Jackson Pollocks and Yunhee Tohs Painting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Jackson Pollocks and Yunhee Tohs Painting - Essay Example One of the most striking similarities between Pollock and YunheeToh in their paintings is that both of these artists took a divergent painting approach as compared to the common painting methods. Toh abandoned the materials that are usually used in painting, which were pencils and brushes and used her hands in creating this painting. Toh used her hands in an attempt to create artistic expressions that were accurate and direct. She opted to use her hands on this painting because she felt that graphite drawings were more time consuming and did not bring out the art form that she desired. Pollock on the other hand, was a liquid painter who later used paint pouring as an emerging technique on his canvases, which became his signature ‘drip’ technique. In this painting, Pollock paved the way for what was later to become the action painting term where the artist deviated from painting on a mounted canvas to working on it on the studio floor. The similarity between these two pai ntings is that the creation of both of them happened from new dimensions as these artists challenged the Western tradition of using the painting brush and easel. Pollock was an extremist, especially because he went against the conventional painting techniques meaning that he was not afraid to explore. The One: Number 31, 1950 is a unique painting as Pollock did not make his painting brush to interact with the canvas through the strokes being able to create the elements of art. Additionally, Pollock’s painting was quite extreme.

Merger and Acquisition Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Merger and Acquisition - Research Proposal Example This proposal considers the factors that drive firms to buy or merge with others, or to split-off or sell parts of their own businesses and the resulting tax consequences for firms and for investors. The main motive behind buying a firm is to create shareholder value above and over that of the sum of the two companies. The main assumption behind merging two companies is that two companies together are more productive than two separate companies. This underlying principle is particularly attractive to firms when the going is tough as has been the case for some of the companies in the prevailing economic crisis. Strong firms will opt buy other firms to create a more competitive, cost-efficient firm. The firms will merge with the intention of gaining a greater market share or to achieve greater efficiency. Due to these potential advantages, target firms will most of the time agree to be purchased when they are aware that they cannot survive alone. In fact merging or being acquired may b e the only way for some smaller and less established firms to survive this prevailing economic crisis. A merger occurs when two companies, most of the time roughly the same size, agree to proceed as a single new firm rather than be separately owned and operated. This sort of procedure is more accurately referred to as a "merger of equals". The stocks of both the firms are surrendered and novel company stock is issued in its place (Tibergien, 2006). For example, both Daimler-Benz and Chrysler ceased to exist when the two companies merged, and a new firm, DaimlerChrysler, was born. Although most of the time they are used in the same context and used as though they were synonymous, there is a slight difference in meaning the terms merger and acquisition. When a firm purchases and clearly establishes itself as the new owner, the taking over is called an acquisition. From a legal perspective, the target company ceases to exist, the buyer company takes over the business and the buyer's stock continues to be traded. In real world however, actual mergers of equals don't happen that regularly. Usually, one firm will buy another and, as part of the deal's terms, simply allow the acquired firm to declare that the action is a merger of equals, even though technically it's an acquisition (Donald, 2008). Being bought out most of the time has its negative implications, as a result, by defining the deal as a merger, deal makers and the top management attempt to make the acquisition more pleasant. A purchase deal will also be called a merger if both CEOs agree that joining together is in the best interest of both of their companies. But when the target company does not want to be purchased-that is when the deal is unfriendly - it is all the time considered as an acquisition. Whether a purchase is regarded a merger or an acquisition actually depends on whether the purchase is friendly or hostile and how it is announced. That is the actual difference is in how the purchase is communicated to and received by the target company's top management, other workers and shareholders. The economic crisis and anticipated slowdown in spending has made a number of firms that have great technology but weak balance sheets seek the shelter of a merger or an

Molecular biology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Molecular biology - Essay Example (Unemo & Nicholas, 2012). The developing multi drug resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the severe symptoms of the gonococcal infections, added to the socioeconomic burden and epidemiologically threatening aspects of the disease; drug resistance gonorrhea, its detection and diagnosis has acquired immense significance (Blomquist, et al., 2014). It is important to focus on preventing the spread of resistant forms as part of disease management. An essential requirement for controlling spread is enhancing surveillance through better diagnostic methods for identification and isolation of disease resistant pathogens. This project aims to introduce a novel method of diagnosis of drug resistance in clinical isolates of gonorrhea. The method presented in this paper involves the use of Tiling array for diagnosis of drug resistance in clinical isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The protocol is based on similar technology already used for development of protocols for drug resistance in other organisms. Tiling array is a derivation of microarray technology developed by Kapranov and colleagues (2002) and Shoemaker and colleagues (2001) that facilitates identification of previously unidentified transcripts through genome wide annotations. The initial euphoria associated with the utility and significance of antibacterial and antimicrobial drugs seems to fade with the rise in the bacterial strains exhibiting resistance to single as well as multiple drugs. Hence drug resistance has become an exponentially rising global health hazard rendering world population once again vulnerable to the threats of common diseases (Levy & Marshall, 2004). Both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria have been known to exhibit multi-drug resistance leaving health care providers with no antimicrobial therapeutic agents ensuring control and management of

Is Thai Airways going to bankruptcy Research Paper

Is Thai Airways going to bankruptcy - Research Paper Example uld take up shares with the business, beginning April 1, 1988, to be the major shareholder with an estimated 51.03% of the company’s shareholdings, while the remaining 48.97% is owned by investors in the domestic and foreign markets, also including the company’s employees (THAI, 2013). Through the years, the company has experienced various challenges, benefits, and implemented different strategies to remain competitive and profitable in a highly competitive international market (Shoffner, Shelly, & Cooke, 2011). There is speculation that Thai Airways may be going bankrupt, following several challenges in generation of revenue. Different scholars and publications have closely followed the progress of the company, often making speculations, and detailing the actions taken by various entities in an effort to prevent the company from going bankrupt. The impeding bankruptcy of the airline follows a number of decisions made by the company, with respect to the market forces. T he extent to which the investors are willing to get involved in the recovery efforts will determine the probability and possibility of the company failing. In this study, the aim is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the company finances and situation to establish the basis of bankruptcy claims and probabilities. Thai Airways is an entity in the transportation industry, such that the ministry of transport manages the domestic, regional and international routes. The nature of the venture means that the products and services offered include air passenger, cargo and mail transport, warehouse, ground passage, ground equipment, and catering and maintenance services. Although the company is renowned for the air passenger services, the other services serve to support this core service. Under the service, the company has witnessed growth in the customers as well as fleet of airplanes, but challenges have resulted in premonitions on the company’s bankruptcy. Improvements to the services offered and

