Written versus Spoken Grammar Free Essays

Unique Through assessment of the normal instructive results of TESOL courses, one can start to have a pertinent conversation with respect to the discussion among composed and spoken punctuation. As a rule scholastic agreement it is demonstrated that the consideration of spoken punctuation in English instructing is best as it is wanted by students and the results themselves. From that point, the difficulties confronting English educators in Kuwait will be resolved comparable to this discussion to evaluate whether the incorporation of spoken punctuation notwithstanding composed sentence structure will have a general constructive outcome on tending to these difficulties. We will compose a custom paper test on Composed versus Spoken Grammar or on the other hand any comparative point just for you Request Now It will be contended that the incorporation is profoundly essential anyway not without legitimate administration by the instructors regarding the kinds of spoken sentence structure sources included. Presentation The learning condition that is given in unknown dialect grown-up training is novel in the difficulties that it presents to instructors and the learning methods used to influence the different instructive results that are normal. The pertinence of these methods is broadly material to an assortment of circumstances and areas that present these interesting difficulties dependent on culture and geology. To this degree there are three contending contemplations with respect to the significance of the discussion among composed and spoken sentence structure to the English educators of Kuwait. The first is the discussion among composed and spoken language structure †which is to a great extent identified with whether spoken sentence structure ought to be remembered for the showing methodologies of English educators. The second is the learning targets of TESOL courses and how these identify with showing procedures by and large and anticipated instructive results. The third thought is wheth er the discussion considering the learning goals of TESOL is pertinent to instructing of English as a second language in the nation of Kuwait. The focal theory of this paper will look at the contrast among composed and spoken language to decide the related instructive results that can be normal and how these identify with the specific points of TESOL type courses. From that point, the consideration of spoken language and the discussion encompassing its incorporation will be examined and broke down. The last thought will require an inside and out examination of the specific difficulties of the instruction framework in Kuwait and this will at that point tie into the possibility of the importance of spoken and composed punctuation discusses. The specific significance of these discussions with connection to Kuwait will be talked about regarding the results and difficulties experienced. From that point reasoning that the specific subtleties of the instruction framework in Kuwait make the requirement for relational and intelligent language utilizes considerably increasingly articulated. The framework of the training framework in Kuwait is sensibly cutting-edge as there has been an ongoing push by the legislature to improve instruction access and quality, anyway with the development of these organizations and of the economy as a player in the worldwide economy has lead to the requirement for powerful second language learning courses, for example, TESOL. Political conversation and financial discussion is energized in the Kuwait majority rule government which separates it from other primary Arab Gulf nations, along these lines making the requirement for viable correspondence significantly progressively articulated. The significant difficulties that Kuwait faces as far as the English language learning as a country and along these lines the issues and difficulties looked by English educators in Kuwait, are identified with the oppressive impact of culture in language and the issues of inspiration with understudies. It will be examined through cautious reflection that the incorporation of spoken syntax through certain valid material uses will help in fighting these difficulties looked by instructors. Through this consideration it is additionally applicable to take note of this has prompted the development of showing strategies and techniques for appraisal away from test based evaluation models as this has likewise been distinguished as a test to students in Arabic nations. Composed versus Spoken Grammar The contrast among composed and spoken syntax basically boils down to a discussion among formal and casual language structure. It is anyway imperative to take note of that there are contentions made that expressed language structure is rudimentary and doesn't in fact exist, and that verbally expressed syntax is basically equivalent to composed sentence structure regarding all having a place with the utilization of punctuation for the most part as opposed to a specific framework. These various contentions, albeit noted, don't present trouble to the most generally recognized hypothesis of talked language structure and consequently will not be considered inside the ambit of this conversation. Do the trick to state anyway that the contention introduced for spoken sentence structure is definitely not a brought together position, albeit bolstered by most of scholastic journalists. The contention for spoken sentence structure is basically that it is a particular methodology from that utiliz ed in composed language. There is a contention for a direct model of sentence structure with spoken punctuation being discrete and unmistakable, albeit natural using composed syntax (Brazil, 1995). After some time this model has developed into a powerful arrangement of punctuation that is effectively versatile and adaptable for language use and consideration (Carter McCarthy, 1997). The differentiation is for all intents and purposes significant for language use as frequently the utilization of composed punctuation in discourse and on the other hand spoken syntax recorded as a hard copy, can regularly not be logically fitting and can prompt disarray. Basically, individuals by and large don't talk the way that they compose and they unquestionably don't compose the way that they talk. Spoken language structure frequently incorporates constrictions, for example, ‘I’ll’, ‘don’t’ or ‘can’t’ which are carefully talking not suitable in composed syntax, just as the consideration of slang words or expressions. Spoken language structure likewise incorporates breaking of severe composed punctuation rules, for example, starting sentences with relational words. Then again, there is syntactic language structure that exists solely in composed sentence structure that isn't utilized in spoken syntax, for example, the presence of the ideal past tense. Spoken language structure is additionally progressively unique and prompt, consequently frequently including numerous linguistic mistakes that are unsuitable in composed sentence structure. This is as a profitable of quick discourse and thought improvement. Composed language is progressively arranged and exact, thusly permitting less edges for blunder and drawing in with an increasingly modern jargon and configuration of thought introduction. Spoken language structure is frequently increasingly open as it presents thoughts at a lower level of commitment, making it progressively available in a way and subsequently informative. It additionally is able to do all the more adequately passing on a tone, encouraging the appraisal of spoken syntax as informative. TESOL Aims and Expected Outcomes The mission of TESOL is â€Å"[t]o advance proficient skill in English language educating and learning for speakers of different dialects worldwide† (TESOL, 2007). TESOL by and large can be supposed to be focused on grown-up students that are non-local English speakers. It is focused on expertly outfitting this segment with capable English aptitudes. Remembering this, unmistakably there is an enormous component of competency based instructive results in TESOL educating. Competency â€Å"refers to a standard of execution either certainly or unequivocally, the term intently matches meanings of dominance or model degrees of performance† (Wong, 2008). This includes a more extensive incorporation of social, intellectual and open abilities to consider powerful utilization of language. Just expressed, competency put together results are concentrated with respect to taking into consideration genuine correspondence in the manner that local speakers would utilize the language, wh ile not being excessively worried about the hypothetical information that the understudies have. The fundamental contrast between the different ways to deal with educating can be summed up as various accentuation on ‘real’ English in instructing and this will altogether influence the result of the learner’s language aptitudes. Supporters of the utilization of spoken sentence structure contend that the utilization empowers students to have an all the more genuine handle of the language as it is utilized by local speakers and without this consideration, the hole between what is found out and how one must utilize the language will leave students unfit to convey in the ‘real world.’ It is obvious in this manner that the utilization of spoken syntax might be increasingly adjusted to the normal instructive results of TESOL as it takes part in a competency based methodology that will prepare understudies to viably impart inside their specific needs. The Debate of Spoken Grammar Inclusion in Learning Generally The discussion encompassing composed and spoken sentence structure basically comes down to whether it ought to be remembered for showing English as a subsequent language and assuming this is the case, how. The incorporation of spoken sentence structure in English boils down to pertinent contending contemplations all apparently part of a competency based way to deal with language learning. There is by all accounts a noteworthy development towards articulation of language in the manner that local speakers utilize the language as opposed to fitting in with severe syntactic principles. This in itself is lined up with the results of TESOL which means to outfit their understudies with an expert handle of the language and general accord regarding the points of second language instructing by and large. In the event that one remembers these instructive objectives while assessing the benefits of spoken language material consideration in showing techniques, one can get a general perspective on the focal points managed by their incorporation. A Lack of Spoken Grammatical Features McCarthy Carter (1997) demonstrate that there is an unmistakable absence of spoken sentence structure introduction in training materials used to show English as a second language to grown-up students. The way tha

My Neighbor Alice Essays - Kingdom Hearts Characters, Alice

My Neighbor Alice I recall when I was youthful, around seven or eight years of age, how I use to go outside in the late spring and play with my squishy toys and fanciful companions from early morning to the break of nightfall. I was all in all a rambuncious kid with an immense creative mind. My nearby neighbor Alice, would watch and see as I played in my lawn, at that point she'd chuckle and return to tending her beautiful vegetable nursery. Alice and my mother both had vegetable gardens and would trade various types of veggies all through the season. In some cases they spread out together attempting to get a nice tan. As the years gradually past, I sat on Alice's enormous entryway patio with her simply visiting ceaselessly for a considerable length of time about anything we needed to, truly. She'd disclose to me how she used to think I was such a clever child when I used to play in the patio and converse with myself with my toys and creatures. While I sat on the edge of the patio and tuned in, captivated by her accounts, Alice would shake to and fro in her rocker cheerfully smoking an infrequent Marlboro menthol light cigarette. We'd cut up and poke fun at the papergirl she scorned in light of the fact that the papergirl consistently tossed her paper in the shrubs, and we'd tattle about a portion of different neighbors on our square. At that point she'd reveal to me tales about her children when they were my age and what sort of insidiousness they'd get into as they grew up. Regularly when I saw her out on her patio, I'd hurl open our front entryway and go to her home. In any case, I never slice through her grass! No chance! I generally took the long path by utilizing the walkway. Her and her significant other Charles invested a ton of energy accomplishing yard work, keeping their garden looking pleasant and having a flowerbed by the side of the house, so I never set foot on their grass basically out of regard. Nobody at any point advised me not to stroll on their grass, it was simply I knew better! Now and then at night after I was finished chasing fireflies, I'd retreat back to Alice's patio and we'd forget about them together and watch them gleam. At that point we'd let them proceed to make wishes in spite of the fact that the desires I made never worked out as expected, it was as yet enjoyable to imagine. Charles would in some cases go along with us on the yard and appreciate the natural air the late-spring evening brought to the table us, as he'd assemble his white calico feline into his lap and delicately stroke her delicate textured coat until she started a strong loosened up murmur. Presently, I don't recollect what precisely the feline's genuine name was. Alice couldn't have cared less much for her; she called the feline ?Sourpuss? while Charlie would call her in consistently saying ?Come on in now ole sweetheart.? Alice would once in a while swear all over that Charles adored that feline all the more then her occasionally. Alice and Charles made such a decent couple, pleasant looking individuals for their age and all around decent individuals. I could see that Alice had been an extremely decent looking lady when she was more youthful as she despite everything gave off an impression of being for her age. Light caramel light hair, with twinkling hazel eyes with pleasant glasses that confined her face well. I felt so near Alice, I felt she was another grandma to me. With respect to my genuine grandma, who visits my home normally in light of the fact that she lives close by, would regularly visit Alice too and they'd have a decent talk. At that point, I fired growing up. I would in any case visit Alice from time to time yet the visits gradually halted. At the point when I had arrived at my first year in secondary school, I'd walk home toward the evening and now and again find her leaving to go to work. She was a LPN at Reid at that point, and had been for quite a while. After my first year, I moved in with my Dad in Virginia for a long time. At whatever point I came into town to visit my mother however, I'd stop by Alice's and perceive how she was doing. She was generally so energized

