Thursday, October 31, 2019

Final Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Final Exam - Essay Example Although the act adds responsibility for the chief executives it benefit’s the public shareholders and protects them from unethical business transactions. The executives are placed in a position where they can easily fall prey to accidental false records or records that are misreported by someone else. Executives could find it difficult to track company spending on lower levels and ensure that all transactions are being reported. Without security, investors will not place trust in a company they do not have accurate reports on. This also gives investors the sense that rather than having their money controlled by one person, they have a say in their money and they have a right to see where the money goes and where it grows. This security encourages investors to place this money in these companies once again. 2. If someone was reading my CAT scan from halfway around the world I would have mixed feelings. I would be impressed and feel pride in the fact that we have advanced our technology enough to have the ability to accomplish something like this. I also think it would be a great way to access other opinions. If the doctors in my area are unfamiliar with certain conditions, having access to other information sources or doctors with various experience can be very positive. I might be diagnosed or healed faster if the doctor is familiar with the type of symptoms I have. It also gives the chance for medicine to grow faster as a whole with the exchange of ideas and experiences. On the other hand, if someone over there is reading my CAT scan, then someone over here is not. As long as there are qualified physicians near me who have the same level of expertise, the job should be left to them. If the doctor across the way does it cheaper, more hospitals will be inclined to hire doctors in foreign countries and our own doctors will be out of jobs or suffer significant salary decreases. If I was certain that this type of

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

You have to read the article and follow the uplode this question Assignment

You have to read the article and follow the uplode this question - Assignment Example The reference to the book Prototype of Japanese Architecture, provides fair mean of support to Reynolds’s view of legitimate claim of hierarchy by Japanese modernist. Thus, the association of Shinto shrine in Ise as a symbolic representation of imperial religious place turned into an architectural beauty for meditation; provides relevance when one observes the prevailing atheist culture of Japan. The inaccessibility to sight Shinto Shrine, made it more valuable in the political and cultural circle. Therefore, the exposure of its interior revolutionized its radiance in the political and social context and thus, it became more of a community service institute rather than a spiritual place of sanctuary. The captivating cohesive information engages the reader to read further to unravel the truth behind the change in status of the shrine. The description of modernist claims of discourse and author’s view on them regarding the significance of Japanese architectural standardization, in accord to the emerging traditions is a little confusing to comprehend ( Reynolds, p 316). Visualizing the shrines in terms of historical legacy made the article more interesting and profound. If one reads the article by keeping the past alive in their minds, it’s easy to process the change in prominence of the shrines. These historical monuments embark their significance one way or the other. Some remember them as the place where only elite class was allowed to worship and people were valued on the bases of cast and wealth. And yet, for some it has established foundation of prevailing traditions. Absorbing the details of this meticulous piece of document helped me grasp the true essence of the

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Carrolls Pyramid Of Corporate Social Responsibility Model Accounting Essay

Carrolls Pyramid Of Corporate Social Responsibility Model Accounting Essay In the past, the common perception of a business responsibility was to maximize their firms profit. This is because businesses were perceived to always put the shareholder interests first. However, businesses are moving towards impacting the socials and environments. Several research have found that businesses now have direct responsibilities to various other stakeholders which include preventing the harm of human rights and ensuring that there are solutions available if abuses occur (Smith, Wokutch, Harrington, and Dennis, 2001). The modern view of business responsibility demands companies to help in problems relating to public welfare. As firms have no utmost responsibility for these unpleasant situations, philanthropic responsibilities are still not mandatory. However, due to a decrease of social institutions that provide help to the communities, people have higher expectations towards company and believe that they should take part in filling up the shortages (Carroll, 1979). Carroll has proposed a CSR concept, which states the organizations 4 business responsibilities (i) economic, (ii) Legal, (iii) Ethical, and (iv) Discretionary (as shown in diagram 1). These four components are complementary to each other (not mutually exclusive). Diagram 1: Carrolls Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility Model Source: Chaisurivirat, 2009. The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility: Exploring the Relationship among CSR, Attitude toward the Brand, Purchase Intention, and Persuasion Knowledge. The economic and legal responsibilities are the basic and essential element in a business. There are a few researches done to further enhance the importance of these elements (Jamali and Mirshak, 2006). Basically, economic responsibility is similar to the traditional view of a business role; which is to maximize the firms profit for their shareholders. Carroll (1979) stated that business itself is an economic unit to the society. In addition, legal responsibility is where companies are required to obey the laws and regulations set by the government or respected authorities. The conventional profit-maximizing view explored in Albert Carrs article Is Business Bluffing Ethical (Velentzas and Broni, 2010). Carr stated that making money out of a product is the businesses main role. Business is said to be like a poker game, whereby organization are to play within the set of rules of the game (Carr, 1968). Those who do not comply will not be successful in their business. The duty that they had towards employees and shareholders surpasses the other moral obligation as long as it does not go against the