Financial analysis of the worldwide performance of Starbucks - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 2957 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? The aim of this financial analysis of Starbucks is to obtain a deep knowledge of annual financial reports and other corporate information, which can provide us measurable conclusions about the company. It is essential to understand the nature of companys business, by analyzing its economic and financial environment and strategy choices made in the past. This report will begin with industry and company description, followed by financial performance overview and projection of company development over the next two years. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Financial analysis of the worldwide performance of Starbucks" essay for you Create order Conclusions drawn from above analysis will support managers in making a decision whether to invest in the company. 2. The industry description The coffee industry is growing since 2002, and in recent years there was a boom caused by consumers becoming more educated about espresso-based drinks and how they are made (H. Holmes, 2004). The coffee industry includes 20,000 outlets with combined revenue of $11 billion. Approximately 20 million people work in the coffee industry worldwide. Market is very concentrated at the top with the 50 companies taking up 70% of the sales, and fragmented at the bottom. Starbucks is the market leader (Franchise direct, 2010). 2.1. Starbucks description Starbucks Corporation is involved in: purchasing, roasting, and sale of whole bean coffees, cold-blended beverages, various food items, selection of teas, and beverage-related accessories and equipment, primarily through its company-operated retail stores. It was established in 1971 in Seattle, Washington. In 1986 Howard Shultz, Retail Sales and Marketing Manager, left the company to start his own retail coffee outlet, Il Giornale. In 1987 the original investors of Starbucks bought Peets Coffee and sold Starbucks to H.Shultz, who renamed Il Giornale to Starbucks. Firm expended with shops in Chicago and Vancouver. Starbuck was the first coffee company to offer employee stock options in 1991 and went public in 1992. In 1990s Starbucks started distributing coffee through department stores, bookstores, hotels, supermarkets and online; it signed contract with PepsiCo, AOL and Dyers and opened stores in Japan, Singapore, and UK. (Hoovers.com, 2008) Starbucks has built one of the worlds most powerful and recognizable brands and the image of a unique Starbucks Experience. Its mission statement was to revolutionize the coffeehouse industry by building a perception of a coffee shop as the third place between work and home. Wi-fi internet access in all stores makes it a place where customers can work. The companys goal was to make each location a community center for higher-income crowd of the young and college-educated, a group that tends toward higher luxury-consumption levels. (Wikinvest.com, n.d.) 2.2. Competition Starbucks close competitors include other specialty coffee shops, doughnut shops, and restaurants. Starbucks holds a dominant position in the coffeehouse market which is dispersed among the thousands of independent or small-chain coffee shops. Their largest direct competitors are Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds. Both offer specialty coffee at a lower price. Main competitors short description: Dunkin, specializes in fresh baked goods, but began offering coffee in 2005. Their level of sales is at $4.3b. Currently, their coffee sales start to exceed food sales, 5-10% of total sales are from espresso-based drinks. Dunkin has a 22.9% market share. (Starbucks in the aggregate category controls a 24.7% market share) McDonalds entered the coffeehouse industry in 2007, offering coffee at its flagship stores and opening its espresso-centric McCafe concept in some markets. McDs coffee sales generate $813m in additional annual income. Current revenue from coffee is around $490m, about 6-6.5% of Starbucks coffee sales. Their price point is at 18% discount on Starbuckss. The two competitorss targets are slightly different from Starbucks. They focus on cheaper coffee to go, whereas Starbucks is providing a premium experience for a luxury price. Consequently, they compete with each other more directly than with Starbucks, however McCafe has a negative impact on Starbucks. Analysts believe that competitors will settle into separate niches, McDonalds being the better value proposition and Starbucks offering higher quality experience. 