Thursday, January 30, 2020

Moral achievements during adolescents Essay Example for Free

Moral achievements during adolescents Essay The adolescent period is marked by a number of physical and emotional changes for individuals. During this period, an individual strives to move from the identity that is dependent on parental and societal influence in to one that is determined by the individual. The purpose of this paper is to review the moral developments during this period of identity formation, and whether it is an entirely free process. To do this, the paper will rely on selected literature to study the various dimensions related to the issue. Introduction One of the hallmarks of adolescence is the search for identity. At this stage of human development, the individual attempts to cultivate a personal identity that will act as the basis for person’s future life. Consequently, this stage is mostly marked by defiance and general non conformity, which happens as one tries to explore practices that are not necessarily in line with both societal and familial norms and expectations. Although important, the search for identity may be a source of discord between an individual and the family or society. The discord may become a source of antagonism between the individual and the society, but more importantly, it may lead to a realization of moral consciousness for the adolescent. In the context of this paper, the word moral shall be taken to be what one perceives right or wrong based on personal conscience. In that regard, moral achievement refers to positive changes in conscience one undergoes during the adolescent period. The paper will be based on selected literature available on the subject. It is however worth noting that the subject under discussion is a multidimensional one, and for that reason, the paper will confine itself to those dimensions covered in the literature as a way of ensuring systematic coverage. The paper will study coping socialization agents, drug use, parental influence on school disposition and identity problems. These are some of the dimensions related to moral achievements. However, even though an individual is supposed to develop a personal identity during this period, the resulting identity is always influenced by external factors such as that from peers, societal and parental influence. Coping Coping refers to an individual’s ability to appropriately react to situations as they arise. Adolescents, like all the other human beings experience adjustments and extensive stressors. According to (Garcia, 2009), some of these stressors and adjustments include dealing with peer relationships, physical and emotional changes that an individual experiences during the period, family dynamics, poverty and crime. Proper coping means that the adolescents must be able to deal with these challenges with resilience and show positive health outcomes (Garcia, 2009). An adolescent achieves cognitive and moral development in a set of three stages. According to (Garcia, 2009), these stages are assimilation, accommodation and equilibration. In addition to these strategies, the adolescent develops critical thinking and information processing, which enables for gradual development of the mind in an adult like thinking one. Guided by the newly acquired traits of critical thinking and information processing, the individual moves away from what they conceive as parental influence and set out to develop their own way of approaching life. At this stage the individual is torn between peer influences and conformity with parental expectations. According to (Garcia, 2009), a well coping individual should be able to develop a healthy identity, which is one developed by the individual as opposed to one imposed by peers or parents. An important element related to coping developed during the adolescent period is the coping strategy. Most prominent of these strategies, according to (Garcia, 2009) is problem solving or help seeking. In other words, during this period, the adolescent will develop coping strategies. In the study, (Garcia, 2009) undertook a study of literature related to the general subject of coping. The study identified coping as coping as one of the key pillars in the health of adolescents. The study found that unhealthy coping strategies lead to unhealthy mental health states such as depression and exhaustion. It is therefore important that during adolescence one develops appropriate coping strategies towards various stressors and adjustments. Religion, peer pressure and drug use These issues are related to search for identity. At this stage, the individuals experiment with new religions, try different types of drugs, which may all be a result of succumbing to influences from peers. According to a survey reported by (Bahr Hoffman, 2008), 22% of youths admitted having used cigarettes, while another 45% had used alcohol, with another 30% reporting being drunk and 18% acknowledged using marijuana. This was a survey done on high school seniors, most or all of who are in the adolescent stage. The finding is a pointer to how life is volatile for the adolescent. (Bahr Hoffman, 2008) further notes that there is a negative correlation between religiosity and drug use. In a way, the report endorses religion as a way of reducing drug use because youths with religious affiliations showed less affinity to drug use. To justify this correlation, the study uses social control theory. According to the theory, deviance is more of a natural act while conformity is not. It then follows that religiosity brings in prosocial controls that encourage individuals to conform. Without it, the individuals would follow their natural instincts, which