What are the 3 key factors to consider when buying merchandise for a Essay

What are the 3 key factors to consider when buying merchandise for a high street fashion brand such as Topshop - Essay Example As buying occurs in set periods it’s further necessary to have significant foresight. Another prominent factor that buyers must consider is quality control (Goworek 2005, p. 9). While there is generally a quality control department it’s recognized that they contribute to finalizing the aesthetic aspects of the fit, shape, length and proportion of the garment; additionally, it may be necessary to test the fabric to ensure that it matches the end retailer’s standards. The final factor that buyers must consider when purchasing merchandise for a high street fashion brand is progressive sales of past brands (Goworek 2005, p. 17). This is a slightly complex notion as it necessitates that buyers consider the specific sales of garments in the range and recognize then effectively manage these purchases in the context of future buying patterns. While it may not always be possible to purchase the same garments the buyer can match specific trends within these ranges accordin g to retail tendencies to achieve maximum

Finance 3301 questions Essay Example for Free

Finance 3301 questions Essay Broussard Skateboard’s sales are expected to increase by 15% from $8 million in 2012 to $9. 2 million in 2013. Its assets totaled $5 million at the end of 2012. Broussard is already at full capacity, so its assets must grow at the same rate as projected sales. At the end of 2012, current liabilities were $1. 4 million, consisting of $450,000 of accounts payable, $500,000 of notes payable, and $450,000 of accruals. The after-tax profit margin is forecasted to be 6%, and the forecasted payout ratio is 40%. Use the AFN equation to forecast Brous- sard’s additional funds needed for the coming year. Required increase in assets – Increase in spontaneous liabilities – Increase in retained earnings = AFN AFN=($5/$8)*$1. 2 – ($1. 4/$8)*$1. 2-$9. 2*6%*(1-40%)=0. 75 0. 21 – 0. 33=21% Chapter 10 Tony Company’s balance sheet shows $300 million in debt, $50 million in preferred stock, and $250 million in total common equity. Tony Company`s tax rate is 40%, rd =6%,rPS =5%,andrs =10%. If Tony Company get capital structure of 30% debt, 5% preferred stock, and 65% common stock, what is its WACC? Wd=30% ; Wps=5%; Ws=65% WACC=Wd*rd*(1-T)+Wps*rps+ws*rs=30%*6%(1-40%)+5%*5%+65%*10%=0. 0108+0. 000125+0. 065=7. 59% What kinds of the T-bonds is the best proxy for the risk-free rate is the yield on? Answer: A A, long-term B, short-term C, No one Chapter 11 A company creates value when the spread between EROIC and WACC is positive—that is, when Answer: B A, EROIC ? WACC = 0 B, EROIC ? WACC 0; C, EROIC ? WACC

Painting and Writing with Magical Realism :: Literature Essays Literary Criticism

Painting and Writing with Magical Realism      Ã‚  Ã‚   The term Magical Realism describes an artistic style of painting and writing. In these paintings and novels the composer "interweaves, in an ever-shifting pattern, a sharply etched Realism in representing ordinary events and descriptive details together with fantastic and dreamlike elements" (Abrams). Some of the Magical Realism writers are said to be Gabriel Garcia Marques in Columbia, Gunter Grass in Germany, and John Fowls in England. Understanding the history and theory of Magical Realism will help clarify the meaning of the term. No one can really say who coined the phrase 'Magical Realism,' but some say that "in 1925 to champion a new direction in painting, Franz Roh originated the term Magical Realism to characterize this painting's return to Realism after Expressionism's more abstract style" (Zamora and Faris 15). This art style was also first used after World War I. Franz Roh at first called this new style of painting Post-Expressionism, but changed it later to Magical Realism because he knew that the work "had to have a name that meant something, and the word 'Post-Expressionism' only indicated ancestry and chronological relationship" (Roh). Roh says that he uses the word 'magic' instead of 'mystic' because "the mystery does not descend to the represented world, but rather hides and palpates behind it." At the same time that Roh came up with the term Magical Realism, a museum director named Gustav Hartlaub called this new art style New Objectivity. The word New Objectivity over took Roh's title for the a rt style until 1960 when it was used to describe the art style of that time in art history. Angel Flores might argue that he coined the term 'Magical Realism' in 1935 after he read Jorge Luis Borges' book A Universal History of Infamy, but he was actually the first one to give the name to books not just paintings. It is hard to decide at times what is Magical Realism and what is not, but there are many characteristics inside Magical Realism that helps us to decide what is. One of the characteristics is that "we recognize this world, although now- not only because we have emerged from a dream- we look on it with new eyes" (Roh). The artist achieves this characteristic by "the amalgamation of reality and fantasy" (Leal). However, in Magical Realism both the reader and characters of the novel must accept the unreal as real.

