Dulce Et Decorum

Dulce et Decorum Est Wilfred Owen’s poem is settled in the battlefield of World War I. It features a group of soldiers who seem to be returning to camp after a long day at war. Some of these men had lost their boots and other articles of clothing. When all of a sudden gas shells drop near them and they all went to put on their gas masks in fear of dying from the gas. The narrator thought everyone had got their masks on, but then he still heard one of his friends yelling and screaming in agony. He watched a member of his crew die from these gas shells and he could do nothing about it.Then the narrator goes forward in time, sometime after he has returned from war, and he cannot get the image of his friend dying out of his head. He always thinks about that night and he even dreams about his comrade’s deaths. He also speaks of the people coming home that are desperate for glory as the return home from this war. Throughout this poem there are many things about it that allows the poem to be so successful. The word choice that Wilfred Owen chose to use in â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est,† really set a mood and gave great imagery, which led for the success of the poem.The structure that Wilfred Owen used for â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† is another factor that helped the poem become very successful. These aspects of Dulce et Decorum Est really allow Wilfred Owen’s poem to be seen as a very successful poem. Wilfred Owen’s word choice throughout â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† set this poem up for success. Wilfred Owen’s superb description in â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† allows the reader to get an image in their head that helps them understand the poem even more.Throughout â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est,† Wilfred Owen shocks the reader with his description of the events that are happening. For example, â€Å" Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge. † This puts the image of tired soldiers marching through some sort of nasty, muddy area after being out fighting in war. Also, his word choice is different from other poems because of the gruesome details he uses in â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est. † This is different because a lot of poems do not use the detail he does to express this terrible war.For example, â€Å"And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime. Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. This is saying that the gas is a terrible death, like being set on fire, he does not get any air to your lungs, only gas, as if the soldier was drowning in water. Wilfred Owen’s word choice and description in â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† are huge factors on why the poem is such a success. The structure that Wilfred Owen used for â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† push the poem in the right direction to become a success.The style Wilfred Owen wrote in for â€Å"D ulce et Decorum Est† is similar to the French ballade poetic form. By using a similar style like the French ballade poetic form and then breaking the conventions of pattern and rhyming, Owens makes the reader notice the deranged and disruptive events being told in the poem. Owen breaks the poem into two different parts, each consisting of fourteen lines. In the first part of the â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est†, Owens writes it in the present as all of the action of this event happens and him and his crew are reacting to the gas shells going off around them.In second par of the poem, Owens writes it in the future of the event that. The second part looks back to draw a lesson from what happened at the start. The two fourteen line parts of â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† again shows a formal poetic style, but it is a broken and unsettling version of this form. The structure Wilfred Owen chose gave this poem a different look at a formal poetic style and is what made this poe m successful. There are many things that can make a poem a great and successful poem.The many things that Wilfred Owen did with â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† to make the poem what it is today is really amazing. The word choice Owen’s used to show detail allowed readers to get an image of the horrible event that happen to the soldier and his crew. The broken structure of the French ballade form that Owen’s used with this poem set put it to the level of success the poem has reached. These things that Wilfred Owens did with this piece of work shows how to make a successful poem.

Err Question Booklet Essay

Imagine you are a newly appointed supervisor/manager within your service. You need to update your staff handbook to reflect current employment law. Identify three different sources of information you could use to enable you to do this. 1 – Solicitors for help advice and law 2 – Current handbook 3 – www.legislation.gov.uk for up yo date and current legislation Read more: Champion equality diversity and inclusion level 5 essay Once you have identified a reliable source of information. Aii a) List three aspects of employment covered by law. 1 – Contracted hours of work 2 – Holidays/Annual leave 3 – Maternity leave b) List three main features of current employment legislation. 1 – Employment rights 2 – Equalities and Discrimination law 3 – Health and Safety legislation Aiii Briefly outline why employment law exists To regulate the relationship between employers and employees, to establish minimum standards and equality of treatment for all workers. Task B Bi Describe the terms and conditions of your employment as set out in your contract of employment or employment agreement. Place of work, confirming usual place of work but also states this can vary according to the company’s needs, without reduction in rates of pay. Hours of work, stating contracted weekly hours and excludes me from the right to limit working hours to 48 hours per week under the Working Time Regulations 1998. Pay, confirming my hourly rate of pay the date and regularity that it is paid to me. Holiday entitlement for the year and when the annual holiday period starts and finishes according to the annual calendar. Notice of absence, how to inform the company and stating that any absence over 7 days will require a medical certificate. Sick pay is not paid by the company but SSP will be paid if it is entitled to. Confidentiality, not to disclose any resident or company information including associates, potential customers, suppliers and potential suppliers. Dismissal procedure, my contract also states reasons for immediate dismissal. Notice of termination of employment, confirming the time scales requires to be given by either the employee or employer to terminate the contract of employment. Training, my contract of employment states that employees are required to undertake an NVQ training scheme, or similar, as required by CQC or other relevant bodies. Bii Describe the information which needs to be shown on your pay slip, statement. Your pay slip to show your full name, the name of the company you work for, your tax code and national insurance number, the date in which payment is to made and sometimes it will show the method of payment. It should also have details of you gross and net pay, any deductions made to your gross pay and a summary of gross and net pay and any national insurance deductions for the current tax year to date. Biii Identify two changes to personal information on which you must report to your employer. You inform your employer if your name or address changes, also if you receive any criminal convictions these must be disclosed immediately. Biv Describe the procedure to follow if you wanted to raise a grievance at work. In the first instance you must try, if willing and confident, to resolve the issue directly and verbally. If this is not possible or you don’t feel able to do this then an informal confidential meeting should be had with your manager, if the issue is with your manager then this should be with the regional operations manager. This meeting should give you the opportunity to raise your grievance advising of the issue or issues you have, giving names and places if necessary. If the manager feels the grievance is serious enough or if you are not happy with the outcome of an informal meeting then a formal procedure can be taken. Once a decision has been made to make a formal complaint then the complainant should put this in writing to the manager, giving as many facts as possible about the complaint. The manager should then investigate the facts using all resources available, including interviews with any persons named in the complaint including any witnesses. Any persons to be interviewed should be advised in writing giving the time and place the interview is to be held, and they will be entitled to have somebody accompany them, this could be either a colleague or trade union official. Once the formal complaint has been investigated then any outcomes or actions should be advised in writing without unreasonable delay. If you are not happy with the outcome of the formal complaint then you have the right to appeal, this should be done in writing stating the reasons for appeal. A meeting should be arranged as soon as possible and your employer should give you all the details of this in writing. If you are still not satisfied after an appeal then you can raise your complaint to an employment tribunal if you wish. Bv Explain the agreed ways of working with your employer in relation to the following areas: 1 – Data protection To take all reasonable steps to ensure confidential information is kept safe and secure and not passed on to anyone without consent. 2 – Grievance To follow the company policy and procedure, talk to manager or put grievance  in writing in the agreed manner. 3 – Conflict management To avoid conflict were possible, to follow company procedure of documentation of any behavioural issues. To store such information were agreed so this is accessible by management and agreed staff. 4 – Anti – discriminatory practice To follow the company policy to not discriminate on grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation, culture, religion or disability. To value and respect all colleagues, residents and visitors. 5 – Health and Safety To follow all Health and Safety policies and procedures and undertake all training given. To take care of your own health and safety and that of others wherever possible. 6 – Confidentiality To take reasonable steps to ensure information about individuals, company or company associates is kept safe and not disclosed unless otherwise agreed by the individual or company. 7 – Whistleblowing To disclose any matters of concern in confidence, without recrimination for disclosure. This can be reported to management or other governing bodies if necessary. Bvi Explain how your role contributes to the overall delivery of the service provided. As a support worker I provide both practical and emotional care and support to residents whilst maintaining the companies’ policies and procedures. I help to build care plans of the residents by documenting and reporting the physical and emotional needs and support given to individual residents. This helps to maintain up to date information of individual requirements meaning that each resident can be as independent as possible but also get the correct level of support they need. Bvii Explain how you could influence the quality of the service provided by ; a) Following best practice within your work role By following best practice in my work role I can give high quality of care  and influence my colleagues to do the same, resulting in best practices being followed as a normal way of working. This can result in a happy and safe living environment for the residents and a less stressful work environment for the staff, in turn the reputation of the home will be positive. b) Not carrying out the requirements of your role If I do not carry out the requirements of my job role, this could result in poor care being given and the living environment for the residents not being happy or safe. I could have a negative effect on my colleagues or even influence them to work to poor standards resulting in the health, both physical and emotional of all persons using the home being effected in a negative way. The home may not be efficient and could possible fall below standards set by the company or other governing bodies such as the Care Quality Commission. Bviii Describe how your own work must be influenced by National factors such as Codes of Practice, National Occupational Standards, Legislation and Government Initiatives.

