The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield - Review

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield is a rich story about secrets, ghosts, winter, books, and family. This bestseller is a book lovers book, with much of the action taking place in libraries and book stores, and the line between fact and fiction constantly blurred. It is hard to believe this is Setterfields debut novel, for she makes the words come to life with such skill that some passages even gave me chills. With a mug of cocoa and The Thirteenth Tale, contentment isnt far away. Synopsis of The Thirteenth Tale Margaret Lea works in her fathers bookstore and is haunted by a loss in her past.One night Margaret is summoned to the home of the most famous author in England to record her autobiography.Vida Winter, the author, tells a layered tale, with stories within stories, keeping Margaret (and readers) curious. Pros The writing is poetic.The characters are unique.The story is interesting, imaginative, and exciting. Cons You will want to drink lots of cocoa while reading (this is only a con for the weight conscious). The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield - Book Review The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield is reminiscent of classic British novels, like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. It has tragedy, romance, moors, and dark, stormy nights. In a way, The Thirteenth Tale is a homage to these and all other great works of literature. The power of books and stories is foremost in the novel, and as the main character gets lost in one story, youll find yourself lost with her in the story within a story (as well as the story surrounding the characters story). This is not a realistic book. It isnt meant to be. The aura of fairytale lends power and mystery to the writing. While place is utterly important to the book, time is not. Dont  try too hard to figure out when the novel is supposed to take place. It could just as easily have been now as a hundred years ago. Perhaps all this talk about place, time and story seems roundabout to you. Perhaps you want a synopsis of plot and a straightforward review so that you can decide whether to read this book. Heres what to expect: A good story written by a very good writer about a good story told by a very good writer. This can be a fun read for a book discussion club, especially for the autumn and winter months. See a list of questions you can explore with your book club for The Thirteenth Tale.  The audiobook version is well-received for those who prefer to listen rather than read. The book was adapted for a UK TV movie released in December 2013, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Olivia Colman. Setterfields second novel, Bellman Black, (2013) does not garner as good of reviews. Hopefully, her further works will be back up to the standard she set with her first.

Travel Back To New York City During The 1920S, A Melting

Travel back to New York city during the 1920s, a melting pot of culture, a place where new ideas, technology and business mix and mingle into a metropolitan jungle, where dreams are made and stars are born. During this era, in a small neighborhood on the island of Manhattan, an explosion occurs that would forever change the course of history. The explosion would liberate an entire race that had been ignored for centuries into a new era! The explosion was known as the Harlem Renaissance. It was during this time black culture was freely expressed and openly excepted by the mainstream white culture. Today, the culture is still openly expressed but there is a sense of segregation. It affects our culture to this day! Television programs are†¦show more content†¦Music changed through the Renaissance as well, picking up a new flavor from the black community. Jazz originated in New Orleans and traveled north to Harlem. Black musicians enjoyed the sounds of jazz and its sorrows. Mus icians capitalized on the sound, adding in personal stories of struggle, love, and faith. These musicians took their talents to the night clubs of Harlem; some places became famous like the Cotton Club. White musicians joined black jazz bands, and for the first-time multiracial bands were formed (Carney). One of the most famous musicians to come out of the Renaissance was a trumpet by the name of Louis Armstrong. â€Å"Having come from a poor family in New Orleans, Armstrong began to perform with bands in small clubs and play at funerals and parades around town in New Orleans† (Burns). Due to the mixing of races, race relations got better and people came together to appreciate the talents of others, race didn’t matter! Today race in America is a highly controversial topic. It seems that every day we turn on the news, it’s a story about protest or police brutality. Hundreds of black men and women have been killed due to racial discrimination. 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Company comparison Tesco and Panda Free Essays

string(169) " control throughout the Group, approving the Group’s accounting policies and reviewing the interim and annual financial statements before submission to the Board\." After doing some research, I decided to choose two companies as the organizations to be compared in the written submission, which are Tesco and Panda. In this log-book, the information I gather will be printed in italic, and my personal opinion will be written in 14 point font size with underline. I get most of the information from the internet, besides, I get some information from the email which the companies’ official website, press and the magazines. We will write a custom essay sample on Company comparison: Tesco and Panda or any similar topic only for you Order Now Tesco operates 2,291 stores around the world and employs 296,000 people. We have grown from a domestic retailer, to an International Group, through our organic growth programme. This year, all four parts of the Tesco strategy, the core UK business, non-food, retailing services and international, have increased in profitability. Retailing services Tesco personal finance, established in 1997, now has over 3.4 million customer accounts and 15 products and services. It achieved profits of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½96m in 2003 (Tesco share à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½48m). Tesco.com is the largest grocery e-tailer in the world and achieved a profit of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½12m in 2003. We announced recently that we would launch a fixed line phone service in the summer of 2003. Non-food Half of our UK new space opened this year has been for non-food and the result has been to grow our market share to 5%. By analyzing the above information, we can have an overview of the company. It is clear that Tesco is a large-sized organization, which has grown from a domestic retailer, to an International Group. How did Tesco make it? This is the question I have got after reading above information. This part shows some operational details of the company, for example, the employee numbers, age structure, the ownership of the firm, etc. STATEMENT OF APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES OF THE COMBINED CODE The Group is committed to high standards of corporate governance. This statement describes the manner in which the company has applied the principles set out in the Combined Code on Corporate Governance. DIRECTORS AND THE BOARD The Board of Tesco PLC comprises eight Executive Directors and six independent Non-executive Directors. The