Thailands Tourism Industry In The Globalization Era Tourism Essay

Thailands Tourism Industry In The Globalization Era Tourism Essay CHAPTER 1 At present, that the world is in the globalization era which causes more aggressive competition on businesses in several regions. This explain more about concepts of various countries in the free world or capitalistic world where there is the centre in the western countries those focus on development. As countries use developmental strategies to maintain economic, political, and military power and influence of the capitalistic world (Hongthongkham, 1976). Tourism today has become an industry that is now crucial to the world economy, it is now a widely held view that in almost every country tourism has grown, and has become a core product in the international trade of those counties. Tourism now rates between 1-3 out of the top 10 key industries globally this industry is now vital to economic prosperity (http://thai.tourismthailand.org/about-thailand/economy/, 2010). Thailand has a significant tourism industry which has the potential, with Government policies and assistance, to be developed much more this growth for Thailand provides an excellent source of foreign currencies. Since ancient times mankind has explored and travelled and now with modern technologies especially in transportation and communication, and an increasingly mobile world population there can be almost limitless growth. This growth has changed the way business is being done, from clusters of techniques to a more specialized planning organization. With market integration now called tourism industry is now a very important factor in the economies of many countries today (Nuntajak, 2010). The tourism industry of Thailand has change dramatically and is now a major industry in world tourism. Over the past decade, international tourist arrivals in Thailand have grown faster over the past 10 years, from 8.58 million in 1999 to 14.09 million arrivals in 2009 by the Tourist Authority of Thailand or TAT (2010). Thailand has been gaining an increasing market share of international tourists. During that period, the tourism industry has been one of the great significant sectors for economic growth and each year there were each tourists spending money, at least 3,000.00 baht per person per day when tourists come to Thailand (TAT 2009). For Thailand, the number of international tourists are increasing every year, a number of factors are responsible for tourism growth and development of the tourism industry in Thailand over other destinations, Owing to the friendly, welcoming, and peace loving nature of the Thai people. There are many reasons why Thailand appeals to wealthy tourists of foreign and different cultural destinations who have travelled to Thailand, to enjoy a unique and fulfilling experience. An important part of the Thailands tourism industry success is because of the physical geographic diversity of Thailand (TAT 2010). Due to Phuket, a part of Thailand, is another world class destination. This place is serenely beautiful and is well known for the beaches and the blue seas and also one of the top ten diving destinations in the world. There are many activities available around Phuket such as, scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking, parasailing, fishing, surfing beach, jet skis and the place for honeymooners. Generally Speaking, international tourists are focusing not only on the product, but also on the people who work for the hospitality and the tourism industry can give the right information to tourists. Therefore, there are many international tourists increasing arrivals to Phuket. According to the statistical reports by Department of Tourism (2006), the number of international tourists arrivals in Phuket was 1.2 million in 2008 and 1.1 million in 2009 and is now a significant share in the Thai market. The statistics showed the number of international tourists that generate revenue, prosperity to the local and more importantly to create a multi-professional occupations, such as interpreter, translator, waitresses, airline officers, including tourist guides who close with international tourists all through the time they are stay in Thailand (tourism.go.th, 2010). Moreover, tourist guides are the personnel group having roles in encouraging and supporting tourism. They are the cultural diplomat because they tell tourists about various stories on society, tradition, cultural arts, economy, and politics (Ritthirak, 2002). Therefore, tourist guides are a career which creates a lot of benefits to the country. But in fact, 22, 732 tourist guides apply for the tourist guide licenses from Tourist Guide and Tourism Business Registration Office on December 31, 2001. A tourist guide may have ability to use more than 1 language (Ritthirak, 2002). Before applying for the tourist guide licenses, those tourist guides have to pass the quality creating process in order to have knowledge, ability, moral, and code of conduct. In practice, Tourism Authority of Thailand coordinates and provides Tourist Guide Training Standard Curriculum for implementation of educational institutes in the university level all over the country. The standard curriculum contains basic knowledge subjects which are necessary for working. After receiving the training, tourist guides can bring the evidence to apply for the tourist guide licenses from Tourist Guides and Tourism Business Registration Office of Tourism Authority of Thailand. In the beginning the status of the tourist guide was not recognized. Supaporn Makjeang mentioned in Tourist Guide Principles (1996) that anyone could be a tourist guide if he or she could speak English and it was not necessary for them to receive high education. It was not until the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) was founded in 1977 and the professional tourist guide training course was created that professional tourist guides were developed. The training courses have been operated until now and expanded to other major provinces. Moreover, the Professional Tourist Guide Association of Thailand was founded on July 29th 1975 as the center of all tourist guides (Tourist Guide Association Thailand, 1992). Nowadays, the basic knowledge of the tourist guide is mentioned as the basic requirement except from the fluency of foreign languages. This policy makes the university graduates get more jobs. Travel agencies always employ the tourist guides who finish the training courses from the institute