Retailing in China

Therefore, the aim of the present study is to work out a high-level plan of successful localization trainees. By analyzing the status quo of Chinese retail market and the current situation of transnational retailers in China (including the case study of Careful), this paper explores how consumer behavior, culture and government roles can affect the localization strategy and creates a list of formats for successful localization strategies. The paper proceeds in four sections.First, the concept of retailing localization (3 layers of localization) is Introduced as an antidote to the deficiencies of the prevailing study approaches to transnational retailing. One background sections hen follow. While the first part charts the status quo of Chinese retailing market and the rapid growth of transnational retailing, the second profiles the opportunities and threats transnational retailers face in the process of localization.Then, by studying the case of Careful (China), the strategy analysis of localization in China for transnational retailers is profiled, including the analysis of the 3 layers of localization – namely localizing the strengths, localizing the products and operational system (ups) and localizing management and corporate cultural (PEP). Finally, the wider implications of this study for transnational retailers in the process of localization are put forward in the concluding section. 1. Introduction 1. 1 The Problem and the Study Objective Admit it or not, the relationship between transnational giant retailers and China has become a love-hate one.On one hand, China Is virtually any retailer's largest opportunity for growth In the 21 SST century. With its booming economy, fast growing domestic markets and untapped talent base, China offers massive business opportunities and great strategic importance for retail companies all over the world. A large and growing consumer base of 1. Billion people. National retail sales reached some 837$ billion in 2005 with an increase of 12. 9% over 2004 It is estimated that national retail sales will exceed some 1250$ billion in 2010. Source: http://www. Showbiz. Com. CNN/ SMS. PH? Org=show=33431 =l On the other, China's unique cultural, business, and political environments pose significant challenges to transnational retailing operations that require a high degree of localization. Based on the fact that the localization of retailing Is much more complicated and comprehensive than other Industries, retailers usually find themselves puzzled and bewildered 1 n China. Indeed, many retailers have fallen prey to these challenges in the past 10 years AT operations In canal toners nave Eden unrolling extreme narrators In ten process of localization.The concrete causes of their problems vary. However, one common underlying characteristic is that they all, to some extent, failed to conduct successful localization strategies. The initial objective of this paper is to look at the problems retailers have en countered and explore the flaws in their localization strategies. The present study has one more objective: to work out a solution to a racial problem about how the transnational retailers can deal with the socio- cultural differences in China and conduct successful localization strategies.On the surface, these challenges appear difficult to overcome; yet, when we study the case of the multinational retailing corporations operating in China today, it is evident that some have achieved exceptional success based on their well-developed localization strategies. The experiences of these successful companies can be mined to create a list of formats which can help diagnose localization blunders of transnational retailers in China. Thanks to my internship experience with Chuan as Sale Management Trainee, I have been able to investigate retailing operations as an insider and had more profound understanding on this study. . 2 Current Study The uniqueness of Chinese retail market and the high demand of localization for retailing industry both in degree and content, make the research on the localization of transnational retailers in China an extremely interesting and meaningful one. While many previous researches have been focused on the localization of transnational corporations, only a few have explored the localizing strategies of retailing operation. Therefore, it is not an easy task to study the localization of retailing operations.However, by referring to those previous studies in relating fields, I have been able to explore deeper about this subject. The study of this paper is based on a mixture of primary and secondary sources. This material is supported by critical examination of longitudinal data from annual reports, company documents, as well as scientific work of business magazines and web site. 2. Localization 2. 1 The Definition of Localization When a company conducts global expansion, it is surely to be involved into the process of communication with local customers.It is therefore necessary for the company to get familiar with local culture, to study different customs, and to make proper adjustments to their strategies according to the varied response of customers. The executive of Careful once said 2 when doing market research in China that, â€Å"A store is a miniature of the country or city it locates in, so it should be adapted to the local environment. † There are many definitions on localization from different angles. Some of them are based on cultural and linguistic context, some focus merely on localizing the products.However, as for he definition of retailing localization which is a highly territory-embedded process, more practical and multidimensional view is required. Definition based on culture context According to the Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA), localization Involves: ‘alkali a product Ana making It linguistically Ana culturally appropriate to the target locale where it will be used and sold. ‘ 2. 3 Three Layers of Localization for Transnational Retailing 2. 31 Two Misconceptions of Localization A. When talking about localization, people usually focus merely on product or service.Nevertheless, a successful localization strategy for retailing is much more complicated and comprehensive, including also the localization of operating system , management system ,even corporate culture and business ideas. B. A very important aspect of localization is usually ignored, that is, to bring in and localize the advantageous strengths of giant retailers. To retain their core values and stick to their distinct features are the requirements of localization for transnational retailers. In other words, localization and sticking to their uniqueness or strengths never contradict with each other.Instead, a sound localization occurs under the precondition that the strengths are maintained and enhanced during the process of development and adjustment. 2. 32 Layer 1 : to Localize the Strength of Giant Retailers A. Strength of giant retailers When talking about the localizing of strengths, it is significant to identify the strengths of giant retailers in the first place. Giant retailers have achieved great success in the world market largely because of the competitive advantages developed over decades of operation. Indeed, marketing and distribution expertise adds value at foreign-owned detailing stores.For Chinese consumers in particular, who are increasingly conscious about food safety and hygiene and getting sick with the environment of traditional Chinese markets, transnational retailers offer greater reassurance and a wider choice than traditional markets. ‘Compared with a Chinese supermarket, the service is better, the choice is wider, the food is fresher and they provide shuttle buses,' said Yang Shaping, a retired woman who spends about 100 Yuan during her weekly shopping trip to Wall-Mart. (The Guardian, 25/3/2006) The strengths of giant retai lers are listed as follows: a.Abundant capital, their scale, a stable flow of finance and rapid turnover b. Advanced technology and advanced distribution, logistics systems c. Advanced marketing and management experience 3 d. Well-established global competitiveness, corporate image and culture B. Three phases of localize the strength While it is important to note that transnational giant retailer have their strengths , more attention should be paid to the localization of these strength due to the fact that no business idea or system can achieve success by simply copying unless they are made suitable to the local market environment.Wall-Mart's Cam's Club is a good case in point: The most important feature of Cam's Club is that it is located in the countryside. It has achieved great success in the United States, however, it turns out to be a total failure in the Chinese market because only a small proportion of Chinese people own private cars. What's worse, the transportation system i n China is far from well-developed. Consequently, city dwellers have difficult access to Cam's Club located far away from their home. Realizing this problem, Wall-Mart soon decides to open stores in the cities to accommodate itself to the Chinese market.To localize the strength, the first step is to bring in advanced technology and management system to a foreign market for that is exactly winner ten AAA value Lies In. I en Toweling step Is to accost tense strengths to certain economic and cultural environments. Next, after localization reaches certain degree, hopefully, this strength can be further developed. 2. 33 Layer 2: to Localize Product and Operational System According to Farley dictionary, retailing is the functions and activities involved in the sale of goods and services to consumers for their personal, family, or household use.It is obvious that retailing as an industry has intense communication with consumers, the service retailers offer is, by large extent, to provide c ustomers with products they need. Due to different culture, custom, demographics, different group of people in different region have varied tastes over products. Therefore, retailers have to make careful investigation and analysis into consumer behavior and preference in order to enhance consumer satisfactory. A thorough localization strategy in product structure is critical to transnational retailers.As for sourcing, localizing the sourcing in local economy enable transnational retailers to meet needs of local customers and reduce delivery cost. Top retailers have come up with a series of advanced business modes and operation system during long time of operating experience. But this modes and system should be integrated into and modified with local environment and uniqueness, as explained above in the elaboration of the first layer of localization. 4 3. Retailing Transnational in China 3. The Status Quo of Chinese Retail Environment Like everything else in China these days, the cha nge of retail market is at a spectacular speed and on a scale the world has never seen before. It is already one of the fastest expansions in retail history, but analysts say it could get faster as international giants race for territory in a $billion retail market that is growing at a double-digit pace. The domestic supermarket leader is Baling, with nearly 2 000 stores, and the foreign legion is led by Careful, which has 70 hypermarkets, eight supermarkets and more than 100 discount shops.Wall-Mart currently has 56 megastars mostly in the southeast with about 30 000 employees. But even after it opens 20 more stores this year, its sales are unlikely to enter the top 10 of China's major retailers. Germany's Metro is the No. 4 foreign player, with 24 stores and another 40 within five years. Foreign investment has formerly been focused in Shanghai, Beijing, Sheen and other large eastern cities. But, as a sign of the growing power of Chinese consumption, many of the new shops are being opened in smaller cities. 3. Opportunity and Threat Analysis 3. 21 Opportunities for Retailing Transnational There is no shortage of incentives for foreign retailers in China. For many Chinese people, price is no longer the priority. Foreign retailers are also Telling It sealers to set up snoops Decease many restrictions n overseas firms were lifted in 2004 under China's World Trade Organization commitments. A. The largest consumer market With a population of 1. 3 billion and massive markets, China is attracting intense interest from the world as a consumer market.Over the past 20 years, retail sales in China have Jumped nearly 15% annually, to some $837 billion in 2005 making it the third-largest market on earth. The average annual income of China's 1. 3 billion people is less than $1 500. But the middle class is growing fast particularly in eastern cities and it has enough disposable income to start focusing on brand, safety, quality and taste. Consumer demand for modern shopping environment Since the mid sass, the high demand for modern shopping environments in China has been growing due to the rapid economic growth and rising levels of affluence. And consumer expectations have shot up even faster.Accompanied by the increase of purchasing power in China since then, both traditional supermarkets and department stores were not be able to meet the requirements of one-stop 5 shopping and shopping as leisure. Just a few years ago, most Chinese were content to line up in state-owned stores to buy whatever meager products were available, ND then shuffle off to unsanitary outdoor markets for meat, eggs, and vegetables. Now both local chains and the multinationals are pushing out the stodgy old state retailers and mom-and-pop shops by building big, convenient stores in central locations in Beijing, Shanghai, and Gunshot.Huge mass retailers emerged by providing customers with a great variety of goods at low cost and one-stop shopping. Therefore, it is undoubted a go lden time for retailers to enter a market that shows great assurance to them. For example, Macro from the Netherlands first entered Taiwan and quickly captured more than 30% market share in 1989. B. The change of policy from a protectionist orientation toward liberalizing In keeping with the conditions for China's membership in the World Trade Organization, Beijing on Deck. 1, 2004 lifted most restrictions on foreign retailers. Gone are limits on the number of stores, rules confining them to large cities, and regulations capping the foreigners' stake in local ventures at 65%. C. Regional advantages of Chinese market Cheep and sufficient labor resources: with its vast population, China is always able to provide transnational retailers with abundant labor force which requires relatively low ages. Moreover, Chinese employees are far more reliable than their counterpart in the host countries of international giant retailers.Cheap merchandises: the cost of many products in China is much less than in developed countries because of the cheap labor, which allows transnational retailers to make reasonable sourcing decisions both in China and the world. 