Finance and Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Finance and Accounting - Essay Example This paper will expansively present the accounting policies and the changes adapted by JP Morgan Chase in order to successfully face the modern day challenges. A complete analysis of the major changes incorporated by JP Morgan chase will be expansively presented in this paper. The oldest financial services in the world is without a doubt JP Morgan Chase, it has its presence in well over 60 countries. They are the leaders in investment banking, wealth management and a host of other services. The biggest change that ever took place in the history of the financial institutions was the merger with Bank One. This change primarily took place because the other banks like the Bank of America were almost ready to merge with other big banks like FleetBoston. This merger took place because the financial institutions came under increasing pressure during the time of recession. The announcement of this merger was made on 14 January 2004. The Wall Street reacted very positively because of this mer ger and the NASDAQ witnessed growth soon after the merger took place. This paper declares that this change took place because the two financial institutions wanted to downsize and cut the deadwood out. The aim was to save about $2.2 billion over three years and it was planned to eliminate as many as 10,000 people. This again goes to show how desperate even the biggest financial institutions were at the time of recession. Mergers and acquisitions were very common and these overtures were the initial signs which showed that almost all the big financial institutions were panicking. ... This again goes to show how desperate even the biggest financial institutions were at the time of recession. Mergers and acquisitions were very common and these overtures were the initial signs which showed that almost all the big financial institutions were panicking. Volatile corporate banking was the major factor on which JP Morgan primarily functioned. â€Å"Wall Street analysts generally praised the merger, and investors climbed on board. Typically, the shares of the acquirer fall, reflecting the cost of the acquisition. In this case, investors are signaling they believe the combined company will make up for that cost by holding the shares in the $39-$40 range, about where they were before the deal was announced. J.P. Morgan has been on a roll, with its shares up about 74% in the past 12 months. Bank One shares jumped about 15% when the deal was announced, matching the premium J.P. Morgan will pay. Such a move is typical in an acquisition.† (JP Morgan Chase) The investors looked less enthusiastic with the deal between Bank of America and Fleet-Boston. This deal was for a whopping $48 billion. The shares of Fleet-Boston were driven up as a result of this deal because Bank of America offered 40% premium in this deal. The shares of Bank of America however came down and the investors lost a lot of money consequently. Big mergers take place because both the companies involved in the merger want to grow at a tremendous pace but this merger was not very useful for both the financial institutions. The collapse of WORLDCOM in the year 2005 signaled trouble for JP Morgan chase, the institution had to pay a whopping sum of $2 billion. This sum was paid to the different shareholders who had lost a lot of money as a result

Marketing Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Strategies - Essay Example This strategy implies that business is likely to be faced by five major influences, which must be economically and comprehensively addressed for the prosperity of the business. The company handles the threat of new entrants by providing quality services to its customers at a friendly cost to disadvantage new comers in the same business (medium to high pressure). The threat of substitute goods is handled by the company providing unique tastes and flavors of its food products to its clients; however, there is no much difference between the company’s food and Sedoxe hence, medium to high pressure. The company has a low pressure threat of bargaining power of customers. This is because the company deals with reputable companies like IBM, Microsoft and Caterpillar among others. It has a low pressure of supplier bargaining due to its vast chain of suppliers. Finally, the company has a high pressure of rivalry among existing firms like coca-cola and Pepsi among other fast beverage com panies. Marketing mix analysis uses the 4p’s principle to ascertain the viability of the business. Compass Group Company has recommended quality food products at affordable price. It has good distribution channel since their products can be found in almost all corners of the country. It has a working and economic promotion strategy through free samples, gifts and advertisements. Compass group is foodservice industry whose headquarter is in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company has the advantage of serving economically stable clients like United Technologies Corp, Microsoft, IBM, Caterpillar and SAP among others. Furthermore, it also serves customers from neighboring learning institutions like Louisiana State University, public schools in Chicago and the University...Although they seem to be of no value, they really attract and maintain clients. Compass Company provides food nutrition lessons or advertises to their esteem customers. This is like a bonus but it really helps to attract and maintain clients with nutrition problems like the obese and diabetics among others. Sedoxe provides business solutions to the online communities as a bonus to their services. This compels majority of people or companies to regularly visit Sedoxe company’s blogs or websites and in the process they learn about the company. Inseparability is the fact that a certain demand can never do with a specific product or services. Both the companies supply food which forms basic needs of human. This keep the companies running on a daily basis since people require food to live. Variability is the essence of providing more than one service or products to the clients. The companies offer catering and business consultancy services to clients, regionally and globally through internet among other platforms. Perish ability is the ability of the companies to maintain their daily delivery schedule of products with short life span. They have inbuilt cooling systems in their delivery tr acks to keep the food fresh till it reach the clients’ destinations (Brown, 2010). Finally, the companies have no specific ownership of the business, what they do is to attract several associates to operate under the common brand name.