Raleigh

Raleigh Raleigh rôl ´e, räl ´e [key], city (1990 pop. 207,951), state capital, and seat of Wake co., central N.C.; the site was selected for the capital in 1788, and the city was laid out and inc. 1792. It is a political, cultural, trade, and industrial center; the Raleigh-Durham airport is an air travel hub. The city's industries include electrical, medical, electronic, and telecommunications equipment; apparel; food processing; paper products; and pharmaceuticals. A research center for textiles and chemicals, Raleigh is part of North Carolina's Research Triangle, an area and organization shared with Chapel Hill and Durham that utilizes the scientific talent of the three cities' universities. The cooperative has drawn numerous insurance firms and other corporations to Raleigh, which has become one of the fastest-growing U.S. cities. The first capitol (built 1792â€"94) burned in 1831 and was replaced by a new, Greek Revival state capitol building, completed in 1840. In the Civil War, Uni on general Sherman occupied the city on Apr. 14, 1865. In 1963 the legislature moved into the state legislative building. Raleigh is the seat of North Carolina State Univ., Shaw Univ., Meredith College, St. Augustine's College, St. Mary's College, and Peace College. It has libraries, art, science, history, and other museums, an aboretum, a notable governor's mansion, and several 18th-century houses, including the birthplace of President Andrew Johnson, whose home is preserved as a historic site. The city is the site of an arts complex that includes the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, A. J. Fletcher Opera Theater, and Meymandi Concert Hall, and is also the home to the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. Political Geography

Poetic Tools Describe Life in Walt Whitmans Song of...

Poetic Tools Describe Life in Walt Whitmans Song of Myself Walt Whitman is commonly known as the bard of America, a poet who wrote about the common man of the country as had never been done before. He was able to do so because he was a common man, as can be seen in lines such as This is the city and I am one of the citizens. Within his poetry he often used certain tools of the typical epic tale, borrowed from such tales as The Iliad, and The Odyssey. All of these tools can be seen within the lines of his lengthy poem of fifty-two sections Song of Myself. The first of these tools include an invocation of the muse, as can be seen in the lines I loafe and invite my soul, which appears to be an invocation of a muse, or his own†¦show more content†¦Perhaps this is Whitmans own way of saying to his audience pay attention, for although I am speaking of myself I speak for you too, so this is important, and applies to your life as well. Continuing on he claims to strip away what is known, and launch all men and women forward with me into the unknown. This statement serves as if to say to the audience forget what you know, and what you have been taught. I have something new and important to tell you, so open your mind and use your imagination. Whitman then describes the difference between a clock and eternity. For a clock can only count a moment, it has a very short span; however, it in no way can begin to encompass eternity for eternity is immeasurable. Using images of an endless stream of buckets rising from a reservoir continually providing us with time Whitman paints a picture of eternity, making it a tangible rather than intangible thing. He does what the clock is not able to do. While the clock is incapable of measuring eternity, he gives you an easy image to associate with eternity, making one able to grasp the concept of how expansive eternity really is. Continuing with the idea of the expansiveness of eternity Whitman gives examples of the trillions of wintersShow MoreRelatedThe Poetry of Walt Whitman versus Wi lliam Carlos Williams Essay1744 Words   |  7 PagesThe Poetry of Walt Whitman versus William Carlos Williams Perhaps the most basic and essential function of poetry is to evoke a particular response in the reader. The poet, desiring to convey on emotion or inspiration, uses the imagination to create a structure that will properly communicate his state of mind. In essence he is attempting to bring himself and the reader closer, to establish a relationship. William Carlos Williams contends that art gives the feeling of completionRead MoreVincent Willem Van Gogh And His Life2164 Words   |  9 Pagespaintings portrayed emotionally evocative style through the use of bold colors and later swirling brush strokes. Throughout his life van Gogh worked on his art while battling mental instability which lead to his death in 1890 as a result of a fatal, possibly self inflicted gun shot. His most famous and respected paintings were completed in the final two years of his life. Van Gogh began drawing at a young age and started painting during 1870. His work includes that of watercolor, drawings and sketchesRead MoreHow Fa Has the Use of English Language Enriched or Disrupted Life and Culture in Mauritius15928 Words   |  64 Pagesa horse-drawn carriage to several places, including a schoolyard, a field of wheat, and a house sunken in the ground. However, a deeper reading of the poem reveals the poet’s uncertainty of wh ether there is or is not an afterlife. The events she describes are of course fictional and unknowable, but the multiple changes in pacing of the poem, as well as the changing nature of the carriage (stationary and in motion), indicates the poet’s unwillingness to make a decision one way or another. AtRead MoreLangston Hughes Research Paper25309 Words   |  102 Pagesat the same table with him, and a fountain clerk in St. Louis refused to serve him a soft drink. He dealt with these slights the way he would his entire life: He turned away quietly. But Langston decided that instead of running away from the color line and hating himself for being black, like his father had, he would write about the real-life experiences of black people. He was determined to write stories about Negroes, so true that people in faraway lands would read them. James Langston Hughes

Analysis Of Enrique s Journey And Journalist For La Times

Before reading Enrique’s Journey I only knew 3 things about those who immigrated to the US. One, the majority were Mexican families. Two, they only migrate to the US, because they are poor and there are more job opportunities with better pay. Three, they got to the US by being smuggled in a van over the Border. All these things listed are true to an extent, but on a much deeper level. Sonia Nazario, author of Enrique s Journey and journalist for LA times, has opened my eyes with Enrique s Journey. Enrique is a young Honduran boy making his seventh attempt to America to reconnect with his mother after 11 years. Many unaccompanied children go on the same quest to America as Enrique to escape gang violence or to find a job to support their families. On this journey children ride on top of train cars, encounter gangs and corrupt officers, witnessed many acts of violence and death, and do their best to blend in and not get caught by officers who will deport them back from where the y came. I learned immigration is frowned upon in the US and many agree with presidential candidate Donald Trump’s â€Å"build a wall† campaign to block out anyone coming in from Central America. I believe the majority of those who agree with his campaign only believe the stereotypes about immigrants. If those who supported Mr.Trump s campaign knew the true struggles of immigrants lives and what sacrifices they made and the serious danger they put themselves in to get to America I strongly believe everyoneShow MoreRelatedDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pagesbuilt-in pretests and posttests, focus on what you need to learn and to review in order to succeed. Visit www.mymanagementlab.com to learn more. DEVELOPING MANAGEMENT SKILLS EIGHTH EDITION David A. Whetten BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY Kim S. Cameron UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Prentice Hall Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City Sao Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul SingaporeRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagescase can be made for viewing the decades of the global scramble for colonies after 1870 as a predictable culmination of the long nineteenth century, which was ushered in by the industrial and political revolutions of the late 1700s. But at the same time, without serious attention to the processes and misguided policies that led to decades of agrarian and industrial depression from the late 1860s to the 1890s, as well as the social tensions and political rivalries that generated and were in turn

Internaltional marketing Free Essays

Select all computer hardware for the medical practice Including computing platforms used by the listed doctors and other medical staff and the server(s), If used. No parts of the current architecture may be used. Hardware and Network Requirements A thorough review of the local technology environment will be required at any facility implementing the ERR. We will write a custom essay sample on Internaltional marketing or any similar topic only for you Order Now Facilities will need to evaluate hardware needs in a workstation to ensure that providers and other users of the ERR have access to the system at the point of service. Deploying the ERR will create additional demands on he server and network at each facility such as LANA or WAN. Show as following picture: Objectives: Workstation – This refers to the hardware that holds everything in a room for office staff worker to perform their jobs: word/excel processing, practice management software, ERR software, scan and copy, etc. Desktop – This describes a fixed, hard- wired computer that does not move around. This cost around $4-5000 per each. Laptop – This is a portable computer. It is a fully functioning computer that can be carried or placed on a cart and moved around the place. This cost around $3?4000 per each. Tablet PC – Those contain built-in handwriting recognitions software that allows the user to â€Å"write† on the screen. Tablet PC’s can have add-on keyboards when typing Is preferred. This cost around $600?900 per each. Desktops The basics: A desktop computer usually has a standard configuration and specification with consisting of a CPU, monitor, keyboard, and mouse. It is stationary: it resides in one location and cannot be moved from room to room. It can stand alone or work with any of a variety of applications on network arrangements. Advantages: Desktops are low-cost, available and easy to purchase. Because desktop PC’s are standardized, it is relatively easy and inexpensive to find or replace parts and support. Desktops will have less difficulty to run and install software or applications. It is less hassle than carrying a computer around all day, worrying about batteries running out or losing wireless connectivity or dropping the computers. On cost saving – such as microphones, speakers, and headsets are available at low cost. Disadvantages: Because It’s stationary, you need to buy a desktop PC for each room In which you need access to your ERR software. Desktops typically take up more space than a laptop or tablet PC. While flat screen monitors and tower units save actual desktop tablet PC. You must purchase additional equipment to take full advantage of voice recognition and/or handwriting recognition programs. Laptops A laptop is a fully functioning computer that is small enough to be portable. Laptops can take advantage of wireless as well as traditional wired networks. A laptop can easily serve as a desktop computer to perform in a larger monitor. Advantages: A laptop can easily be turned to allow patients to view information on the screen. A laptop is less unpleasant during patient interviews. Disadvantages: Although laptops are portable, some laptops has wider inches of the screen they can be heavy to carry Repairs and maintenance tend to be more expensive because laptops use non-standard or proprietary parts. You may have to send a laptop off-site for diagnosis and repair. Overall benefits of laptops: 1 . Laptops can open and find the note and chart easily on patient’s interview before entering the room 2. Laptops can close the note right outside the room if you want to go ahead and have the patient leave before finishing a note. Laptops can have all settings and programs handy all the time – appointments, links, hospital links, etc. 4. Using laptops can look at patient easily over the top of the laptop and can easily show patients information with it. Tablet PC’s Using ERR technology requires a certain adjustment in the way you’re used to interacting with patients and their charts by usin g Tablet PC’s. The first method is through tapping on a screen-based keyboard with the stylus. The second is through straight handwriting recognition. Advantages: Tablets are truly portable and lightweight. It is as powerful as a PC, but it doesn’t require a keyboard. Instead, you add information by writing on the screen with a digital pen or stylus. Tablet PC’s have integrated capability with voice recognition software that transcribes directly into the patient record. Disadvantages: Need longer learning curve to get used to it. Handwriting recognition dictionaries may not have fully integrated medical terminology yet. It may require more correction. There is not as much standardized software yet available for tablets. Screens are easily scratched and can become unusable without screen protectors. How to cite Internaltional marketing, Papers

