Social Performance of Organizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Social Performance of Organizations - Essay Example Apple Inc. is an American based multinational company with its headquarters in Cupertino, California. The company performs in a highly competitive market and is engaged in the designing and selling of consumer electronic goods like iPod, iPhone, iPad. Apple Inc. provides products that are unique and has a great youth appeal. The focus remains on targeting the young population since the youth are more inclined towards social networking, music and entertainment. For its superb marketing techniques, Apple Inc. was awarded 2012 CMO Survey Award for Marketing Excellence (Moorman, 2012). In the world of business, there are many external factors that contribute towards the successful performance of a company. Government intervention in the form of laws and regulations has a strong impact on the operations and management of Apple Inc. For instance, the laws and policies set up by the UK government act as limitations and constraints in the manner in which companies market their products. There is Sales of Goods Act 1979 which states that products that will be sold in the market should be according to the specifications mentioned in promotional advertisements. For instance, Apple Inc. deals with electronic products like iPhone, iPad, smartphones, tablets, personal computers and so on. To gain market share over its competitors, Apple cannot exaggerate or promote features that do not exist in its products. Another law is Data Protection Act 1998 which enforces the rights of customers to protect their private information like address, contact number, age etc from unfair us e. For instance, a company must garner permission from customers before sending regular newsletters or future offers to them. Also, a company cannot store data of consumers longer than necessary. This is applicable for Apple Inc. since customers are purchasing products from them. The target customer base is another external factor that largely rules the performance level of

Module 7 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Module 7 - Essay Example The merger is an investment made by Alaska since it acquires another company, Estoya. Therefore, taking Estoya as an asset, the return on investment (ROI) based on the proposed purchase price (1 billion) and the annual cash flows (500million) would be (500,000,000/ 1,000,000,000) = 50% (Braff, 2013). The merger situation involves a required rate of return by the investors and a prospective growth in the future cash flows generated by the targeted company (Estoya Inc.). The information on cash flow, growth rate and the required rate of return is to be used to determine the market value of the targeted firm. Thereafter, it will be simple to decide whether the suggested purchase price of 1 billion new sols is higher or lower than the estimated market value of the targeted firm. The targeted company’s EBIT multiple is determined by dividing the purchase price by the annual cash inflows (1,000,000,000/500,000,000) = 2. The determined multiple (2), is interpreted to mean that Alaska Corporation should pay 2 new sol per 1 new sol of the Estoya’s cash flow. As a result, Alaska corporation should pay a total of (2*500,000,000) = 1,000,000,000 new sol. Since the targeted company’s rate of return is above Alaska’s required rate of return, the merger should be se ttled at 1 billion new sols. That is, Alaska Inc. should pay 1 billion new sols for Estoya Corporation. Based on the estimated value of the targeted company, the maximum price to be paid by Alaska Inc. should be 1 billion new sol (University of Virginia, n.d.). The cash flow generated from the investment is 7 million Yuan annually. The two mentioned country risks, influences the project as follows: the 30% chance that the Chinese government will require the cash flows earned by Kansas Company at the end of one year be reinvested in China for one year before it can be remitted influences the cash flow considered for the

The History Of The Ginger Smart Basics Tourism Essay

The History Of The Ginger Smart Basics Tourism Essay Roots Corporation Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian Hotels Company Limited. IHCL is a part of the Tata Group of companies, which is Indias premier business house. On December 24, 2003, RCL operated the first of its kind category of Smart Basic hotels across India. RCL develops and operates a fast expanding chain of economy hotels across India under the GINGER brand. The Smart Basic concept created a revolution in the Indian Hospitality Industry. These hotels are termed as GenNext category of hotels. GenNext means generation next, i.e., these hotels are completely new concept, which has changed the outlook of hospitality industry in India. They signify simplicity, convenience, informality, style, warmth, modernity and affordability. The concept of Ginger hotels was developed in association of renowned corporate strategy thinker Dr. C.K. Prahalad and the hotels have been inherently designed and established by IHCL. The first of the Smart basics hotels was launched in Bangalore and was called as IndiOne. First, they completed the test marketing and subsequent fine-tuning of hotel facilities and services of IndiOne then rolled out the concept across India. Now the category of hotels has been launched with a new name Ginger Hotels which is in accord with the fresh, simple and stylish world of Smart basics. The ginger Hotels are built in such a way that they meet the key needs of todays travellers at affordable rates. It follows the concept of Smart Basics which is a philosophy of providing intelligent, thought out facilities and services at a value pricing and reflects the new spirit in which people live and work today. Ginger Hotels target middle-income group people with increasing disposable income. This class likes to spend on travel but not on luxury accommodation, they look for accommodation, which can provide value for their money. All they want is a clean, secure and hygienic accommodation at affordable prices. Ginger Hotels follow generic strategy of growth in which they focus on the cities which has already experienced significant growth. Such cities generally show growth in certain business activities like population growth rates, tourism and convention activities, air traffic volume, local commercial real estate occupancy and retail sales volume. These cities tend to have strong demand for hotel facilities and services. They invest in hotels that are situated near both business and leisure centres which tends to create great demand for hotel services and enables them to attract both weekday business guests and weekend leisure travellers. They have a separate team consisting of members from finance, marketing, development and hotel management departments who assess the financial return of every new investment that the group decides to make and the team clears only those projects that they find are financially viable and which would provide them profitable returns. They target markets that do not have wide seasonal fluctuation in occupancy and focus on small entrepreneurs, traders etc. Ginger has the first mover advantage. Looking at the increasing cost trends in real estate market in the last few years. Ginger Group of hotels lease out the area, building, or takeover some non-branded hotel, in this way they save significant amount of cost and time and moves into the market early which helps them in capturing significant market share ahead of its competitors. The company has identified over 80 cities and intends to focus more cities in the future. In order to increase their customer base, the company intends to continue growing organically in the existing cities in which they operate by selectively establishing more ginger hotels. The Indian Hospitality Industry is highly competitive and fragmented. Ginger hotels compete with three star full service hotels from unorganised sector. Earlier ginger hotels were the only branded three star hotels from the organised sector but the competition for ginger hotels have grown significantly after the announcement by newer inte rnational and local hotel companies to set-up hotels across the country in the value segment. Some of the potential competitors of ginger hotels are Lemon Tree Hotels, Ibis (Accor), Keys (Bergruen Hotels), Hilton, Garden Inn Hotels (DLF) etc. Initially Ginger Hotels leased land in order to build hotels but now they are doing things differently from building a hotel on the top of a shopping mall and redeveloping an existing property. Ginger Hotels provide similar services that a normal hotel provides like rooms with T.V>, fridge, tea/coffee makers, laundry, restaurants, Wi-Fi connections, meeting rooms, business centres, Gyms, Car rental services, Doctor on call, Currency exchangers etc. The manner in which these services are provided differentiates it from other normal hotels. The tag line of Ginger hotels is PLEASE HELP YOURSELF which means most of the services offered have to be carried out by the customer himself. There are no room services or bellhops this strategy adopted by ginger, benefits customers and the hotel, customers, can save upon the tips, which otherwise they would have to pay for room services and hotel can save upon the cost of human resource. Most of the services have to be carried out by the guest himself like while checking into the hotel a guest does not need the assistance of the reception counter as ginger hotels have Self Check-In Kiosk. In addition, there is Give n Take Counter that th e guest can use to deliver used clothes for laundry. There is an ironing room in every floor of ginger hotels. Further are water dispensers on each floor. Ginger hotels also have round the clock vending