...Diego Della Valle Gives Back to His Country J.J. Martin http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303914304579193891982221478?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_12 Hieu Ngo Summary This article tells a story about how Diego Della Valle gives back his money to help restore the Rome’s Colosseum. The first time Diego visited the Colosseum is when he was 11 years old, and now, after 50 years, he came back as a CEO of the luxury leather goods company named Tod’s. He looks like a normal tourist, but people do not know that he is the one who puts 25 million euros of his company’s money to sponsor a full restoration of the monument. The Colosseum is constructed by Flavian Emperor Vespasian in AD 72 and it is introduced the first time by his son Titus in AD 80. After time, the monument has been stained, eroded by pollution, and readies to fall apart. Many precious antique things were stolen by robbers and damaged by natural catastrophe. However, thanks to the Diego’s fund, the Colosseum is gradually healing now. According to the article, although the Colesseum earned 28.8 million euros in ticket sales in 2012, it only received 2 million euros for its operating costs because of the lack of money for other monuments. Therefore, under the low budget used for restoration, Rome’s mayor has to solicit private funding to lure money from corporations, and Tod’s is one of the two companies which win the auction to restore the Colosseum. However, it leads to a huge national controversy...
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...Managers. He, gently, throws a copy of the 2014 annual report of The Warehouse Group Limited on to your desk and states “the Five Year Summary shows that profit after tax increased from $60 million in 2010 to $78 million in 2014, but they also report an ‘adjusted’ net profit which decreased from $83 million to $61 million over the same period. As investors, which figure should we pay attention to? At the same time, operating cash flow decreased from $129 million to $77 million over the same period. I wonder what has caused that? I would like you to look at profitability, cash flow and liquidity.” He continues “The group made some big acquisitions in the last couple of years. How well are those turning out? Retailers’ operating margins are always pretty small, and if the new acquisitions are not profitable, they can drag the whole group down. Have the managers been able to protect or improve profits from the older stores and also get good results from the new businesses? And how is the efficiency of operations trending?” Required: A fund operated by Top Notch Fund Managers is a potential substantial investor in The Warehouse Group, and Zac must advise the fund managers whether to invest. Draw up the memo that you would send to Zac to address his questions. Your analysis should cover the issues he has raised, with particular attention to profit, efficiency and liquidity. Indicative length: 1,000 words – a few pages. Note that a 5-year summary is provided in the ...
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...A Broken System SOC 304: Social Gerontology October 29, 2012 The Social Security System, created in 1935, is the one of the most costly items in the federal budget today. The program was created to provide old age, survivors and disability insurance to a large portion of Americans, mostly the elderly who are now out of the work force. The Social Security Act was a major turning point in American history Today the U.S. Social Security system has been in the news a lot lately. While politicians throw around dramatic words like crisis and bankrupt, regular Americans have more concerns. Social Security has assisted to defend millions of employees from scarcity in their elder years, but demographic truths have transformed over the last seventy years and are still altering. (Smith, 2010) If Social Security does not transform with them, the system will be incapable to fulfill its guarantees to tomorrow’s retirees and will load the next generations, our children and grandchildren, with hard taxes. The President would let Americans save some of their Social Security taxes in personal retirement accounts that they own and that Congress can never legislate away. Personal retirement accounts would strengthen Social Security by assisting all US citizens to raise their retirement income and pass on a nest egg to construct a better fiscal future for their households. (Smith, 2010) Several Social Security professionals think the system is in crisis because it will soon be incapable to...
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...World Wide Web History Bubble History of the WWW ECOM 210 World Wide Web History Introduction Founded in 1989 the World Wide Web went from an impossible idea to a worldwide phenomenon that has fused itself into the needs of the people. I remember years ago when computers were just those gross green screened monitors that only allowed you to type a report. Now with the help of the internet our use of computer technology has reached amazing heights. We can reach people around the world with just a click of a mouse. “The web has changed the world. It has arguably become the most powerful communication medium the world has ever known” (webfoundation.org). Reading the webs history helps me to really see how the development of this great tool has geared us to an era of becoming completely technically inclined. The web is available everywhere you go from restaurants to coffee shops also with it being a feature on your mobile device it never leaves the side of the consumer. Internet access has become just as much of a need as toilet paper. In most cases jobs, schools and so on has built there curriculum and foundation around it. Without the web we would not have achieved the ability to have direct access to our bank accounts via applications or to send an email picture of friends and family to others around the globe. Although I grew up in the early 80’s at the peak of technology before the internet even existed I now cannot imagine a world without it. “The Internet is...