The Analysis of Economics Articles

In this paper, we intend to analyze three articles, published in New York Times, The Economist and Newsweek. Each of them focuses on such topic as the development of the US economy and its struggle against the ongoing recession. Our main task is to evaluate the arguments, put forward by the authors and determine whether there they are evidence-based and objective.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Analysis of Economics Articles specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The first article to be discussed is called Across the US, Long Recovery Looks Like Recession. It was written by Michael Powell and Motoko Rich and was issued in New York Times on the twelfth of October[1]. The authors argue that the US economy will not be able to recover from the recession in the near future. In particular, they say that the aftereffects of the crisis can be overcome in at least nine years. Their prognosis is based on the fact that curre nt rate of job creation is rather slow (Powell Rich, p 1). Furthermore, they point out that housing prices still remain relatively low and as a result, people are very reluctant to work with banks. Another issue, mentioned by the authors is the lack of job security: American citizens are afraid of losing their jobs, and they cut down expenses, spent on consumer goods. On the whole, the authors’ overarching thesis is that American government has not identified the underlying causes of the global crisis or addressed the key challenges, faced by American society. To a certain extent, one can certainly agree with Michael Powell and Motoko Rich. Their arguments are based on quantitative data and they appear to be quite plausible. However, the authors overlook the fact that in part, the on-going recession was triggered by external forces, which are not under governmental control, for instance, high prices on oil, continuous outsourcing, the existence of shadow banking systems, irr esponsible money lending and other factors. From the point of view of Keynesian economics, this economic crisis has been caused by inefficiency of private organizations (banks, large corporations, manufacturerers), and it is not directly connected with the policies pursued by the government. The journalists accurately describe the situation, which has recently emerged but they do not propose any solutions. According to the authors’ estimations the US economy will regain its former strength only in nine years. Yet, it seems that the adoption of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provide additional stimulus to American enterprises. The thing is that according to this legislative act, more than seven hundred billion dollars will be invested in the development of infrastructure, the reduction of taxes, paid by companies and individuals, and construction of housing for low-income population[2]. This governmental incentive can subsequently increase job creation rate. Overall, w e can say that the authors’ views of the US economy are too pessimistic and they do not really reflect all the complexity of the problem.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Another article, which is of great interest to us, is called Basket Cases: Consumer Goods in Downturn. It was written by an anonymous author and published in The Economist on the thirteenth of October[3]. The author tries to show how the shopping habits of American people have changed over the past few years and how this change is going to impact consumer goods companies such as Procter Gamble, Kellogg or McDonalds. First, the author argues that at present a great number of consumers prefer to switch from name-brands to store-brand products. For instance, those people, who once bought Kellogg’s cornflakes, now purchase cornflakes, produced by Wall-Mart because they are less expensive. In the a uthor’s view, this tendency is very alarming for consumer goods companies, as they can lose competitive advantage. This trend can be observed in the United States and throughout Europe and the author suggests that this new shopping attitude may remain even after full recovery of the US economy. The thing is that that many customers do not see any quality differences between store-brand and name-brand goods. To substantiate his/her statement, the author presents the results of customer surveys, indicating that more and more people do not believe that consumer goods, produced by Kellogg, Heinz, or Procter Gamble are superior to those ones, sold by large retailers such as Wall-Mart, Tesco or Target. As far as this customer survey is concerned, we should note that the reliability of its findings can be questioned, because we do not know anything about sampling procedures and analysis methods. It is rather difficult to determine whether the conjecture, made by the journalist is i n any way grounded. Many people state that cheaper goods are just as good brand-name ones because they are eager to retain their sense of prestige. In other words, they do not want to admit that they buy something second-rate. To some extent, this explains why so many customers favor store-brand products. The thing is that modern marketing strives to emphasize not only the qualities of the product (its price, serviceable life, design, and user friendliness) but also those benefits which the customer will receive. One of these benefits is the intensified sense of prestige and high self-esteem. Contemporary advertising aims to convince people that possession of a certain product will make them more elitist. Such approach has been effective for a very long time, and it is rather unlikely that the situation will change. At this point, it is too early to make any predictions as they will be too far-fetched. Nevertheless, the author’s hypothesis is quite interesting and it definite ly merits more research.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Analysis of Economics Articles specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The purchasing habits of American have surely been altered, yet, we do not know for a fact what will happen when the US economy overcomes the recession. Apart from that, we can suppose that marketing principles can change in the near future: probably, people will people will make less attention to the brand-name, but instead they will focus on its quality and price. Finally, we need to speak about the article Don’t Panic about the Economy[4], written by Daniel Gross and issued in Newsweek on the thirtieth of July. The author attempts to throw light on the effects of global crisis on the economy of the United States. Daniel Gross points out that many economists are extremely concerned with the slow growth of GDP, namely 2.4 per cent growth rate. Nonetheless, the author argues that th e real state of affairs is much more complex. First, those companies, which are integrated into the global economy, have almost overcome the consequences of recession. In turn, those businesses, which deal only with US customers, remain weak. Secondly, the journalist says that this decade has been marked by easy fiscal policies, lax regulations, and inappropriate taxation policies. Thus, one should take the current economic recession as the surprise. As a matter of fact, the outcomes of such polices could have been far worse. It is quite possible to agree with Daniel Gross’ arguments. Certainly, it has to be admitted that current economic situation leaves much to be desired: job creation rate is rather slow, real estate prices are not as high as they used to be, and leading companies still do not perform as successfully as they did in the period between 1997 and 2006. Nevertheless, in comparison with the previous two years, GDP has significantly increased. Daniel Gross appear s to be quite objective in his analysis, yet he does not provide any guidelines as to how the government should address the main challenges, encountered by American society. Thus, we have analyzed three separate articles, which examine the struggles of the US economy against the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Journalists admit that America people still have to face many difficulties, which include unemployment, credit crunch, lack of job security and other problems. Yet, the country has already passed the peak of the crisis. More than that, pessimistic views, expressed by many journalists are sometimes unfounded. Most likely, this can be explained by the fact that people compare their former well-being with the present day situation. We can conclude that the consequences of 2007 economic crisis will be noticeable in the years to come.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Works Cited â€Å"Basket Cases: Consumer Goods in the Downturn†. The Economist, 2010. Web. Gross, Daniel. â€Å"Don’t Panic About the Economy†. Newsweek, 2010. Web. Powell, Michael Rich Motoko. â€Å"Across the U.S., Long Recovery Looks Like Recession† New York Times. 2010. Web. Footnotes Powell, Michael Rich Motoko. â€Å"Across the U.S., Long Recovery Looks Like Recession† New York Times. 2010. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. â€Å"Basket Cases: Consumer Goods in the Downturn†. The Economist, 2010. Gross, Daniel. â€Å"Don’t Panic About the Economy†. Newsweek, 2010. This essay on The Analysis of Economics Articles was written and submitted by user Emilia Z. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Antisense Theory Essays - RNA, DNA, Molecular Biology, Nucleic Acids

Antisense Theory Essays - RNA, DNA, Molecular Biology, Nucleic Acids Antisense Theory It is estimated that cancer affects three out of four families in the United States alone the disease and its treatments cause substantial mortality and morbidity, prompting intense interest in cancer prevention. Most available treatments for cancers are non-specific; meaning that they target all rapidly growing cells, both normal and cancerous. Consequences of these treatments include side effects towards the normal cells. In addition, cancer is a genetically unstable disease. Cancer cells can develop drug resistance through repeated rounds of mutation and selection. This may render a particular non-specific chemotherapeutic treatment ineffective so that new drugs must be administered in its place. To remedy this occurrence, current research is focusing on the genetic level to terminate the disease and to avoid the damaging side effects and development of drug resistance. One avenue of research focuses on antisense oligonucleotide to target the oncogenes, or cancer causing genes, in a specific fashion to completely inhibit the expression of the oncogenes. Information necessary to produce proteins in cells is contained in genes. In humans it is contained in the human genome and its collection of more than 100,000 genes. Genes are made up of DNA. The DNA molecule is a double helix. They are made up of Adenine, Thymidine, Guanine and Cytosine and are bound by hydrogen to complementary nucleotides on the other strand. RNA is the DNA intermediary and carries the information necessary for the cell to produce its specific protein. During the transferring on information the DNA strand partly uncoils. The sense strand separates from the antisense strand. Because RNA is translated by the cell it is called the sense strand. The hybridization of an antisense strand to mRNA can interfere with its translation to protein . Antisense oligonucleotide are polymers of nucleic acids, which can vary from 12-25 base pairs in length, and which are sequence specific and bind to the target mRNA or DNA through complementary hydrogen bonding. Antisense theory proposes that oligonucleotide, or oligos, recognize specific sequences of mRNA or DNA and bind to them, thus preventing translation or transcription of a gene. Through the binding of an oligo to an mRNA that translates an essential protein for cancer growth, the action of the protein is terminated because the product, an oncoprotein, is never formed The main advantage of antisense is it offers specificity and point of attack. Traditional drugs are less effective because they are not as specific and only work when the disease causing protein has already been produced. Whereas, antisense drugs are complementary strands of Mrna and bind to specific nucleotides in its Mrna to inhibit production of a disease causing protein. They can bind to multiple areas whereas traditional drugs can only bind at two points of interaction. Another advantage of antisense is that it is less complex, than traditional drugs that target proteins. Proteins are complex molecules whose structure is hard to predict, antisense compound are designed to bind to Mrna whose structures are easy to understand. Experimental results seem to support the antisense theory model. If an antisense oligonucleotide does indeed act in a sequence specific, antisense manner to target a gene that is over expressed in cancer or leukemia cells, gene expression can be inhibited and cell growth can be terminated. The application of this theory offers the potential to halt the growth of cancer cells if the over expressed gene can be targeted. The hopes for the future include studying other cell types for similar effects by targeting different over expressed genes using different antisense oligonucleotide.