Chairman, Mr. J A Gardiner, is an independent Non-executive Director who has a primary responsibility of running the Board. The Chief Executive, Sir Terry Leahy, has executive responsibilities for the operations, results and strategic development of the Group. Clear divisions of accountability and responsibility exist and operate effectively for these positions. In addition, Mr. G F Pimlott is the senior Non-executive Director. The Board ensures that no one individual or group dominates the decision-making process. Since the year-end, the Board has announced its succession plans for the retirement of Mr. J A Gardiner in March 2004. The full Board meets at least ten times a year and annually devotes two days to a conference with senior executives on longer-term planning, giving consideration both to the opportunities and risks of future strategy. The Board manages overall control of the Group’s affairs by the schedule of matters reserved for its decision. In so far as corporate governance is concerned, these include the approval of financial statements, major acquisitions and disposals, authority levels for expenditure, treasury policies, risk management, Group governance policies and succession plans for senior executives. To enable the Board to make considered decisions, a written protocol exists and has been communicated to senior managers ensuring that relevant information is made available to all Board members in advance of Board meetings. All Directors have access to the services of the Company Secretary and may take independent professional advice at the company’s expense in the furtherance of their duties. The need for Director training is regularly assessed by the company. The above information shows a part of operational details of the organization. This part explained the board of Tesco and its operation, for example, the full board meet at least ten times a year and have some more conference as well, this is very logical, All Directors may take independent professional advice at the company’s expense in the furtherance of their duties. GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES The following paragraphs describe the key governance structures operating in the Group under the overall direction of the Board. Executive Committee The Board delegates day-to-day and business management control to the Executive Committee, which comprises the Executive Directors. This meets formally every week and its decisions are communicated throughout the Group on a regular basis. The Executive Committee is responsible for implementing Group policy, the monitoring and performance of the business and reporting to the full Board thereon. Nominations Committee Appointments to the Board for both Executive and Non-executive Directors are the responsibility of the Nominations Committee which is chaired by Mr. J A Gardiner and whose members are set out in the table at the bottom of this page. As exemplified by the section on ‘Directors and their interests’ within the Directors’ report on pages 5 and 6 of the 2003 annual report, the company’s Articles of Association ensure that on a rotational basis Directors resign every three years and, if they so desire and are eligible, offer themselves for re-election. Remuneration Committee The Remuneration Committee, composed entirely of Non-executive Directors, is chaired by Mr. C L Allen. The members are set out in the table at the bottom of this page. The responsibilities of the Remuneration Committee, together with an explanation of how it applies the Directors’ remuneration principles of the Combined Code, are set out in the report of the Directors on remuneration on pages 12 to 21 of the 2003 annual report. Audit Committee The Board has an Audit Committee, chaired by Mr. G F Pimlott and consisting entirely of Nonexecutive Directors, which meets a minimum of three times a year. Membership of the Audit Committee is set out in the table at the bottom of this page. Its terms of reference are reviewed annually and represent current best practice. The Committee’s primary responsibilities include monitoring the system of internal control throughout the Group, approving the Group’s accounting policies and reviewing the interim and annual financial statements before submission to the Board. You read "Company comparison: Tesco and Panda" in category "Papers" The Committee will be undertaking an assessment of the Group’s position in relation to the Financial Reporting Council guidelines for strengthening the Combined Code, issued recently as the ‘Smith Report’, although it is believed that the Group already comply substantially with the proposals. The review will also cover the role and effectiveness of the Non-executive Directors as set out in the ‘Higgs Report’. Compliance Committee The Compliance Committee ensures that the Board discharges its obligations to comply with all necessary laws and regulations. It has established a schedule for the regular review of the Group’s operational activities to ensure compliance with accepted practices and policies. The Committee, comprising two Executive Directors and three members of senior management, normally meets four times a year. Some functional details are given in this part: the structure of management. There are five kind of committee; each one has its own duty, and they operate very well when they work together. The logical structure is another reason of Tesco’s success. As different type of organizations, there must be differences between the management structure of Tesco and Panda, I will compare them in the written submission. INTERNAL CONTROL AND RISK MANAGEMENT The Board has overall responsibility for internal control, including risk management, and sets appropriate policies having regard to the objectives of the Group. Executive management has the responsibility for the identification, evaluation and management of financial and non-financial risks and for the implementation and maintenance of control systems in accordance with the Board’s policies. The Board, through the Audit Committee, has reviewed the effectiveness of the systems of internal control for the accounting year and the period to the date of approval of the financial statements, although it should be understood that such systems are designed to provide reasonable but not absolute assurance against material misstatement or loss. Internal control environment The Group operates an objectives-driven approach aimed at satisfying its core purpose that translates into a rolling five-year business plan. The plan covers both revenue and capital expenditure and forms the basis of business plans for all our business entities. From this the Board, together with monitoring regimes based upon our Steering Wheel, agrees the annual revenue and capital budgets. The Steering Wheel is the term used to describe our balanced scorecard approach, which we believe is the best way to achieve results for our shareholders. It sets out a broad range of targets under quadrant headings of customers, operations, people and finance. This allows the business to be operated and monitored on a balanced basis with due regard for all stakeholders. The Board undertakes a formal review of progress on a quarterly basis and any resulting actions considered appropriate are communicated throughout the business. The capital investment programme is subject to formalised review procedures requiring key criteria to be met. All major initiatives require business cases to be prepared, normally covering a minimum period of five years. Post-investment appraisals are also carried out. Risk