How Successful A Business Or An Entrepreneurial Decision

Introduction Surviving in a competitive market nowadays has become increasingly difficult. According to Kelly (2013), almost 90% of new start-ups fail and don’t make it to their second year. Some of those businesses have overly ambitious goals, while others are simple and just aim to survive. So what criterion do we use if we are to judge the soundness of the entrepreneurial decision? Do successful businesses have the distinct characteristic of achieving profits? And are the most successful of companies the ones that attain the highest profits? Or is it that we need to take other factors into account when assessing the successfulness of a company? These are the kinds of questions that this paper will be trying to answer in order to reflect on the different ways and approaches we go about assessing how successful a business or an entrepreneurial decision is. Rational Choice It is without a doubt that financial analysis and profitability ratios are key performance indicators and perhaps the first that pop to mind when thinking of the successfulness of a venture (PwC, 2007). They are in fact the easiest to use in order to judge how good the company has been performing with regards to selling their goods/services with a profitable margin. For instance, Reid and Smith (2000) conducted a research with 150 new small sized companies and tried to cluster them into high, medium and low performing organizations according to certain characteristics ofShow MoreRelatedThe Practice Of Entrepreneurship Through Time And The Global Enterprise1642 Words   |  7 Pagesof self-esteem and self-efficacy reduces the competence in decision making. Delgado-Garcia, Rodriguez-Escudero, and Martin-Cruz (2012) maintained that negative self-esteem increased negative mood and limited options. 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First, I will compare and contrast with the U.S.A the standards of ethical practice in Spain for evaluating business decisions. Second, I will discuss the forms of business in Spain, and compare and contrast these to the United States. Third, describe entrepreneurial activities needed for success in that market structure. Final, compare and contrast the U.S.A and the Spain economies. Spain is a cultural superpower, despite the differences

How Loss And Death Affect The Lyric And Sonnet - 990 Words

This source discussed the sonnet and lyric (the basis of my project.) It states that a lyric is the genre of internal and individualized emotions. It’s seen as a moment of â€Å"personal experience.† (33) The traditional emotion that is associated with the sonnet is love. Both the lyric and the sonnet are connected with song and music. I want to go more in-depth on how loss and death can affect the lyric and sonnet as well, without going into elegy land. This source was very informative on the basics of a sonnet and a lyric—such as how the sonnet has a twist and the lyric is more problematic than one would think. What more goes into a lyric then? (MAYBE) The approach this source is taking is showing the ways a sonnet represents and doesn’t represent a lyric. How exactly are they different and the same? Sonnets are a lyric because of the emotional base put into them. It mentions that in the Romantic peiord, sonnets were not blank-verse and strayed from the conventional form. They used everyday language. That brings up the question as to how did that incorporate into Keats’ sonnets? This source also begs the question, which I agree with, â€Å"who determines when something is a lyric or a sonnet?† (28) The lyric was something that could be private or social. What made a sonnet more intimate between reader and poet (though many sonnets were published in newspapers, especially during the Romantic period.) The length can prove to be a problem for sonnets is an issue that this sourceShow MoreRelatedCompare How the Theme of Love Is Presented in a Selection of Pre-1914 Poetry7665 Words   |  31 PagesCompare how the theme of love is presented in a selection of pre-1914 poetry The theme of love is a universal, timeless issue that has always been discussed and forever will be. People are searching for the true meaning of love and how it is different from person to person and from race to race. Everyone is amazed by how love can make people experience so many emotions and how love can bring sadness and happiness and confusion. ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ By John Keats and ‘Porphyria’s Lover’Read MoreHenry Wadsworth Longfellow2130 Words   |  8 Pages Many people in today’s society tend to only listen to the beat of the song rather than the meaning, and vise versa. They either like the lyrics or like the beat and do not fully understand the meaning. For example, Foster the People’s â€Å"Pumped Up Kicks† is a very catchy song with a good chorus but the meaning is misconstrued. The meaning and the musicality is not intertwined. It is a song about a a disturbed kid going on a killing spree. Unlike Fos ter the People, people adore Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead MoreLet Majorship English4572 Words   |  19 Pagesallegory 4. In the Iliad, whose death brought Achilles much sorrow and grief? A. Patroclus C. Nestor B. Thesthor D. Menelaus 5. Donne’s poems can best be described as _____________________ A. intellectual C. philosophical B. lyrical D. emotional 6. In Zeus’ plan, what is it that comes from suffering? A. The ecstasy of truth C. The certainty of more suffering B. Understanding and progress D. The consolation of death 7. In whose reign was the ChristianRead More William Wordsworth Essay3686 Words   |  15 Pagesunprecedented through out the world. William born at Cockermouth in the Lake District of Cumberland, England to John and Anne Cookson Wordsworth, on April 7th of 1770. Unfortunately Wordsworth lost his mother at the early age of eight, and the loss of his father five years later made him depend on his uncle for a good education. Schooling at Hawkshead was followed by matriculation at Cambridge University, where he entered St. Johns college in 1787. Upon Graduation he revisited his belovedRead MoreThings Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe3287 Words   |  14 PagesThings Fall Apart was first published in 1958 and narrates the fall of a great Ibo (Nigerian) warrior, Okwonko, after the arrival of white colonialists. Tony Harrison’s Selected Poems was published in 2006 and includes poems taken from his renowned sonnet sequence School of Eloquence, which draw upon Harrison’s own upbringing and pay tribute to the challenges of the British working class. Finally William Golding’s dystopian novel Lord of the Flies, first published in 1954, is about the struggle facedRead MoreThomas Hardy Poems16083 Words   |  65 Pagesvengeful god would call to me From up the sky, and laugh: Thou suffering thing, Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy, That thy love s loss is my hate s profiting! Then would I bear, and clench myself, and die, Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited; Half-eased, too, that a Powerfuller than I Had willed and meted me the tears I shed. But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain, And why unblooms the best hope ever sown? --Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain, And dicing Time for

