customer accounts for the company is another primary task of the sales person. The salesperson will follows target oriented sales quota and he will be responsible to fulfill the quota through relationship building with customers’ and multi-level decision-makers through various sales strategies such as direct mailing, person-to-person interaction, direct phone calling, etc. Maintain database and MIS of customers and on field maintain a direct relationship and contact with the new and ol d customers. Understanding the requirement of the customers and generating a product proposal accordingly. Do market research on related products in the market and analyze what less the company is doing in its offering to the customers for which it may be losing customers. Reviewing of self-sales performance and assessing the difference between targets. Given these responsibilities of a sales executive in the company, the next step would be to design an effective compensation strategy for the sales executives, it is important to understand the KRAs of the position. Given the brief of the responsibilities of the sales force, the KRA that are to be looked at for developing a compensation plan are as follows: Building relationships in terms of new accounts Maintaining older accounts Meeting sales target. Based on these understanding of the sales executive job responsibilities, the compensation plan is devised. Compensation Plan Base Pay Based on the sales executive job responsibilit ies it can be deduced that the primary functions of the sales executive is to generate new accounts, maintain existing accounts, target the right organization, maintain close relationship with senior decision makers in the target organizations. Like of most sales force compensation plans, this plan to will be a performance based plan. The reasons for adopting a performance based compensation plan are to ensure that performance or the actual job done by the salesperson. The idea is to provide adequate compensation for the job they do and not just for the sake of employability. Most of sales compensation plans are based on a 30% base and 70% commission mix but this plan seems to be more tilted on a larger variable pay. Further, this variable pay is usually directly related to the generation of new accounts, overlooking the effort that is put in by the sales people to retain the older accounts.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Building a Compensation Plan sp ecifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Further, the company must also account for the experience the sales person has, as a more experienced sales person may want a larger base pay than a fresher may. Further, the external environment must also be considered while setting the base pay. In case of engineering company, it is a well-known brand for all kinds of engineering suppliers. Further, the market for engineering is highly competitive as there are other smaller and a few local brands that compete, and there is a high level of price competition. In such a case, the base salary for the salespeople cannot be pegged at a low rate considering the external environment. Therefore, the present compensation plan will fix the compensation based on experience of the sales person: Fresher (0 to 1 year): For someone fresh out of college, the compensation will be pegged at 30% 70% basis. Experienced Salespeople (1 year to 5 years): the base to variable ratio will be 50%- 50%. Highly experienced Salespeople (above 5 years): the ratio will become 60% 40%. The structure of the base salary will determine the overall expense and cost structure. The base salary should consider living expenses such as a food, housing rent, travel expenses, phone expense, etc. the minimum base can be set at $1000 to $3000 a month based on the experience of the salesperson. For instance, a fresher may have a base pay of $1000 while a person with 1 years of experience will have a base of $1500. The base will increase based on experience the salesperson puts in. Variable Pay The variable structure of the company will depend on the revenue objective of the overall company. Assuming that the company has a sales force of 20 people and a revenue target of $10,000,000, the quota for each salesperson to attain the target revenue is $550,000. Given this target, the sales people are differentiated into three groups based on years of experience. Table 1 shows the compen sation structure that is followed is proposed for the sales force.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The first component as discussed earlier would be the base fixed pay, which would be directly proportional to the years of experience of the salesperson. Therefore, higher the years of experience of the salesperson, greater would be the base pay or the fixed component of the salary. Table 1: Compensation structure of the Sales force Compensation Structure Revenue Objective $10,000,000 Uplift of 25% $12,500,000 Subtract CEO Sales $1,500,000 $11,000,000 Sales People 20 Quota $550,000 Compensation for a Sales Executive with 0 year of experience Total Compensation Base Salary 30% $12,000 Variable Salary 70% $28,000 Commission Rate at 100% Quota 5.1 Compensation for a Sales Executive with 1 year of experience Total Compensation Base Salary 50% $24,000 Variable Salary 50% $24,000 Commission Rate at 100% Quota 4.4 Compensation for a Sales Executive with 5 or more years of experience Total Compensation Base Salary 60% $36,000 Variable Sal ary 40% $24,000 Commission Rate at 100% Quota 4.4 The ratio of the variable component will again differ based on the number of years of experience. Based on the amount of total variable component for a salesperson, the commission rate is determined. The commission rate is determined by dividing the variable pay of the sales person by the target quota of the salesperson multiplied by 100. This commission rate determines the amount of the variable sales of the individual. This will help determine the fixed and variable component of the salesperson. Therefore, the compensation plan shows higher fixed income as the salesperson puts in more years of experience. Further, the sales quota incentive also increases with number of years of experience. Apart from this, a separate incentive is provided for generation of new accounts to the salespeople. Table 2 shows that there will be different levels of incentive schemes for the stipulated number of new accounts generated. Table 2: Sales Commission for New Account Development New Account Generation Incentive 1 5 $1,000 4 10 $2,000 7 20 $4,000 11 30 $6,000 14 40 $8,000 Conclusion Therefore, the total salary of the sales person will be determined by the following: Salary = Base Pay + Variable Pay + Incentive for new account generation The compensation plan suggested for the sales force considers both the internal and external factors for the generation of the compensation plan as well as looks into the main KRAs that determine the job responsibilities of a sales person. The salespeople compensation plan is robust in its approach and provides adequate incentive based on KRAs. References Segalla, M., Rouzies, D., Besson, M., Weitz, B. A. (2006). A cross-national investigation of incentive sales compensation. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 23 , 419-433. Wasserman, E. (2009, December 16). How to Set Up a Sales Compensation Plan. Web.

Student Essay Example

Student Essay Example Student Essay Student Essay Prabowo, Aburizal score poorly for human rights A survey published by the human rights watchdog group the Setara Institute on Monday found that Lt. Gen. (ret. ) Prabowo Subianto, chief patron of the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party and Aburizal Bakrie, Golkar Party chairman, had the worst human rights records among politicians tapped to run in the 2014 presidential election. The survey found that only 0. percent of 200 respondents †comprising activists, academics, community leaders, Journalists, lawyers and researchers † from 20 rovinces, were convinced that if Prabowo was elected he would be committed to the protection of human rights. An equal number of respondents also doubted Aburizals commitment to human rights. He, as owner of oil and gas company PT Lapindo Brantas, was deemed responsible for the Lapindo mudflow in SidoarJo, East Java, which displaced thousands of people in 2006. National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) announced the Lapindo mudflow was a human rights violation and Lapindo Brantas was responsible for the man-made disaster. On the other extreme, the survey found that popular Jakarta Governor Joko Jokowi Widodo was considered to be committed to protecting the basic rights of the people. Jokowi got the nod from 39 percent of respondents, followed by former Constitutional Court Justice chief Mahfud MD with 20 percent. The study cited Prabowos dark past as the main reason behind the respondents poor assessment of him. It is obvious that certain segments of society remember his record, Ismail Hasan, a Setara researcher said. Setara Institute chairman Hendardi, however, said that as more people forget † or are not aware of † Prabowos past deeds, it was the responsibility of rights group to ducate them. The majority of the public, especially young voters, lack knowledge. It is our Job to evaluate and publish our findings on how co mmitted these fgures are to protecting and upholding the rights of the people, Hendardi said Monday. Prabowo will always be associated with the 1998 May riots in Jakarta, which precipitated the end of former Soehartos authoritarian regime. rights violations during the extensive riots, other leading military fgures were also responsible including then Army commander Gen. (ret. ) Wiranto, who currently chairs the Peoples Conscience Party (Hanura). The House of Representatives issued a recommendation for the establishment of a human rights tribunal on the case in September 2009, but nothing has been done yet. According to the Setara survey, 53. percent of the respondents said that Prabowos reputation would influence voters. However, 46 percent said that it would not affect their preference. A member of Gerindras board, Martin Hutabarat, said the pattern was predictable: as the election neared, attacks on Prabowo would intensify. l understand people will bring the discussion to the table every time we approach the election. We do consider this a serious matter but it will not affect us because we are focusing on the future instead of the past, Martin told The Jakarta Post. Martin, a member of the House Commission Ill overseeing law and human rights, further defended Prabowo, saying that the former Army Special Forces (Kopassus) chief was fully committed to fghting for human rights. He said that Prabowos latest efforts evidenced this: He set up a legal team and traveled with them to Malaysia to defend the rights of Indonesian migrant worker Wilfrida Soik, who was on trial for murder and was facing the death sentence. Crash exposes gaps in rail safety The railroad crossing collision between an electric commuter train and a gasoline tanker in Pondok Betung, Bintaro, South Jakarta, on Monday has raised concerns about passenger safety and the imminent threat posed by unofficial crossings in the capital. At least five people died and 91 were injured, nine of whom suffered burn injuries. Based on eyewitness accounts, the state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina tanker hauling 24,000 liters of fuel slipped past a closing crossing barrier as a train on the Serpong- Tanah Abang line headed through the intersection at about 1 1 a. . The tanker failed to get across the tracks and the train slammed into it. There was an explosion on impact and flames engulfed the front part of the train, which was Though some passengers on the train said they had not heard the crossing alarm, a passer-by, Maryati, said that the crossing alarm had definitely gone off. There was even an officer who warned [the driver] not to pass t hrough the gate. Such an accident is not unprecedented. Most of them have been caused by drivers who neglected to heed the warning alarm, she said. Other witnesses said that there was a pak ogah, a person who directs motorists for mall change,encouraging the truck driver to move forward through the crossing. The intersection in Pondok Betung, which is located between the Pondok Ran] and Kebayoran Lama stations, is known as a dangerous crossing. According to data from state train operator PT KAIS Jakarta office, most of the train accidents that took place in the capital this year as of mid-November were related to crossing collisions. That period had seen 68 such accidents, mainly occurring when motorists forced their way through the barriers to try and beat the train. Currently, there are 549 train crossings in the capital, 197 of which are unofficial † ot meant for public access but used by locals as shortcuts and lack barriers. Ronaldo, Messi, Ribery up for Ballon dOr Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery are in the running for the Ballon dOr. FIFA announced the shortlist Monday after voting rules changes made Ronaldo the favorite after helping Portugal qualify for the World Cup last month. FIFA gave voters † national team captains and coaches, plus selected Journalists † two extra weeks to choose from 23 candidates, and even change preference. Ronaldos hat trick against Sweden helped lift his tally to 67 goals for Portugal and Real Madrid 2013. Messi, who has won the last four player of the year awards, scored 45 goals for Argentina and Barcelona before being injured. Ribery was already named Europes best player for helping Bayern Munich win the The award ceremony is Jan. 13. Ribery had been the favorite until FIFAs surprising announcement to re-open voting the morning after Portugals playoff victory in Stockholm. Speculation about FIFAs motives was fuelled by a bizarre public spat weeks earlier between Ronaldo and FIFA President Sepp Blatter. Blatter offended the 2008 award winner with comments and mimicry when ddressing students at Oxford University in England. Contrasting Messis humble, low-key personality with Ronaldos apparent vanity, Blatter then stood to act out what he described as the Portugal wingers commander in the field stature. Ronaldo responded in a barbed statement on his Facebook page and celebrated a goal in his next match with a mock military salute gesture. The Portuguese government got involved to defend its national hero, and the dispute seemed to confirm to Madrid fans and media that FIFA is biased toward Barcelona, even though Ballon dOr ballots are cast independently. Messi has won the world player award each year since 2009, and three times Ronaldo has been runner-up. In the 2010 award, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta completed an all-Barcelona podium. In January 2012, Ronaldo and then-Madrid coach Jose Mourinho skipped the gala ceremony in Zurich despite being on the shortlists, citing a clash with preparation for a Copa del Rey match. Ronaldo attended last January and impressed with his gracious attitude despite losing again to Messi. Messi was runner-up when Ronaldo won his first and only award for 2008 after helping Manchester United win the Champions League title. Ronaldo did not win a trophy in 2013 despite an astonishing, prolific scoring rate of better than one goal per game. His World Cup playoff displays could be key, having scored all of Portugals goals in a 4-2 aggregate victory over Sweden. Messi scored 45 goals in 46 games but his playing year was ended by his third injury, The Ballon dOr was created by France Football magazine in 1956 and, three years ago, merged with FIFAs world player of the year award, which had been presented since 1991. The finalists for the womens world player award are Abby Wambach of the United States, five-time winner Marta of Brazil and Nadine Angerer of Germany. The ceremony will also give awards to the best coaches in mens and womens football. The mens list is headed by Alex Ferguson, who retired as Manchester United manager in May after more than 26 years. World leaders, South Africans honor Mandela World leaders and Joyous, singing South Africans honored Nelson Mandela on Tuesday at a rainy Soweto soccer stadium where U. S. President Barack Obama praised him as a giant of history and the last great liberator of the 20th century. Over thirty years ago, while still a student, I learned of Mandela and the struggles in this land. It stirred something in me. It woke me up to my responsibilities † to others, and to myself † and set me on an improbable Journey that finds me here today. said Obama, who like Mandela became the first black president of his country. Those in the stadium gave roars of approval to Obamas speech. South African President Jacob Zuma, however, was booed. Many South Africans are unhappy with Zuma because of state corruption scandals, though his ruling African National Congress, once led by Mandela, remains the front-runner ahead of elections next year. Amid heavy rains, crowds came to FNB Stadium in Soweto, the Johannesburg township that was a stronghold of support for the anti-apartheid struggle that Mandela embodied as a prisoner of white rule for 27 years and then during a peril- fraught transition to the all-race elections that made him president. But the weather and public transportation problems rain kept many people away. The 95,000-capacity stadium was only two-thirds full. Some of the dozens of trains reserved to ferry people to the stadium were delayed ue to a power failure. A Metrorail services spokeswoman, Lilian Mofokeng, said more than 30,000 mourners were successfully transported by train. attendance. As Obama walked to the podium, he and Cuban President Raul Castro shook hands. Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president who succeeded Mandela, got a rousing cheer as he entered the stands. French President Francois Hollande and his predecessor and rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, arrived together. United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon waved and bowed to spectators who sang praise for Mandela, seen by many South Africans as the father of the nation.

