Warren Buffett Essays (Examples)

Warren Buffett -- Rich Respected

Assessment of Buffett: It would be a great thrill to meet arren Buffett; in fact it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to take a digital recording device and just chat with him for 15 or 20 minutes. An article in Research Technology Management (Bloomquist 1996) reports that one of the criteria Buffett looks at when considering investing in a company is that organization's commitment to "candor." Buffett is intolerant of managers who spice up their reports because those individuals are "serving perhaps their own interests in the short-term but no one's interest in the long run" (Bloomquist). Indeed, Buffett has stood the test of the "long run" and remains among the most respected Americans. He has been a force for good, a force for honesty and smart investments. And the fact that he is donating billions to worthy causes that desperately need financial support says a lot more…… [Read More]

Warren Buffett if You Could

I believe that I possess these characteristics. This is because I come from a background that taught me to be self-sufficient, overcome the challenges I am facing and making decisions that will help to change society for the better.

Another reason why I admire Warren Buffett is from his ability to support causes and ideas which will benefit society as a whole. Evidence of this can be seen with Buffett's views on wealth with him saying, "I don't have a problem with guilt about money. The way I see it is that my money represents an enormous number of claim checks on society. it's like I have these little pieces of paper that I can turn into consumption. If I wanted to, I could hire 10,000 people to do nothing but paint my picture every day for the rest of my life. And the GDP would go up. But the…… [Read More]

Warren Buffett Profile & Analysis Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett Profile & Analysis

Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett as an entrepreneur is a vexing case as many people view him as a hero of entrepreneurship while others view him as an example of entrepreneurship run amok and/or as a man that engages in behaviors and tactics that run extremely counter to the proper characteristics of entrepreneurship. This report will cover all of that and more. Some introspection towards of the author of this report will cover as well.

Criticism & eview of Warren Buffett

No one can deny the impacts that Warren Buffett has had on the fields of business and entrepreneurship. However, other people greatly debate and even condemn the perception of how Warren Buffett has reached the heights he has gotten to. Warren's penchant for being a savvy investor that snags upstart companies and turns them into powerful organizations is viewed as opportunistic by some and some…… [Read More]

Warren Buffett Known as the

Buffett is always looking for consistency. He does not like organizations that gain a lot in some years and lose even more in others. He looks for a history of steadily increasing earnings, which indicate that the particular company is well and carefully managed. Buffett would consider the evolution on the eturn on Equity and eturn on Capital ratios in order to determine how the company has performed in the past. In 1977, he said that 'Since businesses customarily add from year to their equity base, we find nothing particularly noteworthy in a management performance combining, say, a 10% increase in equity capital and a 5% increase in earnings per share.'

Buffett does not like debt, especially in the form of long-term debt, so he will not invest in companies with such characteristics. Long-term debt means that any increase in the interest-rate could seriously affect the company's profits and make…… [Read More]

Warren Buffett One of the

He is a strong proponent of improved corporate governance and his record of transparency shows that he holds himself to the same high standards.

The most surprising thing about Buffett's leadership style is its simplicity. He ascribes to no complicated methods or models. He has distilled life down to basic wisdom and uncomplicated axioms. He ascribes much of his success to doing what he loves and being a good person that others like.

He has also emerged as a leader of leaders. Among Buffett's investment criteria is strong leadership. He views leadership as an integral part of success in this world, and ensures that each of his companies is equipped with great leadership talent. He bucks the all Street trend of firing leaders who fail to deliver short-term results, preferring to build his investments over the long-term (George, 2006).

hat I learned about arren Buffett is that leadership need not…… [Read More]

Warren Buffett's Perspective What Is the Intrinsic

Warren Buffett's perspective, what is the intrinsic value? Why is it accorded such importance? How is it estimated? What are the alternatives to intrinsic value? Why does Buffett reject them?

Intrinsic value is concisely summed up by Warren Buffett as "the present value of future expected performance" (Bruner, Eades, & Schill, 2009). This intrinsic value can summarize how well a company is run, its cash flow and places a premium on management competency. Intrinsic value is thought to be important in value investing as it allows Buffett to identify stocks or businesses which are undervalued. This is important because value investors use a variety of analytical techniques in order to estimate the intrinsic value of securities in hopes of finding investments where the true value of the investment exceeds its current market value (Intrinsic Value, 2012).

Buffett readily admits that intrinsic value is highly subjective (Bruner et al., 2009). Buffett's…… [Read More]

Leadership Warren Buffett a Leading Investor Is

Leadership

Warren Buffett, a leading investor, is admired for many things. While some admire his investment capabilities, some are awed by the frugal lifestyle he lives despite being one of the richest men in the world. I admire both his business acumen and leadership style. In that regard, I have in the past read a significant number of articles and watched quite a number of documentaries regarding how he manages one of the most diversified investment firms in the world -- Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett is currently the C.E.O and chairman of the company. With so many subsidiaries to watch over, Buffett's approach to leadership must be really unique. Buffett's approach to leadership is a manifestation of 'Level 3' leadership.

