Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Price Guarantee Essay Example for Free
Price Guarantee Essay Introduction Price guarantees have become a popular promotional tool for attracting new customers or selling new products to existing customers. Many business organizations are now adopting the price guarantee concept in their pricing policies. Most notable among them is Walmart. General implications of price guarantees Price guarantees can take two forms. One is price matching in which lower prices are immediately matched. The other is price beating in which lower prices are undercut by a certain percentage of the difference. Both forms of price guarantees however have immense implications as far as market expansion and market retention are concerned. Obviously the assurance that they are getting the lowest possible prices will have a major impact on how the customers do business with the organization offering price guarantees. The effect of price guarantees is especially pronounced nowadays because of the extensive use of the internet that customers make in arriving at their purchase decisions. Because of the widespread availability of information on the internet, consumers can easily compare prices and find out which company is offering the lowest prices. However it takes time-consuming research on the part of the consumer especially if the product in question has intense competition. All businesses these days having products and services to sell are advertising their existence online, so the consumer looking for a particular product widely available in varying prices will have to go through all those dozens of websites in order to make a worthwhile price comparison and arrive at the lowest possible price available to him or her. However if there is a company out like Walmart which guarantees that the price it is offering is lowest available now and that even if market prices should go down in the future, the consumer will get refunds, then consumers will just fall in love with that offer because of all the time and energy saved. As a result of the assurance on the part of Walmart that the product is selling at the lowest possible price now or even in the future, consumers will rush to spend all their money on Walmart offerings. According to the above, offering price matching or price beating seems to have an extremely positive impact on the mindset of the consumers. However not all consumers are looking for the lowest possible price and this is especially true if the product in question is a status symbol, that is, the product is an issue of image with the consumer. In that case, quality rather than price will be the prime consideration. Consumers putting quality before price will be asking themselves why a certain company is offering such low prices. The suspicion that these consumers would be harbouring is that the quality of the product is in question. Quality defects make products difficult to sell, however an assurance of the lowest possible price will tend to make most consumers blind to minor defects that are not readily apparent. Some consumers will suspect that a particular company is adopting the policy of price guarantee in order to allay suspicions of product quality. Benefits of price guarantees Price guarantees can create customer goodwill as the customers are sure that they are getting the best deal possible. Price guarantees are especially applicable in the retail industry as price is the only differentiating factor in this case. The nature of the service involved in the retail industry is such that quality hardly varies from one company to another. Therefore the only way for retail companies to make themselves stand out from the crowd is to differentiate themselves through price. This is the reason that price guarantees have become so popular in the retail industry and the customers are not complaining. They have no reason to because, as mentioned before, they no longer have to surf for hours and hours or walk miles and miles of aisles for the best deal. They will just buy whatever they need from Walmart because whatever they are buying, Walmart’s prices are the best possible they can get. There is no possibility of post-purchase regrets. This is the best of all possible worlds. As will be elaborated upon later on, price matching or price beating make it pointless for sellers to lower their prices as any benefits to be gained from the lower prices will be cancelled by the competing seller who is offering price guarantees. Thus price guarantees are a means of price signaling. It is this price signaling which assures the customers that they are getting the best possible deals. Price guarantees have become so prevalent these days that customers expect companies to offer price guarantees. As a result, offering price guarantees has become the very act of survival for companies particularly in the retail industry. While this may be greatly beneficial for the consumers, the situation is somewhat different for the suppliers. If there is one retailer for example who buys a television set for â‚ ¤150 and offers it to the market for â‚ ¤250 with price guarantee, then another retailer who happens not to have the buying power of the other retailer and buys the same set for â‚ ¤170 will have to set the price also at