3. 22 Threats for Retailing Transnational Given all the opportunities presented by China's growth, many NC retailers are eager to gain access to this market. The country unique traditions, history, culture, and overspent policies, altogether mean that doing business in China can be a complicated and time-consuming undertaking.Foreign retailers interested in gaining access to China face lots of challenges which they must attempt to solve or they will turn away. A. Intense competition from both transnational and domestic companies Competition from transnational companies There has always being fierce competition Detente gallant retailers In ten essences market; no one wants to De lagged Denver. As Tiff Gill, senior manager of the Kurt Salmon Associates Consultancy said, ‘All the big players are engaged in a turf war. It is about being first and getting as much coverage in as many cities as possible.This is a period of very aggressive growth. We are bordering the top end of the curve. But there is a possibility that investment could grow even faster. ‘(The Guardian, March 25, 2006) Many U. S. And foreign retailers are accelerating their investments in China, spurred by further easing of government restrictions and the allure of the world's fastest-growing consumer market. These giant retailers are engaging in fierce competition, opening many new stores in order to take advantage of the high rates of growth in this segment of the detail market 6 B is also pushing hard.The British firm's owner, Kingfisher, plans to increase the number of its stores in China from 49 to 100 by 2010. Kea has also caught the expansion bug. For several years, it has had only two superstores in China, but it plans to open two a year from now on. Competition from Chinese domestic companies Chinese sellers have the edge over foreign rivals, strengthening their presence more rapidly at lower expenditures. Their understanding of the local market and well-developed sales networks enable domestic retailers to respond more quickly and react more flexibly to market changes.With the foreigners attacking their home turf, Chinese retailers are fighting back. Take China Resources Enterprise Ltd. , which operates more than 1,700 supermarkets and hypermarkets, including China Resources Vanguard stores for example, the retailer has trimmed its staff to boost profitability, and has sought to improve management by raiding the foreign chains. Today nearly half of the middle and senior managers in Acre's retail unit used to work at foreign-owned stores. Those foreign-trained managers have brought in marketing expertise.For instance, to build brand loyalty, CREE rewards frequent shoppers with discounts, and the company has lolled out more than 60 private-label products, including bottled water, shampoo, and bod y lotion. And CREE is moving upscale. The company this year expects to open four â€Å"lifestyle† stores offering higher-end products. Plans call for an additional 20 such stores within three years. Chinese government's ultimate goal is to create a dozen or so big local players that will be strong enough to compete with the multinationals at home and expand overseas.It is not possible for the Chinese government to allow foreign retailers to take the dominant position in the Chinese market. B. Diversified consumer behavior Chinese people have their own unique characteristics, considerably different from, sometimes contrary to, that of Westerners. Consequently, Chinese consumers have their unique buying behavior, buying motive, their preference on merchandise and taste on design etc. Therefore, the marketing strategy to penetrate Chinese market should be tailored to these Chinese characteristics. Unique Chinese characteristics * Chinese adapted to catering to authority and to h armonize with others. Chinese have more interest In unman Telling Ana mementos than clientele or logical concerns. In terms AT KICK read, literary books rate more highly than scientific books, compared with westerners. 2003:128-161) Chinese culture is built on trust, relationships, and mutual respect. * Negotiations are normally bottom-up and informal. (Comfort, J. 2001 : 23-26) *The concept of face' is very important Avoiding action that could be perceived as anti-china, coercive, or condescending. Chinese purchasing behavior and recent trends * The Chinese display a strong suspicion of cheap products combined with a desire for bargains.The typical Chinese shopper engages in habitual comparison shopping rather than 7 impulse buying, typified by the saying, ‘Never make a purchase until you have compared three shops. ‘ Nevertheless, shoppers quickly snap up items perceived to be bargains. * Generally speaking, Chinese are fickle customers with little brand loyalty. (Kate- if, lee 2003: 10-13) When selecting purchases, the Chinese tend to attach more importance to the reputation of the item among the community they belong to, such as colleagues, friends, neighbors than to the performance of the goods or how well they suit their lifestyle.Thus, penetration of all communities is important for successful marketing in China. * Laying great emphasis on freshness f food: * There are also numerous new trends for Chinese consumer, which makes it difficult for overseas retailers to sensor and follow. A. Being increasingly conscious about food health and hygiene b. Issues of obesity and nutrition amongst children are also of increasing concern. Double-digit growth in the fast food and snack industries, changing lifestyles and a uniquely Chinese legacy – the one child policy -? are key drivers. C.Concerns focused on environment, safety have accelerated in the wake of CARS, avian flu and widespread pollution, prompting a wider consciousness about product s afety – from ice cream to I-pods. And, while perhaps sporadic and not yet conscious, a linkage between consumer rights and wider environmental concerns is beginning to emerge. D. While still evolving, the expression of consumer rights in China marks an important stage on the road to a greater collective social conscience, which, for so long, has opted to be quietly oppressed by those in authority. 4. Localizing the Strength Giant retailers have all establish a prestige during long time of operation. Yet, in China they may encounter unexpected situation result from the uniqueness of Chinese market. Consequently, retailers should be clear about what detergents can remain effective and what should be changed and localized. While Careful draws on its network system in its global operations (e. G. For certain IT and logistical systems), most aspects of its activities are strategically localized to meet the specific characteristics and needs of the Chinese market and its business, political and consumer cultures.Generally speaking, the key success factors for Careful, which are applied worldwide, are: one-stop shopping, extremely low prices, full range of choices, self-service, and free parking. These factors can be viewed as the strength of Careful. To remain competitive in China, Careful bought in these strengths with her, adopting flexible two-stage philosophy to localize her long-established strength and achieve stable growth. At the 1st stage, to enable branch stores to smoothly operate as fast as possible and to maintain high turnover.Meanwhile, to decentralized authority of set-up branches to link with community development that Totally leads ten Increases AT local tax, employment Ana Turner proselytes AT communities, Careful decides to set up a new store after the investigations of location, store space and neighboring purchasing power. For example, she built a whole-selling or green store in industrial region and a general retailing or blue store in residential ones in Taiwan. By adopting this strategy, Careful could capture both big and 8 small accounts in one shot and then grow much faster than her rivals in the early stage of market entry.At the 2nd stage, Careful focuses on customers, personnel training and market channels. She gradually enhances service quality, product innovation and emphasizes personnel cultivation. Frenchmen take the positions of top-level management constantly to infuse management philosophy of ‘serve customers' and ‘action orientation' into each store overseas. When walk into any stores of Careful, you will see many staff walk around to replenish stocks all the time. The manager in charge of a store also wanders around the store once it is open.Careful further adopts strategic alliances to develop private label products to supply more offerings so as to meet the needs of one-stop shopping of Chinese people. At the same time, utilizing the system of commerce automation to centralize the pur chasing matters of all stores, Careful could coordinate orderings, stock management and data processing for better control and decision-making. . 33 Public Relation In China, the localization of relation is the core of strategic localization. Chinese people pay special attention to the harmony of community.To deal with ‘relation' in China is a matter of delicacy to transnational retailers because, for one thing, the relation-business pattern is very much different from their operation in western countries; for another, it is essential to their success in the Chinese market. The most successful retailing companies have been willing to exchange short-term profits for long-term success, short-term employee productivity for long-term employee development, and short-term expedience for long-term government trust. Relation with government As a special Chinese characteristic, good government relationship is very important for companies.The government is not only a major consumer (gov ernment procurement) , but it is also the main policy maker and opinion leader. Learning how government works and how to establish good relationships is a critical step. A foreign company that is considered a friend o government will be granted favors such as a heads-up on legislation changes or inside advice on how to do business. Conversely, a company that is deemed unfriendly will suffer consequences such as negative comments about its products or passage of laws that exclude it from doing certain business.Getting on the wrong side of a key government agency can be disastrous. Interestingly, Carouser's relationship with the Chinese government is a love-hate one. She has made full use of the loopholes in government regulation to dominate the Chinese market, while at the same promoting employment and improving living standard. Relation with Partners Careful is good at choosing and maintaining local partners. She is always n seek of experienced local retailers actively and establish ing cooperation with them to get Tambala to ten local market as soon as poss. Ole Ana gain support In sourcing, human resources. 9 5.Conclusion Further Implications for transnational retailers operating overseas Improving crisis management capacity When operating in foreign country, retailers are always confronted with problems. What transnational retailers need to do is to improve crisis management capacity. Take Wall-Mart's bean curd crisis for example, instead of responding to the problem actively, it remained science long before giving a suitable explanation, which had ruined its image in Gudgeon seriously. When facing crisis, it is important to make quick response because silence may be interpreted as being indifferent and irresponsible by local consumers.Then, active investigations should be carried out immediately to find the causes. Finally, the existing problems need to be solved as soon as possible. Shaping humane culture That most retailers prefer on- going promotions to attract new customers and retain old ones is totally different from everyday low price and no price promotion practices of Wall-Mart. An open and tolerating culture of Wall-Mart could endure over time because managements treat employees as their associates. They show respect to each other and share both profit and knowledge that lead to the creation of a harmony organizational climate.Therefore, companies ought to develop themselves not as a workplace but a learning institution with the culture of caring and sharing. Combining sales channels Retailers could combine sales channels of physical stores and virtual ones to widen their accessibility to potential customers. The virtual shops could not only increase attention sales, but also accumulate market information for further investigation. Regarding localization as a two-way process Localization needs to be read as a potentially two-way process that is not simply about the transnational retailers adapting themselves to specific mark et conditions.Certain retail formats and technologies developed in particular contexts may then be diffused to other country operations, including the home market. Samsung-Tests, for example, has developed an IT system that has subsequently been rolled-out across the company, and is currently home to a ‘global' team working on e-commerce technology. The emergence of China will be the single most important economic event in the next decade. Along with it will come tremendous business opportunities, a large pool of talent, and many powerful companies.The stakes are high for retailing company. If it fails, another company or product could become a Chinese national standard, its products could be excluded from government procurement, and its image could be destroyed. If it succeeds, it stands to gain sustainable and predictable profitability, win-win partnerships with the Chinese government and companies, and great employees from a pool of amazing talent. This paper describes a hi gh-level plan of how to achieve this success by localization in China, by learning from other companies' success and failures.First, a company must localize 10 Localization strategy AT Remonstration Retailers In c in 3 layers. Then, these strategies should be adapted to unique Chinese characteristics. In addition, giant retailers needs to improve crisis management capacity, shape humane culture, and develop greater information system. By carrying out the proposed strategy of localization, retailing companies can realize their potential in China by assisting China to realize her potential in the 21st century. 11

