History of India and China Course Profile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

History of India and China Course Profile - Essay Example This course has deepened my interest in history. I found the archaeology of China very interesting.   We followed China’s evolutionary trajectories from the last Paleolithic groups that gathered hunting to the dynasty of Bronze Age Shang in second millennium BC’s second half. We learned that the sociopolitical evolution of China was multicentric. Competition and factionalism played a huge role in shaping the sociopolitical evolution of China. We studied the history of the ancient temple, Angkor Wat. It was a very special time in many ways. Not only did it preserve the history in terms of being the largest religious monument of ancient times, but its architecture also suggests how it shifted from being a religious place primarily from Hindus through to the Buddhists. An interesting finding was that it was the largest city in the world till the start of the Industrial Revolution. We were also surprised to know that Mahendraparvata, a lost city, has also been identified in it. The archaeology of India was also very interesting. The Mughal palaces and architecture were very elegant and inspiring. India’s archaeology made me realize how long have people been practicing Hinduism and Buddhism. Other things I learned about included but were not limited to the 7 billion think piece and Surviving In Bangladesh Having taken this course, I have become more conscious with respect to environmental health and safety. I have decided to change my life in ways that are better for the environmental protection. One day, someone from my 9th or 10th generation will be studying our archaeology.

Practical Production Supporting Account Essay Example for Free

Practical Production Supporting Account Essay Our aim was to produce a film trailer and our initial ideas were to produce a film aimed at both male and female, young audience. We decided to use a Psychographic approach to deciding and audience, the first thing we decided was to make a mainstream film; this is because this appeals to the largest proportion of the available audience. We felt that we should appeal to an age rang of 15-24; this is because as a member of this age group, we can easily identify what appeals to this age group. We felt that the best way to approach this was to use two specific genres: action and a love. This is because our research showed us that in most successful films aimed at this target audience contained two specific genres. For example the Fast and the Furious mixed action with a secondary love plot, subsequently it was nominated for 11 awards and won 8. After deciding our genres we had to decide which existing conventions to convey and which would most appeal to our target audience. Our secondary research (that was a questionnaire) showed us that we should not include showing stars or directors names and we should not convey a particular confusing or thoughtful plot. We found that we should include conventions such as modern extra-diegetic music and sounds, and use Propps character structure of the hero and the villain. In our production, it was clear that the villain was the hostage taker, and the hero was the police force. It is on the villains side. These values appeal directly to our audience. Our survey result also showed that we should not offer the viewer too much to remember, the film name and release date is enough. Our primary research showed us this also; we can see this in many existing trailers. We also decided to se tension to build suspense by making the lead character seem powerful. We did this by using low angle, dark lit shots, which makes the character seem powerful. This is because we often assume a more powerful person being above us, in for example a court. Power often builds tension because we get a sense of a clash of the titans effect, and a build up to a big ending. A lot of the film orbit around a representation of desperation, which applies to both genres. For example, allot of the shots transitions make them seem disconnected, which represents the disconnection from others in a hostage situation. Another example of this is the darkness. Darkness represents an unknown or a fear, also associated with desperation. We decided to use allot of darkness and shadows to create a sense of fear and tension, when cupped with the particular music gives a strong emotional feel which in our secondary research we found appeals to the target audience and fits in well with the genre. We found that the most common aspect of successful film trailers aimed at a similar target audience was a quick and constant change in shots. This constant contrast keeps the audiences attention. We did this particularly because our audience has been proven to have a low attention span. At looking at previous and existing trailers, they often use the same effect, in that the main character is looking back on the main events of the film and telling the story of the film. This structure often lets the audience get to know the main character more. For example, it the Lord of War trailer, Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage) goes through the polot of the film and lets the audience into his personality. In our film however we decided not to do this. We wanted the charictars to be dark and secret, apearing hard on the outside untill the ending of the film. A charictar looking back on the events would not let this. We only made one significant change in that trailer whilst it was being edited, which was the speed of some of the shots, We did this because often a slower movement is often much more dramatic and adds to the emotional feel of the film. Another part of our target audience decisions was to make the trailer appealing to both sexes; we did this by using to main feels to the trailer, power and emotion. We did this by using things such as low angles, low-level lighting and darkness to suggest power and fade effects, slow motion, sunset effects and shadows to convey emotion. Another thing we constantly tried to change was the name. We needed something that represented the film but at the same time simple and effective. Hostage satisfies both these qualities. For example, we used the slow motion when the lead, played by Alex, falls against the wall; it is a very emotional time for him (in the film) and the slow motion coveys this well. The final product, both me and the other members of the team were very pleased with. We felt that especially by using many common conventions made it rely feel like a film trailer. Whether we enjoyed it was because it was designed to appeal to us particularly as members of the target audience is debatable, but overall we were all very pleased with the final product.