machine to provide with packed snacks and hot/cold beverages irrespective of the working of the restaurant. In addition, a vending machine to supply other things like toiletries, combs, toothpastes, soaps, mosquito repellents etc. ginger has outsourced food and beverage partners operating on a revenue share model. They have introduced facilities like SMART wellness, which is Ayurvedic wellness facility for business travellers at a low cost. In addition, SMART sleep that includes posture-pedic mattress for absorbing and redistributing pressure from the body weight. In future Ginger Hotels intends to develop its own merchandise range that will be offered in hotel and on the website. The size of the room in the hotel is kept small around 180 sq. Feet as compared to 250-400 sq. Feet of p remium hotels. The concept of Help Yourself has helped the company in operating the hotel with just 25 staff members as compared to premium hotels where they employ around 250 people. The room charges range from Rs. 999 to Rs. 3000, which is quite affordable. All this practice has helped them to cut their marketing costs significantly. Early Mover status and establishes regional operational and synergy has enabled ginger to develop and operate its hotels efficiently and successfully. Ginger Hotels offer standardised products and maintain uniformity of hotel chain. They have come up with unique product features consisting of design, appearance, decoration, colour that attracts the customers attention. The company has developed a record of accomplishment of expanding the business operations through organic growth and maintain high quality, also achieve their financial target. Since there is a shortage of Human resource in ginger hotels, they have adopted a flexible and robust IT system in collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services, which is a company- wide seamlessly, integrated IT system developed by SAP. Ginger hotels has a unique value proposition that appeals the middle class budget people and makes it a flourishing business. If we look at the Indian Hotel Industry, there are certain strengths or favourable factors that contribute to the prosperity of the company in the industry. Ginger hotels are associated with low cost airlines and low cost mode of transportation thus providing a low price better quality accommodation. Apart from this Ginger hotels are located near railway stations and bus stops and are situated in places, which can be beneficial for both business people and tourists. They are mostly located in the city with less seasonal fluctuations in accommodation. Most of the employees are outsourced thus ginger maintains a low amount of staff as the hotel does not offer any room service thus it helps in providing cost benefit. Ginger hotels also provide all basic amenities like gym, ATM, Wi-Fi etc. that helps the hotel in maintaining its standard and quality. This brand is very fresh and simple. It gives a new feeling as expected by the new emerging middle-income group in the country. Ginger relies on regional advertising rather than spending on national campaigns thereby cutting significant amount of cost and successfully building a brand. They have also been able to gain a lot of reputation by being a part of Tata Group, which is a pioneer in the Indian market. Another aspect of their brand strength comes from their holistic value. They have also taken a great consideration for disabled people by designing the last room in the hotel especially for them. They are budget hotels and operate on low cost. They have the ability of spreading themselves quickly across the county in just span of 8 years they have opened up around 40 hotels across the country. The brand Ginger has become very successful hotel chain in India by achieving the occupancy rate of 80%. As Ginger Hotels enjoy certain advantages and strengths they have to face various threats and weaknesses. Ginger hotels is unable to attract higher-middle class and upper class who look for more luxury and services and ginger being a budget hotel does not provide much services. Since ginger is economy chain of hotels, they have a high employee turnover due to limited scope and remuneration provided by the group. This makes ginger incur huge costs by training new employees repeatedly. Ginger comes under the category of three star hotels and it has to face a tuff competition from the local hotels of unorganised sector that are even cheaper and provide services. Apart from these local hotels there are many new brands which have announced their desire to enter the budget hotel segment thus providing more competition to ginger hotels. There are always two faces of a coin, same is the case with ginger hotels, if there are strengths, weaknesses also prevail. Ginger is characterised by a high turnover of frontline staff, rapid, growth and dispersed location. Gingers ability to attract good talent and retain employees is critical for their growth strategy and that people are critical to maintaining the quality and consistency of its services and thereby their brand and reputation. Ginger has outsourced most of its activities only 8 to 9 managers per hotel are on the rolls of ginger rest other facilities like kitchen, restaurant, and backend maintenance are outsourced. Ginger has 175 permanent employees. Ginger hotels have collaborated with various hotel management schools to develop talented students who can meet the rapidly growing demands of the company. The company uses a multi- step recruitment process for retaining and recruiting the best talent. Ginger has implemented extensive training programs and periodic tests for managerial and other hotel-based staff primarily through training partners. They provide various career advancement opportunities to their employees. Ginger hotel organises a two-month extensive training period for new unit managers during which they receive training in managing all core aspects of the hotel operations and they get familiar with the company culture and philosophy. Ginger group also conducts timely web based tests to assess the knowledge and skills of the workers. The company uses performance linked compensation structure, career oriented training to motivate its employees. Even after having such an extensive human resource strategy. Ginger hotels face various challenges as it mainly operates in smaller non-metro cities where the employees are less exposed to new technology, comfort and modern amenities, it becomes a difficult task for the company to gear up the employees upto the standard of ginger hotels. Designing a system to recruit right kind of people and provide right training to employees is a difficult question for ginger hotels as the development inputs are different for different locations. Additionally acquiring professionally qualified employees in remote areas and non-metro cities and retaining them is an area of concern. In order to retain the employees, ginger has come up with various measures so that employees can get additional value in terms of non-monetary rewards like developing employee competencies by providing certifications etc. but consistently ensuring this across all the locations is a big challenge. Ginger uses unconventiona l recruitment process as conventional recruitment becomes very expensive for the group. They have created a portal called [emailprotected] from where almost 48% of the companys recruitment takes place and rest of the recruitment takes places through referral programmes in which existing employees refer a new employee and if the referred person gets selected the referrer gets reward in this way the company satisfies both the existing and new employees. They have also merged with various management schools and employees go to colleges and collaborate with them by linking with their syllabi, they call students for get together and use students as summer interns so that they build relationship even before the recruitment starts. They try to keep their staff motivated by giving them a chance to learn new things and upgrade their skills. Since they are budget hotels so they choose e-learning initiatives to cut costs. They have in house training, induction and e-learning modules based on c ustomer feedback systems. The compliance with quality standards are monitored through both scheduled and unscheduled visits, periodic tests and reviews at each hotel. In addition, the practice of mystery audits and of tracking customer comments through guest comment cards, allows ginger to improve its services and facilities at each hotel. Gingers corporate marketing and advertising strategies are designed to enhance consumer awareness and preference for the ginger brand as offering the value, convenience and comfort in the economy hotel segment in Indian Hospitality industry. Ginger has to reshape the customer expectations, as still Indian customers are uncomfortable with the concept of smart basics and self-service. Each day they have to entertain many customers who enter the hotel without knowing what to expect. Customers often complaint about services which are not provided by the ginger hotels. However, creating awareness for ginger brand is a difficult task to perform, as ginger is a budget hotel, as its business model does not allow huge expenditure on media and promotion. Nevertheless, even after facing various challenges. Ginger has been able to respond effectively to the changing dynamics and economies of the Indian Hospitality Industry. With the continuing expansion across the country, customers are now seei ng a greater value in ginger hotels. Ginger CEO Prabhat Pani said, Ginger hotels, like any other Tata enterprise, would continue to be driven by respect for people and nature, and would like to epitomise environment-friendliness and social responsibility in all aspects of business.