History of Albert Einstein

History of Albert Einstein Reiyyan Tariq Nizami Albert Einstein The Political Activist behind the Physicist Albert Einstein is a name known by nearly every child who has the luxury of learning about science and physics. Throughout the world he is known for his remarkable work in physics where he developed the theory of relativity. However most know him for his infamous mass – energy equivalence formula E=mc2. Einstein received a Nobel Prize in physics in 1921 for his fabulous work. Everyone knows about his work in physics but few know about the political side of Einstein. He was alive during many wars and he always tried to help as many people as he could. Albert Einstein was a great physicist and political activist and an even better humanitarian. Albert Einstein was born on March 14th 1879 in Ulm, Germany to a Jewish family. From a young age Einstein showed a great interest in mathematics and physics and eventually obtained a diploma from Swiss Federal Polytechnic School. He eventually became a Swiss citizen and started working as a technical assistant at the patent office. In 1905 he obtained a PhD from the University of Zurich. His dissertation was called A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions† in which he discussed Avogadro’s constant. This was just the beginning for the great physicist’s accomplishments. Later on in the same year Einstein wrote four papers which are sometimes referred to as the Annus Mirabilis papers. Annus Mirabilis is Latin for Great or Miraculous Year, the year was indeed great for Albert Einstein. The four papers he wrote held great weight in the physics community and changed the way people viewed many aspects of physics. The four papers were written on Photoelectric Effect, Brownian motion, Special Relativity and Mass-Energy equivalence. These papers brought Einstein into the spotlight in the world of physics. In the following years Einstein was more and more successful. In 1908 he was given a teaching position at the University of Bern. The next year he got an offer to work at the University of Zurich and a few years later he got a position to teach at Charles-Ferdinand University in what was then known as Czechoslovakia. He later returned to Germany to work at Kaiser Wilhelm Society as a director. The Kaiser Wilhelm Society was setup to encourage the study of natural sciences in Germany. He was also given a professorship at Humboldt University of Berlin however he did not teach there much. Next Albert Einstein went on to become the president of the German Physical Society. All of these positions of great honor and stature were given to Albert Einstein for his brilliant work in Physics. From 1907 to 1915 Einstein worked on his General Theory of Relativity. This was by far one of Einstein’s greatest gift to the scientific community. However during these years the theory was met with different controversies from different people. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in physics in 1921 which was awarded for his work with the photoelectric effect. He did however receive recognition for his work in relativity in 1925 when he received the Copley Medal, which is given to scientists who have greatly contributed to any field of science by the Royal Society. Albert Einstein definitely deserved these rewards for all the great contributions he gave to the world of physics. Einstein was widely respected throughout Germany and the world for his great contributions to the world of physics. However he was also despised by many people for various reasons, such as, some people didn’t believe in his science and others hated him for his religion. A Jews life in Germany in 1930s was one filled with great danger at all times. This was because of the far right wing party National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) known to many people as the Nazi party. They held a belief that the Aryan race was the strongest purest race and other races were inferior especially the Jews. If someone happened to be a famous person and a Jew, as Albert Einstein was, then their life was in grave danger. Being the famous person he was Albert Einstein travelled all over the place giving lectures and continued his work on physics. In 1933 the German far right wing Nazi party came to power. Their views were extremely Fascist and included but weren’t limited to anti-Semitism and racial purity. Lucky for Albert Einstein he was not in Germany during this time, he was in fact taking a trip to the Pasadena, California in the United States of America with his family where he was a visiting professor for a short time at the California institute of Technology. When Albert Einstein heard of the Nazi party coming to power in 1933 he and his family decided to stay away from Germany. They instead decided to travel to Belgium where they stayed for a few months. During his journey Albert Einstein was informed that his house was broken into by the Nazis and his possessions had been confiscated. Albert Einstein decided he no longer wanted to be associated with Germany and gave away his citizensh ip of Germany. Eventually the Nazi party implanted harsher and harsher laws against Jews in Germany. The atmosphere in Germany was getting worse and worse for any Jewish person and every one of them were trying to flee the country for their lives. Albert Einstein was being targeted by his enemies in every way possible. His scientific achievements were being tarnished by Nazi scientists, his writings were burned by the Nazis and he was officially listed an enemy of the state in Germany and there was a bounty on his head for $5,000. Albert Einstein decided that staying in Europe was not an option for him and so he took his family and moved to Princeton in New Jersey where he stayed for the rest of his life away from the threats to him from the German Nazi party. The Nazi party put Albert Einstein under a lot of pressure but this only made him a stronger advocate of war and further increased his desire for peaceful resolutions to problems. Over the years that the Nazi party was holding power in Germany Albert Einstein was working hard to try to give the Jews in Europe a way to escape Hitler’s grasp. Albert Einstein wrote letters to the United States of America asking them to give European Jews visas to enter the United States to escape torture at the hands of the Nazis. Albert Einstein pleaded to the United States to make immigration easier for his people. This was the start of a long political path for Albert Einstein. Einstein kept trying harder and harder to provide ways to rescue his friends from oppression in Germany. Finally in 1933 Albert Einstein was able to get the wheels in motion and the International Rescue Committee was created which over the years saved multiple thousands of people from not only Germany but also from Italy, France, Spain and many other European countries. If it wouldn’t have been for Albert Einstein a majority of those people would have ended up dying to the hands of one dictator or another. Einstein was also a man of strong morals, throughout the whole German war he stood strong and tried to help people being oppressed by the Nazis in the best way that he could do so. He appealed to governments to help the oppressed and used his fame and connection in every way possible to help people. After the war had ended Germans wanted to have Einstein come home as a hero and give him rewards for his support to those that needed help. However Albert Einstein declined any such rewards, he said that he was extremely upset with the way that Germany let the genocide of 6 million Jews take place. He never went back to Germany after 1933 and did not like to be associated with them. He stood up for what he believed was right even if it was his home country and that made him a true hero. After the war had ended the whole world was trying to find a home for the Jewish community. A country that they could call their own and live in peace without any kind of oppression from any other race or religion. Many people came to decide that the Jews should have their own home in the holy land, Palestine. Albert Einstein was in support of this idea, what better place to call home then the land of Moses, the prophet of the Jews. However Albert Einstein had a different approach to the rest of the world. He believed that instead of creating a state for the Jews protected by weapons and an army. He believed that the Jews and the Arabs could live together in harmony peacefully. As the Jewish state of Israel was being created Einstein was still opposed to their actions. Albert Einstein joined with a few others together sent a letter to the New York Times in which they condemned the actions of Menachem Begin, an Israeli politician for the right wing Herut political party, for the massacre of Arab villages. The authors of the letter compared the massacre to what Hitler and the Nazi party did in Germany with their fascist views and they warned the world of terrible things to come if the right wing party came to power. This showed great courage and morality of Albert Einstein, he was going against his own religion to do what was right and this made him a great leader for people. In fact Albert Einstein was so loved by the people of Israel and Jews around the world that he was offered the position of being the president of Israel. However he declined the offer kindly as he believed he was not the right man for the job as he lacked