Analisis Bimbo

Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility The most important thing in a firm is its people, because investors give what they have, but people give what they are. — Lorenzo Servitje, Grupo Bimbo founding partner By 2008, Grupo Bimbo was the leading baking company in the Americas and one of the largest in the world. It had annual sales of over $7. 4 billion, more than 100 brands and more than 97,000 worldwide associates—as Bimbo liked to call its employees. It manufactured more than 5,000 SKUs (stock keeping units) from 83 plants located in Mexico, the United States, Central and South America, Europe and Asia. Bimbo distributed its products to more than 1 million sales outlets in 18 countries. Each of these points of sale was visited by more than 36,000 route salespersons. Its products ranged from sliced bread, buns, cookies, snack cakes, pastries, sweet baked goods, packaged food, tortillas, salted snacks, confectionary goods and goat milk sweet or â€Å"cajeta,† among other products. Bimbo was the largest Latin American-based food company and the second largest bread company in the world. For eight years in a row, Bimbo had been honored with the Socially Responsible Enterprise Award from CEMEFI, the Mexican Center for Philanthropy. Moreover, Grupo Bimbo was ranked in the 9th position of the Reputation Institute for best corporate reputation in the world. 1 The next Mexican ranked firms in the study were Grupo Modelo and Cemex in the 112th and 119th spot, respectively. Grupo Bimbo had set ambitious growth objectives beyond 2010. It wanted to become the world leader in the baking industry and one of the best food companies in the world. In order to achieve those objectives, it had embarked on an aggressive program of acquisitions in overseas markets, starting with the United States across the border, and going all the way to China. Even as we pursue an ambitious growth agenda, we cannot forget our core values and who we are as a company,† stated Don Lorenzo Servitje, the now retired 90 year old founder of the company. As Figure 1 shows, Bimbo captured its core values along the seven attributes of passion, profitability, effectiveness, team work, trust, quality, with the â€Å"person† coming at the ce nter. Under its second CEO, Roberto Servitje (now chairman of the board) and its current CEO, Daniel Servitje, the company had grown spectacularly and gained an international footprint. See Exhibit 1 for its revenue growth. â€Å"Yes, indeed we have grown ur business, not at the cost of our responsibility to society, but because of our investments in it. Going forward, however, we are a far more complex company than the one founded and 1to ensure that our values and strategy are in alignment,† asserted Daniel Servitje. Figure 1 Source: Grupo Bimbo. (In the figure above, the expression â€Å"efforts and illusions† under â€Å"profitability† is best interpreted as â€Å"efforts and aspirations. †) Mexico By 2008 Mexico was the second most populated country in Latin America (behind Brazil) with 105. 7 million inhabitants, 76% of them living in urban areas. In 2007 Mexico’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was $893. 4 billion –-the second largest in Latin America behind Brazil’s GDP of $1,286. 7 billion but ahead of Argentina’s $262. 3 billion, Venezuela’s $228. 1 billion and Colombia’s 2 Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, Geografia e Informatica, INEGI, www. inegi. gob, last viewed August 11, 2008. 2 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility 509-025 $172 billion. Mexico was the 14th largest economy in the World. 3 Mexico’s GDP per head in 2007 was $8,219. However, Mexico was a country of contrasts: the lowest 20% of the population accounted for only 3. % of total income and the Gini coefficient was 0. 508. 4 Forty percent of Mexico’s population was considered poor, and 18% lived in extreme poverty. 5 Due to deficiencies in the public education system, the unskilled and low skilled labor pool was large and around 40% to 60% of the workforce worked in the informal sector. Mexico was ruled for 71 years by one single party, the Partido Revolucionario Insitucional, or PRI. The PRI led Mexico through a stabilizing development from 1958 to 1971 where the country industrialized and GDP grew at annual rates of 6%. From the 1970’s to the end of the 1980’s the PRI policies became very nationalistic and interventionist. This period was characterized by high inflation rates and frequent financial crises, where GDP plummeted, real incomes dropped, with high external debt and soaring interest rates. During this period, Mexico’s economy was heavily dependent on oil exports. In the 1990’s the PRI embraced free market and liberalization policies that included privatization of hundreds of state-owned firms, trade liberalization that culminated in the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, in 1994, and deregulation of various industries. After NAFTA, Mexico’s economy diversified and changed from being dependent on oil exports to manufactured goods exported mainly to the United States. After the Tequila crisis that started in 1994—where GDP plummeted 6. 2% in real terms and inflation rose above 52%—the PRI was historically defeated in the year 2000, and since then two presidents from the Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) had been in power: President Fox from year 2000 to 2006 and Felipe Calderon—who by 2008 was in his second year of presidency. Despite high hopes for President Fox’s administration, his political effectiveness was severely hindered by a divided congress, and economic reforms that were needed to improve the competitiveness of the country, such as fiscal and energy reforms, were not able to pass through Congress. Felipe Calderon, at his second year of term, faced similar obstacles. He proved to be a better negotiator than President Fox. His administration had been able to pass pension reform and a mild fiscal reform. However, one of the most important reforms needed for boosting Mexico’s competitiveness and growth—energy reform—had not been able to pass. High energy costs—along with high labor costs—were limiting Mexico’s ability to compete with other exporting countries such as China. Strengthening of fiscal and monetary policies since the end of the last century had translated into macroeconomic stability but growth was not catching up with the country’s needs. Average annual growth rates since year 2000 had been 3%, insufficient to alleviate poverty and reduce inequality. 6 Constraints for growth were high-cost labor and energy inputs, a weak non-oil tax base, continued dependence on US markets for exports, weak skill base and a shallow credit market. Calderon was struggling to pass the energy reform but it was hard to boost growth given high input costs and Mexico’s dependence on the slowing US economy. 3 World development indicators database, World Bank, July 2008, www. worldbank. org last viewed August 12, 2008. 4 Source: World development indicators, www. worldbank. org, last viewed 8/13/2008 and Mexico Country Profile, Economist Intelligence Unit. A high Gini coefficient indicates a high level of income inequality, 0 corresponds to perfect equality and 1 to perfect inequality with one person having all the income. Worldwide Gini coefficients range from 0. 49 in Japan to 0. 707 in Namibia (www. wikipidia. org last viewed 8/13/2008). 5 Mexico Country Brief, World Bank, www. worldbank. org, last viewed August 13, 2008. 6 Source: Banco de Mexico, www. banxico. gob, last viewed August 13, 2008. 3 509-025 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility Grupo Bimbo: History The Servitje family started doing business in the baki ng industry early in the 20th century. When Lorenzo Servitje was 18 years old, his father—who had a well-known bakery called El Molino—died from a stroke. Lorenzo had to leave behind his accounting career in order to attend to his father’s bakery. On taking over, Lorenzo wanted to make the bakery something bigger and more ambitious. He wished to start a bread production and distribution business. On December 2, 1945, Bimbo was founded. It had five founding shareholders, all family members: Lorenzo Servitje and his younger brother Roberto Servitje among them. The logo, the Bimbo bear, was drawn by the wife of one of the founders. Bimbo started with only one brand, 38 workers, and 10 trucks to deliver the bread made in one plant in Mexico City. The first products were white boxed bread and toasted white bread. The production process was completely manual and rudimentary. Bimbo bread was quickly accepted by Mexico’s households because it was packed in transparent cellophane paper—instead of the traditional wax paper—which kept it fresh and also because its quality was easily seen. Another key to Bimbo’s success was its huge publicity campaign in newspapers, radio and the movies. Never before had so much been paid to publicize bread. 7 In the next few years, Bimbo quickly incorporated more products into its product line, such as whole wheat bread, sweet breads, cakes and sweet loafs. Its distribution network, however, only reached Mexico City and cities nearby. To reach other cities, Bimbo expanded its distribution system in a way similar to how newspapers were distributed at the time. By 1956, Bimbo had commissioned its first plant outside Mexico City. Having successfully built the company from scratch, in 1963, Don Lorenzo Servitje took on the role of CEO of Grupo Bimbo and his brother, Roberto Servitje, became CEO of Bimbo breads division. Over the next 15 years, the two brothers rapidly grew Bimbo’s sales to $425 million and 16,125 associates. At the beginning of the 1970’s, Bimbo opened the largest bread factory in Mexico and Latin America and one of the 10 largest factories in the world. In this factory, bread production was completely automatic. The factory produced one-and-half, big boxed bread, per second, which was completely unprecedented in Latin America. In 1979, Lorenzo Servitje handed over Grupo Bimbo’s presidency to his brother Roberto and he assumed the chairmanship of the board. In 1980, Bimbo went public with 15% of its stock in the Mexican stock exchange. The company was then valued at $12. 5 million dollars. The successful IPO gave the company confidence to expand into the United States. Bimbo sent its first trucks with bread to the U. S. to explore the possibility of catering to a burgeoning population of Hispanic consumers just north of its border. Satisfied with the existence of demand for its products, in 1987 Bimbo started to distribute products in Houston and Los Angeles. By the end of the decade, Bimbo had expanded to Central and Latin America as well. In 1997, Daniel Servitje, Lorenzo’s son, at the age of 39 with an MBA from Stanford University, became CEO of the group and continued to lead Bimbo’s internationalization effort through important acquisitions. Roberto Servitje took on the chairman’s position and Lorenzo stepped down from all formal positions. Daniel Servitje continued with the growth strategy of his predecessors, and in the year 2000, Grupo Bimbo expanded to Europe by acquiring two plants –one in Austria and the other in the Czech Republic- and in 2001 it expanded into Brazil. See Exhibits 2 and 3 for the company’s historical financial performance, and regional indicators. By 2007, the company had a sales turnover of Ps 72,294 million (or $6. 65 billion) and a net 7 â€Å"Bimbo: A 60-year History of Believe and Create† Source: www. rupobimbo. com. mx/admin/content/uploaded/Historia% 20Grupo%20Bimbo. pdf. Last viewed: July 8th, 2008. 4 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility 509-025 profit of Ps 3,914 million (or $360 million). 8 Of its total sales, 67% were in Mexico, 22% in the U. S, and 11% from twelve Latin American countries. While Roberto Servitje at age 80 served as the chairman of t he board, Lorenzo Servitje at age 90 was still active in its social responsibility affairs. Products and Brands Through the years, Bimbo grew in its bread production and also added many new products and brands. With nearly 5,000 items in its portfolio, and the nearly 100 new products being added every year, the company offered something for every taste and every occasion. Many of these additions came through acquisitions of different firms and brands. Its Bimbo bread division was undoubtedly the flagship of the company, accounting for nearly 50% of all its revenues. Of its main brands, Marinela produced all sweet breads, buns and cakes. Its star product was the â€Å"gansito† or â€Å"little duck,† which was a cake filled with marmalade and covered with chocolate. By 1975, one million â€Å"gansitos† were sold daily. Barcel started off by producing candies, but by 1977 it had begun to produce a wide range of salted snacks. Production of candies was transferred to a new firm called Ricolino. By 2007, Bimbo dominated the market in the packaged bread segment in Mexico. In the salty snack category, Barcel was second to its main competitor Sabritas, owned by PepsiCo. Other important brands were Tia Rosa, which produced specialty sweet breads and flour tortillas, Milpa Real, which produced corn tortillas and Lonchibon, which made ready-to-eat food and snacks. Most of Bimbo’s internationalizations efforts were carried out through local acquisitions. Bimbo looked to acquire firms in regions and segments that provided a platform for growth. It also looked for strong brands that were complementary to its existing portfolio of products and brands, and also provided opportunities that could enable Bimbo to scale up and achieve cost savings. Exhibit 4 provides a summary overview of its various brands, the associated product lines, and their country of operation. Sales and Distribution System Bimbo had one of the largest and most complex distribution networks in the country—second only to Coca-Cola. With time, Bimbo’s distribution system had become more sophisticated and larger but qualitatively, it was essentially the same as when Bimbo started 63 years ago—products were delivered fresh directly from Bimbo depots to the retail store, there were no intermediaries in between. Bimbo products were distributed in to three different channels: supermarkets, convenience stores and through what was called the detail channel to mom pop stores (MPs). The importance of the detail channel was diminishing as MPs found it harder every day to compete with expanding supermarket chains and convenience stores that offered other services such as ready-to-eat food. In the last 10 years, the supermarket chains had grown considerably and the traditional MP channel was losing share (see Exhibit 5). Convenience stores especially, were showing strong growth as they expanded into suburban and rural areas. Moreover, large chain retailers such as Wal-Mart and Chedraui were offering banking services to their customers, thus making it harder for MPs to compete. The total grocery retail market in Mexico was estimated at $125 billion in 2007. 9 8 Foreign exchange as of December 28, 2007 was 10. 8662. Source: Diario Oficial de la Federacion. www. dof. gob. mx. Last viewed July 3rd 2008. 9 â€Å"Retailing Mexico: Country Market Insight,† Euromonitor International, May 2008 and â€Å"Top 5 Retailers in Mexico,† Planet Retail, September 2008. 5 509-025 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility All Bimbo products—from all brands and from all plants—were taken to depots from where they were distributed to all channels. In Mexico, around 40% of Bimbo’s total workforce consisted of route-sales associates. Its flagship brand, Bimbo bread, was distributed in large trucks serving metropolitan cities and towns. The rest of the brands were distributed in smaller trucks by independent sales forces. The distribution system was highly programmed. A handheld computer contained all the information on customers, their average orders, product assortments, and their detail route. That information was synchronized with Bimbo’s server at the end of each day. Mexico has nearly 1 million sales outlets, of which Bimbo reached nearly 750,000. Salesmen arrived at the depot around 6:30a. m. to load their trucks. Thanks to the handheld, they knew which products to load depending on the routes they were assigned that day. Trucks were randomly inspected to cross-check the information in the handheld with the actual physical stock in the truck. Salesmen started their routes around 7:00a. m. At each sales point, salesmen delivered products that they booked and took back products before their â€Å"shelf life† had expired. This practice was necessary to insure that consumers had access to fresh product in the market at all times. All sales information was entered into the handheld for control of daily sales. At the end of their route, salespeople returned to their appropriate depots, where stocks were checked and the recalled products were readied to be sent to an â€Å"expendio† or discount store. Salespeople had sales’ goals that they could attain through increasing sales in each store or increasing the number of clients in their â€Å"route. † Daily wages to salesmen consisted of a base salary plus commission, which was a percentage of their daily sales. Commission, on average, was more than double the base salary. On average, a Bimbo salesperson earned slightly more salary than the one usually offered by food industry for similar positions. The traditional or detail channel was the most important channel for Bimbo because it represented its largest source of sales. Bimbo supervisors were always trying to encourage their team to expand their sales points to include nontraditional outlets such as gas stations, beauty parlors, internet cafes, among others. A large fraction of low-income people, who lived in rural areas or small towns, depended on the traditional MPs to buy their groceries. 