Rocking The Boat :: essays research papers fc

Throughout history individuals have been plagued with decisions in which they must choose to act in their best interest or act as a martyr, dedicating their lives to the best interests of others. While these choices may seem irrational, selfish, and poorly contemplated from the outside, on the inside there are simply no other options. Paradoxically, the protagonists in both Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain sacrifice what is precious to them to preserve their emotional and spiritual survival. Chopin’s Edna Pontillier forfeits a comfortable role and style of life in order to maintain her emotional integrity and independence. Set in the late Victorian Era, characterized by a rigid repression of women’s independence, Edna Pontillier finds herself in the center of a male-dominated society, and tries desperately to break through the expected mold of a woman at that time. She finds it particularly difficult to conform to the expected role of Victorian motherhood. Leonce, Edna’s husband, is rather upset by this fact, and often tells Edna that she must become a better mother, more involved in her children’s lives, similarly to their friend Adele, who idolizes her children and worships her husband. "In short, Mrs. Pontillier was not a mother-woman. This mother-woman seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious b road. They were woman who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels." (Chopin, 8) Furthermore proving her independence and self-reliance, many parallelisms are drawn between Edna and the language spoken by Mrs. Lebrun’s parrot. It is "language which nobody understood." (Chopin 1) Edna’s constant struggle with dissatisfaction with the social constraints of womanhood led her to a raging internal conflict. Regarded as a possession in her marriage with Leonce, Edna seeks freedom, and searches to pursue it in relationships with other men. One of these men, Alcee Arobin, allows Edna to maintain her liberty, although he is used to having the upper hand in his previous relationships with women. Edna’s short-lived romance with Alcee is the only relationship she has experienced that is not structured by possession. The other man, Robert Lebrun, is the man who holds Edna’s heart. Though Robert is Edna’s only true love, he cannot declare or act on his feelings, for he cannot cease thinking of her as anything other than the possession of another man.

Management Control Systems Final Written Case Assignment

Management Control Systems Final Written Case Assignment Budgeting and Performance Evaluation at the Berkshire Toy Company Prepared for: Karen M. Foust, Ph. D. , C. P. A. Adjunct Professor at Tulane University A. B. Freeman School of Business New Orleans, Louisiana Prepared by: Andres A. Calderon andres. [email  protected] com PO Box 21420 Baton Rouge, LA 70893 Date: September 4, 2000 Background Janet McKinley’s father, Franklin Berkshire, founded Berkshire Toy Company (BTC) in 1974.In 1988 Janet worked her way up to the position of Assistant to the President after completing her MBA. Janet promoted employee participation and teamwork. The company went public in 1991, and in 1993 Mr. Berkshire retired, leaving Janet as corporate CEO. In 1995 Quality Products Corporation, a company with a wide variety of products, acquired BTC for $23 million. Janet had an agreement that allowed her to continue to work for BTC for at least 5 years at an annual salary of $120,000.The company h ad a staff of 241 employees organized in three different departments: purchasing (11 employees managed by David Hall), production (175 employees managed by Bill Wilford), and marketing (52 employees managed by Rita Smith)1. BTC produces a fifteen-inch, fully jointed, washable, stuffed teddy bear. The bear is packaged in a designer box and is accompanied by an unconditional lifetime guarantee, and a piece of chocolate candy. The bears are accessorized according to customer order specifications. Internet sales began in 1997.Janet has just received the June 30, 1998 income statement showing Operating Income at $1,632,317 below budget, while Total Revenue is at $1,440,487 above budget (see Exhibit 1). Janet is having trouble understanding how the company’s revenue is thriving, but the company is not generating profits as expected. Current Situation BTC is a decentralized division of Quality Products Corporation that has been experiencing growth in sales over the past four years ( see Exhibit 2a). BTC’s strategy is to have an enhanced product image, build customer brand loyalty through product differentiation, and produce an all American quality product.BTC implemented a management compensation plan in 1997; the plan is structured as follows: †¢ †¢ David at Purchasing: 20% of net materials price variance, assuming favorable Rita at Marketing: 10% of excess variance of net revenue, assuming favorable 1 The remaining three employees are Janet, her secretary, and her secretary’s assistant †¢ Bill at Production: 3% of net variance in material, labor, variable overhead, labor rate variance, and the variable and fixed overhead spending, assuming favorable variancesThe bear is hand made and the quality of material acquired by purchasing can negatively affect production generating excess waste or potentially jeopardizing the quality of the product. Marketing sells the bear through catalogs, company’s retail store adjacent to the fa ctory, Internet sales, wholesale to department stores, toy boutiques, and other specialty retailers. Most orders are shipped the same day as they are received. Commissions of 3% are paid on retail store sales and sales to wholesale buyers, no commissions are paid on catalog sales.Internet sales began in 1997 with bears being sold at a wholesale price of $32. The Marketing and the Purchasing departments seem to be operating well, but the Production department manager has identified the following problems: production was affected by materials ruined during flood, raw material is substandard, high rate of product stock-out, deviations from standard production plans, overtime to met sale demands is high, overworked staff, plant is at maximum capacity, and maintenance is almost impossible to be scheduled. Analysis of the Case Non-quantitativeBTC could work an alliance with its supplier in such a way that raw material is guaranteed to meet high levels of quality. Currently Bill in product ion receives the raw material from David at purchasing, so inspections for defective material happen at the time of production and under the pressure of orders piling up awaiting production. David does not have any incentive to provide quality, but just to reduce his cost. Current incentive plan is not working to the advantage of the Production department, it