Thursday, October 31, 2019

Swot and Pestel analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Swot and Pestel analysis - Essay Example In this era of globalisation, the wine industry is experiencing a nascent stage of growth in Germany. As a result, it has emerged as one of the promising sectors offering high influence over the GDP of the economy of Germany (Koch & et. al., n.d.). SWOT Analysis Strength: Strong Brand Image Operating for Nine generations Development of FitzSecco passion fruit High quality of white wines Location of Fitz-Ritter Smaller Wine Bottles Champagne Production Sparkling Wines Weakness: Medium Size High price Opportunities: Small Museum Bacchus Boutique Sponsoring Of Charity Events, Concerts Threats: Varied New Vinters Globalisation Source: (Koch & et. al., n.d.). Fitz-Ritter is one of the renowned and leading wine estates of Germany operating efficiently since nine generations. Moreover, it also includes champagne production along with wine in order to extend its portfolio in the market among other competitors. Fitz-Ritter always attempted to offer more concentration over introducing new prod ucts namely ‘FitzSecco passion fruit’ for the young citizens in order to enhance customer dependency and loyalty, resulting in augmentation of its total sales. Furthermore, another significant factor, which enhanced its equity, has been regarded as the high quality of white wines being strongly preferred by the customers of German market (Koch & et. al., n.d.). ... However, Fitz-Ritter also possesses certain weaknesses such as the medium size and high price of its products, which may not be affordable for lower income groups (Koch & et. al., n.d.). The introduction of a small museum along with a gift shop named Bacchus boutique also facilitated Fitz-Ritter to augment its brand image and uniqueness in this era of competitiveness. In addition, sponsoring of varied charity events, concerts on wine estates and art galleries also provided the opportunity of enhancing the awareness of its target customers resulting in amplification of the demand of FitzSecco passion fruit along with its brand. Due to globalisation and industrialisation, wine industry became highly competitive, resulting in attraction of varied new young aged vinters. It declined the productivity as well as the prosperity of Fitz-Ritter leading to reduction of its position and attributes in the market imposing threats to the company (Koch & et. al., n.d.). PESTEL Analysis In order to eliminate the custom duties over export operations of wine products, Johann Firtz also led the protest campaign named Hambacher Fest by young vintners which significantly affected the business operations of Fitz-Ritter. It declined the brand image, revenues and value proposition of Fitz-Ritter in the market of Germany. Consequently, the movement was not preferred by the citizens of Germany and France and so the entire business operations, shifted into the market of United States. Besides, the restricted laws of the government of United States also acted in a negative way resulting in reduction of the total productivity of Fitz-Ritter. Moreover, health consciousness of the citizens also declined the profit margin and fidelity of Fitz-Ritter

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Writer's choice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 28

Writer's choice - Essay Example On the other hand, if oil prices dropped and the stock prices were on the rise, then the IMF assumed an increment in oil supply. These two forces explained the plunge of oil prices (Zumbruni, Para 1-4). The results indicated that during the first phase the oil price drop was attributed by weak global demand. For instance, crude oil declined from$ 105 to around $ 82. However, in the second phase, the oil prices for the crude oil dropped further to $ 50 and IMF suggests that a decrease in the oil price was due to increased demand. The estimates reveal that supply outdid the demand during this phase (Zumbruni, Para 1-4). The explanation aligns with the class materials effectively as it explains the effect of reduced demand and increased supply on prices. Accordingly, a decrease exerts a downward pressure in the short-run. Apparently, increased supply allows a surplus of the commodity in the market, therefore, exerting a downward pressure on the price levels. These aspects are reflected in chapter four that focused on demand and supply within the oil markets. The above information may be illustrated as follows; Zumbruni, Josh. Supply of Demand? The IMFBreaks Down the Collapse of Oil Price. Wall Street Journal. Real Time Economics. April 14, 2015. Retrieved from

Sunday, October 27, 2019

History Of The International Anti Corruption Movement Politics Essay