guaranteed by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). This stimulates people who are interested in the tourist guide occupation to finish the training before the job application. Moreover, some government places, especially the Grand Palace and the royal temples, allow only the tourist guides who already passed the training course and have tourist guide licenses to operate the tour (Khummanon, 1996). The expansion of tourism industry and the increasing of the number of tourist guides in Thailand, caused some immoral competitions among tourist guides. They try to do everything to get their own benefits regardless of the rules and their major duty. For example, do not do their job as best as they can, do not pay attention to their clients or take their clients to the shopping area where they received the commission, trying to persuade the tourists to believe that the goods and services are of high qualities with fair prices. In the case of jewelry, some tourist guides said the color mirror are the precious stone, some said gold but its only the metal guilt with gold or said the dog bones as tiger bones (Lookdamnoen, 1989). Lookdamnoen also advises that the first place where the travelers arrive in Bangkok, Bangkok International airport, there are some people trying to submit tendered place where the tourists can meet upon arrival and claim that they are the officers of the airport and favor some services, such as accommodation, sightseeing, excursion and transfer services. They advise some information with documents for tours and excursions with unfair price. In additional, the bad manners of tourist guides such as shouting, crapping to call tourist groups, showing boredom when some tourists came late for the appointment because of the misunderstanding of language or any mistake, showing anger when tourists ask for some explained information, etc (Charoenmuan, 1992). The Tourism Authority of Thailand in the conference of 1/1995 mentioned the tourist guides behaviors that ruin the reputation of their occupation as follows: Forcing tourists to purchase some optional tour by deceiving or intimidating the tourists to accept that tour beside the original deal with the tour company. Taking tourist to the cheating or unfair price shops so that they receive tip or commission from the shop. Requesting some tips or special payments by convincing the tourists to be sympathetic with the management that has no benefit. 4. Taking the tourists passports or air tickets until the tourists pay some additional costs. At the conference of 1/1996 there are some other behaviors that caused the bad reputation and the loss of the honor of the code of ethics as mentioned in the second Ministerial Regulations (1996) of the Act of the Tourist Business and Guide 2008. 1 Explaining or informing some unreal or incorrect information that causes harm to the nation, religion, and the monarchy. 2 Not performing his own duties as a tourist guide who should be concerned with the benefit of tourists as the first priority. 3 Being dishonest, seeking some improper benefit or forcing tourists to do something they are unwilling to do. 4 Disobeying the moral standard. 5 Not believing in the local tradition and regulation of each travelling place. Therefore, the above problems that can say the causes of Thai tourist guides unsuitable behaviors are based on the loss of their moral of the rules and they forgot the importance of their own duties, though they are educated from acceptable institutes as professional tourist guides. Therefore, the assumption of these is the lack of the code of ethics that is the basis of all behaviors and caused people to do the right or suitable things, concerning the collective benefits, and feel responsible for society. All these can be taken as the principle or rules of the suitable performance that the researcher is interested in the ethics of Thai tourist guides and the ways to solve them that can be applied to be the basic idea and promote the professional tourist guides effectively. Related Literature Tour guiding is a highly regarded profession today and being a tourist guide comes with great responsibilities as lives of people while on holiday are entrusted in tourists care. Therefore, it is of vital importance that tourist guides strictly follow and adhere to the tourist guide standards and professional tourist guides code of ethics in order to promote ethics and high moral behavior in the perspectives of international tourists who are travelling in Phuket. This study will look at related fields of business ethics, some ethical theories, moral, and tourist guides ethics in Thailand. Therefore literature review covers the following The importance of tourist guide Tourist guide situation in Thailand Classification of tourist guide in Thailand Qualifications of tourist guide Manners of tourist guide Role and responsibilities of tourist guide The Characteristics of tourist guide Code of ethics of tourist guide Business ethics Normative ethics Moral theory Virtue theory Duty theory 1.2.10 Related research 1.2.1 The importance of tourist guide A tourist guide is a significant component of the travel industry as he has the sole responsibility of taking care of the tourist including all travel arrangements of providing information and explanations (Pongsabuth, 1997). In addition, Supaporn Makjeang in the Principle of Tourist Guide (1996) mentioned that tourists are strangers to their destinations because they are not familiar with the local people, cultural and custom. When travelling alone without a tourist guide, they face problems and challenges and in most cases land up wasting their money and time. Therefore, with time, tourists have come to favor having a tourist guide for their trips. The term tourist guide is used in the travel business with on ease of the understand. However, academics have defined the concept of tourist guides more in terms of rules and responsibilities. A numeral of terms are use to explain those whose responsibility it is to take care of and to inform of tourists. Courier was the term most generally applied to describe tourist guide , today a courier can be called tour captain, tour escort, tour manager, and tourist guide (Jafari, 2000). During the 19th century Thomas Cook became the first travel company that operated group tours by train to Loughborough and other places in Europe (Kruttawacho, 2008). This required tourist guides who could explain and guide tourist on these trips. The Tourism Authority of