would mean becoming defiant. The other theory used by the report is social learning theory. From the perspective of social learning theory, the religious groups take precedence over friends and family on matters concerning drug use so that instead of individuals picking this habit from them, they are taught by the church (Bahr Hoffman, 2008). After establishing theories to explain correlations, the study of (Bahr Hoffman, 2008) notes some control variables such as gender and race and then goes ahead to carry out a survey to validate the hypothesis. The result found a negative correlation on religion measured against cigarettes, heavy drinking and marijuana. The results on other illicit drugs were inconsistent and therefore inconclusive. From the study however, it clear that adolescents can, to an extent, be protected from drug use by being encouraged to take up religiosity. Socialization for adolescents Within an adolescent’s life, there are several agents of socialization. Among these are school, family, peer groups (friends) and community. (Arnon, Shamai, Ilatov, 2008) did a research in which peer pressure was examined and its effects compared with those of the other agents such as family, school and community. The researchers’ decision to focus on peer influence is premised on the fact that as people approach adolescence, they tend to move away from parents, religious institutions and other official socialization institutions within the community. That therefore leaves peers as the most significant influences at this point because the youths will tend to spend more time with them at the exclusion of the other socialization agents. The study also relies on social theory to explain the influences of peer groupings. Although the study notes the negative influence of peers, it nevertheless notes that it is important for peers to move away from parents for them to develop an independent identity. What the study finds negative is the tendency of the peers to move from parental influence in to conformity towards peer expectations. The identity so obtained will not be a healthy one according to the earlier noted definition. From the study, it emerged that peer groups were the most influential followed closely by family. Other agents, notably school and community only provided secondary influence. It is therefore clear that adolescents submit themselves to be influenced by peers and other socialization agents. Taking in to account the context of this paper, one can conclude that an adolescent’s moral achievement will largely be dictated by the kind of socialization agents in play during the period. Identity problem symptoms in adolescents (Berman, Weems, Petkus, 2009) defines identity disorder as the inability of an individual to accept aspect oneself. A person is deemed to an identity disorder if for one reason or another, the individual cannot accept certain or all aspects related to his persona. Consequently, the individual becomes predisposed to self denial leading to a form of distress, which may manifest itself in a number of ways. Some of the areas of concern related to this problem, as listed by (Berman, Weems, Petkus, 2009), include career choice, sexual orientation, friendship and religious identification. The research underscores the importance of identity disorder by citing the fact that the problem is listed Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) criteria for mental disorders. The importance of identity formation is identified by Erik Erikson as crucial process in young adults because it does provide one with a future direction while at the same time giving a sense of continuity from the past (Berman, Weems, Petkus, 2009). Adolescent’s search for identity is characterized by two dimensions; exploration and commitment. The two dimensions can be combined by the individual differently so as to come up with differing identity statuses. For instance, one of the statuses is known as achievement. An individual with this kind of status has a high exploration and commitment tendencies. Such kinds of individuals tend to be less predisposed to identity disorders. The aim of the study was to show that trouble with identity fit the definition necessary for them to be termed as disorder. Currently, issues related to identity crisis are classified as problems and not disorder, and have consequently been downgraded within the DSM hierarchy. The downgrade is symbolic because the hierarchy is used by various medical stakeholders such as insurance companies and medical practitioners to determine priority in terms of coverage and treatment. The study found that 14. 3% of the sample met DSM IV criteria for identity problem (Berman, Weems, Petkus, 2009). It goes to show that the current classification of the problem is unfair because it underestimates its effects. The study then attributes the rise in the identity problem to increased globalization and immigration, which has subsequently led to more clashes between different cultures and more confusion. Moral achievement in as far as identity formation is therefore dependent on how the youth is able to cope with the increase cultural diversity (or clashes) and globalization. Parental influence and its role in on student’s attitude towards school Parents have a role to play in influencing the attitudes children adopt towards schooling. (Annear Yates, 2010) did a study on how parents influence the children’s disposition towards school. The study drew from a number of aspects of parenting related to schooling such as perceptions of a child’s potential, monitoring and control, level of affect and focus on a child’s ability. The study takes the view that