Country Profile of France Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Country Profile of France - Article Example In 1999, France made the euro its official currency, and this has allowed France to further integrate itself into the core of the European economy. France is also playing a central role in the development of the European Union’s military (cia.gov). The seat of the French Revolution, which is the source of much of the thoughts and writing on democracy, France is now currently a republic, and it has had a mixture of a presidential and parliamentary administration since legislation was passed in 1958. The current president is Nikolas Sarkozy, and he won the election with 51% of the vote. Sarkozy is serving a five-year term as president of France. In 2000 the French constitution was amended in order to change the term of the presidency from seven years to five years (cia.gov) In size, France is slightly smaller in area than the state of Texas with 260,558 square mileage. This figure includes all of its territories overseas and including its claim in Antarctica. This makes it the largest European nation, just slightly ahead of Spain in total size (cia.gov) France has always been central to scientific development. For example, France was home to Marie and Pierre Curie who are famous for their theories and work on radioactivity. In more recent scientific efforts, France is among the leaders in various fields, including mathematics, astrophysics, biology, medicine, genetics, and physics. To put this in perspective, it should be mentioned that French scientists have been awarded a total of twenty-six Nobel prizes over the past ninety years (francethisway.com) There are many research institutions throughout France. Some of these include the National Centre for Scientific Research, the National Institute for Health and Medical Research, and the National Institute for Agronomical Research. The institutions are public research institutions.  

Sports Organizations Essay Example for Free

Sports Organizations Essay Sports has become a very important part of every social being(Gerdy, 2002). The levels of involvement of people in sports has increased tremendously (Chak, 2003). Sports is defined as any activity that has specific rules that define how it is played and the main reason in engaging in such activities is to win (Gerdy, 2002). Sports has developed so much that sports organization have been forced to develop system that will help them engage in the competition that exists both in and out of the fields (Chak, 2003). Information technology especially the use of internet has come out as some of the most commonly used avenues through which such organizations can meet their objectives (Guttmann, 2007). The clubs have developed into money making organizations that have become so much absorbed into commercialization and financial practices that separating them from profit making organization is not an easy task (Norlin, 2002). Professionalism in sports has developed greatly due to increased mass media coverage that has made the games available to a wider audience, improvements in technology which have made the transmission of the games in a clear form to a larger audience and increase in incomes levels that has allowed a large number of people to engage in sports as leisure (Chak, 2003). Traditionally, sports is a social event where communities come together and join each other to celebrate (Chak, 2003). The nature of sports is thus voluntary from the very start in that the members of the community are free to chose whether or not they wanted to join in the games (Chak, 2003). Clubs and organization have embraced the principles of free will and there are many clubs and sports organization where members are free to join ad leave at their own will. Web Presence Web presence is a social definition of a website which is a collection of files stored in a database that are made available through the internet through specific universal resource locators (URL) addresses (Chak, 2003). The owner of the sites are responsible for updating the field and upgrading the data depending on the data policies (Chak, 2003). The files that contain data kept in the sites are only accessible to the administrator though there are situations where the sites are made to be as proactive and dynamic as possible through the aid of scripting languages and the use of programming languages that allow for dynamic programming in designing the websites (Chak, 2003). The dynamism associated with this kind of programming provide the web visitors with an interactive interface through which they can interact with the databases (Norlin, 2002). Professional Real Madrid The official site of the professional club based in Europe can be accessed through the URL http://www. realmadrid. com/cs/Satellite/en/Home. The site is comprehensive and contains lots of facts including the latest article, fixtures and results. The site is quite navigable and provides the option of either using English or Spanish. The sites provide a number of intra-page links to some of the issues and subjects that any sports fan could be interested in. The page uses colorful pictures and story heads which blend effectively to create a good visual impression. The site is updated twice in a week and is accessible as it uses the hypertext transfer protocol (http) that is implemented by most browsers and requires no additional plug-ins to be able o assess the homepage fully. The promoters of the club are also included in the clubs official site. The last