Thailand in cooperation with Chulalongkorn University in 1961 (Mr. Sumonchart Sawaddikul, a professor at the Faculty of Arts), designed a training course training on professional tourist guides. The first tourist guides student for this course were the third year and upper Faculty of Arts students at Chulalongkorn University. Thereafter the course gained popularity and interested student began to in role. After Chulalongkorn University offered the course for 13 years, Silapakorn University implemented the same course for the first time in 1973 (Khummanon, 1996). In addition, the Humanities Faculty of Kasetsart University started the same course for its own students and opened a new tourism course for the graduated who were still unemployed. Nowadays the course has become widely recognize and other University as the Rajaphat and the Rangsit, ect. have capitalized on its importance and have started offering it to the general public. Due to tourism growth the government realized the need to pass a bill on standards and procedures for tourist guides. The bill stipulated that the Tourism Authority of Thailand be the support and controlling body for the tourist business and tourist guides, by making sure that they meet the standards required by law (that each tourist guide have a tourist guide license) as set out in the Tourist Business and Tourist Guide Act 2008 of Thailand (Tourism Authority of Thailand, 2010). The tourist guide licenses are issued after a person completes the training course arrange by the government service. Each course requires different levels of education. The qualifications stipulation is that one has to be a Thai citizen, aged 20 years or older, with good written and spoken Thai. Tourist guide situation in Thailand Increasing number of registered guides in Thailand demons that working as a tourist guide has become a popular career in the tourism industry. The language requirement in the number of tourist guides in Thailand, (see Figure 2.1). One reason of tourist guides increasing because students who studied in tourism industry course when their graduated TAT approves the tourist guide license. Therefore, the number of registered guides is quite high. Figure 2.1 Number of tourist guide license requirement and approval during January 2010 to November 2010 Source: Tourist Business and Guide Registration Office, Centre (2010) From the implementation year of the Tourist Business and Tourist Guide Act of 2008 until November 2010, there were 42,075 registration tourist guides in Thailand and 35,010 for General guide and 7,065 for Specific guide. Most tourist guide (30,781) was in English language (see Table 2.2) Figure 2.2 Tourist guide classification by languagesJ:ToonioWork_TWitoon20 02 54figure 2.2.jpg Source: Tourist Business and Guide Registration Office, Centre (2010) Classification of tourist guide in Thailand There are two main types of tourist guides: the general guide and the specific guide, as followings: General guide: a tour guide who has knowledge about general tours to places around the kingdom, able to speak Thai and also convey information in other languages to tourists. General guide (Foreign): silver bronze card color, a tour guide who can conduct tours for Thai and foreign tourists all over the Kingdom in Thailand. General guide (Thai): golden bronze card color, a tour guide who can conduct tours specifically only for Thai tourists all over the kingdom in Thailand. Specific guide: a tour guide who has specialized knowledge; e.g. history, archeology, trekking, etc. to give the information to tourists with specific interests. Specific guide (Foreign-specific area): pink card color, a tour guide who can conduct tours for Thai and foreign tourists only for provinces listed on the card and those in the adjacent areas. Specific guide (Thai-specific area): light blue card color, a tourist guide who can conduct tours specifically for Thai tourists only using the provinces listed on the card and the provinces of adjacent areas. Specific guide (Forest trekking): green card color, a tourist guide who can conduct tours for Thai and foreign tourists specifically in the forest trekking areas. Specific guide (Art cultural): red card color, a tourist guide who conduct tours for Thai and foreign tourists specifically on areas concerning history, archeology, art, cultural, or Thai literature all over the kingdom in Thailand. Specific guide (Marine): orange card color, a tourist guide who can conduct tours for Thai and foreign tourists specifically about history, archeology, art, cultural, or Thai literature to tours all over the kingdom of Thailand. Specific guide (Seashore): yellow card color, a tourist guide who can conduct tours for Thai and foreign tourists in the areas by the sea or on islands, with the distance from the coast to the tourist attractions of no more than 40 nautical miles. Specific guide (Natural destinations): purple card color, a tourist guide who can conduct tours for Thai and foreign tourists only on the natural attractions printed on the card. 2.8 Specific guide (Local cultural): brown card color, a tourist guide who can conduct tours for Thai and foreign tourists on the culture, history, geography, and archeology particularly within the local cultural attractions named on the card only. Moreover, there are three kinds of tourist guides; an on-site guide, a city guide and a specialized guide (Mancini, 1996). 1.2.4 Qualifications of tourist guide Wannathanom (2003) mentions that being a tourist guide, one should have some specific qualifications since it is a career for those who have to interact with many people from different cultures and different behaviors. Eighteen attributes which are of importance to the tourist guides were identified, which are Klamsaengsai (2006) mentioned that: Good personality: before taking care of others, the tourist guide has to initially concentrate on his or herself, especially with regards to cleanliness and overall neatness. Human relations: this is about the ability to impress tourists and to create friendships with their automatically. Be a knowledgeable person: the tourist guide should be erudite about the destination and related topics, and possess a broad and deep knowledge for the benefits of the tourists. Eloquence: in the career of a tourist guide cannot be avoided because verbal communication is one tool for achieving success. Perceptiveness: good tourist guides should be able to notice and memorize surroundings quicker than tourists, since some notices