Century Medical Case Essay -- Business Case Study, Analysis

Case Background This case is about the development of new technology at Century Medical – a large medical products company based in Connecticut. For the past few years, the company had made significant progress by integrating technology into its systems and processes. Sam Nolan is the Chief Information Officer at Century Medical. He has been working with Century Medical for the past 4 years. He has taken initiatives and led projects to design and implement various systems for Century Medical. One of them was a benefits-administration system for the HR department of the company. The other was a web-based purchasing system that improved the purchasing of supplies and capital goods. These new systems automated the various office processes. This not only drastically reduced the time required to carry out the related tasks but also left the managers with more time so that they could concentrate on the value added activities. The projections showed that the system was to save Century Medical $2 million annually. This technology upgrade was possible because Sam Nolan was successful in making the people in the company recognise the various benefits (like information and knowledge sharing, integrated business processes, better team co-ordination, etc) associated with the new technology. Problem Identification Sam Nolan had proposed a new web-based job posting system for the organisation. The idea was to ease the hiring of personnel from within the organisation. The system would link Century’s managers, recruiters and the job applicants. This would lead to a lot of savings in terms of recruiting and training cost. Sam Nolan also gathered a project team to develop the idea. Later the project got endorsed by the executive vice-... ... system, Sam Nolan should approach Century Medical’s finance department and propose the same system to them. The finance department will then forward the proposal for the higher management’s approval. 4. Sam Nolan should talk to the CEO of Century Medical, explain the benefits of the new system and persuade him to support the initiative. Our Recommendations Based on the above analysis and the various alternatives, Sam Nolan should take the following steps – ï‚ § Sam Nolan should go ahead with the pilot implementation of the project. ï‚ § He should then present the cost-benefit analysis of the same to Tom Carr. ï‚ § Sam Nolan should use the results of the pilot project to persuade Tom Carr. He can also cite the examples of previous successful project implementations and the benefits derived from them. ï‚ § Thus Nolan should try to get a favorable response from Tom Carr.

Hamlet’s Infatuation with Death

†An Undiscover’d Country†: Hamlet’s Infatuation With Death Have you ever wondered what happens to you when you kick the bucket? Will you still be the same person? Or is death really the great equalizer? Is it possible we all end up the same? Death is a very scary and lonely thing to think about, and nothing is a greater example of that than William Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet. Hamlet is infatuated with the idea of death and what it brings. With comments like, â€Å"To die: to sleep; / No more,† (Hamlet 3. 1. 61-62) and â€Å"we fat all/ Creatures else to fat us† (4. 3. 3-24), it is clear Hamlet has a very lonely and depressing view on what happens when you bite the dust. Hamlet’s fascination with death and dismal view on it are all evident throughout the whole play. We start to learn that Hamlet has a bizarre fascination with death when, every other scene, he is talking how everyone will end up in the ground one way or anothe r. â€Å"To be or not to be – that is the question† (3. 1. 57), is where it all starts off. From this famous speech to the end of the play, all Hamlet worries about is death. He continues to go on and on about how we will all become equal and starts to wonder what it is like to die. Hamlet often talks about self-murder, or suicide, and how it will affect his afterlife if he decided to do it. HAMLET. O, that this too solid flesh would melt Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! (1. 2. 129-132) Hamlet is obviously contemplating suicide here, but then he realized that he cannot go to Heaven if he commits suicide. Going to Hell is something that Hamlet does not want at all. This is obvious because, throughout the play, Hamlet thinks about killing himself, but he never does because he is scared to die, and even worse, scared to go to Hell. The language that Hamlet uses to express death is very interesting. The way and how Hamlet talks about death all the time is extremely depressing to read and I can only imagine how it made Hamlet depressed. Hamlet often has trouble with expressing his views on death as he often has conflicting statements. Sometimes he will think of death as an adventure, â€Å"The undiscover’d country from whose bourn/ No traveller returns† (3. 1. 81-82), or he will think of it as an extremely gruesome thing, â€Å"A certain/ Convocation of politic worms are e’en at him. † (4. 3. 21-22). The way he talks about death here is cringe-worthy. Just thinking about worms chowing down on Polonius is nauseating. Hamlet does not often talk about death this way in the play, though. He is almost making a joke in this quote, but the joke is true and extremely gross. Hamlet’s view on death is very dark and grim. His believe that death makes us all equal and there is nothing we can do to prevent that. In Act Five, Hamlet is in a graveyard with Horatio and is carrying on a very dark conversation with him. Hamlet has a very interesting quote in this Act, â€Å"Alexander died, Alexander was buried, / Alexander returneth into dust† (5. 1. 189-190). This quote is about Alexander the Great, and his name should go without saying that he was a very important person. It is depressing to think about it because Alexander was a great king. But he ended up like we will all end up, and that is dust in the ground. In the same scene Hamlet drops another interesting quote, â€Å"let her paint an/ Inch thick, to this favor she must come† (5. 1. 170-171). Hamlet happens to be holding the skull of Yorick when he says this. No matter how much make-up, or paint, you put on, no matter how much you dress up and act fancy, you will still end up like Yorick. And the sad part is that there is nothing you can do to prevent it. Mortality is a very commonly thought about in this play. Hamlet is not the only character that worries about the afterlife. Almost every character in the play has a view on life and death. Their views maybe different, most are still depressing. This theme is present because Shakespeare’s view on death was depressing. Hamlet’s view on death is a direct relation to William Shakespeare’s. They both believe we will end up the same; a dead body in the ground.