Electrical Appliances Good Retail Marketing Essay

Electrical Appliances Good Retail Marketing Essay Goa is Indias smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located on the west coast of India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its western coast. WHY TO ESTABLISH A RETAIL STORE IN GOA Goas gross state domestic product for 2007 is estimated at $3 billion in current prices. Goa is one of Indias richest states with the highest GDP per capita and two and a half times that of the country as a whole, and one of its fastest growth rates: 8.23% (yearly average 1990-2000) Tourism is Goas primary industry: it handles 1 of all foreign tourist arrivals in India. Goa has two main tourist seasons: winter and summer. In the winter time, tourists from abroad (mainly Europe) come to Goa to enjoy the splendid climate. In the summer time (which, in Goa, is the rainy season), tourists from across India come to spend the holidays. Tourism is generally focused on the coastal areas of Goa, with decreased tourist activity inland. In 2004, there were more than 2 million tourists reported to have visited Goa, 400,000 of which were from abroad. ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES GOOD, RETAIL LIVE WELL My term paper is to open up the retail store of the electrical appliances. The name of my store is LIVE WELL.This store to be contain the number of variety and assortment of the electrical goods. My retail store LIVE WELL to be contain the CFL tubes ,Usha fans , Bajaj fans , Philips tubes , Sylvania tubes , all types of circuits , Crompton fans and White tubes etc . Business MissionVision LIVE WELL mission statement is to focus on bringing high quality electrical goods and services to the market at the lowest possible prices every day. The mission statement is well understood throughout the organization. LIVE WELL offers their customers with low prices on selected private and a limited selection of nationally branded products in a wide range of merchandise categories. Rapid inventory turnover, high sales volume per warehouse, leveraging an efficient operating structure, reduced handling of merchandise, and making themselves the low cost operator in retail is all key elements that make the retail store so successful. LIVE WELL defines its business in terms of benefiting their customers. In addition to offering low prices on top-quality goods and a variety of convenient services Type of retail format and ownership (Variety and assortment decisions regarding products or services to be offered);I am opening these electrical goods retail, on my own ,i.e Partnership business Electrical Goods Store Product services. TUBES Basically the best quality tubes are Philips , Crompton , Surya . All these different brands are kept in my store . Basically 40 walt tubes are demanded by the customers and very less quantity of 20 walt tubes are demanded by the customers . So these particular brands are kept in my store . FANS Fans are required in the summer season. There are different brands of fans . But most popular brands are Khaitan , Bajaj , Usha etc . The quality of these brands is very good. There is hardly any complaint regarding these brands. BULBS Today people dont like yellow light bulbs . At present people like white light bulbs . The best quality brand for white light bulb is Crompton . Crompton provides 2 year guarantee. The light of Crompton bulbs is very good . At night people like colored zero walt bulbs . SWITCHES The best quality in switches is anchor and Havell. There are various varieties in switches. Like two pin plugs, three pin plugs , bed switches , multi-plugs , extension . FANCY LIGHTS Today people like to have fancy lights in there houses . They use different fancy lights for decorating their houses. Different types of lighting stands are there. WIRES Wires OF Havel are kept in the store. HEATERS Heaters are required in the winter season . Usha and Apsara are two major brands. MARKETING PLAN:- MULTI CHANNEL DECISIONS LIVE WELL retail ELECTRICAL retail to use the multi-channel these channel were used for selling the electrical good. By using a combination of channels to be provided unique benefits to my electrical retail store by attract and satisfy more customers. My electrical retail uses all three channels to interact with its customers. These are following STORE CHANNEL It is provide the browsing to the customers before purchasing of products It is also provided touching and feeling products opportunity to the customer store channel to given advantage for the customer to get the product immediately after they buy it. CATALOG Our electrical retail is also provided the Catalog channel; offer the convenience of looking at product and placing an order on any day at any time from almost anywhere. We are also provided the photographs of electrical goods in catalogs, while not as useful as in store presentations, are superior to the visual information that can be displayed on a CRT screen. INTERNET CHANNEL Our electrical retail provides the information to customer about which the electrical good are available in our retail store. These Internet channels also contain the all information about electrical good price. The benefit of Internet channel as compared with the other two channels is the vast number of consumers to purchase the product easily. Retail market strategy to be followed and preparation of Strategic Retail planning; Retail market strategy is a statement identifying The retailers target market The format the retailer plans to use to satisfy the target markets need The vases upon which the retailer plans to build a sustainable competitive