History Of The International Anti Corruption Movement Politics Essay Finding itself at the centre of development discourse for the last two decades, corruption has been a star of the international development scene since it was brought to the top of the agenda in the 1990s  [1]  . Following the end of the Cold War, a changing geopolitical climate encouraged the establishment of an international commitment to condemning and criminalising corruption at the multilateral level, a process which culminated in the appearance of a coordinated global anti-corruption movement  [2]  . Consisting of international agreements, domestic laws and initiatives, the reorientation of international organisations and the mobilisation of civil society, this global anti-corruption movement was aimed at tackling corruption via the systematic implementation of tools and strategies to address the issue on the ground. It is clear that corruption is now a focus of international development. Anti-corruptionism is a narrative that places corruption at the centre of development concerns and is tightly bound up with the modern good governance movement and the corresponding global shift towards legal formalisation.  [3]   Practically, the global movements origins have been suggested to lie in the interests of the US Government, multinational companies and multilateral donors. Corporate complaints about corruption as a non-tariff barrier to trade were a key motivation for the application of moral pressure to the international community for it to take action against international corruption. The US led the charge to encourage the appearance of a unified global agenda, a major concern being the fact that American companies were losing billions of dollars in international contracts from their inability to pay bribes by virtue of the operation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  [4]   The emergence and operation of the anti-corruption movement poses interesting questions for any student of international law and development. Importantly, if corruption has been recognised as harmful to societies since ancient times, what was it about the 1990s that spurred the international community to formally address it on a multilateral level? Further, how has the movement affected development on a global and local level and what have been its effects? The following section will examine anti-corruptionism by beginning with the genesis of the movement. It will then examine some methods and outcomes of the movements anti-corruption techniques. Whilst anti-corruptionism has brought international attention to an area which was previously somewhat neglected, critics argue that aspects of the movement itself have been counter-productive.  [5]   Owing to anti-corruptionism, corruption has reached a state of quasi-omnipotence in current development scholarship.  [6]  Culminating in the institution of a global anticorruption movement in the 1990s, this focus on corruption and its role in development emerged in stark contrast with attitudes of the international community in the period that immediately preceded it.  [7]   Having been unsuccessful at the UN, the US in 1981 began lobbying at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for that body to implement an alternative to alternative to the failed UN effort, illicit payments agreement.  [8]  However many OECD countries declined to cooperate due to concerns about the interaction of such an agreement with their domestic law.  [9]  With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the post-Cold War era ushered in a period of immense geopolitical change. With that change, the attention of the international community was increasingly focussed on the internationalisation of economics brought about by increasing levels of globalisation  [10]  . The problem of foreign bribery and corruption was suddenly given new priority by previously hesitant OECD countries who were then more receptive to the idea of an international agreement on the issue. In May 1994, the OECD Ministerial Council adopted the Recommendation of the Council on Bribery in International Business Transactions, which asked members to take concrete and meaningful steps to amend their laws, tax systems, accounting and record keeping requirements and public procurement procedures.  [11]   In 1997, all twenty-nine member countries of the OECD and five non-member countries agreed to sign the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. The OECD Convention in effect obliged signatory countries to conform to a US model prohibiting bribery and money laundering. This model was then extended further in the UN Convention Against Corruption in 2003. The UNCAC included new commitments to transparency in public works procurement and currently represents the broadest, most recent international commitment to tackling global corruption.  [12]   In this new era of international enthusiasm, institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF came to include anti-corruptionism in their assistance conditionalities.78 Corruption was newly packaged as a socio-economic rather than political concern, by these institutions in order for them to depoliticise and therefore legitimately target the problem.79 Following this, there was widespread publication of the effects of corruption by NGOs and civil society, spearheaded by TI. NGOs and civil society worked to transmit the anti-corruption movement to citizens around the world and were aided by a post-communist trend towards free and active media facilitating the diffusion of the key tenants of anti-corruptionism  [13]  . The radical change of geopolitical climate, growth in international trade spurred by globalisation, participation by civil society, and moral push from the US, converged to popularise a fight against corruption. All this culminated in the appearance of the global anti-corruption movement in the 1990s. There are a number of consequences to the emergence of anti-corruptionism as a key explanatory factor for development failure. The first is principally a consequence of the ideology from which anti-corruptionism itself sprung but is also tied up with the attack on the state that anti-corruptionism encourages and supports. At the core of neo-liberalism is the simplistic mantra of private = good, public = bad. By viewing actions of the state as interference in the functioning of the market as