Chicken run Essay Example for Free

Chicken run Essay Executive summary: 1998, Excel Poultry Meat Sdn Bhd (EPM) was a SME located in Kluang, Johor, operating business of chicken farming and supplying chicken throughout Malaysia. This subsidiary of PCK holding since 2005 was managed by Encik Selamat, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). It became one of top 5 chicken suppliers within mid-tier producers in the country due to increasing demand in year 2000 from superstores and fast-food chains, high chicken consumption by Malaysian, and expansion of chicken industry. However, in 2008, cost of poultry production increased. EPM operating cash was low and severe, that it â€Å"had puzzled Encik Selamat† (p. 4). Other problems were also identified. Decision Maker: Credit Controller Ms Choy is the decision maker as she has the responsibility to make the right decision regarding unethical conduct of Encik Selamat, she can convince Board of Directors about En. Selamat. If she failed to convince BOD to take action, she can then reveal the issue to the auditor, besides mentioning to the auditor the lack of segregation of duty in the business operation. She can execute and monitor implementation and performance of employees under her responsibility and convince her friend, Puan Azura to do the same. What should Ms. Choy do? Analysis: 1) SWOT analysis S – STRENGTHS | W – WEAKNESSES | * One of top 5 chicken suppliers * Continuing profitability and growth * Good promotional strategy * Qualified accountant (Encik Kasim) * Reliable Credit Controller (Ms Choy) * Encik Selamat’s reputation in community| * En. Selamat’s lack of expertise in poultry and meat industry * 2008’s operational crisis * Lack of focus of business operation * Cash flow issue * Conflict of interest * Possible error/ fraud/fictitious transaction * En. Selamat’s connection | O – OPPORTUNITIES | T – THREATS | * Malaysians’ highest consumption rates * Popular quick-service restaurants * East Coast Economics Region (ECER) * Emerging of giant superstores * Institutional retailing| * Production cost had risen about 56. 5% * Drop in demand * Credit limit of Cold Gold| The company has strong position in the industry as it is one of top 5 chicken suppliers. This means that EPM has a big portion of the market share in the industry. EPM also is strong for its sustained profit and growth. EPM had been able to maintain its operations and started making profit since the buoyant demand of chicken consumption. Besides, with initial capital of RM3. 6 million and starting with 20 employees, now, EPM had more than 200 employees. Occupied with good promotional strategy, EPM’s management team seized every opportunity in the industry. Moreover, EPM has capable key employees, which two of them are a qualified accountant, Encik Kasim and a reliable Credit Controller, Ms Choy. These employees contribute significantly towards the operation of EPM especially in the finance sector. In addition, Encik Selamat’s reputation in community is a strong influence of EPM towards the society where EPM was based. He was a public figure that will be contested in the local city council. En. Selamat’s lack of expertise in poultry and meat industry contributed a negative element in EPM as En. Selamat need to gain skills and expertise in the industry. Even though he was especially worried about the current unfavorable condition of EPM, his experience in this industry may not be sufficient. Besides, 2008’s operational crisis of EPM placed En. Selamat away from a smooth career track as recorded before 2008. EPM was lack of focus of business operation as it was at the infant stage and yet to mature in a proper method of management. Next, within EPM, there was cash flow issue and the company had to resort to short term borrowing which subjected to higher interest payment obligations. There was conflict of interest between Encik Selamat’s personal deal with Encik Azman, former college mate which was one of the executive of Cold Gold and the company’s interest. Cold Gold was one of EPM’s major customers. This relationship may impair En. Selamat’s judgment. In EPM, a few possible error/ fraud/fictitious transactions were detected, especially the irregularities in debtors’ account. The symptoms lead to a conclusion that it was caused by the former employee of EPM, En. Munir. Another factor that can be considered as EPM’s weakness point is En. Selamat’s connection with parent company of EPM, PCK Holding, where En. Selamat might be able to secure his position in EPM despite the problem he created without facing any punishment. The industry is in quite a potential market where Malaysians’ highest consumption rates of poultry and meat product. Malaysia was having one of the highest per capita consumption rates in the world for chicken (32. 5 kg) and eggs (298 units) and there were no dietary prohibitions (during these years) and religious restrictions against chicken consumption. In addition to household and traditional delicacies demand, the surge of popular quick-service restaurants from outside Malaysia and home-grown fast food chains intensified the market. Besides being the recognized poultry exporter, the industry was supported by the government through the East Coast Economics Region (ECER) as the poultry sector was part of the plan. Emerging of giant superstores and institutional retailing also enhanced the bright future of the industry. Despite the favorable situations in the market, EPM faced threat of chicken feed which resulting the production cost to rise about 56. 