3. Financial Performance 2007-2009 3.1. Overview of Starbucks performance 2007-2009 In the fiscal year 2007, Starbucks achieved a solid performance. All goals like new stores opening, total revenue growth, comparable store sales growth and considerable cost rises from dairy products were completed. The consolidated operating income in 2008 was $503.9 and operating margin 4.9%. This was a significant decrease compared with the past few years, the reason for decrease was a changing of structure. In 2009, Starbucks faced many challenges caused by unexpected economic environment and more intense competition, which had impact on the revenue, comparable store sales, operating income and margins. 3.2. Income statement analysis 2007-2009 While net revenues of Starbucks havent been stable from 2007 to 2009 (first increasing then decreasing), its total operating income have also been moving in 2008 it decreased by 52,2% and it was $503.9 million, 4.9% of total net revenues. The reason for decrease was high distribution costs and high rent expenses. In 2009 it increase again by $58.1. Main reason for this improvement was the restructuring charges which contain: assets impairment, lease exit and severance costs. In 2008 and 2009 while net revenues were $10,383 million and $9,774.6, total operating expenses were $9,992.7 million in 2008 and $9,334.5 in 2009 that means expenses were highly eating up more than 96% of the net revenues. The company suffered a major loss of 113.185% in net earnings between 2007 and 2008. Starbucks realized that he need to re-think its business strategy. In 2008, the company incurred restructuring charges of $266.9 million due to store closures in the US and Australia and reduction of the work force. Starbucks Company derived 84% of total net revenue from the company-operated retail stores. They opened 681 new stores in the last 12 months and this offset -3% losses in comparable store sales. Total net revenue of 2009 was showed a decrease of 5.9%, stayed at $9,774.6. The company-operated retail also went down. In detail, there was a change of nearly 6.7% in comparable, for 4% decrease in transactions and a 2% decrease in the average value per transaction. Figure : Net Revenue of Starbucks 2007-2009 (Starbucks annual financial report) Figure : Operating Income of Starbucks 2007-2009 (Starbucks annual financial report) Figure : Net earnings of Starbucks 2007-2009 (Starbuck annual report) 3.4. Balance sheet In term of assets, the total assets for the three years kept staying around $5,600 million. The total current assets in 2009 were $2,036 million. This was higher than in 2008 and 2007 due to the high cash and cash equivalents in 2009. The marketable securities in 2007 were $157 millions so in 2007 the company had more short term investment. On the other hand, the total liabilities in 2008 were the highest in three years because of the commercial paper and short-term borrowing in 2008. Additionally, there was no short-term debt in 2009 but it was the highest accrued expenses during the three years. The shareholders equity in 2009 was the highest in three years owing to the additional paid-in capital. 3.4. Ratio analysis: By doing ratio analysis, the company performance would be evaluated more clearly. As we can see the current ratio for the 2009 was higher than 2008 and 2007. In 2008 and 2007, the current ratio was under 1. That means Starbucks was not in good financial health in these two years. However, this situation didnt exist for a long time but it was not a good sign. The current ratio for 2009 was 1.29, so the company had 1.29 times more current assets than current liabilities. That means Starbucks was able to cover its own obligations. As the Exhibit 1 shows the quick ratio was low for 3 years that is all below 1. This indicates that the company had difficult to turning their inventory into cash like a short-term liability which the company could not pay off immediately. In 2007, the profit margin of Starbucks was 7.15%. This means 7 cents of each dollar is companys profit. In the next two years, the profit margin decreased by nearly 3 percent. That means the net income in 2009 was visibly lower than 2007. It may mainly caused from the increase of the restructuring charges. The return on assets ratio in the year 2007 was 13.77% while the ratio declined to 6.95% in 2009. From this we know Starbucks earned more in 2007 and the net income in 2007 was higher than in 2009. The reason for this decrease results is also from increase cost of the restructuring and innovation in 2008 and 2009. In terms of leverage ratio, to measure its ability to meet financial obligation from 2007 to 2009 the debt ratio was around 50%. That means nearly 50% of funds for assets came from debt. This does not seem good for the company and the most liabilities were long-term liabilities. The debt to equity ratio from 2007 to 2009 was pretty high and the highest point was in 2007, so in 2007 more debt was used. Interests earned ratio in Starbucks during the 3 years was extremely high like in 2007, the ratio was nearly 28 times, but finally in 2009 the ratio was around 15 times a year. It could be a really good margin since the company was able to cover its interest expenses 15 times with operating income. 