Determining The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration Biology Essay

Determining The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration Biology Essay The basic structure of penicillin.The first two steps in cell wall synthesis specifically the formation of acetylglucosamine to from peptidoglycan chains, cannot be inhibited by penicillin. However, in the final step where the crosslinking between peptidoglycan by side peptide chains, the penicillin inhibits this process. This is because penicillin has similar structure to the terminal D-alanine-D-alanine if the pentapeptide, which binds covalently to the active site of the transpeptidase enzyme (Gorbach et al., 2003). Chloramphenicol is another antibiotic and it has the ability to penetrate though cellular membranes and be easily in engagement with the bacteria colonising in human cells to allow its antimicrobial characteristics to take place. Chloramphenicol has a simple structure and the mechanism depends on the propanoeidol moiety and dichloracetamide chain. C:Usersctlee11Desktop12.jpg Figure 2.0: The basic structure of chloramphenicol.What chloramphenicol does is that it inhibits protein synthesis in bacteria, however nucleic acid synthesis in unaffected. Chloramphenicol binds reversibly to the larger 50S ribosome subunit of the 70S ribosome. This inhibits the protein synthesis by preventing aminioacyl-transfer RNA from attaching to the 50S binding site (Gorbach et al., 2003). However, it has been recorded that chloramphenicol affects the mitochondrial protein synthesis. This is because the mammalian mitochondrial protein has strong similarity to bacterial ribosome where both are of 70S, with the mitochondria of the bone marrow especially susceptible (Riviere Papich, 2009). Protein synthesis plays a major role in bacterial growth as there are various cofactors and enzymes needed for multiple metabolic pathways. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) is the minimum concentration of a drug which inhibits bacterial growth, but does not kill the microorganism. Minimum bacteriostatic concentration (MBC) is the minimum concentration of a drug which kills the bacterial and thus, no longer grows. AIMS This investigation was done to determine Minimum inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and the Minimum Bacteriocidal Concentration (MBC) of Penicillin and Chloramphenicol of Escherichia coli as well as; to determine the antibiotics sensitivity against the Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. METHODS AND MATERIALS The methods and materials are as per laboratory manual of Medical Microbiology BTH3722 of Monash University Semester Two, Year 2012 of pages 17 20. RESULTS SESSION/DAY ONE There are two sections to this investigation, where there is (i), the MIC and MBC determination of antibiotic Penicillin G and Chloramphenicol against Escherichia coli, and then there is (ii) antibiotics testing towards two microorganisms which are Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In the determination of MIC, serial dilutions of antibiotics are done with known concentrations. Then, each tube containing different antibiotic concentration is the inoculated with bacterial culture and incubated overnight. This goes the same for the determination of MBC. Then, for each serial dilution of antibiotic, there would be two control tubes, one positive where the tube is inoculated with bacterial culture and the incubated without antibiotics and then, negative control where the tube is not inoculated but theres presence of antibiotics. For the antibiotic sensitivity testing, there are two Mast rings used and both of them are ready-made device that can simultaneously test for antibiotic susceptibility testing using 8 types of antibiotics. The Mast Rings used in this investigation is MAST M43 to test against MG8 culture: Staphylococcus aureus and MAST M14 to be used to test against MG53 culture: Pseudomonas aeruginosa. All these are done on the MHA plate using spread plate technique. SESSION/DAY TWO The MIC and MBC for each antibiotic type (Penicillin G and Chloramphenicol) is determined by observing the turbidity in the test tube. A turbid medium signifies for bacteria growth. Then all the tubes that are sterile are then poured into respective Trypticase Soy Broth (TSB) bottles including the tube that has the minimum positive bacteria growth to determine the MBC. These bottles are then incubated overnight. Results are on Table 1.0. For the antibiotic susceptibility testing, the annular radii of the clear zones are measured for each antibiotic type and these measurements are recorded. The measurements and interpretation are on Table 2.0 and Table 3.0. Tube Concentration of Antibiotics (c),  µg/ml Growth of Escherichia coli Penicillin G Chloramphenicol 1 125.00 + 2 62.50 + 3 31.25 + + 4 15.63 + + 5 7.81 + + 6 3.91 + + 7 1.95 + + 8 0.98 + + 9 0.49 + + 10 0.24 + + 11 0.12 + + 12 (+ CTRL) 0.00 + + 13 (- CTRL) 0.00 Table 1.0: The table below shows the results of the from the MIC determination of Penicillin G and Chloramphenicol on E. coli. In Table 1.0, it is shown that there are 13 tubes where the 12th and 13th are controls, 12th as the positive (+) and the 13th as negative (-). Positive control is the control which is inoculated without antibiotics and Negative control as the control which not inoculated. On the growth column, + signifies theres growth and thus turbidity in the tubes, while (-) signifies negative growth. It is also that has been determined that the MBC value is 125  µg/ml for Chloramphenicol. Table 2.0: The table below shows the annular radius that was measured form the MHA plate cultured with Pseudomonas aeruginosa using MAST Ring M43. MASTRING ANTIBIOTICS M43 Antibiotics Abbreviation Annular Radius Sensitivity PG Penicillin G 0 R CD Clindamycin 1 R GM Gentamycin 10 S FC Fusidic Acid 20 S E Erythromycin 0 R TM Trimetroprim 0 R SMX Sulphamethoxazole 0 R T Tetracyclin 0 R The general rule is that if the annular radii are more than 6mm in length, then the bacteria are susceptible to that particular antibiotic. However, if the annular radii are 6mm or less than, it is considered resistant to the particular antibiotics. Table 3.0: The table below shows the annular radius that was measured form the MHA plate cultured with Staphylococcus aureus tested using MAST Ring M14. MASTRING ANTIBIOTICS M14 Antibiotics Abbreviation Annular Radius Sensitivity AP Ampicillin 0 R KF Cephalothin 1 R CO Colistin Sulphate 7 S GM Gentamycin 8 S S Streptomycin 8 S ST Sulphatriad 1 R T Tetracyclin 0 R TS Cotrimoxazole 0 R The general rule is that if the annular radii are more than 6mm in length, then the bacteria are susceptible to that particular antibiotic. However, if the annular radii are 6mm or less than, it is considered resistant to the particular antibiotics. DISCUSSION The MIC and MBC value of penicillin G cannot be determined as at all concentrations of the serial dilutions, the bacteria is resistant to the Penicillin G (PG) even from the concentration of 125  µg/ml. This is because there was growth observed from the turbidity of all the serial dilution tubes. However for the antibiotic Chloramphenicol, the MIC is at 31.25  µg/ml while the MBC is at 62.6  µg/ml. At these concentrations, in treating infections that are E. coli related, a rather heavy dosage of PG is needed to be administered. Thus, PG is not really effective in killing E. coli. Besides, the MBC value is always expected to be higher than the MIC value is higher dosage is needed to kill a microorganism (Prescott et al., 2005). As it has been previously mentioned, PG targets the peptidoglycan structure of the cell wall. If the bacteria were able to resist PG, it would be because that the bacteria have a mechanism to counter such actions. True enough, E. coli could be resistant t o PG because it could produce beta-lactamase that inactivates penicillin (Sorbo Marshall, 2006). Beta-lactamase which is also known as penicillinase, acts by hydrolysing the CO-N bond in the beta lactam ring of the penicillin molecule and then the amidase group cleaves the CO-NH bond found within the side chain and the six amino acid groups of penicillic acid group of the penicillin molecule (English et al., 1960). However, not only E. coli is not the only one bacteria that possesses the beta-lactamase gene which can caused by the fact that certain bacteria passed on their DNA to another bacteria during conjugation, or from a virus to a bacteria during transduction or also that the bacteria can take in foreign DNA from their surroundings (Karp, 2009). In the antibiotic testing on the bacteria lawn, it is found that the Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is less resistant than Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) as S. aureus is susceptible to three kinds of antibiotics (susceptible: CO, GM and S; resistant: AP, KF, ST, T and TS) compared to P. aeruginosa which is susceptible to two types (susceptible: GM and FC; resistant: PG, CD, SMX, T and EM). The reason P. aeruginosa is so particularly so resistant is to most of the modern antibiotics is because of its intrinsic resistance that arises from the permeability and secondary resistance mechanisms such as energy-dependent multidrug efflux and chromosomally encoded periplasmic ÃŽÂ ²-lactamase. At such level of natural resistance, mutational resistance to most classes of antibiotics can readily arise (Hancock Speert, 2000). For instance, the resistance of P. aeruginosa towards PG is because of de-repression of chromosomal ÃŽÂ ²-lactamase and also the overexpression of the MexA B-OprM multidrug efflux pump due to a NalB mutation. Specific plasmid-mediated ÃŽÂ ²-lactamases also infer that the resistance to PG could be a form of introduction of foreign DNA from surroundings or via conjugation with other bacteria (Hancock Speert, 2000). As for S. aureus, the bacteria is resistant towards ampicillin and that would probably due to the act that most strains of S. aureus are able to produce ÃŽÂ ²-lactamase to breakdown the beta-lactam ring of the penicillin-derivate antibiotics. CONCLUSION The MIC and MBC values are important in determining the correct dosage of antibiotics that is supposed to be administered to the patient. However, E. coli was particularly resistant to Penicillin G and thus, was unable to produce any MBC or MIC values. In such cases, an AST can be ran first before testing E. coli against its susceptible drug for MIC and MBC values. IX. REFERENCES English, A.R., McBride, T. J. and Huang, H. T. (1960). Microbial Resistance to penicillin as related to penicillinase or penicillin acylase activity, Proceedings of the Society or  Experimental  Biology and  Medicine, Vol. 104, pp. 547 549. Gorbach, S.L., Barlett, J.G. and Blacklow, N.R. (2003).Treatment of Infectious Disease, Infectious Disease, Lippincott Williams Wilkins, pp. 184 186. Hancock, R. E. W. and Speert, D. P. (2009). Antibiotic Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: mechanisms and impact on treatment, Drug Resistance Updates, 3, pp. 247 255. Karp, G. (2009). The Growing Problem of Antibiotic Resistance, Cell and Molecular Biology: Concepts and Experiments, John Wiley Sons, pp. 105 106. Riviere, J.E. and Papich, M. G. (2009). Chemotherapy of Microbial Diseases, Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, John Wiley Sons, pp. 944 946. Sorbo, L. D. and Marshall, J.C. (2006) Antibiotic Resistance in the Intensive Care Unit, Intensive Care Medicine: Annual Update 2006, Springer, pp. 582 583.

