International Finance - HSBC vs BP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International Finance - HSBC vs BP - Essay Example This essay declares that British petroleum shortly known as BP was formed in 1998 from the merger of British Petroleum and Amoco grew by buying Atlantic Richfield Company. BP has proved reserves of 18.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent including large holdings in Alaska. BP is the largest oil producer in the US and also top refiner processing 2.8 billions barrels of crude oil per day. BP operates 28,500 gas stations worldwide, including 15,900 in the US. With the success of its ‘BP solar international subsidiary’ BP has created BP alternative Energy (hydrogen, solar and wind power generation) with an initial investment of $1.8 billion. British Petroleum (BP) is one of six vertically integrated private sector oil, natural gas and gasoline super-majors in the world. In the year 2006 BP was ranked 4th in the world by the Fortune Global 500 list, for turnover with sales at $268 billion. This paper stresses that the main issue faced by multinational corporations in the international financial environment is the valuation of such projects whose cash-flows depend on the exchange rate. Two approaches are used: one based on option-valuation methods and the second based on equilibrium arguments that rely on the international capital asset pricing model. The other factors which need consideration are tax planning and the management of flow of funds within foreign subsidiaries of a given multinational. Two essential and related aspects of this environment are first, the foreign exchange market in which exchange rates are determined and second the international financial system governing exchange rate determination. There is a close connection between interest rates, inflation, and exchange rates.

Australian Wine Industry Essay Example for Free

Australian Wine Industry Essay In addition, this trend is enforced by a global economy with increasing free trade, international business collaboration, strategic alliances and a global currency. Geographically Australia is well placed to capitalise on the Asian boom and wine meets the Asian demand for Western style products. As for the domestic market, despite the fact that there has been minimal focus on developing new wine consumers during the last ten years, domestic sales have continued to expand in value rather than volume. Population growth in prime wine consuming age groups, the emerging generation who has grown up with wine consumption, the changing demographic profile of the Australian population, growth in the dining out market, increasing popularity of the Mediterranean diet, tourism growth and the quest for more individualised beverage experiences are significant opportunities exist for increasing domestic wine consumption. 1. 1. 2 Economic conditions Although a decline in the value of the Australian dollar inhibits profitability and the ability of Australian winemakers to hit key price oints, it helps to stimulate the other countries to import Australian wine because of lower price Increase in demand for wine may be attributed to the following economic factors: changing living standard, changes in the relative price of wine to other goods and services, the introduction of fringe benefits tax and the modification of sales tax to wine and other beverages. 1. 1. 3 Social and cultural trends Although nowadays, there is a strong trend away from alcohol beverages and alcohol consumption, quality table wine still be a favourite one for consumers. The image of a man drinking wine, bottles to bottles until get drunk is no longer seen. People do not drink wine in quantity but prefer quality alcohol. Sales in cask wine decline whereas profits in bottled semi-premium or premium wine increase. The reason for this can be explained by: Quality table wine has its own image and status, engenders high consumer involvement, provides variety, and has a range of flavour complexity. It is therefore a stronger alternative to other non-alcoholic beverages (soft drinks, bottled water, fruit drinks and coffee) than is beer or spirits. Quality wine has acknowledged health attributes. Recent research showed its effects in reducing cardio vascular disease. People look for more spiritual meaning in their lives. They favour healthy products, healthy lifestyle and show environmental concerns. Media, advertising, transparency, and openness in marketing. Many of these trends favour the Australian wine industry. Wine will meet the future consumers dem and for individualised, customised products which are natural, environmentally friendly and healthy. 1. 1. 4 Political and legal forces The Australian wine industry has set a target to be the worlds most influential and profitable wine producer in the Year 2025. It is supported by government in terms of providing a positive investment climate and facilitation infrastructure. Taxation Certainty in the retention of the current taxation level and structure for wine and brandy Review the method for valuing trading stock, particularly the maturation of wine stocks geared to premium wine production Maintain the current vineyard depreciation provisions Vary other taxation provisions which inhibit growth or prejudice quality. Facilitation Maintain support for industry research and development Enhance support for wine export promotion Upgrade Government contributions to training and to strategic data collection Continue the commitment to industrys pro market self regulation Adopt appropriate water access and pricing policies. 1. 1. 5 Technology Technology is of vital importance to Australia wine industry. It can help to improve productivity, economic of scale, efficiency and quality of products. In addition, the industry is also strongly committed to environmentally friendly production.