â‚ ¤250. The second retailer might want to undercut the first by setting a lower price, â‚ ¤240 for example, but the second retailer would have little to gain from this as price guarantee offered by the first retailer means that the first retailer would only either match the lower price or beat the lower price. This price cutting can go on all the way down to the purchase price of the second retailer beyond which it cannot go. This is a discounting game which the first retailer will always win because of the price guarantee it offers. In this way price guarantees ensure that there is no price cutting going on in the market and that customers always get the best possible deal. Legal implications of price guarantee Price collusion has become a greater threat than ever now that the internet is facilitating connectivity at an unprecedented level not only between buyers and sellers but also between sellers. So it has become easier than ever for the sellers to reach some sort of an agreement online and raise their prices simultaneously. Occurrences have been noted whereby sellers have been known to discuss their prices online and raise their prices the next day. Such price collusion is obviously anti-competitive and so illegal. Price matching can also raise issues of price collusion in a roundabout way. What might happen is that sellers might already be selling their products at a heightened price level and one seller might offer a price guarantee in one product category while another seller might offer a price guarantee in another product category. Thus sellers might be colluding to create their own niches in specific product categories. This impairs the market forces of supply and demand as the price setting mechanism and should become the focus of regulatory agencies to identify and regulate. Ethical implication of price guarantee According to the invisible hand theory, consumers demand for a lower price while suppliers ask for a higher price and accordingly adjustments take place and in the process an agreement is reached between consumers and suppliers whereby both the buyers and the sellers are buying and selling respectively at the same price. This is the underlying structure of the free market economy. However the element of price guarantees can strike at this very foundation of the free market economy. What happens is that price matching, for example, discourages the other sellers from lowering their prices as the seller offering the price guarantee will only lower its own prices accordingly. Thus the phenomenon of price guarantees can perpetuate high prices at the expense of product quality and manufacturing efficiency. Manufacturing efficiency results from the learning curve. As companies gain experience in manufacturing their products, there is a learning curve which makes their manufacturing operations more efficient. As a result, products become cheaper to produce. According to the laws of supply and demand, this would allow suppliers to lower their prices and sell more. Not so however when there is one seller in the market practicing price matching. That seller has a pact with the buyer that the buyer will never find a lower price elsewhere and that if the buyer does find a lower price, the seller will immediately either match the new lower price or beat it. As a result of this pact, all the buyers in the market will be rushing to that seller offering price guarantees rather than to the other sellers who are offering lower prices. Inasmuch as offering price guarantees implicitly chips away at the very foundations of demand and supply as the price-setting mechanisms, the act is clearly unethical. The use of price guarantees can be put to other unethical means as well. There have been several news items where shops offering price guarantees have been known to lure customers to their geographical sites where these same customers are then set upon by sale executives in order to make them purchase expensive items. Conclusion Whether or not buyers suspect price guarantees encouraging tacit price collusions, buyers prefer sellers who are offering price guarantees. This is especially so with the advent of the internet where price information is available at the click of a mouse. Inasmuch as price guarantees turn heads in the buyer community, price guarantees hold great benefits for the seller. By using price guarantees sellers no longer have to resort to online discounters to offer lower prices and can reach the customer directly. In spite of the anti-competitive issues that arise as a result of the implementation of price guarantees, these guarantees, ethically and legally practiced, can strengthen the flow of trade and commerce. BIBILIOGRAPHY Pindyck, Robert S., and Daniel L Rubinfeld. Microeconomics. South western college pub. 2007. Varian, Hal R. Microeconomic Theory. McGraw Hill/Irwin. 2005. Mankiw, N Gregory. Principles of Microeconomics. McGraw Hill/Irwin. 2005. Colander, David C. Microeconomics. McGraw Hill/Irwin. 2005. Nagle, Thomas T., and John Hogan. The Strategy Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably . South western college pub. 2007. Baker, Ronald J. Pricing on Purpose: Creating Capturing Value. McGraw Hill/Irwin. 2005. McConnell, Campbell R., and Stanley L Brue. Economics. South western college pub. 2007.