Be Our Guest

Be Our Guest, Inc. Case Analysis Page 1 INDEX 1. Key success factors & company performance†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 3 2. Bank perspective regarding the performance†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 7 3. Bank financing perspective at the end of 1998†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 10 4. Management perspective regarding the bank financing†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 13 5. Exhibit 1 – Annual Income Statements (1994-1997)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦17 6. Exhibit 2 – Annual Balance Sheets (1994-1997)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 18 7. Exhibit 3 – Quarterly Income Statements 1997†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 19 8. Exhibit 4 – Quarterly Balance Sheets 1997†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦20 9. Exhibit 5 – Forecasting†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦21 10. Exhibit 6 – Annual Ratios†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 22 11. Exhibit 7 – Quarterly Ratios†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 23 Tudor Team Five Page 2 1. What are the key success factors in this equipment rental business? How has the company performed the past few years? Key Success Factors Five of the key success factors are as follows: First, the locat ion of the business is ideal for handling several projects at once. This is due to their central Boston location. The ability to handle everal projects at once gives the company a competitive edge and allows them to attain a performance as close to the full potential of the company as possible. Second, the company’s leaders have been successful in networking to primary and secondary clients. This has aided in growing a business that is based on a foundation of good company/client relationships. These strong relationships have led to significant repeat customers as a strong basis of the company’s revenue. Fostering these relationships throughout the years of the company’s existence has also led to sustained revenue growth year after year. This revenue growth is shown in the financials and, using the Compound Annual Growth Rate, it can be seen that this growth in revenue has been 14. 26% from 1994 to 1997. Third, the executive management is well experienced in the hospitality industry as well as other industries that relate to the successful operation of a business. Stephen Lizio was involved in the food and wine business prior to founding Be Our Guest in 1983. Al Lovata was previously a banker and began his relationship with Be Our Guest as a financial consultant, later joining the organization full-time as the Chief Executive Officer. Lizio and Lovata together form a foundation of strong knowledge of the hospitality Tudor Team Five Page 3 business and the vital knowledge of finance, thus giving the business a core of understanding both its industry and how to manage the money coming into the company. Simone Williamson was brought on to the team and comes from years of experience in the food service business. She also came to the company with strong networking connections in the catering industry in Boston, which further reinforces the second success factor described above. This management team is made up of members that complement ach other’s strengths, as well as provide the necessary skill sets for running a successful business. The fourth key success factor is that the company identified its business plan early on and held its course throughout the years without deviation to business expansions that would have resulted in higher profits but fewer turnovers. This can be seen in the company’s analys is of the potential of The executive team determined that this entering the tent rental market. market, though highly profitable, would result in time delays and longer turnovers and would split their core business. The team recognised that this split could result in lower profitability and splintering of the core business structure. Rather than expand into a low profit margin business â€Å"tents†, in which the management lacks market expertise, they chose to stick to their initial business plan and focus on their key strengths rather than deviate from the company's set fundamentals. This example illustrates that the company followed its original business plan and complied with its mission and vision from the beginning without deviation. In doing so, the company built a strong foundation and upheld the strength of that foundation. The fifth key success factor identified here is the high quality of service as well as the high quality of the rental equipment provided to clients. The executive team recognised early that they could compete in either price or Tudor Team Five Page 4 quality, and the team chose to compete in quality. Part of this high quality service is seen in the company’s dedication to its clients through its willingness to deliver only one table on short notice if a client is in need. Through high quality service, the company has upheld its networking connections to clients by building strong relationships. This high quality service combined with high quality rental equipment products has allowed the company to obtain a competitive edge over its competition, keep that competitive advantage, and foster strong company/client relationships throughout the years. How has the company performed the past few years? Viewpoint – Independent perspective Be Our Guest, Inc. originated in 1983 and is still thriving in a very competitive and volatile industry 14 years later. Over the past few years the company has shown significant growth. We see that Annual sales revenues have consistently risen from 1994 to 1997 with a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14. 26%. 1997 was an impressive year for the company with a 22. 7% increase in revenues. Gross Margins were very consistent year over year for 1994 through 1997. Gross margins for 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 were 53. 9%, 49%, 52. 63% and 55. 5%, respectively. Be Our Guest, Inc. is doing a solid job of keeping the Costs of Revenue in line with the Sales Revenue. It is a positive sign to see this growth, because we can be assured that the company is staying competitive, while not completely giving in to the pricing crunch. Annual Sales Revenue has a strong CAGR, but it is important and concerning to note that the CAGR of total Operating Expenses is higher. It is about 5% higher and this is very important, because Be Our Guest needs to stay in control of its expenses. Tudor Team Five Page 5 The high and increasing Operating expenses are cutting into the Operating margins, which also cuts into the bottom line. Be Our Guest’s balance sheet shows good signs of liquidity. Current Ratios for the past four years have remained above 1 proving that the company can handle its current liabilities. The current ratios are not extremely high (19941. 7, 1995- 2. 17, 1996- 1. 15 and 1997- 1. 16), but they can cover the current liabilities. It is important to note that the company is operating on a thin line because the current assets are barely covering the current liabilities. This is particularly unpleasant because we are dealing with a company operating in a seasonal business. It is a concern that the curren t ratio slightly eroded after 1995, and this is primarily due to Be Our Guest converting the bank line into long term debt in 1995. The current ratio in 1995 is an outlier, because 2. 17 do not accurately represent the company. The quick ratio is the same as the current ratio for Be Our Guest because they do not have inventory for all of the rental equipment is under property and equipment. They display a good working capital position as well, which is another measure of liquidity. Cash position is a concern for we can see in 1994 and 1997 that they actually had an Overdraft, and for 1995 and 1996 cash is not very high. However, this company is in an industry that is more of a receivables business, so the cash position is not a high concern, especially given that it is covering the current liabilities. Since this is a receivables business it is important to look at the Receivables Turnover ratio, and we find that this is quite consistent, however when comparing to the Payables Turnover ratio we see that they are paying out more quickly than they are receiving, which is a problem. In 1995 they are paying out twice on average before collecting. Be Our Guest needs to focus on getting its receivables in a more timely manner. Tudor Team Five Page 6 2. As the bank loan officer, Anne Granger, how would you view this company? What concerns might you have about the business and the lending elationship? What factors provide a source of comfort when considering the credit risk? Anne will look at Be Our Guest, Inc. with both an annual and quarterly perspective really focusing in on the company’s liquidity, leverage and how they will match up to the covenant ratios established. The company is liquid, but it is not extremely liquid. Be Our Guest, Inc. is barely covering the current liabil ities, and from a banks perspective we would want to see that there are not any concerns in this area. If the company is to become insolvent, we want to be able to get our outstanding balance back. We know that Q1 is the worst quarter for the company, and you can see that for Q1 1997 the company displays a current ratio of . 88, which is simply not good, and means that during that quarter they did not have the ability to pay all current liabilities, therefore having to access the line of credit during this quarter. Q1 is also the hardest month for this company to retain its receivables, which can sometimes be the cause for liquidity problems. The top line growth is great to see, especially in the competitive space that the company operates in, but we also need to examine the rest of the income statement. It is concerning to see the Operating Profit Margin as well as the Interest Coverage Ratio declining year over year. Operating Profit Margin shrinking is a negative because it indicates that the company is not controlling its operating expenses. Interest Coverage Ratio is especially concerning because this ratio indicates the ease of paying the interest on the outstanding debt, and Be Our Guest, Inc. may struggle paying the interest down the road if the ratio continues to decline. Note that the company is currently fully capable of paying for the interest on an annual and quarterly Tudor Team Five Page 7 basis, but the trend downward will be noticed. Be Our Guest, Inc. relies on debt to build the business as you can see from the long term debt to equity ratios. However, the ratios are fairly consistent and it drops down to . 