True to one of the basic tenets of Level Three Leadership, Mr. Buffett has over time managed to influence not only the values but also the minds and hearts of his…… [Read More]

Warren E Buffett 1995 There Are Several

Warren E. Buffett, 1995

There are several assumptions Warren Buffett might have made when he purchased GEICO. He is famed for saying that acquiring executives think of themselves as beautiful princesses whose kisses will turn 'frogs' -- underperforming companies -- into handsome princes. Believing they can "release the imprisoned princes" (Hambrick & Hayward, 1997, p. 103+). He also said that he'd observed many kisses but very few miracles.

Why, then, might he have bought GEICO, a company admittedly perking along just fine without him, especially considering the acquisition premiums. In view of the increase in share price, it is likely Buffett was relying on the target's pre-existing stock price inadequately reflecting the value of the firm's resources and its prospects. This has been called hubris by some analysts, but it is hubris only if it fails. In the case of Buffett, it did not fail.

In fact, Buffett may have…… [Read More]

Warren Buffet Reason and God

As Cline points out, Buffet resembles Bill Gates who when asked about Christianity said that he is not a believer and does not attend church regularly, but finds the moral teachers of Christianity useful and inspiring (Cline 2006). Is this so bad? Both of them can teach most people about the need to work, save money and then give back to the society that nurtured them.

This seeming dispute between faith and reason is hardly new and is an illusion that is easily dispelled. After all, Christianity did not come out of a box with Luther's theses in 1517. The seeds had already been planted in the High Middle Ages/Early Renaissance as learning revived in the wake of the Crusades. This cultural awakening of the High Middle Ages raised issues that scholars such as the great Thomas Aquinas wrestled with in his classical Summa Contra Gentiles and Summa Theologica. He…… [Read More]

Charitable Contributions and Tax Benefits Unfortunately Much

Charitable Contributions and Tax Benefits

Unfortunately, much of the elite of the upper class are afforded leeway and loopholes on tax obligations that allow them to pay much less percentage wise than other taxpayers in different income brackets. Much of this is due to the ability to use tax deductions, like charitable contributions in large amounts, to lower their annual personal incomes before taxes. However, many of the top contributors to charity donate above the maximum allowances for charitable deductions, showing a clear resolution to give based on ethics, rather than for the sole purpose of tax deductions alone,

Bill Gates is currently one of the top money makers in the world, yet he is also one of the largest contributors to charitable institutions as well. The amounts of donations Bill Gates contributes to various charities, including his own charitable foundation, is well over the top end limit of what…… [Read More]

Buffet the Making of an American Capitalist

Roger Lowenstein's Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist which is the biography of arren Buffett. In addition to the actuarial math (of which Buffett is a master), the book is unique among biographies because it spells out the various qualities that have made Buffett such an adroit investor.

However, in the opinion of this author, the best quality that he manifested is the quality any good investor must have, which is to go long. hile Buffett has a number of remarkable abilities, including a veritable inexhaustible appetite for numbers and a photographic memory, many people do not have these and still become rich. The thing that Buffett shares with so many investors is this ability to invest for the long-term. In short, he is not a day trader. Rather, he is investing in businesses that he has made a commitment to. He wants to see them grow and is…… [Read More]

Sears Kmart Merger How Do

In fact, Lampert is cited as still frequently drawing his top picks from consulting the shareholder letters of Buffet, and drawing from Buffet's advice to guide him in his own investment decisions.

arren Buffet is famed as the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Like Buffett, Lampert is said to seek investments in "stable businesses with predictable income streams that have very strong brands," that are currently suffering troubled fortunes but are not fundamentally misguided in their core brand concepts (eiss, & DiStefa 2007). For example, in his own investment strategies, Buffet resisted the dot.com boom and bust, by and large, and so did Lampert. Buffet prefers companies that are traditional blue chips that produce products you can see, touch, and can count upon to build a customer base steadily, over time.

Likewise, Lampert has staked his reputation upon companies such as Kmart and Citigroup, amongst others, which were experiencing…… [Read More]

Berkshire Hathaway Company

Berkshire Hathaway is one of the most interesting cases of successful investments. Under the inspirational leadership of Warren Buffett, the company's evolution is a great object of study for both scholars and investors. This paper aims at pointing out the key points in Berkshire's history, Buffett's influence, how the company's structure was built, what is its current financial status and whether an investor should consider buying its stock.