Marble Chip Investigation Essay Example for Free

Marble Chip Investigation Essay Fair Test To make it a fair test and make my results more accurate I will try and keep all variables constant except the concentration of the acid. This will include weighing the marble chips every time and trying to use lumps of roughly the same size to keep the surface area fairly constant as a change in surface area will affect the rate of reaction. I will try and avoid a change in temperature and I will use the same equipment throughout the tests. Each concentration will be repeated at least once to improve accuracy as an average can be taken. Research The rate of reaction depends upon two factors, the number of collisions within a time between the reactants, and the fraction of these collisions that are successful. Therefore, the higher the concentration of the reactants, the higher the rate of reaction because there will be an increased number of collisions, this is called collision theory. However, for the reaction between the two reactants to be successful, they must collide with enough energy to react, the energy needed to react is known as  activation energy. This can be shown on a graph like the one below, I believe this graph is similar to what the energy diagram would be for my investigation. This shows that my chemical reaction will be exothermic, therefore it will release more energy than it uses to react. Therefore, at a higher concentration, there will be more reactions releasing energy in the form of heat that will enable more particles to reach their activation energy level and react. This shows that the rate of reaction will increase with the concentration of acid. Prediction After having done some research I feel that I can make an education prediction concerning what will happen during my investigation. I predict that the higher the concentration of acid I use, the faster the rate of reaction will be. I think this because the higher the concentration is, the more acid particles there will be to collide with the marble chip with enough energy to cause a reaction as explained in collision theory. I also believe that the rate of reaction will increase with concentration of acid because the chemical reaction I am doing is an exothermic reaction. Therefore, it will release energy as the reactions take place, this will give more energy to other particles around it and will cause the reaction to speed up as more particles reach their activation energy and collide with enough energy to react. Preliminary test results I started with 10g of marble chip and 100cm3 of 2M acid, the reaction was too fast and could not be accurately measured. I then tried 3g of marble chip with the same amount of 2M acid (100cm3), this worked fine, however, when the 0.4M concentration was tested the reaction was too slow and could not be accurately measured due to our scale. I then tried 6g of marble chip and it gave 135 cm3 of CO2 with the 2M concentration and 5 cm3 of CO2 with the 0.4M concentration. I felt that this would give us a good range of results so I  stuck with those measurements based on my preliminary tests. Observations When we had done our experiment we realised that we could benefit from some tests with other concentrations of acid to increase accuracy. Therefore we decided to do tests with 1.8M, 1.4M, 1M, 0.6M and 0.2M acid. However, when we did these tests they produced a much higher volume of carbon  dioxide than we would expect from our previous results. I came to the conclusion that this would have to be down to a change in one of the variables. Looking at the variables it was possible that it could have been temperature or surface area of the marble chips that caused the change, but as there had not been any large change in these variables it was unlikely that they would have such a clear affect on the results. After doing a few tests I found that it was the acid that I was using that had affected the results, I had started on a new batch of acid as the previous bottle had run out. Even though both batches of acid were labelled as being 2M, it was clear that one was stronger than the other and therefore increased the rate of reaction as the chance of acid particles colliding with the marble chip had been increased as there were more acid particles. Due to this, I plotted there results as a separate line, however, the results still show the same pattern and are therefore still useful in concluding the relation between gas given off and the concentration of acid, as explained by collision theory. Conclusion As you can see on the graph, both lines go up in a smooth curve. This shows that there is a correlation between concentration of acid and the volume of gas given off. As the concentration of acid increases so does the volume of gas, therefore they are proportional. The gradient of the line gets steeper as the concentration increases, this means that there was a larger increase of gas produced between 1.6M and 2M, than there was between 0.4M and 0.8M, even though the increase in concentration of acid was 0.4M in both. The graph shows that at higher concentrations of acid, more carbon dioxide was produced but in the same amount of time. This shows that at higher concentrations, the rate of reaction must have been faster to produce more products in the same time period. This can be explained by collision theory and the ideas on activation energy that I explained in my research and prediction. In my prediction I said that more gas would be given off with a higher  concentration, these results show that I was correct. This is because due to collision theory, in a low concentration of acid the acid particles are spread far apart. This means that there is very little chance of acid particles colliding with the marble chip with enough energy to react. In a high concentration, the acid particles are closer together as there is more of them within the same volume. This means that there is a much higher chance of collision with the marble chip, and there is more energy due to the energy being produced by the reaction, which is exothermic, this causes the reaction to be faster. This can be seen in my results, the 2M acid gave an average of 134.75cm3 of carbon dioxide, where the 0.4M concentration only gave an average of 4cm3 of carbon dioxide. The rate of reaction is reduced by a decrease of particles within the same space. Evaluation Accuracy of results I feel that my experiment was accurate because the results made a smooth curve on my graph. I did have a problem with the 1.8M, 1.4M, 1M, 0.6M and 0.2M acid results, as the acid appeared to be stronger than it was labelled. However, I resolved this problem by plotting the results as a separate line on my graph and they still showed a very similar curve to the other one showing the same relation between concentration of acid and the volume of gas given off. This shows that it was probably just the concentration of the acid that caused the problem and not my execution of the experiment that caused the results to be slightly different than what was expected. I think that my results could have been better as there was some variation between my four results for each of 2M, 1.6M, 1.2M, 0.8M, and 0.4M. However I do not feel this problem is major as the variations were relatively small as is shown by the error margins drawn on my graph, but there is still room for improvement. Possible Improvements If I was to do this investigation again I would try and keep some of the variables constant that I had less control over. The investigation was carried out over a few days so the classroom temperature may have varied. This could have had a slight effect on the rate of reaction making my results less accurate. Although the marble chips were roughly the same size they werent all exactly the same shape. If I could find a way to make the marble chips all the same shape and size then the investigation would be fairer as the surface area of the marble chips would be constant. If I was to do this investigation again I would try and use only one batch of acid for the whole experiment because as I found out, the acid supplied isnt always exactly the strength that it says it is. I would also try to use a more accurate piece of equipment to measure the volume of gas produced, using a measuring cylinder did not provide the best accuracy that was open to me. I could have achieved a higher level of accuracy with a buret.

