Examine the stock returns for both Pfizer and AstraZeneca during the Essay - 1

Examine the stock returns for both Pfizer and AstraZeneca during the bid process and provide possible reasons for changes in price on key dates - Essay Example t a company then price of the company’s stock is likely to rise while price is likely to fall is an expected acquisition is likely to be detrimental. Factors such as â€Å"investment strategies,† â€Å"ownership forms,† â€Å"capital structures,† and â€Å"dividend policies† that are likely to change with an acquisition are also likely to influence stock prices (Moyer, McGuigan, & Kretlow 2008, p. 12). In addition, expressed opinions by investors can either improve or reduce share price at a time (Khan & Zuberi 1999, p. 45) and all these could have influenced prices and return of the two companies’ stock. One of the key dates in the takeover period is November 25, 2013 when Pfizer informed AstraZeneca of intended takeover. Even though it was a private correspondence, it could have spread to stakeholders and a perceived lost value among Pfizer’s stakeholders could have triggered the observed negative change in stock price. Price for AstraZeneca however increased afterwards to indicate perceived benefits by the company’s stockholders. These suggest that Pfizer offered better economic prospects than AstraZeneca did at the time, and its internal environment could be more promising than that of AstraZeneca. On May 1, 2014, Pfizer made public its takeover interest and suffered a subsequent decline in price, which begun two days earlier, and perceived loss of advantage by existing stockholders as well as possible negative investor opinions could have caused the decline. At the same time, stock price for AstraZeneca declines and this could be a response to Pfizer’s price trends that made it less attractive. The fall in stock price for Pfizer continued until 7 May, a time at which the British Prime Minister expressed concerns over the takeover, and then stabilized until mid May. Price for AstraZeneca stock however remained constant over this period. Pfizer’s persistence on the takeover, against its shareholder’s confidence could explain the fall and the

Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 6

Education - Essay Example Therefore, it is imperative that clear standards and tenure be articulated and publicized (Dalager, 2011). Furthermore, the academic leaders who come up through faculty ranks sometimes develop close relationships with peers and often start viewing themselves as their advocates rather than their administrators. This creates biasness and nepotism, making employees not to believe on the process of evaluation, also affecting on the validity of data collection. Consequently, peer to peer evaluation is not considered as valid when it comes to students. There is no denying the fact that students play an integral role in the academic life of the university through their participation in the evaluation of the faculty by the Faculty Course Evaluation process, but in this case there is a fear of ‘grade inflation’. Students may also get biased in their decision. Other general problems in student evaluation of the faculty could be over interpretation about the instructor which only r eflects one aspect of teaching in the statistics. Students are sometimes unable to judge in an unbiased way or some unique aspects of teaching, therefore, the process concerns for reliability and validity (Diamond, 2011). While doing evaluation from faculty member, it is imperative that they should be all aware of terms and policies of the process. Lacking clear guidelines about the process and some specific legal situations causes ambiguity among faculty member and administrator. All such issues must be discussed with faculty and changes should be informed immediately to the staff. Coming towards tenure and promotion process, it has been noticed that for a successful institution, it is imperative that the policies described in tenure and promotion process should match the mission of an institution. If the priorities of an institution are not supported by the faculty reward system, it can create problems (Kelly, 2010). In general, the process usually involves an assembly of candidat es, in consultation with head of department. On this evaluation basis, high rank faculty department decides whether they should proceed with promotion or not. Other high rank officials do external evaluation. With all combine evaluations and recommendations, the decision is being made. If it is in favor of candidate’s promotion, then the head of department writes to dean of institution forwarding decision along with faculty votes. Further action is taken by dean who forwards the dossier to president of institute and which is then discussed in committee. Hence, the decision gets finalized after the board of trustees issues it. Difficulties with tenure process are not just an individual faculty concern that can be solved by minor adjustments; they are major institutional dilemma. Universities and colleges all over are working hard to find their place in rich mosaic of American higher education institution (Nebrasca, 2004). However, it is not impossible to improve the assessment process. It should be made satisfactory by involving more and more faculty members. Faculty should be examined by faculty administrators, legislators and senior faculty members not only through proper conversations but also through questionnaire filling and gathering statistical data. New faculty member are seen to be caught between the times. They are unable to show performance in accordance to the assessment