can be useful for the tourist guide in answering popular questions from tourists. Service mentality: this qualifying is most important for tourist guide who works in the service industry. Tourist guides need to have the spirit of being a service provider to make others happy instead of doing the work just for money or temporary experiences. Travel Experience: the more travel experience they have the more confident the tourist guide will be. Punctuality High responsibility: one big responsibility of the tourist guide is to take care of all tourists, all throughout their traveling, therefore tourist guides cannot abandon their duties of looking after the tourist. Punctuality is one significant thing that the tourist guide who acts as a tour leader needs to respect. Patience: the tourism industry can be called a people based industry where both demand and supply are mainly related to individuals with different characteristics. If there is pressure from tourists or other problems, tourist guides have to refrain themselves. Intelligence: this does not mean being a genius but tourist guides have to be conscious of every situation and so that everything goes smoothly. Sense of humor: not exactly like a comedian, but tourist guides should have some talent in sharing jokes and general information. Good mentality and good health: in tourist guides, it is a hard based type of work taking care of a group of tourists. Tourist guides always have limited time to relax, therefore they should take care of themselves as well. Good memory: besides recognizing tourist information, tourist guides must try to remember. Then, they can call tourists by their correct name and making a tourist impression Leadership: in conducting tours, tourists always believe that the tourist guide is the head or the leader of the tour who can help them in every difficulty. Tourist guides should be able to control the group. Honesty: this is the quality needed for every career including that of the tourist guide who have to take care of tourists, follow the itinerary, or recommend good shops to tourists without cheating. Foreign Language: in case of inbound or outbound tours, proficiency in foreign languages, especially English is one important attribute for tourist guides to achieve in communicating with foreign tourists and to make the tour go smoothly. Be enthusiastic: as being a leader of the group, tourist guides need to be active and reactive anytime to make tourists feel confident. Problem solving ability: for both predicable and unpredictable problems, tourist guides are the heroes in the eyes of tourists, so they have to use their experience and their talent to solve the problem. Referring to H.Q. Zhang, I. Chow (2004) conducted to assess tourist guide performance that service quality of tourist guide should/should be or has as followings: Punctuality Ability to solve problems Knowledge of the destination Honesty and trustworthiness Knowledge of information about safety regulations Ability to deliver the service promised in itinerary Politeness Being good at presentation skills Well trained Ability to briefing visitors on daily itinerary Ability to respect for customer Ability in communicating in foreign languages Ability to being friendliness Ability to general friendly atmosphere Ability to neat and tidy appearance Ability to always being available for help Ability to paying attention to detail Ability to informing visitors about destinations customs Ability to introducing reliable shops Ability to sense of humor According to Hall mentions that in Handbook of Professional Tour Management (1993) the tourist guides should have some qualifications that make an advantage trip as follows: The ability to attract prospects: the tourist guide should be a positive sales factors, some travelers want a status symbol, and security. Tourist guide should be able to command and control the group by the follow factors. Knowledge of the area: tourist guide should knowledge of historical place and have been there before when the tourist guide speak with more empower to advice facilities and attractions, to assess the period of travel days, and to remember and handle the possible problems. First aid skills: tourist guide must be prudent about any medical burdens. And another skills as artificial respiration, CPR, water safety, and first echelon first aid are important. Having someone available in these areas to provide the convenient thing to tourist. Forcefulness and decisiveness: tourist guide should have able to manage people and decision making. This is no job for an unsteady, timid personality. A positive outlook: tourist guide should be an optimist and optimism must be made communicate, definite maturity is essential, enabling them to maintain a perspective to communicate this with confidence. Honesty and loyalty: tourist guide should have moral must be practiced on behalf of the tourist guide, no cheating the tourist. This is both unfair and unwise, and ultimately reflects on the escort. Assertiveness: tourist guide had better possess self-assurance, self-pride, and a certain amount of ego. When a receptionist insists there are fully single rooms as promised by the vouchers, tourist guide must be stable. Get me a supervisor this does not mean being loud and abusive, or acting tough; that it mean exhibiting inner strength and resolution. It means insisting on the rights of the tourists. A claim demeanor: the best tourist guide do not panic, even internally. They are able to think clearly when riot threatens. A warm personality: tourist guide must be a bit of the commanding officer in the tour, while establishing leadership credentials, must still communicate a sunny disposition, flash that ready amile, and reveal an enthusiastic. Tourists expect their escort be lively, gifted with attractive voices, and having that essential sense of humor. A clean and neat appearance: tourists can afford to look casual or untidy, but tourist guide present a perpetually appearance. Tourists wonder how he or she can keep looking fresh. Good health: tourist guide should be reasonable a good health, free from weaken complaints, and blesses with a reserve of power. Tourist guide must always be up and stay ahead of their passengers who wake up first and sometimes the last to bed. Even when the escort is not feeling in top form. Tourist guide should have ability to bounce back from the head cold or upset stomach, along with the power to persevere. Flexibility: tourist guide should have ability