Canon photo chains Essay

Inroduction The message behind photo chains was to inspire people by spreading from one photograph to another as the next creative experience.   The goal behind photo chains was to build accurate insight, which is the main requirement to assemble strong engagement and a strong background of supporting ideas.   The purpose of Photo chains was to encourage consumers increase their experience with canon camera lens technology.   The campaign was launched to allow people to compete and show their photo experience.   The idea behind this photo chains was to create brand awareness and market their products. This would result in attracting many customers to buy canon products. Which marketing positioning strategy Canon used in this campaign? Why? As marketing positioning strategy, Canon launched an online campaign referred to as imagination.   This campaign was a photo contest which encouraged people to participate by uploading their photos.   This campaign was to create awareness about their quality brand which they had created with purpose of inspiring its consumers. Perreault, Cannon & McCarthy (2012) states that customers tend to have more power in making purchases when they have detailed information of the product or services they are targeting to buy.   Canon used this strategy by creating photo chains of which were advertised through television and social networks.   This advert directed people to their website where they were supposed to upload their picture. Canon had established a unique brand which was different from the other competitors this was as a result of influencing creativity and innovation in its operations.   Targeting consumers though online means was a good strategy to improve their relation with customers and building their brand     awareness.   Canon strategically placed its photo chains campaign online to reach out many consumers and give them chance to upload their photos.   The strategy was able to grow largely in the social media attracting more audience.   The canon EOS was of good quality and low price as compared to other competitors. Moreover, Canon also used the strategy of offering low prices with the aim of attracting many customers to buy their quality products. Evaluate and Explain the effectiveness and benefits of â€Å"Photochains† for Canon in terms of: †¢ Target consumers †¢ Brand position in the market †¢ Profit (Short and Long-term) Canon Photo chains campaign mostly targeted individuals, companies and families.   This was an effective online campaign which involved many people who had passion for photographs.   According to Perreault, Cannon & McCarthy (2012) marketing tends to operate in various different dynamic where one of them is use of digital tools. On this perspective, online marketing ensured that Canon was able to create their brand awareness by reaching out to all global customers. Through Photo chains, Canon was able to reach out many people by mostly targeting wildlife, travel and DSLR videographers.   The quality of their brand was to inspire people with the new level of creativity as way of creating brand awareness.   The outcome results were encouraging as many global consumers opted to buy canon products. Brand position in the market Canon established EOS brand of its own having advantage of being unique and creative. This means that the company positioned its brand to be unique from those of competitors. Introduction of EOS Photo chains which inspired and attracted many customers. This brand was distinctive and quite different from competitors. The purpose of this brand positioning was to improve consumer experience. The company also used value and price positioning in the market. This means that it offered high quality prices at relatively low price. Profit (Short and Long-term) Canon photo chains attracted many consumers who resulted to buy their products.   This increased their total sales due to high demand of their products.   Building a strong brand, Canon   Ã‚  was able to dominate the market ahead of other competitors which made them to increase their growth rate. This implies that the company will remain in market for long time due to quality brand they established. References Perreault, W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2012). Basic marketing: A marketing   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   strategy planning approach. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS1dO8ydng      

Convert Words to Pages

How to Convert Words to Pages When you are asked to write a certain number of words, you might be confused how to convert words to pages. There are different guidelines for every style of writing, depending on whether you are doing an academic project, writing an eBook, or creating company white papers. Below you can find out more about how to convert words to pages, and how to determine the right length of your project. Line Spacing and Font Type Your tutor or professor will give you the requirements for the format, including the number of words or the number of pages. You will also be told to use either single, 1.5, or double spacing. Generally, a page of double spaced page of dissertation or essay should be around 250 words. Double spaced documents have three lines per vertical inch 1.5 spaced documents have four lines per vertical inch Single spaced essays have six lines per vertical inch The most commonly used fonts for essays and dissertation are Arial and Times New Roman. Depending on the font you use, your pages to word count will change accordingly. How to Calculate Pages to Words For every single paged document, you should count 500 words as a minimum. For double spaced documents, you need a minimum of 250 words Convert words to pages per page. Generally, for 1.5 line spacing, there should be around 375 words, but this all depends on the size of the font, the font type, margins, and the number of headers. You are generally asked to use 1-inch margins all around and the most commonly preferred font size is 12. When calculating the pages to words, you will also have to take into consideration whether or not you leave extra space between paragraphs, and if you need to use indentation at the beginning of each new paragraph. It is important to note that you generally do not count title pages, headers, footnotes, reference pages, and the Abstract into the total word count. Therefore, you might have a 4 page document with a title page, abstract, and reference page double spaced that only has 250 words double spaced.Pages to Words ConverterWhile Microsoft Word and other document editing programs give you the instant word count of your document, you might want to use a pages to words converter to make sure you comply with the original requirements. One of the pages you can check is Wordcounter.net. This tool allows you to check how many pages you have written. As an example, a 2000 word essay should be four to five pages if it is double spaced, and a dissertation of 100 pages needs to be at least 45,000 words, if the document is 1.5 spaced. General Rules to Convert Words to Pages When converting words to pages, you always have to check the font size, margins, and line spacing. You also have to add space for chapter titles. If you are writing a dissertation , every chapter should usually start on a new page. This means that you will possibly end up with pages that are not full.How to Use a Words to Pages ConverterIf you want to check the word count of your essay, you could use a words per page calculator that will help you convert words to pages. If you have already completed your assignment, you can copy and paste your text in the words to pages converter, and see how many pages you have written. When using the online tool to convert words to pages, follow the below steps: Enter the total number of words Choose a font Choose the font size Choose the spacing This method, however, is not completely accurate, as it does not take into consideration the margins and the chapter titles/subtitles. An alternative method to convert words to pages is to copy and paste your essay into the field on the calculator, providing the font size, type, spacing, and the margins. Word of Advice: Check Your Words to Pages It is important that you check your words to pages before submitting your college essay or dissertation. While online editing tools and Microsoft Word give you a total word count, you should ensure that you are not counting footnotes, headers, title pages, references, appendices, and other preliminary pages. The task becomes even more difficult when you have to submit a 40-page dissertation, as you are likely to have the following preliminary pages that should not be included in the word count: Page numbers Title page Dedication Acknowledgements preface List of tables List of figures List of abbreviations Abstract References/Bibliography You must also check with your university or college what they require to be included in the word count, and you might need to state the word count in the beginning of your paper. This is when a pages to words converter comes useful. Requirements Before You Start Writing While there are general rules for converting words to pages, you must always read the requirements of your institution or professor before you start writing. You must know the size and type of font you should be using, the margin and line space requirements, and the general formatting guidelines. For example, if you have to leave a space between each paragraph, you can fit fewer words on a page than if you do not use paragraph spacing. Make sure that your writing style and font is consistent throughout the document, so you can easily convert pages to words. Even if you use headers and sub-headers, they should be the same font type as the rest of the document, according to common academic editing guidelines. Confused about Converting Words to Pages? If you are still not sure how many pages your assignment should be, and how many words you should write, you can get in touch with one of our experienced writers who will assist you in understanding our requirements and formatting your document according to the guidelines set by your institution. Do you have questions or need help with writing Custom Essay or Dissertation? Contact Us Today Summary Article Name How to convert words to pages? Description This article briefly explores how to convert words to pages while writing essay and the impact of fonts and type of writing on accomplishing your objective of writing a quality document. Author Laura – our site Publisher Name our site Publisher Logo

ENGL - Is vegetarianism a more healthful or a more ethical lifestyle Essay

ENGL - Is vegetarianism a more healthful or a more ethical lifestyle than a meat-eating diet - Essay Example While humans have the physical capacity to consume meat, I will argue in this paper that vegetarianism is the healthier option and support this with data that supports this viewpoint. The effects of a consuming a vegetarian diet has been widely studied. A number of different studies have come to the conclusion that people consuming vegetarian diets have, in general, a longer life expectancy and seem to have lower rates of coronary heart disease, lower rates of hypertension and diabetes. They also seem to have lower body weight and a lower incidence of high cholesterol. In addition, the presence of certain cancers is slightly lower than in people who consume meat (Fraser, 2009). It must, however, be noted that there is a wide disparity between the different types of vegetarians. The different types show different trends in health (Fraser, 2009). In fact, the American Dietetic Association (ADA) and the Dieticians of Canada have published papers suggesting that a vegetarian diet that is planned properly is healthy, provides enough nutrition and may contribute to the prevention of several conditions. All the nutrients necessary for a person’s development can be obtained from a vegetarian diet. A vegetarian diet is said to be appropriate for any stage of life including, childhood, adolescence, pregnancy or lactation (Anonymous, 2003). The lowering of certain diseases is probably attributable to the fact that well-planned vegetarian diets have lower levels of cholesterol, saturated fats and animal fats as well as having plenty of carbohydrates, fibre, magnesium, potassium, folate and several vitamins (Anonymous,2003). From an ethical view, a vegetarian diet has been said to be much more humane. 15% of vegetarians reported that they turned vegetarian for ethical reasons (Vegetarian Times, 1992 from Palaniswamy, 2003). People have been