43 in 1997. The company is more than capable to cover the interest of this debt as noted earlier. Cash Flow is being adversely affected due to the abnormally large increase (56%) in G during 1997. According to the footnote on page 4 of the case, a company the size of Be Our Guest should have G sales in 1997 closer to $565,718 rather than the $840,718 that was reported. The bank will keep a particular eye on Cash Flow/Debt Service Ratio and Debt/Tangible Net Worth Ratio along with the bottom line, since the covenants include requirements regarding these. The covenants require the Cash Flow/Debt Service ratio to not be less than 1/25:1, and the company is in line with this covenant on an annual basis. However, the company does not satisfy this covenant when looking at the quarterly figures. Debt/Tangible Net Worth cannot be greater than 2. 00:1, and Be Our Guest, Inc. satisfies this covenant on an annual and quarterly basis. According to the covenants, the company can’t incur two consecutive quarters of net losses; nor incur a net loss for any fiscal year. The company did incur a loss in Q1 1997, but followed with a strong Q2 net profit, so the company is in compliance with this covenant as well. Be Our Guest, Inc. is in a seasonal industry, which is a concern, but even more of a concern is the company’s inability to produce projections. We understand that projections may not be extremely accurate, but it is possible to project through the use of confidence intervals. The bank becomes a little more comfortable with the seasonality because they feel that Al Lovata (former Banker) is aware of the risks associated and has a handle on them. Tudor Team Five Page 8 The balance sheet is decent, but it is not incredibly strong because it is barely covering the current liabilities. As a banker we would also be concerned about the customer makeup. Be Our Guest, Inc. relies heavily on two particular customers (Customer A and B), which make up over 21% of the company’s sales. These two customers make up 1/5 of the company’s budget, and I would like to know if the company has any backup plans in case they lost either of these customers and has performed the due diligence required to make sure its major customers are not insolvency risks themselves. Other than these top two customers, it appears that the customer base is spread out appropriately. The strong covenants in place are a source of comfort for the bank. Not only do they have strong covenants, but the bank also has virtually all of the company’s assets pledged and the shareholders guarantee the loan. Given that this is an S Corporation, the shareholders’ personal assets would be safe, but since these shareholders guaranteed the loan, the bank can go after the personal assets of the shareholders. Be Our Guest, Inc. is not a start-up company, and it has been in operation since 1983, so there is a level of comfort knowing that this company has been around for over 10 years and has been remotely successful during this time as well. It has great management in place who each contributes strong and complimentary experiences along with a level of expertise. This company is focused and driven to provide the best service they can within the industry, and they have been rewarded for it with the 1997 Small Business Firm of the Year. While Be Our Guest may not be the greatest risk, there are provisions in place and aspects of the company that make Be Our Guest an acceptable risk for the bank. Tudor Team Five Page 9 3. How much total bank financing will the company need at the end of 1998, including both the short-term borrowing under the bank credit line and the outstanding amount of the term loan? For convenience, assume that 1998 sales are $3,000,000. ) In order to estimate how much total bank financing the company will need at the end of 1998, there are two possible ways of forecasting the financial results in terms of balance sheet and income statement. The analysis must take into account the highly unpredictable, seasonal nature of the business. Due to this seasonality, there is high level of uncertainty whichever forecasting method is applied. The first method is to estimate the future income statement based on a trend or horizontal analysis. In this specific case, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for each item on the income statement was calculated for the years 1994-1997. With regards to revenue, $3,000,000 for 1998 was accounted for in the calculation. This analysis shows an increase in G due to the unusual increase in G the previous year (1996-1997) affecting the CAGR in 1998. Consequently, the income statement shows a loss in the Net Earnings when applying this method. The second method is to calculate the costs of revenue based on the percentage impact of each item of cost on the total revenue in 1997 (vertical analysis). This analysis, according to us, seems more logical in itself and also leads to a much more positive outlook for 1998 (Net Earnings of $99,408). The result would be sustainable for the business. Two more steps are necessary to forecast the financing needs for the year 1998: Tudor Team Five Page 10 The first step is repayment of the line of credit for the short-term liabilities ($140,000+$3,498). The second step is better management of the seasonality, especially for quarters 1 and 4 which are the most risky quarters for the business. Given that Net Earnings are around $68,096, the line of credit needs to cover the difference ($75,402). Taking into consideration the seasonality, calculated as operating cash flow (refer to case – covenants), there should be no liquidity problems year-end 1998. The cash flow available at the end of 1998 completely covers the losses in Q1 and Q4. The company should keep the line of credit, because debt is incurred upon the credit line only when used. The management, however, should only use the credit line when absolutely necessary. Finally, the company should convert approximately $75,000 of the $140,000 of the line of credit into long-term debt because it will cost less in terms of interest. In addition, the company should increase the long-term debt accordingly (based on the strategy regarding future investments; see answer to question 4). Assuming that the long-term loan is amortised in a constant manner, with approximately 25% payoff per year as â€Å"current instalment of term note†, shown to be the same figure as 1997 ($75,268) which is calculated based on the term note payable less current instalment of $168,043 for 1998. Tudor Team Five Page 11 Proposed here is a two-step approach for financing the investment: The first step is to obtain another long-term loan of $200,000 to change and improve the phone and IT systems. This will lead to a better position to judge the current market needs to revise and produce a strong strategy for the business in terms of efficiency, profitability and long-term outlook. Once this step is accomplished, by 1999, the company should obtain yet another long-term loan. Regarding the possibility of an acquisition, if Be Our Guest makes an acquisition, it can do so through a leveraged-buyout. Therefore, taking on the debt of the company being acquired and funding the other part of the acquisition by selling part of the equity of Be Our Guest (Following the financial restructuring and the increase in efficiency the value of the stock will increase). Asking for a loan for an acquisition today would not be reasonable, nor is it likely that the bank would agree to issue the loan. Currently, the financial ratios of the company do not justify an acquisition. Therefore, starting off with a smaller loan to improve the company running in terms of efficiency and infrastructure will be of greater value. In total the company should take the following long-term loans: $75,000 (line of credit converted into long-term loan) $200,000 (investment) $168,000 (outstanding long-term loan) Total long-term loans in the Balance Sheet by end of 1998: $443,000 As already mentioned before, the line of credit should remain available at the same level as before ($140,000) since it is only paid for if used (expected 1998: fully available). Tudor Team Five Page 12 4. What should Al Lovata and Simone Williamson ask for when talking with the bank? If the company needs additional bank financing, should the increase be provided by an increase in the credit line, or should the size of the term loan be increased to meet the need? Should they ask for some relaxation or change in the loan covenants, particularly the personal guarantees that they have provided at the bank’s request? Al Lovata and Simone Wiliamson should approach Anne Granger in a confident way. Be Our Guest’s balance sheet is fairly strong and fairly liquid, the income statement shows signs of growth and the company is generally doing well. Hence Be Our Guest can take a confident stand to discuss the covenants openly with the bank in order to reach some relaxation on the strict terms. They need to work with the bank to: *lower the rate *review the requirements of personal guarantees for the loan Be our Guest Inc. can consider the possibility of going to another bank if State Street holds their ground on these strict covenants Considering the current and past status of the balance sheets and income statements it is realistic to assume that Be Our Guest, Inc. would not have much difficulty to find a new lender who would agree on different, more relaxed terms of covenants. The company mainly needs the line of credit to finance the seasonal effects of Q1, which could be reduced by a solid growth or expansion plan or merely revising the company’s HR strategy regarding the full-time staff