Investment Companies Essay

Investors need to consider a lot of factors before investing their money in any firm. Company stability and ability to generate profits is the main attraction for any investor. Bank of America and Apple Inc are some of the most stable companies in their respective fields. Besides these are some of the highest paying industries in the world today. Bank of America Bank of America is the largest brokerage house and consumer banking franchise in the United States (Lewis, 2010, p1) during the financial crisis, bank of America posted huge losses coupled by the untimely purchase of Merrill Lynch. However in April 2010 bank of America reported a $3. 2 billion first quarter profit signifying an imminent complete turnaround for the company. Interestingly, most of the profits were generated from the trading at Merrill Lynch. The gamble to buy Merrill Lynch had paid off. With the worst of the financial crisis over, bank of America is poised to make bigger profits and reclaim its eminence that it lost to JP Chase and Goldman Sachs. Though it is unlikely to continue with the acquisitions that characterized most of its growth phase, the bank no doubt will be a big player in wealth management in the US. Long term investment in bank of America therefore will be a wise decision by an investor who is looking to capitalize to a rising stock price and dividend per share revenue. Besides, the regulations that the administration will introduce will ensure profitability and stability of the banking sector. However, given that the financial markets have not fully recovered, coupled with the impending WallStreet reform by the administration, there is likelihood that resulting volatility may eat into the company’s profits and share price. Besides, the company, like many other banks is still repaying government bailout money, a move that will affect its profits and effectively its investors. Apple Inc Dynamism describes the world of technology today. New information gadgets are introduced to the market every year. Apple is on of the companies that has emerged as a market leader challenging established giants like Microsoft and easily cutting a niche for its itself in the market. Apple prides itself with successes such as the i-Pod, the i-Tunes Store, MacBook sales, and excellent Mac OS X. Innovation to meet the ever demanding market is the main driver of apple and with its cutting edge products like the i-phone, i-pod and recently the i-pad, investing in Apple inc will be a good decision because certainly these are not the last of their products. The company has one of the highest share prices in the New York Stock exchange which stood at $140 pr share as of 2008 (Tyson, 2008, p 11). Every time people buy Apple products, it increases the company sales and profits which in return drive up the stock price (Tyson, 2008, p 11). With the continued good performance, an investor is guaranteed of good returns in the long run. While some computer and software companies saw their profits plunge during the recession, Apple’s strong position ensures continued movement of their products, a clear indicator that the company can whether big economic fluctuations and guarantees an investors returns for their money. Apple Inc. has concentrated on developing mobile gadgets but the same effort is needed in developing products like the Mac desktop. Competition from other computer and software manufacturers is stiff and an information technology company that cannot sustain the innovation trends is likely to post less sales, profits and stock price. Competitors like Microsoft and phone manufacturers like Motorola are likely to come up with gadgets that will target the entertainment industry, enterprise and high performance computing, none of which apple is well prepared for (Martellaro, 2006, p1). Expanding their niche therefore to include more products will secure the future of the company and ensure long-term stability.

Communicating the Truth about Smoking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Communicating the Truth about Smoking - Essay Example To this end, a pile of body bags are used to represent a number of people who die daily in the United States. In addition to that, the A.L.F, have used dolls with writings on them that educate people about the dangers of smoking. Furthermore, they have created printed advertisements educating teens about smoking. The second step pertains to the medium of transmission. In effect, the ALF has used several medium of transmission to convey their message. This evident in the visual medium that depicts the advertisement of body bags representing a number of deaths. It was a part of innovative television campaign. Moreover, the ALF used written channels through printed advertisements for sensitizing the teens on smoking. In addition to that, they used audio channel by sponsoring a radio show by the name truth-fm. The third step involved the decoding process. To this end, the receiver translates the message to make sense. This step of communication occurred when the teens understood the adverts. Moreover, the high school girl, Katie confessed that smoking appeared to be reserved for adults and was forbidden among teens. The last step of the communication process was related to feedback. Evidently, it is the response from the receiver to the sender. Consequently, it occurred in the process of teaching teens about smoking. Evidently, the A.L.F Chief Executive Officer testified that after one year of the campaign, 75 percent of the teens were in a capacity to accurately describe at least one of the adverts. Moreover, 90 percent of the teens said the adverts were convincing. Therefore, through this feedback it was evident that the teens responded well to the campaign against smoking. against smoking. 2. Show how ALF is using oral, written, electronic, and nonverbal communication The ALF has used several media to convey their message. This was through oral, written, non-verbal communication and electronics. Foremost, they have used television and radio as a form of electronics media. This was whereby they sponsored a hip-hop radio show known as truth- fm. Moreover, electronic media were evident in the production of television commercials that showed dozens of crawling baby dolls with a message on their shirts. In addition to that, ALF reached teens through the internet website that attracts over 8000 people daily. As non-verbal media, the ALF used body bags to show the number of daily deaths that occurred in the United States. Moreover, written media were evident when ALF printed adverts for publications meant for teens. In addition to that, they used oral communication by conducting grassroots activities whereby the youths orally convinced peer youths about the d angers of smoking. Furthermore, they organized concerts which were attended by millions of people. 3. In your opinion, why is ALF successful when other organizations sending the same basic message are not? Is there anything ALF could do to increase its effectiveness? The ALF has been successful because of how they innovatively packaged their message in a manner that the teens could associate with it. Moreover, the teens felt like the truth campaign was in sync with their emotional feelings. Evidently, they saw it as a reason to rebel against authority as a way to assert their independence. However, it is

