Jackson Automotive Essay - 823 Words

BACKGROUND Jackson Automotive Systems is an Original Equipment Manufacturer located in Jackson, Michigan. Larry Edwards is the president of the company. It is operating in automotive parts industry with product lines in advanced heating and air conditioning systems, engine cooling systems and parts and fuel injection and transfer systems. The company experienced fast growth, was stable during the global recession period and has steady rebuilding of sales since 2010 with substantial backlog of orders. In September 2012, Edwards decided to repurchase stocks from a group of dissident shareholders. He planned to use $5 million short-term loan and $5 million in excess cash on its balance sheet to facilitate for this buyback, which would†¦show more content†¦Shipment delays due to material shortages caused shortfall in April-May actual sales. Given the issues above, Jackson really needs additional loan to operate the business without further delay in their order fulfillment. Howev er, the challenge of the company is whether it is able to pay off the loan by September 2013 as Edwards proposed to the bank. ANALYSIS Jackson Automotive has two major events occurred between August 2012 and May 2013. These two events put the company into a challenging financial situation, which caused the company unable to repay its loan on time. The first one is the repurchase of stock at 10,000, in which half of them was funded by short-term loan ($5 million) and the cash on hand. By using cash (source of fund) to fund for this repurchase, Jackson Automotive has used 60% of the source of fund available for the company. In addition, borrowing the bank loan has increased the debt ratio from 23% in August to 42% in September (see exhibit 1). This repurchase decision also affects the debt to equity ratio, which went from 0.3 in August to 0.73 in September. This means that the company has less financial stable than before, and more risky to the creditors and investors. These negative effects could lead to the less solvency ability of the company. Besides that, the company also purchased significant inventory in April and May, used about 30% source of fund, which led to the dramatic increase inventory to sales ratio from 1.1 to 3.2 (seeShow MoreRelatedJackson Automotive Case Study2377 Words   |  10 PagesCase Study Jackson Automotive Systems Executive Summary Jackson Automotive Systems is an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) that supplies parts for the automobile industry. Jackson Automotive Systems is currently operated by the president, Larry Edwards, and was founded in 1961 by Larry Edward’s father. Jackson Automotive Systems has been operated largely as a cash only business with very little if any debt outstanding typically. The 2008 financial crisis was a difficult time for all participantsRead MoreA Speech On The Rotary Club2424 Words   |  10 Pagesfunding is clearly inadequate. I am in my eighth year at Mississippi State, and during those eight years the only time we’ve received a funding increase was for this current fiscal year—and then most of that was taken away. As I tell our leaders in Jackson, you can’t have it both ways. Our universities can’t have a low level of state support and low tuition and expect to ensure high quality and high output. The total cost of educating a student at Mississippi State for one year is almostRead MoreMercedes Bergers Advantages And Disadvantages977 Words   |  4 Pages more than 100 years, and it is still a trusted brand by all kind of professional and businessmen, all around the world. To become a big company like Mercedes Benz is very hard, and demand a large capital investment as well as a long time frame (Jackson, 2001). Core Competencies of Mercedes-Benz Without significant core competencies, it is almost impossible for the companies to become to such a powerful and respectable brand in the car industry. In fact, based on the consumer perceptions on theRead MoreBusiness Report1488 Words   |  6 PagesAnalyzing Your Favorite Business |FALL 2014 | |Team Members: |Caleb Jackson, Jacob Smith, Matt Williamson | | |Company Name: |Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) Read MoreCar Dealers4365 Words   |  18 PagesPage 1 of 13 NEW AND USED AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY: AN INDUSTRY PROFILE sic # 5511 Ronald C. Rice, BBA University of Cincinnati College of Business Administration Spring 1990 TABLE INDUSTRY AND BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT CONTENTS Trends Affecting the Industry.........................1 Current State of the Industry.........................3 The Legal Environment.................................4 Industry Problems.....................................4 Franchise Opportunities................Read MoreThe Environmental Challenges Facing The American Auto Industry1033 Words   |  5 Pagesfrom low interest rates, longer-term loans, and rebounding consumer confidence. Edmunds consultancy predicts 2014 sales of over 16 million, only one million units below the year 2000 sales record. Kristin Dziczek, a specialist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, says the post-great recession U.S. The auto industry is now highly competitive versus all global rivals. The United States auto industry is dominated by five major auto manufacturers: GM, Toyota, Ford, Cerberus (which ownsRead MoreMergers and Acquisitions in Automobile Industry9279 Words   |  38 PagesDetails 2 1.4 Academic Advisor 2 2. Topic of Research 3 2.1 Research Topic 3 2.3 Statement of Purpose 3 3.1 Introduction to Mergers Acquisitions in Automotive Industry 4 3.2 Rationale of research project 4 3.3 Statement of Research Objectives 4 4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 5 4.1 Mergers Acquisitions 5 4.2 Recent Trends in Automotive Mergers Acquisitions 5 4.3 Debates in the field of M A 6 4.4 Key Research components 6 4.5. Schematic Diagram 7 5. LITERATURE REVIEW 8 5.1 MergersRead MoreAuto Industry Analysis in Pakistan8638 Words   |  35 PagesMoeen Nasir, (CASE) in their report published in International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, has identified that automobile sector has huge economic potential and the study identified the prevalent