law (Carr, 1968). Besides that, Milton Friedmans also explained that it is essential for a firm to maximize the revenues of a shareholder by overcoming all the environmental challenges (Cheers, 2011). Similarly, Friedman (1970) reemphasize that, There is one and only one social responsibility of business is to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profit so long as it stays within the rule of the game. This can be further supported by a case of Dodge v. Ford Motor Company (Cheers, 2011). The Ford founder, Henry Ford aims to provide Ford vehicle for everyone by reducing the price. The shareholders were dissatisfied and claimed that the company should not make a profit-reducing decision. Court held that firms are primarily to bring profit to the shareholders. The company should not exercise any choices which will bring disadvantage to the shareholders. However, nowadays, the perception of a business role has changed. The businesses concern should not include only the shareholders, but also other parties or entities that would be affected by the organizations action, which refers to stakeholders (Fassin, 2008). Freeman (2012) defined stakeholders as (i) people or institutions that are affected by the corporate action, practices and decisions and also (ii) those who are related to the success of the corporation. Firms are expected to transform the profit maximization mindset to trusteeships or multifiduciary stakeholders concept, whereby the business role is now to achieve balance among the stakeholders interest by avoiding doing any harm to any individuals or groups (Goodpaster and Mathews, 1982). In addition, Carroll introduced the ethical and philanthropic responsibility. Carrolls ethical aspect refers to the societys perspective of a good behavior (Carroll, 1979). Corporation must comply with the rules and regulation set while operating. Moreover, it also includes the norms or expectations which are not written in law; in other words, the moral value and rights (Carroll, 1991). Furthermore, firms are obligated to act voluntarily beyond their business scope and rational ethical acts. This is known as the philanthropic responsibility, such as organizing or participating in charity event (Carroll, 1979). Bowen (1953) mentioned that social and philanthropic responsibility would serve as a guideline for the business in the future. Nowadays, most businesses believe that they should be more social responsible towards the society and environment and hence, criticisms arises over the traditional perspective. For example, some critics disagreed that business is a game, as it is a needed component in the society. Besides that, the competitions between different businesses are involuntary, which would involve and influence many other stakeholders, such as government and local communities (Kirkpatrick, 2002). Therefore, institutions are said to be accountable to the stakeholders. They need to pay back to the society for what they have done and thus, provide reasonable explanation to the stakeholders. Accountability vs Accounting According to Blagescu, Casas, and Lloyd (2005), accountability is the processes through which an organization makes a commitment to respond to and balance the needs of stakeholders in its decision-making processes and activities, and delivers against this commitment. As mentioned before, todays corporations also have responsibilities to other stakeholders, such as the society. Therefore, corporations have the obligation to be accountable to those stakeholders (Brennan and Solomon, 2008). An accountability framework, Global Accountability Project (GAP) (as shown in diagram 2), was developed by One World Trust with a purpose of generating wider commitment to the values and principles of accountability among global organizations (Blagescu, et.al, 2005). In the case of GAR, it can be seen that they have indeed put in efforts to increase their accountability to their stakeholders, especially in relation to social and environmental aspects. Diagram 2 Global Accountability Project (GAP) Framework Source: Blagescu, Casas, and Lloyd (2005). Pathways to Accountability: The GAP Framework. According to GAP framework, there are four dimensions that are important for increasing and evaluating accountability of organizations. First is the transparency. Transparency is that stakeholder can access to credible and timely information about the organizations operations (Blagescu, et.al, 2005). To be transparent, organizations must do more than simply disclose commonly standardized information. In other words, it needs to provide more useful and needed information for the stakeholders for decision-making. Organizations should be focusing on the quality of the information disclosed, instead of the quantity (Hassan and Marston, 2010). GAR disclosed important information for their stakeholders. For example, they announce that they will partner with TFT for forest conservation while building shareholders value (Golden Agri Resources Ltd, 2011b). The second dimension is participation. It means that the organizations allow those key stakeholders to be involved in the decision-making process and activities which would influence them (Blagescu, et.al, 2005). GAR does fulfill their accountability obligation in this dimension. They have been working hard to engage with their stakeholders, such as their customer, Nestle, in order to improve the performances (Harvey, 2011). Furthermore, evaluation is another essential part of organizations accountability. It involves the evaluation and monitoring of both end results and the ongoing progress of the organizations activities (Blagescu, et.al, 2005). This dimension plays two significant roles in accountability. It reports the performances against expectations after an event in order to supply crucial information to stakeholders; it also increases accountability by learning and increasing organizational responsiveness to stakeholders (McKenna, 1983). In fact, GARs performances in relation to sustainability development are evaluated and monitored by few external independent organizations, such as Greenpeace (Harvey, 2011). Additionally, the dimension of complain and response mechanisms is for both organizations and stakeholders to seek and receive feedbacks from each other in order to increase accountability (Blagescu, et.al, 2005). For instance, GAR takes into account the responses of customers, such as Nest le (Harvey, 2011). Although the interpretations of accountability are very wide and are limited only by imagination, accountability is always found to have links with the provision and receipt of financial information in many accounting literatures (Narasimha Rao and Raghavendra, 2011). Due to the rapid climate change, undeniably, accounting and the environment are