Citibank Budgeting Essay Example for Free

Citibank Budgeting Essay 1. Analysis of Budget Process at Citibank Direction and control of Citibank’s international branches are conducted via two formal management processes. Each year, top management sets sovereign risk limits for its independent branches based on proposals by country managers. Country managers may choose to operate with self-imposed limits below this upper guideline. Following, there is the budget setting process, where headquarters only provides administrative guidelines but not specific targets, with operating managers being responsible for budgets for the following year. Indonesia often set their targets above these long-term goals. Performance is measured and compared against the budget each month, and a new forecast, which will be reviewed by the division manager, is drawn up each quarter for the remainder of the year. This structure of bottom-up budgeting is appropriate for a decentralized firm like Citibank. This is evident from the freedom Mr Mistri has over Indonesia’s operations and the different business segments and divisions, as shown in Exhibit 2 3. Such a participative process is likely to increase management commitment to achieve the targets since country managers are responsible for influencing their own targets. More importantly, country managers know the local business environment and culture better than group managers, therefore their targets are likely to be more accurate and realistic. Furthermore, bottom-up budgeting is a form of action control while the frequent reviews of the budgets serves as preaction review. Both facilitate information sharing within the organisation, with long-term strategic goals of the firm being communicated downwards and local business potentials and risks conveyed upwards via the budgets and forecasts. They also encourage managers to think further ahead about what they want to achieve in the near future. However, Citibank’s budgeting process appears to have an imbalanced focus with most of the emphasis placed only on financial measures. Although these measures can be easily obtained and are inexpensive because they are by-products of the accounting system, it does not fully represent all aspects of the organization’s strategies and goals. Instead, the budget could be restructured to include other non-financial aspects such as customer satisfaction and employee morale to obtain a balance, which will be vital towards the long term success of Citibank. None of Citibank’s budget items extend beyond the next year; instead there is an emphasis on a fixed short horizon. This can result in managers developing a myopic focus instead of measuring the fulfilment of Citibank’s long-term goals or the local government’s societal expectations. Myopia is aggravated by the monthly performance reviews which reveals the focus on short term goals. Citibank should look at its budget with a longer horizon. Moreover, the budgeting process in Citibank appears to be tedious and too time-consuming. The requirement for operating managers to conduct discussions and forecast all the line items shown on the submission form seems to take up significant time and effort. Such a process could be costly for the firm in terms of opportunity costs related to unnecessary time and resources spent. The benefits of such a tedious budgeting process must be high enough to justify the related costs. Also, there seems to be no connection and a mismatch between the two management processes. It is only reasonable that these two processes should go hand in hand as higher returns may only be possible with a higher risk appetite. However, increase in profit goals is not matched by an increase in risk tolerance (sovereign risk limit). Moreover, sovereign risk limits is set yearly but not adjusted when budgets are revised each quarter. Citibank should consider allowing country/division managers to adjust risk limits to match any revisions in budgets during the year. Use of the Budget for Performance Evaluation of Managers Performance is monitored every month against budgets, and incentive compensation for managers were linked to budget-related performance. Incentive compensation could range up to approximately 70% of base salary although awards of 30-35% were more typical. Assignment of bonuses were based approximately 30% on corporate performance and 70% on individual performance, primarily performance related to forecast. This emphasizes results accountability as it involves rewarding the managers for generating good results that are aligned to the budgets. As such, it influences actions because it causes employees to be concerned about the consequences of the actions they take. However, the contradiction in this is that while these managers will not be constrained in what actions they can take to achieve their goals, they are also empowered to take whatever actions they believe will best produce these desired results. Hence, it is highly dependent on personnel controls with regards to the managers hired. Provided that budgets were adequately set with appropriately extent of goal difficulty, these budgets act as results controls and affects a manager’s motivation since the targets are linked to performance evaluations and compensation. Furthermore, it is beneficial that manager’s compensation is tied directly to both individual(70%) and corporate performance(30%), allowing a larger perspective to be considered. Differentiation of base earnings from extraordinary earnings for which managers are not held accountable for is in line with the controllability principle. This is vital because setting performance targets to attain for each measure allows the managers to assess their performance and also get rewarded, encouraging behaviors that lead to desired results. As such, this will promise manager rewards that provide the most powerful motivational effects in the most cost effective ways possible. However, performance evaluations based on budgeted information is backward looking (extrapolating past trends) while it is best that the evaluations be forward looking. It should be evaluated based on the future cash flow/profits that can be brought to the firm instead of historical performance to promote a higher performance in the future. Furthermore, as their compensation is tied to meeting targets, it might promote game-playing and politics. As for Citibank, their culture encourages aggressive mark-ups to budget with managers constantly setting challenging budgets. For Mr Mistri, he will feel the extra pressure since the aggressive targets can barely be met with the deteriorating conditions in Indonesia. In conclusion, the current budget and performance evaluation system, which is mainly bottom up with top down guidance, matches the decentralized structure of Citibank. Although there seems to be trade-offs and problems with Citibank’s current bottom up budgeting system, there is no perfect budget system to optimally serve all the different purposes of budgeting. What Citibank can do is to put in place measures to minimize some of these shortcomings. 