Qatar Islamic Insurance Company Research Proposal

Qatar Islamic Insurance Company - Research Proposal Example Price/ Earnings Ratio: The P/E ratio determine the amount investors are willing to pay for every Qatari Riyal. The P/E ratio of the company and that of the industry are 16.67 and 20.14, which shows that company’s earnings per QAR with respect to rest of the industry is QAR 3.47 higher. Hence, the company has sufficient prospect of growth.Price/ Book value: This ratio represents a comparative measurement and relationship between market price of the stock and its book value. Essentially, it represents the proportion of company’s net assets that is accessible to the shareholders with respect to aggregate sale value of its stock. The benchmark for P/B ratio is 1 and any stock value less than that expresses undervaluation. The P/B ratio of the company and that of the industry shows that both the stocks are overvalued, while that of the industry is higher. The P/B ratio of the company illustrates that in case of solvency of Qatar Islamic Insurance Company, the stock will be v alued at 3.84 times of net asset value of the company (Alexander 105-150).Price/ Cash flow ratio: It represents the stock price with respect to cash flow per share. The P/CF ratio is an important indicator of the valuation of stock. While a single-digit value is considered as under-valuation, high values shows potential over valuation. The respective P/CF ratios for QIIC and the industry are 38.17 and 63.79. This implies that both have the propensity towards over valuation. Dividend yield can be defined as return on investment per share.

Teaching Of Primary Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Teaching Of Primary Science - Essay Example It also provides examples of schools that have experimented context-based teaching in science in classrooms, and a curricular example that teachers can modify to increase student understanding of any curricular area. Finally, it provides online resources and a podcast that provide teachers with additional ideas for making their lessons more interesting and engaging, empowering, and enlightening classrooms. There have been many studies that indicate context-based approach is essential in order for student learning to take place. Research reveals that teaching Strategies are necessary in schools for teachers to effectively increase student achievement. The focus of this research study is to examine effects of context-based approaches in teaching science in Classroom. The review of literature will look at several factors related to teaching strategies. Those factors include the Traditional view of teaching science, problematic questions that arise in this research, importance of context-based teaching, in classroom. ... Context-based approaches to teaching science in primary school have become widely used over the past two decades. They aspire to foster more positive attitudes to science while, at the same time, provide a sound basis of scientific understanding for further study. One of the most distinct trends of the last two decades in science curriculum development across a number of countries has been to use contexts and applications of science as a means of developing scientific understanding. Teaching in this way is often described as adopting a context-based approach. The trend toward the use of context-based approaches is apparent across the whole age spectrum from primary through to university level, but is most noticeable in materials developed for use in the secondary age range. Traditional Teaching Style of Science Over the last two decades reports have traced students' increasingly negative attitudes to Science in Australia over the primary years of schooling, and the associated decrease in student participation in post-compulsory science (Goodrum, Hackling, & Rennie, 2001; Tytler, 2007). This decline in interest in Science in the early years of primary education is of particular concern, since it is in these years that attitudes to the pursuit of science subjects and careers are formed (Speering & Rennie, 1996). A number of studies have explicitly linked this decline in student interest with the nature of the traditional science curriculum and its inability to make science meaningful and interesting to students (Fensham, 2004; Lyons, 2006). By making Science more relevant to a broader audience we can prepare prospective science degree students and professionals, as well as

LEGAL REASONING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

LEGAL REASONING - Essay Example The state offers tax exemptions on property left to spouses after the death of their partners (Wood, 2011). However, the state denied her request on realizing that she was married to a person of the same sex. There was a federal law in force in the US, the marriage act that defended marriage, DOMA, which failed to include a same sex partner in its definition of the term ‘spouse’ (Leonard, 2013). She decided to file a suit in court challenging the constitutionality of the federal law provision after agreeing to pay the taxes. Both the US Courts of Appeal and the US District Court delivered a ruling that the provision in the statute law was not constitutional and as such ordered the State of New York to issue a refund for the sum paid by Windsor in taxes for her property (Boies & Olson, 2008). The Supreme Court, in a similar case pitting the Governor of Utah and the Salt Lake City Clerk, in their capacities against Derek Kitchen, Kate Call, Kody Partridge, Moudi Sbeity, Laurie Wood and Karen Archer, did not uphold the decision by the state of Utah to ban marriages by same sex couples in 2004. The plaintiffs complained of abuse of their rights by the state of Utah, since it failed to recognize such marriages and accord them the recognition accorded to marriages between heterosexual partners (Engdahl, 2009). One of the reasons given by the Supreme Court to justify their decision in the appeal was that the provision of that federal law encouraged the curtailment of the right of all American citizens to marry any person of their choice (Leonard, 2013). Further, it would deny this section of the population their right to establish a family as they may will, raise their children as well as enjoy the unconditional protection offered by the laws of the State concerning marriages (Fredericks, 2009). Justice Kennedy posited that the Fourteenth Amendment in the US Constitution protected these rights. It has always been a

Apple and Child Labor Essay Example for Free

