Blacks Leisure Group Board Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Blacks Leisure Group Board - Essay Example Hence, for the development and sustenance of a competitive advantage the marketing planner of a company needs to recognize that the advantage an organisation or brand possesses that is meaningful will be copied or improved upon by competitors sooner rather than later (Wilson R. and Gilligan C., 2005, p 405). Established a century and a half earlier in 1863, by Thomas Black, the Blacks Leisure Group has come a long way from being a humble sails manufacturing company to a camping, outdoor and sporting goods retail empire. Today, for millions of those out-door loving enthusiasts, the company is more of an institution that a mere retail store. Presently, the Black Leisure Group holds a powerful presence within two of the exclusive markets in which the company operates: Broadwear and Outdoor. Currently the management team of the group is focusing on restoring and, developing and sustaining its competitive advantage. The management is also concentrating on building upon the disciplines of operational improvements that was achieved in the current financial year (Black Leisure Group plc, 2008). However, to in order to return to its past performance levels and to develop and sustain its competitive advantage an innovative business strategy with further radical changes will be required. To be able to lock horns with other competitors and to come on top in the present era of fasted paced innovation and ruthless competition, the sustainability and competitive advantage of companies are defined by innovative strategies.Henceforth, in order to conceive of a corporate strategy through the company will successfully be to develop and sustain its competitive advantage, first a better understanding of the link between strategy and competitive advantage is a must.   Strategy and Competitive Advantage According to the definition of competitive advantage, it as an advantage gained over competitors by offering the consumers a greater value for their investments either by means of low prices or by the provision of greater benefits that does justice to higher prices. For a company to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors Michael E. Porter has identified four "generic" business strategies (Porter E.M, 1980). These "generic' strategies relate to the extent to which the scopes of a business' activities are narrow against the extent to which a business seeks to differentiate its products. The four strategies are as follows: Differentiation Strategy: This strategy is based on studying the different criteria used by consumers while buying products and selecting one or more of these criteria and then positioning the business to meet the chosen criteria. This differentiation strategy is all about charging a premium price for a product that covers the added production costs, ensuring profit and as well as giving the consumers obvious reasons to choose the product over the other less or not differentiated products. The examples of differentiation strategy can be better understood with case studies of Mercedes cars and Bang & Olufsen Company (Porter E.M, 1980).     

Effect of Brexit on the Financial Markets

Effect of Brexit on the Financial Markets What are financial markets? Financial markets are an open and regulated system where companies can raise large amounts of capital through bonds and stock markets, or offset their risk by investing in commodities, foreign exchange futures contracts or other derivatives. Due to the size of financial markets, they are highly liquid, meaning businesses can easily and quickly generate cash by selling their assets. Since financial markets are public and work under a lot of regulations, there is a lot of information transparency and prices of everything traded reflects this. (Source: â€Å"Six Basic Functions of Financial Markets†, Iowa State University, March 5, 2012.)   What is the European Union and what is Brexit? The European Union, like the name suggests is a political and economic union of 28 countries within Europe. The UK became part of the EU in 1973 and had to pay a membership fee every year The creation of the European union was to firstly bring countries together after the 2nd world war had left many economically and politically disabled or struggling. This economic cooperation would become the world’s biggest single market and it still is today. (European Union European Commission, 2017) Even though the UK has benefited a lot from being in a single market, there were many who thought that Britain would be better off on its own; and for this reason the government decided to have a referendum after which on the 23 of June 2016, Britain exited the Single market, giving back it’s seat in the European Parliament and all the benefits that came with it. How can financial markets affect economic performance? Demirgà ¼Ãƒ §-Kunt and Levine in their 2001 book, ‘Financial Structure and Economic Growth’ said there is a strong connection between financial markets development and economic growth. The way in which this happens is that a well-functioning financial market will efficiently direct the flow of savings and investments in an economy as such to enable businesses to accumulate capital and goods and services to be produced. A well-established financial market alongside a wide range of financial products will benefit borrowers and lenders and therefore the economy as a whole. Another benefit of an efficient financial market is that by providing a range of financial options at varying risk levels and pricing structures, borrowers and lenders can be closely matched for their individual needs. This allows investors to determine and calculate their cost of financing by looking at their returns on their investments and then choosing the best financing and investment choice for their requirements. The European Union created a single banking market with a single currency and therefore created Europe-wide financial markets which made investing and borrowing euro-denominated stocks, bonds and derivatives easy for all EU countries that are part of the Euro by eliminating exchange rate risks. By doing so, products and services that were previously only available on a country by country basis were now available to a wider market, creating better competition which in turn makes markets more efficient and prices lower for individuals.   This is called the ‘Single-Passport’ system, whereby any business set up in one-member state may provide its services to the rest without further authorisation requirements (European Commission 2016) Not only does euro-based financial markets benefit the Eurozone, it also attracts international investors to invest here and benefit from the competitive market, (Mishkin, 2012) and by being part of the ‘single-passport, Non-European companies can set up their head office in London, and have access to all the benefits of the Single Market. UK financial market relationship with the EU Professor Nick Bloom of Stanford University said: â€Å"The single European market increased competition and forced British firms to increase the level of innovation.† London is one of the biggest financial hubs of the world and hosts the largest number of banks and commercial insurance companies. According to (Belke A. et all) around 6 trillion euros, which is equivalent to 37% of Europe’s financial assets are managed in London, which is twice the amount of the nearest rival Paris. London also dominates Europe’s 5.2 trillion-euro investment banking industry. What this means is that major investments happing in some of Europe’s biggest cities are financed by companies operating within London. This is why, (Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England), said: â€Å"Europe relies heavily on London’s debt and equity markets.† When it comes to foreign exchange markets, the UK is way ahead of its European counterparts with an impressive almost 40% share of the worlds foreign exchange and derivatives handling. According to the (City of London Corporation) each year, $869 trillion worth of Euro, Yen and Dollars are traded from London. This is higher than all the Euro-Zone countries combined. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/britain-europe-cost/ London currently accounts for 70% of the Euro Sovereign debt trades, meaning that the EU countries cannot shut outlondons capital markets as this would be suicide. (Rueters) According to Reuters (Kai Pfaffenbach) Frankfurt is desperately trying win over businesses to relocate to their city from London. To help in this, the European Central Bank started the â€Å"Capital Markets Union† project in 2015, where they want Euro-zone financial markets to provide improved fund raising for companies by replicating Britain’s financial services and become more efficient in the stocks, bonds and other securities markets. How Brexit is affecting Financial Markets: https://www.ft.com/content/0260242c-370b-11e6-9a05-82a9b15a8ee7The question of how Brexit will affect the UK economy is very uncertain. The sterling fell to a 31 year low, stock markets fell and foreign direct investment has frozen. All these things point towards the short-term impact of Brexit to be very serious. The real question is, what will the long term effects be, and how will markets react to cope with such uncertainty about the future. The institutional framework of the EU and the euro has created dependencies amongst countries. For this reason, Brexit will have affects in not just UK financial markets, but financial markets across the globe. According to (Gordon and Shapiro 1956) the dividend discount model, expectations about future effects on financial markets will have an effect on stocks and other financial variables now. From the graph above, we can see that when the news of Brexit was announced and the UK markets became uncertain about the UK’s future in the single market, the pound fell to its lowest price in 31 years. Because of Brexit and Policy uncertainty, markets adopt a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude towards investment decisions.   If London is no longer part of the single market, it loses its attractiveness as a foreign direct investment hub and a gateway to the European financial markets. According to the financial times, almost half of the FDI coming to the UK comes from the EU and after Brexit, this investment will significantly decrease due to increased trade costs and tariffs. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) tells us that FDI has been about 5% of UK GDP between 1999 and 2015. The analysis from the financial times estimates the decrease in FDI would be 22%. The impact of Brexit on the UK financial sector can be broken down in to 3 things: What agreement can the UK make with the EU in its post-Brexit negotiations. The extent to which financial sector businesses move their operations from the UK to a Eurozone country before any negotiation agreements are made.How well the UK financial sector can survive based on its global position and relationship. Until a deal is made with the EU, we cannot predict how the market will end up like, but we can hypothesise certain outcomes like the following: Currently, the UK is still part of the EU, and hence has passporting rights. Once these rights are gone, UK firms will have to have state level authorisations from EU countries to perform activities. This will depend upon whether the regulators in those countries will allow UK financial markets to sill operate within their borders. The best outcome would be if the UK retains their passporting rights through either a negotiation or remaining a part of the EEA. Johnathon ford writes in the financial times that another option that UK based companies may have is to open up subsidiaries in different EU countries, that way giving them access to customers within those markets. This is however costly and inefficient. Alternatively, UK firms could take advantage of Third Country Regime (TCR) access provisions. What this means is that companies that were incorporated outside the EU can still do business on a cross-border basis if they wish to do so without having an establishment within that EU country, however EU law will require that the regulations and legal structure they follow complies with EU. Reuters business news tells us that Standard Chartered (Stan.L) and JPMorgan (JPM.N) were the latest global banks that have outlined plans for European operations after Brexit. Goldman Sachs Lloyd Blankfein said that â€Å"London’s growth as a financial centre could stall as a result of upheaval caused by Brexit.