advantage. Our electrical retail will be containing the strong brand electrical product for the customers. It will be developing clear and price positioning strategies and creating an emotional attachment with customers through loyalty programs. We also will be using the retail mix to create an image of the retailer in the customers mind relative to its competitors. Stores will be offering fine quality electrical goods at competitive prices Retail market strategy to be followed and preparation of Strategic Retail planning. RETAIL FORMAT In which I have included the different strategies which lead our business and used different competitive promotional planned which make our retail store attractive and effective. And these should be done according to these points; Nature of merchandise and services offered Pricing policy Advertising and promotion programs Store design and visual merchandising Customer services. LOCATION Location of retail store is important aspect as customer point of view because location is the critical factor in consumer selection of store and whenever we opened a retail store than we have assumed the different factor which showed our retail store features like as: Demographic features(to know about the potential customer in that area, metropolitan statistical area) Competition(to know about the competitors and how they far from my retail store) Strategic fit(to must know about the life style of potential customer) Operating cost(different area have different cost) No. of small shops in that area Economy of scale We are establishing our ELECTRICAL BUSINESS LIVE WELL in the state GOA,near Dabolim airport.while establishing a business in GOA some certain requirements should be taken into consideration :- TRFFIC This refer to both regular and pedestrian traffic as GOA being a main Centre of tourist industry so there will be a high traffic in GOA.The traffic that passes the site is an important determinant of the potential sales that can be generated from that store. However it is essential that the traffic is suitable to the kind of products to be retailed in the store. ACCESIBILITY TO MARKET Accessibility of market in terms of availability of public transport in GOA is essential while determining the site of retail store .Public transport refers to means of recharging the market the frequency of bus/train services and connectivity to different parts of the city. THE NUMBER OF STORE AND TYPE OF STORE IN THAT AREA If there are large number of stores in market then there more and more customers will come .The type of store exist in the area is also important .The type of competition also be taken into consideration while deciding the site AMENITIES AVAILABLE Depending upon the type of market to be retailed facilities like free and amplex parking become important. This is a factor that has gained importance. OPERATIONAL PLAN. The operational plan is an essential component of our retail established in GOA store and it tells the reviewer how you are going to get your product out to market. That is how you are going to get your product out of production stage to the doorstep of the target à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Who is doing what? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ What are the day to day activities? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ How will the suppliers and vendors be used? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Who are the suppliers? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ What are the labor requirements? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ What are the sources of raw materials? Basically, you want to explain that how you are going to deliver your product. What are you and/or your employees going to be doing on a daily basis from the time you open up to time you close. This is what your reader wants to know. Some issues often addressed in an operational plan include: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Production or manufacturing à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Facilities à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Inventory à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Distribution à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Maintenance and service Order fulfillment and customer service Production or Manufacturing Every manufacturing business has a production process, and in my retail store of LIVE WELL ELECTRICALS there is a certain production or manufacturing department who manufactures the product. The way it goes about fabricating a raw or component material and creating an item with greater usefulness or desirability. However, even if our business is a service or retail operation, you have to use a method of producing something of value for your customers. Integral to the overall understanding of a production oriented business is an appreciation of how the company will manufacture its products. One straight forward way of conveying such information is to examine this activity in terms of resources, processes, and output. Capacity In my retail store established near Dabolim airport(GOA) capacity must be taken into consideration i.e Capacity is the measure of how much work your facilities, labor force, and equipment can handle. Does your production process have the capacity to keep orders up? Do you have too much capacity? Not enough capacity Productivity PRODUCTIVITY is very necessary in every retail store .In my store too productivity of electrical material is very important .Productivity measures how long and how many people it requires to produce your product or service. If