Marketing Analysis of GOD Essay Example for Free

Marketing Analysis of GOD Essay Company Description: GOD is now a fast-growing furniture and furnishings company brand in Hong Kong. They describe them as More Than Just a Furniture Store. GOD is the phonetic sound of the Cantonese slang to live better which a basic human desire all around the world. The founder of GOD Douglas Young and Benjamin Lau opened the first GOD store at Ap Lei Chau in 1996. Within 2 years, two more shops opened in Central and Tsim Sha Tsui respectively. In 2001, GOD has opened a 20,000 sq. ft. flagship store in Causeway Bay. The mission of GOD has always been to define a new Hong Kong identity by exploring age-old oriental traditions and updating them with modern consumers in mind, their demonstrations of the techniques and wisdom of past generations in the east still has a place in the future world. Most of the furniture of GOD is made in China to their stringent standards of quality and workmanship. Their products range from furniture, bathware, kitchenware to even lighting and carpets. Among these various products, furniture occupies the highest proportion of sales revenues. What makes GOD different from other convectional furniture and furnishing company is that all of their furniture is designed by local designers. The company is strongly against todays mass produced and soulless products. The main theme of their furniture is creative, comfortable, and multifunctional. In order to surprise their customers, GOD constantly turns out new items on a weekly basis. Because the marketing strategy in GOD is so clear that make the company become one of the few furniture companies that can still make a profit, and even expand their business, in the time of economy downturn in HK these years. Situation Analysis: 1. SWOT Analysis: Internally, GOD has a management team with designing knowledge which could perfectly apply to the daily management in the company. Small size of management team also benefits the company with the efficient division of  labor. Despite the fact of having numerous competitors with lower price, G.O.D. is still taking the leading role in the industry with its unique offerings of the oriental tradition Asian design in products, as well as the extraordinary decoration in each branch . G.OD is expanding its market share by connecting to other different industries, so as to attract more customers from different aspects. The diversification of production and also the custom made strategy contribute to the company as it prevent excess inventory. Moreover, its own RD team takes a big responsibility in fulfilling the demand of the customers in having a better quality. Other than all those favorable circumstances, G.OD is still encountering certain weaknesses. Due to the short history of establishment, G.O.D. is lack of experience and specialization. Its relatively high price and narrow choice of products has also prevented the visit and purchase of customers. Also, due to the limited capital inflow in the company, GOD is still not able to develop a large RD team; it also regards advertisement as a big burden for the company. Regardless of the success of the manufacturing approach, it, on the other hand, has lead to the high cost of production as it could not achieve the economy of scale. Favorable external factors include the increasing upscale market which people are more concerned about quality of life, there are only few and not well-established local competitors, and as the economic is recovering, there are more opportunities. Ergonomics is one of the most popular topics in furniture industry because the customers perceived value can be raised by introducing it. Unfavorable external factors include the taste of customers which people like international culture more, like Japan. In addition, the favorable investment condition attracts competitor from foreign countries. 2. Industry analysis: The furniture and furnishing industry has a long history in Hong Kong. It includes the production of household, office and furniture, as well as  bedding and parts of furniture. There are 249 furniture manufacturers in Hong Kong, employing more than 704 people as at Sep 2002. Around 90% of them are small companies engaging less than 10 people . Although it is not the major industry in the local market, the competition is very keen. In terms of market segmentation, the current furniture industry in Hong Kong is generally divided into three main categories: high-end, middle-end and lower-end market. However, in the past, the craft-based, labor-intensive furniture industry was one of the oldest industries in Hong Kong. It was developed to meet local demands. At that time, the furniture industry was dominated by a large number of small firms and could be divided into three major sectors, namely, wooden furniture, rattan furniture and metal furniture . After the economic crisis in 1998, many small companies went bankrupt and customers incentive on buying furniture was lower. To maintain their competitive power, many large companies strive to reduce their costs and increase their efficiency. Some relocate their manufacturing operations to other areas with lower operation costs like Mainland China. Foreign manufacturers are taking steps to strengthen their domestic production through production specialization. Hong Kongs furniture makers also start to establish their own brands and some concept stores in order to develop their unique product lines to differentiate their firms from the others. Companies like GOD and Franc Franc are the most apparent examples which produce products with Hong Kong local characteristics and Japanese culture respectively. Recently, due to the economic recovery and the change of customer trend, people are going to be responsive to the new trends and design of furniture. Thus, the industry is going to produce products to cater the needs of Hong Kong people. Also, many furniture manufacturers become more careful about the choice of raw materials to meet international standards, such as compliance with legal or other environmental requirements in their target markets. Because of the limited living space in Hong Kong, the industry produces the furniture which is highly practical and multi- functional. Moreover, most of them embrace innovative designs and combinations of furnishings which allow them to save home spaces and provide a sense of style and modernism. To cater the growing trend and design of furniture which correspond to their taste and lifestyle, the industry produces DIY furniture which can let consumers to make their unique furniture with their own styles. Moreover, most of them are made of the environmental friendly materials for production. 