† So, because of Brexit and the uncertainty of what the future holds for UK’s financial markets; UK based financial firms especially those in London are looking to move their operations into the EU market to benefit from the single market. Another financial market area that will be affected by Brexit is that of selling of derivatives for companies to buy protection or lower their risk portfolio against changes the US dollar and or spikes in the price of oil. As a result of tighter financial regulations on banks, some will opt out of providing this service and those who do will offer a smaller variety of products at a higher price. Ultimately, this is bad for markets as they are not getting the best deal they can. London also dominates the euro derivatives market. EU policymakers have not liked this for a while and want to shift this to a Eurozone country after Brexit. This will in turn increase the price of trading for corporations that deal in multiple currencies as they will have to go through several clearing houses. Bankers are unsure how much extra it will cost a European company to borrow without direct access to London, however, the association for financial markets said customers are being overly optimistic if they think that lending agents will bear the burden or grunt of this. They will push the increased cost of borrowing onto the consumer, which will ultimately make them less competitive in the market. Ernst and Young say in their research paper that they surveyed major corporates including Airbus and Volkswagen and found that these companies were really worried about rising costs of funding as a result of Brexit. London has dominated the financial centre for decades and has built its reputation on the service it provides. It would be very difficult to replicate this market. This has been due to its vast talent pool, widespread use of the English language and the UK legal system and the vast amount of money going through the UK through these financial markets. Another great strength of the UK is its over-the-counter derivatives market. Corporations often use swaps to protect themselves against adverse interest rates and currency moves. Over-the-counter derivatives have to go through clearing houses who are sort of the middle man who make sure neither party defaults on their payments. Even though the UK is not part of the Euro single currency, it still manages  ¾ of all euro-denominated swaps. As the UK decides to leave the EU, this creates a problem, because now most of these swaps won’t be clearing through the bloc. Germany and France have already said that they want the euro-denominated derivatives to be cleat=red through the EU; however LSE has argued that doing so would cost London thousands of jobs. According to a private report by EY, this estimate loss of jobs could be around 83,000 by 2024. The EU needs London’s money, says Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England. He calls Britain â€Å"Europe’s investment banker† and says half of all the debt and equity issued by the EU involves financial institutions in Britain. What impact would Brexit have on the way in which banks are regulated in the UK? There are three pillars in the UK banking regulations: The capital requirements directive IV and the capital requirements regulation.The banking act of 2009 Bank Resolution and Recovery Directive (BRRD) Since the BRRD and CRD IV were EU legislations, the UK has to decide after Brexit how much they want to keep. CRD IV implements the requirements of Basel III, which the UK would still be committed to after Brexit. Brexit will likely have an effect on the legislation application of the EEA branches and subsidiaries. What  Ã‚  impact would Brexit have on the UK insurance industry? The London market currently has access to over 500 million customers through the EU and a substantial amount of insurance and reinsurance is distributed into and out of the UK. For the UK to continue to have access to these customers, they have to negotiate bilateral treaties to ensure member states allow them passport into the EU. The prudential regulation authority (PRA) has been very involved in negotiating the solvency II directive which was based on the risk-based regime of the UK. What  Ã‚  impact would Brexit have on the UK funds industry? Currently most UK based fund managers already use Irish or Luxembourg UCITS and alternative investment funds (AIF) platforms for Pan-European distribution of funds therefore Brexit will likely not have much effect on this sector of the financial market. The problem the UK asset management industry will face is the risk of changes to rules enabling MIFID investment firms, AIFMS and UCITS management firms to choose UK based investment managers. Currently, the administration is deemed sufficient for EU firms to contract asset management jobs to the UK managers. Another drawback may be that EU member states may put obstacles in front in the form of tax regimes that make it less attractive for EU firms to hire UK investment managers. Corporate tax: The EU previously set the legal requirements for corporate tax in the UK. Since we will no longer be a part of the EU, these regulations will be revised by HMRC and new draft regulations will be put in place. Currently businesses that have offices within and outside the UK enjoy a 0% rate of withholding tax. This may no longer be the case and companies will look for ways to save themselves from varying taxations in different countries, or changing their place of business to protect themselves from higher or double taxation. VAT VAT was a European Union Concept and now that the UK government is responsible for this, they may decide to change the rates at which this is charged or what products VAT will be charged on. Accounting law At the moment, there is a significant EU accounting and company law legislations that may come under review after Brexit. These include, directive 2013/34/EU about annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and reports. Directive 2009/101/EC about the disclosure of company documents and company obligations. Directive 2012/30/EU on the formation of public limited companies. Directive 89/666/EEC on disclosure requirements for foreign branches of companies. Global Impact of Brexit There is no roadmap to follow or analogy to invoke as a guide or pattern for how the Brexit vote will reverberate in the months and years to come. However, a few immediate consequences seem highly likely: †¢Ã‚  The flight to safety away from the epicenter of this British-EU divorce will push capital away from the region and toward key safe-haven markets including the U.S.—especially Treasuries—and to Japan. This will further lower market interest rates and raise relative currency values. †¢Ã‚  A higher U.S. dollar and Japanese yen are negative to both economies’ export sectors. In the case of Japan, this is particularly unhelpful to its efforts to reinflate and reinvigorate the economy after decades of deflation. †¢Ã‚  The higher U.S. dollar also triggers additional pressure on China to float the yuan lower, as it is caught in the divergence between its two largest export markets—the EU and the U.S.. †¢Ã‚  For the U.S., the negative impact on exports is relatively small compared with trends in domestic demand, but the deflationary pressure on tradable goods will widen the divergence between reasonably strong inflation in the services sector vs. reasonably strong deflation in the goods sector. †¢Ã‚  The European Central Bank will be compelled to raise its level of intervention yet again, as risk premiums across the region rise. Among the larger Eurozone members, Italy is in a particularly vulnerable position—now made more vulnerable. Each blow to members of the Eurozone periphery also further make Germany’s outperformance in the Eurozone even more unsustainable. The nature of the UK’s eventual exit agreement with the EU is crucial, and hangs over a multitude of markets. CEP BREXIT ANALYSIS Life after Brexit: What are the UK’s options outside the European Union? It is highly uncertain what the UK’s future would look like outside the European Union (EU), which makes ‘Brexit’ a leap into the unknown. This report reviews the advantages and drawbacks of the most likely options. After Brexit, the EU would continue to be the world’s largest market and the UK’s biggest trading partner. A key question is what would happen to the three million EU citizens living in the UK and the two million UK citizens living in the EU? There are economic benefits from European integration, but obtaining these benefits comes at the political cost of giving up some sovereignty. Inside or outside the EU, this trade-off is inescapable. One option is ‘doing a Norway’ and joining the European Economic Area. This would minimise the trade costs of Brexit, but it would mean paying about 83% as much into the EU budget as the UK currently does. It would also require keeping current EU regulations (without having a seat at the tab le when the rules are decided). Another option is ‘doing a Switzerland’ and negotiating bilateral deals with the EU. Switzerland still faces regulation without representation and pays about 40% as much as the UK to be part of the single market in goods. But the Swiss have no agreement with the EU on free trade in services, an area where the UK is a major exporter. A further option is going it alone as a member of the World Trade Organization. This would give the UK more sovereignty at the price of less trade and a bigger fall in income, even if the UK were to abolish tariffs completely. Brexit would allow the UK to negotiate its own trade deals with non-EU countries. But as a small country, the UK would have less bargaining power than the EU. Canada’s trade deals with the United States show that losing this bargaining power could be costly for the UK. To make an informed decision on the merits of leaving the EU, voters need to know more about what the UK governme nt would do following Brexit. This is the first in a series of briefings analysing the economic costs and benefits of Brexit for the UK. Economists for Brexit: A Critique Professor Patrick Minford, one of the ‘Economists for Brexit’, argues that leaving the European Union (EU) will raise the UK’s welfare by 4% as a result of increased trade. His policy recommendation is that following a vote for Brexit, the UK should strike no new trade deals but instead unilaterally abolish all its import tariffs. Under this policy (‘Britain Alone’), he describes his model as predicting the ‘elimination’ of UK manufacturing and a big increase in wage inequality. These outcomes may be hard to sell to UK citizens as a desirable political option. Our analysis of the ‘Britain Alone’ policy predicts a 2.3% loss of welfare compared with staying in the EU. This is only 0.3 percentage points better than Brexit without unilaterally abolishing tariffs which would result in a 2.6% welfare loss. Minford’s results stem from assuming that small changes in trade costs have tremendously large effects on trade volumes: according to his model, the falls in tariffs become enormously magnified because each country purchases only from the lowest cost supplier. In reality, everyone does not simply buy from the cheapest supplier. Products are different when made by different countries and trade is affected by the distance between countries, their size, history and wealth (the ‘gravity relationship’). Trade costs are not just government-created trade barriers. Product differentiation and gravity is incorporated into modern trade models – these predict that after Brexit the UK will continue to trade more with the EU than other countries as it remains our geographically closest neighbour. Consequently, we will be worse off because we will face higher trade costs with the EU. Minford’s assumption that goods prices would fall by 10% comes from attributing all producer price differences between the EU and low-cost countries to EU trade barriers, ignoring differences in quality. Sin gle Market rules (for example, over product safety) facilitate trade between EU members as it creates a level playing field. Minford’s assumption that the Single Market merely diverts trade from non-EU countries is contradicted by the empirical evidence. Minford also overlooks the loss in services trade that would result from leaving the Single Market, such as ‘passporting’ privileges in financial services. Minford’s approach of ignoring empirical analysis of trade data seems predicated on the view that because statistical analysis is imperfect, it should all be completely ignored. But such statistical biases may reinforce rather than weaken the case for remaining in the EU. Theories need grounding in facts, not ideology. Bibliography https://fullfact.org/europe/our-eu-membership-fee-55-million/https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/britain-europe-cost/https://www.ft.com/content/0260242c-370b-11e6-9a05-82a9b15a8ee7https://www.ft.com/content/61221dd4-d8c4-11e6-944b-e7eb37a6aa8e?mhq5j=e5http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/publications/115128/mifid-ii-mifir-serieshttp://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-banks/banks-planning-to-move-9000-jobs-from-britain-because-of-brexit-idUKKBN184132http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/ey-uk-eu-planning-for-uncertainty/$File/ey-uk-eu-planning-for-uncertainty.pdfhttps://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/britain-europe-cost/https://www.accountingweb.com/community/blogs/geoff-collings/the-effect-of-brexit-on-uk-accountinghttps://www.accountancyage.com/2016/07/21/what-brexit-means-for-accounting-employment-and-taxation-law/ http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2016/587384/IPOL_BRI(2016)587384_EN.pdfhttps://www.ceps.eu/system/files/WD% 20429%20AB%20et%20al%20Brexit%20Applied%20Economics.pdfhttp://www.frbsf.org/education/publications/doctor-econ/2005/january/financial-markets-economic-performance/https://www.ft.com/content/74708d46-c6ca-11e6-8f29-9445cac8966f Mishkin, F. (2012).  