Evergreen Investment Essay Example for Free

Evergreen Investment Essay Case Summary This case talks about an American mutual fund company that was facing problems  ·with its CRM system. Sales agents felt that they derived little value from it and also it was time consuming. The company is investigating if it could solve this problem by introducing mobile CRM to be accessed wirelessly on blackberry devices. But what are the key factors that have contributed to the success of mobile CRM initiative at Evergreen? Evergreen investments’ background Evergreen investments are the America’s 25th largest asset management company and 32nd largest investment management in the world. It is headquartered in Boston and Charlotte. The company entrusted with $250 billion in assets, over 350 investment professionals and over 3 million investors. CRM in the past In the past, the company use company-supplied laptops to gain access to CRM system, send Emails to customs and expend reporting and commission tracking. At the same time, the company use mobile phones to give their customs a voice call. Scheduling client calls is another way to build a link with customs. It include informal face-to-face meet. And also, client calls can make company knows the actual sales pitch, discuss market topics with customs, meet new faces and call back-up for data. At last, company update any information in CRM, and participate in evergreen conference call at fixed period. Issues in the past Although the company uses CRM to gain some success, their issues still exist. On the one hand, this method required too much time. The company needs to dial up the Internet, using multiple passwords and entering lengthy data, all of which are time consuming. On the other hand, some information is unavailable when they needed. More specifically, when the company meets the customer, laptops were unavailable. Moreover, the company required the use of internal sales consultant to help them handle the business with customers. At last, entry CRM is not easy, the company usually required 1 day per week and sometimes data is unreliable. Mobile CRM In order to improve the CRM system, the company introduces mobile CRM to be accessed wirelessly on blackberry devices. Blackberry main menu allows for easy access to CRM. Its clicking track wheel allows drill down into any sales number. Initial screens display YTD, MTD, previous day’s sales, or large orders. It enables more detailed data, reports, customer information, and other tasks. Detailed customer screens show single customer information including contact details and sales summary. On the basis of this mobile CRM, the Evergreen Investments’ design greatly improved and the productivity increased as well. The key factors to success The success of the company using mobile CRM due to three factors, easy to use, reliability and updated. More specifically, using the simple method can build an easy way to contact between customers and company. It also makes the company more effective in terms of CRM. In addition, the CRM system should be reliability for both customers and company, which resulting a trusted relationship between customers and company. At last, the company should update their data about their customers. The updated progress should be easy and fast. Potential threats Even if the company uses mobile CRM with an exact way, they may face some potential threats as well. People do not need to come to office, they just need a mobile phone and work wherever they want, which could lead to the low efficiency. They need to handle the relation between family and work. And also this kind of work pattern is not easy for managers to manage their company.

Understanding Of Feminist Theory And Patriarchy Sociology Essay

Understanding Of Feminist Theory And Patriarchy Sociology Essay Western female thought through the centuries has identified the relationship between patriarchy and gender as crucial to the women ¡Ã‚ ¦s subordinate position. For two hundred years, patriarchy precluded women from having a legal or political identity and the legislation and attitudes supporting this provided the model for slavery. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries suffrage campaigners succeeded in securing some legal and political rights for women in the UK. By the middle of the 20th century, the emphasis had shifted from suffrage to social and economic equality in the public and private sphere and the women ¡Ã‚ ¦s movement that sprung up during the 1960s began to argue that women were oppressed by patriarchal structures. Equal status for women of all races, classes, sexualities and abilities in the 21st century these feminist claims for equality are generally accepted as reasonable principles in western society; yet the contradiction between this principle of equality and the demonstrable inequalities between the sexes that still exist exposes the continuing dominance of male privilege and values throughout society (patriarchy). This essay seeks to move beyond the irrepressible evidence for gender inequality and the division of labour. Rather, it poses the question of gender inequality as it manifests itself as an effect of patriarchy drawing from a theoretical body of work which has been developed so recently that it would have been impossible to write this essay thirty years ago. Feminist