3. Competitor Analysis: Competitors in relevant market: There are three main competitors of GOD in Hong Kong, accordingly Franc Franc, IKEA and PRICERITE. Their target market segments do not necessarily the same but do have some overlapping as they both target on the market segments of middle-income level families. Further, the mission of their competitors also stress on developing a new concept of life style to Hong Kong people. Franc Francs company would invest over 30 million dollars in Hong Kong and expect there will be 36 million HK dollars gross profit in the first year. There will also be 2 or 3 new branches opened in the next few years. They will be mainly located in some big shopping malls. IKEA have 4 branches in Hong Kong mainly located near big housing town. IKEA is the most well known furniture company in Hong Kong due to the massive advertising programs. The concepts of their design are simple, multi-functional and sustainable. They also have a successful and well-developed customer service system which helps them to develop the loyalty of their customers. PRICERITEs target group mainly focuses on lower income families. They  provide a relatively low price to their customers, thus helping them to develop a low cost, comfortable and multifunctional living environment. They have over 45 branches in Hong Kong so as consumers can easily find a PRICERITE nearby. Comparative advantages: 1. GODUniqueness of local culture In these years, many industries especially those expose frequently to young people like filmdom and musical industry, advocate local original design and innovation. This atmosphere makes young people create a good feeling to Hong Kong local products. Today, GOD is the unique furniture store with strong Hong Kong concept. What Hong Kong concept here means is Hong Kongs own culture and social atmosphere. GOD is a local brand and all of their exclusive designers are local. GOD claims their products have soul because their products can turn out local peoples opinion and attitude to lives. It can attract a group of Hong Kong new generation who like to show off their characters and tastes by their home furniture . 2. Franc FrancAdhere to Japanese-styled goods The trend in Japan always is a benchmark for the young people in Hong Kong. It is because the young people in Hong Kong think Japanese always stand on the tips of the trend. Thus, most of them are adherent to Japanese-styled goods. Many Japanese brands like Fancl and Sanrio have successfully developed their business in Hong Kong. Their successes are also based on this reason. Franc Franc is the sole furniture concept store with Japanese style in Hong Kong. This make it exclusively enjoys the adherent from Hong Kong young people in this market . 3. IKEACost Leadership To provide goods with high quality at relatively low prices, IKEA drives tough bargains with its suppliers in order to employ lowest cost suppliers  of raw and semi-finished goods from all over the world. IKEA Also, their products developers seek out manufacturers who can produce in the most cost-effective way and designers always work with solutions that result in a low price. This cost-focused supply chain model results in getting the goods with cheapest price and good quality.

Loves Executioner, by Irvin D. Yalom Essay -- Literary Analysis, Yalo

In the story, â€Å"Loves Executioner†, Yalom treats and old woman named â€Å"Thelma† that is overly obsessed with her a former therapist from ten years ago named Matthew. Yalom feeling though that he is drawn to the facets of her dilemma decides to do everything he can to empower Thelma move past the obsessions that had been wrecking havoc on her mental health. Although Thelma’s love obsession with her therapist, and her subjective experiences on life of what is preventing her from living in the present, Yalom attempts to treat a 70-year-old woman only to learn that being love executioner more complicated as he had anticipated. First and foremost are Yalom and Thelma’s first meeting. In beginning, Yalom is intrigued with her love obsession with Matthew and couldn’t understand why her former therapist that was considerably younger would even want to have sexual relations Thelma as he describes her as, â€Å"a shabby old woman† (Yalom, 2000). The possibly of helping her move past her obsession to ease her suffering, were the reasons why Yalom ultimately decides to treat her. I thought that though Yalom had good intentions from the start to treat her, I think that he was thrown off by her demands as she tells him right from the start, â€Å"Eight years ago I had a love affair with my therapist. Since then he has never left my mind. I almost killed myself once and I believe I will succeed the next time. You are my last hope.† (Yalom, 2000 p. 18) A person that has been seeing therapists for over twenty years and be stuck on an obsession for ten, I thought, was rather intimidating and I think that Yalom did the best he could to remain optimistic. If I had a patient like Thelma that told me that I was her last hope and if I could not help her she wi... ...ought that in some ways Yalom lost his patience, but he was on time constraints had more time to work with Thelma, therapy may have turned out different. This was defiantly one most confusing and intricate stories I have read in Yalom’s book and that the overall take home message I took from this was that, love and obsessions are hard to intellectualize and understand objectively as much as we would like to. Although what may be logically the best decision, love is not based on logic and that the only loves executioner cannot come from the suggestions of another person or therapist, but more from themselves and within. I think this quote states the story best, â€Å"Love and Psychotherapy are fundamentally incompatible. A good therapist fights darkness and seeks illumination, while romantic love is sustained by mystery and crumbles upon inspection† (Yalom, 2000 p. 17)

Understanding the Financial Statements