the experience and the skills to work in such a position of power. He decided that he could do more work for the world from behind his desk compared to the desk of the president of Israel. This showed that Albert Einstein was working not to gain power of any sort but to do the right thing and that is a quality that is rarely see in people, especially political activists. Albert Einstein was looked down at by the Nazi party and their supporters throughout his life in Germany. This made him all too familiar with the feeling of Anti-Semitism discrimination which he fought against throughout his life. However this was not the only type of discrimination he fought against. Albert Einstein was also fighting the fight for civil rights for African Americans. He worked with many various organizations to help African Americans obtain equality and to get rid of racism. There are many times during his life when Albert Einstein homed and supported African Americans who were oppressed by the white man. This shows how great of a humanitarian Albert Einstein was, he really did not see race or religion, he saw humanity and felt the urge to help them. Of great significance were the events of a racial riot in Tennessee which took place in 1946 known as the Columbia Race Riot. The police in Tennessee had been injured while they were going to enter a segregated African American business district. Later on the white Americans and the police raided the African American business district and stole money and weapons and other goods from their stores and arrested several African American men on alleged murder charges. These men weren’t provided any legal counsel and were going to be punished but the actions of Thurgood Marshall, a member of the United States Supreme Court, supported by Albert Einstein and a few other supporters of civil rights fought to free the wrongfully accused African American men. Albert Einstein felt so strongly about the discrimination against African Americans and he used his fame and power to condemn it in every way possible. He gave lectures, speeches and even wrote letters to politicians throughout the government. He went so far as to communicating with the president of the United States, Harry S. Truman. In his letters Albert Einstein condemned the racial discrimination and urged the president to pass anti-lynching laws. Albert Einstein was not afraid of anyone when it came to equality and civil rights for any race, he spoke his mind freely. Throughout most of his life Albert Einstein was a pacifist, a man who tried to help the weak and wanted to achieve harmony throughout the world in a peaceful manner. However sometimes there is not an option for a peaceful way. In 1939 this was the situation Aalbert Einstein found himself in. German scientists were attempting to develop a nuclear weapon and if they succeeded this would be ill news for the rest of the world. Having firsthand experience of what the Nazis were capable of Albert Einstein and a few other scientists, many who also suffered at the hands of the Nazis, decided to urge the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt to develop their own nuclear weapon as a defensive strategy against the Nazis in case they developed a Nuclear weapon. Hence began the Nuclear arms race and this was the biggest regret of Einstein later on in his life. This was a very difficult decision for Einstein as a political activist and many argue that if he had to do it again he may not ha ve made the same decision. Indeed if Albert Einstein knew that the United States would end up using the Nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and that the Nazis would fail to develop any Nuclear weapons then he would have never suggested their development. However under pressure and fear of Nazi world dominance Albert Einstein made a decision which resulted in the death of many innocent Japanese people. Later on in his life Albert Einstein tried to correct his mistakes and wrote an article where he suggested that United States should not be an atomic power, instead they should give the Atomic power to the United Nations to deter other dictators and nations from trying to develop weapons. It seems throughout his life Einstein was in the middle of some sort of war. He lived through World War 1 and 2 and when those finally ended he was right in the center of the cold war. During his work in World War 2 Albert Einstein developed strong ties with many political activists and politicians in the west as well as in the east, in specific with the soviets. Anyone who was remotely tied to the soviets was being accused of treason and disloyalty, this practice was called McCarthyism. At the head of the anti-communist movement were U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation directed by J. Edgar Hoover. Once again Albert Einstein did all that he could to help innocent people who were the victims of McCarthyism. Albert Einstein publicly advised all the victims of McCarthyism to apply the non-cooperation movement much like Gandhi did in India with the British Empire. His rational was that if everyone did not cooperate with the government then they would not have anything and would eventually give up. Albert Einstein compared Joseph McCarthy to Hitler and his fascist ways. Albert Einstein was so displeased with the acts of the government that ignored any risks to his reputation and he fought for his political beliefs. He went so far as to say that he would be willing to go to jail if he had to but he would stick to what he felt was right. Joseph McCarthy and the FBI were never able to find concrete evidence against Albert Einstein and so Albert Einstein lived a free man who continued to struggle for freedom. Even in his last days on this planet Einstein continued his work to prevent wars in the future and to stop nuclear development. Albert Einstein’s biggest fear was that his work in physics which was key in the development of the Atomic Bomb would be the weapon that annihilates all of mankind. It is widely known knowledge that Einstein said â€Å"I do not know how the third World War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in the Fourth — sticks and stones. This was to signify that the world would be destroyed by nuclear weapons before the fourth world war. In his last week’s Einstein wrote a manifesto with Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher, the manifesto discussed the dangers of nuclear warfare. The Russell–Einstein Manifesto was key in the development of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. This conference brings forth leaders and scientists from around the world to discuss ways to mitigate the dangers of war and to fi nd peaceful resolutions to issues. Through his entire life Albert Einstein was working to stop wars and help the victims of wars. At the same time he was also busy doing research in physics. He worked on developing a Unified field theory, he studied wormholes, and of course he continued his own research on quantum mechanics as well. While he did all this he also helped free Jews, African Americans and other people being oppressed. How one man can inspire the whole world is remarkable and speaks to volumes the power of the human brain. Throughout his life Einstein influenced many and even today his theories are used to develop and understand physics and the natural world. The man was a remarkable physicist and he was rewarded for that in many ways from the Nobel Prize to professorships around the world. Unfortunately his political and humanitarian work was not recognized and rewarded like his work in physics was. Albert Einstein was a great political activist and he was one of the best humanitarian known to mankind. Bibliography Albert Einstein Biographical. 25 Mar. 2014 http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-bio.html>. Albert Einstein, Radical: A Political Profile. Monthly Review. 25 Mar. 2014 http://monthlyreview.org/2005/05/01/albert-einstein-radical-a-political-profile>. Albert Einstein, Was Einstein a Zionist? 25 Mar. 2014 http://www.zionism-israel.com/ezine/Einstein_and_Zionism.htm>. Avogadros number. 25 Mar. 2014 http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Avogadros_number#Estimates_from_liquid_solutions>. Butcher, Sandra Ionna. The origins of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto. Washington, DC: Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, 2005. Calaprice, Alice, and Trevor Lipscombe. Albert Einstein: A biography. Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 2005. Gewertz, Ken. Albert Einstein, Civil Rights activist. Harvard Gazette. 25 Mar. 2014 http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/04/albert-einstein-civil-rights-activist/>. Isaacson, Walter. Einstein: His life and universe. New York: Simon Schuster, 2007. 404. Rhodes, Richard. The making of the atomic bomb. New York: Simon Schuster, 1986. 307-14. Scientist Tells of Einsteins A-bomb Regrets. The Philadelphia Bulletin. 24 Mar. 2014 http://web.archive.org/web/20061108075927/http://virtor.bar.admin.ch/pdf/ausstellung_einstein_fr/der_pazifist/A-Bomb_Regrets.pdf>. Stachel, John J. Einstein from B to Z Boston: BirkhaÃÅ'ˆuser, 2002. Albert Einstein on the McCarthy hearings and the Fifth Amendment, 1953. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. 25 Mar. 2014 https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/fifties/resources/albert-einstein-mccarthy-hearings-and-fifth-amendment-1953>.

