Food Retail in Europe

INDUSTRY PROFILE Food Retail in Europe Reference Code: 0201-2058 Publication Date: June 2010 www. datamonitor. com Datamonitor USA 245 Fifth Avenue 4th Floor New York, NY 10016 USA t: +1 212 686 7400 f: +1 212 686 2626 e: [email  protected] com Datamonitor Europe 119 Farringdon Road London EC1R 3DA United Kingdom t: +44 20 7551 9000 f: +44 20 7675 7500 e: [email  protected] com Datamonitor Middle East and North America Datamonitor PO Box 24893 Dubai, UAE t: +49 69 9754 4517 f: +49 69 9754 4900 e: [email  protected] datamonitor. om Datamonitor Asia Pacific Level 46, 2 Park Street Sydney, NSW 2000 Australia t: +61 2 8705 6900 f: +61 2 8705 6901 e: [email  protected] com Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Market value The European food retail industry grew by 8. 5% in 2009 to reach a value of $1,663. 1 billion. Market value foreca st In 2014, the European food retail industry is forecast to have a value of $2,477. billion, an increase of 49% since 2009. Market segmentation I Hypermarkets, supermarkets, and discounters sales proved the most lucrative for the European food retail industry in 2009, with total revenues of $798. 5 billion, equivalent to 48% of the industry's overall value. Market segmentation II Germany accounts for 14. 1% of the European food retail industry value. Market rivalry The industry is becoming consolidated with large chain supermarkets or hypermarkets wielding more power over smaller specialty, luxury or organic food outlets. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 2 CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MARKET OVERVIEW Market definition Research highlights Market analysis MARKET VALUE MARKET SEGMENTATION I MARKET SEGMENTATION II FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Summary Buyer power Supplier power New entrants Substitutes Rivalry LEADING COMPANIES Metro AG Carrefour S. A. Lidl Dienstleistung Tesco PLC MARKET FORECASTS Market value forecast APPENDIX Methodology Industry associations Related Datamonitor research Disclaimer 2 7 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 13 15 17 18 19 20 21 21 25 29 30 34 34 35 35 36 36 37 Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 3 CONTENTS ABOUT DATAMONITOR Premium Reports Summary Reports Datamonitor consulting 38 38 38 38 Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 4 CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Table 2: Table 3: Table 4: Table 5: Table 6: Table 7: Table 8: Table 9: Table 10: Table 11: Table 12: Table 13: Table 14: Table 15: Table 16: Table 17: Europe food retail industry value: $ billion, 2005–09(e) Europe food retail industry segmentation I:% share, by value, 2009(e) Europe food retail industry segmentation II: % share, by v alue, 2009(e) Metro AG: key facts Metro AG: key financials ($) Metro AG: key financials (â‚ ¬) Metro AG: key financial ratios Carrefour S. A. : key facts Carrefour S. A. : key financials ($) Carrefour S. A. : key financials (â‚ ¬) Carrefour S. A. : key financial ratios Lidl Dienstleistung: key facts Tesco PLC: key facts Tesco PLC: key financials ($) Tesco PLC: key financials (? ) Tesco PLC: key financial ratios Europe food retail industry value forecast: $ billion, 2009–14 10 11 12 21 22 22 23 25 27 27 27 29 30 31 31 32 34 Europe – Food Retail Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 5 CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Figure 2: Figure 3: Figure 4: Figure 5: Figure 6: Figure 7: Europe food retail industry value: $ billion, 2005–09(e) Europe food retail industry segmentation I:% share, by value, 2009(e) Europe food retail industry segmentation II: % share, by value, 2009(e) Forces driving ompetition in the food retail industry in Europe, 2009 Drivers of buyer power in the food retail industry in Europe, 2009 Drivers of supp lier power in the food retail industry in Europe, 2009 Factors influencing the likelihood of new entrants in the food retail industry in Europe, 2009 Factors influencing the threat of substitutes in the food retail industry in Europe, 2009 Drivers of degree of rivalry in the food retail industry in Europe, 2009 Metro AG: revenues & profitability Metro AG: assets & liabilities Carrefour S. A. : revenues & profitability Carrefour S. A. : assets & liabilities Tesco PLC: revenues & profitability Tesco PLC: assets & liabilities Europe food retail industry value forecast: $ billion, 2009–14 10 11 12 13 15 17 18 19 20 23 24 28 28 32 33 34 Figure 8: Figure 9: Figure 10: Figure 11: Figure 12: Figure 13: Figure 14: Figure 15: Figure 16: Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 6 MARKET OVERVIEW MARKET OVERVIEW Market definition The food retail market includes the retail sales of all food products, both packaged and unpackaged, as well as beverages (including retail sales of all alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages). All on-trade sales of food and beverage are excluded. All currency conversions are calculated at constant average 2009 exchange rates. For the purposes of this report, Europe consists of Western Europe and Eastern Europe. Western Europe comprises Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Eastern Europe comprises the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 7 MARKET OVERVIEW Research highlights The European food retail industry had total revenue of $1,663. 1 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7. 4% for the period spanning 2005-2009. Hypermarkets, supermarkets, and discounters sales proved the most lucrative for the European food retail industry in 2009, with total revenues of $798. 5 billion, equivalent to 48% of the industry's overall value. The performance of the industry is forecast to accelerate, with an anticipated CAGR of 8. % for the fiveyear period 2009-2014, which is expected to drive the industry to a value of $2,477. 4 billion by the end of 2014. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 8 MARKET OVERVIEW Market analysis The European food ret ail industry has experienced very strong growth in recent years and the forecast is for this to gently accelerate towards 2014. The European food retail industry had total revenue of $1,663. 1 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7. 4% for the period spanning 2005-2009. In comparison, the German and UK industries grew with CAGRs of 2. 1% and 4. 2% respectively, over the same period, to reach respective values of $234. 8 billion and $186. 1 billion in 2009. Hypermarkets, supermarkets, and discounters sales proved the most lucrative for the European food retail industry in 2009, with total revenues of $798. 5 billion, equivalent to 48% of the industry's overall value. In comparison, convenience stores and gas stations generated sales of $381. 3 billion in 2009, equating to 22. 9% of the industry's aggregate revenues. The performance of the industry is forecast to accelerate, with an anticipated CAGR of 8. % for the fiveyear period 2009-2014, which is expected to drive the industry to a value of $2,477. 4 billion by the end of 2014. Comparatively, the German and UK industries will grow with CAGRs of 2. 5% and 3. 4% respectively, over the same period, to reach respective values of $265. 5 billion and $219. 4 billion in 2014. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 9 MARKET VALUE MARKET VALUE The European food retail industry grew by 8. 5% in 2009 to reach a value of $1,663. 1 billion. The compound annual growth rate of the industry in the period 2005–09 was 7. 4%. Table 1: Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009(e) CAGR: 2005–09 Source: Datamonitor Europe food retail industry value: $ billion, 2005–09(e) $ billion 1,248. 6 1,321. 6 1,412. 4 1,533. 3 1,663. 1 â‚ ¬ billion 897. 9 950. 4 1,015. 8 1,102. 7 1,196. 1 % Growth 5. 8 6. 9 8. 6 8. 5 7. 4% DATAMONITOR Figure 1: Europe food retail industry value: $ billion, 2005–09(e) Source: Datamonitor DATAMONITOR Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 10 MARKET SEGMENTATION I MARKET SEGMENTATION I Hypermarket, Supermarket, & Discounters is the largest segment of the food retail industry in Europe, accounting for 48% of the industry's total value. The convenience stores & gas stations segment accounts for a further 22. 9% of the industry. Table 2: Category Hypermarket, Supermarket, & Discounters Convenience Stores & Gas Stations Food and Drinks Specialists Drug Stores & Health and Beauty Stores Cash & Carries & Warehouse Clubs Other Total Source: Datamonitor Europe food retail industry segmentation I:% share, by value, 2009(e) % Share 48. 0% 22. 9% 14. 9% 3. 4% 1. 4% 9. 4% 100% DATAMONITOR Figure 2: Europe food retail industry segmentation I:% share, by value, 2009(e) Source: Datamonitor DATAMONITOR Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 11 MARKET SEGMENTATION II MARKET SEGMENTATION II Germany accounts for 14. 1% of the European food retail industry value. France accounts for a further 13. 5% of the European industry. Table 3: Category Germany France Italy United Kingdom Spain Rest of Europe Total Source: Datamonitor Europe food retail industry segmentation II: % share, by value, 2009(e) % Share 14. % 13. 5% 12. 2% 11. 2% 7. 8% 41. 1% 100% DATAMONITOR Figure 3: Europe food retail industry segmentation II: % share, by value, 2009(e) Source: Datamonitor DATAMONITOR Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 12 FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS The food retail market will be analyzed taking supermarkets, hypermarkets and specialist retailers as players. The key buyers will be taken as end-consumers, and food manufacturers, farmers, agricultural co-operatives as the key suppliers. Summary Figure 4: Forces driving competition in the food retail industry in Europe, 2009 Source: Datamonitor DATAMONITOR The industry is becoming consolidated with large chain supermarkets or hypermarkets wielding more power over smaller specialty, luxury or organic food outlets. In our analysis of the global food retail industry, retailers such as supermarkets, hypermarkets, and specialist outlets, will be taken as industry players and end-consumers will be understood as buyers. With a range of different players within the industry, the size and financial strength of each varies accordingly. With consumers generally facing no substantial switching costs, this buyer mobility forces larger retailers to maintain attractive pricing schemes. Specialist, luxury, or organic retailers do not face the same price sensitivity due to the unique level of product differentiation, yet due to the nature of such products, they exist more as niche markets and are not able to secure a large volume of consumers. Specialist outlets may have no choice but to commit to long term supplier contracts in order to secure a steady supply of quality or specially prepared products. Whereas, supermarkets and hypermarkets have a higher number of options and can hold looser relationships with a larger number of suppliers. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 13 FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Where branded products attract loyal consumers, the distribution channel for manufacturers is protected and retailers face pressure to stock the popular items. With established supermarkets and hypermarkets present, potential new entrants may struggle to compete with aggressive marketing and pricing policies. Nonetheless, relatively low entry and exit costs within the industry and the emergence of thriving health and ethical niches offer examples of possible niches in which new entrants may flourish sheltered from direct competition with current players. Food service (takeaways, vendors and restaurants) can be seen as a substitute to food retail products however for the vast majority of people it currently exists as an occasional accompaniment rather than a wholesale alternative. Subsistence farming is a more direct substitute, sometimes replacing standard retail behavior outright, yet it is no longer common. The absence of switching costs for consumers ensures a competitive climate within the food retail industry. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 14 FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Buyer power Figure 5: Drivers of buyer power in the food retail industry in Europe, 2009 Source: Datamonitor DATAMONITOR Retailers range widely in size with large chain supermarkets or hypermarkets such as Tesco and Metro AG wielding power over smaller specialty, luxury or organic food outlets whose grip on the industry is significant but currently limited. Accordingly, the financial muscle of industry players differs depending on the type of player. The sheer volume of potential customers in key areas of the food retail industry diminishes the standing of any individual customer. The revenue generated by any particular consumer is minimal, but collectively they represent wider consumer interests and retailers cannot afford to disregard the sensitivities of buyers. Price and convenience are two central concerns however they are not necessarily the principle factors. A rise in health consciousness has driven a growing demand for nutritional quality in food products. The culture of convenience now faces the challenge of a counter-trend in which a shift back towards fresh, simple or traditionally prepared foods undermines the retail position of frozen foods and similar products. The emergence and development of ethical niches adds further momentum to this movement within the industry. The response of food retailers must accommodate such diverse interests. A number of retailers operate incentive schemes for frequent shoppers and this can help secure customer retention. By discouraging movement across retail outlets, consumer mobility is reduced and, in the long term, buyer power can be weakened. Although high brand recognition does not automatically translate into consumer loyalty, if it is supported by a product range in which popular food products are central, the retailer can Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 15 FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS often draw indirectly on the loyalty base that manufacturers have established. Specialty, luxury or organic retailers can, due to the high level of product differentiation, justify price levels that would otherwise be unsustainable yet the limited volume of consumers places restraints on the power of such players. Buyer power overall is moderate. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 16 FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Supplier power Figure 6: Drivers of supplier power in the food retail industry in Europe, 2009 Source: Datamonitor DATAMONITOR Suppliers to the food retail industry include food manufacturers, farmers, and agricultural co-operatives. In order to ensure stability and offset the dangers of local sourcing problems or price fluctuations, large retail companies often maintain relationships with a wide range of suppliers. This diffuses dependency, minimizing the risks to retailers and strengthening their standing in relation to their suppliers. Long term contractual obligations are avoided where possible, and switching costs kept to a minimum. With a firm hold on key distribution channels, the leading retailers can dominate negotiations with certain suppliers. This is often difficult for smaller retailers such as specialist, luxury or organic outlets. The limited number of suppliers in niche areas and the centrality of product quality or preparation type limit’s the available range of sourcing options. With switching costs subsequently higher, the balance of power shifts somewhat from smaller retailers to specialist suppliers. Whilst the need to satisfy consumer demand for popular products bolsters manufacturers, many others face the problem of a high degree of retailer mobility as they switch suppliers in accordance with pricing pressures. The position of many large retail companies has also been strengthened internally with a surge of own brand products sidelining certain suppliers. Suppliers who are able to differentiate their product can wield some power over retailers, should their product be popular with the end consumer. Supplier power overall is moderate. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 17 FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS New entrants Figure 7: Factors influencing the likelihood of new entrants in the food retail industry in Europe, 2009 Source: Datamonitor DATAMONITOR Large-scale, established retailers hold a natural advantage in operating businesses that benefit significantly from economies of scale, employing aggressive pricing schemes that cannot be matched by smaller retailers. Strong branding exercises and fast paced expansion deepen this asymmetry. Nevertheless, large retailers are not invulnerable to the threat of new entrants. Exit and entry costs within the industry are relatively low, encouraging potential entrants. The rapid growth of health consciousness and a swell of ethical goods form attractive avenues for new entrants seeking to move into a niche area that offers inbuilt protection from pricing pressures and mainstream marketing. Given the presence of many large-scale retailers, and the security of heavy branding, direct head-to-head competition is extremely difficult for new retailers. Strong growth makes the market attractive to prospective new entrants. Overall, the threat of new entrants is moderate. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 18 FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Substitutes Figure 8: Factors influencing the threat of substitutes in the food retail industry in Europe, 2009 Source: Datamonitor DATAMONITOR The chief alternative to food retail is food service. Supported by strong marketing campaigns in the case of fast food companies, and cultural traditions with respect to sit-down restaurants, both types represent a relevant alternative for many consumers. However, for the vast majority of people, these accompany food retail rather than replace it. A more direct substitute is found in subsistence agriculture in which individuals or families farm food to provide for their own personal needs. This is no longer common, however, since the emergence of market capitalism and the impact of this substitute on food retail is fractional. Environmental concerns, increasing health consciousness, and fears over political or economic instability may, in the long term, give this substitute a more significant role. However, it is unlikely to threaten food retailers in the foreseeable future being both labor intensive and often involving considerable start-up capital. The threat from substitutes is weak to moderate. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 19 FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Rivalry Figure 9: Drivers of degree of rivalry in the food retail industry in Europe, 2009 Source: Datamonitor DATAMONITOR Competition is often fierce within the food retail industry. The lack of substantial switching costs for consumers places pressure on retailers to secure their custom and loyalty. The limited level of differentiation across the basic product range pushes larger retailers into competitive pricing policies. The close similarity of players increases rivalry as they attempt to differentiate themselves through products and price to attract customers. Whilst some companies operate in other industries and can absorb the temporary impact of declining food sales, or high supply prices, for many, ood retail lies at the heart of the business. This basic dependency gives rise to aggressive competition. Rivalry is strong overall. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 20 LEADING COMPANIES LEADING COMPANIES Metro AG Table 4: Metro AG: key facts Schluterstrasse 1, 40235 Dusseldorf, DEU 49 211 6886 4252 49 211 6886 2001 www. metrogroup. de December MEO G Frankfurt DATAMONITOR Head office: Telephone: Fax: Website: Financial year-end: Ticker: Stock exchange: Source: company website Metro Group (Metro) is a German trade and retail company organized into independent sales divisions. The group operates 2,195 outlets with approximately 12,350,000 square meters of selling space. It has a presence in 33 countries in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. The company employs around 300,000 people. Metro operates in four business segments: Metro Cash & Carry, Real, Media Markt and Saturn and Galeria Kaufhof. Metro Cash & Carry is engaged in cash and carry wholesaling. Operating under the brands of Metro and Makro, it is the group's biggest sales division. Metro Cash & Carry's assortment of products is aimed at commercial and wholesale customers. It operates 665 stores in 30 countries. Real offers a range of food products and an assortment of non-food items. The selling space of the Real stores ranges from 5,000 to 15,000 square meters, with store assortments including up to 80,000 items. Real is based on a large-format hypermarket concept and operates 333 hypermarkets in Germany and 108 stores in Poland, Romania, Russia, Turkey and the Ukraine. Media Markt and Saturn sell consumer electronics across Europe. Galeria Kaufhof operates a chain of department stores in Germany and Belgium. The department stores offer modern lifestyle apparels for men and women and are present in shopping areas and downtown centers. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 21 LEADING COMPANIES In addition to these divisions, Metro provides real estate management services through its subsidiary, Metro Group Asset Management. The company oversees more than 750 properties totaling eight million square meters of commercial space worldwide. It also operates more than 70 shopping centers. Key Metrics The company recorded revenues of $91,119 million in the fiscal year ending December 2009, a decrease of 3. 6% compared to fiscal 2008. Its net income was $722 million in fiscal 2009, compared to a net income of $776 million in the preceding year. Table 5: $ million Metro AG: key financials ($) 2005 77,482. 1 902. 4 40,000. 8 32,613. 0 246,875 2006 83,266. 6 1,658. 9 44,702. 2 36,293. 7 263,794 2007 89,461. 3 1,366. 9 47,099. 4 38,048. 6 275,520 2008 94,493. 6 775. 9 47,034. 0 38,941. 3 290,940 2009 91,118. 8 721. 7 46,814. 3 46,814. 286,091 Revenues Net income (loss) Total assets Total liabilities Employees Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Table 6: â‚ ¬ million Metro AG: key financials (â‚ ¬) 2005 55,722. 0 649. 0 28,767. 0 23,454. 0 2006 59,882. 0 1,193. 0 32,148. 0 26,101. 0 2007 64,337. 0 983. 0 33,872. 0 27,363. 0 2008 67,956. 0 558. 0 33,825. 0 28,005. 0 2009 65,529. 0 519. 0 33,667. 0 33,667. 0 Revenues Net in come (loss) Total assets Total liabilities Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 22 LEADING COMPANIES Table 7: Ratio Metro AG: key financial ratios 2005 1. 2% 4. 2% 1. 5% (0. 2%) 81. 5% 2. 3% $313,851 $3,655 2006 2. 0% 7. 5% 11. 8% 11. 3% 81. 2% 3. 9% $315,650 $6,289 2007 1. 5% 7. 4% 5. 4% 4. 8% 80. 8% 3. 0% $324,700 $4,961 2008 0. 8% 5. 6% (0. 1%) 2. 3% 82. 8% 1. 6% $324,787 $2,667 2009 0. 8% (3. 6%) (0. 5%) 20. 2% 100. 0% 1. 5% $318,496 $2,523 Profit margin Revenue growth Asset growth Liabilities growth Debt/asset ratio Return on assets Revenue per employee Profit per employee Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Figure 10: Metro AG: revenues & profitability Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 23 LEADING COMPANIES Figure 11: Metro AG: assets & liabilities Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 24 LEADING COMPANIES Carrefour S. A. Table 8: Carrefour S. A. : key facts 26 quai Michele, TSA 20016, 92695 Levallois-Perret Cedex, FRA 33 1 55 63 39 00 www. carrefour. com December CA Paris DATAMONITOR Head office: Telephone: Website: Financial year-end: Ticker: Stock exchange: Source: company website Carrefour is one of the leading grocery and consumer goods distribution groups in the world. The group operates more than 15,000 stores. Carrefour's primary grocery formats includes hypermarkets, supermarkets, hard discount and convenience stores. Carrefour primarily organizes its business segments based on geographic presence: France; Europe excluding France; Asia; and Latin America. In addition, the group's business operation can be segmented on the basis of its store formats (as mentioned in the previous paragraph). Carrefour is the leading hypermarket retailer in the world. The group operates about 1,302 hypermarket stores across the world, of which 228 hypermarkets are in France, 494 in European countries outside France, 288 in Latin America, and 292 in Asia. In Brazil, the group operates its hypermarket business under the Atacadao brand name; these hypermarkets offer a range of competitively priced companyowned and branded products in both food and non-food categories. In addition, the hypermarkets also offer services like insurance, financial services, home computer support, travel and entertainment reservations and mobile phones. The group operates approximately 2,919 supermarket stores in 11 countries under the banners Carrefour Express, Carrefour market, GB, GS and Champion. The supermarkets offer a wide selection of mostly food products and some non-food products related to apparel, culture and leisure, and tableware. Carrefour's hard discount segment, Dia, operates about 6,252 hard discount stores in Spain, France (under Ed and Dia brands), Portugal (under Minipreco brand), Greece, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil and China. The group's hard discount stores offer a range of food, basic health, and cleaning products at discounted rates. Europe – Food Retail Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 25 LEADING COMPANIES The group's other activities comprise convenience stores, cash and carry foodservice stores, and ecommerce retail format. Carrefour operates about 4,813 convenience stores and 144 cash and carry stores. Convenience stor es are mainly operated by the franchisees under the banners Marche Plus, Shopi, 8 a Huit and Proxi in France; DiperDi in Italy; Carrefour Express and Carrefour GB in Belgium; Carrefour 5 Minut stores in Poland; Carrefour City stores in Spain; and Carrefour Convenient Buy in Thailand. These stores primarily offer a wide selection of food products; these also offer a range of services such as home delivery, dry cleaning, 48-hour photo development, ticket distribution, photocopying, stamps and newspapers. Cash and carry foodservice stores provide wholesale and retail self-service mainly intended for businesses. Carrefour operates cash and carry foodservice stores under the trade name Promocash. Most of the cash and carry stores are operated by franchisees. In addition to the above mentioned store formats, Carrefour also sells its products through various ecommerce websites. Carrefour operates an online grocery store, Ooshop, a leading French online supermarket in terms of sales. It allows customers to shop on the Internet, and select from product listings including fresh and frozen items, at the same price as they would pay in Carrefour's hypermarkets, with the added benefit of home delivery. Carrefour France hypermarket's non-food website, CarrefourOnline. com, offers products such as leisure products (DVDs, games, software, music, books and more), audio and video, household electrical goods, as well as music downloads and even flower and bicycle delivery. Carrefour. es, the group's e-commerce website in Spain, offers both food and non-food products. Key Metrics The company recorded revenues of $119,533 million in the fiscal year ending December 2009, a decrease of 2. 