Elements of Success in Lloyds TSBs Total Rewards Programme Assignment

Elements of Success in Lloyds TSBs Total Rewards Programme - Assignment Example Online banking at Lloyds TSB offers a multitude of opportunities for customers, giving a more streamlined and much faster method of banking, which in turn facilitates an employee's ability to do his or her job. In the process of expansion, the company has combined with Xbridge, the UK's leading online business finance analyst to develop Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance, the biggest brand for commercial finance in the online medium. The most recent programme introduced within the company to improve business practices is called Total Reward, and its basic principles call for more than a financial package as an employee incentive. It calls for non-financial rewards such as the opportunity to develop skills and have input into the work schedule. What are the elements that make up Total Reward and how do they apply to Lloyds TSB Total Reward is defined as a programme that "brings learning and development together with aspects of the working environment into the benefit package" (CIPD, 2005). The concept is that when employees are included in organisational decisions, they will feel more connected and more responsible for improving the working environment. ... 2. Non-financial rewards, including recognition, opportunities to develop skills, upper-level opportunities and increased quality of work day. In Total Reward it is necessary to align HR and business needs with employee needs, acknowledging tangible and intangible rewards within the wider context of work experience. It is a new program, not fully embraced in the marketplace (CIPD, 2005). The concept is that when employees are included in organisational decisions, they will feel more connected and more responsible for improving the working environment. Because relatively few companies in the UK are successfully operating flexible benefits plans, there is no off-the-shelf package that companies can begin using immediately. The question here is the way in which Lloyds TSB is utilizing Total Rewards. What obstacles, if any, are they facing as they build a new programme for their company Management as a Balancing Act In today's employment market, a broader view of how to acquire and retain the best employees is no longer a matter of simply offering a competitive salary and benefits. A business that keeps up with current needs and new procedures has an advantage. Management has to know how to implement the employee pool in a way that creates harmony throughout the company (Hay Group, 2005). In addition, the public must feel that their interests are being addressed in the best possible way. This balancing act is difficult to achieve, but if the company is willing to learn from past mistakes and meet new challenges as they arise, a workable system can be achieved. Has Lloyds TSB Bank plc evolved in a way that will keep their organisation in a growth mode, keeping up with changes as they occur The ongoing debate is where to draw the line between personal

Critical review report of Coastal Zone Management Essay

Critical review report of Coastal Zone Management - Essay Example â€Å"The national CZM Program is based on the federal Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, which is implemented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. The Coastal Services Center is a program within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration devoted to serving the nations state and local coastal resource management programs by linking people, information, and technology.† (Coastal Zone Management) Coastal zone management is very essential because there have been a lot of changes in the global environment in the recent decades. There must also be development of these resources for better utilization and bringing awareness to people. There must be wise use of these resources which build the wealth of the nations. Hence the coastal zone management is very important for every nation. In today’s world, with the changing climatic conditions globally and with the green house effect it is very important to maintain the coastal waters. The earth is made up of 75 percent of water. The coastal region is less than fifteen percent in the world but it holds more than fifty percent of the world population in it. It is also one of the major natural resources which add to the wealth of the nations. Management measures must be taken for control against erosion, sedimentation, to retain the nutrients etc. It is also important to understand the behavior of the coasts and prevent them from being destroyed either by natural sources or physical sources. Flooding and erosion are the major problems faced by the coast due to natural reasons. Polluting the coast would be physical reasons of destroying the efficiency of the coast. All this will cause decrease in the number of tourists visiting the coastal areas. And also affect the fifty percent of the world population who live with in 200 kilometers of

Health care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Health care - Essay Example The Sage online dictionary defines health as ‘the general condition of body and mind’, as well as ‘A healthy state of well-being free from disease’ (The Sages Dictionary Online, 2012). This literal meaning assumes relative proportions when visualized through the glass of personal viewpoint on health, which might differ in individuals, or be heavily influenced by cultural and ethnic identity. A more comprehensive definition, as standardized and agreed upon by pertinent authorities in the World Health Organization (WHO), framed in the year 1946, states that ‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ (Awofeso, 2012). The WHO bulletin claims that health was considered a divine gift in antiquity, until Hippocrates rationalized its comprehension as a physical state attained by following the basic tenets of sanitation and a good lifestyle. A more recent definition which includes the element of psychological health, with particular emphasis on human health, is the one given by Bircher, which states that health is a dynamic state of well-being characterized by a physical and mental potential, which satisfies the demands of life commensurate with age, culture, and personal responsibility (Bircher, 2005). The WHO definition has persisted for 60 years but has come under criticism due to the emergence of new patterns of illness due to the high number of aged persons in the world, who ironically survive due to better healthcare facilities developed over the years (Huber, Knottnerus, Green, et al 2011). Health promotion literally translates into any activity undertaken to maintain good health, as comprehended as a layperson. Technically, however, definition of the phrase is again provided by WHO which, in its Ottawa charter adopted in Geneva in the year 1986, states that ‘Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health’ (WHO,

Reasons of Zaras Success Driving Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Reasons of Zaras Success Driving - Essay Example Zara’s success is mainly the result of their supply chain innovation, which means that unlike their competitors who often have to forecast the season’s fashion trends and then wait another five months to sell them, Zara can deliver new styles and fashions in three to six weeks. This supply chain innovation was essential as the industry was prone to risks in mismatches of supply and demand, and this would result in disruption, longer waiting times and smaller margins of error (Kleindorfer 2004). To negate these effects Zara produces 50% of its products in-house, instead of outsourcing all manufacturing and production related processes. This has largely been made possible by Zara’s background, as Zara started life as a manufacturer. When Zara, as a manufacturer decided to compete in the retail sector, they became a retailer with manufacturing capacity (AI 2004). Instead of getting rid of this capacity, Zara identified this as an opportunity. This capacity also means that Zara is in possession of 18 manufacturing plants that are responsible for producing their fashion garments (AI 2004). Whilst other retailers are outsourcing to Asia and the Far East, Zara has integrated their manufacturing and retail aspects to minimise the uncertainties associated wit h long lead times, and predicting fashion trends months in advance. By outsourcing to outside the European continent or their home countries, Zara’s competitors are also introducing delays and errors in their business, as incorrect fashion predictions, could result in a massive loss of profits through dozens of unsold clothing. Clothing also needs to be stored, and as their competitors store large quantities, they have to store them in warehouses which add additional costs on the organisation. The risks of storing clothes in warehouses were recently highlighted by two separate cases in the media. In one case, fire gutted a warehouse used to store clothing for Primark and other retailers, and in another separate case, the European Union (EU) had placed quotas on clothing coming from China, which is were most retailers had outsourced their manufacturing and production.  Ã‚  

What effects does parental involvement have on low income families or Annotated Bibliography

What effects does parental involvement have on low income families or Does parental involement have an effect on educational achievement - Annotated Bibliography Example including economic demographics, genetic predispositions, overall intelligence, and social factors, like parental involvement. The latter is a fascinating element. A parent’s active involvement in their children’s schooling can have a profound positive impact. There is however, a balance that needs to be achieved; after all too much parental involvement can be detrimental, depending on how that involvement is applied. The articles reviewed for this discussion allow for a thorough and balanced perspective on the topic. These sources, as a whole, were not particularly difficult to obtain. Google search provided a number of online accessible journal sources, simply, by applying the keywords, â€Å"parental involvement and student achievement.† Combined together these sources give a broader area of research and contributes to understanding of the relevant facts and allow for an unbiased viewpoint to answer the applicable questions of this issue. This article intended to determine how relevant parental involvement, or lack of, truly has on elementary school age children in the 1st, 3rd and 5th grades. The authors propose that, although, the immense amount of research has shown that parental involvement is imperative, hugely impactful, and should be encouraged, most research cannot say with absolutely certainty that involvement effects overall academic achievement.(El Nokali, Bachman & Votruba-Drzal, 2010) There is a definite correlation between less â€Å"bad† classroom behavior due to parental involvement and can aid in social development, but not directly on academic achievement. This article is a very interesting source. It is useful in that it approaches the correlation between parental involvement and academic achievement with a skeptical eye. Parental involvement is important and should be recommended, but it may not be a guarantor that it will ensure a