Introduction to Financial Markets. [online] Www2.econ.iastate.edu. Available at: http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/finintro.htm#FMI [Accessed 10 Sep. 2017]. Effect of Brexit on the Financial Markets Effect of Brexit on the Financial Markets What are financial markets? Financial markets are an open and regulated system where companies can raise large amounts of capital through bonds and stock markets, or offset their risk by investing in commodities, foreign exchange futures contracts or other derivatives. Due to the size of financial markets, they are highly liquid, meaning businesses can easily and quickly generate cash by selling their assets. Since financial markets are public and work under a lot of regulations, there is a lot of information transparency and prices of everything traded reflects this. (Source: â€Å"Six Basic Functions of Financial Markets†, Iowa State University, March 5, 2012.)   What is the European Union and what is Brexit? The European Union, like the name suggests is a political and economic union of 28 countries within Europe. The UK became part of the EU in 1973 and had to pay a membership fee every year The creation of the European union was to firstly bring countries together after the 2nd world war had left many economically and politically disabled or struggling. This economic cooperation would become the world’s biggest single market and it still is today. (European Union European Commission, 2017) Even though the UK has benefited a lot from being in a single market, there were many who thought that Britain would be better off on its own; and for this reason the government decided to have a referendum after which on the 23 of June 2016, Britain exited the Single market, giving back it’s seat in the European Parliament and all the benefits that came with it. How can financial markets affect economic performance? Demirgà ¼Ãƒ §-Kunt and Levine in their 2001 book, ‘Financial Structure and Economic Growth’ said there is a strong connection between financial markets development and economic growth. The way in which this happens is that a well-functioning financial market will efficiently direct the flow of savings and investments in an economy as such to enable businesses to accumulate capital and goods and services to be produced. A well-established financial market alongside a wide range of financial products will benefit borrowers and lenders and therefore the economy as a whole. Another benefit of an efficient financial market is that by providing a range of financial options at varying risk levels and pricing structures, borrowers and lenders can be closely matched for their individual needs. This allows investors to determine and calculate their cost of financing by looking at their returns on their investments and then choosing the best financing and investment choice for their requirements. The European Union created a single banking market with a single currency and therefore created Europe-wide financial markets which made investing and borrowing euro-denominated stocks, bonds and derivatives easy for all EU countries that are part of the Euro by eliminating exchange rate risks. By doing so, products and services that were previously only available on a country by country basis were now available to a wider market, creating better competition which in turn makes markets more efficient and prices lower for individuals.   This is called the ‘Single-Passport’ system, whereby any business set up in one-member state may provide its services to the rest without further authorisation requirements (European Commission 2016) Not only does euro-based financial markets benefit the Eurozone, it also attracts international investors to invest here and benefit from the competitive market, (Mishkin, 2012) and by being part of the ‘single-passport, Non-European companies can set up their head office in London, and have access to all the benefits of the Single Market. UK financial market relationship with the EU Professor Nick Bloom of Stanford University said: â€Å"The single European market increased competition and forced British firms to increase the level of innovation.† London is one of the biggest financial hubs of the world and hosts the largest number of banks and commercial insurance companies. According to (Belke A. et all) around 6 trillion euros, which is equivalent to 37% of Europe’s financial assets are managed in London, which is twice the amount of the nearest rival Paris. London also dominates Europe’s 5.2 trillion-euro investment banking industry. What this means is that major investments happing in some of Europe’s biggest cities are financed by companies operating within London. This is why, (Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England), said: â€Å"Europe relies heavily on London’s debt and equity markets.† When it comes to foreign exchange markets, the UK is way ahead of its European counterparts with an impressive almost 40% share of the worlds foreign exchange and derivatives handling. According to the (City of London Corporation) each year, $869 trillion worth of Euro, Yen and Dollars are traded from London. This is higher than all the Euro-Zone countries combined. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/britain-europe-cost/ London currently accounts for 70% of the Euro Sovereign debt trades, meaning that the EU countries cannot shut outlondons capital markets as this would be suicide. (Rueters) According to Reuters (Kai Pfaffenbach) Frankfurt is desperately trying win over businesses to relocate to their city from London. To help in this, the European Central Bank started the â€Å"Capital Markets Union† project in 2015, where they want Euro-zone financial markets to provide improved fund raising for companies by replicating Britain’s financial services and become more efficient in the stocks, bonds and other securities markets. How Brexit is affecting Financial Markets: https://www.ft.com/content/0260242c-370b-11e6-9a05-82a9b15a8ee7The question of how Brexit will affect the UK economy is very uncertain. The sterling fell to a 31 year low, stock markets fell and foreign direct investment has frozen. All these things point towards the short-term impact of Brexit to be very serious. The real question is, what will the long term effects be, and how will markets react to cope with such uncertainty about the future. The institutional framework of the EU and the euro has created dependencies amongst countries. For this reason, Brexit will have affects in not just UK financial markets, but financial markets across the globe. According to (Gordon and Shapiro 1956) the dividend discount model, expectations about future effects on financial markets will have an effect on stocks and other financial variables now. From the graph above, we can see that when the news of Brexit was announced and the UK markets became uncertain about the UK’s future in the single market, the pound fell to its lowest price in 31 years. Because of Brexit and Policy uncertainty, markets adopt a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude towards investment decisions.   If London is no longer part of the single market, it loses its attractiveness as a foreign direct investment hub and a gateway to the European financial markets. According to the financial times, almost half of the FDI coming to the UK comes from the EU and after Brexit, this investment will significantly decrease due to increased trade costs and tariffs. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) tells us that FDI has been about 5% of UK GDP between 1999 and 2015. The analysis from the financial times estimates the decrease in FDI would be 22%. The impact of Brexit on the UK financial sector can be broken down in to 3 things: What agreement can the UK make with the EU in its post-Brexit negotiations. The extent to which financial sector businesses move their operations from the UK to a Eurozone country before any negotiation agreements are made.How well the UK financial sector can survive based on its global position and relationship. Until a deal is made with the EU, we cannot predict how the market will end up like, but we can hypothesise certain outcomes like the following: Currently, the UK is still part of the EU, and hence has passporting rights. Once these rights are gone, UK firms will have to have state level authorisations from EU countries to perform activities. This will depend upon whether the regulators in those countries will allow UK financial markets to sill operate within their borders. The best outcome would be if the UK retains their passporting rights through either a negotiation or remaining a part of the EEA. Johnathon ford writes in the financial times that another option that UK based companies may have is to open up subsidiaries in different EU countries, that way giving them access to customers within those markets. This is however costly and inefficient. Alternatively, UK firms could take advantage of Third Country Regime (TCR) access provisions. What this means is that companies that were incorporated outside the EU can still do business on a cross-border basis if they wish to do so without having an establishment within that EU country, however EU law will require that the regulations and legal structure they follow complies with EU. Reuters business news tells us that Standard Chartered (Stan.L) and JPMorgan (JPM.N) were the latest global banks that have outlined plans for European operations after Brexit. Goldman Sachs Lloyd Blankfein said that â€Å"London’s growth as a financial centre could stall as a result of upheaval caused by Brexit.