The Greatest Nature of Nan Liao Harbor Free Essay Example, 1250 words

In general, I started to explore deep cores of the Nan Liao Harbor after reaching that place. Its great natural surroundings elevated my power of imagination and reflection. The depth of its beauty helped to enhance the boundaries of my imagination. Going to the harbor on my own proved to be very advantageous because I discovered that nature and solitude make a very good recipe together. Sure, touring natural places accompanied by friends or family is a great idea. But, going alone is a better option if one seeks to use nature to get in touch with oneself. During my stay, I tried to fully dedicate my time to self-examination and self-acceptance. I took many long walks by the water and slowly, I started to enjoy reflecting on myself because this practice brought me closer to self-acceptance. At Nan Liao Harbor, I was closer to nature than ever before. Nature helps one in meditating and reflecting. One starts transforming into a person as nature has willed. The Present is a beautiful short story written by Dillard which also shows how overwhelmingly nature can influence a person. We will write a custom essay sample on The Greatest Nature of Nan Liao Harbor or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page Claiming that a person becomes imaginative when utterly alone and surrounded by nature is a reality which I experienced in its true form at Nan Liao Harbor. It would not be exaggerated to suggest that nature can act as a mirror because Nan Liao Harbor acted as a mirror for me. It made me turn within which is a great way to assist self-reflection.

Globalization and Its Effects on Mexico - 1055 Words

Globalization and its Effect on Mexico Mexico has the size and assets which could contribute to wealth and prosperity within their borders. The nation has the second longest border with the United States, significant oil resources, and the 11th largest population in the world. Mexico underwent all the necessary free market changes to help support globalization despite initial resistance, but they are yet to complete the interior microeconomic makeover they drastically need. Mexico has many things working for them but continue to underperform when it comes to global power and economy, China out performs Mexico for low-cost manufactured goods and India is often the target for outsourcing jobs and services over Mexico (Biggs, Shiess).†¦show more content†¦Mexico is greatly reliant on their petroleum exports; this has been called the Resource Curse by many experts. The problem lies in that when they started to nationalize their oil resources, they needed foreign investment to refine petroleum into oil as they lacked the local funds to do so themselves. This results in some economic benefits due to other countries purchasing crude oil for themselves, but the process remains to be quite draining on what could be the road to economic prosperity. Mexico needs to mine the crude oil, export it to outside nations where they can refine it and then re-import it as gasoline. (Biggs, Shiess) The biggest problem that their fossil fuel dependence will bring upon Mexico is that the country is relying on the industry, and because demand and prices are high Mexico has no reason to start new industries. Oil is a fossil fuel and resources are diminishing, and when they are gone Mexico will not be in even rougher shape than they are currently. Mexico is at the crossroads when it comes to their economy and what direction those in power want to take the country in. As of right now the globalization efforts have helped the Mexican economy but due to lack of funds and a change in political scenery at the same time Mexico was unable to fully capitalize on the free market. They may have helped their trading relationships with outside countries, but not enough was doneShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Effects of Globalization on Oaxaca, Mexico1781 Words   |  8 PagesLocated in the southeastern section of Mexico, right along the Pacific Ocean, lies the diverse Mexican state of Oaxaca. Due to the â€Å"sixteen ethno linguistic groups [that were able to] maintain their individual languages, customs and ancestral traditions† (Schmal), Oaxaca is by far one of them most ethically complex states in Mexico. In fact, Oaxaca is heavily dominated by the Zapotec and Mixtec people, which are the two largest groups in Oaxaca. However, globalization has recently impacted the greaterRead MoreGlobalization And The Global Migration903 Words   |  4 Pagesthe country. Globalization is the global economic integration of the global market. In recent time, there wer e many migrations because of the process of globalization. In order for us to understand the causes and the effects of these migrations, we need to understand the relationship between globalization and global migration. Globalization is the primary reason why global migration occurs. Globalization is the (process of integration and development in the global market.) Globalization is a majorRead MoreBackground And Culture Of Mexico1209 Words   |  5 PagesBackground/Culture Mexico is located in Northern America, bordered by the United States, Belize and Guatemala. The country’s population is at currently 112.3 million with a total land area of 1,972,550 km. The majority of this population’s language is Spanish, making this country the largest Spanish speaking population in the world. 