Nike Cost of Capital Essay Example for Free

Nike Cost of Capital Essay Kimi Ford a portfolio manager at NorthPoint Group which is a mutual-fund management firm, is considering to buy some shares from Nike, inc even if it’s share price had declined from the beginning of the year, for the Northpoint Large-cap fund she managed which invested mostly in Fortune 500 companies and it was doing well despite the decline in the stock market over the last 18 months. Kimi therefore surveyed the results of Nike’s fiscal-year 2001which had been revealed a week earlier. Issues that caused a decline in market sales as revealed by the management of Nike 1. Revenues since 1997 had stopped growing but remained around $9. 0 billion. 2. The net income had fallen from $800m to $580m a decline of $220 million. 3. Nike’s market share in the U. S. athletic shoe industry had fallen from 48 percent in 1997 to 42 percent in 2000 (6% decline) 4. The issue of Supply-chain and strong dollar exchange rate also affected the revenue negatively. Nike’s Strategic plan to address the above issues 1. Increase revenues by developing more athletic-shoe products in the mid-priced range. 2. Push its apparel line which had performed tremendously well. 3. Exert more expense control on the cost side. 4. Nike’s executives expressed their interest to continue with the long-term revenue growth target of 8 to 10 percent and earnings-growth targets of above 15 percent. Although the management presented its plan to improve on its performance, there were mixed reactions from the third party analysts. Kimi Ford was also not satisfied with the Nike’s analysis therefore she decided that it was necessary to develop her own discounted-cash-flow forecast. She found that Nike was overvalued at the discounted rate of 12% at its current share price of $42. 09. She also did a quick sensitivity analysis which revealed that Nike was undervalued at discounted rates below 11. 17%. In order for Kimi to make a proper investment decision for her Fund, she asked Joanna Cohen to calculate the cost of capital. However there were some problems. Cohen’s calculation of cost of capital. She used single cost of capital for the apparel and footwear lines assuming that they are sold through the same marketing and distribution channels and are often marketed in other collections of similar designs. WACC (Weighted Average Cost of Capital) WACC is calculated using weighted averages of debt (Kd) and equity (We) Cohen used Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to calculate WACC 0f 8. 4 % however, she used the book values yet weights should be based on the market value. Her result of $3,494. 5 for the Equity was wrong. The formula for calculating the Market value of equity is E = stock Price x Number of shares outstanding .

Computer Security Threats faced by Small Businesses

Computer Security Threats faced by Small Businesses Business Systems Security Computer security threats faced by small businesses in Australia The Internet is an affordable and effective place for small businesses to sell and advertise their goods and services. However, the web gives chances to deceitful conduct and unapproved access to business and customer information. Attacks on the computer system of a business can have quick and progressive impacts. For example, focusing on clients for character violations or contaminating website visitors with malicious software. It is thought that small business in Australia have been eased back to execute security technology and policies that may protect their information systems, making them quite vulnerable against present and future dangers. In this report, an attempt is made to educate small business owners about the risks that they face and the mitigation strategies they could employ to make their organisation safer. In this paper, an overview is given of computer security dangers and threats confronted by small businesses and ventures. Having identified the dangers and threats, the implication for private and small business owners are explained alongside countermeasures that can be embraced to keep incidents from happening. The results obtained from the Australian Business Assessment of Computer User Security (ABACUS) survey, commissioned by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), are recorded to identify key risks (Challice 2009; Richards 2009). Added emerging threats relating to cloud computing wireless Internet, and spear phishing are also described, as well as the risks relating to online fraud. The ABACUS overview was involved in an arbitrary example of small, medium and large business. Businesses were studied to look at the nature and degree of Computer security breaches. Of the 4,000 respondents to the study, 3,290 (82.3%) were small businesses. Contrasted and their extent in the Australian business population, small business were under-examined. In any case, the survey was weighted by industry sort and how large the business is so that the data accumulated by every participant was proportionate in connection to the more extensive population being tested. Challice (2009) gives an outline of the research methodology. Results of the survey were congruent with previous findings, confirming that small businesses in Australia have embraced the use of technology, with 92 percent using it to some extent during 2006-07 (Richards 2009). Most small businesses reported the use of personal computers (85%) and laptops (54%). Presumably due to smaller staffing levels, fewer small businesses reported the use of a local area network (43%), wide area network (9%) or virtual private network (10%) than medium and large businesses (Richards 2009). During 2006-07, 14 percent of small companies announced having encountered at least one or more security breach occurrences (Richards 2009). Of these, 83 percent experienced one to five incidents, eight percent experienced six to 10 occurrences and nine percent experienced more than 10 incidents. Negative results were accounted for by 75 percent of small businesses taking after the most huge security incident. These included : Corruption of hardware or software (42%); Corruption or loss of data (31%); Unavailability of service (38%); Non-critical operational losses (24%); Non-critical financial losses (12%); Critical financial losses (5%); Theft of business, confidential or proprietary information (5%); Theft or loss of hardware (4%); Harm to reputation (4%); Critical operational losses (4%); website defacement (2%); and Other (1%; Richards 2009: 69). When a computer security incident occurred, the average loss to a small business was $2,431 (Richards 2009). The Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification was used to determine the industry sectors covered by the survey (Richards 2009). The ABACUS results indicated that each industry sector experienced a relatively even proportion of computer security incidents (Richards 2009). Threats Small Businesses may do not have the ability to distinguish and manage computer security incidents (Williams and Manhcke 2010), making them an appealing focus for online offenders (Verizon 2011). A review of a portion of the threats confronted by small businesses, including the nature of the threat and potential results, is provided in the following section. Situations include malware contamination, wireless internet misuse and session hijacking, online fraud, compromised websites, denial of service attacks, phishing, spear phishing, unauthorised access and risks associated with cloud computing. While this overview is not exhaustive, it aims to increase awareness of the types of vulnerabilities small business operators may face. Malware viruses, malicious code and spyware as causing the greatest financial loss and 60 percent identified these incidents as being the most significant (Richards 2009). References to be used: AusCERT 2008. Protecting your computer from malicious code. Brisbane: University of Queensland. http://www.auscert.org.au/render.html?it=3352 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2010. Counts of Australian businesses, including entries and exits. cat. no. 8165.0. Canberra: ABS. http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/4B1441D347457CF6CA2577C2000F0A05/$File/81650_jun%202007%20to%20jun%202009.pdf