is not fair to have bonus linked to factors that cannot be controlled by the responsible manager.Incentives are structured in such a way that they encourage â€Å"low balling† revenue figures by the Marketing and â€Å"high balling† raw material price budgets by the Purchasing manager. A budget of zero sales to be achieved by the Internet deployment, supported by an expensive national radio campaign, is not acceptable and should not be rewarded. Quantitative Analysis The favorable sale revenue of $1,440,487 can be explained by a favorable impact of Internet sales2 (+307%), an unfavorable effect of the Retail and C atalog sales (-214%), and a negligible budget variance (+7%) explained by the Wholesale efforts.Ninety one percent (equivalent to $2,300,980) of the unfavorable Total Variable Cost variance ($2,515,896) can be attributed to unfavorable variances in: Direct Labor (39% or $980,305), Variable Overhead (27% or $679,361), and Variable Selling Expense (25% or $641,314) (See Exhibit 4). Almost the entire unfavorable variance of fixed cost can be attributed to the unfavorable variance in Selling Expenses. The Direct Labor3 variance is mainly due to a variance of 42% (from 1. 2 budgeted to 1. 7 actual) labor hours per unit and a variance in salary rate from $8. 0 budgeted vs. $8. 17 actual. The Variable Overhead also affected by the unfavorable 1. 7 hours per unit of direct labor, contributed with an unfavorable amount of $181,639 (see Exhibit 6c). The Variable Overhead Cost per Hour went up due to the additional overhead. The Variable Selling Expense caused an unfavorable variance of $ 443, 100 due to the added cost per unit (see Exhibit 6c). Average price per unit sold $44. 37 compared to a $46. 45 budget. The mix variance stemmed mostly from a price difference between Retail & Catalog ($49) and Internet ($42) sales.The 280,000 units are distributed between Retail & Catalog (85%) and Wholesale (15%) sales. Using the Static Budget Mix expected sales are of $15,122,083 (see Exhibit 5). Fixed Cost Selling Expenses caused an unfavorable variance of $560,192 to the budget, compared to a negligible favorable increase of $261 to budget due to the Fixed Cost Administrative Expense. 4 Almost half ($225,627 favorable) of this unfavorable variance is counteracted by the higher than budgeted output and a fixed manufacturing overhead per unit of $ 1. 674 compared against the budgeted $1. 97. The overall unfavorable $114,910 Fixed Manufacturing Overhead is due to the variance in labor hours per unit. Due to 2 3 Or better said a very unrealistic â€Å"low ball† budget of Inte rnet sales I attribute this to the fact that the company works on an â€Å"order received basis†, instead of forecasting production. the incentive structure at BTC, David Hall has been buying â€Å"cheap† polyester filling and accessories, causing an unfavorable price efficiency variance of $49,609.Sales and Total Cost unfavorable variance of $ 2,669,607, compared to $1,632,317 budgeted can be attributed to poor sales mix performance (unfavorable Budgeted Sales Variance $675,589) and unfavorable Labor Volume Variance ($437,338)5. Incentive Program It is my opinion that the incentive program at BTC is the major contributor to the unfavorable variances. David Hall is rewarded for purchasing â€Å"cheap† raw material, which is affecting production. Rita is rewarded for selling products over the Internet at prices that are not appropriate.For a bonus allocation in dollars please refer to Exhibit 7, Incentive Plan (better named: â€Å"Let’s all gang against p oor old Bill†). While David pockets $9,636. 62 ($48,183 @ 20%) by purchasing substandard polyester fillings for the bear, Bill looses $2K due to additional filler required for production of a quality bear. There is no reasoning on how Rita sets the price for the Internet bear. Rita set a low price on the bear causing an unfavorable mix variance and there is no reasoning on how she established the budgets; overall she is favored by both moves, hurting the company’s profits. OvertimeThis is due to the inefficient use of labor, adding to the low morale of the employees. The unit labor requirement went from 1. 2 to 1. 7 due to the poor quality of raw material. The pay rate went up 17 cents due to new hires that had to be enticed to work at BTC. All these problems can be associated with the order base production scheduling, causing a â€Å"knew jerk reaction† in the system every time a new order is received, forcing employees to work overtime (See Exhibit 8 for more d etails). The case makes it clear that there have been no technology improvements in the past five years at BTC.Fixed manufacturing overhead is favorable due to the higher volume of items sold, but it does not reflect on the performance of the firm, since this is due to the low Internet price. I assume that most of this expense is to cover the radio campaign and the Internet cost, increasing volume with no concerns on the effect on Production 5 I blame this on Rita for selling products at less than reasonable price, only looking after her compensation. She increased volume with no concerns on the effect this might have on production. 4 RecommendationsProduction Bill should consider going to a forecasted production cycle, allowing a better distribution of the work load over the year (reducing overtime from 9. 11 to 8. 47), allowing time to mentor new employees (as attrition rate would be hire), allowing for scheduled maintenance without worrying about capacity during peak production t imes, and dedicate more time to the cleaning of the machinery (there is a substantial drop in cleaning material cost, in this industry this can be associated with a higher maintenance expense, see Exhibit 2b).The quality management effort should be integrated to supports the overall strategy of maintaining a high quality product at BTC. The integration of marketing and production could yield better production schedules to be developed; this integration can be accomplished by establishing shared goals between the two departments. With better production schedules BTC could identify bottlenecks and make sure that those are never starved for work6, reducing overtime demands during peak demand cycles.Overtime Premiums have been rising at an alarming rate (1619% in 1998, 1055% in 1997, see Exhibit 2b); this has very bad consequences on the company’s bottom line7. Production planning should increasing employee morale, allow for proper maintenance of equipment and reduce the risk of breakage during peak production times, and allow for planned training of new employees. In order to offer a higher quality product and impact the reduction of overtime, Bill has to consider upgrading some of the outdated equipment, especially replacing the equipment that reduces overtime and maintenance