Everything you need to know about writing a resume

Everything you need to know about writing a resume Your resume is the first piece of any job hunt. It’s the foundational document for your job search- think of it like your own personal Constitution. But what if you’re just starting out, and don’t yet know the ins and outs of what a resume is for, what it’s supposed to achieve, and what you’re supposed to put in it? We got you. And if you just want a refresher on resume basics, you’re welcome to join in too. What is the Purpose of My Resume?Your resume is a snapshot of you as a professional. When you’re applying for a job, you don’t have the benefit of being able to introduce yourself in person, answer questions about what you do, or make a personal impression. So your resume has to do that talking for you. It includes basic contact information, information about your skills, a summary of the work experience you have, and usually an indication of what you’re seeking. It takes this information and organizes it in a straigh tforward, easy-to-read format for someone who likely doesn’t know anything about you. That’s it.What a resume isn’t: It’s not a long, conversational story about your life. It’s not a place to give opinions about your last boss. It’s not a place to list every class you’ve ever taken. Your resume is a very focused, targeted version of you- the best version of your professional self, for the job opportunity you’re seeking.How Should My Resume Look?Traditionally, resumes have been very strict, templated affairs. Your contact info goes here, your experience comes next, your skills go here, and a neat note about references wraps it up. That rigid idea of what a resume should look like has loosened up a little, mostly thanks to the digital informality that seems to be affecting all aspects of our lives. (Think emails replacing letters, and text-speak popping up, well, everywhere.) But while things are getting a little more flexible in the hiring world, things haven’t gone too crazy. After all, your resume still has to have the same base information included:Contact info.  This includes your name, address, phone number, and (professional-sounding) email address. (Sorry, hotchick1989@aol.gov.)Summary/objective information.  This is a leading sentence or two summarizing you as a job candidate, what makes you well-suited to this job, or why you’re seeking this particular job.Skills.  These are bullet points listing out the hard skills (easily quantifiable skills like specific software expertise, typing speed, etc.) and soft skills (more general skills like communication, organization, attention to detail, creativity, etc.) relevant to the job.Experience.  These are bullet points (no more than a sentence or two) showing what you’ve done in your career so far, or related volunteer/extracurricular work.Education.  These are brief bullets related to your education. Here, you’d list any degrees or certificates you have- and, if relevant to the job itself, information about your major/course of study.Then there are optional elements which are nice to include if you have them and have enough room, but aren’t necessary to complete the resume:A headline that summarizes your overall resume in a succinct one-linerRelevant hobbies (key word here: relevant)Languages you speak (if you’re multilingual)Volunteer workAnd then there are things that you shouldn’t include in your resume:Information about your gender, age, or marital status. It’s illegal for potential employers to ask about those, so don’t even open the door.A photo of yourself. Same rationale as bullet #1. You want your accomplishments and skills to speak for themselves.Lies or exaggerations. It can be tempting to innocently boost some skills you don’t really have, or throw in a job responsibility that you didn’t have, but remember that you may always be called upon to prove anything in your resume.As long as you include appropriate information in these basic areas, you can change the format up a bit in order to emphasize the information you most want the reader to know, or to deprioritize something you don’t want to emphasize (like an employment gap, or a lack of experience). However, some parts shouldn’t change- for example, your contact info should always be centered at the top, for easy reference, and your headline/objective/summary statements should go right under that to avoid confusion. But think of the other sections as moveable blocks that can be moved around for maximum impact. You can find a format that works best for you.A Sample Traditional ResumeIf you’ve got a lot of work experience in your field under your belt, then the traditional format might work best for your job search. In this â€Å"reverse chronological resume,† you put your work experience bullets up front, working backwards starting wi th your current or most recent job. This is followed by skills, education, and any other relevant information. Your resume would look something like this example:[START RESUME EXAMPLE]Terry Perkins 101 Main Street New York, NY 12121 111*222*3333 TerryP@emaildomain.com LinkedIn: T.Perkins.linkedin.comQUALIFICATIONS SUMMARYExperienced leader guiding a large team of customer service managers and representatives.Proven track record of providing top-notch customer service and support for more than 20 years.Specialize in implementing customer feedback systems to improve service and boost customer relationships and provide better service.Consistently positive and dedicated attitude in working with customers and internal stakeholders, forming strong relationships both within the company and with external customers.WORK EXPERIENCEGlobal Communications Inc.Director of Customer Service (2014 – present)Senior Customer Service Representative (2008 – 2014)Customer Service Associate (2001-2008)Manage a team of 25+ Customer Service Representatives.Serve as an escalation point for customers with challenging issues.Monitor and analyze monthly call volume reports, and identify trends.Refine customer service processes to improve customer experience and outcomes.Analyze and report business trends and employee statistics on a monthly basis.Manage all hiring for the department.Work closely with other departments within the company to ensure proper handling of customer service issues.BigBox.comCustomer Service Representative (1999 – 2001)Worked directly with customers via phone to address questions, product issues, and order issues.Developed a personal Excel tracking system to ensure comprehensive follow-up with customers.Worked with management and team members to incorporate customer feedback and improve the customer service experience.Communications ConglomerateOffice Assistant (1997 – 1998)Provided administrative support for the Regional Director of Sal es.Tracked sales data, collating monthly reports.Prepared financial reports.SKILLSCustomer serviceComplex problem solving with diverse types of customersCommunicating with internal and external partiesTime managementDeveloping and implementing best practicesMicrosoft Office suiteCall triage management softwareSalesTracker softwareEDUCATIONAnderson Business School, Leadership Training Seminar (completed May 2016)University of South Beach, B.A. in Communications, 1996[END RESUME SAMPLE]A Sample Skills-Focused ResumeIf you’re just starting out, or trying to change careers, you might want to set up your narrative a little differently, emphasizing your skills and capabilities instead of specific work experience. In this case, you might want to go with a â€Å"skill-based† resume, where you emphasize your qualities before your experience. Here’s an example of an internship resume based on this format:[START RESUME SAMPLE]Sandy Jones1300 University StreetSan Diego, CA 99999(000) 111-2222S.Jones@emaildomain.comMotivated, detail-oriented graphic design student seeking to leverage design skills, writing skills, and social media experience into an experience-building internship in graphic design.SKILLSCreative visual designCompleting projects on deadlineBranded social media communicationAbility to work in a variety of environmentsWorking with clients and colleagues to complete projects on spec and on deadlineSoftware: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesignBilingual: French and EnglishEDUCATIONUniversity of San Diego,  Expected graduation: May 2018B.A. CommunicationsB.A. Graphic DesignActivities: Campus Happenings Magazine (layout and design for print and digital content)  Memorial High School, San Diego, CA,  High School DiplomaActivities: Student Soapbox student newspaper (reporter and layout artist)  EXPERIENCEFranklin’s Pub  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   April 2007 – August 2009Server/Social Media coordinatorHandled Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts for the restaurantActed as a brand ambassador for the restaurantServed customers and handled cash transactionsProvided cheerful, courteous service to all customers[END RESUME SAMPLE]While your resume should formally look like a resume, that doesn’t mean you need to have the same resume as everyone else. You can structure it so that it shows your strengths right up front for the reader to see. For more on how to write your resume from scratch, click here.You also don’t have to work from scratch. We’ve got lots of free templates you can use to get the process started.Should I Get Fancy with My Resume?Short answer: probably not. You can never go wrong with a classic, well-laid-out text document. Things like video resumes and infographi c resumes get a lot of hype because they’re different and seem hipper, but it’s important to remember a few things about your resume:The first person reading your resume may be a robot. Online applications generally have some kind of screening process in place before a pair of human eyes ever reads applicants’ resumes. If your resume can’t be screened by standard text-based software, then it likely won’t move on to the next round.The average time that recruiters or hiring managers spend reading a resume is 8 seconds. Alarming, no? That means your information needs to jump out at them. The best way to do that is to use a familiar format, but make the information pop. If they have to spend time figuring out what they’re looking and and where to get the information they need, it can definitely work against you.So again, unless you’re applying for a video-heavy creative arts position or a graphic design gig, â€Å"cool† formats sho uld probably be secondary to a classic format.How Do I Make My Resume Stand Out?Once you’ve got the basic information in your resume, you can use these elements to make it stand out in a crowd of similar applicants:Deploy action verbs. Using strong words to describe your experience and responsibilities makes it more vivid and interesting to the reader.Use stellar spelling and grammar. Always, always, always proofread your resume, and have someone trusted do it as well. Glaring mistakes could cost you, especially since you likely used â€Å"detail-oriented† or something similar as one of your skills.Don’t overcrowd. We’ve all had it drilled into our heads that a resume should be no longer than one page. One page is still a decent rule of thumb, but if you genuinely need more space than that, don’t overcompensate by making the font and margins tiny to cram everything in. If your resume isn’t easily readable, chances are it won’t be read .Whether you’re a resume first-timer or merely looking for a memory boost, we hope this info gets you started on the path to a kickass resume for your next job opportunity. Good luck!