Apple and Child Labor Essay Children and teenagers everyday are put into child labor, to make money for their families or pay back what their families borrowed. In this paper I will examine child labor around the world and why children need to be able to live without being put under such stress and poor living circumstances. I will also be talking about how child labor is involved in some electronic companies like Samsung and Foxconn. Lastly, I will be talking about what most people don’t know; within the last couple years the world’s most known electronic company; Apple, Inc. has been one of the guiltiest culprits of child labor and of poisoning their employee’s. Child labor is known all over the world, and we need to put a stop to it now! Although child labor is illegal in many countries, many children under the age of twelve still are employed in these harsh work forces. Many under age employees are employed by using a fake identification (Thompson). By using a fake identification, children or teenagers can be mistaken for an adult. If the employer says or provides an identification that shows he is age eligible and they accept him for the job, no one would know any different. It is not in the hands of the hiring company to know that the employer is using a fake identification. Children and teenagers are not getting fake identifications and working in these factories for no reason. They are to pay back the money that their family has borrowed from others, or the lack of ability to get an education. Child labor could be caused by problems in the family, with health, or lack of food, money, or water. Multiple governments around the world look the other way. Child labor is illegal but some governments do not punish the companies or groups that use child labor. Child labor is very cruel to the children. Governments and rulers around the world insist that if adults of a family borrow money, the family has to pay it back no matter what, even if it means selling their crops for money or putting their children into the work force. Due to the fact that children and teenagers are working at such a young age, the children are committing suicide and other self-harms. This should not be happening; young adults committing suicide because they are so stressed or they do not want to work at these companies but also because they are being accused of stealing products. For example, one of Apple’s suppliers, Foxconn, accused one of their employees of stealing an iPhone prototype. The employee would not dare to steal an iPhone and would not have done such a thing to get himself in trouble. The possibilities of his pay being withheld and being physically punished was very high for the employee. As a result he killed himself; he did not want to be under the large amount of stress added to the amount that he already had (Usher). This occurs in a lot of work forces, where the employees get so stressed and out of control that they cannot bare to live anymore; it happens especially in electronic factories in Asia. Many people think of child labor being associated with clothing, furniture, or toys, but in reality it’s not. Child labor is known in every industry. One industry that we all use is the electronic industry. Child labor is used in the electronic industry in a big way, not as much as clothing or furniture, but close to it. The Apple IPAD tablet you are holding in your hand, the Apple T.V media portal you are watching shows off of each night, the Apple Iphone you just used to call or text your friend, are all made with the help of child labour. Apple’s major provider Foxconn, has been proven to have employees under the age of Twelve (Usher). Foxconn’s manufacturing plants in Asia have admitted to having child employees that have been poisoned, and some have committed suicide (Usher). This is a situation Apple has a difficult time controlling. The use of child labor in the electronic industry should not be happening at all. It should not be happening in any industry period. Child Labour has been used to try and sabotage the success of certain companies. Samsung was accused of having workers under the age of twelve working in their factories [Thompson]. Samsung has denied the fact that they have underage workers. The rumor was created by RIM (Blackberry) to sabotage Samsung and gain an advantage in the marketplace. Samsung does not have employees under the age of twelve working for them. The name Steve Jobs brings so many amazing thoughts into your head, how he was the co-founder of the largest high tech companies in the wold, the go to guy and CEO of Apple, a multi-billionaire, and philanthropist (In Your Face Radio). Steve Jobs was an amazing man, but in realty he was just like a lot of other top executives, which get carried away with their money and make some bad decisions (In Your Face Radio). Many people think that Jobs was the one who started exploiting children in the business. It was said that Steve Jobs that created the child labor issues in the business because he lost focus and innovation in what he was doing, lost control of his factories and caused such a dilemma in the industry that almost broke the company’s reputation. (Does Steve). Apple’s factory, Foxconn, has been caught with having 164 children in total working in many different factories around the world. (Clarke and Williams). Foxconn has been caught poisoning their employees with n-hexane, and have also been caught for abusing their workers. Tim Costello led a study in Taiwan, and went into to Foxconn and created a report based on the workers lives in Foxconn. The study showed that the company was abusing their employees by â€Å"corporal violence† (Myslewski). Now this is in Foxconn’s factories where they make the parts for the Apple devices. Foxconn has fully admitted to all of the above. The major part of Apple’s manufacturing that is using child labor is Foxconn. As I said earlier Foxconn is the company with over 164 children working in its factory, they have been caught abusing and poisoning their employees. Foxconn is relied upon a lot by Apple. By being caught employing children to manufacture components, has caused an upset within Apple, and the ability to reply on Foxconn has come into question. Apple is an amazing company; however we need to know more about what goes on behind the closed doors within their manufacturing plants and their manufacturing partners facilities. In my opinion Apple is guilty in this situation of child labor. Personally I will continue to use Apple’s products because I believe Foxconn needs to organize their company and other factories that Apple is associated with or Apple needs to find another supplier. In order to fix the crisis of child labor I think that there should be a worldwide legal age to work and which each government must implement. This will decrease the young aged employees that work in countries like India, China, Japan, Pakistan, and many more. Due to there being no worldwide legal working age, problems like child labor occur. Child labor needs to stop, and companies like Apple can lead the way to change just like they have led the way in technology.

A Political Economic Social Technology Analysis Of Malaysia Tourism Essay

A Political Economic Social Technology Analysis Of Malaysia Tourism Essay 0.0 Introduction Nowadays international business is a vital aim for every firm despite small firm or large firm and they are moving toward to international business for the sake of foreseeable future of their business. Besides, international business is known to be business dealings crossing national borders at any stage of the transaction which included trading such as import and export activities that carry out by the small and large firm from domestic to international market across the world (King, 2008; Aneff, 2010). Moreover, at present, international business can be acknowledged as global business whereby the firms have to adapt their businesses to the outside world in different markets that the firms seek and approach to and deal with many different cultures that concern in every country (Nakate, 2010; King, 2008). With the changing liberalization strategy in the whole world, a lot of firms are gaining benefits from international trade and investments. On top of that, an agreement of GATT (Gen eral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) was introduced to get control over the rate charges of the tariff and trade barriers (Geneva, 1986). In contrast, after the formation of GATT, in year 1995 followed by the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Besides, there are 2 important forces that drive a business to international business which are the technological development and the disappearance of a substantial part of the communist world (Lausanne, n.d.). Shangri-la Asia Limited is a company with the principle activity of investment holding which focusing on the business and operation of hotels as one with associated real estate properties with providing hotel management or related services (Bloomberg, 2009; Shangri-La Asia Limited, 2009). The company mainly focuses in operating hotels and leasing spaces for commercial and residential. Shangri-la was incorporated in Bermuda and its main headquarters is located in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong. Furthermore, Shangri-la Asia Limited was founded in year 1971 and until now, Shangri-la has been in operating in the industry for 39 years and operates its hotels in the company of Shangri-La, Rasa, Trader, Summer Palace, and Shang Palace. Moreover, the group managed 65 hotels at the end of 2009 with 47 hotels invested as the equity which managed by its subsidiaries. Besides, as of year 2009, Shangri-La hotel employs approximately 260,000 employees in the Asia countries (Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, 2 010). 1.0 Macro Environment 1.1 Political Environment In China, the government attaches great importance to the tertiary industry in their country and there was positive government policies advance tourism in order to build tertiary industry to be one of their pillar industries (Lew, Yu, Ap, Zhang, 2003). Besides, the hotel and tourism industry in China had rapidity raise after the entry of World Trade Organization (WTO) to the domestic market in China. As according to the announcement from China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), with the entry of WTO in China, it brings the foreign international hotel industry to invest and set up hotel in China and the government of China approved the application of setting up wholly foreign-owned travel agencies in China thus, demand for hotel industry boosted up (Xinhua, 2004). Moreover, base on the Chinese governments policy of long term goal, the inbound tourist arrivals to China will achieve 210 million by the year of 2020 in which this would benefit the hotel and tourism industry in China to gain more profit on the tourist visit. For instance, base on the information published by the Shanghai Tourism Commission (STC) in China, the entry of foreign travel companies would help to stimulate and rise of the business of the local tourism industry in the case of SARS that happened seriously in China in 2003 (China Daily, 2004). On the other hand, the political issue would be on political tension between Taiwan and Mainland China and these threats would be considered as the unforeseen event that the hotel developer and investor will take into account (Guo, et.al., 2004). 1.2 Economical Environment In 1992, China expanded its economic reform along with the open door policy, consequently bring benefits to the business activities and international tourist arrivals to China continued to increase and thus hotel investment is stimulated. In contrary, China government also ensured that overseas hotel do not dominate the market in which the action taken is to prevent the rise of competitiveness between local companies and foreign companies in the benefit of their professionalism, experience and resource advantages. Thus, to avoid economic leakage, Chinese government had implemented the policy of encouraging Chinese Hotels to establish in the country itself and also in foreign countries for Chinese to use with the association between Chinese Airlines and Hotels industry in order to retain the money from outflow to other countries (Zhang, Pine and Lam, 2005). Moreover, Chinas sound economic growth stimulates the Hotel and tourism industry. As mentioned above about the openness to outsid e world had helped economy grow rapidly. The GDP of China in 2009 was RMB 33, 535.3 billion where RMB 14, 291.8 billion contributed by the tertiary industries with the growth rate of 8.9 compares with the previous year (Chinability, 2009). An impressive economy growth will generate enhancement in infrastructure for hotel development, however, the sustainability of the economic boom are concern in the problem of bad-loan that commonly faced by state-owned banks. To overcome this problem, government needs to counter a soft landing for the rapid growing economy otherwise an unexpected of potential economic slowdown would occur and certainly bring some negative effects to the hotel industries in the country (Yu and Gu, 2005). 1.3 Social Environment Social environment concern is an important issue for the business developer and investor in China as Chinese used to practice the relationship and network of Guan Xi in their daily life which including during the business dealing process. In fact, Guan xi can be an influential practice compare with the Western-based business practice which westerners or foreign investors are not eligible to gain interest on this practice as such practice would be commonly focus on the motive of profit. Thus, foreign companies need to corporate with the local Chinese companies as partner in order to enjoy the privilege with the support of Chinese partner to avoid some existing and future legal control and international trade rules. For instance, the foreign owner of the properties must depend on the local labor and partner in turn to get the reliable power supply and water supply (Zhang, Pine and Lam, 2005). On the other hand, hotel industries benefit from holiday and vacation when residents take holi days and this would lead to higher demand on the tourism and hotel industry in which the people shifting their lifestyle and get off from work with take effect on the domestic consumption. For example, in China, the government had intentionally increased the public holidays where made 3 weeks long holiday per year such as each during the Spring Festival, May Day Festival and the National Day holiday (Lew, Yu, Ap and Zhang, 2003). 1.4 Technology Environmental Generally, a good quality service to customer is the most important factor that makes the hotel to be more outstanding than others and to get more attraction from customer therefore this would influence the guests to make decision on the selection of which hotel is the most worthy and preferable to consume with the most satisfaction among those entire hotels that available in the area. Besides, with the acknowledgement of gaining better profit margins and financial returns, the hotel industries in China emphasis on the implementation of IT facilities in order to improve with efficiency daily operation and meanwhile to obtain benefits such as operational cost reduction and enhancement of service quality deliver to customer (Law, Giri and Michigan, 2005). In fact, in Hong Kong, China, the use of IT to conduct daily operation is generally practicing by the hotel industries in country since year 1997 (Law and Au, 1998). Besides, in China, the adoption of Computer Reservation System (CRS) and hotel Property Management System (PMS) which utilize by hotel that ranked 3 stars and above was introduced to bring the companies into the market and to improve the interconnectivity by promoting about destination, information about their company and additionally assist on the efficiency and accuracy of internal information transmission and effectiveness of management. Meanwhile, the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) within the hotel industries in China which focused on the front office functions such as reception, reservation, catering, marketing, customer relationship management and others had brought benefit to the operation of the industry (Ma, Buhalis and Song, 2003). 2.0 The International Consideration 2.1 Operation Shangri-La Hotel and Resort operated almost in all over the place in the world where headquarter is in Hong Kong. Shangri-La Hotel and Resort is a well known brand which the brand name is so recognizable and respected by the people around the world. Besides, the groups main activities are emphasis on the ownership, operation and management of the hotels. At present, the group holds and operates 68 hotels under the trademark of Shangri-La, Trader brands, Rasa, Summer Palace, and Shang Palace in different countries with a room inventory of over 30, 000 in which operation carry out among Asia in current year which included of China, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Republic of Maldives, Philippines and Myanmar. Furthermore, the company had expanded their company to Middle East countries such as Sultanate of Oman and United Arab Emirates; Europe country in France; North America country in Canada; Oceana countries in Austria and Fuji Island. In addition, in year ended 2009 the company had equity interests in 49 operating hotels containing 24,432 of guest rooms (Golden Circle, 2010) Moreover, the company will develop and build up 29 more hotels in various countries in which project development of 1 hotel in Paris in 2010, 11 hotels will be establish in China, India, Singapore, Macau, Qatar, Austria in 2011, 9 hotels in China, India, Mongolia, United Kingdom, Turkey and Canada in 2012 and nevertheless 7 hotels in China and Russia in 2013 and 1 hotel in Philippine in 2014 (Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, 2010) 2.2 The PEST in Malaysia 2.2.1 Social and Culture Environmental Commonly, Malaysia is known as an Islamic country therefore certainly Malaysia is involving in the Halal food industry and Malaysia is the major exporter of halal product to Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) countries such as AEAN and Middle Eastern markets in 2008. Malaysia has made an integrated long term plan to develop the halal industry which including the goods and services related sectors namely, meat and meat-based product, processed food, cosmetic and personal care products and pharmaceutical products (Sadek, 2010). Thus, the halal certification would be the main requirement for the tertiary industries in Malaysia that needed conforming to it especially on the food and beverage which play an important role in overall satisfaction level such as halal dining is a necessity for Muslims. In fact, according to Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM), the statistic shows that out of 991 hotels in Malaysia, there are only 10.19% of the hotels which amount to 101 h otels that certified with Halal logo (Zailani, Fernando and Mohamed, 2010). Besides, to set up businesses in Malaysia require some general needs of its local market segment included religious and cultural practices such as to being halal conscious through implementation of crescent rating which this system is require under the traditional Muslim rules to the examine the halal friendliness of facilities and services in hotel industries in Muslim country (Fazal, 2009) For instance, Awana Spa Island Resort in Langkawi crescent rated at category 5 which indicate that the hotel accommodate some specific Muslim needs and Shangri-Las Rasa Sayang Resort Spa in Penang rated at category 3 (Crescent Rating, 2010). Moreover, regarding the culture in Malaysia, the main facilities of prayer room or Surau is important for Muslims as they required praying 5 times daily due to the ease of travel from current location to mosque. Besides, the culture in the aspect of employee working hour, there are slightly different if compare with oversea working time as for Muslims every Friday afternoon is the weekly prayer time thus Muslim employee need to leave their work place at this time (Usama, 2007). Moreover, festival holiday is a main issue that need to concern in Malaysia as Malaysia has much festival to celebrate such as Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Chinese New Year and others therefore public holiday would interrupt the operation performance of the company where by employee off from work on the particular day. (Zailani, Omoar and Kopong, 2010) 2.2.2 Political and Legal Environment in Malaysia According to the A.M. Best country risk report, Malaysia has a moderate level of political risk which categorized as CRT-3 which indicate that Malaysia is a developing country that having a developing legal environment, legal system and business environment (A.M. Best, 2010). Generally, political risk comprises the stability of the government and society in a country and here the political environment would be first concentrate on the change of government and key leader in Malaysia. Up to date in 2010 political position in Malaysia involves two separate downside risks which happened 2 years back in 2008; the political power was changed due to the general election and the result was the National Front which had ruled Malaysia for 52 years had lose control and defeated by opposition (Marshall, 2009; Stamer, 2010). Then again, according to the executive summary by Political Economic Risk Consultancy, the political issue that foreign investors concern is about the hesitation on how good the opposition parties perform after they gained the political authority as a Malaysia government in handling some problem such as poor policies and others. Additionally, as a result of some political accusation, the case of Anwar on sodomy gave a flashpoint on the political stability condition. Due to the changes in the government authority, the political stability in Malaysia is affected much over these years and would bring further damage to investment in the country if the trend maintains (Marshall, 2009; Political Economic Risk Consultancy, 2010). 2.3 Internationalization Method The internationalization process is a very important process for a company that plan to expand their business outside their domestic base market by adopting several internationalization methods. In Shangri-La, the internationalization method that the group adopting is more on equity based method on foreign direct investment. The Group is using its equity assets in the expansion of their company throughout the world and for another purpose of project development in new countries. Moreover, investment into a company is the competitive advantage of this company. Additionally, the Group is adopting 2 main internalization methods on its subsidiaries which through merger, acquisition and alliances. According to the financial report of Shangri-La in Malaysia, the subsidiaries are consolidated by using the purchase method of accounting in which the Group has the ability to exercise the power in the subsidiaries in order to manage the financial and operating policies of an entity as to attain benefits from their daily activities (Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, 2010). Alternatively, some subsidiaries are consolidating by adopting merger method for example, UBN holding Sdn Bhd which happened on 1st of January 2006. As for the associate methodology, the Group has major influence but not control over the financial and operating policies. The hotel properties located in Malaysia at 31 December 2009 included Rasa Sayang Resort Spa, Traders Hotel, Golden Sands Resort, Palm Beach Resort in Penang, Shangri-La Hotel in Kuala Lumpur and Rasa Ria Resort in Sabah. (Shangri-La Malaysia, 2008) 2.4 Problem and Solution The problem that the company confronts would be on the aspect of the culture differences between the origin country and the other country for example Malaysia. Cultural differences of international hotel groups would influence the operation of the company and also the efficiency of their human resource in the company. Besides, condition of cultural differences dilemma would also harm the company from gaining better return in either investment nor operating profit which due to the competition among the hotel industries in the specific country. Thus, to overcome these cultural dilemmas, some solution on these problems needed to be implementing in order to resolve the problem to prevent any operation failure. The solution proposed would be through adoption of cross cultural strategies. According to Master and Prideaux, culture can be distinguished into 2 views that represent an ideological perspective including beliefs, norm, value and customs. Next, would represent the material element which including of the dining etiquette, where to buy and where to travel. (Prideaux, Moscardo and Laws, 2006) As mentioned above, the main cultural problems that face in Malaysia is about the Halal certification and also the employee culture problem. Therefore, from the cross cultural management approaches, it must emphasis on the staff inspiration and motivation method and improvement on product and service quality in order to satisfy customers demands. Firstly, company should implement the strategy of cross cultural empathy through training and education that enables the staffs in the group from origin country to let them to be more considerate to accept other people cultures in Malaysia as well as the staffs in the company itself. This would help to solve any conflict rises conc erning to the culture misunderstanding among three major races employees of Malaysian and between the headquarter staffs rather than behave stubbornly on their own local culture perspective. Besides, in order to solve the cultural diversity problem in the case of halal certification, the company needs to employ the strategy of cross cultural through special design and marketing of hotel products and services. There are a lot of customers come from different religions and backgrounds, thus customers have different needs on the services and products. By using this strategy, the company is able to improve the degree of customers satisfaction whereby the products and services is specially designed for the purpose of tailor-made to adapt to different need of the customers. For instance, Muslims in Malaysia require some halal facilities and also on the foodstuff, as a result the hotel must pay close attention on serving the proper food at the table and also the facilities of prayer room in their hotel to allow Muslim to conduct prayer during the time that they are in the hotel area. 3.0 The Growth of Business Shangri-la has a well operational performance which its operations contribute the main source of revenue and operating profit for the Group. Besides, the concentration of the growth in the luxury hotel market in Asia would particularly focus on China. Thus, the group is continued to plan out the strategies of setting up new hotel across the world. According to the financial report in 2009, a total of 7 hotels opened for business during the year and 4 hotel being subsidiaries of the group. During these years, Shangri la is adopting the market development strategies which the group is targeting new markets or new areas in different countries. For example, in 2011, the group will conduct foreign direct investment of 29 hotels in other countries such Qatar, Austria and others. Besides, the implementation of product development strategy in the group develops their services and quality to gain higher level satisfaction from customers through training of employees to deliver better services to customer. For instance, the networking of the Shangri-la throughout the international subsidiaries had improved through communication and result in the integration with its international counterparts by applying uniform standards for inbound and outbound logistics and this give rise to higher level of efficiency in the operation, sales and marketing. Consequently, Shangri-La had gained positive reviews and reputation from regulatory bodies and this benefit the company to connect into all revenue-generating marketing channels (Shangri-La Asia Limited, 2009; Chitika 2009). As for the future direction of growth, according to Ansoffs Product-Market Matrix, the product development strategy should highlight in the company. The reason is that it is important to have possession of distinctive advantage over its competitor by reason of keen competition existed among the local and other international hotel industries in the market. Besides, hotel industry is leisure and tourism destination places, customers are the main earnings sources from the hotel operations, it seem to be not enough to have similar existing facilities promoted in the hotel to attract customers. Thus, an innovation technique is required to improve the product and services in the hotel in order to maintain an advantage over competitors meanwhile to attract more customers. By examining through proactive development strategy to develop the product base on the anticipation of the evolution of customers needs; or through the adaption of reactive development strategy whereby the product is devel op in order to deal with the customer needs. Besides, as a result of adapting product development matrix, the company is able to develop and launch new product or services where the products or services are presently not being offered by any other competitors however it able to keep the existing market and nevertheless attract more new customers. For instance, product development strategy including offering high-level service to the customers through providing some specialty facilities such as promotion on the discount offer to their customer base on an alliance with the air companies and provide free shuttle for the customer to take them from airport to the hotel. Thus, Shangri-La hotel must provide services that other competitors do not offer and the most importantly, making the customer feel at home and even better than that. 4.0 New Venture The new venture of Shangri-la hotel would using the foreign direct investment method which the company will expand and build up hotel under equity base method in the chosen country, Kingdom of Heaven, Bhutan. While Shangri-La investing in Bhutan, the group will suggested to conduct joint venture with the local partner such as the tourism agencies to increase the inflow of the tourist to the hotel and other share value-added joint venture, for instance, merge with the local hotel industry where the hotel contribute the same function and this will reduce the competition among the similar industry and nevertheless increase economies of scale. As Shangri-La is moving into the new market and segment, it is necessary to understand what strength determines the profit of their industry. Thus, Porters Five Forces analysis would be taken to identify all the threat in hotel industries in Bhutan. Firstly, the threat of supplier power in the market will take into concern. The supplier power in ho tel industry would be the availability of skill of the employees that provide services to customers due to tertiary industry is totally focused in services. Thus, Shangri-La need to provide a high level of training program to ensure the employees are able to carry out best service to their customers. This is because employees can influence the profitability and the attractiveness of the hotel itself. Besides, supplier power can be the organization that control and provide the food and beverage to the hotel industry in the country. In this case, there are plenty of suppliers in Bhutan which mainly working on supplying of the food for local distribution whereby they import all the food stuff items, such as the company of Dollay Food Product, Sharyang Enterprise, Sonam Choki Enterprise and many others suppliers (Cheaponsale, 2010). So supplier power force is considered weak to the company. Secondly, would be the buyer power. This force reflects the strength of bargaining power from the customers which concerning the level of quality served and price rate of the hotel. Commonly, from the behavior of the customers, customers seek for best quality with lesser price of hotel, solution for this problem would be the hotel management should make some adjustment to its strategies in order to meet the demand of the customers to avoid switching among the hotels in the market, if the switching problem happen then the buyer power is high which will bring disadvantage to the company. Thirdly, competitive rivalry is also a serious force that the company has to concern on it. This force would focus on the number of the competitors in the same industry in Bhutan. In Bhutan, there are hotels that available in the specific geographic areas. For instance, According to The Hotel Association of Bhutan (HAB), Bhutan is divided in 20 administrative districts and there are 121 hotels in the country and exactly with 34 hotels with 3 stars and above are available in the certain districts in Bumthang, Trongsa, Punakha, Thimphu, Wangdue Phodrang and Paro; the rest are ranked as 2 stars and below (Tourism Council of Bhutan, 2010; Cabinet Secretariat, 2010). Thus, competitive rivalry in hotel industry is quite high due to the number of competitors offering in the market and the company should adapt specific strategy to overcome the problem such as create differentiation on the product and services in order to differentiate themselves from the competitors. Due to the problem faced by the competitive rivalry, the threat of substitution which examine on the similar product and services is high in the hotel industry because there are a 121 hotels accessible in the Bhutan and enable the customers to have alternative choices on what hotel that they prefer to select. Thus, better marketing strategy is needed for the company to deal with the substitution problem such as changes in technology and services in the hotel could bring some advantage like good reputation for the hotel to compete with its rivals. Lastly, threat of new entry is high in the hotel industry in Bhutan as Hotel Association of Bhutan (HAB) reported that there 46 new hotels will open up in the country. However, the Bhutan government had approved 100 percent of foreign direct investment to build 5-star hotels and 70percent of foreign direct investment for 4-stars hotels in Bhutan in early 2010 (Dawa, 2010; Dahal, 2009). In this case, Shangri-La has the total advantage of investing and setting up hotel in Bhutan as Shangri-La is ranked as 5-star hotel. Besides, the structural expansion of the hotel in Bhutan would be difficult because most hotels was in debt due to the financial institution had stopped giving loan for hotel construction. This is because of governments policy on the existing hotels that they are required to upgrade their hotels within 2 years time in order to provide better service to customers with the help of government by providing incentives of tax breaks for up to 10 years to make the upgrading pos sible (Cabinet Secretariat, 2010; Dawa, 2010). Hence, with good reputation and its 5-Stars ranked hotel, Shangri-La has gained the advantage to compete with the hotels in Bhutan. Thus, Shangri-La needs to come out with some new plan to sustain its market position. 5.0 Conclusion In summary, various analyses needed to be considered and examined in the progress of business expansion to the international market. Going international not only mean to explore the new market abroad but it also enable the company to have better understanding on the expansion strategies that needed to adopt in turn to deal with the dilemma that occurred in the international market. Besides, international business can promote faster growth in the country economy due to the entry of foreign direct investment in the country which stimulate the domestic competition in the market and in effect would encourage improvement in the service and product of the company, besides it would help the employment rate of the country as well. Moreover, in order to go for international business, the particular companies need to ensure that the correct strategies are adopted. With the assist of PEST in the expansion of macro environment in a market, the company, and here would be Shangri-La can easily gai n the information of the specific market and taking the next step to invest into the market. Besides, by examining the international consideration, it gives clearer picture on what the company doing in the existing market and how the company give solution against the problem that they faced and yet understand how they enter an international market such as foreign direct investment which adopted by Shangri-La hotel into various countries. Other than that, by using the Ansoffs product-market matrix, it enables the company to make good use of the strategies in order to have a better strategic planning in the expansion of the businesses such as to study on the direction of growth of Shangri-La Company. Lastly, with the analysis of Porters Five Forces, it helps the company to understand the strength and the threat of the market when the foreign company planning to invest into the country. By having all these strategies, the company can have the advantage to globalize and to compete again st the competitors that existed in the market in order to offer better products and services nevertheless gain more profit and attract more customers. In conclusion, all these strategies would benefit and success the companies in doing international business.

Designing a 1MW Solar Power Plant

Designing a 1MW Solar Power Plant Introduction CE 1.1 Turn the air con on, its 45 degrees Celsius already, said my mum. The weariness of stifling heat with the tops of dry 45 degrees Celsius radiated in her tone. But there was no electricity for the past 9 hours. Wretched in the state of disbelief, I realized the painful dilemma of Electricity load shedding was worsening day by day. Thats when I thought to channelize my engineering skills to overcome this issue. And it was back then in 7th Semester of my Bachelors of Mechanical Engineering (University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore) in 2012, I planned to use the scorching heat to produce electricity and design an alternative for the conventional method. I later pitched this idea to my professors who took me under their wings and mentored me to design and present it as a final year project. I was heading a group of 4 team members. Background CE 1.2 During my fifth semester in the university I studied a subject related to renewable energy resources and it fascinated me big time. Most of these resources are environmentally friendly and they would be here to serve us even when the other traditional energy resources would be depleted. Especially in country like Pakistan, its the need of hour to explore the renewable resources. Despite having the potential, Pakistan is energy deficient. I decided to work on renewable energy resources during my final year project in an attempt to help the country with potential ways to produce energy. Nature of project CE 1.3 The nature of the project was to study the renewable resources currently deployed in the country and the scope of sustainable energy in the country. Particularly, Concentrated Solar Power was the main focus of the project including development of concentrated solar thermal power by using Parabolic Trough Technology. Objective of the Project CE 1.4 The objective of the project was to design 1MW solar power plant using parabolic trough technology and help Pakistan to overcome energy crisis by using the economical energy resources. Nature of My Particular work area CE 1.5 Being the leader of the group, I had to perform many duties. Some of them are listed below: Assigning tasks to team members Keep track of the work done by group members Arrange meetings between group members and supervisor Selection of technology for solar power Design calculations Report writing CE 1.6 Organizational structure Personal Engineering Activity CE 1.7 After being selected as leader it was my responsibility to start the project right away. So that it could be finished on time. I divided the project into different parts and assigned each part to different member of the group. I had to perform the design calculations and report writing. Other two members had to do literature review, select a storage system and provide conclusion and recommendations. CE 1.8 To control the overall project it was required to set target dates for each activity, I used Microsoft project to help me in project planning. While assigning the tasks to the members, I also made sure to give them a particular time period to finish each task. After assigning the tasks I kept track of their performances by conducting frequent meetings. If someone was lagging behind, I made sure to help him finish the task within advised time. It helped me a lot to finish the project efficiently before the due date. CE 1.9 I had to keep the supervisor aware of the progress of project. During the project I had many meetings with the supervisor for the consultation and as well as to report the progress of team members and myself. I had to keep record of all the activities from start of the project till the end and present them to the supervisor from time to time to see whether we were on track or not. CE 1.10 Basically solar power can be used in two different ways to produce the energy; Concentrating solar power and Photovoltaic. I had to decide which technology we were going to use in our project. The reason behind selecting the concentration technology was that the absorbing materials are more expensive than the reflecting materials. In concentration technology a large surface of reflecting material concentrates the solar power on to a smaller absorbing surface of a collector. Second reason was, due to small size of the collector surface the rate of heat loss from the collector would be low and they can be used at an elevated temperature. CE 1.11 After selecting the concentrating solar power as main source, I had to pick one of the man ways to concentrate solar power like Parabolic Trough, Solar power Tower, Dish String, Fresnel reflectors. Keeping the local conditions in Lahore in mind and to get a little flexibility I selected parabolic trough. Local conditions in Lahore are much suitable to produce power using a parabolic trough and it could also be used with constant tracking or seasonally adjusted, depending upon the efficiency needed and finances available. CE 1.12 To begin with the designing, first I had to find the values of enthalpies at different points of the cycle. After that I had to calculate the energy required from concentration and fluid and cooling media flow rates required to produce 1MW electricity. That energy helped me to decide the field requirement and configure solar filed. CE 1.13 On the basis on the environment locally in Lahore, I had to set some input parameters for the design. The solar irradiation in Lahore was enough to produce the required input temperature and on the base of temperature the value of operating pressure was fixed. Parameters I used, are given below: Power Output at Turbine Shaft Steam Pressure to Inlet of Turbine Steam Pressure at the outlet of Turbine Steam Temperature to Inlet of Turbine Specific heat capacity water CE 1.14 In designing different assumptions were made on the basis of literature review. Assumptions used in calculations are given below Steam Generator Efficiency = 85 Isentropic Efficiency of Turbine Isentropic Efficiency of Pump Reflectors Absorbers Combined Efficiency Land Usage Factor Condenser Water Temperature Difference Solar Insulation CE 1.15 After setting all the parameters and assumptions I did Enthalpy Calculations. The Rankine cycle and line diagram of such a system are shown below Figure 1: Real Rankine cycle (non-ideal) The real life Rankine cycle is composed of 6 processes as shown above in figure 1. Stage 1-2, boiler increases the fluid temperature and pressure to convert it to a point where the addition of latent heat will lead to the conversion of liquid into wet steam, as shown from point 2-3; Stage 3-4 leads to a pressure increase to convert the wet liquid into superheated steam. After the work done by the steam, stage 5-6, the losses in pressure and temperature due to turbine work leading to the next stage where condensation occurs. The working fluid is heated a bit to improve the efficiency of the system and the cycle is repeated again. The process is illustrated in figure 1. The figure 2 shows all these processes in a parabolic trough system. From stage 1-2, concentrated solar energy increases the fluid temperature and pressure. Stage 2-3 converts this fluid into wet steam, using solar energy. During stage 3-4, further addition of energy converts the liquid into superheated steam. Pressurized superheated steam expands in a steam turbine which operates a generator to produce electricity. In the last stage, this low pressure and temperature steam, eventually, condenses into fluid again. Figure 2: Parabolic Trough System The values of enthalpies and entropies at different temperatures and pressures, at different points in Rankine cycle, were taken from the steam table. The enthalpy of steam at the inlet of steam turbine (h4) at the pressure and temperature values of So The entropy of steam at the inlet of steam turbine (S4) at the pressure and temperature values of So Because the ideal expansion in the steam turbine was Isentropic So The entropy of the steam at the exit of steam turbine can be determined from the formula Where The entropies of steam at the exit of steam turbine (SE) at the pressure value of So, by using above given formula, the valve of dryness fraction was To find the enthalpy of steam at the exit of steam turbine (Ideal), following equation was used = The enthalpies of steam at the exit of steam turbine (SE) at the pressure value of Then The isentropic efficiency of the steam turbine was given by the following relation Using equation The actual dryness fraction now can be calculated from the following relation = So The enthalpy of steam after the condenser at the stage 6 was given by V1 is the specific volume of the saturated liquid taken from the steam table at P5 The work of pump was calculated using the formula The enthalpy of liquid at the outlet of pump i.e. at stage 1 was given as So The isentropic efficiency of the pump was given by the following relation Using above equation, the actual value of enthalpy can be calculated So CE 1.16 Using the enthalpies calculated in the earlier step, I calculated the steam flow rate. The energy required to convert the saturated liquid from point 1 into superheated steam to point 4 is given by The work output/kg of steam flow of the turbine was given by The power output at the outlet of turbine was obtained by dividing the system output by generator efficiency so it was given by This output was equal to turbine work output/kg of steam flow multiplied by its flow rate so given by the following formula CE 1.17 Steam flow rate was used to calculate the condenser water flow rate. The heat rejected by the water in the condenser/kg of water flow was calculated as: If the temperature differential of inlet and outlet of condenser is then So, the total energy that we require from solar concentration to generate 1MW electricity was calculated by This is the amount of energy we have to produce from the concentration of solar irradiance using solar field consists of reflectors and receivers. CE 1.18 After calculating the energy required from solar concentration, I used that energy to calculate the size of filed required. I already had the assumed values of solar insulation G and combined efficiency of absorber and reflectors. Reflector area was calculated using following formula Where is the reflector area in m2 So Taking into account the land usage factor Lu=60% So CE 1.19 In the last step I calculated the overall efficiency of the plant by taking ratio of power output to power input. Where So the overall efficiency comes out to be CE 1.20 In safety talks I cautioned my team members to be careful around the hot surfaces. I placed the warning signs near high temperature and high pressure points.I advised my group members to protect their skin by covering it or by using sunscreen, while working outside, so that they could avoid sunburns. Due to these precautions, project was completed without any personal injuries. Summary CE 1.21 After all the hard yards of 6 months, I was able to present my design of 1 MW power plant run by solar power aimed to reduce energy deficiency. I presented it as my final year project (combined power point presentation + project report) in front of project supervisor, chairman of mechanical engineering department and an external examiner. It was a stepping stone in power industry in Pakistan. 1 MW power plant can produced sufficient energy to cater for the normal operation of the community households. Moreover, the innovation could not only reduce the global carbon foot print but it could also shift the reliance from already depleting traditional fossil fuel resources. This project helped to understand that its need of the day to switch our focus to renewable energy resources to cope with energy deficiency, more local councils are now encouraging to switch to micro energy renewable resources and design such plants. In the end, I would like to say that it was a great honor for me to see people getting inspiration from my work and using the renewable energy to fix the biggest problem of the country.

Installation Guide :: essays research papers

1 This product can be set up using an any y curr curren en ent t web br browser owser owser, , i.e e., ., Internet Explorer 6 or Netscape Navigator 6.2.3. DI-524 Air AirPlus Plus G 802.11g/2.4GHz Wireless Router 5V DC Power Adapter  ©2003 D-Link Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Software and specifications subject to change without notice. DI-524. 11142003 Before You Begin 1. If you purchased this router to share your high-speed Internet connection with other computers, you must have either an Ethernet-based Cable or DSL modem with an established Internet account from an Internet Service Provider (ISP). 2. It’s best to use the same computer that is connected to your modem for configuring the DI-524 AirPlus G Wireless Router. The DI-524 acts as a DHCP server and will assign all the necessary IP address information on your network. See Appendix at the end of this Quick Installation Guide or the Manual on the CD-ROM for setting each network adapter to automatically obtain an IP address. Check Your Package Contents DI-524 AirPlus G 802.11g/2.4GHz Wireless Router CD-ROM (containing Manual and Warranty) Ethernet (CAT5 UTP/Straight Through) Cable Using a power supply with a different voltage rating will damage and void the warranty of this product. If any of the above items are missing, please contact your reseller. TM 2 Connecting The DI-524 Wireless Router To Your Network A. Receptor for Power Adapter. Reset Button Pressing this button restores the Router to its original factory default settings. A. First, connect the power adapter to the receptor at the back panel of the DI-524 and then plug the other end of the power adapter to a wall outlet or power strip. The Power LED lights up indicating proper operation. B. 1. Power off your Cable or DSL modem; devices that do not have a on/off switch and will require you to unplug the power adapter. Now, the DI-524 should be powered on and the Cable / DSL modem should be turned off. Cable / DSL modem (Power Off) – DI-524 (Power On) 2. Connect an Ethernet cable to the Ethernet jack located on the Cable / DSL modem. After the Ethernet cable is securely connected, power on the Cable / DSL modem by turning on the unit or plugging in the power adapter. Cable / DSL modem (Power On) – DI-524 (Power On) 3. Insert the other end of the Ethernet cable to the WAN PORT on the back panel of the DI-524. The WAN LED light will illuminate to indicate proper connection. If the WAN LED is not illuminated, please go back to step B1 and repeat the steps. Installation Guide :: essays research papers 1 This product can be set up using an any y curr curren en ent t web br browser owser owser, , i.e e., ., Internet Explorer 6 or Netscape Navigator 6.2.3. DI-524 Air AirPlus Plus G 802.11g/2.4GHz Wireless Router 5V DC Power Adapter  ©2003 D-Link Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Software and specifications subject to change without notice. DI-524. 11142003 Before You Begin 1. If you purchased this router to share your high-speed Internet connection with other computers, you must have either an Ethernet-based Cable or DSL modem with an established Internet account from an Internet Service Provider (ISP). 2. It’s best to use the same computer that is connected to your modem for configuring the DI-524 AirPlus G Wireless Router. The DI-524 acts as a DHCP server and will assign all the necessary IP address information on your network. See Appendix at the end of this Quick Installation Guide or the Manual on the CD-ROM for setting each network adapter to automatically obtain an IP address. Check Your Package Contents DI-524 AirPlus G 802.11g/2.4GHz Wireless Router CD-ROM (containing Manual and Warranty) Ethernet (CAT5 UTP/Straight Through) Cable Using a power supply with a different voltage rating will damage and void the warranty of this product. If any of the above items are missing, please contact your reseller. TM 2 Connecting The DI-524 Wireless Router To Your Network A. Receptor for Power Adapter. Reset Button Pressing this button restores the Router to its original factory default settings. A. First, connect the power adapter to the receptor at the back panel of the DI-524 and then plug the other end of the power adapter to a wall outlet or power strip. The Power LED lights up indicating proper operation. B. 1. Power off your Cable or DSL modem; devices that do not have a on/off switch and will require you to unplug the power adapter. Now, the DI-524 should be powered on and the Cable / DSL modem should be turned off. Cable / DSL modem (Power Off) – DI-524 (Power On) 2. Connect an Ethernet cable to the Ethernet jack located on the Cable / DSL modem. After the Ethernet cable is securely connected, power on the Cable / DSL modem by turning on the unit or plugging in the power adapter. Cable / DSL modem (Power On) – DI-524 (Power On) 3. Insert the other end of the Ethernet cable to the WAN PORT on the back panel of the DI-524. The WAN LED light will illuminate to indicate proper connection. If the WAN LED is not illuminated, please go back to step B1 and repeat the steps.