no longer mutually exclusive (Andrew, 2001). In fact, accounting had long been treated as just a technique used to provide financial information for stakeholders (Bushman and Smith, 2001). Normally, people will assume that all the accounting information is just financial. However, a modern accounting concept should also include some green issues in order to increase organizations transparency (Andrew, 2001). Besides, accounting system can also help the stakeholders in evaluating the organizational performances as it could provide them with relevant information (Perrini and Tencati, 2006). It is not surprising that accounting can actually be used to increase organizations accountability. Overall, increasing accountability is important for organizations, including GAR. GAR was required to increase their degree of accountability, especially to those external key stakeholders. This is because According to The Straits Times (2010), GAR had deforested illegally before in Indonesia. In order to meet the expectations of the stakeholders, GAR started to be committed in the conservation of forests and peatlands in Indonesia. There are two main actions taken by GAR to do so. Firstly, GAR has signed a forest-conservation agreement with TFT, a non-government organization (NGO). Also, GAR starts to disclose their social and environmental performances in annual report (Golden Agri Resources Ltd, 2011b). GAR published their inaugural sustainability report in 2011, after their illegal deforestation activity was discovered to the society (The Straits Times, 2010). All these signs indicate that GAR is bowing to the pressure from the NGOs and external stakeholders (Harvey, 2011). In fact, there are some conceptual theories which could provide an explanation for the sudden changes made by GAR. These organizational practices changes in GAR could be explained using Legitimacy Theory. This theory asserts that organizations seek to ensure that their activities and operations are perceived to be legitimate by the society and stakeholders (Deegan, 2011). Legitimate could be said as a social construct based on cultural norms for organizations behaviors (Suchman, 1995). Therefore, organizations have to be committed to the social contract between the companies and the society to gain recognition. Social contract could be roughly defined as the implicit and explicit expectations that the society has on the organizations (Deegan, 2011). In fact, failing to commit to the social contract would be perceived as not legitimate, and eventually will bring negative impacts to the companies, such as difficult to obtain resources and supports from the society to continue the operations. Thus, legitimacy is an important component for the organizations as it is considered as a precious intangible resource which organizations rely on in order to survive (ODonovan, 2002). Corporations could actually establish their legitimacy by information disclosures (Suchman, 1995). Through the disclosure of information in relation to social and environmental performance, the company would gain the societys trust. Consequently, it will be beneficial to the company in ways, such as improving companys reputation and establish competitive advantages (Porter and Kramer, 2006). As a result, GARs changes their organizational practice by starting the publication of sustainability report. Besides that, Stakeholder Theory could also be used to gain an understanding of why GAR responds to NGOs in this manner. One of the branches of Stakeholder Theory, ethical perspective, adopts a normative position; that organizations should consider the rights and interest of all the stakeholders, regardless of their powers and influences on the company (Deegan, 2011). According to Freeman and Reed (1983), stakeholders are any parties that are affected by the organizations operations. Usually, organizations would try to meet the stakeholders expectations and be accountable to them by providing and disclosing organizational information (Gray, Kouhy, and Lavers, 1995). Therefore, it is believed that this might be one of the reasons why GAR alters their organizational practice. Undeniably, bowing to the pressure from stakeholders is a good start for GAR. Committing to CSR, disclosing social and environmental performance records, and being more accountable are indeed beneficial to GAR themselves and also their stakeholders. It is also important to note that accountability and transparency are one of the essential factors in enhancing the organizations sustainability development (Global Public Policy Institute, 2005). Sustainability development is generally defined as to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). Golden-Agri Resources Ltd (GAR)s Sustainability Report Currently, there is no any legal law or regulation states that organizations have to disclose their social and environmental aspects. However, voluntary disclosures would bring favorable impacts to both internal and external stakeholders. Therefore, many corporations start making voluntary disclosures, so does GAR (Cheynel, 2012). In fact, GAR published their inaugural sustainability report for a purpose of providing the stakeholders a better understanding of the companys priorities, performances, and stakeholder engagement process (Golden Agri Resources Ltd, 2011b). GARs sustainability reports standard was assessed at application level B, based on an internationally established reporting framework (shown in diagram 3) developed by Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (Golden Agri Resources Ltd, 2011c). This framework was designed to provide organizations with a set of principles for defining report content and ensuring the quality of the reported information (Global Reporting Initiativ e, 2000). Diagram 3 Global Reporting Iniative (GRI) Framework Source: Global Reporting Initiative, Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (https://www.globalreporting.org/resourcelibrary/G3.1-Sustainability-Reporting-Guidelines.pdf) Diagram 4 Global Reportive Initiative (GRI) Principles for Reporting Source: Institut fur Wirtschaftsinformatik, GRI Principles (http://www.iwi.uni-hannover.de/upload/lv/sosem10/Seminar_SS_2010/SS10/Seminararbeit/torres/www/measuring2.html) According to the GRIs framework, there are 4 principles (Materiality, Stakeholder Inclusiveness, Sustainability Context, and Completeness) (shown in diagram 4) for defining the report content (Global Reporting Initiative, 2000). The materiality principle requires corporations to address the most important and concerning issues to their stakeholders. The major current concerning issue for GAR and their stakeholders is deforestation in Indonesia (Harvey, 2011). This is because GAR had cleared the forests illegally before in Indonesia, as mentioned