The s War The Story Of A Team Of Women Soldiers On The...

Serving the Frontline Uniting both male and female service members despite the different tasks each one faces, is one of the goals Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, author of Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield, faces to elaborate. The preface opens up by listing the set of events Second Lieutenant Ashley White completed before going out on a mission that would not only change her life but many female personnel serving for the United States Armed Forces as well. Other then uniting military personnel, another major goal or theme is educating the reader of affairs usually not displayed on the news. From my perspective, Lemmon had taught me something that I probably wouldn’t have found out, if it weren’t for this book. I have always been under the impression that women can’t serve on the frontline, but this is not until the introduction of Cultural Support Teams, or better known as CST’s. Using both a pathos an d logos approach the author introduces some of the first females to make a change in combat history. In the end the author makes a clear statement to the public and male service members that women are competent both mentally and physically to serve on a Special Operations Mission. The author wasn’t there first hand to experience everything she is writing about, but instead she brings together a multitude (24) of other writings as her evidence but never quotes anything out of them. The evidence unfolds the deeper you read. ManyShow MoreRelated`` Red Badge Of Courage `` And John Neihardt Black Elk2174 Words   |  9 Pagesexperiencing a rebirth; one text details a moral rebirth within the main character’s conscience and the latter a cultural rebirth of a forgotten nation. Crane’s novel follows a novice soldier fighting on the frontlines of the American Civil War who confronts his cowardice in an attempt to be a better man and soldier. 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In JacksonS The Lottery, Custom And Tradition...

In Jackson s The Lottery, custom and tradition institutionalize atrocious acts. In the story the setting is a small, what looks to be an inspiring community with a population of around three hundred people. Jackson paints a picture of a community where he said, â€Å"flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.† (1) . Jackson wants the audience to believe that the community was ordinary and innocent, but ends with a dramatic and unnecessary stoning. It leaves the readers stunned, but Religious Persecution happens all over the world in the most remote place and right in our back yards, and readers are not able to wrap their minds around that truth. On a quiet morning, June 27th, the residents, beginning with the†¦show more content†¦The color of the box even symbolizes the hate evil. The three-legged stool that the black box sits upon represents the Trinity. Each segment represents God the father, God the son, and the Holy Spirit. The wooden sto ol that the black box of evil sits upon, is ironic because the Trinity represents purity and perfectness, but the black box of death represents sin and evil. This is very important because they are trying to justify their stoning with religion to support the violence that will be committed, thinking that it’s is justifiable to stone someone to death because of religious views or ideas, and that God would be ok with the community sacrificing innocent people. â€Å"Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.†(123) This quote show that the community was willing to forget a little from the past, but not the crude stoning of another human being. The townspeople seem to get some sort of sick pleasure from the stoning. â€Å"Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones;† (2) this shows us t hat the young kids were find the smoothest rocks. Most rocks were very raspy and unsmooth . The reason is because the smoothest rock would not kill the victim fast, jagged rocks will kill the victim very quickly, but with smooth stones, it would make the victim have a very slow and painful

Microsoft Merger and Acquisitions Case In Nokia

Question: Discuss about theMerger and Acquisitionsfor Case of Microsoft Acquisition in Nokia. Answer: Introduction In the present business scenario, the strategy of unit and rule is more followed than divide and rule. Today, the companies are coming together to join hands so that the resources could be utilized to the optimum level (Anderson, Havila, and Nilsson, 2012). In a merger and acquisition deal, two or more companies are consolidated to bring into existence a single entity. Merger and acquisition strategy can be quite handy for the companies operating in the same industry to get competitive advantages. In the recent years, the merger and acquisitions have increased rapidly, which is evident from the fact that in the year 2015 total merger and acquisition deals announced worldwide were $4.4 trillion. This was straightaway 42% higher than 2014 (Lam, 2016). In the context developed above, the discussion in this paper has been extended to the analysis of the effects of merger of Microsoft with Nokia. Microsoft announced acquisition of Nokias assets in