The Difficuly Finding the Meaning of Life Essay Example for Free

The Difficuly Finding the Meaning of Life Essay A sense of meaning is needed in humans or else we become discouraged and lost and can even end up looking for meaning in harmful ways. People who cannot find in meaning in their life are susceptible to cults and manipulation from others as well as depression. In J. D. Salinger’s novel the catcher in the Rye, The main character (Holden) is having difficulty finding the meaning of life. Everyone is bound to spend some time in their life searching for meaning. Holden does not make an effort to do well in school nor does he make an effort to fit in with others. He looks at others as phonies merely trying to imitate each other and questions all social norms that are pressured upon him. Today is no different from Holden’s time when it comes to finding the meaning of life; the media often suggests that the meaning of life is seeking pleasures such as sex, drugs and money, Parents drive the children to focus on their education and their worth in society. Holden does not pursue sexual conquests as a youth and resents most girls around him because of their large need to conform. This is uncommon for someone Holden’s age and causes him to stand out from those around him. He does not appear to be content with his life and does not have a strong peer group to support him. Holden disappoints his parents, teachers, and many other mentor figures throughout his youth. I also have questioned the value of education and whether or not spending a third of my life preparing for work, a third of my life working and a third of my life retired is really the most fulfilling plan in life. One reason I believe Holden is having a hard time finding meaning in life is that he starts off without any role models. He does not idolize his brother and resents his parents. I also have found choosing role models in life to be a difficult decision. Because Holden focuses so strongly on people’s negative qualities he misses the more beautiful and sought after qualities of their personalities and therefore has a hard time relating to them. This causes Holden to become more or less isolated from those around him. I have often questioned the meaning of life and realized that my idea of a meaningful life is quite different from some of my peers. This moral difference between me and many often stops a more personal relationship from forming. This effect is present throughout Holden’s journey as he feels isolated in the same way from many of his â€Å"Phony† acquaintances.

KBR Leadership Essay

KBR Leadership Essay Leadership and the leadership style used by the company and its relationship with the leadership theories: Leadership style in given organization is quite simple, open and goal focusing. Targets are given to functional and cross functional teams managed by team leaders, in team works every one has right to participate in decision making process, every team member can explain his opinion openly. Leader of the teams are expertise of their fields they better know how to overcome different problems. Leaders in this organization are responsible to maintain discipline, ethic and integrity in team and team work. Most of responsibilities are on the shoulders of leaders. Power distance is quite low in this organization as every one works for common goal, it is not difficult to communicate to leaders or seniors of the teams as vertical communication is open and honest, team members have good level of contact with their leaders and leaders are easily approachable. Leaders in this organization are used to of motivating their team members by trusting in them and expecting right job from them. Most of things are clear to team members as leaders dont hide things from them and try t o keep transparency in operations. Leaders expand the description of jobs by giving team members a variety in tasks and usually jobs are open ended. This style of leadership let the personnel progress and gives freedom for decisions making. Relationship with leader ship theories: Leadership in this organization includes a part of Fiedlerss leadership contingency theory (1960s) least preferred co-worker scale and situational control, in which leadership style is measured between task motivated leadership and relationship motivated leadership, leadership style of given organization is in between as it is target oriented and relationship motivating as well. In relation to situational control leaders in this organization are well aware of outcomes of their team members actions and decisions. Leadership in KBR is also near to Houses path-goal leadership theory which focuses on four leadership behaviours directive leadership, achievement -oriented leadership, supportive leadership and participative leadership. as path-goal theory says that key function in leadership is to adjust yourself according to situation in KBR leadership is more flexible, have a lot of experience and are more responsible so KBR is quite near to this theory and supportive leadership that focuses on developing good relations with subordinates and friendly work climate, in KBR leaders motivate the team members and seniors are approachable and other things discussed above made leadership in KBR quite supportive. KBRs leadership also follows the achievement -oriented leadership which emphasize on setting targets for subordinates and showing confidence in personnels abilities. In KBR leaders after assigning tasks to their team members expect right job from them it makes KBRs leadership achievement oriented. In participative leadership behaviour of leader is to involve subordinates in decision making and in KBR it provides bases to leadership. Transformational approach of leadership is also quite near to KBRs leadership as followers in KBR are motivated to go beyond job description and work for common good. Source of organizations culture and its implication on the workforce and organization performances: Morris W Kellogg is the saga of the company, means that he started the story of KBR and his story provides a lesson to whole organization members and gives foundations to culture of organization. Management philosophy of organization is based on commitment to health and safety and discipline. Individuals in organization have open and honest relationships there is good communication between all levels of management, in relationships mutual respect is always there. Most of things are transparent before everyone in organization, at all levels individuals are responsible but top management has more responsibilities Organization struggling to sustain integrity and specialization. work is divided among different specialized teams individuals at all levels have freedom of decision making and providing opportunities to grow to staff are is part of organizations culture. Organization always attracts talented graduates and specialized people as specialization is a part of organization culture. Organizations culture emphasis on going beyond customer‘s expectations. Organization delivers quality services to its customers. Organizations staff lives near the project location to better understand the situation. Organization works to innovate new things to expand its divisions and operations. Organizations culture causes a good relationship among whole work force. It makes the workforce to struggle for specialization and integrity. It causes exploring new things. whole work force has to obey the discipline and ethics. Communication among force needs to retain the mutual respect factor. Organizations culture is best fit for its operations, it helps to give maximum performance and achieve organizational goals. Culture of organization helps in continuous improvement, integrity and specialization. It provides motivation to individuals. Organizations culture moves the organization towards functional structure to get maximum integrity. Explore how the culture of the organization has impact on both the leadership and the organization structure of organization? Organizations culture plays an important role in providing bases to leadership. The leaders in organization takes the culture along and transfer it to subordinates major things in leadership which are from culture are integrity ,specialization, development of good relationship, work for crossing the customers expectations. Given above characteristics impact leadership style it makes leadership more cooperative. Leadership in KBR also opens door for innovation which is one of basics of firms culture. Transparency factor of culture makes the leaders to discuss things with subordinates openly, innovation factor of culture makes the leaders to let the subordinates go beyond their job description. For specialization leaders must be expertise of their fields. Element of honesty prevent leaders form politics. Element of the relationship building makes the leaders work with teams. Many things of culture also have affect on structure of company as honest relation and mutual respect and communication all these things give dimensions of low power difference, small hierarchy and flat structure to organization. Factor of specialization has divided the firm in many business units to bring maximum quality and specialization Need of specialization causes the organization to develop a set up to attract talented graduates, expertise towards the company. To create this attraction organization gives opportunities to