condition of productivity in automotive manufacturing industry of Pakistan and indicated the possible areas for enhancing productivity. The findings of this research have revealed that effective utilization of role of technology can enhance the productivity of Pakistani manufacturingRead MoreStrategic Hrm: Case Study of Luxury Cars2417 Words   |  10 Pagescompanies adopt different business and HR strategies. For this study focuses on works of two authors Porter (1980) who has classified business competitive strategy into three types: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus and of that of Schuler and Jackson (1987) who has classified business strategy into three types: cost redu ction, innovation, and quality enhancement (Huang 1999). At the end it would try to reach at an particular point where by the help of the practical and secondary data it can identifyRead MoreAnalysis of Bmw8493 Words   |  34 Pagesobtaining key suppliers of incumbent firms or are forced to search for alternatives, which will cause extra costs. Bargaining Power of Suppliers Automobile producers are generally able to dictate their terms to suppliers. First, because automotive parts are standardised commodities and are merely used on automobiles (Bradley et al. 2005), which therefore means that suppliers sell their products only to a small number of large firms (Hanson et al. 2005). Second, because backward integration

Misunderstanding Racial Identity free essay sample

Misunderstanding Racial Identity The wrong interpretation of race has caused racism and prejudice problems, which have been passed from generation to generation. In America, where there is a large diversity, more people are guilty of â€Å"categorizing† others by using race and stereotypes. The incorrect â€Å"sorting† of individuals has become more evident on T. V, daily life, and current political and public views. In this text, I will explore some of the ways in which popular culture contributes to the dangerous trend of perpetuating and promoting unjust classifications through the use of stereotypes. Today, we identify people in such a way that people’s emotions are affected. Media has an immense impact on this because that is how people keep up-to-date with popular culture. Also agreeing with my perspective is Omi, who states that â€Å"Popular culture has been an important realm within which racial ideologies [that] provide a framework of symbols, concepts, and images through which we understand, interpret, and represent aspects of our â€Å"racial existence† (Pg. 628). The way that media present people from different cultures influences the way we develop prejudices. By looking at these features, we come up with ideas (or stereotypes) about the people that are being presented. I consider myself as a person that gets categorized by other people and also participate in categorizing because I am like any other human being that criticizes people’s actions, appearance, the way they speak, etc. While judging others, we come up with assumptions about them and classify them into a group or category. Based on the image that we form, we construct their identity in our minds and consequently treat people based on that image we have created of them. The classification of people into groups is so grave that global issues have occurred and are likely to keep occurring. For example, consider slavery; Europeans made a hierarchy of races putting African Americans at the bottom of the list. If we recall, African Americans became slaves in the United States and were treated with cruelty because they were seen as the lowest class that had no rights. Since a large portion of Americans viewed African American as the lowest class, the belief has remained throughout generations, therefore; many Americans still classify African Americans as the lowest class. Many times advertisement is a way in which specific groups are targeted and this can be offensive to the group because the commercials, ads, or posters present stereotypes instead. Propaganda and advertisement are meant to appeal to the attention of certain groups, but when the groups are racially targeted, it is a problem that we should strive to resolve to better our communities. Other situations where stereotypes are observable are when we watch Television. For example, when a Hispanic family is presented along with violence and maltreatment, the stereotype of â€Å"macho† and violent men is spread throughout society. As a result of such events portrayed by the media, we form perceptions about people or groups, and in our minds generalize the situations by applying it to a whole race. Stereotypes are not limited to advertisements and music but are also seen on daily life situations as well. For example, I have noticed the changing attitudes about racial identities in my community some of these changing attitudes are reflected by the way certain members of the community are classifying others based on racial or ethnic membership. According to the CNN Wire Staff, the city of San Bernardino in California went into bankruptcy in the year of 2012 (â€Å"San Bernardino Files for Bankruptcy† 1). As a result, different ethnic groups were blaming racial groups for this situation. A couple of days later, I heard an Anglo-Saxon American leader of a business association blaming African Americans and Hispanics for the bankruptcy. He blamed African Americans communities for wasting money and having countless babies that took a lot of money to maintain. Moreover, he said that there were too many Hispanics taking away jobs and making San Bernardino look bad by having so many illegals living in it. As we can notice there is tension between racial groups and consequently, we are all affected. In daily life situations divisions like these occur because of stereotypes and intolerance that overwhelm our community. Another situation that reflects stereotypes in daily life includes checkpoint locations by the police. In suburban areas where the majority of the population is white, checkpoints are rare to nonexistent because those communities are made up of â€Å"the best† race: the Caucasian. In urban areas where minorities inhabit, checkpoints are much more often seen because the locations are meant to target to