Submitted By:Salina Thapa Rana Magar (12077697)Sona Limbu (12078108)FINC20018 Managerial FinanceProfessor: Angelique McInnesCentral Queensland UniversityBrisbane Campus Term 1 201821st April 2018Table of ContentsQuestion No. 1: Understanding the Financial Statements (Chapter 3) Answer:Part 1:Financial Statement shows the total financial functioning of the firm. Any business entities can easily assume the financial status of the company by using the financial statement of the company. At the end of specific period, each business prepares Profit and Loss Account (Income Statement), Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet), Statement of Cash Flows (Cash flow statement) and Statement of Changes in Equity. Cash flow statement is one of the major financial statement which records all the amount that a business is receiving from its business transactions as well as the amount that it disburses. The cash flow statement is prepared to find out how business is generating cash and how effectively they are utilizing their cash resources in productive sector. Cash flow statement if managed properly would help the firm to skip cash crisis in the business. As a result, business can assure the availability of cash to cover the due expenses. Cash flow statement depicts the position of economic status of the companyThe main objective of preparing cash flow is:To find out the sources and areas of cash incoming and cash outgoing respectively.To allocate the situation on which business might be in the position of cash insufficiency or cash surplus.Cash flow statement is prepared to predict future cash inflows or outflows. To deliver information regarding the capability of firm to pay its liabilities or taxes.To evaluate whether the firm is on the right track or not by measuring the overall financial records of the company at specific time.To deliver information for making capital budgeting decisions. To evaluate the overall performance of the firm by making comparison between their actual performance and future predictions of cash flow. Part 2Cash flow statement shows the mobility cash in three different areas of business activities: Operating activitiesFinancing activitiesInvesting activitiesCash flow statement provides the answer to the following questions:What are the primary sources of cash incoming?What are the basic operating activities of a firm to generate cash? How does the firm manage their extra funds if the business faces shortages?What are the main investment areas of business?What is the reason behind increase or decrease in cash flow?Part 3a) Calculation of Quality of Earnings RatioThe quality of earnings ratio for two firms i.e. Woodside Petroleum Ltd and Origin Energy for the latest three years is calculated as follows:Woodside Petroleum Ltd (WPL.AX)2017 2016 2015Quality of Earning Ratio = Cash flow from operationsNet Profit = 2,400,0001,024,000 = 2.3438 = 2,587,000868,000= 2.9804 = 2,475,00026,000 = 95. 1923Origin Energy (ORG.AX)2017 2016 2015Quality of Earning Ratio = Cash flow from operationsNet Profit = 1,289,000-2,226,000 = – 0.5791 = 1,404,000-628,000= – 2.2357 = 1,833,000-658,000 = -2.7857b)c) Capital Acquisition RatioThe capital acquisition ratio for both firms i.e. Woodside Petroleum Ltd and Origin Energy for the latest three years is calculated in the following tables:Woodside Petroleum Ltd (WPL.AX)2017 2016 2015 Cash Acquisition Ratio= Cash flow from operationsCash paid forcapital expenditure= 2,400,0001,390,000 = 1.7266 = 2,587,0001,860,000= 1.3909 = 2,475,0001,819,000 = 1.3606Origin Energy (ORG.AX)2017 2016 2015Cash AcquisitionRatio= Cash flow from operationsCash paid forcapital expenditure = 1,289,000-419,000 = – 3.0764 = 1,404,000-572,000= – 2.4545 = 1,833,000-1,484,000 = -1.2352 d)After comparing Woodside Petroleum Ltd and Origin Energy's ability to utilize the operating cash flow to finance their capital expenditure, we came to the conclusion that †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Question No. 2: The Income Statement (Chapter 3)Answer: a.CQU Oil LimitedIncome StatementFor the year ended†¦.Sales $ 2,500,000Cost of Goods Sold (700,000)Gross Profit 1,800,000Operating Expenses Cash Operating Expenses 150,000 Depreciation Expenses 150,000 Total Operating Expenses (300,000)Operating Profit 1,500,000Interest Expenses (200,000)Profit Before Tax 1300,000Tax (390,000)Net Profit 910,000b. From the above income statement, we can see that CQU Oil's taxable Income and Tax Payable for the year are $ 1300,000 and $ 390,000 respectively. d.Question No. 3: Financial Analysis (Chapter 4)Calculation of Financial RatiosThe financial ratios for both firms i.e. West farmers Ltd and Woolworths Ltd for the most recent year i.e. 2017 are calculated as follows:West farmers Ltd (WES) Woolworths Ltd (WOW)1. Liquidity RatioCurrent Ratio = Current AssetsCurrent Liabilities = 9667 / 10417 = 0.928002303 = 0.9280 times Current Ratio = Current AssetsCurrent Liabilities. = 6994.2 / 15921.6 = 0.43929 = 0.4393 timesQuick Ratio= Current Assets –InventoryCurrent Liabilities = (9667 -6530) / 10417 = 3137 / 10417 = 0.3012 times Quick Ratio= Current Assets –InventoryCurrent Liabilities = (6994.2 – 4080.4) / 15921.6 = 2913.80 / 15921.6 = 0.1830 timesInventory Ratio=Cost of Goods SoldInventoryInventory Ratio=Cost of Goods SoldInventory = 39739.7 / 4080.4 = 9.7392 times2. Capital Structure RatioDebt Ratio = Total LiabilitiesTotal Assets = 16174 / 40115 = 0.4032 = 40.32% Debt Ratio = Total LiabilitiesTotal Assets= 13039.7 / 22915.8 = 0.5690= 56.90%Interest Coverage Ratio =EBITInterest Expense = 4402 / 213 = 20.6667 Interest Coverage Ratio =EBITInterest Expense3. Asset Management Efficiency RatioTotal Asset Turnover =SalesTotal Assets = 68444 / 40115 = 1.7062 times Total Asset Turnover =SalesTotal Assets= 55475 / 22915.8 = 2.4208 timesFixed AssetTurnover=SalesNet Property, plan & Equipment = 68444 / 9440 = 7.2504 times Fixed AssetTurnover=SalesNet Property, plan & Equipment = 55475 / 8437.5 = 6.5748 times4. Probability RatioGross Profit Margin= Gross ProfitSales= Gross Profit Margin= Gross ProfitSales = 15928.9 / 55475 = 0.2871 = 28.71%Operating Profit Margin =EBITSales = 4402 / 68444 = 0.0643 = 6.4315% Operating Profit Margin =EBITSales = 2326 / 55475 = 0.0419 = 4.19 %Net Profit Margin=Net ProfitSales = 2873 / 68444 = 0.04197 = 4.1976% Net Profit Margin=Net ProfitSales = 1482 / 55475 = 0.0267 = 2.67%Return on Assets=Operating Profit or EBITTotal Assets = 4402 / 40115 = 0.1097 = 10.97% Return on Assets=Operating Profit or EBITTotal Assets = 2326 / 22915. 