Theory and Patriarchy Although  ¡Ã‚ ¡K patriarchy is arguably the oldest example of a forced or exploitative division of social activities ¡Ã‚ ¨ and clearly existed before it was ever examined by sociologists, the features of patriarchy had been accepted as natural (biological) in substance. It was not until feminists in the 1960s began to explore the features and institutions of patriarchy, that the power of the concept to explain women ¡Ã‚ ¦s subordinate position in society was proven (Seidman, 1994) . The feminist engagement with theories of patriarchy criticised pre-existing theoretical positions and their ideological use, tracing theoretical progenitors of popular views about gender, gender roles etc (Cooper, 1995; Raymond, 1980). Developing theories to explain how gender inequalities have their roots in ideologies of gender difference and a hierarchical gender order, feminist theoretical concepts of patriarchy are able to explain and challenge gender inequality and the gendered division of labour in the private and social spheres (Seidman, 1994). They have done this by challenging concepts of gender, the family and the unequal division of labour underpinned by a theory of patriarchy that has come to reveal how it operates to subordinate women and privilege men, often at women ¡Ã‚ ¦s expense. Patriarchy, Structure and Gender Inequality Walby (1990) reveals how patriarchy operates to achieve and maintain the gender inequalities essential for the subordination of women. Crucially for this essay, she shows how it can operate differently in the private and public domain but toward the same end. She identifies patriarchy as having diverse forms of and relationships between its structures in the public and private spheres, and yet still operates in a related fashion. Walby ¡Ã‚ ¦s explanation sees the household and household production as being a key site of women ¡Ã‚ ¦s subordination but acknowledges that the domestic area is not the only one that women participate in. She shows how the concept of patriarchy is useful in explaining the relationship between women ¡Ã‚ ¦s subordination in the private and public arenas by showing that they work equally to achieve this subordination as well as supporting, reflecting and maintaining patriarchy itself. Firstly, Walby points out that the structures of patriarchy differ in their form. The household has a different structure to other institutional forms, e.g., the workplace. This is an important point because if feminist theories of patriarchy are to stand they must show that patriarchy operates to the same end in both the private and public sphere, even if it uses different strategies, otherwise it could not be the main reason for the continuing inequality of women in both the private and public sphere. Walby shows that within the private structure and the public structures, patriarchy does use different strategies to maintain gender inequality and these strategies both achieve the subordination of women. The household strategy is considered to be exclusionary and the public structures strategy as segregationist. The exclusionary strategy in the private arena is based on household production. Application of this strategy in the domestic sphere depends on individual patriarchs controlling women in the private world of the home. The male patriarch in the household is both the oppressor and recipient of women ¡Ã‚ ¦s subordination. This strategy is direct  ¡V women are oppressed on a personal and individual basis by the individual patriarchs who share their lives. The segregationist strategy used in the public patriarchy actively excludes women from the public arena using various structures to subordinate them. Application depends on controlling access to public arenas (Golombok and Fivush, 1995). This strategy does not benefit the institution directly, but it does ensure that individual patriarchs are privileged at the expense of women, and it maintains gender differences. The way in which individual patriarchs and public institutions use there power further reveals how related the structures of patriarchy are. Public institutions do not have the power to oppress individual women or exclude them directly from public structures; this work is carried out in the home. Power in institutions is used collectively rather than individually, and the segregationist strategy pursued in the public arena maintains the exclusionary strategy used in private that in turn supports the segregationist strategy used in public. Yet, the institution can only pursue its segregationist strategy because the individual patriarch subordinates the individual women daily. Walby ¡Ã‚ ¦s description of patriarchal structure looks powerful where there are fewer variables  ¡V e.g., when women and men seem to share the  ¡Ã‚ ¥privilege ¡Ã‚ ¦ of being exploited equally as a labour force working equal hours for equal pay in equal conditions (Haug, 1998). Haug (1998) cites research from East Germany which allows her to calculate that women do 4 hours and 41 minutes of domestic labour against men ¡Ã‚ ¦s 2 hours 38 minutes. Men split their extra two hours between leisure time and paid employment. She asks if it is a realistic possibility that patriarchy could be so completely and comprehensively asserted in as little as two hours a day. Haug does not answer this question (perhaps it is rhetorical) but I think that Walby ¡Ã‚ ¦s (1990) theory of patriarchy is so powerful because it can reveal the answer to questions like this. Walby ¡Ã‚ ¦s theory stands because she shows that the power of patriarchy is asserted in both the private and public sphere simultaneously supporting, reflecting and maintaining itself, regardless of the economic and social framework that prevails. In Haug ¡Ã‚ ¦s case, patriarchy is not being asserted in two hours per day, rather it is an expression of patriarchy, i.e., a symbol of male privilege, which could only be expressed if the general strategies of patriarchal structure were intact and functioning. This description of the relationship between patriarchy and structure demonstrates how inequalities in the workplace and in inequality in the home are two sides of the same coin and individual males are involved in the direct and indirect subordination of women simultaneously. The concepts that allowed Walby (1990) to define patriarchy as she has are discussed below, with reference to the work of second and third wave feminist thinkers. Gender and Gender Inequalities in the Domestic and Occupational Divisions of Labour Feminist concepts of gender and gender inequality allow us to refer more or less directly to a theoretical framework for understanding how they have come to form a basis that helps structure the whole of society according to the concept of patriarchy (Seidman, 1994). The gender differences, which lead to gender inequality in the division of labour, and presented as natural by patriarchy and unequal gender order has been normalised and legitimated by science, medicine and popular culture (Raymond, 1980). Feminists hold that this normalisation conceals the social and political formation of an unequal male order, arguing that gender difference is socially produced in order to sustain male dominance (Seidman, 1994). Frable (1997) points out that there is no basis for a biological account of gender difference since gender identity can only refer to the psychological sense of being male or female. Gender is now understood as a social category (Frable, 1997) and so liberal feminism was correct to deny that nature requires rigidly separate and unequal social roles based on gender (Ruehl, 1983). The patriarchal concepts of gender criticised by feminists are used to ascribe the roles that result in gender inequality in the division of labour (Sarup, 1993). This view is supported by Garnsey (1991) when she describes the division of labour as the differentiation of work tasks organised in structured patterns of activity. These activities are imposed and remunerated in a specific and unequal manner. When the evidence allows us to place the words  ¡Ã‚ ¥according to gender ¡Ã‚ ¦ into the last two sentences, and they new sentences mean something, then the concepts of patriarchy argued by feminists begin to take on an explanatory power. Occupational Labour and the Economy Liberal feminist provided concepts of gender that account for pay differentials and might even account for why women can receive less money than men for doing the same job (Golombok and Fivush, 1995). They can be used to explain why the political and social change which has allowed substantially greater numbers of women to enter the labour force has also concentrated them in the poorest employment (Golombok and Fivush, 1995). This is especially so if Garnsey ¡Ã‚ ¦s (1991) description of the differentiated and imposed tasks of the division of labour is used to structure the argument. However, they do not explain the reasons behind women ¡Ã‚ ¦s oppression and in order to do this Marxist feminists to began to argue that gender inequality has been shaped by capitalist development, highlighting explanations which connect gender inequality with economic needs (e.g., Mitchell J, 1966 used Marxist theory in Women: The Longest Revolution). However, while most feminists see the close links between the organisation of production and the division of labour many thought that there was a limited future for feminism under theories which reduced the specifics of women ¡Ã‚ ¦s lives to the extent that the subjective and interpersonal flavour was not captured (e.g., Firestone S, 1970; The Dialectic of Sex: the Case for Feminist Revolution). The socialist or Marxist feminist proposition positions class as the most basic form of human conflict but this position was challenged by radical feminists according to whom, equality does not mean being like men (Sarup, 1993). Radical feminists successfully argued for the substitution of gender conflict as the source of all other conflict and fighting for equality in the occupational field became subordinate to challenging the social and cultural order (Sarup, 1993). Asserting that a female identity and subjectivity could only be defined without reference to the patriarchal framework, many radical feminists looked for ways to identify and develop a female culture and way of being which was free from the influences of patriarchy. For example, Irigaray (1985) proposed that this be done through the promotion of entre-femmes, a kind of social form specific to women. A cultural terrain distinct from women ¡Ã‚ ¦s usual site the family. Household Labour Feminist writers have taken the family as a central feature of their explanation of patriarchy