management process At the highest level, the Board considers strategic risk every time it meets. The two-day Board Conference, referred to earlier, considers where future opportunities and risks lie and helps shape our corporate strategy going forward. Accountabilities for managing operational risks are clearly assigned to line management. Internal controls have been developed over all risks in line with the risk appetite determined by the Board and are subject to review. Formal risk assessments are carried out routinely throughout the business. Procedures exist to ensure that significant risks and control failures are escalated to senior management and the Board, as necessary, on a daily, weekly and periodic basis. What is the aim of these strategies? Does Panda have the similar management process? If not, how does it deal with the same problem? Monitoring The monitoring of strategic and operational risks are responsibilities of the Board and line managers respectively. The Board maintains the Key Risk Register and considers at their formal risk assessments whether the actions being taken in mitigation are sufficient. The Internal Audit function also operates on a risk-based approach helping managers with their risk responsibilities and advising on appropriate controls. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, our external auditors, contribute a further independent perspective on certain aspects of the internal financial control system arising from their work. Independence is strengthened by an agreement to rotate audit partners every five years. The engagement of auditors is considered annually by the Audit Committee. Annual statements received from CEOs further support the monitoring of key subsidiary operations. These statements confirm that the Board’s governance policies have been adopted in practice and spirit. Overall, the Audit Committee seeks to ensure that the whole management process provides adequate control over all major risks to the Group. This is achieved through consideration of regular reports from internal and external audit alongside discussions with senior managers. Other specialist functions within the Group, notably Trading Law and Technical and Company Secretariat, provide assurance and advice on health and safety, regulatory and legal compliance and social, ethical and environmental issues. These functions report their findings on a regular basis to the Compliance Committee. What are the advantages of these responsibilities? How could they be taken in Panda? I will try to find the answer when I am doing Panda’s research. At present, I think the company can prevent from risk; at least it can reduce the bad effect. Communication A programme of communication exists and is constantly being developed, to ensure that all staff is aware of the parameters that constitute acceptable business performance and the expectations of the Board in managing risk. This provides clear definition of the Group’s purpose and goals, accountabilities and the scope of permitted activities of companies, executive functions and individual staff. Communication is an important part of organizational culture, what are the communication channels of Tesco and Panda? How does it work? The programme of communication is constantly developed and it is proved necessary. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY The Board regards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as an integral part of the overall corporate governance framework and is fully integrated into existing management structures and systems. Therefore, the risk management policies, procedures and monitoring methods described above equally apply to our CSR activities, including the management of social, ethical and environmental (SEE) risks. Many investors take an interest in how companies are managing non-financial risks as these can, under certain circumstances, have an impact on shareholder value. For example, The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has published disclosure guidelines on social responsibility, including SEE matters, for investors and companies. Last year, we published our first CSR Review on our website, www.tesco.com/everylittlehelps. This reflects the importance that Tesco has placed on CSR over the past 10 years. More details of our CSR strategy can be found in the Tesco Corporate Social Responsibility Review 2002/03 and on our website. We have an established cross-functional CSR Committee that meets a minimum of four times a year. The CSR Committee is chaired by the Group Corporate Affairs Director, and its membership is made up of senior managers from all parts of the business. One of its objectives is to identify threats and opportunities for the coming year and to highlight emerging issues. The CSR Committee has established a set of CSR Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and these KPIs are used to track performance quarterly and annually. The KPIs feed directly into the Steering Wheel monitoring system explained earlier and thus contribute to the overall monitoring of Group performance and control evaluation by the Board. The Chairman of the CSR Committee makes regular reports to the Executive Board on CSR matters. The CSR KPIs and the related management system are available in the CSR Review 2002/03 and on-line. Actually there is a relationship between environment and the companies. Environmental factors influence the development of companies and create opportunities and threats for them; it influences and determines the way the company must operate and how it has to accomplish its marketing objectives. Parts of environmental details have been shown by the information. Tesco made a great effect on Corporate Social Responsibility and the company gets a strong support by its customers. I will explain the reason in the written submission. This year sales in our core UK market have grown by 7.9% and underlying operating profit by 6.9% reinforcing our position as the number one food retailer in the UK. Our strong UK performance allows us to expand into retailing services and international markets. Number of stores In the UK we opened 62 new stores this year adding a further 1.4 million sq ft. We also acquired 1,202 TS Stores, a leading convenience retailer, giving us an additional 1.8 million sq ft. This brings the total number of stores in the UK to 1,982. Four store formats we tailor our stores to meet our local customers’ needs. We have four different store formats: Extra, Superstore, Metro and Express. All formats provide a different shopping experience for our customers, but all offer the same outstanding value. Store development we listen to customer and staff feedback to continually improve our stores. This year our UK development plan has seen refresh and extension programmes, tailored to local customer requirements, improve over 200 stores. Staff our loyal and committed staff have helped make us Britain’s biggest supermarket. This year we have taken on an additional 9,000 people, with a further 5,000 over Christmas, to help serve our customers better. 