Comparing Catcher in the Rye and Ordinary People :: comparison compare contrast essays

Ordinary People and The Catcher in the Rye      In this paper I intend to show how the loss of a brother can have the same effects on two different people like Holden Caulfield and Conrad Jarrett.   Both of their lives are turned upside down after the difficult loss of a family member.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the book Ordinary People, Conrad Jarrett has a good life and loving family when his brother dies in a sailboating accident.   Conrad feels lost and confused and he attempts to take his own life as a way out.   He spends eight months in a mental institution and when he comes out he discovered he is a completely different person and has the realization that his old definition of normality no longer applies.   A once-unified family splits into three guarded, isolated members who can no longer share anything with one another.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dr. Tyrone C. Berger helps Conrad by taking him back through the death of his brother and anguish of life without Buck, his older brother and idol.   He teaches Conrad and his family that love, openly shared, is the only thing they can count on to give them strength for the test they call life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Catcher in the Rye, Holden loses his brother Allie at a young age just like Conrad.   He cannot find a meaning in life afterwards.   School and friends don’t matter to him anymore and he wanders through the city of New York searching for some kind of answer.   In both books the characters are teenagers and still full of youth.   Conrad is on the swim team and participates in activities while Holden is great at English and is a keen observer of life.   After their brothers’ death they realize that they are not the same people anymore and that they have to start all over.   They are struggling just to make it through the day and to find motivation to keep going.   Conrad lays in bed in the morning thinking of a reason to get up, he tries to come up with a guiding principle to help him get through the day.   He says to himself, â€Å"It’s all right to feel anxious.   Allow yourself a couple of bad da ys now and then. (1)†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Holden is hurt by his loss and takes a negative attitude towards life.

Illusion vs. Reality

The characters portrayed this theme through perceived reality vs. actuality, knowledge is power, and knowledge can only be gained if it is presented to it first. In all three, there are people without knowledge and people with knowledge. The people that don't have knowledge are the general public, Truman, and the prisoners; the people with the knowledge are the government, Christof, and the things causing the shadows in the ave.The people without the knowledge live their lives as if they know everything while the people with knowledge try to either keep it that way or them the knowledge. Reality vs. actuality helps portray the theme though the people without the knowledge, who have his/her own reality while the actual world is something different. In Fahrenheit 451, the general public live their lives believing books are evil while they are actually not. In The Truman Show, Truman lives his life as if it is real, but it is a lie that was created for a TV show.In Plato's Republic, the prisoners were orn into a reality where shadows are their whole world, while the objects making the shadows were passing by. In all three, the reality shown to the people are not what the actual world is. Reality vs. actuality shows how the theme is portrayed in Fahrenheit 451, The Truman Show, and Plato's Republic. Another thing that helps display the theme is knowledge is power. The people who have the knowledge either use that power to keep the reality that the people without the knowledge already have or try to give them knowledge.The government in Fahrenheit 451 use firemen o try and keep the reality that books are evil and make that the truth to the general public. Christof and all the staff members in The Truman Show have the power and use actors to keep Truman's fabricated world the â€Å"truth†. In Plato's Republic the prisoners did not believe the philosopher who tried to give them knowledge and unveil the truth. The prisoners believe in their reality too much so t o them, knowledge are the shadows and that kept them under the truth. The people without knowledge are kept under their reality because knowledge can only be gained if presented it first.The people are never presented with knowledge, so they could never learn about the truth. Since the government tell lies, it prevents the general public to read books, and the general public never finds out the truth behind books. Truman never found out the actual world until he was presented with knowledge by his first love. Christof and the actors tried their best to prevent Truman from finding out the truth, but in the end they fail. In Plato's Republic the philosopher tried to present the prisoners the real world, but the prisoners rejected him and continued to believe in the shadows.The theme, we accept the reality with which we are presented, has been portrayed by reality vs. actuality, knowledge is power, and knowledge can only be gained if it is presented to it first. All of the people witho ut knowledge had their own reality that was not the actual truth. The people with knowledge had the power and tried to and the prisoners did not gain knowledge unless first presented with it. If the general public read the books, and if the prisoners did believe the philosopher, then everyone would have knowledge and there would not be a fake reality.