during Q1. Tudor Team Five Page 13 For example, they could reduce the staff’s hours, which would keep them on a full-time employment base but would reduce the G costs for this particular quarter; or they could put the full-time staff on a strategic rotation plan which incorporates the poor business of quarter 1 but leaves options in case of unexpected business in this time period which would also reduce the general G costs and still leave the company in a good position to handle short-term notice business. Regarding the interest for outstanding borrowings on the credit line as well as the interest for the long-term loan, it has been reliably covered and there is no immediate reason to believe that this will change. Any future increase of the long-term loan to drive the growth of the company in terms of business expansion or increasing assets can only be interpreted in a positive way seeing that the revenues have shown to increase with all previous growth-measures. State Street bank should recognise the company’s solid management foundations and the well-going business over the past years and keep their good standing with Be Our Guest, Inc. Lovata and Williamson want to be prepared for future growth. The way to growth has been identified in two possible options, completing an acquisition or expanding their product line. Both of these strategies need to be supported by a consistent long term plan in order to finance their investment needs. Pertaining to this reason, for funding their growth they should ask the bank to extend their long term lend (clearly cheaper than a revolving credit) and moreover ask to re-negotiate the interest rate (too high especially to be a â€Å"prime rate†). Additionally each growth plan in the first few years needs patience and flexibility in terms of managing losses, therefore it would be crucial to review Tudor Team Five Page 14 at least part of the current covenants, like prohibiting two consecutive quarters of net losses and avoiding a net loss for any fiscal year. Taking into account that they are in a good financial position and that the extra money they would need is for future expansions and growth of the company, refinancing its existing debt to obtain better terms, could be quite reasonable. Moreover the company has a fairly strong balance sheet and profitable growth, so it has plenty of bargaining power to negotiate a better deal with the bank. The only negative item is given by the decrease in the last 4 years of the â€Å"net income†, but again it is an issue suggested by a covenant (distribute more than 50% of the earnings to the principals). It is probably the most useless and most dangerous of the list as it is leading the owners to distribute the profit thereby increasing the G costs. Definitely, another crucial aspect is about liquidity pain, especially for an already seasoned business as that of â€Å"Be Our Guest†. In this case they should consider converting some of their revolving credit to term debt (cheaper) making line of credit available, which is currently fully used (coherently to the 1998 expected cash position, answer 3). In this sense the best deal for â€Å"Be Our Guest† might be to invest in a business that generates revenue during current slow seasons and eases the firm's reliance on credit for working capital. Thus even if the tents business could be apparently external to the â€Å"Be Our Guest† business model this business expansion should be taken into consideration. It is not only a new source of profit but will also enable profits for the current business in the slow seasons (tents are mainly set off in the rainy and cold seasons like fall and winter). However, they should be able to distinguish between long term debt and short term line of credit, using the first one for investments and the second one to manage liquidity pain periods. Tudor Team Five Page 15 Leaving aside its convenience in general, the nature of the long-term debt, makes the development of the financial plan easier by providing the exact future payment scheme. On the contrary the line of credit is extremely useful to manage liquidity pain periods but should be paid back quickly or converted in term loan. Finally while refinanced bank loans for now may be adequate to finance the company, it may not be enough for future plans and therefore curb the expansion (current debt/tangible worth ratio is already higher than 1). They should consider a different way of raising funds e. g. from selling equity. Reviewing the personal guarantees is fundamental in order to attract new investor and to manage the company differently. Be Our Guest was created as a business idea and for many years ran more like a family business but now it is a profitable firm that should be managed in terms of efficiency and profitability. This leads to two necessary actions: one by the State Bank, to get rid of the covenant including the personal guarantee of the loan by the management; and second by Be Our Guest, Inc. to review their company status. In terms of the State Bank, it will be essential to convince Anne Granger to remove the covenant regarding the guarantee for the long-term loan. From the point of view of the management of Be our Guest, Inc. they need to review their company status. Only when they successfully separate the business from the family-business approach on which terms Be Our Guest, Inc. as founded, they can attract future investors. Tudor Team Five Page 16 Exhibit 1 – Annual Income Statements (1994-1997) Tudor Team Five Page 17 Exhibit 2 – Annual Balance Sheets (1994-1997) Tudor Team Five Page 18 Exhibit 3 – Quarterly Income Statements 1997 Tudor Team Five Page 19 Exhibit 4 – Quarterly Balance Sheets 1997 Tudor Team Five Page 20 Exhibit 5 – Forecasting Tudor Team Five Page 21 Exhibit 6 – Annual Ratios Tudor Team Five Page 22 Exhibit 7 – Quarterly Ratios Tudor Team Five Page 23

TerraCog

Terracotta management failed to respond to competition in its market. Although competitor introduced a new GAPS with satellite imagery to the market, Terracotta team dismissed the threat and decided not to take a responsive action. However, quickly the new GAPS succeed and gained a significant market share. Eventually, Terracotta president decided to pursue a development of a directly competing product, and named the project Aerial. Unfortunately, the projected high costs of this project questioned its profitability and doubt its wisdom.The key managers of the company were not able to decide whether to execute the project or not, and Emma Richardson, the new executive vice-president, needed to push the group toward a decision. The analysis we have done indicates that Terracotta case is an outcome of two major problems. The first problem is the existence of a poor decision making process, and the second is the lack of departmental cooperation and harmony. Alternative Courses of Action : We believe that Richardson should postpone the launch of Aerial, and focus on creating a more efficient decision making process and increasing departmental cooperation.Since time is crucial in this case, we see a need to decrease the time of decision making process and re-defining communication channels between the departments. We also argue that the size of this team as well as the fact that the teammates came from four different departments created complex communication channels that slowed down decision making. In this case, small groups can undertake better the urgent tasks. Hence, we think that Richardson should break the complex process of launching a new product into micro-processes.We believe that by brainstorming with the heads of every department separately, defining criteria and performance tankards, and listening to each team's requirements and reservations, Richardson will be able to clarify for the teams their importance to the company and motivate them to act toward the company's goal. Commitment to a common goal is more easily achieved if the number of team members is small (Essentials for an Effective Team, To keep the work on track and to increase departmental cooperation, 2006).Richardson should conduct update meetings every other week with all the departments' heads. The agenda of these wide department meetings should be clear and exclude decisions making. The different decisions should be made within smaller groups that include only the relevant teams. To increase harmony among the departments, Richardson can open department wide meetings with a short speech about similar past experiences of the company to remind the teams how they worked well together and performed successfully when they cooperated.Recalling past experiences may increase sense of belonging and help to put the big picture in mind before discussing current issues. Moreover, Richardson can invite the teams' mangers to have lunch together before department wide meetings. So cializing with each other right before getting to business can cool things down, ease the tension, and increase departmental cooperation. We believe that if the heads of the different departments will understand the importance and the needs of other departments, working together will become easier and more efficient.Another way to increase departmental cooperation is by sharing information on the processes each department went through. For example, while discussing the price of a new product, Tony could provide specific details regarding production's costs to explain why further lowering of costs is impossible. While this alternative might be time consuming, sharing information can help the teams to understand better the different points of view of the different departments. Recommended Course of Action: We believe that a combination of the alternatives above would be the best way to address the situation in this case.First, we recommend postponing the launch of the current prototyp e. Launching Aerial on its current form will damage the company's reputation and can lead the company to a big loss. We assume that if Aerial wont provide its users a significant advantage, customers wouldn't pay more than the Bird's price to buy it. Second, in order to accelerate the decision making process, Richardson should redesign the current communication channels in the