cost.The company is operating near to capacity; new equipment should alleviate the production bottlenecks and provide the foundation to reduce the overtime labor cost. If Bill is not familiar with new technologies in this industry, he should seek support from consultants in this area. Incentive Plan The incentive model should encourage accurate reporting by encouraging the right behavior, thus discouraging â€Å"low or high balling† while developing budgets (see Exhibit 3). David should be rewarded for finding the least expensive input material, without compromise of quality.Samples of material to be 6 Technology could also be deployed to reduce the bottlenecks, especially the labor-intensive bottlenecks. purchased should be analyzed by Production prior to committing to the shipment and purchase. This can only be accomplished if purchases are based on forecasted production, also allowing David to have more time for the negotiation of better prices for quality raw materials. Rita should continue to be rewarded for selling products, and growing markets. Instead of basing Rita’s bonus on the Static budget, her bonus should be evaluated against the Flexible Budget.In general static budgets are departmental goals that jointly represent corporate goals. Flexible Budgets incorporate some of the present variations in prices, markets, production, costs, etc. that tend to invalidate the Static Budget over time. The incentive plan for BTC should have a mix of departmental goals and division goals, so that there is a better integration among the different departmental goals. Bonuses should reflect management’s favorable performance; therefore, managers should have adequate control over those drivers that affect BTC’s outcomes.BTC should design a Balanced Scorecard as an integrative effort to support efforts of the individual managers of the different department in an orchestrated effort. Balanced Scorecard BTC’s Balance Scorecards should be aligned to support the corporate strategy, both short and long term. Incentives should be assigned to the degree the different measures contribute to the corporate goals. Managers shall respond to incentive, thus supporting corporate goals (see Exhibit 9 for details).A Balanced Scorecard typically includes measures in each of four areas: Financial, Customer, Internal Business Processes, and Learning and Growth8. Some organizations add other dimension to support their strategy, or replace one of the four perspectives with one that uniquely reflects their mission and strategy. In the case of BTC the identified areas are: Corporate (BTC), Marketing, Purchasing, Production, and Manag ement9. The proposed set of Balanced Scorecards for BTC is presented in Exhibit 10. It sounds like the previous manager was a former student of Dr.Page, since the â€Å"two envelop† strategy was employed. First envelope: Blame the predecessor, write loss off. Second envelope: Prepare two envelopes. This case is common in situations with companies that pay bonuses. That's why companies are moving into options. 8 The Balanced Scorecard, Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, Harvard Business School Press, 1996 9 Management as part of the Balanced Scorecards tends to be forgotten. Management (upper) has a responsibility to support the different departments with information on quality, cycle time, and cost. 7 Exhibit 1Berkshire Toy Company A Division of Quality Products Corporation Preliminary Statement of Divisional Operating Income for the Year Ended June 30, 1998 Units Sold Retail and Catalog Internet Wholesale Total Revenue Variable production costs Direct Material Acrylic pil e fabric 10-mm acrylic eyes 45-mm plastic joints Polyester fiber filling Woven label Designer box Accessories Total Direct Material Direct Labor Variable Overhead Total Variable Production Cost Variable Selling Expense Contribution Margin Fixed Costs Manufacturing Overhead Selling Expenses Admin Expenses Total fixed Costs Operating Income Actual Units 325,556 $ 8,573,285 174,965 $ 4,428,018 105,429 $ 1,445,184 45,162 $ 14,446,487 Master (Static) Budget 280,000 $ 11,662,000 $ $ 1,344,000 $ 13,006,000 Master Budget Variance 45,556 $ (3,088,715) $ 4,428,018 $ 101,184 $ 1,440,487 Unfavorable Favorable Favorable Favorable $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 256,422 125,637 246,002 450,856 16,422 69,488 66,013 1,230,840 3,668,305 1,725,665 6,624,810 1,859,594 5,962,083 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 233,324 106,400 196,000 365,400 14,000 67,200 33,600 1,015,924 2,688,000 1,046,304 4,750,228 1,218,280 7,037,492 661,920 4,463,000 1,124,000 6,248,920 788,572 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 3, 098 19,237 50,002 85,456 2,422 2,288 32,413 214,916 980,305 679,361 1,874,582 641,314 (1,075,409) (3,023) 560,192 (261) 556,908 (1,632,317) Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Unfavorable Favorable Unfavorable Favorable Unfavorable $ 658,897 $ 5,023,192 $ 1,123,739 $ 6,805,828 $ (843,745) Unfavorable Exhibit 2a Company Growth based on Schedule of Actual Manufacturing Overhead Expenditures for years Ended June 30, 1994 — 1998 Units Produced 350,000 300,000 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 – Units 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Year Exhibit 2b Variable Cost Associated with BTC growthBerkshire Toy Company A Division of Quality Products Corporation Schedule of Actual Manufacturing Overhead Expenditures for years Ended June 30, 1994 — 1998 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 325,556 271,971 252,114 227,546 201,763 Units Produced Variable Overhead Payroll Taxes and fringes Overtime Premiums Cleaning Supplies Maintenance Labor Maintenance Suppliers Miscellaneous Total $ 840,963 $ 423,970 $ 4,993 $ 415,224 $ 27,373 $ 13,142 $ 1,725,665 $ 524,846 $ 24,665 $ 6,842 $ 256,883 $ 15,944 $ 11,244 $ 840,424 $ 467,967 $ 2,136 $ 6,119 $ 232,798 $ 12,851 $ 9,921 $ 731,792 $ 413,937 $ 1,874 $ 5,485 $ 244,037 $ 15,917 $ 8,906 $ 690,156 $ 356,150 $ 1,965 $ 4,996 $ 216,142 $ 14,323 $ 7,794 $ 601,370The following table shows the increases in variable cost associated with the production growth. Variable Overhead Growth Payroll Taxes and fringes Overtime Premiums Cleaning Supplies Maintenance Labor Maintenance Suppliers Miscellaneous Units Produced 1998 1997 1996 1995 60% 12% 13% 16% 1619% 1055% 14% -5% -27% 12% 12% 10% 62% 10% -5% 13% 72% 24% -19% 11% 17% 13% 11% 14% 20% 8% 11% 13% Increases in Variable Cost Associated with the Production Growth 1800% 1600% 1400% 1200% 1000% Percent 800% 600% 400% 200% 0% 1994 -200% 1995 1996 Year 1997 1998 1999 Payroll Taxes and fring es Maintenance Suppliers Overtime Premiums Miscellaneous Cleaning Supplies Units Produced Maintenance LaborExhibit 2c Fixed Cost Associated with BTC growth Berkshire Toy