Chinese people and Classical Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Chinese people and Classical Music - Essay Example Music is one of the most fundamental elements of the culture and reflects the various trends which are typical of a nation. And when it comes to China that is for sure one of the oldest civilizations of the world, carrying out research in this area seems even more reasonable because of the fact that China is viewed as the pioneer in the fields of music, sculpture, art and poetry, and the Chinese have introduced divergent forms of music in the history specially during the Zhou and Han regimes, which won applause and popularity in different areas of the world. Having said this, the significance of the topic can easily be estimated. This is principally a qualitative research. The methodology was based on such research tools as interviews, desk study and brainstorming. As you can see on the poster, I started my research on the association of the youth of China with the Classical music of the past in two ways. First, I started to study and analyze the research conducted by various scholar s in the past in the same area. I believe it is always a good idea to refer to the history of literature about the areas of knowledge you want to explore. For this purpose, I tried my best to work out all related researches from the past and somehow, I managed to lay my hands on quite a lot of the required stuff.

International Expansion Strategy for Snow Mobile Business

International Expansion Strategy for Snow Mobile Business Entry into new markets Pirilla is a company newly set up in Scotland. The company manufactures snow scooters (which, for the sake of this report, will be synonymous to snow mobiles) and is pondering whether to go international, and if so, where to, and how to go about it. Pirilla produces two basic models, a 125cc and a 400cc model in six colours As far as the internationalisation goes, the markets under scrutiny are Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Russia, and Luxemburg. According to a recent feasibility study, the budget only allows for two countries to be entered in an initial wave. In general, there are four basic ways of entering foreign markets: Exporting Licensing Joint venture Direct investment Of course these can come in hybrid forms as well, but by and large these are the main types that one would take into consideration when wanting to go international. The four modes are listed in ascending order of involvement in the respective foreign market, i.e. exporting the snow mobiles to any of the countries would ceteris paribus mean less local involvement than licensing etc. Exporting is very often the initial mode of entering a foreign market, especially if no structured approach has been driven in the past (i.e. structures such as those of e.g. large pharmaceutical companies, which tend to allow for immediate licensing agreements in the target country at the very least). The export approach can be a quick and dirty way of tapping a foreign market, but it may well be a sustainable way of handling foreign business if it turns out there really is no point in high degrees of local engagement. Licensing involves production abroad, but carried out by another party, i.e. the licensee. Just like exporting it does not involve any direct investment, so if the licensee is trustworthy and knows how to employ the (intangible!) assets placed at his disposal – i.e. production know-how, brands, sales strategies and areas etc – this way can turn out very beneficial as local expertise is teamed up with the licensor’s product. The downside is obvious: It is crucial to find a licensee that meets the required standards. Joint ventures do entail quite a bit of involvement in the foreign market. They are ideal if there are a number of large players and we need to gain a certain size quickly, and the partner is reliable and has similar strategic goals. However, there are many downsides to this structure. If both partners share a common competitive goal, chances are both will try to prevent the other one from getting ahead at all, which may be counterproductive as resources and up being used on controlling/confining the partner rather than on furthering the common cause. Many time joint ventures are formed for certain parts of the value chain only, e.g. for RD inbound and/or outbound logistics. The entry mode requiring most commitment is usually the one that involves foreign direct investment (FDI). The trade-off is between control and resources that have to be available. Given the high level of resources that go abroad in this case, the company should be pretty sure about what it is doing and how it is going about it. For this reason, FDI is not usually the mode of first choice for new companies. The most apparent argument in favour of a foreign entry is the limited size of the market at home. No figures are available for the number of snow mobiles registered or sold in Scotland or the UK, but it does not take much ingenuity to figure out which are the countries that provide better opportunities than the home market in terms of potential sales figures, i.e. Scandinavia, and, as far as Europe goes, probably Russia. This intuition is first of all simply based on the climate. When was the last time you saw a snowmobile in the UK? In fact, the economic impact of snowmobiling in the Scandinavian region is around USD 1.6bn per year, third behind the USA and Canada (International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association, Snowmobiling Facts: Snow Facts, n.d.). McDonald’s has opened drive-through restaurants for snowmobiles in northern Sweden. This is possible because the vehicles have to stay on marked tracks (US Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, 2002). International coverage means higher sales number, which can lead to economies of scale. The learning associated with higher output will enable the company to cut costs and produce at more efficient levels, which will ultimately put it in a position where it can position itself in a competitive market without having to forego profit margins. According to data by the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association, there are 409 snowmobile dealerships in Scandinavia. Rather than to wait for the pull of the market which may or may not come if Pirilla were to confine itself to operations and sales in the UK, the company should induce that pull by an initial push to the market. In other words, it would be advisable to penetrate the market at sufficiently high levels, i.e. to be present in large numbers of these dealerships. Having achieved this initial level of penetration, the company could then operate from a solid base and take further marketing activities from there. As far as cons to going international