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
The Hundred years war Essay -- essays research papers fc
THE HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR                     1337-1453     The Hundred Years War was the last great medieval war. It was a war not just between Kings, but lesser nobles were also able to pursue their own personal agendas while participating in the larger conflict. Future wars saw far less factionalism, at least on the scale found in medieval conflicts. The Hundred Years War was actually dozens of little wars and hundreds of battles and sieges that went on for over a century until both sides were exhausted. While neither side won in any real sense, the end result was that while there were two kingdoms at the beginning of the war, there were two nations at the end of it.      In 1337, most of the English nobility spoke French, although most knew enough English to deal with their subjects. When Duke William of Normandy conquered England in 1066, he did so as a French noble. But since Duke William had conquered a kingdom, he had become king of England while remaining duke of Normandy. Duke William also replaced nearly all the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy with French nobles. During the next two centuries, the French speaking English kings acquired even more property in France. Finally, in the 13th century, a particularly able French king took most of this land away from the English king. But by the early 14th century, two French provinces, Gascony and Guyenne, were still ruled by the English king, and in 1337 the French king Philip the 6th demanded that these provinces be returned to French control. The English king, Edward the 3rd , did not want to violate the feudal bonds that united all of Europe by defying Philip, his feudal overlord for t hose provinces. So Edward challenged Philip’s claim to the French throne, asserting that his own claim (which did in fact exist) was superior. Thus the war began, with Philip the 6th claiming the right to appoint French nobles as rulers of Gascony and Guyenne, and Edward the 3rd claiming that he was the rightful king of France and England.      There were other issues involved. England had major financial interests in the wool industry in Flanders (then a part of France) and France supported the Scots in their wars against England. Moreover, England had b... ...les' daughter. The son of this marriage (Henry the 6th) would be the king of France and England. It looked as though England had finally won. But the disinherited Dauphin continued to resist. Henry the 5th unexpectedly died in August 1422, followed in October by Charles the 6th , with the nine month old Henry the 6th not yet ready to receive the two crowns.      Despite the efforts of Henry the 5th's able brothers to hold things together. Joan of Arc came and went. The Burgundians turned on their English allies, and by 1453, the French, aided by these developments and the increasing professionalism of their army had driven the English from the Continent. This gave the English a few years to get ready for the War of the Roses, while the French took care of some internal problems and got ready for the first of many invasions of Italy.                                    Bibliography - Contamine, Philippe, War in the Middle Ages (1984) - WWW. TheHundredYearsWarHistoryHomePage.Com
Sunday, January 12, 2020
Uol Past Year Paper
This paper is not to be removed from the Examination Halls UNIVERSITY OF LONDON AC3093 ZB (279 0093) BSc Degrees and Diplomas for Graduates in Economics, Management, Finance and the Social Sciences, the Diplomas in Economics and Social Sciences and Access Route Auditing and Assurance Friday, 18 May 2012 : 10. 00am to 1. 00pm Candidates should answer FOUR of the following EIGHT questions: TWO from Section A, ONE from Section B and ONE further question from either section. All questions carry equal marks.  © University of London 2012 UL12/0010 D01 PLEASE TURN OVER Page 1 of 6SECTION A Answer TWO questions from this section and not more than one further question. (You are reminded that four questions in total are to be attempted with at least one from Section B. ) 1. You have just been approached by the newly-appointed Senior Regulator for the financial services (including accounting and auditing) industry in a country which has previously had little or no regulation on the provision of financial information. The Regulator has said that his first priority is to improve the quality of annual financial statements which the major companies in the country publish.The Regulator has established working parties to examine improvements in the quality of accounting and financial reporting practices. Another working party has been established to examine the quality of audit field work. The Regulator tells you that he wants your working party to put forward proposals which will improve the quality of audit reporting. He is concerned that present practices allow individual auditors to report in their own way. This has led to confusion, since there are so many different styles of audit report. The Regulator believes