6% compared to fiscal 2008. Its net income was $608 million in fiscal 2009, compared to a net income of $2,140 million in the preceding year. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 26 LEADING COMPANIES Table 9: $ million Carrefour S. A. : key financials ($) 2005 116,399. 7 2,199. 8 64,311. 1 51,259. 436,474 2006 121,561. 3 3,381. 2 66,093. 8 48,356. 4 456,295 2007 128,305. 2 3,447. 4 72,212. 0 57,385. 0 490,042 2008 122,678. 1 2,139. 7 72,420. 6 57,191. 7 495,000 2009 119,532. 5 607. 7 71,685. 0 56,229. 5 495,000 Revenues Net income (loss) Total assets Total liabilities Employees Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Table 10: â‚ ¬ million Carrefour S. A. : key fi nancials (â‚ ¬) 2005 83,710. 0 1,582. 0 46,250. 0 36,864. 0 2006 87,422. 0 2,431. 6 47,532. 0 34,776. 0 2007 92,272. 0 2,479. 2 51,932. 0 41,269. 0 2008 88,225. 2 1,538. 8 52,082. 0 41,130. 0 2009 85,963. 0 437. 0 51,553. 0 40,438. 0 Revenues Net income (loss) Total assets Total liabilities Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Table 11: Ratio Carrefour S. A. : key financial ratios 2005 1. 9% 2. 8% 9. 4% 7. 5% 79. 7% 3. 6% $266,682 $5,040 2006 2. 8% 4. 4% 2. 8% (5. 7%) 73. 2% 5. 2% $266,409 $7,410 2007 2. 7% 5. 5% 9. 3% 18. 7% 79. 5% 5. 0% $261,825 $7,035 2008 1. 7% (4. 4%) 0. 3% (0. 3%) 79. 0% 3. 0% $247,835 $4,323 2009 0. 5% (2. 6%) (1. 0%) (1. 7%) 78. 4% 0. 8% $241,480 $1,228 Profit margin Revenue growth Asset growth Liabilities growth Debt/asset ratio Return on assets Revenue per employee Profit per employee Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 27 LEADING COMPANIES Figure 12: Carrefour S. A. : revenues & profitability Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Figure 13: Carrefour S. A. : assets & liabilities Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 28 LEADING COMPANIES Lidl Dienstleistung Table 12: Lidl Dienstleistung: key facts Rotelstrasse 30, 74166 Neckarsulm, DEU 49 732 30 6060 www. idl. de December DATAMONITOR Head office: Telephone: Website: Financial year-end: Source: company website Lidl & Schwarz Stiftung (Lidl) operates a chain of grocery stores. The company primarily operates in Europe. Lidl operates about 6,800 deep-discount department stores and no-frills Lidl supermarkets throughout Europe. In Germany it operates about 3,100 stores. The company offers about 800 different products in its stores mostly under Lidl's own brand. These include dairy products, frozen foods, sausages, fresh meat and poultry, fruit and veg delivered fresh every day, and a range of breads. Lidl is also expanding its presence into Denmark, Hungary, Norway, and Slovenia. Key Metrics Financial information for this company is unavailable. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 29 LEADING COMPANIES Tesco PLC Table 13: Head office: Telephone: Website: Financial year-end: Ticker: Stock exchange: Source: company website Tesco PLC: key facts New Tesco House, Delamare Road, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, EN8 9SL, GBR 44 1992 632 222 www. tescoplc. com February TSCO London DATAMONITOR Tesco is a leading food and grocery retailer. The company operates 4,331 stores in 14 countries worldwide. It operates in the UK, other European countries, the US and Asia. The company operates in a single segment: retail. However, Tesco's operations can be examined by the store formats operated by it: Express, Metro, Superstore, Extra and Homeplus. The company has over 960 Express stores (up to 3,000 sq ft) offering fresh food at convenient locations. These stores sell a range of up to 7,000 products including fresh produce, wines and spirits and bakery products. The company has over 170 Metro stores (approximately 7,000-15,000 sq ft) in town and city centre locations. It offers a tailored range of food products including ready-meals and sandwiches. Tesco operates about 450 superstores (approximately 20,000-50,000 sq ft) at which it offers food as well non-food products such as DVDs and books. Tesco's Homeplus stores (approx. 35,000-50,000 sq ft) are dedicated to non-food including clothing. Tesco has more than 175 Extra stores (approximately 60,000 sq ft and above) which offer a variety of food and non-food product lines ranging from electrical equipment to homewares, clothing, health and beauty, and seasonal items such as garden furniture. Additionally, about 115 Extra and Homeplus stores have opticians and around 270 of them have pharmacies. In addition to stores, Tesco offers retailing services through its online shopping channels, tesco. com and Tesco Direct. The company also provides broadband internet connections (Tesco broadband) and telecommunications services (Tesco Mobile and Home Phone) through a 50-50 joint venture with O2, a mobile phone company. Tesco also provides financial services through Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) which offers a choice of 28 products ranging from savings accounts and credit cards to car and travel insurance. All its financial products are also available for online purchase. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 30 LEADING COMPANIES Key Metrics The company recorded revenues of $84,676 million in the fiscal year ending February 2009, an increase of 14. 9% compared to fiscal 2008. Its net income was $3,376 million in fiscal 2009, compared to a net income of $3,320 million in the preceding year. Table 14: $ million Tesco PLC: key financials ($) 2005 57,602. 2 3,042. 4 31,811. 6 17,695. 242,980 2006 67,234. 5 3,553. 7 35,167. 3 20,447. 6 273,024 2007 66,461. 4 2,959. 8 38,664. 9 22,188. 6 318,283 2008 73,720. 0 3,319. 9 47,014. 4 28,463. 7 345,737 2009 84,675. 6 3,376. 0 71,779. 5 52,460. 3 364,015 Revenues Net income (loss) Total assets Total liabilities Employees Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Table 15: ? million Tesco PLC: key financials (? ) 2005 36,957. 0 1,952. 0 20,410. 0 11,353. 0 2006 43,137. 0 2,280. 0 22,563. 0 13,119. 0 2007 42,641. 0 1,899. 0 24,807. 0 14,236. 0 2008 47,298. 0 2,130. 0 30,164. 0 18,262. 0 2009 54,327. 0 2,166. 46,053. 0 33,658. 0 Revenues Net income (loss) Total assets Total liabilities Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 31 LEADING COMPANIES Table 16: Ratio Tesco PLC: key financial ratios 2005 5. 3% 10. 1% 10. 9% 6. 4% 55. 6% 10. 1% $237,066 $12,521 2006 5. 3% 16. 7% 10. 5% 15. 6% 58. 1% 10. 6% $246,259 $13,016 2007 4. 5% (1. 1%) 9. 9% 8. 5% 57. 4% 8. 0% $208,812 $9,299 2008 4. 5% 10. 9% 21. 6% 28. 3% 60. 5% 7. 7% $213,226 $9,602 2009 4. % 14. 9% 52. 7% 84. 3% 73. 1% 5. 7% $232,616 $9,274 Profit margin Revenue growth Asset growth Liabilities growth Debt/asset ratio Return on assets Revenue per employee Profit per employee Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Figure 14: Tesco PLC: re venues & profitability Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 32 LEADING COMPANIES Figure 15: Tesco PLC: assets & liabilities Source: company filings DATAMONITOR Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 33 MARKET FORECASTS MARKET FORECASTS Market value forecast In 2014, the European food retail industry is forecast to have a value of $2,477. 4 billion, an increase of 49% since 2009. The compound annual growth rate of the industry in the period 2009–14 is predicted to be 8. 3%. Table 17: Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 CAGR: 2009–14 Source: Datamonitor Europe food retail industry value forecast: $ billion, 2009–14 $ billion 1,663. 1 1,811. 4 1,978. 0 2,161. 3 2,359. 7 2,477. â‚ ¬ billion 1,196. 1 1,302. 7 1,422. 5 1,554. 3 1,697. 0 1,781. 6 % Growth 8. 5% 8. 9% 9. 2% 9. 3% 9. 2% 5. 0% 8. 3% DATAMONITOR Figure 16: Europe food retail industry value forecast: $ billion, 2009–14 Source: Datamonitor DATAMONITOR Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Pag e 34 APPENDIX APPENDIX Methodology Datamonitor Industry Profiles draw on extensive primary and secondary research, all aggregated, analyzed, cross-checked and presented in a consistent and accessible style. Review of in-house databases – Created using 250,000+ industry interviews and consumer surveys and supported by analysis from industry experts using highly complex modeling & forecasting tools, Datamonitor’s in-house databases provide the foundation for all related industry profiles Preparatory research – We also maintain extensive in-house databases of news, analyst commentary, company profiles and macroeconomic & demographic information, which enable our researchers to build an accurate market overview Definitions – Market definitions are standardized to allow comparison from country to country. The parameters of each definition are carefully reviewed at the start of the research process to ensure they match the requirements of both the market and our clients Extensive secondary research activities ensure we are always fully up-to-date with the latest industry events and trends Datamonitor aggregates and analyzes a number of secondary information sources, including: National/Governmental statistics International data (official international sources) National and International trade associations Broker and analyst reports Company Annual Reports Business information libraries and databases Modeling & forecasting tools – Datamonitor has developed powerful tools that allow quantitative and qualitative data to be combined with related macroeconomic and demographic drivers to create market models and forecasts, which can then be refined according to specific competitive, regulatory and demand-related factors Continuous quality control ensures that our processes and profiles remain focused, accurate and up-to-date Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 35 APPENDIX Industry associations Global Food Marketing Institute 655 15th Street, NW, Washington DC, 20005 Tel. : 001 202 452 8444 Fax: 001 202 429 4519 www. fmi. org/ CIES — The Food Business Forum 7, rue de Madrid 75008 Paris FRANCE Tel. : 0033 1 4469 8484 Fax: 0033 1 4469 9939 www. ciesnet. com EuroCommerce Avenue des Nerviens 9-31, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium Tel. : 0032 2 737 0598 Fax: 0032 2 230 0078 www. eurocommerce. be Related Datamonitor research Industry Profile Food Retail in Western Europe Food Retail in Asia-Pacific Food Retail in the US Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 36 APPENDIX Disclaimer All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, Datamonitor plc. The facts of this report are believed to be correct at the time of publication but cannot be guaranteed. Please note that the findings, conclusions and recommendations that Datamonitor delivers will be based on information gathered in good faith from both primary and secondary sources, whose accuracy we are not always in a position to guarantee. As such Datamonitor can accept no liability whatever for actions taken based on any information that may subsequently prove to be incorrect. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 37 ABOUT DATAMONITOR ABOUT DATAMONITOR The Datamonitor Group is a world-leading provider of premium global business information, delivering independent data, analysis and opinion across the Automotive, Consumer Markets, Energy & Utilities, Financial Services, Logistics & Express, Pharmaceutical & Healthcare, Retail, Technology and Telecoms industries. Combining our industry knowledge and experience, we assist over 6,000 of the world’s leading companies in making better strategic and operational decisions. Delivered online via our user-friendly web platforms, our market intelligence products and services ensure that you will achieve your desired commercial goals by giving you the insight you need to best respond to your competitive environment. Premium Reports Datamonitor's premium reports are based on primary research with industry panels and consumers. We gather information on market segmentation, market growth and pricing, competitors and products. Our experts then interpret this data to produce detailed forecasts and actionable recommendations, helping you create new business opportunities and ideas. Summary Reports Our series of company, industry and country profiles complements our premium products, providing top-level information on 30,000 companies, 3,000 industries and 100 countries. While they do not contain the highly detailed breakdowns found in premium reports, profiles give you the most important qualitative and quantitative summary information you need – including predictions and forecasts. Datamonitor consulting We hope that the data and analysis in this profile will help you make informed and imaginative business decisions. If you have further requirements, Datamonitor’s consulting team may be able to help you. For more information about Datamonitor’s consulting capabilities, please contact us directly at [email  protected] com. Europe – Food Retail  © Datamonitor. This profile is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied 0201 – 2058 – 2009 Page 38