you can produce more goods in less time, you can improve the bottom line from every dollar spent on equipment and operating costs such as salaries and rent. Labour In a city like GOA we should judge what kinds of and how many employees do you require to produce your product or service in the Electrical Retail store How are you going to use them? Are you going to be using seasonal workers Quality Assurance There should be a constant check in my retail store LIVE WELL of how are you going to keep consistent and maintain the same standards with each product or service. Such activities include regular inspections throughout the production process, occasional testing or sampling of goods. Facilities As my Retail store is located in GOA In business, the location of our facilities can prove a critical factor for your success. If your business is going require a large outlay of capital assets at the onset, you will need to make sure the facilities are adequate and are positioned properly. Whats the use of setting up a manufacturing facility in a rural setting with no transportation mechanisms? You will need to decide how you are going to get your product to your consumer and position your facility that will be both cost effective and efficient. Location My Retail store LIVE WELL should be established in an area which include the location of company headquarters, retail store (s), branch offices, additional plants, and others. Describe the size and how each will be allocated. Mention why you are located at your particular location and the benefits associated with it. Describe access to parking and transportation; air, rail, and surface shipping access, and loading docks, warehouse, and other facilities. Lease/Rent GOA being a small state so to have enough land for constructing is somewhat very difficult so we have too rather pay rent or to have a lease option . This is very important and make sure you understand all aspects of the lease. You dont want to be stuck in a 5 year lease if your business fails after the first year (Ive seen this happen a few times). Maintenance For the construction of a Retail store in GOA we should also see the operational costs associated with the building? Include the cost of gas, water and electricity. What are the costs for janitorial, trash removal and other operational costs Inventory Different businesses will have different inventory requirements. Of course, a large retail operation will have much more inventory than an engineering consultant so remember to use those points that apply to your business. Most of the retail operations I deal with overlook the importance of inventory management. An effective inventory management process can make all the difference in the world when it comes to making a huge profit. Merchandise Management For the purpose of Merchandise management in my retail outlet located In GOA the order received from a Vendor is kept in container and the inventory is raised whereas sale of each SKU to customer decreases the level of inventory. Therefore there is need to keep a record of total orders received and sale of SKU. There is a need to manage the merchandise so as to keep minimum level of stock which should be there the entire time.In store, Inventory for re-order and the time to which an order with vendor is to be placed so as to run business efficiently. Inventory management report: In my Electrical retail store established in GOA there is need to maintain this report so as to know the Level of Sales to do the forecast of sales for the next year, Amount of inventory available so as to know quantity of re-order, product which are available in the Store. This report is prepared to have a record for current year and recognize the deviations from the set standards and to make forecast for future years. This report will have information about the SKU which have been most sold during that period according to month, season. Buying Merchandise: My Retail store located in GOA will have a mix of Private and National-label brand so as to give both the quality and compatibility to customers. National brands are kept in stores so as to create an image in the mind of customers about quality that has been offered in stores where as private brands are kept because the target group of customers are people who are very price conscious and can compromise quality for cost moreover Private-label Brands have strong margins for retailer. Planning the retail communication program In my Retail store established in GOA the objective for communication program is to provide direction to people implementing the program about the long term objective and what effect will it have in creating brand image and other is to provide basis for evaluating its effectiveness. The objective for:- planning retail communication mix for the store is to create a store image among consumers such that whenever they have need for and home ware appliances the top-of-their-mind is our store and the amount of assortment which are being offered to customers here and they have favorable attitude coming into store. Next part of planning retail communication mix is to develop a budget, so as to make resource allocation decisions, allocation of merchandise to stores, staffing stores and floor and shelf space devoted to merchandise categories and to determine all these things correctly MARGINAL ANALYSIS METHOD is best which states that a store should increase communication expenditure as long as each additional rupee spent should generate more than a rupee. The strategy is to increase the expenditure so as to create brand image among customers, build brand uniqueness, and sustain