Beat by Dre Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Beat by Dre - Essay Example Beats by Dre is a brand name for speakers and headphones produced by a company called Beats Electronics. Beats by Dre has influenced the headphone market and industry by creating successful premium headphone products. According to Dr. Dre, the brand’s focus on bass was motivated by the need to allow music listeners to listen to all the music. The popularity of Beats by Dre was driven by the firm’s marketing practices. The company focused on branding, endorsement deals and product placement. Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine use celebrities and other famous personalities for brand endorsement. Beats by Dre headphones were conceptualized after Dre. Dre and Iovine identified a problem with the quality of audio products offered to customers. They identified the substandard audio quality of Apple’s headphones. Initially, Beats by Dre entered into a partnership with Monster Cable to develop and manufacture headphones and speakers. In order to promote the products, Beats by Dre relied on advertisements and product promotions by musician and rappers (Steinberg, 2014, p. 1). The headphones were also strategically placed in music videos and movies. Beats by Dre also collaborated with celebrities and musicians in order to develop co-branded products. Beats by Dre is the dominant player in the headphone market for headphones priced above $100 (Meara, 2014 p. 1). In 2014, Apple, Inc acquired Beats by Dre in a deal that was valued at $3 billion. Porter five forces is a business tool that analyzes a business situation. The tool is based on five assumptions that determine the competitive advantages or powers in a business environment. The first assumption is the threat of substitution services and products, and the second assumption is the supplier’s bargaining power. The third assumption is the buyer’s bargaining power and the fourth assumption is the threat of new entrants. The last assumption is

SLP Assignment- Trends in Health Information Systems and Applications Essay

SLP Assignment- Trends in Health Information Systems and Applications - Essay Example Today, there is a centralization of the system, making it possible for everyone on the system to receive instant messages concerning the inputs of patient care. A typical example of this is the ability for team members to receive signals of abnormal laboratory test results. Once such reports are received, they are quickly transferred to the laboratory and scan department where appropriate corrective actions are taken. The evolution has therefore been focused on portability and accessibility. In the future, informatics system in the healthcare sector is expected to be even more effective than it is now, coming in line with the Nursing Information System (NIS) standards. Research has showed that two of the best ways of enhancing existing healthcare informatics is through the expansion of storage and usability, and the improvement of security features (Institute of Medicine, (2011). These two ambitions are thus going to be the future trend for healthcare informatics as it is expected that usability will be extended even to include patient interface. For example it should be possible for patients to access basic information able their health records and trends of their health improvements. Patients should also be able to make enquiries on the system. Among the service providers also, the quantum of data that can be stored in the system and thus processed by them needs to be increased. As far as security is concerned, it will be important to ensure that information assurance is better guaranteed on the system. This should be done by ensuring that even though it will be possible for one department to access the information of another department for decision making, it should not be possible to manipulate data from an external department. All forms of hacking and hijacking of data should also be checked for information protection. Of the various trends discussed, and the prevailing