8 = 0.1015 = 10.15%Evaluation of Relative Performance of Two Firms in terms of:Liquidity West farmers Ltd (WES) Woolworths Ltd (WOW)Current Ratio 0.9280 times 0.4393 timesQuick Ratio 0.3012 times 0.1830 timesInventory Ratio 9.7392 timesLiquidity Ratio shows the financial status of the company. From the above calculation, we can interpret that West Farmers Limited is more liquid than Woolworths based on its Current Ratio and Quick Ratio. West Farmers had $0.9280 current assets and $0.3012 cash and accounts receivable for every $1 of current liabilities. Whereas Woolworths had $0.1830 current assets and $0.1830 cash and account receivable to pay $1 current liabilities.ii) Asset Management EfficiencyWest farmers Ltd (WES) Woolworths Ltd (WOW)Total Asset Turnover 1.7062 times 2.4208 timesFixed Asset Turnover 7.2504 times 6.5748 timesiii) Financing Practices (Capital Structure)West farmers Ltd (WES) Woolworths Ltd (WOW)Debt Ratio 40.32% 56.90%Interest Coverage Ratio 20.6667 iv) ProfitabilityWest farmers Ltd (WES) Woolworths Ltd (WOW)Gross Profit Margin 28.71%Operating Profit Margin 6.4315% 4.19%Net Profit Margin 4.1976% 2.67%Return on Assets 10.97% 10.15%†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Calculation of Current Price-Earnings Ratio and Market-to-book Ratio:West farmers Ltd (WES) Woolworths Ltd (WOW)Market Value RatiosPrice Earnings Ratio = Market Price Per ShareEarnings Per SharePrice Earnings Ratio = Market Price Per ShareEarnings Per ShareMarket to Book Ratio =Market Price Per ShareBook Value Per ShareMarket to Book Ratio =Market Price Per ShareBook Value Per ShareQuestion no. 4: Time Value of Money (Chapter 5)Solution:Present Value (PV) =$20,000 Time (n) = 40 yearsInterest Rate (i) = 10 % per annum = 0.10 Future Value (FV)=?Timeline i=10% p.a FV=? 0 1 2 3†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ n= 40 years PV=$20,000FV= PV (1+i)n = 20,000(1+0.10)40 = 20,000Ãâ€"45.25925557 = $ 905,185.1114From the above calculation, Emily's investment from her retirement plan will grow to $905,185.1114 after 40 years at 12% annual interest. b)Timeline i=6% p.a FV=$14,000 0 1 2 n= 3 years PMT=?Deposit on Car (PV)= $14,000No of years (n) = 3 years Annual Interest (i)= 6% =0.06Annuity Payment (PMT)=?We have,FV = PMT (1+i)n-1i14000 = PMT 1+0.06)3-10.06 PMT = 140003.1836PMT = $ 4397.5374To cover the cost of deposit on a new car, Emily needs to keep aside $4397.5374 from her bonus this year. Now, If Annual Interest on Saving (i)=10%=0.10PMT=?FVn = PMT (1+i)n-1i14000 = PMT1+0.10)3-10.10PMT = 140003.31PMT = $4229.6073If the annual rate of interest grows to 10%, then the amount of payment will decrease to $4229.6073.c)At the age 60 years, value of Trust Fund (FV)=?Time (n) = 60-30=30 yearsInterest rate =7%= 0.07Timeline i=7% p.a FV=? 0 1 2 3†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ n= 30 years PV=$50,000 FV = PV ((1+i)n = 50,000 (1+0.07)30 = 50,000 Ãâ€"7.612255043 = $ 380,612.7521When Emily turn 60 years, the value of her trust fund will grow to $380,612.7521 at the rateOf 7% government bond. d)Compounding and discounting have inverse relationship. Compounding method is the way of calculating the future value of money with the given current value of investment at certain compound rate. Whereas Discounting method is used to find out the Present Value of future cash flow using discounting rate. Mathematically,In Compounding Method,Future valuein year nFVn= Present Value(PV) Ãâ€"1+ Annual interest rate (i)number of years nIn Discounting Method,Present ValuePV = Future Value in year nFVn 11+ Annual Interest Rate (i)Number of years (n)e)Question no 5: Risk and Return (Chapter 7)a.Given:Share A Share BProbability Return Probability Return0.3 11% 0.2 -5%0.4 15% 0.3 6%0.3 19% 0.3 14%0.2 22% For Share AExpected rateof returnE(r)=rate of return 1 r1Ãâ€"probabilityof return 1Pr(r1)+rate of return 2 r2Ãâ€"probabilityof return 2Pr(r2) +rate of return 3r3Ãâ€"probabilityof return 3Prr3)= 0.3 Ãâ€" 0.11 + 0.4 Ãâ€" 0.15 + 0.3 Ãâ€"0.19= 0.033 + 0.06 + 0.057= 0.15= 15%Variance in rate of return?2 = rate of return 1 r1-expected rate of returnEr2Ãâ€"probabilityof return 1Pr(r1) + rate of return 1 r1-expected rate of returnEr2Ãâ€"probabilityof return 1Pr(r1) + rate of return 3r3-expected rate of returnE(r)2Ãâ€"probabilityof return 3Pr(r3) = [(0.11 – 0.15)2 Ãâ€" 0.3] + [(0.15 – 0.15)2 Ãâ€" 0.4] + [(0.19 – 0.15)2 Ãâ€" 0.3] = 0.00048 + 0 + 0.00048 = 0.00096 Standard Deviation = Variance =0.00096 = 0.030983867 = 3.0984%For Share BExpected rateof returnE(r)=rate of return 1 r1Ãâ€"probabilityof return 1Pr(r1)+rate of return 2 r2Ãâ€"probabilityof return 2Pr(r2) +rate of return 3r3Ãâ€"probabilityof return 3Prr3)+rate of return 4r4Ãâ€"probabilityof return 4Pr(r4)= 0.2 Ãâ€" (-0.05) + 0.3 Ãâ€" 0.06 + 0.3 Ãâ€"0.14 + 0.2 Ãâ€" 0.22= (-0.01) + 0.018 + 0.042 + 0.044= 0.094= 9.4% Now, Variance in rate of return?2 = rate of return 1 r1-expected rate of returnEr2Ãâ€"probabilityof return 1Pr(r1) + rate of return 1 r1-expected rate of returnEr2Ãâ€"probabilityof return 1Pr(r1) + rate of return 3r3-expected rate of returnE(r)2Ãâ€"probabilityof return 3Pr(r3) + rate of return 4r4-expected rate of returnE(r)2Ãâ€"probabilityof return 4Prr4) = [(-0.05 – 0.094)2 Ãâ€" 0.2] + [(0.06 – 0.094)2 Ãâ€" 0.3] + [(0.14 – 0.094)2 Ãâ€" 0.3] + [(0.22 – 0.094)2 Ãâ€" 0.3] = 0.0041472 + 0.0003468 + 0.0006348 + 0.0031752 = 0.008304Standard Deviation = Variance = 0.008304 = 0.091126286 = 9.1126% b)Shareholders or investors of the company always assume to gain certain profit from the investment they made on their business. Such expectation is referred to as Expected Rate of Return. Whereas Realized Rate of Return is the actual amount of profit or loss that that face from their investment in certain duration of time. c) d. Question No 6: Risk and Return (Chapter 8)Answer:Part 1Systematic Risk and Unsystematic RiskSystematic risk refers to those risks that are associated with the overall market or industry (Vasigh, Fleming ; Mackay, 2010) and cannot be diversified away while unsystematic risk refers to those risk that are associated with the single investment or small class of investment and can be diversified away (Swedroe ; Hempen, 2007). Investment beta is the measure of change in investments' return to the change in