...MAB Lecture Illustration: Walker Books Profit Planning Exercise Walker Books1 Along with his brothers, Ramsay Walker ‘inherited’ Walker Books (Walkers) from his father. Neither Ramsay nor his brothers had worked full-time in the business. He has spent the last few months becoming familiar with the business. Exhibit 1 highlights Walker and Company’s organizational structure. Ramsay held meetings with the senior staff as well as studying the state of the industry, in general. Ramsay knew the industry was undergoing change: larger publishing houses getting larger through acquisitions and dominating the market; the rapid impact of technology through developments like e-readers; and the financial difficulties confronting some of the major retailers such as Borders2. Moreover, the size of the United States market seems to have stalled with total US sales estimated at $23.9b in 2009 compared to $24.3b in 2008; while over the last seven years the industry had experienced a compound annual growth rate of 1.1%3. As a result of his investigations Ramsay developed the corporate strategy and operational plans as follows: 1. The need for a new overall corporate strategy to drive the business combined with a small number of key financial targets 2. The need to develop a number of targeted business strategies to facilitate the execution of the corporate strategy 3. A better planning and budgeting system to facilitate financial analysis of alternate action plans, that when...
Words: 1017 - Pages: 5
...analysis. Explain how Walker Books might use CVP in decision making. In your discussion, make sure you provide examples relating to Walker Books. (300 words) | Picture | Photo | B+W | Nonfiction | Fiction | Backlist | Unit Contribution Margin ([Total revenue-Total variable cost]/Number of units) | 1.67 | 1.57 | 1.03 | 1.81 | 1.81 | - | Profit ([Unit Contribution Margin*No of units] – total fixed cost) | -$26,642 | -$23,586 | -$24,441 | -$13,619 | -$3,738 | - | Net Profit Margin (Net Profit/Total Revenue) | -7% | -11% | -18% | -7% | -6% | - | Market Share | 18% | 11% | 7% | 9% | 3% | 52% | According to the CVP analysis, profit can be calculated by multiplying unit contribution margin and number of units minus total fixed costs. In this case, we assume that COGS and shipping/ warehousing/ order processing expenses are all variable even though a portion of it is fixed, since vendors often charge a certain fee to gain access to their services. Royalties are assumed to be variable cost as it is a usage-based payment. By determining the profit, it allows us to decide whether to continue or drop the book line. Based on the profit figures, we think that it will be best to drop the picture book line since it is the least profitable. However, it has the highest market share which shows that there are still a high percentage of people purchasing books from the segment (Picture) therefore we assume that profit will increase if we were to increase the number of book titles. All costs can...
Words: 499 - Pages: 2
...might use CVP in decision making. In your discussion, make sure you provide examples relating to Walker Books. Figure 1 Formulas Picture Photo B+W Non-Fiction Fiction Unit Contribution Margin ([Total revenue-Total variable cost]/Number of units) 2.26 2.21 1.76 2.41 2.37 Profit ([Unit Contribution Margin*No of units] – total fixed cost) -$26,642 -$23,586 -$24,441 -$13,619 -$3,738 Net Profit Margin (Net Profit/Sales) -7% -11% -18% -7% -6% These figures calculated are taken from the year 2012 to help aid our decision making for the year 2013. Unit Contribution Margin (UCM) refers to the profit earned per unit without taking fixed costs into consideration. The figures shown in Figure 1 show that Picture, Non-Fiction and Fiction segments are doing better as their UCM are at a higher range as compared to Photo and B+W segments. Profit refers to the final income of the Company after taking fixed costs into account. By determiningprofit or loss, it will allow us to decide whether to drop or continue the book line. The figures shown above show that Picture, Photo and B+W segments are making higher losses as compared to Non-Fiction and Fiction segments. The UCM for the respective segments are relatively low (e.g. earning $1.67 per unit excluding fixed costs). Hence, the Company ended up making losses after taking fixed costs...
Words: 362 - Pages: 2
...Walker’s Appeal: Book Analysis Walker's Appeal was an desperate cry and plan to awaken others blacks in America to the evils of the so-called Christian whites that were mistreating them. The appeal was actually called Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World. The appeal lifted the veil of injustice and tyranny covered so long by the blacks in America who had became servile and mentally dead. It was an emotionally centered, powerful antislavery pamphlet published by David Walker in September 1829 and sparsely allocated across the South. Although Walker himself was born free, taking the legal rank of his mother, he was deeply troubled by the slave status of his father. His father was born subjected, and enslaved by whites and died before Walker was born. His father’s experience as well as the oppressive hell-like conditions inflicted on by the "so called Christians" as he refers to whites throughout the book, enabled his ideology of blacks in America being the most degraded, wretched and abject set of beings since the world began. Throughout the book Mr. David walker desperately tries to "awaken" the black people of America from the deep emotional and mental sleep brought on by the great evils of the deviated Christians. Mr. Walker exclaims “Can our condition get any worst? can it be more mean and object?"(pg.14.) Within this book he opens my eyes to the suffrage of the people whom which I as a black woman in America share my blood and genetic make-up with. Within this...