Master of science, financial engineer personal statement

Master of science, financial engineer - Personal Statement Example One of the reasons I studied engineering is due my excellent quantitative abilities. I scored a perfect 800 on the math section of the GRE exam. Despite my background in engineering I have realized that pure engineering work might not be what I desire to do with my life. My love for math can be put to better use in a related field. I am interest in applying for the master’s degree program in financial engineering. I want to pursue a degree in financial engineering because this is a growing field that has plenty of jobs available due to the fact that there is a shortage of professionals trained in this field. My background in engineering will only enhance my ability to visualize how to apply finance to optimize the efficiency of an engineering project. All engineering projects require the assistance of accountants and financial people. As a financial engineer I can become the bridge that connects the engineering and accounting/finance departments. My technical expertise in engineering will enable me to speak the language of engineers, while at the same time being able to communicate effectively with the managers and financial people. Upon further researching the salary potential of electrical engineering I realized that even though engineers are paid a very competitive salary which hovers around $60,000 starting out, the field of financial engineering is much more rewarding. The average starti ng salary for a financial engineer is $80,000 to $90,000. Investing an extra two years of my life pursing a graduate degree in financial engineering is an investment that will provide me with a tremendous return on investment. Along with the financial incentive one of the primary reasons that I want to study financial engineering is because the type of work performed by financial engineers is more personally rewarding to me. I love performing pure math and working with numbers. My college counselor told me that based on my math

A question of motivation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

A question of motivation - Case Study Example Motivation can also make newly employed workers grasp the operations of an organization quickly. The case study involves conflict between Alex, a worker and Dan, his supervisor. Alex becomes bored for being allocated the same job every day until he dislikes his responsibility. Every day, Dan allocates Alex to arrange and fill shelves with apples to maintain the stock. Denise also works under the supervision of Dan, but does different work in the same store. In spite the fact that both Alex and Denise work under Dan and that Alex does more work than, and have even stayed in the organization longer than Denise, Alex receives lower pay than Denise. Still in the same organization but in different sector, Stephanie an employ who works under the supervision of Jonathan sell truffle oil that earns her good income and bonus when she delivers beyond certain expectations. In the organization, workers view Jonathan as one good supervisor whom everyone would desire to work with. Dan on the other hand is unfair in his dealings and seems to favor Denise at the expense of long serving Alex. Alex, working under the supervision of Dan is demoralized and lacks enthusiasm in his work. This is because Dan allocates him the same job every day with beliefs that someone works well when he practices the same job every day. Just like his colleague Denise who also works under the supervision of Dan, Alex feels that he should do different tasks for different days apart from stocking apples on the shelves.

An evaluation of the effectiveness of leadership professional Dissertation

An evaluation of the effectiveness of leadership professional development curriculum at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy - Dissertation Example Graduates from this institution succeed within the field of maritime industry and serving effectively as mature and experienced leaders in the Armed Forces or reserve commissioned officers. The education system is provided in time period of four years. The Program The location of the Academy is Kings Point in New York. The operation of the Academy is facilitated by the Maritime Administration of the Federal Government, which is a U.S. Department of Transportation agency. The program is carried out in four years, and uses a regimental system to ensure that midshipmen acquire the necessary knowledge and skills, which would grant them an opportunity of earning ashore maritime employment, developing discipline in careers, serving in U.S. Armed Forces, and becoming successful leaders in society. The Regiment of the Academy has an approximate value of 950 midshipmen who represent each Union state and U.S. Possessions and Trust Territories (Capt, 2006). The attained student body size enable s the achievement of an effective ratio between students and teachers. Further, this student size depicts the real camaraderie that exists in all Regiment members. Every profession in the current society is dependent in the quality of education, which is attained from colleges. U.S Merchant Marine Academy adopts the same and ensures that the quality of education provided in the college is sound. The academic program of the Academy ensures that all midshipmen receive specialized and quality training in order to become merchant marine officers, in U.S. who are licensed. This occurs since the academy adheres to the International Convention on Training Standards and Watch keeping for Seafarers and Certification (STCW) of 1978 including the related amendments to STCW Code (Catalog, 2011, p. 6). The accrediting of the Academy’s curriculum is carried out by Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges (Catalog, 2011, p. 6). This curriculum has the ability of ensuring that each midshipman receives the required college education necessary for the attainment of a bachelor’s degree in science. There are few colleges, which have the potential to provide a wide range of credentials to their education graduates. Midshipmen who are enrolled in the Academy end up being challenged both physically and intellectually. This occurs since the academic program for the Academy is demanding and the regimental system is rigorous. Students find freshman year strenuous as they undergo a transition from being graduates of high school to Academy midshipman (Kumar, 2008). The introduction of freshman year involves extensive learning of new terms, how to adopt effective means of time management, how to work while under pressure, and the endurance quality. As midshipmen enter the second and third year, they are prepared for practical training. This training occurs when the midshipmen go to the sea in order to gain practical training on shipboard. This training equips the sh ipmen with experience on mariner’s environment, as well as skills on how to undertake initiatives on their own and being self-reliant (Kumar, 2008). The final year involves ensuring that the midshipmen have the ability of fine-tuning the skills and experience learnt from class, as well as the practical exposure at the sea. This aids in