Understanding Abuse Individual Assessment

Understanding Abuse Individual Assessment In day to day life abuse activities are growing rapidly and the measures to prevent them are also getting more specific .The exercise of power by the state on this sector is the most important thing to solve this problem. The government bodies are making different plans, policies to prevent abuse and create a healthier society and the nation. Mckibbin et al (2008) states that range of legislation and policies are designed to protect individual, groups, and vulnerable adults from abuse these are- The Care Standard Act 2000 Confidentiality policy Whistle Blowing Policy Physical Intervention Policy Complaint Procedure in Care Home Confidently and disclosure Trust is an integral part of our ability to provide consistent high standards of care and such it must not be broken. A persons trust is not a right but a special privilege, which means you must exercise care and thought in your handling of confidence. You must never divulge a confidence placed in you by a service user, colleague, relative etc. Only where the nature of the confidence may have a detrimental impact upon the standard of care should consider passing it on and then only to the registered Manager, never anyone else. Due to the nature of the work that is conducted within the home, and the confidentiality of information passes between residents, medical staff and statutory agencies and workers, all staff are required to sign a confidentiality agreement whereby you agree not to disclose any information relating to any resident without first obtaining permission from the resident and their assigned worker. Physical intervention policy Working with people who can behave aggressively has always presented management difficulties for staff. Some of the people that we work for occasionally behave in a way that leaves us no option but to intervene physically for their own or others safety. Every effort must be made to ensure that potentially volatile situations are avoided using non-confrontational approaches aimed at enabling the resident to take responsibility for his/her actions and consequences that follow. As a staff team we work together to reduce risks around violence and look at ways in which we can do this. Primarily, this is done by writing with Care Plans. The Care Plan needs to outline the aims and methods to be used with residents to gain achievements and life goals. When writing Care Plans, Risk Assessments will be a functional part of this process. Both Care Plans and Risk Assessments need to reflect the principles of OBrien and Wolfensberger regarding the provision of normalizing services. Once a comprehensive Care Plan package is in place the staff team are able to work with a clear and defined approach offering consistent care and support to the people we work with. The recording of incidents is a vital process in the safety of the staff. All episodes of violence must be recorded. Staff are made aware of these procedures and the following must always be completed:- Accident Book Incident and Violent Episodes Forms By the correct recording of Violent Episodes (VE) staff can look at the antecedents to behaviours in relation to the consequences. Often it is possible to develop strategies for reducing incidents in relation to this. Incident and Violent Episode Forms give the staff team the opportunity to reflect and access. Feedback and support is given in the form of supervision. All staff receives regular supervision every two to three weeks. This allows staff the opportunity to access their actions and reflect on work practice. When looking at violence toward staff, there are a number of preventive measures that need to be considered and put into practice. These are:- Ensuring the staffing levels is appropriate to the task. If there is a high risk, evaluate whether levels are adequate and if not have the flexibility to have extra staff on one given shift. Rotating high risk jobs thus ensuring the same person is not always at risk. The team should also have the ability to evaluate a task and decide what action if any is necessary. Make sure a senior member of staff on duty can make quick decisions if necessary. Ensuring the whole staff team is aware of particular guidelines, Risk Assessments and Care Plans. Making available the appropriate information for a particular task to be understood so that this can be undertaken with minimal risk. Staff training is essential for all aspects of our jobs and can give staff some of the necessary tools for coping with and lessening violence. This should encourage a more positive body language and this in turn should lessen violent episodes within the service. We clarify with all residents that violent behaviour is not acceptable however we shall not judge or condemn their behaviour. You must acquaint yourself with and abide by all and each of the issues current for the time being of the Companys Using Physical Intervention Policy. The Company revises all such policy and procedural documents on a regular basis responding to changes in contemporary care practice, the needs of the Company and the needs to ensure continued efficiency. The responsibility to maintain awareness of and act upon on-going revision of such documents remains wholly that of the individual staff member. Although these various statements and procedures are not formally expressed terms of your Contract of Employment, compliance is regarded as important by the Company and failure to abide by the same way lead to disciplinary action. Other policies Legislation implements by the Care Standard Act 2000 and the CQC aims to ensure that care home operates in a legal way in the release of care to the customers. Health and Safety at work Act 1974 is to give and preserve safe and healthy working conditions in workplace. Data Protection Act 1998, it is applies confidentiality. Disclosure Act 1998 about abuse and whistle blowing. The Human Rights Act 1998 shows a whole range of rights and freedom of people. DOH (1998) Strengths and weaknesses in current legislation and policies: In every policies and programmes there can be strength and weakness side so it s the important factor to identify which one is strength and weakness factor . We can make our strength more stronger and decrease or eliminate the weakness when we are well known about these factors. Here are some of the strength and weakness factors in current legislation and policies; CRB Check (Adult protection): CRB and POVA will give that the employee (candidate criminal offence report) but it is doing only in the UK. When candidate from abroad did crime there in his back home country, CRB in UK wont show those crimes, in that case its better to check the foreign police clearance certificate as well. Whistle Blowing Policy: Its the way to Improve the legislation practices and is a democratic option to build a healthier policy. But in some cases whistle blowing can create misunderstanding between the staffs and can decrease the motivation and security of the employees and can lead to worse condition as well. Complaint Procedure: It will improve the service at the same time most demented people wont be able to complaint due to their disability Residential Care Home Manager Managers may direct workers directly or they may direct several supervisors who direct the workers. The manager must be familiar with the work of all the groups he/she supervises, but does not need to be the best in any or all of the areas. It is more important for the manager to know how to manage the workers than to know how to do their work well. Annie Phillips (2003) Manager should have sufficient qualification and experience and no bad remark in Criminal record Bureau (CRB) records. (Frances 2004). Customers may be various and to meet the variety of their requirements, as a manager we have to be clear about what exactly each is seeking, what is needed is a way of thinking about the array of customers of residential care home. Social care council The general social care council is responsible for registration of all social care workers. The council regulates their conduct and their training. It will support for the setting and maintaining good practice standards. (Frances 2004). With having higher powers of operation in this sector social care council should be highly responsible for the better conduct and operation of the activities. Care Assistant These group of people are the direct responsible groups who cafà © the target group so they should be well trained, and to be as per the standard set by the council. Workers should free from CRB and required to register with the council and need to be appropriately qualified (minimum NVQ 2) Should be able to give personal care, followed best practice, allow the residents to maintain their dignity, privacy and respected their individuality through out. (Frances 2004) Working practice and strategies used to minimise abuse Answer 3 Approaches To Adult Protection There are many working practices implemented to minimise abuse in Health and Social Care Sectors the practices follows Adams (2007) states that in England, multiagency codes of practice aiming to tackle and prevent abuse of vulnerable adults developed in the light of the publication of the official guidance No Secrets (DOH and Home Office,2000). Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) Adams (2007) states that The protection of vulnerable adults (POVA) scheme was introduced in England and Wales in a phased programme from 2004,as required in the Care Standard Act 2000.This formed a list of persons considered not fitting to with vulnerable adults in England and Wales. People considered harmful to vulnerable adults could be referred by health and social care setting managers or employers of care for enclosure on the inventory These providers also could request for checks alongside the POVA list as part of an application for a CRB disclosure regarding persons apply for vacancies in care work. National minimum Standard were introduced for residential care Under the POVA actions safeguarding adults partnership have been set up from 2005 in each CQC area. Alerts may be triggered by inspectors, sometimes when inspecting or investigating a complaint. Safeguarding inspectors will deal with any safeguarding adults matters arising from this. Where there are concerns about the fitness of the manager of an establishment, registered person, or service or a breach of the Care Standard Act 2000, the CQC could be the main investigating agency. A safeguarding plan should be produced through a case conference, normally reviewed within six months. Complaint Procedures Registered providers of health and social care services are bound by law to produce a complaints procedure, specifying how service users, carers or patients can complain about the services. The procedure normally involves the complaint being investigated or responded to first by the service provider, although if the complaint is made to CQC inspection. The CQC may decide itself to carry out an investigation. Whistle blowing This usually involves a person making public some aspect of a group or organisation which they feel is wrong, dangerous, deficient or otherwise needing putting right through public attention. It is the activity of telling a third party, apart from colleagues or the employer, about malpractice. It will be unusual if any worker in the health and social care services does not come across some aspect of whistle