SCI D2 Astrology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

SCI D2 Astrology - Essay Example ystems of the people, belonging to ancient cultures and civilizations of Greece, Rome, Egypt, India, China and Babylonia, Astrology got the status of pure science among the philosophers, writers, dramatists and intellectuals of ancient times. Continuously, the prominent poets and playwrights including Homer, Sophocles, Xenias and others have alluded to the impact of the movement of planets on the triumphs and failures of the kings, queens and warriors. Sophocles’ magnificent Athenian tragic play Oedipus the King (429 B.C.E) portrays the prophecy about the ill fortune of the newly born son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of the Thebes City, where the son i.e. Oedipus would kill his father and would marry his mother on growing young. (Lines 1008-1310) The future poets also alluded to the movements of stars and planets in their works by affiliating it to important happenings occurred in the life of nations and individuals at large. The later playwrights including Marlow, Shakespe are and others have also alluded to stars in their works. Shakespearean tragedy Julius Caesar (1599) states: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves. (Act 1, Scene 2), where the poet has declared an association between human deeds and stars; as the celestial bodies support the people having good intentions and positive thinking, and curse those, who are evil-minded and devise plans to harm, hurt and destroy the others. Abrahamic Scriptures also narrate the people’s having faith in celestial bodies, as the Holy Prophet Abraham refuted the offer of accompanying his fellow-beings by making accuse that the stars predicted that he was going to fall ill, (The Qur’an: 37:88-89) because he was determined to break the false gods i.e. idols into pieces. Thus, astrology had been in vogue for the last several centuries as a pure science. Astrology declares the sun, the moon and nine celestial bodies i.e. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto,

International Intellectual Property Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Intellectual Property Law - Essay Example One is that emerging countries might not have the same technology as advanced countries, and need to copy advanced companies to innovate. This is an issue that is addressed below. However, the bulk of this article will deal with copyrights, especially with regards to British Law regarding the same. Intellectual property rights have become one of the buzzwords surrounding globalization. Globalization may be defined as â€Å"an extent of internationalisation at a level where boundaries are blurred or appear close, where networks and solidarities are communicating, [and] where interdependencies are increasing.†1 On a technological basis, modern globalization is dependent upon the structures for communication, transportation, computation and enforcement interlocking.2 Globalization has reached many sectors, including intellectual property, financial services, money capital, goods and financial instruments.3 There are obvious positive aspects of globalization, and negative ones as well, as globalization leads to clashes, prejudices, tension and cultural misunderstandings such as those seen on 9/11, and the Bali, Madrid and London bombings.4 Intellectual property is one of the core businesses in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), in which one of the WTOs founding element with regards to intellectual property is the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.5 The TRIPS Agreement, in a nutshell, establishes a global harmonisation of protection for Intellectual Property and enforcement, as well as created international standards regarding patent, copyright, trademark and design protections.6 The existing regimes of the United States, Europe and Japan with regards to intellectual property were largely the same, so their laws did not need as much harmonising. However, there were some areas that were a problem, as far as different countries having different rules, and they were â€Å"first to invent systems, scope of

Museology of Natural History. Historic Museums And Climate Change Essay

Museology of Natural History. Historic Museums And Climate Change - Essay Example This pressing nature of the problem has necessitated the active participation of merely all sectors and institutions of the world towards alleviating the accompanying effects. Environmental organizations in the past have taken a leading role in informing the public, inspiring them as well as equipping them in manners appropriate to participate effectively in the challenge of controlling the climate change. This is because most of the recent findings point to human beings as being the main cause to the climatic change because of activities that lead to build up of green houses gases within the atmosphere. Burning of fossil fuels as well as deforestation has been majorly blamed on increasing the green house gases, which lead to global warming and in effect lead to the adverse effects that are seen from climate change and alteration of climate systems globally. However, lack of information by many people lead to the low participation towards curtailing the effects of climate change. Nev ertheless, the active participation of all human beings towards the problem necessitates that they are equally involved in finding the solution to the problem. Public awareness of the effects of personal activities towards rising levels of concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as well as other environmentally unfriendly activities would play a great role in the efforts to contain climate change across the globe. This is the active role that most of the museums (not all) are currently engaged in with efforts towards alleviating the effects of climate change. Discussion Despite the active participation and the evident efforts by many world governments to educate the citizens concerning the problem, much is still to be done. This has therefore necessitated the active participation of nongovernmental organizations, scientific agencies and other institutions towards the common goal of environmental conservation with a motive of alleviating the effects of climate change. In particular, such active participation has been seen in the recent past from the historical museums across the globe. Most of the museums are taking active role in educating the public on such emerging issues in a timely way. There is growing evidence of scientific museums actively participating in empowering the public alongside other agencies such as environmental organizations through information in efforts to control climate change and hence the effects (Ryan, 2005, p. 4-5). The nineteenth century saw great revolution in creation of public awareness by scientific expositions as well as world fairs, which would later trigger active participation of the historical museums into the good course. The growing sense of responsibility over the time slowly led to the strategic moves by museums to participate actively in controlling the menace. The process of adopting the role of educating the populace concerning global warming and effects by the museums have seen development of educationa l theories as well as visitor research. The outcome of such efforts has been seen in development and adoption of conservation related exhibitions, which has been very instrumental in creating public awareness on the topic (Ryan, 2005, p. 23). Museums role as custodians of rich history not only safeguards the history but also enables there to be a link between the past, the present as well as the future. Sustainability has therefore shaped many of the efforts by the museums as defined by

Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 67

Art - Essay Example The point of view of the visual art argument is to bring out the symmetrical structural balance as per the balanced colors used for painting. Therefore, this abstract composition piece is meant to bring out aesthetic balance of nature as per the colors that have been used through visual composition. Sensational effect is a factor to the aspect of the artistic abstract composition. This is due to the notion that, the colors and lines used bring out a sensational feel of any space that is a factor of the environment. My visual argument is based on the colors that have been used, the lines and patterns used for bringing out the balance as perceived of nature. This is based on the colors that have been used by the artist for this abstract piece. I used pattern, line, recurring patterns and proximity as my compositional interpretation of the abstract due to the emphasis that they bring out on aesthetics appeal. The most persuasive elements include balance brought in symmetrical from. This has been enhanced by the balance of use of colors. The balance brings out the feel of nature whereby, everything is aligned and proportional thus enhancing nature. The composition incorporated the use of line and color to form a pattern. The changes that are evident through the composition of abstr act are that, the colors have been manipulated to suit aesthetic appeal. The compositional choices are mainly based on color, line and form. This is because of the pattern that has been brought out through the line and colors used. Persuasive elements used include proximity in terms of softness of the painting and organizational structure. I believe that the pattern that has emerged gives the abstract painting a different view of aesthetics and appeal in nature most individuals’ perception is that, nature should always have specific colors

Precedent vs. Contemporaneous Autonomy in Regard to Advance Directives Essay

Precedent vs. Contemporaneous Autonomy in Regard to Advance Directives - Essay Example Ronald Dworkin argues that if we can declare this patient incompetent, he does not have the capacity that autonomy represents. This means that respect should be upheld to the patients’ prior wishes made when competent. This is because a competent person’s decisions are autonomous ones. This view is referred to as the integrity view, which states that the value of autonomy derives from the capacity it protects: the capacity to express one’s own character traits, values, commitments, convictions and critical as well as experiential interest in a life one leads. However, it is arguable that, in most cases the present desires expressed by a patient need to be respected. Dworkin constructs a hypothetical case, where there exists a woman named Margo, who has dementia, but still seems to find pleasure in seemingly meaningless activities, such as reading, eating snacks among others. He even explains that Margo may be one of the happiest people he â€Å"knows.† How ever, years back, Margo had signed an advance directive expressing her desire to be left to die if she were to need life-saving medical treatment once afflicted with dementia. ... Dworkin believes we must respect Margo’s advance directive, as Margo living with dementia is her living against her critical interests that she held while competent. Experiential interests, in my opinion, hold a great deal of value, enough that experiential interests alone make one valuable and thus their life worth continuing. As Dworkin points out, pleasures that experiential interests provide are essential for a good life. A good life has value in it of itself, and while â€Å"genuine meaning and coherence† may enhance this value, no requirement for value to be obtained (Marshall, 123). I deduce that the reason we have critical interests are so we can enhance individual experiential ones. For instance, Dworkin claims establishing close friendships are an example of a critical interest. The reason we wish to establish such relationships is so when â€Å"watching football, or seeing Casablanca for the twelfth time or walking in the woods in October† (Marshall, 5 1) we are that much happier and life is more enjoyable. However, if one performs these experiential interests without having formed close relationships, they do not suddenly lack value; they are just perhaps slightly less enjoyable. However, if one were still to argue on critical interests that hold true value, we can see in many instances where experiential interests remain valuable on their own. The existence of a person who is solely able to attain experiential interests may allow someone else to enhance his or her critical interests. For example, in the case of Margo, there existed a medical student, Firlik, who took a specific interest in her case (Marshall, 144). By being able to visit Margo daily, Firlik was able to answer his questions and

Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 67

Art - Essay Example The point of view of the visual art argument is to bring out the symmetrical structural balance as per the balanced colors used for painting. Therefore, this abstract composition piece is meant to bring out aesthetic balance of nature as per the colors that have been used through visual composition. Sensational effect is a factor to the aspect of the artistic abstract composition. This is due to the notion that, the colors and lines used bring out a sensational feel of any space that is a factor of the environment. My visual argument is based on the colors that have been used, the lines and patterns used for bringing out the balance as perceived of nature. This is based on the colors that have been used by the artist for this abstract piece. I used pattern, line, recurring patterns and proximity as my compositional interpretation of the abstract due to the emphasis that they bring out on aesthetics appeal. The most persuasive elements include balance brought in symmetrical from. This has been enhanced by the balance of use of colors. The balance brings out the feel of nature whereby, everything is aligned and proportional thus enhancing nature. The composition incorporated the use of line and color to form a pattern. The changes that are evident through the composition of abstr act are that, the colors have been manipulated to suit aesthetic appeal. The compositional choices are mainly based on color, line and form. This is because of the pattern that has been brought out through the line and colors used. Persuasive elements used include proximity in terms of softness of the painting and organizational structure. I believe that the pattern that has emerged gives the abstract painting a different view of aesthetics and appeal in nature most individuals’ perception is that, nature should always have specific colors

