Economics and Global Business Applications Essay Example for Free

Economics and Global Business Applications Essay Elasticity of demand is a measure of responsiveness to a price change of a good or service. When demand is elastic, the percentage of a price change of a product will result in a larger percentage of quantity demanded (McConnell, p 77). It basically means reducing the price of a good service will result in a greater quantity demanded and an increase in revenue for the seller. When demand is inelastic, a change in price will result in a reduction of quantity demanded, which will then lead to a revenue decrease (McConnell, p 77). To demonstrate elastic and inelastic demand results, Company A sells 100 pens at $1.00 a piece each day, making their revenue $100.00. Company A then decides to sell their pens at $.50, which results in a total of 250 pens being sold. The total revenue from the price drop is $125, resulting in an additional $25.00; therefore the demand in this scenario is elastic. If selling the pens at the decreased price of $.50 would result in more pens being sold, but less total revenue, the demand is said to inelastic. According to McConnell, when demand in unit elastic, the percentage change in price and the resulting percentage changes in demand are the same. The change in price will not increase or decrease revenue. Cross price elasticity measures the response of demand to a change in price of another substitute or complimentary good (McConnell, p. 87). Substitute goods are goods that can be purchased in place of another good. Examples of substitute goods are soda (buying Coke vs. Pepsi), computers, and potato chips. A positive cross elasticity of demand means the increase of price in one good, for example Coca-Cola, will increase the demand of a substitute good, for example Pepsi. As the price for Coke increases, consumers are more likely to purchase Pepsi at a lower price, thereby increasing its demand. Complementary goods are items that are typically purchased in conjunction within one another. Examples are ringed binders and notebook paper, pencils and erasers, and potato chips and dip. A negative cross elasticity of demand in complementary goods means that the increase in price of one good, an example being potato chips, will decrease the demand for the complementary product that goes with it, the dip. Income elasticity measures the responsiveness of consumers to changes in their incomes (McConnell, p 88). Demand for normal goods tends to increase as consumers’ incomes increase and conversely, demand for inferior goods tends to decrease as consumers’ income increases. Demand is elastic where there is a large availability of substitutes. The reason for this as the price of a good increases, if there is a large amount of substitutes for this particular good, the consumer will choose the substitute. As discussed earlier, soda is an excellent example of this elasticity. Airline tickets are another example. As one airline raises its cost of a ticket or to even pay for a bag to be checked, a consumer will more likely choose a cheaper ticket or an airline that doesn’t charge for baggage over the original. If there is no (or a very limited) amount of substitutes for a good, elasticity is said to be negative. A price change in medication will not likely change the behavior of a consumer relative to demand since there isn’t a substitute to taking the medication. Household utilities are another example of a limited amount of substitutes. In discussing the proportion if one’s income devoted to a good concept, the household budget comes into play. In a given month, households pay for many different good and services. A change in price may or may not affect the households demand for those goods and services. Often, it is dependant on how much of the household budget is devoted to that good or service. Mobile phone service is an excellent example of a service that will most likely have a large amount of a household budget dedicated to it. A change in price in the cell phone service will most likely result in that family making a decision to change to a cheaper service, since that will have a large impact on their budget. On the other hand, that same household may purchase light bulbs each month. The amount of money dedicated to the purchase of light bulbs is so small, that a price increase will not likely affect the budget, therefore the family will not likely make a decision to change to a cheaper bulb. The concept of time when discussing demand is important. When a consumer has a large amount of time to decide on the purchase of a good or service, the elasticity is positive. Conversely, if there is little time, the elasticity is said to be negative. According to McConnell, and excellent example of this is gasoline for automobiles. Gasoline prices change daily and more often than not, prices rise. A family, who owns a car and is dependent on that car for work, etc, will not likely stop buying gas in the sort-term, because it is crucial to their everyday living. However, that family over a long period of time may decide to find alternate means of travel, decreasing their demand for gas. Using the graphs for elasticity of demand and total revenue, areas of elasticity, inelasticity and unit elasticity have been identified. Demand is elastic between the prices of $80.00 and $50.00, meaning the demand increases as the price decreases, resulting in an increase of total revenue. Between the prices of $50.00 and $40.00, the demand in unit elastic, meaning the percentage of drop in price resulted in the same percentage of increase in demand. Revenue remained unchanged in this price range. Between the prices of $40.00 and $0, the demand is inelastic, meaning the price drop has resulted in an increase in demand, but not enough to over come the decrease. Total revenue has been negatively impacted.