date of update of the site is also included in the site. The site provides the capabilities of redirection to live matches and match casts and provides an efficient dialog box that is easily typed on for unstructured search. The speed of the searches and the nature of the response is effective in dealing with the user navigation requirements. Boston Celtic The official site of the professional basketball club based in North America can be accessed through the URL http://www. nba. com/celtics/. The language used is English and the site presents links to a number of articles. The page provides an interactive platform for interaction between the users who are allowed to vote on who they consider to be the player whose impact will be greatest. The results and fixtures of the club including the clubs best scorers and relevant statistic of the game have also been included. The site provides links to live coverage of games and to software that make access live streaming of game easier. Pictures and graphic that relate to the club have been included in the page and is then included are. The sponsors of the club have clearly been displayed in the sites, the fans can buy tickets and read the previews to a game through this site. The site provides links to contacts, fans and history of the team. Furthermore, the site provides the functionality for searching article and information that relate to the club through a dialog box. Club Atletico Boca Juniors The South American club official site can be accessed through the URL http://www. bocajuniors. com. ar/english/. The site is provided in English and has both text and graphics. The site has no link to the fans and the home page does not show any results. Navigation is easy though access to some resources have been restricted by the use of user names and passwords. The site also provides a platform for interaction with the fans as they are allowed to vote. Though the site is in English Spanish phrases and words can be seen in their pages. The date of last update does not appear anywhere in the page. Compared to the first two the site is less superior and has low visual appeal. Voluntary Bexley Athletic Club The club can be accessed through the URLhttp://www. bexleyac. co. uk/. The homepage has a short history of the club and provides links to other areas of interest. The links to results, records and statistics are such that if the user the user has to be extra careful to identify them. The page cannot be displayed fully if additional plug-ins have not been downloaded. The only form of interaction that the site has with the fans is a link that leads to a page that allows the users to shop on-line. The Sports Club/LA It is located in Boston, Massachusetts. Their official site can be accessed through the URLhttp://www. thesportsclubla. com/clubs/template. asp? Club=boston. The page can be opened by any browser and does not need additional plug-ins to display the content. Simplicity describes the homepage as it has the front view of the club followed by a short description of the facilities provided by the club. The external links are very few and the links to other pages though clearly displayed do no give the website visitors a chance to interact with either the site or other member of the club. The search functionality is aimed at getting the user to navigate to other clubs and does not in anyway help the user get information about the club. Castle Sports Club The official website can be accessed through the URL http://www. castlesportsclub. com/. The homepage is covered in texts and lacks in visual impression. There is no avenue for interaction with the site and the article are based on topics that could be of interest to members and those contemplating joining the club but not for the fans who may wish to find out more about their club. The page is full of news and does not in any way provide a searching mechanism, moreover the date of last modification of the site has not been indicated. Differences The are a key difference in the manner in which the professional and the voluntary sports franchise implement their websites. The functionality provided by the professional cites is of a much higher degree. The sites are fast and quite attractive they focus more on the aspects that an ordinary user could be interested in. The pages compared to the voluntary franchise have better links and can be opened without necessarily having to add additional plug-ins. The statistics posted by the professional franchise are focussed more on performance while those posted by the voluntary sports franchise focus more on skills and levels of development (Potts, 2007). The voluntary clubs have links to articles that relate more to social events while the professional clubs have links that are focussed more focussed on performance. The professional clubs present more dynamic websites that allow for interaction not only between the club and its fan but also within the fan base; voluntary sports organizations lack on this aspect as their websites are rarely interactive and if they are they provide limited functionality. Another major difference is the use of graphics: The professional franchise websites use more graphics than the voluntary sports organizations. The graphics in the professional sports franchise are aimed at bringing the feel of belonging and is often include images of players and glory moments. The voluntary sports franchise on the other hand have websites that rarely load images and if they do the images address issues that are of a social dimension.