Is Genre a useful category for the understanding of films made in Essay

Is Genre a useful category for the understanding of films made in China and Japan - Essay Example A scholar that suggests that there is an American genre would be immediately attacked by his colleagues for oversimplifying an obviously complex, multifaceted gamut of movies. So the question of whether there is a Chinese or Japanese genre of film may be answered in the affirmative if one sees "genre" in merely the audience short-hand manner. If, that is, the audience is American or British. The definition of "genre" in this sense will be "having a preponderance of Chinese or Japanese actors, and in either Mandarin or the Japanese language". This is rather simplistic, and might be regarded as offensive or even racist, but it does reflect one of the most simple definitions of genre. China can be divided between Hong Kong, the mainland controlled by the nominally Communist government and then Taiwan, which represents a whole other development both politically and artistically. So it can be said that a "Chinese genre" is redundant beyond the audience-expectation type of definition. Turning to Japanese cinema, while more culturally homogenous, Japan also presents difficulties for the simple definition. Donald Richie, the leading Western scholar of Japanese cinema, states that many Japanese films indeed have a sense of what he calls "Japaneseness". He describes this as "the celebration of evanescence".4 This evanescence is shown by Japanese film-makers within a paradoxical desire to have their films be temporary rather than permanent. Thus Richie quotes the director Ozu, who stated, "the attractive thing about film is this transience, this mist-like vanishing quality."5 The director Naruse goes even further, suggesting that films should "always vanish a few weeks after release, perhaps this is what films should be, things that live on only in the audience's memory, or vanish into thin air."6 The wish to have their films vanish into thin air is rather ironic for two reasons. First, it counters the traditional advantage that film is said to have over theatre: its permanence as opposed to mutability. Second, in darkly humorous irony, this rather intellectual wish has been granted to the vast majority of Japanese film-makers, whether or not they desired the honor. Thus the majority of Japanese films (more than 90% of pre-WWII movies) have vanished because they did not survive the film chemistry or the war of the time. Even with film production since 1945, a majority of Japanese films now no longer exist and can only be referenced within the memories of actors, writers etc.