company. Decisions need to be made in smaller teams, and wide department meetings need to be designated for updates only.Third, to increase departmental cooperation and harmony, Richardson should establish a process of sharing information between the departments. Furthermore, structuring time for socializing can ease the stress and increase harmony among the departments. We believe that this alternative course of action will lead to minimum damage in Terracotta position, ND allow the company to improve its productivity and ability to respond faster to competition in the future. Implementation: First, Richardso n should invite all the people who were present in the last two meetings to announce her decision.This meeting should be friendly and short, and most important, clear and motivating. Richardson should open the meeting with demonstrating an appreciation for the hard work done by all the departments. Then, the announcement of her decision to postpone the launch of Aerial should be followed by a short explanation about the upcoming changes: From now on, once a week, every department should email a rife description of the progress they made at the past week to the entire company.This weekly update emails will enable an efficient way to share information between the departments. In addition, wide department meetings will take place every other week, and once a month these meetings will include a friendly lunch prior to the meeting. After the meeting, Richardson should meet with the heads of design and development department. In this meeting, they need to agree and define the requirements to develop a product that is superior to the Birds, on minimum costs and time, and draw a realistic schedule to move forward.Now, when the new product is in its first stages of creation, and there is a general idea of what specifications and characteristics it will have, as well as an expected time for launching, Richardson should meet with the UP of Sales, to create marketing plan for the new product. The production team will work alone on costs estimating for the new product, and the sales team in consultation with finance department will determine a pricing and develop a â€Å"go- to market† plan. Moreover, Richardson should set clear limits to the continuance of commitment to the project for every department.Determining what criteria and performance standards Justify continued investment in the project can help the team avoid escalation of commitment (Team Decision Making Pitfalls and Solutions, n. D). Whenever disagreements on to what level the teams should commit to a specific task will arose, they could refer to the performance's standards and make a decision accordingly. The process will be managed by Richardson from the top, and the heads of every department will make decisions that are relevant to their departments' areas of knowledge and responsibility, and report to Richardson, who ill manage the whole process. TerraCog Terracotta management failed to respond to competition in its market. Although competitor introduced a new GAPS with satellite imagery to the market, Terracotta team dismissed the threat and decided not to take a responsive action. However, quickly the new GAPS succeed and gained a significant market share. Eventually, Terracotta president decided to pursue a development of a directly competing product, and named the project Aerial. Unfortunately, the projected high costs of this project questioned its profitability and doubt its wisdom.The key managers of the company were not able to decide whether to execute the project or not, and Emma Richardson, the new executive vice-president, needed to push the group toward a decision. The analysis we have done indicates that Terracotta case is an outcome of two major problems. The first problem is the existence of a poor decision making process, and the second is the lack of departmental cooperation and harmony. Alternative Courses of Action : We believe that Richardson should postpone the launch of Aerial, and focus on creating a more efficient decision making process and increasing departmental cooperation.Since time is crucial in this case, we see a need to decrease the time of decision making process and re-defining communication channels between the departments. We also argue that the size of this team as well as the fact that the teammates came from four different departments created complex communication channels that slowed down decision making. In this case, small groups can undertake better the urgent tasks. Hence, we think that Richardson should break the complex process of launching a new product into micro-processes.We believe that by brainstorming with the heads of every department separately, defining criteria and performance tankards, and listening to each team's requirements and reservations, Richardson will be able to clarify for the teams their importance to the company and motivate them to act toward the company's goal. Commitment to a common goal is more easily achieved if the number of team members is small (Essentials for an Effective Team, To keep the work on track and to increase departmental cooperation, 2006).Richardson should conduct update meetings every other week with all the departments' heads. The agenda of these wide department meetings should be clear and exclude decisions making. The different decisions should be made within smaller groups that include only the relevant teams. To increase harmony among the departments, Richardson can open department wide meetings with a short speech about similar past experiences of the company to remind the teams how they worked well together and performed successfully when they cooperated.Recalling past experiences may increase sense of belonging and help to put the big picture in mind before discussing current issues. Moreover, Richardson can invite the teams' mangers to have lunch together before department wide meetings. So cializing with each other right before getting to business can cool things down, ease the tension, and increase departmental cooperation. We believe that if the heads of the different departments will understand the importance and the needs of other departments, working together will become easier and more efficient.Another way to increase departmental cooperation is by sharing information on the processes each department went through. For example, while discussing the price of a new product, Tony could provide specific details regarding production's costs to explain why further lowering of costs is impossible. While this alternative might be time consuming, sharing information can help the teams to understand better the different points of view of the different departments. Recommended Course of Action: We believe that a combination of the alternatives above would be the best way to address the situation in this case.First, we recommend postponing the launch of the current prototyp e. Launching Aerial on its current form will damage the company's reputation and can lead the company to a big loss. We assume that if Aerial wont provide its users a significant advantage, customers wouldn't pay more than the Bird's price to buy it. Second, in order to accelerate the decision making process, Richardson should redesign the current communication channels in the company. Decisions need to be made in smaller teams, and wide department meetings need to be designated for updates only.Third, to increase departmental cooperation and harmony, Richardson should establish a process of sharing information between the departments. Furthermore, structuring time for socializing can ease the stress and increase harmony among the departments. We believe that this alternative course of action will lead to minimum damage in Terracotta position, ND allow the company to improve its productivity and ability to respond faster to competition in the future. Implementation: First, Richardso n should invite all the people who were present in the last two meetings to announce her decision.This meeting should be friendly and short, and most important, clear and motivating. Richardson should open the meeting with demonstrating an appreciation for the hard work done by all the departments. Then, the announcement of her decision to postpone the launch of Aerial should be followed by a short explanation about the upcoming changes: From now on, once a week, every department should email a rife description of the progress they made at the past week to the entire company.This weekly update emails will enable an efficient way to share information between the departments. In addition, wide department meetings will take place every other week, and once a month these meetings will include a friendly lunch prior to the meeting. After the meeting, Richardson should meet with the heads of design and development department. In this meeting, they need to agree and define the requirements to develop a product that is superior to the Birds, on minimum costs and time, and draw a realistic schedule to move forward.Now, when the new product is in its first stages of creation, and there is a general idea of what specifications and characteristics it will have, as well as an expected time for launching, Richardson should meet with the UP of Sales, to create marketing plan for the new product. The production team will work alone on costs estimating for the new product, and the sales team in consultation with finance department will determine a pricing and develop a â€Å"go- to market† plan. Moreover, Richardson should set clear limits to the continuance of commitment to the project for every department.Determining what criteria and performance standards Justify continued investment in the project can help the team avoid escalation of commitment (Team Decision Making Pitfalls and Solutions, n. D). Whenever disagreements on to what level the teams should commit to a specific task will arose, they could refer to the performance's standards and make a decision accordingly. The process will be managed by Richardson from the top, and the heads of every department will make decisions that are relevant to their departments' areas of knowledge and responsibility, and report to Richardson, who ill manage the whole process.

Analysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell - 1088 Words

1984 The book that I chose for my first book report was 1984 by George Orwell. The story begins by introducing a man named, Winston Smith, a simple man from the country known as Oceania. He lives in a small flat within London, on the Island known as Airstrip One. Winston is a part of the outer party, which is a part of the ruling party within Oceania, and is a low ranking member who works for the Ministry of Truth as a propaganda officer. The people of the ruling party are constantly being watched, and their actions and thoughts are under strict control by the government. Thoughts specifically are very important to the party and the thought police, a policing agency that analyzes individual’s thoughts, and are dedicated to controlling what party members think about. Winston makes a conscious choice to go against them by beginning his own personal journal and starts his journey of rebellion against the party. As a propaganda officer within the Ministry of Truth he works to control a ll information that circulates within Oceania. While working at the Ministry of Truth Winston encounters a man named O’Brien who interests him very much, and he begins to believe that he and O’Brien share similar views towards the party. As Winston continues to work and live in London he also begins to run into a dark-haired girl several times at work, and while he is wondering through the city. This peaks his interest and he soon becomes suspicious of this, because he believes she may be a spy orShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1362 Words   |  6 PagesKathie Tejada Professor Antonio Tomà ¡s Guerrero Dà ­az COLI 214B 1984 This novel, 1984, is a dystopia and takes place in Oceania where people live in a totalitarian society. The author, George Orwell, wrote this as if he was looking into the future and what it was going to turn in to. This group of people, called The Party, have control over everything and everyone, and they have a leader, known as Big Brother, who is everywhere throughout the novel and the people look up to him. They invented a languageRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1084 Words   |  5 Pages1984 was written by British author George Orwell. The main character is an average man by the name of Winston Smith. Winston does not agree with the ideals of the party; this gets him arrested by the thought police. 1984 proclaims what could happen if people just let the government do all their thinking for them. 1.In the world of 1984, what is considered orthodox is not the same as the actual world. In the book in order to be considered orthodox one must never question the party or have any individualRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1493 Words   |  6 Pagessteadily bringing us closer to the world of Big Brother because the government has the ability to collect information from devices that are constantly being in use such as cell phones, televisions, and computers without our consent. In the book entitled 1984, George Orwell reveals how Oceania was a world where no one could be trusted; an action as simple as thinking was considered a violation of the law and you could be arrested for it. Individuals were living in a society where their own thoughts, evenRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1288 Words   |  6 PagesControlled freedom Present day society is very much like society in the book 1984. Although, some of the procedures have diminished slightly, they still do exist, and are still current in today’s society. it’s a shame that most people fail to see that our â€Å"free† nation is actually still controlled. we are being manipulated in such a manner that we do not see by propaganda, media, lies, and yes even torture. Many citizens can say that here in America we are free nation or have freedom, but do weRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell968 Words   |  4 PagesThe book, 1984 by George Orwell, is about the external and internal conflicts that take place between the two main characters, Winston and Big Brother and how the two government ideas of Democracy and totalitarianism take place within the novel. Orwell wrote the novel around the idea of communism/totalitarianism and how society would be like if it were to take place. In Orwell’s mind democracy and comm unism created two main characters, Winston and Big Brother. Big Brother represents the idea ofRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1029 Words   |  5 PagesThe novel 1984, written by George Orwell, depicts a horrendous future in which the citizens of the tyrannous state of Oceania live under unceasing surveillance. The mysterious character of Big Brother serves as the leader of this dystopian society while members of the Party work for total power over the general public. Telescreens are installed in every room for constant investigation, language is continuously modified, and extreme actions are made in order to achieve the end goal of absolute controlRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1253 Words   |  6 Pagesno point of trying to live a regular life. In the book 1984 by George Orwell nearly everyone in the book is brainwashed and given a lot of false information. Winston and other characters only provide a little bit of hope. With a little bit of hope in the brainwashed world there is still absolutely no chance for any recovery unless the upper management screws up. This hope provides nearly no chance of humanity going back to normal. In the book, 1984, Big Brother is watching over everyone at all timesRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell2321 Words   |  10 Pagespossible crime, thoughtcrime. In the novel â€Å"1984†, by George Orwell, Winston Smith rebelles passively against the idea of living in a complete uniform world under Big Brother’s dreadful surveillance. Thought crime’s impact on the novel’s population is devastating, so much so that it is somewhat hard to picture today’s society in its place. The sad reality is that thoughtcrime does impact the lives of the people in today’s society to some extent as it does in the book. The level of punishment for such a crimeRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1092 Words   |  5 Pages and opinio ns of its citizens; therefore removing the difference between state and society. The goal of a totalitarian government is to replace the existing society with a perfect one. In the novel â€Å"1984† by George Orwell, Big Brother is a dominant figure in the ways which he controls Oceania. Orwell portrays a society with a government that oversees and influences each facet of human life to the point that even having an unfaithful thought that is in disagreement with the law is forbidden. Big BrotherRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell930 Words   |  4 Pages The book 1984 was filled with constant rebellion from one individual known as Winston Smith who does not believe in the â€Å"Party† and would much rather join the â€Å"Brotherhood† where he can oppose the Party. While in Divergent, Beatrice Prior is loyal and compliant with her government until she learns that she is a rare type of human known as a divergent and poses a threat to her governme nt. These two stories while incredibly different have many similarities as well. Both stories are about people trying

Compare And Contrast Oedipus And Othello - 1816 Words

When asked to think of a classic play that shaped the whole of literature, some of the most common answers will include Oedipus by Sophocles and Othello by William Shakespeare. Both of these texts are held in high regard as some of the greatest writing of our time, not only for their command and use of language but for their intricately woven storylines and tragic endings. Both title characters were written as tragic characters, and as such their stories result in unhappy endings for all involved. The difference is that while one story was running along a set course put in place by an outward force and unable to be altered, the other tragedy was completely self-inflicted. Oedipus had no choice but to succumb to the fate placed in front of†¦show more content†¦But as a tragedy is defined, both stories were always going to end in sorrow, because without tragedy there can be no tragic hero. In Oedipus, the central tragedy is that of a disgraced king who fulfills a prophecy that he had worked so hard to avoid. In order to rescue his people from a plague, he sets out on a journey of discovery that leads him to learn that the people he thought were his parents were really just his adoptive parents, and that he actually had come to fulfill the prophecy that he would marry his mother and kill his father. At one point, he argues that he should be able to change his fate, and the response he receives is â€Å"I have no more to say; storm as thou willst,/And give the rein to all thy pent-up rage† (Oedipus the King, lines 346-347). Oedipus comes to realize that there is no changing the fate that his been placed on his life. Being so distraught over this, Oedipus gauges out his own eyes so that he no longer can see the pain and suffering that he has inflicted upon his people and his world. In Othello, we see an entirely different story. Whereas Oedipus was constantly attem pting not to fulfill the prophecy that had been placed upon him, Othello had no such stories to help guide him. His tragedy arises from the fact that the man he had thought to be a friend, Iago, feeds Othello lies and falseShow MoreRelatedOthello Notes2305 Words   |  10 PagesOthello Notes: Assessment Objectives: AO1: A consistently fluent, precise writing, using critical terminology to present a coherent and detailed argument in which the question is well understood and answered. AO2: Well developed, analytical and consistently detailed discussion of effects of language, form and structure and ways in which it affects the audience. AO3: Well informed and detailed discussion of different readings of the text by various audiences, as well as different criticalRead MoreEssay Prompts4057 Words   |  17 Pageswork as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary. You may select a work from the list below or another novel or play of comparable literary merit. Alias Grace Middlemarch All the King’s Men Moby-Dick Candide Obasan Death of a Salesman Oedipus Rex Doctor Faustus Orlando Don Quixote A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man A Gesture Life Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Ghosts The Scarlet Letter GreatRead MoreA Summary On Tragedy 2914 Words   |  12 Pagesand he places that prize at risk through his own choices. Aristotle further elaborates that the tragic hero must, by the play s close, lose everything he has achieved through hubris - blind pride that defies the gods. In Sophocles Oedipal cycle, Oedipus tries to discover the secrets of his birth, while Creon denies Antigone’s brother honorable burial and as a result both heroes lose their kingdoms. Shakespeare takes Greek-style hubris even further, as he has Macbeth lose his soul and Hamlet his consciousRead MoreAmerican Literature11652 Words   |  47 Pagesideas that have to do with physical sensations--sounds, tastes, smells and so on. Finally, he can go back and think about all the ideas these different images could imply--figure out their connotations, in other words. For example, if a poet compares something to a ship, the reader might think about what ships look like, and then think about what it feels like to be on a ship. How do ships move? Where do they go? What sights, sounds, smells and sensations can we associate with ships and being