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...bills, struggling financially? If so, you are amongst the millions of people who suffer from these same issues everyday. One of the best ways for you to get on financial track is to establish a budget. What is a budget you ask? As defined by Merriam-Webster, a budget is “a plan for the coordination of resources and expenditures” or “the amount of money that is available for, required for, or assigned to a particular purpose” (Merriam-Webster). A budget will help you realize your true income, assess your debt, see how your money is really being spent, and should help you save on some of your unnecessary spending. Budgeting is one of the most important factors when it comes to financial stability. A budget is a precise way to help you live within your means and get your finances under control. Making an individual or a family budget will assist you in your planning when it comes to saving for the education expenses of you or your children, maintaining an emergency fund, planning vacations, buying a home and numerous other unexpected events that life may throw your way. IMPORTANCE OF BUDGETING AND SAVING Creating a budget should be a very simple process. You need to figure out how much money you have coming in and how much money you are paying out. List all of your expenses for the week, month, or year. Don’t forget to include money for emergencies, savings, weekends, and maybe a few dollars for lunch or snacks everyday. You will then be able to figure...
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...Successes and Failures Of Water Privatization Is It Time to Throw the Baby Out With the Bath Water? Jill M. Prince EEMT-666 Major Individual Assignment Word Count: 2056 July 23, 2011 Rodney Beard EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As the world struggles to find solutions to water shortages and water pollution, an ever-greater number of people are stepping forward with proposed answers to the problems. Some efforts succeed and others fail, but in the face of it all, the human race must work diligently to be proactive rather than reactive. Water privatization has become a key driver in solving the water crisis around the world. Economists have convinced many that treating water as an economic resource rather than a human right is the only solution to the problem. After several decades of trial and error, it has been proven they may be correct, but unfortunately, in many cases, perceived Draconian behaviour by many stakeholders has caused considerable damage to privatization efforts. In many cases, the different stakeholders, have drawn lines in the sand and chosen sides. However, regardless of the seemingly altruistic positions of all the major players, it is time for everyone to take a step back and seriously examine not only what goes wrong in water privatization contracts, but also what goes right. If the human race in the 21st century is going to avoid the same fate as our predecessors in the Mayan culture and on Easter Island (Tietenberg and Lewis, 2010) we are going...
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...America has races from every inhabitable continent; we have a large number of Asians, mass amounts of Europeans, and growing amounts of Latinos and African ethnicities. These aspects all put together combine to make a huge part of the definition of American identity. Along with diversity, another aspect that is used in the definition of American identity is business and corporations. Corporate America is one of the largest and wealthiest forms of business in the world. Wall Street deals with billions of dollars daily, corporations throughout the country grow in size and significance. Lastly, competition is the last big part of the definition because of the international trade, emphasize on sports and athletics, and between other rivalries between other countries. The same is with baseball in America; it incorporates all of these aspects into one sport. Baseball is the best definition of American identity because of the growing diversity in the sport, the multi-billion dollar industries, and the competition between teams and fans; it will stay this way for as long as baseball is alive and supported. The American identity has been examined and discussed in classes, in society, and in...
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...purchasing, refurbishing, and selling of automobiles and the other with more than 15 years of sales and marketing experience. Marketing will play a vital role in starting and growing the business in the Phoenix, Arizona market. Drivewithotpayments.com offers an innovative way of buying car the old fashioned way, with cash not credit. The idea is to educate and train consumers to make car buying a winning investment rather than living with ever increasing monthly payments on depreciating assets. The current economic climate has increased attention on all aspects of consumer debt; Forgetpayments.com provides an answer to many consumer debt concerns. 2.1 Market Summary The used car market has multiple segments from large franchised dealerships, to large independent dealers, to local buy here, pay here lots. 35.5 million used vehicles were sold in by independent and franchise dealerships in 2009 (NIADA p. 17). Additionally, “while the number of independent dealers decreased again in 2009, independent dealer market share increased (NIADA p. 17). The average advertising expense for 2009 hit $267 per vehicle sold (NIADA p. 18). On average, Independent dealerships sold 25.74 vehicles a month, with less than 18% of which advertised on the World Wide Web were sold via the Internet (NIADA p. 20). The buy here pay here segment dealerships averaged just over 60 vehicles sold per month with average weekly payments of $84 and average cash down payment of $1,272 (NIADA p. 28). “Used cars...