before. In addition, this deforestation act is destroying the livelihood of the habitat there. The stakeholders, such as Indonesia government, local communities, and even those NGOs are therefore showing their concerns on this issue badly (Harvey, 2011). In GARs sustainability report, it focused on disclosing information about policies of preventing deforestation. For example, they state that they would have a no-deforestation footprint in In donesian rainforest by partnering with NGO, TFT to launch Forest Conservation Policy (FCP) (Golden Agri Resources Ltd, 2011b). Overall, it is believed that the report content is fairly material. Furthermore, GARs sustainability report does fulfill the principle of stakeholder inclusiveness. One of the main disclosures is their multi-stakeholder engagement process (Golden Agri Resources Ltd, 2011b). For examples, engaging NGOs, customers, and local communities to address the interests those stakeholders have in order to achieve their expectations and sustainability development. Moreover, the underlying question of a sustainability report is how organizations plan to contribute in the future to improve economic, environmental, and social developments at both local and global level (Global Reporting Initiative, 2000). This is related to the principle of sustainability context. The report discloses that GAR is committed to a holistic approach towards sustainability, as it is always looking at methods to increase productivity while reducing negative impacts on its land. One of its sustainability policies, Yield Improvement Policy (YIP), is focused on plantation management and land suitability (Global Reporting Initiative, 2000). This shows that GARs voluntary disclosures do meet the requirement of sustainability context. Besides that, the information GAR discloses includes all significant actions or events within the reporting period; which fulfills the principle of completeness. However, it can be seen in the report that data and statistics regarding to enviro nment and sustainability performances are insufficient. Furthermore, there is limited alignment between the sustainability report and overall business strategy. Lack of all these information could affect the completeness of the report (KPMG, 2008). Apart from the content aspect, the quality of the sustainability report is also an important element. Balance, comparability, timeliness, accuracy, and reliability are the 5 principles used to test the report quality (shown in diagram 4). GARs report does not really meet the balance principle as they mostly disclose favorable aspects of the organizations performance while there is lack of unfavorable results and topics. This could affect stakeholders assessment and decision making adversely. Besides that, the comparability principle is irrelevant to the report as this is the inaugural sustainability report for GAR. Therefore, it cannot be used by the stakeholders to compare with its past performance (Global Reporting Initiative, 2000). Other than these, the report does meet the accuracy and reliability principle. Qualitative statements in the report are valid only if it is based on the basis of other reported information and evidences (Global Reporting Initiative, 2000). GAR does pro vide other evidences and information to increase the accuracy and reliability of their reports. Overall, GARs sustainability report is believed to have met the reporting standard requirements set by GRI. Nevertheless, the quality of the report can be improved through the compliance of accounting standards. Accounting Standards Accounting standards (AS) are defined as a policy set by authorities such as accounting body, government or regulatory body to regulate the accounting transactions in the financial statement (The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, 2011). As globalization emerges, the business world realizes the importance of having a common standard in the financial aspect. A survey conducted by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) shows that majority of the leaders from accounting fields support the idea of having common international standards as part of economic growth (Private Company Financial Report, 2008). Thus, the International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) developed the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) (Cellucci, 2011). IFRS aims to serve as a regulation for financial reporting which can be exercised equally throughout the world (Ball, 2006). One of the advantages of IFRS is that it provides a principle-based framework with better quality. In addition, there are lesser regulation and exception as compared to the other standards such as General Accepted Accounting Principle. By adopting IFRS, a more professional judgment is being introduced which helps to reduce the risk faced by the company. There is also more transparency in the economic transactions (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2007). However, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) states that the standards in IFRS are highly inadequate compare to some accounting standards (Cellucci, 2011). For instance, the General Accepted Accounting Principle (GAAP) is considered to be the gold standard in US (Private Company Financial Report, 2008). The Staffs interpretation of GAAP includes some disclosures of environmental issues on contingent liabilities. This is to recognize the contingent losses and to acknowledge the different accounting practices and disclosure on contingent liability (Roberts, 1995). However, IASB reported that environmental issues reporting are not within the scope of IFRS (Yara C, Nelson, and Bruna, 2008). Thus, it shows that IFRS are still not compatible with other standards like GAAP in the social and environment accounting aspect (Center for Audit Quality, 2009). Besides that, there are several studies which reported that there are limitations in the role of accounting standards. This includes ensuring the reporting quality as well as the emphasis on the firms incentive in reporting (Ball, Kothari, and Robin, 1998; Ball, Robin, and Joanna, 2002; Leuz, 2003; Ball and Shivakumar, 2004). The application of the accounting standards involves significant judgments and usage of private data. Thus, substantial discretion is provided by any accounting standards to a firm. However, the quality of how the firm behaves depends on the incentive in reporting, such as the market forces and legal institutions (Daske, Hail, Leuz, and Verdi, 2008). The institutions have the right to choose the information that they want to disclose. Hence, an accounting standard for better sustainable development should meet the needs of the users by encouraging feedbacks and comments. Similarly to other accounting standards, IFRS