104,000 of our staff are shareholders. The above data prove Tesco to be the biggest retailer in UK; does it only locate in UK? If not, what about its international market? What have Panda done? As I know Panda is the biggest electronic company in China at present, and it is also facing to the international market. Between the two different types of companies, is there any similar idea when they are dealing with the global market? In our European business sales have grown by 22.5% and underlying operating profit by 56.7%. We have opened 18 hypermarkets in the year, making us the largest hypermarket operator in Central Europe. Five countries Tesco now operates in five countries in Europe as well as the UK; Republic of Ireland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, accessing 68 million people. Number of stores we now have a total of 230 stores across Europe and this year we became the leading hypermarket retailer in Central Europe. Our ongoing plans for the region will see us expand next year to over 100 hypermarkets, growing our market share even further. Sales area our expansion programme has seen our total European sales area increase to 10.6 million sq ft in the past 12 months, a rise of 31% on last year. This includes the 13 hypermarkets acquired from the HIT chain in Poland. Staff This year we have taken on 6,500 extra staff and we now employ 47,500 people across our European operation. In Hungary we are the country’s second biggest private employer, with 11,000 members of staff working across our operation. This year our Asian operation has delivered sales growth of 45.5% and underlying operating profit growth of 144.8%. We operate in four countries across South East Asia including our latest market, Malaysia. Four countries this year we opened our first stores in Malaysia. We continue to build a business of scale in our developing markets of Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia, accessing a population of 155 million. Store development a total of 28 new stores were opened across the four countries, including seven Home plus stores in South Korea. These new stores have boosted our total floor space across Asia to 7.5 million sq ft, a rise of 34% on last year. Store formats we have continued to develop our formats to suit our different customers’ needs. In Taiwan, plans are in place to open our first city-format store in the capital Taipei later this year. In Thailand we now have eight Express stores, a supermarket, and our first Value store. Staff this year we recruited a further 4,000 local managers and staff to deliver for our customers. We now employ a total of 28,000 people across Asia. In Thailand we had over 600 internal promotions last year. As the biggest retailer in UK, in order to have further development, Tesco has to entry to the international market, and it has already had some progress now. Now its store are located in 9 countries, and number will be still increasing. It has a large number of stores, employees, and loyal customers as well. It has different strategies in different locations. In the written submission, I will compare the data of the two companies. To complete it, I need to search more information about the functional advantages or disadvantages to location, type of property, running costs, time at location etc. Every day, more than 11 million people visit our stores knowing they can pick what they want, when and where they want it Tesco’s product/service details are clearly shown in its homepage. It has a big range of product/service so it can make customers feel satisfied. The nature is simple: let customers know they can pick what they want, when and where they want it. Now I will move on to Panda, a Chinese electronic company. This part will also contain organizational details which are shown in Tesco’s. As the cradle of China’s electronics industry, Panda Electronics Group Co., Ltd. (PEG) was founded in 1936, with a history of sixty-eight years. Brand ‘Panda’ is the first Chinese electronics products brand entered into international market and also the first ‘Well-Known Brand’ of electronics industry in China. PEG is one of the largest electronics comprehensive backbone enterprises, 120 pilot enterprise groups, 512 key enterprises, six largest groups of electronics industries in China. Since the 50’s of 20th century, more than 30 Chinese leaders including Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin had inspected PEG. With the great concerns of leaders of the government and the Party, PEG has developed rapidly. Recently, major products of PEG covers HF communication, satellite communication system, mobile communication system, macaronis production equipment, base station, program control exchangers, mobile phones, TV sets, washing machines, DVD players, computers, monitors, system integration, network, software and radio receivers. Technology force of PEG is in leading position in China’s electronics industry. With its own power, PEG has created many â€Å"first in China† and won national honors. PEG has not only five national engineering research centers (engineering research centre for A/V digital products, national technology development centre, mass production technology centre, micro-electronics technology design centre, and engineering research centre for mobile satellite communication technology), but also post doctoral scientific research station. PEG cooperates with 12 large international companies entered into the top 500 largest companies in the world and more than 10 key universities and research institutes in domestic in technology fields to jointly develop new products. The speeds of renew of products has been increased greatly. Up to now, PEG has subscribers of 70,000,000 people, and is a famous brand electronics company possesses the most subscribers in china. Adhering to regard subscribers’ standard as the top standards of enterprise, PEG is responsible for subscribers, services for subscribers and obtained the certificate for ISO 9001 international quality standards assurance. While self-developing, PEG made great efforts to exploit the international market and actively joint venture with the international large companies, such as Sweden’s ERICSSON, Japan’s SHARP and Korea’s LG, made good economic efficiency. It became a new growth point of economic efficiency of the company. Nanjing Panda Electronics Co., Ltd. was founded in 1996. H shares and shares were issued to the public in Hong Kong and Shanghai respectively. The Company was listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited and the Shanghai Stock Exchange respectively. In 1999, the Company carried out the policy of reconstructing of the assets, realized the reform of multi-element property rights. As the cradle of China’s electronics industry, Panda Electronics Group Co., Ltd. was founded in 1936. Brand ‘Panda’ is the first Chinese electronics products brand entered into international market and also the first ‘famous Brand’ of electronics industry in China. Panda Electronics Group Co., Ltd. is one of the top 520 national key enterprises, one of the top 120 enterprises under experiment and one of the key enterprise groups in Nanjing Municipality and Jiangsu Province. The Company established 5 national R D centers and a postdoctorate research work station. The Company established marketing networks spreading over nationwide, more than 40 countries and regions in the world. Users and consumers are up to 70,000,000. The Company was honored ‘First Grade Stated-Owned Enterprise’ in the first batch, ‘National Key New High-Tech Enterprise’ and ranked among the top 500 largest industrial enterprises in China for 10 years running. Now I have an overview about Panda’s company profile, from a simple point, what is the difference between Tesco and Panda? This would be an important part I which I should explain in my essay. It also shows some operational and locational details, which I can compare to Tesco’s directly in the essay. The operational details I have got is not as many as Tesco’s, although I sent the company an email, they