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Trade between countries, which has been a key aspect of globalization from its beginning, works as a way to fuel the economies of the countries involved as well as strengthen and/or harbor the political relations between them. This allows people from different countries all around the world to have similar experiencesRead MoreCommanding heights episode 3 Essay1346 Words   |  6 Pagesby them. The series travels to the locations where events happened, and in many cases, interviews the people who made them happen, from Bill Clinton to Milton Friedman to workers in various countries. Episode three encompasses that along with globalization and an open free market and period of peace and advancement of technologies and ideological views will happen. A global economy will introduce a path to peace and prosperity for rich and poor nation alike. 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The Catcher in the Rye Free Essays

The novel The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger, had a huge impact on the media in the past 30 years. We will write a custom essay sample on The Catcher in the Rye or any similar topic only for you Order Now Two of the most famous ones are the assassination of John Lennon and the attempt assassination of President Reagan. The assassins of the two men were Mark David Chapman and John Hinckley, Jr. , respectively. They were obsessed with the character Holden and used the concepts of the book in their reasons of murder, or in John Hinckley’s case, attempt murder. Mark David Chapman was obsessed with two things: The Catcher in the Rye and John Lennon. After he read the novel for the first time, the story took a great personal significance on him, to the extent that he wanted to model his life after Holden Caulfield. He signed letters and statements with â€Å"Holden† and â€Å"the Catcher in the Rye†. In 1979, two years after his release from Castle Memorial Hospital, for clinical depression, he wrote a letter saying that he’s going crazy again, and heard voices in his head. In October of 1980, Chapman went to New York City to kill John Lennon. He left the city for a short time to get ammunition from his friend in Atlanta. He moves around again and when he comes back to NYC, he reenacts some scenes from The Catcher in the Rye in a taxi cab. He leaves Sheraton Hotel in the morning of December 8th, and leaves all his stuff there for the police to find. He left his new copy of his favorite novel with the words â€Å"This is my statement† and signs it â€Å"Holden Caulfield†. He waits for Lennon outside his The Dakota apartment but misses him when he was in a conversation with other fans and the doorman. Later that morning, he meets Lennon’s housekeeper and Lennon’s 5-year-old son and shakes hands with him. When John and his wife came back around 5 p. m. , Chapman held out an album for Lennon to sign and the couple left. Mark reported, â€Å"At that point my big part won and I wanted to go back to my hotel, but I couldn’t. I waited until he came back. He knew where the ducks went in winter, and I needed to know this. † Later that night, when Lennon was coming back, Chapman shot his gun five times and hitting John with four of them. Until the police arrived, Mark sat and read his copy of The Catcher in the Rye. John Hinckley’s crime did not relate to The Catcher in the Rye as Mark David Chapman’s. John Hinckley’s attempt assassination of President Reagan was to impress Jodie Foster, an actress from Taxi Driver that John stalked. He wrote letters to her, even made phone calls, and by assassinating the president, he thought that he could win her love and respect. The day before the attempt, he wrote a letter to Jodie detailing his plan to kill the president. The next day, he stood in the crowd surrounding Reagan’s limousine. John fired several shots at the president but missed and hit him once under his armpit, injured the press secretary, a Secret Service agent, and a Washington DC police officer. A copy of The Catcher in the Rye was found in John’s hotel room. I infer that he related himself to Holden, who was also in love with Jane Gallagher and was also sort of a rebel of society. Both of these assassins have obviously took the book too seriously, even though it was a realistic book. They found the wrong message in the novel by J. D. Salinger and should be in a mental hospital for their mental disorders. Although their crimes are extremely serious and deserve to be punished for, the two men weren’t in their right minds when they tried or did murder a person. The Catcher in the Rye was truly a tool of a madman in these two cases. How to cite The Catcher in the Rye, Essay examples The Catcher in the Rye Free Essays The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is home to the protagonist Holden Caulfield. We will write a custom essay sample on The Catcher in the Rye or any similar topic only for you Order Now There is no coincidence that he holds a striking resemblance to the author of the novel himself. Salinger seemed to have a similar childhood as Holden describes in The Catcher in the Rye. Both men also seemed to have a certain fascination with younger children, especially younger women. J.D. Salinger based one of his most famous characters, Holden Caulfield, on personal experience. Holden’s story in The Catcher in the Rye begins with Holden at his school, Pencey Preparatory, which is a boarding school. He was sent there by his parents, who seemed to be withdrawn from his life. Similarly, Salinger’s