Environmental law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Environmental law - Essay Example h which encourages the organizations to conserve the environment by promising them tax reduction and incentives as a reward for compliance with the set rules (Hatch, 2006). In direct control, the government sets rules to be followed by any company in connection with environmental conservation, failing which sanctions may befall the company that fails to follow the set rules, e.g., facing prosecution in court. Hatch (2006) argues that alternative methods concentrate on market oriented approaches to pollution where they always encourage companies to regulate their emissions as they continue to produce, rather than on direct control which must be followed, failing which the company is closed and banned from operating. This appears to discourage production. The alternative methods also give different measures to firms depending on their size and production capacity unlike the direct methods which give uniform rules to be followed by all firms, hence disadvantaging the small and young businesses. One alternative approach that can best be applied in the industrial sector is the trading scheme approach. It helps to provide a cost effective solution to enhance achievement of a clean environment as firms are given opportunity to make environment improvement and conservation to their place of choice (Hatch, 2006). The schemes are formed to allow firms to trade in waste with an aim of delivering environmental objectives at a lower cost. They adopt a variety of ways to engage in waste and emissions trade as they deal with the use of resources such as water with the sole aim of addressing waste management, thus reducing environmental pollution. In the end, firms using this approach must have enough wealth to cover their waste and emissions within the given time for them to go on operating (Hatch,

Should the government have a say on what we eat Research Paper

Should the government have a say on what we eat - Research Paper Example Indeed, this happens to be a very divisive question. There are health experts who support a direct state intervention in the dietary choices made by the people. Yet, there are also groups and bodies who believe that government should have no say in what people eat. Pragmatically speaking, government should not have any say at all in what people eat because government has no right to interfere in the decisions people make, and if government really wants to help people eat healthy, it can do say without opting for a direct intervention. Government should not have any say in the food people eat because government has not right to interfere in expression of the free will of the people (Caplan 175). In any thriving democracy, too much government interference in lives of the people is not good. This trend if allowed to gain grounds could certainly lead to a diminishing of the rights of the people (Caplan 175). The government should not have any right to dictate as to what the tax payers or ordinary citizens should eat. People do have the wisdom and the maturity to decide as to what they and their families need to eat. Diet of people happens to be a social issue and not a legal issue. One of the primary roles of the government is to make new laws. Hence, government does not need to pose interference in an issue that happens to be more of a social problem and not a legal issue. Besides, the purpose of any effective government is not to define the lives of the people, but to assure that people are able to live their lives the way they want to. The other thing is that if the government is allowed to have a say in what people eat, the state may surpass this power to interfere with each and every aspect of the people’s life. This is not good for democracy. There does need to be a limit as to how much the government is allowed to interfere in the lives of the people. Telling people what to

Discussion of the history of cosmetics Essay Example for Free

Discussion of the history of cosmetics Essay The dawn of modern cosmetics began divided into the following categories: Grolier (2005: 188-191). a. Powders face powder usually contains talk, chalk, kaolin, and mixtures of zinc oxide, titanium oxide and various powdered pigments. Properly prepared, this mixture spreads easily, adheres to the skin, and absorbs some moisture. b. Emulsions these are fine particles of oil dispersed in water. Vanishing creams and cold creams are examples of emulsions. Thinner emulsions, which contain more water relative to the oil content, are used as cleansing lotions and hand creams. c. Lipsticks this is made up of oils, such as castor oil, mixed with waxes and pigments or dyes, and hardened into molds. Since the materials used in manufacturing lipsticks are actually taken into the body, the choice of ingredients is limited to those which are known or assumed to be non-toxic. d. Eye Makeup these are eyebrow pencils, eye shadow, and mascara are, like lipstick, compounds of oil, wax and pigments. They, too, must be made of non-toxic or non-injurious materials. Cosmetics have come a long way in modern history and played a significant role in adorning both men and women for various occasions. It has been so widely-used that its functions have traversed into extremes for beautification purposes – it can either conceal or flaunt an asset of a person. It can serve as mask or a highlighter. This just means that it has the ability to change the appearance of the person according to the manner it was used. At the end of the day, personal psyche dictates that every person intends or strives to become pleasant to the eyes of the millions of people around him or her. What is beautiful has also changed over the years. The definition of what is beautiful goes across regions, beliefs, religion and societal perceptions. Burke (2003:75-77): According to the twentieth century philosopher Charles Hartshorne, â€Å"Beauty is the centerpiece of this classical trinity and that nothing in our experience is exempt from the touch of the beautiful†. Beyond aesthetics, what is beautiful is how one perceives it to be, in that if he or she can find beauty in there. Therefore, the quality of what is beautiful has emerged from mere prettiness or elaborate ornamentation into an instrument of life towards survival in the continuous evolution of life in this planet. It can be found that the link between biology and beauty has dictated the development of humans and other species. Scientific studies strengthens the debate that the beautiful will emerge as the survivors given that their counterparts find them more attractive than the rest and that they are perceived to produce the most beautiful offsprings. In this biological quest for a successful and healthy reproduction process, the preference is indeed given to those mates who appear healthy. A healthy individual is visually manifested in their skin and hair, by the movement of their body, by a proportioned and toned body. These are the people judged to be beautiful. If the experts are correct in these assumptions or scientific observations, men usually look for women who appear young and fertile. This is where cosmetics leverage onto. Burke (2003:75-77): The cosmetic industry tries to address this so-called â€Å"need† that women continue to appear young despite already going beyond their fertile or child-bearing years. Nevertheless, beyond the need to reproduce our genes, the core of beauty still delves on the ability of a person to identify and bring out the beauty in their lives. We need not generate only life in this world, but also generate beauty that will make life even more worthwhile. It is the appreciation of beauty in our surroundings even without the use of any form of artificial adornment such as cosmetics that will enable one to realize the beauty of life, that it is worth-knowing and worth living after all. Given how important the nation for beauty is perceived across nations, and beyond borders, how cosmetics value this perception and its effects to the human well-being is crucial. Dermatological diseases have sprung in the recent years that come in a range from minor cosmetic problems to even life-threatening problems, as displayed in some disorders commonly due to skin differentiation processes. Zeeuwen (2004:176). With this statement, one should also be vigilant and be a knowledgeable end-user of these products that attempt to change certain elements of your natural state of appearance or being to some extent. The law of economics reminds us that with in every level of quality increased, price is directly affected as it is directly correlated.