Monetary policy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Monetary policy - Research Paper Example It lays a vital role in opening up the financial market of a country. It also has supervisory powers, aimed at limiting banks and financial intermediaries from reckless behaviour. In developed nations Central banks are independent so that they operate under rules made to help them operate in a political free management (Kurgan and Wells 387). Therefore, this paper aims at obtaining a deep analysis on the role of central bank in use and implementation of monetary policy to stabilize the economy. This will be with respect to the great depression of 1929 to early 1940s. Monetary policy is the mean through which the monetary tools of a country control the flow of money. It mostly focuses on the rate of interest with an aim of promoting economic growth and stability. It is key role is to sustain, stable prices and maintain low levels of unemployment. Monetary policy can either be expansionary of contractionary. Expansionary policies increase the supply of money in the economy while the co ntractionary measurers reduce the total money supply to the economy (Bofinger, Reischle and Schachter 123). Expansionary policy is theoretically used to control unemployment in a recession by lowering interest rates in the view that easy credit will motivate businesses into expanding. Contractionary policy is intended to slow inflation in a view of curbing the resulting deterioration and distortions of asset values. The Monetary policies advocated by the central bank helps in fostering the growth of financial market by encouraging open market operations. It is the most used tool by the central bank of each country to correct any economic disorder or to set the pace of a country economic growth (Bofinger, Reischle and Schachter 170). Economic depression is an economic slowdown where the gross domestic product is expected to decline at around 10%. To give rise to greet economic depression, the gross domestic product was believed to have declined by at least 33% per annum. This is the worst in history so far. Economic depression is characterized by; reduced consumption by individuals and the government, increased liquidation of the banking system or narrowing of financial market to the extent that it cannot allocate capital inflow to various sectors of the economy, high levels of unemployment expressed in two digits, insolvency of economic driving companies, a reduction in the wage rate for example, during the great economic depression it reduced sixty percent and acute shortage of money supply in the economy. Thus, depression can be defined as a recession that lasts longer and has a massive decline in business activity thus a slowdown in economic growth (Bofinger, Reischle and Schachter 213). Central bank and monetary policy with respect to the great depression of 1929 to early 1940s can be analyzed from different views. The great depression lasted for 10 years. This occurred when the shares traded in a day tripled followed by a drastic fall in price by about 24 %. The great economic depression was characterized by an increased rate in unemployment which increased by 22% of the total country workforce. The total gross domestic product reduced by half as the price fell by 10%. The depression also caused farmers to lose their farms, and this made them together with the unemployed to move to urban areas in search of daily earnings, this lead to development of shanties thus creation more problems. There were massive bank failures and

Rhetoric & Stereotypes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Rhetoric & Stereotypes - Essay Example ho are in the tattooed group are considered to be freaks, drug, addicts, criminals, weirdoes, tough and are always around bad people (Macrae, Stangor, Miles, 1996). These stereotypes are all negatives. The senior citizen group is taken to be made of people who are unwilling to accept new things, stuck in the past, silent and low movers who are hard at hearing. These stereotypes are both positive and negatives. Politicians use what looks like rational language that may in fact be false in their speeches so as to satisfy their own desires and interests. Another language common with the politicians is personal attack ad hominem (Bodenhausen and Macrae, 1994). The language is mostly used to shield the politician from the other groups of politicians. Usually this is done in a show of dislike for the other individual. A common language among the tattooed people is subjectivism (Macrae, Stangor, Miles, 1996). This is based on the assumption that whatever is true to an individual may not be true to the other. The language is used to justify their acts of misbehavior because most tattooed people are associated with negative activities. The feminist get a lot of attacks as many people do not want to accept their way of life hence they are never approved and are considered to be weak. Scare tactics are used to undermine their efforts to justify their way of living within the society (Ninvalle, 2004). The stereotypes are meant to undermine or intimidate someone into not doing some things. For example, a feminist can be intimidated due to the fact she is a woman and women are considered weak within the society. Senior citizens are the most neglected and stereotyped people within the society and the language commonly used is genetic fallacy according to Bodenhausen and Macrae (1994). This involves rejecting a claim based on origin or history. These stereotypes are usually half truths and they are based on assumptions that have little or no evidence. In conclusion, the