3.5. Cash flow Operating activities: the net cash provided by operating actives in 2009 was highest during the 3 years. The main part of activities was depreciation and amortization. Same as in 2008 the company spent $604.5 thousands on depreciation and amortization. Investing activities: the net cash used by investing activities in 2007 was $-1201.9 thousands. The main costs here were addition to property, plant and equipment and the company also spent money on purchasing available-for-sale securities. But in 2009 the net cash used by investing activities was $-421.1 thousands. This was much less than in the 2007. The reason for this was the company spent less money on additions to property, plant and equipment. Financing activities: the net increase/ (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in 2009 was $330.0 thousands. That means Starbucks gained money from financing activities in 2009 while in 2008 and 2009 they had losses in financing activities. The reason for the gain of money in 2009 was the profit in short-term borrowing and nothing spent on the issuing of long-term debts. 4. Forecasting 2010-2011 In order to project the next two fiscal year performance of Starbucks, particularly to construct the pro forma income statements of 2010 and 2011, establishing the revenue (or sales) projection should be the first task of all. In the next steps, the rest items of the statement would be projected by the percent of sales method since it does provide simple, logical estimate of many important variables (Higgins, 2009). In fact, there was a visible growth of Starbucks revenue in both volume and speed during the period of time from 2000 to 2009. Especially, from 2000 to 2007, the annual company sales increased in steady pace in the range of 20% to 29%. This impressive growth of Starbucks revenue was a sophisticated proof for its great business strategies during the beginning of this decade. However, the story had some changes since 2008. At the end of this fiscal year, Starbucks finished with $10,383 million revenue, in comparison with 2007, the growth ratio was 10.3% only, the lowest rat io since 2000. Continuously, in the midst of the US economic crisis, Starbucks sales got negative growth at 5.9% after finish the fiscal year 2009, stay at $9,744 million. Figure : Starbucks Sales chart in 2000-2009 (in Millions) Obviously, the trustable estimation should be the sophisticated one, that normally came from data base statistic analyses. Specifically, with the availability of the last ten years data of Starbucks revenue, it was possible to apply most of time series forecast methods such as moving average, weighted moving average, exponential smoothing, and so on. Since each method had its own advantages and limitations, it is necessary to compare how every method would reflect the same provided data (Exhibit 4). The value of W3 (for the Weighted moving average method) and ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ± (for the Exponential smoothing method) were decided high at 0.6 and 0.3 due to the emphasis of the closest time period in term of its impact to the next following year. As a result, the forecasts for 2010 sales were quite low though there was still a slightly growth than 2009. Among the three methods, the weighted moving average method seems to be the most appropriated one since it had the smallest value of the Mean Absolute Deviation. Basically, it proved that this method had less forecasting error than others and might be the best choice of all. To be clear, the plot chart was established base on the result of the three forecast methods in Figure X. Figure : Plot of Actual Sales and Forecast Sales for 2010 in three different models (in $ Million) Visibly, the line created from weighted moving average method was the closest one to the actual sales line. Its trend reflected almost similarly to the actual during the period of time from 2003 to 2009. That is why this method was chosen to determine the 2010 Starbucks sales instead of the two methods remaining. Objectively, $9,920.81 million may not be a number that Starbucks shareholders and investors really expect, even it showed slightly growth at 1.5% than 2009. However, in some levels, it seems to reflect quite appropriately the reality of the economic conditions as well as the Starbucks status. In spite of many positive signs of the economic recovery, Starbucks is still continuing its plan to close 800 retail stores over two year 2009 and 2010. Since the 566 stores had already released in 2009, another 244 are expecting to be cleared in fiscal year 2010. Thus, it could be hard to see a rapid growth in revenue of Starbucks at the end of fiscal year 2010. In regard to fiscal year 2011, since all of the three forecasting method above only allowed