† So, because of Brexit and the uncertainty of what the future holds for UK’s financial markets; UK based financial firms especially those in London are looking to move their operations into the EU market to benefit from the single market. Another financial market area that will be affected by Brexit is that of selling of derivatives for companies to buy protection or lower their risk portfolio against changes the US dollar and or spikes in the price of oil. As a result of tighter financial regulations on banks, some will opt out of providing this service and those who do will offer a smaller variety of products at a higher price. Ultimately, this is bad for markets as they are not getting the best deal they can. London also dominates the euro derivatives market. EU policymakers have not liked this for a while and want to shift this to a Eurozone country after Brexit. This will in turn increase the price of trading for corporations that deal in multiple currencies as they will have to go through several clearing houses. Bankers are unsure how much extra it will cost a European company to borrow without direct access to London, however, the association for financial markets said customers are being overly optimistic if they think that lending agents will bear the burden or grunt of this. They will push the increased cost of borrowing onto the consumer, which will ultimately make them less competitive in the market. Ernst and Young say in their research paper that they surveyed major corporates including Airbus and Volkswagen and found that these companies were really worried about rising costs of funding as a result of Brexit. London has dominated the financial centre for decades and has built its reputation on the service it provides. It would be very difficult to replicate this market. This has been due to its vast talent pool, widespread use of the English language and the UK legal system and the vast amount of money going through the UK through these financial markets. Another great strength of the UK is its over-the-counter derivatives market. Corporations often use swaps to protect themselves against adverse interest rates and currency moves. Over-the-counter derivatives have to go through clearing houses who are sort of the middle man who make sure neither party defaults on their payments. Even though the UK is not part of the Euro single currency, it still manages  ¾ of all euro-denominated swaps. As the UK decides to leave the EU, this creates a problem, because now most of these swaps won’t be clearing through the bloc. Germany and France have already said that they want the euro-denominated derivatives to be cleat=red through the EU; however LSE has argued that doing so would cost London thousands of jobs. According to a private report by EY, this estimate loss of jobs could be around 83,000 by 2024. The EU needs London’s money, says Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England. He calls Britain â€Å"Europe’s investment banker† and says half of all the debt and equity issued by the EU involves financial institutions in Britain. What impact would Brexit have on the way in which banks are regulated in the UK? There are three pillars in the UK banking regulations: The capital requirements directive IV and the capital requirements regulation.The banking act of 2009 Bank Resolution and Recovery Directive (BRRD) Since the BRRD and CRD IV were EU legislations, the UK has to decide after Brexit how much they want to keep. CRD IV implements the requirements of Basel III, which the UK would still be committed to after Brexit. Brexit will likely have an effect on the legislation application of the EEA branches and subsidiaries. What  Ã‚  impact would Brexit have on the UK insurance industry? The London market currently has access to over 500 million customers through the EU and a substantial amount of insurance and reinsurance is distributed into and out of the UK. For the UK to continue to have access to these customers, they have to negotiate bilateral treaties to ensure member states allow them passport into the EU. The prudential regulation authority (PRA) has been very involved in negotiating the solvency II directive which was based on the risk-based regime of the UK. What  Ã‚  impact would Brexit have on the UK funds industry? Currently most UK based fund managers already use Irish or Luxembourg UCITS and alternative investment funds (AIF) platforms for Pan-European distribution of funds therefore Brexit will likely not have much effect on this sector of the financial market. The problem the UK asset management industry will face is the risk of changes to rules enabling MIFID investment firms, AIFMS and UCITS management firms to choose UK based investment managers. Currently, the administration is deemed sufficient for EU firms to contract asset management jobs to the UK managers. Another drawback may be that EU member states may put obstacles in front in the form of tax regimes that make it less attractive for EU firms to hire UK investment managers. Corporate tax: The EU previously set the legal requirements for corporate tax in the UK. Since we will no longer be a part of the EU, these regulations will be revised by HMRC and new draft regulations will be put in place. Currently businesses that have offices within and outside the UK enjoy a 0% rate of withholding tax. This may no longer be the case and companies will look for ways to save themselves from varying taxations in different countries, or changing their place of business to protect themselves from higher or double taxation. VAT VAT was a European Union Concept and now that the UK government is responsible for this, they may decide to change the rates at which this is charged or what products VAT will be charged on. Accounting law At the moment, there is a significant EU accounting and company law legislations that may come under review after Brexit. These include, directive 2013/34/EU about annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and reports. Directive 2009/101/EC about the disclosure of company documents and company obligations. Directive 2012/30/EU on the formation of public limited companies. Directive 89/666/EEC on disclosure requirements for foreign branches of companies. Global Impact of Brexit There is no roadmap to follow or analogy to invoke as a guide or pattern for how the Brexit vote will reverberate in the months and years to come. However, a few immediate consequences seem highly likely: †¢Ã‚  The flight to safety away from the epicenter of this British-EU divorce will push capital away from the region and toward key safe-haven markets including the U.S.—especially Treasuries—and to Japan. This will further lower market interest rates and raise relative currency values. †¢Ã‚  A higher U.S. dollar and Japanese yen are negative to both economies’ export sectors. In the case of Japan, this is particularly unhelpful to its efforts to reinflate and reinvigorate the economy after decades of deflation. †¢Ã‚  The higher U.S. dollar also triggers additional pressure on China to float the yuan lower, as it is caught in the divergence between its two largest export markets—the EU and the U.S.. †¢Ã‚  For the U.S., the negative impact on exports is relatively small compared with trends in domestic demand, but the deflationary pressure on tradable goods will widen the divergence between reasonably strong inflation in the services sector vs. reasonably strong deflation in the goods sector. †¢Ã‚  The European Central Bank will be compelled to raise its level of intervention yet again, as risk premiums across the region rise. Among the larger Eurozone members, Italy is in a particularly vulnerable position—now made more vulnerable. Each blow to members of the Eurozone periphery also further make Germany’s outperformance in the Eurozone even more unsustainable. The nature of the UK’s eventual exit agreement with the EU is crucial, and hangs over a multitude of markets. CEP BREXIT ANALYSIS Life after Brexit: What are the UK’s options outside the European Union? It is highly uncertain what the UK’s future would look like outside the European Union (EU), which makes ‘Brexit’ a leap into the unknown. This report reviews the advantages and drawbacks of the most likely options. After Brexit, the EU would continue to be the world’s largest market and the UK’s biggest trading partner. A key question is what would happen to the three million EU citizens living in the UK and the two million UK citizens living in the EU? There are economic benefits from European integration, but obtaining these benefits comes at the political cost of giving up some sovereignty. Inside or outside the EU, this trade-off is inescapable. One option is ‘doing a Norway’ and joining the European Economic Area. This would minimise the trade costs of Brexit, but it would mean paying about 83% as much into the EU budget as the UK currently does. It would also require keeping current EU regulations (without having a seat at the tab le when the rules are decided). Another option is ‘doing a Switzerland’ and negotiating bilateral deals with the EU. Switzerland still faces regulation without representation and pays about 40% as much as the UK to be part of the single market in goods. But the Swiss have no agreement with the EU on free trade in services, an area where the UK is a major exporter. A further option is going it alone as a member of the World Trade Organization. This would give the UK more sovereignty at the price of less trade and a bigger fall in income, even if the UK were to abolish tariffs completely. Brexit would allow the UK to negotiate its own trade deals with non-EU countries. But as a small country, the UK would have less bargaining power than the EU. Canada’s trade deals with the United States show that losing this bargaining power could be costly for the UK. To make an informed decision on the merits of leaving the EU, voters need to know more about what the UK governme nt would do following Brexit. This is the first in a series of briefings analysing the economic costs and benefits of Brexit for the UK. Economists for Brexit: A Critique Professor Patrick Minford, one of the ‘Economists for Brexit’, argues that leaving the European Union (EU) will raise the UK’s welfare by 4% as a result of increased trade. His policy recommendation is that following a vote for Brexit, the UK should strike no new trade deals but instead unilaterally abolish all its import tariffs. Under this policy (‘Britain Alone’), he describes his model as predicting the ‘elimination’ of UK manufacturing and a big increase in wage inequality. These outcomes may be hard to sell to UK citizens as a desirable political option. Our analysis of the ‘Britain Alone’ policy predicts a 2.3% loss of welfare compared with staying in the EU. This is only 0.3 percentage points better than Brexit without unilaterally abolishing tariffs which would result in a 2.6% welfare loss. Minford’s results stem from assuming that small changes in trade costs have tremendously large effects on trade volumes: according to his model, the falls in tariffs become enormously magnified because each country purchases only from the lowest cost supplier. In reality, everyone does not simply buy from the cheapest supplier. Products are different when made by different countries and trade is affected by the distance between countries, their size, history and wealth (the ‘gravity relationship’). Trade costs are not just government-created trade barriers. Product differentiation and gravity is incorporated into modern trade models – these predict that after Brexit the UK will continue to trade more with the EU than other countries as it remains our geographically closest neighbour. Consequently, we will be worse off because we will face higher trade costs with the EU. Minford’s assumption that goods prices would fall by 10% comes from attributing all producer price differences between the EU and low-cost countries to EU trade barriers, ignoring differences in quality. Sin gle Market rules (for example, over product safety) facilitate trade between EU members as it creates a level playing field. Minford’s assumption that the Single Market merely diverts trade from non-EU countries is contradicted by the empirical evidence. Minford also overlooks the loss in services trade that would result from leaving the Single Market, such as ‘passporting’ privileges in financial services. Minford’s approach of ignoring empirical analysis of trade data seems predicated on the view that because statistical analysis is imperfect, it should all be completely ignored. But such statistical biases may reinforce rather than weaken the case for remaining in the EU. Theories need grounding in facts, not ideology. Bibliography https://fullfact.org/europe/our-eu-membership-fee-55-million/https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/britain-europe-cost/https://www.ft.com/content/0260242c-370b-11e6-9a05-82a9b15a8ee7https://www.ft.com/content/61221dd4-d8c4-11e6-944b-e7eb37a6aa8e?mhq5j=e5http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/publications/115128/mifid-ii-mifir-serieshttp://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-banks/banks-planning-to-move-9000-jobs-from-britain-because-of-brexit-idUKKBN184132http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/ey-uk-eu-planning-for-uncertainty/$File/ey-uk-eu-planning-for-uncertainty.pdfhttps://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/britain-europe-cost/https://www.accountingweb.com/community/blogs/geoff-collings/the-effect-of-brexit-on-uk-accountinghttps://www.accountancyage.com/2016/07/21/what-brexit-means-for-accounting-employment-and-taxation-law/ http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2016/587384/IPOL_BRI(2016)587384_EN.pdfhttps://www.ceps.eu/system/files/WD% 20429%20AB%20et%20al%20Brexit%20Applied%20Economics.pdfhttp://www.frbsf.org/education/publications/doctor-econ/2005/january/financial-markets-economic-performance/https://www.ft.com/content/74708d46-c6ca-11e6-8f29-9445cac8966f Mishkin, F. (2012).  Introduction to Financial Markets. [online] Www2.econ.iastate.edu. Available at: http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/finintro.htm#FMI [Accessed 10 Sep. 2017].