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...Walmart’s Global Challenge, November 2014 Executive Summary Walmart Stores, Inc. is the world's largest retailer whose mission is “to help people around the world save money and live better -- anytime and anywhere -- in retail stores, online and through their mobile devices” (Corporate Walmart2, 2014, p.1). Samuel Walton founded Walmart in 1962 as a small chain of stores in rural towns and today Walmart is a multi-national retail corporation with “11,100 stores under 71 banners in 27 countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries” (Corporate Walmart2, 2014, p.3). Walmart Stores topped Fortune Magazine’s “Fortune 500” list for 2014. “For fiscal year 2014, Walmart’s net sales totaled $473.1 billion, up 1.6% from the year-earlier period” (Fortune, 2014, p.1). Walmart is a publically traded company, with the second and third generation Walton family owning 51% of Walmart’s shares via a family holding company called Walton Enterprises LLC (Yahoo Finance, 2014, p.1). Walmart has enjoyed unprecedented growth in the span of 52 years, even in the face of negative publicity and threats from competitors like Family Dollar and Amazon. Walmart’s CEO, Doug McMillon, has laid out strategies to reduce their reliance on physical stores as they move towards expanding the e-commerce aspect of their company and on improving their overseas expansion plans. His four-part growth strategy provides the framework to enable a “company prepared to win on four key customer dimensions – price...
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...his dream of being a player in the NBA since he started playing basketball. Obviously, getting into the NBA is difficult but it will be more difficult later, because every basketball player in NBA is approximately the best in their habitations such as schools, towns, cities, or countries. They went through numbers of eliminations, and finally defeated their competitors to join the NBA. As an old saying goes “survival of the fittest.” A successful NBA player has to do his best in every game in order to stand out from other players who are as strong as he does or even stronger, and then success is near at hand. Yao Ming is a retired Chinese professional basketball player who last played for the Houston Rockets of the NBA. Although a summary of his basketball career and influence on the game inevitably fails to do it justice, as a phenomenal basketball player with a unique combination of fundamental diligence, optimism, agility, and an unquenchable competitive determination, Yao redefined the successful international NBA superstar. As the contemporary adversary of Yao, also the legendary NBA player- Shaquille O’Neal said Yao “could have been up there in the top five centers to ever play the game.” Also, the current greatest shooting guard-Kobe Bryant said Yao “opened up a mark in a whole new place in the NBA and ought to be named as a member of the Hall of Fame.” A brief listing of his top accomplishments would include the following: 8 times NBA All-Star; 2 times All-NBA...
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...May, he had been convicted by a jury of fraud. Under a settlement agreement, almost everything he owned had been turned over to a fund to compensate former shareholders. He spoke haltingly, stopping in mid-sentence. "In terms of remorse, Your Honor, I can't imagine more remorse," he said. He had "friends who have died, good men." He was innocent—"innocent of every one of these charges." He spoke for two or three minutes and sat down. Judge Lake called on Anne Beliveaux, who worked as the senior administrative assistant in Enron's tax department for eighteen years. She was one of nine people who had asked to address the sentencing hearing. "How would you like to be facing living off of sixteen hundred dollars a month, and that is what I'm facing," she said to Skilling. Her retirement savings had been wiped out by the Enron bankruptcy. "And, Mr. Skilling, that only...