but they do not always agree about its role in shaping women to serve patriarchal ends in domesticity and work (Sarup, 1993). Liberal feminism recognized the gendered, social roles of wife and mother but advocated choice for women with respect to marriage, family, career etc., proposing to achieve this through a process of education and reform (Seidman, 1994). In radical feminism, the family is viewed as a major institution whose role is to foster gender inequality through the socialisation of children and subordinate women by forcing them to conform to feminine stereotypes (e.g, Greer G, 1970, The Female Eunuch). Postmodern feminism based on Foucault ¡Ã‚ ¦s work explicitly criticises the emphasis on the family as  ¡Ã‚ ¥the unit in charge ¡Ã‚ ¦ (Sarup, 1993). In order to carry out its functions, the family relies on differential relationships (Broderick, 1993). Coole et al (1990) point out that the functional needs served by the nuclear element of the nuclear family are neither exclusive nor universal which indicates that differentiation it is not essential to the performance of the vital functions of the family. This means that the social roles of wife and mother as conceived by liberal feminism are a gendered and manufactured choice. The differential relationships that identify the roles of wife and mother are part of the nuclear family model promoted by patriarchal ideologies for more than one hundred and fifty years (Coole et al, 1990; p43). This suggests that the one or some of the roles ascribed to the family by other feminists may be more accurate. Despite the differences, feminism ¡Ã‚ ¦s main assertion, that gender identities and roles are socially formed, makes the theoretical proposition that a social and political explanation (patriarchy) can be given for male dominance and patterns of gender inequality possible (Seidman, 1994). Conclusion The strength of feminist perspectives on patriarchy is that most of them have been developed from the standpoint of women ¡Ã‚ ¦s lives (Seidman, 1994) and yet this is also a criticism  ¡K what women ¡Ã‚ ¦s lives does the standpoint reflect? If feminist perspectives of patriarchy are to be useful they must not only make sense structurally, they must also make sense of all women ¡Ã‚ ¦s lives. Lesbian, Black,  ¡Ã‚ ¥Third World ¡Ã‚ ¦ and post-colonial critics have demonstrated some of the limitations of western feminist agendas that prefer patriarchal accounts of equality to racialised and cultural accounts (Burman, 1998). For example, the promotion of reproductive choices by western feminists in the 1970s focused on contraceptive and abortion rights. However, many women at that time were being discriminated against because of their colour, sexuality or physical abilities and were fighting to keep their children, born and unborn (Burman, 1998). Whilst these criticisms of western feminist raise questions about how and why the priorities of the issues and campaigns these women cho (o)se to think and act on were agreed, they do not suggest an alternative account of inequality in which the public and private oppression of women is explained (Seidman, 1994). Critics are however right to point out that the feminist account of patriarchy developed by western liberal feminists needs to be expanded to ensure that the experiences of more women can be included but they must also acknowledge that the priorities and concerns of liberal feminists have resulted in some of the most far reaching and important education and legal reforms of this century taking place in the last the last twenty years. These reforms particularly reflect the western feminist concern with differential relationships. In the area of social policy and the law, reformers have begun to focus on protecting the individual rights of vulnerable household members  ¡V women, children, and the elderly (MacLean Kurczewzki 1994) at the expense of patriarchal privilege. Crucially, whilst the law has become aware of the potential for the exploitation of family members and in acting underlines the importance of public attitudes and legislation in maintaining gender inequalities and differential relationships; the reform approach cannot be seen as an open acknowledgement that socialisation patterns and family arrangements are male dominated (MacLean Kurczewzki 1994). Following the vote of the General Synod in 1992, the ordination of women in the Church of England has challenged hundreds of years of patriarchal authority and tradition in the church. The implicit relationship between individual men and institutions can be viewed explicitly in the complex provision made to protect those who are individually opposed using the church ¡Ã‚ ¦s own structures. Regardless of the refusal of key patriarchal institutions to acknowledge the extent to which man have been and are systematically and deliberately privileged by their structures and actions, these dominant forms of power can help produce social change, even if they are only attempting to keep in touch with contemporary society (Cooper, 1995). The process of power is therefore open to change and feminist theorists have shown using their account of patriarchy that the  ¡Ã‚ ¥by products ¡Ã‚ ¦ of power (e.g., inequality) can be mediated by the institution which represents it and moderated to be less damaging to individuals (Cooper, 1989).

