Stock market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Stock market - Essay Example Gross Domestic Product is the total market value of all the final goods and services produced within a nation's borders in a given time period. Each goods and services produced and brought in the market have a price. The price of the total output is called as GDP. It can be measured by either cumulating all the income earned in the economy or all the spending in the economy and both measures should roughly equate to the same total. GDP is the basic measure of an economy's size. With the GDP used as a key indicator of economic activity and future economic prospects, any significant change in the GDP, either up or down, can have a major effect on stock market investors' sentiment. If investors believe that the economy is improving, and corporate earnings improving along with it, then they are more likely to bid stock prices to higher levels. Conversely, an actual or expected decline in GDP is very likely to run in parallel or in advance to a declining stock market. There is an alternat ive view to the interplay between GDP and the stock market. The stock market itself may exert a reverse effect on subsequent economic activity: a fall in the market may erode personal wealth, real or perceived, such that individuals will stop spending. With consumer spending representing around two-thirds of GDP, even a small change in consumption can exert significant negative effects on GDP. This is referred to as the "wealth effect", where if investors feel poorer, they will stop spending, thereby decreasing GDP and further exacerbating an already declining market. The Housing Market: The housing market is one of 10 leading economic indicators and a good measurement of discretionary spending by the general public making up 5% of the value of the overall economy. When the economy is up, people have a tendency to spend more and housing permits and sales are good indicators of this trend. When the economy slows people spend and building and buying will have a tendency to decline. The concern in the current housing market is with the recent surge in defaults with sub-prime loans. This trend is a major factor in the current decline of the housing market which can act as a deterrent to growth and can cause a ripple effect in the rest of the economy.

Tesco and Sainsbury Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Tesco and Sainsbury - Case Study Example He has been reduced to working from home most of the times. After deliberations with the family members, Howard has opted to retire from the company completely at the end of this year. He will relocate to Kenya, due to warm climate here. This will be good for his health. Having graduated recently with an undergraduate degree in business management, Howard has selected me, as his eldest child, to take over the running of the business. I plan to make radical changes to Stellion Convenient Stores. This is to make sure that it grows, instead of the current stagnation. To this end, am carrying out a research on Tesco and Sainsbury stores. The results of this research will help me in making the decisions that are necessary for this company. Tesco has a unique form of organizational structure. It is devolved and decentralized. This means that rather decisions been made by the top tier managers and passed down the hierarchy, the managers at the lower levels can make decisions (Crowther & McNiff: 2004). What the top tier managers at Tesco do is just to arm the lower cadre managers with general terms like price list and terms and conditions. But the rest of the decisions, like determining which staffs work where are determined by the lower managers (Crowther & McNiff: 2004). Each branch of this chain of supermarkets has its own manager. This is the one who decides on matters to do with the store, and then he makes a report to the regional manager. The hierarchy of Tesco supermarkets can be looked at as been flat. There are six tiers of hierarchy between the highest official, who is the C.E.O, and the lowest staff, who is the checkout cashier. Since the organisation has several branches, there exist two separate but interrelated forms of structures (Crowther & McNiff: 2004). The first is for the whole company, while the second is for each of the branches, which can also be referred to as regional or internal organisation structure. Every company has norms and values that are common amongst the employees. This is what is referred to as the organisational culture (Mullins: 2008). There are weekly meetings for the employees, where they get the opportunity to share ideas and suggestions about the running of Tesco. During these meetings, the management gets the feedback from their staff on how the business is running, since the workers are the ones who are in direct contact with the customers (Mullins: 2008). It is also the culture of Tesco to inform the employees of new developments in the company, for example change in terms and conditions, during these meetings. The chain of supermarkets has adopted a slogan "every little helps", which shows how they value their employees and customers. Every little input from these employees and customers aimed at improving the business of this company is appreciated. The culture adopted by Tesco helps both the employees and the customers. For example the weekly meetings and update from the company makes the employees feel that they are part of the company, they are not alienated (Crowther & McNiff: 2004). The employees are allowed to make suggestions as to the best way of running the company, they become a part in the decision making process. They feel that they have control over their work, which is really good for morale (Crowther & McNiff: 2004). The customers get their feelings and suggestions relayed to