5%. Federation of Livestock Farmers’ Associations of Malaysia (FLFAM) made a call for higher chicken prices in order to protect producers’ earning in the face of feed cost hike. However, when the sellers did increase the retail price, some producers complained that they seen a drop in demand. Another threat was the credit limit of Cold Gold Sdn Bhd which had exceeded its level. This has significant effect to the company as Cold Gold is one of EPM’s major customers multiplied with the other issues faced by EPM. Increment in production cost Drop in demand Low cash flow High interest expense INABILITY TO PREDICT ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE FORCAST CONSEQUENCES: LACK OF COORDINATION IN CONTROL AND REPORTING: Credit limit control Debtor confirmation Misstatement Lack of segregation of duty LACK OF COMMITMENT FROM SENIOR MANAGEMENT: Lack of expertise Lack of focus Conflict of interest Unethical behavior Reluctance in taking action LOW PERFORMANCE 2) Fishbone diagram According to Peter Drucker, â€Å"management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things†. Thus, the major issue in this case is unorganized management which leads to bad performance of the company. EPM faced problem as it fails to get commitment from senior management. As a leader, Encik Selamat was lacking of expertise in poultry industry, actively involved in social and community work instead of focusing more on business operation like, had conflict of interest (agency problem) while handling credit limit issue, and had under table deal with the client. Director himself had shown lack of leadership skill and ethical awareness as he kept silent regarding the unethical behavior of Encik Selamat and had more concern on reputation than ethical conduct. Besides, management of EPM is lacking of coordination in control and reporting. This can be seen from the severity of insufficient cash flow which was noticed only when significant borrowings had been made, high expenses, and loss incurred. Lack of segregation of duty also had given wide opportunity for misstatement by employees. Finally, EPM fails to predict environmental change regarding cost of production that leads to low profit making as EMP did not make any preparation or back-up plan to overcome such problems. 3) Financial Evidence on the operation of EPM: Financial Ratio Ratio| Formula| 2006| 2007| 2008| Interpretation| GP ratio (%)| (GP/Sales)*100| 5. 4845| 1. 6542| 1. 0814| Due to increment in COGS, EPM is profiting only 1 cent for every dollar of product sold in 2008| Inventory turnover ratio| COGS/Inventory| 16. 6774| 36. 0667| 28. 4962| EPM is turning over its inventory on average, 3 times per month in 2007 while this reduces to twice per month in 2008. | AR turnover ratio| Net sales/AR| 4. 3071| 3. 3957| 2. 8808| EPM takes around 3 months to collect its debt in 2006, while it takes more than 4 months in 2008. | Days to collect AR| 365/AR turnover ratio| 84. 7441| 107. 49| 126. 702| | Description of case exhibit (Account abstract): %Increase| 06to07| In 2007, cost increased while revenue did not increase much, and operating loss was recorded as retail price was only increased in August 2008. Thus, increment of revenue from in 2008 by 36. 16% corresponds with increment in cost in that year. Expenses took 30% of operating profit in 2006 while it took almost twice the operating profit in 2008. This might be due to interest payment made for short-term borrowing. Increment in trade receivable may not be the true amount as there were cases of misstatement. Stock in 2008 was higher due to lower demand. 07to08| Rev| 0. 57| 36. 16| COGS| 4. 64| 36. 95| Oper profit| -69. 67| -10. 99| Exp| 37. 50| 45. 45| Net| -108. 64| -315. 79| Trade rec| 27. 56| 60. 49| Stock| -51. 61| 73. 33| Trade cr| 62. 16| 50. 00| Alternatives available to the protagonist: Option 1: Ms. Choy can choose not to disclose the issues that she managed to investigate within EPM. This will benefit in saving the reputation of the company in public as well as the General Manager, Encik Selamat to secure his reputation in the coming city council election. Besides, Ms. Choy can justify her action of not bringing the matter up as Encik Selamat is an important staff of EPM and she had done her part by approaching one of the directors who was reluctant to take action against Encik Selamat. The drawbacks of this choice are ethical aspect and long term impact towards the company as a whole. Choosing not to disclose the facts is an unethical behavior on Ms Choy’s part. As for the long term, the public will find out the reality of the company as time goes because the auditors are likely to question the irregularities and Ms Choy will be interrogated. In the end, the company, En Selamat and Ms Choy need to face the huge impact of being nontransparent to the stakeholders. Option 2: Ms Choy has the right to disclose her findings straight to the external auditors as she has no direct authority to take any action towards the misappropriate culture in the company as well as the director which she had approached was hesitated to do so. By this, Ms Choy’s responsibility to report to public is passed to auditors and the problem is most likely will be solved. However, this aggressive decision will affect EPM severely in terms of drop in share price and reputation. Besides, the share price of the parent company will be affected too and the dropping trend will continue for a long time. Furthermore, the reputation of Encik Selamat will be highlighted by the public and media, subsequent of the auditors’ disclosure. Option 3: Ms Choy can opt to disclose the matter internally to the board of directors. Besides, she had found evidences to support her claims about the low performance of EPM. The benefit that EPM will gain from her disclosure is to ratify the problem before the auditors’ visit the following month. If the auditor is not satisfied with EPM’s condition, justification of ratification can be made and EPM will not be punished with qualified financial reports, which is not favorable. This decision may result in impairment of EPM’s and PCK’s reputation and share prices but the impact will be lower than the second option above. Recommendation and action plan: Based on analysis above, it is recommended for Ms Choy to choose Option 3 which is to disclose the matter internally to the board of directors. Suggested steps to follow are: 1. Bring the matter with sufficient evidences and justifications together with possible solution to board of directors 2. Check whether EPM has a written guideline relating to these issues and take proper actions against these issues (e. g. salary cut, not giving bonus etc. ) 3. If no written guideline is established, in case to avoid similar situation in the future, Ms. Choy should suggest for EPM to; a. Set up and appoint an independent committees of directors to monitor the performance and compensation of staffs b. Establish policies for clear ethical conducts, job scopes and management of EPM especially to solve ethical and agency problems c. Establish a whistle-blowing policies to encourage staffs to report any irregularities d. Communicate and implement guidelines and policies across levels of management, and absorb them as the EPM’s corporate culture to be shared within the organization.