How to Improve Competitiveness of Cashmere Industry

How to Improve Competitiveness of Cashmere Industry 1. INTRODUCTION China is the largest cashmere producer in the all over the world, with the sum total output approximately accounting for over 75% of global production, followed by Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan, and South Africa. Meanwhile, China is the top cashmere exporter with about 80% of global exportsnearly 75% of cashmere products in global cashmere consumption market are produced in China. (Report on the first Asian conference on cashmere 2007; China International Cashmere Forum 2005) Additionally, China has the unique geographical advantage which is beneficial for raising cashmere goats, among which numerous and fine varieties are herded due to the continuous and complicated ecological environment and long-term artificial selection. Furthermore, the cashmere fibre which exhibits good property in fineness, strength, elongation, is of best quality, and thus is called as gold soft or fibre diamond. Although Chinese cashmere industry owns unique resource competitive advantages, however, with the d evelopment of economic globalization, the industrial competition among countries is intensified and the dimensions of Chinese cashmere industry dilate rapidly, due to which a great number of serious problems have been exposed to the Chinese cashmere industry, These problems have become the restricting factors of favourable development of the industry, and the industry is inevitably faced with enormous challenges. Therefore, how to enhance the overall competitiveness and gain competitive advantage is of great importance to Chinese cashmere industry, which is the major content of this paper. This paper begins with the description of the theories on competitiveness, in particular the competitive advantage and Porters National Diamond Model. Then the paper analyzes the current situation of cashmere industry in China by means of Porters National Diamond Model, along with the case study of successful cashmere industries in other countries and some successful Chinese cashmere companies, to identify the key lessons that could be learned by Chinese cashmere industry and thus win the industrial competitive advantages and improve the sustainable development of the industry. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW For each country, industrial competitiveness is of great importance because it determines the industrial development level and status in the global market competition, and thus it is one of subjects of wide concern from nations to firms. 2.1 Definition of Competitiveness The insights into the question what is the competitiveness can be gained from the works of Johnson (1992), Hammer Champy (1993), Murths (1998), Barney (2001) and Esty (2001). From the point of view of Johnson (1992), competitiveness is the capability of an entity to provide more value to and better satisfy the customers than its competitors. Murths (1998) identified that competitiveness is used to demonstrate the economic strength of an economic entity with regard to its rivals within the global market where goods, services, people, skills and ideas are not subject to geographical restriction and could freely displace (Murths 1998). According to Esty (2001), competitiveness is demonstrated from the aspects of assets and processes. Assets are categorized as inherited one such as natural resources and created one like structures, which are transformed into economic returns by processes. , 2.2 Theories of competitiveness The theoretical foundation of industrial competitiveness could be classified into two theories: comparative advantage theory and competitive advantage theory. Comparative Advantage Theory David Ricardo, the classical economist, put forward the comparative advantage theory as the foundation of international trade. Comparative advantage theory demonstrates that a country should focus on the industries which have relatively higher production efficiency to exchange the goods from the industries with lower production efficiency. (Chacholiades 1990). Heckscher-Ohlin modified and extended the theory, and explained that cross-country variations in relative factor endowments could also shape the pattern of trade (Gankhuyag Ser-Od 2009). Competitive Advantage Theory In his book The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael Porter addressed a question: Why do some social groups, economic institutions, and nations advance and prosper?'(Porter 1990). On the basis of analyzing the characteristics of national environment, Porter addressed the theory of national competitive advantage. Michael Porter pointed out that traditional economic theories including comparative advantage theory cannot explain the sources of competitiveness. Further he stated that industrial competitiveness should be analyzed with the competitive advantage theory which indicates the different competitiveness presented with respect to the same industry in different countries or areas under the same competitive environment (Porter 1990). The main difference between comparative advantage theory and competitive advantage theory is that the former one emphasizes the comparative relationship between different industries within one country; however, the competitive advantage theory is a bout the same industry within different countries. Grant (1991) assessed the book The Competitive Advantage of Nations and expressed that at all three levelsthe firm, the industry and the nation, Porter offers new insights into the determinants of competitive advantage. 