authoritarian kind of parenting was likely to result in lower grades as opposed to parents who allowed their children to undergo the normal process of socialization. It refers to the authoritarian type of parenting as restrictive parenting while for the more liberal parenting, the term used in autonomy support. The study used a sample made up of both parents and students to come up with its findings. The only variable within the study was whether the parent in question was a mother or father. Generally, the study found that autonomy support to have favorable results both in terms of grades and disposition. Further to that, the study found additional side effects of restrictive parenting as sadness, depression and loneliness. Conclusion From the foregoing, it clear that extraneous factors are more responsible at determining an individual’s moral achievement during adolescents. Ultimately, an individual will be responsible for shaping the direction life will take after breaking free of childhood dependencies and parental influence. It however emerges from the paper that even as one breaks free of these influences in search of individual identity external influence is not extinguished, rather, it is just transferred from one entity to another. Implied here is the fact that freedom from childhood dependencies does not mean complete freedom. In an ideal situation, approaching adulthood would mean that one gets to chart the future devoid of external influences so that the individual can claim full credit for the personality developed thereafter. However, that postulation is invalidated by the paper. Theories such as social learning and social control theory would have no place in an adolescent’s world or an adult’s world was that assumption to hold water. This paper limited itself to the adolescent ages between 12 and 18 years, and may not have sufficient grounds to make any inferences concerning post adolescent life. However, this matter can also be extrapolated, to some extent. Given that individuals at adolescence have partially entered adulthood, it also follows that adolescent behavior is not far from adult behavior. For that reason, it is safe to assume that adult behavior will also be subject to influences from external sources, and especially, socialization agents. Bibliography Annear, K. D. , Yates, G. C. (2010). Restricitve and supportive parenting: Effects in childrens school affect and emotional responses. The Australian Educational Researcher , 63-82. Arnon, S. , Shamai, S. , Ilatov, Z. (2008). Socialization agents and activities of young adolescents. San diego: Libra publishers. Bahr, S. J. , Hoffman, J. P. (2008). Religiosity, peers, and adolescent drug use. Journal of Drug Issues , 743-770. Berman, S. L. , Weems, C. M. , Petkus, V. F. (2009). The Prevalence and Increamental Validity of Identity Problem Symptoms in a High School Sample. Child psychiatry and human development , 183-195. Garcia, C. (2009). Conceptualization and measurement of coping during adolescence: A review of the literature. Journal of Nursing scholarship , 166-185.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Children Are Too Young to Vote :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

Children Are Too Young to Vote On February 22, 2004, I finally turned 18. I was an adult. I was supposed to be responsible. I had rights I never had before. And I was old enough to make my own decisions. Although I passed up buying cigarettes, joining the military, and getting a tattoo, I did embrace the chance to vote. I remember walking into the town hall for the first time, filling out my voting card, and feeling the sense of adulthood. When I was sitting there voting I realized how little I actually knew about the candidates. I soon learned these new freedoms and privileges I had should not be taken lightly. Wallace proposal In the essay, â€Å"Give children the vote,† (1998) the author, Vita Wallace argues for the rights of children. Basing her argument on opinion, Wallace presents her own life to explain the gist of her argument. Being a 16 year old, Wallace shares her points of view from this stage in her life, the stage where she is not quite an adult, but feels like she is. Wallace is upset with the lack of freedom given to children, and her claim is focused on children voting. â€Å"What I suggest is that children be allowed to grow into their own right to vote at whatever rate suits them individually,† Wallace states (1998, p.145). In fact, Wallace believes she would have been ready to vote when she was 8 or 9, maybe even sooner. Problems with the proposal Wallace’s voting proposal will not work for several reasons. My own personal story is a prime example why this freedom should not be taken lightly. Even at age 18 I did not realize what voting entailed and the importance in responsibility carried with the freedom to vote. Watching the news, reading the newspapers, and keeping updated on the latest debates was not my cup of tea. Research needs to be done to have adequate knowledge to vote. By voting, we are literally choosing who will run our country, our state, and our city. I was scared to think of this responsibility when I was 18. I could not imagine an eight year old making those decisions. Putting the future into the hands of children 17 years old and younger will not make the situation better.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

A New Kind of Structure