specific races. For example, Hispanics that often don’t have their driving licenses or legal papers or African American that have pending tickets to pay because they can’t afford to pay them off. Omi agrees when he says, â€Å"Dramatic instances of racial tension and violence merely constitute the surface manifestations of a deeper racial organization of American Society – a system of inequality† (Pg. 625). As Omi states, there is â€Å"inequality† and â€Å"racial segregation† (Pg. 26) as can be noted in the fact that people are classified by race and not by their nationality. Race is not a way to identify people because not everyone is the same within the race even though we have similar looks. Our bad habit of identifying by race will keep creating problems especially now that there is an increase of mixed races. Popul ar culture has made its debut in current political and public views. As some of us have experienced, living in a racially divided America creates discomfort not only for foreigners, but also for native-born Americans as well. Today we see people being categorized into a racial group which closes doors for people even if they belong to a traditional American family. The Caucasian race is known to have the highest rate of people who have a college degree, but some doors are closed on them because they have appearance that resemble to those of minority races. For example, many people in these types of situations encounter different challenges, like not finding jobs in the United States because sometimes they are mistakenly distinguished as a race they don’t belong to. Although America is supposed to represent equality, discrimination in employment, schooling, and housing is present. Identification by race is incorrect because it negatively affects society to the point that it can lead to severe cases of discrimination, causing the violation of civil rights. By looking at other â€Å"races† as less than others, we are discriminating against people, and it is something that we notice some people do today. For example, people think that every black person is the same and consequently assume that all African Americans are delinquents. Many African Americans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Jamaicans and members of other nationalities that are of black descent, face discrimination today when in restaurants, renting apartments, buying a car, and many other services. I am a witness of this because I have been living in apartments since I came to the United States. Where I currently live, we have a Hispanic manager that admits she doesn’t like to rent apartments to black people because they are troublemakers. This is denying African Americans the right to live there, which is known as racial discrimination. Discrimination by race is becoming something that more people are struggling today with because in our popular culture, it is becoming acceptable to divide people and groups by their racial identity. In the speech, A More Perfect Union, Obama said, â€Å"I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time, unless we solve them together, unless we perfect our union† (Pg. 1). I believe solving our challenges would require getting rid of the racial classifications because that way there wouldn’t be divisions based solely on skin color. In other words, we would become united and represent one nation, not one race. Working together we would reach our goals, or if we don’t have goals, at least we could help others attain them. There would be a better representation of the American culture, the American people, and of ourselves even if we don’t belong to this nation. We come to this nation because this is where we want to accomplish what we aim for, but the path becomes narrower because of the difficulties popular culture presents. If we were united, there would only be one direction, no races that want to stay away from each other, and we could all move forward together without taking race into consideration. To conclude, to get rid of racial identification and to achieve union in our society, we must limit the use of stereotypes, prejudices, and racial categories that are presented by popular culture. Instances of racial categorization have become more common on T. V, daily life, political and public views because our popular culture has gradually accepted racial identification. Calling or identifying others by stereotypes should be something illegal because it not only affects our emotions, but also the development of our self-identity. It is true that we have the freedom of speech but there are certain limits when it is using discriminative words because we cannot interfere with others’ pursuit of happiness. By sorting individuals by stereotypes we are putting their race down; this sometimes causes a sentiment of ethnocentrism, a belief that the race we belong in is superior to the rest, in our communities which can cause even more divisions and tensions. If we stop using race as part of our identity on papers as they did on the census, we could make a change because individuals would probably see themselves as what they really are, and not an assumption of what they are being forced to consider themselves as. In addition, a lot of job applications, government papers, and other documents have race as a way for applicants to describe their identity. That is something that we should stop using in papers and instead only include our real identity, which are nationality, ethnicity, hair color, eye color etc. , but not including skin color. When we use skin color as our identity, I have noticed that people criticize by the way we look and not the true individual with traditions, beliefs, and morals. Works Cited CNN, Wire Staff. San Bernardino Files for Bankruptcy. CNN. Cable News Network, 2 Aug. 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2013. . Omi, Michael. In Living Color: Race and American Culture. Signs of Life in the U. S. A: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. By Sonia Maasik and J. Fisher Solomon. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. N. 626. Print. Obama, Barack. A More Perfect Union. Huffingtonpost. com. TheHuffingtonPost. com, Inc. , 25 May 2011. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. .