do not record all the effect of economic action (SIGMA, 2003). For instance, externalities, such as the costs and benefit which do not affect the organization directly, are not included in the financial reports. Costs and benefit should be included to provide a better market-based decision making (SIGMA, 2003). For example, the emission of petrol will cause climate changes and air pollution. These consequences are considered as the original cost to the society in the present and future. However, these costs are not reflected in the fuel price. Positive externalities are those that would be beneficial to the society. This shows that the present accounting standard does not have sufficient regulation that enables the firms to relate to the sustainable development aspect. For a company to achieve sustainable development, one should balance the economic, social and environmental impacts in their decision-making. This includes the analysis of the positive and negative impacts of the three dimensions on policy changes, and identifying the outcomes which would benefit one party and harm the other parties as well as the proper precaution steps to minimize negative impact (Bebbington, 2000). The analysis on past principles focuses more on economic impact (Kirkpatrick, George, and Curran, 2001). Rio Principle 4 states that it is essential for environmental aspect to be integrated as part of the development process while Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) principle 3 recognized the importance of integrating the 3 dimension policy and purpose (Janeiro, 1992). Overall, the current accounting standards are inadequate in maintaining a companys sustainable development. Therefore, many efforts have been done to integrate the economic, social and environment policy. For instance, Global Reporting Initiative, the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, Global Initiative for Sustainable Rating and others have been created. This shows that our current standards are not capable to ensure companies, such as GAR, to commit to sustainability development. Hence, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) is launched to create sustainable accounting standards for the users (Deloitte, 2012). This will include the disclosures of sustainability issues which enable investors and public to have a better decision making. The SASB developed a Sustainable Industry Classification System (SICS) to create a sustainable accounting standards that suits different industry (Deloitte, 2012). As a conclusion, apart from profit maximization, organizations play a major role in the community. Organizations should also disclose social and environmental factors in their financial reports. Thus, GAR is held accountable to the Indonesian forests and peats as well as all the stakeholders. They should maintain environmental disclosure in their financial reporting for all stakeholders. However, besides GAR, the regulators and professional bodies also play a big role in ensuring organizations to be more committed to sustainable development. This can be done by creating adequate sustainable accounting standards for the organizations.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Essay --

Modernization is define as the positive connotation used to changing society through bringing technologies, productions, and better standard of living for the process of development. Modernization theory was first emerged in Europe in the seventeenth century and has more or less influence Most of the countries became modernized through using appropriate and suitable form of modernization theories in their country. An example of countries that have applied well modernization theory and have succeed in achieving modernization is Turkey, however Afghanistan the country that have failed in processing modernization during reign of King Amanullah khan. This paper will intend to provide comparative analysis of state building and modernization in Afghanistan during King Amanullah Khan Regime and Turkey during Mustafa Kamal Ataturk. It will focus on cause and effect relation between different features of both countries such as, societal structure, geo-political position, and socio-economic as cause and political development as an effect that led to failure of modernization in Afghanistan and prosperity and success in turkey. Historical Background of Afghanistan: Afghanistan is a multi-ethnic society within an olden history started from 3000 B.C. It is a landlocked country which has been considered as an entryway or coli door for most of the invaders through history. Afghanistan as a country come to an existence in 1747 by Ahmad Shah Durani who led the foundation of first Durani Empire. Ahmad Shah was able to bring together different people from different ethnic groups to work as a one nation. Afghanistan as a modern state come to existence in the 19th century whereas this was the time when other countries in Asia, Africa, and Middle East w... ...started modernization process he faced opposition from a large number of uneducated people. Since he could not built schools or education institutions due to lack of luxury, people did not have the ability to understand and analyze his processes and became against him. Harrison has mentioned four stages of Barrington Moore’s theory of modernization the book of â€Å"the sociology of modernization and Development†. According to Barrington the first theory is â€Å"Organic Evolutionary mode†, the second is â€Å"conservative modernization†. Third one is â€Å"evolutionary modernization, and the last theory is â€Å"industrialization by formal and informal colonization†. If we apply the mentioned theories inAmanullah’s reforms the second one can be perfectly applicable, since Amanullah khan used led state modernization from top to down which can likely cause the society to upraise against it Essay -- Modernization is define as the positive connotation used to changing society through bringing technologies, productions, and better standard of living for the process of development. Modernization theory was first emerged in Europe in the seventeenth century and has more or less influence Most of the countries became modernized through using appropriate and suitable form of modernization theories in their country. An example of countries that have applied well modernization theory and have succeed in achieving modernization is Turkey, however Afghanistan the country that have failed in processing modernization during reign of King Amanullah khan. This paper will intend to provide comparative analysis of state building and modernization in Afghanistan during King Amanullah Khan Regime and Turkey during Mustafa Kamal Ataturk. It will focus on cause and effect relation between different features of both countries