parents sent him to Valley Forge Military School, where he had a neighbor who always seemed to be barging in, showing a resemblance to Ackley. The reader learns that Holden is the son of wealthy parents from New York. It turns out that J.D. Salinger was also born in New York to upper-class parents. It seems as though Holden Caulfield’s childhood is an identical match to that of J.D. Salinger’s. Salinger had a deep love and fascination with young children, especially young women. In the 1970s, Salinger maintained a close connection with an eighteen year-old girl, Joyce Maynard, who eventually moved in with the author. J.D. Salinger continued to have many relations with younger women, much like this one. His fascination with young women is reflected in Holden, who has a similar mind-set. Even as a seventeen year-old, Holden is infatuated with his perception of Jane Gallagher as a little girl. It is this picture of innocence that Holden is in love with, and not what Jane is like now. The concept of, â€Å"the catcher in the rye,† itself projects his interest in children. He day-dreams about standing at the edge of the rye field catching any children that are too close to the edge of the cliff. Salinger used Holden to vent his love, and passion for children. Holden is almost an identical representation of what J.D. Salinger is truly like. His adoration for young women is shown in Holden’s love for Jane, and in the concept of, â€Å"the catcher in the rye.† Both show similarities in their childhoods, from growing up wealthy in New York, to being sent away for school. J.D. Salinger used Holden Caulfield to expose his personal life, and possibly his personal feelings. How to cite The Catcher in the Rye, Essay examples The Catcher in the Rye Free Essays Holden Caulfeild is the main character of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. We will write a custom essay sample on The Catcher in the Rye or any similar topic only for you Order Now Holden is portrayed as a very troubled and alienated young boy. He alienates himself to protect himself from the hurt of losing his brother Allie, the pain of growing up, and the phoniness of the adult world. Holden grieves the loss of his beloved little brother by thinking of everyone else as not good enough. He wants to fit into this new world he’s coming into as he’s growing up, but he can’t find a place for himself. During this book Holden always describes himself as a victim of the world around him. He says to Mr. Spencer in the beginning of the book that he feels trapped on â€Å"the other side† of life. Throughout the book Holden attempts to find his way in a world that he doesn’t feel he belongs in. In chapter nine Holden tells us about some ducks that he sees in the central park lagoon. The ducks are a symbolic part of the story. The pond is a metaphor for Holden’s life and the stage of his life that he is in when this book is written. The pond is â€Å"partly frozen and partly not frozen. † It is in transition between two states, just as Holden is in transition between childhood and adulthood. The deeper into this book we get the more we start to realize that the way Holden alienates himself is just to protect himself. Hilden has been hurt before and he makes that very obvious when he speaks of his brother Allie and his death. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn’t do it. It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie. (39) This quote shows us how strongly Holden did care about Allie and what a loss Allie’s death was to his life. Holden tries to pass off his alienation as him thinking he is better than everyone else and is too good to interact with them. An example of this would be when Holden is in the club and he meets three older women. Holden says, â€Å"they didn’t invite me to sit down at their table- mostly because they were too ignorant- but I sat down anyway. †(73) and â€Å"I tried to get them in a little intelligent conversation, but it was practically impossible. You had to twist their arms. You could hardly tell which was the stupidest of the three of them. †(73) These quotes show that Holden thinks of the women as stupid and below him before he even knows them. He assumes people are not as good as he is and that everyone has something wrong with them. But really Holden is the one who has a problem interacting with people. Holden is desperately in need of human contact and love. He needs someone to talk to and be close with, but he denies himself that. Which might be one of the causes of his depression. Holden also used alienation to protect himself from growing up. Holden is obviously overwhelmed by change. But instead of growing up, Holden criticizes other people for the things that he is guilty of. He rarely ever admits to being wrong or not knowing something. One of the few times where he does admit being wrong is when he speaks of sex and admits, â€Å"sex is something I just don’t understand. I swear to God I don’t†(63) This shows us that Holden isn’t really as grown up and worldly as he would like us to think. Holden puts on an act to make himself seem much older and more experienced than he really is. In most of the book he does a good job of making that image of himself believable, but this is one part where he shows us that he is still a child. Holden also uses alienation to protect himself from the phoniness of the adult world. Holden uses the term â€Å"phony† as a sort of catch all for all the things he sees in the world that he