Abraham Lincoln And The Fourteenth Amendment - 1431 Words

This political cartoon characterizes Abraham Lincoln as having a difficulty balancing the slavery issue with the other needs of his party. One person is a slave representing freedom and holding the end of one side, the slaveholder is representing slavery holding the other side, and Abraham Lincoln is in between both slavery and freedom. This political cartoon is saying that if you vote for the democrats than you are a white man. There was slavery then if you vote for the republicans than you would be compared to a negro. The 13th Amendment The 13th Amendment says that Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Formally abolishing slavery in the United States, the 13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. This amendment was unique and different from the other amendments which are the 14th and 15th. The 13th amendment abolished slavery, but the 14th was unique also because it overturned the Dred Scott decision, and it counted all citizens, including slaves, as citizens in the US. The 15th amendment gave African Americans the right to vote. The 14th Amendment The 14th Amendment expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment. This amendment forbids states from denying anyShow MoreRelatedReconstruction Is The Effort Made In The United States1566 Words   |  7 Pagesthat they were in control of Southerners by punishing them for wanting to preserve their southern tradition. How would the North and the South come to an agreement about the freedom of slaves? Before the Civil War and the actions of President Abraham Lincoln the states were divided amongst another. The Northern States were considered to be the Union. 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Enterprise Resource Planning Famous System Management

Question: Discuss about the Report for Enterprise Resource Planning of Famous System Management. Answer: Introduction Systems of Enterprise Resource Planning are considered as one of the most famous systems of business management. It provides benefits on seamless communications and real-time capabilities for many companies. ERP is a type of business management software that is suited to many integrated applications. Different types of business activities are covered by the implementation of ERP software in companies such as marketing sales, purchased product planning, inventory management, finance, manufacturing or service delivery, and shipping payment. The software of ERP works with the integration of separate systems together into a holistic approach of resources and information. It allows executives for optimizing systems, identifying trends, and taking decisions. ERP software has many uses in many sectors of businesses such as e-commerce, business intelligence, and enterprise asset management. Apart from that, many factors affect the working procedure of the enterprise resource planning soft ware in companies. Implementation of ERP projects affects people, process, and culture in the entire organization. However, a number of challenges are faced by enterprises that can stumble on the execution of the systems in the organizational levels. Most of the organizations face the issue in selecting the proper type of software for implementation. Senior level managers must have a clear understanding of the type, scope and size of the ERP system. They do not have any clear idea about the proper method of selection of the best solution and the need of the system in a particular field of operations. the executives of the enterprises lack in decision-making procedure of selecting best ERP system for their agencies amongst the existing multitude of ERP systems available in the market. Most of the organizations faced this situation due to inappropriate strategic management. The report focuses on different people issues faced by different agencies around the world while implementation of ERP systems. Discussion Organizational Changes ERP systems implementation is responsible for organizational changes. It can produce significant changes in the field of a conventional business model of enterprises and its daily practices. Implementation of ERP software in various fields of operations requires firms in order to re-engineer various business processes in a vital way, restricting of agencies, and redefining responsibilities of the position. Companies sometimes are not ready for accepting the organizational changes (Ahmad and Cuenca 2013). Strategic management department of the company should align with the IT department in order to formulate a strategy for the new software application in a particular project. Bolt-on solutions are a form of ERP software that are considered as afterthought. This system is not much expensive that is considered as a plus point for the small medium enterprise. The system helped the functionality of the existing software. Not only big companies use ERP software, small medium enterprises al so use ERP systems in marketing and sales and other operations of businesses. There are many issues both in multinational and in local companies of different countries of the world. It is the responsibility of every company to change its goals of the projects accordingly with the passage of time (Al-Ghofaili and Al-Mashari 2014). Old methods of business operations will not result in increased and efficient result of the marketing and other required business operations. Unsuccessful implementation can result in blunder in the results of the project. A case study of a Chinese company is explained below. ANC Electronics is a China based electronics company that is an independent manufacturer, developer and seller of various equipment of the uninterruptable power supply. the company belongs to small medium enterprises. In the year of 2000, ANC Electronics has improved its information management tool in its few computers. In the operations of inventory management, the company is moving forward to use ERP systems that are developed by two IT companies of China namely Kingdee and Vanward (Amid et al. 2012). The ERP systems initially turned out to be very fruitful in the beginning. It reflects a growth of the business. However, another department of ANC Electronics like marketing and still did not have adopted the benefits of the ERP systems. The company is a leading in its field of industries. Implementation of ERP software in the inventory management leads in improved production as well as the supply of its products into distribution points. The marketing goals of the company are not up to date with the organizational goals (Aslan et al. 2015). Hence, there is a drastic fall of sale if the products of ANC Electronics in the market. The company is clueless in finding the reason of the drastic fall in sales at initial level due to lack of organizational changes. ERP Implementation goals Application of ERP system in organizations can lead to both positive impacts and negative impacts. Goals and objectives of ERP implementation can be a major hindrance in the growth of revenue and performance of the enterprise as a whole. Enterprises witness failure in application of ERP software due to lack of well-defined objectives in the projects. Project management is mainly practiced in companies of construction, software, telecommunication and much more (Bhati and Trivedi 2016). Nowadays traditional ERP solutions are getting older in the market. It is replaced by cloud ERP systems. Companies are investing in Cloud ERP solutions rather than traditional ERP. For instance, SAP Business ByDesign is a popular cloud ERP solutions used by many companies. However, cloud ERP is still limited in certain places. The changed goals of the new project must be aligned with the other related departments of the project. One project is dependent on many other operational fields. IT project can d epend on marketing department of the company. Goals of the ERP software application should be communicated in both the departments. However, application of ERP systems is not only limited to the project management sector, but also in the general work of the day-to-day operations of businesses. Improper goals in projects lead to failure of projects in a stipulated time. Extensive customization is also a cause of failure of ERP implementation. It can lead to many misinterpretations of issues. In many cases, organizations are not provided with the actually packaged solution of the ERP system (Bradford 2014). Decision makers of enterprises often fail to take the right decision in choosing companies that are associated with selling ERP software to the companies. Nestle USA initially faced few challenges in the implementation of ERP software. The company is lacked unity. It did not act as a single company. The ERP implementation goal of Nestle USA is to increase the brand awareness and transforming the separate brands into a single brand. The parent company of Nestle has a strategy of implementing ERP systems to unify the company. The ERP project is started by Nestle that is known as Business Excellence through Systems Technology (Choi et al. 2013). Unification is the main motive behind the technological application. However, the USA subsidiary of Nestle is not aware of the fact about the goals of new software implementation. Each Nestle branch in the United States used to work independently. They did not align themselves with the main strategic goals of the parent company of Nestle. In terms of the software application, all locations of USA are reluctant about it. They did not a response to the orders of the headquarters (Chou et al. 2014). It results in difficulty in ERP implementation in the respective offices of Nestle in USA locations. The results forecasted by the headquarter does not match with the actual result. Resistance to change Cultural resistance is a vital challenge in the starting of a new process, policies in a certain company. The employees of organizations are considered as assets of the firm. Firms must focus on the needs and benefits of the people associated with the company. Cultural resistance along with organizational resistance causes hindrance in the productivity of the particular project or organization as a whole. Members of a certain project or workers in a particular department of operations are accustomed to the old format of working procedures (Galliers and Leidner 2014). Few employees are comfortable in working with old ERP systems. They feel very odd in adopting new changes in the new systems of technology in the project. Some strategic business units are irresistible to adopt changes in the field of technology and other employees perspectives. Transfer of employees from one branch to another due to new technological implementation sometimes not acceptable by them. It can lead to the lo wer performance of the individual and enterprise as a whole. Some SBUs faced difficulties in switching new ERP systems in a particular project (Galy and Sauceda 2014). They may feel comfortable in using old ERP systems. In this scenario, two types of threats are included such as replacement of known process with an unknown technological process, taken away authority from decision-making activities regarding