Study update

Well today we finally finished our marketing plan for good. I was out for most of the day but I have also managed to do some reading regarding the topic of mergers.

My 6am Start

Well I did get to the gym at 6am this morning but when I got there I found that the trainer meant to give me a routine was sick. Anyhow I just decided to make up my own routine for now & rescheduled to 7.30am next week Thursday. I completed a 2 hour workout--- 50min treadmill, 12min cross-trainer, 13min bike & 45min assorted weights (mostly leg exercises, that's going to be my main focus). Afterwards I felt absolutely fantastic though now I'm starting to get tired as I went shopping afterwards.

In other news I found that my work has given me the time off I requested over exams!

Today's Study

Today I completed the evaluation for my marketing report & revised my price section. I also started work on the executive summary so my part should be done by tomorrow! In other news I read two more finance chapters so now I have only 2 more finance topics left to study! I should finish that up tomorrow & then I'll start re-reading my marketing stuff on Friday.

Fitness Appraisal

I feel like I've gained a little weight while I've been sick so I've decided to take action immediately. I'm renewing my gym membership for a month (I've put aside the money already) & I've booked a fitness appraisal for tomorrow morning at 6am (it was the only time slot they had left >_<). I hereby commit to doing my new routine at least 3 times a week, my goal is to flatten my stomach, shape my butt & tone my thighs; also if I have gained any weight I intend to work it off asap.

Some More Finance

Today I completed two more topics of Finance study, I hope to complete at least two more tomorrow. I also worked on my marketing project & should have that finished by tomorrow evening.

At the moment I'm watching Masterchef, I can't imagine trying to create so many dishes using kiwifruit! It's inspiring me to create some kind of fruit parfait when the holidays start though...

Capital structure

Finished my revision for CFP topics 3, 4 & 5 this weekend; Hoping to start on topic 6 tonight & finish it off tomorrow morning. The three topics dealt with debt policy & whether capital structure matters for an organization. Ultimately there is no one optimal capital structure & there are several factors which may influence a company's choice of structure- the main factors being the potential tax-shield generated by debt & the costs of potential financial distress. The costs of financial distress will be higher for a firm with less material assets--- eg. growth companies whose profits are mainly based on knowledge & human capital structure (Google is one such company)--- as non-physical assets cannot be liquidated to raise extra funds.

However when it comes to raising new money in general a firm will stick to a hierarchy of: internal funds, then debt & finally new equity. This is because a manager who knows their shares are under-priced on the market will be reluctant to sell more while a manager who realizes their shares are over-priced on the market will be happy to issue more. Shareholders realise this & for this reason the share price will drop when managers try to issue new shares.  Therefore a pessimistic, yet intelligent manager still wouldn't issue extra shares. (This doesn't apply in all cases- when the issue of equity is clearly necessary the stock price is unlikely to experience an abnormal fall)

Body Image

One Week of Semester Left

Feeling ready to do my last speech of the semester this morning. Last night I couldn't get to sleep so instead I wrote up a study plan for myself. I hope to have read through all the finance topics by the 31st of May & my designated topics today are week 1 & 2 of the semester.

Making Jam

My unusual form of procrastination involves reading material from related but only marginally relevant subjects. Today I picked up a book called: 'Saving Money is Easy' by Cath Armstrong from the ABC shop. It's actually quite a good book & it's given me the sudden urge to start making my own jams & relishes. While this probably won't help my study very much I guess it could save me money in the long-run if I manage to succeed.

I did complete my MKTG speech this morning & I've taken my online HRMT quiz for the week so I haven't completely wasted the day. I also have to complete my summary for this week's article regarding managing change & making public organizations more inclusive. The article doesn't look all that appealing but I will get it done today.

Second Life

Working on my marketing case study at the moment, we're looking at the marketing potential of testing & marketing new products in an online world--- in this case Second Life. It's a fantastic case study & I'm really enjoying exploring virtual Dublin!

OHS Case Study

Didn't have the best day today but I did some study regarding Occupational Health & Safety in Australia. As part of this I watched a case study in which an Australia Post employee told of his experience breaking his collar bone at work. He was bullied into returning to work early & re-broke his collar bone. His manager then refused to believe he had re-injured himself & forced him to complete his shift. I'm amazed that this sort of treatment could occur in the workplace, it certainly makes you question the validity of some schemes which return employees to work early on 'light duties'. Hopefully this is just a one-off case.

MKTG topic 2

Well the power’s out & I accidently made my coffee double-strength but I’ve still managed to put together some decent marketing notes for topic 2.

The Marketing Environment

Internal Environment- Parts of the organisation that participate in the marketing process that are directly controlled by the organisation eg. Management, functional departments, employees, external vendors (outsourcing)

Micro Environment- Forces inside an organisation’s industry that impact on its ability to serve customers & clients eg. Customers & clients, partners (suppliers, financiers, advertising agencies etc) & competitors

Macro Environment- Factors outside the industry that influence the survival of the company. These include political, economic, sociocultural, technological & legal factors (PESTL framework)

Types of Competition

Pure competition- A situation in which there are numerous competitors offering undifferentiated products. This situation doesn’t exist in reality but a close example would be the sugar or wheat industries.