go, the first that comes to mind is the relatively low degree of operative experience currently prevalent within the company. Internationalisation always adds another dimension to the business, and it is easy for newcomers to make mistakes. Or in more optimistic terms, the learning curve is steep in this area. Taking the aforementioned factors into consideration, I would advise the company to go international and benefit from the business potential abroad, but to do so by only exporting the snowmobiles at first (with a slight â€Å"twist† though – see underneath). The countries I would go for are Sweden in Finland. The rationale for Sweden and Finland is compelling, I believe. As pointed out earlier, Scandinavia commands high sales in snowmobiles, which is no surprise at all, given its climatic situation, particularly in the northern parts, where snowmobiles are a substitute for cars. Seeing that I have to limit my choice to two countries due to budgetary constraints, these two are the one I would choose. Sweden is my first choice, and Finland makes a convenient second given the similarity in climate and landscape. Also, both countries are members of the European Union, which tends to make exporting business easier. In the target countries I would try to find an exclusive importer/distributor so as not to make things too complicated. As I pointed out earlier, there are a number of hybrid forms when it comes to modes of entry to foreign markets, and for the given situation, and in another scenario, one could also invest a small portion of FDI to create a central export hub that makes logistic sense to ship the vehicles to (i.e. somewhere north of Lulea, at the border of Sweden and Finland). From this hub the vehicles could then be further shipped to their final destination. Note that there is also an alternative to this logistical package, i.e. if feasible, the ship could call at several ports en route. But this scenario would mean further logistical involvement in the target country, and at this stage I think we should rather avoid that. Hence I would stick with the aforementioned option of an exclusive importer/distributor. I would suggest segmenting the market into Private riders Professional riders Institutions Private riders buy snowmobiles mainly for recreational activities, partially as substitute for their cars. According to a survey conducted by a number of universities in western USA, the reasons for owning a snowmobile (in the USA) are: To view the scenery To be with friends To get away from the usual demands of life and to do something with the family To be close with nature (International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association, Research Uncovers a Great Deal of Interest in Snowmobiling, n.d.). 67% of all riders are below 50 years old, with the average age of all snowmobile owners being 41 and having family and one kid (International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association, Snowmobiling Facts: Snow Facts, n.d.). Professional riders are people who may find it difficult to get to certain destination the â€Å"conventional† way and prefer (or, given the road situation, have) to use snowmobiles, or people who use them as part of their profession in the first place. Doctors, vets, hunters, ski instructors, and people in the tourism industry spring to mind. The third group, institutions, are bodies affiliated in some way to the state, such as law enforcement units (police, mountain police, rangers etc), and institutions in the corporate sector with employees/members (in the widest sense) exposed to outdoor work. The three groups will of course require different marketing approaches particularly with regard to the promotion policy. Production I am going to base my model for the export markets Sweden and Finland on Swedish statistics and will extrapolate the Finnish case, based on the rationale that many of the variables will be the same in both countries. It is difficult to make a compelling case for the UK market, if there is indeed such a thing. According to the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association, there are about 2.6mn registered snowmobiles in the world: 1.69mn in the USA, 601,000 in Canada, and 318,000 in Scandinavia (Facts and Statistics about Snowmobiling, n.d.) . This pretty much adds up to (slightly above) the 2.6mn, which means that the number of snowmobiles in the rest of the world is negligible, and including the UK. My model is based on the specific demographics of Sweden. According to the information provided by the International Trade Administration of the US Department of Commerce (2004), there are currently about 130,000 snowmobiles in Sweden (or one for every 69 inhabitants). 8,000 units are sold every year. If these were only replacement purchases, the useful life of a snowmobile would be around 15 to 16 years. Whether these ARE in fact only replacement purchases or not does not really matter (of course parts of these 8,000 units are sold to first-time owners) – the relevant bit is the ratio of new sales in terms of existing units in the market, which is 6.67%. In other words, the turnover of existing numbers is 6.67% per year. Given the similarities between Sweden and Finland not the least in connection with climate and culture, I have extrapolated the demographic parameters of Sweden into the Finnish case (i.e. one snowmobile per 69 inhabitants, 6.67% of total units sold every year). My estimate puts the total number of snowmobiles in Finland to 75,000 (based on an estimated 5.2mn inhabitants in Finland, as given by the CIA (CIA World Factbook, n.d.)), and taking into consideration the annual sales ratio of 6.67%, I have come up with annual sales of a total of 5,000 snowmobiles in Finland. The four largest producers of snowmobiles are based overseas: Artic Cat, Bombardier Recreational Products, Polaris Industries, and Yamaha Motor Corporation. All of them sell to Scandinavia, but while those that have all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) in their product range sell them in the UK, I have not found a dealership that sells snowmobiles in the UK. My advice is to assume a markets size of about 10% of the Scandinavian model. For Scotland, the market size thus works out at 7,400, and annual sales could come in at around 500 (N.B. I am assuming that the market for snowmobiles in England is negligible in size). Traditionally the ratio of the market share of the three largest players has been 4:2:1 (see also Ries Trout, 2001). And it is safe to say that the top three spots have been taken by the aforementioned large producers, and a quick search on the web shows that there are a few smaller players as well. So our goal should be to achieve a market share of 5% in the three markets we are going to enter (i.e. UK/Scotland, Sweden, Finland). Hence