The Importance of a Sound Mind and Body in Homers Odyssey Essay

The Importance of a Sound Mind and Body in Homer's Odyssey      Ã‚  Ã‚   If one were to only have a very fit and strong body, lacking mental ability, to the Greeks it would not suffice. If a man were merely smart and intelligent, without much physical capability, the Greeks would feel that he is not complete. They believed an individual must have have both, a well developed mind and a fit body, not only one or the other, to be ideal. This is the Greek concept of a sound mind and body. In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus and Telemachos, had to have and/or achieve a sound mind and body, to be the successful and outstanding characters of the epic. The ones who lacked these quality suffered and paid for it in the end.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Books one and two, Telemachos acts immaturely and lacks mental prowess. For this reason he makes his life difficult. Yet, Later on he matures and gains a sound mind. Telemachos certainly has a sound body. Menelaos says of how "...it amazes me quite, how this young man(Telemachos) looks exactly like Odysseus, strong and mighty"{page 47}. Yet, he is criticized by others, for the reason that he does not have a sound mind. In an attempt to stand his ground, in front of the council he breaks down into tears. Antinoos says "Telemachos you are a boaster, and you don't know how to keep your temper!"{page 24}. Telemachos made an attempt to express his valid point of view, and does so, but fails to convince the council. He breaks down in tears, showing how immature he really is. He does not have a sound mind. The council basked in this weakness and was even more critical of him at that point. Later on, he is told of how "(Tele... ...the other-hand, the ones that lacked either a sound mind or body, failed. Odysseus and Telemachos were able to find each other and win back their home, while the suitors and even Achilles were robbed of their lives. It is a fact that a sound mind and body were an essential ideal in the ancient Greek society and The Odyssey.       Works Cited and Consulted Crane, Gregory , Calypso: Backgrounds and Conventions of the Odyssey,   Frankfurt, Athenaeum 1988 Heubeck, Alfred, J.B. Hainsworth, et al. A commentary on Homer's Odyssey. 3 Vols. Oxford PA4167 .H4813 1988 Homer (Translated by Robert Fagles. Preface by Bernard Knox). The Odyssey. New York: Viking Penguin, div. of Penguin Books, Ltd. 1996. Rengakos, Antonios. Homertext und die Hellenistichen Dichter. Hermes. Einzelschriften, Heft 64. Stuttgart, F. Steiner, 1993.    The Importance of a Sound Mind and Body in Homer's Odyssey Essay The Importance of a Sound Mind and Body in Homer's Odyssey      Ã‚  Ã‚   If one were to only have a very fit and strong body, lacking mental ability, to the Greeks it would not suffice. If a man were merely smart and intelligent, without much physical capability, the Greeks would feel that he is not complete. They believed an individual must have have both, a well developed mind and a fit body, not only one or the other, to be ideal. This is the Greek concept of a sound mind and body. In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus and Telemachos, had to have and/or achieve a sound mind and body, to be the successful and outstanding characters of the epic. The ones who lacked these quality suffered and paid for it in the end.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Books one and two, Telemachos acts immaturely and lacks mental prowess. For this reason he makes his life difficult. Yet, Later on he matures and gains a sound mind. Telemachos certainly has a sound body. Menelaos says of how "...it amazes me quite, how this young man(Telemachos) looks exactly like Odysseus, strong and mighty"{page 47}. Yet, he is criticized by others, for the reason that he does not have a sound mind. In an attempt to stand his ground, in front of the council he breaks down into tears. Antinoos says "Telemachos you are a boaster, and you don't know how to keep your temper!"{page 24}. Telemachos made an attempt to express his valid point of view, and does so, but fails to convince the council. He breaks down in tears, showing how immature he really is. He does not have a sound mind. The council basked in this weakness and was even more critical of him at that point. Later on, he is told of how "(Tele... ...the other-hand, the ones that lacked either a sound mind or body, failed. Odysseus and Telemachos were able to find each other and win back their home, while the suitors and even Achilles were robbed of their lives. It is a fact that a sound mind and body were an essential ideal in the ancient Greek society and The Odyssey.       Works Cited and Consulted Crane, Gregory , Calypso: Backgrounds and Conventions of the Odyssey,   Frankfurt, Athenaeum 1988 Heubeck, Alfred, J.B. Hainsworth, et al. A commentary on Homer's Odyssey. 3 Vols. Oxford PA4167 .H4813 1988 Homer (Translated by Robert Fagles. Preface by Bernard Knox). The Odyssey. New York: Viking Penguin, div. of Penguin Books, Ltd. 1996. Rengakos, Antonios. Homertext und die Hellenistichen Dichter. Hermes. Einzelschriften, Heft 64. Stuttgart, F. Steiner, 1993.   

Alibaba: Competing in China and Beyond Essay

1. Introduction In this paper, we will talk about the most successful and famous e-commerce company in China: Alibaba Group about its competition strategies and its future moving. Alibaba Group was founded by Ma Yun (Jack) and the other 17 people in 1999 in Hangzhou. Jack wants to make the Internet become a universal, safe and reliable tool that would benefit the public. Alibaba Group now is holding by private, it has more than 70 offices in Greater China, Singapore, India, the United Kingdom and the United States, with more than 20,400 employees. 2. History and Development of Alibaba In 1999, Alibaba was formally established in Hangzhou and it financed from Softbank, Goldman Sachs, Fidelity Investments and other U.S. investment agencies for about 25 million dollars. Three years later, Alibaba’s B2B become profitable. In 2003, China’s first personal e-commerce site Taobao was established by Alibaba, in the same time, it also published the online payment system-Alipay to support their B2B and C2C business. In 2005, Alibaba established a strategic partnership with Yahoo USA; meanwhile, it was in charge of Yahoo China. In 2007, Alibaba founded the business management software company: Ali Software, and Alibaba.com Limited IPO in  Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In 2009, Alibaba Cloud Computing established, later in 2010, Taobao Mall started an independent domain name Tmall.com and it became Alibaba’s B2C service website which is focus on quality goods sales. In 2012, Alibaba Group has completed the initial share buyback and restructure the relationsh ip with Yahoo, while, Alibaba.com Limited officially delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Chart 2.1 Overview of Alibaba Group 3. Alibaba’s competition advantages 3.1 Biggest market share of E-commerce in China We can see from the charts, till the end of 2013, Alibaba has owned the biggest market share in B2B, B2C, C2C and online-payment service. It has already became the top one e-commerce company in China. Chart 3.1.1 China B2B Market in 2013 Chart 3.1.2 China B2C Market in 2013 Source: http://www.chinainternetwatch.com/ Chart 3.1.3 China C2C Market Share Chart 3.1.4 China Online Payment Market Share Source: www.NBweekly.com & http://www.chinainternetwatch.com/ 3.2 The largest B2B, B2C and C2C website Alibaba is the world’s largest provider of online trading, and the world’s largest business forum. To December 31, 2012, the platform had around 500 million registered users and more than 2.8 million supplier storefronts, and  its websites are available in English, Simplified Chinese, Korean and other languages. It provides professional services for the global business. 3.3 The visibility is very strong Depends on its Propaganda efforts, almost all over the world have their ads now. 3.4 Better function Alibaba’s site speed, reasonable softwares, and good service attracted entrepreneurs of all ages around the world. 3.5. Others Also Alibaba had a high reputation in the Asia Pacific region and it always keep innovation, for example, in 2013 it officially published its online chat App called â€Å"LaiWang†. 4. The Movement of IPO (Initial Public Offering) 4.1 Background On March, 2014, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. announced the company will do IPO in New York Stock Exchange; the estimated time will be in quarter three of 2014. The IPO scale is considered to be between $150~200 billion (USD) (Chen, 2014). If the plan is actually executed, it will be one of the biggest IPO scales in the history. To do IPO, from the obvious perspective, it is for arranging the global market. However, it has been 15 years since Alibaba was founded in 1999, why the company decided to do IPO now? What is the reason behind and trigger this movement? It is worth to look into the meanings behind and analyze the reasons. There are two major reasons behind this huge action. One is keeping the control right inside the partnership; the other is competing with the main and biggest competitor Tencent in China. 4.2 Maintaining the control right The first reason is to maintain the control right inside the partnership. For the founder of Alibaba, the core idea of managing the firm is to keep the company culture and the innovation power. Based on this idea, he developed the special partnership structure for the firm. The special partnership structure is meaning CEO needs to be chosen from Alibaba’s partners. And, to  become the partner, the staff needs to be the core manager in the department and work in Alibaba group at least five years. The meeting of choosing partners will run one time per year, the nominee needs to get at least 75% votes from the existing partners, then he/she can become the partner. Now the boards of directors are formed by 2 seats of Alibaba, 1 seat of Softback and 2 seats of Yahoo. It is dangerous for the founder and managers that they can be replaced or take away the control right suddenly. The shareholding structure of Alibaba now is around Yahoo has 23%, Softbank has 31.9%, the founder has 7.4% and managers/other shareholders have 37.7%. According to the agreement between Yahoo  and Alibaba in 2012, if Alibaba can do IPO before in the end of 2015, then Alibaba can repurchase the half of holding shares which Yahoo takes now, also Yahoo will give up one seat in board of directors. Therefore, doing IPO is not just a simple global strategy, more with the implicit intention behind. 