Nike Case Study - 1542 Words

INTRODUCTION †¢ Kimi Ford, a portfolio manager of a large mutual fund management firm, is looking into the viability of investing in the stocks of Nike for the fund that she manages. †¢ Ford should base her decision on data on the company which were disclosed in the 2001 fiscal reports. While Nike management addressed several issues that are causing the decrease in market sales and prices of stocks, management presented its plans to improve and perform better. †¢ Third party sources also gave their opinions on whether the stock was a sound investment. WACC CALCULATION: Cost of Capital Calculations: Nike Inc Cohen calculated a weighted average cost of capital (WACC) of 8.3 percent by using the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) for†¦show more content†¦using the weights and costs of debt and equity. The formula used is: WACC = wdkd (1-T) + weke. WACC = Wd*Kd(1-T) + WeKe = 10.05%*7.51 %( 1-38%) + 89.95%*10.46% = 0.4682% + 9.4087% = 9.8767% The weighted average cost of capital for Nike Inc. is 9.8765 percent. The next model used to calculate the cost of capital is the dividend discount model. Dividend Discount Model. The assumption made with this model is that the company pays a substantial dividend, but Nike Inc. does not. Therefore, we rejected this model because it does not reflect the true cost of capital. The calculation is as follows: DDM = [Do(1+g)/Po] + g =[0.48(1+.055)/42.09] + .055 = 6.70% Earnings Capitalization Model: The final model used to compute the cost of capital was the earning capitalization model. The problem with this model is that it does not take into consideration the growth of the company. Therefore we chose to reject this calculation. The earnings capitalization model calculations were found this way: ECM = E1/Po = 232/42.09 = 5.51% Financial performance appraisal: Ratio Analysis Profitability ratios Liquidity Ratios: These ratios measure the liquidity position of the firm in question i.e its ability to meet short term obligations with short term assets. Current Asset Ratio = Current Assets/Current liabilities 2000 Current Ratio = 3596.4/2140 = 1.6 times 2001 Current Ratio = 3625.3/1786.7 = 2.03times Acid test ratioShow MoreRelatedNike Case Study1004 Words   |  5 PagesRSS Case Study: E-recruitment gets Nike on track Posted by HR Zone in Strategies on Thu, 09/12/2004 - 16:54 0 inShare The Nike employer brand is extremely powerful in attracting potential talent to the business making the process of handling applications and supporting the resourcing process effectively and efficiently critical to business success; implementing e-recruitment was identified as the way to solve this businesses hiring problems. 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