the annual sales targets are: Sweden: 5% x 8,000 = 400 units Finland: 5% x 5,000 = 250 units Scotland: 5% x 500 = 25 units Let’s top it up by an additional 25 units in case the base case for Scotland/UK is too pessimistic, and we end up with an annual sales target of 700 units, which will also be our production target. Unfortunately no data have been provided with regard to any preferences for the 125cc or the 400cc model. I would strongly suggest to carry out some market research in this particular field, otherwise we run a large risk of producing the wrong article. However, if you say you are willing to take that risk, I would advise you to split the production two thirds to one third in favour of the 125cc units (i.e. 467 125cc’s and 233 400cc’s). This way the capital tied up in production and storage of finished products is less than in the case of a 50/50 split. Also, my guess is that the market for private (i.e. recreational) riders is probably largest, and they may be more reluctant to go for the substantially more expensive option – as opposed to professional riders and institutions, who might find it worthwhile to invest in the faster package. But again – I strongly recommend additional market research in this area. Most of the snowmobiles currently in the market are above 500cc, so both of our models will create a niche. If we position the models well, we may attract new first-time buyers (see below, â€Å"Advertising/Promotion†). As far as the colours are concerned, the same is true: We have too little data to base a decision on. In contrast to the aforementioned issue of 125cc vs. 400cc, I would suggest to build equal numbers of all colours. Pricing I understand that marginal costs of production are GBP 6,450 for the 125cc model, and GBP 8,990 for the 400cc model. I am not sure if you are aware that these costs are already above the SALES prices of all but the most expensive models made by the top four producers! The one 125cc model available in the market is for kids and is priced at GBP 1,800, although I don’t believe an adult version would change much in terms of pricing. The 500cc to 600cc models on the market are in the region of GBP 5,000 to 7,000. There are two options: First, we can try to cut costs. Given that we are new to the market, I doubt that we can achieve prices that are higher than those of our competitors – let alone prices that are 50% to 75% above those in the market! The second option, in general, to achieve a price that is beyond anything in the market is to convince the target buyers that our product is unique. As I pointed out earlier, our product is unique in that its engine size is smaller than those on the market, and we can use this to our advantage. However, I believe that we can throw all the money we want at advertising agencies, but trying to make people buy snowmobiles that are effectively inferior in terms of performance to those on the market at 50% mark-ups, that is the proverbial horse that won’t run. Even more so as we are new to the market – why should anyone trust us? So my advice is to go back to the drawing board and cut costs to an extent that we can afford a mark-up of 20% on top of marginal costs and still be in the range of other producers (i.e. around GBP 5,000 to a maximum of 6,000). There are no large price differentials among the three markets we have targeted (and certainly not among the two Scandinavian countries), so my advice applies to all of them. Distribution channel As pointed out earlier, I would advise the company to find a reliable dealership with nationwide coverage (or partners) and sign a contract of exclusivity with him. This way we could benefit from existing infrastructure, and we would not have to worry about the â€Å"final mile†. Another option would be to have the ship call at numerous ports and thus avoid an exclusive agreement. This option would come with increased levels of flexibility, but at the same time it would require more planning on our side (N.B. the same goes for the building of a central hub at the Swedish-Finnish border, which would also involve a small portion of FDI, as pointed out earlier). For a start, I would prefer to sign a one-year exclusivity agreement. This would also have to include a reliable form of on-site after-sales service for cases of warranty etc. Advertising/Promotion There are numerous magazines that deal with snowmobiling on a purely â€Å"funs-sports† or a more technically advanced level. These will have to be our no.1 medium of advertising. We should also support our exclusive dealer in his efforts to sell our products – i.e. POS advertising on his premises and at downstream dealerships he may sell to. On top of the snowmobiling magazines, we should advertise in trade magazines of the professional groups I identified as potential buyers earlier on: Hunters, vets, doctors, ski instructors. There could also be publications of regional associations, which would allow us to find our target groups more easily (as we want to address hunters in northern parts of Sweden and Finland – no point in targeting these groups in, say, Malmà ¶). I doubt that radio, let alone TV commercials are within our budgetary limits. The institutional group should be addressed by a sales person directly. We may want to stress the fact that our product is unique in that it is probably more economical and hence environmentally agreeable due to the comparatively small cubic capacity. This could be our niche, as there are hardly any snowmobiles with said specifications on the market (most units are above 500cc). Entry into new markets We should try to consolidate our experience before rolling out into other markets. The top players are already there, so it is no question of capturing any first-mover advantage. I would suggest to enter Norway next, and Russia in a subsequent wave. Norway is similar to Sweden, and it is part of the EEC, so any lessons learnt in Sweden and Finland can probably be easily implemented in Norway. Russia will be a different animal altogether and should not be tackled before we have all structures safely in place. Reference list CIA n.d., The World Factbook. Retrieved 27 August, 2006, from https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association n.d., Facts and Statistics about Snowmobiling. Retrieved 27 August, 2006, from http://www.snowmobile.org/pr_snowfacts.asp International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association n.d., Research Uncovers a Great Deal of Interest in Snowmobiling. Retrieved 27 August, 2006, from http://www.snowmobile.org/pr_research-06-aug.asp International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association n.d., Snowmobiling Facts: Snow Facts. Retrieved 27 August, 2006, from http://www.snowmobile.org/facts_snfcts.asp International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association n.d., Snowmobiling Facts: Snowmobiling in Europe. Retrieved 27 August, 2006, from http://www.snowmobile.org/facts_europe.asp Porter, ME 1998, Competitive Advantage, Free Press, London. Ries, A and Trout, J 2001, Positioning: the Battle For Your Mind, McGraw-Hill Education, London. US Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, International Market Insight: Snowmobiles, 2002. Retrieved 27 August, 2006, from http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/inimr-ri.nsf/en/gr111748e.html