1. Describe the structural problems HP had. When Mark Hurd assumed his new role as CEO of HP, he soon realized that many of the company’s structural problems were related to the fact that eleven layers of management separated him from HP’s customers. Top corporate customers of the company told him that they did not know whom to contact at HP to respond to their questions. HP’s head of corporate technology said that she had to wait three months to secure approval to hire 100 sales specialists.Moreover, HP’s salespeople were able to spend only about one-third of the time with customers; the remainder of their workday was spent in negotiating the bureaucracy inside of HP. 2. How did Mark Hurd decide to address his company’s structural problems? What do you think of his changes? How do you think the company’s customers responded to these changes? How about the company’s executives and sales force? In attempting to remedy the structural pro blems at his company, Mark Hurd first terminated the employment of underperformers and eliminated three layers of sales management.He also eliminated one sales group and merged those sales representatives into the remaining sales groups. Company executives and members of the sales force are likely pleased that the increased efficiency in the organization enables them to make decisions more quickly and to spend more time interacting with customers. Customers must be more satisfied to see that their needs and concerns are being met more effectively and efficiently. 3. Would a more mechanistic or a more organic structure be appropriate for HP? Why?Considering the rapidly changing nature of the products, and particularly the services, offered by HP, the appropriate structure for this company would have many characteristics of an organic structure. Changing times and intense competition within its industry require that HP be quickly responsive and proactive in its corporate strategy; an organic structure would be more conducive to this type of strategy. 4. What role do you think organizational structure plays in an organization’s efficiency and effectiveness?Explain. Organizational structure plays a key role in enabling a company to function smoothly, to remain responsive to its internal and external stakeholders, and to adapt to changes in the marketplace. Innovation is facilitated by fewer layers of management, and students have already learned that the survival and success of a company is usually dependent upon its ability to function as a learning organization that promotes innovation.

Monday, January 6, 2020

Organizational strategic plan for CanGo - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 11 Words: 3295 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? Executive Summary This three year strategic and marketing plan will serve to assist CanGo in increasing the bottom line, through decreasing cost and potential entry into new markets. Currently CanGo has a 1.5% market share of the current $32 billion a year ecommerce market. If CanGo were to increase its market share by only one percentage point this would double revenues and increase capability of future and current investments. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Organizational strategic plan for CanGo" essay for you Create order The deployment of the strategic and marketing plan will focus on solidifying the structural foundation of the organization, concentrating on the stratification of departments and recognition of the skills required to propel CanGo forward in achieving this goal. An analysis of the current ecommerce industry, along with financial analysis, will pinpoint how funds are currently allocated and therefore can be used in order to gain market share with a proper strategy and timeline for which preparation for monetary gain and investment will occur. A well designed strategy geared toward decreasing cost, while gaining new market entry, will be to the best advantage for CanGo and its future profitability. The 5D Consulting Group would like to show CanGo how an entry into the M-Commerce (mobile commerce) market can increase market share while significantly decreasing cost of shipping and handling through the offering of instantly downloadable books, games and music to mobile devices. This plan will also show CanGo how it can improve upon company logistics through the procurement of additional resources that will assist in managing further expansion in the Ecommerce Industry. SWOT Analysis The following is the SWOT analysis that was used as a basis for our recommendations for CanGo. It will serve as a guide to formulate and develop a strategic management plan. It assists in identifying the areas of the business that are working well and the areas of the business that need improvement. Taken together, they allow targeted action to facilitate future success at CanGo. Strengths CanGo is a very successful small business with markets into books, magazines, music, movies, and recently online gaming. The recent acquisition of a substantial inventory of online games from Webjouster (CanGo intranet, 2009) has given CanGo a competitive advantage as well as a cost-savings for bulk buying. This has allowed CanGo to enter the online gaming industry relatively quickly. They have become one of the fastest growing online retailers, which is a major feat for a small business. Theyve even drawn the attention of international consumers, namely in Japan, which shows their potential to be one of the leaders in e-retail and online gaming. One of their major strengths is their philosophy of operating as if they are the customer. This gives them a major advantage because they are able to more closely understand the customers needs and wants. CanGo also has strength in the added value of its employees. They all seem to have a great interest in the company. Employees at CanG o have a good sense of responsibility and care about the companys overall well being. Furthermore, they