doesn’t like or doesn’t agree with. An example is when Holden describes childhood as â€Å"innocence, curiosity, and honesty†. While he says that adulthood is â€Å"superficial and phony†. Holden does not want to grow up, which could be a reason he would describe adulthood as being â€Å"phony†. A way that Holden avoids growing up and addressing his problems or flaws is by pointing out the phoniness in the world and in people around him. Holden uses many different things to alienate himself and to keep himself closed off and protected from the world. He alienates himself to avoid growing up and to avoid changing. Holden even talks at the end of the book about opening up to people. He says, â€Å"Don’t ever tell anymore anything. If you do, you’ll start missing everybody†(214) But what Holden does not see that we, as the reader, can, is that Holden’s alienation of himself is one of the pain sources of his pain and depression. We can see that if he would only trust in people and open up that he would be happy and wouldn’t feel so alone. How to cite The Catcher in the Rye, Papers

Financial statement analysis and Business

Question: Discuss about the Financial statement analysis and Business. Answer: Introduction: Tom Stemberg, who was a chain executive from supermarket business and then turned into entrepreneur, in the year 1985, through facing his own problem realised that for the requirement of office products people need supermarket. After 10 months of this incident, first superstore office was opened. Due to opening of that office, supplies for office requirement became more affordable, accessible to everyone in need. Several things altered over the past few years as they enlarged their business and number of products for dealing. Staples think that instead of changing several things, the only thing, which did not change was that customers are their first priority and they are always there to help their customers, no matter what they are expecting. They provide products to those people who want to develop new things. For more than 25 years they are working hard to construct a strong brand that people can believe, connect with and trust. In their beginning days they wanted to give the message to the people that Yeah, weve got that, so that, people could sense that they can find the items in Staples, whatever they required for office supplies. They introduced their new tagline that was easy in the year 2000. These three words helped to set their own significant identity and they realized that they were more than just selection. They also tried to offer the simples shopping experience for their customers. In todays competitive scenario, irrespective of new or established business every business is trying to gain more and introducing new things. As the customers are always busy in various sectors like hospitals, school premises, offices, at home, they require everything started from office supplies to technology and power tools. To provide the customers with more products, they introduced: At staples.com customers can have ample choice of products Customers can check their Shop by industry option If the customers cannot find their required item, they can check their Product concierge option. To provide convenient shopping experience, they offer the following advantages to their customers: Customers can find stores as per their convenience They can shop anytime through online Can visit their site through mobile app Know more about their products through pick up in store and reserve online services Can check about their requirement through Order by item option Reorder their favourite items with Easy reorder option Customers can enjoy the problem free returns each time. Evaluation of directors report: The executive committee of staples offers an opportunity for diversifying their board and leveraging their strength for guidelines in case of emergencies for the benefits of stakeholders. It is expected that the executive committee will take appropriate actions whenever necessary to accelerate their interests in their board meetings on continue basis. The board of directors are responsible for approving and reviewing the approaches for the management of risk and preparing framework for risk parameters. The audit committee supplies report regarding the risk related to companys financial report and accounting, integrity of the report, cyber security and technology including considerable responsibilities towards significant information. The audit committee provides their report at the quarterly board meeting about significant activities (Staples.com 2017). Strategies: Their board reviews their long-term approaches every year in the annual scheduled meeting held in June every year. The meeting involves presentation about strategic approaches after discussions with senior management team. Their board spend considerable time throughout the year 2015 for discuss and review the above matters related to strategic alternatives, integration planning and acquisition. The board committee also regard the strategic objectives that are within their targets, for example, involvement of the finance committee in the arrangement of finance for the transactions with the Office Depot. Their independent directors also meet in executive session on regular basis about the strategies to be implied. Evaluation: They are committed to uphold an efficient board that will work towards the interest of the shareholders as well as the company as a whole. They hold an annual