4.3 Rising competition The second reason is to compete with Tencent in China. Alibaba is the biggest B2B and B2C e-commerce company in China; it has leading position for past years. However, the situation has changed in recent 3~4 years, more and more users access the internet including buying goods and services via cell phones. It is the benefit access for the competitor Tencent to grab the market from Alibaba. Especially, Tencent just bought a large stake of JD.com (Gittleson, 2014). JD.com is the second biggest e-commerce site in China and in B2C market; it is also the second place right behind Alibaba. The competition intention with Alibaba is obvious. The recent competitions between two parties can refer the below Table 4.3.1. Both companies also start to make acquisitions in small areas and ready for a head-to-head competition (Gittleson, 2014). Tencent doesn’t need to worry about the money since the company did IPO right early in 2004 in Hong Kong Stock Exchange; the stock price is HK$578 on 18th, March, 2014 which is 156 times more compared to 10 years ago (Yu, 2014). Hence, Alibaba needs to find the money  support and start this† one of the most expensive competitions in online history.† said by Kim Gittleson from BBC news. Main business E-commerce platforms in B2B, B2C and C2C markets. (Taobao, TMall, Alipay) Instant message platform. (QQ, WeChat) Recent Competitions 1. During Chinese New Year, Tencent launched a mobile payment service that users can send or receive the money of red packet on line; it gave a warning to Alibaba’s Alipay (Gittleson, 2014). 2. The competition in mobile app for calling taxis (Alibaba’s Kuaidi v.s. Tencent’s Didi). The app not only can call cabs but also can tip for the ride. It is estimated that both parties pay more than $3 billion to subsidize it (Tong, 2014). 3. In the end of 2013, Alibaba launched one messaging application called â€Å"LaiWang† and tried to compete with Tencent’s â€Å"WeChat† 5. Conclusion As we can find out from the previous chapters, Alibaba is a market leader and dominance Chinese e-commerce markets over ten years. Due to its large market share, innovation power and strong website function, no one is able to challenge its leading positions. However, in recent years, internet users start to change their using ways via the booming mobile phones. It benefits another giant company Tencent to penetrate Alibaba’s existing markets. Even though Alibaba has the first-mover advantages in the market, the competition from Tencent doesn’t stop even getting aggressive. From the IPO movement of Alibaba, it can see Alibaba take this competition serious and doesn’t want to lose. Two giants battle for the leading place. The tough and expensive competition with Tencent just started. But, now Alibaba not only need to concern about the domestic competition but also need to make careful actions in global markets due to the IPO. The future of Alibaba is becoming more uncertain since the global markets are adding into the plan and the sever competition keeps going on. 6. References 1. Bidwai, S.V. (2010) Case Analysis Alibaba: Competing in China and Beyond. 2. Chen, Copper (2014) Super IPO, what’s the meaning for Alibaba (translated). Business Next. Retrieved from: http://www.bnext.com.tw/article/view/id/31942. 3. China Internet Watch 2013. For Charts 3.1.1, 3.1.2 & 3.1.4. Retrieved from: http://www.chinainternetwatch.com/. 4. Gittleson, Kim (2014) Tencent and Alibaba Battle for Internet Dominance in China. BBC News. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26540666. 5. Southern Weekly. For Charts 3.1.3. Retrieved from: http://www.NBweekly.com. 6. Tong, Frank (2014) Alibaba’s Founder Talks about Its IPO and Competition. Internet Retailer. Retrieved from: http://www.internetretailer.com/2014/03/18/alibabas-founder-talks-about-its-ipo-a nd-competition. 7. Walraven, Piet (2009) A Brief History (and Future) of Alibaba.com. TechNode. Retrieved from: http://technode.com/2009/01/22/a-brief-history-and-future-of-alibabacom/. 8. Wang, Guo-An & Lim, Yong-Taek (n.g) Research in China’s Alibaba’s Development. 9. Yu, Sophie (2014) A Tale of Two Internet Leaders: Tencent vs Alibaba. China Business. Retrieved from: http://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1452041/tale-two-internet-l eaders-tencent-vs-alibaba.

Negative Effects of Classism

Negative Effects Of Classism Have you ever been judged by the way you look or act? How about just for your income? Social classes have existed for many centuries, whether you are rich or poor, there has always been a large group of people who share a similar economic and/or social position. In society, citizens are put into classes based upon their income, wealth, property ownership, and job status. When citizens are put into a â€Å"class† whether it is high or low, it affects their way of life.For example; when the working class feels like they’re not good enough, it might be because someone in the higher class is acting ignorant or superior towards the lower class. When citizens are not treated equally due to their social status, this is called â€Å"classism. † As you may know classism is professed throughout all classes whether you’re a working class, middle class, or even a higher class. For starters, in an American society,  classism  is usually pointed in the direction of the â€Å"working class† as having the disadvantage.The â€Å"working class† is the lowest social group of people. They are employed for only minimum wage in manual or industrial work. Although our system in the U. S. is designed to allow mobility between social classes, discrimination against the lower classes is still perceived by the higher class. The higher class considers the â€Å"working class† as unreliable or lethargic workers who don’t want to put any effort in achieving in their life goals. Believing this way might be because of their background or where they come from.Secondly, many underclass citizens tend to be the most hardworking of all because every day they make just enough money to get by and that’s it. When working these low income jobs, it’s difficult to support a family and live life without the struggle of â€Å"money problems. † Most people in the working class didn’t pursue their life long goals or promotions in their lives because of their lack of motivation or dedication to succeeding. Most importantly, if the higher class didn’t have such misleading judgments on the â€Å"working class†, then maybe there wouldn’t be as much wrongful thoughts towards them.The middle class is a set of workers who are quite educated, wise, and overall more successful than the working class. The middle class is considered the average or the suitable of the three main classes, mostly because they make a much higher salary than the working class but not enough to be considered the higher class. The middle class is the majority of people in the United States. Occasionally the middle class consider thoughts and assumptions that the sociability of this country towards them are true which leads them to believe it and as well as act it out towards others.The reimbursements or the â€Å"benefits† of being in the middle class provide access to health care benefits such as Medicare or medicate, a home that’s stable enough to live in, a great secure job, as well as retirement security for the seniors of this class and most importantly many chances of a good education which comprises a college education as well. Since million of the households in this country are in the middle class, it’s hard to discriminate or judge against a class where a majority of the United States citizens in are in or close too.The â€Å"higher class† in America consists of people who have mostly inherited their money. Historically in some cultures, members of an upper class often did not have to work for a living, as they were supported by earned or inherited investments. The main distinguishing feature of upper class in the US is the ability to derive enormous  incomes  from  wealth  through techniques such as investment and money management, rather than engaging in wage-labor or salaried employment.Secondly, many unprincipled behaviors across the social classes have delivered a withering verdict on the upper echelons of society, studies have shown that privileged people behave consistently worse than others. For instance, in a range of situations the upper class has a greater tendency to lie, cheat, take things meant for others, not stop for pedestrians on crossings, and endorse unethical behavior. Most importantly, the upper and lower class individuals do not necessarily differ in terms of their capacity for unethical behavior, but rather in terms of their default tendencies toward it.In conclusion, classism will consist in all social classes’ whether it’s the higher class or lower class, people will make generalizations or stereotypes about other people in different classes because of their personal background, arrogances, and actions. Although there will always be different forms of oppression and prejudice, classism’s drastic income and wealth inequality and basic human needs te nd to go unmet. | |

DIETS DONT WORK FOR SOME essays

DIETS DON'T WORK FOR SOME essays Obesity and the resulting medical problems have become an overwhelming American condition, and it seems to be getting worse every day. One Newsweek writer notes, "While searching endlessly for just the right diet, we're consuming ever more calories, growing ever more obese, and suffering obscene rates of diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease as a result" (Cowly, 2003, p. 46). Many experts believe all it takes is a "little more willpower" for most Americans to triumph over obesity and ill health, but it takes more than a little willpower for most people to stick to a healthy diet. This is why I chose stomach stapling as an alternative to dieting, because for a majority of overweight Americans, including me, Americans love of good food is enhanced by the constant bombardment of food advertising on television, the radio, and even the Internet. Did you ever notice when you are on a diet, every ad seems to be extolling the virtues of fast food burgers and quick fix weekday dinners' As one writer noted, "Our love of certain foods often takes root during childhood, long before we know or care about their nutritional value" (Miller, 2003, p. 70), and this love is often triggered by visual and/or mental stimulation from television ads, memories, and even aromas from the corner delicatessen. Our culture revolves around food, and if you can put it away and not pack on the pounds you are a hero, while if you cannot, you are lacking in willpower and self-control. That is simply not the case for some people, who carry their genetic makeup for the world to see, on their hips, thighs, and love handles. For some people, losing weight does not take a "little willpower," it takes a massive amount of effort and determination, and many fail, which is one reason there are so many obese people in the country, and diet gurus are still raking in thousands of ...