the project. However, there are cultural aspects that hinder people in the adaptation of new system in the organization. The mindsets of some employees in many countries are not so much open to accept new things. Many societies are indulgent and restrained in nature. Restrained societies are characterized by more reluctant in adopting new technologies and policies in their life. However, countries that have weak uncertainty avoidance are more comfortable with new ideas and ambiguity (Helo et al. 2014). On the other hand, strong uncertainty avoidance societies are not ready for new challenges in the operations. Manufacturers of different parts of the world, especially in China face resistance to change in ERP implementation. For instance, Dongfeng Motor Corporation is an automobile parts and automobile manufacturing company that faces cultural resistances in the manufacturing sites of the company. The workers in the manufacturing facilities are comfortable in the old ERP systems. Hence, they are unwilling to accept any type of new systems in the technological aspects. The new system is focused on the fast production level on the automobile parts in the factory sites (Kanellou and Spathis 2013). On the contrary, the old systems are characterized by a low rate of production when compared to the new ERP systems. In this situation, Hosted ERP solutions can be used. It is an outsource model where companies can outsource their cloud computing to others but they can manage their systems from their own offices. for instance, SAP Hana is an Adobe Systems that belong to the category of Hosted ERP. Improper communication Due to the presence of different stakeholders, organizations cannot follow a single most effective mechanism in order to communicate with the employees and suppliers. For instance, email is a great mode of communication of passing messages and information to every worker of the company. Nevertheless, when it comes to pass the information to a certain group in a detailed manner then email is not a good option (Sun et al. 2015). It is the responsibility of the supervisor to maintain the effective mode of communication to its team or subordinates. Apart from email, there are a number of modes such as face-to-face meeting, conference calls, intranet portals, standard training, and country-specific portals (Katerattanakul et al. 2014). Stakeholders are responsible for the selection of different measures of ERP implementation that sometimes create a confusion among the IT department and the other departments. It occurs due to lack of communication. Apart from the communication process, sometimes organizations do not recruit right candidates for a particular project in the starting phase. ERP implementation in a project can bring immense benefits to the results of it. Nevertheless, if they are not properly handled then they can bring negative results too. For instance, in many organizations, executives are focused on getting approval from the senior for a change in the technological aspects of a project. They are not focused on gathering feedbacks from the other team members of the project (Kilic et al. 2014). It results in a delay of the delivery of the project within the predefined deadline. NetApp Australia, an Australian IT company faced some issues in the communication of its ERP implementation in a project. Initiatives of ERP systems require developed tailored communications for some people involved in it. These persons usually are not aware of the culture of the organization as well as the goals of the new systems of ERP in the running project. There is a necessity of gaining an understanding of the culture and clients requirement related to the project. As the company deals with companies in different countries, hence the lack of research in ERP systems and its implementation will lead to less productivity (Kilic et al. 2015). The supervisor or the project manager must communicate with the team workers. Any slip of technical jargon will deviate the team from the actual motives of the project. Lack of communication in the group will not only lead to lower productivity but also it is responsible for the bad relationship with the clients of NetApp. In future, it will result in loss of business. Lack of proper training approach Flexibility is an issue that is considered as a most vital people issue in the application of various systems of ERP in the company. If the ERP system is not flexible in nature, then it will be more difficult for the members of the project to adapt to the new changes in the project. Flexibility will help in formulating proper training module to the employees associated with the project. It is required to re-engineer steps that are required to perform several business tasks and providing retraining to the business partners and employees (Mamoghli et al. 2015). Reluctant people will face the severe issue in adapting change with the new processes of ERP systems. Resistance is the cause of delay in the project and lower productivity of the organization as a whole. The Proper training approach is considered as the most vital strategic tool for engaging the workers into the new systems of technology. To implement a new system of ERP in the organization, initially, a lot of time is required for mapping up the current situation with the future changes of the work. It helps in understanding the technical goals along with the organizational goals. It can be frustrating to an end user at the beginning. However, it is required to provide an updated training to the project members and different people associated with it. Training indeed provided an opportunity to enhance the skills of the team members while performing the dearth of training will lead to mistakes of people of the company (Marsh et al. 2014). Resistant employees are prone to occur more mistakes in their work as they are more comfortable to work in the old patterns of ERP software. Infotech Private Limited is a small medium enterprise that uses various ERP in the customer relation managem ent of the company. Apart from these departments, the company has previously used many ERP systems in the different operational department of the company (McKinney and Kroenke 2015). It is noticed that the company has faced many issues in terms of training and development. Due to lack of communication, the training module of the new system of ERP is formulated in a different way that does not match the exact requirements of the technology. In the initial phase, the company has not recognized the wrong training method. However, when the project member participated in the new form of ERP systems then they face severe issues in handling machinery and technologies of the project (Monk and Wagner 2012). Technical issues and custom development There is wide range of technical problems that are anticipated by many researchers while implementation of ERP systems in different areas of business operations and in projects. The risks related to the technology can cause a delay in the progress of work. It undermines the success of a project in the field of ERP implementation. Issues of technological infrastructures in the field of ERP system are: Insufficient and inappropriate transfer of knowledge from the integrator of the system to the long-term group. Service related and network related issues that are related to outsourcing and upgrading data centers (Parr et al. 2013). Resources allocated for the wrong technologies in ERP may lead to blunder in the productivity of the project. Wrong technology is the result of lack of extensive market research and lack of decision-making of the senior executives of the company. Insufficient bandwidth or stressed network in the remote areas is the result of inadequate stress and volume of the infrastructure. Remote areas sometimes do not have access to technological developments. But companies do have to run some of their projects in the rural area to accomplish their work (Powell et al. 2013). Change management problems can occur due to technical reasons also. Ineffective technical implementation rises to miscommunication between the employees as well as the project managers. Unproven or inadequate business continuity and lack of recovery plan can cause failure in application of the software in the ERP systems of a company. Project managers and IT managers must formulate a strong backup plan for the risks associated with the technologies of ERP systems. Inefficient risk mitigation plan hinders the effectiveness of performance of the systems of ERP in the different operations department (Saleh Shatat. and Mohamed Udin 2012). Regardless of best efforts of various companies while implementing ERP manually with negligible customization. Business always requires customized version of various software including ERP systems. There are many instances of customization of business operations such as conversion programs, interface, forms, code extension, etc. Usually, delays in the project are the result of the delay in completion of custom development. For instance, mostly construction companies and software companies face these issues. This leads to the bad relation with the clients. People associated with the companies also suffer bad impression from foreign clients. Delay in documentation requirements is the cause failure of technical aspects. However, consultants sometimes may not understand the problems of these outsourcing companies as they are focused only on the work or the result (Stair and Reynolds 2013). Conclusion The report describes various problems and issues that are faced by companies regardless of the sector. Apart from that, there are issues that are related to people in the implementation of ERP systems in the companies. Issues related to change management and organizational changes; technological dearth, improper training, improper communication, etc. are explained in a detailed manner. There are many instances of companies that are explained in the report describing their issues of people in the implementation of ERP software in their companies. Implementation of ERP in firms must be treated as business driven initiatives. It will have a long-lasting impact on the working procedure of agencies. The proper decision-making of executives associated with IT and software application is considered as the integral of the success of companies. Cloud computing along with other technologies that increase production efficiency is in demand in the market. ERP systems come under this category. Ho wever, there is much mitigation of the problems of the ERP system implementation in agencies. The statement present in the case study is focused on people issues of ERP systems in information and technology. Projects of Enterprise Resource Planning are time-consuming, difficult and potentially perilous to organizations. Failure of ERP implementation incurs a huge loss to companies. In many cases, these situation leads to huge losses for firms. There are many entrepreneurs that support ERP in their business firms despite having chances of failure in different phases. References Ahmad, M.M. and Cuenca, R.P., 2013. Critical success factors for ERP implementation in SMEs.Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing,29(3), pp.104-111. Al-Ghofaili, A.A. and Al-Mashari, M.A., 2014, August. ERP system adoption traditional ERP systems vs. cloud-based ERP systems. 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