How to Use the French Conditional (le Conditionnel)

How to Use the French Conditional (le Conditionnel) The French conditional (le conditionnel) mood is very similar to the English conditional mood. It describes events that are not guaranteed to occur, those that are often dependent on certain conditions. While the French conditional mood has a full set of conjugations, the English equivalent is simply the modal verb would plus the main verb. Le Conditionnel: If...then The French conditional is mainly used in  if...then  constructs. It  expresses the idea that  if  this were to happen,  then  that would be the result.   While French uses the word  si  in the if or condition clause, it does not use a term for then in the result clause.  The conditional verb itself is used in the result (then) clause, while only four other tenses are permitted in the  si  clause:  prà ©sent, passà ©Ã‚  composà ©, imparfait,  and  plus-que-parfait. Il mangerait sil avait faim:  He would eat if he were hungrySi nous à ©tudiions, nous serions plus intelligents:  If we studied, (then) we would be smarterIl mangerait avec nous si nous linvitions:  He would eat with us if we invited him Special Cases: Vouloir and Aimer The verb vouloir (to want)  is used in the conditional to express a polite request: Je voudrais une pomme:  I would like an appleJe voudrais y aller avec vous:  I would like to go with you However, you cant say si vous voudriez to mean if you would like, because the French conditional can never be used after si. The verb aimer (to like, love)  is used to express a polite desire, sometimes one that cannot be fulfilled: Jaimerais bien le voir:  I would really like to see itJaimerais y aller, mais je dois travailler:  I would like to go, but I have to work Conjugating le Conditionnel Conjugating the conditional  may be one of the simplest French conjugations youll encounter. There is only one set of endings for all verbs. Most of them - even many that are irregular in the present tense - use their infinitives as the root. There are only about two dozen  stem-changing  or  irregular verbs  that have irregular conditional stems but take the same endings. To show you how easy conditional conjugations are, lets take a look at how it applies to different types of verbs. Well use  jouer  (to play) as our regular  -er  example,  finir  (to finish) as our irregular  -ir  example, and  dire  (to say) as one exception to the rules. Subject Ending Jouer Finir Dire je -ais jouerais finirais dirais tu -ais jouerais finirais dirais il -ait jouerait finirait dirait nous -irons jouerions finirions dirions vous -iez joueriez finiriez diriez ils -aient joueraient finiraient diraient Notice how we had to drop the e in  dire  before adding the conditional endings. This is the sort of change you will find in that handful of verbs that do not follow the standard conditional conjugation pattern. Other than that, you can see how easy it is to form the conditional from almost any verb, even the irregular ones. The Verbs That Don't Follow the Rules So which verbs are you going to have to pay attention to when it comes to the conditional verb mood?  Dire  and other verbs that end in  -ire  are easy compared to some of the others, a few barely resemble the infinitive form while others take on more subtle changes.   The following verbs are irregular in the conditional mood. Notice how the stems change and that they do not use the infinitive form like the other verbs do. There are two rules here: The conditional stem always ends in r.  The exact same verbs are irregular in the  future tense  and use the same stems. When conjugating these into the conditional, simply attach the endings noted above according to the subject pronoun in your sentence. Infinitive Verb Conditional Stem Similar Verbs acheter achà ¨ter- achever, amener, emmener, lever, promener acquà ©rir acquerr- conquà ©rir, s'enquà ©rir appeler appeller- à ©peler, rappeler, renouveler aller ir- avoir aur- courir courr- concourir, discourir, parcourir devoir devr- envoyer enverr- essayer essaier- balayer, effrayer, payer essuyer essuier- appuyer, ennuyer à ªtre ser- faire fer- falloir faudr- jeter jetter- feuilleter, hoqueter, projeter, rejeter nettoyer nettoier employer, noyer, tutoyer,-ayer stem-changing verbs pleuvoir pleuvr- pouvoir pourr- savoir saur- tenir tiendr- maintenir, obtenir, soutenir valoir vaudr- venir viendr- devenir, parvenir, revenir voir verr- revoir vouloir voudr-

Special education and collaboration Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Special education and collaboration - Coursework Example Another component is the interaction process, which takes an interaction from the beginning to the end. Here there are such processes as problem solving and responding to conflict and resistance, which requires effective communication skills (Friend & Cook, 2009). Another component is a set of programs and services. These provide the baseline for the collaborative activities to take place. In these services, there are interactive processes that are meant to design and deliver student services takes place. The last component in the collaborative process is context. This is the surrounding where the collaborative processes take place. According to me, the most difficult component to implement is communication skills. This is mainly because of the diversities in cultural backgrounds that you come across when you meet different colleagues and parents. In this case, disagreements can easily come along since some people tend to be ethnocentric. For example, the student to be assisted may be living with grandparents, who may be illiterate, and can only communicate in their mother tongue. As a teacher, or any other team member, it will really need you to have the knowledge of that particular language, or else there will be no communication progress. The problem-solving process entails sequential procedures that have to be followed in order to come out with good results. The first step is to analyze the problem-solving context. Here, you examine the conditions related to the possibility of the problem-solving process to succeed. You also come up with ideas on what might happen if the problem is not solved. The next step is to identify the problem. In this case, you explore all data that can give information concerning the problem, having your main goal in mind (Friend & Cook, 2009). The next step is to find out if the amount of resources needed in addressing the problem in question. Here you can conduct some form of estimations and approximations. You will have

IT425-1403A-01 Phase 5 System Integration & Deployment (DB) Assignment - 1

IT425-1403A-01 Phase 5 System Integration & Deployment (DB) - Assignment Example Focus will be on producing a work breakdown structure for the system. A work breakdown structure requires the project manager to divide a large project into small and manageable tasks. In this case, there is a need to breakdown the entire project into seven interrelated activities in order to simplify the entire process. This will give the project manager the autonomy to monitor the overall progress and thus be in a position to mitigate any delays (Tutorialspoint, 2014). The Ordering system for Pizza Restaurants requires the dedication of all the stakeholders especially considering that some of the activities need to be performed at the actual restaurant’s premises (Reeves, 2010). This means that the last two stages are important since they will involve the total corporation of users. Migration of the entire system is a vital activity that characterizes the deployment and operational stages and thus should be handled with extra attention. Another activity is the retire of the system should it become absolute. Even though this is not expected to happen in the near future, all the necessary plans should be put in place to ensure there is a smooth rollover (Schiesser, 2010). Maryland Department of Information Technology (2014). Phase 6: Development Phase. Retrieved from http://doit.maryland.gov/SDLC/Documents/