that a standardised approach will reduce this confusion.He is aware that there are international auditing standards on auditing and asks you to examine the possibility of adopting an approach consistent with the international standards. He asks you to look at the following specific aspects of audit reporting: †¢ To whom the audit report is addressed †¢ A reference to the framework of accounting †¢ A reference to the framework of auditing †¢ Some discussion of what can be and what cannot be expected from an audit †¢ The style of opinion on the financial statements, and †¢ Any other issues you think might be relevant.Required (a) (b) Draft a report from your working party on the specific issues mentioned above. (15 marks) Draft an appendix to this report setting out the advantages and disadvantages of a standardised approach to audit reporting. (10 marks) UL12/0010 D01 Page 2 of 6 2. You are the audit partner of Lottolife, a leisure establishment which includes a bar and a restaurant open to the general public. The management consists of a senior manager and three assistant managers; all four are paid a salary with a profit-related bonus.Both the bar and the restaurant are dependent on casual workers who are paid an hourly rate in cash at the end of the week. To record the hours worked, each employee has to ‘clock in and clock out’ using a clock card inserted into a machine which records the time in and out. There is no other check on the accuracy of the recorded hours. Workers are hired after a short interview by one of the assistant managers who completes a form to record the details of the successful applicant. The company has a poor reputation as an employer and expects its staff to work long hours.Consequently employees tend not to stay very long. On resigning, an employee has to sign a form which is endorsed by the assistant manager and is then handed to the Payroll Department so that the employee’s last pay packet can be made up and the employee taken off the payroll. There are never enough applicants to fill the vacancies and almost no applicant is rejected. Both pay and staff morale are low. In an attempt to boost the pay and attract more and better staff, one o f the assistant managers has suggested paying a weekly bonus from the cash tips left by customers.The tips would be divided among the workers rather than being banked as part of the takings. There would be no record kept of the tips which would mean that the workers would not be taxed on their ‘bonus’. It also has a members-only club which is a licensed casino where various forms of gambling take place. Under the licensing rules only trained staff can be employed and these are reasonably well paid jobs. Occasionally if there is a staff shortage on the catering side in the casino, members of the bar and restaurant staff are brought in, given new uniforms and are instructed to help out.Technically this is against the gaming rules, but the casino management consider that if the breach is ever discovered by the authorities, the worst thing that might happen would be the casino having to pay a fine. They are aware however that it is possible that the licence could be withdra wn and the casino could be forced to close. Required (a) (b) Identify possible weaknesses in the control environment in Lottolife. (15 marks) Suggest various audit procedures which might be appropriate in the particular circumstances of Lottolife. (10 marks) UL12/0010 D01 Page 3 of 6 3.You have just been appointed auditor of Bruton’s Ltd, a small family-owned gentlemen’s tailors and clothes shop. It is based in the South-West of England where it has six shops in different towns. The clothes it stocks and sells are at the upper end of the price range, appealing to the wealthier customer. The company, like its customers is old-fashioned. In fact, the decor of the shops has not changed since the 1960s. The head of the family and major shareholder, John Bruton, is aged 86 and sees no reason to change what has for fifty years been a winning formula – a top quality service and a premium price.He dismisses the falling sales and lower profits as simply consequences of t he tough economic climate. The three other shareholders are Bruton’s sons, the youngest of whom is 53. The sons have tried to get their father to change strategy since they have seen similar companies in other regions increase their market share through the internet and through a radical make-over of their retail outlets. They accept that their plans will cost about ? 