0 See Exhibit 6 for a view of three semi-urban outlets. MPs usually sold at higher prices than supermarkets but lower than convenience stores. Most MPs had a very close relationship with their clients who often relied on the credit given by the store owner for their purchases. Most of the time customers cleared their accounts by pay day. Such credit was usually not offered by convenience stores or supermarkets. In spite of its service levels, the traditional channel was slowly disappearing. It was becoming increasingly difficult for the small MPs to compete with convenience stores and supermarkets. Their stores were smaller, the product range more limited, and the layout and management of the stores less professional. MPs had to pay for most of their inventory in cash. They received almost no credit from suppliers—some distributors such as Coca Cola, Sabritas (PepsiCo. ), had only recently started to offer credit to MPs. Moreover, because their purchase volumes were relatively smaller, they received no quantity-discounts such as those offered to convenience stores and supermarkets. As a response to the needs of the MPs but also as a way of maintaining Bimbo’s most important channel, in 2004 Bimbo initiated a bold new program called â€Å"Pesito. † 10 From field visits, the case writers estimated their size to be about 250 to 500 square feet. The owners reported average daily sales of between $200 and $450, of which sodas, juice and water accounted for 50%, food-30%, and tobacco-20%. Larger stores also carried cleaning and some health and beauty products. Some carried beer. Margins varied widely by product, averaging about 20%. 6 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility 09-025 Pesito During the course of their daily route selling, salesmen offered credit on purchases of Bimbo products. Store owners wanting the credit paid a flat fee of 2 pesos (20 cents) regardless of the size of the order placed. The sales person entered the credit information on to his handheld so the record of each credit could be uploaded into Bimbo’s central system once the sales person ended his daily route. At the next visit to the store—which could be anytime between two days to one week, the store owner had to pay the credit to the sales person. The sales person would then give the store owner a receipt, which was printed from the handheld and the transaction was closed. If the store owner was unable to repay the credit, for a payment of 2 pesos the credit could be rolled over, but no new transactions would be made. Many Bimbo clients recognized that â€Å"Pesito† was a way to increase their income, without having to invest in inventory, helping them to grow their business. Consequently the default rate was very low. Bimbo had different sales forces for different brands, thus there were separate Pesito programs for each brand. For example, a store could have outstanding credit with Bimbo, Marinela, Tia Rosa and Barcel. The store would appear in the Pesito accounts under four different identifiers. There were limits to the amount of credit that a sales person could give per client, in most cases the equivalent of one week’s order; and then there were overall limits per route as well. Through steady efforts by Grupo Bimbo’s route sales people, approximately 350,000 of the small store owners participated in the Pesito program and paid on time, and Bimbo’s goal was to further increase that in the coming years. Microfinance for Store Owners Don Lorenzo Servitje had, among many other of his social concerns, the idea of helping the poor through micro credits. Don Lorenzo was particularly interested in the MPs store owners because, through Bimbo, he had noticed how they lived day by day solely with the income from their store. They had no health or life insurance and Don Lorenzo noticed how many times MPs had to close due to sickness or death in the family. Store owners also had no access to the formal financial system so they had to rely on money lenders, especially to make capital improvements in the store. They seldom had resources to invest in their store to make it more productive or more attractive to customers for example by installing new equipment, refrigerators, meat cutters, or a PC to access the internet. Thus in 1994, Bimbo started an alliance with Fincomun, a microcredit institution with the goal of providing further financial services to its MP clients. The loan process with Fincomun was simple. A Bimbo salesperson could recommend a client to Fincomun. Bimbo salespeople knew their clients quite well, their business model, their cash flow, and their credit reputation. If the client accepted the offered credit, Fincomun agents visited the store and gave them a check that could be cashed at a bank. If the Bimbo sales person assisted in the follow-on collection, they were paid a small fee for the effort. Only a very small proportion of Bimbo’s clients, however, were Fincomun customers (less than 5%). By June 2008, Fincomun also offered Life and Hospitalization insurance and had 400 clients in the pilot stage of the insurance program. History of Bimbo’s Corporate Social Responsibility From its very beginnings, Bimbo prided itself on its commitment to social causes and Mexico’s development. In 1954, not even 10 years after its founding, Bimbo opened a school for workers’ 7 509-025 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility children. Since then, a percentage of Bimbo’s pre-tax profits were earmarked for social and educational causes. â€Å"I wanted to dedicate myself to something more than just making cakes and bread. I aspired to serve others,† Don Lorenzo was reputed to have said in a newspaper interview. 11 Even in hard times, Bimbo had avoided firing people and reducing the CSR budget. Roberto Servitje used to say, â€Å"Entrepreneurs are meant to create and grow, not to destroy. Over time, Bimbo’s portfolio of CSR programs had grown both in size and in sophistication. At the beginning, the programs were more geared internally, toward Bimbo’s associates. Over time, they expanded externally as well. Bimbo’s CSR programs were divided into a matrix (for a detailed description of programs see Exhibit 7). Daniel Servitje asser ted, â€Å"Our CSR programs are divided into six categories that overlap with each other. We have internal and external programs, and then we have economic, social and environmental programs. When Bimbo was founded, CSR was neither structured nor formal. It was something that we did because we believed in it; because the values of social awareness were embedded in all of us since we were children. † Martha Eugenia Hernandez, head of institutional relations and CSR and who had been at Bimbo since 1981, recalled â€Å"Don Lorenzo used to say, ‘Your left hand should never know what your right hand is giving. ’ And that was the philosophy behind CSR at that time; it was low key. † Roberto Perez Gomez, head of labor relations and a 20-year-old veteran of the company added, â€Å"With Don Lorenzo, Bimbo was a small and privately held firm; contact with associates was very personal. Even though Bimbo has grown rapidly and is now a public company, the social responsibility philosophy is still the same. Contact with associates is still personal. Daniel Servitje visits each plant every year and has annual meetings with associates of different areas. † The company’s CSR budget was determined as a percentage of its profits. This percentage was decided by a CSR committee comprised of five members of the board. The committee also decided which programs to support and to what amount. The profit percentage varied from year to year, and was determined independently for each country. Bimbo’s CSR programs were divided into four areas of commitment: Employees or Associates, Health, Environment, and the Community. Associates Since the beginning, one of our greatest concerns was our relationship with associates. We wanted people to work happily, we wanted them to identify with the company and we wanted them to be respected, having a non instrumental view of people; we wanted relations with personnel to be harmonious and cordial. With the years, the view of a highly productive firm that could also be a profoundly humane company consolidated. Profit sharing with our associates was higher than that required by law and many of our associates purchased shares with their monthly savings. 12 (Don Lorenzo Servitje13) 11 â€Å"Lorenzo Servitje: Sonar y Realizar,† Reforma, Club section, May 16, 2008. 12 Legal profit sharing in Mexico was 10%. Profit sharing in Bimbo was linked to productivity and could go from 11% to 13. 5% of profits depending on the results of the company. Source: Company information. 13 â€Å"Bimbo: A 60-Year History of Believe and Create. † Source: www. grupobimbo. com. mx/admin/content/uploaded/ Historia%20Grupo%20Bimbo. pdf. Last viewed: July 8th, 2008. 8 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility 509-025 In 2005, Bimbo hired a Canadian company to analyze Bimbo’s competitive advantages. They concluded, â€Å"We have analyzed their technology. They have the best in the world. They are leaders in the markets where they are present and have a great distribution network. However, what strikes us the most is that people are committed far beyond what is normally seen in other companies. People identify with the company. We see all workers, at all levels, seeking to give the best in them. That is what truly makes them special. 14 Bimbo was rated one of Mexico’s best places to work during the last eight years. In September 2008, Grupo Bimbo as a whole had more than 97,000 associates, of which around 60,000 worked in the baking division in Mexico. Around 25% of them were international associates and 13% were women. Right from the beginning, Bimbo’s top management did not merely perceive t heir associates as a labor resource, but rather as people who were partners in Bimbo’s mission to create value. They were treated with care, and provided opportunities to grow and learn and advance their quality of life. Grow and innovate was the motto driving Bimbo’s relationship with its associates. Javier Millan, head of Human Relations, put it simply: â€Å"Our competitive advantage lies within our values, outstanding among which is the person. Viewing a person as an individual is the small difference that makes all the difference. Once they are treated that way people get involved, they become interested in the company’s objectives. † Bimbo’s programs for its associates were divided into two areas of support: economic or development. Within economic benefits, Bimbo had health assistance, support for home improvement, and help with wills and deeds. It strongly encouraged long-term retirement savings among its associates. Roberto Servitje said: â€Å"What you truly gain is what you save and invest. † Under personal development, Bimbo offered its associates various courses that covered much more than just training for the workplace. Many courses addressed personal development opportunities such as, improving communication skills, raising healthy families, and so on. There were also educational offerings that enabled associates to complete a high school program, online and on-site English proficiency courses, and a mandatory course on how businesses work and contribute to the economy (to see a description of Bimbo’s programs for its associates, see Exhibit 8). Roberto Servitje said, â€Å"The firm is what its people are, and the people are what their leaders are. † From among the many benefits provided to associates, the health and education offerings were highly valued. Mexico’s public health system was known to be inefficient. It often took long hours to be seen by a doctor and receive treatment, and many visits to the doctor before one could see a specialist. Moreover, few people had access to preventive medicine. Bimbo tried to bridge the gap by providing free complete medical exams to all associates over 40, once a year preventive medical exams for cardiovascular illnesses at Bimbo facilities and follow-up checkups for those identified as needing further monitoring and care. All Bimbo associates were covered by the Mexican government’s health plan, to which Bimbo made a contribution, as did the associates through payroll deduction. In order to enable its associates circumvent the poor system of public care, Bimbo made available its facilities for the government to operate its clinics. Because of their location most of these operated as exclusive clinics for Bimbo employees. Moreover because these clinics were on Bimbo premises, the company was able to offer better infrastructure than what would normally be available to such clinics. 14 â€Å"In Grupo Bimbo, People Make the Difference,† presentation given by Javier Millan, head of Human Relations, 2007. 9 509-025 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility Health and Nutrition Within Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries (OECD), Mexico had the dubious reputation of being second in obesity rankings after the United States. 15 Recent studies16 showed that obesity in Mexico within the total population had increased during the last 60 years, but that this growth had accelerated at an alarming pace in the last 20 years. Obesity growth rates accelerated 10% to 20% in children, 30% to 40% in adolescents, and 60% to 70% in adults. The increase in obesity was most worrying in children (see Exhibit 9). The same study linked the reasons for the increase in childhood obesity to changes in eating habits, to diets high in calories, refined carbohydrates and sodas, and decrease in consumption of fruits and vegetables. This same study stated that the increase in obesity was also related to a decrease in physical activity. In Mexico, the obesity risk for children 9 to 16 years old increased 16% for each hour that they watched TV or played videogames. On average, Mexican children watched TV or played videogames 4. 1 to 6. 3 hours daily. 7 To counter the varied causes of obesity, in 2007 Bimbo launched a health program called Committed to Your Health. The program had many different components roughly divided into five areas: improving product healthiness, education in health and nutrition, promotion of physical activity, research, and being an exemplary firm in terms of health and nutrition (for details of the programs see Exhibit 10). The company published Nutrinotas, which reached 1 milli on print and online subscribers, and distributed sports and nutrition materials for 21,000 students. As part of its efforts to promote physical activity, the company staged a nationwide soccer tournament for children, Futbolito Bimbo Stars. In 2007, 46,000 children aged 9 to 12 participated in the program and the winning team travelled to Venezuela for the America’s Cup soccer tournament. In 2008, more than 50,000 children attended, winning a trip to Disney World. In its 2007 annual report, the company affirmed its commitment to health: The millions of people who enjoy our products each day count on them for quality, consistency and taste. The success lies in staying attuned to consumer tastes and trends. That means enhancing the nutritional value of our products and introducing new, healthy options. In this regard we follow the guidelines of the World Health Organization on reducing fat, salt and sugar content, and decreasing portion sizes†¦We are also innovating by adding functional ingredients to numerous products, for example, to lower cholesterol or enhance mineral absorption. We have created a range of products with less than 100 calories each; and just as importantly, we are investing in mass-market educational campaigns to encourage active, healthy lifestyles. In order to create the necessary research and development infrastructure, Grupo Bimbo had built four Innovation and Nutrition Institutes (‘Institutos de Investigacion y Nutricion de Grupo Bimbo’), two of them located in Mexico, one in the United States and one in South America. 15 World Health Organization, www. who. org last viewed July 8, 2008. 16 â€Å"Obesidad Infantil,† Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica, Nov. 2006. www. insp. mx/Portal/Centros/ciss/nls/boletines/ PME_14. pdf. Last viewed July 7, 2008. 17 â€Å"Obesidad Infantil,† Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica, Nov. 2006. www. insp. x/Portal/Centros/ciss/nls/boletines/ â€Å"PME_14. pdf. Last viewed July 7, 2008. 