Impact of Taxation on Dividends

Impact of Taxation on Dividends Abstract: This research paper attempts to analyze the different tax systems and their impact on the dividend distributions. It is explained that the dividend payout is monotonically distributed across tax regimes as the firms in double taxation (classical) system have significantly lower payouts than companies in the partial-imputation system, while companies in the full imputation system pay the highest payouts. Our results hold when the other fundamental determinants of dividends are held through Lintnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s model and the actual payout ratio. Overall, it is reported that the type of dividend tax system affect the dividend payout. Introduction: The tax burden on dividends depends on corporate and personal income tax systems. In a classical system, the total tax is the sum of the corporation tax, the effective capital gains tax and the tax on dividends. Typically the tax on dividends exceeds the gains tax creating an incentive to reduce dividends. In an imputation system on the other hand, the total tax is given by the corporation tax plus the effective gains tax plus the reduced dividend tax. If the reduction in the tax on dividend is large enough to make reduced tax dividend lower than the effective capital gains tax, an incentive to increase dividends is created. Understanding the impact of taxes on dividend policy is important for both academicians and practitioners. From academic perspective, the relevance of taxation will highlight the extent to which companies consider the after tax return of their shareholders and how any tax reform will affect the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s dividend payouts. For practitioners, knowing how taxation affects dividends is also of considerable interest. Since shareholders are taxed differently, if stock prices reflect the tax status of one particular group of investors, other groups can take advantage of these differences by, namely trading around the ex-dividend dates to capture/avoid dividends. Moreover, understanding the impact of dividend taxation will be important for fund managers and analysts as changes in tax codes could affect the net returns and the relative pricing of securities. Most countries around the world adopt different systems of taxing dividends. Some follow a classical tax system where corporate income is treated differently from personal income in terms of statutory tax rate and deduction rules, others use some level of integration between corporate and personal income. The important distinction between these two different systems is the taxation of dividends. Countries that follow the classical system separate shareholders income from the income of their corporations. As a result the same unit of earning in the company is taxed twice when it is paid as dividend: first at the corporate level and then at the personal level; a disadvantage known as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“double taxationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. In contrast, countries that follow a more integrated system usually have a full or partial relieve from dividend tax in consideration of the fact that the same unit of earning has been taxed at the corporate level. In Pakistan, the system of double taxation (cla ssical system) is implemented i.e. the dividends are taxed on corporate level and then the same unit of earning is taxed at shareholder level. Background More than forty years ago, Miller and Modigliani (1961) showed that, after some assumptions, such as complete and perfect capital markets, a firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s dividend policy does not affect its value. While this theory has highlighted the five main factors that could affect dividends, namely signalling, agency costs, behavioral (catering and mental accounting) and taxation, the empirical evidence provided to-date on such effects is mixed, (Allen and Michaely (2006) and Graham (2003). In particular, while in theory taxation is expected to prevent companies from paying dividends, most previous empirical studies have shown that taxation plays a minor role in dividend decision (e.g. Brav et al., (2005), Fama and French (2001), Julio and Ikenberry (2005). Therefore it is not clear why companies still pay dividends despite their heavy tax burden. In this paper, the dividend tax systems is analyzed and test the hypotheses that, in countries where the tax burden on dividends is high, companies pay low dividends. Although dividends may have a tax disadvantage, previous studies show that shareholders react positively to dividend increases and negatively to dividend decreases (e.g. Michealy, Thaley and Womack (1995). Long (1978) provides evidence that in dual class shares, investors favor cash dividend over stock dividend stocks. The tax disadvantage of dividends and yet their popularity challenges the traditional policy of payout policy. Blackà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s (1976) dividend puzzle discusses the weaknesses of the finance theory in answering the simple question, why firms subject to a classical tax system to pay dividends? Some studies explain dividends away from taxes. For example Lintner (1956) in his classical study, shows that firms adopt a subjective target payout policy by decreasing dividends very slowly and hardly ever cut