blowing. This can arise directly or indirectly in three major ways, where: You are the whistleblower: you notice practice you feel is not acceptable and you consider telling a third party, outside the line management, about it. A colleague is the whistleblower: you see another person blowing the whistle on practices they consider unacceptable. The whistle is blown about practice involving you: where someone complains about, or blow the whistle on, some practice with which youre connected. Case Conferences Pritchard (1996) states that Case conference is very imp[ortant in to prevent abuse. A case conference brings people together to share their views and to discuss their work.It should be a forum where people can discuss their concerns,vent their feelings and anxieties and support each other. It is also a tool for organising future intervention. In summary the main purposes of a case conference are to: Exchange information in a multi disciplinary forum Assess the cliens situation and the degree of risk Make decidion and recommendation which are to be implemented Participants attending a case conference have several tasks to perform, namely: To give and share information The information given must be accurate.the participants gives factual information about the people they know( victim,abuser,or other important personnel). Obviousely participants voice their concerns,but they must also highlight the strength of a situation not just the negatives. Any gaps in information should always be identified and acknowledged. To assess the level of risk While handling a case of suspected abuse always need to do a risk assesment it is very important in case conference. Decide on registration Few authorities have at risk register for adults.where they do exist conference participants must know what know what the defined criteria are for putting a person name on the register. Co ordinate future intervention This will involve the formulation of a plan,which will state the tasks and responcibilities of everyone who will be involved. The keyworker will be responcible for ensuring that the plan s implemented and reconvening the case conference if there are difficulties in implementing the plan. Following are some suggestion for further improvements in working practices to minimise abuse in health and social care context When any one going to works for health and social care setting thet must check against POVA and CRB. POVA they can check new staffs with the provisional body whether they are free from Abusive offence in the United kingdom but here there is a drawback in case if the new employee is from outer United kingdom it will be harder to find whether the employee had any Abusive offence in their country. So we can ask particular employee to give references and police clearance from their own country. So as employer of the organisation get a full detail of the new employee further more every employee must have a proper relevant training such as Manual handling, Adult protection and many more so as manager of the organisation make sure all the staffs are well trained for the job and the manager must do supervision and appraisal the the employee. Whistle blowing is a good practice and it also got some disadvantages for an example in a residential care home all employees are from a certain country and in this team no one whistle blow about their country people to prevent this the manager always employ different ethnicity employees to the organisation and manager educate their staff about abuse. Communication and working in partnership is very important in minimising/preventing abuse in health and social care if not there are many more cases like Baby P,Victoria Climbie can happen future. 1 identify and review exiting working practice and strategies designed to minimalism abuse in health and social care context As we know abuse is a violation of an individuals human and civil rights by any other person or persons. So these violations should be restricted and some of the strategies to limit the abuse are being implemented everyday. Its very important to identify the practices and strategies to minimise abuse in health and social care sector. Some of the practices and strategies are as follows. Safeguarding vulnerable adults: These special group of people need support from the society and nation and its the responsibility of the nation to protect them and help them to live. Domestic violence: Domestic violence has remained as a chronic problem in social sector. Strong support of family, friends and society are the base for preventing this problem. Government has also made strict rules regarding the domestic violence. Racial harassment: Any type of behaviors that makes you feel distressed, alarmed or afraid can be categorized as harassment. This can include: verbal abuse, such as name-calling, insults or racist jokes vandalism and racist graffiti nuisance phone calls, texts or emails bullying, intimidation and threats Physical abuse or violence. Working practice Verbal and oral communication Communication both with the service provider and user, involved in their care and support is necessary if any potential for harm and abuse is to be minimised. Care must be taken when communicating information, verbally to ensure it remains confidential. For example that is not overheard by others. Written records must be kept in secure place and only accessible to that person who need to know or are responsible for those communications. Use of IT in sharing information between professionals Now days mostly health and social care organisation use computer to keep data about service user. It is important to make sure that data remains protected under the Data Protection Act 1998. Important information specially documents of abuses which are highly sensitive and disclosure of this information can be occurred harm for victims, should be stored by using password. Any kind of data share between professional must be informed individuals before sharing. Anti-oppressive practice In relation to supporting and protecting adult from abuse important information should not be withheld from those who have a right to that information. According to the British Law a person is innocent until it is proved that is guilty and it is important therefore that worker and other do not jump to conclusion or make assumption about a persons guilt. Adult Protection procedures are in place to make sure that no one is treated in oppressive manner which is abuse itself. So before knowing the abuser its not legal to assume them. Anti-discriminatory practice Everybody should take care in avoiding any kind of discriminatory practice when identifying, reporting and acting to protect individual from abuse. Individual legal right is that when investigating any case of abuse involve with them, they should free from any kind of blame and miss judgment. Frame work of assessment The aim of framework of assessment is protecting vulnerable people. There are different types of framework can save people from being abused. To minimise abuse in institutional care recruiting is so important. Proper selection of employee can reduce abuse in many ways, the process of selecting POVA employee can be clarified as follows; Is it a care position set out sub sec. 80(2) (c) of the Care Standard Act? Continue with recruitment/selection process including CRB disclosure where Appropriate Conduct recruitment /selection process including CRB check No Yes Await CRB disclosure and conformation of POVA check. Is it a care position set out sub sec. 80(2) (c) of the Care Standard Act? Yes No Apply for POVA first check as waiting would put provider of care breach of statutory staffing requirements POVA first check shows that a person with the same name and date of birth is on the POBA list Yes No No Do not offer employment in a care position in a care home or with a domiciliary agency No Offer employment subject to CRB disclosure and conformation of the POVA check Await CRB disclosure and final POVA check. Offer (or confirm) employment in a care position in a care home or with a domiciliary care agency Does CRB disclosure indicate that person should not be employed in a care position? Does conformation shows that applicant on the POVA list Strategies Working in partnership with service user Care sector agencies working in partnership is only part of the overall strategy to protect vulnerable adult from abuse. Enabling service users to recognise abuse and knowing how to alert others to this another important strategy. Decision making process and forums Local authority social service departments are responsible for adult protection and has set adult protection forum. If not then the local policy and procedure will describe the decision making process in situation where suspected or actual abuse require investigation. Strategy between professional and within organisation Working in partnership is also crucial, especially when the service user is accessing a number of different services. Effective communication between professional and organisation is important to ensure that the service user is protected. Communicating information about changes, significant event and action ensures that all those involved with supporting the service user are monitoring their well being so that they shouldnt be abused. Effectiveness of policies and strategies Use of IT in sharing information is protective and secure than traditional paper work besides to make quickest service use of technology is also important. Oral communication between care professional is remain confidential which means this information is not overheard by other people. Anti- oppressive practice and anti-discriminatory practice decrease chance of further abuse and frame work of assessment shows how to assess service user or assess employee before entering care work (POVA framework, diagram 1.1) Working in partnership within service user helps to stay closer with service user and give the opportunity to know their needs and demand. Multi agency working is very crucial to protect vulnerable adult from abuse which lacks in only one agency. Implications To do further improvement in care profession to protect vulnerable person from being abused local authority should closely monitor proper implementation of legislation. Care organisation shouldnt send care worker to the work, before making sure that they are skilled enough to work otherwise the same thing will happen what was happened in the case of Victoria climbie and Baby p. Those two children died in their early age under the same authority because of lack of experience of care worker. Conclusion: Abuse has very bad impact in the society. Without preventing abuse activities in the society its very hard to develop and development and civilization may get worst. It should be removed from our society by making sure the proper implementation of rules and legislation. We have to consider that abuse destroys individuals hopes, desires and interest of life and finally leads to a great social problem in the community and a nation. Recommendation Changing individuals mentality is most important to minimize abuse. Besides. working in partnership is also a way to diminish it. Step of government and help of Non Government Organisations (NGOs) is extremely needed to remove it and make it a permanent result. Thus as we know abuse is a social problem and cannot be solved through ones effort only so every members of society should play active roles in preventing abusive activities.

