Valuing People in Financial Statements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Valuing People in Financial Statements - Essay Example This is because their respective annual financial reports do not reflect the financial position of the customers to their business. This paper will discuss whether companies should have a financial value for their employees with reference to Mark Spencer’s annual report. Most businesses consider their customer base to be their most valuable asset. This is a myopic consideration since behind every satisfied customer there is a hard working staff who contributed to their satisfaction. This indicates that employees should be beyond the customers of the company since they are responsible for successful products and satisfied customers (Hart, 1995, p. 56). Therefore, the value of employees can be measured from the quality of the products that they are responsible for and, the level of customer’s satisfaction resulting from their efforts. Being of financial significance indicates that workers are assets to the company and the company has the responsibility to account for them . Companies consider their workers as expenses due to the salaries that they receive at the end of the month or the end of a given trading period. In this case, workers would appear in the right hand side of their balance sheet. However, this is not a valid reasoning since salaries or wages is a return or compensation for labor (Vygotsky, 1978). Labor has economic value to a business. This indicates that workers or the source of the labor also has economic value to the business. Indeed, workers are assets of a company due to the economic value of their efforts to the company. However, shareholders and other stakeholders of a company fail to consider the financial value of workers when evaluating a company. This evaluation does not give the actual position of the company since workers too have a financial significance to a company. According to Paul Herman the CEO of HIP investments, most companies fail to consider their workers as their assets. Layoffs are the main reason that quali fies workers to be expenses of a company. A company can increase its profit through various ways. The main method that companies use to increase their profit is reducing their cost of operation. Cost of operation includes fixed costs and expenses. In this case, fixed costs are costs that are incurred during the production process, and are invariable. On the other hand, expenses are cost incurred by the company due to factors that facilitate production or distribution of finished products. Layoff is considered as a method of increasing profits since it enable companies to cut down their expenses and hence their cost of operation. Laying-off workers has positive returns in the short term since economic downturns are not permanent (Kalb, 1993, p. 198). Economic downturns are followed by economic recoveries that force the companies to hire more employees to compensate for laid-off workers. In this process, the company spend money in hiring and training of new workers to compensate for t he laid off workers. Hiring new workers is critical to a company’s success. The abilities of a company to outsource for the best workers in a particular field determine the competence of its products in a given market (Ellen, 2009). This process has financial significance to the company since it is a form of investment. In addition, the company needs to train its employees in order to achieve

Where's the Pig Business Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Where's the Pig Business - Case Study Example The context of the promotional tool used has been discussed based on the main theory of cross cultural marketing. McDonald’s is a brand with a wide global presentation and it has to adjust accordingly when it comes to diverse cultures. Cross cultural marketing is an important aspect that global brands have to pay heed to. The case states how the difference between the promotional activity in Singapore and Hong Kong created a problem for McDonald’s and how the firm eventually resolved the problem by taking appropriate measures. In 2010, McDonald’s incorporated a new promotional theme in its promotional activities. It decided to incorporate the Chinese astrology into its promotion. It found out that the Chinese calendar holds great importance for the Chinese people. The Chinese astrology comprises of 12 animal signs which include rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. McDonald’s started offering 12 little Doraemon toys each of which represented a Chinese zodiac sign. The promotion came to be known as Doraemon Lucky Charms Promotion. The toy was to be purchased by the customers along with the purchase of the McDonald’s Happy Meal. This promotion was successful when it was implemented in Hong Kong. The corporations faced no problem as 95 percent of the population of Hong Kong had a Chinese ethnicity. Case Issues The main problem was raised when the same promotional strategy was modified when implemented in Singapore. ... This modification created a chaos for the McDonald’s Corporation and there was an upheaval in online blogs. The main point used to hit the corporation was that it does not respect the Chinese culture. McDonald’s was blamed for not conducting market research. Many critics raised a point that McDonald’s Corporation did not take sufficient time to think through the promotion. This whole modification stirred up a controversy as it offended the majority race in Singapore and was needed to be addressed before the brand image of McDonald’s got tarnished in Singapore. Another problem was faced when some customers said that there was no reason of buying an incomplete Doraemon collection set without a pig toy. It seemed like all minorities of Singapore except Muslims were not happy with this modification and on top of all it was the majority that got most offended. It was believed that on cross-cultural sensitivity McDonald’s over reacted. Malay culture prohi bits the consumption of pork, but McDonald’s on its own perceived that Malays will be offended by a pig toy. In addition many customers, in order to gather the 12 pieces animal collection, had to order it through their friends who lived in Hong Kong. The promotion was offered in Hong Kong. McDonald’s finally realized its’ mistake and apologized to the public of Singapore through the advertisement and its website and announced that the pig toy will be available. But this was long after the lunar year. The corporation invited its customers who were interested in buying the pig toy to visit the website and click on the Doraemon Lucky Charms Poll to indicate their interest. The apology and availability of the pig toy did not please the masses instead pacified only some publics. It