Accounting Ethics Essay Example For Students

Accounting Ethics Essay When examining the effect of open marketing on the profession of accounting it is important to view it from three perspectives: the clients, the professions, and societys. Additionally, two key areas that are affected by marketing must be addressed, these are concerning competition, and ethical implications. Marketing in public accounting is here to stay therefore making an argument against its existence would be fruitless; however, in order to achieve maximum benefit to the firm, the client, and society more stringent guidelines must be implemented at the firm level.The first, and most obvious, of the effected areas is competition. Within competition several points are discussed. First, the implications advertising has on public accounting the model of perfect competition versus the model of monopolistic competition. Secondly, the relationship between firm size and advertising expenditures. Thirdly, the effect of advertising on firm specialization, the implications of client turnover on public accounting practice. Before making the comparison, a brief explanation why the two models are chosen is in order. Monopolistic competition has been chosen for the pre-advertising era because it most closely resembles the market structure in an extreme sense. The elements of monopolistic competition are as follows: product differentiation, the presence of large numbers of sellers, and nonprice competition. Although accounting services between firms offer very little service differentiation, the absence of advertising serves as a replacement because clients are not necessarily aware that other options are easily attainable. The post-advertising era is explained through the model of perfect competition for which the qualifications are as follows: very little or no service differentation, many sellers, and price as the only means of distinguishing one firms service from anothers. In a perfectly competitive market the price of a particular service is established solely by the interaction of market demand and supply. (Thompson p.277) When market demand for accounting services increases the resulting demand shifts right causing prices to increase returning the market back to equilibrium. However when supply increases, such is the theoretical effect of adding advertisement to public accounting practice, the supply curve shifts right causing prices to fall. The model of monopolistic competition is also price sensitive, however only at the firm level. For example, the CPA firm of XYZ has an established clientele base and uses referrals as its sole means of growth. They increase prices only as their cost of providing the service increases and therefore are able to maintain their client base. In this example a gently downsloping demand curve exists (Thompson p. 304) causing only drastic changes in pricing to send their client base shopping for a new firm. The result is XYZ can continue to grow by practicing fair pricing and providing a reputable service. Cut rate pricing only marginally effects their client base because there is little means to make their pricing publicly known, and only drastic, unwarranted increases sends clients packing.Conversely, in the post-advertising era, XYZ must always be aware of market pricing because the demand curve is steeper and more volatile. Therefore the client base of XYZ is not stable as in the previous example and measures must be taken to keep prices competitive with other firms regardless of cost inferences. The result is the necessity of a more aggressive policy regarding new client recruiting and a higher turnover of existing clients. Now that the differences are established, the resulting issues in public accounting can be discussed. The first area deserving discussion is the relationship between firm size and advertising expenditures. A study made of CPA firms in Britain in 1985 asserted the most dramatic contrast between advertisers and non-advertisers was their size. (ODonohoe p.122) The obvious reason for this anomaly is availability of resources. Larger firms have, at their disposal, a much larger profit level; therefore advertising expense is easily included only marginally affecting bottom line. Listening Essay Previously, firms worked mostly with longstanding clients and the relationship developed. The second major area of ethical effect is that of integrity. Competition has resulted in some firms damaging the integrity of the profession. This damage has occurred mainly through pricing practices. Two deviant practices have become commonplace in todays market. These are below cost pricing, and discount pricing. Many firms have adopted policies of below cost pricing as a tool of market penetration, (Formichella p.199) implications regarding the motives and integrity of these firms must be explored. Is it reasonable to assume that a firm would be willing to absorb a loss from an engagement, or would a more practical assumption state that firms which lowball would seek means to cut service costs at the expense of quality? It is not possible to answer this question; however its mere existence creates a damaging effect on the integrity, or at least perceived integrity, of the profession. The second pricing strategy which is cut-rate pricing provokes similar questions. In his commentary Mario Formichella states the following: It is no longer unusual to find firms willing to take on work at substantial discounts from standard fee levels. While there may be justifications for performing services at reduced rates during off-peak periods in special situations such as for non-profit institutions or similar organizations, the extent to which this practice has grown cannot be justified on any logical or professional basis. (Formichella p. 81) The distaste shown by Mr. Formichella in the area of cut-rate pricing shows it as an issue of concern and one which damages integrity. Mr. Formichella goes on to call for the implementation of professional standards to prohibit actions such as this which are damaging to the image and integrity of the profession. One would have to agree with his statement; however difficulties arise, in the area of monopolistic activity when guidelines are established regarding pricing strategies across an industry. Unfortunately the profession must rely on the integrity of individual firms to guard against this strategy. As a result, this is a practice likely to continue, albeit damaging to the profession and those which rely on the statements made by the profession. The existence of advertising in public accounting creates a new environment to which firms are still adapting. This new environment is largely the result of increased competition and a clientele which is increasingly more bottom line oriented. In order to compete firms must place more emphasis on marketing and accept it as a cost of doing business. The result of this will be more difficult penetration and an increasingly limited number of small firms in the business. Market pressures also are forcing creating situations where ethical issues such as independence and integrity are questioned making it imperative that the AICPA create guidelines from which the evolving profession must base itself. In the age of deregulation accounting jumped on the boat, now it is becoming increasingly fashionable to re-regulate, accounting, as a profession must not miss that boat, lest they drown in the result government intervention.