that brand name of store unless it is giving in return more than the expense incurred on communication program. Setting the Promotion Mix LIVE WELL STORE in GOA we will decide how to properly utilize the marketing communications mix to meet our marketing objectives, it is important to consider the relative strengths and weaknesses of each component of the mix. Further, we must always define our total budget first (generally defined in the Marketing and/or Business Plan) and then decide upon the best way to leverage the different elements of the mix to maximize the return on our investment. We will balance the various parts of the mix to not only create an integrated approach to our marketing communications but we must also devote enough resources for each component to be successful. Advertising Reaches For the advertisement of my Retail store LIVE WELL I will prefer large, geographically dispersed audiences, often with high frequency; Low cost per exposure, though overall costs are high; Consumers perceive advertised goods as more legitimate; Dramatizes company/brand; Builds brand image; may stimulate short-term sales; Impersonal, one-way communication. Personal selling In my store established in (GOA) I will too give importance too personal buying as most effective tool for building buyers preferences, convictions, and actions; Personal interaction allows for feedback and adjustments; Relationship-oriented; Buyers are more attentive; Sales force represents a long-term commitment; Most expensive of the promotional tools Sale Promotion may be targeted at the trade or ultimate consumer; Makes use of a variety of formats: premiums, coupons, contests, etc.; Attracts attention, offers strong purchase incentives, dramatizes offers, boosts sagging sales; Stimulates quick response; Short-lived; Not effective at building long-term brand preferences Public Relation In my Retail store LIVE WELL in (GOA) it should be Highly credible; Very believable; Many forms: news stories, news features, events and sponsorships, etc.; Reaches many prospects missed via other forms of promotion; Dramatizes company or product; Often the most under used element in the promotional mix; Relatively inexpensive (certainly not free as many people thinkthere are costs involved) Many forms: Telephone marketing, direct mail, online marketing, etc.; Four distinctive characteristics: Nonpublic, Immediate, Customized, Interactive; Well-suited to highly-targeted Direct Marketing. Visual merchandising In my Retail store which planned to be located in GOA Visual merchandising is one of the final stages in trying to set out a store in a way that customers will find attractive and appealing and it should follow and reflect the principles that underpin the stores image. Visual merchandising is the way one displays goods for one displays goods for sale in the most attractive manner with the end purpose of making a sale. If it does not sell, it is not visual merchandising FINANCIAL PLAN While opening a retail store in Goa, finance plays an important role in the commencement of any store. Organization should manage its resources in a best possible manner to ensure that it has enough amount of money in Reserves. Goa is a great place to establish a retail store. Financial plan is at the end of your business plan, but the financial plan section is the section that determines whether or not your business idea is viable, and is a key component in determining whether or not your business plan is going to be able to attract any investment in your business idea. Basically, the financial plan section of the business plan consists of three financial statements The income statement: Shows that whether the retail store is making Profit or not: Cash incoming to your business and cash out. Shows whether or not your company has enough cash to pay its bills The cash flow projection The balance sheet and a brief explanation/analysis of these three statements. All the costs of getting your business up and running go into the startup expenses category. These expenses may include: Business registration fees Business licensing and permits Starting inventory Rent deposits Down payments on property Down payments on equipment Utility set up fees This is just a sampling of startup expenses; your own list will probably expand as soon as you start writing them down. Operating expenses are the costs of keeping your business running. Think of these as the things youre going to have to pay each month. Your list of operating expenses may include: salaries (yours and staff salaries) rent or mortgage payments telecommunications utilities raw materials storage distribution promotion loan payments office supplies maintenance cost BALANCE SHEET OF MY RETAIL STORE LIVE WELL LIABILITES RS Share capital Equity shares of Rs.10 1000000 Each General reserve 400000 Profit loss a/c 200000 Current liabilities 200000 TOTAL 1800000 ASSETS RS Fixed assets 800000 Investment 200000 Current assets 800000 1800000 Customer Relationship Management CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a process or methodology used to learn more about customers needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them. There are many technological components to CRM, but thinking about CRM in primarily technological terms is a mistake. The more useful way to think about CRM is as a process that will help bring together lots of pieces of information about customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness and market trends. CRM helps businesses use technology and human resources to gain insight into the behavior of customers and the value of those customers.