How to Write an Essay :: Free Essay Writer

How to Write an Essay An essay can have many purposes, but the basic structure is the same no matter what. When writing an essay to it may be to argue for a particular point of view or to explain the steps necessary to complete a task. Some of the steps necessary to take in order to accomplish a better essay are by supporting the thesis. For example, that would be brainstorming and organizing information has to be used in order to begin. Secondly support the thesis in the body paragraphs. Lastly when finished revise and edit by adding material. Either way, essays will have the same basic format. If following a few simple steps, an essay almost writes itself. Supplying ideas for the essay are the important part of the essay anyway. When preparing to write an essay brainstorming for ideas that support your thesis statement is one of the few simple steps to follow in order to start the essay. Whether brainstorming on a piece of paper or a few pieces of papers narrow all brainstorming down by restating what is written down or just restate what you have written down to make it sound better. Organize the ideas into an outline, keeping in mind the method or methods of paragraph development (details, examples, reasons, cause and effect, comparison/contrast). Using an outline, begin a rough draft. Make sure that every sentence is directly related to the assigned topic (as stated in your thesis statement). Again, do not stray off the topic! When writing an essay support for the thesis will appear in the body of the essay, which is the "illustrating" part of the paper. In the body, it is very important to show facts about what is going on in the essay and what point wants to be crossed. To do this examples are going to be needed. Being as specific as possible is one of the main things. Give several carefully chosen examples; provide very detailed accounts of them. If the examples are well described, it will be clear to the reader that the writer has excellent reason. When finished with the rough copy, revise and edit it by adding, deleting, rearranging, and substituting material (use a dictionary and a thesaurus). First read the essay over slowly to yourself (or even aloud) and catch any mistakes seen. As well, correct errors in spelling (use the spell-checking feature in word processing program), capitalization, punctuation, subject-verb agreement, verb tense consistency, pronoun agreement, sentence errors, and usage.

2 Samuel 12 1-31 Essay -- Scripture Analysis

2 Samuel 12 1-31 The story line begins with God sending Nathan the prophet. Who is Nathan the prophet. He is described as a messenger, a courtroom advisor a man of great integrity. A man firm in his faith to God, his social status Places him in the position to know the inner working of the royal household and with revelation from God. Nathan is skilled, faithful and willing to serve a powerful Prophetic message from God. In today’s account Nathan would be looked upon as a role model. Nathan techniques would describe him to be a great storyteller. The bible tells us Nathan, served King David and his son King Solomon. There are three major revelation accounts Nathan was involved in expressing God’s message. 1. "A House For My Name† 2 Samuel 7:4-7,12-13 2. "You Are The Man!"2 Samuel 12:1-9 3. Adonijah's Attempt To Take The Throne 1 Kings 1:9-14 More information concerning Nathan reigns of both King David and King Solomon? 2 Chronicles 29:29 and 2 Chronicles 9:29 Scripture verse 2 Samuel 12 1-4 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him 4 "Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him." The confrontational m... ...on my face and I hung on to every word my Pastor preaching because God had told me my deliverance was at hand. What kind of fried was Nathan He was not a friend who Gossip He was not a friend who pointed his finger He was not a friend who discredit his friend He was not a friend to make fun of the situation Nathan was a real friend to King David The bible gives us instruction on how to be a real friend and how to seek Godly counsel. God often uses other believer to strengthen, encourage and enrich our lives regardless of the negative situation or circumstances. Gal. 6:2 "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. John 15: 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. John. 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his Master’s business. Instead I have called