forecaster to see the result of 2010 revenue, the Linear Regression method was applied to estimate the sales in 2011. By collecting the sales data from the last three years (2007 to 2009) in quarterly, by the calculation of the regression line (Exhibit 11), the value of a ( the y intercept) and b (slope of regression line) were found. These two values were use to determine the dependent variable (y). The regression forecast of sales in equation is: y = a + bx (Exhibit 5 ). The forecast results of $10,078.21 and $10,189.41 for each year of 2010 and 2011 once again confirmed about the growth trend of Starbucks sales in the next two year. Nonetheless, base on the Starbucks plan of opening over 500 new stores in US and over sea during 2011, there should be a stronger increase in sales of Starbucks in this year. Subjectively, the authors believed that Starbucks revenue would increase no less than 15% in 2011. In other words, if the 2010 revenue was forecasted at $9,920.81 million, the same item in 2011 would be around $11,408.93 million. This result was also determined base on many positive factors that Starbucks could get benefits from such as the economic recovery in higher volume and speed, the more effective operating of Starbucks after the reorganizing process in its retail stores system as well as the objective increase in customers demand. Moreover, the volume of average transaction would be higher due to the increase in cost of goods sold and the im pact of inflation. In the Exhibit 6, all the operating performances of Starbucks from 2005 to 2009 were displayed in detail by the percent of total revenue. Base on those historical data and theirs visible trends, it was possible to anticipate logically the operating results for next two fiscal years 2010 and 2011 (Exhibit 7). According to the Exhibit 14, the net income of Starbucks stays at $466.27 and $479.18 million for each of 2010 and 2011. This may be considered as the acceptable results in regard to the challenges of the current circumstance. In fact, the forecast net income of 2010 is 19.3% higher than 2009. Since the revenue of 2010 did not rise in a strong level (only 1.5%), this impressive net income mainly came from the reducing the stores operating expenses and the more effective tax rate. In 2011, the operating expenses are expected to increase and stay at 95.2% of total sales, this is an objective fact that many items in operating expenses areas are in trend of steady increase year by year accompany with the business enlarge strategy of Starbucks, such as store operating expenses or general and administrative expenses. However, this ratio might be less in the next following years if the restructure process of Starbucks would get its aims of improving efficiency of cost control in various act ivities. Conclusion and recommendation Starbucks has been the largest specialty coffee retailer in its industry, but due to the problems with our economy, it has been seeing an effect on its sales and profits. The economic situation has affected consumers spending at Starbucks and other luxury goods. Starbucks also raised prices by an average of 9 cents a cup in July of 2007, causing U.S. customers who face higher food, fuel and housing expenses to go to McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts for cheaper coffee. These issues have affected Starbucks stocks performance in the market and are slowly making this stock an unfavorable one for potential investors. My recommendation for potential investors would be to hold off on purchasing stocks from Starbucks at this moment because now is not a good time to invest in them. I would advise these investors to keep looking into this stock until they see a positive change in its market pattern and that would be when I would advise them to purchase the stock; before its price increases higher t han the average market price. My recommendation for investors holding the share of the company would be to hold on to it until they can see for certain if Starbucks stocks will continue to go down and become a loss or maybe potential go back up and become profitable as they once were. After conducting my research, I believe the Starbucks stock will eventually start going up again after they put into effect their plans for the upcoming year. This stock is definitely a valuable one that I would not let go of if I owned shares in it. Starbucks hold value to its stock, which is why my advice to shareholders is to hold off on selling their shares until they see how the upcoming year goes for the company. In a response to the McDonalds challenge Starbucks is teaming up with Burger King, which has announced that by September 2010 it would begin selling Starbucks Seattles Best Coffee in about 7,250 U.S. outlets it would launch its first national advertising campaign. India, Russia, and China represent key areas of focused future expansion.