Global Warming and Greenhouse Gas Emissions :: Global Warming Climate Change

Global Warming and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Overall, emissions of CO2 increased by 0.3% to 6.8 tons per person in the United States. Emissions of greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide, which account for 17% of total greenhouse gas emissions, declined by 0.6%. Emissions from the industrial sector declined 1.3% even though the U.S. economy grew 3.9% in 1998. However, CO2 emissions from transportation grew by 2.4% while CO2 emissions of regulated utilities expanded by 3.2% as a result of a hotter than normal summer. Overall, 1999 U.S. greenhouse gas emissions were about 10.7 percent higher than 1990 emissions, which are estimated at 1,655 million metric tons carbon equivalent. The 1.1-percent average annual growth in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 1999 compares with average growth rates of 1.0 percent for the U.S. population, 1.5 percent for energy consumption, 2.2 percent for electric power generation, and 3.1 percent for real GDP Table ES2. U.S. Emissions of Greenhouse Gases, Based on Global Warming Potential, 1990-1999 (Million Metric Tons Carbon Equivalent) Gas 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 P1999 Carbon Dioxide 1,351 1,338 1,365 1,397 1,422 1,435 1,484 1,505 1,507 1,527 Methane 182 183 183 178 179 179 173 172 168 165 Nitrous Oxide 99 101 103 103 111 106 105 104 103 103 HFCs, PFCs, and SF6 24 22 24 24 25 29 33 35 40 38 Total 1,655 1,644 1,675 1,702 1,737 1,748 1,796 1,816 1,818 1,833 P = preliminary data.Note: Data in this table are revised from the data contained in the previous EIA report, Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 1998, DOE/EIA-0573(98) (Washington, DC, October 1999).Sources: Emissions: Estimates presented in this report. Global Warming Potentials: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996). Energy End-Use Sector Sources of U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions, 1990-1999 Sector Million Metric Tons Carbon Equivalent PercentChange 1990 1999 1990-1999 1998-1999 Transportation 431.8 496.1 14.9% 2.9% Industrial 454.8 481.2 5.8% 0.2% Commercial 207.7 243.5 17.2% -0.4% Residential 254.2 290.1 14.1% 0.4% Note: Electric utility emissions are distributed across sectors. Total carbon dioxide emissions from the residential sector increased by 0.4 percent in 1999 (Table 6). Year-to-year, residential sector emissions are heavily influenced by weather. For example, in 1996, a relatively cold year, carbon dioxide emissions from the residential sector grew by 5.9 percent over 1995. In 1997, they declined by 0.

Management Consultants

What can individual management consultants or management consultancy as a profession contribute to the recover from current economic climate. Introduction †¢ Definition ] †¢ Management consultant history development †¢ Possible contribution of management consultant †¢ Current economic climate, whats needed but organisations in the recovery †¢ What I am going to talk about in the essay – base of my argument Paragraphs †¢ Globilization †¢ Technology †¢ Control of risk †¢ Business become lean †¢ Create jobs Management consultant is a profession and a practice that helps organisations improve productivity and performance through the use of expertise and knowledge. Consultants have been viewed as external experts brought in to provide advice about a specific problem where internal managers are ill equipped or unsure of the best strategy or solution [Kubr, 199622. Consultants use analytical tool to produce organisations future objective and formulate strategic plan to achieve these goals. As pointed out by Rossi (2009) to create value consultants must be precise and creative in ddressing problems organisation faces, proposing innovative solution and taking responsibility of implementation of the recommendations. In the current economic climate no organisation has been immune to the affects of the unstable economic climate. In this environment management consultant has become important due to the fact that a change in direction is required; consultants offer this change in a decisive way si nce they have an impartial opinion and an external view of organisation. As a result of the credit crunch the current economic climate is unpredictable, with high level of unemployment, high inflation and euro zone crisis; organisations have had to find innovative ways to stay competitive in their markets. This has resulted in organisations reducing the use of consultants as firms cancel or delay project in order to save money. However for some firms the current economic crisis is beyond anything they have experienced before, with modest guidance from historic evidence to depend on, they have looked toward management consultants for assistance and help to survive the recession. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the different ways in which consultants can contribute to the economic recovery in general, whilst critically analysing the interventions management consultants can make and its limitations to be specific. Globalisation and technological advances led the economic boom that nations experienced during the late 1990s, however due to the banking crisis of 2008-2010 the economies around the world have never full recovered. The recovery of the global economies according to Shaikh (2010) is going to dependant on business spending and investments in emerging market such as China as well as efficient management of resources. In the current economic climate, organisations are facing high cost of production and low levels of liquidity, by moving production to low-cost countries organisations will be able to decrease their cost of production. Management consultancy will be imperative for organisation in the strategic planning in order to meet these objectives; as they offer expertise in efficiency management and risk management needed in investing in new markets. Leaman (2008) pointed out that the one of the challenges organisations face when moving into a new country is management of workforce due to the difference in culture. Consultancy can help organisations in managing and training an international workforce by advising the managers on human resources issues such as workforce retention and in turn provide workforce stability. Consultancy can intervene by offering the organisation specific tools to control employee turnover and services which in turn will benefit the organisation retain their best employees. Retaining the best employees is important in this current economic environment as it cuts training cost for new employees that replace them. This will improve the organisation’s efficiency and also the organisation’s liquidity. Leaman concluded that during a recession a lot of hard work is now focused on driving out costs and making organisations more effective and efficient. A way in which organisations can improve their efficiency is by investing in technology. Porter and Millar (1985) agued that improvements in technology enhances organisations’ competitive edge and leads to greater efficiency. In the current economic environment the improvements in efficiency in businesses will contribute to the economic growth due to the fact that businesses would be utilizing their resources more in production. Management consultancy