My Power of Prayer :: Autobiography Essay, Personal Narrative

The power of prayer is an amazing thing. In sports it is not uncommon to see someone pointing to the sky after a touchdown, or a team prayer before a big game. While I was running cross-country in high school I came across many obstacles. I had to ignore people telling me, â€Å"cross-country’s not a real sport,† or â€Å"why don’t you do a real sport like football?† I did not have much experience in cross-country running; therefore, I experienced doubt and lack of self-confidence at some points. I started running when I was a senior in high school. I made it through the first couple of races all right, but began to get angry at myself because I was not improving at the rate I had wanted to. I was very excited for the season and often found myself distraught when I did not do well and I could not understand what the problem was. I always assumed that if a person runs fast one day, he/she should run faster the next day. In addition to the internal pressure I put on myself during my tenure as an athlete, I felt a lot of outside pressure. My uncles, who are currently high school coaches near me, were high school standouts in the sport and ran extremely well in college. I always thought that if I did not perform at the level that was expected, I would be looked down upon. Of course that was not the case, but I always wanted to impress them. I remember running in one invitational which both of them attended. I put such a tremendous amount of pressure on myself to perform that I ended up getting a cramp in my side, causing me to run one of the worst races of my life. I found myself asking why this would happen. Therefore, I decided to start training very hard for my next race, even though it was only a small race against a weaker team. I found myself very relaxed and ran a comfortable race. I finished with amazement, because I had dropped my best time by about twenty seconds. For the first time, I had broken the seventeen-minute mark for a five kilometer race. I immediately thought of my uncles; how great would it be to tell them about the race?

War Powers Resolution Act

Olivia Brasacchio U. S. History Block 4 05/08/12 â€Å"A resolution to avoid an evil is seldom framed till the evil is so far advanced as to make avoidance impossible† Thomas Hardy. The purpose of the War Powers Resolution act of 197 3 was to ensure that both Congress and the President share in making decisions that could potentially get the U. S. involved in hostilities or imitate danger. U. S. Presidents have consistently agreed that the War Powers Resolution Act is an unconstitutional violation of the higher powers of the executive branch.As a result, the Resolution has been the subject of controversy since its enactment in November of 1973, and is a recurring issue due to the ongoing commitment of U. S. armed forces globally. Furthermore, when a U. S. president has failed to secure a congressional declaration of war, this is technically considered an illegal war from a governmental standpoint. When the American people support such war, no matter how just and right they bel ieve it is, they are going against not only their owl principal’s and moral values but their defying the system of government and laws in which the U. S. as been brought up on, better yet their defying the constitution overall. The only way to properly justify this is through the War Powers Resolution itself. Section 4 of the resolution-article (a) subsection (3) states that ‘in the absence of a declaration of war, in any case in which United States Armed Forces are introduced†¦. in numbers which substantially enlarge United States Armed Forces equipped for combat already located in a foreign nation; the president shall submit within 48 hours to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and to the President pro tempore of the Senate a report, in writing, setting forth. A) The circumstances necessitating the introduction of United States Armed Forces; (B) the constitutional and legislative authority under which such introduction took place; and (b) The President s hall provide such other information as the Congress may request in the fulfillment of its constitutional responsibilities with respect to committing the Nation to war and to the use of United States Armed Forces abroad.This only occurs if the president deems action necessary which was the purpose of the Golf of Tonkin resolution as well. However, if the president is the commander and chief of the army-then this essentially restricting his powers further-if he must have congress watching over him and approving his every request-which has said to take a fare amount of time, resulting in a possible loss for the U. S. on an important issue or military commitments to other countries.Moreover, this has played out in recent events from 1993 to 1999, when President Clinton utilized United States armed forces in multiple operations, such as air strikes and the deployment of peacekeeping forces, in Yugoslavia. These operations were identical to the United Nations Security Council resolutions and were conducted in correlation with other members of NATO. During this time President Clinton submitted multiple reports to Congress consistent with the War Powers Resolution Act and regulations regarding the involvement of U.S. forces. However, he never cited section 4(a) (1), which did not trigger the start of the 60 day time limit that should have occurred. Tom Campbell-member of the House of Representatives filed suit in the United States Federal District Court of Colombia, against President Kennedy on allegations that he had violated the War Powers Resolution now that the 60 days had elapsed since the start of military operations in Kosovo. President Kennedy stated that he considered this ‘constitutionally defective’.In the end the court ruled in favor of the president, saying that members lacked legal standing and evidence to make their case fully plausible. The U. S. Supreme Court then refused to hear an appeal once this decision was made. This one of many exa mples in U. S. history where the president’s power to engage in military conflict has been questioned and proved unconstitutional regarding problems with War Powers Resolution act.