The Drinking Age Should Not Be Lowered - 1705 Words

Alcohol is usually sought after within the adolescent community and has been an issue among young people. On July 17th 1984, congress passed The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 which enforces the legal drinking age and purchasing of alcohol in the United States to be twenty-one. Since then, the debated idea of whether or not the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen has been an ongoing topic for decades. Alcoholism affects many people in the United States but promoting it at such young age would not be such a great idea for the youths in today’s society.The drinking age should not be lowered due to the fact that it poses many dangers in the lives of teenaegers especially brain damages, underage drinking has declined since 1984, enforcing alcohol among teenagers may cause an increase in drunk driving and deaths and most importantly, teenagers who start drinking at an early age are more than three times more likely to develop alcohol dependency later on in life t han those who started at the legal age of 21 or later. Drinking among teenagers is prone to cause long term damages in their life. At the adolescent stage, teenagers brain are still developing up until the they are in the 20’s. It is a fact that alcohol causes brain damages to anyone who consumes it but because of this occurrence in adolescent’s body,they are more affected by this. According to Saner in the article Health: Drunk young things: Teenage drinkers don t just risk making fools ofShow MoreRelatedShould The Drinking Age Be Lowered?995 Words   |  4 Pages Should the legal drinking age be lowered to age 18? Recently people have been debating whether If the drinking age should be lowered to 18. Some people think 18 is a better age but others think it’s outrageous to lower the drinking age to 18. After much reading and observing, I myself think the drinking age should be kept at 21 years old,because young adults who drink while they re underage make poor decisions and majority of the young adults are in college lacking in classes. The legal drinkingRead MoreShould The Drinking Age Be Lowered?853 Words   |  4 Pagesactivities around their friends to feel like they are a part of the team. Many people often wonder if the court of law stepped in and changed the age of drinking would this help the case of underage drinking. 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It is in TV shows, movies, schools, and even in our own communities. Although it may be understood as something we are not supposed to do, many of these shows do not depict the real issues that can come from drinking under age. While only 11% of the alcohol sold in America is consumed by those under the age of twenty-one, it is still a horrific, nationwide problem. Alc ohol is a drug that can make you do things you would neverRead MoreShould The Drinking Age Be Lowered? Essay2027 Words   |  9 PagesShould The Drinking Age Be Lowered? One of the major problems today in United States society is the amount of people in college who are drinking while underage. Every day on college campuses we see rebellious young adults disobey the law and drink alcohol under the age of 21. How would things be different if the drinking age was lowered? Would college students abuse it or is it a good idea? Many people believe the drinking age should be kept where it is now based on statistics. 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However since the drinking age has changed from being 18 to 21 thereRead MoreThe Drinking Age Should Be Lowered1599 Words   |  7 Pagesmany years is whether the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen years old, as opposed to where it is now, at twenty one. Some argue that at age eighteen, a person is legally an adult and able to go to war, vote, and partake in other adult activities. If they are an adult at this age, why are they unable to legally drink alcohol? There are numerous reasons why drinking is unsafe for those under twenty one. The drinking age is s et at age twenty one for a reason, and should stay that way. Some statesRead MoreDrinking Age Should Be Lowered1039 Words   |  5 Pages2017 Drinking age is already dangerous as is In recent discussions of the drinking age limit, people have always said that the drinking age limit should be lowered. Some may argue that alcohol is not bad and that it can actually be beneficially. Many people would want the drinking age limit to be lowered so that it is legal for young adults to drink. If the drinking age limit were to be lowered there would be a drastic difference in society. In my perspective I will argue that the drinking age limit

Network And Internet Connections Essay Example For Students