10m and they will need a bank loan to finance what is effectively a re-branding exercise.They believe, though they have not done a detailed analysis, that internet sales over the next three years would bring in enough cash to repay the loan and enough profit to cover loan interest. After that, there would be clear profit for about ten years until the next rebranding was needed. In addition, the leases on the shops are all going to expire in the next five years. These can be renewed but it will be costly as the premises are all in city centre locations which are highly sought after by companies in the food and dr inks industry.With insufficient cash reserves, Bruton’s would need further bank financing to cover the capital cost of renewing these long term leases. The sons are also urging their father to consider buying in cheaper clothes imported from Asia as way of boosting sales and profits. The father who is very patriotic has rejected this suggestion, choosing instead to stay with British-based suppliers who have served him well since he began in business. Bruton’s accounting system dates from the 1960s. It is mainly manual with sales staff making out a handwritten receipt for each sale.Cash is put through a till but there is no reconciliation of receipts and takings through the till. The shops do have credit card facilities but again there is no reconciliation of sales and card receipts. The main element of control is the presence of one of Bruton’s sons. Each is responsible for two shops which they attend on alternate days. This close supervision has seemed to work well until, Roger, the eldest son, had a heart attack and was unable to work for six months. During this time, his two brothers supervised the six shops visiting one every three days.Roger is now back at work though he only works reduced hours at one location. Required (a) (b) Identify the major elements of audit risk in Bruton’s Ltd. (15 marks) Explain the steps you would have taken before formally accepting appointment as auditor of Bruton’s Ltd. (10 marks) UL12/0010 D01 Page 4 of 6 4. You have just been appointed the Quality Assurance Partner in Raiffes & Co. , Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors. You are currently reviewing a sample of the audit files of five audit clients.Your aim is to ensure that the quality of audit work at least matches and, if possible, exceeds the minimum standard required under the international auditing standards and UK legislation. You have made the following list of items which cause you concern: †¢ In Albany Ltd, the audi t team noted that although accurate inventory records had not been kept during the year, the year-end stock count was tightly controlled and a detailed review of gross profit margins suggested little chance of material error. On this basis the audit manager had recommended signing an unmodified opinion.In Boverton plc, a weakness in internal control had been detected early in the audit. The weakness concerned payroll and may have allowed overpayments to genuine staff and/or payments to fictitious staff. Because payroll is such a sensitive area, the audit team had done nothing more than note the weakness in the audit file, highlighting the issue for partner review. In Chirley plc, the company had failed to comply with the relevant financial reporting standard for pension costs. The matter is one of disclosure rather than measurement.The Finance Director simply will not accept that the standard is correct and insists that he is right. The recommendation from the audit team is to agree with the Finance Director since the accounting numbers are right and the firm should not risk upsetting a major client. In Dalton, a fraud involving the cashier had been discovered. The amount involved was immaterial to the financial statements. When the Finance Director was told about the fraud, he was unmoved, claiming that he knew about the fraud which had been going on since the man was first employed five years ago.The Finance Director said that he allowed the cashier to supplement his salary in this way since it was cheaper than giving him a pay rise. In Exeter Ltd, this was the first year of the audit appointment. The fixed asset register had not been maintained for the last five years meaning that it was impossible to assess from the records how long the assets had been in use. Total tangible fixed assets are material to the financial statements. The team had immediately stopped work on fixed assets concluding that the audit report would have to be modified on the grounds o f disagreement. †¢ †¢ †¢ Required (a) Evaluate the situation in each of the five cases and suggest an appropriate course of action in each including if necessary modifying the auditors’ report. (15 marks) Suggest steps which the firm should take to ensure that all its audits come up tot the appropriate standard. (10 marks) (b) UL12/0010 D01 Page 5 of 6 SECTION B Answer ONE question from this section and not more than one further question. (You are reminded that four questions in total are to be attempted with at least two from Section A. ) 5.Because audit time is not unlimited, sampling is a key component of any audit strategy. Explain the various factors which auditors consider when setting up their sampling plan. 6. Critically evaluate the purpose of an audit from the point of view of the readers of the auditors’ report. 7. You are required to write a general theory of auditing of financial statements. What concepts and assumptions would you include an d what purpose would each serve? 8. Critically evaluate the measures taken in the IFAC Code of Ethics to safeguard auditor independence. END OF PAPER UL12/0010 D01 Page 6 of 6
Saturday, January 4, 2020
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