War in the Modern World :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  War in the Modern World War has fascinated the minds of the greats throughout history. Its concepts and understandings have been passed on to us through the few surviving works of those, whose lives were touched by war, in an ancient archive. Some saw war as an ordinary, inevitable phenomenon that has a place among natural order of human lives (Jacob Walter), while others interpreted it as devastating and terrible deviation from the natural order of things (W.T. Sherman). Over the course of our archival readings we have learned of war through the records from the Trojans in their leather sandals (Hector), the horsemen of Sherman’s brigades, the WWI soldiers with their new gas shells and machine guns, and eventually through the eyes of the jungle and desert warriors with their booby traps and air strikes. While ways and methods of war have changed with the course of time, people never seemed to have loosened their grip on war as they continued to rise to the call to arms and go to battle to kill and t o die. This is a crucial observation as it allows us to reason that, perhaps, war is an important part of human existence. People eat, sleep, make love, and make war.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aside from the consistency of its occurrence throughout history, war also fascinates with its complexity, or, more directly—its irony. It could be mesmerizing and adventurous to some participants, and at the same time evil and hellish to others (O’Brian). It combines death, destruction, fear and atrocities unheard of in the times of peace, with courage, loyalty and passion—undoubtedly qualities we all admire. Based on the records of the archive I have come to believe that to best understand this concept of irony one must look at war as at least two conflicts in one. The first one is that of the nation’s leaders. It glorifies war, it tells tales of heroism and bravery and how it is a man’s duty to defend his motherland. The second one is personal war—the struggle with basic human dignity and morality in the face of the forgiving indifference that most soldiers, as evident from the archive, face at war (attitude of Ratâ€⠄¢s friends when he is blow apart, Dulce et Decorum Est). The fact of the matter is that both are right in their unique ways, they simply live in different realms and have different eyes that see war differently.

Poetry Analysis of “Introduction to Poetry”

Poetry analysis of ‘Introduction to Poetry’ The Poem â€Å"Introduction to Poetry† is by Billy Collins, an English poet, and it is about how teachers often force students to over-analyze poetry and to try decipher every possible meaning portrayed throughout the poem rather than allowing the students to form their own interpretation of the poem based on their own experiences. Throughout the poem, a number of literary devices are used. For example: â€Å"or press an ear against its hive†.Using this metaphor, Billy Collins is comparing the body of a poem to the hive of a bee. The hive of a bee appears to be something dangerous and unknown, just like a new poem, never before seen, with which one is unfamiliar. Using this metaphor, Billy Collins is suggesting that one should get an energy of the poem by reading it just as one would get a sense of energy by pressing one’s ear to a hive of a bee. The nature of a bee is particularly busy and bees are creatur es that seem to be constantly on the go.In this way, Billy Collins is suggesting that whilst the reader is digesting the poem, he or she should constantly be ‘feeling’ the poem and be busily analyzing it. By comparing the poem to a hive, he is also saying that, like a hive, a poem is full of intense life. The characteristics shared by both the two metaphoric images are very similar, thus, it is an effective comparison. The poem is effectively personified once again through the lines: â€Å"or walk inside a poem’s room†.Here, Billy Collins suggests that the poem’s room, in other word, its body or what the poem contains, like a room of a person, defines the poem. One can learn a lot about another by viewing his or her room. Like a room too, which is private and should not be invaded, one should not invade a poem in the sense that one should not analyze it too heavily. Another effective metaphor, â€Å"I want them to water-ski across the surface of th e poem† is used in this poem.Billy Collins is comparing water-skiing across the surface of the water to the way in which he believes poems should be read which is gently and merely on the surface. This is an effective metaphor as water-skiing brings about a great sense of joy and is fun, just as reading a poem – in Billy Collins’ opinion – should be. The use of onomatopoeic devices and onomatopoeic words are abundant in this poem. For instance, â€Å"I say drop a mouse into a poem† is a line whereby the word â€Å"drop†, a very onomatopoeic word, effectively suggests that the reader of a poem must gently analyze a poem.This is portrayed through the gentle ‘p’ sound of the word and this is therefore effective as the reader gets a sense of the gentleness Billy Collins wishes his readers had when it comes to analyzing poetry. The fact that enjambment is used throughout the poem such as in the lines, â€Å"like a colour slide or pre ss an ear against its hive† portrays a lack of structure and therefore emphasizes the initial enjoyment one feels when reading a poem before the chore of analyzing it begins.This is also emphasized through the fact that the poem is a free verse poem. The poem suddenly becomes much darker in the last stanza and a Billy Collins explains how teachers, students or general readers of poetry ‘torture’ a poem by being what he believes is cruelly analytical. He says, â€Å"all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it†. Here, the poem is being personified yet again and this brings about an almost human connection between the reader and the poem.This use of personification is effective as it makes the reader feel somewhat guilty for over-analyzing a poem. This line is also a metaphor. The way in which one analyzes a poem is being compared to a victim being tied down to a chair and having a confession tortured out of them . This metaphor is effective as, like a rope pinning down a person would be very restrictive, over-analyzing a poem narrows the focus and constricts it from simply allowing it to be. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means†. This is a continuation of the metaphor and is highly effective as it strongly portrays a sense of inhumanity through the choice of ‘hose’ as an object with which to torture as opposed to a typical weapon. One can just imagine how painful this would be and again, forces the reader to almost empathize with the poem. The poem sends a powerful message to its readers and is significantly clear in its message to not delve too deep into the message of a poem.