Case 7.8 First Securities Company

From the time Ladislas Nay arrived to United States at a young age of 18, he learned that this was the land of opportunity, this sense of hope allowed him to achieve â€Å"success. † However, his â€Å"success† led him to not only cheat and steal people out of their money; it also led him to steal a life filled with happiness for himself and his family. Living with this guilt, and no longer could bear the burden of deceiving widowers out of their money he committed suicide, by not only killing himself but his wife as well.This all began with Ladislas Nay working in a small brokerage firm; he worked hard learning the ropes of the business. From there he went on to work for a few more businesses before landing his final job working for the brokerage firm of Ryan-Nichols & Company. This is where it all began for Ladislas Nay, after a few years of working for Ryan-Nichols and Company; he achieved the status of becoming President of the company and had more than 90 percent o f the company’s outstanding common stock. He was very well known; he had many friends and was liked by all his clients.Ladislas Nay began his manipulation by telling his clients to invest into a fund that he was in charge of. He then turned around and used the funds to lend to other companies; these companies would pay interest on the money loaned. However, Ladislas Nay own company was not aware of him taking people’s money and loaning it to other companies. He was scamming friends and widowers into investing large amount of money into this so called â€Å"fund. † After 30 years this all came to a final end, and Nay’s scam was exposed.Everyone became aware of Nay’s so called â€Å"fund,† and how he had achieved in scheming friends out of their money. He left them with nothing, and even left one widower â€Å"penniless. † However, investors were not happy with this and decided to file a civil lawsuit in order to retrieve their millions of dollars of money they had invested with Nay. Investors felt that if Ladislas Nay’s company where investigated properly this whole scam could have been prevented. However, the courts weren’t hearing this and felt the company was investigated properly.Investors would not give up and pursued in trying to get their money back. They were in and out of court rooms, until finally the investors decided to go after the previous accounting firm. The investors filed suit against Ernst & Ernst, their defense was negligence, investors felt this type of negligence could have been avoided if only they did their jobs correctly. The accounting firm failed to comply with the General Standards rule 201, which states that agencies must exercise due professional care, professional competence, planning and supervision and having sufficient relevant data.In order for Nay to keep himself from being detected of committing fraud he had established a â€Å"mail rule,† where no one was allowed to open or touch any letters that was for him or sent to him. Auditors relied on internal evidence as their source of evidence on documents provided in order to base their opinion. Nay’s illegal act caused financial statements to be materially misstated and external auditors were not aware of his illegal acts. This type of ineffective internal control risk would have been detected by auditors if only they did their job correctly.An audit team’s responsibility is to design procedures to provide reasonable assurance that material frauds that might misstate the financial statements are detected. This would have raised a red flag and they would have approached Nay with a professional skepticism. They would have requested all documents as evidence, in order to validate whether what he was saying and stating in fact was true. Auditors would have traced all documents to test whether all events are recorded, which would have established a state of completeness. Howeve r, due to false documents, the auditors would have found Ladislas Nays of committing fraud.The courts felt differently and dismissed the case stating there was no substantive evidence to support the allegation. Investors were unhappy with this and decided to appeal this, the SEC became involved and also stated that the investors were entitled to documents that were of true statements, and the duty of the auditor is to provide this. The courts felt the auditor’s intention was not of negligence or fraudulent behavior, and decided there was not enough evidence to hold them liable for this and the court dismissed the case.