Network And Internet Connections Essay The Internet is a network of networks that interconnects computers around theworld, supporting both business and residential users. In 1994, a multimediaInternet application known as the World Wide Web became popular. The higherbandwidth needs of this application have highlighted the limited Internet accessspeeds available to residential users. Even at 28.8 Kilobits per second(Kbps)the fastest residential access commonly available at the time of thiswritingthe transfer of graphical images can be frustratingly slow. Thisreport examines two enhancements to existing residential communicationsinfrastructure: Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), and cable televisionnetworks upgraded to pass bi-directional digital traffic (Cable Modems). Itanalyzes the potential of each enhancement to deliver Internet access toresidential users. It validates the hypothesis that upgraded cable networks candeliver residential Internet access more cost-effectively, while offering abroader range of serv ices. The research for this report consisted of casestudies of two commercial deployments of residential Internet access, eachintroduced in the spring of 1994: Continental Cablevision and PerformanceSystems International (PSI) jointly developed PSICable, an Internet accessservice deployed over upgraded cable plant in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Internex, Inc. began selling Internet access over ISDN telephone circuitsavailable from Pacific Bell. Internexs customers are residences and smallbusinesses in the Silicon Valley area south of San Francisco,California. 2.0 The Internet When a home is connected to the Internet,residential communications infrastructure serves as the last mile ofthe connection between the home computer and the rest of the computers on theInternet. This section describes the Internet technology involved in thatconnection. This section does not discuss other aspects of Internet technologyin detail; that is well done elsewhere. Rather, it focuses on the services that need to be provided for home computer users to connect to the Internet. 2.1 ISDNand upgraded cable networks will each provide different functionality (e.g. typeand speed of access) and cost profiles for Internet connections. It might seemsimple enough to figure out which option can provide the needed level of servicefor the least cost, and declare that option better. A key problemwith this approach is that it is difficult to define exactly the needed level ofservice for an Internet connection. The requirements depend on the applicationsbeing run over the connection, but these applications are constantly changing. As a result, so are the costs of meeting the applications requirements. Untilabout twenty years ago, human conversation was by far the dominant applicationrunning on the telephone network. The network was consequently optimized toprovide the type and quality of service needed for conversation. Telephonetraffic engineers measured aggregate statistical conversational patterns andsized telephone networks accordingly. Telephonys well-defined and stableservice requirements are reflected in the 3-3-3 rule of thumb reliedon by traffic engineers: the average voice call lasts three minutes, the usermakes an average of three call attempts during the peak busy hour, and the calltravels over a bidirectional 3 KHz channel. In contrast, data communications arefar more difficult to characterize. Data transmissions are generated by computerapplications. Not only do existing applications change frequently (e.g. becauseof software upgrades), but entirely new categoriessuch as Web browserscomeinto bein g quickly, adding different levels and patterns of load to existingnetworks. Researchers can barely measure these patterns as quickly as they aregenerated, let alone plan future network capacity based on them. The onegeneralization that does emerge from studies of both local and wide- area datatraffic over the years is that computer traffic is bursty. It does not flow inconstant streams; rather, the level of traffic varies widely over almostany measurement time scale (Fowler and Leland, 1991). Dynamic bandwidthallocations are therefore preferred for data traffic, since static allocationswaste unused resources and limit the flexibility to absorb bursts of traffic. .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab , .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab .postImageUrl , .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab , .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab:hover , .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab:visited , .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab:active { border:0!important; } .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab:active , .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ub3ff4dcfd3cf90aaa65671be48fd06ab:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: As We All Filled Up The Large Room To Watch The The Interview You Coul EssayThis requirement addresses traffic patterns, but it says nothing about theabsolute level of load. How can we evaluate a system when we never know how muchcapacity is enough? In the personal computing industry, this problem is solvedby defining enough to be however much I can affordtoday, and relying on continuous price-performance improvements in digitaltechnology to increase that level in the near future. Since both of theinfrastructure upgrade options rely heavily on digital technology, anothercriteria for evaluation is the extent to which rapidly advancing technology canbe immediately reflected in improved service offerings. Cable networks satisfythese evaluation criteria more effectively than telephone networks because: Coaxial cable is a higher quality transmission medium than twisted copper wirepairs

Moral Controversies of Abortion