10 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility 509-025 Environment Bimbo’s programs in terms of environment protection were divided into five areas: emission reduction, saving water, saving energy, solid waste management and CSR on environmental matters through an institution dedicated to forest conservation and reforestation called â€Å"Reforestamos Mexico. † In the words of Martha Eugenia Hernandez, â€Å"we want to be a Green Company, both inside and outside. † See Exhibit 11 for the impact of its natural resource conservation effort. In 1998, Mexico suffered extensive fires in its forests; Mexico lost 800,000 hectares of forests. The government invited companies to participate in recovering lost forests. Bimbo responded speedily. Its associates raised money, and each peso donated by them was matched by Bimbo. As a result of the company’s (and its associates’) efforts, 1 million trees were planted and 8 natural areas were targeted for improvement. After that impressive achievement Bimbo’s directors decided to extend their commitment to Mexico’s forests on a more permanent basis. As a result, in 2002 Bimbo created a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the forests and trees of Mexico and named it â€Å"Reforestamos Mexico. † The administrative costs of Reforestamos Mexico was entirely borne by Bimbo, while the costs of the various projects were shared by Bimbo and other firms such as Wal-Mart, Banco Santander, Hewlett Packard, as well as individual donors. Twenty percent of Bimbo’s saving from energy conservation was used to fund Reforestamos Mexico. All Reforestamos’ employees, including the director, were independent. Its director, Ernesto Herrera, had worked for Bimbo prior to this appointment and was passionately committed to its mission. â€Å"I have worked for the environment for 10 years. For me, Reforestamos Mexico has been a dream-cometrue. I work in something that I passionately care about, and in one of the most committed companies in the world. I envision Reforestamos Mexico expanding into Latin America and working along with some of America’s most important environmental NGOs. † From the 27 people that constituted Reforestamos Mexico’s advisory board, only 3 worked for Bimbo. In addition to its Reforestamos Mexico activities, in August 2008, Grupo Bimbo announced that it had begun the use of degradable polyethylene packaging for its products, which made it the first Mexican company to use a 100% environment-friendly material. Ramon Rivera, Operations Director of Grupo Bimbo, commented, â€Å"the products packaged in degradable wrapping preserve their freshness and all of their characteristics exactly the same as those using traditional wrapping, and therefore consumers can have total confidence that the product will continue to be exactly the same. With the technology known as â€Å"d2w,† the degradation of the plastic began as soon as its useful life was over and the plastic discarded. The plastic was programmed to be consumed by bacteria and fungi in the soil, through an additive that reduced its molecular structure. This process of degradation would take a maximum period of 3-to-5 years, in comparison to the normal process that could take as lo ng as 100 to 400 years. 18 Community Bimbo was acutely aware of its close linkages to the community, and therefore had instituted various programs in support. It worked jointly with the National Development Bank for the small and micro enterprise (Nacional Financiera or NAFIN) to help its suppliers with working capital needs. Bimbo also supported many educational programs for both its suppliers and its store owners. For suppliers, Bimbo provided a course that helped them improve their business skills. The topics included cost reduction, quality improvement, and tracking operations online. For store owners, 18 Grupo Bimbo Incorporates Degradable Packaging 100% Environment Friendly, http://www. grupobimbo. com. mx/ salaprensa/index. php? fuseaction=home. oletinlangID=2bolID=212. 11 509-025 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility Bimbo developed a course jointly with local universities called â€Å"the store-owner university† or â€Å"la Universidad del tendero. † This course covered basic management tools such as accounting, marketing, customer service, operations planning and control, and some basic computer skills among other things. By June 2008, Bimbo had delivered 38 classes to almost 1,000 store owners. In 2007 and 2008, through Televisa Foundation, an institution that sought the development of children and young people of Mexico, Grupo Bimbo istributed 550,000 copies of a Values Calendar and Teacher’s Support Guide, to almost all Mexican elementary schools. Each year the company invited 1 million children to visit its many plants and learn about the food industry. The company had long been a supporter of the Papalote Museo del Nino (children’s museum), providing the funding support for a school program for children from low-income communities to visit the museum. Over 4,500 children visited the museum every year as part of the program. In addition the company directly supported Crisol, an elementary school for low-income children. In addition, Grupo Bimbo supported the activities of the Mexican Foundation for Rural Development (â€Å"Fundacion Mexicana para el Desarrollo Rural†), an organization with more than 40 years of experience that promoted the development of the agricultural sector, and low-income rural families. The company also supported the Center for Integrated Development of the Countryside, A. C. , (â€Å"Centro para el Desarrollo Integral del Campo, A. C. †), which benefited one of the poorest populations of Mexico in the Nayar zone. In a similar vein, the company supported various development programs for indigenous communities in areas such as health, nutrition, and education, through workshops coordinated by Foundation Mazahua Region (â€Å"Patronato Pro Zona Mazahua†) benefiting more than 20,000 people from the Mazahua area of northwestern Mexico State. All-in-all, Bimbo supported many different projects and organizations (for a list of institutions supported by Bimbo, see Exhibit 12), leading Martha Eugenia Hernandez to conclude, â€Å"We have lots of requests for help and we would love to help everyone. We want to be Santa Claus but we just cannot! It is hard to say no, but it is hard to say yes to everything. † Going Forward There was no question in Daniel Servitje’s mind that the internationalization of Bimbo’s business was important for its growth strategy. In addition to increasing Bimbo’s presence in markets such as the United States or Latin America, he also wanted to penetrate markets where Bimbo was not present or where it was just entering, such as China. An important challenge was to improve international profitability, which was lagging behind Mexico’s operations. But the leadership position it had gained in the domestic market and indeed in many markets of Latin America was something that Daniel Servitje did not want to lose sight of. He recalled the passion and commitment with which his predecessors, his father Lorenzo Servitje, and then his uncle, Roberto Servitje, had led the company. They were able to blend the company’s strategy development and its mission and values. He wondered what he could do for an encore. Bimbo was undoubtedly one of the most respected companies in Mexico. How should he go about continuing the tradition in Mexico and rest of the markets it had entered? 2 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility 509-025 Exhibit 1 Historical Bimbo Sales 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 1980 82 84 86 88 1990 92 94 96 98 2000 02 04 06 2008 Historical Bimbo Sales (1980 =100) Source: Company information. Exhibit 2 Consolidated Income Statement (million dollars) 1980 426 225 201 150 51 (4) 1 47 24 24 0. 4 23 12. 3% 9. 1% 1997 2,302 1,123 1,179 966 214 11 (14) 211 90 121 5 126 10. 3% 7. 3% 2000 3,279 1,435 1,844 1,506 338 (8) (13) 317 130 187 5 192 12. 0% 7. 5% 2006 5,851 2,724 3,127 2,588 539 (27) 12 524 194 330 3 333 15. 6% 8. % 2007 6,653 3,138 3,515 2,926 590 (22) (36) 537 177 366 6 360 14. 0% 8. 7% USD MM Net sales Cost of sales Gross profit Operating expenses Operating income Integral financial result Other income or expenses, net Income before income taxes Income tax expense Net income before participation in partner companies Equity in income of associated companies Net income ROE ROA Source: Grupo Bimbo, 1980, 1998, 2000 and 2007 Annual report, www. grupobimbo. com, last viewed June 5th, 2008. 13 509-025 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility Exhibit 3 Financial Information by Region (million dollars) Mexico 1998 NET SALES OPERATING INCOME EBITDA 1,923 266 338 Mexico 2000 NET SALES OPERATING INCOME EBITDA 2,431 356 443 Mexico 2006 NET SALES OPERATING INCOME EBITDA 4,110 510 634 Mexico 2007 NET SALES OPERATING INCOME EBITDA 4,575 542 686 USA 364 11 23 USA 599 (9) 12 USA 1,399 21 52 USA 1,524 19 51 Latam 238 (32) (14) Latam 249 (9) 9 Latam 490 4 25 Latam 699 25 55 Total 2,524 245 348 Total 3,279 338 463 Total 5,851 539 714 Total 6,653 590 796 Source: Grupo Bimbo, 1980, 1998, 2000 and 2007 Annual report, www. grupobimbo. com, last viewed June 5, 2008. 14 509-025 -15- Exhibit 4 Bimbo’s Products and Brands Division Bimbo Mexico Mexico United States Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela China Barcel Bimbo Bakeries USA Bimbo Latin America Bimbo Asia Country Mexico Brands Bimbo, Marinela, Tia Rosa, Wonder, Milpa Real, Suandy Lara, Lonchibon, Gaby, El Globo, among others Barcel, Ricolino, Coronado, La Corona, among others Oroweat, Mrs Baird’s, Bimbo, Entenmann’s*, Thomas*, Tia Rosa, Marinela, Francisco, Old Country, Boboli*, Weber’s*, among others Bimbo, Marinela, Plus Vita, Pullman, Ideal, Holsum, Trigoro, PyC, Bontrigo, Cena, Fuchs, among others. Bimbo Source: Grupo Bimbo 2007 Annual Report. www. grupobimbo. com, last viewed Sept. 9, 2008. * Under license. Example of products 509-025 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility Exhibit 5 Grocery Retailers Market Share 1999 Wal-Mart Safeway Soriana OXXO Comercial Mexicana Gigante Carrefour Chedraui Costco Casa Ley Comextra 7-Eleven HEB Comercial VH Almacenes Zaragoza Casa Chapa Controladora y administradora de pastelerias Grandes superficies de Mexico Others ( Mostly â€Å"Mom Pops†) Total 0. 8 1. 4 0. 5 0. 2 0. 2 0. 3 0. 2 0. 2 0. 1 0. 9 78. 8 100. 0 6. 6 1. 5 2 1 2 2. 4 0. 9 002 6. 1 3 1. 2 2. 6 3. 2 0. 9 2 0. 6 0. 3 0. 3 0. 3 0. 2 0. 2 0. 1 0. 9 78. 1 100. 0 2004 10. 2 4. 7 2. 6 3. 4 3 1 1. 9 0. 6 0. 3 0. 3 0. 3 0. 2 0. 2 0. 1 0. 9 70. 4 100. 0 2005 11. 5 4. 8 2. 9 3. 4 2. 6 1. 5 1. 8 0. 6 0. 3 0. 3 0. 3 0. 2 0. 2 0. 1 69. 4 100. 0 2006 12. 7 5. 2 4 3. 5 2. 4 2. 1 1. 7 0. 8 0. 5 0. 3 0. 3 0. 2 0. 2 0. 1 66. 1 100. 0 2007 14. 6 5. 7 4. 5 3. 6 2. 4 2. 2 1. 8 1 0. 5 0 . 3 0. 3 0. 2 0. 2 0. 1 62. 7 100. 0 Source: Retailing Mexico, Country market insight, Euromonitor International, May 08 and Retail planet. 16 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility 509-025 Exhibit 6 Views of Semi-Urban MPs Source: Casewriters. 17 509-025 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility Exhibit 7 Bimbo’s CSR Programs Source: Company information. 18 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility 509-025 Exhibit 8 †¢ Bimbo’s Programs for its Associates †¢ Development benefits: ! Development courses for associates o Personal development course: 3 day course on meditation on oneself and life. The topics ranged from ones ideals, work as a means of personal development and community contribution, the company, health and spirituality, role in society, among others. Leadership course for bosses where the motto was: The firm is what its people are and the people are what its boss is. o What is a firm: one day course on the firm? Topics were savings, investment, work, CSR and profits. The firm was explored so that associates would learn the need to have profit and how in a successful firm everyone benefited. o Family integration workshops for associates and their spouses ! Education courses: o Open schooling to associates so that they could finish middle and high school. Online English proficiency courses and on-site English courses o Support for elementary to masters education for associates in Mexico and the United States o Intensive mandatory training course on driving for all sales personnel. o Many production associates wanted to become sales people because wages were higher. Bimbo offered training in sales and driving to production associates so that they could become sales people. o Bimbo offered, in some of its production facilities, summer camps for associates’ children during the summer vacations. ! Savings: Voluntary saving program where 1 to 2% of associates’ wages were kept for a long term etirement savings program. Economic assistance: ! Health: o Bimbo organized a health week where social security came to Bimbo to do preventive medicine tests on associates such as sugar level tests, cholester ol, blood pressure, among other things. o Associates that came out bad in any of the tests were given follow-up checks up throughout the year. o Bimbo had mandatory health checks for associates over 40. o In case of severe health problem, Bimbo helped by putting pressure into the social security system so that the associate got adequate treatment. Bimbo also got private labs to make specialized tests to associates at very low prices. ! Home improvement: o Bimbo organized a home improvement fair through the Mexican institute for home equipment, IMEVI, so that associates could get home improvement credits and better prices on home improvement materials. ! Wills and deeds: o Bimbo got associates special prices with public notaries so that they could regularize their land or home by making deeds as well as wills. Bimbo also helped associates by allowing them to pay for their will or deeds procedures in a monthly basis instead of in a lump sum. Nutritionist and doctor in Bimbo offices to help associates keeping a healthier diet. Company information. Source: 19 509-025 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility Exhibit 9 Obesity and Overweight Prevalence in Mexican Children 1999 5. 3% 5. 9% 1999 18. 6% 2006 9. 4% 8. 7% 2006 26. 0% % Change 77. 0% 47. 0% % Change 39. 7% Obesity in children 5 to 11 year olds Boys Girls Overweight and obesity in children 5 to 11 year olds Boys and girls Source: Compiled by casewriters using data from Encuesta Nacional de Salud y Nutricion 2006, Instituto Nacional para la Salud Publica, http://www. nsp. mx/ensanut/resultados_ensanut. pdf, last viewed July 7, 2008. Exhibit 10 †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Health programs in Bimbo Social marketing campaign advocating 30 minutes of daily exercise through television commercials, billboards, radio announcements and packaging. Futbolito Bimbo Stars Tournament: Bimbo invited 46,000 children to a soccer tournament where they were given information on the need for physical activity and healthy diet. Mail and e-mail distribution of nutrinotas, an information brochure on health and nutrition, to more than 1 million people annually. Distribution of posters promoting good nutrition in 21,000 public and private schools. Distribution of the book â€Å"Living a Healthy Lifestyle† to all Bimbo’s associates throughout the world and to MPs owners. Elimination of transfats from its products. Reduced portion sizes and created products with only 100 calories Decreased fat, sugar and salt in 8% of all Bimbo’s product portfolio Fortified products with iron that was five times easier to absorb. The Public Health National Institute, in its Nutrition and Health 2006 census showed that children in Southern Mexico had an important iron deficiency. Bimbo developed products that appealed to children and met 20% of their daily iron needs Created a new bread that helped reduce cholesterol Participated in the Alliance of the Heart with Pfizer and Lala where 200,000 people were diagnosed and tested, at no cost, for cardiovascular diseases based on indicators such as cholesterol, glucose and blood pressure levels. Bimbo also made efforts to be an exemplary firm by giving talks to associates on health and nutrition, providing nutritionists for consults, having healthy menus in its cafeterias and recommendations to have physical activity in the workplace. Bimbo gave founding to many health organizations such as The Mexican Foundation for Health (FUNSALUD), The APAC foundation –providing rehabilitation for people with cerebral palsy, the Ronald McDonald Children’s Foundation –supporting programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children around the world, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund, the March of Dimes –health education for pregnant women and promotion of folic acid supplements in bread and the Mexican Red Cross. Company information. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Source: 20 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility 509-025 Exhibit 11 †¢ Impact of Natural Resource Conservation at Bimbo Since 2003, Bimbo decreased its vehicle fleet fuel by 3. 6 million litters and increased their average kilometer per liter by 15% by improved carburetion technology engines and fuel types Since year 2000, Bimbo decreased its energy index per ton produced by 13% and the thermal energy index per ton produced by 34%. Since year 2000 Bimbo had saved 194 million liters of water or 23% of its consumption by water treatment, installing water-treatment systems in plants, collecting water from rain, among other things. By 2008 Bimbo was recycling 85% of their solid wastes through recycling policies. †¢ †¢ †¢ Source: Company information. 21 509-025 Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility Exhibit 12 Organizations and Institutions Supported by Bimbo, among others †¢ Educational Institutions: o Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESEM) o Escuela Bancaria y Comercial (EBC) o Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM) o Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) o Instituto de Fomento e Investigacion Educativa (IFIE) Other foundations or institutions: o Televisa foundation o UNICEF o Junior League Mexico City o Papalote Children Museum: from the Support given to the museum, in 2007 4,500 children from public schools and 30,000 children from marginalized communities visited the museum o Fundacion Pro Empleo Productivo o Impulsa o Fundacion Mexicana para el Desarrollo Rural o Patronato Pro-zona Mazahua o Fundacion Tarahumara o Fundacion CIE o Amigos del Museo de Arte Popular: which benefits more than 8 million Mexican artisans Relief efforts: o After the 2007 floods, Bimbo made a campaign to help associates that were damaged by the flood. Over 33,000 associates donated and donations were matched by Bimbo. o In the United States, Bim bo contributed to food drives for the tornado victims in Texas and Kansas International foundations: o Project leaders of the 21st Century (Colombia) o National Park Foundation (United States) o Toys for tots (United States) o United Way (United States) o Junior Achievement (United States) o Institute of the Americas (United States) o Amigos de las Americas (United States) o Young Women Association (YWCA) †¢ †¢ †¢ Source: Social Responsibility Report 2007, Grupo Bimbo. 22