self-evaluation procedure for evaluating the performance s of the directors. As a part of the procedure, a survey in written is generated for which inputs are collected from the independent directors and chair person of the board. Every director fill up the survey form and give their valuable feedback and suggestion to the outside counsel, who in turn will summarize the outcome of the evaluation and will suggest recommendations accordingly. This procedures assists the directors to offer feedback about: Oversight, planning and information about the board Operation and structure of the board Relationship of the board with the management and CEO Operation and structure of the committee Engagement, preparedness and qualifications of the director The committee of corporate governance, nominating committee and the full board of directors discuss about the outcomes in the executive session and determine the proper mix for the composition of the board and process of nomination as well as identifies the areas where the improvement is necessary. Diversity: Diversity has always been a crucial factor to staples. They always try to provide an environment for business that will offer variety of people, experience and thought and suppliers. The board reviews the proper characteristics and skills of the members from the board with regard to the board composition. Apart from diversified skill, experience, tenure, the company also gives significant importance to the ethnic and gender background. Under the approved procedures of the independent directors and the assistance and advice from the General Counsel, statements are provided to the boards chairperson. Communication related to the corporate strategies and corporate governance are expected to be forwarded, as it is more important as compared to the personal grievances and general business (Staples.com 2017). Assessment of Quality of Earnings and conclusions about Earnings Sustainability: Staples have various success aspects that contribute to their day-to-day success. One of the primary contributors to the success is the ability of differentiating themselves from the competitors. Annual report of staples includes data regarding the important accounting flexibilities and accounting policies that can be utilized to assess their earning quality and earning sustainability. It has been noticed that the disclosure quality of staples is superior as compared to its competitors. During the analysis it has been noticed that major part of their assets are financed with operating and not with capital lease that results in understatement of liabilities as well as assets. Other findings are as follows: Results from operation: Primary contributors to their operating result of 2015 as compared to the year 2014 are summarized below: They generated $21.1 billion from sales that shown a decrease 6.4% as compared to 2014 and the sales of 2014 was $22.49 billion that shows a decrease by 2.7% and the sale for 2013 was $24.38 billion Online sales and sales from North American stores decreased by 8.7% as compared to 2014 and decreased in 2014 by 5.9% as compared to 2013. Income from business was stable at 4.5% Commercial sales from commercial of North America increased by 1.1% and income from business unit increased from 6.9% to 7.2% Sales from International operation decreased by 16.3% in 2015 and by 4.9% in 2014 and the reason behind that was the unfavourable effect of exchange rates Net income of 2015 was $379 million, for 2014 was $135 million and for 2013 was $707 million. Earnings per share for 2015 were $0.59 as compared to $0.21 for the year 2014 and $1.07 in 2013 (staples.com 2017). Performance table: (Amount in billion) Years Sales Net income Earnings per share 2013 $ 24,380.00 $ 707.00 $ 1.07 2014 $ 22,490.00 $ 135.00 $ 0.21 2015 $ 21,100.00 $ 379.00 $ 0.59 Table 1: Performance analysis (Source: Investor.staples.com 2017) Trend analysis: Figure 1: Trend analysis (Source: Created by author) From the above table, it can be seen that the sales of the company is in decreasing trend and fell from $24.38 billion to $22.49 billion and further to $21.10 billion over the year 2013, 2014 and 2015. Net income of the company drastically fell from $707 billion to $135 billion from 2013 to 2014. However, the company managed to raise their net income to $379 billion in the year 2015. Earnings per share of the company also fell from $1.07 per share to $0.21 per share from 2013 to 2014. It increased to $0.59 per share in 2015. It shows that though the company has managed to overcome the drastic position of 2014 in the year 2015, still it could not achieve the level of performance they achieved in 2013. Risk related to the business: Identified risks related to the business are as follows: The mergers will not be accomplished until certain stipulated conditions such as expiration of termination period Combination of two companies might be more costly, time consuming and complicated than the expectation and the cost saving and other anticipated advantages may not be possible to realize If they cannot meet the changing requirements of the customers, their financial and business performance can be affected adversely They are not certain about transforming their business and their inability to implement the strategies successfully can affect their business adversely They operate in highly competitive market and risk are always there that they may fail to compete successfully in the long-run International economic conditions can