personal progress and freedom of decision making and goo reward system specialization also divides the organization further business units. Due to specialization organization is gradually moving towards matrix structure which is more expensive and complicated but is necessary to meet the organizational and cultural needs Shareholder and employee benefits make the organization to give employees opportunities to grow and make profits for share holders. Relationship element of organization divides the management in few layers to built strong relationships The issue of motivation theories the motivational policies used in the case and its impact on individual and organization performances: KBR has developed a motivating culture for its personnel, there is a small distance between the upper management and the lower management, vertical and horizontal communication is not complicated ideas can be shared, team leaders always there to motivate and help their team members, most of things are transparent before employees as they are trusted by their seniors all these things motivate them and make them feel that they are part of organization besides this jobs has been designed to motivate the personnel, they have freedom to make decision and they can identify and solve the problems by their own judgment, challenging goals are give to staff member according to their specialization which motivate them to make difference there is a strong relationship between senior management and the subordinates, all above elements motivate the staff and make them feel that they are like a family and have power and freedom to some extend they know that their actions can influence the organizat ion, in future they have many opportunities to prosper on the bases of their work and there is no typical strict boss on them. Motivated staff ultimately leads the organization towards efficiency and success. As jobs do not have strict boundaries so there are more chances of exploring new things that enables the firm to have new ideas. Organizations motivating strategy develop loyalty in employees and it also attract talented graduates towards the organization as they see opportunity to grow and talented staff plays an important role in organizations achievements. Motivation strategy of this company follows rules described in Alderfers ERG theory which focuses on existence needs, relatedness needs and growth needs and it also follows the acquired needs theory which emphasize on achievement , affiliation and power needs. And KBR has opportunities to grow, strong relationship with employees and challenging jobs to make achievements all these things bring firm near to these theories. KBRs strategy is also near to two-factor theory of Fredrick Herzberg. this theory shows certain factors which play an important part in motivating and providing job satisfaction to employees these factors are given below in diagram, according to this diagram KBR has most of job satisfying factors in its strategy. (Organizational behaviour Schermerhhorn, Hunt, Osborn, seventh edition, 2000, page: 114) The nature of team, its structure and how it has impact on organization performances: KBRS management structure is flat and has few layers of management organization has adapted functional structure for its project in which teams work under specialists leadership and all members struggle for common goal as all are accountable for it. In teams all members have good relationship with each other mutual respect is always there every team member has god level of contact with seniors all members have efficient communication skills role of every team member is clearly described and he also has a freedom to some extent. All key tasks are given description team members need to be flexible teams are ready to accept any challenging task all teams working for same project have interaction with each other and work together to satisfy customer by delivering services beyond expectation. this structure of is according to day- to -day business needs of organization. Now company is gradually moving towards matrix structure in which cross functional teams consist on expertise from different functional departments utilize maximum of their skills to achieve organizational goals. KBRs structure helps it to achieve perfection in services as specialists teams work on projects assure quality and helps to sustain quality this functional structure also help the organization to meet its day to day requirements. Team work gives guarantees clear performance objective and enhances creativity in organization that plays an important role in going beyond expectations Cross functional teams bring an increase in work speed, provide broader information and struggle to sustain integration. All these things cause a perfection in lesser time that take the firm towards customer satisfaction. How effective do you think company approach to people management will be in ensuring improved results and enhancing the change management process? KBR has developed its structure to deliver services efficiently to its customers in all conditions, this structure also enables to work for the benefit of its shareholder, employees and communities the organization serve. In KBR the chain of command is small there are not many layers in hierarchy of management span of control is larger in this organization. A few layers cause a decrease in distance between upper management and lower management, individuals are not answerable to many bosses. Staff at upper management level has more responsibilities individual at upper level are expertise of their fields company also hire fresh graduates in its lower management and training is given to them so a new person can be a part if this organization at any level but new staff member has to show performance in 12 months probationary period .All individuals in KBR are given a degree of freedom to make decision. Every single post has an opportunity to progress and prosper personally. Jobs are desi gned to continue the learning process and exploring new things. Because of few management layers it is easy for upper management to control the subordinates as they can directly contact them and they can be informed with the staff problems and it also cause a motivation in staff as they can easily approach their seniors. This structure also help in unity of command besides this a few layers of management cause a decrease in cost and time. In horizontal structure organization is a functional and matrix organization and this structure leads towards clear targets and specialization. All individual selected for the organization have quality of adaptability so any change can be easily adapted. Because of few layers in management it is easy to bring a change. As company is changing towards matrix structure which is quite near to functional structure so it is easily acceptable. Problems caused by change can easily be known to upper management and can be solved and all conflicts can be removed. Explore the way individual and organization behaves liking this with relevant theory that you are familiar with how would this impact on any the organizations change process: Individuals in KBR are flexible, technically competent they use their own judgment in understanding the things and the have good interpersonal skills. Employees in KBR expect growth and reward for their work. All these traits bring KBR,s staff near to following theories. Self monitoring: According that individuals have ability to adjust their behaviour according to situation. Maglino and associates: this theory focuses on four points. Achievement, helping and concern for others, honesty and fairness (Schermerhhorn, Hunt, Osborn, seventh edition, page: 72) Varooms expectancy theory: According to this theory motivated staff believes that effort will yield acceptable performance performance will be rewarded the value of reward is highly positive Companys first priority is to satisfy the customer and after for that company focuses on financial responsibility, accountability and discipline there is no compromise on health and safety. Organization also focuses on ethics and integrity. Company struggles for continuous improvement and grow globally company has been opening new business units and innovating new things. Organization trust in its staff and right job is expected from them. Companys behaviour has relevance with following theories. High performance management theory covers all characteristics of KBR. Core points are given below Total quality management: total commitment to high quality results continuous improvement and meeting customer needs. Empowerment: allow individuals to make decisions that affect them or their work. Intellectual capital: total knowledge, expertise and energy available from organization members. Employee involvement Integration Organizations and individuals behaviour has a positive impact on the change process as the given above characteristics shows that individuals and organization is ready to accept change and this change is also a part of continuous improvement so flexibility adaptability continuous improvement struggle for high quality integrity all these things enables organization and individuals to accept and implement the change. Explain how the company has managed it change process and how it has benefited from this management process: Company implemented planed change strategy, in planed change organization followed the rational persuasion