The Culture Of An Organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Culture Of An Organization - Essay Example Its leaders should be charismatic and quick at decision-making. Motivation Motivation refers to the force that influences people’s action. The theories are aimed to make the workers work diligently and be fruitful. In my case, I am going to use The Mayo’s theory of Human Relations. Mayo’s theory believes that pay alone cannot be sufficient to motivate and boost the performance of an employee in the workforce. He believes that the social needs of the workers should also be put into consideration. Transformational Leadership Transformation leadership is formed through the four ‘I’s’, that is idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual simulation and individual consideration. Idealized influence is displayed when a leader act as the role model to their follower. When the leader articulates his vision, to his followers then this is referred to as inspirational motivation. Intellectual simulation is achieved when a leader undertakes his followers through some challenges. Individual consideration is reflected when a leader attends to the needs of the follower in person. Transformation leader can therefore be said to pay attention to their followers, change awareness and inspire their follower. Transformational type of leadership is said to work because it engages leader and their followers to be creative. Leader and follower strategize on their goals and therefore they are in better positions of achieving the set goals. Unlike charismatic leadership where vision is only stated, transformation leadership provides an attractive view of the future. In terms of commitment, it can be noted that in transformational type of leadership, both the leader and the follower are usually committed in undertaking their activities (Kark, Shamir & Chen, 2003). Motivation theory In my case, I would use Mayo’s Theory of Human Relations to address the issues in the police department. According to Mayo’s theory, change s in the working condition or financial rewards had little effect to the performance of employees. Workers are instead motivated by the way; they interact with each other, working in teams that aid them in decision-making. The mayo’s theory encouraged interaction between the different levels of management and the entire workforce. This makes it easy for the management to easily solve the grievances facing their employees. Employees should also be treated in a more caring and humane manner to maximize on their productivity. Organizational structures Organization plays a major role in any organization, its can determine the success or failure of an organization. Organizational structures therefore refer to the major methods that an organization uses to coordinate its activities; the type of devolution used within that organization in terms of subordinates’ involvement in decision making of the organization. There are three common organizational structures. These are simp le, bureaucracy and matrix organization structures. Simple Structure This uses direct supervision, and employs vertical and horizontal centralization. Its organizational structure consists of the top manager and a few workers in the workforce. The number of staff is usually small thus forcing them to perform overlapping tasks. There are no job specifications to an individual (Weber, 1947). Simple structures are used mostly in small corporations, new

Analysis Aqualisa Quartz Essay Example for Free

Analysis Aqualisa Quartz Essay Every company dreams that one day they can bring something unique and very competitive, and use it to dominate the market. But things might not be as easy as they thought. In Aqualisa case, Harry Rawlinson, managing director of Aqualisa, gives us an example that even with new significant shower product Quartz, which seems to be perfect in every aspect, they cannot make a relative progress in U.K. shower market. Quartz is designed to solve all the troubles that exist in U. K. showers. It provides efficient and reliable water pressure and temperature, needs less space in bathroom, has a stylish looking and is easy to use and install. Although Quartz leaps all other showers, the initial sales results turned to be gloomy, as Rawlinson said â€Å"For some reason, it simply wasn’t selling†. To reveal these â€Å"reasons†, we will first look at the general shower market status, and then we will analysis two main factors that cause Quart fail in initial Sales: Quart itself and Plumber. Finally, we will examine Aqualisa’s marketing strategy and find out what is the right thing to do. Shower market in U.K. The U.K. shower market has 3 distribution channels, 3 buyer segments, and 2 Special roles: Plumber and Developer. To give a brief summary, we will use some charts to demonstrate characteristics of these elements, and use it for latter discussions. As we can see, Quartz has 61% in Rate of return (manufacturer) and 47% in Rate of return (retailer), which is not the highest among other products. And we notice that Aquavalve Value, which is in value segment, and Aquaforce 1. 0/1. 5 Bar, which is in Standard segment, have higher Rate of return, but these product sold well in lower segments. Thus Quartz cannot be blamed for overprice, at least it was no more expensive than Aqualisa’s other product. Besides, if we consider the installation cost that saved by Quartz (2 days to half day, with 40-80/hour), Quartz is even cheaper. So either the price was not the reason, or the price was misunderstood. Consumer could be blinded by Quartz’s high retail price and ignore its relatively high produce cost. Besides, Aqualisa â€Å"was generally recognized as having top quality showers, a premium brand, and great service†, that reputation could make consumers form the idea that Quartz is just another premium product which is not cost-effective. This misjudgment of Quartz’s value is the true reason that Quartz was not accepted in lower market. Thus lower Quartz’s price would have less result if the misconception remains unchanged. To solve this problem, Aqualisa need more effort to spread the idea that Quartz is economical and practical. Quartz’s former advertisement plan shows most of its progressiveness, like the picture in Exhibit-9, they list all the priorities, make it even more like a premium product. They need to give some economy features such as the cost of installation, the durability of Quartz’s parts, Quartz’s life time budget etc, and compare Quartz’s features with traditional showers, to remind consumers that Quartz values for their money. Plumber, Friend or Foe? Plumber is an important role in shower market. Exhibit-4 shows that about 73% shower selection are influenced by Plumbers. Yet Plumbers are â€Å"wary of innovation, particularly any innovation involving electronics†, AKA Quartz. The negative impact of Plumber’s attitude is obvious, and even Aqualisa calling â€Å"face-to-face introduce and explain the new product† to their â€Å"very loyal† plumbers, nothing changed in short term. Rawlinson was so desperate to plumbers that he thought about abandon plumbers and target consumers directly. Considering the plumbers’ high clout in current market share, and Aqualisa already have high market share (70%) in Do-It-Yourself Sheds which target consumer directly, give up plumbers would be ineffective and useless. Rather than evade the issue, let’s face it straight: Why Plumbers oppose Quartz and how to change it. The main reason that plumbers reject innovation derived from risk aversion. Because â€Å"unfamiliar products could present unknown performance problems†, which will make plumbers pay money and time to adjust. Former failure case like â€Å"push-button† controls in 1980s had Strengthened plumbers’ stubborn. But Quartz has no substantive contradiction with plumbers, on the contrary, it’s easy to install and operate that could give plumbers substantial benefits. As a matter of fact, Plumbers who â€Å"puts one in†, becomes â€Å"convert†. Thus Plumbers’ prejudice will disappear by time. By saying â€Å"Adoption is a long, slow process† Pestell, Aqualisa national sales manager, did not realize that they do have some ways to speed up the process. In fact, it seems that Aqualisa did not consider plumbers as a distinct important part in their sales. They barely treat plumbers like consumers or retailers, told plumbers how excellent or advanced Quartz is. But what they should do is telling how good Quartz will do to the plumbers themselves. They could show plumbers the contradistinctions in installing Quartz and traditional showers, and emphasize that Quartz will make their daily two days work to half day, reduce both their work intensity and work time. With this advantage, plumbers can do more jobs and be better off in more income. Aqualisa can also give more samples to plumbers or pay non-loyal plumbers to install Quartz to clear former haze of electronics. With focused promotion plan, Aqualisa will make plumbers realize Quartz is favorable, and turn them into steady alliance. Strategy, Breakthrough or Mark time? Aqualisa’s former strategy is Steady and comprehensive. They joined every segments of market and provided their products in all distribution channels. Their current core product is Aquavalve 609, and they had been in the upper level in the market share (â€Å"number two in mixing valves and number three in the overall UK shower market†), only surpass by Triton and Mira (Exhibit-2). When Quartz joins the family, it did not have a clear position among other siblings. Actually, Aqualisa showed no clear expectations in Quartz’s performance. They just spread it to whole market and hope it can dominate. This pointless strategy makes them unconscious to the market response thus they make no effective action when sales encountered difficulties. Even if their final target is the whole market, they could build milestones and interim objectives like enter the high-end market then extend to lower market or simplify the product to catch the lower market with low price then release advance model to premium user. Either way, the company should have a more specific positioning and targeting plan to meet the company’s expectation. Despite the former marketing strategy, Aqualisa now need to decide their next move. Rawlinson showed his trepidation that Aqualisa, which is profitable with its current products, may not be willing to take the risk of promoting Quartz. The risk comes from two sides: first, the development of Quartz has already spent 5. 8 million and three years times, further promotion could cost 3-4 million more. It’s hard to stay profitable with this huge investment. Second, the Quartz has competition effect with company’s Cash Cow product: Aquavalve, which also put company’s stable market share and benefit in uncertainty. The risk of launching new products is inevitable, but is it possible that Aqualisa can sit back, relax and enjoy its current benefit? As we learn from Exhibit-2 (U. K. Market Share Data 2000), Aqualisa, had 18. 1% market share in total units sold, while Triton and Mira were 30. 3% and 21. 7%. In the Electric Showers category, which Aqualisa sold most, the market share was 16. 9% while Triton had 43. 5%. And in Mixer showers category, where core product Aquavalve 609 rest, the market share was 20. 8% while Mira had 36. 4%. With these figure, we cannot say Aqualisa is in a safe place. They did not have domination in any part of the market, and there were significant gap between Aqualisa and market leader. With more than one competitor, Aqualisa could easily be replaced and fall into masses. At this situation, even promoting new product could cost a fortune, Aqualisa still need a breakthrough and Quartz is just what the company need. On the other hand, the existing market structure gives Quartz sufficient space to outspread. If Quartz is good enough to assault Aquavalve 609’s sale, it could also shake the leader position of Triton and Mira’s products. If Quartz is, as Rawlinson said, â€Å"first significant product innovation in the U. K. shower market since forever†, it will beat down others company’s products and increase Aqualisa’s market share, and not only in U. K. market, it can move forward to European markets or global markets, then the current promotion cost would be unremarkable. But if Aqualisa give up Quartz, the opportunity cost would be too big to accept. Rawlinson’s worry will become true: â€Å"In five years’ time, someone else will have got the world market for this technology†. Then the Aqualisa’s experiences would be competitors’ field test and its former investment would contribute to other’s benefit. Conclusion People usually consider that finding the goose is the hard part, but in fact, make the goose laid golden eggs is also not easy. Aqualisa holds its goose named Quartz, and shows us such an example. This case also told us it’s not only about what we have, it’s more about how to connect everything together, including product (Quartz), customer, collaborator (plumber), market, make right decisions and build relationships.