the year 2013 for $7.90 billion. This paper addresses the synergy gains or losses and other effects of the merger on Microsoft. Synergies Arising from the Merger It is often seen in the merger and acquisitions deals that the buyer pays premium or extra charge over and above the value of net assets acquired in a merger deal. This premium or extra charge is paid for synergy gains that the buyer expects to reap out from that merger deal (Karenfort, 2011). Thus, synergy can be inferred to be the additional value created as a result of combining the operations of the two companies together. The synergy created by the merger could be financial and/or operating (Gaughan, 2013). The financial synergy is manifested in the increased debt capacity, improvement in the liquidity, tax benefits, and improved overall financial performance of the resulting company after merger. On the other hand, operating synergy is manifested in the economies of scale, reduced competition, and enhanced goodwill in the market (Gaughan, 2013). In the current case of Microsoft and Nokia merger, the evaluation of synergy has been made by analyzing the financial performance of the Microsoft pre and post merger. The facts and figures for pre acquisition period that relate to the period before the year 2014 have been analyzed as below: Table 1: Financial Performance of Microsoft before Merger $ Million 2010 2011 2012 2013 Average Revenues 62,484.00 69,943.00 73,723.00 77,849.00 70,999.75 Cost of operations 12,395.00 15,577.00 17,530.00 20,249.00 16,437.75 Gross margin 50,089.00 54,366.00 56,193.00 57,600.00 54,562.00 Gross margin ratio 80.16% 77.73% 76.22% 73.99% 77.03% Net margin 18,760.00 28,071.00 22,267.00 21,863.00 22,740.25 Net margin ratio 30.02% 40.13% 30.20% 28.08% 32.11% EPS 2.13 2.73 2.02 2.61 2.37 (Microsoft, 2016) Table 2: Financial Performance of Microsoft after Merger $ Million 2014 2015 Average Revenues 86,833.00 93,580.00 90,206.50 Cost of operations 27,078.00 33,038.00 30,058.00 Gross margin 59,755.00 60,542.00 60,148.50 Gross margin ratio 68.82% 64.70% 66.76% Net margin 22,074.00 12,193.00 17,133.50 Net margin ratio 25.42% 13.03% 19.23% EPS 2.66 1.49 2.08 (Microsoft, 2016) From the data presented in the table-1, it could be observed that the company was maintaining an average gross profit ratio of 77.03%. The revenues of the company were growing at a study pace. The average revenues earned by the company in the period of four years from 2010 to 2013 amounted to $70,999.50 million (Table-1). Further, the company was making healthy profit margins at a percentage of 32.11%. However, immediately after the acquisition of the Nokias assets, there was observed a downfall in the companys profitability. The gross profit margin reduced from 73.99% in the year 2013 to 68.82% in the year 2014 and it further went down in the year 2015 to 64.70%. It may be noted that the company was able to increase its sales after acquiring the assets from Nokia in the year 2013. The sales revenues increased from $77,849 million in the year 2013 to $93,580 million in the year 2015. Though, the company achieved growth in the revenues, but the gross margins went down, which indicates increase in the cost of operations. The increase in the cost of operations is a clear indication that the company did not receive economies of scale from the acquisition of Nokias assets. Thus, there was no operational and/or financial synergy for Microsoft from the acquisition of the assets from Nokia. The companys profitability was affected adversely from this merger deal, which is evident from the deterioration in the net margin. As against the average net profit margin of 32.11% in the four years preceding the acquisition, the company could maintain only 19.23% net margin in the two years after the acquisition. Further, the ESP of the company was down to $1.49 in the year 2015 from as high as $2.61 in the year 2013. Considering the bad financial performance in the post acquisition period, the company admitted that the merger deal with Nokia was the biggest failure (Keizer, 2015). Test of Merger Theory The merger theory believes that the aggregate value of two separate firms is always lower than the combined value when those two firms are merged. This implies that the aggregate market capitalization value of Microsoft and Nokia would be lower than the market capitalization value of Microsoft after merger with Nokia. The theory of merger is based on the premise that the two firms operating separately would not be able earn equal to the earrings of the firm created by merging those two firms. The theory states that this enhanced value is created as a result of synergy emerging from the merged operations. However, not all the merger and acquisitions deals gets succeed. In the case of Microsoft acquiring assets of Nokia, the test of this theory of merger is being carried out as under: Table 3: Evaluation of the Merger Impact Before Merger (2013) After Merger (2014) Impact Microsoft Nokia assets Total Monthly average price (Yahoo Finance, 2016) 26.77 - 36.60 No of shares 8,375.00 - 8,299.00 Market Capitalization 224,198.75 *9,442.00 233,640.75 303,743.40 70,102.65 *Note: In computing market value before merger for Nokia, the assets that are