can contribute to this increase in efficiency by raising attention to problems in current system or implementation of new system. The expertise in data collection and analysis of system help management consultants to measure different ways in which organisation can improve the current system or propose a new one. This can be seen in the Personal Care North America’s order management system that was created by a supply chain and system consultancy firm called Clarkston in 2008. After the merger of Chesebrough-Ponds, Lever Brother and Helen Curtis the organisation had three different order supply systems which consultants proved was an inefficient system as it was expensive and slow to run. They analysed data from customer responses and inventory management to collude that the organisation needed to merge the systems and have one unified system that provides a real-time view of the entire order-to-cash process. According to Clarkston Consulting by having a full integrated system the business process is simplified and efficient providing a platform for organisations to meet their needs and projected growth. This intervention made by the consultancy firm indicates that consultancy as a practice can contribute to an increase in efficiency in organisations, which will lead to an increase in economic activity by the organisation and in turn help the economy. According to Akintoye, MacLeod (1998) the economic recovery is going to be reliant on the improvements in market driven companies. They have suffered in growth due to the lack of disposable income of their customers due to increases in VAT and inflation. They have also suffered due to the increasing power of consumers who have more opportunities to choose Cairo (2010). In this situation management consultancy can contribute by advising the organisations the different way in which they could increase their understanding of their market, thus give them the ability to increase their customer retention and draw new customers. Consultancy can achieve this through market research and analysis of consumer trends, so they can tune existing marketing complain to optimization strategy for the changing consumers. By ensuring that the organisation meets these objectives consultants can provide a platform for the organisation to achieve future growth. This growth will lead to an increase in spending by the organisation on such things as infrastructure, recruitment and training, thus creating jobs for an economy that is experiencing high level of unemployment at the moment. The time and cost over-runs associated with organisational growth make it imperative that the investments safe and provide good returns. It’s important due to the fact that the economic environment is in a bad state as a result of bad risk management by bank in lending. Management consultancy can reduce the risk of investment and create a safe path for growth by planning ahead to avoid pitfalls. By using specific methodologies to analyse market data they ensure that product launches are successful. Management consultants’ analysis of market data will allow organisation to make accurate strategic marketing decision to reduce the risk of frailer for their investment. By reducing the risk of failure the business will be able to grow and produce more output. Vassalou (2002) study shows that an increase in output or growth by businesses contributed to an increase in GDP for a country. Management consultant could also intervene in situation when businesses are about to invest in a risky investment. From expertise and nowledge gained from other businesses, management consults could step in with advices for businesses not to invest in certain products or markets. By intervening and stopping the investment by business into risky ventures the management constancy reduces the cost of bailout that will be needed to recue businesses that are too big to fail. Management consultants on the other hand have limitation to the contribution they can make to the economy. There are other exte rnal factors that are outside the control of management consultancy that affect the data collection, analysis and advise they give to business. Economic factors such as the euro zone crisis have adverse influence on UK business due to the relationship and the dependence of UK businesses to mainland Europe. This is due to the fact that UK exports to Europe amounts to 48% total exports and 15% of annual GDP Global Britain Publication (2009). This is vital to the recovery of the economy due to the fact that at the moment Europe is are suffering high levels of inflation and have low disposable income to purchase UK products or services. This is going to lead to reduction in demand for UK goods and services in Europe, thus affect the growth and sustainability of UK businesses. In this situation management consultancy’s influence on the business will be limited due to the fluctuations in the economy. The analysis of market data will be constantly changing which may lead to businesses cutting consultancy as they will not be achieve the results the client are expecting. The practice is criticised for not having real corporate world experience, knowledge and skills. Kubr M 1996 Management Consulting: A Guide to the Profession 3rd revised ed. Geneva ILO

Second Foundation 9. The Conspirators

For Dr. Darell and Pelleas Anthor, the evenings passed in friendly intercourse; the days in pleasant unimportance. It might have been an ordinary visit. Dr. Darell introduced the young man as a cousin from across space, and interest was dulled by the clich. Somehow, however, among the small talk, a name might be mentioned. There would be an easy thoughtfulness. Dr. Darell might say, â€Å"No,† or he might say, â€Å"Yes.† A call on the open Communi-wave issued a casual invitation, â€Å"Want you to meet my cousin.† And Arcadia's preparations proceeded in their own manner. In fact, her actions might be considered the least straightforward of all. For instance, she induced Olynthus Dam at school to donate to her a home-built, self-contained sound-receiver by methods which indicated a future for her that promised peril to all males with whom she might come into contact. To avoid details, she merely exhibited such an interest in Olynthus' self-publicized hobby – he had a home workshop-combined with such a well-modulated transfer of this interest to Olynthus' own pudgy features, that the unfortunate youth found himself: 1) discoursing at great and animated length upon the principles of the hyperwave motor; 2) becoming dizzyingly aware of the great, absorbed eyes that rested so lightly upon his; and 3) forcing into her willing hands his own greatest creation, the aforesaid sound-receiver. Arcadia cultivated Olynthus in diminishing degree thereafter for just long enough to remove all suspicion that the sound-receiver had been the cause of the friendship. For months afterwards, Olynthus felt the memory of that short period in his life over and over again with the tendrils of his mind, until finally, for lack of further addition, he gave up and let it slip away. When the seventh evening came, and five men sat in the Darell living room with food within and tobacco without, Arcadia's desk upstairs was occupied by this quite unrecognizable home-product of Olynthus' ingenuity. Five men then. Dr. Darell, of course, with graying hair and meticulous