Company policy for safety cell phone use in cars Essay

Company policy for safety cell phone use in cars - Essay Example Based on the policy: You should avoid using your cell phone held in your hands while driving, especially during dangerous driving conditions such as snow, sleet, rain or ice. All sales representatives should place their cell phones in easily accessible places in the car to ensure easy and faster reach. You should not shift your eyes and attention from the road while getting your mobile phone. Every sales representative is expected to be familiar with all the important features of their mobile phones such as making speed dial and voice calls among others in order to ensure efficient and swift use when there is need. Do not take notes or concentrate on looking at your phone while driving. Pull over in case you cannot avoid taking the call and turn off your engine or let your voice mail do the receiving if the call is not urgent. This will also be applicable for hands-free devices. This policy aims at ensuring your safety in the course of duty. Therefore, let us all observe the proposed rules as we use our mobile phones. I hope you all find this information important rather than restricting and support its course. Thank you for your support as we look into a safer future.

The role of Executive management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The role of Executive management - Essay Example Executive management is familiar with the subject matter, but they have decided to hire a specialist in this sphere. Executive management view training as an integral pan of the process of quality management and a continual need for the process of staff development. This audience will have to ensure that new training project meets government regulations and guidelines. In half a year, they will need to gather information and compare results of two training systems: web-based training and the traditional one. Then, they will analyze results and efficiency of new project. Department managers are responsible for work coordination, planning, control and organizing. Also, they are responsible for developing and maintaining procedures in conjunction with other depart mental heads for recruitment and training; ensuring adequate safety precautions, etc. Department management is not familiar with the subject-matter and will show resistance to change. Most of them are afraid of the introduction of new technology or methods of working. Also, they can resist new programs because of uncertainty over changes in responsibilities and the increased responsibilities. Web-based training project will have a great impact on their work changing relations with employees, sphere of influence and responsibilities. The change management activities for this audience will include communication with employees to create positive attitudes towards change. They will have to assess employees' skills and assign specific courses for diverse audiences. Also, department management wil l be required to learn how to use the system and monitor completion of the courses once a month. The information they need is: the level of knowledge, task completion, possible difficulties (Senior, 2001). Manufacturing hourly employees and supervisors are responsible for product quality and minimal quantity of defective articles and spoilage. They are not familiar with the subject-matter which can create additional problems for department management. Also, many companies of this type hire low qualified hourly employees with lack of experience to perform a particular type of work. Performance deficiencies can result from motivational problem which is closely connected with lack of skills. Resistance to change can be high among hourly employees who need to spend additional time and efforts on training. New web-based project can be seen as unnecessary expense to achieve output targets. The responsibilities of sales personal include: advising board of directors on marketing policy; plan and execute all the activities for assessing and creating consumer demand and for the sale, storage and distribution of the company's goods; provide market research; sales promotion; control of distribution; control of sales personnel, etc. It is possible to assume that sales personal is familiar with the subject-matter if the company follows B2C and B2B marketing. For sales staff, new web-based project will help to reduce skills shortages, and increase emphasis on flexible working attitudes, create opportunities to develop and update their skills and experiences. This group will not resist change process familiar with the web-based facilities and projects. The main activities for employees and