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...A Retail Audit of Family Dollar 125 2nd Street Park Falls, WI Researched by: Scott Webster 200100906 Merchandising Management 10-104-186 Lisa Drews Northcentral Technical College February 4, 2015 Report Disclaimer This Report was created for student use as an example for learning purposes only. Northcentral Technical College Family Dollar Retail Audit Table of Contents 1. History and background of Family Dollar 2. Careers at Family Dollar 3. Managing Merchandise Assortment 4. Visual Merchandising 5. Retail Pricing 6. Retail Communication Mix 7. Reflection on this Audit 8. Bibliography History and background of Family Dollar Address Family Dollar Store I am visiting 125 2nd Street Park Falls, WI Executive Offices Post Office Box 1017 Charlotte, North Carolina 28201-1017 Founded Family Dollar was founded in 1959 by Leon Levine. Overview In 1958, at age 21, Leon Levine, an entrepreneur with an interest in merchandising, became intrigued with the idea of operating a low-overhead, self-service retail store. Leon Levine believed he could offer his customers a variety of high-quality, good value merchandise for under $2. Because he had grown up in his family’s retail store, he understood value, quality and customer satisfaction. In November 1959, Leon Levine opened the first Family Dollar store in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was on his way to becoming a retailing legend. Right from...
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...The Mentally Ill Veronica Rhodes HCA 430 Special Populations Instructor Avi Stein June 23, 2012 The Mentally Ill Mental illness includes many different illness that affect a person’s feelings, thinking, and daily functioning. “Serious mental illnesses include major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and borderline personality disorder. Mental illnesses can affect persons of any age, race, religion, or income. Most people diagnosed with a serious mental illness can experience relief from their symptoms by actively participating in an individual treatment plan” (NAMI, 2011). For years, the mentally ill have been the misunderstood population. There was a time when people locked away the mentally ill because they were not accepted and not to be a part of society. Many people did not understand what was going on with the mentally ill and really did not take the time to understand the disease process. For a while the mentally ill were thought of as being just a little different, the severity of their illness was not being recognized. Now that there are several advances in science, medicine, and the human body, mental illness is a little more understood. Many people no longer dismiss the mentally ill and realize that the mentally ill really do have serious issues that need to be addressed and not just swept under the rug. There is no need for the...
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...Davis 1 Geri Davis Mrs. Burns SPH-106 4-30-15 Skin Cancer Prevention Topic: Skin Cancer Specific Purpose: To encourage my audience to protect themselves from the ugliness, pain and even death that can result from skin cancer. Thesis Statement: Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer, easily preventable and most curable, if caught early. Organizational Pattern: Motivated Sequence Introduction I. Attention-Getter: So you put on your swimsuit, grab a towel and head to soak up the sun. But, you forgot ONE VERY important thing. SUNSCREEN. And now you are the risk of the world’s most common cancer! II. Relevance to Audience: According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, one of every five Americans is diagnosed. Melanoma doesn’t discriminate; everyone is at risk. III. Credibility: Since I am a skin cancer survivor, of two different cancers, I feel well knowledgeable and very passionate on the topic. IV. Preview: I’m going to walk you through just how dangerous it is to everyone. What you can do to prevent yourselves from getting this deadly disease and how you can get involved with The Skin Cancer Foundation, to make a difference. Transition: (“We all know it’s important, so why are so few protecting themselves?”) Transition: (“There is a simple solution to this problem.”) Transition: (“First, I will explain what skin cancer is.”) Transition: (“Of course it is impossible to completely avoid sunlight.”) Transition:...
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... Designed by Donald Bates and Peter Davidson – LAB Architecture Studio Opened 26th of October 2002 Estimated cost - $473 million NATHAN WORLING -‐ Z5057106 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................. 3 2 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 4 3 PROJECT MANAGEMENT KNOWLEDGE AREAS ....................................... 5 3.1 PROJECT SCOPE MANAGEMENT ..................................................... 5 3.2 PROJECT TIME MANAGEMENT ......................................................... 6 3.3 PROJECT COST MANAGEMENT ........................................................ 7 3.4 PROJECT COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT ................................ 9 4 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................... 10 5 RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................... 11 6 REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 12 ZEIT8303 – PROJECT MANAGEMENT BODY OF KNOWLEDGE 2 NATHAN WORLING -‐ Z5057106 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In 1996 the Victorian Government announced an open design competition to create an eye catching, multipurpose, iconic attraction...
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