return of the market portfolio. Johnson (2014) also stated that investment's beta measures the volatility of share relative to volatility of market. Thus, investment's beta helps to measure the systematic risk of an investment. Therefore, it is very useful in the investment decision. For example: if we want to know the systematic risk of particular investments, we can calculate beta and know the volatility and go for that investments with low volatility. In terms of unsystematic risk, it is calculated by deducting the beta scaled by the market volatility from the volatility of the single stock. Part 2Beta of a Portfolio and Betas of the Individual Investments in the PortfolioPart 3Security Market LineSecurity market line is the graphical representation of Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) i.e. the straight line relationship between expected return and betas that also explains the market price of risk in capital market (Khan, 2004). Return (%)Security Market Liners =rf+rm-rf?rfRisk Beta (?)Figure. Security Market Line. Adapted from â€Å"Investments: An Introduction† by H. B. Mayo, 2013, Boston: Cengage Learning. From the above graph, we can see that risk beta is at the x-axis and expected return on the y-axis. The slope of the security market line is represented by market risk premium which is the difference between expected rate of return on the market portfolio and the risk free rate (i.e.Erm-rf) while the y-intercept of this line represents the risk free interest rate i.e. rf . Part 4Capital Asset Pricing ModelCapital asset pricing model (CAPM) refers to the model that explains the relationship with expected return and the systematic risk of an investment. In a simple word, CAPM is that model which estimates the expected return for any risky assets. According to Mellen (2018), this model helps the business analyst and investor evaluate a suitable rate of return for an investment by giving the general economic, industry and firm's conditions. CAPM helps to inform the investment decision by first of all measuring the fairest price for an investment on the basis of risk, potential return and other factors and then comparing this fair price with the market price.Therefore, this is how the CAPM can be used to inform the investment decision. ReferenceJohnson, R. S. (2014). Equity Markets and Portfolio Analysis. New York: John Wiley ; Sons, Inc.Khan, M. Y., ;Jain, P. K. (2004). Financial Management: Text, Problems and Cases. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited.Mayo, H. B. (2013). Investments: An Introduction. Boston: Cengage Learning.Mellen, C. M. (2018). Valuation for M ; A: Building and Measuring Private Company Value. New York: John Wiley ; Sons, Inc.Swedroe, L. E., ;Hempen, J. H. (2007). The only guide to a winning bond strategy you'll ever need: The way smart money preserves wealth today. New York: St. Martin's PressVasigh, B., Fleming, K., ;Mackay, L. (2010). Foundation of Airline Finance: Methodology and Practice. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Reference

Problems Pupils Have In Reading Aloud - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 11 Words: 3306 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? This assignment is my guide to the final step of my dissertation. In this assignment, I will discuss in details about what I will do for my dissertation. First, I will discuss my topic and why I have chosen, it and I will indicate my research questions and sub-questions. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Problems Pupils Have In Reading Aloud" essay for you Create order Next, I will identify key areas I need to read about and I will summarize 11 books and articles that give useful theoretical background for my research. The topics I am interested include define reading, then the process, models, methods of teaching reading, strategies readers use and the miscue analysis in relation to reading strategies. This second section will help me build the literature review for my dissertation. Finally, I will describe my research procedure and research methods I am going to use. Section one: My topic and why I chose it My topic is about problems my pupils have in reading aloud and find ways of improving my pupilsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ reading aloud. I have chosen this topic because in my experience as a teacher I faced and taught different kinds of pupils from different levels, I have found that most of them have problems in reading, particularly reading aloud. Some of them are good in reading aloud but have many do substitute other words, have omission of words or letter-sounds while reading. This could be due to lack of sight vocabulary, lack of phonic skills, lack of strategies for reading. Some of them canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t produce a single word. I discovered that pupils were learning nothing if they could not read aloud. My pupils who cannot read aloud have general difficulty in decode any reading text successfully. I believe my research is important because reading aloud is very important for my pupils in grade 9, which is closer to the final school leaving examinations in grade 12. I hope it may able me and my colleges to find the diagnoses to help the participants and in future to help all my pupils with their reading problems . In my research I wil try to analyze and describe their miscues in reading aloud according to their levels good, average and week. That time I couldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t do any thing about it because I didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have the experience to help them. After I joined the B.A course and studied EDUC 2031 TEYL, EDUC2033 Initial Literacy, EDUC2028 Language learning from these modules I realized the nature of young learners how do they learn, how do they acquire new language and how to teach reading to young learners. As I understood the older ways of teaching reading focused on letters and words and how to say them, all language books are concerning on that view only. The new researches showed a different view which rely on development of all language skills so, because reading in a second language is seen as a thinking exercise thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not only concerned on reading words, sentences and pages only but it is