process in company used facts, special knowledge and rational arrangement to create change. Companys management system helped the company to implement the change as companys management ensures flexibility adaptability and because the management process is simple that is why it is easy to implement a change, few layers of management help to minimize the change cost and time it also decrease the probability of resistance to change. Firm is already working for specialization and integration and change will assist the firm in it. As management system gives reasons to change, the quality information, security, retention of power, good resources and good timing all these things makes the organization to accept the change Recommendations for future improvement: Let individuals clearer what exactly need to do to get desired reward Shift few more responsibilities on the shoulders of subordinates and more specify their jobs. Create a sense of urgency For teams facts and information should be given on regular bases Discuss companys high performance standards with staff Provide a variety in rewarding Let the individuals know how well they are working Make a real understanding of what firm stands for Make a good understand sense of informal rules and expectations so individual understand what is exactly expected of them Create a warmer interpersonal environment between upper management and lower management Staff at lower level must given performance feed back on regular bases Involve more subordinates in managerial decision making Link the team results to organizational outcomes Evaluate team and each individual members performance Make the culture more strong with rites, symbols and rituals Let the staff develop their own view how to develop tow ards organizational goals Increase decentralization, participation and create more decrease in rigidity Subordinates should be informed about the coming fears Conclusion: KBR is a big company rapidly growing globally. The company is enhancing its operations efficiently and quickly, business is divided in sub business units company is continually increasing its business units, company is conducting business by keeping its culture along. Structure of the organization is flat there are quite few layers in management which make management process easier, horizontal structure of organization is functional now firm is moving toward matrix structure. leadership of organization is motivating and communication between all levels of organization is quit easy. Most of responsibilities are on the shoulders of senior management .Senior management must has an understanding with the following areas of responsibility Provide strategic and operational leadership Develop and motivate others Be approachable and open to ideas Display honesty and integrity Individuals at all levels have freedom to make decisions and at all levels opportunities to grow are given, a new mem ber can enter in firm at any level. Every new person must have following traits Technical competence Strong oral and written communication Relationship building and team work Planning and organizational skills Adaptability Policies of organization attract talented graduates and specialists

Absorption Costing: Advantages and Disadvantages

Absorption Costing: Advantages and Disadvantages There are two main costing methods that this company can use, absorption costing and Activity based costing. Absorption costing and Activity based costing (ABC) are two similar systems that are used to assign indirect costs to cost objects. Absorption costing is also called traditional costing; it is more simplistic and uses arbitrary allocation. On the other hand, ABC is more sophisticated and uses cause-and-effect allocation. This report will deal with the different definitions, the history, the advantages and disadvantages of absorption and ABC systems. Then finial a recommendation on which system is better suited for this company. This company needs either of the two costing system because they are useful during planning and budgeting. Furthermore having the systems in place will allow overheads to be charged to services. ABSORPTION COSTING Absorption costing is a method of costing that, in addition to direct costs, assigns all, or a proportion of product overhead costs units by means of one or a number of overhead absorption rates. Cima (2005) Absorption costing systems is a costing system where manufacturing costs are allocated to products and non manufacturing costs are not allocated to the product but charged directly to the profit statement and excluded from the inventory. Drury (2008) Absorption costing is a system in which all the fixed manufacturing overheads are allocated to the products. Drury From all these definitions the Cima definition is the better definition because it mentions most of the key processes that are involved in absorption costing which straight away gives you an idea of what absorption costing is. The other definitions are also good as they state some processes involved in absorption but Cima puts the definition in a more understandable way. History This costing system was developed decades ago when companies were much smaller and had less overhead costs. During the time this system was developed there were mostly industrial companies which made this system suitable to assign costs to cost objects. How it works This company currently operates under absorption costing system for working out overheads for their services. Working out absorption costing involves a two stage process. Stage one considering the allocation and apportionment of indirect costs to service and production cost centres and then apportionment of the service department to production department. Allocation is the process of estimating the cost of resources consumed by a product that does not use direct measures. This process deals with overheads that can be directly assigned to cost centres without the need to be apportioned. Cost apportionment is a process of charging indirect costs to cost centres that cant be directly allocated. Service department overheads are transferred to the production department so they can be covered. Stage two works out the absorption rates that are then used to charge overheads to cost objects. The absorption rate worked out is used to calculate the total overheads of a product. From all these three stages only allocation is used in ABC. There are advantages and disadvantages of absorption costing: Advantages Inexpensive and simple to operate. Absorption costing is simple to operate which makes it less expensive to operate. This is good for the company as it allows them to reduce their costs and understand what they are doing. Disadvantages Less accurate. Its good that the system is simple, but this makes it less accurate when charging costs to cost objects because of the intensive use of arbitrary allocation. Arbitrary allocation is when an allocation base used is not a considerable determinant of its cost. Not knowing all the exact causes of certain costs will make it difficult during planning and budgeting. Absorption costing emphasises on variable and fixed costs. This makes it difficult for the company to use information from this system for decision making; its not detailed enough to help the business make predictions or budgets. ACTIVITY BASED COSTING Different sources define ABC in different ways: An approach to the costing and monitoring of activities which involves tracing resource consumption and costing final outputs. Resources are assigned to activities, and activities to cost objects based on consumption estimates. The latter utilise cost drivers to attach activity costs to outputs. Cima terminology Activity based costing is a refinement of absorption costing that aims to charge overhead costs in much more detail so that the overhead cost can be charged on the basis of a cost driver. Drury (2005) Between these two definitions Cima definition clearly states what ABC is all about and mentions cost drivers which are a key area of this system. While the other definition does not specifically state what is involved in ABC e.g. cost drivers though it does point out that its similar to absorption costing. Overall, the Cima definition is better as it is a more detail explanation. History ABC system was developed when the current system then (absorption costing) was becoming less useful for assigning costs to products in the changing business environment. In the 1980s companies begun to increase in size and producing wider product ranges and services. Information processing costs were high, which made it difficult for sophisticated overhead allocation methods to be justified. There was an increasing demand for more accurate product costs; this led to the introduction of the ABC system. Cooper and Kaplan conceptualised the ideas behind this system as a way of trying to improve the accuracy of the charge made to cost objects in complex business environments. How it works ABC system is worked out differently compared to absorption costing. They both use the two stage allocation process to assign overheads to cost objects. First stage overheads are assigned to cost centres and in the second stage the cost accumulated in the cost centres are allocated to cost objects. ABC differs from absorption costing by having more cost centres in the first stage and a greater variety of cost drivers in the second stage. Exhibit 1 shows an example of a