Transformational Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words - 1

Transformational Leadership - Essay Example Based at Fort George, the Black Watch is the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) (Arm 2011). Serving the Black Watch as a Company Sergeant Major, I handle a total of 120 soldiers under my command. To become successful in each of the military mission, the Army as a group needs good leadership. Considering my role and responsibilities as Company Sergeant Major, this report will focus on applying leadership theories, principles and techniques in my chosen profession. Prior to the conclusion, factors that make a good leader will be thoroughly discussed. Unlike the role of managers who are managing business organizations, leadership in the military is not about organizational hierarchy, top-down management, or even the use of positional or authoritative power in terms of controlling a group of soldiers. Likewise, it is a myth that military officers within the army are all about following the chain of command since soldiers who are in the military service treat one another as members of a large family. Even though effective commanders are expected to possess command skills and practice good leadership, the true concept of leadership is not about commanding a group of soldiers who are under the control of the commanders Yukl (2002, p. 2) defined leadership as â€Å"a process whereby intentional influence is exerted by one person over other people to guide, structure, and facilitate activities and relationships in a group or organization†. On the other hand, McNamara (2008) defined leadership as â€Å"a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent†. In relation to these definitions, Taylor, Rosenbach, and Rosenbach (2009, p. 1) explained that effective leadership â€Å"is all about getting people to work together to make things happen that might not otherwise occur or to prevent things from happening that would ordinarily take place†. It simply means that effective military leaders include those individuals who are capable not only in influencing other soldiers to strictly follow what is being commanded to them but also motivate, inspire and empower a group of soldiers as uniq ue individuals under my guidance.

Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Journal - Essay Example This people could fill in any labor shortage in the future thus defeating the hypothesis the text of the book that in the future, our workforce may be composed of old people. There are just a lot of people who do not have a job that it will no longer be necessary to employ the aged in the future. Journal entry 2: Chapter 5 - Big Five profile To put my reaction in perspective, I need to mention my scores when I took the Big Five Assessment. The result was quite accurate. I score a nine in Extraversion which meant that I am basically a sociable person. I also scored an eight in Emotional Stability which suggests that I am emotionally competent to get a job done. I also scored a nine in Agreeableness which meant that I can work well with others and lastly, I scored well in Openness with a nine to cap the assessment. I only scored an eight in Conscientiousness. The Big Five profile assessment is simple and straightforward and somehow gives us a ballpark of our personality. My initial rea ction after taking the assessment was curiosity and was quite glad with the result because it somehow matches what I think my personality is. But when I took a hard look at the method of assessment, I also became cautious because I just find it too simple to be able to determine my personality traits are. I am not dismissing it but I just find it too simplistic. I thought that this could be more â€Å"convincing† if the Big Five profiling could be complemented by other psychometric tests to validate and cross-check its result. Still, the assessment provided me an immediate insight of what my personality could be. Journal entry 3: Chapter 6 In this exercise, I scored 32 which hovered in the category of Moderate engagement. Again, I find the questions were too generalized and do not really tell my real level of engagement in my studies. For example, what does moderate engagement exactly mean? That I am partially interested and partially not? Or only give my half-best in my stud ies? The assessment is asking the wrong questions about what my exact feelings and thoughts about studies. It is because there are subjects that I am really interested in that I enjoy studying them even if I am not in class. These subjects seems effortless to me and thus, â€Å"time flies when I am studying†. But there are also subjects that I am not interested in. These subjects are quite a drag and effort for me to study and it takes tremendous amount of effort for me just to study. And even when I study them, it is just for compliance and to pass the subject. The factors that makes a subject engaging or not were also not factored in. That could include a myriad of factors such as how they are taught, aptitude of the student, tools using in teaching them etch that could really tell the student’s engagement in his or her studies. Also, I find the questions in the assessment repetitive. They are basically asking the same questions ony that they are rephrased to confirm answers. Journal entry 4: Chapter 7 In the exercise of Measuring Perceived Fair Interpersonal Treatment, I scored 36 which suggest that I was in hovered in as a moderately fair organization. It was an internship job so I cannot complain and I had a pretty good experience working in that organization. And perhaps this perception is influenced by my expectation of the organization that I will have a good experience w

PHL #6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

PHL #6 - Essay Example It is therefore, different from other concepts such as Cartesian dualism and Skinnerian behaviorism (Carruthers, 1998). Therefore, the two theories are compatible in this regard as they discuss various concepts of the mind. Their thinking and philosophies are based on the fact that the mind rather than the soul. The man is defined by is relationship to an organic structure. Both theories state that it is not only humans that have souls and intrinsic principles but also beasts and plants (Carruthers, 1998). According to Aristotle, plants have vegetative souls and these include the powers of growth, nutrition and reproduction. Human beings on the other hand, have additional powers of perceptions and locomotion and for this they possess a sensitive soul. The existence of the sensitive soul is manifested by the fact that each animal has a sense faculty(Carruthers, 1998). Functional roles help identify mental states. There are several types of functionalism, and these include: machine state functionalism, psych functionalism, analytic functionalism, Homuncular functionalism and Mechanistic functionalism. All these types of functionalism point to the fact that, mental states are manifested in individual system such as computers as long as the necessary as the system perform the required set of functions (Carruthers,