In a 1999 article from Business Week, Warren Buffett, the force behind the Berkshire Hathaway Business, was described as follows: "If Buffett had a business card, it would identify him as chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. But he is far better known -- indeed, world-famous -- as the greatest stock market investor of modern times. The figures, though often cited, still astound: Had you put $10,000 into Berkshire when Buffett bought control of it in 1965, you'd have $51…… [Read More]

Economic Behavior Berkshire Hathaway it Will Be

Economic Behavior

Berkshire Hathaway

It will be fun to follow Bershire Hathaway because Warren Buffett is a mastermind at selecting companies in which to invest and I have never had the time to really learn about his holdings.

Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager in the property and casualty industry of the finance sector (Yahoo Finance, 2011). Essentially, the firm is a holding company with a variety of businesses across the globe (Yahoo Finance, 2011). In the beginning, the company was just a group of textile mills, but Warren Buffett got the controlling shares in the mid1960s and began to divert cash flows (float) from the core businesses and invest the money in other types of businesses (Yahoo Finance, 2011). Berkshire Hathaway's subsidiaries engage in the business of insurance and reinsurance of property and casualty risks (Yahoo Finance, 2011).. The firm was founded in 1889 and is…… [Read More]

Behavioral Finance Human Interaction a Study of the Decision-Making Processes Impacting Financial Markets Information Processing

ehavioral Finance and Human Interaction a Study of the Decision-Making

Processes Impacting Financial Markets

Understanding the Stock Market

Contrasting Financial Theories

Flaws of the Efficient Market Hypothesis

Financial ubbles and Chaos

The stock market's dominant theory, the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) has been greatly criticized recently for its failure to account for human errors, heuristic bias, use of misinformation, psychological tendencies, in determining future expected performance and obtainable profits.

Existing evidence indicates that past confidence in the EMH may have been misdirected, as the theory's models do not show a thorough understanding of trading operations in a realistic light.

Researchers have suggested that a variety of anomalies and inconsistent historical results demand that traditional financial theories, namely the EMH, be reconstructed to include human interaction as a key decision-making process that directly affects the performance of financial markets.

This research paper aims to determine whether or not there is a…… [Read More]

Social Commentator Thomas Frank Has Published an

social commentator, Thomas Frank, has published an insightful article in the February, 2011 issue of Harper's magazine assailing the members of what he describes as the privileges class in America failure to exhibit empathy and understanding for the plight of the working and middle class. In the article, entitled "Servile Disobedience," Frank states, "The rich are different from you and me (T. Frank). They are ruder and less generous. They don't get what others are thinking and apparently they don't really care." In offering these comments, Frank echoes the thoughts offered many years before by the writer and poet, Ralph aldo Emerson. Emerson saw the United States as being infected with "selfishness, fraud and conspiracy (Emerson)."

Frank in his article laments that, "e need the rich to be nicer. e need the rich to discover brotherly love, and fast." He recognizes that among the rich there are a number who…… [Read More]

Business Personal Moral Ethics When We Know

Business, Personal, Moral Ethics

When we know something is right or wrong, good or bad, because of certain facts (not just preferences), we're confronting moral issues. Hurting people is wrong. Wanting vanilla ice cream is probably not, no matter that it may seem offensive to some of us sometimes. Social or cultural institutions that govern our personal principals are imposing moral standards that we can aim to achieve.

Business ethics, however, are different. They are operational guidelines and process expectations; and in many instances it is what one does to conform to this expectation that determines whether they are considered appropriate or not. The goodness or badness is business ethics is a much different issue, since even good business people can do bad things on purpose in search of bottom line profits and that is not necessarily seen as offensive.

When one basically blends these approaches and seeks to use…… [Read More]

Modern Portfolio Theory and Diversification

Diversification

Portfolio diversification as a form of risk management is one of the cornerstones of modern investment theory. According to the theory, the ideally-diversified portfolio is 'deeply diversified' within each asset class and also 'broadly diversified' across all the asset classes within the portfolio (Simon 2010:2). Asset classes consist of "stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities, precious metals and collectibles;" forms of market capitalization (micro-, small-, mid- and large-cap); style; sectors; industry types; and geography (Portfolio diversification, 2012, Investing in mutual funds). The objective of diversification is that "risk has virtually been eliminated within each class" by combining lower and higher-risk assets (Portfolio diversification, 2012, Investing in mutual funds). Theoretically, the perfectly diversified portfolio should incur no additional risks to the investor greater than what is posed by the general market conditions. There is always risk in investment, but portfolio management is designed to minimize the risk.