Words: 587 - Pages: 3
...2013 Alice Walker Section 1 Biography According to Michael Mayer, Alice Walker, one of the best-known and most highly respected writers in the United States, was born in Eatonton, Georgia. She was the eighth and last child of Willie Lee and Minnie Lou Grant Walker. Her parents were sharecroppers, and money was not always available as needed. At the tender age of eight, Walker lost sight of one eye when one of her older brothers shot her with a BB gun by accident. This left her in somewhat a depression, and she secluded herself from the other children. Walker felt like she was no longer a little girl because of the traumatic experience she had undergone, and she was filled with shame because she thought she was unpleasant to look at. During this seclusion from other kids of her age, Walker began to write poems. Hence, her career as a writer began. Walker found the love of her life in 1967, a white activist civil rights lawyer named Mel Leventhal, and they married him in 1967. A year later she gave birth to their daughter, Rebecca. It was not until she began teaching that her writing career really took off. She began teaching at Jackson State, then Tougaloo, and finally at Wellesley College. Walker was involved in the Civil Rights Movement and spoke for the women’s movement, the anti-apartheid movement, for the anti-nuclear movement, and against female genital mutilation. She also started her own publishing company: “The Wild Trees Press”, in 1984. Walker refused to...
Words: 2381 - Pages: 10
...Alice Walker the author of the book The Color Purple had many difficulties thought out her childhood. For Alice growing up in her time was not as easy as it might seem. She faced many obstacles that made it seem impossible for her to accomplish her goals, even though she had a long run through difficulties Alice still tried her very best to accomplish what she wanted and didn't let her obstacles stop her from trying. Even Though, Alice faced many difficulties she still had many extraordinary accomplishments that made her the person who she is today. Alice Malsenior Walker was born on February 9, 1944, in Eatonton Georgia and is still alive till this day. Alice is known as an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and activist. She worked as a teacher, social worker and lecturer and Alice was part of the Civil Rights Movement that took place in Mississippi in the 1960s....
Words: 666 - Pages: 3
...The Color Purple Walker, Alice- 1982 Alexis Moss Alice Walker wrote The Color Purple (book titles in italics) to give her insight of men, women, love or the lack thereof, physical, mental, and verbal abuse. The men within this book were very powerful. It would be safe to say that the men were slave owners, and the women were the slaves. Celie was the main character of the book, and she endures every form of abuse from individuals in her life that should have been showing her love. Everyone abused her except her sister Nettie, whom she found herself trying to protect from their father. Celie’s mother abused and cursed her, even while being on her sick bed because her husband desired to have sex with Celie more than her. Walker uses this unique protagonist to comment on the racism, sexism, and abuse of women who was so prevalent in the early 1900s. Walker used Celie’s inner monologue (in the form of letters to God and her sister Nettie) to convey the overarching message of the novel; the power of finding that inner voice that leads to freedom from the oppression of society’s expectations. The plot takes place over a 30-year period in the reconstruction South of Georgia. They live in a rural farm community and were a hotbed of activity for civil rights and suffrage. This book was written from the other side of racism, from the victim’s point of view forcing the reader to see the result of bigotry. Racism not only affected Celie’s life but also the life of her friend Sofia...
Words: 778 - Pages: 4
...this short story there is an ongoing conflict between the two neighbours Roger, and Frank Walker, which quickly evolves into and direct war between the two neighbours. Roger continuous to take a step further to prevent the evil deeds he anticipate his enemy to do, which leads to some pretty grim stuff, including family wonking and ending with a possible unintentional family slaughter. The main character Roger is seemingly paranoid, mostly at the end of the text. "[…] And I answered myself: What I would do is look around my house in a frenzy for something else dangerous, such as paint, such as thinner, such as household chemicals, and then either ring the house of my enemy with the toxics and set them on fire or pour some into the pool of my enemy […]” (p. 3 ll. 24 -27)s, he truly fears the evil of his not so friendly neighbour Frank Walker. He sort of imprison himself in his house, but mostly his children which are to stay indoor when the neighbour is at home, and besides that is he locking his doors just in case his enemy of a neighbour should get any funky ideas. Roger is rather aggressive in the sense that he quickly draws to weapon and wonks his neighbour before asking any questions. His perception of his not so friendly neighbour is that he is a lunatic who will take any chance he gets to hurt his neighbour and/or his neighbours’ family. Rogers anxiety for his neighbour Walker is clear near the end of the text, were he wakes up sweating in the middle of the night...
Words: 680 - Pages: 3
...Color Purple” by Alice Walker The Color Purple is an epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. It was later adapted into a film and musical of the same name. This novel is making arguments on the topic “racism and sexism”. The Color Purple is an extraordinary novel that’s full of surprises. Taking place mostly in rural Georgia, the story focuses on female black life in the 1930s in the southern United States, addressing numerous issues including their exceedingly low position in American social culture. Alice Walker’s biography [pic] Alice Walker was born on February 9, 1994, in Eatonton, Georgia. Living in the racially divided South, Walker attended segregated schools. She graduated from her high school as the valedictorian of her class. With the help of a scholarship, she was able to go to Spelman College in Atlanta. Later, she switched to Sarah Lawrence College in New York City. While at Sarah Lawrence, Walker visited Africa as part of a study-abroad program. She graduated in 1965—the same year that she published her first short story. After college, Walker worked as a social worker, teacher and lecturer. She became active in the Civil Rights Movement, fighting for equality for all African Americans. Her experiences informed her first collection of poetry, Once, which was published in 1968. Better known now as a novelist, Walker showed her talents for...
Words: 2561 - Pages: 11
...Popular Literature Paper James A. Jones SOC/105 12/11/2012 Mercedes Doris Ruiz Popular Literature Paper Beetle Bailey is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Mort Walker. The setting is a fictional Military base and is one of the oldest comic strips still running today. Walker created Beetle Bailey on September 4, 1950. He has been assisted by Jerry Dumas, Bob Gustafson, Frank Johnson and Walker’s sons Neal, Brian and Greg Walker. The characters in the strip were created after Walkers fraternity brothers at the University of Missouri. Beetle was a college student at Rock view University, he quit school in the first year and enlisted in the U.S Army on March 13, 1951 and has remained there ever since. Beetle Bailey is a sort of lazy private who just think he can sleep his way through the army, he always wears his headgear below his forehead so you never get to see his eyes, in the rare instance he is without headgear his eyes are covered by his hair he a misfit and suffers through constant physical and verbal abuse from his company sergeant and nemesis sergeant first class Orville P. Snorkel. Beetle Bailey was circulated in the stars and stripes newspaper which is a military paper to boost military morale but it was banned from the japan issue because it was said be disrespectful to officers. The civilian papers thought it was funny and it continues to run today. The stories change to fit the times but beetle is still a private and still wears the same...
Words: 494 - Pages: 2
...Alice Walker: The Cost of Her Fame Professor Writers often have a way of awakening people’s inner thoughts; Alice Walker is one of those writers. Many people have been touched by her work, feelings rekindled and relationships restored. Walker’s dreams lead her to many new beginnings and sorrows. Walker’s greatest lost would be her most cherished bond – family. Alice Walker was born in Georgia, on February 9, 1944. Her father was a sharecropper and her mother was a maid. When Walker was eight, her brother accidently shot her in the eye with a BB gun. Unable to get medical treatment, she became blind in one eye and developed a scar. This accident left her feeling unattractive. She became withdrawn and turned to writing. The scar was removed when she was 14, which opened up her world from isolation. She became voted Most Popular, Queen of her Senior Class, and Valedictorian. She attended Spellman College, where Professor Howard Zin, a civil rights activist, influenced her. She transferred to Sarah Lawrence College, where she met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After graduating college, she married Melvyn Roseman Leventhal, a Jewish Civil Right activist. They had a daughter named Rebecca. Walker said her daughter was a “living, breathing, and mixed-race embodiment of the new America that they were trying to forge” (Driscoll, 2008). Walker is an advocate for the unheard and overlooked. She is an activist, often involved with organizations, Code Pink and Women for Peace...
Words: 882 - Pages: 4
...Anitra Hatcher Academic and Professional Success November 2, 2014 Alice Walker After conducting research on several of my favorite authors, I selected Alice Walker’s life and works as the focus of this paper. Walker's accomplishments are substantial. Her novel, The Color Purple, won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book award for fiction. She has authored many other critically acclaimed works, and is recognized as a leading author in the literary world. As I began to dig deeper, however, I found the real reason that I chose to concentrate on this individual. Alice Walker is an African American woman who expresses herself and her life experiences in her writing. I feel like I am connected to the themes and characters Walker develops in her stories. I feel like I am connected to Walker herself. I have been broken in some kind of way or another. I have been abused physically and mentally. Walker has not allowed her struggles to get in the way of her success or happiness. I chose to write about her because she is a woman who faced profound struggles in her young life. She came close to giving up because of a childhood accident and an abortion. Alice Walker was a fierce and determined woman who stayed committed to her goals. Alice Walker faced many challenges. She was one of seven children. She was born in poverty to sharecropper parents on February 9, 1944. Her father was the grandson of slaves. Her father did not want her to get an education in fear that...
Words: 1158 - Pages: 5
...lives and from society. In the novel, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, the narrator is an abused black woman named Celie. Walker uses this unique protagonist to comment on the racism, sexism, and abuse of women that was so prevalent in the early 1900s. Walker used Celie’s inner monologue (in the form of letters to God and her sister Nettie) to convey the overarching message of the novel; the power of finding that inner voice that leads to freedom from the oppression of society’s expectations. Celie started off the book as a powerless victim of the men in her life with no voice. Walker uses Celie’s first person point of view to tell her life story of abuse and submissive silence. Celie’s only form of communication about her thoughts and feelings are through letters to God that are brief at first but then are more complex as Celie gets more confident and finds her voice. In the beginning, Celie’s inner voice had been beaten into silence at an early age by her abusive step-father and later by her husband with emotional and physical abuse. She survived by “[not] fight(ing)… stay[ing] where (she) told” and staying silent letting her step father believe that she is” too dumb to keep going to school” (Walker 2.254, 3. 342) Celie was only able to find her voice once she stood up to her husband and confronted him about his abuse telling him “youse children is rotten”, “why you beat me for what you done to them?” (Walker 7.94,7.92) Once Celie found her voice, she began to “see the world...
Words: 1147 - Pages: 5
...Morrell Professor Richard Raleigh ENC 1102 (02): Composition and Literature 12 November 2015 Alice Walker From Evelyn C. White’s “A Life” Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award, dedicated her life to establishing a literary canon of African American women writers and to encouraging the “survival whole” of all women. She has actively sought to win recognition for literary “foremothers” such as Zora Neale Hurston and to place their contributions within the fabric of her own artistry. Walker was the valedictorian of her high school class, and when she was graduated in 1961, she was offered a scholarship to Spelman College in Atlanta. After traveling to Africa in 1964. Walker returned to the United States and entered Sarah Lawrence College. She soon discovered that she was pregnant, and just as quickly she found herself depressed and on the verge of suicide. Walker made a decision to end the pregnancy instead of her life and subsequently wrote her first published short story, “To Hell with Dying.” She also produced Once (1965), her first published collection of poems, during her years at Sarah Lawrence. Alice entered the world before the midwife’s arrival February 9, 1944(White 12), into a family of sharecroppers near Eatonton, Georgia. Her father, Willie Lee Walker, was the grandson of slaves. Alice birth marked the first time that Mr. and Mrs. Walker were able to pay the midwife for her assistance (White 13) Walker’s relationship with her father became...
Words: 604 - Pages: 3
...treatment of women has always been a hard subject in society and many subjects of novels. Walker dramatically shows realistic imagery, as she reels the reader in by conditions black women put up with and what life can be like when you are abused. In The Color Purple ,by Alice Walker, tackles the subject of sexism in communties. The first amendment does issue the fact that women's rights should be their and that everyone has the freedom, and that we all have quality The Color Purple written by Alice Walker should not be banned, through various arguments. Some including that it is an honest depiction of African-American life in the early 20th century, it addresses child abuse issues, rape, that still need to be addressed in our society, and because the freedom of speech is a constitutional right. The Color Purple was banned due to explicit language, sexual content, and racist stereotypes. Although, you would think the banning of the book is very difficult or hard but it is actually simple. There are two different ways to get a book removed, either banning or challenging. Banning a book is the removal no matter what. A Challenged book is when its an attempt to remove or restrict materials based of a person or group of people. A challenge is just to restrict it Cathcart 2 from schools, as to ban removal completely. Books are usually challenged or banned for best intentions of others and to protect. “ If all mankind...
Words: 1150 - Pages: 5