Company A Division of Quality Products Corporation Schedule of Actual Manufacturing Overhead Expenditures for years Ended June 30, 1994 — 1998 Fixed Overhead Utilities Depreciation—machinery Depreciation—building Insurance Property Taxes Supervisory salaries Total 1998 $ 121,417 $ 28,500 $ 88,750 $ 62,976 $ 70,101 $ 287,153 $ 658,897 1997 $ 119,786 $ 28,500 $ 88,750 $ 61,716 $ 70,101 $ 274,538 $ 643,391 1996 $ 117,243 $ 28,500 $ 88,750 $ 57,211 $ 68,243 $ 275,198 $ 635,145 1995 $ 116,554 $ 28,500 $ 88,750 $ 55,544 $ 68,243 $ 269,018 $ 626,609 1994 $ 113,229 $ 28,500 $ 88,750 $ 54,988 $ 66,114 $ 254,469 $ 606,050The following table shows the increases in fixed cost associated with the production growth. Fixed Overhead Growth Utilities Depreciation–machinery Depreciation–building Ins urance Property Taxes Supervisory salaries Units Produced 1998 1% 0% 0% 2% 0% 5% 20% 1997 2% 0% 0% 8% 3% 0% 8% 1996 1% 0% 0% 3% 0% 2% 11% 1995 3% 0% 0% 1% 3% 6% 13% Increases in Fixed Cost Associated with the Production Growth 25% 20% 15% Percent 10% 5% 0% 1994 -5% 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Year Utilities Property Taxes Depreciation–machinery Supervisory salaries Depreciation–building Units Produced Insurance Exhibit 3 Incentive Model for Accurate Reporting10 ?b1* forecast + b2 * (actual – forecast) if actual ? forecast Incentive = ? b1* forecast – b3 * (forecast – actual) if actual < forecast b1: rewards are positively related to forecasted sales, give managers and incentive to forecast high b2: sales should be higher than the forecast, b2 affect this component b3: when actual sales are less than the forecast, this plan penalizes the manager For example: b1 b2 b3 5% 3% 7% Actual Sales Forecasted Sales Incentive 1000 1000 50 1100 1000 53 1200 1000 5 6 1000 1100 48 1100 1100 55 1200 1100 58 1000 1200 46 1100 1200 53 1200 1200 60 10 Example from: Managerial Accounting an Introduction to Concepts, Methods, and Uses by Maher Stickney & Weil. Exhibit 4 Total Variable Cost Variance Contributions Variance Cost Contribution Acrylic pile fabric 1% 10-mm acrylic eyes 1% 45-mm plastic joints 2% Polyester fiber filling 3% Woven label 0% Designer box 0% Accessories 1% Direct Labor 39% Variable Overhead 27% Variable Selling Expense 25% Total Variable Cost Variance Contributions Acrylic pile fabric 45-mm plastic joints Woven label Accessories Variable Overhead 10-mm acrylic eyes Polyester fiber filling Designer box Direct Labor Variable Selling Expense Exhibit 5 Analysis of SalesFlexible Flexible Budget Budget (Budgeted Units Sales Volume Mix)(5) Variance $1,897,427 $$218,656 $2,116,083 $13,559,427 276723 $0 $1,562,656 48833 $15,122,083 325556. 1464 Actual Retail and Catalog Internet Wholesale Units Price Master (Static) Budget $11,662,000 $$ 1,344,000 $13,006,000 Budgeted Budgeted Mix in Total Sales Sales Mix Mix PercentagesBudgeted Price Variance Variance 238000 0 42000 280000 85% 0% 15% 100% $49. 00 $42. 00 $32. 00 $46. 45 $(3,088,715) $(4,986,142) $4,428,018 $4,428,018 $ 101,184 $(117,472) $1,440,487 $(675,596) $8,573,285 174,965 $49. 00 $4,428,018 105,429 $42. 00 $1,445,184 45,162 $32. 00 $44. 37 Total Revenue $14,446,487 325556 Exhibit 6a Schedule of Standard Costs: Fifteen-Inch Berkshire Bear Table 2 Standard 280,000 UnitsQuantity Allowed per Unit Direct Material Acrylic pile fabric 10-mm acrylic eyes 45-mm plastic joints Polyester fiber filling Woven label Designer box Accessories Direct Material per unit Total Direct Material Direct Labor Sewing Stuffing and cutting Assembly Dressing and Packaging Total direct labor 0. 02381 2 5 0. 9 1 1 Input Price $ $ $ $ $ $ 35. 00 0. 19 0. 14 1. 45 0. 05 0. 24 Standard Cost Per Unit $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 0. 83335 0. 38000 0. 70000 1. 30500 0. 05000 0. 24000 0. 12000 3. 62835 1,0 15,938 0. 50 0. 30 0. 30 0. 10 1. 20 $ 8 $ 9. 60 Variable manufacturing overhead 1. 2 $ 3. 114 $ 3. 7368 Fixed manufacturing overhead 1. 2 $ 1. 970 $ 2. 3640 Exhibit 6b Schedule of Actual Manufacturing Costs for year Ended June 30, 1998 Table 3 Actual 325,556 UnitsQuantity Allowed per Unit Direct Material Acrylic pile fabric 10-mm acrylic eyes 45-mm plastic joints Polyester fiber filling Woven label Designer box Accessories Total Direct Material Direct Material per unit Direct Labor Sewing Stuffing and cutting Assembly Dressing and Packaging Total direct labor Overtime Premium Other Variable Manufacturing Overhead Fixed manufacturing overhead 7,910 661,248 1,937,023 344,165 328,447 315,854 Input Price $ $ $ $ $ $ 32. 4174 0. 1900 0. 1270 1. 3100 0. 0500 0. 2200 Total Cost $ 256,422 $ 125,637 $ 246,002 $ 450,856 $ 16,422 $ 69,488 $ 66,013 $ 1,230,840 $ 3. 780732 189,211 104,117 121,054 34,615 448,997 103,787 $ $ 8. 1700 4. 0850 $ 3,668,305 $ 423,970 $ 1,301,695 $ 658,897 $ 7,283,707 Exhibit 6c Analysis of CostStatic Budget Direct Material per unit Direct Material per unit Units Total Materials Labor Cost per Unit Total direct labor per unit Labor Hours Hourly Rate Total Labor Cost Variable Manufacturing Overhead Variable Overhead Cost per Hour Labor Hours Variable Manufacturing Overhead Variable Selling Expenses Cost per Unit Units Total Variable Selling Expenses Fixed Manufacturing Overhead Cost per hour of labor Total hours Fixed Manufacturing Overhead $ $ 1. 97000 336,000 661,920 $ $ 1. 46749 448,997 658,897 $ (225,627) $ (222,604) $ (448,231) Price Total $ $ 1. 97 390,667. 20 769,614. 38 $ 225,627 $ (114,910) Volume $ $ $ 4. 35100 280,000 1,218,280 $ $ 5. 71206 325,556 1,859,594 $ (443,100) $ (198,214) $ (641,314) Price Total $ 4. 35 325,556. 00 $ (443,100) $ Volume $ $ $ 3. 11 336,000 1,046,304 $ $ 3. 84 448,997 1,725,665 $ (327,488) $ (351,873) $ (679,361) Price Total $ 3. 11 390,667. 20 $ (327,488) $ (181,639) Volume $ $ $ $ 1. 20000 336,000. 00 8. 00000 2,688,000 $ $ 1. 6980 448,997. 00 8. 17000 4,092,275 $ (980,305) Total $ (76,329) $ (903,976) Price $ $ 1. 20 390,667. 0 8. 00 $ (76,329) $ (466,638) Volume $ $ $ 3. 62835 280,000. 00 1,015,938 $ $ 3. 78073 325,556. 00 1,230,840 (49,625) (165,291) $ (214,916) Price Total $ 3. 63 325,556. 00 $ (49,609) $ Volume $ Actual Variance Type Flexible Budget Price Efficiency Variance Volume Variance $ 1,181,231. 11 $ 3,125,337. 60 $ 1,216,537. 66 $ 1,416,494. 16 Flexible Budget Total Cost per Unit Total Cost Variance Price Variance Volume Variance (670,915. 33) (1,841,957. 90) $ 14. 26335 $ 16. 50162 $ 14. 26335 Flexible Budget Variance $ (1,434,086) Total Price Efficiency Variance $ (670,899. 27) Total Volume Variance $ (763,187. 10) Static Budget Variance $ (2,512,873. 