Transition Elements as Deep Level Dopant

Transition Elements as Deep Level Dopant HIGH RESISTIVITY SILICON: DEEP-LEVEL DOPING COMPENSATION USING ELEMENTAL GOLD INTRODUCTION 1.1  Research Background Monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) is a microwave circuit in which both active and passive components are fabricated on the same semiconductor substrate [1]. The development of MMICs has been augmented by the high demand for high-speed devices operating at microwave frequency ranging between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. Their advantages of being small, light, and cheap in large quantities have allowed the proliferation of high frequency devices such as cellular phones. However, a problem will arise when standard silicon (Si) substrate is used to operate in super high frequency environment (SHF). The high absorption of microwave power will be caused by the background free carriers present in the substrate [2]. Therefore, low loss and high resistivity substrates are needed to eliminate the problem. It can be achieved by reducing the number of background free carriers in the substrate which result in degradation of circuit performance. The III-V semiconductor materials such as GaAs, GaN and InP has been widely used in the production of high resistivity substrates due to their wide bandgap nature. However, the wafer diameter produced using III-V materials is typically from 4 to 6 [3]. This increases the cost of production since the standard wafer diameter for modern CMOS technology is 12 [4]. Furthermore, the lattice-mismatch problems will complicate the fabrication process, causing the cost to increase. Therefore, Si has been considered to be an alternative material for the III-V semiconductor compound due to less fabrication complexity and cost. However, the background impurities such as boron will enter the silicon during monocrystalline Si growth causing the increase in substrate losses at microwave range [5]. There have been efforts to use the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technologies and silicon-on-anything (SOA) to overcome the problem. The SOI wafers can be produced by several methods: silicon-on-sapphire (SOS), separation by implanted oxygen (SIMOX), bond and etch-back SOI (BESOI), Smart Cutà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ [6], and epitaxial layer transfer (ELTRAN ®) [7]. For SOS approach, a thin film of Si is epitaxially grown on sapphire substrate as shown in figure 1.1. Meanwhile, the other four approaches use a similar cross section of SOI wafer as shown in figure 1.2(b) which consists of three layers: SOI layer (top layer), buried oxide (BOX) layer (middle layer) and silicon substrate (bottom layer). The purpose of the BOX layer is to electrically insulate a fine layer of SOI layer (where the circuits are placed) from the rest of the Si wafer. The SIMOX approach uses implanted silicon dioxide, SiO2 layer as the BOX layer to separate the top thin Si layer from Si substrate. Figure 1.1: Cross-section of silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) wafer [8] Figure 1.2: A schematic representation of bond and etch-back (BESOI) process [9] Apart from the mentioned approaches, BESOI, Smart Cutà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢, and ELTRAN ® methods involve the wafer bonding technique. For BESOI method, the thermally oxidised Si wafer (also known as handle wafer) is bonded to another Si wafer which acts as bond wafer as shown in figure 1.2(a). After the wafer bonding process, the top wafer will be etched to obtain the required thickness for SOI layer as shown in figure 1.2(b). On the other hand, implantation of gas ions, most commonly hydrogen is made after the oxidisation process for Smart Cutà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ method as shown in figure 1.3. The implantation process is meant for layer splitting process to achieve required thickness of SOI layer after the wafer bonding process. The processes involved in ELTRAN ® method is shown in figure 1.4. The ELTRAN ® method uses similar procedures in Smart Cutà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ with the difference in use of double layer porous Si layer instead of implantation of hydrogen ions. The advan tage of using Smart Cutà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ and ELTRAN ® methods is that the initial wafer or seed wafer can be reused for the same process. Figure 1.3: Smart Cutà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ process for production of SOI wafers [9] Figure 1.4: ELTRAN ® process flow based on seed wafer reusage [7] Meanwhile, the SOA technology is achieved by gluing a fully-processed SOI substrate to another substrate such as glass and alumina [10]. However, the on-chip dissipation which could cause thermal breakdown had been proven to be a severe issue [11]. Therefore, there is a need to look for the alternative to SOI and SOA wafers, which is the high resistivity bulk Si substrate. In 2009, International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) had stressed the importance of high resistivity Si in radio frequency (RF) and analog/mixed signal (AMS) CMOS application [12]. There are generally two techniques for Si crystal growth: Czochralski (CZ) technique and float-zone (FZ) technique [13]. A simplified version of CZ puller, which is an apparatus used to produce monocrystalline Si ingots for CZ technique is shown in figure 1.5. The high purity polysilicon, known as electronic grade silicon (EGS) is melted in a rotating silica or quartz crucible. A seed crystal is placed in the melt and then slowly withdrawn from the melt. The molten silicon adhering to the crystal freezes or solidifies into a continuous crystal from the seed. The diameter of the crystal can be maintained by controlling the temperature of the crucible and the rotating speed of the crucible and the rod. However, the CZ process will introduce contamination to the monocrystalline Si due to the presence of oxygen, carbon monoxide and impurities such as boron and phosphorus. Figure 1.5: Czochralski crytal puller. CW represent clockwise rotation and CCW represents counter clockwise rotation [13] The FZ process, on the other hand, produces Si crystals with lower contamination as no crucible is used in the process. FZ crystals are mainly used for high power and high voltages devices due to its high resistivity. There is a commercially available high resistivity FZ-Si technology called HiResà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ [14]. The bulk resistivity of Si produced through HiResà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ is up to 70 kÃŽÂ ©-cm, which is suitable for future GHz and THz application. However, it is not suitable for modern CMOS processing since its maximum wafer diameter is limited to 8, which will increase the cost. Therefore, there is a need to produce high resistivity bulk CZ-Si substrate due to its low fabrication cost. Therefore, CZ process is still the most widely used method in the manufacturing of single crystal silicon. In 2003, Mallik et al. [2] introduced a new idea in developing a semi-insulating silicon through a method called deep-level doping concentration using 3d transition elements. It showed that there is possibility to produce high resistivity bulk CZ-Si substrate using deep level doping compensation. Following this work, Mallik et al. [5] managed to produce CZ-Si bulk substrate using Mn with resistivity of up to 10 kÃŽÂ ©-cm. Jordan et al. has also used Au to produce CZ-Si wafer with bulk resistivity of up to 180 kÃŽÂ ©-cm [15]. The use of Au-compensated high resistivity bulk Si substrate has been proven by Nur Z. I. Hashim et al. to be able to suppress the parasitic surface conduction (PSC) effect [16]. 1.2  Problem Statement The idea introduced by Mallik et al. [2] on developing high resistivity bulk Si substrate through deep-level doping compensation is solely based on p-type CZ-Si. Even though high resistivity bulk Si substrate has been proven to be achievable using p-type CZ-Si, it has been shown in the work by Jordan et al. [15] that higher magnitude of Au-compensated high resistivity bulk Si substrate can be achieved by using n-type CZ-Si. The potential and problem of using transition elements other than Au as the deep level dopants to produce high resistivity bulk n-type CZ-Si substrate have not been discussed by the work mentioned above. 1.3  Objectives of Research There are three main objectives that must be met in this research project: To investigate the potential of using transition elements as deep level dopant for n-type Si substrate as compared to p-type Si substrate. To analyse the result obtained through numerical calculation using MATLAB by comparing it with the experimental data. To make comparative study on the resistivity and effectiveness of the high resistivity bulk substrate produced using n-type CZ-Si with other materials such as III-V semiconductor materials. 1.4  Scope of Research The scope of this project is to analyse the resistivity plot generated by numerical calculation using MATLAB. The potential and effectiveness of each of the transition elements as deep level dopants for n-type CZ-Si will be discussed in this work. The fabrication and experiment of high resistivity bulk n-type CZ-Si substrate will not be conducted in this work. The experimental data used for comparison with the result of numerical calculation is obtained from Dr. Nur Zatil Ismah Hashim which was done at Southampton Nanofabrication Centre in 2015. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1  Introduction There are several methods to produce high resistivity bulk Si substrate, namely proton implantation method, helium-3 ion irradiation and deep-level doping compensation method. Both proton implantation method and helium-3 ion irradiation use the charge trappings to reduce the current conduction by background free carriers. Meanwhile, the deep-level doping compensation method use the deep dopants to compensate the shallow dopants in the Si substrate. 2.2  Proton Implantation Method One of the methods to increase the resistivity of CZ-Si substrate is through proton implantation method. The bombardment of protons into Si bulk structure will create defects which can trap mobile carriers. Therefore, the carrier lifetime is low due to the presence of defects, which prevents the mobile carriers from conducting current freely in the substrate. Table 2.1 summarizes the studies conducted to produce high resistivity bulk CZ-Si substrate using proton implantation method. Table 2.1: Studies on high resistivity bulk CZ-Si substrate using proton implantation method. Contributor Year Proton Implantation Energy (MeV) Resistivity of the Produced Substrate (ÃŽÂ ©-cm) Li 1989 0.18 103 Liao et al. 1998 30 106 Wu et al. 2000 10 106 Rashid et al. 2002 17.4 105 In 1989, Li [17] managed to produce a high resistivity layer beneath Si surface layer using proton implantation and two-step annealing process. The implantation of proton and annealing process formed the buried defect layer with a resistivity of up to 103 ÃŽÂ ©-cm. Meanwhile, Liao et al. created semi-insulating regions within silicon substrate with a resistivity of 1 MÃŽÂ ©-cm [18]. It was achieved by bombarding proton beams at 30 MeV from a compact ion cyclotron to the surface of Si substrate. Following this work, the Si substrate with similar resistivity had been produced by Wu et al. using a lower proton implantation energy, which is 10 MeV [19]. In 2002, Rashid et al. reported a Si substrate with a resistivity of 0.1 MÃŽÂ ©-cm produced through their six-step implantation method using an implantation energy of 17.4 MeV [20]. The high-Q inductors and high transmission gain integrated antenna have been realised on the high resistivity Si substrate by Liao et al. and Rashid et al. respectively [18], [20]. However, the high process cost is needed for proton implantation method as an enormous dose of 1015 cm-2 to maintain the resistivity of the originally 15 ÃŽÂ ©-cm Si substrate to be higher than 1014 ÃŽÂ ©-cm [21]. 2.3  Helium-3 Ion Irradiation Technique In 1987, helium-3 ion irradiation technique has been used for carrier lifetime control of silicon power devices [22]. The charge trappings created by the helium irradiation and Coulomb scattering of the charged trap will prevent the conduction of current by free mobile carriers in the substrate [23]. Therefore, a high resistivity Si bulk substrate can be realised by the reduction in carrier lifetime. In 2014, N. Li et al. reported a high resistivity region created within CZ-Si substrate with a resistivity of over 1.5 kÃŽÂ ©-cm using a dose of 1.51013 cm-2 of helium-3 ions [24]. The produced high resistivity Si substrate has been used by N. Li et al. in both work for substrate noise isolation improvement in a CMOS process and quality factor improvement in on-chip spiral inductors [24], [25]. R. Wu et al. has also used helium-3 ion irradiation technique in their work on radiation efficiency improvement in 60-GHz on-chip dipole antenna [23]. The helium-3 ion irradiation technique has the advantage of saving the product cost up to 97% as compared to proton implantation method by reducing the dose amount from 1.01015 cm-2 to 1.51013 cm-2 [24], [25]. However, the helium-3 ion irradiation technique is comparably less studied and the problem associated with this technique has not been discussed in the work mentioned above. 