affect their performance adversely Their global operations are exposed to inherent risks of foreign operations Evaluation of cash flows: Cash flow analysis: Particulars 2013 2014 2015 Net cash from operating activities $ 1,219,188.00 $ 1,108,286.00 $ 1,042,938.00 Net cash used in investing activities $ (342,015.00) $ (479,545.00) $ (375,293.00) Net cash used in financing activities $ (812,265.00) $(1,442,049.00) $ (492,656.00) Exchange rate differences $ 5,245.00 $ (19,889.00) $ (48,215.00) Net increase or decrease in cash $ 70,153.00 $ (833,197.00) $ 126,774.00 Table 2: Cash flow analysis (Source: Investor.staples.com 2017) Trend analysis Figure 2: Trend analysis (Source: Created by author) It can be seen from the above table that the net cash generation has fell drastically over the year 2013 to 2014 from $70,153 thousands to negative generation of $833,197 thousands. However, the company managed to generate cash amounting to $126,774 thousands in the year 2015. The adverse result in the year 2014 generated through excess spending towards financing activities that amounted to $14,42,049 thousands. Exchange rate difference has greatest impact on the incomes of year 2015 as compared to 2013 and 2014 and amounted to $(48,215) thousands. Net cash used for investing activities for the year 2014 is highest as compared to the year 2013 and 2015 and amounted to $479,545 thousands. This higher spending also contributed to negative increase of cash. On the analysis of the adverse performance for the year 2014, it is noticed that the company paid huge amount towards payment of capital lease and borrowing obligations that amounted to $910,225 thousands. The company managed to revi ve their performance in every aspect and from the devastating results of 2014 they managed to a satisfied performance in the year 2015. They maintain liquid investments with a maturity period of three months or less than that. Their receivables involve non-trade receivables and trade receivables financed under the commercial credit terms. Allowance for doubtful debts has been transacted to decrease the receivables from trade to an amount expected to be realised from customers based on particular evidence as well as past trends. Financial credit quality: As per the rating of Moody, for approval of ratings approvals from various regulations are required and the term loan shall not be funded until the formal discussions are closed. They believe that the term loan functions as bridge loan to benefit the office depot acquisition and the stated structure offers considerable flexibility with regard to the refinance or repayment. Further, downgrades from Prime-2, the commercial rating and Baa 2, the senior unsecured rating will limited to one-notch if the company exhibits the willingness and ability to decrease the leverage to 3.5 times within the acquisition closing of 24 months. Staples are not expected to fulfil the criteria within the normal time frame. Baa 2 rating regards the financial policy of staple as flexible as it connected to repurchase of shares, its ability of best-in class execution, construction of multi-channel approaches in performance that creates strong metrics for credit and balanced mix of revenue between corporate an d retail customers. The rating identifies that they provide high quality of office supplies as compared to their competitors, such as Amazon, Wal-Mart, Costco, BJs and Sams Club. All of these provide services related to expansion of home-based and small businesses. An upgrade can take be added to the rating of staples if they maintain their operating performance in solid way despite the macroeconomic challenges from Europe and US and the they maintained stable financial policy with regard to their relationships between debt holders and shareholders. Apparently, rating can also be upgraded if the retained cash inflow in relation to the total debt was comfortably maintained above 25%. At the same time, ratings can be downgraded due to weaken of financial policy and operational performance, for example, cash to net debt ratio falls below 5% or retained cash flow to net debt falls below 18%. As per the records of headquarter in Framingham, staples is the biggest retailer of office supplies with annual income of $23 billion and 200 stores approximately. It has also agreed to acquire Office Depot, Inc for a payment of $6 billion approximately. The primary methods used in the ratings was Global retail Industry published in 2011 June. Regulatory disclosures: For the purpose of ratings issued on series or class or category of debt and program, credit rating announcement assist in disclosures of certain regulations for the issuance of subsequent note or bind of the same class or category of debt, for which the ratings are ascertained from the previous rating exclusively as per the rating practices of Moody. On the other hand, for the purpose of rating of a support provider, the announcement of rating offers certain disclosures for the rating of support provider and for every rating they ascertain the rating from the credit rating of the support provider. For issuance of conditional rating, credit rating announcement assist in disclosures of certain assigned conditional rating and with regard to the definite rating that could be allotted after the final debt issuance, for every case definite rating will be allotted. For the rated companies or the affected securities that receives direct assistance from the primary companies for the rating a