Warren Buffett Essays (Examples)

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…

References

Colvin, G. (1992, June 1) Champion pay for a nonchamp CEO. Fortune. Retrieved October 9, 2005 from www.highbeam.com.

Hambrick, D.C. And M.L.A. Hayward. (1997) Explaining the Premiums Paid for Large Acquisitions: Evidence of CEO Hubris, Administrative Science Quarterly, 42 (1), 103+. Retrieved October 9, 2005 from www.questia.com.

Henry, J. (1998, November). Buffett in Buffalo, Columbia Journalism Review, p. 58. Retrieved October 9, 2005 from www.questia.com.

How Buffett cleaned up Salomon. (1994, June 20) U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved October 9, 2005 from www.highbeam.com.

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…

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…

References

Kim, Susana. (2011). Warren Buffett reveals 'billionaire friendly' tax return. ABC News. Web.  http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2011/10/warren-buffett-reveals-billionaire-friendly-tax-return/ 

Jacob, Deborah. (2011). Charitable giving by Steve Jobs may forever remain a mystery. Forbes. Web.  http://www.forbes.com /sites/deborahljacobs/2011/10/06/charitable-giving-by-steve-jobs-may-forever-remain-a-mystery/

Mail Foreign Service. (2010). Bill Gates makes the world's biggest ever single charitable donation worth 6.2 billion pounds for vaccines for children. Mail Online. Web.  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247067/Bill-Gates-makes-worlds-largest-charitable-6bn-vaccines-poor-children.html 

Squatriglia Chuck & Espinosa-Solis, Suzanne. (2000). Intel co-founder sets up $5 billion foundation: Gordon Moore Foundation. San Francisco Chronicle. Web. http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/Intel-Gordon-Moore-Foundation.htm

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…

Works Cited

Lowenstein, R. (1996). Buffett: The Making of An American Capitalist. New York, NY: Broadway

Books.

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…

Works Cited

Irwin, Neil. (24 Mar 2005). "Merger approved, Sears-Kmart can focus on reshaping stores." The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 Apr 2008 at  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64648-2005Mar24.html 

Weiss, Miles & Joseph N. DiStefa. (16 May 2007). "Lampert's ESL Fund holds $800 million Citigroup stake." Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 9 Apr 2008  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&refer=us&sid=ai5qQcW6SJTI

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…

Reference:

1.Mergent online financial information service www.mergent.com

2. Gale online financial information service www.hoovers.com

3. Bianco, Anthony, "Warren the Buffett You Don'tknow; Ace stockpicker, of course -- and now, an empire-builder" Business Week. New York: July 5, 1999., Iss. 3636; pg. 54

4. Berkshire Hathaway's history -- part 1 and 2

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…

References

Farrell, M. (2011, August 26). Buffett's one-day win on Bank of America: $357 million. CNN Money. Retrieved  http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/26/markets  / warren_buffett_bofa_profit/index.htm?iid=EL

Farrell, M. (2011, September 26). CNN Money. Retrieved  http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/ 

26/markets/buffett_berkshire_buyback/index.htm

Berkshire Hathaway, Investopedia. Retrieved  http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/berkshire-hathaway.asp#ixzz1ajECr68Z

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…

Bibliography

Barrett, Larry. (January, 2001). Emotional investing a recipe for disaster. CNET News.com.

Bernstein, Peter. (1998). Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Brennan, Phil. (March 12, 2002) The Great Stock Market Scam. NewsMax.com.

Business Week. (September 29, 1997) The Perils of Investing Too Close to Home.

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…

Works Cited

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York: Modern Library, 2000.

Frank, Robert. "Millionaires Support Warren Buffett's Tax on the Rich." 27 October 2011. Wall Street Journal. 1 December 2011 .

Frank, Thomas. "Servile Disobedience." Harper's February 2011.

Kraus, Michael W. "Social Class, Contextualism and Empathic Accuracy." Psychological Science (2010): 11716-1723.