to change directions when they might face with equipment breakdowns, failure in communication, disagreeable and troublesome passengers, illness, natural disasters, transportation delays, and so on. Anticipation: tourist guide figures out in advance everything that might go wrong and tries to insure against this occur. That means frequent conversations with the bus driver or cruise personnel, advance phone calls, a survey of facilities before leading in the group Negative qualities: the thing that the tourist guide should acknowledge tourist do not want the tourist guide who are dishonest, who are congenitally lazy, whose manner is abrasive, who are frightened and unstable, and who have no talent for managing others. Therefore, there is not yet concluded rather than well-designed to give all conclusions of the tourist guides qualifications. In what it mostly depends on governments tourism policys development and adaptation of each country Manners of tourist guide Manners and ethics of tourist guides is their verbal behavior, interaction and the best practices of tourist guides in order to maintain prestige of the professional status, and professional tourist guides who make a profession of honor which has been respected as representatives of the country and the Thai people (Makchang, 1996). Tourist guides are responsible the full time and not leave tourists on their own. Integrity to tourists do to not lose the integrity tourists benefits such as, taking the tourists to buy only at shops where tourist guides get more commission with no regard for the quality of the product. Tourist guides should understand that they are in the position of service providers to tourists and not show inappropriate reactions to tourists when tourists do not perform according to schedule. Tourist guides should have an understanding of the desires and needs of their tourist. They should also give equal attention to everyone, and maintain harmony. Tourist guides should have compassion, A desire for others to be happy the purpose of tourism is to help as tourists want to be happy and enjoy travel that tourist guides can willingly provide to tourists.

Sun & it’s Microsystems

With an employee workforce of four, Sun Microsystems was incorporated in 1982 by Andreas Bechtolsheim, Vinod Khosla, Bill Joy, and Scott McNealy. Originally began for Stanford University Network, Sun Microsystems has been a global leader in innovating products, services and support solutions for constructing and maintaining network computer systems. The first system built by Sun, the Sun-1 was introduced in late 1982 and was a high performance, UNIX based computer constructed of inexpensive materials. Within a year of incorporation Sun was operating in Europe, and soon spread throughout the world. From Sun†s birth, there was always a corporate emphasis on the power of the internet and networking. A belief that the internet was the future was inherent in the corporate culture and was built into the company framework through the mission statement: â€Å"We enable customers to create breakaway business strategies by using our network computing products, solutions and services. In an age where information is power. Sun provides the technology, innovation and partnerships that enable individuals or entire organizations to access information . . . from anywhere . . . to anything . . . on any device . . . allowing users to better differentiate and more effectively create breakaway business products and services.† This strong belief is reiterated in Sun†s vision statement: â€Å"Sun is network computing. Everything we bring to the market is predicated upon the existence of the network, where Java is on every client and every server. Sun†s vision is for a networked computing future driven by the needs and choices of the customer. It is a vision in which every man, woman, and child has access to collective planetary wisdom that resides on the network.† These strong networking and internet beliefs made Sun the prime company when, in 1994, there was a huge surge in internet usage. At that time, roughly 30% of servers were made by Sun.    Sun is a leading supplier of enterprise network computing products, and has a full range of services and support. The company†s products are used for commercial and technical applications worldwide. As a global competitor, Sun is subject to exchange rate risks. There are a few markets Sun should be especially cautious of, including: Japanese Yen, British Pound, French Franc, and German Marc. Sun holds a large position in these potentially volatile markets. Despite its current recovery, Sun should be wary of the Japanese Market. Any major shift in this market could negatively impact its revenues. Another consideration it the value of the dollar. As the dollar strengthens in the US, the dollar value of non-US dollar based sales abroad decreases. In order to hedge these risks, Sun routinely uses options & futures contracts in foreign countries.    Currently, revenues outside the United States are increasing. This is primarily due to the continued market acceptance of Sun†s network computing and product services. Approximately one half of the increases in revenue are due the continued strong demand for enterprise and work group servers, as well as increased revenues for their storage products division. Recently, the company has made an overall shift to premium service and support contracts in the service division. This change is advantageous due to the large installed base of high-end server products, and is primarily responsible for the increased unit sales in the service division. Sun has also experienced increased revenue from their professional and educational products. The company continuously evaluates the competitiveness of its products and service offerings. These evaluations could result in re-pricing actions adversely affecting revenues in the short term. This is due to the company†s belief that to keep the competitive edge in the market place, a company must continually improve existing products as well as introduce new ones. The company will achieve this even if it means the cannibalization of existing products. Financial Statements and Ratio Analysis After reviewing the company†s annual reports and other historical figures, we can evaluate the current stock pricing trends and financial well being of the company. Based from this information, the company†s net revenues have continuously increased over the last five years reaching 11.726 billion in fiscal year June 