Cadbury Schweppes plc

Cadbury Schweppes plc Introduction Cadbury Schweppes plc is a confectionery and non-alcoholic beverage company. The Company’s products include brands, such as such as Cadbury, Schweppes, Halls, Trident, Dr Pepper, Snapple, Trebor, Dentyne, Bubblicious and Bassett. Cadbury Schweppes operates in five segments: Britain, Ireland, Middle East and Africa (BIMA), Europe, Americas Confectionery, Asia Pacific and Americas Beverages. Americas Confectionery, BIMA and Europe produce and distribute confectionery products in their respective geographical markets. (Google Finance, 2008). The Asia Pacific segment produces and distributes confectionery and beverages products in the Asia Pacific region. Americas Beverages market, produce and distribute branded soft drinks in North America. During the year ended December 31, 2007, the Company acquired confectionery businesses in Romania (Kandia-Excelent), Japan (Sansei Foods) and Turkey (Intergum). (Google Finance, 2008) Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited operate a s one business organization (Rio Tinto). Rio Tinto is an international mining company. The Company’s business is finding, mining and processing mineral resources. (Google Finance, 2008). Its major products are aluminum, copper, diamonds, coal, uranium, gold, industrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide, salt, talc), and iron ore. Businesses include open pit and underground mines, mills, refineries and smelters, as well as a number of research and service facilities. On October 23, 2007, Rio Tinto acquired Alcan Inc. (Google Finance, 2008) Both companies have operations that span across national boundaries, as well as long term liabilities. This indicates that they face both exchange rate and interest rate risks. This paper is aimed at looking at the different exchange rate and interest rate risks that these companies face, the risk management policies, the instruments used in hedging these risks and the implications of these risk and risk management strategies to investors. H aving said this, the paper will now go on to discuss the different types of risks. Currency Risk Currency exposure refers to the risk of financial loss that a company suffers as a result of changes or fluctuations in interest rates. The financial loss may come as a result of changes in the value of cash flows or as a result of changes in the recorded value of assets and liabilities of the company. There are three main types of exposure that a company may face. These include (Shapiro, 2003): Translation exposure; Transaction exposure; and Economic Exposure. Translation exposure is the exposure a firm faces because of its assets and liabilities that are denominated in foreign currency. It is the exposure that is basically faced by multinational companies that have subsidiaries in many other countries. Translation exposure has no major effect on value of the firm because it affects only balance sheet and income statement items that are denominated in a foreign currency. Transac tion exposure is the exposure a firm faces as a result of its contractual obligations that are denominated in a foreign currency. It represents the exposure a company faces as a result of its contractual obligations that have already been booked but that would be settled at a future date (Shapiro, 2003). These include for example, repayment of loans denominated in overseas currencies, purchases from overseas companies and dividends

Political theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Political theory - Essay Example the dialogue process as espoused by Socrates (and Plato) as mostly noticeable in almost every instance that arose posed a question searching upon a meaning, which hems in the intrinsic values of definition for the sake framing up an argument based on logic and viability. According to him an individual must know the virtue of being someone or possessing the attributes that can be perfectly defined by him. There should not be any apparent sense of belief in the awareness of a person who is claiming to know the virtues that he or she possesses but actually doubts still persists in the mind of that individual. So Socrates, after sharing his thoughts with many of the young men of Athens who were not at all by their teachers and conversing with them, came out with the understanding of analogous human tendencies that they traverse. He was considered to be the wisest by many, far more than the intellect level of the teachers in Greece. But in contrast, he claimed to know nothing much more th an determination of an individual in knowing what he or she actually knows. There is enough wisdom in the process of listening to music, practicing poetry and getting involved into arguments, and according to him every man should explore through all these fields as because the life is not worth living, which is left unexamined or is not scrutinized. The politicians who proved to be the culpable part for some of the injustice that they perpetrated against the fellow citizens were taught by Socrates since they claimed to serve justice, and could not even define it. They were and still are the â€Å"leaders† who holds up the so-called legitimate structure of the state. â€Å"Then, as I was saying, our youth should be trained from the first in a stricter system, for if amusements become lawless, and the youths themselves become lawless, they can never grow up into well-conducted and virtuous citizens† (Plato, Jowett, Cornford & Shorey, 226). So it is evident that Socrates uses the power of

The role of social capital in the business start-up and Essay

The role of social capital in the business start-up and entrepreneurial development - Essay Example Capital, as stated by the economists, is a produced means of production. The expenditure incurred on capital in business is often termed as investment. This is because with the benefits of investments, an organization can generate economic surplus in future. The concept of social capital has gained importance in the contemporary business world. This concept was initially introduced by the sociologists and political scientists. In the current epoch, the concept of social capital withholds all those social relations that possess productive benefits within them. It is true that the success of growth or prosperity of an organization is derived with the help of easy access of financial or productive factor resources. However, goodwill and social relations are also important for determining factors that influence the success of a new business organization. The brand loyalty for a product can be developed by the consumers only if they are able to use the product. However, it is only social capital that can enhance the brand value of an organization at its initiation period. The business environments in the commercial marketplaces in the current era are highly competitive. In this situation, social capital acts as a core competence and helps a business to start-up efficiently. It also helps these new firms in developing and enhancing their entrepreneurial skills in business (Block, 1982). Literature Review The social capital largely helps the growth of an organization since its inception. Today at the business start up stage, the social networks of the entrepreneurs are utilized. In the later stage, the concept of networking between the business promoters falls under the context of social capital. It is true that by using social capital, the new business organizations gather human and financial capital in their business. This helps the organizations to develop their business in the contemporary competitive marketplaces. It is thus believed that in the modern days, succ ess of business organizations can only be achieved through a quantifiable amount of social capital. Unlike the concept of human and financial capital, social capital is intangible in nature and hence, it is highly difficult to measure it. It is thus true that the recent scholars face difficulty to precisely measure the exact amount of social capital required for business development. In 2001, Cote and Healy had stated that social capital relates to the norms, network and values of a business organization. Measuring the value of social capital has been considered to be one of the most primary tasks of World Value Survey in 2001. Hjollund and Svendsen had stated that the primary well-being of a new venture can only be established by the use of social capital (Stryker, 1998). In the society, social capital not only helps in the formulation of new business firms, but also facilitates the job creation activities. Thus, many economists suggest that in the long run, social capital helps to reduce the amount of unemployment. This is because social capital aids the formation of new firms or business ventures in an economy, thereby raising the employment opportunities in the same. It should also be analyzed that the rate of economic growth in a nation depends on the rate of new business formations. Thus, indirectly social capital is the underlying driving force for economic progress in a nation. In the