them. Models based on information asymmetry suggest that dividend changes provide information about the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s future cash flows (Bhattacharya (19 79) and Miller and Rock (1985) or about the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s cost of capital and/or maturity stage (Grullon, Michaely and Swaminathon (2002), Grullon and Michaely (2000). From the agency theory perspective, dividends provide a disciplining tool to reduce agency costs (Easterbrook (1984) and Jensen (1986). Behavioral finance theory suggests that dividends are paid in part to accommodate certain biases in individuals such as market sentiment (Baker and Wurgler (2004) or self control, mental accounting and regret avoidance (Shefrin and Statman (1984). Taxation moel suggests that if dividends are taxed at a higher rate than capital gains, firms should prefer to retain earnings or buy back shares (e.g. Auerbach (1979), Bradford (1981) , Auerbach and Hasset (2003), Lasfer (1996). Literature Review: To assess the impact of dividend tax on investment and financial policy of the firm, the literature has followed three basic approaches. The first approach is to examine the relation between the risk-adjusted pretax rate of return and dividend yield. If dividend tax is relevant and if dividends are taxed at a higher rate than capital gain, than pretax return should increase in proportion to dividend yield to compensate for dividend tax disadvantage. Black and Scholes (1974), Gordon and Bradford (1980), and Miller and Scholes (1982) did not find evidence that the tax differential between dividends and capital gain have an impact on pretax returns, while Lintzenburger and Ramaswamy (1979) find evidence to the contrary. The second approach is to examine the ex-dividend behavior of stock prices. Absent dividend tax, the value of a stock should fall by the full amount of the dividend on the ex-dividend day. Elton and Gruber (1970) provide evidence that US stock prices fall by less than th e full amount of the dividends on the ex-dividend day. Poterba and Summers (1985) and Lasfer (1996) show similar results. Other studies did not find evidence that the tax differential between dividends and capital gains have an impact on the ex-dividend behavior, for example, Hearth and Rimbey (1993), Lakonishok and Vermaelen (1983). The third approach is to employ event study analysis. Changes in tax laws provide a natural experiment for investigating the impact of dividend tax on investment and financial decision. Poterba and Summers (1985) show that higher dividend tax is associated with lower investment and dividends. Poterba (2004) study shows that the tax disadvantage relative to capital gains has a negative effect on dividend payment. Blouin et al. (2004) study the impact of the 2003 tax reduction in the US and find dramatic increase in the regular dividends and the special dividends after enactment and a decline in the share repurchases. Chetty and Saez (2004) report on incr ease in the fraction of dividend payers following the 2003 dividend tax reduction. In Pakistan the system of double taxation is implemented on dividends, its comparison with countries implying other system of taxations is studied. Objectives: The objectives of this research paper are to find out the impact of taxation on dividend policy and its impact on the financial and investment decision of the firms. Research Question: Is the dividend payout ratio of firms in full or partial integration system higher than the dividend payout ratio of firms in double taxation system? Theoretical Framework: Dividend Payout Taxation (Independent Variable) (Independent Variable) (Dependent Variable) Hypotheses: H1: Dividend payout ratio is higher in full and partial integration systems than in classical system of taxation. H2: Dividend payout ratio is NOT higher in full and partial integration systems than in classical system of taxation. Hypotheses Testing: Unlike the full integration system, the classical system carries with it a disadvantage of double taxation. If tax on dividends has an impact on the financial policy of the firm, then firms in classical system will lower or avoid dividends as much as they can, while firms in full integration systems will not have to lower their dividends. Thus the hypothesis H1 is expected to be true. System No. of Firm Observations Net Tax Rate on Dividend (%)* Payout Ratio =DPS/EPS* Classical System 18 50% 0.32 Partial 15 42% 0.45 Full 17 35% 0.47 * = Subject to 10% level of significance Research Methodology: Population: Population includes observations that have been collected randomly from firms in 6 countries representing all the three types of taxation systems. Sample: It includes 50 observations, i.e. data has been collected randomly from 50 firms representing all the three taxation systems. Sources of Data Collection: The annual OECD tax database Corporate and Individual Taxes, A Worldwide Summary, Price Waterhouse Conclusions: The dividend payout policy of companies was analyzed that applies different tax systems with regard to dividends. It is found that companies located in countries that apply double taxation system (classical tax system) to have less dividend payout than do companies located in countries that try to partially avoid double taxation. In general, tax effect measured by the type of dividend tax treatment has a strong effect on the size of dividend payout.