Monopolistic competition- In this situation numerous competitors offer similar products & strive to differentiate their product from other products. An example of this would be the electronic goods industry (fridges, tvs, laptops etc)

Oligopoly- In an oligopoly a small number of competitors offer relatively similar products. There are significant barriers preventing new entrants starting up in the industry. For example in the airline industry a new airline would require a huge amount of capital to set up a fleet of aircraft.

Monopoly- In this case there is only one firm in the industry & the barriers to prevent new entrants are huge. Consider the electricity or water supply industries, it would be terribly inefficient to have more than one company in charge of the supply.

Monosopy- The market situation in which there is only one buyer. I always think of something along the lines of battleships or jets; only the Australian government would purchase those in this country.

Levels of Competition

Total budget competition- Customers are limited by their financial budget & are forced to forgo some goods in order to purchase others. If you think about it this essentially means that firms are competing against all the other ways in which a customer could spend their money. I could choose to go to an expensive concert or I could spend that money buying food, clothes & books.

Generic competition- Customers all have a similar need that can be met by a wide variety of products. For example you could get to work via bus, train, car or bike.

Product competition- In this level of competition products are broadly similar when it comes to purpose but have distinguishing characteristics---- I would use the example of different types of drinks for this one.

Brand competition- The products are very similar at this level & have the same benefits, price & features. Your choice would be solely based on the brand name--- the book uses the example of the different Australian banks for this level.

Situation Analysis

Situation analysis involves assessing the current situation for the company, its competitors, the market in general & the macro environment. Once this analysis has taken place it should be considered along with the organisation’s objectives in order to come up with a market plan for the future.

The current objectives of the organisation should be:

Specific

Measureable

Actionable

Reasonable

Timetabled

SWOT Analysis

Strengths- Attributes of the organisation that help it achieve its objectives (what it does well & what makes it stand out)

Weaknesses- Areas that hinder the organisation in achieving its objectives (what it doesn’t do so well & what it receives complaints about)

Opportunities- Factors that could potentially help the organisation to succeed (emerging trends that could benefit the company, things that competitors could be lacking etc)

Threats- Factors that might harm the organisation’s efforts (competitors having an edge in some areas, negative growth in the industry etc)  

ECON lecture10

I am currently watching ECON3302 lecture 10. The topics of the lecture are compensating wage differentials & wage rate determination.

The main points of the first half of the lecture are that:
- Employees will try to maximise their utility
- Wages are not the only factor employees use to measure utility, they also look at work conditions & other benefit schemes
- Two different employees might measure utility very differently, one might prefer a higher wage in a riskier job while the other might prefer a lower wage in a safer job (this also applies to benefit schemes)
- Employers may be able to pay a lower wage by offering higher benefits (eg. retirement plans, health care, shares etc.), whether they will do this or not depends on their isoprofit curve

The main points of the second half of the lecture are that:
- MC = MP(L) in theory
- However worker productivity is unobservable so employers try to use compensation policies to optimize worker productivity & make sure they put in extra effort
- Problem- asymmetric information, only workers know the true amount of effort they are putting in
- Employers should aim for a self-enforcing contract
- Employers will only increase wages if marginal productivity of the worker will also increase (called Efficiency wages)
- Current data suggests: wage < productivity when you start working but as your tenure increases you'll get to a point where your wage > productivity
- Larger firms tend to pay more than smaller firms

The lecture also looked at some studies relating to pay schemes:
The study 'Does Performance Pay Increase Job Satisfaction?' by Green & Haywood (2008) suggests that in terms of performance pay measures, only subjects with profit-sharing schemes had a significantly higher level of job satisfaction.

Previous studies have shown that piece-rate pay schemes increase productivity but may also increase stress. Job satisfaction may decrease if productivity pay is linked to objective measures (workers may put in effort but don't receive the reward they should get, because of this they stop putting in the required effort).

Goals

Well I've never had a blog before but a couple of days ago I noticed a friend of mine using a blog to track her progress towards her weight loss goals. I think it's a fantastic idea so I've decided to start up a blog as well to track my progress towards my short-term & long-term goals.

My current short/medium-term goals are:
- To achieve an average mark of 70% or above in my course
- To travel around the Eastern states (Australia)
- To get at least one round of vacation work before I graduate
- To spend more time exercising & to have some decent body-tone by Summer

My current long-term goals are:
- To travel around Europe, America, Australia & Japan
- To establish myself in a promising career (not sure what sort of career yet)
- To learn a foreign language
- To buy a house

Hopefully if I post my progress regularly enough I can overcome the procrastination I usually feel when it comes to studying. My exams are on the 14th, 15th, 19th & 20th of June this semester. So far I only feel ready for my Marketing exam. My other units are Corporate Finance Policy (CFP), Microeconomics & Human Resource Management. The exam I'm worried about the most is CFP.