Role of Debt in Capital Structure of Firms

Role of Debt in Capital Structure of Firms Capital structure has got importance in the literature of corporate finance. It provides insight about the role of debt in the capital structure of a firm. It is believed that firm endeavors to uphold optimal capital structure. In existing literature, however, there is no consensus among researchers about the level of optimal capital structure because of variation in proxies used to measure the same attribute, variation in industry norms (size, location and technology), agency cost (management ownership and competence) etc. The main objective of a firm is to maximize its profit and to give maximum return to its shareholders. For this purpose the company should use Optimal Capital Structure so as to achieve the desired targets, but usually when the time comes for the generation of capital, firms go with the more easiest way. The study investigates the relationship between the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) with Debt / Equity ratio of the firms in the Fertilizer Sector through , cross sectional analysis for the financial year 2010. The present study depicts that firms always keep in mind the tax shield. They usually prefer debt due to tax shield but some firms go with the more easiest way to raise capital, and the concept of optimal capital structure is set aside. In Pakistan, the interest rates are usually high as compared to developed countries. That is why, big firms usually prefer to raise funds through equity instead of debt. Since, financial institutions offer loans to profitable firms, at low rate keeping in view their credit rating and riskiness of operations, so these firms like fertilizer companies also include debt in their capital structure. The results are constructed with the literate review concluding that there is no consensus among researchers about the level of optimal capital structure because of variation in proxies used to measure the same attribute, variation in industry norms (size, location and technology), agency cost (management ownership and competence) etc. Further, maximization of stock return for different firms is debatable. Introduction Capital structure theories provide insights about the role of debt in the capital structure of a firm. In corporate finance literature, it is believed that firm endeavor to uphold optimal capital structure. In existing literature, however, there is no consensus among researchers about the level of optimal capital structure because of variation in proxies used to measure the same attribute, variation in industry norms (size, location and technology), agency cost (management ownership and competence) etc. Further, maximization of stock return for different firms is debatable. Various decisions taken by management include operating, financial and non- financial decisions. Financial structure (capital structure) decisions have gained importance in corporate finance, strategic management and financial economics literature. These decisions have implication for shareholders value. Capital structure comprises of debt and equity, the choice of which is associated with different levels of benefit and controls. There have always been controversies among the researchers about the optimal capital structure of the firm because of significant variation with regard to capital structure of the firm because if significant variations with regard to capital structure existing in different industries and among firm within the same industry. Further, the different proxies may be used to measure the same attribute of a variable. Selection of these proxies may create biasness. Conventional determinants of capital structure in existing literature include collateral value of ass et, non-debt tax shield, growth, uniqueness, industry classification, size volatility, and profitability. Use of debt in capital structure of a firm acts as a monitoring device over managerial actions. Use of debt puts pressure on managers to enhance the performance of a firm so that sufficient cash flows are generated to retire loan obligations. The main objective of business firm is to maximize the wealth of shareholders in the long run, the management should only invest in projects which give are turn in excess of cost of funds invested in the projects of the business. The difficulty will arise in determination of cost of funds, if it raised from different sources and different quantums. The various sources of funds to the company are in the form of equity and debt. The cost of capital is the rate of return the company has to pay to various suppliers of funds in the company. There are variations in the cost of capital due to the fact that different kinds of investment carry different levels of risk which is compensated for by different levels of return on the investment. There are two main sources of capital for a company: shareholders and lenders usually debenture holders and financial institutions. The cost of equity and cost of debt are the rates of return that need too be offered to these two groups of suppliers of capital in order to attract funds from them. The cost of capital consist of four elements: Cost of Equity (Ke), Cost of Retained Earning (Kr), Cost of Preferred Capital (Kp) and Cost of Debt( Kd).The funds required for the project are raised from the equity shareholders which are of permanent nature. These funds need not be repayable during the life time of the organization. Hence its a permanent source of funds. The equity shareholders are the owners of the company. The main objective of the firm is to maximize the wealth of the equity shareholders. Equity share capital is the risk capital of the company. If the companys business is doing well the ultimate beneficiaries are the equity shareholders who will get the return in the form of dividends from the company and the capital appreciation for their investment. If the company comes for liquidation due to losses, the ultimate and worst sufferers are the equity shareholders. Sometimes they may not get their investment back during the liquidation process. The following methods are used in calculation of cost of equity. First is Dividend Yield Method. The Dividend per share is expected on the current market price per share. As per this method, the cost of capital is defined as â€Å"the discount rate that equates the present value of all expected future dividends per share with the net proceeds of the sales (or the current market price) of a share. This method is based on the assumption that market value of shares is directly related to the future dividends on the shares. Another assumption is that the future dividend per shares is expected to be constant and the company is expected to earn at least this yield to keep the shareholders content. Second method is Dividend growth Model in which shareholders will normally expect to increase year after year and not to remain constant in perpetuity. In this method, an allowance for future growth in dividend is added to the current dividend yield. It is recognized that the current market price of a share reflect expected future dividends. The dividend growth model is also called as â€Å"Gordon dividend growth model. Third model is Price Earning Method which takes into consideration the Earning per share(EPS) and the market price of the share. It is based on the assumption that the investors capitalize the stream of future earnings of the share and the earnings of a share need not be in the form of dividend and also it need not be disbursed to the shareholders. It based on the argument that even if the earning are not disbursed as dividends, it is kept in the retained earnings and it causes future growth in the earnings of capital, the earning per share is divided by the current market price. Forth model is Capital Asset Pricing Model which divides the cost of equity into two components, the near risk-free return available on investing in government bonds and an addition risk premium for investing in a particular share or investment. This risk premium in turn comprises the average return on the overall market portfolio and the beta factor (or risk) of the particular investment. Putting this all together the CAPM assesses the cost of equity for an investment. Literature Review The empirical study done by Modigliani and Miller (1958) depicts the basis of capital structure. Under the assumption of market perfection, they argued that the value of firm is independent from its mode or source of financing. They believe that cost of capital had no influence on the capital structure, so according to them there exists no capital structure. The level of leverage may be different in the firm or within the same industry. In their point of view, the value of firm is not determined by however, the firm finances its assets but by the real assets possession is the actual value of a firm. Researchers have relaxed the unrealistic assumptions in Modigliani and Miller proposition. In real life there exists information asymmetry. Debt payments are subject to tax shield. Agency costs reflect a tradeoff model where decrease in agency cost of equity will cause an increase in agency cost of debt Jensen and Meckling (1976) They argue that agency costs, however, reduce because use of debt restricts issuance of equity, which in turn strengthens managerial ownership. It helps to reduce agency conflicts. Myers and Majluf (1984) argue that use of debt reduces agency problems. Further, leverage also bring its own agency cost that generates a conflict between agency cost of debt and equity. Jensen (1986) argues that use of debt constrains the free cash flow explanations give birth to its fixed nature of obligations. Since managerial compensation had controlled the positively related firms to grow, therefore, investors may invest available cash flows optimally or utilizes the available cash flows to pay dividends or profits. When profits are paid at low rate due to some reason, it extremely impacts the shares market price. Use of debt generate limits to the managerial discretion to use such cash flows fully because of non-payment of profit on debt may take a firm bankruptcy. Further, firms that use debt faces extreme scanning by debt holders. These facts indulge managers to utilize their resources optimally which ultimately enriches firm value. The theoretical framework of capital structure begins with the seminal paper of Modigliani and Miller (1958) who postulate that capital structure of a firm is irrelevant in perfect capital markets. By using net operating income approach, they argue that the overall capitalization rate remain constant for any level of financial leverage. That is, the total risk of security holders of a firm remains unaffected for any change in capital structure. Therefore, value of a firm is independent of the capital structure of a firm. Their theory is based on unrealistic assumptions of no income taxes, no transaction costs, no information asymmetry, no bankruptcy and agency cost etc. They believe in the conservation of investment value. The researchers have relaxed the assumption of perfect capital market assumed by Modigliani and Miller. Following theories explain the relevance of capital structure under different market imperfection. Trade off theory relaxes the assumption of bankruptcy costs. It considers the cost of financial distress (bankruptcy cost, reorganization cost and non-bankruptcy cost). It elaborates the impact of financing cost and tax shield on debt. According to trade-off theory, increase in debt is positively related to marginal cost of debt and negatively related to marginal benefit of increase in debt. A firm focuses on trade-off between marginal benefit and cost of debt while deciding about the proportion of debt and equity in its capital structure with a view to optimize the overall value of the firm. A firm should borrow until the marginal tax advantage of additional debt is offset by the increase in present value of the expected costs of financial distress. This theory has been criticized by researchers on different grounds. For instance, Miller (1977) argues that firms pay large taxes frequently, whereas occurrence of bankruptcy is not recurring in nature. So, low weights are assigned to b ankruptcy cost. Further, in reality, firms do not have higher weightage of debt in their capital structure. Pecking Order theory of capital structure is based on the costs of asymmetric information. It assumes relevance of asymmetric information only for external financing. It describes the sequence (internal financing to external financing) that a firm uses to finance its capital expenditures. According to pecking order, a firm having sufficient profits and cash flows use internal funds first. It will go for external financing if internal funds are not sufficient. While deciding about external financing, a firm will issue the safest security like bonds; debenture or term-finance certificates and equity will be used as the last option. Further, in case the internally generated cash flows exceed the capital investment requirements, these excessive cash flows will be utilized to repay debt instead of buying back equity. Milton and Artur (1991) discussed the theory of capital structure grounded on four basic factors. Firstly, agency cost that shows conflicts among managers, equity holders and debt holders. Secondly, there is asymmetric information and it explains the possible capital structure. Thirdly, it is centered on the product/input market interactions with Capital structure. Fourthly, it describes theories driven by co-operate control consideration it shows the linkage between the market for co-operate control and for Capital structure. Peter and Gordon (2005) have discussed the importance of industry to firm-level financing and real its decisions. The findings of this paper were financial structure that depends on a firms position within its industry and In competitive industry, a firms financial control depends on its natural hedge the activities of other firms in this industry, and its status as entrant, current performance, or exiting firm. Financial control is higher and less discrete in concentrated industries, where strategic debt interactions are stronger, but a firms natural hedge is not significant. Our finding shows that financial structure, technology, and risk are jointly determined within industries. These findings are reliable with recent industry equilibrium models of financial structure. The analysis made by Laurence et al (2001), discusses the Capital Structures in developing countries uses a new set of data to assess whether capital structure theory is transferable across countries with different influential structures or not. In this analysis they used 10 developing countries and provided evidence that these decisions are affected by the same factors as in developed countries. However, there are persistent differences across countries, indicating that specific country factors are at work. their findings suggests that although some of the insights from modern finance theory are transferable across countries and much remains to be done to understand the impact of different institutional features on capital structure choices. This paper affirms the arguments on the tax shield valuation as it remains a hot issue in the financial literature. Basically, two methods have been projected to incorporate the tax benefit of debt in the present value computation: The adjusted present value (APV), and the weighted average cost of capital (WACC). This note clarifies the correlation between these two apparently different approaches by offering a formula for the WACC. Firms interest expenses are tax deductible. Therefore, debt increases the cash flows available to stockholders and bondholders by the amount of the tax reduction. Joseph Ignacio (2005), discusses the cost of