Jaguar regains its reputation Essay

Originally called the Swallow Side Car Company, Jaguar Cars was founded in 1922 and became famous for its luxury and sports cars. In 1990, Jaguar was taken over by Ford and is now a wholly owned subsidiary. At the time of the Ford takeover, Jaguar’s quality performance was something of a paradox. Aesthetically and in terms of on-the-road performance the cars were often highly regarded, especially by a hard core of enthusiasts. Yet even they could not ignore Jaguar’s reputation for making cars which were, in comparison to its rivals, of exceptionally poor reliability. Plagued by under-investment and a conservative technical-led, rather than customer-led, culture, the company’s old plants were struggling to achieve even acceptable levels of conformance quality. At this time, the JD Power survey of customer satisfaction of cars imported to the US ranked only one car (the Yugo) lower than Jaguar. All this changed through the 1990s. The company invested heavily in training, especially in quality techniques such as statistical process control (see Chapter 17). Piecework was abolished, as was ‘clocking in’ and a general productivity bonus introduced which encouraged flexible working. Other shop floor initiatives included the introduction of multiskilled teams, total productive maintenance (see Chapter 19), continuous improvement teams (see Chapter 18) and benchmarking against the best in the business (see Chapter 18). The success of this quality improvement programme was dramatic. It encouraged Ford to invest in new Jaguar models and also had a significant impact on customer satisfaction. The same surveys which once put Jaguar at the bottom of the league now rank it in the very top group of luxury car makers. Jaguar regains its reputation Answer 1.What does ‘quality’ mean for a motor vehicle manufacturer such as Jaguar? This box highlights how Jaguar have always been regarded as excellent at some aspects of quality (such as performance and aesthetics) but very poor at other (such as product reliability). This gives us a clue as to the various ‘dimensions’ of quality which are important to Jaguar. They are as follows. †¢ Performance – The speed, power, cornering and other aspects of the way the car drives. Fast speed, powerful acceleration, responsive handling, and so on are generally regarded as the mark of a ‘prestige’ car. †¢ Aesthetics – The overall appearance of the car should reflect its values. A Jaguar is smooth, luxurious, dashing and sporty! The key question for Jaguar is ‘does the overall appearance and shape of the car reflect these values and appeal to its target customers?’ †¢ Equipment – Is the car equipped with the type of things one would expect from a luxury car such as leather seats, global position system equipment, adjustable headlights and so on? †¢ Finish – Are the visible areas of the car free from any marks or blemish? This means an absence of scratches or small marks as well as an appropriate surface finish to all visible surfaces. †¢ Build quality – This normally refers to how the car feels as doors open and close, windows are raised and lowered and so on. Is there a satisfying ‘solidity’ about the feel of the car? †¢ Reliability – When in use does the car (or some part of the car) break down? Do things go wrong? †¢ After sales service – Should the owner have any problems or wishes to know something more about the car, is it easy for him or her to do so? All of these can be expanded considerably but the list does give an overall indication of the very many dimensions of quality which are important to Jaguar. 2.How did the changes which Jaguar made to its operations practice affect the quality of its products? The changes made by Jaguar (at least those described in the box) were all to the processes within the operation. For example, †¢ Training would equip operators with the skills to assemble the car in the correct manner without making mistakes. †¢ Statistical Process Control (covered in Chapter 17) would enable the operators to make sure that shopfloor processes operating as they should be an preferably improving. †¢ Changing the payment system both encouraged operators to learn more skills and prevents them sacrificing quality in order to earn higher wages in the short term. †¢ Multi-skilled teams would allow any absent workers to be covered for by people with equivalent skills and, more importantly, encourage continuous improvement to production processes. †¢ Totally productive maintenance, improvement teams and benchmarking would likewise allow everyone working at the company to contribute to the general improvement effort. All these changes were important but it is also vital to realise that, without the necessary investment, the changes in Jaguar would have been difficult or even impossible. Yet these issues are connected. It was the success of the company’s management in starting these changes which encouraged the parent group (Ford) to invest considerable sums of money in the company, which in turn allowed the changed described above to have a real impact.