Harley Davidsons Process Of Change

Harley Davidsons Process Of Change Harley Davidson celebrates their 107 years anniversary this year. In their long journey, they have faced many bumps. One of the biggest challenges was in 1980s where Japanese motor cycle company joins the competition in United States. It gaves a huge impact to Harley. The Harley almost becomes history that day. Until some important person came and initiated change of every single aspect.. Rich Teerlink and Lee Ozley were two of the key person behind the change. Rich Teerlink was CEO of Harley Davidson, Inc and Lee Ozley was consultant for the company. In the year 2000, they wrote a book called More than a motorcycle: the leadership journey at Harley. The book tells stories about more than 12 years journey of change. How they analyze the problems, failure they made, challenge to change, until they succeed in changing Harley Davidson become better company. In this research paper, the authors try to see their journey from knowledge management perspective. The authors will draw importan t components that could affect implementation of knowledge management initiative. Leadership, business process, organizational structure, lifelong learning, culture and employee participation, are some components that lead successfulness of Harley Davidson s journey. Keywords: Knowledge Management, Leadership Introduction On the edge of bankruptcy, Harley was acquired by American Machine and Foundry (AMF) in1969, but still not revolving well until 1980. Worse is that the independence of Harley, Inc. put Harley people from honeymoon to hard times because of capital deficit. The arrival of crisis in the early 1980s, when many of Harleys employees lost their jobs or opportunities for career advancement, turned into a driving force of adopting the traditional command-and control hierarchies to remove the crunch. It seemed safe and steady after the crisis, nevertheless, the tree leaders, Rich, Tom Gelb, vice president of manufacturing, and John Campbell, vice president of human resources, started to take into account the survival and prosperity of the company in the long run. Decisive, top-down leadership style no longer could afford the future with limited effectiveness and durability. Commitment, rather than compliance, together with appropriate leadership were put on the agenda in view of Employee involvement (EI). This revolution started with information flow for knowledge sharing within the organization, supported by strategy thrust in stair-step. Leadership played a vital role in articulating a vision of collaboration during the whole business process while emphasis on human capital through awareness expansion, commitment extension and two-way communication helped building the life-long learning culture of the company. Best Practices originated from the Operational Committee the behavior model, also contributed to one of the core advantages of Harleyworld class system. Preparation of Journey Getting There from Here Strategic thrust (Figure 1) for change rises from comparison between where we are today and vision of ideal future with power derives from the stair-step idea (Figure 2), which stimulated the forward information flow in that a shared vision help people on the stair to tolerate the near-term unknowns. Making Change Popular The conceptual framework (Teerlink, 2000) Lee outlined was based on the mathematics of change, providing an approach to making change welcome. Change = (E*M*P) > Resistance E=Engagement, M=Model, P=Process The need to do things differently drives peoples engagement.(E) The Vision of ideal future provides a clear goal with the proper model giving the reality-transformation.(M) Approaches to make change welcome ,stepping toward the clear goal.(P) Structure for Information Flow With the fact that Harley could not afford another three years of only incremental change, management team agreed to adopt the one-year contract that afterwards proved to be beneficial for both the union and management to take the risk. Demanding for establishing the appropriate relationship among the unions, between the union and the company together with feedbacks from the stakeholder, customer, shop floor worker along the tree dimensions: quality, financial performance, interpersonal relations turned into the catalyst of producing the Joint Vision Process. The information flow unfold the process by combining the two perspectives from both union and nonunion together, with negative and positive pressures, limited time but also stimulus to the process, brought by the one-year contract. Joint Vision Process Joint Vision Process (Figure 3) was the first step in the journey. The purpose is to jointly create the company s vision between the Union and Management. Individuals from the two groups formed their own perspectives toward vision for the company and the union-management relationship which then combined into a joint vision. In producing a final Joint Vision, a three-day session called the May Big One was held at the Ramada Inn in May 1988. There is one and only rule that nothing would be included in the final vision statement that wasnt the product of complete consensus. This rewarding process carried out through a continuing dialogue, with participants showing a sense of personal ownership in company matters, enabled this switch, rather than change from Point A (my ideas) to point B(my companys ideas) through a series of steps (my institutions ideas, my sites ideas). The proxy is community since local and specific cannot be generally accepted. The conference committees, set up by ROI with members including the most senior managers and labor leaders from both union and nonunion, aimed to address apparent disagreement. What continued was the setup of the Joint Leadership Group, which was created as a network of temporary structures, composing union and management leaders, to help move the Joint Vision Process forward. And Local Site Committees, responsible for the identification of barriers had three guidelines to decide the work of problem solving, which are 1. Problems and issues would be dealt with by the people most directly affected and knowledgeable. 2. Only the top-level joint group could identify issues as off limits to the Joint Vision Process. 3. Any joint group could form task forces to do pieces of work within the charter of that joint group. Temporary governance structure (Figure 4) of the process was then seated to hunt down barriers, giving fairness to those people who have not yet been directly involved by reaching a numerical balance between unions and management. Modeling Appropriate Behaviors The Operational Committee was established by individuals reporting directly to members of the Executive Committee to make executives actions visible and support a culture of collaboration in the embryonic form of Best Practices, enabling combination of Tacit knowledge interaction from different levels. The two consultants, Bob and Lee, provided a series of recommendation after observing a number of committee meetings. They pointed out that one facilitator was needed in the committee to help train the members with the guidelines and ground rules, and those participants should contribute to the topic only at the meeting, and also third-party attributions had to be avoided. It is troublesome in the late period of identifying and addressing barriers to the Joint Vision and hundreds of barriers lead to the negotiation between the two sidesunion and management, ending with a new two-year labor agreement. The process went well from mid-1988 to early 1990, and then came the unavoidable suspension because of lacking comprehensive training of leaders from both the union and the management sides, following by the discussion based on six specific issues. Margaret Crawford, a member of one of the salaried groups, says that going right to the barriers was probably a mistake and that focusing on opportunities could be a better idea. Since it really takes time to build relationship, active steps should be taken to help people in the organization change. All in all, the Joint Vision Process was a painful process but it did give the right direction, setting the foundation of the whole journey. Leadership involved creating opportunities, Harleys Executive Committee moved forward to expand awareness of senior management of the two separate organizations, Harley and Holiday-Ramble, through activities mainly focus at debate stimulation, learning sharing and organizational cohesion, which was the first time that all top executives from both HDMC and HRC come together in a working session. The learning organization began among the groups with the following six objectives (Teerlink, 2000): Provide insights and concepts to assist senior management in leading their organizations more effectively Demonstrate continuous learning as a way of life Get better acquainted Exchange ideas and information Elicit ideas for the content and process of future sessions Have fun After an effective icebreakerthe Tinker Toy exercise in which the five-member teams comprising purposely mixed employees from HDMC and HRC, in team, design, build, and sell a Tinker toy, all participants came to the next activity, where no challenging ideas were provided by the groups toward the extreme thought given by the guest speaker James Brian Quinn. The participating managers had unexpected flat, one-dimensional reflect in spite that a high level of camaraderie was promoted through the enjoyable experiential learning in which people had energetic and positive responses to the skits. Rich was unsatisfied as peoples habits of getting the answers from on high lead no different new ways and the unawareness of Participation is an important element of Harleys long-term success and must be so recognized by the operating units. (Teerlink, 2000). And Lee compared the awareness expansion to a watershed event, saying that it broke the egg open a little. The Business Process Business process is defined as a structured, measured set of activities designed to produce a specific output for a particular customer or market. It implies a strong emphasis on how work is done within an organization, in contrast to a product focus s emphasis on what. A process is thus a specific ordering of work activities across time and space, with a beginning and an end, and clearly defined inputs and outputs: a structure for action. Taking a process approach implies adopting the customer s point of view. Processes are the structure by which an organization does what is necessary to produce value for its customers. (T. Davenport, 1993) As a brushfire of change, the Joint Vision Process received various feedbacks among different level of participants. Problems exist in both pace and process. Channeling energy released through the awareness expansion sessions, the Joint Vision Process, the beginning of organizational learning together with related initiatives called the need of structures. Business Process (Figure 5) is such a device that predated the Joint Vision Process, helping define much about the way Harley does business today. The distinction between Harleys previous improvement programs and the Business Process is that the latter automatically expand and extend the productive programs. Below are the three components of the Business Process: the corporate Umbrella, the operating unit, and the work unit (My Area) Corporate Umbrella In building the umbrella package of ideas including values, issues, and stakeholders, one-word signposts is agreed in the Executive Committee to summarize the following four areas: How will we behave in our interactions with others? (Values) What is truly important to Harley? (Issues) Whom does Harley serve? (Stakeholders) How will we describe success in the future? (Vision) (Teerlink, 2000) The values to determine our interactions with others are based on the short list presented by Dr. Alex Horniman, an ethics professor at the University of Virginia s Darden School, which are to tell the truth, to be fair, to keep your promises, to respect the individual. And to encourage intellectual curiosity was added as a fifth value by the Executive Committee. Five issues including Quality, Participation, Productivity, Flexibility, and Cash flow are focused by the group to determine what kind of company Harley was supposed to be. Stakeholders, whom the Executive Committee defined as anyone inside or outside the company who has an interaction with Harleys products, services, or representatives. comprise six parts: customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, government, and society. Shareholders were replaced by investors due to its restriction on unfolding all of those who backed Harley with money and other assets. The vision, including key ideas of the importance of relationshi ps, the imperative for action, and the international nature of the companys future markets, was defined together by all senior managers and was proved to be the driving force of the forwarding overwhelming business process. Two sentences captured the vision before 1994: Harley is an action-oriented, international companya leader in its commitment to continuously improve the quality of profitable relationships with stakeholders(customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, government and society). and Harley believes the key to success is to balance stake holders interests through the empowerment of all employees to focus on value-added activities. and then was changed to To be a leader in continuous improvement in mutually beneficial relationships with all our stakeholders. Operating Unit A three-year plan, as an attachment of a cover note Rich prepared for the December 1987 board of directors meeting, including a mission statement, operating philosophy, and selected strategies, was the foundation of the Business Process. The Executive Committee attached great importance to flexibility on the mission statement: Preserve and perpetuate the Harley institution through continuous improvement in the quality of our goods and services, and achievement of our financial goals, Provide motorcycles, accessories, and services to motorcycles in selected niches, provide the general public brand-identified products/services to enhance Harleys image and attract new customers (Teerlink, 2000). Engage in manufacturing or service ventures that can add value (not only profit) to the motorcycle business (1991) and We fulfill dreams through the experiences of motorcyclingby providing to motorcyclists and to the general public an expanding line of motorcycles, branded products, and services in selected market segments (February 1999) Objectives: How do we measure success? Operating units are guided in general terms by objectives which are traditionally stated in financial like develop the global market potential of 100,000 units by December 31, 1996, and develop the capacity to meet that demand while continuously improve quality. It is suggested by the Executive Committee that no more than five objectives should be adopted in each operating unit within Harley. Strategic plans, guiding operating units in specific terms, are based on a three to five year time horizon, compared with that of objectives, mostly a five to ten year time horizon at Harley and are changed corresponding to different objectives in various periods of time. Work Unit (My Area) The philosophy embedded in the mind of Harleys people is supposed to be doing the right thing naturally and organically but not in response to some external crisis, which can be enabled by tools for individuals and groups to operate independently, without continuous guidance from corporate, balancing local responsibility with the larger needs of functions, divisions, and departments. Three key points here: 1. A work unit, today operating as natural work group, would map out plans annually according to the stages of the annual operating plans. 