Critical Reflection Essay Essay

Upon reflective exploration of my 16 week journey regarding the overall critical reflection of Nursing 5403 also referred to as Organizational Theory or Administration I, I find that I have a more sound and in depth theoretical understanding of key leadership and nursing administrative concepts and processes. This course has increased my knowledge base in regards to organizational design, augmented my awareness of healthcare administrative concepts, and strengthened my understanding of management concepts and processes. This educational experience has revealed imperative and insightful examples and practices used to become a more efficient, effective and formative leader. I have increased my usage of many of these concepts to improve my leadership skills and practice, to â€Å"walk the walk†, in my daily work /life regimen. I will examine, evaluate, and reflect on the core information covered in this course by dividing the methods of delivery into three main presentation categ ories: written, oral, and online. The written presentation format was used to deliver the five discussion board questions and leadership instrument paper results. The discussion board allowed the opportunity to explore management concepts and practices from various perspectives. The leadership instrument paper allowed in depth exploration of variety of traits, theories, and practices important to leaders. I found both of these learning experiences very enlightening and beneficial to my overall managerial acumen. Northhouse (2013), explained on the sixteen types and styles of leadership, which had a major impact on my overall viewpoints regarding humans and management in our administrative worlds today. I was able to identify and relate the diverse leadership styles and types in a positive way and glean insightful understanding of different people and their leadership potential. The discussion board gave me free range to strengthen my self-expressive abilities and interact with my peers. The leadership instrument pape r allowed for self-analysis with specific references to key leadership ideals and concepts. I feel both assignments gave me insight into my leadership strengths, weaknesses, foci, and desires which will in turn assist me in  becoming a successful consistent leader. Oral presentations were used by both the students and the professor to teach assigned lessons. The dyad presentations were completed within the professor assigned groups. The organizational culture assignment was individually completed by each student. Dr. Junious, our professor, presented multiple management and leadership topics during the 16-week timeframe of our course work. The dyad group assignments allowed the students to work as a team, increase/ improve communication skills, and strengthen public speaking skills. The organizational culture assignment enriched my understanding of my department’s culture and fostered a new understanding and more tolerable acceptance of the different personalities which shapes my department and company. The professor guided topics allowed me to glean current knowledge on trends in nursing leadership and introduced new variables regarding emotional intelligence. One of the crucial components from our main source, Roussell (2013) which I have used on a consistent basis are the power listing tools known as, â€Å"AMPP†, which stands for: ask, mirror, paraphrase, and prime. Consistent usage of these tools has empowered my ability to extract important information in a judicious manner, which has resulted in workflow improvement and increased productivity in my current position. The online method was used to complete our online certificate training for the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) leadership and quality courses. Both of these certificate online courses were very informative and educational. I gained excellent training from these online courses. The information presented in this online self-study gave illuminating examples, and reinforced positive and evidence based methods of leadership and analytical procedures. My goal is to complete at least eight of the other courses listed on this website to strengthen my inner self to produce stronger leadership abilities and increase process awareness. Overall, the knowledge, skills, and experience gleaned from my enrollment and participation in this class has enhanced my understanding of organizational processes and essential, effective leadership traits. I truly enjoyed my time in this course, it was interesting and informative.  The educational experience has stimulated and supported both professional and personal growth in my life. The traits and theoretical evidence based practices illustrated within our resources reinforced my thoughts that great leaders are formed and not born. References Northhouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Roussel, L. (2013). Management and Leadership for Nurse Administrators. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning.