Solutions to Arundel Partners Case - 1450 Words

solutions to arundel partners case http://www.justanswer.com/law/0vnrc-solutions-arundel-partners-case.html Executive Summary: A group of investors (Arundel group) is looking into the idea of purchasing the sequel rights associated with films produced by one or more major movie studios. Movie rights are to be purchased prior to films being made. Arundel wants to come up with a decision to either purchase all the sequel rights for a studios entire production during a specified period of time or purchase a specified number of major films. Arundels profitability is dependent upon the price it pays for a portfolio of sequel rights. Our analysis of Arundels proposal includes a net present value calculation of each movie production†¦show more content†¦- Only 1 year of historical data is available - We assume that production companies are willing to sell the sequel rights under our terms. - Probabilities of success have been calculated, but we have not been able to apply them to the per film value. In short, it is necessary to be subjective about the risk based on the probabilities of success. MORE INFORMATION: - More historical data would be useful to support our assumptions. - More data on success probabilities may help to direct the course of action - We would also like to have information about the willingness of production companies to sell sequel rights at a pre-negotiated price. Action Plan: Given our analysis of the motion picture industry, we recommend that Arundel carefully select the major film studios from which they intend to purchase sequel rights. The net present value of hypothetical sequels taken from the available previous years shows not only that the industry is highly volatile, but also that certain production studios are more volatile than others in terms of their recent performance. In addition, some studios are consistently less profitable than others. (See NPV for Each Production Company chart in appendix) Since the success of film studios are relatively stable in the short term (see Rental Shares of Major Film Distributors table and graph) Because of this stability, it is possible for Arundel to approach more profitable studios withShow MoreRelatedArundel Partners Case Analysis Essay1441 Words   |  6 Pages----------------------------------- spootyhead Apr 17, 2007 Arundel Partners Case Analysis ----------------------------------- Arundel Partners Case Analysis Executive Summary: A group of investors (Arundel group) is looking into the idea of purchasing the sequel rights associated with films produced by one or more major movie studios. Movie rights are to be purchased prior to films being made. Arundel wants to come up with a decision to either purchase all the sequel rights forRead MoreArundel Partners Case Analysis Essay1499 Words   |  6 PagesArundel Partners Case Analysis Executive Summary: A group of investors (Arundel group) is looking into the idea of purchasing the sequel rights associated with films produced by one or more major movie studios. Movie rights are to be purchased prior to films being made. Arundel wants to come up with a decision to either purchase all the sequel rights for a studios entire production during a specified period of time or purchase a specified number of major films. Arundels profitabilityRead MoreMarketing and E-commerce Business65852 Words   |  264 PagesListing of Chapter Opening Cases, Insight Cases, E-commerce in Action Cases, and Case Studies CHAPTER 1 THE REVOLUTION IS JUST BEGINNING Opening Case: Pinterest: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words Insight on Technology: Will Apps Make the Web Irrelevant? Insight on Business: Start-Up Boot Camp Insight on Society: Facebook and the Age of Privacy Case Study: The Pirate Bay: Searching for a Safe Haven CHAPTER 2 E-COMMERCE BUSINESS MODELS AND CONCEPTS Opening Case: Twitter’s Business Model Read MoreSolutions: Income Statement and Pearson Education121412 Words   |  486 PagesInvestor Behavior and Capital Market Efficiency Capital Structure in a Perfect Market Debt and Taxes Financial Distress, Managerial Incentives, and Information Payout Policy Capital Budgeting and Valuation with Leverage Valuation and Financial Modeling: A Case Study Financial Options Option Valuation Real Options Raising Equity Capital Debt Financing Leasing Working Capital Management Short-Term Financial Planning Mergers and Acquisitions Corporate Governance Risk Management International Corporate Finance

Cultural Ecology Connecting Environment and Humans

In 1962, anthropologist Charles O. Frake defined cultural ecology as the study of the role of culture as a dynamic component of any ecosystem and thats still a fairly accurate definition. Between one-third and one-half of the land surface of the earth has been transformed by human development. Cultural ecology argues that we humans were inextricably embedded in earth surface processes long before the invention of bulldozers and dynamite. Key Takeaways: Cultural Ecology American anthropologist Julian Steward coined the term cultural ecology in the 1950s.  Cultural ecology explains that humans are part of their environment and both affect and are affected by the other.  Modern cultural ecology pulls in elements of historical and political ecology as well as rational choice theory, post-modernism, and cultural materialism. Human impacts and cultural landscape are two contradictory concepts that may help to explain the past and modern flavors of cultural ecology. In the 1970s, concern over human impacts on the environment arose: the roots of the environmental movement. But, that isnt cultural ecology, because it situates humans outside of the environment. Humans are part of the environment, not an outside force making impacts on it. Discussing cultural landscapes—people within their environment—attempts to address the world as a bio-culturally collaborative product. Environmental Social Science Cultural ecology is part of a suite of environmental social science theories that provide anthropologists, archaeologists, geographers, historians, and other scholars a way to think about why it is people do what they do, to structure research and ask good questions of the data. In addition, cultural ecology is part of a theoretical division of the whole study of human ecology, broken into two parts: human biological ecology (how people adapt through biological means) and human cultural ecology (how people adapt through cultural means). Looked at as the study of the interaction between living things and their environment, cultural ecology involves human perceptions of the environment as well as the sometimes unperceived impacts of us on the environment and the environment on us. Cultural ecology is all about humans—what we are and what we do, in the context of being another animal on the planet. Adaptation and Survival One part of cultural ecology with immediate impact is the study of adaptation, how people deal with, affect and are affected by their changing environment. That is vital to our survival on the planet  because it offers understanding and possible solutions to important contemporary problems, like deforestation, loss of species, food scarcity, and soil loss. Learning about how adaptation worked in the past can teach us today as we grapple with the effects of global warming. Human ecologists study how and why cultures do what they do to solve their subsistence problems, how people understand their environment and how they share that knowledge. A side benefit is that cultural ecologists pay attention to and learn from traditional and local knowledge about how we really are part of the environment, whether we pay attention or not. Them and Us The development of cultural ecology as a theory has its start with a scholarly grappling with understanding cultural evolution (now called unilinear cultural evolution and abbreviated as UCE). Western scholars had discovered there were societies on the planet who were less advanced than elite white male scientific societies: how did that come about? UCE, developed in the late 19th century, argued that all cultures, given enough time, went through a linear progression: savagery (loosely defined as hunters and gatherers), barbarism (pastoralists/early farmers), and civilization (identified as a set of characteristics of civilizations such as writing and calendars and metallurgy). As more archaeological research was accomplished, and better dating techniques were developed, it became clear that developing ancient civilizations did not follow neat or regular rules. Some cultures moved back and forth between agricultural and hunting and gathering or, quite commonly, did both at once. Preliterate societies did build calendars of sorts—Stonehenge is the best known but not the oldest by a long way—and some societies such as the Inca developed state-level complexity without writing as we know it. Scholars came to realize that cultural evolution was, in fact, multi-linear, that societies develop and change in many different ways. History of Cultural Ecology That first recognition of the multi-linearity of cultural change led to the first major theory of the interaction between people and their environment: environmental determinism. Environmental determinism said it must be that the local environments in which people live force  them to select methods of food production and societal structures. The problem with that is that environments change constantly, and people make choices on how to adapt based on a wide range of successful and unsuccessful intersections with the environment. Cultural ecology arose primarily through the work of anthropologist Julian Steward, whose work in the American southwest led him to combine four approaches: an explanation of culture in terms of the environment in which it existed; the relationship of culture and environment as an ongoing process; a consideration of small-scale environments, rather than culture-area-sized regions; and the connection of ecology and multi-linear cultural evolution. Steward coined cultural ecology as a term in 1955, to express that (1) cultures in similar environments may have similar adaptations, (2) all adaptations are short-lived and constantly adjust to local conditions, and (3) changes can either elaborate on earlier cultures or result in entirely new ones. Modern Cultural Ecology Modern forms of cultural ecology pull in elements of tested and accepted theories (and some rejected) in the decades between the 1950s and today, including: historical ecology (which discusses the impact of individual interactions of small-scale societies);political ecology (which includes the effects of power relations and conflicts on the household to global scale);rational choice theory (which says that people make decisions about how to achieve their goals);post-modernism (all theories are equally valid and the truth is not readily discernible to subjective western scholars); andcultural materialism (humans respond to practical problems by developing adaptive technologies). All of those things have found their way into modern cultural ecology. In the end, cultural ecology is a way to look at things; a way to form hypotheses about understanding the broad range of human behaviors; a research strategy; and even a way to make sense of our lives. Think about this: much of the political debate about climate change of the early 2000s centered around whether or not it was human-created. That is an observation of how people still attempt to put humans outside our environment, something cultural ecology teaches us cannot be done. Sources Berry, J. W. A Cultural Ecology of Social Behavior. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Ed. Berkowitz, Leonard. Vol. 12: Academic Press, 1979. 177–206. Print.Frake, Charles O. Cultural Ecology American Anthropologist 64.1 (1962): 53–59. Print.and Ethnography.Head, Lesley. Cultural Ecology: Adaptation—Retrofitting a Concept? Progress in Human Geography 34.2 (2010): 234-42. Print.Cultural Ecology: The Problematic Human and Terms of Engagement. Progress in Human Geography 31.6 (2007): 837–46. Print.Head, Lesley, and Jennifer Atchison. Cultural Ecology: Emerging Human-Plant Geographies. Progress in Human Geography  (2008). Print.Sutton, Mark Q, and E.N. Anderson. Introduction to Cultural Ecology. Second Edition ed. Lanham, Maryland: Altamira Press, 2013. Print.

Fuzzy Topsis Method Free Essays

Fuzzy TOPSIS method This is an approach based on the TOPSIS technique (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) and the fuzzy set theory. The TOPSIS method is based on the concept that the optimum option has the least distance from the positive ideal solution. It is a linear weighting technique, which was first proposed, in its crisp version by Chen and Hwang(1992), with reference to Hwang and Yoon(1981). We will write a custom essay sample on Fuzzy Topsis Method or any similar topic only for you Order Now Since then, this method has been widely adopted to solve MCDM problems in many different fields. Because decision information is uncertain instead of certain in most environments, further extension for group decision making problems under fuzzy environment was published by Cheng(2000),known as Fuzzy TOPSIS. The selection of the third-party provider is a typical MCDM problem. In this method firstly we screen out providers that have not minimal qualifications by the selection criteria. Then closeness coefficient of contractors to each proposal will be computed by Fuzzy TOPSIS method and finally these coefficients as successful indicators for each provider will be fed in to a linear programming to select most profitable projects and providers with respect to the constraints. The stages are described blow: Stage1: Eliminate contractors that haven’t minimal qualifications. For the purpose of analysis, selection criteria need to be rationally selected at first. There are a lot of researches with respect to the decision criteria for evaluating the supplier. Such as the study of Dickson(1966), Ellram (1990),Weber et al. (1991), ,Grupe (1997), and Akomode et al. (1998). According to an empirical survey, the top four selection criteria are responsiveness to service requirements, quality of management, track record of ethical importance, and ability to provide value-added services. The less important selection criteria are listed in a descending order as below: low cost, specific channel expertise, knowledge of market, personal relationship with key contacts, willingness to assume risk, investment in state-of- art technologies, size of firm, and national market coverage. Keeping the outcomes of the supplier selection literature review as a guideline, we derived the relevant factors to evaluate in the provider selection process based on the outsourcing view. However selection of criteria is totally industry specific and based on each case and the criteria are changed and replaced. Then opinions of decision makers on criteria were aggregated and weights of all criteria have been calculated by organizing the expert meeting. Meanwhile, the outcomes of the supplier selection literature review should be kept as a guideline. Stage2: Computing closeness coefficient (CC) for each project by fuzzy TOPSIS method So after we have obtained the important evaluation criteria and the qualified provider candidates to form the MCDM problem,the ranking of the shortlisted vendor providers will be done using the fuzzy TOPSIS approach. First,choose the appropriate linguistic variables for the importance weight of the criteria ,asses the importance of each contractor in each project with respect to each criterion by DM, using linguistic variables. Convert these evaluation into triangular fuzzy numbers with fuzzy weight for each criterion. Fuzzy weight wj of criterion C j are obtained with regard to DM’s opinions. Then the importance of the criteria and the rating of alternatives with respect to each criterion and the aggregated rating Xij under criteria C j can be calculated as: Wj=1K[Wj1+Wj2+†¦+Wjk] xij=1K[xij1+xij2+†¦+xijk] Wjk is the importance weight of the kth decision maker. xijk is the rating of the kth decision maker. Construct the normalized fuzzy decision matrix. If we describe the linguistic variables by triangular fuzzy numbers, xij=(aij,bij,cij) and wij=(wj1,wj2,wj3)then we can get the fuzzy decision matrix denoted by R, and R= R=[rij]m? n. rij=(aijcj,bijcj,cijcj) rij=(aj-aij,aj-bij,aj-cij) Next, the weighted normalized fuzzy decision matrix is constructed by : V=[vij]m? n, i=1,2,†¦,m j=1,2,†¦,n Where vij=rij(. )wj After all of these analysis and calculation ,a positive-ideal solution (PIS, A+) and a fuzzy negative-ideal solution (NIS,A-) as the criterion are chosen. The best alternative solution should be the closest to the Positive Ideal Solution (PIS) and the farthest from the Negative Ideal Solution (NIS). A+=(v1*,v2*,†¦,vn*) A-=(v1-,v2-,†¦,vn-) vj*=1,1,1 vj-=0,0,0 Calculate the total distance of each components from the fuzzy positive ideal and negative ideal: ? If A and B are two fuzzy numbers as follows, distance between these fuzzy numbers is calculated by equation below: A=(a1,b1,c1) B=(a2,b2,c2) Equation : DA,B=13[a2-a12+b2-b12+c2-c12] Given the above description on how to calculate the distance between fuzzy numbers, the distance of components from positive and negative ideas can be derived respectively as: di*=j=1nd(vij,vj*), i=1,2,†¦,m di-=j=1nd(vij,vj-), i=1,2,†¦,m In the end,the relative closeness coefficient (CC)of each contractor-project in each criterion can be calculated as: CCi=di*di-+di+, i=1,2,†¦,m Stage3: Selecting the best projects and related contractors Select the best projects and related contractors by ranking options based on the descending cci. An alternative with index cci approaching 1 indicates that the alternative is close to the fuzzy positive ideal reference point and far from the fuzzy negative ideal reference point. A large value of closeness index indicates a good performance of the alternative. A case study: The proposed methodology for supplier selection problem, composed of TOPSIS method, consists of three Steps: (1) Identify the criteria to be used in the model; (2) weigh the criteria by using expert views; (3) evaluation of alternatives with TOPSIS and determination of the final rank. The case is that of a major company operating in the dairy products field. In the first phase, the project team operated mainly through roundtable discussions on developing their main selection criteria. After identity the criteria attributed under consideration, five alternatives suppliers are written in the list. There are several criteria need to be considered, and each vendor’s information under each criteria are collected, calculating each vendor’s overall rating weight, shown in Table 2. (Mohammad Saeed Zaeri,2010) Finally, the closeness coefficient was calculated to rank alternatives. The results obtained are shown in Table 4: (Mohammad Saeed Zaeri,2010) The order of rating among those vendors is Supplier3;gt; Supplier 4;gt; Supplier 1;gt; Supplier2;gt;Supplier5, the best vendor would be Supplier3. To conclude, the TOPSIS method had several advantages. First, TOPSIS makes it possible to appraise the distances of each candidate from the positive and negative ideal solutions. Second, it allows the straight linguistic definition of weights and ratings under each criterion, without the need of cumbersome pairwise comparisons and the risk of inconsistencies. It evaluates the projects and each provider more precisely by expert decision makers in each stage of the whole process. Moreover, the method is very easy to understand and to implement. All these issues are of fundamental importance for a direct field implementation of the methodology by logistics practitioners. However TOPSIS is proved to be insensitive to the number of alternatives and has its worst performance only in case of very limited number of criteria. In order to apply fuzzy TOPSIS to a MCDM problem, selection criteria have to be monotonic. How to cite Fuzzy Topsis Method, Papers

Theories of Ageing and Their Impact on Health and Social Care free essay sample

Theories of ageing and their impact on Health and Social Care Provision (D2) During life span and development, we learned about each of the stages of life. In this report I am going to focus on the final stage which is elderly. In today’s society the population of elderly people is rising. As the population of elderly people is rising, it means the need for health and social care services is rising too. As health care services have improved so much over the last number of years, it also means that elderly people will be able to live longer because of improved services and more awareness about health. 10 million people in the UK are over 65 years old. The latest projections are for 5? million more elderly people in 20 years’ time and the number will have nearly doubled to around 19 million by 2050’ – parliament UK As people start to age, most retire around the age of 65/70. For many this is a positive thing as it means more free time and also many elderly people deserve to retire as they have worked hard during their life. When a person retires they may use the time to travel or to get more involved with their community. Some may also move abroad to get more experiences and make the most of the free time they have. Many people continue life-long learning after retirement and may take up a new hobby, sport or language to fill up their free time. However, not everyone’s retirement or becoming elderly is positive. Many elderly people who are not as active may develop an illness or become very lonely. If an elderly person was to develop an illness, it may make them less mobile, depending on the severity of the illness and may end up making them become disengaged from everyone. Dependency is another aspect that elderly people have to face at some point towards the end of their life or even at the start of ageing if they do develop an illness. Many elderly people that go into care homes sometimes feel neglected and a burden. They then may not have as positive end of life as others. The government plays an important role in providing care and other services for elderly people. There are many services that are already in place for people who are 65+. Some examples are: * Free bus passes * Dental care * Eye care * Heating allowances * Free TV licences Free hearing aids * Home helps * Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy treatment free of charge These are just some examples of what is available for people aged 65+. There are many other measures being put in place all the time for elderly people. The government also constantly make positive changes to health care services. E. G. there are more care homes and domiciliary carers now than there would have been 20 years ago. A number of years ago, many elderly people would have been put in hospital and left there till they died however this is not the case anymore. Elderly people now have a choice whether they want to stay at home or go into a type of care setting. There are many ways in which the government have put measures in place to work around the service user and not to go by what the organisation wants. E. G. an elderly person has the choice of having a carer in each day to help them or whether or not they would rather go into care home. This is a positive change because it means not as many elderly people will have to worry about being put into a home without their consent. The government also have in place a pension. This can help an elderly person to live once they retire or run out of savings. Some elderly people may sell their house to cover the cost of living in a care home. This can then cause problems for families as they do not get anything. During my work placement I got talking to an elderly lady who was telling me about her 40 grandchildren that she has and how she would have to give them all money at Christmas. She said she shouldn’t really have given them all money because she can’t afford it but that it was something she always did. There are many reasons in today’s society why there are elderly people living in poverty. There are many cut backs being made that affects everyone although more so than others E. G. an elderly person. If an elderly person doesn’t have any savings and are just relying on benefits then they may start to struggle. A lot of elderly people go into residential care simply because they cannot afford to live alone and provide food and heat for themselves. For unfortunate elderly people who become ill, then they may face barriers too because they may be on a waiting list for something that they urgently need. Many elderly people do not have family to help and support them either and so some end up isolated and having to face problems on their own. In some cases, there are problems with domiciliary carers coming into an elderly person’s house. The statistics for levels of abuse states that the highest number of cases of abuse takes place in someone’s own home. This is a problem because an elderly person is vulnerable, especially if they are ill or have a mental health problem. However, there are many measures put in place now to try and prevent abuse happening E. G. eople who apply for a caring job have to be vetted and police checked, inspections are done in care homes more frequently and elderly people have advocates to speak up for them. Finally, elderly people should look at ageing as a positive aspect of their life because there are so many ways in which they can have a happy end of life and many other reasons why they shouldn’t become disengaged to everyone. Also , elderly people still have many opportunities to learn new skills and can also gain more experiences which should be enjoyed and treasured E. G. having grandchildren and watching their family grow.