debt is the market rate or unsubsidized rate for which an investor is willing to pay. In further detail debt creates and sustain its value when tax shield is applied and the rate is sustainable but if the rate of repayment is high then form the loan and at a low market rate then loan will be preferable as it is subsidized debt and no tax is applied, the firm would be a benefited with debt financing, and the unlevered and levered values of the cash flows would be unequal. And the optimal rate of return and WACC can be achieved if a firm follows the rules and take into account all sources of financing. Tom and Timothy (2004) assumes that the use of weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is better then the use of any other calculation because either it may be riskier or will not depict the true picture of the financial performance or the position of the firm. This paper encourages the usage of WACC in all the firms although it is difficult to calculate and had some mathematical complexities but after that it depicts a clear picture of the firm, as by using spreadsheets it is easy to present the findings of the company to its managers, clients, colleagues and shareholders. The WACC is a fundamental concept in corporate finance. Its basic definition is averaging the cost of capital coming from both the equity and the debt by Farber at el (2006) and it looks simple. But the fact is its practical implementation which has raised several questions, they are most likely the distinction between book value and the market value. This paper addresses more in depth the tax shield valuation and establishes a general formula that remains valid for any debt structure. In this context, there contribution allows not only to compare the usual WACC computation in a more rigorous way but also less synthetic one, and helps the firms to adapt the WACC approach to any chosen tax shield valuation model. In this sense, the WACC appears as a powerful and very adaptable concept. Greg (2004), discusses what is WACC and what are there components and how these components are calculated and are helpful in the calculation of WACC. The paper further discusses that what should be the minimum discount rate that make intuitive sense to invest or to add a firm in portfolio. It also explains that what is the cost of debt, cost of financing and the components of cost of financing. Myers and majluf (1984), argues that the use of debt reduces agency problems and further leverage also brings its own agency cost thats generates a conflict between agency cost debt and equity. Jenson (1986), states that the use of debt will restrict the cash flow projections due to its fixed rules. Since marginal benefits and control its positively related to firm development. Therefore management may invest available resources to obtain cash flows. When dividend are paid but at a low rate its adversely affect the share price in the market. The usage of debt limits the firm to invest else-where because the non-payment of the debt leads to bankruptcy. Lakshmi (1994), differentiates between the traditional capital structure models and the new pecking order theory model of the corporate financing. The basics of pecking order theory model assumes that the debt financing driven by the internal financing, has much more time series explanatory power than a static trade of model, which predicts that each firm adjusts gradually toward an optimal debt ratio. And had shown in their results that the power to reject the pecking order against trade of theory. The model of (CAPM) given by William and John (1964,1965), gives evidence of the birth of asset pricing theory for which noble prize was given to sharpe in 1990. Forty years later CAPM is now publically used in estimating the cost of capital of the industry and evaluating the esteem to have the maximum profits from the portfolio invested in. The attractiveness in estimation of CAPM is that it offers a wide pleasing range of predictions about how to measure and ensure the risk and the relation between expected returns and risk. Unfortunately, some problems of CAPMs may reflect the theory may fails at some times, the result of many not be as per assumptions. But they may be caused by difficulties in implementation of valid tests to the model. Dan at el (2005) examine the entire associations between leverage, corporate and personal taxes, and the firms cost of equity to generate capital. Expanding the theory of Modigliani and Miller (1958, 1963), the cost of equity capital can be expressed as an impact of leverage and corporate and level taxes. The predictions that the equity cost will increase in leverage, but that corporate taxes shifts from leverage related risk premium, while the personal tax disadvantage of burden of debt reduces the profit. They examined the findings by using implied equity cost estimation system of the firms corporate tax rate and the personal tax gives a big advantage of debt. Their result suggests that the premium equity risk is linked with the profit, and if the entire profit is decreasing the corporate tax generates benefit. They also marked evidence that the premium equity risk has relations with leverage, and increase in entire profit may give a results in increased in personal tax. Rodolfo (2008) sets forth the contribution to this long lasting debate on cost of capital, firstly by introducing the multiplicative model that helps to calculate the rate of WACC. Secondly, by making adjustments in the rate of governance risk. The older approach says that the cost of capital might be calculated by means of a weighted average of debt and capital. But this is not a correct way of calculation and that might bring misappropriation, whereas the multiplicative model not only calculate the linear approximation but also the joint outcome of expected costs of debt and stock, and its proportion in the capital structure of that firm. Nevins (1967), explains in reference to Modigliani and millers discussion that how leverage can be effective and efficient to increase the entire cost of capital of the industry or the firm. He also discusses in detail that when the account is taken of risk and is ruin an increasing cost of capital is perfectly the same with little arbitrage operations. Giving ways to the chances of bankruptcy is tantamount to relax the that entire stream of operating earnings Is independent from the entire capital structure. Robert (1988), argues the effect of corporate and personal taxes on the firms optimal capital structure and financing decisions under uncertain defined conditions. It further more discussion they discussed the entire capital structure model by categorizing them entire firms important investments decisions. The results suggests that when investment was allowed to adjust optimally the existing assumptions about the relationship between investment and debt related tax shields must be changed. Secondly, they discussed that the increases in investment related tax shields changes due to corporate tax code are not necessarily linked with reductions in profits at the individual and companys level. In cross sectional analysis, firms with bigger investment tax shield. Need not to have lower debt tax shields unless all the market utilize the same mechanism. Differences in production technologies in the entire market may query questions that why the empirical results cross-sectional analysis do not meet the expectations of the researchers. Alan reviewed the financial consumption and behavior of the company to increase their profits and wealth of their existing shareholders. They mainly focuses on the impact of personal income and capital gains and taxes, and discovered that in the presence of different taxation systems of dividends and capital gains, wealth maximization does not imply maximization of firm market value and the source of equity financing is not irrelevant. The approximate cost of capital in the presence of income taxes does not depend directly on either the dividend payout rate or the tax on dividends paid. Equity shares have a market value lower than the difference between the production cost of a companys assets and the current market value of its debt obligations. Because of this capitalization, it need not be true that an economy without taking risks and uncertainty there would have no financing. The Hypothesis The detail literature review enabled us to construct the following hypothesis. H0: The firm with high debt/ equity ratio should have less cost of capital. H1: The firm with lower debt/ equity ratio should have higher cost of capital.. Research Methodology This chapter describes the methodology to investigate research problems in order to draw conclusion for the present study. Research methodology comprises of research method employed identification to the problem criteria for sample selection methods for data collection and construction for measuring instruments. It comprises of the brief description of variables and proxies used to measure those variables. It also describers research limitation and ethical concerns. 3.1 Research design and data description As stated earlier, the objective of the study is to explore the relationship between the Debt / Asset Ratio and the weighted average cost of capital. For this purpose we have targeted four companies of fertilizer sector from Pakistan into year 2010. Basically there are four companies in the Fertilizer sector listed under the roof of Karachi Stock Exchange, but three of them are selected at random. Therefore, the sample size comprises of almost cover 75% of the fertilizer sector. 3.2 Model Description As stated earlier the study has been under taken to investigate the relationship of Debt / Equity Ratio and weighted cost of capital in the industry. Following models are used to calculate the cost of capital. 3.2.1 Cost of debt The capital structure of a firm normally include the debt component. The debt may be in the form of Debentures, Bonds, Term Loans from Financial Institutions and Banks etc. The debt carries a fix rate of interest, irrespective of the profitability of the company. Because the coupon rate is fixed, the firm increases its earning through debt financing. Then after payment of fixed interest charges more surplus is available for equity shareholders, and hence EPS will increase. An important point to be remembered that dividends payable to equity shareholders and preference shareholders is an appropriation of profit, whereas the interest payable to debt is charged against profit. Therefore, any payment towards interest will reduce the profit and ultimately the companys tax liability will decrease. The phenomenon is called as tax shield. The tax shield is viewed as a benefit that accrues to the company which is geared. 3.2.2 Price Earning Method This method takes into consideration the Earning per share(EPS) and the market price of the share. It is based on the assumption that the investors capitalize the stream of future earnings of the share and the earnings of a share need not be in the form of dividend and also it need not be disbursed to the shareholders. It based on the argument that even if the earning are not disbursed as dividends, it is kept in the retained earnings and it causes future growth in the earnings of capital, the earning per share is divided by the current market price. We have selected price earning method as this method provides us the required results. Although there are various methods to calculate the cost of Equity but there are some limitations applied on them. 3.2.3 Debt / Equity Ratio The debt-to-equity ratio (D/E) is a financial ratio indicating the relative proportion of shareholders equity and debt used to raise the companys capital. It is also known as Risk, Gearing or Leverage Ratio. The two components are often taken from the firms balance sheet or statement of financial position, but the ratio may also be calculated using market values for both, if the companys debt and equity are publicly traded, or using a combination of book value for debt and market value for equity financially. =Long Term Interests Bearing Debt/ Total Equity 3.3 Companies Included in the Study Following companies are included in this study from the Fertilizer sector for detailed analysis. Fauji Fertilizer Limited. (FFC) Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited. (FFBL) Dawood Hercules Chemicals Limited. (DAWH) 3.4 Limitations of The Study Although there are various methods to calculate the Cost of Equity but there are some limitations. For instance, Gordon Growth Model cannot be applied because the firms in Pakistan do not pay dividends at perpetual constant growth rate. The other technique Capital Asset Pricing Model of calculating the Cost of Equity will create biasness due to real adjustment of inflation premium in real rate of interest to calculate the risk free rate of return. Further, the return on market portfolio requires a detailed analysis of stock returns with other financial indicators. Therefore, the study uses Price Earning Method due to availability of actual and exact data. Empirical Study Of Fertilizer Sector This chapter includes the descriptive results and detailed analysis. The detailed analysis of Fertilizer sector is given below. It includes Cost of Debt KD, Cost of Equity KE, the WACC and Debt / Equity Ratio of the three companies which fall in the fertilizer sector. Analysis The present study empirically investigates the relationship between the Weighted Average Cost Of Capital and Return On Assets. We have chosen three fertilizer companies listed in Karachi Stock Exchange. Name of Company WACC Debt/ Equity Ratio Fauji Fertilizer Limited 12.77% 24.72% Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited 9.18% 37.16% Dawood Hercules Chemicals Limited 10.98% 20.91% After the detailed analysis, the study concludes that Fauji fertilizer has low debt / equity ratio as compared to Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited and higher WACC. Which is consistent with our hypothesis that H0: The firm with high debt/ equity ratio should have less cost of capital. In the case of Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited it has higher Debt / Equity ratio as compared to Dawood Hercules. So accordingly, its WACC is less than Dawood Hercules which is consistent with our Hypothesis. Further, when we compared Dawood Hercules with Fauji Fertilizer the study concludes that, though the debt / equity ratio of Fauji Fertilizer has greater Debt / Equity Ratio than of Dawood Hercules, but the WACC of Fauji Fertilizer is higher than Dawood Hercules. Which is not favorable according to hypothesis. This conclusion leads to the conclusion that while deciding about the capital structure, the firms always do not keep in mind the optimal capital structure which is subject to the availabil ity of funds. Conclusion The present study depicts that firms always keep in mind the tax shield. They usually prefer debt due to tax shield but some firms go with the more easiest way to raise capital, and the concept of optimal capital structure is set aside. In Pakistan, the interest rates are usually high as compared to developed countries. That is why, big firms usually prefer to raise funds through equity instead of debt. Since, financial institutions offer loans to profitable firms, at low rate keeping in view their credit rating and riskiness of operations, so these firms like fertilizer companies also include debt in their capital structure. The results are constructed with the literate review concluding that there is no consensus among researchers about the level of optimal capital structure because of variation in proxies used to measure the same attribute, variation in industry norms (size, location and technology), agency cost (management ownership and competence) etc. Further, maximization of s tock return for different firms is debatable. Role