Gamestop Analysis

There are a lot of companies worth investing in around the country and the world. An investor cannot simply put his money into a company without doing some research beforehand. Using ratios, balance sheets, income sheets, and other financial information, a potential investor has a lot of resources to use to ensure a good investment is made. Considering the financials of each company can be reviewed from year to year, a potential investor is able to research trends from year to year of whatever company they might want to invest in.Based on my general knowledge of the gaming industry, I would consider investing in GameStop because gaming seems to be a booming industry. With all of the commercials on television for new releases, new consoles being developed every couple of years, and even competition gaming it seems that this industry is going to continue to climb. Since GameStop specializes in this industry and no other, I would consider it a safe investment even without doing any rese arch on the company. GameStop is a small retailer that specializes in video game hardware and software.The company also runs Kongregate, which is an online browser based game website allowing players to play smaller games. Kongregate makes its money using micro transactions, which are smaller transactions within the games. GameStop sells new and used hardware and software games on console, and also sells new computer based games as well. GameStop has over 6,500 actual locations spread throughout multiple countries along with a website through which more business is conducted. It is a leader in the gaming industry and is ranked 262 on the Fortune 500 list.Its main competitors are retail giants such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy who sell the same blockbuster titles as well. A horizontal analysis of the company shows the following for three years ending January 2011. GameStop Income Statement Year Ending200920102011 Sales100%100%100% Cost of Sales74. 2%73. 2%73. 2% Gross Profit25. 8%26. 8%2 6. 8% Operating Expenses7. 7%7. 4%7. 4% Income before tax7. 2%6. 5%6. 6% Income taxes2. 7%2. 4%2. 3% Net income4. 5%4. 1%4. 3% The horizontal analysis is important when researching any company because it compares the company’s numbers side by side for two or more financial periods.Basically, you can look over multiple years once the analysis is put together and see where the company has improved and declined, and whether or not the profits have gone up or down from year to year. In the example of GameStop, we can see that gross profit increased slightly from 2009 into 2010 and stayed at the same number going into 2011. The horizontal analysis is the quickest way to look at the trends from year to year when you want to see a high level overview of a company, and deciding whether it warrants more research or not.Over the past few years GameStop has shown a small drop in their net income, which would indicate the trouble the economy has been having over those years. The cost of goods did decrease while gross profits increased each year, which means they were able to acquire goods for less and sell for more. This shows that their pre-owned game sales likely increased due to the economy. Operating costs did drop slightly going into 2010 and maintained the same cost going into 2011, which means they did not put much more into their operations, but it also means they were probably unable to find a way to cut costs.This can be difficult if they rent because some places have a fixed amount of rent while others may rise and lower depending on realty in the various areas. The current ratio for GameStop year ending 2010 was 1. 28 whereas the year ending 2011 dropped to 1. 23. This seems to indicate that that the company’s ability to pay all of its short term liabilities fell slightly. This could indicate a drop in assets or even that the company reinvested in expanding its operations.Because the ratio dropped over the course of the two years does not necessa rily mean that the company is not still in good standing, there are many things that could affect the ratio. From the balance sheets, it looks like the assets did not increase as much as the current liabilities, meaning operations could have been expanded while sales fell, or even that business slowed down and operational expenses could have increased. Overall, GameStop’s assets did increase from 2010 into 2011 while the liabilities decreased slightly. The quick ratio showed a slight decrease from 0. 5 in 2010 to 0. 51 in 2011. This appears to be mainly caused by a rise in inventory that was not able to be sold by the end of the year. At the year end of 2010 the company’s inventory was marked at 1,052. 6 million dollars, and at year end in 2011 it was marked at 1,257. 5 million dollars. Sales of new hardware fell from 2010 into 2011 because no new systems were released. The sales declined from 2009 into 2011 by 140. 2 million dollars, which would account for the compan y’s quick ratio declining between the two years. GameStop’s gross profit for new hardware actually increased by 7. % going into 2011 which would indicate that there were drops in the cost of the new hardware. There was actually an increase in the fiscal year of 2011 of 4. 4%, which would indicate that even with the lower numbers the company actually did better for the previous year. The cash to current liabilities ratio also dropped slightly from 0. 55 in 2010 to 0. 41 in 2011, which simply indicates a small drop in liquid assets that GameStop has available. After looking at the balance sheet between 2010 and 2011, the company had a significantly smaller amount of cash on hand which can explain the drop.This does not mean that GameStop is doing any worse as there are several explanations for this. If a company has too much cash on hand, it can mean that they are not expanding their business or trying to reinvest in the company to try to earn more revenue. Most companie s will not keep a lot of cash on hand, so the cash to current liabilities ratio should not be given too much weight when considering an investment. After looking through the company’s financials, it seems that all of the numbers here are essentially straight forward. I do not see anything outside of normal reporting and a typical year that would cause the numbers o be either inflated or deflated within the year end reports. The company’s assets barely rose between 2010 and 2011 and there was almost an equal fall on the liabilities which helped keep the company somewhat balanced. Based on the most recent numbers, it seems that GameStop had less assets on hand that could be considered liquid. This is likely due to the increased inventory on hand that was not sold during the fiscal year. Even though the company technically had more assets, less of it was considered liquid because it was in inventory, less current assets, a drop in intangible assets, and a rise in current liabilities.GameStop went from 1,655. 7 million in 2010 up to 1,747. 8 million in 2011. The factor that made up the bulk of this difference was accounts payable, which indicates that there were probably loans taken out to cover the expansion of the company. Since the only real direct competitors of GameStop are giant retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart, they probably have more liquid assets available. GameStop does not have much in the way of liquid assets because they are still working on expanding even more. Between 2010 and 2011, total store numbers increased from 6,450 to 6,670.This is why cash and liquid assets are lower in 2011, because the company has been expanding and working on building more revenue up. It seems that GameStop is continuing to reinvest in itself by expanding and making the company available to more consumers. I think that GameStop would be a good company to invest in, and I would personally make some sort of investment if I had the resources to do so. From what I can gather by looking at the balance sheet, sales have steadily increased over the past few years and the company has been expanding.Since GameStop is working toward expanding and improving its business, it is a safe assumption that revenue should increase in the future, especially when new consoles are eventually introduced into the market from Microsoft and Sony. The only risk that I see with GameStop is that their liquid assets seem to be decreasing from year to year, at least in the past few years. This is probably mostly due to an increase in buildings, property, fixtures, and the hiring of new employees to work in the new locations.If they keep expanding and the profit margin keeps shrinking it will come to the point where the company starts losing money. I would really suggest waiting at least a quarter to see if trends improve and advising to invest if the profit did increase over that quarter. Doing the research on a company you are considering investing in is compl etely worth the time required to do a thorough analysis of the company. Once the research has been completed, you will be able to make a fair analysis of the company simply utilizing information available provided by whatever company you are investigating.By running a horizontal and ratio comparison, a company’s financial portfolio becomes almost transparent and trends, profits, losses, and expansion can all be seen at the top level view. References: GameStop. (2011) About GameStop. In News from GameStop. Retrieved November 1, 2012, from http://news. gamestop. com/about_us Gamestop. (2011) Annual Reports. In GameStop Corporate Information. Retrieved November 1, 2012, from http://phx. corporate-ir. net/phoenix. zhtml? c=130125&p=irol-reportsannual Walther. (2012). Principles of Accounting: Volume IÂ  (1st ed. ). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc

Apush DBQ Essay

From 1875 to 1900, there was a new kind of city in America, one that was based on industry, and industry needs workers. The factories needed hundreds of workers to run machinery and other processes in manufacturing, but these workers were not treated properly and they wanted to do something to improve the way that they were treated. The organized labor, although it showed some minor successes, was overall very unsuccessful in improving the position of workers from 1875-1900, because the actions of the unions were mostly unsuccessful, and the results of the strikes were very unsuccessful. The demographics of unions from 1875 to 1900 were mostly unsuccessful in improving the position of workers because they caused people to see them as a group of radicals, such as Anarchists or Socialists. One example of a group that was seen as Socialist were the Knights of Labor who worked to gain rights for the workers through legislation, and also believed in Arbitration. As seen in Document F, the Knights of Labor was one of the spoons that contributed to mixing the â€Å"Labor Interest Broth.† The Knights of Labor was considered one of the groups that led to the failure of unions because there were too many unions with too many different views and they were unable to get anything accomplished. Another group that was considered unsuccessful was the IWW. The IWW was a union chalked full of Wobblies, immigrants, blacks, and what people considered â€Å"radicals.† Document C shows that the public was accusing the unions of sucombing to communism saying that they barred a â€Å"red flag† against the United States. The IWW was full of workers who were chasing after the idea of communism, thinking that it would give them the rights that they wanted, but Document C shows that cutting open the duck to get the â€Å"golden eggs† wouldn’t show you any profit, it has to stay alive for it to lay more eggs, just like the government would have to continue the way it is for the people to gain any of the working rights  that they wanted. However, some of these unions showed successes, such as the AFL, which ended up being the only union left at this time, because they achieved a functioning Craft union and Samuel Gompers was allowed to speak to the House of Representatives which had actually formed a committee to deal with the problems with the working conditions, as seen in Document I. However, this testimony by Samuel Gompers was not until 1899, which was at the very end of the push for improving the position of workers and did not hav e much success. Overall, the unions from 1875 to 1900 who were working to improve the position of workers were mostly unsuccessful. Additionally, the strikes that occurred from 1875 to 1900, such as the Great Railroad Strike and the Homestead strike, were overall very unsuccessful due to the fact that these groups lost support because of the violence and job loss that came from their failures. There were also other strikes that occurred at this time such as the Pullman Palace Car Co. strike, where the Pullman workers boycotted and burned railroads cars, however there was an injunction and railroads traffic continued despite their efforts. However, the more infamous strikes, the Great Railroad Strike and the Homestead strike, had much greater consequences. The Homestead strike occurred at the Homestead plant in Pennsylvania when the steel workers were upset about how wages were being set because Carnegie and Frick wouldn’t negotiate. The Homestead Union was upset because Frick said that everyone had to become non-union and then proceeded to initiate lockout, and also brought in the Pinkertons for security. He also tried to bring in barges of scabs with the Pinkertons, but the workers broke into the factory and stopped them from coming in, which ended in a battle. Although the steel workers won this battle it was overall very unsuccessful because the steel union broke apart and all they lost a lot of support from the people because this strike was so violent, and also lost all their jobs. As seen in Document G, the list of the people who died during this strike showed a lot of workers from the Homestead plant, which again attributes to the fact that the strikes bring violence and death. Secondly, the largest strike to occur in the United States at this time was the Great Railroad Strike. The Great RR strike involved the workers of the B&O railroad who were upset because of wage cuts, extended trains without adding workers, and also cutting the time that  they had to finish their railroad. The workers decided to go on strike and refused to let the trains run. There were violent conflicts with the militia and riots all throughout the United States, and President Hayes was prompted to intervene. He used the constitutional concept that the national government had the right to regulate interstate commerce, and the railroads were involved with commerce. The media was also not in favor of this strikes which is possible to see in Document B, as was common for any strike tha t occurred during this time. In the end, the railroads started running again and the workers did not end up getting the rights that they had been asking for and learned that mob/violence was an ineffective way to work towards their rights. Although the strike resulted in the formation of the ICC and the creation of Labor Day, they were overall very unsuccessful. In conclusion, unions, which in their part were mostly unsuccessful, and also strikes which were very unsuccessful, the organized labor, was in all very unsuccessful in improving the position of workers from 1875-1900 due to their multiple failures in both categories.

Movie and book review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Movie and book review - Essay Example In this case, the researcher would like to make a comparative essay critically analyzing the main arguments that were forwarded both by the film â€Å"Freedom Riders† and the book â€Å"The Struggle for Black Equality, 1954-1992.† The researcher would try to identify not only the main thesis of these narratives, but as well as how the authors and the producers of both of these narratives perceived the civil rights movement, which is considered as one of the most important chapters of black history in the United States. What was the point of view of the producer of the film and the author of the book? Are both of these narratives objectives? What are the different biases that these narratives carried? How these narratives do build their arguments, and was it enough to actually persuade both their viewers and their readers? These are just some fop the question that the researcher of this paper would like to find out. The film â€Å"Freedom Riders† This film, produc ed by CBS, actually tried to depict the civil rights movement through the eyes of a group of racially diverse American citizens that rode a bus in order to violate the segregation policies that was being implemented by the inherently racist Southern States (Crook n. p.). Describing the different experiences that was undergone by the participants in that bus ride, the documentary argued that a peaceful campaign for racial equality, when done persuasively and with sheer determination, could overcome even the most violent resistance put up (Crook n. p.). The producers of this film supported this argument by showing the experience of the said bus ride, wherein those â€Å"Freedom Fighters† â€Å"willfully but peacefully violate(d) the segregationist policies routinely enforced in restaurants, bus depots and restroom facilities† (Crook n. p.). In this case, even though the first bus ride project failed because of the violence that was inflicted by the inherently racist Klan members in the racist Deep South, these â€Å"Freedom Fighters† still pursued on and made a second bus ride, reasoning that by not doing so a â€Å"message would have been sent that you could stop a (peaceful) campaign by inflicting massive violence, and it would have been really hard to overcome that message† (Crook n. p.). Of course, the producers of this movie viewed the civil rights movement from the point of view of those â€Å"Freedom Fighters,† putting emphasis on their important contribution to end racism in the racist region of the United States. However, despite having this point of view, the documentary was relatively objective, putting emphasis on the first hand experience of the actual participants in the said event. Given that the documentary presented first-hand, eyewitness accounts, the researcher thinks that the producers have put up a solid backing to their arguments, despite having some biases against the racial segregationist, which was view ed as malice and a rotten part of American society. In this case, the researcher believes that this narrative is very persuasive in forwarding its argument. The

Violence and Aggression in Human Behavior Essay

Violence and Aggression in Human Behavior - Essay Example Hate crimes and their etiology will be next to explored. Then domestic violence, examining one theory that explains the power dynamics between couples and how these dynamics cause couples violence. Black men, who are more violent than other groups, will next be explored, in the context of the sociological reasons for their violent behavior. Lastly, the way that violence is learned will be explained. Joran van der Sloot savagely attacks a woman with a baseball bat, leaves her dead body and takes off. Ted Bundy kills a multitude of women over a long period of time. Hitler. Charles Manson. John Wayne Gacy. Jeffrey Dahmer. Jack the Ripper. These are just a few of the infamous names that have become household over the years. What causes these men to kill? Is it sociological, psychological, neurological, or all of the above? Jonathan Pincus, MD and Dorothy Lewis, MD theorize that violent criminals are made through a combination of neurological damage, psychiatric illness and abuse. This underlying pathology is the cause of all kinds of killers – one-time killers, serial killers, rage killers and killers who dissociate. Roy Hazelwood, an FBI profiler, contends that killers are disorganized or organized, the disorganized being the one-time rage killers, the organized being the stereotypical serial killer. These causes point to individualistic, psychological, neurological and abu se causes. There are other factors that cause violence as well, sociological causes. Hate is one of these – when individuals stereotype, scapegoat and dehumanize whole groups of people, hate-related violence ensues. Blacks suffer a disproportionate amount of violence, and the causes for this is sociological as well. Violence is learned through cultural expectations, television exposure and through witnessing violence at home. Domestic violence is caused through complex power dynamics between couples. This paper reviews just some of the theories for all types of

Scope management (project management) Case Study

Scope management (project management) - Case Study Example This is because an incomplete requirement cannot be functionally expected and useful to users. A well communicating requirement is also expected to be clear. By this, it is important to do the writing in plain language that is easy for any person to read and deduce meaning from them. What is more, consistence is needed for effective communication. By consistency, reference is being made to the need to ensure that the requirements do not deviate from a course that has already been started (quote). This is because once there is no consistency, the validity of the requirement becomes suspected. It is also important to ensure that the requirement has enough control. First, proper control is gained when the requirement is well chosen with its content. What this means is that the requirements must not have what can easily be excluded included in it. It should also be possible to trace every point under the requirements if the requirement can gain the needed control as chaseable. Still unde r control, those making the requirements ought to factor the need to seek every form of certification needed. Finally, the construction of the requirement must be well factored. Here, it is expected that the project having the requirement must have such as a scope that can be considered as achievable and feasible (quote). It is when this happens that the requirement can be said to be credible. Lastly, the requirements must be clean by defining only logical structure and decisions about physical design (Coley Consulting Group). There are a number of common problems faced when writing requirements. Hooks and Kristin (1) noted that most project managers have had four major challenges or problems with their requirement. The first of this has to do with selecting what should be included so that the requirements will be seen as needful. The second problem has to do with

Discussion question Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 7

Discussion question - Assignment Example The model looks to the safety of patients, and their care as far as health coordination system is concerned. It also oversees the provision of self-management skills to the patients (Stellefson, Dipnarine & Stopka, 2013). The chronic care model is being used to care for diabetes patients in the United States in the basic care setting. The model is supposed to measure the indicators of the disease for example self-efficacy for disease management and clinical decision-making. It is designed address the needs of people suffering from chronic diseases. Stellefson, Dipnarine and Stopka (2013) insist that there is a need for increased skills in the management of chronic diseases. And more so in the primary care setting where there is much need for a better leadership and quality caregiving and also improved practice. Advanced Practice Nurses are well suited in this area because they have skills and can address the nature of chronic diseases that require complex

Information Managment Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Information Managment - Case Study Example However, these retailing powerhouses have weaker market presence in areas where Pamida is located thus creating a competitive, first entrant and first mover advantage for the company. (Porter, 1985) ShopKo has implemented a systems application called Markdown Optimizer in order to deal with pricing of a product according to season, store location, local tastes and past demand. The software analyzes historical pricing plus sales data in order to control and price product leftovers of individual stores. Pamida overhauled its inventory management systems in order to address product shortage from its different stores. It has implemented a full service distribution system in three warehouse locations. Initially, the company experienced setbacks and low earnings caused by the implementation of the new distribution system. This was due to a inappropriate allocation of resources where Pamida focused on new technology infrastructures and new merchandising software without modernizing their back-door operations. The warehouse management system was old, inflexible and outdated. The functionalities and features of the software were not anymore aligned to the new business strategy and it cannot cope up with the growth of the company's demand. The company normalized its distribution operations when it has utilized and employed a better and flexible distribution system software. Results and Business Benefits The ShopKo operations have benefited a lot from the new application. The Markdown Optimizer increased the gross margin and decreased its payroll costs from the previous year. Importantly, it has dramatically decreased the percentage of unsold goods at the end of each season. With these benefits, the net profit of ShopKo has increased. On the other hand, Pamida performed well by maintaining a high in-stock availability of merchandise through effective warehousing, efficient distribution and modernized information systems. At the end of 2001, Pamida has turned around its operational setbacks and implemented a functional full service distribution system.. They had become successful such that the company has decided to consolidate its distribution at two centers instead of three to further save on costs. Key Learnings Information systems strategies should be aligned with the business strategy of a company. It must not focus on modernization of infrastructures alone. It is important for IS to give value to the company and compliment the business goals. As part of strategic management, information system's role in the decision making process has become very important in the organization. It functions both as support and driver of corporate strategies.(Pearlson, 2001) An effective information system needs a valuable and useful symbiosis with the rest of the management structures in an organization.(Turban et al, 1999) Case 2: What Happened to Kmart Background Kmart was the largest discount chain in the retail industry. It was established in 1962 and has expanded to 63 stores at the end of 1963 through their introduction of discount stores.