Greedy Needs :: Essays Papers

Greedy Needs Imagine a life with no food, no shelter and no family. This is hard because most people have never been without these basic needs. Some people however, find it hard to imagine a life with these needs, as in â€Å"The Ultimate Safari† by Nadine Gordimer. This story takes place during civil war, where the greed of bandits along with the greed of rebels cause conflict which can only be solved through sharing and co-operation. The greed of the bandits causes many conflicts with the people that are not in the war by taking away their food, shelter and thus causing illness. The villagers have nothing to eat because the bandits have taken it all for themselves. â€Å"But the third time they came back there was nothing to take, no oil, no food, so they burnt the thatch and the roofs of our houses fell in.† (page 120) as Gordimer writes. The people can not eat on their long journey through Kruger Park because although they find food to cook, they must not make a fire as it will draw attention to themselves. They have no food to take on the trip, so the people find fruit and eat it which results in illness, as it is poisonous. The greedy bandits take away the shelter of the villagers by burning their houses. This means the people must go to find food and shelter elsewhere. The people must walk farther due to bandits on the lookout for them near the fence, which means more nights spent in the animal-filled park without any shelter to stay in. Having no shelter in the park creates a safety risk to the people, for there are hungry lions surrounding them. Sickness is inflicted upon the people by the bandits stealing their food and taking away their shelter. Being cold and hungry can cause a serious sickness to the people. The bandits are not the only people who conflict with the people, the rebels also inflict a great deal of problems. The rebels are greedy in that they escalate the conflict for the people, they cause consequences to the others from the government, and they force the villagers into refugee camps. The rebels, only thinking of themselves cause conflict to expand within the others. The children that are growing up in the war environment, will see fighting as the only way to solve problems.

Researching the Asian American Culture Essay -- Cultural Identity Essay

Researching the Asian American Culture There are fundamental differences between Eastern and Western cultures and the meeting of these cultures has had several effects, both in Asia and here in the US. Overseas, you can see the juxtaposition of American pop culture on the older modes of Asian thought and society. Here, New Age religions find new excuses in Asian religions and philosophies and Anime is appears regularly on Saturday morning cartoons. Often, this juxtaposition becomes turbulent as the younger generations are caught between two seemingly opposing cultures. As a result, crime rates rise with the integration of Western ideals and culture into Asian society. This is true here in America too as the first generation of Asian-Americans are born and brought up by Asian parents, with Asian thinking, in American society and culture. This conflict manifests itself in our history as a nation as well as in modern universities and businesses. Historically, the United States has not been kind to Asian immigrants and until as late as 1965, legal discrimination against Asians has been an accepted part of American culture. In the mid-nineteenth century, Chinese immigrants began to come to the United States in response to the gold rush in California. By 1852, over 20,000 Chinese had emigrated to the United States. Many of these would end up working on the Transcontinental Railroad as contract laborers. Local groups demanded, however, that the flow of emigration be stopped and in 1858, a law was passed that barred the Chinese from entering. This began a series of laws and treaties with China and Japan that would govern Asian emigration to the US. In 1868, Chinese emigration is reopened as a result of the Burlingame... ...ginning to result in more and more first and second generation Americans in the business and professional world. More and more Asian doctors, always a popular profession, can be seen today. The recent dot com craze similarly resulted in a disproportionate number of Asians heading up companies, although this has yet to manifest itself in the larger corporations. (no hard data on this, but I could probably find some if you need) However, Asians are rapidly becoming a greater force in American culture as the proportion of educated Asian-Americans rises. Despite small numbers, they begin to have more and more influence in the business and professional worlds as well as academics. They are an interesting group, however, caught between two extremely different cultures as they seek to strike a balance between the ideals of their parents and the world they live in.