Soft processor Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Soft processor - Research Paper Example This is important because laymen and some scholars often confuse them with each other in terms of their design and functionality. At the end of this paper, I intend to have achieved two main objectives: examine and discuss all aspects of soft core processors, and show a clear distinction (in terms of design and functionality) between soft core and hard core processors. Key words Core processors, soft core processors, hard core processors Introduction A soft processor is a patented core that is based on the Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) logic primitives (Chu 2012, pg. 31). A hard processor, on the other hand, is a patented core that is based developed from dedicated silicon. In this regard, it is built directly onto non-reconfigurable silicon. A real example of a soft-processor is the Xilinx MicroBlaze processor core. This is a 32-bit processor core that is also a Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC). It has the following features: Harvard bus architecture Highly configurabl e cache Exceptional handling capacity and two levels of interruption A standardized core connect bus interface manufactured by IBM 3-stage pipeline Thirty-two registers for general purpose This processor can operate at up to 250MHz based on a Virtex-4 (4VLX40-12) component. Between 1000 and 2700 Xilinx LUTs (Look-Up tables) are required for the implementation of a MicroBlaze soft processor, depending on the manner in which the processor is configured. Background FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) An FPGA is an integrated circuit (IC) that is capable of being programmed to perform any logical function. FPGAs usually have many gates (sometimes even millions) which can be interlinked in any configuration required to resemble a logic circuit. Such interconnections are performed entirely using software. This is done by uploading a modified hardware definition for a logic circuit) to an FPGA. The FPGA will subsequently assume the attributes of that logic unit. The logic unit is defined using a HDL (hardware definition language). An FPGA is made up of a complex matrix/assembly of logic cells (Yiannacouras 2005, pg. 36). The FPGA is a general-purpose component that is full of digital logic building units. The two dominant firms in the FPGA industry are Xilinx and Altera. The most primitive building block used in FPGA is known as an LE (Logic Element) by Altera or an LC (Logic Cell) by Xilinx. In both cases, the building block is made up of an LUT for logical purposes and a flip-flop for purposes of storage. Apart from the LE/LC block, FPGAs also include clock management, multiplication blocks, memory, and input/output (I/O). LE/LC is often used in finding system costs. FPGAs offer hardware designers great flexibility. Although pioneer designers primarily employed FPGAs in debugging and prototyping, most commercial end-products now integrate FPGAs. Designers who use FPGAs are able to develop hardware components or entire systems quickly while still balancing the debu gging and prototyping benefits that FPGAs have over application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designs (Iniewski 2013, pg. 35). Constant increases in FPGA architectural features, performance, and capacity are allowing more designs to be implemented through FPGAs. To further this, FPGAs costs are declining, enabling designers to integrate FPGAs with 1 million similar gates for less than $13.

Integrated Policy versus Integrated Science Essay

Integrated Policy versus Integrated Science - Essay Example Integrated Policy versus Integrated Science Whether crime is defined as the breaking of a relevant law or a more generalized type of deviant behavior does not inhibit the fundamental positivist inquiry; more specifically, the positivist school of thought seeks to explain crime and deviance as phenomena that result from certain forces that are beyond an individual's control. This essay will compare and contrast two types of positivism, psychological and sociological, and argue that an attempt to create an integrated theory of criminology would do more harm than good. This may allow for the articulation of integrated social policies. Policies, however, must be kept separate from the underlying scientific theories and methods used to more clearly understand crime and deviance. This is because, in certain ways, the two strains of positivism, while concerned with similar issues in the larger picture, are not truly compatible as scientific methods of inquiry. As a preliminary matter, both psychological positivists and sociological positivists are generally concerned with the same issues in a criminological context. These scholars are interested in determining, through application of the scientific method, the causes and the consequences of crime and deviance. Significantly, both schools of thought agree that these issues are not the fault of the individual; quite the contrary, they postulate that crime and deviance are caused by factors over which the individual has little or no control. This, however, is where the two theories begin to diverge. It is this focus, outside or uncontrollable forces, that characterize the respective types of positivism. The psychological positivists, for instance, argue that there are particular kinds of human personalities that are more likely to behave in a deviant manner or to produce criminal acts. The focus is thus the mind and it is therein that the uncontrollable forces reside. The sociological positiv ists, on the other hand, argue that there are particular types of social conditions and factors that are likely or more likely to influence individuals to behave in a deviant manner or to commit criminal acts. Both schools of thought agree that they are dealing with forces beyond the individual's control; the key theoretical difference is that the psychological positivists concentrate on the mind whereas the social positivists concentrate on society. For a psychological positivist, it is the condition of the mind that is of the greatest importance. The larger social context, for purposes of scientific analysis, is temporarily ignored. The question is how different individuals, different personalities, process information in different settings. How a person behaves is dependent on personality and psychological positivists tend to treat personalities as being rather stable and predictable. The implications, in the field of criminology, are important. By understanding different types of personalities, such as variations of an anti-social personality, psychological positivists believe that that they can predict which individuals will behave in certain deviant ways or commit certain types of criminal acts. It is this mode of scientific inquiry that has given rise to certain popularly known designations as the sociopath, the psychopath, and the sexual predator. In addition to identifying and classifying these types of personalities th at are predisposed to certain types of behavior, the psychological

Hunting Methods of Early Man Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Hunting Methods of Early Man - Term Paper Example Due to this they invented stone tools which are refereed to as the Oldowan tools which it possible for them to be able to hunt animals and crush their bones and eat the bone marrow and also eat the meat. Because of their features they used to wait for animals under a tree.   Therefore, when the animals come they would split into different positions and disperse and chase them and kill them. They used their stone tool to skin the animals and eat them. Although at some point they were forced to to share the predictors meat when they have not captured any animal.Homo erectus is among the extinct hominin of the early man. It is thought that the homo erectus evolved from the homo habilis. Homo erectus are also referred to as the upright man because they used to walk into legs. Homoerectus also had a height of 6 feet. They're also invented tools which were referred to as the Acheulian and were more advanced than the stone tools of the homo habilis. Their tools were more diverse and elabo rated for instance the hand axe. The Homo erectus were the first people who invented fire. They had a better way of hunting and foraging skills which made them adapt and survive in their environment (Boaz 105). The Homo erectus used to use the fire which they invented to hunt. The Homo erectus had a brain size like for a human baby whereby it was too small for reasoning or even imagining. They used to chase the animals with the fire to their trap whereby their trap was muddy pool. Due to fear the animals would run unkowingly towards.

Government Rules and Public Opinion about Hunting Research Paper

Government Rules and Public Opinion about Hunting - Research Paper Example The Chinese authorities put strong control over hunting activities because of political reasons. The general public interest in China is not in favor of hunting activities. "China Wildlife Management Authority started to plan an auction of hunting quota and permits for the fall season of 2006, in order to replace the original way of issuing the hunting permits based on case application and case approval† (â€Å"Hunting In China is Suspended - Again!†). On the other hand, Canadian laws with respect to hunting are more liberal in nature. Moreover, Canadians like hunting very much. The influence of religion and politics can be observed in the public opinion of hunting in Canada and China. This paper compares the laws and public attitude in China and Canada with respect to hunting. According to the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife Chapter II, Article 8, â€Å"The state shall protect wildlife and the environment for its survival, and shall prohibit the illegal hunting, catching or destruction of wildlife by any unit or individual† (â€Å"Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife†). ... Chinese authorities have divided the entire wildlife into two categories: special protection category and non-protection category. Hunting of wildlife in the special protection category is unlawful in all circumstances whereas licensed hunting is allowed in other categories. Article 18 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife, Chapter III, states that â€Å"Anyone who intends to hunt or catch wildlife that is not under special state protection must obtain a hunting license and observe the hunting quota assigned. Anyone who intends to hunt with a gun must obtain a gun license from the public security organ of the county or municipality concerned† (â€Å"Hunting in China Is Suspended - Again!†). In short, hunting without permission is prohibited legally in China. Chinese authorities are respecting animal rights more than any other countries in the world. Public opinion continues to be strongly opposed to issuing new hunting permits in Chi na. "So you are saying that you can protect the animals by killing them?" said a netizen called Dazuiyu. "If we reopen the hunting ground in Dulan to foreigners, it is hard to say how many more will come. The number of animals they want is small this time, what about next time and the time after next? It will increase fast"(Yuan). Public opinion in China seems to be against hunting. It is difficult for the Chinese people to come out strongly against the governmental policies. They often respond through Internet in order to keep their anonymity. â€Å"Foreigners were previously allowed to hunt in China only after completing a complicated application process. By the end of last year, China had earned US$36.39 million by allowing

Market and Transport Revolution in the United States Essay

Market and Transport Revolution in the United States - Essay Example A group of Americans statesmen came up with a vision of implementing a national economic policy that enhanced the growth of the economy referred to as the â€Å"American system.† This paper aims at responding to the changes in the transport and market revolution in the United States of America; with direct relation to their contribution in the growth of the country. Considering â€Å"market revolution,† the expansion of the market place occurred in the nineteenth century giving way to infrastructural growth that promoted business growth in the United States. Construction of new roads and canals to join distant communities together for the first time came into effect. Resultant transport development, â€Å"inspired by the success of the Erie Canal where the States poured millions of dollars into the transportation networks† spurred the national growth economically (Cobbs-Hoffman and Gjerde, 232). This opened up the interior areas to the other parts and led to move ment of goods promoting development in the areas. The market revolution attributed with new roads and canal development can be said to have opened up business with other distant markets enhancing more earnings that were used in the economic development of the rural areas. â€Å"The invention of steam power saw the transport means improve a notch higher as steam boats and railroads were introduced† (Cobbs-Hoffman and Gjerde, 231). ... ar that, with the harnessing of steam power, improved transportation modes were realized and resulted to greater development in the transport industry; thus, promoting the business sector. Improved business relates directly to economic growth of a region and this saw the consequential advancement of the United States of America. â€Å"Technology advancement and improved business practice progressed well with the market and transport growth consolidating the market and building the economy progressively† (Cobbs-Hoffman and Gjerde, 248). Market development meant increased business activities which benefited a lot from the improvement of transport channels and effective market. This not only increased new market ventures, but also opened up far and new market places; thus, increasing output consumption leading to growth in the relevant sectors of economy. â€Å"Infrastructure development is of much essence in comparison to labor practices and business activities† (Cobbs-Ho ffman and Gjerde, 248). This portrays high level of attachment the changes that occurred in the transport industry ensued and made crucial impact in the business and employment sectors. With business thrive; the economy of any state is geared towards considerable and substantial growth. The changes experienced in transport laid a foundation for market revolution that brought about a permanent change in the daily activities of the American people. For example, with improved transport, â€Å"farmers could get their produce to the market at shorter times; workers got to work early or using considerably shorter periods† (Cobbs-Hoffman and Gjerde, 231). This in turn, contributed to a large extent, â€Å"in the changing of the economic landscape of the United States† (Cobbs-Hoffman and Gjerde, 232). With increased

Alicia Martinez Murder Essay Example for Free

Alicia Martinez Murder Essay Alicia Martinez murder: Did Edward Romero chop up some body parts in a blender? Denver Westword, Thursday, Mar. 8 2012 Alicia Martinez disappeared on October 24, 2010, and shortly thereafter, Denver Police arrested Edward Romero for first degree murder. According to police Romero allegedly killed Martinez by shooting her twice in the head, then dismembering her body even going so far as to put some small pieces in a blender. Some parts were never found and others missing skin. Martinez was ultimately identified through the use of dental records. Francesca Pagliasotti, Romero’s girlfriend was accused of being an accessory to first-degree murder. Pagliasotti wasnt home when Romero allegedly killed Martinez, but upon her arrival, she found him in the garage, chopping up the girls body. The morning after, Pagliasotti, who has two small children with Romero, got out a mop and a bucket and started cleaning up Martinezs blood. (Roberts, 2012) The actus reus or criminal act of this crime has to be Romero shooting Martinez twice in the head and murdering her. Romero must have had a reason, in his mind, to kill Martinez. Maybe she saw him do something or he sexually assaulted her and didn’t want any witnesses. Either way the act of killing her was the actus reus. After Romero shot her and realized what he had done was not only wrong but could land him in prison for the rest of his life, he had to dispose of the body. No body, no crime. Romero decides the best course of action is to dismember the body in the garage. Not only dismember the body but put some smaller pieces in a blender. Romero had the knowledge that he had committed a crime or mens rea. Romero’s girlfriend Pagliasotta caught him in the act of dismembering a human body in his garage. Clearly what he had done in killing the girl and what he was doing with getting rid of the body was illegal. Yet Pagliasotta did not call the police or run and get help. She instead helps Romero clean up the crime scene and act like nothing happened. Pagliasotta has knowledge or mens rea of the crime. After having knowledge of the crime she did not report the crime to the authorities, this is actus reus or the criminal act. If Romero would have shot the victim and not have known that it would harm her then there would have not been a crime. There has to be the concurrence of actus reus and mens rea together for a crime to occur. The fact that he knew he was hurting Martinez when he shot her is the concurrence and ultimately the crime. Romero’s girlfriend knew that he had committed a crime. She knew that he had killed someone and that he had dismembered a body to try to cover up a crime scene. Pagliasotta knowingly helped him cover up that crime scene without alerting the authorities. This is the concurrence and ultimately her crime. This is why she is accused of accessory to first-degree murder (Roberts, 2012).