2. An employee-driven Performance Effectiveness Plan (PEP) was developed for every employee to understand plans, in both strategic and operating level, and then to make personal plans correspondingly. 3. Inside the Two-way communication, managers act as knowers, to whom people provide their information and go for answers. Managing business process enables organizations to be more efficient, more effective and more capable of change than a functionally focused, traditional hierarchical management approach. In business process, knowledge is created and transferred throughout the organization by tools such as lessons learn database, best practices and community of practices. And since the transfer of business practices is viewed as a source of competitive advantage in knowledge management strategies (Alexandre P., 2007), business process provides Harley the platform to build the core advantages of the companyworld class system through best practices originated from the Operational Committee the behavior model(Teerlink, 2000). Organizational Structure Organizational design is one of the factors that will greatly influence the implementation of a knowledge management process (Enrique Claver-Corte s, 2007). Organizational structure which have high hierarchy and very bureaucratic tend to have low innovations from the employees. Usually the structure is command-control, not much space for the employees to express himself. Harley s manager and union members found that organizational structure gives huge barriers to realization of company s future. Rich changes Harley s organizational structure from command control decision making into employee-driven and minimal structure. Employees have opportunity to contribute on deciding specifics boxes and lines for the organization and the structure should derive from real organizational functions. Rich and colleagues come up with idea about circle organization. The philosophy behind this circle organization was to get the right people, together at the right time, to do the right work right. (Teerlink, 2000). It represents shared leadership and cross-functionality at work in Harley. The circle organization based on three core processes, Create demand; include marketing, sales, public relations, customer services and styling. Produce product; include manufacturing, engineering, purchasing, logistics, etc. Provide support; include finance, HR, legal, information services, etc. And leadership and strategy council (LSC), its coordinator of other three circles. Figure 6 shows complete picture about the circle organization. Arrows pointing to stakeholders area means it s the external focus for the company. Meanwhile, arrows pointing across the circle indicate recognition of interdependence. The scheme encourages employees to seek the right people to work with in order to get the work done. The command-control position was replaced by the coach or facilitator in each group. Employees communicate and share knowledge inside and between the circles, knowledge buyer and seller change their idea how to solve a problem, new ideas often generate during the discussions. Employee Engagement One of factors influencing successfulness of Knowledge Management initiative is employee s engagement to the organization. When employee feel the organization is belong to them and their contribution is recognized by the company, employee will be encouraged to share their knowledge and actively participate to the company s business strategy. Bob Hayward in his website shares some benefits of employee engagement in the organization (Hayward, 2010): Better performance Knowledge worker whom engage in his job tend to work smarter. They always looking for ways to improve their performance. Work in effective and efficient way. It means better quality, innovations and lower cost. Better communication Engaged employee communicate to share ideas, information and knowledge. Knowledge sharing is in his blood. He actively plays roles in knowledge market. Greater customer satisfaction Customer is a king. Engaged employee will seek how he could meet customer needs. Customer satisfaction is his target. Better team working Employee has personal responsibility to deliver business agenda. He works in the team to achieve organization s vision. Greater commitment Employee has a pride and really cares about the company s future, because company s future is also his future. Lower employee turnover and greater ability to recruit great people One of serious problem in organization is high employee turnover. Without proper knowledge management system, knowledge could walk away out the door together with employee. Organization has to reinvent the wheel every time employee goes out. For engaged employee, they do not easily leave the company. They feel happy working there. Good employee usually has good networking; it will lead them to propose the company great people to join them. Rich and his teams clearly have vision how to engage their employee to the company. Harley did some activities to encourage the employee engagement: Established Performance Effectiveness Process (PEP) PEP gives individual opportunity and responsibility to determine function of his work unit and how he can make difference in company s future. PEP is the smallest participatory process entity of company s vision that will evolve iteratively and it will lead to the creation of whole company business process. PEP can be used for several activities, such as: o Performance Evaluation One purpose of performance evaluation is to see strength and weakness of individual. Harley involved the employee on defining their own performance measure and see individual from other perspective. Employee should know his position based on others judgments and understood how their colleges perceived them and how to improve their performance in the eyes of their college. Based on this evaluation, company will extract strength and weakness of their employee. So the company will know which subject they should concentrate to develop. o Career Development PEP was tailored by the HR department to become basic for career development. Many employees like status quo. When company trying to make major cultural change, they do not want to change and hate to be changed. Integrating career development into PEP, it will insist the employee to change their habit. If they do not want to change, then he will be the first employee who will leave the company when layoff comes. o Maximize employee participation. Individuals know clarity how he can make a difference. It s good for company as well for the individuals. With PEP, employee have to give input how to improve them self as well as the company. In their employee handbook, Harley Davidson commit to create a working environment designed to maximize employee contribution and provide resource and opportunities to develop their knowledge. PEP does not succeed in its first month or even first year of implementation. It emerged over several years, with continuous improvement in all aspects. Compensation The second way how Harley engaged the employee is by giving them compensation. Harley compensates people not only from performance but also on how they demonstrate their capabilities. Harley found that they should not compensate the employee only with money. Because their motivation is not only money, indeed we should have much money to do that, said Lee. Harley has two visions on giving compensation. The first is to make a larger part of employees compensation at-risk or variable and the second is to compensate all employees in essentially the same way by creating standard pay components across the company. Listen to the employees Harley Davidson is an employee driven organizations. They were changing their culture from command control top down company into more participatory. Most people want the same thing from their company. For them working motivation is not only money. What Harley s employee really seeks are rewards and recognition in non-monetary realms. They seek opportunities to be heard, organization s evidence of contribution, involvement in decision making and problem solving process. They want to know every single aspect in organization and understand what is going on. Employee seeks total experience in their working place. The company really listens carefully and takes necessary action to response the employee s need. Harley s facilitate sharing session on what they expect in the organization. The employee proposed 49 things to the company. Some of the items can be done immediately and the others need approve from the board. But Harley really engages to his employee satisfaction, and this will bring the employees to do the same thing for the company. Lifelong Learning Learning organization is organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together. (Senge, 1990) Some benefits of becoming a learning organization are: Maintaining levels of innovation and remaining competitive (McHugh, 1998) Being better placed to respond to external pressures (McHugh, 1998) Having the knowledge to better link resources to customer needs (Wikipedia, 2010) Improving quality of outputs at all levels (Wikipedia, 2010) Improving corporate image by becoming more people oriented (Wikipedia, 2010) Increasing the pace of change within the organization (Wikipedia, 2010) Harley s leaders, both union and management leaders have commitment to encourage and facilitate learning and intellectual curiosity in the organizations. Intellectual curiosity is result of looking somebody else doing the task and reason why he doing in that way. Company serves the employee by providing skills and knowledge they need. The most significant step toward Harley learning culture was Awareness Expansion III. One of participant said We re learning from each other, and we re increasing our understanding of our respective business . Successfulness of AEIII leads to establishment of AEIV. AEIV main purpose is to learning from each other. Employee divided into 5 groups and they present on one particular topic. They change knowledge when the presentation was held. Working together in this way, give them a new experience of learning. Based on Lee opinion, AEIV is a huge step of Harley s journey because the group discussion is led and facilitated by themselves, not by professional. Another achievement in AEIV is, they collaborate with MIT-based Organizational Learning Center (OLC). This Research group headed by Peter Senge, he is an organizational theorist and consultant. Peter Senge was the author of The Fifth Discipline book. Rich and Lee had read the book and interest to implement his idea on how to become a successful organization. Senge proposed five disciplines about successful organization, which are: personal mastery, mental models, shared visions, team learning and systems thinking. Senge s sights were aligned with what Harley s doing lately. By working together with OLC, Harley wants to emphasis lifelong learning for all employees. To support this program, Harley provides some formal learning program to its employee. Harley Davidson Leadership Institute Tuition reimbursement programs at Graduate and Undergraduate levels Degree Program with Marquette University Lifelong Learning Centers Motorcycle U Harley Davidson University On creating the learning concepts, they were involving all the stakeholders. Because the root learning concept built based on old Chinese proverb Tell me, Ill forget Show me and I may remember But involve me, and Ill understand To decide specific training and education, management and labor jointly adopt Learning Maps approach developed by Perrysburg. By using this Learning Maps, the employee come up with four topics that they need to learned: our market, the business process, our processes and the money cycle. All these topics are compelled to help every single employee understand the companys critical business issues in the same way. Communication Achievements reached in Communication As stated by Rich and Lee at the beginning of the journey, the umbrella business process was serving to ensure that everybody had the appropriate level of information as defined, to allow them to do their job for the organization. However, the results from two baseline audit surveys on the employees in 1991 broke the leadership s expectation after their more-than-three-year effort on improving the relationships and communications within the organization. Shocked by the feedbacks from a majority of the employees, the leadership recognized the failure on communication and started to find and fix the problems. Aligning with the organizational strategy, transforming the company from command-and-control model to a totally new way based on good communication, Rich and Lee thoroughly abandoned dictating method and broke the assumptions of some senior managers and supervisors on employees perspectives about information and knowledge. Later, they came up with a new approach to improve organiz ational communication by asking the employees what they need to know and trying to meet the needs. Due to the executive of the new approach and the establishment of Harley communications department (which had a risk of setting the communication situation back to the command-and-control era, as worried about by Rich, but truly facilitated the organizational communication and drove the efforts on better communication), the employees curiosity on information in a big picture By design, they owned the big picture. They therefore took responsibility for figuring out which piece of that big picture they would communicate, to whom, and in what form. (Teerlink, 2000) was dramatically raised and information and knowledge finally began to flow efficiently throughout the company and among plants in different locations. Although the achievement Harley obtained on organizational communication still cannot be regarded as a huge success, it did lead to favorable outcome in the organization s coming partnering project. The roots of partnering, as described by Rich and Lee in the book, can be traced back to the crisis in the late 1970s and 1980s.During the hard time, Harley s union leaders and members worked collaboratively with management to save the company. However, once the crisis was gone, the collaborative work began to fade, which was obviously not likely to the company continuous improvement in the new marketing environment. And in the year of 1994, the increasing marketing demand urgently called for an expansion of manufacturing capacity which was not possible to be realized without partnering. Due to the endeavors mainly made by Harley s leadership, Joint Partnership Implementation Committee (JPIC) was founded and Kansas City plant started up as a great outcome of partnering. Factors Leading to Success of Communication According to Thoma

