...COMPANY: Long Term Capital Management OVERVIEW: The following Case Study addresses an amazing Company called “Long Term Capital Management” (LTCM). This is a fascinating story of big time business and the ignored impact of the omnipresent timeless, Ten Early Warning Signals. These Signals can be controlled and converted into profitable success or perilously ignored at the risk of losses and eventual failure. DATE PREPARED: July 4, 2007 CASE STUDY PREFACE During our three decades of “hands on” Business Survival Consulting” assignments we would constantly push to improve Client profitability. Profit Improvement in one form or another is, of course, the foundation of a successful turnaround. During this process we clarified and expanded upon three axioms that, to a greater or lesser degree, are generally unknown and/or certainly under utilized in the quest to improve corporate profitability in American Business. These three axioms are: AXIOM ONE: “Key People Know” Who knows a company better than the key people in a company? Nobody does! The collective knowledge of key personnel, if properly focused and channeled, can be an omnipotent Profit Improvement force for top management in their Profit Improvement efforts. AXIOM TWO: “Crisis Avoidance and/or Crisis Correction” constitutes the basic operating environment of most “for profit” companies. In its most simple approximation, 20% of Businesses are generally crisis free. The next 60% of Businesses are involved in a series of minor...
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...research in effort to make him an ordinary human. What Charlie could not apprehend is that he was merely used as a human experiment to modify other mentally impaired individuals. The failure of the operation permitted Charlie, as a genius, to recognize every individual problem. Following the surgery, impediments...
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...children; however, there is a problem here that those immigrant people don’t realize. Most of the time, either their children come with them when they are young, or they get to be born in the states, but the parents don’t realize that the time, the place, the environment, and the culture are different, and they can hardly enforce it on their children. In this story, which was in 1960, the narrator, Jing-Mei stood up to her mother and tried not to follow her mother’s will to make her a prodigy, so she could compete with one of her friend’s daughter. Very important questions here, Are those ideas and thoughts still can be applied nowadays, and what are the children’s actions against those ideas? What is the influence of those ideas on the children’s lives? First of all, is it a fact that those ideas and thoughts can still be enforced these days? The way that the mother grew up in her country, which was china, was totally different from the way that children grew up in America. She thought that she could make her daughter a prodigy in any matter. “Of course, you can be a prodigy, too” (1), the mother said. She tried to make her daughter be like people on the TV programs, when they sing a song, dance in fantastic way, or do some unbelievable stuff. Also, she tried to make her daughter a hair stylist; in fact, her daughter unintentionally failed. The mother always tried to do the same to her daughter, as her...
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...This passage is spoken by Holden Caulfield when describing the composition he wrote for Stradlater, using the glove of Holden's late brother Allie, which the latter used to write poems on. Holden uses this to describe his grief for Allie. The poems written in green ink symbolize intelligence combined with life, juxtaposed to intensify the effect when Holden says "He's dead now." Holden's tone is slightly reminiscent of his younger brother, almost holding back the thought, relating to how in life people in society only choose to remember the positive characteristics of the dead. Holden specifically writes about the glove because it is Allie's, and at this point began to lose his care for value in material wealth, evidenced by his reminiscence of Allie's glove and buying a dollar hunting hat in New York rather than a fashionable expensive hat....
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...the unexplainable or as an excuse for failure. I will allow that circumstances will always arise (whether in war or everyday life) that could not be predicted; however, the relative reaction to those circumstances is what separates the truly great from the merely average. I will show in this paper that the ability to creatively control ‘chance’ is the single most important factor of Carl von Clausewitz’s paradoxical trinity in understanding the greatness of Napoleon Bonapart. He called this ability in a battlefield situation, ‘military genius’ and although Clausewitz believed in the equity of the three points in his trinity, I would posit that the ability to successfully apply military ingenuity and initiative to the probabilities and uncertainties of war is what was ultimately the deciding factor in the Napoleonic Wars. A closer look at the Battles at Austerlitz, Borodino and Waterloo will demonstrate the role of chance and the military genius in victory and defeat. It is necessary first to briefly explain Clausewitz’s trinity. There are many interpretations of the precepts described in On War, but the work and research of Christopher Bassford and Edward Villacres describe the trinity as violence, chance and reason. It is also often referred to as the people, the military, and the government. While it is convenient to boil down the trinity into single word compliance, it does not do justice to...