Nuclear Power Essay -- Energy

Nuclear power is a technology that has enormous benefits for humankind. As the demand for energy is only continuing to grow, it has become important to develop energy technology that has good yield and minimal negative side effects. After the harnessing of the atom for use in nuclear weapons, the knowledge of how to exploit the atom became incorporated in nuclear power plants (Corradini 1). These use uranium fuel in a process that releases tremendous amounts of energy to be captured, but also that creates minimal waste and other byproducts. Despite these, the benefits of nuclear energy outweigh any disadvantages, as seen by its high energy output, reliability, and minimal environmental impact when compared to energy sources such as fossil fuels. Due in large part to its high energy output, nuclear power is a feasible and practical technology for meeting the world’s energy needs. For example, global energy demand has been continually increasing, with a 66% growth between 1980 and 2007; this demand is expected to increase by 40% by 2030 (World-Nuclear.org). As a testament to nuclear power’s utility as an energy source, it currently provides a large amount of global electricity: nuclear power met 20% of the global demand of electricity as of 2008 (Abu-Khader). This power generation is spread across 30 countries and is a result of 436 nuclear power plants (Adamantiades). The 20% figure also represents the United States’ dependence on nuclear power for generating its electricity. France, however, has a drastically higher dependence on this type of energy source due to its economic practicality, relying on it to meet 80% of its electricity demand (Mufson). Other countries like France include: Lithuania, Slovakia, and Belgium... ...r. 2012. Adamantiades, A., and I. Kessides. "Nuclear Power for Sustainable Development: Current Status and Future Prospects." Energy Policy (2009). ScienceDirect. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. Connor, Steve. "Nuclear Power? Yes Please..." The Independent. The Independent, 23 Feb. 2009. Web. 2 Apr. 2012. Corradini, Michael. "Nuclear Energy." World Book Student. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. Mufson, Steven. "Nuclear Power Primed for Comeback." The Washington Post. The Washington Post, 8 Oct. 2007. Web. 3 Apr. 2012. Niiler, Eric. "Is Thorium the Future of Nuclear Power?" MSNBC.com. MSNBC, 07 Oct. 2011. Web. 04 May 2012. Reiss, Spencer. "Face It. Nukes Are the Most Climate-Friendly Industrial-Scale Form of Energy." Wired Magazine. Condà © Naste, 19 May 2008. Web. 3 Apr. 2012. "World Energy Needs and Nuclear Power." World-Nuclear.org. World Nuclear Association, Dec. 2011. Web. 5 Apr. 2012. Nuclear Power Essay -- Energy Nuclear power is a technology that has enormous benefits for humankind. As the demand for energy is only continuing to grow, it has become important to develop energy technology that has good yield and minimal negative side effects. After the harnessing of the atom for use in nuclear weapons, the knowledge of how to exploit the atom became incorporated in nuclear power plants (Corradini 1). These use uranium fuel in a process that releases tremendous amounts of energy to be captured, but also that creates minimal waste and other byproducts. Despite these, the benefits of nuclear energy outweigh any disadvantages, as seen by its high energy output, reliability, and minimal environmental impact when compared to energy sources such as fossil fuels. Due in large part to its high energy output, nuclear power is a feasible and practical technology for meeting the world’s energy needs. For example, global energy demand has been continually increasing, with a 66% growth between 1980 and 2007; this demand is expected to increase by 40% by 2030 (World-Nuclear.org). As a testament to nuclear power’s utility as an energy source, it currently provides a large amount of global electricity: nuclear power met 20% of the global demand of electricity as of 2008 (Abu-Khader). This power generation is spread across 30 countries and is a result of 436 nuclear power plants (Adamantiades). The 20% figure also represents the United States’ dependence on nuclear power for generating its electricity. France, however, has a drastically higher dependence on this type of energy source due to its economic practicality, relying on it to meet 80% of its electricity demand (Mufson). Other countries like France include: Lithuania, Slovakia, and Belgium... ...r. 2012. Adamantiades, A., and I. Kessides. "Nuclear Power for Sustainable Development: Current Status and Future Prospects." Energy Policy (2009). ScienceDirect. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. Connor, Steve. "Nuclear Power? Yes Please..." The Independent. The Independent, 23 Feb. 2009. Web. 2 Apr. 2012. Corradini, Michael. "Nuclear Energy." World Book Student. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. Mufson, Steven. "Nuclear Power Primed for Comeback." The Washington Post. The Washington Post, 8 Oct. 2007. Web. 3 Apr. 2012. Niiler, Eric. "Is Thorium the Future of Nuclear Power?" MSNBC.com. MSNBC, 07 Oct. 2011. Web. 04 May 2012. Reiss, Spencer. "Face It. Nukes Are the Most Climate-Friendly Industrial-Scale Form of Energy." Wired Magazine. Condà © Naste, 19 May 2008. Web. 3 Apr. 2012. "World Energy Needs and Nuclear Power." World-Nuclear.org. World Nuclear Association, Dec. 2011. Web. 5 Apr. 2012.