Telecommunications Act of 1996 Essay examples -- essays research paper

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 The Telecommunications Act of 1996 can be termed as a major overhaul of the communications law in the past sixty-two years. The main aim of this Act is to enable any communications firm to enter the market and compete against one another based on fair and just practices (â€Å"The Telecommunications Act 1996,† The Federal Communications Commission). This Act has the potential to radically change the lives of the people in a number of different ways. For instance it has affected the telephone services both local and long distance, cable programming and other video services, broadcast services and services provided to schools. The Federal Communications Commission has actively endorsed this Act and has worked towards the enforcement and implementation of the various clauses listed in the document. The Act was basically brought into existence in order to promote competition and reduce regulation so that lower prices and higher quality services for the Americans consumers may be s ecured. Of particular importance is the deregulation of the telecommunications industry as mentioned in the act (â€Å"Implementation of the Telecommunications Act,† NTLA). This reflects a new thinking that service providers should not be limited by artificial and now antique regulatory categories but should be permitted to compete with each other in a robust marketplace that contains many diverse participants. Moreover the Act is evidence of governmental commitment to make sure that all citizens have access to advanced communication services at affordable prices through its â€Å"universal service† provisions even as competitive markets for the telecommunications industry expand. Prior to passage of this new Act, U.S. federal and state laws and a judicially established consent decree allowed some competition for certain services, most notably among long distance carriers. Universal service for basic telephony was a national objective, but one developed and shaped through feder al and state regulations and case law (â€Å"Telecommunications Act of 1996,† Technology Law). The goal of universal service was referred to only in general terms in the Communications Act of 1934, the nation's basic telecommunications statute. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 among other things: (i) opens up competition by local telephone companies, long distance providers, and cable companies ... ...ns especially when it came to deregulating the telecommunications industry. The new law was expected to bring radical changes to the communications industry, providing high quality services to the masses at minimal cost. The act was also designed with the specific purpose of ensuring that advanced telecommunications will be available to every citizen as part of the policy for universal service. The FCC and the states, as the regulatory bodies, implement the law. Its been over three years since the law was passed and most critics have claimed that nothing worthwhile came out of the act besides the mergers of course. Ultimately however, the services brought to the public will depend on the providers of those services and their success in the marketplace. Bibliography 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Telecommunications Act of 1996.† Available online at: http://www.fcc.gov/telecom.html 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Implementation of the Telecommunications Act.† Available online at: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/opadhome/opad_act.htm 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Telecommunications Act of 1996.† Available online at: http://www.technologylaw.com/act.html

Canadian Tire Sw

Canadian Tie is one of Canada’s most-shopped general retailers, offering everyday products and services to Canadians through more than 1,700 retail and gasoline outlets from coast-to-coast. Canadian Tire Corporation has many strengths as an organization. First and foremost, they enjoy a strong and loyal customer base. Their long history as a Canadian company has helped them in this regard, as many of the existing Canadian competitors have been purchased by foreign corporations over the years. They also have one of the most recognizable trademarks in the country. Another strength of the company is its diversity.They currently provide a wide range of goods and services to their customers – including automobile parts and service, financial services, clothing, hardware, and housewares. They also have one of the longest-running customer rebate programs of any retailer – that is, the Canadian Tire money that customers receive after making their purchases. The major wea kness of Canadian Tire is that in the past, they have periodically lost their focus on customer service. They have taken their customers for granted, assuming that the customer would always return to the store regardless of how they were treated.Because of this, they have occasionally lost market share. The company has also failed to recognize the changing demographic of Canada (immigration, different cultures). The stores tend to focus on their historical customer – the adult white male. They have failed to widen their focus to women and different nationalities such as Chinese and Indian customers. Another weakness of the company is its failure to expand successfully beyond Canada. This has put limits on the company’s growth. SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths: †¢ Has a very strong and loyal clientele. Offer a range of goods and services that meet life’s everyday needs, including general merchandise such as clothing, petroleum and financial services. †¢ Offers a chain of automobile parts and professional automotive installers. †¢ Offers shopping on line. †¢ Canadian Tire bank provides greater marketing flexibility for using its credit card. Weakness: †¢ Prices have gone up. †¢ They have lost their focus on customer service. †¢ failed to recognize the changing demographic of Canada (immigration, different cultures) †¢ failure to expand successfully beyond Canada.