Introduction Over the years, a number of ethical theories have been utilized to analyze human behavior. These include consequentialism, Aristotelian and deontological approaches as well as Utilitarianism, Kantianism and Virtue theory. Ethical issues, such as abortion, capital punishment and animal rights, among others, have raised debates on how to address and approach them.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Moral Controversies of Abortion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More While some people have gone for Utilitarianism, others have gone for moral theory in dealing with these issues. On the other hand, others have chosen to stick to Kantianism. According to Mill’s Utilitarianism, an action is considered right if it brings about happiness or results in the consequences that are considered best. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of Kantianism, an action can only be considered right in cases where it agrees w ith the moral principles. Moreover, the moral theory can only be considered right in cases where a virtuous agent also takes a similar action. This paper will consider the case of abortion and relate it to two ethical theories namely, Utilitarianism and Virtue theory (Arthur and Scalet 112). Abortion Abortion is a medical procedure that is done on pregnant women with a purpose its (the pregnancy) safe ending. According to statistics, over 40% of women are believed to abort once or more in their lives. This is quite surprising given the huge ethical debate that surrounds this procedure. Moreover, it has been found that abortion is done by women irrespective of their races or social classes. However, it is also important to note that the women who are most likely to undertake an abortion are over the age of 40, the young, the poor, and the unmarried. In the United States alone, an annual record of abortion cases comes nearly to 1.2 million. It was legalized in the country after the fa mous ruling Roe vs. Wade by the Supreme Court in 1973. However, in other parts of the world, this case has been received with skepticism. This is especially true in Africa and the Middle East, where religious influence is still considered strong. However, most Western and Asian countries have embraced it. In fact, it is believed that between 20 and 30 million legal abortions are performed annually (Abortion par. 1). Moreover, the statistics also shows that there are between 10 and 20 million illegal abortions per year (Abortion par. 1).Advertising Looking for essay on ethics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This reflects how crucial this topic is in ethical perspective. The medical standpoint attracts the public attention to the complications caused by illegal abortions. This is mainly because of the rising number of deaths due to unlawful procedures. It has also been noted with great concern that a lot of women die due to the poor quality and performance of illegal abortions. This is quite crucial as compared to few cases in Western countries where legal abortion are allowed. This raises the question whether the other countries in which illegal abortions have led to serious complications should legalize it to save lives or they need not to do it. In addition, ethical theories have also been applied to try to resolve the issue to no avail (Trupin 1). Utilitarianism One of the ethical theories mentioned above is utilitarian standpoint. This theory considers an action valid or right if it results in the best consequences. In essence, it focuses mainly on the results of an action. That is why, the consequences of actions are implied before making a decision on something. Utilitarianism is, therefore, focused on maximizing overall happiness and satisfaction. It looks for the best consequences of actions. In essence, Utilitarian view point uses means-ends as its model of reasoning. The individual, therefore, works to get what he/she wants for the main object of evaluation as a consequence. It is also important to note that the end result is considered good if it enhances one’s life. Furthermore, it ensures that a person maximizes utility to achieve better results. Therefore, Utilitarian viewpoint searches for the actions that promote happiness to the highest number of people. In this regard, it can be considered as an act preferred by the majority. Therefore, if what brings happiness is wrong, they will go for happiness. In this case, the course of action does not matter. Instead, the result matters. Measuring happiness is quite difficult. This is mainly because people are unique and react differently in different situations (Arthur and Scalet 114). Virtue theory The next ethical theory is Virtue ethics. This theory is based on Aristotle’s moral ethics, which focuses on virtuous agent’s course of action at any given circumstance. In essence, it considers one’ s action based on another, considered as virtuous. In this regard, a virtuous agent is taken as the one that acts virtuously in every decision. That is a person that exercises the virtues which human beings hold dear. Virtues that are valued touch upon love, care and the right to life for everyone, among others. People love to see character’s traits that flourish in virtuous acts.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Moral Controversies of Abortion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In this regard, every action is compared to virtues. It takes into account the kind of habits one should develop as a model of reasoning. Moreover, it tries to determine the desires which such reasoning model considers best. In this regard, one does his/her best to become a better person. Moreover, this can only be done by comparing one’s habits to that of another individual considered virtuous. Therefore, actions are only con sidered right if a virtuous agent considers them such in the given circumstances (Arthur and Scalet 115). Relation of abortion to Utilitarianism As it has been stated above, Utilitarianism focuses on the consequences of an action. That is why, if the end results bring happiness to