replied me with few information. However, I find more locational details of Panda, so I can have a detailed discussion about its advantages/disadvantages in the essay. There are both common points and differentia between the two companies’ operational details, but all the information proved the locational details of the two companies are quite distinct from each other. These discussions will take an important part in the following written submission. Then I found Panda’s functional details on its website and the magazine, in the essay, I can compare this with Tesco’s functional details to point out their feature. They also sent me some more details with email, shown in the next page. Board of Directors Position Name Chairman, President and CEO Ni Runfeng Vice-Chairman and COO Wang Fengchao Director and CFO Liu Tibin Director and Vice-President Li Kexing Zheng Guangqing Wu Jiang Board’s Secretary and Vice-President Tan Mingxian Director He Mingfen Director and Minister of Planning Development Dept Lang Fengwei Director and International Business Dept Wu Jiang Director and General Manager of Air-conditioner Com Li Jin Senior Management Executive Officers President and Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Ni Runfeng Executive President and Chief Operation Officer(COO) Wang Fengchao Chief Financial Officer(CFO) Liu Tibin Vice Executive Presidents Li Kexing Zheng Guangqing Wu Jiang Tan Mingxian As a comprehensive multinational corporation, what is the characteristic of its structure? What is the difference between the two companies’ structure? Why do they have differences? This is the main part I am going to explain in my essay. Panda Management Conceptions In our understanding, management of an enterprise denotes the administrator’s thoughts and ideological level. It is the process through which the administrator does his management work with a clear and dedicated aim to advance the prospects of the company. In doing something new, we will certainly meet some obstacles. If we are reluctant to have a try or even to make plans for innovations, we will surely not succeed in making progress. Furthermore in making innovations, we might struggle or even fail sometimes, but we feel we can make progress gradually by learning from our mistakes. An administrator’s ideological level has a great effect on the management efficiency. We feel he needs to be open and aboveboard, and should manage the company with strong ideals of justice and fairness. An administrator should always set up a new aim for the company to operate with as a goal in mind. A new aim stimulates all of the staff to work harder. We need to always bear in his mind that only the fittest will be able to survive in the tough market competition. Market competition is like sailing against the current: either you keep forging ahead or you keep falling behind. Thus, an administrator should always work with a new goal in mind. Only in this way can he continue to take new action and to deal with new situations with foresight which will allow the company to make useful progress. So, the characteristics of Panda management depend on the philosophy that people are treated as the foundation of the company’s success and that while the management rules are always strictly adhered to, the employees are nevertheless an integral part of and always regarded as essential to the company’s continued progress and success. Panda Ideas The purpose of the company is to serve people with technology. In our business operations, we have a clear management concept that we will win the market so long as we produce on a large scale at a leading pace. We have taken a market-and-order-orientation attitude toward the market. All we are doing in our work is for the services of customers and market. We are constantly improving the quality of our products. We are trying to reach the highest level in quality control. In personnel management, we firmly believe that the company should on the one hand offer employees’ opportunities to expand their abilities and that on the other hand the employees will earn profits for the company. Thus we consider the relationship between company and employees as a reciprocal one from which both can benefit. Now I understand Panda’s management conceptions/ideas, as parts of its organizational culture, it contains many differences with Tesco’s. I will explain what the differences are in the essay. Since the 50’s of 20th century, more than 30 Chinese leaders including Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin had inspected PEG. With the great concerns of leaders of the government and the Party, PEG has developed rapidly. Monopolization is forbidden in China, so Chinese government gives some help to other smaller competitors of PEG. As a huge market, China attracts many foreign companies, some large-sized companies, such as Sony, Samsung, and National, join in to the competition, to encourage the foreign enterprises, Chinese government constituted some policy for them as well, for example, low tax. Without the support from the government, PEG is not too strong to win the competition. International marketing has become a major issue for companies. In the twentieth century, world trade has been more and more important. All over the world; companies are aiming at penetrating new foreign markets. As a large company which can not get enough market shares in its own country, PEG planed to entry the international market as well. When entering international business it is necessary to take into account the political system of the target country. It is much more risky to operate in absolutism or anarchy than in democracy. Political stability is a basic requirement. The legal environment of the target country is also essential to consider. China has free trade agreements with several countries, making it less expensive and easier to export Chinese products and to import foreign products. These circumstances contribute to the increase of foreign trade by providing an environment, in which it is easy for Chinese companies to export their products to international markets. In case of an export company, the most important legal factors are the export-import regulations, requirements, restrictions and the rate of tariffs. When establishing a subsidiary in another country, other legal factors become important. The company law, competition policy and tax regulations determine the everyday operations of the company. Along with foreign investment regulations, environment-protection requirements etc., they set the legal environment for the firm. It is important to carefully examine and consider these factors. The threat posed by them can be reduced if the management is aware of them and understands these regulations well. PEG did get this great chance and it exported a large amount of its products to the developing countries and some western countries, unfortunately it did not deal with the regulations very well, for example, in Chinese advertisements it is usually allowed to compare competing productions, but it is not allowed in many European countries, PEG did not realize this when it first entry a foreign market, as a result, in some countries the company was indicted as export dumping. In order to review an organization or individual services, it is important to understand the external factors that influence the organization. An effective way to identify these external influences is to carry out a PESTEL analysis. Because of the different situation of China and UK, it is no doubt that the impacts of environmental factors for the two