Project Level 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Project Level 4 - Essay Example The academy needed an injection of cash to help refresh the campus and offer another two main courses. Information Technology and Nursing were decided to be the most in demand courses in the area and specifically I.T. so with the help of a local venture capitalist, who lives in the area, have decided to build three new state of the art buildings, one at each site, each with 10 classrooms with new computers and network. The expectation is to design the infrastructure of each site so that it is secure, reliable and inter operates with all of the other sites where necessary. There are 1200 students expected on the I.T course broken up into 30 classes of 20 over two (a morning and an afternoon) sessions each day. As well as a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) option for people who are unable to attend college. East Anglian Academy has approached me as a consultant to design and implement a computerised system that will enable students and teachers to access resources both locally and re motely from anywhere with an Internet connection. Other staff there includes a Human Resources department, Accounts, and Security. The budget set aside for the project is ?2 million but with some movement if necessary. Initial time plan and estimated project costs February 1st initial proposal planning February 8th initial proposal planning February 15th initial proposal planning February 22nd initial proposal planning February 29th complete proposed project March 7th research March 14th research March 21st research March 28th research April 4th research April 11th research April 18th analysis and design April 25th analysis and design May 2nd analysis and design May 9th analysis and design May 16th interim submission May 23rd costing May 30th costing June 6th costing June 13th complete project report and present to class The estimated initial project costs are as follows Computer Costs: ?390000 Server Costs: ?49000 Routers Costs: ?8000 Switches Costs ?60000 Cabling Costs ?25000 Labo ur Costs ?100000 Total Project Cost: ?632000 Allocated Budget: ?2000000 Justifications Security –separation from the students, teachers and office staff data, so each person can only gain access to what they are authorised to. Shared resources – all sites will be able to access resources across all three sites if authorised Offload the time and labour intensive tasks, like backups, to third party companies Reduce costs – all of the systems implemented will be on an IP network and can leverage its functionality by putting the latest technology on it for things like telephones, video cameras, door entry system, building controls like heating and lighting, and also allow for the management of it all from any locally connected administrator computer Have fixed IT budget moving forwards Functionality The new system for Anglian Academy will do the following Link all sites as one network Centralise all management to the HQ campus but allow micro managing at the branch campuses where necessary for local issues Gigabit local area network speed Wireless connectivity throughout the campuses Move all HR data to the HQ campus Link all security cameras to the HQ campus Make available online course material for students (VLE) Give redundancy at each campus in the event of

Corporate finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Corporate finance - Essay Example As per Grossman and Hart, takeover and mergers can create synergies or savings to the companies involved. For instance, in 2006, Arcelor of Luxemburg was taken over Mittal Steel of Netherland thereby making Arcelor Mittal, the world’s largest steel company. Some of the compelling reasons for takeover or merger is to expand the market due to the threat from competitors or to penetrate into new markets, to achieve cost synergies like eliminating duplicate functions, to attain higher productivity and to attain increased efficiency from acquired assets or to attain increased revenues and to achieve a higher return on investments for shareholders. Revenue synergy can result in access to the new distribution system, attaining extensions of brand and opening up new geographic markets. A takeover or merger strategy should be employed only when the acquiring company is able to enhance its networth through the positive employment of assets of the acquired company. It was established by previous empirical studies that above-average return is earned by the shareholders of acquired companies whereas the share prices of acquiring company is likely to fall immediately after the acquisition or merger. For instance, when Myogen, a pharmaceutical company is taken over by another pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences, there was a decline of 10 percent in Gilead’s stock whereas there was about 50 percent appreciation in Myogen’s stock. (Hoskisson 2008, p. 244). In the majority of the cases, mergers and takeovers had negative results like cost overruns, desertion of key employees, and even may leave black holes in the restructured balance sheet. (Greenblat 2011). Theory Though the merger and the takeover are often employed synonymously, there exists a variance in their economic impact between a takeover and a merger. In takeover, the acquiring company is trying to acquire control over the targeted company by acquiring more than 50% of its shares. In contrast, in merger, as per Hampton (1989), there is a merger of two companies to form a new company. Takeover or merger theories can be explained as below: Agency Theory This theory states that when the share price of a company is low, and then it forces the managers to initiate action either to enhance the share price in the market by performing well or to be taken over by a leader in the industry (DePamphills 2010, p. 41). Efficiency Theory It is divided into two – differential efficient theory which tries to improve the efficiency of a company in the same industry by a dominant company and inefficient theory. As per Copeland and Weston (1988), differential efficiency theory offers an academic base for horizontal takeovers whereas inefficiency theory offers insight on conglomerate takeovers (Lee &Lee 2006, p. 543). Market Power Hypothesis This theory explains that companies combine together to enhance their monopoly authority to quote the prices of the product which is not sustainable at a cutthroat competitive market. However, there is very little empirical support is available for this hypothesis (DePamphills 2010, p. 12). Free Cash Flow Hypothesis It is identical to that of agency theory and as per Jensen (1986), if the cash flow is in excess of that need to finance all takeovers or mergers which have net present values if discounted with the specific cost of capital (Lee &Lee 2006, p