on developing language as a whole. Reading is the main reason to build the personality of a person as I mentioned before and it is the main thing that teaching and learning stands on because it is a communication way between the learner and the academic culture in the schools . I would like my pupils to be able to use reading for study, for pleasure , to understand and to interact with what they learning. My pupils are in grade 9 of general education school at the age of 14 years old with different ability levels. They have been studying English for five years only using à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Our World Through Englishà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. They started leaning English from grade 4. In addition, they are similar in many things such as pupils environment, strengths and weakness areas they have. I decided to do research for my dissertation where I will focus on finding the difficulties my pupils face in reading aloud and helping me find ways to improve my pupils in reading aloud. Although my research will focus on reading aloud, from my experience a pupil cannot read aloud well, he can have little or no comprehension when he read silently. My research question is: How can I develop the reading aloud abilities of my grade nine pupils?. My sub-questions will be: What miscues my good pupils and weak pupils make when reading aloud? Based on my miscue analysis, what reading strategies do my good pupils and my weak pupils use when reading aloud? What reading strategies can I encourage my pupils to develop to improve their reading? In my research the subjects will be six pupils from 2 of them are good , the other 2 are average and the last 2 are weak pupils) (785 words) Section 2 Summaries of relevant literature The key areas I will need to read about for my research are: reading process models of reading Methods of teaching reading. reading strategies miscue analysis How miscue analysis can be used to identify the reading strategies that pupils use and the errors they make. In this section I discuss 11 books / articles that I want to use for my dissertation because they will help me to develop my understanding of issues related to my research. The aspects that are relevant to my study are summarized below. Urquhart and Weir(1998) Urquhart and Weir discuss three models of reading and I will state them here : Bottom up approach. They say this analyses begin with the stimulus, i.e. the text, or bits of the text. They say that in Goughà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s (1972) model, the reader begins with letters, which are recognized by a scanner. The information thus gained is passed to decoder, which converts the string of letters into a string of systematic phonemes, then word, then sentence then text. So à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“bottom-up models are sequential in that one stage is completed before another is begunà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. Top-down approaches. Since bottom-up models starts with the smallest text unit, either letters or letter features, we could expect, then, that top-down models begin with the largest unit, the whole text. According to Urquhart and Weir for top-down model of reading, readers first use their background knowledge to help them make a sense from the text. So for top-down approaches background knowledge is very important. Interactive approach. In interactive models (Urquhart and Weir refer to Rumelhart, 1977), there is no regular sequence from top to bottom or from bottom up. They quote Stanovich à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the best known proponent of interactive modelsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?, that in interactive models a pattern is synthesized based on information provided simultaneously from several sourceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (1980:35). So in interactive approaches reader uses both small text units and background knowledge to make sense out of a text at the same time. Urquhart and Weir describes reading strategies to be a conscious response to difficulties in the text while reading action selected deliberately to achieve goals (Is this a Quotation?). Aebersold and Field (1997) Aebersold and Field also have sections on models of reading (bottom up , top down and interactive). They also focus on the readerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s experience in learning how to read and the ways reading fits into their lives. They give five common influential sources for information that affect reading development, particularly family, the community and the school influence. They mention that despite relatively small size, a family can foster a variety of experience that affects a childà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s reading development. They say that the community influence provides readers with a set of varied life experiences that also shape their individual knowledge. Thirdly the school can bring children into contact with communities other than their own or they can be homogeneous institution that reflect shared values. This is interesting because in Oman children learn English without much support from the family or the community and school does not bring child in contact to many other c ommunities. Riley (1996) This article has a section on models of reading (bottom up , top down and interactive). The author discusses how schema theory describes the process by which readers combine their own background knowledge with the information in a text to help them comprehend that text. All readers carry different schemata (background information) and these are also often culture-specific. This is an important concept in ESL teaching, and many books have pre-reading tasks that are designed to build or activate the learners schemata. The author also highlights some of the limitations of the use of the schema-theory approach and points out the importance both of developing the learners vocabulary and of encouraging extensive reading. (This sounds as if it is copied. Beware plagiarism, Saif.) Wray and Medwell (1991) This article focuses on reading process , models of reading and approaches to teaching reading. In reading process, they mentioned that reading is a highly complicated process, and there are a number of insights