High Technology Semiconductor Company Acquisitions

High Technology Semiconductor Company Acquisitions The fast rate of technological change was one of the most important trends in the 1990s and this brought an increasing complexity and cost to the development of new technologies. Companies used their innovative assets as a major source of competitive advantage to quickly introduce new products and adopt new processes (Sen and Egelhoff, 2000). Acquisitions are completed in many industries for reasons that are aligned with the dominant competitive driving forces for that industry. In the area of high technology and seminconductors, the competitive drivers are short product life cycles and process advancement. Process advances are required to both support the incremental changes to existing products and to allow the creation of radically new one. The number of acquisitions rapidly increased through the decade for several reasons: the product life cycle was getting shorter; participating in the creation of industry and product standards was crucial; early entry helped capture market shar e; and R D risk could be reduced. Hagedoorn (1993) found the reduction in innovation time and acquisition of needed technologies as the most important reasons for one company to pursue another. Several researchers have written about the radical and incremental innovation capabilities, their distinguishing factors and the important consequences to the corporation. It has also been argued that large firms are effective with incremental innovations and small firms are better at radical innovations. (Ettlie, Bridges, and OKeefe, 1984; Dewar and Dutton, 1986; Christensen, 1992). Corporate decision to acquire or not acquire another company embodies a high level, serious management strategy decision toward repositioning a company in the competitive landscape. The decade from 1990 to 2000 was chosen as an important time for acquisition activity. There was frequent activity in acquisitions during a time of stable economic conditions creating good conditions for analysis. In 1990, the dollar value of all acquisitions and mergers in the United States was two percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In 2000, the value reached over 15% of the GDP (Mergerstat, 2003). In the first 10 months of 2000, in the technology sector alone, there were 2,019 acquisition and merger deals worth $573 billion (Reason, 2000). This occurred despite studies done in the 1980s and 1990s that found little positive effect financially for the acquiring company. The magnitude of the activity strongly suggests that some positive relationship could be found if examined in a different way o r using new metrics. This research uses a different methodology by exploring a single industry, selecting profitability growth as the metric from theoretical industry driving forces and analyzing profitability over time as a statistical repeated measures model using SPSS software. The results from this work may have strategic implications for remaining competitive in high technology, high-velocity industries. It should be noted here that the term acquisition, mergers and acquisitions and M A will be used interchangeably in this research and are defined in Appendix A along with other important terms. In high technology industries, such as semiconductors, a firm interested in new product innovation must aggressively invest to stay at the leading edge. Creating or acquiring new offerings can be dependent on a combination of efforts directed either internal or external to the company. Internal efforts include primarily Research and Development (R D) or newly formed affiliates, termed greenfields (Vermeulen Barkema, 2001; Sonenclar, 1984; Bradley Korn, 1981). External efforts can take the form of acquisition or mergers to best capture the intellectual property (IP) that is maintained in the categories of trade secret and proprietary know-how. Acquisitions, when done well, appear to have the advantage of capturing this kind of IP as compared to the other forms of external efforts. Acquisitions also potentially offer faster repositioning with less risk and lower cost than pursuing internal company endeavors (Singh Montgomery, 1987). A high technology companys success hinges on crea tion of innovative ideas, availability of creative personnel, speed of new product execution and cost effectiveness. Mergers and acquisitions are a highly favored management avenue for growth and competitive positioning. The importance of this management consideration and the impact of mergers and acquisitions continue to expand with billions of dollars involved. The importance in the technology sector becomes apparent when looking at the 724 firms that made their initial public offering (IPO) in 1992, but were not acquired or merged. Of these companies, 58% were selling at less than their IPO price six years later (Small Business Statistics, 2000). Product and service offering must constantly evolve and change (Thompson Strickland, 2001). High velocity innovation is fundamental to the growth and survival of high technology businesses. Organizations that are successful have a regular stream of unique products and services. Hewlett-Packard had over 50% of revenue in 1999 coming from products introduced in the previous two to four years. In high technology companies, the highest profit levels come from the newest products. Consequently, it is imperative to accelerate the innovation cycle, often through mergers and acquisitions, and this is critically important to remaining competitive. Entrepreneurial firms consistently outperform larger firms in both market and earnings growth on the Inc. 500 and Forbes 200 lists (Imparato Harari, 1994). There are several potential reasons for making an acquisition that have been identified and studied in the literature. In addition to the reasons for actually acquiring, there are a number of factors following the event that will influence the degree of success or failure that these efforts may experience. These elements that play a part in determining the outcome have been the focus of studies that are summarized in the Literature Review. WHAT MAKES HIGH-TECH COMPANIES AND THEIR ACQUISITIONS UNIQUE Both the popular business press as well as recent academic research seems to uniformly accept the unique nature of high-tech stocks. Kohers and Kohers (2000) state: The high-growth nature of technology-based industries distinguishes them from other types of industries. In addition to their high-growth potential, however, another distinctive feature of high-tech industries is the inherent uncertainty associated with companies whose values rely on future outcomes or developments is unproven, uncharted fields (p. 40). In fact, many pure technology stocks are young companies, underfunded and without prospects for generating any cash flows in the near future. Nevertheless, despite the inherent uncertainty of high-tech industries, investors seemed to disregard most equity fundamentals when valuing technology stocks, especially during the market upturn in the late 1990s. As a result, even though high-tech stocks were in general extremely volatile, many of them were trading at remarkable pre miums. The exploding rate of growth in M A activity that involved high-tech industries can be partly attributed to those overly optimistic valuations. Puranam (2001) argues: On the acquirers side, booming stock market valuations have made acquisitions for stock feasible for several relatively small (revenue wise) firms, as well as the more established larger ones. On the targets side, an increasing preference for the ready liquidity offered, by an acquisition, as opposed to the paper profits from an IPO have created an environment conducive to acquisitions of small start-ups. At the same time many of these acquisitions were also motivated by the acquirers need to obtain critical technologies and expertise in order to quickly enhance their own technological competence. Despite the burst of the high-tech market bubble and the failure of most of these acquisitions, investors continue to show an extreme faith on these stocks. Americans still believe that technology can create a better world. Each time the U.S. tech sector falls into a trough, new technologies and companies emerge to lead it forward again (Business Week, August 27, 2001). PROBLEM MOTIVATING THIS STUDY This research effort seeks to understand the relationship between acquisitions and profitability by looking at the industrial sector for high technology semiconductor companies. Many prior studies have shown little financial benefit to the acquiring company in research conducted beginning in the 1980s and extending to today using a variety of variables, measures and company sample selection. These studies will be discussed in more detail in the Literature Review. The researchers Rumelt (1984), Ravenscraft and Scherer (1987), Porter (1987) and Kaplan and Weisbach (1990) separately found that acquisitions that could be categorized as unrelated, or diversifications, did not lead to profitability improvements, but most of these studies obviously included a cross-section of divergent industries. The importance of innovation and new products in high velocity, competitive environments is discussed in literature and high velocity innovation is fundamental to the growth, profitability and sur vival of these businesses (Thompson and Strickland, 1999; Betz, 2001; Burgelman, Christensen and Wheelwright, 2004). The competitive advantage of capturing intellectual property through acquisition has also been discussed more recently. More clear evidence is beginning to emerge concerning the drive to acquire technology and the unique features of doing so (Prentice Fox, 2002). This research examines the correlation between the event of acquisition and subsequent company performance and growth of profitability in the decade of 1990-2000. Practicing managers in the area of management of technology are faced with the challenge of high velocity innovation being a requirement to maintain competitive positioning (Thompson Strickland, 2001). Two methods for constant innovation include internal efforts, such as Research Development (R D), and external efforts, such as acquisitions, on which this paper focuses. Prior studies have been cross-sectional across different industries and analyzed the benefits gained in terms of patents and R D (Bettis 1981), stock price (Matsusaka, 1990; Schleifer and Vishny, 1990; and Lubatkin, 1982) or increase in company size versus the cost of acquisitions. These studies have not captured one of the most unique features of the high technology industry where innovation and new products are dependent on intellectual property (IP) that is maintained in the categories of trade secret and proprietary know-how. Because of this characteristic, the high technology industry would be expected to yield different results. The importance of IP and know-how has been an area of academic focus working to clarify the concept of absorptive capacity in the 1990s, but empirical work to tie these concepts to firm performance was not pursued (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; Barney, 1991; Prahalad and Hamel, 1990). The use of patents as a measure, as used in prior research (Acs and Aud retsch, 1988; Pakes and Griliches, 1980; Hitt, Hoskisson, Ireland and Harrison, 1991), does not capture the IP benefits in these categories or measure the success resulting from these external efforts. Acquisitions, when done well, should be expected to have an advantage on capturing this kind of IP. Acquisitions potentially offer faster positioning with less risk and lower cost than internal company endeavors which include primarily Research and Development (R D) (Gulati, 1995; Singh Montgomery, 1987). STUDY OVERVIEW This research effort focuses on one high technology industrial sector of semiconductors and studies the correlation between acquisitions, profitability, survivability and RD intensity over time. Many prior studies (Rumelt, 1984; Ravenscraft and Scherer, 1987; Porter, 1987; and Kaplan and Weisbach, 1990) have shown little financial benefit to the acquiring company, but most of these studies included a cross-section of divergent industries. The importance of innovation and new products in high velocity, competitive environments is widely discussed in literature. High velocity innovation is fundamental for the theory of growth, profitability and survival of these businesses. The competitive advantage of capturing intellectual property through acquisition has also been discussed more recently. More clear evidence is beginning to emerge concerning the drive to acquire technology and the unique features of doing so (Prentice Fox, 2002). This paper researches the correlation between the ev ent of acquisition and subsequent company performance, survivability, the growth of profitability and R D spending. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ON HIGH-TECH COMPANIES Most research on high-tech companies is relatively recent and has its origin in various business fields. Chaudhuri and Tabrizi (1999) study the practices of 24 high-tech companies involved in acquisitions, and try to identify the key factors in capturing the real value in high-tech acquisitions. They conclude that in order to make a successful acquisition managers need to move beyond the traditional model of acquisitions where the people acquired are secondary to physical assets and brands. High-tech acquisitions need to focus on the people since technological capabilities tied to skilled people are the key to long-term success in these industries. Arora, Fosfuri and Gambardella (2000) examine how the growth of markets for technology affected the corporate strategies of the leading companies, which can now sell technologies that they do not use in-house and increase their potential returns to R D. They argue that globalization, along with the low transportation costs of technologies, has made large R D intensive companies realize that they have the potential to exploit their technology on a very large scale by licensing. However, in deciding how to exploit their technology small firms and technology-based startups face a different set of challenges. According to the authors they need to trade off the costs of acquiring capital and building in-house production, distribution and marketing capability against the rents that would be lost or shared with their partners in a licensing deal. Also, the authors argue that integration may reduce the innovative potential of the firm, because the acquisition of the complementary assets in evitably increases the size of firms and induces important changes in the culture of the firm and in the speed and fluidity of information flows. Finally, they claim that evaluating technologies and being able to use them requires substantial in-house scientific and technological expertise and therefore internal and external R D can be reviewed as complements and not substitutes. Liu (2000) focuses on a different issue by examining the markets reaction to innovation news announcement made by the U.S. biotech firms during the 1983-1992 period. He finds that the average AR to the announcements is as high as 3.98 percent for a three-day event window and biotech stocks trading volumes almost double on the day of the news announcement. The announcement period ARs are negatively related to firm-size and underwriter reputation, while positively related to the firms technology depth as measured by R D intensity. However, during the months following the announcement the average three-month post announcement AR is 2.73 percent. The negative drift in stock prices appears to be mainly driven by the firms weak science and technology (less R D intensive), firms with high Book to Market (B/M) ratios and large firms. In