2.3 Michael Porters National Diamond Michael Porter pointed out that the ability to establish or maintain competitive advantage within international market is determined by four direct variables and two indirect variables which formed the framework of National Diamond (as seen in Figure 1) The four direct determinants are factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries and firm strategy, structure and rivalry, and the two indirect variables are chance and government. The six variables combined determine that whether a country could have a strong diamondthe competitive advantage. (Porter, 1990) A brief description of the six variables is as below: Factor condition is analyzed from the characteristics of factors of production, the processes by which they are created, and their relationship to firms competitiveness (Grant 1991). The factors are categorized as basic factors such as natural resources, climate, location and demographics and advanced factors such as communications infrastructure, sophisticated skills and research facilities (Porter 1990). For demand conditions, Michael Porter presented that home demand could provide driving force for enhancing competitive advantage, because customers demands could exert pressure to the firms (Porter 1990). Source: Porter M, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, The Macmillan Press LTD, London, 1990 Figure 1 Michael Porters National Diamond With respect to related and supporting industries: Porter stated that whether an industry has competitive advantages is closely associated with its related and supporting industries. Usually a successful industry would collectively develop with a cluster of related and supporting industries instead of standing alone (Porter 1990). Concern firm strategy, structure and rivalry, Porter identified that the different industrial characteristics within different countries determine the competitive advantages (Porter 1990). The characteristics include strategies, structures, goals, managerial practices, individual attitudes and intensity of rivalry within the business sector (Grant 1991). Chance plays a role in influencing the four direct variables and thus affects the competitive advantage. Additionally, government could provide chances and make challenges for industries even though it does not directly participate in industry competition (Porter 1990). 3. ANALYSIS ON CHINESE CASHEMRE INDUSTRY WITH CASE STUDY 3.1 Factor Conditions In the book of Competitive Advantage of Nations, Porter noted the variable of factor conditions could be hierarchically categorized as basic factors and advanced factors. The importance of basic factors is gradually reducing because the demands for basic factors have decreased along with the market globalization, which means multinational companies could purchase within the globalized market. Therefore, it is unstable to build competitive advantage on the basic factors (Porter 1990). From the point view of basic factors, China is preponderant in cashmere resources with the best quality of raw cashmere and strong product processing capacity. Meanwhile, China is a labour-intensive country thereby that is helpful in reducing labour cost and other integrated cost. In comparison with China, Scotland also possesses the advantaged cashmere resources, and the Scottish cashmere product is highly admired for its quality and finish. Although the labour cost in Scotland is not as low as in China, the Scottish cashmere industry performs much better than that in China. Therefore, basic factors are less important in determining the industrial competitiveness. While advanced factors are of importance to gain competitive advantage. Advanced factor require ambitious and continuous investment to sophisticated labour and technology expenditure. If a country would like to establish formidable and sustainable industrial competitive advantage through the variable of factor conditions, it must develop the advanced factors rather than basic factors. Unlike basic factors, advanced factors cannot be purchased but have to be developed through investment (Porter 1990). From the point view of advanced factors, in China the capacity of independent innovation needs improvement for cashmere firms. Because the Chinese cashmere industry has only developed for a short time, comparing with the European long-term established firms Chinese cashmere firms has large disparity in the aspects of technical innovation and product marketing. Meanwhile, the capacity of independent innovation is imbalanced across cashmere firms in Chinalarge firms put considerable investment on technical