Financial Analysis for Mining Project

Financial Analysis for Mining Project Definition of Project Finance Financial institutions use a particular type of lending known as project finance when funding a developing mining project. The loan is repaid from the cash flows generated by the project with no recourse, or only limited recourse, to the company as a whole. In non-recourse lending, no tangible assets exist until the operation is brought into production. Clearly the lender will be exposed to all the risks associated with the project which could result in revenue being insufficient to service debt. Banks will thus always take a conservative stance when evaluating the economic viability of a project and may look to the project sponsor to provide corporate guarantees for the loan. If the sponsor is a junior company with little or no collateral, the role of government-backed guarantees becomes important. Project finance is not readily available to junior companies with proven deposits but no operating production. These companies may instead generate funds from the equity market to bring the project to the stage of being a viable operation. Once steady cash flows have been established, debt finance then becomes both possible and attractive and is used to develop the project to its optimum potential. Project finance is also used to develop a particular component of well established operations, such as new mining equipment, the rehabilitation of old or the sinking of new shaft systems, or upgrading of a treatment plant. Why Project Finance? Mining projects are capital-intensive ventures with an inherently high risk, and as such are often not deemed sufficiently creditworthy to obtain traditional financing. The project sponsors may be unwilling to carry the risks and assume the debt obligations associated with traditional financing even if it is available. Project finance is an attractive alternative as it allows the risks associated with the project to be shared with the principal lender. The main advantage of non-recourse funding is that the sponsor has no obligation to service the debt if cash flows generated through mining operations are insufficient to cover the principal and interest payments on the loan. The lender has the security of a collateral guarantee from the sponsor and an economic completion test (ECT) if a project is being developed from the feasibility stage. An ECT acts as a safeguard for the lender against any flaws in the feasibility study encountered during the construction phase and over the start-up period of the project. Once the project has passed the ECT then the guarantee falls away, and the only asset the bank can claim is the actual cash flow itself. Sponsors typically seek to finance the development and construction costs of a mining project on a highly geared basis, often around 60% to 70% debt. Such financing permits the sponsor to put fewer funds at risk and develop the project without diluting its equity investment in the venture. Project finance can also lead to reductions in the cost of capital, as lower cost, tax-deductible interest is used rather than higher cost, taxable returns on equity. Financing should be structured to maximise tax benefits and ensure that all available tax benefits are taken advantage of by the sponsor. Project Financing Participants Sponsor/Developer The sponsor or developer of a mining project is the organising body that controls and has an equity interest in the company or other entity that owns the project. In mining projects there is often more than one sponsor, and these will normally join together under a joint-venture agreement to form a single corporation/partnership that will essentially function as the project owner. A joint-venture agreement must be carefully drawn up with legal involvement and must clearly state the respective rights and responsibilities to the project of the parties involved. Lender The lender of project financing is a financial institution or group of financial institutions that provide the capital loan to the project company. Lenders are usually corporate investment banking groups, though NGO involvement in project finance is important in developing world countries. Due to the non-recourse nature of project finance, the lender takes a security interest in all of the project assets. Government If the sponsor is a junior company with little or no collateral, governments may be required to provide the lender with a guarantee on the loan. This practice is particularly common in the former Soviet Union region, where formerly state-owned projects now seeking to develop in the private sector are backed by national governments in their applications for project finance. An Introduction to Modelling Metal Project Finance February 1, 2010 Schedule to Project Finance The development of a project to the stage where project finance becomes viable involves going through the following stages: resource definition drilling of exploration target; preliminary feasibility study; further project development expenditure; full feasibility study; and information memorandum. Preliminary Feasibility Study Once an economic mineral resource has been identified by an exploration group, a preliminary feasibility study is undertaken by a small group of experienced professionals to determine if further expenditure on the project is justified. The foundation of the pre-feasibility study is the development of a geological model which forms the basis of the reserve estimation. Geostatistical techniques can then be applied to determine if the deposit has been correctly sampled and provide an indication of the uncertainty associated with the estimated grade. The whole integrity of a project will be called into question if the geostatisticians have to place any qualification on the reliability of the sampling programme. Once the geometric form and size of the deposit and the concentration of the mineral have been established, an initial design for the mine and mineral processing stages can be considered. It is particularly important that the rate of production should be on a scale which is appropriate to the size of the ore body. A mine life much in excess of 10 years does not enhance the net present value (NPV) of the project, while too short a mine life does not permit adequate return on capital. A simple discounted cash flow analysis based on some broadly based engineering assumptions can then be set up, provided the reserve estimation is reliable. This will establish the overall financial viability of the project and allows a basic sensitivity analysis to be undertaken. Full Feasibility Study Most junior companies do not have the resources required to meet the high cost of generating all the data needed to undertake a full feasibility study and then fund the study itself. This phase of project development is often funded by bringing on board a major joint venture partner or by raising finance through share issues on the stock market. Essentially, the technical component of the prospectus for a market listing on one of the senior stock exchanges involves the preparation of a pre-feasibility study. Typically, a junior company with a proven deposit will attempt to establish a production capability once equity funding has been obtained. This will provide material for a full feasibility study. Before a mining project can proceed from the exploration and evaluation stage to full-scale production, all available data and relevant factors are compiled and evaluated as part of the full feasibility study. This should analyse every technical, financial and other aspects of the project. The major topics that are expected to be covered include: geology; grade and reserve estimation; mining method and plan; mineral processing design plan and test results; capital costs, taxation and royalty assumptions; operating cost estimates; product price assumptions and negotiated sales contracts; environmental considerations and operating permits; and financial modelling. Typically, a full feasibility study would involve a team of at least 10 professionals who could take up to a year to complete the task. It would be used as a blueprint when calling for tenders and awarding multi-million dollar contracts. Information Memorandum An information memorandum builds on the full feasibility study and results in the document required by the bank in any application for debt finance. While this document would incorporate a full technical feasibility study, a bank would also require background information on the borrower. This includes audited company accounts, a profile of the company structure and senior personnel, the legal framework of the company, the proposed loan terms and all the necessary information on exactly how the loan will be administered, controlled and protected. This material is all incorporated in the information memorandum. Sensitivity analysis would be undertaken on the financial model and key parameters such as operating costs and capital costs would be varied. Clearly much greater confidence will be placed on estimates provided by an experienced mining company than junior companies with no production experience. While junior companies can hire consultants to provide technical reports covering operating and capital costs acceptable to the lender, they will need to assemble an experienced management team. Getting a mine and processing plant to perform to their design capabilities is as much an art as a science. A proven track record is clearly an advantage. The information memorandum will also require an environmental audit to be carried out with specific reference to liability for previous mining activity. Superfund legislation in the US can hold lenders responsible for environmental damage at sites where loans have long since been repaid, or where degradation occurred before it was owned by the mining company to which the bank has provided debt finance. The Lenders Decision Making Process The lender will initially review the submitted information memorandum and it is then frequent practice to hire an independent consultant to perform a due-diligence test or prepare an independent feasibility study. Banks will construct their own financial models and carry out detailed sensitivity analyses. Potential risks must be identified and quantified prior to committing to a project. Given the number of independent and interdependent variables present in a mining operation, it is quite impossible to envisage all possible scenarios that could prevail during actual mining. Monte Carlo techniques are sometimes used to simulate some of the possibilities, but these assume the statistical independence of the parameters, which is clearly not valid. Once the project finance analysts have reviewed and accepted the information memorandum, their findings will be presented to a credit committee which is responsible for the ultimate accept/reject decision. The background information on the borrower and credit guarantees are particularly important at this stage. The Purpose of Modelling The size and complexity of a projects financing requires accurate financial analysis, and modelling plays a vital role in charting a projects cash flows. Both the lender and sponsor alike need to establish that future revenues will be of sufficient magnitude to meet loan repayments on schedule while still producing a residual profit for the sponsor. Discounted cash flow (DCF) modelling thus forms an integral part of the preliminary and full feasibility studies and allows the economic viability of a project with debt finance to be tested. Cash flow modelling should be undertaken throughout project development, with an increasing level of detail as more data becomes available. A preliminary feasibility should include a simple DCF model that allows the overall financial viability of the proposed operation to be established. By the time a project reaches full feasibility level, detailed engineering studies and market evaluations will have been undertaken and capital costs, operating costs, and predicted sales levels can be defined with confidence. A full feasibility cash flow model will thus be more refined and will incorporate tax and royalty formulae and full project financing scenarios. A detailed sensitivity analysis will also be included. In evaluating an information memorandum, the lender will scrutinise the cash flow model of the project and employ independent consultants to verify the cost assumptions used. The lender will perform a risk analysis on the model inputs and analyse the project financing component in order to determine the banks optimum lending scenario. DCF Analysis and the Time Value of Money The principle of discounting cash flows is based on the logic that money received in the future is worth less than that same amount received today, due to the opportunity of earning additional revenue on that sum if it were to be invested elsewhere. Suppose there is a choice of receiving $1000 today and investing it or receiving $2000 in ten years time. Which is the most valuable outcome? The answer clearly depends on the prevailing interest rate. If it happens to be 5%, the money would be worth $1629 at the end of ten years and so it would be better to wait. On the other hand, if the current rate happens to be 10% the sum would be worth $2594 in ten years time and so it would be preferable to take the money now and invest it. The break-even interest rate in this scenario is about 7.2%. Modelling incremental discounted cash flows analyses the financial viability of a project by not only testing that generated revenues are substantially greater than costs and debt service requirements, but also by measuring the present value of those profits. The underlying philosophy in DCF analysis is that the project is to be compared with investing the same stream of cash flows elsewhere. One of the essential questions in DCF analysis is how to choose the discount rate. Discounted cash flows can be used to determine the Net Present Value of the project, which is essentially a present valuation of the potential of the deposit to generate future profits. NPV is calculated as follows: Projects with an NPV greater than zero will produce greater revenues than their costs at the minimum acceptable rate of return (the discount or hurdle rate), and mutually exclusive investment opportunities are ranked by magnitude of NPV. The Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Payback Period of a project can also be calculated from a model of future cash flows. IRR is essentially the discount rate at which NPV at time zero of all cash flows is equal to zero, and is calculated as follows: A project is profitable if the IRR exceeds the opportunity cost of capital (the projects discount rate), and mutually exclusive scenarios are ranked by magnitude of IRR. Payback period is simply the time taken for the initial capital investment to be recovered by the stream of annual positive cash flows, and is not generally used alone for making an investment decision as it takes no account of the time value of money. Developing a Spreadsheet-Based Model The most important elements to remember when developing a spreadsheet model of projected cash flows are clarity, consistency, and flexibility. The spreadsheets used in some projects can be very large and complicated, with entries going from page to page. Spreadsheet cells call for results from other cells which in their turn call other cells. It is not always easy to follow the logic of the steps being carried out and, when the spreadsheet is very convoluted, there is a real