such as, societal structure, geo-political position, and socio-economic as cause and political development as an effect that led to failure of modernization in Afghanistan and prosperity and success in turkey. Historical Background of Afghanistan: Afghanistan is a multi-ethnic society within an olden history started from 3000 B.C. It is a landlocked country which has been considered as an entryway or coli door for most of the invaders through history. Afghanistan as a country come to an existence in 1747 by Ahmad Shah Durani who led the foundation of first Durani Empire. Ahmad Shah was able to bring together different people from different ethnic groups to work as a one nation. Afghanistan as a modern state come to existence in the 19th century whereas this was the time when other countries in Asia, Africa, and Middle East w... ...started modernization process he faced opposition from a large number of uneducated people. Since he could not built schools or education institutions due to lack of luxury, people did not have the ability to understand and analyze his processes and became against him. Harrison has mentioned four stages of Barrington Moore’s theory of modernization the book of â€Å"the sociology of modernization and Development†. According to Barrington the first theory is â€Å"Organic Evolutionary mode†, the second is â€Å"conservative modernization†. Third one is â€Å"evolutionary modernization, and the last theory is â€Å"industrialization by formal and informal colonization†. If we apply the mentioned theories inAmanullah’s reforms the second one can be perfectly applicable, since Amanullah khan used led state modernization from top to down which can likely cause the society to upraise against it

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Global Consumer Product

Bibliography Executive Summary Global Consumer Products Company, a well-established company decided to launch a new product range. That is Baby Soap ranges. Suddenly they identified a need of a Brand Manager for this product ranges. And decided to recruit a person externally. Since this was not pre-planned and the company is in a hurry to introduce their new product to the market, the recruitment and selection process was carried out within a very period of time.There were several major mistakes in the advertisement they repaper in order to publish on the newspaper. The company had failed to include the Job Description, Job Specification and a description about the company. Hence the advertisement was unable to attract enough number of candidates. Somehow they managed to select number of people to call for the initial interview. Marketing Manager and the HRS Manager were supposed to carry out this interview. But this was placed on the exact date on which the company had its monthly B oard meeting.Since it is mandatory for these two responsible managers to attend to that the interview was done hurriedly and selected two candidates for the last interview. As the CEO and the Marketing director had to participate in an exhibition through which their target was to create new customers for their new product, they are hoping to launch in the near future, the last interview took place but late. Mr.. Anton was selected as the Brand Manager. In the first week he was supposed to give an induction to make him familiar with the company and the Job. But he had to involve in the business activities from first day onwards.He was asked to come up with a strategic plan for branding no sooner he came. He didn't have proper knowledge and kills and also didn't have time to study the branding architecture of the new products. So the branding strategy and the action plan he brought was not successful when compared with the rival firms. And the product proved to be a failure from the v ery beginning. Mr.. Anton understood that his level of competency and technical knowledge was under the required level and hence he was denominated. Since the company target couldn't be achieved whole branding group was denominated. As a result Mr..Matron's probationary period was extended. That is the overall summary of the case study to be analyzed. Analysis: Issues involved in the case. Global Consumer Products Company (GAP), had planned a strategy to launch a new product range. (Baby Soap Ranges). Planning a new product is a long term procedure. Hence identifying the Manpower requirement in order to carry out the plan must be done along with the product planning. Because it is a part of the product launch. Failure to do so resulted in several issues including product being failed in the market. Key issues identified are discussed below. 1.Poor HRS Planning The key reason for all the issues discussed here is poor HRS planning. The GAP Company failed to identify the HRS requiremen t for the post of Band Manager, when they were planning the new product. This post can be considered a critical post, to which selecting a person is very difficult. Because, they are going to introduce a new product, I. E. Baby soap range to the market. In Sir Lankan context, the market for the baby soap is almost saturated with both local and imported baby soap products. Mostly the brands are now inculcated in customers and hence it is difficult to creep into this market and create an own brand.But knowing that, still deciding upon to launch this product, company is taking a huge risk. They need ample of marketing campaigns and plans and ways of making the brand familiar to the customers and create a new customer segment. It is, the brand manager who has the responsibility to work it out. Therefore company should recruit a person with vast experience and knowledge regarding Marketing and Branding of products. The study states that Mr.. Anton does not have the required level of expe rience and competencies to do it. But this was found out later.Required Brand Manager must have to have the enough competencies and skills plus a good understating about the industry and the monitors in order to create a very strong branding strategy to grab the market. He must have the talent to create a brand strategy which makes the product popular among the target customer segment. Since the company was in a rush to hire a Brand Manager within very short period of time, they didn't have enough time to create a suitable Job Description and a Job Specification to publish in the newspaper. Job Description describes the Job.The responsibilities, duties assigned to the Job, etc. Whereas Job Specification the type of person you wish to hire. His qualifications, skills knowledge and, competencies. Etc. This is yet again, another adverse result of poor HRS Planning. 