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…

REFERENCES

Business and Human Rights Resource Center (09/28/2011). Retrieved from  http://www.business -humanrights.org/Categories/Individualcompanies/L/LeviStrauss' target='_blank' REL='NOFOLLOW'>

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,…

Bibliography

Buffet, Warren. 1965. Letter to partners. Value Investing World. Accessed:

 http://www.valueinvestingworld.com/2007/08/warren-buffett-on-diversification-1966.html  [17 Aug 2012]

Calmar ratio definition. 2012. Investopedia. Accessed:

 http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/calmarratio.asp#axzz23nrArUdJ  [17 Aug 2012]

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…

Investors are marked by two extremes, the active investor who tracks, analyzes, and disseminates information on the companies in their investment portfolio, the economy, and global financial news which may influence the direction of their stock investments. At the other extreme is the investor who is socking away their five percent contribution with company match into their 401K. This investor cedes to expert portfolio managers, or trusts in the long run upward trend of equities as defined in index funds: S&P 500, Wilshire, and DJIA. While there are investors at both extremes the vast majority fall at some point on the spectrum, engaged but not able to fully commit the time or resources to portfolio management.

In this context the risk-averse investor will likely fall in with the preponderance of investors who have investment portfolios but are not actively managing them. The investor's portfolio may have individual stocks, mutual funds, or index funds. Which leads to the question, which environment would an investor desire to be in to attain their goal of reduced risk concomitant with acceptable return? The answer ironically comes from the same source, yet at bifurcated ends of an investment philosophy.

Warren Buffett considered the world's most accomplished and successful investor for over fifty years posits that a risk-averse individual could reach their investment objectives in either economic environment. In 2009, Warren Buffett entered into an agreement to purchase the remaining shares of Burlington Northern Railroad which his firm Berkshire Hathaway did not already own. His rationale for the purchase was simple "I basically believe this country will prosper and you'll have more people moving more goods 10 and 20 and 30 years from now, and the rails should benefit; it's a bet on the country, basically" (Crippen, A. November 3, 2009). This statement defines an investment strategy which suggests that over the long-term the stock market will generally move higher, the rising tide lifts all boats metaphor. Yes, stocks will fall, sometimes dramatically, across

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…

8,468

(a) Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss primarily includes changes in pension and other postretirement benefit adjustments. These year-end balances shown above are net of tax. The associated taxes were $426 million, $413 million and $466 million for 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively.

See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

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…

References

Atrill, P. & McLaney, E. (2013). Accounting and finance for non-specialists. 8th Ed. Harlow, UK: Pearson Publishing.

Christensen, H. B., & Nikolaev, V. V. (2012). Capital versus performance covenants in debt contracts. Journal of Accounting Research, 50(1), 75-116.

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…

Works Cited:

Taub, Stephen. (2006). CEO Pay is Too High, Directors Say. CNN. Retrieved May 1, 2009 from  http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/8027003/c_8027107 

FASB Statement 123 (1995). Retrieved May 1, 2009 from  http://www.fasb.org/st/summary/stsum123.shtml 

FASB Statement 123R (2004). Retrieved May 1, 2009 from  http://www.fasb.org/st/summary/stsum123r.shtml 

Case: Compensation and Governance at WorldCom. (2002) NYU Stern. Retrieved May 1, 2009 from  http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~lcabral/teaching/worldcom.pdf

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…

References

Anderson, I. (2011). The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: business vs. bureaucracy in international development, Development Policy Centre Discussion Paper #3, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, Canberra.

Bort J. (2015 Jan. 21). Bill Gates Talks About The Heartbreaking Moment That Turned Him To Philanthropy. Business Insider. Retrieved from on March 11, 2015

Clemens, M & Demombynes, G 2010, 'When does rigorous impact evaluation make a difference? The case of the millennium villages', Centre for Global Development, Working Paper 225

Encyclopedia Britannica (updated 2014, July 14). Bill Gates. Retrieved from on March 11, 2015

"

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…

Bibliography

Cunningham, T.M. (2002, August 27). Leadership 101: Integrity.  http://www.withthecommand.com/2002-Aug/MD-TMC-leader-integ101.html 

Greenfield, G. (2000, December). Achieving tactical success without a strategic vision. http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/article.php3?id_article=727

Leadership styles and bases of power.  http://www.enotes.com/management-encyclopedia/leadership-styles-bases-power 

Montana, P., and Charnov, B. (2008). Management (4th ed.), Barrons Educational Series, Hauppauge: New York.

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…

Bibliography

Answers.com. Alwaleed bin Talal. 2008.  http://www.answers.com/topic/alwaleed-bin - talal (Accessed November 24, 2008).

Khan, Riz. 2008 Time 100: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. November 24, 2008.  http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1733748_1733758_1735846,00.html  (Accessed November 24, 2008).

Alwaleed: Businessman Billionaire Prince. New York: HarperCollins, 2005.