2. Are managers at Citibank committed to achieving budget targets? Yes, managers are committed as a result of their freedom to set their own budgets subject to guidelines provided by top management. Mr Mistri can choose to operate with a self imposed sovereign risk limit which is lower than the one approved by the New York Headquarter if he thinks that the one set by the top management is too aggressive. The fact that he has control over this means that he will be less pressurised to set unrealistic goals or engage in budget slacks. These will garner higher commitment from managers since the budgets set are not restrictive and offer flexibility to managers according to the business conditions. The commitment to achieve targets is augmented as incentive compensation for managers is linked to budget-related performance. Thus they will work towards getting more incentives for themselves through surpassing the budgeted forecast. On the other hand, the amount of commitment may be limited by the constant revision of budgets each quarter. Managers may be less motivated to hit their budget target if they know that those targets can be revised lower in the next quarter if performance was unsatisfactory. In addition, the frequent changes may make managers unfocused and reduce their motivation to work towards the goals set. If so, are the budget targets too challenging? The targets may prove to be too challenging. This can be shown by the fact that although incentive compensation could range up to 70% of base salary, awards of 30-35% were more typical, implying that it may be difficult to surpass the budgeted levels. Furthermore, Mr Mistri felt that the increased profit goal by $500K to $1mil set by Mr Gibson is too much as the budget he submitted is already very aggressive, judging by the bleak short term outlook due to the decrease in oil prices. This is supported by the self-imposed sovereign risk limit that Mr Mistri is operating at in order to minimise his exposure which will reduce the likelihood of the firm achieving higher returns due to the lower risk. We also doubt the achievability of the budget set. Though the forecasts and budgets are set by the operating managers themselves, we have to take into consideration Citibank’s risk-taking culture. While challenging targets induce motivation, the aggressive year-on-year increase in targets might prove to be detrimental to the achievement of the firm’s strategic objectives. Firstly, this is especially so when targets are not adjusted in times of bad macroeconomic conditions. With the incentive compensation for managers linked to budget-related performance, it seems that managers might be motivated to set unrealistic targets and employ excessively risky methods to accomplish them. Such a system would eventually serve to promote short-term gains at the expense of long-term losses for the organisation. In addition, the practice of comparing actual performance to budgeted amount monthly is too short termed and may render managers to become myopic. This may encourage managers to engage in gamesmanship such as earnings management, manipulating data to receive additional bonuses especially towards the end of a quarter. Is there any evidence of budget gaming? Yes, there is evidence of budget gaming. The main reason Mr Mistri used to justify his less than ideal budget (as compared to Mr Gibson’s) is likely to be false and there are unhealthy motivations for him to engage in such behaviour. Mr Mistri justified his budget by claiming that the Indonesian economy had slipped into a recession when oil prices decreased significantly. This is supported by the fact that Citibank’s Indonesian operations growth paralleled that of the Indonesian economy. However, evidence in Exhibit 4 suggests otherwise, revealing both the net and inflation-adjusted GDP of Indonesia to be increasing steadily over time. Even in 1983, GDP increased 5%. Moreover, a fall in oil prices will not necessarily lead to a recession. As such, Mr Mistri’s concerns are unlikely to be true and a simple check by the group managers would have allowed this to be uncovered. Moreover, even though Indonesia’s economy is highly dependent on oil prices, a fall in oil prices is also likely to affect Citibank’s other operations in different regions. The group managers will probably have considered this effect when setting the $4mil profit goal for South East Asia. In our opinion, Mr Mistri is likely to be acting as a Sandbagger. By presenting less ambitious budgets, there will be higher likelihood of positive variances in actual performance. Given that compensation is tied to budget-related performance, such gaming behavior will probably increase Mr Mistri’s bonuses and salary. Another motive for budget gaming could be to cover up the ongoing high staff turnover problem with the bad economic conditions. Mr Mistri just lost his chief of staff and two senior officers, and is concerned with constraints to growth due to his lack of experienced staff. This could in turn affect his bonus and salary. Since managers are not accountable for extraordinary earnings or losses at Citibank, by blaming the external economy (recession) for a less aggressive budget rather than on internal problems, his bonuses will not be affected. Furthermore, Mr Minstri has the freedom to operate at a sovereign risk limit lower than the group’s since country managers are given substantial autonomy in deciding their country’s budget and risk limits. He is likely to be able to get away with a less than optimal budget if his group manager trusts him. This way, his budget gaming behavior will escape the suspicions of Mr Gibson and other group/division managers.