Scarlett Letter Essay -- essays research papers

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter has many characters that go through several changes during the story. For example, the young minister Dimmesdale, who commits the sin of adultery with Hester, greatly changes. He is the character that makes the most progress in the story. Dimmesdale, being a minister, acts as a role model to the townspeople. He is the last person who should commit a crime and lie about it, but in the end, he confesses to the town. The fact that he did confess illustrates his courage and morality. Hester and Dimmesdale’s affair goes undiscovered until Hester is pregnant and has a child without having her husband present. As her punishment, Hester is forced to stand on the scaffold in the middle of the market place, with an A on her chest. Dimmesdale hasn’t told anyone that he is the adulterer. He sits in the balcony with the Governor, and others, watching the display, without any expression or emotion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hester and Pearl go to the Governor’s home to deliver a pair of gloves, but more importantly to talk about the possibility of the government taking away her child. After Mr. Wilson asks Pearl a few questions, the Governor decides that Hester is unready to be a mother, and that the child would be better off in the hands of the church. Hester begs Dimmesdale, whom she says knows everything about her and has charge of her soul, to speak for her. Therefore, he does, convincing the Governor to let Hester kee...

Danshui Plant No.2 Essay

Background: Danshui was a contract manufacturer assembling electronic products in southern China. There were many manufacturers like Danshui in China assembling parts for the companies wishing to save labor costs. Apple contracted with Danshui to assemble 2.4 million iPhones in Plant No.2 with the expected high demand of this product in 2010. As a profit center, Plant No.2 was credited for each iPhone produced and shipped. The process of assembling was complex and required almost entirely based on handwork for more than 100 components. Danshui was confident of its workers to adapt the new tasks and extra workers could be hired and trained as needed. The iPhone 4 was the most successful product of Apple as more than 1.7 million units were sold in the first 3 days they were launched. However, the plant was operating at a loss because of the underproduction. Consequently, the controller of this plant considered preparing the new budget showing using a flexible budget system to identify what went wrong in their operations that contribute to the performance problems. Problems and issues: The plant has 2 big problems in terms of budgeting system and labor force. Firstly, they were in unfavorable performance by using standard budgeting system. They were unable to meet the Apple contract, which was shortage 10% from the 200,000 targeted units, resulting in the loss of $672,000 rather than the profit of $100,000. Actually, the plant was using the standard costing system to evaluate their performance, but it was not appropriate because the comparative quantities were different (180,000 and 200,000 units). That means the total standard costs would be overstated compared to the total actual costs. Consequently, the activities under the standard costing system were all overstated efficiency, leading to the unfavorable net income. Secondly, the lack of qualified labor force also contributed to this problem. As the assembly of iPhone 4 was extremely complex, this would be higher chances of errors as the assembly process was handled by different workers with different skills and working styles. This will indirectly cause a lot wastes in term of cost and time due to the carelessness and the lack of skill of the workers. The burden of the supervisors must be increased as they must learn before guiding the workers, who were almost semiskilled.  Although the plant had raised the wages to 30%, they still could not increase the number of labor force needed, which also contributed to the underproduction. On the other hand, as the production line was based on handwork, the damage of 1000 flash memories in installation was unavoidable. Thus, the actual output must be 181,000 units instead of 180,000 units in their report. The replacement of the wastage had increased the cost that had led to the unfavorable variance of $389,000. When the reckless jobs had been done, the workers must use the new tools and supplies, resulting in the increase of the production costs and cause an unfavorable performance. Recommendations: For the short term, I recommend Danshui to change from using the standard costing system to the flexible budget system for performance evaluation purpose. By using the flexible budget will help them to compare results with adjustable budget and the variance analysis will be more accurate. This system also proves the unfavorable performance caused by the variance from variable costs of $1,041,200, which can analyze and evaluate the weaknesses in controlling the variable cost which is flash memories, assembly and packaging expenses. For the long term period, they have to overcome the disadvantages from the labor forces. First of all, the plant should improve their salary policy. I recommend that they should motivate workers by setting a basic salary and offering bonus if they complete their jobs well. Secondly, the plant should provide professional training for labors. Through training, the labors can learn how to handle with care on the parts to avoid the wastage that will happen. This solution also assists managers to place the correct labor at the correct assembly parts to reduce the labor hours but still save the materials. Thirdly, the plant could hire more skilled supervisors who will able to response to the problems arises and know how to motivate the labor to achieve the goal.