innovation whereas small and medium ones invest inadequately and lack of creativeness. Although some Chinese cashmere firms has started the research in the field of dyeing and spinning, some key technologies still have not been grasped unlike in developed countries. In contrast, Todd Duncan provide the evidence that advanced factors is significant for gaining competitive advantage. Todd Duncan was founded in 1867, and now it has become the European leading cashmere yarn knitting firm, which provide cashmere yarn with most fashionable colours to luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton , Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Herms and Christian Dior. Todd Duncan are well known for its production technologies. As far back as it was founded, Todd Duncan were in the lead in the field of cashmere blending yarn. Now it is still well known for its manufacturing technique in single strand. Collaborative with the most advanced textile technologies, it produces the finest and noblest yarns. In addition, in Todd Duncan, computer assisted programmes are used in dyeing procedure such as colour management. High-tech facilities like colour matcher are also used to check the colour accuracy, which is in the lead position of the industry (todd-duncan 2010). Review back to 1980s, it is because paying attention to the advanced factor such as processing technology, Chinese cashmere industry could take a turn. In 1980s, some cashmere firms led by Erdos Cashmere Group and Snowlotus Cashmere Group first introduced the most advanced cashmere carding machines and carding process from Japan. After learning the process and making further processing technology improvement, Chinese carding technique of goat cashmere made a qualitative leap, and the dehaired cashmere made-up rate and quality exceeded the international level. Thus, it enhanced Chinese cashmere industry into a new age (China International Cashmere Forum 2005). From the examples of Todd Duncan and Erdos Cashmere Group, it can be seen that Chinese cashmere industry should not only rely on the resources advantage. The rapid development of Chinese cashmere industry in the past 30 years mainly manifested the growth of cashmere firm numbers. When the industry enters into autumn, this kind of growth will be certainly restricted by the finiteness of the cashmere resources. The industry will be increasingly detailed classified into small sections which ask for higher production specialization degree. Therefore, Chinese cashmere firms must enhance the technology innovation capacity and improve the scientific and technological contents and added value for the cashmere products in order to gain competitive advantage in global competition. However, there are some barriers for Chinese cashmere industry enhancing the technology innovation. For small and medium cashmere firms, they have blockage in financing channels that cannot obtain adequate innovative resources. Additionally, the constructions of technology innovation infrastructure, investment policy and favourable legal environment are lagging behind. Only when a beneficial environment established, Chinese cashmere industry can develop technology innovation in order to produce high add-valued products. 3.2 Firm Strategy, Structure and Rivalry In terms of firm strategy, structure and rivalry, Porter identified that the competitive advantage is influencing by the different industrial characteristics which include strategies, structures, goals, managerial practices, individual attitudes and intensity of rivalry within the business sector (Grant 1991). From the point view of firm strategies, it includes competitive strategy, marketing strategy, branding strategy, etc. According to Philip Kotler, Each company must find the way that makes most sense, given its situation, opportunities, objectives and resources (Kotler 1999). At present, however, in the global market a great many cashmere products are produced in China whereas less Chinese cashmere brands could be found in the high-end market. Zhang Zhi, executive director of Erdos Cashmere Group, stated that lacking of brand building is the root cause of blocking up the development of Chinese cashmere industry (China International Cashmere Forum 2005). Most of the exporting cashmere products enter international market through OEM production, however the products in own brands are less than 10% of the total exports. Chinese cashmere industry has become the processing workshop for foreign companies. Lacking of brand build-up is the most conspicuous weakness of Chinese cashmere industry. Referring to brand building, Loro Piana provides a good example. Founded in 1924 in Italy, Loro Piana now is the largest and foremost cashmere manufacturer in the western world. On the basis of sourcing finest fibre from Northern China and Mongolia and understanding customers needs and lifestyles, Loro Piana produces cashmere goods in Italian companys own mills, creating and delivering value to consumers (Loro Piana 2010). According to Luxury Institute Survey, in European high net-worth consumers rank, Loro Piana was ranked as the best of the best luxury brands in the category of mens fashion, followed by Ermenegildo and Giorgio Armani (luxury institute 2010). One Chinese cashmere brand also performs well. 1436 Erdos, a brand belongs to Erdos Cashmere Group. Although the brand of Erdos is regarded as the most well known brand in China, it cannot arouse attention in the global high-end market. Therefore, establishing a global brand is the pursuit of Erdos Group. 