Games Theory Essay

In game theory, Nash equilibrium (named after John Forbes Nash, who proposed it) is a solution concept of a game involving two or more players, in which each player is assumed to know the equilibrium strategies of the other players, and no player has anything to gain by changing only his own strategy unilaterally. If each player has chosen a strategy and no player can benefit by changing his or her strategy while the other players keep theirs unchanged, then the current set of strategy choices and the corresponding payoffs constitute Nash equilibrium. Stated simply, Amy and Phil are in Nash equilibrium if Amy is making the best decision she can, taking into account Phil’s decision, and Phil is making the best decision he can, taking into account Amy’s decision. Likewise, a group of players is in Nash equilibrium if each one is making the best decision that he or she can, taking into account the decisions of the others. However, Nash equilibrium does not necessarily mean the best payoff for all the players involved; in many cases, all the players might improve their payoffs if they could somehow agree on strategies different from the Nash equilibrium: e.g., competing businesses forming a cartel in order to increase their profits. The prisoner’s dilemma is a fundamental problem in game theory that demonstrates why two people might not cooperate even if it is in both their best interests to do so. It was originally framed by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher working at RAND in 1950. Albert W. Tucker formalized the game with prison sentence payoffs and gave it the â€Å"prisoner’s dilemma† name (Poundstone, 1992). A classic example of the prisoner’s dilemma (PD) is presented as follows: Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated the prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal. If one testifies for the prosecution against the other (defects) and the other remains silent (cooperates), the defector goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full one-year sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only one month in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a three-month sentence. Each prisoner must choose to betray the other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. How should the prisoners act? If we assume that each player cares only about minimizing his or her own time in jail, then the prisoner’s dilemma forms a non-zero-sum game in which two players may each either cooperate with or defect from (betray) the other player. In this game, as in most game theory, the only concern of each individual player (prisoner) is maximizing his or her own payoff, without any concern for the other player’s payoff. The unique equilibrium for this game is a Pareto-suboptimal solution, that is, rational choice leads the two players to both play defect, even though each player’s individual reward would be greater if they both played cooperatively. In the classic form of this game, cooperating is strictly dominated by defecting, so that the only possible equilibrium for the game is for all players to defect. No matter what the other player does, one player will always gain a greater payoff by playing defect. Since in any situation playing defect is more beneficial than cooperating, all rational players will play defect, all things being equal. In the iterated prisoner’s dilemma, the game is played repeatedly. Thus each player has an opportunity to punish the other player for previous non-cooperative play. If the number of steps is known by both players in advance, economic theory says that the two players should defect again and again, no matter how many times the game is played. Only when the players play an indefinite or random number of times can cooperation be an equilibrium (technically a subgame perfect equilibrium), meaning that both players defecting always remains an equilibrium and there are many other equilibrium outcomes. In this case, the incentive to defect can be overcome by the threat of punishment. In casual usage, the label â€Å"prisoner’s dilemma† may be applied to situations not strictly matching the formal criteria of the classic or iterative games, for instance, those in which two entities could gain important benefits from cooperating or suffer from the failure to do so, but find it merely difficult or expensive, not necessarily impossible, to coordinate their activities to achieve cooperation. Strategy for the classic prisoner’s dilemma The classical prisoner’s dilemma can be summarized thus: Prisoner B stays silent (cooperates) Prisoner B confesses (defects) Prisoner A stays silent (cooperates) Each serves 1 month Prisoner A: 1 year Prisoner B: goes free Prisoner A confesses (defects) Prisoner A: goes free Prisoner B: 1 year Each serves 3 months Imagine you are player A. If player B decides to stay silent about committing the crime then you are better off confessing, because then you will get off free. Similarly, if player B confesses then you will be better off confessing, since then you get a sentence of 3 months rather than a sentence of 1 year. From this point of view, regardless of what player B does, as player A you are better off confessing. One says that confessing (defecting) is the dominant strategy. As Prisoner A, you can accurately say, â€Å"No matter what Prisoner B does, I personally am better off confessing than staying silent. Therefore, for my own sake, I should confess.† However, if the other player acts similarly then you both confess and both get a worse sentence than you would have gotten by both staying silent. That is, the seemingly rational self-interested decisions lead to worse sentences—hence the seeming dilemma. In game theory, this demonstrates that in a non-zero-sum game a Nash equilibrium need not be a Pareto optimum. Although they are not permitted to communicate, if the prisoners trust each other then they can both rationally choose to remain silent, lessening the penalty for both of them. We can expose the skeleton of the game by stripping it of the prisoner framing device. The generalized form of the game has been used frequently in experimental economics. The following rules give a typical realization of the game. There are two players and a banker. Each player holds a set of two cards, one printed with the word â€Å"Cooperate† (as in, with each other), the other printed with â€Å"Defect† (the standard terminology for the game). Each player puts one card face-down in front of the banker. By laying them face down, the possibility of a player knowing the other player’s selection in advance is eliminated (although revealing one’s move does not affect the dominance analysis[1]). At the end of the turn, the banker turns over both cards and gives out the payments accordingly. Given two players, â€Å"red† and â€Å"blue†: if the red player defects and the blue player cooperates, the red player gets the Temptation to Defect payoff of 5 points while the blue player receives the Sucker’s payoff of 0 points. If both cooperate they get the Reward for Mutual Cooperation payoff of 3 points each, while if they both defect they get the Punishment for Mutual Defection payoff of 1 point. The checker board payoff matrix showing the payoffs is given below. These point assignments are given arbitrarily for illustration. It is possible to generalize them, as follows: Canonical PD payoff matrix Cooperate Defect Cooperate R, R S, T Defect T, S P, PWhere T stands for Temptation to defect, R for Reward for mutual cooperation, P for Punishment for mutual defection and S for Sucker’s payoff. To be defined as prisoner’s dilemma, the following inequalities must hold: T > R > P > S This condition ensures that the equilibrium outcome is defection, but that cooperation Pareto dominates equilibrium play. In addition to the above condition, if the game is repeatedly played by two players, the following condition should be added.[2] 2 R > T + S If that condition does not hold, then full cooperation is not necessarily Pareto optimal, as the players are collectively better off by having each player alternate between Cooperate and Defect. These rules were established by cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter and form the formal canonical description of a typical game of prisoner’s dilemma. A simple special case occurs when the advantage of defection over cooperation is independent of what the co-player does and cost of the co-player’s defection is independent of one’s own action, i.e. T+S = P+R. The iterated prisoner’s dilemma If two players play prisoner’s dilemma more than once in succession and they remember previous actions of their opponent and change their strategy accordingly, the game is called iterated prisoner’s dilemma. The iterated prisoner’s dilemma game is fundamental to certain theories of human cooperation and trust. On the assumption that the game can model transactions between two people requiring trust, cooperative behaviour in populations may be modelled by a multi-player, iterated, version of the game. It has, consequently, fascinated many scholars over the years. In 1975, Grofman and Pool estimated the count of scholarly articles devoted to it at over 2,000. The iterated prisoner’s dilemma has also been referred to as the â€Å"Peace-War game†. If the game is played exactly N times and both players know this, then it is always game theoretically optimal to defect in all rounds. The only possible Nash equilibrium is to always defect. The proof is inductive: one might as well defect on the last turn, since the opponent will not have a chance to punish the player. Therefore, both will defect on the last turn. Thus, the player might as well defect on the second-to-last turn, since the opponent will defect on the last no matter what is done, and so on. The same applies if the game length is unknown but has a known upper limit. Unlike the standard prisoner’s dilemma, in the iterated prisoner’s dilemma the defection strategy is counterintuitive and fails badly to predict the behavior of human players. Within standard economic theory, though, this is the only correct answer. The superrational strategy in the iterated prisoners dilemma with fixed N is to cooperate against a superrational opponent, and in the limit of large N, experimental results on strategies agree with the superrational version, not the game-theoretic rational one. For cooperation to emerge between game theoretic rational players, the total number of rounds N must be random, or at least unknown to the players. In this case always defect may no longer be a strictly dominant strategy, only a Nash equilibrium. Amongst results shown by Nobel Prize winner Robert Aumann in his 1959 paper, rational players repeatedly interacting for indefinitely long games can sustain the cooperative outcome.

Anorexia nervosa Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Anorexia nervosa - Case Study Example Thus, the patient does not see herself as a person without an eating disorder would see herself; she needs to control her thoughts and emotions (ANAD, 2009). Cognitive-behavioral therapy is the typical treatment for both types of anorexia. SSRIs may be indicated if the anorexia co-occurs with another psychiatric disorder (APA, 2009). Sometimes it is a singular event in the child’s life which leads to eating disorders; sometimes it is a pattern of repeated behavior. The physician may not be equipped to assess the extent of the patient’s emotional states regarding her relationship to food, but a few well-placed questions can reveal much. The fact that Sara was diagnosed by a previous medical professional as having an eating disorder will probably lead to a repeat diagnosis; this may or may not be true. The child will not recover from her disorder without psychiatric intervention including cognitive behavior therapy, in which her behaviors and emotional states are modified and she is retrained to think and act in healthy ways. A complete review of systems should be performed. Growth patterns, weight, weight loss or gain (especially when there is no evidence of weight gain), general health, and so on should be explored, along with asking about usual activities such as eating and exercise. An examination of the skin could reveal excess hair; dry, yellow or blotchy skin; cracked fingernails; and other signs of malnutrition. An overview of eyes, ears, nose, mouth and throat may reveal complaints of headaches or dizziness, nose bleeds, dental difficulties (especially in the case of a binge-purge anorexic), or stiffness or tenderness in the thyroid area. A muscular examination could reveal atrophy; if the patient exercises excessively, body fat levels will be extremely low. A cardiovascular exam including listening to the heart and taking blood pressure

The methodology of scientific research programmes Coursework

The methodology of scientific research programmes - Coursework Example The main weakness of Popper’s account of scientific method is that it is not historically accurate. This is because a look at the history of science shows that science grows through the development or the improvement of the existing scientific theories, rather than through the refutations of the existing scientific theories. According to Thomas Kuhn, on the other hand, science does not grow through linear accumulation of knowledge. For Kuhn, science grows through major revolutions; according to Kuhn, a revolution occurs in science when an old paradigm is replaced by a new paradigm. Kuhn held that revolutions in science are precipitated by anomalies in the existing paradigms; for Kuhn, therefore, revolutions or paradigm shifts in science occurs to correct or to overcome the anomalies in the existing paradigm. The main weakness of Kuhn’s account of scientific method is that, just like Popper’s account of scientific method, Kuhn’s account of scientific method is also not historically accurate. This is because a look at the history of science shows that science grows in other ways, other than through revolutions; for this reason, therefore, Kuhn offered only one mode of growth of science. In his account of scientific method, Lakatos taught that the appropriate unit of appraisal of scienfific method is not an individual theory, as Popper and taught, but a sequence of related theories, i.e. a scientific research programme. The Lakatos’ research programme has a hardcore, the protective belt, negative heuristic, and the positive heuristic. For Lakatos, the hardcore is the theoretical hypothesis that forms the basis upon which the research programme is developed; Lakatos’ hardcore is comparable to Kuhn’s paradigm. Protective belt, on the other hand, refers to the auxiliary hypotheses which are adjusted so as to save the research programme from refutation. Negative heuristic for Lakatos stipulates the