under acquisition have been considered. Therefore, the market value of Nokia has been taken as the market value of its assets under acquisition that is $9,442 million (Microsoft, 2015). From the above figures, it could be observed that the market value of Microsoft increased by $70,102.65 immediately after the acquisition of the Nokias assets. However, this acquisition was a failure for the company, but still the market value increased substantially after the finalization of the acquisition deal. From this situation, it could be inferred that this was a short term speculative effect on the stocks price of the company which laid increase in the market capitalization in the year 2014 as compared to the year 2013. Evaluation of Failure of Merger The results of merger and acquisition could be negative if the process of merger and acquisitions is not handled strategically. In the absence of strategic approach towards merger and acquisitions, the companies have been seen facing complete failure. As per the study conducted by Coopers and Lybrand, there are five major factors that affect the success and failure of the merger and acquisitions (Milnerltd.com, 2014). These five factors are detailed post acquisition integration plans, clarity of acquisition purpose, good culture fit, high degree of target management, and knowledge of target and its industry. Among these five factors, Coopers and Lybrand regarded the post acquisition integration plan as the most crucial (Milnerltd.com, 2014). In the current case being analyzed in this paper, Microsoft had failed sustaining the acquisition of Nokias assets in the merger deal. The company could not capitalize on this merger deal due to absence of clarity in the objectives of acquisition and post acquisition integration plan. Though this merger deal the company tried to enter into the new market leaving its core field operations unfocused. Further, post revelations of the failure of merger, it was observed that lack in clarity of acquisition purposes and adequate planning for integration were also the reasons for failure of the merger (Milnerltd.com, 2014). The merger and acquisition decisions are very sensitive to the market; therefore, the management should be cautious in drawing out such decisions (Milnerltd.com, 2014). Preparing a detailed merger plan including analysis of the future trend is a prerequisite to go for merger and acquisition deal. In the current case, Microsoft could not analyze the future trend of mobile industry appropriately, which caused failure of the companys merger with Nokia. The financial performance started affecting adversely as soon as the company acquired assets from Nokia. The acquisition was made in the last quarter of the financial year 2013 and in the year 2015, the company wrote off $7.10 billion as the cost of merger (Keizer, 2015). Conclusion The discussion in this paper revolves around the issues governing the merger and acquisitions in the corporate world. The main focus area of this paper is to highlight the synergy in the context of merger and understand the factors the cause failure of the merger and acquisition deals. For this purpose, the case of Microsoft and Nokia merger has been analyzed in this paper. Microsoft acquired assets of phone division of Nokia for an amount of $7.10 billion in the year 2013. Though, the company was expecting to benefit at the big scale from this deal, but it could not sustain it for a longer period. Finally, in the year 2015, the company announced admitting the fact that it failed in the merger with Nokia. References Anderson, H., Havila, V., and Nilsson, F. 2012. Mergers and Acquisitions: The Critical Role of Stakeholders. Routledge. Gaughan, P.A. 2013. Maximizing Corporate Value through Mergers and Acquisitions: A Strategic Growth Guide. John Wiley Sons. Karenfort, S. 2011. Synergy in Mergers Acquisitions: The Role of Business Relatedness. BoD Books on Demand. Keizer, G. 2015. Microsoft writes off $7.6B, admits failure of Nokia acquisition. [Online]. Available at: https://www.computerworld.com/article/2945371/smartphones/microsoft-writes-off-76b-admits-failure-of-nokia-acquisition.html [Accessed on: 05 December 2016]. Lam, B. 2016. 2015: A Merger Bonanza. [Online]. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/01/2015-mergers-acquisitions/423096/ [Accessed on: 05 December 2016]. Microsoft. 2015. Annual report of Microsoft for 2015. [Online]. Available at: https://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar15/download-center/index.html [Accessed on: 05 December 2016]. Microsoft. 2016. Investor Relations Annual Reports. [Online]. Available at: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/annual-reports.aspx [Accessed on: 05 December 2016]. Milnerltd.com. 2014. 10 steps to Success in Merger and Acquisitions. [Online]. Available at: https://www.milnerltd.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/10-Steps-to-Success-in-Mergers-Acquisitions.pdf [Accessed on: 05 December 2016]. Yahoo Finance. 2016. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Historical Prices. [Online]. Available at: https://in.finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=MSFTa=06b=01c=2012d=07e=31f=2014g=m [Accessed on: 05 December 2016].