clothing, looking somewhat older than his forty-two years. Pelleas Author, serious and quick-eyed at the moment looking young and unsure of himself. And the three new men: Jole Turbor, visicastor, bulky and plump-lipped; Dr. Elvett Semic, professor-emeritus of physics at the University, scrawny and wrinkled, his clothes only half-filled; Homir Munn, librarian, lanky and terribly ill-at-ease. Dr. Darell spoke easily, in a normal, matter-of-fact tone: â€Å"This gathering has been arranged, gentlemen, for a trifle more than merely social reasons. You may have guessed this. Since you have been deliberately chosen because of your backgrounds, you may also guess the danger involved. I won't minimize it, but I will point out that we are all condemned men, in any case. â€Å"You will notice that none of you have been invited with any attempt at secrecy. None of you have been asked to come here unseen. The windows are not adjusted to non-insight. No screen of any sort is about the room. We have only to attract the attention of the enemy to be ruined; and the best way to attract that attention is to assume a false and theatrical secrecy. (Hah, thought Arcadia, bending over the voices coming – a bit screechily – out of the little box.) â€Å"Do you understand that?† Elvett Semic twitched his lower lip and bared his teeth in the screwup, wrinkled gesture that preceded his every sentence. â€Å"Oh, get on with it. Tell us about the youngster.† Dr. Darell said, â€Å"Pelleas Anthor is his name. He was a student of my old colleague, Kleise, who died last year. Kleise sent me his brain-pattern to the fifth sublevel, before he died, which pattern has been now checked against that of the man before you. You know, of course, that a brain-pattern cannot be duplicated that far, even by men of the Science of Psychology. If you don't know that, you'll have to take my word for it.† Turbor said, purse-lipped, â€Å"We might as well make a beginning somewheres. We'll take your word for it, especially since you're the greatest electroneurologist in the Galaxy now that Kleise is dead. At least, that is the way I've described you in my visicast comment, and I even believe it myself. How old are you, Anthor?† â€Å"Twenty-nine, Mr. Turbor.† â€Å"Hm-m-m. And are you an electroneurologist, too? A great one?† â€Å"Just a student of the science. But I work hard, and I've had the benefit of Kleise's training.† Munn broke in. He had a slight stammer at periods of tension. â€Å"I†¦ I wish you'd g†¦ get started. I think everyone's t†¦ talking too much.† Dr. Darell lifted an eyebrow in Munn's direction. you're right, Homir. Take over, Pelleas.† â€Å"Not for a while,† said Pelleas Anthor, slowly, â€Å"because before we can get started – although I appreciate Mr. Munn's sentiment – I must request brain-wave data.† Darell frowned. â€Å"What is this, Anthor? What brain-wave data do you refer to?† â€Å"The patterns of all of you. You have taken mine, Dr. Darell. I must take yours and those of the rest of you. And I must take the measurements myself.† Turbor said, â€Å"There's no reason for him to trust us, Darell. The young man is within his rights.† â€Å"Thank you,† said Anthor. â€Å"If you'll lead the way to your laboratory then, Dr. Darell, well proceed. I took the liberty this morning of checking your apparatus.† The science of electroencephalography was at once new and old. It was old in the sense that the knowledge of the microcurrents generated by nerve cells of living beings belonged to that immense category of human knowledge whose origin was completely lost. It was knowledge that stretched back as far as the earliest remnants of human history- And yet it was new, too. The fact of the existence of microcurrents slumbered through the tens of thousands of years of Galactic Empire as one of those vivid and whimsical, but quite useless, items of human knowledge. Some had attempted to form classifications of waves into waking and sleeping, calm and excited, well and ill – but even the broadest conceptions had had their hordes of vitiating exceptions. Others had tried to show the existence of brain-wave groups, analogous to the well-known blood groups, and to show that external environment was the defining factor. These were the race-minded people who claimed that Man could be divided into subspecies. But such a philosophy could make no headway against the overwhelming ecumenical drive involved in the fact of Galactic Empire – one political unit covering twenty million stellar systems, involving all of Man from the central world of Trantor – now a gorgeous and impossible memory of the great past – to the loneliest asteroid on the periphery. And then again, in a society given over, as that of the First Empire was, to the physical sciences and inanimate technology, there was a vague but mighty sociological push away from the study of the mind. It was less respectable because less immediately useful; and it was poorly financed since it was less profitable. After the disintegration of the First Empire, there came the fragmentation of organized science, back, back – past even the fundamentals of atomic power into the chemical power of coal and oil. The one exception to this, of course, was the First Foundation where the spark of science, revitalized and grown more intense was maintained and fed to flame. Yet there, too, it was the physical that ruled, and the brain, except for surgery, was neglected ground. Hari Seldon was the first to express what afterwards came to be accepted as truth. â€Å"Neural microcurrents,† he once said, â€Å"carry within them the spark of every varying impulse and response, conscious and unconscious. The brain-waves recorded on neatly squared paper in trembling peaks and troughs are the mirrors of the combined thought-pulses of billions of cells. Theoretically, analysis should reveal the thoughts and emotions of the subject, to the last and least. Differences should be detected that are due not only to gross physical defects, inherited or acquired, but also to shifting states of emotion, to advancing education and experience, even to something as subtle as a change in the subject's philosophy of life.† But even Seldon could approach no further than speculation. And now for fifty years, the men of the First Foundation had been tearing at that incredibly vast and complicated storehouse of new knowledge. The approach, naturally, was made through new techniques – as, for example, the use of electrodes at skull sutures by a newly-developed means which enabled contact to be made directly with the gray cells, without even the necessity of shaving a patch of skull. And then there was a recording device which automatically recorded the brain-wave data as an overall total, and as separate functions of six independent variables. What was most significant, perhaps, was the growing respect in which encephalography and the encephalographer was held. Kleise, the greatest of them, sat at scientific conventions on an equal basis with the physicist. Dr. Darell, though no longer active in the science, was known for his brilliant advances in encephalographic analysis almost as much as for the fact that he was the son of Bayta Darell, the great heroine of the past generation. And so now, Dr. Darell sat in his own chair, with the delicate touch of the feathery electrodes scarcely hinting at pressure upon his skull, while the vacuum-incased needles wavered to and fro. His back was to the recorder – otherwise, as was well known, the sight of the moving curves induced an unconscious effort to control them, with noticeable results – but he knew that the central dial was expressing the strongly rhythmic and little-varying Sigma curve, which was to be expected of his own powerful and disciplined mind. It would be strengthened and purified in the subsidiary dial dealing with the Cerebellar wave. There would be the sharp, near-discontinuous leaps from the frontal lobe, and the subdued shakiness from the subsurface regions with its narrow range of frequencies- He knew his own brain-wave pattern much as an artist might be perfectly aware of the color of his eyes. Pelleas Anthor made no comment when Darell rose from the reclining chair. The young man abstracted the seven recordings, glanced at them with the quick, all-embracing eyes of one who knows exactly what tiny facet of near-nothingness is being looked for. â€Å"If you don't mind, Dr. Semic.