of Debt in Capital Structure of Firms Role of Debt in Capital Structure of Firms Capital structure has got importance in the literature of corporate finance. It provides insight about the role of debt in the capital structure of a firm. It is believed that firm endeavors to uphold optimal capital structure. In existing literature, however, there is no consensus among researchers about the level of optimal capital structure because of variation in proxies used to measure the same attribute, variation in industry norms (size, location and technology), agency cost (management ownership and competence) etc. The main objective of a firm is to maximize its profit and to give maximum return to its shareholders. For this purpose the company should use Optimal Capital Structure so as to achieve the desired targets, but usually when the time comes for the generation of capital, firms go with the more easiest way. The study investigates the relationship between the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) with Debt / Equity ratio of the firms in the Fertilizer Sector through , cross sectional analysis for the financial year 2010. The present study depicts that firms always keep in mind the tax shield. They usually prefer debt due to tax shield but some firms go with the more easiest way to raise capital, and the concept of optimal capital structure is set aside. In Pakistan, the interest rates are usually high as compared to developed countries. That is why, big firms usually prefer to raise funds through equity instead of debt. Since, financial institutions offer loans to profitable firms, at low rate keeping in view their credit rating and riskiness of operations, so these firms like fertilizer companies also include debt in their capital structure. The results are constructed with the literate review concluding that there is no consensus among researchers about the level of optimal capital structure because of variation in proxies used to measure the same attribute, variation in industry norms (size, location and technology), agency cost (management ownership and competence) etc. Further, maximization of stock return for different firms is debatable. Introduction Capital structure theories provide insights about the role of debt in the capital structure of a firm. In corporate finance literature, it is believed that firm endeavor to uphold optimal capital structure. In existing literature, however, there is no consensus among researchers about the level of optimal capital structure because of variation in proxies used to measure the same attribute, variation in industry norms (size, location and technology), agency cost (management ownership and competence) etc. Further, maximization of stock return for different firms is debatable. Various decisions taken by management include operating, financial and non- financial decisions. Financial structure (capital structure) decisions have gained importance in corporate finance, strategic management and financial economics literature. These decisions have implication for shareholders value. Capital structure comprises of debt and equity, the choice of which is associated with different levels of benefit and controls. There have always been controversies among the researchers about the optimal capital structure of the firm because of significant variation with regard to capital structure of the firm because if significant variations with regard to capital structure existing in different industries and among firm within the same industry. Further, the different proxies may be used to measure the same attribute of a variable. Selection of these proxies may create biasness. Conventional determinants of capital structure in existing literature include collateral value of ass et, non-debt tax shield, growth, uniqueness, industry classification, size volatility, and profitability. Use of debt in capital structure of a firm acts as a monitoring device over managerial actions. Use of debt puts pressure on managers to enhance the performance of a firm so that sufficient cash flows are generated to retire loan obligations. The main objective of business firm is to maximize the wealth of shareholders in the long run, the management should only invest in projects which give are turn in excess of cost of funds invested in the projects of the business. The difficulty will arise in determination of cost of funds, if it raised from different sources and different quantums. The various sources of funds to the company are in the form of equity and debt. The cost of capital is the rate of return the company has to pay to various suppliers of funds in the company. There are variations in the cost of capital due to the fact that different kinds of investment carry different levels of risk which is compensated for by different levels of return on the investment. There are two main sources of capital for a company: shareholders and lenders usually debenture holders and financial institutions. The cost of equity and cost of debt are the rates of return that need too be offered to these two groups of suppliers of capital in order to attract funds from them. The cost of capital consist of four elements: Cost of Equity (Ke), Cost of Retained Earning (Kr), Cost of Preferred Capital (Kp) and Cost of Debt( Kd).The funds required for the project are raised from the equity shareholders which are of permanent nature. These funds need not be repayable during the life time of the organization. Hence its a permanent source of funds. The equity shareholders are the owners of the company. The main objective of the firm is to maximize the wealth of the equity shareholders. Equity share capital is the risk capital of the company. If the companys business is doing well the ultimate beneficiaries are the equity shareholders who will get the return in the form of dividends from the company and the capital appreciation for their investment. If the company comes for liquidation due to losses, the ultimate and worst sufferers are the equity shareholders. Sometimes they may not get their investment back during the liquidation process. The following methods are used in calculation of cost of equity. First is Dividend Yield Method. The Dividend per share is expected on the current market price per share. As per this method, the cost of capital is defined as â€Å"the discount rate that equates the present value of all expected future dividends per share with the net proceeds of the sales (or the current market price) of a share. This method is based on the assumption that market value of shares is directly related to the future dividends on the shares. Another assumption is that the future dividend per shares is expected to be constant and the company is expected to earn at least this yield to keep the shareholders content. Second method is Dividend growth Model in which shareholders will normally expect to increase year after year and not to remain constant in perpetuity. In this method, an allowance for future growth in dividend is added to the current dividend yield. It is recognized that the current market price of a share reflect expected future dividends. The dividend growth model is also called as â€Å"Gordon dividend growth model. Third model is Price Earning Method which takes into consideration the Earning per share(EPS) and the market price of the share. It is based on the assumption that the investors capitalize the stream of future earnings of the share and the earnings of a share need not be in the form of dividend and also it need not be disbursed to the shareholders. It based on the argument that even if the earning are not disbursed as dividends, it is kept in the retained earnings and it causes future growth in the earnings of capital, the earning per share is divided by the current market price. Forth model is Capital Asset Pricing Model which divides the cost of equity into two components, the near risk-free return available on investing in government bonds and an addition risk premium for investing in a particular share or investment. This risk premium in turn comprises the average return on the overall market portfolio and the beta factor (or risk) of the particular investment. Putting this all together the CAPM assesses the cost of equity for an investment. Literature Review The empirical study done by Modigliani and Miller (1958) depicts the basis of capital structure. Under the assumption of market perfection, they argued that the value of firm is independent from its mode or source of financing. They believe that cost of capital had no influence on the capital structure, so according to them there exists no capital structure. The level of leverage may be different in the firm or within the same industry. In their point of view, the value of firm is not determined by however, the firm finances its assets but by the real assets possession is the actual value of a firm. Researchers have relaxed the unrealistic assumptions in Modigliani and Miller proposition. In real life there exists information asymmetry. Debt payments are subject to tax shield. Agency costs reflect a tradeoff model where decrease in agency cost of equity will cause an increase in agency cost of debt Jensen and Meckling (1976) They argue that agency costs, however, reduce because use of debt restricts issuance of equity, which in turn strengthens managerial ownership. It helps to reduce agency conflicts. Myers and Majluf (1984) argue that use of debt reduces agency problems. Further, leverage also bring its own agency cost that generates a conflict between agency cost of debt and equity. Jensen (1986) argues that use of debt constrains the free cash flow explanations give birth to its fixed nature of obligations. Since managerial compensation had controlled the positively related firms to grow, therefore, investors may invest available cash flows optimally or utilizes the available cash flows to pay dividends or profits. When profits are paid at low rate due to some reason, it extremely impacts the shares market price. Use of debt generate limits to the managerial discretion to use such cash flows fully because of non-payment of profit on debt may take a firm bankruptcy. Further, firms that use debt faces extreme scanning by debt holders. These facts indulge managers to utilize their resources optimally which ultimately enriches firm value. The theoretical framework of capital structure begins with the seminal paper of Modigliani and Miller (1958) who postulate that capital structure of a firm is irrelevant in perfect capital markets. By using net operating income approach, they argue that the overall capitalization rate remain constant for any level of financial leverage. That is, the total risk of security holders of a firm remains unaffected for any change in capital structure. Therefore, value of a firm is independent of the capital structure of a firm. Their theory is based on unrealistic assumptions of no income taxes, no transaction costs, no information asymmetry, no bankruptcy and agency cost etc. They believe in the conservation of investment value. The researchers have relaxed the assumption of perfect capital market assumed by Modigliani and Miller. Following theories explain the relevance of capital structure under different market imperfection. Trade off theory relaxes the assumption of bankruptcy costs. It considers the cost of financial distress (bankruptcy cost, reorganization cost and non-bankruptcy cost). It elaborates the impact of financing cost and tax shield on debt. According to trade-off theory, increase in debt is positively related to marginal cost of debt and negatively related to marginal benefit of increase in debt. A firm focuses on trade-off between marginal benefit and cost of debt while deciding about the proportion of debt and equity in its capital structure with a view to optimize the overall value of the firm. A firm should borrow until the marginal tax advantage of additional debt is offset by the increase in present value of the expected costs of financial distress. This theory has been criticized by researchers on different grounds. For instance, Miller (1977) argues that firms pay large taxes frequently, whereas occurrence of bankruptcy is not recurring in nature. So, low weights are assigned to b ankruptcy cost. Further, in reality, firms do not have higher weightage of debt in their capital structure. Pecking Order theory of capital structure is based on the costs of asymmetric information. It assumes relevance of asymmetric information only for external financing. It describes the sequence (internal financing to external financing) that a firm uses to finance its capital expenditures. According to pecking order, a firm having sufficient profits and cash flows use internal funds first. It will go for external financing if internal funds are not sufficient. While deciding about external financing, a firm will issue the safest security like bonds; debenture or term-finance certificates and equity will be used as the last option. Further, in case the internally generated cash flows exceed the capital investment requirements, these excessive cash flows will be utilized to repay debt instead of buying back equity. Milton and Artur (1991) discussed the theory of capital structure grounded on four basic factors. Firstly, agency cost that shows conflicts among managers, equity holders and debt holders. Secondly, there is asymmetric information and it explains the possible capital structure. Thirdly, it is centered on the product/input market interactions with Capital structure. Fourthly, it describes theories driven by co-operate control consideration it shows the linkage between the market for co-operate control and for Capital structure. Peter and Gordon (2005) have discussed the importance of industry to firm-level financing and real its decisions. The findings of this paper were financial structure that depends on a firms position within its industry and In competitive industry, a firms financial control depends on its natural hedge the activities of other firms in this industry, and its status as entrant, current performance, or exiting firm. Financial control is higher and less discrete in concentrated industries, where strategic debt interactions are stronger, but a firms natural hedge is not significant. Our finding shows that financial structure, technology, and risk are jointly determined within industries. These findings are reliable with recent industry equilibrium models of financial structure. The analysis made by Laurence et al (2001), discusses the Capital Structures in developing countries uses a new set of data to assess whether capital structure theory is transferable across countries with different influential structures or not. In this analysis they used 10 developing countries and provided evidence that these decisions are affected by the same factors as in developed countries. However, there are persistent differences across countries, indicating that specific country factors are at work. their findings suggests that although some of the insights from modern finance theory are transferable across countries and much remains to be done to understand the impact of different institutional features on capital structure choices. This paper affirms the arguments on the tax shield valuation as it remains a hot issue in the financial literature. Basically, two methods have been projected to incorporate the tax benefit of debt in the present value computation: The adjusted present value (APV), and the weighted average cost of capital (WACC). This note clarifies the correlation between these two apparently different approaches by offering a formula for the WACC. Firms interest expenses are tax deductible. Therefore, debt increases the cash flows available to stockholders and bondholders by the amount of the tax reduction. Joseph Ignacio (2005), discusses the cost of