explaining his findings the author proposes an expectation error hypothesis. According to this hypothesis it is hard for investors or even managers to prec isely evaluate the economic value of innovations which in turn leads to the possibility of forming erroneous expectations. In high-tech industries the erroneous expectation is reflected in the investors over-optimism towards high-tech firms innovation news. Eventually, the stock prices adjust itself to reflect the firms fundamentals, especially its technology depth. The author attributes the observed evidence to the costly information required to value a high-tech firms innovation. Prentice and Fox (2002) provide a comprehensive review of the merger and acquisition process while focusing on the distinctive characteristics of high-tech companies. They argue that technology mergers are different from traditional mergers because of the importance that must be placed on people and their ability to innovate. Targets must be evaluated on intangible assets such as intellectual property and human capital. At the same time managers need to consider the issues of retention, culture and integration strategy from the beginning of the merger process to ensure success. There are two studies that are most relevant to this research. The first one is by Kohers and Kohers (2000) who examine the value creation potential of 1,634 mergers in the various high-tech areas between 1987 and 1996. They find that acquirers of high-tech targets experience significantly positive Ars at the time of the merger announcement, regardless of whether the merger is financed with cash or stock. Othe r factors influencing bidder returns are the time period in which the merger occurs, the ownership structure of the acquirer, the ownership status of the target and the high-tech affiliation of acquirers. They conclude that the market appears to be optimistic about such mergers and expects that acquiring companies will enjoy future growth benefits. The second related study is also by Kohers and Kohers (2001) who examine the post-merger performance of acquirers that purchase high-tech targets in order to determine whether the high expectations regarding the future merits of these investments are actually justified. Their results indicate that compared to non acquirers, acquirers perform poorly over the three-year period following the high-tech takeover announcement. Furthermore, glamour bidders show significantly lower long-run ARs, while value bidders do not experience significant post-merger ARs. Also, glamour bidders with a higher risk of agency problems show even worse post-merger performance while institutional ownership in the acquiring firm has a positive influence on acquirer long run ARs. Overall, the authors conclude that the market tends to exhibit excessive enthusiasm toward the expected benefits of high-tech mergers but many of these benefits do not materialize. CHAPTER 3 HYPOTHESES, METHODOLOGY AND DATA SOURCES STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESES Previous research in the literature has generally found little financial benefit for the acquiring companies that were associated with occurrence of the acquisition activity (Rumelt, 1974; Ravenscraft and Scherer, 1987; Porter, 1987; and Kaplan and Weisbach, 1990). Consequently, the first and second questions for this study are focused using the single industry of semiconductors, are stated in the null hypothesis format. First, firm profitability growth rates are compared in two groups, one that does acquire and one that does not. Secondly, individual firm profitability growth is examined before and after an acquisition event looking for a change in growth rate that is significant. Hypothesis 1 (H1): There will be no significant difference in profitability growth when firms making acquisitions are compared to firms not making acquisitions in the high-tech sector. Hypothesis 2 (H2): Acquiring firms making acquisitions are expected to have no significant change in profitability growth before and after the acquisition event. The literature yields less empirical work in analyzing the relationship between merger and acquisition actions and the longevity of a corporation. Theory certainly recognizes the close link between competitive capability and company survival. For the high technology industry of semiconductors, high velocity innovation is a requirement for remaining competitive. Research questions three and four are also stated in the null hypothesis format. Company longevity, or survival rate in number of year, is compared in two groups also, where one group does acquire and one does not. Lastly, an individual firms spending rate on R D is examined before and after an acquisition event looking for a significant change in the rate compared to the trend for the company. Hypothesis 3 (H3): Firms making acquisitions are expected to have no difference in survivability in this industry than firms who do not make acquisitions. Hypothesis 4 (H4): A companys R D intensity will show no significant change following the event of acquisition within this industry. SELECTION OF VARIABLES This research was conducted in a concentric approach by starting with one independent and one dependent variable initially to define the relationship and guide the next treatment in the study. As work continued, variables were selected and the methodology expanded to assess both within-subject and between-subject effects. The variables used in this study for Hypothesis 1 (H1) include profitability growth rate and a dummy variable to represent the presence or absence of the event of acquisition. The event of acquisition is represented by a dummy variable with a zero (0) representing no acquisition and with a one (1) representing an acquisition event. An acquisition event is identified by using a firms reported cash flows attributed to acquisition as stated in the Compustat database. The profitability growth rate is calculated from the total gross profit margin reported by year and cumulated over three years, then averaged to reduce fluctuations and facilitate identification of trends. The variables used for H2 analysis of profitability growth rate before and after an acquisition were the dummy variable for the presence of acquisition, the gross profit margin percentage (GPM %) calculated as a three (3) year cumulative average growth rate (CAGR) to smooth fluctuations and better identify a trend. This relationship was studied for three (3) years prior to the actual acquisition and five (5) years following the action. As the study progressed, a second dummy variable was used for company size to separate the effect of this independent variable as well. A repeated measures matrix was designed with two dummy independent variable as well. A repeated measures matrix was designed with two dummy independent variables, each with two levels and one dependent variable with repeated measures over nine years for a 2 x 2 x 9 repeated measures analysis using the SPPS software. The variables used for H3 analysis of acquisition relation to firm longevity were the acquisition dummy variable and the data from Compustat for the number of years that the company did financial reporting during the period of this study. H4 looks for the effects between acquisition and RD spending or intensity by using the acquisition dummy independent variable and R D intensity as the dependent variable. R D intensity is calculated using the R D expense reported as such by the companies and in the Compustat database. This Compustat item represents all costs incurred during the year that relate to the development of new products or services. This amount is only the company`s contribution and includes software and amortization of software costs and complies with Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) standards. This item excludes customer or government-sponsored research and development (including reimbursable indirect costs) and ordinary engineering expenses for routine, ongoing efforts to define, enrich, or improve the qualities of existing products. Methodology This study encompasses the time period of ten years from 1990-2000, inclusive. Semiconductor companies were selected as an entire group according to their NAICS/SIC codes. Using the Standard Poors Compustat database, there are 153 semiconductor companies included that were identified as active companies at the end of the calendar year 2000 by Compustat. These companies are listed in Appendix B. Active reporting for one year. Companies are designated as inactive and reclassified in the Compustat database when it is no longer actively traded on a stock market exchange due to bankruptcy, becoming a private company, leveraged buyout or merging. The research effort started with analysis one independent variable and one dependent variable in order to initially establish what the relationship was that existed, if it was significant and how to proceed with analysis. Exploratory work on Hypothesis 1 showed that there was a statistically significant and positive correlation between acquisitions and gross profit margin (GMP) growth broadly over the decade which differs from prior research. Hypothesis 2 moves toward a more detailed analysis of this finding. Consequently, in this chronology of discovery, the next step presented in Section 4.2 look at one dependent variable of profit margin growth and two independent variables of company size and acquisition activity. 3-way ANNOVA and regression treatments of the data are conducted using the data analysis tool available under Microsoft Excel Software looking at individual years in the ten year study period. The results show significance again and suggest that other interactions betwe en variables would yield additional understanding. The next step in the research was set up to look at one dependent variable, again gross margin (GPM) growth, repeatedly measured over time for each subject or company was entered for the nine (9) years 1995-2000 inclusive to capture acquisition effects giving 2 x 2 x 9 repeated measures design. The two independent variables were used in the dummy format with non-acquires given a code zero 0 and acquires assigned at one (1). Company size was the second dummy variable with firms less than $100M in sales per year coded zero (0) and if greater than $100M in sales, assigned a one (1). The statistical analysis using a repeated measures design analyzed the variable interactions and their relationship to GPM growth using the SPSS software. These results are presented in Section 4.5 Repeated Measures Analysis that was done using SPSS software. Descriptive statistics were an important first treatment of the data sets created. This includes the values for the following parameters: mean, median, range variance, standard deviation, kurtosis, and skewness. This treatment looks at characteristics of the data and the degree of normal distribution. The 3-way ANOVA investigations and regression treatment of the data were initially done using the data analysis tool software available in Microsoft Excel. Generally, the data sets for this study vary somewhat from the classical normal distribution, but ANOVA and MANOVA (multivariate ANOVA) within a repeated measures analysis are considered robust to violations of the normal distribution assumption (Maxwell Dealney, 1990; Stevens, 1996) SPSS Advanced Models 11.0 software was used to create general linear models of the data and conduct analysis of variance (ANOVA), regression, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) for the multiple variables in this model with repeated measures. The factors or independent variables were used to divide the population of 153 active semiconductor companies into groups. There were two independent variables used that were designated as dummy variables. The first variable of acquisition separated companies that did complete acquisitions from those that did not complete acquisitions during the decade of study. The second variable grouped the companies by size of sales at the end of the decade by either greater than $100 million or less than $100 million. Then the general linear model procedure was used to test the four null hypotheses, as stated above, regarding the effects of the independent variables on the dependent variable of gross profit margin growth as a repeated measure over the perio d 1992-2000. The investigation included looking at interactions between factors as well as the individual factors and the effects and interactions of covariates. This model specifies the independent variables as covariates for regression analysis. The SPSS repeated measures model creates a matrix for the sums of squares due to the model effects, gives the approximate F statistics and estimates parameters in addition to testing hypotheses. When an F test shows significance, SPSS performs post hoc tests to evaluate the differences between the means. This yields a predicted mean value for the cells of the model. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to named variables to study the portion of variance in the each variable that could be identified as explained and unexpected with regard to the event of acquisition. A covariance tool was also used when looking at the variables described above such as acquisition occurrence, company size and profitability growth changes. This compares whether the two ranges of data move together à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" that is, whether large values of one set were associated with large values of the other (positive covariance), whether small values of one set were associated with large values of the other (negative covariance), or whether values in both sets were unrelated (covariance near zero). DATA SOURCES Standard Poors Compustat database was used for data collection in this research. The database contains fundamental financial, statistical and market data derived from publicity traded companies trading on the NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX, OTC and Canadian stock exchanges. The calendar year for a company is the year in which the fiscal year ends and is the time period used as standard in this research. Companies with fiscal years ending in January through May are assigned by Compustant into the year in which the fiscal year begins. Companies with fiscal years that end in June through December are assigned to the year in which the fiscal year ends. The EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval) System database maintained by the United Stated Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) was also used. The EDGAR data is also collected from the same sources that are used to generate the Compustat database. Data from these controlled and verifiable sources were corroborated and augmented with information collected from semiconductor trade journals, company annual reports and the Mergers Acquisitions Journal that tracks statistics in this area. CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION HI à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" ACQUISITON AND PROFITABILITY RELATIONSHIP A strong positive relationship was found to exist between the presence of acquisition activity and the growth in gross profit margin (GPM) by the end of the ten year study period. The statistical analysis is detailed below and is a departure from previous findings. This finding addresses the central question of this research endeavor to look for a relationship between acquisition events and profitability growth within the one industry of semiconductors. A positive financial effect is found and opens the path for additional analysis in this direction. Consequently, this information forms the foundation for the additional work presented in this research. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> High Technology Semiconductor Company Acquisitions High Technology Semiconductor Company Acquisitions The fast rate of technological change was one of the most important trends in the 1990s and this brought an increasing complexity and cost to the development of new technologies. Companies used their innovative assets as a major source of competitive advantage to quickly introduce new products and adopt new processes (Sen and Egelhoff, 2000). Acquisitions are completed in many industries for reasons that are aligned with the dominant competitive driving forces for that industry. In the area of high technology and seminconductors, the competitive drivers are short product life cycles and process advancement. Process advances are required to both support the incremental changes to existing products and to allow the creation of radically new one. The number of acquisitions rapidly increased through the decade for several reasons: the product life cycle was getting shorter; participating in the creation of industry and product standards was crucial; early entry helped capture market shar e; and R D risk could be reduced. Hagedoorn (1993) found the reduction in innovation time and acquisition of needed technologies as the most important reasons for one company to pursue another. Several researchers have written about the radical and incremental innovation capabilities, their distinguishing factors and the important consequences to the corporation. It has also been argued that large firms are effective with incremental innovations and small firms are better at radical innovations. (Ettlie, Bridges, and OKeefe, 1984; Dewar and Dutton, 1986; Christensen, 1992). Corporate decision to acquire or not acquire another company embodies a high level, serious management strategy decision toward repositioning a company in the competitive landscape. The decade from 1990 to 2000 was chosen as an important time for acquisition activity. There was frequent activity in acquisitions during a time of stable economic conditions creating good conditions for analysis. In 1990, the dollar value of all acquisitions and mergers in the United States was two percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In 2000, the value reached over 15% of the GDP (Mergerstat, 2003). In the first 10 months of 2000, in the technology sector alone, there were 2,019 acquisition and merger deals worth $573 billion (Reason, 2000). This occurred despite studies done in the 1980s and 1990s that found little positive effect financially for the acquiring company. The magnitude of the activity strongly suggests that some positive relationship could be found if examined in a different way o r using new metrics. This research uses a different methodology by exploring a single industry, selecting profitability growth as the metric from theoretical industry driving forces and analyzing profitability over time as a statistical repeated measures model using SPSS software. The results from this work may have strategic implications for remaining competitive in high technology, high-velocity industries. It should be noted here that the term acquisition, mergers and acquisitions and M A will be used interchangeably in this research and are defined in Appendix A along with other important terms. In high technology industries, such as semiconductors, a firm interested in new product innovation must aggressively invest to stay at the leading edge. Creating or acquiring new offerings can be dependent on a combination of efforts directed either internal or external to the company. Internal efforts include primarily Research and Development (R D) or newly formed affiliates, termed greenfields (Vermeulen Barkema, 2001; Sonenclar, 1984; Bradley Korn, 1981). External efforts can take the form of acquisition or mergers to best capture the intellectual property (IP) that is maintained in the categories of trade secret and proprietary know-how. Acquisitions, when done well, appear to have the advantage of capturing this kind of IP as compared to the other forms of external efforts. Acquisitions also potentially offer faster repositioning with less risk and lower cost than pursuing internal company endeavors (Singh Montgomery, 1987). A high technology companys success hinges on crea tion of innovative ideas, availability of creative personnel, speed of new product execution and cost effectiveness. Mergers and acquisitions are a highly favored management avenue for growth and competitive positioning. The importance of this management consideration and the impact of mergers and acquisitions continue to expand with billions of dollars involved. The importance in the technology sector becomes apparent when looking at the 724 firms that made their initial public offering (IPO) in 1992, but were not acquired or merged. Of these companies, 58% were selling at less than their IPO price six years later (Small Business Statistics, 2000). Product and service offering must constantly evolve and change (Thompson Strickland, 2001). High velocity innovation is fundamental to the growth and survival of high technology businesses. Organizations that are successful have a regular stream of unique products and services. Hewlett-Packard had over 50% of revenue in 1999 coming from products introduced in the previous two to four years. In high technology companies, the highest profit levels come from the newest products. Consequently, it is imperative to accelerate the innovation cycle, often through mergers and acquisitions, and this is critically important to remaining competitive. Entrepreneurial firms consistently outperform larger firms in both market and earnings growth on the Inc. 500 and Forbes 200 lists (Imparato Harari, 1994). There are several potential reasons for making an acquisition that have been identified and studied in the literature. In addition to the reasons for actually acquiring, there are a number of factors following the event that will influence the degree of success or failure that these efforts may experience. These elements that play a part in determining the outcome have been the focus of studies that are summarized in the Literature Review. WHAT MAKES HIGH-TECH COMPANIES AND THEIR ACQUISITIONS UNIQUE Both the popular business press as well as recent academic research seems to uniformly accept the unique nature of high-tech stocks. Kohers and Kohers (2000) state: The high-growth nature of technology-based industries distinguishes them from other types of industries. In addition to their high-growth potential, however, another distinctive feature of high-tech industries is the inherent uncertainty associated with companies whose values rely on future outcomes or developments is unproven, uncharted fields (p. 40). In fact, many pure technology stocks are young companies, underfunded and without prospects for generating any cash flows in the near future. Nevertheless, despite the inherent uncertainty of high-tech industries, investors seemed to disregard most equity fundamentals when valuing technology stocks, especially during the market upturn in the late 1990s. As a result, even though high-tech stocks were in general extremely volatile, many of them were trading at remarkable pre miums. The exploding rate of growth in M A activity that involved high-tech industries can be partly attributed to those overly optimistic valuations. Puranam (2001) argues: On the acquirers side, booming stock market valuations have made acquisitions for stock feasible for several relatively small (revenue wise) firms, as well as the more established larger ones. On the targets side, an increasing preference for the ready liquidity offered, by an acquisition, as opposed to the paper profits from an IPO have created an environment conducive to acquisitions of small start-ups. At the same time many of these acquisitions were also motivated by the acquirers need to obtain critical technologies and expertise in order to quickly enhance their own technological competence. Despite the burst of the high-tech market bubble and the failure of most of these acquisitions, investors continue to show an extreme faith on these stocks. Americans still believe that technology can create a better world. Each time the U.S. tech sector falls into a trough, new technologies and companies emerge to lead it forward again (Business Week, August 27, 2001). PROBLEM MOTIVATING THIS STUDY This research effort seeks to understand the relationship between acquisitions and profitability by looking at the industrial sector for high technology semiconductor companies. Many prior studies have shown little financial benefit to the acquiring company in research conducted beginning in the 1980s and extending to today using a variety of variables, measures and company sample selection. These studies will be discussed in more detail in the Literature Review. The researchers Rumelt (1984), Ravenscraft and Scherer (1987), Porter (1987) and Kaplan and Weisbach (1990) separately found that acquisitions that could be categorized as unrelated, or diversifications, did not lead to profitability improvements, but most of these studies obviously included a cross-section of divergent industries. The importance of innovation and new products in high velocity, competitive environments is discussed in literature and high velocity innovation is fundamental to the growth, profitability and sur vival of these businesses (Thompson and Strickland, 1999; Betz, 2001; Burgelman, Christensen and Wheelwright, 2004). The competitive advantage of capturing intellectual property through acquisition has also been discussed more recently. More clear evidence is beginning to emerge concerning the drive to acquire technology and the unique features of doing so (Prentice Fox, 2002). This research examines the correlation between the event of acquisition and subsequent company performance and growth of profitability in the decade of 1990-2000. Practicing managers in the area of management of technology are faced with the challenge of high velocity innovation being a requirement to maintain competitive positioning (Thompson Strickland, 2001). Two methods for constant innovation include internal efforts, such as Research Development (R D), and external efforts, such as acquisitions, on which this paper focuses. Prior studies have been cross-sectional across different industries and analyzed the benefits gained in terms of patents and R D (Bettis 1981), stock price (Matsusaka, 1990; Schleifer and Vishny, 1990; and Lubatkin, 1982) or increase in company size versus the cost of acquisitions. These studies have not captured one of the most unique features of the high technology industry where innovation and new products are dependent on intellectual property (IP) that is maintained in the categories of trade secret and proprietary know-how. Because of this characteristic, the high technology industry would be expected to yield different results. The importance of IP and know-how has been an area of academic focus working to clarify the concept of absorptive capacity in the 1990s, but empirical work to tie these concepts to firm performance was not pursued (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; Barney, 1991; Prahalad and Hamel, 1990). The use of patents as a measure, as used in prior research (Acs and Aud retsch, 1988; Pakes and Griliches, 1980; Hitt, Hoskisson, Ireland and Harrison, 1991), does not capture the IP benefits in these categories or measure the success resulting from these external efforts. Acquisitions, when done well, should be expected to have an advantage on capturing this kind of IP. Acquisitions potentially offer faster positioning with less risk and lower cost than internal company endeavors which include primarily Research and Development (R D) (Gulati, 1995; Singh Montgomery, 1987). STUDY OVERVIEW This research effort focuses on one high technology industrial sector of semiconductors and studies the correlation between acquisitions, profitability, survivability and RD intensity over time. Many prior studies (Rumelt, 1984; Ravenscraft and Scherer, 1987; Porter, 1987; and Kaplan and Weisbach, 1990) have shown little financial benefit to the acquiring company, but most of these studies included a cross-section of divergent industries. The importance of innovation and new products in high velocity, competitive environments is widely discussed in literature. High velocity innovation is fundamental for the theory of growth, profitability and survival of these businesses. The competitive advantage of capturing intellectual property through acquisition has also been discussed more recently. More clear evidence is beginning to emerge concerning the drive to acquire technology and the unique features of doing so (Prentice Fox, 2002). This paper researches the correlation between the ev ent of acquisition and subsequent company performance, survivability, the growth of profitability and R D spending. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ON HIGH-TECH COMPANIES Most research on high-tech companies is relatively recent and has its origin in various business fields. Chaudhuri and Tabrizi (1999) study the practices of 24 high-tech companies involved in acquisitions, and try to identify the key factors in capturing the real value in high-tech acquisitions. They conclude that in order to make a successful acquisition managers need to move beyond the traditional model of acquisitions where the people acquired are secondary to physical assets and brands. High-tech acquisitions need to focus on the people since technological capabilities tied to skilled people are the key to long-term success in these industries. Arora, Fosfuri and Gambardella (2000) examine how the growth of markets for technology affected the corporate strategies of the leading companies, which can now sell technologies that they do not use in-house and increase their potential returns to R D. They argue that globalization, along with the low transportation costs of technologies, has made large R D intensive companies realize that they have the potential to exploit their technology on a very large scale by licensing. However, in deciding how to exploit their technology small firms and technology-based startups face a different set of challenges. According to the authors they need to trade off the costs of acquiring capital and building in-house production, distribution and marketing capability against the rents that would be lost or shared with their partners in a licensing deal. Also, the authors argue that integration may reduce the innovative potential of the firm, because the acquisition of the complementary assets in evitably increases the size of firms and induces important changes in the culture of the firm and in the speed and fluidity of information flows. Finally, they claim that evaluating technologies and being able to use them requires substantial in-house scientific and technological expertise and therefore internal and external R D can be reviewed as complements and not substitutes. Liu (2000) focuses on a different issue by examining the markets reaction to innovation news announcement made by the U.S. biotech firms during the 1983-1992 period. He finds that the average AR to the announcements is as high as 3.98 percent for a three-day event window and biotech stocks trading volumes almost double on the day of the news announcement. The announcement period ARs are negatively related to firm-size and underwriter reputation, while positively related to the firms technology depth as measured by R D intensity. However, during the months following the announcement the average three-month post announcement AR is 2.73 percent. The negative drift in stock prices appears to be mainly driven by the firms weak science and technology (less R D intensive), firms with high Book to Market (B/M) ratios and large firms. In explaining his findings the author