companies are different. By using the information I have, I can do a ‘PEST’ analysis of both Tesco and Panda in my essay by taking some examples. It manufactures many kinds of products including the following series: Color TV series: CTV, PTV, Applied TV series (Hotel TV, Huge Projection TV Wall, CRT TV Wall, TV-PC, Playback TV, etc)†¦ Air-conditioner series: all kinds of Windows, Wall-mounted, Cabinet, Floor-mounted, and small Central Air-conditioners†¦ AV product series: all kinds of DVD, VCD, DVD+AMP, Amplifier, Voice speaker Box, CD, MP3†¦ Network series: DVB-C, DVB-S, ADSL, C-LAN, and Family Information-resolution System†¦ Battery series: High Quality Environmental Protection Battery, Rechargeable Battery, Nichrome Storage Battery and kinds of Chargers†¦ Electronic Component series: PCB, FBT, Tuner, kinds of Transformers and Coils, Inductance, Conduct-electricity Rubber, Spring†¦ Protection for Safety series: Finance Band System, Hotel System, Traffic Management, Public Place, Family Protection for Safety, Individual Protection System for Safety†¦ LCD series: LCD-TV, LCD-M and other LCD applied products†¦ White Household Appliance and small Household Appliance series: Washing Machine, Water-heater, and Fuel Gas Canteen†¦ Technology Equipment series: kinds of Assembly Line, Frock of Assembly Line, Meters of Assembly Line, and Tools of Production†¦ These are information which relates to Panda’s product/service details. As same as Tesco, Panda have many different kinds of products, and it also develops in some other industries. Comparing to each other, the two companies’ product/service are totally in different area, however, they may have the common management conceptions/ideas, it will be interesting to compare this part in the essay. Now I have collected the two companies’ details about their operation, location, function, environment and product/service. All the information will be used to prove my opinion in the written submission. How to cite Company comparison: Tesco and Panda, Papers

Accounting Information Systems Emerging Business Techniques

Question: Describe about the Accounting Information Systems for Emerging Business Techniques. Answer: 1: Business Intelligence This report outline meaning and definition of business intelligence and the way it helps firm to create competitive advantage and to make decisions. Business Intelligence (BI) BI is an emerging technique, which becomes widely popular among business due to its role in managing information. According to Isike et al., (2011), BI can be defined as a system comprised of both technical and organizational elements that presents historical information to its users for analysis and enables effective decision making and management support, for the overall purpose of increasing organizational performance. In this way, BI includes conversion of raw data into meaningful knowledge to facilitate decision making at the operational and strategic level of firm and to create financial benefits. Currently, firms are used verity of sources to collect data, which develops big data. An insightful analysis of collected data is critical. For collecting and organizing data, firms uses BI as it provides required tool and techniques of data mining and analytics. The implementation and management of BI becomes one of the key priorities of the reputed global firms. In 1990s, the term BI became highly popular in the business world and IT sector. In BI, business analytics was started to consider highly important in 2000s (Chen et al., 2012). Recently, big data is used to describe the technological application of analyzing large and complex data. These applications are enough advanced and capable to store, analyze and visualize the complex set of data quickly and easily (McAfee et al., 2012). In the study of Shollo Kautz (2010), BI is defined as composition of processes, technologies and products as in this data collection and analysis processes are conducted through the implementation of range of technologies for producing knowledge or information (product) to facilitate decision making in businesses. This indicates that BI is a composition of these three elements. In BI, technology play critical role as it provides businesses a means to organize and analyze data quickly. But, human capabilities to interpret and use the provided knowledge are an important factor that can make difference in the use of BI for gaining financial benefits. A firms failure to create relevancy of knowledge with strategies and operations is likely to create only cost burden (Vera-Baquero et al., 2013). Thus, the concept of BI becomes important for the contemporary business organization. Business Intelligence (BI) for Competitive Advantage BI is quite important tool for the contemporary organizations to create competency due to the increasing importance of knowledge in decision-making. BI enhances ability of firm to visualize the past and current data of different management fields such as production, sales, customer and others. This could be used by the firms to make fact-based decisions, which may help to create competitive advantage. For example: return on investment data may help a firm to determine underperforming products. Through this, firm can take informed decision, which may help to reduce cost and to improve profitability (Shehzad et al., 2013). With this, firm can make efficient use of resources, which leads to the creation of competitive advantage. Similarly, innovativeness is the other important way of creating competitive advantage in contemporary organization. Through BI, firm can invent unique products or methods to satisfy the customers. It allows firms to analyze own strengths and weaknesses of the company to compare with the competitors. This understanding may help a firm to improve their processes that leads to the cost reduction and quality improvement (Stone and Woodcock, 2014). At the same time, innovations in offering can be introduced by an organization by analyzing trends, market conditions and customers preferences quickly. BI provides insights of market and consumers to a firm, which a firm can use to make informed improvement in the offerings and to improve customer satisfaction (Loshin, 2012). With this way, firm can remain innovative and consequently competitive in the market. Burberry, UK based luxury global firm has used BI successfully to become highly innovative and digitalized brand. Along with this, cost advantage is also a major source of competitiveness as it has positive influence on the bottom line of a firm. BI provides real-time data to the organization regarding operational and strategic performance, which can be used by organization to eliminate sources of waste and to include quality aspects. For example: in healthcare firm, standardized data can be accessed by clinicians in secure manner that may improve accuracy and speed of providing treatment to the patient (Cokins et al., 2010). It may help to reduce operational cost and to improve service quality. Similarly, BI can be used in healthcare to mange staffing problem without increasing cost and sacrificing quality. For example: In Unites States, healthcare firm have invested millions of dollars in the implementation of IT tools and techniques. ThedaCare, a healthcare organization has number of clinics and hospitals in US uses business analytics applications. Through this, managers get up-to-date information about the staff. It has allowed this organization to save around $850,000, which caused reduction in operational cost (Toussaint and Mannon, 2014). Impact of Data Mining