What Were the Arab Spring Middle East Uprisings

The Arab Spring was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across the Middle East in early 2011. But their purpose, relative success, and outcome remain hotly disputed in Arab countries, among foreign observers, and between world powers looking to cash in on the changing map of the Middle East. Why the Name Arab Spring? The term â€Å"Arab Spring† was popularized by the Western media in early 2011 when the successful uprising in Tunisia against former leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali emboldened similar anti-government protests in most Arab countries. The term Arab Spring is a reference to the Revolutions of 1848, a year in which a wave of political upheavals occurred in many countries throughout Europe, many resulting in an overthrow of old monarchical structures and their replacement with a more representative form of government. 1848 is called in some countries the Spring of Nations, Peoples Spring, Springtime of the Peoples, or the Year of Revolution; and the Spring connotation has since been applied to other periods in history when a chain of revolutions end in increased representation in government and democracy, such as the Prague Spring, a reform movement in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The Autumn of Nations refers to the turmoil in Eastern Europe in 1989 when seemingly impregnable Communist regimes began falling under pressure from mass popular protests in a domino effect. In a short period of time, most countries in the former Communist bloc adopted democratic political systems with a market economy. But the events in the Middle East went in a less straightforward direction. Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen entered an uncertain transition period, Syria and Libya were drawn into a civil conflict, while the wealthy monarchies in the Persian Gulf remained largely unshaken by the events. The use of the term the â€Å"Arab Spring† has since been criticized for being inaccurate and simplistic. Tawakul Karman, President of Women Journalists Without Chains, at the anti-government protest site in front of the University of Sana on March 11, 2011. Jonathan Saruk / Getty Images What Was the Aim of the Protests? The protest movement of 2011 was, at its core, an expression of deep-seated resentment at the aging Arab dictatorships (some glossed over with rigged elections), anger at the brutality of the security apparatus, unemployment, rising prices, and corruption that followed the privatization of state assets in some countries. But unlike Communist Eastern Europe in 1989, there was no consensus on the political and economic model that existing systems should be replaced with. Protesters in monarchies like Jordan and Morocco wanted to reform the system under the current rulers, some calling for an immediate transition to constitutional monarchy. Others were content with gradual reform. People in republican regimes like Egypt and Tunisia wanted to overthrow the president, but other than free elections they had little idea what to do next. And, beyond calls for greater social justice, there was no magic wand for the economy. Leftist groups and unions wanted higher wages and a reversal of dodgy privatization deals, others wanted liberal reforms to make more room for the private sector. Some hardline Islamists were more concerned with enforcing strict religious norms. All political parties promised more jobs but none came close to developing a program with concrete economic policies. Medical volunteers during the Arab Spring, 2011 in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt. Kim Badawi Images / Getty Images A Success or Failure? The Arab Spring was a failure only if one expected that decades of authoritarian regimes could be easily reversed and replaced with stable democratic systems across the region. It has also disappointed those hoping that the removal of corrupt rulers would translate into an instant improvement in living standards. Chronic instability in countries undergoing political transitions has put additional strain on struggling local economies, and deep divisions have emerged between the Islamists and secular Arabs. But rather than a single event, it’s probably more useful to define the 2011 uprisings as a catalyst for long-term change whose final outcome is yet to be seen. The main legacy of the Arab Spring is in smashing the myth of Arabs’ political passivity and the perceived invincibility of arrogant ruling elites. Even in countries that avoided mass unrest, the governments take the quiescence of the people at their own peril.