possibility of artefacts being introduced. Even if there are none, it becomes very difficult to test the projects sensitivity to input parameters. There is great benefit to be gained from a consistent basic layout with a clear flow of logic throughout. Input pages, calculations, and output reports should be kept in separate areas. This course has employed the use of IC-MinEval, a purpose-designed software package for the financial evaluation of mining projects. IC-MinEval automates all the stages required to produce an Excel-based DCF model of a mining project through a series of clearly defined menu-driven forms that prompt the user to enter all the necessary technical and financial variables. Once the key technical and financial data has been entered, it is checked and a comprehensive series of Visual Basic routines ensures that a set of Excel worksheets are generated to form a customised DCF model. The DCF method of analysis has the advantage that a model can be constructed which reflects the primary technical features of the project. This does, however, require a level of knowledge about the operation which may not be available outside the company, but it is still possible to develop a model based on comparative scenarios which can provide the basis for a preliminary valuation. This is the approach followed by IC-MinEval and adopted in this course. The first step in creating a spreadsheet cash flow model is to compile all available project information on an input sheet database. This includes all the technical information which will allow calculation of mine life, annual ROM production and annual production of saleable commodity. The input sheet must also contain project cost information to allow calculation of annual capital, operating, and transportation costs. Finally, financial data must be input, including sale price, tax and royalty rates, project discount rates, and project financing information. A separate series of worksheets can then be created to calculate the annual production, sales and costs. The results are then used to construct a model of the cash inflows and outflows in each year of the projects life. A mine life much in excess of 10 years does not enhance the NPV of the project, while too short a mine life does not permit adequate return on capital. A project with a very long potential lifespan should thus only be modelled over the first 10 to 15 years of its life. It is unlikely that a mine with a longer life could operate effectively without additional capitalisation and so the cash flow forecasts for the later years would be highly subjective in any case. Project Input Data The input data needed to construct a spreadsheet-based cash flow model is divided into project technical information and financial information. IC-MinEval has a series of input screens which prompt you for all the necessary data, navigated from an input menu screen (Figure 1). The basic technical inputs can be subdivided as follows: general project information; resource information; mining rates; costs; commodity price; expenditure; and environmental and closure provisions. General Information General information is required on the commodity/ies, and on the mining method that is to be used to exploit the resource. The choice of mining method has important implications for the rate of production, equipment, capital expenditure and mining operating costs. The permitting and construction period also needs to be established in order to determine the total pre-production period of the project, the time after the initial capital expenditure (capex) has been spent before production (and revenue) can begin. In terms of project finance, the end of this period signifies completion when the projects cash flows become the primary source of debt repayment. Resource Information Information is required on the size of the deposit, the grades, and several other mining parameters. The total mineralised volume of the deposit revealed by geostatistical evaluation can be multiplied by the specific gravity of the particular ore-type to calculate the total in situ ore reserve tonnage. The expected mining recovery (the percentage of the in situ ore that can be mined) provided by the engineering study is multiplied by the total in situ ore tonnage to determine the total ore to be recovered.The expected dilution (the amount of waste rock that is mistakenly mined as ore), stripping ratio (the amount of waste material needed to be removed for every unit of ore mined in surface operations), grade (average grade of ore mined that is higher than the economic cut-off) and plant recovery (the percentage of the commodity contained in the ore rock that can be extracted by the plant) are also required in order to establish the quantity of the saleable commodity produced. Mining Rate The mining rate needs to be established because it directly affects the mine life and capex, as the more rock mined per year, the larger the processing plant and equipment that is required. In addition to the average rate during full production, it must also be established if the mining rate is to be varied over the first few years of production, to model a more realistic slower start up rate. It is particularly important that the rate of production should be on a scale which is appropriate to the size of the ore body. A mine life much in excess of 10 years does not enhance the net present value of the project, while too short a mine life does not permit adequate return on capital. Costs The reliability of a cash flow model often hinges on the accurate determination of the projects capex and operating costs. If these are known, or an accurate estimation is made from similar operations, then these figures can be entered directly. However, project costs are often not known with any degree of certainty during the construction of an early financial model. In this case, OHara cost formulae can be used to calculate rough estimates of capex and operating costs (OHara and Suboleski (1992)). Capex Capital costs (capex) are costs in a particular year that will produce benefits in later years. The major capital requirements in mining projects are the cost of constructing the mine site (including purchase of mining equipment), mill and processing plant. Additional costs and expenses that will be incurred in developing a project are termed capital overheads and can be entered into the model as a percentage of the total capex. Operating costs Operating costs (op costs) are costs that only produce a benefit for that year and are calculated annually. In order to establish the total operating costs per tonne of saleable commodity, the costs of mining ore, mining waste and processing must be established. There may be annual fixed operating costs (e.g. administration costs, salaries, office overheads) that must also be incorporated into the model. If coal or an industrial mineral product is the commodity in question, an additional transport cost component must be established. Commodity Price The expected sale price(s) of the product(s) and how this/these will vary over the project life must be established. It must be decided whether the commodity/ies will be sold entirely on the spot market or whether a percentage will be forward sold at a different price. Hedging details must be incorporated into the model if forward sales are to be applied. Expenditure The model must reveal how capex payments are to be spread over the first few years of the project and the amount of working capital to be used must be established. The capex is unlikely to all be employed in the first year of the project, depending on delays and the construction period. Working capital is the capital reserve required for the day-to-day running of the operation and can be expressed as a percentage of the annual operating costs, normally set at around 25%. Environmental and Closure Provisions A financial model should include the expected environmental costs and additional costs associated with the projects closure. This may incorporate a fixed bullet payment at the end of the mine life to cover environmental rehabilitation costs, a sink fund at the beginning of production that acts as an environmental bond to cover rehabilitation costs, and annual environmental costs during production and after mining to cover on-going costs. It must be established how long after completion of mining the annual rehabilitation costs have to be paid. Basic Financial Parameters The financial inputs to the model set the basic financial parameters of the project, such as tax and inflation rate, depreciation, and project financing scenario (Table 1). Discount Rate and Cost of Capital There are two methods of discounting that can be used to calculate the NPV in a financial model. The pre-determined discount rate can be used or the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) can be used. WACC is calculated as follows: As the NPV is calculated on the cash flows before funding but after tax, an allowance is made for the tax implications of interest payments on debt. The cost of debt is calculated as: The WACC thus varies according to the debt/equity ratio of the projects funding structure. The cost of equity is generally higher than the cost of debt, reflecting the higher rate of return required by the equity holders in comparison to the cheaper interest rate on debt. Thus the greater the percentage of total capex funded by debt, the lower the WACC and thus the more favourable the calculated NPV. This is an essential principal of project finance. Project Finance Parameters Input information is required to set up the financing structure of the project including the amount of debt and equity, interest rate and repayment schedule. Capital structure The debt/equity ratio and the size of debt will be decided by the lender. This can be expressed as a percentage of the total financing requirements that will be funded as debt. The optimum draw-down period for the debt funding will be agreed between the project sponsor and lender, and may be drawn out over as long a period as the first five years of the project. Loan type and repayment schedule The schedule for loan repayment needs to be established in order to complete the cash flow model. The number and size of loan repayments will be negotiated between the lender and sponsor, as will the grace period, if any, before repayments must commence. Loan repayments can be made in equal instalments (straight loan) or made proportional to the production rate (production loan). There will be other cash flows associated with organising the project finance that must also be included in the early years of the model. These include an up-front fee by the bank for arranging the loan (a percentage of the total loan available), a commitment fee (an annual fee charged on the amount of the loan that has not been used), fixed charges (for agents fees, legal documentation, independent reports, etc.) and contingency to act as a cushion against unexpected cost rises, etc. (a percentage of the total required funding). Loan interest rate This is the annual rate of interest on the debt as set by the lender. Return on equity This is the annual expected return on equity invested as funds. This can be calculated by a variety of methods including the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). It is often linked to the overall company gearing of the project sponsor. Demand for Nickel Top of Form Session Headings: Bottom of Form Introduction Nickel is one of the more common elements in the composition of the earth, but it is sparingly distributed in the earths crust. Nickel is usually found in modest concentrations and occurs in conjunction with a wide variety of other metals and non-metals. The worlds nickel resources occur in two main geological settings: in secondary minerals such as garnierite and limonite contained in nickel-bearing laterites; and in sulphide minerals associated with mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks. The nickel grade of lateritic ore typically ranges from 1-2%, and that of sulphide ore from 1-4%. Nickel is of considerable economic and strategic importance to many countries, its main use being a critical component in the development of metal alloys. More than 80% of the worlds nickel production is used in alloys, and about 60% of global nickel is used specifically for the manufacture of stainless steel (NIDI (2005)). Nickel is also used in the manufacture of Monel Metal, a corrosion-resistant alloy used by the shipbuilding industry, and is an important strategic metal. Throughout the early 1980s the growth in nickel production exceeded the growth in demand, but the late 80s and early 90s saw this trend reversed as the number of emerging new applications of stainless steel, combined with its rapidly-improving price competitiveness, generated a sustained growth in demand for nickel metal. Indeed, Chinas use of nickel-containing stainless steel and its use of primary nickel have grown dramatically and with impressive consistency over the last fifteen years (NIDI (2004)). Nickel s tocks were rapidly depleted over the middle years of the 2000s, but recovered during the 2008/9 world financial problem period. Concern over depleting reserves of sulphide ores, the traditional source of nickel metal, and high nickel prices led to renewed interest in nickel laterite ores that were previously thought too technologically difficult and costly to treat. The introduction of High Pressure Acid Leaching (HPAL) as a large-scale hydrometallurgical method of concentrating nickel metal and cobalt by-products from limonitic laterite ore appeared to enhance the feasibility of laterite deposits as a long-term solution to the continuing demand for nickel. However, poor initial operating performances at major new HPAL processing plants have cast doubt over this technologys ability to provide a large-scale supply of nickel while operating economically. So sulphide deposits remain the main source of nickel metal. The following working sessions therefore will concentrate on sulphide nickel deposits and provide a review of the major technical aspects of nickel projects that must be taken into consideration in th e economic analysis of such operations. Part 5 introduces a typical nickel sulphide case history with which to demonstrate the modelling of nickel project finance. Prices and Markets The nickel price is closely linked to the global demand for stainless steel which is in turn governed by industrial productivity associated with the global economic climate. 2007-08 witnessed a huge fall in London Metal Exchange (LME) nickel prices (Figure 1), principally due to the collapse of the world economy resulting in huge drop in demand for and production of stainless steel associated with the recession. 2009 has witnessed a modest resurgence in the LME nickel price as demand has outstripped production. Since 2002, a booming commodities sector, partly driven by the rapid growth of China, put substantial pressure on nickel suppliers to meet demand. This in turn had a huge impact on prices. However, forecasting forward much is dependent on how sustained the 2009 easing of the recession will be. The general trend of increasing nickel prices in through most of the mid 2000s, generated renewed interest in the nickel sector. Western Australia in particular witnessed significant increases in production over the past period, with several new major nickel sulphide and laterite projects arising. However, the new HPAL laterite operations in the region did not live up to expectations, with over-optimistic product