rent-seeking activities neo-liberalism ignored the dangers of private monopolies and anti ­competitive behaviour, both of which began to flourish internally. Moreover, as Joseph Stiglitz has persuasively argued, neo-liberalism as encapsulated by the Washington Consensus failed to take into account the extreme inter-relatedness of everything with everything else in society. The second consequence of anti-corruptionism is arguably more serious and is related again to its role within neo-liberal ideology. It is the way in which corruption has become a mono-casual or predominant explanatory factor for development failures. One of the most potent dangers of anti-corruptionism is therefore not that it is wrong to highlight the damaging nature of corruption although much more work needs to be done to provide evidence for the supposition that it is actually harmful but that it is too simple an explanation alone to account for the failures in development policies. If there has been one central lesson of the past sixty years of development disappointments, it is how little we understand of what actually works in enabling people to fight their way out of poverty. The danger therefore of anti-corruptionism is that it diverts attention away from more nuanced accounts of development failures by providing an illusion of certainty in our understanding of development, and in doing so causes actual and on-going harm. The inability or unwillingness to develop a comprehensive understanding of failure contains within it the risk of failing all over again. The prescription to governments that they need to fight corruption does not provide a list of priorities, a means of going about it or any unanticipated (negative) consequences that may arise. This is largely because corruption tells us nothing about specific actions; instead it is what Polzer, following Euben, describes as an othering tool. In place of describing specific actions, such as theft or vote-rigging, corruption is simply a negative evaluative concept that One of the main effects of the term itself is thus to create a dichotomy between the corrupt and the good that mirrors neatly onto neo-liberalisms central characterisation of the state as bad and the market as good; the othering nature of the discourse, moreover, allows the World Bank, as champion of the market, to take on the mantle of good expert in contrast to the corrupt developing state. Focusing on the corruption of bureaucrats and government officials not only conveniently shields free market ideology from any responsibility for the failure to live up to its claims of wealth creation and the BWI from any responsibility for their role. Anti-corruptionism also exculpates any responsibility that the West its institutions and its citizens may have for, for example, Corruption, because of its place within the good governance agenda, is an ahistorical discourse of the present. Moreover, it is one of course that locates development failures squarely within developing countries, and this predominating focus on developing government failures in the face of our own complicity in them has of course an undeniable smack of cultural imperialism to it.  [14]  As such, it is not only deeply unhelpful but also damaging to the goals of development as well as to the necessary relationship between the global North and South an essential part of development if development goals, however defined, are to be achieved.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Japanese Americans :: essays papers

JapaneseAmericans In the early 1940’s, there was evidence of Japanese-American loyalty and innocence, but the information was not always well known. This, coupled with the factors of war hysteria led to the legal upholding of concentration camps in Korematsu v. U.S. (1944). The injustice was clouded, most immediately by the war, and indirectly by racism at home. The sneak attack on Pearl Harbor left a permanent indent on the way Americans viewed the Japanese. Indeed, it was this one act which thrust the isolationist U.S. into the middle of the world’s biggest war. The brutal attack, so close to home, was viewed as sneaky and underhanded. This, added to the fact that the Japanese were rumored to have an amazingly effective spy system on Hawaii and the West Coast, led the Japanese-Americans to become highly suspected individuals. They were even a more immediate threat than communists, since they required an eventual takeover, and Germans, since they were preoccupied by numerous enemies. In addition, the Japanese-Americans were concentrated on the Western Coast and could thus organize better. There is also the chasm of culture; ignorance is the key to racism, and the average American knew very little of the lifestyle and customs of the Far East. Thi s led to more suspicion. There were also facts going against the Japanese-Americans. According to the Munson Report, 98% of Japanese-Americans were loyal to the U.S. This is an impressive number; however, in times of war, 2% sabotaging on mainland America was a major threat. A more startling fact that tarnished the Japanese-American reputation was the fact that Japan was rumored to have an extremely effective spy system on the West Coast. There were even some conspiracy theorists that rationalized that the sneaky Japanese were merely waiting for the right time to strike, as they did at Pearl Harbor. The people were scared of the Japanese, and in a democracy, the people have a voice. The Japanese-Americans also had a decent reputation in general, but people were too occupied with the war to worry