Business law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 4

Business law - Essay Example The statutes are significant because they provide flexibility to the written constitution of a country and empower the government to introduce legislations to effectively meet the challenges of the evolving time. There are two types of statute: General Public acts which are applicable to people across the board; and Private acts which are confined to particular place, organization or group of individuals. In the contemporary times, decentralization of power has become necessary for effective administration. Therefore, the parliament often empowers local government and agencies to introduce rules appropriate or suited to particular set of local conditions. This is generally made possible through ‘enabling’ Acts of the Parliament. These Acts of Parliament create a broad framework of reforms for the local bodies to enact their own rules, best suited for the local conditions. The rules enacted through such delegation of powers to the local bodies are known as ‘Statutory Instruments’. The Statutory instruments can be challenged by the Parliament or even repealed if not found reasonable. The parliament has the overall control over the Statutory Instruments. The legal rules, which are made by judges on the basis of doctrines that have been in existence for more than 700 years, come under the precincts of ‘Common Laws’ (LLS1). These laws are neither enacted in the parliament nor were made by the delegated legislation of the local authorities but primarily developed over a period of time and adopted by the judges as such from the statements of principles from the earlier court cases. These common laws have justified their existence by successfully facilitating resolution of disputes in the areas that have seen maximum conflicts of interests in the life of the general public. Though common laws can be seen in almost all areas of

Select ONE theme presented on the module. Explain why you think this Essay

Select ONE theme presented on the module. Explain why you think this theme is important in organisational life using examples fr - Essay Example Therefore, experts argue that although work has various beneficial attributes, it may have negative influences on the workforce and overall productivity of the organization. Both the adverse and negative impacts of work are closely associated with the private life of workers. While work life may influence private life, the contrary is true, as well. Private life experiences can also affect work in either adverse or positive manner. The discussion will investigate the benefits of balancing between private and work life in the profitability of the organization and workers’ satisfaction and comfort. Discussion It is most rational to consider that various employees strive towards attaining happiness, better health and productive private and work lives. To increases, the probability of attaining satisfaction, privates and work live must be stabilized, (Lewis, Brannen and Nilsen, 2009, p. 48). Work and private life balance is a subset of private life and work life equilibrium and su ggests that employees are satisfied in both aspects of life. Private and work life interface is mainly explained as a circle of social tasks, which are linked to these crucial life aspects. It is rather obvious that attaining equilibrium amid these diverse life aspects reflects a progressive and complex effort. The outcome of these efforts is a vibrant stability that entails managing challenges, stress or constraints within the work and private life context, (Schulz, 2010, p. 50). A different perspective of looking at the situation is to consider the stability between the two aspects as a result of managing private life-work challenges. Work-life stability implies sustaining effective and healthy workstation that allows workforce to strike a balance between employments responsibilities and private tasks, and thus reinforce worker allegiance and productivity, (Lomas, 2005, p. 63). Sociological studies reveal that two in eight workers experience increased levels of struggle between pr ivate and work life oriented on private life-to-work interruption and parental constraint. If task burden is added, then more than 62% of workers interviewed suffer private life and work struggles. Of all the employment aspects that affect family-work challenge, the number of hours spend in the office is the extensive and most persistent aspect, (Drobnic? and Guille?n, 2011, p 45). The increased levels of work to life challenges reported by administrators and executives often are a production of their prolonged stay in the offices. Additional factors include security of job, managers or supervisors’ support, ambiguity or complexity of work role, work dissatisfaction and enormous utilization of communication techniques, which shapes the precincts between private life and work. In the modern world, today, employees have various conflicting roles like work, kids, household chores volunteering activities, aged and kin parent attention and mounts stress on people, societies and fa milies where people live. Similarly, these private life obligations and commitments mount stress on the overall commitment to work responsibilities and production of an organization, (Grossman and Chester, 1990, p. 82). In other words, work-family challenge is an adverse limitation that affects employees, their supervisors or managers,

Saudi Arabia's political future in the region Research Paper

Saudi Arabia's political future in the region - Research Paper Example There have been a number of uprisings which in actual fact led to the brining down of 3 Arab leaders, whereas others have been threatened and introduced to a whole new historic period of transformation (Agence France Press 56). These events painted one of the significant features of modern Arab societies which include their huge and growing youth populations. Studies have been undertaken from time to time, indicating the extent which the youth in Arab countries influence the political, social and economic future of the Arab countries (Alexander 87). This is what forms basis in this paper, Saudi Arabia’s Political future in the region. On the other hand, the events of the precedent historical developments in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, Morocco and even Oman highlight the advancing position of the youth in shaping the future of this region (Alexander 96). It is therefore evident that Saudi Arabia is facing the Arab Awakening which is strong enough to shift the regions political central force from an old generation of dictators to a new and young generation of democratic leaders. And without warning, the youth of Saudi Arabia are in the fore front more than willing to shape and change the political future of their own country. It is evident that the young people and the entire population of old people in Saudi express a lot of patriotism for King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz for the reason that he is largely perceived as a religious, compassionately and a person who has good interests for the people of Saudi at heart (Schanzer 111). A large number of King Abdulaziz subjects show admiration to his reformist standpoint for instance in various fields like education and the rights of women. Whereas the good regards may not go further than to everybody in the administrative royal family, the political framework of Saudi obtains prevalent and well known authority among Saudis which includes the youth. In March 2011, a call on social media for Saudiâ⠂¬â„¢s â€Å"Day of Rage† was evident. As a matter of fact, this occurred several weeks subsequent to the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had been thrown out and anxiety in the region was becoming apparent (Alexander 96). However, on the day that the rage was to take center stage, journalists in Riyadh were able to capture only one protestor in the town of five million people. In the real sense there are a number of reasons behind this evident change of mind or lack of interest in the rage anymore. Firstly, there was an intensive police presence which entailed use of helicopters in the Riyadh streets that particular day. Secondly, the government is known to deal severely with those who resist its injunctions or go against/criticize its rules further subjecting them to illogical arrest and long-serving detention (Lynch 43). For instance the â€Å"Day of Rage’s single protester, a forty year old teacher Khalid Al Johani was put to detention moments subsequent to his pu blic declaration to journalists that Saudi Arabia is a â€Å"police state†. Several months soon after, Al Johani was jailed with no charges 4 months (Lynch 43). On the other hand a cluster of a dozen reformist and activists in Jeddah who were deliberating on coming up with a political party, that is prohibited in the Kingdom, were lately sentenced to long serving prison terms of up to thirty years subsequent to undisclosed trial charges,

Competency Goal Functional Areas Essay Example for Free

Competency Goal Functional Areas Essay To establish and maintain a safe, healthy learning environment. I keep children healthy by monitoring their health daily. I ask if they have any boo boos and if so how they got them and I put them on a daily health list, I also do this by carefully observing children, watching for signs of illness, making sure immunizations are up to date. I also keep children healthy by keeping the room clean. Children are informed and able to make good decisions on how to stay healthy like washing hands after going to the bathroom, blowing their nose or coughing into their hands, when we come in from outside and before after lunch. I also keep children safe by creating and environment where children gain the knowledge that allows then to make appropriate choices. I make sure activities are safe and developmentally appropriate. The children are encouraging to make good choices by having discussions, giving lessons, and reading books that talk about safety issues I try to create a fun and safe environment where children can learn and grow. I provide and age appropriate environment for the children. I do this by preparing a weekly lesson plan, providing activities for children of all developmental levels. I have activities that are for inside the classrooms which are for gross motor skills such as bean bags, musical instruments, dance music, and all sizes of blocks. I also have fine motor activities, such as large and small beads to string, Lego’s, locking flowers, stencils, scissors, crayon and markers. I also allow time for the children to practice writing skills like their names and letters also to draw beautiful pictures. Competency Goal 1 Functional Area 1: Safe In order to help provide an environment which is safe for the children in my care, I do the following to prevent and reduce injuries: I keep all cleaning supplies and chemicals locked up and out of the children’s reach, to avoid poisoning or other injuries. I am also certified in First Aid and CPR which give me the knowledge to handle any injuries or accidents. I am familiar with the classroom and center emergency evacuation procedures in case of a fire or other emergency. I maintain an easily accessible and current list of emergency numbers and also all the parent numbers. I inspect all toys and equipment, frequently throughout the day to ensure that they are safe for use. I teach safe use of playground equipment. Functional Area 2: Healthy In order to provide and environment that promotes health, and prevents illness and which teaches children about good nutrition and practices that promotes wellness, I do the following: I keep the toys and the rooms clean. I wash my hands and wear gloves before and after handling food. I wear gloves if and when children need help when going to the bathroom, cleaning their noses; in order not spread germs. I also teach the children how to wash their hands after using the bathroom, wiping their nose, coming in from outside, while letting them know how important, it is to washing their hands. I also follow centers’ policies for sick children to prevent other illnesses from spreading throughout the center. I also read books about health care and talk about going to the Doctor and Dentist. I also share the importance of healthy foods like fruits and vegetables.