companys annual overhead costs which i will use to how ABC works. Similarly to absorption costing, an overhead analysis sheet is produced where overheads are allocated to cost centres. This is shown in exhibit 2. Then activities are identified for each cost. From exhibit 3 column A, you can see that there are lots of activities that have been identified from major activities e.g. General factory support. The costs created over a specific period have to be assigned to the activities. When costs are accumulated by activities they are called activity cost drivers. Activity cost drivers have to be selected for each activity centre in order to assign the cost attached to products. In exhibit 3-column C and D you can see the activity cost drivers and the cost they each accumulate. Cost driver rates are worked out for each activity. Finally, the cost driver rates are applied to products. In exhibit 4 there is an example of Product G that is produced and uses various activity cost drivers and cost driver rates are applied. There are advantages and disadvantages of having ABC in place, these are: Advantages Helps identify unprofitable items from the product line. This will allow the company to make changes to their production, and improve their efficiency. Removing these unprofitable items reduces un-necessary costs the company maybe encountering. Also it enables the company to increase its profit without the need to increase prices. Provides quantifiable figures for planning and estimates. ABC identifies all the different cost drivers that contribute to the total overheads of producing a product or service. This will help when giving quotes to customers as well as for the business to see if taking up a certain project will be profitable to them. ABC uses a large number of cost centres in the first stage and a greater variety of allocation bases in the second stage. This makes the system accurate at charging overheads to products. Accurate cost charges to products or a service reduces the risk of making a loss if the right amount is not charged. Disadvantages Expensive to operate. The complexity of this costing system makes it expensive to operate compared to other alternatives. The business will have to invest time and resources in order for them to identify the cost drivers. E.g. one of the steps needed to identify cost drivers is to interview staff and have them fill in time sheets. This process will reduce the production time available to the company. Time consuming. Using ABC is a very long process and requires a lot of information to implement; this is time consuming for the company and its staff. There is too much attention to detail and control. Sometimes paying close attention to detail might make it difficult for the company to see the bigger picture or make the firm lose sight of strategic objectives just to seek for small savings. It may be difficult to implement. In service companies there are costs that are difficult to allocate to specific service units and service department, staff often get involved in many non informal activities which may be challenging to record cost data. Recommendations Given that the company supplies services to government bodies and operates under absorption costing, I recommend that we should change the costing system to ABC as it will be more suitable for the company. This costing system may be difficult to implement in service companies but it shows the company more detail of the various costs involved in each service they provide which is essential during decision making and planning. To implement ABC there certain things the business will have to do: Proper planning and commitment from staff, carrying out a pilot study first may be vital. This will provide information about whether having ABC will be a benefit to the company. A team will have to be set-up that will be responsible for determining which activities are necessary for the services. The team should be made up of experts from different departments of the company and a consultant from outside can be used. Having individuals from different allows accurate identification of overheads involved.5 When a team has been assembled, elements of each activity that cost money are determined. Attention to detail is vital as some costs are hidden. Once all the costs have been identified and recorded, they have to be put in a computer system. After the business has had enough time to analyze the data they can use the information in various ways e.g. working out total overheads for each service. Conclusion Absorption costing has been around for a long time, ABC was developed as an improvement of absorption costing. ABC is a more accurate costing system compared to absorption costing as it looks at individual activities that contribute to the total overheads, while absorption costing looks at departments. Having looked at both advantages and disadvantage of the two costing systems it is clear that even though they are similar they have significant differences. I have recommended that we introduce ABC, it will be a huge benefit for the company as it will decrease the number of errors made during costing.

Outlaw by Scott McGough :: essays research papers

Outlaw, by Scott McGough tells 2 people’s stories and their adventures through the plane of Kamigawa and how they are tied with the war against the kami (spirits). Toshiro Umezama, a rogue mage-ochimusha (dishonored warrior), has been traveling with his fellow oath-brother Kobo, an ogre, through the forest, when they accidentally found themselves in a party of kistune (foxfolk) and humans. Michiko Konda, daughter of the daimyo (powerful feudal lord), left the walls of her kingdom and traveled to a great library in the wizard school, Minamo. When she was separated from her friends, she found herself lead by a foxfire to a kistune city where her sensei, Pearl-Ear was visiting. Sharp-Ear, Pearl-Ear’s brother, Pearl-Ear, 3 kistune samurai, Michiko, and her 2 friends traveled into the forest to search for the secluded orochi (snakefolk), known for their distrust of anything of the outside world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Toshi and Kobo ran into Michiko’s party, they talked for a short while, and they were attacked by the orochi. The parties fought well, but were defeated and captured. Toshi escaped and found Kobo dead tied to a tree. He rescues Michiko and flies away on a battle moth. West of the forest in a cave, Toshi holds Michiko for ransom, but he is met by the little Mochi, the Kami of the Cresent Moon. He showed the two the reason for the kami war: Daimyo Konda took a powerful kami from the spirit world and used Michiko’s birth to power the ritual to bring it into the material world. When the two learned this, Toshi decided to be employed to Michiko and promise to help her (with correct pay of course). The rest of Michiko’s party escaped the orochi territory, and tracked the ochimusha to the cave and were followed by the snakes. While the kistune were trying to get Toshi out, Mochi brought out the patron spirit of darkness: Myojin of Night’s Reach to get Toshi to accept its blessings. As he did, he went out of the cave, killed the snakes and their patron spirit, Myojin of Life’s Web, on his own, with the help of the blessing of the patron of darkness. Outlaw by Scott McGough :: essays research papers Outlaw, by Scott McGough tells 2 people’s stories and their adventures through the plane of Kamigawa and how they are tied with the war against the kami (spirits). Toshiro Umezama, a rogue mage-ochimusha (dishonored warrior), has been traveling with his fellow oath-brother Kobo, an ogre, through the forest, when they accidentally found themselves in a party of kistune (foxfolk) and humans. Michiko Konda, daughter of the daimyo (powerful feudal lord), left the walls of her kingdom and traveled to a great library in the wizard school, Minamo. When she was separated from her friends, she found herself lead by a foxfire to a kistune city where her sensei, Pearl-Ear was visiting. Sharp-Ear, Pearl-Ear’s brother, Pearl-Ear, 3 kistune samurai, Michiko, and her 2 friends traveled into the forest to search for the secluded orochi (snakefolk), known for their distrust of anything of the outside world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Toshi and Kobo ran into Michiko’s party, they talked for a short while, and they were attacked by the orochi. The parties fought well, but were defeated and captured. Toshi escaped and found Kobo dead tied to a tree. He rescues Michiko and flies away on a battle moth. West of the forest in a cave, Toshi holds Michiko for ransom, but he is met by the little Mochi, the Kami of the Cresent Moon. He showed the two the reason for the kami war: Daimyo Konda took a powerful kami from the spirit world and used Michiko’s birth to power the ritual to bring it into the material world. When the two learned this, Toshi decided to be employed to Michiko and promise to help her (with correct pay of course). The rest of Michiko’s party escaped the orochi territory, and tracked the ochimusha to the cave and were followed by the snakes. While the kistune were trying to get Toshi out, Mochi brought out the patron spirit of darkness: Myojin of Night’s Reach to get Toshi to accept its blessings. As he did, he went out of the cave, killed the snakes and their patron spirit, Myojin of Life’s Web, on his own, with the help of the blessing of the patron of darkness.