3287) Fixed Costs Actual Static Variance Total Cost Variance Selling Expenses $ $ $ $ 5,023,192 4,463,000 (560,192) (3,072,804) Administrative Expenses $ $ $ 1,123,739 1,124,000 261 TOTAL Budget Cost Variance Budget Sales Va riance Budget Variance Total Cost Variance Flexible $ (1,994,017) $ (675,589) $ (2,669,607) Static $ (3,072,804) $ 1,440,487 $ (1,632,317) $2,669,607 1,632,317 $1,037,290 Variances Volume Variance $ (903,976) $ (466,638) Labor Variance $ (437,338) Labors Hours Exhibit 7 Incentive Plan (better named: â€Å"Let’s all gang against poor old Bill†11) David Hall (Purchasing) Quantity Actual Price Static Budgeted Price Acrylic fabric 7910 $ 32. 42 $ 35. 00 10-mm acrylic eyes 661248 $ 0. 19 $ 0. 19 45-mm plastic joints 1937023 $ 0. 13 $ 0. 14 Polyester fiber filling 344165 $ 1. 31 $ 1. 5 Woven label 328447 $ 0. 05 $ 0. 05 Designer box 315854 $ 0. 22 $ 0. 24 Accessories 325556 $ 0. 20 $ 0. 12 Bonus $ 14,632. 71 20% Rita Smith (Marketing) Revenues Variable Selling Expenses Fixed Selling Expenses Net Revenues Bonus Actual Master Budget $14,446,487. 00 $13,006,000. 00 $ (1,859,594. 00) $ (1,218,280. 00) $ (5,023,192. 00) $ (4,463,000. 00) Delta $ 7,563,701. 00 $ 7,324,720. 00 $ 23 8,981. 00 10% $23,898. 1 Purchasing Variance $ 20,428. 37 $ $ 25,181. 30 $ 48,183. 10 $ $ 6,317. 08 $ (26,946. 28) $ 73,163. 57 Bill Wilford (Manufacturing) Price Variance Volume Variance Static Budget Variance $ (670,915. 33) $ (1,841,957. 90) $(2,512,873. 3) NO BONUS Since negative Static Budget Variance 11 Production processes input into output. Both, the input responsible manager and the output responsible manager, make good money $73K and $24K in 1998, while the production manager makes no money. This situation is ill-fated, or just plain dumb. The â€Å"sandwich effect†, the manager in the middles gets squeezed. This is the sarcasm in management that I am illustrating with this title. Exhibit 8 Overtime Hours 448,997. 00 Direct Overtime 103,787. 00 448,997. 00 Actual Pay Rate Total Hours $ 8. 17 $3,668,305. 49 390,667. 20 $ 4. 09 $ 423,969. 90 45,457. 20 $ 9. 11 $4,092,275. 39 390,667. 20 Flexible Pay Rate Total $ 8. 0 $3,125,337. 60 $ 4. 00 $ 181,828. 80 $ 8. 47 $3,307 ,166. 40 Exhibit 9 Balanced Scorecard12 The actions of management are not static but, rather, are dynamic over time. A round of Strategic performance improvement (usually every year at the time budgets are being developed) may result in an increase in the goals that have been established by the manager and their Balance Scorecard supervisor. (see Figure 1) An analogy may be useful at this point (see Figure 2): just as in high jumping, the goal (bar) is not set at the point at which it will eventually end. It is Performance Measure in set lower, and as the jumping progresses, it is steadily moved higher.As the jumper Management trying to meet Performance clears it at lower heights, the bar is moved up. Each time the assessment (depicted by the black line in the graph) approaches or exceeds the goal (depicted by the gray line), the Figure 1. Balanced Scorecard in action 100 95 90 Performance Metric 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 2000 goal is increased until performance is at a level at which further improvements may not be desired. The management group of a corporation will develop plans for the year, those plans are revised through time, incentives are allocated and measures are taken to draw new plans for future years. The Balance Score card allows managers to keep their Goal core and their measures clear, so that decisions are made towards a goal that is congruent with the corporate goal. Outcome measures are results. Driving measures are Assessment incremental in nature, such as the ones depicted in Figure 2. 2004 Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2001 2002 2003 Figure 2 Progressive Goal Setting 12 Graphs were extracted from Leadership Model based on Performance Measures and Continuous Improvement by Andres A. Calderon Exhibit 10 Balanced Scorecard for BTC Group BTC Scorecard Customer Satisfaction Measures Number of Complaints and number of unsolicited letters Employee satisfaction (involvement, recognition, access to information, support from staff functions, etc. , Staff turnover, Productivity (revenue per employee, return on compensation, profit per employee, etc. ), Number of employees qualified for key jobs relative to anticipated requirement Outcome Performance Initiatives Driver BTC Employee Satisfaction Marketing Attain a high market share in the sale Percent of stuffed animal market share and cost to attain of quality stuffed animal toys a new customer Brand recognition by becoming the synonymous for Teddy Bears (â€Å"brain Percent of people that relate teddy bear to TCB share†) Reduction of selling expenses while increasing number of sales (Last Year Selling Expense – Current Year Selling Expense) / (Last Year Sale – Current Year Sale) Marketing Marketing Marketing Marketing MarketingIntroduction of successful new product Number of new motives or designs introduced per year, variations to the market Time to market, Break even time Introduction of better distribution channel Accurate product pricing based on market Marke t accessibility related to delivery cost Contribution Margin Growth and market understanding by polling customer perception of value for money Marketing Accurate forecasting of sales and Percentage off error related to inventory cost, Percent of peak seasons (to minimize stock-outs key items out of stock, Number of back-orders and inventory cost) Group Scorecard Reduce cost of raw material while maintaining Production quality standards Minimize raw material shortages, so that Production does not have to wait Minimize production cycle timeMeasures Number of times Production rejected raw material, raw material cost compared to price index Percent of key raw material out of stock, Number of backorders Production cycle time Outcome Performance Initiatives Driver Purchasing Purchasing Production Production Production Minimal percentage of manufacturing Service failure index, return rate, warranty claims, number defects of defects Timeliness Percent on-time delivery, total time for custom er interaction (e. g. time of Internet session), average waiting time (e. g. to receive a teddy bear), satisfaction with delivery time Number of processes having adequate information on quality, cycle time, and cost New revenue or savings per database, report, etc. Management Information coverage ratio Management Return on Data

Puritanism in American Literature