Woodspurge Analysis Essay Example for Free

Woodspurge Analysis Essay â€Å"The Woodspurge† is a sixteen-line poem divided into four-line stanzas that describe a grief-stricken narrator in an outdoor setting. In his depressed state, the narrator emotionally observes the details of the woodspurge, a species of weed that has a three-part blossom. The poem’s first stanza presents a countryside and begins to suggest the narrators’s state of mind. The narrator is not walking toward a specific destination; he moves in the direction the wind is blowing and once the wind ceases, he stops and sits in the grass. The fact that his walking and stopping are guided merely by the wind indicates aimlessness and passivity The narrator’s posture in the second stanza indicates that he feels exceedingly depressed. Sitting on the grass he is hunched over with his head between his knees. This shows that he is insecure. His depression is so severe that he cannot even groan aloud or speak a word of grief. His head is cast down, as is his soul – so much that his hair is touching the grass. He remains in this position for an unknown length of time but long enough that he â€Å"heard the day pass†. In the third stanza, â€Å"My eyes, wide open, had the run† let the readers know about the sudden changes in his attitude. He finally accepts what had happened and knows that he has to move on. From his seated position, he says there are â€Å"ten weeds† that his eyes can â€Å"fix upon†. This reflect that he sees his problem and becomes aware of it. He realises that the â€Å"weeds† (his problem) are in his way and the hardiness of the â€Å"weeds† tells that the problem that he faced are hard to be rid of. Out of that group, a flowering woodspurge captures his complete attention and he is dramatically impressed by the detail that it flowers as â€Å"three cups in one†. The narrator attributes his depressed state to â€Å"perfect grief† in the final stanza. He then comments that grief may not function to bring wisdom and may not even be remembered. He implies that he himself learned nothing from his grief that day and can no longer remember its cause. However, â€Å"One thing then learnt remains to me†: He had been visually overwhelmed by the shape of the woodspurge and consequently, its image and the fact that â€Å"The woodspurge has a cup of three† have been vividly burned into his memory forever. Themes and Meanings Although the cause of the narrator’s sorrow is never specified, the poem was written in the spring of 1856 when Rossetti was in an anguished state. He was experiencing intense strife with Elizabeth Siddal over the issue of her desire for marriage. Rossetti was also tormented at that time about relationships with other women and what he perceived as lost of artistic opportunities. However, nothing in the poem points to these specific issues. By leaving the cause of the narrator’s depression unspecified, Rossetti gives universal expression to the psychological phenomenon of acute mental awareness and heightened sensation simultaneously with mental and emotional distress. Although â€Å"The Woodspurge† has a plant’s name as its title, the poem does not have nature, or even the woodspurge itself, as its subject. Nature does play an indirect role in the poem, but it is not the focus here or in other works by Rossetti. Both in his painting and poetry, the function of nature is to act as a background for the presentation of human action and emotion. The depiction of details from nature is not meant to draw attention to nature itself but to mirror an inner experience. In conclusion, â€Å"The Woodspurge† is about the narrator’s grief and that an insignificant detail or image can remain vivid after emotional pain is forgotten. It concentrates on creating emotional effect, accuracy of detail and the use of nature as a framework for the expression of the mental and emotional state of the narrator.