2.4  Deep-Level Doping Compensation Method The idea of creating high resistivity bulk CZ-Si substrate using deep-level doping compensation has been proposed by Mallik et al. in 2003 [2]. The basic principle of this method is compensating shallow impurities with deep impurities, i.e. shallow donors are being compensated by deep acceptors (as shown in figure 2.1) whereas shallow acceptors are being compensated by deep donors (as shown in figure 2.2). Figure 2.1: Compensation between shallow donors and deep acceptors [26] Figure 2.2: Compensation between shallow acceptors and deep donors [26] As illustrated in figure 2.1, deep acceptors introduced an energy level at EA, which is close to the intrinsic Fermi level. The deep acceptors which are negatively charged attract the minority carrier holes to be trapped at EA level. The electrons from shallow donors are initially excited to the conduction band, then fall to EA level to recombine with the holes. On the other hand, the positively charged deep donors introduced an energy level at ED as shown in figure 2.2. The minority carrier electrons are attracted and trapped at ED level while the holes from shallow acceptors will fall into valence band. The trapped electrons at ED level then fall into valence band to recombine with the holes. Therefore, there is no generation of free carriers which reduces the resistivity of the substrate in both cases. Figure 2.3 shows the resistivity of Si at 300K with a background boron concentration of 1014 cm-3, compensated using deep donor impurities with generic energy level positions below conduction band edge, ED. It can be observed that the resistivity of Si increases until a maximum value is reached while the concentration of deep donors, ND increases. The resistivity is low initially due to undercompensation caused by insufficient number of deep donors. The maximum value of the resistivity of Si is reached when deep donors exactly compensate the boron acceptors. Further increase in ND causes overcompensation which results in a fall in the resistivity of Si, making the substrate tends to become n-type. Figure 2.3: Calculated resistivity of Si at 300K as a function of generic donor concentration for background boron concentration of 1014 cm-3 [2] Table 2.2: Positions of energy levels of transition elements in Si [27] Element Donor level below EC (eV) Acceptor level above EV (eV) Co 0.89 0.82 Pd 0.84 0.9 Au 0.78 0.56 Ag 0.75 0.545 V 0.45 0.92 Mn 0.42 1.0 Pt 0.314 0.889 It can be noted that the resistivity peaks are sharper for ED which is lower than 0.3 eV while the resistivity remains high over a range of relatively low concentration values for larger values of ED. For small values of ED, almost all donors are ionised and take part in the compensation since the donor energy level is nearer to the conduction band than Fermi level. A slight increase in ND causes the resistivity to decrease sharply, changing the material to n-type. Meanwhile, for large values of ED, the donor level is near intrinsic Fermi level and less fraction of deep donors is ionised. Therefore, the compensation change gradually with the increase in ND and the resistivity remain high over a wide range of ND. The transition elements are used as deep level dopants as they introduce a pair of deep donor and deep acceptor levels into the Si band gap as shown in table 2.2. The deep dopant energy levels introduced by the transition elements pin the Fermi level near the middle of the Si band gap as shown in figure 2.4 [15]. Thus, high resistivity CZ-Si substrate can be achieved by capturing the free carriers by deep impurities, which reduces the concentration of background free carrier. Figure 2.4: Fermi level pin by deep levels introduced by transition elements [15] Figure 2.5: Calculated resistivity of Si at 300K as a function of Au, Ag, Co and Pd for three different background boron concentration in cm-3 [2] Figure 2.6: Calculated resistivity of Si at 300K as a function of (a) Pt (b) V and (c) Mn concentrations for three different background boron concentrations in cm-3 [2] Figure 2.7: Calculated resistivity of Si as a function of Au concentration for n-type and p-type Si with a shallow doping concentration of 1014 cm-3 [28] The transition element dopants are generally grouped into two categories: Au, Ag, Co and Pd are in first category whereas Pt, V and Mn are in second category. As illustrated in figure 2.5, the resistivity of p-type CZ-Si substrate increases with increasing concentration of the deep dopants in first category. The behaviour of impurities in first category is due to presence of both deep donor and acceptor levels very near intrinsic Fermi level of Si bandgap. For Au and Ag, the resistivity of Si reaches a plateau at the concentration of deep dopants over 1016 cm-3 for three different background boron concentration. The reason for the slight difference in the behaviour of Au and Ag is that the both donor and acceptor level is nearer to the middle in the Si bandgap as compared to Co and Pd. For the second category of deep dopants, the resistivity of p-type CZ-Si reaches a peak and then reduce sharply with the increase in the concentration of the deep dopants as shown in figure 2.6. The reason of the difference in the behaviour is that the impurities in second category have either donor or acceptor level near the intrinsic Fermi level. Therefore, the dopants in second category can only compensate for a single type of doped silicon substrate. The effect of using 3d transition elements as deep level dopants in n-type CZ-Si substrate has not been shown in the work by Mallik et al. Meanwhile, it is shown in the work by Jordan et al. that higher bulk resistivity of Au-compensated Si substrate can be achieved by using n-type CZ-Si as shown in figure 2.7 [28]. The n-type Au-compensated Si substrate with resistivity up to 70 kÃŽÂ ©-cm has been used by Nur Z. I. Hashim et al. for realisation of coplanar waveguides (CPW) on the substrate [29]. Therefore, the potential and problem of using 3d transition elements for deep level compensation in n-type CZ-Si substrate will be discussed in this work. 2.5  Summary The realisation of high resistivity bulk Si substrate using proton implantation method and helium-3 ion irradiation technique was studied. The fabrication of high-Q inductors and antenna has been done on the Si substrate produced using both methods. However, there are problems associated with both methods such as high product cost for proton implantation method and being comparably less studied for helium-3 ion irradiation. Therefore, the idea of creating a semi-insulating silicon substrate using deep-level doping compensation with 3d transition elements was proposed by Mallik et al. in 2003. The deep-level doping compensation method has since been well studied and used for the fabrication of coplanar waveguides and inductors by Nur Z. I. Hashim et al. References [1]I. D. Robertson and S. Lucyszyn, RFIC and MMIC Design and Technology. IET, 2001. [2]K. Mallik, R. J. Falster, and P. R. Wilshaw, Semi-insulating silicon using deep level impurity doping: problems and potential, Semicond. Sci. Technol., vol. 18, no. 6, p. 517, 2003. [3]Products Capabilities | EpiWorks, EpiWorks. [Online]. Available: http://www.epiworks.com/products-capabilities/. [Accessed: 28-Feb-2017]. [4]Global Manufacturing at Intel, Intel. [Online]. Available: http://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/architecture-and-technology/global-manufacturing.html?wapkw=wafer+size_ga=1.16867193.1775779534.1436014173. [Accessed: 28-Feb-2017]. [5]K. Mallik, C. H. De Groot, P. Ashburn, and P. R. Wilshaw, Enhancement of resistivity of Czochralski silicon by deep level manganese doping, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 89, no. 11, p. 3, 2006. [6]Smart Cut technology, Smart Choice Soitec, Soitec. [Online]. Available: https://www.soitec.com/en/products/smart-cut. [Accessed: 28-Feb-2017]. [7]T. Yonehara and K. Sakaguchi, ELTRAN  ®Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¯; Novel SOI Wafer Technology, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 10-16, 2001. [8]S. Iwamatsu and M. Ogawa, Silicon-on-sapphire m.o.s.f.e.t.s fabricated by back-surface laser-anneal technology, Electron. Lett., vol. 15, no. 25, pp. 827-828, 1979. [9]G. K. Celler and S. Cristoloveanu, Frontiers of silicon-on-insulator, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 93, no. 9, pp. 4955-4978, 2003. [10]R. Dekker, P. G. M. Baltus, and H. G. R. Maas, Substrate transfer for RF technologies, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 747-757, 2003. [11]N. Nenadovic, V. DAlessandro, L. K. Nanver, F. Tamigi, N. Rinaldi, and J. W. Slotboom, A back-wafer contacted silicon-on-glass integrated bipolar process. Part II. A novel analysis of thermal breakdown, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 51-62, 2004. [12]RF and AMS tech for wireless communications, International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, 2009. [Online]. Available: http://www.itrs2.net/itrs-reports.html. [Accessed: 28-Feb-2017]. [13]S. M. Sze, Semiconductor Devices: Physics and Technology, 2nd ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2002. [14]High resistivity silicon for GHz and THz technology, Topsil. [Online]. Available: http://www.topsil.com/en/silicon-products/silicon-wafer-products/hiresTM.aspx. [Accessed: 28-Feb-2017]. [15]D. M. Jordan, R. H. Haslam, K. Mallik, and P. R. Wilshaw, The Development of Semi-Insulating Silicon Substrates for Microwave Devices, Electrochem. Soc., vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 41-56, 2008. [16]N. Z. I. Hashim, A. Abuelgasim, and C. H. De Groot, Suppression of parasitic surface conduction in Au-compensated high resistivity silicon for 40-GHz RF-MMIC application, 2014 Asia-Pacific Microw. Conf., pp. 55-57, 2014. [17]J. Li, Novel semiconductor substrate formed by hydrogen ion implantation into silicon, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 55, no. 21, pp. 2223-2224, 1989. [18]C. Liao et al., Method of creating local semi-insulating regions on silicon wafers for device isolation and realization of high-Q inductors, IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 19, no. 12, pp. 461-462, 1998. [19]Y. H. Wu et al., Fabrication of very high resistivity Si with low loss and cross talk, IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 21, no. 9, pp. 442-444, 2000. [20]A. B. M. H. Rashid, S. Watanabe, and T. Kikkawa, High transmission gain integrated antenna on extremely high resistivity Si for ULSI wireless interconnect, IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 23, no. 12, pp. 731-733, 2002. [21]L. S. Lee et al., Isolation on Si wafers by MeV proton bombardment for RF integrated circuits, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. 48, no. 5, pp. 928-935, 2001. [22]W. Wondrak and A. Boos, Helium Implantation for Lifetime Control in Silicon Power Devices, ESSDERC 87 17th Eur. Solid State Device Res. Conf., pp. 649-652, 1987. [23]R. Wu et al., A 60-GHz efficiency-enhanced on-chip dipole antenna using helium-3 ion implantation process, 2014 44th Eur. Microw. Conf., pp. 108-111, 2014. [24]N. Li et al., High-Q inductors on locally semi-insulated Si substrate by helium-3 bombardment for RF CMOS integrated circuits, 2014 Symp. VLSI Technol. Dig. Tech. Pap., pp. 1-2, 2014. [25]N. Li et al., Substrate noise isolation improvement by helium-3 ion irradiation technique in a triple-well CMOS process, 2015 45th Eur. Solid State Device Res. Conf., pp. 254-257, 2015. [26]J. D. Puksec and V. Gradisnik, Influence of shallow impurity on steady-state probability function of multilevel deep impurity, 2000 10th Mediterr. Electrotech. Conf. Inf. Technol. Electrotechnol. Mediterr. Countries. Proc., vol. I, pp. 185-188, 2000. [27]W. Schroeter and M. Seibt, Deep Levels of Transition Metal Impurities in c-Si, in Properties of Crystalline Silicon, R. Hull, Ed. London: INSPEC IEE, 1999, p. 561. [28]D. M. Jordan, K. Mallik, R. J. Falster, and P. R. Wilshaw, Semi-Insulating Silicon for Microwave Devices, Solid State Phenom., vol. 156-158, pp. 101-106, 2009. [29]N. Z. I. Hashim, A. Abuelgasim, and C. H. De Groot, Coplanar waveguides on gold-doped high resistivity silicon for 67-GHz microwave application, RFM 2013 2013 IEEE Int. RF Microw. Conf. Proc., pp. 274-277, 2013.