the majority, then that action is considered right and best. Abortion has brought about huge debates worldwide. This is mainly because religious influence has taken center stage on the matter. However, it is important to note that Utilitarian viewpoint has prevailed over religious one in most Western cultures. Most women prefer abortion if pregnancy is unwanted. These affect mostly teenagers, old women as well as poor and unmarried ones. Considering teenager’s situation, her main goal is to study and get an appropriate education to achieve progress and happiness in life. In this case, having a baby will not be among her main goals. This means that abortion brings her happiness as a way of dealing wi th future problems. This is the same with unmarried women, who may not need children in such circumstances due to various reasons such as public pressure, financial issues, among others. Moreover, older or poor women may feel that they do not have enough time, finance or health to support or raise children. This, therefore, means that their decision is based on their needs and on what makes them happy. In essence, if one feels that abortion will be a benefit for her (or at least deal with possible troubles easing the life), then she will take such course of action. Most women have considered the results of possible decision to abort with regard to what will make them happier. This is the reason why most women are for abortion. It saves them from parental issues that bring about financial constraints at a time when they are not prepared (Trupin 1). Relation of abortion to Virtue theory Concerning Virtue theory, it is important to consider religious influence. Human beings believe in virtues which they would like to have and stand up for with the cost of their lives. However, some circumstances may not allow them to do so. For instance, most women in China would wish to have more than one baby, but the one child policy makes it impossible. It is also the fact that people derive their virtues from spiritual world. That is why religion influences society norms and virtues. Moreover, cultures and traditions also affect virtues.Advertising Looking for essay on ethics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Nonetheless, it is important to mention that almost all viewpoints concur with one point a child, even unborn, has also the right to life. In this regard, a virtuous agent will not abort a child in normal circumstances. In fact, this is considered a murder since life begins at conception. However, it also important to consider what a virtuous agent would do in case the mother’s life is in danger. In such a situation, abortion would be done to save the mother’s life since she can still have another child. Moreover, a child has a long way to go if it is delivered and has no mother to care for and raise it. Therefore, its chances of survival are small. In essence, Virtue theory considers abortion only in circumstances where it cannot be avoided. However, if there is an alternative, then abortion should never be chosen (Trupin 1). Conclusion On the one hand, Utilitarian theory emphasizes the consequence of an action. It, therefore, justifies the means by results. In essenc e, it is for democracy and the will of majority. This is why abortion has been accepted in most Western cultures. Utilitarian theory justifies abortion in such a scenario. However, it may be considered wrong because happiness cannot be measured. Moreover, it encourages people to go on satisfying their needs without control and to unlimited extent. Due to such a viewpoint, people will consider their desires without making an allowance for what others want. Every child would wish to be born; however, its mother may decide not to give it birth (just to ensure her happiness). This is unfair to the unborn baby. Therefore, Utilitarian theory should be ignored when it comes to abortion. Abortion is a common debate in most countries. In fact, its legal issue has been questioned by various religious confessions. This is mainly because it goes against their beliefs and virtues. Human beings have a right to life. In this regard, Virtue theory should preferred over Utilitarian one when approach ing this issue. Abortion denies a child this right; that is something that has caused concern, given the figures recorded annually on it. In essence, abortion should not be legalized since it goes against human virtues. In addition, it denies the child an opportunity to live. Another reason for this is that an abortion is considered a murder. Since life starts at conception (this has scientifically been proved), it is not within the mother’s right to kill her child. Therefore, under no circumstance, abortion should be conducted. However, an exception can be made when the mother’s life is in danger. This should be determined by a doctor who has the skills and necessary information to determine the chances of saving both the mother and the child. In this regard, Virtue theory prevails over the Utilitarian as it considers action in accordance with a virtuous agent at some particular circumstances (Trupin 1). Works Cited Abortion. n.d. Web. Arthur, John and Steven Scalet. Morality and Moral Controversies: Readings in Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy (8th ed.). New York: Pearson, 2008. Print. Trupin, Suzanne. Abortion. 2012. Web. https://www.emedicinehealth.com/abortion/article_em.htm. This essay on Moral Controversies of Abortion was written and submitted by user Tiger'sBeautifulDaughter to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.