Impact of Ash Cloud on British Airways

Impact of Ash Cloud on British Airways INTRODUCTION Purpose: The purpose of this project was to analyse a current issue that has affected the current hospitality industry drastically. In the recent scenario, natural disaster has been seen to put a major impact on major hospitality industry .The main purpose of the task was to choose a situation of unavoidable circumstances, which could be either terrorism or natural calamity, that organisations have faced recently, and provide a solution of the situation recently faced. Scope: While investigating the current scenario, it was important to focus on the operation and functions of the company and how these operations got affected due these particular circumstances Method: The method used in this task, was through information gathered, mainly from the secondary sources such as business magazines and articles and some old news papers. Secondary sources came out to be very helpful in gathering the customer reviews and staff reviews who were affected by these circumstances Limitation: As every project work has some limitation. As an author, it would be imperative to mention the limitation of this task .The main limitation of the task was relying only on the secondary sources of the information as primary sources were meant to be more confidential by the company. I would consider this as a limitation as it is a belief that secondary sources always have some differences with the primary one. LITERATURE REVIEW By Peter Apps LONDON | Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:58pm EDT European fuel cost of jet marked degree of difference to ICE-traded gas oil contract went down to $ 0.50 on Thursday and $ 48 a metric ton on Friday. But forecasters said the enduring price effect would be least once flights recommence; most of the airline purchase is done through long-standing contracts. European gas, oil, gas electricity production is unexpected to be affected. Some PLANES FROM THE OIL RIGS COMMENCED ,BUT THE SOURCES SAID THAT THE IMPACT OF SOLAR POWER WOULD BE MORE RATHER THAN THE CLOUDS THAT ARE PASSING BY.ACCORDING SOURCES OF THE WIND INDUSTRY SAID THAT COLD DUST WOULD NOT CREATE PROBLEM FOR THE WIND TURBINES  · IMPACT ON HELTH World Health Organization warned the ash could create problems for them, who have breathing difficulties, though it did not still had assessed this sort of specific eruption. A respiratory disease Scottish expert said to Reuters that the less poisonous DUST THOSE WER DRIFTING AROUND UK WAS LESS LIKELY TO DO ANY BIG HARM BECAUSE TO HARM PEOPLE ,THE QUANTITY SHOULD BE EXTRA AGRICULTURAL AND CLIMATE IMPACT Scientists SAID THAT THIS ERUPTION DID NOT SEEM TO HAVE CREATED ANY MASSIVE DUST THAT WOULD IMPACT PEOPLE OR FARMING,BUT THEY WER BIT CONCERNED THAT A BIGGER ERUPTION FROM KATLA VOLCANOE WOULD BE DIFFERENT THING ALTOGETHER By Andrew Torchia) By Andrew Torchia) Near about 17,000 planes were LIKELY to be STOPPED FROM FLYING on Friday, with airdromes clogged across much of subcontinent. Shares in airlines fell between 2 to 4 percent. Ryanair said it may cancel planes to and from north European countries till GMT 1200 on Monday. The interruption is costing air industry in excess of $200 million a day, (Fraport AG), that operates Germanys major airport in Frankfurt, states its primary estimate was for the dust ash to incur it between 2.5 to 3 million Euros a day. Icelands position means the flare-up could prompt broader disturbances to international aeroplanes. Iceland falls in the right on one of the crucial routes between USA and the Europe and as per meteorological circumstances it might also affect aeroplanes from Europe to Asia, thats why there are 2 big global flows which might be affected by this, as said by John Strickland, who is director of consultancy of air transport( JLS Consulting). There could be still disturbances to other planes or might have to go for more indirect routes, which increases costs and maybe even require flights to land as it would not be possible to go through direct route. ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTS Eurostar, that runs from London to other European continent, said railways were running at full capacity and it may lay extra trains if required. A taxi company of London Addison Lee said it took requests for travels to European cities Milan, Paris, Salzburg, Zurich and in Austria. IMPACT ON AIR CARGO Landed CARGO PLANES HAD TO STOP DELIVERY of stuffs such as microchips, vegetation and mails. Europes major express delivery dfirm Deutsche said it had to switch to roadways wherever it was possible. Clicking to sea cargoes would be an alternative for longer deliveries, though not for less life items such as flowers, but ship forecasters said it would probably take more days before companies started booking again by marine. Pharmaceutical equipment in particular is frequently transported by airway, but specialist forecasters said there were plenty stocks, therefore there should be no bigger shortages for that time. ENERGY JBC Energys replica for Europe jet fuel utilization puts daily expenditure at 1.17 million barrels in a day, so presuming an approximate 80 percent of Europes aerodromes were close for 48 hours, the interruption would have cut 1.87 mn barrels in demand Some demands may just vanish and those who have to fly will ultimately fly, but there will certainly be some planes that just dont take place, as said by JBC Energy fuel forecaster David Wech. european oil prices of jet went dowm from $48 to $50.50 on thursday ,but the analyst told that future impact would only be less and as soon as the fligths will resume ,it will do fast recovery. ACCORDING TO THE SOURCES FULES AND GAS PRICES WERE LESS LIKELY TO SUFFER.ALSO THE SOURCES SAID THAT SMALL HELICOPTERS COMING AND GOING FROM THE OIL RIGS ALSO COMMENCED IMPACT ON INSURANCE Airlines are believed to have less recourse to insurance companies. Most of the airlines are nor insured next to cancellations nor commerce trouble at aerodromes. Munich Re said it might offer cessation insurance to air companies if essential. Till now there hasnt been any demand in market, as said by a spokeswoman.Perhaps that will change at this time. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63F65A20100416?feedType=RSSsp=true Iceland volcano Ash cloud: airline passengers face further misery    Image  1  of  5 The cloud has caused massive disruption to European airspace.  Photo: AP Iceland volcano Ash cloud: airline passengers face further misery    Image  1  of  5 Passengers face further disruption as airlines struggled to change flight plans.  Photo: AFP/GETTY Iceland volcano Ash cloud: airline passengers face further misery    Image  1  of  5 They receieved good news, however, after the High Court outlawed further strikes by BA workers.  Photo: AP Iceland volcano Ash cloud: airline passengers face further misery    Image  1  of  5 The airline has been hit by the wave of industrial action.  Photo: PA By Andrew Hough, David Millward and Caroline Gammell 8:15AM BST 18 May 2010 Postponements were still expected at aerodromes throughout the country in spite of a last minute slab being placed on manufacturing action intended by BA crew strike and an repair of aviation no flying regulations to decrease future airline closures caused by Icelands Eyjafjoell eruptions. Official staffs admitted disruption would possibly carry on for the majority of the week. Airlines were struggling a lot to return timetable to normal after cloud of thick ash gist over the continent, shutting major aerodromes and making more than 1,000 planes to be negated. Airlines, that have incurred millions of money due to the ash alertness, criticised Mondays shutting of airports and criticise the replica used to forecast the spread of the volcanic dust as obsolete and out of place. Executives act in response with rage to what they disagree were unnecessary limitations introduced by over watchful security watchdogs. British Airways CEO Willie Walsh directed the disapproval, labelling limitations as a gross over response to a very slight risk. Experts told that the volcano, which lasted month, resulted most of Europes aerodromes to be close down for one week, has released massive quantity of ash dust, which can block jet engines, as it began to explode one month ago and cautioned that there was no finish to this in sight. Last months eruption strained many countries in north Europe to close their aerodromes, making in excess of 100,000 flights to land and an approximate 10 million explorer globally. The (IATA), the international airline industry branch forecasted that last months closure was Europes major since 2nd World War cost transporters in excess of  £1.1 billion. The latest outbreak strained Londons airports to close for 6 hours on Monday, leading to lots of postponements and score of aeroplanes in the incorrect place. Near about 200 flights were abandon at Heathrow, 88 in Gatwick and 40 in Liverpool airport. And also 50,000 passengers were stranded. Aerodrome official cautioned travellers it may take time for aeroplanes to clear the log jam of postponed flights and recommended them to get in touch with their airlines before leaving for the airport. After a day of confusion, passengers afterwards received a twofold dose of positive news after the Court banned the back-to-back agitation by cabin crew of BA while the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) distorted its criterion for allowing aircraft to take off. The court decision came very late for BA to re-establish its full flying timetable at Heathrow that had been interrupted earlier in the day by the ash dust. In spite of the High Court ban, British Airways confessed that planes will still be affected for the whole of the week The airline industry has been anxiously trying to restore the 80 small haul and 30 lengthy haul planes from Heathrow which faced curtailments had the strike went further ahead. One spokesman for the airline industry told half of small-haul and 40 % of lengthy-haul services from Londons may be affected as it was too late to restore a overall service. He told that its function, however, was thought to return to usual by the end of week. The verdict was a enormous relief for the industry which told the court that as it had planned for five-days strikes, it would have coasted the airline industry £138 million. Union representing BA crew, prepared to plea against the ban which stopped strike action planned by 1000 of members in the acidic row over employment, staffing and pay levels. The ruling came as the CAA proclaimed that it had formed a new limited time zone to allow specific aircraft to go through a bigger density of dust than previously allowed. The change that came into effect at noontime on Tuesday would not only have an effect on Flyby initially, but other airline industry is believed to follow. Once producer and airline companies have offered a joint safety case which gives a proof that they can go through the dust ash without harm, they will be permitted to fly. As a consequence of this alter, there are no forecasted limits on UK air in the instant prospect, said Richard Deakin, the CEO of Nats, the traffic control company. The CAA blamed the Met Office for the newest close down. The Met Office replica was forecasting ash which wasnt there when the check flights were done, a spokesman from CAA said We have enquired the Met Office as to why their forecasted model showed a thing that was not consequently backed up. The Met Office backed up its computer system, insisting it was assisted by imagery of satellite, observation, laser checks of the ash in the environment and other proof from test planes. It said the dust was over South East but not in the levels that ground aircraft The amount of ash is uncertain on an hourly base. The circumstances are very runny, a spokesman said to the Daily Mail. In Iceland in the meantime, there have been no signal of the volcano ending. Experts told that the Eyjafjoell flare-up, which started on April 14, have shaped up thrice, with the newest surge of movement coming Friday in April. from the starting of the outbreak, they predicted that 250 million cubic metres of tephra (ash and other fragmental material) has been formed, as said by Iceland geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson. The civil protection of Iceland agency told that the ash cloud was travelling to the north and wasnt expected to drift to Europe in coming two days May2010 by Andrew Hough, David Millward and Caroline Gammell http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/7735248/Iceland-volcano-ash-cloud-airline-passengers-face-further-misery.html CASE STUDY ON BRITISH AIRWAY (April 16, 2010) Steve Rothwell and Sabine Pirone On April 16 (Bloomberg) British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. and cargoes that depend on lengthy -haul business tour for earnings would be worst-hit by the close down in air travel affected by the outbreak of the Icelandic volcano. Airline companies may incur $1 billion loss, if ash cloud keeps the European airports closed the weekend, the central for Asia Pacific Company said. British Airways, which earns daily revenue of near about 24 million pounds ($37 million), halted all planes today as U.K. aerodrome was confined until 1 a.m. tomorrow least. Airline industry will have to incur their major losses in the trans- Atlantic business-passenger group, Ashley Steel, Global Chair for Transport and Infrastructure at KPMG, said in a conference. For airline like BA, every day as their plane being grounded will likely to incur millions of money. The effect on economy-class sales is likely to be weakened because persons will be changing their bookings and ultimately still fly. The ash cloud from the Icelands Eyjafjallajà ¶kull volcanoes roofed parts of Britain, Germany, Norway, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Netherlands Russia this morning and afterwards glided over France, Poland Czech Republic. Its estimate to reach Switzerland, Austria and Hungary by midnight, according to U.K. Meteorological Official data. 6 million passengers could have been affected if closures extended to April 18.. Business Trips British Airways, which is the No. 1 transporter in the market of north Atlantic including planes between London to New York, was prone to undergo loss most from the interruption because of its dependence on traveller making trips of business that cannot be rescheduled. U.Ks top. Billionaire Richard Bransons Virgin Atlantic, which is the largest long-haul competitor to British Airways at Heathrow Airport, would have also lost revenue that would have been doubtful to be recovering, as said by KPMGs Steel. Coach class travellers and all those flying with the discount air buses on vacation or may be to visit friends, family were more likely to rearrange their journeys, she said. British Airways and the Virgin Atlantic said it will be very early to provide an approximation for the cost of the interruption. They said We arent giving any direction on the cost incurred at this moment, BAS spokeswoman Cathy West told in a phonic interview. We have got no clue when it is going to finish yet. The Virgin spokeswoman Anna Knowles told the Crawley, which is an England- based company, that virgin is concentrating on getting process up the operation and the running and that it is impossible to put figure on loss till now. Never Return Lots of BA and the Virgin passenger goes for top cabins and these people are travelling on totally -refundable tickets, said Steel. Most of the money will not return to them as passengers will just not go for rebooking the berths. The closedown could also tilt the balance for unbeneficial SAS AB, the current owner of Scandinavian Airlines, were one of the first flights to scrap planes as the cloud swept over Norway, Sweden , Denmark, as Steel said. Competitor Nordic carrier Finn air told that the languishness is incurring it 2 million Euros ($2.7 million) in a day. The carrier had to cancel 435 flights so far, and affected 54,000 travellers. SAS plans to approximate volcano-related expenses by April 19, Sture Stoelen, head of investor relations, told by telephone. Its complex, Stoelen said. Were losing revenue but also saving on operating costs, but then there are other costs for hotels and so on. The ash cloud has interrupted flying just like European carriers moved to hectic and more well-paid summer schedules, said Yan Derocles, who is an analyst at Oddo Securities Paris.   