nd whose ratings can be altered due to this rating action, their disclosures for associated regulatory will be same as the rating of the guarantor companies. One exception to this strategy exists for the disclosures such as, disclosures received from rated entities, disclosures given for the rated entities and other ancillary services. Regulatory disclosures included in the publications apply for the rating of the credit and also for the rating review or rating outlook, if possible. Revolving credit facilities: The company on 31st May 2013 entered into a new agreement for credit with the Bank of America named as May 2018 revolving Credit Facility. The credit facility offered a maximum borrowing limit of $1.0 billion that can be increased up to $1.5 billion upon request and fulfilment of certain conditions. Borrowings may be in the form of swing loans, syndicated loans, letter of credit, multi-currency loans, the maximum limit of which cannot exceed the maximum limit of borrowing. Borrowed amounts may be repaid and again borrowed from time to time till 31st May 2018. Interest rate of borrowing may vary depending on the borrowing type and will reflect in the coverage ratio for fixed charge and credit rating as a percentage base. The Company will pay facility fee ranging from0.08%to0.225%per annum based on its coverage ratio for fixed charge and credit rating. May 2018 Revolving Credit Facility is of unsecured nature and ranks pari passu with the public notes of the company and other indebtedn ess and involves negative covenants and customary affirmative for credit facilities. The May 2018 Revolving Credit Facility also involves financial agreements that needs the Company to uphold a minimum coverage ratio for fixed charge and a maximum adjusted funded debt to total ratio for capitalization. However, the Company did not availed the facility from the May 2018 Revolving Credit Facility during the year 2014 and no amounts were due with regard to this facility at January 31, 2015. Program for commercial paper: Staples undertaken a program under commercial paper that allowed it to issue commercial paper of unsecured nature amounting up to $1.0 billion. The company utilizes the proceeds from commercial paper for general purposes such as capital expenditure, working capital, share repurchase and acquisition. Commercial papers maturity varies depend on the periods but cannot exceed 397 days in any way. In 2014, the Company borrowed under the this Program to assist its requirements of working capital. The maximum amount due under the Commercial Paper Program during2014was$150.0 million. OnJanuary31, 2015,noCommercial Paper Notes were due (Sec.gov 2017). Other credit lines: The Company has several other options of credit lines under which it can borrow up to $138.9 million. OnJanuary31, 2015, the Company had borrowings due amounted to $77.2 millionand due letters of credit amounted to$0.1 millionunder these credit lines and had$61.6 million available for credit on that date.There were no incidence of default during2014under any debt agreements (Sec.gov 2017). Deferred financing fees: With regard to the issuance of debt instruments, the company had to paid fees under the financing charge that were amortized over the debt instruments term. Financing fees amortization has been segregated as expense for interest. Fees for deferred financing amortized as interest expense amounted to$4.8 million,$3.4 millionand$2.0 millionfor2012,2013and2014, respectively. The amount for 2012 involves$1.0 millionof accelerated amortization related to the early extinguishment of$632.8 millionof the January 2014 Notes. AtJanuary31, 2015, unamortized financing fees of$2.0 millionwere included inprepaid expenses and other current assetsand$5.6 millionwere included inOther assets. AtFebruary1, 2014, unamortized financing fees of$2.0 millionwere included inprepaid expenses and other current assetsand$8.4 millionwere included inOther assets (Sec.gov 2017). Professional comparison ranking: The professional ranking published by the fortune magazine in 2015 May in their list for Fortune 500 analysed the ranking of largest public as well as private companies from US based on the annual revenue. The list of 2015 was ranked as per the annual gross revenue rather than profits of the previous year that each company included in the list. As the ranking of Fortune 500 supplies comparison between the listed companies from US among all the industries, a fall or rise in the ranking may not associate with the fall or rise in the individual revenue or performance of the company. However, while comparing the ups and downs over the years in the retail sector, a fall or rise in the ranking shows retail relevance and even among the retail companies that are not competitors. In the ranking for the year 2015 under the Fortune 500 restaurant chains, retail chains, oil companies, automobile retailers with expediency retailing and the companies having retailing as the considerable part of bu siness are included. The downward and upward trend of few bigger companies from US can be easily marked using the fortune 500 chart for comparison. The ranking of staples over the past few years are as follows: Year 2013 rank 122 Year 2014 rank 127 Year 2015 rank 133 It can be seen from the above ranking list that the ranking of the company is deteriorating over the last years, which states that the performance of the company with compared to its competitors are not favourable and their ranking came to 133 