Financial Analysis Apple Inc.

————————————————- To: ————————————————- ————————————————- By: ————————————————- ————————————————- FINANCIAL REVIEW TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Company Background 3 2. Stock Price Analysis 6 3. Risk Return Analysis 9 5. References11 PART I A. Company Background Apple Inc. long with its wholly-owned subsidiaries designs and manufactures and markets mobile communication, media devices, personal computers and portable digital music players along with a variety of related software’s, services, peripherals and networking solutions. The Company offers a range of mobile communication and media devices, personal computing products, and portable digital music players, as well as a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions and third-party hardware and software products. The most important of which are enumerated below: 1. Phone – iPhone combines a mobile phone and an iPod, Internet communication device in a single handheld product. 2. iPad – is a multi-purpose mobile device, for browsing web, sending and reading email, viewing photos & watching videos, listening music, playing games and reading e-books etc. 3. Mac Hardware Products – includes likes of iMac, Mac-Pro and Mac mini. The iMac desktop has design that incorporates display, processor, graphics, storage, and other components in a single enclosure 4. iPod – line of portable digital media players includes lik es of iPod touch, iPod shuffle and iPod classic. Pod is a flash-memory-based device with a widescreen display, a Multi-Touch user interface. 5. iTunes – is an application, which supports the sale, purchase, download, organization and playback of digital video and audio files and is also available for both the Mac and the Windows based computers. The Company not only sells to retail and bulk consumers, but also to small and mid-sized businesses, and to educational institutions, enterprises and government customers. The Company’s fiscal year ends on the last Saturday of September and is of 52 or 53-week period.The company has almost 60400 permanent employees and has the second largest market cap after IBM with about 563. 79 Billion dollars and an equal enterprise value, with revenues in excess of 142. 36 Billion dollars and with and EBITDA of 53. 27 billion dollars. B. Business Strategy & Organization The Company’s business strategy is to uniquely leverage its abi lity to design, develop its own operating system, hardware, applications software’s, to its customers, and new products and new solutions with superior usage ease and seamless integration and innovative design.The Company’s strategy, also includes and basically rests on, expanding its distribution network so in order to effectively reach more customers. The Company manages business primarily on geographical basis and has segregated the business locations of its customers into the following 1. The Americas consisting of both North and South America, 2. Europe, Middles East and Africa, 3. Japan, 4. Asia-Pacific, Australia and Asian countries and 5. Retail. It is to be noted that all the above four segments do not include the retail segment figures and strategy.The retail segment consists of stores directly opened by the company and managed by it. C. Competition The products and services offered by the company are a part of highly competitive markets segment it faces stif f and aggressive competition in almost all areas of its business. The market is characterized by very frequent new product introductions and a rapid technological advancement that has substantial capabilities of use of mobile and related communications devices.There is a cut throat competition in the market where the company’s operates, as the competitors are continuously innovating and selling products at extremely low rates. However still the company has been able to maintain its market brand values and sees a good and extremely high level of operating cash flows generation. The Company’s major services i. e. digital content services is facing significant competition from other companies who are promoting their own digital music, services and content products, including free peer to peer video and music services.Some of Apple’s competitors have enough substantial resources and may provide such products and services in market at virtually little or no even prof it to compete with the Apple’s offerings. The most important and major company’s competitors can be classified in various ways as below: However for our study later on, we shall consider HPQ or Hewitt Packard as a close competitor. PART II A. Stock Price Analysis For our stock price analysis, we consider the time period from 16 Mar – 2012 to 6 April – 2012.However it is to be noted that the time frame provided here is not ample for a detailed study and an accurate one for future predictions. We first study the movement of the Apple Inc. stock price movements’ vis-a-vis the S&P 500. From the above figure it is clear that the movement of Apple is less volatile than that of the Index. It is also to be noted that the pattern of movement of Apple’s price show that it is lagging behind or trailing the trend movement of the index. Furthermore in the period under consideration above there seems to be an immediate uptrend developing and sustaining.Al so the major point of astonishment here is during the period post 3 April 2012, the S&P 500 and Apple’s stock prices are moving in opposite direction thereby indicating of some news based movement. This move was probably preempting the Q2 filing by the company which was due later in the next week. However no serious trend or movement is visible in either of the charts above. We do the same comparison of Apple with its peer HPQ for the same period. From the graph above it is quite clear that where Apple’s price movement is positively trending upwards, that of HOQ is a sideways movement without any perfect present trend or direction.The reason being the expectations from the forthcoming Q2 results of Apple, which was an event based movement for Apple, which was absent for HPQ. Now we study the movement of the stock prices on a standalone basis. From the above diagram it is clear that there is no significant or sudden movement in prices or volume of the stock. However the y both show a good trend, and there is not much pressure on the prices of the stock at higher levels which is shown by the build of white candles and an uptrend, which indicates of further upside room present in the stock.However this seems to be news based event and should be properly traded. In all there are five black and ten white candles, which show an imminent uptrend in the stock price, which is also supported by sustenance in the daily volumes. PART III A. Risk Return Analysis We now perform a risk return analysis on the stock. We use the concepts of CAPM model and data for the period as specified in the above segment and calculate different measures as shown below and abridged in the accompanying excel file.From the above calculations we see that the Beta of Apple is lesser than that of HPQ and more close to 1 which resembles that Apple is less volatile than HPQ and more in tandem with the normal or broad market movement. On the other hand HPQ has a high beta indicating tha t the movement in prices of HPQ is more volatile and would yield a higher return, either positive or negative, as compared to Apple. This is also visible in the fact that the Expected return of HPQ is less than that of Apple, which is at least a percentage point or a 100 bps better than HPQ.It is also seen that Apple has been able to give positive returns as compared to HPQ and even the market. This means that Apple has been able to outperform the market. The reason behind the same is the fact that it is expected that the results of Apple for Q2 are going to be better due to the fact that they have recently launched new products and expanded on existing sales and product line, which would result in better revenue e, margins and sales and net profits, which would ultimately react in the EPS.Hence the returns of Apple are positive and more than that of HPQ. This indicates the fact that Apple seems to be an underpriced stock and should be bought as it seems to be giving more returns th an the expected returns and compared to HPA and the index is an outperformer due to more fundamental reasons likes above expectation performance rather than purely and only technical reasons. All this is pretty evident in the Beta and the Expected returns of the stock.PART IV REFERENCES: 1. Thirty Year US T-Bill rate; Available at http://www. bloomberg. com/markets/rates-bonds/government-bonds/us/ 2. Apple Inc. Annual Report and About Company; Available at http://secfilings. nasdaq. com/edgar_conv_html%2f2011%2f10%2f26%2f0001193125-11-282113. html#FIS_BUSINESS 3. Stock Prices Data, Apple, S&P, HPQ; Available at http://finance. yahoo. com 4. Apple Competitors; Available at http://www. nasdaq. com/symbol/aapl/competitors