2. Mistakes in the Advertisement The company was in such a hurry to hire a Brand Manager; they didn't give much of an atte ntion to create a professional attractive advertisement. The advertisement appeared on the newspaper was suffering from absence of several vital information such as Job Description, Job Specification and details about the company.After Effects: The company was failed to attract enough number of candidates. The cost incurred in the advertising was in vain, because the company made a wrong selection ultimately. Most suitable candidates have not applied for the post because of the lack of information provided. Study clearly says that because of the careless mistakes done by the company when doing the advertisement, their expectation on getting a pool of candidates was not fulfilled. Only very few applied, and among them there wasn't a single C.V. that will fit into the Job well.Since they have incurred a cost, and it is and extra cost plus a time consuming process to correct the mistakes and advertise again and get another round of C.v., they have decided to proceed further with the re ceived C.v.. 3. Mistakes and Failures in the Interview Process Marketing Manager and the HRS Manager once shortlist the available C.v. and called for interviews. Another mistake they did was, without checking the company's schedule, they placed the date of the interview.As a result they have scheduled the interviews on the exact date of monthly Board meeting was supposed to take place. Initial interview is the first time the candidates and employers met physically. Hence the interview should be well organized properly planned and should be done with a greater care. Because, we have to select a person who has the skills, knowledge, experience, and also the right attitude towards the Job and the company. Each and every candidate should be given same attention and same questions and evaluated on a fair manner.Since both the interviewers were in hurry to participate in the monthly Board meeting, which also has a similar importance, there is a question whether they did the interview acco rdingly. They were under a pressure to finish off the interview as soon as possible to present at the meeting. Questions arising with regard to this improper interview session: Were all the candidates given same time eroded? Were all the candidates asked same questions and in the same sequence? Were the candidates given enough time to describe themselves and give information?Were candidates being questioned stressing on the subject matter? (I. E. Were they asked questions relating to the post of Brand Manager, so as to get an idea regarding whether he/she has the capacity to work as the brand manager) Were candidates given time to ask questions about the company and the Job post? (Since the advertisement doesn't provide information enough, candidates must have questions ND doubts to clarify) Did interviewers pay attention on the candidates' behavior, non-verbal communication etc? Interviewer should have a free mind to interview people and observe them closely.They were in a hurry to go to the board meeting. Therefore they did the interview without paying much of an attention and interest. Still they managed to select 2 candidates for the final interview. They might have missed more competent candidates while they rush through the interview. 4. No Induction program Once a candidate is hired to any company, it is an essential aspect to give him/ her n induction program. Through that the new employee familiarizes to the company culture, and to the department he has to work plus introduce him to other employees with whom he/she has to work.Then he can get a better knowledge about the nature of the Job he has to perform, his peers, subordinates and superiors. In this case, GAP Company didn't give Mr.. Anton an induction to make him familiar with company's systems and processes. Instead he was directly put into his Job and was expected to work as there were lots of requests to the new product. At least he was not given knowledge about the new product range the compa ny is expecting to launch in the future, or the requests and demand placed on the product by the external parties. Even Mr.. Anton was not informed about the market company tried to create by visiting the exhibition.Correctly speaking Mr.. Anton should have been selected before the exhibition, so that he could have participated in it. Because, every decision was taken without his knowledge, and participation prior to his arrival. As the Brand Manager he must be a part of the decision making process as far as this new product is concerned. 5. Poor Performance of Mr.. Anton Mr.. Anton was not familiar with the systems and processes of the company. Also he does not have a good knowledge about the Job he has to perform, because as soon as he was employed, directly put into the Job.Then, with no time he was asked to develop a branding strategy for the new products range. Mr.. Anton faced a huge problem here. Because he did not have expected level of knowledge and experience in Strategic Management initiatives. He didn't have adequate time to study the Branding architecture of the new product. He has not exposed to such experience in his previous Job. He didn't have time to study the nature of competitors the company has to compete with, so that he could have created a Branding Strategy and an action plan to bring out their products.Therefore it is reasonable and natural that the strategy and action plan he created being failed. This made him understand that he is not suitable to this position. Especially he understood that he does not have the expected knowledge and experience to perform as the Brand Manager, Sometimes he had to listen to his subordinates when it comes to technical areas of the Job role. 6. Product fails in the market Ultimate result was the product range couldn't compete with the well establish rivals and it was at a failure. Branding team was not lead by a powerful manager, therefore in latter part hardly branding activity took place.Hence employ ees were denominated. They couldn't achieve the given targets. GAP lost the contacts the company managed to create in the beginning, and lost the market share. 7. Poor HRS practices in GAP All above issues created because of the poor HRS practices of the company. Even though it was not clearly mentioned in the text, the way they acted in recruiting Mr.. Anton implies that. HRS department has failed to fulfill certain duties and responsibilities placed on them. The whole process of recruiting, selecting and induction was not planned at all.HRS department had not planned for future HRS needs in the company. Didn't plan the Interview process properly. 1 . JDK and AS must be prepared carefully clearly mentioning the type of person and the nature of the Job he has to perform. 2. When advertising in public media, HRS division must be more responsible to make sure that every information is provided. 