To achieve this objective,…… [Read More]

Investments Stock Selection on March 9 2009

nvestments: Stock Selection

On March 9, 2009 the stock market settled on a 12-year closing low with the Dow Jones ndustrial Average (DJA), a barometer of the economy and stock market trajectory, closing at 6,547.05. (Twin, A. March 9, 2009). The precipitous plunge for the DJA from an "all-time high of 14,164.53" (Twin, A. October 9, 2007) reached on October 9, 2007 marked the timeline of the country's worst recession since the Great Depression. From the historic lows however, the market has rebounded dramatically closing at 12,105.78 on February 23, 2011, a gain of over 75% from the March lows (CNBC.com. February 23, 2011). The vicissitudes of the stock market over the past three plus years limn the debate over whether an investor who is risk averse would choose to invest in a stock market in which all stocks rise and fall together, or a market in which individual stocks…… [Read More]

Csx Financial Evaluation Evaluating Financial

PP. 1). The railroad story is one of low cost, fuel efficient, and environmentally friendly shipping. CSX is well positioned to benefit from the growing surge of railroad traffic and intermodal capacity. The company's financial position is excellent, and shareholders will receive continued payoffs in dividend growth and stock appreciation. Over the coming decade the expectation will be that CSX expands into the western U.S. with mergers or acquisitions of smaller regional railroads. In so doing the company will continue its delivery of shareholder value by capitalizing on the tremendous growth in coal exports, domestic consumer demand, and intermodal connectivity.

References

CNBC.com. (March 19, 2012). CSX Corporation Quote. CNBC.com. PP. 1. Retrieved

March 19, 2012 from http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/CSX

CNBC.com. (November 3, 2009). CNBC Transcript: Warren Buffett Explains His

Railroad 'All-in Bet' on America. CNBC.com. PP. 1. Retrieved March 19, 2012 from http://www.cnbc.com/id/33603477/CNBC_Transcript_Warren_Buffett_Explains_His_Railroad_All_In_Bet_on_America

CNNMoney.com. (2011). Fortune 500. CSX. CNNMoney.com. PP. 1. Retrieved…… [Read More]

Anazying the Williams Case

Williams - Case Analysis

Williams -- Case Analysis

Why is Williams considering a $900 million one-year loan from Warren Buffett and Lehman Brothers?

Williams is a company based in Tulsa whose business operations are energy related, including exploration and production, energy trading, pipelines and telecommunications. In the present, the company is suffering from deterioration in the energy markets as a result of the crash and decline of Enron, in addition to pressure on profit margins in the telecommunications business sector due to oversupply and investigations by regulators with regard to suspected financial indecencies. Williams is considering a $900 million one-year loan from Warren Buffett and Lehman Brothers because of a number of reasons.

To begin with, an oversupply in the telecommunications business sector has resulted in deterioration in the profits generated as well as margins generated within the industry, which in turn, has instigated several players within the industry to…… [Read More]

Executive Salaries With the Current

It has been shown that the acquisition of talent not an area specific to each individual position at top companies. The highest-performing companies build pools of talent from which they can draw as needed (Michaels et al., 2001). Thus, there will inevitably be talented people who are at times underutilized. Their higher-order needs are not being met and thus they must be generously compensated. Otherwise, when the time comes to move someone from the organization to a fulfilling, higher-order executive position, the talent will not be there.

CEO pay proponents also point out that the bulk of the "excessive" executive compensation comes in the form of stock or options. These instruments were brought into executive compensation packages specifically to align the interests of management with those of the shareholders. It was the shareholders and the boards of directors who initiated this, as a means to protect shareholder wealth. There have…… [Read More]

Accomplishments of a Philanthropist

Bill Gates Founder of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; philanthropy

Did his upbringing seem to influence desire to be philanthropic? If so, how?

But his parents planted the seed of entering into philanthropy. Mrs. Gates always stressed on Bill why he needed to begin philanthropy. Someone who was at Bill's father's law office one night recalls that he had quarreled with his parents stating that he was just trying to run his company. Bill Gates notes that he wasn't against philanthropy at the time but wanted to give Microsoft all his energy and attention. Eventually, Mrs. Gates got Bill to donate money for United Way and establish a program at his company to do that. With the growth of his wealth, more requests for donations started streaming in. Bill Gates says that his desire was focusing on philanthropy after retiring from Microsoft or at least later on when he was…… [Read More]

Leadership Movement Issues Leadership Moment Summary

"

G. Lack of Strategic Vision

A strategic vision defines the desired or intended future state of an organization or enterprise in terms of its fundamental objective and/or strategic direction. It represents a long-term view of how things should be. Without a strategic vision, a company may achieve short-term tactical success, but is likely to struggle in the long-term (Greenfield, 2000).