30, 1999. A common-size income statement analysis of the company shows us that Sun†s cost of sales as a percentage of net revenues has decreased in 1999. In the technology sector, prices for products can often fall faster than manufacturing costs to produce them. Tight control over costs of sales is a positive sign for a company in this industry. This shows us that Sun is maintaining their competitive position in this area. The expenditures on research and development have increased slightly in 1999. This can be attributed to the continuous development necessary to stay competitive in this industry. Tech companies tend to grow much faster than companies in other industries. Because of this, R&D expenditures are especially important in the long term health of technology companies. Sun appears to be adequately using funds in this area. The selling, general, and administrative expenses have increased in dollar value but remain constant as a percentage of revenue. Some reasons for the increases in SG&A are attributed to its continuous improvement of internal business processes, increased marketing costs, and increased head count needed to meet rising demand. However, it is imperative that the investments in SG&A should not rise as a percent of revenue for the company to remain competitive. The purchased in-process R&D line on the income statement reflects the amount of write-offs associated from newly acquired companies. The information provided from the annual report for year ending 1999 however, is somewhat misleading. Two months after the annual report was filed with the SEC, Sun acquired Star Division Corp. on August 5, 1999. All the capital stock of Star Division shareholders was converted to the right to receive cash. The total purchase price of the company was approximately 60 million. No extraordinary expenses or the associated changes will show until the new annual report is filed for fiscal year 2000. Because of this, any assumptions made based on the 1999 figures will be distorted until the final effects of the merger can be evaluated. It is Suns belief that the Star division will increase revenues with the introduction of new software later this year. Star†s current direction in software development is consistent with Suns software architecture including the use of portal technologies. These technologies will allow users to access office applications via a single server using the Internet from many different devices including cell phones & personal data assistants. Sun believes they can harness synergies from this merger to amplify stockholders returns. The future success of this operation may greatly impact the companies competitive position. On a cautious note however, the company should be careful to not neglect the continuous development needed of existing products to remain competitive. Both the company†s quick ratio of 1.94 and current ratio of 2.44 far surpass its industry (Diversified Computer Systems) average of 1.33 & 1.71 respectively. This shows us that Sun maintains an advantage over its competitors by having substantially more assets compared to liabilities. The 1999 annual report also boasts of having almost no debt compared to equity. However, we know that with the merger of Star Division, Sun has picked up some long term debt raising its debt to equity ratio to .36 from 0. Even with the added debt, Sun is still beating the industry average of .44. This shows much internal strength for the company, but raises some concerns that debt leverage may not be currently utilized to its full potential. The companies ROA and ROI ratios are continuously beating the industry. These values indicate signs of good management from within the firm. The firm received large returns on investment for fiscal year ending 1999. This however, may not be representative of future performance as it is not income generated by the firms primary operations. As such investors and management alike should be cautious. The company†s ROE is slightly trailing the industry. This is probably due to the lack of debt leverage currently being utilized. The company†s asset and inventory turnover ratios are lower than its industry. This can at least be partially explained by the company†s dependence on its suppliers. Sun frequently enters into large contracts that are non-cancelable to retain its suppliers. This results in stockpiling and more importantly wasted or obsolete inventory. The technology sector is continuously changing & any inventory not immediately sold runs the increased risk of becoming obsolete in the future. This is an area where Sun could use some refinement. One possibility would be the use of JIT manufacturing or a more vertical integration with its suppliers. The company†s gross margin of 51.96% represents increased demand of higher-end market servers. The operating margin is also solid at 13.86% compared to 10.23% for its industry. This can be attributed to the tight controls on costs of sales as compared to the increasing revenues. Sun†s net profit margin is 9.75%. Although seemingly small compared to the S&P 500, this margin significantly beats the industry average of 7.23%. The low profit margins throughout this industry characterize this highly price competitive market as it converts product to revenue. Sun†s stock is rated by Wall Street Analysts as a strong buy. It has been forecasted to perform better than average on 2000 & 2001. The companies EPS forecast for fiscal year 2000 is $0.90 and judging from its first two quarters, it appears to be right on track. Although Wall Street has high confidence in Sun, the next earnings release will be April 13, 2000 and any significant variation from expected earnings could have very adverse affects on the price of stock. The P/E ratio skyrocketed from just 53.8 in June of 1999 to its current price of 122.16 as of March 15. This indicates that investors are willing to pay a significant premium for Sun†s earnings (about $122 for every dollar of earnings). Both the Sales and EPS growth rates also indicate investors are paying large premiums for growth relative to Sun†s peers. These premiums may indicate an inflated stock price. One of the best ways to value a company can be to forecast future cash flows & then discount them back to today†s net present value. Using this technique, we projected earnings 10 years into the future using the net income from the 1999 annual report and a growth rate of 20%. The 20% rate is consistent with the company†s historical growth rate. Next we discounted