the devastation of the indies :: essays research papers

Upon reading the devastation of the Indies, it is apparent that many ailments of prejudice existed in those times of newly discovered lands and territories unchartered to the Europeans. Those of racism towards an unfamiliar people, a sense of Heathenism assumed upon the Native American civilization, and the brutal savagery demonstrated against the peaceful Native American Indians of this "new world." In the brief account from a sympathetic eyewitness, we see these horrible prejudices manifested through raids and massacrers by a foolish fleet of explorers whom fate would have to land on an unfortunate tribe far devoid of hatred and war. The role that racism plays in this historical account seems to be the foundation on which the oppression was built. Racism can be defined as one group of people claiming another to be inferior by the assumption that there is a connection between biology and culture, that the way one looks determines the way one behaves (Kennedy, lines 2-4). Based upon this definition, it is apparent that the Europeans drew many racist conclusions from the immediate appearance of the native people. The way the native people wore next to no clothing and seemed to be so in touch with nature planted thoughts of inferiority into the minds of the Europeans. The prejudices applied by the explorers ultimately lead to the enslavement and battery of the innocent Indians. Heathenism also played into the unfortunate events following Columbus’ discovery of the new world. Heathenism is a term applied to a group of people which do not follow the god of Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. The Native Americans had no prior knowledge of such religions. That is, they did not reject these teachings, they were merely ignorant to the existence of such institutions. The Europeans, who held religion in the highest regards, took great offense to this different culture and instead of spreading their gospel, condemned the natives to be godless heathens. As a result, treating them as if they were not even human, and took no mercy on the people. the devastation of the indies :: essays research papers Upon reading the devastation of the Indies, it is apparent that many ailments of prejudice existed in those times of newly discovered lands and territories unchartered to the Europeans. Those of racism towards an unfamiliar people, a sense of Heathenism assumed upon the Native American civilization, and the brutal savagery demonstrated against the peaceful Native American Indians of this "new world." In the brief account from a sympathetic eyewitness, we see these horrible prejudices manifested through raids and massacrers by a foolish fleet of explorers whom fate would have to land on an unfortunate tribe far devoid of hatred and war. The role that racism plays in this historical account seems to be the foundation on which the oppression was built. Racism can be defined as one group of people claiming another to be inferior by the assumption that there is a connection between biology and culture, that the way one looks determines the way one behaves (Kennedy, lines 2-4). Based upon this definition, it is apparent that the Europeans drew many racist conclusions from the immediate appearance of the native people. The way the native people wore next to no clothing and seemed to be so in touch with nature planted thoughts of inferiority into the minds of the Europeans. The prejudices applied by the explorers ultimately lead to the enslavement and battery of the innocent Indians. Heathenism also played into the unfortunate events following Columbus’ discovery of the new world. Heathenism is a term applied to a group of people which do not follow the god of Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. The Native Americans had no prior knowledge of such religions. That is, they did not reject these teachings, they were merely ignorant to the existence of such institutions. The Europeans, who held religion in the highest regards, took great offense to this different culture and instead of spreading their gospel, condemned the natives to be godless heathens. As a result, treating them as if they were not even human, and took no mercy on the people.

Of Mice and Men Book Report Essay

In the book â€Å"Of Mice & Men† the two main characters are George and Lennie. The setting of the story seems to be set back in the early 1900’s or the late 1800’s by the dialect they use. The two characters have a unique relationship. The first character is a small quick man with strong features his name is George. The other man is very large with a shapeless face and is also quite slow his name is Lennie. Throughout the story these two characters complement each other fairly nicely. Even though Lennie gets on Georges nerves most of the time it is very entertaining to read. First of all, the character George is the one that takes care of Lennie and makes sure that he doesn’t get into any trouble. I know that George sometimes has regret about having Lennie with him, it proves this when George said â€Å"If I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble. No mess at all.† Even so I could always tell that he deeply cares for Lennie. Overall George is a loyal friend to Lennie and dealt with Lennie no matter what, even when I came to the end George only did what he felt was right for Lennie. On the other hand, Lennie Is a gentle giant that is totally oblivious to his extraordinary body strength. During the beginning of the story is says that Lennie is very tactile and doesn’t know his own strength; it backs this up when George reminded Lennie of what he did in Weed. In weed Lennie spotted a lady with a dress of a soft fabric, and because Lennie doesn’t understand cause and effect he doesn’t think of what could happen. So Lennie grabbed the dress and naturally the lady got frightened and screamed, but simple Lennie held on without realizing he was bothering someone. Together George and Lennie have a very entertaining relation as I stated previously. George and Lennie are exactly two different people which helps there dynamic such as; Big-Small and Dumb-Smart. Throughout the book the way that the two interacted with each other intensified for me. At first I felt like Lennie was a burden on George and was just a guy Lennie’s Aunt Clara dumped upon George. But as the story Progressed the relationship and the interaction became deeper and almost felt as if they were family. In conclusion the book really showed me about truly unique friendships. George and Lennie are models for me. It showed me  that any interactions can lead to a deep, serious friendship. Also that even though George and Lennie seem like two different people they can still become closer than brothers.