Indeed, Salomon had been successful for many years as Gutfreund assumed the role of "senior statesman and public spokesman" for the bank. As such, his focus was constantly changing. He was rarely at headquarters due to his frequent international travel to support the company's growing investment banking business. A more strategic focus would have realized the importance of compliance in the financial services industry that demands strict adherence to the letter of the law and the company would have responded through the creation of a vision that embraced corporate…… [Read More]

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal He

Alwaleed also donated $500,000 to the George Herbert Walker ush Scholarship Fund in 2002. In December 2005, he donated $20 million each to Harvard University and Georgetown University to finance new initiatives aimed at enhancing the study of Islam in the Western academy and to foster understanding between Muslims and Christians. (Mujtaba 2008)

The Weill Medical College of Cornell University also received a donation $10 million in 2006 to establish the Institute for Computational efforts in wake of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. He also gave $2 million dollars for the development of the remote regions of Pakistan that include Kahuta, Jhelum valley, and the mountainside region of the Swat River valley. Alwaleed financed the building of the headquarters of the Fondation Pour l'Enfance, an organization dedicated to improving the living conditions of Malian and African children in Mali. (Mujtaba 2008)

Princely Lifestyle

The billionaire prince has a colorful life…… [Read More]

Shaw Industries the Existence of

Target Markets

Given that the new product would be manufactured using better, but more expensive technologies that protect the environment, Shaw Industries' target market would have to simultaneously meet the following criteria:

present an increased interest towards preserving the environment possess sufficient financial resources in order to afford the higher prices of the products manufactured using superior technologies.

In this order of ideas, Shaw Industries' target market is formed of both American citizens as well as foreigners, with ages between 25 and 65 and who register above medium incomes. The age limit is imposed by the belief that the population younger than 25 rarely possesses their own houses, shows reduced interest in carpets and does not possess sufficient financial resources to afford the relatively high prices of the new carpets. On the other hand, the retired population generally spends their pension money on medicines or journey around the world and…… [Read More]

Pepsi or Coke Forward Integration During 2010

Pepsi or Coke

Forward Integration

During 2010, both Pepsi Cola and Coca-Cola completed the acquisition of their previously independent North American bottling affiliates. PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) acquired The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc. (PBG) and PepsiAmericas, Inc. (PAS). These deals closed on February26, 2010. (Pepsi PNewswire, 2010) Almost immediately, Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) announced that it would acquire the North American operations of Coca-Cola Enterprises (NYSE:CCE) and sell to CCE its bottling operations in Norway and Sweden. The Coke deals closed in October 2010. (Kwon, 2011)

PepsiCo has trumpeted the benefits of the consolidation with its bottler, including substantial cost savings and improved speed to market for new products. Coca-Cola named all the same advantages, headlined by an expected $350 million in eventual synergies (following one-time costs of $425 million). Coca-Cola assumed $8.8 billion of CCE's debt along with $580 million of employee benefit obligations. Notably, the bottling business is a significantly lower-return…… [Read More]

Derivatives Securit

These strategies can also be used to reduce the risk of a drop in the stock price without regard to tax issues. In deciding whether to employ these strategies, it is necessary to consider the cost of the option and any related transaction costs.

A swap is an agreement in which counterparties (generally two) agree to exchange future cash flows arising from financial instruments. For example, in the case of a generic fixed-to-floating interest rate swap, company a agrees to pay company . periodic fixed interest payments on some "notional" principal amount (say $100 million) in exchange for variable rate payments on that notional. The floating "leg" is typically periodically reset based on some reference rate such as LIOR. Usually, one leg involves quantities that are known in advance (e.g. The "fixed leg" in an interest rate swap) the other involves quantities that are uncertain or variable (e.g. The "floating…… [Read More]

Applied Leadership in Project Management

successful examples of leadership in business, especially if we take note of the key changes that the company has underwent during his management, is Jack Welch, CEO at General Electrics for twenty years, a real "tiger Woods of management," by the words of his friend, Warren uffett, chairman at erkshire Hathaway. Jack Welch's own biography, "Jack -- Straight from the Gut," is the best material to reflect the example of leadership that Jack Welch represented during the 80s and chief of General Electrics. Chapter 24, "What this CEO things is all about," gives a keen insight into the leadership process, as perceived by the former CEO of General Electrics, along with a concluding list of characteristics a successful leader should have.

The first and most important thing Welch lists is integrity

. A successful leader must have integrity and only one agenda for everybody: customers, shareholders, suppliers etc. Integrity helps…… [Read More]

Ratios in General East Coast Yachts Has

atios

In general East Coast Yachts has below average financial performance compared to its industry peers. With respect to solvency and liquidity, the company has a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.66. Both of these lie below the median for the industry but are comfortably above the lower quartile. The debt ratio is 35.8% and the debt/equity ratio is 91.9%. These figures are also in the second quartile for the industry, with the debt ratio just above the cutoff for the lower quartile. Interest coverage is 7.95 times, again putting the company between the median and the lower quartile.