The Introduction Of Mamee Double Decker

The Introduction Of Mamee Double Decker Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhad is a unique brand of good taste and fine quality. The company is recently listed in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchang (KLSE). The company manufactures many products which are Mamee Monster, Mamee Instant and Sllrrrp Noodles, Mister Potato Chips, Mister Potato Crisps and so on. All this products are already household names. The most famous product of the company is Mamee Monster. Mamee Monster is something like noodles with a pack of seasoning powder. This product consists of two flavours which are chicken and barbeque. Besides these two flavours, there is another new flavor like satay flavor. Between these three flavours, barbeque is the tastiest and many kids like it including us. Mamee Monster consists of jumbo pack; the jumbo packs are a new product and it is include two flavours like barbeque and the new one- curry flavour. These two flavours can stimulate our taste buds. Besides this honored, the company also promote a new product which is Mister Potato Rice Crisps. This new product can competes with others brand as well like Jacker and Pringles. Why do I say so? It is because this Mister Potato Rice Crisps is low fat and healthier compared with others potato chips. Jacker is good taste but salty and same goes to Pringles. This new product consists of four flavours such as, original, flame grilled bbq, hot and spicy as well as sour cream and onion. For people who likes chili can try hot and spicy flavor. For those who do not like heavy flavour can try original flavour. In an addition, Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhad also has a product which is instant noodles-Mamee Sllrrrp. For this instant noodles have a variety of flavours such as ayam kampung, asam laksa, kari berapi and kari extra pedas. Any of the flavours will make people sllrrrp, sllrrp, sllrrrp when eating. Overall, Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhad is a good quality brand and no doubt it can win the heart of the public range from kids and adults to old folks. This company is a very successful company and earns much profit from previous until now. Mamee Lekor After a thorough consideration, we as Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhads corporate finance advisors had decided to increase their shareholders wealth by introducing a new product keropok lekor. What is keropok lekor? This is it. The easiest way to describe Keropok Lekor is to call it as fish sausage. Its main ingredients are fish (Ikan Parang/Kembong/Selayang), sago flour, salt and water. We named our new product (keropok lekor) as Mamee Lekor. It can be served in crispy type or soft chewy type according to preferences.D:New folderMmuGamma 1st SemBBF 2124 FM 2keropok_lekor.jpgD:New folderMmuGamma 1st SemBBF 2124 FM 211.jpg Keropok lekor is originated from Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia and it is a popular and most visible fried snack in Terengganu. Lots of local there know how to make this keropok lekor. Therefore, there are many stalls in Malaysia that sells keropok lekor. However, there is none in hypermarket, cinemas and petrol station. This keropok lekor become very popular that we can find it in other states of Malaysia such as Johor and Melaka. Perhaps, we could not find this type of snacks in country other than Malaysia because keropok lekor is a local Malay delicacy and specialty of Malaysia. Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhad introduces Mamee Lekor in two forms. First, the mini ball sized fried keropok lekor which packaging in a small plastic bag like Mamee Monster. Another one is raw keropok lekor. D:New folderMmuGamma 1st SemBBF 2124 FM 2keropak_lekor.jpg The fried keropok lekor in mini packing contains 10 mini balls of keropok lekor which sells RM1.50 per pack. The above picture is for illustration purpose only. To be more attrative, we will shape it into mini balls to attract customers. We also produce raw keropok lekor in 700g per pack which sells at RM10. This fried mini keropok lekor will expire in 4 to 5 days after production. How we are going to handle this situation? We will follow the Gardenias distribution strategy. We will send our workers to send new keropok lekor and collect back the expired one. Our workers are going to the retail store and supermarkets to send and collect Mamee Lekor 2 times per week. This is to ensure that our products are fresh before reaches to our customers and consumers. Also, we produce raw keropok lekor to fulfill some households demands. They can cut it into the thickness they prefer and fry or steam it. The main difference between the raw and ready fried mini packed keropok lekor is that the raw keropok lekor can keep for longer period. On the other hand, the ready fried mini packed keropok lekor can only last within 5 days. Some household may buy the raw keropok lekor and kept in their freezer and fried it whenever they want to eat. Since raw keropok lekor can be kept in a long period which is around one year, we plan to export it to other countries. We plan to export 700g of raw keropok lekor per pack to other countries selling at RM12 each. The selling price is slightly higher than in Malaysia because it already included the cost that related to export activities. We decided to export to Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. We export more to Australia because it is the largest and fastest growing export market compared to other countries. It ha s highest export rate of snack and confectionary from Mamee-Double Decker. We also export to Singapore and Hong Kong because we want to introduce Mamee Lekor to Western and Asian countries as well. Why we produce keropok lekor? This is because it is a local traditional delicacy which not available in other countries. It is a specialty to foreigners because their countries do not have this food. So, we can monopolize Mamee Lekor in other countries. Besides, according to research, Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad s snacks and confectionery occupied the highest demand compared to other catrgories. So we produce Mamee Lekor which is a kind of snacks to boost the demand. We will start our project by reaching out the children because no children dislike snacks and they like to try on new things. So, we decided to distribute Mamee Lekor to school canteens. It is packed in a mini package same as Mamee Monster. It is cute and can attract children to try it. It is also convenient to consume. Moreover, in order to expand new market, we will distribute our Mamee Lekor to all cinemas such as Golden Screen Cinemas and MBO Cinemas. Most of the people will carry a packet of snacks or a big box of popcorn into the theatre. As our Mamee Lekor is also a kind of snacks, we believe that the demand will be higher in cinemas. Also, Mamee Lekor can be a substitute good for those who do not like popcorn or other snacks for health conscious. As Our Mamee Lekor is made from fish and fried with unsaturated oil, it is high protein, monosodium glutamate (MSG)-free and less oily. Why we want to promote healthy lifestyle? It is to follow Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhads step. The company wants