1436 Erdos, taking its name from the features of its prestige cashmere fibre which is ranked as highest grade, develops finest cashmere products with top quality. On the basis of drawing up the brand strategyserving high-end markets and positioning itself as the worlds leading luxury brand in China, makes other responding firm strategies such as product and marketing strategies to improve its competitiveness in the international market. Erdos cashmere products were given to Mikado, Japanese Prime Minister and other ministers as official national gift when Chinas national leaders visit to Japan in 2008 when it was only one year since the brand established (1436 Erdos 2010). In addition, according to Porter (1990), the driving power enhancing firms to participate in international competition is of significant importance. The driving power could be raised from international demand, or local competitions or market thrust. The most relevant factor in creating and maintaining industrial competitive advantage is the powerful rivalry. In the international competition, successful industries must have got through severe domestic competition, and were forced to reform or to renovate. However, in China there are over 2000 cashmere products firms, among which most of them are incapable of developing new products or exploring new techniques. Most of the firms only can process inferior quality products on the base of imitating other brands style. The competitions among most of the cashmere firms mainly are the price competition. Thus, the current situation of Chinese cashmere industry poorly performsunreasonable redundant low-level production and disorderly competition. In contrast, taking Ballantyne cashmere as example, it presents that rivalry competition could stimulate competitiveness improvement. Ballantyne Cashmere was founded in 1921 in Scotland, now it is enjoyed by increasing consumers. At present, fashionable cashmere products developed by the fashion firms such as Ralph Lauren, Channel, Christian Dior and Givenchy are increasingly widely praised by consumers. Therefore, as the traditional cashmere manufacturer, Ballantyne has begun to consider the new comp etitors. From the performance of the competitors, Alfredo Canessa, the chairman of Ballantyne has noticed consumers changing demands thus he led Ballantyne to improve the product design by means of combining cashmere with other different textiles like silk fabric (Ballantyne 2010). Likewise, Erdos Group has begun transitions. Erdos cashmere products were complained for outdated design in the past. However, now it is making efforts to rebuild product identity. Gilles Dufour, as former art director of Channel for twenty years, has been invited as the new art director of Erdos Group to develop new cashmere product collections. Gilles Dufour introduced Erdos a semi-fashion trend which advocates the beauty of simple luxury, aiming to establish a leading luxury brand in China in order to improve the competitiveness. (Erdos 2010). Through the examples of Loro Piana, Ballantyne and Erdos Group, it could be found that the firm strategy and rivalry is significantly crucial to enhance competitiveness for both firms and industries. However, cashmere firms have to consider the following barriers when make strategies. First, there is no such a strategy that could be successfully adopted by every firm, and the suitable strategy is the best one. Second, most of the Chinese cashmere firms only pay attention to rivalry competition particularly price competition which could hinder the Chinese cashmere industry form the positive competition awareness. 4. CONCLUSION The goal of this paper is to find how to improve the competitiveness of cashmere industry in China. In order to the goal, this paper adopted Michael Porters National Diamond Model to describe the determinants which influence the competitiveness of Chinese cashmere industry. The Diamond theory identifies four direct factors with two indirect factors, namely the factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting strategies and firm strategy, structure and rivalry with chance and government. This paper mainly analyzed how Chinese cashmere industry performs from the aspects of factor conditions and firm strategy, structure and rivalry. Additionally, many cases of successful cashmere firms have been studied to learn the lessons from their business operations in order to provide a reference for Chinese cashmere industry. However there are some barriers should be paid attention by Chinese cashmere firms. Chinese cashmere industry should develop in a sustainable way to improve the competitiveness in global cashmere market.

Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel Essay -- Exploratory Essays Researc

In the study of a scientist's life, it is important to recognize several key elements. Scientific contributions are of utmost importance. Following mention of those, it is then possible to look at his or her life, family, and religion as well. However, for Albert Einstein, these elements must all be looked at collectively. Einstein will no doubt go down in history as a great theoretical physicist. His work is compared in importance to that of scientists such as Galileo Galilei, Nicolas Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, and Isaac Newton. Some would even say that his contributions to science were greater. However, it is impossible to paint a complete picture of Einstein without examining his life, his religion, and his personality. His science was his life, and his religion gave him insights as to how to approach science. By observing his innate curiosity, desire for simplicity and elegance, humble outlook, and desire to seek answers, we can see what elements reached the center of his being . Though Einstein was one of the greatest contributors to physical science of our times, he was by no means the most brilliant theorist or experimenter. Competent specialists within the field of physics could have better accomplished some of his mathematical deductions. In fact, he needed the assistance of a friend, mathematician Marcel Grossman, to wield the tools necessary to develop his general theory of relativity. Einstein shined brightest within a theoretical context, but, despite the fact that his relativistic theories were most revolutionary, the study of quantum mechanics made a larger impact on the way physics is studied today. What, then, set Einstein apart? Curiosity was the key factor. As Einstein said, "I have no special gift - I am o... ...manner of man he was. Albert Einstein's lifelong quest was to seek the answers to questions his curiosity posed. His religious inspirations and intuitive nature helped set him apart from other scientists, and aided him in finding the solutions he sought. He was just as unique a man, possessing a world view many have come to respect. In short, Einstein was a man who was much greater than the sum of his equations. It is in this light that he will be forever remembered. It is also because of this truth that Einstein is considered one of the most revolutionary men of our time. Works Cited Duxbury, Philip. "Physics concepts, physics careers" lecture notes. East Lansing, 1996. Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time. New York: Bantam, 1988. Hoffmann, Banesh (with Helen Dukas as collaborator). Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel. New York: Viking, 1972.

Mini Case Luxury Wars Essay

Hermes decided to list 25% of Hermes SA on the French stock market in 1993. This was done to provide family members with a means to value their stake in the company as well as partially cash-out if they felt their family dividends were not enough. 2.LVMH was able to attain such a large ownership position without the knowledge of Hermes family and management through equity swaps. Equity swaps are derivative contracts whereby two parties enter into a contract to swap future cash flows at a preset date. The cash flows are referred to as â€Å"legs† of the swap. In most equity swaps, one leg is tied to a floating rate like LIBOR (the floating leg), and the other leg is tied to the performance of a stock or stock index (the equity leg). It is also possible for an equity swap to have two equity legs. LVMH was able to avoid French regulations requiring disclosure of this type of position through tying only their value to the equity instrument and at maturity, the contract would be settled in cash and not shares. The contract is worded so that LFMH would have the â€Å"option† to take the shares as opposed to the contract requiring share settlement, which in the case of the latter, under French law, LVMH would have had to make a public disclosure. 3.In December 2010, the Hermes family decided to confirm its long-term unity by creating a family holding company separate from Emile Hermes SARL, which will hold the shares transferred by family members representing over 50% of Hermes International’s share capital. The family’s commitment to create this majority holding company is irrevocable. The new family-owned company will benefit from preferential rights to shares still directly owned by the family. This would ensure that their 73% ownership stake would always vote as one voice and ultimately secure the family’s continued control of the company. This holdings structure will last indefinitely as this majority holding will not allow outsiders to take over through equity swaps.