Customer Profitability Analysis Essay

Activity Based Costing (ABC) is best known for its appilcation in computing product costs, but firms also find it useful in determining the cost of serving customers and as a basis for evaluating the profitabilty of a specific customer or group of customers. Why is this important? Most managers agree that 80% of their profits come from the top 20% of their customers and most important, the bottom 20% of their customers are unprofitable. For example, to compete with Walmart,Best Buy works hard to attract profitable customers and equally hard to discourage the unprofitable customers which those that are price shopping and looking for discounts and promotions and comparing prices to Walmart. Best Buy studies demographic and sales data for each store location to identify profitable and unprofitable customers. Customer profitabilty analysis idetifies customer service activities and cost drivers and determines the profitability of each customer or customer group. Here, customer service include all activities to complete the sale and satisfy the customer including advertising, sales calls, delivery, billing, collection, service calls, inquiries and other forms of customer service. Customer profitability analysis allow managers to: Identify most profitable customers Manage each customer’s cost-to-serve Introduce profitable new products and services Discontinue unprofitable products, services or customers Shift a costomer’s purchase mix toward higher-margin products and service lines Offer discounts to gain more volume with low costs-to-serve customers Choose types of after-sale services to provide How to calculate Customer Profitability Analysis The first step of CPA is to create a simple model of revenue by customer on the one hand, and total business unit costs and overheads on the other. Second, subtract the direct product and service costs from each customer (costs of good sold/cost of sales) to arrive at a gross margin per customer. Third, it should be possible to identify other costs specific to the customer such as a particular sales campaign or servicing and retention  costs. Orders of magnitude will do rather than getting hung up on 100% accuracy. Be consistent if applying any proxy. Fourth, sort customers by net profit and draw a cumulative profitability curve staring with the most profitable to the least. This is an effective way to visualize the relative profitability of customers and it soon becomes apparent which customers are critical to the business. Fifth, before taking any decision on non-profitable customers, make sure that you have strong retention activities in place to secure your most valuable customers. Sixth, get behind the real reasons why some customers are unprofitable and determine the appropriate strategies and tactics to enhance the profitability of your customer portfolio. Thought about sacking customers, should be put to one side until you have gained a clear understanding of the reasons. As we’ve seen there are lots of reasons for being unprofitable, and it is important to think ahead to potential value over time, not just recent history. (Six step to Customer Profitability Analysis, 2007) A good understanding of the profitabilty of a firm’s current and potential customers can help firms improve overall profits and become more competitive. This begins with an analysis of the cost to serve the customer. Customer Cost Analysis Not all customers require similar activities either before or after sales. Examples of customer-specific activities include: Order processing costs Billing, collection and payment processing costs Account receivable and carrying costs Customer service costs Selling and marketing costs Customer cost analysis is the process of identifying the activities and cost drivers related to servicing customers. Traditionally these costs are hidden in the customer support, marketing and sales function. Activity based costing can help managers to understand their costs to serve costomers. Different activities often have different cost drivers. Based on the activities and cost drivers involved in services performed to acquire and compelete a transaction, customer costs can be classified into the following  categories: Customer unit-level cost – resources consumed for each unit sold to a customer. Examples include sales commission based on the number of units sold or sales dollars, shipping cost when the freight charge is based on the number of units shipped and cost of restocking each returned unit. Customer batch-level cost – resources consumed for each sales transaction. Examples include order-processing costs, invoicing costs and recording of sales returns or allowances every time a return or allowance is granted. Customer-sustaining cost – resources consumed to service a customer regardless of the number of units or batches sold. Examples are salespersons’ travel costs to visit customers, monthly statement processing costs and collecti on costs for late payments. Distribution-channel cost – resources consumed in each distribution channel the firm uses to service customers. Examples are operating costs of regional warehouses that serve major customers and centralized distribution centers that serve small retail outlets. Sales-sustaining cost – resources consumed to sustain sales and service activities that cannot be traced to an individual unit, batch, customer or distribution channel. Examples are general corporate expenditures for sales activity and the salary, fringe benefits and onus of the general sales manager. Customers profitability analysis provides valuable information to the assessment of customer value. In addition, firm must weigh other relevant factors before determining the action appropriate for each customers. The folllowing are among these relevant factors: Growth potential of the customer, the customer’s industry and its cross selling potential Possible reactions of the customers to changes in sales terms or sevices Importance of having the firm as a customer for future sales references especially when the customer could play a vital role in bringing in additional business. Customer Lifetime Value Many companies now see the impotance of looking at the long term value of the customers, the expected contribution to profit during the full period the company retains the customers. This concept is called customer lifetime value ( CLV), and it is calculated as the net present value of estimated future profits from the customer for a specified time, which may be three or five years. Present value is used because the profits from the customer are expected to occur over a number of years. To provide a more comprehensive  and strategically relevant measure of the value of the customer, CLV takes into account the company’s expectations about the future potential growth in profits for a customer. CLV can be used to measure the value of a customer or group of customers and to determine how marketing and support services should be allocated to these customers to improve the firm’s overall profitability. Since there is a significant level of judgment involved in estimating th e variables in the calculation. It is also important to compare different calculations of CLV made with different assumptions about profit forecasts and discount rates. It have three types of potentially unprofitable customer who might be retained: New and growing customers, who promise profitable business in the future and may provide a stepping stone for penetratig lucrative new markets Customers providing qualitative rather than financial benefits including customers at the edge in the development of new markets who provide valuable insights into likely trend movements in consumer demand Customers providing increased capability because of their status as recognised leaders in their markets or field of expertise. Thus, where customer profitability analysis reveals that a particular customer is unprofitable, it does not necessarily follow that this customer should be eliminated. Nor does it follow that the customer must be persuaded to accept terms and cindition will rwduce the customer’s level of satisfaction. Negotiations with customers might well reveals that less frequent deliveris would actually benefit the customers without causing cos tky stockpiles. Clearly, there is scope for negotiating with customers to influence their behaviour without compromising the customer’s level of satisfaction. Some aspects of improved negotiation might include: Non-cash incentives from sunk-cost investments for example sponsoring a season of a major cultural events primarily yields advertising benefits however seats in the accompanying corporate boxes might also yield enticing customer incentives. Similarly, a company’s accumulated frequent-flyer points may perhaps be spent on customers new or existing Restructure of delivery runs to create a more timely but less frequent service for the customer Capacity maximization on delivery runs that are required for profitable customers by offering a more frequent service for the potentially unprofitable customers with unpredictable demands Purchase of equipment on behalf of customers which they can use rent-free, in lieu of discounts or agent’s commissions. The  cash saved on reduced discounts potentially should exceed the cost of the assets. Additionally, ownership is retained and a stronger bond is forged with the customer thereby generating greater negotiating power in future Free short-term financial advice which will create efficiencies for the customer leading to reduced internal workload and consumption of resources New products at no cost in return for reduced discounts to serve a dual purpose, improving customer profitability while providing a useful vehicle for the promotion of new products A trade-off between quantity discounts and settlement discounts that minimizes the costs of cash overdraft and maixmizes long-run production scheduling The overriding consideration