APC 309 Strategic Management Accounting

Module Title: Strategic Management Accounting Module Code: APC309 Individual assignment SUNDERLAND BUSINESS SCHOOL Date: 16/04/2011 Introduction: As Gowthope (2005, p. 148) said that: â€Å"A budget is a plan, expressed in financial and/or more general quantitative terms, which extends forward for a period into the future. Budgets are widely used in organisations of all types and sizes. † –Budgeting actually refers to the process that, after the strategic plan of the business has been made, companies made a short term plan (usually one year) to meet the strategic purpose. Traditional budgeting has offered a lot of contributions in so many years? ractice; no one has a better summary of all advantage of traditional budget as (Umapathy, 1987, p. xxii): â€Å"I believe that budgeting provides managers with a wonderful opportunity to rejuvenate their organisations. There is no other managerial process I am aware of that translates qualitative mission statements and corporat e strategies into action plans, links the short term with the long term, brings together managers from different hierarchical levels and from different functional areas, and at the same time provides continuity by the sheer regularity of the process. . So, many organisations use a „traditional budget? –the short term plan that meet the strategic purpose of the organisation- because of the easiness of preparation and its simplicity to coordinate budget across various departments. But it seems it is more and more unsuitable for the modern business. In this paper, I will give a brief induction for traditional budgeting; and then discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional budgeting; last I will explain and evaluate the alternative approach that will be more accurate and work for today? dynamic markets. In the second part I will tackle the working capital concept by giving some ways to improve parts of Working capital in XYZ limited which is a medium sized manuf acturing business. Today, reducing costs, improving quality, and saving time through all parts of an organisation are the mantra of executives in every industry. In their pursuit of those goals, however, they tend to overlook working capital productivity because it is an indirect measure. They see it as a narrow financial calculation and miss its link to the overall systemic performance of an organisation. As a result, executives forfeit a powerful lens to track improvements across the company. Section 1: Budget and Budgeting: â€Å"Budget reflects a choice – not an easy choice, but the right choice. And when you think about it, the only choice. The choice to take the responsible, prudent path to fiscal stability, economic growth and opportunity. † –George E. Pataki. An American politician. The use of budgets dates back to 1920 where it was used as a financial tool for business enterprises (Hofstede, 1968, p. 20). The budget is an indispensable management tool or as Horngren, T. et al, (2000, p. 178) said: â€Å"the most widely used accounting tool for planning and controlling organisations†. A budget is an estimated plan over a given period of time expressed in monetary terms for the allocation of funds and distribution of scarce resources through internal communication to get the planned activities done. When used properly a well designed budget can be a helpful tool in decision-making, it can ensure the controlling process and performance measurements, facilitate communication, and can act as a motivational tool. (Highered. mcgrawhill, accessed 2011) â€Å"Budgeting may be defined quite simply as the process of compiling budgets and subsequently adhering to them as closely as possible† (Maitland, 2000, p. 1). Though budgeting process is complex, time consuming and requires a lot of decision-making (refer to Appendix, figure. for an outline of the budgetary process), it is an essential part of the strategic planning process that helps communicating the goals of the organization and facilitates, coordinates and controls various departments of the organization in order to steer the company to its desired goals, it involves the annual cycle to plan actions, better coordination and allocation of resources, and at the end measuring and controlling performance with regard to the pla ns agreed. Traditional Budgeting Approach (TBA): There are various methods to prepare a budget. Here we are concerned with the traditional approach to budgeting known also as the incremental budgeting which involves basing next year? s budget on the current year? s results plus an extra amount for estimated growth or inflation (APC309 Workbook, 2008). It is claimed that in many organisations the traditional budgeting remains widespread, and that 99% of European and US companies are using budgets and have no intention of abandoning them, it was also stated that over 60% of those companies claim that they are not highly satisfied with their current budgeting systems and are continuously trying to improve the budgeting process to meet the demands set for management in creating sustainable value (report: Better Budgeting, 2004, p. 2-3). From this perspective it is obvious that traditional budgeting approach and budgets in general hold many benefits as well as problems. Implementing TBA on a static market: When implemented within businesses, such technique will be more suitable for firms where each year? s performance and activities are similar to the previous one and conditions are predictable, an active market that can take up large sales which do not change much in relation with changes in prices and where demand is slack. If we take an example of a company „A? operating in a static market, let? s say that our company is selling „sugar?. So for such company using the TBA (Traditional Budgeting Approach) will be perfect and will work well because first, sugar is a necessary good so the market demand is steady i. e. the buying behavior of sugar does not change much, it is a food basic that people consume on a daily basis, the market demand in this case is predicted and quite unchanged, so „A? an constantly base its expenditures and estimated revenues on those of previous year and that makes it suitable for our company here to be using an annual budget based on historical data, thus, will make it easier to compare actual results with budgets and monitor organizational functions. Second, senior managers won? t be forced to spend an amount of time reviewing budgets. Again, focusing on the benefits of TBA we can say that this approach enhance controlling and is asy to prepare and understand , administratively unambiguous and simple to operate, so this method is cheap. It is probably the simplest method that ensures a quick and low preparation costs, however, I would insist on the point that for any business it? s good to provide and introduce change gradually, therefore, the only major weakness that would limit our company „A? is the fact that senior managers will never be able to have a general and overall picture of the performance, and also some people will be offended when it comes to supervision, humans tend o work at their lowest possible standards especially when there is lack of motivation and rewards, as a matter of fact the budgetary control touch on the culture of blame and mistrust, plus there is a fact that scarce resources will not be allocated effectively and efficiently so that would create an obstacle and prevent employees from performing at their best, and their creative spirit would then be stamp down. Implementing TBA on a dynamic market: â₠¬Å"Fixed budgets don? t work today. A budget is a too static instrument and locks managers into the past – into something they thought last year that it was right. To be effective in a global economy with rapidly shifting market conditions and quick and nimble competitors, organisations have to be able to adapt constantly their priorities and have to put their resources where they can create most value for customers and shareholders. † Juergen H. Daum. (A management and executive adviser) As Juergen explained, budgeting tools that were created to serve businesses back in the manufacturing era where production costs and revenues were foreseeable will not be effective in today? s „information age? where the market is globalised. This traditional annual budgeting system is not suitable or relevant in rapidly changing markets, many companies believe that budgets do not deal with intangible assets like brands and knowledge and fail to focus value (Davies T. and Boczko T. 2005 p. 408). In today? s global market where conditions and demands are unpredictable and hard to be determined in advance, an event like 9/11, the Arab? s revolution, and the earthquake that hit Japan will definitely change the way organisations do their businesses especially those big companies that are opened to the global market, in this matter, adopting a raditional budgeting approach will cause more damages. Considering a company „B? operating in a typical dynamic changing market let? s assume here that „B? is a hotel business where each year? s activities and number of tourists accommodated are completely different than the previous year and hard to be predicted, this kind of businesses system is changeable, adjusted constan tly and boost employees to give their best with waking up their creativity spirits, our company „B? needs a full use of its potentials and should keep innovating in order to survive in its market and that would not be achieved if employees and managers are not motivated. For „B? to become the success that all companies are striving to reach today, it has to avoid relying on historical performances or fix their employees performance on fixed budget to deliver the planned outcome, and if adopting any method of budgeting it should do so by designing it on a „bottom-up? basis. So, in a dynamic market a use of TBA would cause more problems to such companies. TBA is inaccurate for our company „B? where each year is very different to the previous one in terms of activities, cost, and market demand. Here, I would suggest the use of the ZBB (Zero Based Budgeting) approach since the number of tourists change according to seasons and unexpected events worldwide, it will be beneficial to re evaluate all of the company? s activities from a zero base annually and respond to any condition changes within the environment each year. Thus, inefficient and inaccurate activities will be removed and any wasteful cost will be cut which means a better allocation of resources, also, this technique promotes the bottom-up of budgeting which will automatically lead to bring up the motivation of employees. Nevertheless, the weakness of this method is that each pound spent must be justified, and if we have a big company which held too many activities, using a ZBB will generates more work that is hard to managed, and because decisions are made at the budget time, it will be difficult to react and deal with changes that might occur during the year, so here as a suggestion the company while performing the zero based budget may use a rolling budget every year. Furthermore, it will be challenging especially for private organisations that have indefinable activities and discretionary cost to be put into decision packages. There were some argues about the traditional budgeting approach being as a barrier to change. For that Hope and Fraser (1997) suggested a new alternative process to budgeting which is termed as â€Å"Beyond budgeting approach†. They claimed that this approach will free people from the top-down performance contract and allows a use of knowledge and best allocation of resources to satisfy customers and beat competitors. This alternative way of budgeting is about the development of leadership principles and help decision making to be made. The thing about it is that this model does not lead to change in some parts but require a systems transformation. (Refer to appendix, figure: 2 for a budgeting and beyond budgeting model). However, even with this model that will break managers free from the annual performance of budgeting, it has a disadvantage that it underpinned their organisation? s performance transformation. To alleviate all those limitations, companies must seek for alternatives approaches that combines and put in practice the benefits of each approach without forgetting to give priority to employees and managers? otivation, the human aspect behavior plays a crucial part in every business because success of any company nowadays rely on its number one asset which is the human labor (knowledge, know-how, expertise, experience†¦.. etc. ). Section 2: Working Capital: Nowadays, the market requires companies to diversify its products and services within a short time delivery, so, companies are striving to keep o n track with global markets? need and competition from other rivals in order to meet the customers? expectations and satisfy their needs. For that, companies will have to focus its resources and potentials to create the business? value, satisfy the shareholders and balance between its liquidity and profitability, this will be through improving all forms of cash flow and increasing their working capital productivity. In an article from (tutor2u, accessed 2011) working capital is: â€Å"The period of time which elapses between the point at which cash begins to be expended on the production of a product and the collection of cash from a customer† (Refer to appendix, figure. 