† Semic's age-yellowed face was serious. Electroencephalography was a science of his old age of which he knew little; an upstart that he faintly resented. He knew that he was old and that his wave-pattern would show it. The wrinkles on his face showed it, the stoop in his walk, the shaking of his hand – but they spoke only of his body. The brain-wave patterns might show that his mind was old, too. An embarrassing and unwarranted invasion of a man's last protecting stronghold, his own mind. The electrodes were adjusted. The process did not hurt, of course, from beginning to end. There was just that tiny tingle, far below the threshold of sensation. And then came Turbor, who sat quietly and unemotionally through the fifteen minute process, and Munn, who jerked at the first touch of the electrodes and then spent the session rolling his eyes as though he wished he could turn them backwards and watch through a hole in his occiput. â€Å"And now-† said Darell, when all was done. â€Å"And now,† said Anthor, apologetically, â€Å"there is one more person in the house.† Darell, frowning, said: â€Å"My daughter?† ‘Yes. I suggested that she stay home tonight, if you'll remember.† â€Å"For encephalographical analysis? What in the Galaxy for?† â€Å"I cannot proceed without it.† Darell shrugged and climbed the stairs. Arcadia, amply warned, had the sound-receiver off when he entered; then followed him down with mild obedience. It was the first time in her life – except for the taking of her basic mind pattern as an infant, for identification and registration purposes – that she found herself under the electrodes. â€Å"May I see,† she asked, when it was over, holding out her hand. Dr. Darell said, â€Å"You would not understand, Arcadia. Isn't it time for you to go to bed?† â€Å"Yes, father,† she said, demurely. â€Å"Good night, all.† She ran up the stairs and plumped into bed with a minimum of basic preparation. With Olynthus' sound-receiver propped beside her pillow, she felt like a character out of a book-film, and hugged every moment of it close to her chest in an ecstasy of â€Å"Spy-stuff.† The first words she heard were Anthor's and they were: â€Å"The analyses, gentlemen, are all satisfactory. The child's as well.† Child, she thought disgustedly, and bristled at Anthor in the darkness. Anthor had opened his briefcase now, and out of it, he took several dozen brain-wave records. They were not originals. Nor had the briefcase been fitted with an ordinary lock. Had the key been held in any hand other than his own, the contents thereof would have silently and instantly oxidized to an indecipherable ash. Once removed from the briefcase, the records did so anyway after half an hour. But during their short lifetime, Anthor spoke quickly. â€Å"I have the records here of several minor government officials at Anacreon. This is a psychologist at Locris University; this an industrialist at Siwenna. The rest are as you see.† They crowded closely. To all but Darell, they were so many quivers on parchment. To Darell, they shouted with a million tongues. Anthor pointed lightly, â€Å"I call your attention, Dr. Darell, to the plateau region among the secondary Tauian waves in the frontal lobe, which is what all these records have in common. Would you use my Analytical Rule, sir, to check my statement?† The Analytical Rule might be considered a distant relation – as a skyscraper is to a shack – of that kindergarten toy, the logarithmic Slide Rule. Darell used it with the wristflip of long practice. He made freehand drawings of the result and, as Anthor stated, there were featureless plateaus in frontal lobe regions where strong swings should have been expected. â€Å"How would you interpret that, Dr. Darell?† asked Anthor. â€Å"I'm not sure. Offhand, I don't see how it's possible. Even in cases of amnesia, there is suppression, but not removal. Drastic brain surgery, perhaps?† â€Å"Oh, something's been cut out,† cried Anthor, impatiently, â€Å"yes! Not in the physical sense, however. You know, the Mule could have done just that. He could have suppressed completely all capacity for a certain emotion or attitude of mind, and leave nothing but just such a flatness. Or else-â€Å" â€Å"Or else the Second Foundation could have done it. Is that it?† asked Turbor, with a slow smile. There was no real need to answer that thoroughly rhetorical question. â€Å"What made you suspicious, Mr. Anthor?† asked Munn. â€Å"It wasn't I. It was Dr. Kleise. He collected brain-wave patterns much as the Planetary Police do, but along different lines. He specialized in intellectuals, government officials and business leaders. You see, it's quite obvious that if the Second Foundation is directing the historical course of the Galaxy – of us – that they must do it subtly and in as minimal a fashion as possible. If they work through minds, as they must, it is the minds of people with influence; culturally, industrially, or politically. And with those he concerned himself.† â€Å"Yes,† objected Munn, â€Å"but is there corroboration? How do these people act – I mean the ones with the plateau. Maybe it's all a perfectly normal phenomenon.† He looked hopelessly at the others out of his, somehow, childlike blue eyes, but met no encouraging return. â€Å"I leave that to Dr. Darell,† said Anthor. â€Å"Ask him how many times he's seen this phenomenon in his general studies, or in reported cases in the literature over the past generation. Then ask him the chances of it being discovered in almost one out of every thousand cases among the categories Dr. Kleise studied.† â€Å"I suppose that there is no doubt,† said Darell, thoughtfully, â€Å"that these are artificial mentalities. They have been tampered with. In a way, I have suspected this-â€Å" â€Å"I know that, Dr. Darell,† said Author. â€Å"I also know you once worked with Dr. Kleise. I would like to know why you stopped.