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...Provide Place for Excellent Innovator in Your Country By: Fransiska Erni (131214146) www.nkri.web.id Josaphat Tetuko Sri Sumantyo Indonesia is a country for many people. It is a home. We live here every day with all the bad and good things. Moreover, every country has what is called as beyond achievement and less achievement. Indonesia with actually has many genius people can raise the country in international. What is the problem then? Our problem is the majority of those genius people are working for foreign field. It is such a joke. We always want our country better and better, appreciated by others country, making great innovation, and creating excellent technology to have others country impression, but we have wasted around for only looking a person with the mark he or she has in the “body”. If we looking for smart, ductile, and genius people, we already have them all. What we have not had yet is the ability to look encourage the potential that those people have and we also have not found the way to empower them. Therefore, those with great ideas on their mind stay in other country to pour their ideas to a great invention after they finish their study. Josaphat Tetuko Sri Sumantyo, Bandung, who is working in Japan, is one of those people. He is an expert of Remote Sensing and has created the larger drone in Asia. Josh is one example of innovative people in Indonesia. We still have many, but we will lose them for the development of our country if we never care about them...
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...World War II. In the 1940's when Nazi Germany was in a position of facing defeat, Hitler was holding on to one project which was unknown to the world - the V-2 rocket program. A German aerospace engineer named Wehnher Von Braun was recruited by the Nazi party to design a rocket which could be used as a weapon to destroy Germany's enemies from long distance ranges. In 1944, Nazi Germany launched a series of its V-2 rockets against its enemies, killing thousands. One of the cities hit by the V-2 rockets was London. The idea of a rocket carrying a nuclear bomb to destroy any location in the world alarmed the allied forces. As the Germans were on the brink of defeat, both the United States and the Soviet Union were on a mission to capture the rocket mastermind Wehnher Von Braun and use his genius for their benefit. As Nazi Germany surrendered, Von Braun went into hiding, because the Germans would rather have him dead, than have any other country adopt their rocket program. In 1945, Von Braun fearing the possibility of becoming a tortured prisoner of war in the hands of the Soviet Union, he decided to surrender to the United States and offered to contribute his expertise and knowledge in the field of rocketry for the benefit of the United States. Despite Von Braun's prior affiliation to the Nazi Party, the U.S. government took him in and gave him and his fellow German scientists the opportunity to continue their research as part of the United States Army. When the Soviet Union realized...
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...continuously discussed in this reading is a persons IQ, or Intelligence Quotient. A man named Christopher Langan is discussed throughout both chapters and is a clear example of a person with extreme IQ. Although Langan demonstrates a superior IQ, he never reached his true potential. Gladwell maintains that intelligence, even extreme intelligence, has a threshold. Having a high IQ is an advantage, but being smarter than others does not automatically make one more successful. “The relationship between success and IQ works only up to a point” (79). A person not only has to be smart enough but when you factor in opportunities that are taken full advantage of, that person’s success greatly increases. Gladwell further proves his point in these chapters when he explains a study done by Lewis Terman. Terman performed standardized IQ testing for geniuses and attempted to demonstrate that a person who showed a genius IQ rating would clearly determine the success of that individual. Terman’s results between Group’s A, B, and C reemphasized Gladwell’s point that mere intelligence is not the sole identifier that leads to a person’s success. Terman concluded, with more than a touch of disappointment, “that intellect and achievement are far from perfectly correlated” (90). Factors such as economic and social background are huge contributing factors to a person’s success. While reading, I couldn't help but feel that Gladwell’s target audience and approach to understanding his view is directed toward...