Stenden Hots Part C

SCM HOTEL| MODULE ASSIGNMENT PDO PART C| SCM HOTEL| MODULE ASSIGNMENT PDO PART C| Other Operating Expenses at the company which makes a high turnover and a bad staff satibout . e in the HOTS game. Year: 2011-2012 Module: 3 Team 8 Other Operating Expenses at the company which makes a high turnover and a bad staff satibout . e in the HOTS game. Year: 2011-2012 Module: 3 Class: 2PDOd Team 8 Inhalt 1 Performance dashboard year 2 & 3:3 Total turnover4 Figure 1; Total revenue. 4 Figure 2; Net income5 Figure 3; Total rooms sold6 Figure 4; Room occupancy %7 Figure 5; The average room rate (ARR)8Figure 6; Revenue per available room (RevPAR)9 Figure; 7 Public awareness10 Figure 8; Staff turnover (annual %)11 Benchmark Internal year 2 & 3 using variance analysis12 Sales13 Cost of sales13 Payroll and Related13 Gross profit less wages13 Other direct costs13 Total fixed costs14 Income before taxes IT14 3. 3 Benchmark Internal year 2&3 using DuPont analysis15 3. 4 Benchmark Best in comp etitive set:17 3. 5 Benchmark with the industry19 Conclusion21 Performance dashboard year 2 & 3: In the chapter performance dashboard of year 2 & 3 an analysis of important figures in relation to the business SMC will be given.The figures entail every month from every year this means 4 years are shown, year 0 until year 3. A total of 9 figures is used and will be individually explained. Total turnover Figure 1; Total revenue. The total revenue of hotel SCM can be found in figure 1 which is shown above. The last two years the hotel made a lot more revenue than previous years, this can be explained by the investment of the entrepreneurs. In the last two year more revenue can be made because of the investment in year zero and one. Due to investment the facilities and comfort of hotel SCM expanded which results in higher revenue.Figure 2; Net income The net income over the 4 years that SCM exists are shown in figure 2. There is a lot fluctuation within one year especially when l ooking at January and December year one. In year one and a little less in year two the tables shows that the figures are low and even negative. Year 2 and 3 are a bit more constant but with a remarkable negative figure in September year 2. These negative figures is due to the investments that are made. Implementation of services, refurbishment and investing in marketing makes the total direct costs high which influences the net income negatively.After year one the average net income increased enormously. There were no big investments anymore and therefore no high cost which would influence the net income in a negative way. Figure 3; Total rooms sold In figure 3 an overview of the total rooms sold is shown. The hotel opened in year zero and from that moment on the line is progressive which means on average a growth in total rooms sold can be concluded. In year 1 on average 2797 rooms were sold on monthly basis, in year 2 this number was 4196. The last year the total rooms sols increa sed again to 4699 rooms average sold on monthly basis.On average hotel still improved itself every year with number of rooms sold because the total increased every year. Figure 4; Room occupancy % In figure 4 the room occupancy in percentages is shown for the 4 years that hotel SCM exists. In year zero the occupancy percentage was the lowest and the highest for year three because of the progressive line which was also shown in total rooms sold. On yearly basis a stable line is shown with in April a high percentage and a decrease in occupancy percentage at the end of the year, this is related to the high and low season so is totally understandable.The low occupancy percentage in year zero can be explained due to the fact that the rooms weren`t done so couldn`t be sold. Figure 5; The average room rate (ARR) The average room rate of hotel SCM is related to figure 5. The average room rate is pretty stable and is close to the line of 100. Year one is on average around 10 $ dollars lower and year 2 shows relatively unstable line . The average room rate for year zero was 100. 10,for year one this is the lowest with a rate of 95. 38, year two shows an average room rate of 98. 32 and for the last year which is year three it is the highest with 103. 5. Figure 6; Revenue per available room (RevPAR) Figure 6 gives an inside in the revenue per available room (RevPAR) of hotel SCM. The figure shows the influence of the high and low season again January and December are low season and show a lower RevPAR, where July, August and September which are high season show the highest RevPAR. When comparing January year 3 40. 74 to August year 3 93. 92 this is a difference of 53. 18 in RevPAR all due to the influence of the high and low season. The RevPAR increased every year of existents of hotel SCM. Figure; 7 Public awarenessPublic arwareness which can be found in figure 7 was something that was very important for hotel SCM that’s why a lot investments were made in marketin g. It shows how aware the public is of the existents of hotel SCM. In Year zero the hotel started with a very high public awareness, in Year 3 the public awareness was the highest which is very positive because after 4 years people are still aware of the hotel. The high public awareness can be explained by the high investment in marketing, but is shows that its contributing and has a positive effect. The average public awareness for year zero 37. 