about it. 112,000 Japanese-Americans—60% of which were U.S. citizens born on U.S. soil—were sent off to concentration camps. There were Japanese loyally fighting in the American army. They even went quietly to the concentration camps, having faith in the American system. But, who cared about the numbers then? We were at war with the Japanese, and the Japanese-Americans were a threat. Japanese Americans :: essays papers JapaneseAmericans In the early 1940’s, there was evidence of Japanese-American loyalty and innocence, but the information was not always well known. This, coupled with the factors of war hysteria led to the legal upholding of concentration camps in Korematsu v. U.S. (1944). The injustice was clouded, most immediately by the war, and indirectly by racism at home. The sneak attack on Pearl Harbor left a permanent indent on the way Americans viewed the Japanese. Indeed, it was this one act which thrust the isolationist U.S. into the middle of the world’s biggest war. The brutal attack, so close to home, was viewed as sneaky and underhanded. This, added to the fact that the Japanese were rumored to have an amazingly effective spy system on Hawaii and the West Coast, led the Japanese-Americans to become highly suspected individuals. They were even a more immediate threat than communists, since they required an eventual takeover, and Germans, since they were preoccupied by numerous enemies. In addition, the Japanese-Americans were concentrated on the Western Coast and could thus organize better. There is also the chasm of culture; ignorance is the key to racism, and the average American knew very little of the lifestyle and customs of the Far East. Thi s led to more suspicion. There were also facts going against the Japanese-Americans. According to the Munson Report, 98% of Japanese-Americans were loyal to the U.S. This is an impressive number; however, in times of war, 2% sabotaging on mainland America was a major threat. A more startling fact that tarnished the Japanese-American reputation was the fact that Japan was rumored to have an extremely effective spy system on the West Coast. There were even some conspiracy theorists that rationalized that the sneaky Japanese were merely waiting for the right time to strike, as they did at Pearl Harbor. The people were scared of the Japanese, and in a democracy, the people have a voice. The Japanese-Americans also had a decent reputation in general, but people were too occupied with the war to worry about it. 112,000 Japanese-Americans—60% of which were U.S. citizens born on U.S. soil—were sent off to concentration camps. There were Japanese loyally fighting in the American army. They even went quietly to the concentration camps, having faith in the American system. But, who cared about the numbers then? We were at war with the Japanese, and the Japanese-Americans were a threat.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Michelle and the Wedding Essay

She had been drifting in and out of consciousness in the way only a working man – or woman – could. Spending most of her days tap-tap-tapping away on a keyboard had taken its toll on her, and her attention span was now at the point where she spent most of the afternoon doing the open-eyed sleep that most office workers have perfected. She snapped out of it in time to see the computer clock flick to 5:10. â€Å"Damn† she swore to herself. She knew she was going to be late at this rate. Hurriedly she threw her things into her bag, grabbing her keys and phone and hammering on the keyboard with a vague hope that it would shut the computer down faster. Sadly, the outburst of violence seemed only to annoy the computer, causing it to dot out a long series of beeps. Guiltily, Michelle stood back and calmed herself down, hoping nobody saw or heard what she did. After what felt like forever it finally shut down. Breathing a sigh of relief she grabbed her bag and in one deft movement swept her coat onto her back, exchanging the bag between hands in a fluent split second, finishing with the bag on her shoulder. She smiled to herself; she knew that Phil would have seen it, and knew how impressed he would be. How impressed he always was, in fact. She knew he had a crush on her, and he probably knew she was aware of that. She always took it lightly though. Everyone knew how happy she was with Jason. Not that anybody could blame him for liking her though. She was, when she wasn’t dozing, the life of the office; she knew everybody by first, last, and nickname, and was always chatting or making jokes. She was beautiful too, there was no denying that. With long brown hair contrasting with large blue eyes, she was a welcome change from the office bimbo. Her straight hair framed the side of her face, and added an accent to her sharp and well carved features. She was at the perfect height between tall enough to talk to properly, but small enough to avoid an awkward posture. She was slim with an athletic body, and always wore clothes that seemed plain yet pretty. Her skirt was never too short, her shirt never too low, and the effect of this was a feeling of wanting to see more. Nobody ever did though, she was far too attached to Jason. Or she would be, were she not running late. Fortunately, as she burst out onto the stairway, he seemed to be late too. She slowed down a bit as she always did on the stairs. Not for safety reasons – in fact, she always secretly hoped she’d fall so she could claim compensation – but because the stairs had enormous windows spanning two of the walls. She loved the view of the city at night. The far off