† There wasn't actually hostility in his question. Perhaps nothing more than caution; but, at any rate, it resulted in a long pause. Darell looked from one to another of his guests, then said brusquely, â€Å"Because there was no point to Kleise's battle. He was competing with an adversary too strong for him. He was detecting what we – he and I – knew he would detect – that we were not our own masters. And I didn't want to know! I had my self-respect. I liked to think that our Foundation was captain of its collective soul; that our forefathers had not quite fought and died for nothing. I thought it would be most simple to turn my face away as long as I was not quite sure. I didn't need my position since the Government pension awarded to my mother's family in perpetuity would take care of my uncomplicated needs. My home laboratory would suffice to keep boredom away, and life would some day end – Then Kleise died-â€Å" Semic showed his teeth and said: â€Å"This fellow Kleise; I don't know him. How did he die?† Anthor cut in: â€Å"He died. He thought he would. He told me half a year before that he was getting too close-â€Å" â€Å"Now we're too c†¦ close, too, aren't we?† suggested Munn, dry-mouthed, as his Adam's apple jiggled. â€Å"Yes,† said Anthor, flatly, â€Å"but we were, anyway – all of us. It's why you've all been chosen. I'm Kleise's student. Dr. Darell was his colleague. Jole Turbor has been denouncing our blind faith in the saving hand of the Second Foundation on the air, until the government shut him off – through the agency, I might mention, of a powerful financier whose brain shows what Kleise used to call the Tamper Plateau. Homir Munn has the largest home collection of Muliana – if I may use the phrase to signify collected data concerning the Mule – in existence, and has published some papers containing speculation on the nature and function of the Second Foundation. Dr. Semic has contributed as much as anyone to the mathematics of encephalographic analysis, though I don't believe he realized that his mathematics could be so applied.† Semic opened his eyes wide and chuckled gaspingly, â€Å"No, young fellow. I was analyzing intranuclear motions – the n-body problem, you know. I'm lost in encephalography.† â€Å"Then we know where we stand. The government can, of course, do nothing about the matter. Whether the mayor or anyone in his administration is aware of the seriousness of the situation, I don't know. But this I do know – we five have nothing to lose and stand to gain much. With every increase in our knowledge, we can widen ourselves in safe directions. We are but a beginning, you understand.† â€Å"How widespread,† put in Turbor, â€Å"is this Second Foundation infiltration?† â€Å"I don't know. There's a flat answer. All the infiltrations we have discovered were on the outer fringes of the nation. The capital world may yet be clean, though even that is not certain – else I would not have tested you. You were particularly suspicious, Dr. Darell, since you abandoned research with Kleise. Kleise never forgave you, you know. I thought that perhaps the Second Foundation had corrupted you, but Kleise always insisted that you were a coward. You'll forgive me, Dr. Darell, if I explain this to make my own position clear. I, personally, think I understand your attitude, and, if it was cowardice, I consider it venial.† Darell drew a breath before replying. â€Å"I ran away! Call it what you wish. I tried to maintain our friendship, however, yet he never wrote nor called me until the day he sent me your brainwave data, and that was scarcely a week before he died-â€Å" â€Å"If you don't mind,† interrupted Homir Munn, with a flash of nervous eloquence, â€Å"I d†¦ don't see what you think you're doing. We're a p†¦ poor bunch of conspirators, if we're just going to talk and talk and t†¦ talk. And I don't see what else we can do, anyway. This is v†¦ very childish. B†¦ brain-waves and mumbo jumbo and all that. Is there just one thing you intend to do?† Pelleas Author's eyes were bright, â€Å"Yes, there is. We need more information on the Second Foundation. It's the prime necessity. The Mule spent the first five years of his rule in just that quest for information and failed – or so we have all been led to believe. But then he stopped looking. Why? Because he failed? Or because he succeeded?† â€Å"M†¦ more talk,† said Munn, bitterly. â€Å"How are we ever to know?† â€Å"If you'll listen to me – The Mule's capital was on Kalgan. Kalgan was not part of the Foundation's commercial sphere of influence before the Mule and it is not part of it now. Kalgan is ruled, at the moment, by the man, Stettin, unless there's another palace revolution by tomorrow. Stettin calls himself First Citizen and considers himself the successor of the Mule. If there is any tradition in that world, it rests with the super-humanity and greatness of the Mule – a tradition almost superstitious in intensity. As a result, the Mule's old palace is maintained as a shrine. No unauthorized person may enter; nothing within has ever been touched.† â€Å"Well?† â€Å"Well, why is that so? At times like these, nothing happens without a reason. What if it is not superstition only that makes the Mule's palace inviolate? What if the Second Foundation has so arranged matters? In short what if the results of the Mule's five-year search are within-â€Å" â€Å"Oh, p†¦ poppycock.† â€Å"Why not?† demanded Anthor. â€Å"Throughout its history the Second Foundation has hidden itself and interfered in Galactic affairs in minimal fashion only. I know that to us it would seem more logical to destroy the Palace or, at the least, to remove the data. But you must consider the psychology of these master psychologists. They are Seldons; they are Mules and they work by indirection, through the mind. They would never destroy or remove when they could achieve their ends by creating a state of mind. Eh?† No immediate answer, and Anthor continued, â€Å"And you, Munn, are just the one to get the information we need.† â€Å"I?†*** It was an astounded yell. Munn looked from one to the other rapidly, â€Å"I can't do such a thing. I'm no man of action; no hero of any teleview. I'm a librarian. If I can help you that way, all right, and I'll risk the Second Foundation, but I'm not going out into space on any qu†¦ quixotic thing like that.† â€Å"Now, look,† said Anthor, patiently, â€Å"Dr. Darell and I have both agreed that you're the man. It's the only way to do it naturally. You say you're a librarian. Fine! What is your main field of interest? Muliana! You already have the greatest collection of material on the Mule in the Galaxy. It is natural for you to want more; more natural for you than for anyone else. You could request entrance to the Kalgan Palace without arousing suspicion of ulterior motives. You might be refused but you would not be suspected. What's more, you have a one-man cruiser. You're known to have visited foreign planets during your annual vacation. You've even been on Kalgan before. Don't you understand that you need only act as you always have?† â€Å"But I can't just say, ‘W†¦ won't you kindly let me in to your most sacred shrine, M†¦ Mr. First Citizen?' â€Å" â€Å"Why not?† â€Å"Because, by the Galaxy, he won't let me!† â€Å"All right, then. So he won't Then you'll come home and we'll think of something else.† Munn looked about in helpless rebellion. He felt himself being talked into something he hated. No one offered to help him extricate himself. So in the end two decisions were made in Dr. Darell's house. The first was a reluctant one of agreement on the part of Munn to take off into space as soon as his summer vacation began. The other was a highly unauthorized decision on the part of a thoroughly unofficial member of the gathering, made as she clicked off a sound-receiver and composed herself for a belated sleep. This second decision does not concern us just yet.