3 for working capital cycle) Working capital is the concern of all firms; it is defined as the current assets minus the current liabilities (working capital = current assets – current liabilities). While in the APC309 Workbook, (2008) it was said that: â€Å"Working capital required because the company has to pay for goods and services before recovering the money from customers, and represented by the difference between current assets and current liabilities. † Company XYZ: a manufacturing business: Considering XYZ Limited, a medium sized manufacturing business. For such manufacturing businesses, XYZ needs to spend cash to purchase raw materials (inventories) and manufacture them. While waiting for the finished goods to be sold it needs to stock them. After selling the goods it can incur some costs. And before receiving the revenue (cash) it waits for the cash receipts from the customers (accounts receivable) and can delay the payments to vendors (accounts payable). So, working capital is an important source of cash throughout the business cycle. (Refer to Appendix, figure. 4 for a diagram of the Working capital cycle in manufacturing firms). Improving XYZ’s working capital: Focusing on working capital will help XYZ? s manager to create lasting value, examine the organisation? productivity and efficiency, and XYZ will become stronger. Starting with the following formula: (working capital = current assets – current liabilities) to analyze the operating cycle of XYZ in order to improve its working capital. Liquidity assessment: cut-down the operating cycle. Shorten XYZ? s operating cycle and cash holding costs by maintaining a cash balance, this would be done through a trim of the stock on hand – the XYZ company however should pay attention not to be in short of stock which will affect it badly and will be unable to meet its customers? emand-, also, make a consignment of stock obtained, lowering the time needed to manufacture the goods and selling them, and a cut down of cost which will definitely increase their cash. Stock when necessary: reduce inventories. Inventory surplus is one of the ways to neglect any cash sources, so in order to boost cash flow; XYZ would better reduce production time and its inventories and lowering them to avoid over production. By a reduction in inventories meaning made a consignment of stock, managing the supply chain and varying the goods manufactures. Also, to increase profitability, XYZ can benefit from cutting costs through this reduction in both inventories and warehouse space needed. Accounts receivable funding: get paid now. Until the customer pays XYZ, the sale is not considered as achieved. The working capital cycle must be completed or the company will regret making the sale if the customer went away without paying. So, XYZ should take into consideration terms of payments, invoices and well manage the cash. Some ways to improve the cash will be speeding up cash collection, ameliorate the reduction of payment terms and collection processes, besides, a strong credit control and a rigorous collection procedures will help to positively improve profitability. While collecting past due cash, XYZ should secure favorable payment terms, obtain payments, approve new customers and maintain a good relationship with clients that pay on time while keep an eye and be careful from both doubtful and risky clients. Accounts payable: negotiating the best agreements possible. While dealing with suppliers, XYZ should rethink payment terms and avoid early payments. Paying its suppliers before the due date is strongly unacceptable and better be avoided, and accomplished within or after the due date. Raising terms and procedures of payments, and optimizing discount is highly recommended. Seeking an increase in cash flow operation and the company? s profitability will be achieved by asking for longer credit terms from suppliers, and if possible take inventories on consignment. Other ways to improve working capital can be to consider leasing when thinking of purchasing equipments this will improve the amount of cash in short term only but can lead to additional costs in long term. Also, consider outsourcing and benefit from price differences. And always negotiate and try to get discounts, besides there is the possibility of converting debtors? cash into factoring or utilizing a bank loan or overdraft. For a XYZ Limited to have working capital the current assets must exceed the current liabilities, it is managing the use of both current assets and current liabilities to improve the company? s short-term liquidity. There is a direct connection between working capital cycle and business performance. Hence, the most important thing that? s needed to improve and have an efficient working capital cycle is not actually focusing on components of balance sheet that are: inventory, accounts receivable, and accounts payable but is the business cycle TIME that is measured from the time we identify the customer? s need, till we receive the payment of the finished product. Then, by reducing any necessary cash or inventory we will succeed to reduce our working capital cycle. Almost any business performance improvement effort influences the working capital (W. C) cycle productivity of the business here talking about XYZ and will also affect other businesses that deals either directly or indirectly with it. For example if XYZ did not succeed in collecting cash from its clients it cannot be able to pay its suppliers and debtors and that will be bad since the relationship between them and XYZ will be sensitive so, that would build a miss trust and XYZ will find difficulties to be supplied or get credits this later will cause trouble because it will not have any raw materials and the business will then stop operating. Taking XYZ limited as a manufacturing business, any of the ways to improve its W. C that was mentioned above will help cut down costs and boost overall working capital productivity by shrinking inventories and driving down accounts receivable. Also, the results behind paying suppliers before the due date would lead to reduction in working capital productivity. XYZ and should closely track its competitors? improvements to ensure that it is performing better. Furthermore, it can be useful to benchmark itself with regard to other industries for perceptions and opportunities to improve working capital productivity and cash flow. Benchmarking the performance of XYZ? system as a whole more accurately with regard to benchmark with other companies in the same sector would be of benefits. References: -APC309 Module Workbook, 2008. „Strategic Management Accounting Version 1. 0?. University of Sunderland. -Davies T. and Boczko T. , 2005. „Business Accounting And Finance. Second Edition.? Mc Graw Hill Education, p. 408. -Drury C. , (2001) „Management Account ing for Business Decisions. Second Edition.? Thomson Learning. -Gowthope C. , (2005) „Management Accounting for non specialists, 2nd Edition?. Thomson Learning, p. 148. -Hofstede G. H. , (1968) „The Game of Budget Control?. Koninklijke Van Gorcum & Comp. N. V. , Assen, p. 20. -Hope J. and Fraser R. , (1997) „Beyond budgeting: breaking through the barrier to „The third wave. Management Accounting, London. -Horngren Charles T. , Foster G. , Datar M. (2000) „Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis, 10th edition?. Upper Saddle River (NJ). Prentice Hall, p. 178. -Lucey T. (1996) „Management Accounting, 4th Edition?. London: Letts, p. 108. -Maitland I. (2000) „Budgeting for Non-Financial Managers: how to Master and Maintain Effective Budgets?. London. Pearson Education, p. 1. -Satish B. M. (2002) „Working Capital Management and Control: Principles & Practice?. New Age International (P) Limited, Publishers. Web sites: ? Behavioral Aspect of Budgeting: http://highered. mcgraw-hill. com/sites/dl/free/0074711717/57451/Budgeting_Ch09. pdf [Accessed the 25th February 2011] ? Better Budgeting: A report on the Better Budgeting forum from CIMA and ICAEW. (2004), Chartered Institute Of Management Accountants. P. 2-3 http://www. cimaglobal. com/Documents/ImportedDocuments/betterbudgeting_techrpt_2004. pdf [Accessed the 28th February 2011] ? The Beyond Budgeting Round Table (BBRT) www. bbrt. org [Accessed the 5th March 2011] ? Beyond budgeting http://www. juergendaum. com/bb. tm [Accessed 5th March 2011] ? Working capital cycle http://tutor2u. net/business/finance/workingcapital_cycle. htm [Accessed 20th March 2011] http://blog. maia-intelligence. com/2009/06/15/working-capital-management-and-bi-part-ii/ [Accessed 20th March 2011] Appendix: Source: Lucey, 1996, p. 108. Figure. 1: Outline of the budgetary process. Figure. 2: From traditional budgeting model to the emerging management model „beyond budgeting? Source: http://blog. maia-intelligence. com Figure. 3: Working capital cycle. Source: tutor2u. net [accessed 20th March 2011] Figure. 4: working capital cycle for a manufacturing firm

When Twelve Genoese Ships Arrived In 1347 Messina, Sicily,

When twelve Genoese ships arrived in 1347 Messina, Sicily, barely any of the crew were alive. They were sickly looking and covered in black boils. Quickly, the ships were sent off but it was too late. Within a few days, the disease started affecting the town, making the Black Death’s first of many appearances in Europe (Martin 12). The Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death, was a disease that devastated the Western World in late 1347. The disease originated in eastern Asia but was spread by rat-infested ships traveling along trade routes. The people of Europe had never been exposed to the disease before therefore lacked the necessary antibodies to fight it off. The disease appeared in waves until the eighteenth century. It was†¦show more content†¦The abundance of fleas and rats combined with the ability for the disease to become airborne allowed for rapid spreading, large outbreaks, and high mortality rates. When the Black Plague arrived, Europe was already in a s tate of distress. Europe’s population had grown so large that it was becoming difficult to sustain the population. They converted all available land to cereal production to produce the basic need of bread, but they remained one bad harvest or natural disaster away from death. At the time, the climate was going through a cold phase. This left Europe with harsh winters and wet summers allowing for many failed harvests leading to significant famines and deaths (Naphy Spicer 27). The arrival of the plague in Sicily marked the inauguration of the cycle of movement that raged through Europe. The Plague would slow down during the winter months then regained its fierce momentum during the summer months as it made its way through the Western World, traveling by ships and arriving in ports. When the people of Messina first started becoming infected with the plague, some of them fled to Catania. These immigrants unknowingly brought the plague with them and the people of Catania began f alling ill. Catania imposed quarantine laws, regulations on immigrants, and buried their dead outside the city walls, but none of it made a difference as hundreds of people began dying here as wellShow MoreRelatedThe Black Death, Dulce N. Parra1533 Words   |  7 Pages The Black Death Dulce N. Parra Period 3 â€Æ' Through the years of 1347 and 1350, a terrible plague took over Europe. In those three years, the plague killed approximately 25 million people or one-third of Europe’s population. Not one family did not lose a family member to the plague. About one hundred people died daily, and mostly of them were never buried in a proper manner. Their bodies scattered the street of the city unclaimed. This plague was the Black Death, the most deadly natural disasterRead MoreThe Black Death Hit The Shores Of Europe983 Words   |  4 Pageshit the shores of Europe in October 1347. After a long a tough journey, through the Black Sea, twelve ships or Genoese docked at the Sicilian Port. Those who greeted the ships had a horrifying site of dead sailors and the sailors who were alive were greatly ill. It is said that the sailors had awful fevers, were not able to keep food down, and they were covered in black boils that oozed blood and puss. This is where the name Black Death came from. Although the ships were ordered to leave the port, theRead MoreThe Black Death Changed Europe1064 Words   |  5 PagesThe flea feeds on the blood of the rat which is infected by the bacteria. For a reason still unknown today the bacteria started multiplying in the flea blocking it s stomach. This caused the flea to throw up the infected rats blood into the human when it feeds on it. Thomas Malthus, a British economist, wrote in his An Essay on the Principle of Population that three things could keep the human population in check. He said war, famine, and disease were these three things. So far in history The BlackRead MoreThe Black Death Essay1812 Words   |  8 Pageshas to understand the Black Death started in the Middle Ages and it spread throughout the European continent. Around 1347, thirteen Genoese galleys entered the harbor of Messina, Sicily carrying the disease. Actually, the ships contained rats infected by flea that transmitted the tiny bubonic bacterium to the people on land. When the ships arrived at the harbor, it took only twelve months for the pandemic to kill a third of the population. Eventually, by January sixty percent of population in Marseilles