with a customer profitabilty analysis is that management will at least be armed with information about unprofitable customers and can focus attention on developing those innovations or strategoes that might reduce the lack of profits of a particular customer wi thout reducing that customer’s satisfaction. Alternatively provided a shift of thinking is possible, management can restructure the manufacturing process that will ultimately lead to a shift in the rsults of a customer’s profitability. The role of mechanics of activity based costing in developing a customer profitabilty analysis should not be underestimated with activity based costing, a general ledger amounts are dissected, making the assignment of costs to customer easier. In particular, the associated on costs of employing sales staff and motor vehicles would be analysed in detail and be readily available. This would embrace vehicle operating costs as well as fringe benefits and payroll tax, holiday and long service leave entitlements, worker’s compensation insurance, mobile telephone and training costs. Several of these items might conveniently be omitted from non avtivity based costing customer profitability analysis because of the complex analysis required to divide the general ledger amounts between the activities of different salesperson. Why Calculate Customer Profitability? The reasons why we calculate customer profitability is to help the company to improve its cost performance and also for manager to make decision about which customer or market channel to focus on. Besides, to improve the profitability by eliminating non-profitable customers and maximizing sales or services to profitable customers. Also act as an understanding of the  true costs of each segments including taking into account non-production costs when determine profitability. Definition and concept Customer profitability analysis based on the recognition that each customer is different. Therefore each dollar of revenue or each dollar of cost generated by the customers does not contribute equally to a company’s profitability. The general approach to customer profitability is based on the segmenting that customer base to determine the revenues and costs contribute to each segment. This is often combined with an Activity Based Costing (ABC) approach. ABC is a costing methodology that identifies activities in an organization and assigns the cost of each activities with resources to all products and services according to the actual consumption by each. Traditional cost accounting often supports a 20-80 rule that 20% of the largest customers, who purchase the most products, contribute 80% of the profits. Using ABC, analysis have often found that 20% of the customers generated 300% of the profits. The remaining 80% of the customers are actually unprofitable and can result in loss of 200% of the profits (Good Practice Guideline 2002, pg 21). Once the profitability and non-profitability segments are identified, profitability segments are maximized while non-profitability segment are reduced or eliminate. Based on the diagram above, basically there are two basic approaches to customer segmentation, for example demographic which could be categories into geographic area, customer age, gender, and income level. Second approach is psychographic which include customer values, attitude and customer interest, Once customer segmentation have been identified, the annual revenue is being calculated per segment. How this is done will depend on the product or service offered by the company, Discount, service fee should be included to determine the true amount of the revenue generated, Next, annual cost is calculated per segment. This will involve directly attributable product or services cost including overhead cost and ABC approach is the most effective way to allocate the cost. Profitable customer is equal to annual revenue exceed annual cost. And non-profitable customer is equal to annual cost exceed annual revenue. However, this will involve more accurate analysis to determine this. As for pr ofitable customer, it  need more detail planning to develop long term customer relationship to increase the revenue. Therefore, customer retention and loyalty program are needed The ability to determine customer profitability on an individual basis can add value to the company customer relationship. The customer can be helped to reduce its costs and the company can become more profitable. (Good Practice Guideline 2002, pg 22). However, for least profitable or non-profitable customer, there are two options of action: Eliminate – ceasing to supply these customer. This can be done by no longer marketing or raising the price, or even change the product. Re-engineering – turning the least profitable or non-profitable customer into profitable customer by decreasing the costs and increasing revenue. For example, using differential prices. With a new understanding of which customers were profitable and which were not, Kanthal become dedicated to turning unprofitable customers into profitable ones. The company developed ways to retain the customers and decrease their administrative and selling costs (Kaplan and Cooper 1998:188). In short terms Kanthal tried the following: reduce the size of its product lines, accept orders only for stocked items use external distributors to reduce the cost of small accounts, change compensation to salesmen to emphasis profit rather than only sales volume, and engineer to reduce set-up times and improve operational efficiencies. (Good Proactice Guideline 2002, pg 21) Last step is to implement new strategies, example changes in pricing, cost reduction should be reviewed to determine the impact on customer profitability. Recently, many companies have learn to understand the causal relationsip between employess and customers and the impact on revenue growth and firm profitability (Epstein, 2000). Customer performance measure is measurement used by organization to measure the revenue growth and firm profitability through market share, customer acqui sition, retention, satisfaction and customer profitability. CUSTOMER MEASURE DEFINITION Market share Reflects the proportion of business in a given market (in terms of number of customers, dollars spent, or unit volume sold) that a business unit sells. Customer acquisition Measures in absolute or relative terms, the rate at which a business unit attracts or wins new customers or business. Customer retention Tracks in absolute or relative terms the rate at which a business unit retains or maintains ongoing relationship with its customers. Customer satisfaction Assesses the satisfaction level of customers along specific performance criteria within te value proposition. Customer profitability Measures the net profit of a customer, or a segment, after allowing for the unique expenses required to support that customer (Epstein, 2000) Market share can be defined as the percentage of all sales within a market that is held by one brand / product or company. Market share can be measured in several ways. However, the two most important measures are by sales revenue and sales volume (the number of units sold). These are to analyze the impact of their own actions on market shares, as well as their profit implications. Lacking such knowledge, one might be tempted to oversimplify the cause-and-effect relationships between market shares and marketing variables, or to equate market shares to profitability (a not unusual tendency even among seasoned businessmen). Many individuals in business indeed keep a close watch over day-by-day changes in market shares, so much so that market-share movement to them is almost synonymous to market information (Cooper, 2010). By comparing the profit obtained from various market share the organization may identify which market share gives more profit and should be focus on those customer desire and wich customer gives less profit and the organization may choose either to improve their product/ service or lowering te product/ service on that market share. Characteristics of new, loyal and lost customers are particularly important for companies to understand. Marketing analysts group customers into segments of recent new purchasers, high-volume purchasers and non-purchasers using customer transaction data, and analyze the resulting segments to identify their common characteristics. Attributes of new customers provide a good appearance of a company’s likely acquisition target market. Similarly, characteristics of lost customers may define less desirable market segments, or may reveal problems in customer service or product satisfaction. Improvements in retention programs are saving companies significant time and money – keeping existing customers buying is much less expensive than  acquiring new customers (Customer Acquisition, Retention and Attrition Analysis, 2014) Measurement that will show the situation of business are : The number of new customers per quarter of year Total sales to new customers per quarter of year Sales to new customer as a proportion of total sales When business is good marketers can afford to take an evolutionary approach to customer acquisition and retention by continually optimizing branding, creative, advertising mix, and offer strategy. But during challenging business situations, an evolutionary approach is bound to yield underwhelming results (Customer Acquisition & Retention, 2014). The difference in sales in a market share from year to year, will act as indicator to the organization regarding percentage of new customers obtained or lost customers. Customer retention is the ongoing customer relationship that yields revenues from the sale of additional products or services. The revenues become more profitable as the customer becomes easier to serve. Since the customer is buying again it is assumed that less sales effort is required, customer service costs decrease, and the costs of acquiring customers decline. Customer loyalty encompass customer