and Analytics on Decision making Data mining and analytics are the important elements of BI. Retail industry becomes highly competitive and firms use loyalty cards to attract and attain customers. Wal-Mart, a US based retail firm can use data mining and analytics for making effective use of loyalty card to attract and retain customers. Through loyalty card, firm obtains big customers data that can be used to improve offerings. Data mining can be used by this firm to know customers taste and preferences in accordance to their age and other demogrpoahics factors. In data mining and analytics, customers information are accessed and presented in a visualize manner (Osei-Bryson and Barclay, 2015). Through this, Wal-Mart can determine purchasing behavior of certain customer group and to make better and faster decision regarding schemes and discounts. Similarly, data mining and analytics can be useful for retailers to determine expected behaviors of customers for offerings and to tailor the offerings as per their needs. With this, relationship in customer data can be quantified to classify customers into different groups. It will help Wal-Mart to determine relation of customers with the offerings. This knowledge can be used by this firm to take more accurate decisions regarding the improvement in offerings (Raju et al., 2011). It may help firm to provide useful discounts and incentives to the customers and to increase value of loyalty card. By using data mining and analytics, Wal-Mart and other retailers can segment their customers to determine the major source of revenue. This would be effective in recognizing the needs of most profitable customers segment and to make informed improvements in the loyalty card programs. It could allow Wal-Mart to provide right offer and discounts to the right customer base of the company (Verhoef et al., 2016). This may help to make innovative changes in the loyalty card and to encourage repeat purchase. Along with this, personalization of offerings encourages customers to make repeat purchases, which can be achieved by data mining and analytics. Wal-Mart can identify communication needs of target market and to draft advertising and promotions accordingly. It would help this firm to encourage repeat purchase and to promote loyalty card (Watson, 2010). In this way, data mining and techniques can allow firms to make quick and more accurate decisions for improving value of loyalty card. 2: Queensland Health Systems Implementation Introduction In this report, factors for information system implementation failure are discussed to inform the management about the potential risk. Queensland Health payroll system implementation failure is one of the major IT collapse and due to this; this case is analyzed to identify factors that may cause system implementation failure, while using Systems Development Lifecycle approach. At last some recommendations are also provided to ensure better management of identified system implementation deficiencies and project success. Factors for System Implementation Failure System implementation failure becomes an important concern for firm as it has considerable impact on the profitability and sustainability. System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is an approach to plan, develop, test and deploy an information system within an organization. It provides systematic guidelines to develop and implement a system within organization successfully. The process of implementing information system can be categorized mainly in five phases such as planning, analysis, designing, testing, implementing and supporting (Marchewka, 2014). For using this approach successfully, it is critical for a firm to understand its each phase effectively. Below figures depicts the steps in SLDC: On the basis of above figure, planning is the first and highly important step of SDLC as it has capability to influence the other steps of system implementation and their success in considerable manner. Lack of proper planning may cause failure in implementing and upgrading information system through SDLC approach (Rainer and Cegielski, 2011). Below are some factors those have contributed in causing planning and implementation failure of payroll system implementation project at Queensland Health (QH): Lack of Clearly Defined Scope and Complexity: An effective use of SDLC approach requires clear explanation of scope and complexity of a project to ensure proper planning. It is critical to inform the objectives and deliverable of a project on which basis resources are allocated to the different departments and units. For the development of highly relevant scope and objectives, it is quite critical for firm to clearly identify the requirements of a business in terms of the implementation of a system (Eden and Sedera, 2014). Without acknowledgment of business requirements, it is difficult to bring accuracy and relevancy in objectives and scope that causes poor planning. Similarly, improper identification and explanation of complexity fails a firm to determine the potential risks in a project and to make proper planning to handle them. In system implementation, some risks such as finance, human resource, technical and others can occur. Lack of planning can affect organization ability to manage risk and to ensure successful implementation of system (Ara and Al-Mudimigh, 2015). For example: IBM underestimated the importance of scope and complexity determination in the planning phase at QH that caused uncertain changes project implementation. It was responsible for cost overrun and project delay (Eden and Sedera, 2014). Ambiguous Roles and Responsibilities: Planning phase of SDLC also includes delegation of roles and responsibilities for ensuring accomplishment of task within the time limit and defined quality. The absence of clearly defined roles and responsibilities of involved parties was one of the major factors that caused poor planning and system implementation failure in QH (Melton, 2011). For the implementation phase, roles and responsibilities of stakeholder were explained briefly, which causes relationship issues. In QH, unclear delegation of responsibilities caused communication issues, which contributed in the mismanagement of resources. It ultimately caused cost overrun and delay of project (Eden and Sedera, 2014). Due to this, stakeholders were not clear about what and how to report performance that created accountability issues in the process of system implementation. Absence of accountability discourages stakeholders to perform their duties delicately, which causes failure in successful system implementation in an organization. In a project, it is critical for stakeholders to have acknowledgement regarding their tasks and duties in throughput the implementation (Luckey and Phillips, 2011). Through this, firm can ensure timely and cost effective execution of project. Communication: It is a key element of project success as lack of communication in planning phase is likely to cause uncertainty in the other phases of SLDC. The planning phase of payroll system implementation project at QH was quite poor as QH, CropTech and IBM were different understanding about the objectives and scope. It was responsible for creating poor relationship between the client (QH) and consultant (IBM). QH appointed CropTech to handle the process of project implementation in QH and to communicate the consultant (Eden and Sedera, 2014). In this case, IBM needed to communicate both QH and IBM effectively, which caused miscommunication of goals, objectives and scope of a project. The