dred scott - 1637 Words

Dred Scott was an enslaved African American man in the United States who unsuccessfully sued for his freedom and that of his wife and their two daughters in the Dred Scott v. Sanford case of 1857, popularly known as the Dred Scott Decision. The case was based on the fact that although he and his wife Harriet Scott were slaves, they had lived with his slave owner, Dr. John Emerson, in states and territories where slavery was illegal according to both state laws and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, including Illinois and Minnesota. The United States Supreme Court decided 7–2 against Scott, finding that neither he nor any other person of African ancestry could claim citizenship in the United States, and therefore Scott could not bring†¦show more content†¦The Blow family settled near Huntsville, Alabama, where they unsuccessfully attempted farming. In 1830 the Blow family took Scott with them when they relocated to St. Louis, Missouri. They sold him to John Emerson, a doctor serving in the United States Army. Marriage and family In 1836 Dred Scott met a teenaged slave named Harriet Robinson whose slave owner was Major Lawrence Taliaferro, an army officer from Virginia. Taliaferro allowed Scott and Harriet to marry and transferred his ownership of Harriet to Dr. Emerson so the couple could be together. In 1838, Harriet gave birth to their first child, Eliza. In 1840, they had another daughter they named Lizzie. Eventually, they would also have two sons, but neither survived past infancy. February 1838 in Louisiana, Dr. Emerson married Eliza Irene Sanford, and the Emerson’s and Scotts returned to Missouri in 1840. In 1842, Emerson left the Army. After he died in the Iowa Territory in 1843, his widow Eliza inherited his estate, including the Scotts. For three years after Emerson s death, she continued to lease out the Scotts as hired slaves. In 1846, Scott attempted to purchase his and his family s freedom, but Eliza Irene Emerson refused, prompting Scott to resort to legal recourse. Dred Scott case Having failed to purchase his freedom, in 1846 Scott filed legal suit in St Louis Circuit Court through the help of a local lawyer. Historical details about why Scott sought recourse in the courtShow MoreRelatedThe Case Of Dred Scott2015 Words   |  9 Pagesas people, but as black or white. Dred Scott was born a slave in Virginia and had to face these hardships his whole entire life. When he finally walked on to free soil where slavery was prohibited, he stayed and chose to still be with his owner. Once his owner died, he and his wife decided to sue for their freedom. Little did they know, that the rules only applied to certain people when they wanted them to. The Dred Scott Decision Introduction Dred Scott was a slave born in Southampton CountyRead MoreDred Scott s Dred 1072 Words   |  5 PagesSartori April, 2015 Research paper Dred Scott was a hardworking slave who fought to be free. He even went to the Supreme Court to ask for justice. His owner granted him freedom after that. He got a job and lived with his wife and two kids. Dred Scott was part of African-American history. He even helped move the country to the Civil War!(Source 1) But he died shortly after obtaining his freedom. Dred Scott was a slave born around 1775. His parents were slaves alsoRead MoreDred Scott Decision Essay1106 Words   |  5 Pagesridiculous to most of the Southern people. My second paragraph is about Dred Scott’s life. It will mostly be about his life before the case. The third paragraph will be information about the case in court. It will include many facts from the trials. The fourth paragraph will tell of the United States Supreme Court decision and its effects. It will also include people’s reactions to the final decision. â€Å"Dred Scott was an enslaved African American†, (Appleby 446-447). He was born intoRead MoreEssay on Dred Scott779 Words   |  4 Pages In this position paper I will explain the trials that Dred Scott had to go through in his life in his attempts for justice to be served. Dred Scott was born in 1799, and was an illiterate slave. His parents were slaves and so he was born the property of the Peter Blow family. In 1804 The United States took possesion of Missouri and after many debates on whether or not it would be a slavery state, a resolution known as the Missouri Compromise came along. This made a balance in the numberRead MoreThe Significance of Dred Scott2281 Words   |  10 PagesHistory 201 Dr. Eugenie Blang 12/10/2013 The Significance of Dred Scott Many times during our class discussions and lectures we tried to examine the stages leading up to the succession and Civil War in America. During the critical time period of the middle 19th century, the Dred Scott v. Sanford decision of the Supreme Court was one of those major treads on the pathway to secession. The man Dred Scott was taken to Missouri with Peter Blow as a slave from Virginia and sold. His new master fromRead MoreDred Scott and Slavery623 Words   |  2 PagesDred Scott was a man that grew up in the tough times of slavery. Scott was born around the year 1800 and died in 1858. As a young man and all the way up to his death he tried several times to gain freedom for his family and himself through the Missouri court system, but failed. Scott then took his case to a court in Missouri, where he won only to have the final decision revoked by the Supreme Court (â€Å"Dred Scott Biography†). The notorious outcome of Dred Scott v. Sandford case embarked the start of Read MoreDred Scott V. Sandford1454 Words   |  6 PagesWhen Dred Scott v. Sandford was decided in 1857, it made an enormous impact on the United States. It riled up both pro- and anti-slavery Americans. It angered many Americans in an extreme example of judicial activism. Some say it made the Civil War inevitable. By the time the dust had settled and the 13th and 14th Amendments reversed the Court’s decision, Dred Scott could be considered one of the worst Supreme Court decisions of all time. And yet, although the case was egregiously wrong, it stillRead MoreDred Scott Research Paper1429 Words   |  6 PagesThe Dred Scott Decision of 1857 ruled that African-Americans, even ones who were not enslaved, were not protected under The Constitution and could never be citizens. This brings up questions that will be answered in this paper. Should slaves be American citizens? Is it morally correct for one to own another human? Does the Dred Scott decision contradict The Declaratio n of Independence which states that every man is created equal? Who was Dred Scott? Dred Scott was born in Virginia about 1799 ofRead MoreDred Scott V. Sanford1309 Words   |  6 Pagessociety. Among these landmark disputes may be found issues as divisive as reproductive health, fundamental economic freedoms, the power of the Supreme Court and, of course, race. Among these, Dred Scott v. Sanford occupies a special place. Often called as the â€Å"worst decision made by the Supreme Court†, Dred Scott v. Sanford provided an impetus for slavers to continue an injustice that had existed since the colonial era . By deciding the way it did, the United States Supreme Court also created a divideRead MoreThe Dred Scott Case Analysis2202 Words   |  9 Pages Talbott 1 The Dred Scott case came at a very turbulent time in American history. It came at the midpoint of both the slavery argument and the brewing civil war. This case would be a deciding factor to see where the supreme court fell on the issue of slavery, and in a way, was a deciding factor in that slavery would not be something that could just go away. We’d have to fight to get rid of it, spill american blood over it. That seemed like an impossibility at the time though, this case was just another

Global Warming And Climate Change Essay - 1399 Words

One of the biggest debated issues today is that of anthropogenic global warming or climate change. People will argue that the earth goes through a natural cycle of warming and cooling. While this is somewhat true, the majority of what we are seeing currently is something beyond natural causes; something caused by humans. Humans produce a massive amount of waste, and air pollution is no exception. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions has only continued to rise due to population growth- which leads to an increased demand for resources, products, and industrialization. Greenhouse gases are a global issue with very potential harmful effects on ecosystems, biodiversity, the environment and the well-being of people worldwide. What is unknown to most is that livestock’s contribution to the environmental issues are massive, and its influence to the solution is just as substantial. Many people would name transportation as the biggest contributor to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, but it s actually beaten by animal agriculture by a long shot. Two environmental advisers to the World Bank, Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang, wrote a 19-page report on the topic. Through their research, they claim that livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51 percent of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. (Goodland and Anhang 2011) , That’s more than the impact of industry and energy combined. But, theShow MoreRelatedGlobal Warming And Climate Change974 Words   |  4 Pagesabout global warming, whether it is true or false. Is there evidence to prove that global warming has impacted the climate due to the rise in the earth’s temperature? Climate change is a problem that is worldwide that should be reviewed. The rise in the earth’s temperature has caused some impact to the wea ther and climate changes to many places worldwide. This rise in temperature has the potential of causing drastic changes to the earth in many ways. It is time to view the global warming concernsRead MoreClimate Change Of Global Warming924 Words   |  4 Pages Figure 0.1 shows the different effects of global warming. Global warming is the warming of our planet at an extreme rate. The Earth’s climate has warmed by 7.8OC since 1880. (Quick facts about science, 2015). What causes global warming? The cause of global warming is the carbon dioxide. This acts like a blanket. Protecting the earth, and heating the earth. Sun rays would normally bounce around the earth, but with the blanket, the sun rays heat the blanket which heats the earth. (Petersen ScienceRead MoreGlobal Warming And Climate Change1398 Words   |  6 Pages Global warming and climate change have been frequent topics of discussion over the past several years. Although people tend to focus on the politics, it is important to look past the media aspects of it into the cold hard facts of what our Earth is currently experiencing, and what has caused it in the first place. The cause of climate change includes natural causes, but human causes are what is generating such a rapid global temperature change. It’s time that the ways in which humanity affectsRead MoreClimate Change And Global Warming1060 Words   |  5 PagesClimate change (Klaus) 1000 The terms â€Å"global warming†, â€Å"climate change† or â€Å"greenhouse effect† have become more than just parts of the popular lexicon as they rather are subject of public discussions, scientific research or political debates. Despite the popularity and the ubiquity of these terms, the public’s theoretical and conceptual understanding of them and their causal relations is often based on superficial knowledge and buzzwords or caricatures outlined and depicted in several popular mediaRead MoreClimate Change : Global Warming1194 Words   |  5 PagesDonya Curtis April 19, 2017 English 1001-rough draft Global Warming Global warming is one facet of the broader term climate change. It is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth s surface air and oceans from the mid 20th century and the projected continuation. The Global warming is primarily the consequence of building up greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Emission rates for most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas, CO2, have increased 120 fold in the past 140 years. WhileRead MoreClimate Change and Global Warming1074 Words   |  5 PagesClimate change and Global Warming are out of control. This means that, no matter what policies, processes or actions are implemented, the Earth as we know it will never be the same again. There is significant evidence to support this hypothesis. The dilemma becomes whether we can limit the damage and adapt to a new status quo or not. Rising sea levels and the damage caused by this phenomenon has irreversible impacts on coastlines worldwide. Damage to sensitive reef systems cannot be fixed. This alsoRead MoreClimate Change