Carnival Corporation Case Study Essay Example for Free

Carnival Corporation Case Study Essay Carnival Corporation as the largest cruise line in the world is being a leader and innovator in the cruise line industry. Many of the onboard activities and services were introduced to strengthen the competencies between competitors. The challenges of the Carnival were being overcome by the management with creative and innovative strategies. As a corporate entity, Carnival did not refuse to withdraw money to settle the ocean pollution charged by public. The expansions of cruise line market via acquisition of a few subsidiaries dominate the cruise line in the world. 1. Strengths (internal factors) First, the largest cruise line in the world, as the leader and innovator in the cruise industry (growth from two converted ocean liners into an organization with multiples cruise lines). Second, the belief of management and Board of Directors that the company will grows better. It motivates the employees to work hard. Third, internal grow in term of vessels that approximately ten vessels are under construction. Fourth, employees loyalty (the longest period employees remain in this organization is around eight years) because Carnival management treating well to their employees in terms of wages). Fifth, creative and innovative corporate officers that is ready to face challenges. Sixth, Carnival has operational experience and economic of scales that causing them to have lowest break even point in the same industry. Weaknesses First, in 1972, the speed of ship was slow. Second, the long-term debt within 1999 and 2001 is increased (the payback of debt may lower the revenue and thus decreasing the dividend payment for shareholders). Third, the expand market (business) of Carnival causing the difficulty in managing the business. Fourth, reducing on net income in 2001 is because of higher costs and expenses. 2. Opportunities (external factors) First, the expansion through acquisition can reduce the competitors in same industry and has the ability to compete with other competitors (lower advertising costs). Second, collaboration with travel agents can promote cruises. Third, the industry is expected to have bright future in passengers, consolidation through mergers, buyout, and smaller cruise operator failure, and the expansion of the industry worldwide. Fourth, expand of target customers from older people to younger people. Fifth, expand of onboard activities (casino, disco, and nightclub). Threats First, terrorist events that were happen in 11 September 2001. Second, negative publicity in 2002 where Carnival subjected by the ocean pollution charges and â€Å"Norwalk-like† virus that affect the cruise industry. Third, the increased of fuel costs and airline costs that affect the industry. Fourth, the failure of Carnival discontinued operations of Fiesta marina Lines that affect the company image. Fifth, Persian Gulf War that was increased competitors in the cruise industry especially in Caribbean area. Sixth, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines had institute a major shipbuilding program that challenges Carnival. The emergence of Walt Disney Company in the cruise market; and the prospect of new ships on the horizon give impact to the â€Å"family† cruise vacation segment. 3. Core competencies Yes, Carnival has core competencies because it is the competency crosses divisional boundaries, Carnival can do exceedingly well, and must continuously reinvest in it: i) Adding diversion onboard – such as disco, nightclubs, casino, and others. Carnival also tries to attract younger cruisers by providing vacation package that included airfare to the port of embarkation and home after the cruise. ii) Product positioning – Carnival believes that cruise market comprised to three segments (contemporary, premium, luxury) with different passenger demographics, characteristics, and growth requirements. iii) Travel agents – collaborate with travel agents to promote cruises. Carnival also training travel agents from nonaffiliated travel firm to sell cruises. 4. Distinctive competencies Yes, Carnival has distinctive competencies because distinctive competency is the superior to those of the competitions and difficult for competitors to compete with Carnival: i) Investment in new ships – Carnival is expanding its internal growth by investing in new ships. The ships under constructions are around 10 vessels. It is difficult for other competitors to invest in these large numbers of ships in same period but Carnival can do. ii) External expansion through acquisitions – Carnival has five subsidiaries that control the major cruise lines in different countries. This causing Carnival becomes as the largest cruise line in the world. 5. What trends are emerging in cruise industry?  i) The adding diversion onboard such as planned activities, disco, nightclubs, casino, and other forms of entertainment activities (different kinds of activities that suitable for different ages of target customers). ii) Moderate priced vacation for younger cruisers that included airfare to the port of embarkation and home after the cruise. iii) All inclusive packages that began with bags were tagged for the ship at the airport, air-conditioned bus, meals, onboard activities, house keeping service, until passengers were transported back to airport. iv) Love story movie such as â€Å"Titanic† and â€Å"Love boat† that promote the romance onboard encouraging couples to join cruise. 6. Marketing strategy i) Price – moderate price (vacation packages) that middle-class clients afford to pay. Prices for different levels of rooms are charged according to the customers needs. ii) Product – vacation package that suitable for the clients aged. Other onboard activities such as casino and disco. The service from picking up the clients at airport to board and dropping clients again at airport. iii) Place – Caribbean ports and other destination such as Walt Disney World, Holland, and Costa, as long as the clients want to go. iv) Promotion – some of the promotions are done by travel agents. The â€Å"Fun Ship† cruise that with designated shipboard party and everyone is welcomed by Carnival is another success promotion. 7. The importance of travel agents The travel agents will help Carnival to promote the cruises as an alternative to Disney or European vacation. For people who never take a cruise in their life, or afraid of taking a flight to the destinations will be attracted. Thus, it shows that the important role of travel agents to Carnival. Besides that, not only attracting clients to take a cruise as the core business, selling cruise is also part of the Carnival business. Thus, Carnival is training travel agents from nonaffiliated travel firms to sell cruise. Because of the attractive benefit in term of money provided by Carnival, in year 2000, Carnival took reservations from about 29000 travel agencies to promote the business. And, it proves that this strategy in promoting cruises either to attract clients boarding the cruise or selling the cruise is succeed. 