have an intuitive feel of the market and know that they want to move forward growing the company and increasing performance. Weaknesses CanGos major weakness lies in their lack of planning. Online retail is extremely competitive. Not having any plans or direction for the company could be disastrous. CanGo needs strategic planning which would help them plan what to do in general and in the case of an emergency. Additionally, having a mission statement and vision statement lets employees, investors, and consumers know what the direction of the company is as well as why the company is in existence. When going up against e-retail giants, CanGo needs to have those minimum requirements addressed. Another weakness is CanGos inability to work together as a team. Each team member has a designated task for a reason. Members of the upper management need to be consulted before making any major decisions. This would help ensure CanGo isnt taking on plans they cant afford to take. For example, consulting the Director of Accounting before venturing into online gaming would have warned them they were in the red. Additionally, u pper management should work better with team members. More detail and better instruction needs to be given to employees concerning specific tasks. Giving tasks without direction will just cause more back and forth between employees and upper management. They also lack a coherent and meaningful way to review employees performance so that problems can be addressed promptly. On the technical side, the company must realize that it needs to modernize itself through means of bar code reading, upgrading of its website and internal phone system, and implementation of an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS). Also, CanGo as a company is uncertain of its direction and how to proceed with its rapid success; especially recently into the Japanese market. There is finally a general lack of understanding of how ideas at CanGo can be formulated, evaluated, and transformed into productive action. Opportunities CanGos opportunities lie in its ability to improve efficiency by implementing an ASRS, as doing so would provide a positive rate of return on invested capital. Other opportunities lie in the Japanese market and an excellent move would be to partner with a Japanese firm to continue their growth there. They also have an opportunity to further continue into the online gaming industry, as it has seen rapid growth which CanGo is intent to capitalize on. The online gaming industry is the economic sector involved with the development, marketing and sale of video and computer games. The gaming industry has been growing exponentially in recent years and is expected to leap-frog in the future. CanGos entrance into this area allows the company to sell their products to a global market. Also, there has been interest in CanGo from public investors with simultaneous recognition of CEO Barrett as Business Person of the Year, which again presents an opportunity for CanGo. Threats CanGos major threat is from larger, more established competitors such as Amazon and eBay who already have a foothold in the multimedia marketplace. If CanGo becomes too debt burdened by its venture into online gaming or due to poor implementation of an ASRS, they could become unable to compete even if they address all other problems. Further threatening CanGo is its manual order fulfillment process and the substantial inventory recently acquired, which may compound the currently high number of human errors. Other companies have an advantage over CanGo through the use of an ASRS. Another risk to CanGo is its lack of a long-term business strategy with regards to a lack of planning and risk management. Lastly, if CanGo is interested in expansion, it will encounter the threat of an ever increasing complicated and competitor filled international market for goods and services. Industry Analysis: Trends in E-Commerce E-Commerce according to Internet Moms.Com has become more and more common. The reasons: hectic lifestyle and internet shopping with its convenience saves time. It is predicted that the market will nearly double in size over the next five years. In 2008 the total sales in the global ecommerce industry were nearly $204 billion (Knight, 2008). The United States consumers account for 3.8% of the global industry taking in $32 billion, ranking number eight. Countries that outrank the U.S. in online consumerism are South Korea, Germany, UK, and Japan. South Korea ranks number one with 99% of internet users stating they have shopped online (Nielsen, 2008). In the U.S, ecommerce accounts for 3% of total retail sales revenues. The online gaming sector of ecommerce is coupled with DVD and videos and as a collective it is considered online entertainment. Online gaming accounts for $49 billion of total online sales which covers 24% of total global ecommerce sales, which is shown in Figure I bas ed on the Nielsen Online Global Shopping Report Feb. 2008: The global ecommerce industry consists of 875 million internet users (Nielsen, 2008) who have made purchases using the internet; 8% of these users consist of 70 million US internet shoppers; 63% of these internet surfers/shoppers are female and they outnumber males 3 to 2. (Internet Based Moms , 2009). People who will most likely shop online according to Internet Based Moms are women and people with children. This source also indicates that an organizations profit can be increased if the product or service can be received electronically, and time and money can be saved if you do not have to keep inventory or ship items. They also recommend that you have someone else keep the inventory or do