Discuss Hamlet as a revenge tragedy Research Paper

Discuss Hamlet as a revenge tragedy - Research Paper Example Thesis statement: The basic elements of the play Hamlet proves its importance as a revenge tragedy (special references to the elements of revenge tragedy like revenge, ghost, hero’s hesitation, madness, capable villains, philosophical content, horror and suicide/murder) Hamlet as a revenge tragedy As pointed out, the basic elements of revenge tragedy are applicable to the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The basic elements of revenge tragedy like revenge, ghost, hero’s hesitation, madness, capable villains, philosophical content, horror and suicide/murder are discussed under. A. Revenge: One can see that revenge is the most important element of the play. Within this context, Hamlet’s revenge is to be considered as most important because his aim was to regain the lost honor of his father. At the same time revenge leads him towards his ultimate doom at the end of the play. Rebecca W. Bushnell points out that the basic quality of a revenge tragedy is the protagon ist’s inability to understand his own self or the outside world (68). From a different angle of view, Hamlet’s revenge can be evaluated as his attempt to escape from mental and emotional trauma originating from his personal feeling/fear of losing his mother. In short, revenge is the main component of the play which entraps the protagonist (Hamlet) and his enemies. B. Ghost: The basic element of revenge tragedy consists of the presence of a ghost, which curtails the deeds of the protagonist and acts the role of a motivation to take revenge. Within the context of Hamlet the play, King Hamlet’s ghost acts the role of the ghost who deeply influences prince Hamlet to take revenge of his father’s untimely death and the following incidents. The ghost encourages Hamlet by pointing out that â€Å"So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear† (16). One can easily identify that the ghost’s inspiration forces Hamlet to be suspicious about his uncle†™s and mother’s roles in the conspiracy against his father. But he hesitates to believe in ghost and tries to ignore. Gradually, the ghost forces his son to destroy his enemies and to regain the throne. In short, the presence of ghost, similar to the other revenge plays, ignites fury in the mind of the protagonist and forces him to take revenge of his father’s death. C. Hero’s hesitation Like other revenge tragedy heroes, Hamlet did not believe in ghosts. When his father’s ghost tried to influence him, he did not believe in him and hesitated to act against his enemies. Later, his friend forced him to act according to the will of the ghost and to act against his enemies. Paul Arthur Cantor opines that Oedipus complex hindered Hamlet from his actions (21). The hero’s hesitation can be evaluated from different levels. For instance, he was not sure about the presence of his father as the ghost. Later, he did miss more than one attempt to kill his unc le. This hesitation caused more troubles in his life because he accidentally killed a counselor who was so close to his uncle. This hesitation ultimately led him towards his doom in the end. D. Madness Madness, whether acted or real is one of the most important elements of revenge tragedies. When this element is superimposed to the context of the play Hamlet, one can easily identify that Hamlet’s madness was not real. For instance, Hamlet acted himself as a mad person because he wanted to know more about the deeds of his enemies. He was aware of

Application of Law on Jasmine D'Loire's Business Essay

Application of Law on Jasmine D'Loire's Business - Essay Example Occupiers Liability Act 1957 and 1984 To begin with, Jasmine is supposed to understand Occupiers Liability Act 1957 and 1984 as this is applicable in her line of business. As stipulated in this act, this act shall have effect on determining whether the occupier of a premise, who in this case is Jasmine, are liable to any risk of suffering injury to other persons other than their visitors, who in this case could be her students and workers, due to the state of the premise as a result of things done or omitted to be done on such premises (Harr 2008). However, it is important for Jasmine to understand the contents of this act and how the act affects her business. For example, she needs to know who the law recognizes as the occupier of a premise and how such an occupier of the premise owe a duty to others. According to this act, an occupier of premises owes a duty to another (not being a visitor) in respect of any such risks as is referred above if she is aware of the danger or has reaso nable grounds to believe that it exist (Hodge 2009). On the hand, Jasmine should be aware that, by virtue of this act, owes a duty to another to see that the students or workers don’t suffer injury on her business premise by the reason of the danger caused. If such a risk happens, then she is liable (Schmalleger 2007). Health and safety at work act 1974 Although Jasmine is a sole proprietor, she might need some workers in her business; therefore, she ought to be aware of the health and safety at work act 1974. The health and safety at work act 1974 was enacted to make further provisions for securing the health, and safety of workers, and for protecting other people from the risk to health and safety in connection with activities of workers (Schmalleger 2007). In regard to JDL Dance Ltd, the health and safety act would be applicable in connection to its workers and students. In some situations, by coincidence, an instructor (worker) in JDL Dance Ltd may cause harm during train ing (for example, break of an arm) to a student, due to negligence and lack of knowledge. In this case, the student may decide to sue the business owner for the harm caused. In this case, Jasmine may be answerable for having incompetent worker in her firm (Maguire 2007). On the other hand, a worker in the JDL Dance Ltd may accidentally injure himself as a result of stepping on a slippery floor or on a broken pavement while on his duty. In this case the worker may sue JDL Dance Ltd, for failure to create a favourable working environment which caused the accident (Maguire 2007). Therefore, Jasmine is supposed to ensure that all the necessary equipments and the entire premise are safe for both her workers and students. In the health and safety at work act (1974), also stipulates that the bully’s behavior constitute a breach of employers duty to care under the health and safety at work act (1974), where employers are required to have a legal obligation to ensure both physical and psychological well being of their employees (Maguire 2007). A breach of this act is considered to have happened when the employer fails to take action when the employee brings a health and safety issue to their attention. When employees feel stressed while in their line of duty, this act interprets such a stress as consequence of the employer failure to

Terrorist group Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Terrorist group - Research Paper Example According to ( Tellis) â€Å"In fact, since its establishment in 1987, LeT’s objectives relating to Kashmir and, more generally, India were fundamentally embedded in wider ambitions, with its focus on the subcontinent deriving mainly from its practical circumstances†. The suspected leaders of Lashkar - e – Taiba are Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ( Founder and Head) Abdul Rehman Makki (Second in Commander) Zaki – ur –Rehman- Lakhvi(Senior Member) Zarra Shah( Planning head) Muhammed Ashraf ( Financial Officer), Mahmoud Mohamed Ahmed Bahaziq ( Leader & Financier)Nasr Javed ( Senior Operative). The characteristics of Lashkar leaders are fanaticism, radicalism, violence, suspicious identity, self - destruction, possession of weapons, illegal activities and funding and conspiracy. They have a suspicious identity and these people are not seen in public. They have an aggressive nature and are strong willed and high determination. They have the motive of separating K ashmir from India and joining with Pakistan as a Muslim state. This group is motivated by Al – Qaeda theology and US Foreign Policy. They have the sole purpose of destroying India a country and to uproot Hinduism and Judaism. LeT has declared Hindus and Jews to be enemies of Islam. According to ( Ahmed) â€Å" Union minister of state for home I.D. ... One of the thing they are trying to accomplish is to get rid of non – Islamist troop out of India and Middle East. They want to destroy Indian Republic as they believe that India the enemy of Islam and wants to subjugate the Islamic world. Lashkar -e- Taiba is attempting to preserve its ideologies of a puritanical and fundamental group. They want to preserve their religious laws and want to be distinctive from other cultures of world. They believe that Hinduism and Judaism are religion against Islamic values and want to eradicate them. They want to accomplish a strictly observing Islamic world with Quran principles as its foundation. Lashkar-e- Taiba as a terrorist group has focus on social, religious and political aspect. If one look at social aspect they want a culture or a world which is conservative and less liberal .They want a society which resembles and follows a restrictive life for women. On religious side, they focus on promoting a world where the Islamic rules are f ollowed. Lashkar- e- Taiba is a radical movement and a fanatic organization which only believe in one religion of Islam. On Political grounds they want to destroy non-believers especially India. Even though Lashkar target Hindus and Jews they do kill all sorts of people who are against their agenda. The Lashkar – e- Taiba has targeted India and Israel despite of the existence of Muslim population in the country. They despise Indian and Jews and most of the attacks have been made on Indian nationals. But they also have enmity towards Jews and they have a large scale network operation. Basically, non Muslims are their main targets. For the reason for targeting these people are basically because they devaluate Islamic rules and

Royal Bank of Scotland Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Royal Bank of Scotland - Essay Example RBS is regarded as one of the largest and oldest banks in Europe and holds immense credibility within the banking sector. Recently, it featured in the top ten banks in the world, with total assets worth $2,342.66 billion (see Figure 1) and was ranked third in the UK with total assets worth $2,267.93 billion in the year 2010 (See Figure 2) (Relbanks, 2012). The group recorded an operating profit worth ?6.1bn for the financial year 2011-2012 up by 10% as compared to the previous year. The improvement in the bank's profitability was largely attributed to its excellent performance in the UK retail sector. Furthermore the improvement in performance could also be attributed to the bank’s 5 year improvement plan adopted in the year 2009, which entails improving customer service; restoring the bank to a sustainable enterprise and improving its risk profile; and rebuilding value for its shareholders. The customer driven strategy is the key competitive strength of the bank, and has help ed it in sustaining its performance in the midst of external challenges and threats. (RBS Annual Report, 2012). PEST Analysis: The political, economic, social and technological factors affecting RBS are discussed below: Political factors: One of the biggest setbacks faced by RBS during the financial crisis was taking over of its ownership by the UK government following a crash in the credit markets. The bank faced severe problems in raising new capital and failed in its attempt to revive its plunging profitability. In the year 2008, the UK government which was worried about the state of the financial markets sought to take up 58pc in RBS for ?15 billion (The Telegraph, 2011b). Furthermore, the collapse of the bank during the financial crisis is largely attributed... This essay mostly focuses on The Royal Bank of Scotland and aims to discuss, analyze and assess various key issues with regard to the performance of the bank, such as the external threats and challenges, that were faced by it and the strategies adopted by the same to counter them. The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is an international banking and financial services company headquartered in Edinburg, United Kingdom, with various branches across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas, catering to over 30 million customers worldwide. It offers a range of products and services to a wide range of customers including individual as well as corporate customers; through its subsidiaries such as Natwest, Ulster Bank, Direct Line, Charter One, Coutts, and Churchill. After nearly failing in a face of 2007-2008 crisis, the bank aimed to focus on improving its activities by focusing on risk management and aligning its business to suit the external environment. The three core principles of i ts strategy, that was used and discussed in the essay include sustainability, accountability and increased customer focus. According to its sustainability strategy, the bank proposes to actively engage in employee engagement to increase and improve their productivity. In conclusion, the researcher hopes that these strategies adopted by the Royal Bank of Scotland are likely not only to result in a positive impact on the bank’s performance, but also increase customer satisfaction and market confidence.