Strategic Management at Sainsburys

Strategic Management at Sainsburys Introduction The word â€Å"strategy† is often over-used in a fuzzy manner. Therefore this simple and straight-forward definition of strategy given by William E Rothschild, the business leader and an ex-General Electric veteran is one of the best available. He defines strategy as â€Å"What do you want to achieve or avoid? The answers to this question are objectives. How will you go about achieving your desired results? The answer to this you can call strategy.† The highlight of this definition is that it clearly distinguishes strategy from â€Å"objectives.† This assignment examines strategic management at Sainsburys, during various booms and busts from the days of its launch till date. The analysis is done within the various conceptual frameworks of strategic management in general and Michael Porters five forces model, in particular. Strategic Management An articulate, well-laid out and well-executed strategy is the cornerstone of long term prosperity of any business. Strategy operates at various levels, starting with Business or Corporate strategy. Since the ultimate goal of a business is to gain leadership position in one or the other form, business strategy shapes marketing strategy, competitive strategy and growth strategy. Corporate Strategy This is an organisation wide strategy that directs and controls the composition of all business activity. It starts with a clear and quantified mission statement. This area is a preserve of top management. Decisions are taken on: How resources will be allocated across the organisation Portfolio of activities for the firm Clear definition of the objectives One of the key ingredients of good strategic management is organisational leadership and its ability to clarify strategic intent. Driven by vision, it is â€Å"an articulation of a simple criterion or characterisation of what a company must become to establish and sustain global leadership.† (Source: Pearce et al pp 340). Competitive Strategy In an ideal situation of a monopoly, competitive strategy has no significance. But in reality this is never the case. In near perfect competition, leadership position comes to a business only by gaining sustainable advantage over its competititors. At times this also determines the growth paths that a business should take. For instance, evaluating a move away from core competence into a completely unrelated business, or initiating take-over of another business that can offer synergies. The five forces model Michael E Porter proposed the five forces model in 1980 in his book â€Å"Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors.† In this widely respected and accepted framework he suggests that there are five generic forces that act upon a business irrespective of what industry it operates in. These forces are: Competitive rivalry within the industry between existing businesses: The significance of this force in a sector such as the UK grocery retail sector, with large number of players, is the erosion of loyalty because of perceived commoditisation. Threat of new entrants: If the barriers to entry are low because of low capital investment or lack of regulation, it can create further pressure with price cutting. Bargaining power of suppliers: Leads to lack of control over the supply chain Bargaining power of customers: Erodes loyalty and causes switching Availability of substitutes: Once again erodes customer loyalty and causes switching. This is a real pressure on UKs retail sector. To counter these forces and gain competitive advantage a firm can adopt either or a combination of two business strategies: Comparative advantage / cost leadership: This emerges from economies of scale. It is a firms ability to source and produce at cost which is lower than its competitors and therefore earn higher margins. It does not necessarily mean offering lower price in the marketplace. Differential advantage / differentiation: Is a firms ability to create a unique perception about itself vis-à  -vis its competitors in the marketplace. It allows a business to cultivate loyal segments of customers. Sainsburys Background Founded and launched in 1869, J Sainsburys PLC has as rich a history as modern London. John James and Mary Ann Sainsbury launched their first store named Sainsburys at Drury Lane and quickly expanded to a chain of four shops by 1882. â€Å"Throughout companys history, the Sainsbury brand has been synonymous with good-quality, well-presented products, with 50 and 60 per cent of the range being sold under the various versions of Sainsburys brand.