Rico Act Essay

The RICO Act has been an important component in addressing organized and white collar crime. Write a five page (double-spaced) essay that summarizes the RICO Act and its impact on organized and white collar crime. Be sure to support your thoughts with information from our readings. Rico Act Essay The term â€Å"Rico Act† stands for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, Codified as chapter 96, Title 18, of the United States Code which was passed by Congress in 1970. The purpose of the Act was to eliminate the ill-affects of organized crime on the nation’s economy. The Rico Act provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. The RICO Act focuses specifically on racketeering, and it allows for the leaders of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes which they ordered others to do or assisted them in doing. It closed a perceived loophole that allowed someone who told a man to commit a crime such as murder, to be exempt from the trial because they did not actually do it or were physically involved. Racketeering is defined as the process of forming or running an organization to operate or commit or otherwise execute ongoing criminal activities. For example the drug mafia planning and executing drug traffic in an organized manner. Such crimes are generally illegitimate business when a person commits crimes such as extortion, loan-sharking, bribery, and obstruction of justice in furtherance of illegal business activities. The definition of a â€Å"racketeering activity† means any act or threat involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, dealing in obscene matter, or dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act), which is chargeable under State law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year. There are a number of illegal and prohibited activities listed in the act and are as follows: Prohibited activities listed in Section 1962 of the Rico Act. a) It shall be unlawful for any person who has received any income derived, directly or indirectly, from a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt in which such person has participated as a principal within the meaning of section 2, title 18, United States Code, to use or invest, directly or indirectly, any part of such income, or the proceeds of such income, in acquisition of any interest in, or the establishme nt or operation of, any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce. A purchase of securities on the open market for purposes of investment, and without the intention of controlling or participating in the control of the issuer, or of assisting another to do so, shall not be unlawful under this subsection if the securities of the issuer held by the purchaser, the members of his immediate family, and his or their accomplices in any pattern or racketeering activity or the collection of an unlawful debt after such purchase do not amount in the aggregate to one percent of the outstanding securities of any one class, and do not confer, either in law or in fact, the power to elect one or more directors of the issuer. (b) It shall be unlawful for any person through a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of any unlawful debt to acquire or maintain, directly or indirectly, any interest in or control of any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce. c) It shall be unlawful for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt. (d) It shall be unlawful for any person to conspire to violate any of the provisions of subsection (a), (b), or (c) of this section. Under RICO, a person who is a member of an illegal enterprise or organization that has committed any two of 35 crimes including 27 federal crimes and 8 state crimes, within a 10-year period, can be charged with racketeering. Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $25,000 and sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of â€Å"racketeering activity. RICO also permits a private individual harmed by the actions of suc h an enterprise to file a civil lawsuit and collect monetary damages. Despite its harsh provisions, a RICO-related charge is considered easy to prove in court, as it focuses on patterns of behavior as opposed to criminal acts. Although some of the RICO predicate acts are extortion and blackmail, one of the most successful applications of the RICO laws has been the ability to indict or sanction individuals for their behavior and actions committed against witnesses and victims in alleged retaliation or retribution for cooperating with federal law enforcement or intelligence agencies. Unfortunately, due to the complexity of bringing organized crime members to justice, ten years passed before the first RICO convictions were obtained. Throughout the 1970s crime families continually fought for power over the many racketeering enterprises that brought in huge sums of money. The National Conference on Organized Crime in 1975 estimated that mob related racketeering reached about $50 billion a year in the United States. An example of a popular case where the Rico Act was used to bring down a criminal organization was the numerous arrests of members of the Gambino Crime Family. The Carlo Gambino family was one of New York's most powerful in the American Mafia. It was successfully weakened by convictions obtained under the RICO Act of 1970. Under Gambino’s leadership, family rackets spread into new areas. Starting in the late ’50s, they engaged in large-scale drug trafficking. The Gambino and Lucchese families put a stranglehold on illegal activities at JFK International Airport, effectively boxing out all competition. Gambino bought into all kinds of legitimate businesses such as pizza parlors, meat markets, restaurants, construction companies, trucking firms, dress factories, and nightclubs, and used them as fronts to facilitate illegal operations. Battles for power and control between crime families resulted in numerous murders. Members of one family would assassinate another's boss. The family of the assassinated boss sought revenge by murdering a member of the offending family. Murders were also committed to prevent a crime member from testifying in a trial. The first convictions of American Mafia members under RICO began in 1980. Numerous gangsters were convicted for a variety of racketeering offenses. In 1985 the bosses of all five New York City Mafia families were convicted under RICO and each received at least one hundred years in prison. In 1992 Salvatore â€Å"Sammy the Bull† Gravano testified in court against his boss, John Gotti, head of the Gambino crime family at that time. In doing so he broke the sacred code of the Mafia, the code of silence barring every Mafia member from ever testifying against another Mafia member. Gotti was sentenced to life in prison. His brother Peter Gotti took over the family but was sentenced in April 2004 to nine years in prison. From our reading, we also learned that Rico can provide other benefits to local, county, state and federal law enforcement. As stated by Osterburg and Ward, page 632, â€Å"Through asset forfeiture provisions the government can confiscate money, houses, cars, boats, planes, electronics and weapons. This has not only impacted on the specific criminals targeted, but in many jurisdictions has been used as a means for law enforcement to expand their own efforts. In my own department, we use the proceeds from asset forfeitures to purchase vehicle equipment and bullet proof vests. Summary For decades, law enforcement strategies have focused on identifying and prosecuting the leaders of criminal enterpris es. Members may be charged or arrested for relatively minor infractions. Charges for even small infractions can provide prosecutors with the leverage to conduct further investigations of the group. The goal is to get â€Å"smaller fish† to â€Å"flip† and testify against the heads of the organization. The ultimate aim is to disrupt the group as a whole. Since the inception of the Rico Act, thousands of arrests and convictions have been handed down against members of organized crime. All five New York crime families have been disabled by Rico convictions and numerous other crime families have felt the sting. There has been mixed reviews on the total effectiveness of the Rico Act, but most will agree that there seems to be no end to organized crime and those willing to engage in criminal activity and enterprise. References www. ricoact. com/ricoact/nutshell. asp RICO – What Happened Next . . . – Crime, Family, Mafia, Families, Organized, and American http://law. jrank. org/pages/12394/RICO-What-happened-next. html#ixzz1XrNLl9Gg http://www. trutv. com/library/crime/gangster_outlaws/family_epics/gambino/3. html www. justice. gc. ca/eng/pi/rs/rep-rap/2005/rr05_5/p5. html. Osterburg and Ward. , Criminal Investigations, A Method for Reconstructing the