And Global Warming1022 Words   |  5 PagesWhat = Climate Change Who = Emma, Aoife, Julia, Rachael, Mariah and Cà ©line What is it? Climate Change is a change in the demographic distribution of weather patterns, and related change in oceans, land surfaces and ice sheets, happening over time scales of decades or longer. It’s the world’s greatest threat. Climate change is the change in temperature over a period of time. It involves the greenhouse effect and global warming. Where is it? It is an issue affecting everyone everywhere. ClimateRead MoreClimate Change And Global Warming1474 Words   |  6 Pagesphenomenon, known as â€Å"smog† became an often daily occurrence in big, urbanized cites across the globe. Also, Al Gore’s book, An Inconvenient Truth, popularized the issue of climate change and global warming as a result of the damage that the modern world has done to the atmosphere. He noted that people resist the facts about climate change due to the inconvenience of changing their lifestyles. But, uninhibited industrialization of several countries has led to intense modernization and revolution of theRead MoreClimate Change And Global Warming1412 Words   |  6 Pages Earth’s climate has been changed for hundreds of year dating back to the beginning of man to the ice age and today, and with that change came scientists who have been keeping track and gathering data on these changes in the climate. The climate is the source of life it provides a secure environment setting for life forms to thrive without a proper climatic setting life would begin to dwindle and eventually all life forms would go extinct. But why is the climate so important moreover exactly whatRead MoreClimate Change And Global Warming928 Words   |  4 PagesThis paper will discuss climate change and global warming on the economy. The paper also gives a description on climate change and global warming. As well as what it hold for future business owners. It will also discuss what the government is doing about climate change/global warming. Climate change is a long-term shift in the statistics of the weather (including its averages). For example, it could show up as a change in climate normal (expected average values for temperature and precipitation)

The Forbidden Game The Hunter Chapter 14 Free Essays

â€Å"Jenny?† Dee’s voice said hesitantly. â€Å"Jenny, are you okay?† I’ve had such a strange dream, Jenny thought, but when she lifted her face from her hands, it was real. She was sitting on the floor of her grandfather’s basement, in a puddle of icy-cold water. We will write a custom essay sample on The Forbidden Game: The Hunter Chapter 14 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Dee, Audrey, Zach, and Michael were standing in another puddle, looking at her. â€Å"I found these three in the hallway,† Zach said. â€Å"We fell down a shaft,† Michael said. â€Å"This hole just opened up in front of us. It took us all the way back to the first floor.† â€Å"It was a chute,† said Dee. â€Å"I fell down it, too, and then we had to walk back up here.† â€Å"We followed your crayon trail, and it ended at a door,† Zach finished. â€Å"We pressed the button and †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"It let us in,† Audrey said crisply, when he stopped. â€Å"But it looks like something’s already happened.† â€Å"My nightmare,† Jenny said. She was having a very hard time bringing herself back to the present. The five-year-old in her mind seemed more real than the sixteen-year-old these people were talking to. Dee and Michael and Audrey looked like strangers. Not Zach, because Zach had been there when she was five. Zach, maybe, understood this. In any case he knelt on the floor beside her, ignoring the water soaking into his jeans. â€Å"What happened?† he said, his gray eyes steady. â€Å"I lost,† Jenny said dully, feeling strangely removed from everything. â€Å"I screwed up. I couldn’t save him. I lost.† â€Å"It’s something about Grandpa Evenson, isn’t it?† â€Å"What do you know about it?† Zach hesitated, then, looking her directly in the face, he said, â€Å"Only what my parents told me. They say he-went crazy that day. Tried to-well, hurt you.† Jenny was shocked out of her apathy. â€Å"What?† â€Å"They found you here, in the basement, with your clothes all torn and your arms all scratched. Your legs and feet were bleeding†¦.† â€Å"From the ice,† Jenny whispered. â€Å"I got dragged through the ice. And he scratched my hands to make me let him go. They were taking him. He let them take him instead of me.† Then, suddenly, she was sobbing again. She felt a movement, then a slender, hard arm around her. Dee. A rustle and a cool hand on her wrist. Audrey, heedless of her fancy clothes. An awkward, warm grip from behind on her shoulder. Michael, They were all around her, all trying to help. â€Å"You went through our nightmares with all of us,† Audrey said softly. â€Å"It’s not fair you had to face yours alone.† Jenny shook her head. â€Å"You don’t understand. All of you had nightmares about things you were scared might happen. Mine did happen-because of me. It was real. It was my fault.† â€Å"Tell us,† Dee said, her face stern and beautiful. â€Å"He was a sorcerer,† Jenny said. She looked at Zach. â€Å"You mean, all this time everybody thought he tried to hurt me?† â€Å"What were they supposed to think?† Zach said. â€Å"You were here, practically in a coma. You screamed if anyone tried to touch you, but you wouldn’t talk. And he was gone. They figured he ran away when he realized what he tried to do. And when they looked around at this place†-Zach looked around the basement himself and snorted-â€Å"well, they knew he was crazy. Paranoid. Because all this junk turned out to be-â€Å" â€Å"Charms for protection,† Jenny said. â€Å"Right. I mean, what kind of nut collects thousands of those from all over the world? And he had piles of books on the occult, all kinds of garbage____† â€Å"He was a sorcerer,† Jenny said again. â€Å"Not a black one. Maybe not a white one, either, but not black. He wasn’t trying to do evil. He was just-a little bit naive. He didn’t allow for accidents happening †¦ like a five-year-old coming down here on a day he didn’t expect her, and opening a door she knew she shouldn’t touch.† â€Å"That door?† Dee looked at the empty closet. Jenny nodded. â€Å"But what was in the closet? A monster?† â€Å"Julian.† They all stared at her. Jenny swallowed the bad taste in her mouth. â€Å"My grandfather wanted-well, the same thing those German boys in the forest wanted, I guess.† She looked at Audrey. â€Å"Power. Or maybe he was just curious. He knew there were-things – out in the darkness, and he caught some. Maybe he used runes to summon them up, I don’t know. But I know he used a rune to hold them. On that door.† â€Å"And just what,† Michael said, his voice unusually grim, â€Å"would you call the things he caught?† â€Å"Aliens,† Jenny said, looking at Dee. â€Å"Dark elves,† she said, looking at Audrey. â€Å"Demons,† she said, turning around to face Michael. â€Å"The Shadow Men,† she said to Zach. Dee hissed softly in comprehension. Once started, Jenny couldn’t seem to stop. â€Å"Dakaki. The Erlking. The old gods. The fairy folk†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Okay,† Michael said huskily. â€Å"Enough, already.† â€Å"They’re real,† Jenny said. â€Å"They’ve always been here-like genies, you know? The old name for a genie was djinn, and in his notes my grandfather called them aljunnu. Djinn-aljunnu-Julian-get it? It was a joke. They like to play with us†¦.† Her voice was rising. She felt herself gripped from all sides, but she went on. â€Å"He was keeping them trapped-but I let them out, and that changed everything. They said they had the right to take me. But he went instead. He did it for me.† She stopped. â€Å"If we’re going to get through this,† Dee said, â€Å"we’ve got to be strong. We’ve got to stand together. All right?† â€Å"Right,† Audrey said, the first to confirm it. Looking down, Jenny saw Audrey’s perfectly polished nails entwined with Dee’s slender dark fingers. Both holding on to each other, to Jenny. â€Å"Right,† Zach said with no hesitation, no distance in his winter-gray eyes. His long-fingered artist’s hand came down over Dee’s and Audrey’s. â€Å"Right,† whispered Michael, and he gripped Zach’s hand with his own square pudgy fingers, unembarrassed. â€Å"But there’s nothing to do,† Jenny said, almost crying again. â€Å"He won. I lost. I didn’t make it through my nightmare. That door†-nodding at the closet one-â€Å"was always here. It’s not the way out.† â€Å"What about that one?† Michael said, standing back and looking up the stairs. Jenny had to move around the bookcase to see it. Instead of the blank wall she had seen earlier at the top of the staircase, there was a door. Directly above them-in the room above-a clock struck five. â€Å"You must have done something right,† Dee said. Jenny’s skirt was clammy, clinging to her legs. Her hair, she knew, was in complete disarray. She was exhausted and still shaking inside, and it seemed like years since she had slept. â€Å"I’ll go first,† she said and led them up the stairs, trying to look like Dee, proud as a princess. She found her slip of paper on the top step and stepped on it. â€Å"If that’s the turret-the top of the house-we’ve won,† Audrey said. â€Å"Right?† Somehow Jenny didn’t think it was going to be that easy. She twisted the knob and pushed, and the door swung back on oiled hinges. They all stepped into the room above. It was much larger than any turret could possibly be. It was the More Games store. Well, more or less, Jenny thought. There were the same shelves and racks and tables with the same uncanny games on them. There was the same small window-quite dark-and the same lamps with shades of purple and red and blue glass. But there were differences, too. One was the grandfather clock standing near a corner, ticking loudly and steadily. The other was Tom. Jenny ran to him. He was huddled against the clock, chained to it somehow. Her mind registered fury at the humiliation of that, then went on to more important things. â€Å"Tommy,† she said, reaching with both hands for him. He turned weakly, and Jenny was shocked. There were no bruises on his face, but he looked-ravaged. His skin was unhealthily pale, and there were black circles under his eyes. He gave her the ghost of his own rakish smile. â€Å"Hey, Thorny,† he said painfully. Jenny put her face against his shoulder and cried. The faded-photograph memory had disappeared. What Jenny remembered now was the day of their first kiss, in second grade, behind the hibiscus bushes at George Washington Elementary School. They’d both gotten detention, but it had been worth it. That kiss, she thought. Everything innocent. Everything sweet. Tom hadn’t been arrogant, then, hadn’t taken anything for granted. Tom had loved her. â€Å"Tommy,† she said. â€Å"I missed you so much. What did he do to you?† Tom shook his head. â€Å"Hardly anything †¦ I don’t understand. There were the rats†-his haunted eyes skittered around the floor-â€Å"but they’re gone now.† Rats. So that was what Tom had seen in the parlor-the invisible things that had tried to climb up his legs. In second grade Tom had owned a turtle, and his older brother Greg had owned a pet rat. One morning they woke up to find that the rat had eaten the turtle-eaten it right out of the shell. I knew how upset that made him-how much he hated rats after that, Jenny thought. Why didn’t I realize what they were in the parlor? Because it hadn’t seemed bad enough. Tom had been so afraid. But one thing Jenny had learned: Everybody’s nightmare was scariest to them. You had to see it with them, get into their shoes, to understand just how scary. â€Å"I’m sorry,† she whispered. â€Å"But, oh, Tom, your wrists-† They were torn, bleeding. He was wearing shackles like the kind his brother Bruce used in police work. The rest of him was wrapped up like Marley’s ghost. â€Å"I kept trying to get away,† he said. â€Å"Not because of the rats. Because I saw you. He would come and hold up a mirror, and I could see you and what was happening to you. I saw you go through everything. When Summer died †¦Ã¢â‚¬  He stopped to get control of himself, his face twisting. Saw we? Jenny thought in horror. Pictures of what Tom might have seen when she and Julian were together flashed through her mind. Then she felt a backwash of relief. If Julian had been standing here holding a mirror, he must have been showing Tom the times when he-Julian-wasn’t with Jenny. Still, she had to know. â€Å"Did you ever see-him-in the mirror?† â€Å"No. But he told me-he told me he was doing things to you. To all of you. He laughed about it.† Jenny gripped both his hands. â€Å"Don’t you worry about him, Tom. He can’t hurt us anymore. We’re free, Tom-we’ve won. Now we just need to find the way out of here.