Role and Functions of Law

Roles and Functions of Law Tanya S Kleinschmidt Law 421 March 25, 2013 Walter M Pence III Roles and Functions of Law Law is vast and diverse, which makes it overwhelming and confusing. The main purpose of the law is to create order in society and business. Law can be defined as â€Å"the body of official rules and regulations, generally found in constitutions, legislation, judicial opinions, and the like, that is used to govern a society and to control the behavior of its members, so Law is a formal mechanism of social control† (Sixth Form Law, 2012, par. 4).The following will describe the function of law and what role it has in society and business in addition to looking at how law affects a specific industry. Because American law is so diverse, it is broken down into several categories. Those categories include; Criminal law versus Civil law, Substantive law versus Procedural law, and Public law versus Private law. Please note that these categories are broad, and they are no t mutually exclusive. An act or transaction can be classified in more than one legal category (Melvin, 2011). First, laws, primarily statutes, are considered to be criminal or civil.Criminal law protects society. It is between private parties and society. For example, if someone is brought up on murder charges they would be tried in a criminal court of law. Violations of criminal law could result in penalties of fines or imprisonment to violators if convicted of the crime and proven to have intentionally committed the crime. Civil law is between private parties. Civil laws are created to compensate parties who have experienced losses because of the other parties’ actions. Examples of civil law could be divorce and accidental injury cases. Next are the differences between Substantive law and Procedural law.Substantive law is a statutory law, which deals with the relationship between people or people and the state. Substantive law is used to define, regulate, and create peopleà ¢â‚¬â„¢s rights and obligations. They deal with the structure and the facts of the case to determine the type of crime and the severity. It also defines the rights and responsibility of the accused. For example, there are several degrees of murder, depending on the circumstances and the intent; there are different levels of punishment. On the other hand, Procedural law is a set of rules that govern the proceedings of criminal lawsuits and civil proceedings.It elaborates on the steps of how the case should proceed as well as assists in determining if the case requires a trial. These laws ensure fair practice and consistency in the due process (Diffen, n. d. ). Last is the summary of Public law and Private law. Public law governs the relationship between individuals and the government. It includes constitutional law, administrative law, and criminal law. Domestic violence is an example of Public law. Private law, also known as common law in some countries, governs the relationships be tween individuals. It includes civil law, labor law, commercial law, corporations law, and competition law.An example of Private law would be a contract for services. If someone renders a service according to the request of the client, but the client is not happy with the results and refuses to pay for this service. This agreement is legally binding and the rules of transaction are governed by the common law of contracts (Melvin, 2011). There is much to digest once reading about the categories of law and to think this is just skimming the surface. In addition to these categories the Congress is given power via the Commerce Clause to â€Å"regulate Commerce among the several states† (Melvin, 2011, p 32).If Congress chooses to regulate certain persons or products, the federal law is supreme to the state law that tries to regulate the same persons or products. In the case of Cipollone v. Liggett Group, the state law regulating advertising for tobacco products were preempted by t he federal law (Melvin, 2011). It is important to know how state and federal laws can affect society and business. One industry, which is under constant scrutiny, is Appraising. Appraising has both state and federal laws to abide with, and they are constantly changing.Appraisers are required to obtain certain standards that are set forth in the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), which is published by the Appraisal Standards Board of the Appraisal Foundation. If an appraiser fails to comply with these standards there could be punishment of fines, lawsuits, or loss of license. In conclusion, it is important to know the basic roles and functions of law in both society and business even though it is vast and diverse. Laws are needed to create balance and order within society and business, and they can be broken into broad categories to obtain the basic knowledge.Another way to enhance ones knowledge of the roles and functions of business is to do research on p rior cases or laws that pertain to a business of interest. References Diffen. (n. d. ). Procedural Law vs Substantive Law. Retrieved from http://www. diffen. com/difference/Procedural_Law_vs_Substantive_Law Melvin, S. P. (2011). The Legal Environment of Business: A Managerial Approach: Theory to Practice. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Sixth Form Law. (2012). What is Law? Retrieved from http://sixthformlaw. info/01_modules/other_material/law_and_morality/0_what_is_law. htm