the shipping for you if at all possible, as well as, offering a substantively unique product or service to attract consumers. Compared to CanGos competitors, they currently only occupy 1% of the ecommerce market. With such a small p ortion of the market, CanGo can be considered part of the small internet company category which currently occupies 83% of the total ecommerce market and consists of thousands of internet businesses. We suggest that CanGo watch their competitors closely in order to create a benchmarking system to gain a competitive advantage and increase their market share. Amazon.com, eBay, and BarnesandNoble.com currently occupy a large portion of the ecommerce market and would be CanGos largest competitors. With sales over $19.1 billion in 2008 (Amazon Annual Report, 2008), Amazons current market share is 9% (Figure II). Amazon is an online retailer, that offers a wide range of products, including but not limited to, books, movies, music, games, and digital downloads. They also offer personalized shopping services, web-based credit card payment, and direct shipping to customers. (Bloomberg, 2009) Amazon operates internationally as well, with websites in Canada, China, France, Japan, Germany, an d the UK. They have programs that allow people to sell their products on either Amazon sites or their own branded websites. Developers can access technology infrastructure to create any type of business by utilizing Amazon Web Services. Amazon even offers co-branded credit card programs, fulfillment, and other marketing and promotional services, such as online advertising. (Yahoo Finance, 2009) With sales around $8.5 billion in 2008 (eBay Annual Report 2008), eBays current market share is 4% (Figure II). They are one of the worlds largest online market places, with more than 88 million active users globally. They connect various individual buyers and sellers, as well as small businesses through their online market places. In 2008, the total worth of goods sold on eBay was $60 billion, which translates to $2,000 every second. (eBay, 2009) eBay operates in three segments: Marketplaces, Payments, and Communications. Their Marketplaces segment provides online commerce platforms th at enable buyers and sellers to interact and trade with one another. Besides the traditional eBay.com, they offer other platforms such as StubHub, OpusForum, and Shopping.com and various services, such as feedback forum, safe harbor program, and verified rights owner. Their Payments segment offers PayPal and Bill Me Later payment platform, solutions, and services. Lastly, their Communications segment consists of Skype, the Internet communication product, which offers its software in approximately 28 languages. (Yahoo Finance, 2009) With online sales totaling $466 million (Barnes Noble Annual Report, 2008), BarnesandNoble.com occupies 3% of the ecommerce market (Figure II). By leveraging the power of the Barnes Noble brand name, BN.com offers online customers direct home delivery of millions of books, CDs, DVDs, eBooks and digital download content from its website and from a wide range of platforms, including the iPhone, iPod touch and select BlackBerryreg; and Motorola Smartpho ne. (Barnes Noble Booksellers, 2009) With their numerous warehouses across the United States, they are able to stock over 1 million titles for immediate delivery. Their robust search engine enables customers to locate books by title, author, or keyword in just few seconds, browse pages to sift through hundreds of categories, read descriptions and reviews, and their See Inside program lets customers read excerpts from tens of thousands of titles. They even offer editor recommendations and customer reviews on hundreds of thousands of titles. In 2009, they became a leader in eBooks, offering over 1 million titles and launching nook, the worlds most advanced eBook reader, which features groundbreaking technology, a color touch screen and lets readers download books in seconds. (Barnes Noble, 2009) Financial Analysis According to the CanGos balance sheet, it appears that they are using much of their short term assets to acquire inventory for the company. CanGos plant, property, a nd equipment are depreciating at a rate of $320,000 per year and have a useable life of 20 years before they are fully depreciated. CanGos brand name and goodwill are amortizing at a slower pace, meaning the companys name will complete amortization in just about 40 years. CanGo currently has $57,400,000 worth of debt that needs to be paid within the next 24 years. They currently have $12 million available for investment and their total sales revenues generated $51 million. CanGo lost about 1% of this amount in sales returns, which is in contrast to the previous year when the loss was 3% of the total revenues. This demonstrates improvement in processes. CanGo made $41 million dollars worth of profit and used this money to cover operating expenses. Since the merger, they have increased business but they have also increased the amount of debt they are carrying. Profitability Ratios include Operating Profit Margin, Net Profit Margin, Return on Assets and Return on Equity (Figure I II). These values are positive for CanGo and give a green light for potential investors. Investors may also take into account liquidity ratios which demonstrate the efficiency for the company to cover its debts as they become due. CanGos Net Profit Margin of 10.80% (Figure III) is high indicating a change in strategy from previous years. This also indicates a higher risk which is justifiable in order to generate a higher profit. CanGo needs to pay attention to its allocation of assets because this is where profitability