Best Book Writing Software 14 Writing Tools For Authors [2019 Update]

Best Book Writing Software 14 Writing Tools For Authors [2019 Update] Best Book Writing Software: 14 Writing Tools For Authors [2019 Update] Want to find the best writing software for you in just MINUTES? Take this quiz and well tell you exactly which one will help your writing process the most.Click Here to Take the QuizWriting a book requires something major.It requires the right attitude, a powerful book idea, some solid writing prompts, and the best writing software out there.And we know which writing software is best for you and more importantly, why it matters.With the best writing tools, you can write faster and more effectively. You’ll be more focused, with fewer distractions, and you can actually learn a thing or two from some of them like Grammarly.And just as importantly, you’ll have an easier time keeping your outline, notes, and even those writing exercises organized.But even if you have all the best writing prompts and an imagination that wont quit, you cant do either without the right book writing software.You’ll have to make some choices. Nowadays, authors have so many options when l ooking for the best book writing software.These are 13 of the best book writing software programs both free and those thatll justifiably cost you so you can up your author game:Microsoft Word Word Processor, $79.99Scrivener Word Processor, $45Pages Word Processor, $28Freedom Productivity Software, $2.42/monthGoogle Docs Online Word Processor, FreeEvernote Note-Taking Software, FreeFocusWriter Word Processor, FreeFastPencil Word Processor, FreeyWriter Word Processor, FreeHemingway App Style Grammar Checker, FreeDropbox Document sharing platform,Free Open Office Word Processor,FreeGrammarly Editing Software, FreeLet’s get started by comparing the 3 book writing software â€Å"giants,† and then I’ll share some less well-known tools that might help improve your writing process even more. Which book writing software features are right for you?I’m not trying to sell you on any particular book writing software in this article. Instead, my goal is to give you an idea of what’s out there so you can weigh the options for yourself.Who knows- you may even discover a brand-new writing and publishing tool you absolutely love.In the end, the truth is that there are many great writing tools out there. It isn’t really a question of which tool is BEST. What it comes down to is: which tool works best with YOUR book writing process?There are 11 things to consider when deciding which program to use for your book:How easy is it to format text the way you want?Does it have templates available?How many?How much does it cost?Is the program simple easy to use?Does it offer any extra features or other bells whistles?How about a distraction-free writing experience?Is the program user-friendly?Can you access your files no matter where you are?How easy is it to collaborate with editors team members?Is there distribution capabilities when its time to publish?The Top 3 Book Writing Software ProgramsWriters everywhere flock to these specific tools and claim them to be the best book writing software for them. Well break down each so you can decide for yourself if their features are the best fit.#1 Microsoft WordBefore any other writing tools came along, Microsoft Word was the only option available. Everyone used it.Today, even though there are many other word processors out there, Word is still the most widely used book writing software in the U.S. Millions of people continue to use it for their writing needs.And it’s easy to see why. Word has a lot going for it!It’s been around a long time. It’s trusted, reliable, and gets the job done well.It also provides a relatively distraction-free writing experience; much better than working on Google Docs in your browser, for example, where you’re only an errant mouse-click away from the entire internet.If you just need to wake up in the morning and meet your word-count goals by keeping your head down and getting those words pounded out onto the page, then Word is an obvious choice of book writing software. No fuss, no muss. It’s about as simple as it gets.Word also offers some simple organization. While writing your chapters, changing the chapters heading (seen in the example below) allows easy navigation as your book progresses further and further.Using headers, you can organize your book into chapters- and then you can navigate through them quickly using the Navigation pane:In order to view your navigation pane in outline-format click: View Navigation Pane (its a box to check) select the bullet/outline tab within the navigation pane (seen above).You can also create your own free book writing template using Word. And if you start writing your book in Word and don’t begin with the correct formatting, it’s pretty easy to clean up your formatting to make it â€Å"book ready† with a few simple steps.If you’re a Word user and you’ve got your own system in place for writing books , then perhaps you need to look no further.But as a writing tool, Word does have some downsides.For starters, it doesn’t always play well with Macs. If you use a Mac, then Word might cause you a lot of frustration with crashes and formatting.Thankfully, Apple offers a comparable program called Pages, that we reviewed below for you.Word is also pretty vanilla. That’s part of its appeal, sure, but it also means Word lacks some of the more advanced features you get with other programs like Scrivener and Google Docs.For example, Scrivener offers more advanced outlining functionality. And Google Docs makes it easier to share and collaborate on your files.All in all, Word is a solid contender for best book writing software. But there are many other choices out there.Book Writing Software Cost: $79.99 if purchased separately.#2 Scrivener You just learned that Microsoft Word is the most widely used word processor in the world. But does that mean it’s the best book writ ing software?Think about it this way. The fact that Word is so prevalent means that it has to cater to all sorts of users- students, businesspeople, writers, teachers, marketers, lawyers, the list goes on and on and on.But Scrivener was created for one type of person only:Writers.And if you’re a writer, chances are you’ve heard of Scrivener. A lot of writers absolutely love this program, with its advanced features and distraction-free writing experience.In short, Scrivener gives you an insane amount of flexibility for writing, formatting, and organizing your book for self-publishing.Blogger and author, Jeff Goins, swears by Scrivener after giving up word. He says,â€Å"I wasted years of my life doing all my writing on Microsoft Word. But that’s all over now. I have finally seen the light.†Entrepreneur Michael Hyatt also praises Scrivener: â€Å"I now begin every piece of content- no matter what it is- with this tool. It has simplified my life and enabled me to focus on the most important aspect of my job- creating new content. I am more productive than ever.† Here are some of the top takeaways of this book writing software:Helps with plotting for fiction authorsEasily export your data to other digital platforms such as Kobo, ibooks, etc. (this is one of the best features)Provides outlining functionality that keeps your content organizedPowerful composition mode with distraction-free writing environmentEasily drag and drop to move sections aroundProvides a collection of robust templatesSupports MultiMarkdown for bullets and numbersBecause Scrivener was designed for writers, it’s super easy to lay out scenes, move content around, and outline your story, article, or manuscript.Instead of keeping all your content in one big file, Scrivener allows you to create multiple sub-files to make it easier to organize and outline your project: Scrivener is a fabulous tool for plotting out storylines. Using the corkboard view, for in stance, you can recreate the popular â€Å"notecard method† for outlining your project:But as awesome as Scrivener is, it’s not perfect.And the biggest downside to using Scrivener is the steep learning curve involved. You aren’t going to master this program overnight.But if you’re serious about your writing career, then investing the time to learn this specific writing tool will be worth it. You’ll save time and energy in the long run.And if you want to learn how to use Scrivener as quickly easily as possible, we can help! Heres a full Scrivener tutorial so you can easily maneuver this program. If you want to dig even deeper, you can also download the Scrivener Manual, or watch the Scrivener YouTube tutorials they’ve put together at Literature Latte. Long story short: Scrivener is an investment, but one thats worth it. It will take some time to master. But once you get the hang of it, you’ll never go back- it’s the single mos t powerful book writing software out there.If you like what you see from Scrivener, you can buy it here:Buy Scrivener 3 for macOS (Regular License)Buy Scrivener for Windows (Regular License)Book Writing Software Cost: $45#3 Google Docs We’ve looked at the appealing simplicity of Word and the in-depth power of Scrivener, but there’s another book writing software that more and more people are starting to use for various reasons:Google Docs.ï » ¿Essentially, Google Docs is a stripped-down version of Word that you can only use online. It’s a simple, yet effective writing tool.The beauty of this program (and Google Drive in general) comes in the ability to share content, files, and documents among your team. You can easily communicate via comments, for example: This program keeps a complete history of all changes made to a document, so if you accidentally delete something you wanted to keep, simply click the link at the top of the screen that says, â€Å"All chang es saved in drive.†That will bring up the version history, where you can review all the changes that have been made to your book file and revert to a previous version if you so choose.Google Docs doesn’t require any installation and can be accessed anywhere via your browser, or an app on your phone.(Anyone who has ever lost a draft of a book understands how valuable this feature is!)And here’s one of the best features: everything is saved on the server frequently and automatically, so you never have to fret about losing a version or draft of your workPlus you can access your work when you move from one location or another- no carrying a laptop or thumb drive around with you. When you share a book draft with others, like test readers or your editor, they can comment directly on the draft using the built-in comment functionality.Out of the â€Å"big 3† book writing software tools, Google Docs is probably the least sophisticated when it comes to formatting an d outlining tools. But it makes up for that with easy collaboration, sharing, and online access.Book Writing Software Cost: FreeBook Writing Software You Might Not Know AboutLets get to know some of the best book writing tools you can use to up your author game and make some progress.Just because you may not be familiar with a specific writing software doesnt mean its not beneficial or even better than what youre using now.#1 Pages Think of Pages as the Mac alternative to Microsoft Word.It has a variety of beautiful templates to choose from, has a simple design, and syncs with all devices from within iCloud so you can access it in a number of different places.Personally, I love the ease of Pages. It works great for creating ebooks or manuscripts with a variety of writing tools you can get creative with.Book Writing Software Cost: $28#2 FreedomFreedom isn’t technically a writing tool, but it sure can help improve your writing. It’s a productivity app designed to help eliminate distractions by blocking certain websites something more than beneficial for those of us who get sidetracked easily.For example: let’s say you have a tendency to get distracted by social media sites. All you have to do us start a Freedom session that blocks all your social media sites- and then you won’t be able to visit them even if you wanted to.Here’s what it looks like when you schedule a session:Notice that you have a lot of options. You can schedule one-time sessions (starting now or later), or you can set up recurring sessions (for example, to block distracting sites every day when it’s time to write).When you try to visit a site that’s being blocked, you’ll get this message:This is a really liberating tool. Once you know you don’t have the option of visiting those distracting sites, you’ll find it easier to keep focused on your writing and you’ll be able to get a lot more done.Book Writing Software Cos t: $2.42/month and up, or $129 for lifetime access.