† Tom looked at her, then nodded behind her. Jenny turned. She’d missed it before, because Tom had so quickly captured her attention. There was a door, just like the door in the More Games store that led out onto Montevideo Street. But this door was partly open, showing darkness outside. Standing before it, completely blocking the way, were a giant coiled snake and a large wolf. â€Å"The Creeper and the Lurker. At last,† Dee said. â€Å"Just a slight problem,† Michael said nervously. They weren’t real animals exactly-they looked more as if they’d been painted with luminous paint on the darkness. Like some special effect Zach might make for a photo. But the wolf breathed and the snake’s fluorescent tongue flicked in and out. Jenny felt sure that they could move-and do harm. She fingered Tom’s chains. â€Å"He has to let us go. The rules were that if we got to the top of the house, we could go free.† â€Å"Not exactly,† the liquid, elemental voice said from the back of the store. He was dressed the way he had been in the More Games store, in that weird combination of cyberpunk and Byronic poet. The snake tattoo was back on his wrist. He looked as laconic as he had in the store, and as beautiful. His hair was like moonstone, white with a shimmery blue glow inside. In this dim light his eyes were midnight blue. He looked-charming, sinister, and slightly mad. A demon prince with the face of an angel. Jenny was suddenly very frightened. And much more alert. Seeing Julian cleared the cobwebs out of your brain instantly. She straightened her back, still kneeling. The others were gathering themselves, too. What light there was caught Zach’s light hair and the gold clasp of Audrey’s Brunetti calfskin belt. Jenny could see by their faces that they knew Julian better now-not because they’d seen him in the Game but because they understood what he was. Julian smiled his strange, sweet smile. â€Å"You all wanted to know who I am. Well, I’ll give you a final riddle,† he said. â€Å"I’m a Visitor from the stars. I’m the Erlking. I’m Loki. I’m Puck. I’m the Hunter. I’m the Shadow Man. I’m your nightmares come true.† â€Å"We figured that out,† Jenny said, quietly, steadily. â€Å"And we played your game and won. Now we want to go home.† â€Å"You didn’t let me finish,† Julian said, turning the smile on her. â€Å"Do you remember, when you first came in the game store, I showed you the ancient Tibetan game of goats and tigers?† He gestured, one of his easy, flowing motions, and Jenny saw the bronze board on a table. Tiny figures, also bronze, sat on it somewhat like chess pieces. â€Å"Well, that’s what you’ve really been playing,† Julian said, and at the sound of his voice Jenny felt the walls closing in. He smiled at her particularly. â€Å"You are all the innocent little goats †¦ and I’m the tiger.† Tom’s hands were gripping Jenny’s numbingly. Dee was in the forward stance, left leg forward, right leg back, ready for action. Zach looked bleak, and Audrey and Michael had moved closer together. â€Å"You didn’t really think,† Julian said to Jenny, â€Å"that I would let you go.† Jenny felt dizzy. Smothering. â€Å"You said †¦ you were playing the Game fairly,† she got out, with barely the breath to say it. â€Å"You promised me-â€Å" â€Å"I’m not hidebound by tradition. And I am playing fairly-I said if you got to the turret before dawn, you’d find the door home standing open. It is open-it’s just that I won’t let you get to it.† Jenny looked at the animals guarding the door. What could even Dee do to fight them? â€Å"By the way, Tommy, here, hasn’t even faced his real nightmare yet. But there’ll be plenty of time. We’ve got something like eternity ahead of us, you know,† Julian said. His eyes were like liquid cobalt -and ravenous. Hungrier than the wolf’s as he looked at Jenny and Tom together there. God help me, Jenny thought. Please, someone help. She looked at Tom, but Tom was looking at Julian, with such hatred and fury that it made Jenny afraid for him. â€Å"Then this whole ‘Game’ has been a farce,† Tom said, almost spitting the words. His hazel eyes were burning. Julian spread his hands and inclined his head slightly-almost a bow. As if someone had complimented him on a job well done. But it was Jenny he spoke to. â€Å"I told you I’d do whatever was necessary to get you. At first I was sure you’d lose the Game-most people do. Then, when I saw you had a chance of winning, I figured I could make you turn to me for help. But you wouldn’t. She’s very strong, you know,† he added, flicking a heavy-lidded glance at Tom. â€Å"Much too good for you.† â€Å"I know,† Tom said, and Jenny looked at him, astonished. â€Å"But she’s a thousand times too good for you.† â€Å"I want her for goodness’ sake,† Julian said and smiled. â€Å"Light to my darkness. You’ll see-Tommy. You’ll have years and years and years to see how well she and I fit together.† He turned back to Jenny. â€Å"In any case, you’ve gotten this far, and I’m afraid I have to tell you the truth. Which is that the whole Game has been just-a game. The kind a cat plays with a mouse.† â€Å"Before eating it?† Dee said in a voice like a knife. Julian barely glanced back at her. â€Å"I’m only hungry for one thing at the moment, Deirdre. But my friends by the door have strange appetites. I wouldn’t go near them if I were you. And of course there are all the other Shadow Men-all my elders, those ancient, bone-sucking, lip-licking wraiths-they’d all like to get hold of you. This house keeps them outside-but you wouldn’t get far if you opened a window.† Jenny felt the trembling in Tom’s clenched fists and bowed her head. She was thinking of the poem in her grandfather’s room. Like the other fools/Who’ve slipped on these same stones and played and lost. . Did everyone lose to the Shadow Men? The dice are loaded, she thought. You can’t win. All bets are off. â€Å"They’d love to sink a tooth in you,† Julian was saying to Dee. â€Å"Do you know you’re the image of Ankhesenamun, one of the greatest beauties of Egypt?† Even as he spoke, Dee snapped her right leg up in a high kick, pulling her toes back at the last minute to deliver a devastating blow with the heel. At least, that was how it should have happened. Julian, with the reflexes of a rattlesnake, caught her foot as it came at him and jerked up, flinging Dee on her back. â€Å"Rule One in this Game,† Julian said, smiling. â€Å"Don’t mess with me. I’ll beat you every time.† Dee got up, obviously in pain-there was no way to break a fall like that-and Julian turned back to Jenny. Jenny met his ravenous eyes and felt something inside her change forever. â€Å"Let the others go,† she said clearly and softly, â€Å"and I’ll stay with you.† Julian stared at her. Everyone stared at her. Then somebody-she thought it was Michael-started to laugh. Julian smiled, very slightly, just one corner of his lip up. Not an amused smile. His eyes had gone the blue of gas flames. â€Å"I see,† he said. Jenny detached her hands from Tom’s. She stood up. â€Å"I’m serious. Let them go †¦ and I’ll stay †¦ of my own free will. And you know what that means.† She was thinking of the darkroom, of the boy masquerading as her cousin who’d held her in his arms. The boy she’d kissed-of her own free will. She was hoping Julian remembered, too. She thought he did. He looked intrigued. A strange, sensuous smile curved his lips. â€Å"Willingly?† he repeated, as if testing the word. â€Å"Willingly.† â€Å"No †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Tom whispered. â€Å"Willingly,† Jenny repeated, looking only at Julian. Julian looked charmed-but wary. â€Å"You’d have to make a promise-seal the bond. In a way that couldn’t be broken.† â€Å"Yes.† She could see she’d startled him. He’d expected her to play for time, to argue. Didn’t he understand that she’d changed? She raised her eyebrows at him, ironically. â€Å"The sooner the better,† she said. Julian blinked, then said slowly, â€Å"Beautiful Deirdre can leave, and Audrey. So can Zach and Michael. But Tommy stays. I’ll keep him as a hostage for your good behavior.† Looking up at him, Jenny felt her lip twitch, not quite a smile. â€Å"I don’t think you’ll need that. †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"All the same.† â€Å"All right. It doesn’t matter to me.† Then, stepping close to him, she spoke quietly, for his ears alone. â€Å"Julian, don’t you know that I’ve changed? Can’t you see that? I still care about Tom, but†¦ it’s not the same. He’d seem tame after you. Anything would seem tame after you.† His eyes widened slightly in fascination. Jenny took a deep breath. â€Å"I probably would have come to you a lot earlier if you’d just straight out asked me. Didn’t that ever occur to you? That you could just appear at my front door, no games, no threats, and just ask me?† He looked disconcerted. â€Å"Not exactly. †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You’re too cynical. Do you know, I think the way you look at things has made you blind. You’ve gotten so hardened that you think you have to fight the universe to get what you want. To-sort of wrestle it out of people.† â€Å"And-don’t I?† â€Å"Not always,† Jenny said. Meeting his gaze directly, she said, â€Å"Sometimes there’s a much simpler solution. There are some things you can’t force, Julian, and you can’t buy them, either. They have to be given, for free. That’s what I want to give you.† His fascination was complete. â€Å"Then promise yourself to me,† he said, and with a motion like a sleight-of-hand trick, he held something between his fingers. A gold circlet. Jenny reached for it automatically, taking it between forefinger and thumb. It was a simple ring, with a design she couldn’t quite make out on the outside. Inside the band something was written in fancy script. She tilted the ring toward one of the small lamps. All I refuse Thee I chuse, she read. â€Å"Put this on your finger and you’re sworn mine,† Julian said. â€Å"No way to break the promise, no way to change the bond. It’s a short ceremony. Do you want to go through with it?† How to cite The Forbidden Game: The Hunter Chapter 14, Essay examples

Market Planning SWOT Analysis Company

Question: Discuss bout the Market Planning for SWOT Analysis Company. Answer: Introduction Developing a market plan is an important aspect of business organizations. Marketing is the spine of a business. It determines the turnover and profitability of the company. It is important to develop a strategic marketing plan for an organization, which determines not only the profitability of the organization but also the growth and success of the organization. The following report is made on Costco Wholesale Retailer. The report studies the SWOT analysis and studies the marketing objectives of the company and also devises a marketing strategy of the company. The companys objectives and mission are studied and strategies and recommendations are provided. SWOT Analysis Strengths Costco Wholesale Retailer enjoys certain benefits. The strengths of the company are: The market presence of the company. The company enjoys customers demands and is widely recognised. The company enjoys significant supply chain. It allows the company to achieve economies of scale. The company also enjoys customers loyalty because of the Kirkland Brand Signature. The public infers as that as a symbol of quality and standard. Therefore, these factors lend significant strength to the company. The company has significant turnover number, which contribute to the high profit the company enjoys. The company also has significant inventory turnover mixed with high sales number. Since the revenue is high due to economies of scale, the sales per unit is low that attracts demands from customers (www.costco.com, 2016) Weakness The company also suffers from shortcomings and limitations. These are: Costco has limitations in the product mix compared to the competitors. There is not enough option for the customers, who seeks wide array for goods. The company allows only members to purchase from its warehouse and limits the entry to non-members. This might not be accepted by public and also limits the profitability of the company. According to the business model of the company, the low profit margins do not allow flexibility in adjustment of price. These factors pose as the weaknesses of the company and limit the profitability aspect of the company. Opportunities One of the opportunities of the company is the diversification aspect of the company. The company has open up a new business in a different sector. It can add new services or features to the business. The company can increase the variety factor in the product mix. It can increase the types of product it produces. This will create satisfaction among customers and help it compete with its rivals. The company can also expand its locations by establishing new warehouses and shop across the geographical locations. The company can extend its operational activities in different and foreign countries with developed economies. This will allow the company to achieve expansion policy and achieve growth and success (www.costco.com, 2016) These factors are some of the opportunities for the company to better its operational activities and further substantiate its chances for success. Threats The company faces stiff completion from rival companies and supergiant like Walmart. The company faces competition from the intense marketing policies of the rivals. The company faces rivalry from online marketing. Online marketing allows many small and medium sized enterprises to sell goods at very low prices, which provides threats of substitutes and competitive rivalry. The power of animal rights acts tends to pose certain threats to the product of the