In terms of efficiency, total asset turnover is 1.51 times, inventory turnover is 19.2 times and receivables turnover is 30.6. The latter is in the upper quartile, indicating that the company has a good collections system. Total asset turnover is just above the lowest quartile while the…… [Read More]

Organization Apple Apple Inc Apple Was Built

Organization (Apple)

Apple Inc. (Apple) was built on January 3, 1977. It is presently engaged in manufacturing, designing and marketing mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital devices. It also sells a number of related software, peripherals, services, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. The Company's products and services comprises iPad, iPhone, Mac, Apple TV, iPod a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the Mac OS X and ios operating systems, iCloud, and a number of accessory, service and support offerings. It also sells and provides digital content and applications through the iTunes Store, App Store, iookstore, and Mac App Store. y the end of year 2011, the Company, as part of a consortium, obtained Nortel Networks Corporation's patent portfolio. In February 2012, the Company obtained app-search engine Chomp.

Apple sells its products worldwide through its online stores, retail stores and direct sales force,…… [Read More]

Black Monday - 1987 on Monday October

Black Monday - 1987

On Monday, October 19, 1987, the Dow Jones Industrial fell 508 points -- which meant that it lost 22.6% of its value -- which was an unprecedented fiscal calamity at that time. This paper delves into that frightening dive, into the reasons why it happened, and looks into the possibility that it could happen again.

hy did it happen?

In January, 1987, the Dow Jones Industrials gained 13.8%, according to NBC's Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC). Through the month of March the Dow was up 21.6% and through July the Dow was up 37.7% (CNBC). In August of 1987 the Dow peaked at 2,722, a remarkable gain of 43.6% on the year. Then in October (between the 2nd and 16th) the Dow lost 15%, which was a kind of warning shot to investors that something was wrong. Then on the 19th of October, the market…… [Read More]

Visionary Leaders Come in Many Different Types

Visionary Leaders

Leaders come in many different types and flavors with the visionary leaders being the most prominent and cited much of the time. Names that come to mind are Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett. This report will cover the topic of visionary leadership in general as well as a focus on one leader in particular, that being Bill Gates of Microsoft fame, and how he himself signified and exemplified visionary leadership (USA Today, 2013). The author of this report is asked to what makes Bill Gates a visionary with some specific examples. The author is also asked to clarify and explain what a visionary leader brings to the workplace they operate in. The author is asked whether a visionary leader is needed in every workplace with a clarification of why or why not. Finally, the business conditions that call for visionary leadership are also asked for.

Questions…… [Read More]

Risk and Insurance Management Risk Is Believed

isk and Insurance Management

isk is believed to be a newly coined word of assurance (for example, Ewald, 1991: 198). One of the broadly shared suppositions regarding insurance is that it spins around an instrumental concept of risk. Possibility and the amount of influence make up a technical concept of hazard/risk and hazard administration is chiefly worried about reviewing these possibilities and influences (for an overview see Gratt, 1987). For instance, external profits of financial or political occurrences lay down thresholds for the availability of associated risk guesstimates or reckonings (Huber, 2002).

So, the range of the risk groups cannot be clarified by risk judgment single-handedly; peripheral circumstances that could be political, financial or inclusive of image, arts and manners, are also required to be taken into account. Therefore, if risks are not be present, per se, but are deliberately selected, we can go a step ahead and presume them…… [Read More]

New Work Reward Systems New Improved Innovative

New Work eward Systems

New, Improved, Innovative: Employee Work ewards

In the book First, Break All the ules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently, authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman assert that employee satisfaction is not tied to compensation as tightly as the business world has imagined. Hard though it may be to belief, several key elements reportedly have stronger influence on employee morale and engagement with their work than wages, salaries, or bonuses. During their association with the Gallup Organization, Buckingham and Coffman, concluded that the answers to the following questions will help a manager identify the key influencers of employee motivation, morale, loyalty to the company -- and ultimately, staying power in a job or position:

Do I know what is expected of me at work?

Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?

At work, do I have the opportunity…… [Read More]

Confusing Statistics

Statistics in elationships

It is important to understand the limitations of mathematics, number and statistics. Stats and numbers play a larger role in assigning value to things in today's society. The entire monetary system is based in this statistical mire. The idea of stats being viewed as only a tool or artifact of technology can prevent the misuse of this concept. The following will address several of these examples to demonstrate the essence and true value of statistics as merely an extension of the individual who is applying this type of numeric manipulation.