DI-MS Technique for Analyzing Protein and Peptide Sequences

DI-MS Technique for Analyzing Protein and Peptide Sequences Food Industrial Application DI-MS technique has been widely applied in food industry as it is an easy and high-throughput tool for analyzing protein and peptide sequences, studying the components or structure in food, monitoring the contamination in food. FAB-MS In the study by Terzi, Boyot, Dorsselear, Luu and Trifilieff (1990), the amino acid sequence of a new 6.8 kDa proteolipid from beef heart was determined by employed FAB-MS. The study isolated and purified the 6.8 kDa proteolipid from an acidic methanol/chloroform extract of bovine cardiac muscle, and subsequently analyzed it with the application Cs atom beam of FAB-MS in 1-thioglycerol matrix. The result showed a protonated molecular ion [M+H]+ at m/z 6834.1 and indicated that it have about 60 residues. The 60 residues in the polypeptide were cleaved into three peptide fragments CN1, CN2 and CN3. To characterize these cleavage peptides from amino acid composition, the CN1 and CN2 were ionized using the FAB-MS that performed with Xe atom beam and 1-thioglycerol matrix while the CN3 which also dissolved in 1-thioglycerol was collided by Cs atom beam to produce sample ions. Table 1.0: Chemical mass of cleavage peptides Cleavage peptides Measured mass [M+H]+ [M+Na]+ CN1 1539.0 1560.9 CN2 2100.5 2121.8 CN3 3134.6 From the analysis of the cleavage peptides, the amino acid sequence and peptide fragments of the 6.8 kDa proteolipid were reported as: MLQSLIKKVWIPMKPYYTQAYQEIWVGTGLMAYIVYKIRSADKRSKALKASS 1 CN1 13 14 CN2 31 32 CN3 AAPAHGHH 60 In addition, the FAB-MS technique was applied to determine the structure of the Lycium chinense Miller fruits (Gou-Qi-Zi) in combination with NMR and IR spectroscopy (Chung, Ali, Praveen, Yu, Kim, Ahmad, 2014). L. chinense fruit is a valuable tonic or food, hence there are many researches have been reported to display the properties the L.chinense fruit. For example, the anticancer, antibacterial and antioxidant properties (Lee et al., 2005; Wang, Chang, Inbaraj. Chen, 2010; Zhang et al., 2011) and the antihepatotoxic activity and chemical constituents (Chin et al., 2003; Kim et al., 1997). In the research, the four new compounds (i, ii, iii and iv) that isolated from L. chinense fruits were characterized using the FAB-MS (JMS-700) spectrometer. The antioxidant activity of the four compounds was further studied and it demonstrated that the activity of the compounds followed the order 1423. Table 2.0: Characterization of compound (i) to (iv) Mass Species m/z Detected species Suggestion Compound (i) [M+H]+ 817 C40H65O17 -aromatic acid glycosidic ester 283 [CH3(CH2)16COO]+ -steric acid was esterified with one phenolic group 267 [CH3(CH2)16CO]+ 414 [C15H26O13]+ -three arabinose units bind to one phenolic group 265 [C10H17O8]+ 133 [C5H9O4]+ Compound (ii) [M+H]+ 1165 C50H85O30 -susquiterpene glycoside ester 265 [C10H17O8]+ -few arabinose units bind to the sesquiterpene moiety 223 [C14H27CO]+ 133 [C5H8O5]+ Compound (iii) [M]+ 1309 C58H100O32 -hexaglycoside 341 [C12H21O11]+ -six hexose sugar units bind to each other -unsaturated fatty acid located at terminal position 335 [C21H39COO]+ 325 [C12H21O10]+ 319 [C12H39CO]+ 179 [C6H11O6]+ 163 [C6H11O5]+ Compound (iv) [M+H]+ 841 C31H52O26 -five arabinose units and one glucose unit 661 [C25H41O20]+ -five pentose sugar units bind to a hexose sugar 529 [C25H41O20-C5H8O4]+ 281 [C10H17O9]+ TOF-SIMS TOF-SIMS which widely applied in surface analysis is an important technique for monitoring the contamination in food as the usage of pesticides and fungicide in the agriculture practice will alter and compromise the food quality. The study used TOF-SIMS technique to characterize and compare three different groups of Seggianese olives which classified as untreated (UT), treated with insecticide (dimethoate) and fungicide (copper oxychloride) without washing (TU) and treated with insecticide and fungicide with washing with cold water (TW) (Focardi, et al., 2006). Before measuring the molecular masses of three different groups of olives, the mass calibration was done by using CH3+, C2H3+ and C3H5+ peaks as calibration compounds for positive ions C, CH and C2H peaks as calibration compounds for negative ions. The SIMS data proved the chemical treatments modify the surface composition of olive, resulting in higher intensity signals in TU compared with TW or UT olive spectra. Besides, the intensity of UT and TW olives showed a small variance between each other, demonstrating the washing process was no effective in removing of insecticides and fungicides that will stimulate the composition alterations of olives. Table 3.0: Intensity of few relevant peaks from three different olive samples Peaks Mass peak m/z Attribution Intensity TU olive TW olive UT olive Positive 31.018 CH3O+ 4.23 10-4 6.93 10-5 1.12 10-4 57.074 C4H9+ 1.18 10-2 5.92 10-3 5.08 10-3 73.051 C4H9O+ 7.83 10-4 3.34 10-4 3.08 10-4 147.082 C6H14NOP+ / C6H13NOS+ 2.42 10-4 7.37 10-5 2.93 10-5 Negative 15.994 O 1.13 10-4 2.30 10-3 7.20 10-3 17.002 OH 1.19 10-4 4.42 10-3 5.44 10-3 31.972 S 5.24 10-4 1.99 10-5 1.47 10-5 MALDI-TOF/TOF MS MALDI-MS is a widespread analytical tool for proteins, peptides and oligonucleotides as it offers high ion yields of the intact analyte samples, high sensitivity and accuracy (Lewis, Wei, Siuzdak, 2000). In year 2012, a research about the peptide of peanut hydrolysate has the properties of umami taste had reported by Su, Cui, Zheng, Yang, Ren Zhao. Umami taste is known as the fifth basic taste and it usually described as savory or MSG-like taste. In the study, two novel umami and umami-enhancing peptides were isolated from peanut hydrolysate, purified using chromatography and identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF MS. The analysis of peptides was performed by MALDI-MS equipped with 337nm of UV nitrogen laser and matrix solution as sinapic acid saturated in 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid and acetonitrile. The MALDI-TOF/TOF MS was used to sequence the two novel peptides that termed as P3 and P4 as they produce umami taste. It found that the molecular mass of P3 and P4 was 1091.419 Da and 965.595 Da respectively and the amino sequence of P3 is EGSEAPDGSSR while P4 is SSRDEQSR. Bibliography Chung, I. M., Ali, M., Praveen, N., Yu, B. R., Kim, S. H., Ahmad, A. (2014). New polyglucopyranosyl and polyarabinopyranosyl of fatty acid derivatives from the fruits of Lycium chinense and its antioxidant activity. Food Chemistry, 435-443. Focardi, S., Ristori, S., Mazzuoli, S., Tognazzi, A., Leach-Scampavia, D., Castner, D. G., et al. (2006). ToF-SIMS and PCA studies of Seggianese olives and olive oil. Colloids and Surfaces, 225-232. Lewis, J. K., Wei, J., Siuzdak, G. (2000). Matrix-assited laser desorption/iomization mass spectrometry in peptide and protein analysis. Chichester: John Wiley Sons Ltd. Su, G., Cui, C., Zheng, L., Yang, B., Ren, J., Zhao, M. (2012). Isolation and identification of two novel umami and umami-enhancing peptides from peanut hydrolysate by consecutive chromatography and MALDI-TOF/TOF MS. Food Chemistry, 479-485. Terzi, E., Boyot, P., Dorsselear, A. V., Luu, B., Trifilieff, E. (1990). Isolation and amino acid sequence of a novel 6.8-kDa mitochondrial proteolipid from beef heart. FABS Letters, 122-126. Conclusion In food industry, the analysis of protein and peptide can be performed well by using MALDI-MS and FAB-MS while the application of SIMS is mostly used for detecting the surface of contaminated food. Besides, the structure of the components in foods can also be identified by using the FAB-MS combined with NMR and IR spectroscopies.