and concepts that the successful reader must develop. In models of reading, they discuss bottom-up models, top-down models, and interactive models and they strongly criticize the bottom up model. They also have a section on teaching reading approaches look and say, phonic methods of teaching reading and language experience approach. I discuss these under Graton and Spratt (1998) below. Graton and Pratt (1998) This book have useful sections on methods of teaching reading (whole word , phonics , language experience ) the methods teachers can use to teach pupils how to read. Most teachers use these methods to help their student in reading , sometimes they chooses one of these methods but some teachers work on two or more because they think each method is completed by the other. The phonic method as widely used from the language teachers to teach reading and writing in the English for second language learners. It is relies on children being taught the alphabet first. Then they learn to pronounce the sounds of the letters . However it is difficult to depend only to phonics because English is not a regular spelling language. The second method is look and say or whole word method. Here pupils learn to recognize whole words or sentences rather than individual sounds. The pupils will look at a word which the teacher sound, often with a picture, and in turns will repeat the word. The problem is that it does not teach children to work out new words for themselves. The context support method can be used when the pupils are just learning to read and it is important to choose exercises or activities that really interest them. If the pupils like cars, choose an activity or exercises with pictures and simple words about cars. This will keep their interest and they will enjoy learning with the teach. Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢Malley and Valdez Pierce (2001) Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢Malley and Valdez Pierce give a useful part about miscue analysis (p 124-5). They say it involves listening to a student reading aloud and recording the miscues. In types of miscues, they mention repetitions, substitutions, insertions, omissions and self-corrections. They also recommend the teacher must get the student to answer reading comprehension questions. They say miscue analysis can provide information about (1) the readersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ ability to use language and the reading process (2) it can be used for assessing reading, the readerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s approaches to reading and reading comprehension (3) information for revising approaches to teaching reading, how it can be used by teachers effectively to improve their learners reading. This book has useful lists of reading strategies (p 121-123) and suggest how miscue analysis can be used to identify reading strategies readers are using. The authors talk about reading in the native language then reading in second language, which I am interested in. The writers said that learners who do have native language literacy skills might not know how to transfer their skills to the second language without specific strategy instruction. Carter and Nunan (Eds.) (2001) Carter and Nunan (Eds) (2001) define reading strategies as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Ways of accessing text meaning which are employed flexibly and selectively in the course of reading. In teaching, attention is paid to the manner in which the reader is able to draw effectively on existing linguistic and background knowledgeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. They list the good reading strategies that learners use to help them read in a very efficient way, to get maximum benefit from their reading with minimum effort. These include drawing inferences, predicting and using information in the text such as pictures. They also discuss miscue analysis in relation to reading strategies: As they say, miscue analysis refers to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the study of the text alterations conducted by the subject while the pupil reads the text and would be very impossible without reading aloudà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. Carter and Nunan (Eds) (2001) assert that for early readers miscue analysis can be used by teachers to assess the quality and quantity of learnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s errors in their processing of text. First, this is especially useful for L2 learners à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“who because of their interlanguage system may show systemic syntactic and phonological departures from Standard Englishà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. In addition, they argue that miscues will be based on learnersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ current interlanguage rather than because of misunderstanding the text. Wallace (2001) p26 in Carter and Nunan (2001) Wallace discusses miscue analysis and she focuses on how miscue analysis can be used for early readers to assess the quality and the quantity of learnersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ errors. Beard (1987) Beard has a section on miscue analysis and methods of teaching reading (whole word , phonics , language experience). The author focuses on miscue analysis and gives some models of how to use miscue analysis to develop pupilsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ reading and how à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“miscue analysis can fulfill an important diagnostic function of a kind not readily offered by other more established means of reading assessment.