Business Planning and Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Business Planning and Development - Essay Example The company mainly operates in Asia, Europe and North America with its headquarters in New York. Research and analysis has shown that PVH currently has high level of debt and interest payments which is reflected in its high debt-to-equity ratio (showing that the company is highly geared). Furthermore, the company has a relatively small, concentrated customer base, intense competition which could lead to volatility in earnings and an underfunded pension plan. Therefore, it is increasingly important for PVH to secure its market position and reduce its dependence on debt rather than increasing it. Discussion Liquidity It is important to analyze the financial liquidity of PVH in order to ascertain its ability to take on more debt. The current ratio of a company reflects its ability to take on short term debts or debts within a period of 12 months (Baker & Powell, 2005). Usually a current ratio of PVH’s current ratio is 2.39 (NASDAQ, 2013) which reflects that for every $2.39 of cur rent assets, the company has $1 of current liabilities. Normally, companies having a current ratio over 1 are considered to have strong liquidity position or ability to pay off short term debts (Weil et al., 2012). This is visible in the case of PVH. Although the short term liquidity of PVH seems to be high (as indicated in the research), its long term liquidity remains very weak. Furthermore, the high current ratio may not be a good indication as a review of PVH’s Balance Sheet shows that majority of its current assets (almost a third of the dollar value) are tied up in inventory which indicates a major problem. This is because inventory may take time to convert to cash and may, therefore, negatively affect the company’s ability to pay off its short term liabilities (Ross et al., 2012). Therefore, the high liquidity indicated by the high current ratio may, in effect, be insignificant because of too much inventory being held. Furthermore, PVH’s cash flow stateme nt indicates a positive operating cash flow of 453m which, in itself (Yahoo! Finance, 2013), indicates a high level of cash availability and liquidity. However, the relevant figure in this case is not operating cash flow but levered free cash flow as the latter takes interest on debt into account. In short, levered free cash flow indicates a cash position of a firm after it pays off the interest on its debt (Penman, 2009) . This is a negative value (-45m) for PVH (Yahoo! Finance, 2013) which indicates high interest payments and suggests that the cash generated may not be sufficient to ensure continuity of the business in future. Debt position PVH’s financial position indicates an already high level of long term debt as a percentage of its total liabilities (roughly 58%). Furthermore, it is important to understand the financial leverage of PVH in order to further determine its ability take on the additional ?20 million. This is explained by the total debt to equity ratio which describes the relative proportion of debt and equity that the firm uses for financing its assets (Heitger et al., 2008). A higher ratio typically suggests an aggressive growth strategy with the effect of increased earnings, albeit often with high interest charges. Normally, a debt-to-equity ratio over 20% is not considered a healthy sign (NASDAQ, 2013). The total debt to equity ratio of PVH is very high (108.65) which suggests that the company is highly geared (NASDAQ, 2013). This already high debt indicates the high interest cha

Success For All Through Maximizing The Power of Peer Learning Essay

Success For All Through Maximizing The Power of Peer Learning - Essay Example Students and pupils that work groups are said to be more successful in reasoning and critical thinking skills which ultimately improves their general performance (Cohen, 1994). Peer education is a complex expression and as result it is not easy to pin down a simple definition and one can only attempt to describe it. Peer education can be described as an approach through which youths can operate in collaboration with their contemporaries which draws upon the positive aspects of peer dynamics; through appropriate training and exposure, peers can learn how to play an active part in the education process rather than simply be passive recipients of the same. I was motivated to try out peer learning models because as a teacher it was easy for me to appreciate the advantages they held both as result of experience and from a study of research and literature on the same. Peer education is becoming an increasingly popular process of providing not just advice and social information but as a method of pedagogy which is seen as an all-inclusive involving and benefiting pupils the peer educators and the school in general. Among the many benefits of peer teaching is that it brings about positive changes in response to knowledge, skills and confidence all which a critical in academic and personal development. Peer educates are also likely to acquire the unique benefit of up to date information and life skills that the convectional teachers may not provide and it is easier for them to identify and build positive relationships with them. Brown and Campione argue that a community of learners in classroom can be conceived in terms of various proximal development zones through which participants can navigate at their different paces and routes. Piaget who is one of the foremost experts on development and education concurs in his social-cultural learning theory which proposes that people acquire new skills and