company. Marketing Objectives High number of turnover per warehouse: The company is a one of the dominant retailers in the world and enjoys good reputation. It was recorded that the sales in one of the warehouse clocked to $300 million. The average sales in the warehouse were seen to be $127 million. It is seen that the sales of the company is seen to double and triple in comparison to competitors (Bozarth Handfield, 2015). Incur the lowest cost in operation: There are various factors, which revolve around the fact that the company produce at a low cost and are one of the leading players in wholesale and retail. There are minimum frills present in the operational activity of the company. The products are left in the original packages and material before being shipped to the store. This saves variable and indirect costs of the company. It is also observed to save time for the company. The company is efficient in this regard. The company has a significant purchasing power and can purchase quantities in large number to achieve economies in scale. Since the company purchases in large number, their cost of production also reduces to a minimum level and the company can achieve high profit margin by maintaining low sales price per unit (Howell Market, 2013). Establishment of new warehouses: The company intends of establishing around 33- 35 new warehouses in the quest of diversifying location. The company has planned an expenditure of $1.4- $1.6 billion and this allow the company to incur necessary expenditure on real estate, establishment, restructure and purchase of equipment for new warehouses and ancillary operations related to it. Thus, the company aims of diversifying location in the United States and Canada. This will expand the scope of profitability for the company (Kerzner, 2013). Expanding the club warehouse membership: The company follows the policy of increasing the sales by increasing the membership per warehouse. The company believes that following this policy would allow them to purchase in large quantities and also transfer the benefit to the customers. The customers believe that large scale purchase would allow them to have low purchase price per unit and also facilitate economical buying (Bozarth Handfield, 2015). Strategies The main target market of Costco is small business. The marketing team of the company get in touch with local owners of firms and try to convince them to purchase a membership of the company when they establish a new warehouse in an area. The marketing team uses a direct mail service to prospective buyers and try to create a customer base if it matches the customer profile of the company. The remaining strategy revolves around the word of mouth theory. The company follows the theory that if the members are satisfied with the product and service of the company, they would advertise and recommend the company to others. This is seen from the fact that Costco does not follow aggressive advertisement strategies. Costco provides quality and standard goods at lower prices to customer. This is one of the major and primary marketing objectives of the company. The company provides quality goods and cost leadership in order to achieve customer satisfaction and high sales for the company. The companys core objective is cost effectiveness. The company employs the lowest price possible to attract customers. Increasing membership facility in terms of low priced goods would be ideal for the company. The Company could provide discounting factors along with the membership facility to customers. This allows them discounting facilities and allows the customers and members to avail products at low price. The company needs to amalgamate value with convenience and focuses on increasing sales to achieve its profit maximisation and the objective of the company. The membership club allows financing and refinancing facility, identity protection to customers. The company provides free samples and also utilizes act ive sales promotion techniques to achieve higher sales value. The company stresses on customer satisfaction and stresses on customer service and after sales service to the customers. The company focuses on sustainability development and stresses on making environmental friendly condition in its production process. The environment awareness allows the company to create goodwill and positive image of the company (Bozarth Handfield, 2015). Marketing Mix Product The company follows the policy of offering low price goods on selected and limited nationally branded products. The company deals in 330 products. The company offers only those products that offer great benefit to customers. It is critical for the company that the customers utilise from the product. The company maintains low active stock keeping unit and products shift out of the warehouse based on seasons and other factors. However, the company needs to diversify its products and increase the range of goods that the company offers to its customers. This would provide an edge over its customers. A critical market research needs to be carried out and the taste and preferences of the customers need to the studied to evaluate the demand pattern and increase more variety to the stock (www.costco.com, 2016) Place The company has established warehouses around the globe. The company has 371 warehouses in the United States, 5 in Japan, 5 in South Korea, 4 in Taiwan, 19 in the United Kingdom and 30 in Mexico. The company depends on low price rather than diversified locations in achieving high sales. However, due to aggressive marketing strategies of competitors, the company needs to make certain amendments. The company needs to diversify location in more developed economies. The company needs to adopt aggressive strategies and policies to advertise their goods and forms a strong hold on the new target market to consolidate and expand the new target market (Li, 2013). Promotion The company does not follow aggressive advertisement policy and depends on word of mouth of members. However, the company needs to strengthen it advertisement policy and utilize e-commerce sites for diversifying its services and sales through the use of internet retailing. The company needs to use social media platform to create more awareness among customers along with the word of mouth (Li, 2013). The company allows the members of the warehouses to have a demonstration of the product through sampling and eliminate the risk factors on the part of the customers. The company can increase the membership count in the warehouses and also allow non-members to shop product, which could benefit the company by increasing the customer base. The company needs to expand its generous policy to the customer and provide more refund and guarantee policies on products. The discounting policies also should be evaluated and amended. The company needs to be aware about the perfect relationship it needs to maintain with employees, customers and investors in the company. The company needs to make sure that it looks after the stake of the stakeholders. The personal selling aspect of the company is impressive. However, the company needs to make sure that the information system is strong and market research allows the company to locate prospective customers. Sales promotion technique should move out direct mail techniques to email marketing, marketing on social media and also indulge in press release. Product launch techniques need to be evaluated so that it catches the eye of the masses. Price The company follows a policy of 14% mark up on the price of goods and offers low price. This is a highlighting factor the company as it not only low price to the customers but also cause inflexibility to the price adjustments. The company needs to achieve more economies of scale by increasing the membership of warehouses and buying in more bulk, which could allow increase in mark up to increase profit margin. This would strengthen the economies of scale for the company. Implementation The company utilises strategic locations and use prime location for their warehouse as it can generate significant turnover for the company. The company should continue to strive in diversifying their products and services so that the customers can maximise its benefits. The company should focus more research on customer needs and wants and should do extensive research on current market trend and consumer behaviour. This will allow the company to achieve greater customer satisfaction. The company needs to implement its strategies of providing greater customer satisfaction through strategic location and diversification of products and services The company, in order to achieve its mission should observe the code of ethics in every aspect. The company needs to observe all legal requirements and rules. The company needs to increase its consideration towards customers and members. More benefit should be given to customers through diversification of products and services and low prices. More care should be given to employees through better remuneration with significant minimum wage and better work environment. The company needs to keep the suppliers satisfied and overall the company provide proper return to shareholders. The stakeholders need to be satisfied from the treatment meted out by the company. The company has direct purchase ties with many producers of national brand and the company needs to purchase from different and alternative sources without hampering the operation. The company needs to rapidly increase the stock turnover by adopting lean management process, in which the time period involved in deportment of goods to the stores is reduced. The company needs to indulge in purchasing in high quantities, effective distribution and reduce handling of goods. The time period involved in shipment of goods needs to be reduced, which will reduce indirect costs and also increase operational efficiency (www.costco.com, 2016) The company needs to diversify its locations by increasing the stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The company intends to increase the stores in the United Kingdom and establish warehouses globally in most of the developed economies of the scale. Conclusion On concluding the report it can be seen that the company has great scope for growth and expansion. The company enjoys business strength in form of market awareness and has strong national brand signature, which draw customers. The company faces weakness in terms of strong rivalry from the firm. The company needs to follow diversification policy to expand its business and achieve growth and success. The company needs to open new warehouses in diversified locations. Overall, the company is a supergiant and needs to follow certain remedial procedures to strengthen its market conditions. Reference List Bozarth, C. C., Handfield, R. B. (2015).Introduction to operations and supply chain management. Prentice Hall. Downey, W. S., Cochran, A. (2016). AGEC 429--AGRIBUSINESS MARKETING STRATEGIES AGEC 498ADVANCED MARKET PLANNING PROJECT SPRING 2016.Instructor. Gaskill, L. R., Van Auken, H. E., Kim, H. S. (2015). Impact of operational planning on small business retail performance.Journal of Small Business Strategy,5(1), 21-36. Hemmati, R., Hooshmand, R. A., Khodabakhshian, A. (2014). Market based transmission expansion and reactive power planning with consideration of wind and load uncertainties.Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,29, 1-10. Howell, R., Market, N. S. (2013). Succession planning. Ilic, M., Galiana, F., Fink, L. (Eds.). (2013).Power systems restructuring: engineering and economics. Springer Science Business Media. Jain, N., Singh, S. N., Srivastava, S. C. (2013). A generalized approach for DG planning and viability analysis under market scenario.Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on,60(11), 5075-5085. Jenabi, M., Fatemi Ghomi, S. M. T., Smeers, Y. (2013). Bi-level game approaches for coordination of generation and transmission expansion planning within a market environment.Power Systems, IEEE Transactions on,28(3), 2639-2650. Kerzner, H. R. (2013).Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley Sons. Kerzner, H. R. (2013).Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley Sons. Li, X. I. (2013).Environmental and economical analysis in electricity market planning and management(Doctoral dissertation, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University). Munoz, F. D., Hobbs, B. F., Ho, J. L., Kasina, S. (2014). An engineering-economic approach to transmission planning under market and regulatory uncertainties: WECC case study.Power Systems, IEEE Transactions on,29(1), 307-317. Phokha, A., Nonsrimuang, N. (2013). The effects of entrepreneurial orientation, learning orientation, market driving approach and strategic market planning capability on firm performance.Journal of International Business Economics,13(3), 187-204. Welcome to Costco Wholesale. (2016).Costco.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016, from https://www.costco.com Ziser, C. J., Dong, Z. Y., Wong, K. P. (2012). Incorporating weather uncertainty in demand forecasts for electricity market planning.International Journal of Systems Science,43(7), 1336-1346.