Rio Tinto Plc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Rio Tinto Plc - Essay Example Japan will be importing huge amounts of aluminum, iron, and copper for its reconstruction projects. Three commodities which I liked from its product portfolio are gold, silver, and diamonds. The current price of gold in the international markets is $1452 per ounce (Goldprice, 2011). Diamonds have always been one of the most valuable stones in the world. Diamond jewelry can last a lifetime. There were other factors that attracted me towards selecting Rio Tinto as part of my portfolio. The firm had excellent revenues of $60,323 and net income of $14,324 in 2010. The net margin of the company is 23.74%. The company has a global workforce of 102,000 employees. The firm minimizes its risk by having a global operation located in Australia, North America, Asia, Europe and Southern Africa. The business risks of the company are also minimized by having a variety of products and working all sides of the mining industry supply chain. Two strengths of the company are its wide product range and strong market position. Two opportunities for the firm are the surging demand for gold and new investment and innovations. Throughout its history Rio Tinto has been known for its innovation in the mining industry. Rio Tinto is a solid investment that should pay off dividends both in t he short term and long term. HSBC Holdings Plc HSBC Holdings Plc is a banking and financial sector provider. The bank has an impressive customer portfolio of over 100 million customers worldwide. The company differentiates itself by providing a diverse range of banking and financial services. The firm has its corporate headquarters in London, United Kingdom. I liked the fact that the client base of the company included personal, commercial, corporate, and institutionalize investors. The firm has a network of 8000 offices across 88 countries. The banking industry has gone through a lot of changes since the global recession. The banks are now more risk averse which is a strategy that minimizes the risk of default on loans. Despite the losses that the industry incurred between 2007 and 2009 the banking industry had a solid recovery in 2010 (Plunkett Research, 2011). HSBC was one of the banks that were protected by the U.K. government during the recession. The fact that the government owns 41% of HSBC is an indicato r that the government will invest in HSBC to ensure its success. The global penetration of the company of having a physical presence in over 40% of the world’s countries is a good indicator of the success of the firm. Normally banks are more conservative in their selection of global expansion. The revenues of the company in 2010 were $62,096 million with net income of $5,834 million. The net margin off HSBC is 9.39%. The company has a global workforce of 289,435 employees. The market capitalization of the enterprise is $201,000 million. Two strengths of the bank are its strong capital base and brand perception. The company could take advantage of strategic acquisitions and growth by expansion in emerging markets. The firm could achieve significant growth by penetrating new locations. The favorable forecast for the industry was a factor that made me invest in HSBC. BT Group Plc BT Group Plc is a UK based communication company. The firm is considered one of the world’s l eading communication companies. BT has been able to penetrate the communications marketplace at over 170 countries around the world. The services offered by the company includ

The Joke by Milan Kundera and how it relates with history of European, Essay

The Joke by Milan Kundera and how it relates with history of European, the Czech society, socialism, totalitarianism and any oth - Essay Example Consequently, the thesis statement of this paper is that the author criticises the communist ideology in Czechoslovakia. Analysis The idea of communism when it was introduced in many of the Eastern Europe countries was to create optimism on the people that they will be equal in acquiring and enjoying social and economic benefits (McKay, 2007). Ideally, the ideology was targeting the equal distribution of the resources in the society to enable people to grow equally on social benefits. This political idea has been castigated by the author as an opium system. Indeed, the author illustrates how one of the characters in the fiction novel wrote in a postcard critiquing the notion of optimism in a society. "Optimism is the opium of the people! A healthy atmosphere stinks of stupidity! Long live Trotsky!" (Kundera 18). This observation of the author through the use of the character in the fiction novel, illustrates how the writer thought of the communist ideology in the republic of Czechosl ovakia during those days. Inasmuch the idea of communism in the country was to draw equality in the lives of the population, the system according to the writer, was pegged on optimism to the people that social and economic benefits will be distributed equally for their own good. ... Consequently, the statement from the novel depicts how the writer blames the communist ideology in Czechoslovakia in beholding them from participating in innovative and creative activities to improve their lives. Another aspect that has been demonstrated in the fiction novel by the writer in critiquing the communist idea is the imprisonment of the mind. This implied the effect of the political system that was practiced in the country in preventing the population in questioning the rationale of the government actions. Thus, the writer demonstrates how the communist ideology in his country had blinded the minds of the population in holding the government accountable in carrying out the state’s affairs. Indeed, the writer illustrates how one of the characters described another character in the fiction novel as unable to go beyond the government rhetoric in questioning its action. In addition, the writer demonstrates how the population is politically constrained in understanding t he ills of the government actions due to the legal system that was introduced by the communist ideology. "She was constitutionally unable to look behind anything; she could only see the thing itself" (Kundera, 143). In contrast, the communist idea in the history of European society was agitated to end the capitalism ills in imprisoning the population. Indeed, it was argued that the capitalism ideology had imprisoned the minds of the population due to its embracement of materialism in the society (McKay, 2007). However, the fiction novel demonstrates how the communist idea failed in liberating the population in questioning the actions of their own government. Indeed, the author demonstrates how one of the character