American football and sound Intellectual thinking Essay Example for Free

American football and sound Intellectual thinking Essay Ive always been told i was too small, Im not big enough, not fast enough and that i dont have what it takes. But to stay there for four years straight was necessary, blood was necessary and the occasional tear as necessary/ But on the field i prepare so no one can make up my mind but myself. And once my mind is made up NOBODY can stop me. You can try any move you want and even try to out run me but i can promise you one thing, that as long as Im on the field your only destination is the turf. Football is not something you take lightly its a Mans Game. The only thing that will get you hurt is playing stupid and being soft. Benefits of playing football: It is one of the most popular and widespread games in the world It is provin by sports specialists that football players are the ones with the strongest extremities and very sound intellectual thinking, to be successful on the field but also in life. You have to have discipline , passion and commitment with everything you do , and football will hep you with that. Concentration is also another thing mastered when you play football. Its also the top most vital element that we need in life. For Example: When we are preparing for a test When we are out on the field Football will not only help with competitive and efficiency as a player also teach you the right and appropriate attitude to have. Communication is a major benefit when playing football: No communication= Fail ! So if you dont communicate you will fail and if you fail that means your not hungry for greatness and if your not hungry for greatness it means your ok with being mediocre. And if that was the case for me.. i wouldnt be standing here with these trophies. This is what success looks like.

Sociology families and households

Sociology families and households Functionalism is a structuralist theory. This means it sees the individual as less important as the social structure of society. It is a top down theory. The family can be defined as an intimate domestic group composed of people related to each other by blood, sexual relations and legal ties. When assessing how useful functionalism is when looking at the family, other views/perspectives need to be taken into account before making an overall conclusion. Views from Talcott Parsons, George Murdock, Ann Oakley, Edmund Leach, R.D Laing, David Cooper and Friedrich Engels will be taken into account as well as perspectives from Marxism, feminism, family diversity and radical psychiatrists. This will help draw the final conclusion. Functionalist sociologists suggest that the nuclear family is the norm in modern day industrial societies. George Peter Murdock (1949) supports the idea of functionalism. After analysing 250 societies, Murdock argues that the family performs four basic functions; sexual, reproductive, economic and educational. These are the essentials for social life, since without sexual and reproductive functions there would be no members of society, without economic functions life would cease, and without education there would be no culture. Human society without culture could not function. Clearly, the family cannot perform these functions exclusively. However, it makes important contributions to them all and no other institution has yet been devised to match its efficiency in this respect. A weakness of Murdocks view is that some sociologists may find his description of the family almost too good to be true. Some of his views on harmony and integration are not shared be other researchers. He also does not examine alternatives to the family, not considering whether its functions could be carried out b y other social institutions. Murdock is criticised for being Euro-centric, as he is only concerned about the Western families. However, he is supported by anthropologists; Morris (1968) said the family was a result of biology and culture over generations (socio-biology). This could be a strength as it shows some researchers have the same view. Talcott Parsons bases his ideas on the family in modern American society. However, despite this his ideas have more general application since he claims the American family has two basic and irreducible functions which are common to the family in all societies, unlike Murdock who argued there were four. These were, the primary socialization of children, where culture is learned and accepted by children so they know the norms and values that allow society to exist. Secondly the stabilization of adult personalities, which is where a marriage relationship and emotional security a couple provide for each other keeps a personality stable, and acts as a counterweight to everyday stresses and strains that can make a personality unstable. This process is otherwise known as the warm bath theory, where the family provide a relaxing environment for the male worker to immerse himself in after a hard day at work. A criticism of Parsons view would be that he idealises the family, much like Murdock, with his view of well adjusted children and sympathetic spouses caring for each others every need, when in reality not all families are like this. Also Parsons fails to explore the differences between working/middle class families, as his ideas are generally based on the American middle class family. Parsons perspective supports that of functionalism, that the nuclear family is the norm in society. Ann Oakley has described the typical or conventional family. She says conventional families are nuclear families composed of legally married couples, voluntarily choosing the parenthood of one or more children. This shows support for functionalism. Leach (1967) has called this the cereal packet image of the family. This image of a happily married couple with two children is prominent in advertising and the family sized packets of cereal and other products are aimed at this group. The family is functional for both its members and society as a whole. Increasingly this picture of the family is coming under strong criticism. Some observers are suggesting that on balance, the family may well be dysfunctional both for society and its individual members. This criticism has mainly been directed at the family in Western industrial society. The Marxist view on the family opposes that of the functionalists. It is seen to challenge the idea that the family is universal or natural, but instead that it is human creation; a social invention that has served a specific economic purpose. The Marxist theory on the family emerged from the work of Friedrich Engels. It is argued by Marxists that the working-class extended family has been deliberately discouraged by the capitalist ruling class, because its emphasis on a mutual support system and collective action encourages its members to be aware of their social class position. It is believed that the nuclear family under capitalist law in an anti-social family. It labels all other forms of family life as inferior and abnormal. However, a weakness of the Marxist view is that there is a tendency to talk about the family in capitalist society without regard to possible variations in family life between social classes. Family diversity supports the fact that the conventional family no longer makes up the majority of households or families. For example, women no longer aspire exclusively to romantic love, marriage and children. There are now acceptable alternative life styles some people prefer, such as pre-marital sex, serial monogamy, cohabitation, single-sex relationships, childlessness etc. Mens roles too are no longer clear in a postmodern society, and the resulting crisis of masculinity has lead to man redefining both their sexuality and family commitments. Others disagree with this view. They argue that family diversity is exaggerated, and that the basic features of family life have remained largely unchanged for the majority of the population. Nuclear families are still very common but alternate types of family are steadily increasing. When looking at a critical view of the family, radical psychiatry mat be taken into account. Edmund Leach supported the idea in the family there is too much emotional pressure on each individual to live up to expectations. R.D Laing associated schizophrenia with the emotional pressure and anxiety of the nuclear family. David Cooper suggested the personality of the individual is controlled by the family, forcing them to conform to the rules of both the family, forcing them to conform to the rules of both the family and wider society. These three radical researchers all agree that the family is a dangerous place and mental illness could be the result of pressures laid down to the individual. From this angle it can be seen that the family has a negative, this view does not agree with the view of functionalism. Friedrich Engels acknowledges that the position of women within the family is an important aspect of what the Marxists see as its harmful effects. However, he emphasizes the relationship between family and capitalism, and is less concerned with its effects on women. Feminism has broken itself down into different perspectives, Marxist feminists, liberal feminists and radical feminists. Friedrich Engels speaks for the Marxist feminist view. Liberal feminists believe that both sexes contribute to domestic chores in an atmosphere of mutual support and hegemony, and there is an equal division of labour. Radical feminist beliefs are that the nuclear family is based upon male power and serves to support that. Male power is often expressed in the home as domestic violence. It is seen that patriarchy is transhistorical; it is ever present in all societies and cultures. A weakness is that feminists often do not take into account the possible differences in family life, for example, social clas ses, ethnic groups, heterosexual and gay families etc. They just seem to assume every family is a nuclear family, so may exaggerate the effect of families to women. They therefore ignore the possibility of women fighting back against exploitation and do not see the positive side to the family. Now that perspectives and ideas criticising and supporting functionalism have been illustrated. A conclusion can be made. If looking at Murdock and Parsons it can be seen that they both tend to only take into account Western societies, and tend to generalise. Apart from that they both have strong, similar ideas on what the family is. Oakley and Leach support their ideas on the nuclear family being the majority of society. However, although the argument supporting functionalism is sound, other views need to be taken into perspective. For example Marxism, questioning the idea of a universal/natural family. Family diversity offering different options to how people choose to live, feminists saying the family exploits women and radical psychiatry claiming the family is a dangerous place and causes mental illness