street lights and headlamps glistened against the crystal-like windows, and the sky was a tranquil yellow with large dark clouds with glowing edges taking their mysterious formations for the night. No stars were out yet, but the moon was showing between the clouds, surrounded by light. She snapped out of her daydream again. Hurrying down the remaining steps, she was already fumbling for her keys. Stepping out of the building after saying goodbye to the security guard, she pulled her coat up around her neck. It was a bitter cold night, and the clouds above had given birth to a fine mist that hung over the car park, making it hard to breath and hard to see. She reached the car and unlocked it. It wasn’t hers; she never drove since her accident a few years back. She sat, tempted to turn on the heating, but she decided against it in favour of having rosy cheeks ready for Jason. Just as she was thinking that rosy was all very well and good, but blue and blotchy wasn’t, the door opened and in a swift movement he was in the car. She always felt out of breath when she saw him. He was tall, dark, and handsome. His eyes were deep and dark and his hair was short and rough looking. His face was well formed, giving him a huge smile that spread from his mouth to his ears. He was fairly tall at 6 foot, but he was well built and strong, with just a hint of muscle under his shirt. His lightly tanned skin glistened with condensation from the mist outside. He put out an arm and pulled Michelle close as he planted a kiss on her forehead. â€Å"Sorry I’m late†, he said meekly, as a grin flashed across his face again. â€Å"The boss held me back, refused to let me go!† â€Å"That’s fine† she responded, trying to fight back a similar smile. â€Å"I’ve been here since five, though. You need to tell your boss where to stick it!† She couldn’t hold the lie, and she laughed out loud with the last comment. She didn’t know why she was so giggly with him. It was as if she was a child again. Jason was the same though. He was very mature and patient, but he was very childish at heart. He was definitely the best of both worlds. She was the happiest she had ever been. When he had popped the big question four years ago, presenting a large diamond ring, she had almost fainted with joy. The wedding day was in a week’s time, and they were going to go see about renting a tuxedo for him. Sadly, that was cut short. Due to the pair of them being late, the city centre was brimming with people and the stores were doing their best to close on time. Feeling a little dismayed, they headed home. Michelle was cursing to herself. She had tried so many times to make this journey, as had Jason, but they never seemed to be able to get to the stores. Listening to â€Å"Men In Black† on the radio, she smiled to herself as she made a mental note that irony is a cruel thing. During next day’s lunch break she went to the smaller town centre to pick up her wedding dress. She had selected the perfect one before she had even been proposed to, shortly after her best friend’s wedding. It was a magnificent dress. The train was long and frilly, and the dress itself felt and looked silky. It was covered by a fine layer of lace, and the whiteness was so bright it was practically radiant. Michelle felt slightly disheartened when her name didn’t seem to be down for collection. Well, she was disheartened in a â€Å"shout and scream loud swear words and start tearfully stamping† kind of way. After the young shop assistant managed to calm her (by pointing her towards the coffee machine) the manager had sorted everything out. Her dress looked even more beautiful than before. She phoned her boss and told her she wouldn’t be in for the rest of the day. Well, she had to try the dress on, didn’t she? Indeed she did, and as she danced around the living room when she first got home the urge was getting stronger and stronger. She decided to make a drink first – it had been a tough day. She made up her cup of coffee and set it on the chest of drawers in the front room, and hurried into the bedroom to try the dress on. She looked fabulous. The whiteness of the dress blended immaculately with her pale complexion, and as she ran her fingers along the surface of the fabric it shimmered with a silky glow. She heard a knock on the door – that’d be Emily, her best friend, to see the dress. She ran excited out into the living room, having completely forgot that she set the mug up on the chest of drawers just outside the room†¦ She had booked the next day off of work to meet up with the wedding planner. She spent the best part of three hours sat in an unfriendly feeling office whilst having various cards and brochures thrown at her. The defense mechanism she had perfected throughout her professional life kicked in, and her eyes glazed over as she started to daydream. She started by wondering what the wedding planner was giving her all these things for. Surely the whole point of a wedding planner is to avoid the brochure flipping? Deep inside, she cursed all wedding planners into a large cage, which she then dropped off a large cliff. Unfortunately, there was one which had not been able to fit inside the cave, but this one quickly had his clothes torn off by a ferocious bear. He had a willy in the shape of a pig’s tail. She laughed, startling the wedding planner and herself so much that the two of them jumped out of their seats. The planner quickly replaced her look of shock with her familiar scowl, and said in a tone similar to that used to discipline young puppies said â€Å"Since you seem to find the fact that this churches graveyard is a funny thing, I suppose you won’t be put off by a feeling of death at your wedding.