The famous author Mark Twain once described statistics being more confusing than actual lying and lies. Bad statistics are found everywhere and there are many examples of how things can be confused for the truth. Bayes Theorem describes the incidents of conditional probability. But inherent in this model, the original probability is assumed to be known. If…… [Read More]

Unleashing Human Potential Treating People Like People

Unleashing Human Potential: Treating People Like People.

The idea that one can accurately predict the future performance of an organization based on a given set of variables is a very fascinating proposition. In many ways it's no different than gambling on a professional football team. In both cases the key variable or determining factor is personnel. The company with the shrewd, "vivid spirited" CEO and the out-of-the-box thinking sales team has the greatest chance of success, as does the football team with the uber-accurate star quarterback and the injury-resistant running back (Fisher).

This should, of course, come as no surprise. In theory it makes perfect sense. However, in practice, in the real world, prognosticating success is not that easy. For one thing, corporations do not operate in a vacuum. There are external forces in play, many of which are beyond a corporation's control, that affect their capacity to perform at…… [Read More]

Insurance Industry

erkshire Hathaway, Inc.

Legal insights into an insurance investment strategy

Warren E. uffet's erkshire Hathaway's company strategy since the global economic crisis in 2008 has been characterized by what some would call 'safe-but-boring' industries. Consistently outperforming on the S&P, the Company has been effective where others have not. The foregoing project proposal looks at the decision making model(s) used by H in investment in the insurance industry, with a hypothesis that one Selective Insurance Group (SIG) will emerge as the target for acquisition. Attendant to this study of competition and crisis is the formative role that insurance law plays in investment and the impact of corporate counsel as a functionary aspect to the insurance business. Employing a Six Sigma assessment approach, corporate case studies and aggregate insurance industry data are put into dialogue with the history of client litigation by those firms.

TALE OF CONTENTS

Abstract

Introduction 4

Problem Statement…… [Read More]

Fargo NYSE Wfc Following the

The liabilities are subject to reserve requirements, however. This means that the bank cannot have more financial assets than it has liabilities. So debt utilization is an entirely different animal in the banking industry than it is in conventional industries.

Therefore, typical debt utilization ratios are of little relevance. Interest coverage is tied to liquidity, and is therefore not measured for banks. The debt-to-equity ratio is measured, however. For ells Fargo, this is 3.01. For Bank of America it is 3.97. The industry average is 3.28. The significance of this metric in the banking business is that the higher the ratio, the riskier the business. Another measure is the leverage ratio. This is at ells Fargo 12.0, versus 9.7 at Bank of America and 14.7 overall. Thus, both of these companies are less highly leveraged than the industry as a whole. ells Fargo has a lower debt-to-equity ratio indicating lower…… [Read More]

Diversification How Important Is it for You

Diversification

How important is it for you to diversify your investment portfolio? How would you diversify your investment portfolio?

Although 'the stock market' is often spoken of as a collective entity, in reality it is made up of a many different types of industry subsets. Furthermore, stocks are not the only assets investors should have: bonds, CDs, and more conservative and risky investments make up the full 'buffet' of available ways to allocate funds. The right 'menu' of investments will vary depending upon the investor's age, comfort with risk, goals, and other factors. "To build a diversified portfolio, an investor should look for assets whose returns haven't historically moved in the same direction, and, ideally, assets whose returns move in the opposite direction. This way, even if a portion of your portfolio is declining, the rest of your portfolio is designed to be growing. Thus, you can potentially offset the…… [Read More]

Fiscal Cliff Its Challenges and

S. It too had run into a deep recession and too sought ways out of it by considering tax options. In a similar way, both candidates running for the South Korean presidency in the 2012 presidential elections vowed to "to prioritise "national reconciliation," better "economic democracy" and social welfare" (BBC News (17 December 2012) South Korea's presidential candidates) and to do this via easing South Korea's income gap between rich and poor by adjusting tax burden appropriately. No wonder, that U.S. President Barack Obama congratulated her and stated that he "is looking forward to working closely with her administration on issues of mutual concern" (ibid). The two nations currently have a lot in common and Ms. Park seems to be treading the path that Obama has in mind.

Conclusion

Our recent recession goes by various names. It is called, in turn, the Great ecession, the Lesser Depression, the Long ecession,…… [Read More]

Executive Bonuses When the Bush

hen he, representing the de facto shareholders the American taxpayers, found the executive compensation plans were out of line with the objectives of said shareholders, he acted.