References to Homosexuality in Walt Whitmans Song of Myself Essay

References to Homosexuality in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself "WHITMAN WAS MORE MAN THAN YOU'LL EVER BE," said a student of Louisiana State University. When asked questions of your sexual preference or thoughts on the issue of sex, I would venture to say it makes most people uncomfortable. This is an age-old topic that people know about, yet do not want to talk about. He was particularly reticent about his issues regarding sex and his particular sexual preference. In fact, of Whitman's struggles the most difficult for him to deal with was his ever so strong homosexual desires (Hubbell 283). Whether homosexuality is right or wrong is not for me to decide. Though I feel it should not be used so explicitly in works of literature. Homosexuality, by definition, is the act of having relations with members of the same sex (Webster's Dictionary). In today's society, we chose to either disregard homosexuality, to accept it, or to engage in it. Someone you least expect is probably a homosexual to some extent. Most heterosexuals tend to pretend that homosexuality does not exist or judge those who chose to engage in it. This issue is not new. In fact, in the early nineteenth century many letters and diaries that have been examined show that middle class men and women of all ages participate in relations that verged on sexual- homosexual love. Today these acts would be judged as homoerotic, yet were viewed with tolerance and were even encouraged by leading middle class moralists. Readers of the time took little notice to poets like Whitman, not even to condemn them for immorality, a charge which they typically reserved for poems with heterosexual themes (Killingsworth 98). Whitman was a unique poet and a... ...e had no idea when writing this work what the future would hold, we are now reading this in our literature class. Is this really appropriate? We are college students, and as mature adults, this material should be something we can handle. What do you think? I believe that homosexuality is very real, and that we need to learn about it and educate ourselves about the issue. Yet, I don't think we should go as far as being explicit about it in our textbooks. Works Cited Hubbell, Jay B. Eight American Authors- A review of Research and Criticism. The Modern American Language Association of America. New York, 1956. Killingsworth, Jimmie. Whitman's Poetry of the Bdy. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London. 1989. Lauter, Paul. The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York. 1998.

Facebook Case Study Essay

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A firm that has been floating on the stock exchange has been selected and evaluated and the firm I have chosen was Facebook. In my report I have included the recent history of Facebook as to how the social networking site started and the developments from the introduction until recently. I furthermore went on to evaluate the source of finance with a brief explanation as to what source of finance is and the different type of sources available to business i.e. Short term , medium term and long term. This explains the type of finance business need starting from day to day transactions to long term purchasing of assets and investments. After my understanding of what sources of finance are, I done some research on Facebooks source of finance and came to a conclusion that the firms sources of finance is long term source of finance as they earn money through shares(IPO). The reason for Facebooks floatation was simply because at the time they decide to go public the firm was already valued as one of the top companies around, however even though the firm was highly valued there was still negative stories about the firm. Facebook continues to grow and to try and keep the 200 million users entertain there are now talks of a Facebook phone that is due to be released this year. INTRODUCTION I am required to select a firm that has floated on the stock exchange in the last 4 years analyse and critically evaluate the firms decision to go public. The firm I chose was Facebook and in my report I will be discussing the following about the firm. Recent history of the company The firms sources of finance/ Capital structure of the firm Reason for flotation Implications of the flotation Performance of shares since flotation Future prospects for the firm Recommendations as to the future financing ABOUT FACEBOOK Facebook is a popular social networking website whose name originated as a nickname of directories handed out to university students that aided in them getting to know their fellow students. The social networking site was invented by Harvard computer science student Mark Zuckerberg, along with a few class mates. Facebook officially started off in October 2003 when Zuckerberg launched â€Å"Facemash.com† to allow visitors to compare pictures of two students and say who’s hot and who’s not. The website became popular as people enjoyed going on the internet and checking out pictures of their friends. In January 2004 an article in the Harvard Crimson stated that Zuckerberg registered the Facebook.com domain as he was now inspired by the success of Facemash. Shortly after the launch of Facebook the website eventually grew as it was now discovered by Sean Parker (Former Co Founder of Napster) who informally advised the student on what to do, and by June 2004 Facebook received its first private investment from Peter Theil [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROrUea0gLlY], the founder of PayPal who gave $500 000 in exchange for 10.2% of the company. Sean Parker later became president of the newly incorporated company Facebook. Facebooks domination continued to grow until it became the second most visited web property online. In August 2009 Facebook acquired the real time new aggregator site friends feed and in 2012 Facebook made a huge splash in the market by acquiring instragam for approximately $1 billion. This year Facebook has introduced a graph search to help users find out more about their friends and connections. This feature lets you search through data shared by friends to discover people their interest, restaurants, much and much more. This