High Altitude Climbing :: essays research papers fc

High altitude climbing is a very dangerous sport, well, we won’t call it a sport, it is more like a profession for highly skilled individuals. High altitude climbing is when mountain climbers decide that they want to climb higher  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  and more difficult mountains. To do this they need the right training and also need to know the effects of high altitude climbing to their bodies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The body attempts to maintain a state of homeostasis or balance to ensure the optimal operating environment for its complex chemical systems. Any change from this homeostasis is a change away from the best possible operating environment. The body attempts to correct this imbalance. One such imbalance is the effect of increasing altitude on the body's ability to provide adequate oxygen to be utilized in cellular respiration. With an increase in elevation, a typical occurrence when climbing mountains, the body is forced to respond in various ways to the changes in external environment. Foremost of these changes is the diminished ability to obtain oxygen from the atmosphere. If the adaptive responses to this stressor are inadequate the performance of body systems may decline dramatically. If prolonged the results can be serious or even fatal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In looking at the effect of altitude on body functioning we first must understand what occurs in the external environment at higher elevations and then observe the important changes that occur in the internal environment of the body in response. In discussing altitude change and its effect on the body mountaineers generally define altitude according to the scale of high (8,000 - 12,000 feet), very high (12,000 - 18,000 feet), and extremely high (18,000+ feet), (Hubble, 1995).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A common misperception of the change in external environment with increased altitude is that there is decreased oxygen. This is not correct as the concentration of oxygen at sea level is about 21% and stays relatively unchanged until over 50,000 feet (Johnson, 1988). What is really happening is that the atmospheric pressure is decreasing and subsequently the amount of oxygen available in a single breath of air is significantly less. At sea level the barometric pressure averages 760 mmHg while at 12,000 feet it is only 483 mmHg. This decrease in total atmospheric pressure means that there are 40% fewer oxygen molecules per breath at this altitude compared to sea level (Princeton, 1995). The pulmonary surface and the thickness of the alveolar membranes are not directly affected by a change in altitude.