† (Source: Varley). An average Sainsburys supermarket today stocks approximately 30,000 products 50% of which are its own label. The company not only wants to deliver high quality products but also wants to be seen as doing this by its customer. (Source: Thompson et al pp 192). The mission of revival: In the last decade, the company has lost its leadership position to Tesco and ASDA.. Currently it has between 16-17% market share, and is placed at third position. In 2004, there was a change at the top level. In 2005, its new chief executive clarified the companys strategic intent by launching an organisation wide revival programme â€Å"Making Sainsburys Great Again† and announced a mission of increasing sales by  £2.5bn by the end of 2007-08. As a result of this turnaround program, at the end of this financial year, Sainsburys â€Å"has reported sales growth ahead of expectations.† (Source: BBC New Website) Competitive strategy: If history of successful businesses is analysed, it will clearly emerge that winners are in the top slots because of the risks they have take. Businesses hungry for long-term success identify gaps and problem areas and attempt to provide solutions to their customers. Leaders at the helm do this with a combination of instinct backed by objective analysis of emerging trends. This is precisely what Sainsburys did in an extremely tough economic and social environment during and after the World War II when external forces were threatening its existence. In a pioneering move in the UK market, the grocery chain re-engineered its store operations by adopting the American format of food-retailing. Its first â€Å"selfservice† store launched in 1950 immediately after the World War II, when food and other resources required for subsistence were scarce, became a success because it solved a major problem faced by customers it busted shopping queues. (Source: Sainsbur ys website). Such moves are evident through out its existence and its march towards becoming one of the best known retailers in the history of British business. Sainsburys today: A move towards consolidation and growth The company plans to focus on three of its core areas: Sainsburys Supermarkets, Sainsburys Online and Sainburys Bank Steps taken since 2004 in the retailing business: Price reduction across a number of products. Improving availability. Introduction of over 3000 new items. Introduction of nutritional labelling branded â€Å"Wheel of health† on over 1500 products. Introduction of â€Å"Try cards† under the slogan ‘Try Something New Today built on healthy eating plank. The initiative aims to add value to the food shopping habits and changing food consumption habits. Its success measured by â€Å"over 7 million ‘Try cards picked up in stores.† Engaging its 3500 smaller scale suppliers by launching a campaign â€Å"Supply Something.† The initiative is aimed at making local supply chain robust. Increasing non-food product categories especially to generate a minimum of  £700m sales. Initiating community participation programs such as â€Å"Active Kids campaign† involving donations of equipment to schools. Attempting to become a responsible corporate citizen by setting targets of reducing carbon emissions and introducing re-cycling. The company has a sourcing office in Hong Kong â€Å"Sainsburys serves 16 million customers each week in 455 supermarkets and 301 convenience stores across the country. The company employs 148,000 colleagues commited to delivering ‘Great Food at Fair Prices.† maintains the companys official website. All the above activities are aimed towards gaining either diffrential or cost leadership or a combination of both. The future There is an increase in sales in the grocery business over the last financial year amounting to Pounds 324 million a growth of 458.6% over 2006. However financial services that accounts for just 1.7% of the total sales has seen a fall of 11.8% over 2006. The organisation states one of it values as â€Å"Getting better Every Day.† In the current tight economic scenario, Shareholders are expecting most of the retailers to use their real estate assets for generating additional liquidity. But in a move completely reverse of the expectation, Sainsburys has tied-up with their lessor British Land. â€Å"Sainsburys also announced it was teaming up with British Land to create a  £1.2bn joint venture to run 39 superstores across the UK. The supermarket says it will invest  £273m into the venture, in which it will have a 50% stake. The stores are currently owned by British Land and leased to Sainsbury for 20 years.† (Source: BBC News Website). Land is the fundamental element in a large scale retail business and store location, store design and merchandise are all important critical success factors. It can be safely concluded that this recent collaborative move by Sainsburys is a deliberate long term. By investing in developing its stores, it can further hope to get a differential advantage over its competitors.