#3 UlyssesIf youre a Mac owner, this might be the best book writing software for you. While you do have to pay $39.99 per year to use it, the cost to use Ulysses is completely justified.One of the best features has to be the distraction-free capabilities. As a writer who gets distracted easily, this is definitely a feature I look for in a good book writing software. This one is also great for exporting. Meaning, you can do all your writing in-app and then export it in relatively any format youd need in order to send it to your editor, critique partner, or even beta readers.And if youre someone who has a hard time keeping all of your notes and ideas organized for your book, this app also has a feature that helps you keep all of it straight!Say goodbye to forgetting what you wanted to add in that obscure scene you wrote two months ago!Overall, this is one of the best book writing software programs out there for Mac users. But if your e not sure if its worth the price, you can actually try it forfree for 14 days. What a deal!Book Writing Software Cost: $39.99/yearFree Book Writing SoftwareTheres not much we love more than getting stuff for free especially when it comes to our aspirations. You dont have to doll out a ton of cash just to use highly beneficial book writing software.In fact, there are many bestfree book writing software programs.#1 FastPencil FastPencil is a nice little platform with lots of tools. You can also use it for distributing your ebook. It is free to start writing with, but they offer paid services as well.Everything happens online in your browser, which means you can access your files from any computer (as long as you’re connected to the Internet).Here’s what the word processor looks like:Book Writing Software Cost: Free (paid upgrades are optional)#2 FocusWriterFocusWriter is a word processor for writers thats intended to eliminate distractions to help you get your book w ritten quicker. Its a basic, lightweight writing tool that was designed to be completely free of progress inhibiting distractions.In its fullscreen mode, there are no toolbars or additional windows, just a background and your text so that you can concentrate solely on writing your draft.FocusWriter also allows you to choose what your screen looks like, as seen in the example below.You can customize the image in the background to suit your project to help inspire your writing.It’s simple and effective. If you need a lot of features, it probably won’t work for you. But if simplicity is your thing, then you may have found your perfect free writing tool.Book Writing Software Cost: Free#3 yWriter yWriter is a really popular word processor (intended mainly for novelists) with some impressive features (especially for a program that’s completely free).It helps keep your project organized by giving you space to include notes on all sorts of things, like character notes, scene notes, scene goals, etc.You can specify whose point of view each scene will be written in, and you can see the word count of your entire novel broken out by chapter- all at a quick glance:One thing that yWriter does differently than a lot of other writing programs is focus on scenes rather than on chapters. A lot of writers prefer this since scenes are usually fun chunks of story to work on.And using yWriter, you can rearrange all those scenes to compose a compelling novel.I’d call it a Scrivener alternative thats free to use. But one downside is that it only works for Windows (at least, for now).Book Writing Software Cost: Free#4 EvernoteEvernote is a note-taking app. It’s a great way to keep track of your thoughts- like brainstorming ideas, outlining chapters, and jotting down inspiration when it strikes.The mobile app is particularly useful for capturing new ideas when they strike, since most people have their phone with them 24/7. This is what it looks like on a mobile device:While Evernote has been around for a little while, they seem to always be expanding on their features, making it one of the best writing softwares out there.Here’s are some of the extended features Evernote offers:While you can use Evernote to write content- I’ve used it for writing blogs and other small sections of books- you wouldn’t want to use it as your main word processor. Its functionality is a bit too limited.But as a way of keeping track of ideas, it’s a great find.Book Writing Software Cost: Free, but there is a cool upgrade for $5 a month that gets you Evernote Premium#5 Hemingway EditorThe Hemingway Editor is a unique kind of writing tool. It’s a style checker that’s designed to help tighten up your prose and make your writing clear and bold. Simply paste your writing into the editor and scroll through. You’ll notice that the program highlights certain words passages- like long, hard-to-read sentences , passive verbs, and phrases with simpler alternatives.Its basically your own personal editor rolled into a writing software.Here’s an example of what it looks like:(Yikes. Too bad Dickens didn’t have this app.)What I love about this tool is how easy it is to use. Everything is color-coded and super easy to understand, so you can see at a glance where your writing could use a little elbow grease.Book Writing Software Cost: Free, or you can purchase the desktop version for $19.99.#6 DropboxReading this, you may be wondering:Dropbox? How is that a writing tool?Trust me- it is!While it’s true that Dropbox isn’t a word processor like Scrivener or yWriter, it is a very helpful writing tool. Especially for writers who write on more than one computer, who need to collaborate with other writers or editors, or who want an easy way to back up their work.Here’s how it works:When you set up Dropbox and install it on your computer, it will create a new â€Å" Dropbox† folder on your machine.Any files that you save in this folder will be automatically backed up to Dropbox’s servers in the cloud, which will be automatically downloaded to any other computers that are synced to that same Dropbox account.A lot of writers choose to save their book on Dropbox, so that it will be automatically backed up. And as you can see, it looks the same as any other folder on your computer:Using this strategy, you can make it easier to share and collaborate on your files- even if you aren’t using Google Docs.Book Writing Software Cost: Free for a basic plan, or $9.99/month for extra storage.#7 Open OfficeYou may know of this software, you may not. Essentially, its a free version of a word processor much like Word or Pages. If you dont have Word on your computer and cant afford to buy it, this is a great alternative thatll get the job done.Heres what this book writing software looks like:The capabilities are pretty limited with Open Offi ce but if you really only need the basics and dont want to spend any money, this is the perfect writing software for you.Book Writing Software Cost:Free#8 PauseForIf youre someone who needs incentive to stay off your phone (and actually write), this is a perfect writing software.Technically, its not for writing. PauseForis a productivity app designed to motivate you to stay off your phone. That means you can get more writing done by spending less time scrolling through Twitter or whatever your social medial of choice is.How?PauseFor is designed for YOU to set a time, and then not pick up your phone until that time is done.But whats the incentive?The longer you stay off your phone and the more sessions you complete successfully, the more youll have to DONATE. Thats right. You can be a philanthropist AND a writer at the same time.Simply set your time, dont touch your phone, and collect your Kin. When you a certain amount, you get to choose where the donations go.Book Writing Software Cost: Free + the added benefit of feeling great about donating#9 GrammarlyIf you havent heard of this editing software, youve been living under a rock. It has taken over as one of the most versatile simple editing softwares and for a good reason.We have a Grammarly review that covers all the features and functions but essentially, this is a browser extension you can download and it automatically corrects your grammar and spelling in whichever online medium youre writing on. This writing software is perfect if you need to brush up on your grammar or are looking for an easy way to sound professional in written emails as well.Book Writing Software Cost: Free with upgrade optionsHow Much Does Book Writing Software Programs Cost?I would recommend not worrying too much about the cost of these programs. After all, dropping $100 or less on a program is not that big a deal if it is going to help improve your writing for years to come.That said, I know you work hard for your money- and you want to get the best deal you can!Here is a breakdown of the most recent prices for all of the tools in this article along with their comparative features:Writing SoftwareCostMicrosoft Word$79.99Scrivener$45Pages$28Freedom$2.42/monthGoogle DocsFreeEvernoteFreeFocusWriterFreeFastPencilFreeHemingway AppFreeDropboxFreeOpen OfficeFreeyWriterFreeWhats Your Favorite Book Writing Software?Take some time to check out each of these tools if you aren’t already using them. Stay focused on crafting your next book and stick with the book writing software that gives you the best results in terms of saving you money, time, and frustration.Keep writing. Keep it simple. Best of all, enjoy the creative process!Now that you have these awesome tools at your disposal, what is your favorite writing tool? What best suits your needs as an author? Can you speed up the writing process with any particular tool?What to do NextWriting a book takes a lot more than discovering some helpful book writing sof tware. Heres what you can do right now to head in the right direction with your book.#1 Join your free training!The process of learning never stops when it comes to writing and publishing a book. And just because you have a fancy piece of software doesnt mean writing a book will come naturally.In fact, it hardly ever does.

What Freezing Point Depression Is and How It Works

What Freezing Point Depression Is and How It Works Freezing point depression occurs when the freezing point of a liquid is lowered or depressed by adding another compound to it. The solution has a lower freezing point than that of the pure solvent. Freezing Point Depression Examples For example, the freezing point of seawater is lower than that of pure water. The freezing point of water to which antifreeze has been added is lower than that of pure water. The freezing point of vodka is lower than that of pure water. Vodka and other high-proof alcoholic beverages typically dont freeze in a home freezer. Yet, the freezing point is higher than that of pure ethanol (-173.5Â °F or -114.1Â °C). Vodka may be considered a solution of ethanol (solute) in water (solvent). When considering freezing point depression, look at the freezing point of the solvent. Colligative Properties of Matter Freezing point depression is a colligative property of matter. Colligative properties depend on the number of particles present, not on the type of particles or their mass. So, for example, if both calcium chloride (CaCl2) and sodium chloride (NaCl) completely dissolve in water, the calcium chloride would lower the freezing point more than the sodium chloride because it would produce three particles (one calcium ion and two chloride ions), while the sodium chloride would only produce two particles (one sodium and one chloride ion). Freezing Point Depression Formula Freezing point depression can be calculated using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation and Raoults law. In a dilute ideal solution, the freezing point is: Freezing Pointtotal Freezing Pointsolvent - ΔTf where ΔTf molality * Kf * i Kf cryoscopic constant (1.86Â °C kg/mol for the freezing point of water) i Vant Hoff factor Freezing Point Depression in Everyday Life Freezing point depression has interesting and useful applications. When salt is put on an icy road, the salt mixes with a small amount of liquid water to prevent melting ice from re-freezing. If you mix salt and ice in a bowl or bag, the same process makes the ice colder, which means it can be used for making ice cream. Freezing point depression also explains why vodka doesnt freeze in a freezer.