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  This is the most busiest time for airline industry, specially on North Atlantic direction, . Derocles said that the leading names will be losing 40 million to 60 million Euros in a day. Physical Damage Airline industry insurance strategy wont normally pay out unless theres a damage to the equipment, as said Alexandra Lewis, who is a spokeswoman for London-based Benfield branch of Aon Corp., which is the worlds biggest insurance broker. Insurers cover up business disruption only if bodily damage is the cause for it, as said Richard Manson, a spokesperson for the manufacturing insurance unit of Munich-oriented Allianz SE, continents major insurer. Thats why they did not anticipate claim from clients which included airline industry as well aerodrome. The closedown is likely to incur aviation industry near about 0.25 percentage of their yearly income per day as said by Joe Gill ,who is an analyst in Bloxham securities at Dublin that covers firms like Ryanair Holdings Plc, EasyJet Plc, which is continents two major low fare carriers. The aviation industry will be clawing back good amount of money by looking for to increase give up a measure of prices of tickets as demand rushes in the immediate consequences of the airport shut downs. The largest expenses will be for re-booking and re-funding travellers, MR Manson said, with income losses partly offset by petroleum savings. Airline industry will be losing a combined billion $2.8 in 2010 following an approximate billion $9.4 increasing loss previous year, as predicted by the International Air Transport previous month. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-16/british-airways-virgin-atlantic-may-suffer-most-from-ash-cloud.html With support from Robert Fenner in the Melbourne, Oliver Suess from Munich, Crowley at London. And the Editors: Chris Jasper and Kenneth Wong. Adapted from the editorials of Steve Rothwell, London at [emailprotected]; Sabine Pirone, London at [emailprotected] The editors responsible for this story adapted: Kenneth Wong at [emailprotected]; Benedikt Kammel at [emailprotected] Company overview COMPANY FINANCIAL OVERVIEW British Airways is among the worlds leading listed finest international airline company. The organisation chiefly operates in the Europe and US. This organisation has headquarters in Harmondsworth, in the UK and employs 41,494 staffs. The company has recorded earnings of GBP 7,994 million equivalent to $12,761.1 million) throughout the fiscal year ended March 2010 -(FY2010), a diminish of 11.1 percent as compared to the FY2009.The functioning loss of the corporation Was GBP 231 million equivalent to $368.8 million as during the FY2010, compared to the functioning loss of GBP 220 million ($351.2 million)in the FY2009. The net- profit was GBP 182 million -$290.5 million as in FY2010, compare to net loss of GBP 1,360 million (USD 2,171 million) in FY2009. History The foundation of British Airways runs equivalent to the history of civil airline industry in the globe. On the August of 25, 1919, The British Airways predecessor company The Aircraft Transport and Travel commenced the worlds first every day international planned air service running between London to Paris. In March 31, 1924, UKs four airline company Inston and Handley Page Transport, and Daimler Airways and British Air Marine Navigation fused to form the Imperial Airways Ltd. About this time, a quantity of small UK air companies also had started their functioning. All these combined in 1935, to shape the new private owned BA Ltd. During 1939 November, UK Government made Imperial Airways along with British Airways nationalised, to give ascend to the beginning of the British Overseas Airways Corporation. After the Second World War, The BOAC sustained to function lengthy-haul services, whilst other international l European and local flights were runned by a novel airline company, British European Airways Corporation (BEA). On 1972, BOAC and the BEA were merged under the new created British Airways Board. Afterwards, the separate airline companies were fused to shape British Airways, on 1974. Privatization With a vision to switch British Airways to private high revenue making Airline Company, late Lord King supposed the situation of its president, in 1981. After which he selected Colin Marshall as CEO of the airline company. The arduous efforts of King and CEO ultimately made the massive loss making Airline Company to one of the major profit earning air planes in the globe. Consequently, the airline company said itself as The Worlds much-loved Airline Company, in that time when other big airline company suffered to set up their place in the civil airline industry. The airline companys image was transformed under the leadership of king. Ultimately, this resulted to the British Airways privatisation, in the year 1987. Fleet and S Destination The British Airways has a up to date fleet which has average age of 9 years. It includes of near about 228 aircrafts, including Airbus (A319), Airbus (A320-200), Airbus (A321-200), Boeing (737-400), Boeing (747-400), Boeing (757-200), Boeing (767-300ER), Boeing (777-200) and Boeing (777-200ER). Currently, the British Airways travels to 6 local places and in 143 intercontinental places in 69 countries, which includes six continents around the world. , British Airways to Delhi and Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. http://www.iloveindia.com/airlines-in-india/international/british-airways.html Effect of ash cloud on British airways (based on the guardian report) As per the report British Airways said the confusion caused by the air travel ban across much of continent is incurring between 15m to  £20m in a day and that it will be looking for reimbursement from EU and UK government. Travel operator, the Tui Travel approximated its expenses at GBP 5m AND  £6m per day whilst budget plane service Easy Jet had put its expenses at GBP 5m per day. The Shares in airline companies and the holidays companies Around the Europe struggled with quick falls in stock market places as the interruption intensified. CEO of BA Willie Walsh told: This is an unparalleled situation which is having a enormous impact on travellers and airline companies alike. They told that they carry on offering enormous support to their customers. Though, these are unexpected conditions that are beyond all airline companies hold. To help us with these circumstances, The European airline industry has enquired EU and country governments for monetary compensation for the shutting of airplanes. There is a reason for this to happen as reimbursement was paid after the shutting of US airplane subsequent terrorist incidents of 9/11 and obviously the effect of the current circumstance is more significant. The BA shares were among the major fallers in FTSE 100, plummeting just above 3% to-227p. Travel group the Thomas Cook was downwards 4..5 percentage at 249.8p and the easy Jet shares were slated by 5% at 545p and the Tui tour went down almost 4% to 280.4p. British Airways said it has important financial support available to it to maintain a substantial period of shutting of the UKs air industry. In the beginning of the fly limitations on 14 April, it was having above  £1.7bn of hard cash and near about more than GBP 400m in on hand credit line, it can sustain if necessary. It told passengers, those booked to journey on cancelled planes can claim a full reimbursement or book again their journey afterwards. Tui, which is the company at the back of Thomson Holidays and the First Choice, said it is going in loss between 5m to  £6m per day as of the flight prohibit. The interruption resulted from the dust erupted from the Icelands Eyjafjallajokull eruptions has already incurred the holiday agents GBP 20m, and also it said that near about 100,000 of its passengers are stranded globally, and it is not able to fly them home whilst European airlines remains shut down.As for the organisation, this is a phase of somewhat low vacation programmes, but the interruption to our plan will still have a monetary impact, it told. The concern said it provided appropriate help to passengers jammed in their holiday places. Passengers who cant start their vacation because UK aerodromes have been stopped while late last week was been given the option of a recompense from the Tui, or scheduling their trip again .Near about 90 percentage of UK consumers had opted to rebook. Tui also added that it had been working with other dealers and airline companies in a belief that regulators allow the recommencement of flights as early as possible. Tui reported previous month to that it was considering a revival in customer demand as the summer business period comes near. In the previous financial year it made a fundamental profit of GBP 366m, from income of  £13.8bn. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/19/ba-volcanic-ash-losing-money Discussion As we can see that natural calamities are unpredictable, and cost millions to the companies which depends on weather .In the case of British airways we can see that ash cloud was, such a calamity which coasted not only British airways in millions ,but other airlines too. Particularly in the case of British airways, we can see that, it incurred heavy losses. According to the report by Rob Hull as stated in share prices .com Share prices in the air industry rose late in the market to a close price of 235p after information reports recommended operations from main airports may be backed up and operating at some point . In spite some planes were able to go further on Tuesday morning from north UK aerodromes, The British Airways had to land all of their short haul flights for the 6th successive day because of uncertainty hovering the latest volcanic ash dust. Because of which, BA share drowned again to a low down of 229.30p currently with current prices at 09.15 being 230p and 0.73 % down, with forecasted sum losses 15m to GBP 20m per day for group. British Airways told in the statement former that morning: that they were preparing to function short haul planes scheduled to leave from 7pm, which was later cancelled. They told that they are still hopeful to run long haul planes which were planned to leave after 4pm, Tuesday 20th April, though these leftovers subject to the whole and permanent start of air planes. Another report regarding the possible re-opening of aerodrome from National Air Traffic Service which was due at 15:00 that day with NATS sustaining close contact with the Metrological Office concerning the state of British airdrome. And as they headed to the sixth day of cancelled flights, airplanes and travel companies have reportedly turned to Government for the deals. According to the reports, Travel TUI was GBP 20m downwards with every day bills going up to GBP 6m, Easy jet also lost a sum of GBP 40m until now and the Thomas Cook was supposed to have lost  £7m . All the four groups including British Airways had approached Government for recompense for these enormous losses. Though, Easy jet and the Thomas Cook organisations along with Ryan air were in soptimistic province , with FTSE 100 0.36 % upwards in all 09:40 ,Tuesday ,20th April. TUI share cost, like British Airways , were still downwards but the company had disclosed information by saying that it intends to increase near about 500m of fresh financing through convertible bond and also added bank services. Therefore we can see that, whereas short haul airways such as Ryan air and easy jet were not so much affected by the ash cloud, British airways and Virgin airways, which are basically long haul airlines were heavily affected by this calamity (April2010)RobHull shareprices.com [Adapted from] April 2010, Business week :http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-16/british-airways-virgin-atlantic-may-s uffer-most-from-ash-cloud.html A final thought In a final thought we can say that natural calamities are unstoppable and, companies relying on it has to frame additional plans that can help cope up with busy and anxious situations like this .In the case Of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, It would be a suggestion to plan with government authorities and financial institutions to safeguard heavy loss during this type of situations