Character Sketch Sample

Sample character sketch – my friend Liz. My friend Liz is the most amazing friend anybody could ask for. We’ve been through so much together, we’re basically like sisters. We met on the first day of school in sixth grade, both of us terrified by the massive size of the middle school. She had the locker right above mine. I told her I didn’t know anybody in our class and she said â€Å"You do now. † We’ve been friends ever since. Most boys think Liz is cute. She has long red hair, cascading over her shoulders. She laughs about everything and when she does, you see about a hundred white teeth – so bright, you almost need sunglasses. When she laughs, her eyes grow wide, glowing emerald green. Liz likes to dress kind of skater-ish, in camouflage pants, sweatshirts, and wristbands. But, she’s unpredictable, too. Sometimes she’ll wear overalls or a fancy dress. She must have three closets full of clothes, because she barely ever wears the same outfit twice. Liz is the most lively, animated character I’ve ever known. She’s always rushing around, trying to get the latest scoop on everybody. It’s like she’s in the FBI. Right before she shares important news, Liz tosses back her hair, takes a deep breath, and quickly looks side to side, to be sure the coast is clear. She never says anything mean about people, she just wants to know what’s going on. She always supports me in everything I want to do. Not many girls in our group of friends play sports, but when I told Liz I wanted to go out for basketball, she said â€Å"Go for it. † Now, she comes to see almost every game I play and cheer me on. Not only is Liz a tremendous supporter, she also trusts me to give her my honest opinion and to say what I feel. Last year, she thought Mrs. Jones gave her a lower math grade than she deserved. I told her the truth – that Liz handed everything in late and what did she expect? Next marking period, Liz got her work in on time, and pulled off an A-. Thanks to me, she said. Liz is a wonderful listener. She lets me tell her all my problems and she never diminishes the importance of my worries. I can tell she’s really listening, too, because she looks directly in my eyes the whole time, like she’s trying to see inside my head and figure me out. We don’t always agree on everything, and sometimes we even fight like sisters. But, in the end, we always stick together. Writing a CHARACTER SKETCH – can you draw your friend IN WORDS? Writers need to describe people believably and realistically. They need to describe characters in such detail readers can actually feel they know them. A character sketch is a way to put people on paper. It goes beyond just describing a person’s physical characteristics. Character sketches are most effective when they reveal â€Å"telling† details that capture the essence of someone’s personality. ?You are going to write a character sketch for someone you know. It could be a friend, family member, or anybody you know well. Here’s a list of things to include in your character sketch: †¢ opening – introduce the topic (your friend) †¢ explain how you met, or where you know each other from †¢ give a physical description – appearance, clothes, voice, habits, mannerisms, etc. †¢ personality trait #1, and supporting evidence †¢ personality trait #2, and supporting evidence †¢ personality trait #3, and supporting evidence †¢ closing comment – try to reconnect to your opening You do not have to follow this exact order, but your character sketch does need to include all these parts. TIP: Think about your friend in vivid detail. What color are her eyes? What kind of clothes does she favor? What kind of shoes? How is her hair cut and styled? Dig deeper. How does he talk? Fast, slow, soft? What nervous habits does he have? What does he daydream about? What music does he like? What sports? What subjects in school? These details can say a lot about personality.