to produce products that are MSG-free, artificial colouring-free and oil-free. We produce keropok lekor in a healthy way to help consumers to consume without worries while maintaining a balance and healthy lifestyle. Initial Investment When we wanted to produce the Keropok Lekor, we used 3 types of machine like cartridge system, frying machine and packaging machine. The machines and the usages are shown below: Cartridge system is used to blend the filled up fish with some ingredients. This machine is the key in making Keropok Lekor and was the first step to produce the better product. The retail price of this type of machine is RM 15,000 each. It is a franchised system, so the price is fixed. We prepare keropok lekor from fish meat grounded with sago and salt; these are then rolled and made into the shape of long tubes similar to sausages by this machine.C:UsersPublicPicturesSample Picturesmoto_0117.jpg The frying machine is used to fry Keropok Lekor after it was shaped into mini size by our labours. This machine has many functions such as continuous fines removal for increased oil life and automatic oil level control. It is easy to clean. Its superior oil temperature control helps to maintain fryer quality stability. The cost of purchasing the machine is RM 6,000 each.http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/432764/3809036/0/1181816403/Gas_Frying_Machine.jpghttp://i03.i.aliimg.com/photo/104903103/Horizontal_Packaging_Machine_v0.jpg As shown the horizontal packaging machine. After the Keropok Lekor had been steam and fried, the packaging and leballing process happen. It is to keep keropok lekor last longer and maintain the taste. This machine costs RM 13,000 each. How many factories we have? We are going share some spaces in the existing Mamee-Double Decker factories rather than building extra factories. We choose to share capacity with factories in Selangor, Perak, Johor and Sarawak. This is the strategic location as we can cater the demands of North, East, West, and South of Malaysia. There are 2 cartridge system, 2 frying machines and 1 packaging machine in each factory. We use 2 catridge machine because one machine is not big enough to blend big amount of filled fish and other ingredient. When we use two of them together, the maintenance cost will become lower when some of the parts broken. Timing on processing will also reduce 20% compare to big cartridge machine. Other than that, we use 2 frying machines because we need to save cost especially in introducing the new product. The bigger and more technologically advance machine will cost higher. So we use 2 cartridge system and frying machine instead of the sophisticated one. The machines we use are expected to be able to serve large amount of production. Lastly, for an newly introduced project, we expect that 1 packaging machine is enough to cater our production. It produces around 70 to 100 packs of keropok lekor per hour. With one packaging machine only, we can save our budget and consume less space. We are going to promote our new product by advertising on The Star  [1]  newspaper. Why we choose to advertise on The Star rather than other newspapers? According to Audit Bureau of Circulations from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009, The Star newspaper is the most famous newspaper in Malaysia in term of readership. It has between 290,000 to 300,000 readers. Moreover, The Star newspaper is an English-language newspaper which is readable for all races, for instance Malays, Chinese, Indian and others, in Malaysia. Additionally, we need to buy new vans to implement our distribution network strategy. Each second hand van would cost us RM 80,000 each. We plan to buy 2 vans for each factory. We will hire driver to run our distribution network to distribute and collect back our keropok lekor. Year 1 In first year, we expect to sell 1,200 packs of Mini ball keropok lekor and raw keropok lekor each day. That means each factory has to produce 300 packs of Mini keropok lekor and raw keropok lekor respectively. Total quantity produce of mini and raw keropok lekor = 300 packs per day x 4 factories x 30 days per month x 12 months per year = 432,000 packs repectively. Sales Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Cash inflow in year 1 Unit selling price RM 1.50 RM 10.00 Quantity produce 432,000 432,000 Sales volume RM 648,000 RM 4,320,000 RM 4,968,000 The main ingredients of keropok lekor are ikan parang/kembong/selayang, sago flour, salt and water. The ingredient costs of mini and raw keropok lekor are RM 0.80 and RM 5.00 each while the packaging costs are RM 0.20 and RM 0.10 respectively. Packaging cost of mini keropok lekor is higher than raw keropok lekor because the packaging design will be more colourful and attractive. Also, we need labours to help us shape mini keropok lekor and fry it. Each labour cost is RM 800 per month. Each driver will have to travel 2 times per week to distribute and collect mini keropok lekor. Each trip will cost RM 150 including petrol cost. So, each driver costs us RM 150 x 2 times per week x 4 times per month x 12 months x 4 factories = RM 57,600. Costs Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Ingredient + packaging (RM0.80+RM0.20) x 432,000= RM 432,000 (RM5+RM0.10) x 432,000 = RM 2,203,200 Labor 6 labours X RM 800 X 12 months x 4 factories = RM 230,400 Driver 2 drivers x RM 57,600 = RM 115,200 Cash outflow (RM 432,000 + RM 2,203,200 + RM 230,400 + RM 115,200=RM 2,980,800 Net operating cash flow in year 1 = RM 4,968,000 RM 2,980,800 = RM 1,987,200 Year 2 Year 2, we estimate that our production will increase 5% as demand increases. Since first years production is 864,000 units (432,000 units for mini and raw keropok lekor respectively), year 2 our productions will be 907,200 units (864,000 + 5%). That means production for each type is 453,600 units. Besides, as Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad generated about 30% of its sales from the export markets which cover more than 80 countries across all continents, we plan to expand market and export raw keropok lekor to other countries. Each pack of raw keropok lekor, we will charge RM 12 which slightly higher than RM 10 to cover any expenses incur in export activities. In this year, we will export 100,000 units to Australia, 60,000 units to Hong Kong and 36,000 units to Singapore. In other words, we will export 25000, 15000 and 9000 units to these 3 countries in every 3 months. Why do we export more products to Australia? As Australia is the largest and fastest growing export market which contributed 18% of the total export sales in financial year 2009, we decided to export more products to the country. Other than Western country, we also export to Asian country such as Hong Kong. It not only helps to expand our market, but also introduce keropok lekor such a traditional cuisine to both Western and Asian countries. Besides, Singapore is our neighbour country and knows our cultures more as well as it contributed 9% of total export, so we choose to export to Singapore rather than other countries. Sales Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export raw keropok lekor Cash inflow in year 2 Unit selling price RM 1.50 RM 10.00 RM 12.00 Quantity produce 453,600 453,600 196,000 Sales volume RM 680,400 RM 