Effect Of Aging On The Reproductive Systems Biology Essay

Effect Of Aging On The Reproductive Systems Biology Essay Reproduction is the process by which organisms generate offspring. Whilst the reproductive system is essential to keeping a species alive, it is not essential to keeping an individual alive. Reproduction is a characteristic that all living things have in common and one of the things that sets them apart from non living things. Effects of aging on the male reproductive system The male reproductive system consists of the testes, a series of ducts and glands and a penis. Sperm are produced in the testes and are transported through the reproductive ducts (including the epididymis, vas deferens, ejaculatory duct and urethra). The reproductive glands (including the seminal vesicles and prostate gland) produce secretions that become part of semen, the fluid that is ejaculated from the urethra. As males age testicular tissue mass decreases, sperm production decreases and erectile function changes. Men, unlike women, do not experience a sudden change in fertility as they age. Instead, changes occur gradually during a process known as andropause. Andropause is a term used to describe a male menopause characterized by a decrease in testosterone. Although not an officially recognized medical term, the notion of andropause has existed since the 1940s. This relates to the slow but steady reduction of the production of the hormones testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone in middle-aged men which is associated with a decrease in leydig cells (found adjacent to the seminiferous tubules in the testes). The female menopause is a complete cessation of reproductive ability caused by the cessation of the female reproductive system. Andropause is a decline in certain male hormones but it does not cause a mans reproductive system to stop working altogether. The frequency, duration, and rigidity of erections gradually decline throughout adulthood. Levels of testosterone (the male sex hormone) tend to decrease, reducing sex drive (libido) for some men. Sexual responses may become slower and less intense. While this may also be related to decreasing testosterone levels, it can also result from other psychological or social changes related to aging. The impact of low levels of testosterone has also been connected to other symptoms associated with aging including; nervousness, depression, impaired memory, the inability to concentrate, fatigue, insomnia, hot flushes and sweating. Erectile dysfunction (male impotence) is characterized by the inability to develop or maintain an erection of the penis sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance and it is often associated with the aging process. However, erectile dysfunction is more likely to be the result of a medical or psychological problem rather than simple aging. Medications can cause some men to be unable to develop or maintain an erection. In addition, any disorder that impairs blood flow in the penis or causes injury to the nerves has the potential to cause erectile dysfunction. Although it is not an inevitable part of aging, incidences increase with age: about 5 percent of 40-year-old men and between 15 and 25 percent of 65-year-old men experience erectile dysfunction. Blood flow to the penis decreases with age. Other changes include decreases in penile sensitivity and ejaculatory volume, reduced forewarning of ejaculation, orgasm without ejaculation, more rapid detumescence (the return of an erect penis to its natural flaccid state) state, and a longer refractory period (the recovery phase after orgasm before being arousable again). A process called sclerosis may mean that the tubes that carry sperm become less elastic. The testes continue to produce sperm, but the rate of sperm cell production slows. The epididymis, seminal vesicles, and prostate gland lose some of their surface cells but continue to produce the fluid that helps carry sperm. Approximately 50% of men suffer from a condition known as benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) in which the prostate gland enlarges with age and some of the prostate tissue is replaced with fibroid tissue. This can cause problems with ejaculation and with urination as this partially blocks the urethra (the tube that drains the bladder). Vesicoureteral reflux (backup of urine into the kidneys) may develop if the bladder is inadequately drained, eventually resulting in kidney failure if untreated. Fertility varies from man to man. The volume of fluid ejaculated usually remains the same, throughout life, however, with age there are generally fewer living sperm in the fluid. Prostate cancer becomes more common as men age and bladder cancel is common in older men. Testicular cancers generally occur more often in younger men. Effects of aging on the female reproductive system Menopause is the permanent end of menstrual periods and the end of fertility in women. The average age of menopause for women in the UK is 52. However, menopause may occur normally in women as young as 40. Menopause is considered premature when it occurs before age 40 (also called premature ovarian failure). During the reproductive years, menstrual periods usually occur in approximate monthly cycles, with an egg released from the ovary about 2 weeks after the first day of a period. For this cycle to occur regularly, the ovaries must produce enough oestrogen and progesterone hormone. A distinctive transitional period called perimenopause occurs during the years before and for one year after the last menstrual period. During perimenopause, oestrogen and progesterone levels fluctuate widely, menstrual periods and ovulation become irregular, and symptoms (such as hot flushes) may occur. Eventually, menstrual periods and ovulation end permanently, and pregnancy is no longer possible. Around menopause changes in the genital organs occur rapidly. The tissues of the labia minora, clitoris, vagina, and urethra atrophy. This atrophy can result in chronic irritation, dryness, and a discharge from the vagina which can increase the likeliness of vaginal infections developing. The lining of the vagina becomes thinner, drier, and less elastic and this may make sexual intercourse painful and may increase the risk of inflammation (vaginitis). The labia minora, clitoris, uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries all decrease in size. The lining of the urethra becomes thinner, and the urethra becomes shorter. Because of these changes, microorganisms can enter the body more easily, and some women develop urinary tract infections more easily. With aging, there is a decrease in the amount of muscle and connective tissue, including the muscles, ligaments, and other tissues that support the bladder, uterus, vagina, and rectum. As a result, the affected organs may prolapse (sag or drop down). This can cause a feeling of pelvic pressure or fullness and possible difficulties urinating and/or pain during sexual intercourse. The muscles that control the flow of urine out of the bladder become weaker and stress incontinence can develop. Some women develop urge incontinence, which is an abrupt, intense urge to urinate that cannot be suppressed. Because there is less oestrogen to stimulate milk ducts, the breasts decrease in size and may sag (also due to connective tissue decreasing and fibrous tissue being replaced with fat). Despite these changes, woman can and still do enjoy sexual activity. In addition, after menopause, the ovaries and adrenal glands continue to produce small amounts of testosterone which can: help maintain the sex drive, slow the loss of muscle tissue, and contribute to an overall sense of well-being. Other symptoms thought to be connected to the menopause are mood changes, depression, irritability, hot flushes, anxiety, nervousness, sleep disturbances/insomnia, loss of concentration, headache, and fatigue. However, these symptoms may not directly be related to the decreases in oestrogen levels that occur with menopause as many other factors (such as aging itself or a medical problem) could explain the symptoms. After menopause the decrease in oestrogen levels causes changes that can continue to negatively affect overall health. As oestrogen decreases, the amount of collagen (a protein that makes skin strong) and elastin (a protein that makes skin elastic) also decrease. Thus, the skin may become thinner, dryer, less elastic, and more vulnerable to injury. Oestrogen decreases can also often leads to a decrease in bone density and sometimes to osteoporosis because oestrogen helps maintain bone. Bone becomes less dense and weaker, making fractures more likely. After menopause, levels of lipids, particularly low-density lipoprotein (LDL bad cholesterol), increase in women while levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL good cholesterol) decrease. These changes in lipid levels may also partly explain why atherosclerosis and thus coronary artery disease become more common among women after menopause. Until menopause, the high oestrogen levels may protect against coronary artery disease.