retention but also includes the customers’ recommendation of the produ ct or service to other potential customer. As for example, word of mouth recommendation is important to Southwest Airlines, whose reservation system has never been accessible to travel agents. It has relied on advertising and customer loyalty to spread its message to potential customers. The airlines which began flying in 1971, has consistently been profitable. Convinced that customer loyalty is a important factor in increasing profitability than is market share, Southwest Airlines strives to build customer loyalty by providing at low fares dependable, frequent service over relatively short routes, delivered by friendly employees (Epstein, 2000). Measures of customer loyalty were selected because they reflected both length (retention) and depth (cross sell) of the bank-customer relationship. Length of relationship is reported by both division-reported customer retention rates (percentage of customers who remained customers during 1993) and mean customer-reported relationship tenure. Relationship depth is measured by division cross-sell rates, which record the percentage of customer  households with multiple accounts (account cross sell) or multiple services (service cros s sell) (Hallowell, 1996). Companies are very aware that acquiring a new customer is more expensive than retaining an existing one, so companies cannot afford to lose customers due to poor service at the contact center level. The contact center must be viewed as an essential extension of the company, and an important part of the brand experience. Therefore, ensuring that the experience is pleasant, efficient, and satisfies the customer’s need is crucial to success. The most common method for measuring customer satisfaction is through surveys, either during or after the call. While this method provides some intelligence around the customer experience, it doesn’t offer the most accurate view of customer satisfaction. This is due to the small sample size and the fact that the only questions asked are those deemed important by the enterprise. Surveys also lack detail, such as which of a customer’s experience with your company caused the review, which agent handled the interaction and what was the root cause of a dissatisfied call. Lacking this critical information, enacting meaningful change is extremely challenging. Without the use of speech analytics, contact center operators are left w ith an incomplete view of customer satisfaction and a disconnect between the scores they receive and the actions that caused the scores. Speech analytics uncovers the reality of what happened during a call, enabling companies to improve the business processes and agent behaviors most affecting the customer’s experience. Nexidia’s Managed Analytic Services team uses speech analytics technology to locate the agent behaviors and business process that have the greatest impact on the customer. As example, the team first begins by identifying the calls which contain sentiments of dissatisfaction. By building searches that contain words such as â€Å"unhappy,† â€Å"speak to a manager† or â€Å"frustrating,† the team creates a category of calls in which the customer seemed upset, or the call escalated. More refined searches such as â€Å"this is the xth time I’ve called,† or â€Å"my hold time was excessive† will yield further insight. The team drills into this category of calls to create sub-categories. These sub-categories show which types of calls most often contain frustration, such as billing calls or calls for technical assistance. The team also identifies which agents have the most dissatisfied calls and compares the percentage of these calls to total volume. The second step in evaluating  customer satisfaction begins by identifying behaviors and processes that typically cause customers to become upset. These include excessive transfers, requests for call backs, and long non-talk times. The team creates call categories which contain these issues, providing a foundation for performing root cause analysis. Studying the root cause arms companies with the information needed to understand why these â€Å"trigger† events occur, and what steps can be taken to prevent them. As behaviors and processes are modified, monitoring customer satisfaction becomes a continuous cycle, thus ensuring maximum return on investment. (Nexidia Managed Analytic Services, 2010) The relationship of customer loyalty and customer satisfaction can be seen in the following categorization of customers; it is important to understand fully the environment which the customer is working, as extrinsic factors may drive them from one category to another: Apostles. Customer who are loyal and satisfied and recommend the service to others. Mercenaries. Customers who may switch service suppliers to obtain lower price, but are highly satisfied. Hostages. Customer who are highly dissatisfied but have few or no alternative. Terrorists. Customers who have alternatives and use them, and also try to convert other customers by expressing their dissatisfaction (Epstein, 2000). Customer profitability of a various group of customer may be identify by measuring the profit gain by a group of customer from year to year. Profitability measures were determined based on their hypothesized relationship to customer satisfaction and loyalty. Both of the measures used, ROA and NIE/Rev (non-interest expense as a percentage of total revenue), reflect profit at the individual division. See Roth (1993) for an analysis of similar performance measures in service firms. Given the intent of this study, NIE/Rev is preferred to ROA as a more appropriate measure of profitability. Retail bank profit can be separated into, first, the results of operations (revenue-enhancing as well as cost-incurring) which influence expenses and revenues that are not sensitive to interest rates, and second, treasury activities, which influence interest-sensitive costs and revenues. This paper addresses primarily non-interest-sensitive components of profitability, hypothesized to relate to customer loyalty. ROA contains both interest-sensitive and non-interest-sensitive components, while NIE/Rev is generated only from non-interest-sensitive costs (the revenue portion of NIE/Rev may be somewhat  related to customer-relevant interest rates). Appendix 1 discusses ROA, NIE/Rev and the other measures used in more detail (Hallowell, 1996). By comparing the profit of different group of customer, the difference amount of profit will act as indicator which group of customer that gives high profit and low profit. Other than that, customer profitability may be determined by other tools of measuring customer performance such as market share, customer acquisition, retention,and customer satisfaction. Five reasons why customers can be unprofitable. They are: (Six step to Customer Profitability Analysis, 2007) 1. The sales force is under continual pressure to close deals and offers discounts to secure business within the sales period. 2. Pricing errors due to incorrect estimates of time. 3. A one-size-fits-all approach to serving customers leading to over servicing where the business levels does not justify it. 4. Loss leaders are offered to customers who always shop around for a deal, in the expectation that profit will be recovered over the lifetime of the customer. 5. The connection between customers and costs is not made and over time some become a greater drain on resources. Conclusion Customer profitability analysis provides a method to help firms see and understand the profitability of their customers. It takes effort and management sponsorship to make it feasible and worthwhile. It is a method and not an end in itself, but without it that investment in slick technology might not be such a good idea, if it only speeds up your ability to attract the wrong customers. Your allocation of resources to customers may also be based on erroneous information. If you have this understanding it uncovers new options for profitable growth and can help you work out which customers to attract, which to really hang on to at maybe greater cost. To help decide which to grow, CPA must be augmented with an understanding of potential lifetime value. It is recommended that Customer Profitability Analysis (CPA) be measured through Activity Based Costing. There are various group of customer, therefore it would be better to differentiate them through segmenting b demographic or goegraphic or so on, to make it easier to recognised which group of customer that gives high/low profit, and which of  the customers should be focus on, eliminate or re-engineering. Other than that, CPA may be measured by analyzing the customer performance measure of market share, Customer acquisition, retention, and customer satisfaction. Increase in Customer Profitability might be caused by increase in market share, customer retention which wil lead to increase in customer acquisition and probably increase in customer satisfaction. REFERENCES Cooper, L. G. (2010). Market Share Analysis , 1. Customer Acquisition & Retention. (2014). Retrieved October 23, 2014, from Lenati: http://www.lenati.com/our-expertise/customer-acquisition-retention Customer Acquisition, Retention and Attrition Analysis. (2014). Retrieved October 23, 2104, from Microstrategy: Best in Business Intelligence: http://www2.microstrategy.com/download/files/Solutions/byDepartment/CRM/Customer_Acquisition.pdf Dikoli, M. S. (1995). Customer Profitabilit Analysis: An ABC Approach. 5. Epstein, M. J. (2000). Management Accounting Guideline. Customer profitability analysis , 8. Faculty of Finance and Management. (2002). Customer Profitability Analysis , 36. Nexidia Managed Analytic Services. (2010). Customer Satisfaction Analysis , 2. Six step to Customer Profitability Analysis. (2007, May 7). Retrieved October 23, 2014, from Accounting Web: http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/six-steps-customer-profitability-analysis