4,536,000 RM 2,352,000 RM 7,568,400 Due to increase in production, we have to add in additional 2 labours, 1 driver, 1 cartridge system, 1 packaging machine and 1 frying machine in each factory. Costs Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export (raw keropok lekor Ingredient + packaging (RM0.80+RM0.20) x 453,600 = RM 453,600 (RM5+RM0.10) x 453,600 = RM 2,313,360 (RM7+RM0.10)x 196,000 = RM 1,391,600 Labor 8 labours X RM 800 X 12 months x 4 factories = RM 307,200 Driver 3 drivers x RM 57,600 = RM 172,800 Cartridge system RM 15,000 x 1 unit x 4 factories = RM 60,000 Packing machine RM 13,000 x 1 unit x 4 factories = RM 52,000 Frying machine RM 6,000 x 1 unit x 4 factories = RM 24,000 Cash outflow RM 453,600+ RM 2,313,360+ RM 1,391,600+ RM 307,200+ RM 172,800+ RM 60,000+ RM 52,000+ RM 24,000 =RM 4,774,560 Net operating cash flow in year 2 = RM 7,568,400 RM 4,774,560 = RM 2,793,840 Year 3 We estimate that our sales in this year keep increasing and probably reach maturity. Our expected production excluding export will increases from 907,200 to 950,400 units which increases around 5 % of year 2s production. In other words, production for mini and raw keropok lekor is 475,200 units respectively. Additionally, we expect export rate of keropok lekor will increase 4 %, which is from 196,000 to 204,000 units. In this year, we have to add in more technologically advance machine to cater the increase in production. We will purchase more innovative cartridge system, packing machine and frying machine to improve productivity. We also hire 2 more labours and 1 more driver to help us run our business smoother. The additional driver can help us widen our distribution network to other places. We expect that the cost of labour will become slightly higher which is from RM 800 to RM900. It is to increase their motivation to work and maybe due to inflation. Sales Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export raw keropok lekor Cash inflow in year 3 Unit selling price RM 1.50 RM 10.00 RM 12.00 Quantity produce 475,200 475,200 204,000 Sales volume RM 712,800 RM 4,752,000 RM 2,448,000 RM 7,912,800 Costs Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export (raw keropok lekor Ingredient + packaging (RM0.80+RM0.20) x 475,200 = RM 475,200 (RM5+RM0.10) x 475,200 = RM 2,423,520 (RM7+RM0.10)x 204,000 = RM 1,448,400 Labor 10 labours X RM 900 X 12 months x 4 factories = RM 432,000 Driver 4 drivers x RM 57,600 = RM 230,400 Cartridge system RM 20,000 x 1 unit x 4 factories = RM 80,000 Packing machine RM 20,000 x 1 unit x 4 factories = RM 80,000 Frying machine RM 10,000 x 1 unit x 4 factories = RM 40,000 Cash outflow RM 475,200+ RM 2,423,520+ RM 1,448,400+ RM 432,000+ RM 230,400+ RM 80,000+ RM 80,000+ RM 40,000 =RM 5,209,520 Net operating cash flow in year 3 = RM 7,912,800 RM 5,209,520 = RM 2,703,280 This year, although expected sales increases, net operating cash flow decreases. This is because we plan to do expansion by adding more technologically advance machines. This is logic as whenever a firm manages to cover up their initial investment, what they might do is to do expansion. Year 4 Out of expectation, probably the demand for our keropok lekor might go down. Perhaps there is new competitors exist in market. Who knows they envy of our high sales volume and might want to compete with us? With our 3 years brand recognition, perhaps our sales would not drop too badly. So, our expected production will be 920,000 units which are 3% less than previous year. Production of mini and raw keropok lekor will be 460,000 units respectively. As production decreases, we do not have to hire much driver for distribution network. We will cut down 1 driver to cut expense of RM 57,600. However, we will remain our existing labours. As we believe that, whenever there is an obstacle, we will find out a way to curb it and boost future sales as well as production. Thus, we do not want to loss any well- trained and loyal labour. Still, in order to handle any possible changes in future, we have a pessimistic view that the cost of ingredient will increase. We predict that the unit cost of mi ni keropok lekor will increase from RM0.80 to RM0.90 while raw keropok lekor will increase from RM5 to RM 5.50. On the other hand, our export rate will keep on increasing. We expect our production will be 210,000 units which is 3% higher than in year 3. Why do we forecast that the export rate will increase? Why not decrease? Because, even if foreign competitor wants to compete with us, they might need some times to figure out how to produce such a Malay local cuisine which is available in Malaysia only. This is our local special food, so of course there is some recipe that other countries do not know. Also, since there is a decrease in Malaysias sales and an increase of export rate, we do not have to add in any new machine. Sales Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export raw keropok lekor Cash inflow in year 4 Unit selling price RM 1.50 RM 10.00 RM 12.00 Quantity produce 460,000 460,000 210,000 Sales volume RM 690,000 RM 4,600,000 RM 2,520,000 RM 7,810,000 Costs Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export (raw keropok lekor Ingredient + packaging (RM0.90+RM0.20) x 460,000 = RM 506,000 (RM5.50+RM0.10) x 460,000 = RM 2,576,000 (RM7.50+RM0.10)x 210,000 = RM 1,596,000 Labor 10 labours X RM 900 X 12 months x 4 factories = RM 432,000 Driver 3 drivers x RM 57,600 = RM 172,800 Cash outflow RM 506,000 + RM 2,576,000 + RM 1,596,000 + RM 432,000 + RM 172,800 = RM 5,282,800 Net operating cash flow in year 4 = RM 7,810,000 RM 5,282,800 = RM 2,527,200 Year 5 Assume that there is a drop in sales, of course we will take some actions to increase the sales back. In this year, we plan to open kiosk in hypermarket. Together there will be one kiosk in Melaka, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru respectively. Rental of each kiosk is expected to be RM 800. We will hire 2 workers to help us operate the kiosk. Since we sell freshly cooked keropok lekor on the spot, we will need to purchase one frying machine for each kiosk. We also need some budgets for setup cost. With the above strategy, we believe that we able to boost our sales for at least 2%. Our expected production will be 940,000 units which is 470,000 units for each type of keropok lekor. Furthermore, we predict that our export rate of keropok lekor will grow at a decreasing rate which is 1% only. Our expected export rate will be 212,000 units. We are going to hire 2 more labours to help us to run our business to avoid supply shortage and to employ any future strategy. We need 1 more driver to widen our distribution network, and send raw keropok lekor to our kiosk to ensure there is no shortage problem. No additional machine is required as we already added in technologically advance machines in previous year which able to cater higher production. Sales Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export raw keropok lekor Cash inflow in year 5 Unit selling price RM 1.50 RM 10.00 RM 12.00 Quantity produce 470,000 470,000 212,000 Sales volume RM 705,000 RM 4,700,000 RM 2,544,000 RM 7,949,000 Costs Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export (raw keropok lekor Ingredient + packaging (RM0.90+RM0.20) x 470,000 = RM 517,000 (RM5.50+RM0.10) x 470,000 = RM 