Mujtaba, Syed Ali. Alalweed: Billionaire, Businessman, Prince. April 8, 2008.  http://www.dinarstandard.com/finance/Alwaleed040608.htm  (Accessed November

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…

References

Carlton, D.L., 2004, Shaw Industries: A history, Journal of Southern History, Volume 70

Patton, R.L., 2002, Shaw Industries: A History, Business and Economics

2007, Shaw Industries, Inc., Design Biz, http://www.designbiz.com/net/BrandCompany.asp?CompanyID=62913,last accessed on November 14, 2007

2007, Shaw Industries Website,  http://www.shawfloors.com/,last  accessed on November 14, 2007

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…

References

Coca-Cola, 2009 Annual Report, Retrieved February 26, 2011 from www.cce2009annualreport.com

Coca-Cola, 2010 Form 10K, Retrieved February 28, 2011 from  http://xml.10kwizard.com/filing_raw.php?repo=tenk&ipage=7441829 

Kwon, Esther (2011, February 15), "The Coca-Cola Company," Standard & Poor's Stock Report

Laboy, Carlos (2011, February 7), "The Coca-Cola Company," 'Credit Suisse Equity Research

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…

Bibliography

McMillan, Lawrence G., 1986, Options as a Strategic Investment: A Comprehensive Analysis of Listed Option Strategies, 2nd edn, New York Institute of Finance, New York.

Smith, Courtney, 1987, Option Strategies: Profit-Making Techniques for Stock, Stock Index, and Commodity Options, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Coates, C. Robert, 1978, Investment Strategy, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York.

Bookstaber, Richard M., 1987, Option Pricing and Investment Strategies, Protus Publishing Company, Chicago.

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…

Bibliography

1. Jack Welch with John A. Byrne. Jack-Straight from the Gut. Warner books. October 2003. Page 464

Jack Welch with John A. Byrne. Jack-Straight from the Gut. Warner books. October 2003. Page 464

Ibid. Page 466

Ibid. Page 467

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,…

Bibliography

McGregor, J. (2012). NATIONAL. Retrieved from Apple's Tim COOK faces leadership challenge on labor issue:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-leadership/post/what-apples-dividend-and-stock-buyback-move-tells-us-about-apples-leadership-switch/2011/04/01/gIQAyXjBNS_blog.html 

McGregor, J. (2012, march). NATIONAL. Retrieved from What Apple's stock move tells us about the company leadership switch:

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…

Works Cited

Bozzo, Albert. (2007). Can It Happen Again? CNBC.com. Retrieved November 27, 2012, from  http://www.cnbc.com .

Carson, Mark. (2006). A Brief History of the 1987 Stock Market Crash. Federal Reserve

Board. Retrieved November 27, 2012, from  http://www.federalreserve.gov .

Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC). (2012). Remembering the Crash of 87.

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…

References

Macke, J. (2013, February 14). Best Buy Is Losing Its Best Chance of Survival: Jeff Macke | Daily Ticker - Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo! Finance - Business Finance, Stock Market, Quotes, News. Retrieved May 31, 2013, from  http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/best-buy-losing-best-chance-survival-jeff-macke-181740101.html 

Microsoft. (2013, May 31). Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved May 31, 2013, from  http://www.microsoft.com 

USAToday. (2007, September 3). Most influential people - USATODAY.com. USA TODAY: Latest World and U.S. News - USATODAY.com. Retrieved May 31, 2013, from  http://www.usatoday.com/news/top25-influential.htm

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…

References

Douglas, M. And Wildavsky, A. (1982) Risk and Culture. An Essay on the Selection of Technical and Environmental Dangers. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Evers, A. And Nowotny, H. (1987) Uber den Umgang mit Unsicherheit. Die Entdeckung der Gestaltbarkeit von Gesellschaft. Frankfurt / Main: Suhrkamp.

Ewald, F. (1991) 'Insurance and Risk' in Burchell, G., Gordon, C. And Miller, P. (eds.) The Foucault Effect: studies in governmentality . London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

Gratt, L.B. (1987) 'Risk Analysis or Risk Assessment: a proposal for consistent definitions' in Covello, V. And Lave, L. (eds.) Uncertainty in Risk Assessment, Risk Management and Decision Making, Advances in Risk Analysis (4). New York: Plenum Press.

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…

References

Buckingham, M. And Coffman, C. (1999). First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Burken, S. (2013). The year without pants: WordPress.com and the future of work. Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass, an imprint of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Katz, J. (2000). Geeks: How two lost boys rode the Internet out of Idaho. New York, NY: Villard Publishing.