proposes an expectation error hypothesis. According to this hypothesis it is hard for investors or even managers to prec isely evaluate the economic value of innovations which in turn leads to the possibility of forming erroneous expectations. In high-tech industries the erroneous expectation is reflected in the investors over-optimism towards high-tech firms innovation news. Eventually, the stock prices adjust itself to reflect the firms fundamentals, especially its technology depth. The author attributes the observed evidence to the costly information required to value a high-tech firms innovation. Prentice and Fox (2002) provide a comprehensive review of the merger and acquisition process while focusing on the distinctive characteristics of high-tech companies. They argue that technology mergers are different from traditional mergers because of the importance that must be placed on people and their ability to innovate. Targets must be evaluated on intangible assets such as intellectual property and human capital. At the same time managers need to consider the issues of retention, culture and integration strategy from the beginning of the merger process to ensure success. There are two studies that are most relevant to this research. The first one is by Kohers and Kohers (2000) who examine the value creation potential of 1,634 mergers in the various high-tech areas between 1987 and 1996. They find that acquirers of high-tech targets experience significantly positive Ars at the time of the merger announcement, regardless of whether the merger is financed with cash or stock. Othe r factors influencing bidder returns are the time period in which the merger occurs, the ownership structure of the acquirer, the ownership status of the target and the high-tech affiliation of acquirers. They conclude that the market appears to be optimistic about such mergers and expects that acquiring companies will enjoy future growth benefits. The second related study is also by Kohers and Kohers (2001) who examine the post-merger performance of acquirers that purchase high-tech targets in order to determine whether the high expectations regarding the future merits of these investments are actually justified. Their results indicate that compared to non acquirers, acquirers perform poorly over the three-year period following the high-tech takeover announcement. Furthermore, glamour bidders show significantly lower long-run ARs, while value bidders do not experience significant post-merger ARs. Also, glamour bidders with a higher risk of agency problems show even worse post-merger performance while institutional ownership in the acquiring firm has a positive influence on acquirer long run ARs. Overall, the authors conclude that the market tends to exhibit excessive enthusiasm toward the expected benefits of high-tech mergers but many of these benefits do not materialize. CHAPTER 3 HYPOTHESES, METHODOLOGY AND DATA SOURCES STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESES Previous research in the literature has generally found little financial benefit for the acquiring companies that were associated with occurrence of the acquisition activity (Rumelt, 1974; Ravenscraft and Scherer, 1987; Porter, 1987; and Kaplan and Weisbach, 1990). Consequently, the first and second questions for this study are focused using the single industry of semiconductors, are stated in the null hypothesis format. First, firm profitability growth rates are compared in two groups, one that does acquire and one that does not. Secondly, individual firm profitability growth is examined before and after an acquisition event looking for a change in growth rate that is significant. Hypothesis 1 (H1): There will be no significant difference in profitability growth when firms making acquisitions are compared to firms not making acquisitions in the high-tech sector. Hypothesis 2 (H2): Acquiring firms making acquisitions are expected to have no significant change in profitability growth before and after the acquisition event. The literature yields less empirical work in analyzing the relationship between merger and acquisition actions and the longevity of a corporation. Theory certainly recognizes the close link between competitive capability and company survival. For the high technology industry of semiconductors, high velocity innovation is a requirement for remaining competitive. Research questions three and four are also stated in the null hypothesis format. Company longevity, or survival rate in number of year, is compared in two groups also, where one group does acquire and one does not. Lastly, an individual firms spending rate on R D is examined before and after an acquisition event looking for a significant change in the rate compared to the trend for the company. Hypothesis 3 (H3): Firms making acquisitions are expected to have no difference in survivability in this industry than firms who do not make acquisitions. Hypothesis 4 (H4): A companys R D intensity will show no significant change following the event of acquisition within this industry. SELECTION OF VARIABLES This research was conducted in a concentric approach by starting with one independent and one dependent variable initially to define the relationship and guide the next treatment in the study. As work continued, variables were selected and the methodology expanded to assess both within-subject and between-subject effects. The variables used in this study for Hypothesis 1 (H1) include profitability growth rate and a dummy variable to represent the presence or absence of the event of acquisition. The event of acquisition is represented by a dummy variable with a zero (0) representing no acquisition and with a one (1) representing an acquisition event. An acquisition event is identified by using a firms reported cash flows attributed to acquisition as stated in the Compustat database. The profitability growth rate is calculated from the total gross profit margin reported by year and cumulated over three years, then averaged to reduce fluctuations and facilitate identification of trends. The variables used for H2 analysis of profitability growth rate before and after an acquisition were the dummy variable for the presence of acquisition, the gross profit margin percentage (GPM %) calculated as a three (3) year cumulative average growth rate (CAGR) to smooth fluctuations and better identify a trend. This relationship was studied for three (3) years prior to the actual acquisition and five (5) years following the action. As the study progressed, a second dummy variable was used for company size to separate the effect of this independent variable as well. A repeated measures matrix was designed with two dummy independent variable as well. A repeated measures matrix was designed with two dummy independent variables, each with two levels and one dependent variable with repeated measures over nine years for a 2 x 2 x 9 repeated measures analysis using the SPPS software. The variables used for H3 analysis of acquisition relation to firm longevity were the acquisition dummy variable and the data from Compustat for the number of years that the company did financial reporting during the period of this study. H4 looks for the effects between acquisition and RD spending or intensity by using the acquisition dummy independent variable and R D intensity as the dependent variable. R D intensity is calculated using the R D expense reported as such by the companies and in the Compustat database. This Compustat item represents all costs incurred during the year that relate to the development of new products or services. This amount is only the company`s contribution and includes software and amortization of software costs and complies with Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) standards. This item excludes customer or government-sponsored research and development (including reimbursable indirect costs) and ordinary engineering expenses for routine, ongoing efforts to define, enrich, or improve the qualities of existing products. Methodology This study encompasses the time period of ten years from 1990-2000, inclusive. Semiconductor companies were selected as an entire group according to their NAICS/SIC codes. Using the Standard Poors Compustat database, there are 153 semiconductor companies included that were identified as active companies at the end of the calendar year 2000 by Compustat. These companies are listed in Appendix B. Active reporting for one year. Companies are designated as inactive and reclassified in the Compustat database when it is no longer actively traded on a stock market exchange due to bankruptcy, becoming a private company, leveraged buyout or merging. The research effort started with analysis one independent variable and one dependent variable in order to initially establish what the relationship was that existed, if it was significant and how to proceed with analysis. Exploratory work on Hypothesis 1 showed that there was a statistically significant and positive correlation between acquisitions and gross profit margin (GMP) growth broadly over the decade which differs from prior research. Hypothesis 2 moves toward a more detailed analysis of this finding. Consequently, in this chronology of discovery, the next step presented in Section 4.2 look at one dependent variable of profit margin growth and two independent variables of company size and acquisition activity. 3-way ANNOVA and regression treatments of the data are conducted using the data analysis tool available under Microsoft Excel Software looking at individual years in the ten year study period. The results show significance again and suggest that other interactions betwe en variables would yield additional understanding. The next step in the research was set up to look at one dependent variable, again gross margin (GPM) growth, repeatedly measured over time for each subject or company was entered for the nine (9) years 1995-2000 inclusive to capture acquisition effects giving 2 x 2 x 9 repeated measures design. The two independent variables were used in the dummy format with non-acquires given a code zero 0 and acquires assigned at one (1). Company size was the second dummy variable with firms less than $100M in sales per year coded zero (0) and if greater than $100M in sales, assigned a one (1). The statistical analysis using a repeated measures design analyzed the variable interactions and their relationship to GPM growth using the SPSS software. These results are presented in Section 4.5 Repeated Measures Analysis that was done using SPSS software. Descriptive statistics were an important first treatment of the data sets created. This includes the values for the following parameters: mean, median, range variance, standard deviation, kurtosis, and skewness. This treatment looks at characteristics of the data and the degree of normal distribution. The 3-way ANOVA investigations and regression treatment of the data were initially done using the data analysis tool software available in Microsoft Excel. Generally, the data sets for this study vary somewhat from the classical normal distribution, but ANOVA and MANOVA (multivariate ANOVA) within a repeated measures analysis are considered robust to violations of the normal distribution assumption (Maxwell Dealney, 1990; Stevens, 1996) SPSS Advanced Models 11.0 software was used to create general linear models of the data and conduct analysis of variance (ANOVA), regression, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) for the multiple variables in this model with repeated measures. The factors or independent variables were used to divide the population of 153 active semiconductor companies into groups. There were two independent variables used that were designated as dummy variables. The first variable of acquisition separated companies that did complete acquisitions from those that did not complete acquisitions during the decade of study. The second variable grouped the companies by size of sales at the end of the decade by either greater than $100 million or less than $100 million. Then the general linear model procedure was used to test the four null hypotheses, as stated above, regarding the effects of the independent variables on the dependent variable of gross profit margin growth as a repeated measure over the perio d 1992-2000. The investigation included looking at interactions between factors as well as the individual factors and the effects and interactions of covariates. This model specifies the independent variables as covariates for regression analysis. The SPSS repeated measures model creates a matrix for the sums of squares due to the model effects, gives the approximate F statistics and estimates parameters in addition to testing hypotheses. When an F test shows significance, SPSS performs post hoc tests to evaluate the differences between the means. This yields a predicted mean value for the cells of the model. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to named variables to study the portion of variance in the each variable that could be identified as explained and unexpected with regard to the event of acquisition. A covariance tool was also used when looking at the variables described above such as acquisition occurrence, company size and profitability growth changes. This compares whether the two ranges of data move together à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" that is, whether large values of one set were associated with large values of the other (positive covariance), whether small values of one set were associated with large values of the other (negative covariance), or whether values in both sets were unrelated (covariance near zero). DATA SOURCES Standard Poors Compustat database was used for data collection in this research. The database contains fundamental financial, statistical and market data derived from publicity traded companies trading on the NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX, OTC and Canadian stock exchanges. The calendar year for a company is the year in which the fiscal year ends and is the time period used as standard in this research. Companies with fiscal years ending in January through May are assigned by Compustant into the year in which the fiscal year begins. Companies with fiscal years that end in June through December are assigned to the year in which the fiscal year ends. The EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval) System database maintained by the United Stated Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) was also used. The EDGAR data is also collected from the same sources that are used to generate the Compustat database. Data from these controlled and verifiable sources were corroborated and augmented with information collected from semiconductor trade journals, company annual reports and the Mergers Acquisitions Journal that tracks statistics in this area. CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION HI à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" ACQUISITON AND PROFITABILITY RELATIONSHIP A strong positive relationship was found to exist between the presence of acquisition activity and the growth in gross profit margin (GPM) by the end of the ten year study period. The statistical analysis is detailed below and is a departure from previous findings. This finding addresses the central question of this research endeavor to look for a relationship between acquisition events and profitability growth within the one industry of semiconductors. A positive financial effect is found and opens the path for additional analysis in this direction. Consequently, this information forms the foundation for the additional work presented in this research. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON ANALYSIS GOING ON >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>