65, for year 1 28. 65, for year 2 38. 07 and for the last year which is year 3 it was 48. 08. Figure 8; Staff turnover (annual %) Figure 8 shows the staff turnover in annual % over the 4 years. The figure shows that only year 1 is relatively stable year 1 and 3 are very unstable and fluctuated every month. In year zero the staff turnover was the lowest with an average of 27. 53%, in year 1 it increased to the percentage of 43. 44%, in year 2 it increased again while the average was 64. 13% and in year 3 this was the highest with an average of 70. 34%. Benchmark Internal year 2 & 3 using variance analysisIn this chapter the differences between the budget and the actual results from year 2 and 3 will be given. A table with the estimated budget which were made in HOTS assignment part B will be shown and explanation for the actual results will be given. The budget in assignment B was based on the results of year 1. | Year 1| Budget y2| Budget y3| Sales| Â  | Â  | Â  | Rooms| 3. 834. 606,00| 6. 820. 937,50| 9. 695. 312,50| Food| 1. 943. 338,00| 2. 332. 005,60| 2. 681. 806,44| Beverage| 887. 156,00| 505. 689,20| 581. 542,58| Other| 328. 258,00| 393. 909,60| 452. 996,04| | 6. 993. 358,00| 10. 052. 541,90| 13. 411. 57,56| | Â  | Â  | Â  | Cost of Sales| Â  | Â  | Â  | Room| 18. 321,00| 32. 589,11| 82. 397,41| Food & Bev| 1. 182. 670,00| 1. 185. 678,72| 1. 366. 999,36| Other| 62. 957,00| 75. 548,40| 104. 256,79| | 1. 263. 948,00| 1. 293. 816,23| 1. 553. 653,57| | Â  | Â  | Â  | Payroll & Related| Â  | Â  | Â  | Front office| 203. 371,00| 166. 799,36| 208. 499,20| House keeping| 289. 856,00| 166. 799,36| 208. 499,20| Food & Bev| 423. 309,00| 416. 998,40| 500. 398,08| Other| 52. 594,00| 109. 527,60| 153. 338,64| | 969. 130,00| 860. 124,72| 1. 070. 735,12| | Â  | Â  | Â  | Gross Profit less Wages| Â  | Â  | Â  | Room| 3. 323. 058,00| 6. 54. 749,67| 9. 195. 916,69| Food & Bev| 1. 224. 515,00| 1. 235. 017,68| 1. 395. 951,58| Other| 212. 707,00| 208. 833,60| 195. 400,61| | 4. 760. 280,00| 7. 898. 600,95| 10. 787. 268,87| | Â  | Â  | Â  | central adm. Payroll| 320. 224,00| 250. 000,00| 240. 000,00| Total Other Direct Costs| 2. 347. 026,00| 1. 200. 000,00| 1. 150. 000,00| Income before FC| 2. 093. 030,00| 6. 448. 600,95| 9. 397. 268,87| Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Total Fixed Costs| 1. 180. 850,00| 750. 000,00| 850. 000,00| Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Income before IT| 912. 180,00| 5. 698. 600,95| 8. 547. 268,87| | | | | Table 1; estimated budget year 2 +3 SalesFor sales in ye ar one the total amount 6. 993. 358,00 the hotel expected an amount of 10. 052. 541,90 based on the findings in table 1 out of assignment b. The actual sales income for year 2 is 12. 504. 685,00 so the actual result is better than expected. In year 3 the entrepreneurs expected an amount of 13. 411. 657,56 which was actually 14. 227. 255,00 again the result is better than expected. These result can be explained because of the ARR that increased where in year 1 the figure ARR was around 90 in the 3 year it is around the 105/110. Cost of sales In year 2 hotel SCM expected a total of 1. 293. 16,2 in cost of sales but results in 2. 428. 178,00 which is almost 2 times that high. For year the 2 estimated amount was1. 553. 653,57 this was actually 2. 631. 055,00. The big difference in the estimated budget and the actual figures can be explained due to the high marketing costs which were made as mentioned in chapter 1 figure 7. High costs in marketing resulted in a high public awareness whic h was good for the company.Payroll and Related 1. 362. 446,00 is the actual total amount for year 2 for payroll and related while the estimated amount was 860. 124,72, for year 3 the expectations were an amount of 1. 70. 735,12 which was finally 1. 556. 499,00. These amounts are a lot higher due to the trainings and employee costs which are made, hotel SCM had a high occupancy so all employees were needed and training was necessary to remain customer satisfaction and quality. Of course the training and salaries influence employee satisfaction and the entrepreneurs believe that happy employees do their job better. Gross profit less wages In year 2 a decrease in gross profit less wages is estimated to the amount of 7. 898. 600,95 and resulted in 8. 797. 635,00 which is a bit higher, for year 3 10. 787. 68,87 was expected where 10. 134. 228,00 which is a bit lower. The budget is very close to the estimated budget in year 2 the gross profit is 70,4% and in year 3 even 71,2% on the incom e statement. Other direct costs 3. 692. 438,00 instead of 1. 200. 000,00 for other direct costs in year 2, 4. 687. 714,00 instead of 1. 150. 