Robbins, S. (2004). Is equity-based compensation a good thing? In "Working Knowledge for Business Leaders." Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business Review.

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…

References

Altman, D.G. (1980). Statistics and ethics in medical research. Misuse of statistics is unethical. BMJ, 281(6249), 1182-1184.

Coontz, S. (2013). When Numbers Mislead. The New York Times, 25 May 2013. Retrieved from  http://www.nytimes.com /2013/05/26/opinion/sunday/when-numbers-mislead.html

Lewis, D.D. (1998). Naive (Bayes) at forty: The independence assumption in information retrieval. In Machine learning: ECML-98 (pp. 4-15). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

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…

Works Cited

AUTHOR? 2010 Sustainability in Key Professions: Accounting: An Action Research

Program Final Report, Macquarie University, NSW 2109.

Fisher. (n.d.), 'The People Factor -- The Second Dimension' PUBLISHER/JOURNAL

pp. 197-202.

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…

Works Cited:

Company overview and some financials from MSN Moneycentral. Retrieved May 15, 2009 from  http://moneycentral.msn.com/companyreport?Symbol=WFC 

2008 Wells Fargo Annual Report. Retrieved May 15, 2009 from

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…

References

The pro's guide to diversification. (2013). Fidelity Investments. Retrieved from:

 https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/guide-to-diversification 

Risk and return: Diversification. (2013). PreMBA test. Retrieved from:

http://ci.columbia.edu/ci/premba_test/c0332/s6/s6_5.html

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,…

References

Condon, S. (December 19, 2012) the middle-class tax hikes in Obama's "fiscal cliff" plan. CBS News.

Grosz, D. (Dec 19, 2012) Rich Make Out Like Bandits in Fiscal-Cliff Negotiations. The Daily Beast

 http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/19/rich-make-out-like-bandits-in-fiscal-cliff-negotiations.html 

 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57559974/the-middle-class-tax-hikes-in-obamas-fiscal-cliff-plan/

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,…

Works Cited:

Quijano, E. (2009). Obama tries to stop AIG bonuses. CNN. Retrieved December 3, 2009 from  http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/16/AIG.bonuses/index.html 

Mehran, H. (1995). Executive compensation structure, ownership and firm performance. Journal of Financial Economics. Vol. 38 (2), 163-184.

Mullen. E. & Guigliano, G. (2009). Recoverability of equity-based compensation deferred tax assets. Journal of Accountancy. Retrieved December 3, 2009 from  http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2009/Jan/JanTPC.htm 

Lagace, M. & Khurana, R. (2002). The irrational quest for charismatic CEOs. Harvard Business School. Retrieved December 3, 2009 from  http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3095.html

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…

Works Cited:

Domhoff, B. (no date). Who rules America: Wealth, income and power. In possession of the author.

Buffett, W. (2011). Stop coddling the super-rich. New York Times. Retrieved September 22, 2012 from  http://www.nytimes.com /2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html

Allen, F. (2012). Sarbanes-Oxley 10 years later: Boards are still the problem. Forbes. Retrieved September 22, 2012 from  http://www.forbes.com /sites/frederickallen/2012/07/29/sarbanes-oxley-10-years-later-boards-are-still-the-problem/

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…

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'…

Works Cited

"About Whole Foods." Whole Foods. [6 Dec 2011]

 http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company/ 

Fishman, Charles. The anarchist's cookbook. Fast Company. 2004. [6 Dec 2011]

 http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/84/wholefoods.html

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…

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…

References

Cohen, W. (2003). Got vision? The stuff of heroes newsletter. 12(1) Retrieved April 14,2004, at  http://www.stuffofheroes.com/Vol.%201,%20No.%2012.htm 

Leadership vs. management. (April 14, 2004). The business e-coach. Retrieved April 22, 2005, at  http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/leadership_vs_mgmt.html " / crosscuttings/leadership_vs_mgmt.html.

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.…

References

Branson, R. (2012). Richard Branson: Be a Leader - Not a Boss. BasinessDay, Retrieved from  http://www.business  day.co.zalarhcles/Content.aspx?iF162636

Branson R. (2011). How Can I Empower Employees? Entrepreneur, Rehievedfrom http://www.entrepreneur.co ml article/2l7 880

Branson, R. (2011). Look Good in a Corporate Photo. Bloomberg Businessweek,

Collins, J. (2001). Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve, Harvard Business Review, Retrieved from http://www.sturgesspurtill.com.aullibrary/Leadership.pdf