8. Flight or cruise? We will choose cruise because we have not travel yet to some where by cruise before. i) In our opinion, although the price for a cruise might be higher a bit than to take a flight to Caribbean island that we can afford to pay. By choosing a package for the cruising is worth because there will be variety of services that suitable for us as active younger cruisers rather than just to sit in the flight and we have nothing to do. ii) Even though cruise may take a longer time to reach Caribbean island, the final destination that we will reach is Caribbean island no matter we take a cruise or flight. Thus, we can enjoy the onboard facilities that we have paid for. Disco, nightclubs, gym room, cinema, and casino are the places that we seldom go for but we can enjoy if we take a cruise for this vacation. iii) Cruise is a place that we can relax ourselves since the purpose of travel is to relax our mind. The sea view from a ship can make us happy and reduce our stress. On the other hand, we c an also meet some new friends through this trip. iv) Besides, we can experience some exotic destinations when the cruise will sail in the ports. The cruisers can come down from the vessel and visit some famous spots. Adversely, if we take flight, we can’t visit anywhere except just transit in airport. 9. Evaluation of Carnival’s targeting to specific target market i) Contemporary segment – served by Carnival ships, featured a casual ambiance. ii) Premium segment served by Holland America, for longer market and appealed to more affluent consumers iii) Luxury segment – served by Seabourn and Cunard, catered to experience cruisers. The above are the target market for Carnival. Each segment has different types of costs to be charged to consumers. For the contemporary segment, it is more suitable for family and people who need relaxing during a short period of holidays. The price is cheaper than premium or luxury segment. For the premium segment, it is more suitable for affluent consumers, who need a longer period to relax. It normally targets an older people to board because the facilities in the ship are more suitable for their ages. This segment of cruise will have more cabin or public space per person. In term of price, it is the most expensive and little people can afford to pay. The price for this segment is higher than contemporary segment. Not everyone will prefer this segment of cruise because they need to consider the available time for taking the cruise. The luxury segment targets for extremely rich consumers where they were served as â€Å"king† and â€Å"queen† in the ship. The consumers who taking this segment of cruise can show that they have a higher social status and prestige is the main consider by consumers. 10. Strategic management in Carnival Carnival has a very unique and successful strategic management in cruise industry. During terrorist events in 2001, the world cruise industry was negatively impact by it. However, to overcome this problem, Carnival offered a deep discount to lure back the passengers. In year 2002, Carnival was subjected to the ocean pollution charges. The company was withdrawing $18 million to overcome this issue. This strategy is not only to overcome the issue ethically but also to maintain the company image. Carnival is doing well in pricing strategy where they offer different kinds of packages with moderate price for different kinds of customers. To improve the core competency of the company, Carnival tried to increase the services onboard and adding diversions onboard. Even though other cruise company can imitate this strategy but Carnival is the first to invent the same strategy that succeeds to gain revenue from it. Carnival tried to introduce new strategy to make more convenience to consumers such as the â€Å"all-inclusive package†. The main purpose of this strategy is to maximize the satisfaction of consumers on Carnival services. Finally, to reduce the competition in cruise industry and to compete with other competitors in the same industry, Carnival did acquisition on many cruise lines as subsidiaries. The expansion of Carnival in cruise line market through acquisition can tighten the status of Carnival in cruise industry. 11. The advantage of being a CFC The individuals (foreigners or locals) who held the stocks of Carnival under the CFC status are incorporation exempt shipping operations of United States persons from income tax. Carnival with all of its income (except of United State source of income from transportation, hotel and tour business of Holland America) would be exempt from United State federal income taxes at the corporate level. This exemption not only can increase the revenue of Carnival, it also allows the company to have more funds (liquidation assets) to run more projects or activities for the company. The reason of government to give exemption to Carnival is because to encourage this industry to growth and attract more passengers boarding on ship, especially the ship with casino. It will increase the government sources of money. 12. How to maintain low costs, high level of service? i) Vertical integration or outsourcing – Carnival can try to produce in-house or outsource the products or services in related industries such as shipbuilding, meal preparation industry, and transportation (bus). This is because either vertical integration or outsourcing, which contributes the lowest cost, will be the choice of Carnival to either produce in-house or to outsource the needs. The good relation with suppliers can guarantee the best quality of the products or services. The in-house produce (vertical integration) can guarantee for the high level of products and services quality. ii) Maintain employees – Experienced employees can be the senior for the new comers. They can train and guide the new workers while doing a task rather than the company to send them for training course. Thus, maintaining experienced employees can save the labor cost and maintain the service quality to passengers. iii) Maintain crui se standard (such as sanitary standard) by periodically checking to avoid break down during cruising and it may need higher cost to repair and bring inconvenience to passengers. Conclusion The success of Carnival is depends on the innovative Board of Directors and management. The growth of cruise market becomes more significant because of the low fares high quality of service. Carnival is dominating the cruise line market but they still do investment in improving the services so that to avoid the core competencies become the weaknesses of the company. Even though the net profit of year 2001 is decreased but it did not mean that they have weak internal control. External factors such as increased in fuel cost also are considered the factor in the declining profit. Finally, Carnival has the potential to grow in cruise line market because they already gained the experience in cruise line and they have strong financial to support many cruise activities.