000,00. These figures are tremendously higher than were estimated, this is due to investment in facilities. The strategy of hotel SCM was not to spend that much on refurbishment but to remain quality the hotel had to do it to be able to compete with the other hotels.Therefore no hotel shop was built because otherwise the other direct costs would be even higher. Total fixed costs In year 1 the Total fixed costs percentage was 16. 9% which meant 1. 180. 850,00$, for year 2 and estimation of 750. 000,00 was made and resulted in 1. 159. 593,00 (9,3%). In year 3 estimated budget was 850. 000,00 which was finally 1. 053. 443,00 (7,4%). The estimated budget was actually very low when looking at the percentage. The percentage for the fixed costs has decreased which is good and are relatively low, which is positive for hotel SCM. |Income before taxes IT The income before IT year 2 was 3. 509. 143,00 which is lower than the expected amount of 5. 698. 600,95. 3. 913. 793,00 was the income before taxes in year 3 which is a lot lower than the estimated amount of 8. 547. 268,87. The income before taxes are a lot lower than expected which is unfortunate. 3. 3 Benchmark Internal year 2&3 using DuPont analysis In the following Text is explained which progress the Hotel SCM did based on the DuPont analysis. As one can see in the DuPont analysis year 2 related to year 3 the net profit and total revenue increased.That is positive but looking at the ratios like net profit margin, asset turnover, return on asset, financial leverage multiplier and return on equity it can be considered that SMC performed in year 2 better even the net profit is lower. The Profit margin is an indicator for profitability in a company. It shows how much money is made out of the total revenue in percentage. In both years it was made around 20% which Is very good but in year 3 it was a bit lower. The reason was more costs which lowered the net profit. In both years is the asset turnover around 0. 9.That is all right because when the profit margin is high then in the most cases the asset turnover is low. That doesn? t mean that SCM performed bad, is just a unspoken rule in finance, because of that you have to take more than one ration in consideration to decide which company is healthy or not. Return on assets is in year 3 17,03% and in year 2 18,07%. It can be conclude that the ROA decreased just 1%. It is interesting for new investors. A high ROA means that the company generates a lot of money out of a lower investment. So actually it can be assumed that investing more money can generate more profit.Furthermore the financial leverage multiplier is very important. In both years it is 1,21, that is for investors a good indicator to judge on the healthiness of an company. A high leverage means that a Company covers the investments with foreign money. A low number means that the company uses the gained money to reinvest. The reason because SMC has a low leverage is because it was no need to invest a higher amount of money like to build more rooms so SMC had not taken a higher loan or need to sale mire share which is not possible in the HOTS game.Moreover the last and one of the most important ratios is Return on equity. A high ROE is necessary for a company to attract more shareholders which invest in the company. It decreased in year 3 but it is still more than 20 %. SMC performed in both years very good just in year 3 it was worse. 3. 4 Benchmark Best in competitive set: SMC had an end ranking of the 3rd place. We are going to compare ourselves to Lilihotel which won the game. Operations SMC had the highest RevPar so it is not necessary to compare it. The gross operating Profit was 34,91 % and lilihotel had 43,79%.That means lilihotel gained more money with less costs. Moreover lilihotel had a higher rooms market share. The reason is that lilihotel built more rooms so it could be sold more as well and it was sold 7 more in average compared to SMC. Owner SMC had 29,35% ROCE and lilihotel 40. 85%. That ratio shows how much the companies gained back out of the investment. The Hotel SMC did not invest so much in year 2 and 3 so the performing was worse. It was no Hotel shop and no more rooms were built even that SMC had no loan anymore. Looked at the balance sheet of the company SCM, there were more the 3 million $ on the ccount. On one hand it is positive to have saved money but so much is wrong to safe because the money could be invested to generated more. Guest SMC is better than lilihotel so it should not be compared. But SMC was not as good as Team 7 which reached 100% guest satisfaction. It can be explained because the company’s image index was 109,81 compared to SMC which just had 74,76. The reason can be the missing Hotel shop. Staff Of both Hotels is the Staff satisfaction the same wit h 70%. SMC got the lower ranking because the staff turnover was lower than at lilihotel.The winner in that part was Team 7. They had the lowest staff turnover. That mean the company had a better planning in staff hiring in busy times. Overall it can be concluded that in every part were little differences, so it cannot be told that SMC performed so much less than lilihotel. 