debt is the market rate or unsubsidized rate for which an investor is willing to pay. In further detail debt creates and sustain its value when tax shield is applied and the rate is sustainable but if the rate of repayment is high then form the loan and at a low market rate then loan will be preferable as it is subsidized debt and no tax is applied, the firm would be a benefited with debt financing, and the unlevered and levered values of the cash flows would be unequal. And the optimal rate of return and WACC can be achieved if a firm follows the rules and take into account all sources of financing. Tom and Timothy (2004) assumes that the use of weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is better then the use of any other calculation because either it may be riskier or will not depict the true picture of the financial performance or the position of the firm. This paper encourages the usage of WACC in all the firms although it is difficult to calculate and had some mathematical complexities but after that it depicts a clear picture of the firm, as by using spreadsheets it is easy to present the findings of the company to its managers, clients, colleagues and shareholders. The WACC is a fundamental concept in corporate finance. Its basic definition is averaging the cost of capital coming from both the equity and the debt by Farber at el (2006) and it looks simple. But the fact is its practical implementation which has raised several questions, they are most likely the distinction between book value and the market value. This paper addresses more in depth the tax shield valuation and establishes a general formula that remains valid for any debt structure. In this context, there contribution allows not only to compare the usual WACC computation in a more rigorous way but also less synthetic one, and helps the firms to adapt the WACC approach to any chosen tax shield valuation model. In this sense, the WACC appears as a powerful and very adaptable concept. Greg (2004), discusses what is WACC and what are there components and how these components are calculated and are helpful in the calculation of WACC. The paper further discusses that what should be the minimum discount rate that make intuitive sense to invest or to add a firm in portfolio. It also explains that what is the cost of debt, cost of financing and the components of cost of financing. Myers and majluf (1984), argues that the use of debt reduces agency problems and further leverage also brings its own agency cost thats generates a conflict between agency cost debt and equity. Jenson (1986), states that the use of debt will restrict the cash flow projections due to its fixed rules. Since marginal benefits and control its positively related to firm development. Therefore management may invest available resources to obtain cash flows. When dividend are paid but at a low rate its adversely affect the share price in the market. The usage of debt limits the firm to invest else-where because the non-payment of the debt leads to bankruptcy. Lakshmi (1994), differentiates between the traditional capital structure models and the new pecking order theory model of the corporate financing. The basics of pecking order theory model assumes that the debt financing driven by the internal financing, has much more time series explanatory power than a static trade of model, which predicts that each firm adjusts gradually toward an optimal debt ratio. And had shown in their results that the power to reject the pecking order against trade of theory. The model of (CAPM) given by William and John (1964,1965), gives evidence of the birth of asset pricing theory for which noble prize was given to sharpe in 1990. Forty years later CAPM is now publically used in estimating the cost of capital of the industry and evaluating the esteem to have the maximum profits from the portfolio invested in. The attractiveness in estimation of CAPM is that it offers a wide pleasing range of predictions about how to measure and ensure the risk and the relation between expected returns and risk. Unfortunately, some problems of CAPMs may reflect the theory may fails at some times, the result of many not be as per assumptions. But they may be caused by difficulties in implementation of valid tests to the model. Dan at el (2005) examine the entire associations between leverage, corporate and personal taxes, and the firms cost of equity to generate capital. Expanding the theory of Modigliani and Miller (1958, 1963), the cost of equity capital can be expressed as an impact of leverage and corporate and level taxes. The predictions that the equity cost will increase in leverage, but that corporate taxes shifts from leverage related risk premium, while the personal tax disadvantage of burden of debt reduces the profit. They examined the findings by using implied equity cost estimation system of the firms corporate tax rate and the personal tax gives a big advantage of debt. Their result suggests that the premium equity risk is linked with the profit, and if the entire profit is decreasing the corporate tax generates benefit. They also marked evidence that the premium equity risk has relations with leverage, and increase in entire profit may give a results in increased in personal tax. Rodolfo (2008) sets forth the contribution to this long lasting debate on cost of capital, firstly by introducing the multiplicative model that helps to calculate the rate of WACC. Secondly, by making adjustments in the rate of governance risk. The older approach says that the cost of capital might be calculated by means of a weighted average of debt and capital. But this is not a correct way of calculation and that might bring misappropriation, whereas the multiplicative model not only calculate the linear approximation but also the joint outcome of expected costs of debt and stock, and its proportion in the capital structure of that firm. Nevins (1967), explains in reference to Modigliani and millers discussion that how leverage can be effective and efficient to increase the entire cost of capital of the industry or the firm. He also discusses in detail that when the account is taken of risk and is ruin an increasing cost of capital is perfectly the same with little arbitrage operations. Giving ways to the chances of bankruptcy is tantamount to relax the that entire stream of operating earnings Is independent from the entire capital structure. Robert (1988), argues the effect of corporate and personal taxes on the firms optimal capital structure and financing decisions under uncertain defined conditions. It further more discussion they discussed the entire capital structure model by categorizing them entire firms important investments decisions. The results suggests that when investment was allowed to adjust optimally the existing assumptions about the relationship between investment and debt related tax shields must be changed. Secondly, they discussed that the increases in investment related tax shields changes due to corporate tax code are not necessarily linked with reductions in profits at the individual and companys level. In cross sectional analysis, firms with bigger investment tax shield. Need not to have lower debt tax shields unless all the market utilize the same mechanism. Differences in production technologies in the entire market may query questions that why the empirical results cross-sectional analysis do not meet the expectations of the researchers. Alan reviewed the financial consumption and behavior of the company to increase their profits and wealth of their existing shareholders. They mainly focuses on the impact of personal income and capital gains and taxes, and discovered that in the presence of different taxation systems of dividends and capital gains, wealth maximization does not imply maximization of firm market value and the source of equity financing is not irrelevant. The approximate cost of capital in the presence of income taxes does not depend directly on either the dividend payout rate or the tax on dividends paid. Equity shares have a market value lower than the difference between the production cost of a companys assets and the current market value of its debt obligations. Because of this capitalization, it need not be true that an economy without taking risks and uncertainty there would have no financing. The Hypothesis The detail literature review enabled us to construct the following hypothesis. H0: The firm with high debt/ equity ratio should have less cost of capital. H1: The firm with lower debt/ equity ratio should have higher cost of capital.. Research Methodology This chapter describes the methodology to investigate research problems in order to draw conclusion for the present study. Research methodology comprises of research method employed identification to the problem criteria for sample selection methods for data collection and construction for measuring instruments. It comprises of the brief description of variables and proxies used to measure those variables. It also describers research limitation and ethical concerns. 3.1 Research design and data description As stated earlier, the objective of the study is to explore the relationship between the Debt / Asset Ratio and the weighted average cost of capital. For this purpose we have targeted four companies of fertilizer sector from Pakistan into year 2010. Basically there are four companies in the Fertilizer sector listed under the roof of Karachi Stock Exchange, but three of them are selected at random. Therefore, the sample size comprises of almost cover 75% of the fertilizer sector. 3.2 Model Description As stated earlier the study has been under taken to investigate the relationship of Debt / Equity Ratio and weighted cost of capital in the industry. Following models are used to calculate the cost of capital. 3.2.1 Cost of debt The capital structure of a firm normally include the debt component. The debt may be in the form of Debentures, Bonds, Term Loans from Financial Institutions and Banks etc. The debt carries a fix rate of interest, irrespective of the profitability of the company. Because the coupon rate is fixed, the firm increases its earning through debt financing. Then after payment of fixed interest charges more surplus is available for equity shareholders, and hence EPS will increase. An important point to be remembered that dividends payable to equity shareholders and preference shareholders is an appropriation of profit, whereas the interest payable to debt is charged against profit. Therefore, any payment towards interest will reduce the profit and ultimately the companys tax liability will decrease. The phenomenon is called as tax shield. The tax shield is viewed as a benefit that accrues to the company which is geared. 3.2.2 Price Earning Method This method takes into consideration the Earning per share(EPS) and the market price of the share. It is based on the assumption that the investors capitalize the stream of future earnings of the share and the earnings of a share need not be in the form of dividend and also it need not be disbursed to the shareholders. It based on the argument that even if the earning are not disbursed as dividends, it is kept in the retained earnings and it causes future growth in the earnings of capital, the earning per share is divided by the current market price. We have selected price earning method as this method provides us the required results. Although there are various methods to calculate the cost of Equity but there are some limitations applied on them. 3.2.3 Debt / Equity Ratio The debt-to-equity ratio (D/E) is a financial ratio indicating the relative proportion of shareholders equity and debt used to raise the companys capital. It is also known as Risk, Gearing or Leverage Ratio. The two components are often taken from the firms balance sheet or statement of financial position, but the ratio may also be calculated using market values for both, if the companys debt and equity are publicly traded, or using a combination of book value for debt and market value for equity financially. =Long Term Interests Bearing Debt/ Total Equity 3.3 Companies Included in the Study Following companies are included in this study from the Fertilizer sector for detailed analysis. Fauji Fertilizer Limited. (FFC) Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited. (FFBL) Dawood Hercules Chemicals Limited. (DAWH) 3.4 Limitations of The Study Although there are various methods to calculate the Cost of Equity but there are some limitations. For instance, Gordon Growth Model cannot be applied because the firms in Pakistan do not pay dividends at perpetual constant growth rate. The other technique Capital Asset Pricing Model of calculating the Cost of Equity will create biasness due to real adjustment of inflation premium in real rate of interest to calculate the risk free rate of return. Further, the return on market portfolio requires a detailed analysis of stock returns with other financial indicators. Therefore, the study uses Price Earning Method due to availability of actual and exact data. Empirical Study Of Fertilizer Sector This chapter includes the descriptive results and detailed analysis. The detailed analysis of Fertilizer sector is given below. It includes Cost of Debt KD, Cost of Equity KE, the WACC and Debt / Equity Ratio of the three companies which fall in the fertilizer sector. Analysis The present study empirically investigates the relationship between the Weighted Average Cost Of Capital and Return On Assets. We have chosen three fertilizer companies listed in Karachi Stock Exchange. Name of Company WACC Debt/ Equity Ratio Fauji Fertilizer Limited 12.77% 24.72% Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited 9.18% 37.16% Dawood Hercules Chemicals Limited 10.98% 20.91% After the detailed analysis, the study concludes that Fauji fertilizer has low debt / equity ratio as compared to Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited and higher WACC. Which is consistent with our hypothesis that H0: The firm with high debt/ equity ratio should have less cost of capital. In the case of Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited it has higher Debt / Equity ratio as compared to Dawood Hercules. So accordingly, its WACC is less than Dawood Hercules which is consistent with our Hypothesis. Further, when we compared Dawood Hercules with Fauji Fertilizer the study concludes that, though the debt / equity ratio of Fauji Fertilizer has greater Debt / Equity Ratio than of Dawood Hercules, but the WACC of Fauji Fertilizer is higher than Dawood Hercules. Which is not favorable according to hypothesis. This conclusion leads to the conclusion that while deciding about the capital structure, the firms always do not keep in mind the optimal capital structure which is subject to the availabil ity of funds. Conclusion The present study depicts that firms always keep in mind the tax shield. They usually prefer debt due to tax shield but some firms go with the more easiest way to raise capital, and the concept of optimal capital structure is set aside. In Pakistan, the interest rates are usually high as compared to developed countries. That is why, big firms usually prefer to raise funds through equity instead of debt. Since, financial institutions offer loans to profitable firms, at low rate keeping in view their credit rating and riskiness of operations, so these firms like fertilizer companies also include debt in their capital structure. The results are constructed with the literate review concluding that there is no consensus among researchers about the level of optimal capital structure because of variation in proxies used to measure the same attribute, variation in industry norms (size, location and technology), agency cost (management ownership and competence) etc. Further, maximization of s tock return for different firms is debatable.