2,632,000 (RM7.50+RM0.10)x 212,000 = RM 1,611,200 Labor 12 labours X RM 900 X 12 months x 4 factories = RM 518,400 Driver 4 drivers x RM 57,600 = RM 230,400 4 Kiosk Expenses Calculations Total Rental RM 800 x 4 kiosks x 12months RM 38,400 Workers RM 800 x 2workers x 4 kiosks x 12 months RM 76,800 Frying machine RM 3000 x 4 kiosks RM 12,000 Setup RM 1,500 x 4 kioks RM 6,000 Total expenses for kiosks RM 133,200 Cash outflow in year 5 RM 517,000 + RM 2,632,000 + RM 1,611,200 + RM 518,400 + RM 230,400 + RM 133,200 = RM 5,642,200 Net Operating cash flow in year 5 = RM 7,949,000 RM 5,642,200 = RM 2,306,800 Although expected sales increases, net operating cash flow slightly decreases, it is due to the investment in kiosks. Yet, we believe that next years sales and net operating cash flow will increase simultaneously. RM 1,987,200 RM 2,793,840 RM 2,703,280 RM 2,527,200 RM 2,306,800 o 1 2 3 4 5 year RM 1,140,000 The time line above depicts the conventional cash flow of our project. There is only one cash outflow for initial investment in year 0. From year 2 to 5, there is positive net operating cash flow. The net cash flow rises from year 1 to 2 because we export raw keropok lekor to other countries and increase revenues. In year 3, the sales keep on increasing but net cash flows drop as we do expansion by purchasing additional machines for technology advancement. During year 4, we predict that there will be new competitors exist to compete with us. Our sales drop slightly but net cash flow increases, because we try to cut cost and do not need to add in new capital. The next year, we employ a new strategy which is to open kiosk in hypermarket to sell freshly fried keropok lekor. We predict that our sales will increase slightly. But why net cash flow descend? Because we need some costs on operating the kioks. In short, our net cash flow thoroughout the year is up and down, but we manage to ke ep it at positive level. From other point of view, there will be up and down, because when any unfavourable things incur, we try to solve it and up the net cash flow again. Cost of Capital The cost of capital acts as a link between Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad s long term investment decisions (keropok lekor project) and the wealth of their owners as determined by investors in the marketplace. It is the magic number that is used to decide whether a proposed investment will increase or decrease the firms stock price. The cost of capital is the rate of return that Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad must earn on the keropok lekor project in which it invests to maintain the market value of its stock. In this project, we will use Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhads retained earnings to cover our new project. Cost of retained earnings is a cost of internally generated funds. It is an imputed or opportunity cost or the dividends given up by the common stockholders. It is the rate that investors can earn elsewhere on investments of comparable risk. Why we choose to use cost of retained earnings rather than issuing new shares or bonds? The main reason is that we notice Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad is proposing share buy-back. According to research, they plan to buy back the shares by using their retained earnings. So, why do we still want to use its retained earnings to support our new project? This is because we cannot issue additional shares or bonds to raise capital. Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad proposed share buy-back is to reduce number of shares outstanding and increase their share price. So, we do not want to do the opposite way. Moreover, Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad is very strong. It holds RM 43,457,000 cash, deposit and bank balances without borrowing any long term debt. It finances itself with cash only. That is why we do not want to raise capital by issuing bond which is a type of long term debt. Although tax is deductible when we issue bonds/debts/loans, we do not want to break the rules and rise their financ ial risk. They do not finance themselves with any debt, perhaps they want to reduce their risk for no need to pay out coupon payment and principal to their debtors. Besides, we choose to raise capital by using retained earnings because our initial investment only takes 9% of their overall retaining earnings. Their retained earnings in financial year 2009 are RM 83,977,000 while our initial investment is RM 1,140,000. Our payback period shows that we could cover it up within 1 year. Yet, without being over optimistic, there is always something unfavourable happen, so we predict that we could cover up the initial investment within 2 years. Cost of retained earnings= D1 / P0 + g The dividend per share from year 2000 to 2009 is shown below: Year Dividend per share Year Dividend per share 2000 5.5 cents 2005 14 cents 2001 5.5 cents 2006 20 cents 2002 5.5 cents 2007 25 cents 2003 6.0 cents 2008 5 cents 2004 10 cents 2009 7 cents Input Function -5.5 PV 7.0 FV 9 N Growth of dividends = 2.71% (by using financial calculator) According to Bloomberg Businessweek  [2]  , expected dividend in 2010 is RM 0.10 while share price of Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad is RM 3.70. Cost of retained earnings = (RM 0.10 / RM 3.70) + 2.71% = 5.41 % In short, our cost of raising capital by using Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhads retained earnings is 5.41%. The cost of capital will be applied when calculating NPV of the company. Payback Period Payback period can be defined as the amount of time required for a firm to recover its initial investment in a project, as calculated from cash flow. Payback period which also calculated as: Payback period = RM 1,140,000 / RM 1,987,000 = 0.57 years Basically, payback period is used by small firms to evaluate most projects or small projects in larger firms. The computation is simple and easy to apply. By measuring how quickly the firms get to recover from its initial investment, payback period gives implicit consideration to the timing of cash flows. Many firms use payback period as a decision criterion to other decision as it can be viewed as a measure of risk exposure. The longer the firm must wait to recover its invested fund, the greater the possibility of a calamity. So, the shorter the payback period, the lower the firms exposure to such risk. Payback period cannot be specified in light of wealth maximization goal because it is not based on discounting cash flows to determine whether they add to the firms value. Payback period is viewed as an unsophisticated capital budgeting technique because it does not explicitly consider the time value of money. The calculation above shows that payback period for our new project is one year. Why is it so short? It is because our cash inflow in year 1 which is RM 1,987,200 is higher than the initial investment which is RM1,140,000. So, we get to cover back our initial investment and have an extra of RM 847,200 of revenue in year one. We should be glad that we able to pay back the initial investment within one year but please do not forget that it does ignore the time value of money. In finance, we always mention time value of money. But, do we really know what does it mean? Well,