those future cash flows at a rate of 15% to compensate for changing markets and the cost of capital. By doing this we were able to arrive at a NPV from those cash flows. Finally by subtracting long term debt and dividing by the number of current shares outstanding we were able to arrive at the companies intrinsic value of about $35.00. By comparing this value to the current stock price of $89.81, we can see that Sun appears to be overvalued by investors at this time. This is probably due to the investor excitement from the increased revenues and its strong ROA and ROI. Sun†s management will need to be very cautious of any unexpected changes in earnings. These changes could trigger an adverse affect on the current stock price and curb investor excitement in the company. This could have a negative consequence on the company†s future operations. Management must always look at how the firm is valued from outside sources if it is to continue the goal of maximizing shareholder value. Hewlett Packard (HP) is a leader in the computer industry. They got their start out of a garage in 1938. Considered to be innovators their business has grown over the years. The main focus of Hewlett Packard is to be a global provider of computing and imaging solutions for business and home. This takes into account the rapidly growing internet with an emphasis on e-business. While HP†s performance is strong they are not as volatile as Sun because they own a big chunk of the printer market. They are competing with Sun in the huge server market. Hewlett Packard realizes the expansion of the internet and they will be a competitor for a long time in the future. Next we have Big Blue International Business Machine (IBM) and they have been a global force for many years. Their main focus is to provide customers with solutions through the use of advanced information technology. These solutions include technologies, systems, products, services, software and financing. IBM is a stable company that is trying to maximize shareholder wealth and at the same time recognizes the key to the future. They will be a big competitor of Sun†s due to the growing demand for internet solutions. IBM has formed alliances with Cisco, Intel, Motorola, Nokia, and Palm to start e-service. This is to combat the wireless revolution. IBM in 1998 started to create an infrastructure to take advantage of the fast growing internet. The mission for them is access anytime anywhere. The key to IBM getting more involved is because Experts say that in the near future there will 1 billion wireless subscribers. Everything digital is due to double in the coming years. IBM as well as Sun does not want to be left in the dust. Our third major competitor is Compaq Computer. They were incorporated in 1983. They currently sit as the #2 computer company in the world. They began their onslaught on e-business back in 1988. They use a company called Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). This gave them a direct portal to get information to their customers faster over communications lines. They also use a Just in Time process to cut costs, reduce cycle times. Overall this improves their cycle times. Their main focus is to design, develop, manufacture and market hardware, software, and services to individuals. Don†t let Compaq†s numbers fool you. Compaq has had their problems in the past of growing too fast, and are rebuilding for e-commerce. They are poised and confident that they will lead consumers to a paperless environment. Silicon Graphics is a leader in digital media solutions. They accomplish this through large servers. Their key to success is to engage in production of a broad range of visual computing systems. These systems deliver advanced 3D graphics and computing capabilities. They have a definite power in providing audio and video over the internet. Huge servers store the enormous amounts of data needed to accomplish these types of applications. Clearly they are in a growing mode. There systems have been recognized just recently at the Academy Awards for the Phantom Menace, Stuart Little, and The Matrix. To this point Silicon Graphics is in the red but with the growth available to them, they could steal market share. Sun really has to watch out for this mover and shaker.

North Korea Research Paper

North Korea North Korea is a country that is ruled by a dictator and has a communist government. A communist government rules all the land and gives the same amount of money and supplies to all the people in the country. â€Å"Daily Necessities were obtained from the Public Distribution System (PDS)† (95,Hassig). The PDS shut down in 1995 because foreign aid was cut off expect for Pyongyang, the capital city. In rural areas, a lot of the children were born as â€Å"no-count† meaning that when they were born they weren’t counted as part of the existing society and didn’t have supplies given to them.North Korea was once a unified country with South Korea until September 9, 1948 when it became a separate country. From 1910 to 1945 Japan had ruled all of Korea. â€Å"After World War II from 1939 to 1945 Russia controlled what is right now North Korea, and the United States controlled southern Korea. Three years after the war North and South Korea became indep endent countries. † (6, Haberle) The existing Cold War, the war between Russia and the United States, helped start the Korean War on June 25, 1950 when North Korea attacked South Korea. At the time Japan had control of all of Korea, then the U. S. ad South Korea and Russia had the North. This war went on for three years and afterwards, the Demilitarized Zone better known as the DMZ separated South and North Korea. North and South Korea became independent countries with very few allies. Picking North Korea as a topic is very board because there are many social injustices in North Korea. One injustice is the existing communism government they have there, because with what’s happening in North Korea, it shouldn’t be described as communism. Communism is described as a place where the government distributes an equal amount of daily necessities to all the people living there.When North Korea declared itself an independent country, it used the Public Distribution System until 1995, when foreign aid was cut off. Everyone still got the same amount of necessities in Pyongyang but necessities were cut off everywhere else. Rural North Koreans outside of Pyongyang are still starving and sick from the lack of supplies. People do get by with serving the