Second Treatise Of Government By John Locke Essays - Philosophy

Second Treatise Of Government By John Locke n the Second Treatise of Government by John Locke, he writes about the right to private property. In the chapter which is titled ?Of Property? he tells how the right to private property originated, the role it plays in the state of nature, the limitations that are set on the rights of private property, the role the invention of money played in property rights and the role property rights play after the establishment of government.. In this chapter Locke makes significant points about private property. In this paper I will summarize his analysis of the right to private property, and I will give my opinion on some of the points Locke makes in his book. According to Locke, the right to private property originated when God gave the world to men. Locke makes the argument that when God created the world for man, he gave man reason to make use of the world to the best advantage of life, and convenience. What he means by that is, that God made this world for man, and when he made it he gave man the right to use what is in this world to his benefit. Locke explains that every man has property in his own person, and that nobody has any right to that property but that person. The author states that ?whatsoever then he removes out of the state of nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property (Locke pg. 19)?. What Locke means by that statement is that once a person removes something out of its original state of nature that something becomes that persons property. After someone gains this property are there any limitations on that property? Locke believes that there are limitations on that property. Locke believes that God has given us all things richly, and that man may use those things as long as he takes what he needs. Men can have property as long as they obtained it rightfully, and as long as they use discretion. If those limitations were overlooked when the person was ge tting the property the property was not obtained rightfully. In the chapter the rights of property, Locke tells the role that the invention of money plays in property rights. Money was invented because people were abusing their property rights. With the creation of money things were given value, and this invention prevented people from taking more than they could afford. Money was an invention that men could keep without spoiling. Men could exchange money for truly useful, but perishable supports of life. This invention plays a big role in the property rights. Now that there is money people have to use that money to get what they need instead of taking whatever they want as was the case before the invention of money. According to Locke, individual property rights change after government was established. He believes that in governments, the laws regulate the right of property, and the possession of land is determined by positive constitutions. Before the establishment of government A mericans had the rights to property as long as they used it before it spoiled, and as long as they didn't take more than they needed, and as long as they obtained it rightfully. After government, there were laws and restrictions pertaining to property. These laws and restrictions were established to secure protection of those who had property. I believe that some of Locke's views on the rights to private property are right. I agree with his thoughts of the way property rights originated, the limitations he said were placed on property rights, and his thoughts of why money was invented. I also agree with his take on the role property rights played after government was established. I think that government plays a very important part in the protection of property. Without the laws that are made by the government there would be many problems with property rights. People still have the right to have any property they want as long as they can afford it and as long as it is obtained proper ly.