Capital Structure And Cost Of Capital For Morrisons Finance Essay

Capital Structure And Cost Of Capital For Morrisons Finance Essay It is very essential in todays modern age to upgrade and promote business in such a way that functioning can take place smoothly. This assignment is about the capital structure and cost of capital for Morrisons PLC. Also in this project an analysis on if I was a project manager and had to design a new project for the company what all stages and things I would have to do; are mentioned. This study is based on facts taken from the company website and annual report of 2009/10. Other information is gathered from educational case studies, website and core textbooks on this topic. Introduction According to www.wisegeek.com  [1]  Corporate  finance  is a broad term that is used to collectively identify the various financial dealings undertaken by a  corporation. In other words we can say that corporate finance is a division within a particular company that deals with financial operations of the company i.e. raising finances for various projects, analysis of various mergers and acquisitions etc. In the present world scenario, one of the most profitable sectors is retailing. Large scale retailers have become very powerful, in some ways even more powerful as companies than manufacturers. The British layman is highly dependent on these retailers like ASDA, Morrisons, Morrisons, Tesco etc so as to buy everyday use products and services. Even these retailers have broadened their scope of activity and have diversified into more than just everyday goods. One such retailer is WM Morrison Supermarkets PLC also referred to as Morrisons. Morrisons was a company started at Bradford market by William Morrison in the year 1899. Today it is termed as the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. With almost 124,000 employees working in 403 stores across the nation, Morrisons has an operating income of  £671 million in 2010. The different types of products that Morrisons has to offer are as below:- Groceries Consumer products Fuel and Oil Pharmaceuticals Alcohol and beverages These are the major areas of business for Morrisons but apart from these also certain services are offered at different locations which are store specific. Morrisons has not yet set up base outside the United Kingdom but according to the company website and also the annual reports, the business can be divided into 6 main regions, namely Scotland with 51 stores North UK with 72 stores Midlands with 75 stores South East including Gibraltar at 63 stores South Central with 62 stores South West with 51 stores To discuss on the size of its business relative to its industry we can look at the report prepared by Edward Garner, 2008  [3]  as shown below (certain areas deleted as appropriate):- TOTAL TILL ROLL Great Britain Consumer Spend Includes all expenditure through main store tills and excludes petrol instore concession 12 Weeks to 12 August 2007   12 Weeks to 10 August 2008 change  £000s %  Ã‚   **   Ã‚ £000s %  Ã‚   ** % Total Till Roll   Ã‚  Ã‚   26,615,239   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   27,621,890 3.8   Total Grocers   Ã‚  Ã‚   18,733,701 100.0%   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   20,076,033 100.0% 7.2   Ã‚   Total Multiples   Ã‚  Ã‚   17,402,359 92.9%   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   18,719,527 93.2% 7.6   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tesco   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   5,962,922 31.8%   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   6,351,531 31.6% 6.5   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Asda   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   3,142,151 16.8%   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   3,410,431 17.0% 8.5   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Morrisonss   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   3,016,586 16.1%   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   3,175,543 15.8% 5.3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sainsbury   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2,042,026 10.9%   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2,233,137 11.1% 9.4   Ã‚   Total Coops   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   815,208 4.4%   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   846,405 4.2% 3.8   Ã‚   Total Independents   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   516,134 2.8%   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   510,101 2.5% -1.2      Ã‚  Ã‚  Total Symbols   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   183,349 1.0%   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   181,137 0.9% -1.2   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Other Independents   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   332,785 1.8%   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   328,964 1.6% -1.1   ** = Percentage Share of Total Grocers According to this report we can clearly say that in comparison with other supermarkets, Morrisons is ranked as #4 in this sector. The performance over the last few years can be summed in by the use of a table as shown below: (all figures are in million  £) Year Turnover Profit or loss before tax Profit or loss after tax 2009 14,528 655.0 460.0 2008 12,969 612.0 554.0 2007 12,462 369.0 247.6 2006 12,115 (312.9) (250.3) According to the figures shown in the table above we can say that although 2006 was a tough and bad year for the company, its recovery process was efficient and planned. Through 2007 the company improved methods so as to maximize profits. The entire tenure has shown an increase in turnover for the company but although the turnover in 2009 was at its peak the company failed to achieve a higher profit which might be due to a variety of reasons that will be discussed in the project ahead. Morissons though been facing problems in 2006 2007 they have been winning awards and earning high percentage of profits with the production units of morissons as with special brewing, wines and bakery unit. they also have been The Oracle Retailer of the year 2009,The Oracle Retailer Week Awards, March 2009 Morissons have been pioneering in the retail sector comprising The Own Grocer Label awards, with gold and silver allocades among the retailers wining The Cloudy Apple Juice The Best Toffee Popcorn offering wide range of fresh farm products to freshly prepared breads and confectioneries within the nested units of morissons along with wide range of wine cellars and brewed beers and cafà © outlets within Financial structure The financial structure of a company is known by the balance sheet of the company. In what areas changes are required and in what ways are all known through the balance sheet of the company. For a person to analyze the balance sheet appropriately one must understand the basic concepts of the balance sheet as a financial analyst. After going through the financial report (balance sheet as well as the annual report) for Morrisons, I have come to a point where a conclusion can be made on the financial structure with relevance to turnover and operating profits, capital expenditure, earning per share, tax payable, return to shareholders and dividend cover. All these factors will help to calculate the standing of Morrisons. A brief study is also done on the basis of the return on assets to compare Morrisons with other retailers. Turnover and operating profit 2008/09 2009/10 Changes Turnover  £14528m  £15410m 6.07% Operating profit  £671m  £907m 35.17% Capital expenditure the capital expenditure has increased by  £228m and now is  £906m. This is due to the recent buying of the new co-operative and Somerfield stores at a cost of  £223m and a refurbishment cost of  £102m. Apart from this we can see a fall in the previous made capital expenditure. This is a healthy growth projector. Earnings per share the earnings per share has increased from 17.4pence per share to 22.8 pence per share. This is mainly due to the increase in underlying profits. There have been no other significant factors that would affect the earning per share. Tax payable the tax paid during the year is  £209m. In comparison to the tax paid in the previous year i.e.  £104m there has been a vast increase, this is mainly due to the effective tax rate that was increased and made 30%.This represents 50% of the tax for the year ended 1 February 2009, as well as 50% of the expected tax for the year ended 31 January 2010, and repayments of previous years. Return to shareholders the final dividend paid during the year is 7.1pence which shows an increase of 2.1pence per share in comparison to last year. This makes the entire dividend paid during the year 8.2 pence and the dividend cover 2.5 times. The calculation is as shown below Comparative study According to a study by Biz/Ed  [4]  the following information can be gathered on the return to assets and profit margins. As we can clearly observe in the table underneath, Morrison has the highest return on assets in comparison to any other retailer of food and the profit margin is also comparative higher than any other retailer. Company Return on Assets Profit margin Marks and spencers 4.43% 3.91% Morrisons 5.60% 3.61% Morrison 12.93% 5.87% Tesco 9.99% 5.72% Working Average Cost of Capital An average representing the expected return on all of a companys securities. Each source of capital, such as stocks, bonds, and other debt, is assigned a required rate of return, and then these required rates of return are weighted in proportion to the share each source of capital contributes to the companys capital structure. The resulting rate is what the firm would use as a minimum for evaluating a capital project or investment. According to www.investorwords.com  [5]  . The calculation for this is as shown below. All data is sourced from the annual report of 2009/10:- Current share price =  £277.50 (P1) Previous years share price =  £237.75 (P0) Dividend for previous year = 5.80 (D-1) Dividend for this year = 8.20 (D0) Increase in dividends = 41.37% The formula for calculating the cost of equity is as follows: Re = D1/P0 +G Therefore cost of Equity (Ke) = 10.6/326.25 + 41.37% = 41.40% Cost of debt (Kd) = Interest Paid/Average debt = 260/924 = 28.13% Therefore, WACC = Ke*(proportion of equity) + Kd*(proportion of debt) = 41.40*0.28 + 28.13*0.71 = 11.59+19.97% = 31.56% This shows that the average return that the company must pay to its investors is 31.56 % Project analysis If I were appointed as a project manager for the company, several roles would need to be fulfilled by me. For any new project to be successful the project manager is the key. The focus and aim success depends highly on the manager. The main functions for me in such a case according to Duncan Haughey  [6]  are as follows:- Planning and Defining Scope Activity Planning and Sequencing Resource Planning Developing Schedules Time Estimating Cost Estimating Developing a Budget Managing Risks and Issues Creating Charts and Schedules Risk Analysis Morrisons is a large retail firm which operates and sells almost all consumer goods. The latest expansion plan was too diverse into household furniture. The project being evaluated is the introduction of Morrisons into the furniture segment. The aims of such a project would be to beat Morrisons that has already started into this sector. The final objective of beating the other retailers would almost be fulfilled in such a way. Key determinants Initial Investment In order to conclude the early speculation for mounting into the manufacturing segment a careful research will be required on part of Morrisons. This would occupy looking at a business plan of a medium to large scale furniture producer. It will also involve hiring of an actuary to decide several costs. The recognition of accurate expenses necessary will involve hiring of engineers as well. An in depth study into the accessible furniture industry would be the best source of identifying the primary investment. Annual Revenue The quantity of cost to be incurred can be recognized with logical accuracy, however, annual revenues cannot. This is because of the fact that revenues are based upon demand for the product. Since Morrisons has been always selling furniture its growth in the furniture production will have reasonable sales if the quality is maintained. It can also be seen from the intensity of sales of Morrisonss own range of product labeled Morrisonss Basics. Annual Operating Costs The present level of operations of Morrisons is based upon buying and reselling. This indicates that there is a low level of in service cost. In order to make out the correct level of operating cost an imminent into the financial statements of a furniture company will be mandatory. Additional transport costs will require to be assessed as Morrisons operates in a number of locations of UK. In order to reap the profit of economies of scale Morrisons will have to generate a central production facility. This will add to the set cost and help to reduce the operating costs. Rates of Inflation Rates of price rises straight affect retailers like Morrisons. Specific inflation of raw materials like wood will unfavorably affect the company directly. General inflation will also have an outcome as the price paid by consumers will reap lower value in the future. This has to be accounted for in the project assessment. The sources of inflation will be in print data provided by the government. These will include national financial plan and forecasts. Rates of Taxation/ payment and Relief Rates of taxation are significant elements of capital budgeting as they affect the cash flow. The tax rates are always particular by the government. So there are no problems identifying them. Other than taxes several allowances can be obtained when investing in a fresh project. There are special release programs that promote investors to invest rather than take dividends. Furthermore the fixed equipment bought is also eligible for capital allowance which is a taxation relief. Risk When any project needs to be taken up, an analysis on the risk involved needs to be done. Risk can be known as the possibility of making a loss. If we wish to analyse this in terms of money then, we can use the formulae:- To manage the risk effectively I would carry out the following steps:- Identify threats the risk can be of various types i.e. overshooting costs, interest fluctuations, jobs taking too long etc. Estimate risk using the formulae given above, we can calculate the amount of risk for the proposed project. Managing risk you can manage risk by either utilizing the present assets or by creating new assets. Review testing systems and plans must be used effectively to check on the progress to manage risk. Due to lack of data, the figures that are shown below are fictitious. The assumption that the project will function in the way of the product life cycle. Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 Sales Revenue 1500 2000 2350 2550 Variable cost 620 680 720 860 Contribution 880 1320 1630 1790 Fixed Costs 500 500 500 500 Net Cash Flow 380 820 1130 1290 Taxation 30% 114 246 339 387 After Tax Cash Flow 266 574 791 903 8% Discount Factor 0.926 0.857 0.794 0.735 Present Value 246.31 491.91 628.05 663.70 Assumptions Initial investment is  £3000 Fixed cost is  £500 Variable cost is at 40% of sales Discount factor is 8% Tax rate is fixed at 30%  £ Sum of Present Values 2029.97 Written down Allowance 400.03 PV after 4 years 4000 Less: Initial Investment 3200 Net Present Value 3230 Quarterly report format Following is the table assumed for the year with four quarters considering the assumed forecast for the year 2011 Year Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Budget Actual Budget Actual Budget Actual Budget Actual Sales Revenue Variable cost Contribution Fixed Costs Profit The per quarter report starting for the first month of year for a quarter will be as follows Quarter 1 January February March Budget Actual Budget Actual Budget Actual Sales Revenue Variable cost Contribution Fixed Costs Profit The above comparative statement is for all 4 quarters of the financial year. Each quarter is divided into Budgeted and Actual. The report I would be sending to the directors if I were a manager the report would be in this format because it can be easily understood by the directors. If there is a difference between the budget and the actual amount in the statement then, this can be for a variety of reasons such as interpretation of budgets. If the difference is high then I would have to try and re-modify the budget for the next quarter and try and improve actual figures by all ways possible. References The role of a project manager; Duncan Haughey; 2009 a snapshot of the UK grocery market(2008); Edward Garner; TNS World-Panel http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-corporate-finance.htm http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Corporate/About-Morrisons/Company-history1/ http://www.bized.co.uk/compfact/ratios/ror12.htm http://www.investorwords.com/5849/WACC.html