The Coward Revealed in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman :: Death Salesman essays

The Coward Revealed in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the main character, Willy Loman, is a struggling salesman. Willy Loman is a complex character who confuses illusion with reality. In a way, Willy has two personalities in this play. The one we see in the present action is a tired man in his sixties. The other Willy is the one we see in flashbacks. He is young and confident. In Act Two, Scene Fourteen, Willy’s son Biff tells him that he loves him. Willy can tell that Biff is not just saying this out of pity because Biff is sobbing. In a flashback, Willy speaks to his dead brother Ben. Ben keeps saying "Time, William, Time", reminding him that suicide is closing in. Ben also tells Willy that he should come to the jungle. In this scene, the jungle represents opportunities for success. The reason that Ben tells Willy to come to the jungle, is that when in the jungle, Willy can get the diamonds. The diamonds represent the insurance money that the family will get from Willy’s accident. Therefore, Ben is saying that the only way Willy can get twenty thousand dollars in insurance money is to kill himself, or symbolically Ben is saying that the only way to get the diamonds is to enter the jungle. Willy also talks to Ben how great Biff would do with all of that money. Willy thinks one more time about Biff and how he was a great football player. This shows that Willy still thinks of Biff as a football hero, which is one of the reasons Willy thinks Biff is so magnificent. As Willy is finishing up his thoughts, his wife, Linda, is calling him to come up to bed. After this happens, the sound of a speeding car is heard driving off into the night. In the same scene, Willy’s wife Linda has come to make a peace with their two sons, Biff and Happy. Linda also suspects that Willy may kill himself. She made a big mistake by leaving the disturbed Willy alone. The rubber tubing that Linda found on the heater foreshadows Willy’s suicide. Linda doesn’t want Willy to kill himself, but believes that she cannot interfere with his business. I believe that Willy’s suicide was an escape from shame. He couldn’t keep living his life as a lie.

Katherine Mansfields Six Years After :: essays papers

Katherine Mansfield's Six Years After In the short story ‘Six Years After’ written by Katherine Mansfield. There are many stereotypes (mostly aimed at men) and role-playing (played by men). When it comes to men and women, men are always the ones taking care of things or being ridiculed. In this essay I will prove that role-playing is what the author is trying to point out as the key theme in this short story. The steward plays the role of a host type of character. He was doing everything he could do in his power to make this couple as comfortable as possible. He went out of his way to put up chairs where there was available shelter, and tried to place them in a spot with the least amount of smell as possible. Another example of role-playing in this novel is when the Husband goes to tip the steward for his excellent work. The husband’s wife tries to tell him what kind of money he should tip the steward, but the husband just listens and tips what he thought the steward should get. This is a classic example of the man being in charge as the man of the house. The man has to show everybody that he is in charge and what he does goes. After the husband tips the steward, he asks his wife if she thinks that is a good tip. The wife simply agrees. When the wife does this it reinforces the husband’s ego of being the one in charge. On the third page of this story, the wife makes fun of her husband by telling him that his hat makes her snicker. She tells him that he looks like a burglar. obviously he was not very amused. He tries to justify his hat by telling her that the hat that he was wearing is one of the best hats he has ever owned. He also mentions that the hat had very rich white satin lining. He believed that this was the hats better attribute. He then took off his hat and then made her touch the lining. Regardless of the fact that the hat made his wife snicker, he turns the conversation around and tries to convince her that the hat is nice. That is lined with very rich white satin. Surely it must be good! â€Å"how often had she rubbed between finger and thumb his coat, his shirt cuff, tie, sock, linen handkerchief† this quote shows that the husband is always doing this when his wife makes a comment about something.