is the first major step Facebook has taken towards competing with Google. SOURCES OF FINANCE Business needs money to support investment and finance their day to day activities. A company may choose to raise money internally (by retaining and investing profits) or externally. Each source of finance has a risk attached to it, the risk that the business will not meet the financial commitments related to the source. The mix of all the financial sources is known as the financial risk of the company. An essential requirement in raising finance is that business should meet repayments and other expenses, as the fall due. This is generally achieved by ensuring that there is a good match between _cash inflow generated by the use of money and cash outflows to the service payments to the finance raised_. TYPES OF SOURCES OF FINANCE. Short term finance- Usually needed for a business day to day operations e.g. paying wages, ordering suppliers etc This is usually the cheapest one to use as it is easier for a lending institution to asses lending risk for shorter loan periods. Types of short term finance include the following: Overdrafts Short term loans Trade credit Accrued expenses and deferred income Factoring Medium term finance- This source of finance can be used to finance the acquisition of Motor Vehicles, Machinery, Computers, etc. Three main types of medium term finance are: Hire Purchases Leasing Term Loans Long term finance- In financing the purchase of a building (major investments), long term finance would be appropriate. There are two alternative methods of raising long term finance Debt-Bank loans and Bonds Equity-is an important source of long term finance and consists of: Preference shares, Ordinary Shares and Retained Profits (internally generated cash flow). Equity finance is raised through the sale of ordinary shares to investors and can be raised either via: A new share IPO ,Placing or Introduction A rights Issue. FACEBOOK’S SOURCES OF FINANCE/CAPITAL STRUCTURE. Facebook’s source of finance is the long term finance as the firm makes its money through sale of ordinary shares from investors such as IPO (Initial Public Offer) which is the first offering of shares to the general public. The social networking site officially filed for an IPO on February 1 2012. The preliminary prospectus declared that Facebook was seeking to raise $ 5 billion in investment at the time the company announced that they have 845 million users active on the site with close to 2.7 billion likes and comments daily. After the IPO, Mark Zuckerberg planned to retain 22% ownership stake in Facebook with 57% of voting shares which was valued by the underwriters as being worth $38 each and pricing the company at 104 billion, the largest valuation ever to date for a new company going public. Facebook selected Morgan Stanley as the lead advisor for the IPO as the company had earlier lead the IPO of internet giants like Group on, Zynga and other banks such as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merril Lynch,Barclays Capital and JP Morgan. According to AllFacebook , shares have been actively trading between $25-$40 which gives Facebook a valuation of approximately $17000, more than Microsoft which was valued at $15000.Most of Facebooks trades takes place through secondmarket a company responsible for generating a market around typically illquid assets while while the value of the trades is unkown.While Facebook stock is not the type of thing you can trade in a day due to the fees and time involved in transactions ,however most investors see a great return in just 6 months. BELOW IS A GRAPH WITH FACEBOOKS SHARE PRICE IN MAY 2012 WHEN FACEBOOK DECIDED TO FLOAT.GRAPH 1.1 REASON FOR FLOTATION The reason for Facebook’s flotation was due to the fact that the company’s IPO was valued as one of the best amongst top companies. When Facebook made its long expected debut as a public company, the social networking company linked up with the largest public companies in the world alongside Mc Donalds , Amazon.com and Bank of America. The wall street journal reported that Facebook was prepared to file initial paperwork for an offering that could raise as much as $10 billion. As the news about Facebook spread worldwide and it later became the most popular and influential global website, Investors now started to flock to acquire shares in Facebook. Articles stated that even though Facebook was valued a high price there was still a debate within business and media circles on the true value of the company. The social networking site also made money through advertising allowing other companies to advertise about their business on the website. In May 2012 Mark Zuckerberg and other executives began a road show to persuade institutional investors to buy shares before the flotation. One of the underwriters JP Morgan along with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were included in the road show. IMPLICATIONS OF THE FLOATATION FOR THE FIRM Even though there is a great amount of effort in the flotation of Facebook there are still some negative views on the social site. An article in the guardian called â€Å"_Facebook flotation: three reasons to avoid it†_ it states that Facebook is not worth $100 billion and that Zuckerberg has not put a price tag on his creations so it’s still early to say that he will attempt to achieve that amount when the flotation started. Below are the three reasons given in the article: Zuckerbergs first letter to the potential investors was a strange dispatch. As it stated that Facebooks ambition was to build a service that gives people the power to share and help them once again to transform many of the core institutions and industries. Facebook has no need to float as it does not need to invest as the firm is profitable and generates enough cash to pursue its current objective. Zuckerberg is keeping control of Facebook by adopting a dual voting structure with him and investors. In response to the negative publicity about the website , Facebook opposed by saying that the main reason for floating is to allowing longstanding investors to cash in a portion of their winnings and to help Facebook grow. The float promoters were then seeking to emphasize that the investments obtained were potentially for a profitable