Journeys End by RC Sheriff :: Letters War Essays

Journey's End by RC Sheriff Dearest Victoria, These last two months without you have been awful. We found out yesterday that the final attack is to be tomorrow, but I don’t wish for you to worry, the stress is no good for you or the baby and you must stay strong for the children and reassure them I will be fine. All of the men are starting to get nervous now, except for a few of the newer men who are slightly too enthusiastic, but I’m sure that will all soon change. Most of the men know what is likely to happen to us when we go out onto the front line tomorrow; only a few days ago four soldiers and an officer were killed whilst making a raid. It was a huge shock to all of us; especially Captain Stanhope, when we found out it was Officer Osborne. He was a fantastic officer and a great man. His death seemed to have a huge impact on Raleigh too; he was one of the enthusiastic ones I was saying about earlier. Raleigh’s welcome seemed to be slightly awkward at first. Although nobody said about it there was a strange atmosphere between him and Captain Stanhope. Even though things went back to normal after a while, Osborne’s death seemed to change things again. It was like he had been the peacemaker. I think, in a way, Raleigh may have felt guilty about Osborne’s death. You see Raleigh and Osborne had to make a raid in one of the Boche trenches to capture a German for questioning and whilst Osborne was waiting he was hit by a hand grenade. It was a terribly awful way to die and for all we know he could still be out there and probably is. I’m so afraid it is going to happen to me. It just shows you how anything can happen out here. Of course the Colonel and Sergeant Major didn’t give a damn about any of the men that died; all they cared about was getting information about that poor German boy. He was only about 17 and he looked scared to death. I’m sorry to go on but I’m just thinking of all the things I still want to say to you in these final moments of my life. I want so much to tell the children I love them. I want to see the birth of our new baby and I want to be around to help you look after the children. But most of all I want this letter to reach you in time so that I can tell

The Simpsons :: essays papers

The Simpsons The American animation The Simpsons is now in its 10th season as a show in its own right. It was created by Matt Groening as shorts for the Tracy Ullman Show and was bought by the Fox Network, which began screening it as half-hour shows in 1989. Initially its success was restricted to the 9-16 year old age group, and for animation there is nothing remarkable about this. Its success grew quickly and it is now popular in many countries with many different audiences. "In the 1990s we are seeing dramatic transformations in media industries and media cultures. In geographical terms, these transformations may be seen in the shift from national to global media." The Simpsons can be seen as both a remarkable piece of global culture and as a hugely successful piece of global television. (One need only look on an Internet search engine to discover that there are literally millions of Simpsons fan-sites around the world.). The Simpsons themselves are a simple family in a small town in Middle Am erica called Springfield. They are: Homer (loyal but stupid father), Marge (dissatisfied, trapped housewife/mother), Bart (rebellious son), Lisa (unappreciated genius daughter), and Maggie (silent baby). The show also revolves around a number of other of the townsfolk, such as Mr Burns (Homer's miserly boss), Smithers (Burns's loving assistant), Apu (Indian shop owner), Principal Skinner and Moe (owner of the local bar). There are a number of reasons why we cannot simply view The Simpsons as a cartoon like any other. The rules and conventions that it follows are far more those of television or cinema than those of animation. The humour within The Simpsons exists on many different levels ranging from the obvious to the subtle, from the literary to the movie reference, and beyond. But most importantly we must consider the show's ability to make significant social comment, on general issues of culture and society, but more specifically on television, film and media, and on audience vie wing and acceptance of these media. Traditionally, cartoons have been action driven and animation. Aside from the use of cameras to create the visual illusion of depth (Walt Disney famously explained the 'complicated' technique used to allow Mickey Mouse to walk along a street without distorting depth or perspective), cartoons had a language of their own, unique and separate from that of cinema or television. They were simple and without layered meanings.

Telecommuting :: essays research papers

A typical day for most people in today's world starts out with an early commute to work. People working in the city know what a hassle it is to deal with the many thousands of other trying to make their way to work. Dealing with long commutes and traffic congestion is a commonplace in today's fast-paced society. What if you had a chance to do most of your work at home? Would it be beneficial to you and your company? That is a common question one, which more and more companies are finding out is the future of business. For most people, a chance to work at home would be ideal. Paper work and long term considerations for companies may actually be planned better at home as opposed to a busy work office or cubical. Professionals such as accountants, consultants, marketing professionals and other information-age workers can benefit from telecommuting (people who work at home). This is not to say that all work would be completed at home. There will be times when actual face to face meetings will be necessary for such problems as office disputes and responding to co-workers needs. Working at home will allow for any task in which being alone is not a hindrance. Throughout the United States there are over eleven million people working at home at least part-time. In cities such as New York, federal legislation put into effect required a decrease in the amount to commuters that drive the city's streets during rush hour. Forced to make changes, Merrill Lynch decided to give the telecommuting program a try. Merrill Lynch started a program where potential telecommuters working at the firm, go through an extensive training course by taking a two-week stint in a simulation lab where they are isolated from co-workers and managers just as they would at home. Some people find it more productive while others realize that telecommuting is not for them. Most telecommuters will find the job comfortable if they themselves are self-motivated and focused. According to Gil Gordon, a telecommuting consultant in New Jersey, if you would like your firm to offer telecommuting, 'Go in with a proposal, not a request.'; Show you boss why telecommuting will benefit the company. Explain that less office space will be needed and how employees of company's that offer telecommuting often have a better retention rate than company's that do not.