Puritanism in American Literature The Puritans had a large influence in American literature and still influence moral judgment and religious beliefs in the United States to this day. Puritan writing was used to glorify God and to relate God more directly to our world. Puritan literature was commonly a realistic approach to life. â€Å"Puritanism as a historical phenomenon and as a living presence in American life has enriched American literature in ways far too numerous to detail here. † (G. Perkins B. Perkins Phillip Leininger 888) Puritanism is a collection of many different religious and political beliefs. Common styles of Puritan writing are protestant, Calvinist, purposiveness, and the writings also directly reflected the character of the readers who were literate and strongly religious. Pragmaticism and both political and religious Idealism are frequently themes in Puritan literature. Puritanism thus laid the basis for Americanism. It did so on the basis not of philosophical or legal argument, but of Christian belief based on the Bible. Gelernter 25)The Calvinist ideology, which was popular in Puritanism was based off of the Five Points, which are total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the â€Å"saints. † Total depravity is the idea that all humans are born sinful. Unconditional election means that God chooses who he wants to save and also contains the concept of predestination, which is an ideology that God damns certain individuals for the salvation of others. This also ties in with limited atonement, the ideology that Jesus only died for a selected group of individuals, not for everyone. The ideology of irresistible grace is that â€Å"the saving and transfiguring power of God,† cannot be either earned or denied. Perseverance of the â€Å"saints† is the ideological belief that elected individuals have the power to interpret the will of God and to live in an upright fashion. The Puritans had secular concerns as well as religious. Puritans believed in working hard, and doing selfless things to help others. Puritans also believed in typology, the belief that God's intentions are present in human action and in natural phenomenon. Failures to understand these intentions are human limitations. (â€Å"American Puritanism: A Brief Introduction†) In 1620, William Bradford formed the Plymouth Plantation with a group of Europeans that came with him to America. In only a year, their number of survivors decreased by half. Bradford kept a journal that chronicled the first 30 years of Plymouth Colony. Plain speech was the high literary value of this society, as expressed by William Bradford, who enjoined â€Å"a plain style, with singular regard to the simple truth in all things. (â€Å"The Influence of Puritanism on American Literature†) In this journal, he exhibited diplomacy and integrity, the ability to assure the colony’s survival, and made a contribution in avoiding potential disasters. His principles established religious freedom and self-government that later shaped American colonial government. John Winthrop wrote A Modell of Christian Charity either before he crossed into America in 1630 or along his journey to the New World. In this book, the struggles that were to be faced in the New World are discussed along with Winthrop’s ideas and plan’s to overcome them. Winthrop was considered to be a contributor to the concept of American exceptionalism, the idea that the New World is unique to other countries by ideology based on laissez-faire and egalitarianism along with liberty. Winthrop has also portrayed that Puritans were neither visionaries nor self-conscious heroes. They were a part of society that believed in solid work such as building homes, trading, farming, and government. Anne Bradstreet was unique to authors of her time because her work had literary creativity and artistic merit and was written for literature. In contrast, works of Winthrop and Bradford were written for historical purposes and to express their positions and political beliefs on certain positions. In England in 1650, some of Bradstreet's poems compiled together by her brother-in-law who named them The Tenth Muse. The first of these poems was the Four Elements, which are fire, water, earth, and air. The Constitutions were the four temperaments of man kind as they were seen by medieval and Renaissance physiology, choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic, and sanguine. The four Ages of Man, which are child, teen, adult, and elder as Seasons of the Year which are Fall, Spring, Summer and Winter were described and explained. Bradstreet was better with her knowledge of literature rather than her own personal opinions directly. In some poems, Bradstreet displays deep affections of the patriarchal Puritan household and a sensuous response to nature. Bradstreet’s literature showed both sides of the spectrum by upholding puritan beliefs as well as creating artistic merit. The American writings of the seventeenth century possess as a whole no great artistic merit. They are valuable chiefly as a study in origins and as a complex mirror of early American experience. The world that they reflect is that of the Renaissance and Reformation, of Raleigh and Calvin and Cromwell, modified by its contact with the American wilderness. (â€Å"American Literature Lectures, Part I†) They are valuable in the sense as it is a study in origins of popular religious and political ideology of the early American experience that helped shape present day America. This experience was one that reflected the Renaissance and Reformation of individuals such as Calvin and Bradstreet. The branch of Reformation in Puritan ideology was one of the main topics of early American literature. In this Puritan literature, the mind of the a Puritan is shown through its consciousness of sin, Calvinistic beliefs, superstitions, contradicting beliefs of orthodoxy and nonconformity, and its preference to moral value over aesthetic value. Puritan tradition was a major influence in our nations government through establishments of principles such as the relationship between church and state and government’s popular sovereignty. Puritanism has contributed to the way our day-to-day lives are carried on. It has also contributed the way literature has transformed over the years. Many political and religious ideologies from Puritan literature are still upheld today. Works Cited Gelernter, David. â€Å"Puritanism lives. † The American Enterprise17. 4 (2006): 25+. Student Edition. Web. 18 Dec. 2011. â€Å"Puritans and Puritanism. † Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature. George B. Perkins, Barbara Perkins, and Phillip Leininger. Vol. 1. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. 888. Student Edition. Web. 18 Dec. 2011. â€Å"PAL: American Puritanism: A Brief Introduction. † California State University Stanislaus | Home. N. p. , n. d. Web. 18 Dec. 2011. . Renaissance, the, the Reformation. â€Å"American Literature Lectures, Part I. † Texas. Net Lonestar. N. p. , n. d. Web. 18 Dec. 2011. < http://lonestar. texas. net/~mseifert/amlit1. html> Signet, Theodore Dreiser. New York:, and 1964. 815-28.. â€Å"The Influence of Puritanism on American Literature :: The Compulsive Reader :: A Haven for Book Lovers. † Compulsive Reader. N. p. , n. d. Web. 18 Dec. 2011. .