3. 5 Benchmark with the industry | Hotel SMC Year 3| Hosta 2011>250 rooms| Differences| Revenue| | | | Rooms| 50,7%| 58%| -7,3%| Food| 30,67%| 24%| 6,67%| Beverage| 12,33%| 8%| 4,33%| Other income| 6,3%| 10%| -3,7%| Total Revenues| 100%| 100%| | Cost of Sales| | | |Food| 12,1%| 7%| 5,1%| Beverage| 5,0%| 2%| 3,0%| Other Departments| 0,7%| 1%| -0,3%| Total Cost of Sales| 17,8%| 10%| 7,8%| Payroll & Related| | | | Rooms| 5,3%| 10%| -4,7%| Food & Beverage| 5,0%| 14%| -9,0%| Central Administration| 2,7%| 4%| -1,3%| Other departments| 0,7%| 3%| -2,3%| Total Payroll & Related| 13,7| 31%| -17,3%| Other Oper ating Expenses| | | | Rooms| 6,9%| 5%| 1,9%| Food & Beverage| 1,3%| 2%| -0,7%| Other departments| 0,6%| 2%| -1,4%| Total Other Operating Expenses| 8,8%| 9%| -0,2%| Undistributed Operating Expenses| | | |Administration & General| 2,6%| 3%| -0,4%| Marketing| 13,5%| 3%| 10,5%| Energy Cost| 0,3%| 3%| -2,7%| Property Operating| 1,9%| 2%| -0,1%| Total Undistributed Expenses| 18,3%| 11%| 7,3%| Total Expenses| 58,6%| 61,2%| -2,6%| Income Before Fixed Charges| 34,9%| 38,8%| -3,9%| In the following the company SMC is compared to the Hosta report 2011 which is a report about the industrial averages in the hospitality industry. In that case we are just focusing on hotels with more than 250 rooms. Revenue In Food & Beverage the Hotel SMC performed better than the industrial average.In Food 6,67% better and in Beverage 4,33% better. Moreover the company is worse in rooms and in the account other income that can be because it was not implemented a Hotel shop. As well SMC did not build more rooms. It can be concluded that SMC need more time to run the business properly to reach the industrial average in Rooms to gain more revenue. Cost of Sales In total SMC had 7,8% more cost of sales than the average. That shows that a lot of improvement is necessary. The right balance between marketing, suppliers, extra services and the total revenue.Sometimes should SMC lower the standard to gain more net profit because the cost a lower than as well. Payroll & Related Take the Hosta report in consideration than it shows that the hotel SCM is 17,3% lower in Payrolls as the average. First it looks positive because that means less costs on the other hand when the employees now that there are underpaid related to the average then the will not work anymore at the company which makes a high turnover and a bad staff satisfaction. Other Operating Expenses The company SCM had 1,9% more expenses the in the hosta report. Moreover the total is 0,2% lower than the average.It can be conc lude that the expenses a relative high because the hosta report is for hotels with more than 250 rooms. SMC has exactly 250 rooms which means that the expenses are to high. In the next year It should be figured out how to lower it. Undistributed Operating Expenses SMC is spending too much on marketing, 10,5% more than the average. But overall the total expenses are 2. 6 lower the industrial average which means that SMC do a good performance in that part. But on the long term the Hotel has to increase the income because it is 3,9% lower than in the hosta report mentioned. ConclusionFinancial Based on the findings showed in chapter 3. 3 the conclusion is drawn that the hotel is very healthy. The ROA decreased 1% which basically means when there will be more investment, the profit will increase and the financial leverage multiplier staid the same with 1,21. Operations What we have seen before, the operations on building new facilities was not that important in year 2 & 3. The hotel did not build extra rooms or hotel show, but did, again, a lot of refurbishments. Technology and maintenance Like said before, there were some refurbishments done in rooms, front office and restaurant.This was done because of the lower guest ranking. HRM The costs of staff training was very high. This caused mayor ‘other costs’ and the company did not really create a very constant amount of staff turnover. Marketing SCM hotel spent a lot of money on marketing, far more than its competitors. This resulted in very high costs, but also in a very high, constant public awareness. Next year Next year the hotel should try to sell more rooms. This cannot be done with spending more money on advertising, but in positive experiences and mouth to mouth.In addition the staff need to be well trained, although it would be recommended not to higher the staff training costs. This needs to be done with improved planning skills and a better schedule In addition, because of the opportunit ies in the Return on Assets, it would be wise to make some investments during year 4. There is no loan to take care of, so it could be a very big one which requires a lot of money. Moreover there should be a good guest and staff survey, what they think about the company and what needs some attention, so the hotel can provide better service to the needs of its employees and the guests. Appendixa