Informative Speech on Taekwondo

Informative Speech Taekwondo Introduction Have you ever seen a martial arts demonstration, or hear of a demonstration team? Well, let me start off by telling you what a demonstration, or demo, team is and what they do. A demo team is a group of elite martial artists chosen to represent the school of martial arts to which they attend to the public during martial arts demonstrations. During these demonstrations they perform impressive feats that wow the audience such as, difficult board breaking techniques and impressive techniques learned through the study of the martial art they are representing.During my high school years I had the pleasure of being one of these elite martial artists. In the demonstrations I participated in I did things from, breaking boards in impressive ways, such as jumping over three people and doing a flying side kick through a board held by someone on the other side of them, to choreographed fighting and even actual sparing. All of these experiences of my were a part of my experience with a martial art known worldwide as taekwondo. Related article: Informative Speech About African CultureAccording to an academic journal titled: 2004 Olympic Tae Kwon Do Athlete Profile written in 2009, â€Å"Tae kwon do, a form of Korean martial art originally designed for warfare and self-defense, has in recent times become a well-recognized sport and has become more popular since its official introduction into the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. † First I'm going to give you a brief history on what Taekwondo is, then I'll talk to you about what taekwondo is, and finally, I will be sharing what practitioners of taekwondo normally do. Body I.Tae kwon do was originally designed for use in Korea's armed forces, but is now practiced worldwide and has become extremely popular as a sport and a way of self defense. A. Shortly after the Japanese occupation of Korea ended in 1945 the South Korean government ordered all of the major martial arts schools in the country to get together and make one universal martial art that they would t hen begin teaching to their military. B. This style that was made from all the different styles in the country at the time soon became known as taekwondo and quickly gained popularity. II.So I bet your all wondering what the heck taekwondo means. Well, according to martialartsresource. com, â€Å"‘Tae' means â€Å"foot† or â€Å"to strike with the feet†. â€Å"Kwon† means â€Å"hand†, or â€Å"to strike with the hand†. â€Å"Do† means discipline, art, or way. Hence TaeKwonDo (foot-hand-way) means literally â€Å"the art of the feet and the hands† or â€Å"the art of kicking and punching†. † A. Tae kwon do is a marital art that deals primarily with kicking. B. The focus on kicking is designed with the thought in mind that the leg is the longest most powerful weapon a martial artist has at his/her disposal. . This fact means that a martial artist that is very good with his legs can strike an opponent while he is stil l outside of his opponents range. 2. While remaining outside of your opponent's rang you can deal highly damaging blows without having to take any powerful blows from your opponent. III. Tae kwon do customs differ slightly depending on where it is taught. A. Tae kwon do practitioners generally practice bare foot and in places like gymnasiums. B.The uniforms worn by practitioners used to be the kind that you fold over and tie together, but because of the sport-like nature of it these days they uniform style of the V-neck is becoming increasingly popular. C. Practitioners of taekwondo generally take part in sparring matches. 1. There's a lot of gear you have to wear when sparring, these include: helmet, mouthpiece, chest guard, gloves, cup and shin guards. 2. There are also plenty of rules involved in sparing to make sure it is as safe as it can be. These include: no punching the face, no groin shots, no locks, no clinching, etc.Conclusion Today we learned that taekwondo is a martial arts style that involves mostly kicks, where it originated, and what some of the customary practices are. One last bit of information I want to leave you with is that, according to the American Taekwondo Association's Website that was last updated sometime this year, â€Å"Taekwondo is currently the most popular martial art in Korea, and ranks among America's and the world's most popular martial arts. † Thank you for listening to my presentation and I hope you all know a little bit more now than you did before.