ratios are used. Quick Ratio excludes inventory which brings the ratio down a few points but is still remains high for this industry. Their Current Ratio of 5.39 is high the current Ratio is 2.27 without including its marketable securities as current assets. The Current Ratio results from dividing Current Assets by Current Liabilities. An optimum ratio approach will be 1; a negative number can indicate CanGos difficulties meeting its short-term obligations. Oppos ite to this, a Current Ratio being greater than 1 shows inefficient use of funds. Current Inventory Turnover measures how many times CanGo turns its inventory into profit; again an optimal value is 1. CanGo being at .28 is still good because is not a negative number. CanGo is doing better than Barnes Noble in regards to Return on Assets (ROA) (Figure IV), meaning that they are using their assets more efficiently. Return on Equity (ROE) accounts for dividends paid to common stock holders but after dividends to preferred stock, Amazon, Barnes Noble and eBay pay their stockholders a higher return for their dividends than CanGo, shareholders equity does not include preferred shares. CanGo is almost at eBays level when it comes to Operating Profit Margin. It is best to look at the change in operating margin over time and to comparethe companys yearly or quarterlystatement to those of its competitors. Ifa companys margin is increasing, it is earning more per dollar of sales. Curre nt Ratio and Quick Ratio are very high for CanGo compared to its competitors. This shows that these other companies are using their funds more efficiently to create a profit and CanGo is not. Implementation Plan In year one, the 3% loss in accounts receivables should be offset through acquisition of a check and verification system. Subscription costs are reasonable and will reduce loss by more than 30% resulting in an increase in liquid assets (Figure V). Supplier inventory cost can be reduced by utilizing an E-retailer service for downloadable e-book, music, and gaming inventory. CanGo could also establish a relationship with the current supplier to contract 3% royalties on all customers that are redirected to the supplier for tangible purchases. This will decrease inventory cost by 42% (Figure V) resulting in a large amount of savings for company operations. In year two, CanGos realization for investment potential should increase. Acquisitions and Procurement from the pre vious year should have increased revenues and decreased inventory cost. Also, a market for instant downloadable games and products should have been realized. This will be the perfect time for CanGo to re-authorize 20 million shares of common stock at a two for one increasing investors for the short term, fueling investment income. In the latter part of year two and the beginning of year 3, CanGo should see a solid increase in gross profit and continuing operations income (Figure V). They should begin to restructure the organization. This organizational augmentation should include a project management and information technology department, with the inclusion of sub-contractors, advisors and consultants. A matrix model should be used so that experienced employees can head experienced staff in specified departments. This will capitalize and structure the talents and knowledge of the staff that are currently a part of CanGo. This structure will renew confidence in current employees, initiate and instill responsibility, build trust, enhance decision making capability, and assist in the realization of CanGos overall goals, values, and mission. Finally during years three and four, new market penetration and proper allocation of funds should be CanGos focus. CanGo by this time should have experienced growth in the current ecommerce market, with a noticeable ability to enter the mobile-commerce (m-commerce) market, of palm pilots, cell phones, and PDAs (Figure VI). Acquisitions will have helped CanGo realize this market and the well established information technology department will assist in integrating and researching the software needed to compete. Additional profits and savings should be strategically used to re-invest in assisting the company in gaining a competitive advantage. References Amazon. (2009). Media Kit: Company Facts. Retrieved November 28, 2009, from: https://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060p=irol-factSheet Amazon Annual Report. (2008). Amazon.com Annual Report 2008. Retrieved November 28, 2009, from Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/doc/14670406/Amazon-Annual-Report-2008 Barnes Noble. (2009). About Barnes Noble.com. Retrieved November 28, 2009 from Barnes Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/help/cds2.asp?PID=8157cds 2Pid=20619linkid=1352321 Barnes Noble Annual Report. (2008). Barnes Noble 2008 Annual Report. Retrieved November 28, 2009, from Barnes Noble Inc: https://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/ for_investors/annual_reports/2008_Annual_Report.pdf Barnes Noble Booksellers. (2009). For Investors. Retrieved November 28, 2009, from Barnes Noble Inc: https://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/for_investors/for_investors.html? cds2Pid=20619linkid=1352322 Blackwell. (2005-2009). Put your Budget to Good UseBefore You Spend a Penny of It. Retrieved November 28, 2009, from Blackwell Baker Taylor: https://www.blackwell.com/orders_and_purchasing/automatic_deposit_accounts Bloomberg. (2009). AMZN: US Amazon.com Inc. Retrieved November 28, 2009, from Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=AMZN%3AUS CanGo Intranet. (2009). CanGo Purchases Webjouster. 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