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Cameron (2001) The author has sections on reading strategies , models of reading (bottom up , top down and interactive) , methods of teaching reading(whole word , phonics , language experience ) and discusses how miscues can help the teacher identify the reading strategies a reader is using . The author gives an example from her experience of reading with a little Malaysian girl. The author mentioned that she had introduced her to the strategies such as: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“With the word à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"barà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, I pointed to the first letter , the sound of which she knew, and then she managed to sound out the wordà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“With the word à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"ratherà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ I just told her the word and did not spend any time on it , because it was not crucial to the meaning of the story and is not a particularly useful word to learn at her stageà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. With the word à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"mealsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ I told her the word and then explained the meaning as the story progressed and the heroine moved from break fast to tea.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“When she came to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"watching TVà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ she said à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"washingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ . From this miscue I could see that she was making a good attempt at the word and had noticed the initial consonant and the final rime.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? www.mindtools.com/pages/articals/ According to www.mindtools.com/pages/articals/ miscue analysis refers to the study of text alterations made by the subject while s/he reads the text aloud. They summarise the research of Clay, Goodman and Weber (Davies 1995, p13) and they give a useful list of types of miscues. They say that the alterations often made by a reader are: Substitution (another word is pronounced instead of the printed word) Self-correction (the reader realizes his/her mistake and corrects by him/herself.) Repetition (the printed word is repeated orally) Omission (a word is missed from the text) Insertion (a word not in the text is added by the reader) Reversal (the word order gets changed or inverted) Hesitation (the reader pauses or makes a sound indicating hesitation) A long pause. The article also relates the miscues to approaches. It says that if a reader shows more hesitations, long pauses and self-correction, this shows a bottom up approach with the reader giving most attention to pronouncing the printed words. If a reader shows more miscues such as omission, insertion, reversal and substitution, this shows a more top-down approach where the reader is paying attention to the meaning of the whole text, not reading word by word. (Check this is not plagiarized. Can you give authors?) (1,910 words) How I will investigate my research question As discussed above, my research question will be à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“How can I develop the reading aloud abilities of my grade nine pupils ? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ My Approach: For my approach and method, I read Blaxter, Hughes, Tight, (2000), Cohen, Manion, Morrison (2000), Nunan (1992). For my research approach, I will use an action research approach enabling me to investigate my own pupils over a period. Action research grows from the idea that a good teacher is one who reflects on what happens in the classroom à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" possibly with a view to changing it. (EDUC3079 session3). My Method For my research I will plan to use miscue analysis and interviews. The miscue analysis will provide quantitative data and the interviews will provide qualitative data. I will select a text from the course book which is not familiar to my pupils , I will let them each to read aloud this text , I will record them while reading , then I will use miscue analyses to help me analyse their mistakes. Finally I will interview each pupil, I will ask questions to to assess their comprehension of the text, to get them to tel me what strategies they used to work out the meanings of some words and to try to find out why they failed to read certain words correctly. The research Procedure My research will include an unknown reading text from the OWTE course book that the six pupils will read it in order to have effective and organized results for my research question. This text from the course book OWTE that I think will be not familiar for the pupils because I gave it to them for the first time (See the appendix). First I will use pre-reading questions to prepare each pupil for the reading. Pre-reading is a way of sampling where the students are familiar to the content that you are going to give them. It is a useful strategy for beginning with a class, especially when classes contain students with mixed abilities coming from a diversity of backgrounds. Then each pupil will read the text and I record it. Then I will note down all the miscues. Finally I will interview them to examine their understanding, to assess their comprehension of the text, to get them to tel me what strategies they used to work out the meanings of some words and to try to find out why they faile d to read certain words correctly. My Expectations: I expect some problems, and here I discuss how I will overcome them: Miscue analysis, I cannot assume that any two pupils will have the same miscues. In addition, anxiety may cause artificial results. To overcome these problems, I will choose six pupils from different levels. I will try to get them relaxed, so I will tell them about the reason for my research, and I will do the recording in a quiet place, so we are undisturbed. Pupils may feel boring from doing reading every time, so I must prepare a good situation for them to feel comfortable. The main problem I think it is the time. These kinds of studies should not used in a short period because the researcher need to try many ways to investigate his pupils and his study in order to collect a valid, reliable data. Conclusion: The EDUC 3079 helped me a lot on finding solutions for many problems that I will face in future in my life as a teacher to help my pupils to reach the successes in their life as students. I learned how to read a lot and how to use the linguistics theories to help my pupils and to learn and discover the problems. The use of miscue analysis is a very useful way to solve pupils weaknesses in reading because it is allows me to focus on the problem it self , and how to deal with each problem individually.