in year 2015 from the rank 122 in 2013 (Fortune 2017). As per the latest observation about the available components of SP 500 undertaken for largest market capitalization, Staples took over #454 position from PulteGroup Inc. market capitalization is a crucial factor as it keeps an eye on the investor for several reasons. The primary reason is that it gives true comparison for the attributed value through the stock market for a given stock of the company. Below shown chart is about the performance of Staples Inc. versus Pulte Group Inc. through plotting their size rank within the SP 500 over the given period Figure 3: Comparison of rank (Source: Theonlineinvestor.com 2017) Conclusion: From the above discussions, it is concluded that the stability and dependability are the key qualities that are expected from any trusted company. Staples provide the assurance of working with the standing and strong financial background supplier in the industry. Their financial strength are advantageous in the following way: Their low expenses in operation expenses assist in minimizing business costs, which in turn enable them to generate greater savings in overall performance that are passes on to the customer in next stage The company leverages the purchasing power to bargain for highly competitive savings on all the items required by the customers Their industry-leading market capitalization assists them in achieving the ability to invest continuously in critical development of their business. Recommendation: Setting goals for corporate responsibility and tracking the performances is an important way to evaluate the functions. It gives the company and the shareholders the tools and information required for making crucial decisions for present as well as for future. Some of the recommendations that can be advised to the company are as follows: Community: The Company should increase the engagement with associate community through increasing the participation and awareness in opportunities of local volunteer. They must also increase involvement in philanthropic initiatives, increase support to local companies for maximizing the community effect. They should increase the engagement of customers in community by providing assistance in market campaigning. Environment: The company must take appropriate steps to sell sustainable services and products through improving identification, sourcing and promoting greener products and at the same time must take steps to reduce the usage of packaging materials from outside. They must offer easy and simple recycling solutions to customer, minimize waste from operation process and maximize energy efficient and renewable energy through minimizing electrical intensity and reducing emissions of carbon globally. Ethics: They must take steps to increase the brand of Global Ethics Compliance Office and ethics program both and internationally and domestically. They should continue to provide easy access to associate training through online training program. The company shall support the Chief Culture Officer for the successful implementation of objectives related to ethics. Diversity: Staples should be more determined to pursuit hiring women to fill vacant positions across all business units with special importance in segments where they are underrepresented. They must try for creating programs to expand and retain the female talent. They must offer programs planned to identify and diminish bias in hiring and performance management and further involve culture of inclusion, which in turn, will enable associates to contribute as per their potentiality and assist Staples to grow further in business. Finally, they should continue their commitment to hiring and sourcing Veterans through engaging the external partners and through more healthy internal Talent Acquisition strategies. References and Bibliography: Cuzella, J., 2015. Fast fashion: A proposal for copyright protection of 3D-printed apparel.J. on Telecomm. High Tech. L.,13, p.369. Fortune. (2017). Staples. [online] Available at: https://beta.fortune.com/fortune500/staples-132 [Accessed 31 Jan. 2017]. Investor.staples.com. (2017). Annual Reports | Staples.com. [online] Available at: https://investor.staples.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=96244p=irol-reportsannual [Accessed 31 Jan. 2017]. Jain, N., 2011. Green Computing Practices: A solution to save environment.International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science,2(3). Sec.gov. (2017). SPLS 10-K 01312015. [online] Available at: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/791519/000079151915000004/spls10-k01312015.htm [Accessed 31 Jan. 2017]. Staples.com. (2017). About Staples Home Page | Staples.com. [online] Available at: https://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/about_us/index.html [Accessed 31 Jan. 2017]. Staples.com. (2017). Marketing Management Hardcover | Staples. [online] Available at: https://www.staples.com/Marketing-Management-Hardcover/product_1153870 [Accessed 31 Jan. 2017]. Theonlineinvestor.com. (2017). Staples Moves Up In Market Cap Rank, Passing PulteGroup. [online] Available at: https://www.theonlineinvestor.com/article/201602/staples-moves-up-in-market-cap-rank-passing-pultegroup-spls-phm-SPLS02252016mbumped.htm/ [Accessed 31 Jan. 2017]. Xu, Y. and Liu, L., 2004. GIS based analysis of store closure: a case study of an Office Depot Store in Cincinnati. In12th int. conf. on geoinformaticsgeospatial information research(p. 533e540).