3. Scheduling the date of interview must be done without clashing with other programs n the company. Recruited employees must be given a proper induction. Evaluating the performance of the new employees.Had the HRS division done so the performance of Mr.. Anton as the Brand Manager, they could have identified the problem facing by Mr.. Anton. The issue could have been addressed earlier than this. Recommendations Mr.. Anton is employed as a permanent employee to this company, he cannot be terminate purely based on his poor performance. As the first step, company can arrange a proper training and development session for Mr.. Anton to give him an opportunity to enhance his knowledge on branding. It will help him to develop his technical competency required in his Job.Proper training will take some time for him to gain the expected level of skills and competencies, but still the company has to do it as there is no replacement and it was company's fault of providing insufficient information and recruiting the wring person. Another recommendation is to hire an external professi onal temporarily to develop a stronger strategy to relocate the product and reenter into the market freshly. This is costly option but still as the company has invested a huge amount on this new product and hence the opportunity cost is very high, company cannot discontinue the operations.And can make Mr.. Anton work under the hired external professional for some time. This will be an excellent on the Job training to him. When considering the situational factors, hiring an external professional to the company is a very good short term solution. The company can monitor the performance level of Mr.. Anton. If he shows improvements in the Job then the company can continue to keep him as the Brand Manager. The marketing team should implement some attractive and string marketing campaigns to reenter to the market. A very aggressive alternative is also is available.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Ifrs Impairment of Assets

Intangibles and Impairment of Assets Learn | Consult | Research Intangibles †¢ Identifiable non-monetary asset without physical substance †¢ IAS 38 prescribes special criteria for an asset to be recognized as intangible asset †¢ Tangible or intangible must meet the criteria of asset to be recognized – Controlled by entity as a result of past event – Probable future economic inflow (revenue or cost saving) Recognition †¢ Must meet the definition of asset †¢ Must meet criteria set by IAS 38 – Cost of asset reliably measured – Probable economic inflow Recognized at cost!! Recognition – Internally generated The standard states that expenditure on internally generated brands, mastheads, publishing titles, customer lists and items similar in substance are not recognized as intangible assets (because they cannot be distinguished from the cost of developing the business as a whole). †¢ Similarly, start-up, training, advertising , promotional, relocation and reorganisation costs are all recognised as expenses. Purchased Intangibles †¢ If value of an intangible can not be valued reliably, while purchasing a company, include the value as a part of goodwill A special note on goodwill †¢ Inherent goodwill Vs Purchased goodwill How is it different? – Balancing figure – Cant be sold as a separate asset Research and Development †¢ Research – Initial investigation done to acquire new scientific knowledge or understanding †¢ Development – Application of research findings to design a new product or improve an existing system of product before production R&D treatment †¢ Write-off Research expenses †¢ Development expenses – Capitalize if following conditions met – Technical feasibility – Intention and ability to make, use or sell – Economic feasibility – market for the product/usefulness – Expenditures attributable to d evelopment reliably measured Initial recognition Eg. development expenditure The PIRATE criteria – Recognition Subsequent recognition †¢ Cost model or Revaluation model Revaluation Model †¢ If the revaluation model is followed, the revaluation must be fair value at date of revaluation by reference to an active market. – An active market is a market where all of the following conditions exist: †¢ The items traded are homogenous, †¢ Willing buyers and sellers can normally be found at any time †¢ Prices are available to the public. Amortization and impairment †¢ If useful life is fixed amortize Straight line with zero residual value – Start amortization once asset is ready to use †¢ If useful life is not fixed, test for impairment – Atleast annually (IAS 36) Impairment of Assets †¢ The focus of IAS 36 †¢ Impairment occurs when the carrying value (NBV) exceeds the recoverable amount The Recoverable Amount †¢ The cost or spending on an asse t can be recovered in two ways 1. By selling it 2. By using it †¢ So the recoverable amount is either the value we get from selling an asset (the fair value) or the value we get by using the asset (value in use) Recoverable Amount The FV less cost to sell †¢ FV is determined by; A binding agreement to sell – Current market prices (if active market exists) †¢ Less any selling expenses Value in use †¢ Estimate the future cash flows (inflows and outflows) resulting from the use of the asset and ultimately its disposal †¢ Apply suitable discount rate to come with a PV of future cash flows. †¢ Financing cost and taxes not included Impairment Review †¢ Calculate the carrying value †¢ Calculate the recoverable amount as higher of: – Fair Value less cost to sell – Value in use (PV of future cash flows) †¢ If CV>RV, then report impairment otherwise leave it as it is Reporting an impairment Impairment losses must be recognized i. e. the asset written down to its recoverable amount †¢ Impairment losses are generally charged to I/S †¢ If asset has been revalued, charge to revaluation reserve until exhausted, than to I/S. Page 246 Page 246 Indicators of impairment †¢ External sources – Significant decline in market value of the asset – Significant changes with an adverse effect on the entity in the technological, market, economic or legal environment in which the entity operates – Increased market interest rates or other market rates of return affecting discount rates and thus reducing value in use Indicators of impairment †¢ Internal sources – Evidence of obsolescence or physical damage. – Significant changes with an adverse effect on the entity including: †¢ the asset becoming idle †¢ plans to discontinue or restructure an operation to which the asset belongs †¢ Plans to dispose of it earlier than expected †¢ reassessing the useful life of an asset as finite rather than indefinite – Internal evidence available that asset performance will be worse than expected.