In the free market system, this is the only response. Shareholders have rights and duties as the owners of companies. The executive team acts as their agents. The shareholders have not only the right but the capability to fire boards of directors and by extension executives whose compensation does not match their performance. The public outcry with respect to excessive compensation typically occurs when shareholders neglect their duty. Yet, there are examples where the shareholders have upheld their duty. These firms -- the majority -- do not make headlines, giving the impression that executive compensation is a rampant problem in society. If a company dares to pay bonuses will laying off workers or reducing their wages, the outcry hits the front page. However,…… [Read More]

Rules America Bill Domhoff Outlines

Thus, investors are taxed at low rates and CEOs receive high pay specifically because they deserve it.

Thus, the facts are not contested by any side of this debate. The reality is that one must draw the line somewhere with respect to what sort of society one prefers to live in. The wealthy seek political power because they want to design a society in which they receive most of the benefits of opportunity while avoiding as much of the cost (taxation, regulation) as possible. Their ideal society probably already exists somewhere in the developing world, but alas American voters have sought to strike a more balanced approach to opportunity and cost. Many Americans -- some of them among the wealthy -- argue that too much wealth disparity is harmful to the country. First, as many Americans as possible should have the opportunity to succeed, something that does not come from…… [Read More]

Finance Would the GEICO Acquisition

This in fact gives Buffet the upper hand to know that his investment will turn around and bring substantial monetary gain to him and his business over the longevity of the business holding.

What might account for the share price increase for Berkshire Hathaway at the announcement? In actuality, Buffet used a simple component that was recognizable through most of his other business purchasing transactions. In all transactions, there would be an increase in the offer per share. Another cause of the increase could be that often interest in a company would significantly increase when Berkshire Hathaway would become involved. Due to being, a well-known substantiated person/company that is significantly known for increasing the value of a company, not necessarily in the short-term but yet using concepts dealing with longevity. In fact, it is evident that when buffet is considering such an accusation that he has increased the dollar per…… [Read More]

Leader and Organization

John Mackey: hole Foods Leader

Leadership is often defined as having an inspirational function. "Leadership is the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals. A leader does not have to be someone who holds a formal position or title. They can emerge from a group and provide vision and motivation to those around them" (Schutte, Chapter 12, 2010: Slide 3). Leadership is said to be in stark contrast to management, which merely "deals with the complexity of the organization and works with planning, organizing, leading and controlling to bring about order and consistency in the organization. Even though the two roles have different areas of focus, both are necessary for organizational success" (Schutte, Chapter 12, 2010: Slide 3). Leadership defines the vision of the organization; management offers practical ways to embody that vision. Having charismatic and inspiring leadership is essential for an organization that 'breaks the mold'…… [Read More]

Berkshire and US Department of Education

Performance Reports

The purpose of a performance report is to provide stakeholders in the organization with a view as to the overall performance the organization for a particular timeframe. The intended audience can range from employees of the organization to stakeholders such as shareholders, administrators, community members, etc. Because public companies such as Berkshire-Hathaway must report to shareholders, their performance reports are written to explain certain steps taken by the company in both a short-term and long-term view. Governmental organizations are no different since they too are entities that are determined and shaped by public input (citizens vote for representatives who determine who will be posted to what position -- as is the case in the Department of Education, for instance). Thus, government organizations should also be responsible for publishing an annual performance report as they are accountable to the public for their performance, long-term and short-term objectives, and strategic…… [Read More]

Charles Merrill Visionary Leader and

As a result: "In 1940, just 16% of Americans invested in stocks. Now over 50% do -- thanks to the explosion of 401(k) plans, the wide availability of mutual funds, lower trading costs, and accessible research." would call Charles Merrill a leader rather than a manager, although it is likely that he was a strong manager of his organization as well. But he was a leader because he led his industry in a whole new direction, and changed that industry permanently in the process. According to Leadership vs. management (April 14, 2004), Charles Merrill was not just a leader of an organization; he was a leader of change within his entire industry:

www.1000ventures.comLeadership is about getting people to abandon their old habits and achieve new things, and therefore largely about change - about inspiring, helping, and sometimes enforcing change in people. "While there can be effective management absent ideas, there…… [Read More]

Level 5 Hierarchy Leader

Hierarchy Leadership

Henry IV Part

There are many fears people have for the unknown. However, the confidence a leader has when facing unknown risks sets him apart. That is an aspect ichard Branson the Chief Executive Officer of the virgin group understands and takes to his advantage. He faces the risks coming his way with confidence as he drives his team towards the achievement of his company goals and objectives. For ichard Branson, there is always a positive end to every challenge faced, and that drives him courageously to face any difficulties. ichard Branson has managed setting up standards for a vast range of virgin logo. He has a vast empire, entertainment industries like Virgin records, telecommunications ventures like Virgin Mobile and airline business such as Virgin Atlantic Airways (Lambert, 2012). The major aim for ichard is self-achievement. This is a part of life; he has reached through several challenges.…… [Read More]