Critical Incident Analysis Nursing Assignment

Critical Incident Analysis Nursing Assignment Reflective Analysis of a Critical Incident This paper recounts a critical nursing incident and reflects on the associated professional, moral and legal issues. The objective is to critically reflect on what happened with a view to distil key lessons to improve my future practice and provision of care. No personally identifiable details about the key players or context are included, thereby assuring their confidentiality. This incident was selected because it demonstrates the ways in which individual errors can compound and translate a relatively simple matter into a grave crisis with fatal results. It goes to the heart of nursing practice, and requires introspection into the ways we discharge our responsibilities. Description of Critical Incident I was a Registered Staff Nurse completing the final phases of a 12-month midwifery program in the labour ward of a 500 bed teaching hospital. The ward comprised sections for admission, stage 1 room (active labour), hypertension (pre-eclamptic) room, delivery room and a post-delivery observation area (temporary holding. My objective was to gain skill marks (by completing 40 deliveries and suturing) to complete the program. This particular day I enquired about deliveries and heard of a case that was just endingthe resident doctor was suturing the patient. I was hopeful of participating in the final stages to earn marks so I went to assist. Upon entering the delivery room I saw a lot of blood on the floor, so I asked the doctor what was happening. He stated everything was okay. I observed the patient lying on the bed, and asked her if she was fine. She replied yes. The patient looked pale and weak-more so than the stress of just delivering. I left the room and called the consultant who was doing ward rounds on another ward with students. I also informed the charge midwife about the situation. The charge midwife went to ascertain what was happening. The doctor again asserted that everything was fine, and there is no problem. I assessed the patients vital signs, and found them to be abnormal. Right then, the consultant came into the room and started an intervention. The patient was taken to the operating theatre for exploration to stop the bleeding. After two hours of transfusing blood products and packing the uterus, the patient was transferred to the intensive care unit. She passed away three hours later. The husband was told that there was a complication, and all efforts to stop haemorrhaging were unsuccessful. Hospital policy states that a midwife should assist doctors with any procedure being done in the labour ward. This was not the case. The baby was delivered by a midwife. The doctor was asked to do the suture because of suspected difficulties (cervical lacerations). This situation was not considered to be life threatening. The midwife left to attend to other patients on the busy ward. The doctor was asked to call if and when he needed help. The doctor acted on his own, and twice refused to acknowledge the worsening situation. The patient died, and the family suffered as a consequence. The information given to the family did not reflect all the facts of the incident. The hospital reprimanded the doctor and he was not allowed to see patients without supervision. He eventually completed his specialization course and now practices obstetrics and gynaecology in another jurisdiction. Stakeholders Involved Merriams dictionary defines a stakeholder as person(s) entrusted with the stakes of bettors or someone who is involved or affected by a course of action. In this case, a range of persons were directly and indirectly involved, and a family will have to live with the loss of a loved one. The patient expected to deliver a healthy baby, be with her family, and raise her child. She is no longer with them. The resident doctor made choices, and has to deal with the consequences of those decisions on a personal (moral and ethical) and professional basis. We cannot be sure what options were deliberated, nor the process used to arrive at the final choices. The consultant obstetric/gynaecologist juggled different tasks and ultimately intervened, but without success. The charge midwife and the midwife who delivered the baby are also a party to the incident: they attended other matters on the ward-no doubt also considered urgent and important. This incident raises various professional, ethical and moral dilemmas. The actions of these persons raise questions about the duty of care provided, and the professionalism that guided the choices and judgements they demonstrated. My objective at the time was to earn skilled marks. My view is that the hospital itself can also change from this experience. No one expected the outcomes that manifested. Hospital policy was contravened. The family accepted the paraphrased version of events. The doctor received a reprimand. I do not recall any action for the breach of policy. Theoretical Context A critical incident is one that can cause a person to pause and contemplate events that occurred, and in so doing, give them some meaning. This can be positive and experiential, and is a potential source for self, group and institutional learning and improvement (Gibbs 1988, Duffy 2007). Thinking critically requires us to identify problems and base assumptions and clarify the issues involved. Subsequently, we may raise questions; whose answers may result in changes (Vacek 2009). Critical incident analysis challenges us to evaluate the main facts and use these to gain a deeper understanding of what happened (Fornasier 2008). In so doing, we deconstruct the whole incident into its component parts. Reflection is a thoughtful, deliberative process to gain deeper understanding of what happened by encouraging us to challenge how we feel, think and behave. This is the basis for individual change and improvement (Andrews et al, 1998; Merriam Webster). Using a critical incident as a way of reflecting involves the identification of behaviours that may be helpful or unhelpful in a given situation. This process of structured debriefing can help the institution and the health care providers to identify incidents, prevent their reoccurrence, and enhance the standard of care delivered to the public (Gibbs 1988). Key Issue: Professionalism A profession is a chosen, paid occupation requiring prolonged training and formal qualification (Webster). A number of professionals are involved in this case. For myself, at first, I did not know what to do: I was just thinking about the patients safety when I saw the enormous amount of blood of the floor. In the moment, I forgot about the chain of command: I bypassed the charge nurse and called the consultant directly. Reflecting on the incident, I should have called the charge nurse and she may have better handled the situation as it unfolded. Further, I assessed the vital signs after leaving the room to communicate with the consultant. It could be argued that I should have completed a fuller assessment of the patients vital signs before progressing through the chain of command-rather than taking the patients perspective that all was okay despite a gut feeling that something was wrong. Was the patient making a rationale statement? Did she have enough information and the capacity to objectively weigh the situation? Did I, in that moment misread the gap in understanding of what I saw and what the patient said? I would maintain that my actions were well intentioned and had the desired impact: to bring additional resources to remedy the situation and preserve her life. Clearly, the ability to remain calm under stressful circumstances is a valuable characteristic. This cannot be taught or learnt in the classroom, and certainly not through a fatal trauma. The patient is no longer with us. Did she have enough information to make an informed decision about the quality of care she was receiving? Could the patient be reasonably expected to be informed or to request a different type of intervention in the circumstances? We will never know. The resident doctor was asked to suture a suspected lacerated cervix alone-and to ask for help if needed. Doctor maintained all was under control even as I assessed the situation was worsening. Questions may be asked about the doctors assessment of the initial and unfolding circumstances; and, the information communicated to the patient, who related she was fine. I have no doubt the doctors objective was to assist the patient, and, within the wording and spirit of the Hippocratic Oath, to use their own ability and skill to help the woman in the best way. However, did the doctor fail at his/her duty: to recognise an emergency, a worsening situation, and the limitations to their skills and capabilities? In so doing, did the doctor do more harm than good? In the final analyses, was the doctor acting in the patients best interest? The consultant did what was (probably) most the critical thing: an initial intervention and then emergency surgical exploration with a full team of specialists to ascertain the problem and contain the situation. Could the consultant have done more? This is unlikely in the circumstances. Yes, the consultant could have been called earlier, but that is not their fault. Did the charge midwife and midwife err in leaving the Doctor to complete the suture alone? How does one balance the need for a small amount of midwives to attend to different patients at various stages of labour, when a potential danger is at hand with a post natal mother? How do we reconcile these resource constraints with hospital policy (requiring a midwife to be present at all times)? In this situation, how do we make a decision about providing quality care and attention to labouring women, versus attending to a recovering mother? Is it less or more professional to leave labouring women unattended to care for a mother with what is considered to be non-life threatening wound? The Hospitals official explanation of what happened was maternal complications. This lacked credible details that are covered in the legal discussions below. Key Issue: Morality Was the hospital truthful in its communication with the patients family? To the outsider, the answer seems a resounding no! Does being a teaching hospital bring higher levels of risk to patients-by virtue of having younger and less experienced doctors? Does this lessen their responsibility to the patient? Or does it require a higher standard of care and greater precautions? In this situation, did the hospital fail in its duty to the public by having a higher ratio of patients to staff? Is it unreasonable to expect the nursing cadre to reasonably and safely provide a high quality of care to the number of patients on the ward at that time? Did the institution and its team fail by attempting to provide service for too many patients at this time? Did the policy foresee and cover these matters? Do these issues put the nurse and their professional obligations at odds with hospital and public policy? Does this conflict put the nursing (and other members of the medical team) at a disadvantage? What of the publics rights and responsibilities? How do we honour and respect these charters in the circumstances described? Each patient wants to be seen, receive a high quality of care, with minimum chances of complications-certainly not death. How does the Midwife make based a decision about who to treat and how to allocate scare human resources? In a high stress understaffed environment, can we reasonable assess who is at greater risk and more deserving of care? Can we reasonable assert that honesty, justice and respect for the patients rights can lead us to a determination of where our duty lies? It is my view that the while some parties in this case may be able to justify their actions (midwives, consultant), others would find it a deontological challenge (resident, institution). In this case, the outcome of the incident dictates that the actions of key caregivers at critical decision moments were not optimal (wrong/unethical) because the consequences do not match the means/process. Key Issue: Legality No known legal proceedings arose from this incident. However, it may be argued that a judicious reading of the circumstances by a family predisposed to litigation could have asked many questions about the unfortunate circumstances referenced in this incident, and maybe have a case in a court of law. For example, it could be argued that the patients legal rights were not met, regarding professional standard of care provided by the resident doctor and the absence of a midwife throughout the procedure. Further questions may be raised about the quality, experience, judgement and capability of the first attending doctor. And ultimately, questions could be asked about the checks and balances (levels of safety) within the institution that compounded the situation. Additional issues may arise in considering whether or not the patient was reasonably informed about the unfolding circumstance, associated risks, and given the opportunity to legally consent. It could be argued that the doctor acted unilaterally (paternalistically) to the patients disadvantage. Alternately, the patient could not have reasonably rejected treatment in the circumstances. Therefore a detailed test would be required of what a reasonable professional would do in this situation. The hospital reprimand is an indication that the resident doctor could/would have failed the Bolam Test of respectable medical opinion thereby paving the way for litigation. The above could also lead to the question about the initial consent, and whether or not there was a full explanation of risks and likely treatments in the event of complications. In a legal context, the issue is whether or not the key stakeholders acted professionally and morally, and more importantly, in the course of their duty, whether they neglected or failed to provide a reasonable care of duty to the patient. Summary and Discussion My view now-I was not asked or debriefed at the time, nor did I reflect critically then-is that the circumstances and outcomes dictate that the team and members thereof acted less than professionally, and their judgements and actions were not finely balanced, leaving them in a an unethical and morally compromised position. The patient was owed a duty of care, which was not provided by all involved at the critical moments after delivery. So although all parties worked from a position of beneficence, obliging to do good for all patients at the time, there is a deontological failure in justifying their actions. On this occasion, hospital policy was not adhered to, and there was reasonable cause for this. The outcome reinforces the view that the consequences do not match the means. But this has to be balanced with the contending demands on the team. The midwives, in leaving the doctor to attend to the patient, expected to be called if needed. They were professionally and morally obliged to give reasonable care to the other patients. It would be difficult to squarely blame them for an act of omission that caused/worsened harm for the patient. This is not to ascribe blame squarely at the resident doctor. There are factors at play that would have influenced their action-in keeping with training-while endeavouring to contain and manage the situation. Maybe, for example, there was consideration of the human resource constraints and not wanting to burden fellow colleagues. Maybe the doctor was confident in knowing what was required in the circumstance. However, the rapidly deteriorating situation was soon beyond the doctor, and there was no recognition or acceptance of the need for additional help. Surely, if the final outcome was positive, the consequences would have justified the means. However, in this case, the means and end were weak links. The circumstances and situation in the ward on that day were unfavourable to the team: too many needs, and too few hands. The staffs were in a compromising position by having to deal with too many situations. This should never be the case if we are to deliver a reasonable duty of care in circumstances where humans can never fully assure medical outcomes in certain emergencies. In this incident, on this day, a number of factors compounded a bad situation and led to fatal outcome-which never had to be the case. The midwife made a decision to leave the doctor to suture the lacerated patient; the doctor attempted to do the job without recognising or seeking help. My actions quickened the intervention of the consultant, who ameliorated the situation, but to no avail. Conclusion and Reflection Having participated in this course, I can now reflect critically on this incident and confirm the ways in which a variety of professional, legal, ethical and administrative policy must work together in order to deliver assured quality healthcare. This is especially important in high stress environments where critical decisions must be quickly made-with the potential for unforeseen results. As professionals we must strive to be calm when things take a turn for the worse. This is not a reason to abandon or lose the ability to think critically, and stay true to our ethical, moral and professional duty while meeting the expectations of our employers. Indeed, we will at times find ourselves in situations that test this resolve, and require us to make rapid decisions and attempt to innovate to meet circumstances. This latitude is welcomed, but must be used with caution to ensure that the final outcomes can hold up to the scrutiny of our peers. Finally, it is critical to reflect and analyse our actions and experiences in order to evaluate what works, what does not work, the reasons for these, and the ways to manage future events should they recur. This is useful whether or not one is reprimanded or at the end of litigation case (institution). It is from these collective experiences and learning that we can improve policy, and enhance the profession.