Hamel & Prahalad: Core Competency

Business performance was primary based on the position of an organization in its industry and this view was criticized by Hamel and Prahalad as no common goal or corporation existed between the units. Alternatively, Porter believes that an organization should be viewed as individual business units. However, he does consider sharing resources between them which earlier idea planning ignore. This essay is going to discuss what competency is and compare with portfolio of individual business units. A core competency is something a firm can do well and meets the following three conditions pointed out by Hamel and Prahalad.Firstly, it can provide customers benefits. Secondly, it is hard for competitors to imitate. Finally, it can be use widely in many products and markets. Hamel and Prahalad introduced this concept in 1990 Harvard Business Review article. A core competency is a bundle of skills and technologies for a firm to provide customers benefits. Sony is an example use this idea, Son y must ensure that technologists, engineers and markets have a share understanding of customers need and of technological possibilities. There are three test must meet when firm consider to use core competency as a management strategy.These three test are can provide customer benefits, hard for competitors to imitate and can used widely in the market and product. There are many companies have the potential to build core competency but failed to do so because the top management are unable to conceive the company as anything other than collection of discrete business. Hamel and Prahalad define a business unit as focusing on end products or markets. However, the core competency is not product specific. It can be seen in broad sense which offering a wide rang of competitive advantages.For example, ‘user friendliness’ at Apple Company. Core competency can be enhanced when it is being applied and shared, but it still needs to be nurtured and protected. Core competency is the glue that binds existing business. It is also the engine for new business development. Porter’s view of positioning, cost leadership and differentiation are all based on the final product. This is also the reason why Hamel and Prahalad and Porter have different views on whether the competency as a portfolio of core competency rather than as a portfolio of individual business units.Hamel and Prahalad opinion is that competition is base on core competency much more than product. Glaxo is a company that supports Hamel and Prahalad’s idea. It suggests that if and organization is viewed as separate business focusing on the end product, future opportunities may be missed. Once the existing markets become matured and become a commodity if no new products have been envisaged. It is hard to maintain a core competitive advantage. However, if the organization based itself on core competency they to not diminish, the more they are applied, the more useful they will become.The view of core competency is towards the future, while competition for individual business units focusing on end products is about the present. Considering the organization as a portfolio of core competency take an inside out approach. Hamel and Prahalad’s view only focus on internal analysis of the organization but not the external environment. However, the alternative view is the market based view taken by theorists such as Porter. This supports that in order to gain a competitive advantage, the organization needs to find a successful position for the product or service within the market.This takes an outside in approach as it is based on positioning and then reviewing the organizations value chain to accommodate the external requirements. To sum up, it is very important and essential for a firm to build core competency. Core competency can bring several advantages and allow future opportunities to be identified as skills from different business units and can be combined to creat e new products. It is also a long term strategy and should be combined with the focus on end product to achieve competitive advantage.

Current Market Conditions Competitive Analysis (Apple vs Samsung)

The marginal product of labor varies depending on the number of products a company is currently making such as cell phones, and tablets. This company is equipped with multiplies of workers to use all there equipment weather it’s their children or themselves. When the corporation doesn't have sufficient labors to custom all of its tools, an extra worker can harvest many more substances with its current equipment such as the tablet in this case or the Galaxy phones, so the marginal product of labor is high. If Samsung have more workers that the machine it produces by hiring more people, so the marginal product of labor is lower, which is known as the law of diminishing returns.The amount of demand by any service that Samsung and Apple is significant to the amount of the services that the buyers are willing and able to purchase. But really these two companies are competing in the tablets and the IPhones all the other brands are just added benefits to the company to make more prof its. The amount that these two companies fund whether it is goods or services is the amount that they are willing and able to make profit. While Samsung have a wide range of cell phones Apple only has the IPhones but they both have services to make these device work.Now that we have understood the supply and demand for these products and services, we need to determine the value and the amount of the goods and services sold to the community. Finding the equilibrium price which is the amount of the goods that people who are willing and can afford to buy. Both of these companies have both cell phones and tables/ IPads. IN the world we live in today cell phone are a must especially if you have children.There are schools as well as business that require the students to have IPads which is what’s being giving out in the schools then you have employments that require there workers to have cell phones. Cell phones and tablet from Samsung are the products that customers buy because Ap ple is overpriced and many people can afford to buy their goods.