† Trying hard to hide her grin, now bought on merely by the adrenaline rush she had when she startled herself, she simply nodded. At this point, after something going wrong every single time she tried to arrange anything, she just wanted the wedding to go ahead and didn’t care how much death, tuxedos, or indeed people attended. She didn’t even care if Jason was in a cheap Tesco suit or that she had to hurriedly form a white bouquet of flowers to cover the large coffee stain on her dress. The waiting room was a small and grotty place. Michelle never enjoyed sitting there; the padding was thin on the seats, and her bum always felt sore. She also had a habit of going away on another daydream. Not that that was such a bad thing though; she would far rather be flying away with neon spaceships than sat with increasingly numbing buttocks. Sipping at a cup of lukewarm water, she tapped her feet on the floor, nodding her head along with the resulting rhythm. She was so caught up in her thoughts and tapping that she didn’t even notice the man run in and shoot the wedding planner, before setting fire to the office. She didn’t bat an eyelid when the sirens wailed, and the shocked bystanders looked in as she sat in a burning room, surrounded by flames, tapping her feet in time to nonexistent music. She didn’t even cast a glance towards the yelling policeman and fireman, whilst the flames climbed slowly up her arms and legs. She didn’t even flinch when a beam fell from the ceiling, exploding into a strangely attractive shower of sparks. She didn’t care, because she’d been there so many times before. Michelle woke up. She was sweating, she was breathing heavily and she was shaking, but she didn’t cry. She didn’t let out any screams. She sat up slowly, her head brimming. She had so many thoughts racing around, it was hard to make out what she was thinking. She walked slowly towards the room of her cell, and clawed weakly at the padding as she had done so many times before. Part of her was sobbing silently inside, mourning for Jason even though four years had passed since he was hurled through the windscreen of her car, bouncing like a rag doll down the rocky and hilly terrain of Norway. Outside, the workers at Dorsetshire County Asylum started preparing for the day shift.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Marginal costing techniques Essay

The cost of a product under marginal costing or variable costing includes only the variable costs of making the product. The variable costs include direct material, direct labour and variable overheads. Variable costs per unit approximate the marginal cost of making another unit of a product. Selling price minus variable costs adds up to contribution. Contribution is the amount of money available to cover the fixed costs and afterwards to contribute to profit. The fixed costs are treated as period costs and are expensed in the period incurred. Marginal costing can be used to assist in decision making in the following circumstances: acceptance of a special order, dropping a product, make or buy decision and to choose which product (mix) to produce when a limiting factor (resource) exists. The technique of marginal costing mainly concentrates on financial factors, for instance the company’s objective to maximise profit or to create wealth. But other non-financial or commercial implications with long term character are largely ignored. If a company decides whether it should drop a product or not, it is necessary to consider commercial factors. If it stops producing a product because of its profitability, it might upset customers who have bought this product over years. And it may happen that they start buying their whole products from competitors. A company should not think immediately about dropping a product when the demand is too low, since it is short term thinking to let thousands of customers go away. It should rather think about exceeding the demand. Further on, the product to be dropped may be a complementary one to another product made by the company. The problems of scarse resources can be compared with those of dropping a product. If an enterprise decides to make an optimum product mix (=profit maximising product mix), it might be in the position of not having enough resources to make a product with a lower contribution. The same effects of dropping a product could be a consequence. The acceptance of an order might depend on non-financial factors as well. The firm should consider if it could sell the products itself under another (low cost) label. Furthermore a company must pay attention to its price in the primary market because the orderer might offer the product either for a higher or lower price. Make or buy decisions are difficult because outsourcing always jeopardizes the jobs of those currently working for the  company and the quality of the job to be done. The firms’ image and thereby its sales are put in danger, if it makes frivolous redundancies. Moreover, the company has to make sure that it gets the same quality of output for less money to justify the outsourcing. In my opinion it is true that marginal costing ignores other relevant commercial factors. The contribution of a product on its own should not be decisive and is short term thinking. A company has to pay attention to customers, public and competitors as well. A long term strategy including financial and non-financial factors should be established to ensure a profitable and sustainable performance.