presence of two client organizations was mainly responsible to create miscommunication and consequently complexity. IBM planned to implement another product in QH that also contributed in increasing complexity. The complex relationship among the involved parties caused communication issues, which is one of the major cause of IS implementation. Effective communication among the involved party is critical to utilize the available resources optimally and to ensure project success. It ensures flow of right information to the right people at the right place that reduces complexity and improves relationship (Larson and Gray, 2011). It is because lack of communication caused Information system (IS) failure in QH. Incompetent Governance: The other important factor for IS implementation failure in QH was lack of competent governance as it raised several issues such as biasness in tendering process, improper planning, conflicts, unaccountability and others, which ultimately caused failure. Competent governance is critical for project success as it ensures application of project management strategies at the different phases of project and better management of resources (Eden and Sedera, 2014). In QH, application of Gantt chart, work breakdown structure, stakeholder analysis and other project planning and management tools were avoided that raises issue of improper planning and clearly defined deliverables with timelines (Stair Reynolds, 2013). It caused poor control over the resources throughout the implementation that resulted cost and time overruns. Similarly, governance plays significant role in controlling the use of power of involved stakeholder throughout the process of system implementation. Due to ineffective governance at QH, biasness occurred in the tendering process that hindered the selection of right prime conductors for the project implementation. CorpTech was responsible for providing same information to the all applicants and remaining neutral. But, the project director took side of IBM that caused biasness (Romney et al., 2012). The sense of accountability was also not present among the involved people that contributed in delaying the system implementation and creating huge additional cost for QH. Political and legal System: Planning phase of SLDC includes analysis of risk that can affect system implementation project and to make strategies. Political and legal risks were completely ignored in planning of system implementation at QH, which caused delay and cost overrun issues. QH is a government undertaking that comprises several layers of bureaucracy that reduced transparency in system implementation process and affected decision-making and accountability. Due to this, delay in execution of project activities became more apparent that increased project cost. (Eden and Sedera, 2014) The complexity of legal system caused complexity, which affected quality of management in this project. The above are five major system development issues, which caused implementation failure in QH. The planning phase of this project was quite weak in terms of analyzing business requirements and complexity. It failed stakeholders to determine potential risk and to ensure better management. Recommendation Below are some recommendations to manage factors for IS implementation failure in an organization and to create benefits: Adequate definition of requirements: A firm should clearly define the requirements of business to prevent the occurrence of several issues in the system implementation. Organizations failure in documenting requirements properly may create difficulties for consultant to make robust plan for system implementation. Undefined business requirements have negative impact on the different phases of system development. By analyzing and documenting the business requirements properly, firm can limit the occurrence several functional and technical issues in the process of implementing IS system (Aikins, 2012). It could ensure flawless execution of defined project activities and to limit the issues of overrun of time and cost. Rigorous implementation of project management methodologies and strategies: It is one of the important ways to ensure informed and timely utilization of available resources. Several project management tools such as Work Breakdown, critical path analysis, gap analysis, action plan, Gantt chart, PERT chart and others could be used by a firm to plan resource allocation and to manage schedule more systematically (Kerzner, 2010). These tools visualize each stakeholder about the process of project implementation, which would be effective to win stakeholder support and to handle the changes effectively. In absence of project management strategy, it would be difficult to implement a project in an organized manner that may increase complexity and delay (Newton, 2013). Project delay ultimately leads to the poor resource utilization that causes cost overrun issue. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Audit: An effective communication leads better management and consequently project success. Several communication technologies are used by a projects stakeholders. The audit of ICT infrastructure and system would be useful for a firm to limit the communication breakdown throughout the process of project management from planning to implementation and closure. It will include assessment of communication tools and processors as well as competency of managerial personals (Beynon-Davies, 2013). Additionally, ICT audit could be an effective mean to ensure application of project methodology and reporting framework. This could be useful to encourage client and consultant organizations to fulfill their responsibilities towards each other and different stakeholders. It would improve communication among stakeholders, which may reduce conflicts and to improve project implementation phase (Eden and Sedera, 2014). Competent Governance: The establishment of competent governance is critical for implementing IS system successfully in an organization. Firm should focus on establishing a govenmence framework to ensure inclusion of competent personnel and to provide them power for conducting investigation and reporting results to the higher authorities. Due to lack of robust governance, the occurrence of biasness and unaccountability issues becomes more apparent, which causes delay and cost overrun (Kooper et al., 2011). By implementing a govenmence framework, a firm can clearly explain roles and responsibilities and to make them more accountable for their performance. It would be effective to encourage them to take responsibilities and to accomplish and report them properly (Schwalbe, 2010). This could be useful to implement the activities within stated budgeted and timeline. Conclusion It can be concluded from the above discussion that an investigation over the previous IS implementation can provide management an ample information and guidelines for limiting the failure. QH case provides an analysis of system implementation failure, which can be used to avoid possible risks and to ensure completion of project within the budgeted time and cost. References Aikins, S. K. (Ed.). (2012).Managing E-Government Projects: Concepts, Issues, and Best Practices: Concepts, Issues, and Best Practices. UK: IGI Global. Beynon-Davies, P. (2013).Business information systems. Palgrave Macmillan. Chen, H., Chiang, R. H., Storey, V. C. (2012). Business Intelligence and Analytics: From Big Data to Big Impact.MIS quarterly,36(4), 1165-1188. Cokins, G., Schubert, K. 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