military though. Men must serve the military for at least ten years then assigned lifelong jobs and are able to support their families with that. (95, Hassig) In North Korea all aspects of life are uled by the government, which essentially takes away human rights. North Koreans, rich or poor have this idea put into their head that their dictator is a supreme god. If someone had the idea of not worshiping the supreme leader in public, they would be sent to a labor camp. North Koreans who try to leave North Korea without permission may be shot on the spot or sent to a labor camp where they may never be released. In every house, no matter where you lived, there is a picture of the supreme leader that you pray to every day.When the supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong II, died recently, on December 17th 2011, there was a parade held that had mourners when the casket passed by. As the Supreme Leader’s casket passed by , the mourners were observed to see if they were actually crying. If they didn’t seem like they were sad enough they were sent to prison camps along with other North Koreans that didn’t join the parade. At these Labor camps imprisoned North Koreans are taught how important is to worship the supreme leader and sometimes kept there with their families for as long as they live.With all the money that the government doesn’t give to the people, they spend more than half on the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The DMZ is very familiar with the U. S government and the people stationed in South Korea. High ranking officers of the United States of Marines and Army have tours there, or work there. When asked about it most people talk about the men who stand the re ready for war looking at each other the whole time. There is a building that these men on both sides line up and look at each other to see what the other is going to do.In it is estimated that South Korea there is 20,000 soldiers that guard the DMZ and 1,000,000 people that protect in North Korea. The DMZ is 160 miles long and is the most heavily militarized border in the world. The border was built as a result of the Korean War. From way back during the Cold War to now, there have always been trust issues with North Korea because of the nuclear bombs they possess and their threat possible to the rest of the world. What really makes everyone scared of the nuclear threat is that North Korea is so isolated from the world, rest of the world that other nations don’t know whether or not they are just bluffing.North Korea makes nuclear weapons and threatens they will nuke the West Coast if the United States doesn’t trade with them. Since they started making nuclear weapon s, they have made allies with Iran, who are not allies with the United States at the moment. The world is deeply affected from the problems happening in North Korea. Worldwide, nations are either trading with them, or a huge threat to North Korea. The whole situation with North Korea is a worldwide, complex problem potentially affecting many countries many coutries but countries continue to try to help the people living there.Many charities offer support to children that live there including adoptions. The United States’ foreign policy towards North Korea is to not trade with them until they improve . North Korea doesn’t seem like its going to be around too much longer because of all the famine and the growing awareness in other nations. If North Korea remains isolated and keep their people suppressed, it will become a bigger problem around the world than it already is. North Korea is one of the last remaining communist countries and history has shown communist countri es don’t last long.

Modern Day Relevance of Sinclairs The Jungle Essay

The Jungle was first published in 1906. Contemporary critics disagree about whether or not the novel has any â€Å"relevance† for modern readers. What do YOU think? I believe this novel has somewhat of a relevance for modern readers in today’s society. In the world of economic competition that we live in today, many thrive and many are left to dig through trash cans. It has been a constant struggle throughout the modern history of society. One widely prescribed example of this struggle is Upton Sinclairs groundbreaking novel, The Jungle. The Jungle takes the reader along on a journey with a group of recent Lithuanian immigrants to America. As well as a physical journey, this is a journey into a new world for them. They have come to†¦show more content†¦The American Dream portrays the idea that if a man is lazy, he might not do so well, but if a man wants to work and educate himself and try to create a fortune, there is nothing standing in his way. Some believe that Capitalism is the cause for much of the poverty in the nation today, but any hardcore capitalist will tell you that capitalism inherited poverty, and far from being a cause of poverty, it is the only solution. †¨ The symbols of socialism and capitalism are present right from the start in this story. Sinclair first depicts the Lithuanian event with many of the same things and the partygoers with many of the same values (i.e. getting drunk, dancing) as we might see today to give the reader a sense of identity with the Lithuanians. He is beginning to get the reader to sympathize with these people. The grand time they are having is all part of traditions that these people have brought with them from their homeland. The people pitch in together to pay, everyone has their fill of everything, and strangers are brought in and welcomed. This is a strong symbol of socialism, where everyone is considered an equal. However, he mentions that sometimes, the barkeeps rip off the organizers of such parties by giving them poorer quality alcohol or overestimating the amount of alcohol consumed by the guests. This is a show of the swindling that Sinclair is ch aracteristic of the every man for himself idea of capitalism. SomeShow MoreRelatedOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 Pagespose important challenges to organization members about issues such as: †¢ The relationship between organization control and freedom. †¢ The nature of power and authority in organizations. †¢ The relationship between individualism and collectivism in modern organizations. †¢ The relationship between organizations and society. †¢ The ways in which organizations are designed. †¢ The relationship between organizations and leadership and management. †¢ The development of understanding of organization culture