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...product successful and it will discuss how a marketing plan made a product unsuccessful. A failed movie will be discussed and marketing concepts will be applied to analyze its failure. Marketing Plans Introduction One of the most important aspects of any business is marketing. It can make or break the strongest retailer. Figuring out what the customer wants and analyzing that data will help determine the marketing plan; getting that information right will determine if that plan is successful. Considered a genius when it comes to marketing, Steve Jobs made Apple what it is today, but he didn’t always do everything right. He learned some lessons along the way that contributed greatly to his success and legacy. His determination allowed him to learn those lessons and ultimately it helped him change the world. Definition of Marketing Plan A marketing plan is a written plan that explains in detail how an item or service will be marketed. This will include what has been learned about the market, including demographics and population. It will also include established goals and how they will be met. A marketing plan, if done well, will facilitate the entire direction and coordination of the marketing endeavor (Kotler & Keller, 2012). Marketing Plans: an Example of Success Even before the recent passing of Apple CEO Steve Jobs he was considered by many as a living legend. Since 1997 when he came back to Apple his record was nothing but success. Among other things Steve Jobs...
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...Art and entertainment The discussion what is art and what is entertainment has become quite common. Another relating topic is – do artists entertain, or do entertainers create art? The most common answer to these questions is, yes. Artists certainly create art, but art is also done for entertainment, and everything that was created by entertainers has a certain degree of artistic merit. If we go to a museum, we will see wonderful paintings and sculptures which are certainly more artistic than graffiti on the walls in the street. In a museum, we expect that we will be exposed to a certain level of art, and at the same tame, we will experience a certain level of entertainment. Whether something is artistic or not, simply depends on the opinion a person has, and this opinion is no less valuable than any other. Of course, there must be some objective attributes of art that make it art like using metaphors, symbolism, and plot devices, and similarly, entertainment has features that make it entertainment. Black Swan by Aronofsky is probably more artistic than, say, the Twilight vampire saga, but the latter one would be probably more entertaining for the common audience. Another question is, which one is better? That is again a matter of opinion. If we focus on literature, a classic novel by Hardy is generally considered more artistic than a romantic story by Danielle Steel. This comparison offers an idea that art is more superior to entertainment, but this is...
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...many people can relate to them. Good Will Hunting has characters who deal with loss, abuse, and lack of self-confidence. Mrs. Doubtfire has family troubles, separation, and trust issues involved as well. Both movies are easily relatable and comparable to each other as well. In both films family and relationships seems to play an important role. In Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon struggles with life and commitment, due to abandonment by the people who were supposed to love him the most. He was severely abused and in adoptive homes, he then preferred to stay as a manual laborer living in a dilapidated house in the Boston neighborhood. Throughout the movie he struggles to find his place in the world by first finding out who he is. He is a genius and could solve math problems that the smartest teacher couldn’t. He never wanted to be noticed though. He was comfortable being the janitor and hanging out with his buddies, including Ben Affleck. He never had a sense of belonging due his is lack of parental guidance and being with his buddies was the closest thing he had to it. Ben Affleck acts as the “father” of the group. He drove everywhere; he was the person...
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...Brand Paper There are several brands that I use on a daily basis but my favorite brand hands down is Apple, Inc. The product in particular that has created my romance with this company would be the IPhone. I have been using the IPhone since the first day it arrived on June 29, 2007 and I have been a loyal consumer up to my recent purchase of the IPhone 6 Plus, last month. Apple, Inc. has over $100 billion in sales and increased in sales every year consistently since its launch. I am committed to the quality, innovation, design, and simplicity that Apple, Inc. has provided to me consistently over the last 7 years. Apple, Inc. starts with a commitment to producing the very best product or service that you can imagine. This promise started when the late Steve Jobs took the CEO position at Apple, Inc. and created a marketing blitz with the launch of the IPhone, IPod, and IPad. On January 9, 2007 Steve Jobs delivered the most incredible keynote speech of his life and quite possibly the best in the history of consumer electronics (imore.com, 2014). Steve Jobs said,” That he would be introducing a wide screen IPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet device.” It was not going to be three separate products but one innovative product the IPhone. The world’s most successful brands don’t become (or remain) the world’s most successful brands without deep dedication to their customer’s needs. Apple’s customer service is legendary. Spend five minutes...
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...car dealer in Los Angels. One day when he was on the way to Palm Springs with his girlfriend Susanna for their weekend trip, he received a phone call from his assistant Lenny, who informed him that his estranged father had died. Thus, Charlie had to cancel his trip and went to Cincinnati to attend his father’s funeral. There he learned that he received only a Buick car and several rose bushes according to his father’s will and that an unknown trustee inherited 3 million dollars on behalf of a beneficiary. Through investigation, he knew that the beneficiary was actually his elder brother, whose existence he had never been aware of. In order to get his share of the estate, Charlie took Raymond who had autism away without permission. Charlie intended to start a custody battle to get Raymond's doctor to settle out of court for half of the estate so that the mental institution could maintain custody of Raymond. But during the course of the journey, he got to learn more about his brother. He realized that Raymond was in fact the rain man in his childhood memory who would sing songs for him when he was sad and who was separated from his family due to an accident in which Raymond nearly hurt him. This led him to think of his family from a new perspective, who loved him deeply. What’s more, his autistic brother turned out to be a genius, who had a superb recall and won a lot of money in Las Vegas by counting cards. The climax came when at the end of the journey Charlie...
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...Case Study Outlines Part One: A New Era Founding Performance P f Trading strategy Mutual Fund & Hedge Fund u ua u d edge u d Part Two: When Genius Failed Downturn: 1998 Russian Financial Crisis Chain Reaction In the end: Bailout & Characters Part Three: Enemies are ourselves Risk Measurement Diligence, Ethics and Honesty Dili Ethi dH t Part One: A NEW ERA Founding of LTCM LTCM was founded in 1994 by John Meriwether, the former vice‐ chairman and head of bond trading at Salomon Brothers t di tS l B th LTCM was a speculative hedge fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut that utilized absolute‐ h l d b l return trading strategies combined with high leverage. The fund's operation was designed to have extremely low overhead; trades were conducted through a partnership with Bear Stearns and hi i h B S d client relations were handled by Merrill Lynch. LTCM Partners John Meriwether Former vice chair and head of bond trading at Solomon Brothers; MBA, University of Chicago Leading scholar in finance; Prof. at Harvard Co-author of Black-Scholes model; Prof. at Stanford St f d Vice chairman of the Fed; Prof. at Harvard; Arbitrage g p at Salomon; former Harvard g group ; Prof. Arbitrage group at Salomon; former Harvard Prof. Arbitrage group at Salomon; Ph D MIT Ph.D. Arbitrage group at Salomon; Ph.D. MIT Bond trader B dt d Executive at Salomon Arbitrage group at Salomon; Master in Finance, LSE Robert C. Merton Myron Scholes David W. Mullins Eric Rosenfeld...
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...A Tribute to My Town When I remember the days that saw my early childhood spent on the green shores of a murmurous lagoon; when I remember the coolness, delicious and refreshing, that on my face I felt as I heard Favonius croon; when I behold the white lily swell to the wind’s impulsion, and that tempestuous element meekly asleep on the sand; when I inhale the dear intoxicating essence the flowers exude when dawn is smiling on the land; sadly, sadly I recall your visage, precious childhood, which an affectionate mother made beautiful and bright; I recall a simple town, my comfort, joy and cradle, beside a balmy lake, the seat of my delight. Ah, yes, my awkward foot explored your sombre woodlands, and on the banks of your rivers in frolic I took part. I prayed in your rustic temple, a child, with a child’s devotion; and your unsullied breeze exhilarated my heart. The Creator I saw in the grandeur of your age-old forests; upon your bosom, sorrows were ever unknown to me; while at your azure skies I gazed, neither love nor tenderness failed me, for in nature lay my felicity. Tender childhood, beautiful town, rich fountain of rejoicing and of harmonious music that drove away all pain: return to this heart of mine, return my gracious hours, return as the birds return when flowers spring again! But O goodbye! May the Spirit of Good, a loving gift-giver, keep watch eternally...
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