Our Identity Is Shaped by Our Relationships Essay

Good morning/afternoon everyone, my name is Jessica Holmes and I’m coming from the VCAA education department. I’m here today to talk to you about how, â€Å"our identity is shaped by our relationships†. When I say relationships, I don’t just mean boyfriend/girlfriend relationship, I’m also talking about family, friends and other relationships. I’m talking about identity since it’s your context writing theme for year 12. Our family is huge in determining who we are and what we are all about. They tell us from day one what is good about us and what we can or cannot do and we absorb it all as children letting it shape us. Our family in most cases dictate our political beliefs, our economic beliefs, our religion, and our social beliefs and frame our overall view of the world. Think of the beliefs you developed outside of the family and you won’t find many. Now the problem these days is that the family as we know is falling apart. There are too many single parent families; a young man does not have a role model for a male because the dad is not there. This is a problem as that young man now gets his idea of being a man from bad influences, such as local thugs or a character from a movie. Even with the families fragmenting these days, the role of the family in our lives is huge beyond anything we can ever understand. Your friends shape your identity just as much as your family, if not more. You learn different things from every person you meet. Your friends are someone who you are with most of the time, so you would pick up many things from them. You gather the traits from those around you and your mind will tell you which are good and bad. Mean Girls is a perfect example of how friends shape you. Cady changes herself to fit in with her new posh friends, her friends shaped her as a mean girl, but it wasn’t long till she found who her real friends were and what her identity was. Your identity is shaped by your real friends, who you hang out with the most. Our other relationships that shape our identity would be our teachers. They teach us what is good and bad and they educate us and help us. Our employers are another source that shapes our identity; they shape out who we are and what our profession is. Our society and neighbours also shape our identity. In the novel â€Å"Growing up Asian in Australia†, Tom Cho wrote a short story called â€Å"Learning English†. He had to learn English to mingle with this neighbours and the society he lived in. When he first arrived in Australia, he didn’t know English, so he found it difficult to communicate with everyone. He learned English for the society, so the society shaped him. I would like to finish up by saying; every relationship shapes your identity. You would not know about it, but if you think about it, all relationships play their own roles and shape your identity in their own way.

Stem Cell Research Essay - 1291 Words

Stem Cell Research In modern medicine today there are remedies for many diseases and sicknesses. For those unfortunate few with rare diseases, cancer, or a genetic mutation, we don’t have a resolution or cure. The race to find these cures is going on right now. Many think the solution can be found in the tiny embryonic stem cells. Most of the people who believe that the embryonic stem cell is the solution also believe that the federal government should help fund the research. The use of embryonic stem cells is not the only â€Å"solution to be† for these rare cases. Adult stem cell research is another means of finding the solution to the rare diseases, cancers, and other such sicknesses. Adult stem cell research is the most moral and†¦show more content†¦They felt that embryonic research was the key to finding the cure for Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s, and Multiple Sclerosis. Unfortunately for Christopher Reeves and Ronald Reagan, a cure was not found in time. T heir families argue that political issues withheld the cures for their diseases. When you look at their cases though, they were too far along in their sickness to be able to take advantage of the treatments that we have found and used. Adult stem cell research has had success in finding a cure for Parkinson’s and MS. The best story is of a MS patient, in advanced stages, who with the use of his own adult stem cells is now almost in total remission (Biotechnology and Bioethics). Aside from just not having proven to be an effective means of curing sicknesses, embryonic stem cells are obtained from in vitro fertilized embryos as well as aborted embryos. The problem with in vitro fertilized embryos is the researchers have a tendencies to make too many of them, in mass amounts. Their resolution to this is to freeze the embryos, to slow the death process. So, essentially, these researchers create the living embryo, study it, freeze it, pull some cells from it, then let it die (Center for Bioethics and Culture). Stem cell research comes down to a moral issue. It comes down to whether you believe the killing of an unborn baby is wrong and if you believe the cloning of human beings is wrong. Joni Tada, a quadriplegic whoShow MoreRelatedStem Cell Research : Stem Cells1338 Words   |  6 Pages Stem Cells Stem cells are cells that are found throughout the human body. They reproduce over a long period of time without changing. Stem cells can produce specialized cells, such as brain, muscle or lung cells. Stem cells in the last few years have recently made a big debut because medical professionals have discovered so many unique qualities to stem cells. 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