growth and to play down the risk faced by the firm. PERFORMANCE OF THE FIRMS SHARES SINCE FLOATATION Zuckerberg has called the stock performance â€Å"disappointing†. The social networking leaders stock has lost nearly half its value since flotation. More than $50 billion has been cut off Facebooks market value as the companys shares have fallen from $38 to $19.43. The CEO has lost the most as the value of his facebooks holdings falls more than $9 billion which questioned his skeptics and guess his ability to lead a company. The performance of the shares has obviously been disappointing and has caused some demotivated employees, however Zuckerberg motivated them and they believed that things will improve as time goes go on. After numerous up and downs and significant critics from the public the share prices started showed a highly volatile behaviour with prices as low as $17.73. The prospective performance of the company did not impress the investors and therefore had a impact on the company as a whole. In November 2012 Facebook shares has shown a significant rise in value reaching the highest price in months, As the value it continued rising the company witnessed an increase of 15% each month to date. The major factor that has pushed the social networkings markets performance is the increase in investors’ confidence in the companys potential to earn a higher revenue in the prospective periods. The confidence is directly linked to the increasing success of the performance as the number of business advertising on the website increased which means higher revenue and higher revenue means higher returns for investors. FUTURE PROSPECTS FOR THE FIRM Facebook has and always will be the king of the social media sites , as the site is still growing worldwide. To date the social networking website has more than 200 million registered users. Researchers believe that Facebook can evolve another google as they are also relying on advertising for their revenue. The social networking sites goal now is to create a personalized digital newspaper through the newsfeed that has everything a person would want to know about people. This will be perfectly customized just for the users. Mobile will be the key to Facebooks future growth said the head of advertising as only 30% of users access through desktops and 70% through mobile devices every day. A plan to invest a huge amount of money will be the target for Facebook in the future as talks on creating a Facebook smartphone continues. Facebook is also targeting other continents like Asia, Latin America and Africa as users in these areas have grown by 33% each year. Even though they introduce the mobile device Facebooks ultimate goal will  still remain to get more users online and to improve current features that will keep current users entertained. CONCLUSION /RECOMMENDATION TO THE FIRM’S FUTURE FINANCING Facebook is available to everyone all over the world and there still huge potential for growth for the firm. My recommendation to the firm regarding their finance would be to focus on their advertising model, improving it and allowing business to advertise more on their website. By doing that they will do enhance their chances of doing better than search engine giant Google and revenue will increase which will benefit both the firm, current and potential investors. With the introduction of the new Facebook phone they have to ensure that the phones are better then other smartphones. Facebook has to earn the general publics confidence in them by coming up with new ideas on their IPO, if the public is satisfied they will invest more in the company. However with the introduction of the new phone I believe share prices will increase.

Economic Immigration

Chavez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has a Ph. D. n political science from the University of Chicago. The thesis statement or main argument of this article is the following, â€Å"Comprehensive immigration reform that legalizes currently unauthorized immigrants and creates flexible legal limits on future immigration in the context of full labor rights would help American workers and the U. S economy. † Clearly the main goal of this Dr. OJeda writing this paper is shed light on the many economic benefits for the United States if a comprehensive immigration reformation law was passed.Some of the evidence used by the author to validate the his thesis is for xample this excerpt from the article, â€Å"The historical experience of legalization under the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act indicates that comprehensive immigration reform would raise wages, increase consumption, create Jobs and generate additional tax r evenue. Even though the Immigration Reform and Control Act was implemented during a period that included a recession and high unemployment (1990-1991), it still helped raise wages and spurred increases in educational, home, and small business investments by newly legalized immigrants.Taking the experience of the Immigration Reform and Control Act as a starting point, e estimate that comprehensive immigration reform would yield at least $1. 5 trillion in added U. S gross domestic product (GDP) over 10 years. † (Ojeda, 2012, 176) I am an immigrant from Mexico myself and I know the struggle that goes on each and every day in the lives of illegal immigrants. I moved here when I was 4 years old and have been raised in a Mexican-American culture.I love this country and consider myself an American, this country has provided for me the path to live out my dreams and be whatever I choose to be in life, and for that I will always be grateful. Just last ear thanks to the Deferred Action law that was put into effect, more than 700,000 undocumented students qualified for a 2 year work/study permit, a chance to get a driver's license and to finally have legal standing and documentation in this country.The effect it will have on the future of the United States is a positive one and will benefit the growth of the country in many sectors greatly. I strongly believe this article is crucial to the United States we live in today and to the future of the United States. It exposes a lot of myths and calms a lot of worries concerning whether or not comprehensive immigration reform would help the country at all.